The 4 p's

a) What band/artist related products can the audiences buy?
Cd's (albums/singles), artists products (merchandise)

b) Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?
Band sites, gigs, festivals, radio, television, their myspace/facebook pages, downloading sites, internet.

c) give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products.
Examples of paid-for products are CD's bought on the net or in store, merchandise from sites or stores and magazines which specialise for music.
Examples of free products are music downloads, free concert tickets/gigs.

d) list between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies.
Mika- he has a loyalty scheme on his main website and he has a trade points system for whenever you download, therefore to encourage audiences to download more.
Muse- they released a new single that was about the world emerging and world unity and so the listeners had to find different pieces of the dong around the world.
Numerous bands- They send out messages inviting viewers and fans to go and be in their music video, this way they are really satisfying their fans as a major fan of a band would love to go and start in one of their favorite bands videos. They also send out messages and bulletins to their fans.

e) who is frukt uk and what is their mission statement/company ethos?
They are a music marketing agency who use music to market products. For instance on their site they are selling merchandise like Lady Gaga headphones. They only deal with music and use both online and offline ways to market their products.

Costume

This image is one of my favorite out of all of them just because it looks really good and i like the idea of keeping some colour constant through the video even if we do decide to do some shots in black and white, then portraying the difference between being overally bright and bold to being black and white.

The picture was done for one of my friends art projects, it was very well thought through because she looks like an upper class girl in a posh red frock posing on a park bench in the middle of Edmonton green. And I like the contrasting storyline to the picture, it really makes you want to look at it.

Which is why i really think it will be good for our video because of course what we want to do its keep the audience engaged.

Actress

Ok so I recently asked our choice of actress whether she is willing to star in our music video, and at first she wasn't too happy about it but once i played her the song and she heard about our treatment she was beginning to really like the idea of it.

Actress- Sian Parkinson
She is a blonde female aged 17, who is very petite and quirky.
I think she is perfect for the part because although she may not be an amazing performer she is very stylish and so will feel comfortable wearing the outfits we have for her. Sian has her own unique style, and doesn't always tend to follow the new modern 'it' fashion trends- this is absolutely perfect for our video and we too are looking for the 1960's fashion and she is very much so into that era!

Above are just a few pictures I have found that not only best explain her but also give the group a sense of her style and what best suits her!

Meetings

As you know we did our pitch to our class last Thursday.
We introduced our song, played it half way through, explained our treatment & then played the rest of the song. This way people were able to base our treatment to the song after hearing it.

I think it went really well, everyone seemed to like our treatment and thought it would suit the song we are doing, very well. There wasn't any criticism giving, just a lot of helpful feedback.

Feedback:
Our idea of a blank set could work, altohugh miss suggested using a green screen and then putting in the white background, however this will have to be tested a couple of times before actually following it through, therefore being able to alter anything needed to.

Our main location- if only location- will be London itself, therefore we may have the drawback of having to ask permission to film. However because we are not planning on filming in the same spot for the whole day we think it would be easy to get all equipment and run if need be. So we could work around not asking for permission very easily.

Many people in the class asked 'what if it's crowded?', to be honest the more crowded the better. This will add to our idea of a busy London a lot more. & therefore meaning our actress would look much more colourful around a crowded London or business workers in suits and smart clothing.

Reference: Gorilla Video done a couple of years ago.

Initial Ideas

A major video that has inspired me has been the 'Next advert- from September 2009'.
There are many different still shots within the video that have really helped me when thinking up our treatment. Firstly there are the split screens which i am really keen about, i find the normal 2 split scene quite boring and think a split screen with about 3 or 4 different screens will have a much better effect. Imagining each shot is something different; either our actress dancing around london streets, london phone boxes, lamposts and just the general environment.


Additionally, after our feedback session with Miss.Blackborow she also thought a cut away to many different signs around London would look effective, Mainly of the most popular signs around London. E.g. Fashion centrals, Bricklane, Bond Street, Notting Hill and perhaps Carnaby Street.
Images of the shop fronts would be good.

