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120-504: While musical short films were popular as soon as recorded sound was introduced to theatrical film screenings in the 1920s, the music video rose to prominence in the 1980s when American pay-TV channel MTV based its format around the medium. Music videos use a wide range of styles and contemporary video-making techniques, including animation , live-action , documentary , and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film . Combining these styles and techniques has become more popular due to

240-438: A magic lantern , Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song , the first step toward music video. With the arrival of " talkies " many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts (produced by Warner Bros. ) featured many bands, vocalists, and dancers. Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced

360-401: A "breakthrough". Jennifer Beals turned down an offer to play Jackson's girlfriend. According to Landis, Ola Ray , a former Playboy Playmate , was cast as she was "crazy for Michael" and had a "great smile". Landis encouraged Jackson and Ray to improvise during their scenes, and urged Jackson to act "sexy" and "show virility" for his female fans. According to Ray, the chemistry between them

480-879: A 1983 interview, Bowie spoke about the importance of using music videos in addressing social issues, "Let's try to use the video format as a platform for some kind of social observation, and not just waste it on trotting out and trying to enhance the public image of the singer involved". In 1983, one of the most successful, influential and iconic music videos of all time was released: the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson 's song " Thriller ", directed by John Landis . The video set new standards for production, having cost US $ 800,000 to film. The video for "Thriller", along with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs " Billie Jean " and " Beat It ", were instrumental in getting music videos by African-American artists played on MTV. Prior to Jackson's success, videos by African-American artists were rarely played on MTV: according to MTV, this

600-892: A US premiere at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre . It was remastered in IMAX 3D for a limited engagement in 2018, preceding screenings of The House With a Clock in Its Walls in North America for its first week. In 2009, Jackson sold the Michael Jackson's Thriller rights to the Nederlander Organization to stage a Broadway musical based on the video. On October 16, 2024, Netflix , Universal Pictures and Illumination released an animated short, Sing: Thriller , that combines Thriller with characters from

720-575: A belief in the occult." However, according to multiple sources, Jackson ceased actively participating in church in 1987 after extended controversy over the music video. On November 14, 1983, Thriller was shown to a private audience at the Crest Theater in Los Angeles. In attendance were celebrities including Diana Ross , Warren Beatty , Prince and Eddie Murphy . Jackson stayed in the projection booth, declining Ray's invitation to join

840-542: A demand for frequent studio appearances by renowned British and US artists at short notice, as the charts came out on Tuesday mornings and the show was taped live on Thursdays. Coupled with the artists busy touring schedules and subsequent requests from broadcasters in Europe and America to showcase popular British acts, ultimately prompted the production of pre-recorded or filmed inserts referred to as "promotional videos." These videos served as substitutes for live performances by

960-422: A feature film, Lookout Sister . These films were, according to music historian Donald Clarke , the "ancestors" of music video. Musical films were another important precursor to a music video, and several well-known music videos have imitated the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s–50s. One of the best-known examples is Madonna's 1985 video for " Material Girl " (directed by Mary Lambert ) which

1080-503: A friend of David and Angie Bowie ) shot in San Francisco outside the famous Mars Hotel , with Fox posing provocatively in the street while Bowie lounges against the wall, smoking. Country music also picked up on the trend of promotional film clips to publicize songs. Sam Lovullo, the producer of the television series Hee Haw , explained his show presented "what were, in reality, the first musical videos", while JMI Records made

1200-458: A good, fun short film, not to purposely bring to the screen something to scare people or to do anything bad. I want to do what's right. I would never do anything like that again." He said he had blocked further distribution and promotion of the film where he had been able. Jackson continued to insist that he was a Jehovah's Witness through 2001, and the copy of the music video on YouTube continues to bear his disclaimer that it "in no way endorses

1320-453: A great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos. Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image compositing . The advent of high-quality color videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with

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1440-499: A major cultural force, helped disassemble racial barriers for black artists, revolutionized music video production, popularized making-of documentaries, and drove rentals and sales of VHS tapes. Gil Kaufman of MTV described it as iconic and one of Jackson's most enduring legacies. He said it was the "mini-movie that revolutionized music videos" and "cemented Jackson's status as one of the most ambitious, innovative pop stars of all time". The director Spike Jonze described Thriller as

1560-453: A million copies on VHS, more than any prior video release, and went on to sell more than 10 million. As films required theatrical screenings to be eligible for Academy Awards , Landis had the video played before screenings of Fantasia (1940) at a Los Angeles cinema, though it was not nominated. The film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert both gave the video a "thumbs down", criticizing its horror tropes. The video doubled sales of

1680-511: A new dynamic to the show, enhancing its visual appeal and diversifying the entertainment value for viewers. One notable example was the video for Roy Orbison 's song ' Oh Pretty Woman ', which Dorfman filmed and directed in the rooftop garden of London's Kensington-based Derry and Toms department store on 19 October 1964 as a visual accompaniment to the song. It subsequently aired on Top of the Pops on 22 October, 29, as well as 12 November and 19." By

1800-419: A particular song. "The video material was a very workable production item for the show," he wrote. "It provided picture stories for songs. However, some of our guests felt the videos took attention away from their live performances, which they hoped would promote record sales. If they had a hit song, they didn't want to play it under comic barnyard footage." The concept's mixed reaction eventually spelled an end to

