Case study 1 – Jamie Thraves

Thraves was making films while he was in higher education, and used an award-winning short film to secure his place within the video production company Factory Films. When Thraves began shooting music videos, they made at a low budget of approximately £5,000 each. When record labels want to make a music video, a commissioner sends the track to 5-10 directors, and they submit their own take on what the video could look like. Thraves and many other directors have to bid their ideas on each video,trying to get there work noticed which their not getting any money for. Once the production company have chosen the idea the, that director is told to construct the video and is salaried for their work. This is how Jamie Thraves has had the opportunity to make his previous music videos. For many directors, this model of work is viewed as a precarious existence where livelihood is dependant on each commission. Jamie Thraves submitted treatments for his two best known videos and each was accepted

.Jamie Thraves has made two memorable music videos. The first of which was Just by Radiohead, which had a £100,000 budget and was shot in only three days. The other is The Scientist by Coldplay which had double the budget and was shot in the same amount of time. The Scientist was an extremely clever video in which Thraves used the lyric "Back to the Start" to create a backwards narrative, slowly revealing to the viewer it was a car crash which caused the character to lose his girlfriend. As the video starts at the aftermath of the crash and rewinds to the events preceding the crash, Chris Martin, the lead singer had to learn the backwards mouth movements to the lyrics of the song, while doing everything else normally to give the allusion that he was singing the song even when the footage was reversed. This took a lot of rehearsing, and resulted in a very effective video, thanks to Thraves' idea. The non-linear narrative of the video is an ideal hook to keep the viewers excited, as they slowly learn exactly what is going on. Hooks are most prominent in Thraves' videos and serve an equally important purpose in Just.

Just is different to The Scientist in the respect that it doesn't bear much relation to the lyrics of the song, "You do it to Yourself". The video was filmed new Liverpool Street Station in London and features the band playing the song in an apartment while looking down at events going on in the street. Here, Thraves has inserted an interesting narrative to capture the audience's imagination which seems quite dull at first, but gains momentum as more characters within the video become interested in the events taking place. Here, an avarage-looking businessman is walking down the street when suddenly, he lies down on the pavement. Another man trips over the first and initially thinks he's hurt... why else would he be lying on the ground? The man responds that he is fine and would rather be left alone, but the first man pushes further and demands why is he lying down again. As more people approach and ask what's wrong, the man continues to refuse to speak. Eventually, after the arrival of a policeman and much persecution from the first man, the man laying on the floor finally gives in.