Research: History of music videos

Music videos have changed drastically over the past 50 years. Modern music videos portray different themes compared to music videos from 1960’s to the 1980’s. Traditional videos had basic editing, simple shots and a clear star image with no narrative, just performance. This is seen very basic compared to today’s music videos. Modern music videos are now more advanced, and visually appealing to the audience due to the use of expensive mise-en scene, cinematography and editing techniques. Music videos nowadays use many cinematography techniques to add variations to their music videos. Whereas, in the past the artist could only afford few similar shots using basic equipment. Furthermore, today there is more variation in the types of music videos, which helps to appeal to broader audiences. There are different genres and types (concept, performance or narrative videos) to fulfil even the most refined tastes. Moreover, 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. In terms of consumption, modern music videos are accessible on different platforms whereas before TV was the only way to see a music video. This allows even the niche audiences to see videos of their favourite artist.

Music Video Timeline: 

1929: Bessie Smith, Saint Louis Blues - 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. The song remains a fundamental part of jazz music to this date. It is considered to be one of the first music videos ever and was. The video includes Bessie who sings by the bar, thus inventing the primary idea of a music video and lip sync. The video was shot with simple cuts and shots due to the lack of equipment and knowledge about videos.

1940: Walt Disney, Fantasia - Disney created an animated film which is accompanied by classical music. It was the first film to be shown in stereophonic sound. Fantasia was partly classified as a music video due to the visuals accompanied by sound which are conventions of a music video. In addition, it was breakthrough for its time to have visuals and audio together. However, Walt Disney didn't create Fantasia to serve the purpose of a music video but a movie.

1950-60: Tony Bennett.Tony filmed ‘Stranger in Paradise’ in Hyde Park, London and was distributed across both UK and US television. Despite Bessie Smith performance and her video, he claimed that it was him who created the first ever video because he intended on using his song specifically for a video rather than a film like Bessie and his work got distributed on television. There is a clear star image, performance and genre characteristics which supports Goodwin's theory and classifies Tony's work as a music video.

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. Bohemian Rhapsody was the first ever video specifically made to replace live performances 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 skillful 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. 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 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. 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:

It is very important to know the history of music videos because it has helped me to understand how modern music videos have developed over the past years. In addition to this, I have understood that the use of filming techniques have also changed as fair the better technology formats that have been developed. I think that music video should have a narrative because it will have a meaning for the audience and the audience will be able to find a common characteristic with the artist by the way she/ he is represented.