Music Videos begun in the 1930's to 40's when Television was first used as the main entertainment within Bars, Clubs and Households; Record sales decreased and the increasing popularity of Television continued.
Soundies were used in Bars and Clubs as another form of entertainment and an attempt to save the Music Industry from going completely under! Similar to a Duke Box the Soundie allows people to select their chosen Artists Live Performances and watch as they mime the lyrics on a screen.
1950's was the "Rise of the Teenager" the decade of Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley was one of the first artists to appear in a number of feature films; one of his most successful "Love me Tender" in 1957 which consisted of his Performances and Music accompaniments. This feature film appealed to the Teenage generation and evolved into Music Videos.
The 1960's music consisted of The Beatles and Rolling Stones, with the growth of Rock and Pop. Record Producers begun to incorporate Live Performances and Interviews of Artists to make Concert films. The concert films were very 'Youth Orientated' and portrayed society at that time. 1994 was the height of The Beatles as they promoted Teen Rebellion and conflict between the Old and Young.
The end of the 60's - 1970 an evolution of Music Videos occurred with Concert Films; the concerts were broken up with personal interviews of the Artist and partial documentaries. The Concert Films promote the Bands/Artists and were an opportunity to share their views and opinions, it was also unrestricted insight into their life travelling on the road.
In 1975 , ‘Queen’ a rock band created a song known as Bohemian Rhapsody. The music video to this song is one of the most memorable music videos of all time. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in the 70s was the most profitable music video of all time and was number 1 in Top if the pops for record 9 weeks. The Video was one of the first to incorporate the band into the video and lasted for over 6 minutes, which goes against the common conventions music videos today lasting only around 3-4 minutes. The video has a combination of a live performance and trailing heads, this offered a different outlook of music videos for the audience and other artists at that period of time. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was the initial start to the conventions of all music videos today.
1981 was the birth year of MTV (Music Video), which was initially created in the USA, however because of its huge success, in 1985 MTV went to Europe television. As it popularity grew, sales in music records increased and in 1985 18 million viewers worldwide tuned in to see their favourite artists on MTV. As MTV grew into a huge phenomenon on television, the brand name of “MTV’ was promoted into some music videos Example- ‘money for nothing’ by The Dire Straights.
Moving on to 1982, Michael Jackson hit our screens with THRILLER! Thriller was the one of the most talked about music video of that year and still is highly admired today. Thriller is an unusual but brilliant music video as it subverts typical conventions of music videos. The director John Landis whom also directed ‘An American werewolf in London’ incorporated the ideas of this video and used them in Thriller, to create a dramatic impact on audiences. Firstly a normal music video last for about 3-4 minutes however thriller lasts just over 14 minutes , so it is shown as small feature film , as well as having dialogue and voice over’s to tell the story. Thriller has a huge narrative which is strongly shown throughout the video using costume, location and sound effects. It went against the typical conventions as it has breaks in-between the lyrics, so the story could unfold. Furthermore not only was Michael Jackson singing and dancing he was also acting, in which he played many different characters all throughout the music video. Lastly as there is a highly thought out choreographed dance, thriller is also used to advertise Michael Jackson dancing ability, and the Thriller dance is known worldwide and is still well known today.
Further down the timeline, in 1997 ‘Smack my bitch up’ was released into the charts. However it did not last long as the music video was banned from MTV which is a big source of any song’s success. It was banned due to it challenging the idea of sexual norms and normality of life. Also this music video can be offensive to certain groups, Example- People with religious beliefs
Lastly in 2003 a song called ‘Crazy in Love’ was release by Beyonce featuring Jay-Z. This music video objectifies the female body. It does this by using slow motion editing (on the female body) , so they are seen as being seductive towards the audience. Beyonce is wearing provocative clothing, which is shaped to show off her body and give the video the sex appeal. Also in this video there are a variety of shots, which are used to show parts of Beyonce body, these are used to emphasis the seductive nature of the music video, along with the choreography. Lastly throughout the video Beyonce plays with the camera, this gives the video a seductive and flirtatious feel , as well as Beyonce connecting with the audience.
