History of Music Videos

Key dates in the history of music videos?

1929 - In 1929 blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film named 'Saint Louis Blues' in which she performed her hit song. It was shown in theatres in 1932 and thought to be the first video accompaniment to music.

1940 - Walt Disney began to make his name creating short animations such as Fantasia; an animation
set to classical music. While some may say this is the true beginning of music videos, many would argue it is rather just a film text associated with a genre of music as it serves no purpose for promoting or advertising an artist.  This continues into films such as Steam Boat Willie (1928) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1939) where music was accompanied with moving image.


1950-1960s - Tony Bennett in 1956 was filmed in Hyde park for his song 'Strange in the Park.' This
video was then distributed as part of the promotion of the song throughout the UK and US, thus making it arguably the first music video to exist.

Similarly in the 1960's French singers began producing short films to accompany their songs. This became known as the visual jukebox and was soon followed in Italy with the Cinebox and the USA patented Colour-Sonic.


1966 - Top of The Pops was born to help artists promote their music to masses at once. This meant artists had to compete to perform in segments on the show which was watched across the UK. Although not music videos specifically, these performances are effectively short films to accompany and promote the songs.

1967 - Music videos advanced in 1967 with techniques such as effects, dramatic lighting, differing camera angles and rhythmic editing used to improve the videos. These techniques were employed by The Beatles in their Penny Lane music video. The video also is performance based pathing the way for future videos.


1975 - The 'Bohemiam Rhapsody' music video produced in 1975 by Queen arguably began the modern era for music videos. The music video was created in order to replace the live TV performance method of promotion. It was the first video to be made in video format and specifically to be played for TV.

1981 - MTV was born which gave music videos a platform to be played and audiences an accessible way of viewing the latest music. The first music video to be aired was 'Video killed the radio star' by Buggles. As MTV became more and more popular, the audience for radio started to decrease and even to this day radio as a means of airing music is less popular.

1984 - This saw the release of Michael Jackson's thriller music video; a groundbreaking example in
terms of narrative, choreography and length. This music video was seen to be a short film and shocked the whole industry and perhaps world. The video was shown across all formats even being aired in cinemas for masses to watch.

It was at this time that Top of The Pops also started to censor videos deemed inappropriate or controversial but this only caused artists to push the boundaries and break the rules to raise publicity; even if it did stop the video from being aired on all platforms. An example of this was Duran Duran's 'Girls' video.

1992 - Guns n Roses groundbreaking video for November Rain was produced and is still one of the most expensive productions. It was at this time that MTV first started to credit directors.

How have music videos changed over time?

Technology --> Before the modern era of music videos began, music videos were low quality and not
advanced in terms of camera angles or even editing (if any editing at all.) The increase in technology has also brought about improved sound systems, state-of-the-art editing software and enhanced camera operations. Time and money spent on music videos has also increased drastically. For example, if we compare artists of the past to similar artists of the present such as The Beatles and One Direction there is vast improvements in video quality.


Representation --> The ways in which labels present artists has also changed over time with most now being portrayed in music videos to be the ideal or having more lavish lifestyles. This does however depend on the genre and act, for example female artist videos are often now more promiscuous and male artist videos more than often have a female love interest. In the past, men were always the dominant in music videos and women were often portrayed as being exploited due to feminism not existing. An example of this is 'Girls on Film' by Duran Duran.


Narratives --> Music videos have also veered away from performance based videos and towards narrative styles. This is used in the previous example of The Beatles and One Direction. While many of The Beatles music videos feature performances such as 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' by The Beatles. On the other hand, One Directions music videos usually follow a narrative to some extent and rarely show the members performing. For example, their music video for 'Best Song Ever' sees the member take on different characters for comedic effect. Both The Beatles and One Directions videos are displayed below.

Relation to my Music Video:

Following my research into the history of music videos, I now have an insight into how music videos have developed from simple performance recordings to complex productions with a viral purpose. Since the beginning of the 21st century, music videos have started to develop more meaningful, and even controversial narratives and can be tools of raising awareness around particular issues. I believe my video will continue this theme by displaying a topical and current issue thus will fit into the music video trend of today. If my music video was to be following the trends of a different era, it would have a very different narrative.

Bibliography:

http://www.slideshare.net/crosswaysfederation/music-video-a-brief-history 
http://fatmamustafa1.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Research?updated-max=2015-10-27T07:34:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=4&by-date=false