Best Music Video Director - Paul Hunter

Paul Hunter

Paul Hunter is a music video director known for popular music singles. He has directed over 100 music videos for all different types of artists, television advertisements and was nominated for an Emmy for Nike's Freestyle commercial.

Hunter majored in Cinema & TV Arts at Cal State Northridge. His career began working on sets and shooting spec commercials, which led him onto being a music director.

Hunter has worked with musical artists including Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Lopez, Lenny Kravitz, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Ashanti, Marilyn Manson, Mariah Carey, Will Smith, Nicole Scherzinger, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson. 

Hunter's directed the music video of Michael Jackson's come-back single, 'You Rock My World' and the award-winning 'Lady Marmalade' video for the soundtrack to the film 'Moulin Rouge!' (2001).

This is one of his most famous music videos that he has directed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hunter_%28director%29

Best Music Video Directors - Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze is an American director, producer, screenwriter and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He started his feature film directing career with Being John Malkovich (1999) and Adaptation (2002), both written by Charlie Kaufman, and then started movies with screenplays of his own with Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and Her (2013).

Jonze is well known for his music video collaborations with Fatboy Slim, Weezer, Beastie Boys, and Björk.
  
His most notable music videos are, Kanye West - “Flashing Lights;” The Pharcyde - “Drop;” Björk – “It's Oh So Quiet”

Jonze has a unique style to his filming. Maybe it’s his dual role as a big-budget movie director as well, but his videos always have a cinematic feel.

He has been nominated for four Academy Awards: Best Director for Being John Malkovich, and Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Song (The Moon Song) for Her. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay, the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the 2014 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Her.

This is a music video directed by Spike Jonze.







http://green-label.com/sound/10-best-music-video-directors-time/s/spike-jonze-2/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Jonze

Best Music Director - David Fincher

David Fincher

David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director and music video director. Fincher was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and his 2010 film The Social Network. For The Social Network, Fincher won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the BAFTA Award for Best Direction. His most recent film is 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an English-language adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name.

As a music video director, Fincher has won two Grammy Awards for Best Music Video, for his work in "Love Is Strong" by The Rolling Stones (1995) and "Suit & Tie" by Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z (2013), and three MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction, being one of the most awarded directors in the category, alongside Spike Jonze. His video for Don Henley's "The End of the Innocence" won Henley the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1990. He also earned back-to-back MTV Video Music Awards for Best Direction in 1989 for "Express Yourself" and in 1990 for "Vogue". In 1990, he earned three of the four available nominations in the Best Direction category.

This is one of his most famous music videos that he has directed.

Best Music Directors - Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek

Mark Romanek (born September 18, 1959) is an American filmmaker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and commercials.

He wrote and directed the 2002 film One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams, and Never Let Me Go, the latter adapted from the Kazuo Ishiguro novel of the same name.

His most notable music videos include "Hurt" (Johnny Cash), "Closer" (Nine Inch Nails), "Criminal" (Fiona Apple), "Scream" (Michael & Janet Jackson) and "Bedtime Story" (Madonna).

His music videos have garnered 20 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Direction for Jay-Z's "99 Problems", and he has won three Grammy Awards for Best Short Form Music Video- this is more than any other music director.





 

This is one of Mark Romanek's newest music video that he has directed.

Conventions - Star image, lots of camera shots, making him/her centre of attention

There are many artists in the Music Industry that have a specific star image which make them centre of attention

• Goodwin says that the technical aspects help hold the music video together through the usage of Mise-en-Scene, Special effects, sound and editing.
• Lightening the colour helps to set the mood for the music video and create an emphasis on significant parts of the songs to create a dramatic effect and thrill the audience.
• Mise-en-scene is also very vital to the production of the music video, as it can help the artists gain authentication an also make his work appear more professional.
• The beats of the song are also very useful as they can help to create effective cuts that go with the rhythm of the song and to make the music video look more entertaining.

 
 For example; Lady Gaga is probably the most famous artist to have such a diverse star image.

