Polydor Records talk

Polydor records 

We were lucky enough to have two video directors’ from Polydor records to come and talk to us about what their job involves and get an insight into the business. They create all sorts of music videos anything from dance to indie to pop. As a commissioner their job is to over see the artist. There number one priority is keeping the artist/band happy, as ultimately that’s there customer.

 

On a Day to day the two women who spoke to us meet artists, talk about what they want to do for their video. Often It’s the first thing anyone sees especially if they are unheard of and only just starting out trying to make a name and image for themselves therefore accommodating to their wishes Is crucial to be successful in the first video.  They develop the artist’s image and the marketing team talks about how they want to market the artist/band and the next step is to make sure everyone agrees and then they can move forward.  

 

Polydor records have produced videos for people such as Lana delray and The 1975. – They make a brief; pair them up with directors with similar tastes and make sure they are suited to the budget. Other times artists don’t know what they like, therefore they help them for example deciding if the artist wants to feature in their music video or not. They then send a brief for roughly 5-10 directors, the directors then pitch an idea making a treatment as visual and appetizing as possible and they then decide whom they want. The key in a treatment is having lots of visual references through images and short videos, even including a Mood board. 

The aim is to give the artist/label/manager a clear image of the end product. They have to deliver what they say they can – it’s about compromising and taking elements to use. You need to summaries your concept right at the start, research the artist as you are competing against other directors. Once they have signed off they talk to the producer, sometimes there are issues so they cut pieces, but as long as the artist is involved compromises can be made. A shot list is very beneficial as the whole team can communicate and know what is going on. There is a huge amount of team -work involved in producing a music video and the two women who talked to us essentially manage the creative work.

 

It was an amazing opportunity to talk with people who work in the industry and considering we are in the middle of trying to create our treatments for our pitches having advice was priceless and should help improve ours. We were told Pinterest is great. The pitch comes from the director and most shoots take 1 – 2 days. The video takes a month or two to complete it from start to finish. They have found that Increasingly they have travelled to Eastern Europe due to less health and safety meaning they can save money and time. Generally speaking the Director photographer and director go abroad to shoot. Most videos are shot in and around London, LA, and Barcelona. They often give new directors opportunities and look at sites and blogs to see potential. Directors often pick their favourite band, and contact the artist them selves. If it’s a good video that delivers to expectation they go back to them.

A good director is someone who has ideas and is good at developing their ideas. They over see the editors and the people that grade it which is the colour scheme. The director usually chooses the editors as they spend a lot of time in the editing suite therefore it is crucial they get on and can see eye to eye. Inspiration can come from almost anywhere for instance the core of the idea can come from one cultural movement or almost anything. Sometimes one simple idea/concept are the best, as everyone understands it. If the idea is simple it is usually very achievable and therefore has a high success rate.  The most iconic videos are the ones that are basic.  In terms of structure we were told to think about how a song build and breaks down, to add something extra and stand out from the other millions of videos on the Internet. We were told to make sure you have a lot of performance in it, and get lots of different angles as often artists/bands worry about their appearance therefore in the real world you have to be prepared for vanity by having lots of varied shots to choose from.

Here is a video which Polydor records made for The 1975, it is slightly higher budget them some of them however I love the simplicity of the idea. 

Here is my second favourite and this one is a lower budget, for a much newer artist Mabel, however is still incredibly simple yet visually interesting.