A major record label is a label the commands a high percentage of the annual sales of records, and has their own distribution system. A record label is a brand or trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Examples of major record labels are:
Warner music group
EMI
Columbia Records
There are also independent record labels that operate one or a few music labels. Independent labels can be just as successful but operate from a smaller company base. They are traditionally known as offering more 'organic' music rather than manufactured mainstream although this has been disagreed with before.
XL recordings
Sub Pop
Warner music group
Warner music group was founded in 1958. It is now one of the big three recording companies. Warner music has artists such as: Madonna, Ed Sheeran, David Guetta, Wiz Khalifa. These artists are evidence to warner music success as these artists have been very successful in the music industry, and this is only three of the many artist warner music has with them. Warner music also have links in the media, with the Tv, especially in the film industry and this could be used as an advantage as they can advertise when they want and need to.
EMI Emi was founded in in 1972. Virgin Emi records are one of the subsidiaries of Emi records and they have artists with them such as: Elton John and Pink Floyd. these artists have proved to be succesful in the industry from the numerous hit singles that the have collectively released. Emi is not the biggest of the big record labels but they still produce successful artists that are relevant in todays music industry. There are also links within media as Emi records have links to TV and magazines too, increasing their contacts within the media.
Columbia Records
Columbia records is the oldest surviving brand in recorded sound and was founded in 1887. There are a large number of artists that are managed by this company for example: Beyonce, One direction and Katy Perry. These artists have been very successful, similar to columbia's subsidiary company Kemosabe records who have also produced successful artists. An example one of these artists is Kesha. There are links with the media as the parent company of columbia records, sony music is also linked to television and so can get contacts through that connection.
Xl Recordings
Xl recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 off-shot of Beggars Banquet records and is part of the Beggars group of labels. XL recording has proven to be very successful through the use of successful artists such as: Adele, The White Stripes and The Prodigy. XL recordings is not the biggest record label but they have evidently been just as succesful as some of the larger record labels. The most successful artist they produced was Adele who sky rocketed after her single '21' which XL recordings was the record label for.
Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by a man called Bruce Pavitt. In 1988, Sub Pop records LLC was formed by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in seattle, Washington. Sub pop produces mainly rock bands, an example of some of there successful artists are: Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. There music was very successful in the music industry at the time, Nirvana was an american band that was formed in 1987 they was signed with sub pop from when they started and until they finished their music career in 1994. Nirvana gave sub pop a good reputation because they was successful and a big rock band in their time.
I think the music industry is dominated by big name brands, this is because of the successful artists trusting the bigger and larger brands. But the smaller independent record labels seem to produce more unique and original artists. These artists talent may not be recognised by major record labels as they may be more focused on specific genres that are popular in todays music industry. I think that the major and independent record labels are equally as successful because of the independent record labels adding more diversity into the music industry, from the different and unique artists they sign. Then the major records labels keeping on the big pop stars in typical genres in the music industry is also important to ensure that the unique artist that the independent companies sign and unique due to the large amount of typical artist the major records labels sign.I don't think it is right for the four major record labels to dominate the industry, this is because if you are an independent artist with a fan base on youtube, it is impossible to compete against the major record labels promotional and music videos that they can afford to create. Therefore being unfair on the independent artists. The effect of this is that the bigger artist's signed to a major label such as Rihanna have more opportunities than independent artists. This means that the independent artist don't even get given a chance to compete in the industry. Therefore this dominance leads to a small amount of new artists in the charts as it is extremely difficult to find a way in. Independent labels can be as successful as major record labels as you can see by the evidence of how calvin harris who is recently been the head line act at V festival, which is success. Also produced a number one hit recently 'how deep is your love' This evidently shows how a independent label can also have success while the major record labels are still dominating the market. The independent labels offer diversity, original and unique artists. As they have more time to spend with their artist to build them up into the artist they want to be. Where as major record labels have a massive budget but put a huge amount of pressure on the artist to push them straight into the industry, and can lead to the artist not displaying the correct image, therefore this could lead to a flop. The major record labels would just drop the artist if this was to happen. Therefore the independent labels offer a large amount of time and training for the artist to ensure they are ready.
My Chosen artist is Adele and the reason is because she interests me and my group because she is not a lot older than us which therefore makes it easier for me to relate to her and understand what she is singing about. Another reason she interests me is her tone of voice as i believe it is very unique compared to other artist. I was inspired by the this artist to make a music video because her songs can be upbeat but also dramatic and meaning full. Therefore i think by using Adele techniques in my music video it will lead to my music video having a big effect on the audience and being successful. Another reason why she has inspired me is because she is more narrative based than other soul artist such as Amy Winehouse, which makes the video easier for the audience to understand. Also giving a story to the audience through the video, is done so that they will be able to relate to.
Adele was born in 1988 which makes her 27. She was born in Tottenham, London, United Kingdom. The music genres she has done is pop, r&b, blue eyed soul and soul. By the age of 21 Adele become worldwide, this was in the years 2011-2013. This was due to the album Adele released '21' on January 24th 2011, she said that this album was inspired by her break up with her ex partner. Adele signed to the record label company XL recordings in June 2006 and has forever been singed to Xl. Adele mega selling album is '21' which sold 11 million sale in the U.S. Adele then released a James Bond song 'skilful' which stayed in the top ten charts for 24 weeks. Adele's third number one hit was 'Set fire to the rain'. Adele became the first ever artist to have an album, 21, and hold the number one position on billboard 200, concurrently with three number one singles. Therefore this all shows how popular and liked Adele has become through the use of her music being impactful and emotional has proven to capture the worlds attention.
A song that Adele has produced is 'rolling in the deep'. This song was released in 2011. Dyers star theory is used in this music video through the paradox of the artist being extraordinary and ordinary. The artist is seen to be ordinary through her hair costume and make up, as she is normally dressed for a singer, and looks professional but is then seen as extraordinary through the mes en scene of the setting and what is going on in the big empty house around here. The plates smashing and the drummer in the room of the house suggests to the audience that this is not normal, and it portrays her anger and how she feels towards what happened with her ex partner. Another extraordinary point of the music video is that the artist is on her own in the house which is odd because the house is so big. This suggests that adele has been left by her ex partner, and is feeling very lonely to be on her own in a old Victorian looking house, because the house is victorian looking it suggest to the audience that adele feels like she has gone back in time and that the time she spent with her ex partner was all a waste of time. The audience can get an understanding that the artist is depressed and has a lot of anger and frustration due to what has happened in her years that she spent with her ex partner.
Goodwins theory is used through their being a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The lyrics say "we could of has it all" and the visuals of the music video at this point is shown in the screenshot of a city that she is relating to, and trying to portray that her and ex boyfriend could of had the whole city to themesleves. The use of the city suggests that the relationship Adele had was city based and means that their was a lot of city like activated taken place in her relationship. As the audience we can get an understanding that her ex partner may have been in a city job such as a broker or office job which tend to take up a lot of time. Therefore may have lead to the break up between Adele and this man. The audience can then build up a relationship with adele because her target audience is in-between 17-40 which makes it relatable for them as they have more than likely gone through a relationship that has lead to breaking up. Which means that the audience with have some similarities with the artist and can therefore be relatable and understanding towards her emotions.
The artist is also represented as emotionally angry because she can not get her head round why her and her ex partner couldn't have had a fruit full relationship, because the target audience are between 17-40, the target audience would have probably had a relationship where one person has been hurt and forgotten about, therefore make Adele very relatable. The artist is also represented as confused because the lyrics used "you had my heart inside of your hand, and you played it to the beat" show that she was aware that she put all she had into the relationship and got played around by her partner. The audience then get an idea that the artist may have been cheated on which then leads to the audience feeling sympathetic and similar anger towards this man who has hurt emotionally. The artist is also represented as weak due to the artist sitting down the whole music video, which suggests she doesn't have the strength to stand up. This is effective in getting the audiences attention as to how much pain the artist is in. The audience can now build a relationship with the artist knowing how much of a struggle her life is at the moment and can get an understanding of how she is emotionally drained.
The common camera techniques used throughout the music video are close ups of the artist singing. But she doesn't look directly to the camera often which shows her weakness and fear of making the video direct to the man she is singing about. This helps the audience to relate in time if they have ever had a break up and found it difficult or embarrassing to try and re contact their ex partner. Another camera technique used is the long shot of Adele sitting in the chair in the middle of an empty room. The long shot highlights Adele being in a big old house all alone. This portrays the theme of loneliness which the audience feel sympathy towards as a young women like Adele should have a lot of friends and family around her at this age. This leads to the audience being able to relate to adele and feel sorry for the situation she is in and wonder what happened in her previous relationship.
The second song i will be analysing is the song 'someone like you'. Through out the music video Dyer's theory is evident because the artist being both ordinary and extraordinary. She is firstly portrayed as extraordinary in the sense that she is a celebrity and has hired out the location to film the music video which would have cost a large amount of money. But also ordinary as the location she has chosen is somewhere ordinary people would visit and use simply walking down or visiting locations, in paris. Which is where the video was filmed. In addition goodwins theory is present in the music video as, this is the frequent notion of looking where there are a lot of close ups of the artist. This helps the audience to be able to relate to the artist as it is easier to see the artists facial expression, which helps show emotion as her own person experiences that she sings about cause the audience to feel her emotions. This helps the audience build a relationship with the artist as it could be something the audience has similarly gone through or similar experiences overall making Adele very relatable and connective towards to target audience. Another example of a goodwins theory that is present within the Adele music video, is the theory that the visuals match the lyrics. This is evident due to Adele singing about love whilst being in paris, which is known for being the city of love and romance. This will engage the audience as they can understand the connotation song title being 'someone like you' and being in paris on her own represents Adele as being lonely and lost. When she sings the words 'someone like you' Adele is looking around which suggests to the audience that the artist is having trouble getting over this person she has lost in her life. This makes the audience able to relate to the artist if they have been through heart breaks themselves.
There are many conventional mes en scene aspects through out the music video. This is the positioning of the artist. In convention with the soul genre the artist is in the middle of most of the shots, this is stereotypical and this is so the audience can focus on the artist and the lyrics which she is singing, without the audience being distracted. Another mes en scene element is aspect is the setting and location. The music video being filmed in paris is stereotypical to the soul genre, as the setting is kept very simplistic so the audience attention is not diverted anyone else. However the location is linked in with the theme of the song being love, because paris is the city of love. This allows the audience to build up a relationship with the artist as they are singing about a very relatable subject, love. Another conventional mes en scene used in the music video is the facial expression and body language from the artist herself. Which is portrayed through the us of main camera technique which is used a lot, is the close up shot. This particular shot helps to convey the artists facial expression. Through the use of the close ups it shows the audience that the artist is upset and emotional. This helps the audience build up a relationship with the artist as the facial expression have an emphasis on the lyrics she is singing and make the audience more engaged and involved in the music video.
