Possible Music Video Idea - Kasabian 'Fast Fuse'

Kasabian Fast Fuse[2]

Reflections on discussion of One Direction's debut Website

This website forms a key role in a carefully monitored and highly orchestrated 360 degree Marketing Campaign which has huge potential.

This is obviously their debut website which is driven by Web 2.0 opportunites. One Direction have a clear target audience which includes a huge amount of public good-will. Unlike most artists, One Direction have a huge headstart as they have come from X Factor (third place) and already generated a giant audience appeal. They are good, but not outstanding singers however it's their individuality which makes them so powerful. Each character is different, for example there is cheeky curly haired Harry, Asian Zayn and Cute Niall so it's difficult for young females to dislike all of them and they feel loyal to a certain character. They also seem to gel which is important as bands have to be happy together.

I learnt that the marketing teams main job is to 'Shift Product', i.e. VAST (Video, Album, Single, Tickets/Tour). The website also has a big viral campaign, which includes Facebook, Twitter and Youtube and possibly a future iPod application to futher advertise the band and SELL. I also learnt that Twitter is very important to One Direction as they get linked to other celebrities, for example Olly Murs often tweets about them and people can see who they're following which creates a big circle which returns to One Direction and Syco.

Intertextuality

1. What makes the music video post modern?

Postmodernism is "a philosophical movement away from the viewpoint of modernism". The fact that we are placed in an alternate (almost futuristic) reality makes the video particularly post modern. Intertextuality is also featured throughout and this is a key characteristic to post-modern videos.

2. Analyse Intertextual References

This music video is bombarded with intertextual references:

28 Days Later: The theme of the music video is based on the film, '28 Days Later', the idea is that "there's been an epidemic, the world has gone crazy, as soon as the song came out, everyone got possessed and all they want to do is to shuffle, everyone is a shuffler."

Quest Crew: Quest Crew are a very modern/popular dance crew and they feature throughout the video, showing off some stunning dance moves/flips. They also coreographed all the dance aspects.

GQ CUTS: GQ Cuts is actually the hair styling business which provided styling service for the video shoot, it's not very noticable, but it's been included as an in-joke.

 Popular Culture (+synergy): iPhone's and Dr Dre's 'Beats' are very popular/cool nowadays.

Product Placement: This isn't a direct reference to intertextuality, however it's an example of advertising a product from a completely different market or 'text' (Cherry Tree Cola).

Character Intertextuality: Two well-known characters are featured regularly. Jesus is seen on many occasions to add humour, and the gold robot is the mascot of LMFAO and is featured in all their videos so this is a reference to other music videos.

3. What impact do the intertextual references have on the audience?

The intertextual references help to engage the audience, and also give them something to relate to. As soon as I saw the 'Beats' headphones I was like, 'Wow...I can't believe how global Beats are becoming' as they're now included in a music video.

They can also be a form of advertising, whether its an indirect reminder (e.g. the film, '28 Days Later') or direct advertisement (e.g. Cherry Tree Cola).

New Artist Website Research - One Direction

One Direction is the latest up-and-coming boyband. Having just released their first single, which rocketed to the #1 spot in the chart, what better than to take a look at their website and get ideas of what to include in the website of a new artist and any interactive/purchasing opportuntities.

Interactive Opportunities

• First thing you see is a massive video of their new single, promoting the single and possibly the music video...this leads to links to purchase it from iTunes, Amazon, HMV and Play.com
• It's been uploaded on youtube and is therefore full of interactive opportunities, including embed, share and also links to similar videos
• The actual website has an interactive banner accross the top including News, Music, Events, Photos, Videos and of course the Shop.
• There are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Syco (record label) links at the bottom of the page which help create a wider appeal to the band and give variety, for example a fan can follow One Direction and get instant access to all their tweets
• There is LOTS of news in the News section, fans are literally bombared with all One Direction's latest appearances, etc...
• There is also a latest news tab on the side of pretty much every page
• The Events page helps advertise the band and also shows when each individual member is having their next birthday
• There are Photos of absoulutely everything, broken into individual photos, the band as a group, press photos and fan art (huge interactivity). Fans can comment on these and tweet them.
• There are also various videos in the Video section. 
• Fans can sign-up for a One Direction newsletter, which provides regular info on the band and any purchasing opportunities
• The website also has the possiblity to include different languages, however at the moment it's just Great Britain.

