Research into the Industry

Music Videos were popularised by MTV in the 80s. (although they were around for longer: originating with musical short films in the 1920s. A famous example is “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend” (1950) with Marilyn Monroe). MVs were known as “promotional videos” at the time.

The first ever music video to be played on MTV was “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles.

Nowadays music videos are used as a marketing strategy. They are used to build an image for the artist: who can also show off their acting/dance skills and creativity. This portrays them as more talented, and of course leads to more music sales and popularity.

Madonna is the most evident example of an artist whose image propelled her career. She has become iconic as she was able to adapt her image with her times and what the audience wanted. This was largely done through music videos.

Her most notable video from the 80s is “Like a Prayer”, which also had some controversy (featuring a black saint). Controversy can be helpful to music videos, as it sparks conversation between the viewers, and through this it can reach more people.

Music videos production has the same stages as film production:

• Pre-production (Research & planning)

• Production (filming)

• Post-production (editing)

Then of course there is the marketing and advertising of the video once released.

High-quality colour videotape cameras also became available in the 80s: coinciding with the boom of MVs. And a development in special effects. It was cheaper than film mediums.

However, some directors entered the scene who had been trained to shoot films and began using 35mm film. This shot up the prices.

David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes (1980) was the first music video to exceed a $500 000 budget.

The most expensive music video to this day is “Scream” by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson (Dir. Mark Romanek, 1995). A behind-the-scenes was released as a promotion on MTV: “The Making of Michael & Janet Jackson’s Scream music video”.

Luckily, nowadays we have very affordable recording and editing equipment, which allows anyone to create high quality videos.

Some famous music video directors include Mark Romanek, David Fincher. Many went on to become film directors.