History of the Pop Video - From Bing to The Beatles

A timeline to show the evolution of the pop video. I will be exploring the variety of media artists used to showcase their music throughout the decades

1940s: Bing Crosby



In the 1940s, Bing Crosby was the biggest star in the world. Fans saw him in films and T.V. specials including:









"White Christmas" (Film, 1954)



Bing Crosby had his own comedy television show , "The Bing Crosby Show" which aired from 1964-5.




1950s: Frank Sinatra



Sinatra replaced Bing in terms of popularity and while he also appeared on television, fans were also able to see Sinatra in concerts. A wave of female fans grew and were labelled "bobby soxers" (shown below)- they would attend concerts and manically scream as he performed.

1950s-1960s: Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley did concerts, but only in the USA. He was the first artist to really set trends in terms of hair and fashion. The image shows his iconic, slicked back hairstyle. His performance was also new, his suggesting hip movements were seen to be somewhat offensive to women and so some performances were filmed from the waist up.






Elvis Presley performing "Hound Dog" in 1956.




1960s: The Beatles

With the arrival of The Beatles came the arrival of the pop video. Alongside performances on TOTP, TV, concerts and film, The Beatles created the first music video.

"Paperback Writer" was their first video and soon after they made a video for "Rain", using the same setting except changing the focus from McCartney to Lennon. They included close-ups, lip syncing, link to the song's meaning and managed to promote the song and the band.

"Paperback Writer"


"Rain"

Purpose of a Music Promo Video

The two key purposes of creating a music video is for:

1) Promotion and publicity

2) To make money and increase sales

Promotion:

A music video is a key platform for promotion of the band, song and album. It is persuades the audience to buy the record and raises the audience awareness or profile of the band. Some artists also use product placement, for example Christina Aguilera featured her own perfume line in the music video for "Not Myself Tonight".

Synergy:

This moves the topic onto synergy; artists can promote films, TV shows and products alongside their song and image. It works to the mutual benefit of both the film/TV show and the artist. Examples of this include:

"Skyfall" Adele

Skyfall is the 23rd James Bond film and Adele sang the soundtrack. The song quickly reached the top of the iTunes chart and second in the UK singles chart while the film was the second highest grossing film of the year.




“Robin Hood Prince of Thieves” Bryan Adams

Byran Adams performed this song for the film, “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves” soundtrack album. It spent sixteen consecutive weeks as UK's number one single which not only boosted Adams' audience awareness and profile but also helped raise the awareness of the film. The film managed to be the second highest grossing film of 1991 and Byran Adams' song was
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song.






“Four Weddings and a Funeral” Wet Wet Wet

Wet Wet Wet covered The Troggs' song "Love Is All Around" for the soundtrack of the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral". It became an international hit and spent 15 weeks at number one in the UK. Costing just under £3 million to produce, the UK film gained unexpected success was the highest-grossing British film in cinema history at the time. It also received Academy Award nomination for Best Picture with worldwide box office in excess of $245.7 million.




“Military Wives”

The Military Wives are formed of wives, partners and service women of British Military personnel. They were originally formed by Gareth Malone on the BBC television show, "The Choir". They perform at major military events and now have a growing 67 choirs in their network.

What makes a successful music video?

There are a number of factors that make a music video successful. The following factors contribute to and/or reflect the success of a good music promo video:

• Word of mouth?

Among critics and music reviews, the music video can gain a small number of views with those that consume this information.

• Newspaper articles/TV reports?

The most common form of "word of mouth" is through newspaper articles like The Guardian. However in recent times, apps and websites such as YouTube prove to be more successful in distributing music videos while allowing audiences to comment and discuss.

• How many times shown on television?

Music channels like Kiss and MTV distribute music videos, in particular MTV is renowned for gaining success for artists. But society has evolved and there are now other, more popular methods of viewing and distributing a successful music video. 

• Number of hits on Youtube?

