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The Illustrated Song
In 1894, Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired George Thomas and various performers to promote their song, "The Little Lost Child". Using a 'magic lantern', Thomas projected a series of still imagines on a screen which would play during live performances of this song. This popular form of entertainment was soon known as 'the illustrated song' and was the first step towards the making of music videos. -
Musical Films
Warner Bros. released the first musical film, also known as a 'talkie' (with speech and song), called 'The Jazz Singer'. -
Introduction to Screen Songs
The first screen song was introduced where the lyrcis were accompanied by a series of illustrated images. Audiences would be encourage to sing along as a 'bouncing ball' followed the lyrics on the screen. -
The Ancestors of Music Videos
In the mid-1940's, musician Louis Jordan created short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into a feature film, 'Lookout Sister'. These short films are today known as 'the ancestors of music videos'. -
The Scopitone
The Scopitone was a visual jukebox, created in France, and showed short films which would accompany songs. -
The First Music Video?
In his autobiography, Tony Bennet believes that he created "the first ever music video". The clip was of him walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London; which was edited and accompanied his song, 'Stranger In Paradise'. -
The Second Music Video
The second music video to ever be created was sent in the United States and stared Evil Presely in his song, 'Jailhouse Rock'. -
Promotional Music Video
The oldest example of a promotional music video is "Dáme si do bytu" ("Let's get to the apartment"), which was created in 1958 and directed by Ladislav Rychman. -
The Beatles
In 1965, The Beatles began making promotional clips for distrubition and broadcast in other countries which allowed them to promote their record releases. They also released 'Strawberry Feilds Forever' and 'Penny Lane' in 1967 which featured techniques such as dramatic lighting and unusual camera angles. -
MTV Launched
The 24 hour broadcast was released, allowing music and music videos to be played all across the country. -
Michael Jackson's Thriller
Michael Jackson's most successful music video was released. -
VH1 Launched
The music channel, VH1 was released. It consisted of softer music and catered to the older demographic, widening the audience of videos. -
Michael Jackson's Scream
The music video for Michael Jackson's "Scream" was released, costing $7million to produce, making it the most expensive music video ever. -
iFilm
The website iFilm, which showed short videos, including music videos, was released. -
YouTube
In 2005, the website, YouTube, was launched. This made viewing music videos much faster and easier. -
Thirty Seconds To Mars
Thirty Seconds To Mars' music video, 'Kings And Queens' was uploaded onto YouTube, where it recieved over 100 million views.
It became the iTunes Store's the most downloaded video of the week and also recieved four nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, making 30STM the most nominated rock artists in VMA history.
