Music Video History

Music promo videos nearly always follow similar conventions. Most videos utilise camera angles and shots that fit with the type of music the video is being made for, along with the instruments and pacing featured in the song. For example, slow acoustic music would typically feature lots of shots that lasts for a long duration and the shots normally wouldn't be close ups, as having the camera too close to a person creates an air of discomfort which is not typically associated with slow acoustic music. The shots could also focus on the instruments being played regardless of what genre. If there is a tune with a prominent guitar section, the video might focus on the instrument whilst the song is being performed.

Music videos were originally made to publicise the artist when the artist or band where unavailable to do a live performance. They would be used in Top of the Pops for example, if the singer could not make it to the show if they were on tour, or for any number of reasons.

Music promos first appeared during the 60s. In the early 60s Bob Dylan made an innovative black and white music video to Subterranean Homesick Blues in which he used cue cards to highlight key lyrics as the song played. The video was simple in the fact it is just one continuous shot and it looked very low tech. However, because it was filmed in black and white and was so simple, it could have been made on a budget of almost nothing and was playable on any TV set, propelling the popularity of the artist to new heights. The fact that the video was set in what looked like a New York street gave off the impression that the artist wasn’t overly rich and glamorous which allowed consumers to identify with him more.

In 1967, the Beatles released a music video for their song Strawberry Fields Forever, which was a very significant leap forward from Bob Dylan’s video. It includes elements that are very familiar with us from modern videos: there was sophisticated effects such as reverse film and fade ins and outs, it included lots of camera angles and the editing was in time with the music. The performance was a large part of the video and the video itself took place over day and night. The video itself was very abstract, and the inclusion of the abstract themes made the video very popular because it was new, exciting and different!

In the 1970s the editing and locations became much more sophisticated and and exotic. The Monkees TV show introduced crazy, off beat videos that tied in a lot of light hearted humour to help widen the audience of the song. "What would they do next?" was a question some of their more obscure videos would raise, helping to boost their popularity. The video incorporated jump cuts to help create a fast paced video that fit directly with the music. This video was part of their TV episode, so the promo does feature some form of narrative. The 70s also gave us Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which featured a heavy amount of performance from all the members of the band. Because of the multiple band members, there were lots of cuts in time with the music and the instruments to allow the video and the music to really go together. To help link to the style of the music, lots of fade effects and back projections were used in time with the music. Queen's video was allowed to be distributed to the newly started up MTV channel for free, helping to propel them to new heights of fame, as the song and video were now being played everywhere, a significant amount of the time.

The 80s was the decade in which music videos became a massive part of the business. Artists realised the success of previous promo videos, especially with MTV becoming so huge. Artists, bands and companies invested millions on creating bigger, better and wilder videos to help pitch their music at the youth audience they were aiming for. The music video for Rio by Duran Duran is a great example. It used an exotic location which made the band appear more glamorous, and included lots of filters to deliver a funky, stylised look. There are multipaneled frames with different shots in them. The cuts and shot changes are all in time with the music, and the use of special effects help to add a high budget feel, making the videos look cutting edge. Another massive music video hit, costing about a million dollars. The high budget costumes, the iconic dance moves and the longer then song story made the video an event to be seen! It was shown on TV and in the cinema, making it a real event to watch. It was a spectacle to be seen.

In the 80s/90s MTV had become huge. However, the songs they showed were mainly by white artists, and this was viewed as being unacceptable, with good reason. Aerosmith teamed up with some rapping dudes, and did Walk this Way. It was different, told a narrative and was pretty funky!