Planning Blog - The History of Music Video's

When music video's first started to be released in the 1920's the main role of them was to keep the viewer interested. They did this by using various techniques to achieve this they kept the video fairly short and by using controversial content within the video.


The majority of music videos are 3 - 5 minutes long this keeps the audience entertained. If the video exceeds this time the viewer is more likely to get bored and change the song. This is why music videos are fragmented into a lot of shots as they don't have enough time to develop a narrative story. They are made sometimes following what is said in the lyrics. 

As music video's developed they became more complex using different techniques being used such as the psychedelic music video's of the 1970's which involved special effects of an unreal reality it reflects society at the time as free love and drugs were at the peak of the era and this is reflected in the music videos of the time e.g Led Zeppelin and Beatles uses this. Nowadays, as the videos progressed they continue to reflect society, through different themes and genres, most nowadays are about good times e.g at a party or reflect society.

-Ryan Miles-