Welcome to my A2 media blog. I'm Angela Chen and my candidate number is 9025. I am working in a group with Thakshana Yogeswaran(9179), Monica Aghadiuno(9365) and Godgift Emesi (9044). We are group 3. To navigate my blog please click on the 3 labels to the right of the page below named A2 Research and Planning, A2 Construction and A2 Evaluation.
Group 3 - Music Video
Group 3 - Digipak
Our Digipack, top left - back, top right - front, bottom left - inside panel, bottom right - inside panel (CD)
This is a link to our website, click the image above to enter our site
Our band D4MES will be a four girl team who are between the ages of 18 and 20. We've grown up in London where we met each other as friends and discovered the same passion for singing and performing.
Dames - a British title given to a woman with a knight rank. We aren't literally dames but the defnition gives us a classy edge and British identity. By adding the number 4 we've made it more fun and street.
"We're street but we're prestige street. We're classy but it's 2015, we're fresh-breaking negative stereotypes of these north London streets" (Monigal)
D4MES - British Pop RnB girl group of four formed in 2015.
We all grew up in London, went to the same secondary school and became friends after discovering each other's passion for music
Our look will be urban, street and chic
We signed signed with Soho Records after a talent scouting manager saw us performing at a gig in North London.
Profiles
Inspirations for our identity and image
Dance on my own - MO
What I liked about MO was their band image and song style. They're very street which is conveyed by their trendy casual but sporty outfits. They are a diverse group and their songs promote female empowerment like Red Planet does. This video is a performance based one so they can be seen dancing but they don't really have a routine they just have fun and look cool doing simple moves.
Our record label will be called Soho Records. The name has an urban city street vibe to it which will reflect D4MES identity as singers who grew up in London.
It is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group (UMG)
It will be based in Soho, London
It will have been formed in 2012 so it is fairly new and small with only 12 artists signed to us but who are doing well in the UK charts.
We seek out young British artists who have the potential to flourish in the mainstream music industry and expand their career. Genres include pop, RnB and EDM
Although Soho records is still a small company, we like to focus on each artist's success and try to create a friendly, free and relaxed atmosphere which aims to bring out and develop each artist's creativity.
D4MES, our first ever girl band and latest signing is planning to hit the charts with their debut single Red Planet. We hope that they become very popular with the UK audience and hopefully also with international audiences in the future.
We're a girl band so we our music would appeal largely to females especially as we promote female empowerment. There has been a boom of female artists in the last five years who have become very well known and popular. Examples include Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Iggy Izalea, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Adele and girl bands such as Little Mix and Fifth Harmony. These women are known for being strong individuals so I'd like our band to give off the same vibe and create a similar star identity.
Secondary target audience
Pop and RnB fans
This can be fans of both genders but fans of RnB will be skewed towards the younger generations (10-30) since it was more recently found and developed.
In general, we will be targeting mass audiences with a mainstream approach as our music will be of two of the most popular genres at the moment Pop and RnB. Although our audience may be largely female - they are our core audience as we want to promote female empowerment.
I would like to make a music video that has fashion inspirations from celebrities such as actresses, reality stars, models and also instagrammers.
A particular trend that has become very popular is the street and sporty style. Right now, public figures such as Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Kanye West and Cara Delevingne are known for being very stylish and on trend.
These people are especially influential to young people of today's generation. This is because modern generations are always seeking new things to try out explore and generally move with the times. Also the street/sporty trend is largely associated with youth and was previously.
This is Kanye West's style which is slightly minimalist, a fashion trend that has become very popular also lately.
This is the collage of Cara's styles which she likes to mix up.
I've loved Taylor Swift since a young age. I think she's a great female singer who has a very distinct star identity. Her songs are usually narrative songs which detail her personal experiences. She was very popular with young girls especially with her hit songs Love Story and You Belong With Me. Since then she has developed her style of music to create songs such as Bad Blood and Blank Space, attracting an even wider fan-base. Not only has she developed her music but she's changed her identity to become a very strong, independent and sassy woman in contrast to her gentle, teenage princess persona. In 2015, she became the youngest woman ever to be included on Forbes "100 Most Powerful Women".
