I’m a bit of a music addict, I can’t go a day without listening to music. More than music, I’m obsessed with music videos. I enjoy sitting and watching music videos like you’d watch a film. I believe people underrate the effort that goes into producing a music video and even more if this an animated music video we’re talking about.
Two of my favourite things to observe when watching music videos are storytelling and cinematography. Being that the narrative is usually sound-based, I find the format of music videos very appealing as an animator. Because it is a video illustrating a song, it’s never much longer than 3-5 minutes, which is also the usual duration of an animated short-film.
There’s always that oomph to the way the director chooses to have the shots coordinated to the sound (or not) and how these relate to the story told by the song.
As an example, the video below directed and performed by FKA Twigs, one of my all time favourite artists, tells this story between these three characters through the dance style of Krumping. It seems as if they’re fighting, however so elegantly! The way the shots flow and pour into each other conducting the viewer through the narrative is flawless.
Tyler, the Creator, where to begin. A musical genius, one of the best visual artists my generation in my humble opinion. Directed by Wolf Hayley alongside Tyler, the music video for ´SEE YOU AGAIN’ is just a visual delight.
Such yummy colours, gorgeous compositions, a constant use of the rule of thirds in them. The patterns in their clothes, in Tyler’s hair, in the way the characters are placed in different shots. Stunning!! If I ever have the opportunity to direct an animated music video (which is a goal of mine, for sure), I already know Tyler will be one of my main inspirations for it.
Modern Alternative Hip-Hop is my favourite music genre. There’s this alternative/ indie hint to it and the music videos certainly follow this.
The wacky psychedelic motifs, the grunge/ vintage feel really have my heart. Hip-Hop is a soulful genre with so much story to it, it almost forces to visual of their music videos to triplicate the power the songs have.
Following the indie theme, the Indie genre, I personally believe it also holds the title for best music videos. Naturally, the music videos have an independent ‘amateur’ look that feels personal and reachable. It’s as if the director didn’t really care and said ‘let’s film random shots on some sort of hallucinogenic drug’, but there is a lot of planning that goes into it.
It’s wonderful to see what a camera can do these days. I particularly like the shots in the music video ‘Locket’ for the band Crumb, where they’ve used the 360 camera, and it’s something I’ve always thought it could only be reached by a lot of editing.
The reason why this post only has live-action music videos and not animated ones is because I like looking at what has been done with real cameras, real people, real scenarios and think about how could animation elevate it and take it one step further. Animation allows everything. If all these music videos are already this good, imagine if they had animation in them!
Creative/ art director for music videos is one of my strongest career prospects. I love music, I love movement and I love visuals. Bringing what I learn watching music videos into my work is something I’d like to do more. I want to integrate the cinematography and the storytelling of sound-based films I like watching in my animated work, in the future.