History of the Music Video
Fischinger
Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker and painter born 22nd June 1900 in Gelnhausen. Known for creating musical animations, he made over 50 short films and painted approximately 800 canvases, many of which are in museums and galleries around the world.
After surviving WW1 Fischinger moved with his family to Frankfurt where he eventually earned a diploma in engineering. In Frankfurt Fischinger met a theatre critic Bernhard Diebold who in 1921 introduced him to the works of Walter Ruttman a passionate abstract film maker. Inspired by his work, Fischinger began experimenting with coloured liquids and three dimensional modelling materials such as wax or clay. Fischinger designed and built a 'Wax Slicing Machine', he wrote to Ruttman about his creation who expressed interest. As a result, Fischinger moved to Munch licensing his machine to Ruttman where they both used it to create their own pieces.
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In 1924 Fischinger was hired by an American entrepreneur by the name of Louis Steel to produce adult cartoons where he was able to experiment new, different techniques for film making. However, facing financial difficulties, Fischinger borrowed money off many family and friends but could never outrun his debt, so, in an effort to escape the bill collectors, he moved to Berlin where he set up his own studio using money borrowed from a friend but none of his own creations were accepted by producers or distributors. In 1933 after the Nazis took over Germany, and there new policies were put in place, abstract art slowly decreased and it became difficult for Fischinger to work on his creations. However, Fischinger continued to work the best he could and although sometimes he had trouble with the nazi authorities, Fischinger managed to finish a personal piece of his called Komposition in Blau (1935). It was critically well received and sparked interest with Paramount. He was asked by Paramount whether he was willing to work in America, Fischinger agreed.
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When moving to Hollywood in 1936, fischinger was put to work straight away on a project for a black and white film. However things did not go to plan and Fischinger, resultantly, asked to terminate his contract and he spent the rest of his life making personal films without any funding apart from a few commercial works. In 1967 Fischinger died in Los Angeles leaving many un finished works.
1900
The Jazz Singer (1927)
The Jazz Singer was a motion picture film released by the Warner Bros. and was the first feature-length film to include sound triggering the end of the silent film era.
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The films initial release was on 6th October 1927 in the USA and was directed by Alan Crosland with the music being composed by Louis Silvers.
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It won a single award which was at the Academy awards with it being the Honorary Award in 1929. It was also nominated for a Oscar in the category of best writing however unfortunately did not win.
1927
Panorams + Soundies
Panoram: This is the name given to a visual jukebox that played music accompanied by a synched, filmed image. Popular in the 1940's, a Panoram consisted of a Jukebox playing a closed loop of 16mm film reel projected onto a glass screen. The name of the short films played for the Panoramas were called Soundies
Soundies: Soundies are the name given to the 3 minute American musical 16mm films produced in New York, Chicago and Hollywood between 1940 - 1946. Each Soundie contain a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number. Projected on to the glass screen of a Panoram to accompany the songs playing.
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1940
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Jailhouse Rock is a song, written by Jerry Leiber + Mike Stoller that was a hit for Elvis Presley.
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It was released as a RCA Victor 45 rpm single on 24th September 1957 to coincide with the release of Presley's Motion Picture 'Jailhouse Rock'
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The song, recorded by Presley, is #67 on the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All TIme.
1957
Summer Holiday (1962)
This is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and The Shadows, written by rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch and Drummer Brian Bennett. It is taken from the film with the same title.
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It went to #1 in the UK Singles Chart for a total of 3 weeks and had a single from another film film "The Next Time".
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It was released on the 2nd June 1962 in the format of 7" single and was produced by the recorded label Columbia (EMI).
1962
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
A Hard Day's Night is a British musical comedy directed by Richard Lester following the lives of The Beatles over the course of a week, a film released in 1964. With a fully digitally restored soundtrack.
The film features many stars such as The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul Mccartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr during the peak of The Beatles Career.
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The film was a financial and critical success with the Time magazine calling it one of the all time greatest 100 films. It is credited as being one of the most influential films of all time.
House of the Rising Sun (1964)
House of the Rising Sun is a Blues song by the english rock band The Animals. It tells of a story of a life gone wrong and a brother urging his sibling to avoid the same fate.
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The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964, was a number 1 hit on the UK singles chart, as well as in the USA and France.
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As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it is widely regarded as the first 'folk rock' song.
1964
Historical Significance of Penny Lane
1967
Penny Lane is a song written by the Beatles in 1967.
The reason for which Penny lane has such historical significance in terms of the history of music videos is because it was the first real 'conventional' music video. Recorded on the streets of liverpool to really capture what its like to live in that area.
Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)
Bohemian Rhapsody is a song by the british band Queen, written by Freddie Mercury released 31st October 1975.
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It is reported the most expensive single ever to be produced at the time of its release, however, the exact amount in which it cost to make is not known.
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Upon its release, in 1975, Bohemian Rhapsody was a commercial success and was number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for 9 weeks selling 1 million copies by the end of January 1976.
