Marketing Pack Research - "The Kooks" Inside In Inside Out

Digipak:

The digipak that was created for the Kooks debut album inside in inside out has a very unique design that definitley benefitted the kooks, as the design stands out and is very different from mainstream digipaks. This wouldve been he;lpful coinsidering it wass their first studio album and needed to have a firsrt impression with a distinct feel. Its very greyscale which allows its genre to be identified without actually having to listen to it. The lack of colour allows potential buyers to understand it is probably not going to be aimed towards people looking for pop music which usually has plenty of colour in their marketing. Also the focus on the band memebers instead of a mascot or symbol of some kind could represent the fact that the band is very open about who they are and want people to connect with them, which is effectivley done by having the band be the face of the albums design. Although the album is very grey in colour the CD contrasts this with a blood red colour agaisnt black and white writing, this is incredbly effective in conveying a sense of what the band wants the listener to feel, effected by the bold design.

Video:


Unlike some albums where the album itself is named after the main single on the album or even a lesser song on the album, inside in inside out didnt have a song on the album named that. However the most successful single on the album was a song called "Naive" which itself got a video. Now the success of the song and the video worked incredibly in the marketing as if a potentail buyer stumbled upon the video they would most likley want to hear more of the band if they enjoyed it which could lead to a purchase of the album.

Poster:

This poster was released in conjunction with the album to provide a boost to marketing. As is clear the poster is identical to the album cover it is promoting. This is extremley helpful and effective as it means that if an audience member was to see this poster and then wanted to buy the album they would be able to fuind it easily as they just have to look for an album with this picture. This technique would've helped massivley in marketing.

Brainstorming

Me and Guy planning some storyboard ideas for our music video. We thought of shots and decided to start drawing them. This helped us in knowing what kind of video we were striving for a while before actually starting the filming

Research into music genre - Indie Rock

I have decided to research into the the indie ro9ck genre as that is the genre my music video will most liklley incorporate. I hope to do a music video of local band dear victor who are in the vein of such indie bands as The Kooks and Arctic Monkeys.

Indie Rock is a genre also closley associated with alternative rock and includes many further sub genres. It originated mainly in the United States and United Kingdom but surged in popularity with the emergence of Britpop in the '90's.

The music videos of indie rock bands tend to be more realistic and human than music videos made by huge mainstream pop artists. They tend to have dark tones with the band members or actors in the videos wearing black and white themed clothing adding to the more grounded tone indie music strives for.




This arctic monkeys music video exhibits many conventions I just mentioned about indie music videos such as the black clothing being very prominnent against white (the bathroom scene). It also tackles very street level themes such as drug use or visiting the pub common in indie music videos.

Boom video notes

I watched a clip called Boom which was on a competiiton set up by MTV to see who could make a brilliant music video and win. The clip gave several helpful tips on whata music video should include.
Here are a few that I found very helpful and want to focus on including in my Music Video.

• There needs to be a Beginning, middle and an end. Clear for viewers.
• Storyboard is essential for allowing your ideas to come to life as accuratley as you envision it.
• Listen to the song carefully over and over and come up with several ideas of how to bring it to life visually.
• Need to be prepared before filming. ORGANISATION IS KEY.
• Have an interesting location that will not seem tedious to the viewer. Create an atmosphere people feel is right for the music.
• Have a lot of shot variety. Try different shot types of the same thing you are trying to capture then choose your favourite, this allows flexibility.

Prelim - Music video Evaluation/Contribution

Evaluation:

Overall I feel the prelim video we made went well however there were several flaws that definitley have taught me what to watch out for in my video I make later on. I feel the main thing I would improve would be the syncing of the lips to the lyrics as we really struggled with that when filming and especially when editing, a lot more time would be spent on perfecting this if it was to be done again.











