PERFORMANCE SHOOT - FIRST FOOTAGE TAKE

The shoot of our group's performance today was a success, we used very good lighting and had an extensive equipment list, giving our shoot the sterotypical extensive range of instruments commonly featured in a music video (drumkit, bass and electric guitar, 2 synthesisers, amps and a microphone/stand). However, the majority of the shots were very static with limited movement and did not convey the approach that was our ideal. We wanted to shoot a more lively and adrenaline driven performance but unfortunately got a Robert Palmer style video which is the opposite of what we wanted.

It is because of lack of performance footage to use on the final clip that me and my group are going to do a second shoot with better choreography and livelier charisma from the band; ideally taking influences from The Who, The Strokes, Blur and The Rolling Stones.

A2 MEDIA STUDIES CALL SHEET FOR HELENA BEAT (BIKE SHOOT)

• Track - Helena Beat - Foster The People
• Length - 3:45
• Shoot date - 11th December 2011
• Location - Alleyway on Palace road, Hampton Court

• Crew: Alex Atkinson, 07523208980, aatkinson@yahoo.co.uk
• Crew: Will Jones, 07708633380, willjones567@hotmail.co.uk
• Crew: Jonny Bohane, 07789764914, jonnybohane@hotmail.co.uk
• Crew: Richard Holt, 07592016332, richard_holt@hotmail.com
• Crew: Joe Eddy 07473026285, joeeddy@hotmail.co.uk
• Camera equipment: Nikon D3100 Digital SLR
• Lighting equipment: Natural lighting (outdoors shoot)
• Props
• 4 Bikes
• Band Clothing - Similar to performance shoot - Generally own clothes (Converses and shades for Will)

A2 MEDIA STUDIES CALL SHEET FOR HELENA BEAT (PERFORMANCE SHOOT)

• Track - Helena Beat - Foster The People
• Length - 3:45
• Shoot date - 9th December 2011
• Location - Joyce Grenfell Centre Hall - Claremont Fan Court School
• Shoot location 

• Crew: Alex Atkinson, 07523208980, aatkinson@yahoo.co.uk
• Crew: Will Jones, 07708633380, willjones567@hotmail.co.uk
• Crew: Jonny Bohane, 07789764914, jonnybohane@hotmail.co.uk
• Crew: Richard Holt, 07592016332, richard_holt@hotmail.com
• Crew Joe Eddy , 07473026285, joeeddy@hotmail.co.uk
  
• Crew: Greg Flynn
• Camera equipment (Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera - backup camera (Nikon D5000))
• Lighting equipment (Stage lights that filtered) 
• Props
• Instruments - Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drum kit with sticks and cymbals, Keyboard, Synthesiser, 3 amplifiers, microphone and mic stand.
• Band Clothing - Generally own clothes (Converses and shades for Will)

NEW SPOTIFY APP ON THE GUARDIAN

The Guardian has just released a new Spotify app which allows users to listen to albums reviewed by the guardian or observer.

This updated version of Spotify allows commercial partners to tie in for mutual benefit - synergy.

A2 MEDIA STUDIES CALL SHEET FOR HELENA BEAT (KEYBOARD & BOGGLE ANIMATION SHOOTS)

• Track - Helena Beat - Foster The People
• Length - 3:45
• Shoot date - 2nd December 2011
• Location - DT Studio Claremont Fan Court School
• Shoot location:

• Crew: Alex Atkinson, 07523208980, aatkinson@yahoo.co.uk
• Crew: Will Jones, 07708633380, willjones567@hotmail.co.uk
• Camera equipment (Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera)
• Lighting equipment (Angle poise lamp)
• A Green Table Cloth, One Roland Keyboard (Same as used in the performance shoot), One Boggle set.
• 2nd Animation scene so no costume included.

OUR VINYL SHOOT

The shoot of our spinning vinyl was a success. We decided to use a vinyl in our video because it helped us to achieve a retro feel in the mise-en-scene.

In the set up, we had some problems achieving the levels of light needed for capturing our footage, however, we found that the best way to achieve it was to use natural lighting instead of our own.

