Poster - Early Draft

This is a early draft of our poster. From this we built on the ideas and tried different techniques to try and make it more appealing to our target audience.

Talent release forms

Digipack cover design draft

Equipment

Location Permission Letter

Track Permission Letter

Advert Design (draft)

Audience Research 1 - Questionnaire

1. What is your gender?
Male [ ] Female [ ]

2. Do you watch music videos? (If no skip next question)
Yes [ ] No [ ]

3. What is the main reason for why you watch music videos?
[ ] Entertainment
[ ] To find new music
[ ] To see what a band looks like
[ ] Other

4. Which of these genres of music do you listen to the most?
[ ] Pop
[ ] Rock
[ ] R'n'b/Hip Hop
[ ] Dance
[ ] Classical

5. Which of these do you use the most to listen to music?
[ ] Buying the CD
[ ] Internet
[ ] Radio
[ ] Music Television

6. Do you prefer to listen to albums or singles?
[ ] Albums [ ] Singles

7. Do you prefer to buy CD's or download it?
[ ] Buy the CD [ ] Download

8. How important is the album artwork to you?
[ ] Very important
[ ] Important
[ ] Not very important

9. Have you downloaded music illegally?
[ ] Yes [ ] No

10. On a scale of 1 to 5 how important is the band look to you? (1= not at all, 5= very important)
1 [ ]
2 [ ]
3 [ ]
4 [ ]
5 [ ]

Record Label Research: Domino Records

History

Domino Records is an independant record label based in London that was founded by Lawrence Bell and Jacqui Rice in 1993. Most of their early releases were by American artists that were signed to Drag City. Success for this label did not come quickly as the Britpop era of the 90's pushed indie labels to the sidelines. They celebrated their first number one album in 2005 with Franz Ferdinand's 'You Could Of Had It So Much Better' and in that same month they achieved their first number one single with the Arctic Monkeys 'I Bet You Look On The Dancefloor'.

Famous Signed Artists:

Arctic Monkeys

Franz Ferdinand

The Last Shadow Puppets

Lightspeed Champion

The Kills

Divisions

Their are two wings both under the name Domino Records that operate in the UK and the US. They also have a german division called Domino Deutchland and within Domino there is subsidiary label called Geographic Music which deal with more unusul British music and world music.

Record Label Research: EMI

EMI (Electric And Music Industries Ltd) was created in 1931 by the merging of the His Master Voice with the UK Columbia Graphophone Company and Gramophone Company. The label early history is very colourful with the company being involved in guided missile technology, radar, large scale electronics. The company later became involved in broadcasting technology and provided the first television transmitter to the BBC. In music the year the company was formed was the same year that the famous Abbey Studios in London was opened.

Famous Signed Artists:

Elvis Presley

Dean Martin

Cliff Richard

Frank Sinatra

The Beatles

Tne Beach Boys

Pink Floyd

30 Seconds To Mars

Lily Allen

Beastie Boys

Blur

David Bowie

Coldplay

Daft Punk

Duran Duran

Gorillaz

George Michael

Kylie Minogue

The Rolling Stones

Robbie Willliams

Divisions

EMI is split in to seven divisions: Angel Music Group, Capitol Music Group, Blue Note Music Group, Caroline Distribution, EMI Christian Music Label, EMI Arabia.

Record Label Research: WMG

WMG is the only record label of the big four that cannot trace it ancestory back to either the Columbia Phonograph Company or Berliner Gramaphone. WMG originally started as a division of the Warner Bros Records in 1958. The founding of WRB was a reaction to one of it actors getting a hit song with Dot Records

Some of their most famous artists include:

Avenged Sevenfold

Gnarls Barkley

Johnny Cash

The Darkness

Dragonforce

Fats Domino

Aretha Frankin

The Goo Goo Dolls

Bill Haley

JLS

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Kid Rock

Led Zeppelin

Madonna

Muse

Pendulum

And Many More

Headquarters

75 Rockefeller Palace, New York, NY 10019

Divisions

WMG has is broken down into 4 divisions; Atlantic Records Group, Warner Bros Recording Inc, Rhino Entertainment and Independant Record Labels.

