Mood Board

We created this mood board to represent our bands style and ideologies. The mood board features images of bands that are similar to Rogues Gallery such as King Of Leon, Oasis, The Kooks and Kasabian. Also it features words such as 'Fight' and 'Dedication' which refers to our initial music video idea which involves a fight and determination to get ready for the fight. This links to the boxing ring in the centre of the mood board which shows we are revolving our music video around this. However, we are thinking to make it more of a street fight as it may have a better feel to the audience as a street fight will fit in more with the image we are going for. also on the mood board we have images of typical things associated with a band like ours such as tattoos and leather jackets. Lastly, on the mood board we have the lyrics and the title of the song we have chosen which is Kasabian 'Club foot'. 

Song Choice

As a group we decided to choose Kasabian Club foot for our song choice. This is because the song has quite a fast pace so the audience will feel interested however still has a dark theme which we want to show through our music video. From listening to the song our initial ideas were either a horror music video for example featuring zombies or a fight scene. We feel that the fight scene may be the best option as it would be easier to get the props and location.

Plan B Analysis

Plan b presentation from Northen95

Record labels

Record Labels

A record label is a brand affiliated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. A record label usually provides everything, including start up money. They provide studio time, audio engineers, mass marketing of product, advertising, basically everything but the artist themselves. If you sign on as just a singer without a band, they will also provide a studio band.

Major record labels

Nowadays, artists have become very dependent on their record label as the artist will get more 
publicity, from a major label, than from being unsigned or on a small/indie label. Also the artist 
will get better distribution, meaning that a major label will get your CD's put into shops in the 
U.S, U.K, Japan, Europe etc. There are three major labels these are Sony BMG, Universal 
Music and Warner Music Group. These three labels represent 75% of the music sold within a 
year therefore this shows how much influence they have over the industry. The advantages of 
being signed to a major label is: 

1. Money: Even with major label music sales declining and the industry as a whole struggling to keep up with changes in the way people purchase and listen to music, major labels still have a huge financial advantage over just about every indie label. When your label has a lot of money, that means they'll be able to spend a lot of money promoting the artist's record  It also means they may be able to offer the artist a large advance and invest a lot in recording, touring, video shoots and other opportunities.

2. Connections: Money helps open a lot of doors, and when a major label comes knocking, most media outlets are ready to let them in meaning that major labels are able to get in contact with the right people for an artist to be successful. Therefore, most major labels have been in the business for decades and have long established connections that help you reach your music career goals

3. Size: Major labels are behind the vast majority of music sold, and this scale of operations can bring many advantages. First, they can get the best deals on manufacturing, advertising and other expenses since they do business in such enormous bulk - they have way more purchasing power than indie labels.  

However Major labels do have many disadvantages as well. these are:

1.  A lot of major labels tend to sign a lot of musicians and throw out a lot of music, just to see what will stick. This means a new signing, except in very special circumstances, is likely to find that he/she will be fighting for attention from the label. Therefore, it is easy to for an artist to get lost and lose attention form the label and the public as new artists are being signed everyday.
2.  Many major labels want to sign artist for multi album deals that offer them very little flexibility and that hand over a lot of creative control to the label. They know all of the loopholes, they want a piece of everything. Therefore, the artist has no room to be creative and the record labels will dominate all important decisions. Therefore, this is why some artists prefer Minor labels as they will have more freedom to write and create their own music.
3. Many dedicated music lovers work on the major label side of the music industry. However not everyone who works at major labels love music. You'll find a higher concentration of people who are in the business strictly for the money in major labels than you will at indie labels, and that often ends up effecting the artists in a bad way.
   
   
   Minor Labels/ Independent
   Minor record labels are smaller labels as their capital isn't as big as a major label. Also they do not have as good production and marketing facilities and connections as a major label would have. However, people argue that the minor labels have more heart and care more about the music rather the the money making side of things. Examples of Minor labels are domino, of which The Arctic Monkeys are signed to, Rough Trade and 4AD. Even though these are minor labels they are still very successful for example Arcade Fire are signed to Rough Trade and have won numerous awards including the 2011 Grammy award. Artists prefer to be signed with a Minor label because they have more power over decisions and what music they release. Also they are able to write and create their own music without being influenced as much as a major label would have to cater for audiences.

