distribution! methods and changes

Radio Radio was the first way the music industry were able to distribute music to a mass market and due to technological advancements in the early 1900's radios became available on a large scale and were the hub of entertainment in many households. As audio playback machines where not easily accessible, the music industry would have used the radio as a starting point for mass media exposure. Records! In 1930 RCA Victor launched the first commercially accessible record. The revolutionary discs had a rpm of 33 and were capable of long play playback system. The discs were made of plastic and had a diameter of 30cm. The plastic material had the advantage of less surface noise to previous counterparts and was far more durable. The discs allowed space for producers names and logos to be printed in the centre and is where the well known name record 'label' comes from today. Until the 1950's various companies produced records that required different sized needles to play and had different RPMs. In the mid 1950's the record companies decided to agree on a common recording standard called RIAA equalisation. Cassettes! The compact cassette often simply refereed to as a 'tape' is a magnetic tape sound recording format. This style of music distribution was massively used between the early 70's up until the late 90's along side the LP vinyl and compact disc (will be discussed next). While widely accessible and relatively cheap and simple, the audio cassette tape had several issues which home users and professional artists found annoying. Due to variances in tape speed on different players playback pitch was often too high or low and as cassette player speed was fixed by the producer this could not be amended easily. Finally different tape formulation and noise reduction schemes artificially boosted or cut high frequencies which was not always ideal for some consumers. Compact disc (CD) A compact disc or 'CD' is an optical disc used to store digital data. The CD became commercially available in October 1982 and not only was a break through in music technology but opened up the pathway for interactive CD-ROMs, rewritable Cd's and digital video discs! The average CD has a digital memory of 700 mega bites which was previously un heard of and was a massive amount of storage, meaning the quality of music could be improved. Unlike the cassette the CD is still widely used today and its estimated that by 2007, 200 billion Cd's had been sold worldwide. Although still commonly used on a mass basis, the CD is slowly being replaced with digital downloads from online. However this appears more common in the music industry than in others. Digital download Consumers are able to transfer a song/s from an online interface onto a local computer. This of course has become far more popular as Internet has developed over recent years and broadband gives users quick Internet connectivity and browsing. digital downloads of course have advantages such as packaging costs being eradicated and opening up new slots in the market. However the rising popularity of digital download does have its disadvantages. For example not all of the downloads available are provided by the producers of the music, meaning the a loss in revenue would take place. As previously distribution of music was only really provided by the record labels responsible for the production illegal downloads mean that although record labels have broadened their market share by offering a different sales tactic, the truth is, pirate copies will always be a large loss in revenue for the music industry. YouTube YouTube is just one example of a video sharing website but is by far the most famous. The free online sharing site makes music producers able to promote their music for free, and with less risk of copyright as consumers will only have access to the music if they are on the website. The idea behind this is similar to television promotion on music channels. The music producers either make and promote videos for consumers to watch, or simply upload the song with a still picture in the background to act almost as a sample and make viewers want to purchase the music through other channels of distribution. The advantage YouTube and other video sharing site have over TV is that it is in effect music on demand, meaning target audiences can search and access specific music any time, anywhere instead of waiting and watching on the TV. Sotify

Spotify is a free download which allows consumers to listen to music on demand for no cost. The catch is that consumers cannot use the music they listen to unless they are on spotify. This is perfect for music producers as it allows for promotion with little risk of copyright and pirating whilst satifying their target audiences by allowing complete access to the tracks they desire and reccommending similar genres to try.

MOST USED TODAY! Record labels today use a combination of the more recent distribution methods. A combination of compact discs, digital download as well of course promoting music through online video sharing sites are the most commonly used contemporary methods. However radio is still a huge marketing platform and is still heavily used almost 80 years after it became a common household appliance. Not only is radio the only 'older' distribution method record producers use to broaden and target their markets, as many still do press vinyl records and sell them to act more as quirky collector's items rather than a main audio format. The cassette however has been almost eradicated from mass music production as the CD or compact disc can match and outdo everything the audio cassette has to offer.

record labels!

