History of Music Video

In the 1940's, a man called Bing Crosby who was known as the biggest star in the world in the world (in the western world) when it came to films, music and television. One of his most famous songs was called "White Christmas" of which was made in 1945, and he is known for singing this song in film from 1954 of the same name. However, during the 1940's, he was aged in his late 30's and early 40's so he wasn't as young as he once was which leads me to my next point.

After the "Bing Crosby era", the next biggest star in the world in the 1950's was Frank Sinatra. He was similar to Bing Crosby in what he sang songs, and appeared in films and television. Frank Sinatra however was able to connect more to the female audience as he was younger and appealed more to the female audiences. Frank was the first big star to get such attention from females as was able to get the girls to really scream for him because of how excited they were to see him.

The next big star then really changed the way that young people were in general. Elvis Presley then burst on the scene as the next big star and he had a massive influence on the way young people were back in the late 1950's/early 1960's. His rock and roll style was very different to the music styles that had preceded him. Prior to Elvis, all young people used to dress the way that their elders did. When Elvis burst on the scene with his different style of clothing and the way they he looked, younger people used to try and be like him. Younger people would grease their hair and make it slick back in order to look like him. Elvis also did films, music and television like Bing and Frank did, but he only played his concerts in the USA. Elvis also got the same screaming reception from girls like Frank Sinatra did.

Further on into the 1960's came The Beatles. When The Beatles came about, they had a massive influence on pretty much the world. They were known massively worldwide. When they had conquered the UK, they had a #1 hit in the US, which they allowed them to travel to America and be able to appeal to the American audience. One of the first bits of fame they had, is when they regularly appeared on the TV show "Top of the Pops" and they were able to play their music to a live television audience and gain exposure from that. Younger people also tried to copy The Beatles in the way that they had previously copied Elvis in that they would try to look like The Beatles members. When they went to America, they appeared and played music on "The Ed Sullivan Show", which really exposed them to the American audience. When they appeared on the show, they broke records for amounts of audience viewing figures. They appeared on that show again the next week. They were the first artist to play a concert in a major stadium. They played in the Shea Stadium.

First Music Video

However, they soon got sick of being so popular from women's screams. They then have an idea of recording a short film of them playing music and then offering it all over the world. This is the first music video ever made when they sang the song "Paperback Writer" which contains many of the concepts that are now currently seen in music videos. This music video is just of them performing and singing the song while using lots of different camera angles to show them singing it.




Analysis of Music Video

When they were filming this music video, they inadvertently created a lot of traits which are used in many music videos in modern times. For example, one of the things that they created in this video was the need for lots of close ups. There are lots of close ups in this video, which show all of the band members individual members faces, and close ups are used in most, if not all music videos in modern times, and this idea would of come from this video. Also, the lyrics to the song are disjunctured to the video, as the visuals don't really reflect the lyrics in the song at all. They also used a performance scene for the whole video, in where they are seen to be playing and singing their song, which is also used in many music videos in the modern times.

Analysis of Own Music Video

Seether & Amy Lee - Broken

 In my opinion, I think Laura Mulvey's theory isn't evident within this particular music video. This is because I think that the male gaze isn't used here at all. As you can see from the picture on the right, the male and female character are together and are looked upon as being equals. The male character isn't dominant at all, as they both have equal parts within the video. The spectator can identify with the male and female gaze as the camera is filming from a completely neutral view and doesn't show the man or woman doing anything negative.

 As you can see from the pictures on the right, the music video showcases the actor and actress having their own screen time by themselves, which again demonstrates that they both have agency and are both as important as each other. They also both use similar colours in their clothing and settings to further emphasise this point. The female character within this music video isn't the object of desire because the clothes that she wears aren't revealing at all, and she doesn't shape her body in a way that males would find to be sexual. The actor and actress both have agency and are given equal amounts of screen time. Both the male and female gaze is active as both genders would be interested in this video. The levels of cinematic gaze show that both characters within the music video are important and that men and women are shown to be on equal levels as none of them are seen to be dominant. This is a good example of a music video where Laura Mulvey's theory doesn't apply as women are not seen to be objects of erotic desire, and men and women are given equal amounts of screen time and agency.

Laura Mulvey's Theory and Analysis of Rihanna's Music Video

Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey was a feminine theorist who developed logical theories about modern films and cinema and the way that she saw films. When she watching films, she noticed that modern cinema reflects society and a patriarchal society. She thinks that cinema films are reminiscent of real life society. 

How is patriarchal society reflected in cinema?

One theory that Laura Mulvey has is the way that men and women are viewed within films. Her theory was that she believed that in most films, men are the dominant figures and women are usually the damsel in distress. She believed that men have the agency in films, which means that they have the ability to move the film and make the storyline advance. In most Hollywood films, this is very much the case.


In most Hollywood films, women are seen as being objects of erotic desire. One of Mulvey's theories is that she thinks that women have only two roles in films. These are:

1. An object of erotic desire for characters. 
2. An object of erotic desire for audiences. 

This could be argued as being true in the film Transformers. As seen by the picture, Megan Fox's role in this particular scene is to be a car mechanic. However, with the clothes that she is wearing and the way that she is positioning her body, makes her seem like an object of erotic desire. 

