Planning: Costumes And Props

Costumes are a very important key aspect of our music video that affects how the target audience see the artist and how the artist comes across.

• Our costume must be based around what the target audience wish to see which is a smart casual look just like Calum Scott wears in his music video. This type of clothing will change when he is pictured in his room where the clothing will become very casual. 
• The demographic for Calum is a young adult who is fashionable yet quite subtle with his clothing choice. 
• The actor must feel comfortable in what they wear throughout the video as if they are not comfortable then they may not perform to the best of their ability as they are self-conscious of their clothes. 
• Our clothing has to be affordable if we are going to purchase it, however, our first option would be to take a look at the actors day to day clothing to see if this clothing fits in with our style. The target audience want to see them in a smart casual form so therefore the ideal outfit for our actor when he is outside playing a narrative scene, would consist of a smart shirt and jeans with some smart shoes or trainers. This is a typical outfit for a young adult. However, when the actor is on his bed, he would wear jogging bottoms and a top to ensure that he is at home and in his own company. This could also show that the actor is upset and has no effort in dressing nicely. 

During various different scenes, we have decided that the actor will change outfits depending on where about he is during that sase. For example, when he is performing infant of the camera, he will be visualised in smart casual clothing however when he is in his room or at home, he will be in casual clothing such as jogging bottoms and a top. 

Option 1:

This is our first option of clothing for our cast member to wear while acting in a narrative scene, we have picked this type of clothing as it fits in with the typical look of our target audience. We believe that choosing this outfit will represent how we want our cast to come across to the audience, it fits in with the expectations. we have picked these particular items of clothing for our cast member to wear as we know that he already has all of the clothing presented. This will work out cheaper for us in the sense that we wouldn't have to purchase any new clothing of or cast member to wear during the music video.


Option 2:

This is our second option, this type of clothing would be more suitable for our narrative scene where our cast member is sitting in his bedroom looking at his phone. It presents the cast member as comfortable and chilled at home in his bedroom. It also fits in with the typical chilled out look for our target audience. As a young cast member, if fits in more typical with his age and type of clothing choice. Again, this would be a cheap option for us as we know that our chosen cast member has all of these pieces of clothing making it easy for him to access and where. However, this particular look wouldn't look so good in a performance scene as he would look under dressed and scruffy.


Props:

In our music video we will be using various props to help us get the most professional finish to our music video as possible. Within our music video, we are not using a lot of props as we are focusing more on the characters emotions during the narrative scenes and more on their lip synching within the music video.

The first prop that will be featured is an iPhone 7 which the cast ember will hold in his hand reading the message that starts off the music video. This prop will help us when showing the audience what the music video is about and why our cast member feels the way he feels. This would be an incredibly cheap option for us as our cast member already has this phone so therefor he can use it whenever he likes.

This is our second prop that we are going to be using in our music video when the narrative opening scene starts. We will have our actor sitting upon the bed while reading from his mobile phone that is featured above. We have decided to use a double bed as a prop so that it shows the actor is at home in his bedroom when he receives the text that upsets him. Creating this scene for the actor to be in suggests that he is relaxed at home and as the music video goes on, the text seems to have agitated him which forces him to move out of his bedroom where our actor will have a change of clothing.  

Planning: Casting

The casting for our music video is very important, we need a cast member who isn't embarrassed and shy in front of a camera. It is important that we do our research into our cast members in order to get the best outcome for our music video without any flaws in the acting and lip synching. The person we cast will have to be very confident and outgoing, this is very important as it will effect our music video negatively if the cast member is shy and self-conscious in front of the camera.

The cast member will not only have to be confident and outgoing, they will have to have a skill of being able to lip synch the lyrics to our song in order to make the music video flow successfully. They will have to convince the audience that they are truly singing the lyrics of the song in order to make the music video look professional.

The cast member would also have to fit the artists typical look that is expected by the target audience. In our case, the artist of our song is a young adult who wears fashionable clothes however they are quite smart. Therefore, within our music video, the cast member would need to wear smart, casual clothes are fashionable so that it fits the expectations of our target audience. 