1975
Video Killed the Radio Star (1978)
Video Killed the Radio Star is a song written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley in 1978. The Track was recorded and mixed in 1979. Then, released by the english group The Buggles, who Horn and Downes were a part of, on the 7th September 1979.
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This song relates to the concerns about the mixed attitudes towards the 20th century inventions and machines for the media arts.
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The song was a great success featuring in 16 international charts including the UK Official Singles Chart
1978
The Wall (1979)
The Walls is a album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. Although the initial reaction was not so positive, The Wall reached number 3 in the UK album chart, while in the USA, The Wall stayed top of the US Billboard 200 chart for 15 weeks.
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In 1982, the album was adapted into a feature film of the same name and has since been recognised as the most famous concept album of all time.
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The album was recorded in December 1978 before its eventual released on the 30th November 1979.
1979
Ashes to Ashes (1980)
Ashes to Ashes song written and recorded by David Bowie and was a lead single from the 1980's album Scary Monsters. It eventually became Bowie's second number 1 single.
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It is known for its innovative video, directed by David Bowie and David Mallet, which at the time was the most expensive music video of ever made.
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The music video for Ashes to Ashes was the most iconic of the 1980's. Overall the production costs were approximately £250,000 ($500,000).
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1980
Historical Significance of Thriller
Thriller is song by Michael Jackson which was released in 1982.
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Thriller is historically significant as it is a music video that focuses very much so on the narrative side of the video as well as the music. The first 2 minutes is all narrative before the music even starts. It was one of the first examples of proper narrative music video.
1982
Money for Nothing (1985)
Money for Nothing is a song written by the British rock band Dire Straits which is taken from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms
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It was one first ever song to use CGI when creating the music video and also one of the first to feature an animated human.
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It was commercially successful winning a Grammy for Best Rock performance by a duo or group with vocals at the 28th annual Grammy awards as well as winning video of the year at the MTV video music awards.
1985
Controversy Regarding 'Like A Prayer'
Like a prayer is a song released by the American singer Madonna on the 3rd March 1989 and was the lead single for her studio album of the same name.
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In terms of the Music video, it is widely regarded as one of the most controversial music videos of its time. With the original plan for the video to be a mixed-race couple being shot by the Ku Klux Klan to address racism, it was clear to see from the start that the video would definitely turn heads around the world. Madonna changed her plan for the music several times with the final cut telling a story of a white girl falling in love with a black man all set down in the south where interracial relationships were forbidden. The video quickly turns bad and was produced to address the problem of racism in the USA.
1989
Why Directors Get Credited in Music Video
On 8th November 1992 MTV started crediting Director in music videos alongside artists, artist's song and record companies. This is because music videos had rapidly became an auteur's medium. Meaning that directors had the majority if not all of the control of everything that is added to the pre-existing video and therefore they credit themselves within the video.
1992
Most Expensive Music Video Ever Produced
The most expensive music video ever produced in the history of music is Michael Jackson's 'Scream'.
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Released on the 31st May 1995, the single reached a total of $7,000,000 to produce. Since its release Scream was nominated for Grammies and American Music awards and has won awards such as a Grammy for Best Music video and 3 MTV Music Video Awards for best Electronic Video, Choreography and Art Direction.
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I believe that musicians do not create music videos that cost around $7,000,000 anymore because of the Proliferation of technology they simply do not need to spend so much as the costs have become much cheaper to produce a music video of high quality.
1995
Youtube
Launched on 14th February 2005, YouTube is a video sharing website based in California. As a result of YouTube launching, the relationship between institute and audience was a lot closer. It was now much easier for artists to share their music and express themselves through their music videos to mass audiences. With YouTube rapidly growing in popularity, many advantages revealed themselves to large and small artists. YouTibe is free, therefore, artists can make channels and post their music videos on their as a form of advisement ( for small artists) and as a way to directly address every member of their audience individually all at the same time, allowing the audience to feel closer to them ( for larger artists).
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The most viewed YouTube video of all time is the music video to Gangnam Style by Psy with approximately 2.849 billion views ever since 15th July 2012 when it was first uploaded.
2005
Three Pivotal Events in the History of Music Video
After carrying out my independent research on the history of the music video. I have pointed out 3 of the most important events that have occur throughout the years.
My first pivotal moment is the history of the music video was the creation of the Panoram and Soundies, I feel this was important as it was the first time a video accompanied the music playing meaning Soundies were the very first type of music video.
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The second pivotal moment in the history of the music video was the release of the music video for the song 'Money for Nothing' by the Dire Straits. I believe that this was also a very important moment in music video history as it was the first time CGI was used to create a music video and therefore signified the start of the proliferation of technology within music video industry.
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The third pivotal moment in the history of the music video ( and arguably the most significant) was the launch of the website YouTube in 2005. This allowed artists of all genres to post their videos online for the world to see at no cost what so ever making it so much easier for artists to express themselves to mass audiences through their music videos.
