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Digipack Research

Music Video Directors

Name: Alan Ferguson
Signed to: Yvette Lang-Einczig & Yell Productions

Over the years has worked with a variety of artists including Panic at the Disco, Katy Perry, Natasha Bedingfield, Gym Class Heroes and Jay-Z and has frequently worked on music videos with the band Fall Out Boy.

The Zebra in Katy Perry's "Hot n Cold" music video

One of the major elements of Ferguson’s work that impresses me is his ingenious use of imagery and intertextuality. In videos like Katy Perry’s “Hot’N’Cold” there are some very interesting images like the Zebra to highlight the line “It’s black then it’s white” in an obscure and memorable fashion. The image appears at the end of the video to show that that the entire video is a dream.


It is Ferguson’s work on the Fall Out Boy music videos that impresses me the most. “Dance, Dance” is one of the bands most famous songs and the video makes appearances in other videos including “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” which is a continuation of the plot from “Dance, Dance” and “I’m Like a Lawyer with the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)” where the video appears being watched by a group of Ugandans. Also, in the video “What A Catch, Donnie”, multiple props from other videos appear most likely due to a series of lyrics from other songs appearing in the song’s climax. While this intertexutality is clearly due to Ferguson working on so many of Fall Out Boy’s videos, it does knit the band’s videos together brilliantly in a manner that most artist’s videos never do.

Name: Dave Meyers
Bio: Born in Berkeley, California.
Worked at a local Landmark cinema at 17 where he gained his love of film before attending Loyola Marymount University where he majored in Film Production and Philosophy. In 1997 he started working on music videos and has since directed over 200 videos from a plethora of incredibly famous artists like Jay Z, Britney Spears and Aerosmith.
His goal is to "innovate the field while supporting artists in their journeys to define themselves." [Source]

The major thing that impresses me about Meyers' work is that he is totally dedicated to making his videos fit into the artist's definition to define themselves. This is something that I would like to do in my music video. Meyers also makes excellent use of imagery in his videos, usually leading to some of the most memorable music videos ever.


The spectacular CGI fireworks in Katy Perry's "Firework" video really add to the poignancy of the song. They add an amazing sense of colour and motion to the video in a way that has never been done before, linking in with Meyers desire to "innovate the field".

Pink's "Funhouse" is also an incredibly interesting video due to the juxtaposition of Pink in white having fun whilst the location is a burnt out wreck of a house. The over the top nature of the video and Pink's attitude is one that Meyers has clearly developed with Pink over the years through their work on numerous other videos including "You Make Me Sick" and "So What". While I would never be able to go to such extremes in my music video, it would be excellent if I could capture the true essence of the artists in the music video like Meyers does so well with Pink.

Interesting Videos

Elbow’s “Grounds For Divorce” is an interesting video because of its location and its use of reversing shots. The location of a pub like this is one of the potential locations for my music video as it fits the band’s low key rock theme. The reverse shots are a bizarre occurrence in music videos and it makes the video stand out against many others which might have used a similar location or theme. It is this uniqueness that I want to emulate in my video. As long as there is something that separates it from the norm, my music video should be great.


Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” is really interesting for similar reasons. The location, an abandoned and slightly dilapidated house, is one that I believe would theoretically work well in my music video as it fits the theme of the song. Also, the figure dancing in the dust with the sword, the smashing plates and the burning card city are all very interesting images that make the video unique.


Green Day's "American Idiot" has a very iconic video which is remembered largely for its climax. The Foo Fighters "The Pretender" uses a very similar climax and the idea of a memorable climax is something that I will have to attempt to create for my music video as it would ensure repeated viewing.

Audience Theory

Research into the Industry - Genre

A genre is “a class or category of artistic endeavour having a particular form, content, technique, or the like” [Source]

The Theoretical Axiomatic Triangle of Genres

Music has many genres all of which are simultaneously different and similar. According to musicologist Phillip Tagg, music can be classified by an "axiomatic triangle consisting of 'folk', 'art' and 'popular' musics." [Source]

Art Music

Beethoven's music is a perfect example of Art music

“Art music is music that is used as in a form of a work of art, and uses many textbook elements of music. Art music is generally instrumental, and when vocals are present they have very explicit poetic, political, or religious overtones.” [Source]

Popular Music

Justin Bieber's music is an example of Popular Music

"Popular music, unlike art music, is (1) conceived for mass distribution to large and often socioculturally heterogeneous groups of listeners, (2) stored and distributed in non-written form, (3) only possible in an industrial monetary economy where it becomes a commodity and (4) in capitalist societies, subject to the laws of 'free' enterprise, according to which it should ideally sell as much as possible of as little as possible to as many as possible" [Source]

Traditional Music

'Sakura Sakura' is a traditional Japanese song

^“Traditional music is the term increasingly used (e.g. by the Grammy Awards) for folk music that is not contemporary folk music.” [Source]

Criticisms of the Triangle

However, this triangle has been criticised for being too broad in its classification as many songs fit into multiple parts of the triangle.

