Feedback

Your response is detailed and through and you have been creative with your blogs, I particularly like the use of  layout and esign.  You have a secure knowledge and understanding of who you want your artist to be signed to; perhaps you could link this further by stressing the advantages that your artist has signed to the particular record label. 

Your clearly identify your target audience and have profiled them concisely, these needs developing.  Good research into CD covers and you have a wide range of examples, and this would be developed further if you can link the real product to how it will influence your own designs.

You need to read the article on the musoc indsutry and develop your understanding of the type of record your artsist would get a good deal with.

Research and Evaluate the instituational context of your artist

When looking into a record company for our artist we had to consider the genre of her music, following the route of Techno Swing, we felt an independant record label would be best for our artist. The songs that are signed also are probably songs used in club mixes and dj's for example dance trance music and techno swing music. it will be a minor record company Hoxton Whores is a company likely to sign them because of their signed artists are similar to Renee’s song 'Why Don’t You Do'

The target audience of the video would be around 14-30 as it is old style which may bore younger audiences but then turns into a modern remix which would interest those of a slightly older audience. It may secondarily be interesting to an older audience as it is an old song with a modern twist - the older audience may recognise the original song and therefore be intersted in the new updated version, however they may not like this as it differs from the original swing era to the techno-swing era.

The song will interest the audience as it may be layed in clubs which will appeal to the young adult audience who spend their weekends socialising and at parties. The slightly younger audience will like it as even though they are too young to be at a club the song will be played on popular radio stations that the target audience will most likely listen to on their way to and from school.

Video Timeline

00.01 – 00.10 – Shots of flapper dancers

00.11 – 00.30 - tracking shot of main artist Dottie

00.31 – 00.35 – Shot of trumpet player

00.36 – 00.40 – White upper class dancer shots

00.41 – 00.43 – Shot of feet

00.44 – 00.50 – Zoetrope and stick

00.50 – 00.55 – Shot of White male dancer looped over each other

00.55 – 00.57 – Shot of working class dancer

00.58 – 00.59 – Trumpet player shot

01.00 – 01.05 – working class dancer shot with effects to loop

01.05 – 01.15 – tracking shot of Dottie

01.16 – 01.20 – Trumpet player clicking

01.21 – 01.30 – Close up of Dottie singing

01.31 – 01.36 - Varying distance shots of trumpet player

01.37 – 01.40 – silhouette of Dottie

01.41 – 01.46 – Effects on working class dancer

01.47 – 01.48 – Trumpet player in silhouette

01.48 – 01.59 – Zoetrope with hat

02.00 – 02.03 – close up of feet dancing

02.04 – 02.10 – Upper class man and Dottie dancing

02.11 – 02.14 – Silhouette of Dottie

02.15 – 02.19 – Close up of Dottie

02.19 – 02.21 – Close up of trumpet

02.22 – 02.29 – tracking shot of Dottie

Some images from our storyboard

Similar CD Covers

Before starting to design potential CD covers, i had to look into others of a similar type from previous artisits. I started by looking at the original version by Lil Green, it didnt really fit our idea's for our video but i did like the simplicity of the cover, and the basic black and white image with red and green writing, the writing was bold and stood out. I can take a few idea's from this cover, but over all it wasnt the right image. The image shows the star off to be a powerful woman who is very glamorous. The cover would help attract the target audience as it is sophistaced and the colours add a jazzy element to the cover.

Next i moved on to looking at the cover from the Peggy Lee version of the song. This cover was far more fitting, i really liked the slight Warhol element of the image as i think it really fits the era we are hoping to go with, i liked the font of the Peggy Lee text and will use something like this in my possible CD cover. For our style of video, the cover is a bit too colourful although this may be nice as it would completely contrast with our black and white style video. The CD cover helps portrey Peggy Lee's womanly image and the chosen colours are feminine and dainty. The star image shown in this image is girly and pretty, a stereotypical woman in the 1920's. 

