In the lesson today we starting to use Wix to create a website for our musician. We did this to help comapre it to Wordpress to decided which website worked better.
I really liked Wix and found it much easier to use and it was so much faster than using wordpress.
It was really easy to choose a template and insert the images into it:
I was able to do this for lots of images and my website was starting to come together:
I was also able to add tour dates and the "latest news" this was good because it made it look like a real website and it would keep the fans updated.
I was also able to edit different pages if I wanted to:
What did you do to prepare for the lip sync exercise?
To prepare for the lip sync exercise we planned what we were going to wear: all black.
What make up we were going to do: War paint stripes
We needed to learn the lyrics to the song Shake It Off. The lyrics we needed to learn were:
Our final look was:
What did you do in the studio? When we were in the studio we got split into 3 groups and each went to a station to start filming. Our first station was the green screen. Here we did wide shots, close ups and random shots.
We then moved on to the station which had the cave background where we used the dolly to move the camera. This was harder to film because we had to use the dolly with the camera. We had to make marks on the floor to make sure we knew how far to move the camera.
After this we then moved on to using a sofa as a prop and we had to use a camera with a fixed lense, this meant that focusing was a little difficult because we had to use a tape measure to work out the foucsing. This scene was fun to film because it was our last station so we were just getting extra shots and were messing around getting fun shots.
What did I learn?
In this block lesson I learnt how to use a fixed lense on a camera and how to use a dolly camera, I also learnt how to lip sync properly and I also learnt how to work as a team to be able to set up shots properly. By watching the people who were the floor managers I learned what they needed to do and what you would have to do in a role like that.
What did you do in the suite & what did you learn? In the edit suite we were taught how to cut to the beat and sync up the lyrics with the video.
We had to stack up all our shots that we had taken and put them into a bin where we kept all our rushes. We then had to sync them up to the beat and get the lip syncing to macth the music. This was a struggle to do because the whole room was playing the same song so we had to listen closly to our music to get the beats right.
Did you make any mistakes on the day, how could we improve next time?
We made a few mistakes when filming in terms of making sure the camera was in focus because sometimes we would be in the middle of the shot and realise it was out of focus.
I think that we also needed to communicate more because we needed to know how much of us was in the frame when we were shooting because sometimes we would have a person in shot who wasn't dancing because they didn't know they were in the shot.
Every signed band or artist has signed up to a record label. The music industry is dominated by 3 major companies:
Each of these big companies own smaller record labels and each record label has different artists signed to them.
Together the major record companies own 76% of the music market.
Artists who are signed to Sony Music:
Adele:
One Direction:
John Mayer:
Artists who are signed to Universal Music:
Maroon 5:
Sam Smith:
Taylor Swift:
Artists who are signed to Warner Music:
Katy Perry:
Bruno Mars:
Michael Buble:
Independent record labels are smaller record companies that are not owned by any of the "big three:. They are often regarded as being more in touch with the fans and more concerned about the music then their star image. To gain credibility major record companies sometimes buy up these independent record labels or launch their own independent record label.
There are lots of different genres in the music industry some more popular then others, here are the Top 5 Genres (order taken from BPI):
1) Rock (33.8%). Rock music is
one of the most popular genres of music in the world right now with
rock bands attracting massive audiences around the globe. Although
within itself it carries various forms of sub genres based on influences
like- Alternate rock, Progressive rock, Classical rock, Psychedelic
Rock, Indie Rock, etc.
2) Pop (31.0%). Pop music is a term for popular music. Pop music is centred on rhythm and beats which promote dancing. The
high appeal to this kind of music was also drawn from the rise of MTV
and cult figures like Michael Jackson and Madonna.
3) Dance (8.3%). There are two sub-genres of dance which is just normal dance music and
then electronic dance music. Dance music is produced largely for
nightclubs, raves and festivals. It is also used by DJs to produced
remixes from them.
4) R&B(5.7%). A style of musicdeveloped by AfricanAmericansthatcombinesbluesandjazz,characterised by a strongback beatandrepeatedvariations on syncopatedinstrumentalphrases. R&B was formed on the foundation of Rock and Roll.
5) Hip Hop (3.6%) Another term for hip-hop is rap music, this has become increasingly popular over the last few years with help from artists like Eminem. Rap artists are more likely to appear as a "featured" on a popular song because hip-hop music by itself isn't majorly popular.
