2. MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
• We will look at Music Videos from a number of perspectives, this template is for
you to write up your notes and to complete your case study.
• The document is split into 3 different tasks, each with separate questions to
answer.
• Task 1 is concerned with the purposes of music videos and the strategies
employed by labels and artists
• Task 2 is concerned with the styles, techniques and conventions of music video
production
• Task 3 is your own case study into a minimum of three music videos where you
can unpack and discuss the videos considering everything you have looked at in
Task 1 and 2
• You are expected to submit each section on a weekly basis during your remote
learning weeks.
• If you get stuck, talk to/email your tutor for guidance.
3. NOTES ON COMPLETING THE
CASE STUDY
• It is often easier to show something you are discussing than to
take time describing it. With this in mind, feel free to add lots of
illustrative images from your chosen video examples. Links to
YouTube/Vevo/etc are also encouraged.
• Remember, when you make a point or define something, you
should follow this with an example, an explanation of this and
then link to further texts/videos where possible.
• If you don’t think there is enough room to add your full
response to a question, don’t just reset the font size to really
small, add an extra slide wherever necessary.
4. TASK 1 -
PURPOSES
Y O U S H O U L D O P E N T H E M U S I C L E C T U R E
P O W E R P O I N T A N D L O O K AT S E C T I O N 1
B E F O R E D O I N G T H I S TA S K
5. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q1 - Outline the 3 core purposes of music video with a short
explanation for each:
• Entertainment- to hold the attention and interest the audience,
making what they see enjoyable
• Branding/Identity- giving an artist a unique image that people
will associate with that specific artist making them stand out.
• Sales- the music video will be used as a form of promotion to
increase the amount of copies of the single/album sold.
6. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q2 – What are some of the broader purposes of music
videos?Try and outline a minimum of 3. (Think about some of
the strategies employed by artists in their videos and how they
represent themselves, you could consider where the artist is on
a major label, independent label of unsigned, is there a
difference between them?)
• Independent artists use MV’s to gain a bigger audience for their
music whereas artists on a major label probably already have a
large fan base.
• Music videos can also be used to promote other projects the
artist is working on or partnerships with other companies.
• encourage more streams of the video and song.
• Create an image that tells a story to give the listener a better
understanding of the meaning of the song from the artists point
of view.
7. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q2
• Some music videos make the artist remembered for years
because the video is memorable: patd – I write sins not
tragedies
A-Ha – Take on me
Rick Astley – Never gonna give you up
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Britney Spears – …Baby one more time
8. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q3 – Branding; select an artist you like and look at how they
present themselves in their music videos. Explain what their ‘brand’
is, who it appeals to and why they might have done this.
The 1975
• The 1975 presents themselves as very artistically driven through
their music videos. A lot of them have a common theme of being in
black and white or they have lots of colour and bright lights. They
show through the videos that it's good to be different and being
like everyone else is boring. In their videos Matty Healy likes to
show off his feminine side going against toxic masculinity.
• Their ‘brand’ is very flamboyant, the band doesn't adhere to social
norms, their all about being unique and not caring about what
everyone else thinks of you.
• The 1975 mostly appeals to people who don’t feel like they fit in
and don’t conform to a box that society puts them in.
9. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q3
• The 1975 music videos
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOkUE0OB7V0
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ5bZuUlftI
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnAllHtG70
10. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q4 – Compare One Direction and Animal Collective music
videos [find them on YouTube!], what can you discern about
each act from their videos? What is the main aim? Explain why.
• The two bands have very different target audiences, one
direction aim their videos towards kids and teens whereas
Animal Collective aim them at older teens and adults.
• From One Directions videos you can tell they are signed to a
major label, have a team of people working on each one and
have a large budget to use. Unlike Animal Collective who are on
an independent label, you can tell their videos are low budget,
and more artistically made.
11. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q4
• One Directions main aim with their videos is to entertain the
audience and the aim of ‘best song ever’ is to promote their
movie/documentary ‘This Is Us’. Animal Collectives main aim is
to tell the story of the song from their point of view.
• Animal Collective change their style in each video, so they all
are completely different to the other. Whereas One Direction
have reoccurring themes in their videos like they all have a
funny goofy aspect to them.
12. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
Y O U S H O U L D O P E N T H E M U S I C L E C T U R E
P O W E R P O I N T A N D L O O K AT S E C T I O N 2
B E F O R E D O I N G T H I S TA S K
13. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q1 – Describe and explain the use of camerawork in music videos,
i.e. the types of shot used with examples to illustrate this and how
this creates meaning
• Close ups – A close-up shot tightly frames a person or object,
displaying the most detail without showing the rest of the scene.
Close ups of the artist are commonly used in music videos for Rap
and Hip Hop, they can create a sense of superiority making the
artist the only thing to focus on.
• Wide shot – A wide shot is used to cover a large area usually of
where the video will be set. There is a wide shot of a forest used at
the beginning of ROLE MODEL’s video for hello! This shot gives off
a feeling of solitude.
14. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q1
• Master shot – A master shot captures everything going on in
the scene. Master shots are used in pretty much every music
video to show a bigger picture of what is happening for the
main focus of the video and what is going on in the
background. A master shot is used in Ruel’s video for Younger
during the party scene to show the hostility between the two
characters.
15. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q2 - Describe and explain the use of editing in music videos,
i.e. the types of shot used with examples to illustrate this and
what the effect of this is/meanings that are created/etc
• Double exposure – In indie music videos it is very common to
edit images over the top of the main video. This makes the
video more captivating for the audience as a lot of
indie/alternative music videos are very simple.
• Lighting – The lighting will be edited in postproduction to make
the video lighter, darker or even different colours to set the
mood of the song and video.
16. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q2 - Describe and explain the use of editing in music videos,
i.e. the types of shot used with examples to illustrate this and
what the effect of this is/meanings that are created/etc
• CGI – CGI is most frequently used in mainstream music videoes
as you need a big budget for it to actualy look good. CGI is
used to put things that don't exist into videos like building sized
robots, muilty coloured skies and to make people look like
they're flying. Yungblud and Bring Me The Horizon have
resently used CGI in their video for 'Obay', where 2 robots have
a dance battle in the middle of a city.
17. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q3 – Genre conventions; often music
videos adhere to genre conventions
within their visual style and production
techniques. Select a recognizable
genre and use illustrations to explain
what their genre conventions are…
• POP
• Dancing- In pop music videos there is
always a lot of dancing, for some
videos their focus is people dancing
like in Justin Timberlake's video for
CAN’T STOP THE FEELING (second
picture).
18. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q3
• Bright colours – They use lots of
bright colours in pop videos to
catch your attention. The bright
colours also associate with the
happy upbeat mood of pop
songs.
19. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q3
• Lots of scenes/settings – pop
videos always have many
different scenes that change with
the beat. The fast pace of the
videos also helps to keep
people's attention and makes
people want to rewatch it, to
catch things they might have
missed the first time.
20. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q3
• They’re always very busy – Music
videos for pop songs always
have lots going on in them like
big over the top sets, lots of
extras, big props. This makes the
videos more intreging and
viewers will look out for easter
eggs hidden by the artist.
21. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q4 - John Stuart’s description of the music video “incorporating,
raiding and reconstructing” is essentially the essence of
intertextuality [something asserted by Andrew Goodwin]. Can
you explain what intertextuality is and find a minimum of 3
examples of it in music videos?
• Intertextuality in music videos is when the video overlaps with
another piece of art like a movie, book or even took inspiration
from another music video.
22. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q4
• At the end of Ruel’s
music video for his song
painkiller he fades away
into dust, like half the
world did at the end of
avenger's infinity war.
23. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q4
• In Shawn Mendes’s video for lost
in japan is heighly bassed off the
cult classic movie ‘Lost In
Translation’ staring Bill Murry.
24. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• In the music video for ‘Don’t
Come Around Here No More’ by
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
is based of the Lewis Carrol
novel Alice's Adventures in
wonderland. The novel has also
been turned into an animated
and multiple live action movies.
25. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• In Ariana Grandes video for
‘Thank You Next’ she references
many late 90s early 2000s hit
movies: Mean Girls, Legally
Blond, Bring It On and 13 Going
On 30. In the video she recreates
many iconic scenes from the
movies and has a lot of the
original cast from the movies
star in it.
26. TASK 3 – CASE
STUDY
Y O U S H O U L D O P E N T H E M U S I C L E C T U R E
P O W E R P O I N T A N D L O O K AT S E C T I O N 3
B E F O R E D O I N G T H I S TA S K
27. TASK 3 – CASE STUDY
• For your individual case study you must study an artist of
choice, focusing on a minimum of 3 videos [ideally 5+ videos]
• This should provide discussion on the usage of the following:
– Style[s] & Techniques employed
– Intertextuality
– Camerawork/editing
– Genre conventions
– Critical approaches [you should be applying some of the critical
approaches from your lessons and some of your own, to your
selected videos]
28. TASK 3 – CASE STUDY
• You should include a video link for the videos used
• You should include illustrative stills from the videos chosen
• Be creative in your approach, it is suggested you use the
heading on the previous slide a guide on how to structure your
response to get you started
• Remember, make a point, use a specific part of the chosen
video as an example, explain yourself and then link to another
video where possible
• Compare and contrast your artist/genre to other artists/genres
• Remember to consider differing contexts
29. STYLES & TECHNIQUES
• Taylor Swifts music videos are often interpretive, she doesn’t
like to talk about the meanings of her videos in too much
detail so the viewer can make up their own mind on what/who
it's about.
• Taylor swift also uses a lot of narratives in her music videos,
especially in her earlier work e.g. mine (2010), love story (2008),
you belong with me (2008).
