Lesson 4 Music Video Practice Piece

Editor's Notes

• #14: MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981.[1] The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.[2] At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for music events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and shows, films, and books. MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which, like the former MTV Tempo now known as TEMPO Networks, have gone independent. MTV's moral influence on young people, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of debate for years. MTV's choice to focus on non-music programming has also been contested relentlessly since the 1990s, demonstrating the channel's previous impact on popular culture. On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia (which took place earlier that year) and of the launch of Apollo 11. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching classical tune composed by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo changing various colors, textures, and designs. MTV producers Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert used this public domain footage as a conceit, associating MTV with the most famous moment in world television history.[5] Seibert said they had originally planned to use Neil Armstrong's "One small step" quote, but lawyers said Armstrong owns his name and likeness, and Armstrong had refused, so the quote was replaced with a beeping sound.[6] At the moment of its launch, only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it. Kenneth M. Miller is credited as being the first Technical Director to officially launch MTV from its New York-based Network Operations facility.[7] The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". The second video shown was Pat Benatar's "You Better Run." Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR.[8] Video of the launch of MTV was uploaded onto YouTube in 2009, with the original commercials, and the "black screens" between videos. The "MTV lettering" differed on its first day, and included record label information like year and label name.[9] "Carouselambra" by Led Zeppelin was played as the closing credits rolled when MTV was first broadcast. As programming chief, Robert W. Pittman recruited and managed a team for the launch that included Tom Freston (who succeeded Pittman as CEO of MTV networks), Fred Seibert, John Sykes, Carolyn Baker (original head of talent and acquisition),[10] Marshall Cohen (original head of research),[11] Gail Sparrow (of talent and acquisition), Sue Steinberg (executive producer),[12] Julian Goldberg, Studio producers/MTV News Writers Liz Nealon, Brian Diamond and Robin Zorn, Steve Casey (creator of the name MTV and its first program director),[13] Marcy Brafman, Ronald E. "Buzz" Brindle, and Robert Morton.[13] MTV's effect was immediate in areas where the new music video channel could be picked up. Within a matter of just a couple of months, record shops in areas where MTV was available found themselves selling music that the local radio stations were not playing, such as Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow, and Human League.[14]
• #15: Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson. Often referred to as the greatest music video ever and has also been voted the most influential pop music video of all time,[2] Thriller proved to have a profound effect on popular culture,[3][4] and was named "a watershed moment for the [music] industry"[2] for its unprecedented merging of filmmaking and music. Guinness World Records listed it in 2006 as the "most successful music video", selling over 9 million units.[5] In 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive this honor, for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.[6] Co-starring with Jackson was former Playboy centerfold Ola Ray. The video was choreographed by Michael Peters (who had worked with the singer on his prior hit "Beat It"), and Michael Jackson. The video also contains incidental music by film music composer Elmer Bernstein, who had previously worked with Landis on An American Werewolf in London. The video (like the song) contains a spoken word performance by horror film veteran Vincent Price. Rick Baker assisted in prosthetics and makeup for the production. The red jacket that Jackson wore was designed by John Landis' wife Deborah Landis to make him appear more "virile".[7] To qualify for an Academy Award, "Thriller" debuted at a special theatrical screening, along with the 1940 Disney motion picture Fantasia.
