Music Video of Choice

For my music video that I will be analysing I have chosen C.R.E.A.M. by the Wu-Tang Clan, which is a hip hop song.

Aspects of Rock music Videos

Icons of Rock

 Rock Music locations

Most rock music videos usually feature shots of the band performing on stage or in a studio as if they were actually performing live for an audience. Some rock music videos may contain shots of the band on streets or backstage at a gig but most tend to have the band performing whether it be at a concert/gig or not.

Rock Music props

Almost all music videos will feature the band and the instruments that they are associated with, even if they aren't always playing them. The most common instruments being guitars and drum sets, you will usually also see microphones along with amplifiers and sometimes other instruments such as keyboards if they're relevant to the song.

Rock Music clothes

Rock stars tend to wear eccentric clothing which has now become symbolic in the genre. Artists such as Kiss and Slash have become easily recognisable with their attire alone and this is why choice of clothing is so very important for rock stars, especially in music videos.


Other conventions of rock would consist of things such as:

The band's logo

Band merchandise

Long hair

Drugs

Sex

Stages, venues

Streets

Rebellious

Attitude

Aggressive

I used Photovisi to make the image collages that I used in this blog post at http://www.photovisi.com from images which I found on the internet.

Music video presentation

Music videos that I like

I like how Take on Me uses a mix of live-action and pencil sketch animation which symbolises the differences in fiction and reality which suits the song well.

One thing which I like in particular about Eminem's Stan is its story telling ability and how it perfectly matches the mood of the song, making it that much more immersive and enjoyable.

Tribute by Tenacious D because of the humorous effect it has on the song as well as the lyrics.

Important music videos

In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film A Hard Day's Night, directed by Richard Lester. Shot in black-and-white and presented as a mock documentary, it interspersed comedic and dialogue sequences with musical ones.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in 1975 was most notable for it being entirely shot an edited on video tape.

In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet's eye catching promo for Ashes to Ashes.

Music videos like we know them today didn't go mainstream until the 1980s when MTV aired Video Killed The Radio Star, beginning an era of 24-hours-a-day music on television.

Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1983 is one of the most, if not the most, influential music video's of all time. It is also the most watched music video of all time and has sold over nine million copies.

What are music videos and early examples

In short, a music video is a filmed or videotaped rendition of a recorded song, often portraying musicians performing the song or including visual images interpreting the lyrics. They usually last around a few minutes and are made to promote the song and have an artistic appeal to them, sometimes displaying some sort of metaphor or message.

The earliest example of a music video came in 1894 where a series of still images were used during live performances to the song, The Little Lost Child by Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern. This became known as the 'illustrated song'.

In 1929 Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called, St. Louis Blues featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song.