I LOVE THIS VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bloodhoung Gang - 'Bad Touch'

I really like the simplicity of this video which has resulted in an extremely witty end result. It has been shot around town with very few props - the most flamboyant being the monkey costumes. What really stands out in this video is the personality of the lead singer, who really steals the show despite the addition of dwarves and beautiful woman. He isn't particularly attractive and the dance moves him and his band perform are far from sophisticated, however the video still is very amusing and enjoyable to watch. The cheeky lyrics matches the boyish behaviour of the band.

I will now go on to compare the successful factors of 'Bad Touch' by the Bloodhound Gang to other music videos, to inspire us to think about how we could use these factors in our own video.

Three more videos:

This first example is titled 'Donkey Rhubarb' by Aphex Twin, and although we did find this video slightly disturbing, we were inspired by the costumes and repetitive 'dance' moves, along with the theme of voyerism when everyone watches the characters. We liked the fact that there were a group of bears, but that there was an obvious main character, which creates a similar structure to that of 'Bad Touch' (see above). This music videos has few components which means that it would be simple to make, yet still proves to be extremely effective.

These second two videos inspired us through the use of a simplified dance routine, which is performed in unison and creates a humourous atmosphere.

This video is titled 'Deceptacon' by Le tigre. We thought that it was fantastic that the video consisted of only a few takes, and that the dance routine was very original and consisted mostly of the two characters jumping up and down in unison.


This final video is entitled 'Here It Goes Again' by the band OK GO. Similarly, this video has been constructed in one single shot, which could result in disaster but in this case has been very successful. As amateur music-video-makers, I don't think that our group would be able to pull of this one-shot success, however we can still appriciate this video for its originality and constructed dance routine.

EDIT: Another video, produced by ex-latymer studient Jake S Wynne (Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning) by the Kaiser Chiefs), illustrates the fact that a one-shot music video can be extremely successful and effective.

ALBUM COVERS - analysis

TYPICAL FEATURES OF AN ALBUM COVER:

Name of artist
Name of album
Picture of artist/band - photography or illustration
Eye-catching colour
Eye-catching graphic design
Tracklisting
Record Company Logo/Info
Copyright Info
Barcode

HOW COULD YOU CATEGORIZE THESE COVERS?

Genre: pop, rock, R'n'B, electro
Era/Decade: 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s
Mood: funky, artistic, mellow, emo
Format: CD, tape, vinyl, podcast, digital download

FUNCTIONS/PURPOSES OF AN ALBUM COVER:

Promote the artist - make them look attractive and interestingDraw in the audience - make them want to hear/see more from this artistLook original and creative - something that hasn't been done before

SELECTED ALBUM COVER:


IMAGES USED:
MS of a female sitting in a white cake, situation on the left hand of the coverPlain green background
Simple layout, simply showing the artist and her details
Artist is looking straight into the camera to intrigue the audience

TEXT:
Light green, yellow and pale blue text colour in conjunction with the rest of the cover
Funky '60's style' font which looks very artistic
Positioned on the right of the image of the girl

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEXT AND IMAGES:

‘Sexy’ girl = ‘sexy’ font – curly, flowing (like her hair) and volumptuous
She is holding a rose which matches the colour of the text and background

MYSPACE-MUSIC.

MySpace Music is a site accessed by millions of users every single day, and a perfect opportunity to promote an unsigned artist or band. The social networking site has an application which allows you to 'add' a song on to your profile, meaning that users are constantly browsing the site in search for that edgy and original song to complte their profile. MySpace Music has its own homepage:


I have circled the important factors of the home page in pink. These showcase why it is such a great marketing tool for new and already popular musicians, through features such as 'artist of the week', 'behind the scenes' and 'featured download'. Popularity of the songs are published on the website, demonstrated through the number of 'hits' their profile has had, and how many times each individual song has been played.

Here are some famous success stories:
www.myspace.com/jackpenate

www.myspace.com/lilymusic

www.myspace.com/katenashmusic

www.myspace.com/arcticmonkeys

www.myspace.com/jamiet
www.myspace.com/theturncoat
www.myspace.com/themaccabees
www.myspace.com/cajundanceparty
www.myspace.com/adelelondon
www.myspace.com/canseidesersexy
www.myspace.com/newyoungponyclub

These independant artists and singers have been greatly affected in a positive way by MySpace Music, where they can easily showcase their music.
-- Shows how popular independant music is becoming - Lily Allen recently got to No.1 in the charts with her singles 'Smile' and 'LDN'.
We would definetly want to use MySpace music to market our band/artist.

LOOKING AT PAST STUDENT'S WORK.

This video is entitled 'Love Machine' by Soul.Funk
I really love the original choice of track by the group, as it is a genre (i.e. soul and funk) which is rarely re-visited in the mainstream music industry, yet the music video helps to modernize it.

I also think that it has been constructed extremely cleverly so that even though there is no miming at any point in the video, and the artist of the band is unclear, it still manages to work as a music video. This is something that I would like to keep in mind for our music video, as I think that this technique is easy to produce and often appears successful.

If I was to critisize the video, I would suggest that the filming and continuity is not very good, but thankfully they have managed to salvage the footage through fantastic editing and special effects.

Overall, the music video appears extremely original and humourous, two extremely important factors which I would like to emulate in our own music video.

INDEPENDANT RECORD LABEL.

Aardvark Records
Aardvark Records is one of the rising stars of the UK music industry. They are a staunchly independent record label with a growing roster of original, new talent covering a variety of music genres: Indie rock, Americana, Alt Country, Commercial Dance, Hard Dance, Adult Contemporary and Pop music.



