Friday 12 June 2015
Pressure Cooker - NEW PLAN
Alright, it's been like a week and a half and I haven't got anything to show so I'm currently stressing out about having nothing to do. So, I'm going to change my idea so that I don't need as many people because this many people is a logistical nightmare.
Since it's an electronic song, I started thinking that maybe a partially-animated video would work out pretty well and fit quite well. So I'm going to animate a lot of it in After Effects.
Here is me asking and gaining permission from our artists themselves to make a video for their song.
Here is the risk assessment for the project.
Since it's an electronic song, I started thinking that maybe a partially-animated video would work out pretty well and fit quite well. So I'm going to animate a lot of it in After Effects.
Here is my location recce for the updated plan for the music video. It's a little bit of a moot point because I animated the whole thing so the location isn't really a part of the video, but it's important to know where the computers are.
Here is me asking and gaining permission from our artists themselves to make a video for their song.
Thursday 30 April 2015
Pegboard Nerds - Pressure Cooker: Planning
Now onto the actual concrete planning of my music video. First I'm going to iron out what's actually going to happen, and at what point. My plan is to have a group of stereotypical 'bad guy' folk standing around patrolling an area, wherein our hero will come in and starting fighting all of them. That will last for our first drop; the fight will go pretty well for our hero until toward the end of the first drop where some reinforcements will come in and overwhelm the hero character. Then, during the second buildup we'll cut to the hero's friends who are all sitting around until they get a distress call on their TV or something similar then they spring into action and head to the place where the first fight took place, just in time for the second drop. Then they'll have guns etc. and have a big firefight with the bad guys and get their friend out of trouble in time for the end of the song.
So, more specifically, here's that waveform again:
Here is the establishing shot, most probably. We'll show off the location, show the viewer where everything and everyone is, and what's going on. There's some shady looking folks guarding some form of important looking box.Introducing our main hero, who spends a few beats scoping out the bad guys before stepping in.
Action time! Probably starting out with our hero fighting one of the bad guys off to the side. Another might show up but it's mostly one at a time.
The other bad guys evidently catch wind and it's 1 vs 2 or 3 at a time. Our hero only holds out for so long before slipping up and getting caught.
Cut to our hero's allies back at their base, sitting around not doing a huge amount when a distress call comes up.
They spring into action and start checking out what's wrong.
They start brainstorming a plan of attack around a table.
They agree on a plan and head off, turning up at the main site. They see the hero character all tied up on a chair.
They pull out loads of guns and shoot everyone. The bad guys find some cover and begin to return fire. Firefight ensues. Eventually one bad guy is left - a burly type (probably got an eyepatch or something), and, out of ammo, he starts running at our friends. They're out of ammo too, so they look at each other panicking.
One bright spark on the good guy's team throws their gun at the bad guy to stun him for enough time so that they can spring forward and start fighting him. Our hero busts out of their binds and grabs one of the dead bad guy's guns, then runs up and shoots the last bad guy.
The group take a moment to catch their breath, then grab the box and walk off, proud.
END
So, we can't have these people having gunfights etc. in casual wear, so I was thinking along the lines of giving everyone tactical vests of sorts, like the ones Corridor use a lot:
So maybe we could have some knee-pads and elbow pads too? Maybe as opposed to the vests?
So, I scoured Amazon again for some cheapo stuff I could have for props and look at all this:
We'll also need guns. I'll be able to buy a decent-enough looking pistol for cheap, and I was also thinking of getting in touch with the chap who provided the guns for my classmate Jack's short film Schemes:
Having seen them in person these are some high quality guns, and also you can see a vest there too. So, if I can procure these for my video then that would be immensely helpful.
I've now ordered a gun and some pads, this is pretty much all I can do until I shoot.
Friday 24 April 2015
Styles, Conventions and Techniques of Music Videos
There aren't quite so many strict 'rules' or 'guidelines' with music videos - as a format they tend to be a lot more experimental and expressive than other formats like feature films or TV. This being said, there are still a few tried-and-tested 'styles' that a lot of videos tend to fall under.
