Friday 22 October 2010

'Lights' Test (Audio)


'Lights' by Ben Halliday (GLITTERKNIGHT)
A rough runthrough/test of the Ellie Goulding Cover.

Hosted by SoundCloud.

Friday 15 October 2010

Music Video Analysis: Circus, Britney Spears

Music Video Analysis
Artist: Britney Spears
Title: Circus
Director: Francis Lawrence


The pop promotion for Britney Spears' 'Circus', following my previous post of the meticulously themed advertising campaign furthers the style and presentation extremely accurately.

As the video opens, we're immediately hit by a perfect example cross marketing; as very traditional non-diegetic circus music plays in the background, Britney picks up her new (Britney Spears brand) perfect and spritzes strategically so we get a good view of the bottle. Next, intertextuality in the form of product placement can be seen as Britney puts on Bvulgari jewelry. The cinematography and editing ensures that the audience can see the brand and product, lingering on the close up of the jewelry and logo.

The video itsself is entirely concept based, which is unsurprising seeing as the album promotion in it's entirety is hugely conceptualised as being circus themed. Mise-en-scene is key to this pop promotions from costumes, lighting, props, location and dancing. Britney is seen wearing a few different outfits throughout this video such as a sheer dress with diamond embellishment and classic 50's hair and a high-waisted shorts, blazer and top hat outfit which is also very reminiscent of classic circuses. The latter outfit has connotations of power as Britney is the the ring-leader as she sings 'all eyes on me in the centre of the ring/just like a circus'. This in itself represents Britney Spears as a powerful artist in control of her career.

Branching out from outfits, the props and location as just as important in this video. Circus animals such as lions, elephants and tigers make cameos in the video to further the imagery and make the video slightly more risqué. Location-wise, the set is a huge, dimly lit circus tent where Britney and her ensemble of circus performers exist. Rings of fire, whips and bright lights all compliment the theme of the circus which is trying to be expressed in this video, coinciding with the marketing theme of the album also entitled; Circus.

There's some really interesting things going on in the video where editing is concerned. Something that really spoke to me, especially as I'm starting to build ideas for my own pop promotion, was the way that in some shots in the opening, the edges of the shot were blurred and almost soft-focused (it was clear these were done in post-production) and it really drew focus to the action that was happening in these particular shots. Also evident is a large range of shots/angles being edited down to a single sequence using continuity editing which works really well as it's cut to the pace of the song.

The way Britney is represented in this song definitely rebuilds her star image by the way the cinematography lingers on her longer than you'd expect in some shots - not in a bad way though. The conceptual performance nature of the video ensures that the artist gets a lot of screen time during the video and she's she absolute main focus of the production, allowing viewers to get a really good picture of the image her and her marketing team are trying to portray. There's a lot of close ups of Britney, strengthening this image that she's trying to build - the fact that she's back in the music industry, she's out there for the male gaze!

The video is clearly aimed at her target audience, which is fans from her previous era as a star but also new fans. I'd suggest that her main demographic is both young teenaged girls to young adult women though, of course, with the male gaze as an important factor, these are not her only audience.

The characteristics of the music video such as the dance scene definitely fit in well with the genre of the music but also add a different quality to it. The music it's-self is definitely a hybrid between pop and almost show music as the circus theme is incredibly strong and I think the way the music video represents that is really powerful. It strengthens the album campaign, which i have written about prior to this post, but also maintains a very 'Britney Spears' quality with the quirky dancing and 'bubble-gum-pop' image that's being portrayed here with the direct links between the music, lyrics and visuals.

Overall - this is an extremely powerful and well executed pop promotion for 'Circus' as an album as the star (re)construction fits perfectly with the thematic approach to the marketing campaign and the intertextuality at the start. This is the definition of a successful pop promo and I've gained a lot from analysing this - the entire marketing campaign just has such a strongly held together theme that, for an audience, it would be incredibly hard not to link all the promotional material together and pin it down to one product; the 'Circus' album.

Thursday 14 October 2010

What makes a good pop-promo?

When constructing a pop-promotion, there are a lot of factors that should be considered for a successful and effective outcome. First, it's key to understand why pop-promos are so important; especially early on in an artist's career.

Promotion of the artist is the main reason for the importance of music videos as well as promoting the song or album and building a persona. They help market the band and develop and look and feel - This is crucial to building a fan base and pushing sales.

