Case Study: Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thraves is a British film writer and director.

Thraves began making early short experimental films in 1989 at Hull University, having previously studied illustration. His graduation film Scratch (1991) and The Take-Out (1993) (made under the BFI New Directors scheme) both went on to win numerous awards at short film festivals worldwide.

He joined the Royal College Of Art in 1993 where he made another award winning film, The Hackney Downs (1994). After leaving the RCA he joined Oil Factory, a music video company, making his breakthrough video for Radiohead for their song 'Just' where a man lies on the pavement and is confronted by an angry crowd, this video got Thraves a lot of attention for its strong narrative structure and use of subtitles, what the man says to make the crowd lie down at the end of the video still manages to cause great discussion amongst fans some fifteen years later. 

Thraves has continued to make music videos for such artists as The Verve, Blur and Coldplay. His video for Coldplay's 'The Scientist' won three Moon Men at the 2003 VMA's in the US, including Best Direction and Breakthrough Video.

Coldplay's 'The Scientist'

Thraves' most recent video is 'Song for Lisa' by Japanese Popstars. The video took two days to shoot and cost £20,000. Thraves has said that he used music videos as a stepping stone into the film business.

Music video success criteria

Purpose of music videos

There are many different purposes of a music video, one important factor is to promote the artist, album or single. The video could be used to change the meaning of the song, for example Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails 'Hurt' changes the meaning from a song about drug addiction to a sort of eulogy of Cash's life as he was suffering from terminal illness, similarly the video can be used to express powerful emotions as seen by Cash.

A good music video can also add value to an (otherwise rubbish or un-interesting) song that needs to be illustrated. Artists such as George Michael make a statement with songs such as 'Outside' which draw on events in the artist's life that cause controversy in the media, while other artists market their image; Madonna shows many different clothing styles in her raunchy videos.

Some artists make an artistic statement in their videos, Talking Heads 'Once In A Lifetime' was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art as an abstract art piece as it was so different to other music videos of the time.

Artists also use product placement in videos, companies pay to have their products shown in videos, to subconsciously encourage viewers to remember the video and buy the product. In Christina Aguillera's video 'Not Myself Tonight' she advertises perfume.








How might we measure the success criteria

-How many people buy the song after the video is released
-YouTube views
-Word of mouth
-Newspaper articles/ TV reports- could be positive or negative
-How many times the video is shown on TV
-Downloads- legal and illegal
-Position in charts
-CD sales

There has been a massive switch in the importance of YouTube from TV channels such as MTV. The majority of the viewing of music videos is now online. 