A record label is a brand image associated with the marketing and promotion of music productions and music videos. The label are usually responsible for promotion, copyright protection. The term ''label'' comes from the round sticker in the centre of a vinyl record.

Labels vary from smaller, independent (indie) institutions to ''major'' labels which are bigger and control a string of smaller labels, acting as a ''super power'' on the industry. This of course has changed over the years as various businesses fight for market share.

Major labels (1988-1998) - Big six
1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony music
4. BMG music
5. Universal music group
6. Polygram

Major labels (1998 - 2004) - Big five
1. Warner Music Group
2. EMI
3. Sony music
4. BMG
5. Universal Music group - (Polygram absorbed into UMG)

Major labels (2004-2008) - Big four
1. Warner music group
2.EMI
3.Sony BMG (Sony and BMG joint venture)
4.Universal Music group

Major labels (Since 2009) - Big four
1.Sony music entertainment
2.EMI group
3.Warner music group
4.UniversalMusic group

With huge technological leaps recording music and songs is not what the record labels main function is. With technology such as laptop software, cheap and chearful microphones or even a simple phone recorder, artists are actually able to create and record their own music with reasonable ease and quality. However, it is still far to say that you still need a 'great' song, skillful engineer and a talented, well put together act to make an enduring record. This is what record labels are good at, not simply recording.

Record labels are essential doing what they do now the same as 50 years ago, creating and selling the goods. However there is a noticeable change in the number of smaller boutique labels owned by big artists and fewer 'major labels'. It is quite clear that the general public are getting tired of the same mass produced generic artists and are taking to the more flexible and adaptable variations found through the smaller labels. Many great contemporary artists in fact do not perform under a label and are in fact independent in a different form.

call sheet for filming!

We decided a call sheet for filming was going to be extremely useful as it would outline where and when actors/dancers would need to report on the day/s of filming.

We also knew from our AS production that call sheets also contain other useful information such as contact details such as mobile numbers, emails, as well as script pages! We also found out that advanced call sheets often contain details on weather, locations of local hospitals, sunset/sunrise times and locations of local hardware stores! They commonly have information on transport details, which is vital to ensure everyone is were they need to be.

Filming (Day 3)

This day was dedicated to filming the 'filler shots' we needed to help break up our music video and take stills for our digipak and poster design. From previous planning we decided that shots of a horse galloping through a filed would look great and would fit into our concept style that had been implemented in the rest of the video ! The reason for picking a horse was to again symbolise breaking free from a relationship as at the start of the video the horse is on a rope being guided but then breaks free and gallops away!

Obviously when working with any animal additional safety precautions had to be taken. The sheer size of the horse alone was a danger in itself meaning we needed someone who knew something about the animals and someone who the horse was comfortable to work with.

Again when taking the still shots we decided that the main feature should be a female and a horse. We took many shots to review and pick the best at the end of the day. We also experemented with different lighting levles and contrast settings giving us a wide selection to choose from. The imagry again was linked to our video as the same female is shown walking the horse as on the images. This not only gives the audience the impression that the single which would be on the album is a more well known song, and would give them recognition when buying or watching the video as the two products can be linked easily.

Deeper reasons behind this were the fact that we were inspired by the group 'Hurts' who often use the same actors and actresses in many of their videos. It was because of this we decided to take a similar path and go ahead with the same actress in the video and on the still images used on the cover of the digipak and poster.

Filming (day 2)

On the second day, we filmed the other half of the music video, the dancing in the barn.

After arriving at the location we had carefully selected previous to the date, we began to clean and set up equipment so that the area was exactly how we needed it. We arrived much earlier than the previous day of filming as we were aware that it would take some time to clean out the location and make the necessary adaptations. The reasoning behind the late adaptions was that the barn was regularly used, and as we had been granted access we thought it best to cause as little disruption as possible.