Here are some of our stills in the shoot, showing the different lighting in different parts of the room:

LIGHTING UP THE KEYS

Indietronica typically contains heavy use of keyboards and synthesisers, which is why my group and I decided to further this concept by lighting up the keys on the synthesiser (the one used in the video by singer) in different colours. 

 



We took this influence from the Michael Jackson's video for Billy Jean: When Michael Jackson walks through the streets, the slabs on the pavement light up. We have cut these images to the beat to tie in with the codes and conventions and to tie in with the art-house/neo-psychedelia theme.






We used green, red, blue and yellow as our primary colours:

NME ARTICLE

Are Major Labels About To Abandon The CD? Er, No

PLANNING THE BIKE SHOOT

We decided to feature a scene of the band cycling to the recording studio. This fits youth culture and added a narrative line. The Smiths cycled through Manchester in their video for 'Stop Me...', they are the icons of Indie so it was a good idea to reference their video as an influence for ours.



Another video we are using as an influence is Arcade Fire's video for 'The Suburbs', whose bike shoots are more angled towards youth culture as they have teenagers cycling not young adults, therefore their behaviour in the video is more playful than in The Smiths.




LOCATION
We haven chosen to shoot this at an alleyway in Hampton Court because it iscentral to where everyone is coming from and we can also keep the area we want to film in quite private.

PROPS
We need 4 bikes at Hampton Court somehow! As not all of the cast members own a bike, it will be neccessary to borrow these and get them to the location in advance of the shoot date. Fortunately, one of the cast members lives locally and is able to store the bikes. We will need a tripod for the camera.

COSTUME
As it is cold outside in December, all the band members will be wearing coats and not the same clothes as the performance shoot as this is a different period of the video.

SCHEDULING
As this shoot is to be done outside, the ideal is to have good weather and on a nice day so we are reliant on the weather being good to also achieve the ideal lighting quality. As it is winter, we can't do this after school so have set aside several dates to keep free so we can decide on the day when we see the weather.

POP PALATE

The talk by Trudy Bellinger called 'Pop Palate' gave very good insight into directing pop videos. She has worked with Girls Aloud, Pixie Lott, Sophie Ellis Bextor. She explained about how the videos are designed to suit the artist and song.

The British Music Experience interactive gallery was very interesting, a whole musuem of music through the ages and touch-pad guides of the history with lots of donated memorabilia from artists and other instruments.

ALBUM COVERS THROUGH THE DECADES

I have done another PREZI to show how album artwork has changed over the decades.

A2 MEDIA STUDIES CALL SHEET FOR HELENA BEAT(VINYL SHOOT)

• Track - Helena Beat - Foster The People
• Length - 3:45
• Shoot date - 16th November 2011
• Location - Alex Atkinson's house, Palace Road, Hampton Court

• Crew: Alex Atkinson, 07523208980, aatkinson@yahoo.co.uk
• Crew: Will Jones, 07708633380, willjones567@hotmail.co.uk
• Camera equipment (Canon EOS 550d)
• Lighting equipment (Table Lamps and some natural lighting)
• Props - One vinyl player and one vinyl
• As with the scrabble shoot, there are no people starring so there are no costumes needed

MARKETING POPULAR MUSIC

Roy Shuker defined popular music as "commercially mass produced music for a mass market" (Understanding Popular Music 2001). There is a lot more to popular music than this: it has become instrumental in reflecting and expressing popular culture and cannot just be defined in musical terms as it now encompasses a great number of styles. Popular music shapes the way people (teenagers especially) dress, talk and sometimes behave, it has always been used as a cultural thermometer (protest of the 70s, peace and love in the 60s, today's hip hop).


Music is a complex media animal, dependent on so many other forms of media and technology to succeed. Many music fans restrict themselves to a certain style of music and are therefore not interested in anything outside of the genre; music stores like HMV tend to categorise their music by genre, and music streaming services like Spotify rely on your past choices in order to play new music that might be of interest to the listener. Artists have to work hard to obtain a wider audience to that of their genre, and increasingly marketing is dependent on alternative rather than traditional methods.


Web 2.0 applications work particularly well for the music industry and technology is moving very quickly.

