Research: Andrew Goodwin

A

Andrew Goodwin identifies five key aspects of music videos that the audience should look out for, which are: 

- Thought beats (seeing the sound)

- Narrative and Performance

- The star image

- Relation of visuals to a song 

- Technical aspects of a music video

Music videos can be placed into three categories based on their narrative structure:

Illustration - the song’s lyrics being shown in a visual form, 

for instance “Fireflies” by Owl City. Whenever the singer 

sings the part “Fireflies”, the word itself appears on a 

gadget.

Amplification - refers to new meanings being introduced 

that do not contradict with the lyrics by adding layers of 

meanings. 'K Koke - Nobody But Us' does this very well.

Disjuncture - when the songs meaning is completely 

ignored and a whole new set of meanings are introduced, an 

example of this could be “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga, as 

the entire music video contradicts the lyrics.

Research: The Use of Social Networking to Promote Artists

Social Networking sites are very useful for promoting new artists because they don't cost any money and they reach an enormous audience.

One of the most successful artists to use social media to promote herself is Lily Allen. She used profile site Myspace to upload new tracks, post blogs and keep fans up to date. Myspace was a clever way to promote oneself as record companies often found fresh new talent there, which resulted in many record deals for bands that otherwise wouldn't be known, such as Chemical Brother and Arctic Monkeys

This blog explains a bit about Lily Allen's success through social networking.
Click Here

Myspace has since become more musically orientated offering new ways to upload and share and even buy songs, create profiles and blog about up and coming events.

Another example of a recent artists who is using social networking to promote himself is Travis McDaniel. 

This is from a report on Socialmediatoday.com

"Being only 18 years old probably has something to do with Travis McDaniel’s ability to plaster himself across the Internet using social media. This jazz-influenced, very young singer-songwriter has a Twitter account, Facebook page, YouTube channel– he’s also on ReverbNation, TwitTrax and SoundCloud and oh yes, MySpace. With the use of social media, this yet-to-be signed music artist is able to enchant an audience he wouldn’t normally find, crossing traditional boundaries, making known his love for music for countless others (including VIPs in the music industry) to see and hear.

Never before has it been so ridiculously easy for music artists to be heard by thousands (no, millions)of curious listeners and potential fans. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you’re living in Boise, Idaho or New York City to get noticed. Social media has overturned all the scales of the music industry; technology making it possible to share everything and anything a human can experience.

Travis’ YouTube channel is nothing flashy, but it’s there with a bunch of videos from various performances for anyone to peruse.

I first heard Travis’ music on TwiTrax where there’s a sampling of his music (wait about 15 seconds for the audio to start). Social sharing buttons allow you can share any of his songs on Twitter or Facebook, and you can easily leave a comment for the music artist using your Twitter profile as a login."

Sites like SoundCloud, Tweet Jamz and Reverb Nation make it easy for anyone to upload and share their music for free. Self promotion is easier than ever. Artists can even follow other artists, and mutually promote each other or collaborate on work together. 

Research: The Music Industry in 2012

Research: Picking our song

We have decided to use Pixie Lott - Here We Go Again for our music video. The song is upbeat and catchy, so we already have a few initial ideas. As the song is unreleased, it doesn't have an existing video which means we are free to create a video from scratch with no preconceptions. We chose this song because it could potentially be a lot of fun for us to make, which makes the whole project a lot more exciting.

Planning: Song choice

After looking at various British artists from a range of genres, my group have found a song based from Pixie Lott's Album, 'Turn It Up' called 'Here We Go Again' to use as our primary song which will be used in our upcoming music video. Based on our decision, the upbeat pace of the song and lyrics have persuaded us to go ahead with the song. 

Already thinking of concepts for the video, we hope to enjoy shooting and planning an artist of our choice through mise en

scene based around this unreleased track. 

 

Beneficial as it is, the track has not been released and neither a music video has been done which gives my group the advantage to work together to build a strong piece as we plan ahead in the near future. 

The song is catchy, fun and has a lot of rhythm to it so it should be enjoyable as well as challenging to suit the fast, upbeat rhythms given off from the song alone.

Research - Copyright Clearance

City and Islington Sixth Form Centre, 

283-309 Goswell Road 

EC1V 7LA

1 Sussex Place, London W6 9EA

Mercury Records/Pixie Lott

Friday 28th September 2012

Dear Sir/Madam,

Request for Copyright Permission to use part or whole of: Here We Go Again by Pixie Lott

We are A2 Students at City and Islington Sixth Form College currently studying A Levels. For our advanced portfolio we will be working to produce and come up with a promotional pack for release of a brand new album track. If possible, we would like to gain permission to use the following song title requested for this upcoming project.

