Research: institutional Music Video Channels

Vevo are very big on Youtube with access to all the bands and artists thy all have their separate channels. If there is a new music I see it on a vevo channel and his is how i know about new music about all my favourite artists and bands.Vevo is a multi national video hosting service owned and operated by a joint venture - Universal Music Group.Ditto "distributes music to 160 digital music stores, including iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, VEVO, eMusic, Spotify, Beatport, Rhapsody" * so this would be a really good institution to distribute our video digitally.Google, Sony Music Entertainment, and Abu Dhabi Media,and based in New York City. Launched on December 8, 2009,Vevo hosts videos syndicated across the web, with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue.This would appeal to our TA as they are a digital audience who use apps, facebook, itunes, amazon and youtube. It would be possible to get our music video on Vevo but it there will be a charge for the service.  If my group is unsigned and does not have an agent, there are a number of ways to get the video played.  MTV is one way.  They like to look for new talent and you can submit to them and have it put online. If the group has an agent, the agent knows which institution to approach.[ from Ditto Music site.]Vevo is owned by Ditto Music. 

Planning: Merchandise

   











This are all T shirts from the original band that released Emily which is the song we are using. We could possibly make shirts like this for our band.

Research: Promotional Adverts, Websites and sales

The top two pictures are from the official website of 'Lower than Atlantis'.  It promotes their tour in December.  I like the layout of the posters with the picture in the background and the dates of their tour on top this could easily be done so we could create our own version of this but we won't be able to have them with a stage and a whole crowd. 

These are all posters, magazine covers and sales of the band that we got our song from. I think that our music video will not reflect the image of the original band.  Our interpretation of the lyrics is with a completely different representation and therefore our ancillaries will also have very different representations and appearance.  We have gone for a softer rock approach rather the original.

I don't feel our song is rock enough for Rock Sound, therefore we probably wouldn't advertise Southbank's digipak in this magazine. It is likely that Kerrang or Q would be better. 

Kerrang are owned by Bauer who are a huge institution, they target regional, national and global audiences so would be able to promote our band and song to a wider audience. Their TA for Kerrang is 16 to 25 which is ideal. They also conduct their own extensive research and have a multi media site. Their links to social media are excellent and we want to use this institutional detail in our products. 

Planning: Lyrics Analysis (Group Post)

Group Post 

This is an annotation showing how we will organise and plan the visuals to match the lyrics.  We did this together during lesson to show our initial ideas. We analysed the lyrics of our chosen song, discussed what it made us visualise and then wrote down either a couple, or just the best ideas. 
I enjoyed working with my group as it gave us a good opportunity to talk too each other properly and discuss and agree ideas thoroughly.

Research: Locations 2

These shots of a bridge and field allow long shots and clearly show how one character follows another. In our MV we could have a girl following a boy or vice versa.







This is an internal shot. It is high key lighting and the mise en scene is interesting. There is a large window allowing in natural lighting and this is something we will need to consider with any internal shots. There is quite a few pink props which represent the female however this could be seen as stereotypical. According to Perkins "Stereotypes are not simple" and in this case her hair is not a stereotypical representation of femininity.  Her hair is wild and modern.

I like the idea of the barn as we think our music video will be quite rural. Many music video's are urban therefore we will be challenging conventions. 

These locations have been chosen because they are the places that they can do the filming to break the records which is what the music video is about. Theses location have also been chosen because they are bright locations and the song is a upbeat so it wouldn't match if the locations were dull. They are also the best places to get lots of different angles from such as with the bridge they are able to film on the other side of the bank to get them centre frame.

Some music videos have many different locations.  They don't always relate to the narrative but are more about being visually interesting for the viewer. 

These are the sort of locations that we could attempt to use ourselves - such as the bridge, the road and the abandoned building. 

Planning Film Schedule For First Recording (Group)

This is an over view of our first shoot.  We learned that we need to be more specific with our film schedules. We did this filming so because we needed the band in the music room so they could put there parts of the song onto a MP3 file so we recored them after they had done that so we could see what shots would look good and what part each band members plays.

TA Profile

This is my TA profile for my song. I have chosen a TA of 16-21years as the theme of longing for a girl is relevant to this age group.  The Slidely also shows other things my TA enjoy.

It will help me to design my video so it appeals directly to this group.

