record label analysis

Polydor Records

Polydor Records is the record label that the song 'Nine 2 Five' by The Ordinary Boys and Lady Sovereign was produced. Polydor originated in Germany and is now owned by the Universal Music Group and is headquartered in the United Kingdom. Here is a link to the official Polydor website: http://www.polydor.co.uk/

In the early 1970s, the main source of income for the label was probably the enormously successful UK band Slade. Later, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the label was also home to The Who and The Jam , and successful British glam rock act Sweet signed on in 1977. 

Polydor remains one of the strongest labels in the country — with artists such as Take That, Girls Aloud, N-Dubz, La Roux, Cheryl Cole, Nicola Roberts, Duffy, Klaxons, Delphic, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, The Saturdays, James Morrison, Kaiser Chiefs, Boyzone, Alphabeat, The Courteeners, S Club 7, S Club 8, Rachel Stevens and Ellie Goulding. Polydor also has a strong indie roster through the Fiction imprint with acts such as Ian Brown, Bright Eyes, Elbow, White Lies, The Maccabees, Kate Nash, Snow Patrol, Filthy Dukes, and Crystal Castles.

It also acts as the UK label for American-based acts such as Eminem, Queens Of The Stone Age, Limp Bizkit, Timbaland, The All-American Rejects, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Black Eyed Peas, Weezer, Marilyn Manson, Pussycat Dolls, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Sheryl Crow, Dr. Dre, Lana Del Rey and Lady Gaga. 

In Spring 2006, Polydor launched Fascination Records, a music label dedicated to pop music. Both Girls Aloud and Sophie Ellis-Bextor transferred to the new label and created groups such as The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch . Several teen pop acts from US label Hollywood Records, such as the Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez & the Scene were also signed to Fascination.

Day 2 of Filming

Yesterday we filmed the main bulk of our lead male role in the song 'Nine 2 Five' by The Ordinary Boys. Our actor was playing the role of the lead singer of the ordinary boys, and we filmed all of our footage in a local park using various different shots and locations within the park.

We are still planning to film more of the lead male role in different locations (e.g car park, urban locations) and we also need to re-film some parts of Lady Sovereign's role and band performance. The next step will be uploading the footage we filmed yesterday onto final cut and then to begin fitting it to the track.

editing lady sovereign footage

After we had finished filming all of Lady Sovereign's involvement in the music video we set about editing our footage on Final Cut Express, we chose to use this piece of software over I Movie as it is a more professional piece of software and there are more different effects and editing options. Here are some screen shots of us editing our work:

Whilst we were editing we discovered the difficulties of matching the lip-syncing to the music with a rap artist, as the pace that Lady Sovereign was rapping at was sometimes quicker than that of our actor. We also realised that we would have to re-film some parts of Lady Sovereign's scene to make the video flow better and to also re-film any shots that did not quite go according to plan. We also need to move onto filming our lead male role and band performance scenes

Music Video Analysis 3 - The View From The Afternoon

Arctic Monkeys - The View From The Afternoon

This music video for the song 'The View From The Afternoon' by Arctic Monkeys is based in one location throughout, a deserted council estate with the only common feature throughout is a drummer situated in the middle of this deserted council estate. Firstly the opening shot is a long shot of a man walking through a deserted scene establishing the themes that will continue throughout the music video as a whole, the black and white colours used also add to the sense of emptiness. The first recognition of the drummer in the video also perhaps establishes what genre of music the song is in, as the drum kit and the way the man playing the drums looks has a relevance to rock music, which is ofcourse the genre that Arctic Monkeys are a part of. 

There is also the use of a black and white cut-away a few times, I interpret this to be showing the drummer zoning out before he prepares to play the drums which would make sense as he is playing the drums non-stop for such a long period of time. Most importantly for this music video the drummer hitting the kit is in time with the music, there are several long shots of the drummer and his kit emphasising a sense of isolation. The switch between night and day time makes it clear that he is playing the drums for a long period of time and that he is very dedicated, perhaps reflecting the bands ideology towards their music. In this music video they show the drummer from several different angles (e.g close up, long shot, from behind, overhead) and they also use lots of different shots to establish the council estate location (long shots of buildings, close ups of signs + people on their balconies). 

The shot of the three men tormenting and throwing things at the drummer adds comedic value and also shows how focused the drummer is, also as if he is addicted to playing the drums and nothing can distract him. The music video ends on an uncertain ending leaving the viewer wanting to know what happens next.

