Video Killed The Video Star
Video Killed the Video Star is a pop video-music piece that is an amalgamation of the first music video aired on MTV, Video Killed the Radio Star (1979), the film Sunset Boulevard (1950), AM radio samples, 80’s RCA television commercials, and 20 of Youtube’s most popular Internet memes. Video Killed the Video Star tracks the evolution of stardom through obsolescence and into contemporary media forms. All images are synced to their original audio sources, cut for cut, what you see is what you hear.
This piece was screened at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art for Videodrome 2012. Created by Daniele Hopkins and Kyle Duffield.
Video as a format is an affordable and democratizing media. Music videos replaced radio music by allowing the image of musicians to prevail. Video has replaced film because of its affordability and malleability. The Internet is replacing traditional means of broadcasting while providing opportunities for average users to reach previously inaccessible levels of popularity through services like Youtube. However, due to the accessibility of video production and distribution, there is an overwhelming volume of video content available on today’s Internet. Does this oversaturation of self broadcasting honour the creative potential of a larger global culture, or does it instead result in delusions of stardom and a diluting of quality?
Daniele Hopkins and Kyle Duffield 