Books on music video

Be aware that there is an extensive links list (pictured below) for books on music video. See more on books for all elements of A2 Media here.

Especially useful:

Keith Negus' Popular Music in Theory: incredibly useful for both coursework and exam, this gives you a summary of media theories applied to music. Great for the Evaluation, but also blogging about audience; brilliant for both Q1 and Q1b of the exam. It is quite old, but still useful.

Not particularly academic but very useful for the history of music vids, + refs/analysis to/of many vids and directors you won't have heard of (but which could give you ideas), is Austerlitz' Money For Nothing: A History of the Music Video From The Beatles to The White Stripes. You can of course try a general music video (book) search, and you'll come up the likes of this. Austerlitz provides a history of the music video and how it developed over time, and mentions (details) lots of examples you won't have come across - but which might help for ideas. Such examples may also end up being used in your exam too.

CIE A2 coursework overview

...
ALSO: See this summary of common issues with coursework.

Lots of docs in this post, so read more link added to prevent slow loading.

A2 CIE cwk marking and blogging guide from DB3igs

...

A2 cwk key asmt criteria and exam links from DB3igs

CIE EVALUATION Q1b REPRESENTATIONS

you can find more on the Evaluation overall in this hub post.

CIAE Q1b 'how does it represent social groups or issues'

DIRECT EXAM LINK:

This is essentially practice for the first half of your exam: the Q1b REPRESENTATION topic (and AUDIENCE eg U+G, with further links to GENRE eg sub-culture, NARRATIVE eg hero's journey and MEDIA LANGUAGE eg simulacra), and links into Q1a, especially 'U' (use of conventions).

You need to consider and select a range of theories from your MANGeR pack, and apply both elements of semiotics when you provide examples:

• specific and precise denotation (WHAT you did)
  
• analysis of possible connotations (WHY you did)

A VERY BRIEF OVERVIEW:
Tackle either 1 character/setting at a time (highlighting any binaries) or 1 demographic/issue at a time.
You should see links with your AS exam TV Drama Q, which also requires you to discuss issues raised through media language choices.
Basic judgements to make: stereo/arche/countertype; normative/counter-hegemonic - or a mix (which might fit with narrative theories, eg Campbell's monomyth, Todorov's new equilibrium) - and WHY you did this, linked directly to audience/s targeted. U+G is an obvious theory to use - there are many more below and in Q1b exam pack.
What social groups? 2 basics: gender, age (teen, tween etc). Sexuality. Ethnicity. Nationality/regionality. Rural/urban/metropolitan. Social class and status (ABC1CDE). Religion/spirituality. Dis/ability.
What issues? Sexuality and gender are likely to be foremost: hetero-normative? Queering? (Fe)male gaze? Performativity of gender? The obvious 'ism' is (post-)feminism, but capitalism/consumerism and postmodernism (challenges to perceptions of an observable reality, meta-narratives; deconstructionism; simulacra) also. Look back at the in-depth case studies of Breaking Bad and other TV Drama clips for more inspiration.

Work through the embedded PowerPoint below for a range of suggested theories and terms

DB adapted representation theories from DB3igs

THE STUART HALL ISSUE:
How YOU planned to represent and have audiences respond to people and places in your video etc is not necessarily how they did - it would be useful to include some audience feedback and reflection on this. Where was there polysemy that enabled some audience members (perhaps of certain demographics: gender? age? nationality?) to give a negotiated or even oppositional reading?

REPRESENTATION OF WHO OR WHAT? + AUDIENCE ISSUES
You can approach this question in two fundamental ways: tackling one category of representation at a time OR separately analysing each character and place in turn. Representation is also a major issue for audience (eg U+G).

CIE Eval Q4 Technologies

you can find more on the Evaluation overall in this hub post.

CIE Q4
HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES - SOFTWARE, HARDWARE AND ONLINE - IN THIS PROJECT?

***You MUST analyse your technology use in the Evaluation, including this question, in your answer!!!***

****You also MUST consider how you INTEGRATED technologies - combined and used these for multiple purposes (eg editing and YouTube for R+P and Evaluation, not just for the final music video/digipak/website)**** 

Consider how YOUR DESIGN/PRODUCTION COMPANY might benefit from or be penalised by digitisation - apply your exam-centred work, all that instiutional knowledge on how the highly converged, digitally disrupted music industry works...

Two posts closely linked to the DISTRIBUTION question/issue are also useful for this: a very detailed list of digitisation/industry issues; and a more specific consideration of distribution. 

                                           A useful gif.

CIE Evaluation overview

CIE NOTE: This is formally named the CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

THE CIAE BRIEF: music promotion package A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music video (major task), together with a website for the band and a digipak for the album’s release (minor tasks).

