Research on History

A brief history on Music Videos

- 1894 - Music historians suggest that the first ever music video that was ever created was called "The Little Lost Child", which was directed by sheet music publishers Joseph Stern and Edward Mark. They hired George Thomas (an electrician) to synchronize the live performance of their song with a magic lantern to project a series of live still images. This would later on become a popular form of entertainment called as illustrated song back in the day.

- 1927 - the first ever 'talkie' film ever released and it was called "The Jazz Singer" and was the first film that included a synchronized sound, and featured both singing and dancing. It is considered a pioneer in the sense that it was the first time that a music performance that wasn't in front of a live audience

- 1930 - "The Spooney Melodies" were a series of live-action shorts produced by Warner Bros. from 1930 to 1931. The series was made to showcase the most popular tunes at the time and was shown in movie theaters before the main presentations, which eliminated the need to see an actual full-feature film just to hear some music and sound. The shorts also feature a performer playing some quick segments of music.

- 1965 - Due to the rise of 16mm cameras and technological advancement, broadcast television began to rise in the late 1950s to early 60s. The first music video to be broadcasted on television was "We Can Work it Out" by The Beatles.

- 1981 - MTV was launched in 1981 and was used as a platform for artists to show their music videos and to gain attention and to rise to stardom. The first ever music video released on the channel was called "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

- 2005 - present (Youtube era) - In 2005, Youtube was launched and quickly began rising in popularity. Artists took advantage of this new social media platform and began to post their music videos and songs in order to receive attention and reach a global audience. In the 21st century, people now all across the globe mainly access music videos on this platform (due to globalization).

How has the creation of music videos changed?

Between the late 1800s to the 21st century, the creation of music videos have significantly changed. It has all got to do with technological advancement and globalization. Before the era of MTV, musicians promoted and performed their songs of broadcast television for viewers at home and in front of a live audience. When MTV began to rise in pop culture, artists began to create visuals to accompany their songs, in order to gain a more wider audience. In the 21st century, singers began to have creative control over what style and images they want to show to their fanbase and the general public. Artists have now created videos that are artistic, as well as having concept and narrative based imagery. With the rise of technological advancement, music videos now include a variety of colors, fonts, background images etc. Music videos nowadays often may include hidden symbols that are related to the artists or are linked to political or social movements that are going on, meanwhile older music videos are very straightforward and don't require much interpretations.

1) I Want to Break Free by Queen

I Want to Break Free by Queen was released in 1984 and was directed by David Mallet. The video largely parodies that of the British soap opera "Coronation Street", with the band members dressing up as the characters from the show. It features shots of lead singer Freddie Mercury lipsyncing the song, as most artists do in their music videos. We see Freddie and a group of dancers who are all dressed in spotted leotards, performing an interpretive dance through the instrumental part of the song. After the interpretive section has finished, the videos cuts back to the band wearing their Coronation Street outfits.

The video is pretty straightforward and it does not contain a lot of hidden meanings. I interpret the video as the band (especially Freddie Mercury) being themselves. This can tie in with the song's lyrics, as the song itself talks about wanting to get away from someone who is assumed to be manipulative and controlling. I chose to analyze this music video because personally I think its quite funny and I like the message behind the song.

2) This is America by Donald Glover

This is America by Donald Glover was released in May 2018 and was directed by Hiro Murai. The song's lyrics talk about the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement that is happening in the US. It also confront issues of ongoing systemic racism, the ghetto, racial prejudice, and law enforcement in the United Sates, as well as mass shootings and gun violence in America. I chose to analyze this music video because it contains hidden meanings that in my opinion are ignored in the media and addresses topics that should not be ignored, like racial prejudice and gun violence.

In the beginning shots of the video, Gambino is wearing grey trousers, which look similar to old Confederate uniforms that soldiers wore. He is also wearing two gold chains, which can be seen as a double entendre for physical bondage that slaves went through, and America's obsession with consumerism. He also dances with with exaggerated movements and facial expressions, which some have noted to be inspired by Jim Crow, a theatre character that depicts racist stereotypes about African Americans. Throughout the video, Gambino is seen alongside a group of dancers dancing, meanwhile violence is occurring in the background. This is a symbol of the fact that violence, especially in America is often ignored by the media, and we are distracted by entertainment (such as dancing), instead of talking about how violence affects our lives. In the middle of the video, a choir is singing in an enthusiastic tone and Gambino shoots them all dead. This parallels the Charleston church shooting in 2015, when a white supremacist shot down church goers in a predominantly Black church. It is also a nod to modern day American gun violence. The color palette that is predominantly featured consists of mostly cool tones (grey, black and white) and some cool tones (blue, red and gold). The tones contrast each other, just like how gun violence and racial prejudice contrast alongside "positive" aspects of American society (like consumerism); it is considered binary opposition. We also see the guns that Gambino uses carefully being wrapped in red cloth after he shoots people with; that signifies how Republican Americans value guns over human lives.

The music videos I have analyzed are very different from one another. "This is America" brings light to very serious topics like racial prejudice and gun violence and has a very serious tone, meanwhile the "I Want to Break Free" music video is very lighthearted and doesn't require much interpretation. The second video is shot in a much higher quality than the first one, as the second video was shot in the 1980s, where cameras were not as high quality as they are now in the 21st century, and has changed due to technological advancement.