Final Song Selection

After a lot of discussion, we decided to scrap our other idea, and instead go for something completely different; a panda.

These were our original options for the song choice: 

• Daft Punk - One More Time
• Livin Joy - Don't Stop Movin
• 2 UNLIMITED - Tribal Dance
• Everybody Dance Now

After listening to each song multiple times, we decided on Daft Punk - One More Time. It's in the dance genre, and has a very fun and upbeat feel to it which we felt worked really well with the panda costume idea.

Development Of Our Idea

As we decided to go forward with the Kasabian track 'Fast Fuse' we began discussing our idea further, as we were trying to figure out a narrative which would keep the audience interested for 3 minutes.
We thought we might want to main singer to be the main character in our narrative as well, with him waking up in a bed, confused and dishevelled but he then becomes claustrophobic, fighting the space around him and being agressive to the camera. He would be in a small room (similar to a prison cell) with minimal props and distractions, instead focusing on his inner termoil at being trapped in a small space.

However, after thinking this through, we decided the narrative wasn't strong enough and went back to the drawing board for ideas. Sam came up with the idea of a girl and a boy bumping into each other (after we see graphic matches of their stories) and they are both quite cocky and self assured. The guy is trying to get her attention, and then jumps on a car and the guy holds out his hand as the lyrics say 'come get me' and then as the song slows there is contemplation on the girls behalf as to whether or not she should join him. She then runs past him and ignores his flirting. He would then follow her and the girl starts singing some of the lyrics to him instead, such as 'I got no time to love' which would invert the gender steretype in indie videos. We then also thought about them becoming separated towards the end following the lyric 'heaven may call but I won't be there' and the guy could potentially be left on his own at the end. This narrative would be intercut with the band as they are still a strong aspect of the video.


For the look/style of the band we thought it would be best to try and get them away from the indie look and try to make them appear more fresh, sharp and fashion forward instead of the relaxed more casual which is more popular among indie bands. We want them wearing suits (not necessarily with the jacket) with skinny ties and for them to be quite tight fitting. For the girl and guy in the narrative, we want them to look more indie and less put together than the band.

Music Consumption

How:


Due to the introduction of the ever developing Web 2.0 the way music is consumed has drastically changed in the past 10 years. Now that portable devices are incredibly prominent in today's society, the way we consume music is far more technological and the audience is becoming more demanding to get music as fast as possible. However the main ways I think we consume music are:

• CD's
• Music channels on TV
• YouTube (or other video sites)
• Radio
• From our portable devices; Phone, IPod etc.
• Spotify
• ITunes
• Live performances; Festivals, Concerts etc.

What:

Audiences consume the song and video for a track as the two are often seen side by side, unless it's on the radio. They consume product and this is what is essential for the record company to produce. They also consume tour tickets and merchandise normally from the artists website.


Why:


People consume music for many reasons, following Uses & Gratifications, but it's consumed in great amounts every day. From this research site it appears that the main reasons people listen to music are:

• music as background noise
• for mood management
• social interaction
• as an enjoyable experience
• to reflect on the past
• musical participation
• for a distraction

It seems like why people use music depends on what audience group they're in. The older age groups seem to use it more for mood management or reflecting on the past, but younger age groups like it as a distraction or for social reasons.

Textual Analysis of a Music Video

 As we are thinking about using a Kasabian song for our music video I decided to analyse one of their other music videos to find out more about their style and genre. Although we didn't end up using a Kasabian song, being able to recognise all the conventions of music videos was very useful when creating our own.

Insitutional/Reference Information

I am anaylsing Kasabian's video for 'Cutt Off' (2009), which was directed by Simon Willows. The music's genre is indie-rock, and the video reflects this genre through the mise-en-scene. The video is set in an urban, desolate, run-down town which is covered in graffitti. The main singers clothing is quite simple and dark, and not trying to be flashy or stand out. This is quite typical of the indie genre where the artists appearance isn't necessarily key to selling their music.

Relationship between Lyrics & Visuals and Music & Visuals

• 'monkey is the key' - small  toy monkey is shown on screen
• 'tied to the suspect' - see's a car covered with blood, crime connotations
• 'unsuspecting citizens who hallucinate in fear' - cuts to man running away from something unseen
• 'hooked on LSD' - accounts for some of the crazy things the audience are seeing - sharks flying around
• 'i don't think you realise he's coming for your neck' - cuts to a shot of a scared man who's fearing of the thing coming for him
• 'making his get away' - see a man running through an empty street

The video doesn't always cut to the strong beats in the song, but it doesn't cut mid line either. At the beginning the music is quite slow, and so the editing reflects this as the camera stays on each shot for a little while. Each verse is slow and then the music and pace builds up for the chorus meaning the video also speeds up. During the verses  we see the people in the video panic, but they don't really run until the chorus starts and the shark then attacks.

