So whats the whole purpose of music videos? Music videos are their to entertain audiences and promote the artists music. Very often audiences see music videos and enjoy them and beginning to like their songs because of the music video. Quite often artist use a performance in their music videos so fans can see what they are like when they perform instead of having to go see them. Some artists use animation this entertains audiences and gives the song a more laid back appeal. Also artist use narrative music videos which quite often match the lyrics of the song, this makes audiences feel closer as what they are singing about could be true about them. Music videos promotes songs in a very good way, especially if you have never heard the song before, if you enjoy the video you continue to watch.
Access to music videos are easy to access now a days compared to many years ago. Now we can access music videos on our phones, computers and television. We have channels devoted to music videos now and we have YouTube where you can access music videos. This is a huge step from what music videos used to be. I will now talk and explore the history of music videos.
Many years ago music videos did not exist, the only way people could hear song by their favourite artists was by the radio or going to see them perform. As they wasn't many radio channels and many were banned for playing music it wasn't often you would see you're favourite artist perform or see them.
Step by step music videos have been made to what they are today, the first ideas which led to music videos was the The 'Magic lantern' in 1894. The idea came from a group of men Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern music publisher and an electrician George Thomas. They promote artists songs by this 'magic lantern.' Their magic lantern projected still images, this is not quite a music video but it was the first steps it was known as the 'Illustarted song' which became very popular.
The film industry was a big help for music videos because film and music came together. In 1926 many short musical films were produced called talkies then cam along vitaphones which started up in the early 1930s, this was a sound process that was used frequently on films by the company Warner Brothers. The soundtrack was not printed on the actual film, but was issued separately on discs, these would then be played on a high speed motor in cinemas while the film was playing. Many performer used this method Spooney melodies in 1930 was the first true musical video series by the use of vitaphones. In the mid 1930s a new popular method came out which was a big step to music videos. Sing along cartoons called screen songs were very popular, the original idea came from Max Fleischer. This allowed audiences to sing along to their favourite songs while the lyrics appeared on the screen. These cartoon also featured popular musicians performing their songs on-camera in between the cartoons. Many famous companies that exist today used this method e.j Warner Brothers and Walt Disney. Also around this time a famous blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in dramatized performance of a hit in a two reel short film St. Louis Blues (1929). Other musicians did the same thing to promotes songs. In the 1940s Louis Jordan another musician made short films with his music playing and him performing. According to the music historian Donald Clark Louis Jordan was the ancestor of music videos.
In the 1940s were one song films known as "Promotional clips" this is because they were for promoting artists. These were usually made by jazz singers or torch singers and even comedians. They were basically short films of musically selections. It was usually just a band or the artist singing on a movie set. The music would be played during intervals or certain scenes. These were always made for the visual jukebox however towards the world war two they became to go out fashion.
Another influential factor to music videos was musical films. I personally think musical films were a vital factor as they included dance sequences and performance. Often it was actors singing and performing but it still has that vital music video feel. The musical films are over the years of 1930s-1950s. Even well known artists from our modern day are influenced by Hollywood musical films, a perfect example is Madonnas video Material girl which has so many features of the film Gentleman Prefer Blonde's to the song 'Dimonds are a girls best friend' which is performed by Marylin Monroe. I have attached a link to the 'Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend' performance and Madonnas 'Material Girl.'
Madonna wasn't the only artist who has been influenced by Hollywood, Micheal Jackson's music videos have been known to influenced by Hollywood musicals such as his video 'Thiller' and 'Bad.'
In 1956 John David Wilson directed Petrushka. He used Russian conductor Igor Strainvsky to conductor a live Orchestra, an hour of the show was shown on live television networks, bringing music and a performance to peoples homes. A year later in 1957 Tony Bennett was filmed walking near the famous Serpentine in London (Hyde Park) to the song 'Stranger in paradise'. This was distributed to UK and US television, once again bringing music and entertainment to the comfort of peoples homes.
Toward the 1960s the French created the visual jukebox it was called the Scopitone, this used to play short films to accompany their songs, this spread to many other countries and very similar machines were made. This allowed fans in public places and homes to access music of their favorite artist and see them perform and act. Also in 1961 the Canadians created a show called 'Singalong Jubilee' They would pre-record artists songs then film the artist lip-syncing and edit the videos. they would also film in different locations this is a huge build up to music videos as it shows the industry to introduce music videos to the public.
