This document outlines tasks and questions for a case study assignment on music video production. It is divided into three sections: Task 1 focuses on the purposes of music videos and artist strategies; Task 2 examines styles, techniques and conventions of music video production; and Task 3 requires a case study analysis of at least three music videos discussing their purpose, style, techniques, intertextuality, camerawork, editing, and genre conventions. The document provides guidance on completing the assignment and assessing student work.

1. By Lewis William Hill

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

3. 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.

6. Task 1 - Purposes

7. Task 1 - Purposes
 Q1 - Outline the 3 core purposes of music video with a
short explanation for each:
 Entertainment: This is when the audience are enjoying
what they are watching or being amused.
 Sales: This is when the company make profit from what
they are producing for the audience.
 Branding: This is when the artist becomes the brand and
promotes the music that they have created. It also acts as
advertisement so the audience goes out to buy the song.

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?
 Music videos are mainly used to make a profit either through views of
the video or through the sales it creates from advertising. These
aren’t the only reasons for a music video, there are a verity of
different reasons to produce one.
 To send a message to your viewers through either the lyrics of the
song or in the video itself. This message could be about anything,
poverty, corruption or just simply about love. Similarly, the video could
also have a deeper meaning which leads the audience into
discussions about what it actually means. For example, ‘The A Team’
sung by Ed Sheeran is a dark song about a gig that he played at in a
homeless shelter and there was this woman in the audience
struggling with Class A drug addiction.

9. • Another way for the artist to make more sales is to work with
other artists, this is so they can put the other artists name on the
front cover of the album. This then leads to a bigger
demographic buying their album. An example of this would be
Kanye West working with artists like Sia, Jamie Foxx and Nicki
Minaj. He’s worked with these singers so he can sell his albums
to their demographics so his audience widens and this makes
increased profits.
• Finally, representations are everything in the world of media
because this is what attracts the audience to music and the
videos. One Direction’s target audience is girls in their teens,
they achieve this target by showing themselves as young,
attractive males who can dance on a beach and sing about
girls. Whereas, Kid Rock shows himself as being very patriotic
and self obsessed, which attracts most of the American
population because his songs a very American based.

10. Task 1 – Purposes - Synergy
 Q3 – Describe what is ‘synergy’ is and how it has been used
in music videos [min. 3 examples of synergy and
convergence]
 Synergy is when a company uses one of their products
across a range of different products created by either them or
another company. These products can vary and can be,
DVD, a game or even a soundtrack.
 Examples of synergy is:
 Disney’s Mickey Mouse, in the 1930s Disney allowed other
companies the right to use the face of Mickey Mouse on a range
of their products so that they would sell more to a bigger
audience.
 Disney’s High School Musical, when the film was released in 2006
Disney also released a DVD game and a whole album to go with
the film to make more profit from their demographic.
 Shaun of the Dead, this contained synergy due to the fact that
Universal Studios also released a CD of the soundtrack to go
along side the film.

11. Convergence
 Convergence is when a range of different companies or products
come together to form one finial product of media.
 Examples of convergence:
 Men in Black 2, this is convergence because the film has a
theme song with music video sung by Will Smith who also stars
in the film.
 A smart phone is another example, because a Samsung
Galaxy S6 Edge+ is a phone, camera, music player, storage,
video player, voice recorder, flashlight, a radio, games console,
a game controller, a search engine for the internet.
 Guns and Roses, sung a song for Terminator 2 and in their
music video it stars a Terminator.

12. 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 it appeals to and why they might
have done this.
 Adele
 Adele is seen as an alternative artist as she sings big
emotional songs that really hit the listener. She is
presented in her music videos a woman who looks back on
her past at the emotional moments in her life whether there
good or bad memories. Like ‘Someone Like You‘ is about
someone she use to date years before she wrote the song.
Another song video that shows her in this way is
‘Hometown Glory’ is this is when she is put on a chair
surrounded by videos of the town that she grew up on,
which are projected onto screens surrounding her.

13. 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 and Animal Collective are two contrasting
boy bands. One Direction are mainly aimed at teenaged
girls, as the represent themselves as young attractive guys
who sing about girls and how they want them. This is
similar in all modern-day boy bands, like Union J and 5
Seconds of Summer, it is all one big brand to make sales
off of young vulnerable girls.
 Whereas Animal Collective are the complete opposite,
they do not want to be seen as this brand of a modern-day
boy band, in their videos it is difficult to see them because
they use awkward angles or they are replaced by different
colours.

14.  These two bands are very contrasting because the videos that they
produce are very different.
 One Direction’s videos are very easy to watch and understandable,
for example the video to ‘You & I’ is just a simple walk down a pier
with no effects, only a change of heads between all five members.
This makes them not challenging to watch and you don’t get
confused about what's going on.
 On the other hand, Animal Collective’s videos are very challenging to
watch and are confusing for the viewer to understand what’s going
on. Like in their video ‘My Girls’ where they show themselves playing
keyboards in front of a green screen. They then replaced the colour
green for a weird lava lamp effect, they also did this over their bodies
so the viewer doesn’t see them. This is all very challenging to watch
as you don’t know what's going on.
 Because you see One Direction in their video their own faces
become the brand of who they are. Contrastingly, Animal Collective
make it so difficult in all their videos to see their faces as they don’t
want viewers to see them as the brand. This has a strange effect
through as not showing your face becomes a gimmick and therefor
this becomes the representation of Animal Collective, this is similar
to big singers like Sia.

15. Task 2 – Styles,
Techniques and
Conventions

16. 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.
 Long Shot, Mid-Range Shot, Short Shot, Panning, Pan-Zoom, Close Up Shot, Extreme
Close Up Shot, Slow Motion Shot, Moving Shot, Aerial Shots, Arc Shot, Bridging Shot,
Low/High Angle Shot, POV.

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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 recognizable genre and use
illustrations to explain what their genre conventions are…

20. 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?

21. Task 3 – Case
Study

22. 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

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