1920-484: A phenomenal success and win nine MTV Video Music Awards. In the same year, Kraftwerk released the song " Musique Non Stop ". The video featured 3D animations of the group. It was a collaboration with Rebecca Allen of the New York Institute of Technology and ran continuously on MTV for a while. In 1988, the show Yo! MTV Raps introduced; the show helped to bring hip hop music to a mass audience for

2040-579: A promotional music video with similarities to more abstract, modern videos seems to be the Czechoslovakian "Dáme si do bytu" ("We´ll put in the apartment") created and directed by Ladislav Rychman . In the late 1950s the Scopitone , a visual jukebox, was introduced in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg , Françoise Hardy , Jacques Dutronc , and

2160-531: A series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock , who worked extensively with Bowie in this period. Rock directed and edited four clips to promote four consecutive David Bowie singles—" John, I'm Only Dancing " (May 1972), " The Jean Genie " (November 1972), the December 1972 US re-release of " Space Oddity " and the 1973 release of the single " Life on Mars? " (lifted from Bowie's earlier album Hunky Dory ). The clip for "John, I'm Only Dancing"

2280-418: A series of sing-along short cartoons called Screen Songs , which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball", which is similar to a modern karaoke machine. Early cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on camera in live-action segments during the cartoons . John Logie Baird created Phonovision discs featuring Betty Bolton and other singers from

2400-461: A short film shot on 35mm film with the production values of a feature film, with a budget of $ 900,000, much larger than any previous music video. According to Landis, when he called Yetnikoff to propose the film, he swore so loudly he had to remove the phone from his ear. Epic had little interest in making another video for Thriller , believing it had peaked, and agreed to contribute only $ 100,000. Initially, television networks refused to finance

2520-406: A single. Epic saw it as a novelty song ; Yetnikoff asked, "Who wants a single about monsters?" Jackson's manager, Frank DiLeo , suggested making a music video, and recalled telling Jackson: "It's simple—all you've got to do is dance, sing, and make it scary." According to Vanity Fair , Jackson preferred "benign Disney-esque fantasies where people were nice and children were safe", which ensured

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2640-538: A story of how drummer Keith Moon came to join the group: The other three band members are having tea inside what looks like an abandoned hangar when suddenly a "bleeding box" arrives, out of which jumps a fast-running, time lapse, Moon that the other members subsequently try to get a hold of in a sped-up slapstick chasing sequence to wind him down. Pink Floyd produced promotional films for their songs, including " San Francisco: Film ", directed by Anthony Stern , " Scarecrow ", " Arnold Layne " and " Interstellar Overdrive ",

2760-514: A storyline or plot to the music video. Occasionally videos were made in a non-representational form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen 's " Atlantic City ", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet 's video for David Bowie and Queen 's " Under Pressure ", and Ian Emes ' video for Duran Duran 's " The Chauffeur ". One notable later example of

2880-509: A touchpoint for his work, and the music video director Brian Grant credited it as the turning point when music videos became a "proper industry". The British director Trudy Bellinger said prior videos had been more "performance-based", whereas "Thriller" was more cinematic. Nina Blackwood, a former MTV executive, said music videos improved after Thriller , with more storylines and more intricate choreography; by comparison, earlier videos appeared "shockingly bad". Michael Jackson's Thriller

3000-409: A trend that had begun earlier with directors such as Lasse Hallström and David Fincher . Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time : Michael and Janet Jackson 's " Scream ", which allegedly cost $ 7 million to produce, and Madonna 's " Bedtime Story ", which cost a reported $ 5 million. From this, "Scream"

3120-496: A two-reel short film called St. Louis Blues featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. Numerous other musicians appeared in short musical subjects during this period. Soundies , produced and released for the Panoram film jukebox, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos. Musician Louis Jordan made short films for his songs, some of which were spliced together into

3240-642: Is closely associated with Halloween , and fans worldwide re-enact its zombie dance. The Library of Congress described it as the most famous music video of all time, and it has been named the greatest video by various publications and readers' polls. In 2009, Michael Jackson's Thriller became the first music video inducted into the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". It reached one billion YouTube views in 2024. In

3360-659: Is the most expensive video to date. In the mid to late 1990s, Walter Stern directed " Firestarter " by The Prodigy , " Bitter Sweet Symphony " by The Verve , and " Teardrop " by Massive Attack . During this period, MTV launched channels around the world to show music videos produced in each local market: MTV Latin America in 1993, MTV India in 1996, and MTV Mandarin in 1997, among others. MTV2 , originally called "M2" and meant to show more alternative and older music videos, debuted in 1996. In 1999, Mariah Carey 's " Heartbreaker " (featuring guest rapper Jay-Z ) became one of

3480-467: The Palace Theater . A making-of documentary , Making Michael Jackson's Thriller , was produced to sell to television networks. Michael Jackson's Thriller was launched to great anticipation and played regularly on MTV . It doubled sales of Thriller , helping it become the best-selling album in history , and the documentary sold over a million copies, becoming the best-selling VHS tape at

3600-759: The Paramount Movietone Ruth Etting in Favorite Melodies (1929), filmed in a single take at the Astoria Studios in Queens, New York . Astoria Studios was built by Paramount in the early days of sound films to provide the company with an audio-capable facility close to the Broadway theater district. Many features and short subjects were filmed there between 1928 and 1933, including the 16-minute St. Louis Blues (1929),

