Copyright Permission - Miguel Adorn

Before we can use the song Miguel - Adorn we had to seek permission from Sony Entertainment as the video and the song is copyrighted. We had to write up a letter asking for permission to use this song and email it to them. Prince took the responsibility of emailing Sony Entertainment, and created this email:

 

Dear Copyright Holders at Sony Music Entertainment,
We are A-level Media Studies students from Wilmington Grammar School for Boys in Wilmington, Kent, United Kingdom. We are writing to request your permission to use one of the tracks from Miguel's latest album Kaleidoscope Dream'. The track we wish to use is track number 1, titled Adorn.
With your permission this track will be used in out current A-level Media Studies Project. which involves creating a music video for a popular music track as well as producing and advertising a digipak, which will include a magazine front cover and album artwork. If we receive your permission to use this track, it would only be used in a educational context and be view by our media class, our media studies teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It will not be released to are large audience or uploaded to any public video websites. The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout the pre-production and the final video itself. A copyright notice with wording supplied from you can be included in the recording project. If this is required please send full details.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards,
Prince Obode, Sathurshan Gunaratnam, Jessica Obiorah and Seun Osho

 

 

 In our copyright permission email we ensured to highlight:

- What track we wanted to use,

- What we will be using the track for,

- Where we are from,

- Who will be seeing the video,

- We will not be using the video for any profitable reasons,

By highlighting all this in our copyright permission email we are hoping that they would believe that it is a legitimate email not a fraud/scam.

Miguel Adorn - Shot Analysis

My knowledge of camera shots in music videos, are that they are shots used as tools to shape the look and feel of a music video. A camera shots is a powerful way in which our group could communicate our vision to our audience.
To gain more understanding on shots used in music videos, we used the music video of our song choice 'Miguel - Adorn'; analysing all the shots that make up the shots. 

Create and captured by Prince

- Medium Shots

This was one of the shots consistently throughout the music video; medium shots of both artist and dancers. What we obtained from this is that the medium shot are used to focus attention on an interaction between artists. 

- Medium Close-ups

What we notice was that medium close up were used to focus fully on Miguel's facial expression, it was also used frequently throughout the music video (not as much as the medium shots).

- Long Shots

This is another shot that was used several times during the music video,throughout the music video. Through the use of long shots Miguel's expression as well as the message of affection he is trying to put across to his female audience, is exemplified. 

- Close Ups

Mainly used to enhance Miguel's expression and to create a connection between Miguel and his audience. 

Miguel Adorn - Animatic (Prince, Sath and Seun)

In order to give ourselves a quick preview of the outcome of our music video, we created an animatic. The animatic consisted of drawing up a story board and placing it into final cuts - an animatic version of our music video.

This has not given us an idea of what are music video would look like but also what we could and need to change to make it look better.

Here is our animatic version of our music video:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Opening - Staircase Scene (Practice)

In order to avoid wasting time we practiced are opening scene several times, therefore we would prepare for our first filming. Once we had gotten enough footage, I then used Youtube to find a footstep effect. Having both the footage and footstep effect I placed into Final Cuts and altered them both to make them in sync with one another. I used this as an opportunity to explore the different effects and video filters that Final Cuts have to offer. One filter that I found quite interesting was the 'Sharpen', the more i clicked on the 'Sharpen' the more sharper the footage became. 

Here is a practice footage of our opening clip:

As you are able to tell the sound of the footsteps replicate the sound of high heels and I am wearing wellies, as well as the fact that two different shoes are used in the clip. This is all because we used this as a test, to not only test our editing skills but who within our team is more skillful in handling the camera in handled position. It also helped us to understand in what way and angle the camera should be held, along with how the individual holding the camera would have to follow the artist up the stairs. 

Also as you can see during the clip I used the 'Sharpen' filter to give myself and idea of how the filter could effect our footage.  

Album DigiPack (Seun)

Album Digipak Research

An album digipak is a form of packaging often used for album cover and in recent years its contents. It has been patented by the company AGI - Shorewood, a holdings company.

All about Digipaks
An album digipak would consist of the features such as:

Have a type of thick paperboard or card which would have been folded into a book style

Card outer binding, to bring the lyric sideline book together.

Two or more side trays which are capable of holding the CD to the case

Has a protective UV coating on the paper to ensure longevity and durability

The teeth of the packaging are brittle to allow the digipak to remain light.

