Sending the Email

Reply from Missing Andy's Management

Before we can start creating ideas and pitching them to the class, we needed to make sure we have permission to use the song first. Matt found the band on MySpace and sent them a personal message asking if we are able to use the song for our A Level production. They replied within the hour and told us it was fine with them, but to contact there management to make sure it is ok with them. There management replied saying that we were ok to use it in our production.

Lyrics for chosen band analysis

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The Recluse - Plan B: Music Video Analysis

Plan B's music video, 'The Recluse' is currently the most recent music video in a series of videos by Plan B detailing the demise of a fictional character portrayed by Plan B called Strickland Banks, and is also the same character from Plan B's upcoming movie 'The Defamation of Strickland Banks'. Plan B's recent massive rise to fame has been achieved to due to his drastic change in lyrical style & song structure, and Radio One's frequent daytime playing of his singles.

The music video itself starts with an over the shoulder shot of Strickland walking through the inside of a prison and the music kicks in when he tries to get past some stereotypical prison thugs and dies down again after the encounter. The music stops for about 15 seconds, and the only audio is a crowd chanting 'Strickland' alongside Strickland himself in an isolated prison cell. This then cuts to him walking in front of presumably the same crowd which then cheers as he is seen.

The music video kick starts again after this interlude and goes to a master shot of Plan B and his band performing the song. The next 2 minutes of the video cut between different close-ups of the band and Plan B & master shots of them both, and the music video's main narrative of Strickland sitting in a room on his own, watching the TV detailing news reports of him, relating to the songs lyrics of 'Yeah they call me the recluse, 'cos I don't go outside for nothing' . There are also brief cuts of him alone in his isolated prison cell, leading the narrative to have two accounts seclusion.

The narrative progresses throughout this 2 minutes of him going into his garden and eventually going back inside after being aggravated by an overhead helicopter, and then to a house party, which is presumably before he locked himself away from the world. At this pool party he threatens all the guests with a pistol, which inevitably leads to them all frantically leaving. At this point in the video the song style changes to Plan B's signature rapping, highlighting the sudden change in Strickland's mood.

The whole mise-en-scene of the video works very effectively, making the viewer genuinely feel for Strickland and his situation - being isolated from the world in his mansion. This can lead to the famous saying 'Money can't buy happiness' which certainly applies to Strickland.

This video relates to our groups idea's for our music video as Plan B's genre is ultimately very similar to our chosen bands, mainly due to the slower tempo chorus's and rapped verses at a much higher tempo. This allows me to see how a song with this structure is portrayed effectively in a video.

The music video itself is relevant as it cuts between a narrative and the band performing, something we may consider doing for our video. The syncing is also perfect, and again lets us see how to sync rapped segments effectively to the music.

Give It All - Rise Against: Music Video Analysis

'Give It All' by Rise Against is the bands third single, and the first off their third album 'Siren Song of the Counter Culture'. The song itself is relatively short and of the Punk Rock genre and the video features the band members playing in a subway carriage in a small mosh pit. The whole theme of the video & song is living life to its full potential, and the narrative of the video reflects this (band playing in subway signifies peoples daily routines, narrative portrays office members going out at night and posting inspirational messages everywhere).

This music video is influential to me as, with the other two videos analysed, the syncing is spot on & the editing is done in accordance with the actual tempo and structure of the song (e.g. around 58 seconds in, when the lyrics are 'for far too long these voices', the video itself shows a car with the bumper sticker 'Four More Years' and at about 2 minutes in, it shows the same car but vandalised with the sticker 'ONE MORE MONTH' and the music stops in time with the camera pan to emphasise the effect).

Alongside the editing, the story the video portrays is also influential. It features a group of office employees going out and pasting controversial messages on billboards, such as drawing plastic surgery lines on an advertisement with a model on it. This is typical of the punk rock genre - rebellious, although this is more anti-government than anti-establishment. This relates to our planned music video as Rise Against are standing up against their government and fighting for what they believe in, lyrically similar to our chosen song (our song talks about English pride and typical English life, but in an ironic sarcastic way).

Research on Chosen Bands Genre

Our chosen band's genre is Britpop, with hints of Rap and Indie. The song we have chosen is mostly rapped throughout the verses, with a slow more acoustic & orchestral chorus.
Britpop's typical instruments are drums, bass, guitar, vocals & keyboard, which is exactly what our chosen band consists of, and they wear indie style clothing, which is a subgenre of Britpop, epitomising the genre.
The chorus used in our chosen song is very similar to the riffs & sounds found in popular Britpop bands such as Oasis & Blur's songs, and also the general tone of voice (verse singer in our chosen band sounds very similar to Blur's main singer during 'Parklife').

Marketing Strategies Employed by Record Companies

There are two main marketing methods, although the traditional methods originally used to promote new albums have been overtaken by the massive rise of the Internet within the past 10 years. Such traditional methods include advertising through interviews with the Press, radio, television and advertising in general.
Various forms of promotion used throughout the Internet include advertising on music based websites such as MySpace and other social sites such as Facebook, and on various music apps such as Spotify and iTunes.
Websites such as Youtube also allow bands to create Vlogs to keep their fans updated and this allows a much more direct connection between the band and its fans, yet again helping their awareness.

Many record labels now try to take a cut of money from gigs & merchandising as physical record sales are rapidly decreasing. This would help market the band more as UK top 40 charts would have to change to accommodate for gig sales as well as record sales.

Record labels also employ pluggers who help get the band known through various media outlets such as radio & magazines.

CD Cover Analysis - Biffy Clyro; Puzzles

- Name of band & album name clearly visible yet subdued in the top left, main focus is on the album cover itself. - Parental advisory label so parents can clearly see if the CD they are buying is appropriate for their child or as background music at a party etc. Also out of way to provide more focus on the album cover.
- Quotes from various reviews to try make the viewer impulse buy the CD.
- Cover itself relates to the albums name itself 'Puzzle'. Could signify the person is missing something or someone vital in his life, hence his distressed posture & puzzle like appearance & literally missing a piece of him/the puzzle. Other people in the distance (band members?) are seen looking at the door frame of a door, this could hint they are trapped and are part of a bigger puzzle.
- This links with the bands Indie/Rock genre; known for odd and unusual/meaningful covers.

- The back cover features everything on a standard back cover in a traditional manner: Copyright details, Recording Label, Website & Bar Code along the bottom out of the way.

- Production & Recording Details listed.

- Side covers for ease of use & visibility on a shelf.

- Close up of people staring out doorway, links to front cover.

- Zigzag effect links again to title of 'Puzzles'.

- Track listing easily visible & interludes also listed to avoid confusion when listening.