This document provides an overview of a case study assignment on music video production. It outlines three tasks to complete: 1) discussing the purposes and strategies of music videos, 2) examining styles, techniques and conventions of music video production, and 3) analyzing three specific music videos considering points from the first two tasks. Guidelines are provided for completing the case study, including using images from video examples and adding extra slides as needed. Task 1 questions explore core purposes of music videos and branding strategies. Task 2 focuses on technical elements like camerawork, editing, and developments in the genre.

1. MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
CASE STUDY
YO U R N A M E H E RE

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, the videos are for people to watch and be
entertained by
• Branding, the videos allow the band to get across information
about themselves
• Sales, music videos add another layer to a song making it
bigger than just music by adding a story or pushing views on an
audience, this extra level will increase sales of the songs and
merchandise by adding making the band feel closer to the
consumer

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?
Music videos can be used to get across a point, for example a political
view. This is usually done by bands that aren't as manufactured as
they are able to express their own views without having to deal with
superiors telling them what is best for their image. It is also done by
bands that have very political lyrics and meaningful music. This same
type of music can be supported by music videos that are almost like
small movies or artistic pieces.

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]
• Twenty one pilots made the soundtrack for the movie suicide
squad, because of this they made a music video for the biggest
song insude the same prison as the characters in the movie
wearing the same prison clothes, in this screenshot the singer
can be seen on ccvin the prison overalls next to another screen
with a character making it seem like the singer is actually in the
movie. This makes fans TOP want to watch the movie as they
have seen him in it

8. In 2014 imagine dragons teamed up
with riot games and made a song for
their advert for the league of legends
world championship. This worked well
as the song is about rising up and
being the best which is exactly what
the video shows and what the
championship is all about, the type of
music is extremely similar to the music
usually used in the game league of
legends which would make fans of the
game enjoy the band. League of
legends is also the biggest video game
and has the most viewed competitive
games, imagine dragons teaming up
with riot to make this was very
innovative as the video game and
music industry rarely cross paths
making this great publicity for both
parties

9. • Same smith made his music video for writings on the wall in the
same locations as the movie spectre used, the song was written
and used as the iconic song in spectre so the music video shows
him in a location shortly followed by 007 in that exact place in
the movie. This almost puts same smith in the movie and makes
his fans awnt to see it as they will recognize the locations from
the music video

10. 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.
Suicide silence
Suicide Silence is a “deathcore”
with loud vocals,
unrecognizable lyrics usually
depicting death and how we
are all going to die. Because of
this their music video are very
brutal showing death, murder,
any kind of gore just for the
sake of it. The music video for
“you only live once” shows the
band at the end of a shooting
range being fired at by multiple
different kinds of people, there
is no story to it just violence to
The lyrics in this video talk about how you
only live once and very second your going
towards death so live crazy, the lyrics support
the image of the band as they all look like
they are living in the moment with their
tattoos etc. The demographic for this band
are teenagers and young adult males, so the
violence and gore shown in their music

11. 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.
•The music video for drag me down by one
direction is incredibly high budget, it shows
then in space suits and doing a lot of space
related things. The lyrics in the song talk
about how with this girls love no one can
drag him down which is shown by talking
about them going to space, somewhere
very high up. There is no deep meaning to
this the video is just a visual representation
of being high which is what he is in the
lyrics. The video works well for the target
audience of one direction as they are
typically very young girls that just want to
see the group and that is it, they don’t want
an artistic masterpiece just them doing
nothing special. The main aim is obviously
publicity and to please the fan base.
Animal collective have a very different music
video, it is a lot lower budget and is set in the
same place, the whole video is green screened
and shows only the instruments looking real, the
and and background are all in weird colors and
the only part that isn't blacked out on the people
is their mouths which are very cartoon looking
and ae bright pink. The video mixed with the
lyrics have no clear meaning and are open to
interpretation making the viewer think about
what they are actually consuming. The target
audience for animal collective is a lot older than
1D and their music video shows that as it
reminds you of something from their era with the
bright colors and weird shapes.

