Visiting lecturer from Polydor Records

On monday we were visited by emily, who is a video commissioner at Polydor Records. With her colleague she showed us some of the projects she had worked on and explained to us the commissioning  which was invaluable to our own music video promos.


Recently she has worked on Ellie Goulding's Music video for 'goodness gracious',  also La Roux's - 'kiss and tell' as well as Bipolar Sunshine's 'deckchairs on the moon'. Emily essentially produces a treatment for the music video based on information from the director, record label and artist. She explained that  sometimes the artist has a clear vision and idea for the music video concept, which she explained is great, however these concepts may sometimes be slightly too optimistic/ unachievable with regards to availabke busget etc.


On the other hand sometimes the artist does not have a prepared concept/idea for the video and in  this circumstance the director will pursue their own vision for the video.

She also hinted at the importance of references as this often helps the audience to resinate with product, this was a key factor for the kiss and tell video by La Roux, as they made a reference to telephones and incorporated a live telephone number which added an interactive aspect to the video.


In addition to this, references to products can sometimes help with the funding of the music video if it leads to sponsorship deals. For example if an artist made a deal with Dr. Dre Beats to feature their product in the music video, then they would help fund the video in return for the product being featured in the video raising brand awareness.


Furthermore, Emily also informed us that the average budget for a music video these days is between 5-10 grand for a relatively new artist, however for bigger artists such as Lana Del Rey and Rihanna, the budget can be around 200 grand as they are more established and successful.


Finally, Emily also emphasised on the point of always having a plan b. This is because cast may not show up or you may find out that you do not have permission to shoot somewhere etc. For example she referenced a time where they were going to shoot from a helicopter for the Bipolar Sunshine video, but the week before they banned aerial/ airborne drone shots.


I am very grateful to have been able to get this advice and information and of course insight as it will definitely be very helpful in creating my own music video promo.