MFA Social Documentary Film and MFA Visual Narrative present an advance screening of the new PBS series Soundbreaking: Stories From The Cutting Edge Of Recorded Music, produced and directed by MFA Social Documentary Film Chair Maro Chermayeff.

Following the screening, former MTV and VH1 executive Rob Barnett talks with Chermayeff, series editor and MFA Social Documentary Film faculty member E. Donna Shepherd and Vashtie Kola (BFA 2004 Film and Video), who has directed music videos for Solange, Kendrick Lamar and Justin Bieber.

Soundbreaking: Stories From The Cutting Edge Of Recorded Music, an 8-part series for PBS, charts a century's worth of innovation and experimentation, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the birth of brand new sounds. The episode “Sound and Vision” chronicles the era in which MTV forged the link between recorded music and the newly emergent music video--considering what it means to see music as well as hear it. Offering unprecedented exposure to artists with a knack for the form--Michael Jackson, Madonna, Billy Idol, the Eurythmics--MTV turned singles into smash hits and musical performers into international celebrities. It also created new expectations of musical entertainment and imposed new burdens on recording artists. Tracking the music video from MTV to the internet, “Sound and Vision” tells the story of how a marketing tool became a powerful mediator between artist and audience, and illuminates the music video's essential role in the popular music of today. The show airs November 14, through November 23, 10:00pm, on PBS.

Screening

See the Music: The Evolution of Music and Video

Amphitheater