Below is the Youtube link to the advert.
At 0.07- the reference for signs.
From 0.12-0.17 is the reference for the split scenes
From 0.20- is our group idea of a studio set except we would like ours to be without colour, & a plain white background.



Also thorughout the video it changes in and out from colour to black and white, I think this, if done well, can look really good.

Rihanna - Unfaithful

Charlotte Church - Moodswings (To Come At Me Like That)

VV Brown - Crying Blood

meetings

Thursday is our presentation and as a group we still need to come up with an appropriate treatment, it doesn't have to be finalised but atleast a draft version that we can pitch to the rest of the class.
Hannah and I are going to have a meeting period 2+3 to think up a treatment and then Tom will meet us at break and give his feedback on it.
If need be we are going to stay thorugh lunck until our treatment is complete.
Our target is to have a final treatment by the end of the day so we can crack on with the planning for our presentation thursday.

Once all the above is complete then we will have to break up who is doing what for our presentation. Individually we should have ready different things and then during the presentation we pitch the idea and song together and according to what you had to research you can talk about it to the rest of the group.

TO DO LIST:
1. The track itself
2. What you know about the track, and the original band/artist
3. The genre of the music and the signifiers of this
4. The target audience you intend to appeal to
5. Your treatment for the video which should include visual references (stills and video)
6. Your treatment should give a strong sense of the overall style, mise-en-scene, mood and theme of your idea.
7. You should be able to discuss in terms of Goodwins questions on B2 (using B7 to help you)

Final song idea

hang up the chick habit
hang it up, daddy,
or you'll be alone in a quick
hang up the chick habit
hang it up, daddy,
or you'll never get another fix

i'm telling you it's not a trick
pay attention, don't be thick
or you're liable to get licked

you're gonna see the reason why
when they're spitting in your eye
they'll be spitting in your eye

hang up the chick habit
hang it up, daddy,
a girl's not a tonic or a pill
hang up the chick habit
hang it up, daddy,
you're just jonesing for a spill

oh, how your bubble's gonna burst
when you meet another nurse
she'll be driving in a hearse

you're gonna need a heap of glue
when they all catch up with you
and they cut you up in two

now your ears are ringing
the birds have stopped their singing
everything is turning grey

no candy in your till
no cutie left to thrill
you're alone on a tuesday

hang up the chick habit
hang it up, daddy,
or you'll be alone in a quick
hang up the chick habit
hang it up, daddy,
or you'll never get another fix

i'm telling you it's not a trick
pay attention, don't be thick
or you're liable to get licked

you're gonna see the reason why
when they're spitting in your eye
they'll be spitting in your eye

Brainstorms

Before our meeting with the teacher, Hannah and I decided to jot a few ideas down in the form of a brainstorm.
I think this is the easiest way to get lots of ideas because once we started writing things down more ideas start to come to mind. When i start my treatment im going to try and draw as mant brainstorms as possible because they are a rough but yet a really good way to remember things you may have thought about hours ago.



Above is one just on our overall ideas, we jotted down anything we liked the sound on.
Then below, we decided to specify a bit more on things such as location and costume.
We still haven't completely thought things through, just suggestions.

Group meeting number 3

Friday 18/09/09
On friday we had our meeting with Miss.
The first thing we had to do was show miss the song we chose, and her feedback was:

She immediately loved the song and thought it was a really good choice. Earlier that day Hannah and I had done a few brainstorms and so we talked through them to Tom and miss.
We spoke about how we could imagine a lot of quick paced shots, something with a retro vintage theme to it.
A few things we all really liked the idea of were, a sequence of shots where her outfits are going to change numerous times (ref: 'Moodswings'- Charlotte Church), also a fade in fade out shot (ref: 'Unfaithful' - Rihanna) we thought this would look very effective while she is walking down london streets early evening.

Miss then showed us a video that was made in 2003, 'i believe' - joGo, the whole video wasn't much based on the lyrics but on the style and performance which is exactly what we want.


