Music Video Directors Research

Music Video Directors Research

- Philip G. Atwell

Philip started out in 1999 as an American music video director but also touches on short films in Hollywood. His popular videos are all working with Hip Hop artists such as Eminem and 50 cent. He has helmed many music videos for hip hop artists. He also produced and co-wrote 'Murder Was the Case', a short film involving Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg released by Death Row records in 1995.

The reason I chose Philip G. Atwell to research as a director is due to him directing videos which involve portraying a story and not just performance. An example of this is 'Eminem - Guilty Conscience', 'Eminem - Cleaning Out the Closet' and 'Eminem - Stan'.  He does a really good job in story telling which is an aspect I am interested in when it comes to music videos as I believes it brings a purpose to the video instead of the typical shots. It grabs attention and I believe makes people relate to the music video more which creates recognition, respect and popularity.

Eminem - Stan

  

My favourite part of the video are of the scenes in 'Stans' basement. It really captures the atmosphere through the lighting, mise en scene and the camera movement. The lighting has intense flashes, it represents the weather, but also very cleverly it represents 'Stans' unstable mental wellbeing as he comes across as 'possessive'. The lighting makes you feel a bit crazy and gives you an insight of what Stan is feeling. The camera movements are slow to really emphasise what is being seen to portray his feelings. Also the biggest aspect of these scenes are the props being used, it instantly develops what the story is about and captures the intensity of some fans, which this is what the video was all about. All of these aspects plus more, are what really captures the viewers attention. This is what I like about this certain director.

This video has inspired me to use these conventions of story telling to interest viewers, and how lighting and props can capture a certain atmosphere.   

- Jake Nava

Jake Nava is an English Music Video Director based in North London. He is very famous, working with stars like Usher, Beyonce and Arctic Monkeys. He was voted 5th for 'Entertainment Weeklys Top 10 Music Video Directors' in 2011.

The reason I chose Jake Nava is because he plays very well with pace to create a mood. For example 'If I Were a Boy' by Beyonce, was directed by Jake Nava and the pace matched the song incredibly with beautiful visuals. Where as 'Arctic Monkeys - Arabella' was fast pace, with quick cuts and more intense movements to match the songs tempo and feel. He also works with great lighting and camera angles for really nice gradients, working on very nice black and white images.

Arctic Monkeys - Arabella 

The reason I like this video was due to the colour grading and editing matched the theme of the 'old school' video very well. The track is quite aggressive and up tempo, which is matched perfectly to the straight cuts. The exposure on the video is really nice and is very consistent.

Another reason I like this video is due to the surreal editing. It has odd flickers, random visual 'noise' added and framing differentiations. This surreal aspect was created to match the 'jumpy' feel to the song. But from watching it closely I have realised that these surreal effects could be added into a storytelling based visual to create a mood or portrays someone's feelings. Which interlinks good with the Eminem video, as this editing could represent 'Stans' possessive feeling. This has really inspired me to look into these editing skills more, and match it with the feelings of the actor(s) that will feature in my video.

The Ideologies of the Music Industry

The Ideologies of the Music Industry 

Adorno
- Adorno believed the industry was all owned by Capitalists, which control consumer buying patterns and trends in order to almost 'brainwash' the audience in result in the owners making more and more money.
- He believed that 'Capitalism fed people with the products of a culture industry' which was the opposite of 'true art' just to keep the audience passively satisfied and politically apathetic so they wouldn't question what is going on.
- He very much believed in the idea of 'False needs' which was an idea that capitalists in the culture industries, that they replace peoples 'true' needs, by satisfying them with needs they believe they want, which satisfies them by the capitalist system. This removes the freedom, creativity, creative happiness and the full expression of human potential.
- He strongly suggests that the industry puts out products that make the consumers believe they are consuming their true emotion, when it is really a false need.

Dick Hebdige
- He believes Adorno's theories are pessimistic and over-exaggerated as he is speaking for a mass audience.
- He also states that audiences are free and have the power to resist large companies in the industries by finding alternative products to consume, highly proved by the creation of sub-genres and sub-cultures.
- Hebdige also states that in response to this large companies will put out products with high artist recognition to make the audiences of these subcultures consume, but the audience will then have the decision whether to consume or not.
- Against the idea of capitalism, his beliefs were a strong contradiction toward Adorno's beliefs.