3720-567: The Thriller album, which sold a million copies a week following the video debut and became the bestselling album of all time. At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards , Thriller won the awards for Viewers Choice , Best Overall Performance and Best Choreography , and was nominated for Best Concept Video , Best Male Video and Video of the Year . The success transformed Jackson into a dominant force in global pop culture, and cemented his status as

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3840-401: The U.S. —so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances. Their first batch of promo films shot in late 1965 (including their then-current single, " Day Tripper "/" We Can Work It Out "), were fairly straightforward mimed-in-studio performance pieces (albeit sometimes in silly sets) and meant to blend in fairly seamlessly with television shows like Top of

3960-592: The most expensive ever made , costing over $ 2.5 million. From 1991 to 2001, Billboard had its own Music Video Awards. The website iFilm , which hosted short videos including music videos, launched in 1997. Napster , a peer-to-peer file sharing service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos. By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos in favor of reality TV shows, which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself helped to pioneer with

4080-603: The negatives . The production team agreed to protect the negatives instead and locked them in Branca's office. Branca mollified Jackson by suggesting they include a disclaimer at the start of the video stating that it did not reflect Jackson's personal convictions. In a statement published in Awake! , a magazine published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania , Jackson said: "I just intended to do

4200-500: The "concert version" promo clip for "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby". The group also filmed a color promo clip for the song " 2000 Light Years from Home " (from their album Their Satanic Majesties Request ) directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg . In 1968, Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed three clips for their single " Jumpin' Jack Flash " / "Child Of The Moon"—a color clip for "Child Of The Moon" and two different clips for "Jumpin' Jack Flash". In 1968, they collaborated with Jean-Luc Godard on

4320-553: The "king of pop". According to Landis, the response was "a surprise to everyone but Michael". In 1984, the National Coalition on Television Violence reviewed 200 MTV videos and classified more than half as too violent, including Thriller . The chairman, Thomas Radecki , said: "It's not hard to imagine young viewers after seeing Thriller saying, 'Gee, if Michael Jackson can terrorize his girlfriend, why can't I do it too?'" The Thriller video sealed MTV's position as

4440-491: The "video" concept on Hee Haw . Promotional films of country music songs, however, continued to be produced. In 1974, the band Sparks made a promotional video for their song " This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us ". The Australian TV shows Countdown and Sounds , both of which premiered in 1974, followed in the steps of the UK's Top of the Pops and were significant in developing and popularizing what would later become

4560-612: The 1930s. The early animated films by Walt Disney , such as the Silly Symphonies shorts and especially Fantasia , which featured several interpretations of classical pieces, were built around music. The Warner Bros. cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies , were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Bros. musical films . Live-action musical shorts, featuring such popular artists as Cab Calloway , were also distributed to theaters. Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in

4680-410: The 1950s, Michael Jackson and a young woman ( Ola Ray ) run out of gas while driving in a wooded area. They walk into the forest and the woman accepts Jackson's invitation to be his girlfriend. He warns her that he is "not like other guys", transforms into a werecat and attacks her. In the present, Jackson and his girlfriend are watching the werecat film in a theater. The girlfriend leaves, scared by

4800-464: The 1957 film I Was a Teenage Werewolf . The makeup artist Rick Baker decided to turn Jackson into a werecat as he did not want to create another werewolf . He initially imagined the werecat would resemble a black panther , but added a longer mane and larger ears. According to Landis, the production involved the largest makeup team in film history up to that point, with 40 makeup artists. His wife, Deborah Nadoolman , who had recently worked on

4920-636: The 1960s. In 1966, Peter Whitehead directed two promo clips for their single " Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow? " In 1967, Whitehead directed a plot clip colour promo clip for the Stones single " We Love You ", which first aired in August 1967. This clip featured sped-up footage of the group recording in the studio, intercut with a mock trial that clearly alludes to the drug prosecutions of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards underway at that time. Jagger's girlfriend Marianne Faithfull appears in

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5040-455: The 1970s, Top of the Pops had an average weekly viewership of 12,500,000 people, had solidified its status as the premier international platform for artists launching new records at the time, had firmly established the significance of promotional film clips as a crucial tool for promoting the careers of emerging artists and generating buzz for new releases by established acts, and was significant in developing and popularizing what would later become

5160-577: The American singer Michael Jackson , released on December 2, 1983. It was directed by John Landis , written by Jackson and Landis, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray . It references numerous horror films and has Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies . Jackson's sixth album, Thriller , was released in November 1982 and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200 , backed by successful videos for

5280-584: The Beatles and David Bowie with the Video Vanguard Award for their work in pioneering the music video. In 1985, MTV's Viacom (currently Paramount) launched the channel VH1 (then known as "VH-1: Video Hits One"), featuring softer music, and meant to cater to the slightly older baby-boomer demographic who were out-growing MTV. Internationally, MTV Europe was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991. Another important development in music videos

5400-442: The Beatles starred in their first feature film, A Hard Day's Night , directed by US filmmaker Richard Lester . Shot in black-and-white and presented as a mock documentary , it interspersed comedic and dialogue sequences with musical tones. The musical sequences furnished basic templates on which numerous subsequent music videos were modeled. It was the direct model for the successful US TV series The Monkees (1966–1968), which

