Deadlines/Brief

Music videos are so 80s/90s, right? They belong with the era when MTV screened wall-to-wall vids instead of 'reality' TV? Try telling that to the millions who bought Gangnam Style; were they really simply loving the music? 1.6bn (and still climbing) have viewed the video on YT, not to mention the many re-makes (school eg, eg2), viral ads + celeb link-ups (even political protest in Seoul) - and it doesn't matter how legit it is, this nightmare for daydream Beliebers is making a lot of money, even from the parodies + dislikes. All this for a simple dance track that wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1990 ... but had a fun vid. This meme itself was soon displaced by the Harlem Shake. Music vids even cause diseases it seems!
This blog explores every aspect of this most postmodern of media formats, including other print-based promo tools used by the industry, its fast-changing nature, + how fans/audiences create/interact. Posts are primarily written with Media students/educators in mind. Please acknowledge the blog author if using any resources from this blog - Mr Dave Burrowes

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Snoop Doggs use of new media

Good example of how truly multimedia today's PR and marketing campaigns for music artists, or perhaps we should be blunter and say music BRANDS, are: Snoop Dogg is hyping his reggae release as Snoop Lion. Checkmout the Guardian piece on this and note all the social media and online tools visible there, then click through to the YouTube link which has a list of Snoop profiles/pages on a wide range of new media sites

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Def Leppard rerecord entire back catalogue?

Here's a very relevant headline from the Guardian's music industry section:
Get rocked, Universal! Def Leppard plan to rerecord their back catalogue
Sheffield rockers are so angry with their label over royalties issues that they plan to replace their old recordings with copies
The article sets out their plan to rerecord ... for which they would want fresh videos?!
Another example of the real-world industry relevance of making new music videos for back-catalogue music.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Class Vid Pitches Thurs + final week

Will the 2012 class vid prove even more popular than this?!
As 3 of you were away, a quick summary of the changed schedule since the MVDay was called off:
Thurs12th P3: Each pitch an idea for a class vid project, using your blogs to play the track + present any visual aids to sell/explain the idea. Select a track + develop idea.
Fri13th P4: Planning if necessary, or filming. Remember, I need to have seen you on the day to be able to mark you present.
Mon-Weds of final week: additional shooting if necessary, otherwise editing vid/blogging. Vid exported and handed in before end of Weds lesson. Chance to discuss ideas with me for actual coursework, with informal pitches if time.
Fri20th: screen this year's work + reflect; look ahead to September

Class Vid should be...
  • a bit daft: fun to shoot and view (consider other P16 students a core audience)
  • achievable in a short timeframe
    • you can edit the audio track to shorten the vid
  • include everyone on screen at some point

The previous posts on the Class Vid set out what to consider:
CLASS VID
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/05/hwk-pitch-for-class-mvid.html
http://musividz.blogspot.com/2012/06/learning-from-classvid.html
(everything else you can find here)
Past examples of 'class vids':
2011: Lonely Island's "Threw It on the Ground" [there are 4 edits of this + Hello] and Martin Solveig's "Hello".

Duck Sauce/Lonely Island especially continue to be widely viewed on the IGSMediaStudies channel - will yours become a cult classic too?

If you're struggling for ideas, you might consider a dance track and idea on the lines of the 2010 vid (a different person lipsynching the repeated vocal line each time its included), eg:

Kicks Like a Mule: The Bouncer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjES-j7lptc
Smart E’s Seasame Treet - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_fXDfZR-4U&feature=related (v daft vid for this one already!)

Or you might consider the quirky covers of well-known tunes by the Likes of Andy Rehfeldt, eg
Jazz RATM Killing in the Name Of - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0CgE7oyVpI&feature=related (would need to edit in a silly word in place of swear words, but that’d be part of the fun/silliness)
AndyR’s Slipknot as Disney (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG6G4XBnvLQ&feature=relmfu – as above re swear words) or AndyR’s death metal version of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, which works rather well!

Sunday 8 July 2012

Feminist Metal or male gaze? Butcher Babies

The article I'll link below contains strong language and links to semi-nude videos, necessary for the frank discussion of the topic matter but worth being aware of and cautious over. The article is sparked by the emergence of a female metal band who've gained swift notoriety by performing semi-nude, their costumes leaving little to the imagination. The article never uses the term post-feminist, but the claims of the likes of the Butcher Babies to be feminist would be rejected by traditional feminists, but embraced by post-feminists. The article, and the reader comments that follow, goes on to discuss more radical acts such as RockBitches, L7, Tribe8, Girlschool (The Runaways, subject of a 2011 film, aren't mentioned but should be), Wendy O'Wiliams and the Plasmatics and many more. It's a useful article not so much for the specifics on any one act but for exposing and illuminating the contested nature of feminism, and undermining attempts to claim that what makes positive or negative representation is a straightforward process. Its thus one you'd do well to look at when discussing representations within your own work, and how they're perceived. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/jul/05/butcher-babies-rockbitch-tribe-8

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Denotation of BritVid

We'll start by denoting the opening 9 shots of the BritVid as a class, then individually or in pairs you'll each work through an aditional 30sec chunk so that we cover the entire 3:54 of the vid!
You'll be given a hard copy of 'Hitting De-Notes', though you can download and type if you prefer. Hard copies of the general denotation template are available, though you can also download it below and type.

HITTING DE-NOTES…denoting Britneys 1st 9 shots BLANK                                                                                                   

Denotation Template