The first here on my list is ''Live' footage' style videos. Simple enough, these music videos tend to show the artist in concert performing the song that the video is for. Like this video for Girls from Slow Magic:
This video is actually comprised of real live footage at real concerts, but there are also examples of videos where it isn't quite actually live, just made up to seem as though it is live. Furthermore, there are also videos that feature this faux-live style but also work in a form of narrative. Example below:
This video above is actually a pretty good example of the 'split screen' effect - something I'll go into later.
There are also music videos that follow a narrative without the 'live' element. They're sometimes referred to as 'interpretive' videos as the stories they tell tend to relate to the lyrics, but there are examples of (somewhat) instrumental songs that have a narrative. Case in point:
Instead of following a story presented by the lyrics the narrative follows the feeling or mood of the song itself. This also applies to 'impressionist' videos.
Impressionist videos tend to take the 'feeling' of the song, or how it sounds, and try to represent that the best they can through their video. A good way to understand the idea of 'impressionist' music videos is to turn to the art movement from which they take their name.
Impressionism is stuff like Van Gogh, or, pictured below, Leonid Afremov. The whole point of impressionist art is that it's based on 'relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, [and] emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities' in order to make an impression of the source material:
Same thing with the music videos really.
A good example of this is Gold by Chet Faker:
The song is rather slow, deliberate and minimal, and the video replicates that feeling in its simplicity. It certainly doesn't follow the lyrics in any overt way, and instead goes down the more subjective route in representing its song.
Another style taking its name from an art movement is surrealist. Videos in this category tend to be more 'weird' and different than other videos, since surrealist art is the notion of impossible or unlikely things painted realistically.
A good example of a surrealist music video is this one from Xilent for 'Boss Wave':
You can tell it's surrealist because of the realistic look of the robot coupled with the sheer impossibility of the whole situation.
Next on my list is 'Synergy/Allusion/Pastiche/Parody/Homage'. That's quite broad, so I'll find a couple examples for this one. 'Synergy' is where two different products or pieces of media come together to help promote each other. The example I used in my other post about the purposes of music videos was Pharrell's 'Happy':
The synergy comes from this song's relationship with the film Despicable Me 2. This is more of an 'allusion' in this video as the only reference to the film is where the 'minion' characters from the film show up:
'Homage' is where something references another text, but usually in a respectful or 'tribute' sort of manner, similar to 'pastiche'. 'Parody', while similar to 'pastiche', tends to mock the work it's derived from, rather than celebrate it.
Mark Ronson's music video for Just ft. Phantom Planet is a good example of pretty much all three of these. The song itself is a cover of the Radiohead song, and the video is in reference to the Radiohead video, but it also pokes a bit of fun at times.
Here's the Radiohead video:
And here's Mark Ronson's version:
Animation is used in music videos an astounding amount - I could probably list around 10 examples here, and I did list a lot back in my History of Animation post. Here's one I haven't brought up before, for 'Grave' by WeAreCastor:
So those are the main styles and conventions out of the way. There are a number of techniques used in music videos quite commonly, and probably the most common out of those is lip-syncing. This is where, when filming, the song will be playing and the vocalist / whoever else will sing along to it. Then, after the fact, the studio recording is lined up with the video to make it seem like the vocalist is singing the song. This is used so, so much in music videos, but here is an example:
Sometimes people will speed up / slow down the track played on set so that when the video is altered to match the original speed of the studio recording the video is either in slow-motion or double speed, yet the audio is at original speed. Take, for instance, OK Go's 'I Won't Let You Down':
You can see at the beginning that the video is in double speed. If you watch the behind the scenes video, you can catch them filming at real speed and moving reaaaaally slowly.
And even then there are videos that take this concept and push it to the extreme by chopping and changing the song on set and then editing it together into a coherent song after the fact. Like this video for 'Red Hands' by Walk Off the Earth:
This was actually filmed in one take. Here's the unedited version as proof:
Another typical trope of music videos is cutting on the beat. This is a good way of making sure that the video and the song are more intrinsically linked than just by name. Here's 'Centipede' by Knife Party for a good example:
The effect is particularly noticeable at the beginning.
