R+P Post 19: My influences and vision for the project

To show our influence and vision for the music video, we produced this video made up from clips from other music videos to try and show what shot types, locations and moods we are going for.



Some of these shots feature effects we want to emulate in our own video, such as the cycling coloured lights at 0.19 in the video, and the projected background idea shown at 0.24. The urban locations seen at 0.26 and 0.11 are the kind of places we want to shoot in, and putting this video together showed me how effective shooting on location can look. It also made me consider costume, and about how it should fit with the surroundings.

My vision in summary is to make a video which takes these familiar elements from garage and R&B music videos and transforms them into something which is stylish, confident and cool, that will appeal to our target audience of R&B fans and young people.

R+P Post 18: Analysis of my track's lyrics and instrumentation

Full lyrics for 'On My Mind' (Click this link)

The first thing that the listener notices when starting this track are the chopped up vocals that, while are technically lyrics, are fairly indecipherable and meaningless. For this section of the video I'm going to try and cut to the beat of the song, and use the fast pace to show a large amount of establishing shots of the locations and characters in the video.

For the "Don't want to feel you, don't want you on my mind" segment, I'm planning to use some shots that last for longer and focus on the singer, in order to fit the calm, dreamy way these lines are delivered.

Verse 1:
"Why on earth would I leave
If you were everything I wanted you to be?
When I saw what you did, who you were with
Got me questionin' the things that I believe"

This implies some kind of relationship has recently ended between the singer and someone else because they were cheating on her. To convey this we are incorporating a narrative story-line into our music video where the singer of our group will similarly end a relationship with a disloyal boyfriend. This narrative will start during this verse, to correspond with the lyrics.

Pre-Chorus:
"So I ask myself, do I let you go?
Or do I keep you in the frame of my mind?
Now I'm growing wise to your sugar-coated lies
Nothing's sweet about my misery, yeah"

For this section, which is repeated once more later in the song, we get another small dose of information, which suggests that the singer is indecisive about whether or not to leave her partner. The wordplay in the last two lines relating to sugar and sweetness are some of the most memorable lines in the song, and I'm considering taking advantage of this by having a shot of the singer stepping on some kind of chocolate bar wrapper as this line plays.

Chorus:
"I Finally found what went wrong

I finally found the wrong in you"

These lines are sung in a way that suggests the singer doesn't seem to be too heartbroken, and may in fact be relieved that they 'Dodged the bullet' with this person. the music supports this by becoming more uptempo, and it is arguably the climax of the song. To react this, I plan to have some energetic group shots for this portion of the video.

Second verse:
"You again, whyd'ya call?

I don't need to hear you crying out my name,

Unlike before, when you and I lay eye to eye,

Now it's time for you to taste the bitter end."

This verse fleshes out the narrative of the song some more, by showing that the boyfriend is trying to win her back, with the words used making his attempts seem pathetic, and the closing couplet puts the singer in a position of power, making her seem like the partner that ended the relationship. In my video I plan to show the phone call detailed in the lyrics, and to show the couple splitting paths on the final line.

R+P Post 17: My Chosen Track

We have finalised our decision on our track, and have decided to go with 'On My Mind' by Jorja Smith X Preditah:



The song is written and performed by Jorja Smith, is produced by Grime DJ Preditah. The song is published by the label FAMM, which seems to be completely independent. We wrote this e-mail asking for permission to use the track to them:

We chose this track for several reasons:
-It has parts which are upbeat and slower parts, giving us an opportunity to shoot a wider variety of shot types and giving us more interesting options for editing.
-The song's lyrics are fairly vague, but are evidently about some kind of break-up, allowing us to take this idea and go in whatever direction we want.
-It fits in with contemporary trends in music, as it has an R&B song with house music influences, and both genres are both very popular right now.

R+P Post 16: My Band or Artist

Our artist is a singer/producer duo that produces R&B with influences from UK garage and Electronic Dance music. The duo is named 'Cruze' (Pronounced 'Cruise').

This is a logo I created for 'Cruze' using two black bars and the duo's name written in Franklin Gothic Heavy. This logo is inspired mainly by the logo of the band Muse, which is fairly similar, and the Cruze logo is also reminiscent of the parental advisory logo that is on many hip-hop and R&B albums that contain explicit language.

They are inspired by artists such as Amy Winehouse an AlunaGeorge, who have both managed to draw large fan-bases through being very genuine and also through having a clear and unique style, both musically and visually. The singer is Mahalia Jordan, a soul singer from East London who met with producer Alex Grey after he heard her at an open mic night.

R+P Post 15: My Record label

Our record label is one of our own creation, named 'Nimbus Records'. It is an independent label that prides itself on promoting the artist as well as the music, and focuses on London based artists. It is a subsidiary label of Sony music, so it allows the artists to have professional promotion but keep their creative control. The rough logo is below:

The logo shows a roman soldier surrounded by a Halo and a nimbus cloud, linking the logo with the name of the label. We chose the roman soldier because it once again links with the idea of Ancient Gods, and makes the label seem classy.

