Disney President choices

a) Mary Poppins (my real-life character choice). Marry Poppins, is an honest, respectable and kind woman, a governess who is dedicated to her career. Despite her strict ways and smart and sophisticated appearance, she entertains the Bank children by going on adventures. Poppins uses some sarcastic lines which are humorous for the children (and the audience). She has a fun side to her, for instance she enjoys the merry-go-round horse ride and the various characters (real and animated) she meets.
Her magical touch for mostly cleaning, tiding and flying shows that she does not take her powers for granted.
She breaks the usual perception of women not working and earning a living, as she is a Governess. Her friendly and respectful attitude to everyone- from poor to rich people and animals; she is an excellent example for the children to follow, and children of the Disney world. Her communication skills with both real life humans and animated animals and people are a valuable asset to the Disney world.

She can sing too, as well as saying "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Always invaluable skills for having the position of President of Disney.


b) Pocahontas (animated character)

If I had to choose an animated President, it would be... Pocahontas, because she is a strong-willed woman, who stands for her own beliefs and values. She is another woman who challenges the traditional representation of women (house wife, cleaning) in Disney and she respects her own culture as well as others. She respects her elder peers, including Grandmother Willow who gives advice and guidance about the choices Pocahontas has to make, her most important advice being to "follow your heart". Although Pocahontas is disloyal to her Father, it is for the good of her tribe and to ultimately make peace between her own tribe and the Englishmen.
Her Father is the leader of the Native American tribe so she could have learnt a number of things about being a leader (how to lead the tribe). Pocahontas also cares about her environment and she could influence the way we look after our own environment.
Either Mary Poppins or Pocahontas would be excellent Presidents as they are reliable, honest and have potentially brilliant leadership skills.

Target Audience Research

I like this!

My title sums up why I posted a link to this video, Owl City -Fire Flies, on my blog. I like it, because it is an inventive and unique way of producing a music video; it's very fun and playful. The objects around the room light up, turn on, move, spell out lyrics (of the track), spin and have several other actions; shown through many, many close ups. Close ups are an essential feature in music videos as we have been advised to use by our teacher and in Andrew Goodwin's theory. They are simple to achieve, helping draw attention to specific parts of mise-en-scene that the audience wouldn't usually see through a mid shot... Furthermore, the simple lyrics match the childish objects, as well as using Goodwin's theory about creating a link between the lyrics and visuals. An example (amongst the many) could be the disco ball when he sings "A disco ball that's just hanging by a thread".

Mumford & Sons

In Mumford & Sons' "Little Lion Man" music video they perform on a stage, with their (generic Ska/Folk) instruments, including a double bass, guitar, keyboard, banjo and bass drum. Close ups and mid shots are used to establish what the band are playing to go with the instrumental beginning. They stand together in a theatre setting which is shown through long shots. The lighting is low apart from the hanging fairy-lights which hang across the theatre and cross above the band adding focus to them. The lights are similar to the wedding decoration used as part of the mise-en-scene in Paolo Nutini's "Candy" video, becoming a common decorative feature for folk/indie music videos. The lights flicker as the music builds up towards the end causing a more unsettled atmosphere and creating movement. There seems to be back lights behind them too giving them more importance and attention. Finally, the lights switch off when the singer strikes his guitar and then start when the music does again. This shows how the visuals may have a link to the music.
The editing is quickly cut to increase the audiences attention as the songs tempo quickens. The camera pans around them slowly, gently zooming in as well, having close ups of the band's faces and instruments, typical music video camera work being used.

Another video I found on the MTV website (http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/mumford-and-sons/video/the-cave) shows what the band wears and how they are presented in their music videos: performing. We were worried that our music video will not be great in the real life part as we haven't got the real band cast as themselves, so we are limited to having the actors not performing. A way around this was to have the actors pretend to play instruments as this is a common theme/feature in indie/folk music videos, shown by our influential and similar artists. This is also a marketing method of showing that an artist or band is capable of playing an instrument, how it is their talent and passion. We are pleased with how the actors have the typical and similar indie/folk dress code.

On their MySpace blog page, there is a post about illegal downloading:
"Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mumford & Sons vs. Why Music Matters
The onset of the digital age has had a profound and lasting impact on the music industry, and in spite of what may be written, the impact hasn't all been bad - far from it.
Obviously, the thorny issue of illegal downloading persists, and though it's impact on sales - and in turn, the artists themselves - cannot be down played, the idea of music being shared amongst fans for the love of it, is sound... So long as the value of the music is never diminished, and that we never lose sight of the importance and the significance that music plays in all ours lives.
With this in mind, a collection of artists (including Sigur Ros, Nick Cave and Kate Bush), labels, managers and retailers have gathered together and initiated a campaign to raise awareness of the value of music and highlight legitimate online music sources.
The Why Music Matters campaign has commissioned several of the participating bands to each produce a short film about why music matters to them; the part it has played in their lives, and why, to them, music really is all that matters...
Please take a few minutes to check out the official site and show your support:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LndoeW11c2ljbWF0dGVycy5vcmcv
All the videos can be seen at the Why Music Matters YouTube page via the link below:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3doeW11c2ljbWF0dGVycw==
You can get involved with the initiative by signing up to the Facebook group:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmZhY2Vib29rLmNvbS9wYWdlcy9XaHktTXVzaWMtTWF0dGVycy8zMTc1NzYwODIxNjY=
And follow it's progress over the coming months on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/..whymusicmatters
Thank you! You are the best! (Naturally)
M&S HQ
x"
[http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=92073537&blogId=531545900] The post suggests how the band find illegal downloading acceptable if only the music is being taken (for free) for personal enjoyment- a pure love for music. This is unlikely for some users, as they can call it their own music, creating issues with copyright. "So long as the value of the music is never diminished" shows how they have counterbalanced arguments with the issue. They ['M&S HQ'] consider how the value of music should be acknowledged by the downloaders, which I agree with and by having continuous campaigns, hopefully it will spread the message.

