History of Music Videos

Preliminary Task



From working on the preliminary task, I learnt how much time and work goes into creating music videos. For the preliminary task we were given 6 hours to film and edit our music video created for a clip from a music track.My groups music video was quite simple and basic to film but we only just managed to finish it in time, and this showed me how much effort must have gone in to creating some of the music videos for real bands and singers. We suffered some problems when filming our prelim, such as lighting problems and also timing issues. We used the smaller panasonic camera to film the different shots we needed, and found setting the white-balance before every shot difficult and time consuming. We also found that the overall clarity of the shots is poor and therefore I have learnt that filming in HD would be more beneficial and look more proffessional.

Director Research - Dawn Shadforth

Dawn Shadforth was born in Essex in 1973 and graduated from a Fine Art degree at Sheffield University in 1991. She earned a first in sculpture, and has since become one of most successful music video and commercial directors of her generation. Dawn’s directorial career began with documentaries for Channel 4 (1995’s The Friend’s Tale) and Warp Records (The Seven Year Glitch in 1996). In 1996 she made her first video, for Mantronix ‘Hush’ for the princely sum of £50, and a year later she signed to RSA/Black Dog.

From the start of her career her work has gained industry recognition. In 1999 she was one of 30 chosen out of 500 directors to participate in the 'Saatchi and Saatchi New Directors Showcase' at the Cannes Advertising Festival.

In 2001, Dawn was ranked by the Observer Magazine as one of 10 directors to watch. Since then she has built a huge catalogue of identifiable classics and popular mainstream hits, such as Kylie Minogue’s ‘Spinning Around’ and commercials such as Marks and Spencer ‘Christmas’ commercials. At the same time Dawn has also continued to experiment with narrative and push the form of music video with performances that clearly relate to the audio tracks, to modern horror for some of her collaborations with artists. In 2001 Dawn’s second of five video’s for Kylie Minogue, 'Can’t Get You Out of My Head', became a worldwide smash and the video has since been cited as being one of pop music’s most iconic moments.

More recently Dawn has worked with the like of Emeli Sande, creating the video for her single ‘MY Kind of Love’ (2012). I personally really like this video because it follows a narrative style whilst clearly portraying emotion that surrounds the topic of the track. The emotion is already clear within the song, but the video really helps to emphasize it to the audience. I really like the combination of shots used in this video and how the use of simple techniques emphasizes the narrative. At the start of this particular video there is a long tracking shot moving backwards through the hospital entrance, allowing the audience to see the emotion and facial expressions portrayed by Emeli and therefore conveying the feelings/emotions surrounding the song.

Director Research - Declan Whitebloom

Declan Whitebloom is a British director (currently based in LA), who's work focuses around music videos and commercials.

Declan was born and raised in London and came from a family obsessed with film. His elder brother was one of the major influences in music video & commercial directing, and this enabled Declan to spend much of his teenage years 'on set' absorbing the process.
Art school called and Declan went off to see what they had to offer and after getting his BA he hopped on the next plane to come to LA to realise his dreams. Declan started from the ground up, working in every department until he found his initial calling, the editing room. He edited hundreds of music videos and commercials, winning many awards, before being offered his first music video to direct.

This year, Declan's video for Sugarland’s ‘Stuck Like Glue’ won Video of the Year at the 2011 CMT awards, and his video for Taylor Swift "Mean" is nominated for Best Music Video at the CMA's. Declan has also directed worked with British Artists such as Pixie Lott (‘What Do You Take Me For’ – 2011), Olly Murs (‘Heart Skips a Beat’ – 2011) and the Fray (‘Run For Your Life’ –2012). Most recently, Declan has worked with new British band Lawson, creating the music video for their debut single ‘When She Was Mine’ (2012).

Declan’s music video style is simple and often is there to tell the story of the track, whilst often incorporating more entertaining themes for some tracks. The video for Pixie Lott’s ‘What Do You Take Me For’ is more based around choreographed dance routines and is set in a dark warehouse location, whereas the video for Lawson’s ‘When She Was Mine’ see’s the Band performing in 2 locations (a Warehouse and on an LA rooftop) and follow’s the lead singers movements throughout LA with the actress playing his ex-love interest. This video follows the story behind the song’s romantic/heartbreak theme. Olly Mur’s ‘Heart Skips a Beat’ is a fun and energetic video, reflecting the songs beat but also reflecting the songs theme.  I really like Declans directorial style because the music videos really reflect the mood of the tracks they are created for and perfectly reflect the idea of telling the songs story, or being upbeat and entertaining for other songs (e.g. 'What Do You Take Me For' and 'Heart Skips a Beat' etc.)

