Marketing Essay

"In the Music Industry, the power of marketing online is the most useful asset in the promotion of music products." To what extent do you agree with the statement?

I agree immensely with this statement as many artists have shown that this marketing strategy works, artists such as Tyler the Creator, One Direction and Childish Gambino. I feel that the old Push marketing strategy is outdated and that the new Pull marketing is good because of the recent popularity of social media sites. Pull marketing allows the artist to be more involved with the fans and makes the experience more personal. One Direction is a great example of how Pull marketing can be successfully implemented.

One Direction use pull marketing successfully because they are constantly updating and interacting with fans. Using sites such as Facebook and Twitter, One Direction can easily give fans updates on everything new with the band this provides fans with constant entertainment and information. Right now, One Direction have over 31 million followers which shows that the more personal Pull marketing works. One Direction created an interactive map on their website, for their “Go1Den” concert, while they were on tour and this allowed fans to be involved with the tour even if they weren’t going to the concert. This campaign was very successful and the volume of traffic for their website was at its highest ever also, they doubled their Twitter followers and their Facebook likes. This shows that marketing online has more power over the more traditional standard.

The hip hop group Odd Future have a pop up exclusive “OF Sweatshop” which offers exclusive clothing to fans at concerts, this allows OF to gain profits, not by selling their music but by selling more personal and exclusive content. OF’s manager says, “There’s no marketing, it’s exposing it at the right place at the right time.” OF’s front man, Tyler the Creator is a social media addict and by using the medium to his advantage he is able to market the OF brand and he is able to promote shows as well as new exclusive merch. This social side of marketing allows for more fan to creator communication and makes the process more personal.

A recent example of the power of marketing online would be with the new Childish Gambino album, Awaken, My Love. Childish Gambino has been pushing out content from this new album slowly by uploading teaser tracks to the internet to see the reception. The tracks are available on Youtube which makes it more accessible for fans to listen and get a feel for the album. This “dripping” of new content proves successful because both of the tracks released so far became trending videos on youtube and they both have over 3 million views. Before this, Childish Gambino hosted a very private concert in Joshua Tree National Park over 3 nights. This concert was called Pharos and it had a no phone policy because Childish Gambino wanted a more personal and intimate connection with his audience. The concert showed off the entire album of Awaken, My Love before it was announced, this gave the show a more premium feel because of its exclusivity.

First Word Records showed off the power of marketing online when they released a compilation album on Bandcamp and charged the listener for their email address for a newsletter. This is great exposure for the company and it allows for fans of a certain artist to listen to another artist on the album creating more exposure and fans for unpopular artists. Tidal is an example of not giving music away for free because it locks exclusive music behind a pay wall. Tidal offers exclusive songs and albums with lossless audio at a high price, this exclusivity can alienate fans of certain artists because they don't want to pay for Tidal to listen to one album, this can make people want to pirate music. Tidal offers three types of exclusives,

1. Service Window- the content is only on Tidal for a certain period of time.
2. Tier window- album is released across one type of music service tier before others
3. Service Exclusive- the content is only on Tidal

Tidal and Apple look set to become the heavyweight players in the Service Window, duking it out for the biggest releases. This seems to be the downside of marketing online and shows that marketing music online can be too powerful that it takes away from the consumer because some companies want more money.

Gamification is a great way to market music in a more interactive way. Gamification adds “game like” qualities such as leaderboards, points and badges to applications and websites. Users are rewarded for doing certain tasks and the app or website must be constantly updated for regular users to provide new content. Turntable.fm is an example of a website with gamification and it allows players to collect points when other players rate the songs they listen to. Another example would be Phantasy Tour, where fans pick which songs they think will be played during each music set, and are awarded points based on how many correct answers they get. Gamification is a great way to involve listeners in other types of media, as Albin Serviant said, “Today’s fan wants more than just a track. They want a participative, personalised experience in a social environment.”