Another thing I would like to do better is make the shots more accurate to the original video, wether thta be by changing what the actor was doing or changing the positioning of the camera to succeed in aqquiring a different shot type. I feel we were limited as the music video was shot in quite a specific location and had specific props which we were quite restricted in replicating. For example we didnt have the recording machine that is used so we had to substitute it for a piano.



My Contribution:

I feel I contributed a considerably fair amount, I was the main person using the editying software for the bulk of the video whilst also taking suggestions and using ideas the rest of the group put foward. I also filmed several shots myself when i wasnt lip syncing. And finally as I said I was responsible for lip syncing Zayn's parts of the music video which really helped out the group as it saved time due to the fact we didnt have to find another actor.

Preliminary music video - One Direction "Little Things"

Purpose of a Music Video

I brainstromed a few ideas of what the purpose of a music video should be, this helps to focus my aim for my own video when i ultimatley come to plan and make it.

• To add a narrative or visual representation to an artists song. Could be the vision of the artist or the director, sometimes both.
• To entertain audience members. Has to be interesting to watch and not boring or predictable.
• If its rleased for a brand new single or to go with an album it has to be of a high quality that will encourage a purchase.
• Should give the artist attention so their fan base can grow. Its preferable then to include the band in the video.

Media Theorists

Dyer:
Dyer has a theory that the stars of the music world are more of an image and not a real person, just commodities.
The 2 Paradoxes: The Artist can be seen as ordinary and extraordinary which allows viewers to relate to the star.
Also there is the idea that audience members feel like they know the artist although they have never met or spoken in person. This is caused as a result of the amount of coverage on the artist on TV or other media etc.

Adorno:
Adorno has the idea that capitilast conglomerates create media such as music videos to please the false needs viewers possess. The satisfaction is to keep people from aspiring to anything massivley and preventing any kind of overthrowing of capitilasts in wealthier or more powerful positions in the world.

Hebdige:
In contrast to adorno hebdige believes that we as people dont adhere to just false needs and are in fact very aware of our decisions and dont follow false needs. He also says that where you come from in society you will consume and interpret media differently to someone else as a result of your free thought. He also believed this created subcultures, fpr example a cult fololowing like a goth who would not buy mainstream clothing.

Negus:
Negus believed in the 2 versions of creativity.
He said there is the organic ideology of creativity in wghich the artist is sustained in some way or other, mainly through more bulky marketing like albums, the image had to be enhanced overtime, for instance a older act like Elvis or more recent like Ed Sheeran, these are also usually artists who have a love of music rather than just doing it for the money or fame.
The other ideology was was synthetic, this is more of an image created by the conglomerates for more short term profit (the opposite of organic), this has more of a focus on singles and one hit wonders, for example justin bieber or little mix.

Analysis of other students - Jake Maud - Blog

Research + Planning:

Strengths - There are several posts that display a clear vision of what the final products being produced will entail and look like.
The choice of concepts and ideas that blog posts have been created for is varied showing massive thought has been put into what they wasn't to create in the end.
Although varied, the focus on the single genre presents a main idea that is loud and clear to the reader of the genre they are going for.

Weaknesses - Even though it is focused well within one genre and focused well on that, an improvement could be diversifying into other genres to show a vaster expanse of ideas thats been narrowed down more so, therefore showing much more progress.
Further detail could have been put into each individual post possibly showing more thought from the student.

Digipak:

Strengths - Extremely professional look, it could pass off for a real in store product.
Brilliant use of imagery, good location and interesting looking blur effect.

Weaknesses - Could be looked at as quite a simple design with only one actor, a simple location.
Also the black and white filter, although aesthetically good looking, could be seen as quite easy and unadventurous technically.

Magazine Advert:

Strengths - Similar to the digipak the advert has a very professional look. I feel it uses the filters location and actor all together very well.
The mise en scene is utilised beautifully in the advert, with very different and interesting costume choice being decided on for the character giving it a very individual look to set itself apart.

Weaknesses - Although the text is clever and fits well, the advert could be improved by including more such as reviews etc to add authenticity.

