History Of Music Video
The idea of visual innovation took off in the 50s where the
'Scopitone' which was a visual jukebox, was invented in France. French artists
created short films to accompany their songs. This invention then spread to
other countries such as the USA and similar machines were produced such as the
'Cinebox' in Italy.
One of the earliest videos for a top 40 hit was produced in
the Summer of 1963 by Jan & Dean. "Surf City" captured the
experience of a Summer in Southern California in a beach scene. Another notably
early clip was 'The Animals' in 1964 where they lip-synced the words to
"House of the Rising Sun" in a studio set.
The Beatles' made a huge impact in the development of music
videos from 1964 onwards. They made their first feature of "A Hard Day's
Night" which was originally pictured in Black and White. It was the first
example of mixing together both witty dialogue with performance in a musical
sequence. 'The Monkees' in America followed suit with the Beatles and
constructed film segments with their music. The Beatles then went on to compile
a much more superior video in colour for the single 'Help'. Along with this
they filmed promotional videos ("filmed inserts") for broadcasting in
other countries to enhance their global popularity.
Bands such as 'The Rolling Stones' and 'Pink Floyd' became
influential in acting upon this idea of promotional videos to be screened on TV
when they were not around to perform live. 'The Who' created a clip in 1966 for
"Happy Jack" where the band take the form of a gang of thieves. This
notion of comedy alongside of the music was appearing very popular and was well
received. The 60s saw a massive movement in the frequency of inserts and the
amount of bands realizing the potential of them being used. This was also a
period in which colour television was highly developed and much more common
therefore many music promos were now shot for colour tele - making them much more
aesthetically pleasing.
From 1974 onwards, music television began to establish
itself in society. In the UK, 'Top of the Pops' began to play music videos. If
the video of was well received by the public then song sales would increase so
they could see it again the following week. A prime example of this is David
Bowie's hit "Ashes to Ashes" got his first number one in a decade as
a result of his promotional tape. British Rock show "The Old Grey Whistle
Test" screened a number of videos which were made in particular for the
programme itself e.g.) 'Led Zepplin' and 'Genesis'.'. American show "Video
Concert Hall" was the first
nationwide channel on American televison and predated infamous MTV by almost 3
years. On this programme, it was common
for the artists to also be filmed miming to a live track to ensure perfomances
were controlled and to also avoid technical
issues. This technique is also used
in the 21st century. This particular era saw the rise of the importance of
music videos and their significance in the marketing world and stars preferred
these promos being shown as it made them appear more visually attractive.
In 1981,MTV, the US video channel launched its first clip of
"Video Killed the Radio Star" and kicked off the generation of
non-stop music on television (24 hours a day). With this new ideology, the
music video became an integral part in popular music marketing. Acts such as
'Adam and the Ants' and 'Duran Duran' "owed a great deal of their success
to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos". Two
main innovations through the development of the music video market were the
relatively easily operated video recording and editing equipment. The
revolution of editing products which enabled visual effects (compositing). This
led to pop acts being able to produce quick, cheap and high quality videos
efficiently. It is also evidenced that directors and acts worked closely
together to explore and widen the form as well as style of a music genre by
utilising advanced effects. Mixing film and video and adding a story line.
The idea of a non-representational video became established
as well, where the artist was not pictured throughout. An example of this is
Bruce Springsteen's video of "Atlantic City". In 1983, arguably the
most iconic video of all time, "Thriller" was released which was 14
minutes long, suggesting a factor of why it was so unique. In 1985 the video
for "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits, showed the pioneering use of
computer animation and aided the song in making it an international hit.
The 90s and early 21st century saw the establishment of the
internet broadcasting music videos through website such as Youtube, iFilm and
Napster. These enabled users to upload and share video files. 2005 saw the
launch of Youtube which made online video viewing much faster and easier. Other
websites such as Google Videos, Yahoo!, Facebook and Myspace. These had a huge
effect on the viewing of music videos and some artists recognised the potential
of this newly found internet market. Bands such as 'OK Go' have reached fame
through this market such as their video for "Here It Goes Again"
where they are pictured doing an extensive dance routine on treadmills In 2007, the RiAA prevented uses from sharing
videos as this was copyright from the record labels although some view it as
free advertising of their artists which ultimately is a positive thing - or on
the other hand as a product itself, not an advertisement hence the copyright
agreements made with Youtube etc. Videos like "Bad Romance" by Lady
Gaga have made news by becoming the most
viewed video on Youtube of all time with over 400 million hits highlighting the
success of internet popularity and sharing. The introduction of programmes such
as "VEVO" also enhance advertising revenue for the websites as well
as record labels.
Lyric Videos have increased in popularity since 2010. These
can be seen often released by the record labels as an alternative to an actual
music video. This typically shows the lyrics of the song being played featuring
the lyrics to the song in time. Artists such as David Guetta and Ce Lo Green
have followed this trend. These lyrics videos are not only promotional but also
as a cheaper alternative to full scale production.
