This is the single cover for 'I'm Still Here'. I used Photoshop to lighten the picture and I also to change the contrast to make it look more eye-catching. I really like the effect that it has created. I asked people which single cover they prefered and this one came out as the most popular. They saud that they liked the shades and the soft focus, and that they thought the font suited the artist well.
This is my artists album cover. I used Photoshop to lighten the picture and I used a colour block to draw attention to the artists name and make it bolder. I feel that the album art is eye-catching and that the shade of red also really represents the romantic image we are trying to convey. It also would attract the eye is it is on a website as a small jpeg on the screen. The red makes the cover much more eye-catching and is therefore more likely to draw in people to view the album.
This is the back cover of my album. Threr is continuity used with the candle image which is used to keep the theming. It is also in keeping with the romantic image I am trying to put across. I have also continued with the colour scheme using the red, black and cream colours.
Today we converted the video to Quicktime and it has been uploaded to YouTube. Overall I am happy with the finished product. I feel that it has imporved in terms of the quality from the first draft edit in January and I also feel that the candle shots in particular have worked really well.
I do feel that it could have been imporved as in some arenas there the lip-sync doesnt seem to match quite as well as it could, and I also feel that it could have been improved by including a little more narrative.
However the audience feedback we have had to the music video has been very positive.
The band Lawson are a band that are currently preparing to release material. The band use social media very heavily to promote themselves and attract peoples attention to their music. The bands website has a large band logo across the top of the website in the centre.
The website then has links to the bands tumbler, facebook, Twitter, YouTube and myspace pages. This gives people looking for information on the fans ways to find out anything they want about the band as well as being able to listen to their music. Underneath this their is a link to download a studio recording of one of the bands songs. This gives anyone visiting the site a chance to listen to the band and potentially become a fan of the band an helps them to potentially achieve a following of fans for when they release their first single. The website also features a the latest cover video the band have uploaded on to YouTube. This again gives people a chance to listen to the bands music and see whether they like the bands musical style.
It could be better if there was more information. This website relies heavily on the other social network pages to give people information rather than having information on it.
The website for the band The Wanted is not only interesting to look at but markets the band in many ways.
When entering the website a black screen with a pcture of the band members wearing hooded black tops and the bands logo stands out as it uses white font against the black background. This page is promoting the current UK arena tour the band are doing called 'The Code' which is seen underneath the logo on the website page. When people go to see them live a code of 5 numbers appears on the screen after the show which is different in each arena and show which can be entered here so that they can look at exclusive content from behind the scenes of that show. One of the features is a video taken using a flip camera by one of the band members who walks on stage (dressed in a red mask and blue jumpsuit so that the crowd do not recognise them) in between the support acts. This is then uploaded and when typing in that code the audience members from that show can see which band member came out on stage during the show, and try to spot themselves in the audience. Underneath this page there is a link to enter the bands main website.
The bands main site has a news feed, informing fans of up coming promotions, TV appearances and releases etc., which is useful for fans to keep up to date with news about the band from a reliable source.
There are also pictures of the band members, which when scrolled over brings up a Twitter feed for each member of the band which shows the four most recent tweets. This is a really good feature, as it gives fans a chance to interact with the band and see their personalities individually this may encourage anyone visiting their site to follow them on twitter. Which can in turn lead to more fans as they can inform them of up coming gigs and releases.
There is a page about the band. Telling anyone wanting to know about the band who each member is, how they got together and what they have achieved since they formed in 2009.
There is another page with videos. This page contains all the ‘Wanted Wednesday’ videos the band make every week as well as performances and web-chats. There isa gallery page which has pictures of the band from photo shoots for magazines and album/single shoots. The website also has a merchandise page. This contains the range of Tout T-Shirts and hoodies, calendars, mugs, canvas posters, badges, range of jewellery, official book and phone cases and covers.
There are also links to the bands Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages at the top of the website home page which can direct anyone to the bands music or to help them get more information on the band.
The site also has the a sign in option. This is or fans to be able to interact with each other as well as receiving a mailer from the band. This is sent every Wednesday (Wanted Wednesday) to those who have signed up. It is written by band member Jay McGuiness and tells the fans about the events of their week and usually includes pictures as well as links to the bands merchandise page, latest videos, offers on the album, links for websites to buy tickets for tours and gigs and links to vote for any awards or competitions the band are nominated for or taking part in.