Camera shots are an important part of constructing a music video. In goodwins theory he mention to have a frequent notion of looking where there are several close ups of the artist, this enables the audience to sympathise for the artist because they will feel sorry for her. Also body language is used to help portray and represent Adele. She walks along a river side, the river side suggests that she is stressed, depressed and lost. Which is relatable for the audience as they might have gone on a walk down a river side when feeling down and upset. Another mes en scene element is the lighting, which is low key which is conventional to the soul genre music videos. The dark low key sets the mood of the music video to straight away be quite sad and depressing which is stereotypical to a soul genre music video. Also soul genre artists music is nearly always done to try and convey a message across the the target audience. So by having a low key lighting it doesn't take any attention away from the lyrics and the meaning of the song. Furthermore the audience will be captured and engaged with the singers voice, which therefore keeps the artist focused on the song. Another conventional of this is the lighting and filters used to make the video black and white. This helps to show to the audience they she is singing about the past, and may be something that has happened a long time ago. This is also relatable to the target audience as they may have had a situation where they was stuck regretting the past, and dwelling on the past. Finally another mes en scene element is costume in which the artist is wearing. It is a conventional costume as soul artists tend to just wear basic clothing which will not take any attention away from the lyrics and the meaning of the song.
The music video 'Someone like you' is a narrative based and performance based music video. This sort of music video can usually have scenes in with other characters to help illustrate the story clear to the audience. But in this music video the narrative is purely displayed through the lyrics and facial expression Adele is using. It is also seen as performance based as Adele is singing to the camera. Overall it is a simple music video but a very effective and engaging music video from Adele.
The genre I have chosen is soul, and the artist being Adele. Soul is a popular music genre that originated the united states in the 1950s and early 1960s. The reason for our group choosing this genre is due to all of us having an interest and listening to the genre regularly. It is important to establish a genre before choosing an artist so that we are aware of the conventional themes of the genre so that we can work out wether we would be able to construct a conventional music video to suit the music genre. We felt that the music genre soul would be fairly easy to construct a music video to. This is because soul genre music is usually slow paced and sad based themes, which wouldn't be too hard to produce as our media product.
This is because Myself and the group have a broad understanding of the connotations of colors how to portray different representations through the use of mes en scene. for example costume, black clothing to represent depression, which is regularly seen in the soul genre.
Amy Winehouse
Another artist in the soul genre is Amy Winehouse, her soul songs are songs such as: Rehab, back to black, you know I'm no good, I will be anaylising 'Tears dry on their own which was released in 2006. This song is about a man who has walked out of Amy's life and she finding hard to cope without him. Which is resulting in Amy using drugs and alcohol as a way to escape the pain. This is evident in the bedroom scenes and the iconography being used, for example the empty alcohol bottles. The audience are able to build up a relationship with the artist because they have an understanding of her lifestyle and begin to feel sympathetic towards the artist.
This music video does follows most of the codes and conventions of a soul genre music video. Firstly a typical convention of a soul genre, that it follows is having the artist on her own at some stage of the music video. Which is done right at the beginning of the music video, when Amy is sitting on the edge of the bed. Within in this shot the mes en scene is important, as the iconography is empty bottles of alcohol in the background. This suggest to the audience that the artist has locked her self away from the world and is struggling to cope and is now resulting in drinking alcohol. Which therefore lets her audience that have gone through similar circumstances to be able to relate to her, and for the audience that have not gone similar circumstances, they can still understand her circumstances. Amy Winehouse's target audience is 17-30 year olds as her music is about struggles and situations that this aged people go through or are
aware of.
Also in the music video the artist develops conventions of the soul genre, this is evident when the artist is walking down a busy high street, but walks like no one else is there. This highlights the convention of being on her own and being isolated from the rest of the world.This is developing on the isolated convention as there are other people in the shot, but they are used to highlight how isolated Amy is from the public. Due to this the audience can understand how strong Amy feels about being on her own in order to get through this break up.
The title of song also relates to the convention of being alone, that is regularly seen in soul genre music videos. Amy's song title is 'Tears dry on their own' these portrays an image that Amy has cried all the tears she has and that no one has accompanied her in her pain. This makes the audience feel sorry and sad for her and therefore increases the meaning of the song to the audience. Overall making a more relatable music video for the audience to enjoy. The name of the song also gives the audience an understanding of what to expect in the music video. As the can guess from the title that the song is going to be about sadness and depression. This also illustrates to the audience that it is going to be in the soul genre, this is because these are typical representations of the soul genre.
The setting/location is slightly subversive of a soul genre as a busy, highly populated high street is not conventional to a soul genre music video. But because Amy displays herself to be cut off from everyone else and not even notice them being there this conveys a stereotypical convention of not being accepted by the public. Which is developing on the isolated convention, The location fits in well with lyrics as it is seen by the audience as a man has left her in a world of her own. This leads the audience to believe that because of the high street location and then the bedroom location, that these are the only two places Amy has been in a long time. Which therefore leads the audience to believe that the only reason Amy goes to the high street is to buy alcohol for herself in her bedroom. Overall the display of only two settings through out the whole music video emphasis the convention of not being accepted, and cut off from the rest of the world. Which overall portrays Amy Winehouse's image of being different, a drug user and not caring what people think. This is what the audience know her to be like, and can relate to her thoughts and feeling through the use of the locations.
There are many different camera techniques used throughout the music video. Closes ups are used to help the artist show her thought and feelings as she sings the song. This also benefits the audience as they can understand her emotions, and then start to build a relationship with her as they begin to understand the situation she is in. In some of the close ups the artist is looking directly at the camera this is to convey the message of the song to the audience, but to also make it more direct to the person she is singing about. This makes the audience feel engaged and they feel more involved with the artist because she is looking straight at them. Overall closes ups are conventional to the soul genre music videos, because they display the artists feelings and emotions in a further depth which make it easier for the artist to be relatable.
With the closes up used in the music video it demonstrates a part of the mes en scene, the hair & make up. From the close up the artists eye shadow and her extravagant hair styles, the artist shows off her image as being different and quirky, this is stereotypical of a soul genre artist as most soul artist have something that they do differently in order to stand out. Amy's hair is a big part of her image and is completely different to any artist in any genre which leads to a lot of publicity and overall increasing the amount of viewers and fame around herself. This leads to Amy being more successful and popular in the music industry.
Another camera technique used is the long shot. In the screenshot we are positioned in front of the artist with the artist walking towards the camera. The long shot is used to portray her differences for the rest of the public surrounding her. It also conveys a mes en scene element which is body language. As you can see from the screenshot the way Amy is walking and the body language she uses she looks to be unstoppable and focused on what she wants. The way her arms swing up and down relate to marching which relates the army and war, and this is conventional as Amy is at war with the rest of the world being on her own marching through the public high street. This therefore helps the audience build up their understanding of Amy's lifestyle and can then begin the build a relationship with the artist as they understand more about her. The long shot helps to support how Amy likes to dress and how she presents herself as a different artist. As the audience a long shot helps you to interpret what is going on around the artist and how it is effecting her, which overall leads to a wider understanding of the artist.
Editing styles mainly included in soul genre music videos are jump cuts, slow editing and panning. During this music video panning is evident when the artist is laying on the bed in the hotel room. The panning shot is used to show the artists thoughts feelings and emotions, which comes across to be depression. Due to the name of the song being 'tears dry on their own' the bed is suspected to be a place where Amy has shed most of her tears. The panning shot allows the audience to understand that the artist has spent a long time in the bed on her own crying, and overall helps the audience convey an image of her being upset and down.
An element of the mes en scene is also evident in this panning shot. the mes en scene element is the positioning of the character/artist. The position of the artist shows to the audience that she is run down and had enough with life. The audience can get an understand by the way she is laying sideways on the bed, which shows the bed is not being used properly, which then leads to an understanding that the artist is not sleeping and overall conventional to soul genre as most soul artist portray as sad and emotional narrative within their music videos.
Overall I am able to get an understanding of how some editing styles are used to portray the soul genre conventions, from Amy Winehouse I have especially learnt how depression and sadness can be conveyed through a music video. For example: the dark clothing, panning shots highlighting iconography such as beer bottles and slow editing to represent the long amount of time the artist has felt depressed for.
There is not a lot of editing styles used within this music video but slow paced editing is used to piece the music video together. The slow pace allows the artist to connect with the audience and display her thoughts and emotions through the slow cuts between shots. The slow paced editing represents how her life is getting back together, and on track. Which is very slowly as she can not get herself out of this dark place she is stuck in at the moment. The slow pace emphasis the repetition of the day to day of activities Amy does and the amount of depression she is going through. The audience can get an understanding of Amy's emotions and feelings which makes the audience feel genuinely sympathetic towards the artist. The slow cuts emphasis's the and allow the audience to have a closer look on her true emotions. The mes en scene evident in the slow cuts is the lighting and colour. The lighting and colour is unconventional to the soul genre because it is quite bright and colorful around her which suggests that she is on the way out of this bad patch of her life, it allows the audience to interrupt that there may be a way out of this bad part of her life for the artist. This means the audience are hoping the best for the artist as the colours used on the other characters are bright, and the audience hope for the future of the artist to be bright colourful and full of joy.
Paloma Faith
Another successful artist in soul genre is Paloma faith. The song i will analysing is her most popular song at the moment 'only love can hurt like this' released in 2014.
Firstly the codes and convention presented in this music video, the heart break theme is a common convention of a soul genre music video. Through out this music video the narrative is displayed that the artist has gone through pain due to a relationship that had gone wrong. Their are happy and sad memories replayed throughout which makes the song easier to understand for the target audience, which are 17-30 year olds. One of goodwins theory is for the visuals the match lyrics, this does so when the chorus is sung. "Only love can hurt like this" and the visuals are her and a man cuddling then fighting and then the artist on her own in a big house, lonely. These visuals help to illustrate the heart break of the artist how the artist would love for things to be back to normal. Overall this helps to develop a relationship between the audience and the artist, because the artist can get a better understanding of what she means by the song, by watching the visuals. The convention of a narrative based love story is very stereotypical of a soul genre music video, as most of the soul genre artist construct music videos very similar to the way Paloma Faith has constructed her music video.
Another code and convention a soul genre music video is isolation. Throughout the music video the artist is constantly in shots of her own. This is done to develop and portray an image of loneliness and unhappiness which is a common theme within the soul genre. The target audience can see the pain and frustration the artist is going through by a mes en scene element, positioning of the artist. The way the artist is leaning up against the wall as she walks down the stairs, shows to the audience that she is annoyed with the situation and tired of being lonely. The audience can then build up a relationship with the artist as she is not just expressing her self through the lyrics but her body language and the way she uses the wall helps the audience to construct a better understanding of how the artist is feeling.
Another representation that is clearly shown in this music video is insecurity. The artist is shown as insecure when the artist throws off her wig on the table, the wig suggests to the audience that the artist is insecure about her look , and wears a wig to hide her identity. The audience then begin to feel sorry for the artist and feel sympathetic towards the artist, this leads to the audience wanting to build a relationship with the artist as they want to find out why she is insecure and down.Overall the artist portraying insecurity creates a sense of likability for the artist as the audience want her to be happy and comfortable in her own skin.
There are many different camera angles used throughout the music video only love can hurt like this. But a particular camera technique used is close ups. Close ups are used to show the artist facial expressions and emotions, which the audience find it easier to connect with because the feel close up and can see how the artist is feeling. A close up is used at the very beginning of the music video when the artist sings "I tell myself you mean nothing". The way the artist is looking at the camera suggests that this shot is targeted at the man she is singing about nd makes it more direct to him. The audience can understand this and relate to her hurt and anger if they have been through similar circumstances. This is a conventional shot of the genre because expression and emotions are some of the main things soul genre music videos try to express through their camera angles. This is appealing to the audience as they are more likely to understand the emotion of the artist.
Another camera angle used in the music video is medium shots which shows the artist in the rain on her own, which portrays the isolated theme and shows the artist to be upset and putting herself through the pain of being wet and cold. It makes the audience feel like they want to be able to help her, consequently making the audience feel more engaged and involved in the music video. Standing in the rain in this shot makes the audience feel even more sympathetic towards the artist as she has no hood on her coat so could easily get very cold and lead to an illness. The audience can get an understanding that the artist can't even feel the rain due to how much she is thinking about her broken relationship. This leads the audience to be able to understand how much she did love her man and now he is gone she does not know what to do. Therefore the audience that have gone through similar circumstances are able to relate to the artist and understand her feelings.
An editing technique that is used throughout a lot of the music video is jump cuts. The jump cuts are used to highlight a previous relationship she had with a man to how she is now. The jump cuts illustrate that the love she had for the man was very strong because we don't get to see what broke them up. Which leads the audience to believe the she doesn't really understand what broke them up, and that the song is showing her anger and frustration as to why she has broken up. Therefore this makes the audience able to relate to her as the target audience being 17-30 have likely gone through similar circumstances in their love life, and can therefore relate to the artist easily and build up a relationship due to the jump cuts providing information about the artist and her relationship with this man. A mes en scene that is evident throughout the jump cuts is her hair costume and make up. The hair is a wig and and when she is with the man the wig comes off which suggests she only feels comfortable to be herself around this man who she has now broken up with. Which then links in with the stereotypical isolation theme that is frequent within soul genre music videos. Also her costume is quite revealing being underwear and this leads to the scenes of her and her ex boyfriend being sexual. Which connotes to the audience that she may have being used by her boyfriend, and this is also a relatable aspect for a wide range of the target audience, if they have gone through similar circumstances.
Another editing technique used is the slow editing which makes it easier for the audience to build up a relationship with the artist. This is because the artist can show her true emotions and feelings through having slow pace editing in her music video. The slow pace editing also represents the way she feels and her recovery to getting back to a better state of mind, which is very slow and probably not going to happen. The audience can get an understand that the artist is hurt and wants to forget the troubles she had with the man, because she keeps having slow cuts of her and her ex boyfriend having fun together. This is evident in the scenes that they are in bed mucking around. Overall this makes the audience understand that she is feeling upset and consequently lonely without her man. The mes en scene that is evident in the slow cuts is the iconography of her wig and what it stands for, having a protection from the public world. This is stereotypical of a soul genre music video as the soul genre commonly display being out of the loop with the rest of the world and being isolated. Therefore being conventional to the genre and creating a sense of scared to be herself without her man, which makes the audience feel sympathetic towards her insecurity.
Overall my research on my chosen music genre, soul. Will help me to plan my own music video as it has helped me identify what should be in a soul music genre and what the codes and conventions I should follow, challenge, adapt or develop when constructing my own music video. I like the use of isolation and being dis connected with the rest of the world as a theme to use within the music video, as I think it is very effective in getting the audiences attention and making them aware of how the artist is feeling. I also think the iconography is important i liked the used of the empty alcohol in Amy Winehouse's video, as it represents being down and depressed which is a conventional to the soul genre.
Diversity of a music video is being unconventional of the typical music video you would expect of a genre. Two music video directors that are diverse are Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry, they both create music videos that do not fit the expected characteristics of a music video. Artist that are diverse create a lot of publicity and popularity due them differentiating themselves
from the other artists. An example of a diverse artist is Lady Gaga, she is seen as diverse because of her appearance and rumours about her being a man.
Chris Cunningham is a diverse music video director, he is known and paid for creating music videos that do not match their genre and are very bizarre and different. The advantages of having Chris as a director are: it creates a memorable music video that people will remember, may appeal to a wider/different target audience, it also stands out and gets publicity, helps the artist stand out from other artists in the same genre, attracts audience attention making it more popular, show different sides of the artist and their true selves, it can give the artist an intellectual appeal, introduce themselves to a niche audience. There are also some disadvantages to having someone like Chris as a director: it is difficult to build a relationship with the audience, it may turn people off there work and potentially lose fans, hard to understand so people may lose interest, may become unsuccessful if it is too out there, could be seen as confusing or boring, won't gain much publicity, existing fans may except a certain image, fans may feel let down if the usual standard is not achieved .
Chris cunningham is a music producer who creates diverse music videos he has worked with artists such as Madonna who is within the pop genre and aphex twin who works within the electro dub step mix genre.
Madonna
Chris Cunningham worked with Madonna on her music video frozen. This song would be shown on music channels such as MTV as it would appeal to the pop genre target audience as that is Madonna typical style. However because the artist is Madonna it would appeal to an older target audience as well. Madonna is a pop artist and usually creates songs that are upbeat and happy because of the themes being portrayed. Also the stereotypical Madonna music video would have included bright colours in her outfits and backgrounds. However Chris Cunningham being diverse he has made this music video go against all the conventions of a pop genre music video. The first micro element Chris Cunningham challenged was the mes-en-scene in particular costume because Madonna wore a full black dress, which portrays to the audience that the song is going to be dark and evil.
Having the music video unconventional makes it harder for the audience to relate to because it is not what they would expect, therefore struggle to understand what the song means. Also it goes against Goodwin's theory of the visuals matching up with lyrics, as now they do not match and the audience will have to work out what it means without the visuals. The second micro element that is diverse is the editing because during the music video Madonna turns into a crow. This restricts the audience as they wont be able to relate to the crows, as the crows symbolise death, which is extremely unconventional to the pop genre. Her video is shown in a possessive light which makes the video quite scary, when the audience would usually expect a Madonna video to be: fun, sexy, happy. The scary and possessiveness is shown through the location being empty and gloomy. Goodwins theory was presented through the close ups of the artist performing. This allowed the audience to see her better and be able to relate to her facial expressions and pale make up. This helps the audience to understand how the artist is feeling and therefore build up a relationship with the artist which is important for the music video to succeed.
The style of the video is mainly performance based due to singing and small dance moves from Madonna. Concept is shown by presenting relationships as dark and possessive because partners can be controlling. This is evident through the isolated location and dark costume. Also the artist is portrayed as mysterious because of the way she keeps hiding her face through out the music video. The video does portray the theme of being possessed which is evident when the artist is crouched down and has clones of her around herself, and when she is floating in the air.
Aphex Twin
Chris Cunningham also produced the music video window licker by Aphex Twin. Which is in the dance genre. Dance music videos are usually performance base and have repetitive dance moves. However in this music video there is a narrative, which is unconventionally for the genre. This song would be played on music channels such as aka because of the genre it falls under. Firstly iconography is used to portray the artist as being rich, the prop used is a extremely long limo. This helps the audience relate the artist as the audience are aware that limos are expensive so this artist must be wealthy due to he's success. This can then help for the audience to build up a relationship with the artist as they can get an understand of he's lifestyle, and this helps to portray he's personality. The artist is then represented as being superior because he talked better than the two men that pulled up to the girls before him. This helps the audience build a relationship as they see him as a outstanding individual. However, because of Chris Cunningham the artist is also portrayed as being vein, because the girl he fancies actually turn out to has he's face on their bodies. This then presents him as being obsessive and scary, which helps the audience to remember the music video as it stands out and is unconventional of the music genre. The conventional side of the music video is the dancing as it suits the beat of the song and the expensive lifestyle fits the genre.
Goodwins theory is shown through the vouyeruristic theme of the female bodies and how they are being used sexually in the limo, because of the controversial objectification the music video could stand out to the target audience and it could receive free advertisement due to people talking about the themes shown and how different it is. Also, the visuals and lyrics match when the umbrella is opened. This is also a promotion of the artist as the logo is presented on the end of the umbrella. The style of music video is mainly a narrative based music video due to the two men failing to chat up the females at the beginning and then the artist coming along being successful due to he's fame.
Another song Chris Cunningham has directed is Come to daddy by Aphex Twins. The music channel that this song would be present on would be MTV rock and AKA this is due to the style of the song. The style of the music video is a narrative based as it is about an old women who is walking her dog and then being violated by the young children. Also, the music video has a performance side to it due to the vocals on the screen. Finally the concept is that we are controlled and influenced by what we see on the tv and how we rebel against society through
violence. The drum and bass genre is conventional due to the flashing images that are fast paced. This helps the audience relate as they can keep up with the beat of the song.
The age of the characters is unconventional because it features young children and an old women. This is unconventional because you would expect the characters to be the same age as the target audience because then it helps the audience to build a relationship with the characters better as they can imagine themselves in their position. However the subversive characters are used so the video is abnormal and this will lead to it being remembered. The artist is also promoted through the logo and credits at the beginning of the music video. This is diverse as credits are usually conventional to a film not a music video but it is used to make the artist more memorable. Also the TV being in the video with the artist on promotes him even further as it shows him to be well known. In a music video the artist usually wants to be represented in a good light and to be idolised, however this is not the aim in this music video as the artist is represented, as creepy and scary due to terracing the old lady. Chris has planned to the opposite with this artist so he stands out and becomes more memorable.
Michael Gondry has directed another music video. He has worked with the white strips that are a rock band, he does a lot of cloning work, similar to Cunningham. The song would be played on music channels such as MTV rock as it suits the style of music that is played on that music channel. The music video is "the hardest button to button" within this music video goodwins theory is evident through the performance of the artist playing the drums. This helps the audience build a relationship with the audience as they can see he's talent and have more love for them as an artist knowing the artist has made the song themselves. Goodwins theory is also present when the visuals match the song, this is clear when drum being hit by the artist on every drum beat of the song.
The genre conventions of the rock are the drums and the electric guitar being played as it shows the audience how the song was played. The costume of the artist is also conventional as the dark colours also appeal to the target audience as they are likely to wear them too. This allows the audience to relate to the artist through the same dress sense.
The style of the music video is mainly performance based due to the the instruments being played and the singing. it also has a narrative about a baby being born and the life of the child. This allows the audience to relate as they would have had similar circumstances in their life themselves. The artists are also represented as mysterious, this is due to the lack of visuals on the artist so the audience can't get much representation of their personality, which makes it hard for the audience to relate to the artist in the music video, and therefore hard to build a relationship.
In conclusion an artist would choose directors such as Chris Cunningham and Michael Gondry to create a music video that would be diverse and stand out from other artists in their genres. A list of reasons why the artist might choose these directors are as followed:
To make their video more memorable
To increase their publicity
To get higher recognition
To create a buzz and interest around them
To make their music video stand out
To get their name talked about
To appeal a wider and different target audience
To show different sides and personalities of the artist
To show a true representation of the artist
To appeal a niche audience
There are some drawbacks to having these directors construct an artists music video, the draw backs are that the video may become confusing for the audience to understand, which could lead to being put off the the artist and overall lead to a loss in fans. The artist could pick up negative publicity and lead to a bad name and image around the artist. The music video could flop and cost the artist a lot of money. When i come to make a music video i think i will try to stick to a normal conventional video as i found these videos weird and creepy, but i do think by making the video weird and creepy it does create a lot of publicity, so i am undecided weather i will include some of the unconventional representation that Chris and Michael used in my music video.
In the copyright law, there is a concept of fair use, this is also referred to as; free use, fair dealing or fair practise. Copyright basically is set out to stop other people copying any other artists work. If they was to copy there would be a punishment usually a fine. For example Pharrell Williams had to pay a fine of $7.4 million for the song blurred lines as it was very similar to another song by Marvin Gaye.
Applying for copyright The reason for having to apply for copyright os because it is not our work, the song does not belong to us, therefore we have to ask for permission to use the song otherwise we would be breaking the laws of copyright. The song our group have chosen is hometown glory by Adele, we had to find the record label and email the company XL recordings because that is the record label adele is signed to, we then had to form a email to ask permission of using her song in our media product. This is because if we put it on youtube without asking, they could remove it as that would be going against the law of copyright.We have only just sent the email so are therefore waiting for a response from XL recordings.
Unfortunately after applying for the copyright of our song, we did not receive a reply from XL recordings. We are going to send another email requesting for use of the song in hope that they will reply this time.
Artists may want to reinvent themselves to change their genre or image, they may have done something bad and then wanted a new representation of themselves to breakaway from a previous representation, sometimes artist reinvent themselves due to growing up and maturity, and therefore to attract a new target audience.
Justin Bieber is an example of a star who has reinvented, the reason for Justin Bieber having to reinvent himself is due to him growing up and maturity. With Justin Bieber's target audience growing up with him the target audience can easily adapt to the reinvented Justin Bieber.
Michael Jackson first began as a very young artist with the jackson five, The song i will be using is 'ABC'. Within this song one of Goodwins theory is clearly identified, this is number seven. Whether the music video is primarily performance based, narrative based or concept based. In this music video the performance based is clearly shown through the singing and dancing on stage. The purpose of this is to engage to the target audience of the audience as it is interesting to watch the dancing as well as singing. Choreography is used to keep all the jackson five in time dancing and make the music video more memorable, and easy for the target audience to imitate and relate to. This video is conventional to the soul genre because in the soul genre the artist usually try to make it easy for the audience to build a relationship with the artist. Michael Jackson has done that her by performing, singing and dancing.
The genre of Michael Jackson in the music video is soul, and this it is unconventional being performance based as soul genre is stereotypically known for having narrative that the audience can relate to within the music video. Which makes Michael Jackson not very relatable, but then Michael including dancing within the music video makes him more relatable for the audience, so by not including a narrative but by dancing Michael Jackson makes himself unconventional to the genre but still relatable. Additionally through the use of mis en scene, especially the costume, is bright wacky colours this is something the target audience might wear being a young audience. It is conventionally to the genre as soul is something that is about the artists personality's and life and the artist wearing bright, fun colours portrays him as a young friendly individual.
