Books on music video

Be aware that there is an extensive links list (pictured below) for books on music video. See more on books for all elements of A2 Media here.

Especially useful:

Keith Negus' Popular Music in Theory: incredibly useful for both coursework and exam, this gives you a summary of media theories applied to music. Great for the Evaluation, but also blogging about audience; brilliant for both Q1 and Q1b of the exam. It is quite old, but still useful.

Not particularly academic but very useful for the history of music vids, + refs/analysis to/of many vids and directors you won't have heard of (but which could give you ideas), is Austerlitz' Money For Nothing: A History of the Music Video From The Beatles to The White Stripes. You can of course try a general music video (book) search, and you'll come up the likes of this. Austerlitz provides a history of the music video and how it developed over time, and mentions (details) lots of examples you won't have come across - but which might help for ideas. Such examples may also end up being used in your exam too.

Recommended Reading Material

I'm consolidating several past posts here, and including books on media regulation and postmodernism as well as on music video. The more you can apply wider reading and learning on academic concepts and arguments through and in your coursework (especially the Evaluation), the easier you will find the first half of the exam. Section A asks you (Q1a) to apply one or more of a range of concepts to a comparison of your AS/A2 productions, and to discuss theories around one of five key concept areas (MANGeR: Media Language, Audience, Narrative, Genre, Representation) in reference to either your AS or A2 production (it makes sense to go with your A2).
For the second section, there are multiple topics - the one we look at is media regulation. There are suggestions/links for all of these below.

MUSIC VIDEO READING

DVD of the greatest director of all?

Simply viewing a wide range of music videos, from different eras and genres, is a good idea. If your blog is set up you can add brief notes/bullet points, with screenshots to illustrate, on what you've found most noteworthy. Looking at past examples of student work is useful too - you'll still find lots of good ideas you could use, and could start to consider the do's and don'ts of successful production - what features are excellent, and which less so?


There are many DVD collections, most usefully of directors such as Anton Corbijn, Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham, that span multiple genres and acts but provide some great featurettes going behind the scenes. You can even catch a show on iPlayer now that features 80s videos and interviews with the stars of those. Simply dipping into one of the many music channels and making brief notes (even if it is literally ONE point that could be useful example, helping you evidence 'Use of Conventions From Existing Texts')

The by now huge archive on this blog is naturally highly recommended! I've more retro-tagging to do, but have managed to go back and tag 100s of posts so far.

There are lots of useful sites/e-zines that feature industry news and highlight new (or classic!) videos: LouderThanWar and Loudwire being two examples that I frequently read myself, using their Facebook updates to do so.

The Guardian remains the best newspaper for media news, features and analysis, and its music section will keep you well updated with industry developments.

BOOKS ON MUSIC VIDEO
Book-wise, there are some stand-out options...

Keith Negus' Popular Music in Theory: incredibly useful for both coursework and exam, this gives you a summary of media theories applied to music. Great for the Evaluation, but also blogging about audience; brilliant for both Q1 and Q1b of the exam, and also the pomo essay!