If you do not hold any rights for this song we would be grateful for you to forward this request to the appropriate person or kindly provide us with the contact details regarding admission to approach the copyright holder directly.

Thank you for your time,

Yours faithfully,

Zubeir Bheekharry

Research: Analysis of Successful Music Video

Research: Purpose of A Music Video

Music videos are promotional tools for the featured artist. They integrate a song with imagery to tell the story of the song or simply to represent the artist's image. By ensuring the promotion of the artist, record companies can generate interest and make a profit from the sale of music.

Videos such as this one are cheap to make, generating more profit for both the record label and the artist, whilst simultaneously promoting the image of the band.

Bigger budget videos are reserved for artist's that have already made a name for themselves. With an existing fan base the record company can be confident of making a profit despite spending so much on the video.

Research - Music Industry

This is a short prezi on the Music industry between 2002 and 2012 and how it's changed.

Research - Skills Audit

Think back to the research that you conducted for your AS practical work; how have your skills in research developed since then. Write a short summary of these development.

Firstly I think the the main skill I've developed since my research in AS is the way I analyse videos using theories. For instance back in AS, when I researched I would only look at what made a good thriller such as :

• Camera use
• Camera shots
• Miss en scene
• Editing etc

Although this was good, now when I think about it, it feels very basic. However, now I am able to use theories such as Andrew Goodwin, Laura Mulvey and Carol Verallis when I look at music videos and how they are constructed.

Also, before I had help with somebody else in my group. In AS we divided ourselves into two groups so research would be more efficient. In A2 however, all the research i've done, I did on my own. This has improved my ability to work more independently which I will need for when I work on my ancillary products.

Research- Purpose of a music video

The main purpose of a music video is to promote an artist. This is done by the record labels that the artist is signed to. Although many would say music videos are produced and released to show an individual's message through their music, music videos are created so they the artist can creat a fan base and make a name for them selves.

                          An example of a great music video is Everything by Michael Buble.

The reason why I think this is a great example of a music video to promote an artist is because of the various camera shots used. Some examples are close ups of of Michael Buble. This puts the attention all on him, making the viewers like him more. Females would specially like these shots if they find him attractive. Which is why I think this is a good example of a music video. 

Haven't met you yet is an example of 'Illustration' from Andrew Goodwin's theory. This is where the video tells the lyrics. 

Another reason why I like this video is because of the miss en scene. The setting is in a supermarket. it's simple and it doesn't make out mind wonder off. We're focused in one room with out attention again on the artist. Also the use of confetti with a wide shot to shot what is going on which relates to the tempo of the song works really well. 

Research: Structure of Record Labels and Industry

The music industry is separated into two different types of label; mainstream and independent.

Mainstream Labels
Large organisations that have high budgets for each artist they represent giving them the ability to promote and saturate the market with new and existing artists

Independent Labels
Operate independently from mainstream labels. Often represent niche genres and cater to a specific market

The current "big 3" conglomerately owned record companies are:

Universal Music Group recently bought out:

Each major record label contains many subsidiary record companies.

Atlantic Records

Warner Bro. Records Group

Rhino Entertainment

Independent Label

Elektra

Full Surface Records

Maverick

(Aerosmith, Basshunter, B.O.B, Michael Buble, Cher, Lupe Fiasco, Gym Class Heroes, Madonna, Marina and The Diamonds etc.)

Columbia 

C2 Records

Loud Records

Gun Records

Epic

(Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson etc.)

Aktivision Wizard

GBT

Def Jam

Island Records

(Kanye West, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Florence and The Machine etc.)

Research: Review of Student Work

My favourite example of student work is the Florence and The Machine video by Mustafa, Nick, Poppy and Charon.

I loved the use of base tracks in this video. I think they all work really well together, and the timing of the editing is faultless.

The use of mise-en-scene and setting is very successful, especially in the forest scenes. The angles of the shots in this scene are so varied it makes the video very visually exciting. The artists styling is perfect for the environment and it is clear every detail has been thought of.

This is my favourite base track. I love how it ties in with the lyrics without being too literal. The use of the projections is effective throughout the video. It really fits in with the genre of the song and makes it feel like a real music video.

Certain scenes of the video are shot through the male gaze (in support of Laura Mulvey's theory) but I feel like it helps the video a lot. It appeals to a wider audience and isn't gratuitous in any way, so the artist still maintains most of the power throughout.

