Realism

Before the age of MTV and other music video station, bands and musicians had a few opportunities to make in an impression to an audience on a televised scale. With late night talk shows and variety shows of the early 60’s, musicians had the chance to brainstorm an idea for a live event. When it comes to live event the sequences are very detailed and planned out. For instance the camera angles of each member of the band and the background or setting of the event all amplify the music and the overall experience; when watching these event people could get an idea of the music and appearance of the members in the band. Members of the band playing a different instrument would have a moment where the camera would concentrate on them with the sound of the instrument being amplified to increase the experience of the music. This was a form of music video before the idea of MTV ever came along. This is still a relevant theme in our society today; there is always a band on a late night talk show. When people watch these shows now they compare the live event to a music video they’ve seen of the song being preformed.

MTV: Doing what needs to be done

MTV as people remember it is a thing of the past. Music videos have been left in the rearview mirror for a few years now. MTV is more of a reality TV station, which is probably in the best interests of the station. The channel is more of a brand that younger generations identify with. With the evolution of the Internet there is no need for long drawn out shows of countless music videos when someone can look for whatever they want in a matter of seconds on their computer. I remember watching MTV waiting to see a certain video I wanted to see and it may have never came on. MTV had to come up with a strategy to keep the viewers watching for long durations of time instead of their viewers channel surfing. So having shows that people want to watch on a normal basis was something that had to be done.

Having shows on MTV is nothing radically new; there were shows on throughout the early 90’s like Real World, and Bevies & Butthead. Now it’s just that the channel is predominately overran with shows instead of music videos. The title of the channel “Music Television” is not really relevant anymore but the channel is a brand name and that’s what sells. I haven’t watched MTV in a few years mainly because it doesn’t have anything to offer me anymore, as I was stating previously with the evolution of the Internet and sites like YouTube and Dailymotion people can easily watch whatever they want whenever they want. I think that MTV will always have a place on television and will also have an influence with younger generations. Musicians and artist will also play a role on the channel as more of a traditional homage to years past, but music videos will probably become less and less. MTV will always be associated with music and they do still have events like the MTV music videos awards, which are still a big deal to people. There are other channels that have adapted the MTV formula and show music videos on a more regular schedule. A channel that comes to mind is Fuse, which is really cool I think. Not do they play music videos but they also do live concerts and in-depth interviews with the artist, and they even that stabs at MTV occasionally. The channel can’t be found on basic cable but on satellite TV. For people who love to watch music videos on an actual TV station still have a few options, but ask for MTV its kind of a blueprint of the past.

Music videos in my life today basically consist of watching stuff on YouTube & Dailymotion. I can watch 50 videos of my choice, rather than wait to see videos on TV. Also with the Internet people can be exposed to a larger variety of music that they may have been aware of. Even when MTV showed Music videos regularly there were always videos that were not shown for a number of reasons. In my opinion things have changed for the better and it was just an evolutionary affect of the music television industry.

Commentary

In Jay-z’s video for On to the Next One it displays a strong visualization of strong images that have powerful, but quite meanings. The entire video is in black & white so people aren’t distracted by the colors, but instead concentrate more on the images and actions of the people in the video. Some of the images don’t really correlate to the song or even the rest of the images in the video for that matter, but for some reason the images work. There are flaming basketballs on fire along with burning dice, a skull that has a black liquid being poured on it, a black sneaker with a white liquid being poured on it, and some kind of a ninja woman with weapons that is being showed in slow motion. Some of the lyrics relate to the images of the video such as a Jaguar car, a fingerprint, and throughout the video you see the album logo painted on several objects. Overall I thought the video was very different for its genre and I liked the sequences of images, and it went really well with the song which I liked.

Style

Style extends not only the visual sense of a music video, but it can also symbolize and convey the overall meaning of a song. The colors, outfits, and the actions going on in the videos say a lot about the subgenre of the music. Though music videos collaborate and cross breed genres. Each genre of its own has unspoken criteria that define their music. In the 80’s metal scene it was crazy hair and make up with sexy women all over the rock stars. This is kind of a new theme in rap videos; they throw around large amounts of money and beautiful woman just lounge around them. The style is the being conveyed in my opinion is that money gives you sometimes-unattainable things in easy fashion. Style can change the vibe of a video in a extreme way and is a very powerful tool in the music industry. I don’t think Lady Gaga’s career would be as successful if it were not for her outlandish music video persona and well as Jay- Z.

Current Status of Music Video Production

I’m currently in the creative stage of the process. I’m playing around with a lot of video filters and vibrant colors that I feel will visually enhance the imagery andthe experience for the viewers. The song is a bit edgy and I want the video to look modern and progressive. I want it to have a Robert Rodriguez Sin City kind of look and feel to it. I basically have all of the filters and music I need. I’m still coming up with a theme for the video at this stage.