Types of music videos:

Music videos are split into 3 categories, Narrative based, Performance Based and Concept Based. This helps explain all different types of music videos and puts them into their own categories, this can also help describe the genre of each band or artist.

A Performance based videos is used by both a band or artist, I the video there tends to be some sort of performance that goes with the song. For example dances, battles, public singing. Chris Browns love more is a Performance based video, in this music video you see Chris start Dancing with someone at a club, I think that Performance based video are associated with the pop genre more than any other.

A Narrative based music videos is a video that has some sort of storyline which carries on for the whole of the music video. An example of this is Check Yes Juliet by We the Kings is a narrative based music video because the song matches what’s happening in the music video. In this video you see the singer singing about this girl and how they can’t have a relationship but they fight for each other. This kind of video suits the genre of Alternative rock more than any other genre.

A concept based music video is more of an idea that goes with a song; it doesn’t have any connection with the lyrics. They are more spontaneous ideas that will make the video more appealing   to people. This means that unlike narrative and Performance based video they have to rely more on idea, mise en scene and the movement within the scene. This type of video is associated with the more niche genres like dubstep, electronic and so on. for example Mgmt’s electric feel is a random peace of video, but it helps sell the song and keeps the audience entertained.

Digipak

A popular music artist album cover would be something that stands out and is associated with an artist, an entire albums success or failure can be due to the style of its digipak. The digipak is important because it helps contribute to the overall sales of the album. There is a difference between both the style of a band and solo artist. For example Plan B, is a solo artist therefore the front cover is devoted to him drawing the public in and give the kind of atmosphere of the music inside the album, as you can see by looking at the picture who can’t really see his face. This is because he is a popular music artist who is established and therefore has his own followers; this means they will recognise his still. As you can see from the picture bellow it’s quite dark, sad, secluded, shadowed, and old fashioned, retro, the CD itself is a peace of Paraphernalia of the music age. This visually explains/depicts the style of the songs inside the album and the type of emotion and topics he talks about. What I like about the album cover is the way the design depicts an old disused movie theatre. Through looking at the album cover I think that the songs inside the album would be about love, friendship, anger, betrayal and about him going against other people.

The back of the album cover has the same look which is an old fashioned theatre, most album covers are like this though, it’s only the more extreme artist or bands that don’t follow this rule. As they’re going with a theatre as the them they’ve put the name of the songs on the old school billboards that have the name of the movies on. The font colour and style has stayed the same throughout, Red on white. This make the writing stand out and clear making it the main focus point of the back of the album.

The style of the CD itself is keeping up with the old fashioned look; it’s styled to look like a Vinyl record which is associated to old music records. This has been styled like this to suit plan B’s music some old fashioned singer to more up to date rap, showing that there’s a mix between current and old music and how old music stays around forever just like plan b and this vinyl record CD.

A popular album cover for a band would be something that stands out and is bright colourful and shows the type of music in the album. The digipak behind a bands album cover is very important because it helps draw new audience members in, if the styles right you are able to get anyone to buy it. Bands such as Munford and sons focus on the more arty aspects of the album cover; this is used to make them stand out more from the solo artists. How I would describe the Munford and sons album, it’s bright, colourful, open, inventive, styled to their type of genre and unusual. This means it’s easier to associate with their band.  As you can see from looking at the album cover the main singer isn’t the main focus point the location, colours and brightness are the key focus points showing that the band isn’t down to one person it’s a group work. 

The back of the album cover is plain, not to ruin their image or giving too much away of what’s inside of the music. Again they go with the same background of part of a building, they’ve done this to be different to all other bands, to make them stand out just like there music they like to be one of a kind.  The barcode is located at the top of the album which for me is unusual as most of the album covers I have, have the barcodes at the bottom. At the bottom of the album you see all of the record labels they are with, all albums have to do this as some sort of sponsorship.

What are mandatory when it comes to a albums digipaks:

• ·       Artist’s name – this is designed to make the Artist name to stand out from other albums
• ·         Album name – sometimes the name of the artist isn’t included so they would have the albums name instead.
• ·         Catching image – this is used to draw the people in and make them intrigued by the album
• ·         Track list – this is needed so that the person buying the album can see what songs there are and by a album that suits them.
• ·         Bar code – this is included to make sure that you don’t steal an album
• ·         Logo of the record label – this is used so that people the record labels can advertise there artists. 

Target Audience Research

In depth research, this needs to be done before creating my music video because it helps me determine my target audience,  I will do this by asking several different questions about their Age Range, Gender, Favourite Genre, current favourite music Artists (this will be determined through a list of different artists), current favourite music videos. My questions will also ask them what they enjoy about music videos and what they specifically look for in a music video. This all will then be used to create a music video that fits to the type of audience I would like to reach, otherwise I could create a music video that won’t appeal to anyone. I am going to make sure that I ask only teenagers the questions as the music video I create will be aimed at them, therefore I will interview several students around school and the public in order to gain some results.