TWITTER - Used by bands for sharing news with their followers, for example; forthcoming releases, radio promotion/gigs etc. It is also used for fan to fan communication, JLS fans in south-west London flocked to a church in Hampton Hill at 10pm one Tuesday night, when someone tweeted that they were there! Twitter is a huge marketing tool; that is often used to feed small amounts of information the fans, making them go and buy the product.

FACEBOOK - Social networking site used widely to interact with fans (more interaction than twitter), it gives people the feeling of interaction with the band themselves and also promotes chat. It can be used to show video clips of live performance (in October, Coldplay's live performance of their new album was streamed online), bands can also put on snippets of new releases, promote tours etc.


SPOTIFY - It is used to stream music from major and independent labels very cheaply (it used to be free), however, some people have criticised the rates that they charge, saying that the artist does not get enough benefit from the track. Users used to have a free account that was supported by visual and radio style advertising, but now it is by paid subscription and premium subscriptions come without advertising. Because Spotify is integrated with Facebook and other social media, it encourages music sharing which is a great form of promotion. Other music streaming sites include WiMP, Grooveshark, Pandora and MOG, they are increasingly popular and most have a smart phone application.

DIGIPAK ANALYSIS

The artwork for cds is pretty much the same for the old style jewel pack as it is for the newer digipaks, it is just presented in a different form. In this analysis, I will therefore choose the most interesting and relevant examples to analyse without limiting myself to the digipak format. Click HERE! to view my SlideShare presentation on digipaks and associated material.

ANALYSIS OF ALBUM COVERS

The artwork for cds is pretty much the same for the old style jewel pack as it is for the newer digipaks, it is just presented in a different form. In this analysis, I will therefore choose the most interesting and relevant examples to analyse without limiting myself to the digipak format.

KEYBOARD SHOOT PLANNING

We were inspired by Michael Jackson's video for Billie Jean for this shot and decided to do an alternative take off of this.

As we are using keyboards and synthesisers in our video, we thought that the best way to portray this would be to use animation again but with colours on the keyboard. I asked permission from the school music department to use a synthesiser for our shot, again we will take this shot in the DT studio and then replicate it in photoshop to get enough images for animation.

A2 MEDIA STUDIES CALL SHEET FOR HELENA BEAT (SCRABBLE SHOOT)

• Track - Helena Beat - Foster The People
• Length - 3:45
• Shoot date - 8th November 2011
• Location - DT Studio Claremont Fan Court School
• Shoot location 

• Crew: Alex Atkinson, 07523208980, aatkinson@yahoo.co.uk
• Crew: Will Jones, 07708633380, willjones567@hotmail.co.uk
• Camera equipment (Nikon D3100 Digital SLR camera)
• Lighting equipment (Angle poise lamp)
• One Scrabble Board
• Animation scene - no characters included

PLANNING THE SCRABBLE/BOGGLE SHOOT

Influenced by The Maccabees' Precious Time video, we wanted to use stop frame animation to be creative with our choruses. We are going to use Scrabble and Boggle to spell out the lyrics in the chorus that stand out to illuminate the lyrics.

In the early stages we tried this shoot at my house, it was good practice but the shots had poor natural lighting that day - it was a dull overcast day - despite setting up near the conservatory. We are very happy with concept but are planning our second shoot more thoroughly and are going to shoot in a location where the light levels can easily be controlled.

We will use an artificial light to bring out the vibrancy of the shot. We have chosen to use the DT studio because it is well lit and also there are tables large enough to hold the board and enough clear space around to set up the lighting and camera tripod.

We will use a digital SLR camera with a tripod which enables longer exposures without camera shake as this will capture the most detail.

My partner will take the images as he is a photographer anyway and I will manually control the light levels and do the set up for each shot.

The lyrics in the chorus that we are spelling out are:

Yeah yeah and it's okay.
I tie my hands up to a chair so I don't fall that way.
Yeah yeah and I'm alright.
I took a sip of something poison but I'll hold on tight.

PLANNING THE PERFORMANCE SHOOT

I decided that although our video was going to be mainly art house style, we could not dismiss all of the typical music video conventions as it would therefore be less marketable as a music video. This is why we decided to include elements of performance in the video.

