Research into record labels - Miss Georgiou

A major record label is a large company within the music industry which may own smaller record companies. In the UK the current major record labels that operate are Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, they represent many well known artists from the UK and the rest of the world from all different music genres. 

Universal music record company also owns a small part into many smaller record labels such as Interscope Records, Island Records, Republic Records and many other small record labels. Although these are smaller record labels they still manage some famous artists such as; Eminem, considered as one of the greatest rap artists ever, Lady Gaga another global sensation with a large fan base and appeals to millions of viewers, other big names like Disclosure, John Newman and Frank Ocean are a part of these record labels.

Universal music manage artists such as:

Ariana Grande

Chase and Status

Duke Dumont

Drake

Ellie Goulding

Justin Bieber

Kanye west

Sony Music Entertainment is an American music corporation owned by the parent company of Sony which is based in Japan. Founded in 1929 under the name American Record Corporation, Sony was renamed many times before finally settling on the name Sony Music Entertainment in 1991. It has a vast amount of artists varying from local artists to international stars belonging to different genres of music.

Sony Music manage artist such as;

• Adele
• Bruno Mars
• Jennifer Lopez
• JLS
• Justin Timberlake
• Kid Ink
• One Direction

The Warner Music Group is another huge record company which owns part of smaller record labels such as Atlantic Records, Warner Bros Records, Rhino Entertainment and many other international record labels. These smaller labels manage huge music artists such as Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen and Conor Maynard.

Warner Music manage artists such as;

• Birdy
• Coldplay
• Jason Derulo
• Flo Rida
• Katy Perry
• Wiz Khalifa
• Madonna

Independent labels are labels that operate one or few music labels, they

can be just as successful but operate from a smaller company base. They are traditionally known as offering more ‘organic’ music rather than manufactured mainstream and there are many different independent record labels within the UK.

Boy better know (BBK) is an English grime music collective; this is a group of musicsians, a grime record label and a brand. The collective was made in North London by JME, Skepta and Wiley. The band and the label was established in 2005 firstly by Jamie Adenuga (JME). BBK also has a clothing line and phone sim cards. Members of the label include:

• Skepta
• JME
• Wiley
• Jammer
• Frisco
• DJ Maximum
• Short
• Solo 45
• DJ Preditah

Warp records is an independent British record label, it was founded in 1989 in Sheffield they specialising in electronic music. Steve Beckett and Rob Mitcell were the founders and they were successful due to their expperience at the FON recoprd shop. The label manage artists such as:

Aphex Twin

Darkstar

Red Snapper

Seefeel

TNGHT

Tempa is a dubstep, 2-step garage and UK garage record label run by Ammunition Promotions, out of the Truman Brewery, East London. Created in 1999, Tempa is now widely considered to be one of the founding labels of the dubstep sound. They have managed many different artists such as;

• Skream
• Benga
• Truth
• Kode9
• DJ Hatcha

Lyric analysis - Miss Georgiou

The song that we chose to make a video for is Paloma Faith 'Only love can hurt like this'. We chose this song as the lyrics were deep and meaningful which makes it easier for us to make the visuals for the song, the song conveys the artist's hurt and damaged feelings from breaking up with her ex. When she says 'Must have been a deadly kiss' it can connote the pain she is feeling as the adverb 'deadly' is such a deep meaningful word.  'Your kisses burning through my skin' this is similar to the previous line, it shows how his kisses cause her physical pain which represents how he has such a huge impact on her life. The lyrics of the song that we analysed showed us that our artist is feeling a lot of pain and emotion, this makes it easier for us a group to choose the right mise-en-scene elements, cinematography and editing to portray these feelings through the video to make it appeal more to the target audience.

We annotated the lyrics from the song and made notes of which lines and words we could use to create the visuals in our video, we decided which parts of the song should have specific cinematography and mise-en-scene to create our narrative for this song.

