Mv assignment 01 2019

1. MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
CASE STUDY
FR ED C LAYTON

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

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

5. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q1 - Outline the 3 core purposes of music video with a short
explanation for each:
• Entertainment – a music video is an extension of the song its
based off, that song being mainly for entertainment so in turn the
visuals that accompany the audio should also be entertaining.
This can include an extension of the themes of the song or
similar artistic reasons.
• Branding – a chance for a band, artist or music label to express
themselves visually, which is easier to understand. This helps a
band build a unique image along with their sound.
• Sales – helps to make the general public aware of an artist
increasing their sales and public presence. The music video can
also include ads which obviously gets the label and the artist a
paycheck.

6. 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?
• A indie artist would usually have a smaller budget and would
therefore go for a more humble or artistic approach as a
apposed to a high budget mainstream artist which has more
money on the line in terms of expected sales so they usually
play it safe, and simple usually with one memorable gimmick to
keep the song and video in peoples heads.

7. 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]
• A music video often cuts on a beat as to make the cut feel more
impactful or punchy.
• The video can visually display lyrics to emphasize their meaning
or change their message.
• The visuals can synergize with the backing track. A bubblegum
pop song for instance would have a bright, overexposed color
pallet unless there is meaning behind that choice

8. 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.
• Aesop Rock, over his storied career has built himself up as hip-
hop’s biggest outsider and his music videos support that view. His
videos are usually simple while remaining meaningful and
metaphorical. My personal choice for the best of Aes’s videos
would have to be “shrunk” as it remains faithful to the song. The
visuals accompany the song’s message and style, this is done
through a setting that provides an intertextual edge to the source
material. Given that the song comments on a shrink’s office being a
borderline fraudulent, overly burocractic, pointless place. As such
the video takes place in an arcade and within a money hungry
arcade machine based off archaic games, reflecting the themes in
a interesting way.

9. TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q5 – Compare One Direction and Animal Collective
• One Direction: close-ups, vapid, little room for interpretation, for a specific
audience, high budget, marketability, glorified photo-shoots.
• Animal Collective: low budget, abstract, open for interpretation, very few
close ups, psychedelic, artistic.
This dichotomy is shared with many acts, the correlation between a high
budget act and music video being generally more vapid and monetarily
minded. Independent artists and their lower budget videos generally use the
opportunity to extend their artistic vision or message. This is not to say that
smaller artists don’t think about the monetary value of a memorable video as
even now, if a video becomes iconic it can skyrocket the artist’s career. An
example in the modern music industry would be Brockhampton, they made a
colossal splash with their unique aesthetic and style, it gave the band a
identity entirely separate from their music, yet connecting the unique sounds
and sights to the public’s perception of the group. In the same vein a
mainstream artist can be extraordinarily successful with a more purposeful,
artistic video, Childish Gambino's career was boosted from decent multi-
media artist to auteur with his music video for “This is America” drastically
changing his popularity and place in the music world, for the most part the
socially aware video is the root cause of this shift.

10. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS

11. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q1 – Describe and explain the use of camerawork in music videos.
Music, being a heightened medium, relies on the audience to suspend their
disbelief to get any meaning out of. Instrumental songs for instance rely on
key changes, tempo and many other techniques to get anything across to a
listener. This has to be carried over to music videos and one of the most
subtle and yet important element’s to a music video is its camerawork as it
especially acts as the visual medium’s key change, it’s a fundamental part of
the medium. Quelle Chris and Jean Grea’s “Gold Purple Orange” is a
extremely odd, janky song about individuality and as such its music video
pays homage to public access TV, being known for a hub for eccentric
weirdoes on a low budgets and even less sense of shame. The music video
therefore exclusively features mid close-ups of the artists in frozen poses.
The locked camera angle and long takes give the visuals an amateur, slightly
off feel which ties into the rest of the visuals, as well as the song from a sonic
perspective, a lumbering ball of controlled chaos. The camera is therefore
essential to create this aesthetic and connection between the two mediums. A
fisheye, wide-shot or close-up would ruin the homage.

12. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q2 - Describe and explain the use of editing in music videos.
• Editing in music videos is generally concentrated on staying within the
tempo of the song, cutting on beats for instance is an extremely important
element of music video production, to such an extent that videos feel
slapdash and armature without it. This is because when cuts and actions
don’t match with audio people have to split their attention, ruining the ‘flow’
associated with listening to music. A great music video realizes this and not
only cuts on beats but also plans edits in advance so that the end product
feels like it flows with the music, this can mean a specific type of cut, a
splicing of shots, color correction, etc. All of these aim to match with the
music in such a way that a viewer won’t feel like the elements are
misplaced. A washed out color-grade with film grain might not fit so well
with soft rock as it might with a metal song, for instance.
• Editing can also include VFX, usually seen in higher budget videos. VFX
are, for the most part, used as a gimmick in most videos as a way to
remember them, therefore remembering the song as well as the artist. This
is why most of these gimmicky music video’s are released within the build-
up to an album or EP as to drive up sales.

13. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q3 - Describe and explain some of the technical
developments in music videos.
• SFX has always been a major element in music videos. A
memorable effect can greatly increase the popularity and
staying power of a video, making it more entertaining and
marketable. Therefor increasing the sales and cultural footstone
of the song, album and artist.

14. TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES
AND CONVENTIONS
• Q4 – Genre conventions; often music videos adhere to genre
conventions within their visual style and production techniques.
• Hip-Hop/ Rap was founded on sampling, braggadocio lyrics and
ego. As such Rap videos often focus on one person with close-ups,
low angles to present dominance and a lavish outfit. Due to the
mentioned sampling it's not uncommon to see other media
mentioned visually in a video. Expensive cars, big posies and
jewelry are often seen, once again to get across the artists "higher
status"
• Psychedelic rock and similar genres draw on many sources for
inspiration for their videos. This can manifest in many ways both
digital and non-digital with stop-motion's uncanny movement being
particularly attractive to a genre designed to feel trippy and
unusual. A digital approach is also a feasible one with VHS filters
being in as 80's cultural nostalgia is at an all time high. It is
common to see outdated visual processes like early 3-D animation

15. 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 intertextuality is and find some
examples of it in music videos?
• Intertextuality, broadly is the use of another piece of work to enhance your
piece, e.g a Shakespeare quote in a film or characters reading other books
within a novel.
• A classic example of intertextuality in music videos is the Smashing Pumpkins –
Tonight, Tonight. As the whole video is a send-up to early silent cinema
particularly Georges Méliès's – A trip to the moon, as footage is directly used
from the film.

16. TASK 3 – CASE
STUDY

17. TASK 3 – CASE STUDY
• For your individual case study you must study an artist or genre
of music, 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]

18. 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
• Compare and contrast your artist/genre to other artists/genres
• Remember to consider differing contexts

19. RUN THE JEWELS – LEGEND
HAS IT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWaljXUiCaE
The style and camerawork in this video is greatly informed by the
setting, a police line- up as such the shots are for the most part wide
shots of the line-up with other shots including slow, close-up dolly
shots of the line-up. As another element of the music video is drug
use this allows for editing options like dissolving walls distorted faces
and multiple versions of the artists being present. In the style of the
genre, the audience is getting "rapped at" by the artists. This all
comes together to create a visually distinct video that acts not only as
entertainment and advertising but also a political and social
statement as I will explain in the next slide.

20. RUN THE JEWELS –
LEGEND HAS IT
• The video relies on the audience's understanding of current
events to get the most out of with references to police corruption
and manipulation throughout the piece. Visual motifs that give
the viewers a helping hand in understanding the videos
message albeit an obvious one. As for an intertextual reference,
there are a few with my favourite being a reference to doctor
Strangelove.

21. RUN THE JEWELS –
LEGEND HAS IT
• I ultimately feel like this video uses a visually district style in it's
camerawork and editing to create a memorable, meaningful and
interesting take on the genre conventions of a rap video.

22. HAIL MARY MALLON -
WHALEShttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQrdKtPJxI0
As a parody of a genre that is inherently intertextual that uses the visual style
of that genre as an aspect of the message its fair to say that this video has
intertextuality in its veins. The puppets are likely just an extension of the
message that the people who unironically brag about wealth are broke and
look childish, like a puppet. The video visually compares itself to other rap
videos of braggadocio rappers surrounded by luxury where as this video
paints the rappers as pathetic, homeless and simply imagining all
the ridiculous things they would buy with their imaginary money. To go along
with these conventions the video employs similar camerawork to a typical rap
video. This makes Legend Has It similar as they both use visual motifs in rap
videos to make a point.

23. FATHER JOHN MISTY – TOTAL
ENTERTAINMENT FOREVER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHpV08wI-bw
As this song and video are about the society and media's role in it, it seems
fitting that this should come after Legend Has Its and Whales. The video uses
uncanny sets to reinforce that this is an saturated, simulated reality, the use a
founding father (George Washington in this case) receiving a VR headset as
a gift which he uses after he takes Viagra shows that John sees America or at
least its establishment as pathetic and masturbatory. Inside the virtual world
Kurt Cobain is crucified by a pastiche of MacDonalds who pitch him, a martyr
for creativity next to the other symbols of tired tropes and fads. And America
not only allows this to happen but pleasures in it as previously said. I'm
certain there's more to dig into like the alien referencing creature coming out
of john's chest being a refence to the urge to sell out that might be consuming
him, a lot of its up in the air. I feel that this video trusts its audience to
interpret it without spoon-feeding a message to them as well as making for a
very memorable video with bizarre visuals if nothing else.