80's film clips: the white room

80's music video: how video clips were made

Click for Google +1
One of the most striking features of early 80's clips was the excessive use of the white screen. These videos were shot on video, with sets consisting of no more than a white floor and white backdrop. They would throw in some odd angles and whacky dancing to disguise the fact that the band couldn't dance to their own songs. To be fair, there was no real choice - the music video market was yet to kick in and the market opened up by MTV was a few years away. For step by step techniques in constructing an 80's white screen video, see Creating your own early 80's music video.

		THE KNACK: MY SHARONA This is one of the most famous white screen videos, thanks largely to the 1994 film Reality Bites. When preparing the eighty-eightnine Web site, it thought that the tape with My Sharona was dying. The video clip has a distinct yellow tint - however, a check of a more up to date print shows that this indeed the colour of the video. Some camera operators speculate that it was either just a crap video recorder or that the settings weren't properly adjusted. Typical of the time, even if the yellow tint was not desired outcome (it could have been planned) the video would probably still have been released. Yes it was released in 79, but this is part of a group of songs that 'belong' in the 80s.
		NEIL FINN/SPLIT ENZ: I HOPE I NEVER Before Neil Finn gained worldwide fame as part of Crowded House, he was once a member of the New Zealand band, Split Enz. Split Enz achieved numerous hits in the early 80's and you can still hear much of their music on Australian and New Zealand radio. This capture is from the 1980 ballad "I hope I never". Click on Neil to see the whole band in a classic whte screen and crappy split screen technique, where his brother Tim Finn is singing to himself over a piano.
		M: POP MUZIC M was definitely a minimalist when it came to his video clips. While there are many different angles and scenes in this entire clip - even by 80's standards they were very bland (Pop Muzic was released in 79, but is considered by this site to be part of the 80's).
		TALKING HEADS: ONCE IN A LIFETIME This clip from the early days of Talking Heads shows a more advanced white screen technique: superimposing multiple images into the one shot. This is easily identified because of a pale pink outline between the different layers, plus the background was not a clean white - it typically had a tint.
		TONI BASIL: MICKEY A clip that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated, not quite as famous as My Sharona, but far more entertaining. It's only a matter of time before it gets included in a film
		SUZI QUATRO: ROCK ON A 70s rock singer who tried desparately to make it into the 80's, but despite the classic white screen video, she didn't quite get there.
		SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHESS: HONG KONG GARDEN And then there were those who took the white screen idea and turned it around.