VIDEO EXAMPLES Jinjer one location masterclass!

This caught my eye as a nice example of what you can be looking for and blogging on at any stage, without any template or prescribed points - simply practices that catch your eye!

From the video below I was struck by...
Great use of a single location. I've pushed previous groups to make the effort to haul drumkits out to awkward locations, and you can see the visual impact here. For student examples see Sunburnt in December, Smiths and Joe's Nine Inch Nails...
The single location worked because a narrative was included, taking pressure off the performance shots. It was fairly abstract without really being concept as Firth defines it. Ambiguous and polysemic - Vernallis would spit feathers at the idea of deeming this elliptical fare a narrative!!! - but it raises the video from a simple performance shoot.
Note how the singer is incorporated into this, adding power and intrigue (narrative enigma...) into her performance.
Nice use of a single VFX, the dust clouds. No idea if this was done in FCPX via a plugin (which are created in Motion remember) or After Effects/Adobe, but it's moody and raises the location to another level in a way that'd have been rather tricky if relying on diegetic shots, live FX
In turn, that works particularly well because of the plentiful but judicious use of slo-mo plus accelerating motion. Slo-mo is a basic convention it's easy to overlook - I direct you once again to the Pixies (Silver Snail? from rough memory) for exemplary examples (maybe not Velouria, the ultra-exaggerated version - like 1 of the 3 promos for U2's One...)
Another way the performance is dramatised is drone shots through the widely split legs of guitarist/bassist, a really cool albeit risky (health and safety alert!) diegetic visual effect
The mirroring effect (on top of some actual mirrors at the location) helps too. It's close to being overused but generally works well as a visual but also to signify dislocation and simply to play with (Goodwin's convention of) looking.
A glimpse too of the media c-word... The convergence evident in this small-scale indie band affording the fairly impressive visual FX sparked by the gore of the headshot...
Always worth stating though - never use a gun in a student video. And I'd be wary of doing so professionally too as it's got scope (yup, I punned...) to backfire ... A woke gen Z won't necessarily appreciate the use of one given the easy links to school shootings and more

https://www.metalsucks.net/2019/10/11/jinjer-are-blowing-up-heres-their-new-single-video-on-the-top/

MERCHANDISE pinball wizard swimming shorts

There are some really strange merch ideas out there, not least from metal acts...

MONETISING pay a grand to be on stage

http://metalsludge.tv/pay-to-play-jack-russells-great-white-offers-fans-a-chance-to-play-with-the-band-for-1000-00/?fbclid=IwAR2mTplv2BSG51_xvPDZlGcvqW6avH4htdu7ZtXm7Vkk3ec7hluG7R8IkW8

SUBCULTURE heavy metal community values

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/study-heavy-metal-music-is-inclusive-and-governed-by-rules-of-etiquette/

ALT VIDEOS Tendencies to tout tour tickets

I've blogged on alternative, secondary music video formats before: the one-take, single shot video; the lyric video; the album trailer; the special edition or merchandise unwrapping.

To this list, one worth pondering for an additional quickfire production that will help to drive website and social media content and engagement, add the tour date video (with website plugging included too).

The example is from 80s crossover (punk/thrash) legends Suicidal Tendencies. The video, spotted from a browse of the TeamRock site, a rich source for spotting evolving marketing strategies, includes several features:

• performance footage
• album art and website splash page, with plugs for both
• like the most basic lyric videos, the main content is a vertically scrolling list of tour dates, white font on a black background
• the audio consists of a snippet from a new album track, NOT the full track
• The unpolished look is further evidence of how artists have incorporated audience approaches (fan-made videos) into their own playbooks. Even the mighty Metallica have dropped an unwrapping video, a hugely popular format that may have had pop origins but is now seen from audiences and artists across the age and genre spectrum.

I'll add to this more insight gleaned from the TeamRock site (an e-zine side to a stable of print magazines such as Classic Rock); Iron Maiden providing another example of how acts monetise themselves in an era of low record sales:

Iron Maiden Fan Club members will be given access to an exclusive pre-sale, with information available via the official website.A Trooper VIP upgrade package will also be available, giving fans early access to the venue, exclusive goodies as well as food and Trooper beer. VIP tickets cost £140 and gig tickets will need to be bought separately. [LouderSound]

Artists variously charge for photos with fans, sometimes as part of a VIP backstage package, have licensed drinks, offer exclusives to fan club or registered website members (often charging a subscription fee).

...Maiden are a great example of a long-running act who skilfully use traditional and social media, and diverse merchandising, to successfully monetise their art and brand. Here's another example from them...the thankyou to fans, a natural example of direct address made possible by online media.

...

