Editing of Music Videos

Editing music videos has advanced alot since 1894 when the "illustrated song" first came onto the scene. This was a series of still images in a slideshow being viewed whilst a song was being played. Many people claim that this was the first music video. However a few years later the first video shot to a music track was made. "St Louis Blues" was the song, it was a song about a womans struggles and was an emotional song. Back in those days, a music video was shot in one take. There was no special effects, just props. Also the singer actually had to sing the song live. As time progressed, so did the methods of shooting the videos. Editing played a huge role in creating a storyline in many music videos. The pace of the editing added emotion into the songs. The quick cuts mean more of a story can be shown and it increases and decreases the tempo to fit the mood of the song.

Another method that was introduced was special effects. This started off with flashing lights but advanced to cinematic standard chromokeying. Special Effects were introduced to elaborate songs and make them seem sureal, this was a sign that music vidoes were advancing in the same way as films. Music Videos became a good starting point for film makers.