This website works really well. The use of band images and connecting all information anyone could every want to know about the band into one site as well as giving links to the bands music. I particularly like the use of the Twitter feed, the news feed and the idea of signing up to a mailer , which cleverly uses the idea of getting closer to the band to give fans information about merchandise and upcoming tours and shows off the bands personality in positive light. It is a great site for fans. However the down side is that on the first page that is brought up when clicking on the Wanted's site is that the link to the main site is not particularly clear which could confuse anyone using the site for the first time who is trying to find out about the band.
Today in class we watched other groups music videos. I think there are a lot of great music videos and concepts. They all have strengths too them. Watching them has given me a better understanding of what we need to do to improve our music video, as our lip-sync like some of the other videos is not quite right and is not up to stratch with some other groups music videos who have great lip-sync.
Today we got audience feedback about our music videos and found out what the other groups thought. Overall our feedback was positive. They liked a lot of the shots particularly the candle scene shots and thought that the performance was good.
The criticisms were that they felt the lip-sync was off in some places which we were already expecting and are trying to fix this week. We are really pleased with the feedback and will be making adjustments to our video based on our feedback.
Today Becky, Duresh and I started editing the music video and checking some lip-sync and making sure we were happy wiht the shots. We made good progress and managed to re-edit up until the end of the first chorus. After we had a break for lunch Becky and I came back to edit however Duresh did not. Becky and I continued to edit although we were not as familiar with using Final Cut as Duresh we soon picked it up and I now feel really confident with it. Becky and I re-edited the entire music video. We were not happy with the way we had edited in blocks and felt when watching it back it lacked fluidity and looked messy. After 3 hours of editing, watching all the footage and editing it too the music we finally finished editing the whole music video. Because of having to show the music video to the class on thursdaywe felt it was important to have the music video finished even if it was a rough version in order to get the best feed back and give us the best chance of improving what we had. I am so pleased with waht Becky and I have been able to do and I feel that although it is not perfect we have been able to put together a great rough edit that we can work on with the help of the classes feed back.
The band The Wanted were formed in 2009.They areclassed as a ‘boy band’ and have so far released two top 5 albums and 6 singles which reach the top 20 in the UK charts. They have also created a strong following in Europe, Australia, Brazil and now America.
The Wanted, were put together by Universal in 2009 after completing a 9 month’s of auditions. They were looking to create a new boy band, as the success of the 4 piece boy band JLS had signalled a resurgence in the popularity of boy bands, and at time there was no competition for JLS. The band consists of Max George, Tom Parker, Nathan Sykes, Jay McGuiness and Siva Kaneswaren. Unlike boy band JLS who entered the music industry using reality TV show The X Factor, where instant recognition ensues for most contestants that reach the final 4, The Wanted had to generate their own publicity and build their own fan base. The Wanted instead toured the UK on a school and club tour. The band often comment on ‘the early days’ of working hard performing during the day at schools and going to perform at clubs and pubs at night.. This gained the band interest and fans from scratch rather than picking up on a TV audience. It got the bands music and name out, and the bands interaction with fans helped them to gain a really strong following. During the school and club tour the band would often send tweets to fans, answering questions and updating them on what they were doing and they also used a flip camera to record their day to day life and to send video messages schools they wanted to thank. These videos were uploaded on to the bands YouTube channel ‘thewantedmusic’. The band really enjoyed making these videos and realised they were helping to create fan interaction as the videos were being really well received. So band member Tom Parker came up with the idea of ‘Wanted Wednesday’. On Wanted Wednesday (every Wednesday) a mailer written by band member Jay McGuiness is sent to anyone signed up to the bands website, fans are encouraged to tweet ‘#WantedWednesday’ and try to get it trending and a video is uploaded to YouTube of the bands weekly activities, this could be promotion work, touring or behind the scenes of filming a music video etc. The videos are filmed by the band and/or their manager Jayne or tour manager Martin and give the fans a way to follow what the band are doing. They often also have competitions run within them for fans to win prizes which also encourages fans to watch the videos and tweet about the band. By getting fans to tweet about the band and trend their name the band were gaining free publicity.
