1. What camera angles, shots,
movement & position, are still used today from the “Hard Day’s Night”
performance music videos.
There are features still used
today from the Beatles album, A Hard Days Night performance videos such as
filming in a studio where the Beatles perform as a live band in a studio. The
camera angles are medium shots such as on John Lennon and the other band
members paying their instruments. There are also some close ups on the drummer
whilst playing the drums. This “experimental phase” is still used today in
music videos from artists such as Adele and One direction. Pan shots, as used
in the Hard days nights video “If I fell”, are also used in artists today such
as James Bay – Scars. This is filmed in a studio and shows the whole band but
with main focus on the singer James Bay. We see some medium shots but the focus
is on pan and rotates around the front of the band like in the Beatles Hard
Days night performance videos. Similarly, black and white is used but in the
James Bay music performance, It is a filter and used to draw our attention solely onto the artists ability of playing the guitar and captivating him. This is also the case in Sia’s
music video for her song “Cheap Thrills” which deliberately depicts a black and
white TV.
James Bay - Scars Official Music video
2. Discuss what the appeal was of MTV in the 1980's? Analyse in relation to Thriller/Video killed the radio star
MTV
was successful in promoting the careers of performers such as Prince, Duran
duran, Michael Jackson and Madonna where there videos played heavily in its
early stages. The concept of a video clip to accompmany ana rtist or band was important in advertising and promtoing their careers and influence the viewer to then consume merchandise and CD's.
Buggles "Video Killed tha radio star" was the first ever music vidoe to appear on television, on MTV in 198. The success was due to the channel appealing to the youth culture. The video, directed by Russell Mulcahy strred composer Hanz Zimmer on the keyboard
3. Discuss what elements of the Marilyn Monroe musical scene are borrowed by
Madonna? Think in terms of the similarities of Mise en Scene: location,
setting, costumes, props, body language etc.
The
musical scene of Madonna’s “Material Girl” takes inspiration from Marilyn Monroe’s
“Diamonds are a girls best friend”. This “deconstruction” share similarities in
the location of filming. A stage full of men in tuxedos surround the one woman
(Monroe) with the main colour red (holding red love hearts) and a very feminine
pink outfit which highlights her being a woman. The colours are significant in
both to make the women visually appealing. It is clear Madonnas outfit is
almost identical to that of Monroes as
both wear a soft pink dress with jewellery around the neck and arm. By wearing
this, we associate Monroes as a figure of class and wealth thus empowering
women. Madonna copying this creates a materialistic image of women as she is
said to be living in a “material world”.
