Influential Music Videos; Case Study 1

Thriller Music Video Analysis

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Artist/Band Research Survey Continued...

Below you will find the link to the survey which I posted on social networking websites and also via email.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGVN9JD As previously mentioned, I have made sure I have received at least 20 fully completed surveys.

Here you will find a powerpoint on the statistical results of my survey which I sent out;

Questionnaire Analysis

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Artist/Band Research Survey

There are many artists and bands I could go into detail with in this section, however I do not have the time to write about all of them.In this section, the first thing that I have to do is to produce a survey on http://ww.surveymonkey.com in which I will send out to people via email, Facebook and Twitter to find out about their interests in music.

Here is the link to the survey I sent out: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GGQSCTS

Below you can see the screenshots to prove that I have sent out the ink via my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts from my iPhone.

Facebook:

Twitter:

I have chosen to send the Survey link out via Facebook and Twitter because they are very popular social networking websites in which makes it easier to communicate with a wide range of different ages, location, interests, hobbies and ethnicities etc.

My survey has officially been sent out and so far and I have had many positive responses, however I have not yet had enough responses to be able to analyse and put in a graph to give me accurate and influential statistics.

Music Directors

Music directors are a key essential to making a successful music video and without having an experienced music director on board, the music video and career of the artist could go to flop.

There are lots of music directors that have directed music videos but only a handful of these are very successful and actually make a name for themselves such as the ones I have chosen to talk about because I think that they are very important and influential to the music industry;

Emil Nava;

Chris Cunningham

Emil Nava;

Famous music director who has directed music videos for;

Jessie J feat B.o.B- Price Tag ( Released 25th January 2011)

This music video was mainly created by using the famous 'green screen' to create the fantastic effects and used a lot of props which were inspired by 'Alice In Wonderland' as they are found to be larger than they actually should be such as plush teddies and a real life marionette which Jessie herself plays.

Emil has personally worked on all of Jessie J's music videos; 'Do It Like A Dude', 'Price Tag', 'Nobody's Perfect', 'Who's Laughing Now' and her latest video 'Who you Are'.

When it comes to creating music videos, it is important to have a good relationship with the music director. Some music directors -usually the ones who do it for the money, not to express creativity- don't physically get involved with the production of the music video and sit in a chair and tell other people what to do and Jessie J has specifically said that Emil gets involved with it all. On her latest video, 'Who You Are' Emil was helping with the creation of effects by holding the leaf blower in Jessie's face to create the effect of a thunder storm and eccentric winds.

'Emil is amazing, he is one of very few people who can actually make the ideas in my head a reality.' - Jessie J on Emil Nava.

Parade- Perfume (Released June 20th 2011)

This music video features members of the British five-piece girl band Parade; Emily, Lauren, Bianca, Jessica and Sian singing and dancing around famous sites in London such as Big Ben and the London Eye.

Emil Nava has also worked with many other fantastic artists including;

- Tinchy Stryder. Where he has directed videos such as; Stryderman, Take Me Back, Number 1, Never Leave You, You're Not Alone, In My System and Second Chance.

- Aggro Santos. Directed his music video for his most famous song; 'Candy' which features Kimberly Wyatt.

Chris Cunningham;

Chris Cunningham is also an influential music director, but he has directed older and more technologically influenced videos such as those that can be seen below like Madonna- Frozen and Björk- All Is Full of Love. He is still well-known in today's media industry but music videos soon go out of date because of the influence of fashion, era, genre, artist influence and much more.

Madonna- Frozen (1998)

Björk- All Is Full of Love (1999)

Music Genre Research

There are hundreds of types of music genres, some of which are less known, and these include several types which wouldn't necessarily be known to everyone.


To start with, there is the less-known and less commercially marketed genres such as;

- Classical music, operatic, video game music, show music; ballroom; tango, pasodoble, cha cha cha etc, religious music; Gospel, gregorian chant, hymns etc, military music; marches, national anthems etc, regional music; traditional, folk, nursery rhymes, sea shanties and flamenco etc

African popular music;

Jujitsu, apala, benga, bikutsi, cape jazz, highlife, hiplife, kwela, makossa, morna, mbube and salegy.

Avent-Garde;
Experimental music and minimalistic.

Easy Listening;

Background music, lounge music and elevator music.

- The more recognisable music genres can be found below, which also include sub-genres which define the genres into more detail. Not all of the genres can be found below as there are too many to name. Click on the link at the bottom of the page to see the whole list of genres.

Blues;

Country blues, delta blues, electric blues and piano blues.

Country;

Alternative country, americana, bluegrass, country pop, country rock, honky tonk, nashville sound, rockabilly and western.

Electronica;

Breakdance, dance, ambient, dubstep, electroclash, eurodance, trance and uplifting

Modern Folk;

Indie folk, neofolk and progressive folk.


Hip-hop & Rap;

Alternative hip-hop, crunk, dirty rap/ Pornocore, G-Funk, grime, horrorcore, latin rap, rap metal, rap rock, rapcore and turntablism


Jazz;

Acid jazz, big band, calypso jazz, cool jazz, gypsy jazz, hard- bop, jazz-funk, scat, latin jazz, mainstream jazz, soul jazz, swing jazz, west coast jazz

Pop;

Arab pop, austropop, bubblegum pop, country pop, dance-pop, eurobeat, operatic pop, psychedelic pop, pop rap,teen pop, traditional pop music and vispop

Rhythem & Blues;

Contemporary R&B, funk, disco, boogie, soul, doowap, hip hop soul

Rock;

Alternative Rock, blues rock, wonky pop, grunge, indie-rock, electronic rock, folk rock, glam rock, hard rock, heavy metal, death metal, doom metal, grindcore, metalcore, nu metal, sludge metal, acid rock, screamo, rap rock

To find the genre of music I want to do , I am going to do some research into which is the favorite and most popular genre. I will do this by creating an online questionairre in which I will send to people to fill in and I will then collect the data and hopefully find a suitable song in which I can use for my music video that the audience will like and also a song I can get copyright acceptance.

