Everything Everything

Background of the Band

Everything Everything is a British indie band that formed in late 2007, originate from Tynedale, Kent and Guernsey, and reside in Manchester. Both singer/guitarist Jonathan Higgs and bassist Jeremy Pritchard have degrees in Popular Music which they obtained while studying at Salford University. Higgs and Pritchard met at University and decided to form a band once their degree had finished.

The band rose to fame when they were revealed as part of the BBC's Sound of 2010 poll on 7 December 2009. The band released their debut album, Man Alive, produced by David Kosten and released through Geffen Records on 30 August 2010; the album debuted at number 17 in the United Kingdom.

When asked about their sound in an interview with UK music blog 'There Goes the Fear' in Leeds in October 2010, singer Jonathan Higgs replied, "We think of it as pop primarily but I think it’s a little bit more interesting. We try not to make it sound like a lot of things you’ve heard before, we don’t try but it tends to come out a bit like that. We’re not really interested in copying certain genres or anything, so I guess you’d say it’s unpredictable and sort of surprising." Bassist Jeremy Pritchard has said the band's intention is to "to avoid cliche, or the cliches expected of white men with guitars from Manchester" and sums up their sound as "highly stylised and deracinated – we're influenced by everything except 12-bar blues". Higgs counts Nirvana, Radiohead, the Beatles, Destiny's Child, and R. Kelly as some of their very eclectic influences.

Contacting the band

For my chosen brief I chose to use a song that already belonged to an artist, in my case Everything Everything. Although i knew it was alright for me to use the song as it would only be for educational reasons, I still decided to try and contact the artist to ask for permission. To do this I went onto their Facebook page and messaged them in hope for a reply as shown below. Unfortunately I didn't receive a reply from the band so I presumed it would be okay as it was purely for education reasons only. 

Textual Analysis of Original 'Cough Cough'

The video itself is an excellent example of the kind of feel and concept I want to use in my own video. The music video for the song is mostly black and white which makes it very cutting and edgy with concept based clips included. There are also random images as well as a slight bit of performance from the artist 'Everything Everything'. The opening to the song is very powerful itself with a fast, cut drum beat and the artist saying the words 'cough cough'. The opening of the video not only grabs your attention with the music, but the word 'cough' appears with the writing printed with a black oil and a contrasting white back ground. The words and images are also cut to the fast beat of the drum in the song. During the video we see the band playing large Japenese drums with the singer miming to the lyrics as well. Throughout the video random, edgy video clips and still images are used showing weapons, oil, scrunched up video tape and money. During the video many pre-recorded video clips are used of people rioting, the police and fire. The artist has not only recorded videos and still images themselves but also put in pre-recorded clips to empahsise the message of fighting/war/pollution in the video. From the start of the video you see an empty pipe along the floor, the video keeps cutting back and following this pipe along throughout the video. Towards the end of the video we see all four band members in seperate clips in black clothing against a plain white backdrop. They each have the clear pipe hanging from above going down into their mouths. At the end of the song the pipe fills with oil and goes into their mouth causing them to 'cough', hense the name of the song.

Planning my music video

Length of the video 

The original video for the song I have chose is 3.42 long. Therefore my music video will have to be the same amount of time so that it fits with the song. I think that this is an average length song, this is also good for me whilst making my video as it allows me to put a decent amount of work into it without it being too short or too long. If the video was any longer the audience may lose concentration or get bored easily.

Audience for the video

The intended audience for my music video is for people between the age of 15 and 40. This is because I feel that the content that is going to be in my video would reach out more to this age group becuase of the music genre. I dont think that it will be suitable for anybody under the age of 15 due to the themes involved and an older audience would'nt normally listen to this particular genre of music. 

Aiming for the Audience

The music industry in particular can be tough when it comes to getting it right with the intended audience. Everybody has their own opinion towards music, and not everybody is going to like a specific genre, therefore it makes the music industry even more competitive. Artist's have to make their music fit into the specific genre they want it to, this is because everybody has their own favorite type of music such as Indie or Pop music. I like most genres of music, however the wide range of music in the charts is my favorite to listen to.

