Promotional strategies

Unsigned bands can struggle to get recognition so they use many ways to try and get noticed by people.

Playing shows
Unsigned bands would play many small shows around their area to gain recognition from as many people as possible. The more shows they play, the more people will see them. Having a large fanbase is important for unsigned bands to try and get their name out there and get signed.

Being different
Doing something new or something a bit outrageous is a good way for a band to get recognised. They can release a music video that is different or have a certain image or look that will make them stand out from other bands. For example, the band OK Go released a music video for their song 'Here It Goes Again' that was different to anything that had been seen before and it got the band lots of recognition. The band is now well known for their music videos.

Ok Go - Here It Goes Again

Social networking
Social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are great ways for bands to get noticed. Millions of people use these sites everyday so it is a superb way to get new fans. On these sites they can share their songs and videos and give information about themselves and shows that they are playing.

Institutions that exhibit music videos

As music videos are a visual form of entertainment there are only certain ways they can be viewed. Music videos are viewed using the internet and on the television.

Music Channels

The first music channel was MTV, first introduced in 1981. They originally just played rock videos that were very popular at the time. Overtime they started playing songs and videos from different genres and nowadays they have separate channels for different genres. There are many different music channels, such as 4music and Viva, now. These channels play music videos at all times however some channels, lik MTV, have started showing some reality tv shows. Some music videos are censored or aren't shown till after the watershed due to tighter regulations for television.

Online

There are many places online to watch music videos. YouTube is the most popular site to watch music videos. Watching music videos online is the most popular way to view music videos nowadays. By watching music videos online, people can choose what music videos they watch and watch them when they want. This is different to music channels where they don't have a say in what is being played. Many of these sites online can be viewed on mobile devices such as phones and tablets, making them more accessible than tv channels. It is also easier to share videos amongst friends using these sites.

Odd Shaped Head - Corpse in the Kitchen lyric deconstruction

They came around to my house

At midnight, at midnight

And left a gift aside

I think they would think they’d think that’s alright

But sit tight

There’s been a homicide

She wakes up to his sunrise

The … sticks to her eye

Stay awakes to surprise

There’s a corpse in the kitchen

Slowly realising

I’m done up with hiding

The saddle is for riding

There’s a corpse in the kitchen

Slowly creeping downstairs

Pulling twice on her hair

Pulls him down with no care

Steps over …

Broken bits of porcelain

The cat had put me out?

There’s a corpse in the kitchen

Chorus x4

They don’t go by any old name

They deposit random objects but they love you all the same

They came around to my house

At midnight, at midnight

And left a gift aside

I think they would think they’d think that’s alright

But sit tight

There’s been a homicide

Pushing through the darkness of the kitchen gloom aside

He’s attracted to her differently, there’s a picture in the light?

There’s a corpse in the kitchen (overlaps the previous line)

He’s casting silhouettes against and fallen up her walls?

He turns around and gasps as he hears footsteps in the hall?

There’s a corpse in the kitchen (overlaps the previous line)

(Spoken with a brief pause in between each word)

I did warn you not to hear

There are two dead bo..dies here

Chorus x4

They came around to my house

At midnight, at midnight

And left a gift aside

I think they would think they’d think that’s alright

But sit tight

There’s been a homicide

The lyrics to the song tell a story. Due to this storytelling in the lyrics it would make more sense to do an illustrative or an amplification style music video. The story told in the lyrics all takes place inside a house. This gives us a good setting for a video as it is much easier to control things such as lighting inside a house.
The line 'corpse in the kitchen' is repeated many times throughout the song so we could easily use that in a narrative and illustrative way. 'There's been a homicide' is another line that we could easily use as part of a narrative for the video.
The 'I did warn you not to hear, There are two dead bo..dies here' part of the song could easily be used as part of a narrative or a performance part. The brief pauses between each word would make it very easy to perform and keep in time with the song.
The story that the lyrics create takes place in a house and in particular, the kitchen. This gives us a very obvious setting for the music video. We will film our music video in a house with a lot of shots taking place in the kitchen. Nearly all of the performance parts of the video will be shot in the kitchen.
In the first verse it is said that the story takes place at midnight. We would make sure when we shoot the music video that the outside lighting is very dark, like it would be at midnight. However, inside the house the lighting would be quite high.

Paul Weller album poster

This poster is an advert for Paul Weller's album, '22 Dreams'. The top half of the poster is very bright and grabs the attention. The name of the artist and the album name are written very clearly in the top half and it is the only text in the top half of the poster. The image is some sort of garden or park scene, perhaps it is a dreamlike scene, relating to the name of the album.

