Polydor records 3

We were shown some examples of treatments used for music videos that she has worked on.

Ellie Goulding

Track:  Goodness Gracious
Video

Director:  Kinga Burza

Burza  references several other media texts – for the looks or other MV / films.  Explain why you are referencing other ideas.
Team – liked still and photographs to be used in treatments.
Make reference to stylistics – but do not be overly complicated, but still give enough information to retain interest.
Question:  Consider how much did the MV fit with the initial treatment?  What was included & what was omitted.

 Bipolar Sunshine

Track:  Deckchairs on the Moon


Video

A lot of pressure from marketing and A&R felt his image was being lost.  Needed the music video to work to secure the right image, because management and record company didn't really understand who he is and what he's about.  Artist had three managers, strong minded marketing director.  For previous video, the treatment wasn’t clear enough, so everyone had different ideas about the video, so video never came out.

It was important that for this artist it had to be very concept – had a lot of room for creativity and performance on location – Remote and exotic location heavily stylised video  & using a drone to film!  It was a success for the artist and the MV   director went onto to be a successful director of advertisements.

La Roux– Kiss and Not Tell

Video

 Star Image  is carefully created!

Back to 80/90s concept
Lots of research and stylisation – very clear early on
Focus on the concept of being interactive calling a dial number on screen  – the emphasis was on the interactive and this succeeded with the audience.
Studio based performance – lots if graphics cut in post-production
Very concept based – on a distinct musical style.
Fantastic simply concept – lots of research onto the use of old phones alone!
They went to a prop house to commission the use of the phones!
And lastly a note about audiences for  the concept.  The drives stats through Facebook and links – it is industry access only. Emily suggested that if you go to YouTube and look at demographics of bands and viewer profiles– you should be able to identify your target audience.












 .

Polydor records 2

Emily also gave us tips for our own treatments through her experience with artists music videos .

The treatment – is a selling point for the Music Video Concept.

 What makes a good and bad treatment is discussed:

Good:  The point, summarise ideas in first paragraph, clear and concise, good references – video and images (Pinrest, Getty Images are good sources for images)

Bad:     Overly complicated, badly set up 7 not easy to follow

After the treatment has been read – if its eye-catching, creative, it is more likely to be picked up:

Budget is set and based on projected sales and the concept which emerges from the treatment.

Treatment:  Music Video form

Is it narrative, performance based or based or simply using camera and set design to help the artist.  This initial idea has to be researched and director works with producer to create a budget and plan shooting.

The first thing they do to pitch the idea after the brief has been set.

So here is the key advice for writing your own treatment:

 

1. The treatment should generally keep the first paragraph fairly short, but include a good general overview of video idea (as artists don't usually spend much time reading through treatments).
2. 
   Include references to other videos of music videos, photographers, artists, photos etc.
3. 
   Don't be overly complicated, but still give a good enough idea of what you want.

 

(Don't just stick things in there without thinking carefully about them)

 

NB:  Treatment are short/ concise/ relevant and full of images.  Explain the idea in the first paragraph and then use image and more images, be creative. Use hyperlink’s to others ideas, use a mood board.

Polydor records (Universal music)

Yesterday we had a talk from Emily Teadrake , a video commissioner from Polydor records .

• The commissioning process was introduced as the aim of the session.
• Track confirmation, brief  set and then budgets discussed within a team which consists of the artist, director, A&R departments and marketing. 
• Usually, commissioners insist on a performance element (as a backup) enforced by marketing department of the label making sure the artist is seen with the right star image.
• The MV form has more freedom with ‘dance’ tracks - more concept, narrative, animation (which is good for the directors who want to go into short films etc.
• Usually get track decided by A&R dep. and then given budget (based on project sales), they sit down with marketing; A&R etc. Artist and record company discuss the stylisation and techniques of the video such as camera; animation etc.
• The record label will then send out a brief, with the track, to directors; wait a week to get some concepts in, and then they issue contracts.  The producer budgets the cost; they go and shoot it and oversee the edit and delivery.  The process take around a month in which Shoot they shoot as much as possible.  An average budget is about  £10-15,000 – perhaps lots more for a global established artist.

