Essay on Music videos.

 Music videos were first introduced to the world in the early 20th century. They were first named talkies or soundies. In the last century we have seen a massive progress in the video music industry!

Nowadays, music videos are not just 3 minutes of an artist singing, music videos have increasingly advanced with tons of different styles and unique directors!

 Basically, music videos are short films with a concept and an artist's music playing in the background. Music videos are very popular nowadays as they hugely boost an artist's record sales and these videos help the artist be closer to his fans. In addition, music videos are very often created for promotional or sponsor purposes.

 During the 50's, Tony Bennett claimed that he produced "the first music video" when he was filmed walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London in 1956, with the resulting clip being set to his recording of the song "Stranger in Paradise". The clip was sent to UK and US television stations and aired on shows including Dick Clark's American Bandstand! Although, in the mid-40's, Louis Jordan, a famous singer, created short films for some of his song which included of people acting and dancing frantically! (See below)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCH_n9CTTbA

 As the years passed, music videos became even more relevant, artistic and extremely professional! There is not 1 artist signed to a label that has never done a music video clip. Nowadays, music videos help in the making of an artist; and not only. Hundreds of people are needed to make a video clip; For example, directors, scriptwriters,make-up technicians, costume designers and these are just a few on top of my head.

 For the past decade, music videos have become very futuristic ande aesthetic with loads of of them having hidden meanings. In addition, a large amount of artists use their video clips to ''throw shade'' at other artists without having to 'namedrop' them!

 For example, one of the most abstract music videos of the past decade, is Kanye West's 'Famous'. The use of wax figures for Taylor Swift, Donald Trump and others has been considered as a hugely provocative move. I am 100% sure that at least 70% of the millenials would agree with the fact that Kanye is the most influential person of the decade due to his professionalism and his exasperating lyrics and music videos!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR-j2veFEZI

 In 2009, Kanye interrupted Swift's  Grammy award speech and he said that Taylor 'didn't deserve to win'. Kanye frequently apologised for the event in various interviews, either on TV, or online. After that incident the pair did have a short professional relationship but after ''Famous'', they started 'beefing' again! Watch 

Explanation of 5 music videos.

1. Mac Miller - My Favourite Part (feat. Ariana Grande)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_8xCOSekog
    Mac Miller was arguably one of the greatest talents of the past decade. The now deceased ,Pittsburgh-born rapper, rose to popularity in 2010 with his mixtape '' K.I.D.S.''  Mac Miller had a known addiction to substances like promethazine, lean and Xanax; 'accidental overdose' was the reason to his death.
   
    Ariana Grande, a know figure due to her roles in Nickelodeon's ' Victorious ' is one of the most influential and talented woman of the decade. The song was made when Mac and Ariana started dating, in mid-2016. The song's genre is soul.

   In the video, Grande enters her apartment complex in pouring rain and is helped by Miller when she drops her groceries. They enter their rooms and gaze at the wall that separates them, while reeling over their emotions for each other. After rain leaks inside, Miller visits Grande and she pulls him into her room.

2.   The Weeknd - Starboy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Na4j8AVgA
     Abel Makkonen Tesfaye is one of the most known RnB artists in the world. The Canadian, with Ethiopian roots, singer made a name for himself in 2013 when he released his first mixtape titled ' Kiss Land'.  Even though he grew up in a rough environment,where his dad was absent and he tried drugs from just the age of 11; The Weeknd has managed to become one of the world's best-selling artists; selling more than 100 million records.

    In the video, a man in a black ski mask and diamond-encrusted cross is sitting across from The Weeknd, who is zip tied to the chair. The figure then kills The Weeknd by asphyxiating him with a plastic bag. The figure is revealed to be the Starboy incarnation of The Weeknd – his other self represented his Beauty Behind the Madness era. He then walks through a house full of awards that he's received, as well as a portrait of Daft Punk and a panther. He comes upon a large glowing red neon cross, which he grabs and uses to destroy various evidence and history of his older self, including numerous trophies, posters and a crystal chandelier, before setting fire to the closet. Walking through the garage, he passes several luxury automobiles, deciding on a McLaren P1 and drives off with a cat in the passenger seat, which transforms into a panther as he rides off on Mulholland Drive. The video features product placement from clothing company PUMA.The music genre is RnB.