• 'I tell myself, you don't mean a thing' - When our artist is singing this line, we are going to have her singing into the mirror using a over the shoulder shot to represent her telling herself how she feels.
• 'But when you're not there' - We will have our artist laying in bed imagining her ex laying next to her, when she sings this line the male character will fade from the scene.
• 'I just crumble' - We could have our character/artist fall apart in the scene to convey how they are crumbling from the pain they are experiencing. 
• 'Till I feel your touch' we could have our male and female character touch each other and make it positioned into the middle of the camera shot.
• 'Must have been a deadly kiss' - We would have our male and female character kiss to show how the kiss they share.
  
  

Initial group planning ideas - Miss Georgiou

In my group there are four of us; me, Lucy Nottage, Sophie Elliott, Devon Thomas. In our first meeting we discussed the possible artists of the songs we were going to create a video for, for example: Rhianna, Ed Sheeran. Then we thought of songs we could use for example: Umbrella, drunk. We then eventually decided on the final song we are using which is Paloma Faith 'only love can hurt like this'. We decided on this song as it fits nicely in the soul genre which would felt we could make a good. conventional video for and also the lyrics are full of emotion which we could link in with the visuals well. Here are our annotated lyrics.

We then discussed the miss en scene, artist representation, cinematography, style of music video, editing, code and conventions, target audience, music video theory, research/inspirations and annotation of lyrics. After discussing this as a group we had plenty of ideas for our music video which all fell into the soul music genre, this will therefore help us when we come to filming and editing our music video as we have the ideas ready to be made. In the next meeting we researched into the copyright of our song "Only love can hurt like this" and we made an e-mail asking Paloma Faith's record label if we could use the song so we don't get sued by the record label. We also used this meeting to research into our chosen music genre: soul. We analysed some videos from Adele and Amy Winehouse as they are conventional to the soul genre, we thought about the muse-en-scene elements, cinematography and editing styles that we may use in our video to give us a brief outline of what we will film for our music video.

When I analysed Adele's "Someone like you" music video I noticed and commented on the use of Cinematography; the use of a tracking shot following Adele through the empty setting, this makes the audience feel as if they are following Adele as she walks along. This evokes emotion as the audience feel like they are with the artiest whilst she is upset, making the audience create a connection with Adele. This inspired us to use a tracking shot to create the same effect

The mise-en-scene element of setting seen in Amy Winehouse's 'back to black' music video is a funeral setting throughout the video. This presents the song as possibly sad, this is typical of the soul genre as soul music videos usually show the artist as upset or reminiscing on the past, which is conventional of the soul genre. This allows us again to get an outline of the music video we are going to create and what elements we are going to include.

This is our planning sheet.

Date	Action	To be done by	By whom	Discussions
15.09.14	To decide on an artist and a song	15.09.14	All group members	Various ideas were discussed and a mindmap was created by the group. Eventually we decided on creating a music video by…and the song…..
16.09.14	Wrote a letter to our chosen artists record label, asking for permission to recreate the music video.	16.09.14	All group members	As our artist belongs to two record labels we discussed which one we were going to write too.
17.09.14	We annotated our lyrics to find out what we could incorporate into our music video.	17.09.14	All group members	We discussed what lines had a deeper meaning and created ideas which we could represent throughout our recreation.
22.09.14	We decided on the mise-en-scene we would use for each scene.	22.09.14	All group members, however did individual posts.	We discussed what the conventional locations and iconography would be for each scene within our music video.
25.09.14	We decided on the different camera angles we were to use for each scene.	25.09.14	All members, however did individual posts.	We discussed which camera angles were most effective for the scene.
01.10.14	We decided on how we wanted out artist to be represented.	01.10.14	All members, however individual posts.	We discussed what our artist would wear and look in order to attract our target audience.
07.10.14	We decided on what editing styles we would use throughout our music video.	07.10.14	All members, however individual posts.	We discussed what editing styles were most effective in order to build a relationship between the music and visuals.
13.10.14	We created storyboards in sequence and chronological order of our planned music video.	13.10.14	All members, however individual posts.	We discussed many different aspects of our music video eg; iconography, setting, editing.
18.10.14	We made up a schedule of when we were going to film our music video.	18.10.14	All members, however individual posts.	We discussed what times we were available to film certain scenes of our music video and planned what days we would film at each setting.
23.10.14	We created a risk assessment for the filming of our music video.	23.10.14	All members, however individual posts.	We came up with specific accidents that could possibly occur during our filming and assessed how we could avoid them and what we would do if they did occur.
30.10.14	We filmed our music video.	30.10.14	All members.	On four different occasions we filmed at different settings the footage, which we used in our music video.
03.11.14	We created a photoshoot post including different photos captured during the filming of the music video.	03.11.14	All members, however individual posts.	We selected different pictures from the footage we had taken and analysed why they were conventional to our genre and how they would appeal to our target audience.
07.11.14	We planned our group digipak.	07.11.14	All members, however individual posts.	We combined our ideas as well as ideas we got through inspiration from existing digipaks from artists within our genre.
14.11.14	We planned our group magazine advert.	14.11.14	All members, however individual posts.	We combined ideas to create a magazine advert for our artist album release.
18.11.14	We created our music video rough cut.	18.11.14	All members.	We edited all the clips and material by cropping them and adding transitions in order to create a rough cut for our music video.

