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

FCProX FX: Stan Bush: Dare experiment

IGS Media Technician John has started editing a video for Stan Bush's Dare, popularised through its inclusion in a 1986 animated Transformers movie OST (though I have to confess being unfamiliar with either of these!). The highest google ranking for vids goes to a UGC/fan-made vid from 2008 featuring footage from the 80s and newer Transformers flicks.
Arguably, then, the target aud for a vid for this today would have crossover appeal to an older, 35-44, age range from its original release as well as a contemporary youth audience (though the AOR nature of the track, and some dated/80s elements of this, might well limit youth appeal). As an independent artist in his own right, John's own auteur stamp is evident, with the fantasy themes and abstract style that marks much of his work (in film and other media) suggesting a more niche appeal than the very mainstream original use of the track.
The early, initial guide cut (not much further than laying down a basic guide track + starting some FX experiments) is embedded below, followed by a summary feedback from a sample of 17 year-old Media students. I'll add further details of FCProX tools used, and further cuts as they become available.

Golden Oldies topping pop charts: Black Sabbath

These cool cats top today's charts!

43 years on, their new album exploded into the charts

2013 has seen Rod Stewart set a new record for gaps between number one albums: 37 years.
With the geriatric Rolling Stones seemingly the biggest live draw on the planet, its increasingly hard to argue with Simon Reynolds' proposition in Retromania that the old is dominating the new in a format (pop/rock music) that was once defined by its freshness and novelty.
Further evidence comes this week with the news that Black Sabbath have quickly broken Hot Rod's record, with an incredible 43 year gap between number one albums. Their new effort, 13, is the band's 1st no.1 since 1970's Paranoid. They're also a top draw at festivals this summer.
See this article, though its been a widely reported news story.

Septuagenarians with a firm handle on social media

As someone who went to see Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath with Ronnie Dio on vocals) live not so long ago, I'm not entirely surprised by this. Then again, like many long-running acts, the Sabs were seen as a joke for a large chunk of the 80s/90s.
I wonder if Beliebers will be queuing up to pay hugely inflated ticket prices to see a silver-haired Justin belt out 'his' hits some decades into the future...

You can view the video for their lead single, God is Dead, here.
As the YT screenshot below demonstrates, the Sabs (or at least their record label), are fully up to speed with social media (lets not forget that singer Ozzy Osbourne was a reality TV pioneer, with The Osbournes success helping to underpin MTV's shift from video channel to reality TV dreck/awesomeness (delete as age appropriate!).

Picturing Ideas: Timo Maas + the vision thing

Can you picture a vid for Timo Maas' Pictures?

A solid idea is central to a successful video project, to get momentum going, to make it possible to have a meaningful sense of target audience and how your media language choices will pander to them, to simply hold together the whole project.
That doesn't mean it has to be complex, or take agonised weeks to formulate.
It also doesn't mean you can't radically shift your idea once you start practice shoots and testing the idea out, not to mention the scope of post-production (editing) to transform an idea into a new shape and direction.
I was thinking about this on the way into work this morning, listening to the following track, Pictures by Timo Maas ... have a go at listening + brainstorming ideas for yourself before you read the text below the embedded vid... (the lyrics can always help this process!)

(you can also listen on soundcloud)
Here's the notion that hit me ...

U+G: when fans turn on artists

Michelle Shocked has seen her fanbase all but disappear this week after apparently issuing stridently homophobic remarks onstage (she rejects the claims). The Guardian article below looks at other cases where this happens (they could also have mentioned Megadeth, whose vocalist Dave Mustaine has taken to issuing right-wing statements since becoming 'born again', but then they're not a very Guardian band!).
Useful to consider in the light of theories such as McQuail's uses and gratifications, and the whole idea of fans forming part of their identity through their musical allegiances.

