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)
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.
'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.
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?
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 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.
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
