First of all this is not a music video of the performance of a song; it is a news style promo focusing on the band, their name and brand, and the record label Nutune Records. Yes it can and should have original music, but this is not a MTV type video promoting one song.
Pre-Production
Create a band/artist – sometimes it is best to go for a fictional name even if students are using their own band – remember marks are given for the synergy between the name of the band and all these aspects below which have to look related to each other.
• the band name
• their brand logo or USP
• the album sleeve/cover
• the music genre
• the live act
• the record label Nutune Records.
This research will result in two media products – the video, and print products or e-Media pages. The details you create in preproduction will inform all products. So they better be good!
Research Successful Artists / Bands
The BBC website is a great place to start.
This blog from Fraser McAlpine about female star COCO’s new song Self Machine is useful because it gives a simple introduction to how metaphor and similes are used in songs.
The video set in an empty swimming pool is both spooky and arty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chartblog/2010/07/i_blame_coco_self_machine.shtml#more
Students can make their video about a single artist such as Coco. In some ways this offers more opportunities for creating an interesting and original biography. Assuming the artist is a student then making the video has many less logistical problems than getting a four piece band together for a shoot in an exciting location.
Look at bands/artists on MySpace. Here is a band with a video that is near to the sort of thing that this brief envisages – don’t copy it slavishly.
Mystery Jets Secret Show
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=105643312
I also like the video for Scouting for Girls song Famous which is a simple song and the video actually illustrates the lyrics in a fun way.
http://www.scoutingforgirls.com/gb/home/
What you need to create…
Artist’s Name
It should be short just one or two words and must not class with the genre of the music. For example The Clash is an ideal name for a Punk band as is The Sex Pistols. Coco is clearly not the name of a Goth inspired group or heavy metal band. Face up to it long names don’t work – name one that does.
Logo, USP, Brand Identity
This is not initially easy and needs research. The best way in to creating a brand identity is to take the name and really brainstorm it. E.g. If you really want to call your band WHAM how do you promote it – check on any Wham website. Even more extraordinary is that Q – Tip can work as a name. It is better to research established bands like Gorillaz or Arctic Monkeys and see how their name is promoted.
By the way a cartoon band is a great idea for any artistically gifted media students.
It is simpler to create an image based logo around a single artist just think of Pink or the ultimate brand de nos jours, Lady Gaga.
For an historic perspective look at the way a huge international brand was created around the Spice Girls, and it is still going strong in 2010 with the creation of a musical stage production based on the Spice Girls see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8473024.stm
For an example of album covers and picture associated with artists see the BBC top 40 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles/
Promotional Techniques
Now research promotional techniques from how advertisers promote their products to viral advertising on the internet – see this site Understanding Advertising.
On this site look at Stephen Hill’s excellent article on Popular Music Promotion.
Pre-Production
This is when all your virtual ideas are finalised and become reality.
So you have a name, and a format, a genre, and a brand identity. Let’s say you are going for one artist. My example is going to be very obvious, but your artist/band will be much smarter and cooler.
Name: Leonie
Brand ID/Logo: based round a photo shopped lioness picture together with the artist. The o in Leonie has a stylised lion’s head inside it.
Use the same font for all text associated with this product to ensure continuity. Try to harmonise the colours and use the same ones throughout. For Leonie we are going to use gold’s, creams and desert colours – as in the lioness photo.
Genre: soft rock/soul mainstream. Describe exactly what sort of music will be on your artist’s album.
EG: Leonie’s music is based on postmodern northern soul with punk undertones. Her trademark song the up tempo Wilderness has a funk-rock underscore with a strong lyrical hook in the chorus line: Wild to be free/ in the wilderness… Her sultry voice has been compared to Dusty Springfield, and she is not afraid of the high notes.
Album cover. Full details at CD Cover Design & Analysis on this site.
Click here for ideas on analysing a CD/album cover from Teachit http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/5881.pdf
Album tracks – an album has about 12 tracks. You will need to write about 1 minute of a song for your artist. This will be the music you use on your video. In my illustration the song Leonie is going to sing is called Wilderness, and the delightfully cheesy lyric goes like this:
The wilderness is calling calling calling from afar
My heart is lonely and cries in the night
I am falling falling falling from a star
you are so far so far so far
Refrain: wild to be free/ in the wilderness / I ‘m waiting for you/ to be near me
Ok it’s ultra cheesy, but you wait to you hear it sung…. the words of Mercy are pretty simple on the page, but sung by Duffy the lyric is transformed into a hit. That is what a lyric should do – only really work when it is set to music and sung, otherwise it is a poem.
My advice - keep the lyrics really simple. I love the Beatles song I wanna hold your hand – how simple can a lyric be, but it’s a great pop song with terrific harmonies.
