Monday, 13 July 2009

All Planning For 'Sail Away' Music Video

The song and the artist
'Sail Away' by Ruth Bewesy
Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/ruthbewsey




Lyrics:
I got sunshine on my face,
Rain aint fallin’ around here,
Birds are singing the same song,
Feelin’ chilled, aint nothing wrong.

And it’s a great, great place I’m in,
Why don’t you come on over here and…

Sail away with me baby,
Sail away.

I got sand between my toes,
How I love how this feelin grows,
Kids are playing, they’re real near,
Nowhere else I’d rather be than here.

And it’s a great, great place I’m in,
Why don’t you come on over here and…

Sail away with me baby,
Sail away,
Sail away with me baby,
Sail away.

Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Coz your sailing coz your sailing away

Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh bye,
Sayin buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Buh buh buh buh buh buh buh bye,
Coz your sailing coz your sailing away

Original ideas


Cast:
The video will focus on a single young, innocent looking girl who will be captured enjoying the carefree, romantic innocense of her teenage summer. This girl will be filled by a school friend, Rebecca Wood, as she is a close friend we feel we can trust her to be reliable, this is also backed up by the fact that i have worked with her in the past for my photography, this is a bonus as it gives us the knowledge of knowing how she works and acts in front of the camera. Another advantage is that Rebecca has been cast from outside the media group meaning she will have no discomfort or prejudice during editing and less prejudice during shooting as there would be if the character was cast from within the group as found in AS during the production of the thriller opening. As the video will be shot over the summer holidays all involved know each others schedules and can work around them to have plenty of time to shoot the video. The main reason why Rebecca was chosen for the role was because of the way she looks. She fits in with the 'natural' look that is promoted in the music. Rebecca is a very pretty girl with natural dusty blonde hair and blue eyes, she is slim and has a warm skintone. She regularly wears simple, unprovocative clothing which means she would suit the look chosen for her in the video.

Costume:
The costume chosen for the shoot is very simple, it is a plain white flowing summer dress, bare feet, a head band and little make up and red lipstick to connote a very innocent look but in comparison the red lips will add a sense of beauty, femininity and glamour, it could also be argued that they emphasise the girls innocense as they could be a reference to the stereotypical virtuous 'English Rose' style, also as the song is a country/folk style song the innocent fresh look will complement the genre as it is also related to an innocent and uncomplicated lifestyle. The head band will be a 'bando' which is in fashion with young girls at the moment as it has been seen on the likes of Mischa Barton. The bando is a hippy style headband, this adds to the laid back feel as the hippy era was renound for the carefree teenage generation. It also shows that even though the girl is not represented as a mainstream teenager that fits in with a particular clique or social group but that she is still fashionable which gives the impression that the song is fashionable also and will prevent isolating the fashion orientated audience. The simplistic look creates a laid back summer feel which is the look required as the song is very light hearted and summery. The simplicity of the outfit also makes sure that the audience isn't focused on the materialistic aspects of the video and are more captured by the story narrative.

Location:
As the video is going to be a linear narrative based around the lyrics of the song it is immediately obvious that the location of the video should be based around the beach, as the song is called 'sail away'. Also, the song is a very summery light hearted song, and the beach is also a very light hearted place to escape to during the summer months so the two go hand in hand.
The two shooting locations used are Lowestoft and Southworld as these have been recommended as picturesque beach locations, they also both contain beach huts and a pier which are two locations required for the video. The beach huts will be used in a montage where the girl is out the front of a range of beach huts pulling a range of different poses, the same idea will be used in front of the pillars beneath the pier, she will randomly appear at different pillars in time with the music.

Props: One prop used will be a paper boat. The boat is a strong link to the song title 'sail away', a paper boat was chosen as opposed to a toy plastic boat as it adds to the simplicity of both the song and the video, also the use of a toy boat could be seen as tacky whereas the paper boat is created out of a more natural substance - paper, this keeps in conjunction with the very natural, innocent portrayal of the folk genre. The paper boat is to be used in two separate scenes, firstly in a stop motion sequence where the boat 'sails' over mounds of sand which are used to represent waves, the boat will also be used in the final sequence where the girl sets the boat onto the water and it sails away into the open sea.
Another prop that will be used is pebbles, pebbles will be used in a sequence similar to the 'boat on sand' sequence. The pebbles will be used in another stop motion sequence where they come together and dance around on the floor randomly, they then form together in the shape of a sailing boat where they sail out of view. The pepples are another simplistic prop that further add to the natural feel of the genre, they also help with continuity as they are naturally found on the beach.

Ice cream will also be used as a prop in a sequence where the girl is balancing along a wall childishly with the ice cream in one hand, she will suddenly drop the ice cream on to the floor 'accidently', this shows her childlike side, this is also a classic scene that people see whenever they go to the beach so it is a scene that the audience can relate to. The scene will be kept lighthearted and humorous as when the camera pans up from the smashed ice cream to capture the girls reaction she is found laughing at her own clumsiness.

