20/09/13
History of the music video
Today we looked into the history of the music video and how it is different to how we know music videos to be today. We did this to get a better understanding of the music video and the general codes and conventions of the music video when it comes to making our own music videos. I will be looking at when the first music video was made, how it has been developed throughout the years, how the technology has advanced since they were first created, what videos have made a significant change in the history of music videos and how they have become so important in the marketing of the artist. You will see how the audiences viewing of the music video has improved by the way the music video industry has advanced.
1920's
Oskar Fischinger was the inventor of abstract musical animations, he created the combination of musical sounds and imagery. The video alone wouldn't make sense unles you listened to the music to realise why the animated images where moving the way they were to match the beat/pitch of the music. To this day Oskar Fischinger is on of the most important significances in the history of the music video.
1927 'The Jazz Singer' was the first featured length motion picture with syncronised dialogue squences. This realisation started the decline in the silent film era but also when lip syncing started to take off.
1940's
1940 - 1946 Soundies were an early version of music videos that were 3 minutes long which contains dance sequences, they were put onto jukebox's in cafes which was a good marketing strategy for the artist but also brought the audience together and using word of mouth spread the artists fanbase. These soundies were generally made in New York, Chicago and Hollywood.
1939 - 1964 A similar time to the soundies, further development in technology helped produce a new way in showing music videos. Panoram was created around this time and it was through this development that we could view the music video projected onto a larger screen using panorams, they are simply a visual jukebox.
1957 After looking into some significant music videos I have found that 'Jailhouse Rock' was the first music video to be released the same time as a motion picture and used to help market the film. This started the use of other medias to help market a film and then going on to be used to market just the artist in the video. The producers found that their audience were very interested in the film and as they were spending more time into the research of music videos they created one which helped benefit their film.
1950's
1960's
1962 'Summer Holidays' was the first real choreographed music video. This is the combination of both music, dialogue and dance in one video. This development makes the viewing of the video more entertaining for the audience and shows the artist in the music video which also benefits them as the video is automatically marketing the artist unintentionally.
1964 'Hard Days Night' introduced a more easily viewable and better quality music video as they brought in the use of refined editing. They cut images to match the beat of the music which made the viewing of the music video more pleasureable to watch and more entertaining as it came together easier to watch. This was also the start of the Beatle era and fan girs, bands becoming more of an icon to the audience as they were easy to watch and follow.
1964 'House of the Rising Sun' was also launched in this year and it was this song and music video that was the first international and transatlantic hit. It was the noticeable use of hybridism that helped it get here, mixing the genres allowed the video to cater to a larger audience therefore becoming more popular. The audience liked the range the song and video provided and it was something they had never seen before which is why it was so popular to the audience. This video was also the longest recorded video to date as it lasts around 4 minutes, this shows the audience are dedicated to the video and are willing to spend this much of their time watching it.
1970's
1975​ Queen's 'Bohemian Rapsody' was said to be the first music video ever however I have shown that this isn't true. It can on the other hand be noticed as the first ever music video to how we nowadays recognise them to be, the artist themselves are also shown in the video along side their music rather than an animated image. This was shown to be very popular with the audience as they like to see their icons in music videos expressing themselves how they felt when writing the song. Not only this but the 'Bohemian Rapsody' replaced 'House of the Rising Sun' as the new longest video to date. It was then that they realised the audience were willing to spend more and more of their time watching the videos so that they could see the artist which they started to use as a new version of marketing for their song. This song also holds a range of sounds such as opare, guitar solos etc to make it more pleasureable for the audience to listen to and want to continue to listen to.
1979 'Video killed the Radio Star' was a massive hit not just for the song but because of the message it gives, music videos were becoming more and more popular with the audience and they spent their time viewing the videos and the artist performing rather than listening to just the song itself. Not only this but it was this song and the development of music tv that helped launch MTV and becoming a hit programme to watch the most popular music videos at the time in the luxury of your own home, this was more favoured for the audience than going out and watching on a smaller panoram. Because of this launch due to the song and the increasing demand for music videos showing the artists that soundies and panorams were forgotten and replaced.
This chance for the audience to see the artist perform in a video to their song meets the 5 general codes and conventions produced by Goodwin in 1992.
This mixing of genres was ideal for the audience as it catered to their needs and the mix of genre characteristics was shown in the video, this meets one of the 5 general codes and conventions produced by Goodwin in 1992.
1980's
'Ashes to Ashes' was a breakthrough video delcaring the importance for the use of music videos in marketing for the artist. David Bowie spent a massive £250,000 on this music video which was an extreme amount of money for that time and also the most expensive video of the time. They also show the advance in technology from when music videos were first created as they used both black and white screening as well as coloured, this shows the technological knowledge in advancing technology for them to be able to create this. Also having more interesting editing skills makes it more pleasureable for the audience to watch, they have shown that they have some understanding of what the audience want and that they can meet these needs using their videos.
'The Wall' was the best selling album to date and made into a film. It was the first music video in the 1980's by Pink Floyd to use theatrical techniques and drama to set the scene of their video. They used narrative and real children from a school to become actors just for their video which helped promote it, they also used shouting in their video by the kids and multitracked it to make it sound as though there were more than there really was, this was also never used before this video so therefore another breakthrough.
1990's
Lastly, another significant impact in the history of the music video was the 1992 Goodwin theory of 'The 5 Generic Codes and Conventions of Music Videos'. I have related a few of these to the other significant impacts above to show how he came up with these and how they are important in a music video to build successful marketing. They are as follows:
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Relationship between lyrics/visuals (illustrative,amplifying, contradicting)
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Artist to be shown to the audience
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Frequent references to notion of looking (voyeristic)
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Intertextual references
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Genre characteristics
