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The first music video-like would be The Little Lost Child in 1894 (!!). This is considered more like the first illustrated song. Using a magic lantern, a series of still images were projected on a screen simultaneous to live performances.
Also, Silly Symphony (1929-39) and Fantasia (1940) were animated films/videos (the former one short) that were ...
9
Genius has a cool feature which lets users interpret song meanings cooperatively. It also allows you annotate the meaning of smaller blocks of the lyrics.
As it happens, Aerials has been interpreted quite extensively:
http://genius.com/System-of-a-down-aerials-lyrics
This is the main interpretation of the song:
The overall theme of the song is our ...
8
Below I've listed out the different people you see, with the corresponded line in the song in parenthesis. I don't know everyone, but I think this is at least a good start. Everyone who might be a politician, military officer, or public figure and whom I don't know is bolded.
Starts with shots from wars
Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Former U.K. ...
7
It's an Organ
Specifically a Church Organ or Pipe Organ - though some church organs also have reed voices, so Church Organ covers it better, imo.
They function by blowing air into pipes of varying sizes, one for each note on the keyboard - & often of different shapes & constructions, giving different 'voices' or sounds that can be made.
The ...
6
Erhu
The erhu (Chinese: 二胡; pinyin: èrhú; [ɑɻ˥˩xu˧˥]) is a two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a "southern fiddle", and sometimes known in the Western world as the "Chinese violin" or a "Chinese two-stringed fiddle". It is used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large ...
6
'Convoy' by CW McCall (Bill Fries) was a 1975 song that was adapted into a film of the same name.
If you listen to the song you'll find that the story it tells is recounted almost word for word in the film.
The song
The film
Additionally, 'The Wall' by Pink Floyd was made into a very successful film...
6
Citing a spin.com interview of Randy Jones and David Hodo (respectively the cowboy and construction worker of the song):
Jones: We were flying up from South America for the show, and we
worked on the choreography on the airplane — handclaps, turning,
marching in place…stuff like that. Well, the audience at this
particular taping was a bunch of kids ...
6
Like any historical artifact, this song can be difficult to judge from outside of it's own time and context. The things that made Missy Elliot revolutionary at the time of her peak popularity don't stand out now because they've become commonplace. When Elliot first debuted she was a larger black woman (years before Lizzo!) who was noted for being ashamed ...
answered Sep 26 '19 at 15:06
Chris Sunami supports Monica
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5
Troye explains:
“I mean, it was a lyric from Wild. Leave this Blue Neighbourhood.”
“Basically, I come from Perth, which is a moderately sized city of 2
million people. From within that, I come from a really small Jewish
community. I feel like I have had this really sheltered, perfect
suburban upbringing.”
“And so, all of these stories that ...
5
I'd say that the song is pretty sad. The narrator/singer is losing his childhood best friend/lifelong crush. I think that qualifies as sad.
That having been said, a lot of songs have music videos (or even instrumentation) that doesn't match the tone or feeling of the lyrics. Just a few examples:
"Tears of a Clown" - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - ...
5
In the video, there are several dances represented. But generally this is swing dancing and they teach it at swing dance clubs. The first paired-dances you see in the video are variations of lindy hop (a member of the 8-counts) and in the latter you see east coast swing (a member of the 6-counts.)
I personally prefer the Lindy Hop because the steps are ...
5
It refers to a part of the melody from In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt by Grieg.
4
Jackson attempted to explain the meaning of the sequence in a press release that described the four-minute sequence as an “interpretation of the panther’s wild and animalistic behavior”.
From:
Cicerone, Michael. “Michael’s Video Takes Beating; 4 Minutes Cut Reaction: Negative Response Causes Michael Jackson to Apologize for VideoSequence in Which He ...
4
It is love.
As stated here:
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6605873/shawn-mendes-stitches-video
The song's lyrics are descriptive too: http://genius.com/Shawn-mendes-stitches-lyrics. Quoting the comments by RainbowShimmers on that page:
That got me thinking that the entire song is about his internal struggle of getting over the ...
4
The Who released both Tommy and Quadrophenia, which were eventually made into movies. Tommy, the album, was released in 1969 and Quadrophenia in 1973. The movies were released in 1975 and 1979 respectively.
4
The earliest one I'm aware of was made for Matt Johnson's The The, 'Infected' album in 1986. Though it is actually a series of individual videos, there is one for every track on the album & they were shown in cinema & on TV as a single piece when the album was released.
from Wikipedia -
The completed film was premiered at the Electric Cinema in ...
4
It seems like you're right on the money. According to MTV cofounder Bob Pittman,
It made an aspirational statement. We didn’t expect to be competitive with radio, but it was certainly a sea-change kind of video.
The video was already about two years old when MTV launched, and The Buggles had broken up by that time, so I think it's safe to say even ...
4
As this seems to have sparked some element of disbelief, let me rephrase some of it more clearly, emphasising why it is less of a concern than you may imagine.
Except for the "crowd"... actors/dancers in this type of production - who aren't trusted as far as you can spit - everybody else involved is an industry professional.
Things that very much separate ...
4
The band wrote the song as they were in bad moments of their life. The couple broke up as lovers, but kept on working music and they weren't having much success.
The song Sweet Dreams (are made of this) tells the irony of the situation.
They are working together in a record company boardroom. Annie is the boss, while Dave is the secretary, watching on the ...
3
You should see this one : Adventure of A Lifetime : Behind The Scenes. It confirms that they use motion capture technology.
They have captor suits and move like apes.
3
It was done using motion capture. According to Wikipedia, emphasis mine:
The official music video was directed by the band's long-time collaborator, Mat Whitecross. It was released on 27 November 2015. The concept for the video was hatched after Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and British motion capture expert/actor Andy Serkis met on a plane and discussed ...
3
It wasn't always blurred. The first one is United States and the other was United Kingdom. Its been blurred since it first release. Probably for international political reasons. Ha!
Here's the original unblurred video.
https://vimeo.com/180016993
3
Noah Ray, the kid featured in the video, explains:
"The only thing in the beginning that I was really made aware of was
that [director] Jim [Herbert] had seen some kind of TV special on dream therapy, and there
was a child who had lost a brother in Vietnam who kept having a dream
where he was holding his brother's picture in an old house," Ray said.
...
3
According to wikipedia, Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea composed the music for the english version of the movie, including the Opening Fight - Ryu vs. Sagat.
Here you see the youtube clip with credits to them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePM6v7nDu3E
3
Are you talking about "Move Your Body"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYP4MgxDV2U
This video was made in conjunction with NABEF and was meant to inspire children to dance or participate in some form of fitness on a daily basis.
3
When I first saw this video I understood the surrealistic agony a person is condemned to, when forced to spend life alone or with a second rate relationship. Life becomes very meaningless when it is realized true love and happiness will never be. Hence the plan.
For some people the plan may be to never love at all. For others it may be to just give up ...
3
Some youtube channels (VEVO included) may pay copyright holders a fee, which is a share of revenue through advertising on youtube.
Some artists intentionally release music/videos for free, actively promoting their shows and earning money on tickets and merhchandise.
3
I can't say with certainty, but an early candidate is from Disney's "Silly Symphonies" cartoons from 1929. In the example below, we have a Iwerks, Clark & Jackson cartoon devoted to a dance of the skeletons. Music is by Carl Stalling and adapts Edvard Grieg's "March of the Dwarfs".
Silly Symphony #1 - The Skeleton Dance (1929)
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