HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF MUSIC VIDEOS
'MUSIC VIDEO TIMELINE.'
PRESENTED BY SABAHAT KASHIF
The evolution of music videos took place gradually. Before the 1920s silent musicals was used to combine music and films.
When these silent films were played usually a pianist, a theater organist, or in large cities, an orchestra would play live music to accompany the films.
With the perfection of Audio amplifier tube and the introduction of the Vitaphone system the synchronization of dialogues, music and effects with film was made possible after the year 1927.
Vitaphone System
Audio amplifier
In the late 19's the production of talkies was the first step taken to commercialize sound cinema. Talkies were short as it was still hard to synchronize sounds with videos. The release of the talkie ' The Jazz singer ' in October 1927 was the first of its kind and was made with the help of vitaphone.
THE JAZZ SINGER
Then came the soundies. Soundies were three-minute American musical 16mm films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood, between 1940 and 1946, each containing a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number.
They often included short dance sequences in their musical films which were similar to the music videos we hear now.The oldest example of a promotional music video with similarities to more abstract, modern videos seems to be the Czech "Dáme si do bytu" ("Let's get to the apartment") created in 1958 and directed by Ladislav Rychman.
In 1964 The Beatles starred in their fist feature film ' A HARD DAYS NIGHT'. It integrated comedy and dialogue sequences with musical tones. This video laid down the foundation of future music videos to be made. The Beatles became increasingly famous by making promotional videos. Their grounbreaking video Strawberry Spring Fields and Penny lane made them popular among many people as they used many techniques that were similar to modern techniques
The Beetles 1964
MTV
MTV became the first channel to air music 24/7 and became the hub for development of music video styles and techniques.
In 1981 the US music video channel MTV was launched airing the video ' Videos killed Radio Star'.
SERGE GAINSBOURG 'HISTOIRE DE MELODY' NELSON 1971
This music video is best described as 'elegant filth'. This album is arguably the first of its kind. This is an album about Frenchman who crashes into a young girl riding a bicycle and love affair that ensues. This video is a highly influential concept album that will still challenge modern listeners.
PINK FLOYD 'THE WALL' 1982
This was released three years after Pink Floyd's album names. The wall is a musical film about a rock star who builds a 'wall' as a coping mechanism for his insanity and depression.
These are part 1 and 2 of the movie the rest are available on the youtube page.
PART 1 PART 2