Storyboards:
















The establishing shot will be of the sun in the sky, it will then pan and rotate down to reveal the character aknowledging the sun then looking down and drawing a picture of the sun in the sand, the camera will then pan back up to its original view of the sun, it will then rotate quickly so that the sky becomes a blur, it will then pan back down to reveal a different action. It shows a long shot of the girl running out of the sea, she runs towards the camera until she goes out of shot on the right of the screen, she then reappears up close to the camera, she puts her hand over the camera making the screen turn black.

















She pulls her hand away from the lens to reveal once again a different action, she playfully beckons the camera to follow her, she bends down and picks up a handful of pebbles, bringing them into shot, she then backs away and puts one pebble down on the ground. The camera cuts to a close up birds eye view of the pebble. At this point a stop motion sequence takes place where more pebbles move into shot and they dance around in a circular formation, they then form into a boat and it 'sails' off to the right of the screen. The camera then cuts back to a medium, long shot of her walking away from her pebble arrangement. The camera crossfades to her still walking away from the camera in a medium. long shot, but this time she is walking to a row of beach huts.















At this point the camera cuts to a head on medium shot of the girl in front of a beach hut pulling a pose, this continues in a montage like fashion for the next few seconds where she is seen pulling different poses in front of different coloured beach huts. This then crossfades to a shot of waves crashing up against a wall, and cross fades once again to show the girl stumbling along the wall with an ice cream in hand, she drops the ice cream and the camera pans down to the smashed ice cream, it then zooms into a close up and pans back up her body to reveal her laughing at her own clumsiness.















At this point another stop motion sequence begins, this time it is of a paper boat traveling up and down two mounds of sand which are used to represent waves, the boat moves over the 'waves' then comes towards the camera seemingly getting bigger then exits to the left. After this another montage begins but this time it consists of the girl posing beside a group of pillars under the pier.
Finally as the song draws to its end the action becomes more tranquil where there is a shot of the girl sitting on the rocks releasing her paper boat into the sea, she then walks away down the beach leaving nothing but her footprints, which are washed away by the sea - it's as like she was never there as there is no trace of her left.















Cross fade to the final shot which is of the little paper boat sailing by itself on the sea. Fade to white.


This is a shooting map of the video, it is set in the same order as the storyboards.
Shooting Schedule
Southwold - Monday August 17th
12-2.30 - Crashing waves scene
12.30-1.30 - Paper boat released into sea scens, walking down shore/ disappearing footprint scene
1.30-2 - Opening scene, Sky -> pan down to drawing sun in sand -> pan up to sky
Lowestoft - Tues September 1st
11-11.15 - Pebble Scene
11.15-12 - Pebble boat stop motion scene
12.45-1.30 - Under the pier scene
1.30-2 - Beach hut scene
2-2.30 - pan down from sky -> reveal girl running out of water -> covering cam with hand scene
2.30-3.15 paper boat on sand stop motion scene

Labels

Evaluation, G325, Planning digipak cover, Planning magazine advertisement for digipak, Planning music video, Research into the music industry, Research into target audience

Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Summer Music Investigation: How is Filesharing Affecting the Music Industry


How and why do audiences download music?
How are record labels tackling the issue of filesharing?
What new business models are being developed by music companies to cope with this?

Context
I am researching this topic as it will broaden my knowledge on the music industry, music distribution and audience consumption. By carrying out this investigation I will be able to discover how p2p and file sharing sites such as Limewire function and how they are able to cause such a negative impact on the music industry. I will also learn where, when and why file sharing suddenly became a problem and why it is a crime. It will be interesting to learn what demographic mainly uses file sharing and why they do, this will enlighten me on what flaws there are in the marketing and distribution of music that leads audiences to look to illegal options to consume their music, and how this has become so popular. Primary research will help me discover which demographic file sharing is most popular with and why this is, this will further help me understand in the marketing and distribution of music.
From this investigation I will be able to conclude what has gone so wrong with the music industry’s approach to their audience that has caused the file sharing problem in the first place. At this point I will research what the music industry is now doing to resolve the problems of file sharing.