My target audience:

·                     Gender – male and female  

·                     Age - 14-20

·                     Favourite Genre – Alternative rock

I asked a total of 40 people around the school and public the following questions and these are the results

What is your gender?
Male - 17
Female - 23

What is your age? 
14 - 1
15 - 3
16 - 5
17 - 10
18 - 9
19 - 8
20 - 4

Who is your current favourite Alternative Rock Band Artist or Band?
You Me At Six - 3
Arctic Monkeys- 5
Foster the people - 3
Cold Play - 9
Bastille – 10

Imagine dragons- 10

What aspect of a music video do you find most appealing? 
The Focus on the Artist - 13
The Scenery/Location - 10
Dancers/Dancing - 2

The Story in the Video - 15

What aspect of a music video do you find most appealing? 

The Scenery/Location - 10
Dancers/Dancing - 2

The Story in the Video - 15

What type of music video do you enjoy the most? 

Story - 20

Performance - 15

Concept - 5

Evaluation:

After collecting these results from a variety of different people, I've found out that the majority of people who are associated with my target audience, are both male and females but slightly more female between the ages of 16-19 enjoy a band to a solo artist and enjoy videos that focus on the artist, location of the scene and the story in the video. They also prefer a music video which tells a story rather than a performance based or concept video. This in turn will help me create a specific music video to my type of target audience hoping that they will like it and increase the sale of both the song, album and will increase the artists profile.

Lyrics To My Music Video

Funeral - Band Of Horses 

I'm coming up only to hold you under
And coming up only to show you're wrong
And to know you is hard; we wonder...
To know you all wrong; we warn.

Ooooooooh Oooooooooh
Ooooooooh Oooooooooh

Really too late to call,
So we wait for morning
To wake you is all we got
To know me as hardly golden
Is to know me all wrong, they warn.

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
At every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral
At every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

I'm coming up only to show you're down for
And coming up only to show you're wrong.

To the outside, the dead leaves lay on the lawn
For they don't have trees to hang upon.

Ooooooooh Oooooooooh
Ooooooooh Oooooooooh

At every occasion I'll be ready for the funeral
At every occasion, once more, it's called the funeral
At every occasion, oh, I'm ready for the funeral
Every occasion, oh, one billion day funeral

Alternative rock Artist:

In today’s music charts Alternative Rock is always based in the top of the charts, it isn’t the highest loved genre and its only certain songs that may become worldwide number one hits, however it’s never a full album that makes it to the top because with this genre you either love it or hate it. Example of Alternative Rock Artist that have become world hits are: Coldplay, You Me At Six, Fall Out Boy and Green Day.

Coldplay:

Coldplay are a worldwide famous Alternative Rock Band who has had sheer success for their songs. One of their biggest is Mylo Xyloto who reached No.1 in the charts in over 34 countries, showing the enormity of their success. They’ve won the world music awards 3 times, MTV video music award 5 time, the international dance music awards and so much more. As you can see he was won MTV’s exclusives Video Music award, this shows me that they don’t just create popular songs they create a music video for the audience to relate the song to. One of their most popular music video The Scientist has over 15 million views of YouTube, because they create music video that’s are different from all others. In this video Chris Martin, films the entirety of the music video backwards however the sing wasn’t, this meant he had to learn the lyrics to the song backwards. This made his style and music videos separate from all the other current hits of the day.

The second Band is You Me At Six, who are new to the world of fame, they have had several hits but aren’t established enough to be a global success. You Me at Six’s album hold me down reached no. 5 in the uk, which is amazing for a band that most people didn’t know or heard of. The band itself has won several different Kerrang awards including, Best British Band, Best Album, Kerrang hall of fame and several others. This  shows me that the band however new have made a big impact on the genre of Alternative Rock, they have made a name for themselves and are increasingly becoming a bigger hit for a Teenage audience. One of their new songs Lived A Lie video was published on the 2^nd of September and so far have had over 700,000 hits already, this shows me that they already have a wide audience. The reason for their success is because of the emotion and scenes they put in there music videos, it helps connect them with the audience. In their music video they tend to focus the camera on the main singer to attracted the female audience .

The third band I have chosen is Green Day:

Green Days awards they have won 9 different types of MTV Awards, an Echo award, the American Music Award 3 times and so much more. They are one of the most successful Alternative Rock Bands in the world with a wide age range of audience, they’re music and videos have set the way for Alternative rock and given a mark that other bands try to reach. They’re known for their outrageous set pieces and for daring to do what no other band will, this is why they’re so successful and continue to create spectacular music videos. Green Days song Basket Case is known for its insane asylum video which has over 26 million hits currently. 