The bottom half of the poster gives information about the album. The release date of the album is clearly written on the poster. The black background with white text makes it very clear and simple to read. Information about various different editions of the album is also made clear on this part of the poster. Details are given about the deluxe edition of the album and what it is included in it. The website for the artist is also written below the information.

A short review is written in red text at the bottom of the poster. The different colour text makes the review stand out from the rest of the text and the author of the review is also shown with a little image to the side of the review.

Blur digipak analysis

The Blur: The Best Of album was released in 2000. The album includes most of Blur's most well known singles and tracks. The digipak features a booklet including pictures of artwork from the band.

The front cover features the band name and the album name. It also features cartoon images of the four band members. The design of the front cover is quite simple as there aren't lots of images and it is quite plain. The grey background and white text doesn't grab the attention very much but the bright colours on the image is very much the focus of the front cover.

The artwork on the leaflet is the same as the front cover.

The design on the CD is also very plain. It is grey and just has the name of the band on it in white text. Although it doesn't grab the attention much it follows the design on the rest of the digipak.

The back cover on the digipak is very bright. There are simple, bright colours on the cover and it grabs the attention. The design features simple blocks of colour and the track listings are set out very simply.

Overall, the whole design of the digipak is very simple and plain. There aren't many images throughout the digipak and there are simple, block colours throughout the digipak.

The Libertines - Time For Heroes analysis

The Libertines - Time For Heroes

'Time For Heroes' was released in 2003, as the post-punk indie rock genre was reaching its peak. The Libertines were one of the biggest and most successful bands of the genre and widely acclaimed for their music.

This video for this song is a montage video. It was filmed in Madrid and features many clips of the band in the city and their hotel. A wide range of shots are used, such as long shots, two shots and close up shots.

There is a performance aspect to the video as there are some clips that show the band during live performances or as they are playing around the city.

The montage style of the video makes it quite personal as it is filmed by the band members themselves and the whole video shows what they get up to whilst in Madrid. I think this is something that works well and suits the genre very well.

Throughout the video the band members are just wearing a casual costume. They do not have a set costume and in some clips they are wearing different clothes.

The Strokes - Reptilia analysis

The Strokes - Reptilia

The Strokes are another band quite similar to Odd Shaped Head. However, they are American and they rose to prominence in the early 2000s. this particular song was released in 2004, a couple of years before Odd Shaped Head came into being.

This video is all performance based. It features many close-up shots of the band members playing their instruments and not much else. There is no narrative to the video at all and every shot is to do with the performance.

Throughout the video, only the front-mans face is shown clearly. Shots of the other band members faces show them looking away from the camera and are slightly out of focus and unclear.

The frontman is the only band member who's face is shown clearly throughout the video.

Every single shot in the video is a close up shot and there are no shots of the band as a whole. Also, cuts are used throughout the video and there are no other transitions used in the video. Towards the end of the video they cut through shots very quickly.

Franz Ferdinand - Matinee Analysis

Franz Ferdinand - Matinee

'Matinee' was released in 2004, a couple of years before Odd Shaped Head came along. At this time this particular post-punk indie rock genre of music was rising to prominence so this video should use certain features common to this genre of music.

There are many full band shots throughout the video and this is common amongst music videos from this genre. There is a performance aspect to this video and this is also something that is seen in many music videos. All of the band members are wearing the same costume, a schoolboy look. This is also something quit generic of the genre and band members are often shown to wear the same, or similar, outfits. This particular shot is a long shot and it shows the setting as a school toilet.

A large part of the video is in black and white, something that isn't uncommon amongst indie music videos. This particular shot is a midshot on one of the band members. The setting is clearly shown to be a school as all of the other people shown in the shot are in a school uniform and are sat behind desks. There is also a performance aspect here as the band member shown is singing the song.

Throughout the video there are cut aways to clips of old black and white films to create this nostalgic, schoolboy feel. These cut away shots are presented as if they are being projected, and the band member shown to be singing along is watching them at school. These clips appear throughout the video and the clips themselves don't really relate to the narrative or the classroom setting of the rest of the video.

In the video there is a form of choreographed dance. During this dance sequence the video becomes full colour rather than black and white. This part of the song is the climax so the burst of colour and the more energetic shots used in the video show that clearly. The dance moves are very rigid and do not require lots of movement.

