Monday, 14 January 2013

Creating my artists identity



The Colours
The Colours
About my artists: The Colours are 3 men, Tom Pickford - Vocals, Keys, Guitar.  Tom Newman - Bass, Synthesizers, Backing Vocals.  Tony Folland - Drums, Sequencing, Percussion.  They all come from Reading, England, and all share the same passion for music.  They have been together for a while now and are currently doing a tour of the UK.

The target audience for my band will be people aged between 17 to 25 as the things they sing about people between them ages may be able to relate to the songs.  People living in the UK, not just in Reading but people outside of reading would also be likely to listen to their music.

                                                      Clothing














The clothing I have chosen is very casual, I have chosen casual clothing as people around the age of 17-25 don’t all wear suits and dress like business people.  I would like to have my actors wearing something similar to these, for the boys when they aren’t at a party I have chosen casual chinos or jeans, a check inform shirt as I think it adds class it keeps it from being Sunday best I have also put down converse as these show that the outfit isn’t meant to look posh, I may get the boys to maybe wear bracelets.  For a party I would have the boys wearing similar sorts of things but I would make it a little bit formal but still have jeans and converse.  I would have this because I think that this would make it a little different rather than spending all day in casual clothing and then partying in casual clothing.  For the girls I would do the same sort of thing casual for everyday and smart casual for partying.  For the girls when walking around the house or not going anywhere important they will be wearing joggers or leggings with a hoodie or jumper and when they go out with friends or as a couple they can wear jeans and a t-shirt, and they can wear whatever jewellery they like.  For parties they can wear a dress with jewellery that looks more expensive.

 
Typography




 
For typography I would like in certain parts of it to be really sweet and girly as I think because this video is aimed more towards girls I think that it would suit it.  I would also use very bold writing as I this way it may show that thy are arguing, another thing I thought of was to use sms bubbles so the audience can see what they are texting.  I would also consider using a mixture as this could show that the male s confused about what is going on.  Lastly I would like to use comical writing to show that she may just be taking the relationship as a joke when she is flirting with another boy. 


Locations, objects, and lighting







The locations i have chosen fit my video well as i have more than one location and the hings that i would like to happen in my video go well with the locations i have chosen.  Forexample i have chosen a house as i can use the livingroom to have a party which is where the boy notices where everything has gone wrong and he does something about it.  I can use the stiars for the girl sitting reflecting on what she has done and feel sad about it and finally i can use the bed room for them two arguing during the party.  I would like to have bright areas for whnen everthing is going fine and they are happy in the relationship and darker places for when evrthing goes and wrong and she has been found out.  I have also chose london and a shopping centre for the locations of when the couple are going out and they are happy togeter and i have also chosn them for when the main girl and her friends go out and the girl flirts with boys that she sees and for after when she feels alone.  For objects i cose balloons for the party as that is a very good identification of a party and the guitar and drums are also for the party because whe you think of parties you think of music. 
Colours





Blue is a calimg colour and I want some places to be calm because its saying that although in his head he is all confused, frustrated and angered he would like to be able to think clearly again.  In the song they are angry at each other it is important that we actually see them argue even though we wont be able to hear them argue, we will still be able to see them.  I also put happy because in a relationship you should be happy and enjoy spending time with  each other rather than wanting to be as far away from each other as you can get.  Red is an angry colour and i think this would be good to have in certain parts of my video for when the couple are arguing and being angry.  Yellow is a bright and happy colour so it would fit well with the locations where they are happy and the relationship is fine by showing the happy feeling that i want the video to start out as.  Green insinutes nature which is also calming and gentle, i would use yellow and green together as when they are happy his mind can be calm and clear.  I chose pink because pink is sometimes thought of when you think of love and as they are in a relatinship although it is crumberling they were happy at one point. 

Imagery



 
 
 


 




I chose this picture because i thought it would be a good thing to have in my video.  I wanted to have a house party to make it different rather than just having the usual things seen in a love song.  Then listening to the song although you dont hear about them being happy i think i would like them to be happy during the video because i think that it woud be important to know why they broke up in the first place.  As the song is about heartbreak i thought it would be a good idea to see them in a happy relationship then them breaking up.  I wold like to have a band in my video because i think it would change things and make it look a bit cooler, plus i think it would be important to see more than just two people in the video. 
My last two pictures are of a heart container from the legend of zelda, i have put this because the boy in the relationship may feel like his heart is now no longer complete because of the break up.  I have also put a eternity symbol because when they were in the relationship they were happy and it felt like they were going to be that for forever. 

