GENRE CONVENTIONS: Youtube playlist of videos researched

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PODCAST 4: Idea + research update

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In this podcast we talk about:

• Genre research still in progress
• Iconic acts/inde archetypes
• Joy Division
• Sisters of Mercy
• Pixies 
• Depeche Mode
• Oasis
• from this we got ideas for:
• costume
• attitude
• aesthetic of video (colour correction, B+W, low key lighting, handheld 
• Idea update: sims perhaps not feasible - if not use new FCPX cartoon effect
• Production schedule update
• New shoot
• update on clothing
• prop lists

Points we forgot mention:

• Made a playlist for the videos we looked at 
• We'll be using the binary opposites for Lesbians

AUDIENCE: Target Audience

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Script:

Target Audience:
Primary: 15 - 24 Male & Female
Secondary: 3 - 15 Male & Female and 24+ Male & Female

PODCAST 3: Pitching and conventions update

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·      Completed general convention research

o   Influences such as:

§  Importance of costume and styles

§  Theme of heartbreak

§  The dark tone in indie music videos

·      Decided our plot will be a mix of a relationship gone bad and the breakup that follows it

·      Pre - Pitch presentation

o   Made as outline for pitch video

·      Mood boarded outfits

o   Looked at multiple different bands and is linked on blog

o   Found genre specific conventions of style – oversized clothing with a range of styles within the band, mostly dark styles- blacks and brown

o   Know costumes and outfits for band from this

o   Ties to our genre specific research

·      Started Genre specific convention research

·      Finished casting

·      First shoot/sample scene to be completed today

Pitch Presentation

Initial ideas

The Artist/Track + Their Audience:

• Welshly Arms - Locked
• 6 band members
• Lead Singer
• Drummer
• Bass Guitar
• Guitarist  

The Idea, Synopsis:

Narrative + Performance footage

• Narrative
• Bad Relationship they can't get out of
• Or bad breakup where they can't get over their ex
• Nightmares/ Flashbacks
• Footage from during and after relationship
• INSERT LYRIC QUOTES HERE Goodwin (lyrics link to narrative) 
• Propp?
• Todorov?
• Binary opposition?
• Performance
• Derelict building 
• Run-down, graffiti
• Rocks etc.
• Forest? (Make it a living room style) 

Influences:

• Travis Scott - SICKO MODE
• Smoke bomb
• Skrillex - where are you now
• Face paint
• A2 Joe - Nine Inch Nails 'Sunspots'
• Face paint
• A2 Adels - Halsey 'Control'
• POV and effects
• Travis Scott - Butterfly effect
• SFX
• Kendrick Lamar - Humble
• SFX and editing
• Underwater in with GoPro
• NEEDS TO BE CLEARER (We saw, we did)

Key Characters: Representation, Costume:

• 6 band members in performance 
• 2 in narrative 
• Couple
• Possibly LGBTQ+
• Race
• Relationships
• Sexual orientation
• Gender
• Queering

Location scouting:

• TBC - Derelict run down building
• Woods/Forest - Flashbacks and dreams
• Kirchberg - Lights + large buildings
• City centre
• Christmas time - lights between buildings
• Grund - Cobbled streets, tight roads with buildings

Health + Safety:

• Derelict buildings could have dangers
• Sharp objects, loose rocks etc.
• Transportation risks 

Secondary Texts: Website, Digipak, Social:

• Facebook
• Instagram 
• Twitter
• Contact band/ management, use fan forum

Powerpoint:

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Intertextualities: Charli XCX - 1999 example

Here we have a contemporary artist; Charlie XCX, referencing the 90's and 00's

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• Steve Jobs unveiling the original Mac
• Titanic scene
• Sketchers commercial
• Eminem - real slim shady
• Nokia "Brick" phone
• Sims gameplay
• Matrix 

CULTURAL CAPITAL: Here we see that Charlie XCX is demonstrating that she knows a lot of references from the 90's and 00's giving her additional cultural capital of the teen subculture to her primary audience 

USES + GRATIFICATIONS: Seeing the references creates a talking point within the audience, one of 

RETROMANIA: It further taps into what Simon Reynolds dubs Retromania in his book of the same name: our web 2.0, converged age offers up easy, cheap access to past popular culture that once required dedication and considerable expense (record collecting).

ALTMAN'S SET OF PLEASURES: The video offers an 'intellectual puzzle', one of 3 categories of audience pleasure Altman identifies as common strategies.

Here we see the artist giving a nod to Rose McGowan's outfit at the MTV Awards in 1998

PODCAST 2: Updates on pitch, research

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Here we have part 2 of our journey of making a music video. In this one we talked about:

• Almost finished General Convention research - just minor improvements left
• Pitch - location scouting, figured out influences, plot
• Starting genre research
• Still need to figure out costumes for characters and band members 

Pitch improvements

• include what instruments band members play
• insert quotes and lyrics 
• vernallis
• propp, todorov, binary oppositions
• more specific in influences
• go pro underwater
• contact band/management, use fan forum 

PODCAST 1: Welcome to our Podcast

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Above we have a podcast which will track our journey as we embark on this adventure of creating music video.