The Gaze

One of the main theories that Laura Mulvey has is about "The Gaze". She believes that The Gaze is from a male point of view, which means that the camera films the storyline from a male point of view and with what a male would like to see. The idea that women are made out to be objects of erotic desire, is evident with the male gaze as it is something that the majority of males would like to see. The male characters often direct their gaze towards female characters. Male audiences would usually like the idea of this, whereas the female audience may feel uncomfortable watching it. The male gaze is active, and the female gaze is passive. The audience of the film is made to identify with the male gaze because of the way that the storyline is set out, and what the camera films. There is 3 levels of the cinematic gaze. The first one is when the male character looking at the female character. The second gaze is when the camera shows that the male character is looking at the female character. The third gaze is when us as an audience, re looking through the camera at the male character looking at the female character. 

Using Laura Mulvey's theory in a Music Video

If we use Laura Mulvey's theory for this music video, we can see that this theory is definitely true because of the way that Rihanna presents herself and the other people in the video. Also, with the lyrics that she sings also presents herself as an object of erotic desire. The Mise-En-Scene of this music video definitely conforms with this idea, as Rihanna herself is wearing skin tight clothing whereas others are wearing very little clothing. This agrees with the idea of The Male Gaze as male audiences would find this more appealing to watch and therefore the male gaze would definitely be active. Rihanna also uses her body and bends over cars and makes her body a sexual object and the object of erotic desire. All women in the video make themselves objects of erotic desires because of the clothes that they wear. The audience is made to identify with the male gaze because of the way that the camera is positioned within the video.

Record Labels

Major Record Labels

In the music industry, there are 4 major companies which are known as The Majors. The Majors are backed by businesses which have branches in other forms of Media. This would include: TV, Film and more. These companies are called Conglomerates. There are 4 majors:

• Universal 

Artists include - ABBA, Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses

• Sony Music

Artists include - George Michael, Ozzy Osbourne and Duran Duran

• EMI

Artists include - David Bowie, Robbie Williams and John Lennon

• Warner Bros

Artists include - Craig David, Metallica and Kylie Minogue 

Major-Independents

Most of the Major-Independents own or have a licence to smaller independent companies. They usually own quite a few of these independent companies and they are able to reach different audiences as the smaller independent companies that they own specialise in different genres of music which appeal to different audiences.

• Syco

Artists include - Westlife, Susan Boyle and Olly Murs

• RCA

Artists include - Christina Aguilera, Daughtry and Jermaine Jackson

• Virgin

Artists include - Boy George, Phil Collins and Janet Jackson

• Island

Artists include - Enrique Inglesias, Snow Patrol and U2

• Columbia

Artists include - AC/DC, Aerosmith and Celine Dion

Independents

Independent companies are ones of which that have little/no financial connections to the Majors. The Independent Companies often have a very small number of acts as they usually don't have the finances to have contracts with more acts. Independent Companies usually base themselves on specialised niches which have their own music styles. Record Labels often start as independents but are bought by Majors and become Major-Independents. 

An example of a highly successful Independent company is "Domino Records". 

Different Types Of Music

In the music industry, all artists can be divided up into 2 categories which define their music and what the purpose of their music is. The 2 categories that these artists can be divided into is Organic and Synthetic


Organic

The definition of an organic artist is an artist who has grown and developed organically. This means that they have grown into the success that they are today. Organic artitsts are also artists who put their music first and are more passionaite about creating good music, and they will create their own music with their own unique styles and niches in their songs. Organic artists often appeals to a niche audience but it can appeal to a mass audience too. A good example of this was the band "The Beatles". In particular, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were very passionate about creating their own music as they spent alot of their free time writing songs for the band to perform. They was very passionaite and dedicated about their own music. The Beatles were a massive success (especially in America) as there was nothing like them before. They are famous for being on the "Ed Sullivan Show" as they performed some of their songs then, and really attracted the American audience.  Record Labels would try and tie them into a contract and then would target specific audiences with The Beatles' own written music.



Synthetic

The definition of a synthetic artist is an artist who has been made/put together from a business point of view. These artists do not put the music first, they put the business/financial side first. In these situations, the record label are the people who decide everything and control everything that the particular artist does. A good example of this is the band "The Monkees". After The Beatles had had their success, american record labels saw that there was a gap in the market for another boyband who could achieve the same success as The Beatles, but as an American version. They decided to create a band of strangers, who had little musical talent so they could achieve success and appeal to the American audience, as The Beatles had done. This gap in the market was exploited by The American record labels. This was why they were so successful. They didn't even play their own instruments as some of the band members weren't talented enough. Money was the ultimate motivation for these record labels, and music was always put second. They was able to target different audience by getting specific band members in the band.

A modern day example of a Synthetic band is the band "One Direction". They all auditioned as solo artists for the UK X-Factor, and then Simon Cowell decided to put them together as a boyband as he felt that there was a gap in the market for a new, young boyband. This is one of the reasons why they have been so successful as the gap in the market was exploited with a Synthetic way.