Inspiration

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Inspirtation 

Reflections on research

Although from the existing artists of silmiar genres I found that most have very basic styles and branding, I would like my artist to have a much more "pop" style. I'd like to ditract from her existing garage style and head towards the girly side of her music as I think this better suits the song. I think this will be easy to do as I agree with Robert Stam's theory that genre doesn't exist, that it's an invented concept that we can manipluate through taking conventions of others in the genre, opposingly supporting Rick Altman's theory that everything in one genre looks the same so trying to make sure mine looks like other pop videos.


 This is her existing album cover. Although this simplicity of the cover clearly fits into the garage style like other garage artists, I'd like to make her look more like a pop artist by: changing the way she dresses, I don't think she looks girly enough in this photo, by changing the way that her name is written, this font is boring, and by including more colours as I think her song is alot more lively and bold than this cover makes it seem.

Instead I am going to look at some existing pop artists and how they promote and brand themselves for ideas of how to design my digipak, poster and video model.

Target Audience

When I looked into the genre that Katy B is associated with, I found the most commonly mentioned were UK garage, house and R&B. To get ideas about how to brand my artist and song for this project, I looked at other artists of the same genre that would have a similar target audience in order to see what it is that makes them sucessful and what techniques they use to appeal to this audience.

Someone that I always compare to Katy B due to their similar style is Disclosure, their style of music is very similar to hers in the way that it is also garage house music and I think fans of them would also like Katy B.

I like their album cover for their version of coconuts and think I can take inspiration from this as I would also like to use bright colours and doodle-like shapes on my digipak. The face outline is actually Disclosures logo. This logo can be seen on all of their merchandise and I think it's very effective as a branding technique as it is very recognisable.







What I like about this album cover is that it is so simple; one colour, artist, title, and their logo. I think that simple is very fashionable at the moment and modern. I also consider it being very arty as it does not stick to the usual albums on the market, most including a photo and bold fonts and colours. I'd like mine to be arty too as I think that most artists of this genre are considered unique too but I know that bright colours are alot more girly and I'd like my artist to have a girly style.



Another artist that I think would have a similar target audience to Katy B is The Streets, a UK garage group. The Streets is made up of londoners whose brading is largely based around that fact. They include lots of images of London and build up areas like it and have even named their band after the areas that they and their style of music are associated with; "the streets".

This album cover (right) includes two bright colours but the rest is simple. The band also have a logo that represents their style of music as is a very urban object that is often seen on the streets.

Record Label Contact

In order to use the song I wanted, I had to contact the record label to ask permission so that I do not breech copyright rules. I found that 2 record labels were involved in releasing Katy B's song On A Mission which were Rinse and Columbia Records so I found their contact information on their official websites and sent them this email.

Song Choice

After a lot of debate, weighing up the pros and cons of each and getting others' opinions, I decided I would do my video to the song "On a Mission" by Katy B;
 

 

I like this song and know it well, both the words and structure, and feel really inspired by the tune. It is a modern, urban song so would match a video well filmed in the streets as I wanted. The tone of the song is cheerful but unemotional so I feel like it should be a party song, something that makes people want to dance rather than holding a certain emotion which would make me want to make an emtional, narrative video.

 

Considering these thoughts, I have also decided that a concept video would be the best idea; leaving the story in the lyrics to the listener but giving the artist a chance to show her character and how she wants the song to make other people feel- the same way it makes her dance and move. A performance element would be brought in as she sings and performs her song throughout.

Brainstorm

IDEAS on Prezi

Type 4: ANIMATION

Animation is used in videos to give a source of entertainment to the viewer whilst listening to the song. It also helps to give the message or tone of song that the artist wants to put across. There is not a particular style of music associated with animated videos but due to the artistic element that has to go into them, I think they are more suited to alternative songs; quirky, unique and often hard to understand with a discrete, hidden message.
The animation in music videos is often based on or similar to an existing animation, in reference to Andrew Goodwin's point about Intertextuality.

"Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster" is an example of this where the band are draw up as cartoon characters in the style of the existing programme "Beavis and Butt-head", an adults cartoon TV programme. The video is based on this programme because the song is used in the soundtrack to the film, "Beavis and Butt-head Do America". This works well because people that already love the film or those characters will enjoy the video too, attracting an existing group of people as an audience.

The band members, like their real characteristics, are shown as very rocky. All are shown covered in tattoos, with long hair, revealing their muscles and headbanging; stereotypical traits of a rock band exaggerated through the drawings.
The rollercoaster in this video amplifies the lyrics, representhing the theme of relationships and the theoretical ups and downs of them, reflected in the ups and downs of the ride and including alot of images of hearts and other love related shapes and objects throughout.



Another completely animated video is to Junior Senior's song "Move Your Feet". In this video, the animation is used to enage the viewer, including random cartoon images that dance and move in time to the music, as from the point in Andrew Goodwin's theory that the music and visuals link, at somepoints it also links to the point about the relationship between the lyrics and visuals as the charactes are seen "moving their feet" as the song is about.
Being a dance song, the bold colours and shapes are in the appropriate style as if symbolising movement, disco and fun, (genre characteristics) similarly to the themes that dance music is associated with.

 

 

Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks

Type 3: CONCEPT BASED

These videos evolve around a particular concept or idea, not necissarily related to the song at all but just to add entertainment to the song and get publicity from having a clever, origional or "cool" idea. Most follow Andrew Goodwin's point about the music matching the images, although the lyrics do not, where the cuts and movements in the video go with the beats of the music.

They are most commonly used alongside alternative style music and bands as they are both thought of as being unique. For instance the band "OK Go" make concept videos for all of their songs. By keeping the this tradition, they keep up the artistic and unique reputation that they band has and their fans expectations about the cleverness in their videos.

 One of these is "White Knuckles" in which, although the band are dressed in white, does not follow the lyrics or have anything to do with the meaning of the song, just involves alot of tricks with dogs and movement on the set in time to the music, creating something fun to watch whilst listening to the song and giving people more reason to look up the song on sites like youtube aswell as wanting to listen to it; publicity!

"The Black Keys - Your touch" is a concept based video as the video tells a story that is completely irrelevant to the song. The only reference to the song is it to the word "touch" from the title which plays each time someone touches the magic egg featured in the video. The concept is that they become ghosts and carry on daily life, as if they want to be seen as casual people, unphased by what happens to them, a "cool" look.
It is more like watching a short film; it works as a promotion because people want to carry on watching it to see what happens at the end of the story and are listening to the song at the same time. It fits tightly to the actual music of the song as there are alot of cuts/edits on the beats.
This video challenges the conventions of a rock video as both the song and the style are normally thought of as being serious and in most cases solom whereas this video is funny and random.


"DJ Fresh - Gold Dust"

Type 2: NARRATIVE BASED

Videos that are narrative based, focus on the actual lyrics of the song, usually creating a story demonstrating the feelings behind the words in the song. Most narrative based music videos are for slower/sad songs. This type of video related directly to one of the points in Andrew Goodwin's theory, about there being "a relationship between lyrics and visuals", most being illustrative. They often don't feature the actual singer in the story but actors that act out the story that the singer/writer of the song trys to tell.

Beyonce's video to "Halo" is an example where the song is slow and emotional but has a positive message rather than most which are negative. From this video it becomes evident how much the characters love eachother which matches how she explains her feelings for him in the song, referring to him as an angel as she can "see his halo" because she sees him as being perfect.
To add to this halo effect, the whole film is shot in bright light, illuminating the white in all the sets and the colour is also slightly drained to exaggerate the white, like heaven, even further. The close ups on both of their faces mean we can see clearly in their expressions their happiness and their perfection in it.