5520-715: The Belgian Jacques Brel to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries, and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-sonic in the U.S. were patented. In 1961, for the Canadian-produced show Singalong Jubilee , Manny Pittson began pre-recording the music audio, went on-location and taped various visuals with the musicians lip-synching, then edited the audio and video together. Most music numbers were taped in-studio on stage, and

5640-793: The Cocoanut Grove (1934) and Starlit Days at the Lido (1935), while others featured a single band, such as Freddie Rich and His Orchestra (1938). Richard Barrios (author of A Song in the Dark: The Birth of the Musical Film ) provided notes for Kino Video's compilation, The Best of Big Bands and Swing : In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Betty Hutton made a half-dozen musical shorts before her feature debut in The Fleet's In (1942) and then continued to make shorts for

5760-465: The DIY ethos of the new wave era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film. However, as the genre developed, music video directors increasingly turned to 35mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video. During the 1980s, music videos had become de rigueur for most recording artists. The phenomenon

5880-740: The Home Front (1944) and Hollywood Victory Caravan (1945), produced on the Paramount lot by the Treasury Department for the 1945 Victory Loan Drive. Several of Hutton's musical shorts have been shown on Turner Classic Movies in recent years. Modern jazz was added to the mix in such films as the 16-minute Artistry in Rhytym (1944), with Stan Kenton and Anita O'Day , later re-edited into another short, Cool and Groovy (1956), which also featured Chico Hamilton and The Hi-Los . In

6000-774: The Internet Accuracy Project, DJ /singer J. P. " The Big Bopper " Richardson was the first to coin the phrase "music video", in 1959. In his autobiography, Tony Bennett claims to have created "...the first music video" when he was filmed walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London , with the resulting clip being set to his recording of the song " Stranger in Paradise ". The clip was sent to UK and US television stations and aired on shows including Dick Clark 's American Bandstand . The oldest example of

6120-549: The Living Dead (1968), and the video captures the feelings of claustrophobia and helplessness essential to zombie films . Jackson's album Thriller was released in November 1982 on Epic Records and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200 . It was backed by successful music videos for the singles " Billie Jean " and " Beat It ", which are credited for raising creative standards for music videos and demonstrating their promotional power. In June 1983, Thriller

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6240-836: The Phonofilm process in 1924 when he introduced his animated Song Car-Tunes series. The nearly 2,000 Vitaphone short subjects produced by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1930 included vaudevillians, opera singers, Broadway stars, dancers, bands and popular vocalists. One- and two-reel short musical films were valuable to the movie studios as springboards for new talents. Performers who made their film debuts in short films include Joan Blondell , Humphrey Bogart , Burns and Allen , Sammy Davis Jr. , Judy Garland (as Baby Gumm), Cary Grant , Bob Hope , Bert Lahr and Ginger Rogers . Ruth Etting sang "My Mother's Eyes" (by Abel Baer and L. Wolfe Gilbert) and "That's Him Now" (by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen) in

6360-449: The Pops and Hullabaloo . By the time the Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, their promotional films, like their recordings, had become highly sophisticated. In May 1966 they filmed two sets of colour promotional clips for their current single " Rain "/" Paperback Writer " all directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg , who went on to direct The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus and the Beatles' final film, Let It Be . It aired on Top of

6480-433: The Pops replaced it with footage of bikers and a dancer. The "Jean Genie" clip, produced for just US$ 350, was shot in one day and edited in less than two days. It intercuts footage of Bowie and band in concert with contrasting footage of the group in a photographic studio, wearing black stage outfits, and standing against a white background. It also includes location footage with Bowie and Cyrinda Foxe (a MainMan employee and

6600-403: The Pops on 2 June. The colour promotional clips for " Strawberry Fields Forever " and " Penny Lane ", made in early 1967 and directed by Peter Goldman, took the promotional film format to a new level. They used techniques borrowed from underground and avant-garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles, and colour filtering added in post-production. At

6720-640: The Radio Star " (1979), which became the first music video played on MTV in 1981. In 1975, Queen employed Bruce Gowers to make a promotional video to show their new single " Bohemian Rhapsody " on the BBC music series Top of the Pops . According to rock historian Paul Fowles, the song is "widely credited as the first global hit single for which an accompanying video was central to the marketing strategy". Rolling Stone has said of "Bohemian Rhapsody": "Its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing

6840-459: The U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing " Video Killed the Radio Star " by The Buggles and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Michael Jackson , Adam and the Ants , Duran Duran and Madonna , owed

6960-625: The animated film franchise Sing . In 2009, Landis sued Jackson in a dispute over royalties for the video, saying Jackson had failed to pay him 50% of the proceeds. The lawsuit was settled in 2012 for an undisclosed amount. In 2013, Landis said: "My deal was with Michael's company and Michael's company was mismanaged ... I was suing him for 14 years." Ray sued Jackson's estate for unpaid royalties in May 2009, one month before his death. In 2013, she settled for $ 75,000. The 2009 video game Plants vs. Zombies by PopCap Games contained enemies resembling

7080-523: The artists and played a pivotal role in the development of the music video genre. During the early stages of the show's introduction in 1964, when alternative footage was unavailable, Dorfman and Stewart resorted to capturing footage of the enthusiastic audience dancing. However, a significant change took place in October 1964 when a decision was made to occasionally introduce a dance troupe with choreographed routines for specific tracks. This addition brought

