Welcome to my A2 media coursework blog. My name is Maisie MacGregor (candidate number 0506), and I will be working in group 4 with Molly Sullivan (candidate number 0816), Ellie Brackpool (candidate number 0100), and Mari Leach (candidate number 0440).

To the right of my blog are labels for my A2 Preliminary task, A2 Research and Planning, A2 Construction and A2 Evaluation, and an archive of each individual post. There is also a live link to the Latymer Media Music Video Blog.

Click here to access Group 4's faceboook page.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Music Video

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Thursday 18 September 2014

Semiotic Analysis of a music video

alt-J - Breezeblocks



This video depicts a violent and aggressive fight between a man and a woman played in reverse, starting with a shot of the woman drowned and bleeding in a bathtub, held down by a breeze block that the man threw on her.

The aggressive nature of the fight is also emphasised by the close-up shot of a knife and the forceful way in which the man throws the woman against a bookcase.

The theme of violence ties in well with the lyrics of the song, which are about a person not wanting to let go during a breakup, with lyrics such as "she may contain the urge to run away but hold her down with soggy clothes and breeze blocks" suggesting that they would rather harm the person than let them leave. The breeze block could also be a metaphor for something that is anchoring a person to a relationship. However, the man is wearing a wedding ring but the woman is not, showing that he is married but she is not his wife, so it could be interpreted that he has been involved with this woman and she has discovered the truth. It could be that they are fighting over an entirely different issue, but the song lyrics suggest otherwise.

Later on in the video another female character appears. She is tied up and gagged behind a curtain, and the expression on her face and the make-up smudged from tears show us that she is distressed about the situation. This woman is wearing a wedding ring, so we know that she is the man's wife. As the man bends down to rescue her, the first woman comes up behind him, ready to attack. This puts the woman in a position of power that contrasts to the shots of her being held down and drowned, which emphasises the power switch between the man and the woman.

The fact that the narrative is played backwards rather than forwards is significant, and personally I think it is suggesting that the man regrets murdering the woman and wants to return to before the fight started, as people often feel after an argument. This is also emphasised by the bottle thrown by the first woman shattering against the wall in reverse and re-forming, as if symbolising starting over again. The lyric "break down, now weep, build up breakfast now let's eat" also suggests this, as it refers to overcoming obstacles in a relationship.

In terms of style, the band say they were inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, owing to the lyrics "do you know where the wild things go?" and "I'll eat you whole, I love you so". In the book, the wild creatures threaten to eat the main character if he leaves them because they love him so much. This reference reflects in the song's lyrics and in the fact that the man kills the woman rather than letting her get away, whether it's for his own safety (she tries to attack him) or because he can't let her move on from him.

Tuesday 16 September 2014

Influences and Inspirations

Music videos


The narrative of this video follows one person through the whole video, with all the action (dancing, drinking, etc) happening in the background. This makes it clear that she is the focus of the video in a creative way, which is what I like about it.


My favourite aspect of this video is the colours and patterns projected on the the singer's face, which add to the dancey feel of the video in a really interesting way.



This video (ignore the lyrics) contains examples of the editing techniques I would like to attempt, such as:
  • shots going backwards and forwards a few frames before moving on 
  • switching between two shots so quickly that it creates a flashing effect
  • replaying a short clip two or three times in a row


This is another video which uses projections of images, which is something I would like to incorporate into my music video. I also like the technique used in this of layering two clips over each other, which has a similar effect to the projected images.



Websites

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I love the colour scheme and simplicity of this website. All the links are clearly laid out and it isn't cluttered with too much information.

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The layout of this website is similar to an instagram or tumblr page, so will be familiar to a lot of people. Just like Grimes's website, it's clear how to navigate it and the visitor is provided with all the most important information.

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The Black Keys' website is themed like their new album's artwork, which creates a sense of branding for the band, making it memorable.


Album covers


Album artwork is one of the most important ways in which an artist presents their personal branding and image, and is often designed to hint at the genre and style of the artist so that they can appeal to the right audience.

