History of the music video

What is a music video

A music video is a short film created in order to present a visual representation of a piece of music. Music videos are used in order to promote an artist or specific song.

Soundies One of the first forms of music videos had been one song

films called soundies, these had been made in 1940 for the Panoram visual jukebox. Many soundies had been made specifically for Jazz musicians. These jukeboxes had usually been in restaurants and bars, people had paid to watch the music clip on the juke box.

First music clips on TV The very first short musical films that had been made in the

USA specifically for television were the Snader Telescriptions, these were 1000 short musical presentations, filmed for use of television fillers between 1950 and 1954.

Musicals in film Music centred films that consisted of music clips became

popular in the 1950’s, two popular artists that have been known to use this technique are Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

MTV 1981 In 1981, MTV had been launched, this was to be a

significant era for music as this was the first channel dedicated to music videos 24 hours a day. The first music video on MTV had been ‘Music Killed The Radio Star’ by the Buggles.

First 5 songs broadcasted on MTV

Music videos in modern society

Modern music videos in the Hip Hop genre often objectify females, supporting the theory that many music videos are created for male pleasure, supporting Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory. Below are some music videos to support this theory.

Music channels that arose after MTV

These are just a few of the channels that had arose after the start of MTV, all of these channels are available to Sky subscribers.

Notable music video directors

Paul Hunter

One of Paul Hunter’s most notable pieces of work was Hypnotize by Notorious Big.

Hype Williams

Notable work includes Kanye Wests ‘All of the lights’ and ‘Get Lucky’ by Pharrell Williams.

Anthony Mandler

Most notable work includes ‘Holy Grail’ by Jay Z and ‘Diamonds’ by Rihanna.