This document provides an introduction to music videos, including their history and purpose. It discusses how music videos first emerged in the 1980s with the launch of MTV, which helped popularize the music video format and allowed artists to promote their music visually. The document also examines theories of how music videos can provide "visual pleasure" for audiences and be rewatched due to familiar visuals, shots, and intertextual references. It suggests the most viewed music videos online appeal to audiences through their creative visuals, editing, and ability to satisfy expectations of different genres and artists.

1. Intro into music videos
L/O:
-to define a music video, it’s role and purpose
-consider history of music video
-introduce some theory including ‘visual pleasure’
-

2. Sit with a partner, there will be paired tasks

3. Task 1: What is a music video?
• 1. Why & when were music videos first produced?
• 2. How is a music video different to a TV programme?
• TV drama for example, what do we expect from music videos?
• 3. What is a music video for? What’s it’s purpose?
• 4. How do you access music videos? (where do you watch them?)

4. • Read and correct where necessary

5. History of music videos

6. Task 2: Video and questions
• 1. What is MTV?
• 2. When did it launch?
• 3. What opportunity did it offer audiences?
• 4. How did it help artists who wanted to make a name for
themselves?
• 5. What did the MTV VJs help to usher in?
• 6. The last VJ in the clip says “you’ll never look at music in the same
way again.” What does this mean?

7. Video and questions
• 1. What is MTV?
• Music Television – 24/7
• 2. When did it launch?
• 1 August 1981, 12:01am
• 3. What opportunity did it offer audiences?
• Helped them showcase videos, as well as their songs
• 4. How did it help artists who wanted to make a name for themselves?
• Helped them showcase videos, as well as their songs
• 5. What did the MTV VJs help to usher in?
• A pop culture phenomenon
• 6. The last VJ in the clip says “you’ll never look at music in the same way again.” What
does this mean?
• Music TV changes the way we consume music, can now listen to and watch videos simultaneously, rather than just listening to it on
the radio

8. 1st video on MTV
• Biggles: video killed the radio star
• Cost 50,000 dollars, shot in a day
• People complained it was too violent because a TV was blown up
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs

9. How music videos evolved….
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA
• Released Dec 1983
• £500,000 budget
• 14 mins long
• 1st MV to have world premiere on MTV
• Played twice an hour on MTV when first released
• Considered to be best MV of all time
•

10. Continued to evolve…
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVBsypHzF3U
• Jan 2010
• 9 mins
• Over £500,000 budget
• Extensive product placement financed the production
• Over 30 million views in first 5 days of release
• Sold 7.4 million digital copies – one of her most successful
•

11. Newer ways of watching MV’s…
• Social networking platforms have changed the way
we watch music videos and how we listen to music
• Websites such as Vevo enable the artist and record label to have their
own MV channels rather than MTV VJ’s being in control of what’s
being played
• Youtube allows audiences to actively access MV’s of artists they want
to see, rather than what they VJ selects

12. Task 3: questions
• 1. How have MV’s developed?
• 2. What have they enabled artists to do?
• 3. What are the different ways we have viewed MV’s since the
1980’s?
• 4. How have websites like YouTube and Vevo changed the way we
interact with and view MV’s?
• 5. Why are ‘thriller’ and ‘telephone’ and youtube sensations like
‘gangnam style’ good examples of the ‘power’ of the MV?

13. Theory: MV and visual pleasure
• Andrew Goodwin:
• “Sometimes music videos provide a visual pleasure for an audience that
encourage repeated viewing – we become familiar with the genre and
therefore have expectations.”

14. Task 4:
• What do you think Goodwin means? Rewrite his quote in your own
words

15. You could also write this down…
• Audiences enjoy the way a music video repeats images, shot types,
locations, choreography and certain edits.
• Audiences enjoy references to other music videos or media texts
(intertextuality) that lead to repeated viewing
• We also have certain expectations from different genres of MV’s and
different artists and will expect certain things from their MV’s
• We enjoy watching MV’s repeatedly to see how our expectations of the
video and the artist change

16. Task 5: videos that offer ‘visual pleasure’
• 1. make a list of as many videos you can think of that you have
watched more than once because you enjoyed watching them
• 2. pick 2 videos from your list. What is it about them you enjoyed?
• 3. which artist’s MV’s are the most watched globally? Why?

17. Most watched….
• http://youtube.wikia.com/wiki/Most_viewed_videos_of_all_time
• http://www.vevo.com/browse/top-videos
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_viewed_YouTube_videos
• Do you know most watch video on youtube?

18. • 2.4 billion views
• 8 million likes
• 1 million dislikes

19. • 1.2 billion views
• 2 million likes
• 3 million dislikes!

20. Task 6: 3rd most watched video
• Blank Space
• Taylor Swift
• 1.1 billion views
• 1. watch the video
• 2. what ‘visual pleasure’ does this video have for the audience?
• Camera, editing, MES, the genre, use of creativity…
• 3. why might the MV want to make a viewer watch it again?
• 4. was this video on your list from before?

21. Extension task
• Pick one of the videos you listed before
• Watch video again, list as many features/aspects of video you like and
why

22. Further extension task
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=176XwCtcfrk
• Most 100 watched video on vevo (may 2015)

23. Homework
• Create a presentation (in a diff format) to sum up what you did today
(of all your tasks)