Planning; Casting

Casting is a very important part to our music video. This is important as the person that we will pick to play the main character in our music video must be suitable. In our music video the main character has to be a male, and they must have desirable qualities and confident to perform in-front on a camera.

The person that will pick to play the main character has to be confident and can't be worried about being self conscious in front of the camera when performing.  We have to be very good with our decision as we can't pick anyone who will feel uncomfortable and not be able to perform up to the standards that are required for our music video.

Therefore, the person we pick will need to adapt and need to be efficient at lip syncing as they will not actually be singing in the music video, but need to convince to the audience that they actually are. Throughout the filming process we will get our singer to sing along with the song so it is easy for us to match the footage up when editing. In addition to this they need to hold the correct look and fashion that would suit are target audience and relation to our artist. I will need to make sure that performer can be available for when we decide to film. We will need to contact the performer and plan out when we are all available to film. Furthermore, I took picture of candidates that could potentially play the main actor in our music video and then I will explain weather or not we think they would be a suitable choice.

Jamie Butler

Jamie aged 17 we feel like he wouldn't be a suitable choice to play the role as the main character in our music video. We believe that Jamie isn't very comfortable in-front of the camera and is someone who prefers to be at the other end of the camera. Jamie often likes to look at the camera whilst filming so we feel like this is a reason why we would need to pick someone else. He also isn't very good at showing a variety of emotions when performer therefore, Jamie wouldn't be a good candidate as our performer needs to show emotion from the lyrics in the music video.

Sam Merrison


Sam aged 17 we feel wouldn't be a suitable choice o play the role as the main character in our music video. Similar to Jamie, Sam would prefer to be at the other end of the camera filming instead of acting. Even though Sam is a bit more confident in-front of the camera he has little patience and wouldn't be able to stay focused throughout the video. This would be a problem because it would be hard to get the music video recored as he would keep losing focus and this could lose the effect of the video. 

Sam Thompson 

Sam, who is also aged 17 would be better suited to play the role in our music video as he is more confident in front of a camera. He also has experience of acting. He is also good at following instructions. He can also show different emotions in front of the camera as he doesn't become shy or lose confidence when the camera is pointing at him. Sam will also suit our target audience as he has the correct fashion sense to match our target audience. This is important as this will allow our audience to connect with the main character as he will have the same fashion sense as the audience. As sam is our preferred actor we had him perform in a practice video to see how e would perform. This is how he got on;

Conclusion 
Me and Ryan decided to choose sam thompson as our artist as although he was over coforident in the casting video we could tell him to act like that in our music video. He is the best choice as we believe he can follow instructions correctly and is confident infant of a camera unlike the other two candidates. we also thought that jamie didn't suit the style of the music video and the genre of music and he wouldn't connect with the people watching the music video.

Planning; Location

Planning our film location. Throughout our music video it will be filmed within the Quarries and Kettering Pleasure park. The reason that we picked these for our locations is because we find that the nature of the pleasure park and the abandoned building at the quarry would suit our setting well for the music video. Also as well as knowing we have the opportunity to film a wide range of different shots and can move around the quarry finding different places to film.
Location 1:

This is a picture of a abandoned building. The big building on the left of the picture is one place where we are planning on filming our music video. I think that it will be a good idea to film here as it will be quiet which means we won't be disturbed by others. However, with filming outside we will be restricted to natural light with it getting dark early we will have to get the filming done in a good time and all in the same day.

Location 2:

This is the Pleasure Park bandstand, we are going to film it here as during the its quiet and it has a nice enviorment to it. The time we are thinking of filming (1PM) it will be quiet and it won't be busy so it will be easy for us to film and get everything done without any trouble of getting interrupted.

We had some initial ideas of filming in town. This wold be an ideal place to film as it is popular place that people spend time. However, we decided not to film in this location as it wold be too busy and it would be uncontrollable as it is a very busy public place. Their also would be too many factors effecting the music video such as outside noise that we would not want in the video. 

Planning: Audience Feedback

For our audience feedback we asked potentially audience members that would listen to this genre of music. this means it is specific into that potentially audience. It means that if we ask people that like this genre of music it means that it is more specific and they will have more effective feedback.

we asked Jamie Vaughan the following questions and his replies are below;

What do you think of our initial ideas?

