Michael Jackson The Legend

This video for Thriller is not just one of Michael Jacksons most famous videos but it is one of the most famous videos ever! The dance routine has actually become legendary - so much so that we were taught it in PE a few years ago when learning about different types of dancing. What i think is interesting about this video is that it is one of the only ones i can think of where the narrative turns into the performance. In most videos they are seperate but here Michael Jackson is walking with his girlfirend (the narrative) and then he and the backing dancers begin to dance and sing (the performance) while the girl is still near by. It has become a completely iconic video and i think it is one of the main reasons why Michael Jackson has become known as the King of pop.

This video shows are very passionate performance from Michael Jackson which is one of the main reasons why i think it is so successful. Additionally there is a lot of special effects used which make it look very high budget and quite epic as a video as it shows sweeping landscpaes. Although we could never hope to replicate the high scale look and amazing special effects i think what this video does show me is the need for a passionate and really commited performance as this will really make or break a video - it doesnt matter how good the idea is if the performance is not too good.

Let's Dance to Joy Division

Joy Division were an English rock band formed in 1976 in Manchester. They consisted of Ian Curtis Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris.
Ian Curtis, the lead singer, had depression and while also struggling with epilepsy. This meant that live performances were difficult, as he often had seizures on stage leaving him feeling ashamed, despite audiences sometimes thinking it was part of the performance. In spite of the increasing ill health of Curtis, but the band filmed a promotional video for the forthcoming "Love Will Tear Us Apart" single that month. The night before the bands first American Tour in May 1980, Curtis committed suicide, by hanging himself in his kitchen. Joy Division's album was released posthumously and the single 'Love Will Tear us Apart' became one of their highest charting release.



…This song is referenced in ‘The Wombats’ song ‘Let’s dance to joy division’, as towards the end of the song they sing ‘so let the love tear us apart’.

The Wombats are an Indie band from Liverpool. They comprise of Matthew Murphy and Dan Haggis and Tord Overland-Knudsen. The band met in 2003 at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. In 2006, the band released their debut album "Girls, Boys, and Marsupials" which was only available in Japan. But by 2007 they had released an album in the UK The Wombats Proudly Present: A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation, with singles including "Backfire at the Disco" and "Moving To New York".



When listening to their song ‘Let’s dance to Joy Division’ I realised that although it seems upbeat and jolly, when actually listening to the lyrics it is quite sad because they are talking about dancing happily but to a song sung by a man who was very depressed and ashamed. The key word is IRONY (‘Let’s celebrate the irony), and so that’s what I based my pitch around…

My idea for ‘The Wombats’ music video is that it begins with the band walking up to a house and going inside where there is a house party going on. As the music is happy and upbeat I would want the band, and everyone at the house party to be wearing bright colours such as red, blue and yellow – and T-shirts with happy slogans or smiley faces on. However as the band walk round the house people should be having a really bad time; ie- being sick, having big fights, crying – yet smiling at the band as they go by; therefore getting in the ironic element. As this is going on this should be cross cut with shots of the band playing in the same room as Joy Division were in their video for ‘Love will tear us apart’ (this bit should be shot in the dull colours of their music video too). When the song goes quiet 2/3 of the way through everything should go dark at the house party and the wombats should be moving through the crowd of people in silhouette – then when the music starts up again everyone from the house party should be in the joy division style room that the band were playing in (in the cross cutting) and the colours should be brighter and everyone dances to the music until the end.

PERFORMANCE OR NARRATIVE?

Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake, 4 Minutes - A PERFORMANCE BASED VIDEO

This video is based purely around the performance. Both Madonna and Justin Timberlake are massive A-list stars so therefore they are selling themselves as an image and the faces of this record. The video focuses on their dance routine - however this is not just the same as any other music video featuring a dance routine. This is because special effects are used frequently to make it interesting and the dance take place in strange places - for example, the supermarket.