The Beatles play a huge role in the history of the music videos. The Beatles where hugely popular in the in 1960s. Due to the demand of fans The Beatles needed a way for fans to see them perform, listen to their music without actually going to a concert to see the. The Beatles had to stop doing Live performances due to the fact of too many fans and they couldn't even hear themselves play. So The Beatles came up with the idea of making a full feature length movie called 'A Hard Days Night' it was directed by Richard Lester. It was a mixture of comedic value, narrative and musical performances. They played themselves and played their own songs in the film, the film was a huge hit and it allowed fans to see them perform and see the real Beatles, this increased their popularity. The full film was shot in black and white. Ive attached a video form the opening sequence of the film, personally I think this was the start of music videos.
The next step to music videos was another narrative/performance video from The Beatles. This was the next step to music videos. Instead of making a short film The Beatles made a performance/ narrative film to be shown on national television, the film was called 'Magical Mystery Tour' This was shown on BBC one in 1967. Here's is a video song from the film called 'I Am The Walrus.' I have attached this video because I think it was a influential clip towards the history of music videos this is because they use many new features, special affects and camera angles which had not been used before. They also use fades in the videos, zooms, pans, split screen, establishing shots. The video also showed them performing and acting. This was one step closer to music videos. Bob Dylan around the same time also created short films with his own songs playing in the background. After the airing of 'I am the Walrus' many other artist did the same thing of making a short video of a song and airing them on television. Many artist couldn't afford to play them in cinemas so television was the closet thing.
Top of the pops was the next step towards music videos. Once a week Top Of the Pops would be aired. It would show artist performing a lip syncing to their lyrics. they would also have fans on the show to give that 'live feel' to the show. It was made by the BBC and was broad casted weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. This was a very popular show and allowed audiences to watch performers weekly.
The next step was a famous video by Queen called 'Bohemian Rhapsody' 1974 this is classed as the first music video in the UK. This was a ground braker for the start of music videos. Queen had made many promo videos for previous songs but this song was the start of music videos. It used a mixture off narrative and performance. The video was recoded in under 4 hours and was made on a small budget of £4,500, a small amount of money compared to the music videos of our day and age. The video use many conventions of camera angles, lighting and special affects. They used pans, zooms, shot reverse shot, low angles, high angles and close ups. It was very operatic however still had that rock and roll affect by the use of performance, dry ice and lots of lighting.
Queen was the start of music videos, many other artist then starting making music videos such as David Bowie. However they are not like music videos nowadays. They slowly progressed to what they are now with dance sequences, exotic locations, special effect and advanced camera angles. David Bowie's video
'Space Oddity' shows the difference to music videos now, the lack of quality special affects, lighting and narrative performance. However the video matches the lyrics which was the start of videos relating to artists lyrics.
Over the years videos improved. Abba was a huge success in the 1970s in 1977 they released a video for the song 'If you change you're mind' They used zooms, studios, high angles, low angles, zooms, pans , continuity editing, fades. The fades where to represent romance, the song was about love and relationships. Once again matching the lyrics of the song. In 1982 Wham released a video called 'Club Tropicana' the 1980s was all about wealth, bright colours and unusual fashion. The video reflected this, once again relating to its time. However this music video was more advanced than David bowie, Abba and Queen. Wham used very exotic locations, narratives, lots of extras, opening, fades and voygeogrism, this means you enjoy watching it. It also showed a lot of narcissism.
As music videos became more and more popular a channel was opened just for music videos, this channel was MTV it still exists today and still very popular. The first ever song to be aired was 'Video killed the radio star' very ironic.
As years went video improved and new ideas were used, videos tried animation, different affects, new locations and more camera angles. Perter Gabriell's song 'Sledgehammer won an award for video of the year with his use of animation, it many months to make but it was the start of new ideas and improvement of videos. Years passed and videos have become ironic, extravagant and known. We now have channels dedicated to music videos, awards for music videos. Its very rare now famous artist don't have videos to match their songs. Their only going to get better and better, who knows what the future holds for music videos.
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