the history of the music video

1. HISTORY OF MEDIUM

2. WHO INVENTED THE MUSIC VIDEO?
The music video is generally considered to have been born on the BBC’s Top of the Pops in
November 1975 by the rock band Queen. They were unable to appear on the show as they
were on tour, so they worked for over two days and spent £4,000 (which was considered a lot
back then) to film a video for their latest single Bohemian Rhapsody.
However, Queen were not the first band to make a video to promote a song, it was The Beatles
who can be considered the creators of the music video. In November 1965 they made a series
of promotional films designed for television companies throughout the world. The videos were
made for the following songs; We Can Work It Out, Day Tripper, Help!, Ticket To Ride and I Feel
Fine. They all had a sense of humour in the videos, which made it more interesting for the
public to view.
Queen
The Beatles
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ

3. BOB DYLAN –
DON’T LOOK BACK (1967)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY4HtQ-XJQE
In class we looked at Promotional Films (the previous name of the music video). We looked at this
video of Bob Dylan directed by DA Pennebaker, which was part of the documentary of Dylan’s 1965
London tour.
Due to it being one of the first published music videos there was a lot to discuss in relation to
editing, because it was all one continuous shot. However, they did use a zoom out at the beginning
of the video, so we can see Dylan standing there holding the cards with the lyrics on. In addition to
this, rule of thirds is used with the focus being on the lyrics as they are in the middle of the shot.
These days, that video would be seen as unconventional due to the lack of editing, but because of it
being one of the first videos published it was difficult to create visual effects. Finally, mistakes were
made whilst filming that, because Dylan dropped a lyric card before the lyrics were sung, which
reinforces the lack of editing because if that happened now, it would simply be edited out and
redone, but because they didn’t have the ability to do that, they just worked with what they had.

4. CLIFF RICHARD –
THE YOUNG ONES (1961)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JKtHcM05Dk
After looking at Bob Dylan’s music video, we moved onto Cliff Richard, and viewed his video for ‘The
Young Ones’. This was filmed in colour, and was shown in the cinema. The fact that the song is called ‘The
Young Ones’, clearly shows that he is targeting a young audience. This point is backed up when a close up
is used to show a sign saying ‘No Adults’. However, he brought out this song at the time of the mods and
the rockers, and so by having this peaceful and calm song around, it showed the parents of the
youngsters he wanted to buy his album, that he was the right role model for them.

5. THE BEATLES –
A HARD DAYS NIGHT (1964)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70QfHtKdh_0
This video by The Beatles was filmed in black and white, which was cheaper to produce and create.
They are also playing themselves, as it was part of a documentary. At the time, a lot of artists played
characters as their videos are viewed in the cinema. There isn’t actually a ‘story’ to the video, but it is
about Britain’s image. In addition to this, the video was the first music video to be filmed as an original
song written by The Beatles themselves, which was unusual at that point in time as most artists sang
covers. Therefore, this made the band even more appealing to the public, especially females, as they
were seen as being very cheeky and mischievous as they were running away from all the screaming
girls.

6. CLIFF RICHARD –
SUMMER HOLIDAY (1965)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbajf_rHzys
We also looked at another of Cliff’s videos “Summer Holiday”. When this came out, people had to go to
the cinema to view the videos, and so the band usually starred as different characters, rather than
themselves. We can see that technology has progressed, because back projection is used to show off
them driving on a London bus to Paris. Even though now it doesn’t look very professional, in those days
it would have been seen as something brand new and fantastic. There are a lot more conventions of
typical music videos within this one, such as the narrative linking in with the lyrics, as they sing about
going on a “summer holiday”, and they are driving in bright sunshine to Paris. One of the most
important features of this video was the fact that it was actually in colour!

7. THE BEATLES –
HELP! (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MziUwzTLr_4
This video was filmed in colour, meaning that they were spending more money than they did in their
last video. This shows that they were becoming more and more successful. A conventional thing about
the video was that it was edited to the beat of the song, like all videos do these days. Moreover on the
point that they were spending more money, in this video we see The Beatles skiing in Switzerland, the
majority of people in those days would not have been able to afford to go anywhere, and so the public
wanted to go and see this video to try and experience what The Beatles were experiencing. This video
created iconic imagery, which they used in other types of media such as L.P covers and posters.