We have decided that part of our casting planning, we will test the candidates that we believe live up to the standard of taking part in our music video by getting them to mime a song for around 10 seconds to test their confidence in front of a camera. These candidates are the people we had in mind for the cast in our music video:

Charlie Styles 

We believe that Charlie could potentially be a good cast member for our music video as he is very confident infant of a camera, however, in order to test his ability to lip synch the lyrics to our chosen song 'Dancing On my Own' by Calum Scott, we will film him lip synching a part pf the song to make sure that he doesn't become embarrassed and shy. The music video will cross-cut from narrative and performance scenes so in order for these to run smoothly we need a confident member, Charlie is very confident and is very outgoing so we believe he will be good for the cast member of the main singer. The performance side of the music video will occur when the chorus plays, the cast member will have to lip synch the lyrics, we believe that Charlie would be good at this as he doesn't get shy and he can act quite well without getting embarrassed. His schedule is relatively free so therefore it would be easy to fit in filing times in various different lights and times of the day. however, Charlie listens to a   different music genre so it may be harder for him to act out and make the lyrics believable so therefore this is why it is important for us to do a small clip of him lip synching and acting for us to make sure he is suitable for our role.

Sam Nix 

We believe that Sam would be quite good for our music video as he is quite confident and out going however, to make suer that he is one hundred percent suited to our role within our music video we will get him to mime to a song while we film him to make sure he doesn't get embarrassed and shy. Sam is very outgoing in his group of friends however, in front of a camera he could become shy and embarrassed which could effect our music video in a native light. This could make editing and making the music video flow a lot harder therefore we must make sure that Sam is still confident in front of a camera. Sam is also good for our cast member as he listens to similar music to our chosen song, this makes it easier for Sam to be more enthusiastic as he enjoys listening to the music himself. Sam has quite a lot of priorities such as work so therefore it may be difficult for us to fit the schedule of filming around him so therefore we wouldn't get a large range of lighting and locations as we would have less time to film.

Edward Pearce

We believe that Edward would be another good candidate for our cast member in our music video as he is quite outgoing and confident. This is important for our music video as he needs to be confident in front of the camera in order for the music video to run smoothly. Edward also wears the same kind of clothing that our chosen artist wears which is appreciated by the audience , influencing them to buy their merchandise to get a similar look. This is similar to Charlie. Unfortunately, when Edward is put in front of an audience or a camera, he becomes more shy which could be a major problem when it comes to filming out music video. This may make it seem unprofessional if our cast member isn't very outgoing and confident when performing in the music video and taking part in narrative scenes.


We decided that Charlie was the best for our music video as we have discussed the pros for choosing him. One of these is that his schedule is very flexible so therefore it will be say for us to film whenever we wish to in order to get the best music video possible. He also fits into our target audiences expectations of our artist so therefore this will make the video more accepted by our target audience. Here is a video testing Charlie's ability to perform in our music video making sure that he is confident and suitable for our role:

Planning: Filming Locations

The locations where we are intending to flip our music video are very important to the production of our music video. When taking the location into consideration we will need to discuss certain factors, these are listed below.

• The availability - When we are planning to film we need to check to see if the location is free to use so that it fits into the filming schedule for us. This is vital because we mat spend a long time planning to film of a certain date and then the location is not available to use. 
•  The general location - We will need to know where the location is where we want to film, this is because if it is a far away then this could be a problem for us to get there. In certain circumstances we may need to re-film some shots so if the location is closer then this can be achieved much easier.
• The suitability - If the location is often busy and lots of people frequently go there then this is possibly going to not go well for us filming because they may interrupt our filming and this could hold us back and slow down the production of our music video. 

Location - 1

In our narrative part of our music video, our character will be sitting on their bed alone, they will be looking at their phone as they device a text saying that the girl he deeply loves is seeing a new guy. This location is the bedroom of our actor that we will be using. this bedroom has large amounts of space in it which allows camera equipment to be put in and also move around feel. When we are filing in this location we will need to see if the lighting is sufficient so that the filming comes out well. Also the colour of the room is modern which shows that the character is a typical teenage boy and this also shows he is grown up, this is vital because this is the age of our target audience.

