Storyboarding

Final Location Choices For Our Video

We have decided that we will use two locations in our music video, which are a Performance In The Hall and Green Screening.

Performance in the hall - We will be performing part of our music video on stage in the hall. We feel that by doing this, we can achieve more effects with the lighting as we can control the brightness and colour. We will be using different camera angles during the video, giving different perspectives. To ensure that we have enough footage and different angles, we are going to be filming the whole song through three times using different shots each time. This means that we will have a lot more footage to use when editing our final video.

Green Screening - By using Green Screening in our video, it means that we can have a background that we feel is more relevant to our video. It also enables us to be able to add images to the background, that may not have been possible to so if filming in a natural setting. We will film the whole song through with the Green Screening and then edit the footage we have using Final Cut Express.

Green Screening

We have decided that we will be using Green Screening for one of the locations in the video.

Chroma key compositing (or chroma keying) is a technique for compositing two images or frames together in which a color (or a small color range) from one image is removed (or made transparent), revealing another image behind it. This technique is also referred to as color keying, colour-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC), greenscreen, and bluescreen. It is commonly used for weather forecast broadcasts, wherein the presenter appears to be standing in front of a large map, but in the studio it is actually a large blue or green background. Source

Here is a video on how it can be done on Final Cut Express:

Audience Research- Female Artists

Here is some Audience research looking at Female Artists in the Indie Genre. The information is from Wikipedia and YouTube

 Ellie Goulding

Florence and the Machine

The age groups are very similar to the same genre of music

Lighting Ideas.

Lighting Ideas on Prezi

Here is a Prezi presentation I have made to discuss various ideas for Lighting which we could use in our music video.

Florence And The Machine- You Got The Love.

This is the video for 'You've Got The Love' by Florence And The Machine. Although this video is performance based, elements of a motif are incorporated. There is a theme throughout of night time, and the sky, which is identified in many different ways. Obvious representations of this theme include the giant sparkly Moon she is performing on, and the use of the stars footage to end the video, but there are lots of more sublte references to it. Her costume features a nude coloured leotard sprinkled with sequins, which look like stars, and use of lighting is cleverly done in a style to make the spotlights look as if stars are shining down on the artist performing. I really like the uplifting, enjoyable mood of this video, the use of lighting and props make it contempory and interesting, but the costume for the artist, and the people dancing below are obviously vintage and retro inspired. Overall, the use of quirky and kooky colour schemes, costumes, props and lighting reflect the individuality of the image constructed of the artist and would appeal to the target audience as it shows ways of being unique and creative to create a stong sense of empowering femininity. I think we could take inspiration from the lighting used in this video, as the spotlights are used to achieve the look of stars against a night sky, and the props used, such as the falling confetti, which highlight the motif throughout.

Ellie Goulding- Starry Eyed. Motif Analysis.

This is the video for 'Starry Eyed' by Ellie Goulding. I was looking for music videos of artists similar to ours, which feature a motif when I discovered this one which uses a star, like we were planning on doing. The motif is not used the whole way through this video- and is often seen just at the points when the lyric 'Starry Eyed' is repeated. It is incorporated by the use of star shaped sequins all over her palms, and the use of superimposed footage over the top of her performing. I think that these techniques of incorporating a motif are effective in this video, except I think it could have been used in other parts of the video, as using it alongside the lyric 'Starry Eyed' appears a little obvious and naive. I think it could have featured in the other performance scenes of the video without looking overused and obvious. When applying a motif to our video, I think we need to take into account that it should be used enough to be noticed, but at the right times in the song, and not too much as though it appears obvious and over thought.

Star Motif.

Star Motif.
We are considering using a motif in our music video of a star. From looking at the lyrics for our song, we think a star as a motif would be effective a increasing relevance linking between the video footage and the lyrics. There are many aspects of mise-en-scene that we could use to incorporate the motif.

Costume.
We could use star print clothing items to incorporate this theme into our video. From previous research, we have picked up on the fact a convention of this genre is unique, retro and vintage inspired clothing, which adds to the creative and individual image constructed for the artists.

This cardigan is from Miss Selfridge and features sequinned stars on the shoulders. It is obviously inspired by vintage fashion, due to the use of gold sequins, the style of the buttons and the colour of the knit itself. A piece like this would be effective in our video, but I feel the star motif may not be obvious enough to the viewer, and a stronger print may be better to use.

