2. +
Unit 29 - 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
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Unit 29 – Music Video Production
Learning outcomes, this case study is concerned with the first
two learning outcomes of the unit:
1. Understand the purpose of music videos
2. Understand the styles, conventions, and techniques of music
videos
3. Be able to originate and plan a music video production for a
specific music track
4. Be able to work to complete production of a music video.
4. +
Unit 29 – Music Video Production
Assessment Criteria
The assessment criteria addressed by this case study, further
details are in your project brief:
5. +
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.
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Task 1 - Purposes
Q1 - Outline the 3 core purposes of music video with a short explanation for each:
Entertainment: Often a weak song can be revived by it’s strong music video, creating more
visual entertainment than aural entertainment. As video technology has become more and
more advanced in the area of shooting and editing, the videos have become of much
higher quality, with Hollywood style effects allowing for very visually impressive music
videos.
Branding/Identity: Branding and identity of an artist is very important, and the use of music
videos can be as important in branding as the music style. The lyrics and instrumentals in
a song can quickly define what the ‘Style’ of the artist is, but the music video will define that
style from a genre to a personal identity. Showing us how the artist looks and acts, or what
the lyrics mean to them in a visual sense.
Sales: Sales of a song can be dramatically increased if the music video is included, as
payed download sources such as iTunes will charge extra for the music video to a song,
meaning more money for the company that owns the song/video. If the music video is very
impressive and entertaining, such as ‘Sabotage’ by the Beastie Boys or ‘Gangnam Style’
by PSY. A particular percentage of people that buy the song will buy the video too,
increasing the profits quite significantly.
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Task 1 - Purposes
Q2 – What are some of the broader purposes of music videos? 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?
There are many other purposes to a video, one of which I will explain. Product
advertising: Product advertising involves forming a partnership with a sponsor, often
a fashion or beverage brand. For example, the music video ‘Greyhound’ by the
Swedish House Mafia includes multiple shots of their sponsor beverage-Smirnoff.
Even a close up of the beverage in one shot. Some advertising is more subtle, but
the advertising itself is very common.
The visual difference upon the music video of a major record label versus an
independent label are often shown in how much money was put into the production
of a music video. A music video with polished Hollywood effects is likely to have
been produced by a very premium record label, where as one produced by an
independent label will likely be lower budget and much more simple. The financial
input into a video does not necessarily create a better and more entertaining video,
many budget videos bring a more relatable visual entertainment than the high
impact Hollywood music videos.
9. +
Task 1 - Purposes
Q3 – Describe what is ‘synergy’ is and how it has been used in music videos [min. 3
examples of synergy and convergance]
Synergy is when a company is allowed to use a particular product freely in their form of
media, such as music videos. Synergy allows products to promote each other. Such as n
the 1930s Disney allowed 3rd parties to use the mickey mouse character in their
adverts/products. This then created free advertising for Disney and made adverts and
products much more popular due to the Disney links.
"Pass the Courvoisier," by Busta Rhymes: This song is an excellent example of accidental
synergy. With no purpose at all, the 2 products (artist and beverage) became linked, and
the music video created a noticeable increase in Courvoisier sales.
TV shows and music videos can also create synergy, such as the video be shown on a
particular TV show, increasing the songs media distribution and therefor increasing its
overall popularity.
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Task 1 - Purposes
Q4 – Branding; select an artist you like and look at how they present themselves in their
music videos. Explain what their ‘brand’ is, who is appeals to and why they might have
done this.
The song ‘Free’ by Rudimental has a music video that is likely relatable to many people,
with their own experiences. Rudimental commonly have music videos which represent life
and its ups and downs, although they always end positively.
The ‘Free’ music video shows a boy who felt weak and insignificant, he was bullied and
school felt trapped. He sees the freedom of a bird of prey and wishes the freedom upon
himself, time passes and it shows him older, climbing to the peak of a mountain, and
leaping off, opening his arms revealing his wingsuit as he flies with the upmost freedom, as
the bird did when he was a child. Signifying the struggle and mountains some of us must
climb to reach the freedom we wish for.
This music video appeals to anyone who has experienced problems where they felt
helpless or trapped. The music video is inspirational and gives hope to those who have not
began or completed their ascent to freedom and happiness.
Boy being bullied
in school, he
feels trapped and
scared.
