Task 1 - History of Music Videos

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  • 'Talkies'

    'Talkies'
    'Talkies' (or sound films) were pieces of film that were accompanied by synchronous sound and dialogue (as opposed to silent films). This lead to musical short films being produced, Vitaphone, Warner Bros featured many dancers, vocalists and bands.

  • Animation

    Animation
    (Early 1930s) Max Fleischer made a series of Screen Songs with the bouncing ball over the lyrics - the modern day equivalent of karaoke. Some cartoons were also set to music; Disney's Fantasia is a prime example.

  • Lookout Sister

    Lookout Sister
    (Mid 1940s) Louis Jordan made several short films for his own songs, a couple of which were cut together into the feature film Lookout Sister. These films, to some, are known as the ancestors of the music video.

  • Tony Bennett

    Tony Bennett
    Bennet claims to have the made the first music video, with his film of him walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London in 1956. The vdeo was aired on UK and US television.

  • Visual Jukeboxes

    Visual Jukeboxes
    (Late 1950s) The visual jukebox Scopitone was invented in France and spread to other countries, with the Italian Cinebox and the American Color-Sonic

  • Singalong Jubilee

    Singalong Jubilee
    For the Canadian show, Manny Pittson pre-recorded the audio then went on location and taped various pieces of video with lip-syncing, then edited the audio and visuals together. Most of the videos were shot on stage, but were interspersed with location shots to add variety.

  • Scorpio Rising

    Scorpio Rising
    This film directed by Kenneth Anger utilised popular songs replacing dialogue.

  • A Hard Day's Night

    A Hard Day's Night
    The Beatles released this feature-length film directed by Richard Lester as a mockumentary, acting as a basis for many future music films. It was a direct model for the US television series The Monkees (1966-1968) and had film segments that accompanied the band's songs.

  • Concert Films

    Concert Films
    Films of musicians' concerts and tours were being released as early as the 1960s with the T.A.M.I Show.

  • Help!

    Help!
    The title track sequence used in the film is probably the most accurate to modern day music videos, with rhythmic cutting, contrasting shot lengths and strange angles.

  • Music Television

    Music Television
    Australian television shows Countdown and Sounds were significant in popularising the music video genre in Australia. Russell Mulcahy was asked to make clips for songs that didn't already have them, to be broadcasted. This was so successful he quit his job and started as a full-time director, He directed The Buggles video for Video Killed The Radio Star (1979) which was the first music video aired on MTV.

  • MTV

    MTV
    MTV launched in 1981 providing 24-hour showing of music videos, many notable musicians owing their success to the distribution of their music videos.

  • Directors

    Directors
    With MTV's growing popularity, well-known directors starting being involved in their creation. Mark Romanek is known for directing the three most expensive music videos of all time, the most expensive being Michael and Janet Jackson's Scream, at $7 million.

  • The Internet

    The Internet
    (2005 - Present) With television abandoning music videos for the more popular reality TV, the internet became the ideal source. YouTube's launch in 2005 announced easy streaming to the world, and it quickly became the most popular streaming website.