I think you have a good set of initial ideas with a wide range of possibilities. They would all make a good music video that fans of this genre would enjoy watching and would fit into place with other music videos of this genre and from Jack Garratts music videos. you have also gone into a lot of detail about how the actor will be acting during the music video to make sure it suits the music video and genre.

What do you think of the theming of our music video and song choice?

I believe you have a good theme for your music video and a theme that will suit your song choice which is important as it can't be contrasting themes to the song. The theme suits the tone of the song as it is about a broken relationship and by having the actor walking on his own looking lonely really suits the lyrics.

Do you think people can relate to the song and theme of the music video?

I think that the audience will be able to relate to the song and also the music video. this is because the song is about broken relationships and being lonely. this can be related to relatively easily as most people have experienced one before so they can connect with the feeling and what he is going to be doing through the music video.

Storyboard Animatic

This is our Storyboard animatic, I used this so it can give us an idea of what we would like our music video to look like. This is what we are hoping to get the music video to look like and we feel that our locations that we picked would be suitable and would fit well with the song.

Planning: Music Video Pitch For 'Artist Name' 'Song Title'

This is our 60 second pitch. In the music video we will state about the artist name, the song title and about the lyrics. It will also explain the thought on how we can make a music video for our song and explain about the mood and tone set in the video for how the theme of a music video is.

Music Video Planning; Initial Ideas

These are some of our initial ideas in a mind map form.

Research: Who Is My Target Audience?

The target audience for Jack Garrett would be people who typically enjoy indie pop, trip hop, PBR and B and electronica.In order to create a music video based on indie I need to understand who my main target audience is by researching who usually listens to indie genre . Generally male audiences ages 16-24 year olds are the target audiences for indie. This may be because of they may have similar costume and that they bands culture lifestyle may relate to the male audiences.

The Indie Pop genre is generally targeted at audience members of the age 16-24. The reason it is becoming popular is due to the record labels releasing snippets of information about up coming artists and new songs to entice the audience to watch their music. Therefore the use of social networks is increasing their popularity and spreading the word to a wider audience. Through the medium of YouTube and Facebook.


However it's stylistic origins stemmed from Indie Rock and 1960's girl-group pop. Therefore the audience gender varies between men and women. 

This genre is mostly aimed at 15-21 year old that attend Higher Education or University. This is because they connect with the Indie genre due to being a very independent age. Furthermore, the Indie Pop genre is all about the "independent freedom" which men and women of this age strive to achieve. I believe they would fit into the D social grade due to most of this audience being teenagers and young adults. Therefore they may have part-time or full time jobs that don't exceed their future expectations.

The occupations for this audience would be parties, hanging out with their friends, not following a crowd, and doing their own thing independently. All of course, because that is what they believe in. I imagine they also would stay to themselves quite a lot and have lots of time to think and do school work as the age range is HE or University. 

The artists and audience are more than likely artistic and creative in their own unique style of fashion and art. They usually have unusual hobbies that contradicts the stereotypical activities of their classmates.

The Indie Pop is a genre of alternate rock, and originated from the 1980's UK Indie Rock music genre. Indie Rock has a harsher and edgier sound to the music, however, Indie pop contrasts this by being more melodic and smoother. Furthermore it takes inspiration from the 1960's girl group music and power pop. Therefore this gives the Indie Pop genre more retro elements and makes usage of jangly guitars. The instruments used are mainly pianos and guitars, also the artist can normally play one of these instruments.

When researching into my target audience I researched and asked people of the age we are targeting if they like our artist after asking a handful of people we could start to see a pattern of the people that liked our artist and that didn't. This was important as we then asked them further questions on what they expected in the music video and we could also see the way they dressed and the way they spoke. This was crucial as I then i could picture a stereotypical viewer of our music video. I also asked them if they liked any similar artists. This means i could do some research into other music videos that they already like and see what they was like and what was in them videos. 

After asking the questions we spoke to Joel who is 17, he lives in Northamptonshire and he enjoys listening to music and listens to music everyday. Joel has a lot of friends who like the same type as music as him. 

Research : Detailed Research Into Chosen Artist : Jack Garratt

Jack Garratt
Name: Jack Garrett    Genre: indie Pop      Record labels: Island Records

Jack Robert Garratt was born 11 October 1991 in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. He grew up in the village of Little Chalfont. During his childhood he stated that: "I just really enjoyed making noises and really enjoyed the reaction that I got from making those noises. So they put me on music lessons to encourage me to hone in on that talent rather than show off."He wrote his first song when he was 12 and learnt how to play a variety of instruments from the guitar and the drums with that playing the piano to. He attended St Clement Danes school in Chorleywood and the University of Roehampton in London.