Then i looked into the actual cover for the official song and noticed that it was very similar to the Peggy Lee version in the 40's. The image is of different colours but has a very similar image on the front showing off a stereotypical housewife of the early 20th century. The image is fairly derogatory of women which would appeal to the modern young men in the target audience. The cover would also attract the target audience of 14-30 as it looks sophisticated and cool. i like how the background is in colour but the star on the front is in black and white.  I think this is a really good idea and may use it in potential CD cover ideas as it matches the style of our video. The star image given off from the cover is very glamourous and flirtatious.

The next artist and cover i look at was one i had previously researched, Jamie Cullum modernises songs from the 1920's era. This cover is simple and effective. The pain white background works really well against the black letters of his name and the album name, having him dressed in dark colours also makes him stand out in the image. The picture of the piano being destroyed is very stylised and looks very classy yet rebellious. It would attract it's target audience as it shows the simplicity and sophistication of his music with a slight rebellious twist represented by the piano. I like the simplicity of the album cover and think it would work well with our intended artist and audience.

Another cover i looked into was 'The Best Of Peggy Lee'. This was interesting to research as the artist is the same as the one who our original track was from. Her image is very similar in this to the cover of the single 'Why dont You Do Right?'. Her image is sophisticated and girly, this is highlighted by the fact that her text is in pink and white - stereotypically girly colours. I like how there is a picture of her in the background on stage and think this would be good to use in our CD cover.

Michael Buble appears to a young and old audience as his music replicates old fashioned music, which is in fashion. The artwork is similar to Peggy Lee's and Focuses on Michael Buble as they need to portray his image. The font is also classy, which portrays his classy brass and orchestral driven music. From the artwork we can tell the album isnt going to be pop as it looks serious and the colours are dark and faded and mainly because Michael Buble is sporting a Suit.

Potential CD Cover for 'Why don't You do Right'

I thought that this would be a good potential CD cover for many reasons. Firstly, i thought that the silhouette image fitted the style of the video perfectly, the image is also fitting of the style and era we were planning on using for our video. Her pose also fits with the narrative of the video as she is obsessed with her jewellery and money. I thought that i would be good to have a black and white cover as the video will be shot in black and white with only a few sections in Red (done in after effects) that's why i used red writing on the cover as it went along with some of our idea's for the music video. It would suit the target audience as the cover is sophisticated and glamourous, but also cool and modern.

Feedback

Excellent work through sustained blogging with all homework’s completed in detail.  You make use of different blog tools and are able to link ideas to real media concepts.

Well done!   You could add more diverse ways of blogging, for example post the song using lyricmodes.com and you can embed the lyrics into your blog.  There is a strong brand identity to your concept, try to support more points with theory on the MV (Negus) and centrality of stars (Dyer)

Screen Grabs and Video Idea's

When we were thinking of the performance aspect. We thought it would be good to have male dancers. So I decided to go and research and remembered that I had recently seen the "This Is It" film by Michael Jackson and the intro to Smooth Criminal was something similar to what we wanted to create.

I like the period costumes used in the video and they also used silhouettes in another similar video.

We as a group are really keen on shooting something something similar to this images as they are really dramatic.

Lyrics For 'Why Don't You Do Right' by Gramophonedzie

You had plenty money, 1922
You let other women make a fool of you
Why don’t you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too

get out out out
get out oh he get out
get out out out oh
oh get out of
oh he get out
of here me too
right me here me too
get out me sitting me too
right me here me me
get out of here and get me some money too

get out out out
get out oh he get out
get out out out oh
oh get out of
oh he get out
of here me too
right me here me too
get out me sitting me too
sitting me here here
get out get out of here and get me some money too

You’re sitting down and wonderin’ what it’s all about
You ain’t got no money, they will put you out
Why don’t you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money too

get out out out
get out oh he get out
get out out out oh
oh get out of
oh he get
of here me too
right me here me too
get out me sitting me too
right me here me me
get out get out of here and get me some money too

Original Song by Lil Green

Initial Music Video Ideas Moodboard

Proposal for a new popular music artist

Once we decided to use the song ‘Why Don’t You Do Right’ we had to start thinking about the image of the singer. We looked into 1920’s women and decided upon the name Renee. It seemed classy and fitted the image of the 1920’s.