Let's take a moment to talk about mise-en-scene in the Knife Party video. It's set in a sort of 1930s, film-noir era, in an worn down old hotel of sorts.
If you look at this shot here you can see that director Elliot Sellers is using lighting very purposefully to create the atmosphere and mood of the video. You have the sort of shuttered beams at the middle left there that are a bit reminiscent of that old noir trope where someone would look through some venetian blinds or the like.
Another good editing technique is the use of visual effects in videos. This is good if you want to impress your audience, or it helps if you want to stand out. For instance, the displacement map effects used in this video for 'Clouds and Cream' by Sticky Fingers:
The effects really make this video what it is, and make it far more memorable than what it would be otherwise.
Another couple of really good examples for music videos with cool editing effects are from Watsky and Dizzee Rascal. I'm lumping them together because in concept these videos are quite similar:
Both of these videos put a unique spin on what would be a kind of generic video in both cases (Maybe not Dizzee's, the whole 'period dress' thing isn't exactly played out), and it has that 'magician' quality about it where the viewer wonders how they 'pulled it off'.
Next on the list is split-screen. I already mentioned Alors On Danse earlier on in the post as a good example, but funnily enough Watsky has another strong example here:
Split-screen is an interesting effect for music videos because it splits the viewers' attention between multiple things at one time. This forces the viewer to pay closer attention because they don't want to miss anything.
Another editing effect I have listed is the use of green-screening and chroma key. Usually these kinds of things are used for more abstract style videos, like this one from Graffiti6:
For a good example of use of camera movements I'm going to have to come back to OK Go for their video for 'Writing's On the Wall':
The camera movement really improves this video, especially in having to line up the optical illusions exactly, and the part where the camera turns around on its axis:
As well as camera movement, another thing that some videos employ is the use of camera angles to help with the mise-en-scene. Like, for instance, the video for Dan Croll's 'From Nowhere':
All the angles and shot distances for this video are very meticulously composed and set up, for instance this one of the stopwatch:
The first here on my list is ''Live' footage' style videos. Simple enough, these music videos tend to show the artist in concert performing the song that the video is for. Like this video for Girls from Slow Magic:
This video is actually comprised of real live footage at real concerts, but there are also examples of videos where it isn't quite actually live, just made up to seem as though it is live. Furthermore, there are also videos that feature this faux-live style but also work in a form of narrative. Example below:
This video above is actually a pretty good example of the 'split screen' effect - something I'll go into later.
There are also music videos that follow a narrative without the 'live' element. They're sometimes referred to as 'interpretive' videos as the stories they tell tend to relate to the lyrics, but there are examples of (somewhat) instrumental songs that have a narrative. Case in point:
Instead of following a story presented by the lyrics the narrative follows the feeling or mood of the song itself. This also applies to 'impressionist' videos.
Impressionist videos tend to take the 'feeling' of the song, or how it sounds, and try to represent that the best they can through their video. A good way to understand the idea of 'impressionist' music videos is to turn to the art movement from which they take their name.
Impressionism is stuff like Van Gogh, or, pictured below, Leonid Afremov. The whole point of impressionist art is that it's based on 'relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, [and] emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities' in order to make an impression of the source material:
Same thing with the music videos really.
A good example of this is Gold by Chet Faker:
The song is rather slow, deliberate and minimal, and the video replicates that feeling in its simplicity. It certainly doesn't follow the lyrics in any overt way, and instead goes down the more subjective route in representing its song.
Another style taking its name from an art movement is surrealist. Videos in this category tend to be more 'weird' and different than other videos, since surrealist art is the notion of impossible or unlikely things painted realistically.
A good example of a surrealist music video is this one from Xilent for 'Boss Wave':
You can tell it's surrealist because of the realistic look of the robot coupled with the sheer impossibility of the whole situation.