Advert inspiration AND REVISION OF REAL LIFE PART

Whilst watching part of Doc Martin (an ITV programme) I noticed the sponsor's Simply Health advert, below, is very similar to a scene/shot Roxxy and I use in our animation part. Specifically the birds carrying the banner by their beaks is the image we have used. In addition, the animals are in blocks, similarly to our cut-outs. We thought the birds carrying the banner was a creative image whilst purposefully having the songs name on it.

__________________

We have decided to revise our ideas for the real life part. This is because our initial idea didn't turn out as well as we had planned. Looking back at the storyboards, we planned to have a group of people representing the band coming into the wolf. We filmed some footage but it was awful. We hadn't planned the filming process as fully as we should have, so the actors did not have much guidance and became impatient.
The next idea which we went with for the final outcome was to have one actor representing the main vocal singer from The Wild Wolves. This was much easier and simpler to film as we could direct the actor more clearly because it was one actor.
Our next initial idea was to have Tamas (the actor) encounter the wolf but this looked unprofessional. The basic idea of the real life was for the singer to be the wolf, shown through wearing the mask. This was a final desperate idea as we had run out of ways to make him look like a wolf (other than a gruesome looking Halloween mask).
We wanted to portray the wolf in the animation as the singer in the band. Cross fades of the shots of Tamas wearing the mask and then without it signifies how he was just dreaming. This was an idea I had which seemed to make the narrative make sense. It was finished with Tamas being woken up by a band member (played by Roxxy), picking up his guitar and shutting the door - we synchronized the last beat with the door being shut, which we thought was a nice touch.
We shot the video on the outskirts of a local golf club as the mise-en-scene for folk/indie music videos contains commonly rural, shot outside and pleasant locations. Working around when we were able to film, we shot in afternoons and dusk, which had its advantages and disadvantages. An advantage was how we managed to get shots of the moon- part of the imagery we used in the animation and linking the lyrics also (relates to Goodwin's theory). A distadvantage was how at this time of the year, the afternoons quickly become dark so the quality of the footage became low.

For the animation parts, we received some advice and criticism which we took on board. Consequently, we quickened the pace to shorten shots and added close ups to vary the animation shots more. Some examples which can be seen in the video are: shortened and quickened pace of the start (opening showing bands name and tracks name), the close ups in the forest scenes and on the hill and the extreme close ups of the wolf's legs and head whilst going up the hill. Therefore, helping the audience engage with the music video more.

Digipak ideas

The first three are existing CD album covers which I have found from music websites and Google.

Paolo Nutini is a folk/indie music artist who was a large influence on the character's costume in our music video. For instance, both have trilby hats, shirts and jeans, which is typical folk/indie costume. The album looks as though it was done by an artist or possibly even the artist himself.

The bright coloured colour scheme includes: yellow, red and green, the main image being a cartoon portrait of Paolo (the artist himself) at his diner table, a guitar to his left with a pleasant-looking landscape outside. A visual link between the album's title and visual imagery is made through the eggs on the plate (a cross reference to Paolo being Scottish too, as the phrase it, I believe).

For my own digipak, I am thinking of doing an artistic cover and came across some of Glas Vegas's covers which I personally really like. This looks like a linoprint, and suggests how bands can commission an artist to create their digipak.

Glas Vegas has many awards for their self-titled album, from Best Awards of 2008 in The Observer Music Monthly, NME to The Independent and The Sun. Also reaching the Number Two position in the UK album chart. This album, their second or third studio album, with its artistic cover could symbolize how the band are not worried about promoting themselves FOR their music; they let the music promote itself.
The album covers are simplistic and creative, with both a subtle and aesthetically attractive colour scheme. Both CD covers have atmospheric imagery, both with locations being villages. Both CD covers also have the man and woman, shown as equals, either in the sky or on the ground.

My next step will be to look at other several folk/indie music artists with inspirational CD covers. There are different possibilities which may contribute to the successfulness of the music artist, it may be due to their music appealing to their audience or, it may be due to their CD album covers attracting them to listen to them. As our band is unsigned, it'll be important to attract our target audience, using certain colour schemes, imagery, lighting, text font, price, extra features of the digipak.

Snow Patrol and Keane music videos

Snow Patrol
-Record labels: FICTION, POLYDOR, A&M (major)
-Formed 1994 so they have been together for 15 years
-Fall into alternative rock, indie rock
-5 members (present)


Open Your Eyes Video

Link to video if embedded video doesn't work...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1XUbJEPShE or
http://www.last.fm/music/Snow+Patrol/+videos/5488634

The main importance of this post is to point out how a narrative device in a music video helps engage the audience. For instance, by the car moving whilst the camera shoots in a POV shot, the audience will feel as thought they are in the car, travelling around what looks like a French city centre. The narrative device is therefore the movement of the car. In our music video, we use a mask (worn by the main character) which appears after the animation. We thought it increased the surreal and dream-like narrative, harmonizing with the dreamy and 'light' animation.
____

I'll breifly mention Keane's "Bedshaped" music video as it is created through use of two different types of animation, drawn graphics and modelling. The music video follows the main character, which appears very strange and alien-like. We almost empathize for the creature as he is shown as isolated and alone. The creature fixes easily as an image, as it is strange so this is a successful way for remembering the video/song/band. The band has many different videos, with narratives and more performance based videos, so this particular one suggests how they wanted to explore diversity of narrative structures.
As an intertextual reference to our own production, the video has a character: the creature (our wolf) and the band performing in parts (vocal singer of our band).
"Somewhere Only We Know" shows how we could start/finish our production with a attention-seeking shot and opening. In this case, the music video opens with the band quickly opening a door on the opening beat of the song. Our "Moon Song" track has an abrupt end which we could easily use this idea.