We wanted the genre of the video to be classy and old style but with a modern twist, almost like techno swing. The idea came from research into the remix of singing in the rain by Mint Royale who took an old song and then mixed it to become modern.  We want the act to be dancey and also singing with a sexy attitude.

The target audience of the video would be around 14-30 as it is old style which may bore younger audiences but then turns into a modern remix which would interest those of a slightly older audience.

The choice of track is Why Don’t You Do Right by Peggy Lee.

Reasearch into Peggy Lee

As a group we decided to use the song 'Why Dont You Do Right' by Peggy Lee. After researching her and her career i descovered that she was born in 1920 and died in 2002. She was raised in North Dakota America and was a singer songwriter and actress.

Peggy Lee wrote many songs for the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp and also sang many of these. Her first published song was in 1941, "Little Fool". "What More Can a Woman Do?" was recorded by Sarah Vaughan with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. "Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)" was no.1 for 9 weeks on the Billboard singles chart in 1948, from the week of 13 March to 8 May.

She also has her own website http://www.peggylee.com/ which gives alot of information about the star and her career. We can see pictures and clips of her on her site and also how to join the facebook page.

I also looked at some videos of her on youtube which gave me a better idea of her star image throughout her career.

Initial Idea Video Treatment

After researching into the song ‘Singing in the Rain’ we realised as a group that it didn’t have enough narrative or lyrics for what we wanted, so we looked at a few other songs and came up with the decision that we would use Why Don’t you Do right by Peggy Lee, we found an edition that had been remixed in 2010 and it fitted perfectly for our 1920’s idea.

The video starts off slower so we thought of having a slower more 20’s dance, we then see a shot of two people polishing shoes, as the music video turns upbeat they start dancing in a modern way. They would still be dressed in old fashioned 1920’s clothes. This would show the progression of culture from the 20’s to modern day.

We want the entire video to be shot in black and white but had an idea of a few shots of the main female singer having red lips but the rest of her face being in black and white. We also thought

We want to include a narrative and have performance elements in the video. The main narrative will be about a spoilt wife and how she wants her husband to work and get lots of money for her. Within the performance elements we will have shots of modern dancers, 20’s dancers and hopefully a group of dancers doing a mixture of each dance.

Different Versions of Singing in the Rain

When looking into finding the right remix and version of the song we had to look into very different styles, we looked at the version by Mint Royale, and then the version that the Television show Glee covered, the VW Golf advert and finally the version by Jamie Cullum.

The VW golf advert was almost perfect for what we wanted, it was just very short which would be problematic.



Then we looked at the version by Mint Royale which was a bit too modern for what we were looking for




The Glee version wasn't right for what we were looking for, it was too young and happy and a little too modern. It also was 'mashed' with another song which we didnt like as much as it wasn't very 1920's style.



Finally we looked at the version from Jamie Cullum which seemed ok but was a little to jazzy.

Research into Real Artists of a Similar Type

Once we had come up with a basic idea for our video we needed to research into real artists of a similar type.

When looking on youtube for similar artists i came across Jamie Cullum, a British singer who specializes in crossover jazz, power pop and blue-eyed soul. I descovered that he too had covered and re-arranged The original song of Singing In the Rain by Gene Kelly and had made his more jazzy. Here is his version of the song which i found on YoutTube.




I then also looked into his Youtube channel and found that he had done many songs of a similar genre to this. Here is a link to his youtube channel where you can view many of his other songs.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jamiecullumworld?blend=1&ob=4

I then looked onto his official website where you can see images from his gallery, listen to his music and find out about his tour. This website is useful to get to know the artist and includes links about how to follow him on twitter and gives links to his facebook page. The website is layed out well and is easy to navigate around.

http://www.jamiecullum.com/

Here is a quote from Jamie about his latest album and how the music progresses through each track.

“I like that this album journeys from a big-band track at the start to a proggy house/dance track at the end, because it's all me” Cullum notes. “But if the only thing that people notice is that this album is stylistically all over the place, then I will feel I have failed in some way.”