3.  Bad Company - Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp6UBRv9rug
     The type of this music video is a 'Performance Music Video'. The award-winning band recorded their live video on stage in a show in their world tour. The song has since been ranked at number 9 of their top 10 songs of all time.

4.  Travis Scott - Sicko Mode feat Drake
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ONRf7h3Mdk
     The music video for "Sicko Mode" was directed by Dave Meyers and Travis Scott. It was released on October 19, 2018. The video starts off with Scott's red head on a building while a camera zooms into it, and cuts to the next scene of people getting back into some multi-colored houses. Following scenes show Drake walking a dog while being burned by an eclipse and Scott riding a horse. The video ends with Drake and Scott walking away.
   
     Travis Scot, born Jacques Berman Webster, rose to fame in late 2015 with his mixtape called ' Rodeo' which included the Billboard hit ' Antidote ' . Since then he only went upwards becoming one of the best selling artists in the world. The type of song is rap./ 

5.  Camila Cabello - Liar
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsDZix4ZSlU
     For the six-minute romp, the pop star reunites with director Dave Meyers, who also helmed the video for ‘Señorita’, Cabello’s collaboration with Shawn Mendes. The hilariously absurd video opens on the pop star pretending to enjoy a meal with a smooth-talking, materialistic date. The meal ends abruptly when disaster strikes, and Cabello jerks awake from what turned out was just a nightmare.
     This new pop song coulb become the next winter hit.

Style of music videos

In concert:  Guns N' Roses - Paradise City

Animation: Lil Nas X - Panini ft. Dababy

Interpretative:   The Lonely Island - I'm On A Boat ft. T-Pain

Impressionist:

Pastiche:

History of music videos.

    In the middle of 1894, Edward Marks and Joe Stern, two music publishers, came up with the idea of illustrated music videos. They hired George Thomas, an electrician to assist them and take many still pictures so that they could add them together and join them so that it would be illustrated and make it seem real. This was an idea which paved the way for many other production companies to start releasing something more than just the music; release entertainment!

On the second quarter of the century, from 1926 to 1959, Warner Bros created and used the 'Vitaphone', a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects ! It would help in editing and shooting films and musical short films. Musical short films consisted of artists singing their songs, in sync with the official recording of their song.Musical films were another important precursor to music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Inspirational music videos.

80's.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Messagehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PobrSpMwKk4

'The Message' is on of the most influential songs of the 80's decade and

 also the rap and Afro-American community.

 Grandmaster's upbringing grew his hunger and egoism; so the only option he had, was to succeed.

In the music video, poverty, violence, abuse and drug-use are portrayed in order to spread the image of the hood so the world can open their eyes and see how hard life is for an Afro-American!

00's
Andre 3000 - Hey Ya!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWgvGjAhvIw

Andre 3000 is considered to be one of rap's greatest ; if not the best!
While making 'Hey Ya' ,(which is his biggest hit, topping the American charts for 9 weeks and winning him 11 awards!) Andre 300 had already thought of the process and the content of the video clip and he has previously shared that 'he was very excited about that song'! In the video clip, Andre 3000 and the rest of his band can be seen wearing green clothing which symbolises life and energy, something that was required for the shooting of this video clip as Andre was dancing the whole time!

10's
Travis Scott - SICKO MODE feat Drake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ONRf7h3MdkTravis Scott and Drake are arguably the best artists of the past 5 years and their collaboration on Travis Scott album 'Astroworld' was obviously going to be a hit! The music video contains of many women and other factors that state the 'rich life'. Although in some parts, some lyrics and shots do show that the rich life is suitable for everyone as there are many models out in the street showing that Travis does not even care about them; or when Drake says 'Pass this to my daughter, I'ma show her what it took'

Arrangements

Arrangements