Sunday, June 16, 2019

INDUSTRIAL CONTEXT- A brief history of music videos

The early era of music videos was in pre- 1965

1927- The Jazz Singer

The first film to sync audio & image.

For the  first time people could see a music performance which wasn’t live!

1930- Crying for Caroline by Spooney melody

They were first to introduce concept of short-films , mixing live-action footage of the performer

1958- Le poinconneur des Lilas (Scopitone)

Newest gadget was the scorpitone



During 60’s, jukeboxes  popped up all over bars & nightclubs around Europe and the USA

With film technology and 16mm being cheaper & more accessible and growth of broadcast TV

Rise of pop culture in late 60’s and early 70’s- was time of exploring new phenomenon's to promote the artist
1965- We can work it out (Beatles)

First music video to be broadcast on the TV

1966- Subterranean Homesick blues (Bob Dylan)

First lyric music video, with the artist holding up hand-drawn lyrics, a key video that influences modern takes if intertextuality.


1968 to 1974 was the era of experimentation in Film

1974- Bohemian Rhapsody


1981- The first music video ‘Video killed the radio star’ was aired on MTV, where it prophesizes the impact music videos will have on the industry

Music videos now became the main platforms for new artists to gain attention & consolidated artists to show their latest works


From 1992-2004, came the rise of directors


Where a whole new breed of young & talented directors expressed  their vision



The YouTube Era- 2005 to present day

YouTube became home for artists & directors to explore new concepts and reach out to a worldwide audience

In the mid 2000’s- low budget music videos started to go viral & ideas that weren’t possible to be broadcast before started appearing in music videos

With prices of digital cameras declining & quality of images increasing- Indie filmmakers could produce images similar to blockbuster movies

There was an explosion of music videos

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