7200-499: The audience. The audience gave the film a standing ovation. At Murphy's insistence, it was played again. The video debuted on MTV alongside the documentary Making Michael Jackson's Thriller on December 2, 1983. After each broadcast, MTV advertised when they would next play it, and recorded audience figures ten times the norm. Showtime aired the video six times in February. Within months, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller sold

7320-413: The camera and grins, revealing his werecat eyes. The Thriller video makes many allusions to horror films . The opening scene parodies 1950s B-movies , with Jackson and Ray dressed as 1950s teenagers. The metamorphosis of the polite " boy next door " into a werecat has been interpreted as a depiction of male sexuality as bestial, predatory and aggressive. The critic Kobena Mercer found similarities to

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7440-540: The cassettes. Jackson wanted to make a video in which he transformed into a four-legged beast, similarly to the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London . This idea was replaced with a two-legged monster, as this made it easier for him to dance. Landis felt Jackson should become scary and creepy, but not ugly. He suggested that Jackson should become a werewolf in a 1950s setting, inspired by

7560-540: The dance attracted 14 million views by 2010. In September 2024, Michael Jackson's Thriller became the fourth Jackson video to reach one billion YouTube views after " Beat It ", " Billie Jean " and " They Don't Care About Us ". In 2017, remastered versions of Thriller (in 3D) and the documentary were played at the 74th annual Venice Film Festival . Thriller was also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival , followed by

7680-548: The earliest days of sound films. Performers in the Lee de Forest Phonofilms of 1923-24 included Eddie Cantor , George Jessel , Abbie Mitchell ("The Colored Prima Donna") and comic singer-dancer Molly Picon , plus the team of Noble Sissel and Eubie Blake . The husband-and-wife vaudeville team of Eva Puck and Sammy White (billed as Puck and White) starred in the Phonofilm Opera vs. Jazz (1923). Max Fleischer used

7800-452: The end of 1967 the group released their third film, the one hour, made-for-television project Magical Mystery Tour ; it was written and directed by the group and first broadcast on the BBC on Boxing Day 1967. Although poorly received at the time for lacking a narrative structure, it showed the group to be adventurous music filmmakers in their own right. Concert films were being released in

7920-432: The exclusive rights to show the documentary; Showtime paid $ 300,000 for pay-cable rights. Jackson covered additional costs, for which he was reimbursed. Vestron Music Video offered to distribute Making Michael Jackson's Thriller on VHS and Betamax ; this was a pioneering concept, as most video cassettes at the time were sold to rental stores rather than directly to viewers. Vestron paid an additional $ 500,000 to market

8040-486: The film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), designed the costumes, including Jackson's red jacket . She dressed Jackson in "hip", casual clothes that would be comfortable to dance in. She used red to contrast with the night setting and dark palette, and used the same color for Jackson's jeans to make him appear taller. Thriller was the first time Jackson had interacted with a woman in a video, which Landis described as

8160-581: The film Sympathy for the Devil , which mixed Godard's politics with documentary footage of the song's evolution during recording sessions. In 1966, Nancy Sinatra filmed a clip for her song " These Boots Are Made for Walkin' " . Roy Orbison appeared in promotional clips, such as his 1968 hit, "Walk On". During late 1972–73, Alice Cooper featured in a series of promotional films: " Elected ", " Hello Hooray ", "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and " Teenage Lament '74 ". Also during late 1972–73, David Bowie featured in

8280-436: The film. Walking down a city street at night, Jackson teases her by performing the verses of " Thriller ". They pass a graveyard, where zombies rise from their graves and surround them in the street. Jackson becomes a zombie and dances with the horde. Jackson and the zombies chase his girlfriend into an abandoned house. She screams and wakes up, realizing it was a nightmare. Jackson embraces her and takes her home, but turns to

8400-439: The first music video to have a production cost of over $ 500,000. The video was made in solarized color with stark black-and-white scenes and was filmed in different locations, including a padded room and a rocky shore. The video became one of the most iconic ever made at the time, and its complex nature is seen as significant in the evolution of the music video. The same year, New Zealander group Split Enz had major success with

8520-423: The first music videos were clips produced by ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith , who started making short musical films for Saturday Night Live . In 1981, he released Elephant Parts , the first winner of a Grammy for music video, directed by William Dear. Billboard credits the independently produced Video Concert Hall as being the first with nationwide video music programming on American television. In 1981,

8640-441: The first time. In November 1992, MTV began screening videos made by Chris Cunningham , Michel Gondry , Spike Jonze , Floria Sigismondi , Stéphane Sednaoui , Mark Romanek and Hype Williams who all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze, Sigismondi, and F. Gary Gray , went on to direct feature films. This continued

8760-411: The gap. Snader Telescriptions were musical shorts made for television from 1950 to 1954. There were thousands of these three- and four-minute films, covering various genres from jazz and pop to R&B and country. Louis "Duke" Goldstone directed for Louis D. Snader. Michael Jackson%27s Thriller (music video) Michael Jackson's Thriller is the music video for the song " Thriller " by

8880-426: The growing trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, " A Million Ways " in 2005 and " Here It Goes Again " in 2006, both of which first became well-known online (OK Go repeated the trick with another high-concept video in 2010, for their song " This Too Shall Pass "). At its launch, Apple 's iTunes Store provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via

9000-522: The iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod with video playback capability. The 2008 video for Weezer 's " Pork and Beans " also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities ; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance. In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are