Junior Eurovision 2000
In September 2005, Jack entered the UK national selection for that year's Junior Eurovision song contest to be held in Belgium. Jack Performed the song "The Girl".

2009–13 He signed to an independent record label and began working on an album with the title Nickel and Dime. The music was acoustic Blues music.He was played on BBC Three counties Radio in March 2012 as part of BBC Introducing.

2014–present: Phase On 28 October in the year 2014, Jack Garratt released his first extended play, Remnants, and a remix EP, Remnix. On 28 November 2014 he released the single "The Love You're Given". His 2014 single "Worry" was playlisted by BBC Radio 1 ,stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals. He also headlined at Lost Village Festival in Lincoln in 2016. 

This is a link to Jack Garratt's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/jackgarrattmusic

This is a link to Jack's Youtube channel. https://www.youtube.com/user/JackGarrattVEVO

This is a link to Jack Garratt's Twitter page. https://twitter.com/JackGarratt?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

This is a link to Jack Garratt's Soundcloud. https://soundcloud.com/jackgarratt

This is the video of my artist Jack Garratt having an interview on BBC Breakfast. He talks about his first album that is coming out, he was very worried because he can't make any chances to it and once it has finished thats it no going back. He talks about how long it has taken him to complete the album and now it is 100% finished. Jack's parents were huge Stevie Wonder fans and they got jack into it, he says his music was different to everyone else's back in the 1990's. Jack got into music as his mum was a primary school teacher and she had interments around the house, Jack stated that he would take them and try and play with them. His father got into playing guitar when he was a teenager so jack got playing the guitar from him. Jacks favourite interment to play was the drums when he was younger, the one thing he loved about playing the drums was that he taught the play them by himself and had no teaching what so ever.

Research ; 3 Potential Artists And Albums

This is me and Ryan presenting our Potential artists to the class.

Research (Independent Reading) NME : What Makes A Good Music Video

To celebrate the launch of their new video site (NMEvideo.com) in 2011 the NME (New Musical Express) interviewed Sasha Nixon - head of music videos and executive producer at Partizan. She's overseen award-winning videos for Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem, The Horrors and Bjork. Amongst her roster are directors such as Michel Gondry and Saam Farahmand.


What makes a great music video?
As difficult to answer as 'what makes a great song' - it really depends on several factors. For me, it's often a singular stylistic tone that transcends whatever is fashionable, and suggests a brand new aesthetic. Or it could be as simple as a superbly choreographed and edited performance - if the artist/band is mesmerising enough to hold that without the need for bells and whistle. Or just a brilliant, witty concept. And a good track certainly helps.

Why do so many film directors start in video?

There is the obvious link between young film students being of the age where they are really into bands and music so find inspiration and opportunities there, but also the fact that record companies actively want to hire students, or not-yet-established young directors to make their videos, because it's alot cheaper.

Has the internet changed the way we consume music videos?

Yes definitely. We now have 'on demand' videos thanks to Youtube whereas before we had to wait for MTV to play the video we liked. There is an overwhelming wealth and breadth of videos to consume thanks to the internet, but whether that means we pay as much attention to music videos as we did back in the day, when you knew Madonna's new video would be played at 8pm on Friday and everyone tuned in... I don't know. It's perhaps all more throwaway now, but that applies to alot of things we can consume online these days.



Is the change good or bad?

I suppose a bit of both. I miss the 'event' that a new video could be, but that's also because releasing music has been democratised, so I'm generally overwhelmed by the amount of new artists there are to discover, let alone watching all their videos.

Do you think YouTube has helped or hindered music videos? 

Both. It's a pleasure to be able to tune into your favourite video when you want, but I'm worried about the notion that on the internet you can get whatever you want for free whenever you want. As the music industry lose money due to this phenonmenon, they spend less and less on videos which reduces quality and opportunity, and means talent gets quickly frustrated (and broke) in the video arena and moves quickly onto tv drama, commercials, and all those other areas that are a bit less fun and creative. It is slowly but surely creating a talent drain, and videos will be less ambitious, have less scope. I don't see it as remaining a breeding ground for the new Gondrys, Cunninghams, Jonzes, who then go onto make fantastic films on the back of learning their craft in videos.

