Friday 28 October 2016

Podcast 4

This week, I recorded our Podcast, discussing what we have been doing over the past week, and what we will do next week. 



BV

KO: INDUSTRY: Merchandise

In this post I will talk about different merchandise for different bands.
Bands sell merchandise to create some extra income. Now a days bands dont earn as much from concert tickets or CD sales as people can easily stream or pirate music. So to earn more most bands sell merchandise. Most bands sell the normal merch such as T-SHirts, Hoodies, caps, and other clothes. I will be listing some more unusual merch.

AC/DC sells dog tags with the AC/DC logo on them. Dog Tags are necklaces that soldiers use in the army but have become very popular as a form of jewelry.
The music producer Deadmau5 has headphones created for cats. There was only made 10 functioning cat headphones and the price was set at $1000. The headphones are a smaller version of the Deadmou5 Sol Republic headphones and where created for Deadmou5s cat.
The band Fall Out Boy also has a bunch of different merch on being wall flags. There are almost like posters such made from fabric and if you look in the corner they have holes in them so you could use it as a flag.

Five Finger Death Punch sells finger-less gloves with their logo on which is of knuckle busters with spikes on them with 5 F D P in each circle.
This is most likely the most bizarre merch of the ones I found. Kiss sells a lot of special merch, one which is a coffin. There are a few Kiss Coffins 2 of which are Deluxe edition. On the description it says it can also be used as a drink chiller while you are still alive. Kiss also sells a Limited Edition Pinball Machine for $12000. But for those who arent willing to buy for such a high price there is also the Pinball Machine -Profor $6500


The band The Rolling Stones also has a lot of merch. It has merch for all ages even baby's this might be because people who who grew up listening to the rolling stones might have baby's now at will then buy a baby rolling stones romper. The rolling stone also have a book which you can buy on their website. They have two Exibitionism books Hard and Soft Cover. They also sell cufflinks with the the logo on them.

The band Twenty One Pilots sells a bunch of merch the most special one being the TOP Ukulele. Its priced at $125 which is more than double what a normal ukulele costs.

Tuesday 25 October 2016

SR: Production Schedule UPDATE 1

This is the 1st update of the production schedule I created, which included the dates we will be filming on and which cast needs to be there for the different dates. It also shows, which parts of the music video we will film and for how many hours we will be filming on.



KO: Vodcast 3: Target Audience



To find out more information about our target audience I asked a few different people if they new the song and band for 4 different songs.

SR: INDUSTRY: Merchandise

For our website we also need to come up with ideas for merchandising. Therefore we looked through different bands such as the ones we blogged on for social media and ofcourse also Bring Me The Horizon themselves.

Nowadays, bands sell merchandise to get an extra income. They dont earn as much from concert tickets or CD sales anymore since it is easier for people to stream or pirate music. 

On Bring Me The Horizon's official website, there are quite a lot of merchandise that are available to purchase. These include:

When Bring Me The Horizon performed at the Rock A Field music festival here in Luxembourg, they couldn't include all of their merchandise, because there are loads of bands that are trying to sell their merchandise at a festival. Therefore, they include the most important merchandise that people are guaranteed to buy at a festival such as T-ShirtsJumpersCaps and with time, bands have started to sell phones cases on festivals as well, since a lot of people have smartphones nowadays.
The merchandise on their website are not just the typical T-Shirt or Hoodie, but include backpacks, phone cases, watches and many other things, which you can view on their  website.

Fall out Boy, had quite different merchandise from Bring Me The Horizon. Their merchandise included these bobbleheads with the names of the band members on the small platform the bobbleheads are standing on. This can be purchased for 50$. However, the band is being portrayed as quite "Hipster" with the look that they have such as the hat on Patrick's head. They could have included the band members holding guitars or having Joe sit by the drumkit on the platform. On the website you can also buy as well as other T-Shirtsjumpers and wall flags.


