Funding and Distribution

A considerate amount of music video production such as funding and distribution in the UK is carried out by major record label companies such as labels signed to Warner Bros, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Sony Pictures and so on. Such companies distribute and fund there artist for world markets i.e. being mainstream, largely receiving the finance from other successful music videos so the money is continually going in and out of the company causes a powerhouse effect.

However majority of the UK artist are mainly independent and have to compete with much larger successful companies so receiving funding and distribution can be extremely difficult and time consuming, as they have to break onto the scene by being different.

There are a few organisations in the UK that help artist:

o BFI (partial funding for low budget features / films / videos, New Director’s Scheme)
o British Council (assistance to exhibit & attend film festivals abroad)
o Prince’s Trust (and partners in Europe) for help to run a business (inc film production)
o National Lottery (“Glastonbury - The Movie” was first film to benefit from such funds)
o Arts Council of England (docs on arts subjects)

The organisations listed above help independent artist by help funding them and help them to distribute and receive promotion usually artist will start of as indie by doing something original and creative to grab attention of major and to exploit a gap in the market. There are ways in which artist can help to try and promote their selves by using sites such as MySpace, Facebook and other similar sites for recognition which can help them to receive distribution and filming.

These are the 5 largest companies in media dominating the market:

1. United International Pictures
2. Warner Brothers
3. Buena Vista
4. Twentieth Century Fox
5. Sony

The main reason why most artist have trouble breaking into the market are because of the dominance of these 5 companies as they are mainstream so independent artist and groups have no money to put back into the industry and help artist breakthrough and make a successful music video.

Music videos can seek funding from independent organisation that help independent artist who are not signed receive an audience they receive their funding from organisations like national lottery, princes trust, BFI and the British council, these companies have to help rival against the 5 main companies who are dominant in all areas and have horizontal integration, so funding and distribution for major companies are relatively easily on the other hand for an independent company, not only is ‘it difficult to receive funding as well then having to distribute the final product to audiences.

So most independent artist have to start off with an Indie type of music to receive recognition and support and then mainstream to breakthrough on to the market, this can also be done via mix tapes and other independent sources of music to become well known artist that have used this approach in the British UK Industry such as Chipmunk, Tinchy Strider and so forth released mix tapes and when they were known went mainstream to appeal to a wider audience.

Distributing is the act of distributing or the condition of being distributed distribution also describes everything that happens in between production (making the Music Video) and Broadcasting it so such as CD’s DVD’s and other form of technology being discharged into the market, to receive distribution is difficult if you are not signed and is usually expensive and is time consuming so it is much harder for an independent artist rather than an artist signed to a major label.

Finally artists that receive distribution and funding from organisations are trying to exploit a gap in the market to help get signed to a major by getting signed to a major the funding and distributing process is allot more easier and regular as an independent artist may receive funding and distribution little as compared to an artist who is signed and has the backing of a major media corporation. Funding is usually being able to obtain sponsorships to help fund them by placing products o the sponsorship in the music video, but even with funding and distribution independent artist have to compete with artist that are signed and are well established and have better funding and distribution, so the independent artist have to be different and stand out, which is what we plan to do in our music video by incorporating a theme of peace between Jewish and Muslim people on a style of Romeo and Juliet, other artist and groups that have used this approach would be the black eyed peas with “where is the love” by promoting world peace through media and receiving a positive reaction rather than a typical narrative. There are also less cheap ways of disturbing your music video via the internet which may appear to a less audience then being on T.V website that artist regularly use could be YouTube and other websites.

Proposal

Brief

For our A2 media studies coursework we have been asked to produce a music video. However we are not allowed to use music that has already been produced and well known. The video has to be no longer than five minutes. Our chosen target audience is mainly people roughly aged between 16 – 25 years, therefore we have to consider certain aspects we could in the video to meet their expectations. We have key deadlines in which we have to deliver our work on and our lecture expect us to do so. The whole project including the paperwork and video has to be completed by December 14th. After this we can begin on the creating our DVD cover and magazine advertisement. The deadline for this is on 25th January. By February 8th we must have our blogs completed and finally by the end of March we have to hand in our audience feedback findings & complete evaluation/blog.