Negus
- Negus believed in two ideologies, that of Organic and Synthetic.
- The Organic ideology was believed that the foundation of the artists success would be of the natural talent of the artist and just been 'natured' by the record label.
- This approach is aimed at more sophisticated consumers who appreciate natural talent, the sales are emphasised by the label but the artist has time to progress and produce. The profit plan in these artists are a long term plan from the labels.
- A great example of this ideologies is that of 'Artic Monkeys' and 'Adele'.
- The Synthetic ideology was believed that the executives attempt to construct successful acts out of their artists and their songs at their disposal. The image of the artist is constructed by the label. It is a short term method with a short time to prove their success, not giving a lot of time for natural expression.
- The audience targeted is of a younger nature, and the profit plan is a lot shorter.

Dyer 
- Dyers theory is all based on 'star image'
- He believes an image is created by the label and constructed to please the audience through audio, visuals, advertisement and marketing.
-He believed in two Paradox's of how the labels constructed an image for their artists.
- Paradox 1 - The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer.
- Paradox 2 - The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.
- These are methods constructed by the labels to keep the interest of the consumers to there for enhance music sales.

Shot Count Analysis

Shot Count Analysis

Track: Love The Way You Lie                          Artist: Eminem ft. Rihanna

                          

 Director: Joseph Kahn (American Filmmaker)   Release Date: 5th August 2010

                  

Length of video: 4 minutes, 26 seconds

Number of shots in entire video: 168

Average length of shot: 1.5 seconds

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Number of shots in 30 second segment: 26 within 26 - 56 seconds

Within the 30 second segment there are:

Number of CU: 7

Number of ECU: 1

Number of LS: 5

Number of MS: 13

Number of panning shots: 2

Number of tilts: 2

Other shots: Crane x2

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Medium Shot	2 seconds	Pull/Push Focus Lip Sync	Straight cut
2	Medium Shot	2 seconds	Lens Flare (Sun)	Straight cut
3	Close Up	0.5 seconds	Girl Lying Down	Straight cut
4	Extreme Close Up	0.5 seconds	Held Hands	Straight cut
5	Medium Shot	1.5 seconds	Pan Movement round singer	Straight cut
6	Close Up	2 seconds	Girl getting up from bed	Straight cut
7	Close up	1 seconds	Handheld of Lip Sync	Straight cut
8	Long Shot	3 seconds	Crane Shot, rising up	Straight Cut
9	Medium Shot	2 seconds	Two actors on bed	Straight Cut
10	Close Up	1 seconds	Two actors on bed	Straight cut
11	Medium Shot	1.5 seconds	Pulled Focus, side angle of singer	Straight cut
12	Close Up	1 seconds	Low Angle of singer	Straight cut
13	Close Up	1 seconds	Two actors on bed	Straight cut
14	Medium Shot	1 seconds	Lens Flare, Lip Syc	Straight cut
15	Close Up	1 seconds	Two actors on bed	Straight Cut
16	Medium Shot	1.5 second	Two actors on bed	Straight cut
17	Close up	3 seconds	Close up of younger artists face.	Straight cut
18	Medium Shot	1.5 seconds	High Angle of two actors	Straight Cut
19	Close to Mid Shot	2 seconds	Handheld Zoom Out	Straight cut
20	Medium Shot	1 seconds	Slow Movement	Straight cut
21	Medium Shot	0.5 seconds	Shot/Reverse Shot	Straight cut
22	Medium Shot	1 seconds	Slow Movement	Straight cut
23	Tilt up - close up	3 seconds	Tilt up of younger artist.	Straight cut
24	Close up	0.5 seconds	Lip Sync, Lens Flare	Straight cut
25	Medium Shot	0.5 seconds	Mid Shot of two actors	Straight cut
26	Medium Shot	0.5 seconds	Mid Shot of two actors	Straight Cut

  

What have I learnt?

I have found out that there a lot of shots in a music video that people do not realise. It sets the pace for the video according to the shot size, and through this portrays the atmosphere of the concept delivered to the audience. There are a lot of simple mid shots and close ups to pick up detail, and when the long shots are added that is when the shots are longer with smooth movement. I have also learnt that the link between the shots are important as too much jumping from scene to scene does not make the video run smoothly.

All that I have realised through analysing shots and the pace, I can now take into consideration whilst shooting and editing my music video, and include these aspects to make my video run smooth with a nice presentation.