Research: History Of Music Videos

History of Music Videos

Intro: 

Music videos have changed dramatically, with modern music videos differing from traditional music videos. Modern music videos are now more advanced, and visually appealing in comparison to traditional music videos which were simple and contained basic performances from artists. Modern music videos are more likely to be narrative or concept based with the artist acting within their video. The use of mise en scene, locations and cinematography, and lighting has also changed dramatically, as traditional music videos lacked these elements, in comparison to modern music videos which have expensive and various mise en scene used, expensive locations, various camera angles, due to cameras being better, with an improvement in technology and better lighting due to more lighting equipment becoming widely available. Modern music videos also appeal to different audiences, due to music videos having individual genres, for example, pop music videos are more likely to appeal to the younger, female audience, in comparison to rock music videos which are more likely to appeal to the older male audience. however, traditional music videos appealed to a larger audience due to their being limited music videos in the early 1900's, therefore, there wasn't a particular audience the video was aimed at. Modern music videos can also be used for various purposes nowadays, such as for entertainment purposes, films, trailers, adverts etc, whereas traditional music videos were used to accompany an artists song, entertaining the audience. The impact traditional music videos would have had differ from the impact modern music videos have as traditional music videos were less likely to contain inappropriate or controversial elements, receiving positive responses and artists gaining large fan bases such as the 'Beatles' who become globally famous. However, modern music videos can have a negative impact as well as positive due to the changes within society and the morals artists hold, artists now choose to add controversial content to their videos which they know will have a negative impact, but will receive popularity. Media has also become extremely diverse with the internet and social media being important sources of information, therefore artists are perceived in particular ways due to the media, influencing their music videos and the response it receives. For example, if an artist is portrayed as powerful and likeable, their music videos are more likely to be watched by a larger audience in comparison to an artist who is negatively portrayed. 

Timeline of history modern music: 

• 23 December 1938: Number 12 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz music - From Spirituals to Swing was the title of a concert at Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938, marking the first time jazz had made a formal recognition of its own history. The concert, intended to present music of African-American origin to a mixed audience, was the brainchild of John Hammond, a scion of the Vanderbilt dynasty who had fallen in love with jazz during his youth. He worked as a jazz critic before beginning a distinguished career as an A&R man, and was also active in the civil rights movement.

• 1952: Number 13 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of world and folk music- There is a famous photograph taken by Allen Ginsberg of " film-maker " Harry Smith "transforming milk into milk" in a New York hotel room in 1985. This compilation featured recordings from a motley assortment of pre-war characters, such as Dock Boggs or Floyd Ming and his Pep-Steppers. The selection seemed to be made on the songs' strangeness – in the later words of the critic Greil Marcus, it revealed "the old, weird America". Smith wrote synopses of the songs and created his own artwork, including an etching of a monochord taken from a mystical treatise by 17th-century English astrologer Robert Fludd. The release became the bible of the Greenwich Village folk revival of the late 1950s and early 60s – feted by the likes of Dave Van Ronk and Dylan.

• 18 January 1987:  Number 14 of the 50 key events in the history of dance music- It was in 1987 that dance stormed the charts. Steve "Silk" Hurley's 'Jack Your Body' was the first to hit number one. It arrived with no promotion, a video that was cut from old black and white films and barely any lyrics. The similarly anonymous Pump Up the Volume by M/A/R/R/S also charted at number one on 27th September – one of the first singles to exploit the possibilities of sampling. Also among 1987's dance hits were Frankie Knuckles's Your Love and Coldcut's Say Kids What Time is It.

Key dates in our history: 

• 1929- Songs and Moving images- Bessie Smith appeared in the two- reel short film, 'Saint Louis Blues (1929) which featured Smith performing, as she was lip syncing along to the hit song. Lip syncing was first evident in this short film, therefore, it is argued that this performance proves that this was the first music video. However, despite there being elements of a music video I disagree that this can be regarded as a music video, as intention of the lip syncing was to promote the film, and there was no narrative or concept and no real performance, except Smith simply lip syncing to the song. 