9120-446: The latter directed by Peter Whitehead , who also made several pioneering clips for The Rolling Stones between 1966 and 1968. The Kinks made one of the first " plot " promotional clips for a song. For their single " Dead End Street " (1966) a miniature comic movie was made. The BBC reportedly refused to air the clip because it was considered to be in "poor taste". The Rolling Stones appeared in many promotional clips for their songs in

9240-457: The location shoot "videos" were to add variety. In 1964, Kenneth Anger 's experimental short film, Scorpio Rising used popular songs instead of dialogue. On 1 January 1964, Johnnie Stewart and Stanley Dorfman created the British chart music television series Top of the Pops , which they produced in tandem and directed in weekly rotation until the 1970s . The show's format created

9360-399: The mid-1940s, Louis Jordan made short music films, some of which were spliced together into a feature-length musical Western, Look-Out Sister (1947). During the 1950s, musical shorts were revived for telecasting on local stations. Feature films in that decade were usually not edited to fit. Instead, if a feature ended 20 minutes before the hour, footage from musical shorts was used to fill

9480-499: The mid-1960s, at least as early as 1964, with the T.A.M.I. Show . The monochrome 1965 clip for Bob Dylan 's " Subterranean Homesick Blues " filmed by D. A. Pennebaker was featured in Pennebaker's Dylan film documentary Dont Look Back . Eschewing any attempt to simulate performance or present a narrative, the clip shows Dylan standing in a city back alley, silently shuffling a series of large cue cards (bearing key words from

9600-469: The music video genre across the globe. In 1964, The Moody Blues producer Alex Murray wanted to promote his version of " Go Now ". The short film clip he produced and directed to promote the single has a striking visual style that predates Queen's similar " Bohemian Rhapsody " video by a full decade. It also predates what the Beatles did with promotional films of their single " Paperback Writer " and B-Side " Rain ", both released in 1966. Also in 1964,

9720-512: The music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of promotional film clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts. In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show which screened on Sydney 's ATN-7 on Saturday mornings; this was renamed Sounds Unlimited in 1975 and later shortened simply to Sounds . In need of material for

9840-677: The music video seven [sic] years before MTV went on the air." At the end of the 1970s, the broadcasting of music videos on television became more and more regular, in several countries. The music videos were, for example, broadcast in weekly music programs or inserted into various programs. In the United States, for example, on terrestrial networks at the end of the 1970s, music videos were sometimes broadcast on music shows: The Midnight Special , Don Kirshner's Rock Concert , and occasionally on certain talk shows. A worldwide pioneer in programs that only transmitted rock and pop music video clips

9960-489: The non-representational style is Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince 's " Sign o' the Times " – influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics. In the early 1980s, music videos also began to discover political and social themes. Examples include the music videos for David Bowie's " China Girl " and " Let's Dance " (1983) which both discussed race issues. In

10080-557: The only film of Bessie Smith . Orchestra leader Phil Spitalny made a series of musical shorts beginning with Phil Spitalny (1929) at MGM , followed by shorts for both Vitaphone and Paramount, including Big City Fantasy (1929), Phil Spitalny and His Musical Queens (1934), Ladies That Play (1934), Phil Spitalny and His All Girl Orchestra (1935) and Sirens of Syncopation (1935). For promotional purposes, major film stars, including Gary Cooper and Clark Gable , made guest appearances in such musical shorts as MGM's Star Night at

10200-538: The product itself. To further signify the change in direction towards Music Video airplay, MTV officially dropped the Music Television tagline on February 8, 2010 from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-oriented entertainment rising in prominence on their live broadcast. Musical short The musical short (a.k.a. musical short film , a.k.a. musical featurette ) can be traced back to

10320-474: The production, Landis's producer, George Folsey Jr. , suggested a making-of documentary that, combined with the "Thriller" video, would produce an hour-long film that could be sold to television. The documentary, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, was directed by Jerry Kramer. It includes home video footage of a young Jackson dancing and footage of his performances from The Ed Sullivan Show and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever . MTV paid $ 250,000 for

10440-432: The project, sharing the view that Thriller was "last year's news". MTV , which had found success with Jackson's earlier videos, had a policy of not financing music videos, instead expecting record companies to pay for them. However, after the new channel Showtime agreed to pay half the budget, MTV agreed to pay the rest, justifying the expenditure as financing for a motion picture and not a music video. To help finance

10560-560: The property of the music labels. After its merger with Google , YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as

10680-505: The release of "Thriller", stating that he was "floored" by how much MTV neglected black artists, bringing attention to how videos by the "few black artists that one does see" only appeared on MTV between 2:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m. when nobody was watching. MTV also influences music video shows aired on other American TV channels, such as: Friday Night Videos , launched in 1983 on the terrestrial network NBC and MV3 launched in 1982. On March 5, 1983, Country Music Television (CMT),

10800-413: The same claim with Don Williams ' 1973 song " The Shelter of Your Eyes ". Country music historian Bob Millard wrote that JMI had pioneered the country music video concept by "producing a 3-minute film" to go along with Williams' song. Lovullo said his videos were conceptualized by having the show's staff go to nearby rural areas and film animals and farmers, before editing the footage to fit the storyline of

