Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thrave is a director, who used music videos to get into the film industry. He started to make short films at University, he later used his award winning short film as a 'calling card' to get his 'foot in the door' with the video production company Factory Films, who have helped to produce many famous music promotions videos.
Jamie Thraves started by shooting three very low budget music videos that cost about £5000 each; which is quite low when producing a music video.
His two best known music videos are Radiohead's 'Just' and Coldplay's 'Scientist.'
'Just' took 3 days to shoot and cost around £100,000; the video for Coldplay's 'Scientist' also took 3 days to film but cost double of Radiohead's 'Just.'

His most recent music video was 'Song for Lisa' which cost £20,000 and 2 days to make.

So far he has shot three features: The Low Down, The Cry of the Owl and Treacle Jr.

Jamie's Top Tips:

- Use the lyrics; but try not to be too literal

- Most importantly go with the emotion of the lyrics

Music Video Success Criteria

Audio Clip of Paper People

Charly Houston 'Paper People'

This is the song Ellie and I chose for our music promo video coursework, here is the song and lyrics (below):

Paper People

 

Verse:

Your paper face tells so many lies,

Ink spilled with guilt,

Speaks wonders,

Your cardboard mouth filled with spite,

Your heart tells me nothing,

Pre Chorus:

And I, have so little time,

These cracked walls are filling up with sand,

And I can't find your hand,

Chorus:

I don't mean to push away,

But pushing back you're here to stay,

I promise this, it'll be that way,

Your paper face is covered up to hide the colours that I show,

I'm proud,

My paper mouth should speak out loud,

Verse:

I'm burning holes, in the soles of my shoes,

Walking, for you,

Rubber tires set on fire,

As tears stream down my face,

Pre Chorus:

And I,

Have so little time,

These cracked walls are filling up with sand,

And I can't find your hand,

Oh I'm lost,

Can you bear me a dime?

I'm an intervention, and this is what I do with my time,

Chorus:

I don't mean to push away,

But pushing back you're here to stay,

I promise this, it'll be that way,

Your paper face is covered up to hide the colours that I show,

I'm proud,

My paper mouth should speak out loud,

I'm proud,

My paper mouth should speak out loud.

Death in Vegas 'Dirge'

'Dirge', meaning a sombre song, is by a London, psychedelic rock band called Death in Vegas. 

This song is probably one of tha band's most recognisible songs as it has featured: on a Levi jeans commerical, the second Blair Witch Project, The Last House on the Left (2009), in an episode of British Horror 'Being Human' episode "The Longest Day", the second episode season two of Misfits and on the trailers for 'The Black Dahila' (2006) and 'Stoker' (2013).

The music video itself is very interesting, as normally you wouldn't expect this to be a music video for a psychdelic rock band.

The music video is shot in black and white and has a sort of 'Hollywood Glamour' theme as all the actors costumes are from that period of time and the music video is shot in a ballroom. Considering the theme of 'Hollywood Glamour' the audience would normally expect younger aged actors; however all the actors in the video are aged 50/60 and above.

The actors on the ballroom floor are ballroom dancing to the music, which a band is playing in the video, again contrasting the genre of the music.

The slower paced editing perhaps could be seen to contrast the bass beats of the song. However the jump cuts do fit in with the genre as they are unusual and they wouldn't work in any other video or music genre. The jump cuts also add interest towards the end of the video, it also matches the climax of the song.

Michael Jackson "Thriller"

Of course Michael Jackson's "Thriller" had to be the Greatest music video of all time.
The music video cost $700,000 to make and the director of An American Werewolf in London directed the music video, who was a big director of the time and his films were known for their special effects. It was a big scale production as there were special effects, a well-known director, the different sets, make-up and costumes and dancers/extras.
The video itself is a short film, and has an old style horror elements like what you would expect in a Hammer Horror production (e.g. suspense and eerie sets) and included the respected actor, in both Hollywood and the horror community, Vincent Price.

The UK premiere of the video was on Channel 4 at midnight, it was an event everyone awaited for and was an instant impact. The famous thriller dance routine had everyone in the clubs up and dancing, the routine itself is still legendary even now and had featured even in films like '13 going on 30,' everyone was sucked into the 'Thriller Mania.'

The album is the best selling album of all time and Michael Jackson himself is one of the biggest recording artists to date.

A-ha "Take on me"

This is probably one of the most well known music videos and is number 3 of the 100 greatest music videos.
When the song was first released it disappeared in the charts, it wasn't until the band decided to make a music video that the song became a real success.
The video uses rotoscoping, which is a type of animation where you draw over the film to create this matte, hand drawn effect, this was expensive but at the same time the effects were revolutionary. The video won 6 awards out of its 8 nominated.