The History of a Music Video

The origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film".
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 13-minute-and-43-second music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Jackson. This established music videos and was the first music video to have a story behind the music, which then changed everything for future music videos. Nowadays you can see all sorts of diverse videos and stories behind the songs, some are even short movies.