Intertextual reference for real life part

Having watched Paolo Nutini's "New Shoes" music video I noticed how he walks down a street/s. It reminded me a lot of how we plan to have the band and Wolf walking together. Mid shots are used a lot in the video, at eye level and below showing his legs. In the storyboard, I illustrated our idea to use similar levelled- shots, as shown below...



Furthermore, many indie/folk artists appear as themselves, promoting their music so it is important to have many shots including the artist. This is advised by one of Andrew Goodwin's points- having plenty of close ups of the artist. Newton Faulkner is also presented in his videos, singing with his guitar. This suggests how his musical talent simply consists of himself and his instrument (guitar). Whilst looking for videos of Faulkner's music, I came across his latest single and its video: "Over and Out". Unsurprisingly, the video opened with a shot of Faulkner's legs carrying his guitar case. When he had set up his clever and quirky invention (projecting himself performing) close ups of his face and guitar are used amongst mid and long shots showing where he is and his audience. The close ups and shots following his legs and guitar case emphasize what he's all about, his simple appearance and costume and his love and talent of playing the guitar. As it opens with not showing his upper part of his body, it is hiding part of his identity (specifically his face). This may be to keep the audience interested and intrigued to find out who the artist is. The purpose of quick editing of different subjects and mise-en-scene increases the tempo and interest of the audience.

Just recently, Paolo Nutini has released his track Pencil Full of Lead which is in fact partly animation and real-life. Therefore it is an excellent example of Folk artists being more adventurous and creative in their music video productions. Whilst some of the women in their ravishing yellow and black costumes dance, several play instruments on a small stage- rather unconvincingly. This emphasizes how much Roxxy and I should have the band (or impersonators) performing, whether they can play the instrument or not. Here is Nutini's video:



______________

Below is the video for Blitzen Trapper's Furr song, which has the artist performing in some parts of the animation. The video is completely animated (and directed by Jade Harris) which I admire and empathize for the time and patience the animator/s have.
Goodwin's theory has much relevance for this music video in particular one of his points is used a lot throughout the video. This is the (advised) use of connecting the visuals to the lyrics of the track. This helps engage the audience and keep their attention. A similarity to our production and this existing media product could be the cut out imagery, which we are using for our silhouette animation- a particular similarity could be the way the wolves move. We avoided making our wolf's legs and head move as it would have slowed us down and been painfully fiddly.


__________________________

Having done a lot of research into existing music artists and bands, it is apparent how if an artist or band can play an instrument, they will. Sometimes, it seems in the early stages of their career, they need to show their musical abilities and talent. Rock and indie bands often use this approach to portray how they can play "live" and are passionate about their music. A relatively new band, The Temper Trap have begun their videos (Sweet Disposition and Fader) with performing but amongst graphics. The Kooks are often performing in their videos (She Moves In Her Own Way and Ooh La).
An alternative to performing live is for an artist or band to mime, which is an extremely common and approach to use for those who sing rather than play an instrument. This allows them to have different narratives whether linear, flashback, looped or interwoven. Paolo Nutini's "Coming Up Easy" video involves a comical narrative focusing on his friendship with a human-sized white rabbit. Thus being a device in the narrative which engages the audience with the context.
Locations in folk/indie music videos can be varied but many are outside in urban or rural locations. We opted for different locations in rural locations as we liked the naturalistic imagery and it linked well with the animation imagery.

[M.I.I] Implications for music industry/ Conclusion with mark sheet

My investigation involved exploring whether the online age has affected the pop music genre. I looked at different social networking sites and internet websites which help distribute and promote their music. Having done this research it is easier for me to understand what kind of sites are affecting the way listeners consume music and why.
When considering the amount of pop music artists online, one internet site is easiest to find this. As Myspace keeps a record of their artists in genres, users can see that Pop artists have in total: 723,426 (11/10/09). The genre with the most artists is Hip hop with 2,539,664. My findings tell me that the online age has both improved and damaged the music industry. It is very difficult to pin-point whether Pop music has been directly affected amongst all the other genres. As technologies have advanced, genres and music have become accessible; it has become easier to find music that consumers will enjoy.
One of my earlier posts was focused on looking at two pop artists: Lily Allen's and (La Roux's) Elly Jackson's views on file sharing, which contributes to illegal downloading. This either shows how Pop music is actually being affected (the artists have been affected) or as they are artists themselves and are out-spoken, they can put their point across. The latter possibility is probably more accurate. As they have had to go through the process of becoming an artist and noticed by listeners, they will have had problems with illegal downloading so they know the exact problem and how it is unfair.
"The reasons for wanting CDs include a desire to have sleeve notes, the sound quality and the desire to own a physical object. But 44% of respondents said that one reason for wanting a CD was that it "cannot be deleted", an indication that young people have taken note of the problems that have occurred in the past when access to rights-managed music files has been withdrawn because services have been shut down. Overall, the survey offers no coherent picture of the state of young people's consumption of and attitude to music, perhaps because things are changing so fast and young people are so quick to adapt to new technological realities that there simply is no single coherent model that will explain it all." Bill Thompson, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8197574.stm).
As music formats have changed to not needing it in physical form, this doesn’t mean that we do not buy or want to buy physical forms. Research carried out to find the way consumers obtain music the most is extremely hard to complete and is an ever-changing process.
The advance in technology has helped bands and artists promote their music, through downloading and other means of using the online age. To obtain music, users can go to downloading sites (illegal and legal) whilst also being able to listen to music using sites such as Spotify and Last.fm. By promoting and marketing their music for free, artists can be listened to by listeners who would not usually listen to them. Last.fm has a great way of recommending other artists which are in similar genres to what a user looks at and listens to. Not only technology has improved bands and artists chances of being heard however. Festivals such as Latitude and Glastonbury are great for unsigned bands to advertise their work. Every artist/band would have done some kind of gig too.
Amazon has a new feature on their website the “Bestsellers MP3 Downloads: Pop”, which is impressively updated hourly. Today being the 21st October has Cheryl Cole’s “Fight For This Love” as the most downloaded song, at 69p. Amazon’s downloads are very cheap when comparing them to iTunes, making it another legal downloading competitor.
Advertisements and TV programmes are another interesting way of letting bands and artists promote their music. Some examples are, The Noisettes with "Don't Stop the Rhythm" for a car advert, and many artists were used in the Skins series, such as The Gossip. Mainstream pop artists have more chances of having successful careers than an unsigned artist, which is obvious. Once an unsigned artist becomes noticed by a record label and they have the potential of becoming more a mainstream artist, they will most likely have a better music career. Record labels offer deals, expensive but overall they help an artist "live their dream". To have the opportunity to perform to audiences, from 500 people to 100,000 people, it is a chance for the artist to distribute their music. Audiences will then spread the artists name and music which is a method of promoting their music. Many bands and artists have and still do achieve great things from word-of-mouth.
Having researched different ways of consuming music, I have gained knowledge of how listeners have adjusted and become accustomed to other ways, some legal but unfortunately illegally methods too. The questionnaire samples responses were quite shocking at how ninety percent of my young sample had/do download illegally. On the other hand, with the amount of online users, it is not so surprising, as music is extremely accessible and available. The consequences of downloading illegally are not made aware to young users, maybe this should be improved to try to deter them. Downloading sites and softwares draw users in by using the word, "FREE" and who would not consider looking at what they are about. I remember asking a family friend who is a computer expert about Limewire, he responded that it is a big risk unless you delete the tracks, (or something). I did not bother to look into it further as I did not want the responsibility of damaging the (important word:) family computer.
The investigation I chose to carry out shows how more in-depth research is needed to fully comprehend it. The online age has definitely affected the way we listen to music (like other technologies), but whether or not Pop music has been directly affected is a very difficult topic to explore.