The band’s first single ‘All Time Low’ shot them into the charts where the band debuted at number one. The band did single promotion through a radio tour which saw them travel up and down the country and TV interviews. ‘All Time Low’ was so successful that the band was even asked to perform at the Capital Summer Time Ball held at Wembley arena. This was a huge leap for the band, from performing to about 100 people in a club to 75,000 people. This gave the band exposure and publicity by performing at such a well known mainstream music event. The band have since gone from strength to strength. They solidified their place in the music industry releasing their second single ‘Heart Vacancy’ which peaked at number 2 in the UK Singles Chart and releasing their self titled album which peaked at number 4 in the official UK album chart. When releasing the album, the band played an exclusive Halloween gig. People wanting to attend had to get a wrist band from high street store HMV. The band were also asked to perform at T4’s Stars of 2010 show, which celebrated the best new comers to music, TV and film of the year. Perhaps the biggest achievement according to band member Jay, was being nominated for Best British Single for ‘All Time Low’ at the BRIT awards.In March 2011 the band were even asked to release the Comic Relief charity single. They released 'Gold Forever’ the first song from their second album, which debuted at number 3 in the UK charts and raised a lot of money for the charity. The band reached number 1 in the charts for a second time in the summer of 2011 with their single ‘Glad You Came’ which managed to hold on to the number 1 spot for 2 weeks in the UK and for 4 weeks in Ireland. This single has also had huge international success entering the charts in countries all over the world and has just earned the band their second nomination for Best British Single at the BRITS. In February of 2012 the band will be embarking on their first UK arena tour. The band have been drumming up excitement for the tour by tweeting fans, asking if they are excited, who has their tickets and uploading videos and pictures of the band rehearsing.
The band have become hugely successful across Europe, Asia, Australia and Brazil after supporting teen pop star Justin Beiber on his South American tour which gained them a lot of fans and publicity as Justin Bieber is such a global star who would attract a similar fanbase to that the band are aimed at. The band are currently attempting to crack the US market. Even though the band hadn’t done any promotion in the US when they first went over to New York, theyplayed a sell out show at the Gramercy Theatre. This shows the power of the internet as the band had been able to sell records and tickets and create interest without any formal TV or radio promotion. This year the band were invited to perform on the popular US chat show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and have just finished their first US Tour, selling out two of their shows in a matter of minutes and managing to get their single ‘Glad You Came’ on to many radio playlists all over the country. Their radio and club tour stratergy that helped them to make it in the UK, has also paid off in the US as their single ‘Glad You Came’ currently sits at number 12 in the iTunes chart and is even going to be covered by the cast of Glee in on of the episodes of the popular TV show. Even though the band have not been in the UK, they have still been able to keep in touch with the fans from the UK and all over the world using Twitter, mailers and their YouTube videos which shows the bands antics from their tour which were edited by band member Jay, as well as lining up a Channel 4 Fly-on-the-wall Documentary.
The success of The Wanted, shows the power of the internet in promoting artists and music as well as showing technologies ability to spread music and start careers for artists in countries that otherwise would not hear their music. Twenty years ago it would have been impossible for an artist to become successful and have an army of fans in a country where they had done no promotion, however this s The technology The Wanted use to keep in touch with their fans also embodies increased fan interactivity in the modern age and the ability for artists to connect with people on another level, which would otherwise be impossible.
Today I edited the footage we shot at my house yesterday. The section I edited was the second half of the first verse and the first chorus. The shots where I burnt the picture have turned out great. I was really happy with the way the footage looked. It looks professional and has a looks interesting and eye-catching so I'm really pleased. I pieced together the footage and I'm really pleased with how it looks overall. The shots and the edits work really well.
Today we filmed some scenes at my house. The footage me and Becky had filmed on Thursday had not looked exactly how we had hoped but luckily Duresh and I were able to go to my house with the camera and re-shoot this. We started off filming in front of a window, but I was not happy with these shots at all. I felt the lighting didn't work and the shots didn't have any effect and didn't look interesting at all. After some discussion we decided that we tried to use two other locations but both of these didn't gave the right effect either and looked boring. We then decided to move on to another shot we had planned to try and realised that by using some candles I had we could do the candle shot using the fireplace and mantle piece. We tested this and the shots came out really well. I think they look great and I am particularly pleased with them because we managed to overcome issues we were having with the shot and because they we found out how great the shot looked almost by accident. I was able to have input on the shots, which I think is really important, by using the screen and turning it to face me so that I could make sure I was happy with the framing and make any adjustments I felt were needed. This way I was able to have my own say in what we filmed and make sure I was happy with the footage. We then filmed some shots of me playing the guitar on the stairs. I bribed my brother to hold a light above me from the hall way so that the shot was light enough and made the shot look brighter and easier on the eye. We filmed the me lip-synching the entire song 3 or 4 times to make sure we could get a lot of good shots that we could use throughout the music video just in case we needed some extra performance shots as well as the footage we needed for during the first chorus. We then did my make-up for a shot of me crying to convey the emotion in the song. I then had to try and cry. I found this really difficult, but eventually managed to cry, which was much more challenging than I had imagined and then used water to smudge the make-up more. I was pleased with how the make-up looked for these shots as I wanted it to look understated by still show the emotion at the same time. Duresh did a great job on the make-up. I feel on reflection that the make-up may have looked better if we smudged it even more.