I think the fact that the artist wasn't singing in every single scene helps to create the sense of a professional music video. The production as a whole is an excellent display of promoting the artist as she is the only one to feature. I think this is clever because it saves time and confusion in the long run.

Overall, I think every aspect comes together to form a successful promotional video for the artist. I think everything was done to an extremely high standard and every detail was thought about carefully. Organisation seems to be very important, and I hope my group and I can produce something as, if not more, successful than this.

Research - Music Industry and Record labels.

The Music industry is divided into two sides:

1. Mainstream label is a big organisation which has a high income. They are able to use this to offer high production values on promotional materials for artist. 
2. Independent labels are detached from mainstream labels who works interdependently with niche (small) genres to a specific market.  

The Music industry owns huge conglomerate. An example is Access Industries. Access Industries owns many other things such as Natural resources and chemicals companies. They also own several channels such as Acision, Discovery Channel, UK TV Gold and Cartoon Network. Their branch in the music industry is with the major record company, Warner Music Group.

 Within WMG they own several subsidiary record companies such as :

• Atlantic Records
• Elektra Records
• Fueled By Ramen 
• Full Surface Record

Artist then signs to the major to promote their album, singles and music videos. 

Atlantic Records have signed artist such as Wiz Khalifa, T.I, B.O.B, Lupe Fiasco and many more. 

Research: The music industry and social networking

How the Music Industry and Social Networking sites combine together 

Based on the advanced technology of today, social media has been a widespread phenomenon for online users, one of them being social networking sites such as MySpace. Social networking sites are often used to communicate with others over the use of the internet to stay in touch, share news and discover things.

In terms of the Music Industry, one artist in particular has used networking sites like MySpace to promote herself as an 'inexpensive' and 'viral' way to make herself known to the rest of the online world who goes by her stage name, Lily Allen.Unlike artists today, many lack an intimate or personal relationship with their fans, however, Allen challenged this and grew a fan base from her own MySpace account to lead her to where she is now. She achieved this by distributing exclusive content on the page to initially market herself as well as posting personal rants and photos documenting her personality connecting with her fans on a whole other level.

What else has Lily Allen done?

Much after gaining her large fan base, Allen went ahead and took advantage of social networking by promoting her single, 'The Fear' through something which personally, I have never come across and that is through a video game! Partnering up with 'Matmi', Allen used the concept of a game titled, 'Escape The Fear' which involves a cartoon like Lily Allen (Similar to the original Mario Bros.) on a platform based game shown below. Fans have the option to also buy her album and watch the music video, which to me is a pretty clever way to go about viral marketing!

Despite the 'now dissapearing' MySpace, many other artists follow in Allen's footsteps for viral marketing on their behalf. Apart from using video games to promote the artist, new artists are stepping up on viral marketing by producing simple, yet creative music videos online via YouTube. Although YouTube is not officially known as a social network, it is the basis of sharing multimedia online through social networks and which in this case has been proven successful. Below is a music video by a group called, OK Go who used this technique to create an online fanbase just by using the benefits of viral marketing.

Research: The Music Industry

              

Research: Skills Audit

Looking back at my AS year in relation to research, majority of it consisted of looking at how thriller openings were established and blogging often resulted in using a lot of images and videos whilst lacking not enough detail about the points I would refer to. This A2 year I hope to develop this further and add more critical analysis of the blogging I conduct in order to not only make a well produced music video, but also a well structured and set out blog to accompany it. In addition, much of the research I did last year taught me how to build and form the structure of my thriller looking at the beginning of the skills I previously had and the finished product with the skills I have learnt overtime and put to good use. Having a lack of various technologies used in last years blog, this year I also hope to achieve a more dynamic, exciting blog which appeals to it's readers.

Research - Previous student video review

My favourite music video produced by last year's A2 student has to be Florence + The Machine - Howl by Mustafa, Nick, Poppy and Charon. I really like this video because they've used a wide range of camera shots and the editing added a professional vibe to the video.

One of the that I think made this music video so successful is the fact that they promoted the artist really well. They used a lot of make up, effects and also the artist herself followed one aspect of Andrew Goodwin's theory about the structure of pop videos. Making eye contact with the audience. Personally when I watched it I felt a connection with Poppy. Below is a short slide show with example of their use of make up to promote her and also her using direct address.

Another reason why this is my favourite music video is because of their use of the green screen and manipulation of time to go with it.

