Introduction:
Over the years, music videos have dramatically changed. Modern music is now very different to traditional music, especially the videos. Modern music videos are very advanced and visually appealing due to the advancements in technology. In comparison, traditional music videos were simple and had basic performances from artists, whereas more modern music videos tend to have narrative or conceptual bases to the video. There is also a very different use of mise en scene, locations, cinematography and lighting to traditional music videos as they lacked these elements - this may be due to technological advancements and the changes in the amount of money spend on music videos. Modern music videos also greatly appeal to various audiences, this is due to the individual genres, for examples, pop genre music videos are more likely to appeal to appeal to younger female audiences - whereas rock music videos will appeal to older males. Traditional music videos appealed to larger audiences due to the limited amount of music videos in the 1990s, it would be rare to see a music video aimed at a very particular audience. Modern music videos are used for various purposes including for films, trailers, promos and adverts. Traditional music videos were also less likely to contain inappropriate and controversial features as the majority of them received positive responses from the general public and some artists such as the Beatles gained global fame. Although modern music videos can contain controversial content which can have a negative impact but still make a music video popular. The media has also become extremely diverse as the internet and social media has grown and instant feedback can be given to artists who put out music videos, this means the way an artist is perceived can greatly their success amongst a mass audience.
Music video timeline:
1929: Bessie Smith, Saint Louis Blues - This song is a fundamental part of jazz music. It is considered to be one of the first ever music videos. Bessie Smith appeared in a two reel short film titles "Saint Louis Blues" in 1929. The video portrayed Smith performing and lip syncing along to the hit song. Due to this, many argue that this is evidence for it being the first ever music video. Despite this, I disagree that this is the first music video as there was lip syncing used to promote the film, and there was no narrative, concept or actual performance in the video.
1940: Walt Disney, Fantasia. - In 1940, Disney created an animated film which was based around famous pieces of classical music. The soundtrack was recorded with multiple audio channels and it was the fist film to be shown in stereophonic sound. The film was classified as a music video due to the visuals being accompanied by sound which are conventions of a music video. In addition to this, it was a breakthrough at the time to have both audio and visuals together. Fantasia has a clear narrative and there is a clear relationship between the music and the visuals, as proposed by Goodwin's theory. Although it is important to know that Walt Disney did not create Fantasia to serve the purpose of being a music video - but a movie.
1950-60: Tony Bennett, Strangers in Paradise - Tony Bennett filmed "Strangers in Paradise" in Hyde Park, London, and it was distributed across both UK and US television. He claimed he created the first ever music video despite Bessie Smith's performance and video, as he intended on using his song specifically for a video rather than a film like Bessie Smith and his work was distributed on television. There is a clear star image in this video, performance and genre characteristics are evident which further supports Goodwin's theory and classifies Tony's work as a music video.
1964: The Beatles - The Beatles released "A Hard Days Night" and has a basic set out and is considered the beginning of contemporary music videos. This video had a narrative with fast paces cuts and had a variety of cinematography. It had set a new era of videos and artists began to come up with narratives to attract audiences. This was because The Beatles were the biggest music group at the time and were globally recognised.
1966-1968: The Monkees - The Monkees was a television show that aired for two years, every episode had a short film which was created to accompany songs made by the Monkees. This had helped create the fundamentals of today's music videos, especially for performance type music videos.
1966: The Birth of "Top of the Pops" - Top of the Pops was a television program created by the BBC and it's sole purpose was to promote singles of artists. Due to the limit the show had, artists were needed to compete in order to be aired, this meant only the most popular or famous and recognisable musicians were shown to audiences.
1967: Videos utilising cinematic techniques - The Beatles were seen to take initiate as they drastically changed the look of music videos. In their video for the song "Penny Lane" they used effects that were similar to cinema and high end film making. These elements included dramatic lighting. camera angles and rhythmic editing. This began the era of professionally edited music videos and film making which would accompany songs - this practice still occurs today. These new features further support Goodwin's theory of popular music videos.
