Introduction

Welcome to my A2 media Blog, I'm Josh Stevenson (0796) and I'm in Group 2 with Harry Kettenis (0390), Matthew Romo (1660) and Ysabel Hudson-Searle (0331). Use the labels on the right to navigate through my blog, with the A2 labels relevant to my current course. You can access the main music video blog aswell using the link.

Here is the live link to Group 2's Facebook Page.

Thanks.

Music Video

Our Music Video

Digipak



Our Digipak
Top Left: Back Cover, Top Right: Front Cover
Bottom Left: Inside Back, Bottom Right: Inside Front

Our Website




Our Website (Click to Enter)

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Our Audience

Through our research, we found there to be a gap in the market for alternative sounds. It seems that more and more people are moving away from mainstream music because they no longer feel a strong connection to it.

Core audience:

Our core audience are PBR&B fans in general. Due to this genre of music is a culmination of various other genres, our core audience is fairly large and includes fans of Hip-Hop, Dubstep, R&B and Soul. There are various reasons as to why someone would be a fan of our artist, PBR&B caters to a variety of people because it incorporates elements of other genres. Take fans of R&B for example; they tend to listen to this genre because they connect to the message within the song and find that the vocals speak to them in one way or another.

Secondary Audience:

Our secondary audience are British PBR&B fans aged between 16-29 years old. Gender has not yet come into it, because we feel that this genre has so much breadth. 

Our thinking was that from the age of around 16, you start to make your own choices as to the kinds of music you listen to. At this point in time, many haven't even made up their minds in regards to what kinds of sounds they like, meaning that they will be open to new and alternative sounds. It has been well established through our research, that when we are younger, our music consumption is dictated by our parents and mainstream culture to some extent. As such, we feel that these people will start to steer away from mainstream genres because they are now able to form their own opinions and have the freedom to do so.


Analysis of Secondary Audience
Analysis of Core Audience

Our Record Label

Our record label is called "Raw Sound Records" and is based on the model of various labels, including "Relentless Records" and "Mercury Records". We are a London based label who are independent in our own right, but still operate under the "Universal Music Group".

We are specialists in the following genres :
PBR&B, R&B, Hip-Hop, Soul, House and Dubstep

Our aim is to work with up and coming artists/bands, bringing out all of their potential and turning them into a household name. Just because an artist/band isn't "mainstream", it does not mean that have to keep their music away from mainstream markets. Anyone has potential in the music industry, it just takes the right backing force.







Joey Badass





If we were to use pre-existing artists as examples of the kinds of artists we would sign, then the list would include artists such as:

Misha B
Jhene Aiko
FKA Twigs
     
The Weeknd
SZA



Below you can see our thought process behind this decision. We broke down the model of various record labels into their individual components and from that, we drew out inspiration and ideas for the basis of our record label. 



Our Track

Our chosen track is called "Teen Spirit" by the artist SZA:


We chose this as our track for several reasons:
  • It is of the PRB&B genre, which incorporates elements from mainstream R&B, Hip-Hop, Soul and Dubstep. As such there is no typical sound for the genre because it does vary greatly within the genre itself.
  • Out of these 4 genres, it leans towards R&B and soul, which means its sound plays very well into our potential ideas for the video and gives us enough scope to be imaginative with our ideas.
  • We found that there was a gap in the market for female singers, especially within the PBR&B genre. This, we thought allows us to give our artist a fairly strong identity.
  • The slow yet intense beat works well with the ideas my group and I have and gives real potential in terms of a conceptual music video with a loose narrative.
  • Although the tempo of the track essentially stays stagnant throughout, there are various points where there are audible changes. There is the possibility that these can be used as signifiers for a change between the conceptual and narrative within the video.

 Copyright


 The track was released just before SZA signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, meaning that SZA owns the copyright for the track. I attempted to contact ZSA via both Twitter and Facebook, but I as of yet, I have not received a reply either way.