You are marked not just on answering the question, but also for:

• creativity in how you do so
• using critical theory and self-critiquing [exam q1a/1b!!!]
• use of technology to do so

In practice, you should take 1 of 2 approaches:

1. Create one SUBSTANTIAL creative text for each answer, AND/OR...
2. Recycle a format or spread it across multiple Qs so you've got multiple creative approaches for each Q. It makes sense if you've spent any time on creating a set!

These often won't be ideal for actually answering the question, so make sure you fill in any gaps with some combination of well-illustrated:

• PowerPoint/Prezi
• blog post content
• video/vodcast

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a 'hub' post for BOTH the CIE version of the A2 Media Evaluation AND the UK (OCR) spec on which it's based.  Use the hyperlinks below to find specific posts/guides on the 4 CIE/ OCR questions. See here for CIE blog guide.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IN THIS POST:

• The 4 CIE A2 Evaluation ('creative critical reflection') questions
• The UK/CIE Evaluations compared
• Your final post order
• How to present your answers
• Technologies to consider
• How to be creative
• 24-page coursework overview

THE FOUR CIE A2 EVALUATION QUESTIONS

UGC-style self mash-up: Depeche Mode's Martyr

I wasn't so sure myself if this was UGC or official, but apparently, yes, it is the 'real' deal!

A short post this one...
Its not the first time I've used Depeche Mode to exemplify postmodernism (or layering for that matter!) ... and, okay, I'm a fan so I'm more inclined to note what they do

But ... this is a great example of a band - amongst the world's highest selling, who have been selling global stadia for decades now - using something that has the look of a fan-made video, or UGC, as an official release.

MARKETING REISSUES Depeche Mode remaster videos

I'm sure they've released a NEW video for a 1985 single too - but I can't find it.

Indisputably, in another sign of how YouTube is becoming key to monetising back catalogue, there have been REMASTERED videos issued through Warner-EMI...

WEB 2.0 Madonna adds Meerkat to promo campaign

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, the big 3 of social media (as of April 2016 anyway..) - there are many more significant options boiling away just below mainstream radar ... and chances are Madonna will be on it!

There's another point here - social media has not REPLACED artist websites, but rather taken a complementary position: social media content is all over such websites. In this case the video premiere is jointly through Madonna's website and the Meerkat app.

You can question the usefulness of relatively obscure social media, but there are benefits...

1. New or lesser social media will make more effort to push content from stars that could get lost in the noise of larger rivals like Twitter
2. It makes for good branding - older star at the cutting edge, with tech early adopters being younger, so helping such artists to refresh their audience base
3. Of course, it can also invite ridicule!

Hyperlink below the line

DIGITISATION INDUSTRY Indie strategy for online future

As you embark on creating your own texts and campaigns, try to be mindful of the economic context, which, just as with the film industry, includes a very uneven playing field for Indies compared to the majors. Despite the technotopia imagined by some web 2.0 theorists/evangelists, the reality is proving tough indeed...

Link below the line

Theory and music video

There are many posts on this (I'm reviewing tags on an ongoing basis to make this easier to find), but just spotted a useful weebly post from another centre, highlighting a range of theories which can usefully be applied: http://a2cw.weebly.com/theory.html.

A great resource for Evaluation work and exam prep
Example: 

INDUSTRY It's the Vinyl Countdown

Here's why including a vinyl (limited) edition, as the Joy Division group did a few years back, alongside the digipak makes sense...

Sales of vinyl could hit 2m in 2015, and have now been given their own chart by the official top 40 company.

Expensive remastered vinyl packages continue to abound, especially from longer established acts. Adam Ant (huge in the early/mid 80s), for example, is currently taking one past album at a time and reissuing in vinyl as a set with plentiful unreleased material and plush packaging as part of the deal. How does £40 for a Dirk Wears White Sox package sound to you (£60 if signed)? [update, 2016: limited stock/offer, here's the main store link]

DIGITISATION INDUSTRY Infographic on streams needed for minimum wage

We keep hearing that revenues have collapsed from physical media sales, but what about the explosion in streaming and associated revenues? This article puts some figures on that ... using an infographic - good example of how you might this within your blog (or in Evaluation)!

Hyperlink below the line

UGC unboxing digipak/special editions videos

This is primarily an audience, UGC activity but as with lyric videos artists themselves, as one means of seeming to put themselves on a level with their fans (uses and gratifications), have engaged in this.

Below: James Hetfield (Lars?) unboxes a deluxe re-release - useful on multiple levels:

• the importance of repackaged re-release sets
• re-mastering
• outtakes, demos, alternative versions
• live recordings
• multi-format: CD, DVD, LP
• vinyl and Record Store Day
• additional media: book and patch
• sold through the band's website
• the normally UGC of unboxing

See Blabbermouth e-zine article.