Each of these serves as an umbrella to smaller record companies. Each division has between 10 and 20 record companies under it.

Here are some of the more famous labels under these divisions:

ARG: Atlantic Records, Electra Records, Lava Records, Roadrunner Records.

Warner Bros; Warner Bros Records, Asylum Records, Marverick, Reprise Reocords, Sire Records.

Rhino; Rhino Records, Atco records, WMG Soundtrcks, Rhino Home Video.

Independent; Cordless Records, East West Records (Umbrella Label), Rykodisk Records.

CD Cover Analysis 3: The White Stripes - Elephant

The White Stripes are a very interesting band to look at because of their completly different approach to all the thing to do with their band e.g their look, how they record their music and their band line up. They move away from stereotypes of this genre by using motifs for example they have a colour code of red, white and black which is present on all of their album and anytime they perform. On this album cover we have the two band members together sitting on an ampliflier. Jack White is holding a cricket bat with a light above his head whilst Meg White holding a handkerchief to her eyes and has a power cable leading away from her. Meg is wearing a long white dress whilst Jack is wearing a red and white cowboy outfit. On all the White Stripes album cover they try to create abstract images which have little or no meaning. The cricket bat that Jack is holding is part of a joke that this album is their 'English' album because it was recorded in the UK and has lyrices referencing to the queen. The white dress Meg is wearing may be a reference to her drumming style as she she has a very simple pure style of drumming and the handkerchief she is holding to her eyes may connote that she is cry and may be a reference to how people critcize her for her simple drumming style.

CD Cover Analysis 2: Muse - Absolution

This album cover shows a man looking up to the sky. It appears he is looking at floating people in the sky but we cannot be sure as we can only see the shadows of these floating people which creates an element of mystry. This may make people want to buy the album because they might find out what is floating in the sky. The man is holding something in his hand but we cannot make out what it is. I think that it may be a camera and this man has been taking picure of this bizzare scene. The bands name is in the top left corner and its in the same writing the band allway have their name in which has created a band logo. This very good for making the band known because as soon as somebody sees that logo they know its from Muse and may want to buy it. This strange image relates to the music inside because Muse are well know for creating strange sounds and texture on their albums.

CD Cover Analysis 1: Franz Ferdinand - Tonite: Franz Ferdinand

The front of this album shows two member of the band crouching over another member is on the floor. One is giving CPR to the one on the floor which tell us that this mn has been seriously hurt and may have actually died. The lead singer is putting his hand up to the camera look as though he is trying to stop this picture being taken so this tell us that picture is being tken by a paparazzi who has either been following the band or has chanced upon this scene. They are all well dressed so that tells us that this picture might have been taken after a night out partying so the meaning of this album cover might be the dangers of being famous which incude partying to the point of death and having your final moment caught on camera by the paparazzi. The setting for this scene is a back alley somewhere. This setting is used to make the meaning of this cover impact more.

The conventions of a music video in alternative rock

Here are some of the conventions of a music video from the alternative rock genre:

• They usually have some sort of deeper meaning even if that meaning is not immediatly clear.


• Most of them would fall into the amplification catagory.

• Some of the bands see their music video as a form of art (White Stripes) and like to make their videos stand out as much as possible

Alternative Rock: Muse - Supermassive Black Hole

Cinematography

The camera moves around a lot in this video. It does a lot of tracking, panning and zooming whih all add to the speed of the video. The camera also uses focusing techniques were the camera fades out of focus when look ing at an object then fades back into focus on something else. This also adds to the chaotic nature of the video.

Editing

The editing of this video is very chaotic and changes speed with no rhythm or structure which add to the overall chaotic look of the video. Also their are a lot of moment were the camera zooms into a black space and fades into another making the editing seem very smooth whilst still keeping the chaotic feeling of the video.

Mise-en-Scene

The band are dress all in black whith big hoods and white masks. Their faces are then projected onto the masks untill later in the video where we see the band dress in more typical clothing. Throughout the video there are these people dressed in strangly coloured full body suits. There are four of these people one of which is very fat. Throughout the video they make strange shapes and move and a lot. The purpose of these people is purely artistic I think.