In the diagram above, it shows the different sides of an album digipak and how it would fit around a CD.
The two end sides show where the CD would be placed and the little details such as the teeth and ridges that would be holding it in place.
These places would be see through as it would allow the accompanying leaflet to slot inside.
The accompanying leaflet would often consist of:
Notes of how the album first came together
A note from the artist themselves, often addressing their fans
The album track list
Lyrics to the singles that will be released
Contact details such as phone number, management, record company etc.
Sometimes it might be a photoshoot of the artist in the background of these spreads.

Some have even tried to make them recyclable by having them made out of renewable materials such as sugar cane and made ridges with the back packaging to get rid of the use of teeth.

Here some examples of digipaks that have become iconic to both the masses and in R&B.

Our Chosen Song

Here is the chosen song our group has decided to base our music video on:

Miguel - Adorn

Target Audience

The whole essence of music videos is to satisfy people, our target audience and to succeed in doing this we must hear and understand the opinions/ideas of our target audience.To further understand our target audience we interviewed three different people with different characteristics (some brighter than others). The interview contained a variety of questions ranging from 'what genre of music' they like to their perception of how music videos are promoted.

From this interview we have understood that our target audience looks at every detailed of a music video

"You know when like the little doggies running around"

By Elliot Stedman

Here is 6 minute clip of us interviewing our target audience. We are hoping from gaining this knowledge, our music video will be as professional as possible; including all that our target audience expects from a music video of a R'n'B genre.

Quoted from one of our target audience

"People running around for no reason"

This is what we would certainly try to avoid and make sure throughout our music video  Andrew Goodwin's theory would be shown. 

Location and Costumes

In order to create the best music video, our team has transform ourselves into perfectionist (to a certain degree). Before recording we considered the location and costumes, outlining everything from:

• The attire - the suit, shoes with white socks for the lead male. For the dancers black leotards, tights and black heels.
• Make up - Smoking eyes for the dancers and with the lead male to get the flawless look a bit of mac foundation. 
• Props  - Mic stand, a mic and speakers for the performance scene.
• Location - Dartford Acacia Hall.

Here is a shot clip which highlights mainly the location and costume which we are going to use in our music video. 

Music Channels

Music Channels

For our music video we have to consider music channels that we would want our music video to be promoted and broadcast on. As the genre of our song (Miguel - Adorn)is R&B we would have to take that into consideration and broadcast the video on the niche as well as the main channel which would allow the video to not only reach people who just listen to this particular genre but the mass audience who listen to multiple genres.

Black Entertainment Television, better known as BET is a cable TV channel that has been broadcast since January 25 in 1980. It was the first TV channel which was target especially to the black (African American) community. It was first founded by Robert L Johnson but was sold to Viacom in 2003. This made the channel the first black owned enterprise on the stock market.
It was originally shown as a two hour block in channel, Nickelodeon but due to high demand they made a separate channel.

I have decided that our video would be shown on their flagship programme, 106&Park. 106&Park is a music countdown show on BET which allow their viewers to get a daily incite to their most popular shows. It also give a direct promotion to up and coming artist who are black or who sing in the R&B, rap or blues genre. They also include a walk of fame, where an artist who have been continuously popular and their songs have been on their chart that they transfer them to the hall of fame. consequently, they have given to permanent titles of Mr and Mrs 106& Park to Bow Wow and the late Aaliyah.

Their website displays their Icon in the middle while they have separated the different ares that the site promote.
They have also incorporated the Breast cancer research sign into the icon, indicated that they join with other charities as well as their own.

The play list allow the viewer to see what they have to offer and to recommend other artist similar to the artist that a viewer might already know, introducing a new artist giving promotion and gaining them new fans.

They have split it up into categories such as Best of, Latest Videos and Mix tape reviews, yet another platform for new up and coming artist. this is prefect for our artist as this was one of the songs and the debut album.

What they also have is BET Top Picks, this allows a chart to see what were the most popular picks of the day just in case the viewer who has just come to the website also wants to see it.
This particular one includes;
The cypher which is a part freestyle designed for their hip hop awards that is hosted every year.
The tribute to the late Chris lightly who took his own life earlier in the year. he was an influential music producer.
and finally Rick Ross' performance at this years BET Hip Hop awards.

MTV Base is a music channel that has been broadcast in the united kingdom and the republic of Ireland on July 1st 1999.
The channel is a sister channel of the fellow channels such as MTV Rocks, MTV Classic and MTV Hits. This channel mainly focuses on the music genres of R&B, Hip Hop, Reggae and Soul and later introduced Urban to their list.


