1. The first official music video was Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in 1975, which set the standard for incorporating special effects. Television shows in the 1960s promoted artists by broadcasting live performances. 2. In the 1980s, videos became more cinematic with pieces like David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" and Michael Jackson's "Thriller," which advanced the art form. MTV launched in 1981 and played a pivotal role in popularizing music videos. 3. Advanced technologies in the 1990s and 2000s transformed music videos, whether it was Janet Jackson's $7 million "Scream" video, Missy Elliott's pioneering 3D video for "Ching

1. History Of The Music Video
1. The first official music video was ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by Queen, a video that
marked the start of a new era of video, setting the tone for modern music video
production. Directed by Bruce Gowers and recorded in 4
hours on 10th November 1975. It’s one of the first to
include special effects, which were mostly done during
the recording and only a few effects were done post
production. These effects included transitions such as
cross-fades, light effects such as vertical lighting, visual
feedback and the honeycomb illusion made with shaped
lenses. It was different from what came before as it was more advanced in effects
than any other music video that came before. 1
2. Television shows such as Top Of The Pops (UK) and
Hullabaloo (USA) were the first few shows which promoted
bands and artists by showing them performing their songs.
They existed for the audience, to allow people to watch
their favourite artists, gaining popularity for the band and
to introduce the members or artists to the viewers.
3. David Bowie released Ashes to Ashes in 1980, its considered ground-breaking as it
used special effect such as solarised colour and stark black-and-white, it was filmed
in multiple locations. It remains one of the
most expensive videos at the time. The
song and the video are mainly inspired by
The Wizard Of Oz, he described some
shots as ‘oncoming violence’, I think the
song was a reference to his emotions at
the time and being trapped and lost, a
little hint to his drug addiction. The video
seemed almost ‘drug trip’ like and as if he
was taking that inspiration as it linked to
his own emotions. He made a few drug references such as “junkie” and “Major
Tom”.2
1 Slideshare.net.(2019). Bohemian Rhapsody Music Video Analysis. [online] Availableat:
https://www.slideshare.net/becausemegan/bohemian-rhapsody-analysis[Accessed 5 Feb. 2019].
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashes_to_Ashes_(David_Bowie_song)

2. 4. In August 1981, MTV became the first 24-hour satellite
music channel. It rapidly became a hit and is now a
cultural icon for its generation. They launched with “Ladies
and gentlemen, get ready to rock and roll.” The first song
they played was “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the
Buggles which was supposed to be ironic. 3
5. In 1984, Laura Branigan released the video for ‘Self Control’, some TV channels
refused to play due to the sexual nature and implications of the video as it can
suggest the woman
in the video is some
kind of prostitute,
see in the lyrics “I
live among the
creatures of the
night”, “you take my
self, you take my self-control”. The video is interpreted
that way and due to the views at the time, was banned from being fully shown on
certain TV Channels.
6. Around the same year, Michael Jackson released the video/short film to “Thriller”
which became one of the most well-known and iconic videos of all time, it was so
unusual for the time as it had a
choreographed dance, was shot like a short
film and had “The Making of Thriller” home
video released also, which showed how
they transformed Michael Jackson into a
werewolf.
7. 4In 1985, a-ha released Take on Me and the animation
effect that was used a combination of live action and
rotoscoping animation, rotoscoping is used by
animators to create a more realistic action sequence
which can be traced from the original live action frames.
8. In 1986, Peter Gabriel released the video for Sledgehammer
(directed by Stephen R. Johnson), it was so popular due to its
intricate attention to detail with the use of stop motion
animation, Claymation, pixilation that created bright and
creative visuals. It was very time consuming, but every frame
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV#Launch
4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_On_Me
http://btecmediaen2.blogspot.com/search/label/I.%20Assignment%208%20-%20Music%20Videos

3. and detail was considered which made it very different from
other music videos. It was said to be ‘MTV’s 100 Greatest
Music Video Ever Made’ and won nine MTV Video Music
Awards in 1987. It was voted seven on ‘Ultimate 50 videos
you must see’ and it won Best British Video in the Brit Awards.
9. In 1995, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson released the music video ‘Scream’ which
was the most expensive MV to date costing $7 million which helped it to win a
Grammy Award. It expressed the way they
were both feel as Michael just came out of
court and Janet’s public shame. The video
consisted of large-scale black and white
sets which looked like a ‘spaceship
location’ inspired by A Space Odyssey and
Jean Cocteau’s ‘Les Enfants Terribles’. 5
10. 6Missy Elliots 2008 song Ching-a-ling is so important as
it was the first 3D video ever made, it was created by both
Dave Meyers and Missy Elliot. It was a lead single for Step
UP 2 the Street, it premeired on MySpace and her own
official website, within a week it had debuted on the U.S
Billboard R&B Chart.
11. In 2010, Lady Gaga’s Music video for Poker Face reached
1 billion views, it was from her debut studio album, the
main idea behind the song was her sexuality and her
previous ‘rock and roll boyfriends’. Most critics praised
the video and song and it topped the charts in 20
countries including the UK, US and Australia etc. Selling
over 14 million copies, it is one of the best-selling singles
of all time.
12. Professor Green released Coming To Get Me, in 2010, teaming
up with Doritos to promote ‘Late Night’ campaign. It was a
‘big deal’ because it used a camera (Point Grey Ladybug 3)
which could get video from 360 degrees, so all angles.
5 https://www.songfacts.com/facts/michael-jackson/scream
6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching-a-Ling
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panoram
https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/music-videos

4. 13. In 2015 it was Youtube’s 10 year anniversary, it hit over 300 hours of
video content uploaded ever minute, they released A-Z of YouTube to
celebrate the anniversary.
14. Firstly, Panoram was ‘the trademark name of a visual jukebox that
played music accompanied by a synched, filmed image popular
within the US during the 1940s.’ At Bars and restaurants, the music
was played for the public to enjoy, they were the earliest music
videos, the short music videos around 3 minutes were called
‘soundies’.
15. Since 2015, Gangnam style has been said to be ‘no longer the
most-watched video on
YouTube’, it was first knocked off
the top by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s Song ‘See
You Again’ which paid tribute to the late Paul
Walker. In
2018,
Donald Glover known as Childish Gambino
released ‘This is America’ which was protest
song against Racismin America and started a
debate and conversation about police
brutality and crime against Black Americans. 3
viral, record-breaking videos since 2015 are ‘God’s Plan’ by Drake, ‘Gucci Gang’ by Lil
Pump and ‘Havana’ by Camila Cabello.