As well as having the music power in the charts, Universal bought out EMI for £1.2 billion. Universal said that despite the large-scale enforced sell-off – understood to account for 10% of the new combined business's global revenues and 30% of the existing EMI operation. Universal create music videos as well as the independent labels however they are going to be a lot higher budget due to the amount of revenue the company produces through their music and artists. These could potentially include actual movie actors as well as the artists themselves which makes the videos more appealing to the audiences watching. This is why they create so much income as well.
Sony Music Entertainment also have many famous artists signed to them such as Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Paul Simon and Paloma Faith. It was named Sony Music Entertainment in 2008 after 79 years of name changes. It's headquarters are the Sony Building in New York where their products is music and entertainment. The revenue created is $5,672 million and the operating income is $6 billion. It is owned by Sony Corporation which covers all the Sony companies. From 1991-2004 saw the rise of Sony Entertainment and In 1995, Sony and Michael Jackson formed a joint venture which merged Sony's music publishing operations with Jackson's ATV Music to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
Ninja Tune has grown into a label that prides itself on producing quality music while serving its artists in a way that no major label would. Satellite offices have opened in Los Angeles and Montreal, and the label has established an excellent reputation and strong networks across the globe. Ninja Tune now also acts as an umbrella for other creative hot houses such as Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder imprint, and the brilliant Werk Discs, the label founded by Actress. In this way, Ninja continues to release uncompromising, forward looking music in the highest quality packaging and most professional fashion. The label's aim is not to be underground, but to win the most exposure possible for the most exciting music there is.
Through doing a research task into the different music labels, I have found out about some of the oligopolies and also an independent label as well. I found out the difference and how much bigger Sony and Universal are compared to Ninja Records. This is evident based on their revenue, the artists that are signed to them and also whether they have any subsidiaries. Throughout this research I found that the independent labels have a lot less power in the market as the oligopolies monopolise the market which leaves the independents to work a way around them instead of trying to push them off the scene. This would be basically impossible as the oligopolies are so much more powerful.
Through doing this I have learnt how to lip sync with original footage and put the actual song over the top using iMovie. I also used the tools on iMovie such as Clip Trimmer to make sure that the people are singing in sync with the actual song so that it looks professional.
Through doing this research into different music video directors I found that the more established and notorious directors were the auteurs and also the ones which have done films as well. These directors seemed to have been nominated for more because of their additional work as a director. As well as this I also learnt that the auteurs transferred their work between film as well as music videos. This is so that the audience can see the transferrable skills of the director. Also, people who like their films are more likely going to like their music videos as well which is good for the music artist.
This Video has both the performance base and the narrative based video in it. This is because Eminem is telling a story through the lyrics and also the video represents that as well. You can see this through the mise en scene. One thing being that the outfit he is wearing in sections of the video. It is patterned like the army which is partly the topic he is rapping about. As well as this there is also effects like on his clothing there is blood which links in with the lyrics again. He is in the hospital praying for his friend not to die. The camera work and editing as well has made it seem like he is wishing for his friend not to die with the special effects that have been used. The camera angle are either an eye line match or a high angle as if he is praying up to god (the camera). The video tells a story about the events he is rapping about.
Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue
This video also has the two elements to them because you have the band Yellowcard playing in the video for the performance base as well as the lead singer playing the lead role in the narrative based part. The whole band are playing in a 'parking lot' which does have some contextual relevance because the video is based on the streets and a car is involved at the end which we don't realise. The narrative part of this video (the story) is that he keeps having a recurring circumstance where he keeps missing the car or in one case being hit by it. Each time he does this scene it gets progressively more positive and at the end he is able to get in the car with the girl. The same mise en scene is used each scene because it is like a flashback. The same 'props' are used each time because of this, such as the homeless man with the trolly, the group of nuns and the car as well. This is different to most videos because usually there is a lot if changes in the mise en scene, camera work and the editing however this idea is juxtaposed because of the style of the narrative.
Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
The lead singer of The Verve features in the music video the whole way through and the rest of the band come in in the end. This is sort of a performance based video as the band feature in it, however they don't actually play any instruments in the video together. The narrative side to the video is footage of the lead singer walking down a street and bumping into people because he isn't moving or stopping for anyone or anything. There were only 52 cuts in the whole video which when you think about it is very little. They used multiple long takes in the video which made it interesting as well and so we could get a view of the mise en scene and the actions and reactions of the other people in the video after he walks into them. The majority of the camera work was long shots and there were only around 3 or 4 close ups. These were as you can imagine to emphasize the expressions from the people.
The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather
In this video it is primarily performance based because there isn't really a story (beginning, middle, end) to it. The lyrics match with the visuals which tell a story however this wouldn't be classed as a narrative video. The band feature in the video the whole time which would suggest this is a performance based video however they don't actually play the music and perform as a band. This video is different to the others as it is footage which has just been built around their music in the style and genre which matches it best so that it represents the band in the way they want. It is also a video which promotes their style and 'outlook' with their fashion, tattoos and piercings. This falls under mise en scene and the editing with the black and white effect matches and links in with the mise en scene.
Through doing this task I have learnt and found out about how a lot of music videos are different, a lot are the same and some of them are completely unique. However, looking at the narrative and performance based videos only, I found that the best videos were the ones which incorporated both the elements in and the ones which were strongly narrative, turned out to be the better, more engaging videos. Overall I think I have found that when I do my music video I will be doing a narrative based video because you can be the most experimental, but they are the most engaging.
Through doing this task I found out a lot about how the internet revolutionised the way people consume music as well as many other forms of media production. The internet with sites like YouTube, Vevo and iTunes all put the Music Television scene under a lot of pressure with sites like Viva having to cut down on their broadcasting hours because they found people aren't watching them as much as they used to. This is because people would rather view what they want when they wanted on the internet. YouTube is one of, if not the main music video viewing website on the internet and it isa very lucrative outlet for music videos.
Advertising makes it very easy for YouTube to make money, something which I
have learnt music labels are very much aware of - and the creation of Vevo
allowing them to make even more, simply by sticking with the most popular music
video outlet.
Through doing this task I found that the artists both do and don't have to be dressed relevantly based on the genre of their music. In the Eminem video 'Without Me' he is portraying a superhero and plays various different characters in different outfits. This is a comical video which portrays Eminem as not taking himself seriously. This is both good and bad because it makes the video interesting however, people might not know what he is like in his more serious videos. As well as this video, I found that the more serious videos such as Jay-Z's Holy Grail, which he portrays himself as a bit of a gangster in, is an accurate portrayal and also a recurring one because he has promoted himself in this way before in other videos. I found that no matter what the genre of the music is, the videos don't have to relate to the music or be serious to portray the artist in a good way. As long as the music video is entertaining for the target audience of that genre then people are going to like it. The clothing and mise en scene are important factors of a music video but they don't HAVE to relate or be a stereotypical outfit of that genre or artist.
Through doing this task I have learnt a lot about what the audiences like to see in a music video, expect to see and also what they don't want to see. I asked a large number of different people of various ages and they all enlightened me into what they think should be included in a music video. Examples of these things would be a storyline or a narrative based video so that it keeps the audience engaged. One of my questions was about which type of video people liked to watch out of performance and narrative based videos and the majority answered with narrative. This has helped me in my decision on which type of video I will make. As well as the storyline, people also said they wanted to see something eye catching such as interesting editing or camera angles. This way the actual song doesn't actually have to be that good for people to watch the video because they are drawn in from the interesting style of the video.