Album covers that aren't too over-complicated and use a single picture tend to be effective in making the album memorable. For example, the following album covers are all now very famous images:
The xx - Coexist
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Album covers which use old or unprofessional-looking photography also stand out to me. Some of my favourites:
Crystal Castles self-titled album
Vampire Weekend - Contra

The Libertines self-titled album


Styles
Skins and Glue are two TV programmes which are influential on the type of video I want to make. They both reference teenage culture, friendships and dancing, which are themes I would possibly like to include in my video. I also like the grading and overall style of both programmes, and these have influenced the vision I have in my head.

Skins
Glue

Genres of interest

What kind of music video I would like to make

I would be willing to make a video of almost any genre as long as the final idea is a strong one, but I think my ideas are best suited to an upbeat or dance track.
I don't have a fully formed idea, but I have a few things in mind which I would like to include in my video:

  • A narrative following a group of friends or different people separately who meet/end up in the same place
  • Projections of film or patterns on to the characters
  • Flickery editing
  • UV paint on faces/clothes
  • Some way of creating the effect that the characters are imagining this separate place with dancing/UV/projections/etc.

Possible tracks for the single
Most of the songs I think would fit my ideas seem to be too popular and so don't fit the criteria, so the song below is just a general idea of the kind of sound I would like.



Obviously we would need to cut the track down as it's too long for the brief, but it has the right sound for the style and effect I would like to create with lighting and editing. As well as this, it is not a well known song and it doesn't already have an existing music video.


Sunday 14 September 2014

Research: Audiences

Audience Profiles

To research what music different audiences enjoy and how they access it, I conducted a survey of 6 people from several different target audiences. The results are shown below.

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What I learned from the survey I conducted:
  • Age is an important factor in music consumption:
    • Younger people seem to enjoy newer genres such as hip hop, dubstep and indie music, whereas older people enjoy more classic genres such as jazz, country and soul. However, this is not he case for everyone as on of the teenage boys I surveyed enjoys jazz music.
    • Young people have different ways of acquiring music - all of the teenagers I surveyed download it illegally and for free, whereas the adults tend to pay for their music.
  • However, the methods of consuming music are similar for people of all ages.
  • Gender is probably not an important factor:
    • Each person I surveyed enjoys a different blend of genres, with some overlapping. Both the teenage boys enjoy hip hop, but one of the boys and one of the girls both enjoy rock music.
  • All of them listed music as an interest, suggesting that music plays an important role many peoples' lives.

Research: Record labels

Record labels are organisations which are responsible for producing, marketing and representing artists, and enforcing the copyright of the music and music videos they produce. They are also in charge of scouting new talent to represent (by attending gigs and searching online), and then of develop these artists.

The three biggest record labels are Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment , and Warner Music Group.
Each of these have branches that specifically operate in the UK.


Universal Music Group is a major record label, and the largest in the world.

  • UMG was originally attached to Universal Pictures, but has been merged and bought several times since its creation, and since 2006 has been in the hands of French media conglomerate Vivendi
  • UMG owns other, smaller labels such as PMR Records, which has been responsible for artists such as Jessie Ware and Disclosure
Disclosure
  • Universal Music Group UK is the London-based branch of this label which is responsible for promoting to UK audiences
  • Universal Music UK represents over 300 artists in the UK
  • In 2012 UMG earned £418m before taxes



Beggars is a record label which houses five independent record labels, including Rough Trade and XL Recordings 


  • Beggars started off in 1973 as a record shop based in London called Beggars Banquet
  • It became a record label in 1977 when it released a single by 'The Lurkers', who were its first client
  • There are now three London offices and two in America
  • XL Recordings is an independent record label estblished in 1989, based in London and New York.
  • The XL (UK)-released album '21' from Adele was the most successful album globally this millennium, showing that although the music industry is dominated by major labels, independent labels have the ability to break through
  • They are responsible for 20 artists from a range of genres including: Basement Jaxx, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire Weekend, SBTRKT, Jungle, The xx, Radiohead, and Tyler the Creator

Some artists aren't attached to record labels, for example Ed Sheeran began releasing his music without promotion from a label and managed to reach number 2 in the iTunes charts with his EP 'No. 5 Colaorations Project'. After this success he was signed to Asylum Records and Atlantic Records (two American labels both owned by Warner Music Group).

