There's only two One Directions

Edited within an impressively tight timeframe, here are the two edits of the IGSMedia remake/pastiche of the 1D hit One Thing - the original video is embedded within an earlier post.

Enjoyed these? Why not try the Britney remake, and sample a wide range of other videos at the IGSMediaStudies YouTube channel!!!

Kanye West's interactive video

I'll get round to a round-up post on video-centred apps that I've posted on multiple times; this is a linked but distinct topic: Kanye West has made his new video interactive - you can change the vocal and click to grab screenshots for Instagram (etc).
Here's what you see when you visit KanyeWest.com (as I did on 23.7.13):

The splash screen for KanyeWest.com in July 2013

I was reminded about this just now thanks to a MusicGuardian article, a great source of relevant news, interviews and features, specifically a blog post by Harriet Gibsone. She makes a great point about Kanye's new vid, which is exclusively available via his site (a pointer towards YouTube's grip loosening?):

As this video is streamed exclusively from West's website, it renders the viewer unable to fast-forward or trace backwards: Black Skinhead demands your attention

What I also noticed is that there's no attempt at any age restriction, or warning, yet the track features swearwords and racial terms. YouTube hasn't a great reputation for effectively limiting content to minors, but it does at least run age warnings/restrictions and censor some material.
[tbc]

2013 Remake Challenge: 1D's One Thing

My ears look forward to this as much as a sharp stick being poked through them, but here we go with a 2013 vid remake challenge. Students pitched a multitude of interesting ideas, from Rebecca Black's advert for earplugs, Friday, to Olivia Newton-John's Grease, but a consensus was reached around this aural atrocity...

Not sure how the open-top bus will be managed (a matchbox toy? car-trailer? cardboard cutout?), and I've a sinking feeling I've figured out who 'Zayn' is and why there was an optimistic call for yours truly to play him, but we start with meticulous denotation of the original.
It helps to have UGC/fan-made vids like this:

It also helps that YouTube have signed deals with most of the major labels (and many Indies) to ensure such vids can be exhibited through their site!
We'll carry out meticulous denotation using note sheets like those pictured below.

VidEG: Pixies "Bagboy" (2013)

Much retweeted: notice of tour, vid + free MP3 download

ACT: The Pixies

TRACK: Bagboy

YEAR: 2013

DIRECTOR: LAMAR+NIK

GENRE: Alt rock

MAIN AUDIENCE: 25-44 (recent/original fans), but clearly targeting new 15-24 + possibly younger teens/tweens; M-oriented vid?

LYRICS

Money is recouped by gathering email addresses

I've blogged on The Pixies before: see this post detailing the band's style, including their quirky take on vids (or 'anti-vids'), or this post detailing their classic single-take vid Velouria (more egs here and here; comparisons to Jesus and Mary Chain here)

THE VIDEO IS EMBEDDED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST

LAMAR+NIK often feature non-CGI sculpture-as-title. Reminds me of films like Napoleon Dynamite

IN BRIEF: TYPICALLY ODDBALL, FILMIC PIXIES VID...

• The use of digital media to promote this is exemplary
• its timed to help promote a tour: the MP3 is available free
• with controversial content rendering it unsuitable for pre-watershed UK screening, its main life will be online
• the media language is odd for a music vid, more cinematic in its approach, especially editing
• the central character is a clear representation of a (younger) fan, tho' there may be veiled criticism in there too
• its hard to judge whether this will succeed in appealing to a young, new Pixies fanbase
• there are some touches of creative genius...

SOME BACKGROUND: EXEMPLARY DIGITAL AGE RELEASE FROM DINOSAURS

Users are encouraged to tweet/FB post

This is a great example of an act originating decades ago (so long ago in fact that your blog author was barely out of primary school) that have firmly grasped the challenge and opportunity presented by digitisation and social media. I stumbled across news of a new release on Facebook ... forgot about it ... decided to log in to a Twitter account I've not looked at since setting it up years ago ... and quickly came across a link again.

News of a tour is all over the blogosphere, twittersphere, FB, e-zines and magazines (depending on what feeds you subscribe to of course). The comeback of this band is newsworthy for many publications/outlets, but the killer hook that's guaranteed the print/screen inches, thumbs up, likes, retweets and whatnots is a new video, plus the opportunity to download the track for free.
That last detail helps show the shift from music sales to ticket/merchandise sales for many acts in the digital age, plus revenue more from streaming (often by sharing in the website's, eg YouTube, advertising revenue) than physical sales.

 "You are proselytizing alone listening to the voice with your ears" (sample lyric)

Screenshot taken 4 days after this was uploaded. Note the FREE DOWNLOAD link, + director's site URL

THE VID: BASIC SUMMARY