Make Up.
The use of make up in our video could be key in determining the look we are constructing for our artist. Make up is an easy way of establishing a particular image, natural pallettes would create an entirely different look to vibrant clashing ones, and retro-inspired make up could emphasize the creativity of the artist which is reflected in the clothing choices and music.

This image from Cosmetics Box uses bright vibrant shades to create a clashing, youthful look. I do not think this style of make up would be appropriate for our artist, because it is not a particularly retro-inspired  look. The use of the star motif in this image could however be used in our video as it is obvious to the audience enough, without being naive-looking.

Another way we could use make up to emphasize the star motif in our video could be through the use of tattoos. Many female singer/songwriters and artists have tattoos on show in their videos or promotional material, as it helps to add to the 'girl power' ephos they stand for, and emphasize their creativity and youthfulness.

The use of a simple black star like in the image above, could be an effective way of incorporating a star motif into our video. Due to the fact the artist will be playing a guitar in the video, I think a good place for such a motif would be around the wrist or hand area as it would be seen by the viewer, yet appear subtle. We could easily use make up to replicate this look, and I think it would be effective in our video to do so.

Props. 
Another way we could incorporate a star motif into our video is through the use of props. The image below from Moonbed is a hanging star decoration featuring small lights. We could use multiple decorations like this, hanging in clusters above the artist to create a unique looking setting to perform in. I think use of props like this would be extremely effective in our video as they would reflect the lyrics well, and would be versatile in what we did with them, for example, we could feature them falling, or moving to add animation and movement to the video.

Duffy - Mercy (Image Analysis)

Artist Image Analysis on Prezi

After watching The video 'Mercy' by Duffy, felt that some of the images portrayed in the video are also ones that we could look to use in our video. An example of this is the retro look, which are now popular in current music videos.

When looking at the number of visitors to Kt Tunstal's website, it shows that since a rapid increase to the number of website views in November 2009, the number has slowly increased after a fall in January 2010. This shows that she is becoming more and more popular and recognised in the music industry today.

Annotated Video

Here is the video with lyrics that Jamie made, which together, we have now added annotations to, to show our ideas for our music video.

Excuses - Audience

We have decided that the audience for our video, will be 14 - 25 year olds after conducting research on various websites of similar artists. This research has been done Here and Here. From looking at similar artists, we have decided to target our artist and video at a similar audience to these. The majority of this audience would be young females, those below 18 would respond well to the innocence and youthfulness of the artist, as they appear fun, and reiterate the ephos of 'Girl Power', the older female members of the audience would respond to the more sexual themes in the videos, like we blogged about in 'Katy Perry- I Kissed A Girl' and would pick up on the more grown-up image conventions of the artist. The male members of the audience would also respond to this due to the attractiveness of the artist, and the use of sight lines in the video, as they focus closely on the artist herself and how she appears to be performing straight to the viewer.

Duffy - Audience

After looking at the number of views to Duffy's website, it is clear that the views increase and decrease dramatically monthly. This is due to a new single of hers coming out attracting more views.

Video: Lyrics + Song

Lyrics "Excuses"

I've lost the use of speach, so I will

Sing for you instead, I know that

Look in your eyes, counts for

Nothing, against me.

'Cause you said there would be fire, when I was

Caught up in your head, but I

Refused to play your game, so I

Left for home instead.

But the scars are just stars,

That you burnt, and you hurt,

When you said all of those things, that you

Say you didn't mean.

But you lie when you're looking at me...

And it goes,

Meaningless, won't count for this,

Won't make enough excuses.

Talk for this, I won't stand for this,

Can't handle your excuses.

If I had to draw the line, I would

Make it all worth while, I would

Get something from this, if it would

Help me figure out.

But when your cannon fired, you took my

Plastic soldiers out, if I

Knew you'd shoot your gun, maybe I'd

Put your fire out

But the scars are just stars,

That you burnt, and you hurt,

When you said all of those things, that you

Say you didn't mean.

But you lie when you're looking at me...

And it goes,

Meaningless, won't count for this,

Won't make enough excuses.

Talk for this, I won't stand for this,

Can't handle your excuses.

If happiness was served on a plate,

You would've had it long ago.

But you couldn't find your own,

So you took all mine instead...

But the scars are just stars,

That you burnt, and you hurt,

When you said all of those things, that you

Say you didn't mean.

But you lie when you're looking at me...