Research findings

In conclusion from our group research document, we found that the majority of our target audience prefer to watch a music video based on the theme of love, which includes settings such as romantic islands, clubs/dance floors, the city. This is because it creates excitement and adds a positive vibe to the video. We also researched on technical codes such as the camerawork, sound, special effects and editing as well as the symbolic and cultural codes involving mise-en-scene and graphics/sound effects. We concluded that the characters in all music videos were casually dressed, the males; jeans, t-shirts, trainers. Similarly, the females in tight jeans, low cut tops, which also represents them as promiscuous. Overall, our research indicated that we need to consider the settings, costumes, and camera positions in the video. As we are using a love song, the settings we should consider using, should be in the city at night, or on a hill with the sunset. We also consider to use, simple and modern clothing to compliment the season- winter, so they must wear warm coats and scarves. Also from our genre conventions that the main conventions of a love music video includes a young couple and passion, this could either be about sexuality, dance/music or the setting.

Initial ideas

Based on the above findings, each member of our production team came up with an initial idea in response to the brief.

1. Amina Diwa Saadat

Focusing on our target audience research, my idea was to explore what our target audience mostly expected in a music video. The ideas I came up with to use a live band and make the video into performance as well as a narrative driven. I came up with the idea of having a band playing on stage, cross-cutting to a couple together illustrating the story the band is singing. I chose to use a couple and make it into a true love story because the song is about someone singing about his feelings towards someone he loves. Another idea I came up with based my target audience is that the majority of the scenes should be set at night. Many of our target audience preferred to watch a music video set at night because they believe it makes the scenes more romantic and tells the story better.

2. David Goodwin

I came up with a different idea compared to the other group members. It is set in a college canteen in which there is romance accruing between a customer and a new, young member of staff in the canteen which then leads the couple to a break up because of their differences they have between them. This then leads on to the canteen staff member going off with another staff however of the same gender.

3. Imran Bashir

According to the fact that our audience liked to watch music videos based on a relationship, my idea involved Romeo and Juliet as the love story, it involves an undercover love. Instead of two different families it is going to be two different religions, a Muslim and a Jew. We can incorporate both performances and a narrative of Romeo and Juliet idea as we are also sending out a message showing the conflict in both religions and to find peace and love within both faiths.

Final idea

Our final idea is a development of Imran’s and Geoffrey’s idea, with a modern twist. We decide that it is going to start off with the band performing on stage all dressed in white to symbolise peace. It then fades as the main singer looks to his right and we see a loving couple holding hands on the Harrow view point, at this stage we don’t reveal their faces too much and only see a close up of them holding hands and an establishing shot to show the audience the romantic setting. It then cuts back to the band performing and the singer turning his head forward again from his right. It then fades into the girl praying in the mosque and the guy praying in a synagogue which reveals their identity and tells the audience more about the characters. As the drummer plays the drums we see the dust from the drums forming the lyrics of the song as it rises up into the air. Then we see the Muslim sign of the moon and the star and the Jewish sign of the Star of David blending into each other which cuts into the fireworks bursting out in the sky. In the end of the video we see a close up of the man walking but we don’t know where he is or where he is going and then we see a close of a rose and a medium shot of him standing in front of a grave throwing a rose on it and then it fades in to black.

Production team roles

Planning

Amina Diwa Saadat & Imran Bashir

Responsibilities:

- Create a project schedule
- Plan out who will do what in the group research document and conclude the target audience research
- plan out the proposal and get each group member’s ideas together to write up the final idea
- Write up the script the development, making sure the timings of each scene match up to the timings in the actual video

Construction

Amina Diwa Saadat & David Goodwin

Responsibilities:

- Shooting and making sure the camera shots and right
- Editing including adding the special effects, i.e. the lyrics appearing on the drums.
- Completing misc production paperwork

We chose a non licensed band who are not well known. Our original idea was based on Romeo and Juliet, however due to the amount of time we had we could not go on any further with this idea and therefore we had to change and simplify it a little.

As you can see in these pictures one of the main setting is going to in a well light area becuae its

going to be filmed during night. These are pictures of the Christmas lights and decorations in Oxford Street.







It has to have bright colours and many lights to catchthe audience's eyes and make it look good. We also want nice bright colours such as the pink light reflected in the water, the pink represents love which links to the lyrics of the song.

Similar Textual Analysis:Ne-Yo – So Sick - Imran Bashir

R&B

Mainstream Young Adults

Lyrics Can Be Found Here http://www.songlyrics.com/ne-yo/so-sick-lyrics/

#So Sick is a 2006 song by new coming artist Ne-Yo the video was launched as the first single of his album “In My Own Words” the video was directed by Hype Williams and had a positive reception from audience around the world

The music used is a R&B track with has a typical R&B structure with verses a hook and a chorus, it has a slow melody and also a bass line which shortly comes into the song. There is a linear narrative with uses of flashback for example throughout the sings there our flashback of him and his lover happy, when the song’s lyrics explain the story of him losing his lover and there our performances of Ne-Yo, there are a balanced mix between all of narratives of performance, linear narrative and flashback. The main theme of the song is undying love as he loses his lover and still wants her this also reinforces the ideology of girl power being dominant and manipulative over men.