[recent update:]

I mention beer as a great example of merch - you can buy both Slayer and Iron Maiden beer in Luxembourg (Auchan), and Motorhead, plus some other branded wine/spirits if I recall correctly. That this is now a common strategy, especially in heavy metal, can be seen from a simple google ('heavy metal beer'). See this Pinterest for a gallery (pic, right comes from it):

MERCHANDISING Whiskey in the jar - branded booze

(yes, a wee Thin Lizzy intertextual ref there...)


Here's yet more, including Indie rockers Shed 7: 
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/iron-maiden-queen-madness-make-13639252.amp#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s

 frequently raise the point that digitization has meant that artists and record labels alike have sought to monetize other areas, and booze is a prime example of how wide this move into branded merchandising is. Take the example of Iron Maiden - they don't just sell one branded beer ... they have a whole website dedicated to their beer line! Smart branding.

See IronMaidenbeer.com.

There is an age check:


See TeamRock article for lots of other examples (and a nice Megadeth intertextual ref).

(and here's a further update:)

I mention beer as a great example of merch - you can buy both Slayer and Iron Maiden beer in Luxembourg (Auchan), and Motorhead, plus some other branded wine/spirits if I recall correctly. That this is now a common strategy, especially in heavy metal, can be seen from a simple google ('heavy metal beer'). See this Pinterest for a gallery (pic, right comes from it):

DIGITISATION MONETISING Crematory merch voucher with DIGIPAK

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/crematory-calls-out-lazy-fans-for-not-buying-concert-tickets-threatens-to-split-unless-cd-sales-improve/

MERCHANDISING Thrash metal Pantera baby stroller

I kid you not... (think about it...) Pramtera?!

When you're looking at a website store, you should spot some examples of baby and child merch. I've given several examples before, so add this legends of thrash metal merch to the list.

For legacy or established acts like this it makes perfect sense. Pantera broke through in the early 90s with the classic Cowboys From Hell - caused my hair to reach out to others many's a time!

Therefore much of their fanbase are mature adults, often with families - and they continue to attract new fans despite being a defunct act.

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/12/07/pantera-make-baby-strollers-now/

See http://daphyls.com/product-category/pantera/

CONVERGENCE Metal Gear...Video game group's hit single

Pentakill: how a metal band that doesn’t exist made it to No 1

How has a band that doesn’t physically exist, with zero promotion from the music industry, breach the Billboard Top 40 and reach No 1 in the iTunes metal chart?Conceived by California-based gaming gurus Riot Games in 2014, Pentakill exist purely in the imaginations of their creators – and the 100 million global fans of League of Legends, the multiplayer online battle arena game that spawned the band’s members, Karthus the Deathsinger, Yorick, Sona, Olaf and lead guitarist Mordekaiser the Master of Metal.Entirely under the mainstream radar, the band’s new CGI video, Mortal Reminder, notched up more than 3m views in less than 48 hours after its release – and the new album, Grasp of the Undying, seems destined to be a huge success. 

INDUSTRY Website only book Testament to diversification

A novel idea, the band book...

Thrash legends Testament (Burnt Offerings, Over the Wall, Souls of Black and many other classics that'll add a sonic boom to any day) are producing a band history which can only be ordered through their website, and comes with a personalised inscription.

Of course, there's a video from the lead singer, the venom vocalled Chuck Billy, to announce/flog the tome...

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/03/10/testament-are-working-on-a-book-the-official-illustrated-history/

PLAY ALONG VID No Obituary for vid variety yet

A useful reminder of the versatility of the music video format:

Death metal godfathers Obituary won a synergistic cross-promotion through Guitar World magazine (also a website of course), creating a split-screen video to enable fans to play along with the guitar on their new release. 

They are also booked on a branded tour which will benefit from a major push through the magazine, and offer the chance to attract new fans as the publication has a multi-genre readership. Moreover, it's a neat way for a 1980s band to attract younger fans, kids and teens starting out on developing guitar skills.

So, add this to the lyric video, unwrapping video, album preview/promo video, tour announcement or localised tour shout out, single shot, live performance, fan footage, interactive, 3D, virtual reality (VR), teaser, tie-ins with console games like Guitar Hero ...

It also gets Obituary further publicity through stories on popular e-zines such as MetalSucks.

Good tune to boot, even if not up to the standard of their early classics, Slowly We Rot and Cause of Death!

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/03/01/sentence-day-obituary-release-new-song-via-guitar-playthrough-video/

Teaser video, VR, crowdfunding, fan engagement - Megadeth are exemplary

social media can be enigmatic...

IN THIS POST:  a quick look at some examples of how Megadeth, a band whose debut album was in 1985, use multiple platforms to engage with existing fans and seek new ones, generating media coverage along the way. Any music video producer can learn from their strategic approach. As I can't access FB + other sites while writing this, I've used limited examples, but you can always look further yourselves.