What do you think of the spate of the longer music videos that sprang up last year ('Telephone', 'Born Free')?

I wish there were more of these but it's a case of there not being enough budgets to do this kind of thing anymore. They are one-off's.

What do you make of Ok Go’s style of music video making? 

They were very clever to find another path to get their music noticed, because their songs aren't memorable or catchy enough. If only more bands were talented visual creatives/directors, things would be a lot more interesting.

What do you think of stuff like Arcade Fire’s interactive video and Pendulum’s 3D video? 

Interesting and clever for a few minutes but not something that I will personally remember for too long. Technology dates itself so 3D and interactivity will feel basic and anachronistic as time goes by. There's nothing wrong with that, all music videos are a time capsule in their own way, but I just can't get excited about the immersive experience of clicking my mouse all over a browser while watching windows pop open and a track playing in the background. Each to their own, many I'm sure love it.

How has the recession affected music videos? 

In a terrible way, sadly. The epic music video is a thing of the past and it makes me sad. Telephone and Born Free - these music video 'events' are rare exceptions that will only come out from the dwindling number of very rich artists. And labels spending less on videos mean you can only get them made by using alot of favours (aka exploiting people's goodwill) rather than actually paying for them. Why should people work consistently for bands or record companies for free? When labels say to me 'We really want a really glossy pop video but we can only spend £5k', it's like me saying 'I really want a 3 bedroom house in Chelsea but I only have £50k'. That side of it is pretty demoralising.

Have musicians attitudes to music videos changed since you became involved in them?

Not particularly. They seem still to see the importance of the music video in their campaign, in a way it's as important as the song being played on radio. If anything, they seem to want more and more videos, such as we have seen in recent times where some bands make a video for every track on an album.

What do you think of David Cameron’s plans for film certificate-style ratings for music videos? 

I think it's fair enough. Speaking as a female, I feel very demoralised by the sexualisation of women in videos, especially as it's often a bandage placed over blatant lack of talent. Don't get me wrong, I can love a sexy video when done well, eg Ciara's 'Ride', because she's genuinely amazing in it, but alot of the time, the results are simply exploitative. A 17 year old girl band who don't know any better than to basically poledance in their video and send tragic messages to the 10 years old that admire them about what one needs to look like to be attractive or what one needs to do to attract a man - that's what I have a problem with.
Perhaps it's when a female artist is that bit older and more in control of her sexuality and image, and not trying too hard but just being naturally sexual, and not being svengalied by a sleezy 50 year old manager, then it feels way less tragic to me. Lykke Li is surely way sexier than Nicole Sherzingher.

What are your 5 favourite music videos?

'Let Forever Be' - Chemical Brothers by Michel Gondry. 

What can I say, it's a classic... it's so wonky with its mixed up use of formats and lofi and hi fi techniques. This was the first time I'd seen anything that inventive on so many different levels.

Triumph Of A Heart - Bjork by Spike Jonze.

It's my favourite of all their collaborations maybe because it just feels like that's how Bjork's life genuinely rolls in Iceland.

Forever Dolphin Love - Connan Mockasin by Daniel Brereton.

There is so much heart in this strange video.

Somebody To Love Me - Mark Ronson by Saam Farahmand.

Apart from being a great song, and great video, very few people realise it stars actress Diane Kruger as Boy George - and I love that, so refreshing because it's so anti-hype.

It's Automatic - Zoot Woman - by Mike Mills.

It's no grand concept in this video, but it fills me with both melancholy and joy every time I see it.

What’s the future of music videos?
An increase in hobbying directors springing up, brandishing their Canon 5D's and shooting lo fi but hopefully exciting videos for their mate's band. The end of shooting on film, which is very tragic.More product placement.

Research : My Favourite Music Video : Textual Analysis

Artist: Jack Ü

Featured artist: Justin Bieber

Album: Skrillex and Diplo Present Jack Ü

Awards: Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording (2015)

The song Where are you now was released in 2015.

The directer of 'Where are you now' was directed by Brewer, also the production company was Prettybird. The producer of the song was Nathan Scherrer.