Next on my list is 'Synergy/Allusion/Pastiche/Parody/Homage'. That's quite broad, so I'll find a couple examples for this one. 'Synergy' is where two different products or pieces of media come together to help promote each other. The example I used in my other post about the purposes of music videos was Pharrell's 'Happy':
The synergy comes from this song's relationship with the film Despicable Me 2. This is more of an 'allusion' in this video as the only reference to the film is where the 'minion' characters from the film show up:
'Homage' is where something references another text, but usually in a respectful or 'tribute' sort of manner, similar to 'pastiche'. 'Parody', while similar to 'pastiche', tends to mock the work it's derived from, rather than celebrate it.
Mark Ronson's music video for Just ft. Phantom Planet is a good example of pretty much all three of these. The song itself is a cover of the Radiohead song, and the video is in reference to the Radiohead video, but it also pokes a bit of fun at times.
Here's the Radiohead video:
And here's Mark Ronson's version:
Animation is used in music videos an astounding amount - I could probably list around 10 examples here, and I did list a lot back in my History of Animation post. Here's one I haven't brought up before, for 'Grave' by WeAreCastor:
So those are the main styles and conventions out of the way. There are a number of techniques used in music videos quite commonly, and probably the most common out of those is lip-syncing. This is where, when filming, the song will be playing and the vocalist / whoever else will sing along to it. Then, after the fact, the studio recording is lined up with the video to make it seem like the vocalist is singing the song. This is used so, so much in music videos, but here is an example:
Sometimes people will speed up / slow down the track played on set so that when the video is altered to match the original speed of the studio recording the video is either in slow-motion or double speed, yet the audio is at original speed. Take, for instance, OK Go's 'I Won't Let You Down':
You can see at the beginning that the video is in double speed. If you watch the behind the scenes video, you can catch them filming at real speed and moving reaaaaally slowly.And even then there are videos that take this concept and push it to the extreme by chopping and changing the song on set and then editing it together into a coherent song after the fact. Like this video for 'Red Hands' by Walk Off the Earth:
This was actually filmed in one take. Here's the unedited version as proof:
Another typical trope of music videos is cutting on the beat. This is a good way of making sure that the video and the song are more intrinsically linked than just by name. Here's 'Centipede' by Knife Party for a good example:
The effect is particularly noticeable at the beginning.
Let's take a moment to talk about mise-en-scene in the Knife Party video. It's set in a sort of 1930s, film-noir era, in an worn down old hotel of sorts.
If you look at this shot here you can see that director Elliot Sellers is using lighting very purposefully to create the atmosphere and mood of the video. You have the sort of shuttered beams at the middle left there that are a bit reminiscent of that old noir trope where someone would look through some venetian blinds or the like.
Look at the ceiling in this shot. I think this is probably the most distinct indicator of how crappy and worn-down this old hotel-style building is.
The effects really make this video what it is, and make it far more memorable than what it would be otherwise.
Another couple of really good examples for music videos with cool editing effects are from Watsky and Dizzee Rascal. I'm lumping them together because in concept these videos are quite similar:
Both of these videos put a unique spin on what would be a kind of generic video in both cases (Maybe not Dizzee's, the whole 'period dress' thing isn't exactly played out), and it has that 'magician' quality about it where the viewer wonders how they 'pulled it off'.
Next on the list is split-screen. I already mentioned Alors On Danse earlier on in the post as a good example, but funnily enough Watsky has another strong example here:
Split-screen is an interesting effect for music videos because it splits the viewers' attention between multiple things at one time. This forces the viewer to pay closer attention because they don't want to miss anything.
Another editing effect I have listed is the use of green-screening and chroma key. Usually these kinds of things are used for more abstract style videos, like this one from Graffiti6:
For a good example of use of camera movements I'm going to have to come back to OK Go for their video for 'Writing's On the Wall':
The camera movement really improves this video, especially in having to line up the optical illusions exactly, and the part where the camera turns around on its axis:
As well as camera movement, another thing that some videos employ is the use of camera angles to help with the mise-en-scene. Like, for instance, the video for Dan Croll's 'From Nowhere':
All the angles and shot distances for this video are very meticulously composed and set up, for instance this one of the stopwatch:
Pegboard Nerds - Pressure Cooker: Research
Here's the song I have chosen to make my music video for. There are some songs I listen to that really jump out with a vivid image and idea, and this song is one of them.