In "Ed Sheeran - A Team", he sings about a girl who has a bad life and we are introduced to this character he desribes. This effect means that the audience can connect to the song and understand the meaning behind it, people may even be able to relate to it if they are in a similar situation or know someone that is, creating an emotional link with the person to the song and maybe ensuring a particular audience.
The video has been edited to be black and white to add to the graininess of the scene; the depressing tone to the story and the characters situation. A lot of wide shots are used to establish the setting as she is shown sat in the street, capturing the element of business around her and the oblivious passers-by. It explains a representation of class, being that the upper class have no care for the lower, being satistifed in their own lives and not trying to help.

Another sad song with a narrative based video is by Eminem and Rihanna, "Love The Way You Lie". In this video the aim is to get a reaction from the viewer, making a big impact by showing sensitive images of violence and domestic abuse.

After the release of this video it was made clear that it worked as it became an issue and caused contraversial opions in the press and public. Rihanna got involved in this song because, as stated in the Eminem Talks Love The Way You Lie Video article on the MTV website, the lyrics appealed to her, relating to her current state and story as being recently beaten up by her boyfriend Chris Brown; a metanarrative of what she had been through.

Type 1: PERFORMANCE

This type of video would focus on the bland/artist perfoming the song. A common filming location for this type of video is on a stage or in a studio, so that the audience focus on the performance of the artist, their music and their characters when performing, linking to Andrew Goodwin's point about "the star image of the artist" being a key concentration in the production of music videos, putting across the desired image of the artist and keeping their reputation where they want it.

This kind of video is usually used by rock bands as it is a successful way to show the whole band together as a team in their different roles and on their own instruments as these are an important convention of rock music, instead of focussing just on the singer like pop singers or single artists usually do in their videos.


For example, "Greenday - American Idiot" focuses on all 3 of the artists in the band, one playing the guitar, one on the drums and the lead singer, also on the guitar. By seeing them play their instruments individually, it makes it easier to pick out the sound of them in the song and allows you to appreciate how much talent, effort and passion is being used to generate the music. Close ups are used of each instrument so express the importance of them in rock music, and also of their faces to show how into their music they are getting.

"Kanye ft Jay-Z - In Paris" is a performance video which contradicts the usual kind, being rap music instead of rock. They are shown on stage at one of their concerts but is clearly, by making the figures darkened and showing flashing colourful lights, in a club atmosphere to keep to the rap/hip hop conventions at the same time as this would usually be the kind of music played there. This is a good effect because you can see the reaction of the crowd to their music, making them look like everyone loves them and associating a lively, dance image with the song.

Mumford and Sons - I Will Wait

Blog Design

I wanted my blog to relate directly to my project, including images of either filming equiptment connected to the shooting of the video or music related images. I also wanted to reflect the style that I want to incorperate in the video, a theme I want to keep up through out all parts of the project.

The bright colours in the background symbolise the energy and fun that I want to demonstrate in my video. Along with an upbeat song, I want to show the happiness the writer was feeling when creating the song. It will be a repeated image in my video to show how the whole house style links together throughout, showing my inspiration.

Throughout the video I want to repeatedly show these colours, making colour become the main theme of the video, much like "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall" by Coldplay, "S&M" by Rihanna and by a new video out by Little Mix for their song called "Wings" where all of their outfits and settings are covered in bright colours to add energy and life to the scene, as well as the energetic emotions I want my model to show.

 

Project Brief

The brief for our A2 music video project was to have created

• a music video
• a digipack (CD cover) for the single
• an advert for the single in a magazine.

Through creating these, I will be using a variation of both creative and technological skills.

A big part of being able to make these complete peices look realistic and effective is from knowing what existing products/versions of these things already in the real world look like, from research, and being able to use the creative techniques in them to come up with my own ideas from this.

Another hard part of this will be deciding where and with whom I should film it, being able to decide whether a certain setting would fit my concept better than another and how best to capture this atmosphere. I will need to have the confidence and assertivness to make sure my selected actor/acrtress does exactly what I want to give the effect in the video I need.

I have to be able to document all my ideas and changes throughout the development of the project on blogger, including different techniques to get across my thoughts and using different technologies to best present my notes.