Approaching my music video

The next step in create my music video I need to start planning what type of music genre I would like to base my music video around. To do this I need to consider several different genres so that I can always have something to resort to if I’m not able to create my original idea. So I'll look at 2 different genres, then I will explore the area of that genre I’ll create my music video around testing the typical conventions you see in a typical music video.

Ideas for music genre:
Alternative Rock – This type of music genre appeal to teenagers/young adults; another option in the genre of rock, the genre itself is more relaxed. The songs are more toned, and musical based, the songs within the genre focus on emotions people feel within the lyrics and the story that goes with the. It’s a more loved and powerful genre with a wider range of audience.
Dance - this type of music genre can fall between several categories, house, techno, electronic and Drum and bass. As a genre it's becoming increasingly popular for teens and young adults.  This is a type of music can recreate old songs into current hits; this is done through the use of electronic styling. The songs are made from several different beats and tunes that are added together to provide a thrilling tune; however modern dance songs are decreasing in the amount of lyrics within the songs, and the lyrics are mainly used to  indicate when the drop of the music is.

Why these genres? 
Alternative rock music – I chose this because it’s a genre of music that I like to listen to, when researching the genre I found that I liked many of its music videos and that they help inspire me. It’s also is popular genre therefore I feel that I can get people to relate to the type of music video I could create, it also means that there is a bigger audience to reach than some other types of genre.

Dance Music- I chose this because it's becoming increasingly popular and is a genre I already take part in. it’s a genre that you either love or hate and has a variety of different roles within it. When looking at their current music videos I found them to be exiting, thrilling and outstanding in regards to effects. Also because I do Production Arts at school I know how to create projections, lighting effects and displays, sound effects and quality, special effects, pyrotechnics and to create sets. Therefore this type of genre would fit me quite well. I think it’s a fun, diverse music genre which I could have a lot of fun with.

My chosen music genre: Alternative Rock

Analysing A Music Video - Rudimental - Not Giving In

This is a narrative based music video filmed in the Philippines. In this video you see two brothers living in a slum experiencing a bad child hood at home where the father beats their mother. The music video then helps to explain what path the brothers choose to go down, you see how one went down the wrong path of violence and crime. This brother ends up getting shot and dying. The other brother however would not give up on his dream of dancing and he uses this motivation to turn his life around for the better.  They video shows how, by making a choice to break away from the only life he knows - of violence and crime, he is able to become a successful dancer.  The powerful lyrics take the listener through the emotions of both brothers. All pictures are Jpeg images and are found on Youtube as well as the video.

Clothes. At the start of the video both brothers have dirty, old, worn, shorts and no top. This symbolises the poverty and the conditions they live in.  As the video progresses the dancing brother  is dressed in better, more expensive clothes - for example a Billabong jumper, whereas the other brother still has the old, worn out closes from earlier in the video. This shows me that the music video is narrative because, like the lyrics, it too tells the story of not giving in and becoming a stronger better person if you believe in yourself which is what one of the brothers is doing.  It illustrates how a person can succeed.

This video will attract both a teenage and a young adult audience. The song and video has been placed in a genre that appeals to this type of audience.  The lyrics and video have meaningful and powerful messages that are more associated with this the age group – a stage where teenage and young adults begin to decide what they want to do in life and that, choosing to become a better person also permits them to fulfill their dreams.  Having the story played out by twins who take make different choices also makes this video very powerful.

This is a good music video because it visualises the song and builds a story.

I like the way it was filmed and the different variety of camera shots, for example there was a pan so the audience can see what the location looks like. This pan was used to help connect the audience with what’s going on in both the video and lyrics of the song. There are then a variety of jump cuts and close ups of the two brothers bodies to show the audience their poverty and hardship.

There is also an extreme close-up with both brothers which shows the close bond toward each other; this is also continued when the brother gets shot. There is a close up on the dancing brother as he forms a move that puts him on his back.  The camera then zooms and spirals out to the other brother who has been shot and is led in the same position on the floor.  The camera continues zooming out and spiralling back to the dancing brother.  There is a short pause for affect before the dancing brother continues his dancing moves.  This initially gives the audience a clear signal of the connection between the two brothers which is evident at the beginning of the video, although by continuing to dance it also sends a clear message on the benefits of knowing right from wrong!