Initial Group Idea's

We have just been allocated our groups and we all had similar ideas about making a music video to a modernized 1920's style song.

When looking into different songs we came across the remix of 'Singing in the Rain' by Mint Royale ft Gene Kelly. This song was almost what we were looking for, it had a performance element and also a narrative that we could shoot. However we did want a more jazz like version of the song, so we are still researching into other artists.



This song was first used in a car advert and then made even more famous when George Sampson danced to it in the final of Britians Got Talent in 2008.

We want to shoot the video in black and white and have a plain white background with bright lights and then dress our cast in black and white suits from the 20's much like the attire of Charlie Chaplin. We want to be able to to add a dance element to the video and include images of dark silouettes against the stark white background.

Advanced Portfolio Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

a website homepage for the band; 
a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

All material for all tasks to be produced by the candidates with the exception of acknowledged non-original sound or image material used in a limited way in video/radio work. Further guidance will be available in the support materials. For music video, permission should be sought from the artist for use of the audio track.

The centre will be expected to allocate marks according to four levels for each of three categories:

Research and Planning

Construction

Evaluation

In arriving at a level for each category, teachers are advised to look for evidence of ‘best fit’. It is possible both for a candidate to be placed in different levels for each of the three categories and to receive quite different marks from other members of the same group responsible for producing an artefact, according to his/her contribution. Teachers are asked to support marks with written comments under the three categories on the assessment sheet.

Initial Idea's and Treatment

One idea i had was to create a pop promo to the song 'The Show' by Lenka. Her star image is very unique and quirky. This is done through her use of individual songs and music video's. Her style is very cartoon like and has become synonymous with native art and vintage style. Along with her music she likes to make peices of art to coincide with each song. In an interview she stated that she likes to 'write songs to assit her emotions'. She started off as an Austrailian Actress and then moved on to art and song writing. The two combined to create her unique style of music. Some of her songs are considered electronic, especially on her most recent album. Her video's/styles/website are all very colourful giving off the idea that she has a very bright and bubbly personality. The record company has had little say in Lenka's image which she had created from a young age, her main image is quirky and unique.

For this video i thought of making it very animated as this was the interpretation i got from listening to the song. I would put the performance element in the narrative so the singer is singing whilst telling the story and acting in it. I think that this will highlight the cartoony elements and also the 'show' element of the song. The mise en scene of the video would be very colouful - the costumes would be very bright and bold and highly stereotypical to add to the cartoony effects. The performances would be very bold to show off the characters in the cartoony style. I thought of setting it in a park at first and then moving it onto a photobooth, looking at pictures from this and also polariods. Then we would see her walking through a forest light brightly where there are clothes lines and pegs holding up pictures of her and a boy, some polaroids some from the photobooth. the video would then move onto a funfair and we see (from one of the polaroids) the couple on a ferris wheel with candy floss or similar carnival food. We then see her following arrows on the ground at night time once at the end of the arrows she finds herself in a maze which she goes through until she gets to the middle where she sees the boy holding flowers and waiting for her. At the end of the video we see short clips of all the different locations where her and her boyfriend were. The video ends with a shot of them walking down the path in the park to highlight the cartoony image of the video. The video would highlight the 'poppy' style of the singer and the cartoony style of the song. It would also give off her more indy style. Her originality and artistic ways would also be shown off throught the animatic effects of the video.

Music Videos and Academics

"A music video is not primarily a commodity form but a promotional one" ~ Andrew Goodwin 1992

The music video can be used as part of the construction of the image of a particular group or band or as marketing for other media products.

Music Videos are easily accessable as they are constantly on the TV, internet and sell through. For example through the television chanel MTV or the internet site ITunes.

There is always something new to look at within the music video industry - the high turnover of music video means that it is very much as living form.

It has interesting links with other media especially when used as part of synergy. For example when a movie comes out and a specific soundtrack song releases a music video at the same time as the movie with clips from the film in it.

