Visit to Rich Mix: Pete Fraser (MTV to Youtube; Rise of Music Videos)

Pete Fraser moved on to show us a history of music videos. He began by showing us 'Frim Fram Sauce' by Nat King Cole which was written in 1945.
We were shown the video also. The video shows the beginning of a trend of voyeurism in music videos. At 0:38 you can see Nat King Cole watching himself on a jukebox.



The jukebox that Nat King Cole is shown on was called a 'Soundie' and was popular in America in the 1940's. Pete also showed us the 'Scopitone' which was a jukebox used in Europe after WW2. It would play music videos similar to the Soundie.



We were shown another old music video from The Beatles for their song 'Can't Buy Me Love' to modern music videos such as '99 Problems' by Jay-Z. I had seen this video a few times before but not all the way through however seeing it displayed on such a large scale on screen made it much more interesting. I think the video is very creative and original with the black and white running throughout. A particularly great shot in the video is where Jay-Z is walking along a bridge shown with low angle shot so that the bridge is moving as well as he walks, this is shown at 0.33 in the below video. A use of voyeurism is shown in this video which conforms to the stereotype for a rap video, Jay-Z is shown on screen in the street at 0.35.
Both these shots are used within the first 40 seconds of the video. By the time the video reaches 35 seconds in there has been 56 shots shown. I think this shows how fast paced a music video must be to create interest.


Not all videos use voyeurism, it often depends on the genre. Pop, rap and hip-hop are the videos that use voyeurism the most due to it being the most mainstream music types. Both these videos show a use of voyeurism as well as representation of women as sexual objects.

It is shown here in 50 Cents video for 'Candy Shop';


And in a pop music video for Madonna's 'Open Your Heart';


Pete Fraser also showed us one of the first high budget music videos by Michael Jackson for 'Thriller' which began a trend for many black artists to have outstanding music videos. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_MuUcxHATo)

We finished on being shown Andrew Goodwin's Analysis of promotional music videos of what should be expected from a music video;

- Genre Characteristics - obvious expectations of the different genres.
- Relationship of music/lyrics with visuals - amplify the lyrics rather than simplifying them and illustrate the lyrics.
- Intertextuality - refer to films/other music videos/theatre/books/etc.
- Star Image - emphasis on the star's image
- Voyeurism - idea of looking and observing