History of music video's

A brief history of music video

Elvis Presley Jailhouse Rock 1957Elvis Presley is a rock and roll legend. He often referred as the king of rock and roll he became a name every household at the time began to know and cherish. One of his most popular songs was Jailhouse Rock performed in the same titled film. I like the jail house rock video a lot. its very simple open layout of the set and now distracting props gives sole attention to the performer on the stage allowing them to portray the story of the song. The remind me how far music video's have come in the last 50 years. Elvis is also often seen as the first teenager as he bridged the gap between childhood and adulthood with what was seen as controversial, "sexual" dances. Though Elvis recorded over 600 songs he did not write them. He died on the toilet.

1920's & 1930'sSomewhere Over the Rainbow is an early example of music videos. It was in the film the wizard of oz. It is very simple no cutting and very little editing used throughout. The shoe focus's on her and girl sole attention to here. It isn't fancy but just simple.

1940'sBing Crosby If I had my way is another early example it too has only one camera shot and doesn’t have any fancy effect. This allows Bing to portray how he feels in the song by not distracting the viewer with unnecessary things. It does also shows the girl Bing serenading seeing her reaction makes the video more intimate and allows the viewer to see this.

1950'sSinging in the rain shows signs of modern music videos. Though it still is very simple there is an element of performance as Gene dances through the street. The set up of the background and the rain help him portray the song. There are more camera angles used to show as Gene moves down the street.

1960'sVanilla Fudge You Keep Me Hangin On is a more modern music video, you start to see of more editing is you used. You see over laying of images and more cutting. This is a performance video with a 3 panel background that changes images. It is quite simple compared top modern music video at it time it would have been seen as cutting edge.