In the absence of lyrics I'm going to take a look at the waveform for the song instead. I've marked out important marks in the song, and given them timecodes so you can use the YouTube video to listen to it.
From 0:00 up to 0:34 is the first 'build-up' of the song. In typical, slightly cheesy drumstep style, the song is comprised of 'build-up', 'drop', 'build-up', 'drop', etc. Very similar to verse-chorus format found in a lot of other songs. This song has a very short initial build-up which I found appropriate to the task at hand as it gets straight into the action as it were.Mood-wise this would be a good point to set up what's going on in my video, introduce any characters and the setting etc.
0:34 is the first drop. This is really the first high-energy mark of the song, and is when things should really start kicking off for the characters in my video.
Continuing on from the drop, 0:56 is like the second part of it. It's where it gets a little bit more crazy than before, and where, in the video, things should get a little more crazy too.
After the drop, we're back to build-up again. This is quite a long section, so we'll need something significant to break up the considerable action. For what I have in mind (a quite action-heavy piece) this part in the middle will serve as a bit of useful down-time to keep things from getting too much, and it will also serve to make the second drop that much more effective.
Here's the second drop. Here ideally I'd take all the action into absolutely crazy territory and really ramp things up a bit, since this is supposed to be the climax of the song.
The second part of the second drop. Here's where something really huge and dramatic should happen, and everything should culminate.
The calm after the storm. The worst is behind us, and this is wrapping things up and giving a decent resolution.
So, all in all, Pressure Cooker is a very high-energy 110BPM Drumstep song clocking in at 3:17, and I think a good action sequence would make a great video for it.
But what about Pegboard Nerds themselves? What sort of image do they have, if any? First, we'll find out a little more about them.
They're a Danish/Norwegian electronic production duo consisting of Alexander Odden and Michael Parsberg. Very few pictures of them are in circulation online; instead they choose to be represented by their two avatars:
So from this picture alone we can see that they're quite Hollywood / action movie-oriented. There's a few other images like this floating around, and most of their cover art follows this pattern:
You can see that they're quite Hollywood / fantasy oriented anyway, and that's not mentioning the videos.
In the absence of any official music videos for their singles I've elected to take a look at some videos by YouTube video-moguls Corridor Digital - who have used Pegboard's music in a good few of their videos. Here's one that uses 'BADBOI':
This video is exactly the sort of video-gamey, action-filmy sort of video that I think would be immensely appropriate for Pressure Cooker, since it's worked out pretty well for them so far.
Here's another video by them that uses 'Hero':
It's exactly this kind of special effects-oriented video that I feel has come to represent Pegboard Nerds very well, and what I intend to make for Pressure Cooker.
For target audiences for my video, I'll turn to look at these videos I've been talking about again. The primary target audience for these videos is probably younger males between 12 and 25.
Tuesday 21 April 2015
The Purpose of the Music Video
The music video is a unique and mysterious art that hasn't actually been around for too long compared to other forms of moving image text. They only really became what we know them to be today in 1975 when Queen released a video for their song Bohemian Rhapsody, the first proper music video.
This isn't to say music and film hadn't mixed before then - in the 50's we had various musicals and 'rock n' roll' films like Shake, The Girl Can't Help It and Rock Around the Clock, and then music TV like our own Top of the Pops and America's equivalents like American Bandstand. Since then, the music video has grown into a real cornerstone of the industry, and an invaluable part of an artist's identity as a musician. Nowadays people can watch most any music video they want free of charge on websites like YouTube, completely legally.
So how come they're so popular? What do they do? Well, one thing that they do is provide decent promotion for not just the band itself, but also the director of the video.
Of course the artist has a lot of potential exposure through having a video for their single (Then it can be shown on TV and online as well as just the radio, not to mention the word-of-mouth attention it might get if it's unique and interesting), but it's a great way for a budding filmmaker to get some real work and get their name out there, especially if the video does well.