$99 music video


What is 99dollarmusicvideos.com?
99dollarMusicvideos makes videos with a budget of $99 or (£61).  This means the people who run the company use the resources they have as they have a very tight budget.  They prove that it is possible to do as they produce some very good videos that looks close to a professional standard.  99dollarmusicvideos ask that the videos are made made in 24 hours and edited in 24 hours, they like them to look as creative as possible and if they do not fit what they ask for they don't use them.  

What is their ethos?
99dollarmusicvideos ethos is for the videos to be as creative as possible but still follow the song types that they use to keep them close to current music trends; this is so the majority of the population know the songs they are using.  They also ask that they are made with a budget of $99 or less and to be filmed in 24 hours and edited in 24 hours.

what types, labels, and genres of music appear on their website?
99dollarmusicvideos asks for the people to be unsigned so they wouldn't have expensive props.  The music they have on their YouTube channel is pop and indie, this is because it is a very popular genre of music.  They don't mind if you make a video less then $99 as long as it isn't more than $99 because it then defeats the objective.

How does 99dollarmusicvideos.com encourage audience participation?
99dollarmusicvideos ask members of the public that aspire to become famous musicians, but they have to be unsigned, to make their own music videos for a budget of $99.  

Is it possible to make a professional quality music video for $99?
It is possible to make a video look good on a budget of $99 but it wouldn't look as professional as a video made by a famous record label.  

This video is made out of lined paper and graphics made by a computer, this wouldn't be expensive if they had all the equipment to start off with.  99dollars music videos thought that this was a good video so decided to put it on their YouTube channel.  This video shows a lot of creativity as they decided that people didn't need to be in the video and that it would be as effective with drawings, the video does fit the song and some parts of the song are seen more clearly in the video than others.  

Analysing my song

Tonight I Let You Go

Your empty promises
Stop filling up my mind while my loves’ away
Temptation calls me
To this and loveless fools believe
Their guilty hearts still bleed
But their cold lifeless heart beats wear them out
'Your empty promises' This means that whoever he is singing about promises things but never mean them, they are constantly being lied to about whether they love them or not.  'Stop filling up my mind while my loves away' The person singing this is asking them to stop making them drift, or giving them the choice to drift from one relationship to another just because there partner isn't with them at the moment.  'Temptation calls me To this and loveless fools believe Their guilty hearts still bleed But their cold lifeless heart beats wear them out'  Being given the choice to go back to the person they loved first is a bad thing when they already have someone new, and this could be saying that people who are single  wouldn't think twice but they feel like their heart is still damaged from how they left the relationship, and each time their heart beats it makes them feel more and more tired and more more confused each day as they maybe thinking it through trying to figure out what went wrong and this makes them feel more tired.

[Chorus] Cause you’re the heart break that I couldn’t deal with
You were the mistake
That no-one could save me from
But I know I’m better off leaving now
You are the only reason I want it more
You know I want to be on my own tonight
I just keep on running
You know I want to be on my own tonight
Tonight I let you go
'Cause your the heart break i couldn't deal with' This could be saying that he loved her so much but when they broke up it was one of the headrest things he has ever had to deal with because of how much he loved her and thought they were fine together.  'You were the mistakes That no-one could save me from' This means that although his friends may have been saying how bad she was for him he wouldn't listen because he loved her, but at the end of the day it was his choice with what he was doing and no-one can tell him what to do.  'But i know better off leaving now You are the only reason i want it more' Saying that he is leaving is one of the strongest things he could do as the mistakes that were made could have been missed and the fact that she still wants him makes him need to leave more as he needs to be alone and think things through.  'You know i want to be on my own tonight I just keep on running' He wants to run away from what has gone wrong in the relationship and she knows that but she still wants him to stay but he feels like running away and forgetting about it.  'You know i want to be on my own tonight Tonight i let you go' When he sings tonight i let you go he is saying that he doesn't want the relationship anymore and he doesn't know what else to do apart from be on his own and not have anyone to think or worry about.

