Rough cut

This is the rough cut for my music video 'Polarize' I am planning on getting some audience feedback and developing it further in the future.

Sucsess of music videos

The use of a music video is to help sell the song, it helps the audience to understand the concept of the lyrics and what the song is about. The audience is more likely to remember a song after watching the music video, they are able to visually remember it and therefore are likely to watch it over and over again on YouTube or buy the song on ITunes or MP3. A successful music video is one that creates high sales for the artist. A music video also makes the song more interesting and you are able to watch the song and listen to it at the same time. When an artist's music is released they will be paid for every time their song is played on the radio, Spotify, iTunes or any other device, this is called a royalty. The money this artist is paid comes from licenses that company's have to pay in order to have music playing in their store. 

but what does success mean?

the amount of views?
the money made?
the awards won?

but some would say that if they get the message across then the video is a success. Success can mean whatever the creator of the video wants to achieve and if they achieve it then it has been a success in their own opinion.

The music video industry is becoming bigger and bigger each day and in some cases the video is more of a success than the song. an example is 'This too shall pass' the video features a giant contraption that ultimately splatter the 4 band members with paint. The video has over 51 million views. The band even have said the song would never done as well as it had without the internet, youtube and the music video. This would definitely be classed a success un my opinion.

Album cover ancillary task research

I decided to do some research into what makes the best album digital packs.

here are 7 of the key points I picked up on.

1. Don’t print lyrics unless you have sufficient space

Are you thinking of cramming the lyrics to 12 songs onto a four-panel digipack? Where are you going to put the album credits, copyright info, and crowdfunding thank-yous? Who’s going to be able to read that tiny font anyway? Lyrics in the album packaging are great – if you can read them. So if a six-page booklet insert or a giant foldout for your LP edition aren't realities, use the internet as a way to augment your album art and avoid clutter. Post your lyrics on your website in a dedicated section that shares design elements with your album. Then, print the URL to your website's lyrics section on your album packaging.

2. Envision your album cover as a thumbnail

The majority of people who encounter your album will do so online. They’ll see a smaller version on  digital music platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon, or on review sites and blogs. Often it will appear as small as a thumbnail. Before you commit to an album cover design, shrink it way down. Does it still capture your attention? If so, you’ve got a winner. If not, try a different approach for your album cover.

3. You might not need your artist name or album title on the cover

Conversely, because most people will see the album online (where retail stores, blogs, and review sites will display your artist name and album title next to the cover), it's less important that your band name and album title appear in bold on the cover art – though that approach worked wonders for The Black Keys. In fact, you might not need them there at all, especially if your CD or vinyl package comes with a sticker on the shrink-wrap that does have your artist and album name. You can let the internet (and that sticker on the packaging) do the magic of conveying the facts, and then use that extra visual space for some great design.

4. Album covers with faces get more attention

We don’t really have any hard data to back up this claim (though it'd be interesting to look into), but for many of us at CD Baby who see hundreds of new album submissions every day, it seems like album covers that feature actual human faces draw more attention to themselves than ones that have... something else. Maybe it's just that feeling of personal connection which comes from seeing someone's eyes, or that you can get an instantaneous sense of the artist's musical style and aesthetic based on his or her fashion, posture, the setting of the photo, etc. But something about those covers (when done well) seem more immediate and engaging.

5. If you’re not going to feature a human face, make sure your design is striking and original

Your album design shouldn't just look cool. It should convey something about your musical style and even your personal beliefs. For a great example of a record that breaks the rules and sends a message with its album art, check out Aphex Twin’s Syro, where the cover shows an itemized list of every expense that went into creating and marketing the record (instrument costs, promotional meet-and-greets, advertising, etc.).

6. Minimalism is in


DJs are still heavily reliant on CDs, and they need to be able to pull your disc off the shelves quickly. It's for this very reason that many stations don’t even accept albums sent to them in thin sleeve packaging.
This is probably related to number three and number four above, but the starker the image, the more it seems to capture our attention. Maybe the modern sensibility is, "Things'll get shrunk, so things should stay simple." After all, it'd be really difficult to make out all the faces on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s when reduced to a thumbnail. A NYT article from a few years back talks about this album art phenomenon in more detail.

7. Print your artist and album name clearly on the spine

Imagine your CD is sitting on the shelves of a radio station library. Can you find the disc among all those other albums? Many



From these 7 points I've decided that I will try to create a minimalist album cover so i'm thinking black an white for that. I want to use a face as apparently that grabs more attention so i plan o use Michaels face (my actor) on the cover. I also need to take into consideration about what to include on it but what i do know for sure is that i will put on a website address and other important copyright information. Finally, I want to make sure my album cover is original and striking. I will try and achieve this on photoshop as i know some cool original effects i could use.

Here are some example of album covers that i think are particularly good examples.

Key history of music videos

In 1926, "Talkies" (sound films) were introduced, which was a massive breakthrough in the music and film industry. This followed with many short musical films. Then in the 1940s, soundies were introduced, these were 3 minute short musical films. Another big move forward for music and films. After this, more and more short films came out and provided a different approach to watching films.

A man called Tony Bennett claims to have created "...the first music video" when he was filmed walking along the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London in 1956, with the resulting clip being set to his recording of the song "". The clip was sent to UK and US television stations and aired on shows including Dick Clark's Americas Bandstand.
The oldest example of a promotional music video with similarities to more abstract, modern videos seems to be "Dáme si do bytu" ("Let's get to the apartment") created in 1958 and directed by Ladislav Rychman.

Tony Bennett

In 1965, the Beatles began making promotional clips for distribution and broadcast in other countries so they could promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearances. Their first batch of promo videos recorded in late 1965 and they were fairly straight forward mimed-in-studio performance pieces and meant to blend in fairly seamlessly with television shows like Top of the Pops and Hullabaloo. By the time The Beatles stopped touring in late 1966, their promotional films, like their recordings, had become highly sophisticated. In early 1967 they took the promotional film format to a new level. They used techniques borrowed from underground and avant garde film, including reversed film and slow motion, dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and colour filtering added in post-production.

The Beatles appearing on top of the pops

Music television then came into the mix in the mid 1970s. The Australian TV shows countdown and sounds, both of which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of music video clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts. Michael Jackson's thriller was released in 1983, it was 14 minutes long and ended up being the most successful, iconic and inspirational music video ever. In 2005, YouTube was launched. This then has allowed the viewing and uploading of music videos much more efficient and easy to use.

Micahel Jackson - Thriller

PSY- Gangnam style

In 2012, Gangnam style was released on YouTube and that ended up being the most viewed music video so far with over 2 billion views. Linking to music videos is lyric videos, so after the after artist reveals their music video, they then release a lyric video that presents the lyrics of their video on the screen at the time of when the music is being played so that they can learn the lyrics to the song.