Close-ups of the Artist and Star Image motifs

There are many close ups of the main singer who we follow as he walks through the streets. There are also occasional close-ups of the rest of the band, but as a large proportion of the video is narrative, the focus is almost taken off of the band and put on the story instead. The record company is looking to sell this track on it's unique quality and the rough, experimental elements it has. 

As the shark ignores the band it suggests they are invincible and fearless, and their presence contains authority. This is making the band seem more desirable to their audience, encouraging people to buy the song. Also because of how different and unique the video is, it will likely draw in viewers that may not have watched the video or listened to the song before. Kasabian's other videos are also quite strange in their narrative, not sticking to conventions. A lot of their videos have a focus on performance such as 'Shoot the Runner' and 'Where Did the Love Go' and so this video may be slightly different to their others because of it's strong narrative influence. Their videos mostly seem to be set in empty places or deserted places which don't look too fancy or clean.

Reference to the notion of looking

In this particular video there isn't any real sense that the artist is on sexual display, but this is primarily down to the genre of the music. The video is about fear and attack rather than a song about love or relationships. Also, in the indie-rock genre the artist is not often sexualised as the focus is on their music instead of their looks. The costumes and lack of dance are almost trying to do the opposite, making the band seem less sexualised to make the viewer focus more on the interesting narrative instead. However, the lead singer and band do seem to have a confidence to them as he bravely struts around the streets clearly not afraid of what everyone else is running from.

However, there is still a strong notion of looking, but from the sharks perspective. You don't actually see the shark until over half way through the video, but you see a lot of the people in the video from it's perspective. This makes the viewer more fearful as all they can see is the look of horror on the people's faces, and obviously there's the 'fear of the unknown' which is strongly utilised in this video. There's no hints to it being a shark, and it's especially not thought of in the urban setting but this makes it even more shocking and effective. The view we see from the shark doesn't sexualise the people we see, instead making them out to be victims. Unlike most music videos, you don't wish you were the people in this one. One example of looking from the bands perspective is when the lead singer looks into the car (shown above; bottom left), and when the band stare at the camera, almost looking straight at the audience.

Music Video Analysis; Vernalis

I decided to analyse Michael Buble's video for Feeling Good. [EDIT: although this is not directly linked to our music video, I feel by analysing this music video in such detail I was able to decide which elements I wanted to incorporate into our own video and have a better understanding of the conventions]

Narrative:

In the video, Buble plays the character of a spy/agent who is on a secret mission. He's seen secretly entering a building and then tampers with the equipment and then knocks out a group of female protectors. There is a strong empahsis on the narrative in this video, with the performance intercutting between the narrative. Buble is the lead character in the video, and although you can't tell if he is a protagonist or antagonist, the audience is still on his side due to his cool demeanour and stylish presentation. The narrative is shown through the shots of files and equipment in the room which all add mystery to the video and intrigue the viewer. The narrative is what drives the video, but there are also lots of questions left unanswered, such as why he's there or who the women are. Although the video jumps around, meaning continuity is lost as Buble couldn't be in all those places at once, there is still a beginning, middle and end which creates some form of resolution, even though we don't know where his character is going next. The narrative isn't a literal interpretation of the lyrics, as he never mentions being a spy or crimes in the lyrics, just feeling good, which is shown by him completing a mission instead.

Spy documents:

We never see the women's faces creating anonymity:

Editing:

The screen appears curved right from the start which makes it appear like an old fashioned television screen, emphasising the narrative in the video. The beginning contains a few fades making the pace quite slow. There is a split screen at one point suggesting that Buble's character and the woman are going to interact. The video mostly doesn't cut on the beat, until it reaches the musical climax, where the editing and music speed up together. This means that there isn't an even pace throughout, as the narrative follows the music. There are lots of cuts during movement, as the video is packed with action. There is quite high contrast with little colour in the video, as everything appears very sterile and cold. There is slow motion at some points which highlights the running, but also could be seen as a way to make the women look slow and inferior, and there are also zoom-ins at certain points linking two shots together. At the end of the video, Buble gets in his car, and then it disappears leaving just the building work behind him.

