Skype Interview with Simon Bradshaw

The following week, we were able to hold our Skype interview as a class with Simon Bradshaw. This was great as we were able to speak directly to someone who for some time has made a living in the industry we are studying. Also, it in many ways was like a 'big reveal' as we had analysed the marketing of Simons numerous bands without ever even seeing his face or hearing his music. The class were given time to bounce questions out to Simon. I managed to include three of my own personal queries into the interview, the answers of which I found very interesting;

Q: Talk me through the decision of using one fixed shade of red repeatedly for the 'Marlowe' album covers? Was this your decision to make?

Simon immediately replied with "Yes, it definitely was our decision as a band." He went on to explain how all of their favourite bands personally had one fixed colour on their albums. He said that the band just found a colour and thought "we quite like that". He openly referred to the shade as the "Marlowe red" and also described how it was a way to "tie in the albums and keep them consecutive."

Q: Why was the band never featured on any of the album covers?

Simon explained that this decision was again fully supported by them and based on the image of the band members in real life. He joked "We were never a skinny indie band. I was a primary school teacher in my mid twenties - it wasn't cool." He then elaborated by saying that there could never be any coherence in a picture for them as "all eight members of the band had very different looks."

Q: What is the meaning of the album name "Deep breathe fake air"?

"I thought it up whilst on a plane. I remember seeing the hostess spray that aerosol into the air during the flight and I thought; I am essentially breathing fake air."

The answers that I received for my questions certainly weren't what I was expecting. I was very surprised at the nonchalant and almost comical way that Simon talked about making relatively big decisions regarding his album covers. However, I was also reassured that these decisions were his to make, as they should be, considering that his music is the creative force that was driving these projects. 

The Evolution of an Artist (Simon Bradshaw - Marlowe, Testcard, ROJA)

As means of giving the class insight into the marketing and image of an artist in the music industry, Adam (teacher) told us about his close friend of many years Simon Bradshaw. Bradshaw has made a career out of music for well over a decade now, featuring in various different bands under different names. The most prominent of these was a band entitled Marlowe. Adam them displayed a slideshow that featured all of album covers that Bradshaw has been behind in his career. Adam told us to annotate our thoughts and analyse these album covers, with the intention of having a Skype interview with Bradhsaw the following week during class time where any questions we had regarding the meaning and creation of these album covers could be answered. It would also give us a chance to discuss the industry that we are studying with someone who for some time has tried to make a living within it. Adam purposely withheld letting us hear the music of any of these bands in order to see whether the genre could be communicated through the album covers alone.

- This is the first of Bradshaw's album cover for his first band Marlowe. It is an EP (extended play) which is supposed to be the middle ground between a single and a album. It is what up-and-coming artists normally produce before moving onto a full album.

- The feature one immediately notices is that it does not include an image of the band or any of its members as it is hand drawn. This immediately communicates that the band are organic and they focus on the music as opposed to image. Considering that this is their first release, it is brave decision to not include an image of the band. If one were to just see this, then it would be in no way clear if the artist was male/female or even a band at all and not just a solo artist.

- This bravery is reinforced by the typography. There are no capital letters used and the text does not stand out. Granted this does look interestingly aesthetically at it is unusual, but it makes it a struggle for the bands name to be memorable.

- Strong emphasis on the colour red.

- The drawing looks dated and like something you may find in a comic, as well as the woman's clothes appearing quite retro. However, this may be more authentic than we think as its quite possible that this album was made in the 90's therefore making it current and genuine and not an attempt at this now popular vintage style.

- This is Marlowe's second release and their first official album. 

- What immediately stands out about this cover is its boldness. It is heavily reliant on the image to sell, as once again the band is not featured. The image is quite unsettling and ominous which may represent the style of music. It appears to be a polaroid and has a 'snapshot aesthetic', a style of photography which was very popular during the late 70's to mid-80's being popularised by photographers such as Nan Goldin and Martin Parr.

- The image naturally evokes intrigue. Who is the child? What is he looking at?

- The typography is continued as well as the same shade of red which creates consistency and a running theme between products. 

- The title of the album is similarly ambiguous 'darksparklecorner'. One would question what this phrase means to the artist and why it is written without spaces between the words. 

- This is Marlowe's third album after relative success with their debut.