[M.I.I] Pop music artists

I researched three music artists/bands to get an idea of what record label they belonged to.
By gaining knowledge of the record labels and other artists I will be able to see what kind of music and artists the record label find. For example, Polydor has a mixture of artists in genres, from Pop to Soul which could imply how they want to vary music to have better profits/business.

Britney Spears:
American
626473 members on her Myspace page (recorded 8th Oct)Label: Jive records (since 1998). Zomba Label Group is a record label group and division of Sony Music Entertainment which distributes different labels including Jive Records (Wiki)
Other artists on label: Jordin Sparks, Usher, Cage The Elephant, Bullet For My Valentine...
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zomba_Label_Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Records#List_of_Sony_Music_Entertainment_labels


Lily Allen:
British
422706 Myspace members (recorded 8th Oct)
Parlophone/ Regal records
“Parlophone Records is Britain’s most famous record label and part of the EMI group, one of the biggest and most prestigious music companies in the world. Home to many of the most influential artists of all time – from The Beatles to Blur, Radiohead to Kylie – Parlophone has established itself over the years as a cutting-edge yet hugely successful label. That tradition continues today with a dynamic and vibrant roster of artists that represent the best of every genre, bringing a broad range of artistic and commercial variety to the EMI family.
Current talent includes Coldplay, Gorillaz, Lily Allen, Sigur Ros, Bat For Lashes, Babyshambles, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, and we’re always on the look out for the next exciting, life-changing, creative artists to work with. Embracing the past yet firmly focussed on the future, Parlophone Records continues to push boundaries and develop talent, bringing you the best music in the world.”*
Other artists on label: Like above, Bat For Lashes, Babyshambles, Coldplay and some others, Chemical Brothers and Kylie Minogue.

Lily Allen simply had some songs and a Myspace profile. Tens of thousands of people listened to them, she signed a record deal and her first album, released when she was 21, sold more than a million copies in the UK alone. (MSN website)
*http://www.parlophone.co.uk/2008/07/about/

Take That:
British
60498 Myspace members
Labels: (Years active) 1990–1996 = Sony Music 2005–present = Polydor
Polydor was founded in Germany in 1946 but established the UK division ten years after. “Few labels can boast as long, prestigious and varied a musical history as Polydor Records. From the 60s 'beat boom' onwards, through the eras of progressive rock, disco and punk, the label has been in the vanguard of every significant new musical development, while today the likes of the Scissor Sisters, Snow Patrol and The Hives maintain Polydor's enviable cutting-edge reputation.”
Other artists: ABBA, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Girls Aloud, Lady Gaga, Daniel Beddingfield, Duffy, Snow Patrol. Mostly pop and rock music artists and bands. Developed an American connection which generated some r’n’b and soul talent (Aretha Franklin, James Brown...)
Source: http://www.polydor.co.uk/history.php