Above is the video, the changing constume throughout the video is really effective and is the sort of thing we thought would suit our song. We would rather it not be continuously but instead intercut with a slight narrative.


Additionally, because the song we've chosen is a just over 2minutes, we thought - again relating to Rihanna's 'Unfaithful'- we would include an intro and outro, this will consist of a 20sec narrative at the beginning with no music and again at the end. Not only does it help us with the short track issues but it also really helps with the idea we have because we don't want to have a full on narrative, therefore including it at the start and end it will look much more effective.

Overall, I am very happy that miss has agreed to our choice of song because it means we dont have to waste anymore of our precious time picking another tune we all agree on. In addition, the fact she likes our ideas is even better cos it means we're on the same level.

To be done for monday:
we each need to come prepared to our meeting with a treatment and then from there we can pick out our favorite parts from each and piece together the perfect treatment.

Group meetings

Our first group meeting was on wednesday 16/09/09-

This meeting didn't go too well, we only accomplished choosing a genre. We were hoping to have a track and treatment by today but that didn't happen. As we we adament we needed a a track by the end of the week in order to start planning our pitch for next thursday.

Therefore, we arranged another meeting for thursday.



Our second meeting was on 17/09/09-

This meeting was much more successful as we managed to start our group blog and we found a song at which we all really like. Yesterday we also arranged a meeting to see Miss.Blackborow friday lunchtime. So we're hoping that she likes the song too and so we can get on with making up a treatment and starting our presentation.

I'm really happy we've now made a start on things and then once a treatment is made we will spend to next following weeks editing it until we are completely happy with it and ready for shooting.

Our initial song is April March- Chick Habit


When listening to this song i can imagine there being lots of girl actors and a few sequences of fast paced shots. I have an image of watching the artist singing and then cutting away to girls dancing in the street, looking very happy and quirky.
This song is very contradicting, if you were to just listen to the tune you would expect this song to be accompanied with cheerful lyrics, however looking at the lyrics they aren't as lovely as you would expect. I really like this, i think it gives something unique and really makes an audience want to listen to over and over again. Because if you do the sterotypical sad song with a sad track then people will become bored of it much more easily.


Our next meeting is today at lunchtime with miss, to decide whether our chosen track is worthy enough or not.

Initial song ideas

Above is 'One A' by Ill Scarlett.
I really like this song because right from the very beginning it starts off on an upbeat and you can tell the mood of the song will be happy:]
Because the lyrics are quite repetative it means a narrative isn't needed but instead we could incorporate the idea of fast cut shots between a band playing to people going mad on streets/or dancing.
At 2.54 the pace begins to quicken even more with a clear drum roll, here you can really feel a build up to louder and stronger playing on the instruments.
I could really picture doing a video to a track just like this, although like i said the lyrics are very repetative, it just seems to be a great tune to be able to dance to. This is a song that not many people listen to and dont shake to the beat. Additionally, i dont think people would get very bored by it. Its too upbeat, which is very contrasting because the song is about wanting to get away from himself and taking drugs is the first way to do it, but yet the music would incinuate that the song would be happy.
However, this song's lyrics do involve a lot on the subject of drugs, therefore probably isn't the best choice of songs. But i just wanted to give my group an idea of what sort of tempo/tune and style of track i would love to do a music video to.

Marketing Strategies

We were given a list of bands/artists to choose from and analyse 5 questions on them.

Me and Arti chose Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, a 24 year old singer, formerly known as Katy Perry:

1/ Summarise the changing image of the band/artist as it has developed over time. It might also be useful to summarise the music genre also.
Katy perry started off much more casually dressed but over time she has turned into a new fashion icon with her uniqueness and her confidence to wear extravagant clothing. When she released her first single 'Ur so gay' in 2003 her outfits still being quite over the top where still not as extrvagent as her styler to this day. It seems nowadays that Katy Perry, Lilly Allen and Lady GaGa seem to be competing in what they choose to wear. Their ourfits are unique and stylized, they tend to be outfits you would wear only if you had the confidence to pull them off. People are now beginning to watch their music videos alot more not only for their music but also to see what new and wild costumes they are wearing. Katy Perry also started of blonde, but over the years began to change her hair colour until now finally stopping at brunette. The new dyed hair makes her look much more sophisticated and more of a pop idol.