Take, for instance, EDM powerhouse Savant. He doesn't have too many music videos for his songs, but he asked budding YouTube filmmaker Mike Diva to make a video for his song Kali 47. After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign the video was released a year and a half later. This is good for both parties because Savant as an artist gets more exposure from having a full video on popular channels like UKF and so on; and Mike Diva gets more exposure and promotion from fans of Savant's music and also through being promoted on the same YouTube channels.
There are also directors out there who initially found fame doing music videos. Jonas Åkerlund in particular was initially a drummer in a band, but later became more well-known for directing videos, one of the most notable being The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up':
For big artists nowadays, it's important to have music videos as part of a strong album campaign to keep them relevant in an increasingly competitive and changing industry.
But how do big-money global artists' music videos differ from those smaller, lesser-known ones? Well, big artists like, say, Taylor Swift are already well-known, so what purpose do their videos fulfil? They're there to maintain the artist's image. Here's Swift's video for Shake It Off:
With these types of artists it's important to keep in mind that they'll have teams of PR and publicity people behind them making sure that this 'image' is clearly defined and maintained. In Taylor Swift's case, her whole 'schtick' is based on her being down-to-earth and relatable to fans, and this is shown throughout the video. We see her in numerous different sets and scenarios with professional dancers, but she's not demonstrating any particular dancing skill; she's just trying to keep up. The whole fact that she is shown as being off-guard and messing around all serves to maintain that image of being a 'regular person' like everyone else.
Big artists like Taylor Swift can be found on YouTube, but also their fame gets them airplay on music TV networks like MTV.
But what about the smaller artists? The people who make their music in their bedrooms, with just a guitar or their laptop? The independently produced/released artists? Their main aim is to become more widely recognized, and to stand out from the ocean of other people looking for the same thing.
So, as a result, these smaller artists strive for creativity. And, if done well (and with a bit of luck) they can get skyrocketed into popularity from a successful music video. Take, for example, Russian indie rock troupe Biting Elbows. They were relatively unknown until their video for 'The Stampede' was released, at which point it got extensive coverage from online news sources and became 'viral' on social media platforms. So much so, that they made another higher-budget video that continued the story, and are now in the process of wrapping a feature film shot in a similar style.
Typically these sorts of videos are made on a shoestring budget and have to resort to creativity and 'thinking outside the box' in order to stand out. As a result of their budget, they aren't usually found on bigger networks like MTV or Kerrang!, but they can be found on YouTube.
Another thing typical of the smaller artists in the scene is that they sometimes make their own videos. A good example of this is Swedish band Rymdreglage, who animate all their videos themselves. Here's '8-bit Trip':
A good thing about making your own videos as a smaller artist is that it's cheaper, and you wouldn't have to outsource a professional to make the video for you. Another good thing about it is that it can be a much more personal product, which is good if you want to make it more artistically inclined.
A good example of an 'artistic' video is the one for Chet Faker's 'Talk Is Cheap':
This video isn't just there to sell the song - it's there because it's a visual product in its own right, and as such it is its own work of art.
Aside from just looking nice, sometimes videos are there to convey a message.
This fan video for Ratatat's 'Seventeen Years' is a prime example of this. It's dripping with pro-environment ideals and really hammers home the whole 'save the environment' message.
Adding to this, going back to Chet Faker for a second - the Talk Is Cheap video also conveys a pretty strong message about mortality and the fleetingness of human life, and how it fits into the world around us.
The process of actually making money from music videos is a difficult and convoluted one these days. I didn't pay any money to bring those ones up there to my blog. And you didn't pay anything to watch them. Where does the money come from?
Before the days of YouTube the only way music videos could really get broadcast is through getting airplay on MTV and the like. How that works is that whenever a video is played, that artist receives royalties from MTV for using their product. Nowadays, on YouTube, a similar thing occurs, but the money comes from Google, who give certain video content producers money based on how many views they get (and by extension, adverts served).
The point is, it's important for networks like TV and radio to make a return themselves, without running themselves into the ground with royalty payments. So, it's important for them to make sure that a lot of people will be listening. So, they need to make sure they're playing content they know people will like.