Contact Via Twitter
Contact Via Facebook














Original Artist 


This track was originally released by the artist SZA, an American born artist who mainly composes songs from the PBR&B genre.

So far she has released 3 EP's, 2 of which were self-released, while the 3rd was done under the name of the label she is signed to, "Top Dawg Entertainment".

Our chosen track was released by her in 2013 as a non-album track and as of yet, has not appeared in the top 100 of the charts.

Our Artist

A lot of time went into coming up with the artist even though certain aspects were dictated by our choice of track, for instance gender (female) as well as the kind of style our artist will have, however track choice also caused some trouble. Surprisingly the majority of choices in regards to our artist were fairly quick and simple, but when it came to our artists identity i.e. Name, Cultural Identity etc, we found that we were going round in circles. If the track was of a more mainstream genre, then to a certain extent all we would need to initially is follow the conventions of the artist identity for that genre.

After some deliberation and constantly clicking "generate" on a random name generator, we came to what we thought was an appropriate name that fit with the sound of the track, as well as matching the look of the female we had in mind for the artist.

Our Artist

Name: Roza
Gender: Female
Age: 20 Years Old

Styling wise we took inspiration from other artists of the same genre, so from the likes of Jhene Aiko, FKA Twigs, Cassie and even The Weeknd. Her look is very simple, using mainly black and white. We feel that this prevents her image from overshadowing the message of her music. She isn't afraid of her femininity and will happily express this, without being overly sexualised and still upholding her modesty.


                 


           

So that our artist is distinguishable in a market that has become heavily lead by visuals, we felt that it was best to have a particular motif for all and any material used for Roza. That is why we designed a logo that is distinct to Roza and Roza alone.





Steal-O-Matic



Our Steal-O-Matic outlines the various ideas that we have for our music video; we looked at a variety of different media texts and found parts of them that we felt could be used as inspiration for our music video. All of the inspirational texts were downloaded to mp4 from YouTube using youtubeinmp4.com and then edited together using Adobe Premiere Pro. So as to ensure our vision is as clear as possible, titles were added to some sections to show what aspects of the text we drew inspiration from.

Obviously there are quite a broad spectrum of inspirations in this video and these will need to be fine-tuned to show exactly what we intend to do for our video. The Steal-O-Matic is a rough outline of the sort of things we would like to do using content from other texts and as such doesn't entirely reflect our video, but this will be shown in the form of an animatic later on.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Semeotic Analysis


  • This track has a strong message, telling audiences that it is fine to be who you are, because eventually the underdog comes out on top
  • In keeping with this message, the video contains various clips of "underdogs" overcoming a challenge and ending out as the champion (e.g. Bull and Matador, the Matador dies in the end rather than the bull)
  • There is a strong use of the Post-modernistic style in this video; making reference to the iconic 1947 post war poster "We Can Do It". Which in itself plays into the message conveyed through the video, when you look at the historical context of the poster and the meaning behind it.

  • The use multiple faces in a collage style enforces the point that everyone is an individual, so should be free to be who they are; but also that everyone is human and therefore feel pain and can be hurt emotionally in the same way as yourself.

  • The lyrics and video work in tandem with one another, even though the footage is slightly abstract. This is especially true of the lyrics "We will never be anything but dirty little freaks", as they show an footage of what society would consider a "tramp". Conveying that in most cases, you cannot change who you are, what your style is, and your personality.... but that's fine, because you have the right to be what you want without fear.

    Thursday 11 September 2014

    Individual Research- Inspirational Media



    Music Videos

    Route 94- My love



    It is the simplicity of this music video that appeals to me. The video itself is clear cut, with an obvious storyline that is clearly conveyed to the audience; if you take out the fact that they use thermal imaging in the video, it is essentially your typical teen house party. This is something that I would definitely consider when conceptualising my music video and mainly rely mainly on post production.