Sound

The syncing of this video is very well. later on in the video there is non diagetic sound as in the music we her some kind of synthesises keyboard but no keyboard appears in the video.

Alternative Rock: The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl

Cinematography

Throughout this video the camera stay absolutly still. And zoom or movement that you see is actually the lego being moved. This was done to make the video flow better so that the different movements al match each other. Wee see a lot of close ups of the singer and a lot of long shot of the drummer. This was done so that we can see the lego character playing and singing in time to the music so it seem ike the lego is actually making the music.

Editing

Even though this is a fast paced video the editing is not that face because the thing in the video are constantly moving which make the video very busy so that editing is slower to give the viewer more time to process what is on the screen

Sound

At the start of the video you hear sounds of somebody putting the lego together. This is put in to make it clear to the viewer that this video is made of lego.

Mise-En-Scene

This whole video is made from lego. I think the reason they did this is to make the video stand out from most other music videos. The video is very well made as all the singing and drumming is in time. The band themselves have a colour scheme of red, white and black which is shown in the video as the band member are both ony in these colours. The background incorperates these coulour but also uses other colour to make the band stand out. The video is very busy with a lot of thing moving within the video, this is make the video seem as fast paced as the song.

Alternative Rock: Franz Ferdinand - The Dark Of The Matinee

Cinematography

The camera moves a lot in this video e.g. zooming and panning. This is done to make this video seem slower as controlling the spped of this dramatic changes the pace of the video. The camera focuses on the singer a lot as he lip syncs to the song.

Editing

A lot of old video have been added into this video to further the idea that this is in a school. A lot of effect are also used like making inate thing move or give certain object colour whilst the rest of the video is in black and white.

Sound

Mise-En-Scene

This video is set in a school with the band member as pupils. The start of the video is mostly in black and white except when we see the band dancing with their guitars. Then later the video goes into colour. This is done to show that school is boring so its in black and white but then they start dancing and having fun so its in colour

Alternative Rock: Muse - Plug In Baby

Cinematography

The beginningof the video focuses on the guitar becasue the famous guitar riff is playing. As the video continues in mixes between all different shot of the band and strange images of girls with tentacles. The shot of the band are mosty mid shot which are used so we can see them playing their instruments as well as their faces. This helps us to be able to recognise them better.

Editing

The editing is in time to the singing, lingering on certain images for a line then changing to either the singer singing the next line or another image. This is a little different from normal music videos which usually keep in time to the music not the singing.

Sound

The band synced very well in the mking of this video as there are no part where the band look out of time. This is because they are all very good musicians who have won numerous awards.

Mise-en-scene

This video is set in upmarket hotel which gives the video a certain expensive look.

Genre Research: Mood Board - Alternative Rock

Bands in the new alternative rock genre have a certain 'indie' feel to there look. They all act a bit 'kooky' and they dress abit differently from the norm e.g. coloured skinny jeans, waistcoats, heeled shoes, etc. Each band has a certain uniqueness to them and have something slighty different from other bands, wheather this is in their look of sound differs.

Low Budget Ideas

My music video will have little or no budget therefore it would useful to list low budget idea that I could do in my video.

• An artist playing in a profession practise room.
• An artist in a recording studio.
• An artist playing onstage.
• Costumes can be low budget if you know people who have the clothes you need.
• Outside location cost very little to get to.

Theories 3: Goodwin

Goodwin's theory catgorises music videos into one of three catgories; Illustration, Amplification and Disjunture depending on their content.

Illustrate - This is your sterotypical music video where the cuts are always on the beat and the video just illustrates what the lyrics are saying. The band will also be dressed very typically to how the audience would expect them to dress.

Amplification - This is the catagory that most music videos fall into. The cuts are mostly on the beat but it has cuts off beat to emphasise something. The video will follow a story that has something to do with the lyrics but it might not be apparent at first and the band will probably play part in the plot but this is not nessesary.

Disjuncture - This is the smallest catagory as this is the hardest to pull off well. If it is not done well it can make the video look very bad and unprofessional. The cuts are off the beats, the ploy has nothing to do with the lyrics and the band won't appear in the video at all.


Studying this theory has help me to understand how to make a good music video in different ways and depending on how confident in my ablities I am will depend which of these catagories my video will fall into.

