Musicvideo 1984, beyond the clip - Record

By Alan Hecht

Despite formidable obstacles, feature-length productions will be the Next Big Thing in music video

Compilation music videos are collections of clips. Blondie's Eat To The Beat is the pioneer in this field, but The Tubes Video is the most successful one in terms of artistic conception. Olivia Newton-John's Physical, directed by top rock video director Brian Grant, was the first long form video to be certified gold (indicating sales of 25,000 or more) and was also the first clip show to be aired on network television. More recently, Duran Duran's self-titled clips compilation (a $400,000 production) was also certified gold, and was aired on Showtime last fall, a first for compilation videos on pay television.

Nonfiction music videos are traditionally in-concert or documentary accounts of musical events. This form has been slow to develop due to low budgets and uncertainty regarding the market (indeed, concert titles have yet to prove viable sales items).

Recent experiments in nonfiction musicvideos include what one industry executive terms enhanced in-concerts featuring Las Vegas-style production numbers with clip post-production techniques. Brian Grant did the first (Olivia In Concert, initially aired as a Home Box Office special) and is also responsible for the new Donna Summer, complete with Broadway dancers, helicopter shots and special effects.

EDITORS' CHOICE: EXTENDED-LENGTH MUSIC VIDEOS

The following list indicates those extended-length musicvideo titles recommended by RECORD's editorial staff. Some, such as Who Rocks America, are clearly flawed, but nonetheless valuable as historical documents; others have been selected as examples of how the art form is developing for instance, Olivia In Concert may not be your cup of tea, but it's worth seeing for the production values alone. And really, you could do a lot worse. - Alan Hecht

Compilations

PHYSICAL
Olivia Newton-John (MCA Home video)