Monday 30 September 2013

Music Video Analysis 2

This is the first few shots that we are introduced with in the Haim - Falling music video. The use of the outdoors being introduced before the band indicates the genre of the band, where they are quite hippy and indie. The outdoors and nature holds these connotations which shows the band are using the conventions of music videos in their own.
Referring to Goodwin's theory, there are close up's of the band members but they are not individually looking directly at the camera, so it is quite subtle. For mainstream artists many close ups involve the artists looking directly at the camera, the fact that they do not do this could imply that they are not trying to make their image the main subject, but rather about the song. It also suggests that they are unique and unlike other generic artists. The use of the bands positioning in one of the shots and staring directly at the camera with the scenery in the background highlights their originality and implies them to be 'hippies' and in touch with nature. 
Regarding to Goodwin's theory, through out the music video there is a relationship between the music and the visuals where it starts off slow and then speeds up as the music does. In these shots here, as the music pace quickens, the band begin to dance showing a relationship. Having said this, it also implies that as a group they are quite care free and this is conventions that indie/folk artists have shown in their music videos. 

Throughout the whole music video it is shot outdoors. For the genre of the band this is a convention that they have adopted which makes them seem really indie and in touch with nature. Their overall style is very casual and laid back, also conveying a theme of hippy/indie vibes. The use of them dancing makes them seem quite carefree and gives a overall optimistic vibe through out the video. 

Considering these codes and conventions that are shown in their music video, we are going to adopt these to our own music video. We have ideas of being in an outdoors location similarly to this and having a similar style to the band too. 

Individual Analysis of Digipak




Throughout this digipak the lead singer appears to be very elegant. There are three main images of her, all which are different but holding the similar theme of glamour. The first picture on the front of the digipak suggests that she is the main subject through the use of the mirrored image. The mirrored image could also suggest a theme of entrapment, which could be referenced in her songs, contrasting her previous albums of freedom and positivity.  The text ‘Florence and the machine’ is quite subtle and more attention is drawn to the image of her. Having said this, it is the same typography used in her first album, which shows consistency throughout her albums. The image of her does not show her looking directly at the camera, and it is subtler again making her look elegant. It also suggests that she doesn’t want that much attention drawn to her even though it already is. The use of the dark background and her dark clothing contrasts against her light skin and it makes her the central subject. It portrays her to look very natural and signifies her importance. The overall style of the digipak also makes her look quite authentic and suggests a 1920’s type theme to the digipak.

The other image of her, such as the one where she is standing up, again does not have much attention drawn to her face but she is still the subject. Again, she looks very glamorous and natural. The tones of the picture make it seem very stylish and elegant too with the colours of gold.

The other image of her lying on silk sheets reinforces this idea of glamour and elegance and the use of white sheets connotes her innocence.  The boldness of her hair colour red could connote the theme of love throughout the album too.

The side with the track list on has gold tones too which continues with the theme of glamour and connotes high class and again elegance. The song names are the centre making them most prominent and also signifying their importance to the band.  The CD’s also continue with this gold theme and the use of the plain CD’s solely implies the significance of music and the artist is not made the subject on them. 

Friday 27 September 2013

My own Digipak analysis (5 Artists)



This is my independent analysis on different digipaks. I have to do a more detailed analysis on one digipak so that I can present it on camera. From looking at different digipaks we are beginning to come up with more ideas for our own digipak. We also know what to avoid in the digipaks as it may convey the wrong type of genre.

Mood Boards





This is our mood board that we made in lesson. As our band is called 'After Midnight' we wanted to include this idea of our name, onto our mood board. We chose to place the pictures around a moon. The pictures initially reflect on the type of band that we are portraying to be. It also highlights our genre of being indie/folky/rocky. We included pictures of females that we believe resemble the type of band we want to create. We used pictures of flowers to reflect that we are a band that is in touch with nature, highlighting the 'hippy' side of us. We included words such as 'be free' and 'love' which also connotes a hippy feel but it also makes us seem like a very relaxed and care free band. We included pictures of London, and outdoor locations too which reinforces this image that we are trying to achieve. The moon levitates over another piece of paper, where our band name is shown, because we feel this is quite unique and quirky. We tried to make our mood board look visually appealing too. We feel that we have generated a mood board that reflects our look and genre of the band, thus being a successful outcome. The only change we needed to make was putting the lyrics on the mood board, which we will add to it. 

Monday 23 September 2013

Music Video Analysis


Indie/Rock Genre: This is my music video analysis on a band called 'The Kooks' who are an individual band. I have analysed their music video using Goodwin's theory and I have also mentioned the codes and conventions, within the analysis, of the genre of the band which is indie/rock. The reason for this analysis is because although this is a boy band, we are looking into the conventions of rock/indie/folk bands as this is the genre of our own band therefore we can adopt these features to our own music video.

Mainstream Artists

Mainstream Artists 


One Direction:
One Direction are an English/Irish pop group based in London that were formed on the TV show X-factor in 2010. They were signed by Simon Cowell to Syco Records and also Columbia. One Direction are probably known as the biggest boy band currently and have toured all over the world, entertaining millions of fans. They have won 2 Brit awards, 2 MTV Music Video Awards. 




Lady Gaga
As of October 2011, she had sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide and her singles are some of the best-selling worldwide.Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards.









We do not want our band to be 'mainstream' as we feel that mainstream bands hold genres of pop and this is not the genre of our own band. Also, sometimes mainstream bands can be changed as they progress and their image is a prominent aspect for their career. 