One thing that I found out was that the audience expect to see something interesting such as animation or special effects so that the video isn't boring. An example genre of this is dubstep or drum'n'bass music. This is because generally there isn't much lyrics so a montage of animated effects can be used as a music video. As well as this my research taught me that they expect to see interesting and exciting camera angles and editing techniques to grab the audiences attention otherwise the videos are boring. What people said they don't want to see is a video is boring transitions, camera angles and editing techniques. I found out that the video doesn't really have to relate to the music, as long as it's entertaining it doesn't matter what is in it. This is why it can't be boring.
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Through doing this questionnaire for people to answer, i was able to find out what age my audience would be, what their interests are in music videos and also what they think makes a good music video. i was able to obtain different answers from many different people and through these people I found that the majority of my audience that answered was 17 - 20 year olds, who all seemed to watch music videos. this is good because through this they are able to give me some strong feedback on different music videos and what is good and bad about them. I found out why they watch music videos and this was good information to find out because i can use this to incorporate it into my music video. Through these answers I am able to see which ones were the most popular and then see if I can make my music video this watchable. Other questions in my questionnaire such as what makes a music video appealing is also helpful because these are usually codes and conventions of a music video which audiences pick out, and through these answers I will be able to see if they are things I can include in my music video. Other information I tried to gather was whether audiences prefer narrative or performance based videos. This is important because we need to incorporate both of these elements into our video and seeing which ones audiences prefer will mean we can make a decision on which one to make the video most like. Through these answers I was able to obtain information on what makes a video good, alluring and appealing as well as finding out which types of music videos audiences enjoy the most. I will be able to use this information when it comes to panning our music video.
Through doing this research I have learnt and discovered what I want to include in my music video and I got to identify what the codes and conventions of a narrative music video is so it makes it easier for me to make sure I include the main ones. The main ones being a clear and simple story line for the audience to follow. Make it engaging by using interesting camera angles and editing techniques so that it isn't boring. I also learnt that I have got to do a relatively fast paced song so that this is possible to do all these things otherwise the transitions and editing will be boring and people will lose interest really quickly.
These videos were definitely not as good as the others and the main reason for this is because of the planning and the preparation which went in to them. It was quite clear that these videos had not had the same amount of management as the other 'good' videos because the the songs weren't as good, the filming wasn't as good, it was quite clear that less time was spent on them and also there wasn't as many changes to the mise en scene in both. This has a massive impact because as there wasn't much change the song felt the same where as the music video is supposed to capture every tale of the song in a unique way and this wasn't done because it wasn't planned to be like that. These videos just generally need more maintenance and time so that they can represent the mood of the songs better and engage the audiences a bit more.
Here are two videos that A2 students have produced which I think are good music videos. Through doing the research and looking into all the different aspects of their videos I have learnt a lot about what I could potentially use in my own video and what works well with certain genres of music. The reason why I think both of these videos are good is because of the editing and the camera angles. The editing in both videos made them flow fast and they made sure that the editing linked in with the lyrics and beat to the song so everything was in sync with each other. The camera angles used also linked in with the songs and they used appropriate angles for each scene. Some scenes were hand held camera shots, some were low angle and some were tracking/panning. There were a lot more types of angles used between the two videos but these ones were the ones which stood out for me and the ones that gave the video something extra when watching it.
OVERALL
Overall I think that the best genre to do music videos for is the indie style like Jamie T because if it gets too rocky and starts edging into the screamo, gothic genre then that will be hard to make a music video for as the codes and conventions would be totally different. The indie genre allows the versatility because there can be instruments in it, it can be a narrative video, (such as the Black Keys - Tighten Up) or it can not have any characters or people in it and it can be a more collage, artistic based lyric video. As there is that versatility it means that a lot of different techniques will be suited to the video and as this is the case indie music is the best genre to do a music video.
These are some of the photo's from our trip to Barry YMCA Media Centre in which we produced, filmed, edited and casted for our music video. Throughout the day we undertook various stages in which are used to make a music video.