Evaluation:

Strengths - He focus on all the areas and allows a clear vision for what bits he feels he needed to improve on ore areas he liked.

Weaknesses -  I feel slightly more detail could be put for each section to just give a more substantial idea of what he wanted to do better.

Analysis of other students work - Jake Maud - Video

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Shot by Shot analysis of real video - Kooks "Junk of the Heart"

What have I learnt from this process:
I have learnt that music videos tend to have several establishing shots, especially junk of the heart, that introduce each member of the band and show them in their own environment and what their place is in the band. The lead singer also seems to have the most screen time. These are conventions I would like to iclude in my music video. Also this video and many others use invisible editing whicvh is a very clever and proffesional technique I would like to include in my work.

Prelim Task - Filming

The Filming of our recreation of One Direction's "little things" music video took place on the 21st of June 2016.

We used the Music Room in our school to utilise several instruments as props with ease, and get closer to the heavily emphasised practice room atmosphere perceived in the original video. The filming was quite difficult due to the fact we had to match the ashots we were taking to the real music video. This required us to have to position the camera in similar positions and make sure the actors fit in the shot in identical ways to the original video. Although difficult at the time this allowed us to learn the techniques that music videos utilise to create an effective visual representation of the music. We all took it in turns to film different sections of the video. This was very helpful as we each got to personnally feel what its like to film shots of a music video and how to do it proffesionally.

 Here are a few of the shots that I took myself:

Prelim Task - Editing

Editing the video together was a difficult task due to the fact that we were quite restricted in how leneient we could be with shot length or mistakes. The main diffuculty was matching up lip syncing ewith the original video due to the actors in our video possibly mouthing certain words differently to the band members from the video. If I was to do it again I would definiltey piece together the lip syncing at the beggining to add at the end due to the fact that when we got to it it was difficult to include with existing shots. Editing was a collaborative effort with everyone having their say or vision taken into account with all shots.

Prelim Task - One Direction "Little Things" 2012

Original Video.
Task Outline:
We will be recreating the first 1 minute of One Direction's Little Things music video, therefore improving our filming and editing skills for the our own music video we're making later on.


Planning:

Story Board:
These are the shots that will be recreated from the first 1 minute of the music video.

Long shot 
4 actors

No Lyrics
Instrumental begin











Mid/Group shot
4 Actors

No Lyrics







Close Up
1 Actor

No Lyrics

   

   Mid Shot
1 Actor 
Niall

No Lyrics







Extreme Close Up
1 Actor

No Lyrics






                             
Mid Shot
1 Actor

Lyrics:
Youre hand fits in mine like it was
meant to be...





Long shot

Lyrics:
"But bear this in mind it was meant to be"




                                                                                                                           

Close Up

Lyrics:
"I'm joining up the dots with the freckles on your
  cheeks"






   
Close Up

Lyrics:
"It all makes sense to me"    









Close Up
1 Actor
Liam

Lyrics:
"I know youve never loved..."





Mid Shot

Lyrics:
"The crinkles by your eyes, when you smile,
you never loved your stomach
or your thighs"












Long/mid shot

Lyrics:
"The dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine"

                                                                

Mid Shot

Lyrics:
"Ill love them endlessly"







Close Up

Lyrics:
"I wont let these little things"








Close up

Lyrics:
"Slip, out"








Mid Shot

Lyrics:
"Of my mind"





Lyrics:

 [Zayn:]
Your hand fits in mine like it's made just for me
But bear this in mind, it was meant to be
And I'm joining up the dots with the freckles on your cheeks 
 And it all makes sense to me...

[Liam:]
I know you've never loved the crinkles by your eyes when you smile
You've never loved your stomach or your thighs, the dimples in your back at the bottom of your spine
But I'll love them endlessly

[Zayn & Liam:]
I won't let these little things
Slip out of my mouth
The highlighted lyrics are the parts I will be filmed lip syncing.