Music Television (Discussion)
Types of expression
Allan contends that one can group music videos according to types of expression -- separate from genres based on content. That is, genres such a rock, pop, rap, country and R&B are the most common way of grouping music videos, but cutting across those genres are certain expressive forms. Allan lists four of them:
- Performance - Group 4
- Narrative - Group 1
- Nonnarrative - Group 2
- Graphic - Group 3
Each group should be prepared to explain the characteristics of their "type of expression" to the class, and choose one video that exemplifies it. (The video must be available online: YouTube, mtv.com, Yahoo Music, etc.)
All groups
- List four ways that the Replacements' Left of the Dial breaks the conventions of the music video? Be as specific as possible and draw examples from the video.
- List the five principal antecedents of (or influences on) music television and explain the specific aspects they contributed to music TV.
- Aside from genres and types of expression, what generally characterizes the music presented in music videos? Allan calls it "The Sound of Video."
Sample analysis
- How does this video use the types of expression discussed above? Is one type dominant?
- Does it fit the generalizations about the sound of video that Allan specifies?
- Tom Waits - "Hold On"; on YouTube, on MTV.com
- Los Lobos - "Kiko and the Lavender Moon" (directed by Ondrej Rudavsky, 1992)
Sample production
Each group should choose one well-known song and pretend they're video producers. Design three videos for that song that use the narrative, nonnarrative and graphic types of expression. You may divide your group into sub-groups to work on these videos. And you may want to storyboard your video.
Bibliography
- Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications. Mahweh, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007.