Getting Permision From My Artist

My chosen artist Benjamin Francis Leftwich is signed to the record label 'dirty hit' which is a small label in which my artist is one of their most successful. Before using Benjamin Francis Leftwhich's song 'The Boat' which I have chosen for my music video I first wanted to ask permission to use it so that I did infringe on any copy right terms and conditions. I contacted him on the social networking site Myspace which he uses to promote his music, upcoming gigs and other information to do with him as an artist. I am still awaiting a reply from my chosen artist however now that I have attempted to ask permission I can use the song.

(Below is my comment asking permission to use his song).

Chosen Artist and Track

(click on slide for a bigger image)


The song which I have chosen to use by Benjamin Francis Leftwich is called 'The Boat' which is from his 'Pictures EP' which was released on the 6th of March 2011. I have pasted the lyrics to this song below.

Wherever you are
Floating on a boat or on a star

Whatever you do
Every time we touch you move

You have different eyes
For every time your heart arrives

I want you to sigh
It's alright

I am a fine lift swimming you are the line
If this was a new land, darling
You'd be the find
I wanted to keep you close
Make you mine
If this was a moon land, darling
You'd be the find

Wherever you go
All the different places you know

Whatever you hear
All the things you needed are hear

It is a different heat
To all the other things that you meet

So don't close the door...

I am a you are the line
If this was a moon land, darling
You'd be the find
I wanted to keep you close
Make you mine
If this was a moon land, darling
You'd be the find

I know it's hard to be calm in a storm
I know it's hard when your heart is
I know you tried to work it all out, now

I am a swimming you are the line
If this was a moon land, darling
You'd be the find
I wanted to keep you close,
Make you mine
If this was a new land, darling
You'd be the find

Choosing an Artist

I had originally planned on using an unsigned female artist called Lucy Rose and to use her single 'Middle of the Bed' for my music video however at this early stage in my coursework I realized that I did not have a reliable female actor to perform in my video. Due to this restriction I made the conscious decision to use a male artist instead because I have a dependable male actor available to perform in my video and I feel that this is important within the acoustic genre as most acoustic music videos feature a performance element or just showing the artist them self.

Magazine Advertising

A very common and succesful way of promoting a new album release is to advertise it in magazines which have a similair target audience as to that of the artist. I have researched and analysed some existing album magazine adverts and have presented my findings below as they shall help me to decide what forms and conventions will be neccesary when creating my magazine advert.

(click image for a bigger view)

From researching some existing album magazine adverts I have found out that the main features that should be included in the advert is the -

- Album name
- Artist/ Band name
- Date of release
- Image of or relating to the album itself
i shall also consider including features such as the artists website, reviews, songs featuring on the album ect.

CD Cover Design

Album Cover Research and Analysis

Branding

Branding is an important advertising technique that many bands use to develop their own brand identity. I have made a prezi presentation on a rock/metal band called Metallica and have looked at how they have used branding throughout their merchandise.

Branding on Prezi

Preliminary Task

As part of my research we were given the preliminary task of re-making the first 25 seconds of Britney Spears’ music video ‘Baby, one more time’ in groups of three.

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

Equipment - I had not previously used the video camera so it took a little while to get used to it's different functions and making sure that it was recording properly however I am now confident in using it. We used a tripod in some of our shots which made sure that the footage was stable and not shaky however if i were to do this task again I would find a way of incorporating the use of a tripod whilst filming a moving shot such as the first shot of the preliminary task which was filmed handheld and the result was good but a bit shaky. It was very useful that a member of our group owned a smartphone which enabled us to watch the original Britney Spears music video at the same time as filming so that we could match the angle, content and length of each shot to the actual video making it as precise as possible. We used an apple mac computer and the 'imovie' software installed on it to edit our footage. I had used this software along with another member of the group so we quite easily uploaded our filmed material onto the computer and then began editing it until we were happy with our finished outcome.

Setting up the shots - For each different shot we did about 4-6 takes to make sure that when it came to the editing stage we would have enough footage to choose the best from incase there were any problems with the others. The location of any music video is very important and we were very fortunate that the Britney Spears music video that we were re-creating is set within a school so we found it quite easy to match the setting as well as possible. We were not able to control the lighting for the shots we took and instead adjusted some of the shots lighting on the editing software on the mac however in my music video I shall take the lighting into much more consideration. Within the 25 second clip that we were allocated to film there was only 2 words in which we had to mime however there were visuals of the foot and pencil tapping on the table, the clock and the bell which we had to sync in time with the music for the video which we downloaded and imported onto the editing software.

Working in a group - For this task I enjoyed working in a group because we had organised ourselves well so that we each got a chance to try out each stage of the production and editing for the video. It was good to have different opinions and feedback from the other members of my group which sometimes altered the decisions that I would have instinctively made. Despite the benefits of working in a group I am going to work alone for my coursework music video as you have to come up with a completely new idea for your music video instead of recreating one that already exists and I feel that there would be certain limitations of working in a group for this as everyone else will have too many different ideas and therefor I may not be completely satisfied with what we produce.

Overall I felt that our preliminary task outcome was quite successful considering the time in which we completed it. It was helpful to do this task as I am now aware of what differences I shall use when planning, filming and editing my music video.