• This podcast will document our progress through this years coursework
• Locked by welshly arms
• names for label , CA
• Social media: Fr13tag media on FB, Exposition records on twitter and Welshly arms on IG 
• Convention research for each convention, vodcast summaries, blog posts and how they would influence us
• Currently working on pitch

Vodcast improvements

• Don't use clips 
• use titles
• uses and gratification
• be more concise
• Use all 4 music at the same time
• use concept video theory
• lyric video used to be ugh, now more alt vids because labels
• screenshot of video
• don't show as much for  
• screenshots of views 
• order by theme, not by song
• show industry understanding Web 2.0 pg 11 in pack
• screenshot of teaser video on youtube
• easing in magazines - distribution
• Simulacra
• quick summary at the end

Social Media

Creative agency: Facebook

Record Label: Twitter

Artist: Instagram

Soundcloud

Youtube

MUSIC VID ANALYSIS: TBEP - BIG LOVE

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• Track played twice
• Freedom of speech vs protection of children 
• High-budget:
•  uses CGI/SFX eg face mixing, gun wounds, censor tool
• Surprising because budgets nowadays are a lot smaller because disruption
• huge number of extras plus all verisimilitude
• Using the censor tool, convergence 
• Most networks in America would not screen this even post-watershed
• Not a big deal because there is online distribution
• Digitisation
• Counter-hegemonic, goes against ideology
• Opening shot is a young female and not one of the band members
• pedophilic
• normative - male teachers
• countertyping 
• social realist style - 
• "handheld" steadicam low budget
• represents the underprivileged 
• protagonist vs antagonist
• Performance is integrated in narrative world
• dolly zoom 5:41, 6:5
• syncing 

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• Not uses rule of thirds because focus is on message and not on the stars.
• High-angle looking down at the stars
• Direct address - looking straight at the viewer
• Fairly lowkey lighting, however still under controlled conditions
• Shallow field of focus 

• Youtube channel has only 4.7m subs, video has 6.7m views

General Conventions completion schedule

GC1  JC

GC2 JC

GC3 JC

GC4 CS

GC5 CS

GC6 CS

GC7 SS

GC8 SS

GC9 SS

GC10  

FRIDAY: Improve upon blogs

SATURDAY:Additional EG's  

SUNDAY: Possible Influences, SS 7 Summary + Vodcast

MONDAY: CS 4 Summary + Vodcast.  SS 8 Summary + Vodcast

TUESDAY: CS 5 Summary + Vodcast JC 1 Summary +Vodcast

WEDS: CS 6 Summary + Vodcast SS 9 Summary + Vodcast JC 2 Summary +Vodcast

THURS: JC 3 Summary +Vodcast

FRIDAY?: present...

GC1 Lyrics/Visuals; Narrative 

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs: 

Combined summary: JC

Vodcast:

GC2 Genre Characteristics

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs: 

Combined summary: JC

Vodcast:

GC3 Intertextuality & Postmodernism

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary: JC 

Vodcast:

GC4 Representations 

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary: CS

Vodcast:

GC5 Cinematography & Editing

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs: 

Combined summary: CS

Vodcast:

GC6 UGC

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary: CS

Vodcast:

GC7 Alternative Vids

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary: SS

Vodcast:

GC8 Distribution 

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary: SS

Vodcast:

GC9 Branding/Promo package 

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary: SS 

Vodcast:

GC10 Possible Influences  

Individual JC: done

Individual CS: done

Individual CS: done

Combined new egs:

Combined summary:

Vodcast:

CS Narrative theories: Todorov and Propp's archetypes

Introduction of Todorov 

Tzetan Todorov was a Bulgarian/French historian. He was also a philosopher, structuralist literary critic, geologist and socialist. He has written many books and essays linking to literary theory, semiotics, sociology and cultural theory. In 1996 he created the narrative structure theory. He believed that this theory could be applied to any film or media text with a narrative structure.

5 Stages of Theory

1. A state of equilibrium - This means everything is happening as it should 
2. A disruption of the equilibrium - This disruption can happen throughout the film
3. A recognition by the characters that a disruption has occurred 
4. An attempt to repair the disruption
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium 

Introduction to Propp 
Vladimir Propp was a soviet folklorist who majored in philology. His character types went unnoticed until they were translated in 1958. The characters were a breakdown of fairy tales divided from 31 sections into 7. These seven character types can also be known as archetypes.

