What makes a successful music video?

A successful music is one that will capture the audience's attention and keep it. The music video also needs to be unique and different, if its something that we've seen a thousand times before then its unlikely to get many views or attention. A music video that is very different and creative is OK Go's 'The Writings on the Wall'. They use a single continuous shot and optical illusions to create their video. Something like this is what would be remembered most by viewers - not so much the tune or words of the song, but the distinctive music video that accompanies it.

 

Another thing that contributes to the success of the music video is the narrative or the picture behind it. By this I mean that a music video may be seen as more interesting, and therefore gain more attention, if it has an intriguing plot and characters that are relatable. An example of a music video that features a plot is Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'. As well as Michael being a huge star and having a huge budget for the video, the narrative is interesting and the characters are compelling.

 



 

Some would argue that the bigger the budget, the better the music video will be. In 1995, Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson spent $7 million on the video for 'Scream' which would have been over $10 million today. But sometimes, whether intentionally or not, a band pulls off a great music video with hardly any budget at all. An example being Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' music video. The budget for this video was $800 and it was shot guerilla-style - meaning that it is mostly improvised, there is limited crew members and is usually shot at a location without the owners permission. This music video was shot all in one take outside a California movie theatre. The video was directed by Spike Jonze (Her, Being John Malkovich and Where The Wild Things Are) and he leads the fictional 'Torrance Community Dance Group' as they perform a shaky but captivating dance routine to a live audience of confused onlookers. At one point in the video, a movie theatre employee actually comes and shuts off the music, although it doesn't stop the performers from dancing on.

 



 

At the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards this video was nominated for Best Dance Video, whilst winning three major awards for Breakthrough Video, Best Choreography and Best Direction (awarded to the dance group).