Lighting

I have researched lighting techniques to use in our music video. there are many techniques, some are below.

Three-point lighting is a standard method used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. By using three separate positions, the photographer can illuminate the shot's subject however desired, while also controlling the shading and shadows produced by direct lighting.

The key light, as the name suggests, shines directly upon the subject and serves as its illuminator; more than anything else, the strength, color and angle of the key determines the shot's overall lighting design.

In indoor shots, the key is commonly a specialized lamp, or a camera's flash. In outdoor daytime shots, the Sun often serves as the key light. In this case, of course, the photographer cannot set the light in the exact position he or she wants, so instead arranges it to best capture the sunlight, perhaps after waiting for the sun to position itself just right.

I bought a lamp which had a very bendy stem, becuase lighting is one of the keys to getting mise-en-scene' correct. We also used lighting from home made reflectors which were foil on wooden bords.

This light was just right for some shots and also enabled us to focus on the subject in the video.

Advertisement Techniques and How They Are Relevent To The Big Beat

I have thought about may ways The Big Beat could advertise to increase its stream of revenue. Firstly our band are young which means that they don't have much capital to invest. Therefore i think that posters would be a very cheap and effective way of promoting our image and creating band royalty. posters are also less time consuming that other sorts of advertisement techniques, such as television advertisements, cold calling and word of mouth.
Also in the first few months we would advertise in local towns, we would ask owners of bars and clubs if they would like a free night of music, which would include all ours songs from our first album, this would help our band gain recognition.
Our posters would consist of some characteristics from our album cover to 'kill 2 birds with one stone',meaning we would promote 2 sources of revenue on one advertisement. The poster would also include concert dates at venues around the local area for very small charge.

Also we have shown our album cover in our music video so that we don't need as much advertisement when we release the album. This will also let our target market become aware of what our album cover looks like.

Our Website

This is our website, it was produced using weeble which is a free website maker, this has enables us to reduce our costs and advertise to our target market for a very little price.
The website consists of concert dates, tickets, posters, photos, and clothing.

http://thebigbeatt.weebly.com/

Our Album Cover

Initailly we have decided that we will create a band and try to appeal to a wider audience. Now i am going to design an album cover with the information that has been gathered about the target audience.

Firstly we brainstormed and came to the conclution that we would have the band on the first album, due to our results from the questionaire. However we would have the band in silhouette, which we feel would not only make the cover look more professional, but also meet our main idea for the album cover and appeal to the audience because the band will be on it.

This is the layout for our album cover, this basic sketch shows where each figure will be.

This second image shows what the figures will look like, these are basic silhouettes of the band.

This design shows a more detailed silhouette of the band. However, if we go back to our main idea, it was that the band will not be too formal and will be a take off from the current band The Hoosiers, this design is too formal to attract a younger audience.

This is more of the effect that we are looking for, a more casual dress and the audience are able to realte to the image, seeing that the silhouettes are of the band. this design will be taken into the final planning stages below and developed into a professional album cover.

Above is our final cover idea, we went for a cartoony effect that i think works well with the black and white colours all around the album. I think we have reached our target market by keeping our album to the point; which is standing out from all other albums and keeping our costumes casual.

Band Research

The Hoosiers claimed to create a sound that they called "Odd pop", combining a number of musical genres with the first album The Trick to Life. In my opinion i would say its more Indie Pop. They reinvented themselves for the release of The Illusion of Safety as a more conventional pop band with electro influences.



According to their band biography, Alphonso Raymond Sharland and Irwin Nathanael Sparkes, spent some time in the United States, encouraged by their chemistry teacher (Grant Serpell who was part of the band Sailor during their fame in the 1970s), in an attempt to broaden their horizons. The pair won themselves a football scholarship at the University of Indianapolis.Their time spent in Indiana inspired the band's name: a citizen of Indiana is colloquially called a Hoosier. Having gathered enough material to compile an album, Alphonso and Irwin returned to London where they met Swiss keyboard player and sound engineer Duri Darms, and Martin Skarendahl, a Swedish ex-fireman who was then working with Darms as a recording studio engineer and studying at The London Music School. But this was not the original group as two band members had left, replacing them with Skarendahl.

Irwin went to school at Waingels College, formally known as Waingels Corpse School.