MTV Base Channel
I have decided that if I didn't put the music video on BET's 10&Park I would broadcast the video on the show The Lick. This is another music show but however they do not do their own separate countdown and they rely on the chart according to their artist genre such as the official urban chart and the base chart.

Similar to the BET website, MTV Base also have a play list for their music which is popular at the moment for their target audience, which is also my own. However they also have a special feature button which directs you to the music video if the song and runs on an automatic video feature in the centre of the page.

As you can see our song we have chosen for our video is already in high demand as it is in their MTV Playlist.

Even though BET have a advantage of a music countdown that help up and coming artists and video we would go with MTV Base first because of their popularity in the UK already and more UK listeners tune in them where as BET is an American channel and only be considered if we wanted the video to go international and overseas.

Music Video Pitch

Pitch For Our Music Video

In order to make our music video process more professional we had to create and present to our teacher on our song choice and music video ideas. During our pitch we decided to made a mood board on our school board. This mood board consists of our location, Artist(s), Costume, Props - verbally we explained our plot to our media teacher.

- Location (Dartford Acacia Hall) 

= Opening Scene

    The opening scene will consist of non-diegetic sound footsteps both from our main male 

     artist and one of the main female artist. This would be enhanced by the shots from the

     perspective of both the male and female artist and low angle shots. A pan gradually

     going upwards would be used to introduce both female and male artist, the camera 

     would then follow them up the grand staircase in which the second main girl will be 

     introduced. 

= Corridor 

    The corridor would be used for the first two scenes to create a chase effect (reinforcing

    Andrew Goodwin's theory of the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals). The 

    corridor scene will also be used to create a smooth transition into the projector room

    scene. 

= Ballroom 

   The ballroom will be used for the performance scene. In this room there is wall lined up 

   with mirrors which we are going to use to create an effect of, as the main male artist 

   walks pass the mirrors his attire would change, showing different colours of suits.

- Main Female (Shanike Seale & Sarah Bamidele)

= Artists

   For our music video we would like to have  

   three main female artist who would be 

   confident and of course be able to dance  

   because their are various scenes where  

   dancing is essential. Unfortunately we are 

   unable to find a main male artist, aware 

   of the deadline set, we have given 

   ourselves an extra five days to find the 

   third main girl and the main male.

      

- Props & Costumes 

= Props

   For our music video, props which we will need are:

       - Speakers - We are going to use speakers and create 

         a kind of speaker wall in which will us as a

         background wall for the main male artist to perform 

         in front of. 

      - Mic Stand - This will be used also by the male artist 

        during the performance in front of the 'speaker wall'

= Costumes

       - Leotards - This would be what the female main dancers

       will be wearing during the music video (black leotards

       with black tights).

     - Black Suit - For the main male a smart suit would be

       what wears mainly, however during particular scenes 

       (e.g ballroom scene) the colour of the suits may

       change.

      

Advertisment with Music Videoes

Brands are increasingly embedding their products within music videos in their advertising; this creates an ease of targeting their audience. Products placed in music videos never disappear, as long as the video exists, so does the advertising campaign. This solidity is different from other ads which may be played before or after the music video, this is because (especially if the music video is a hit) the video is most likely to be played more than a single advert (imprinting the product in the audience mind). Music videos are particularly influential among younger audience, therefore brands which are longing to  'woo' 18-25 year olds demographics, are taking full advantage of this.

A quote I learnt, which to me I believes sums up advertisments embedded within music video:

"Product placement promotes consumer identification, interaction and conversation around a brand"

Diet Coke, Sony, Dating Site (Plenty of Fish) and Wonder Bread are just some of the brands that play the latest leading roles in a selection of music videos, and according to PQ Media, the trends are set to grow rapidly, bringing high returns on investment for brand owners.

Britney Spears' video for her hit single 'Hold it Against Me' featured Plenty of Fish, Make Up For Ever, Radiance (Perfume by Britney Spears) and Sony.