Even more so, in modern times audiences have access to smartphones and apps which makes access to YouTube quick and easy. It is a very popular platform for film, media and music where information is shared beyond YouTube and onto other internet sites such as social media (Facebook, Twitter etc).

• Amount of publicity?

Through social network sites and on TV advertisements, the artist can gain even more success with their music video. Without this publicity, the artist cannot have a successful audience.

• Establish brand identity?

Pop artists like Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj have an image which has been enforced into their 'brand'. The audience know what to except from a video of theirs which encourages them to watch more as they are familiar with what they like and enjoy. 

• Downloads (legal/illegal)?

Although illegal downloads do not directly contribute to the artist financially, piracy is a large market on the internet and many artists actually gain an audience through this method of download. Legal downloads are also popular through iTunes as many people have access to smartphones where they can view and download music on the go instantly. 

• Charts?

Very often, the charts are broadcasted on mainstream radio and TV music shows where there is an interest amongst a mass market.

•CD sales?

Although a successful music video both contributes to and reflects CD sales to some extent, I think the CD market has declined as a result of the growth of digital media.

Analysis of Music Video Using Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze in Music Videos: "Shut Up And Drive"

It is clearly evident that the concept of the "Male Gaze" is applicable for Rihanna's music video for "Shut Up And Drive". The camera's positioning and movement appeals to the male audience and presents Rihanna as an object of erotic desire. In terms of mise-en-scene, the short, tight and low-cut clothing of Rihanna and the dancers are most definitely worn to appeal to the male audience. Likewise the lyrics are of a sexual nature which further implements the idea that women are made to be objects of erotic desire as a result of the male gaze. Like Megan Fox in Transformers, Rihanna is playing the role of a male mechanic but the her objective is not to fix cars but to look attractive for the male gaze.

"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" Editing Exercise and Evaluation

Evalutation

When creating the music video, I have learnt that the filming of whole takes is essential for my final production. There must be whole takes from a variety of angles for example, high and low angles of the performers; using different movements including tracking, pan and tilt shots to ensure that there is a visually interesting variety. Whole takes also make it easier when the editing starts as it allows me to simply align the video and audio clips in one long strip as opposed to attempting to align various, smaller shots. Also, knowing the lyrics is important as bad lip syncing makes an otherwise well filmed music video, one of poor realism. In order for the music video to be believable, the performer needs to sing the song out loud along with the track during filming. There is no need to use microphone equipment as the audio track from the camera's microphone is later deleted in editing and the song's audio track replaces it. 

However when filming duets, other factors come into play. Performance is a key factor- the two must interact with one another, one shouldn't rely on the other for enthusiasm or good lip syncing. If one is performing badly, the entire video will be of poor quality. Framing is equally as important as performing - there are two people to work with so the mic has to be in the centre, with the two sharing equal amounts of space around it. 

Importing the files

The process of editing is relatively straight-forward. First, import the clips and audio. Once the files have imported, I can then view the clips; the ones that I wanted for my video were dragged over into the tracks program monitor using the "drag video only" tool. The clips are then aligned with the audio so the lip syncing is precise. Using the pen tool, the clips are faded in and out in time with the music to show shot variation. I have used fades throughout this task however for my final production, I should add some variation by using sharp cuts.

Fades using the pen tool

Drag video only tool

To improve, I need to film a broader variety of shots from a number of angles. I could also attempt a tracking shot to enhance the music video "feel" of my work. I need to work on the framing to avoid "off" shots. The shot below lacks the balance that I spoke about earlier; the microphone is off-centre and Conor (left) takes up slightly more room in the frame. 

Music video:

Types of Music

Organic 

Organic artists' main focus is music and so business and finance come second. Organic often appeals to a niche but can appeal to a mass audience too.