Purchasing Opportunities

• On the front page you get the opportunity to purchase the single from iTunes, Amazon and HMV (plus Play.com later on)
• There are LOTS of links to purchase the single which is massively important for the start of the bands career
• One Direction have their own phone (cheap Nokia)...which is an example of endorsement/synergy and could prove a huge success with Christmas shoppers
• They also have their own book (journey to X Factor/success) and their have been book signings
• The shop includes; personalised prints, T-Shirts, Hoodies, Various Accessories and Posters
• There is the option to view each item individually
• The user can make an account with the One-Direction shop, which would advertise special offers and new products
• The user can choose which currency they would like to use (global appeal), including Pounds, Euros, Yen and Dollars

Album Cover Research

Album Covers Moodboard

1. What are the typical features that an album cover has? Make a list of all the elements they have in common.

- Artist Title
- Album Title
- Track Listing
- Record Label(s)
- Producer(s)
- Copyright Information
- Barcode

2. How would you categorise the covers in front of you? Are there any other ways of distinguishing between them other than generically?

I would categorise the album covers by genre/gender.

Electro/Dubstep (first row on above picture)

These album covers have a nature theme and are very mysterious. These album covers rarely feature any artists and revolve around a particular theme rather than artist branding.

Male Hip-Hop Artist (second row on above picture)

The album covers very much focus on the artist and their branding/imagery. For example, Wretch 32 includes his classic font which is part of his artist identity. They generally feature duller colours, in comparison to Female album covers.

Female Solo Pop Artist (third row on above picture)

Again the album covers focus on a particular artist and their branding/imagery. The difference, is that the females are made to look attractive and are objectified, whereas the males are made to look very cool/relaxed. These album covers are generally very fun/bright.

3. Album covers serve many different functions. What do you think these are (ie what is their purpose?)

I think the purpose of an album cover is to sum up an artist in one word, it's basically all their ideas/branding in one image. They need to appeal to an audience however and therefore they often feature eye-catching graphics. You could call it a form of marketing as it advertises the artist.

Ben Newman

Name: Ben Newman
Age:  29

Ben Newman is an award winning contemporary Music Video director. He has directed well known hits since early 2009 (at the young age of 26), starting with 'Hooligans' by Example & Don Diablo. He has a very defined teenage male target audience for most of his music videos, which consist of mainly Example, DJ Fresh and Wretch 32...all relatively new potentially huge artists. Example has already built a name for himself, but is still smashing the charts, while the music videos from DJ Fresh and Wretch 32's first chart toppers were directed by Ben Newman, 'Louder' and 'Traktor'.

Findings from Ben Newman's work

1. Believable Passion/Emotion
Ben Newman likes to evoke passion from the artist, while not over-playing it.

2. Children 
Ben Newman likes to include children in his work, which gives the artist a chance to express themselves via an alter ego while also developing the narrative via different age groups, e.g. child in Unorthodox/Don't Go.

3. Artist Identity/Motifs
This applies particularly for Wretch 32, where he includes the '32' wherever he can, particularly in 'Unorthodox' where a team is created via Wretch 32. 'Traktor' begins with the number 32 emerging from the ground, possibly as Wretch 32 emerges from the unknown.

4. Simplicity/Low Budget
Ben Newman's videos are produced on relatively low budgets as you can see from the simple, but effective videos he produces. He also uses a small number of props and rarely edits the original track (e.g. adding narrative). 'Louder' is a great example of a simple idea made into a great music video.

5. Notion of Looking
Eyes are used fantastically in all his videos and the artists look at their audience sincerely and realistically. Eyes never lie.

6. Urban Settings
As the majority of his videos are aimed at teenage males, he uses typical urban settings appropriate for the dance/dubstep genre, e.g. 'Louder', 'Goldust', 'Unorthodox'

7. Females
Newman uses females as objects and as visual pleasures for the audience.

8. Strobe Lighting
Strobe Lighting is used particularly in Example's 'rave' videos. Newman often cuts the lighting to the beat which is horrible for epileptic people.