Theories 2: Vernallis

Carol Vernllis makes comparisons between Pop music videos and hollywood editing in her article 'The Kindest Cuts: Functions and meanings in music video editing'.

Pop Video Editing

1. Continuaty editing may govern small section but it doesn't relly mattter.

2. Camera and charaters move a lot to make it more dynamic.

3. Lots of angles used and loss of meaning to angles.

4. Time, characters and narrtive revealed incompletely.

Hollywood Editing

1. Continuaty editing throughout

2. Too much movement is busy and annoying

3. Less angles which have meaning

4. Use of time and space.



Her research shows me that music videos have elements of hollywood editing in them but something are used differently. It may be a good idea to watch some hollywood films to get ideas and inspiration for my music video.

Theories 1: Bordwell And Thompson

This theory focuses on the four catorgies of film editing: Graphic, Rhythmic, Spatial and Temporal.

Graphic - Graphic editing focuses of the pictorial qualities of the mise en scene or the cinematographical elements of the film.
E.g. Graphic match - The camera cuts to an object of a distinct colour, shape or size the cuts to different scene with a similar object in the place of the other.

Rhythmic - Rhythmic editing can affect the pace and the feel of the video by focusing of the duration of the shots. It focuses on accents, beats and the tempo.
E.g. Very fast cuts which leave the audience very little time to think about the images on the screen or very long shots which let the audience think about the images.

Spatial - Spatial editing focuses on the films space and the relationship between different spaces and the editors maniptution of them.
E.g. Crosscutting - Cutting between two setting, emphasising the story.

Temporal - Tempoal editing refers to the apparent manipuation of time within the film in relation to order, duration and frequency.
E.g. Flashbacks - Cutting to a earlier time frame with some sort of indicator usually black and white effect.

Here are two videos that illustrate these theories:
This is for Graphic and spatial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX7Eg2RncdQ
This is for Temporal and Rhythmic - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFoCFiiHmXs&feature=related

Conventions Of A Music Video

There is a lot of variation when it come to music videos. There isnt a lot of common ground as artists want their video to stand out so their video and song will be remembered and therefore sell more although I have noticed some conventions:

• When an artist is releasing a song that has a more sombre tone to it the video usually is made into a documentary style video about the artist showing them backstage on tour or at home. This makes the artists seem more like real people to us and makes us like them more e.g. Dear God - Avenged Sevenfold
• Lip syncing is very common is music videos. The artist may want to show the viewer what they look like when they perform the song or what to show how the song looks like when performed with emotion e.g Not Afraid - Eminem.
• There is usually some sort of reference to the lyrics of the song. Either the video is constructed around the lyrics or there is small reference to the lyrics in the video e.g Chelsea Smile - Bring Me The Horizon
• A lot but not all music video have some sort of story happening in the song. This is to make the video more interesting to watch for the audience e.g. Na Na Na - My Chemical Romance

Analysis Of Rock Videos: Avenged Sevenfold - Dear God

Cinematography

Straight away we are told that this video is about life on the road for this band with shots of the roads, the tour bus and road signs. This music video is more of a compilation of different of the band perform this song, performing onstage, fans, the band on the bus and the bnd backstage before a show. The camera focuses on how the band act when they're together e.g. messing around or joking with each other. This video is made to make us like the band more and see them as induvidual people not just a band.

Editing

This video uses black and white footage which augments the sombre tone of the song as it make it seem blank and barren and creates more focus on what the band are doing in the shot. It also uses focusing techniques e.g. keeping the camera still but changing to focus to another mamber of the band. This creates a sense of togetherness for the band and reinforces the feeling that they are all on this trip together.

Sound

We see the band perform this song in two different places; alone in a practise and onstage. We also see the singer singing it alone on the tour bus and we the audience singing along to the stage.

Mise-En-Scene

This band dresses very typically for their genre which is Metal. They all have lots of tattoos and crazy hairstyles. They also wear clothes with skulls and demons on them and have lots of piercing between them. In this video we also see them dressed more casually which shows them as normal people and help us to like them more.

