Research into how music videos are made

1. Research into the music
industry!

2. How are music videos generally made?
• Firstly the record label has to agree to making the music video and a
budget is set it place. Once this has happened, then you can start to
make the music video itself. Before the production, comes the pre-production
stage; during this stage all of the edits of the video and
clips that have been added to it are worked on until they are
considered to be publish worthy.
• The main aspects of a music video that has to be edited intensely are:
Filming and sound.

3. Filming
• Before going straight into filming the video, the director has to come up with visual ideas
on what they want their video to look like/represented as. For example, do they want it
to be narrative, artist or a bit of both?
• The director also has to decide on what variety of shots are going to be used when
filming the music video. The choice of shots are essential for the making of the video as
different shots can have different emotion meanings. Eg. An extreme close up is use to
allow the audience to examine the intimate emotions shown by the artist. Where as a
wide shot is used to set the scene (establishing)
• The song is normally played in the background whilst filming the video; this allows the
director to see how well the movements fit with the music.
• Then all of the clips filmed are then edited together in an appropriate sequence to
represent a chosen storyline. Once all of the cuts reach the final edit, this is when any
special effects are edited in to fit with the scenes.
• Finally the finished edit of the music video is sent to the producer/record label to publish
and advertise it.

4. Sound
• When the sound is being recorded, there will be many edits such as;
sharpening the voice of the artist to make it more clear and smooth
to listen to, some sounds may be mixed together and any sound
effects will be added during this stage too.
• Once the sound footage is agreed to be at a high standard of quality,
it will be played over the film footage to see how well it matches.
During this stage, any adjustments of sound will be made, eg making
sure the lip-synching is perfect to the lyrics.

5. Famous music video directors
• An American director named John Landis helped Michael Jackson film
the music video ‘Thriller’. He was recognised for his ‘horror’ themed
movies and music videos. Landis is thought to be one of the best and
most inspirational directors in the world. The reason for his success
was the imaginary choreography used in the videos and the make-up
used in the horror footage that is so realistic.
• Another successful music video director is Spike Jonze who directed
videos such as; ‘Flashing lights’ – The pharcyde, ‘Drop’ Bejork – its oh
so quiet. He made it successful by being so unique. His videos were
looked upon as ‘strange’ and ‘peculiar’ however, this made his
advertisement easier because people would watch his videos and
then recommend others to watch it.

6. How much does it cost to produce a music
video?
• The total cost to produce a professional music video can range from
$20,000 to $500,000 and up. There are a handful of music videos
each year in the seven-figure budget range, but those are exceptions
in the overall market. A list of the most expensive music videos made
are:
• Michael Jackson – ‘Scream’ – Mark Romanek - $7,000,000
• Madonna – ‘Die another day’ – Traktor - $6,100,000
• Madonna – ‘Bedtime story’ – Mark Romanek - $5,000,000
• Guns N Roses – ‘Estranged’ – Andy Morohan - $4,000,000
• Michael Jackson – ‘Black and white’ – John Landis - $4,000,000