This document outlines a case study assignment on music video production. It is divided into three tasks. Task 1 addresses the purposes of music videos in terms of entertainment, branding, sales, and strategies used by different types of artists. Task 2 covers common styles, techniques and conventions used in music video production. Task 3 requires analyzing at least three music videos in terms of purpose, style, techniques, intertextuality, camerawork, and genre conventions. The case study aims to demonstrate understanding of the purposes and production aspects of music videos.

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Music Video Production
Case Study
Jack Sullivan

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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

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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.

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Unit 29 – Music Video Production
Assessment Criteria
 The assessment criteria addressed by this case study, further
details are in your project brief:

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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.

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Task 1 - Purposes

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Task 1 - Purposes
 Entertainment
Music videos are normally created to entertain the audience. Some music videos are
used to tell a story along with the music, so it can be appealing to the audience visually
as well as the song they are listening to.
 Branding
The music videos include certain brands that are recognizable to the audience. This is
so after someone see’s the music video they can notice the artists outside of music and
also which one they prefer. Some music artists also advertise certain brands in their
songs and videos which makes the brand more noticed.
 Sales
Nearly all music videos are made to make money. Boy Bands like One Direction have
very similar videos for all of their songs, millions of people like their music and will
continue to buy it because it is all very similar.

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Task 1 - Purposes
 Q2 - More popular artists are more likely to use high production in
their music videos. This is because usually the more known and
popular artists put more money into their videos to make them more
appealing to the audience. The less popular and more underground
artists use more of a low production. The reason they use a low
production is because they might not be signed onto a major label and
might not have enough money to have high production. Even though
when a more underground artist starts to become more famous and
popular they start to put more money into their music videos and have
high production.

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Task 1 - Purposes
 Q3 – Certain company's let other company's use their products for
advertisement and different products. So a company could mention
another company which could get it more noticed and recognized.
 Busta Rhymes called a song “pass the Courvoisier”, this got
Courvoisier a lot more noticed and gave them a lot more publicity.
Courvoisier didn’t even ask busta rhymes to make the song, he just
made the song and then the company got a lot more noticed than they
were before, it also got the company a lot more sales and money that
they were used to getting.

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Task 1 - Purposes
 Q4 –The artist I have chosen is, Tyler the creator. The reason I have
chosen this artist is because he is very different to other artists with how
he writes his music and how he has his music videos to go along with the
songs and also have hidden meanings behind them.
 Tyler the creators brand is ‘Golf Wang’ and also ‘Odd Future’ which is a
group of rappers he used to be involved with. Golf is Tyler the creators
clothing brand, he wears Golf in a lot in his music videos and also
advertises the logo at the start and the end of his videos. The reason he
shows his brand off in his videos is because he wants more people to
notice it and also so it is recognized as his brand.
 In Tyler the creators videos if the song is upbeat and more of a happy
song his music videos are usually very colourful. If the songs are more
down beat and sad his music videos are usually more dark and plain.

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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 videos are very high production as they are on a major
label and have more money as a group. Then their music videos can
be used on TV to advertise their music and also other chart music.
 Animal Collective have more of a low production in their music videos.
Their videos include the band in the video but in a different way to how
One Direction show the members of their band.

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Task 2 – Styles, Techniques
and Conventions

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Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
 Q1 – Usually the camera focuses mostly on the main artist and
they use camera angles such as low angle shots, to make the
artist look bigger and so the main focus in the videos is on the
artists. High angle shots can make the artists look smaller and
show more of what is happening behind the artist.

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Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
 Q2 – Usually when a music video is being filmed they have the
artist singing their song then a studio recorded version of the
song is played over it in the video in time with the artist.

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Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and
Conventions
 Q3 – Most music videos have the artist lip syncing with the
audio track playing over the music video so the audio doesn’t
sound bad quality. They also have effects and most of the time
the music video is cut to the beat, so it changes when the beat
changes.

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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…

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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?

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Task 3 – Case Study

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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

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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