-Music Genre Information-

Influence Of Style

Each music artist has their own style, this mainly includes the style of music and fashion. The first style they choose to portray themselves when coming into the music industry is usually the style they stick to throughout their music career. Some artists are known for their style in fashion which they stick to throughout their career and are known for their extravagant outfits and original creativity of style.

Music is also a key aspect when thinking about influence of style. Each artist has their own individual influence when it comes to writing their own music. Most artists have the influence of music styles that have 'gone out of fashion' or 'forgotten about' such as artists from the late 60's and early 70's which is also the influence of many fashions that can be seen on many celebrities these days.

Artists that fit into this category include; Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Cher, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Jessie J.

It is known to the whole world that Lady Gaga has her own style, some people might not understand it but there is no way this stops her from expressing her creativity in her outfits. Gaga works closely with designers explaining her creations to them so that they can become reality. Her very famous and influential 'meat dress' from the 2010 MTV Awards Video Music Awards was made by Franc Fernandez however it evoked fury from animal rights organisations PETA. However, Gaga denied intention of causing disrespect and wished for the dress to be interpreted as a statement of human rights with focus upon those in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender) community.

-Lady Gaga Information-

Katy Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. It includes brightly coloured, humorous and unusual shaped accessories such as fruits and cakes etc. Some also call it 'very colourful and vintage'. Quoting Katy herself ' Inspired by American actress Dominique Swain's portrayal in the 1977 film adaptation of Lolita.'

-Katy Perry Information-

Elvis Presley specialised in bringing fashion back to men of the 1950's. He wore loud trends such as yellow suits pink sports coats, and white shoes. He also loved high collars as he liked to feel like his childhood hero, Captain Marvel.

-Elvis Presley Information-

I could use the idea of using a certain influence of fashion when creating the image of the artist I will use in my music video. When doing this, I really need to think about who the target audience is for both the artist, the song and the video. When thinking about the influence of style when it comes to music, I need to research existing artists who are presently in the music industry, making music in the top 10, selling lots of albums, fully selling out tours and also artists who are starting to sell albums and tours multi-nationally.

Analysis Of Music Videos Continued

Music videos vary and are usually dependant upon the genre of the artist and also the audience that it is targeted at.


Music videos I am going to analyse are 4 very different ones I feel I could use for inspiration.

- Jonas Brothers 'When You Look Me In The Eyes'
This video is one of the Jonas Brothers very early videos of when they had started out with Disney as their Record Label. The thing I like about this video is that is stars REAL fans at the boys' concerts, who scream their name and know all the words to every single song they have sung, even if it is a cover song.

Putting the fans in a music video and real footage of real concerts is amazing and very courteous of Joe, Nick and Kevin to do this. As they were only 14, 16 and 17 when the video was being made, they could have had input into the making of the video, however being familiar with analysing Disney artists- it is very unlikely that they had input as they are made as a product in which to sell, not treated as real people with feelings who want to express their musical creativity.

I would like to use the idea of using real footage from concerts, as it shows audiences that the artist cares about their fans and also assures the people buying tickets that they are noticed and loved for buying songs, albums, merchandise and concert tickets. Which I feel is something that artists these days don't show enough to people, as words on social networking websites such as Twitter are not deep enough.

- The Wanted 'Glad You Came'
This video is basically there to make all the girls swoon over Jay, Siva, Tom, Nathan & Max. The video shows the 5 band members of The Wanted on a beach not wearing a lot of clothes, whilst they are also flirting with girls in bikini's at a party.

It's clear to see this video is to get more female attention and the producer isn't scared to make it obvious, especially as it was released closely to the announcement of their upcoming arena tour.

I would like to use the idea of using very handsome and good-looking people in my video to attract the audience, however I know it is unlikely that talented models are going to be in my video as it would be very expensive nad time consuming looking into it and then it not being followed through.

- Nick Jonas & The Administration 'Who I Am'
This video is one of my most favorite music videos when it comes to putting across the storyline to the audience, however the actual song is a let down. The storyline concentrates on people showing the audience who they really are, by holding up a white poster with a word or phrase on it- but it is something that can't be noticed on the outside. A good example from the actual video is when Nick, himself comes on the screen on the end with a poster that says 'Diabetic'.


I would like to use the idea of a person or several people holding up a poster with a word or phrase that is relevent to them as an individual. Doing this, I feel that I will be able to get across the storyline I want to, but also the audience can make up their own storyline so that they can listen to the song and relate to it.


- Rihanna 'Only Girl In The World'

Personally, I feel this video is very sex explicit and undermining to females. Rihanna uses her body as a product to help sell albums and sell out tours. There's nothing wrong with having a good figure and being able to show it off, but I feel that if she toned down the outfit choices and dressed like every other artist, she would deffinitely still have as many fans because she is majorly talented and has a magnificent stage presence.

It is clear that this video is used to show off Rihanna's body, but also shows that her videos are her biggest selling point, however she is an extremely talented artist as she writes her own songs and is one of the biggest worldwide selling female artists.



My Ideas
All of the ideas above are fantastic and would make it a more enjoyable experience to watch and also very enjoyable to create and see the end result, however I know that I cant use all of the ideas at once so I will have to do some research and choose which effect I would like to use closer to the time. I could do this by creating a questionairre and asking a large amount of people which they think would be more effective.

I would like to use the idea of animation in the post production process and the use of unusual props however it would be very time consuming and wouldn't make sense with the narrative I want to put across with my music video.