I'd like my band to be able to come across as kindly as Taylor Swift still does till today but also as a group of powerful individual women. I want our type of music style to be flexible like Taylor's. The music videos she now releases are explorative of sub-genres such as rock and edm compared to her early songs which were mainly country pop. I would also like to make our music video very vibrant, classy and fast-paced like Bad Blood's.
Another artist I've loved for a long time is Rihanna. Below is her music video 'B*tch Better Have My Money".
I think she is a queen and a diamond in the music industry. She has been doing her own thing since the beginning of her career and her talent is clear from the fact that she is one of the best selling artists of all time. Examples include 'Take a Bow', 'Umbrella' and her more recent songs 'What Now' and 'Stay'. What I like about Rihanna as a star is that she controls her own image. She is a large public figure in that her sense of fashion and music is acknowledged by the media. She is arguably a respected fashion icon and very popular on social media. Not only does she have taste but she embraces her sexuality completely. She isn't afraid of judgment or what is normal and what is good. Her confidence and fierceness is infectious. Additionally her music videos have a lot of impact. They are very artistic and skillfully shot and edited. The aesthetics of her videos are always very beautiful in my opinion and I think she would be a great inspiration for my artist/band.
Three websites which stood out to me the most were Rihanna's, Little Mix's and Ellie Goulding's.
All have similar conventions such as interactive opportunities and purchasing opportunities as well as endorsements such as perfume. The visuals displayed on their websites mean they have created their own unique style connoting their own/band image. Conventions include their latest music video, tour information, and social media links. These are all features essential to replicate when creating our own website in order to attract fans who will buy our music.
Rihanna's website has a strong impact. It is in a distinct black and white colour scheme which has a very modern and RnB vibe. It is synergistic with other RnB artists such as The Weekend who have the same colour scheme for their website. The home page consists of many images creating a bold and powerful image of her as an artist and displaying her various achievements such as co-creating a Puma line and being on the cover of Vogue. The collective flow of images creates a very strong identity and allows fans to know what she has been up to.
On the other hand Ellie Goulding's pastel colour scheme and very simple, concise layout was different, creating a very feminine cute image of her. Her website looks clean and fresh. The image of her wearing a fur coat is very synergistic as it shows up on her other pages. By putting up such an image she connotes confidence and sexiness. That in itself is connoting power which is present but more subtle than Rihanna's website.
Little Mix's website follows the same conventions but is slightly different in that it has interactive links to each of the girl's pages where they share a bit of information about their personal lives. We could also recreate a similar page for us if we decided to become a girl band. By including a bit of information about themselves they make viewers and fans feel closer to them.
Welcome to the jungle was released in July 2014 by RCA Records. They describe their music as being "pop, a bit of bashment, dubstep, grime and rock". This album cover is very fun, urban and full of attitude. The CUs of the artists' faces show their confident, fierce facial expressions. The design is very pop art like and modern. It looks very clean and chic but very detailed. This cover is bold and bright making use of neon colours to show their strong and individual characters while also having dark grungey filters to reflect their style of music.The neon colours is synergistic with the look of their other music videos such as Braveheart. To add to the boldness is the title of their album "Welcome to the Jungle" which uses a term from their own band name. It emphasises the madness of their album and possibly their own crazy outgoing personalities. It highlights their refreshing attitude and sass, a similar trait seen in popular emerging girl groups.
Fifth Harmony
Reflection is Fifth Harmony's second album released in January 2015 by Syco Music and Epic records. The album discusses themes of romance, heartbreak, confidence and female empowerment which is well connoted by the album title "Reflection". The album is mainly pop featuring grungy hip hop and rnb. I think the black and white colour scheme is very appropriate for this album as it ties in with the seriousness of the songs meanings and gives off a grunge vibe. It also creates a very classy prestige vibe along with the classic gold font. Their outfits show a lot of skin which targets their male audience but more importantly shows that they are confident in their own skin and feel beautiful. The hats adds a professional edge which ties in with the female empowerment. Hit singles in this album inlcude Bo$$ and Worth It which are two very enpowering songs. This would be a good inspiration for our album cover as we would like to give off the same classy and empowering vibe.
I have come across a lot of inspirational music videos and a few of them have really stood out to me.