Although Foster The People has only 3 band members, however, their videos with heavy performance element feature more live performers and we want to follow this trend. We decided to cash in on synergies as use the people in our media group in whose videos we will also be performing! This means we get used to working with each other and can learn from each other's techniques.

With 4 people, it is much easier to choreograph to the music, we do not want a static video (Like Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love) so as musician and regular performer, I feel this is my area of strength to make the performance energetic.

For our costumes, our lead vocalist will be wearing something more pretentious than the rest of the band to make him distinguishable as the frontman. The rest of the band will be wearing modern/more casual clothes to comply with the indietronica culture.

PUTTING OUR SONG INTO ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CS5

Before we were able to start filming on our music video, my group and I had to edit our song in Logic Pro 9 to achieve the right timings, I took responsibility for using automation (a volume control) to give us a fade out and a fade back in.

Our song was also very long initially (4 mins 36 secs) so finding footage for that length of time would be very difficult in time circumstances so I was able to cut the track down to 3 mins 45 seconds (Taking out the instrumental breaks which is sometimes done for music videos anyway) instead which still gives us the right amount time for footage (not too little).

We decided to use new technologies to demonstrate our understanding and filmed an explanation of how we did it.

 

Here is the screenshot of the edited track in Logic Pro - There were elements at the beginning that we did not want to use: I therefore cut the section and replaced it with another - the whirling sound, therefore giving us more time to film the vinyl spinning.

When we put our song into Premiere Pro, we had to change the sound levels on our music track as they were too high. When the decibels level is too high on any software, the audio file distorts and crackling can be heard, which is why it was essential our levels are lowered carefully. 

The original level of the track was 0 db, I lowered it to -1.7 as it was the highest level that would not distort.

VINYL SHOOT PLANNING

Influenced by retroism - we wanted to include a vinyl/player as we were lucky enough to have access to a working one and thought it would be a good feature in our video as it is less common to have this feature.

Oasis' video for Wonderwall was the only example of this I could find so it was a relatively fresh idea to think of as decks are being used in night clubs now for indietronica itself. We also like the idea of bringing old music memorabilia into a new/futuristic genre.






As to not damage the record player, we will shoot the footage of a vinyl player spinning at the friend's house. The last time we tried shooting in a house, the lighting and quality was poor so we simply plan to film this section when we get a bright day.

TREATMENT

I have finally decided to present my treatment in the form of a SlideShare as it is a new technology worth embracing and using to showcase my planning.

Click HERE! to view the slideshare of my treatment.

Although this treatment is a guide to the video's content, other ideas that my partner and I could potentially come up with would also be featured.

SPOTIFY FOUNDER SEAN PARKER CLAIMS 'FOSTER THE PEOPLE' EXEMPLIFIES IT'S SUCCESS

Sean Parker at San Francisco's Web 2.0 used our chosen band Foster the People as a perfect example of how bands and artists can make the big time, avoiding having to sign record deals with conglomerate labels like Parlophone, Geffen records, Atlantic and Virgin, by using Spotify to publicise their music.


Spotify's success - The Times

KEEPING UP WITH MUSIC NEWS

Every day, I look at NME's homepage to find out what's going in the music industry:

New technology plays a vital role in how I stay in touch with the music industry. For example, NME's gives me access to new music videos, tickets, merchandise, new albums, photos from gigs, competitions etc.

Click here to see NME.com

THE BRITISH MUSIC EXPERIENCE

Synergy at its best

We are planning a trip to The British Music Experience - O2, an interactive museum at the arena in London. The venue itself is very interesting, built as the Millenium Dome for the year 2000, the shell has been re-used to house a music venue, exhibition space, restaurants and the music experience. It has hosted ice rinks, classical concerts, rock concerts etc; Office space, houses, many media, creative and events organisations.

The British Music Experience is Britain's interactive museum of popular music.

It is hosting talks by music video directors to celebrate 30 years of MTV. 3 Directors are discussing their work and hopefully will give away some industry secrets, will post after the event!