Meetings and discussions are important to carry out throughout the whole planning of our music video and ancillary texts as it allows us to add our own new and different ideas that will allow us to create final pieces of that are most conventional to the genre and appeal to our target audience as each of us can give our individual ideas. As there are four of us, there will be a lot more ideas that we could consider using, this allows us to get the most successful ideas and put them together to make a group effort for the work we have to do.

 I believe our group worked well together as we all have different skills and abilities that we brought together, I had good experience and knowledge of how to edit, Lucy had most of the creative ideas, Sophie had useful thoughts for conventional decisions and Devon had directional skills that made us work time efficiently.

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Planning artist image - Miss Georgiou

The representation of an artist is important in a music video because it presents to the audience what the artist is like, it shows the type of image they are trying to portray of themselves. Also it allows the audience to have a better understanding of the artist and their personality as it is being portrayed throughout the music video.

The costumes that our artist will wear in our music video are going to include a look that portrays the artist as vintage. She will wear a big vintage black hat and vintage dress with curly, messy hair, also her makeup is going to be subtle with red lipstick and heavy eye makeup. This is going to connote the conventions of the soul music genre as the artist is going to look vintage and unique which shows that the song is personal and that she is individual. This look also makes the artist look like she has her own style which makes her stand out from the crown and make a more bold artist image for herself, this can also attract a wider audience as people who like the way she dresses may like her music too.

Also within the video we are going to include the artist wearing her underwear with a silk dressing gown when she is in her bedroom, at the dressing table and around the house setting. Her messy hair and subtle make up will present the artist as comfortable in her home to show that she is an independent woman. This is again conventional to the soul genre as the artist being in her underwear conveys love and relationships which is conventional to the soul music genre, this image presents the artist as vulnerable and alone as she doesn't have anybody to dress up for to impress which is shown through her outfit choice and makeup. 

The audience can build a relationship with the artist through the image we have created as the images portray the artist as being unique which shows she is relateable to the audience. Audiences can relate to the artist through her image as she is seen to be more accessible to audiences as they may aspire to be like her and adopt her individual style. This would therefore build a relationship between the artist and target audience as the target audience are males and females aged 16-40, therefore the unique vintage image the artist is portraying would appeal to this target audience as her look portrays the soul genre. 

Planning setting and iconography - Miss Georgiou

Having several different locations in a music video stops the audience from becoming disinterested and stop watching it. The locations encourage the audience to continue watching, as it makes the video fascinating as if the same location was used then it would become predictable which is very boring. The locations are also very important as they help convey the genre of song, for example having a club location would imply that the genre of the song is most likely to be dance as this is where the music is normally played.

Setting

During our video we have planned to use both a bedroom and a bathroom in a house location, we have chosen these locations because a home is very relateable and a bathroom and bedroom are very personal places which is why we are using them to convey the personal aspect of the song. The artist is portrayed as vulnerable throughout the video and the house location will show where she is safe, this will allow the audience to gain an insight of the artist's true identity as they can connect with her on a deeper level. This location is also very conventional to the soul genre as it tends to be used in narrative style videos where couples are in bed together showing the affectionate conventions of the soul genre. The use of the bathroom will represent the artist washing away her memories with her lover as they have broken up which is what she is singing out, this gives the audience a visual representation of this making it more appealing towards them and also making it conventional to the soul genre.

The bedroom will represent how she is reminiscing on her previous relationship and imagining her ex next to her in bed when she was happy with him. The bedroom is used to give the audience a personal insight into her life, as an individuals bedroom is their most personal place. Within this location we will film our artist putting on makeup in the mirror, showing her trying to cover up her sadness, we will also be filming our artist in bed with flashbacks of her ex laying next to her.
We are limited by using this location as we cannot perform many different camera shots because of the restricted space,
I don't believe using this location will cause any health and safety risks as it is a very safe environment which we spend a majority of our time in daily surrounded by people only we know and trust.

Our next location will be brick lane, this location is going to be used to represent the indie style that our artist is a part of, this location has many different settings in which we can use for our video. This is a conventional setting for our video as it matches the artist's image, not the soul genre, she is individual and stands out which is typical of the soul genre as most soul artists are individual and like to be their own person.   
We will film our artist singing on a graffiti backdrop, to make her style stand out to the audience as it is quite rebellious, we will also film many of the flashbacks of our artist and he ex from when they was happy in this location. These flashbacks will include happy memories with things such as the two characters holding hands, play fighting and shopping together. Hopefully this will fit in with our location as it is an open place not judgemental. The only problem with this location is the limited space will we have as it will be busy and we dont want to get in peoples ways, but we can visit the location at non busy times to be able to get the best shots at the least busiest times, such as early on week days. I do not believe there will be many health and safety risks of using this location as it is a public place in which many people visit daily, however we will be cautious of the  area to ensure that by-passers do not interrupt or disturb our filming. We could face issues with our filming if there is bad weather such as rain or snow, in this case we could either adapt our video to the bad weather conditions, or find another location.

Iconography

For our iconography we will firstly be using a large dressing table with a mirror in the middle, this will be used to show the artist looking in the mirror and putting on make up and brushing her hair. We chose a traditional dressing table instead of an ordinary mirror to portray an authentic, vintage look during our video which could entice the audience and make the video more appealing. It will also give the scene a strong sense of home rather than a filming set as it is a common object which makes it more relateable to the audience. We are also going to be using a double bed with feminine sheets and neatly made. This will be used to show our artist imagining her ex next to her, the birds eye view shot will capture the whole bed. The use of the double bed can be used to make it seem like there should be another person in the bed, (her ex), but he is not because they broke up, this scene will have the visuals link with the emotional lyrics to appeal more to the audience and make the video more enjoyable.

A simple white bath with feet n the bottom will be used in the scene when the artist is surrounded by pictures whilst in the bath, this will contain photos of her and her ex. The bath will portray the thought that she is metaphorically cleansing herself of all her memories of her ex because she wants to forget about him and be happy again. This shows how the iconography during a music video can give different meanings to everyday activities such as bathing to make the video more exciting for the audience.

Planning lighting and colour - Miss Georgiou

Different uses of lighting are essential within music videos as they cam be used to make the scenes conventional to the specific genre and allow the audience to be aware of what the song will be like. For example, low key lighting in a dark room will most likely be in a sad song, where as bright flashing lights would be in a pop song, this contrasting use of lighting is how music videos can convey the artist's emotions through mise-en-scene.