8. THE 1960s!
There was a media explosion in the sixties, which involved more programming and television because
the main state of entertainment. People stopped going to the cinema as much, because of the
proliferation of hardware such as the televisions and the portable radios.
A way in which the television made The Beatles successful:
• The Beatles appeared on BBC Radio every Saturday morning (live), and weren’t successful in
America at first. They went on the Ed Sullivan show and played 3 songs, which was watched by 85
million people on the television. It was reported that in the time that The Beatles were performing
on Sullivan’s show, the New York police said no crime was committed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC0MEF6d1eU
1960s portable radio
The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show

9. THE BEATLES –
STRAWBERRY FIELDS
FOREVER AND PENNY LANE
In January 1967, The Beatles filmed a promotional film for Strawberry Fields Forever and
Penny Lane. Both of the films were created without any performance in the videos. This
would have seemed strange at the time, because the majority of the videos had become a
way of promoting artists or bands songs, and so they showed themselves performing the
songs. These videos relied on a good narrative to actually get the feel of the song across to
the audience.
https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=62s-Jier2yI
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=p4yHYbhCDLg
Video for Penny Lane Video for Strawberry Fields Forever

10. THE BEATLES –
THE MAGICAL MYSTERY
TOUR (1967)
The Magical Mystery Tour was shown on the BBC on Boxing Day 1967, however because it was shown
in black and white (even though it could have been shown in colour), it wasn’t so successful. The band
had been experimenting with drugs, and so the video was a bit unusual. At the end of the video, there
was a subliminal message which was made to sound distorted, which said “everybody smoke pot”,
which showed rebellion and wasn’t seen as a good thing. In addition to this, the BBC band the song
because it said a racist comment, and because it appeared in a strict and moral era, it wasn’t accepted.
The Beatles filming The
Magical Mystery Tour

11. MTV – EARLY 8Os
In 1981 MTV launched ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ which started an era of 24/7 music on television.
Many popular acts such as Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna became very successful
through the fact their videos were aired on the brand new music channel.
The first Madonna video shown on MTV created iconic imagery, because it was shown on televisions in
every home. The fact that she tried to reuse Marilyn Monroe’s style, created iconic Hollywood glamour
imagery.
This brought in a voyeuristic way of viewing music, because the audience watched the artists for
pleasure and the singer was complicit with it.

12. MICHAEL JACKSON –
THRILLER
In 1983 the most successful and influential music video of all time was released, Michael Jackson’s
‘Thriller’, which was directed by John Landis. The video cost nearly 1 million dollars to make, which
would have been seen as a ridiculous amount of money back then, where as now it would be seen as
normal, if not quite a small budget. The video was conventional, with a narrative about a cliché couple
going for a drive, when they coincidentally run out of petrol and have to get out in the woods near a
graveyard. However, due to it being nearly 14 minutes long, it did actually feel like a short horror film
people were watching.

13. 2000 TO PRESENT
In 2005, YouTube was created. This website allowed anyone in the world to upload a video
of them performing, and anyone else could view it. This latest technology was a great thing
for artists and bands to release their songs and for them to become known worldwide.
An example of a band who became known online through their videos is the band OK GO,
who had a huge hits online such as ‘Here It Goes Again’, and ‘The Writings On The Wall’.
The video for ‘The Writings On The Wall’ was unconventional in a way because the video
was filmed through one camera shot, however, due to the way the video was presented, it
made it visually appealing.
YouTube now plays a part more than ever, in making artists successful. For example, Lewis
Watson, an indie folk singer-songwriter, uploaded a variety of different covers of songs onto
the website. He quickly gained a huge following from people all over the world wanting to
listen to his voice, and was found and signed by Warner Music Group. He has now
produced EPs of his original songs for over 2 years, and has done several tours around the
country.