Music Video Production
Purposes
Music videos are a relatively new invention and have only really been known since the early 1980's, when MTV began to air. MTV originally stood for 'Music Television' and this was a channel dedicated to music videos.
There is a big on-going discussion about which was the first ever music video. Many say that Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues' is the first. However, people argue that this is not the case, because it was not a stand alone video and was in fact just an opening to a documentary. Another video also up for discussion is Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". The reason for this is because it is said to be the first video made to specifically accompany a song.
This is the music video to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
This is the music video to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
In recent years, it has become uncommon for any artists to produce a song without a music video. There are many different reasons for artists to produce music videos. Possibly the most important reason to make a music video is to promote the artist and/or song in order to sell more. This could include snippets from their world tours, showing the band playing live to an audience, which could then lead to listeners buying a ticket to their next tour.
Synergy is quite common in music videos, meaning that they often allude to other films or products. This can happen when a sound track to a certain film becomes popular and everyone begins buying the song. A music video to that song may be created using clips or actors from the film that it originally came from. This is because most of the people who liked the song, will probably have watched the film also, so by including clips from the film, the viewers will understand and relate to it. However, for the viewers watching the music video and listening to the song, they will notice the clips and may go and watch the film. Either way, its a win-win situation and has been done many many times, because it is so effective. For example, "Another Way To Die" by Alicia Keys and Jack White features well known imagery that links to the James Bond film that the song originally came from.
A music video is also a brilliant platform for artists to portray who they are to their audiences, rather that just being a voice. Having the correct target audience is essential for doing well in the industry and Miley Cyrus is an excellent example of an artist that wanted to change hers. She had always been known for the popular television show, "Hannah Montana" where she played the role of a young girl. As time passed and she became a lot more matured, she no longer wanted to be linked with the younger girl that she once played, so she made possibly the biggest decision of her career and dropped the 'Hannah Montana' label by releasing a new music video, called "Wrecking Ball". The internet went crazy. Everyone was talking about her and this new music video, which showed her looking totally different. She made the choice to change everyone's views on her by using the power of a music video; she was no longer a small girl that everyone thought she was.
Music videos can be used to simply show the lyrics to the song. These are called Lyric videos and are extremely popular; sometimes artists will produce an additional video dedicated to showing off the lyrics. To my knowledge, most lyric videos that have been made are all the same and quite boring, with some exceptions. It is argued that Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" is the first ever music video, but it is definitely the first lyric video for a song. The video consists of a young Bob Dylan standing in an alley holding various cards, which have different lyrics on them for the song. Considering this had never been done before, it wasn't actually too bad; within all of the cards, he has a few that say lyrics that are never said in the song and he sometimes miss-times the dropping of card, but it was all intentional. This was to keep the viewers attention and to cause a few laughs from audience.
In recent times, producers have been trying their best to think of exciting ways to create inventive videos to display a song's lyrics. Here is an example I have chosen from Avicii, which I really like and I believe it proves my earlier point.
Synergy is quite common in music videos, meaning that they often allude to other films or products. This can happen when a sound track to a certain film becomes popular and everyone begins buying the song. A music video to that song may be created using clips or actors from the film that it originally came from. This is because most of the people who liked the song, will probably have watched the film also, so by including clips from the film, the viewers will understand and relate to it. However, for the viewers watching the music video and listening to the song, they will notice the clips and may go and watch the film. Either way, its a win-win situation and has been done many many times, because it is so effective. For example, "Another Way To Die" by Alicia Keys and Jack White features well known imagery that links to the James Bond film that the song originally came from.
Conveying a message is sometimes all a music video is there to do. Many producers achieve this by telling a short story with an underlying message or moral. The video can sometimes be the main attraction, instead of the song. The messages can include politics, social issues, environmental issues or anything else, depending on what the artist decides. A good example of someone who believed music could be used as a tool to change peoples minds was Michael Jackson. He wrote the Earth Song and Black or White, which were both aimed to change peoples minds about two different issues. The Earth Song created to try and stop pouring CO2 into the atmosphere and destroying the planet and Black or White was created to stop racism. He was a big believer in music videos are here are two of his great works:
Alt-J's "Breezeblocks" was a bit hit, reaching over 42 million views on youtube in the 3 years it has been out. The video is slightly closer to home on this one. The video shows a domestic attack on a woman from her boyfriend. However, the interesting thing about it is that it is all shown backwards, from end to beginning. Its a sad video, but it reveals how real this issue can be and I believe is has made most of the people watching more aware of the dangers around us. This video could also come under my 'effects' heading further down the page, because the video is also mostly in slow motion, which also adds to the drama and it paces the video.