Polydor is a record company owned by Universal Music Group.
Polydor was originates from Germany. It was an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. It released popular music where as Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft became a classical music label. Polydor was Deutsche Grammophon's export label.
In 1972, Polydor merged with Philips-owned label Phonogram Records to create PolyGram in the US. Polydor continued to be run as a subsidiary label. The name PolyGram is a merge of the two names Polydor and PhonoGram. Throughout the 1970s, Polydor became a major rock label, as well as championing disco acts such as platinum-selling acts the Bee Gees and Gloria Gaynor. Through the 1980’s Polydor continued to do good business, but was being over shadowed by Mercury Records which was it’s sister label. In the beginning of the 1990’s Polydor began to under perform and as a result their was a staff cut and it shifted to operate under the umbrella of PolyGram Label Group, a newly constructed 'super label' designed to manage the operations of PolyGram's lesser performing labels. Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called "Polydor/Atlas," and began operating through A&M Records. In 1995, Polydor/Atlas returned to being Polydor Records. Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, and reissues.
Today in the United Kingdom Polydor remains one of the strongest labels in the country. Some of it’s most popular artists being Take That, Girls Aloud, N-Dubz, The Saturdays, Boyzone and Ellie Goulding. It also acts as the UK label for American-based acts such as Eminem, The All-American Rejects, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Lady Gaga and The Black Eyed Peas.
Today Becky and I filmed the cutaways of the Lego house and Lego heart i made as well as some other objects we thought could make interesting cutaways. We also filmed some shots where I set fire to a picture. This shot was a little dangerous as the picture burnt quite quickly but we were really careful and had a tin tray and some water ready to put out the flame. It was all safe and nothing was damaged. I am not entirely sure whether some of the footage we have is the best it can be. After watching it back and looking at some of the framing, I think it would be better to re-shoot using a closer shot and also have some footage where I lip-sync the song as the picture burns. But overall today was successful as now I know exactly what shots I want and what would work better and we also have some great cutaways to put in to the music video.
Today Becky and I were editing. Duresh was ill and as she had the tape with the footage we needed to upload on it this made it difficult however we have edited the footage we did have. Also we found out today that we have some more time as the deadline for the rough edit has been pushed back. This will mean we have more time to get all the edits perfect and also to re-shoot some shots that still are not quite right.
Today we went back to my friend Suraya's house to re-record some shots that were not quite right, and we also shot some cut aways when we saw that Suraya had a little heart shaped light that changed colour so we recorded some footage of this too. These shots were simple enough to re-recorded but it did take us a while to get there and it was especially difficult to do this carrying the camera, a tripod and 3 lights but we managed.
Unfortunately again we had to use camera 2 with the broken screen so once again we are hoping the footage is good but we can't be certain. We will know when it is uploaded for editing tomorrow.
Today during one of my free lessons I went in to upload the footage we got yesterday and to start to edit some of it. It took a little while to upload the footage but I made good use of my time and uploaded a good quality version of the track on to the computer and on to Final Cut. I have also started to edit. I have edited some of the footage and I have so far, editing 2 different close-ups of the collage to use and also I have started to edit some of the footage of singing in front of the collage. Unfortunately some of the footage we recorded yesterday has not turned out exactly how we had planned it, but I have had another idea that I should be simple enough to record but also look really effective. This is to have the artist looking at pictures, we then use an over the shoulder shot to show the audience what the artist is looking at, we then cut back to the artist in a mid-shot of the artist lip-syncing the song and watching the picture burn.
Todat we filmed some shots for the second half of the first verse. We had the idea to have a collage of pictures behing the artist and for the artist to sing in front of it, have close ups of the pictures showing the artist and her boyfirend when they were happy and then at the end of the music video for the artist to rip up the collage.
However, the camera we used had a screen that was jumpy and it was impossible to see what we were shooting properly so we had to take extra footage to be on the safe side. I ended up filming some close ups of the collage for almost 15 minutes but it was worth it to be on the safe side and hopefully get good footage. As of yet I am not sure how this has turned out but I am hoping to upload this tommorrow and edit it.
Today we watched the footage we have edited together already and decided what needed to be re-shot and what footage was needed.
We have decided that most of the shots in the house do need to be re-shot as they are just not working, some are to wobbly as the camera is unsteady and when we are trying to create short clips and cuts ususally seen in music videos they aren't working.
We have also disscussed some new ideas that we need as we feel their aren't enough amazing shots in the music video that are interesting and memerable apart fromt the candle shots. I came up with the idea of having photos on a wall as a collage of the artist and her boyfriend which we see close-ups of and the artist standing in front of it with her boyfriend at first but then the camera spins and the boyfriend is gone and the artist is alone. Then at the end of the video she rips the collage or burns one of the photos. We also had an idea for a cutaway where a chocolate heart is melting which represents their love melting away. I also had the idea for another cutaway where a phone hanging from a cord can be seen hanging over the side of a table (close-up shot).
Syco is a record label founded by Simon Cowell, it’s parent company is Sony Music Entertainment. It holds the exclusive right to sign the winner of any of the TV talent show competitions winners produced by Syco TV such as Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor. It’s two most successful artists are Leona Lewis who won The X Factor and Susan Boyle who was runner up on Britain's Got Talent. Syco has received success in the UK market, producing 22 UK number 1 singles since 2004, as well as having success in the international market with artists such as Leona Lewis and Susan Boyle, who have managed to crack the American market, which is notoriously difficult to crack. Syco has signed contestants from the reality shows such as Olly Murs, One Direction, Alexandra Burke, Rebecca Ferguson, Leona Lewis, Matt Cardle, Cher Lloyd and Jai McDowall. However Syco do not only sign artists from the reality shows. In 2010 producer/singer-songwriter Labrinth became the first artist to sign to Syco without coming from a reality show in six years.
However, although Syco has found much success with there artists it has also been criticised for bad choices. It has been particularly criticised for Leona Lewis’ second album not reaching the same success of her first album, some claimed that singles were chosen poorly and that releasing singles six months apart hindered the success of the album. It is also claimed by some fans similar poor choices are the reason Alexandra Burke has not found international success.
We have been editing our footage during this week. So far we have had a lot of problems with uploading the footage on to Final Cut, as it hasn't been opening so we couldn't upload. However we have now managed to upload the footage and we are about to start editing. Duresh has started to edit and has also been adjusting the colour in the candle scene to make the candles brighter.
Alex Day, 22, is a YouTube producer (video blogger) otherwise known as Nerimon (his account name). He has had over 1,702,000 channel viewsand he has over 50,420 subscribers.
Day has been recording music and posting music videos directed by his flatmate Charlie (also a successful YouTube producer known as Charlieissocoollike)made. He also released his music on iTunes, so far he has released two albums and three singles. These were released without the backing of a record label, on DFTBA Records which is a company that distributes YouTube artists work and is largely independent.
In November 2011, Day posted a video telling his viewers that he had written a song and he wanted to attempt to get to Number 1 in the Christmas Charts with this song. He admitted he thought it was unlikely they would reach the top 20, but decided that he was going to attempt this anyway. He posted a video asking his viewers to download his single ‘Forever Yours’ on the 18thof December, which he named ‘Forever Day’, so it would count towards the Christmas Chart. On December the 18th,much to the surprise of the official chart company, Alex managed to reach number 4 in the iTunes chart, and this was only the first day of his attempt. This caught peoples attention and during the week leading up to Christmas Alex appeared on the BBC and ITV London news and was interviewed by newspapers and radio stations. Alex Day also released 11 alternate versions of ‘Forever Yours’ after learning that alternate versions of the song count towards the place of the single itself in the chart. He confirmed that all sales revenue made from the alternate versions would go to the charity World Vision. On Christmas Day, 2011, "Forever Yours" reached number 4 in the UK Singles chart, selling over 50,000 copies. Day became the first unsigned artist to reach a top four place in the Official Charts in the U.K.
This is an amazing example of the power the internet has for the success of an artist and also the ability for a musician to have their music heard on a wide scale without the backing of a record label.
