How we will select a track

 Due to the laws of copyright, we all need to chose a band/song which remains to be UNSIGNED. To do this, we wanted to throroughly look at the most frequently used and updated website of unsigned bands. By looking at this, we should get a clear idea of the genre of music we want to create a promo for. When our genre is clear, a fitting song should be much easier to find due to a narrow search.

  Although the website www.unsigned.com is regularly used by students to create a music promo, we wanted to explore a large variety of bands in order to get the right song for our group. Many songs which we liked had meaningful lyrics but poor vocals, or a very fast rap appearing for a large amount of the song, which would be a huge challenge to work on due to the speed at which the lip syncing would have to be done. The quality of the bands is a negative which we came across a lot, as a regular follower of the "UK top 40" I am used to listening to quality music, going back to beginers who haven't been signed gave us a bigger shock than we were expecting, understandably these bands have low fundings for recording and editing which meant we had to spend a lot of time finding a band which sound almost professional.

  

CHOSEN GROUP

Hannah Phillips-

Strengths: Editing on "imovie" and "final cut" ability to maintain a steady camera shot, experienced in appearing in videos performing a character to create a convincing narrative.

Weaknesses: Ensuring all preperation for shooting day is analysed to a high level.

Jessica Cooke-

Strengths: Ensuring the nessecary preperation for shooting day, creating an organised scheduele to keep the team focused at all times.

Weaknesses: Appearing in a video due to being "camera shy"

Kingston Capes-

Strengths: Ability to use advanced programmes such as photo shop to add new details to our music promo, also good at miming the words to songs in perfect syncranisation.

Weaknesses: Organisation, ensuring every tasks performed meets a deadline before the shooting day

  Henry Louth-

Strengths: Positioning the camera at complex angles in order to get the best shot, a wide range of ideas on the location of our music promo and a convincing actor.

Weaknesses: Doing complex editing on "Final Cut"

MAIN ROLES

Hannah Phillips

Planning, acting and editing

Jessica Cooke

Preperation before the day, filming

Kingston Capes

Acting, editing interviews for research into the genre we chose and our final piece

Henry Louth

Filming interviews, planning and filming the final piece

 TYPICAL MUSIC PROMO CONVENTIONS

 

 

Defining a Music Promo

Gotye- Somebody I Used To Know

Now and then I think of when we were togetherLike when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make senseWell you said that we would still be friendsBut I'll admit that I was glad that it was over

But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so roughNo you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your numberI guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know

Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me overBut had me believing it was always something that I'd done
And I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know

But you didn't have to cut me offMake out like it never happened and that we were nothing And I don't even need your loveBut you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to knowSomebody, I used to know
(Somebody) Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Somebody, I used to know
(Somebody) Now you're just somebody that I used to know
I used to know, that I used to know, I used to know somebody

When looking into the lyrics, I instantly recognised that the song was talking about a break up within a relationship. When thinking about the video, you would expect to see the relationship narrative and why the couple broke up, however the music video is purely a performance with external background changes to keep the audience interested.

 THE FIRST CAMERA SHOT SEEN-

 The first shot seen by the audience is a high angled close up shot of a foot. This automatically demands the audiences attention due to thought provoking image displayed. The producer has played upon a largely known fear of feet and added this image as a shock. The start of a music video keeps the interest of the audience throughout the song, if the visual was weak, it would be more likely that the music channel would be turned over or they would listen to a different song.



After seeing the first shocking image of a foot, the camera pans
up the mans body. Shockingly, after moments we realise that

he is infact naked. This is seen as taboo within a music video and provokative. Many aspects of sex are shown one way or another within a music video, allowing the artist to

fulfil the audience's interest of erotic art. We coulc infer that the artist is reflecting the idea of feeling completely naked after the loss of his girlfriend. This shows us that in the life he now lives, he is missing a vital factor of his every day life, her. Within the first few moments of the video, the lighting is simplistic and the background appears a similar colour to the artist's skin tone. The subtle colour scheme gives a natural look to the music promo, conflicting the usual bright colour scheme occuring in most promo's.

 The artist has chosen to wear green contact lenses during this music promo. Most artists have one key aspect which they are known for. The brightness of his eyes against the pale watercoloured setting demands the audience's attention. A personal connection is made due to the direct eye contact, we as an audience feel a relation towards the artist as a personal level of connection is made. Eye contact allows us as an audience to feel the emotion of the song, highlighting the importance of the lyrics behind the promo. The camera is placed slightly below the artist to suggest a similar level of power to the audience, but the slight angle makes us feel the lyrics are worth listening too and showing he is slightly superior to us.

Throughout the video, the once plain background begins to turn into shapes and become coloured in. This could reflect the idea of the girl in his life, filling his world with colour, however this goes against the idea of the traumatic break up. During this part of the promo, I was interested to see what would happen as the man's world slowly starts to begin coloured in by what we assume to be this woman within his life. The colours remain light to ensure that they don't outshien the artist. The narrative of the piece by this time begins to play on the mind and confuse the audience, this confusion keeps their interest as they are always wanting to figure out the reason behind the video.

The video then sets the clip into fast motion as the beats of the music increase. This could reflect the speed in which he became so attached to the girl appearing within the promo, and how quickly she changed his life.  

Although the camera shots remain similar throughout the video, appearing close up on the left or right side of the artists body or just below his eye level, the key aspect of this video is that the background changes as the foreground remains similar. The paint begins to go over the artist, reflecting how the love he felt towards the lady effected himself, as well as the world around him. No changes of lighting occur throughout, and the mise-en-scene keeps only 1 settings. The once light coloured room has become a work of art, suggesting the man's life was a blank canvas before meeting the woman within the song, allowing her to add colour to his life.

Towards the end of the video, the artist appears non existant as he has been completely covered in coloured paint. We could infer that he is no longer human after the break up from his partner and has become part of the background as he is unable to live and has been cut out of her world and set to the back of her mind. The only human connection at this point, which we have with the artist now is with the coloured eye contacts he is wearing to keep the personal connection to the audience. The shot still remains the same and the paint covering of his face is done in one take. This shows the simplicity of the video but is aesthetically pleasing to watch.

The end shot of the promo shows the connection between the male and female. Both artists have been shown to blend into the background, this could represent the ending of their love as they slowly get over the relationship, however the woman's face ramins unpainted showing her dominance in the break up. This could mean that he thinks the love is undying and he will never fully be able to get over.

 This video is a mix of all 3 main genre's of promo.

 It is Lyrical due to the constant lip syncing throughout the video and no clear narrative being shown through acting and complex camera shots via action and reaction.

However, the video is also Disjointed due to the randomness of it and it having nothing to do with a love break up, other than making the audience infer things through the patterns and colours displayed throughout. It is also an Amplification video as a slight narrative is infact shown by the representation of a male and female character.

Conventions Of A Music Video Promo

 Purpose- for song? Album? Artist/band? Record company?

 How can a promo create a "brand image" for a performer?

 Conventions? Camera work? Editing? Sound? Mise-en-scene? Narrative? Representation?

 Where can music promos be exhibited?