Advance Portfolio
A2 Media
Emilie Bowes-Read Media Studies
1894
1928
1930
1950 - 1960
1970
1980
2000
2016
The Little Lost Child:
The Little Lost boy is one of the earliest examples of a music video. It was a very popular song by Edward B. Marks and Joseph W. Stern which sold more than 2 million copies. It is not like music videos as we know them today but was instead slides that were shown in time with music. The sing is about a policeman finding a young girl who is lost and so the song can also be found to be referred to as 'The Passing Policeman.' This new 'music video' proved so endearing to audiences that they started being shown before films in movie theatres.
St. Louis Blues:
This was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and was performed by Bessie Smith. The inspiration for this song came from a chance meeting with a woman on the street who was distraught over her husbands absence and gave W.C. Handy the idea for the lyrics. It appeared in a short film called 'St. Louis Blues' with a performance from Bessie Smith.
Musical films:
The 1930s were the time of musical films. Companies like Warner Brothers produced films such as the Spooney Melodies which were a series of five short musical films. These mixed animation and live-style footage to showcase the popular music of the time. 'Cryin for the Carolines' is the last one that is known to have survived.
Scopitone jukebox:
In the late 1950s the French company 'Camec' produced a product called a scopitone jukebox. This included a 16mm film component. Soon after the Italians followed suit with the Cinebox and in the 1960s America took on this trend too. Despite the fact that popularity surrounding he famous video jukeboxes had died out by 1967 the love for music videos was ever flourishing.
Elvis:
In the 1960s Elvis Presley produced much of his most comercially famous work as well as devoting himself to several films. He is one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century and is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music with estimated record sales of 600 million units globally. He was one of the first stars to bring about music videos that showed whole bodies rather than just above the waist and so was hugley infulential on the products we see today in the music video industry.
TV shows:
In the 1970s a number of TV shows recognised how dominating music videos were becoming and so decided to give some exposure to the viewers. Top of the Pops and Austrialia's Countdown were the perfect platforms to give oppurtunity for some undiscovered artists. The shows were both a huge success and led to the creation of MTV after they ended in July 1987.
MTV:
After the creation of MTV the popularity of music videos dramatically increased and in 1981 Mulcahy produced the first music video that was ever played on MTV and this was a video for the Buggles "Video killed the Radio star". In 1984 MTV held their first music awards (The VMA's) which inspired directors to be more ambitious with their music videos and so th industry grew rapidly with Michael Jacksons thriller costing half a million dollars to make and becoming one of the most successful music videos ever.
Video sharing sites:
As the music video industry became increasingly popular the world of technology shifted to allow the videos to be accessed more readily and easily rather than the viewers having to wait for a certain video to appear on the television. From its creation in 2005 Youtube has become one of if not the biggest music video sharing site ever. It allowed the consumers to have access to music videos 24/7 and be able to watch them at whatever pace they desired in a high quality. Since the 2000's more and more money has been injected into the music video industry and so the quality of the videos has transformed dramatically. This is partly due to the fact that now music videos gain far more exposure than ever before with use of social media sites. For example in 2012 Psy's song 'Gangnam style' went viral, topping the charts in 30 nations. It was uploaded to Youtube and quickly gained 1billion views which is now at 2.6 billion views. The unique dance in the song helped to promote it and attracted viewers with its creativity.
Current videos:
As you can see from this timeline music videos have improved dramatically. If you compare Ariana Grande's 'Side to Side' video from 2016 to the Black eyed peas 'My Humps' from 2009 you can see a huge difference. Ariana's video is very glamourous and of a very high and clear quality with many different locations filmed in it and lots of different costume changes plus an appearance from Nicki Minaj, whereas the Black Eyed Peas video is shot in one location with very neutral colours through the video and focuses mainly on just the band. This shows how in just 5 years Music videos have changed dramatically.
Reflection:
I found researching the history of Music videos really interesting to see how they had evolved over time from 'The Little Lost Child' all the way to current videos such as Ariana Grande's 'Side to Side'. I have learnt that music videos now have a much wider spectrum to work within and can be much more creative, abstract and colourful which is useful for us to know whilst doing our video as it means we have a lot more freedom with how we construct our product. I feel that the more 'showy' look of recent music videos will influence our final product as it will inspire us to use 'flashy' techniques and editing skills in order for it to stand out.