Use of special effects/different techniques:

Camera Movement & Framing:

On the shots of Buble himself, the camera framing is tight, and the majority of his shots are close ups to suggest he is the main character. The camera also stays still when on his character meaning he is the key focus of the audiences attention. All the other characters are mainly shown through long shots, and we never actually see the women's faces creating anonymity and makes them untrustworthy, forcing you to side with Buble's character. At the beginning the shots are quite simple and slow, with shots of little movement to build up the tension for what's to come. One consistent shot throughout the video, is one of Buble stood infront of a flashy car, making him appear rich and stylish. As it is a long shot, it makes sure the audience can see the car and see how expensive it looks.

Close up of main characters (Buble's) face:

Long shots of the car:

Diegesis:

There is a lot of repetition of shots in this music video, in particular the still shots of Buble singing. His character does move to the music during the performance part of the video, but in the other shots his focus is his 'spy task'. There are gaps in the audience's understanding as they don't know the reasoning behind his break in, or why he has a vengeance against those people. However, it is also this mystery which encourages the viewer to keep watching. The frames of him by himself are more important as they last longer and are close ups. As the video jumps around in time, gaps are left for the audience to fill in. The diegesis is revealed slowly at first but then the viewer is thrown into the world of the music video as you want to know what Buble's character is up to. His actions are completed however, as we see him complete his task and then leave after he is satisfied with the job he's done.

Gender Representations in Music Videos

In pairs we looked at a gender representation of our choice, and Odelia and I chose to look at the representation of powerful yet innocent women who focus on their voice more than their image when selling their product.


Very few female artists (especially in the pop genre) don't use their body to sell their music, but we found artists such as Adele, Leona Lewis and Kelly Clarkson who's music is more about female independence and in their videos they are normally quite covered up compared to someone like Kesha.

In this music video, Kelly Clarkson is the powerful one within the relationship, throwing the guys stuff out of the window, and not letting him get away with anything. It's rare to see the female in the dominant position in music videos and so this makes the video even more interesting. Even though the song is about how her life would suck without him, she doesn't act pathetic and weak in the video, rather the opposite, choosing to take matters into her own hands. In general, within pop music videos, the female goes along with the male character but in this video Kelly Clarkson's character drives the video's narrative and at one point she even hits the boyfriend with a map, and even though it's a tiny, inconsequential act of violence, this is not normally shown in music videos.

Adele is an artist who is known for being quite sophisticated and 'classy' and this is shown in her music video for 'Rolling in the Deep'. The song mentions 'we could have had it all' and is clearly referencing a previous relationship, but instead of having a man in the video playing the boyfriend, the video focuses on the cinematography element and keeps it simple. She wears a black dress which isn't revealing, and there is no choreography for the artist. She is well respected for staying out of trouble and being composed and she is a role model to a lot of women who don't fit a stereotype.

Leona Lewis is know primarily for her voice (as well as being on the X Factor) and so in her music videos she is quite reserved in showing off her body or using it to sell the song/video. She relies on pure talent which is her voice and so in her videos she is normally quite covered up and is not necessarily seen as 'sexy' but as more of a nice, kind person who is more family-friendly. In her videos she often portrays a powerful, independent woman, and this is showcased particularly well in her 'Better In Time' music video. She first appears in plain clothes and little/no make-up and presents a very natural image, rather than the made up persona most pop artists go for. As the video is black and white throughout some of it, it also adds to the simplicity and means the video relies on her voice rather than flashy effects or dancing.

Both Ke$ha and The Pretty Reckless are examples of the complete opposite from the other artists we looked at. In their videos they wear revealing clothing and the main feature of their videos are their bodies. They present a very sexual image and this contributes to why their music sells. This doesn't present a good role-model for young girls who aspire to be like artists in the pop industry, especially Taylor Momsen in The Pretty Reckless who is only 17. It is artists like these who make it harder for artists who aren't comfortable with selling their body as they have to have far more talent to compete.

Reflections on Website Research

After discussing the website in class we came up with the five key areas of marketing;

• Advertising
• Merchandising
• Social Media
• Endorsement
• Publicity, Promo, Events

Advertising:

Whether it's in a magazine, on the TV, or online, it is crucial to have advertising for a debut artist so that they start to become widely recognised even before their product is released. This is above the line marketing as the record company have to pay other people to get this done. With One Direction they were already well known through their appearance on Primetime TV programme The X Factor. This meant they already had a fanbase as millions of people had followed their story, watching as the boys were put together, moving from 5 solo artists to a 5 member boyband. The boys were carefully chosen for the band by the X Factor Production Company and SyCo (Simon Cowell's record label which the winner of the show has a record deal with) and they deliberately exploited the differences in both ethnicity and age within the boys.

