2) Evolution of Music Video

Evolution of Music Video

Alice Legge

Introduction…

A music video or a video for a song is a short film integrating a song and imagery for a targeted audience for promotional or artistic purposes.

Modern videos nowadays are made and used for a marketing device intended to sell the product and

make sure people are aware of the music available. Some music videos blend different styles, such as

animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it

less literal than expected.The first music channel was MTV, and the first music

video to be broadcasted on this channel was ‘The Buggles – Video killed the Radio Star’.

MUSIC VIDE

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Which band is accredited with creating the first music video?

The first music video is normally accredited to ‘Queen’ in the 1970s which was for their latest single 'Bohemian Rhapsody‘. in November 1975, found they were unable to appear on BBC TV's Top Of The Pops due to tour commitments. Therefore they then spent two days and under £4,000 on video recordings to be shown instead.

This then inspired other artists to do the following starting in the 1980s, making just enough videos to be able to sustain an TV show, called MTV (music television).

However, Queen weren’t the first band to do this, the Beatles were always at the forefront of the technology of music. They had achieved worldwide fame in 1965, but then decided that they no longer wished to appear on television or play live because it interfered with the freedom and creativity they found in studio recordings.

For what practical purpose was the video created?

The music video was created for the practical purpose of they couldn’t physically appear on every music television show throughout the world to promote their single. After establishing this, they then decided they no longer wanted to appear on television, or do live performances in general because it was interfering with the freedom and creativity they found with studio recordings.

Therefore people wouldn’t be able to watch them live or appearing on television so they created a video so the audience could continue to watch and listen to their music. And they could carry on being successful worldwide, like they already were.

In which decade did music video really flourish and why?

1965 was when the ‘Beatles’ made a series of promotional films to be broadcasted on television worldwide. This videos consisted of 'We Can Work It Out', 'Day Tripper', 'Help!', 'Ticket To Ride' and 'I Feel Fine‘. They started to create videos because they didn’t feel that it was physically possible to appear on every TV show to promote their music.

However in the 1980s was when the first video was fully flourished thanks to the creation of MTV (Music Television). At first the show wasn’t a success like the creators thought it was going to be. Only the younger generation (children) were interested in watching it, meaning it had a slow start to the television industry. Younger children were more interested in music meaning they wanted to watch the show instead of adults. As more videos were created and aired it interested the likes of teenagers, adults and elders and the population of the world watching it gradually started to increase, and to this day now has 340million viewers worldwide, which is a staggering amount compared to how the show started off.

1965

1980

Which TV station based its success on the music video and why?

MTV (music television) based their success on the music video because they were the first ever music channel to come about and present music videos on air. Ever since 1981 MTV has been know worldwide with more than 340 million viewers today which shows that it has been extremely successful.

The successful music channel has changed the world of fashion, movies and music itself. It has been credited to creating the likes of Michael Jackson and Madonna.

However when the show was first presented on television in 1981, no one took an interested in the show except from the younger generation (children)., meaning that it wasn’t very successful at first and the creators weren’t too sure if the show would be a success or not. As time went on, the show pickedup more viewers and has risen to where it is now.

How did the use of music video grow subsequently?

Since MTV was created and aired, more and more music videos were created because artists were influenced by what they had seen on television and knew it would be a good way to promote their singles. Back in 1980 not many artists/bands had the amount of money that some did to be able to create a video for their music. However as the music industry developed this meant more money was being earned and they could afford to create one.

When the first music video was presented, it wasn’t very technical because the music industry didn’t have a great amount of money to work with, and not much technology had been invented. This is extremely different to nowadays because there are all different types of lighting, sound, camera shots etc that are used when creating a music video and a lot of money is spent towards it to achieve a successful video for the viewers to watch.

Dress has become very important in music videos since the first one was every released. Making sure that their clothing is modern, fashionable and will stand out on the video is very important, sometimes to more artists than others. For example Jessie J and Lady Gaga have a very unusual dress sense but have creative ideas to make their costuming stand out to the audience watching the video.

What is its purpose today?

The purpose of music videos today is so artists/bands can promote the music they bring out and so people have something to watch as well as listen to their music. This is a good and successful idea that the music industry created because it makes more of a profit for those who create a video for their music. It also gets their new material more noticed by the audience that watch music channels.

A lot of artists are now starting to advertise other brands within their music video to help promote other products. This means they will receive money from the company they are going to organise their brand for, and that way will help them make a profit.

Music videos are created nowadays to make a profit for the artist and they music company that have signed them . Even though the music video itself doesn’t get a profit, because the music company have to pay to have it on television, but they receive a profit because the targeted audience know the music is available to buy, if they choose not to download illegally.

Do you believe the music video has a

future? I believe the music video does have a future because since they

started in 1980 they have been very successful and a lot of artists and bands do now create their own music videos for their material, meaning that it is successful. However they do cost a lot of money to create because a lot of effects and presentation goes into them to make them worth watching, for example the effects, camera shots, costuming etc. The technology within music videos has developed a lot since they first ever started making them.