Rise Against merchandise is more focused on different types of T-Shirts, such as for example this one with the cover from Rise Against newest digipack on there. They were however also the first of the three bands where I saw the CD in the store. The two other bands had quite a lot of merchandise, but their CD's weren't included. Whereas Rise Against included both CD but also Vinyl of their newest album The Black Market.

Friday 21 October 2016

MISE-EN-SCENE: Baby Grow

This is the babygrow that I created using Adobe Photoshop CS5. I took our logo and layered it over the center. I then used the blending and paint tools to make it fit seamlessly and look convincing. 

I think that a babygrow is a good piece of merchandise to have in the store on our website. There are older fans of Bring Me The Horizon who have liked their music from the very beginning. These fans will now be older than the new fans and therefore it is very important to engage them and attract them.

Podcast 3

As i was off school, Sophie and Kristian recorded this weeks podcast.




SR/KO

Tuesday 18 October 2016

KO: Target Audience: BMTH (Magazine)

For audience research I will be looking at some magazines that have featured Bring me the Horizon. Then I will look at the genre for those magazines and that will help use determine who the target audience is for the band.



Bring me the Horizon have featured on the cover of AP (Alternative Press) many times. You can see from the photos that they have features in issue #248, #268, #299, #327, and more. By looking at APs Website I saw an article that was tilted "18 tattoos that will send chills down your spine". This tells me that the age range is centered at around 20 year old as they are the ones who generally get tattoos. Other bands that have featured on AP are such as "Twenty One Pilots", "Crown the Empire", and "Panic! At the disco".





BMTH have also been on the cover of Rock Sound a few times. Other bands that have featured on Rock Sound are bands such as "Twenty One Pilots", "Green Day", "30 Seconds to Mars".

Rock Sounds age range is slightly lower than AP as Rock Sound features some bands that arnt as heavy such as "30 Seconds to Mars". Although on there website there is mentions of alcohol which is 18+ in England. The age range of both magazines i would say is around 18 to late 20s, but AP focuses more on a heavy metal group. 

Monday 17 October 2016

SR: Sample Scene 1

This is a practice video/sample scene that Kristian and I filmed with the band on the 16th in order to get some footage for our sample scene and try out different locations. We also wanted to try out different positions for the band members, in order to see who would fit the different instruments best and ofcourse fit and get the role of the leadsinger. 

Despite using social media to advertise and having auditions, it has been quite a challenge to find people who can play an instrument and who wanted to take part in the project. Therefore, we decided to go for 5 people, who we thought, looked suitable for the role, with some change in costume for the real filming ofcourse. 

Since this was only a practice, we didn't have all 5 band members there, we didn't have all the instruments either and we didn't spend time on doing make-up since we wanted to focus on the set-up first. Also, not all members knew the lyrics, which means that it was hard to focus a lot on lip-syncing when I edited this. 

I did however, try to use two different video effects. First of all, i wanted to see how it would look with the video effect, but it was also quite sunny that day and so the outside scenes wouldn't have been suitable for the actual real footage, since the mood is supposed to be quite depressing and the weather should link with the mood. If it does turn out to be sunny on all the days we are filming, Kristian has quite a lot of experience with editing so that it still looks dark outside, since this was the case for his film opening at AS-Level.


MISE-EN-SCENE 1: Performance Costume

I will be discussing our costume choices for the band during our performance shoot. 
I have added photos of Bring Me The Horizon and the outfits that they wear to perform and just in general. 

They generally wear:


-Black, Grey and white clothes

-Distressed or ripped clothes and jeans

-Black hoodies or jumpers

-Black or grey skinny jeans

Their hair is always styled down and sometimes over their eyes.  

As you can see from this photo of our band, they are all wearing very neutral clothes with dark coloured skinny jeans.  
   
From our first shoot (when our song choice was 'Follow you' we also had a band member wearing a band t-shirt which is something else that BMTH often do. (see the photo of the guy with a metallic shirt holding a guitar)

Saturday 15 October 2016

Podcast 2

This is our 2nd podcast which Kristian created on his own. 



KO

Friday 14 October 2016

Metalcore Branding on Social Media

I went on to YouTube and Facebook and selected some bands similar to/ with the same genre as Bring Me The Horizon, taking screenshots. This will help us get an idea/inspiration for our own branding. 

SLEEPING WITH SIRENS:

Facebook Page:

The YouTube Banner:
I think that the YouTube banner for Sleeping With Sirens is incredibly effective. The concert location means that fans and viewers will feel involved and be able to relate to the image, if they have previously attended a concert. The black and white filter also helps to enhance this, as it gives a nostalgic feeling. This is an effective means of marketing as it uses audience involvement. 
The Facebook page for Sleeping With Sirens is effective as the name of the band is bold and clear in a bright yellow colour. This means that the audience/viewers will associate that font and colour with the band. 
However, for our own marketing, I think it would be more effective to stick to a darker, more monochrome colour scheme as the mood of our image and video is quite dark. It would be more effective if we stuck to the same colour scheme across our website, merchandise, and social media, as this will help fans to instantly recognise anything related to the band, as well as associating the colours we pick to the band.

A DAY TO REMEMBER

Facebook Page, followed by Youtube banner:

I think that this is very effective as there is a clear theme and sense of branding throughout. they are very clear that they are promoting their new album and all their social media is dedicated to it. I think that this really makes the album artwork instantly recognisable, especially for when it comes out in stores and fans will see it and recognise it straight away.



YOU ME AT SIX
Again, You Me At Six's social media is very dedicated to their new album. I really like the colour schemes they have used and I think it fits really well with the genre of music. 




BRING ME THE HORIZON
I really like the social media branding for bring me the horizon as it both promotes their album, as well as having pictures of them to keep it a bit more personal and gives the fans the ability to feel closer to the band members. The black and white colour scheme is extremly effective here and something i think we should replicate on our social media and website. 


 To Summarise:  
I have found, through this research that Metalcore brands stick to a fairly neutral colour scheme with black and white as their base colours. 
Also, the bands tend to update their social media in order to promote new music.

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Mvid EG 7: Lady Gaga: Bad Romance

Bad Romance is a song by American singer, which was officially released ad showcased in October 2009, at Alexander McQueen's show at Paris fashion week. 

The song, along with the video received positive reviews, and was included in the 'best-of' lists in several media outlets such as Rolling Stone and Pitchfork Media and acquired two Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video. 

The video was directed by Francis Lawrence, who worked along side many singers and bands, creating music videos for them, but is best known for directing three of the four Hunger Games films. 

"The accompanying music video of "Bad Romance" features Gaga inside a surreal white bathhouse. There, she gets kidnapped by a group of supermodels who drug her and sell her to the Russian Mafia for sexual slavery. The music video ends with Gaga killing the man who bought her. The song's video garnered acclaim from critics, who not only applauded the risqué and symbolic nature of the plot, but its artistic direction and vivid imagery"  -Wikipedia 




Male Gaze

This theory was created by Laura Mulvey, a British Feminist Film Theorist who believes that media is often created with a male audience in mind. Presenting women for the pleasure of a male gaze. 
As a Post Feminist, Gaga would most likely disagree with the theory, as she believes that what she creates and the way she dresses is to empower her and actually gives her a sense of freedom. 
The costumes in this music video are very revealing which, from a traditional feminist point of view, this would arguably be to attract a male audience. The men in the video are watching her and the rest of the women, which further accentuates this point and the arguable aspects of the male gaze within the video. 

Feminist/ Post-Feminist 
Gaga uses long standing and traditional feminist arguments to call out and comment on the double standard that is placed on female performers (they are expected to be sexual, but only up to a certain point) Whereas male performers/rock stars are given free license.
However, she insist that she is not a feminist, and opens up the image of an empowered and liberated woman. 

