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Introduction
What is a music video? It is first and foremost a marketing device to promote the sale of music recordings. Music video's are also often referred to as promotional (promo) films and are found in every genre of music from an early time. -
Musical Short Films
The musical short can be traced back to the earliest days of sound films.Phonofilm process in 1924 was used to make these that were the very beginning of music videos. During the 1950s, musical shorts were revived for telecasting on local stations. Feature films in that decade were usually not edited to fit. Instead, if a feature ended 20 minutes before the hour, footage from musical shorts was used to fill the gap. Snader Telescriptions were musical shorts made for television from 1950 to 1954. -
St Louis Blue's-Bessie Smith
This is the first ever recorded 'Music Video' and was in fact a 2-reel short film of a dramatised performance of the hit song 'St Louis Blue's'. It was shown in theatres until 1932. -
Fantasia-Walt Disney
The famous Walt Disney could also be said to have created some of the first forms of Music Videos. In 1940 he created an animated film called 'Fantasia' which was based around pieces of famous classical music. The film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski. It received mixed critical reaction and was unable to make a profit due to World War II cutting off distribution to the European market. -
The Jukebox
The creation and introduction of the jukebox to the USA in 1941 found residence in countless bars and clubs and rose in popularity. It enabled people to play video clips along with music which promoted the development of music videos and created a different platform for these videos to be seen. -
Top of the Pops(TOTP)
This programme was created by BBC and ran from 1964-2006. It created an environment of innovation and competition as they had strict limits for the amount of music videos they could show, thus causing people to compete to create the best videos that'll be shown.Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. It was a great platform for artists to get their music heard and promoted. -
TOTP Controversy
Top of the Pops was censorious in it's approach to video content so another approach for an act was to produce a promotional video that would be banned or edited. This in turn would create controversy while simultaneously producing publicity for a particular artists video. Examples of this taking place was Duran Duran's 'Girls on Film'. A similar approach still continues nowadays if you look at the popularity of certain videos such as Wrecking Ball and Robin Thickes 'Blurred Lines' -
Subterranean Homesick Blues-Bob Dylan
This first 'modern' promo film is ironic in it's portrayal of performance and the starring of a random celebrity in a non-performing way became commonplace in Music Videos in the future and since, this clip had been repeatedly imitated. The original clip was the opening segment of D. A. Pennebaker's film Dont Look Back, a documentary on Dylan's 1965 tour of England. In the film, Dylan, who came up with the idea, holds up cue cards with selected words and phrases from the lyrics. -
Strawberry Fields Forever-The Beatles
This promotional video served as an early example of what became known as a music video. The film features reverse film effects, stop motion animation, jump-cuts from daytime to night-time, and the Beatles playing and later pouring paint over the upright piano.Critics have said the set design reflected the "collision of serenity and almost gothic eeriness" behind the finished song. -
Bohemian Rhapsody-Queen
This music video came about due to Queen being unable to make it to a performance on 'Top of the Pops'(TOTP) and so they recorded a special video (that went on to be classed at the first proper 'music video'). It was met with a great reception, staying at no.1 for 9 weeks!The video featured the band performing the beginning and end of the song on stage,and with a collection of visual images using the latest video editing technology.This is the first music video my parents can recall ever seeing! -
MTV
MTV is an American basic cable and satellite television channel launched on August 1, 1981 for a young adult target audience. The first ever music video shown was Buggles 'Video killed the radio star' which is ironic as the rise of this channel creates the question of whether this was the start of a golden era or the death to true musical artists as physical appeal now became critical to popularity. However it did provide a platform for artists to showcase their ability and music. -
Thriller-Michael Jackson
This 13 minute music video was the first to focus more on a narrative plot rather than a performance.It was directed by John Landis and it was MTV's first world premiere video. Guinness world book of records listed it as the most successful music video and it was also the first to be added to the National Film Registry.It was voted as the most influential pop music video of all time and had a profound effect on popular culture for its unprecedented merging of filmmaking and music. -
Technological Developments
The development of high-quality video tape recorders and portable video cameras enabled pop acts to produce promo videos quickly and cheaply. This is compared to the high cost of using film, although as genres developed directors did turn to 35mm film while some mixed film and video. Development of software and editing technology such as chroma-key advanced and improved the way in which music videos were able to be made and then their popularity when watched by the general public. -
Money for Nothing-Dire Straits
This music video was directed by Steve Barron and mixes early computer graphics with rotoscoped animation.Bosch FGS-4000 CGI system and a Quantel Paintbox. This technological convergence was widely used in TV production towards the end of the 1980s through to the mid-1990s, and regularly used by the BBC on Doctor Who causing to become particularly proliferated.The video was one of the first uses of computer-animated human characters and was considered ground-breaking at the time of its release. -
Sledgehammer-Peter Gabriel