As with the other half of the filming we decided to film the dance from many different angles to ensure footage was not scarce and we have a choice of what to edit, where to cut and to allow the desired outcome to be as closely achieved as possible.

An important element of the day was providing 'warm up' breaks for the dancers. As we filmed in the winter, the temperature was not safe to be exposed in, and with the thin outfits we chose to use, it was important that the volunteers did not become too cold and risk their own health. To counter this effect we provided blankets and additional layers, which we gave to them after every 10-15 minutes.

The dance was choreographed well in advance to ensure the day ran as smooth as possible. With the help of a trained and experienced dancer we were able to tailor the dance to a professional standard as well as meet the demands of the message we were trying to portray. The other dancer had only expierience from a very young age but after learning the dance from scratch and showing her ability we decided she was perfect for the role.

Filming (day 1)

We decided when we planned out our filming schedule that it would be best to focus on both elements of the music video individually so that we could focus on each element separately to make sure quality was as good as possible. The other reason for doing this was so that actors, and helpers were not wasting their kindly donated time by standing around aimlessly, and becoming de-motivated.

On the first day we focused primarily on filming the miming section of the video. To do this we all met up on time at the previously selected location with all the necessary equipment, (lighting, reflectors, props, actors)

to get enough footage, we filmed Ben, one of the main features in the video miming the entire song from many different angles. By doing this it gave us room to play around with footage when editing, with little chance of not having enough to stretch throughout the entire song.

We shared duty's throughout the day and tried to rotate and be fair when allocating. The main jobs we divided out where of course filming, along with lighting, lighting aids (reflectors, filters) and 'water control', which meant keeping equipment dry, as well as the actor and lens of the camera so that the footage was not ruined with unwanted rain and lens marks.

Final location decision!

The actual location we chose was a farm on Acton Trussle, as it was easy to get to and offered a diverse range of locations for us to use. After gaining permission to use and enter the land, we moved the fences and drove up so we could use the car headlights for extra light, any animals (if we needed them) and we also had access to the farmhouse for electrical sockets and power points.

The Oak tree - The oak tree was the one of the main features shown in our music video and digi-pak. Reaching extremely high, and having a trunk circumference of approximately 2..5 metres the tree was extremely safe to be around and was a perfect place to use for our miming scenes. We decided to use the tree as one of the main features in the music video as it allowed us to be able to position our male actor (mime) in various positions around the tree to give dramatic effect. Also the tree was chosen to represent something dying. This was because the relationship in the song is falling apart and in a sense 'dead'. At the end of the song the singer is shown letting go of the tree, which is symbolic for him releasing the relationship and moving on.

The Barn - The barn was also situated on the farmland, and followed a similar theme of old and decaying. The walls were made of concrete and the wooden boards also made the location feel prison like. This is where we chose to shoot the dancing scenes as we could easily represent the female character as 'trapped' as is suggested in the lyrics. ''Do the things you always wanted to, without me there to hold you back, don't think just do...''. On the day of filming we had to arrive earlier to clear and set up the barn. Unlike the other locations we could not prepare earlier as it the barn was actually heavily used by the farmer.

The fields/animals - The farmhouse is surrounded by 25 acres of fields and land making our choices vast of where to film the needed footage. The fields were split into segments, however we were given permission to move fences if necessary to create larger areas to work in. The horses we were given access to were in the main field. There was more than enough room for the horses to run when we filmed creating a great effect of freedom, this was designed and chosen for use as we believed it represented the freedom of the women in the relationship, after the horse becomes free from its master.

Risk assessment form!

We thought it important to assess the risk involved with our filming locations as it was important to be prepared for every stage of planning and filming. This allowed the filming to run smoothly and allowed the group to know what the risks of filming on the farm were!

Because we were handling large animals it was especially important to be safe. We had several strange situations on the day of filming such as being chased by geese, but thankfully, due to previous inspection and note taking of the area, we knew how to drive them away and no one was hurt.

