Planning - Controversy

Controversy

Controversy has risen significantly in the music video industry. It is a modern strategy employed by record companies for artists in order to increase the sales of the artist and to create a memorable video which will entice and keep the audience watching the video. Consequently, the more views it has, the more money they make, hence why controversy has become such a vital aspect of music videos. In addition to this, by having a controversial music video, the public as well as channels such as MTV continue to talk about it, spreading the word effectively promoting/advertising the music videos. However, record companies need to ensure that the controversial topics they include are up to date as controversial issues change over time rapidly due to the amount of controversial issues in the world. Despite some videos being negative, they still maintain high views and publicity.

 Madonna - Like a prayer is one of the most controversial music videos of time. This video was banned from MTV and she was fined for the video. This video is controversial because her relationship with Jesus, who also appears to be black, is seen to be intimate and she sexually objectifies herself with her clothing in the church, a religious place. Moreover, the lyrics can also be interpreted in a sexual reference as a well as its original reference.

 Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball is the most recent controversial music video currently viewed. This is due to the fact that she is an icon to many young girls because of her character role 'Hannah Montanna' and her new video, Wrecking Ball, sees her throughout the film naked and referencing to sexual motives in her actions. This can be seen as an influence to young girls, going against the norms of society.

Rihanna - S&M is also a very controversial music video as it again has a heavy reference to sexual activity in a negative aspect. Sadomasochism is the giving and/or receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The abbreviation S&M is often used for sadomasochism and it seems that Rihanna is promoting this in her video and lyrics. This is against the norms of society as sadomasochism is disregarded in society.

Planning - 1980's vs 1990's Hip-Hop

1980's & 1990's Hip-Hop

1980's Hip-Hop

Hip - Hop first started taking off in the 80's. 80's Hip-Hop was largely about the standard of life which the artists grew up with. The music videos for 80's Hip-Hop was seen as controversial because it showed a way of life which other people did not want to see, such as people urinating in the street shown in the song 'the message'. They also spoke about social problems such as racism, this was a problem for people at the time because people wanted to believe that they had moved past racism and wanted to ignore the fact that it still existed.

 

1990's Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop in the 90's was very different to the Hip-Hop of the 80's. The 90's introduced artists such as Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, 2-pac, Notorious B.I.G etc. The artists of 90's Hip-Hop music was controversial because they were all about participating in activities which were taboos frowned upon by the rest of the public. In their songs they would glamourize criminal activities such as selling and doing drugs, gangs, firearms etc. They would glamourize these things by suggesting that these activities would bring you money and women.

Where 80's music videos showed the way of life which the artists lived, the artists would suggest that they would to get away from that way of life and live a better standard of life. The 90's music videos implied that the artists enjoyed the way of life they lived and was seen as trying to encourage more people to join the same life as them.

Planning - The Birth of MTV

This is the first music video played on MTV. (Buggles - Video killed the radio star)

The birth of MTV on August 1st, 1981 changed the way the music industry operated. MTV stands for Music TeleVision. The birth of MTV allowed them to play music videos all the time and this opened up the market, allowing every music artist and band to have a promotional video. The first song played on MTV was Buggles - Video killed the radio star.


Music artists benefited from MTV as they would have their song and video played repeatedly to the audience and MTV would benefit as the artists would pay them to play their video and song.

MTV was extremely popular at the time and has now evolved in to multiple channels all part of MTV such as MTV Base, MTV Hits, MTV Dance etc.
In addition to this, MTV every year have an award ceremony to celebrate the most popular/successful music videos called The VMAs (The Video Music Awards).

This is the logo for MTV

Planning - 1970's Glam Rock

The 1970's Glam Rock

The 1970's was the era of Disco music and 'Glam Rock'. This whole genre is seen as controversial because of the style of the artists and the dance moves. They were perceived as being feminine and sexual.

 The style of the genre was very feminine which lives up to the stereotype of homosexuals as they are seen as very feminine. During the 1970's it was still seen as un-acceptable to be gay, so artists such as Queen produced songs like 'I want to break free' which implied that they were homosexual but they did not actually perform any homosexual acts or say that they were homosexual. This was so that they could 'come out of the closest' but if anyone treated them differently for it then they could protect themselves by saying that they never actually said they were gay.