Location - 2

This is the trip that we will take in order to get to the second location, will walk to this location or even drive there in a car. 

When it is not the chorus we intend to film most of the filming at the quarry, this is where our actor will walk along the paths whilst lip syncing to the song. This will require the location to be quite, this will effect the filming as we may be interrupted by people passing by. 

Planning: Audience Feedback

Music Video Planning: Storyboard Animatic

Music Video Planning: 60 Second Pitch

Here is the full 60 second video of me and Elliott pitching our ideas for our music video and describing why we have chosen to do this.

This is our 60 second pitch, we have created this in order to describe our final ideas for our music video. Creating this has helped us gather all of the information that we need to produce our music video and finalise ideas that have come from our initial ideas. This has helped our justify what our target audience would like to see in our music video.

Music Video Planning: Initial Ideas

This is a sheet of my initial ideas that I have began to put together. I have discussed the settings and various different senarios that could possibly occur in my music video.

Further Research
To expand on my knowledge of what I would like to include in my music video, I have watched the video that was originally created by Calum Scott and his producers. It has given me a clear idea of what this specific type of music is based around theme wise. Throughout the music video, it shows Calum Scott singing along to the song, it also shows a large amount of people standing looking ahead of them. The music video only contains 2 different scenes. This music video is quite simple and easy to recreate however, I am not trying to recreate it, I would like to create my own music video however using the technique of the artist singing in the video. I will do a casting test for the people whole I believe are suitable to mime the lyrics of the song to the camera. I will do this to make sure that they are not shy and they fulfill the potential to make the video as best as possible.



I have researched some other music videos that fall into the same music genre as the song I will be recreating the video for fits into. In Ed Sheeran's music video of the song Small Bump, it contains him singing in a hospital. The music video fits in with the lyrics of the song as it is about a miscarriage so therefore the theme of the music video fits in with the theme of the lyrics. Throughout the whole of the video, the setting is in the hospital showing upset and distressed people, as Ed is singing, he is seen to be quite down and upset, this connects with the lyrics as they are sad and depressing so therefore Ed Sheeran is emphasizing the lyrics. 


The narrative of the music video follows a story line however, I have decided that this idea for my music video would not be suitable as I would like to introduce various different settings to make sure that the lyrics and the context of the music video are interesting and that they fit together quite well. 

The lyrics to Dancing On My Own are featured below: 



Somebody said you got a new friend

Does she love you better than I can?

And there's a big black sky over my town

I know where you're at, I bet she's around

And yeah, I know it's stupid

But I just gotta see it for myself I'm in the corner, 

watching you kiss her, oh oohh

And I'm right over here, 

why can't you see me, oh oohh

And I'm giving it my all, 

but I'm not the guy you're taking home, 

oohh I keep dancing on my own I just wanna dance all night

And I'm all messed up, I'm so out of line, 

yeah Stilettos and broken bottles I'm spinning around in circles

And I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her, oh oohh

And I'm right over here, why can't you see me, 

oh oohh And I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the guy you're taking home, 

oohh I keep dancing on my own

And oh no

So far away but still so near

The lights come up, the music dies

But you don't see me standing here

I just came to say goodbye

I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her, oh oohh

And I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the guy you're taking home, oohh

And I keep dancing on my own

And oh no

Said I'm in the corner, watching you kiss her, oh no

And I'm right over here, why can't you see me, oh no

And I'm giving it my all, but I'm not the guy you're taking home, oohh I keep dancing on my own

So far away, but still so near

The lights come up, the music dies

But you don't see me standing here.

The lyrics that are sung throughout the song are all very similar and repetitive. Therefore the music video that I would like to create needs to link in with the lyrics of the song therefore, it needs to include a crowd of people to give the impression of an individual being alone in the corner of them all. The person who will be miming the song lyrics needs to seem quite upset and depressed to fit in with the lyrics of the person feeling upset and lone watching the person they love with someone else.  