Worth It - Fifth Harmony ft. Kid Ink
When Worth It was released in March 2015 it became hugely popular peaking within the top 10 charts in nine countries. It was Fifth Harmony's first international successful single which received multi platinum awards. I think our music video could take a lot of inspiration from Worth It which is a very empowering song. Of course with every song it received mixed reviews however it was hugely popular for it's lyrics and representation of women. All the girls had sass and attitude to spare. Below is my semiotic analysis of my favorite scenes from the video.
If we were to make a music video featuring a female star or girl group I'd like to create a feminine but powerful image like these girls do in Worth It.
Move - Little Mix
What I like about move is the visuals of the males and how the girls dance paired up with their guys. The guys are wearing very urban street items of clothing such as joggers, beanies and chains. Their outfits are hip and masculine. Their is a clear colour scheme of black and white for the outfits but the constant change in colour of the background adds to the video's colour and vibrancy. There are a lot of light flashes which adds movement and dynamics. I think some of the dance moves are well timed to the song's beat which looks very cool as the lights flash or the scene changes to a silhouette. I noticed that the video was also quite practical to shoot. All of it could have been shot in a studio which we might think about for our music video. There were also a lot of camera angles used in this music video which I'd like to incorporate into our music video.
During our group meetings we all had a few strong choices of songs we wanted to pitch for our music video. Monica liked Greencard by Oh Land which is a really obscure indie type song.
After listening to this song a few times i started to really like it. Indie songs have a special place in my heart and this singer's style of singing was particularly nice. Although the lyrics are quite catchy and fairly simple, the meaning to them was quite complicated and creating a music video to portray their meaning would definitely be a challenge.
Gift liked Ways by Jhene aiko which didn't have a music video
I personally love Jhene Aiko so when Gift suggested this song I knew that I would like it instantly. I loved the melody and the lyrics which were about not giving up in general and to keep going which could be interpreted in many ways allowing flexibility in the music video we'd create. However the song had a slow pace as well as solemn vibes which was not the type of song I had in mind for our music video project.
Thakshana and I really wanted to do Locked Away which is currently in the charts.
For Locked Away I loved the song which was about love, faith and loyalty. It wasn't just another cliche love song specifically between a woman and man but it was slightly different in that it applied to partnerships as well as familial relationships. It was serious but also fun. It also had a reggae vibe to it as one singer had an accent. This cultural diversity is something I wanted to include in our music video. I was slightly put off by the fact it already had a music video I quite liked. However if we chose this song, I would include performance shots and not have three narratives but one with more development whether it was between two partners, friends or family members.
However during a group meeting, we were browsing YouTube and found Red Planet an old song by Little Mix which although was old had a lot of potential for a fun, cool and street music video to be made. It didn't have it's own music video so we wouldn't have the problem of making something that ended up similar. After asking around for advice on Red Planet we decided to work to the strengths of our group as performers and dancers. Filming this type of performance and concept video could be done in the Seward Studio which we were all excited to try out and experiment with. We started coming up with a lot of ideas and so decided to become a girl band and make Red Planet our debut single.
Currently the UK has three major record company groups:
These labels dominate the music industry today and control about 70% of the market.
We will need to establish a record label for our artist or band as artists have become increasingly reliant on record labels to promote their music and broaden their consumer base. The internet is now a major platform for artists to sell their music in an inexpensive way and gain new audiences. There has also been an increase in the start-up of independent record labels due to the proliferation of technology and free platforms such as social media and YouTube.
A record label's role:
A publishing company that manages brands and trademarks
Coordinates the production, distribution and marketing of recorded music and music videos
They talent scout and make contracts with artists to develop their music
Big record labels own several subordinate label companies such as Def Jam Recordings which is owned by Universal Music
Def Jam Recordings
Is an American record label which develops mainly hip hop and urban music. It has contracts with various popular artists including Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Jhene Aiko and Iggy Azalea.
The relationship between artists and their record labels can be complicated as many artists have had albums and songs altered or censored before they are released. Artwork and even titles can be changed. Record labels do this as they believe the album or single will sell better however it can frustrate the artist as they do not have complete freedom over how their music is being represented. Although artists have less control over their music, they generally benefit hugely from signing with a record label as major labels will financially back marketing campaigns and make use of their international connections and reach to promote the artist.
After all my research I'd like my artist to be signed up to a record label who will help build his/her career closely with them and help them to develop their music and artist identity hands-on.
