Music TV
A music video is a video that is the length of the song that it is based on. It is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including “illustrated song”, “filmed insert”, “promotional (promo) film”, “promotional clip” or “film clip”.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song’s lyrics, making it less literal than expected.
In the late 1950s the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy, Jacques Brel, and Jacques Dutronc to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented. In 1961 Ozzie Nelson directed and edited the video of “Travelin’ Man” by his son Ricky Nelson. It featured images of various parts of the world mentioned in the Jerry Fuller song along with Nelson’s vocals. In 1964, Kenneth Anger’s experimental short film, Scorpio Rising used popular songs instead of dialog.
In 1961, for Canadian show Singalong Jubilee, Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-syncing, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and the location shoot “videos” were to add variety. In 1963, singer Kyu Sakamoto is featured on the Japanese television programme Shall We Meet At Seven? singing eight of his best-known songs, including his international hit Sukiyaki. Sakamoto is shown singing the latter as he walks through an alley past barrels.
One of the earliest Videos of a Top 40 hit, was Jan & Dean’s “Surf City”, produced in Summer 1963, contemporaneous with the single release reaching Number One nationally in July 1963. Filmed on location on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, it’s a period-piece, capturing much of the atmosphere and vibe of the Southern California early 60′s beach scene.
Another early performance clip was The Animals’s 1964 hit “House Of The Rising Sun”. This high-quality color clip was filmed in a studio on a specially-built set; with the group lip-synching.