HISTORY OF THE MUSIC VIDEONoun: A video or short film that accompaniesa song commonly used As a marketing device to boost sales.

ARGUABLY THE FIRST….

QUEENS BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – 31ST OCTOBER 1975

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is considered the first music video. Queen could not attend Top of the pops due to their successful tour, as a result they sent in a video. The 9 minute song wasn’t predicted to be successful or radio friendly due to its length. However the music video was very popular amongst the contemporary audience, which revolutionised the consumption of music for audiences. With poor lighting, limited shot types, lack of narrative and character with an overall poor quality it is easy to see how much music video has advanced during the last 40 years.

MUSIC TELEVISION’S FIRST….

BUGGLES VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR – 1ST AUGUST 1981

Buggles video killed the radio star was the first music video to be aired on MTV it gained relative success. Music videos were introduced by video jockey’s and aired in order to publicise emerging artists. Compared to today’s music videos it seems very performance focused however it has a slight more narrative in balance, With a budget of $50,000 it wowed its audience and went up in the charts due to the popularity of the music video. For the first time expensive props and settings were used for effect. The channel now allowed people to not exclusively consume music through the means of audio such as radio etc but now gave viewers a chance to enjoy a visual element to accompany the music.

…BABY ONE MORE TIMEQuite interestingly the music video was made to be identifiable to a younger audience, hence the school uniform, the costume for the video cost only $17. This one of the first time a music video has been seen as a marketing tool. It was received with controversy due to the on show mid-riff of Britney. Despite this she received many awards including MTV best female video and is widely considered as one of the best all time videos. Despite it being very performance focused due to the nature of pop music and Britneys image being part of the whole product. The era saw the rise of narrative within its music video’s.

BRITNEY SPEARS …BABY ONE MORE TIME – 30TH SEPTEMBER1998

…CALL ME MAYBEDue to the technological advance made in the 21st century there is a hugely noticeable difference in the capability and quality of the video. With several different shot types in and edits allowed a seeming less continuity edit in a pop-up book style with several different costumes etc. It is also the first music video to be featured in 4K resolution which shows since previous music videos are advancing as quickly as other forms of media. The video is high on performance whilst containing a narrative.

TAYLOR SWIFT WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER – AUGUST 13 2012

Since 1975 when Queen made there video to be played in there absence music video has changed in its purpose and performance narrative balance. These were seen to be the most inspirational videos in the way they captured the attention of there audiences and added the needed extension of lyrics necessary. As time has progressed its noticeable that music videos have become more of a short film which is extremely cinematic. Generally music video has become more performance focused with more of a clever balance.

EVOLUTION….