History of Music Videos
What is a music video?
A music video is a short video with a song in the background. Normally a music video is used to promote a band, song or to give the audience pleasure whilst watching and listening to the music. Nowadays music videos have changed as they can have a narrative, a live performance or something that has no meaning at all - this depends on the genre of music.
1920s - 1960s
One of the first music videos was released in the 1920s from 'Vitaphones Shorts' and 'Spooney Melodies'. From the 1930s to early 1960s, musicals were main genres in films, this was because the films were used to promote the new release of a song.
The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night
Beatles made a short film 'A Hard Day's Night' which was a documentary however the purpose was for the song to be a music video.
Modern Era
The main development of modern music videos is the recording and editing - the quality of them are improving all the time due to an advancement in technology. In the 1970s they had much less technology than nowadays (black & white video recorders etc.) Whereas nowadays the advancement in technology has allowed film directors to produce more entertaining/ higher quality music videos which has an effect on the songs sales. If the audience enjoy the music video they are more likely to purchase the song. This is proved as Michael Jackson was the first musician to make a short film for his music video that had a clear middle, beginning and end. This was in Billie Jean.
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson wrote 'Billie Jean' based on the "groupies" that himself and his brothers met when they were apart of the Jackson 5. Bille Jean isn't a person it represents a lot of girls who would wait around backstage doors and any band they saw they would have a relationship with. Therefore Michael Jackson decided to write a song about it and then to make a short film/ music video in order to attract/ sell his music.
Television
Television has aided musicians by promoting their product on TV. Music videos are played 24/7 on music channels such as MTV, VIVA and 4 Music. Some musicians were "founded" due to music channels such as: Madonna and Duran Duran, this just shows how important music channels are to the music industry because of the advancement in technology over time.
Future of Music Videos
With the new technological advancements and software development and new ideas gives music videos an almost infinite life span. There are so many different creative ideas and techniques we can do that we couldn't do 10 years ago, and in 10 years time with the rapid advancement in technology there will be so many different techniques and effects to be used.