2. Who are the fans? Do you have any sense of how the music companies have segmented the audiences? To what extent has the branding of a band been linked to target audience?
I would suggest that her fans base and dominately teenage girls, based on what her official website looks like. Her website has a lot of pink images and some of the links to it are very girly such as 'dear diary'. Also doing along her unique fashion and style we would assume she is trying to target the females. Her website also has a 'store' link which is online shopping of her merchandise- they sell girls tops and underwear- again suggesting her fans are female.
She also draws in all pop music fans in general, her secodnary audience: Gay & lesbian. We can think this from a couple of her singles, 'ur so gay' and 'i kissed a girl'.

Her album covers:
Ur so gay- this could target both boys and girls because she is doing a cheek pose and isn't dressed up in either really girly or boyish clothing.
one of the boys- where as this album cover is much more girlier, with her nice outfits and lots of pink.

3. What marketing strategies can you identify? What kinds of stategies can you list?(above/below-the line? unexpected promo stunts? etc). List any examples of the use of synergy with other industries to promote other media/products in connection with a band/artist.

• Katy Perry has her own official myspace page and official website(http://www.katyperry.com/)
• She was the female vicalist for The Matrix which is promoting her widely.
• She made cameo appearances in Gym Class Heroes single, along with starring in the ABC family tv serios 'wildfire'- episode 'Life's too short'
• She had reviews on magazines uch as NME and newspapers.
• Her tour starting in January also promoted her as an artist.
  

Her marketing and advertising is above the line strategies because they are things that have to be budgeted, however her below the line strategies are the cameo appearances and reviews in the press, all things in which she doesn't have to pay for.

A quote made by Katy Perry herself, 'some songs are meant to make you cry, but there are others to make youd ance and sing'- This could be focused at girls because they're much more emotinal than boys.

BLK feedback

Danni can you pop in and see me on tuesday? I've tried to fix your text but it is a bit weird! I need to see the original word document, I think that is where your problem lies. I have posted something from word as a test and it posted fine so there must be something else wrong with it.

Carol Vernallis

She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we lsiten. However, this is predefined for us by the Director- we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film- do you agree?
I do agree with what she suggests, because during a film it is much easier to ose focus on a certain feature purely because the shots are much longer. Where as contrastingly in a music video the shots are much quicker paced and tight cut, which means there is less time for the audience to focus on anything but what is being shown during the music video. The tight cut shots and unusual imagery used is put in deliberately in order for them toe nsure the audience are enticed. it is much easier to realise earlier on in a film whether or not you are enjoying it, than it is on a music video.

She says music video is more like listening than viewing- do you agree?
I disagree with this comment. i think that the point of a music video is to see the attitudes of the bands and whether or not how they've decided to show their song would be the same understanding as yourself. i mainly disagree because us, as an audience, are given two choices in the first place, whether you just want to listen to the song or whether you want the visual plaesure of it too. if you didn't want to see it then you would easily just choose to listen to the track.

"we compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame"- agreed?
I agree, because what we fail to see in a shot we will interpret our own way and imagine what we want to see. with the information missing, our minds will fill in the blanks by connecting together the information we already know.

"The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?
yes, i agree. A strong CU is a stable point because it is this still shot in which we begin to feel at ease and more familiar to the artist. Because here we are being brought in closer to the performers face, we feel much more confortable watching them. Because we feel like they are drawing in the audience a lot more.

Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?
Yes i agree, because the editing is one of the main features of the music video. I think they are sutured into the diegesis through the editing because it is how the shots are positioned and paced that allows us to create the variety of stories. The editing of a sequence can really make a difference to the meaning of the film.

