Permission for the Music Video

How did I contact Erick Morillo?

 It was very difficult to contact Erick Morillo directly, as the result I had to contact either the production company or his manager. As the result, I have found the website- subliminalrecords.com, as the company controls the rights not only to the video but also the song itself. Even though, I have not received a reply yet, however, this outlines that the artist had been informed that his music is used strictly for educational purposes, rather than for the promotional aspects.

Below is the link that I have used in order to send the request for the track Live your life by Erick Morillo.
http://www.subliminalrecords.com/about/contact

Hope I would receive the reply soon, as I am planning to starting shooting some of the scenes back in Moscow during the End of Term holiday.

The chosen song

After taking into consideration three or four songs ( read the previous post)  I came to the conclusion that ' Live your life' by Erick Morillo would suit best with the ideas I have in my mind. Even though the song already has a video, however, most of the shots are taken from the live festival or concert, which means that the visuals would differ. It would be a difficult task to create a video as the audience have seen the previous one already, however, I am ready to take the challenge!

Below is the original video of the song that I am going use

House Music Associations: Mind Map

Possible songs / artists to use

At the moment, I am in the process of choosing a song for my music video project. Even though I am not entirely sure which track to use, however, I have three or four in mind. As not only I do enjoy listening to all of them, I was not sure which one to pick. As the result, I have asked couple of my friends ( potential target audience) to give feedback and tell me which song they like the most and why. This would give sense of direction that I would  be working towards.

These four tracks that I consider using: 

• ' Louder than Words' David Guetta ft. Afrojack
• ' Get up' by Bingo Players
• ' Live your Life' by Erick Morillo 
• ' Dancing in my head' by Avicii 

Before actually getting feedback from my friends, I have explained what I am planning to do as all the shots would be from 'point of view'. Things that they had to consider were the lyrics of the song and the speed of the track. As all the tracks have an original video, it  could have played an impact on the feedback that Alex, Vasil and Charlie have given. 

Feedback:

It was a difficult decision for them, as all the tracks are similar but the two that chosen were  Live your Life' by Erick Morillo and  Louder than Words' David Guetta ft. Afrojack, were the favorite ones,  as the lyrics are very positive and set the mood to the song. Now I have to decide, in a week or so, which track I would be using in order to get on with the process of creating a music video. 

Below are the songs that I have considered doing:

 Louder than Words' David Guetta ft. Afrojack

 Get up' by Bingo Players

' Live your Life' by Erick Morillo 

' Dancing in my head' by Avicii 

Song Ideas

As I am very interested in House Music, it would be a very good idea to create a project based on my interests. As the result, on iTunes I have put together a small playlist with the potential songs that I could use. The list soon would be down to three or four tracks and I would use the help of my friends   ( target audience) to advice me which track would interest them the most as well as the potential ideas of the plot. 

The only concern whether it would be useful and beneficial to create a project based upon the song that already has a music video. Is that an issue? Would that already leave the audience with the visuals of original track? These are the kind of issues that I would need to think over before filming anything.

History of European House Music

Overview

It's been fifteen years or so since the first identifiably house tracks were put on to vinyl, ten years which have changed the technology behind the electronic music revolution beyond recognition but left the basic structure of house intact. It's seven years since it was being said house couldn't last, that it was just hi-NRG, a fast blast that would wither as quickly as it had started. But then the music reinvented itself, and then again and again until it gradually dawned on people that house wasn't just another phase of club culture, it was club culture, the continuing future of dance music. The reason? It's simple. People like to dance to house.

European House Music

But it wasn't just American music laying the groundwork for house. European music, spanning English electronic pop like Depeche Mode and Soft Cell and the earlier, more disco based sounds of Giorgio Moroder, Klein & MBO and a thousand Italian productions were immensely popular in urban areas like New York and Chicago. One of the reasons for their popularity was two clubs that had simultaneously broken the barriers of race and sexual preference, two clubs that were to pass on into dance music legend - Chicago's Warehouse and New York's Paradise Garage. Up until then, and after, the norm was for Black, Hispanic, White, straight and gay to segregate themselves, but with the Warehouse, opened in 1977 and presided over byFrankie Knuckles and the Garage where Larry Levan spun, the emphasis was on the music. (Ironically, Levan was first choice for the Warehouse, but he didn't want to leave New York). And the music was as varied as the clienteles - r'n'b based Black dance music and disco peppered with things as diverse as The Clash's 'Magnificent Seven'. For most people, these were the places that acted as breeding grounds for the music that eventually came to be known after the clubs - house and garage.

Right from the start there was a difference in approach between New York and Chicago. "All of the records coming out of New York had been either mid or down tempo, and the kids in Chicago wouldn't do that all night long, they needed more energy" commented Frankie Knuckles after his move to Chicago. The Windy City was seduced to a far greater extent by the European sound and when the records started to come, it showed. Whereas garage in New York evolved more smoothly from First Choice and the labels Salsoul, West End and Prelude, there was no such evolution in Chicago.

Opinions still differ as to what the first house record was, but it was certainly made by Jessie Saunders and it was on the Mitchball label - probably Z Factor's 'Fantasy', but there was also another Z Factor tune which went by the name of 'I Like To Do It In Fast Cars'. 'Fantasy' sounds extremely dated now but ten years ago it was like a sound from another planet, with echoes of Kraftwerk's heavily synthesized string sounds, a Eurobeat bass line and a simple, insistent drum machine pattern. Suffice to say, the record remained obscure outside the close-knit urban Chicago scene.

