TECHS - Bonuses of Digital Technology

The easy access to music videos on the landmark digital technology YouTube, and in the case they have been taken off/are not (which is sometimes an issue when you've found something useful and then it's gone, due to media regulation), makes the research and planning easier then when I had to look at whole films sometimes to research and find influences for my film opening.
That makes me be able to research and decide on what conventions I'm going to use or challenge, and thereby strengthening and accelerating my creativity.

However this not at an improvement on my side, if we had started with a music video and say we had to do a film promo package for our A2 coursework, this would have been a digression.

However, in terms of really intensively using Web 2.0 beyond the normal, official resources, I have defnitely made an improvement and have become more resourceful 

ARTIST RESEARCH - The Music

The style, the themes/issues/topics that are spoken about in the lyrics, and the tone of the music.

In 2013 a BBC interviewer said. "Not a concept album, because that's not cool."
I think he does like concept albums, as seen in this article: 

When we got back together it was important we didn’t end up just playing the festival circuit. Anyone can turn up and play the old songs but we wanted to move forward and make new material that stretched us creatively. Making Bloodsports and the reception it received suggested we had a future, that people were still listening.”
Mat Osman, Suede’s bassist, agreed: It’s gratifying to know that people still care. The warmth of the reception since we got back together has been genuinely heartening. You realise how precious it all is and it has encouraged us to be braver. I’m really proud of this record, I think the last three tracks, the end sequence, are as good as anything we’ve ever done.

I couldn’t have come back without an album. After a couple of years doing greatest hits tours with Suede we got to a point where I was like ‘we can’t do this anymore unless we’ve got new music’. It just feels like you’re going round in circles. I failed to be able to look at myself in the mirror with any respect so it was very important for us to make ‘Bloodsports’ to justify carrying on. I don’t think we’d have carried on otherwise, we’d have called it a day again. It was a lovely thing to find out we could make great new music together and this has led on to ‘Night Thoughts’ and hopefully I’d like to think we could make another record after ‘Night Thoughts’. It feels very exciting being in Suede at the moment, it feels like we have a renaissance happening, creatively.

A detailed analysis of some of the lyrics (click here)

Brett Anderson talking more about his songwriting

Looking at the murky corners of life, for me, has always been where I’ve got it right as a songwriter, documenting the darker and more twisted things in life. There’s always friction, you can always find friction in any relationship and for me it’s about documenting those elements of friction. A lot of it is about decay and ageing but also parenthood as well, becoming a father and your relationship with your kids and how that mirrors your own relationship with your parents. Having a child myself made me think about my role as a son. Songs like ‘I Don’t Know How To Reach You’ are almost a comment on my and my own father’s relationship, how these relationships break down. Inevitably there’s an element of looking back at the past.

Goes against the effect of digitisation which sees audiences not listening to albums in full put streaming out of order.

Quite sexually graphic at points:

So give me head, give me head, give me head music. 

In this live performance, Brett sings the line "Shaking their bits to the hits"
as "Shaking their t**s to the hits*

Issue with school setting, will be censored. Need to find the closest compromise. 

DISTRIBUTION: Music Video Channels

CHANNELS INCLUDE:

• MTV
• Viva
• NOW Music
• Deluxe Music

The beginning and end (and often thereby the diegetic intros an outros, but also titles as they are given in the captions anyway) are cut off when shown on these channels.

Will maybe the front cover of the album be next to the artist and track title?

ORIGINAL ARTIST VID #2: John, Im Only Dancing

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES: 

• Character of Ziggy Stardust, sci-fi influences
• 
  
• 
  

ACT: David Bowie
TRACK: John, I'm Only Dancing
ALBUM: Non-album single
YEAR: 1972
GENRE: Glam rock
DIRECTOR: Mick Rock
LABEL:  RCA Records (owned by SME)
SINGLE?: Yes

BACKGROUND

• Life On Mars and Space Oddity, this video is less known, it being his first proper one.
• Details his love for Japanese Theatre
• Was banned on Top Of The Pops 

...

MUSICVID #12: George Michael - Outside

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The Cam-Corder recording, theme of surveillance/voyeurism

ACT: George Michael
TRACK: Outside
ALBUM: Ladies and Gentlemen
YEAR: 1998
GENRES: Nu-disco, dance-pop, funk, house
DIRECTOR: Vaughan Arnell
LABEL: Epic Records (owned by SME)
SINGLE?: Yes, lead single.