Michelle Shocked her fans – but she wasn't the first musician to do so

Dixie Chicks, Morrissey, Donna Summer, Moe Tucker and Eric Clapton all faced a backlash when they surprised their audiences with unexpected views

Michelle Shocked: and she did. Photograph: Rex Features/Startraks Photo

Guitar-strumming Michelle Shocked used to be beloved by beardy folk fans and granary lefties. So it came as a curveball at a gig on Sunday night when she put down her acoustic guitar, pushed aside the mung beans and delivered an astonishingly anti-gay rant that claimed "same-sex marriage will be the downfall of civilisation". And which city did she choose to air these "robust" views? Only gay capital San Francisco.
Yet Shocked isn't the first musician to, well, shock her fans by revealing surprising views ...

Dixie Chicks

Dixie Chicks performing in 2003, when they were monstered by the US right for gently criticising George Bush. Photograph: Mb Charles/Retna UK The mild-mannered Texan country trio were monstered by the US rightwing and blacklisted by American radio after gently criticising George Bush in 2003. On tour in London shortly before the invasion of Iraq, lead vocalist Natalie Maines said: "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed the president is from Texas." Public protests saw their CDs bulldozed into the ground. The band later posed naked for the cover of Entertainment Weekly with slogans such as "Traitors",

VEVO vertically integrates with TV channels

VEVO, as a coalition of 2 of the 3 remaining global giants, Universal and Sony, already had a production arm; YouTube acted as the main distributor/exhibitor for its wares (music videos) until now, arguably being of greater importance than MTV and suchlike. Now they've launched their own channels, so are able to boast in-house production, distribution and exhibition.
There's more in the article below, including the assertions that "Part of what we're trying to achieve is that element of nostalgia but 70% of our audience is under 34."
YouTube has now bought a 10% stake in VEVO.

Article source.

Vevo launches 24-hour digital music channel in US and Canada

Video website hopes to recreate MTV's 1980s heyday with service for internet-connected TVs, tablets and mobiles

• Josh Halliday
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 12 March 2013

Rihanna: likely to feature on Vevo TV. Photograph: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images

Thirty-one years after MTV flickered into life to the sound of the Buggles hit Video Killed the Radio Star, the video website Vevo has launched a 24-hour digital music channel in the US and Canada.
Vevo, the site created by record giants Universal Music and Sony, hopes to recreate MTV's 1980s heyday with the channel, showing a selection of music videos, live concerts and original programming.

Sony CEO: social media more important than radio

Sony's CEO says in an interview for the CBI's magazine that One Direction have shown him that social ('new) media are now more important than the traditional ('old') media. Sony used UGC, such as fan campaigns to get One Direction to play a gig near them ("Bring 1D To Me"), to build up buzz and a following for One Direction before any material was released to radio stations, traditionally the key to breaking any band.

Gatfield says this has completely changed the dynamic of launching an act, enabling music companies to bypass the traditional radio-station gatekeepers.
“Traditionally you’d have to persuade radio to support it and there’d be a long, hard slog while you built up the support and marketed them on the back of airplay,” he says. “This is the other way round: you market them and then airplay is the accelerator.”

He goes so far as to say that Sony wouldn't now consider signing a band that didn't already have social media profiles up and running.

Article Source.

One Direction: Social media made them a global phenomenon, says Sony CEO

One Direction have become a $50m business thanks to their army of fans across the world - and this is just the start, according to Nick Gatfield

15th February 2013
This article appeared in the December edition of Business Voice, the CBI magazine

'Their live business is through the roof. I haven’t seen anything this big in my entire career on a global level.'
- Nick Gatfield

To understand the transformative effect of social media on how music labels market their acts, look no further than the success of One Direction.
The boy band, who are signed to the Syco label, came third in The X-Factor TV show in 2010. Since then they have won a Brit award recognising their worldwide success and become a $50m business – with Sony Music UK CEO and chairman Nick Gatfield predicting that this will double in 2013.

