DETAILED RESEARCHBy George Ring

WE CAN'T STOPMiley Cyrus

WE CAN'T STOP: CREDITS• Director: Diane Martel

• Diane Matrtel has a strong portfolio of pop stars she has worked with including Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé. A notable example of her work includes another controversial music video for Robin Thickes 'Blurred Lines' which featured nude girls dancing and being objectified.

• Director of Photography: Olivia Malone• Editors: Nick Rondeau and Paul Martinez - for Arcade Edit• Production Company: Black Dog Films• Producers: Coleen Haynes, Executive Producer: Gina Harrell, • Video Commissioner: Camille Yorrick - for RCA• Record Label: RCA

• Popular music videos produced for stars such as Chris Brown and Britney Spears

MTV VMAS: AUGUST 2013 • On August 25, 2013, Miley Cyrus was the most talked

about celebrity in the world. She became the subject of media attention and scrutiny after a controversial performance at the 2013 VMA awards in New York.

• The performance began with Cyrus performing “We Can’t Stop” in a bear themed costume. Following this, Robin Thicke entred the stage and Cyrus stripped down to a skin coloured two piece outfit.

• “Cyrus subsequently touched Thicke’s crotch area with a giant foam finger and twerked against his crotch” – Daily Mail

VMAS: THE AFTERMATH• After Miley Cyrus performed her hit single ‘We Can’t Stop’ in a

controversial manner at the VMA’s, she was considered as one of the most talked about people on the planet.

• The performance generated 306,100 tweets per minute on twitter, breaking the record for the most tweeted-about event in the history of social media. The previous record, held by Beyoncé for her Super Bowl halftime show generating 268k tweets per minute.

• The event shot Miley Cyrus’ single to the Number 1 spot. • As this was such a controversial performance which related heavily to the

themes shown in the music video, the video today stands out as one of Miley Cyrus’ most notable.

RCA – RECORD LABEL• RCA are a record label which have produced the music for artists which are

signed to it. These include, Sia and Britney Spears.• When looking at the artists who are signed to this label, it is evident that they all

have music videos which stand out and have excelled.• For example, in 2004, Britney Spears released the single ‘Toxic’. Although the

music still was a Number 1 in the charts. It would be unfair to say that the music video didn’t contribute to this. In a world where we did not have YouTube or common access to the internet, Toxic was still an iconic music video and is voted one of the best even to this day. This is due to its wild themes and comical vibes.

• Another more recent video to come from a RCA artist was Sia’s Chandelier. This music video is one of the most watched of all time with over 1 billion views on YouTube alone.

THE HILLSThe Weeknd

THE HILLS: CREDITS• Director: Grant Singer

• Grant Singer has produced many videos for The Weeknd,with The Hills being the most popular he has produced. Other music videos include stars Sky Ferreira and Travi$ Scott.

• Producers: Nathan Scherrer• Nathan has produced several music videos in his years working in the

industry. Another one of his most notable, and my personal favourite is his 'Where Are U Now' by Justin Bieber. This was an extremely creative video in which the publicised able to take frames from the video and draw over the production.

• Record Label: Republic Records

DIRECTOR: GRANT SINGER• Grant Singer is a relatively new director in regards to other directors that I

have studied. His first music video in 2012 was for an American rock band which had only formed one year earlier. The video did well, earning over 1 million views on YouTube. This started Grant Singer's career off well with now 31 directing videos under his name. The most popular of these were released in 2015 for contemporary R&B and pop singer The Weeknd.

• The Hills was the first video to be released for The Weeknd by Grant Singer. It was also the music video which I studied in my timed analysis. The video generated international success and also went on to become one of the most watched music videos of 2015. The music video received over 500 million views and 2.5 million likes. As a result of this, Grant then went onto direct both Can’t Feel My Face and Tell Your Friends.

• Can't Feel My Face received over 348 million views and Tell Your Friends only managed 25 million. However this is still more than most artists.

RELEASE DATES• The Hills music video was released on May 27th 2015, on the same day

as the single. One positive of doing this is that the audience is able to buy the single as soon as they watch the music video online. This also means that the single is able to enter the chart with the views for the accompanying music video amounting to its position. At the moment, this only occurs in America where chart positions are calculated by Nielsen sales records and also views on YouTube.

• Another positive about this is that people are less likely to get tired of a single and it being overplayed. Therefore when it is released for the first time, it may already have had airtime on the radio and people are now able to see an accompanying video.

PRETTY HURTSBeyoncé

PRETTY HURTS: CREDITS• Director: Melina Matsoukas

• Popular music videos include those for several female pop stars. Melina’s Videography includes We Found Love by Rihanna and Just Dance by Lady Gaga.

• Director of Photography: Jackson Hunt and Darren Lew• Editor: Jeff Selis

• Also worked alongside Melinda on Rihanna’s We Found Love (2011)• Production Company: Prettybird

• Has a large videography of 75 videos for pop stars Gwen Stefani and Beyoncé• Choreographer: Frank Gatson Jr.• Executive Producer: Candice Ouaknine and Kerstin Eehoff• Record Label: Columbia

DIRECTOR: MELINA MATSOUKAS• Melina Matsoukas started her career as a director in 2002, when she

directed the music video for The Ying Yang twins. The music video gained over 6 million views on YouTube when it was published onto the site in 2007. This was because YouTube was only created in 2005. Her career then began to thrive when she directed one of Beyoncé's music video in 2007 for the single Kitty Kat. This widened Melina's options and looked great on her portfolio as she had started creating music videos for international superstars.

• She went on to create more music videos for Beyoncé and Ne-Yo until 2008 where she directed Lady Gaga's first single 'Just Dance'. This created a surge for artists wanting their music videos directed by Melina as this video went on to earn 180 million views on YouTube.

• Since this, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez and Kylie Minogue have also had videos directed by Melina with one of the most popular being Beyoncé's Pretty Hurts in 2014.

RELEASE DATES• The music video for "Pretty Hurts" was released on December 13, 2013,

to iTunes Stores, as part of the release of Beyoncé her fifth album. • On April 24, 2014, it was made available for viewing on the website of

Time, to coincide with Beyoncé's cover feature on their Time 100 issue. To further promote the release of the single, Beyoncé launched a website campaign called "What Is Pretty". This asked fans to post photos and videos on Instagram, explaining their definition of beauty.

• The music video was released on Beyoncé's Vevo account on the same day as her Time feature and "What Is Pretty" launch. A behind the scenes segment of the music video was premiered on MTV and Vevo, also on April 24.