Postmodernism within Music Videos

To define 'Postmodernism' - "Postmodernism can be seen as a reaction against the ideas and values of modernism, as well as a description of the period that followed modernism's dominance in cultural theory and practice in the early and middle decades of the twentieth century. The term is associated with scepticism, irony and philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective reality."(TATE, 2019). I, personally believe that postmodernism is widely used within music videos, due to the imitation of older performance videos, camera techniques and editing.

Within the past thirty years, we have seen a dramatic difference within the music video industry - videos have developed from live performances to various genres - as discussed in Andrew Goodwin's theory. Videos from the 90's to the early 00's focus upon the idea of futurism, by using high end equipment to showcase the future, "chances are at least one of them will have a slick, sci-fi aesthetic" (Hall, 2016). However, we see that now, that artists and directors want to in-vision the past "The 1980s was the golden age of music video. MTV was brand-new, there were no rules, and video directors dreamed in neon...None of the videos below — were shot during the '80s. They're all post-2000."(Parker, 2015).

There are many examples of this, however, one I have most notable found is within the 'Studio Performance' genre. Artists and directors are using Green Screen technology, with old style 4:3 format, to replicate a 'futuristic' viewpoint that was seen in the 80's, compared to traditional performance videos. This is a prime example of post-modernism.

An example of this is the 2018 single 'Girl of the Year' by Allie X. The video, directed by John Smith features the artist performing the song, alongside the band. The band and Allie X are filmed in front of a green screen which has a moving image set as the background during post-production/editing - what also conforms with the idea of vintage/analogue/retro footage is that the green screen has not been precisely 'keyed out', leaving a green blur radiant around the subject, particularly the performer (Allie X) when she moves with the microphone (shown on right). I believe that the camera set up is using three different cameras, one handheld, one on a tripod on a 45 degree angle and one with a wide angle lens to view the entire band. Although it can be believable that this video was released back in the 80's, there are elements of contradiction within this music video which allow viewers to believe otherwise. The video has a laptop within the shot, which distinguishes the video is not from the era & the fashion could be said to be more millenial due to the blue jeans of the drummer, hairstyles, etc. I believe that Smith decided to do this as part of a concept/experiment, to explore the idea of 'Analog Videos' and how the old can be viewed as an archived memory etc - "your most cherished family memories are stored away on old VHS tapes" (Komando, 2016).

Bibliography:
Hall, Jake - 18th February 2016, [online] Dazed: 'How a sci-fi music video obsession gripped the 90's' https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/29875/1/how-a-sci-fi-music-video-obsession-gripped-the-90s

Komando, Kim - 2nd September 2016, [online] USA Today: '3 easy ways to modernize your old videotapes' https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2016/09/02/digitizing-video-tapes/89551880/

Parker, Lyndsey - 21st April 2015, [online] Yahoo Entertainment: '19 Great 1980s Music Videos Not Actually From the 1980s' https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bp/18-great--80s-music-videos-not-actually-from-the--80s-225139186.html?guccounter=1

tate.org.uk - Accessed 12th February 2019, [online] 'Postmodernism - Art Term' https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/postmodernism