Arguments/Findings/Conclusions
Secondary Research
Internet Research
From my internet research I have probably found the most information, especially from the BBC news website which has contributed greatly.
Firstly I wanted to find out what precisely makes file sharing illegal. And it turns out that file sharing is legal, but only when copyrighted content is shared is it then illegal. When someone is not sure whether a file is legal or illegal to share it is easiest to think if the song is a popular song that can be bought online or instore, if it is found in shops such as HMV or iTunes then it is going to be copyrighted. P2P sites such as Limewire have made it possible for anybody to share files to other people across the world. The fact that file sharing is now so easily accessible to anybody is the reason illegal file sharing has become such a problem for the music industry.
In 2006 it was reported that the level of file sharing had remained the same for two years despite 20,000 legal cases in 17 countries. This shows that the problem is being contained and the fact that file sharing isn’t increasing is something to celebrate. Another thing to celebrate is the fact that legal downloads were worth £570m in 2005 which is up from £214m in 2004 and the figures are still growing. This shows that more people are using the legal option but John Kennedy from The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries stated “The industry is finding it difficult to persuade existing song-swappers to use legal download services such as iTunes instead. Those who’ve got into the habit of consuming their music for free are very difficult to shift”. And at this point in 2006 illegal downloads were exceeding legal ones by a ratio of three to one.
Why do people turn to file sharing?
A survey conducted by Napster found that people are struggling to fill their digital music players. Most were only just over half filled and 66% of the music on those players were ripped from CDs. Ripping CDs is time consuming and people want to find quicker easier ways of filling up their digital music players. This is where people turn to file sharing where they can get mp3 files quickly at no cost. Therefore Napster has offered an alternative. They are promoting their subscription service where users can pay a set monthly fee for unlimited downloads. The only limitation is that if the subscription is cancelled the user can no longer access their digital music files. HMV and Virgin also have their own digital subscription services.

Primary Research
Questionnaires
These are the questionnaires i created for 20 participants to fill out. The 16-25 age group were all asked in school during a free where everybody was relaxed and had time to think about the questionnaire and fill it in appropriately, this led to all the 16-25 demographic containing the most qualitative information, whereas all other age groups were asked to fill out their questionnaires whilst at work, this led to very brief answers that contained little if any information, almost all of the questions that weren't yes/no questions were left blank, this means that i couldn't gather much qualitative information at all from these demographics. This makes the questionnaire unreliable, in order to strengthen the viability of the method all should have been answered with the same situational factors surrounding the participants, it can be hard though to get a large willing group of people of all ages in the same room.


I asked these questions so I could try to understand more clearly why people turn to file sharing and how much knowledge people have on it. From the questionnaires I collected some interesting data. For instance...

This chart clearly shows that the younger demographic purchases music online a lot more than the older demographic. The logical reason for this would be that the 16-35 demographic have grown up with the internet and modern technology and are therefore much more comfortable with it; also the 36+ would be more interested in older music that may not be so easy to come across online. This is just a theory though and if this theory was correct then it would make sense that the 16-25 demographic would purchase music online more than instore. There may be a range of reasons for this such as digital quality is a lot less than the sound quality found on CDs, or the demographic like the aesthetic advantage of having a CD where they get all the added extras including the cover art and the inside booklet etc. Another reason could be that they want to support the artists by paying for their music. Or, like me they don't have a credit or debit card that they can use to pay for their music on the internet. It would be interesting to carry out some further research with this demographic to find out the real reason for purchasing instore more than online. It is clear from these results that the younger demographic are much more aware when it comes to music and the internet, 100% of the 16-25's have heard of Limewire and 80% of the 6-35's know also. Whereas only 30% of 36-45s knew what it was and nobody above 46 had ever heard of Limewire even though it is the most used software for P2P and file sharing.The results to this question are exactly the same as the results to the previous, except for the age 26-35s where the results have reversed, this shows that not many people actually know about file sharing above the 16-25 demographic, this leads to the conclusion that since the younger demographic understand and are well informed on file sharing that they are the ones most likely to be using sites such as Limewire and they are the demographic that are most contributing to the problem of illegal file sharing. It is almost unanimous throughout the age groups that they find music a luxury and that they would purchase more music if it was cheaper. This makes it quite clear that music is too highly priced in the consumers eyes, this therefore leads to being one of the main factors contributing to the problem of illegal file sharing. And on the questionnaire above the 16-25 year old wrote that they agree with file sharing because it saves them money. 20% of 36-45s said music isn't too expensive; this may be because at this point in someone's career they would be on a good salary and can afford to purchase music without worrying about costs, but this is just an idea and I can't back this up because barely anybody filled in their occupation on the questionnaires.
Concluding the information discovered from the questionnaires it appears that the younger demographic ranging between 16 and 35 are the people that are most likely to contribute to illegal file sharing. A few of the people in this demographic wrote in their questionnaires under the question asking their views on Limewire and its approach to sharing music files that they agreed with the idea in the way that it saves money, but they did show that they knew that it was affecting the music industry and that they could get caught. One answer was "Good as music for free but can understand why illegal and bad for music industry."

It would be interesting to look deeper into the reasons for 16-35s turning to illegal file sharing for their music; I could carry out a qualitative interview with a group of people within the demographic to find out why.