- Once again, they have used a miscellaneous picture as the primary feature of the cover. However, this one is of a foreign landscape which might suggest a more worldly influence to the music. The images on all of the albums are snapshots in time which connote that it is nostalgic music that is personally reflective. 

- Despite retaining the font, non-capitals and colour, the title of both the band and the album is bigger than in the past. This is also reflected by the bigger scale of the image compared to previous albums. It could also suggest that the band is making strides in their career and become more of an established name.

- This is Marlowe's third album entitled 'deep breathe fake air'. The title has a scientific element and may mean that the lyrics for the songs are more analytical. The word "fake" implies some sort of critique, possibly personal or to society as a whole.

- This is the first cover where there is significant changes. The image is not real and features a diagram of a body, this suggests that the album might be about human experience. 

- Despite the changes, the colour scheme and typography remains the same. However, the band name 'Marlowe' has been altered to black in colour which separates it from the other albums. 

- This album really makes me personally interested to hear the genre of the music. From the cover, I would speculate that there is a more modern feel to the the music that may include different technologies such as synthesisers. 

- This is the album cover for Testcard, a band that Bradshaw was also a member of later in his career.

- The aesthetic style of the cover is very minimalist, which I really like. Despite also not featuring images of the band, it easy to identify it as a different band with new font and colour scheme.

-The subject matter and genre of the music is difficult to interpret from this album cover. However, I would speculate that the music is similarly organic and possibly more acoustic. We were given a chance to have this album in hand and the material used looks recycled as opposed to being mass produced and synthetic which coincides with the bands image. 

- I believe that this cover might have a strong indie-rock affiliation. 

- This is the album cover from Bradshaw's third band entitled ROJA.

- The title of the album is called 'Promises I Should Have Kept' which like some of Marlowe's  covers - references personal, nostalgic human experience. However, this hint of emotional depth looks noticeably out of place next to the hand drawn image which I think is near comical.

- Unexpectedly, the band is not featured on the cover. Instead, there is a latin influence with the drawing which connects to the bands name.

- A new font has once again been employed, with 'ROJA' being the only words in colour allowing it to stand out. 

- Out of all the covers, this is the one that I like the least. I don't believe it is current and contemporary and is not something that would stand out for the right reasons to me in a music shop.

After reviewing all of these covers, I am left with a wealth of questions that I am interested in posing to Simon Bradshaw. Regardless, it is interesting to see the development of a music career purely in album covers and notice how these can alter, whether this is dictated by preference or the commercial demands of the industry. 

Lip Sync Excercise 'Rather Be' - Clean Bandit

Lip Sync Initial Excercise

In todays triple block of media lessons, we decided to try our hand as a class at a initial lip sinking exercise in preparation for next years A2 coursework task where we are instructed to design and create a pop promo video. As preparation for todays exercise we all learnt the lyrics for the chorus of the song 'Rather Be' by Clean Bandit, we were told this is what would be used for the exercise. This is a upbeat song with a strong rhythmic emphasis and sense of fun making it ideal for the task. Learning the lyrics prior to this made the process quicker on the day in the relatively limited time we had.

 

Once we got into the studio, we found three sets already erected for us to utilise. These were a green screen, club-like scene and standard casual set. We were then split into groups and told to assign ourselves to one of the sets. It was then explained that all three groups would be working off the same track at the same time, as we would be using a digital clapperboard that was hooked up to speakers. It was here that I learnt the importance of the clapperboard instead of it just appearing a Hollywood cliché as it did before. The clapperboard becomes crucial in the edit for timing and syncing purposes. We were told that either one or various members of the groups had to start in front of the camera and take on the performance task, while the others took more filmic roles. With a notable reluctance in my group, I decided to step forward and try this first having been told that we would swap roles when all the groups rotated around the room in order to make the most of the three different sets. This gave me a very different viewpoint from other members of my group as I had a front row seat watching all the technical aspects at work in front of me. However, this doesn't mean it was easy. We had previously been told that the success of a music video is nearly reliant on the performance and energy of its artists. As one would expect, this was at first challenging as it is easy to misplace the lyrics in the heat of the moment. However, with a few more tries it steadily improved. This gave me the experience to understand that when it comes to shooting the video me must allocate enough time for the performer to adapt to what is a very odd environment, regardless of how confident they are as an individual. Time will eventually lead to a better performance.  

