Music video

A music video is a production of images set to music. Some music videos create a narrative, while others provide an artistic visualization of the music. Many feature artists' performances. The primary purpose of these productions is to promote the music and an artist's album.

History

Music videos began in the late nineteenth century. The first person to combine music and images was George Thomas, an electrician and a photographer. He created a series of images on glass slides, which he colored by hand. These images were projected onto a screen during live musical performances. The first illustrated song was "The Little Lost Child," published by Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern. The spectacle of watching the slides and hearing the music drew the public to music halls and helped the song become extremely successful in 1894.

Several decades later, silent films gave way to musical movies. Warner Brothers produced five musical shorts in 1930 and 1931. These Spooney Melodies included both animation and live-action footage set to popular music of the time. During the 1940s, movie shorts called Soundies featured popular performers singing jazz and other songs of the day.

Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were animated short films set to popular music by Warner Brothers Studios. The first of these arrived in theaters during the 1930s, and the studio continued to produce them for decades. These miniature masterpieces include Rabbit of Seville (1950) and What's Opera, Doc? (1957), which in 1992 was added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.

By the 1950s, music videos were produced by music labels to promote performers and often were broadcast as a substitute for live performances by acts in high demand. Many featured singles that were soon to be released as a way to increase interest in the record. Most were not highly sophisticated productions; the purpose was to promote the music through broadcasting a performance.

During the late 1950s, a French company produced video jukeboxes that played short films. Such video jukeboxes enjoyed popularity for a few years, but died out by 1967.

Music videos as we know them were born during the 1970s. A number of pop music programs in the United Kingdom and Australia were broadcasting both live performances and videotaped music. Graham Webb, a disc jockey and presenter of the Australian show Countdown and Sounds, hired a director to create videos for songs.

Russell Mulcahy later created the video for "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. This became the first music video to be played in 1981 when Music Television, or MTV, debuted. MTV was conceived and launched as a cable channel airing music videos. VH1 and MuchMusic in Canada soon joined MTV in broadcasting music videos almost around the clock. With the venues to air them, music labels increased the development of music videos.

MTV began recognizing music videos in 1984 with Music Awards, which were later rebranded Video Music Awards, or VMAs. Interest in these productions increased, and labels focused more attention on creating them.

After dominating the music video scene, MTV eventually shifted its focus to reality television and phased out the music video. In 2005, YouTube became the primary destination for artists' videos and fans.

Influence

In 1983, a video directed by John Landis changed the landscape of music television. The video, Thriller, features pop singer Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) singing and dancing to elaborate choreography with a large cast of backup dancers. Jackson had sought out the director based on one film—An American Werewolf in London—though Landis had directed a number of hit movies, including Animal House. The movie director said he would do it, but only if Thriller was a short film. Jackson agreed, and they co-wrote the screenplay for the half-million-dollar production. The thirteen-minute film was a worldwide sensation. The same-titled album on which the song "Thriller" had been released a year earlier saw an immediate sales surge. Thriller spurred growth in VHS rentals and sales among fans who had to own it. The "making of" documentary, which aired on MTV and Showtime to recoup the cost of the production, has sold 9.5 million copies on VHS and DVD as of 2015. In 2009, Thriller was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.

Many music video directors were inspired and experimented with new film techniques. Music videos may incorporate artistic lighting and visual effects or rely on animation. In some cases, the artist never appears in the video. In time, the music video became a respected genre.

Many techniques developed by music video directors have found their way into mainstream films. A number of movie directors—including Spike Jonze, who was fourteen years old when Thriller debuted and captivated him—began their careers with music videos. Jonze went on to win an Academy Award for Her. Hype Williams, Michael D. Ratner, Jonathan Glazer, David Fincher, and Gina Prince-Bythewood are also among those who moved from directing music videos to filmmaking.

Internet

Many popular music performers have used the Internet, in particular YouTube, to launch their careers. Canadian singer Justin Bieber began posting videos of his performances in competitions as a young boy. Millions of viewers learned about him through word of mouth and sought out his YouTube channel. As with early music industry videos, Bieber's videos were primarily recordings of his performances. The publicity and videos drew the attention of music executives. Singer/songwriter Usher later signed Bieber to Island Records.

Singer Carly Rae Jepsen recorded the song "Call Me Maybe" in September 2011. Sales languished, however, until Bieber directed his fans to the fellow Canadian's song. Bieber recorded a video of himself and friends lip-syncing "Call Me Maybe" and posted it online in February 2012. The song raced up the charts and became the top-selling single of the year.

Bibliography

Baker, Whitney. "Five Celebrities Who Got Their Start on YouTube." Paste Magazine. Paste Media Group. 5 June 2010. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/06/-celebrities-who-started-on-youtube.html

Ferreras, Jesse. "Carly Rae Jepsen Is 'So Thankful' to Justin Bieber." Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com Inc. 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/09/28/carly-rae-jepsen-justin-bieber‗n‗8210824.html

Hebblethwaite, Phil. "How Michael Jackson's Thriller Changed Music Videos For Ever." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/21/michael-jackson-thriller-changed-music-videos

Microsoft Devices Team. "The Amazing History of the Music Video." Microsoft Devices Blog. Microsoft. 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2012/11/26/the-amazing-history-of-the-music-video/

Pollick, Michael. "What Are Music Videos?" WiseGeek. Conjecture Corporation. 6 Nov. 2015. Web. 14 Dec. 2015. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-music-videos.htm

"Six Music Video Directors Turned Filmmakers." Hollywood.com. Hollywood.com LLC. Web. 15 Dec. 2015. http://www.hollywood.com/movies/music-video-directors-who-started-making-movies-60227299/

additional source:

http://www.britannica.com/topic/Looney-Tunes