[M.I.I] File sharing- Lily Allen's and Elly Jackson's views

I was looking at La Roux's Myspace page when I noticed that the singer, Elly had posted something about file sharing. Elly wrote about Lily Allen's reaction (on 14th Sept) to an article whilst also giving her opinion. The article from The Times website is focused on how file sharing has affected the music industry. This is extremely interesting and relevant to my project as two pop artists have spoken about the problems with the advancing online technology.
Both Lily and Elly seemed offended by the similar comments made by members of the bands in Radiohead, Blur and Pink Floyd. Basically the band members think that file sharing actually helps the music industry, as it almost markets their music and also promotional things, including tours and music products. I do agree with Lily and Elly with how richer artists and bands can afford to have their fans downloading illegally. Newcomers have to rely on their record label to generate their fame first to become noticed and liked by their audience. It is an extremely expensive process and the artists/bands easily have a heavy debt to pay afterwards. On the other hand, many popular and well known, rich artists/bands would have been in the same position when first becoming noticed by listeners. It seems a continuous cycle that music artists are going to face unless they have lots of money to start their careers.
Radiohead's guitarist Ed O’Brien said: “My generation grew up with the point of view that you pay for your music. Every generation has a different method. File sharing is like a sampler, like taping your mate’s music. You go, ‘I like that, I’ll go and buy the album’. Or, ‘you know what, I’ll go and see them live’. This is a fair point but then some artists can't let their music be given away like this, it costs them greatly. However by listening consuming their music they will probably consume more of their music and buy their merchandise.
I wanted to see what some of the public wanted to say in response to Lily's Myspace blog post. Avner Peled thought, "fighting against file sharing is next to impossible. There are just too many people and the internet is too big, accessible and free (which is ultimately a good thing)." This is very true as the amount of websites the internet allows us to access is crazy. He then goes on to say how the music industry "should adapt, like it has already started doing, making payed downloading cheaper and easier". I think the process of eliminating these problems is going to take a very long time as illegal downloading sites and softwares are accessible and available to lots of people. Even more, some don't understand the damage they cause to the artists and also in a way to themselves. Some users receive viruses and some may have had or will have their internet connections cut. This topic is one with many pro's and con's and it is difficult to weigh them out as there are so many! Some artists benefit and some don't because they can either afford to lose profits or not.
Users who download illegally often are not aware of their actions or rather don't fully understand what they are doing. Others live off the fact that they can create music of their own, creating mash-ups and remixes, ignoring the copy-right issues. Further more, what is the point in having Spotify and other websites which allow you to listen to music when many users just listen to tracks then delete them? Another commenter on Lily's page (Michelle Granelli) mentioned how they "couldn't afford to spend huge amounts on albums, taking the risk that they were any good. So I'd download a few tracks and if I liked what I heard I bought the album. If not I deleted the files." This suggests how users like Michelle Granelli just listened to the music but through illegal methods. I am aware that Spotify is relatively new but Myspace has been around for years. Spotify is a really encouraging method for music listeners to consume music. It does the job like illegal downloading but it isn't illegal.
The same commenter also said:
"I think file sharing should just be used for things like concert recordings where the artist/band encourages fans to record shows and share them out....it's advertising for them without having to do it themselves!". An interesting and good point.
The main dilemma with this issue is how there are so many underlying levels that it seems impossible to stop. Creators of illegal downloading sites and softwares will continue to find new ways of getting around the bans. What worries me the most is how well-known artists and people are saying that downloading illegally is all dandy, but it's illegal and they are not setting a very good example to the public.
"People respected and loved music, they valued it far more back then." KaH, Myspace commenter.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6828262.ece

[M.I.I] YouTube and Limewire research

Having evaluated my research, I found that the sample used YouTube to listen to music (with twenty percent) so I wanted to explore it further. Limewire, with sixty percent is used the most by my sample to download music which I thought would be interesting to look into, as I haven't used it before.

YouTube



YouTube is "the world's most popular online video site" (1) allowing users to watch any video uploaded by users. It is owned by Google inc; was founded and launched in 2005. It has a logan of "Broadcast Yourself" which means users can upload their own videos onto the website as long as they have registered.
Like social networking sites, users can comment on pages, can join certain channels and subscribers. Similarly to Myspace, YouTube has helped some users get noticed for their home-made videos. For instance, American Chris Crocker, is very passionate in broadcasting his thoughts- about Britney Spears (Leave Britney Alone!) and homosexuality. Leave Britney Alone! was nominated in the Commentary category in 2007s YouTube Awards. Tay Zonday is another example, with his first song "Chocolate Rain" (released in 2007). He was nominated for People's Voice Award, won a YouTube Award and a Webby-Award, with 60 million video views on YouTube.
Robson's article mentioned how "Many teenagers use YouTube to watch videos (usually anime which cannot be watched anywhere else) and some use it as a music player by having a video with the music they want to listen to playing in the background." I think this is accurate in what users use YouTube as I asked four participants what they used YouTube for the most. Their responses were:
"Mostly music and for comedy videos",
"Music, although some of the videos are rubbish quality",
"Allsorts, I often find myself clicking on random ones that look good and funny",
"I like listening to the music videos, it has so many to choose".
Personally my uses are the same to these responses as I find the music videos are easy to find. It is perhaps unfortunate how there are copyright issues as people upload videos which they think our their own. Copyright issues have been dealt with over the years and last month there was a report on the news.
On 3rd September, the BBC reported how YouTube had lifted the music video block as an agreement over fees has been arranged. In March when the ban begun, many music artists were not receiving fair payment for their songs. PRS for Music (Performing Right Society*) and YouTube agreed that music song-writers would have a fair payment for each time their video was viewed. According to the BBC report, "services such as Pandora.com, MySpace UK and Imeem have also had issues securing licensing deals in the UK in the past 12 months".
It is difficult to say how much pop music is listened to on YouTube but looking at the Top Video pages there are approximately eighteen of Pop music artists, over the five pages and mostly Lady Gaga and JLS.



Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube
http://www.prsformusic.com/aboutus/pages/default.aspx
(1) YouTube- BBC- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8234125.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7942045.stm
Added note: *PRS- "We exist to collect and pay royalties to our members when their music is exploited in one of a number of ways – when it is recorded onto any format and distributed to the public, performed or played in public, broadcast or made publicly available online."



_____________________



Limewire

"Young people's attitudes to music may be too complicated and fast-changing to measure, says Bill Thompson
Peer-to-peer (p2p) download services are still popular with music-loving kids, it seems. The second annual survey of young people's music consumption by pressure group UK Music found among 1,808 respondents aged 18 to 24 that three-fifths of them used p2p services, and four-fifths of those did so at least once a week.
This is almost the same as last year's result, and would seem to indicate that the efforts by the music industry to offer a range of licensed alternatives to Limewire and other p2p services have failed to have any real impact."