If you're producing a music video you really should seek to engage with an audience long before you've got to the final cut stage.

Blogging does that to some extent, but being active on social media (Instagram, Twitter, FB...), posting snippets and updates of what you've been doing, should be part of that mix, generating content for a website in turn.

Just as film has the trailer, so many artists are now creating their own (often put out on record company YouTube channels) trailers (see Slayer example on this blog) and even teasers, as with this example from Megadeth (featured in a popular e-zine; marketing involves a mix of social media and publications/channels - such content will typically generate lots of articles in magazines, e-zines, radio...):

Bing (yuck) results galore, showing the success of the strategy to generate attention

Megadeth are an act skilled in keeping a buzz going, over 30 years since their debut album - they're engaging with VR (and note the serializing of the feature too, drip-feeding segments):

Official Megadeth YT channel.

INDUSTRY Why major acts aren't releasing new albums

Cinderella are a bluesy glam metal band who had huge 90s hit albums and retain a large live following. Here's their bass player explaining why it's so long since they released new material ... and he was speaking back in 2011, when the economics were more favourable than they are now!

You could argue that there's a false sense of entitlement here, but this is how many acts are viewing the logistics of recording, mixing and distributing new material

In a 2011 interview SCTimes.com, Eric explained why there was little incentive for CINDERELLA to make a new studio record. He said: "In the musical climate these days and the way we like to do things, it's not really worth doing it anymore. Our last record cost $1.2 million to make and the cheapest record we've ever made was $400,000. You can't do that these days because no one even sells $400,000 worth of records, CDs or downloads. Everything's changed. Everyone makes records in their bedrooms basically for next to nothing and in my opinion, most of them sound like it. That's not what we're about."

SOURCE: Blabbermouth.

UGC CONVERGENCE Ezine's fake 8bit metal game trailer

To the eyes of someone who fondly recalls all the acts featured, and the (now!) primitive video game style pastiched, this is a thing of marvel - a trailer for a notional 'Monsters of Rock' game, with legendary bands, music videos and singles all rendered in this retro style.

Bands like Chipmunk have of course made tech-retro part of youth/popular culture, fetishising 80s synths and recording technology.

This is a great example of convergence - an e-zine (there is no print edition, and Facebook, where I most often find its articles, seems to be, in effect, its key 'distributor') commissioned a fake retro video game trailer, 'published' on YouTube, featuring lo-fi music renderings that recall the early mobile phone ringtones.

[below the line: a second example, some important terminology, and points on 2005's Crazy Frog...]

DIGIPAK video resources: company guides, fan vids, tutorials, Evaluations...

IN THIS POST: Gaga and other fanatics' vids on their digipaks; commercial demos of what a digipak looks like and multi-panel options; examples of student Evaluation vids going through the steps of creating their digipaks; Adobe Photoshop and After Effects tutorials. First up, a vodcast featuring elements of these. See also: this post gathers together past posts/links.

DB VODCAST



FANatics' DIGIPAK WORSHIPPING
Having just finished a vodcast on magazine ads for digipaks, I was having a quick look at what's on YouTube on the topic of digipaks ... and came across this, part of the phenomenon of UGC that Lady Gaga has masterfully exploited/encouraged, a rather worshipful rundown of a Gaga digipak - even the comments below largely reflect this serious, dedicated tone. To me, quite bizarre, to the 'Little Monsters' a nice expression of their community identity - but overall no odder than the YouTube-leading content of gamers' musings.


Its not just LG fans that engage in this; this chap, a metalhead, has a few smackdowns he wants to lay down on digipaks (with some strong language) ... and he's not the only one! (Good call on Nuclear Assault's Survive, 'DissonantReviews', classic!)



COMMERCIAL DEMOS OF DIGIPAK OPTIONS
Here's a simple 37-sec demo of a 6-panel digipak:

Feminist Metal or male gaze? Butcher Babies

The article I'll link below contains strong language and links to semi-nude videos, necessary for the frank discussion of the topic matter but worth being aware of and cautious over. The article is sparked by the emergence of a female metal band who've gained swift notoriety by performing semi-nude, their costumes leaving little to the imagination. The article never uses the term post-feminist, but the claims of the likes of the Butcher Babies to be feminist would be rejected by traditional feminists, but embraced by post-feminists. The article, and the reader comments that follow, goes on to discuss more radical acts such as RockBitches, L7, Tribe8, Girlschool (The Runaways, subject of a 2011 film, aren't mentioned but should be), Wendy O'Wiliams and the Plasmatics and many more. It's a useful article not so much for the specifics on any one act but for exposing and illuminating the contested nature of feminism, and undermining attempts to claim that what makes positive or negative representation is a straightforward process. Its thus one you'd do well to look at when discussing representations within your own work, and how they're perceived. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/jul/05/butcher-babies-rockbitch-tribe-8