 

After completing a variety of shots as a solo performer, the group then moved onto the night club set where we swapped roles. What made this set unique was that there was a track set up for the camera. Unlike the majority of the group, I had some degree of experience with a tack having utilised it for one shot of my thriller video. Tracking shots have the potential to look great, but they must be handled steadily so that the shot appears slick and smooth. This makes the job of 'track operator' perhaps more difficult than that of the camera man perched on the stool. I started by operating the track. We practiced with the performers prior to 'action' in order to coordinate a general pace and therefore avoid mistakes and force a premature 'reset'. This task took concentration and communication with the camera man but wasn't too difficult due to the short space we were moving within. It was here I learnt that we were in fact aloud to verbally communicate with both the performers and camera man when creating music videos, as opposed to shooting a thriller. This is because the sound recording from all of the shots would be deleted and replaced solely with the music track. This is useful as it meant we could send instructions to the performers during a shot. After this, I then gave camera work a go on the track using the stool to sit on as I was pushed from side to side. With this particular set up, it was my responsibility to monitor the playback and do my best to retain the shot we started with before moving. This obviously included returning to the camera terminology and operating skills that we had learnt during our AS course. I was surprised about how I had managed re-engage with the etiquette of a shoot so quickly. I also noticed while filming that our performers for this section were far less confident. This is of course no fault of their own as some people simply enjoy it more than others. However, it did allow me to notice the difference it can make to the footage. Despite this, this is only a introduction so the quality of performance is far from our main concern.

 

After the shoot we then transported our footage to the edit suite to be cut together, meaning we had to also re-engage with the editing skills we had picked up at AS. We then all gathered around a single computer to learn the technique for editing this specific type of video, as it is vastly different to editing our thrillers. This involved first downloading the track onto Final Cut Pro and then sifting through our clips in the same way. Using the clapperboard and digital time code that we had filmed at the start of each clip, we were able to insert the clips into Final Cut so that they were already in in sync with the music, and still would be even if we shortened or extended them at any point.  It was simply a matter of matching the frames per second. We dragged every usable clip onto the time line and accordingly removed the sound recording. Then it was simply a matter of creatively extending and chopping clips which was made very simple as they were all in front of you. Here, we learnt that it was highly recommended to cut on the beat of the music, yet not in a consistent pattern. If it is in time with the music yet in a sporadic manor then it still interesting and not predictable for the audience. In actual fact, I found this editing process easier than with the thrillers due to its simple visual nature and the reliability regarding syncing due to clever use of the clapper board. However, with the music videos it becomes much more about the cuts chosen and the connotations related to them. For example, we were instructed that when the singer begins to sing in the song, this should always be partnered with footage of the artist if it is a performance based video. This is one of the many stipulations that a record label would request in regard to the video of an artist. In conclusion, I found the day enjoyable and reassuring. Creating this mini music video was greatly enjoyable while also realising that some aspects that I speculated would be very difficult such as the editing, were actually very achievable. I am delighted with what we made and think it is entertaining.

 

 

 

 

Wix Website Introduction

As way of further preparing for next years course, we completed an introductory lesson with website design tool Wix. Wix is an easy to use platform for designing your own websites to then be published on the internet for all to see. This is the platform we will be using to create websites for our own artist post the creation of our music pop promos, making it a good idea to become acquainted with he workings and layout of Wix due to the short space of time we have to complete our media coursework next year.

We were instructed by our teacher to separate into  pairs and create a user with Wix. In the following hour we were told to create only a homepage for ourselves if we were an up and coming music act. Myself and Brandon, created 'Koen' a organic, indie-rock artist making headway in the British market. One can create numerous pages on the site but considering that this was just an introductory session we simply made a homepage with a series of text, images and design scheme. We went for a simplistic yet attractive black and white colour scheme, that looks mature.  I was happy with what we managed to create in a short period of time and was surprised about how professional the page looks. It was also reassuring to know that the creation of the page was not too difficult as I presumed it would be quite complicated. I discovered however, it was more about organisation and having a clear idea of the star image of your imaginary artist.