The British Phonographic Industry has over 300 members from independent music companies and the UK's major record companies (Universal, Sony & Warner Bros). BPI member's account for 85% of all music sold in the UK.
Here are some facts and figures from their website:
This shows that "physical formats" are still producing the most income for the industry but it is decreasing with the numbers going from 79.7 in 2009 to 50 in 2013. We can also see the increase of" online sales meaning that over time online sales will over take the physical format sales as they have had a 20.5 in the last 3 years increase.
Here we can see the album sales by genre. This shows that Rock is the most popular genre (with a 33.8%) but Pop is close behind (with a 31.0%). There is a 22.7% difference between Pop and the next genre down which is Dance. So this shows that Pop and Rock and the defiantly going to stay the more popular genre for a long time, however we may see Pop over take the Rock genre because it is coming increasingly popular.
Andrew Goodwin said that the reason for different narrative structures are:
1. Pop videos are built around songs
2. The pop video uses the singer both as a narrator and as a character
3. The singer often looks directly at the camera
He proposed that pop videos rely on repetition and they often repeat images in the way the song repeats chorus or lines.Music videos can be autonomous from the music they spring from. The visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning.
Goodwin said that there are three types of relations between songs and videos: illustration, amplification and disjuncture.
1. Illustration: this is where the music video tells a story that relates back to the lyrics. An example of this is Madonna's like a prayer video:
The video tells the story of what is happening and can relate back to the lyrics "Like a Prayer"
2. Amplification: This is where the image amplifies the lyrics and it may be used to convey a deeper meaning. This is when the artists are more likely to take on fictional roles. This can be seen in Lady Gaga's Judas video:
3. Disjuncture: This is where there is little connection between the lyric and the video. This can be seen in Michael Jacksons video Scream. The video is set in space where there is no gravity or sound so no one would hear him "scream" so therefore it contradicts the whole song.
In class we looked at Madonna's video for Like A Prayer. We were asked to consider a set of questions and answer them.
Themes: Religion, anti-religion, passion, justice, equality and love.
Narrative: In the video Madonna is the protagonist and the Saint is the hero. In the video Madonna witnesses a crime where white people attack a women, a black man then goes to help the women and is wrongly accused by the police, he then goes to jail. Madonna then goes to church to ask what she should do and the Saint tells her to help the man in prison. She then goes and tells the police what actually happened and the man gets let out of prison.
Lyrics: The lyrics "Like A Prayer" reference to the whole music video because it is very religious and based around a church. Another lyric that matches the action is when she says "Feels like Flying" and she is in a CGI cloud in the sky.
Intertextual Link: This video can be references to the KKK and the bible.
Target Audience: The target audience is very wide because older audiences will understand all the symbolism in the video whereas a teen may just watch it to enjoy the song and the video.
A pop performer and a pop star and different things.
A pop star has a lasting effect on the music bussiness such as Michael Jackson, Queen and The Beatles. This contrasts to "pop stars' who are in the current top 40 at the moment and will be forgoten in a couple of years.
Stars are constructed, althought their management representing them as real people.
Dyer says that Stars have to have a unique selling point.
Some of these are:
- Justin Biebers hair
- Michael Jacksons white glove
- Ariana Grande's cat ears
- Lady Gaga's outfits
- Madonna's bra
Photocopied Stars
To make money for stars record companies manufactor certain qualities to make them more appealing. This is why every couple of years we get starts who haave the same qualities for example One Direction and NSYNC
When we were learning about stars and stardom we looked at a man called Richard Dyer who has written lots about the role of stars in film, TV and music.
He claimed that:
- a star is an image, not a real person - they are created
- stars are commodities produced and consumed by their fans
When a record company is trying to promote a star they depend upon a range of subsidiary media - magazines, TV, radio,
the internet - in order to construct an image for themselves which can
be marketed to their target audiences.
When creating a music video company's use star images to promote a certain look.
Major themes in music videos are:
Youthfulness
Rebellion
Sexual magnetism
Anti-authoritarian
Originality
Aggression
Disregard to social values
Consumption
Success
Creativity
The star image is incoherent (it is
not complete). This is because fans of the "star" are constantly changing
what they want to listen to and see in the music videos and in order to
make money, the star has to change regularly to meet the demands of the
people. It also enables fans to want to know more about the artist which makes them want to buy into the star image.
The star's image is based upon two paradoxes: the star being simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary and what is present and what is left unsaid.