Bands' tour blogs: Onslaught

Ever more common to see bands communicating with fans (worldwide) with blogs; here's an eg from a classic UK thrash band, Onslaught (contains strong language):
http://truecultheavymetal.com/blog1.php/2012/03/27/onslaught-in-the-usa-parts-2-aamp-3
Also note the tie-in with a successful ezine, giving their blogging further exposure beyond their immediate fanbase

Using TV set for live footage: Iron Maiden vid

Another vid picked out by Rob, Iron Maiden's Can I Play With Madness. A few brief comments, perhaps the key being the use of a TV set to bring in live footage rather than simple crosscutting:
I think the key to grasping this vid is the use of teens. Maiden were a mature band with a decade of growing success behind them, but needed to ensure they appealed to teens to continue selling.

Notable too that the teens are both M+F.

From an international perspective, we get a trad cliche of England: rural, castles...

But this was also a band at the peak of their commercial success: the SFX denote a high-budget vid - taking in elements of sci-fi, fantasy, horror (traditionally male genres, matching with the music genre)
The TVs to provide live footage is a nice touch; a postmodern element (Guns n Roses would use this approach in Welcome to the Jungle and other vids too).
[Iron Maiden - Can I Play With Madness]

Perf vid: Avenged Sevenfold

Kyle posted on this one.

ACT: Avenged Sevenfold

TRACK: Afterlife

YEAR: 2008

DIRECTOR: Wayne Isham

GENRE: metalcore, heavy metal

MAIN AUDIENCE: male 15-24

Another good eg of a perf vid, with some fairly simple additional material thrown in. The 3 shots from 0:24-0:27 are a good example to remember: CU of singer to MS with 2 band members in frame to CU again. Camera movement is frequently seen, again this helps create a sense of realism, as if its a genuine live performance, and dynamism. Cutting into a camera movement (eg 0:41, cut from drummer to CU of singer, cam tilting down as part of tracking the singer in CU) reinforces this.
The warehouse setting is suitably 'metal' but seen as not quite enough to keep people reviewing this over and over, so we get some nice SFX and a switch to a white backdrop (with added ghosting effect) at around 1:06. A costume change has also taken place (all still very metal, with tattoos and black slothing much in evidence!), and simple shots of one of the band releasing a bird are very effectively crosscut through this section. When we return to the warehouse setting, shots of a tarantula on a band member's hand help avoid this being a case of just repeating the earlier footage, and provides a neat bridge between the two settings.

Indeed, at 1:35 we see a great example of one of the simplest FX you can pull off IF YOU TAKE ENOUGH COVERAGE: a jump effect by cutting 3 shots, each a little more zoomed out than the last.
Its simple, but the little trick of introducing the tarantula really does render the two sections of warehouse performance quite distinct.

After about 2 mins we get a section of continually cross-cutting between the 2 locations, often applying a revolving wipe effect. A lyric on 'dancing' is used to bring in a 3rd vignette, of another band member dancing - each band member gets their own little scenario, nothing complicated, but these simnple shots make a huge difference to the vid in terms of its entertainment and variety, and its potential for remaining an enjoyable view once seen a few times!

Lovely use of multiple layering from this point. At 2:47/8 we see a neat editing trick: using two shots of the singer in ECU on the mouth, shot from left and right so that each shot leaves half the frame empty - they are briefly combined in one shot.

Just in case there was any risk of avoiding cliche, we get a 4th vignette, featuring a skull and an array of candles!

I also rather enjoyed seeing the drummer's enthusiastic drumstick twirling, something that Motley Crue's Tommy Lee, copying many others before him, made into a cliche nearly 25 years ago with the Wild Side video!

You can see a making of vid here (part 1 of 3).

Prog metal performance vid: Periphery

This one was posted on by ConorO.

ACT: Periphery

TRACK: Jet Packs Was Yes!

YEAR: 2010

DIRECTOR: Eric Haviv

GENRE: Prog metal

MAIN AUDIENCE: male 15-24; significant female 15-24 appeal?

Its cliched - and useful for it!

Smoke machine; black, white, blue predominant colours; fairly basic lighting, with side light at times appearing as moon-like; great variety of shots to keep vid moving; use of slo-mo to dramatise performance.

What really caught my eye was the disconnect between the singer's stylings and the actual vocals: he was prancing about like a thrash metal (eg Slayer) singer, not the soft-rock, Evanescence-like singer he is!

Frequent movement on the shots helps create that sense of dyamism, and subtly connotes live performance/gives the staged performance a vital touch of realism (or verisimilitude).

The additional footage is simple but effective: a graveyard at nighttime. All very gothic!