I try not to make a habit out of watching MTV, BUT there are
occasions where the remote lands on that channel either out of default or because something flashy catches my eye. (There ARE those few interesting videos that act as brightly colored fishing lures, interesting at first, until they've been shown every hour on the hour for the first 3 months) My question is: will videos look the same 10 years from now? I'm curious only because they don't seem to have changed at all in the 10+ years that MTV has been on the air. If I could design a computer graphics program that could digitally map the faces and logo's of a band onto a generic "live" (read as lip-synching to a stage audience) video, I could market the program and save many bands the trouble of having to go out and shoot a video that's already been done about 400 times. All I need to do is to sit down and work out the "perfect" video facets: how many slow-motion undressing women to use, how many cut-aways per second, how many fog-machines to use, whether or not to do outdoors footage at the edge of a cliff or in a forest, etc. etc. Once I get the telescript written, the rest will be easy. Perhaps I can sell this "perfect video" formula to struggling bands who need that extra push (that talent just can't seem to provide) to make it commercially. Wait! Why limit myself to just one single video format? I could do generic videos for posturing rap bands, phony "live" videos, "cutting edge" costume videos for new- wave/alternative bands, etc. etc. one for each genre! Those crappy movie-tie-in videos are too easy, just take the band's generic "live" video and intersperse it with clips from which ever movie that you are trying to promote. (musical info-mercials are next! No, wait. As I wrote that I had forgotten that Time-Life has already beaten me to THAT punch… damn!)
-Neil