• #16: "Sledgehammer" spawned a widely popular and influential music video directed by Stephen R. Johnson. Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay provided claymation, pixilation, and stop motion animation that gave life to images in the song. The video ended with a large group of extras jerkily rotating around Gabriel, among them: Gabriel's daughters Anna and Melanie, the animators themselves, and director Stephen Johnson's girlfriend. Also included were six women who posed as the back-up singers of the song. Gabriel lay under a sheet of glass for 16 hours while filming the video one frame at a time.[7] Notably, two oven-ready turkeys, headless and featherless, were animated using stop-motion and shown dancing along to the synthesized flute solo in the middle of the song. This section was animated by Nick Park (of Wallace and Gromit fame) who, at that time was refining his work in plasticine animation. Although many of these techniques had already been employed in earlier music videos (such as Talking Heads' 1985 hit Road To Nowhere), the Sledgehammer video won nine MTV Video Music Awards in 1987, a record which still stands as of 2010. It ranked at number four on MTV's 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made (1999). MTV later announced that "Sledgehammer" is the most played music video in the history of the station. "Sledgehammer" has also been declared to be MTV's number one animated video of all time.[8] The video was also voted number seven on TMF's Ultimate 50 Videos You Must See - first aired 24 June 2006. It ranked at number 2 on VH1's "Top 20 Videos of the 80s" as well as being named the No. 1 "Amazing Moment in Music" on the Australian TV show 20 to 1 in 2007. The video won Best British Video at the 1987 Brit Awards. Also, the video was nominated for the Best Music Video category for the first annual Soul Train Music Awards in that same year.
• #17: "Like a Prayer" is a song by American recording artist Madonna from her fourth album of the same name. It was released on February 28, 1989 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. An extended play entitled Remixed Prayers was released in Japan later that year. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection (1990) and Celebration (2009). Written and produced in collaboration with Patrick Leonard, "Like a Prayer" emphasized a more artistic and personal approach to songwriting for Madonna, much like the rest of the album. Musically "Like a Prayer" is a power pop song which incorporates funk and gospel themes. The lyrics of the song were inspired by Madonna's own Catholic upbringing. She described it as "the song of a passionate young girl so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life." The lyrics have also been seen as a metaphor for sexual intercourse, containing ambiguous innuendo referring to fellatio and orgasming. "Like a Prayer" received widespread acclaim from music critics, who praised Madonna's skilled songwriting and improved vocals. It became her seventh number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom, among others, and the top-five of many other countries. The accompanying music video led to a media storm of controversy. The video features Madonna as a woman who witnesses a murder and flees to church for safety. The clip incorporates many Catholic symbols such as stigmata and burning crosses, and a dream about making love to a saint. The Vatican condemned the music video, while family and religious groups protested it. The song was featured in a television advertisement for soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which was later removed from television following the controversy surrounding the music video. Madonna's contract with Pepsi was subsequently canceled. The song has been featured on three of Madonna's concert tours, most recently on the Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2009, and performed at charity events such as Live 8 and Hope for Haiti. "Like a Prayer" has been covered by a number of artists and has appeared in feature films and television series such as Absolutely Fabulous, Never Been Kissed, and Glee. The song is noted for its profound effect on society, due to the controversy surrounding the music video. Alongside its respective album, "Like a Prayer" has been marked as a turning point in Madonna's career, as she began to be viewed as an artist rather than a mere pop singer.
• #18: ReleasedJanuary 28, 1994FormatCD singleRecorded1993GenreHardcore punk, rapcore, rap rockLength2:58LabelGrand Royal RecordsWriter(s)Beastie Boys The song's music video, directed by Spike Jonze and played extensively on MTV,[3] is an homage and parody of 1970s crime drama television series such as Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, S.W.A.T., Baretta, and Starsky and Hutch. The video is presented as the opening credits of a fictional 1970s-style police show called Sabotage, with the band members appearing as the show characters. Each band member is introduced as a fictional actor, and the names of the characters are also given. The characters appearing on the show are (in order of credits): Sir Stewart Wallace guest-starring as himself (played by MCA) Nathan Wind as Cochese (also played by MCA) Vic Colfari as Bobby, "The Rookie" (played by Ad-Rock) Alasondro Alegré as "The Chief" (played by Mike D) Fred Kelly as Bunny (played by DJ Hurricane) Some scenes had to be removed when the video was shown on MTV, including a knife-fight sequence, a falling-off-a-bridge scene, as well as a scene in which a man is thrown out of a car into a street.[citation needed] In addition, the Beastie Boys Video Anthology featured a mock interview of the "cast" of Sabotage conducted by Jonze's then-wife Sofia Coppola. In the DVD commentary for the 1996 film Trainspotting, Danny Boyle credits the film's opening credits to those used in "Sabotage".[4]