10920-459: The set, along with Jackson's parents, Joseph and Katherine Jackson . According to Landis, Michael asked Joseph to be removed, but he refused and was escorted off the set by police; Joseph denied this. Weeks before the premiere, Jackson, then a Jehovah's Witness , was told by organization leaders that the music video promoted demonology and that he would be excommunicated . Jackson called his assistant, John Branca , and ordered him to destroy

11040-401: The shot 50 seconds into the song, in which George Harrison 's left hand and the neck of his guitar are seen in sharp focus in the foreground while the completely out-of-focus figure of John Lennon sings in the background. In 1965, the Beatles started making promotional clips (then known as "filmed inserts") for distribution and broadcast on Top of the Pops and in different countries—primarily

11160-444: The show The Real World , which premiered in 1992. 2005 saw the launch of YouTube , which made the viewing of online video much faster and easier; Google Videos , Yahoo! Video , Facebook and Myspace 's video functionality use similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go capitalized on

11280-685: The show's minuscule budget, Countdown ' s original director Paul Drane was able to create several memorable music videos especially for the show, including the classic film-clips for the AC/DC hits " It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) " and " Jailbreak ". After relocating to the UK in the mid-1970s, Mulcahy made successful promo films for several noted British pop acts—his early UK credits included XTC 's " Making Plans for Nigel " (1979) and his landmark video clip for The Buggles ' " Video Killed

11400-740: The show, Webb approached Seven newsroom staffer Russell Mulcahy and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips (e.g. Harry Nilsson 's " Everybody's Talkin "). Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a full-time director, and he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus , Marcia Hines , Hush and AC/DC . As it gained popularity, Countdown talent coordinator Ian "Molly" Meldrum and producer Michael Shrimpton quickly realized that "film clips" were becoming an important new commodity in music marketing. Despite

11520-512: The single " I Got You " and the album True Colours , and later that year they produced a complete set of promo clips for each song on the album (directed by their percussionist, Noel Crombie ) and to market these on videocassette. This was followed a year later by the video album, The Completion Backward Principle by The Tubes , directed by the group's keyboard player, Michael Cotten, which included two videos directed by Russell Mulcahy ("Talk to Ya Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore"). Among

11640-428: The singles " Billie Jean " and " Beat It ". In July 1983, after Thriller was displaced from the top of the chart, Jackson's manager, Frank DiLeo , suggested making a music video for "Thriller". Jackson hired Landis after seeing his 1981 film An American Werewolf in London . The pair conceived a short film with a budget much larger than previous music videos. It was filmed at various locations in Los Angeles, including

11760-435: The song an international hit. The song itself was a wry comment on the music-video phenomenon, sung from the point of view of an appliance deliveryman both drawn to and repelled by the outlandish images and personalities that appeared on MTV. In 1986, Peter Gabriel 's song " Sledgehammer " used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animations . The video for "Sledgehammer" would go on to be

11880-565: The song with schoolchildren at a White House Halloween event. The Thriller dance is performed in major cities around the world. The largest zombie dance included 12,937 dancers, in Mexico City. The annual Thrill the World event aims to have people in cities around the world perform the dance. Michael Jackson's Thriller is popular on YouTube , which hosts reenactments of the dance. A YouTube video of more than 1,500 prisoners performing

12000-419: The song's lyrics). Besides the Beatles, many other British artists made "filmed inserts" so they could be screened on TV when the bands were not available to appear live. The Who featured in several promotional clips, beginning with their 1965 clip for " I Can't Explain ". Their plot clip for " Happy Jack " (1966) shows the band acting like a gang of thieves. The promo film to " Call Me Lightning " (1968) tells

12120-490: The time. It is credited for transforming music videos into a serious art form, breaking down racial barriers in popular entertainment, popularizing the making-of documentary format and driving home video sales. The success transformed Jackson into a dominant force in global pop culture . Many elements of Michael Jackson's Thriller have had a lasting impact on popular culture, such as the zombie dance and Jackson's red jacket , designed by Landis's wife, Deborah Nadoolman . It

12240-402: The trial scenes and presents the "judge" (Richards) with what may be the infamous fur rug that had featured so prominently in the press reports of the drug bust at Richards' house in early 1967. When it is pulled back, it reveals an apparently naked Jagger with chains around his ankles. The clip concludes with scenes of the Stones in the studio intercut with footage that had previously been used in

12360-444: The variety for the audience. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics , while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may not have any concept, being only a filmed version of the song's live concert performance. In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various artists to promote sales of their song " The Little Lost Child ". Using

12480-474: The video would be "creepy-comical, not genuinely terrifying". In early August, after seeing his horror film An American Werewolf in London (1981), Jackson contacted the director John Landis . At the time, commercial directors did not direct music videos, but Landis was intrigued. He wanted to make a theatrical short rather than a standard music video, and hoped to use Jackson's celebrity to return theatrical shorts to popularity. Landis and Jackson conceived

12600-621: The war effort. She was seen in Paramount Headliner: Queens of the Air (1938), Vitaphone's Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra (1939), Broadway Brevities: One for the Book (1939), Paramount Headliner: Three Kings and a Queen (1939), Broadway Brevities: Public Jitterbug Number One (1939), Paramount Victory Short No. T2-1: A Letter from Bataan (1942), Army-Navy Screen Magazine #20: Strictly G.I. (1943), Paramount's Skirmish on

