Music Video Research

Now that I've researched the history of the Promo, I've been looking at the varied existing products that inspire me, as I start to brainstorm ideas for my own video.
As the song I have chosen is sung by a solo female, I decided to look at other solo female artists in the industry. Examples of successful solo female artists that are inspiring are Katy B, Adele, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Katy Perry, Amy Winehouse, Laura Marling, Florence and the Machine and Ellie Goulding.

Here are some examples of their videos and how they're portrayed...

Katy B is one of the few British female artists in the dubstep/garage/house genre, which is similar genres to my song. The video is shot quite darkly and the themes of the song are also empowering so this is particularly good to study. It is fast cut, and there are montage elements to set the scenes of the club and the atmosphere. It also cuts to her singing away from the club, in a studio and a car as well as on stage. There is lots of use of colour and many close-ups and use of light which I like. As this was the artists debut single to hit the mainstream it very much focuses on the artist, whereas I'd like to focus more on the atmosphere and themes of the song.

As I would like the video to be artistic and have symbolic elements I like the idea of montages. Here are a two examples from different music genres...

Montages are important in setting the scene and overall vibe of the song. As both songs, especially the Chris Brown one, are quite fast it is right for them to be fast-cut also. So I am keen to try it out. This may be hard to prepare and story board as a lot of it may be spontaneous but there are certain shots that will be symbolic, relating back to the theory which I will prepare and plan for.


I also looked at videos with narratives. This is one of the most common types of music videos, as it engages the audience. Below are two different examples...

Firstly, Bounce is a video with a 'journey'. This video is slightly unusual as the narrative content doesn't directly refer to the lyrical content. However as it is a dance song this can be typical in that genre. The whole video is incredibly fast cut reflecting the nature of the song. This indicates that the editing will need to match the beat and pace of the song which is something that will need to be looked at in further depth.

This White Lies video is an example of high production values and the narrative does represent the lyrics. It attracts the audience as it is a little out of the ordinary and is very well shot with an unusual narrative. I like the twist at the end as it makes viewers think deeper about the song and what it symbolises. Obviously I don't have access to the amount of money and equipment needed for a video such as this, but I hope to bring across my own creative take on the narrative of the song.


My song has strong empowering themes and the feel of the song is very atmospheric, so I am lastly looking at videos that are full of atmosphere as well as being a little more independent and more creatively shot. 

Ideas For Final Piece

Here is a presentation that I made for class presenting my ideas for the final piece. It includes a song that I am looking to use and a mood board of ideas. Next I will develop further these ideas and look at music videos that will inspire me.

Ideas For Final Piece

View more presentations from SEW24

Bounce

A few days ago I put together this short video to get to grips with varied camera angles, editing and to look at how to put visuals to sound...

Music Video History

After some thinking I have decided that I will almost certainly be producing a music video, while retaining short film elements if that remains possible. 
So, to give me an insight into the music video market, I have done some research into the background of music promo videos and why they exist.

Definition: "A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes."


History of the Promo

Music videos date back much later than many people may expect. Ever since 'talkies' arrived in 1926 there have been musical short films and in the 1940's "promotional clips" of one-song films were made for the 'Panoram visual jukebox', dubbed "soundies". 

In the late 60's/every 70's, as television grew, many "filmed inserts" were used by UK artists on TV if the artists couldn't play live. Pink Floyd, The Who, The Rolling Stones, The Moody Blues and The Doors were early artists who produced music videos.

In 1973, David Bowie featured in a series of promotional films, and they were hugely important in the development of the music video genre as they were made by a professional photographer, as opposed to a film or TV director, who had creative control.

Top of the Pops began to play music videos in the late 1970's, and bands found that a good music video increased the singles sales, as viewers wanted to watch the video again next week.

Then, in 1981, MTV was launched, showing music videos 24 hours a day. Only a few years later music videos became the centre of popular music marketing. Artists such as Duran Duran and Madonna grew in their success due to their appealing videos. The development of technology also played a part in the rise of modern music videos, as video cameras became much cheaper and easier to use. 

Then in 1983 came the most successful and famous music video to ever be produced, Thriller by Michael Jackson, which was almost 14 minutes long and cost half a million dollars to make, setting a new standard for artists across the world.

Moving onto the nineties and the use of directors names in the credits of the videos made it clear that music videos were becoming much more serious. In 1995 one of the most expensive videos of all time was made, Scream by Michael and Janet Jackson, costing $7 million. 

Then with the rise of the internet in the mid 2000's, music videos became more accessible to everyone, especially in 2005 with the launch of YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook where audiences could share videos quickly and easily. However after YouTube merged with Google, problems arose over copyright, complicated by the fact that not all record labels shared the same policies towards music videos. 

 Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" video became the most-viewed video on YouTube in 2010 with 130 million views, which was beaten in 2011 by Justin Bieber's "Baby" with over 500 million views.