Friday 20 September 2013

Independent Artists

Independent Artists 


You Me At Six: 
They are a British rock band from Surrey. The band formed in 2004 and the record labels that they have been signed to are: Virgin, Epitath, Slam Dunk, G-Unit. There genres are classified as alternative rock, pop punk and post-hardcore, making them fall into 'independent.'



Jake Bugg: 
Jake bugg is an English indie musician, singer and songwriter. He was on the introducing stage at Glastonbury and was then later signed by Mercury. He has a very unique style and he is still very young. He is a very organic musician and his sole purpose is to make music.










Ben Howard: 
Ben Howard is an English singer/songwriter, he self released his own album in 2008 called Games in the Dark. Currently, he is signed to Island and Communion. His genre is indie/folk and recently performed at Glastonbury.











As we would like our band to be an independent band, I have researched into other independent bands. They all have a typical type of genre which is indie/rock/folk which is the same type of genre that we are going to have for our own band 'After Midnight.' 

Digipak's

This is a powerpoint that we presented to our class on digipak's that, as a group, we felt related to the type of digipak we would produce ourselves. Also, after looking at these digipaks it has given us more ideas for what we can produce for our own band. All of the digipaks that we have looked have are similar in some ways to our own band so we are going to take on board the conventions in these digipaks.

Thursday 19 September 2013

Independent & Mainstream

Independent Music: 
Independent music appeals to all other genres of music, for example: 
  • punk rock 
  • indie rock 
  • alternative/underground hip hop 
  • anti-folk 
  • heavy metal 

Mainstream Music:
Mainstream music implies that the music is aimed for the masses and the genres can usually be:
  • popular music 
  • pop music 
  • middle of the road music 
  • pop rap 
  • pop rock 
Independent record labels: 
An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding of major record labels. Many first time artists and bands begin with independent record labels. Independent record labels can often be faced with problems due to the lack of funding compared to mainstream record labels. It can be more difficult because they struggle to promote their music. However, though there are often money problems, there have been great successes with music artists. 

Mainstream record labels: 
Often record labels become a publishing company that deals with all the production, distribution, talent scouting, maintains contracts with artists and more.

Our band is going to be an independent band due to the type of genre that we are going to have which is: indie/rock/folk. I am also going to look into other artists/bands that are independent so that we can get more ideas of our overall research into the production of our band. 

Analysis on Tribute (Goodwin)



From looking at this music video it shows the conventions of Goodwin's theory. Taking this into consideration, we have to come up with ideas as a group to convey Goodwin's theory into our own music video. I am also going to analyse other music videos where it shows goodwin's analysis and the codes and conventions of the genre that we are going to use for our band.

Our Brief

This is our brief of our band 'After Midgnight.' It states all the things that we like and dislike (as a band) and what we are similar to.

Planning our ideas



This is a spider diagram of some of the ideas that we have come up with for our band.
We have now decided on a song and a name for our band.

We are called 'After Midnight' because this can be interpreted as staying up really late and sleeping during the day. It implies a festival/party type vibe which adds to the indie genre we are trying to achieve. Our song is 'Suddenly I See' by KT Tunstall and she is a solo artist. Although she is solo, we really like the song and its quite indie/folk and we think that it will be visually appealing as we want to film a lot of our footage outside and give it the hippy/nature atmosphere.

19th September 13

Journal:

We needed to come up with a name for our band so we started to brainstorm. We thought that if we used a name generator this would be quite random and start to make us think of some ideas. We came up with the name 'After Midnight' for our band. As a group we are really happy with the name of our band because it gives the connotations of genre of the band. For example, connotations that come with after midnight entail staying up late, partying, and it makes us seem quite edgy. These ideas make our band seem quite laid back and carefree which are connotations that are linked with indie/rock/folk bands.

Monday 16 September 2013

Conventions to adapt

Haim: (main) 


This band is very unique and quirky which is the type of band that we want to have too. We like the indie vibe that the band has and we think we are going to take on-board the style that the band have. From looking into them we have discovered that they are quite carefree and have a hippy type vibe too. I really like the style that they have and the edgy and unique feel they convey.

Florence and The Machine: 


Florence and the machine is also quite indie too which we like. However, the style is quite extravagant and a bit too much for the type of band we want. Having said this, from looking into it there is a care-free nature too due to the prominent outdoors and nature type feel they have.

Kings Of Leon:


Although Kings Of Leon are a male band, we think that looking into the indie/rock conventions of this band are also important. From looking at the others above, it seems that there is a relaxed feel about indie/rock/folk bands.




Research

We are looking into bands that have a indie/rock/folk type genre.
We have found that there are a lot of bands that are mainly male based bands, but we are researching into this.
We have found inspiration from a number of bands such as:
- Kings of Leon
- The Kooks
- Of Monsters + Men
- Florence + the machine
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs
- Lana Del Rey
- Haim

We are researching into the conventions of each of the bands or solo artists and we are going to try and adapt these conventions to a girl band. The three girl band 'Haim' has inspired us and we are researching into the music and the style of the band as they are very much related to the type of band we want to create.

Friday 13 September 2013

Research for Music Video

Planning and Research for our Music Video 

Songs and Artists: 

  • The La's - There She Goes 
  • The Wannadies - You and Me Song 
  • Blur - Song 2 
  • Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag 
  • All Saints - Pure shoes
  • Sugababes 
  • Blondie 
  • Walking on Sunshine 
We have researched into different songs and this is a list of songs and artists that could be relevant for the type of music video that we want to do. 
We are interested in doing a Indie/Rock Music video where the typical conventions of this include a band performance. We think that we need to discuss more on this as we would need to find trustworthy people that could act as the band. We also need to choose a song that can allow us to adopt Goodwin's theory to it, for example the link between the lyrics and visuals.