Friday 19 September 2014

Types of Music Groups and Bands

Mainstream music can be divided into two main different categories, these are Synthetic and Organic. These two different types are determined when the band is created and they determine the band members involvement in the work of the band.

Organic:

The term organic is used to describe bands where the music comes first, this implies that they write their own songs and money is not the only motive which encourages the groups members to perform. They always write the type of music that they want to write, as opposed to the type of music that will generate the largest amount of money, however, once they have written albums or singles in their preferred style they try to sell it to the right audience to make a profit from their work.

Given how organic bands often stick to the type of style they themselves find most preferable, they appeal only to a niche audience. However, they can appeal to a mass audience in certain cases as well.

A good example of an organic band is the beatles. They were a group of friends that would often get together just to write songs with no real initial idea that they would make it as big as they did. They played in Germany for one year, making little money, but they never let go of their defining style, when they came home to Liverpool they were signed by a middle class man who owned a record shop, he offered them pre-written songs that he believed would make it to #1 if the beatles performed them, but he was turned down because they wanted to stick to their own style, the music came first for them and this is what makes them an organic band.



Synthetic

Synthetic bands are bands that are created through a certain methodology, the record labels that sign these people control what happens with the band and the band members themselves often have little involvement when it comes to real performing, they are usually instructed and trained to mime along with pre-written and often pre-performed music.

The reason bands like this are created is to exploit an identified gap in the market. This allows songwriters and performers to create a specific type of music to fill that gap in order to generate massive profits, using selected individuals who they believe are suitable to be the front of the group. However, just because profit is the primary goal of these bands this does not mean they are bad and should not be supported, as in some cases they actually produce very good music which appeals to more than a niche audience.

As mentioned, the largest profit possible is the ultimate goal of these manufactured artists, A good example is One Direction. This was a group of individuals selected by Simon Cowell who probably did not know each other to begin with, they do not write their own songs, they likely mime when during their performances, they were created to appeal to a niche audience of younger females and the music does not come first, being successful at what they do and making money does.






















Tuesday 16 September 2014

Types Of Music Video

In this post I will be talking about a variety of music video styles used in the music industry for various effect.

A music video filmed ''As Live'' is filmed in a way which will make the viewers believe that it is a live performance when in reality it is recorded in a studio.

The example above is Bring Me the Horizon  - Anthem, it shows this style of music video, they even include an artificial crowd to create the effect.

The next type of music video I will be talking about is cinematic.

Cinematic music videos have a heavy focus on production value and mise-en-scene. They may appear to be film like, as they are prodced to such a high quality.

This is an example of a cinematic music video, it does not follow any particular structure but the focus on quality and production value is still there.

The third type of music video I will talk about is studio based.
These are videos that are filmed in one location.

In this video, it is clear that the band is performing in one studio and the same environment is visable throughout the video.

The next type of video I will discuss is animated. This is when an anmiation accompanies the music, as opposed to real people performing.



Above is the example of Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. This is a typical Gorillaz music video, it is very thematic and sometimes difficult to follow or strange, but this is just one of their industry motifs and a way for their audience and even people who have never heard of them before to recognize them and their work. It is a very iconic style of branding that is used with their other songs as well.

The following type of music video I will talk about is narrative, this is where a music video tells a story from start to finish. The example I will use for this is Bon Jovi's "Always"




Next is Pastiche, this is when a modern music video blends itself with another genre, time frame or theme. "The Ghost Of You" is an effective example of this.




The final type of music video I will talk about is Parody. Parody is a genre that makes fun of another text or presents it in a comical manner when it may have been presented seriously elsewhere. The difference between Parody and Pastiche is that Pastiche still presents the themes of the video in a serious light, where as parody often mocks or presents the same referenced themes in a comical way.

Foo Fighters Animatic

In order to improve our understanding of how music videos are put together, we analysed the first 45 seconds of ''The Pretender'' just to see how many different shots were used, as well as their length.
We then drew a story board of each shot and synced it up with the original video of ''The Pretender''

By doing this we learnt that music videos can contain over a hundred shots that last for less than two seconds each, in order to create a fast paced effect. This also discourages us from using overly lengthy shots as it makes the video way less interesting.

There is a difference between editing a thriller and a music video, this difference is that in a thriller it is acceptable to use longer length shots, as long as you do it correctly.

Similarly to a thriller, you need to keep in mind the pacing of the scene and the audio, and base your editing speed on this. If The Pretender was not such a fast and up beat song, the pace of editing in the video would be a lot slower.




Friday 12 September 2014

An Introduction To Records Companies.

The music industry is lead by 4 major multinational record labels.

• Universal
•Hollywood Undead
•The Black Eyed Peas
•Sex Pistols











• Sony Records

•Whitney Houston
•Leona Lewis
•Kelly Clarkson






•Warner Brother



•Biffy Clyro
•Disturbed
•The Devil Wears Prada











• EMI


•Robbie Williams
•Snoop Dogg
•Paul McCartney








Major-independents are companies that started out as independent companies but were signed on by majors. These production companies usually specialize in a particular genre of music.

• Columbia Records


•Bob Dylan
•Pharrell Williams
•Duke Ellington











• Island Records

•Jessie J
•Elton John
•Katy Perry











• Syco Records


•One Directions
•James Arthur
•Alexandra Burke









• Virgin Records


•Janet Jackson
•Keith Richards
•Mariah Carey
















Then there are also independent labels, these people usually choose to not associate themselves with majors or major-independents, but if they do, they involvement with each other is usually fairly limited. Examples of independent record labels include:


Lapfox Trax



Lapfox Trax is unusual, because all the music is made by one producer, but he delves into different styles of music, creating and releasing under different aliases. Below I will list 3 examples of LapFox aliases and the style of music they produce.

•NegaRen: Happy Hardcore, Speed Dance
•Mayhem: Electro-House Inspired
•Renard: Breakcore and Raggacore.










Domino Records
















HARDCORE TANO*C 





Monday 1 September 2014

Welcome To My Music Video Blog!

Hello, my name is Matas and this is where I will be regularly updating my coursework and noting down my progress towards the creation of my music video.

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