Planning: Creating an Online Mood Board

In this task I was asked to collect images to be able to create the online mood board. The images I chose were based on what featured in most of the Frank Hamilton music videos. I have chosen the pictures based on the key features within that music video. This is why one of them is having a close up of the artist within the music video. Another thing I chose to get a picture of was the formal tops that he wears in nearly all of his music videos. For some of the pictures I only had to type in Frank Hamilton and then it came up with him performing and all the album art work that I wanted as well.

Below you will be able to click the link and it will take you to my mood board on Frank Hamilton. Also to the right you will be able to see under half of the whole mood board.

Click Here to see the Mood Board.

Research: Lyric Analysis of 'Summer // Frank Hamilton

To give me a better understand of the song I have chosen I did some lyric analysis, I found the lyrics on the artist's website. From the lyrics to this song I interpreted that when he is talking about 'summer' this is a girl that used to be his girlfriend but they were separated some how and he wants to find her. I know this because at the start it reads 'summer where have you been' then it follows on to say 'I've been trying to remember how you feel on my skin', this tell us that Summer is a person that he then goes on to express how he feels about as the song continues on.

Throughout the song he then goes on to sing about how he feels about her with the chorus implying he will never change how he feels about her.

I have made notes and went into detail about the lyrics some more as shown here:

Afterwards I then went on a website called WordItOut which I entered the lyrics of this song into and made a map of the lyrics with the most used words being the biggest. From the word map you can see  that the most used words are 'summer' which is the name of the song which is a convention to see the song name used a lot in a song, 'change' and 'hope' were also used a lot which are usually used in love songs.



My Chosen Song

Research: Who are the target audience for my artist?

Sam is 18 and was born in Kettering. He is currently at university studying music. Sam loves a lot of different types of music and he also likes to be different. The usual people would go for Ed Sheeran but that's why he likes Frank, because he is the same style but at the same time a different artist. He is a singer songwriter as well this is because he was inspired by the work that Frank Hamilton does. Sam has a lot of different genres of music as well. This is also because he likes to be unique and he doesn't like to follow the crowd.

One thing that Sam does like to do is watch YouTube videos of the different chords he would be able to play on the guitar and he teaches himself them. Sam also likes to perform with his band that he is in. This is why he got into song writing. Sam doesnt really have a lot of friends that like the same sort of music as him as he is into multiple genres.

One thing Sam cant live without is his social media. This is because he likes to be up to date with all of the different types of music that are around at that time. He likes to watch interviews with his favourite artists to see if they are bringing out any new music soon. He also likes to check his twitter and facebook a lot to find out if any of these artists are performing anywhere. Sam is the type of boy who would go to the concerts to watch his idols perform and he would try and mime the words as they go.

Research : Who Are The Target Audience For My Artist?

You now need to move away from your chosen artist and think about who their target audience is.

This is vitally important before you move forwards as you are producing a promotional package and you must know who you are appealing to with your music video, CD Digipack and Music Magazine Advertisement.

Most magazines produce media kits or press kits for prospective advertisers - these allow them to promote themselves and for advertisers to commission advertisements in the most cost-effective and targeted manner.

Looking at a media kit helps you to se just how much effort is put into the identification of a target audience.

Create a post titled Research : Who Are The Target Audience For My Artist?

Take a sheet of paper and create a pen portrait for a typical member of your artist's target audience that includes as much information about them as possible.

• What age are they?
• What sort of things are important to them?
• How do they dress?
• What types of music do they listen to?
• What do they read? Watch? etc
• How do they use social media?
• How do they spend their time?

Research: Existing Music Video (Frank Hamilton/Summer)

Cuts Match the Music

The cuts in the video match the beats in the music. This is shown throughout the whole of the video. The cuts in the video change from when it was the past and from when it is the present day. This happens throughout the whole of the video which means it follows the conventions of a music video.

Projector effect

Another thing that happens in the music video is where Frank Hamilton stands in from of a projector and the fields are in the background. This is to give the effect of his younger self in the fields with the girl called Summer, which is also the name of the song. This creates a good effect because when they go back to the past they are in the corn fields. Whilst this effect is in use there is a close up of the artist in the whole of this projector effect.

Chorus has faster cuts

The chorus of this song has a lot faster cuts because there are a lot more beast within the chorus. From the 52nd second there is a series of cuts of where Frank is sitting in the same place over and over again. This shows that he goes to the coffee shop a lot to be able to think about the lyrics he is going to write. You can tell that he is righting about a song because later in the song as he is leaving the place he puts away his note book which is likely to have his song ideas.

