Music Video Institutions

MTV was formed in 1981 and it's original purpose was to bring music videos to the television, something that had not yet been achieved. It was devoted to playing music videos, especially popular rock music. It's key audience was rock music fans in their teenage years, and throughout their twenties. with investments from companies like Warner Communications and American Express, and became available in most of the US in the mid-1980s. The first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. MTV became a leading promoter of new rock music and musicians, it broadcast new music videos, promoted special rock concerts, and presented news and documentaries about bands and performers. 
MTV gain money through advertisement, sponsorship and money from record company's who want a specific video to be played. Now that they mostly play television shows such as 'Teen Mom' and 'Jersey Shore', ratings sore and therefore businesses want to have their adverts shown on MTV and it's spin-off channels.
MTV has branched out into making various reality TV series. It has spin-off channels now such as VH1 (targeted at an older audience), MTV Rocks (rock music), MTV Classic, etc. It also has websites in the UK and US. MTV aims their channels at people aged 12-24 and almost excludes other demographic groups. 
I don't think that my music video would be appropriate for MTV itself, but perhaps for MTV Rocks because they broadcast mainly alternative and indie music videos, aimed at teenagers, which is what I want to produce.

NME TV is a British music channel owned by CSC Media Group. The channel has been running from November 2007.  It is linked with NME Magazine, the popular music publication in the UK which has been published weekly since 1952. An online version of NME, NME.com was launched in 1996. 

NME TV only plays music videos, which 99% of the time are indie/rock. Therefore, NME TV would be the perfect institution to play the music video I create.

Music Video Analysis

1. My Mistakes Were Made For You by The Last Shadow Puppets
Label: Domino / Oct, 21 2008


The video begins with a long shot which zooms in towards a car in a tree, which has obviously crashed. This sets up the narrative to the video and draws the audience in. The music begins as the zoom in shot gets closer to a medium, two shot of the artist and a women dressed in white. The white dress connotes innocence which ties in with the song lyrics in the video, "innocence and arrogance entwined..." The shot then zooms out again and under the car towards a pathway, where we see the artist again, this time walking down the road towards the camera. 
The video is set at night time and is quite dark, which matches the tone of the song perfectly. There is smoke and dimly lit lights in the background, which again sets up the dark atmosphere more. We then see the other artist in the band, leaning against a car and playing the guitar. All of this scene is done in one shot, which slows the continuity of the video down and compliments the tempo of the song very well. The introduction of the guitar (in the song and the video) is appealing to the target audience, who generally would be indie/alternative rock music fans. 
After the introduction of the second artist, the camera zooms out and captures both artists, the first one walking towards the camera (still the same shot) and then turning off into smoke. As this happens the tempo of the song picks up and the artist exists the smoke, now holding a guitar. This connotes that the artist went threw a dark period of time (the smoke), but when exiting it (holding the guitar) he found music helped him through it. This ties in with the storyline of the song, which is mainly about relationship troubles.
We then see the two artists playing guitar together in a brightly lit gazebo, this connotes a happier mood which is a big contrast to the rest of the video. As the lyrics to the song end, there is some instrumental music which briefly speeds up whilst there is a quick zoom out shot from the artists through the smoke; this connotes panic to the audience, which contradicts the happier mood of the shot before. The last shot is of the women we saw at the beginning walking away into the smoke, passing the crashed car; connoting that she is "moving on" from the relationship. The instrumental music fades out with this last shot.

2. Die By The Drop by The Dead Weather
Label: Warner Bros. Records, Third Man / April, 6th 2010


The video begins with a medium shot of the male artist spinning a large globe, which is clearly representing the moon because the background is similar to that of the night sky. The moon and the night already connote a dark atmosphere, and the music that accompanies the video just adds to this; the guitars and organ in the song are heavy and give the video an almost tense atmosphere. We then see quick cut shots of close-ups of the 'moon' and artist, who is staring at the camera through the globe. Throughout this there are jump-cut scenes of the female artist and the rest of the band, dressed in gothic clothing with masks which are similar to tribal costumes. This connotes a primitive, natural look which fits well with the rawness of the song used in the video.
We then see a long shot of three people dressed all in black, either side of them are black, cemetery style gates, this obviously connotes death and it also ties in with the lyric, "let's dig a hole in the sand, brother. A little grave we can fill together." Another person then walks in front of the camera, with the three figures still lurking in the background; the style of their clothing suggests they are part of some kind of cult, as does the use of the word 'brother' in the lyric I commented on earlier. The creepy feel to this video will appeal to alternative rock fans who are familiar with The Dead Weather, as their previous videos also have a dark tone to them.
There are then various jump-cut shots of the singers sitting in a large armchair, extreme close-ups of the band members playing their instruments, and a medium shot of the female singer sitting next to a grave with 'wind' sweeping her hair back. The camera shots of the singers sitting the the armchair are juxtaposed together, as they are both slightly transparent so the audience can see them both. The shots of the artists sometimes jolt and move independently from the rest of the camera shot, this coincides with the heavily distorted guitars in the song.
The video continues showing these various shots throughtout the video, intertwining rapidly to suit the song as the tempo gets faster.

3. The Scientist by Coldplay
Label: Parlophone / Nov 4th, 2002


The video for The Scientist is very interesting in the way that it uses a reverse narrative. It starts with an extreme close-up of the lead singer's face which fills the entire frame, then it slowly zooms out as he starts to sing. It zooms out to show the artist's entire body who we see lying on a mattress. We see that it is outside, in a rough looking neighbourhood full of graffiti. This connotes to the audience that it is not a happy, clean-cut song and video, and that it might have some depressing vibes to it. This is fitting for a Coldplay song/video, as their target audience will know that their alternative indie/britpop music is not always cheerful. 
We then see a side view of the artist/mattress where it zooms out, this is where the audience can see the reverse narrative in use -  the way the artist moves has been reversed so that the audience can see the effects unfold in an unconventional way. Again, alternative music fans will appreciate this because they want Coldplay's music videos to be less conventional and to go against the normal equilibrium more so than your average Britney Spears pop video. 
As the artist stands up we see a bicycle go past in the background, which is also in reverse. This shows us that it is not just the protagonist that is being shown reversed. We see the artist walk backwards through crowded streets, and then jump over a tall brick wall. As the lyrics "take me back to the start" play it is evident to the audience that the protagonist wants to go back to where the video started (or ended in this reverse narrative) it could connote that he wants his life to go back to where it did before an upsetting event, so he could have a chance to put something right.
The audience then see the artist walking backwards across a railway line. This could go as far to connote death and suicide - obviously railway tracks are known to be dangerous, but it is as if the protagonist does not care. The camera zooms into his feet to give us a better view of where he is walking, and slows down on his whole body to give us the sense of forbidding.
The artist walks away from the railway tracks and into a forest (still in reverse) as the lighting darkens and night time falls, which connote sadness. The lyrics "tell me you love me, come back and haunt me" connote that he has lost a loved one, and "take me back to the start" makes more sense to audience now - he wants to go back to a time before his loved one died.