Overall I believe online marketing is essential in today’s social media world. It allows musicians to easily promote their music on many websites such as Youtube and Spotify. Many musicians have not used this marketing type to it’s full potential and if they do they create a new type of bond between themselves and their fans. This connection allows for artists to put out more personal types of merchandise such as a clothing line and because of this connection fans will more likely stay connected as they are constantly updated on Facebook and Twitter. A creator with millions of followers is now able to have the same intimate connection with their fans just like a creator with one hundred followers and the possibilities are endless.

The 180 Degree Rule

The 180° rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another . When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle

When the camera initially establishes where two facing characters are standing E.g. John(left) Mark(right). The 180° rule comes into play as the close up shots must be within the 180° barrier. 

If the camera is outside this barrier then it would look like the characters have switched position, contradictory to the establishing shot. This effects the continuity of the scene as it would make no sense if the characters switched positions.

Essay- 2

Aaron Esteban 131

Before the creation of the computer and the internet, the music industry was very primitive and lacked any new innovations but when computers started to fuse with music production, the music industry grew at immense pace. This is because of the accessibility and ease of use that computers and the internet bring to the table, this means that almost anyone with a personal computer or smartphone can create music and create it easily. Many companies have released their own music production software (Digital Audio Workstation) such as Logic Pro, Ableton and FL Studio. There are also free and open source DAWs such as, Audacity and Rosegarden but these programs are not as advanced as the commercial DAWs. These DAWs allow new musicians to produce their own music without the help of a big record label.

The 1970s gave birth to the genre of electronic music, this type of music was created with new hardware called the synthesiser and new techniques such as sampling, this new genre conveyed a sense of eeriness and the unknown and that is why it was popular when paired with sci-fi shows and movies. Dr Who’s main theme is a popular example of how synthesisers were used back when they were new. When Dr Who’s main theme was being created by Delia Derbyshire the technology was very expensive and not many people knew how to use it. Now this type of music production is very inexpensive and easy to understand. Synthesisers became widely popular as many artists started using them as did vocoders but over time vocoders became less popular because computer software can now easily simulate the effect. Vocoders are still used by some artists, the most well-known being Daft Punk.

More and more artists started to jump of the technological bandwagon and artists like Michael Jackson and A-Ha used synths in their music which created a sound that defined the 80s. Early video game music was synthesised and games such as 007 Goldeneye (N64) a very distinct soundtrack that emulated the popular James Bond music on a synthesiser. Other games such as the 1999 classic, Deus Ex, tried to create the sound of the future while using 80s synthesisers.

Many traditional methods of creating music adapted new technology, the guitar had pedals that could change the effect of the guitar on the fly and the drums had a new MIDI alternative that allowed the user to play the drums directly on a computer and change the sound. The MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) was open source and helped the synthesiser and electronic music as a whole grow because of its universal capabilities. MIDI allows all of your instruments to connect seamlessly to the computer. Without MIDI the production of the music would be more time consuming and would be harder to perfect. The Mu-Tron III allowed instruments to change their sound, it was famous because it could recreate human like vowel noises. Stevie Wonder used this device and even endorsed this. Other amazing technologies that the 70s created would be the compact disc, Walkman and even the early iPod concept. Music technology was advancing very fast and many new technologies died off very early in their life because of how fast the market was advancing.

The DAW was a place where MIDIs interacted with each other, now these programs are very intuitive to use and have an easy learning curve but when they were first introduced the only people that knew how to use it would have been the people who created it. There was no guide for the program and that made them very unpopular when they were new software. The DAW became the must have tool for production of electronic music. “The amount of effects that these programs offer allows me to make to make new songs with a vastly different feel and allows many different emotions to be implemented.” Local electronic musician Airaidios said when asked about DAWs. These DAWs are very powerful but recently companies have decided to in some ways “dumb down” the program so it appeals to a wider audience. Doing this can anger hard core fans and somewhat alienate them. Some amateur programs like GarageBand have been used by professionals. The Gorillaz album 'The Fall' was made on an iPad. The GUI on some of the DAWs is very convoluted and hard to master, artists use modern synthesisers with these advanced DAWs, an artist uses many synthesisers all with different sounds and this allows the artist to experiment with many styles and many sounds.