• Swift is very well known for having lots of hidden clues/Easter
eggs in her videos, making the viewers rewatch just to look for
them so they can try decode what they could mean
30. INTERTEXTUALITY
• In the music video for bad blood there are many
action/sci-fi movie references. Kill Bill vol 1 and 2, the
first scene where she is fighting a gang and gets kicked
out a window. Sin City, Taylor falls onto an old car and
the font of ‘Bad Blood’. The Fifth Element, Taylor is
wearing an outfit that resembles Leeloo’s bandage
outfit from the film. Daredevil, the scene with Lena
Dunham is supposed to resemble the character Wilson
Fisk also known as Kingpin. The Hunger Games, the
training center in the video looks exactly like the one in
the capitol Taylor also wears Katniss Everdeen's go to
braid. Aeon flux, Gigi Hadid is seen wearing an outfit
that looks identical to Aeon’s. Quantum of Solace, the
invisible car belongs to 007 making Kendrick Lamar
agent Q. Divergent (4th picture), Taylor recreates the
training fight scene with Karlie Kloss. Tron (1st picture),
Taylor is racing Jessica alba on bikes that light up and
look like the ones from the Tron movies. Prometheus,
the hexagonal hallway looks like the ones on the
spaceship. Sucker Punch (2nd picture), Taylor and her
army are walking away from a fiery post-apocalyptic
landscape. Kingsman (3rd picture) a knife comes out
the bottom of Zendaya's shoe like in the weaponry
31. INTERTEXTUALITY
• In the music video for …Ready for it
Taylor is seen wearing a full body
suit very similar to the one Scarlet
Johansson wore in the 2017 live
action remake of the anime classic
‘Ghost In The Shell’.
• At the end of the video robot Taylor
gets to leave and explore the real
world resembling one of the scenes
at the end of the 2014 movie
ex_machina.
32. CAMERA WORK/EDITING
• The camera work and the way her music videos are edited has
changed many times over the years but each album stick to
similar themes for the videos.
CAMERA WORK
• Close ups – Taylor uses a lot of close up shots in her music
videos to create a sense of intimacy. Close ups are most
common in her videos for sad songs like Back to December,
The Story Of Us and White Horse this means Taylor can show
the emotion of the song without people focusing on everything
going on around her.
33. CAMERA WORK/EDITING
CAMERA WORK
• Wide shot – Swift uses a lot of wide shots in her videos to
capture the various locations she uses to film at. You can see a
lot of wide shots used in the videos for Wildest dreams and Out
Of The Woods, the shots give a sense of solidarity and beauty.
EDDITING
• Double exposure – In the music video for Style double
exposure is used a lot. The effect makes the video look like
there is a load of memories of Taylor running through the guys
mind, It also gives the video a ghostly feel like the relationship is
dead.
34. CAMERA
WORK/EDITING
EDITING
• CGI – Taylor uses a lot of CGI in her
videos especially for songs on her
Reputation and Lover albums although
the videos for each album are
extremely different. On the Reputation
album the videos for ‘…Ready for it’
and ‘End game’ both use a lot of CGI
and have sci-fi/other worldly
themes. The videos for the Lover
album ‘ME!’ and ‘Lover’ are all heavily
CGI’d with bright colours, abstract
setting and props.
35. CAMERA WORK/EDITING
EDITING
• Slow pace transitions – It was more common for Taylor to use slow
transitions in her older work, she still uses it now but not as much
since she straied away from her country roots. She uses slow
transitions to set the mood and help portray the emotions of the
song, slow pace transitions are in her videos for Back to December,
Tear Drops on my Guitar, Begin again and wildest dreams
• fast cut montage – fast cut became more common in swifts music
videos when she switched from country to pop music. Especially for
her album red where the biggest change in her music and music
video style took place. Her videos for 22, We Are Never Ever
Getting Back Together and I Knew You Were Trouble, are all fast cut
and some of her most iconic videos that people still rewatch to pick
up on details they missed.
36. GENRE CONVENTIONS – POP
• There is always dancing and lots of backup dancers
• Bright eye-catching colours, sets and costumes
• Most of the time pop music videos have a narrative to go with
the obvious story line of the majority of pop songs
• Fast pace
• Big production budget
• The artist (or lead singer of a band) is always in the videos and
the main focus
37. LINKS TO VIDEOS
REFERENCED
• Mine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPBwXKgDTdE
• Love Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E
• You Belong With Me -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw
• Bad Blood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo
• …Ready for It - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIft-t-MQuE
• Back to December -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUwxKWT6m7U
• The Story Of Us -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN6VR92V70M
38. LINKS TO VIDEOS
REFERENCED
• Whit Horse - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Xr-JFLxik
• Wildest Dreams -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdneKLhsWOQ
• Out Of The Woods -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLf9q36UsBk
• Style - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CmadmM5cOk
• End Game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfnCAmr569k
• ME! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuXNumBwDOM
• Lover - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BjZmE2gtdo
• Tear Drops On My Guitar -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKCek6_dB0M
39. LINKS TO VIDEOS
REFERENCED
• Begin Again -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMPEd8m79Hw
• 22 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgFeZr5ptV8
• We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA4iX5D9Z64
• I Knew You Were Trouble -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKguSdy4Y