Music Industry- Three Major Labels

 I have put together a small Powerpoint just to get further understanding of the Music Industry, and the large business that control most of the rights. The current music market is dominated by three of the biggest record labels. These big companies are known as major labers, in contrast to the smaller independents labels which, between them, have a one-fifth to one-quarter share of the U.S music market, but the percentage is smaller in Europe. What I have found most interesting and fascinating about the research that I have carried out, is the impacts of Web 2.0 on the major record labels, as music could not only be accessed but also listened as well downloaded for FREE online. This leads to loss of profit margins and to an extend loss of customers, even though they listen to their tracks. A perfect example is Sony Music Entertainment, ranking as the second-largest of the major record labels, had lost over 25 per cent of potential demand over the cource of 10 years, vastly due to the development of Web 2.0.

Below is the link that I have used in order to create this powerpoint.

http://newmusictoday.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/only-three-major-record-labels-left.html

Inspiration to my Music Video

The video that had inspired me was:

"Point of View'' a short film by Doug Smith

For the music video, I want to create something that would stand out, in comparison with all other students. I was thinking of what to do, and could not come up with the answer before I have watched this video on similiar platform to Youtube- VIMEO. As you can see, even though the storyboard to an extend is not very interesting in the video, however, it creates an idea of active audience. The reason being is that the audience is seeing the events from their perspective. I have decided that my music is not only going to be different and inspiring but also to create an idea of escapism.

An idea of escapism, would include an individual being able to physically leave  their  country, leave their problems,  for the weekend, in order to experience new culture and new life. I have not thought about my  storyboard yet, however, the key attraction about my music video would not be through the use of different types of shots but rather filming in different locations, including New York as well as London.

What is first- person narrative?

First person narrative is a mode where a story in marrated by one charachter at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive ''voice'' and represents point of view in the writing. 

The narrators explicitly refer to themselves using words and phrases involving ''I''. This allows the reader or the audience to see the point of view only of the narrator, and no other charachters. 

I have used the information from Wikipedia, in order to learn more in depth about the first person narrative. 

Different Types of Music Genres

I have put together a small mind map, outlining different types of music genres that I could possibly use for the music video. Visual image of the possible genres, certainly had helped me to come up with the conlusion that the genres I am planning to choose would be either Dance, Home and Electro or Chart Music. The reason for choosing either Dance or Electro, is that I mostly enjoy listening to these types of music. As creating a music video, is a long-term project, I have decided to create something that would not only going to achieve a high grade but also creating a project that I would enjoy doing. As the result, due to the chosen genres, it would certainly play an impact on different aspects of the music video, including the colour scheme. To me House and Electro, represents positive atmosphere and kindness, as the result the colour scheme through out the music video should be bright and eye catching , including orange, cred, blue and so on. Furthemore, the location that is being used should also be linked to the genre of the music video, in order to attract the target audience. I am looking at different locations, as I am planning to film during the end of term holiday. I would film inside my house, centre of New York, in school and possibly in the airport if that would not cause any trouble with the authorities. 

I am going to carry out more research about the genres, but this small mind map, certainly had helped to make sure that I would make a right decision on to which Genre I would use. 

Notes on Narrative

In my opinion, narrative is some kind of retelling, often in words( though it is possible to mime a story), of something that happened ( a story ). In the case of the music video, the narrative would be shown through a variety of shots and locations in order to describe the plot and the storyline behind the video itself. 

There are a number of narrative theories that I came across during my studies- that I have looked at AS level. Three main theorists are: 

Todorov
Propp
Levi- Strauss

Before actually trying to think of the plot of my music video, I have looked into detail the work of three theorists and placed my initial ideas into one of them. However, the first step that I have done is to ask myself couple of the questions about the narrative, including:

Structure. How is the narrative organised and structured?

Characters. How are the characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?

Audience. How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?

Identification. What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?

Theme. What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ ideologies does it embody?

Other. What is the role of such feature as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en- scene, editing etc. within the narrative?

Nick Lacey in Narrative and Genre ( 2000 says ) :

''Narrative is such a powerful analytical tool it is arguably, an even more important key concept than genre. Narrative has probably existed as long as human beings; it is likely that the stone artists who drew the 18,000 year old paintings in the Ardeche, France, expected narrative to be woven around their images''.

Undoubtely people need stories. Duirng any one day you might come across lots of different stories whether they are to do with what you did last night or something you watched on TV or looked at the internet. 

The point Lacey makes above is that narrative might be woven around texts rather being embedded in them in a fixed way. This means notions of narratives being fixes and unchangeable are outdated and that the audience make meaning of their own by using key symbols and ideas to create the story. 

Most likely, my music video would be based around Todorov's theory. 

Tzvetan Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

1. a state of equilibrium at the outset

2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action

3. a recognition that there has been a disruption

4. an attempt to repair the disruption

5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium 


To conclude, it is possible to use the narrative theories of Propp, Levi- Strauss and Todorov to prove that all narratives are fixed, narrow and predictable but Lacey's comment above suggests that they are more dynamic than we may have at first thought. Lacey also goes on to suggest that the reader is not simply using information to create the text but he or she is interacting with the text by ''reference spotting''.