Merchandising:

This is also an 'above the line' form of marketing as the company has to pay to produce the products they're going to sell. On One Direction's website there is a shop with a wide range of merchandise available, directly targeted at their core audience, 7-14 year old girls. Children have a certain thing called ‘pester power’ and so One Direction’s marketing campaign was cleverly organised so that they would bring in lots of money as the parents would be willing to buy their daughter a ‘I Love One Direction’ T-shirt because of their safe and innocent image that’s been portrayed on the X Factor. Young kids and mums like to watch X Factor and so witnessed One Directions journey and so trust them as a family-friendly band. It is through the exploitation of this trust that the record company makes its money. As a young girl it’s all about making consumption choices, which can be defined by the four Uses & Gratifications categories:

·         Social

·         Personal

·         Educational

·         Entertainment

There’s the big decision over who your favourite band member is and often they pick the one most like themselves. You feel like because you decided you like that particular band member most, you now ‘own’ them in some way and that they are yours. This is also why they produce merchandise for each individual band member rather than for the whole group as then the audience can buy the bag with their favourite band member on it. The record company had the choice of making the band all look the same, or make them individual characters, and by making them individuals they managed to increase their profits. Although this is normally with young audiences, One Direction are still popular with slightly older audiences such as 25-35 year olds who see them as their guilty pleasure.

Social Media:

This is one of the most important ways in which One Direction was marketed. Through the use of Web 2.0 they created a viral campaign, by utilising social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook which allow fans to interact with the band  themselves, seeing new photos and information about their everyday lives. The website has lots of competitions for the fans to get involved in which include voting, or submitting something of your own. One of the biggest competitions they’ve done is ‘Bring 1D To Me’ in which other countries had to build up ‘air miles’ and if that country managed to click enough times to get those air miles then One Direction would visit their country. In the end 1D visited Holland, Sweden and Italy, but as Germany didn’t manage to get enough votes, they lost out. This was a clever way for the record company to work out who their secondary audience was, and see where else they have a fanbase.

Endorsement:

Endorsement is the most mutually beneficial and advantageous form of marketing. It creates a symbiosis between company and artist, or even artist and artist. One Direction are linked with Nintendo (Pokémon) and Nokia, featuring in TV adverts and appearing at events for the company’s new product. There is endorsement between different artists, and in One Directions case it is often via Twitter. Artists such as Olly Murs follow One Direction on Twitter and although it is probably someone from the record company who tweets for him, a tweet to One Direction means that Olly’s fans perhaps will listen to their music because the artists are friends. The band may also be sponsored by companies in order to promote both at the same time.

In this advert the boys talk about why they like Pokemon, which means a lot of their fans may then go out and buy the game as it seems cool. This is also a great opportunity for Nintendo to widen their market, as One Directions target audience are a) girls and b) between 7-16 and both these categories often aren't particuarly interested in video games. It also means slightly older boys will want to buy their product as well because One Direction may be considered idols to them, or they might think that if One Direction play it and are cool, they might also be cool by playing it.

Also for Nokia, they made videos of 'Find The Phone' in which the boys pass round the phone and then you have to guess which member then has it at the end. This is a great way to promote both the band and phone as both are very popular brands, meaning it's mutually beneficial. Not only is the game interactive but it allows the audience a chance to meet the band if they are able to get 2 or more of the rounds correct. This incentive means more people will play the game and will then find out about the phone.

Publicity, Promo & Events:

One Direction have been doing lots of signings and appearances lately in order to get publicity for their singles coming out. They appeared on Alan Carr Chatty Man, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and This Morning. By going on a show such as Alan Carr they widen their market and exposure as the show has an older target audience who may not normally watch One Directions interviews, and by appearing on such a popular morning programme they have a large audience watching them. We discussed the role of a PR person in controlling the public image of the band, and to make sure no stories of their past get out and ruin their career. They also might do free concerts in order to increase their popularity and to get people who weren’t fans before on board. There are also launch parties which industry moguls and other artists are invited to, so that photos are released to the press of other famous people arriving at the event or having a good time inside. This is also a form of endorsement as one artist is promoting another; synergy. If there is a story which presents a band member in a negative light, the PR team might offer the press who have the story, an exclusive interview or photoshoot with the band in exchange for keeping the other story quiet, and this helps keep the bands brand consistent which is a key thing in marketing a debut artist.