Aardvark’s directors bring over 30 years’ combined music industry experience to the group. This experience covers music & studio production, artiste management, music sales and A&R. Their roster of acts currently enjoy sales and radio play around the globe. They also enjoy the respect and praise of hardened music journalists and industry insiders.

Aardvark's core activity is about delivering their artists’ music to the public. Their entrepreneurial drive is the foundation for this core activity. It enables them to identify, develop and pursue traditional and new avenues to achieve this. One of the aspects Aardvark values most is thinking out of the box. New mediums which deliver our artists' music is good for them and good for lovers of original music.

Some of their clients include:
Adrenalizer ( Prog Rock)
Daisy Hicks ( Pop)
Darrell Delk ( MOR Rock)
Everett Young (Pop)
Liquid Factor (Pop / Dance)
Little Spitfire (Indie / Alternative)
Satya Graha (Pop Rock & Americana)
Steve O' Connor (Acoustic Pop)
The Cleft Way (Rhythm & Blues)
The Code (Rock)
The Race (Indie / Alternative)

VIDEO DIRECTORS

Ras Kassa
Ras Kassa (born on November 1, 1974 in Kingston, Jamaica). Director, Producer, editor and writer, Ras Kassa a.k.a The Guru is an award winning Jamaican maverick who is well known for his unique Directorial of mainstream music tv and videos. Chairman of Guru Films, Ras Kassa is Creative Director, editor, writer, producer, cinematographer, musician and painter who has distinguished himself in the realms of television, commercials and home DVD.

His 2005 Directorial of Damian Marley's track "Welcome to Jamrock" proved to be an international success for both Marley and Ras Kassa garnering major airplay on mainstream stations across the globe and a number of music video nominations and awards. The video which Ras Kassa edited and coloured himself, sparked a storm of controversy and discussion. The video is currently studied in universities across North America and the Caribbean.

Ras Kassa is well known for his feral directorial style, and unabashedly sense of vibrant emotion. With no formal training he has master his craft at a prolific pace directing to date almost 100 music videos. Ras Kassa has been a pioneering force in the Jamaican television industry. His co-founding of the Jamaican cable station, Music +, along with his work as Creative Director and driector for both Jamaican and International networks (inc. BET J.) have raised the bar.

In 2007 Ras Kassa formed Guru Films - a production company and entire movement within the Jamaican filmmaking industry.

"Ras Kassa, probably one of the Jamaican film industry's more promising directors proves just that. He uses his creativity to raise the standards of locally produced videos, a task he has chosen to take on largely because of his love for reggae music."
-- http://www.whaddat.com/ye/kassa1.html

Here are just a few of the fun, colourful and culturely and visually rich videos directed by Kassa:

Alaine - Rise In Love

Sean Paul - Never Gonna Be The Same

Damien Marley - Welcome To Jamrock

Jack S Wynne


Geri Haliwell - It's Raining Men

Nojahoda

The making of Nojahoda Video

Super Fury Animals - Golden Retriver
EDIT:
Spit At Stars - Jack Penate
This one wasn't actually directed by Jake, but instead edited, but I though I would include it as it links to the MySpace post!

ALBUM COVERS:

I looked at some older album covers which I found inspirational.
I thought that these would be more insync with the quality that we would be able to achieve successfully, as many modern album covers are made very expensively.
I realised that many old album (or 'vinyl') covers used illustration and simple font:
The Doors - Weird Scenes Inside the Gold MineThis cover depicts the lead singer and his three other band members in what appears to be ink and watercolour. The cover connotes the hippy movement at the time, and the mellow and pretty sounds of The Doors.
Chet Atkins - In HollywoodThis album cover is a single photograph that has not been digitally altered yet still manages to look sophisticated and effective. The colours are co-ordinated (guitar, girl and building). The artist is not shown on the cover, but is replaced by an attractive female, which could act to attract the overly-male audience that listens to this particular artist.
Iron Butterfly - LIVEThis cover is extremly eyecatching. It depicts the bandmemebers in religious clothing, decorated with illustrated butterflies, roses, sparkle among many others - very feminine imagery. This acts as a contrast to the male figureheads of the band, who mostly are masculine men, complete with beards and moustaches. The cover has a sugary and collaged feel to it which seperates it from most band album covers.
Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other DelightsThis is one of my favourite album covers. The colours are bright and zestly, the imagery orginal and eye-catching and the font original and funky. Whipped Cream sold over 6 million copies in the United States and the album cover alone is considered a classic pop culture icon. It features model Dolores Erickson wearing chiffon and shaving cream. This again is used by the male band members to draw the audience in, as it isn't actually them featured on the cover but someone much more beautiful.Robert Gordon - Rock Billy BoogieThis is a classic look for a 50s Rockabilly artist. The colours are themed in black, white and purple promoting a very iconic look. The artist is the main focus of the cover, in a classic 'Elvis' style stance. Marvin Gaye - LIVEThis cover is simple yet effective. The artist is clear, even repeated twice for dramatic effect, and the main focus of the cover. The colour theme is clear - a patriotic blue, red, and white. The font matches the blue, red and white sparkle of Gaye's clothing, and immitates his name 'up in lights', a classic sign of fame and importance. The black background helps the title and the photograph stand out.
Eloy - PerformanceThis cover has a orignal and psychodellic feel to it. The two characters look out of place and mis-matched, using neon poles to play Snooker. It is unclear whether these are the band members or not, since they are so cleverly disguised, however looking at Eloy's past record of album covers they often use imagery.

SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE MUSIC VIDEOS.

I researched the music genre on YouTube to find videos that didn't need a studio/special effects/amazing actors to be impressive and clever: