R+P Post 13: Influences and Inspiration from Art, Fashion and Culture

Fashion

I really like the whole street/urban fashion trend that is considered really trendy right now.

                

These styles a representative of someone's personality and it's really hip and modern. Many people have now started to follow this trend even though it started off as something that was initially received with criticism from the older generation. This style is more attributed to the younger generation as it's a fairly new trend.

Many bands/artists and celebrtities have also been wearing clothes that are associated with this trend such as Rihanna, MO and Kourtney Kardashian.

           

I would like my band/artist to wear similar clothes to this as I feel it is really modern and trendy right now. It's also quite an eye-catching, attention grabbing look.

Post-Modernism

'Postmodernism is a late-20th-century movement in the arts, architecture, and criticism that was a departure from modernism. Postmodernism includes skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism.'

Above is the definition of post-modernism. This idea of not accepting everything at face value and being sceptical about realism really intrigued me. I researched more into this movement and was really intrigued and fascinated by it. 

I therefore want to make my music video challenge something that is considered socially acceptable. I want people to think about what is considered 'okay' in our society. 

R+P Post 12: Artists/Bands that have Influenced my Ideas

Neon Jungle

Neon Jungle are a British four-piece girl band consisting of Shereen Cutkelvin, Amira McCarthy, Jess Plummer, and Asami Zdrenka. I love the way these four girls look together as a band. They all have their individual personalities within the group but they come together and work. They all have strong female personalities and their music can be described as pop with a bit of rock/dance. They inspired me to want to make a band's music video because even though they're a group, they're individuality is still a prominent feature in their band. I also love their style! The outfits they wear are quite daring but they look confident wearing it and this may encourage their audience to embrace themselves for who they are and not to be scared to be different. This is a very powerful message to portray. 

I love not only their style but the experimental nature of their music videos. They're usually always really quirky and experimental. For example, in their song Braveheart, they experimented a lot with lighting and space and in Louder they experiment with backdrops, smoke, editing, camera movements and they also play instruments in the music video.  

Fifth Harmony

Fifth Harmony is an American girl group formed on the second season of the The X Factor USA in July 2012. The group consists of members Ally Brooke Hernandez, Normani Hamilton, Dinah Jane Hansen, Camila Cabello, and Lauren Jauregui.

The reason I find this girl group inspirational is because they are all for female empowerment. They send the message that women are not just pretty faces and they work to break the common stereotype of women in music videos. This can be seen in their songs Worth It and Boss. Similar to Neon Jungle, they also have their own individual personalities and styles shine through even if they are in a group together. My idea of using guys as props in our music video comes from these guys and the message they send. 


Beyonce

 

When you think of Beyonce you immediately think of strength and power. She literally emanates power from herself through her music, her performances and just her personality. She has also allowed her fans to watch her go through different stages of life and experience this along with her. I want my artist/band to build a strong and powerful image and I want people to look up to them in the long term,

R+P Post 11: Artist Websites that have Inspired and Influenced my Ideas

I researched a few artist websites and the main features that were common across all of them were:

• Lots of opportunities to purchase things; albums, merch, tracks etc
• Very interactive
• Synergistic with all other online marketing
• All social media links are provided
• They always have a store/merch page
• They always have a drop down menu with all other sub-pages listed below.

The first website I was inspired by was One Direction's:

When you enter their website the first page is a promotional page selling their new album. This covers the whole page and then on the right is a little button that says 'ENTER WESBITE'

Once you click on 'enter website' you are redirected to the home page where immediately there is a massive picture of the band. And then you scroll down and there are opportunities to buy things, news, music etc. Everything is big and easily accessible and it's a simple website to use. I would like to make my website like this and include all the interactive opportunities that 1D's website also includes.

This is the bands drop down menu, again everything is in large scale. When you scroll on top of each menu the fonts change. Again, it's very simplistic, easy on the eye and at the same time still appealing. 

They also have a merch page. It opens up in a completely different page and is a webpage dedicated solely for the merch. Once again, the style is simple yet effective and everything is easily accessible. A feature which I find appealing and would like to use in my own website. 

This is their tour page, again very simple, big and easy to use. 

This is their social media and record label thing that they have at the bottom of every single page. It's synergistic and allows the audience to easily access everything else.

This is Fifth Harmony's website. I really liked their 'bio' page where they have a picture of each individual girl in the band and then a short description of that girl. Maybe in my one I could have a section just talking about my artist. I also like the different coloured backdrops. 

R+P Post 10: Album Covers that have Inspired and Influenced my Ideas

I have researched a number of different album covers and there are quite a few that I found really interesting and appealing. 

I liked the theoretical ones the most, the ones that have a deeper meaning than the first time you look at it. I also find the ones that don't feature the artist on it appealing because it makes you think deeper as to why they might have done that. Since this project is about a debut artist, not having their image on the album cover may not be ideal but its an idea that I find really interesting. 

I then anaylsed one album cover in more detail: The Foals - 'Holy Fire'

I also briefly analysed Ed Sheeran's 'Multiply' album cover: 

R+P Post 9: Music Videos That Have Inspired and Influenced my Ideas

During my research for this project, I have come across a lot of music videos that I like the look of and would love to create something as good as that.

One music video in particular was really inspirational for me and the song is called, Don't Be So Hard On Yourself by Jess Glynne. The music video had both narrative and performance bits and the lyrics were interpreted literally into the music video. It was a very emotional music video and it takes the audience through a journey which is something I would like to achieve in my own music video. I want to convey a deeper message than just the song itself.

I decided to break down the video even more and did a semiotic analysis on it which I have included below:

Another music video that has influenced my ideas is Do It Again by Pia Mia. Her music video is purely performance based but with all the fast paced editing and the changing colours, it looks really good. The camera movement as well and all the slo-mo shots also look really good. I would love to recreate some of the slow motion shots in my own video. Something else I would love to recreate is the way in the music video they edit to the beat of the music. Her dance moves as well are really good and the performance shots are filmed in a way which makes them exciting to watch.

Another video that I took influence from in terms of lighting is Braveheart by Neon Jungle. I love the way the lighting changes throughout. I want to do this in my music video as well and play around with silhouettes and different coloured lighting. The camera movement and the different levels and positioning of the band and the way they walk up to the camera as well looks super cool. 

R+P Post 8: Possible Tracks for the Single

After considering a long list of possible tracks, I have managed to whittle the long list down to three tracks that I feel would be ideal to create a music video for. 

1. Confident - Demi Lovato

I really liked this song because even though it has a good rhythm, the lyrics convey a deeper message. The artist, Demi Lovato, has been through a lot of online bullying through people body shaming her and commenting negative things about her appearance. This song is almost her reply to those haters and letting them know that regardless of what they think, she's confident. Below I have made a table highlighting the pros and cons of potentially choosing this song: 

2. Locked Away - R.City ft. Adam Levine

The main reason why I would like to do this song is because of how catchy it is. The first time I heard this song, I was in the car with my mum and as soon as it came on I was dancing along to it and went on my phone straight away to find out what it was called and who was involved in it. I feel like if we did this song, it would be a lot easier to attract the audiences' attention because of the beat and the fusion of pop and reggae. It's different to the usual chart music that you get. Below I have made a table highlighting the pros and cons of potentially choosing this song:

3. Red Planet - Little Mix 

This song also has quite a catchy beat and rhythm. It is also a band song so everyone in our group can be involved in the video. We can interpret the lyrics as passion and love as the connotations of red are consistent throughout. We can also use this song to break the stereotypical representation of women in music videos and be strong and powerful. Below I have made a table highlighting the pros and cons of potentially choosing this song: 

R+P Post 7: Record Labels of Interest

There are many roles that a record label must play in order to successfully sell both music and the artist. Below I have listed some of the main ones in the form of a spider diagram:

The music industry is split into two main types of record labels. One is the big name labels who dominate the market and the other is the independent record labels who don't have as much market share but are rapidly growing due to advances in technology and free platforms such as YouTube.






First we have the three biggest record labels, which are; Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. These three record labels dominate the market and control around 70% of the world's music industry.




As well as the big dominant record labels there are also independent, smaller ones that also work to produce and sell music. Some examples of  British independent record labels include; 3 Beat Records, PMR Records and National Anthem.

PMR Records

This is what was written in the about section of their website. They have signed some pretty popular artist's such as Disclosure and Jessie Ware. The brothers started up this record label to find fresh talent with unique styles and have been pretty successful in doing so.










Below is a recent article from The Guardian talking about how PMR Records are redefining pop music:
























Overall, from all the research into record labels that I have conducted,  I would like my artist to be signed to a record label who embrace new and upcoming artists and help them find their image and also help them find their sound in terms of their music as well.

