Showing posts with label Music Video History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music Video History. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Understanding of Censorship
from looking at the censorship through history and in the news today I have developed an understanding about what is appropriate in music videos and what is not. I will take what i have learnt and inform the rest of my group about the do's and don'ts of music videos.
Censorship
"As the concept and medium of a music video is a form of artistic expression, artists have been on many occasions censored if their content is deemed offensive. What may be considered offensive will differ in countries due to censorship laws and local customs and ethics. In most cases, the record label will provide and distribute videos edited or provide both censored and uncensored videos for an artist. In some cases, it has been known for music videos to be banned in their entirety as they have been deemed far too offensive to be broadcast."
-Wikipedia
1980s
The first ever video to be banned by MTV was Queen’s !982 hit “Body Language” due to the homoerotic undertones, lack of clothing and the amount of sweat. This was belived to be unsitable for the television audience at the time.
Duran Duran’s hit “Girls on Film” was banned by the BBC as it was to sexual as there were several sexual fetishes shown in the video including .topless women wrestling in mud.
1990s
In 1991 the dance sequence of Michael Jacksons “Black or White” video was cut as it showed Jackson touching himself inappropriately. Michael Jacksons most controversial video was “They Don’t Care About Us” as it was banned from MTV, Vh1 and BBC because of the alleged anti-semitic message in the song.
Also in 1991 the country music artist Garth Brooks had his video “The Thunder Roll” was banned from The Nashville Network and Country Music Television for his portrayal of an abusive husband.
Madonna is the artist most associated with music censorship for her highly sexual videos such as “Lucky Star” and “Like a Virgin” as well as homosexuality and references to cross dressing and group sex in “Justify My Love”. The debate over the banning of her “Justify My Love” video resulted in the Canadian music video network MuchMusic launching a program called “Too Much 4 Much”. This program would show banned music videos late at night with a discussion show after where the members would talk about why they though the video was banned.
The Prodigy had their hit “Smack My Bitch Up” banned in several countries due to the depiction of drugs, sexual content and nudity. They also had their single “Firestarter” banned by the BBC because of its obvious references to arson.
2000s
In 2000 Robbie Williams’s video for his hit “Rock DJ” caused controversy as it showed Williams naked and peeling off his own skin revealing flesh. This was banned in the Dominican Republic and censored in the UK.
In 2002 Russian duo t.A.T.u caused controversy with their single “All The Things She Said” as it showed the 2 girls embracing and eventually kissing. Richard and Judy the television presenters began a campaign to have the video banned as they thought it would be highly appealing to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing. The kiss was also choreographed into the girls live performance and when t.A.T.u appeared on Top of the Pops the kiss was replaced by audience footage so that it was not shown on television.
-Wikipedia
1980s
The first ever video to be banned by MTV was Queen’s !982 hit “Body Language” due to the homoerotic undertones, lack of clothing and the amount of sweat. This was belived to be unsitable for the television audience at the time.
Duran Duran’s hit “Girls on Film” was banned by the BBC as it was to sexual as there were several sexual fetishes shown in the video including .topless women wrestling in mud.
1990s
In 1991 the dance sequence of Michael Jacksons “Black or White” video was cut as it showed Jackson touching himself inappropriately. Michael Jacksons most controversial video was “They Don’t Care About Us” as it was banned from MTV, Vh1 and BBC because of the alleged anti-semitic message in the song.
Also in 1991 the country music artist Garth Brooks had his video “The Thunder Roll” was banned from The Nashville Network and Country Music Television for his portrayal of an abusive husband.
Madonna is the artist most associated with music censorship for her highly sexual videos such as “Lucky Star” and “Like a Virgin” as well as homosexuality and references to cross dressing and group sex in “Justify My Love”. The debate over the banning of her “Justify My Love” video resulted in the Canadian music video network MuchMusic launching a program called “Too Much 4 Much”. This program would show banned music videos late at night with a discussion show after where the members would talk about why they though the video was banned.
The Prodigy had their hit “Smack My Bitch Up” banned in several countries due to the depiction of drugs, sexual content and nudity. They also had their single “Firestarter” banned by the BBC because of its obvious references to arson.
2000s
In 2000 Robbie Williams’s video for his hit “Rock DJ” caused controversy as it showed Williams naked and peeling off his own skin revealing flesh. This was banned in the Dominican Republic and censored in the UK.
In 2002 Russian duo t.A.T.u caused controversy with their single “All The Things She Said” as it showed the 2 girls embracing and eventually kissing. Richard and Judy the television presenters began a campaign to have the video banned as they thought it would be highly appealing to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing. The kiss was also choreographed into the girls live performance and when t.A.T.u appeared on Top of the Pops the kiss was replaced by audience footage so that it was not shown on television.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Breaking the Colour Barrier
In the first few years MTV was on the air there were very few black artists shown on the channel and the first non- white act to play on MTV were “The Specials” a white and black integrated band of musicians and vocalists. Apart from the specials many other black artist’s videos were rejected by MTV as they did not fit the strict Rock format of the channel at that time.
Before 1983 Michael Jackson also struggled to get shown on the channel. To break this colour barrier the president of CBS Records, at the time Walter Yetnikoff, spoke out against MTV and threatened to take away MTV’s rights to play any record from the CBS label. After this Michael Jacksons “Billie Jean” began to play regularly on the channel amongst other black artists.
Before 1983 Michael Jackson also struggled to get shown on the channel. To break this colour barrier the president of CBS Records, at the time Walter Yetnikoff, spoke out against MTV and threatened to take away MTV’s rights to play any record from the CBS label. After this Michael Jacksons “Billie Jean” began to play regularly on the channel amongst other black artists.
