Music Television (Discussion)

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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:

  1. Performance - Groups 5 & 1
  2. Narrative - Groups 6
  3. Nonnarrative - Groups 7 & 3
  4. Graphic - Groups 8 & 4 & 2

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

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  1. 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.
  2. List the five principal antecedents of (or influences on) music television and explain the specific aspects they contributed to music TV.
  3. While discussing "The Sound of Video," Allan discusses the mix of music and nonmusical elements in music video.
    • Aside from genres and types of expression, what generally characterizes the music presented in music videos?
    • How can nonmusical elements be used?

Music video production

Each group should choose one well-known song and pretend they're video producers. Design two videos for that song that use the narrative, nonnarrative OR graphic types of expression. Use a different type of expression for each of the two, but do not use the same concept that the real music video used. You may divide your group in half to work on these two videos. And you may want to storyboard your video.

Be prepared to pitch your ideas to the class.

  1. Two-sentence pitch for each version.
  2. Label which "type of expression" each is.
  3. Provide link to real music video.

The pitches

Pick one on this Google form, but do not vote for one your group created. The pitch receiving the most votes will earn that group a fabulous prize.

  1. Groups 5 & 1
    • "Hotline Bling," Drake (Actual video)
    • Narrative: Drake follows this girl around a city. Multiple action shots of him chasing this girl around a cityscape.
    • Graphic: Retro phones ringing. Multiple Shots of phones ringing but no one answering.
    • "Bohemian Rhapsody," by Queen (Actual video)
    • Narrative- A court scene where a man is on trial for murder and when the music picks up, he's found guilty and begins trying to defend himself from the guards and bailiffs. As the song ends, he's in jail and the bars of his cell slide across the screen.
    • Graphical- A person's eye is shown, with hands in the reflection of the eye mimicking the singing in the song. When the music crescendoes it explodes into a tsunami of psychedelic imagery.
  2. Group 6
    • "Closer," by the Chainsmokers feat. Halsey (Actual video)
    • Narrative: An actor and an actress will be portraying a Bonnie and Clyde-esque crime couple on the run from the law. They're eager to escape punishment for their actions while also falling deeper into their doomed romantic relationship.
    • Graphic: Because a key visual in the song is the backseat of a Range Rover, we picture an animated range rover that changes colors/patterns/dimensions driving through several colorful landscapes. The transitions should fall in time with the beat of the song.
  3. Groups 7 & 3
    • "Dixieland Delight" by Alabama (Actual video)
    • Non-Narrative: Kid walking down the dirty road wondering with no where to go. Kid sees a Tin can and begins to kick it down the road the rest of the video.
    • Narrative: Video shows a boy coming to Bryant Denny Stadium as a young kid, as a student singing the song in the student section, and as an adult with his kid. The video will go full circle of the boys life highlighting UA and the tradition of the campus on gameday.
  4. Groups 8 & 4 & 2
    • "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked," by Cage the Elephant (Actual video)
    • Narrative: A man drinks coffee and traverses the dirt roads of his Texas town observing the decay of the moral culture.
    • Graphic: A man is woken each night by a spirit which encourages him to indulge in a surreal night life of sin.

Bibliography

  1. Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Critical Methods and Applications. New York: Routledge, 2012.

External links