The History and Evolution of Advertisement Films and Clips: From Early Cinema to Vertical Video

Advertisement films and clips are short stories that sell a product, a service or a brand in anything from a few seconds to a few minutes. Behind every video we swipe past on our phones lies more than a century of trial and error. From the silent cinema screen to the golden age of television, from music videos to YouTube and Reels, every new medium has rewritten the language of the commercial. In this article we trace the history of advertisement films through their key milestones, and then share what that history teaches us today when we shoot a film for a hotel, a yacht company or a brand in Bodrum.

Early cinema: moving pictures start to sell

The commercial use of moving images is almost as old as cinema itself. A short film made by Thomas Edison's company in 1897 to promote a cigarette brand is often cited as one of the earliest known film advertisements. These first attempts did not tell a story in today's sense; simply showing a product and a brand name in motion was a novelty in its own right.

From the early 1900s, short advertising films shown before the main feature became common in cinemas. They were silent and black and white, and the message was carried by intertitles and exaggerated gestures. With the arrival of sound at the end of the 1920s, voice-overs, jingles and talking characters became an inseparable part of advertising.

The television era: commercials move into the living room

The real explosion came with television. The first official TV commercial in the United States aired in New York in 1941, before a baseball game: an ad for a watch brand that lasted only a few seconds. In the United Kingdom commercial television started in 1955, and the very first ad was for a toothpaste.

Television spread rapidly through the 1950s. Commercials of the time were often broadcast live or filmed in a studio with a presenter explaining the product directly. Sponsored shows, where one brand backed an entire programme, were common. As colour broadcasting took hold, packaging, food and cars appeared on screen in their true colours for the first time.

The creative revolution: the 1960s and 1970s

The 1960s brought what the industry calls the "creative revolution". Instead of listing product features, agencies turned to witty, honest and emotional ideas, and the model of a copywriter and an art director working as a team took root.

The 1971 "Hilltop" commercial for Coca-Cola, in which young people from many countries sing together on a hillside, became a symbol of this approach. The film barely talked about the drink; it sold a feeling of togetherness. Jingles enjoyed their golden age in these years too, keeping a brand in people's heads long after the ad was over.

Music-video aesthetics and big productions: the 1980s and 1990s

MTV, which launched in 1981, turned music videos into a lifestyle. Fast cutting, bold lighting and stylised camera moves quickly migrated into commercials, and the term "ad clip" became tied to this aesthetic. Many music-video directors began working on commercial sets as well.

In 1984, Apple's "1984", directed by Ridley Scott and aired during the Super Bowl, proved that a commercial could be a cinematic event. The campaigns that began in 1988 with Nike's "Just Do It" slogan showed how powerful it is to market an attitude rather than a product. Budgets grew in this period: 35 mm film, helicopter shots and large crews became the standard for ambitious brands.

A short history of commercials in Türkiye

Regular television broadcasting in Türkiye began with TRT in 1968, and commercials reached the screen in the early 1970s. In the single-channel era a commercial was something almost the whole country watched on the same evening, which is why some jingles and characters are remembered across generations. When the first private TV channel went on air in 1990, the industry grew fast, production companies multiplied and Turkish commercials moved closer to international standards in both creativity and technical quality.

The digital shift: the internet, YouTube and social media

As internet speeds increased in the 2000s, advertisement films broke free from fixed TV slots. YouTube, founded in 2005, made it possible for brands to run their own channels and for films to spread through sharing. A commercial was no longer just watched; it was commented on, shared and measured.

Vertical video and the first three seconds

Smartphones and social media changed the format completely. Platforms such as Instagram Reels and TikTok favour short, vertical videos that still work with the sound off. Because it takes a viewer a single second to swipe away, the first three seconds have become the most valuable part of any film. Six-second bumper ads, subtitled storytelling and platform-specific edits are now a standard part of every campaign. We cover this in detail in our article on vertical video for Reels and TikTok.

Drones, gimbals and digital cinema cameras

Technology has also democratised production. Aerial shots that once required hiring a helicopter can now be captured with professional drones, gimbals do the job of dollies and tracks in a far more agile way, and digital cinema cameras let even small crews produce high-end images. That means smaller brands with good ideas can compete on the same screen as the big names.

What never changes: the anatomy of a good commercial

Media keep changing, yet successful advertisement films share surprisingly constant traits:

1. One clear idea: a film that tries to say everything leaves nothing behind.
2. A strong opening: in a cinema or on a phone, the first moments win or lose the viewer.
3. Emotion: from "Hilltop" to today, people remember how they felt, not the specifications.
4. A visible brand: a beautiful film whose brand nobody remembers is advertising someone else.
5. A clear call to action: viewers should know what to do when the film ends.

Tip: Before shooting anything, try to describe your film in one sentence. If you cannot write that sentence, the script is not ready yet.

Shooting an advertisement film in Bodrum today

We apply these lessons on location every day. In the commercials we shoot in Bodrum, light is one of the main characters: we avoid the harsh Aegean midday sun and build the plan around golden hour and blue hour. Because the summer afternoon meltem affects both sea shots and drone flights, we schedule shooting days around the wind forecast. Sea and aerial footage for a yacht company, a day at a hotel from breakfast to the evening terrace, a story on a gulet deck for a fashion label: in every case we ask the same question. What does this film say in one sentence?

We usually plan a single shooting day so that it delivers both a 30–60 second main film and vertical short versions for social media. You will find what to watch for at the script stage in our guide on how to plan a promotional film script.

With more than 12 years of experience and over 600 completed projects, Bodrum Photography handles the entire process from idea to final edit. Explore our advertisement films and clips service or our longer-form promotional videos, and contact us for a free quote for your project.