Enjoy the rhyming of ‘hand’ and ‘man’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iim6s8Ea_bE
Of course you may be the new Bob Dylan and be able to write complex songs full of metaphors and illusions that rhyme, and have a narrative. Listen to Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan – could you write something similar that is also popular?
‘Take me on a trip on your magic swirling ship….’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIAZMayobcI
Locations for video shoots – two/three are enough. Be exciting but be safe – the beach is always good, or a park or the back garden.
Street scenes are difficult (H and S) unless you can find a really quiet road or a pedestrianised area.
Indoor locations like a gym, or a friendly house, or a tourist attraction like a castle are good. See MediaEdu Production Zone.
List of tour dates and towns – this is easy copy and adapt one out of the music press
Biog information – make it interesting. Leonie was born in South Africa and came to England when she was three years old; she likes the music of …..; vanilla ice cream and retro clothing etc and plays 4 instruments including the vuvuzela.
She sings about animal rights and has set up her own wild life sanctuary in Greenford!
She had a part in a video made by the Spice Girls when she as 8 – see the connection with your research? And much much more – put down every detail of her life including her TV viewing habits, magazines read, and views on serious debates such as spiritual beliefs, violence on the internet, capital punishment etc
Who is her backing band or perhaps she plays everything herself – perhaps that is her USP.
Does she use video in her act – of course she does and it is a very exciting video about, yes you have guessed it, being on safari.
Where do the pictures come from – your research visit to London zoo and that is where she got the inspiration for her latest single – Night Calls – (is there a pun in there?).
Promotional techniques – what is your promo philosophy for this musical phenomenon.
You are going to use Myspace and the ‘wild life in danger’ connection because you are going to donate 10p from each download to a wild life charity. This could get you noticed by a mainstream radio programme or a TV show.
Your luck really changes when a cosmetics company who are keen not sell products tested on animals, uses Leonie’s song Wilderness in one of their ads. Put 15 seconds of this ad in your video - you are aiming for a top mark.
This brief is trying to get you to move your marketing from the niche Nutune Records to something more mainstream using the same label.
Audience
The brief states that your audience should not be a niche audience but more mainstream.
All your marketing should therefore be aimed at a general young audience of both sexes who have bought similar products in the past.
For our example we are looking at a mainstream audience for female artists – people who might buy Duffy albums.
http://www.iamduffy.com/index2.html
Create a picture in your mind of the type of person who buys this genre of music – will this person like the music of your artist? If not what are the differences?
For the purposes of making good coursework it is probably best to find an artist who is like your artist so that you can compare and contrast, and go for the same audience.
It might be Rihanna with street wise songs like Disturbia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1mU6h4Xdxc
Top Tips
One
Photographs – during pre-production take a lot of photographs – on your phone camera if necessary - as a record of any research trips you make at weekends – London zoo for example – and particularly early doc style pictures of your artist.
Photograph everything you do - it will be useful I promise you. You will need to do a fairly sophisticated front page type shoot for your print or E-page option. This should look different to these ‘at home type’ pictures which will be very useful throughout the project.
Two
Keep a production diary in a large folder with everything in it. Use those plastic see-through pockets to put in loose items like tickets etc
Three
Keep a budget. Create a real world budget for promoting a new artist/band and then see how much you can do it for.
Making your own T shirts can save thousands - well a few - pounds and CDs can be copied on your computer.
Print can all be done on computer – the live gig may cost you a bit but you can share the cost.
Four
Make the video with a group as you need a team to make a video properly, but do everything else individually. You have to submit your portfolio as an individual.
Video Production
See this site under Production Zone for lots of tips and ideas for making good videos. Remember you are making a video for a social networking site such as MySpace not for television – what might be the differences? MySpace is more intimate and personal.
For this brief you will make a newsy style video for MySpace. You will need to do some or all of these:
• An interview with the artist/band
• An excerpt from an ad, or one of the artist’s songs for the actual album you are promoting. This will only be a short part of your video.
• A small section of the artist/band singing as if live – you must create all the music for your artist – no covers, no previously recorded music. If this is really too difficult then use music from a copyright free source but use it in less than 10% of the video. You must indicate your music source in the evaluation.
• Pictures of the artist relaxing doing sports etc, at home, or on holiday. Differentiate between the artist/band relaxing and having fun and the artist/band on stage in full stage gear – use props, make up, and costume to make a strong stage persona e.g. Lady Gaga.
• A new band on stage in tacky shorts and T shirt as I saw recently, is not what you want for this project – they may not like it, but its your video, you are the producer so stick them something startling, provocative or sensational.
For ideas on Music Video Production see Music Video Pre-Production on this site.
Evaluation
This is not what you did and what you did not do or why the group dynamics made everything such as rush –that will get no marks.
It is an evaluation of your video based on how it stands up to other similar products on Youtube or social networking sites. You can say how you went to great trouble to make it look professional and how you did this.
You must try and evaluate how your product works as a promotional video for your band/artist.
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