Little Richard-Tutti Frutti (1956)
Tutti Frutti was a song written in 1955. It was hailed as the "sound of the birth of rock and roll" and was Little Richard's first big hit. The music video for this song was originally in the 1956 Adam Freed film "Don't Knock the Rock". As you can see, in the 1950's performance was key in the music video as we see Little Richard playing the piano and the camera focuses on him as the main character of the music video, showing him playing live to an audience and demonstrating his appeal and desire to the audience. The use of the dancers during the performance with the dance routine in the foreground of the shot shows that this song was supposed to be upbeat and shows it as a song people of the time could dance to. Everyone in the video's mise-on-scene is very formal, suits and dresses are worn and it shows the singer as being respectable and popular. Although there is not much shot variation in this video, there is a few closer shots of Little Richard to show him as the singer and give him more sex appeal. The rest of the band is in the background of the shot and you rarely see them, showing that clearly there is an attempt to show Little Richard as the frontman and these other performers as background to the show. Overall this music video would have been very effective at the time, as this was pre-MTV and a music video of a performance such as this was common at the time and it was what people of the time enjoyed.
Elvis Presley-Hound Dog (1956)
Hound Dog was Elvis Presley's breakout song, which announced him onto the big stage as a prominent new artist. The song was performed live on the "Milton Berle Show" in 1956, and Elvis' gyrations and movements on the stage that performance erupted into controversy as he was deemed "too sexual" and from thereon out was banned from being shown on TV from the waist down. The music video for this song is the performance from this show, and shows Elvis at the forefront of the group of musicians, clearly showing him as the lead performer. This video also uses a common layout for bands, with the guitarists or other musicians to the left and right of the lead singer, and the drummer pretty much invisible at the back of the show. Elvis' movements and gyrations are clearly used to give him an image of someone that people can aspire to be, and increase the appeal of him to women of the time. The mise-on-scene in the shot is also important, as all the other musicians are wearing formal dark clothing, whilst Elvis wears a white tuxedo, possibly connoting he is different and more important than others, whilst still being respectable and well-dressed. This video would have been extremely shocking at the time for some, as many people had never seen such frivolous movement at the time and regulations were much stricter on these things being shown.
Bill Haley- Rock Around The Clock (1956)
Rock Around The Clock was a song that was said to have spread mainstream rock 'n roll around the world. It topped both the UK and US charts and was one of many chart hits for Bill Haley. In this music video we can start to see a striking resemblance to previous music videos, such as Tutti Frutti (above). The use of dancers is again used to show just how upbeat the song was at the time and how it supposedly signalled the beginning of mainstream rock'n roll.. Bill Haley is at the front of the shot for nearly the entire song, and we rarely see the rest of the performers, clearly showing that he was the frontman and the man who people of the time would aspire to be like. The fact that there are a few women at the front of the shot cheering and clapping along shows how they have been used to set Bill Haley up with added sex appeal and make him look desirable, and as he is higher than them it makes him seem superior and something special. This performance clearly shows the lack of diversity in music videos of the time, as they were quite simply performances, and as we go along we will see these videos becoming more and more artistic and complex.
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