Within this video you see Lady Gaga and Beyonce both showing their star image. The majority of this video is focused on Lady Gaga. You see the mise- en- scene in this video is very different to lots of music video, but because the public know of Lady Gaga's star image so this video isn't any surprise to the audience




Lady Gaga ft Beyonce - Telephone

Conventions - Technical aspect of the music video

There are many different factors that come in to making a music video successful.

- Camera Shots
- Mise-en-scene
- Lighting and colour
- Setting and characterisation
- Editing
- Beats
- Speed
- Sound



Camera Shots

There are lots of different types of camera shots that can be used in music videos. It normally depends on the type of artist.

For Example, if you are in a band the camera shots will be different to if you are solo singer.

Shots from One Direction - One Thing 

At the start of this music video we are shown all 5 members of the music video.

 We are shown the first member of One Direction - Liam.

We are then shown the next member of the band - Harry. 

We are then shown the third member - Zayn. 

Then they focus on the next member - Louis. 

Finally they focus on the last member, - Niall.

And then at the end we are shown all five members again.

Mise en scene: The mise en scene of the music video is vital in any music video. It needs to maintain authenticity to look professional and therefore attractive to consumers.  Another aspect of mise en scene; Lighting and colour can also enhance the video, as well as setting and characterisation

Lighting and Colour: As part of mise- en- scene, lighting and colour play a huge role in determining the genre of the video. For example, a pop music video is more likely to use bright bold colours to engage their younger audience, e.g. Katy Perry’s Californian Girls video uses bright pinks and baby blues to encourage its audience to watch. On the other hand, more ‘depressing’ style music such as Pink ‘Just like a pill’ use darker colour and lighting to keep the dull atmosphere about the song to match the lyrics. Another aspect to lighting and colour is to set the tone of a particular part of the song.

Setting and Characterisation: The setting of a music video can set the tone and atmosphere as well as lighting and colour. Most of the time the setting will conform to the narrative of the lyrics, however sometimes in disjointed music videos this is entirely ignored. For example if the music video is set outside in a wheat field with natural blues and browns, it can portray passion; as shown in Eminem ‘Love the Way You Lie’. Where as if the setting is a house party with bright colours it will set the tone as happy and fun, as features in Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’ video. Characterisation will often display the artist themselves due to the fact they will want to create a star image for promotional reasons, however the concept of the characterisation could change. For example in Katy Perry’s ‘ET’ music video, Katy perry is dressed as an extra terrestrial with very artistic costume and makeup to complete the look to a very high standard to engage the audience and provide entertainment. 

Editing : Including other post production effects such as green screen are yet another vital concept. Generally the attempt to use post production affects is to establish a strong visual style, for example ‘sexy’ artists, due to the fact that music videos represent the growing trend value ‘Style over substance’, and how image is more important than culture. Editing can turn even the most rubbish of footage into spectacular ones, using software such as Final Cut, and techniques such as the colour grading tools to enhance quality. Speed of beats and cutting is also part of editing, and often match the visual image perfectly to achieve a high standard, and these aspects will often reflect that of the rhythm of the song. 

Beats: The speed and timing of the cutting is often in time to the beat to enhance verisimilitude and add to the overall high quality look of the piece. Beats are very much involved with the camera work and editing, as well as the rhythm of the song itself. For example if there is a slow beat song, then the camera work and cutting would mimic the beats in most cases, to create verisimilitude. 

Speed:  Speed is one of the most important aspects to consider when creating a music video. The speed of the camera cutting will reflect that of the song, for example if the song is very fast, the cutting is most likely going to be very fast to keep with the general convention of the song and keep the audience entertained with its fast pace. The speed of the song can also be visualised through the camera work and movement to produce a more immersive effect.

Conventions - Narrative performance of the song

A song with a narrative based music video the song includes a narrative story of the lyrics/ words being acted out in some way. This style relies on imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow and some narrative videos include clips from films that the song has been featured in. This seems to be used a lot in slower songs, and often tend to be love stories.







Beyonce - Love on Top

In this music video we are shown Beyonce performing to the audience with backing dancers. However this doesn't bring a different meaning to the video. 