Mise-en-scene 

The costume of Frank hasn't really been chosen that carefully as through the different outfits that he does wear they are nearly the same as they are all just shirts. His younger self doesn't wear hat type of top which means he has changed over time. This isn't 100% true though because  when he was younger he did wear some shirts but mostly T-shirts. The girl in the coffee shop had exactly the same necklace from when she was younger. This is shown through the way she leans down and the necklace falls out her top.

Overall, I feel like this is a good music video. There are a lot of different conventions used within this music video and they are used very well. This is a love sort of song as it is about a girl called Summer and how she left him and then they found eachother.

Research into existing Music Video: Jack Garratt - Breathe Life

The music video that i have decided to look into is "Breathe Life" by Jack Garratt. The opening shot of the music video is a shot of what looks like a rocky beach and this shot then pulls out and goes underwater where you are able to see Jack Garratt.

This is only for a small amount of time though. At 19 seconds his head appears from the water and at 21 seconds there is a birds eye view of Jack as he begins to sing his song still with only his head out of water.

At 41 seconds it then goes to a side on shot of Jack and still he is within water and only his head is visible.

At 1 minute 10 seconds you are able to see a figure in the water with Jack for a very small amount of time.

At 1.13 the beat kicks in and 6 synchronised swimmers jump out of the water surrounding Jack.  Until 1.13 there is only a very slow beat and there is a sad feeling that is within the music.

At 2.06 there is another beat drop and once again the swimmers jump out of the water as the beat drops within the song. This is as if the swimmers are in time with the music throughout the song. At 2.45 it seems as if Jack is giving up and he is now upright within the water and is looking worried. At 2.50 you get a shot of the back of his head and you want to know what is happening to him. From 2.50 to 3.18 there is a very strange beat in the background that i think is meant to represent his heart beat as he tries to breathe within the water. Then at 4.01 Jack doesn't sing anymore and starts to fall in the water and the swimmers are there to catch him and take him back to shore which could entail that the swimmers are Jacks angels. At 4.30 the shot begins to crane up and then you just get a look at the open and empty lake.

 Overall, I would say that the music video is slightly random as i don't really get what is going on with it. But i do like how when he is within water he is surrounded with the swimmers and how they are synchronised with the beat of the music throughout the whole of the music video.

Research Into Existing Music Video: Ed Sheeran - Bloodstream

Here is a picture of the notes that I had made whilst watching the music video.

The music video that I have decided to look into is "Bloodstream" by Ed Sheeran. The reason that I chose this music video to research this song is because Ed Sheeran is a very similar artist to Frank Hamilton who is the artist that I have picked to use for my music video. Researching this music video will help me a lot as it will allow me to pick out codes and conventions to use in my own music video.

At the start of the music video you can see what is going to happen to the actor in the music video at the end of the story, and as the audience it makes you think how has he got himself into this position and makes you want to watch the video and find out. I think this is a very effective way to intrigue people and get them to watch the whole music video.

From 0:01 until 1:15 in the song you can really get a sense of what the actor is feeling, with the slow music and slow cuts along with the depressing scenes such as the one where he is in a big room around a big table, by himself. You can see that the actor is depressed and lonely in his big house by himself and you can tell that this is could be what drove him into the state that you can see him in at the start.

At 1:15 onwards until near the end of the song you can see that he has decided that he has had enough of feeling depressed and lonely therefore he has started to use his money to host huge parties and the slow motion effect shows this happening throughout. At this point you can really understand his path.

Throughout the song there is a lot of cutting to the beat which really makes you feel engaged with the song that you are listening to and the music video that you are watching. At 3:12 there is an example of this where the actor shoots glass and it cuts along with the beat at this point. This happens a lot during the song and is definitely something I will include within my music video.

At around 3:50 in the song the pace of the music starts to get really slow therefore the cuts and slow pans follow in the music video, whilst still cutting to the beat so that you still feel really engaged with the music video. At this point you can see the whole story come together, from slow and depressing music along with slow cuts and pans up to partying with fast cuts and music then back down to a depressed actor again. 

Overall, I love this music video. When you listen to the song without a music video you just enjoy it for the lyrics and rhythm however when you have the music video along side the music you feel like you are a part of the song and you know the story behind it which I find to be a great way of engaging the audience. After watching this music video I would want to watch another of Ed Sheeran's music videos and enjoy those.

