Polydor Records (Universal Music)

Polydor Records- Video Commissioners Visit 

We had two women who attended our school yesterday from Polydor Records company. They were Video Comissioners for the company, and they spoke to us about the process of making a music video and the things and people involved who bring ideas all together. 

Notes I made from their talk 

-Sit down with the artist and talk about what video want to make

-Position of the artist (performance, female- beauty, narrative or inter-cut a performance, animation)

-Once decision is made, put together a video proof.

-Different directors (difference between James Blake and The Saturdays)

-Lana Del Rey; all their ideas. Other people’s opinions come together.

-More magical when ideas comes from the artists themselves

-Not on the budget? So strip down. Finding a simple idea. Not achievable.

-One thing really well, rather than too much. Got to compromise.

-Money shortage: look into brands and sponsorship. Music videos are passion projects, so little money

-5/10/15 grand

-Music videos keeps them relevant, rather than commercials

-Director gets producer on board and the idea budgeted; month/month ½ process.

-Fashion inspired? Rihanna brand. Dr.Martins- used a reference.

-Stick in links to some videos that have inspired and reference.

-Film/Music/Media references

-More references to get a clear idea of everything people wanted

-Video commissioners; different departments, marketing/video/promo team (tv shows/radio),

-Link music audience (Laura Marling and The Macabees)/look at the statistics on youtube (what Radio1 look at when playing their music)

Examples of Music Videos they've produced:

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/polydorrecords
EMILY TEDRAKE TWITTER: https://twitter.com/EmilyTedrake

I found the girls talk really interesting, and it informed us that actually, the music video doesn't have to have much sense to it. As long as it's interesting and follows the majority of the references you've gathered, it doesn't matter. 

IMAGES:

ELLIE GOULDING: 'Goodness Gracious'

They showed us Ellie Goulding's video 'Goodness Gracious' which was based around typical young girls, but what gave the video it's edge, was that it was all based in neon colors.

• Neon
• Based in LA 
• Typical girl video
• Colorful

LA ROUX: 

 They based this video on references linked to the 80s/90s era. Using an interactive ring in number, attracted all types of audiences, getting them involved in the fun of making the video. 

• Bright colours
• 80s themed
• Variation of telephones
• Adverts
• Interactive
• La Roux inserts her own
  ideas into the production of
  the music video.

Research

'Lion the Weak' as a band evolve around the genre of Indie Pop/Rock. We can therefore compare the band to this research:

Genres:

The Stone Roses 

Festival research: Reading/Leeds 

The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The Reading Festival, the original and senior of the two, is the world's oldest popular music festival still in existence. It has had various musical phases over the years, as detailed below. In the twin-site era, rock, alternative, indie, punk and metal have tended to dominate.

Festival research: Reading/Leeds 

The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The Reading Festival, the original and senior of the two, is the world's oldest popular music festival still in existence. It has had various musical phases over the years, as detailed below. In the twin-site era, rock, alternative, indie, punk and metal have tended to dominate.

Digi-pack research: 

As part of our 'star image' we will need to create a branding and digital representation of our band. For example we will need to create EP artwork that replicates our bands style and image.

MILKY CHANCE: SADNECESSARY

 

 This album cover displays a contemporary style to which we would like to convey with our Digi-Pack. The paint splatters would link in well with the themes of our music video. Perhaps we could create similar looking artwork but sticking to the colour scheme of our video which is light-blue and white.

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB: SO LONG SEE YOU TOMORROW

This band are a similar style/genre to 'Lion the Weak'. Their album covers usually involve some creative animation as shown opposite. The colour scheme would differ with our interpretation but i do believe we can take alot of inspiration from Bombay Bicycle Club's artwork. 

This video uses alot of the stylistic elements we are going for in our music video. For example the white backdrop is one element we wish to use in our music video of  'Wasted Words' by Lion the Weak.

The performance style of this piece is an interpretation of what we are going for as a group. The band will be extremely central and all the other narrative and creative elements will feature around them. This is so that the upcoming band really have the spotlight. This is important for the label and management company so they can sell them well within the industry.

We are also looking into using about 5 female dances similar to how Two Door Cinema Club used them in this music video. 

Using dancers adds another stylistic element to the video. Our video will be heavily performance based so it gives the audience something slightly different when they are viewing the video. It is also is something that isn't widely used when music videos are being made so that attracts an audience on its own.

1. The dancers would all be wearing matching outfits, the outfits would correlate with the colour scheme of our music video. Their moves would also be in unison so the performance would look as smooth as possible.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Advert Research : Hue Wireless Lighting Advert

   
   

   While streaming music on 'Deezer', an advert for 'Hue Wireless' came up, which instantly inspired me for our video. The video referred to all our ideas of changing the set, different eras, stock frame- and all of these elements were included in this advert! I showed this to the group, and we have definitely decided to include this in our references for our music video. 

   
   

   Phillips Hue- How many times does it take to change the lightbulb?

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

Genre Development- 'Wasted Words'

Genre Development- 'Wasted Words'

Although genres may appear to shift and develop randomly over time, you can think of it a bit like biological evolution where mutations that prove successful are inherited and lead to adaptation.  In the music industry the process involves successful acts being cloned in some quite blatant ways such as performance and portrayal of the star image.

The band we are working with 'Lion the Week' are established as an 'indie-pop' band but they haven't made a 'star image' for themselves as they are unsigned and music is just a hobby for them. 

But as a band they are going for a fashionable look to which their target audience of young adults can relate and aspire to. Alot of young adults look up to musicians as fashion icons and 'Lion the Weak' can become fashion icons for 17-25 year old guys.