WEB 2.0 audience FB remains dominant

There is a widespread perception that as parents and grandparents have increasingly signed up to FB so the young have abandoned it in favour of social media not frequented by adults.

This is simply untrue.

As this article makes clear, FB remains the dominant social media for the young, an important consideration for film distributors and music industry publicists alike!

PIRACY, AUDIENCE How Music Got Free by Stephen Witt

There are a lot of highly enjoyable reads on music and the music industry. Austerlitz's history of the music video is a must-read; Simon Reynolds' Retromania puts together a strong argument on the changing nature of the audience for music, and Ralph Negus has done a fantastic overview of academic theory around music and audiences.

Whichever artist you're working on, you will be able to find books on them, their influences, their genre which help throw up ideas. As a result of so frequently name-checking Madonna when discussing Lady Gaga through the 2015 A2 Bad Romance production, I tracked down the hefty bio on her, a great read, and reinforcing the view that the likes of Gaga 'borrow' hugely from the Madonna playbook.

Witt's book, just out, I haven't read yet, but covers the span of two decades in which a bloated music industry exploited digital technology to charge fans to re-purchase music many already owned on vinyl or cassette. This hubris would come back to bite them as digital piracy took off, an early indicator that the traditional passive producer-audience relationship was unstable and set for disruption under what would become web 2.0...

Article/infographic link below the line

INDUSTRY VINYL Kid rock: Teen record label owner

So...imagine you got a little bored after your AS year, you needed a wee side project, something to gear you up for your A2 work in the music industry. Perhaps you thought you'd set up a record label, specialising in vinyl?!

Sound crazy? Not to this 17 year-old from Detroit...

Article link below the line

INDUSTRY US + UK labels row with YouTube, vinyl bigger than streaming

Following on from a recent BPI (UK music industry body) report comes an RIAA (USA equivalent) report making very similar arguments: YouTube is not paying enough, and streams are worth less in total than vinyl sales despite the vastly different numbers involved.

Numbers are what you get plenty of here: clear, precise, specific evidence you can use to show you've got a firm grip on the evolving nature of a digitally disrupted industry.

ARTICLE: YouTube and music labels clash again over 'meagre' artist royalties.

INDUSTRY HD Vinyl within 3 years

Vinyl sales are already worth more than all music streaming, with a 30% rise in 2015. Only the slow, heavily polluting manufacturing process, and a lack of factory capacity, can hold it back - and once HD Vinyl hits both problems are gone...

See: digitalmusicnews article.

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.

REPRESENTATION Are women still male gaze others?

There has been a lot of discussion about the status of women in the music industry lately (echoed with a film industry debate too), with allegations swirling not just of secondary status but abuse too.

Although she was cruelly, publicly put down by Miley Cyrus (with cracks at the mental health of a woman who has suffered long term depression and a recent breakdown), Sinead O'Connor's plea for Cyrus to resist the sexploitation of male managers, executives and video directors still rings very true.

You can easily find lots of articles, recent and historic (look at Tina Turner or any number of 60s girl bands) to help add a deeper perspective to your own consideration of representations; how your media language choices signify and position various social groups.

Here's an excerpt from this pull no punches article:

It’s wearying if only because the stories – and the inevitable clamor that accompanies them – are generated at a constant churn, which makes them feel horrifyingly normal. Anyone who aspires to be a “woman in rock” (or pop) is only able to inhabit that scene as an “other”. They exist in a place where they’re only seen as women, as being to be looked at first, and as such can be relegated to subordinate status at any moment.

Sexism on repeat: how the music industry can break the cycle.

USEFUL TECHNOLOGIES: Prezi + other PowerPoint alternatives

Something you need to consider for your Evaluation - and use at earlier stages of blogging too.

See this post.

USEFUL TECHNOLOGIES: Free infographics tools

A great option for attractively presenting some of your research and analysis; see this post.

USEFUL TECHNOLOGIES: Google calendar

Great way to show your use of technology as well as to help evidence time management (and organisation of cast to boot if you share this with cast!!!), so just the three assessment criteria this can help with then!

Conal (A2 2014-15) produced his own guide, which you can read here. This group embedded their calendar at the bottom of the blog, a smart idea - I clicked back to December 2014 to get the screenshot below:

WIX creating a splash or landing page

Many of the online instructions for this refer to the Wix editor which is now termed the old editor as it has fundamentally changed ...

I haven't tested the following out, so if any of these works for you let me know via a comment.

In this 2015 link, the Wix support team reference a specific landing page menu option:

There are also shorter guides here, here (using a splash video), here (using a button workaround) and here.

Bear in mind that you can request technical help from Wix directly!

USEFUL TECHNOLOGIES Soundcloud Divshare + embedding podcasts/MP3s

See this post for a guide on getting an embed code for audio uploads, and on resizing that embedded player.