Nick Gatfield: X-Factor made us complacent >>

“They are a global phenomenon,” he says. “Their live business is through the roof. I haven’t seen anything this big in my entire career on a global level.
"You can get that kind of explosive moment if you galvanise young music fans and find something they want to engage with – it goes worldwide incredibly quickly. That’s the beauty of social media and the internet: we sign locally but we market globally from day one. That’s a fundamental change in our business.”
By acting on pockets of support for the band that emerged online in places from Sweden and Italy to Australia and Canada, the company built support for the band before they’d had any airtime on the radio. This was particularly important in the US – an impossible nut to crack for British pop bands for more than 20 years.
Sony Music’s US division picked up on a campaign called “Bring 1D to me”, originally developed in the UK, which encouraged fans to pitch for the band 
to play in their area. As a result, What Makes You Beautiful, their first single available to buy on iTunes in the US, sold 130,000 copies in a week and entered the top ten without any airplay.
Gatfield says this has completely changed the dynamic of launching an act, enabling music companies to bypass the traditional radio-station gatekeepers.
“Traditionally you’d have to persuade radio to support it and there’d be a long, hard slog while you built up the support and marketed them on the back of airplay,” he says. “This is the other way round: you market them and then airplay is the accelerator.”
He adds that he would be loathe to sign an act that had no social media profile. “All that would say to me was that they hadn’t got sufficient wherewithal or drive.”

DPAK/MAG AD formats Warp ad eg

A useful piece of evidence that vinyl and other formats are increasingly used, especially by Indie companies, to give their releases a PR boost and help get them talked about/reviewed. There have even been a few releases recently on cassette!

TOWID (The Only Way Is Digital)

2013 is clearly set to see digitisation continue apace, with analogue media being displaced by digital media which are typically cheaper to produce and distribute. That doesn't mean that analogue media, such as films shot on 35mm and distributed as 35mm prints to cinemas (each print costing £000s), will disappear, but that bit by bit the industry is moving over to digital content.
Here's some useful stats from this article, about Google buying a 10%, $50m stake in the video distributor Vevo (the joint Sony/Universal venture that you'll have come across if you've watched a few videos on YouTube, given how much of the music industry their artist sales represent):

Earlier this month the Entertainment Retailers Association reported that downloads of music, TV shows, films and video games topped £1bn in the UK for the first time in 2012. Digital music sales grew but revenue from physical singles fell by 44% year on year and albums dropped 11%.

The cinema industry and CD sales remain strong but, like newspapers, which are also seeing circulation declining rapidly as more people access their news online, may not have a bright future. The record set by Skyfall, 2012's Bond movie, may never be beaten: it became the first movie to take in over £100m at the UK box office by the last week in December 2012 (it was already the biggest ever UK cinema hit, and topped $1bn worldwide).

UK acts dominate 2012 US charts

Adele tops the US album sales for a 2nd year running, a feat last achieved by Thriller, while 4 of the top 5 albums were by UK acts. See article below for more details.

Adele joins exclusive club as 21 named bestselling album in the US … again!

Tottenham's finest becomes first recording artist since Michael Jackson to top US album sales charts in consecutive years

Sean Michaels, 4.1.13, http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jan/04/adele-21-bestselling-album-us-again

Double top … Adele has emulated Michael Jackson after 21 became the first album since Thriller to top the sales charts two years in a row. Photograph: Matt Sayles/AP

For the second year in a row, Adele's 21 was the bestselling album in the US. The English singer has become the first artist since Michael Jackson to produce a record topping the sales charts in both the year of release and the year following.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, 21 sold 4.41m copies in 2012 – just 25% less than the year before, when XL/Columbia moved 5.82m. In fact, 21 hasn't left the weekly top 40 since it debuted, at No1, in March 2011. Adele's success puts the album in a very exclusive club: only three other LPs have scaled comparable heights across two successive years. The feat was last accomplished in 1985, when Jackson issued a little record called Thriller. The previous record holders were soundtracks: West Side Story in 1962/63, and My Fair Lady in 1957/58.
Overall, America's 2012 charts show a major British invasion. Apart from Taylor Swift's Red, which sold 3.11m, all of the top five albums were made by UK acts. One Direction's debut, Up All Night, was the No3 record, selling 1.62m, and their second album, Take Me Home, came in at No5. Mumford & Sons sold 1.46m copies of Babel, making it No4.
On the singles side, Gotye struck gold with his xylophone ditty Somebody That I Used to Know, selling 6.8m copies, almost exclusively digitally. Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe rung in at No2, followed by We Are Young, by Fun. All three songs broke the all-time digital record, previously set by Adele's Rolling in the Deep.
As in the UK, there was a dip in overall album sales, from 331m in 2001 to 316m in 2012. But vinyl sales continue to grow year after year, and are up 18% thanks to hits like Jack White's Blunderbuss and the Beatles' reissued Abbey Road. Still, those black lacquer discs form only a tiny part of the pie: less than 2% of all albums sold.
Britain's bestselling album of 2012, Emeli Sandé's Our Version of Events, has never charted in the US.

