- Dark indy song will fit with a stylisic video - Using the lyrics I had an idea that we could have some children being mischievous and childish in a neighbourhood (graffitying, egging houses etc.), however it would turn out that it was actually some adults all along - We could contrast this with a performance scene - Dark colour grade - It would amplify the lyrics as it says 'i almost forgot myself'
ArcticMonkeys - 505
- Another indy song with melancholy themes - Would suit a dark colour grade - Plenty of instruments for a performance scene - Suitable length
Bloc Party - SRXT
- The song starts off slow with a big ending so the video could lead up to a dramatic climax - Would suit a performance genre - Suitable length/ no swearing
Disjuncture within the video as the lyrics and visuals aren't linked in a particular way
Sense of community within the song
Horses give a sense of freedom when ridden across the field
Slow Motion used
Fast cutting rate
Urban setting
Band is not seen throughout the video
Waiting All Night
The whole video is shot using a handicam giving it more of a 'home movie' feel
Ideologies centred around love, families and support
Audience follows the story of the man in hospital and how he overcomes his tragedy
Use of low angles throughout
'fish eye' effect
Cutting rate is generally fast throughout but slows during the middle 8
Song picks up as the man overcomes his obstacle
Montage editing used
Band is absent
Not Giving In
Slow motion used
Shot from the perspective of the two boys
Helicopter shot shows the shanty town in which they live
Link between the visuals and the lyrics
Two separate journeys of boys who grew up in the same conditions
Band is absent
Boys shown to be extraordinary in the way that they can dance
Amplification of the lyrics, shows two boys struggling through life 'Not giving in'
Set in an urban location
Match shots
Overall, it is clear to see that there are many similarities between all of these videos however they all look at different aspects of society and challenge different ideologies. For example, some one with a devastating disability manages to overcome this and learn to ride his bike again. The band is never present in any of the videos leaving all of the focus on the narrative and what is happening. All of the videos illustrate Rudimentals beleifs of society that anything is possible.
Within the music industry, most recording artists have become increasingly reliant on record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums and be heard on top radio and TV channels. The majority of record labels are referred to as sub labels - a label that is part of a larger record company but trades under a different name. The 3 major labels today are Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
Who is involved in a
record deal?
A record deal involves both a record label and a recording artist;
it is essentially a legal agreement under which the artist can make a record
for that label to promote. Once in this deal, the artist cannot record for any
other label until the deal ends or they leave.
How are musicians promoted?
The main strategy in promoting an artist is primarily through music videos as it amplifies the artists artistic abilities. It also adds an interesting visual illustration of the song which will make it more repeatable. As well as this it also adds to the artist star image and begins to create a meta-narrative for each artist making them more appealing to the audience. In addition to this many artists will go onto radio stations to promote and sometimes perform one of their new songs or albums. Likewise, chat shows such as Graham Norton or Alan Carr Chatty Man give them the opportunity to perform their new single and later talk about the album to come and even tour dates. Finally on shows such as 'The Voice' artists are seen coaching other singers who are trying to start a career in music. This would also add to their star image as it indicates that they really are musically talented to the point where they could give lessons.
Who is responsible for
making branding/marketing decisions?
This very much depends on the size and decisions of the band.
Smaller artists or artists that are signed on to their own record label - i.e.
Enter Shikari’s Ambush Reality - make more or less all their own branding and
marketing choices. For example, merch designs are often drawn or created by
band members themselves or friends; similarly, the artist will arrange the
production of the merchandise and will often be the ones who send it out. On
the other hand, bigger artists or those signed to a record label will have all
a large majority of their decisions made for them - even choices on how a song
should sound is not always controlled by the artist. Their is a certain
reputation a record label will hold, and therefore they will adjust an artists
image, genre, and merch to suit that reputation.
Why is a music video so significant?
The music video is a chance for the artist to show off their creativity in other areas of the media. It provides visual links to the song increasing repeatability as they are usually very visually arresting and add to the general interest. Within many music videos from the same album or artist there are narratives that are all connected in some way for example the band Woodkid have a young boy who stars in all of their videos and shows him on some sort of journey. This in itself increases repeatability as the audience want to know who this boy is and what he is doing. As well as this, signs and symbols go on to create associations with the band or artist for example if they had a logo which as individual to them, you might see it on a poster somewhere and be reminded of them.
What is the production
process of a music video?
Much like any video production, there are three key stages:
pre-production, production and post-production.
Pre-production involves the planning, primarily working out whether
to make a performance, conceptual, narrative, or a combination of the
aforementioned. Its important to make the right choice to suit the song, so it
is repeatable and enjoyable for the audience. Then comes the choice of
locations, ‘characters’, extras, and a rough outline of the video before the
storyboard. The storyboard has to reflect each shot of the video, and will give
the director an idea of the pace of the song. An animatic is then made and, if
approved by the record label (if applicable) the video will be made.
Production is fairly self-explanatory, it is where the video is
actually shot. The artist or the actors will do as the director and the
storyboard say and film the video itself. Sometimes, shots or shot length is
changed in the moment, as it may suit the video better one way than the way it
was initially set out to be.
Post-production is where the video is edited. The track will be put
in to some form of editing software and then have the footage edited to it.