The music video starts with a long shot of the scenery which seems to be snowy mountains, so guessing the film was shot in winter. When the track starts playing it shows a shot of the artist, whilst there is a frame with the shot of the snowy mountains still remain. The artist Ne-Yo appears to be wearing a winter furry jacket and a hat reinforcing the fact that its cold. The cold can be used to reinforce he has lost something he feels cold with the title of the song being so sick. There is a lot of white used within the music video I think this is to reinforce the fact that its cold and he’s lost something he’s ‘So Sick’

There are then more scenery shots of the mountain with fades between Ne-Yo and a female with the female us as viewers think she is the female partner of Ne-Yo. She seems to be wearing makeup and has long curly brown hair. Throughout the video she changes costume and at times is wearing sexual clothes The video is shown with both performance shots as well as a narrative with lyrics matching shots to give a sense of idea and reinforce the understanding for example Ne-Yo sings “gotta change my answering machine now that I’m alone” whilst this is being played over there is a shot of a answering machine.

During the shots it’s clear that the female is his lost partner and they break up, she seems to be wearing revealing clothes with sexual shots this reinforces ideology and hegemonies that women are for men’s sexual desires. The setting and props used are the house which seems to look like an expensive home with lots of modern furniture and open spaces, towards the middle of the song there our shots that of Ne-Yo and the female actress playing his partner where they are getting along and having a good time in happiness this is a flashback, we know it’s a flashback as he is singing the lyrics.

Ne-Yo the artist is positioned in the frame mostly centre and middle with close ups where the use of facial expression can be seen he looks sad and depressed throughout the video there aren’t any long shots of Ne-Yo on his own, and the female partner has mostly close up shots of her on her own the shots with both of them are mainly medium to long shots. There are fadings between Ne-Yo and the female partner this is used to show that they are separated. There are jump shots from performance to narrative where Ne-Yo is featured in both and there is a use of tracking when both Ne-Yo and the Female are running through the snow having a snowball fights.

The main theme in this music video is lost love this is show by fading shots, the use of colour which is mainly white to represent coldness and that he is alone and the use of lyrics reinforce that feeling. The ideology is that he lost his love this is clear by the lyrics and that love is powerful it made him sick , there is a linear narrative that boy has girl boy looses girl boy is upset and tries to get the girl back while there are flashbacks also.

Michael Jackson – Beat It

Pop/R&B

Mainstream

Lyrics Can Be Found Here http://www.songlyrics.com/michael-jackson/beat-it-lyrics/

Beat It is a 1982 song by legendary American Pop singer Michael Jackson. The video, which launched Jackson's stardom to international audiences, was directed by Bob Giraldi and set the tone for what would become Jackson's trademark style.

The video's visuals and narrative are tied directly to the lyrics of the song. Jackson sings advice about a confrontation - a person or group of people have angered another group These groups are likely gangs, as depicted in the video. The angered group tells the other not to show their face around anymore, and the song continues advising them not to antagonise the situation and to just "beat it".

Through the city to have a fight. Acting upon the lyrical advice to avoid confrontation, Jackson himself eventually stands between the two gangs as thy are about to fight and convinces them to stand down.

The visuals are also tied directly to the music, in a style that would become known as the definitive Michael Jackson music video manner. Significant portions of the video involve highly choreographed dancing (Notably the gang's fight is really more of a dance number with weapons) to the rhythm and melody of the song. Even in shots where there is little call for dancing, we still frequently see actions in time with the music - such as Jackson shaking his arm for emphasis to the rhythm.

Furthermore, the video is edited in such a way that the majority of the cuts, particularly in the early scene in which word of the impending fight spreads through a pool hall, are at the change between bars.

Jackson himself is general shown either dancing, or in pose designed to suggest he will be dancing soon. This reflects his image as a heavily performance-oriented singer. As a result of videos like this and Thriller, Jackson would eventually become as well known for his over-the-top dance numbers as for his songs. Notably, this video create the Jackson-Trademark "mass dance number" which would be a frequent motif in subsequent iconic Jackson videos, such as the video to Smooth Criminal.

Overall then, this is a hugely influential music video - both for Michael Jackson himself and for the medium generally. One of the most significant and well-implemented efforts to marry stage musical class performance with a narrative in a music video of its day, it still stands up today as incredibly well produced.