LimeWire was initially launched in 2000 and is an example of a free peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P). It is a method for users to illegally download music for free. There are two versions of the program which Lime Wire LLC has developed: the basic version which is free and an enhanced version called LimeWire PRO for $21.95 or $34.95. LimeWire claims "the paid version provides faster download and sixty-six percent better search results". Even more, it uses the Gnutella network –a file sharing network to locate files as well as share files.
"Kids, it seems, like unlicensed services because they are free. But the report also acknowledges their usefulness in finding more obscure music and letting them listen to a band before they buy, so closing them down may actually make it harder for new artists to break through." Thompson makes a good point here, if users do not listen to different and unusual artists, it will be more difficult for them to be found by possible listeners and fans.
LimeWire seems very complicated and I don’t think I will either use it. The technology behind it is hard to understand and I would not be surprised if many young users were not aware of the illegal networks and processes it uses. I asked one participant aged 15, why they used LimeWire and their responses were: “It’s easy to get any song you want. I love it!”.

Source: wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LimeWire

[M.I.I] Robson's article on media consumption

One of The Guardian's articles written by Matthew Robson in July (this year) explains different technologies used by teenagers to consume media (link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/13/teenage-media-habits-morgan-stanley). I want to focus on music. Radio is one which generates many opinions as I think it isn't as unpopular as Robson says. He says how teenagers don't seem to be "regular listeners to radio" because there are other alternatives to listening to music, which he thought was one of the main reasons that they actually listen to it. I asked four participants how often they listened to music, all said "everyday". Alex 17, mentioned how she listens to Radio 4 before going to sleep.
Last.fm is another way to listen to music, with live streams of music that they can choose. This opposes to how some DJs choose the music themselves based on the week's music charts. I know for a fact that this is true in some cases but most stations such as Radio 1, Heart and Kiss allow their listeners to call up or send for a request through texts or e-mails. This allows them to choose a song whereas Last.fm allows them to choose far many more songs. Therefore, I agree with Robson on how some listeners may prefer to choose their music but then a DJ can be like the "shuffle" button choosing the music for them.
Music is now more available than ever, with portable music technology such as Apple's iPod, mobile phones music players, MP3 players and so on. Young adults listen to music a considerably amount whether they are walking, sitting at a computer or with friends. Where the music comes from is the dilemma that is concerning the government. According to Robson's calculations, eight out of ten teenagers are downloading illegally. I think these are reliable results as my own were very close with ninety percent having illegally downloaded. What concerns me is how Robson's research, focusing on teenagers suggests that young audiences are downloading illegally, through file sharing sites. I asked a participant about how they started downloading illegally and he said that he was "encouraged by my mates", suggesting how recommendations lead to more people downloading.
Despite the music being consumed for free, most (illegal) downloads are bad quality. Another participant from my questionnaire sample mentioned how he would download a song and if it was not a good quality then he would buy the song through iTunes. iTunes are good quality but young users are put off my the prices, 79p per track. By using a combination of methods to consume music, young adults are then able to balance their illegal and legal downloading.
There is multiple ways of listening and buying music but as some young adults cannot afford to buy music, illegally downloading seems to be their solution to obtaining music. Most teenager don't realise what they are doing to get music is in fact illegal and they don't know the consequences. Most participants in my sample were aware that it was illegal and are cautious and have been discouraged from using them because of the viruses you receive. Only but two participants mentioned how it was illegal so this led them to not using it anymore so the fact that it is illegal does not seem to be their main concern.

Illustration

I found this print: "My, what a big heart you have", by "home-maker" Hidden Eloise (http://hiddeneloise.com/). For the music video project we need to make a digipak which I am really excited to start. I was exploring some idea-provoking websites when I found this illustration. It is based on Little Red Riding Hood so the inspiration to keep a fairy-tale like theme is helping me think of ideas.

The illustration is quite child-like which will need to be lost if I need to target our audience more widely. Our music video is creative at the beginning and as I do A level Art I would like to make my digipak unique and creative.
Concerns I have about creating my digipak are that I may need to make connections to the video, making sure there are similarities or it may look silly to have different products. Also, the digipak should be marketed to different music listeners so they are likely to consume The Wild Wolves music. When we have been officially told to start this part of the project, I will have to decide on whether to include the band on the front cover or somewhere else...
Once we have identified and analysed our target audience, it will be easier to create a product to promote the unsigned band to their listeners. The digipak will give me a chance to complete a product individually using my own creative ideas and getting experience for marketing a band.

Fairytale influences and Lotte Reiniger

One of our Media Studies teacher gave us a booklet out of The Guardian/The Observer on "Great Fairytales". It contains illustrations for some fairy tales, which are very similar to how our imagery looks in the animation, with the similar black image against a white background. Here are some pages from the booklet to show what I mean. A particular shot in our animation included the wolf walking through a hole (in a tree) and the border of trees or opening of a bush (in the booklet) inspired us to use a similar image.













Our animation consists of scenes which have animals, such as birds which can be seen carrying the banner with the tracks name: "Moon Song" and when the wolf walks over the hill with the house. We also formed generic conventions by creating a small saxophone and trilby hat as they are used and worn by folk indie artists and bands such as, Paolo Nutini, Mumford and Sons and so on.



Little Red Riding Hood is a very traditional and well-known fairy tale based on a young girl who comes under the attention of a Wolf. The tale has had many alterations and different adaptations by writers over years. I can remember being told the story when I was younger so I know one adaptation.
The Wolf character is often used in fairy tales and is represented in different ways. The Wolf can be interpreted as being a phallic symbol as the Wolf tries to lure the girl by being friendly and helpful, in Red Riding Hood's case.
Our Wolf won't be represented as a dangerous character, just one who minds his own business and enjoys being on his own. When he comes across the other world however, he enjoys the band's company and follows them down the street... So in a way, we are challenging the usual representation of a Wolf character.
Below is an animation by the amazing Lotte Reiniger and the second clip shows her creating one using the silhouette animation technique too.

Generic Features of our genre

Our band is in the folk/indie/ska genre so we are going to have to find generic props including costume and instruments. The band wear costume which is in these genres so they include: trilby hats, shirts (checkered and similar) and for the girls- dresses, shorts, tops and leggings. The males hairstyles range from scruffy long and short hair and the females usually have layered and quite messy hair too.