The reason I love this video is the sense of artist identity created. It's Wretch 32's second big single and the idea of coming together to support him is well illustrated and him and Example are portrayed as a gang, who begin as lone warriors, but create interest. This also suits the Hip-Hop genre, as the idea of a gang in an urban setting is rather stereotypical and well-represented. The vibrant dance moves included also create interest to the primary teenage male audience. The idea of 'We dont follow no crowd'...we are leaders....we are unorthodox is perfectly portrayed and the strange activities, for example females which shave their hair off are Unorthodox.

It may be a good video, but it's far from perfect. I agree that it's simplicity is effective, but it gets possibly too repetitive & boring at times, after all it's just the audience following Example & Wretch 32, however overall I enjoyed the video, but I wouldn't want to watch it more than 2/3 times.




This is another example of a simple idea created incredibly. It's a spectacular performance-based video, with little narrative. Its genre is dubstep/electro-pop and it therefore has a teenage audience (mainly male) which is represented by lots of young actors, particularly beautiful girls and the interaction between males/females. The stunts used are particularly appealing to the audience, while also appealing to the niche skater audience.

The lyrics are well illustrated/amplified, for example 'Louder', 'Faster', 'Stronger', 'Better' is often repeated and Ben Newman attempts to create even better faster stunts as those words are said. The music is very chilled, upbeat and beautiful and Ben Newman illustrates this with the slow pace at the start and the stunning visuals.

DJ Fresh is a dubstep disc jockey, and therefore he doesn't appear in the video. This isn't a song to be performed by any particular artist and there is no clear protagonist, which leads to the idea of 'coming together', it's basically a feel-good video.

It was released just as summer was coming and basically started the music of summer, as it reached #1 in the UK Top 40 (first dubstep single to do this). I think it's a fantastic video with little flaws. It always keeps the audiences attention which is a great example of a simple video which is 100% interesting.

Things I've learnt

I have noticed that over a two and a half year period, Ben Newman has consistenly produced music videos and I can tell that he's been noticed and chosen his artists well as they've gradually got more well known with him. The last three music videos he directed reached #1 in the UK Top 40, whereas the first three never reached the Top 40. This illusrates the importance of hard work as you will get noticed eventually. Many great teenage male aimed hits are now produced by Ben Newman, and he's just 29 years old.

I also learnt that sometimes being simple is very effective, just take 'Traktor', it's a room without much in it, but Ben Newman perfectly captures what he needs to and creates an intense atmosphere, while marketing Wretch 32.

(8) Music And Me (8)

My Childhood (Year 3 - Aged 7/8)




As a child I grew up loving Shaggy, Five, Blue and Busted (in that order), but mainly Busted and Blue.  At the age of eight I was made aware of a singing contest, titled 'Stars in their Eyes', which was to be held in  my primary school. I immediately chose Blue's 'If You Come Back' regardless of how it suited my voice. I failed in the competition, but it was a fairly meaningful experience as this was the first of many 'Stars in their Eyes' performances. In year 4 I sang 'Year 3000' by Busted along with two friends, in Year 5 I sang 'Cry me a River' by Justin Timberlake and in Year 6 I sang 'She will be Loved' by Marron 5....failing every year, but they were great experiences and nowadays I would never sing in front of 200+ people (lots of adults).

My Early Teens



Kanye West and Black Eyed Peas occupied my early teens/late primary school. I remember my favourite song from Black Eyed Peas' first album was 'Anxiety', purely because I loved the rap-rock genre of the song as Black Eyed Peas are a typical hip hop band. My early teens featured a change in favourite music from pop/pop-rock to mainly hip-hop.

Nowadays



Roughly 1 year ago I got into club dance/dubstep music. Example is my favourite artist and I particularly like his electro-house/dance genred music. Natural Disaster is his latest hit and is due to be released soon...I enjoy it and the lyrics are pretty powerful. The transition from 'Need some air, Need some space' to it's anthem themed following is very entertaining. I enjoy this video as we basically see into the mind of the messed up Laidback Luke, the dis-orientating close ups of his face perfectly reflect his emotions.