Whilst MARKETING a DEBUT artist you must:

• Have a 360 degree marketing campaign
• Be consistent throughout the five key areas of marketing
• Release product - get a single and music video out there for the audience to consume
• Have a website! - The website is the heart of the marketing campaign as it has everything the audience needs for uses & gratifications and is both informative and interactive.

Website Research: One Direction

One Directions website is a great thing to research because they are just starting out as a band. They've just released their debut single, and as we are going to create a website for a debut artist, this is a great way to learn about how to market and promote our own artist. In particular I'm going to look at the ways the audience is able to interact with the band and purchasing opportunities through the website.

The first thing you see before going through to the actual website is their new music video for 'What Makes You Beautiful'. This is a great way to promote the single and it's video as the audience will most likely click and listen. There are also links below the video, showing people where they can buy the song/video.

Interactive Opportunities:

• Twitter, Facebook and YouTube links
• A 'Latest News' section where you can read up to date news as well as reading previous entries from the past year.
• Videos are everywhere on the site; actual music videos, interviews, behind the scenes etc.
• Fan of the week
• A competition to design One Directions Twitter background
• Tour Diaries for individual band members
• Opportunities to comment on different pages around the website
• A newsletter which anyone can sign up to
• Fan Art galleries which people can submit their art to via Facebook
• Galleries for each band member so the audience can just look at photos of their favourite
• An Air-Miles competition – way to build up a fanbase in other countries and identify other markets.
• Link to SyCo website
• View their tour dates and the locations of each one

At the bottom of every page, they have the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube links, and the first two show the amount of fans the band has on each. By having them on every page it's making it almost unavoidable for the audience to not click on one of them which is effective marketing.

There is also a live twitter feed on the side of the website showing what One Direction is up to, which will be popular amongst the younger generations (their target audience) who have come to expect constant live information, rather than having to wait for something to be shown on television etc. and the proliferation of Web 2.0 and social media has enabled this.

As the fans are able to sign up for the One Direction newsletter they feel like they are getting special access to the band as they get news before everyone else. They get information on the tour, signings and appearances amongst many other things making the fan feel close to the band. Also there are galleries. some for the whole band, some for each member, and some for fan artwork. This interactivity is greatly appealing to young girls who have time to spend making things for the band. There is also a 'latest photo's' bar on the side which allows the fans to keep up to date with the band.

There are video playlists, updates on the singles placing in the charts and commenting facilities which all work together to make it interesting for the fans. It makes them want to check the site to see if anyone has replied to their comment, see if there's a new video or if the single has changed position. It is these draws which helps make the site and band so successful.

The competitions allow the audience to feel like they are involved in the bands lives, and encourage them to actively participate rather than just watching and listening to the band. It increases publicity and as fans are writing about the competitions on Facebook and Twitter or just simply talking about it to others. This is made even easier by the fact that the target audience are very prominent in terms of social media users so the news is spread quickly around.

Purchasing Opportunities:

• Gift Prints - a photo of One Direction with their printed signatures on it
• The CD - only the single so far which you can buy in three different places online; I-Tunes, HMV and Play.com
• There is a shop on the website where you can buy merchandise such as clothes, mugs, jewellery, books, bags etc.
• Tour tickets - they recently made an announcement about their 2012 tours, which are available to buy soon
• The music video; although you can't buy it directly off the website, fans are able to buy the video off of I-Tunes.

The website has a shop, which has a significant amount of merchandise on it. There's a wide range of items as they are trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, as they could buy whichever product fits their lifestyle. The prices are fairly affordable which would be popular amongst parents who are forced to buy the merchandise for their children.

As well as allowing you to buy group 'personalised prints' there is also the option of buying one just with your favourite band member on it. This is playing on the fact that most girls have a favourite and so will probably only want a poster/t-shirt/print with that member on. By making the band members seem more individual, it was easier for the audience to pick their favourite and it is also a great way to increase profits.

By putting all these interactive and purchase opportunities in one place, it makes sure the fans constantly visit the site so that they can know everything about the band. It is really clever marketing as the site is always updated and has a lot of videos for the fans to watch, letting them see inside the bands lives. The interactive elements of the site make it really interesting and makes sure that the audience won't get bored whilst on the site.