Introduction

I think it is fair to say that everybody loves a great music video, the ones that stick in our minds, sometimes not necessarily because of the song, but because of the originality of the film itself. I will always remember the first time I saw the incredible stop-start animation in 'Sledgehammer', the ludicrously long stretch limo in Chris Cunningham's video for 'Windowlicker', the simple yet incredibly complex video for Pharcyde's 'Drop' by Spike Jonze, the psychedelic, fast-paced beauty of Shynola's 'Go With The Flow', and the horrifying sight of Cliff Richard in roller skates. As an art-form/marketing tool, there is nothing like it, to perfectly marry audio and visual in such a way as to make you want to hear more of the band or see more of the director is an incredible thing.

However recently it is an area which, on the main part, is overlooked, something that labels/artists produce just to get their songs onto a visual format. The skill of creating a promo clip to benefit a band, to be a creative force or to help enable a marketing strategy is starting to be lost.

The Beatles produced their early films based around their songs, and in the process created a number of techniques still used today. Michael Jackson's video for 'Thriller' wasn't just a video, it was an event, not just setting a boundary for what can be done in a music video, but also how to market it. Promo clips should be seen to be just as important to songs as trailers are to films, it makes you want to watch, listen, digest everything that is going on, engross you in the visuals, the metaphors, the story. Unfortunately, it is coming to the case where most videos just want to be a repeat of that 'Call On Me' video with women carrying out normal everyday tasks but, conveniently, minus clothing.

My aim for this blog is to highlight current music videos that are either bucking this trend, or just another rehash. I want to illustrate what videos could and should be, a tool to be creative, innovative, a clever marketing strategy and maybe socially impacting as well.

I also want this to be something that not only do you enjoy reading, but also begin to think about promo clips in the same way that we used to, where you have an opinion about it, where it has an effect whether positive or negative and where we begin to watch them, not just aimlessly flick through Sky channels 350 to 384 hoping to find something, and if not, going back to the start and going through them again.

My first post should be up within the next few days, I've chosen the first subject to discuss, and I don't think it'll be something that you'd expect, but I think it makes a valid point about an area which is restricting video creativity at the moment.

In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for videos to be discussed or have an opinion on a current clip, please send them over, I am obviously happy to post any thoughts up here too.

Thanks

Matt