Production Meeting-Notes 14/10

Here are the notes from the production meeting we had today:

iTunes

iTunes is a proprietary digital media player application, used for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The application is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple's iPod and iPhone lines, as well as the iPad.

Films, television programs, music videos, podcasts, and the App Store (for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad) have been added to iTunes' extensive store catalog.

On January 6, 2009, Phil Schiller announced in his Macworld 2009 keynote speech that over 6 billion songs had been downloaded since the service first launched on April 28, 2003, making it the largest online music store in the world.

At the previous Macworld Expo 2008, Apple CEO Steve Jobs stated that the service had set a new single day record of 20 million songs on December 25, 2007

The iTunes movie catalog includes content from 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment

Source

The iTunes music store continued it's phenomenal growth in 2005 with a 241% increase in site traffic, according to research gathered by Nielsen NetRatings, taking the number of users from 6.1 million to 20.7 million - that's over 14% of active net users.

More interestingly, Nielsen NetRatings also tried to find out who those users were. The biggest age group was 12-17 year olds, with a slight bias towards male users.

iTunes would be a great place to promote a music video, it is the most used music purchasing program and in 2006 it was recorded there was 20.1 million uses (There would be a lot more than that now). That is a massive market which could see your video, as iTunes is used all over the world your music video could be seen worldwide. You would have to seek permission from all parties involved so for our case it would have to be the artist/song writer of the song we are using.

Location Analysis.

Below are screenshots from various music videos by similar artists to ours: 

'Katy Perry- I Kissed A Girl' 

This shot uses contrast between the artist and the location to make her stand out. The location is an outside setting, with a stone wall covered in feminine, pink roses in the background. The use of this setting tones the sexual themes down in the video and adds a sense of girlyness and innocence. This appeals to the target audience of this artist as many of them are young girls (below 18) who look up to the artist as a positive role model, so she would not want to be accused of glamourising sexual themes to such a young audience. However, the sexual nature of parts of this video, including the costumes seen in this shot appeal to the older female members and male members of her target audience, because they enjoy watching her dressing and acting in this way.

'Sixpence None The Richer- Kiss Me' 

In this shot, the band members are seen singing the song, whilst sitting on a bench. The outside, night time, location reflects the lyrics 'beneath the milky twilight' which is sung throughout. The use of this location and the way in which it reflects the lyrics adds relevance to the video and the song, as they fit together so well. I think this technique is something we could potentially look into to use in our video as it adds a sense of narrative which appeals to the audience as it increases their understanding of the lyrics.

'KT Tunstall- Black Horse And The Cherry Tree' 

Performance is a key part in this video, the location we see here is similar to that the whole way through the video. The dark background allows the main focus to be on the artist throughout, by contrasting with the lighting on her, and her pale skin. I think we could use a similar location to that in this video in ours because it allows the artist and the music to 'speak for itself' and stand out, without too much confusion or fussiness in the background.

'Lily Allen- The Fear' 

In this shot we see the artist performing from inside a retro-style caravan. The use of vintage and retro-inspired clothing, locations and props is a popular convention in female singer/songwriters because it makes them appear individual and creative, which reflects their music. I think we could take inspiration from some of the vintage and retro style things we see in other music videos to give our artist a sense of creativity and uniqueness.

'Duffy- Mercy'

This video, like the previous one by KT Tunstall, focuses on performance as opposed to a strong narrative. The location used appears to be a type of dance hall, with strong lighting to emphasize the artist performing in the centre. Again, this video has a retro style to it, due to the muted colour scheme and styling of the artist, which reflects her vocal style which is often compared to that of Dusty Springfield.

'Kate Nash- Foundations'

Again in this video, retro and vintage-inspired themes play a huge role in the overall style of the video. This reflects the quirky and individual lyrics and musical score of the song as well as the personal style which has been created for the artist (Dyer's theory states that an artist is constructed in a particular way to appeal to the audience, this retro style makes the audience believe the artist is genuinely unique and creative in her style). I think this quirkiness and individual sense of style would be good to look into for our music video as it would highlight the creativity of our artist, which would appeal to the audience.