Pitch!

Matt - Initial idea - Our initial idea was to create a narrative music video which told the story of a couple whoes relationship failed due to the main actor being hit by a car. However we decided against this as we would find it hard to make the video a proffessional standard which would mimic the conventions found in the industry.

Hannah - Target audience - After resesrching into our target market we did primary research such as questionaires, focus groups and asked questions online which allowed us to find out that our target market was primarily an older audience with younger audiences not showing much interest in the genre of music. This is what made our group decide to change from a narrative to a concept video. This was due to older generations having more interest in this style of genre (alternative/indie). We also tried to incorporate intertextual references to further entice our targeted audiences. Our main concepts came from a combination of our primary research and they consisted of the use of an oak tree, a barn and a field with a horse.

Maizy - Inspiration - We got a lot of our inspiration from the musical group ''Hurts''. The ballet style outfits as well as the contempory dance moves fitted in well with our chosen genre and song. The Oscar winning movion picture ''Black Swan'' was the main inspiration behind our make up designs and final choices. This was because we wanted a bold image that not only represented our concepts but stood out on the camera and looks elegant.

Lauren - Final idea - For our final idea we finally decided to combine a concept video with a performance style. We selected and used several key elements for our music video which were the use of the barn, the oak tree and the field with the horse. We also incorporated a dance which was symbolic of the womens role in the relationship.

Lighting - experimenting

LIGHTING AND FILTERS

We spent several hours experimenting with various types of lighting and several different filters to find out which would have the best effect. We wanted to test the different types of lighting and filters in different scenarios so on the day of filming we would not have to waste as much time either outside, or if our contingency plan had to be used due to extreme whether.

1) The first type of light we tested was a mains powered yellow light.



This produced a yellow glow on the objects and seemed to have a better range outside with the same effects as the indoor testing. The downside of this lighting is that it requires mains power to work as battery operated equivalents do not have the same life span, meaning filming may become rushed.

2) Secondly we looked into LED strip lighting.


This was similar to the tripod yellow lighting as it required mains power to be affective. However the effect of the lighting was very different to the option above. It gives of 'cleaner' light without the golden tint, meaning a brighter light is visible. This would work well in our indoor back up plan as it is essentially, brighter than the yellow light tripod.

3) As well as LED and tripod camping lights, we came up with the idea of using car headlights as they give the golden tint light the first option described but they have the benefit of not requiring mains power and instead run off the charge of the car battery.


As well as being battery powered the car option has the benefit of having three brightness settings, side lights, beam and main beam which can be changed depending on the levels of light outside. Of course the car can only be used if the outside option goes ahead.

FILTERS

We looked into a couple of different options for filtering and reflecting the light. the idea is to be able to change the tint on the lighting if we wanted and to be able to reflect light to specific place and to remove the intensity of the light.



1) The white light filter allows the intensity of the light to be dimmed and allows a faint glow to be achieved. Alternatively the white sheet can be used to reflect light.

2)



The gold and silver reflector films not only help to direct light as it is required, but also amplified the glowing effect produced by the yellow light and white light on a lower scale. The gold film seamed to be more effective indoors as the gold glow effect it radiates is more visible to the eye under lower levels of external light.


Our homemade aids




We quickly realized that although light reflectors were very effective when used, manufactured products were expensive and meant our budget would be severely damaged and limit other aspects of production. To proceed with the equipment we needed, we created our own reflectors using little more than cardboard and tin foil. We stretched the tin foil smoothly over the cardboard to maximize the reflective quality produced. It turned out that our home made reflectors were far better than the manufactured products as we could make them as large as we needed, and make as many as we wanted. This linked with the fact that the reflectors we made, emitted a 'purer' lighting effect than the ones we purchased.

Pitch - planning

To make our pitch as clear as possible we wanted to plan it carefully before describing our plan, why we decided to do what we did and how we developed our ideas to fit audience expectations and elements often used in the specific genre.