12. TASK 2 – STYLES,
TECHNIQUES AND
CONVENTIONS

13. 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
Close up of just the
body with cinematic
black bars
Shots fading into
other shots Over the shoulder medium close up
High contrast
Low shot to show the height and power of the
character. Followed by a high shot to make the
the other person look smaller and weaker
https://youtu.be/9gsAz6S_
zSw dead memories-

14. 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
the editing in the dead memories is very different throughout, it starts with a very
cinematic movie like shots of him digging a hole, as he digs the hole the symbol is in
time with his shovel hitting the ground, this is done throughout the video with the shots
syncing up with the music. The music video shows the main character making his way
through a series of rooms, each room has a different person in it and the editing is
different with each character, the first room has a man in the corner of a room looking
as though he is crazy, the shots are slow and last a while then randomly speed up
whenever the crazy man moves to make it seem scary. Once he leaves this room the
next room has an angelic looking man surrounded by women, there is color filters over
the room making it look heavenly. The next room is a completely different color and
shows high contrast filters in the room changing the way it looks. The next room is very
dark however and has some filters to look as though half of the room is hidden. The
editing helps tell a story
https://youtu.be/9
gsAz6S_zSw dead
memories-
slipknot

15. 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
The gorrilaz are a band that use only animated characters to portray themselves, in the
music video for “Clint Eastwood” the whole video is an animation of then performing. The
characters in the video all look human like but at the same time do things that humans
cant do, in one clip a character grows massive in size and his head detaches from his
body. Animated music videos like this are only becoming popular now as the technology
for them hasn’t been around vey long, the animation in this video is very high quality as
well which is very expensive, so music videos like these are still only really doable by big
bands with lots of money to spare on a music video, if a smaller band tied to do this the
animation would be very low quality as the money needed to do this is high. This makes
the gorillaz style very different especially as these animated characters are their whole
image and they do not show themselves in any other way. Since these characters are so
distinct most people will recognize them without even knowing the music, most bands
these days have no distinctive image and a lot of people can love a band without even
knowing what they look like. This is where the gorillas are succeeding I revolutionizing
music videos. Even in the video there are lots of normal camera shots with close ups, long
shots and like in this example the screen splits in 4 showing al the band members which is
done in real music videos. https://youtu.be/UclCC
FNG9q4
Clint Eastwood -

16. 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
recognisable genre and use illustrations to explain what their genre
conventions are…In the music video for tears don’t fall, there is a central narrative that runs alongside clips of the
band playing in the heavy rain. Bullet for my valentine are a heavy metal band and it is common
in heavy metal music videos to have a story that goes along with the band playing, the story
usually has something to do with the lyrics of the song. In this video the story is of a man losing
interest in his partner and cheating on them, with the partner coming back at the end and poring
petrol on them. Violence is a common motif in heavy metal lyrics and music videos as it fits the
harsh and loud music. This video fits all the criteria of a heavy metal video. The band are playing
in heavy rain in a very dark place which matches the darkness of the story and the style of heavy
metal, the women in the story are very sexualized which is done in a lot of metal music videos,
there is violence in the video, the types of shots and editing make the camera move franticly and
are very fast paced to match the speed of the music and make it more effective. Finally they link
the story to the band playing. Whenever the band are shown they are in heavy rain getting
soaked, at the end of the video when the partner is poring petrol on them the same effect of the
rain soaking them is shown with the petrol, relating the band to the story is often done in heavy
metal videos as it links the band to the story as though it is personal to them and the actors are
portraying the singers story.

17. 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?Intertextuality is when a concept is taken from something preexisting, for example
when new movies use clips from classic movies to either pay homage to them or
parody them. This can be done in music videos that reference other music videos
or movies.The kill by thirty seconds to mars uses intertextual references to pay homage to the
shining. The music video is set in a hotel which all 4 of the band members booked all
to themselves to take some time away, they are left a note when they arrive which
says not to enter a certain room. The corridors are very similar to that in the shining
and there are images of typewriters throughout. There is also a theme of split
personalities and the band members adopt the earie traits of the characters in the
movie. The music video was extremely popular overall for its links to the shining.