Link to my Wix website homepage:  http://brandonkoen.wix.com/koen

Album Cover Compare/Contrast Task

An absolutely crucial part of marketing in the music industry is album covers. There are easily recognisable methods in order to contribute to an artists star image. These techniques are exploited in various manors, as every artist is entirely different and is therefor distributed in a different way.

This is the album cover for the first release of young, up and coming British artist Jake Bugg. The fist thing one notices is that there is disrupted contact between the audience and the artist, with Bugg looking downwards towards the floor and having half of his face beyond visibility. This goes some way in immediately suggesting that his interests lie much more in the 'music', and he is not selling the album based on his image or looks. This is reinforced by his attire which is mundane and casual. His particular choice of jacket and the way he has decided to zip it up to the top, when paired with his hairstyle bears strong intertextuality with famous Rock band Oasis. This connotes that Bugg is possibly influenced by their music style, something that is unsurprising considering that he is likely to have grown up during the bands prime and is similarly from a regional British area. It may also suggest that Bugg has a similarly nonchalant, ambivalent attitude towards the industry he works within, a star image that is considered quit admirable amongst diehard music fans. The facial expression demonstrated by Bugg supports this idea.

A prominent part of this cover is undoubtedly the text that displays the artists name. The text is bold, black and near impossible not to notice. This is unsurprising as it is the first album for this young singer and the team behind him would be desperate to get his name known by as many people as possible, and will therefore be able to associate that name with the music they hear. Interestingly, the decision is made to not even include the name of the album on the cover, putting full emphasis on the title of the artist, with the album name clearly being of secondary importance from a marketing point of view. From Bugg's second album we can learn that this has become the artists 'stock font' as the typography is repeated exactly. This helps to create an image for Bugg that with repetition can become identifiable.

From a photographic perspective, this album cover has a very specific style. It has been transposed into a sepia filter which brings a vintage element that is well established. Furthermore, a small percentage of grain has been added to the photo which only induces this idea of heritage. One could argue, that this is representative of Bugg's music style which is likely to be similarly retro and rooted in a style of music that has already come and gone.

This is the most recent album cover from global pop artist Rhianna. Rhianna is a well established, worldwide artist with a strong star image for being young, archaic and rebellious. This image is heavily continued with this album, considering that she is naked and has a collection of tattoos on show. Undoubtedly there is a strong emphasis on sex appeal in this photo. Obviously, Rhianna is naked, she is wearing red lipstick which has strong seductive connotations and she also is sporting a black bob hairstyle which shows intertextuality with various other music artists and film stars in history that helped it to become sexually iconic. Rhianna makes perfect eye contact with the audience which singles out the individual and creates a clear connection between her and the masses of people hat will see this. The photo is shot in this way to not only market through sexuality, but also create a degree of controversy due to the supremely confident and audacious star image constructed. Despite being vastly different to the previous cover, this image is also reflective of the music output of Rhianna which is also punchy, youthful and confident.

The text featured on the album cover also has great importance. It has been purposely constructed yet the font gives the impression that it is actually quite hap-hazard. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the actual title of the album 'Unapologetic' is plastered across Rhianna's breast which is where they assume that the audiences attention will naturally first be drawn. It is written in black and white which is very bold and creates clear contrast. Interestingly, the name of the artist is not actually featured at all on her album cover. This move communicates the arrogance that her team have regarding Rhianna's stardom suggesting that featuring her name is not necessary. This is because she is already so well established and her face alone will sell albums.

Negus' Theory

Keith Negus is a media practitioner who has had his concepts in his field published on numerous occasions, most notably in his work 'Popular Music in Theory' (1996). One of the key theories in this book is the is the two separate ideologies for creativity - organic and synthetic. These ideologies shape the way in which the artists' images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marked towards specific target audiences.

 

In reference to synthetic artists, Negus who was once a record executive, claims "When I firsts started it was more about going out and finding bands. That method is becoming more and more redundant." The reason that this is becoming more redundant is the fact that a considerable amount of acts in the music industry are being synthetically created by executives in order to fit into a gap in the market, instead of uncovering unsigned artists from local gigs. Executives will have a collection of songs and material at their disposal and will attempt to manufacture a group or individual around this. The image of the artists is often entirely constructed by the record company and the artists will be a limited amount of time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out. These acts are often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences. An example of this nature of group is teenage band One Direction. One Direction can be seen to be completely synthetic considering they were literally clubbed together as a group on reality music show X-Factor, despite originally auditioning as individuals. Their look and style has been designed in a way to directly target a certain audience, and they only proceeded to make continuing material after proving their commercial success on a national and then international stage. They are completely synthetic, and doing rather well because of it.