   Minor label- Advantages

   1.  Minor labels generally have the freedom to work with whoever they like. There isn't the pressure that there is at major labels to sacrifice your tastes in favour of seeking out chart success, so when you get signed to an Minor label, in almost every instance it is because the label is a big fan of your music. That means that they'll be working extra hard for you because they believe in what you're doing.
   2.  Minor labels have smaller staffs and smaller rosters, meaning it's easier for musicians to develop a close relationship with the people working on their record. Also the artists signed to a minor label will not be fighting for attention as much as there are less artists on the label meaning an artist will be getting more time spent on them. 
   3. Some larger Minor labels have relatively complex contracts, however smaller Minor labels often do business are more straight forward with their contracts and usually have a profit split agreement. You rarely see Minor labels demanding any measure of creative control over their artists, and most Minors don't lock their artists into long term, multi album contracts.

   Minor label- Disadvantages

   1. Some Minor labels are good financially , but most small Minors are struggling to keep going. That means they don't have the money to fund a lot of marketing like the Majors and that they often have to get creative with promotion ideas. They also can't afford big advances, fancy packaging, large recording budgets, tour support and other things a major can throw at you. With Minor labels, you're usually going to have to remain financially invested in your own music career.
   2. Although the size of Minor labels have their advantages it is the smaller size that makes them more accessible to their artists - there is also a downside. They don't have the purchasing power of major labels, and because they have a small roster, they have fewer strings to pull with the press. This means they find it harder to promote their artists and let them be heard meaning they will find it hard to have chart success.

   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

History of Music Videos

History of Music Videos

Music videos changed dramatically because of the invention of film and cinema, which gave artists the possibility to combine music with film. Also another huge factor of why music videos have changed is because of the advances in technology. New technologies allow artists to be more unique and have turned the music video into what it is today.

However, unexpectedly music videos have been around since the 1920s as there was a boom in the entertainment sector in America and jazz became very popular. Artists such as Bessie Smith made short films to accompany her music and in 1929 Bessie smith featured in a short film- St. Louis Blues (see video below).

Also people argue that the first modern music video was in 1965 by Bob Dylan Films- ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’. The song was used in what became one of the first "modern" promotional film clips, of which later became known as the music video. In the video Bob Dylan is staring at the camera, he flips the cards as the song plays. There are intentional misspellings and puns throughout the clip: for instance, when the song's lyrics say "eleven dollar bills" the poster says "20 dollar bills".

In the 1970s music videos started to change again as the music industry discovers TV-Shows of which they used to promote their artists and music. Artists would produce short 'promos' which again were early music videos. The TV show would play the promos instead of a live performance of the artist on the TV stage, an example is below.

Another highly credited music video is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen as it marked a new era for the music video as it is considered one of the first to use advanced visual effects. However, all of the special effects were achieved during the recording, rather than editing. The visual effect of Mercury's face cascading away was accomplished by pointing the camera at a monitor, giving a visual effect.. The video was edited within five hours because it was due to be broadcast the same week in which it was taped.

Band Research

Band artwork research from Northen95

Research of Indie Rock bands

I have done extra research into rock bands to get a detailed idea of key conventions and backgrounds to a indie rock band. This is because I can then apply it to my ideas to create an indie rock band. Below is the information I found on the bands:

Rogues Gallery- Brief

As a group we decided to make our own band brief rather than using ones provided by our teacher, This is because we felt we had more freedom and could relate better to these bands rather than the ones given to us. This meant we had to research more into our chosen genre so we could figure out a good back story and to see what they liked and disliked.

Band Logo

Digipak Plan

Digipak Plan

Here is the plan for the digipak I am going to create. These are my initial ideas and they may change in the future. The plan consists of 6 panels which will feature on the digipak, the first panel is the front cover which will be an image of the band in studio. Throughout the digipak there will be a black and white theme as it can be linked with the genre and lifestyle of our band. Therefore, the image on the front cover will be black and white with the font in red which will have a contrast therefore making it stand out. 