18. TASK 3 – CASE
STUDY

19. 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]

20. SLIPKNOT CASE STUDY
The band I have chosen to look at are slipknot which are a heavy metal band, their image is
that they all wear masks and most of them go by different names to their own for example the
drummer wears a clown mask and goes by the name clown, this makes them an alternative
metal band and slightly different to most other bands in the genre, however there are other
bands out there that all wear masks for example ghost.
Since I know the genre I can compare slipknots videos to other in the genre and see how well
they fit in. The first video I picked was slipknots most viewed music video “the devil in I” the
song and video give off satanic vibes with depictions of the devil through imagery of satanic
rams, crows, sacrifice and people standing in big red robes which cover their whole bodies, this
imagery fits into the heavy metal genre well and these themes are common around never
heavy metal music and in the music videos. From the start of the video you notice lots of visual
effect, fast pace shots lasting 1 second or less, the angles used are very strange and do not
show a clear view of what is there, for example it shows the band 1 by 1 instead of showing
them all in 1 shot, this is common in heavy metal and common for slipknot themselves, as their
music videos never show a clear view of what is there, this is to make their videos seem creepy
and it works well, with the dark environment and high level of editing and visual effects you
feel uneasy. The shots sink up with the music as well, on most big beats from the drum the
shot changes on the beat. Another trick used is close ups and extreme close ups on very
obscure things, most close ups are on a persons face to show emotion whereas in the devil in I
the close ups are on useless things that show nothing, for example this screenshot where there
is a close up done on the shoulder of a band member which before was a full body.
Shots like these are common in slipknot videos because of their obscurity,
they make no sense and put the viewer in a state of unease as they don’t
know what is coming next, but they know it will probably be something
crazy as that is their image.
Close up
of
shoulde

21. As the music goes on the satanic themes continue which is to be expected, but they peak
about halfway through the video when Sid one of the band members begins to eat his own
arm. Because all the members wear masks they seem as though their real face is the mask, you
identify them by their masks instead of their real faces, so when you see this start to happen it
feels like not only is it a story they are trying to tell, it seems as though this actually happened,
this mixed with how the band act in front of the media all lead the viewer to believe this could
actually be real. The cgi used to do this is very high quality as well adding to the realness, it
does seem like they have been possessed by the devil and and Sid is now eating his ow arm
because of it. This wouldn't be out of character for him as well. In a live performance in their
early days this exact band member went what can only be described as insane while on stage
and broke a piece of metal of a drum and pushed it into his eye while the rest of the band
where off stage. Non of that was planned and no one knows why he did it, so seeing him eat
his arm in a music video does’t seem like such a step up at this point and fits heir image
perfectly.As the video goes on the story begins to unfold and you
can see every band member setting up their own suicide
with the help of a robed man. The rest of the character one
by one kill themselves in graphic ways, with extremely high
quality special effects that seem as though they are
actually real. This intense violence is common in metal
music videos as it goes hand in hand with the angry violent
lyric. Most fans of metal enjoy it for this and use it as a
form of escapism, watching something brutal and gory
while listening to the music helps people get out their own
anger, this is shown a lot in their concerts as you see the
types of people that listen to slipknot. This leads into the
second video I looked at.The second song I looked at is spit it out, the music video for the song was released in 2009 relatively
early into there career, it is filled with low quality clips from actual live performances and a semi story
that is cut into the the video which is filled with intertextual references. The song starts with a member
of the band riding around a building on a tricycle going into a hallway and seeing the two girls from
the shining which then turn into 2 more band members dressed in the girls outfits.

22. These are intertextual references to the shining, an 80s horror movie. Slipknot are a very horror style
band with their masks and the way they act so to do a parody of the shining portraying themselves
as the characters fits their image well as most people believe them to be psychopaths especially in
the eye of the media. The editing used in these shots is very jumpy and low quality to give it that old
feel as though they are back in the original movie. The shot of the girls alternates with the band
members and the two change between each other, the shots last less than a second each and add a
very creepy feel to the music video, they also use a lot of bright filters playing with the color on the
white dresses making them almost glow, this helps the shots fade into each other better as no only
the outfits and positions stay the same they both are glowing as if they where shot on a very old
camera. As well just like in the last video there are frequent shots of random body parts which has
been a recurring theme in slipknots videos from their oldest ones to their most recent, in this
example the shot goes from a full body of the girls to just showing the torso and arms on them
cutting out half of a girl. These types of weird unpredictable shots again add to the horror element
and let fans know what they are in for as they will recognize this style of editing done by them.