Music videos, or pop-promos, are essentially the product of a variety of layers and considerations such as the relationship between the song and the visuals, codes and conventions of the genre, use of style, star image, iconography and sometimes, ideologies behind music videos.

The relationship between the music and visuals are broken down into two subcategories; lyrics and the music. The visuals must reflect the mood and tone of both the music and lyrics through mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography. In terms of mise-en-scene, colours, lighting, location, costumes and props are all incredibly important when constructing a relationship between a song and a music video. For example, if a song has a slow, sinister tone, vivid colours and provocative costumes don't have any relation. Editing and cinematography should compliment that very point. Edits should be in sync with the music and cuts should be made with lyrics in mind; perhaps between chorus/verse or in a change of beat, melody or even theme.

Establishing a star image and promoting a band's look and feel can be done through styling. The costumes, hair and make-up need to be carefully considered so the intended message is widely received and understood. In terms of promotion, close-ups, as well as a wide range of shots will help the audience familiarise themselves with the artist or band.

Codes and conventions of genres should, in most (not all) cases, be followed. Pop videos tend to be of a high-budget production value with the male gaze in mind. Sexuality is expressed through costume and performance. A total opposition to this would be a heavy metal genre video. These tend to less sexually-orientated and use darker colours, locations and edits are usually a lot faster with cinematography typically rougher. Though there are typicalities to each genre regarding visuals, these rules are sometimes broken and only compliment the song - it entirely depends on the individual song.

Lastly, how the artist acts in the video is hugely important to the success of a pop-promo whether it be an entirely conceptual, narrative or performance based video. The artist needs to appear comfortable and powerful in front of the camera. This voyeurism is a selling point in most videos which goes hand in hand in building a star image - the audience need to be able to look up to this artist. Obviously, demographics are also an important aspect and how audiences are targeted. Age, sex, and social identities need to be considered before an artist begins to think of a video concept. This is a crucial part of the pop-production process and determines who will engage and bring money to the product.

Monday 11 October 2010

Promotional Package Analysis: Britney Spears, 'Circus'

Artist: Britney Spears
Album: Circus
Label: Zomba Recording LLC, Jive.
Year: 2008

Britney Spears' Circus featured a forceful marketing campaign in 2008 as the comeback album from the once pop-princess. The theme of Circus was of course a circus theme as seen on every piece of promotional material. Left, you can see the press promotion for the album. Surprisingly, the most predominant feature, or lack, of is a picture of Britney Spears. This may be read that the fact her name is so large and the fact she's also a huge pop icon is that there's no need for a photograph; everybody knows who she is - especially after the traumatic break from her career which her label played on during the promotion for the album in a positive way. The album's print promotion feature's the artist name, the album name, date of release and states the fact the album features the high selling single Womanizer. Also
featured, is website details and a clever marketing technique; "Call Britney on the B line".

The album cover it's self is extremely similar in design with nearly exactly the same look and feel. Missing from the print ad, though is a photograph of the artist, Britney Spears which will jump out at potential buyers in a shop next to her name in large typeface. The colour scheme, layout and borders are virtually identical to the promotional poster for the album which will link the two to audiences stylistically.

The album, design-wise includes a variation of features to market it's self. The main focus is the photograph of Britney, staring directly at the consumer looking flirtatious, with pristine hair and make-up, in a Rodarte dress from the spring collection of that year. The way Britney is represented in this cover is completely positive - she looks confident, healthy, beautiful, in control and happy. A complete contrast to the connotations of her in previous years which is undoubtedly what the label and art directors intended. The colours used are very bright and pure; creams and light pinks. These colours have connotations of calmness - something also directionally intentional in terms of art direction and styling. It's very neutral, very clean and controlled - a representation trying to be portrayed about the artist at the time of release.

The comparison between the album promotional material is extremely similar, which is the case for most, if not all album promotional packages. The two feature coloured borders in colours that are often associated with circuses, the print promo also features a background that appears as slightly worn paper to give an almost vintage element to the promotion which is also vaguely featured thematically on the cover with the draped cream silk background and the very traditional hair, make-up and costume. The typeface throughout is also very circus themed with two particular concordant examples; the artist name/logo and the album name/logo. The link between the typefaces in the materials anchor the texts as promoting the same product as well as providing a clearly visible recognition of the product even though the typeface is slightly contorted on the album. The marketing team behind the promotional campaign know strongly that their market will recognise the branding.