A camera shot is moving slowly down a corridor going into an empty room, when the camera turns to the left you can see what seems to look like pictures with Justin Bieber on them. Then it slowly starts moving closer and closer to a empty picture,then it goes into a picture where we can see Justin Bieber 's body in a dark room then it gets lighter as he starts to sing then you can see is face. While Justin is singing after a while the camera slowly starts to get closer to him,it then gets to a point where the camera is at a close up.

The next shot you can see a paintbrush going into a paint pallet where the brush goes into the black paint then is pressed down on a black page. The shot after is a close up of Justin where paint is going up his neck and going onto into his face. 

It then goes to a mid shot of Justin standing there in a mid shot where the paint progressively goes over more of his body and fills the rest of the background. every second it goes to a new picture of Justin in the same position, same picture but just different painting on them, it goes on for 14 seconds. It then goes to a time lapse of people in the empty room at the beginning of the video to loads of people in it drawing on the pictures of Justin Bieber. There is a Birdseye view of where you can see in the room and whats going on, there is shots of people painting on pictures then it goes towards the pictures on the wall again then it goes into Justin dancing where every second different pictures around him change but he still dances, this lasts for 24 seconds where then the light picture starts to go dark. It then cuts to a black screen for a few seconds then a close up of Justin singing. 

The camera then starts to track up Justin's hand where a painting starts to show, then it goes to his other side but his arm starts to track up with painting starting to show on it, the paint then starts to go up his neck and onto his ear. Then we can see a mid shot of Justin's back where paint is all over it and the camera starts to get closer towards. Then there are different shots of Justin's body where there paint is starting to fill up his body. Next there is an extreme close up of Justin's eye where it looks like paint is dripping from his face.

Then is goes to a picture of Justin standing there is arms in the dark where every second a different picture is on Justin and around him, this goes on for around 23 seconds then it resumes but its Justin dancing not standing still, lastly it cuts to a black screen and the music video stops.

Research : Analysing A Music Video Using Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features Of Music Videos

In his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) Andrew Goodwin points out 6 characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. 

1.   Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).

2.  There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3.  There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4.  The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5.  There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6.  There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

(From Andrew Goodwin, DANCING IN THE DISTRACTION FACTORY, 1992.)

1) The music video ‘Burning beaches’ agrees with the first point of Andrew Goodwin point, the first  fact shows a lot of features in urban music. For example set in urban locations where it’s on the street or in big houses set in urban locations. The main guy is a black male which is often seen in urban music compared to white males.

2.   There is defiantly a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. The images show this because the lighting is dark all throughout the video and that gives it a dull mood.  ‘This fighting beneath the stars’ this is used while he is with the girl.

3.   The music video gives us an insight as in the video is dark all throughout and gives it a dull and mood to it, this is due to the colour of the lighting and visuals that were used.

4.   The start of the music video there is a close up of the main guy in the music video but throughout the music video there isn’t many close up of the charter, when there are close ups its of objects in the video.

5.   The start of the music video the man looks at the female for a second as he can’t look at her in the eyes, then it goes to the female but we don’t see her body we see her eyes in the mirror and this shows particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. 

Research (Independent Reading) : Steve Archer 'How To Study Music Videos'

Steve Archer wrote an article in Media Magazine in 2004 in which he suggests five essential criteria which should help you to evaluate music videos.

"Pessimists often complain that music video television has made pop superficially image-based. But my description of MTV and music video in MediaMag 6 failed to address what is still its most central and significant element, beyond the control of MTV, Viacom and Motorola: the appeal and power of pop sounds!

I’d like to suggest that the sounds are the basis of a process of visualisation that serve to enhance, not restrict, the original pop sound effect. Pop music theorist Andrew Goodwin claims that a good music video is:

"..a clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations."
(Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992)

If we accept the theory that pop songs on their own are not enough to create sufficient meaning and pleasure in the audience, the ‘added value’ of star image created by CD covers, live performance and music videos can be enough to inspire the consumer to buy into the whole intensely romantic myth of it all – and therefore actually buy the pop music. 

Certainly, the whole music business is sustained by the few star guarantees of profit in an unstable market. This maybe explains the somewhat fetishistic behaviour of fans who will buy the CD even if they can easily get the tracks for free on some P2P provider – we want all the packaging, the sacrosanct details in the booklet, the assurance it really belongs to us, not just the ‘stacking up’ of sounds that is the song itself. 