Lady Gaga's video for 'Telephone' presented viewers with the Virgin Mobile and of course the legendary hairstyle, Diet Coke - aka the eccentric pop star's 'hair rollers'

According to a report released last week by PQ Media, the money spent on product placement in recorded music grew 8 percent in 2009 compared with the year before, while overall paid product placement declined 2.8 percent, to $3.6 billion (£2,493,247.45). Patrick Quinn, chief executive of PQ Media, said that revenue from product placement in music videos totaled $15 million (£9360660) to $20 million (£12480880) last year, more than double the amount in 2000, and he expected that to grow again this year. For years, the opportunities for product placement  in music videos were limited. MTV was the dominant outlet for videos, and its policy prohibited blatant plugs in videos, so the network would often blur brand labels or ask for a new version without the placement. However there are a few occasions when music channels (MTV, Kiss) do not blur out blatant plugs in videos.

History of Kiss

Kiss is a commercial music channel first launched 26th June 1998. It is owned by Box Television (Bauer Group/Channel Four Television Corporation). Kiss playlist mostly consist of mainstream hip-hop, dance and R&B. 

Background 
Originally Kiss TV was created by Guy Wingate, (co-creator of London's Kiss 100. The channel ran for one hour a night on the Mirror Group's Live TV cable circuit and after one year moved up to the Granada Satellite and cable platform. It took Wingate five years to  convince UK television regulators to grant him the permission to extend the brand name over to television. Once permission had finally been granted Kiss became the first 'Masthead' TV project in the UK. 

Within one year of Kiss becoming a music channel, the station began beating MTV in its time slots. The channel's presenters included legendary DJs such as BBC Radio 1's Judge Jules. By the time the channel was one year old, it had attracted major sponsorship from blue-chip brands (Levi, Sony consumer products and The Guardian newspaper). As mentioned earlier Kiss is part of a group channels owned by Box Television - which includes 4 Music, Kerrang! TV, Smash Hits, Q, The Box and Magic.

Daily Programming

Music Labels

In order to know what music label would be representing our music video, I decide to research on several different music labels, ones that are not related to my music video and ones that would be; so that I would have a broad understanding of music labels. 

Here are a few music labels which are within the US. 

Universal Republic Records

Universal Republic Records is a record label also owned by Universal Music Group. IT os based on the now-defunct Republic Records labels - founded by two brothers (Monte and Avery Lipman). Universal Republic label became a standalone label once changes were made in the summer 2011 in which Motown Republic Group and Motown Records was separated from Universal Motown Records (causing it to shut down and transfer its artists to either Motown Records or Universal Republic Record - leading it to become standalone.

Universal Republic Records, represented different genres through artists such as 
- HipHop/R&B/Rap
    = Angel 
    = Akon
    = Tyga 
    = Birdman 
    = Bow Wow
    = Busta Rhyme 
    = Drake 
    = Jay Sean 
    = Jessie J

- Country/Rock/Metal 
   = The Band Perry
   = Anberlin
   = Black Sabbeth
   = Black Veil Brides 
   = Gobsmack
   = Hinder

The Island Def Jam Music Group 
Universal Republic Records is a record label also owned by Universal Music Group. IT os based on the now-defunct Republic Records labels - founded by two brothers (Monte and Avery Lipman). Universal Republic label became a standalone label once changes were made in the summer 2011 in which Motown Republic Group and Motown Records was separated from Universal Motown Records (causing it to shut down and transfer its artists to either Motown Records or Universal Republic Record - leading it to become standalone.
The Island Man Def Jam Music Group is an American record label formed in 1999 when Universal Music group merged two of its smaller companies 'Island Records' and 'Def Jam Recordings' as a result of the merge between 'Universal Music' and 'PolyGram' labels. Regardless of the merge 'Island Records' and 'Def Jam Recordings' continued to operate as their own respective labels, just under the Island Man Def Jam Music Group Umbrella - Island Records concentrated on pop and rock performers, while 'Def Jam' has most of the hip hop and R&B acts. 

The Island Def Jam Music Group contain several talented artists such as 
HipHop/R&B Acts:
= Kanye West
= Mariah Carey
= Rihanna
= Justin Bieber
= Neyo 
= Young Jeexy
= Fabulous 
= Nas
= Ludacris
= Rick Ross

Decca Label Group 

Decca Label Group is also one of the labels under the Universal Music Group umbrella; based in the United States.Their prime focus is on western classical music, however it also deals with jazz and musical theater. Time to time Decca Label issues some pop and country releases. 