Any predictions for 2013?

Norn Irn Gangnam Style

As the most-viewed music video in history despite its comparatively recent vintage, there have been many, many Gangnam tributes/satires. Like Rebecca Black's horrific audio assault Friday before it (given its own sideways IGS tribute of course), many of the views, each notching up micro-payments through YouTube's ad-funded partnership programme, were from people wanting to mock and vent their spleen.
So, when I heard my old school had done a Gangnam vid ... I was underwhelmed. The vid's success, at least outwith its home market, is based on crude racial stereotyping; it receives oppositional readings as Stuart Hall would say.
Then I actually looked at it - and its a great example of the continuing power of a pop culture media format to convey a strong message. This message (PR for Antrim Grammar School with a nice touch of self-mockery from some of my old teachers) at the time of writing is approaching 200,000 views and seems to be adding 1,000s more a day. If ever there was a great example of how Media Studies skills can have commercial application, this is it.
If you've any thoughts, feel free to comment on this post (or on AGS' YT channel).

Daft Punk - TechnoLogic vid

ACT: DAFT PUNK
TRACK: TECHNOLOGIC
ALBUM: HUMAN AFTER ALL
YEAR: 2005
GENRE: HOUSE/DANCE-POP
AUDIENCE: 18-24+ (by now 15-34)
DIRECTOR: DAFT PUNK (3rd self-directed vid)



By 2005 Daft Punk were a major act, with massive worldwide singles and albums behind them and the backing of one of the world's biggest record labels, EMI (through their subsidiary label Virgin), to boot. This shows in the video: it may lack shot variety in large part, but the budget is there for all to see with the central robot figure an impressive hybrid of the Terminator and Chucky from the Child's Play franchise. The distinct horror overtones are something we might more easily associate with industrial music, which tends to display a strand of technophobia, and also points to a band willing to sacrifice daytime screenings to target their core, club-going 18-24/18-34 audience. It would be hard to see this getting airtime pre-watershed.

The layers of intertextuality don't stop with what appear to be straightforward horror/sci-fi film signifiers though: the track gained wide exposure through being sampled in a Busta Rhymes track (with Missy Elliott on vocals); the track was used for both an iPod ad and a Motorola phone ad, featured in top-rated teen drama The OC (which has a wide global following), in 2009 was featured in two separate car ads. As the track's Wiki further reports:

It is a playable track on the iOS games Tap Tap Revenge and Tap Tap Dance, and was sampled for the video game DJ Hero. In an episode of the TV show America's Best Dance Crew, crew Kaba Modern performed to a master mix of this song on February 7, 2008. "Technologic" was also featured in the game Dance Central 2.

What we also see is another Daft Punk trait: anonymising the duo in the act. The doll itself could act as a stand-in for the animations they did in the past, but we also get two futuristic guitar-playing characters, dressed like security men or police with their full-face dark helmets. Their movement is notably minimal and stiff.

Another really key feature is the link up between the vid and the stage set: the mysterious, enigmatic pyramids formed a centrepiece of the tour that was already ongoing when this video was released. As we've seen, since 2005 the change in the music business from a product-sales industry to a live performance + merchandise + archive (long tail) sales industry has been pronounced, and this was an early indicator of a band that saw that change coming - as an act advertising iPods, a key driver of that drive, should!