The stars on both advertisment and album cover are similar, but not the same even though they follow the colour scheme of the promotion. This isn't a hugely important factor as the stars are there to reinforce the theme of the 'circus' and don't primarily market the album themselves. The theme of the circus, being the album title, has impressively large connotations too and is an extremely clever merchandising technique. Circuses are known, culturally, to be elaborately excessive performances of a colossal nature. Something magical, opposed to the norm and unexpected; exactly what the marketing team want the public to view the album as. Another connotation linked to the circus theme, is the link to Britney's life leading up to the release. If you're unaware, she faced a mental breakdown and public scrutiny during this as she faced psychiatric lockdown as well as addiction. 'Circus' is a reflection of this time too but carries a much more positive light as mentioned formerly; it's a reminiscent though tongue-in-cheek title for a hugely anticipated comeback album.

Overall, this is a perfect example of marketing and promotion leading up to an album release. The themes are flawlessly cohesive and really push the product as an identifiable brand. Something I've failed to mention is the corresponding music video also named Circus, which I will do a separate blog post on as there is too much to say. This too features and in my opinion, enhances and progresses everything which is displayed in this promotional package. I'll be referring back to this post to make comparisons between the music video and the rest of the promotional package, displayed above to fully justify the strength and success of this campaign. The album debuted in the top 10 chart in 23 countries; no. 1 in 6 of those.

Pop Promos: The History

In 1981, MTV started broadcasting in the USA, beginning the all important music video phenomenon. Since then, music videos (pop promos) are just as important as the song and give the artist the freedom to visually represent themselves. The first music video played on MTV was The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star and since then, the trend has bloomed powerfully. Nowadays, a single is rarely released without a corresponding visual representation of the song.

As time went on, the importance of music videos increased drastically and have improved the careers of large handfuls of artists. Fans now feel connected with artists, artists have the freedom to portray themselves in a new way and music executives have the power to market their artists in an entirely different manner, utilising marketing techniques to the fullest. Arguable, Madonna was the start of the biggest marketing ploy which is now the biggest selling point of any artist in the industry; sex appeal. Music videos among female artists, particularly in pop, are made for the male gaze - artists wear very little clothes, act provocatively and songs are often about, or insinuating sexual subjects. Sex sells.

The popularity of music videos, from here, came to be what it is today but animportant factor to this shouldn't be forgotten: the directors. These specialist directors and visual artists became incredibly important, with MTV even listing them with credits following videos. Though the importance of these directors is unarguable, and the directors themselves confess to the significance of music videos, often, they see their job as a progression to directing feature length films and use these pop promos as merely a step towards this goal. An example of this, Spike Jonze, who has worked with Ludacris, The Beastie Boys, Weezer and Björk, has now moved on to films such as Adaptation and Where The Wild Things Are.

Since the turn of the millennium, MTV have changed and strayed from their roots as the home of the music video. Their main focus seems to be pop culture now, showing popular Reality TV such as The Hills and Cribs. Since then, other music video channels such as MTV Hits, Kerrang, The Box and TMF have claimed the thrown, entirely dedicated to music videos, both new and old.

Living in a digital age, the rise of online music videos and promotion has seen an indescribable increase. Youtube has seen a surge of music promotions with artists and labels creating official pages, uploading music videos and seeing a huge response from fans. This is the first time music videos have been really available on request and has had a community sense with fans commenting and "liking" a video. Within the year, all music videos have been controlled by the company 'Vevo' and are of a higher quality with much more hype.

Friday 8 October 2010

Music Video Analysis: La Roux, Quicksand

Music Video Analysis
Artist: La Roux
Title: Quicksand (2008)
Director: Kinga Burza

Mise-en-scene is the absolute basis of “Quicksand” and has been exploited wonderfully. Elly Jackson’s costumes are very reminiscent of the 80’s; large shoulder-pads, oversized statement jewelry and a clear theme of animal print as noticed in her leopard print scarves and blazers, the dancers’ snake-skin-dresses and Elly’s turtle-shell-glasses.