My AS Results

Looking at my results i think that i did better on the second part than what i did on the first part. But until i see the results for the particular section i won't know. I also think that i could have revised more for both sections of the exam as i didn't do a huge amount of revision.
I actually did equally on both which i was surprised about. I actually did better on the first section by a few marks.

Research: In-Depth Artist research

Frank hamilton is a singer songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his One Song A Week project. He spent the whole of 2012 producing and filming and releasing the one song a week. Most of the songs were filmed on his laptop and were filmed in his living room. These songs were released every Friday along with a blog post about his life. Best of #OneSongaWeek was the name of the album that he then released. The album was rush- released to be able to get it on to the i-tunes charts. He spent most of the week at No.1 in the iTunes singer/songwriter section outselling Ed Sheeran and Jake Bugg.


Frank Hamilton has a lot of different social media websites. These include:
FaceBook
Youtube
Twitter
And he also has his own website.


Here is one of the music videos:

And here you can see an interview he had with driftwood:

Research : 3 Potential Albums

Favourite Music Video: Rudimental- Waiting All Night

This is my favourite music video at this point in time.

Research : Andrew Goodwin's Features Of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin’s 6 Features of Music Videos

In his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. 

1.    Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.

(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop). 

2.    There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. 

The lyrics are represented with images - either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting them. 

3.    There is a relationship between music and visuals. 

The tone and atmosphere of the visuals reflect that of the music - either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting. 

4.    The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). 

5.    There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. 

6.    There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

(From Andrew Goodwin, DANCING IN THE DISTRACTION FACTORY, 1992.)

Research : Steve Archer 'How To Study Music Videos'

Steve Archer wrote an article in Media Magazine in 2004 in which he suggests five essential criteria which should help you to evaluate music videos.

Pessimists often complain that music video television has made pop superficially image-based. But my description of MTV and music video in MediaMag 6 failed to address what is still its most central and significant element, beyond the control of MTV, Viacom and Motorola: the appeal and power of pop sounds!

I’d like to suggest that the sounds are the basis of a process of visualisation that serve to enhance, not restrict, the original pop sound effect. Pop music theorist Andrew Goodwin claims that a good music video is:

"..a clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations."
(Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992)

If we accept the theory that pop songs on their own are not enough to create sufficient meaning and pleasure in the audience, the ‘added value’ of star image created by CD covers, live performance and music videos can be enough to inspire the consumer to buy into the whole intensely romantic myth of it all – and therefore actually buy the pop music. 

Certainly, the whole music business is sustained by the few star guarantees of profit in an unstable market. This maybe explains the somewhat fetishistic behaviour of fans who will buy the CD even if they can easily get the tracks for free on some P2P provider – we want all the packaging, the sacrosanct details in the booklet, the assurance it really belongs to us, not just the ‘stacking up’ of sounds that is the song itself. 

However, I am keen to keep these sounds as the primary pleasure and driving force of the music industry. This focus, therefore, is reflected in the order of my ‘Top Five Things to Look for’ when deciding if a music video is any good. 

Five things to look for …

I’ve turned the ideas in Goodwin’s book, Dancing in the Distraction Factory, into checklist form for you to test out on the current crop of music videos. 

At number 1 ... 

‘Thought Beats’ or seeing the sounds in your head

The basis for visualising images comes from a psychological process called synaesthesia, where you picture sounds in your mind’s eye. This idea is absolutely central to understanding music video as they build on the soundtrack’s visual associations in order to connect with the audience and provide that additional pleasure. 

To use this approach you need to start with the music, sorting out the way the song works, taking into account the way it has been stacked up with sound. To begin, lyrics don’t need to be analysed word for word like a poem but rather considered for the way they introduce a general feeling or mood. Very rarely do song lyrics have a coherent meaning that can be simply read off; but they are important in at least creating a sense of subject matter. So key phrases or lines (and especially those repeated in the chorus) will have a part to play in the kind of visuals associated with the song. 

Here, Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ is relevant – this sees the singing voice more as an expressive instrument, personal, unique even, to the singer, like a fingerprint, and therefore able to create associations in itself. The voice of a song may even possess trademarks that work hand-in-hand with the star image – so Michael Jackson’s yelp is a trademark sound that immediately sets him apart from other singers.

Finally, if songs are stories, then the singer is the storyteller and this obviously makes music videos stand out on TV, as they feature a first person mode of address rather than the invisible ‘fourth wall’ of television narration. 

