history of music video notes

History of Music Video Notes

1923 - first 'music video' created
1950 - first colour tv transmission
MGM musicals - existence of music and visual cohesion before music videos
Judt Garland musical extravaganzas
birth of tv brought music to the screens
Jailhouse Rock, Blackboard jungle - 'teenage' boundary created
rock around the clock
the beatles - hard day's night
strawberry fields credited as being the first music video
bohemian rhapsody filmed in 3 hours, it was filmed because they couldn't perform it live
echo of faces done with a camera with a prism, pointing camera at monitor
bohemian rhapsody budget was £3500
three tracks for £15000
nowadays budgets can be in the millions
peoples attitudes towards music video changed, they though that they deterred from the music
lots of music videos in the late 90's were inspired from films:
Tupac & Dr Dre california love inspired by Mad Max movies
Queen - Radio Ga Ga inspired by Metropolis
Robbie Williams - Millenium inspired by sean connery's James Bond
Paula Abdul - Rush Rush inspired by Rebel Without a Cause
Michael Jackson - Beat It inspired by West Side Story
Michael Nesmith - founder of MTV - launched in August 1981
Bob Pittman - co-founder of MTV
a company had a live feed that was empty
first track played was Video Killed the Radio Star - they decided to make the video completely irrelevant to the lyrics
MTV only had 200 videos to begin with
most music videos were produced in Britain
new technology (cable and satelite) influenced music videos because they provided space for them to be shown
The Cure - video was filmed with a camera in a shopping basket using ropes to move into close-ups of the band
Devo only made videos, not songs
when MTV started, music videos weren't necessarily for singles - anything goes, the crazier the better
1985 - cd's first available in shops
3 years after MTV began, they had to start making money and convince record companies that MTV could sell records
They sold lots lots of Buggles albums which were only played on MTV
artists had to look good before they could sound good
AO6 - legal and ethical constraints
Madonna - Justify My Love was banned
Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
Radiohead - Rabbit in the Headlights was banned for being too disturbing
real rockstars didn't want to make music videos, they thought real musicians shouldn't need to
but eventually they changed their opinion of music videos
1985 - cutting edge computer graphics/animation
1983 - Michael Jackson - Thriller (album) best selling album of all time
Thriller video wasn't just a music video - it was a short film with a story and characters
It became the first music video to sell for an affordable price which prompted the creation of home video
'Billie Jean' was the first time a black face had been seen on MTV
Madonna noticed that in the past you had to tour to become a worldwide star but she thought that if she put enough effort into her music videos she could achieve this
1985 - Band Aid
'Music videos are adverts for lifestyles' - Laurie Anderson