Conventions- Relationship betweeen song and visuals

There are three different ways that the music videos promote their song.

Illustrate

Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, this is the most common way to promote songs.
Beyonce - Irreplaceable

These music lyrics are related to the storyline within this music video. This is showing that she is over her ex boyfriend and that is not irreplaceable and she will find someone new instantly.




 




Amplify

This is when meanings and effects are manipulated which is constantly shown to the audience and drummed into our vision.

 Lily Allen - Smile

This is an example of Amplification in a music video. The lyrics to don't have a particular story line but you can see that the lyrics relate to the music video. 











Disjuncture

This means that the meaning of the song is completely ignored and try and to make a different meaning to the song. 

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

In this music video there is nothing to do with 'romance' what so ever. We mostly see her with lots of other dancers is lots of different outfits and completely interprets a different side to the music video.

Conventions - Through Beats

There are 3 different steps to this; 

Step 1: First of all you have to only focus on the music. You need to be aware of the structure of the song and what genre of music the song is. 

Step 2: Then you look at the voice of the song and you need to take into account what kind of voice that the artist has depends on their Star Image. 

Step 3: Last of all, you need to be aware of how the lyrics come across to the audience. Songs can be seen as stories and the artist is the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device- telling us the story and we are listening.

Theories and conventions of a music video

Theories and conventions that will help me to produce a successful music video

Andrew Goodwin is a key theorist that will help me to create a successful music video using the conventions that he states. These conventions were

- Through the beat- seeing what the lyrics mean in your head
- Relationship between the songs and visuals
- Narrative performance of the song
- Technical aspect of the music video
- Star image, lots of camera shots, making him/her centre of attention

Rap Music

Rap

Rap music, also sometimes known as hip-hop music, is a style of popular music believed to have its beginnings in African-American inner-city street culture. Rap musicians generally perform in a vocal style in which the lyrics are spoken, rather than sung. This type of music often deals with the hardships of inner-city life, though it is generally as varied in theme as any other style of music. Hip hop is generally characterized more by its often complex, rhyming lyrics than by its subject matter. Though it has its beginnings in the underground music scene of the 1970s, this music is today considered a very mainstream music genre, popular among people of all ages and backgrounds.

Unlike many other styles of music, rap music is generally not sung, and lyrics are spoken against a backdrop of music. This music often consists of beats and rhythms borrowed from the soul, funk, or rock genres. Musicians typically remix these sounds and rhythms, adding their own innovations, and often synthesized musical elements. 

Rap songs are often known for their focus on controversial themes, such as gang violence. Often, however, musicians sing about a wide range of events and themes. They often express their political and social views, and they may discuss their own lives or even write love songs. Performers have even been known to write rap songs about fictional events. 



http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-rap-music.htm

Country Music

Country

Country music is a genre of American popular music that originated in Southern United States, in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the southeastern genre of American folk music and Western music. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddles, and harmonicas.


The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music; it came to Western music, which evolved parallel to hillbilly music from similar roots, in the mid-20th century. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and sub genres. The origins of country music are the folk music of mostly white, working-class Americans, who blended popular songs, Irish and Celtic fiddle tunes, traditional ballads, and cowboy songs, and various musical traditions from European immigrant communities. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute in the United States.

Rock Music

Rock


Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s' and 1950s' rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical genres.
Musically, rock has centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar and drums. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis.


 

By the late 1960s, referred to as the "golden age" or "classic rock" period as rick music was the most popular and successful genre, a number of distinct rock music sub-genres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, and jazz-rock fusion. New genres that emerged from this scene included progressive rock, which extended the artistic elements; glam rock, and the diverse and enduring major sub-genre of heavy metal, which emphasized volume, power, and speed.

Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of other sub-genres, including new wave, post-punk and eventually the alternative rock movement. From the 1990s alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop, and indie rock. Further sub-genres that have emerged in recent years are pop punk, rap rock, and rap metal.

House Music

House

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized circa 1984 in Chicago, but beginning in 1985, it fanned out to other major cities across North and South America, as well as Europe and later Australia.  