Also from the image you can see that the second panel will feature the CD itself. The CD will be plain white with the same red font on it from the first panel which again will be consistent throughout. I still have to decide what will be the background of this panel as I feel that it cannot be too colourful as I want the red font to stand out the most. On the other hand, I have a different idea for the CD which is that the whole CD will be the band logo  as I feel it is important to show this more often than not, as it needs to stick in the customers mind for the band to be known. 

The third panel will consist the track listing of the album. The track listing will be in the same red font I have used throughout. I am still trying to think of an idea to what the background of this panel will be. My current ideas are a different image of the band or an image of instruments used by the band which is a common convention used by other indie rock artists.

For the fourth panel I tried to think outside the box and tried to think of a way to connect and to do something audience related. I came up with the idea of a raffle ticket where it gives the audience a chance to come back stage with the band in a concert for a meet and greet. I decided to do this because it will give the audience a reason to buy the digipak as you will not be able to get a raffle ticket anywhere else meaning it gives the digipak more value. For the raffle ticket itself I am still planning how I am going to design the ticket.

Another idea to connect to the audience is a DVD on the fifth panel which will be similar to the CD's style but the opposite colours. For example, the DVD will be red with white font however the font itself will be the same. The DVD will consist of interviews of the band, a slide show of pictures of behind the scenes and a special message from the band to their fans. This will make the fans feel like they are being acknowledged which raise their morale and their support towards the band.

Finally, the last panel I have chosen to put some sort of image my initial idea was to put a black and white image of london as the band is English and it is to show that they are a London based band.

Tally Chart- Band Name

Below is the tally chart we conducted to see which band name best fitted our band to our specific target audience. We felt that we needed to do some audience research on our band name because we wanted to ensure that the band name that we have chosen appealed to our target audience. As our target audience are teenagers we conducted our research in the sixth form as we felt that this is the most appropriate year. We described the image of our bands and similar bands so that the person could imagine what they look like and what name best fit them. From our results we found that Rogues Gallery was the most popular band name which we predicted beforehand therefore we are definitely going to use this name.

Below are the original Tally results which were then converted onto excel so it is easier to interpret.

Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin’s Music Video Theory

Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

Themes, mise-en-scene and events of the video match with lyrics of the song, to help to show the message of the song.

Relationship between the music and the visuals

The cuts and edits of the video are in sync with the rhythm and beat of the song matching cuts or effects to precise drum beats or notes.


Music videos have genre characteristics

There are definite features that are expected from a music video depending on the genre of the music, for example a girl band/artists are expected to have dancers and close ups of the singers, whilst an Indie band are expected to have performance shots of the band and cut to a fast beat.

Usually due to the demands of the record label, artists videos will consist of many close ups of the artist and will regularly develop themes that reappear across multiple videos.

This allows the record label to promote a set image for the band, which will help target audiences identify with with the band.


Emphasis on 'looking'

The 'male gaze' is often used to attract a male audience. The male gaze is a focus on presenting things that appeal to men. This usually means a voyeuristic view of, and an objectification, of women. The emphasis on looking also includes the artist looking directly into the camera helping the audience connect with the artist.


Intertextual references

Music videos reference other forms of media, most commonly film, but can also be television and other music videos. 

Andrew Goodwin identifies other key aspects of music videos that we, the audience, should look out for:

- Thought beats – Where you ‘see’ in the sound
- Narrative and Performance
- The Star Image
- Technical aspects of a music video

‘Thought Beats – ‘Seeing’ the sound

This means looking at the music itself. This is because the artist’s voice itself is extremely unique and can form identification or trademarks that work well with the star image. Goodwin points out the artist’s type of address as songs can be seen as stories and the artist the storyteller.

Narrative & Performance

Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative. It is important in their role of advertising. This is because narrative and performance work hand in hand as its makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without losing interest. The artist acting as both narrator & participant helps to increase the realism however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. Therefore, the audience need to believe this is real.

‘Star Image’

The star image is another important part of music videos. This is because the central image of the video should be the main character because the artist is what sells. Therefore, any fan bases are more likely to want to see the artist as opposed to actors therefore the video will be more appealing to them.

Technical Aspects

Technical aspects hold the music video together through use of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and special effects. Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colour help set moods and emphasise key movements of the song for dramatic effect. Mise-en-scene, the setting of music videos is vital, it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism. Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat or rhythm making the video more entertaining.