This is the music video to 'Live while were young' by One Direction, a perfect example of a pop genre song with a typical pop music video. It shows the artists singing in the video, with the stereotypical shots of them having fun, messing around, partying, singing and dancing. This gives the video a pop feel to it and reaches out more to its intended audience.

Different genres tend to have a 'stereotypical' feel and theme to songs belonging to that genre, for example, pop music is usually thought of involving romance or having fun. They are normally written about falling in and out of love or partying etc. This can reach out to the particular audience of young people of both genders. Their preferred music can be a source of comfort to most people.

It is usually the lyrics of a song and the vibe it gives off that makes it stand out to a particular audience. An example of this would be 'Someone like you' by Adele which she wrote about someone she loved who she couldn't be with, this relating to her own life. The song could reach out to people who have also been in Adele's position and can make them feel better or even worse about the situation. Music is often a big comfort to people and can also affect their mood and feelings.

Different types of Music Videos

Performance based Music Videos

This type of music video is when the artist is featured in the video, performing the song through most if not all of the video. This is probably the easiest to type of video to film on a lower budget, provided you can get a suitable location for filming. A good example of this is would be ‘Umbrella' by the Rihanna ft Jay Z. The video for this is mostly performance based with random shots of the artist posing and dancing.

Narrative based Music Videos

This type of music video contains mostly footage that tells a story through the moving image. Usually involving actors and in some the artists themselves, the story is sometimes linked to the lyrical content of the song, but not always. This type of music video is often popular for a song that’s featured in a movie and you will see scenes from the film cut into the music video. An example of this is 'Skyfall' by Adele, it does not feature Adele in at all, it just contains clips from the movie.

A good narrative based video is ‘Time’ by Chase and Status ft Delilah.

Concept based Music Videos

This is a type of music video that is based around a single concept or idea. These types of videos tend to be fairly unusual or utilize a particular editing or filming technique. It's not often you get a purely conceptual music video as the commercial world demands things to be a bit more accessible, for example seeing the artist in snippets. An example of a concept based music video is 'Get By' by Delta Heavy, this is also an example of a stop frame animation music video.

Theories

Goodwin's Theory

Goodwin's Theory is based on eight principles, looking at these is one way of analyzing music videos and their codes and conventions.


1. Links between lyrics and visuals
2. Links between music and visuals (complimentary, contradicting or amplification)
3. Genre Characteristics
4. Intertextual reference
5. Notions of looking (objectification of women)
6. Voyeurism (direct gaze, other people looking at artist, insight into artists life, screens and mirrors)
7. Demands of the record label (representation of the artist)
8. Performance based, narrative based, or concept based music videos

Denis McQuail's Theory

• Information: finding out about the world; seeking advise; satisfying curiosity; education; gaining security through knowledge.
• Personal Identity: reinforcement of  personal values; models of behaviour; identifying with valued other; gaining insight into oneself.
• Integration and Social Interaction: gaining insight into circumstances of others; identifying with others; basis for conversation with others; substitute for real life companionship; helping to carry out social roles; enabling connection with family, friends and society.
• Entertainment: escapism; diversion; relaxation; cultural or aesthetic enjoyment; filling time; emotional release; sexual arousal. 

Beginnings of Music Television

United Kingdom

The long-running British TV show Top of the Pops began playing music videos in the late 1970's, although the BBC placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week. In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet's eye catching promo for "Ashes to Ashes". Another act to succeed with this tactic was Madness, who shot on 16 mm and 35 mm, constructing their clips as "micro-comedic" short films.

In 1974 the band Sparks filmed a promo video for their single "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" from the album Kimono My House.

In 1975, The Who released their all-music feature film Tommy, directed by Ken Russell, based upon their 1969 rock opera of the same name. Also in 1975, the band Queen ordered Bruce Gowersto make a promo video for their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody" to show it in Top Of The Pops; this is also notable for being entirely shot and edited on videotape.

