Music Videos Over The Last 3 Decades - Part 1

1) I watched 9 different music videos from different decades to inspire the one I am going to make. What I learned from watching them is that all music videos are different and have their own unique style to them. Some of the older videos that I watched have very different technology offered to them compared to the newer ones. For example, in older music videos, the quality of the filmed video wasn't as clean as newer videos because of the difference in technology. Another thing I noticed was in the older videos, their were a lot less lights, props etc. to add more decoration into the music video, it was a lot simpler than newer ones today. Although each music video from any generation has a different style to it, something that inspired me actually ties all the music videos from any generation to one place, they all share a story. That's what I want in my music video.

2) I considered the music video, Runaway by Kanye West as a work of art. I consider this a work of art because the video was 35 minutes of absolute talent. Kanye West directed and starred in the work of art. He sang, dance and played different roles in different situations through out the video. Kanye's music emphasizes and makes the scenes in the video more powerful because of how strong his lyrics are. He sings from the heart and displays how he feels in the 35 minutes of pure talent. For example, closer to the end at about 20 minutes into the video, he sings and has ballet dancers display his feelings. The ballet dancers are soft and emotional as they dance and this emphasizes and really makes you understand how Kanye feels and the message he conveys in his work of art and his music video.

3) There are lots of changes between older videos and newer ones in terms of lighting, editing and sophistication. For example, in older videos, the lighting is a lot more dim and calm so you can focus on the music in the video rather than the distracting lights (colour, flashes). In older videos and newer videos, editing changes a lot. In older ones, the editing is a lot less. You feel as if nothing is edited because the editors want you to feel like the video is real and less edits. In terms of sophistication, the difference between older and newer videos is huge. In older videos, people are a lot more sophisticated. They are respectful towards how they dress (covering clothing) and how they speak (less swearing). In newer videos, you would see less sophisticated people. More intimate scenes with lots of explicit language.

4) The Arcade Fire video compares to the older decades because its similar to the older ones. It has audience interaction and is filmed in populated areas, like a neighbourhood filled with people living there. The lighting is very dim and creates are simple tone.

5) In my opinion, I think music videos will eventually go back to the more sophisticated tone. I think there will be an artist that eventually decides that having more intimate music videos, or videos with people doing drugs will think that it isn't right to expose these things to viewers. That artist will not fully go back to the original music video from older decades, but maybe will combine both new and old with an appropriate taste.