Early house music commercial success in Europe saw songs such as "Pump Up The Volume" by MARRS (1987), "House Nation" by House Master Boyz and the Rude Boy of House (1987), "Theme from S'Express" by S'Express (1988) and "Doctorin' the House" by Coldcut (1988) in the pop charts. Since the early to mid-1990s, house music has been infused in mainstream pop and dance music worldwide.
Early house music was generally dance-based music characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats, rhythms mainly provided by drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals, and synthesized basslines. 

While house displayed several characteristics similar to disco music, it was more electronic and minimalistic, and the repetitive rhythm of house was more important than the song itself. House music today, while keeping several of these core elements, notably the prominent kick drum on every beat, varies a lot in style and influence, ranging from the soulful and atmospheric deep house to the more minimalistic microhouse. House music has also fused with several other genres creating fusion subgenres, such as euro house, tech house, electro house and jump house.
In the late 1980s, many local Chicago house music artists suddenly found themselves with major label deals. House music proved to be a commercially successful genre and a more mainstream pop-based variation grew increasingly popular. Artists and groups such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Björk, Aretha Franklin, Steps, Daft Punk, and C+C Music Factory incorporated the genre into their work. After enjoying significant success in the early to mid-90s, house music grew even larger during the second wave of progressive house (1999–2001). The genre has remained popular and fused into other popular subgenres, as the DJ Mag Top 100 DJs poll has been dominated by house DJs since the beginning of the polls. Today, house music remains popular in both clubs and in the mainstream pop scene while retaining a strong foothold on underground scenes across the globe.

Pop Music

Pop

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. Pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, but as a genre is particularly associated with the rock and roll and later rock style.

Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks.
So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, using electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth. Pop music is generally thought of as a genre which is commercially recorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal.

Pop Vs. Popular Music

It is tempting to confuse pop music with popular music. The New Grove Dictionary Of Music and Musicians, the musicologist's ultimate reference resource, identifies popular music as the music since industrialization in the 1800's that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle class. This would include an extremely wide range of music from vaudeville and minstrel shows to heavy metal. Pop music, on the other hand, has primarily come into usage to describe music that evolved out of the rock 'n roll revolution of the mid-1950's and continues in a definable path to today.

Music Accessible To the Widest Audience 

Since the mid-1950's pop music has usually been identified as the music and the musical styles that are accessible to the widest audience. This means the music that sells the most copies, draws the largest concert audiences, and is played most often on the radio. After Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" hit #1 on music charts in 1955 the most popular music became the records influenced by rock 'n roll instead of the songs and light standards that had dominated TV's Your Hit Parade weekly countdown show. Since 1955 the music that appeals to the widest audience, or pop music, has been dominated by sounds that are still rooted in basic elements of rock 'n roll.

 

Best Music Video Directors- Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler (born April 18, 1973) is an American film director, music video director, television commercial director and photographer. As a music video director, his most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on 16 music videos together throughout her career, beginning with "Unfaithful" in 2006 and most recently "Diamonds" in 2012. He has also written and directed music videos for many other well known artists including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Eminem, Usher, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Snoop Dogg, Cheryl Cole, M.I.A., Mary J Blige, fun. and Lana Del Rey.

Beginning his career as a photographer, Mandler's work has been featured on the covers of major magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, GQ, Esquire, Men's Health, and ESPN The Magazine. His celebrity portraits include, among others, David Beckham, Colin Farrell, James Franco, Heath Ledger, Ryan Phillippe, Eva Mendes, Lebron James, Taylor Lautner, Andrew Garfield, Kiefer Sutherland and Katie Holmes.
 

This is one of his music videos that he has directed.

Genres Of Music

Here are 5 Genres that I am going to talk about to help me decide which genre I will chose for my music video;

- Pop
- House
- Rock
- Country
- Rap

Types of Music Videos

There are 3 types of Music Videos:

Narrative
Performance
Spectacle

Narrative Music Videos

Narrative Music Videos are music videos that have a storyline that relate to the lyrics. Most of these music videos  have only little or no performance. Most of these music videos are a based around some sort of love story between a man and a women.They may use a complex narrative story and structure.

