2.
A music video is a short film integrating a song and
imagery. They are mainly produced for artistic
purposes.
Modern music videos are primarily made and used
as a marketing device intended to promote the sale
of music recordings.
Product placement is also a way for record
companies and artist to generate income.
Purpose
3.
A sound film is a motion picture with synchronised
sound or sound technologically coupled to image, as
opposed to a silent film.
Earliest form of ‘music video’.
The primary steps in the commercialisation of sound
cinema were taken in the mid- to late 1920s (known as the
“talkies”).
By the early 1930s, the talkies were a global phenomenon.
Helped to secure Hollywood’s position as one of the
world’s most powerful cultural/ commercial centers of
influence.
The ‘Talkies’ – Sound films
4.
They were eager to give their fans the fullest audio-
visual experience possible.
They recorded promotional clips that could be
shown abroad.
They also starred in two full-length films, which
featured some of their songs.
The Beatles
5.
Probably the most significant music video of the pre-
MTV era was Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” which
debuted in 1975.
The group were unable to perform on Top of the Pops
when the song reached the top of the charts.
Therefore they recorded the video to play in their
absence.
They used several special effects and considered a
pioneer of music videos.
Queen
6.
Launched in 1981.
The first video to air was The Buggles’ video – Video
Killed The Radio Star.
MTV
7.
The climate of publicity in exchange for great visuals was
established by Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in 1983.
Debuted on MTV as part of a deal between MTV and
Michael’s team and was played 3-5 times a day.
This video acts as the origin story for what we recognise
as music videos for major artists today.
High production value (cost over $500,000)
Hollywood director
Clear narrative
In 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film
Registry of Congress for being “culturally, historically or
aesthetically” significant.
Michael Jackson
8.
Peter Gabriel’s 1986 video for his song
“Sledgehammer” won nine awards a the MTV music
awards in 1987.
It is the most played clip in the history of the
channel.
The video’s use of claymation, pixilation and stop
motion was considered avant-garde at the time.
Peter Gabriel
9.
MTV decided to take a chance on reality TV.
They introduced growing numbers of reality TV
shows and started phasing out music shows.
People started to become more interested in
narrative TV and less interested in music videos.
1992-
Decline in MTV programming
10.
YouTube was created in 2005 and acquired by
Google in 2006. Vevo was born in 2009.
Vevo meant record labels could actually make
money on their videos being streamed.
Small ads often appear on the bottom of the video as
well as links to buy the music you’re listening to.
The Vevo deal means it is easy to find music videos
for your favourite acts while YouTube still seems to
be growing in popularity.
2005-
Resurgence of Music Videos
11.
In 2008 she released her single “Poker Face”.
In 2010 she became the first artist with one billion
online views of her videos.
Online views:
“Poker Face” (374,606,128)
“Just Dance” (272,941,674)
“Bad Romance” (360,020,327)
^Add them up and you get just over one billion views.
Lady Gaga – Poker Face
12.
Beyoncé released this album with no prior warning,
but every song was accompanied by its own video,
all of which dropped on the same day as the album.
The record was designed to be consumed as a
comprehensive audio/ visual piece from top to
bottom.
2013 – Beyoncé’s First Visual Album
13.
William’s song for the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack
“Happy” was accompanied by a Christian Marclay-
esque 24-hour-long video, which showed real people
dancing along to the hit for four minutes at a time.
Each section was filmed in a single shot which meant
there was no chance for do-overs, creating a lovably
spontaneous end result.
Williams performed his own hit on the hour, each
hour and it was displayed online in the format of a
clock that you can click on to access the time of day
the section was recorded at.
Pharrell Williams – 24 hour Video
14.
2010-2015
Often the interactive videos had to be accessed via
their own websites.
Examples
Arcade Fire – “We Used to Wait”
(http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/)
Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone”
(http://video.bobdylan.com/desktop.html)
Interactive Music Videos Go Mainstream
15.
2015
The Weeknd, Björk and U2 all gave us music videos
that harnessed elements of virtual reality.
Björk held her video release in an art gallery and
handing out Oculus Rift headsets to watch the 360-
degree YouTube video on.
Virtual-Reality Music Videos
16.
2016
This isn’t the first time that there has been high
numbers of Hollywood directors getting involved in
music videos (‘80s-’90s was a boom period).
Music videos have found a level of prestige where
even established directors will try their hand at a
music video.
Cultural parallel to TV’s growing prestige, where
more and more directors are giving TV the time of
day over movies.
Film Directors Get In On The Action
17.
Some videos aren’t necessarily the most technically
innovative, but their overall impact and sheer
dominance of the headlines in 2016 ushered in a tidal
change for the medium.
For example…
Beyoncé – “Lemonade”
Kanye West – “Famous”
Music Videos Dominate the Headlines
18.
Nowadays music videos are created to promote the artist,
their song and in some cases certain products.
Videos are easily accessible, with them being shown
online and on TV.
Their purpose is mainly to engage the audience and
persuade them to buy their song.
Additionally, there is an increasing number of new
techniques being used to create innovative videos. Almost
constructing something never seen before, therefore
making it more engaging.
Some would argue that with the existence of music
applications such as spotify (making music readily
available) the videos have become less important.
Music Videos Today
