Powerpoint on research into the music video industry for my A2 Media Studies coursework.

1. Research Into The
Music Video Industry:

2. How are music videos made?
There are three stages to the production process of a music video:
- Pre-production: This is the research, planning and storyboard. (All of the things that are
done before you start to film)
- Production: This is the filming of the music video.
- Post-production: This is the editing, marketing, advertising etc. that’s done after the filming
has taken place.
These are other processes that could also occur:
- Finance: This would be done before pre-production to establish the costs of the video,
finding investors etc.
- Screenplay: This would also be a stage before pre-production.
- Distribution: This is the final process after post-production; delivering the content to the
audience.

3. What is the purpose of a music video?
The purpose of a music video is to:
- Sell the song and invoke a reaction from the audience to help them remember it.
- To give the listener a better understanding of the song and to almost see how the
artist/s interprets the lyrics.
- To entertain and maybe show off any other talents that the artist/s might have (e.g.
dancing, acting)
- To sell CD’s. By creating a visual for the song, will help the audience to remember it
and then increase it chance to sell.
- Marketing for the purposes of marketing and exposure for the artist/s.
- The main purpose is of course for promotion. To promote the artist/s and their
album.

4. What is the purpose of a music video?
An example of a successful music
video would be Michael Jackson’s
video to ‘Thriller’. This video was
given a Guinness World Record in
2006 for being the “most
successful music video” selling
over 9 million copies. It was also
the first music video to be
inducted into the ‘National Film
Registry of the Library of
Congress’ for being ‘aesthetically,
historically, and culturally
significant’.

5. Famous Music Video Directors:
David Fincher: He’s the director for Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ video, as well as
Justin Timberlake’s ‘Suit and Tie’ video amongst many others. His videos
are very popular and are memorable, mainly due to the amount of work
and money that went into them.

6. Famous Music Video Directors:
Anthony Mandler: Is a frequent collaborator for Rihanna’s music
videos, as well as the director for The Weeknd’s ‘Belong To The
World’ and Taylor Swift’s ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’. All of these
videos were very successful and memorable. Anthony is also a film
director and you can see this in the music videos that he has
directed because there are elements of film in them. Especially in ‘I
Knew You Were Trouble’.

7. How much do music videos cost to
make?
The making of music videos can really vary in price. In America they can go all the way up to
$500,000 and more. Whereas others may only cost $20,000.
A cheap but successful music video to be made is: ‘Praise You’ by Fatboy Slim.
Despite being filmed for only $800 (most of which went toward a replacement boombox and food for
the cast and crew), the video was a huge critical success. It was shot guerilla-style outside of a movie
theatre in America where they did not have permission to film. It was directed by Spike Jonze, who
leads the fictional dance group as they perform a shaky but endearing dance routine to a live
audience of confused onlookers. At the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, the unpolished clip was
nominated for Best Dance Video and also went on to win three other awards.
An expensive music video that’s been made is: ‘Scream’ by Michael Jackson and
Janet Jackson. $10.7 Million.
Taking place on an elaborately-built spaceship set, the mostly black and white treatment shows
Michael and Janet having fun, while simultaneously being angry about how the media had been
portraying them lately. The video got its big debut on ABC’s “Primetime Live,” as Jackson was being
interviewed with new bride Lisa Marie Presley. An estimated 64 million people watched, and later that
year it would go on to win a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.

8. How do audiences access music videos?
- Nowadays, most audiences would go onto YouTube to watch the latest music
videos. With YouTube being in partnership with ‘Vevo’, the most recent ‘official’
music videos are uploaded to the channel where everybody can access them.
- You can also watch them via the TV on the MTV and 4Music channels.
- Some artists also include DVD’s in their albums which include music videos to
their songs. A popular example of this would be Beyoncé's most recent album
‘Beyoncé’ where she included a video for every single song that was on the
album.