The trio of Sparkes, Skarendahl and Sharland subsequently signed to RCA and released their first album The Trick to Life on 22 October 2007. The band have spoken of their desire to write songs that are about more than just "boy and girl.. finding love on a Friday night on the lash with your mates",

In February 2008 they were named as Worst Band at the annual NME awards.
They are produced by ex-member of Jamiroquai, Toby Smith, and managed by Steve Morton.

The band's second single, "Goodbye Mr A", appeared in the football video game FIFA 08, and the game can also be seen in the "Goodbye Mr A" music video. Lead singer Irwin Sparkes, who is from Reading, is playing on the game as Reading against Manchester United. The song also appears in a trailer for the 2007 film, 'Juno'. Following the release of "Worst Case Scenario", the next release from The Trick to Life was "Cops and Robbers", as confirmed in a live web chat with The Hoosiers on GMTV.

The title track "The Trick to Life" is featured as the end credits music on the thriller From Within released in 2009 which is ironically about a series of unexplained deaths in a small town.



Their second album, The Illusion of Safety, includes song 'Unlikely Hero' for which they filmed the video in a quarry in Derbyshire, and was due to be a single, until it was announced via a message posted on Twitter on 14 October 2010. However, in February 2011, the band announced via their official website that 'Bumpy Ride' was to be their new single and will be released at the end of March. Their new deluxe album, also title Bumpy Ride, is due out in April. The music video for 'Bumpy Ride' tells the story of how the Hoosiers travelled around the United States of America by various means of transport; this can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQUeIBQ7-6M

Technological Convergence

Technological convergence is the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks such as, playing music

Convergence can refer to previously separate technologies such as voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity applications), and video that now share resources and interact with each other, synergistically creating new efficiencies.

Today, we are surrounded by a multi-level convergent media world where all modes of communication and information are continually reforming to adapt to the enduring demands of technologies and consumers. Technological convergence changes the way we create, consume, and interact with music. This enables bands to increase streams of revenue and capitalise on expanding their target audience.

Convergence in this instance is defined as the interlinking of computing and other information technologies, media content, and communication networks that have risen as the result of the evolution and popularisation of the Internet as well as the activities, products and services that have emerged in the media.

New Technologies are changing the way we consume music, this gives us more ways of streaming our remake of  "choices" and enables our band to become well known quickly and cheaply

The rise of digital communication in the late 20th century made it possible for media organizations or individuals to deliver text, audio, and video material over the same wired, wireless, or fiber-optic connections. At the same time, it inspired some media organizations to explore multimedia delivery of information.

Distribution Methods

Radio

Radio was the first way the music industry were able to distribute music to a mass market and due to technological advancements in the early 1900's radios became available on a large scale and were the hub of entertainment in many households. As audio playback machines where not easily accessible, the music industry would have used the radio as a starting point for mass media exposure.



Records

In 1930 RCA Victor launched the first commercially accessible record. The revolutionary discs had a rpm of 33 and were capable of long play playback system. The discs were made of plastic and had a diameter of 30cm. The plastic material had the advantage of less surface noise to previous counterparts and was far more durable. The discs allowed space for producers names and logos to be printed in the centre and is where the well known name record 'label' comes from today.

Until the 1950's various companies produced records that required different sized needles to play and had different RPMs. In the mid 1950's the record companies decided to agree on a common recording standard called RIAA equalisation.



Cassettes
The compact cassette often simply refereed to as a 'tape' is a magnetic tape sound recording format. This style of music distribution was massively used between the early 70's up until the late 90's along side the LP vinyl and compact disc (will be discussed next). While widely accessible and relatively cheap and simple, the audio cassette tape had several issues which home users and professional artists found annoying. Due to variances in tape speed on different players playback pitch was often too high or low and as cassette player speed was fixed by the producer this could not be amended easily. Finally different tape formulation and noise reduction schemes artificially boosted or cut high frequencies which was not always ideal for some consumers.


Compact disc (CD)

A compact disc or 'CD' is an optical disc used to store digital data. The CD became commercially available in October 1982 and not only was a break through in music technology but opened up the pathway for interactive CD-ROMs, rewritable CDs and digital video discs! The average CD has a digital memory of 700 mega bites which was previously unheard of and was a massive amount of storage, meaning the quality of music could be improved. Unlike the cassette the CD is still widely used today and its estimated that by 2007, 200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide. Although still commonly used on a mass basis, the CD is slowly being replaced with digital downloads from online. However this appears more common in the music industry than in others.