Story Boarding/Planning
We used this technique to plan out what would happen in the scenes of the music video so that when we shot the scenes we knew who was in it and the actions of the people. Through doing this we got an insight into what it would be like when storyboarding a huge production like a professional music video or even film/TV program. We had to make sure the timings were right and in sync with the music so that it made sense and looked good as well. Also through doing this we were able to make decisions on who to have in the scenes and what they would be doing. Through doing this we were all getting an idea what it would be like to direct a scene as well because we all had to manage a certain section of the music video.
Filming
When filming we learnt a lot as we had to consider the lighting, sound, camera angles and positioning of the people in the scene. We used the green screen and the green and blue screen cameras so that we could film our scenes. We also had to make sure that the people were positioned well enough so that the lighting didn't effect the shot and the people in the shot. We had an issue with this which led to a person in one of the sections of our video having blue light on them because they were too close to the camera.
iMovie Screenshots and the Editing Tools We Used
Here is iMovie. This is the program we used to edit our music video, do the lip synchronisation and modify the green screen background. It was one of the main reasons why we went to Barry YMCA so we could learn more about it and what we can use iMovie to do.
This tool is called Inspector. We used this so we could edit very specifically how we wanted the audio to sound, the video to look and the lengths of the clips to be. We used this so we could get an idea as to what it would be like editing a huge production. It also enabled us to understand and overcome problems we had with the clip, video and audio.
These are the audio waves from the green screen footage we took. We altered and changed this using the Inspector.
In order to edit our iMovie using the green screen we had to tick the 'Show Advanced Tools' box. This way were able to use more advanced techniques such as the green and blue screen.
This is the tab that allowed us to pick which advanced tool we wanted to use. We used 'Green Screen' and 'Blue Screen' the most because that is what we filmed with.
This digipak advert is extremely simple however is different because the background consists of around 200 pictures of the same person, however the facial expressions are all different but are all a close up camera angle. Once again the name of the band is the highest and largest typography on the page so that people know that they have a new album coming out. There are also other codes and conventions of a digipak advert and they are the reviews about the album from the major music magazines related to that genre. This again is a great way to promote and attract people to buy their new digipak.
This digipak advert is very simple as their is minimal text and the typography is very simple which makes the audience concentrate on the imagine a bit more. Even though this is the case the name of the artist 'Rihanna' is at the top and the logo she possesses is also at the top. There is then the second largest piece of text below that which tells the audience when the album and digipak will be out and it also gave the audience and fans the option to 'Pre-order' the album as well. This is because it is an online digipak advert and this represents the proliferation of hardware as people are now using online websites more often.
This has a clear and simple layout to it with the name of the band in the middle which everyone can clearly see and also the main piece of information is clearly displayed at the bottom also. This layout makes a lot of sense because the main detail is the release date, however Kasabian want to make a statement so their name is the most emphasised feature on the page. There is also the reviews on the advert which is always a good promotional and advertising technique because the big magazines have commented on it. This helps with the selling of the album and digipak because consumers will see the ratings and review on the advert and be attracted by that.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNT
Through doing this research into digipak adverts I have learnt and noticed various different codes and conventions of them which I would try and emulate when making mine. One of them is the logo on the front of the digipak. This is a very attractive and unique part of the digipak and it is a graphological piece which divides each digipak from each other. As well as this I will have some sort of artwork on their as well. This being a picture of some sort or a pattern of colours. What ever I choose to put on there it will be relevant to the genre of the music and also it will link in with the logo as well. There needs to be something graphological on the digipak so it looks attractive and stands out. Also it doesn't have to be colourful or multi coloured, as long as it is different and stands out then that is the important thing.
Through doing this research I have learnt that
music videos have changed hugely throughout the years and also I have learnt
that they developed extremely quickly as well. I have also learnt that as the
years went on, artists started developing the tecnhiques used in the videos as
well which was very important by the time it got to the year MTV was launched.
As well as the techniques being used and developed it was also the style of the
videos being developed, for example how it went from just promotional videos to
narrative videos with a beginning, middle and end. Due to these developments
directors and artists could start being more creative and wacky with the
techniques they used. Overall I learnt about how they developed from just
recording someone walking down the street to the present day of narrative promotional
videos.