MTV Channels
Since then more and more music channels have appeared which allows us to watch music videos 24 hours of the day. MTV has a lot of different channels under its name including some which are not music channels. The different music channels are used to appeal to different demographics.
The 5 Main MTV channels have their own individual characters which relate to the genre of music played on the channel.
MTV Hits shows chart hits and very few MTV shows. The channels character is a girl who looks very mainstream and up with times remembering the current and up to date music hits.
MTV Base focuses mostly on R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soul and Urban music and this is why the character is black, with a piercing and baggy clothing as this is the stereo type of R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soul and Urban artists.
MTV is a general music and entertainment channel and as this was the first of the channels the character used to symbolise this is wearing a crown so that it shows that this was the first channel and is the “king”.
MTV Dance is a 24 hour dance music channel and this is why the channels cartoon character is wearing head phones and is in dance clothing.
MTV Rocks (formaley known as MTV Two) is focused on alternative and rock music and this is why the channel character looks like a stereotypical “Rocker” with long hair and black clothing.
VH1 tries to target a more mature sophisticated audience of people between 25 and 44 year olds.
VH1 Classics (now rebranded as MTV Classics) shows music videos and concert footage from the 60’s up to the 90’s and sometimes feature footage from eras as early as the 40’s.
(a rebrand of TMF) when TMF was first launched it was described as being “ designed to replicate the rhythms of the whole family, playing the best pop videos with the biggest pop stars to become the sound track to the British family life." VIVA still uses this concept but films and programs for the sister channels are also shown.
MTV R is purely an entertainment channel showing reality television programs all day.
Mtv Also own the following channels:
• MTV +1
• MTV HD
• Comedy Central
• Comedy Central +1
• Comedy Central Extra
• Comedy Central Extra +1
• Nickelodeon
• Nick Replay
• Nick Jr.
• Nick Jr. 2
• Nicktoons
• Nicktoons Replay
The 5 Main MTV channels have their own individual characters which relate to the genre of music played on the channel.
MTV Hits shows chart hits and very few MTV shows. The channels character is a girl who looks very mainstream and up with times remembering the current and up to date music hits.
MTV Base focuses mostly on R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soul and Urban music and this is why the character is black, with a piercing and baggy clothing as this is the stereo type of R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Soul and Urban artists.
MTV is a general music and entertainment channel and as this was the first of the channels the character used to symbolise this is wearing a crown so that it shows that this was the first channel and is the “king”.
MTV Dance is a 24 hour dance music channel and this is why the channels cartoon character is wearing head phones and is in dance clothing.
MTV Rocks (formaley known as MTV Two) is focused on alternative and rock music and this is why the channel character looks like a stereotypical “Rocker” with long hair and black clothing.
VH1 tries to target a more mature sophisticated audience of people between 25 and 44 year olds.VH1 Classics (now rebranded as MTV Classics) shows music videos and concert footage from the 60’s up to the 90’s and sometimes feature footage from eras as early as the 40’s.(a rebrand of TMF) when TMF was first launched it was described as being “ designed to replicate the rhythms of the whole family, playing the best pop videos with the biggest pop stars to become the sound track to the British family life." VIVA still uses this concept but films and programs for the sister channels are also shown.MTV R is purely an entertainment channel showing reality television programs all day.Mtv Also own the following channels:
• MTV +1
• MTV HD
• Comedy Central
• Comedy Central +1
• Comedy Central Extra
• Comedy Central Extra +1
• Nickelodeon
• Nick Replay
• Nick Jr.
• Nick Jr. 2
• Nicktoons
• Nicktoons Replay
The Launch of MTV
On August 1st 1981at 12:01am MTV was launched and the first ever music video to appear on the channel was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
In the beginning the channel was solely used to play music on 24/7 but now a days you can see live award shows and view reality television programs such as “My Super Sweet Sixteen” and “The Hills”. New reality shows like these have created a new brand of celebrities whereby they are famous for doing nothing apart from being on this show. The format of these kinds of shows are supposed to show the raw reality of the characters lives, the cameras follow the characters around all day for a couple of months so that they can get a good amount of footage to put in the series.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Music Video History
"A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1. The term "music video" first came into popular usage in the early 1980s. Prior to that time, these works were described by various terms including "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional (promo) clip" or "film clip". In Chinese entertainment, music videos are simply known as MTVs because the network was responsible for bringing music videos to popularity in that country.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action."
- Wikipedia
When sound films and talkies first came about there were a lot of short musical films, one of the biggest film series were the Spooney Melodies, produced by Warner Brothers. The film would usually last about 6 minutes and would feature art deco animation and backgrounds as well as the performance of the band, singers and dancers. These short films can be argued as the first music videos.
Musical films, from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, have been very important in influencing modern music videos. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for "Material Girl" which was closely related to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. As well as Michael Jackson's “Bad” video, this was influenced by the stylized dance fights from the film “West Side Story.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action."
- Wikipedia
When sound films and talkies first came about there were a lot of short musical films, one of the biggest film series were the Spooney Melodies, produced by Warner Brothers. The film would usually last about 6 minutes and would feature art deco animation and backgrounds as well as the performance of the band, singers and dancers. These short films can be argued as the first music videos.
Musical films, from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, have been very important in influencing modern music videos. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for "Material Girl" which was closely related to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. As well as Michael Jackson's “Bad” video, this was influenced by the stylized dance fights from the film “West Side Story.
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