• 1940- Songs and moving images- Walt Disney produced an animated film which consisted of eight animated segments set to classical music called 'Fantasia'. It was argued that this is when music videos were invented, however, I disagree as it did not properly reflect a music video, with no evidence  of an artist promoted, or even lyrics to the songs. It was simply a genre of music associated with the film.  

• 1920-1940- Songs and moving images- Many films, animations in particular,  including 'Stream boat Willie' (1928) and 'Snow White and the seven dwarfs' (1939),were accompanied by moving images. However, these were not considered as music videos, just basic editing of images to films/ musicals which was a popular genre of film during this period.  I agree as these films lasted longer than that average time of a music video and did not contain characteristics of  music videos, such as the visuals matching the lyrics or music. 

• 1950- 1960- Songs and moving images- in 1956, Tony Bennett was filmed walking along Hyde park, London, for his song 'Strange in the park'. This resulted in the single/ video being distributed on US and UK TV, causing Bennet to claim that he made the first music video. This can be arguable, although I believe that this did reflect a music video, due to performance and star image being evident suggesting that this was the first music video to be invented. 

• 1950-1960- Songs and moving images- 1964 was a key moment as The Beatles' song 'A hard days night' was released, and this was arguably set out the basic visual vocabulary of today's music videos. This impacted on the number of contemporary musicians at the time, as a vast number of them began to create similar moving images to accompany their music. I believe that this music video could be regarded as the first music video, as it did resemble a music video, as it was performance and concept based, and star image was evident, with their fans surrounding them. Due to The Beatles being extremely famous, their influence was enough to start off other music videos being invented. Therefore, it can be argued that The Beatles, 'A hard days night' music video was the first music video. 

• 1950-1960- Songs and moving images- Monkees was a TV show that was shown from 1966 to 1968. Each episode included a specifically made film segment that was created to accompany their songs used in their  TV series. Monkees song 'Daydream Believer' reflects a music video as the band were perceived to be singing and playing instruments along to the music. Star image and performance was evident in the video suggesting that it reflected a music video. However, i do not believe that Monkees did not invent music videos as they performed during their shows, not actually performing for the purpose of a music video. 

• 1966- The birth of the top of the pops- Top Of The Pops was invented in order to promote singles, which meant that artists had to compete for air time as the Top Of The Pops only showed a limited number of performances. 

• 1950-1960- Songs and moving images- In 1967, videos began using techniques from film including film effects, dramatic lighting, camera angles and rhythmic editing. For example, the Beatles video 'Penny Lane', included these techniques making it look more professional, supported by the band performing the song and acting in the video. The video is performance and concept based. 

Modern era of music videos!

• 1975- Queen 'Bohemian Rhapsody'- The modern music video-  Queen created a music video in order to replace a live performance on TV. Although the Beatles had created videos, Queen were the first to actually create a video that was specifically for that song to be played on TV. Bohemian Rhapsody was the first music video to be made on video format. Therefore, it would be accurate to say that this was the 'First music video' although it was not the 'First promo film'.

• 1970- 1980- Songs and moving images- Modern music videos were further developed when video recording with editing processes were invented. High quality video tape recorders and portable video cameras allowed pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply rather than using film which was expensive. By the mid 80's producing a video to support a new single was the norm. Artists were using high budgets to create these videos, for example, 'The jackson's', spent money on their costumes, and miss en scene to ensure their videos were of high quality. 

• 1981-  MTV launch and development of music videos- MTV was launched in 1981 with the first video to be aired being Buggles, 'Video killed the radio star', which was trying to prove the point that once music videos were invented and began to become more popular, the number of radio listeners decreased, decreasing its popularity. 

• 1984- Michael Jackson's Thriller... and the concept of short film...- A short film is a music video that has a clear beginning, middle and end. Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video took this into consideration and took the music video format to another level, which was extremely popular and liked at the time. The 'Top Of The Pops' started to censor video content that was considered inappropriate or controversial, so another approach was to produce videos that would be banned or edited so using controversy and publicity would help  promote the release. Early examples of this was Duran Duran's 'Girls on Film' which included females with little clothing who were portrayed in a promiscuous and vulnerable manner in contrast to the dominant males. 

