Moodboard

initial ideas

I began coming up with potential ideas for my music video and started to mind map them. you can see my ideas in the image below;

The idea for the video is to be set on a night out with a group of girls and boys, the boys will also be the band members and there will be one main girl who will take on the role of Kathleen. after going over the lyrics we decided that it portrayed a friends with benefit relationship, the boy likes how Kathleen is care free and does what she wants but is not sure whether he likes her or not. There will be scenes of the girl wearing a summer dress in the winter just like it says in the lyrics. There will also be a gradual relationship build mainly showing at the start where the boy and Kathleen show small signs of attraction for each other and at the end Kathleen will kiss the boy on the cheek or something along those lines to leave the audience wondering what is going to happen between the two.

about the artist

My chosen artist is a band by the name of Catfish and the Bottlemen, they formed in 2010 in Wales. before they made it big they were performing in pubs and nobody found their music good.

Band members;

Vann McCann- singer/songwriter















Bill Bibby- guitarist











Benji Blakeway- Bassist

Bob Hall- drummer

Catfish are an indie rock band and the past 2 years they have made it big with their music with their song Kathleen and then releasing their second album this year called 'The Ride' with their hit songs; 7, soundcheck and Twice. Catfish also recieved the best Newcomer award from the BBC in 2014 and reached number ten in the album charts in 2014 with their album 'The balcony'. In 2015 they were also nominated for a Brit award due to the release of their single Soundcheck.

They have performed at numerous festivals, released merch lines and have captured the hearts of many people with their music.

Copyright/gaining permission

Copyright is really important, it is put in place to protect artists integrity. You are not allowed to use or reuse music without artist permission and the copyright law stops people from making profit out of work that does not belong to them. with this in mind, when i began this coursework project, i knew i would have to contact my chosen artist and ask permission to use their song.

I went on their website to find their contact details and sent them an email asking for permission.

I sent them an email and am now awaiting a response

copy of the lyrics

KATHLEEN

YOU’RE SIMPATICO
AND OF ALL THE LIFT HOMES AND ALL THE MIXED FEELINGS
YOU’RE CUTS ABOVE
AND YOU DON’T OWN WORRIES OR A CHEST FULL OF HEARTACHE
YES, I KNOW
THAT I’LL NEVER WORK OUT EXACTLY HOW YOU’RE THINKING
BUT, LET ME KNOW WHEN I’M NEEDED HOME

AND I’D COME
YOU CAN LEATHER ME WITH YOUR LIPS

I’VE GOTTA GIVE IT TO YOU
YOU GIVE ME PROBLEMS
WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN THE MOOD
I’VE GOTTA GIVE IT TO YOU
YOU GIVE ME PROBLEMS
AND MADE ME GIVE IN TO YOU
OUR DEALER HATES ME YOU KNOW
HE USED TO SEE HER BUT SHE SOLD
HIM OFF ON DOWN THE RIVER

IT’S IMPRACTICAL
TO GO OUT AND CATCH A DEATH WITH A DRESS FIT FOR THE SUMMER
SO YOU DON’T
INSTEAD YOU CALL ME UP WITH A HEAD FULL OF FILTH
AND YES, I KNOW
THAT I’LL NEVER ACQUIESCE ANYTHING YOU’RE THINKING
BUT, LET ME KNOW WHEN I’M NEEDED HOME

AND I’D COME
YOU CAN LEATHER ME WITH YOUR LIPS

I’VE GOTTA GIVE IT TO YOU
YOU GIVE ME PROBLEMS
WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN THE MOOD
I’VE GOTTA GIVE IT TO YOU
YOU GIVE ME PROBLEMS
AND MADE ME GIVE IN TO YOU
OUR DEALER HATES ME YOU KNOW
CAUSE HE USED TO SEE HER BUT SHE SOLD
HIM OFF ON DOWN THE RIVER

choosing the track

After listening to a large variety of music and different genres of music, with the help of my teacher we were able to choose a song under the genre of indie rock. The song we picked was by my favourite band 'Catfish and the Bottlemen' and the song was called 'Kathleen'.



I particularly like this song to do for a music video as the words are easy to lip sync to and makes it easier to emphasise the words enough to edit to the beat. the song is fast paced and energetic which will keep the viewers interested whereas if it were to be a slow song it would be a lot less interesting and it makes it harder to lip sync to.