The Seven Archetypes 

1. The Villain (antagonist) - struggles against the hero
2. The Donor - prepares the hero or goes the hero a magical object
3. The Helper - helps the hero in his journey or quest
4. The Hero (protagonist) - reacts to the donor, is the person who saves the day, gets prize/princess
5. The False Hero - takes credit for the hero's actions and tries to claim the price/princess
6. The Princess or Prize - the hero's journey often ends with him wedding the princess or receiving a prize
7. The Dispatcher - a character who takes the unknown known and tells them to the hero

Star Wars Example

The Villain - Darth vader

The Donor - Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Helper - Han Solo
The Hero - Luke Skywalker
False Hero - Lando

The Princess - Princess Leia

The Dispatcher - R2D2

VID ANALYSIS: ALOE BLACC - BROOKLYN IN THE SUMMER

Used abbreviations
Key:
ECU -
CU -
MCU -
MS -
MLS -
LS -
ELS -




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ECU
CU
MS
MCU
CU
MCU
DA - LS
MCU
LS
ELS
MS - LS depending on what you're looking at
CU
MCU
CU
MS-ELS
CU
MCU
MCU
ELS
LS
MCU
MCU
ELS
MLS
MLS
CU
MCU
CU
MCU
MLS
CU
MS
ECU
CU
CU
MCU
MCU to CU focus pull
CU
MCU
CU
CU
CU
CU
CU
CU
CU
ECU
ECU
LS
MLS
MCU
MCU
ECU
MS
ELS
MCU
MLS
MS
CU
MCU
CU
CU
ECU
ECU
MLS
MCU
MS
MS
MCU
CU
MCU
MS
MCU
LS
MLS
MCU
MCU 2SHOT
MLS
CU
ECU
MS
MS slow mo
MCU
CU
MS to CU focus pull
MLS
ECU
ECU
LS to MS focus pull
MC
LS
MS
ELS
LS
MS
CU
CU
MCU
CU
CU
CU
MS
MCU
MS
MCU
CU
CU
CU
MS
ELS
(4:03)
ELS
MS

GENERAL VIDEO E.G: 1D - History

Semiotics of the first shot

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• Fade in from black - reflects lyrics of history
• Group-shot
• Slow-mo
• Monochrome - connoting past
• (Medium) Long shot
• Eye-line/Mid-angle
• X-factor
• Exposition is anchored
• Deep field of focus
• Rule-of-thirds - they are in the centre

Semiotics of second shot

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• Close-up
• Shadow field of focus
• Black and white
• Elliptical - Carol Vernallise argues videos can't have narrative - too short

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• Extreme long shot for members at the back and long shot for the 2 at the front
• used to be together, now are all separate, looking in different direction
• no slow mo, more colour aka present
• rough setting, tattoos, facial hair shows a change in demographic of audience - no longer a desexualised boy-band

Pace

• 6 shots in 8 first seconds

Sound

• Diegetic sound for the crowd - not uncommon in music videos

CONVENTION RESEARCH 10: Possible influences summary

CONVENTION RESEARCH 9: Branding/Promo package

Possible Influences

• Have album cover, website banner or front page, social media banners, music video etc. all link together
• Maybe link 2 or more of album art, music video etc. 

Summary:

• The whole promo package is linking the website, music video and album cover (rarely all three will be clearly linked but commonly at least 2 are linked)

Summary Vodcast:

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Simon: DJ Snake - Taki Taki ft. Ozuna, Cardi B, Selena Gomez

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As of writing this (8.10.18) my track doesn't have a official music video yet, however DJ Snake very recently release a trailer for the video as seen below. DJ Snake's website is not as linked with the cover art as it could be, however from what I've seen of behind-the-scenes footage the music video and other marketing strategies will have strong links with the cover art.
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Here we see the banner for DJ Snake's website, as you can see the, the only link we can see is that some of the artists are wearing the same clothes as shown in the music video.

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Although DJ Snake's YouTube banner is the same as his websites

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UPDATE: 9th October the music video was release and as predicted, there were several clear links to the cover art and trailer for the music video. Watch below:
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James: 

The whole promo package is linking the website, music video and album cover (rarely all three will be clearly linked but commonly at least 2 are linked). Twenty One Pilots have clearly linked all three with their latest release Trench.

The album cover, website background and multiple of the videos for the songs all feature a vulture, also, this color of yellow ties all pieces of promo together, the costumes in every video are the same with the yellow crosses on them and the website and covers main themes are around yellow.

The website and album cover contain an identical background, this is obviously done on purpose to tie everything together and create continuity through the work
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Website

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Album cover shown on website

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The music videos from the album have some obvious links to the album, for example the costumes with the yellow, but throughout all the videos are more subtle hints towards the work, for example, the vulture that can be seen below, although shown multiple times is never on screen for more then a second. There are many small "Easter eggs" such as this throughout the videos which not only aid in promotion but keep audiences engaged with their work.

