The Music VideoA Short History

Timeline• 1960’s - ‘promotional films’ or ‘promotional clips’ for bands

begin to emerge. • Hollywood starts to blend live music performances and film with a wave of Elvis movies.

• 1964 -The Beatles start to film a series of short promotional films for their songs which are distributed for broadcast on television variety shows in other countries, (especially the US as a way to promote their record releases without having to make television appearances).

To have an understanding of music promo historyc

Timeline• Videos become more sophisticated, incorporating rhythmic

editing and visual effects. Other bands such as Pink Ffloyd and The Byrds soon follow suit.

• 1966 - The first plot promo clips emerge, with the likes of The Kink’s Dead End Street and The Who’s Happy Jack.

• 1967 - Contestably Bob Dylan’s video for Subterranean

Homesick Blues is credited as the first music video and is a segment from Don’t Look Back, a film by D. A. Pennebaker.

To have an understanding of music promo history

Timeline

• 1967 - ventures into artistic expression are made, with promo’s such as The Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever using film techniques to attempt to illustrate the song in an artful manner.

• 1968 - The Rolling Stones collaborated with the famous New

Wave director Jean-Luc Godard on Sympathy for the Devil.

To have an understanding of music promo history

Timeline• 1975 - Queen order Bruce Gowers to make a promo video for

their new single Bohemian Rhapsody to show on Top Of The Pops. The video is considered it be the first successful promotional video, and is widely considered to have kick started the music video era.

• 1981 – MTV launches as the world’s first 24-hour music television channel. With the increase of sky and cable television in people’s homes the music video becomes a massive media.

To have an understanding of music promo history

Timeline

• 1983 - Michael Jackson releases Thriller, a 14-minute short film, providing the song with a narrative set up, not to mention excellent marketing potential, (the Guinness World Records in 2006 listed it as the "most successful music video", selling over 1 million units).

To have an understanding of music promo history

Timeline• 1985 - Dire Strait’s Money For Nothing is the first music video

to use computer animation

• 1985 – VH1 launches, as competition for music video channels on digital and cable increases.

• 1986 – The Chart Show first airs on Channel 4,consisting entirely of music videos, with (then) state of the art computer graphics linking them.

To have an understanding of music promo history

You need to come up with a list of music videos which have influenced you. They can be from any time and genre.

For each one you need to explain why they have influenced you.

You need to come up with a list of music videos which have influenced you. They can be from any time and genre.

For each one you need to explain why they have influenced you.

You could focus on:

The visual style – camera/mise-en-scene etc.

The representation of lyrics

The presentation of the band/artiste

The concept

The narrative

To have an understanding of music promo history

The way the director has used costume is particularly interesting because…The concept was the first to introduce….This genre of music wouldn’t normally be associated with…The way the narrative is constructed is interesting…