Production meeting 2

For my second production meeting I too the time to fully analyse the lyrics and come up with an idea for my music video. After listening to the lyrics I was able to tell that the song was about a girl who is very outgoing, confident and doesn't care what other people think of her and a guy that is really into her but wont admit it. The song is almost about being friends with benefits but neither of them will make the next move. After highlighting the reason of the song I wanted to do two different scenes, the first one being the band scene and the second scene would be of the girl who is called Kathleen and her "friend" going out together with a bunch of friends. throughout this scene I decided that the two friends would be staring at each other and flirting and by the very end of the video the guy makes the first move and leave it on a cliffhanger.

album art cover

our task was to do an indie band, girl band and individual artist photo shoot, this one is the indie band cover. indie band photos have all the band members in the picture, they are all leaned back and chilled looking and don't tend to look at the camera and instead look away. Here i done a black and white version as well as a color version.

Theories of Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin key features of a music video

Andrew Goodwin in 'dancing in the distraction factory' 1992 has identified the following features of music videos.


















Goodwin maintains music videos demonstrates genre characteristics for example stage performance in a heavy metal video. Most heavy metal music videos feature the group on stage often in a concert.



In the past the artists had long hair, wore leather and the stage often had a lot of dry ice.
the next one is girl/boy bands, in their music videos they usually are doing a dance routine in unison.
For example New Kids On The Block and their music videos  mostly consist of dance routines.



There is a relationship between visuals and songs.


Illustrate- Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics and the genre. This is the most common.

Amplify- This is where images of the music video do not contradict to the lyrics of  but add additional meanings that the song doesn't intend to do.

Ignore- This is where the meaning of a song is completely ignored

The demands of a record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist. The artit may develop motifs that recur across their work for example  

In The Wanted's music video 'Walks like Rihanna' they make multiple references to classic music videos of older boy bands including N Sync and Take That. The video does tend to portray woman in a sexual way and almost objectifies them as some of the camera shots are close ups of certain body parts of the woman which is also where men are most likely to look on a woman. 

Walks like Rhianna; The Wanted

• Strung up like puppets to parody N-SYNCs famous 'Bye Bye' Video
• Parody to Backstreet Boys wearing White suits like they did in their 'I want it that way'
• They also parody Take Thats 'Back for good' Music videos in big coats in the rain infront of a car. 

There is often a reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc)

Goodwin says that music videos should have coherent repeatability. Narrative and performence work hand in hand which makes it easier for the audience to watch over and over without losing interest.
He refers to the artist as both the narrator and participant. He says it helps to increase the authenticity.
Lip sync and other mimed actions remain the heart of the music video as it is important to make sure the audience believes it is real.  

Elton John evaluation

I think that this exercise was a good attempt, the boys could have opened their mouths wider to make it really look as if they were singing the lyrics which then would have made it easier to edit to the lyrics as they would have easily matched better.

As it was the first time I used premier pro in a while, it took me a bit of time to get used to how it worked but once I figured it all out I was able to get on with the editing process. I enjoyed editing the lip sync exercise because I was able to learn cool techniques to make it easier and quicker to edit.

Overall, this was a good attempt of editing to the beat and in future I know what has to be done to make my video even better.

Elton john exercise

Branding of the spice girls and Katy Perry

During the mid 90s a family management team had the idea of producing a girl band that would be able to compete with all the boy bands that dominated the scene in the mid 90s to the late 90s. February 1994 an ad was made to look for girls to be part of this new girl band saying "WANTED: R.U 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated?


The girls outfits were carefully picked for their first live appearance on American television;

• Victoria- She was sophisticated and wore a silky fitted black dress
• Emma- She was the youngest of the group and wore a baby pink dress
• Mel B- She was fierce and wore leopard print trousers
• Geri- She wore hot pants a top and bra
• Mel C- She was sporty and wore her favourite Liverpool top and tracksuit bottoms.

Selling the spice girls

• The spice girls were sold as a group of friends.
• They were a carefully selected group of strangers after a lot of auditions that had taken place.
• They had continuous merchandise and sponsorship deals and were involved in pepsi ads, Polaroid ads and Barbie style spice girl dolls.
• Everything about the spice girls (scary spice, baby spice, sporty spice) were controlled by men. Geri Halliwell. 
• Ginger spice almost didn't make it into the group as she looked a lot older than the other girls. In her audition when she was asked how old she was, she said "I'm as old as you want me to be. I'll be 10 with big boobs if you want."