Goodwin interestingly compares pop singers to stand-up comics in the way the personal trademark or signature dominates the performance. The music – or arrangement of the song, including instrumentation, the mix and effects, including samples – generally works with the lyrics and grain of voice. Generally we can look at key sounds, like the tempo (or speed of the song) and structure of the song in terms of verse and chorus. To give an example of how instruments can create visual associations, the slow twang of the steel guitar could create geographically-based visual associations from the Deep South of the US – a desert plain, a small town, one road out, men chewing tobacco … We all share a memory bank of popular culture imagery (intertextuality), a sense of shared cultural history without which these references would make no sense. Places, people, feelings, situations leading to mini-narratives – all these can be summoned from the sounds of popular music. 

These visualisations can arise from more personal, individual responses, sometimes even tied to a place or part of your own autobiography, the specific details of your life story and emotions. A combination of these shared and personal images tied to the words and instrumentation form the basis of music video creativity. 

At number 2 … 

Narrative and performance

Songs rarely tell complete narratives; we are used to studying them with other visual texts like film. The narrative fuzz in songs affects the way stories are used in music video representations of a song’s meaning. So, often we get the suggestion of a story, a hint at some kind of drama unfolding. 

There is another important reason why music videos should avoid a classic realist narrative, and that is their role in advertising. 

Music videos need to have repeatability built in to them. We need to be able to watch them repeatedly in a more casual way, with a looser approach to their storytelling. I’d suggest that more important than narrative is the way that performance is used in video clips, a point I’ll look at again in number 3. Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-sync close-up and the mimed playing of instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the band really can kick it. 

Remember that pop music is a romantic art, all about truth, talent, and magic, so we need to believe in the authenticity of the performance first and foremost. The supposed individual and original qualities of these performers leads me to my next point, the source of all profit in the business … the star!

At number 3 … 

The star image

The music business relies on the relatively few big name stars to fund its activities; it usually fails to connect with popular audiences – only about one in ten acts put out by the industry actually makes any money. Therefore, what we can describe as the meta-narrative of the star image will have an important part to play in the music video production process. 

Meta-narrative is a term that describes the development of the star image over time, the stories that surround a particular artist. 

Michael Jackson – a mini case study

(Note : this article was written before Jackson's death)

Michael Jackson’s meta-narrative has been a long, sometimes difficult journey and one he has lost control of in recent years. 

There have been a few crucial moments in Jackson’s meta-narrative of pop stardom. The first was the successful move from being one of a group – even if acknowledged as its central talent – as child member of The Jackson 5, to becoming a solo artist. 

He was then able to negotiate one of the most successful solo careers ever through developing both his trademark sound and image. The ground-breaking music videos for Thriller and Beat It were an important part of this mega-stardom. 

At some point in the 90s, though, this meta-narrative took a wrong turn and his unique ‘star image’ became ‘freakish’ and self-indulgent; we are reminded that this child star has never grown up. Thus, the Jackson talent, his natural birthright it seems, becomes the reason for his adult weirdness. His younger self – black, funky, energetic – is constantly held up to condemn his current abnormality – withdrawn, of no ethnicity, over-produced to the point of ceasing to exist. And yet, all this means he is still talked about, the object of mass media fascination and so, in a very real sense, still a star. Whether the most recent allegations of child abuse will finally render that stardom invalid remains to be seen.

Meta-narratives of star image are not simply a matter of manipulation, but a dialogue or negotiation of what the music business asserts about their star, and what we accept! Still, in each new video, Michael Jackson tries to regain control over his meta-narrative but he can’t just switch off all the different associations he’s accumulated during his career, whether good or bad. So music videos can best be seen as one of the most important ways that the image of the artist is ‘managed’. 

At number 4 … 

Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song

We can identify three ways in which music videos work to support or promote the song. These are illustration, amplification and disjuncture and I find them extremely useful in attempting to generalise the effects of individual music videos. 

• Music videos can illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, providing a sometimes over literal set of images. Here, then, is the most straightforward technique and the classic example of visualisation, with everything in the music video based on the source of the pop song. 

• However, as with all advertising, the most persistent type of video adds to the value of the song. Amplification is seen as the mark of the true music video Auteur, the director as artist, and an increasingly common way to view music video creatives (VH-1’s Best 100 Videos clearly placed Spike Jonze in the Auteur category with his work always amplifying the original song’s meaning and effect, usually through surreal humour). Crucially, though, and what separates it from disjuncture, is the fact that amplification music videos retain a link with the song and work to enhance or develop ideas, rather than fundamentally changing them.