Performance

Within these Music Videos  mainly focus just on the artist, we are shown the artist performing either to the camera or to an audience. They rarely have any sort of narrative within the music video. These are mainly used in Rock Music Video's and also Indie Bands that aren't famous enough to make a music video so they use their concerts to promote themselves.

Most of the camera shots within these videos are jumping from one band member to the other to help promote them, they look into the camera to also catch the audience's attention.

Spectacle

History of Music Videos

20's
The earliest music video were filmed in the mid 1950's however, before then as early as the 1920's, films by animators such as Oskar Fischinger were accompanied by musical score labeled 'visual music;

The early animated efforts of Walt  Disney his Silly Symphonies, were built around music. The Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Merrie Melodies, were intially fashioned around the specific sings from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live Action musical distrubed to theatres.

50's
In the 1950's Tony Bennett was filmed walking along The Serpentine in Hyde Park, London  as his recording of 'Stranger in Paraside; played; the film was disturbed to and played by UK and US television stations, leading Bennett to later claming he made the first music video

According to the Interent Accuract Project, disk-jockey sinder J.P 'The Big Bopper' Richardson was the first to coin the phrase 'rock video;

60's
Around the 1960's the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was intended in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Dutronc to accompnay their songs. Its use to spread to other countries and similar machined such as Cinebox in Italy and Colour-Sonic in the USA were patented.

The defining work in the development of the modern music videos was 'The Beatles' first major motions picture. A Hard Days Night in 1964 directer by Richard Lester. The musical segments in the film arguably set out the basic visual vocabulary of today's music videos, influencing a vast number of comtemporary musicians, and countless subsequent pop and rock group music videos.

In 1966 the clip of Bob Dyan performing 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' filmed by DA Pennebaker was much used. The clip's ironic portrayal of a performance and the semmingly random inclusion of a celebrity.




 70's
In 1970's the music industry realises that TV shows is a great opportunity to promote. In the UK Top Of The Pops was a TV programme that used to help promote bands and record labels which means, that if the music video was good it would increase a song's sales and viewers would hope that they would be the video the following week.

 

80's
In 1981 MTC was launched, the first video to be aired was Buggles 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. David Bowie also scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade which gives thanks to the director David Mallet's eye catching promo for 'Ashes to Ashes'. In the early to mid 1980s artists started to use more effects within their videos and added a storyline or plot to the music video.

One of the first Artists to do this was Micheal Jackson who created a short film. He did this music video to 'Billie Jean' which was directed by Steve Barron. And then soon after Thriller was realised which was a mind blowing music video, which took music video format to another level.

90's 
In 1991, the dance segment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was cut because it showed Michael Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't Care About Us" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged and falsely accused anti-Semitic messages in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video.

Madonna is the artist most associated with music video censorship. Controversy surrounding Madonna's marketing of her sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin". Outcry occurred over the subject matter (relating to teenage pregnancy) discussed in the video for the song "Papa Don't Preach". "Like a Prayer" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery. In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex which generated a media firestorm.

In 1992, The Shamen's video for the song "Ebeneezer Goode" was banned by the BBC due to its perceived subliminal endorsement of the recreational drug Ecstasy. The Prodigy's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter" was banned by the BBC because of its references to arson.
In 1993, Australian rock band INXS' song "The Gift" was banned by MTV because of its use of Holocaust and Gulf War footage, among images of famine, pollution, war and terrorism. As well as this, metal band Tool's music video for Prison Sex was banned from MTV, as the video and lyrics touch on the sensitive matter of child abuse.

                                                                                    00's 
In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which features Williams stripping naked then peeling off his skin to reveal bloody flesh, followed by ripping off his muscles and organs until he is nothing but a blood-soaked skeleton. The video was censored in the UK during daytime hours, and was broadcast unedited after 10pm. The video was banned in Dominican Republic due to allegations of satanism.
In 2001, Björk's video for "Pagan Poetry" was banned from MTV for depictions of sexual intercourse, fellatio, and body piercings. Her next single, "Cocoon", was also banned by MTV as it featured a nude Björk (which the nude body was actually a fitted body suit rigged with red string).

