NEA Research Part 7 - Producers/Directors Research

Prepatory Tasks

K: What the minimum requirements for the preparatory tasks.
U: The relevance of each of these tasks.
BAT: Undertake preparatory work as prescribed below.
CO: Use media terminology throughout verbal and written communication.

Producers/Directors Research

In this post I will be conducting research for a range of media practitioners linked to my chosen brief, making sure I focus on the use of conventions in the type of media products they produce.  I will also be making reference to some of their existing products, which should give me some ideas on how I can gain inspiration from their techniques and for my own productions of both the main task and the website. By understanding the practitioners linked to my chosen brief, it will allow me to produce my own content that follows and reflects their style more effectively.


Hannah Lux Davis

Ray Kay



Spike Jonze

All three music video directors show some differences in the style of their work. Hannah Lux Davis bases her work around the idea of enhancing her artists' complexions through her shots and focuses on beauty-driven music videos. Ray Kay, however, likes to create cinematic music videos with sleek transitions and minimalistic scenes, so that the purpose of the video is projected mainly on the artist themselves rather than creating a narrative. Spike Jonze, on the other hand, produces many of his music videos as if they were short films, and unlike Hannah Lux Davis, he often makes his artists appear unattractive. In terms of the genre each director works in, Hannah solely bases her work in the pop industry, but has branched out into the Hip Hop spectrum several times, Ray Kay produces only pop and dance music videos and Spike has produced videos for a variety of genres including pop, hip hop and rock. However, there is a slight similarity that each producer shares, and probably amongst many other music producers as well. They may have their own styles, but these producers follow a narrative or story usually with the artists leading as the main character. With this similarity clear between all three of the producers i have chosen, it is evident that having a narrative or a storyline in a music video is a key convention, one in which i must consider when producing my own music video.

To summarise, conducting this research has helped me learn about producers and the making behind music videos. I have learnt that producers do mainly produce their work in one style and genre, but there are producers like Spike Jonze that may produce music videos for artists in different genres of music. When producing my own music video, i think it would be best to choose one style and genre and stay within the conventions of that field. I am planning to follow a similar style of production as Hannah Lux Davis, who works with the world's most current and known pop artists like Ariana Grande. This is due to the fact that the artist i have chosen to use my song from is Mabel, who is young and known globally. Mabel produces pop music and due to her complexion and physique, i have also decided to produce my music video as a stylised and beauty-driven video just like Hannah Lux Davis does. I believe this would be the best pick to match the artist i have chosen.