After the short dance sequence there is a change of setting. The setting is a lot lighter and the costumes are much cleaner and lighter than before. This contrasts the dark, unclean setting of the school and perhaps suggests that this is some sort of dreamland compared to the school.

When the scene in the dreamland setting finishes, there is another, longer dance sequence in the school. However, this time the four band members are the key people throughout the shots and they are the main focus in the shots whereas before they were just in amongst the other people in the video and the focus was not on them.

Grouping

To produce this music promo I shall be working with Sean Robson as a duo. Working as a pair gives us more freedom and flexibility as we do not have any other members to rely upon. It also allows us to use our own ideas without having other people to contradict us. I decided to be in a group with Sean as we get on well away from media and we share similar tastes in music and have similar ideas on what we want to do.

Analysis of a similar band - Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand are band with a very similar style to our band of choice, Odd Shaped Head. They both play the same genre of music (post-punk indie rock) and have a similar, 4-piece set up. They are also both known for their energetic performances and upbeat tracks.
Franz Ferdinand have released 4 studio albums, one of which reached number 1 in the UK album charts and have had 3 top ten singles in the UK. They also won a Mercury Prize award for their album 'Franz Ferdinand' and have won two Brit awards. They are also known for their use of 1930s, Russian inspired artwork and music videos.

Conventions of Digipaks and adverts

Digipaks are a form of CD packaging. Generally they consist of a 6-panel, paperboard, or card, gatefold with a plastic tray to contatin the CD. They are known as one of the first big alternatives to plastic jewel cases. They are often used to promote singles or special edition albums and tracks. As the Digipak cases are generally made out from card or paperboard they are known to wear and become a damaged a lot morequickly than the more resistant jewel case used by many manufacturers. Digipak cases can also be made a lot more environmentally friendly with some manufacturers even making their Digipaks using 100% recycled materials.
The artwork on Digipaks would generally follow a similar theme over all of the panels and the artwork would be related to the song or the artist in particular. Similar colours and the style of the artwork would be used throughout. On the front panel of the Digipak, something related to the band, such as their logo or a picture of the band, would be used to promote the track and make it obvious who it is aimed for. On the back panel of a Digipak the tracks would be listed and numbered.

An example of a Digipak



A standard, clear jewel case

The posters that are used to advertise the album often use the same images as the front cover of the Digipak. The poster would often have information regarding the release date of the album and may feature very short reviews on the poster.

Digipak front panel 

Poster using very similar to Digipak cover

As you can see with this Dikipak cover and the poster, the image that is used is pretty much the same. However, the poster features extra detail that the Digipak cover does not have.  

Pitch ideas

Ideas pitch

Questionnaire analysis

We can see from this mediocre pie chart that comedies are the preferred genre of film for the people that we surveyed. A lot of people are also fans of rom-coms which are very similar to comedies. This strongly suggests that we should consider doing a humorous music video as it is what the people want. We also asked why they prefer these types of films. A lot of the responses were because these films are funny and they make them laugh. The people who preferred action films said that they liked them because they are very exciting.

As we can see from this pie chart a lot of people surveyed hear about music videos from the television, radio, and through their friends. There is not one category that clearly has more suggestions than the others but it is clear that those three categories are the most popular.

These results suggest that the song is the most important element for a music video. However, the artwork and the type of video are important factors in attracting an audience. This shows that we have to make sure the song is something that the audience would enjoy and the artwork for the video needs to stand out and draw in the audiences attention. The type of video is also very important so we need to make sure it is something that the audience will enjoy.

This chart shows that the people are mainly interested in pop music. Our chosen song is not particularly a pop song but it does have a pop element to it. Rock and dance are the only other genres that the people suggested. Our song also has a small rock element to it so our song should interest the audience.

Humour in music videos

Beastie Boys - No Sleep Till Brooklyn

In this Beastie Boys video they use both narrative and performance to add a comical effect to their music video. They are obviously attempting to parody 70s rock bands such as Kiss in this video and they use this parody to add humour to their video.

Beastie Boys - Body Movin'

In this video humour is used all throughout the video. Again, they use parody throughout the video but this time they are parodying films like James Bond. Also, there is no performance aspect to the video at all.


If we are going to do a humour based video it is clear that parodying will be an important part of the video. Most humour based music videos I have seen all feature parodying of some kind so it is clear that we will have to do that. Also, the video would have to have a lot of narrative as most of the videos focused on the narrative a lot or managed to fit the performance parts into the narrative.