THE SYNERGY BETWEEN BANDS AND THE PRODUCTS IN THEIR MUSIC VIDEOS

Films and television programmes typically do not contain products in their shows because of copyright and having to pay royalties, however, the rules are very different in music videos. There can be very effective synergies between bands and a products company, as some brands/manufacturers have a problem getting their products promoted, featuring them in music videos can bring publicity to the product and create trends of people using them. This means that generally the companies may return favours to the band by promoting their songs alongside their product.

A good example of this is in the video for Reptilia by The Strokes. As you can see below, there is a closeup shot of the drummer's foot kicking the bass drum, but he is also wearing Converse shoes - trademark footwear of the band, thus bringing publicity to the product.

It is because of the synergy between music videos and company's products that I will be featuring some trademark products in my video.

It is also very common for the band to feature their instruments in music videos as a way of 'trademark'. For example: Tom Delonge of Blink 182 always features his signature Gibson guitar in all of the band's music videos to promote the guitar as well as the song. In our video, we will feature close-ups of my fender guitar as an emphasis of this feature.

BAND AND RECORD LABEL WEBSITES

The internet is currently the main place for artists to promote their work worldwide, even small bands now have a webpage, for example: The Travelling Band are a small touring band from manchester who are not commercially successful but have a huge following, encouraged their pro-active use of the internet. They blog, post on Facebook frequently and make great use of their website and other media platforms.

Websites have the advantage of being available 24/7 worldwide, they are accessible by any age group and some are available in translation to other languages. Here, Foster The People's home page gives the option to translate into many different languages.




Bands tend to use websites to promote their music, especially new releases, give information, issue tour dates sell music for both download and hard copy, and also publicise and market merchandise. They can include Youtube links to music videos, background music when the site opens etc, there are often links to tv/radio shows, interviews and other kinds of publicity. Most offer a forum for fans to interact (a form of social media and links to other forms of social media).

Some bands/artists use the webpage to show their views and opinions: Radiohead use a blog to promote environmental issues, waste central is the official social media site for Radiohead fans to publicise their views - it is quite political, very environmental and a spring board for Thom Yorke's opinions.

LYRICS TO HELENA BEAT - FOSTER THE PEOPLE

Sometimes life it takes you by the hand.
It puts you down before you know it
It's gone and you're dead again.
I've been in places and I won't pretend
That I make it I just follow my head.
When its strange to take a walk downstairs
Sweep u all up on a corner and pay for my bread.
You know that I cannot believe my own truth
To show what a truth, got nothin' to lose.

Yeah yeah and it's okay.
I tie my hands up to a chair so I don't fall that way.
Yeah yeah and I'm alright.
I took a sip of something poison but I'll hold on tight.

You know those days when u wanted to choose
To not get out of bed and get lost in your head again.
You play the game but you gotta cut
Cuz' you're comin' down hard your joints are off stud.
I tried to say that's not the only way
I never knew if I could convince myself to change.
You were pacing I was insecure.
Slip and fall I got the call of the prison I was livin' in.

Yeah yeah and it's okay.
I tie my hands up to a chair so I don't fall that way.
Yeah yeah and I'm alright.
I took a sip of something poison but I'll hold on tight
(http://www.lyricsmania.com/helena_beat_lyrics_foster_the_people.html)


Lyrics play a vital role in the song as they are the subject matter for the visuals, shots and scenery for the video.

SHOOTING SCHEDULE AND VENUES

After planning, these are the places we realise we want to shoot:

1. Inside - Vinyl - Probably Alex's house
2. Bike shoot - Hampton Court alleyway (central for all involved) - weekend as need daylight
3. JCG hall - Performance
4. Inside (media classroom) - stop-frame animation
5. Music studio - other performance shot.

We had to get permission for use of the studio and hall
We need to consider lighting levels for all shots as it is autumn, weather for the outdoor shot and noise levels in the performance shot, so that we don't disturb the school.

FOSTER THE PEOPLE MARKETING

It is hard nowadays to find a band/artist who doesn't market themselves online. In some cases, it is the only way to get publicity and recognition. I therefore decided to look at their different marketing platforms and how each of them publicised the band.