Digital download

Consumers are able to transfer a song/s from an online interface onto a local computer. This of course has become far more popular as Internet has developed over recent years and broadband gives users quick Internet connectivity and browsing. digital downloads of course have advantages such as packaging costs being eradicated and opening up new slots in the market. However the rising popularity of digital download does have its disadvantages. For example not all of the downloads available are provided by the producers of the music, meaning the a loss in revenue would take place. As previously distribution of music was only really provided by the record labels responsible for the production illegal downloads mean that although record labels have broadened their market share by offering a different sales tactic, the truth is, pirate copies will always be a large loss in revenue for the music industry.



Youtube

Youtube is just one example of a video sharing website but is by far the most famous. The free online sharing site makes music producers able to promote their music for free, and with less risk of copyright as consumers will only have access to the music if they are on the website. The idea behind this is similar to television promotion on music channels. The music producers either make and promote videos for consumers to watch, or simply upload the song with a still picture in the background to act almost as a sample and make viewers want to purchase the music through other channels of distribution. The advantage youtube and other video sharing site have over TV is that it is in effect music on demand, meaning target audiences can search and access specific music any time, anywhere instead of waiting and watching on the TV.



Modern Day Methods
Record labels today use a combination of the more recent distribution methods. A combination of compact discs, digital download as well of course promoting music through online video sharing sites are the most commonly used contemporary methods. However radio is still a huge marketing platform and is still heavily used almost 80 years after it became a common household appliance. Not only is radio the only 'older' distribution method record producers use to broaden and target their markets, as many still do press vinyl records and sell them to act more as quirky collector's items rather than a main audio format. The cassette however has been almost eradicated from mass music production as the CD or compact disc can match and outdo everything the audio cassette has to offer. Also as seen below, the most recognised MP3 player all over the world. The company sold 807,000 iPods during the quarter, a 909% rise on the same period a year ago. (2004)

The Indie Genre

There are three main sub genres in the genre Indie, indie meaning independent.

The First Is Indie Rock

Indie rock is a sub-genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. The meaning of the term "indie rock" is contested today by many musicians, fans and commentators. Most use the term "indie" to describe any rock music produced by artists working within the network of independent record labels and underground music venues that emerged in the United States and elsewhere in 1980s and 1990s. Others see indie rock as a distinct genre of rock music with a specific artistic aesthetic, and care less about the context in which it is made. Many embrace both meanings of the word, believing that the aesthetics of the genre and its means of production are deeply intertwined.

Indie rock artists are known for placing a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, airplay on independent or college radio stations and, in recent years, the Internet for promotion. However, in the 2000s many acts with a musical style identified as "indie" signed to major record labels or their subsidiaries, and began promoting themselves through more traditional media outlets. This has led to a further blurring in the meaning of the term.

Secondly There Is Indie Dance

Alternative dance or indie dance (also referred to as underground dance in the US)[1] is a musical genre that mixes rock sub genres with electronic dance music. Although largely confined to the British Isles, it has gained American and worldwide exposure through acts such as New Order in the 1980s and The Prodigy in the 1990s.

I haven't researched this sub genre as in depth as others because our song doesn't conform to it.

And Finally The Type Of Indie I Think The Hoosiers Conform To Is Indie Pop

Indie pop  is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid eighties, The Smiths. Unlike Indie rock, Indie pop is more melodic, less noisy, and relatively angst-free.

In the mid to late '80s, indie pop was criticized for its tweeness and underachievement, but many now argue that the birth of this genre was a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK. It continues to have a strong following and inspires musicians, not just in the UK but around the world with new labels, clubs and bands devoted to the sound.

How Packaging For CDs Has Changed....The Digipak

Digipaks typically consist of a gate fold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer shell, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases (below).




They were used by major record companies before the invention of the digipak. When the digipak was invented record labels and bands could put more information about themselves in each sleeve inside the digipak. Where as the jewel case could only hold the front cover and a disk; digipaks have enabled bands to make their customers more aware of concerts, releases, new songs, and band information because of the space that the digipak has given them.





Most digipaks also have space for 2 or more CDs which can not only increase revenue because price will be higher but can also make costs fall, because of less packaging costs. Digipaks are often used for CDs and DVDs which means when new technologies are available and replace these present technologies, new digipaks will have to be released.