HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS

By Natasha Warr

First Ever Music Video: BatCat, Jetpack (1932)

This was the first music video to be created in the early 1930's by the group BatCat. The quality of the video is very poor as they did not have very good technology in the 1930's; a gramophone was used for the sound in this video which is a very basic piece of equiment and are rarely seen these days. The techniques this video uses is mainly transitions which disolve into each other. There is not really any meaning to this video, it is far from music videos in todays society. It is a very fast paced video which does match the tempo of the sound behind it.

Most Expensive Music Video: Michael Jackson ft Janet Jackson - Scream (1995)

The most expensive music video to ever be made comes from the great Michael Jackson with Scream in 1995. 'Scream' won the award for the best dance video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1995. The director was Mark Romanek which tells the story of two people attempting to escape the Earth and the media. It is said to be an aggressive retaliation song to the child sex abuse accusations made against Michael Jackson in 1993 which is aimed at the media. The video cost $7 million in total, with $65,000 spent on the spacecraft that was computer generated. $175,000 was spent on the lighting for the video as it was all very bright lighted throughout the video.

Second Most Expensive Music Video: Madonna - Die Another Day

Production = $6,100,000

Released = 2002

Third Most Expensive Music Video: Madonna - Express Yourself

Production = $5,000,00

Released = 1989

Longest Video: Pharrell Williams - Happy

Length: 24 Hours

Pharrell Williams overtook Michael Jackson's Ghost music video of 39 minutes, with his 24 hour interactive video. It consisted of dancers, singers and celebrities singing along to his 4 minute catchy song 360 times between them. There was an interactive clock throughout the video which allowed viewers to watch back for their favourite moments; however the whole 24 hour event was later condensed into 4:08 minutes.

Most Successful Songs Of The Past 60 Years In The UK

1950's : Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock

Sales: 1,390,000

1970's : Paul McCartney - Mull of Kintyre

Sales: 2,050,000

1990's : Elton John - Candle In The Wind

Sales: 4,864,611

1960'S : The Beatles - She Loves You

Sales: 1.9 million by November 2012

1980's : Band Aid - Do They Know Its Christmas Time?

Sales: 3,550,000

2000's : Will Young - Evergreen

Sales: 1,791,314

Pharrell Williams - Happy is the most successful song of the decade so far. It spent four weeks at number 1 in the UK Top 40, and a further 50 weeks inside the Top 40.

The quality of the videos throughout the decades have improved with not only the video image but the sound quality. The videos are more meaningful than the older videos which shows that they are more narrative. Music videos these days have more of a storyline to it so it makes it into a short story really; often the the video matches the lyrics. Music videos are often how artists represent themselves and what they stand for. Mise en scene helps the viewers to detect what genre the music is which helps for target audience and the type of people the video attracts.

Today's Music Videos

Music videos today often tell the story behind the song, the lyrics and the beliefs. Often, th evideo becomes a vital part of the selling process for the song because if people like the video they are likely to buy the song. The story that the video tells allows the viewers to connect more to the lyrics as there is a visual representation of where the lyrics come from. A good example of this is Professor Green - Read All About it, because it tells the story behind the lyrics while also showing his emotions about the song today as well.

In today's society, there are many videos that cause controversy such as Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball which was slammed for Miley suggesting that the best way for young women to be seen is to sexually objectify themselves. However; this may not have been Cyrus' reasoning behind swinging naked on a wrecking ball, but nethertheless the image it sells to women is not a nice one. However; some music videos are used to promote their political opinion on something, such as Macklemore's Same Love. In this song he raps about being gay and how 'some people would rather die than be who they are', he highlights the problems with the society not accepting gay people and how we, as a society have become numb and oblivious to our own words.

Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Same Love

The Visual Album

Beyoncé was the first person to produce a visual album where every song is accompanied by a video. She has broken the record for the most music videos that originate from the same album. This visual album is liekly to promote the success of this album because the fans want to see every video in conjuction with the song.

Influential Music Videos

Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

This is one of the most influential music videos which was filmed in 1998 and directed by Nigel Dick. This type of music video was very couragous and new in the industry. The video was shot at Venice High School where the film Grease was filmed too. The idea of the school girl dancing down the corridors was controversial but it worked. Any female or male artist would take influence fromt this video as it is different, and a video in which everyone remembers years later. The choreography for this video was immensely good and the idea of school girls wearing their uniform in such a provacative manner suited the dance choreography.

A-Ha - Take On Me

This video is an extra ordinary video due to its pencil-sketch animations in line with real live footage. The video is 4 minutes long, and took 4 months to complete due to the pencil sketch animations. Over 3000 frames had to be rotoscoped in order to give the effect of the transition from reality to comic animation. In 1986, this song wond 6 awards at the MTV Music Video Awards for : Best New Artist in a Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Direction, Viewer's Choice, Best Special Effects and Best Concept Video. This shows how effective the video is in enhancing the success of the song. The video gives the song a story and makes it more interesting as viewers are able to connect to the images in the video.