This is the main reason that lesser-known artists don't get played so much on TV or the radio - it would be considered too much of a risk by those networks. A better option to make money for smaller artists would be to sell their own music through other avenues like Bandcamp or iTunes.
There are few 'media outlets' in play when it comes to music:
- Streaming services (Spotify, YouTube, VEVO, Google Play Music All Access, Apple Music)
- Online stores (iTunes, Bandcamp)
- Radio (BBC Radio 1~6, Heart, Kiss)
- TV (MTV, VH1, Kerrang!)
That's a much larger amount than there was 30 years ago. Especially for music videos. This can be a problem in multiple ways, for multiple people. We as the audience are lost and saturated in all these different choices and venues, and the artists themselves might get lost and unnoticed in the sea of content.
Another thing (typically big) artists can do to capitalize upon their craft is 'synergise' with commercial partners. This just means that they strike up a deal with one another, that one party will promote the other's product if the other does the same. A pretty steadfast example of this is that sometimes an artist will be commissioned to write and record a song for a film. More times than not, that song's video will allude to the film in more than a subtle way. Case in point for Pharrell Williams and his song 'Happy', which was part of the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack:
Actually a more subtle example than most, this video features the Minion characters from the film. So, the music video is promoting the movie, and through virtue of the song being in the movie, the movie supports the song too.
I think the music video as a whole is an invaluable tool to an artist to expand and grow their fanbase, and also to reach out creatively. They're popular because they allow another avenue for the audience to get inside the artist's head creatively (admittedly more so if it's a smaller artist), it's another representation for what they stand for in their craft. They also allow more ways for artists to stay afloat financially and make more money.
This isn't to say music and film hadn't mixed before then - in the 50's we had various musicals and 'rock n' roll' films like Shake, The Girl Can't Help It and Rock Around the Clock, and then music TV like our own Top of the Pops and America's equivalents like American Bandstand. Since then, the music video has grown into a real cornerstone of the industry, and an invaluable part of an artist's identity as a musician. Nowadays people can watch most any music video they want free of charge on websites like YouTube, completely legally.
So how come they're so popular? What do they do? Well, one thing that they do is provide decent promotion for not just the band itself, but also the director of the video.
Of course the artist has a lot of potential exposure through having a video for their single (Then it can be shown on TV and online as well as just the radio, not to mention the word-of-mouth attention it might get if it's unique and interesting), but it's a great way for a budding filmmaker to get some real work and get their name out there, especially if the video does well.
Take, for instance, EDM powerhouse Savant. He doesn't have too many music videos for his songs, but he asked budding YouTube filmmaker Mike Diva to make a video for his song Kali 47. After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign the video was released a year and a half later. This is good for both parties because Savant as an artist gets more exposure from having a full video on popular channels like UKF and so on; and Mike Diva gets more exposure and promotion from fans of Savant's music and also through being promoted on the same YouTube channels.
There are also directors out there who initially found fame doing music videos. Jonas Åkerlund in particular was initially a drummer in a band, but later became more well-known for directing videos, one of the most notable being The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up':
For big artists nowadays, it's important to have music videos as part of a strong album campaign to keep them relevant in an increasingly competitive and changing industry.
But how do big-money global artists' music videos differ from those smaller, lesser-known ones? Well, big artists like, say, Taylor Swift are already well-known, so what purpose do their videos fulfil? They're there to maintain the artist's image. Here's Swift's video for Shake It Off:
With these types of artists it's important to keep in mind that they'll have teams of PR and publicity people behind them making sure that this 'image' is clearly defined and maintained. In Taylor Swift's case, her whole 'schtick' is based on her being down-to-earth and relatable to fans, and this is shown throughout the video. We see her in numerous different sets and scenarios with professional dancers, but she's not demonstrating any particular dancing skill; she's just trying to keep up. The whole fact that she is shown as being off-guard and messing around all serves to maintain that image of being a 'regular person' like everyone else.Big artists like Taylor Swift can be found on YouTube, but also their fame gets them airplay on music TV networks like MTV.
But what about the smaller artists? The people who make their music in their bedrooms, with just a guitar or their laptop? The independently produced/released artists? Their main aim is to become more widely recognized, and to stand out from the ocean of other people looking for the same thing.
