Music Video Case Study

MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
CASE STUDY
D O D O H M .

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
• You are expected to submit each section on a weekly basis during your remote
learning weeks.
• If you get stuck, talk to/email your tutor for guidance.

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.

TASK 1 -
PURPOSES
Y O U S H O U L D O P E N T H E M U S I C L E C T U R E
P O W E R P O I N T A N D L O O K AT S E C T I O N 1
B E F O R E D O I N G T H I S TA S K

TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q1 - Outline the 3 core purposes of music video with a short
explanation for each:
- To attract an audience: a lot of artists use music videos to gain
more success and sales
- To show the meaning of the song
- To present themselves as an artist visually

TASK 1 - PURPOSES• Q2 – What are some of the broader purposes of music videos?Try and outline a
minimum of 3. (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 can be used to target a certain group of people by using
symbolism, with symbolism it can be used to represent the artist and their views
on life and talk about serious issues that need to be brought up and also
symbolism can be used to help audience have a better understanding of the
song
As example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY “This Is America”
by Childish Gambino has a lot of symbolism about the injustice of African
Americans, police brutality and gun violence in America
- There could be difference at times if an artist comes from a major label than an
artist that comes from independent unsigned label, it may be more professional
looking. But of course at times major music labels can produce low quality/
simplistic music videos because the artist may have requested it as that could
represent who the artist is, that it could be other way round when coming from
an unsigned music label
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmAsUQEFYG “EARFQUAKE” by Tyler The
Creator comes from the label ‘Sony Music’ which is a well-known label but his
music videos are quite simple.

TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q3 – 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.
- The artist I am choosing that I like is BTS.
talk about various topics about depression,
self hatred, falling in/out of love, learning to
love yourself and more. In their music
their settings are very different in every
video, some of them are very creative which
can be very hard to understand, but they
symbolism as well to express to their fans
and to other people maybe interested in
But also BTS have music videos where the
more simplistic and have more obvious
of what they're trying to express.
Overall BTS’ brand or what BTS is
well known for is addressing the
topic about loving yourself. This
topic mainly is targeted to young
people from early teens to late 20s
but overall BTS have said that their
music and their message goes for
anyone young, old, female and
male it doesn’t matter. But this
appeals to young people more
because young people going
through puberty its hard to love
yourself especially due to toxic
beauty standards, bullying, getting
into toxic relationships etc.

TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q3 – 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.
As an example of one of the music videos
the song “Epiphany” sung by one of the
members Jin. Epiphany is a song about
finally loving yourself and accepting your
flaws and your insecurities, the music video
has a lot of symbolism about his doubts
and self hatred towards himself but as he
goes outside it's raining and Jin is standing
in the rain, he’d come to his ‘epiphany’ he
goes back into the house and he closes the
curtains. With that, it implies with the
closing of the curtains shows that he
accepts himself and he loves himself no
matter how many insecurities he has.

TASK 1 - PURPOSES
• Q4 – 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.
• I recognize with one direction they have a certain audience that
they want to target which is young teenage girls, their lyrics and
music videos have connotations with direct address. So the
audience feels as though the artist is talking to them personally
which can cause the fan to feel like they have deeper
connection with the artist. And I think that's the aim of the
group. Which contracts with the band animal collective day their
music videos they don't really have a certain audience they want
to target. Their music videos are more artistically driven, and I
think that's the main aim of their music videos.

TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS

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 and how this
creates meaning
• The use of camera work in music is important because the director can
indirectly tell or show the audience what they need to focus on.
• Camerawork is also used to change up the music video so that the
music video isn’t just one shot because it could be boring especially if
nothing exciting is happening in the music video but people do that
anyways.
• Camerawork is used to make music to look more cinema like longshots.
• But also close ups is another way of camerawork is being used to focus
on something
• Camerawork is also used to make some scenes more dynamic

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 and
what the effect of this is/meanings that are created/etc
• The use of editing is useful to make the music video is to make
it more interesting
• With editing can also be used to target a certain audience
• To create a certain mood in the music video
• Editing is used to make the music video go smoothly
• Editing can also be used to create exciting and unrealistic effect
with use of green screen can add more dynamic aura to the
music video

TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q3 – 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…
• KPOP’s visual style is very unrealistic as it has
bright backdrops that are done with green
screen most of the time but of course some are
not. And the music videos as you can see with
the photos on the sides you can see different
music videos which where they have similar
colour pattern
•

TASK 2 – STYLES, TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS
• Q4 - 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 a minimum of 3
examples of it in music videos?
• Intertextuality happens when a director makes a reference to their previous work in
music videos or make a reference in general from a movie scene and DVD covers
and etc.
• For example the song “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea used one of the outfits from the movie
“Clueless”
•
Fancy – Iggy Azalea A scene from clueless

CONVENTIONS
• Q4 - 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 a minimum of 3 examples of it in music
videos?
• Another example is Ariana Grandes music video with her song thank
u next has a lot of intertextuality in it but the one that is shown the
most is scene from mean girls as they are walking down the high
school hall
Ariana Grande- Thank U Next
Mean Girls scene

CONVENTIONS
Last example of intertextuality is Chloe X Halle’s
performance of their popular song ‘Do It’, their
costumes are reference of the Spice Girls performance

TASK 3 – CASE
STUDY

TASK 3 – CASE STUDY
• For your individual case study you must study an artist of choice,
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]

• You should include a video link for the videos used
• You should include illustrative stills from the videos chosen
• 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

TASK 3 – CASE STUDYCHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS, RM
SONG: INTRO: PERSONA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Uy0opVF3s)
With this music video this is introduction to BTS’ new concept, as
previously BTS had been doing a Love yourself trilogy that came out
with 4 albums in each concept, which are “Love Yourself: Her”, “Love
Yourself: Tear” and “Love Yourself: Answer”. As they end the trilogy,
they evolved into a new concept that BTS fans called ‘ARMY’ have
discovered that the new concept is in relation to Carl Jung’s book
called “Map Of The Soul”As you can see in the music video up there that on
the chalk board has key words that have been
written that link to the book but also later link to
title of tracks other songs in their next album

TASK 3 – CASE
STUDY
In this music video there’s a lot of animation
and some of the back grounds of the music
video are quite simplistic but with addition of
the animation it makes it more exciting. Also at
1:24 in the music video we see the change of
camera, but RM is in the same classroom that
had chalkboard but more of the background has
been spray painted, but the shot has changed to
close up with fisheye lens as RM continues to
raps.
CHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS, RM
SONG: “INTRO: PERSONA”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9Uy0opV
F3s)

CHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS, RM INTRO: PERSONA
COMPARISON TO LALALAY
BY SUNMI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrggmyDhWBo)
The only similarity I can see from both music
videos is that, both music videos are quite
simplistic if you look at it but both have
interesting background, but I can say that
LALALAY has more weird concept throughout
the music which K-pop is known. K-pop is
known have weird concepts and effects, so
it’s not really shocking as a K-pop fans to see
these kind of videos. But a difference I’ve
noticed is that with LALALAY has more
background/ back setting changes
throughout in comparison to
INTRO:PERSONA.

TASK 3 – CASE STUDYCHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS
SONG: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE9f-TEutc)
At 4:06 in the music, RM reads a
section from the book
There is reference of ‘the tempter’ in the
beginning of the music video with neon
purple sign in the back ground of the
member called ‘SUGA’
This specific music video
based on this novel and about
man Sinclair on a journey to
find himself but in the music
video, the member called ‘Jin’
is the Sinclair. Throughout the
music video make references
to characters to members in
the group.

