Evaluation of 1960's Music Videos

This decade has been named by some as the evolution of rock music.It took a single genre of music and created numerous versions of it that dealt with different styles of rock. These included pop rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, folk rock and many others. That said, this decade was also famous for an increase in country and r&b music.

One example of the sub genre "surf rock" is the Beach Boys' song "summertime blues". The Beach Boys practically created this sub genre and were the first big surf rock band that properly existed. This song was one of the first times they had created a music video and they have created several since the release of this. 

This video uses the involvement of footage of the band playing the music, which is a very well used technique for music videos of that time. Also a similar feature is the fact that they are miming the words and instruments as to create a better sound quality, however it makes the video less professional. They also use a different storyline for half the song which makes the words of the music more substantial. This effect is given by the words being visually displayed in the format of a video. The use of actors miming the words said in the song is a good effect for involving the song in the music, but when it doesn't work it just looks wrong. The shots are mostly on eye level with the protagonist in the side story, this is used to suggest to the audience they are similar to the protagonist. This similarity is a teenage boy, and teenagers were some of the biggest followers of surf rock. 

An example of the r&b music that became popular in the 60's is Ben E King's "Stand by Me". This song was one of the highest selling r&b songs in the 60's. The music video uses a curious technique that involves a previous recording of the song and plays it through a tv in this version of the song. This gives us the illusion that the song has stayed the same between the two takings. 

The effect is also heightened by the transition from black and white to color. at the end of the video the tv effect is used again. This particular song was the main theme music for a film, and so there are various scenes from the film in the song. This effect is used in other songs such as "I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams. The video uses a lot of fades and pans in between shots which match the smooth rhythmic flow of the music. If the cutting speed was fast then the music would be out of place. The amount of people in the music video is also a way of showing how the song is calm and universal. This is because it shows many people getting along, all with different ages and color, thus emphasizing the universality of the song.

One artist that expanded across multiple genres of music in the 60s was Elvis Presley. He had music videos made from the films he was in so he did not have to take them twice. This meant that the individual songs in the films had to be the same quality as a music video. One such video was used in a film and is of the song "Return to Sender". 

This music video was very advanced for the times it was in. This was because the quality was meant for films, and thus it stood out from others at the time. Each time there is a pause in the music before the chorus Elvis does a move. This happens numerous times in the song and to show the repetition of it, the camera returns to the same position to emphasize the chorus. To show to the audience that they should enjoy the song, the cameras show various good looking people watching and enjoying the music. This gives the viewer the illusion that they should like it because a role model likes it. The clothes that Elvis wears are a contrast to the rest of the band and show his independence as a main singer in the group, thus undermining the other band members like in many other songs.