2. Michael Thelin has worked with a number of different artists and does not limit himself to a single genre ; he has worked with
well known acts like Gnarls Barkley and AKON to slightly more alternative bands like Simple Plan and Mayday Parade. He has
also worked with a variety of well known companies/artists on projects other than music videos. A lot of the bands he has
worked with are also for live video performance rather than music videos, but this is relevant as I am including live performance
in my music video. On his website, listed under ‘Services’, Live Performance is a large element and this appeals to me and my
own music video which is why I have decided to look at him along with his involvement with bands such as All Time Low, Simple
Plan and Panic! at the Disco which could be loosely linked with Ten Minutes Behind.
Client List
Artists Companies
Wiz Khalifa Simple Plan MTV Europe Verizon
Janelle Monae Hey Champ Atlantic Records Warner Music Group
Cee Lo Green Lupe Fiasco Sony Music NFL Network
Sean Paul James Blunt Syco PBS
Toni Braxton Panic at the Disco QVC MTV2
Zac Brown Band Cobra Starship Columbia Records FUSE
Gnarls Barkley Jason Castro BMW Cystic Fibrosis
T.I. Tyrone Wells Propaganda Gem History Channel
Death Cab for Cutie Plies SXSW Cisco
Stone Temple Pilots Uncle Kracker Guilt City Heinz
Bruno Mars Hangout Music Festival Universal Music Chicago Cubs
New Moon Soundtrack John Legend Universal Studios MLB
Eclipse Soundtrack The Roots Orlando Boys and Girls Club of
Paramore Rodrigo Y Gabriela NBC America
Matisyahu Girl Talk Hard Rock Hotel You Tube Corporation
Carolina Liar Black Crowes P&G The Artist
All Time Low Ben Harper ESPN Organization
Cute Is what We Aim For Trey Anastasio General Mills Summit
OK GO Guster MADD Entertainment
Shinedown Gov’t Mule Gerber Fueled By Ramen
Straight No Chaser Michael Franti GAC Network
MayDay Parade After Midnight Project ComCast
KeKe Palmer AKON
Talib Kwali
3. Music Videos In the music videos Michael Thelin has
directed there is always a very obvious
Carolina Liar Tyrone Wells After Midnight Project
performance aspect, whether it’s a
“I’m Not Over” “More” “Take Me Home”
pseudo-documentary (Carolina Lover –
“I’m Not Over”), narrative based (After
Midnight Project – “Take Me Home”) or
staged performance (Tyrone Wells –
“More”) video (terms dubbed in ‘Music
Video and the Politics of Representation’
by Diane Railton and Paul Watson). He
also used a variety of techniques and
styles – handheld cameras, surreal
techniques like time lapse and effects
obviously added in a program like Adobe
Premiere, but, as I mentioned before,
performance is always a large factor in his
videos and this is why I chose to look at
Thelin. I want to use live performance in
my own video and so referencing Thelin,
who is mainly performance based, will be
a good influence for my video. He also has
experience with pseudo-documentary,
which is what I am aiming for with my
own video and so this is another reason I
am looking at him (he directed the All
Time Low ‘Lost in Stereo’ video which I
analysed earlier on in my project). I also
like how even the ratio is in the videos
with other visual elements e.g.
Narrative:Performance and I will aspire to
use this in my own music video.
4. Live Performance
In the live performance videos Thelin
has directed there is always, obviously,
shots of the band and shots of the
audience. There are a lot of shots
where the artist is shown with the
audience and this helps to create a
sense of unity between the two. There
are also a lot of close ups of the main
artist (Hayley Williams, Paramore;
Bruno Mars; Alex Gaskarth, All Time
Low), which goes hand-in-hand with
Andrew Goodwin’s observation that
there is a demand for up close shots of
the artist, and whilst these are not
music videos this statement still holds
true.
I like Michael Thelin’s portrayal of
artists and the unity they have with
their fans and this is what appeals to
me about his live performance work.
Although we may be hard-pushed to
show this in our own video due to the
small amount of fans they have it is still
something I would like to consider,
perhaps by showing the band on their
MySpace/Facebook page “responding”
to fans.