My insecurities
Playing on my mind, colours never change
You should come back, come back, come back(And look for more)
But love that runs too deep
Stolen moments we couldn’t keep
You should go before the night time lets you down
'My insecurities Playing on my mind, colours never change' His insecurities could be all the things wrong in the relationship and all the things he worries about on a day to day bases about himself, he is having to think about them more than ever and they feel true, nothing in life is changing and that is also affecting him.  'You should come back, come back, come back, and look for more' This could be him saying that although he left the relationship he wishes that he hadn't and that she hadn't of just walked away and maybe fought for him.  'But love that runs too deep Stolen moments we couldn't keep' The love that had felt so real and true but all the things that went wrong were stronger than what they had.  'You should go before the night lets you down' The man singing is saying that if she thinks the night is going to be like normal when they were a couple she would be thinking wrong because what they had is now gone and he inst going to pretend anymore.

The chorus is then repeated[Chorus] Cause you’re the heart break that I couldn't deal with
You were the mistake
That no-one could save me from
But I know I’m better off leaving now
You are the only reason I want it more
You know I want to be on my own tonight
I just keep on running
You know I want to be on my own tonight
Tonight I let you go
With the same meaning as the first time it is sung, the point of the chorus is to help make the listeners remember it as it is meant to be the most memorable part of the song so you know the name.

Tonight I let you go
Heart break, heart break
Heart break (tonight I let you go)
Heart, heart break
Heart break, heart break, heart heart break
Tonight, heart break
Heart break, heart break, heart break, heart break, heart break
I just keep on running
You’re the heart break
I couldn't deal with
You were the mistake that no-one could save me from
But I know I’m better off leaving now
You are the only reason I want it more
You know I want to be on my own tonight
I just keep on running
You know I want to be on my own tonight
Tonight I let you go
Tonight I let you go
Tonight I let you go
'Heart break, heart break Heart break (tonight i let you go)' Here he is saying that his heart is now broken but he is still going to let the girl go because what they have at the moment isn't working so there is no point lying in the relationship, he repeats this three times.  He then goes back to sing the chorus, and then back to talking about breaking up with her because it isn't working between them and there is no point holding on to something that isn't there.

The Colours say that 'Tonight I let you go' is a song about the movement from one relationship to another.  But it isn't a soppy love song.  Putting a brave face on the inner discomfort exposed within the lyrics, this upbeat song puts a lighter spin on a darker matter.

Artist email

Sunday, 13 January 2013

Andrew Goodwin's theory

Who is Goodwin?
Andrew Goodwin was awarded his Ph.D for cultural studies from the university he studied at (the university of Birmingham).  Goodwin is an author and wrote the well-known book on music television and cultural theory (Dancing in the distraction factory. Music Television and popular culture, university of Minnesota press) and had published a number of articles on music television and popular culture.  Andrew Goodwin's is interested in media aesthetics  cultural theory and popular music. Goodwin serves on the editorial board of popular music and society. 
What were his ideas?
Andrew Goodwin believes that the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of a video should either illustrate what the person(s) are singing or they should amplify the point being made or make something more dramatic than it really should be, or they should go against the lyrics that are being sung.  Goodwin also believes that music videos should have iconography in them along with mutiple close ups of the main person(s) in the video to keep it interesting.  Andrew Goodwin also says that videos deliberately put in voyeurism to grab the attention of either men or women, although it is mostly used for a mans visual pleasure.  ertextual mkaes videos linked with another media text.
Illustrating
Illustrating is when you see what you hear

Throughout the entire of this music video we are told what Gene Kelly is doing, whilst he singing we can see him dancing and singing in the rain.  This video fits into illustrating because we can see what we hear.
The song starts by Gene telling the cab driver to leave as he wants to walk in the rain, once he drives off he starts walking whilst singing "I'm singing in the rain" and in the video you can see he is walking and singing in the rain.  He then goes onto singing he is dancing in the rain which he then starts to tap dance.  This video fits in with the illustration because he doesn't sing one thing and do another he sings one thing and does it.
Amplification
Amplifying is taking something and it make it stand out even more.

In Last Friday Night by Katy Perry she makes a point of saying that the people we consider as uncool can actually be really cool and she does this by the lyrics she sings and the video she has with it.  The amplification in this video the way Katy sings the song and the content within the video.  At the start of the video Katy is congratulated on such an amazing party with all the mess still around her.
Katy goes from looking really uncool to the star of the party which adds to the amplification of the video, if she just stayed doing nothing it wouldn't be as dramatic or as over the top.  Throughout the video there is a massive party because it is Friday and they are insinuating that people tend to party on a Friday.
Contradict
Contradicting is meant to go against the song or lyrics.
 