The Beatles are a good example of an "organic" band as they began as a group of friends with a shared interest in music. Realising this, they formed the band and began earning virtually no money, playing gigs in places like Hamburg, Germany. The boys continued writing and composing music with an ever-growing audience until Brian Epstein managed to sign them a record deal. Despite this, the love and passion for music never shifted. The only difference was that they were beginning to gain popularity worldwide- performing on the Ed Sullivan Show in America. After doing so, The Beatles became the world's biggest music sensation of the 1960s.

The Beatles members:

Paul McCartney
John Lennon
George Harrison
Ringo Starr

The Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in America:

Radiohead is also a good example of an organic band. More recently, Thom Yorke has formed a supergroup called Atoms For Peace which is a modern example of organic music.

Radiohead:                                                                             

Atoms for Peace:

Radiohead's "No Surprises" on OK Computer, 1997.

Thom Yorke performing in the "Ingenue" music video for Atoms For Peace's debut album Amok.

Synthetic

Synthetic artists are driven by the record label and the money. They often have little control in the kind of music they create; their image and target audience is highly controlled by the big bosses for example Simon Cowell with One Direction. Through X Factor, Simon Cowell noticed potential in the individual acts: Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. Seeing a gap in the market for boy groups, Cowell decided to put the five young males into one big group. 

Their dress, appearance and character are manufactured to appeal to a variety of young girls: 

Here, One Direction sing Coldplay's Viva La Vida on the X Factor and it is clear that their image has been carefully constructed to appeal to the younger female audience with modern, cool fashion and hairstyles. 

Little Mix is another example of a synthetic, manufactured group. Like One Direction, they were signed by Simon Cowell on his record label, Syco. Again, it is clear that their fun, upbeat, current look and music is made to appeal to the young female audience.



Their most recent single is Salute which has reached 25 million views on Youtube.

The Music Industry: Record Labels

Major Record Labels

"The Majors"

The music industry is dominated by four multi-national corporations:


Universal Music Group

Artists signed to this label include:

• The Game 
• Ja Rule
• Lorde

Sony Music
Artists signed to this label include:

• Jennifer Hudson
• Sia
• Usher

Warner Records
Artists signed to this label include:

• Biffy Clyro
• Foals
• Kimbra

These record labels are referred to as "The Majors". They are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as film, TV and electronics.

Major-independents

The 'majors' own, or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companies in companies in order to reach different audiences in different genres.



Island Records

Artists signed to this label include:

• Jessie Ware
• JP Cooper
• Half Moon Run

Roc Nation

Artists signed to this label include:

• Rihanna
• Grimes
• Kanye West

Kanye West is signed to Roc-A-Fella (founded by Jay-Z) which acts as a subsidiary of Universal. It was founded as an independent record company however major deals with Universal has brought success with a new American Entertainment Company, "Roc Nation".




Syco Records



Artists signed to this label include:

• One Direction (joint U.S. deal with Columbia records)
• Tamera Foster
• Sam Bailey

Syco Entertainment, who own the X Factor and Britain's Got Talent franchises, is a joint global venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment where Syco Music is the subsidiary.

Independents

There are a huge number of small companies with little or no financial connection to the majors. They often concentrate on a small number of acts, within specialised niches in the industry. It is often that record labels begin as independents, but then are bought by a major and then become major-independents.

Domino Records

Domino Records is a highly successful independent; founded in 1993 by Laurence Bell and his partner Jacqui Rice. Many early releases were artists who were in the USA that were signed to Drag City, forming a relationship that is active to this day.



Recent high profile releases include Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys who have brought publicity. Domino is now one of the longest running and most successful independent record labels in the UK.

The company have a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, NY that handles releases in the US. There is also a German division called "Domino Deutschland" and a French division called "Domino France".

In 2011, they announced that it was beginning a book publishing division called "The Domino Press". The first book released on 3rd February 2011 was by James Yorkston, a Scottish folk musician, titled:‘It’s Lovely To Be Here – The Touring Diaries Of A Scottish Gent’.