Internet Research
What is being done to tackle illegal file sharing?One of the most successful ways of preventing file sharing so far has been the introduction of DRM (digital rights management) which restricts the free use and transfer of digital content, for instance iTunes has incorporated DRM into its music files so that it can limit the number of devices each song can be played on, it can also be used to limit the amount of times it can be added to a playlist, burned onto a CD and which digital music players can play it. DRM has caused controversy though as people argue that it does little to prevent piracy but instead limits what consumers fairly should be able to do with their music.
Other than DRM there have been few successful proposals to preventing file sharing as so many meet the problem of breaching fundamental human rights.
The most recent proposal was published on August 25th 2009 where the minister of Digital Britain, Stephen Timms suggested a “swifter and more flexible measures” to tackling file sharing as opposed to previous proposals such as restricting users’ broadband speed. He proposed to tackles illegal file sharing by temporarily suspending an individual’s internet account or blocking access to download sites. This way Ofcom has the flexibility to respond quickly to deal with unlawful file sharing.
The Government is also considering giving power to ministers to direct Ofcom to introduce technical measures to clamp down on piracy. This would obligate ISPs (internet service providers such as AOL, Tiscali etc.) to take action against repeat infringers. Also as a last resort against “the hardcore of copyright pirates” the Government are considering account suspension.
If this proposal does go ahead then Timms says that costs of things such as operating costs for sending out notifications and Ofcom’s costs as the regulator should be covered by the ISPs and rights’ holders.
But this proposal, like many in the past is causing split views as it threatens peoples human rights as any evidence used to identify offenders is unreliable as the introduction of wi-fi and multi-users per account has made it possible for wifi-hijacking therefore resulting in innocent victims of the hijacking being cut off from their broadband.
Sony BMG tried to take the problem of piracy and file sharing into its own hands by introducing an anti-piracy software program to their CDs that not only limits the copying of music onto discs but also uses a virus-like technique to hide files on users’ systems and prevent them from removing the software. This causes an uproar with users vowing to never buy Sony BMG products again as they were essentially hacking into peoples computers with the potential to control their computer systems.
There has been no successful way of stopping pirates as of yet, but the introduction of sites such as Spotify are preventing people from turning to file sharing. Spotify describes itself as “an unparalleled user experience and a compelling legal alternative to piracy”. It has had nothing but positive reviews. The site is the first to have managed to get all the major record companies on board, meaning it has the largest range of music to legally listen to wherever and whenever you like. It allows members to create their own playlists of songs streamed to them online. They use the same P2P technology found in file sharing. It is also accessible on mobiles to premium members; this means the music can be listened to in the same way an mp3 player works, basically disguarding the entire point of an mp3 player. Here is a Youtube video describing how Spotify works, and a link to an interview with the creator of Spotify Daniel Ek.

This is a video explaining what Spotify is all about




This is a print screen of some of the comments left under the Youtube video describing Spotify and how it works. This is living proof that Spotify, even though its only a few months old, is already converting music pirated into legal music consumers. One comment on there by a user names AndrewsAwesome said: "People who used to pirate music who I know are moving to this. As an iTunes user I love it. I am new to spotify you hardly notice the ads and am going to use spotify as my music client".


The interview with Daniel Ek, creator of Spotify: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/8072786.stm
The irony of all these techniques being employed to prevent illegal file sharers is that they are the ones that are always going to find a way around it and the innocent purchasers of music are going to be the ones getting punished. The music industry needs to come up with an entirely different, miraculously innovative model that is going to change that, but will there ever be? As technologies are always changing the pirates are forever changing their ways of getting around these technologies.

The biggest breakthroughs in beating piracy and newest successful models so far are:
  • A recent landmark court case saw the men behind The Pirate Bay sentenced to a year in jail after being found guilty of breaking copyright law.
  • They were ordered to pay $4.5m (£3m) in damages.
  • While file-sharing site Kazaa agreed to pay $100m (£53m) in damages to the record industry following a series of high-profile legal battles. The peer-to-peer network has now become a legal music download service.
  • Napster has also launched the world's largest online music store offering tracks from all of the major record labels and independents.
  • But artists too are experimenting with innovative business models by offering their music free of charge online and making money from touring instead.
  • In 2007, Radiohead allowed fans to pay what they thought the band's album In Rainbows was worth for a limited time.
  • While Groove Armada fans were able to receive the first track of their EP for free, with the offer of additional tracks the more songs they shared.
With my music video I need to take into account the reasons why people turn to file sharing, because ultimately the song I am promoting is just as much at risk as anybody else's, the best way for me to try to prevent this is to create an innovative CD pack that has such aesthetic strengths that it is almost like a collectors item, this way people will want to buy the song so that they get all the added value that comes with it.

Bibiliography