Sledgehammer had a widely popular and influential music video created in part by 'Aardman Animations'(Wallace and Gromit creators) which used claymation, pixilation, and stop motion animation that gave life to images in the song.The video won 9 MTV Video Music Awards in 1987,the most awards a single video has won.It ranked at number four on MTV's 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made (1999). MTV later announced that "Sledgehammer" is the most played music video in the history of the channel. -
Vogue-Madonna
Filmed in black-and-white,the video recalls the look of films and photography from The Golden Age of Hollywood with the use of artwork by Art Deco artists and an Art Deco set design.Some of the close-up poses recreate noted portraits of such stars as Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo.She is known to often imitate silent films and stars and portrays a overt seductive representation which Laura Mulvey states is done so that audiences view her from a heterosexual male point of view. -
Buddy Holly-Weezer
The video portrayed Weezer performing at the original Arnold's Drive-In diner from the popular 1970s television show Happy Days. The video combined contemporary footage of the band with clips from the show. The video was met with great popularity and heavy rotation on MTV.The innovative video scored 4 awards at the 1995 MTV Video Music Award,and will forever be remembered for its use of contemporary actors and historical footage. -
Virtual Insanity-Jamiroquais
The video consists mainly of Jamiroquai's singer, Jay Kay, dancing and performing the song in a bright white room with a grey floor. The video earned recognition from critics for its special effects: the floor appears to move while the rest of the room stays still. It appears to be 1 long shot but actually is several sequences edited together with subtle use of camera pans.At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards in September 1997, it earned ten nominations, winning four awards, for it's innovation. -
Baby One More Time-Britney Spears
This is perhaps one of the most well-known music videos, directed by Nigel Dick and set in Venice High school(the same one as used in Grease). It is a high school-centric video that appeals to Spears desired teenage MTV audience. The dance scenes and school girl outfits is now considered to be one of her iconic looks.The video received 3 MTV Video Music Award nominations and it is also ranked as one of the most controversial music videos in pop! -
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing website in which users can upload, share and view videos and it was the first video sharing site to support high-definition video (started in October 2007). Vimeo was founded in November 2004 by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein and is very popular with indie film makers. Music videos are also shown on there, creating a great space for music videos and parodies to be shown. -
YouTube
Founded in 2005, YouTube was an innovative new platform where all manner of videos can be watched, from vlogs, short films, documentaries or music videos. Music videos moved on from MTV so that they can now be enjoyed on demand rather than having to wait till the track cycles round again as done previously. This platform allows anyone to create videos regarding whatever they like and revolutionised the way in which we watch, create and consume music videos. -
Rektor-Princess
This music video was done by an unsigned Norwegian band and it may be the first of it's kind. They have created a playable video game music video. It is an old-style online game that is accompanied by the bands song. It is also available to download and thus is really investing into the proliferated trend of video gaming and the incessant need by artists to make their brand and videos more and more out there and unexpected. -
Single Ladies-Beyoncé
Filmed in black and white, the focus of it was on the dance moves and empowering sensuality. Directed by Jake Nava,it premiered alongside 'If i were a boy' on MTV to reinforce the concept of conflicting personalities. Beyoncé wanted the video to feel "good and powerful" and include choreography that could be attempted by anybody;it was filmed with minimal alternative camera shots and cuts, and no changes to hairstyles, costumes and sets. It created a dance craze and won many awards. -
Born this way-Lady Gaga
This 7 minute long music video has a narrative plot that includes many Greek and Roman mythology references. Directed by fashion photographer Nick Knight, the video features Lady Gaga in a number of guises, with scary-looking facial protrusions but the overall message is that it's ok to be you and everyone is beautiful. The overall reception was very good, although with the general consensus that it was more of a high-fashion short film than a conventional music video. -
Give me Love-Ed Sheeran
This music video is a particular favourite of mine, directed by Emil Nava, it follows the tragic story of cupid and Ed him selves only has a cameo appearance. It is unusual for artists not to be the sole focus of their music video but Ed Sheeran often shies away from performing, creating a more mysterious aura. It received a very positive response with fans loving the dramatic and narrative story it told. -
Wildest Dreams-Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is particularly known for her creative music videos which often have a clear and strong plot. In recent years, her new songs have been accompanied by videos that mimic short films and have a lot more content to them than the typical performing music video. Some well-known examples include 'You belong with me' and 'Out of the Woods'. This captivating and interesting way of music videos is becoming more necessary nowadays as audiences need a new and exciting way of watching! -
Nowadays
The music video now approaches the popularity of the song itself, some even watch them on mute, purely for the aesthetic and cinematic value. The music business capitalises on the sex appeal of females in music videos rather than choosing less profitable musicianship-basedmusic. This is largely down to the way pop videos populate and saturate the market, leading to the value of appearance and looks being deemed more important than an artists talent.
