Research into other adverts

To try and make my magazine advert more realistic I have been looking at other music artists magazine adverts that fit under the genre of Indie Folk. As you can see, they are very minimalistic, with small light coloured text and the picture dominating most of the page. I quite like the effect shown here on Ellie Goulding's music magazine advert text, as it looks like a light. This fits in very well with the name of the album. Therefore I feel to make a successful music magazine advert I must use special editing effects on Photoshop and After Effects, to make my image more eye catching.

Possible Equipment and Editing Choices

Research Into Possible Equipment Choices

I chose to create a presentation on the type of equipment i have access to and the choices i might make when it comes to filming my actual music video. I created a page on what equipment i would use when filming my music video and then what software i would use to edit it. This has allowed me to think about the technical side of my project and begin planning how i might techically create my music video.

MUSIC THEORY

This is my research into the music theorist Andrew Goodwin. I decided to do this as it has given me an insight into what i should be thinking about when creating my music video. It also has provided me with knowledge on what audiences notice most when watching videos, helping me to think about whats important when creating my own. 

Magazine Ad Analysis

Who are the audience of Indie Folk Music?

Who Are the Audience of Indie Folk Music

MUSIC CHANNELS

 A music channel is a television channel that is purely dedicated to music. There are various types of music channels, playing different types of music. For example ‘Kerrang’ music channel is purely dedicated to rock music, therefore will only play videos that are by rock artists. Where as ‘Smash Hits’ is more mainstream, pop music.
Music channels do not only play music videos however, they might often have interviews with music artist, allowing fans to find out more about their favourite bands and artists. Music channels will often have programme schedules such as “Top 50 biggest tracks of the year” and so on. Some channels such as Kiss might also have things such as “Drake vs. Will I Am”, which allow audiences to feel as though they are involved in a competition, and will judge the artists for themselves.

MTV which originally stood for Music Television, is an American cable television channel based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981.
The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts. Today, MTV primarily broadcasts a variety of reality and scripted television programs targeted at adolescents and young adults.
It also has numerous sister channels in the U.S for example MTV DANCE, MTV ROCKS, MTV CLASSIC and so on.
MTV is probably the largest most influencial music video, as it was the first channel to show the first ever music video – video killed the radio star by the buggles.

VIVA is another more recent music channel. VIVA a free-to-air German language based music television channel went first on the air on 1. December 1993. After many years of fierce competition for audience share, MTV Networks Europe eventually acquired VIVA on 14. January 2005 after it had outran its own efforts for better ratings. MTV today operates VIVA channels across Europe, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. However, unlike normal music channels, viva also plays TV shows, such as Fresh Prince of Bel Aire, Spongebob, Family guy and My sweet 16. This gives them an advantage over other channels, as they are getting to the young target audience using channels that are most popular amongst them

There are millions of music channels, some have taken a more modern approach such as the music channel FLAVA, that has a schedule including a programme called Tweetz and Trendz. This is clever, as the music channel is keeping up with the zeitgeist by allowing audiences at home to tweet their channel with whatever song they want to hear, which ever one appears most, will get played. This also forces audiences to interact with the channel, which have proved most popular.

Robert Hales - Music Video Director

Influences of Indie Folk/Alternative music

Influences of Alternative Indie Folk Music

Existing Music Videos

I decided to look into some existing music videos, in order to find out a little bit more about the music industry. This was beneficial as it allowed me to understand how companies develope from nothing and also informed me on the many stages and process' within each record company.
This also gave me some interesting insight on how some music artists have developed and allowed me to recognise how some artists develop purely because of their music label. Meaning if an artist or band is signed to a bad music label, they will not have as much of a chance to develope into 'Superstars'.

Research into existing music labels (essay form)

A music label is a brand or a trademark that markets and promotes music recordings and music videos. It is also known as a record label. A music label manages all the the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion of sound recordings and music videos. It also has an important role of enforcing copyright protection to the song recording and video. As well as all of this, it also talent scouts, focusing on finding and developing new music artists. Music artists have a connection with their music label as they maintain a contract with the label and the manager.

