Vernallis (2013, p. 11) highlights that MTV’s model of music television collapsed in the 21st century, and there are more music videos now than ever. They’re distributed through online channels such as YouTube and Spotify rather than conventional television like MTV. These sharing platforms, like YouTube, changed how music videos were consumed and produced. Access is much wider compared to satellite TV, where censorship was high, meaning they wouldn’t allow content that didn’t fit guidelines.
Vernallis (2013, pp. 34–35) explains the notion of a mixing board aesthetic. She describes how music video has developed, how we have moved into a new aesthetic era, and how it has moved away from conventional cinema. Music video style has colonised contemporary cinema. “Music videos often showcase a mixing-board aesthetic, fluid, flexible forms in which individual parameters—a gesture, lyric, melodic hook, rhythm, edit, costuming touch, or prop—will come to the fore and fade away within a network of interlaced connections” (Vernallis, 2013, pp. 34–35).
Katy Perry: E.T.
In this video, we see post-cinema elements; it’s set in a visually stunning universe. We see Katy Perry as this futuristic extraterrestrial character. The mixing board aesthetic enhances the atmosphere, as its rhythm of editing techniques uses quick cuts, a fast pace, and intensity. It uses CGI to create a future-fantasy theme. It uses colour grading of vibrant colours, such as blues, neon, and purples. It shows her transformation into an extraterrestrial. The music video shows futuristic landscapes in space. It showcases a love story between an alien and a human. It has dark and future-set designs.
The Weeknd: Blinding Lights
The video uses dramatic lighting and colours with bright neon lights to create a visually appealing environment, highlighting the title, “Blinding Lights.” It employs high-quality cinematic cameras to depict the Weeknd on a night out in first-person. Video editing software is used to create quick cuts, effects, and sync visuals with the music. VFX is used to produce video components and adjust lighting, like when The Weeknd is driving through the city. We see virtual worlds, CGI, and long takes being used. Audio cuts during the bridge, leaving echos, then builds back in.
“In music video, […] image is fully liberated from the linearity normally imposed by sound’ […] ‘fast montage,’ or ‘rapid succession of single images,’ comes to function in a way that ‘closely resembles the polyphonic simultaneity of sound” (Leyda & Denson, 2016, p. 376). The Weeknd uses Leyda & Denson’s (2016, p. 376) notion when he’s driving around a city at night with camera movements and cuts that sync with the beat. For example, when The Weeknd is suspended mid-air, surrounded by spinning lights, and the distortion of buildings. It has a 1980s influence.
By James Farrell
References
Leyda, J., and Denson, S. (2016), Post-Cinema: Theorizing 21st-Century Film, REFRAME Books. https://doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/13457.
Vernallis, C. (2013). Unruly media: YouTube, music video, and the new digital cinema. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, Cop, p.127.
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