Research: Current Trends in Popular Music

In 2013 musicgenreslist.com took a poll from visitors to their site to find out which genres of music are the most popular.
From http://www.musicgenreslist.com/
Although this by no means represents all music consumers, it gives an idea of the sizes of the audiences that different genres have, with Rock, Pop, Alternative, Rap and Electronic being the most popular.


What is selling well


According to an article written at the beginning of 2014, the 5 genres of music which make the most money are:
1) Rock
2) Alternative
3) R&B
4) Country
5) Metal

Each of these genres has reportedly sold a minimum of over 30 million copies of albums produced by artists of this genre in the last year.

However, according to the current UK charts, the top selling genres of music are slightly different.
Current top 5 singles
From looking at the official UK charts (above), it seems that dance music and pop music are two of the most popular genres at the moment. This suggests that singles of these genres will be more likely to be successful at the moment as they have a large target audience. The top selling singles for all of 2014 (below) so far show a similar trend.

Top singles overall 2014
Male artists have a majority among the artists of the best selling singles so far this year, and a large majority among the top 5. This could mean that new male artists of these genres are more likely to be successful at the moment, but it also leaves gaps in the market for female artists.

Best selling albums 2014
There seems to be more of a range of genres with the best selling albums so far this year than with the best selling singles. Even though this means that these genres are also successful, it would probably be more useful to take inspiration from the singles charts when planning our music videos as they will be marketing singles.


Gaps in the market

Although the artists and genres shown above are currently the best-selling, their success leaves gaps in the market for other genres to flourish. This is because there may not be as much competition in other genres, and so there is room for new artists to become successful.

Rock and Pop music have historically dominated the charts in the UK, however as I did more research I discovered the popularity of other, less mainstream genres among different audiences, and how they reach their audiences.

For example, the internet has made less popular genres such as dance and dubstep able to reach more people, therefore expanding their audiences and causing these genres to be on the rise, rather than trying to break in to the charts the traditional way. (http://www.djtechtools.com/2012/04/19/the-next-big-thing-dance-music-genres-on-the-rise/)

The Guardian's top albums 2013 includes a wide range of genres, suggesting that there is space in the market for almost any genre if it is marketed correctly, or if the artist is good enough to catch people's attention. (http://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/260-the-guardians-40-best-albums-of-2013/)

Thursday 4 September 2014

My personal music consumption

I always listen to music when taking public transport anywhere, most often on my way to and from school, and sometimes while doing homework or relaxing at home. Although this makes music more of an individual experience for me, as it's usually through headphones from my phone or computer, I like when people share music with me as I tend to over-listen to a particular song or album and get bored quickly, so it's always nice to be introduced to new artists or genres.

Usually, I either download music on to iTunes and my phone or listen to it using YouTube, Spotify or 8tracks. However, by far my favourite way of consuming music is going to gigs as the atmosphere that comes with live music provides you with an experience that you can't get from listening to recorded music.


Music that means something to me

Childhood
S Club 7 was a band that I listened to (and danced to) with my friends in primary school. I wouldn't say that they have shaped my music taste today as I think it has changed a lot, but I loved them at the time.


Early Teens
'Hysteria' was the first Muse song I ever heard, which then led to my obsession with this band, but more importantly led me to discovering other new artists rather than sticking to the few artists I considered to be my favourites. I don't listen to them as much any more, but I'm pretty certain that Muse will always be one of my favourite bands.


Now
Vampire Weekend is currently one of my favourite bands, and 'Diane Young' is my favourite song from their new album. I have loads of good memories associated with this song, for example listening to it constantly on the Hollywood trip and seeing it performed live at Reading festival this summer.