Hozier came out with their new single "Take Me To Church", which was a massive hit in the charts. The music video followed, which was also very meaningful and creatively done. The video includes a relationship between two gay males, who are then targeted by a homophobic mob. The video was extremely powerful and touched the feelings of many people across the world, especially with gay relationships being such a hot topic at the moment in society.
Radiohead also released a touching video, which showed the differences between two boys of similar ages going about their day in complete opposite situations.
Music videos do not only benefit the musician, they are also really good for the director, writer and production team that are behind it. They offer lots of new jobs, opportunities, big audiences for their works and chances to win awards at ceremonies, such as the MTV VMA awards, which is an award ceremony dedicated to music videos. Creating music videos can be the stepping stone for young aspiring writers and directors who want to make it into Hollywood to make films. Spike Jonze began his big career by working largely on music videos, which allowed him to get recognised for his talents and later picked up to make feature length films. He has since won an Academy Award for best original screenplay.
Types and styles
Stock Footage
A stock footage music video is when footage from the public domain is edited in such a way, that it creates a story or an abstract piece of video that fits to the music, depending on what the artist has chosen to do. This is an extremely cheap way to create a music video, because everything in the public domain is free and un copyrighted.
Here is a music video which has been made entirely from stock footage. The actual video has been sampled from a 1963 bicycle safety film, called "One Got Fat". The song is called "Everything You Do Is A Balloon" by Boards Of Canada, and the meaning behind it is simply that every event that happens simply drifts off like a balloon, while time keeps ticking on; slightly depressing, however the song and music video seem like they were made for each other. The artist, Boards Of Canada are big fans of stock footage music videos and millions of people love them, which goes to show that sometimes the cheapest option is the best.
Another brilliant, but slightly strange music video is "Drugs" by Ratatat. This video is composed of stock footage clips, which shows happy people staring and smiling into the lens. This gives mixed feelings and leaves you wondering what the hell you've just watched. However, the title of the song is drugs so they've done well there.
Here's another inventive way of using stock footage. This fan made video is created using purely pornographic films. I have nothing more to say...
No, seriously though, I really like this one. I think it's extremely clever that he has chosen to use all of the clips from this specific genre, however weird it may sound. It shows real emotion and passion that just isn't the same with an actor.
I am also a huge lover of stock footage music videos, so I took it upon myself to create my own using the facilities at my college. I used the song "Bad Kingdom" by Moderat and stock footage, which I found on Archive.org. The idea behind the music video was to show the destruction that humans can inflict on the world and other people. There are a few different clips within the video that many people may find distressing. However, I made the artistic decision to leave them uncensored, because these days, everyone lives in their own little bubbles, unaware of the horrific events unfolding throughout the world and history. I believe by showing people what is truly going on, then maybe they will try and make a difference.
Live Music Videos
Live music videos are a great way for an artist to show their off their image and energy on stage. These music videos can be great advertisement for gigs and tours that the artist may have coming. These types of music videos do not always show the band performing on stage to a crowd, they will show them playing in an interesting scenario or location to make the video more appealing. Live music videos are slowly decreasing, as artists battle to produce incredible videos to keep up with the mass of competition out there. It is still common for small clips of live action to appear in modern music videos, which then involves the artist in the story and adds a personal touch to the video. This music video by "Nickelback" came to mind straight away, just because I remember it from when I was about 12.. it is a perfect example of a live action music video, though.
Here is a personal favorite of mine from the Foo Fighters, who produced this amazing live action music video.
Animation
Music videos have been using animation for decades. Animation is a creative way to express emotion in a video and engage the viewer. Animation is an incredible medium that has no boundaries for creativity. Animation is generally a lot more time consuming, but if done well, the results can be amazing. For example, the Gorilaz have become known for their cool animated music videos. Some of the videos include a mixture of 2D and 3D animations, such as "On Melancholy Hill".