I really liked how the cinematography was kept simple in this music video; there are no unexpected shots or angles and the camera moves little, if at all. One notable shot is the very first though, as the video opens with a close up on her lips as the vocals begin - a technique I think really just ‘worked’. This minimalist approach to the cinematography was enhanced thoroughly by visual effects and post-production though; 90% of the shots use a green-screen. The location is a variation of animated sunsets on a tropical beach which looks fantastic (and surprisingly convincing) with the warm lighting they used on the artist. Some visual effects that I thought were extremely effective though were; the second shot which is a mid-close up of (a hugely oversized) Elly lying down in the ocean as the sun sets, her face reflecting in the water; the use of props, such as when she sits on the oversized pineapple and cocktail; the acrobatics on a (yet again, oversized) woman and finally the closing shot, another mid-close up where Elly looks up and in to the camera and slowly her face turns in to a leopard (following in the theme of costumes.)

The music has a beat nearly identical to Prince’s When Doves Cry, accompanied by steel drums, a strong synth bass-line and other synths throughout the song. This music video accommodates all of these components as it has a very tropical feel to it (the beach, colours, cocktails/fruit etc). The typicalities of music videos, such as a cut for a new line or a beat, are also apparent in this video as well as miming the lyrics which surprisingly aren’t displayed with a narrative in this video. The colours in the video darken, the pace slows down and shots are longer in the slower bridge before the final chorus and cinematography takes advantage, using closer shots to display emotion before returning to the warm colours, visuals and normal cuts for the remainder.

This particular music video has no narrative which is quite disappointing considering the nature of the song - It is largely concept based. This being said, the fact that this is entirely conceptual, promotes La Roux to an extreme level as their 80’s ‘look-and-feel’ as well as their aesthetic style are expressed extremely powerfully. Elly Jackson’s retro-androgyny is what strikes me most in this video in terms of ‘the band’ which is clearly intentional as that very fact is the image they’ve tried to build up and is infinitely now prevalent. I think the fact this video does rely heavily on editing and visual effects is to actually highlight that point; it’s band promotion to the fullest - especially considering this was their first video. Her androgyny (short, quiffed hair, masculine attire and natural make-up) provides a mysterious allure among viewers and just gives her that ‘cool’, ‘edgy’, ‘different’ factor.

Audience-wise, there aren’t too many limits; I’d say this video makes La Roux appeal to a huge audience. The video its-self is fun and colourful for younger viewers, the music, fashion and image will appeal to the teenage/young adult crowd and surprisingly, I think the middle-aged to older generation will enjoy this too as it’s seen as the first creditable 80’s revival which is clearly expressed through not only the music, but the MES in this video.


Tuesday 5 October 2010

Introducing...

Now that you're familiar with the brief, let me welcome you again. I really hope you enjoy what's to follow on the blog as much as I enjoy creating the content. I thought a more personal, detailed introduction was in order!

This is just a little update following the brief, telling you about my group and exactly what we will be doing. My group is the smallest in our A2 Media class and consists of just Kira Knight and I compared with others with at least 3 in a group. This may be seen as a disadvantage but I view this as a chance to be a lot more hands on with the creativity that goes into the music video and promotional materials. As if only two in a group wasn't enough, we are the band as well. GLITTERKNIGHT.

We will be recording the song (which I will update you on), editing, directing, filming and the subjects of the project! This tight-knit manner of work in the project is, in my opinion, the best way I work as I love getting really stuck in and passionate about a project like this. I think this will be a lot of fun.

We have decided to record the song 'Lights', originally by Ellie Goulding, and produce the following:
  • A music video (Pop Promo)
  • A CD/DVD Cover (as part of a digipack)
  • A magazine promotional image (following the digipack)
Thank you for reading and, again, I hope you enjoy what's to follow!

Ben Halliday

Saturday 2 October 2010

Welcome

Welcome to my A2 Media Blog; this year I'll be focusing on pop promotions. I'll be producing a promotional package for an album release which will include a music video for an album track and two of the three following:
  • A website homepage for the band
  • An album cover for the release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD)
  • A magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD)
Working in groups of up to four, each of us will explore and research what makes a good pop promotion, the roles involved, research, plan and eventually produce a promotional package. Splitting ourselves into individual roles, we'll take responsibility for various elements in producing the promotion, finally, and most importantly, producing the music video that essentially markets the band in question to relect their genre, look and feel and style as well as visually reflecting the song in terms of pace, mood and again, genre.

The promotional package will have to represent the band in a cohesive manner with every aspect being concordant in design, look and feel and representation of the band. The 3 must be similar and follow a theme, easily identifiable to a market. This work will be done as a group, each of us fulfilling our chosen role.