Film Noir Music Video test

In class we were put into groups and given the task to create a video based of the brief we chosen and the video had to be in the genre of film noir. We decided that we could not use the normal film noir conventions because this is rarely done in music video. So we then made a video that was more of a spoof of a film noir with the black and white filter and to play around with lighting, rather than focussing on the soundtrack that a typical film noir would have. 

To create the shadow effect seen in the video we placed the light in specific points behind the camera so that the shadow could either been seen more clearly or in a different position. This proved difficult as we discovered playing with light does not always work out the way you planned and so this take sup a lot of time trying to get right. We used a variation of lights which included key light and a back light. This helped create a stronger shadow with the backlights mainly being our phones which we could spread out a lot. 

Overall this task has helped me understand the challenges of creating a film noir music video and also a music video in general. This is because its hard to get the right pacing of shots that you need to ensure that the music matches them in post production and so re shoots for certain shots had to take place for this reason. This task has given me an insight in what I will need to do and achieve when creating my own music video concept. 

History of music video

History of Music video

The first sign of music videos being produced dates back to the 1920s where short films were made accompanied by pieces of music. Cartoons and animaton in general was used during the 1930s where the actual artists would perform live action segments in-between the animations. These were almost scene as musicals at the time because these would be played in theatres and so people would go to the theatre to enjoy would was the basis of music video. The preferred genre at this moment in time was either Blues or Jazz as this was the pop music genre during the 1920s and 1930s. Hollywood musicals were the next big thing during the 30s and 40s and inspiration was taken by many artists later on in the future such as Michael Jackson and Madonna. The first so called music video that was created for promotinal purposes was Ladislav Rychmans 'Lets get to the apartment' in 1958.  The late 1950s and 1960s were the beginning of the short film phase and so artists wanted to represent their music through this new medium.

Scorpio Rising directed by Kenneth Anger was a video containing barely any dialogue and just music audio. In 1964 The Beatles decided to use this medium which of course would make this a wide spread a global medium that people would enjoy. The video was for the song 'A hard days night' and it was still created with the short film aspect installed and so still contained dialogue sequences. However The Beatles broke new ground in 1965 with their next music video 'Help!'. This is because it contained many of the aspects that many of the modern music videos that we see today contain. It employed rhythmic cross-cutting with contrasting long shots and close-ups and unusual shots and camera angles, such as the shot 50 seconds into the song in which George Harrison's left hand and the neck of his guitar are seen in sharp focus in the foreground while the completely out-of-focus figure of John Lennon sings in the background. These are key conventions of music video which would last all the way to modern times. These promotional music videos would continue throughout the 60s and early 70s with artists such as The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd both having videos directed by Peter Whitehead.Throughout this period of the 60s and 70s the genres of rock and funk were at the forefront of these music videos and so we can infer that as the genre of music evolves then so does the genre of music video.

Television was the next big thing to impact the way music videos worked. The British TV show Top of The Pops began to play music videos on television in the 70s and so the audience for music videos would increase massively. Coming towards the late 70s music videos such as Queens 'Bohemian Rhapsody' directed by David Mallet and Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' were created and transformed the format of music video into a creative art which was made up of stylised  expressionistic images, sounds, melodies and lyrics which culminate in a promotional package with the albums released. But th 1980s was when music video really started to become apart of the mainstream. In 1981 the U.S. channel MTV was launched with a 24 hour a day channel which would only play music videos. This would cause music video to be an integral part of promoting music and music in general by the mid 1980s. New and cheaper editing technology was also created in the 80s allowing directors to create more of what they wanted there vision to be.

It then moved onto the 90s where directors were starting to be recognised as very creative people and were credited more often when the music video aired. This signifys that music video was now a very artistic medium and tells us that it was now a very professional thing to do. This was even more so when these directors also went on to direct feature films which shows that a director can start their career as a music video director and so this medium appealed to a lot of people by this point and was basically a global and mainstream sucess that was requried by artists to produce. 2005 saw the launch of YouTube which is still to do this day the main place where people will view music videos, this however concludes that music videos have become a promotion for the artist itslef and the album that they may be promoting as well because it is basically free to view music videos by this point. This also had an impact on how music videos were made because the main theme for music videos within the last 10-15 years is people having fun and dancing which is the main convention of music video in modern times. The internet is now the foundation for music video as the website Vevo was also created in Decemeber 2009 giving even more emphasis for it to be a nesesaty for artists to create one.