 

Completely opposing this, is the organic ideology of creativity. This is a far less calculated approach to success in the music industry. It is far more naturalistic where the profit of the artists is directly corresponding to their talent and uniqueness. It is often a term used for artists who have been nurtured and supported by a record label, instead of manufactured and changed by one. The image has been enhanced possibly, but is nevertheless true to the artists with them still having a strong influence. The artist may be offered time, something that is rare in the industry, in order to develop and learn. A prime example of this is the young and talented Ed Sheeran. Sheeran has a very specific style and was uncovered via a catalogue of small time music gigs and YouTube publicity. He appears to have done little to adapt his image in order to appeal to the masses, and has managed to be incredibly successful internationality nevertheless. His integrity makes him more admirable as an artist.

 

 

Close Analysis of Narrative Structure - Eminem - 'Stan' ft. Dido

In this 2009 video by worldwide rap artist Eminem, we are able to closely analyse the way narrative structure is utilised to create star image. The video is largely dark and brooding, something that is reflected in its general themes. It opens with immediate disequilibrium, which subverts Todorov's traditional narrative structure, as the exhausted relationship of the protagonist and his girlfriend is presented early on. However, one could argue that the video starts with equilibrium as the protagonists original letters are more placid and adoring.

 

The root narrative of the video is based around an obsessed fan of Eminem, who neglects his pregnant girlfriend in favour of idolising his favourite artist with a collection of Eminem iconography put together in a shrine, showing intertextuality with various stereotypical Thriller movie scenes. We see this shrine with a well executed tilt that takes us through the floorboards into the basement. The mise en scene is considerably darker and flickering lighting is used to create a foreboding atmosphere. This transition coincides with the chorus of the featured song by Dido. The lyrics of the song relate heavily to the situation of the girlfriend, who is interestingly played by Dido. Whenever this choral interlude is played there is a cut to Dido as she lip-syncs the words of her original song. This offers the audience her perspective in the song to evoke sympathy. However, we also feel an element of sympathy for the protagonist of the video which is unsettling due to his reckless behaviour. This is because we understand through the lyrics of the song that this characters life has been considerably dented by the actions of others, such as his father. This heavily relates the Eminem's own personal issues creating a link between the fan and artist, and communicates that is the artists aim to create relatability with his work. This link is reinforced by the fact that Eminem's rapping is used to voice the fan, as well as himself. This is noticeably odd and deviates from what an audience expects as Eminem performs as both himself, acts as a narrator figure, and also voices the protagonist. Considering Dido involvement in a performance sense, it is clear to see that certain lines have become blurred when devising this project.

Towards the end of the video, the narrative reaches its climax when the protagonist is driving on the motorway with his girlfriend in the boot. He has reached this state of emotional turmoil after his idol refused to reply to his letters. The director has exploited dramatic irony on this occasion as we know as an audience that in truth his letter didn't actually make it to Eminem and was lost in the post. This makes his actions now seem painfully unnecessary for the audience. This high intensity section of the video is reflected by the directors used of fast impactful cutting, ECU's to show the anguish of the protagonist and the rain used as an example of pathetic fallacy.

This music video goes some way in presenting a very interesting star image for Eminem, and subverts the stereotype designed for a mainstream rapper in popular culture. In the end of the video, Eminem is seen to playing himself as he attempts to write back to the fan in question. He is wearing glasses, something that has incredibly strong connotations of intelligence and wisdom. Through his wrap he begins to give the individual a series of well reasoned and considered advice, where he trivialises his one music somewhat and tells the protagonist not to take it so seriously. This presents a very modest image, of someone that is mature about his own situation and keen to help others. This is certainly not what someone would expect from a man in his position and with his background. It wavers strongly from the original 'Slim Shady' persona that this artist projected at the start of his career, an image that was met with controversy and criticism. However, in the ending of the video we see the protagonists younger brother remove his hood to display bleach blonde dyed hair communicating the cyclic nature of the cultural problem Eminem is trying to address on a wide scale with this song.