As you can see, they've used the green screen to show the wolf running behind Poppy, This goes really well with the song they used, Howl.

Afterwards we then see this wide shot of Poppy running across the camera but in slow motion. I think this give a really good effective because at that point it matched well with the lyrics. 

Another aspect of their music video that I liked, is their use of base track. Personally I think they used it very well. This group edited in a flawless way. It was very well synched.

Research: Analysis Of A Music Video

I believe the music video below is a great example of the music video form, and I believe this for many reasons:

1. It's an incredibly low budget video, meaning the artist in question was able to promote himself without the hassle of losing money. 

2. It includes vast amounts of the area he was brought up in, which gives us a small story of his background.

3. During the video, every person we see apart from the artist's who's video it is, is coloured out and out in black and white, whilst the artist stays his normal colour. We can see this briefly at 1:30 in the video. 

4. It is a unique video. They've tried something different.

5. When the lyrics are under-way, it isn't constantly focused on the artist, but swerving away to other aspects that make the video what it is.

Research: Function Of A Music Video

The main function of a music video is to promote an artist. 

In order to do this, the video must focus on the artist in question a lot during the video. 

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming and documentaries. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action.

By doing this, a video can do a lot of things - 
Tell a story
Give a message
Appeal to an audience
Entertain us 
Grab the attention of others

The video above does a lot of things. The video was released shortly after the artist 'K-koke' was signed to Jay-Z's 'Roc Nation' music label, which means it's been put out there for promotional purposes. However, the video also gives a message. It does this by cutting (numerous times) to a dirty street corner, which seems to show where he has grown up in. The video as a whole not only promotes the artist, but gives a message to all viewers, whilst also entertaining us by cutting away from the artist every now and then to show other going ons. 

'Marking' Exercise

During todays lesson we learned how to mark certain points in a video, and use them in order to keep the video and track flowing together. 


It took me a while to get used to everything, but after a while I was on track and starting my video. A video which I'm disappointed with, but one that has given me the necessary practice in 'marking' and adapting videos.

Above is a screen shot of my final edit on 'Final Cut Pro' - one which would be a lot longer if I had more time.

Research: Re-editing previous A2 work

Base track editing

In today's lesson, we were set individually a task to work on previous A2 work (music video footage) by using Final Cut Pro. The techniques involved learning how to combine different base tracks all in one through the use of markers. 

To make sure the lip synching of the artist is in time with the music, I imported the track onto the timeline and pressed 'M' on the keyboard when the artists voice entered. Afterwards, I used the similar technique with a clip of the artist singing and hit the 'M' key whenever her voice began to sing. From layering one basetrack, I would follow the same process with others until built a full timeline of clips. By doing this, it's a quick, suficient way to build different basetracks all at once so when it comes to cutting, it is not complicated and keeps your editing precise and neat.

After using experientation with markers, I then cut the different basetracks randomly from hitting the 'M' key once again on the timeline in accordance to the beat of the song. Consequently, this adds dynamic visuals to the video and gives it pace. Additionally, because much of the basetracks lacked movement, I decided to cut most of the tracks down to the beat of the song to add much more movement in order to accompany the rhythm of the song. 

As a result of this, from the time given in lesson, here is the short clip of the re edited version of previous A2 work below:

Base Track Exercise

Base tracks are key in music videos. Especially when editing it. It makes it so much easier to choose which clips you want to use and where you want to use them. In today's lesson I used clips from previous student's work and created a short clip of Hold My Breath by Ellie Goulding.

Using the marker key in Final Cut helped as it allowed me to mark the beat of the song. Then I was able to cut the base tracks and choose which clip would go where. This is effective because it made my clip synch with the song.

Research: Laura Mulvey's Theory

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/female and passive/female. The determining faze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly”

Music videos are shot for the men’s gaze. Men dominate and women are seen as sexual objects often dressed in little clothing, happy to be seen as the object of men’s desire. They are willing to be treated as such.

This is evident in a large number of music videos both past and present. For example

Benny Benassi - Satisfaction

Eric Prydz - Call On Me

These two videos are perfect examples on Laura Mulvey's theory. The obvious and gratuitous objectification on women causes them to become more like porn than music videos. This is typical of the dance genre.

Another example is Rihanna's S&M

As the artist in this video is female, the dynamics change slightly compared to the first two videos. Although heavily sexualised throughout the video, Rihanna maintains a sort of dominance as opposed to a vulnerability which is shown through her use of direct address as she looks directly at the camera.