- Since cinema was invented music videos created the ability to bring songs & music to life
- Advances in technology have transformed the music video into what it is today
Early years
- Music videos have been around since the 1920s
- Many jazz musicians of the time, such as Bessie Smith, made short films to accompany popular songs
- Bessie Smith made one of the first ever music videos which is iconic for that particular reason
Here is Bessie Smith in action! 'St Louis Blues'....
Bob Dylan
1965: He filmed Subterranean Homesick Blues as a segment for D.A Pennebakers film 'Don't look back'- widely credited as one of the first modern music videos (which can be seen on your bottom right)
Pop music TV shows
- 1970: The record industry discovers TV-shows as a great opportunity to promote their artists
- They focus on producing short "promos", early music videos which started to replace the live performance of the artist on the TV- stage.
- The beatles are an example of live TV performance. Here they are on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964
You still get performances from music artist on talk shows such as 'The
Graham Norton show' and 'Alan Carr: chatty man'. Its normally after they've been interviewed about their careers, life and upcoming album etc.
Graham Norton show' and 'Alan Carr: chatty man'. Its normally after they've been interviewed about their careers, life and upcoming album etc.
Bohemian Rhapsody
- 1975: Bohemian Rhapsody a groundbreaking video released by Queen, marked the beginning of the video era & set the language for the modern music video...
The video is considered to be one of the first to use advanced visual effects!
Technical Codes
- Camera work- As with any moving image text, how the camera is used & how images are sequenced will have a significant impact upon meaning
- Camera movement/ angle & shot distance all need to be analysed
- Camera movement may accompany movement of performers (walking, dancing, etc) but it may also be used to create a more dynamic fee to stage performance, by for instance constantly circling band as they perform on stage
- Close up does predominate as in most TV, partly because of the size of the screen & partly because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. It also emphasises half of the commodity on sale (not just the song but the artist & particularly the voice)
Editing
- Though the most common form of editing associated with the music promo is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to group on first viewing thus ensuring multiple viewing
- There are videos which use slow pace & gather transitions to establish mood
- This is particularly apparent for the work of many female artists with a broad audience appeal such as Dido
- Often enhancing the editing are digital effects which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience. This might take the form of split screens, colourisation & of course blockbuster film style CGI
Camera work & Editing
Lisa Loeb- Stay (i missed you) is one video in particular which is very fascinating...
If you watch closely, you'll see that there was no cuts whatsoever!
The entire video was done with a handheld camera (Steadicam) & some very clear choreography in terms of camera position & singers movement around the flat.
Took over 8 hours to get right!