TASK 3 – CASE STUDYCHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS
SONG: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE9f-TEutc)
Another section of book being read in
the music video with the quote above,
it goes to the Nietzschean idea of
where nothing is fixed, matter is
constantly moving changing with
ideas, knowledge and more. Also that
we should think radically to be able to
find your true self

TASK 3 – CASE STUDYSONG: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS
Comparison with another KPOP group ‘Twice’
SONG- TT
Twice is one of the most popular K-pop girl
group in the world but also very popular in
Korea, Twice is praised and well-known for
their cute iconic dances and songs. I chose
this song specifically because this sing came
out around the same time Blood, Sweat &
Tears came out and I feel as though it was a
good song/music video to compare it to.
With the two videos
there is a big contrast
in them, looking at
Twice’s music video
that is what K-pop is
usually known. It is
known for being
upbeat, cutesy and
having a fun concept
with no deeper
meaning behind it but
with BTS’ music video
coming out back then
in 2016 was a bit of an
shock to K-pop fans
but fans loved the
new concept BTS were
doing which also led
the to their current
massive popularity
that they have today
in 2020.

TASK 3 – CASE STUDYSONG: BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS
Comparison with another KPOP group ‘Twice’
SONG- TT
In Twice’s song called ‘TT’, a source (https://channel-korea.com/what-is-the-
meaning-of-twice-tt/) it says “The title track song, TT, was about a girl that feel
sad because she can’t let go her feeling to the boy she loves even though the boy
was mean to her.” And also in the source it said this, “It seem it was inspired from
the emoticon TT that has been used worldwide to express that ‘I’m like crying’. So it
was perfect to express the sadness of love” The song overall about heartbreak and
still loving that person which to blood, sweat and tears have similar meaning in the
song about love. Blood. Sweat and Tears is a sacrificing everything for love enough
being together with that person will be toxic and it will be a love that will consume
both of them whole.
With the music videos, Twice’s music has all 9 nine members dressed up as certain
Disney characters and having close-ups each member singing the lyrics and the it
switches shots to all nine members dancing together showing the well-known/iconic tt
dance as shown below.
Which in contrast with BTS’ music video,
where each member has ethereal back
ground with a wide shot shown then a
zoom in for the member to sing their part
in the music video. The choreography
also to the song is more mature as the
music video is to.

CHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS
SONG: BLACK SWAN (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lapF4DQPKQ)
Black Swan, in my opinion is one of the most best music videos that BTS have
produced. The music video was filmed theatre in LA, and the song is about if BTS
lose their love for music they wont have a way to express themselves which links to
their Black Swan Art Film, at the beginning of the film showed a quote from Martha
Graham that says, “A dancer dies twice — once when they stop dancing, and this
first death is the more painful.” Which links to them dancing in a theatre because
BTS are musicians but they are also performers as they have amazing
choreography for many they have self produced songs and even for Black Swan. As
of course, the music video Black Swan is related to the performance ‘Black Swan’
performed by Nina Sayers. As you can see here, BTS took inspiration
from Nina’s performance of the shadows
showing up while she’s performing has
been shown and seen in the music video of
black swan.

CHOICE OF ARTIST: BTS
SONG: BLACK SWAN
COMPARISON TO “NCT 127 “英雄 KICK IT” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OvyA2__Eas)
FROM A SOURCE called ‘Seoul Beats’ KICK IT is talking about “英雄“ (yīng xióng) the
Chinese title of “Kick It.” Meaning “hero,” NCT 127 weaves in direct and more subtle
references to one of their heroes, Bruce Lee. In Mark's rap verse, he mentions “Jeet Kune
Do” (“The Way of the Intercepting Fist”), which is what Lee called his martial arts
expression”
With the music video has a bright yellow colour shown throughout the music video which
in contracts with Black Swan has more neutral colour pad in the music video.
Kick it Black Swan
As these two songs came out around the same time, there are quite few
differences, as Black Swan is more simple and has wide shots of BTS member
perfomances and as the song as quite slow more calmer comparing to kick
it the song is very up beat hip hop with flashing animations and bright
coloured backgrounds

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