So, as a result, these smaller artists strive for creativity. And, if done well (and with a bit of luck) they can get skyrocketed into popularity from a successful music video. Take, for example, Russian indie rock troupe Biting Elbows. They were relatively unknown until their video for 'The Stampede' was released, at which point it got extensive coverage from online news sources and became 'viral' on social media platforms. So much so, that they made another higher-budget video that continued the story, and are now in the process of wrapping a feature film shot in a similar style.
Typically these sorts of videos are made on a shoestring budget and have to resort to creativity and 'thinking outside the box' in order to stand out. As a result of their budget, they aren't usually found on bigger networks like MTV or Kerrang!, but they can be found on YouTube.
Another thing typical of the smaller artists in the scene is that they sometimes make their own videos. A good example of this is Swedish band Rymdreglage, who animate all their videos themselves. Here's '8-bit Trip':
A good thing about making your own videos as a smaller artist is that it's cheaper, and you wouldn't have to outsource a professional to make the video for you. Another good thing about it is that it can be a much more personal product, which is good if you want to make it more artistically inclined.
A good example of an 'artistic' video is the one for Chet Faker's 'Talk Is Cheap':
This video isn't just there to sell the song - it's there because it's a visual product in its own right, and as such it is its own work of art.
Aside from just looking nice, sometimes videos are there to convey a message.
This fan video for Ratatat's 'Seventeen Years' is a prime example of this. It's dripping with pro-environment ideals and really hammers home the whole 'save the environment' message.
Adding to this, going back to Chet Faker for a second - the Talk Is Cheap video also conveys a pretty strong message about mortality and the fleetingness of human life, and how it fits into the world around us.
The process of actually making money from music videos is a difficult and convoluted one these days. I didn't pay any money to bring those ones up there to my blog. And you didn't pay anything to watch them. Where does the money come from?
Before the days of YouTube the only way music videos could really get broadcast is through getting airplay on MTV and the like. How that works is that whenever a video is played, that artist receives royalties from MTV for using their product. Nowadays, on YouTube, a similar thing occurs, but the money comes from Google, who give certain video content producers money based on how many views they get (and by extension, adverts served).
The point is, it's important for networks like TV and radio to make a return themselves, without running themselves into the ground with royalty payments. So, it's important for them to make sure that a lot of people will be listening. So, they need to make sure they're playing content they know people will like.
This is the main reason that lesser-known artists don't get played so much on TV or the radio - it would be considered too much of a risk by those networks. A better option to make money for smaller artists would be to sell their own music through other avenues like Bandcamp or iTunes.
There are few 'media outlets' in play when it comes to music:
- Streaming services (Spotify, YouTube, VEVO, Google Play Music All Access, Apple Music)
- Online stores (iTunes, Bandcamp)
- Radio (BBC Radio 1~6, Heart, Kiss)
- TV (MTV, VH1, Kerrang!)
That's a much larger amount than there was 30 years ago. Especially for music videos. This can be a problem in multiple ways, for multiple people. We as the audience are lost and saturated in all these different choices and venues, and the artists themselves might get lost and unnoticed in the sea of content.
Another thing (typically big) artists can do to capitalize upon their craft is 'synergise' with commercial partners. This just means that they strike up a deal with one another, that one party will promote the other's product if the other does the same. A pretty steadfast example of this is that sometimes an artist will be commissioned to write and record a song for a film. More times than not, that song's video will allude to the film in more than a subtle way. Case in point for Pharrell Williams and his song 'Happy', which was part of the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack:
Actually a more subtle example than most, this video features the Minion characters from the film. So, the music video is promoting the movie, and through virtue of the song being in the movie, the movie supports the song too.
I think the music video as a whole is an invaluable tool to an artist to expand and grow their fanbase, and also to reach out creatively. They're popular because they allow another avenue for the audience to get inside the artist's head creatively (admittedly more so if it's a smaller artist), it's another representation for what they stand for in their craft. They also allow more ways for artists to stay afloat financially and make more money.
Thursday 12 February 2015
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