Katy Perry - Audience

When looking at the audience of Katy Perry's website, it is clear that when she brings out a new single, the number of visits increases massivley. In June and July 2010, the number of visits to her website increased by 100,000 compared to in February 2010. This is also when she bought out singles such as 'California Gurls' and 'Teenage Dream'

Katie Melua - Closest Thing To Crazy

This video is set in a empty room which could be seen as a recording studio as it has a board which is being controlled, the room also has other equipment which could be seen in a recording studio. The room looks low cost with the wooden floor and you can see the light shining through the dust in the room, this also adds to the low cost effect which is similar to other music videos of this genre. Even though they could have been expensive to make, the effect looks low cost with the setting

(to be completed)

Duffy - Warwick Avenue Video Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhZ5-L9znt8

Embedding disabled by request

The part of the video shows Duffy sitting in the back of a car, looking sad with a sign for 'Warwick Avenue Station' in the background.














The rest of the video shows Duffy singing when in the back of the car about leaving 'Warwick Avenue' for the last time.














The camera uses a close-up on her face to show that she is crying and very upset about leaving for the last time.

After watching this video, i have realised that even a simple setting (car) can be very effective with the correct use of different camera angles. In this video, they only used close-ups and this worked very well, because it meant that the main focus was always on duffy and her facial expressions.

Katy Perry- I Kissed A Girl

Below are screen shots from the video for 'I Kissed A Girl' By Katy Perry

In this first shot, we see a close up of the artists' legs laying on a bed. From the beginning of the video, the artist is sexualised to the audience, with close up shots of parts of her body. This would appeal to the male audience viewers, who enjoy looking at her body, but also to the female audience members who look up to her, and aspire to look or be like her. The use of the muted shades create a girly and innocent feel to the shot, which is later contrasted. 

In this shot, we again see the artist lying on  bed, which immediately creates a sexual atmosphere. The muted shades seen before are now contrasted with her dark hair and the red cushions, which again add to the sexual feel of the video. The use of the toy bunny as a prop in the bed brings out the girly, playful and innocent side to the video and the artist. This ensures that the video is not entirely sexual, but remains with a innocent side to make it appeal to the younger viewers. 

In this close up shot of the artist's face, the use of sight lines create a flirty and sexual mood. Throughout the video there are countless shots of the artist looking directly to the camera. The effect of this is that the audience becomes drawn into the video, and are made to feel like it is them she is singing to. 

This shot is contrasted to the earlier ones, as now there is a much more sexual feel to the scene. The artist is shown in black lingerie, along with a group of girls dressed the same. The dark lace of their underwear is contrasted to their pale skin, and the pretty, girly roses and flowers on the wall in the background. 

This is one of the final shots of the video, and show the artist in bed, next to her boyfriend (reference in song 'hope my boyfriend don't mind it'), waking up from the dream in which she 'Kissed A Girl'. This twist at the end makes the video appear comical and emphasizes the fun, playful side of the artist and her music. 

Gabriella Cilmi- Sweet About Me

This is the official video for 'Sweet About Me' by Gabriella Cilmi. The entire video is based in what appears an abandoned waarhouse-type space, with a mixture of performance footage, and snippets of narrative in the same location. There are many close up shots of the instruments, band members, and of the artist herself. This emphasizes the "all about the music" ephos many artists of the Indie genre maintain. There are also close up shots of the artist herself, and what she is wearing, including her shoes, and the multiple necklaces around her neck. The style of items of clothing she is wearing appear to be vintage-inspired, particularly her jewellery, which creates the image that she is individual, and unique, and pays attention to the small details in what she wears. I think this style of jewellery, including necklaces with charms, would be a good thing to use when styling the artist for our music video. Below are some pictures of similar necklaces I found in the online stores for Urban Outfitters and Topshop, which often focus their collections on vintage inspired clothing.

'Tiny Camera Necklace', Urban Outfitters

'Heart in Letter Necklace', Topshop

Amy Macdonald- Image Analysis.

These images are of singer/songwriter Amy Macdonald. From the clothing choices she (or her stylists) have made, the image created for her is one which takes inspiration from vintage styles, but with a modern edge. Her casual and relaxed hairstyle and make up creates a typical "girl next door" image, and makes her look like someone her target audience can relate to. Her typical fan would be a teenage girl, with aspirations of being like her, and would look up to her as a positive role model. Like the images of male singer/songwriters and artists of the Indie genre (or sub genres) that we have previously studies, the use of vintage inspired pieces allow the artist to appear creative and individual, which reflects the music they make. I think the use of vintage and retro inspired clothing would be an obvious choice to use in our music video, as it is a major convention of artists similar to ours, and emphasizes the uniqueness and creative side of the artist.