However, I am keen to keep these sounds as the primary pleasure and driving force of the music industry. This focus, therefore, is reflected in the order of my ‘Top Five Things to Look for’ when deciding if a music video is any good. 

Five things to look for …

I’ve turned the ideas in Goodwin’s book, Dancing in the Distraction Factory, into checklist form for you to test out on the current crop of music videos. 

At number 1 ... 

‘Thought Beats’ or seeing the sounds in your head

The basis for visualising images comes from a psychological process called synaesthesia, where you picture sounds in your mind’s eye. This idea is absolutely central to understanding music video as they build on the soundtrack’s visual associations in order to connect with the audience and provide that additional pleasure. 

To use this approach you need to start with the music, sorting out the way the song works, taking into account the way it has been stacked up with sound. To begin, lyrics don’t need to be analysed word for word like a poem but rather considered for the way they introduce a general feeling or mood. Very rarely do song lyrics have a coherent meaning that can be simply read off; but they are important in at least creating a sense of subject matter. So key phrases or lines (and especially those repeated in the chorus) will have a part to play in the kind of visuals associated with the song. 

Here, Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ is relevant – this sees the singing voice more as an expressive instrument, personal, unique even, to the singer, like a fingerprint, and therefore able to create associations in itself. The voice of a song may even possess trademarks that work hand-in-hand with the star image – so Michael Jackson’s yelp is a trademark sound that immediately sets him apart from other singers.

Finally, if songs are stories, then the singer is the storyteller and this obviously makes music videos stand out on TV, as they feature a first person mode of address rather than the invisible ‘fourth wall’ of television narration. 

Goodwin interestingly compares pop singers to stand-up comics in the way the personal trademark or signature dominates the performance. The music – or arrangement of the song, including instrumentation, the mix and effects, including samples – generally works with the lyrics and grain of voice. Generally we can look at key sounds, like the tempo (or speed of the song) and structure of the song in terms of verse and chorus. To give an example of how instruments can create visual associations, the slow twang of the steel guitar could create geographically-based visual associations from the Deep South of the US – a desert plain, a small town, one road out, men chewing tobacco … We all share a memory bank of popular culture imagery (intertextuality), a sense of shared cultural history without which these references would make no sense. Places, people, feelings, situations leading to mini-narratives – all these can be summoned from the sounds of popular music. 

These visualisations can arise from more personal, individual responses, sometimes even tied to a place or part of your own autobiography, the specific details of your life story and emotions. A combination of these shared and personal images tied to the words and instrumentation form the basis of music video creativity. 

At number 2 … 

Narrative and performance

Songs rarely tell complete narratives; we are used to studying them with other visual texts like film. The narrative fuzz in songs affects the way stories are used in music video representations of a song’s meaning. So, often we get the suggestion of a story, a hint at some kind of drama unfolding. 

There is another important reason why music videos should avoid a classic realist narrative, and that is their role in advertising. 

Music videos need to have repeatability built in to them. We need to be able to watch them repeatedly in a more casual way, with a looser approach to their storytelling. I’d suggest that more important than narrative is the way that performance is used in video clips, a point I’ll look at again in number 3. Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-sync close-up and the mimed playing of instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the band really can kick it. 

Remember that pop music is a romantic art, all about truth, talent, and magic, so we need to believe in the authenticity of the performance first and foremost. The supposed individual and original qualities of these performers leads me to my next point, the source of all profit in the business … the star!

At number 3 … 


The star image

The music business relies on the relatively few big name stars to fund its activities; it usually fails to connect with popular audiences – only about one in ten acts put out by the industry actually makes any money. Therefore, what we can describe as the meta-narrative of the star image will have an important part to play in the music video production process. 

Meta-narrative is a term that describes the development of the star image over time, the stories that surround a particular artist. 

Michael Jackson – a mini case study

(Note : this article was written before Jackson's death)

Michael Jackson’s meta-narrative has been a long, sometimes difficult journey and one he has lost control of in recent years. 

There have been a few crucial moments in Jackson’s meta-narrative of pop stardom. The first was the successful move from being one of a group – even if acknowledged as its central talent – as child member of The Jackson 5, to becoming a solo artist. 

He was then able to negotiate one of the most successful solo careers ever through developing both his trademark sound and image. The ground-breaking music videos for Thriller and Beat It were an important part of this mega-stardom. 