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Vulture shown in music video

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Music video - costumes with yellow cross

Christian: Marshmello - Happier ft. Bastille

Marshmello and Bastille have clearly linked music video, album cover and website to their latest release Happier.

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Below will be the obvious link in the branding:

Website 

The top one is from the website of Bastille who collaborated with Marshmello for this track. The website on the bottom is Marshmello's however it is a cover art as branding instead of changing the banner as seen with the "Enter Site" button on the top right.

YouTube Banner

As you can see the album cover art is also on the YouTube banner of the artist Marshmello.

Music Video

The mise - en - scene has links to all the other promotional packages with the smiley faces clearly shown in the music video as well as lollipops on the left of the table and two huge balloons attached to the chair of the central protagonist.  
Album Cover

The branding of the album cover is clearly linking all these together into a promotion package which has been done a bit to the extreme here where it all links together. A more common convention is for there to be one or two links mainly with the album cover and website.

CONVENTION RESEARCH 8: Distribution

Possible Influences

• Advertise upcoming video on social media

• Have sneak peaks post on social media

• Upload music video to multiple platforms 
• Have an interactive website

Summary:

• 
  

Summary Vodcast:

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Simon: Foo Fighters

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With the Foo Fighter growing older they don't appeal as much to a younger audience and realising this they have created a new platform on their website and if you go on the mixtape section of the homepage it takes you to an interactive site where you can build your own Foo Fighters "Mixtape" depending on your mood and the Foo Fighter Era you want to listen to.

Foo Fighters have done this because they want to introduce their older audience to streaming, where they would usually just buy CDs, and also introduce younger audience to the Foo Fighters with a cool new concept.
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Here you can see all the songs in your mixtape that the website has mixed up for you, you can rearrange the tracks 

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Here is the option to name your mixtape

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Here you can share your newly made custom mixtape. You can share it on Facebook, Twitter, or send it to your email or add it to your Spotify playlist. There's also an option to subscribe to a newsletter

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James: Big Shaq - Mans not hot

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Social media has a huge influence over the popularity and success of a track/ music video. A brilliant example of this is Big Shaq - Mans Not Hot. This was a hugely viral hit back in 2017 in which Micheal Dappah, an English actor made a skit on Radio 1 as one of his characters (big shaq) which quickly went international bringing in millions of views.
Micheal Dappah saw the opportunity social media brought him when the skit went viral and proceeded to create a full music video boosted by his recent success and current status. This video ended up getting over 300 million views.
This is the google trend for Big Shaq, as you can see there is a huge spike where his career quickly boomed.
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Instagram:Social medias such as instagram play as massive role of the promotion of music videos for artist, it is a way of artists showing people there work and communicating with there audience to create a community of fans.
This is Michael dappahs instagram, he has about 1.5million followers and uses the platform to promote his content and stay as relevant as he can
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This is an example of him telling people about his music video, thanking them and telling them to go watch it and support him
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This is another example of him interacting with his fans, he's thanking them for their support, this helps to create a community and fan base for him.
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This is a post about Big Shaqs success from the viewpoint of his record company:
Link to page
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Christian: George Ezra - Paradise

Distribution of a track and music video is becoming more and more important as social media is having a larger impact on peoples lives. The music video can be posted on multiple different platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and sometimes even Spotify. There can also be links or videos on other social media as well! The video I have chosen is George Ezra - Paradise.

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He uploaded the video to YouTube as it is by far the largest platform for video content, there are no official uploads on Vimeo and Dailymotion however there are fan made (UGC) uploads.

Social Media

George Ezra has advertised his music video on all the mainstream social media sites. He has also built up hype by saying there is a video "coming soon" on all his social media aswell.

Instagram

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As you can see this post has nearly 80,000 views (counts as likes) and has 680 comments with very positive feedback from his audience and fans!

Twitter

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Twitter seems to be the least popular social media where he has promoted the video due to the small amount of likes (2.1k) and comments (110). This may be due to his target audience more commonly use Instagram.

Facebook

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This promotion on Facebook has slightly more likes and comments than Twitter. With 3.4k likes and 308 comments. Again Facebook is not as popular for his target audience as Instagram is.

These numbers on social media are surprising as you are about to see the amount of views of his video on YouTube.

The amount of views he has on the official video are a huge amount greater than any of his other social media combined. Apple music also streams his music video however it doesn't show the amount of views or streams it has.

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Spotify

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On Spotify the song has nearly reached 100 millions streams with it counting upwards everyday. It is nearly twice as much as

Conclusion

The target audience that heavily use social media are T(w)eenagers and it is obvious which one of the social media platforms is most popular for him. Which is Instagram. The most popular streaming service is also Spotify. However YouTube is the platform for most views on his music video (not counting TV). The distribution and "advertising" of the music video on the other social medias has defiantly helped the song gain traction and become a hit.

Additional EGs