Research Into Music Videos

I researched old music videos and the history of their development in order to help me get a better understanding of them. I analysed them and compared them to each other. I also looked at music videos of a similar genre to Florence and the Machine, as well as other music videos by Florence and the Machine.

Codes and Conventions of a Music Video:
I looked at the Key Features of Music Videos, which were theorised by Goodwin:

1.      Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

2.      There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

3.      There is a relationship between music and visuals

4.      The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work

5.      There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

6.      There is often intertextual reference

I looked at many music videos and found that nearly all of these were featured in each one, and I will try to convey as many as possible in my own music video as well as trying to develop and challenge them.


The History of Music Videos
When researching, I looked at the historical development of music videos:

In the 1920s, the synchronisation between sound and vision was developed, and led to the making of the first ever sound film in 1927.

This allowed the making of television music programmes such as "Ready Steady Go" and "Top of the Pops" where artists would promote themselves by performing their songs. In the 1970s, Top of the Pops began to play music videos as well as having artists perform.

The first type of music videos were by The Beatles. They were called TV Promos and consisted of the band singing to their song in different settings. For example, the TV promo for Strawberry Fields Forever, which is very surreal and psychedelic.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen was the first music video, released in 1975. After the success of the video, it became regular practise for record companies to produce promotional videos for their artists' single releases.


















MTV launched in 1979, first airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

By the 90s, there were many iconic music videos, such as Girls on Film by Duran Duran, Express Yourself by Madonna and Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel.

Some of the first music videos competed to be highly creative and original in their concepts and great videos, like those mentioned above, also led to the making of music video award shows, such as the one by MTV, launched in 1984.


Other Music Videos by Florence and the Machine:
I analysed three other Florence and the Machine videos to ensure I had enough knowledge of her typical type of video, which would then influence mine.

Rabbit Heart:

This video is very fairytale like as I feel it slightly resembles "Alice in Wonderland" due to the dinner party scene and the rabbit lyrics. Alice in Wonderland is quite a dark and disturbing story which suits the lyrics. The video is also similar to the gothic feel of Drumming Song's lyrics and video.

There is a lot of choreography in the video, which is similar to the video for Drumming Song where Florence and four other girls are dancing. Although most of the dancing in the Drumming Song video relates to the lyrics of the song and conveys them well, I think that it is a bit weird and maybe too over the top.

The concept of the video and the lyrics for Rabbit Heart is quite dark. The lyrics state "This is a gift; it comes with a price; who is the lamb and who is the knife", talking about sacrifice, and the video shows Florence being put in a white coffin, still alive and left floating on a lake; so she is the sacrifice. Sacrifice implies the killing of a human or animal in return for something from from a God. The lyrics also talk about Midas - a King from Greek Mythology who turned everything he touched to gold. This mythical based lyric supports the fact that Florence tends to write about very imaginative things, like fairytales and emotion-fuelled lyrics that I will need to try and convey in my music video.

Florence's outfit is similar to her regular dresses when performing, with long flowing material. She accessorizes extravagantly with big earrings and a bejewelled headdress.

The video is very light, being set in the day time with Florence in a white dress and the other actors wearing light colours. These colours are most opposite to the colours used in the Drumming Song video, which are very dark.

 You've Got The Love:

I found that this video is much more "main stream" than the rest of Florence and the Machine's videos. This is because it does not reflect the typical motifs that recur across her videos, the gothic concepts and dark colours. The lyrics are also very different to typical Florence and the Machine songs, mainly as she did not write these ones.

Florence is shown very voyeuristically in this video, wearing a revealing outfit consisting of a very tight leotard and hotpants. She also dacnes quite provocatively. This video is much more voyeuristic than other videos I have looked at, although she does tend to show off her legs in a lot of them.



Heavy in Your Arms:

This video is much more dark and haunting compared to the other videos by Florence and the Machine. It is all in black and white, which gives it a very dark atmosphere, complementing the concept in the lyrics.

The video consists of Florence lying down a lot, representing her "heaviness", and being carried by a man, her love. This concept is conveyed very well through relationships between visuals and lyrics, as the lyrics state "I was a heavy heart to carry; my beloved was weighed down".

Her outfit is a light coloured dress, white or cream, whereas the man wears black. Her make up is also very simple, her only accessories being nail varnish a rings.

 

I have concluded that Florence and the Machine videos tend to be very dark and gothic, mainly due to the lyrics and concepts. The colours of the mise-en-scene are also very dark.

Florence is only occasionally shown voyeuristically, which makes her stand out from the other generic female pop stars.

Videos from the Same Genre - Pop-Rock/Indie:
I researched what bands are of the same of similar genre to Florence and the Machine.

This was hard to do as Florence and the Machine cover a very broad range of genres on the album, including Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Baroque Pop and soul, however they are mainly categorized as Indie.

Bat for Lashes:
This female artist is often compared to Florence and the Machine, so I looked at several of her videos.

I found that her video are as simple in production as Florence and the Machine, but the concepts are far less complex.

Little Boots:
A female artist, often compared to Florence and Machine.

Her videos are much more voyeuristic than Florence and the Machine. She has the same quirky glamour as Florence, and the videos contain around the same level of dance.

Temper Tap:
A male band of the same genre as Florence and the Machine.

The videos are far less concept based than Florence and the Machine - they are performance based. However, the differences I found between the videos may be due to the difference in gender.


I Blame Coco:
A female artist of the same genre as Florence and the Machine.

I found that the videos are very similar to the videos of Florence and the Machine with dark colours and unusual concepts; however she does not dress as extravagantly as Florence and is not voyeuristic.


XX:
A band consisting of two males and a female of a similar genre to Florence and the Machine.

This band has a similar videos to Florence and the Machine. The colours, being very dark, are highly similar to Florence and the Machine videos. They too have a large amount of concept based videos, most being of love and heartache, like Florence.


The Yeah Yeah Yeahs:
A band of two males and a female lead singer. They are of a similar genre to Florence and the Machine, however they are slightly more "rock".

Their videos tend to be more performance based with the band performing to audiences in the videos, but some have slight underlying concepts. The concepts do not tend to relate to the lyrics, meaning there is little association between lyrics and visuals.


I think that Florence and the Machine videos often adopt the forms and conventions that are expected of their genre.


The colours are all very similar to each other, usually being dark. Also, the concepts are quite similar, for example many portray great passion, or are very deep and unsettling.