Prezi on concepts and themes for our idea

Research into genre 2

 

Above is a festival poster for a festival for reggae dub artists in France which mungos hifi and stand high patrol are preforming at . This is an example that groups like stand high patrol tend to stick to their own genre . Below is mungos hifi tour video used as promotion for the groups tours at different concerts and festivals. Mungos hifi also played at outlook festival in Croatia , which consists of many genres of music , ranging from house to drum and bass .

Research into genre .

The big tree - Stand high patrol

To develop our ideas and knowledge of the reggae/dub genre i am going to look into similar artists and their image along with artists who represent similar themes to our concept.

Major lazer is a widely known reggae and dub group , based in Kingston Jamaica . Their usual themes involve the musics heritage , for example the video for 'Get Free' is very artistic , it involves jamiacan locals and their day to day lives , along with the group preforming . As you can see below Major lazer show themes of artistic value , their image is commonly related to the characters they use in the album artwork , although it actually has no relevance to the music they make , the cartoons they use are interesting and artistic .

The major lazer website is very visual and interesting , this is quite a contrast from stand high patrol or mungos hifi . Whos image is very based upon their music and not the publicity side of the dub industry . As you can see below , mungos hifi  , a very similar group too stand high patrol have very basic album covers , they do use music videos which tend to be very graphic or performance based , they have no real image to do with fashion , their music is very much about personality and metaphorical/stereotypical reggae music . Their website is fairly plain and really emphasizes tours , concerts and music videos.

second idea for 'big tree'

The second as less valuable idea was to work with the idea of seasons , and growth of the human throughout each season .


Autumn Winter Spring Summer


The seasons represent change and growth .


'Out of darkness comes light'


The idea of a girl , we get the impression she had issues as a child or a sense of neglect ion , she walks through a dark misty forrest , as the music speeds up and becomes more cheerful its as if she walks through the seasons , using lighting to create a summer and spring feeling , towards the end we get the impression that she is a changed girl, and she makes her way to a sought of party in a field .


 

Original Idea for 'The Big Tree'

Our original idea was to have a deeper meaning behind our video , we interpreted the song as being a metaphor , the big tree is some sought of guardian . A tree in old English was used as a metaphor for a wise man . The location would be a small country home owned by a typical lower / middle class family .


The idea is it begins with a little girl singing to her mother at home , shes whispering the lyrics to the song .


Subtly you notice the father come into the room , we get the impression that hes drunk .

The parents begin to argue but the camera is concentrating on the little girl .


The mother then picks up the girl and moves her into another room to get her away from the argument .


You notice the girl becomes upset by the parents and trys to take her mind off of it by drawing , subtly she begins to sob .


The camera shows the argument for a short period and then the mother becomes fed up , picks up the girl and takes her outside of the house into the garden .


The mother begins to sing the song as a sought of comfort for the girl , it then zooms into her eyes and the shot changes to her in the future , shes getting out of a car with a load of friends as they pull into a barron field .


Other cars begin to come and we understand its her friends , they begin unpacking tents , speakers etcc.. 


they begin to have a party .

Reasearch on initial ideas 'The big tree'

Similar artists too stand high patrol are groups like Digitaldubs , soom t and million stylez . All producing very similar music under different labels . These types of reggae/dub groups tend not to produce music videos or have much publicity other than performances or shows at festivals .





As you can see below their website is quite minimal , on the news and home page they only advertise shows and festivals , under videos they show clips of their preformances . This shows that for them its about the music and not so much the image . They use soundcloud to advertise new songs and collaborations , the sound cloud page is by the label which also shows many other groups . Its frequently updated with new music.





























It is very difficult to give the group a specific audience profile , the reggae genre is listened to by people of all ages and races , a branch of the record label has a group in india which produces the same music as well as stand high patrol who are france based . My father and brothers like the song and most people are able to enjoy it .