BACKGROUND/CONTEXT

• George Michael is a solo singer
• This was George Michael's fight back to being arrested by the police in the USA.  From wiki: The song was seen as a fine self-deprecating public relations exercise by Michael, as it was the first single since he was arrested for engaging in a lewd act six months earlier by an undercover police officer in the public lavatory of the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, California – an incident which prompted him to declare his homosexuality, which had been rumoured for some years but never publicly confirmed.^[1]Michael took a swipe at the incident in the lyrics, claiming he wanted an alfresco sex life because he was bored with lovemaking behind closed doors. Reference to the Beverly Hills affair came with the line "I'd service the community, but I already have, you see" (he was sentenced to 80 hours of community service for the offense) and direct samples of radio reports of his arrest.The song was recorded at Sarm West in London with a string section and arrangement by Andrew Skeet.

• 
  

PERFORMANCE, NARRATIVE OR CONCEPT?

...

EXTRA SOUND:

...

TITLES:
...

NARRATIVE ENIGMA:

...

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS:
....

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOUND AND VISUALS:
....

GENRE SIGNIFIERS:
...

INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES:
...

OTHER NARRATIVE THEORY:
....


BRANDING:
...

REPRESENTATION:
GENDER: ....

ETHNICITY: ...

AGE: ....

SEXUALITY: Mainlz representing Michael's sexuality, added in sexualised women. There is no sex 

CLASS: ...

AUDIENCE REPRESENTED/TARGETED:
Lesbians and bisexual women will quite likely feel left out.

PAST STUDENT WORK

NINE INCH NAILS

STUDENT: Joe, A2 2016 (blog)
ACT: Nine Inch Nails

TRACK: Sunspots

ALBUM: With Teeth

YEAR: 2005

GENRE: Industrial 

ALREADY EXISTING MUSIC VIDEO?: Not quite clear, this video is claimed to be a "banned video", but I can't find any mentioned it elsewhere, so it seems dubious.

SINGLE?: No

The narrative is of a tormented protagonist played by Trent Reznor, which reflects the dark music and lyrics.

Was the track edited at all?

Yes, the last 13 seconds were cut off, it's a bit too abrupt. Also the one swearword (f***ing) in the lyrics was removed.

CRITICISMS

NARRATIVE ENIGMA

I like the narrative enigma, though I feel the takes at the beginning are a bit too long and should have been shorter (though there might not have been enough footage to achieve this)

This is the first shot where we see of the band, I would have used narrative enigma more with close-ups of especially the masks and feet  instruments, as well as shooting from a low angle to give them are more menacing and dark feel 

This focus shift from shallow to sharp, a focus pull, would have been more effective the other way round with the smoke, it should have been a focus push.

The acting of the protagonist is really good as some moments the torment is often managed well through the cinematography but the moving and crawling around in the corner gets repetitive towards the end.

BRING ME THE HORIZON

ACT: Bring Me The Horizon

NAME FOR DIGIPAK: BMTH (not very creative, their well known acronym)

TRACK: Throne

FROM ALBUM: That's The Spirit

YEAR: 2015

GENRE: Electronic rock

ALREADY EXISTING MUSIC VIDEO?: Yes (link)

SINGLE?: Yes

BLOG: Click here

MUSIC VIDEO

The narrative of the music video is very conventional, something I want to avoid. 
I think it's a mistake to have the entire band there in the opening/establishing shot, doesn't leave enough narrative enigma.

DIGIPAK

....

WEBSITE

....

SOCIAL MEDIA

FAITHLESS
STUDENT: 
ACT: Faithless
TRACK: Insomnia
ALBUM:
YEAR:
GENRE:
ALREADY EXISTING MUSIC VIDEO?: Yes (click here)
SINGLE?


DIGIPAKS

2012

MUSE (SamP, Rob + Will) 

http://sgpollock.blogspot.de/2012/04/all-final-digipak-cover.html

SUNBURNT IN DECEMBER (SamB, Rich + Connor)

http://comusicvideo.blogspot.de/2012/04/all-final-digipak.html

N'SYNC (Mel + Ellie)

http://melodiea2.blogspot.de/2012/04/final-digipak.html

DESTINY'S CHILD (Sophie + Asa)

http://asaa2musicvideos.blogspot.de/2012/04/all-final-digipak.html

THE SWING MOVEMENT (Tom + George)

http://mrwardman.blogspot.de/2012/05/final-digipak.html

GIRLS ALOUD (Hattie + Faye)

http://faye-higgins.blogspot.de/2012/05/final-digipak.html

NINE INCH NAILS (Ben, Harry + Kyle)

http://hpkmusicvideo.blogspot.de/2012/05/hk-final-digipak.html

ROBBIE WILLIAMS (Gina + Jess)

http://ginamaunsellmusicvideo.blogspot.de/2012/04/all-digipak-draft-5.html

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017