Music Video: Who are my target audience

 

As my chosen artist fits into the genre of 'pop' music, identifying who his target audience are will help me to ensure that all of my future planning for the music video, CD Digipack and MMA are tailored to appeal to this group. This is important as the tasks are part of a promotional package with the aim of encouraging the target audience to purchase or download the album. Securing the loyalty of members of the target audience could then lead to them making further purchases in the future, following the artist on social media or going to see him at a gig and buying other merchandise.

Callum Scott's target audience are mainly teenagers and younger adults. They are more likely to be female than male although some young males will also find his music appealing.

On his website is has an official clothing its where fans can buy his merchandise. The clothes that are featured on the website are unisex however, his fans are mostly young teenage girls so therefore they can where his merchandise. 

 

His fan websites 

His target audience will be aware of current trends in fashion and will probably be influenced in what they wear by current trends. They will shop at high street fashion retailers that are popular with this age group such as New Look, Topshop and River Island.

In their spare time, they will enjoy using social media to keep in touch with what its happening in the world and will probably use the internet as their main form of entertainment. They are more likely to watch Callum Scott's latest music video via Youtube than on a digital music channel such as MTV or Viva.

However, my target audience are still interested in some prime-time entertainment shows on television such as The X Factor  and Britain's Got Talent which is where they may have first seen him perform.


Initial Audience Research 
Caitlin is an 18 year old girl with a passion for music. She lives in Northamptonshire and attends sixth form. Her biggest passion in life is listening and connecting to music. Caitlin began to listen to music from a young age and it quickly became a regular thing, she enjoys visiting various different gigs and concerts including visiting her favourite artist, Calum Scott at his gigs. Her other favourite artists include Shawn Mendes, James Author and Ed Sheeran.


Caitlin enjoys attending these gigs and concerts as she likes the atmosphere and the way the music makes her feel. Caitlin has never played any acoustic instruments but wishes to learn to play the guitar, she wishes to take lessons at her local music shop and extend her skills by watching videos on the internet. She is inspired by various different artists that feature in the charts. Caitlin states that she visits her favourite artists fan pages on various different sites, this gives me the indication that fan pages play a big part in the promotion for the artists merchandise and products. It also gives a good indication of the image they want to get across to their fans, for example, on Calum Scott's fan website, it shows him in smart shirts and jeans. This gives him an image that young teens may want to recreate or aspire to look like.


Caitlin also stated that she likes to wear merchandise of her favourite artists, these merchandise are usually brought off of their websites or at concerts or gigs that she attends to. Caitlin is inspired by music and listens to it to zone out and just have time to herself. This indicates that the music is calming so therefore the music video would be quite calm and basic in order to match the tone and lyrics of the song. I have researched how music effects the brain and it is stated to change the state of mind the person is in. This video expands on this theory.

Research : Detailed research into my chosen artist : Name of my artist

The artist I have chosen is Calum Scott. I believe that this artist is good due to the song being quite slow but yet easy to lip sync to. It is also a good song to chose as the genre of music falls into a category which music videos are filmed on basic streets (stereotypically). Therefore this makes it easy to create a music video that fits into the typical music video for this type of music. I will need to make sure the person lip syncing in male however, due to the lyrics being about love, it may involve a girl in the music video that he is chasing. These scenes will be simple to create in a town or a street as the music video needs to be quite basic and slow so that it fits in with the song genre.  

Calum Scott

Calum Scott made his career from being on the X Factor. He didn't win however, the song 'Dancing On My Own' was performed on one of the episodes which caught him a lot of attention. He was born on the 12th October 1988 in Hull, England. He is an English singer and songwriter who came tow worldwide attention when he appeared on the X Factor. His single 'Dancing On My Own' reached number 2 on the UK Single Chart becoming the first solo singer from Hull to have a top 40 single since 1960. He began as a contestant in the X Factor in 2011 and won a local competition, Hull Daily Mail Star Search in 2013.