“Neat divisions between 'folk' and 'popular', and 'popular' and 'art', are impossible to find ... arbitrary criteria [are used] to define the complement of 'popular'. 'Art' music, for example, is generally regarded as by nature complex, difficult, demanding; 'popular' music then has to be defined as 'simple', 'accessible', 'facile'. But many pieces commonly thought of as 'art' (Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus', many Schubert songs, many Verdi arias) have qualities of simplicity; conversely, it is by no means obvious that the Sex Pistols' records were 'accessible', Frank Zappa's work 'simple', or Billie Holiday's 'facile'." (Middleton, 1990)

Standard Music Genres

Most people will use the more popular way of music classification which looks at the song’s styling. These types of genre include: Blues, Classical, Country, Dance, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, R&B and Rock as well as many other lesser known genres like J-Pop (Japanese Pop), Latino, Christian & Gospel and Comedy. [Source]

Pop Music

Michael Jackson, world renowned King of Pop known for the likes of Thriller, Man In The Mirror and more

 “The definition of pop music is purposefully flexible as the music that is identified as pop is constantly changing.”

"The basic form for pop music is the song and usually a song consisting of verse and repeated chorus. Most often the songs are between 2 1/2 minutes and 5 1/2 minutes in length. ... They are played on the standard electric guitar, bass and drums with vocals that have a very strong catchy chorus, or hook. Art is not a concern. Audience pleasure in listening to the song is the primary goal."  [Source]

Rock Music

World famous rock band, Bon Jovi have produced some memorable anthems like Livin' On A Prayer and It's My Life

"Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres.

Musically, rock has centred on the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music with a 4/4 beat utilizing a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse and common musical characteristics are difficult to define. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music." [Source]

The band I am using, Modern Winter fits into the Rock Genre because of their emphasis on performance and authenticity as well as the verse-chorus form and standard rock instruments.

Research Into The Industry - Artists and Record Labels

The band that I am planning on using is one that is local to the Nottingham area. They all attend the same college as me, they have already recorded at least one original song and I am good friends with one of the band members. These factors made them perfect candidates for my music video.

The band is called ‘Modern Winter’ and is made up of four members, Stephen Jenkins as the lead vocalist and piano, Stephanie Campbell on bass, Tomas Walker on guitar and Matthew Jenkins on drums. The band has been together for six years, but has only had this line up for about three years.

The music industry in the 21st century is largely focused on Record Companies who usually own all of the rights to the music of the artists. These companies pay for the “recording costs and the cost of promoting and marketing the record.” [Source] As such, all artists need to find a label that are willing to take them on.

Modern Winter mainly focuses on the rock genre and as such would most likely get picked up by a record label which focuses around that niche.

However, the band is too low key to get picked up by the ‘Big Four’:

The Universal Music Group (which accounted for 25.5% of the market in 2005 [Source] )

Sony BMG Music Entertainment (21.5% of the market in 2005 [Source])

EMI (13.4% of the market in 2005[Source])

 And the Warner Music Group (11.3% of the market in 2005 [Source] ).

 These are the companies that deal with global headline acts like Adele, Foo Fighters, Lady Gaga, Cee Lo Green etc. mainly through their subsidiaries.

However, seeing as these ‘Big Four’ control so much of the market, it is inevitable that Modern Winter would get picked up by a subsidiary if they were deemed good enough. One record label that could potentially pick the band up is Fiction Records, who are owned by Polydor which is a subsidiary of UMG.

The label focuses mainly on the rock genre and has artists like Snow Patrol, Elbow, White Lies and Athlete and as such would be a decent fit for Modern Winter.

There are perhaps more likely options, with the independent labels like Aardvark Records who are “one of the rising stars of the UK music industry”. They “are a staunchly independent record label with a growing roster of original, new talent covering a variety of music genres.” [Source] Being a UK independent label, this label would be more likely to sign up a band like Modern Winter as they like original and new talent, something which Modern Winter could provide.