    Green Day- Boulevard of Broken Dreams



    Again, a very simple idea turned into a meaningful video, with the large majority of the work done in camera and post production. I love the vintage feel they give the video by having the flickering screen, very similar to that seen in movies filmed on tape, if not a bit magnified. This video finds that perfect balance between narrative and performance, something which I would want to emulate in my video.


    Nickelback- How You Remind Me


    The style of this video really stands out to me, especially due to the use of grading in the narrative. Changing from blue, cold grading (1:10), to being all warm and soft when the lead sees this girl (1:15) and then back to the cold, harshness as the girl disappears (1:25). This makes the emotions of the lead at this point obvious and ties in perfectly with the song at that moment, by visually signifying a change in the tempo of the track. I think that if I were to include a narrative in my video (which is quite likely), then it would need to fit quite well with the song and convey the meaning behind the track.


    Websites

    Paramore

     
    Their website is visually pleasing, you can tell that a lot of work went into the aesthetics of the site, as well as ensuring that this page is synergistic with all social media platforms that the band use, making Paramore's whole identity accessible on this one platform. The site is very easy to navigate, with clearly marked and simple headings that show exactly what the content is about. The band's website has multiple purposes, it acts as an information hub for all the latest gig dates, a merchandise store and a media hub that keeps the fans up to date with new releases, photos and videos.

    Arctic Monkeys

     
    In fitting with the motif the band has for most of their artwork, their website makes full use of contrasting black and white. The homepage is very simple, but still offers a range of different options for users; it is reserved for only the latest news (meaning fans don't have to trawl through pages to find out what's going on with the band).

    NickleBack

     
    This website doesn't have much in terms of content, it does the basics of what a band's website is supposed to do; inform of gig dates, link to merchandising and show latest news. One feature which I quite like about the website, is that it has a "fan club" section which offers exclusive content and merchandise only for those in the fan club. In all honesty, while the website fits into the band's identity, I do not find it very visually pleasing or entertaining.

    We Are The In Crowd

    This is a very good example of how I would want my artist's website to look like. It incorporates all of the band's social media platforms on one page, meaning that when any news, photos or videos are shared on one of these platforms, it is instantly spread for all fans to see. Even though the colours used in the theme of the website are very simplistic, the site is still visually pleasing and interesting to look at. In my opinion the section announcing all the tour dates is much too small  and inconspicuous; I would want this section to be much more prominent on the site, so that it is obvious to fans.

    Album Covers

    Pink "Funhouse" Album Cover



    This album cover fits very much with the whole motif that pink has created for herself and can be seen through all of her album artwork. All of her albums have herself as the main figure on the cover; she makes sure that her albums are instantly identifiable as hers and that there is never any doubt about that.

    Arctic Monkeys "AM" Album Cover

    Tonight Alive "What Are You So
     Scared Of" Album Cover






    Maybe not by the same means, but I would want my artist's album art to be distinctive and clearly linked to our artist.







    Again using similar colours to those used on their website, working synergetically with the website and other band merchandise in order to create strong band identity. When people see this combination of colours in this way, they automatically link it to Arctic Monkeys even though it doesn't have an image of the artist (as is the case in the large majority of their album work). Making the band's identity both recognisable and distinctive.

    This is something that I would want to do with my artist's album work, so that it stands out amongst the thousands of other new releases into the market.








    This is one of the band's first albums, which explains why it differs slightly from the look that the band now have. Who the album is for is made obvious by both the name of the band sprawled across the corner, but also by the cartoon image of the lead singer.

    I quite like the use of cartoon image, however I am slightly sceptical about suggesting this effect.
    Evenescence "Fallen" Album Cover
    Evenescence's album is quite dark and pale, which fits in great with the band's identity. They advertise themselves as a more alternative rock band, whose songs tend to have quite a dark subject matter. The font used in the title of the album is quite calligraphic and is a motif used in all artwork they have, tying in to the band's identity very well.