1	Queen	Bohemian Rhapsody	1975
2	John Lennon	Imagine	1980
3	Robbie Williams	Angels	1997
4	Beatles	Hey Jude	1968
5	Nirvana	Smells Like Teen Spirit	1991
6	Oasis	Live Forever	1994
7	Oasis	Wonderwall	1995
8	U2	One
9	Verve	Bitter Sweet Symphony	1997	19	9		38	3	60
10	U2	With Or Without You	1987	55	17	29	20	7
11	Beatles	Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever	1967	49	31	66	7		1
12	Beach Boys	Good Vibrations	1966	89	21	10	51		3
13	REM	Losing My Religion	1991	15	58	85	16	20	46
14	Bob Dylan	Like A Rolling Stone	1965	59	12	37	64		4
15	Beach Boys	God Only Knows	1966	44	36	15	56		12
16	REM	Everybody Hurts	1993	41	28	68	32	6	98
17	Kinks	Waterloo Sunset	1967	96	38	19	91		2
18	Oasis	Don’t Look Back In Anger	1996	29	20	82	12	85	100
19	Procol Harum	A Whiter Shade Of Pale	1967			1	19		38
20	Led Zeppelin	Stairway To Heaven	1971	47	8	7
21	Beatles	Yesterday	1976	30	52	34	9
22	Beatles	A Day In The Life (*)	1967	22	4	38
23	Eagles	Hotel California	1977	39	70	25	17		85
24	Massive Attack	Unfinished Sympathy	1991		40	44		1
25	Abba	Dancing Queen	1976			27	4		87
26	Madonna	Like A Prayer	1989		27		5	77
27	Jimi Hendrix Experience	All Along The Watchtower	1968	68	41	88	99		5
28	Radiohead	Creep	1993		30			5	82
29	Michael Jackson	Billie Jean	1983		16	81	15
30	Who	My Generation	1965	31	63		88		14
31	Kate Bush	Wuthering Heights	1978	36	61	30	40		88
32	Radiohead	Paranoid Android	1997		10			24
33	Undertones	Teenage Kicks	1978		49	51	74		15
34	Joy Division	Love Will Tear Us Apart	1980		7	39			95
35	Simon And Garfunkel	Bridge Over Troubled Water	1970	87		13	35		94
36	Bruce Springsteen	Born To Run	1987		86	26			17
37	Bob Marley & The Wailers	No Woman No Cry	1975	43	91				8
38	Guns N Roses	Sweet Child O Mine	1988	20	22		95
39	Elvis Presley	Suspicious Minds	1969		53	60	14		90
40	Beatles	Let It Be	1970	74		49	10
41	Rolling Stones	(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction	1965	52	66		37		31
42	Meat Loaf	Bat Out Of Hell	1979	85		8	59
43	Pulp	Common People	1995		44		90	16	83
44	Mariah Carey	Hero	1993			4	67
45	Marvin Gaye	I Heard It Through The Grapevine	1969			69	39		18
46	Derek And The Dominoes	Layla	1972	82		53	46		25
47	Don Mclean	American Pie	1972			47	31		34
48	Killers	Mr Brightside	2004	10	47
49	Madness	It Must be Love	1981	9		56
50	Rolling Stones	Paint It Black	1966	17					36
51	Sex Pistols	Anarchy In The UK	1976		46		96		16
52	Green Day	Time Of Your Life (Good Riddance)	1998	6				86
53	Oasis	Champagne Supernova	1996	95	35			23
54	Jam	A Town Called Malice / Precious	1982	7	80
55	Spice Girls	Wannabe	1996				8	76
56	Radiohead	Street Spirit (Fade Out)	1996		42			17
57	Free	All Right Now	1970	57					13
58	Stone Roses	Fools Gold / What The World Is Waiting For	1989		67			22	52
59	Coldplay	Yellow	2000	13	64
60	Electric Light Orchestra	Mr. Blue Sky	1978	70		18	77
61	Sinead O’Connor	Nothing Compares 2 U	1990				13		71
62	Smiths	This Charming Man	1983			97			11
63	George Michael	Careless Whisper	1984			35	33	99
64	Clash	London Calling	1979		14				76
65	Blur	Song 2	1997		71			15
66	Jam	That's Entertainment	1981	25		43
67	Red Hot Chili Peppers	Under The Bridge	1992	24				45
68	Radiohead	Karma Police	1997		33			33
69	Sex Pistols	God Save The Queen	1977		18		65
70	Ottis Redding	(Stittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay	1968		89	59			24
71	Pink Floyd	Wish You Were Here (*)	1975		26	45
72	Beatles	In My Life (*)	1965		57	22
73	Police	Every Breath You Take	1983	37		83	45
74	Animals	House Of The Rising Sun	1964	65					22
75	Stone Roses	I Am The Resurrection	1992		93	61		28
76	Bryan Adams	(Everything I Do) I Do It For You	1991			91	18
77	Radiohead	Fake Plastic Trees	1995		54			27
78	Pink Floyd	Comfortably Numb (*)	1979		19	90
79	Van Morrison	Brown Eyed Girl	1967	42		100			44
80	Gerry Rafferty	Baker Street	1978			48	34
81	Beatles	She Loves You	1963				43		39
82	Dire Straits	Romeo And Juliet	1981	33		58
83	Rolling Stones	Jumping Jack Flash	1968	81					27
84	Celine Dion	My Heart Will Go On	1998				28	84
85	Puff Daddy And Faith Evans	I’ll Be Missing You	1997				36	60
86	Smiths	How Soon Is Now?	1985		56			51	77
87	Beatles	Help!	1965	38			60
88	U2	Where The Streets Have No Name	1987	94	43			63
89	David Bowie	Space Oddity	1975	35			70
90	David Bowie	Heroes	1977		68	75	61		97
91	David Bowie	Life On Mars	1973		45	57
92	LAs	There She Goes	1990		90			47	70
93	Righteous Brothers	Unchained Melody	1965				52		51
94	Jam	Going Underground / Dreams Of Children	1980	66	98				48
95	Smokey Robinson & The Miracles	Tracks Of My Tears	1969			98			35
96	Dexy's Midnight Runners	Come On Eileen	1982	46					63
97	Moody Blues	Nights In White Satin	1967			36			93
98	New Order	Blue Monday	1983		69			43
99	George Harrison	My Sweet Lord	1971			63	49
100	Eminem	Stan	2000