INITIAL MARKETING

Not long after the group's formation, the band wrote and recorded 'Pumped Up Kicks', then posting it on their own website. After the song appeared on supergoodmusic.com, it drew attention from Nylon magazine who used the song in an advertising campaign. The song received alot of attention from many blogs and soon became big, drawing attention from record labels. There was no initial marketing from the band themselves.

WEBSITE
www.fosterthepeople.com
The design is the same as their album cover. The site shows clips of videos for their music (both live and promo). Tabs across the top give different options - videos, news, photos, tour dates etc - there is also a online shop selling music and t-shirts. It is a very new band so this store will probably enlarge.

MYSPACE
http://www.myspace.com/fosterthepeople
They have an advert at the top of the page promoting their album. The page uses the same styling (colours/fonts) as the website. There is a playlist featuring the bands tracks, available to play. Also featured are videos for songs (live and promo).

FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/fosterthepeople?sk=events#!/fosterthepeople?sk=wall
They post frequently but don't seem to reply to fan posts. This is a filled up site - there is alot on it. It makes up the as majority of their fanbase - young people. Lists events, song playlists, videos and tour dates.

TWITTER
http://twitter.com/#!/fosterthepeople
Album cover as profile picture. Feed of tweets - their own and from fans. Generally fans get a response if tweeted (more than Facebook). Average tweet update is daily.

WRITING A TREATMENT

Before planning any music video shoot, a treatment has to be written. A treatment is a document outlining the concept of the video. It is the starting point of any project and allows the production company to communicate its ideas to the artist. It describes locations, images, the look, tone and even colours of the intended video, it covers style, costume and overall 'story'.

Click Here! to see a good example of a treatment - I shall base mine on this!

MYSPACE AND OTHER PLATFORMS

Media and promotion is a fast moving industry, people are constantly looking for new ways to engage their potential audiences and consumers. With every product, marketing is aimed specifically at the target audience. Classical music promoters will advertise products and tickets in broadsheet newspapers like The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and classical music magazines. Pop bands would promote tickets through pre-watershed television advertising, music video channels (smash hits in particular) and girls magazines such as Sugar, Lucky and Seventeen.

My chosen group and genre are aiming at older teens and young people - the social group who are most in touch with and impressed by innovation. These bands make extensive use of modern technology to reach their target audience. Myspace has been used for a while now but new technologies Google Music, Spotify, Turntable, Soundcloud are increasingly popular. Music is accessed on the internet, via mobile phones/smart phones, computers, digital dowload etc, as well as the traditional radio and cd formats.







Bands promote themselves and their music using:

Music promos
Magazine advertising
Tv advertising - especially, but not exclusively on music channels


Flyers
Posters
Billboards
Merchandise
Touring and Festivals
New albums in record shops
TV or radio interviews (Jools Holland/Jonathon Ross/David Letterman (For America))


Myspace
Twitter
Facebook
Blogs
Emailing tasters and links to downloads
Forums
Fanclubs
YouTube
Celebrity reality shows (Strictly come dancing/I'm a Celebrity/Big Brother etc.)

Hype Machine
ReverbNation
Mobile Phone Ringtones
Promotion of new bands on the soundtrack of youth tv shows (Skins, Misfits etc.)

(PRESENTATION ON WEB 2.0 IN DIFFERENT FORMAT TO GO HERE)

DIGIPAKS

A digipak is copyrighted form of CD/DVD packaging. It is a gatefold card outer binding containing one or more plastic trays to hold the disc. Digipak has become the accepted name for this style of packaging, not just the patented. It has replaced jewel cases and they both have advantages and disadvantages. The packaging is stronger than a jewel case but the disc holder inside is more likely to crack, they are more environmentally friendly than a jewel case as they contain less plastic and there is research into using recycled materials to construct them with.

They have become more straightforward to create since the introduction of digipak i-create.












It is quite common now for classic bands (The Beatles, Nirvana, Queen etc.) to do re-issues of old albums and sell them in digipak form.

Click here to view the construction of a digipak, they are usually 4 panels (bookfold) but this example is 6.

Album packaging is a unique opportunity to market the band. Traditionally, LPs were packaged in a sleeve which had a picture of the artist on the front and a tracklisting on the back.