Dancing On My Own 

This single was released in March 2016, it is a pop song that reached number 2 in the UK Single Chart. It became a sleeper hit, first hitting number 40 in the charts in May despite little radio airplay apart from on West Hull FM. In August 2016, it was certified Platinum in the UK having sold over 600,000 copies. He signed a record deal with Capitol Records on the 24th May 2016 to his debut album.  

What Else Has Been Released?

Calum Scott has also released a promotional single called 'Transformar' with Brazilian recording artist Ivete Sangalo as official theme of the 2016 Paralympic Games. They performed the song at the closing ceremony of the Paralympics on the 18th September 2016. It was revealed in September 2016 that 'Dancing On My Own' was the most downloadable song of the summer in the UK of 2016. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31tGyBJhRY

Interviews

Calum Scott has carried out many interviews with various different websites, news channels and celebrities. Many of them talk about the single Dancing On My Own as this is his biggest hit. An interview is placed below:

http://www.entertainment-focus.com/music-section/music-interviews/calum-scott-interview/

Research : My Favourite music video

The context
This song is called Fireflies and it is written by an artist called Owl City. this song featured in the album Ocean eyes and this album was released in 2009.

About the music video

The music video for "Fireflies" was directed by Steve Hoover. It features Adam Young playing the song on a Lowrey spinet organ in a toy-filled bedroom, where most of the toys (including an astronaut, a Tyrannosaurus rex, a Speak & Tell, toy cars including one based on Brum, and a blimp) come to life. Most of the toys are older model toys, with most of them from the 1970s and 1980s (the exceptions being a Robosapien and a Roboraptor). There are also vintage household devices such as a black and white television and a record player.

The music video

At the heart of this song there seems to be a yearning or a desire to escape back to childhood innocence. Upon first hearing the song, I was intrigued by the melody and simple lyrics; it wasn't until I actually questioned the artists intent that I began seeing the deeper meaning of Adam Young's lyrics. The song starts by telling us we would "not believe" our eyes, a statement that suggests the song will cover some sort of fantastic occurrence. Then the song progresses into a dream like quality. The speaker actually speaks of fireflies as if they were surrounded by them, but I can't help believe the fireflies are supposed to stand for a specific event or situation. Hence the question: Who would catch fireflies? The answer: innocent children. The song speaks about the innocence of youth and how quickly that innocence escapes us. The chorus says "I'd LIKE to make myself believe" suggesting a desire of something that can not be completely accomplished. The speaker wants to believe earth moves slowly; if he can't believe that simple statement, it must mean the opposite is true--planet Earth spins much too fast. In other words, time passes by much too quickly. The speaker then talks about the desire to remain to remain in that dream trance instead of waking up to reality, because within that dream trance is the innocence of youth. An innocence and naivety that allows a simple act--catching fireflies--to become a magical excursion into a wonderland of possibility and adventure. The point of the song seems to speak about the need to hold onto and embrace (maybe even slip back into) our child hood innocence so the reality of growing up does not completely take away the magic and joy the world has to offer. Simply put: We are all forced to give up our childhood too soon. We need more fireflies and rooms full of toys (video) to keep our lives simple and innocent.

Research : Features Of A Music Video (Independent Work)

From studying these three pop music videos, I have gathered that a common theme with women within the music videos. This theme involves the type of clothing they wear which is typically very revealing and 'sexy'. Most of these music videos have quite drastic lighting changes throughout the video to add to the effect of the music. All of these videos include montage editing to add the effect of elusions throughout, I believe this is also to add effect to the music being played. I have noticed in the more R and B videos the use of weapons a violence to create a harsh visual appearance to match the harsh lyrics.

Research : 3 Potential Artists And Albums

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.)

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

Research Task

Produce a post with the same title as this one.

Copy and paste all of the text below into your post.

Read this information in your own time - it will be something that you can refer back to when you enter the planning stages for your music video.

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