Lawson - When She Was Mine (2012)

Pixie Lott - What Do You Take Me For (2011)

Director Research - Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler was born on April 18, 1973 in Los Angeles, CA. He has been a music video director for around 12 years, and has written and directed music videos for several artists. His most notable and frequent collaborator is Rihanna. The two have worked on more than a dozen videos together throughout her career, starting with 'Unfaithful' in 2006, 'Only Girl In the World' (2010), and more recently 'California King Bed' (2011) and 'Man Down' (2011). In total, Mandler has directed music videos for 13 of Rihanna's released singles over her music career.Mandler has also frequently collaborated with artists such as Jay-Z, Drake, The Killers, and Mary J. Blige. So far in 2012, Mandler has worked with Nicki Minaj, Lana Del Rey, Cheryl, Fun and Shakira.

Beginning his career as a photographer, Mandler's work has been featured on the covers of major magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Men's Health, and ESPN The Magazine, and his celebrity portraits include Ryan Phillippe, Eva Mendes, Eminem, Colin Farrell, David Beckham, and Katie Holmes.

Anthony Mandlers music videos reflect the song in which they are created for, and often show the deeper meanings to a song. Some have also been classed as controversial (Lana Del Rey's 'National Anthem') mainly for actor casting purposes. With the video for Rihanna's 'Only Girl In The World', the video portrays an almost fantasy dream world, in which the colour scheme is pinks and reds. The videos style reflects the theme of love that is portrayed through the song. I really like Anthony Mandlers style as I like the way in which the video reflects the song and often follows the story/deeper meaning to a song. I particularly like the video Mandler directed for Rihanna's 'Disturbia' as the idea of paranoia was reflected and portrayed through the video clearly. I really like the lighting effects and camera angles for the video as this really helped to reflect the idea of paranoia. Overall I like how Mandlers videos clearly link to the song and how ideas and themes are clearly reflected.

Rihanna - Only Girl In The World (2010)

Rihanna - Disturbia (2008)

Analysis of a Music Video

Track: Where Have You Been
Artist: Rihanna
Director: Dave Meyers
Release Date: 8th May 2012
Length of Video: 4:03
Number of shots in entire video: 165
Average length of shots: 1.47 seconds

Chosen 30 second segment: 0:47 - 1:17
Number of Shots in a 30 second segment: 21

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Close Up	3 seconds	Close up of Rihanna	Fade out
2	Mid Shot	3 seconds	Mid shot of Rihanna and dancers behind her	Straight  cut
3	Tracking Shot	2 seconds	Showing Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
4	Close Up	1 second	Close up of Rihanna	Straight cut
5	Tilt Shot	1 second	Tilts upwards	Straight cut
6	Tracking Shot	2 seconds	Showing Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
7	Group Shot	0.5 seconds	Showing dancers and Rihanna	Fast Cut
8	Tracking Shot	1 second	Moving round the group	Straight cut
9	Mid Shot	1 second	Of Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
10	Close Up	2 seconds	Of Rihanna	Straight cut
11	Group Shot	2 seconds	Of Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
12	Mid Shot	1 second	Of Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
13	Close Up	1.5 seconds	Of 3 Dancers	Straight cut
14	Group Shot	2 seconds	Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
15	Mid Shot	1.5 seconds	Rihanna	Jump cuts
16	Extreme Close Up	1 second	Rihanna’s face	Straight cut
17	Mid Shot	1 second	Rihanna	Straight cut
18	Tracking Shot	3 seconds	Rihanna and dancers	Straight cut
19	Mid Shot	1 second	Rihanna	Straight cut
20	Shots 20 & 21 (combined close up and group shot)	2 seconds	Split screen of the two shots.
21

Within the 30 second segment there are...
Close ups: 5
Extreme close ups: 1
Long shots: 0
Mid shots: 6
Panning shots: 0
Tilts: 1
Other Shots: 8

Analysis
From this process, I have learnt about the use of different shots and the lengths of time in which they last. I have also learnt how the spead of the shots reflect the pace of the track. In 'Where Have You Been', the music's pace is fast and the length of shots, constant changes of angles and types of shots reflect this. A slow moving video with longer length shots wouldn't have worked as well with the music. I have also learnt how the wide variations in the types of shots and the order in which they are used make the video more interesting and that the use simple cut techniques rather than complex doesn't make the video any less interesting.