ANALYSIS OF MUSIC VIDEOS

My Music Video Analysis

ABOUT FOSTER THE PEOPLE

Foster The People are an Indie/Electronica band who formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009.

The lineup consists of:
Mark Foster - Lead Vocals, Keyboards, computers, programming, guitar
Cubbie Fink - Bass, Backing Vocals
Mark Pont - Drums/Percussion

The band's key single is Pumped Up Kicks, from their debut album Torches. The song had success in the UK and US, with its music video having over 20 million views to date on YouTube.

However, the song that we have chosen to use for our music video is Helena Beat which is the second single from the album. We chose Helena Beat because it was not as commercially popular as Pumped Up Kicks so we decided it would be a good one to use as we could publicise it with our own art-house style. With this approach we would have pre-concieved ideas allowing greater creative freedom.

The bands image is bright and colourful, which contrasts with most of their lyrics: Pumped Up Kicks is about the Columbine High School shootings.

The styling for their album and single digipaks is the same, with identical layout, fonts and colour (black and white with just a hint of mustard). They are in cartoon style but are quite unsettling on a second glance, which reflects the relationship between their music and lyrics as well.

PERMISSION TO USE TRACK

Copyright issues have meant that me and my group needed to get permission from the band to use their song in our music video, we used twitter to ask for their permission.

The UK Copyright Service website was helpful in explaining copyright as it applies to music.

MY PREZI ON THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS

There are many ways that I could have presented my research into the genre but I taught myself how to use Prezi so that I could present it in more of a creative form than an essay. Prezi is a very useful new technology as it allowed me to present different aspects of my research in a dynamic and visually exciting way. It is very easy to present videos and images and also helped me to organise my material coherently by using frames.

Click HERE! to view the prezi

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEOS

I have been watching music videos for many years but stand out very well as exemplary; I could watch them again and again without getting bored. Some videos make me think long after they've finished (Ava Adore - Smashing Pumpkins), some are visually pleasing (White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl), some are simply so challenging that they demand further viewings (Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun).

Here are a few that I hope will influence my work:

Maccabees - Precious Time
I love the idea of using the fast sequencing that they use to move cards around and the way this amplifies the music.

Arctic Monkeys - Brianstorm
More than 19 million views on YouTube so I'm not alone in loving this one. Its clashing lurid colours and fast moving, changing images cause the viewer discomfort but the whole effect is very pleasing. It has a performance element with overtones of Joy Division,  James Bond style backgrounds, scantily clad dancing girls and some voyeuristic camerawork - what's not to enjoy!

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

The music video as we know it today is not a new concept, it has evolved and developed over many decades, changing and adapting along with technological development. The first music video arguably is Bessie Smith - St Louis Blues (1929), it was made as part of a two-reel film, it was a 16 minute feature film starring the singer in a lead role and other cast members. The film was shown in theatres (cinemas) in America from 1929 until 1932.

The next big historic moment in the development of music videos was when Walt Disney produced the feature film Fantasia (1940), it was a concept film that told the story of 'The Sorcerers Apprentice' by setting animation to classical music. This was a groundbreaking and truly magical step forward and has set a basis for future artists to use animation in their music videos.

The 1950's saw the introduction of Rock n' Roll to Britain, the establishment of the 'Teenager' as a concept and Black & White television, all of these things led to a rapid development in music video promotion. In 1956, Tony Bennett was filmed walking along The Serpentine in London, Hyde Park, alongside his recording ('Stranger in Paradise') being played, his film was distributed in both the US and UK for television, leading him to claim rights to the first ever music video.

Around the same time, Elvis Presley was now iconic and television had a huge impact on his status, his feature film 'Jailhouse Rock' (96 minutes) was released as a musical worldwide in 1957, the title song of the film hit number one, both sides of the atlantic for seven weeks. It started the idea of the star as the main concept, Elvis shocked parents by his dancing style and glamourising jail but won over a whole generation of teenagers with his good looks and charm.

Cliff Richard in the UK was a sanitised version of Elvis who released 'Summer Holiday' in 1963, another musical but this time in colour, the cast featured not only the star but his backing band The Shadows, developing the concept of the music film.