All of this leads to a pretty simple conclusion, technology has indeed improved production practices. Professionals can pump out tunes at an alarming rate thanks to the intuitive nature of the DAW programs and thanks to synthesisers artists can experiment with a very large catalogue of different and interesting sounds. Thanks to the improvements of technology production is easy and long gone are the days when you had to be very precise and one slip up would ruin your song. Experimentation is so easy because you can always undo mistakes. It may take some challenge out of creating a stellar track but it’s still fun to make music. Overall music technology is wonderful and has improved how we make and listen to music. 

Sound Analysis

Mise en Scene

Production Design

design style for sets, locations, graphics, props, lighting, camera angles and costumes

Location/Setting

Is the place where the film takes place

Studio

A film studio is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production company.

Set design

Is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery.

Costume and make up

actors dress up in costumes for characters and wear makeup for special effects and to make the character look different for a performance

Properties (props)

Props are objects in the film that make the scene more believable. They fill out a scene

Lighting

The use of various light sources, both artificial and natural, to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect while illuminating a scene.

Available 

The term usually refers to sources of light that are already available naturally (e.g. the sun, moon, lightning) or artificial light already being used (e.g. to light a room).

Artificial 
lighting that is created and placed by the cinematographer 

Key 

The purpose of the key light is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject.

Fill 

Fill light is any source of illumination that lightens areas of shadow created by other lights.

Back 
Backlighting is the process of illuminating the subject from the back. 

Set 
Lots of lights around the set to illuminate the set.

Practical

Light sources that are visible within the shot, for example candles or TVs.

Colour design

The use of colour in a film for an intended purpose.

Sound Analysis

Diegetic sound
Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. Diegetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.
Non diegetic sound
Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: narrator's commentary. sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect. mood music.
Synchronous sound
Synchronous sound is sound that is matched to certain movements occurring in the scene e.g when footsteps correspond to feet walking.
Asynchronous sound
The sound doesn't match the action in the scene
Sound effects
a sound other than speech or music made artificially for use in a play, film, or other broadcast production.
Sound motif
a motif is a sound repeated for larger symbolic meaning.
Sound bridge
A sound bridge connects two scenes together as it uses a similar sound as a transition
Dialogue
a conversation between two or more people
Voiceover
a piece of narration in a film, not accompanied by an image of the speaker
Mode of address/direct address
It is how the character speaks to the audience. Direct address means the character looks at the audience and speaks to them directly
Sound mixing
The process during the post-production stage of a film or a television program in which the collection of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels along with adjusting the many attributes of the sounds such as the source signals’ level.
Sound perspective
A sound’s position in space as perceived by the viewer given by volume, timbre, and pitch.
Sound tracks
An audio recording that is used in film post production
Score

a written representation of a musical composition showing all the vocal and instrumental parts arranged one below the other. The music composed for a film or play.

Incidental music
music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere.
Themes and stings
Theme- music that always accompanies a tv series or character
Ambient sound
background sounds that are present in a scene or a location. E.g. Birds, water, traffic, etc.

Editing and Representations Examples

Editing and Representation

1. The transition of film in allows the story to flow and transitions connect the film together and allows the film to change scene seamlessly or harshly, whatever way the filmmaker wants. Transitions reflect the type of film is. The transition of sound could show time passing, it slows down to reflect a different sad emotion or becomes extremely fast for comedic effect. Sound can change as the seasons do, naturally or change when the weather does.