During our video we will be using a lot of natural lighting, for example during the flashbacks and when our artist is singing in front of the graffiti wall as we feel it will be more relateable for the audience as no artificial light is used, also this could attract a wider audience because the use of natural light doesn't fit in with a specific genre, where as strobe lighting for example is conventional to the pop/dance genre. The artist is going to be filmed in a public location so the use of natural lighting will make the video more realistic which will appeal to the audience as it is again more relateable. This is also more convenient for our group because adding extra lighting in a public place will be very difficult with people on the streets. Natural lighting is conventional to the soul genre as it gives a pure and personal impression to the audience as soul songs are typically about the artist's personal experiences, this makes them more appealing to the audience as it shows true emotion throughout the music videos, which is why we are using natural lighting in our video. This allows the audience to connect with the artist as they are presented as normal and ordinary which makes allows them to build a relationship with the audience.

During the bedroom and bathroom scene we will be using dull, low key lighting. This is going to be used to allow the emotional representation of the lyrics to link with the sadness portrayed through the visuals of the dark lighting. Throughout this scene the artist will be upset and the use of dull lighting will help connote those feelings towards the audience as the atmosphere is dull and depressing. This is conventional to the soul genre as it presents our artist as hurt and distressed which is how she is feeling after her break up; this is a conventional narrative within the soul music genre. This shows how the lighting used in different scenes can connote the artist's different feelings and emotions and also specify the genre of a song through the light visuals seen by the audience.

Planning cinematography - Miss Georgiou

Cinematography is essential in music videos because they allow the audience to see things from different angles and point of views. It also allows the audience to engage with the music video and build a relationship with the artist.

The main shots we are using in our music video are: 

Closeup

Birds eye view

Over the shoulder

Handheld

Establishing shot

Many close-ups are going to be used in our music video of our artist, this will allow the audience to build a relationship with the artist/actor as the close up will show her emotions whilst singing the song and performing the video which is conventional to soul music videos. This will make the video more enjoyable to watch as the emotions portrayed through close up shots could relate to the audience. Also this gains publicity for the artist/actor as the audience can see clearly who it is where as a long shot would not have the same effect towards the audience, this could also attract a new audience as people will enjoy seeing the artist in the video which is confirmed in our target audience results questionnaire.

A birds eye view shot will be used in our video to add a narrative style to our video, this is because it shows the artist acting (in our video she is laying in bed) instead of performing to the camera. This allows the audience to again see and feel the emotion that the artist/actor is presenting in our music video to make it more enjoyable and relateable for the audience. Also a birds eye view shot can make the subject (our artist/actor) look inferior and damaged by what is being shown in the music video, this brings the artist down to the audience's level and again makes the video more relateable.

An over the shoulder shot will also be used in our music video, this is used to allow the audience to see something form the artist/actor's point of view. In our video it will be the camera over the shoulder of the artist/actor to show them looking into the mirror, this links with the lyrics and again makes the video more relateable as the audience is seeing from the point of view of the artist/actor, making them feel a part of the video which makes the video more appealing to the audience.

A handheld shot will also be used in our Paloma Faith music video to create a realistic effect during flashbacks, the handheld camera shot makes the audience feel like they are seeing something from the artist/actor's point of view. This allows them to feel the emotion of the artist and make the video appealing for the audience, also the artist can create a connection with them, this makes the video more enjoyable for the audience and allows the artist/actor to build a relationship them to make the video appeal more to that target audience.

We would use an establishing shot when our artist is singing against the graffiti background, we chose this shot because it shows the audience both the location and the artist. We want our location to be clear to the audience because it represents the style of our artist, the graffiti background portrays the indie culture that she belongs to. This makes it easy for the audience to relate to as they would recognise this location as it is a common place to go to, this means that they can connect to our artist as she would be seen as relatable as it is a normal and popular place to go. Using a different shot such as a mid shot would not be as effective as it would not capture the whole of the background we aimed to put into our video, the establishing shot also shows how our artist fits in with the setting and location even though it subverts the conventional soul genre conventions.