I believe that if the artists or managers of the artists can afford to keep creating videos for their music material then there will definitely be a future in video making for music.

On the other hand, I don’t think much will change within the future of music videos because they already have so much technology involved to make them look effective and attract the targeted audience so not much can be added to make them different. Because of this, it could lead to not as many people watching them because it is all the same type of material on the video, meaning they will get less viewers and may stop creating them. Personally I think it will be years before this happens in the music industry if it does.

What makes a music video successful in my opinion?

Depending on the song, depends on how the video can be. For example if an artist creates a slow song then I personally don’t think the video should have a lot going on within the different scenes, crazy outfits or have a lot of different effects. I think this because if you have a slow song you need the video to carry out the mood of it, if not it won’t fit in and it may not be successful for the targeted audience. An example of this is Adele – Make me feel your love. This video consists of simple scenes of her in her dark bedroom with a lamp on in a city. This setting gives the audience the idea of the song, which is about love.

It is a completely different style of video if you have a fast tempo song. In a video for this you would consider having different effects and camera shots and crazy outfits and makeup to convey what type of song it is to the targeted audience. An example of this is Lady Gaga – Just Dance. This video consists of all different ‘drunken’ scenes, crazy outfits/makeup and a variety of camera shots, effects and movements. This fits in well with the type of song it is because it is a fast song so you need a lively video to match it, which this is.

History of the music video…

As you can see from the music video timeline, it started way back in 1930 with the introduction of musical films. More bigger business’s such as YouTube and iTunes begun quite late into the music industry, the year of 2005. As you can also see from the timeline above the presentation of the filming changed massively as the music video business expanded. Coloured filming got brought in and then it continued with effects, camera shots etc.

VH1 - 1985 … VH1 (Video hits one) is an American cable television network that is based in

New York City. It was first ever launched on 1st January 1985 on the cable music channel. This channel is the sister of MTV but it targets a slightly older demographic audience focusing on the lighter, softer side of popular music including artists like Tina Turner, Elton John, Billy Joel etc.

This programme tends to play more jazz and R&B artists compared to what MTV did. It also has a higher rotation of urban-contemporary performers. It still occasionally plays music videos and the ‘Top 20 Video Countdown’ but it has a more recent claim to fame in the area of music related reality programming.

Diversification – VH1 continued to get more diverseand teen based with its music selection in the late1990s. Various late night rock shows were shown onVH1 featuring alternative rock and metal videos from1980s to 1990s. Eventually it starting to feature harderrock acts such as Metallica, Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Around late 2002 they begun to play mainstream rap musicians, artists like Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z.

The launch of YouTube - 2005

YouTube is a video sharing website that users can upload, share and view different videos. This company is based in San Bruno, California and uses other software like Adobe Flash Video.

The video’s don’t just have to consist of music, they can be clips from a television show, or a video of someone doing some tricks, for example.

YouTube was founded by Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim who were all employees of PayPal. Hurley and Chendeveloped their ideas for YouTube in theearly months of 2005. It started with aninvestment of $11.5 million.

YouTube offered a beta test in May 2005which was 6 months before the official launch of the website in November 2005.

YouTube rapidly expanded and by July 2006 had up to 65,000 videos added everyday onto the website and it was receiving 100 million video views per day.

Current Headquarters in San Bruno, California.

Conclusion…

In conclusion to the evolution of the music video, I can tell from the research I have gathered that the technology and the way they are made has improved a lot over the years and more are now available to the targeted audience of the videos. This shows us that a lot of work has been done to improve the quality and effects of the music videos released for each song. However I also found out that not all artists could afford to create a video for their songs, therefore there was only few out many years ago. Since then, websites have been brought out worldwide, for example YouTube, so individuals can watch music videos when and how they want.

Also by doing this project I found out background information about the Beetles, and their story behind why they created a music video for there single. I found this useful because when I come to create my own video, I will also know background information myself, about the production of music videos.

However I also come to the conclusion that more individuals are downloading music illegally, or off free websites, so this may lead to them not watching the videos that are produced with the song. Therefore this will decrease the population of people who do watch videos and they won’t be as successful as what they are today.

Bibliography…

Throughout completing my research I used a variety of different useful websites tohelp me collect the right information to include about the evolution of music videos. http://www.google.co.uk/search?um=1&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=694&tbm=isch

&oq=VH1+&aq=f&aqi=&safe=vss&surl=1&q=VH1 – I used Google images for all of the pictures included in this slideshow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VH1 - Information about VH1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube - Background information about the launch of YouTube.

http://timerime.com/en/timeline/596148/A+History+of+the+Music+Video/ - Timeline and history of the music video.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video - Definition of the music video.

Whilst doing this project I collected a lot of my research from Wikipedia and otherrelevant websites that could help me get the background information I needed.

Comments

Give a conclusion please I would also like a bibliographyInitial Grade C