Digipaks are a registered trademark of AGI-Shorewood, an Atlas Holdings LLC company. They hold one or more plastic trays to house CD's being purchased along with any other bonus materials relating to the artist which could include an information booklet with lyrics, personal information, tour dates and also pictures of the artist. This is one reason why digipaks are more expensive than conventional CD casing. The reason why digipaks are used is because pictures or text can be put onto every panel which is beneficial as this is the way they can make it feel as if it is a special edition case. The whole point of a digipak is to engage the customer and give them a different design to look at. Digipaks allow this because of their panels and layout. The whole point of including the information booklet and bonus material is to increase the sales of CD's instead of people going to pirating websites to download the songs, lyrics or even pictures illegally.
Digipaks are the music industries response to current consumer habits of illegally downloading songs and albums through piracy. This is constantly increasing which is bad because there has been a substantial plummet in CD and DVD sales. Digipaks are especially popular in the music industry and when they were first introduced they began to be used by more and more manufacturers. They are mainly popular for CD albums as well as multiple CD disc sets. CD digipaks give a product an expensive professional look and feel because of the artwork and also the cardboard material instead of plastic casing.
There is also another form of the digipak which is a book form and was created by MeadWestvaco. Their product called Digi-pak is trademarked.
Through looking at this shortened video clip of Jay-Z's new song 'Holy Grail' from his new album, you can quite clearly see through his body language, lyrics and the general mise en scene of the song that he is trying to portray a more 'gangster' and threatening look and representation. This is his brand and the type of message he wants to give people because his music is his main section of his brand. His music is what he is mostly known for. This is generally a more negatively portrayed look for people to see but as this is his brand that is what Jay-Z would be expecting. Also, it is what he wants so the look he is going for has been successful.
Through looking at one individual artist I have learnt that branding is a major part in the success of the artist as well as the promotion. Due to Jay-Z having a clothing line as well as his music, this has meant he has increased his popularity and people are going to be walking around wearing clothing which was inspired by him. This could be alongside people listening to his music at the same time. This is a clear example of a brand because he is influencing people through different means of media and fashion. As well as these two things, he also has his website called 'lifeandtimes' as well as his Twitter and Facebook pages and his YouTube channel called Jay-Z life and times. He is constantly branding and re-branding through appearing on adverts as well as his own clothes and others clothes- just like the Topman t-shirt above. Overall Jay-Z is a fantastic example of a music artist who has made a brand and has been successful with it.
LOGO BRANDING
Through doing this research on logo's of bands and artists I realised that the logo is one of the main things and identities of the artist. This is because it is unique and no other band or artist could copy it. Also, it is the name of a band, just with a unique design/font to it. This is also another way of marketing and promoting themselves for the fans and consumers because a bands logo can be put on clothing and other retail products like birthday cards, guitar pics, guitar and drum stickers as well as things like playing cards which are on the poster above. The logo is a massive part of a bands look and can also determine the style or genre of music which they play.
FASHION BRANDING
The Branding of fashion has taught me a lot because I learnt that the music artists produce is extremely personal and carrying it on through a different mean is extremely important to artists. This is why music artists create fashion brands and clothing lines because they want to carry on their persona and feel for their music into clothing that people can wear and relate to. For example 'Makaveli Branded' was founded seven years after Tupac died and because him and his music was so iconic they wanted to carry on his 'legacy' so people can remember him and his music.
Through this research I have looked at all the different codes and conventions of a music website and have found out which parts are the most important and are needed the most. I also learnt that the social networking side of the websites is a major factor in having a good website. This is because of the contact the fans gain with the artists which is important because they end up having a good relationship with them and then promotion is made a lot easier. The colours are also a main convention of the website because they link in with the genre and style of the band which is important because they need their own identity.