23. As the vocals kick into the song the video cuts completely to the stage at one of their concerts
with him singing that exact song. This ls very common in heavy metal to show off
The live performances in their music videos, this is because stereotypically
Fans of these sorts of music would prefer to hear it live and hear the raw
vocals, as well as this, the culture of live metal is that the audience all go
crazy starting mosh pit (where fans will all gather in a circle in the crown
and fight Run around etc.) something that is only seen in rock and metal
concerts which is a genre convention as you will never see these things
at say pop concerts. Because these live performances are so amazing in the eyes of the fans it
Is common for metal bands to add footage from the performances and give a taste of what it
is like to the fans who cannot go see them live. It also shows everyone what it is like from on
stage, their perspective of the concert rather than the viewers in the crowd. After the first few
lines of the song are over it cuts back to the shining parody showing the same band members
dressed as the girls, the editing is all over the place with no structure as to what is happening,
another convention of the genre especially for the time when this was released. It is easy to
see that this was a quite low budget video as most of it is more focused on showing the band
and letting them convey information about themselves through their perspective of the
concert and the story that runs alongside the video showing the shining but them as the
characters as the video goes on they start to show clips of the audience taken from on stage at
the concert, showing what their fans are like this is just to show their image by showing their
following and letting other people who dress this
way and use this style that slipknots music is aimed at them, broadening
their target audience, this may help them gain new fans as they want to
be those fans in the audience, gaining new fans means more sales and
getting themselves more popularity so I think that may have been the
Reason or these constant shots of the audience having fun, it also
Inspires more people to come watch them live as it looks enjoyable
As you can see in this screenshot where fans are shown smiling.

24. As the video continues new clips start playing showing the band members individually in a bar
with random shots of things like alcohol, which all play into the image of slipknot and their
crazy lifestyle. All of the shots through out the video go by very fast and most of them are
played at higher speeds, for example the clip the middle screenshot is from is a 1 second clip
of him falling around a room and landing at the table, the clip was probably about 10 seconds
real time but has been sped up to much to match the high tempo of the song and video it is
show in 1 second . A lot of the shots are also repeated, for example the same shot of the
alcohol being poured is shown multiple times in the space of about10 seconds. It has been
edited like this as it goes to the songs beat, the random fast shots go with the random fast
paced guitar riff which is repeated over and over just like the clips. As the chorus come in the
music slows down as the verses are rapped and the chorus is sang, as the music slows down
the shot speed is slowed and shows them doing fast things but slowed down.The recurring theme through out all the clips no matter if they are on stage or in the narrative,
the mise en scene is constantly very horror-esk, heavily filtered and shows something related to
the band no matter where it is, even when the clip of the two girls is playing, the same filters
shown throughout the video are over them letting you know it is still by them.

25. EDITING
Although the clips are incredibly fast and seem as though there is no structure, all of the clips
flow into each other in different ways. There is many different edits done throughout, cutting
the screen in half, changing the color of the whole shot drastically for half a second etc. These
allseem as though they have no purpose but though has been put into them and you can see
if you look carefully at how each shots flows into the next.
Although incredibly short and hard to notice, the boy from the audience earlier is in
a shot where the screen mirrors itself. You can tell this was done purposely as it
flows into a band member doing the exact same thing.
The high contrast shots are also a recurring thing through the music video and give it
some structure, they are also usually placed at points when the song has a particularly
different sound, for example on a very high pitch note it will go high contrast for half a
second, this makes it seem actually quite structured and professional even though it is

26. After the first chorus there is a short instrumental which cut back to the narrative of
the shining, showing the iconic scene where the door is cut down by an axe, this is
recreated by the band and shows the main singer hitting a door with and axe and
poking his head through. On a side note the name of the singer is Corey Taylor, in the
original clip when he sticks his head through the door in the shining he says “here's
Johnny”, the names Johnny and Corey both sound very similar so I don’t think it was a
coincidence they picked him for that scene. Small details like this can be picked up on
by big fans of both the band and the movie. it shows the video has some actual depth
and does want people to think about the choices they have made while making it and
how. However it is an enjoyable watch for anyone who just enjoys the music and
wants to see the band.
The narrative
Even with the central narrative being around the shining they still find ways
to make it clear it is a parody and their own take, there is a picture of the
door on display for a split second showing the bands name is written on the
door. As well this clip references the start of the video where the same door
is shown back to front.
Using the story from the shining brought a lot of new fans in which is clear
from the comment section, the song ended up being one of their most
popular and samples of the song are used in modern songs as backing
music for example xxxtentactions song “off the wall” uses the backing music
and the intro from Corey, that song was released in 2017 and the artist is a
rapper, so there had to be something that brought rappers over to the
heavy metal genre to find the song, which could be the intertextual