It is inspired by several other independent labels that operate primarily in the UK, such as Ministry of Sound. The memorable logo and the distinctive garage/house sound of most of it's signed artists have made the label synonymous with these genres, and therefore artists signed to it are immediately more appealing to a fan of these genres.

R+P Post 14: My Target Audience

Our target audience is 16-24 year olds who are fans of R&B, as we think that this will be the largest and most receptive audience for our artist.

This is a collage of images I made to demonstrate who I believe the main target audience for our music is: An urban, London-based audience of young people, specifically those between the ages of 16-24. This group of people primarily consume music through digital means such as through downloading music, and increasingly through streaming music on websites like Spotify and YouTube. In terms  of gender, I would say that women are more likely to consume our song, as several studies have shown that women are more likely to listen to female artists than men and vice versa, as seen on the study that will open if you click on the image below:

We have also conducted audience research, where we got verbal feedback from many 16-24 year olds, and from this it seems that women tend to listen more to the genres of pop music and R&B, which I would say our song falls into. The lyrics are also presented as an empowering break-up song, a type of music which is primarily marketed to women, Fans of the R&B/garage genres are also one of the main target audiences for our song, and since this genre is primarily popular in the more urban areas of London, this links strongly to the area and clothing usually worn by the target audience. The clothing usually worn by young people from these areas is streetwise and usually dark, such as black puffer coats and jogging bottoms. To appeal to this audience, our video should feature people wearing this kind of clothing.

Our primary audience will therefore be 16-24 year old fans of R&B, with an emphasis on women.

R+P Post 13: Influences and inspirations from art, fashion and culture

Since our artist is inspired by urban sounds and landscapes, much of the material I have been inspired by is related to this. Street art and graffiti are the primary forms of art that have been influential in my thinking, specifically the art of Jean-Michel basquiat and Banksy.

The vibrancy and roughness of Basquiat's work is something that I would love to capture in my music video, and since he had a huge influence on the styling of graffiti, it shouldn't be too difficult to find something similarly exuberant and colourful. Banksy's street paintings are similarly a staple of street art, with the way they incorporate a unique method of using stencils and the humour he manages to fit into the images, although usually with a political undertone.  

The fashion that has inspired me most is the streetwise, casual clothing that is currently popular in London, such as tracksuits and trainers by brands like Adidas and Nike. This urban style of fashion will hopefully identify our artists as from London, and will make them more relatable to their target audience.

R+P Post 12: Artists/bands that have influenced my ideas

Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse's music has a similar tone and sound to that of the song 'On My Mind' by Jorja Smith, and so it makes sense that the target audience of both artists would have some crossover. Winehouse's style was very soulful and vocal-focused, similarly to 'On My Mind', and the range and tone her voice had is also similar. Her music videos tended to take place in quite run-down, urban locations, contrasting with the glamorous sound of the music, as seen in the music videos for 'Rehab' and 'Tears Dry On Their Own'. I think that these music videos really helped her music to reach a more urban audience, as it presented Winehouse as living in the same run-down concrete jungles as them. She was also famed for being very down-to-Earth, which I think our artist(s) should also be, as it will make them more likable and relatable.

     

The most iconic part of her image was undoubtedly her beehive hairstyle, which was purposefully styled on those of 1960s girl groups. This hairstyle was not only very unique at her time of popularity in the mid-2000s, but it immediately hinted at her retro-leaning style of music, and as such added to her old-music-with-a-modern-twist image, as she would often contrast her hair with more modern, more revealing clothing.


AlunaGeorge
AlunaGeorge are a successful UK singer/producer duo similar to what we are looking at for our artist(s). They rose to popularity in 2012, with their distinctive fusion between electronic music, pop music and R&B that gave them several hits. This genre-bending combination of musical styles is similar to 'On My Mind', as is the target audience of young people based in London, as this seems to be where the majority of their buzz is concentrated. The clothing worn by the producer is usually casual and streetwise, with items like t-shirts and jackets. This is in contrast with the more provocative outfits worn by the singer of the duo, which tend to be loud, colourful and sometimes revealing. Our artist will definitely not wear anything revealing, but I am interested in giving them a similarly colourful array of outfits to wear, as I think this would creatively represent the large amount of diversity in their music.

R+P Post 11: Artist websites that have inspired and influenced my ideas

Rihanna's website

R&B/Pop star Rihanna's official website has an intuitive home page that is constantly updated with various accolades the singer has collected and advertisements for a large number of fashion and beauty products that she is associated with. As shown in the image above, the images saturate int colour when hovered over by the user, encouraging interactivity. The sidebar also has a large number of different sections relating to expected sections like Music, Videos and a Bio, but also links to her brands of beauty and fashion products, and to a section that links to a charity she created, the Clara Lionel foundation, which helps poverty-stricken countries to educate children. I'm very impressed by the quantity of material on this website, and a user can browse it for a substantial amount of time without getting bored.

