Some thoughts on the use of music

I've found myself watching a number of online videos recently which have used music all the way through. Personally, I found it incredibly distracting, especially in the longer ones. However, music can be very powerful in a video – as in film and TV, it helps set the atmosphere. But as in film and TV, you want it to open, punctuate and close the video. It also needs to be suitable and appropriate. I'm working on a short video right now about the upgrading of a Georgian house. I am using carefully chosen music in the piece – music from the period when the house was built. It only runs for about twenty seconds at the start and then fades under an interview with the owner, explaining what work was to be carried out and why she wanted it done. After that, we just use the natural sound of the workmen as they go about their business, with interviews with them about what they're doing etc. The music only comes back at the end when we see the final result. Contrast that with videos where the producer seems to have picked a piece of music almost at random from the production music catalogues. There's sometimes a discontinuity which can actually turn the viewer off the product – and that's not the object of the exercise.