Music Video Analysis 2 - 212

212 - Azealia Banks

The music video for the song '212' by Azealia Banks is based in one main location, against a brick wall. The main focus of the whole music video is Azealia Banks as a musician and an icon for modern-day hip/hop music. A close up of Azealia Banks mouth is used repeatedly throughout the video, this emphasises the importance of lyrics in rap music and also points out the fast pace she is rapping at it in points of the song. A effect used in the music video I like is how the video becomes blurs when the music does too, linking the on-screen action to the song itself.

The mid-shots of Azealia Banks on her own and the general movement of her during this replicates the attitude of her as an artist and matches the tone of the song. The two male actors in the music video only have very small and insignificant roles in comparison to Azealia Banks once again showing her importance as an artist. The fast pace of the cuts at the end of the music video match the pace of the music giving a good flow and tempo to the on screen action. The limited use of locations adds simplicity and focus on the artist.

Possible Locations 1

Asides from the locations we have already used in our Lady Sovereign scene, here are some other places we were looking to use in our music video for both the lead male role and band performance scenes. We have stuck to the same basic idea of following the urban genre that the song portrays by using urban locations.

Here are some images of possible location shots:

Day 1 of Filming

In our first day of filming we shot the majority of Lady Sovereign's involvement in the song, we did all of her parts down and alleyway and in a park to emphasise the urban genre that the artist is related with.

We started off filming down an alleyway using a range of different camera angles and shots whilst Lady Sovereign was rapping, so we could cut and edit them during editing to give a flow to the footage in the music video that matched the fast tempo of the lyrics in the song. We then continued our filming in a park where we shot some of our footage against a brick wall with a tripod, we could then use this shot as the base of Lady Sovereign's involvement in the music video and cut away to different angles and shots in different locations. It could be seen that this was influenced by Azealia Bank's music video to the song '212' as it is shot in a similar way.

We may go back and re-film some of the footage as it did not come out quite as I would have like it to and also film a few other ideas to give ourselves more of a range of shots to play with in editing.

Here are some photos from our 1st day of filming our music video:

Props and Costumes for Lady Sovereign

We had to use specific costumes and props to create the right image for the lead female role in our film, she would need to match the same look as Lady Sovereign whilst we did not want to make her identical as it may come across that we were copying the music video. Lady Sovereign's image is very urban/street based so we chose some of the below items of clothing to create the right look. Props are limited for her role but we might match the song lyrics by using red bull and a sandwich as stated in the lyrics 'Whoops im being rude wheres my red bull and my sandwich, I need food,'

Meeting Seven

PUT IN STORYBOARD AND MIND-MAP AND IMAGES RELATED TO PROGRESSION OF IDEA 

Band Identity

The Ordinary Boys

The Ordinary Boys are an English indie rock band from Worthing, in West Sussex, England. Originally named Next in Line, they were influenced by mod revival and Britpop music, as well as the bands Madness, The Specials, The Kinks and The Smiths. Their name derives from a Morrissey song, "The Ordinary Boys". The membership of the band that originally split up in 2008 consisted of founding members Samuel Preston (vocals, guitar) – generally known simply by his surname "Preston", William Brown (guitar), James Gregory (bass) plus Simon Goldring (drums) 


Following limited success on the UK charts, their popularity revived and grew particularly due to media coverage that Preston, received when participating in Channel 4's Celebrity Big Brother UK in January 2006, where he also met Chantelle Houghton, who he subsequently married and then divorced. Following the Celebrity Big Brother appearance, sales of the band's albums increased and the "Boys Will Be Boys" single moved from No. 33 to No. 3 in four weeks. The song "Boys Will Be Boys" featured in the fifth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 

An infamous media incident occurred when Preston appeared on an episode of BBC's comedy music quiz show 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks' broadcast on 14.2.2007 and he terminated his participation in the show by leaving the set during recording when the host Simon Amstell persistently read extracts from his wife Chantelle's at that time recently published autobiography. Preston later stated regret for his actions, speaking of Amstell as "funny, charming and likeable", making his walking off "all the more embarrassing". The band were referenced in episode five ("Smoke and Mirrors") of series two of The IT Crowd.

Lady Sovereign 

 Louise Amanda Harman (born 19 December 1985), better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is an English rapper and grime artist.She is noted for her professional success in performing styles of music generally dominated by males. In 2010, she appeared on the seventh series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, being the third housemate to be evicted from the house.

