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.
7. +
Task 1 - Purposes
Q1 - Outline the 3 core purposes of music video with a short explanation for each:
Sales
The music video is meant to reach out to people and make them want to buy the music of the
band and it will make others want to buy other music from the band and to get a bigger
audience
Branding
Branding is to make a style and /or identity of its own so it can sand out from the others to
make people want to buy the music and music video it also can protect from copyright by
others and a brands style is linked with them or a genre
Entertainment
The music video is meant to entertain so that people come back and listen to more of the
bands. The thing is more people watch music videos then download them as it is easy to
listen to them for free from the internet
8. +
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?
The point of the music video is to sale there singers to the
aduience and show them off if you have a atractive band then
doing a music video will make people want to see them in the
video
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 one brand and another partner up and mix
them together to the point when you think of one you think of
the other for example movies do this with there stars
10. +
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.
I chose the band oasis. In there music videos they present
themselves as rock stars. Their brand is very linked with British
rock as many see them as icons of rock. This brand manly
appeals to people a little older then me 20-50 but I feel that
people younger can find in enjoyable as I did when I was 11
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.
one direction has more production value as there is a lot of
effort gone into them to make it sell to teen girls so the stars faces
are everywhere there's no scenic where there not there but with
animal collective its more about the music and visawell but the
videos have a low production value so its harder to watch animal
collective has more artistic value and is more impressive. When
one direction is more marketed and is ment to sell to people but
that’s it not to make you think or give you a different way of
thinking its to passivity you and make you turn off your brain and
get lost in the music to make you bye more
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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
The camera work in the videos are very different as for the one
direction video it is mostly focused on the band members so
there's a lot of tracking shots and all the camera work is
focused around them but with animal collective have there
camera focused on the visawels and it makes a impression
streagt away so they look more impressive and is a lot m ore
creative and has no real focus so it is very
14. +
Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
Q2 - Describe and explain the use of editing in music videos, i.e.
the way in which shots are sequenced, considering the rhythm of
the edit and combinations of shots and post-production techniques
In both videos they edited the music for the style and genre of the
band. In one direction every shot is focused on the band members
so they have tracking shots and focus on there face but with
animal collective it’s a lot more free form as in more focus on what
is going on screen and is more about the visual so keeps a wide
shot most of the time but in both videos they don’t really edit there
video to the beat as others would as editing creates meaning as
depending on what is going on in the video it might make the
audience think of something more then the music video
15. +
Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
Q3 - Describe and explain some of the technical developments
in music videos, i.e. in terms of how the music videos are filmed,
edited/produced and viewed
Many bands these days use cool and interesting ways of filming
their music video for example the band Okgo used a drone to film
their music video this is very different to earlier music from before
2000 as most bands did not have this technology so they had to
use other things for example the song Masterplan (1995) use
animation to communicate there message. The internet and boom
of technology has made making and watching music videos easy
and accessible for everyone. when before you have to see it on a
music tv channel and before that you have to wait for all week for
a show to come on tv
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…
Britpop has a lot of interesting conventions as they use a lot of
British imagery for example track suits and working class
theres lot of efances on
17. +
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?
“Transcript of INTERTEXTUALITY IN MUSIC VIDEOS.
Intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to
any kind of media text via another media text. It essentially
means that it has a type of link to another media which could
be film, television or music to pay homage to another media
text”
19. +
Task 3 – Case Study
For your individual case study you are required to prepare material on a
minimum of three music videos.
Oasis: live forever
M8: outro
Foster the people: pumped kicks
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. +
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