27. My third video was one of their most recent, it is for the song ”all out life” the song was
released as a teaser for their 2019album and came with a music video, the video is
purely story based and has no clips of the band playing and the band themselves are not
visible in the video. This is only done in 2 other slipknot music videos, vermilion part 1
and 2 as they are both very different to slipknots usual style, they are slow paced, talk
about serious issues and are supported by a music video that tells a story. All out life is
has the same story focus although it is a medium pace song, others songs they have
done like this had music videos showing the band playing so this is quite different for
them. The video has no clear message, the narrative is a bus full of people in overalls
pulls up to a building, they open a door, and the rest makes no sense, there are clips of
them on the floor rolling in blood, some people in robes get a hosepipe and spray more
blood on them, then the final shots being a man on his own getting sprayed with blood,
another man blowing up the bus they arrived in, then cutting back to the same man that
was getting sprayed with blood now lying on the floor breathing heavily.
All out life - slipknot
The editing and camerawork is incredibly different in this to all
their other videos too, there are lots of slow motion shots and
wide angles showing everything in the scene, this is very
different to videos like “spit it out” where they are very fast
paced and show little in each shot. This new style makes it feel
very cinematic, like you are watching a movie, this is probably to
showcase the skills the band has and their versatility.
The music video is very creative and there are some powerful shots throughout, the meaning of
the video is definitely up for interpretation to some degree as the lyrics do tell somewhat of a
story but there is so much unexplained video that it Is really up to how you perceive it.

28. the video does follow some conventions of a slipknot video and metal videos alike, there is gore, the
same dark atmosphere and the cloaked people from the ”the devil in I” music video. However the
robes are now black instead of red, and they are spraying red blood onto the people. So the theme
of red is still apartment even though the robes are now black, this could be taken as a reference to
the old robes and the music videos together may have a hidden bigger story.
The editing style is very different in this music video
compared to the other two, as well as the long drawn
out slow motion shots, there are more still images on
actual faces and shots showing more than just an arm
or a leg, which is different to the other two which
focused on very obscure imagery zooming on things
like shoulders rather than the face
The devil in i
ThedeviliniAlloutlife
All out life
Another detail is the visual affects, in earlier videos
it is clear the edits where very out there with the
high contrast and mirrored screen as shown in
“spit it out” however in “all out life” the edits are a
lot subtler like in this shot of a girl wearing a mask,
the shot is a few seconds long and shows only her
face but you can notice a black shaded area
around the shot, as if looking through someone
else's eye. This shot is affective yet subtle,
something unseen in music videos for slipknots

29. FINAL SIMILARITIES
I noticed that the transfers between different areas in the music videos are still very similar to
the old videos, for example in “spit it out” there was the clip I talked about where the screen
mirrored a fans face and switched to a mirrored image of the guitarist. The similarity in the
two shots merging them together is the mirrored image, in all out life there are lots of
transitions like this
A good example of this would be near the end of the video where a skeleton person strikes a flare
then drops it in a pool of petrol leading towards the bus. The shot ends with the flare shooting red
flames out of the end of it, this quickly transitions to a robed person shooting blood out of a hose
towards another skeleton. The flares fire looks very similar to the blood coming out of the hose and
both of them are played at the same speed, the shot transitions very smoothly letting you know that
we are now in a different location.
There are numerous other small details that can be picked up on which really give this a big edge on
professionalism compared to all the other videos. The screenshot below is only shown for a split
second and it is a low angle shot of a skeleton jumping out of the bus with and artificial lens flare in
the background, this makes the video look a lot more realistic and just visually pleasing for the fans
or anyone watching it for the video on its own

30. VIDEOS LOOKED AT
The devil in I-
slipknot
https://youtu.be/XEEa
sR7hVhA
Spit it out – slipknot
https://youtu.be/ZP
UZwriSX4M
All out life – slipknot
https://youtu.be/wLoYI
BEZEfw

31. 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