Lady Sovereign began uploading some of her songs and a picture to various music web sites when she was 15. She told Newsweek in 2006 that comments initially ran along the lines of, "You're white. You're a girl. You're British. You're crap.". She went on to sign with Universal in 2004. Lady Sovereign released a number of solo records and opened for Basement Jaxx, The Streets, Dizzee Rascal, D12, and Obie Trice.

Aside from her own records, 2005 saw Lady Sovereign appear as a guest or contributor on several projects. She began 2005 by appearing on the grime compilation Run the Road, both as a solo artist and with The Streets. When The Ordinary Boys released the single "Boys Will Be Boys", Lady Sovereign came back with a reply remix, featuring the music and chorus of the original, but with mostly her own vocals to the tune of "girls will be girls". In May 2006, she was featured on the Ordinary Boys single, "Nine2Five", a remixed version of her own "9 to 5", credited as "The Ordinary Boys vs Lady Sovereign." "Nine2Five" entered at 39th in the UK top 40 singles on downloads only, and jumped to 6th upon availability as a CD and 7" vinyl single during the week commencing 22 May 2005. This is her highest chart position to date. On 17 October 2006 "Love Me or Hate Me" became the first video by a British artist to reach number 1 on the United States version of MTV's Total Request Live. "Love Me Or Hate Me" was released in the UK on 29 January 2007, with the album following on 5 February 2007.

In late 2006, "Love Me Or Hate Me" was played in a Verizon Wireless advertisement. It also appears on the soundtrack of the video game Need for Speed: Carbon, and is the theme music for the show The Bad Girls Club. "9 to 5" also appears on The Bad Girls Club, as well as on the soundtrack of the Xbox 360's version of EA Sports' FIFA World Cup 2006 video game, on the Ugly Betty soundtrack and features in the 2007 film St. Trinian's, "Random" appears on the Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix soundtrack, and features on an episode of Malcolm in The Middle, "I Got You Dancing" was featured in Need for Speed: Nitro, "Hoodie" was used for a Mario Party Nintendo DS commercial.


Some of Lady Sovereign's such as "9 to 5" and "So Human" were also used on the BBC 1 show Waterloo Road in 2009/10. Bizarre Creation's Project Gotham Racing 4 video game on the Xbox 360 features the song "Blah Blah" by Lady Sovereign, EA's Fight Night Round 4 video game features Lady Sovereign's "Bang Bang" track, "So Human" appears in season 2 episode 1 of the television series '90210', "Jigsaw" was featured in the second episode of the fifth season of MTV-show The Hills, called 'Everything Happens For A Reason'.

Digipak Analysis 2 - Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys

'Favourite Worst Nightmare' was released by the band Arctic Monkeys in 2007


Front Cover:

The front cover of this album shows both the band name and album title, unlike my previous example digipak. The font used for the words 'Arctic Monkeys' was commonly used throughout all band promo during the period after this album was released. The album cover shows a row of run down houses but one with lit up patterns inside, perhaps emphasising the mood and tone of the bands music as the bold colours stand out against the bleak and dark image used.

Inside of digipak:

The inside of the digipak shows the inside of the rooms shown as lit up on the front cover of the album , this once again shows a theme throughout the whole of the album artwork design. This design used is very unique and I have not seen this idea used by any other artist

Back:

The back of the digipak is very clear and plain and states the song titles and label that the band is under, the same font is used throughout the whole of the digipak.

Digipak Analysis 1 - A Flash Flood of Colour by Enter Shikari

This album 'A Flash Flood of Colour' by Enter Shikari was released in January 2012:


Front Cover:

This triangle is a key symbol in many of the bands music videos and merchandise making a common theme for many people to follow the band by. The logo is supposed to symbolise turning the society triangle we live in on its head, linking this logo to many of the bands lyrics and song titles. The way the cover photo is shot makes the triangle the key factor in the image, the red triangle could also link to the album title itself.

Inside of digipak: 

The inside of the digipak once again shows the symbolic triangle that the band would build their image around in an open space, similar to the front cover of the digipak, the band are most often specified as being in the metal genre so this inside of the digipak contradicts the stereotypical dark and gloomy metal image as the colours used are very bright.

Back:

The back of the digipak lists the song titles (and DVD's bonus feature), it once again continues the nature theme used throughout the rest of the digipak in a similar location to the one used on the front cover image. The two band labels are also specified on the bottom left corner. The spine of the CD also clearly indicates the band name and album title