• Disjuncture is a term used to describe those music videos that (normally intentionally) seem to work by ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings. This is quite a radical technique and used by arty bands in order to assert their difference and originality. Usually, disjuncture videos of this type don’t make a lot of sense and may be based on abstract imagery. For example in Spike Jonze’s video for Daft Punk’s ‘Da Funk’ we see a man with a dog’s head and his arm in a cast walking round New York, ignored by all, with dialogue completely unrelated to the song itself. Sometimes though, disjuncture videos are just bad, ill-conceived and self-indulgent mistakes. 

And finally at number 5 ... 

Technical aspects of music video

The last really essential aspect of music video to study is technical. This includes camerawork, movement and angle, mise-en-scène, editing, and sound. 

It is important to remember the more general features of music videos already mentioned when trying to work out the technical effects, especially those which are post-production, effects. Broadly, the technical conventions can be summed up as follows: 

1. Speed! 

Speed is visualised by camera movement, fast editing (montage) and digital effects.

Camera movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers.

Fast-cutting and montage editing creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption, with the images occasionally moving so fast that they are impossible to understand on first viewing and thus need to be viewed several times (repeatability). 

Post-production digital effects – a staple of music video where images can be colorized, multiple split screens appear, and so on, all to complicate and intrigue, providing pleasure again and again. 

Not all camera movement is about speed though and some use slow pace through dissolves or static shots. This kind of editing – like Sinead O’Conner’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – is striking and effective in setting the song apart from the hustle and bustle of most pop activity. 

2. Meat! 

The meat of most music videos is the cut to the close-up of the singer’s face. This is because the voice is seen as the most important part of pop music. 

3. Beats! 

Often, the video will try and represent the music through the use of the cut to go with the beat or key rhythm. This is called 'cutting to the beat'.

4. Lighting and colour 

...may also be used to emphasise key moments in the song, using methods from lighting live performances for dramatic effect. Colour may be used to show a development in the song, going from colour to black and white or vice versa when the chorus comes in. Equally, any change in the mise-en-scène or camerawork can signal the same type of thing.

5. Mise-en-scène 

Obviously the setting for music videos is important, often to guarantee the authenticity of the clip rather than anything else. So mise-en-scène for many music videos is the concert hall or rehearsal room to emphasise the realness of the performance or the grit and practice that goes into attaining star quality. Increasingly, CGI is used, especially for dance songs, which don’t rely so much on being ‘real’ like rock, soul and rap acts. 

Steve Archer : Media Magazine 2004

Two Step Flow - Audience Theory

Uses and Gratifications - Audience Theory

Cultivation Theory - Audience Theory

Reception Theory - Audience Theory

Hypodermic Needle Theory - Audience Theory

Research: Features Of Music Videos

 

 In this task we were asked to watch music videos on Vevo and find the common features throughout the videos that you have watched and write down notes for them particular videos as well. Below you can see a picture of my notes and the common features that I have found within music videos.

The 6 main features are:

1. The cuts of the video stick to the cuts of the music- This is a key feature because all music videos stick to the cut of the music.


2.Lighting and colour sticks with the mood of the video and song- This is a key feature that is also in most music videos. The lighting and colour of the video sticks with the mood of the song.


3. Rap music has a lot more cuts becasue there is more happening in the lyrics- This is in all rap videos as the rap videos have a lot more lyrics than a normal song.


4. The video matches the things that are being said in the lyrics- This is true as well because as the artist in the video says the lyrics then it is likely that the lyrics will be the same than what is being said.


5. Pop music has a lot of mid shots that aim at the artists face- This is a fact because most pop music is of the people singing their own song so the face is usually being shown.


6.In some videos slow motion is used to emphasize something going wrong- This is true for the Imagine Dragons videos because their music is slow anyway so it works out for the video to be slow as well.

Research: A Timeline Of Popular Music

In this task I was asked to research the different types of music and how the music industry has changed with the introduction of technology. I did this using tiki-toki which meant I was able to make a timeline and put all of the different dates in to it.

Research : The UK's Digital Music Landscape

BPI stands for the British Phonographic Industry.

The BPI represents the UK’s recorded music industry, which is one of the most exciting and thriving music sectors in the world. 

British artists account for one in eight albums purchased by fans around the globe.

As a trade body, they champion the interests of their membership which includes more than 300 independent music companies and the UK’s major record companies – Universal Music, Sony Music, and Warner Music. 

Together, BPI’s members account for 85% of all music sold in the UK.
BPI organises the BRIT Awards show and the Classic BRIT Awards show.

The BPI publishes a range of documents in relation to the music industry within the UK.

CLICK HERE to open the BPI's 2013 report titled ' Digital Music Nation'.