EMI Music is one of the fourth largest business groups in the family of music labels. In 1931, the year the company began; it opened the famous recording studios at Abbey Road in London. It’s success as allowed it to form many subsidiary labels such as Parlophone, HMV, Columbia and Capitol Records.

In 1948 British Tape Recorders were developed within EMI. This was a huge development, as it attracted The Beatles. From 1960 to 1995 EMI’s headquarters were moved to Manchester Square in London. This became a hugely iconic building after the stairwell featured on the cover of the Beatles’ “Please please me” album. As well as this, another shot within EMI’s headquarters was featured on the Beatles’ first double disc greatest hit album.
As well as EMI’s success with bands such as The Beatles, they also had respectable contracts with Classical artists such as the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, ensuring not to limit their clients.

The company was under management of Sir Joseph Lockwood from the 1950’s to the early 1970’s, which proved to be to their advantage as within that time period they formed contracts with some of the most popular bands and artists of the time, such as: The Hollies, The Shadows, The Beach Boys, The Beatles along with hit solo performers such as Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, and Nat 'King' Cole. This made EMI one of the most well-known, famous and successful record labels at the time.

In 1971, THORN Electrical Industries merged with EMI Ltd. to form Thorn EMI. They later bought Virgin Records from Richard Branson, which then became one of its highest-profile and most expensive acquisitions in record music history.

However, in February 2010, EMI Group reported to be in serious debt of £1.75 billion, which then lead it to sell its recorded music operations to Universal Music Group in November 2011.
Sony Music Entertainment is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies. It is mainly controlled by Sony Corporation of America, which one of the many subsidiary companies which include: Columbia Records , Epic Records , RCA Records , Sony Music Nashville , Columbia Records UK and many more!

The company began as the ‘American Record Corporation’ in 1929, one of the most difficult times in America, The Great Depression. However, by 1938 by the company was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System. However, it was not until March 1968 that CBS and Sony formed CBS/Sony Records, a Japanese business joint venture. This was a smart company decision, as Sony was one of the developers behind the compact disc digital music media, which meant the company could begin supplying some of the first ever compact disc releases for the American market by 1983.

Within the huge company, many artists were signed such as Andy Williams, Johnny Cash, Barbra Streisand, Sly & the Family Stone and many more. In the 1980’s to the early 1990’s, when Tony Martell was head of the label, artists like Ozzy Osbourne, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Jett, and Henry Lee Summer were signed. In November 1987, the Sony Corporation of America acquired CBS Records, which hosted Michael Jackson, for $2 billion dollars, making the company all that more respectable.

The company was renamed as Sony Music Entertainment on January 1, 1991, as the license for the CBS trademark expired.

Codes and conventions of music videos

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos



Looking into the typical codes and conventions of music videos throughout time and in our current day has been hugely beneficial in terms of helping me decide what i would like to base my music video on. It has taught me that there are more than one way to make my music video entertaining. As i could make a music video that is solely performance based, solely narrative or a mixture of the two, either involving the artist within the action or having them separately, working as though their lyrics are an illustration to the story.


This has helped me to create a narrative within my head and helped me to decide that i would like just a narrative based music video. However, has also given me inspiration on how i would use a music artist within my music video without it taking the audiences attention away from the narrative too much.


Another thing this research has given me is an insight on how camera, mise en scene, editing and sound can be used to make my music video even more interesting. This could be done by using dark lighting to forebode that something bad is going to happen, or use quick editing to represent the characters fearful and distressed emotions.

History of music videos

Researching into the history of music videos has helped me as it has given me information on why music videos are so important. It has provided me with the knowledge on how music videos have become more complex, starting as standard performance videos, the growing to involve CGI elements and animation. This has given me the insight i need to create a successful music video, as it has showed me why music videos are such a huge element of the music industry in this day and age.
It has emphasized how now audiences have more of an interest on the music video than the actual track itself, and how the long wait for the distribution of the music video can be an intense experience for audiences. It has also shown be that through time, as technology develops, so does the quality of music videos, as they become more complex and entertaining, with the use and experimentation of new technologies.