    Individual Research- Suitable Tracks/My Ideas

    I haven't got a set thought trail about what exactly I want to in terms of my music video, but I do have a few ideas floating about that could be built upon and made into a meaningful video. I know for definite that I want the chosen track to be Pop-Rock/Indie-Rock/Rock, as well as a 60/40 split between performance and maybe some form of narrative (But open to suggestion, because I know my preferred genres can work with a variety of styles and ideas).

    I quite like the idea of having a female lead in the band, but obviously if I find a song that I feel works really well, I would be more than happy to go for a male lead; because I mean who knows when I'm going to hear a track that I think is perfect. I just had it in my head because it is few and far between that you see an Indie-Rock band with a female lead reach an acclaimed position, such as that of Paramore, who have broken through that barrier very successfully.

    In terms of the overall look of the video, I had the thought of switching between quite strong, bright colours and more dull pastel colours, like dull blues, greys ad greens in order to signify a change in emotions for the young versions of the band members. I find this interesting because now, unlike in past projects, there are no limitations about how far we go from conventional methods.

    Suitable Tracks

     



    This track is typical of the Pop-Rock genre and gives a lot of room to artistic license and interpretation of the song. The song is easy for audiences to connect with and evokes past memories on multiple topics. Starting off quite strong and altering slightly throughout to bring audiences back into reality and stir up new emotions. Playing very well into the thought of having a female lead vocalist (largely to do with the fact that the vocals are in a female voice).







    Again, this song gives endless opportunities for full artistic license to be taken in terms of style and narrative. Another bonus is that the lead vocalist is female, which allows for a new female artist to work her way into the gap in the market I discovered. The track is calm and collected at the start, pulling in those listening and preparing them for the moment all of the instruments kick in and raise the mood of the song.










    The appeal here is that it allows for both a male and a female vocalist, which I feel could lead to some really nice shots of chemistry between them in any performance shots where they are basically singing directly to one another. This opens up new ways of looking at any naratives, maybe have some harmless flirting in the performance shots, but link that to the "real" relationship between them.










    Individual Research- Audiences


     

















    From the surveys (below), you can see that there is generally no link between gender/age and the type of music that they choose to listen to . While there are perceptions that certain genres of music are for specific groups, these surveys show that people listen to what they feel like and when it comes to music, they show their individuality.



     This is only shown to be even more true when you look at the 17 year old female and the 39 year old male, both of which are perceived to be past listening to pop music, but both say that pop is in their top 4 preferred genres.  As is to be expected, the younger of those who took the survey (15&17 years old) enjoy going out and listening to music live, this could be due to the social nature of seeing music live, they can go with their friends and make a whole day out of it.

















    While those slightly older seem to prefer to have physical copies of their music, which may be due to the consumption habits they have gotten themselves into while growing up. For many of them, downloading or streaming wasn't an option, meaning the only way for them to have a control over what music they listen to in their homes and when, was to buy hard copies of the music in the form of CDs or even LPs. One thing that can be drawn from this survey is that for many, music is an essential part of their lives and is always there in the background. It is also apparent that the younger generation want to have their music on the go, with many of them choosing a portable device as their main consumption platforms.



    Individual Research- Research on Record Labels

    Record labels are an essential part of any artist's/band's life; it is with their funding that musicians get the opportunity to make their own music videos and get themselves established within industry. Since I am a big listener of British Indie/Rock music, I thought it best to start will labels that represent artists of that genre.

    Domino Recording Company

    Founded in 1993, Domino Recording Company is a London based Independent, who focus mainly on the "Indie-Rock" and "Indie-Pop" genres. They describe them selves on their website as "a wholly independent record company whose characteristics are best represented by its artists: individuality, originality and a total immersion in music's worlds of possibility". They are known for supporting well known artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner and Jon Hopkins.