Mainstream Vs Indie artists

Mainstream Vs. Indie artists

Mainstream

The definition of mainstream is the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are shared by most people and regarded as normal or conventional. Therefore, this can be related to the music industry in different ways. For example, mainstream artists are the artists which are usually more publicised than indie artists therefore more people would listen to them. Not always but usually mainstream artists would dominate the charts which is supported by the fact that the X factor winner would normally top the Christmas charts regardless if the song is better than any other in the chart but the fact that it was most publicised on Television. Also you can argue that there is  mainstream genre which is Pop/ RnB as most people enjoy this genre therefore becoming a normality or a convention. Mainstream music would be more regularly played on bigger radio stations such as Kiss or capital than in die music therefore adding to the ides that the media controls what we listen to meaning they control what mainstream is. This is linked the Adorno and Horkheimer's theory of 'the Culture Industry' which meant that the music industry turns and changes artists to make them more mainstream which means they can sell more records and make more money. 

A good example of a mainstream artists is pop band One direction. This is because they came from the talent show The X factor meaning they were already in the public eye. Also their image is seen as mainstream they are five young good looking boys which would appeal to young girls and teens which would make them very popular. One Direction have been standardised and changed to be more mainstream so they can sell more records and merchandise as more of an image rather than focusing on their music.

Indie Artists

On the other hand, Indie artists are directed at a more niche market therefore not being as publicised. For example you do not see Indie artists on the front cover of the Billboard magazine but on NME magazine. Indie artists are usual signed to minor record labels as again they are focused on more of a niche market. Most indie artists prefer this anyway as they have more control over their music and their image and believe that the label really care about the music rather than just the money. Indie artists do not follow Adorno and Horkheimer theory as they do not change their music or image to appeal to the wider audience to be able to sell their music and products. 

An example of an indie rock band would be Arcade Fire as they are signed to Rough Trade which is an indie label therefore they are not always in the public eye. However, they have won many awards such as a Grammy for album of the year. Also they have not changed their image to appeal to anyone to sell themselves more therefore do not follow Adorno and Horkheimer's theory of the culture industry.  

Rap/Hip-Hop Mind Map

Rap/Hip-Hop Brainstorm

This is the first brainstorm we produced with our initial ideas on. We decided to choose the rap/hip-hop genre because as a group we felt that we enjoyed this the most therefore knowing more about that specific style. This knowledge will allow us to have an accurate idea of what needs to feature within the music video such as which props, clothing, colours and locations to make sure it gives off the correct connotations of a rap/hip-hop music video.

An important thing we must think about is the location we shoot the music videos as location can portray different moods and can tell the audience what kind of song or style of the music video is going to be. For example, if the music video is shot in a dark alley or a dark underground area it will portray that violence may occur or some sort of trouble. Also it is important not to get the location wrong because if we shoot the music video in a dance hall with a dance sequence with the artist it will give the audience the idea that it is a pop music video.

Also for the music video we had to think about what costume we are going to use. This is important because again this will add to the connotations of a rap artist if we use the correct clothes. For example  the stereotypical rapper would wear baggy clothes with some sort of hat. Also another stereotypical piece of clothing that rappers wear is jewellery which we may use inn our music video as it is iconic to rap music.

Overall, we feel that the idea of the rap/hip-hop genre is good as all four of us in the group are interested in the genre therefore are knowledgeable in the genre. This will help us tremendously as we know what to feature in the music video for it to be successful and look ass professional as possible.

Indie Rock Mind Map

Changing Our Idea

As a group we felt that we should change our idea of the rap/hip-hop genre as the groups image didn't fit this genre. Therefore, to make sure we make a successful and realistic music video and to achieve a good grade we changed our idea to the Indie Rock genre because even though we had better knowledge of the rap/hip-hop our appearances look more like an Indie/Rock band. We wanted to base our new group on  popular Indie bands that we thought were similar to us such as  the Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian. As a group we knew of these bands but we need to do more research into other bands to make sure we get a good understanding of the genre.

Also as a group we felt that our clothes that we wear better suit this genre as most of the group own skinny jeans and jackets which are stereotypical of the Indie/Rock genre which will help us fulfil the correct image in both the music video and digipak.