Timeline of Music Videos

The invention of film & cinema brought about the possibility of combining music & moving images.

Advances in technology have turned music video into what you see today.

1920's-
Music video's began to emerge in the 20's. Artists such as Bessie Smith created short films to accompany their songs. These tended to be very basic and featured just teh artist singing.



1960's-
This saw the beginning of what we see as the modern music video. Although many were still basic the frames of what we see today can be seen in music videos such as Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan where we see a person put cards of lyrics on the screen.




1970's-
Due to the invention of new technologies such as special effects, new groundbreaking music videos were produced. Most famously was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen which included an array of special effects which nobody had seen before.



1980's-
Music videos have become a standard with practically every single being produced having a music video accompanied.



1990's-
Music videos advanced significantly with many videos introducing what we see today such as fast cut montage, multiple viewing, split screen, colourisation, lack of edits, long takes & steadicam.