Music video is freer in terms of viewr identification and perspective- agreed?
I don't agree completely with this. Because although a music video is more flexible and viewers can be more lenient with their views, it is still quite a short time to have many shots and what you see is exactly what the director wants you to see. Adapting on the short time, there is not enough time during the quick shots to allow different viewer identification. What you see is what you get essentially. There is not enough time for us to create a different image from what we have seen.

Carol Vernallis believes the image along cannot tell the story- do you agree?
Yes i agree. An image does tell the story slightly, but alone a story cannot be portrayed. Imagine a video without the music, all you would see are the frames, but without the pace/tune of the song you would have no idead what the story was saying. Music is essential, it's what tells us how to feel, a faster paced song may be known as a happier song than a much slower paced one. So, although the images are constant, you cannot tell the mood of the story without the music.

Ideas for songs

Ok, so we are now back from a lovely hot summer away.
Therefore meaning ive had a lot of time away to think up a list of songs.

I have a couple in mind that i will pitch to my group at out next meeting, but some factors i have considered when considering the right choice of song are written below.

I dont think a narrative will look very effective in our music video, I think using a narrative can either make or break it.
I would like to produce a fast paced video, as i think this will keep the audience's concentration.
I also think we need something unique in our music video in order to keep the audience hooked and want to view it over and over again!

A few songs i have in mind are:
OneA, NTF, Pacino <-- all by Ill Scarlett (a canadian band)
The unconfortable truth<--- by Nneka


I am really into Ill Scarlett and think their songs could work really well as one of our music videos. They are a band introduced to me a while ago by a friend, a band which i would never listened to myself.


I will post each song through another post and write what i do and do not like about it.
Then during our next group meeting i will pitch my song choices to them.

Lip Sync

Above is the lip sync video that me and my group put together.
We thought it would be a good idea to practice our lip syncing before we start the production stage of our project. In doing so it means, if we do decide on performing in our video, then we'll feel much more confident.
We found it hard picking a song at first as we wanted it to consist of both male and female parts. Therefore, we decided to ask for some advice off of fellow peers in our class, a common song that came up was Aqua- Barbie Girl.
At first, Tom didn't seem too keen on it but once we got filming he soon seemed to be enjoying himself. Me and Hannah thought up a dance routine & once this was completed we moved on to filming each other seperately. we did this because we thought it other than being extremely fun it also gave us a much better experience with performing and lip syncing.

Feedback on the video:
The camera work and lip syncing were both done really well and so together look very effective. As a group we worked really well and so it didn't seem to take as long as first intended. We made sure the video looked interesting and exciting, in order to do so we decided to use a lot of movement when filming eachother. Using both high and low angle shots.
We knew that the most effective way for this performance to look very good we thought it would be a great idea to actually sing the song and then mute it when we got to the editing stage.
We filmed it in 4 stages, Danni solo, Tom solo, Hannah solo & Hannah and me dancing.
This made it much much easier for when we then had to hit the editing stage.
Overall, i am very happy with the final video and had a fun day which was a bonus.

BLK feedback

Some high quality research and analysis posts so far Danni on The Wombats and Michael Jackson, but that's it really! You really need to push on with your independent research and analysis. But a good start nonetheless to the background work for this project.

You are also rather behind though with last term's class work, there's lots missing and you need to catch up fast, as it will get very busy once we are back at school.

We also need to get you using/applying advanced theory when you analyse music videos, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin in the new term.

For now, your short term targets are:
1. Link your lip synch and workshop video to your blog
2. Post your workshop and lip synch evaluations
3. Post the work you have done for Miss T on Vernallis; see her post on the music video main blog for details
4. Post your track research/ideas – we need to see what you have got in mind for your own video
5. Put some inspirational/useful weblinks up
6. Sort out your navigation links, you need to link to the main blog for example.
7. We need a photo/info about you please!

All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.

We really need to see some progress on this blog Danni, the sooner the better ok!