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Music Videos Through History

Record Label Posters

A wonderful vid from Film Riot

Just watched a Film Riot video on YouTube. Great insight into how a professional looking music video is made. Although we may not have access to the kind of equipment used, as said in the video music videos are entirely visual. I feel confident that I can make a great video if I use great visuals.

Danny Clinch

Danny Clinch is renown in the popular music scene for being a top class photographer and film director. He has been involved with many artists from a variety of genres over his career, from the likes of Johnny Cash, Tupac Shakur and John Mayer. His photographs have been successful with many magazines including Rolling Stone, Esquire and Vanity Fair, and also appeared on many album covers. In his directing career, Clinch has recieved two grammy nominations. One in 2005 for Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and a second in 2009 for John Mayer's "Where The Light Is - Live in Los Angeles" full concert video (which is the best DVD I own). He has also directed for Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, John Legend, and Foo Fighters just to name a few. 

John Mayer's Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - Where The Light Is

Clinch's Artist History:

• Eddie Vedder
• Spoon
• Ryan Bingham
• Kris Kristofferson
• Charlie Mars
• Ben Harper and Relentless
• John Legend
• O.A.R
• Melissa Etheridge
• Chris Daughtry
• Tom Waits
• Pearl Jam
• Bruce Springsteen
• Willie Nelson
• Van Morrison
• Dave Matthews
• John Mayer

Above is Daughtry's Home, another video by Clinch

Showcase 01

Clinch's most successful work is arguably his grammy nominations, Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and Mayer's "Where The Light Is". He has also released other successful music documentaries and full length concert videos, such as "Immagine in Cornice" which followed Pearl Jam throughout their tour of Italy and 2006's "Skin and Bones" which tracked the Foo Fighters. 

(From here the links are optional)

Clinch is also heavily involved in photography, perhaps more so than film. He has photographed anyone who is anyone in the music business, and held a photo room at the 53'rd grammy awards ceremony. On his website there are numerous show cases to be viewed. He has also delved into advertising, taking on the fashion work of John Varvatos in which he photographed many famous musicians wearing Varvatos, such as Dave Matthews, Slash, Joe Perry, Paul Weller, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. He is a great photographer, and his work speaks for it's self. 

Varvatos Fashion featuring Dave Matthews and a monkey

Clinch's music video style is very much about filming performances. When compared to someone such as Jonas Akerland (Lady Gaga's Paparazzi) which has a narrative and character based play, Clinch takes a very laid back, "unobtrusive" approach", for example in Dave Matthews' "Save Me". The video is casual and relaxed, and tried to pass over the personalities of those involved rather than create new ones or tell a particular story. He is very much into limited effects, and appears to enjoy working with black and white. Clinch very rarely uses anything further back than a mid shot, in both is filming and photography. 

Clinch has also set up his own production company called Three on the Tree, and all his full concert films and documentaries are produced through his own company. This means that the success of his grammy nominations is also linked to his production company. 

I love Danny Clinch's work and he happens work with some of my favorite artists. I love the minimalist style of just recording shows and studio work. I also admire that he has stuck to what he enjoys and still found success. He hasn't followed other directors in forcing narrative lines and such.

The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger

Artist: The Police

Song: Wrapped Around Your Finger

Album: Synchronicity

Date of Release: 1983 (UK), '84 (US)

Label: A&M

Genre: Pop Rock, New Wave

The video begins with a shot of a single candle, but then pans up to reveal a whole field of them. We the see Sting doing a crazy Sting-like dance in the centre of them.

Next, we see Stewart Copeland on his kit and Andy Summers on guitar. It's interesting how Sting is doing a dance rather than playing bass. This 'New Wave' genre was new and exciting, and the video is slightly unconventional in the sense that Sting isn't playing his instrument. This video is again probably closest to Goodwin's heavy rock/metal from band setup perspective. There is a lot of live performance as Goodwin suggests. The first shots we see of Copeland and Summers are of them playing. This shows that for the genre and band playing is important. 

The visuals and lyrics do not really match up. The weakest link is in Stings dance/run, which is slightly suggestive of breaking free. The song is about relationship manipulation and how relationships can turn and become a power game. The candles are over the top (as there are thousands) and perhaps suggest romance which is slightly contradictory to the lyrics.

The music and visuals work well together. The song is slightly spacey and the visuals are too. However there isn't any strong links between the music and visuals. Shots are often cut in time to the music.

The Label doesn't seem to have had too much of an influence. There are many shots of Copeland and Summers, although the prevalence lies with Sting. His dance seems pretty genuine and as singer he naturally comes to the front of the band.

There is no reference to the notion of looking, as no screens feature in the video. This is perhaps to draw away from technology and pop culture and focus on the music. There are also no females in the film, again because attention is focused on the music and Sting.

Dave Matthews Band - Satellite

Artist: Dave Matthews Band (DMB)

Song: Satellite

Album: Under the Table and Dreaming

Date of Release: 1995 (Live version released in '93 on Remember Two Things)

Label: RCA in the US, V2 everywhere else

Genre: Well DMB are kind of their own genre, but I guess it's umbrella'd into Rock

This is another really cool music video. Goodwin suggested that hard rock/metal video's will feature live performance. Although DMB is neither of these, the video's main narrative is watching them perform the song. The demands of the label are also shown through the prevalence of Dave Matthews. Any DMB fans know that in this particular band the usual hierarchy is ignored. Each member is valued the same by the band and fans alike. Obviously the label want Dave to be at the forefront and as the singer/guitarist he need to take up most of the shots. There are interestingly two other parts to the video. One of a lady blowing bubbles outside, and the other, played by Johnny Galecki (Leonard from TBBT, although much younger), of a man watching multiple screens flicking through channels.

The first person seen in the video is a bubble blowing female. She circles around blowing bubbles for all of her shots. One particular shot displayed a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, when she blew a string of bubbles into the air while the lyrics were 'Rest high about the clouds, no restriction'. The bubbles have no restriction and float up to the couds. 

The footage of the video is generally 'feel good'. The band look happy and the girl is enjoying herself. Galecki's character is perhaps slightly frustrated that there's nothing on TV. This is a clear relationship between the music and visuals, as the music is also blissful. 

Galecki's narrative is based on the idea of screens within a screen, as he's staring at multiple screens looking like a bit of a nerd. This is another relationship between the lyrics and visuals as the song is about the 'Television we bounce round the world'.

This also links to pop culture and obviously television. The lyrics are reflecting on the amount of TV that's accessible and the idea that the tabloids are like vultures and we all love to follow them following certain high profile names, for example 'Peeping Tom for the mother station'.