12720-512: The werewolf in The Company of Wolves (1984). The zombie dance sequence corresponds the lyric about a masquerade ball of the dead. Jackson's makeup casts "a ghostly pallor" over his skin and emphasizes the outline of his skull, an allusion to the mask from The Phantom of the Opera (1925). According to the academic Peter Dendle , the zombie invasion sequence was inspired by Night of

12840-435: Was choreographed by Michael Peters , who had choreographed the "Beat It" video. Landis said directing Jackson was "like dealing with a gifted 10-year-old". He described Jackson as "emotionally damaged ... He was tortured, but he was happy-go-lucky for a lot of it. He worked very hard. He really was childlike." Entertainment figures including Marlon Brando , Fred Astaire , Rock Hudson and Jackie Kennedy Onassis visited

12960-440: Was because it initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel, although musician Rick James was outspoken in his criticism of the cable channel, claiming in 1983 that MTV's refusal to air the music video for his song " Super Freak " and clips by other African-American performers was "blatant racism". British rock singer David Bowie had also recently lashed out against MTV during an interview that he did with them prior to

13080-491: Was chosen mainly due to Jackson's death that year. In a poll of more than 1,000 people conducted by Myspace in 2010, it was voted the most influential music video. Jackson's red leather jacket became a fashion icon and has been widely emulated. In 2011, one of the two jackets worn by Jackson in the video sold at auction for $ 1.8 million. "Thriller" has become closely associated with Halloween ; in 2016, US president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama danced to

13200-507: Was closely modelled on Jack Cole 's staging of " Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend " from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes . Several of Michael Jackson 's videos show the unmistakable influence of the dance sequences in classic Hollywood musicals, including the landmark " Thriller " and the Martin Scorsese -directed " Bad ", which was influenced by the stylized dance "fights" in the film version of West Side Story . According to

13320-670: Was displaced from the top of the Billboard 200 chart by the Flashdance soundtrack . It briefly regained the position in July, before being displaced by Synchronicity by the Police . Jackson urged the Epic executives Walter Yetnikoff and Larry Stessel to help conceive a plan to return the album to the top of the charts. The horror-themed " Thriller " had not been planned for release as

13440-437: Was famously parodied by BBC television comedy program Not The Nine O'Clock News who produced a spoof music video "Nice Video, Shame About The Song" (the title was a spoof of a recent pop hit "Nice Legs, Shame About Her Face"). In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to discover and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding

13560-731: Was launched, created and founded by Glenn D. Daniels and uplinked from the Video World Productions facility in Hendersonville, Tennessee . The MuchMusic video channel was launched in Canada in 1984. In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards (later to be known as the VMAs), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry. The inaugural event rewarded

13680-476: Was made with a budget of just US$ 200 and filmed at the afternoon rehearsal for Bowie's Rainbow Theatre concert on August 19, 1972. It shows Bowie and band mimicking to the record intercut with footage of the Lindsay Kemp mime troupe, dancing on stage and behind a back-lit screen. The clip was turned down by the BBC, who reportedly found the homosexual overtones of the film distasteful; accordingly, Top of

13800-670: Was named the greatest video by MTV in 1999, by VH1 in 2001, and by Time in 2011. Vinny Marino of ABC News said the video's selection by VH1 was a "no-brainer", and that it "continues to be considered the greatest video ever by just about everyone". In 2009, Michael Jackson's Thriller became the first music video to be selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress , which described it as "the most famous music video of all time". The National Film Preservation Board coordinator, Steve Legett, said it had been considered for induction for years, but

13920-668: Was real and they shared "intimate moments" during the shoot. Thriller was filmed at the Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles , the junction of Union Pacific Avenue and South Calzona Street in East Los Angeles (for the zombie scene), and 1345 Carroll Avenue in the Angeleno Heights neighborhood of Echo Park (for the final house scene). The director of photography was Robert Paynter , who had worked with Landis on Trading Places . The zombie dance

14040-487: Was similarly composed of film segments that were created to accompany various Monkees songs. The Beatles' second feature, Help! (1965), was a much more lavish affair, filmed in color in London and on international locations. The title track sequence, filmed in black-and-white, is arguably one of the prime archetypes of the modern performance-style music video, employing rhythmic cross-cutting, contrasting long shots and close-ups, and infrequent shots and camera angles, such as

14160-608: Was the Peruvian program Disco Club, hosted by the Peruvian musician Gerardo Manuel, which began its transmission on the Peruvian state channel (Channel 7 of Lima , Perú in free-to-air TV) in June 1978, three years before the appearance of MTV. Initially, it was only broadcast on Saturdays at 7 p.m. , but due to acceptance, in November of that same year it began to be broadcast every day. Video Concert Hall , created by Jerry Crowe and Charles Henderson and launched on November 1, 1979,

14280-422: Was the first nationwide video music programming on American cable television, predating MTV by almost two years. The USA Cable Network program Night Flight was one of the first American programs to showcase these videos as an art form. In 1980, the music video to David Bowie 's " Ashes to Ashes " became the most expensive ever made , having a production cost of $ 582,000 (equivalent to $ 2.15 million in 2023),

14400-445: Was the launch of The Chart Show on the UK's Channel 4 in 1986. This was a program that composed entirely of music videos (the only outlet many videos had on British TV at the time), with no presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics . The show moved to ITV in 1989. The video for the 1985 Dire Straits song " Money for Nothing " made pioneering use of computer animation, and helped make

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