R+P Post 6: Current Trends in Popular Music

Currently, in the UK pop music is still the most listened to music genre as shown by the research conducted by BPI and the chart from from Statista that I found during my research into this.

Research conducted by BPI.

Taken from Statista website.

However, both of these things also showcase the rise of people who listen to rock music and also dance music. Recently, the EDM (electronic dance music) has been dominating the charts with songs such as 'Where Are U Now' by Skrillex and Diplo ft. Justin Bieber. This is a massive hit tune with over 250million views on YouTube and also reached the within the top 10 on the charts.


It also shows that people have a varied music taste. Although, pop is the most popular, the other genres still have sales and since this survey was conducted in 2014, I feel like this year pop music will have an even less percentage compared to the others.

This is the official top 10 songs of this week (18-25th October 2015). As you can see there a lot of other genres other than pop that feature and the number one song is of the house genre.







Consumption

The way people consume music has changed massively. Online platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud etc have made it easier for the audience to stream music onto different platforms like their phones, iPods, computers and so on.

As shown above by the Statista graph, we can see that in 2015, the digital consumption of music has overtaken buying the physical CD by quite a lot. There has also been a rise in the percentage of people who stream music legally compared to 2014.

R+P Post 5: The Kind of Video I Would Like to Make

The kind of video I would like to make is something really exciting with lots of editing work, playing around with lights and performance shots. I want to make something that's visually stimulating, that will get the audience to appreciate the music video.

1. Fast-paced editing

An example for this is Pia Mia's 'Do It Again'. This video has so much fast paced editing especially towards the end. The shots between 2:22 and 2:26 have been edited together so well and so fast with flashing lights and other really cool stuff that I would love to include in my own music video. 

2. Lots of effects

If you look at Justin Bieber's 'What do u mean' music video, it actually has such a cool concept where fans got a chance to draw whatever they want over him and this was then incorporated in the video to create some very snazzy looking shots as shown below. I would love to be able to play around in the edit suite like this and add crazy effects to my music video to make it look like this.

3. Playing around with lighting

In 'How Deep is Your Love', there are some really interesting shots of the model where its a close up of her and she's moving but really slowly at first and then it speeds up. The colour of the model also changed throughout the scene shown below and I think this was either done by adding coloured filters to the lights or in the edit suite. Either way, it gives off a really cool effect and it's really attention grabbing for the audience as well.

4. Performance

I would also love to incorporate some dance into my music video whether this is someone dancing on their own or people dancing as a group. I just think this works well for the type of fun and upbeat music video that I would love to do. 

R+P Post 4: Audience Groups of Interest

There are many audience groups in the music industry. People have their specific tastes in music which tends to change as they grow up. 

The audience group that I'm interested in are: 

1. Young Adults (17-21)

1. Young Adults

• Young adults usually consume music through streaming services like Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify etc.
• When talking to a few people that fall into this group, they said that they're music tastes had changed massively from when they were younger. For example, a lot of them said that they were fans of pop when they were younger but then they discovered other music that wasn't on the charts.
• Most of them said they don't buy their music but if it's a band that they're really into then they can make an exception. 
• One of them even said 'Listening to chart music now makes me cringe a little, because it's all the same generic thing with no variation' 
• Below is a screenshot of the conversation I had with one member of this particular audience group. 

R+P Post 3: Music Genres That Interest Me

I listen to a range of different music genres but these would be my three favourite genres to create a music video for this year:

1. Pop

Pop music tends to have a really good beat to accompany the song along with a good bassline. Pop music can also contain a range of different sub-genres within them and they're usually open to interpretation. This means, that we can interpret a song in our own personal way and create a music video to fit what we think the song means/implies.

For example, the song 'Locked Away' by R.City ft. Adam Levine is currently in the top 10 hits in the UK. It has a mixture of reggae and dancehall music infused in the song which makes it distinctive and so addictive. When you watch the music video, there is a range of different narratives taking place throughout the video which all have different scenarios. However, R.City revealed in an interview that the song was based on a true story: 'Our dad was locked up for five years. And during the time he was gone, our mum held it down. She'd take us to see him. They're still together to this day. They've been together for 36 years. So we thought that that was a great story to write about.' When you initially watch the video, you don't really get that from it but it has a deeper, more personal meaning than anyone would have guessed.