Each spice girl was different which meant that they could reach a wider scale of audiences as different people will like a different spice.

Katy Perry's target audience is young girls aged 14-17. In order to appeal to this group, Katy Perry has to take on the role of being an ideal older sister and friend to her target audience. She has to be an idealised version of them. Her songs and videos have to reflect many fears and anxieties that the young girls may have. When Katy Perry appears 'sexy' it has to be in a non threatening way.



Interestingly, her brand suffered when she got married to Russell Brand who was a massive womaniser. due to this her videos became a lot more sexual and knowing which may result in threatening young girls. 

Following a messy divorce from Russell Brand, Katy needed to use her music videos to apologise and be able to explain to her fans and state to them that she was still the same person she was before she met him. The second part of this blog post will analyse key music videos and track the journey of Katy Perry.

wide awake is the video Katy made after her divorce with Russell Brand. During her time being with him her image changed resulting in her audience turning against her, she made this video to apologise to her audience and to tell them she is still the same person she was before she was with Russell Brand.

Purpose of a music promotional video with reference to synergy

• Promotion / Publicity 
• Make money – increase sales.

Purpose of Music Videos is to
 make money!

• Promotes the artist/single/album

• Persuades audience to buy – CD/download

• Raises the audience awareness or profile of the artist/group

• Product placement e.g. Christina Aguilera & perfume (Not Myself Tonight)

Christina Aguilera uses this video to promote her new perfume, by putting her perfume in her music video, it will make viewers want to go out and buy the fragrance.


Synergy- works to the mutual benefit of both film/TV programme and artist

• The Music Video exists as only one strand of a multimedia campaign, and is just one way in which a song is promoted.
• The music industry as a whole has a relationship with a number of different media: Radio, TV, Print media, Film, New Media.

• There is often a clear sense of synergy across a number of platforms.

Making money- synergy

Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons w/ Logic & Ty Dolla $ign ft X Ambassadors- Sucker for pain. This song was part of the soundtrack to the hit film 'Suicide squad' 

Four weddings and a funeral- This song spent 19 weeks in the number one spot. 




Adele- Skyfall


What makes a successful music video? 

• Is it just creating an ‘original’ / ‘artistic’ music video?
• Are there other (financial/commercial) considerations?

I think that a successful music video is based more on the financial/commercial side. Most famous music videos have been the ones that promote films for example Twenty one pilots made a song o promote the film which became very popular due to the film being popular and everyone wanting to see it. If we were to go back 20 or 30 years, then music videos would have been successful because they were original and artistic and it was the start of something big in the music world. Now that these original music videos have been done, there isn't much for modern day artists to do so to keep their names up their they have to promote the music video.

Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975) Dir. Bruce Gower. The reason this Music Video is regarded as important is that it was the first Music Video to:

• Really have an impact on sales – after the video release the song went to number 1.
• Be regarded as a work of Art in its own right.

History of the pop video

From the 1940s to the 1950s, there were three main stars of the time. They were known as ;

• Bing Crosby
• Frank Sinatra
• Elvis Pressley

Fans could only see these three men perform in either films, T.V. specials or in concert. They were the biggest stars of their time and the woman loved them especially.


Next it was the famous group 'The Beatles', they were popular all over the world and everyone loved them. The Beatles produced two short films to promote their single record

• paperback writer
• rain

these were their first music videos.

Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975) Dir. Bruce Gower. The reason this Music Video is regarded as important is that it was the first Music Video to:

• Really have an impact on sales – after the video release the song went to number 1.
• Be regarded as a work of Art in its own right.

Then it was Michael Jackson with his most famous song 'Thriller'. this was the MOST expensive pop video ever made! This video uses a huge range of camera angles and movements, it also uses amazing props, costumes and a great setting.

record companies and organic and synthetic music

there are four major multi-national corporations;

Universal

     Kanye West
    Fall Out Boy
    Krept & Konan








Sony Music

                                                            A$AP Rockie
                                                                                                Nothing But Thieves
                                                                                               ODD FUTURE
                                                                                   
















Warner Bros                                                                           PartyNextDoor
                                                                                               Greenday
                                                                                               Prince

EMI

       Bastille
      Jake Bugg
      Circa Waves

• These are referred to as ‘The Majors’. The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; Film, TV and Electronics.