We decided to brake the pitch up into four main points;

1) Original ideas -reasons why we didn't go ahead with our initial ideas

2) Target audience - market research, primary and secondary

3)Inspiration - ( similar genre styles)
4) our final idea - why, what and how

We finally decided on these four headings as they not only covers the main elements of our planning, decision making process and research and analysis but also makes the speech more interesting to watch as there are four points, and also four members of the group, meaning the audience will be less likely to become bored.

To decide on the headings we held group discussions in both of our weekly meetings to find the four headings which would be the most useful to get across exactly why we planned to do what we did. The democratic style of the group allows us to play around with various ideas and test out which work best. This was key to deciding how the pitch would flow and what it contained.

Final makeup and costume decission.

We decided to change the make-up design as the previous design was not bold enough and struggled to stand out on the camera when filmed. The White face paint contrasted well against the black outfits and the image was meant to represent classy, contemporary dance.

The outfits chosen, have inter textual reference to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. The white faces not only stand out clearer on the film, but they are also symbolic of wiped emotion which also goes against the stereotypical concept put forward by the Male Gaze Theory as the dancers are de-sexualised. It is also important to point out the small feature we implemented, we made the make up under Beth's eye run to simulate that she had been crying.

The costumes consist of black 'netty' clothes because we wanted to get across a classy theme, rather than a sexual one. We were initially inspired by the dancer's outfits in Hurts - Wonderful Life which are shown below. We had to work with a small budget but we believe we have achieved a successful look to suit our genre and song. We decided on a black leotard combined with small top hats with a veil which was not promiscuous, and was exactly what we were searching for. The combination of our chosen items gave an androgynous look to the dancers as there are both masculine and feminine features to the outfit!

ideas for make up!

Since our video is primarily concept, we decided that the dancers should have extravagant makeup mainly to keep the audience entertained more than anything.

We decided on decorating the eye area on each dancer, with eye shadow. The images above demonstrate two different colour designs which the group have been designing and practicing. The black and silver design are more fitting with the outfits each dancer will be wearing, as they will predominately be in black. However, the blue design contrasts better against the black making the shots more appealing to watch. The black and silver design has the advantage where the actual concept is concerned, as it is 'broken dreams' and therefore is symbolic for misery, and also helps to set the ambiance for the depressing theme of the song the video will have to reflect to the audience.

After much experimenting we finally decided that this style of makeup design would not work very well for what we wanted to do. We struggled to pick up the makeup on the camera when using long shots meaning we had to sit back down and come up with more ideas so that the effect of the makeup would be maximised.


This idea was inspired by the film, Black Swan. Which saw as a good example of powerful design and bold imagery.

potential names for the band

We decided to re-name the band rather than staying with the originals 'Snow Patrol'. The reasoning for this was so that viewers who have watched and listen to the original band will not have a fixed expectation as they see the band's name, and instead will have an unbiased opinion of the finished production.

Names -

1) Hole in the wall
2) The Clergymen
3) The untamed
4) The Pigmy's
5) Requiem
6) Sphinx
7) The Wookies
8) Ignite

All the above were chosen largely based on there abstract nature which follows a theme used by many indie/rock bands. For example the indie band The Wombats is a good example of the application of this abstract naming process.

The names highlighted in red are considerations we have narrowed down out of the 8.

FINAL DECISION

We finally decided on the name IGNITE. The reasoning behind this is that it contrasts heavily against the mood the band emits to its audiences. The word ignite means to set alight, and is closely linked to the idea of fire, which of course is bright and warm. Fire is often used as a symbol for energy, happiness, passion and hope. This is why we decided on the name as it brings out much of the implied meaning in the bands songs and highlights sometimes hard to see messages through the grey, dark imagery used. Also the word Ignite, flows well when said and has a rounded sound, making it appealing to consumers. Not only this, but the short, polysyllabic word is easy to remember making it easy to be accessed.