• 1980's- MTV and musical success-  By the mid 1980's, music videos began to play a central role in popular music marketing, as many artists began experimenting and creating music videos due to its popularity. Many artists such as Madonna owed a great deal of her success to the skilful construction and seductive appeal to her music videos. Although many people view MTV as the start of a 'golden era' of music videos and the unparalleled success of a new art form in popular culture, others perceive it as hastening the death of the true musical artist, because physical appeal is not critical to popularity of an unprecedented degree. 

How have music videos changed over time ?

Music videos have changed in a number of ways over the years, which are associated with a number of things including the development of technology, value, formats, representations and the Importance of music videos. 

• Development of technology- Before the modern era there was little technology to use making music videos of a low quality and lacking professionalism, however, the increase of technology such as editing and sound programmes have enhanced the music videos as they look and sound more professional and expensive, suggesting the vast amount of time and money consumed. For example, when comparing the 'Beatles' music videos with 'One Directions' music videos, we can see the difference in quality due to the different editing techniques and programmes used, and also the use of instruments used, all of the 'Beatles' band members are seen to be playing instruments in comparison to the 'One Direction' band who are not playing any instruments. This highlights the changes of sound programmes, as they have improved encouraging artists to steer away from performance based music videos, and to focus on narrative based performances instead. The improvements in technology has also enabled music videos to be globally viewed on different medias including social media, Youtube, World star, iTunes, Spotify etc. 

• Formats- music videos can now be saved in various formats including, 'WAV', 'PCM', 'AIFF, 'PCM' etc, these formats allow videos to be synced onto iTunes and other programmes, allowing the audience to use different forms of media to listen to music videos such as Youtube, iTunes, gaming consoles, the internet etc. However, this contrasts with the older formats that music videos were saved on which included video, vinyl record, disc etc. These formats limited the way music videos were presented to an audience.

• Representations- The ways in which artists are represented have changed over the years, as artists are now represented as stars, as they are portrayed as living a lavish lifestyle. The way females and males are portrayed differ, as females are objectified and seen as vulnerable in comparison to males who are seen as more dominant. In the past representations were different as there were more male artists, due to feminism not yet existing, and males were not portrayed as dominating, just as role models and perceived as attractive towards the female fan base. 

• Music video importance- The importance of music videos has decreased as their is less emphasis on them, due to other forms of media being used by audiences to listen to music. On the other hand, in the past, music videos were portrayed as more important due to them being newly invented and introduced causing a hype from audiences. The lack of importance has led to artists using different forms to promote their music including films and adverts. For example, Ellie Goulding's song 'Love me like you do' was promoted by the film 'Fifty shades of grey'. However, it can be argued otherwise, as the increase of music videos suggests that they are more important, in comparison to before when music videos were not watched due to the music being listened to on the radio. So when comparing the number of music videos made by artists in the past to the number of videos made by artists today, there is a large difference due to more videos being produced today. 

• Values- Artists had more values in the past, ensuring that they made music videos that did not portray them in a negative manner, whereas artists today have less values, causing them to make controversial decisions, such as Madonna who does not consider other peoples opinions and has made various controversial music videos.

After researching into the key dates in our history, and looking at the arguments about who created the first music video, I believe the first music video was created my Tony Bennett in 1956, as his video for his song 'Strange in the park' reflected a music video due to the Goodwin's characteristics being evident within it, such as the video being performance based, due to the artist singing while walking through the park,  and  star image motifs is also evident as there are close up's capturing the artist, promoting his importance. The artist is also in a formal attire as he is wearing a suit reflecting his formality and making him stereotypical of his gentleman like role. These factors demonstrate that the Bennett's video 'Strange in the park' was the first music video to be evident in our history.

Conclusion: Why is important to know about the history and what ideas have you gathered?

Gaining knowledge about the history of music videos is vital as we are able to understand how music videos have developed over the years and compare traditional music videos to modern music videos. Without gaining this knowledge we are unable to understand how music videos were invented and how they have got to where they are now. Overall, I now know that music videos were invented because of famous stars including 'Tony Bennett' and the 'Beatles' who created videos to accompany their music. Their work influenced other artists to create music videos, for example, 'Michael Jackson' created a more advanced music videos,making it resemble a short film, including  a narrative. All these traditional music videos have led to modern music videos using them as a guide and becoming higher quality due to the developments in technology.