The music video that has been created for Tame Impala's "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" is extremely 'trippy', but really cool and fitting for the song. It is a series of different animations splashed with multiple colours, which help the video to stand out from any others.
I also made a music video, which is made up of black and white footage and short clips of animated optical illusions, to symbolise drug usage.
Comedy/Parody
Everyone loves a bit of comedy, that's why so many music videos have it in them. Depending on the type of song, most music videos will have some reference to comedy in there somewhere. Some music videos are parodies and others are made with a childish target audience in mind. The Lonely Island are a group of males who record music and are known for their over the top songs and hilarious music videos, such as:
The Lonely Island have become extremely successful and popular with many viral hits in the past couple of years. However, PSY broke the Youtube view count with his Gangnam Style video reaching over 2.2 billion views! The outrageously over the top video had people talking about it for over a year. It is estimated that the music video has made almost £900,000 from Youtube alone.
Mumford & Sons' "Hopeless Wander" is another interesting, but hilarious music video. The video features some famous faces from various popular films as they mock the band members and trash different instruments to the beat of the music...
Techniques
Cutting to the beat
Cutting to the beat is a technique that has been around since the early days of film editing and is still being used to this day. This is because it is extremely effective in controlling the pace. For example, if the beat needs to be slow, the clips could cut every few beats, but if the pace begins to build again, then the cuts would become even quicker on every beat or so. As a video editor, I believe that cutting to the beat is very satisfying for the viewer. However, if I wanted to create something abstract, or something that would knock the viewer off and make them feel insecure, I could miss the cut on a beat and make some inconsistencies in the video. This puts the viewers off and makes them expect something that isn't going to happen, which can be very effective, depending on what the song/video is about. I created a third music video, which is a perfect example of cutting to the beat. This editing had to be precise, otherwise it would not have worked.
One Take
The idea of a 'one take' music video is that there are no cuts and it is one singular camera movement. This is much harder to achieve than it may sound, because if one small thing goes wrong, the whole take is ruined. It is rare for music videos to be done with only one take, because it is such a big challenge and sometimes it's not what the director wants. However, there are still some brilliant one-take music videos out there, such as Kiesza's "Hideaway".
I must not forget to mention OK GO, who have been known for their amazing and mind-boggling music videos. They have produced many one-take music videos. However, for me, this one stands out from the rest. The video came out recently in October, 2014 and the whole video has been recorded on a remote controlled drone and then sped up in post production. The choreography is impeccable and the song isn't bad either...
Lip Sync
Lip syncing is an extremely common concept when it comes to music video. It is a technique that makes it seem as though the recorded song is being sung by the person on screem. However, this is quite impossible to perfect, so the solution to this is using the final track that has been recorded in a recording studio and then dubbing over the artist in the video. This can become a challenge when the music video is meant to be in slow motion, but they get around it by teaching the singer their song in a sped up version, which they then mime on set for the video. The video is then slowed down in post production, which tricks the viewer into thinking they are singing normally as everything around them in going in slow motion.
Cassius made a break through for a new and inventive way to make lyric videos. They use a phone app, which has different clips of people miming the lyrics to the song. The app costs roughly £2 and this is also an additional way for the artist to make an income.
Cassius made a break through for a new and inventive way to make lyric videos. They use a phone app, which has different clips of people miming the lyrics to the song. The app costs roughly £2 and this is also an additional way for the artist to make an income.
Effects
In the digital world that we live in today, it is extremely easy for anyone to create and upload a music video to the internet for the whole world to see at the touch of a few keys. This means that it is essential for your video to stand out from the rest. There are many ways of doing this that could include timelapses, slow-motion, stop-motion, infrared and there are many other ways to create a unique video too.
In this case, the music video that accopanies the song "My Love", which was a big hit in 2014 uses infrared. The video features lots of sexual activity as a man goes out clubbing for the night and it is interesting in the video to see where he is getting hot and sweating. I like how they didn't just take the usual aproach in the end, it gives a very unique touch to the video.