KT Tunstall- Black Horse And The Cherry Tree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK8rHqddU4w&ob=av2n
(embedding disabled by request)

Here is the official video for KT Tunstall's 'Black Horse And The Cherry Tree'. Throughout the video we see the artist herself take on different images to create what appears to be a band, but is actually her playing each instrument as a different 'character' or a different part of her image or personality. Like the videos we have looked at before, the making of the music and the instruments play a key role in the making of the video. There are many close up shots of the instruments being played, and they are often a key focus of the shots throughout the entire video. I think from this we need to take this into account, so when we make our video, lots of emphasis is put on the actual music and the instruments themselves.

Similar Artists

Similar Artists on Prezi

I created this Prezi of similar artists to Sarah Holmes using my own knowledge of the genre, Spotify and Youtube to suggest artists simlar to ours. I began with starting points including KT Tunstall, who our artists lists as one of her major influences. I think when we created a Prezi of similar artists before, it gave us a good starting point into our research and planning into the genre, so hopefully this will once again be of use. The artists in this are mainly individual female artists like ours, some are typical of the Indie genre, but many mix conventions from Indie, Alternative, Pop, and Rock genres to create their image and music style.

Change Of Plan.

We have come across a far few problems recently in finding a suitable artist and song to use in our music video. Firstly our original artist backed out of the project, then the song by David Smith was not exactly as to what we were expecting, we then were put in touch with a female artist of the Indie/Pop genre called Sarah Holmes. We researched her music on Myspace, and took particular liking to her song 'Excuses'. Although our research up to now has been based on male artists, I think that a lot of the conventions in this genre will be regardless of gender, so we can still apply some of this to our music video.

Emails

Here are the emails between us and the artist we are going to use

(Click on the picture to see it more clearly)

Using Youtube to show our Video

YouTube will be one of the places we will show our Music Video, it is the 3rd most visited website and it averages nearly 20 million visitors per month. That is a massive market that could see our Music Video;the demographic is around 44% are female, 56% male, and the dominant group is 12- to 17-year-olds. We are going to aim our music video at 14-25 year olds and with previous research I have done on youtube. The target market we are aiming for is the same one on YouTube that mostly watches the type of genre we are going to use. 

Changing Artist

After having alot of problems with our artist we had to look for a different one, unfortunately we have been  researching for another male artist but we have been unable to find anyone or gained/received permission to use their song.

Because of these reasons we have changed to a female artist, more will be posted on this shortly

Change In Artist

After encountering problems with our artists, we have had to change to a female artist. Although our research has been on male artists, the information that we have does also apply to female artists, however we would have to think about the dress codes differently and apply this to a female artist. We have now found a song, which we like and have ideas about how to use it in a music video.

Possible Locations for our Music Video

I have been looking around for locations that we may be able to use for our music video and have found some locations that we may be able to use.

Outside shops can be used if we were to so a scene where the artist will be busking.

An image of the artist performing on stage is also one that could be used in our video.

Jonathan Clay

Today we have been researching unsigned artists of the Indie genre on Myspace music. We came across this artist, called Jonathan Clay. We listened to some of his songs and immediately were inspired, particularly by his song 'Carousel'. We have emailed Jonathan requesting permission to use this song in our music video and are waiting for a reply. Hopefully we will gain permission to use this song, as we think it could lead to a very effective end product. 

Jonathan Clay

Myspace

New Direction?

So, after having received the song we had planned to use, Breathe, we listened to it many times, and conducted some audience research with other Media Studies students in our year. From this research, we have decided to go back and look for a new artist and song to make a music video for because we think that the quality of the recording, and the lyrics were limited for the final product we could achieve. We are now researching new artists on unsigned websites and myspace music to find a new direction for our product.

Breathe. Lyrics.

These are the lyrics for our song 'Breathe' by David Smith, which is going to be the song in our music video.

Breathe.

You claimed a lot of what you are
Is a fabrication built on scars
I wanna break away from civilisation
I wanna end today’s sense of depression
Don’t you fade away my recreation
Feeling the pain today of divine intervention

You look at me and I say breathe in, breathe in
You look at me and I say breathe in, breathe in
You broke a seal when sober
Regret fades, placidity with murder
But she brought, regression to your feet
Don’t cry for, don’t cry for me
Your wake is already over
Through pillars no one’s heard, the vigil waits with truth unearthed
But he’s breeding frustrations
I’ve learned to mourn for the son

Don’t cry for, don’t cry for me, all doubts are manifest in you

You look at me and I say breathe in, breathe in
You look at me and I say breathe in, breathe in

Our Song!