Normally changes of shot will be anchored to the video. They can do more or
less anything to the video, its limitless in some respects as it can be taken
in any direction dependent on how the artist/label likes it.
What role do NMTs play in promoting artists and how has this changed?
NMTs have played a huge part in the way artists are promoted and consumed. The most prevalent strategy used to be promotional adverts or posters seen in magasines or on billboards however online websites such as YouTube and Vevo have become prime places for promoting artists. Vevo uses YouTube to advertise new tracks and music videos and provide links that can take you to their own website to watch these videos. In addition to this music can be downloaded from YouTube and other similar music websites for a fraction of the price of buying the whole album making it more appealing to a consumer audience. As well as this, if you purchase music online from stores such as iTunes, you also get a copy of the album artwork which can be put onto an iPod or other MP3 devices. This in itself begins to create connotations with the artist. This is an example of how NMTs have democratised the way in which media is promoted and consumed.
What role does the music
press play in promoting artists in a digital media age? Are they still
relevant? Give specific examples from UK press.
Simply, yes, the music press is most definitely relevant in
promoting artists in a digital media age. Despite having websites to coincide
with their physical copies, music magazines such as ‘NME’, ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang!’
have played a large role in the development and success of a number of bands.
‘Kerrang!’ for example have favoured bands such as ‘You Me at Six’ and ‘Bring Me
the Horizon’ since their beginnings; with front page and lead articles,
features and live reviews being given to the bands mentioned have contributed
to their successes, and provide a reason why they are growing to be some of
Britain’s biggest bands. It is similar with ‘NME’ and ‘Arctic Monkeys’, right
from their very first album, ‘NME’ have promoted and supported ‘Arctic Monkeys’
- getting their faces out there and generally spreading the name of the band to
a broad audience. Without the music press, I very much doubt that music labels
would be able to promote and give success to their signed bands enough to make
them successful; this is even more relevant to unsigned bands who rely on the
music press to make them successful.
The slow motion at the beginning of the video allows the audience to identify the characters and as a narrative begins to form
The cutting rate is generally kept the same throughout the video so that the audience can follow the characters and have a good idea of what is going on
The motion of the shot changes depending on how frantic the narrative comes, for example at the beginning it is all in slow motion as the boy and girl have not met yet
Meat shots of the artist and band intercut between the narrative
I like the general style of the song, the rapping contrasts well with the backing and I think we could make a strong video around it.
I propose we take the lyrics in to account and themes, making it some sort of lost love story but NOT a conventional heartbreak situation.
Like his other videos, especially 'Sunday Morning Chillin'' it may be effective if we have some illustrative elements, i.e parts of a chain connecting, as one of the first lyrics entails.
It would be a narrative video and have performance of someone rapping.
The Neighbourhood - Afraid
I personally love this song and think we could make a amplification style, narrative/performance/conceptual video.
To fit with the bands image I think we should make it a black and white video as it is quite dark but I feel we could do a lot with it.
My idea is to physically show the lyrics; so have a man doing his normal daily routine, but each time we show it someone is following him and progressively starts to do parts of it before him. Until the last shot where the new person walks right through the original character and thus physically taking his place.
There is one shot idea we could use as a filler which I saw in the 'Eleven Eyes' by Heights ft Sam Carter video which I think would look amazing. Essentially it contains the general public walking backwards and the band walking forwards; to achieve that we'd have to do it the opposite way around but i think it would create a disjuncture that anchors the lyrics and themes.
Having filmed, edited and finished our thriller opening in the AS section of the course, there were a number of elements regarding the production of the preliminary music video that we found different. First and foremost, as a pair, we found it far easier to visualize our piece; this ranges from the application of continuity to the over-arching image we wanted to convey. This was anchored by our knowledge of what shots actually looked good, after the relentless trials in the film opening coursework; we were far more brave with our ideas, not being afraid to perhaps raise our levels of creativity to aid the ease of making interesting shots in the post production stage.
Furthermore, we used a vast range of new cinematography skills that we had never previously used. The reason for this comes with the freedom of music video; by principle, there is not specific set of shots that should be used, it is more or less entirely down to preference and suitability with the track. Therefore, we tried to incorporate a lot more moving shots, a lot more different angles, framing of things such as feet and head & arms and so on. All of this meant that we could portray a better range of knowledge and ability in film making, to show that we can portray our creative ideas, creatively.
In the editing process, we once again, used a lot more different effects that wouldn’t have been apt or suitable for the film opening. Conventional of a music video, yes, but it certainly noticed when we watched our music video back that there was a more proficient use of effects. This included the likes of expansion of time, ranging from 60% to 80%, reverse speed, jump cuts and a more distinctive differentiation in pace of cuts. Certainly, the video looks action packed with these new used effects - it seems to fit well with the action in the video well, whilst at disjuncture to the song itself it does sync with the music and to an extent, amplifies the track.
When relating our piece to that of other music videos, we certainly used a number of typical conventions found commonly. This mainly revolved around the anchoring of visuals to the music itself in relation to pace, but also the use of slo-mo and various pro-filmic effects. To then compare it to the other Rudimental videos and how ours contributed to their meta-narrative, there is still that element of euphoria obtained, in our case, through the course of overcoming the repeatability of school life to go out and have fun. Also, the disjuncture, yet still fitting with the track is also common in their videos - having a very distinct, artistic feel to them.