The length of takes is quite remarkable, and perhaps an attempt to stand out from the crowd: its certainly counter-intuitive to have such a slow-paced video. Arguably the sheer splendour of their mise-en-scene, together with the impressive SFX, is doing the hard work for them, but it still seems odd and a little unsatisfying. Its not the only time we've seen this: the iconic Da Funk video featured many such long takes too.

Hurtwood House: Your competition!

Subbed to this school's channel as they produce some nice work, and have just looked at their latest A2 uploads. Its worth having a clear sense of the high level some others are working to out there - if you want a high mark you have to aim as least as high as examples such as these. They're not beyond improvement, but are generally impressive. Whats also noticeable is that these students have clearly invested in creating a production budget for themselves.

Copyright and YouTube

See also http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/jan/04/record-labels-making-money-youtube; http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/youtube; http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/10/music-streaming-songwriters-youtube-pandora; http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/16/youtube-teens-first-choice-music; http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/28/youtube-video-views-disappear-migrate.

Whereas your final AS coursework must feature zero copyright material, you're using a copyrighted track for your A2 coursework - have you remembered to evidence, as required by the exam board, an attempt to contact the rights holder (usually the record label) for permission to use the track for this work, making clear you're not seeking to profit from using their copyrighted material (and might even encourage some people to buy the track through your video!)?

Since YouTube introduced an automatic detection system (see the Wiki) and signed deals with most of the major TV, film and music companies (as you'll have seen from your Media work, these tend to be subsidiaries of massive horizontally and vertically integrated conglomerates such as News Corp and NBC-Universal), the issue of 'fair usage' of copyrighted materials has evolved a little.

Link at the end of the post: a very useful site for exploring the issue further

If any of your work contains any copyrighted material you might find its deleted by YouTube, or blocked in certain nations but not others (dependent on which countries its deals have been signed in). This will particularly the case where you've used lengthy clips from films. Where you've used a short clip, or any copyrighted music, you're more likely to find a notice on your channel uploads page telling you there is 'matched copyright material'.

My vodcasts used clips short enough to be considered 'fair usage'

Rather than delete or block the upload, the more common response is simply to assert that other copyright holders' material has been used, and force ads onto your upload, the revenues from which will be split between YouTube and the copyright holder.
I've tried to find a definitive acceptable length of film clips which won't generate a YouTube blocked upload, without success so far (if you find anything on this please pass it on). I'd suggest aiming for 30secs or less, using freeze frames with original audio removed for anything over this, but that's a guess. Check your uploads for anything being blocked. So far, we've not problems with any A2 music videos, just AS film vodcasts (and a compilation of scenes which used a Depeche Mode a couple of years ago), including one of mine (vodcast on scream queens + final girls, available to view on request) in which I simply used too much of Bride of Chucky.

FairUseTube.org provide a very considered analysis of the issues involved, YouTube's policies and also highlight some of the common abuses - where fraudulent companies simply claim you've used their copyright material when that's not the case. I think I may have found one such dubious claim on my channel, for past AS coursework where the soundtrack was composed in school using GarageBand! In such cases, the fraudulent company pockets the money from ads which YouTube force on to the upload.
See http://fairusetube.org/dvd-ripping-guide; http://fairusetube.org/youtube-copyfraud; http://fairusetube.org/guide-to-youtube-removals and other such links on the site.

YouTube itself offers a guide, including lengthy videos, though they shy away from being specific over such matters as how much of a single TV show, film or other text goes beyond the fair usage doctrine - see also the Wiki on Fair Usage.

The Uni of Houston's DigitalStoryTelling site also features a considered discussion of the issues and legal policies.

