Music through the ages: The 1980's

The Buggles- Video Killed the Radio Star (1981)

Video Killed the Radio Star was the first music video ever shown on MTV and began a worldwide phenomenon that kickstarted music television. In the video there is an interesting use of mise-on-scene in the props, which seem to represent the future and the possible future of the media. The sets used are all also symbolic, as they represent the lyrics and help to portray the interpretation of the future that The Buggles have created through the song. There is also a lot of use of (bad) special effects, which would have been very impressive at the time and are used to add a more cinematic experience to the music video, something that becomes more and more evident as we go through music history. The camera shots are not tied down, they all seem to be using freeform camera movement and don't stick to a single area. The mise-on scene of the members of the band is also important, as they are all wearing futuristic clothing (or what they thought it would look like) and this again adds to the overall feel of the video.

Peter Gabriel- Sledgehammer (1986)

Sledgehammer was a groundbreaking music video by Peter Gabriel in 1986. The video used stop motion and was extremely artistic. In this video the use of props and good mise-on-scene is essential, for example with the use of fruit to make up Gabriel's face in the video, with which everything has to look perfect and each piece of fruit must be lined up exactly. The video is also a perfect example of the increase in artistic license given to music videos, as clearly a lot of time and effort,a long with a lot of creativity has gone into this and it shows the progression from the 60's and earlier where something like this simply wouldn't happen. Michael Jackson also took inspiration from this video later on in his career, showing the influence a video can have on people.

Michael Jackson- Bad (1987)

Bad by Michael Jackson was one of the first music videos to start bringing choreographed dance routines and introduce cross-media synergy into music videos. The video seems to be heavily influenced from musicals and this is where the cross-media-synergy comes from. Dance troupes and choreographed dance routines are heavily used in the video, which helps to back up the nature of the song, which is a catchy and infectious song which reinforces the fact that at the time, everyone wanted to dance like Michael Jackson. Another thing to point out is that in this video, MJ is represented as a working class man, but as this is after his huge advertising deal with Pepsi, it is clear he isn't. The working class stereotype is also traditionally used in rock, not in pop songs such as this. Clearly Michael Jackson is using these stereotypes to target a wider audience. The use of the sound effects also help to add cross-media synergy, as we hear kung-fu sounds and these help to add cinematic elements to the video.