The costume the band will wear is in an earlier post I have posted on this blog, the link being: http://caroline-a2media.blogspot.com/2009/09/initial-character-profiles.html

The costume are going to be our main focus as we want the actors to wear what we have chosen to represent the band more accurately. We also chose actors that were already wearing this kind of costume and have these kind of hairstyles so it is more efficient with it comes to filming and less time will be spent on getting the characters appearances correct. Furthermore, the costume is typical for this genre, with nice but scruffy clothes from shops such as Topman/Topshop adnd H&M.

A main aspect of our target audience research we have predicted is, that the audience will have a very similar dress sense to the costume used in our music video. The use of contemporary and popular costume will increase identification between the band and audience. Also it seems to reinforce how this style is a very popular and commonly seen style to adapt to and have, it is following the fashion trend rather than setting another unique trend.

Pictures found from hairfinder.com

We will also be having instruments for the actors to hold whilst in our locations as often indie/folk bands have their instruments with them. Some examples include: Paolo Nutini (Candy music video) and Noah and the Whale.

[M.I.I] Frostwire & Hype machine

FrostWire

-It is a peer-to-peer file sharing programme.

- Project started in 2004.

-Similarly to LimeWire Frostwire is written in Java, so it is capable of supporting multiple platforms.

-Two versions of the programme, free and paid.

-Provides a chatroom.

The Hype Machine

- It is an MP3 blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin.

- Created website in 2005 while at "Hunter College".

-Only stream music via Flash Player, not download.

- Lots of links to Amazon and iTunes to get users to buy music legally.

Existing Stop-animations

Some more intertextual references are these Stop- animations; some having the same imagery of leaves falling from trees which we are creating... The first also shows how the creator has combined animation and real-life imagery (like we are going to).
The first animation "Off The Beaten Track" (by an animator called Leo Bridle) is very similar to our idea of combining stop-animation animation (using cut outs) into real-life. The young man cycles into a woody area then continues through the jungle-like woods in animation. Another similarity is how the animator covered the screen. He used leaves and things whereas we will be using the parchment/banner to cover the screen to allow us to switch the black to white.

Roxxy and I attended part of the Norwich Film Festival, the Animation Bafta Night 2 on the 21st September. I was amazed by the work of the animations with the exception of already knowing how good the Wallace and Gromit animations are. The other examples included computer animations that were so incredibly detailed, one of a home-sick artist and another of a very cute rabbit-like animal trying to escape the new city that takes over its grass land (may have been tackling global warming or something...).

These stop-animations are done through drawings, which are probably more time-consuming than cut-outs. Especially the first of the two drawing ones, because it looks as though its done in felt-tip pens. The animator could have used tracing paper to copy the exact image onto more pages so it worked smoothly. It looks really sweet but I think I prefer how the leafs fall on the second example (of the drawing ones). The second has leaves falling and sweeping very smoothly and gently. It reminds me of the Winnie Pooh animations as there is more movement in the way the subjects move.

Paloma Faith

Paloma Faith is a relatively new comer to the musical world and to the Pop genre. She began with her first debut single "Stone Cold Sober", followed by "New York" and her debut album was released yesterday. Personally, I do enjoy listening to her music and love her unique appearance and the artwork. This is obviously a very useful promotional method to use for an artist and their music to become noticed and liked.

"All In The World I Dream of Paper" (the clip below) appears to be based on the Alice in Wonderland theme. The music video is made using stop-animation so it looks more childish, innocent and playful.

Animation Experiment 4

This is an extended experiment for one of our previous experiments (2) as we wanted to see how it would work if we did use this way to present The Wild Wolves song name. This is good practice (of the process) which will go through to create the animation and piece it all together.

So, the leaves use the same sweeping way of flying through the sky to form the words. They are first perched on the branches which we then pluck off and move gradually across the image. This is going to be every fiddly when it comes to moving all the pieces in one image, but it would look empty without all the added details.

Props and Technical Requirements

To complete our animation part of the music video we will need these props:

• Sugar paper,
• Scissors,
• Drawing equipment
• and pair of compasses.
• We also may need sellotape to secure some stencil/cut-outs and sheets of acetate for sticking pieces together- particularly for the landscape imagery.

A list of Technical Requirements:

• OHP (Overhead Projector) to project our image onto a plain white wall.
• Digital Camera to take pictures for the stop animation.
• Video recorder for the real life part of the film.
• Tripod for both animation (to balance and keep it positioned) and real-life shooting.

Animation Experiment 3 a, b and c

a) The first version of the experiment shows how we need to take care in when we take the picture, as three times my hand is in the shot- which we don't want! On the other hand, it shows how we did do it- by simply moving each piece one movement at a time.
In the image, we kept the tree and the moving leaves and added the Wolf. We weren't sure whether to have the Wolf move in the way it does- or whether to cut separate legs and move them. This would add to the time-consumption however and would be incredibly fiddly. However, we did ask other media student's opinions and our teachers and they said they preferred the way we moved it.

b) Now, this example is another version but without the hand shadows as we wanted to see if we could just delete the three images and not have to take another picture in the same position. This seemed to be successful as the movements didn't seem affected as much as we thought they might be. As this was only a test, we thought we wouldn't spend too much time worrying over it. However, when it comes to the final imagery, we will spend a lot more time attending to details to make it the best it can be.

c) Our final experiment for this certain shot, was edited in Premiere to be slower than the last two, as we thought it may better slowed down. It was easily done by changing the duration of each photographs frames. This could be useful for when we want to sync the music and film in time and if it needs to be slowed or quickened up. We could play around with this technique to see how it can make the animation look perhaps more realistic.

Animation Experiment 2

Animation Experiment 2 shows how we were thinking of other ways to present the song's name (Moon Song)- in this case, we thought of leaves flowing in a line across the sky. We are not sure whether we will use it but it was an alternative to the stars and moon on the black sky. Our concern at the moment is how we will make the sky in the background alternate from black to grey to white, so it is gradual and smooth. It may be possible to edit the photos in Photoshop before processing them through to Premiere.

