Music Video Production

Case Study By Lewis William Hill

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

Unit 29 – Music Video ProductionLearning 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.

Unit 29 – Music Video ProductionAssessment CriteriaThe assessment criteria addressed by this case

study, further details are in your project brief:

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

Task 1 - PurposesQ1 - 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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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.

Task 1 - PurposesQ4 – 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.

AdeleAdele 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.

Task 1 - PurposesQ5 – 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.

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.

Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and

Conventions

Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and ConventionsQ1 – 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.

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

Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and ConventionsQ3 - Describe and explain some of the technical

developments in music videos, i.e. the types of shot used with examples to illustrate this

Task 2 – Styles, Techniques and ConventionsQ4 – 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…

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?

Task 3 – Case Study

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

Task 3 – Case StudyYou should include a video link for the video You can include as many illustrative stills as

you likeBe 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