UWL Professor of Screen Industries honours the work of music video pioneer Bruce Gowers
Intro
Emily Caston, UWL Professor of Screen Industries and Director of the Policy and Practice Research Institute of Screen and Music, appeared on Radio 4’s arts magazine show Front Row on Thursday 19 January, to discuss the work of pioneering video director and producer Bruce Gowers, whose death aged 82 had been announced that day.
Main body
Bruce, who at the time was working as a cameraman for BBC music programme ‘Top of the Pops’, is responsible for what many consider to be the first real music video – a six-minute film of Queen performing their number one hit Bohemian Rhapsody, produced in 1975.
Emily explained that the band wanted to produce a video clip to be used on ‘Top of the Tops’ to avoid having to mime such a grand, operatic and flamboyant track, as in those days live performances were not allowed on the show.
They were rehearsing at a studio for their tour and Bruce Gowers came along with an outside broadcasting unit and they filmed the band for a couple of hours at the studio. Essentially they filmed them off a studio monitor to create the four-way split.”
Emily is well qualified to discuss the history and craft of music video production as she has extensive experience of producing music videos in both the UK and the US for artists including Madonna and U2.
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UWL Professor of Screen Industries honours the work of music video pioneer Bruce Gowers
Emily Caston, UWL Professor of Screen Industries, appeared on Radio 4’s arts magazine show Front Row on Thursday 19 January, to discuss the work of pioneering video director and producer Bruce Gowers.
