RESEARCH INTO MUSIC VIDEOS

By Sophie Treneman

The original purpose of a music video was to advertise an artist’s new song release in order to boost it’s sales as well as to get the artist more recognition and improve their popularity.

The music video provides another dimension of entertainment using music, it adds an element of visuals and is often used to reinforce the iconography of the artist – for example, their outrageous typicalities:

Lady Gaga: Robin Thicke: Katy Perry: Miley Cyrus:

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF A MUSIC VIDEO?

DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC VIDEOS

It is difficult to pin-point a specific time frame for the first ever music video, however an early form of the music video known as the illustrated song was established in 1894, to a song called ‘The Little Lost Child’ where a series of still images were projected onto a screen as the music played

Talkies, Soundies and Shorts:

In 1926 with the arrival of ‘talkies’ many musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts (sound/film system used for feature films by warner bros.) featured many bands, vocalists and dancers.

Shorts were usually about 5 minutes long and featured animations and backgrounds alongside the artist’s performance

One of the first examples of the promotional music video we have today was in 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film ‘A Hard Day's Night’, directed by Richard Lester. Shot in black-and-white and presented as a mock documentary - musical sequences furnished basic templates on which countless subsequent music videos were modeled.

In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing as we know it today.

CONVENTIONS OF A MUSIC VIDEO

Camera Shots:

Most performance music videos use a wide range of shots (long shots, close-ups and mid-shots), this is usually in order to keep the viewer engaged, otherwise it may become repetitive. Narrative music videos work conventionally much like feature-films in the shots used.

Editing:

Jump cuts are the most predominant editing technique used in music videos as it allows a sudden change in from one scene to another. However, as technology has improved, many music videos now feature aspects of animation and special effects, for example Eminem’s music video to ‘Rap God’.

HOW ARE MUSIC VIDEOS MADE?

Firstly comes the preliminary stage where a record label agrees to produce a music video and provides the artist’s production crew with a budget.

The next stage is the pre-production stage which involves the actual filming of the video itself.

Before the production stage where the footage is edited and worked until they are deemed ‘publish worthy’.

SOUND AND FILMING

These are the two most challenging aspects of the production of a music video. Firstly, the director has to decide between a performance or conceptual video.

Then, the video itself is produced (usually) with the artist, before being edited.

It is difficult to envisage how the music video will sound and look when played with the song, therefore the song is usually played during the production of a music video before being edited onto the sequence in order for it to make sense during lip synchronisation, if applicable.

BUDGET

A record label provides the director and production company with a budget in which to spend money on the making of the music vieo.

According to recent figures, nowadays, the average studio music video is budgetted at around £125,000 – £300,000.

The most expensive music video ever produced was Michael Jackson’s music video to ‘Scream’ costing around $10,000,000 directed by Mark Romanek.