History of the music video

1. 1960s
1964 - Alex Murray, promotes his
version of "Go Now". The short film
clip he produced and directed to
promote the single hasa strikingvisual
style that predates Queen's similar
"Bohemian Rhapsody" video by a full
decade.
1964 - The Beatles first feature
film - A Hard Day’s Night - The
musical sequencesfurnishedbasic
templates on which countless
subsequent music videos were
modelled.
1965 - The Beatles'second feature Help!
- filmed in colour in London and on
international locations. The title track
sequence, filmed in black-and-white, is
arguably one of the prime archetypes of
the modern performance-style music
video, employingrhythmiccross-cutting,
contrastinglongshotsand close-ups,and
unusual shots and camera angles in
which it demonstrated the power of the
artist.
1965 - The Beatles began making
promotional clips (then known as "filmed
inserts") for distribution and broadcast in
othercountries—primarily the USA—sothey
couldpromote theirrecordreleaseswithout
having to make in-person appearances.
1966 - The Monkees - fabricated US band
styled on the Beatles with Anglo-centric
reference which similarly consisted of film
segments that were created to accompany
various Monkees songs e.g. Daydream
believer.
1967 - The Beatles released their third film,
the one hour, made-for-television project
Magical Mystery Tour - it was written and
directed by the group and first broadcast on
the BBC on Boxing Day 1967. Although
poorly received at the time for lacking a
narrative structure, it showed the group to
be accomplishedmusicvideomakersin their
own right.
1970s
1972 - David Bowie featured in a series of
promotional films. He started to create
controversial artistic videos based around
characters e.g. Ziggy, Jean Genie and
Stardust, with the use of technological
changes.4 clipswere made to promote four
consecutive David Bowie singles
1975 - Queenmake apromotional videotoshow
their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the
BBC music series Top of the Pops. The song is
saidto be "widely credited as the first global hit
single for which an accompanying video was
central to the marketingstrategy". RollingStones
has said "Its influence cannot be overstated,
practicallyinventingthe musicvideosevenyears
before MTV went on the air."
1980s

2. 1980 - Music video to David Bowie's "Ashes to
Ashes"became the most expensive ever made,
having a production cost of $582,000
($1,671,487 in 2016), the first music video to
have a production cost of over $500,000. The
video was made in solarised colour with stark
black-and-white scenes and was filmed in
multiple locations. It became one of the most
iconic videos ever made at the time, and its
complex nature is seen as significant in the
evolution of the music video.
1981 – MTV – first music only TV
station with the music guided be VJs.
With this new outlet for material, the
music video would, by the mid-1980s,
grow to play a central role in popular
music marketing.
1983 - The most successful, influential andiconic
musicvideoof all time was released: the nearly
14-minute-longvideoforMichael Jackson'ssong
"Thriller",directedbyJohnLandis.The video set
new standards for production, having cost US
$800,000 to film. The video for "Thriller", along
with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs
"Billie Jean"and "Beat It", were instrumental in
gettingmusicvideosbyAfrican American artists
played on MTV.
1987 – Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ –
firststop-motion animated music video -
used special effects and animation
techniques developed by British studio
Aardman Animation. The video for
‘Sledgehammer’ would go on to be a
phenomenal success winnine MTV Video
Music Awards.
1989 – Madonna ‘Like a
Prayer’ – controversial due
to the use of religious
iconography and sexual
metaphors in the video.
2005 - The launch of YouTube, which made
the viewingof online video much faster and
easier.Suchwebsites had a profound effect
on the viewingof musicvideos; some artists
began to see success as a result of videos
seen mostly or entirely online.
2000s