The Alan Parker film adaptation of Pink Floyd The Wall transformed the group's 1979 concept double-LP of the same title into a confrontational and apocalyptic audio-visual labyrinth of stylized, expressionistic images, sounds, melodies and lyrics.

The long-running British Rock music show "The Old Grey Whistle Test" produced a number of pioneering videos made especially for the program throughout the 1970's and early 1980's. These included a video of Frank Zappa's "City of Tiny Lights" made using claymation and videos made for performers such as Television, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield. The executive producer of The Old Grey Whistle Test was Mike Appleton. Derek Burbidge and Kate Humphreys directed and videoed many of the artists. The audio was always of prime importance. Gregg Baily was the recordist for the show on location. Although many assumed the bands were playing live, due to technical issues and the need to ensure performances were controlled, the bands often recorded the performance on the day of shooting prior to taping, and then mimed to this "live" track. Other directors and camera operators were Martin Pitts in the USA, and for England, John Metcalfe and Tim Pope and many others. Location shoots all over the world were an essential part of the program. Martin Pitts Directed clips for the Bee Gees that aired on the show.

United States

American alternative punk rock group Devo created many self-produced music videos, which were included in the pioneering compilation "The Truth About Devolution", directed by Chuck Statler. Devo's video cassette releases were arguably among the first true long-form video productions. Also, one of their music videos "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprise" was the first to use computer and traditional animation. Shock-rocker Alice Cooper took a video of his Welcome to My Nightmare concert showcasing the intense visual performance it gave. Alice Cooper himself makes reference to making one of the first music videos on the promotional videos for his album Along Came A Spider.

Video Concert Hall, created by Jerry Crowe and Charles Henderson, launched on November 1, 1979, was the first nationwide video music programming on American television, predating MTV by almost three years. The USA Cable Network program Night Flight was one of the first American programs to showcase these videos as an art form. Premiering in June 1981, Night Flight predated MTV's launch by two months.

Two feature-length films released on the cusp of MTV's first appearance on the dial contributed enormously to the development of the form. The first was 1981's Shock Treatment, a pseudo-sequel/spin off of The Rocky Horror Picture Show principally written and scored by RHPS creator Richard O'Brien. Although it was a commercial flop, the film broke stylistic ground by being more focused and less visually ambitious – and thus easier to emulate on a tight budget – than either RHPS or Ken Russell's 1975 adaptation of The Who's music and story line from the album Tommy, or even a lower-budget affair like The Ramones' Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979).

In 1980, New Zealand group Split Enz had major success with the single "I Got You" and the album True Colours, and later that year they joined Blondie in becoming one of the first bands in the world to produce a complete set of promo clips for each song on the album (directed by their percussionist, Noel Crombie) and to market these on video cassette. This was followed a year later by the first American video album, The Completion Backward Principle by The Tubes, directed by the group's keyboard player Michael Cotten, which included two videos directed by Russell Mulcahy ("Talk To Ya Later" and "Don't Want To Wait Anymore").

Among the first music videos were clips produced by ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith who started making short musical films for Saturday Night Live. In 1981, he released Elephant Parts, the first winner of a Grammy for music video, directed by William Dear. A further experiment on NBC television called Television Parts was not successful, due to network meddling (notably an intrusive laugh track and corny gags). Billboard credits the independently-produced Video Concert Hall as being the first with nationwide video music programming on American television.

The History of Music Videos

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980's, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980's, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip".

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.

In 1894, sheet music publishers Edward b.Marks and Joe Stern hired electrician George Thomas and various performers to promote sales of their song "The Little Lost Child". Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song, the first step towards the music video.

Introduction

As I studied Media Studies at AS, I knew I would enjoy carrying the subject on at A2. By doing this it would broaden my knowledge of the media and all of the different aspects in it. Creating a thriller was very enjoyable and I am looking forward to working on a new project that involves a different part of the media industry. For this year I have chosen to do a music video as this brief seems the most interesting and practical project that suits me. I hope to make my music video creative and enjoyable to watch by others, I also hope that it portrays the conventions of all music videos being made today.