Music video Timeline

St Louis Blues - Bessie Smith 1929






In this music video the camera used is shot in black and white revealing the quality of the technology in the 1920's. The setting is an old bar with much of the video being shown as a performance video as it shows no signs of a narrative, this is because of the video showing just a normal service in a local bar such as waiters serving with groups of people sitting around a table socializing. Much of the clothes being worn by the males involve a smart suit and a tie, where the women seem to be wearing dresses. Bessie Smith being one of the main actors in this video as she displays the performance aspect of the video. This aspect is shown through many mid-shots of her singing up against the bar while the actors in the background are carrying on with their normal bar duties. Long-shots of the bar are shown which reveals how a lot of individuals were very social in this time due to very little/if any technology in this time such as mobile phones.



Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock - 1950's & 60's




Elvis featured in many films during his time, in many of these films he performed his own songs such as Jailhouse rock in the film 'Jailhouse Rock' in 1957. The music videos follow performance closely due to Elvis performing with the rest of the band. The camera focuses closely on Elvis highlighting him as the main performer in this video. The focused mid shots also show the audience his dancing and singing ability as much of the video Elvis is singing and dancing. Although this video is following performance it also has an element of narrative as the song features in the film.



Queen - I want to break free





In this video we see a big change from the 50's & 60's. This video is filmed in colour showing the advance in technology through the videos i have displayed on my blog. Queen is shown as the lead role in the video which has elements of performance and narrative. Many of the early shots shown are mid shots of Queen performing while dressed up in women's clothing. This part of the video reveals parts of concept as Queen is dressed as a women but however he stills has his facial hair leading the audience into thinking why he is cross dressing. The video also follows no real narrative as many of the scenes are Queen hovering in the lounge of a household.