Daft Punk's website

Daft Punk's website is much more minimalist in comparison to Rihanna's, with only a few links and sections, but it makes up for this through it's stylish and cohesive design. The first thing that a user who opens the page will notice is the portrait of Daft Punk, which is also the album art for Random Access Memories, meaning that this artwork doubles as a promotion for the artists and the music. The links are primarily to the the latest Daft Punk music video, which is left in the centre of the homepage once the portrait leaves the screen, and beyond that the main feature is the video series on the artists Daft Punk have collaborated with. There are also links to social media, and to the record label 'Columbia', who Daft Punk are signed to. The main way this website has inspired me is through it's stylish design, and by proving that a website can be successful without having a huge amount of features as long as the existing ones are interesting.

R+P Post 10: Album covers that have inspired and influenced my ideas

 The album covers shown here are my primary influences for album covers, all of which feature a distinct focus on the artist(s) that have created the albums. I believe that since I will be promoting a debut album it makes sense to have a picture of the artist on the front, especially if we choose the Jorja Smith song, as garage/electronic music is usually promoted this way. I am also interested in ways that both the producer and the singer could be fit onto the cover. The 'Random Access Memories' cover does this well, although Daft Punk have the advantage of their helmets already being ingrained in pop culture. The AlunaGeorge and Disclosure covers also both do this, although through using graphic art rather than photography. The Avicii cover is shot in a similarly profile fashion, but uses a creative mix between photography and digital artwork to make the cover particularly eye catching. The Craig David album cover shows the kind of image I'm imagining for my artist.

R+P Post 9: Music Videos that have inspired and influenced my ideas

Some of the most influential videos for my ideas are shown below:

The lighting and close-ups were what immediately struck my attention in this video, as they made the performance seem very personal and intimate. I also really like the way that the producer is implemented into the video, as while the focus is primarily on the singer, it is impressive how the director of the video has managed to make sure that the producer is still at the forefront of the video without distracting the audience from the singer.


The urban locations in this video really opened my eyes to the potential of shooting part of my video on location, as this video is largely location based and looks amazing, due to the vibrancy of the urban streets. They also make the video seem more real, as without locations that much of the audience will likely find familiar, the crime plot of the video would seem overly fantastical.

R+P Post 8: Possible tracks for the single

These are the final two tracks that we have selected as a group to choose between:


This song is a fast paced, upbeat indie pop song that would be great to make a video for. The lyrics leave a lot up to the listeners interpretation, meaning that we wouldn't be limited by them. However, this does also mean that we cannot use the lyrics to influence the video, meaning that it will be harder to think of an original idea.



This song switches between fast and slow tempos, but remains consistently laid-back, and is a fusion between modern garage and R&B. The lyrics in this song tell more of a story, making it easier to create a narrative out of than for the Two Door Cinema Club song. However, the lack of energy in parts of the song may make it difficult to cut to the beat.

R+P Post 7: Record Labels of interest

There is a wide range of record labels across the UK for every genre of music imaginable, and although their power has slightly waned due to the internet, they are still the main way to promote music. The two different types of label are major labels and independent labels, although many 'independent' labels are actually part of major labels. The biggest labels in the UK are Sony Music, Warner Music Group (WMG) and Universal Music Group (UMG). As shown by this article, these three labels accounted for 97% of the top 100 songs in the UK for 2015, in terms of airplay. Therefore, it is clear that these labels have a high level of reputability and success when it comes to promoting it's artists, so it would make sense to sign to one of these, especially since they all deal with a wide variety of genres.

However, some independent labels have also become successful in the UK, such as Ministry of Sound. This label is closely associated with the London nightclub of the same name, and releases primarily house-inspired music. However, it seems to recently be diversifying in it's signings, as the folk/soul group London Grammar were signed by them in 2012, who have gone on to have huge success with their debut album going 2X Platinum in 2013 and their follow up going to number 1 on the UK albums chart. This would be a very good choice of label for a more house/garage-inspired artist, as the label already has a great reputation with fans of these genres and would give the artist a level of integrity that may be lost by signing to a major label.

R+P Post 6: Current trends in popular music

Statistically, the most popular genre in the US is currently hip-hop/R&B, which has recently risen above rock, as explained by this article:
Hip-hop dominant genre

I couldn't find a similar study for UK music, but from the 2016 UK year-end chart and my own knowledge of music I would assume that pop and hip-hop are the most popular genres for individual songs, while rock seems to comfortably have the best album sales as a genre. It is also important to point out that these days there is a huge amount of crossover between genres, with hip-hop songs having pop-stars on them and pop songs having rap verses by hip-hop artists, along with more beat driven remixes of many successful rock and pop songs to appeal to fans of Electronic dance music (EDM).

