Award Winners

1) Grammy award for the best music video, 2009, Weezer- Pork and Beans

Introduction- introduces the band also introduces a new shot every time the chord is repeated. Arguably the introduction intrigues the audience and makes them curious with the video going wrong on the shot of the last band member.

The change at the end of a repeated chord is continued through out the video and also occurs with larger changes in the song, for example from verse to chorus.

Continuation from one shot to the other is maintained by having one key feature from the previous shot in the next/new shot.

Once a guest is introduced in the next shot they have one of the band members will be with them, adding comedic affect but also making sure the video stays focused on the band themselves. The band is also shown together performing the song at each chorus.

The seemingly random and funny clips in the film that refer to popular internet videos, although do not have a direct connection to the lyrics or song themselves, do seem to emphasise the fun attitude of the song and perhaps reflect its care free lyrics.


2) NME best music video, 2013, Arctic Monkeys- R U Mine?

The video is simplistic, members of the band sitting in a car singing the song and being filmed. As the song progresses and the pace becomes faster and beat gets stronger, more people appear and more changes occur. This perhaps compliments the lyrics "I go crazy cos here isn't where I want to be" as the the more the video progresses the weirder it becomes alluding to the "crazy", also the video is in constant movement emphasising the restlessness displayed in the lyrics.

The disruptions in the film, similar to that of old/original film reels, are placed at the same time as strums of the guitar or beats on the drum, which not only add difference to the otherwise simple visuals but engage the audience by combining visuals and sound. This is perhaps the main focus of the visuals in the first verse as the film depicts both members pretending to play the drums, not lip syncing the lyrics so perhaps this combined with the disruptions in film focus' the audience to the song.

History of Music Videos

Music Videos had a massive surge in popularity in the early 80's as channels like MTV launched. This meant music videos became easily accessible to more people, adding a new platform for musicians to display their music whilst also allowing them to add a new visual element to their music that can give a deeper meaning or help to emphasise the message of the song.

      


Arguably earlier videos were more simplistic. For example, Madonna's 'Material Girl' and 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles only feature the artists playing and singing the song with their bands, the location doesn't change that often if at all and the shots do not change as much. As music video's have progressed and technology improved they have become more complicated showing more of a plot line and a story that complimented the song rather than videos of  the bands just playing out their songs. For example Alt J's music video for their song 'Breezeblocks' doesn't feature the musicians at all but is very plot driven, capturing the audience through its plot twists, clever shots and rewinding and fast forwarding to enable them to show a seemingly deep story in a short amount of time.




Pop music videos specifically have changed over time, simply by its nature as obviously pop is what is popular of the time and this can change a lot. Although the main structure of a pop song seems to have remained fairly similar over time, consisting of verse and repeated chorus commonly being around 2 minutes but could range from 2-5 minutes. Pop music videos tend to either be the a typical boy-girl love story that shows romance and heartbreak or try and break boundaries. For example, Britney Spears went from being quite an innocent young star, working with disney and making music through them and then pushed away from that and created very different products such as, 'Hit me baby one more time'