INDUSTRY: collected posts

tbc
Lot of overlap here with DIGITISATION but also posts on the position of Indies, dominance of a big 4 (now big 3), etc
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/10/xbox-music-to-rival-itunes.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/11/conceptperf-vid-featured-on-multiple-yt.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/11/casting-using-vidsocial-networks.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/11/pop-is-too-posh-billy-bragg.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/11/apps-v-albums-paradigm-shift.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/09/piracy-google-caves-to-pressure.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/09/trent-reznor-on-digitisations-impact.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/08/industry-universal-emi-monopoly.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/07/def-leppard-rerecord-entire-back.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/04/teaser-vids.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/04/social-media-fans-doors-fb-eg.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/02/posts-on-vid-mlang-q1.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/02/eval-q2-how-effective-is-combo-of-texts.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/03/digitisation-from-napster-to-spotify.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/02/digitisation-book-industry.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/02/industrynew-media-indies-challenge.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/02/mag-ad-research-audience.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/01/piracy-sopa.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/01/industry-auteur-film-dirs-still-do-high.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/01/us-industry-data.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/11/industryaud-x-factor.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-media-acdc-starwars-fan-vid.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/11/industry-emi-sale-creates-big-3.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/11/industrynew-media-rotten-apple-kills.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/11/industry-big4-almost-big3-emi-sale.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/11/audience-posthumous-releases.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/10/if-youtube-blocks-upload-vimeo-it.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/09/facebook-myspace-youtube-role-of-new.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/09/convergence-bill-bailey-as-a2-missing.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/09/black-british-music-mobos-controversy.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/08/streets-anti-vid.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/07/kronenberg-lager-rapped-for-viral-promo.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/07/a2-media-story-so-far-2-weeks-in-what.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/06/fish-eye.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/06/most-played-tracks-last-year.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-retromania-is-all-rage-simon.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/06/greatest-single-take-video-ever.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/04/covergence-albums-via-magazine-papers.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/04/teaser-videos-youtube-channels-caliban.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/03/radiohead-changing-music-biz-models.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/03/final-vinyl-lps-indie-record-stores.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/03/singer-songwriter-amanda-ghost-ran-epic.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/03/tescos-and-industry.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/02/researching-vid-conventions-metal-eg.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2011/01/industry-news.html;
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2010/12/your-production-cos.html;

Animatics

This is a vital part of the process. A commercial pitch would require this as part of a pre-screening process to decide which directors/production companies got to meet with the record label/artist/manager to put forward their creative proposal. It also strongly signifies that your production was organised and following a clear plan from the outset. As your idea eveolves, it also provides a useful summary of your starting point, so that you can compare your initial and final ideas with some authority. Here are some past examples of student animatics; judge for yourselves the relative strengths + weaknesses of each.








...

Misc Post guidelines (use with checklist)

These are arranged in the order they come in on the coursework checklist. Most of these are fairly self-evident, but this should ensure you can always quickly figure out what you should be blogging on

MY CONSUMPTION OF MUSIC VIDS: How do you access music vids (what media techologies do you use)? Has this changed much over the years (do you view more or fewer now than you did, say, 5 years ago?)? Do you download vids, watch on YT, MTV/VH1 etc, specialist chart shows ... Do you view on desktop/laptops, smartphones, tablets; when out and about; with friends or other social settings; do you share vids you like on FB and suchlike? Are you a heavy or light conumer of m.vids? Would you say at the outset of your A2 cwk you are knowledgeable about m.vids?

APPLYING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA TO 2011 VID; APPLYING ASSESSMENT CRITERIA TO 2011 VID: Quote from the assessment criteria (ideally, copy in each one) and discuss what mark you'd give and why (the important bit! needs specific details). An opportunity to embed knowledge of the assessment criteria + a chance to pick up tips on things to do or avoid.

OUR PRODUCTION CO: Whats the name (why?! what are the semiotics?). What's the logo? What sort of work do you think you'd realistically attract, or focus your marketing on (niche genres or all comers?)? Have you researched any existing music vid (etc) producers to get an idea of rates they charge, how they market themselves and their services?