Many years later, he is
making his journey to
achieve true
emotional/physical
freedom.
He leaps from a
cliff and flies, as
he saw the bird
doing I his child
hood.
11. + Task 1 - Purposes
Q5 – 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.
Animal collective-Brothersport:
This music video has a relatively straight forward beginning showing 2 kids running and
playing, and then suddenly gains a very psychedelic feel to it. This comes from the odd
shape shifting cartoons and flashes and swirls of colour and shapes. The kids begin
dancing strangely and smear eggs and paint all over the walls and floor as if they are
possessed by something very odd. Although very strange, it is very hard to look away, as
the colours and shapes are intriguing and mesmerising.
One Direction- Best Song Ever:
This music video attempts to be comedic and fun, using very plain and dull actions such as
throwing things around and dancing business men. The video is aimed at the easily
entertained young fan girls of this generation. The video represents one direction as fun
loving and funny.
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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.
Camerawork in a music video can easily shift the presentation of a
particular artist. Artists who want to be presented and greater than
somebody will be shown from a low angle, as though they are
looking down on us. An artist shown as sad as she looks through
the streaks of rain running down the car window will have a shot
from above, making her appear weak and small. A fun video will
have lots of movement and quick cuts, creating fast paced
excitement.
14. +
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
Editing in a music video can create a huge variety of changes
to the visual style of the song. For example, one with quick
cuts, fast pans and vibrant colours will likely be representing
happiness and excitement. A music video with slow pans, dull
colours, and soft transitions will likely represent a much calmer
or sadder feeling in the video. These edits will be done to suit
or expand on the songs style and lyrics.
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Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
Q3 - Describe and explain some of the technical
developments in music videos, i.e. the types of shot used with
examples to illustrate this .
Music videos usually include a variety of shots which match the
flow of the music, and the feeling that is supposed to be
portrayed by it. The shots are very similar to that of
photography, except in music videos motion is obviously
applicable. For example, a close up portrait will show emotion,
a landscape wide shot will show the environment.
16. +
Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
Q4 – Genre conventions; often music videos adhere to genre
conventions within their visual style and production techniques.
Select a recognisable genre and use illustrations to explain
what their genre conventions are…
Stop motion is a very recognizable genre of music video. These
stop motions are sometimes mixed with normal motion video as
seen in the Animal Collective Brothersport music video. The
conventions of this genre often include bright colours and rough
looking drawings or play-doh style models which move to the
rhythm of the song. They are often used with dance music as
they can be very fast paced.
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Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
Q5 - 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 intertexuality is and find some
examples of it in music videos?
Intertextuality can be reflected in the visual style of a music
video, by referencing another style. But it can also be in the
form of a parody video-which is often humorous. The parody
video may give the video a new meaning or just expand on
what has already been shown.
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Task 3 – Case Study
For your individual case study you are required to prepare
material on a minimum of three music videos.
This should provide discussion on the usage of the following:
Purpose of the video [consider the strategy of the artist and the
intention behind the video, remember the core purposes and break
this down into the other purposes we discussed]
Style[s] used
Techniques employed
Intertextuality
Camerawork/editing
Genre conventions
20. +
Case Study Task 3:
Red Hot Chili Peppers- Give It Away Purpose: The purpose of this video is definitely an effort to represent the brand of RCHP.
The music video contains no expansion of the song, and follows no storyline. The video
simply shows the band members acting crazy and rebelling against the typical conventions
of normality. They are dancing around, looking grimy and appear under the influence of
narcotics in many shots due the the strange un-natural behavior. They are seen
representing the devil with the use of horns on their heads and outfits at some points in the
music video.
Style/Edits: The music video follows a very grimy style, making the
footage jumpy and rough, and the subjects spontaneous and random.
The music video is black and white throughout, and has a very high
contrast, with a lot of definition between the deep blacks and
highlighted whites. The effects in the video are very simple against
todays standards, but very normal for the 90’s when the song & video
was released. The effects include quick transitions, transparent video
layers, split screens and rewinds.
Techniques: There are multiple techniques used in the music video to represent the music
and the brand of RHCP. The majority of the techniques revolve around the acting of the
subjects, but some of it comes from the edits upon the footage. For example, the band
members jump and dance around as if they are possessed, to increase the strangeness
and messiness of the music video, edits are put in place, merging particular scenes to
make what appears to be a mash up of possessed demonic band members rocking on
ecstasy. There is also brief intertextuality that refers to the devil in the music video, which
matches the overall style of the video.