2. Editing is so important because it allows the film maker to put the film together in the best way, editing allows the film maker to add a soundtrack to a film or to add sound effects which gives the film more emotion. Without editing, the movie would look and sound boring and feel unprofessional, the colour wouldn't be corrected and you can't edit the sound so the film would sound harsh and unclean. We need editing to add life to a film, directors can film out of order of the story and edit and piece together in post production. it allows many creators to collaborate using their talents, art, film, music.

3.

Shot/reverse shot

Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.

Eyeline match

An eyeline match is a film editing technique associated with the continuity editing system. It is based on the premise that an audience will want to see what the character on-screen is seeing.

Graphic match

A graphic match creates a cut between two shots that juxtapose their graphically similar images.

Action match

Cutting on action or matching on action refers to film editing and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action

Jump cut

A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly.

Crosscutting

Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time in two different locations. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions but this is not always the case.

Cutaway

a cutaway shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else. It is usually, although not always, followed by a cut back to the first shot

Insert

In film, an insert is a shot of part of a scene as filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot.

Dissolve

In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another.

Cut

In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. 

Fade-out

A transition that slowly shifts the scene to black. 

Fade-in

A transition that slowly goes from black to the scene.

Wipe

A wipe is a type of film transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape

Superimposition

superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something 

Long take

 a long take is a shot lasting much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. 

Short take

a shot that lasts a very short amount of time 

Slow motion

the scene or a part of a scene that is slowed down to add drama or effect to a scene

Ellipsis & expansion of time

Ellipsis concerns the omission of a section of the story that is either obvious enough for the public to fill in or concealed for a narrative purpose, such as suspense or mystery.

Post production

It is a term for all stages of production occurring after shooting or recording individual program segments.

Visual effects

visual effects (abbreviated VFX) are the processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shot.

Composition and Framing

Framing

this is how the shot is composed and the manner of which the objects are surrounded/framed.

Rule of thirds

The Rule of Thirds says if you were to divide a TV screen into thirds using lines, you'd find, where those lines crossed, points that the eye is naturally attracted to.

Depth of field (deep and shallow focus)

Depth of field blurs out oblects in the background or in the foreground which helps our eyes focus on the main object, this process simulates human eyes when focusing on close or distant objects.

Focus pulls

The focus pull is a camera technique in which you change focus during a shot. Usually this means adjusting the focus from one subject to another. 

 

More Camera Angles, Shots and Movements

More Camera Angles, Shots and Movements

Angles and Movement

Angles: 
High angle the camera is elevated above the action by crane but not as extreme as a bird’s eye view

Canted angle the camera is tilted slightly, this is mostly seen in POV shots

Low angle shot near the ground and the background is usually the sky or the ceiling.

Movement: 
Pan the camera moves horizontally across the scene very slowly and steady

Tilt A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan

Track any shot where the camera moves alongside the object(s) it is recording

Dolly (equipment) a wheeled cart that allows the camera to move smoothly and horizontally

 
Crane allows shots from high up as it moves the camera vertically 

Steadicam stops the camera from shaking as it moves through a scene

Handheld the camera is held in the operator’s hand instead of being mounted on a tripod

Zoom the camera zooms in on an object to add dramatic effect

Reverse Zoom the camera zooms out of an object to reveal the rest of the scene

Camera Shots

Camera Shots

Extreme Long Shot A wider frame value in which subjects in the frame are small; a building, cityscape. See also establishing shot.

Close Up A value of framing where the size of the subject is relatively large and fills most of the frame. For instance, a person’s head seen from the neck up, or an object seen in detail

Medium Shot A value of framing in which the subject is a bit smaller than a medium close-up; a human figure from the waist up.

Long shot A value of framing where the whole subject is relatively small enough to fit the height of the frame.

Wide shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. 

Two shot a shot of two people together

Aerial shot a shot from taken from the air

Point of view shot a shot taken from where the character’s eyes would be placed

Over the shoulder shot a shot taken behind the shoulder of the character