At some point in the 90s, though, this meta-narrative took a wrong turn and his unique ‘star image’ became ‘freakish’ and self-indulgent; we are reminded that this child star has never grown up. Thus, the Jackson talent, his natural birthright it seems, becomes the reason for his adult weirdness. His younger self – black, funky, energetic – is constantly held up to condemn his current abnormality – withdrawn, of no ethnicity, over-produced to the point of ceasing to exist. And yet, all this means he is still talked about, the object of mass media fascination and so, in a very real sense, still a star. Whether the most recent allegations of child abuse will finally render that stardom invalid remains to be seen.

Meta-narratives of star image are not simply a matter of manipulation, but a dialogue or negotiation of what the music business asserts about their star, and what we accept! Still, in each new video, Michael Jackson tries to regain control over his meta-narrative but he can’t just switch off all the different associations he’s accumulated during his career, whether good or bad. So music videos can best be seen as one of the most important ways that the image of the artist is ‘managed’. 

At number 4 … 

Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song

We can identify three ways in which music videos work to support or promote the song. These are illustration, amplification and disjuncture and I find them extremely useful in attempting to generalise the effects of individual music videos. 

• Music videos can illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, providing a sometimes over literal set of images. Here, then, is the most straightforward technique and the classic example of visualisation, with everything in the music video based on the source of the pop song. 

• However, as with all advertising, the most persistent type of video adds to the value of the song. Amplification is seen as the mark of the true music video Auteur, the director as artist, and an increasingly common way to view music video creatives (VH-1’s Best 100 Videos clearly placed Spike Jonze in the Auteur category with his work always amplifying the original song’s meaning and effect, usually through surreal humour). Crucially, though, and what separates it from disjuncture, is the fact that amplification music videos retain a link with the song and work to enhance or develop ideas, rather than fundamentally changing them.

• Disjuncture is a term used to describe those music videos that (normally intentionally) seem to work by ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings. This is quite a radical technique and used by arty bands in order to assert their difference and originality. Usually, disjuncture videos of this type don’t make a lot of sense and may be based on abstract imagery. For example in Spike Jonze’s video for Daft Punk’s ‘Da Funk’ we see a man with a dog’s head and his arm in a cast walking round New York, ignored by all, with dialogue completely unrelated to the song itself. Sometimes though, disjuncture videos are just bad, ill-conceived and self-indulgent mistakes. 

And finally at number 5 ... 

Technical aspects of music video

The last really essential aspect of music video to study is technical. This includes camerawork, movement and angle, mise-en-scène, editing, and sound. 

It is important to remember the more general features of music videos already mentioned when trying to work out the technical effects, especially those which are post-production, effects. Broadly, the technical conventions can be summed up as follows: 

1. Speed! 

Speed is visualised by camera movement, fast editing (montage) and digital effects.

Camera movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers.

Fast-cutting and montage editing creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption, with the images occasionally moving so fast that they are impossible to understand on first viewing and thus need to be viewed several times (repeatability). 

Post-production digital effects – a staple of music video where images can be colorized, multiple split screens appear, and so on, all to complicate and intrigue, providing pleasure again and again. 

Not all camera movement is about speed though and some use slow pace through dissolves or static shots. This kind of editing – like Sinead O’Conner’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – is striking and effective in setting the song apart from the hustle and bustle of most pop activity. 

2. Meat! 

The meat of most music videos is the cut to the close-up of the singer’s face. This is because the voice is seen as the most important part of pop music. 

3. Beats! 

Often, the video will try and represent the music through the use of the cut to go with the beat or key rhythm. This is called 'cutting to the beat'.

4. Lighting and colour 

...may also be used to emphasise key moments in the song, using methods from lighting live performances for dramatic effect. Colour may be used to show a development in the song, going from colour to black and white or vice versa when the chorus comes in. Equally, any change in the mise-en-scène or camerawork can signal the same type of thing.

5. Mise-en-scène 

Obviously the setting for music videos is important, often to guarantee the authenticity of the clip rather than anything else. So mise-en-scène for many music videos is the concert hall or rehearsal room to emphasise the realness of the performance or the grit and practice that goes into attaining star quality. Increasingly, CGI is used, especially for dance songs, which don’t rely so much on being ‘real’ like rock, soul and rap acts."

Steve Archer : Media Magazine 2004