Camerawork: The camera work in this video is very significant to representing the
brand and the music pace/style in the music video. The rough style of the video
greatly relies on the availability of different shots when piecing together the scenes.
There is a huge variety of shot styles in this music video, close up portraits, wide
shots, low angle, slow motion, panning, zooming, and more. This allows for the
video to not be repetitive when shooting multiple scenes of the same subjects.
The conventions of this genre include a very rough grimy video style.
There will be a large variety of shots and very fast movements with
multiple shot transitions. ‘Give It Away’ has styles that are not
commonly used by the genre, but instead runs on a gritty glam rock
style, although visually interpreted like this, we can see that the brand
style is quite different, the visual styles are just matching the eccentric
mood of the song. The glam rock style was not common with RHCP
before this music video, but the style was the idea of a French fashion
designer – turned- music video producer.
21. +
Case Study Task 3:
David Guetta - Play Hard ft. Ne-Yo, Akon
Purpose: The purpose of this music
video is to promote the brand of
David Guetta and his style of
upbeat music. The music video
does expand on the song as-well,
by showing that they really do ‘
Work Hard and Play Hard’.
Style/Edits: The edits in the music
video are very basic, there are many
basic shots pieced together which
appear to move to the beat in some
cases, but not always. The beginning
of the music video does not fade
from darkness, it starts quickly on a
more tense beat, but the end does
fade out to darkness once the boy
has one he competition. There is also
a slow motion effect applied
momentarily when the boy is dancing
at the end.
Camerawork: There is a variety
of camerawork in this music
video, with particular works
being determined by the pace
of the music or type of scene.
For example, during scenes
where somebody is moving
away from the shot, the
camera will follow after them,
and when there is an attempt
to show an entire space, it will
pan around the room.
Genre conventions: This music genre
often includes music videos that have
little or no relation to the song itself.
This music video focuses on a dancing
championship where everybody wears
giant glammy cowboy boots. The
music video shows what seems to be
some kind of black market purchase at
the start, showing them ‘Work Hard’,
and the rest is based on them ‘Playing
Hard’. The entire music video contains
a lot of bright colours and visually
intriguing scenes, with entertaining
oddities everywhere in scenes, which
is very similar to the music video for
the song ‘La La La’ by Naughty Boy.
22. +
Case Study Task 3:
Naughty Boy - La La La ft. Sam Smith
Purpose: The purpose of this music video is to show off how
imaginative and distinct the brand is. The music video means
nothing to most people, which is why it focuses on representing
the brand. But the storyline followed in the music video is actually
one from Bolivian culture.
The story goes that the a young boy finds that he has the ability to
shout or sing, so that the devil can not be heard, which is great,
because spoken to an entire village and caused them to all
commit suicide. The boy is brought to the devil in the mountains
by 2 companions, when they arrive the men must leave so the boy
can hide the devils sounds with his own voice.
Style/Edits: The style is very colourful, and cultural. The music
video focuses on the Bolivian/ South American culture. The
imagery is very bright and saturated, making it visually
impressive to look at. The edits are all very simple, the cuts
are basic with no technical transitions. Some of the cuts do fall
on the beat but not all of them. There is the use of slow
motion in some of the shots, but it Is not excessive, it is just
used to focus on the boys face as he's carried across the
desert by one of his companions.
Camerawork: I really like the camera work in this music video, as
it is very engaging and never gets boring. There is very rarely a
shot that isn’t panning or zooming. The constant smooth
movement is much more visually impressive than basic still shots.
The movement of the camera could represent the journey that
they are making, by panning beside and following them allows the
viewer to feel closer to the story than if there were only still videos
of them moving.
Genre conventions: This genre of dance/summer tunes often has a story line which has a very
small connection to the lyrics. The lyrics in the song do not represent the old Bolivian tale as much
as the music video does. The genre often creates an aurally and visually stimulating cocktail. With
beautiful colours and elegant pans alongside catchy lyrics and a chilled-out beat. The style of
culture based film is similar to the song ‘Play Hard’ by David Guetta. With cultural settings and
fashions alongside very vibrant colours and odd scenes.
23. +
Task 3 – Case Study
You should include a video link for the video
You can include as many illustrative stills as you like
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