Breathe_-_Demo.mp3

Here is the mp3 file for the song we are going to use in our music video. It is called Breathe, and is by a friend of mine called David Smith, who currently attends The Brit School in London. He has given us permission to use his song in our video but unfortunately will probably not be featuring in it due to his school commitments in London. This means we will have to find someone with the look we are trying to achieve, or potential to have this look made for them, who is willing to learn the song to perform in our video. The song currently is quite long, but we plan to edit some parts to make it shorter, for example, much of the beginning is just introduction which can be cut out.

Snow Patrol: Record Labels

Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The band's first three records, the EP Starfighter Pilot (1997), and the studio albums Songs for Polarbears (1998) and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up (2001), were commercially unsuccessful.
Genres
Alternative rock, post-Britpop, power pop, indie rock
Source

There albums were released by the independent record labels:


Electric Honey

'Which is run by students studying the HNC & HND in Music Business course, as well as students studying the Advanced Diploma in Music Industry Management & Marketing course at Stow College in Glasgow, Scotland'

Jeepster Records


'Jeepster Records is a London, England-based independent record label which is currently the home of bands Parka and SixNationState. The label is noted for having been the home of critically acclaimed artists Belle and Sebastian and Snow Patrol.
Jeepster Records was founded in 1995. Their first signing, Belle and Sebastian, proved a success and enabled the label to sign other acts in following years, namely Snow Patrol in December 1997, Salako in 1998, Looper in 1999 and The Gentle Waves in 2000.
While Jeepster's acts, particularly Belle & Sebastian, received critical acclaim, the label found themselves financially troubled and were not in a position to renew the contracts of its most successful artists in 2002.This effectively put the label into a dormant state whereby they were unable to invest in signing new artists.'

Snow Patrol then signed for a major record label called 'Polydor Records' which is owned by the 'Universal Music Group'


Polydor Records (UK)

'In the early 1970s, the main source of income for the label was probably the enormously successful UK band Slade. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the label was also home to The Jam. Though Polydor's American branch is defunct, in the United Kingdom Polydor continues to sign chart-topping acts. Polydor remains one of the strongest labels in the country — with artists such as Girls Aloud, Cheryl Cole, Take That, La Roux, Duffy, Klaxons, Delphic, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Saturdays, James Morrison, Kaiser Chiefs, Boyzone, Alphabeat, The Courteeners, S Club 7, S Club 8, Rachel Stevens and Ellie Goulding. Polydor also has a strong indie roster through the Fiction imprint with acts such as Ian Brown, Bright Eyes, Elbow (band), White Lies, The Maccabees, Kate Nash, Snow Patrol, Filthy Dukes, and Crystal Castles.'

Razorlight - America

In this video, the main focus is on the artists and their instruments. This is to show the skill of the musicians. The props that are used in the video are the instruments, a screen for showing pictures and the microphones. The lighting in the video is very basic and uses only spotlights, lamps and hanging light to light up the room. The setting is also very basic in that it is in an empty room, with just the band and their instruments. The video only shows the band performing, however on the screen behind, it shows images of America. This is to emphasise the name of the song, but without, taking away the main emphasis, which is the skill of the musicians.

Razorlight - Record Labels

Razorlight is an English-Swedish indie rock band, which was formed in the year 2002. They are mainly known in the U.K after topping the charts in 2006 with the single 'America'. They were signed to Vertigo Records, which was operate by Mercury Music Group. The parent company (Universal Music Group) are a major label.

Vertigo Records is operated by Mercury Music Group and is a UK based record label.

Source

One Night Only - Say You Don't Want It

This image is taken from the video of One Night Only - Say You Don't Want It and shows Emma Watson










In this video, the band have realised that one of the ways that they might be able to increase the numbers of watchers of their video would be by including a well-known actor or actress in the video. This means that the audience will immediately recognise the face of the famous person and probably watch the rest of the video. In this case, the video includes the actress Emma Watson who is recognised as playing the part of Hermione in The film Harry Potter. By using her in this video, it will mean that the video will be watched not only by the fans of the band, but also by fans of Emma Watson.