[ARTIST] HISTORY + AUD (and other [ARTIST]-centred posts): You need to show you've thoroughly researched and understood the artist whose material you're using ... and whose image (brand, if you like) you can benefit or damage by your production decisions and outcomes. Knowing who the audience is/was is obviously key, but so researching + being able to reference EXISTING VIDS by the artist, their profile in 201x (ie now), their ONLINE/CULTURAL FOOTPRINT (looking at fanclubs, forums, official sites, FB presence, google results/rankings. YT channel, vid viewings, etc; recent appearances on ads, TV - espec shows like X Factor - mags [think carefully about aud of the mags, can be v, v useful for evidencing primary or secondary aud appeal of the artist - the Girls Aloud eg from 2012 is a great example of this working, with GA appearing in Q and suchlike as well as girls and gossip mags]

[TRACK] LYRICS + BACKSTORY; TIMED LYRIC SHEET; RECORD LABEL; ORIG VID; 2ND LIFE: CYBERSPACE IMPACT: Just as you need to be secure in your knowledge + understanding of the artist so you need to be well aware of what the track is about - regardless of your idea + whether its narrative-based or not. Obviously right from the start you need to break down the track with timings, so when you're discussing how to map footage you're considering onto the track you can do so in an informed and meaningful fashion. You should frequently write notes over copies of this timed sheet and scan in or photograph then upload to blog. The '2nd life' refers to cover versions and other cultural artefacts its inspired online or offline (from Simpsons skits to YT vids - be comprehensive on YT vids). You could explore the term meme here, which I've blogged on with reference to Lady Gaga and Bad Romance before. You are required to evidence having contacted the rights holder with a request to use the track, so you need to identify the record label - as you're probably releasing a compilation album, that might be multiple record labels for the digipak details. Some artists have bought back the rights to their back catalogue, or moved to smaller, Indie labels. How is your track distinct from the original vid; are there any links?

A BRIEF HISTORY OF M.VID: The book Money For Nothing is great for this, and the Wiki is prettty good in this case too. You don't need an essay, just a flavour of key dates and changes, videos over time, especially how technology has changed.

RELATIONSHIP OF [ARTIST] TO GENRE: Is your artist an archetype (early, influential example) of the genre; someone who has copied others, or someone who is a bit of a maverick? Discuss their place within your genre, their level of commercial success, hits/radio play (or lack of), tracks/albums that had major impact etc. Can you find relevant quotes by other genre acts?

CURRENT STATUS OF MUSIC VIDS: This could go in much earlier: are vids still relevant in a mobile, digital world (even MTV shows few vids)? Are they now actually more relevant? Discuss here whether vids continue to have cultural impact and commercial clout (I'd say they do on both counts: we've all heard of Gangnam Style after all).

REPRESENTATIONS posts

(not finished)
Posts linked to the concept of representations
AS Eval Q2;
A2 exam Q1b guide; posts on this;
Female pop mvids: issues + challenges;
Femen: radical protest movement;
Blogging on exemplar vids;
Video Gaga? Various analyses;
Lady Gaga shows ideological power of pop;
M. Lang: Dancing;
Censored vids;
Female singer-songwriter who ran Epic Records;
Creativity/Art;
Lady Gaga via Leeds: Bad Romance MEME;
Cher;
Rammstein: Sonne;
Casting + Creativity;
A2 Eval Q1 Use of Conventions;
Feminist metal or male gaze? Butcher Babies;
FEMINISM/Annie Lennox;
Music vids set in schools;
Various posts on Britney;
Mag Ad: Research + Audience;
Roseanne on class prejudice/sexism of TV;

See also posts on BritishCinema about male gaze etc + posts on women in film (eg Bechdel test)

Concept/Perf Vid featured on multiple YT channels

Longish post title: interesting example of a lyric-free rock vid blending concept (with a suggested narrative; concepts tend to have some narrative glue - narrative vids are those which directly tie into the lyrics) and performance. Comes close to getting sleazy (your reading may be that it falls over that line), and though the editing's generally sharp there are some obvious points where cutting to the beat, or simply greater shot variation would be good.