Music Video Analysis

Prelim Band Research

When we received the band Acres of Life for our pop promo prelim, we first needed to research them to understand how we should shoot the video. We found out that they were an indie rock band, and therefore we new we wanted to make the video fast paced with quick cuts from shot to shot. This would help show the intended star image of the band.

We researched their myspace and Facebook accounts to get more information on the band and the band members along with listening to some of their other songs on YouTube.

We learnt that their image was punk/rock based and that they were young and still studying. They also hadn't been a band for very long and were rather unknown, this meant that we wanted to start of the prelim video with a wide shot of the band to show them as a unity. We also included a lot of close ups of the members who each shared roughly the same screen time, as one wasn't more famous than the other.

This information that we learnt helped us greatly in deciding shot choices, editing pace and how we wanted to present the band.

  

Analysing a Pop Video

In the pop video of ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift, we ‘read’ the image of the artist through the techniques they use to represent themselves. Taylor Swift conforms to the common star image of youthfulness, originality, creativity and talent. She puts forward an image of being wholesome pure and innocent by singing out safe love and romance rather than sex and danger. Swift gives off the image of a teenager who is falling in love, she is not interested in drugs or sex or rebellion, instead she sings about happiness and innocence through her own love story. She conforms to general views and authorities through her use of images created, starting with her in a school; shown through many people her own age and then the fact that they are all carrying books etc. Most people her age would still be in education and therefore this offers a ‘safe’ image to the video. The style of dress in the video would suggest an old romantic view of love; this is shown as the video goes back in time to the ‘romantics’ era of classic love stories like ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Jane Eyre’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’. In one shot we can see her Romeo running towards her across the field dressed in what many viewers would associate with the classic Mr Darcy look. We see him dressed in old fashioned clothes including a baggy white shirt. This highlights the ‘safe’ boyfriend element to the video and also the romantics’ era they were trying to convey. Taylor Swift is also seen as original as she writes and then performs her own songs; she also made country music more popular amongst the younger audience as she tied it in with pop music.

This music video would fall into the genre of pop or country. With all genres of music there are specific codes and conventions that are normally met. This music video conforms to the general view of country music in the fact that it tells a story throughout the narrative. The video shows Taylor Swift starting in a modern day school and passing a boy; she then has flashbacks to the olden days of the romantics’ era where she sees the same boy and herself dancing at a ball. From this we can see the narration of the story unfold. She also sings about a classic love story of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. By doing this she can use the devices and basic storyline created in the play and then attach them to her personal love story told in the narrative of the video.  As she is a solo female artist she conforms to the general idea of singing about love, she is also shown in a victim / sympathetic state which are common conventions of female artists. The music video of ‘Love Story’ is easy to watch and understand as it is a conventional music video. We see the performance of the artist through her singing directly to the camera thus addressing the audience; we also see her dancing with backing dancers in an old fashioned ball dance which conforms to the idea of the setting of the video. There is no sign of a band as it would break away from the old fashioned concept of the video. We also see Swift singing from a balcony which emphasizes the narrative of the song being about Romeo and Juliet. By using two main characters in the video we can follow them and their story easily which makes the narrative clearer.

A love story is depicted from the video as we see her follow a story about herself and a boy falling in love. We see them first meet and almost instantly fall in love. This is shown through the use of flash backs in the video giving off the idea that they knew each other and fell in love before in a previous life. We then see them pursuing their safe relationship by dancing together in a ball and then going out in the garden, holding hands and talking. They are not kissing or being overly sexual. These events would suggest that the video is aimed at a younger ‘tween’ audience who are aware of sexuality but are not actively involved in it. This is also shown as the song talks about feelings and love rather then sex and dangerous relationships. The image of the pop video is significant in identifying the target audience and age range. From the aspects we can see in this video, we are aware that the target audience is young teenage girls. The fact that there are no real ‘issues’ raised in the video would also suggest that the video is aimed at a young audience who’s main worry in life is their feelings. We see the video go from the old fashioned, romantic era back to the modern day where we see the couple walking off happily together. This narrative, image and style of the pop video suggests that it is aimed at a tween audience.