Research and Planning: Music Video History.

Before MTV, the music video didn't have any real importance in the music industry. It is thought that MTV was the phenomenon that really gave birth to the music video. The early 1980s first saw videos representing music, with the first video to be played being 'Video killed the radio star' by The Buggles:

Considering the channel was being played 24 hours a day 7 days a week, there was a large demand for videos to be made for every song that was released by artists. They therefore became an important role in a recording artists career. There then developed different genre's of music, including narrative, sexy and indie. The most successful music video of all time is said to be Michael Jackson 'Thriller':

Music video's have been developing into 'works of art' since the word go. With Thriller being a very high-tech complicated video, you then have the other end of spectrum with Feeder 'Just a day'; being lo-fi and using videos their fans had sent in, lip sinking to the song and making it into a video:

In 2005, YouTube, a large domain of videos, was created. This is where many bands, such as ErinPaulaa found fame. In conclusion, although music video's fans have tried to elevate this form of entertainment to the title of an art form, the music video is eventually just a work of commerce, destined to sell a product: the song.

Research and Planning: Spike Jonze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0eQGJh-rkU MIA - Paper Planes.







All of Spike Jonze's music videos are random. They're low budget and have a quirky nature to them. The recurring theme appears to be aiming to shock the audience and give a memorable video to help the artist sell. When looking at these videos in comparison to the idea we have for our video, they are very different. We are hoping to do a reasonably conventional indie style video which appears to the masses who listen to the indie genre. This is because we feel that this will be the most effective when dealing with the indie genre because the audience do not tend to appreciate too much change from what they already know and love. When looking at exisiting indie videos, they all appear to follow the same rules.

Research and Planning: Narrative: Propp.

the hero in this video is a white good looking male who does have a point of view shot.
the princess is an attractive white female who shows her body in representation of reward for the hero.

This video is very mainstream showing a clear love story to the audience.

We feel that this video is linked to the dominant representation of a typical male hero because he is an attractive white male. Therefore it is very stereotypical.
The princess in the video is also pretty and therefore is a good reward for the hero and does not challenge dominant representation. It follows the mainstream thang.

Research and Planning: Narrative - Todorov.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEukS2YN9B8

Guy walking down the street - Equilibrium.

Lady jumping off roof - Disruption.

He finds her shoe and looks up to see her - Recognition.

They have coffee - Reparation.

She chases him and he kicks off - Reparation.

Guy walks off - New Equilibrium.

She runs on to the roof and does the same again - New Equilibrium.

Who causes disruption? The girl on the roof.

Who resolves narrative? The guy by walking off.

Can you link to representation? Stereotypical that a young, white, good looking man has the resolution of the narrative.

Research and Planning

this song related the lyrics to the music through movements and images on screen. it also has multiple close ups of the artist and the video relates to the genre of music. there is no voyeurism present in the video because it is by a female artist.


this video uses a lot of voyeurism and the camera is mostly focused on the artist at a close up position. There is a lot of relation between the lyrics and the video for example they write what they sing on the video. this video is genre related as it is a rap video and the video has stereotypical features such as women dancing in limited clothing.

Research and Planning: Exploration of exisiting videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L7Cadb-c0&feature=featured

Sheila by Jamie T. The video is quirky and unusual. It is likely to appeal to a younger more rebellious audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyHVQT8aIBM

Beyonce - Single Ladies. This video is mainstream and attempting to appeal to the mass audience. It will appeal to young teenage girls.

Drake - Forever. This video takes itself quite seriously because it has 4 major artists of their genre. It appeals to many people, mainly teenagers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWhairF_DS8&ob=av2e

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody. This video has a element of seriousness to delivering the music and it feels very authentic. It is likely to appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Eminem - Love the way you lie. This video is a narrative and tells a story all the way through. It appeals to a wide range of audiences.

Akon - Beautiful. This video had a sexy element to it by the presence of all the ladies. It would appeal to a wide range of audiences.

First Video Production Skills Audit.

1. Lighting.

2. Wider use of computer technologies.

3. Better use of the sound system.

4. Make better use of different audiences when doing research.

5. Learn what Reconnaissance is.