    Virgin EMI Records

    Virgin EMI Records is the result of a merger in 2013 between Mercury Records UK and Virgin Records. They operate under the parent company, Universal Music UK, who are responsible for various other record labels. There is no genre of music that this record label hasn't got itself into; with "heavy metal rock bands" like Black Sabbath and on the other spectrum of music; the likes of Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, who are very much established within the "Pop" genre. Keeping in line with the theme of my research, I would also like to note that they represent Young Guns who are known for rock music.While they are responsible for the distribution of artists within the UK, they are capable of branching out and using other companies within the same 'family' to market artists worldwide.

    Syco Entertainment

    Syco Entertainment, formed in 2002 by media industry tycoon Simon Cowell, "is one of the world’s leading global music, film and television production companies responsible for some of the world’s most successful global TV and music franchises". The majority of artists they have on their books specialise in the "Pop" and "R&B" genres, with names like One Direction and Leona Lewis. Syco Entertainment are essentially the parent company of Syco music, Syco television and Syco film, incorporating all subsidiary companies owned by Syco Entertainment and using these resources to not only make music videos for the various artists, but also expanding into film (i.e One Direction: This Is Us).  Whist being a parent company, they themselves are under the corporation Sony Music Entertainment.

    FatCat Records

     FatCat are an independent record label based in Brighton, they cover a variety of more alternative genres including : "Electronica", "Post Rock", "Indie" among others. Founded in 1989 as a record store, which later closed down to later be replaced by a record label in 1997. Now having offices in Brighton and New York. They are known for signing artists like Animal Collective, Black Dice and No Age.




     

    Unsigned Artists

    An unsigned artist is an artist who has no contract with a record label of any sort and as such, must rely on their own means to create, produce and distribute their music. Many unsigned artists use the Internet as a way of getting their music out there; uploading their songs/videos to media sharing sites like "YouTube" and "Vimeo". There are many artists who initially began as unsigned artists, whose music is only available on these free platforms; however they are then scouted by record labels because they believe the artist to have talent, Justin Bieber and 5 Seconds Of Summer are but a few popular artists who have had this happen to them.

    Another way unsigned artists try to make themselves known, is by doing gigs at various small venues; it is common place to see unsigned artists performing in pubs, bars and clubs as they try to increase their popularity; or even to act as supporting acts for larger artists. Ed Sheeran is a great example of how important it is for unsigned artists to gig if they want to make it big. He did hundreds of gigs in order to make a reputation for himself, which then allowed his independent EP No. 5 Collaborations Project to reach second place in the 2011 Itunes Charts without any promotion or label. Eventually leading to him being signed by Atlanta Records later on in the year and becoming the international success that he now is.

    Ed Sheeran's independent EP




    Obviously it is not common place for unsigned artists to become international stars and most find themselves limited to how much coverage they get within the music industry. However, that does not discourage the majority of unsigned artists and instead use the adversity they must face as a driving force behind their efforts.
    Eden Billy Simpson is an example of an unsigned artist who makes full use of media sharing websites to get his music heard by the masses, even if it doesn't lead to a multi-million pound record deal.

    "Seven Seas" was independtly  produced and distributed by Eden Billy Simpson

    Monday 8 September 2014

    Individual Research- Current Music Trends & Best Sellers

    Source: officialcharts.com
    If you look at the top 20 best selling singles of 2014 (left), you can see that the majority of these tracks are from the Pop, R&B or Indie genres. "Happy" by Pharrell Williams coming top of the list, which conforms very heavily to the conventions of a Pop track. Out of these three genres of music, none stand out as being most prominent, but in fact seem to be equally distributed amongst the top 20 listings.
    Source: Wikipedia








    By searching for a year by year account of the top selling single, it becomes very clear that over the last decade, pop singles appear to be the public's preferred choice. Nearly all of the artists behind the singles have very strong British/American Identities, with the exception of the 2012 hit "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye and Kimbra, both of whom have Australian origins.