Paolo Nutini - Dress Codes

The typical choice of clothing that he is normally seen wearing in pictures consists of a smart/casual shirt, skinny jeans and he occasionaly wears a cardigan over his shirt.

This is one of the images that he creates with his choice of clothing

I have noticed that when he is performing on stage, he tends to wear a smart white shirt with jeans.

The Smiths- Image Analysis.

The Smiths were a English rock genre band who formed in the 1980's. They, like many modern and classic Indie genre artists, were signed to an Independent record label (Rough Trade Records). From the image above, you can get a sense of their dress code, typically, smart shirts, or t-shirts with skinny-leg trousers, and in this case leather jackets. The glasses worn by front man Morrisey, are very similar to the ones I blogged about previously, when worn by a member of modern band, Two Door Cinema Club in their video for Undercover Martyn. These Wayfarer style glasses are now a typicallly seen to be worn by people who take an interest in Indie music and the culture surrounding it, designer brands such as Rayban are a favourite, but cheaper styles can be picked up from High Street stores which specialise in Indie style clothing such as these from Topman. I think that it is important that when we style our artist for our music video we look back at classic bands, as well as modern ones, because they often inspire Indie bands nowadays in their clothing choices, and vintage or vintage inspired pieces are very popular with Indie artists and fans.

'House Of The Rising Sun': The Animals & Muse

The Animals; House of The Rising Sun (original)



Muse; House Of The Rising Sun (cover)



Here is the original video for 'House Of The Rising Sun' by The Animals, and the cover version (not video) by Muse. This song mixes the Indie genre, with a grittier Rock style sound. As you can hear, the bands are very similar sounding, the difference between them being that Muse mix the original song and incorporate their own Alternative style to 'make it their own'. Muse today, are seen as an Alternative Rock band similar to Radiohead, but many people link their slower, grittier, more melodic music to that of Jeff Buckley (who I have previously blogged about). When our final song has been chosen to use in our music video, I think if it has a more melodic and deeper style to the upbeat, more Indie Pop genre songs and artists we have looked at, such as James Morrison and One Night Only, then we could look at The Animals, Muse, Jeff Buckley and other similar artists, such as The Smiths for more inspiration when planning our video.

The Animals.

The Animals were a Newcastle based band in the 1960's. They combined classic Indie with Psychadelic Rock and Blues genres. Their most famous song, 'House Of The Rising Sun' has been covered by modern day Indie Rock band 'Muse' and many other Indie genre bands would state The Animals as an  inspiration for the music they make. They were signed to Atlantic Records, which now has artists such as Plan B and Paolo Nutini signed to them, who we would class as being similar to our artist.  It is clear that the dress codes of modern Indie genre bands that we have blogged previously have been inspired by classic bands like The Animals, for example, in the picture above, the band members are wearing skinny leg, smart, suit style trousers, with smart brogues or Chelsea boots, with shirts and blazers which are very similar to those worn by Mumford & Sons. The difference between the bands we have looked at previously and The Animals is that they have a much softer, upbeat sound, whereas The Animals remain true to the blues genre alot, with a deep and gritty vocal sound, this is predominant in the song 'House Of The Rising Sun'.

Getting Into The Music Industry- 'The Indie Way'

We have previously blogged about the BBC TV show 'Later Live With Jools Holland' as a popular way for bands in the Indie genre (and Indie based sub genres) to gain more recognition and increase their fan base. Jools Holland personally seeks new and up-and-coming bands to promote on his show.

However, not all bands trying to get into the music industry have this opportunity. The Indie genre is often related to bands travelling around their area, performing local gigs in pubs, clubs and at open mic nights, which spread the word about what they are doing to form an initial fan base.

The artists can also go down the classic route of trying to gain a record deal, by sending their CD's or EP's to record labels to be listened to, in hope that they will arrange meetings or recording with them.

These days, television is one of the best ways for a little known artist to become a household name virtually overnight. Talent shows in the UK such as ITV's 'The X Factor' and 'Britain's Got Talent' are some of the highest rated TV shows in the country. Typically, Indie artists steer clear of shows like this, as they focus often on Pop and R&B genre artists, as opposed to skilled musicians and songwriters. However, in recent years, this gap in the TV market has been filled with Channel 4's 'Orange Act Unsigned' which scours the country for singer/songwriters and musicians trying to 'make it big' in the music industry, but have had little success previously. Another TV show is Sky1's 'Must Be The Music' fronted by classical pianist turned signer Jamie Cullum, alongside Sharleen Spiteri and Dizzee Rascal, which allows musicians, singers, songwriters and bands of any genre to audition.