The Beatles had already established themselves as iconic in the UK but were not big in the US, their first feature film A Hard Days Night (1964) introduced many of the ideas and conventions of the modern music video as we know it. Although it was a feature film with a narrative storyline and many actors,   the songs were the main focus for the audience and filmed with closeup with The Beatles themselves singing. A Hard Days Night served to promote The Beatles in America and they became a huge success both sides of the Atlantic because of the film.

The power of video in promoting music became very obvious and has been used ever since. Bob Dylan moved the video to another level in year 1966 with the promotional video for  'Subterranean Homesick Alien'. As a superb lyricist, Bob Dylan literally presented his lyrics in placard form in the video - it was risky, edgy and brilliant. It has become iconic! It paved the way for artists to present themselves and their music creatively onscreen.

The Beatles' promotional videos for their late 60's songs were more avant-garde, like their psychedelic sound. Creativity in the 'hippie' era of the late 60's produced some highly original videos (many showing signs of the influence of drugs, particularly LSD), for example, The Beatles' videos for "Penny Lane", "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am The Walrus". These changes have influenced many videos in the years to follow.

Moving into the 70's, televised Top Of The Pops was crucial in the development of the music video. The number of music videos in each show was limited, creating competition between bands and their videos. The program was the weekly focus for all music fans and most teenagers, and a good video could result in sales of a vinyl single that would shoot it up the charts when they were announced on Sunday evening. Live performances were rarely live (Morrisey famously sang into a bunch of flowers in 1983) - the audience wanted more from the experience of watching music. Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody video broke new grounds as it was produced specifically so that the band did not have to mime their song on TOTP. Brian May said this would have been impossible for such a complex song. After this video's huge success, this became standard practice for record companies to make a promotional video (known in the UK as promos) to accompany the single, paving the way for MTV.

In 1981, MTV was launched ironically with The Buggle's 'Video Killed The Radio Star'. MTV's original intention was to be "Music Television" playing music videos 24/7, shown by on-air personalities otherwise known as VJ's (Video Jockeys). Artists started using more sophisticated effects in their music videos, some introducing story lines with Michael Jackson taking it to a whole new level with Thriller (1984), which is more like a short film (13 mins 43 seconds).

Creativity however, caused censorship issues, for example: Duran Duran's "Girls On Film (1981)" was deemed to be too racy and had to be edited and censored. Also, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax (1984)" was banned by both MTV and BBC for being too homo-erotic so a second, cleaner version had to be released. However, both of the band's controversies lead to recognition and number one hits on the charts so later artists have also used this approach.

In the IT era, music videos approached the popularity of the songs themselves, being sold on VHS tapes and DVD. The videos are now watched for the aesthetics and not just the music (there are now awards for the best music video).

THIRTY FRAMES PER SECOND: THE VISIONARY ART OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

This book could be really useful as it contains information on the music video. It tells us about how videos have both reflected and influenced culture, fashion, advertising, films and television.

WORK OF DIRECTOR VIDEOS

As a part of my research, I have watched these DVDs of the best work of top music video directors. Each of them is a compilation videos, interviews and documentary.

1. Spike Jonze: He is a director of art-house films such as 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Adaption', has worked with artists such as The Beastie Boys (Sabotage), Fatboy Slim (Weapon of Choice), Weezer (Buddy Holly) and many more.

2. Mark Romanek: Supposedly difficult to work with but his results are so brilliant that people like Madonna fight for his time. He has directed for Red Hot Chilli Peppers (Can't Stop), Jay-Z (99 Problems) and Lenny Kravitz (Are You Gonna Go My Way) to mention a few.

3. Michel Gondry: Directed many feature films but his talent was more in music video. He has directed videos for The White Stripes (Hardest Button to Button, Fell in Love With A Girl), Foo Fighters (Everlong) and Daft Punk (Around The World).

4. Chris Cunningham: Decided to shock and feature elements of darkness and horror, directing artists such as Aphex Twin (Come To Daddy), Madonna (Frozen) and Bjork (All Is Full Of Love).

After watching these, I felt particularly inspired by Michel Gondry, especially for his approach using lego animation in the video 'Fell In Love With A Girl'.