• Most of these ‘Majors’ own, or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre.
• Columbia
• Island
• Syco
• RCA
• Virgin,
• These companies are known as ‘major-independents’.

  Independents

• There are a huge number of small companies with little or no financial connection to the majors. These companies often concentrate on a small number of acts, within specialised niches in the industry. These are called ‘Independents’. An example of a highly successful independent  is ‘Domino Records’. It is often that record labels begin as independents, but then are bought by a major and then become major-independents.

Domino records are an independent British record label located in London, There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called Domino Deutschland and a French division called Domino France. It founded in 1993 by Laurence Bell and his partner Jacqui Rice. 

One of the most successful artists singed to Domino records is the Arctic Monkeys, they are a popular band that is listened to around the world. 

There are two types of artists that can be divided into two groups;

• Synthetic
• Organic 

   Organic 

• The term ‘Organic’ is used to describe bands where the music comes first, they make the kind of music they want to make and then the record labels (if signed) try and sell this music to the correct market segment.Organic’ music often appeals to a niche, but can appeal to a mass audience too. The Beatles / Radio head are a good example of an organic band. The Band members knew each other and had a shared love of music. The music came first – then the fame!

Synthetic

• The ‘Synthetic’ refers to ‘manufactured groups ( ‘X Factor’ methodology), and it is the record labels that sit in the driving seat.A gap in the market is identified, and then it is exploited by the development of music, and often the artist, to suit this gap.Money is the ultimate goal in this operation. Acts such as “One Direction” / “The Spice Girls” are a good examples of “manufactured” artists.

Sonny and Cher evaluation

I think the editing of my lip syncing exercise was really good as I was able to edit to the beat  and match the lyrics of the song to the video and make it as accurate as I possibly could. I found the editing process easy as I was taught new ways and cool techniques in order to edit my video and make it as good as I possibly could. I learnt how to chose sections of a clip and time how long I wanted them to show for which was a lot easier than how I done it before in my own way. I was also able to

lip sync exercise

production meeting 1

for the first production meeting I spent time searching for a track to use for my music video. I decided i would go for the rock genre as it is the best genre to show all of my skills and use of camera angles and shots for example when i'm shooting the band scenes. I spent a lot of time looking at various bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Circa waves, Fall Out Boy and many others. In the end I decided to go with my favourite band Catfish and the Bottlemen, once I decided I was going to choose them I went through all of their songs to see which one would be most suited and also match the required video length. My chosen song was Kathleen as it was one of my favourite songs and the lyrics were easy to work with to come up with a really good storyline for my video. After choosing the song I then visioned potential ideas for my music video which will be explained in my second production meeting post.

added value

The reason why some songs stand out so much is because of the music video they have to go with it, for example the group A-Ha and their hit song 'take on me' made it to the top of the charts because they were the first to make an animated video that was completely drawn out.





Another example of a video that made the top of the charts is Sinead O'Conor and her hit song 'Nothing compares to you'. the music video is mainly an extreme close up of Sinead's face and what made it stand out is when she began to cry whilst singing about her mother. This would have made the audience feel sympathetic but also shock them as its something they haven't seen before.  

production team

I have decided to do this project on my own as I am able to be in control, use my own preferred
ideas and to get more experience of directing and producing a music video on my own. I am looking forward to using my ideas and creating a piece that is done to the best of my ability, I want it to look professional and different. My only and only weakness is I can be very quiet which may effect how I direct, apart from that I believe my music video will be a success.

Brief

My task is to produce:

¡  A music ‘promo’ video

¡  Up to 5 minutes

¡  Either working on my own or in a group of up to four members

I also need to produce:

¡  A ‘digipak’ (Six panels) for its release on CD

¡  A magazine advertisement for the digipak

 In addition to my ‘promo’ video I will have to produce:

¡  A critical evaluation

Welcome

this is my A2 media studies blog;

• I am going  to be making a promotional package for an new artist/band - including a music video.
• I am going to chart my progress as you research, plan, contrast and evaluate my A2 portfolio. 
• I have learned a lot from blogging in Year 12 so this blog is going to be even better!