These are words associated with my TA.  It gives me a better idea of what the stereotypical person likes.

Shane's TA profile by Slidely Slideshow

Codes and Conventions of a Digipak

To make my digipak realistic and professional, I have been looking at some existing digipaks for the conventions that are included in digipaks, for example, the main image, band name, track lists. Most digipaks are created for a special or for limited edition discs. 

All digipak includes the following information:

• Visual image/key to the production
• Band/artist name - allow audience to identify band/artist
• Album title - on main cover and along the spine
• Track list/What's on the DVD
• Basic background information of the band/artist
• (occasions reviews from companies e.g. NME, News Of The World etc...)

Front Panel - Main image, usually of the artist/band or something that iconic/symbolic of them. Name of artist and album this is usually in big front to draw in the audience.

Spine(s) - Names of artist/band and album, institution.

Back Panel - Usually track list, and printed on in contrasting colours so its readable.

Fold in Panel - Often a image of artist/band, however if its a long fold out, the fold in panel would be a continued from the Front and Back Panel.

Inside Panels - CD, maybe even a booklet. Often images of artist/band or something symbolic/iconic printed inside, behind the discs. There may also be information about the album and quotes by the artist/band written inside the digipak.

Colour Scheme - Usually reflects the mood of album or the genre of the tracks/songs on the disc.

Research: Digipaks

Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak is now a generic term though it is trademarked.

They can be folded into a square plastic case or be more eco friendly and made of card. As they are folded up, it is the sides on the top and back that are the main promoters and the faces that are used to draw the TA in.  The front has a picture promoting the artist or the album/track and the back lists the tracks.   Inside is more pictures/artwork, information, lyrics etc enfolding the CD.
   Digipaks come in all different styles and designs. I think the first one on the left fits our genre the best because it has a funny element to it and I think our audience would like that. We could also do what they have done on this digipak and that is have pictures of the band on one side and instead of having the cartoon face over the writing we could have a picture of the our actor that while be playing emily.  This would need a four panel layout.  The table below shows a lot of common layouts.

These are printed digipaks and show what you can do.

We will need to create synergy with our digipak to match the video.

Research: Our Production Name

We have been playing around with our names in order to come up with a company name for our production.

Lisa
Shane
Hannah


Reject
Shell music - signifies petrol

LSH Music - could be associated with drug use.

Shannli - sounds strange

Lisanha - sounds like lasagne

Shine Records - unfortunately this already exists. 



Selected
Sasha Sounds - this is a combination of the end parts of our names and we think it sounds sassy and it is sibilance which implies sound. 


Digipak ideas from this: we could put our company name inside a sash. 
Colour scheme - navy blue, black, possibly silver or gold. Although we are a British company, we don't particularly want to go with traditional red, white and blue. Blue is a royal colour that signifies success - it is a symbolic sign. 

Research: Similar Product Video 3 Arctic Monkeys

EDITING  & CAMERA TECHNIQUES

There are no transitions, all the shots cut from one to the next.  At the beginning of the video when the music is slower/smoother, the average shot length is 2 to 3 seconds.  When the music speeds up the average shot length drops to 1 to 2 seconds but there are still no transitions.

The colour matching is probably done in the editing stage.  It is blue at the beginning to show cold and misery.  This is avery dull image with colours desaturated. She is not performing to Mulvey's male gaze however this micro element [Carol Vernallis] does offer a different representation of a female. She seems utterly miserable and perhaps some members of the TA will be able to relate to this. 



The street lights are then warm as is the pink sparkly outfit she wears. The end is again cold.   There are hand held shots that destabilise the image to add to the apparent chaos.  The speed of the shots is also enhanced by footage from a moving car of a street at night so all the lights blur and trail (juddering).  This is further enhanced by rain splashed, steamed up windows.

There are also some out of focus shots and the movement in some of the low light shots is also blurred.  These shots are often close ups.

Research: Similar Product Video 2 Pink

I looked at P!nk's video, So What.

There is approximately 34 shots per minute with an average shot length of 2secs varying from flashes to about 4 secs.

The shot types used vary but are mostly close ups mixed with mid and long shots.  She is often placed centre frame or just off centre.

There are a lot of straight on shots and low angle
shots and zoom shots of her singing into camera.
The first road shot is introduced with a very fast
zoom or transition effect.