Evenmore, we only realised how the images had the date and time recorded as my camera had the feature on. This was overcome by simply choosing the option "OFF" so the image was then blank, which we needed.

Animation Experiment 1

This is our first animation experiment which was really exciting to finally try. We cut the stencils out, placed them on the base of the OHP and repeatedly moved and took a picture til the leaves hit the ground. We thought it was a very successful try despite it being a very quick clip. The clip shows one tree with some leaves falling gracefully to the ground. We plan to have more images (in each sequence) to make the final image more defined and smooth. This is going to be a very time-consuming method but with patience we think the final product will look great.

Cast

In our music video, we are going to have around half animation and half real-life. For the real-life part, we need to have actors to represent the band, more specifically, 6 members made up of 4 males and two females. The real band members look in their early twenties so by casting similar looking actors, it will be more realistic. The band members also wear indie/folk costume so we have tried to spot and ask possible actors who do too. The costume reflects mainstream popular culture, influenced by audiences dress styles (seen around our school environment we have noticed how popular this look is). A typical outfit may consist of: (males) jeans, checkered shirt, printed shirt, casual shoes or trainers; (females) cardigans, dresses, leggings/tights, shoes/boots and similar items.
Having searched around our school and asking people we know, we have come up with seven of the six members, but some are not definite - which are shown as (?).
1. Jessica Allen
2. Elizabeth Greengrass
3. Jakob Montagu-Shaw
4. Matt Beaumont
5. Will Wynne (?)
6. Jack Mullane
7. Oliver Kirby (?)
8. Johnny Allan


Mug shots of our cast...

All the actors including myself fitted the characteristics we needed to represent the band. We would have preferred to use the band, as they would have been able to perform (live) professionally but they were unable to come from London to Norwich. Therefore, our sources were limited and we ended up searching for actors amongst our year group. We were fortunate to have actors who looked similar to the band. We hope that the actors represent the band in a mature and professional way.

Individual Responsibilities

My responsibilities include:

• Drawing outlines for the animation shadow puppetry (as I study A level art so have illustrating skills...)
• Movement (picture by picture - small movements) of the puppets/cut-outs for the stop animation, changing it after each frame.
• Finding suitable actors.
• Own storyboards, evaluation and commentary on pictures/experiments.
• Taking pictures of the experiments for our animation.

Roxxy's (my partner) responsibilites:

• Cutting out the imagery for shadow puppetry after I (Caroline) have drawn them.
• Taking the photographs of each action/movement and ensuring the camera is in the same place/right angle.
• Finding suitable actors.
• Own storyboards, evaluation and commentary on pictures/experiments.
• Taking pictures of the real life locations to be used.

Peter and the Wolf

Part 3 of the 4 clips (source: YouTube)

Peter and the Wolf is an animated short film by Suzie Templeton (released in 2006). The film based on the 1936 composition of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. It won an Academy Award in 2008 for Best Animated Short Film.

The intertextual references include one of the main characters being a Wolf. The Wolf is portrayed as a wild, hungry and scary character to the innocent boy, Peter, and his friends (a Duck and Magpie). The narrative of the film focuses on how Peter wants to escape onto the other side of his Grandfather's land, which is boarded off with large scraps of material. The idea of there being another world behind something relates to our own idea of our Wolf going through a tree into another world. Obstacles such as his Grandfather stop Peter from going and exploring the other side which could link to how our Wolf likes to be in the darkness of the woods.

I researched some animators in the Animation Department and according to IMDB, a number of animators have helped create other well-known films. Tim Allen participated in the making of Tim Burtons Corpse Bride, "Nakoma" in Pocahontas and in other Walt Disney films including, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Martin Davies was involved in the production of Chicken Run whilst Jan-Erik Maas contributed to this years Coraline.

I remember watching this when I was younger, or another earlier adaption and was frightened of the Wolf as it is represented as an evil creature- killing one of Peter's animal friends. It has moral meaning which many children stories do. In this case, it could be to perhaps forgive and forget, because Peter sets the Wolf free when his Grandfather captures it.

I was amazed to discover how the first part of the short film includes a POV shot in the Wolf's perspective(39secs to 47secs) which Roxxy and I are creating for our music video. We have planned to use a POV shot when the Wolf steps through the door into the other world and also when he follows the band down the street. The latter depends on whether we manage to find an actual dog which could look like a wolf, if not we will use the handheld camera technique to represent the Wolf instead. We could experiment with the camcorder to see what it looks like.

Inspirational music video

This music video is by Peter Gabriel for his song, Sledgehammer. It is stop animation which is the same process we're using to make our music video. The video includes Peter Gabriel's face, appearing as though he is having twitches and spasms. The use of the his face is an example of Andrew Goodwin's theory, how a music video should have many shots of the artist or band. In this case, the artist is shown in nearly every shot. The music video is very creative and playful so it could appeal to a range of audiences (perhaps more young adult audiences), similarly to how we want our music video to too.

This is an intertextual reference to how we will use stop animation in our own music video. It can create a lot of movement and variations of speed and movement can help keep the audience interested. Furthermore, by having different fun and entertaining shots of Gabriel increases the focus of the audience. For example, the audience would have more attention with Gabriel 'dances' around in a bright room with ladies to the music.

Location

These pictures show the location which we intend to use in the real - life part of the music video. We want the location to be shot in the evening so the lighting will be just about right so we can see the actors (representing the band) in their surroundings. The actors will probably be carrying instruments which are played in the real band. The Wolf will come out of the door into a clearing in a woody garden, and see the band.


























The street that we wish to use for when the representation of the band walk off into the real world, with the wolf, is conveniently on Roxxy's street. It is a suitable area as it has trees and a pleasant surrounding. The shot of this picture is close to how we will have a shot when we come to filming, unless we cannot get a dog which looks like the Wolf.