    Over the last 4 years, it is plain to see that while the % sales of each individual genre have varied slightly year on year, the top 4 genres: Pop, Rock, Dance and R&B have remained in the same position, making up the majority of sales and streaming within the UK market. By combining both unit sales and streaming, you get a general idea of which genres are currently favored by UK audiences. As of the end of 2013, it stands that Pop is the most popular genre with 35.1% of the UK market,  Rock following behind by 12% at 23.1%, followed by Dance and R&B respectively.

    Itunes Pop Chart
                    
                   Itunes Rock Chart
    Itunes R&B Chart
                      




    In both the "Rock" and "R&B" charts, certain artists appear within the top regions of the charts multiple times with various songs from the same album. This tells me that many of those who listen to these genres tend to stick to a particular artist and will spend their money and time on singles and albums released by them.

    The Pop chart is the exception to this with only The Script appearing in the charts twice, but for songs from different albums. This may be due to the an over saturation withing the Pop genre, especially with the rise in popularity of talent shows like "The X Factor" and "The Voice" constantly producing a new influx of "Pop" singers into the market.

    Sunday 7 September 2014

    Individual Research- My Music Consumption

     There is no real set routine as to when and where I choose to listen to music. Listening to music to me is as natural as blinking, I have been known to totally forget that I even have my headphones in because of how comfortable I feel while wearing them. If I had to put a time on when I did listen to music, I guess it would be whenever I'm not in a lesson or doing something that requires me to listen tentatively. It is something that is constantly in the background of my life and works its way into basically everything that I do. All of the portable devices I own have some music playing capabilities.

    Personally, music is both an individual experience, as well as a means of connecting with other like minded people. If I ever just feel like closing myself off from the world for a short period, all I need to do is plug in my headphones and I instantly have solitude. For me it's great, I'm always able to find a song which resonates with the way I'm feeling at the time and can therefore vent any frustrations I have or revel in any joys I feel simply by singing along to the lyrics of my chosen song. There are occasions where music becomes a very social experience for me, namely if I go to a concert. Near enough everyone is there for the same reason, to appreciate the music and use it to fully express themselves as individuals around people who have the exact same ideals and mind frame as their own. There have been numerous times where I've been at a concert and ended out making very good friends with other people there; purely because of the fact that we were able to connect with one another because we both shared a common ground.

    A song from my childhood - Britney Spears "Hit Me Baby One More Time"



    When I was young it was more the performance rather than the song that drew my attention to an artist and dictated the kinds of music I would listen to. It was generally the more popular songs of the time that had flashy, eye catching music videos; which fits in line with the fact that most of my music consumption as a kid was done via the television, as this is where these music videos would have been shown. While my parents did enjoy listening to music, the majority of it was store on traditional LP's and therefore had nothing visual that appealed to me.

    A song from my early teens - N-Dubz "We Dance On"


    It was in my early teens that I began figuring out what kind of person I was and as such, what my preferences were in terms of music, film and television. This song really spoke to me at the time, because there was an enormous pressure to follow the crowd and listen to all of the major chart topping artists and in all honesty, I had no interest in the likes of Jay-Z and Rhianna. The message of the song is that you can be an individual and go down your own path without fear, even if it means that you aren't the most popular of people; because eventually you will get noticed and your time will come.

    A song that means a lot to me now - OneRepublic "Counting Stars"



    Now that I am that much older, I find myself steering further and further away from mainstream charts. If a song doesn't have any real meaning behind it, then I find myself not even bothering to listen to it. OneRepublic were the ones who introduced me to the whole indie/alternative scene and I have yet to find a band that would prefer to listen to. Whereas in my younger years my music consumption was guided by the charts, now the only influence on the kinds of music I listen to is myself. There are still times when one of my friends will suggest a song to me of a different genre and I will happily listen to it to see what I think if I enjoy the song then it gets added to the list of songs in my repertoire.