Conventions- 'Wasted Words'

Conventions can be broken down into three 

main parts:

•Generic Ingredients – what are the different elements that are included e.g. for videos in this genre is there normally a performance? Lip sync? Narrative?

In this genre the videos are usually very much performance based. This means that we need to create performance element to the video that is incredibly engaging. We are experimenting with different set designs and stylist elements at the moment.

•Generic style – is there a specific visual style that is expected within the genre – particular style of camerawork? Editing? Lighting? Use of colours? Imagery? Use of particular settings/locations? Costume?

The typical style of this genre is reasonably alternative. A lot of the costumes/clothing will link to current trends a fashion statements as this specific genre is heavily fashion based. For example bands such as 'Bombay Bicycle Club' and 'Two Door Cinema Club'.

•Generic structure – is there a specific way in which the ingredients are arranged/organised [more relevant to websites and digi-packs but also to videos e.g. in pop videos the performance and CUs of the artist will nearly always be used over the key lines of the chorus] – Why do you think this is?

 With our band their image they have already established their habits and way of doing things so it will be a challenge to alter those aspects of the video but we can work around their traits and style to create a unique star image that portrays the digi-pack and star image in a most positive way possible. The branding of the video will have to show relation to the digi-pack branding (artwork) as they are being sold together.

Concept Presentation

Link to presentation about initial ideas on the music video

Change of Plan

A Change of Plan

As we thought it might, our idea was rejected by Luke in our consultation.  
Luke believed that the song was too mainstream and Alt-J are too current to be 
able to pull off creating a music video and digi-pack for that band. By using Alt-J, our ideas for a star  image would have been very limited as they have a 
pre-conceived star image already and anything that we create would be heavily 
compared to the original. 

However, Luke did have an idea up his sleeve. Fin's brother is in a band called 
Lion The Weak. They are a fairly new band, formed at Exeter University. Jack, 
Fin's brother, has agreed to discuss with the band the possibility of using filming 
a music video for their for one of their songs. 

Everything is yet to be confirmed, but we will continue to research and develop new ideas to pitch to the band in hope of their agreement. The thing with well as our own. 
using an unknown band, is we have to work around their ideas as 

Chat with Luke

Chat with Luke

We had a briefing with Luke today about the music videos. He gave us a list of 
'strands' we need to keep in mind when drawing up our music video.
Strand 1: Band - Lipsync
Strand 2: Choreography
Strand 3: A Narrative
Strand 4: Exploring a social issue
Strand 5: Band being controversial
it is absolutely crucial that we include lip-sync, because it ties the 
whole video together.Luke also introduced to us a website called "Radar" which is a music video commissioning company. From this website many bands such as Alt-J and DIE ANTWOOD have had music videos created. Both the bands are completely 
different but have bothhad very successful videos created by members of Radar.  
This showed us that you don't need to have an unlimited amount of funds and 
equipment to produce an amazing music video. 

Lion the Weak

LION THE WEAK 

A discussion with Luke took place, after we pitched our idea of 'Fitzpleasure' to him. We came to the conclusion that Alt J were too mainstream, with a music video already made for the song we wanted. We therefore decided not to use because it is far too well known, and our audience could compare our's to the original. Finbar then came up with the idea to use his brother's independent band 'Lion the Weak', an indie/pop band. We can therefore make a completely original music video, to an unknown band in order to make it well-known. They have no previous music videos, so we can create fresh new ideas without preconceived story lines. In order to create a star image, we must decide whether we follow the band's original identity which consists of nature, black and white etc. Or whether we create a whole new image and 'digi pack' for them. 

'Lion The Weak' Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Liontheweak

'Lion The Weak' Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiontheWeak

'Lion The Weak' Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/liontheweak

Our chosen song: 'Wasted Words'

This track is the one the band wants us to create a music video for. It has elements of pop and rock and even indie folk. We have played the track to many members of the Media Department and their reaction to the style has been very much the same. The core genres of pop and rock are core genres of the British music industry. Rock music has record sales of 33.8% in the UK and pop music has sales of 31% in the UK. Lion The Weak have intelligently targeted their wide Pop/Rock audience with innovative and unique music to which separates them from other bands/artists. 

Record Labels

 

Music industry

Within the music industry, most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on MP3, radio, and television, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The Internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products.

Major labels

Research into Advanced Portfolio

Idea 1: 'Dramaphone' by Caravan Palace

'SWING REPUBLIC'


The band 'swing republic' are a similar style of genre/band as Caravan Palace. They take an old fashioned era of music e.g. 20s music, and remix it into 21st century dance music. It becomes a sort of vintage electro music, mixing an old jazz with a positive vibe. 
Fito (the band's president) combines the spirituality and emotional expressions from the past with the electronic technology of the future.

Music video:

Images:

Idea 2: 'We Were Wasted' by The Leisure Society 

ALEX TURNER

The artist Alex Turner is the lead singer of the English rock band 
Arctic Monkeys, and despite the fact 'The Leisure Society' are a folk band, Alex Turner's solo track he wrote for the film 'Submarine' is a very similar style to The Leisure Society's soft acoustic. Turner's soundtrack was released on 18 March 2011 in the UK and US.

'Arctic Monkeys' Music Video: 

Alex Turner Solo: 

Images:

News: 

Idea 3: 'The Maestro' by Caro Emerald

ROOM ELEVEN

Room Eleven, likewise to Caro Emerald is a pop/jazz style band with aspects of vintage