Normativity  
There are some cases in this video which provides us with some things that have become normative to us. (stereotypes that have been repeated over and over, until we see them as normative). 
russians - vodka
men watching women- arguably objectifying them, representation of the audience? strip club set up. There are multiple ways to read this, again going back to the contrast between feminism and post feminism. 


Product Placement
Product placement has become much more common, due to the fact that there is much less money being brought in from album/record sales. There is product placement in this video through the bottle of vodka.

Intertextuality
Her underwear is an intertextual reference to Madonna's iconic bra. 
look of decay- could be interpreted as "the queen is dead" and gaga is new queen.

Mise en scene
makeup and hair, skin tone is like a doll, dolls are seen as an object. she is exaggerating the stereotype that women are seen as objects.

Tuesday 11 October 2016

UPDATE: Group Change

During this week, Kristian decided to join our group, so that we now work as a trio. As he is mentioning in our podcast 1, he thought that our ideas for our final music video was good. 
Bronwen and I are sure that it will be an advantage for us when having to film the music video that we can possibly set up 3 cameras and a GoPro, which means that we can get a huge shot variety for our music video. 

Furthermore, Kristian told us that he has experience with filming with the use of a drone, which we can use to film as well. This could also come in handy, when filming different scenes in the music video. 

MVid EG 6: Miley Cyrus: Wrecking Ball TBC



Wrecking Ball is a song by American singer, Miley Cyrus. This song was released on August 25, 2013 by RCA Records. It is a pop ballad which's topic describes a relationship deteriorating. 


The song received positive reviews from critics and debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number fifty. 

As of January 2014, "Wrecking Ball" has sold three million copies in the United States.

An interesting article I found whilst researching the song discusses whether or not the song is actually a 'hit'. This can be found on The Record

The music video to this song was released on September 9th 2013, which has inspiration/ is reminiscent of Sinead O'Connor's song 'Nothing Compares 2 U' there is a high level of intertextuality of O'Connor's video in the Wrecking Ball video. (Baudrillard and his theory of Simulacra can be applied to this) 

The critic opinion on this video was largely divided as many considered it to be provocative /inappropriate. 


Miley Cyrus considers herself to be a post-feminist. Wikipedia definition:
"the ideology of postfeminism is often recognised by its contrast with a prevailing or preceding feminism. Postfeminism strives towards the next stage in gender-related societal progress, and as such is often conceived as in favor of a society that is no longer defined bigender binary and gender role."

She believes that feminism assumes male control. She breaks free from this, especially in this video, as although a traditional feminist may see 'Wrecking Ball' as a video where Cyrus is exploited and seen as a sexual object, perhaps even exploited by the director (Terry Richardson, who is involved with a lot of controversy surrounding his exploitation of women) They may also claim that this video is representative of the patriarchal world that we live in.    
However, as a post-feminist, Cyrus believes that instead, she is presenting the idea that she is not trapped at all, and is free, creating art. As a post-feminist, she would also state that the patriarchy is an out-dated term, and does not agree with it. 

Through her hair, Cyrus is breaking gender stereotypes as the repeated stereotype that men should have short hair, and women should have long hair, has become normative in society, therefore making it difficult to break free from this societal construct. Through her hair, Miley Cyrus is being Counter hegemonic, as she decides to ignore the restrictions of society, and break gender stereotypes. 

Another singer who had similar thoughts/beliefs as Cyrus is Annie Lennox, who shocked many people in the 80s due to her short, ginger hair

hegemony, gramsi, annie lennox,

The white tank top that she is wearing, which exposes her strong arms this typically is seen as a male stereotype, and as she is a female wearing this top, with her arms shown as muscular, many would assume her sexuality, and believes she looks like a lesbian. Again, this is a societal construct and very stereotypical. However, the top which is cropped, which also has feminine connotations, so she is mixing up the stereotypes and going against them.   

sigmund freud, the sledgehammer is seen as a phallic object.
caroline vernallis, musicologist would disagree with the choices in the video, 

she uses direct mode of address, when swinging on the ball which can have both sexual, and non sexual connotations (engaging with the audience).