Mark Ronson ft.Daniel Merriweather, Stop Me - A NARRATIVE BASED VIDEO

This video is one of the only ones i can find that is purely narrative, there is not cut- away to the band or singer at any time. I think this is really interesting as the storyline is quite strange and surreal therefore it hooks your attention well. Other videos you can flick in and out of easily, but as this one has such a strange storyline you want to watch it from the beginning - right through until the end. The video follows a man as he finds a 'magic' pair of shoes which walk him around a city, and he is unable to remove them. I have described this as surreal and strange because this has absolutley no relevence to the song whatsoever. Overall i think it is a very successful video as it is very memorable and interesting - as it makes you want to keep watching and despite the fact that we do not see the artist once, it is still very memorable for this specific song.

Genre Moodboard

I decided to make a genre mood board, in order to think about all the different genres of music that there are, and which ones would be best to do for our music video. This moodboard shows everthing from Pop to Rock to Regge to Dance to Country to Motown and everything inbetween! When looking at this mooodboard i think it is quite obvious - even if you didn't know the singer or band - to guess which genre of music they represent based on clothing, make up and even race. For example I don't think there are many caucasian regge stars and the crazy balck&white make up shown on the band Kiss immediatley implies that they are a heavy rock band, its is very unlikely they would be singing pop music now isn't it? This made me realise that image and styling of the singer/band in our video will have to be very well done in order to represent the genre accurately - leading to a successful video.

...MORE CONTROVERISAL MUSIC VIDEOS

Christina Aguilera - Dirrty (2002)

Christina Aguilera broke away from her squeaky-clean image with this video. It was directed by David LaChapelle and depicts what was described as "a post-apocalyptic orgy", featuring nudity, wrestling, boxing and revealing outfits such as chaps. The video generated such controversy that many TV companies only played the ‘edited’ version on their channels. Protests even occurred in Thailand over Thai-language posters in the video that translate to eg - "Thailand's Sex Tourism" – leading to it being banned to Thai TV. This video was such a shock to the world due to the vast contrast between this and her previous image – but whether people loved or hated it, it certainly is one of Aguilera’s most memorable videos

The Prodigy - Smack my B*tch Up (1997)
This is probably one of the most controversial music videos ever; as it features everything from the lyrics encouraging violence against women to nausiating shaky camera work, to drug taking, driving under the influence, fighting in clubs and a lot of nudity. However there is a twist at the end as the “protagonist” turns put to be female. Although universally banned from television, massive demands on MTV meant they did show the video, but only after midnight, following a warning. In 2002 the unedited version of this video was aired on MTV2 as it was #1 on the countdown of "Most Controversial Video" in MTV's history.

CONTROVERSIAL MUSIC VIDEOS

Madonna - Like A Prayer (1989)

The highly controversial music video for the song was directed by Mary Lambert. It was criticised for its narrative which included Madonna making love to Saint Martin de Porres - which some thought was a black version of Christ. The Catholic iconography also offended people as it included a scene where Madonna developed stigmata, and cross burning imagery, however the video did gain praise for its interpretation on discrimination, rape, and faith. It even made MTV's countdown of "100 Videos That Broke The Rules" in 2005, and for the 25th anniversary of MTV (2006), the viewers voted this video as the "Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time". Shocking videos like this one really are the ones that we remember, as even now 20 years after it was made it’s still gripping, shocking and a great video for today’s audience, as shown by its acknowledgement in these recent polls.

Pink - Sober (2008)

This video seems fairly normal at first as it is Pink sitting on a bed singing, however we are given an indication as to the strange, surreal video ahead as there is a TV in the room flashing with white noise. We then see a party in the house Pink is in, she walks into the bathroom and another version on Pink is there (throwing up in the toilet). While it is actually quite common for artists to play more than one of themselves in a video, these characters never usually cross paths. As the video progresses it become more an more surreal and strange, soon we see flashes of Pink in a white room, dressed all in white, which signifies a mental hospital. Later on to add to the disturbing feel of the video, Pink is on her bed kissing, herself (the alter-ego she crossed paths with in the toilet) – very weird, and controversial as I am pretty sure that this has never been done before.

And so it begins..

This blog is now open! yay
iam so looking forward to doing this music video project, and there will be many many posts very very soon - woohooo