Analysis Of Pop Videos: Johnny Cash - Hurt

Cinematograhy

Their is a clear mix between shot that move and shot that are still in this video. The shots that are still are ones that were shot for this video and show Johnny Cash at the time that this video was shot. The shot were the camera moves are old clips of Johnny when he was young and in his prime as a successful country and western singer. This coupled with the music gives the video a sombre tone and makes Johnny seem a shadow of his former self. we also see pictures of his wife June Carter-Cash who passed away before this video was made and this video seen to reflect the sadness in Johnny's heart. Their are also still shots of the scenery around Johnny which are tthings like a feast and statues of jesus on the cross. This adds to the sadness and furthers the belief that Johnny is a fallen hero.

Editing

Most of the time the next shot comes just before or just after the main beat of the bar. This works very well because it gives more impact to the sombre nature of the video. The addition of old footage of Johnny in his prime as the song builds up make this video truly moving. The footage of him in his prime let us compare him now when he's old and grey to when he was at his most famous which makes this video even more sad as we can see and her the toll time and age has taken on him.

Sound

The music is one of the most powerful parts of this video. The music is what gives all the imagery meaning. Johnnys voice is not as powerful as it used to be and so he singings in a droning almost monotone style and this coupled with his clear pain filled lyrics make this performance a particularly emotional one. Also when we see him lip syncing he does it looking like he is in great emotional pain giving this video even more power and meaning.

Mise En Scene

He is still wearing his black suit which is one of his more famous attributes. In the scenes where we seem his at the time of this video all the things in the background look ages and part of out dated fashions which creates the feeling that this is a lonley old man who is reminiscing about the mistakes he has made.

The real time footage of Johnny shows him in a old house with lots of christian images around like a statue of Jesus and a feast on which Johnny poars red wine over. Also most of the clips of Johnny are black and white or bad quality showing how old they and how old he is.

Analysis Of Pop Videos: Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

Cinematography – The camera never moves throughout the whole video. This adds to feeling of it being low budget because they do not have a camera man which is evident by the camera staying stationary. The people within the camera move going from long shot to mid shots. The person that moves the most is the singer who moves closer to the camera so we can see him singing.

Editing – The editing in this video is very clever. The people are moving as if they have been speed up but the singer is still singing in this to the music. This was properly done buy recording the band moving at a normal pace but the singer singing at a slower pace that way when it is sped up he is singing in time to music but they are all moving at a quicker pace.

Sound – The lip syncing in this is very well done as the singer would of had to sing at a slower pace then the song actually is and he had to do all the moving an running around.

Mise-en-scene – They stay in the same room throughout the whole video. The mise en scene changes twice in the video though use of lighting, props and costume. The first time it gets really dark and they all put scarves on fake snow it thrown over them. The second time the light turns blue and finger puppets appear around the camera.

Analysis of a pop music video: Eminem - Not Afraid

Cinematography

The first shot in this video is a establishing shot. This shot tells us that he is in a city with a lot of skyscrapers so stereotypical he may be in New York. He speaks at the start of the video and the camera goes to a close up of his face whilst he speaks. This let us establish who it is and how he looks at the moment because he wants to show people that he look fashionable and keeps up with the latest fashions. He raps with a lot of emotion in this song so there are a lot of close ups to show this emotion with facial expression and hand and arm gestures and movements. Also as he rap he sway and the camera sways with to keep him in the centre of the camera and the centre of attention.

Editing

This video is a mix between continuity and montage editing as it follows a loose story in two setting and jumps between the two settings whilst he sings the lyrics in both settings. It also jumps between different angles within the same setting. This creates a very effective way of explaining his feeling in this song through editing as is talking about he is trying to work through the chaos in his life.

Sound

The lip syncing in this video is done expertly because the camera is very focused on him so he had to make sure his singing is exactly in time.

Mise-En-Scene

There are two setting in this video; a city and a basement. The basement setting is used to hep illustrate his feeling of being trapped which is confirmed when he break through a wall when the lyrics talk about facing his problems. He is dressed very typical for his genre which is Hip Hop which include the cross around his neck, sleevless tops, baggy jeans and Nike Trainers

Brief

To create a promotion package for the release of an album to include a music video, together with a cover for the release and a magazine advertisement. My group consists of me, William Attwood and Shardia