Here are a few more music labels based in the UK:

Boy Better Know 

Boy Bette Know is a grime collective and record label founded by Jamie Adenuga (artist name - JME) in late 2005. Boy Better Know gained popularity, support and underground fame in the grime scene, featuring on pirate radio sets such as Rinse FM and Dejavu FM.As a collective they are best recognised for their tracks 'Private Caller', 'Duppy (Doin it again)' and 'Too Many Men'. Unlike any other music label, Boy Better Know Label created a grime group (Boy Better Know) in which included the founder himself (JME) and started releasing songs after songs. They also have their own clothing line and sim card (definitely a unusual but successful music label) .

Artists Part of the Label 
 - JME
- Skepta 
- Wiley
- Jammer
- Frisco 
- Shorty 
- Solo 45
- DJ Maximum

Syco Entertainment 

Syco Entertainment (often referred to as Syco) is a global joint venture between the famous Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment focused on the production and marketing of music, television, film and digital content. Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment own 50% of the business which is looking to grow its global portfoilo of music and television brands over the next few years. Charles Garland (former executive of Crystal Entertainment and chief operator of Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment) is the Chief Operating Officer, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. Philip Green (retain billionaire) serves as an advisor to the company and Sporting executive and vice-chairman of West Ham United FC. Karren Brady also serves as an advisor to the company. 

Artists Part of the Label 
- Leona Lewis 
- Olly Murs
- Rebecca Ferguson 
- One Direction 
- Cher Lloyd 
- Susan Boyle
- Jackie Evancho 
- Labrinth
- II Divo 
- Andrew Johnson 
- Melanie Amaro
- Chris Rene
- Little Mix 
and many more.

RCA Records

From my research over music labels I have decided to that RCA Records  would be best to represent our song choice because RCA Records are known for a string of successes with Hip Hop artists and teen pop as well as boy bands. RCA Records (Originally known as the Victor Talking Machine Company, then RCA Victor) it is one of the flagship labels of Sony Entertainment. RCA initials stands for Radio Corporation of America.






















 References 
  - Universal Music Group
Here is a link that gave me a broad understanding on many of the music labels across the world. 

Top Five Most Expensive Music Video

In order to know not only how much directors put into creating their music videos and what makes music videos so expensive, I researched the five most expensive music videos. 

1) Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson - Scream (£4,330,290.89)

This video was created in 1995.  When looking at this video, it becomes more obvious why the video was as expensive as it was. With the use of various transition editing, throughout out the video which would have been produced by the new developed equipments, therefore it would have been more expensive then than now. Additionally this video includes many props such as jet black electric guitar, chairs, statues, paintings etc. Majority of the video consists of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson in a "spaceship". Overall the main cost of this video would come from the narrative/performance within the video.

2) Madonna - Die Another Day (£1,673,951.46+)
This video was created in 2002 for the theme to the James Bond Movie (Die Another Day). The stunts and props used throughout the video is the main attraction of the music video, as well as the duplication of Madonna. From my knowledge of filming, the director must of had to film every clip (with the two Madonna's) twice - a man/woman playing the Madonna that isn't her. The several stunts means that money would need to be spent on hiring professional (add the different ones here) as well as a stunt women who features are similar to Madonna to stand in for the sections that can only be done by professionals. Additionally watching the video I notice there are some fighting scenes which contains Madonna doing martial arts; (not to ridicule Madonna, but I don't think she can fight) moreover money would need to be spent on teaching Madonna martial arts.

3) Puff Daddy - Victory (£3,713,036.57)
This video was created in 1998. The full video is approximately 7:59 minutes long. From my research victory is the replica of the movie "The Running Man" and Puff Daddy is basically the replacement of Arnold Schwarzenegger. There is a lot of rain, heavy duty explosions and pyrotechnics, motorcycles and choppers with with armed men. I noticed the known actor Danny Devito is used in the music video as the news reporter following Puffy's progress throughout the 'game show'; along with Dennis Hopper who plays  (if you have seen all his movies, you would not be surprised) the main villain.

4)Mariah Carey - Heartbreaker (£1,550,056.85)
This music video was situated in a cinema, obviously the cinema would had be rented out (costing A LOT). Similar to Madonna music video (Die Another Day) there are two Mariah Carey's along with a fighting scene (and not to ridicule her either - she can't fight) so the director would have to do extra filming (doing each scene twice) as well Mariah Carey being taught how to fight. Additionally the first clip there is a choreography which includes around 20 dancers (including Mariah Carey) therefore money would have need to be spent on the dancers as well as a choreographer to choreograph the dance.  Furthermore there is a animated section of the music video, moreover from my research in order to create that section of the music video an animator would draw up a storyboard of the section which would be animated then create using a computer.