2. Hip Hop

Hip hop is a genre that I listen to on a regular basis. I love the different styles of hip hop you can get and also the way the beat can slow down and build up again in most songs.  Again, the songs are open to interpretation and I would love to do a hip hop song for my music video.

An example of a hip hop song that I love is 'Feeling Myself' by Nicki Minaj. It has distinctive sections in the song and the slow bits can be used for a conceptual part or narrative whereas the chorus can be used for performance. She also uses intertextual referencing in her song with the line 'He in love with the coco' where she is referencing a very popular song called 'I'm in love with the coco'.

3. R&B

I also love listening to R&B music, mainly because of the beats. My favourite R&B/hip hop artist would have to be The Weeknd as his music is so unique and his voice is so distinctive. Again, I would love to do an R&B performance song for this project as it would be fun to film and also there are many amazing R&B songs out there. One that I'm loving at the moment is 'Hotline Bling' by Drake.

R+P Post 2: Myself as a Music Consumer

How/Where/When/With who/Why do you consume music?

• I consume music on a variety of different platforms such as the radio, my laptop, iPod and phone. I have different playlists to suit the mood that I'm in and music consumption has definitely become a lot more easier as new technology has developed, such as Spotify.
  
• Again, I can listen to music literally anywhere; in my bedroom, on public transport, in the car, in the bath, at parties and gigs and so on.
  
• I listen to different music at different times of the day. For example, on the way to school I usually listen to quite upbeat tracks in order to wake me up properly and get me pumped before school. When I'm doing my work, I can listen to literally any kind of music as long as something is playing in the background and when I sleep I listen to to slower music to help me sleep. 
• I listen to music with my friends, by myself and with my family.
• I listen to music for a variety of different reasons which include reasons like escapism/diversion to provide something else to focus on as opposed to whatever bleak task I am doing, cheer me up, help me sleep, to create shared experiences at social gatherings and because I can relate to certain music and the lyrics.

What does music mean to you?

Childhood:

Whenever, Wherever by Shakira

In year 5/6 this was my absolute favourite song of all time. When I listen to this song now it makes me feel really nostalgic as there a quite a lot of memories attached to this video. It reminds me of times in primary school during wet play, my friends and I would blast this song out and sing along to it and be absolutely mesmerised by Shakira. She was literally a goddess to us back then. I still, to this day, have this song on my playlist and it is just such an amazing song. 

Early Teens:

Numb by Linkin Park 

This song is really important to me as this is probably the first rock song I ever listened to and it made me explore music past the generic 'pop' genre and help me form my own music taste as opposed to just listening to something that my friends or parents loved. I used to play this song all the time, out loud and my mum always used to shout at me because I overplayed the song. Again, I still listen to this song quite frequently and I think it was definitely the beat that made me fall in love with this song.

Now:

Photograph by Ed Sheeran

This sons is one of my absolute favourite songs mainly because of the artist that sung this song. Ed Sheeran is one of my favourite artists and this song again has a lot of nostalgia attached to it because in the music video it's all reminiscing being a baby and childhood which made me think back to my childhood and all the memories attached with that. Also, Ed Sheeran is such a famous singer but the fact that he isn't fame hungry and is humble just makes his songs ten times more better for me as well. 

R+P Post 1: My A2 Group

For my music video project I will be working with Angela (left), Monica (centre) and Gift (right).

My Group Photo

Our Strengths

I really like my group members this year because I feel like we all have really good creative ideas and as a group of four girls I feel that we will be able to pull off a really sassy and attitude-filled music video. We've all had performance and lip-syncing training when we carried out our preliminary task and I think that as a group we will be really efficient and work well as a group.

Our Plan

We plan to meet at least twice a week with optional group meetings throughout the week whenever we're all free, probably after school sessions, if we feel we have to sort something out or if we're behind. Our planned group meetings are Monday and Friday during period one and lunch time.

We have also set up a WhatsApp group in order to communicate with each other daily about the progress of our project and also remind each other of meeting times, deadlines and any other important stuff.

In order to produce a good quality music video and also stick to our schedule we have set ourselves some working principles, which are:

• Give everyone a fair and equal opportunity to pitch their ideas and listen to each other.
• Make sure we all turn up to group meetings at the set time
• Communicate with each other when we need to convey important messages
• Be efficient during group meetings and get things done as quick as possible.