This is an image of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. They were seen as controversial due to the songs which they produced at this time, referring to homosexuality.









This video below shows the controversy of the Glam Rock genre. The style of the artists was very feminine e.g. their hairstyle and their clothes. The name of the song is even controversial; its called 'Little Willy'. The Glam Rock genre was open about their feminine style which caused issues as it implied homosexuality and that was seen as a taboo.

Planning - 1960's Promotional videos

The 1960's was where the first promotional videos were used. They were released so the album sales would rise. Also it would keep fans happy and sustain followers.

The Vietnam war started the hippy movement. These were a group of people who were against war and in favour of drugs, sex and peace. At first Hippies were seen as more as they broke the boundaries completely. As they redefined what was normal they changed the taboos and mores. The music videos were controversial as they become really trippy. The yellow submarine was a controversial music video by The Beatles as it insinuated drug use and being 'high'.

Planning - Scopitones 1950's

This is a music video from a scopitone in the 1950's. This video would have been seen as controversial during its time due to the sexual objectification of the women in the background and the women singing. In the times of today, the video would not be seen as controversial as this is part of the norm of the society today.

This is an image of a Scopitone

The 1950's is an important era in terms of the promotions of music videos. Before, most people would go to the cinema to see a music video / film, but that all changed in the 1950's. The 1950's saw a dramatic rise in the number of households owning televisions. As almost every household had a television, it became much easier for people to witness these music videos in their own home at their own comfort. Not only did the 1950's see a rise in televisions, they also began to see a rise in teen culture. As the teen culture began to emerge, their needs became catered for with the release of the Jukebox. The jukebox allowed teens to listen/promote songs whilst taking their money. The teens would pay a nickel to listen and watch the music videos, hence the term nickelodeon. Following this, the release of the Video Jukebox was a big hit. This was introduced by the French who named it The Scopitone. Although the screens were small, large crowds would gather to watch them and see who had the best song or latest music video etc. The controversial thing with the Scopitones was that it allowed for Sexual Objectification of women in videos to be shown.

Nickelodeon" originates from nickel, the name of the American five-cent coin, and Odeon in Paris,symbolic of a very large and luxurious theatre. The phrase "Put another nickel in, in the nickelodeon...", evidently referred to a jukebox or a mechanical musical instrument such as a coin-operated player.

Planning - 1940's Soundies

1940's

1940's are considered the birth of the music video, these first music videos were referred to as 'soundies'. This was the first time where black and white people appeared on the screen together, this was seen as a controversial topic as people had never seen this before and black and whites were separated for the majority of their lives due to racial discrimination. 

This is an image of a black and white couple together, which at the time was controversial because of the racial segregation.




This video shows the controversy within the 1940's. Instead of actually having a black man come on the screen, they would rather show a man with black face paint and exaggerated lips to immitate a black man. This was a very racist thing to do however it was not seen as racist because at the time there was lots of racism within America.

Planning - 1920's The Silent film Era

In the 1920's the first link to a music video was released. However they were not used for promotional methods, they were shown in cinemas. The link between the music video and this is that this would be a silent film with an orchestra playing over them, creating a link between a visual image and sound. Bessie Smith in the 1920's starred in a short promotional film called 'St Louis Blues' which featured her songs. It was so popular it was still shown in the 1930's. This was seen as controversial as it showed drinking and blacks and whites mixing together.

Planning - Name of our media company

Planning - Description of The Brief

Description of the Brief

This year for A2 media we are going to be creating a music portfolio for our chosen artists, for the purpose of promotion and marketing.

We will be creating:
a music video which is 3-5 minutes long
a CD digi-pack,
a promotional website,
an MTV talk show
and a DJ Radio spot.

Everything that we do in terms of planning, construction and evaluation will be documented.

The purpose of doing all of things is to promote the band/artists music. We will have to try make the music video as memorable as possible. We also need to create a CD digi-pack which looks attractive to the eye. The Video and the CD digi-pack must cater towards the target audience.