Richard Dyer came up with a theory that the word 'star' refers to the semi mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to seek the performer to a large and loyal audience. He wrote about the role of stars and said they all have common features irrespective of the type of media. He stated a star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials for example advertising. He believed stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meaning. Fundamentally, the star image is incoherent, incomplete and open. Dyer say this because its based upon two key paradoxes.
The first paradox is that the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. This is seen in the Jackson five ' ABC ' when you can see Michael as an ordinary brother of five but with an extraordinary talent for dancing and singing which the audience can look up to an idolise. The music video does show Michael as a product because although he is ordinary he is being used to make a show and be famous.
The second paradox is that the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. This could be shown as through the stage performance he is present to the audience because he is putting on a show for them. However Michael is not on he's own therefore the camera is not always on Michael and there are absent parts throughout the music video. Hegemony means that the star image can be used to position the consumer in relation to dominant and influential social values. However because Michael Jackson is young and this music video is targeted towards a young target audience, the music video it doesn't have any influential social values such as drug taking because it wouldn't suit he's target audience. The message and values in this music video are not completely clear as it is just an on stage performance, but i think the main message is to enjoy yourself and be happy.
The second stage is presented in the song 'the way you make me feel'. This music video presents goodwins theory, especially the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals when he is singing "you really turn me on" because the artist is dancing sexually towards the female in the music video. The purpose of this is to help he's audience understand what he is talking about help them understand the emotion he is feeling towards the female in the music video. Due to he's target audience being a similar age him they will have similar emotions towards the opposite sex, and understand the concert of the music video.
This music genre is now R&B for this music video, and is conventional to the genre because it is upbeat happy tune. Additionally it has got performance, narrative and concept in the music video which is conventional to R&B as it is stereotypical to have all three especially performance and narrative which are clearly shown by the artist dancing and singing to the camera, and the narrative of him chasing after a girl, at a young adult age this is commonly seen and understood by the audience the the genre. Throughout the music video the lighting is quite low key which is unconventional of a r&b style genre, because usually the lighting is brighter to show a clear message, but because the message is not for the younger audience to understand, the low key lighting hides and blurs the meaning to the younger audience. The video represents the artist as trying to grow up and reinvent himself with a new image because he is now on he's own and changed to a different genre. Additionally it is to show how Michael maturity is turning him into a man and is not a young little boy anymore. The artist can be viewed as a product because he is an young man after a girl, which makes both male and female young adults want to buy Michael jackson songs and merchandise, because he has branded himself as an artist who is very relatable to he's target audience.
The target audience for this music video is a similar age to Michael Jackson, which is 17-25. It has changed since he's last video because he has reinvented himself to be able to mature with he's audience. He has decided to do this so he is still relatable to the target audience that he first targeted, as they are growing up with him. The message and values of this music video are for men and women to have fun and be happy.
The third video is the final stage and the stage Michael finished with the music video ' PYT ' the genre of this music video is funk disco. This is music video is very unconventional to goodwins theory as one of goodwins theory demonstrates that the music video must have lots of close ups of the artist, and this music video is more of a slideshow of pictures that the artist has put together to create a story. The purpose of this is to show a timeline showing how far he has come since he's first began he's sining career.
The genre of the music video is funk disco and the music video is unconventional as you would usually expect a disco setting and neon lights, but within this music video the video is very basic and slow changing pictures of Michael, which makes it hard for the audience to be able to dance along to the song, because the are use to re in acting Michael's dance moves. The music video represents the artist as someone who is coming to the end of there career and letting out all their emotion out, after a long time in the press and media. The artist can be viewed as a product in this video because people we want to buy the artist final image of letting go of everything. He is conventional to the genre because in the disco genre the artists let go, and Michael is portraying a not caring about what people think image. Which is important to the audience as the target audience has followed him through he's growing up and maturity and they can understand what he is feeling and going through, by him showing he's timeline it brings back memories for the audience of all the old versions of Michael, as he has reinvented himself three times.
Overall Michael Jackson did reinvent himself three times over he's whole career starting off as a young boy in a band with he's brothers, moving into a young adult and targeting away from the soul genre and into the r&b genre. Finally in he's final few years reinventing himself as an artist into the disco funk genre and physical appearance. I think he has reinvented himself to grow up with he's target audience and make he's videos engaging to them as they have been fans since the very beginning. This research will help me decided on my artist because it will make me look at all their songs they have produced to see if they have changed over time. Furthermore i will look for the messages and concepts they try to portray and i can think about whether i want to portray similar concepts in my music video. I have learnt that you should maintain a target audience and create a music video that is easily relatable for them and you know will suit them.
Emi was founded in in 1972. Virgin Emi records are one of the subsidiaries of Emi records and they have artists with them such as: Elton John and Pink Floyd. these artists have proved to be succesful in the industry from the numerous hit singles that the have collectively released. Emi is not the biggest of the big record labels but they still produce successful artists that are relevant in todays music industry. There are also links within media as Emi records have links to TV and magazines too, increasing their contacts within the media. 
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by a man called Bruce Pavitt. In 1988, Sub Pop records LLC was formed by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in seattle, Washington. Sub pop produces mainly rock bands, an example of some of there successful artists are: Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. There music was very successful in the music industry at the time, Nirvana was an american band that was formed in 1987 they was signed with sub pop from when they started and until they finished their music career in 1994. Nirvana gave sub pop a good reputation because they was successful and a big rock band in their time.