The editing is fast cuts that mix the close up shots with long and mid shots and changes location frequently.





The blue costume she wears in the guitar shop is colour matched to the sky in the garden shots.







The garden shots look as if the colour has been enhanced.






There are 13 or 14 different locations, the street, the garden, the bar, the shop, outside the shop, the stage, dressing rooms, the wings, in the alley outside the venue, the photographers, a wedding car, a plain urban set.

There is a different costume for each location ranging from soft fashion clothes to leathers.

Props - the video is full of different props from a ride on lawnmower,  bottles in the alley, a flask, the chain saw, the car, a bike, a lighter, guitars.  The set designs get progressively darker with back lighting in the alley.

According to Mulvey, women perform and dress to appeal to male viewers. I do not think this is the case with Pink, she performs for herself and is a representation of a very strong female. She is modern and aggressive, according to Dyer, "a star is an image not a real person" and this is certainly true. She performs for her star image and has an image created.



I like the energy in this video, it is very in your face but it may not be suitable for our choice of song.  We are going to look at using several different locations and costumes.  However, while the centre framing of this video suits the cuts and location changes, it is not particularly how we are thinking of framing.

Pink So What click to play video.

Planning: Updated Ideas 2

We are still going to have a pop punk theme to our music video but we have changed the people that we could use because now we have people that will perform and act in our music video. The people we are going to use is Liams band called Peaceful Panic. The band members are:
Liam Broughton
Tom Goulden
Connor Petch
Matt Austin

We also have Chris and Courtney that could act in the video if we need them and if we have a song that is about a couple then these two would be prefect because they are already together so it would be the best situation.

Planning: Locations

These locations are rural. The sunset shot would signify the end of a relationship. This could work for a band member that isn't chosen by the girl.
I would like to include a street to signify a more urban moment in the MV. Most of our video is rural and although we are breaking conventions purposefully, we don't want to alienate our audience.

We also have to consider where we can get our band to easily.  The track provides access so we can organise our shoot.

The weather will need watching and we will need to try and film in the same conditions or on the same day. Otherwise we will have to manipulate lighting and colour in Final Cut Pro X.

Synergy: green is  dominant colour and we could work this through our three products.


These are all possible location where we could film our music video.  

Planning: What Will Be The Purpose and Function of Our Music Video - Individual and Group Post

The purpose and function of our music video is diversion  It will allow the viewer to escape from everyday problems, routine and personal relationships.  We are using the medium of video for emotional and other interaction similar to the way  soap operas substitutes real family life.

Group post

The purpose of our music video is for it to be a diversion, an escape from someone's real life and problems that they face. I think that all videos, in some way, are an escape - each video is unique therefore there will always be a video that someone can relate to.

Our video, will also be something that people look at to discover their own identity, we will try to make sure that each band member has their own style (that will also co-ordinate with the other members) that will make other people watching want to be like them and/or look like them - something for teenagers to aspire to. 

The two points I have stated were originally suggested by Blumler and Katz, as a reason to why audiences may watch a music video e.g. as an escape or for their own personal identity.

Research: Some History and How Institutions Get Music Videos Out To The Audience

Institutions have a wide range of ways of getting a music video to the viewers and because of the improvement of technology and the Internet people can access the videos when ever they want. The way people access the videos are though Youtube, Itunes, soundcloud or Amazon cloud player to name a few.  These are websites but now are also apps so most people can access them all the time and it doesn't matter where you are. These are also the sites that most people find out about new music and Youtube is where I see a music video for the first time.

There are so many ways for new music to come out but before the Internet it was a lot harder for institutions to get a music video out there because they only way to get music out to the viewer was on radio, films and Top of the Pops. The first music video is considered to be Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) while MTV's first video was broadcast in1981.  We've come along way since then.

 

Research: How Music Videos Have Changed

Music videos have improved a lot over time because of the improvement of technology such  as C.G.I (Computer generated imagery) so they are able to have created things in the video that either are not real or cannot realistically be achieved in the real world. The quality of music videos has increased greatly because of better cameras.  You can now film in HD and get a better image.  

Music videos have also become more accessible to people because before the rise of the Internet you never really got to see an artist play and your only chance was when they played at a gig (that could only be about 3 times a year) or on TV shows such as Top of the Pops. Now you can see a band play when ever you like by going on the internet and look for them on Youtube.