Garage is currently undergoing a revival in popularity, and although the level of success is far from the early 2000s peak of the genre, it has come back significantly thanks largely to the sudden success of UK grime. Since these two genres began around the same time in the same areas of London there is a lot of crossover between the genres, with many of the newly popular Grime artists such as Lethal Bizzle having previously been involved in the garage scene. Additionally, new artists like Disclosure and Jorja Smith are taking a more glossy and pop-inspired version of garage which has been gaining lots of airplay on popular radio stations such as 'Kiss FM' and 'Capital FM', which primarily play pop and EDM.

R+P Post 5: The kind of music video I would like to make

My personal favourite music videos are those that are based off of really creative, interesting ideas. I'm not particularly concerned about the execution of the videos being flawless either, and I really love being able to see how a video was put together, as exemplified by the two videos below.



However, it seems like most of the garage music videos I've seen take themselves very seriously and exist to further the images of the artists involved as opposed to being more conceptual. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, such as the video below:



In terms of aesthetic, i would like to do something similar to the urban feel of this video by alunageorge, which seems like a video I could realistically make, yet one that also looks appealing:

R+P Post 4: Audience groups of interest

The target audience for garage is largely young people, usually in London. This is visible through the way that garage events are promoted. They usually emphasise a party atmosphere and the majority of these events take place within London.

I believe this is because of the majority of the most important garage artists are from London, therefore meaning that their fanbases will largely be able to relate to them more than fans from say Scotland. It is also worth noting that the North of England does have it's own distinctly different variant of garage music, 'Donk music', which may be satisfying the demand in these areas.

Why do young people like garage?

Garage is mainly popular amongst young people because of it's large emphasis on clubs, which are mostly popular with older teenagers and young adults. Garage is also a fusion of several different genres from different cultural areas, fusing hip-hop with electronic dance music, and this fusion may not be understood or enjoyed by older audiences.

R+P Post 3: Music genres that interest me

Indie/Alternative Rock


Indie rock is the primary genre that I listen to, and as such is the one that I know the most about. The primary lo-fi , looser sound of Independent rock arguably started with the release and of the album 'The Velvet underground and Nico' in 1967, which is cited as a major influence by many subsequent, more successful indie bands. The image and ideology of indie rock however, started later with the release of the Buzzcocks 1977 EP, which was created and released without any influence from a major label, the first time this was done to large public attention. However, at this point 'Indie' tends to refer to the sound rather than a band actually creating material independently.

Indie reached more mainstream attention in the 1980s with the success of bands like R.E.M and The Smiths who were notable for their jangly guitar sounds that contrasted with the new-wave and synthpop acts that were seen as the prevailing genres at the time. The 90s saw indie and alternative rock split into different genres, with alt-rock reaching the mainstream thanks primarily to Nirvana and the grunge movement. Indie rock at this point gained it's current image of laid-back coolness courtesy of artists like Beck and bands like Pavement and Neutral Milk Hotel. The music and music videos got vaguer and weirder, in contrast to the depressing, angry music of grunge.

 

In the early 2000s there was a small period where a new wave of indie bands became mainstream, such as the Strokes, The White Stripes and later the Arctic Monkeys. These bands are styled as having a scruffy look usually consisting of t-shirts, old jackets and jeans, as exemplified in the strokes video for the song 'Last Nite', one of the most influential indie songs of this decade.



In the 2010s, indie has taken on a much cleaner, more formal look exemplified by bands such as Two Door Cinema Club and Vampire Weekend. The sound has also become more squeaky clean and usually uses little to no distortion. It is also rarely independently released, but is still considered indie based on their influences.

Garage

While I do not personally enjoy this genre, I believe that it is very relevant to my own musical tastes as I have been surrounded by it my whole life. The genre consists of generally fast-paced beats (Around 140bpm) combined with usually rapping and 'MCing', which consists of someone shouting over the track in an attempt to make it more exciting. While Garage had only a mercifully short time in the spotlight from about 1998-2001, it had a huge influence on the UK music scene, and has directly influenced current UK house music. The image that garage had is also ingrained in UK pop culture, specifically the casual and streetwise look exemplified by Craig David in the music video for 'Fill Me In'.



Garage is also currently in the midst of a resurgance of popularity, with artists such as Disclosure and AlunaGeorge combining the garage basics with genres such as house and R&B. Additionally, many core elements of garage such as pitch-shifted vocals and MCing have been adopted into UK house and Grime music, both of which are arguably at an all-time popularity. The image of garage-leaning artists is still roughly the same a decade later, with an emphasis on a streetwise, urban look.