Bangarang fits into this category because when you listen to the song it sounds futuristic but really in the video they are robbing an ice cream van.  At the start of the video we see a dog's shadow, thinking it could be someones belonging to a gang you assume that something bad is going to happen.
You are introduced to three boys in hoodies and look like part of a gang, they go to great lengths to try and infiltrate the ice cream van, they do it successfully and manage to get what they want and at the end of the video i looks like some time in the future the boys go back but to an ice cream shop and the man remembers him.  This video doesn't really fit the music as it is something unrelated to the music.
Iconography
When you see something and it reminds you of a person or topic.

Lady gaga is well known for her shockingly outstanding fashion sense, her music videos are so different you can tell instantly if it was one of hers.  If Lady gaga were make plan a music video but not sing or appear in it you would still know it was one of her videos.  Gaga's very first song was just dance, looking at her then she looks completely normal, however as her fans grew and doubled in size so did her limelight and her fashion.
The first we see of Lady Gaga is her with a blue lightening bolt starting just above her eyebrow and ending at the base of her cheek bone as she covers her left eye.  Like I said before she looks fairly normal here but as soon as you hear the name Gaga or the start of any of her songs you know exactly who it is and what she looks like.
Throughout this video she changes outfit five times, the first 0:10 she is walking up to the house with people either side of her wearing a pink coat, the second at 0:15 wearing the zebra print short dress which appears in a few of the shots, the third 0:17 when she takes off the pink coat and is a shiny top and skinny trousers, the forth 0:58 when she walks into a room wearing a white top with a disco ball bandeau with frilly shorts and braces and finally she is in a paddling pool wearing yellow shorts with a black blouse at 3:31


Lady Gaga's fame perfume advert looks like a horror film but you wouldn't expect any less from Gaga.  People say that she is the way she is because she wants attention but she just not be afraid of expressing herself, by watching any of her videos you can see just how confident she is and in her advert she hasn't lost any of her identity, as soon as it starts you will know that it has something to do with Gaga.
At the start of the advert you see pictures which last for around one second, the pictures are of random things for example, something that looks mechanical  a women in black someone wiping black liquid into lips and Lady Gaga dressed in a unique outfit covered in orange, white and black things.  Again, this is very Lady Gaga and continues with her amazing confidence and her bizarre taste in fashion.
Close ups
Are meant to make the video more interesting.

Close ups make the videos more interesting and it allows you to see clearly the emotion being shown on the singers face.  In only girl by Rihanna at the start of the video she has two parts of video the video playing on part is the main part you see and the second is the bit with the close ups in.  As the video goes on Rihanna changes her location and clothing which also helps to keep the video new and interesting.  The close ups in the video allow you too see Rihanna's emotion, this helps with interacting with the audience as they can see how she feels and feels apart of it.
At 2:51 there are around 15 close ups that are flashed on the screen quickly, this keeps the audience interested to see what the other footage is and the fact that the images aren't just being played one after another they are being added together and played over the top of each other and makes the song look faster.
Voyeurism
Is a man or woman who watches someone to get pleasure out, the person being watched may not always know but the person watching may like the fact that they don't know.

The Pussycat Dolls ask for the attention in the clothes and dance moves they show throughout the music video.  The video starts with all five women sitting in a car, and already you can tell that the tops they are wearing are very revealing and within the first 15 seconds they have a close up of Nichole Scherzinger face.
When looking at voyeurism clothing is one of the most important things and The Pussycat Dolls were short, tight and revealing clothing.  For example in the first picture (top left) you can see Nichole wearing a pink crop top which is very tight and revealing, the person to her left is wearing shorts and a bandeau and to her right is another girl wearing even less.  This makes men want to watch this and maybe even women as they may feel slightly envious of what they are wearing.
In the picture on the bottom right you can see Kimberly doing the splits in the air with Nichole doing a different sexual dance move.  Again this shows voyeurism perfectly because of the clothes there wearing and the way they dance.
Intertextuality
When a song or film uses the same ideas in their film or music video.

This spoof of twilight is made by the Simpsons, in this version it is Lisa who is meant to be playing the character Bella Swan and there is a new character who plays Edward Cullen.  Throughout the entire of the video they make fun of everything in the original and change it to make it sound funnier and so it isn't copied.  It still has all the original characters in from the Simpsons but it just has different content.
In the original twilight Bella and Edward glide through the trees but in the Simpsons version the boy says "Let us move through the trees the way a bat does, by jumping."  this is funny because vampires cant fly and in the film it looks like they jump through the trees so the Simpsons have made fun of this.  In Twilight Edward saves Bella from a truck crushing her, in the Simpsons "Edward" saves Lisa from being crushed by a bus at school.