To my eyes there's a strong Anton Corbijn influence here (and it reminds me of the 2012 IGS vid for The Swing Movement in some regards, especially the use of focus-pulling and switching), with (to these eyes) an evident nod to Nirvana when the upbeat section kicks in with a splash (tho' you could also take this as a horror note in what could be alternatively read as a David Lynchian, filmic text).
What I also found noteworthy was the promotional strategy: they've either set up multiple YT channels or just got fans who've opted to put their vid as their channel's autoplaying featured vid. I came across it via another promotional strategy: adding other YT users/channels as contacts. Simple psychology: the suitably burnished ego of most YT users will coax them to add every contact to boost their numbers (I always click through to suss out who/what has requested this ... thus still making the strategy a winner!).

As well as the official CQ channel, Feeeppe, and mary1982next had CQ as their set vid at 20.11.12 and had all added me as a contact within a couple of days in Sept 2012.

CENSORSHIP + PIRACY posts

I've blogged on both topics a few times; I'll gather together links to posts here.

Banned Band? CENSORSHIP OF MUSIC VIDS; includes vids for banned egs used in quiz

CENSORSHIP: Rihanna's top 5 controversies; [to which we can now add her new album celebrating her domestic abuse? plus her shambolic - omnishambles?! - album launch PR]

Rhianna says censors helped her sell single;

Piracy/SOPA - on the Stop Online Piracy Act that brought together a range of campaigners to successfully lobby against this (+ some info on Pirate Bay)

Pro-Palestinian vid controversy - neutral, balanced BBC? Not according to 2011's Bad News About Israel from the GUMG, nor the article in this post

Chris Cunningham short filmic vid/censored; detail on this controversy

Rammstein: frequently controversial, see these posts - one, two, three.

Piracy: Google caves to pressure?;

Digitisation from Napster to Spotify;

 

CASTING: Using vid+social networks

For both AS and A2 part of your R+P marks are for casting, as part of your overall organisation of the production. The markscheme quite accurately reflects the range of challenges facing commercial film-makers and video producers.

I stumbled across the following vid looking for something else, but it is a useful example of how you can use video and social networks not just to get 'audience feedback' but also to help with pre-production tasks too.

Pop is too posh: Billy Bragg

I've blogged on this theme before - research which shows an extraordinary narrowing of the social range reflected in the pop charts, which has gone from mainly state educated (80%) in the 1990s to dominated by a public school elite today. Billy Bragg took up this theme at the annual John Peel Lecture; if you've never heard of John Peel but are interested in exposure to a wide range of eclectic music, the late DJ is a legendary figure whose annual 'festive fifty' is still something you can find as downloadable torrents many years later.

Billy Bragg: 'education reforms risk stifling creativity'

The singer and left-wing activist used a lecture in memory of John Peel to criticise Michael Gove's plans to scrap GCSEs

John Plunkett, guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 November 2012 20.51 GMT

Billy Bragg also turned his ire on 'culture-clogging shows' like Simon Cowell’s The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. Photograph: Andrew Stuart/Radio Festival/PR

Singer Billy Bragg has warned that the government's education reforms risk stifling creativity and leaving the pop charts the preserve of a well-off public school elite.
Bragg used a lecture in memory of broadcaster John Peel to criticise education secretary Michael Gove's plans to scrap GCSEs in favour of an English baccalaureate. He also turned his ire on "culture-clogging shows" like Simon Cowell's The X Factor on ITV1.
The singer and left-wing activist said the government's proposed new education system threatened to exclude creative subjects from the core qualifications expected of 16-year-olds.
"At a time of cuts to the education budget, the pressure on schools to dump subjects like music and drama in favour of those that offer high marks in performances tables will only grow," said Bragg.
He criticised the "insistence that knowledge is more important than creativity", adding: "As Albert Einstein said, imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited while imagination embraces the whole world".
Bragg, delivering the second annual John Peel Lecture at the Radio Festival on Monday, said: "Under the English baccalaureate, with its reliance on a single end of course exam, the child with the creative imagination will always lose out to the child with the ability to recall knowledge learned by rote.
"And it's not just the creatively talented kids who will suffer. Evidence shows that pupils from low-income families who take part in arts activities at school are three times more likely to go on to higher education.