In 2002, the video for "All the Things She Said" by Russian duo t.A.T.u. caused controversy as it featured the young girls, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. UK TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to pedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. Top of the Pops aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".

In 2004, Maroon 5's video for "This Love" generated controversy due to intimate scenes between frontman Adam Levine and his then-girlfriend. Despite those particular scenes being shot at strategic angles, a censored version was released with a stream of computer-generated flowers added in to cover up more. The video for "(s)AINT" by Marilyn Manson was banned by that artist's label due to its violence and sexual content. The following year, Eminem's video for "Just Lose It" caused controversy over its parody of Michael Jackson's 2005 child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and hair catching fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. The video was banned from BET, and Jackson spoke out against the video, calling it "inappropriate and disrespectful to me, my children, my family and the community at large."

As of 2005, the Egyptian state censorship committee banned at least 20 music videos which featured sexual connotations due to Muslim moral viewpoints. In 2004, many family groups and politicians lobbied for the banning of the Eric Prydz video "Call on Me" for containing women dancing in a sexually suggestive way, however, the video was not banned. In 2008, Justice's video for their song "Stress" was boycotted by several major music television channels due to allegations of racism and violence; the video depicts several youths committing various crimes throughout the streets of Paris, with the youths mainly being of North African descent.

While country music has largely avoided controversy surrounding video content, it has not been immune. The music video for the 2003 Rascal Flatts' song "I Melt," is a case in point, gaining notoriety for clips featuring guitarist Joe Don Rooney's bare buttocks, and model Christina Auria taking a shower in the nude.The video was the first aired on CMT to show nudity,and eventually reached No. 1 on the network's "Top Twenty Countdown" program.However, Great American Country banned the video when the group refused to release an edited version.

10's

In 2010, Thirty Seconds to Mars video "Hurricane" was censored because of its major elements of violence, nudity and sex. The short film was later released with a clean version that can air on television.The explicit version is available on the band's official website with a viewing certificate of 18+.

In 2010, a rumour circulated that Lady Gaga's video "Telephone" was banned by MTV, a rumour which reached some press outlets. The rumour claimed that MTV had banned the video because the content could not be shown within their programming. MTV denied the ban and showed the video frequently on European MTV programming. Lady Gaga's previous videos have also attracted criticism for their sexually suggestive content; the video for "LoveGame" was refused play on the Australian video music program Video Hits; however, other Australian programs aired the video uncensored. The video for Alejandro was criticized by the Catholic League, for showing the singer dressed in a red latex fetish version of a nun's habit, simulating rape, and appearing to swallow a rosary.

Ciara's video for "Ride" was banned by BET, with the network citing that the video was too sexually charged. The video was also subsequently banned by all UK television channels.

Rihanna's video "S&M", which features the singer whipping a tied-up man, taking hostages and indulging in a lesbian kiss, was banned in 11 countries and was flagged as inappropriate for viewers that are under 18 on YouTube.
 
Miley Cyrus's video for "Wrecking Ball" featured the former teen star swinging naked on top of a wrecking ball and licking a sledgehammer. The video became the fastest video to reach 100 million views, in six days. A scene featuring a naked Cyrus was fully censored when it was aired on MTV.

In 2014, Katy Perry's video for "Dark Horse" caused offense to some Muslims, over Perry's character turning a man wearing a pendant that says Allah, the Arabic word for God, into sand, with the necklace burned by lightning shot from Perry’s fingers. A petition accused Perry of "representing an opposition of God" and demanded that the video should be taken down from YouTube. The petition reached over 65,000 signatures and as a response, the pendant was digitally removed from the video on February 26, 2014, after which the petition was closed. However, as of March 2014, MTV Greece still shows the unedited version of the video.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video#1990s

What is a Music Video?

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and visual imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes to help their marketing. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various phrases including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video