1975: Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody - Bohemian Rhapsody was the first ever music video that was specifically made to replace live performances on TV. Despite previous videos that were made by the Beatles, Queen made videos with the sole purpose to be aired on TV, accompanied by their song. It was the very first video that was made on video format and had set an example for other artists that created music videos more frequently. The visuals had matched the song and there was very clear star image and genre characteristics, linking to Dyer and Goodwin respectively.
1981: MTV Launch and the development of music videos - As there was a very large supply of music videos at this point MTV was launched to support it. MTV caused more artists to air their music videos and people were able to see more of them, The Buggles released a video called "Video Killed The Radio Star" and it was the first ever music video to air on MTV. It was a high budget production and used overlay effects which was seen as complex editing.
1984: Michael Jackson, Thriller. Michael Jackson's Thriller was seen as the birth of conceptual music videos, it had a clear beginning, middle and end and simulated a short film. It is still considered one of the best music videos ever made and around this time, Top of the Pops began to censor music videos and this is considered to be where censorship of music videos began. An example of this is Duran Duran's music video for Girls on Film was censored due to explicit content and promiscuity.
1980's: MTV and Music success. The 1980s saw the rise of the music video supply. Most artists made videos for their songs and they were debuted on MTV. Artists such as Madonna began to sell her music through politically and socially charged, controversial content which saw her gain global recognition and success. Many directors were then working on music videos, to eventually break into the film industry. An example of this would be Martin Scorsese, who is regarded as one of the greatest film directors of our time - entirely directed Michael Jackson's "Bad".How have music videos developed over time?
Over time, music videos have greatly changed, this is due to the advancements in technology which has made it easy even for the smallest creators to make professional music videos. While big industries easily make large scale big budget music videos.
Technology/Equipment advancement:
Technology has improved greatly and music videos are now very easily view able in HD and now 4K format as filming equipment has improved a lot. When music videos first started appearing frequently there were very few types of camera, this limited directors and artists to the way music videos would look. Artists today are able to edit their music videos professionally and have a lot of special effects due to editing software and green screen. Imagery can be created that can be compared to Hollywood large scale movies due to the technology available today, an example of this is Skrillex & Rick Ross - Purple Lamborghini which was made to simultaneously promote a single for the movie Suicide Squad. They used many special effects and expensive props and clearly spend a lot on costume, hair and makeup as some of the characters from the film appear in the video, and the film went on to win an academy award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Artists are also able to edit their sound a lot in professional studios.
The Distribution and Consumption:
Distribution and consumption of music videos have also developed over time. Various polysemy and synergy techniques are used to promote a video and now there are many different ways of distributing the videos and letting all people access them. Social media sites now make it very easy for music videos to be seen by all people with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram have millions of users and are growing every day. Music videos are also aired on television channels such as 4Music and VIVA.
Star Image and Representation:
Over time artists have undergone dramatic changes and performers portray themselves very differently in music videos. Although this does depend on the genre of the music video. For example, Hip Hop artists may try and boast about and glamourise their lifestyle and financial status by using expensive cars, large sets and expensive jewellery. An example of this is the artist Future who regularly does this in his music videos.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=future
Purpose of music videos:
A music video can have a myriad of purposes. Many artists create music videos simply for audience entertainment as their fans demand it. Other artists use it to enhance their career and gain recognition from the industry or audiences that do not know who they are. It can also be a good way of selling the artists music. Many modern music videos have gained controversy, due to the themes they portray and the content. An example of this is Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, which was criticized for having lyrics that trivialize sexual consent, also the music video contained many women dancing around in the nude while the men in the music video were fully clothed. This can be seen as a technique for cheap publicity as the video was known globally for negative reasons but still benefited.
Conclusion:
After I extensively researched into the History of Music videos and the developments of the industry and technology as a whole which benefited music videos. I gained knowledge of the industry and have developed ideas on how to appeal to audiences with the technology I have available today . Although there is still debate on who created the first music video, I strongly believe it was Tony Bennett who created the first music video, this is because his video Strangers in Paradise contained the most obvious characteristics of a music video and can be linked to Dyer's Star Image and Goodwin's Theory of music videos. Researching into the history of music videos has allowed me to observe how music videos have developed over time and how the industry in constantly changing.
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