Analysing A Music Video - Biffy Clryo - Opposite

I have chosen to analyse Biffy Clryo Opposites, this is because there are different aspect of the video that are closely linked to what I want to do. This video is a Narrative based music video where Simon Neil the lead singer attempts to tell a story which is linked to the lyrics in the song. This video consists of several different shots but the most common is a close up on Simon Neil. The rest of the band aren't seen as much because the camera is focused on the lead singer who’s telling the story, however during the final scenes/clips of the music video they are scene or depicted more in the music video. The following picture will be jpeg off of the music video on YouTube.

This is the opening scene of the music video, it shows a smashed pocket watch that is going back in time; this is shown by the second hand going in its opposite direction or counter clockwise. I like its role within the music video because it helps explain the story behind the lyrics and is a creative effect on the use of time in the music video. It tells the audience that this music video is talking about the past and is shown through the use of several effects.

The video is based on a long stretch of road which has several different close ups, zooms, mid-shots and so on. The camera is focused on the lead singer, in the video he’s walking towards the camera which connects the music video and story behind the lyric and him. Throughout the video he is being very direct towards the audience through the use of these close ups, almost like he’s telling you a secret or something personal. In the video there are several different effects, the main one being a car accident where the singer is thrown out of the car. There are a lot of slow motion aspects to this scene. This is done to create an effect that is able to build a visual effect and experience for or towards the audience, in this scene the following happens. The seat belts are being thrown around the car; glass is falling to the floor, and the lead singer going through the windscreen. This is all done to show the audience the power of the song and what it represents to the band.  They also use a variety of jump cuts this is done to help the audience connect with the music, I feel like it helps the audience create a certain upsetting emotion towards the lyrics and video.

Example Of An Unknown Artist

This is a local band from Newbury called The Ascents, they aren't well known and it shows you how unknown artist are able to buy or rent the technology and equipment to create there own music video.

Creating A Persona

Justin Biebers first ever music video released 24^th Nov 2009, it’s been viewed by 326 million people worldwide on YouTube. When it was released for purchase it sold over 137,000 copies this means that his first ever song hit went platinum. When the video was released it created his first ever image, the target audience for Justin here is 8 – 16 year old boys and girls. Justin is seen differently to the different sexes for example girls see him sweet, small, loving, caring. Whereas guys would see him as childish, weak, wannabe, irresponsible. In this video he is wearing the usual teenage hoodie with the hood up half way which is the associated teenage look, it makes him look innocent because we associate law breaking teenagers with their hoods fully up, therefore masking who they are.

 
Justin Biebers release the music video boyfriend on the 3^rd May 2012, it’s been viewed by 248 million people worldwide on YouTube. When it was released for purchase it sold over 623,000 copies in its first week of release, this means that it sold almost 10 times more than his first ever release, this song went platinum. When the video was released it changed his image, from a young teenager to an older more stylish, confident, richer, different hair styled person. The target audience for Justin here is 13– 26 year old boys and girls. Justin is seen differently to the different sexes still and the same image still applies but he has become more mature and grown into his celebrity image and his character. In this video he has a car, showing the viewer how much he has change, that he has money and that he is old enough to drive, giving him this more masculine look. He’s changed his entire look to fit the more mature and grown up fans.

The History Of Music Videos

The beginning, it started with the famous singer Bessie Smith in 1929 aged 35. This is when she created the first ever music video to help promote her song and album; this itself changed the music industry and started the ground breaking music videos industry that we see today.  This launched her career even more in comparison with other artist of her time and made her known.  This tactic is still used with upcoming artist through YouTube, for example Justin Biebers who was an unknown artist who produced a few music clips and now is a worldwide hit.

Bessie Smiths Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Who6fTHJ34

Introduction to My Blog

Hi people!!!! This is Joe Cook and I’ll be using Blogger to record my A2 Media coursework. What will this bit of course work will consist of?? Well, I will have created a promotion package for the release of an album. This will include a website for the band, a digipak for the album’s release, a magazine advertisement for the digipak and saving the best until last….. Create a MUISIC VIDEO!!! So a little about me… I'm 18 and greatly excited about this task as I have always been interested in creating a music video. In regards to music and genre I like, I would have to say that a lot of different genres appeal to me, but I like having a piece of music I can dance to. I don't think I belong to one genre but I’m into a lot of Bastille, which are Alternative Rock, so that could be the genre I decide to pick. I think this task will be difficult but I can’t wait to start creating my music video. I’m not 100% sure which genre or artist I should base my video on yet, but when I know… I’ll let you know! When I got told about the task I didn’t feel that comfortable with it. This was because I was focused on, and already had ideas for a horror trailer. But after thinking about it and listening to a lot of music; I think this task could be really exciting. I think that this is a great opportunity for me to show how imaginative I am and some of the ideas I can come up with. What I need to do next is familiarise myself with blogger because I’m not a 100% sure on how it works, after that I will be starting to investigate and analyse music videos. I’ll keep in touch, JCookie!