The biggest success story of this type of show is Tommy Reilly, who won 'Orange Act Unsigned'. After beating two Indie genre bands, 'Hip Parade' and 'Scarlet Harlots' he automatically received a record deal with 'Universal Music' which resulted in his release of 2 albums since then, and gained a number 14 chart hit in the UK with 'Gimme a Call'.

Through promotional work and gigs, artists could also be approached to feature in music magazines, for the Indie genre artists the main magazine in the UK which they would hope to be asked to feature in is NME, this year, The Drums had a full feature and front page in the magazine which gained them huge recognition in the UK and increased their fan base enormously.

A way for artists who have already been signed to an independent record label, who have recordings inplace to gain more recognition, would be to release their music on iTunes, before their great successes 'Mumford & Sons' and 'The Drums' have been featured on iTunes' 'Free Single Of The Week' feature, which allows customers to download the track for free onto their iPod or iPhone. This can do great things for the artists, as often customers will download the 'Free Single Of The Week' even if they have not heard the song, or heard of the artist previously, they could then form an interest in the artist, having listened to the free song, and go on to download or purchase more material, increasing the fan base and popularity of the artist.

Although it is difficult for artists to gain a record deal in that Tommy Reilly did (as only one act is chosen from thousands of auditionees to be signed) it is becoming increasingly more popular for Indie genre artists to do so. However, remaining true to the routes of the Indie genre, the most popular way is by building a local fan base, performing lots of small (often acoustic) gigs, which can result in being signed to an independent record label, which could  be completely independent, or be a subsidiary for a large record label such as Universal Music, which would probably be the route our artist would choose to go down in order to get signed.

Record Labels & Similar Artists- Prezi.

Record Labels & Similar Artists on Prezi

Now that we have looked more into the distribution of artists similar to ours, here is a Prezi presentation of similar artists, arranged by their record labels. This is useful to us as if our artist is similar to one or two of these ones inparticular, we could look at the labels they are signed to if we were trying to get our act signed.

The Drums.

The Drums are an American 4-piece band who combine Indie and Pop conventions to create their unique, catchy sound. They state The Smiths as one of the bands the take most inspiration from when producing their music. (Source) They, alongside Mumford & Sons, The Fratellis and Bombay Bicycle Club, are signed to Island Records, as well as French-based label Kitsune, which also has popular Indie genre artists on its books including Klaxons, Foals and Two Door Cinema Club. They are relevant to us as a group, as they are a young Indie band, with a unique sound, and over the past few years have gained huge success from what seems like nowhere. After making a name for themselves, they had a front page and full feature spread in NME magazine, increasing their popularity and fan base hugely.

Two Door Cinema Club- Undercover Martyn.

Two Door Cinema Club are a 3 piece electropop/indie rock band from England & Northern Ireland. They are signed to Glassnote Records (U.S.A) and Kitsune Records (France). This video cleverly uses the band in a 'crowd surfing' position, being held by people wearing full black against a black background to make it appear as if the band are puppets, or toys. The main focus of the video its on the band itself- which is helped by the fact they are the only thing that stands out against the black background as well as the use of many close up shots of the band members performing, and their instruments. The use of sight lines is important in this video as it allows the band members to connect with the audiene- by looking directly into the camera lens on many occasions, particularly in the close up shots. This emphasizes the convention of bands in the Inidie genre (or Indie based sub-genres) that they are 'all about the music', but the video is also in a way, contrasted to this, as the band are made to look and act like puppets- controlled by people other than themselves. This use of sarcasm, and tongue-in-cheek humour is backed up by the amplification of the word 'basement' in the lyrics, as everytime the band sing it, the word appears in a crude, yet comical way on screen. This is all done to provide the audience with an engaging, yet comical performance, bringing in conventions of the 'electropop' genre combining with the typically Indie sound of the song, which produces the unique sound and overall image of the band. The dress code of the band in this video features many of the conventions in dress codes for artists of the Indie genre, the band members are dressed smartly, with a casual and individual twist, such as the bright coloured knitwear, skinny leg jeans, deck/boat- type shoes and thick, black framed glasses. This emphasizes the creativity of the band and their unique look which bands of the Indie genre tend to lean towards to mirror their view of the music they make.