Indie/acoustic music

What is Indie rock/indie acoustic music?
Indie music is an abbreviation of 'independant music' - this means that artists are not signed to big record labels and have their own independant label so that they can produce/own their own music.


During the punk-rock era, the number of independant music labels grew larger. The official UK Indie Chart was first compiled in 1980, and independant distribution became better organized in from the late 1970's onwards.   


In more recent years thanks to technology, new indie artists have been able to promote their music online


Indie music fans tend to stay away from mainstreem music.

Some indie bands include:
- Vampire Weekend
- My Morning Jacket
- Hot Hot Heat
- Kaiser Chiefs
- Calvin Harris
- The Kooks
- Hello Goodbye
- Bright Eyes

Intertextuality

What is intertextuality? Intertextuality is when a media text makes reference to another text that appears to be unique and distinct.

For example, 'The Simpsons' often use intertextuality as a humourous effct. On the right, there is intertextuality between 'Simpsons' character Mr. Burns and 'Silence Of the Lambs' character Hannibal Lector.

There is also intertextuality between Lady Gaga and rock imagery. On her latest album, Born This Way (left), the front cover depicts her as a motorbike. There is also a song on the album called 'Heavy Metal Lover'. Lady gaga is also a fan of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. She shows this by her imagery similar of Rob Halford from Judas Priest, below.

BBC News Suffolk - Lewis Mokler

Lewis Mokler on bubble wrap, busking and Ed Sheeran

By Anna Dobbie BBC Introducing in Suffolk producer
 

Although Newmarket-based Lewis Mokler has been singing and writing songs for over four years, he only started playing guitar 18 months ago.

"I'd always write songs and think 'If I could play music to this, it'd sound alright.'

Lewis' first EP, Beginner's Luck, has been released online as a free download and includes cover versions of songs by Ed Sheeran and Adele.

"The first EP was so people knew what I was all about, the second one's going to show 'right, this is me'," he said.

Busking Boy

As soon as he was confident enough on the guitar, Lewis started busking - something he would recommend to all aspiring musicians.

"When you're at a gig, people come to see you," he said.

"When you're busking, no one has come to see you and you can just see expressions on people's faces.

"When I did Bury Busk the other week I got a free burger off the burger van - it made my day."

As well as covering his songs, Lewis has been heavily influenced by the success of Framlingham's Ed Sheeran.

"I used to email him that I'd covered his songs when busking and he was really grateful.

"I'm so happy that someone local has got so big in so little time. He's one of my idols, he's so different, completely niche to everyone else."

Love and bubble-wrap

A self-confessed hopeless romantic, one of Lewis' songs is titled Love Recipe.

"My love recipe would be The Hangover 1 or 2, some chocolate and some nachos and cheese," he said.

The song also uses a line from Jason Derulo's hit record, Ridin' Solo.

"It's my complete song and then I chuck in something where everyone can go 'yeah, he's ridin' solo'. Everyone knows 'Ridin' Solo' so I thought people could sing along."

Although Lewis is currently ridin' solo, he would consider adding other musicians to the act.

"I like playing and writing on my own but I'll consider anything that'll broaden my horizons. I would prefer to stay a lone wolf."

Another of Lewis' songs, Bubble-wrapped Heart, is about opening up to a loved one.

But he thinks that bubble wrap has medicinal properties. "They should pop it in the Heart Foundation adverts," he said.

"Just give them some bubble wrap, it could stop cardiac arrests!"

Lewis Mokler

'Lewis Mokler is a 19 Year Old singer/songwriter from Newmarket which is a small town near Cambridge. Lewis has been on the mainstage singing for Ely xmas lights and has also done Bury Busk. Using an upbeat feel good vibe Lewis writes his own songs and does a few covers these can also be found on youtube as well as his website www.facebook.com/lewismokler.'

"I play the guitar and have a couple of hundred fans I could bring along. I would very much like a chance to play at as many venues as I can. I have a real passion for music and just need a springboard into bigger things other than busking - so if any bars, pubs, clubs or festivals read this advert I would really appreciate an email or phone call." 
After some more research, we decided that Hope And Social would be too complicated to film, so we found Lewis Mokler (right), whose music was much more suitable for what we wanted

The song we chose was 'Nutella'.

Conventions of a live music video

In a live music video, we not only see a band/artist perform but we also see footage of the artist/bands' fans. More proof that it is live would be that the artist may be sweaty, energetic and communicating with the crowd.

Right is a live performance of 'Caught In A Mosh' by Anthrax at Ozzfest 2005

Examples of a digipack

A digipack is different to a standard CD in that the layout usually opens similar to that of a book an includes extra photos, band interviews and extra tracks

Digipack conventions and Goodwin questions

What do digipacks consist of?
Digipacks consist of the main CD and may also include an extra disc: either an extra DVD or live CD, bonus tracks, band photos, lyrics and interviews.

Elements of a digipack:

- Cover
- Back cover
- Spine
- Disc cover
- Inlays (minimum of 4)
- legal jargon

Why not just use images from the video?
- There are other songs
- Bonus
- Variety
- Extra
- Messages/connection

What did Goodwin say were the 3 possible relationships between lyrics and visuals in a music video?

- Visuals either illustrating
- Amplifiying
- Contradicting the music

Give an example of how you could develop star image for your artist using star icongraphy

- Through music video

What demands does the record company make on the video and why?

- Include close up of band/artist
- Focus on instruments/singing

What usually features in a video in addition to narrative and why?

- Performance
- Fans to show that is live
- Acting/dancing
- Close up shots on instrument solo/artist

How could you use the elements of question 6 and 7 in your digipack and how would it complement the video?

Denis McQuail

Denis McQuail (right) argues that the audience consume their media texts for a variety of reasons, including:

- Surveillance
- Personal Identity
- Personal Relationships
- An escape/diversion
- Aspiration/role model
- Sense of belonging
- Iconography
- Awareness
- Connection/communication
- Visual image of band/artist

Hope And Social

The band Hope And Social (above) have been going since 2008 and have released 6 albums so far.

We found some songs that we liked and we narrowed it down to 3 songs, we now need to choose 1 song to re-create. Our main favourite is 'Them Rolling Boys'.

1) 'Family Man' (4:46)
2) 'Cotton Wool' (3:51)
3) 'Them Rolling Boys' (4:27)

Conventions of a hip - hop music video

Typically, a hip - hop music video will feature several different camerea shots and angles. For example, there may be shots of scantily clad women and may feature some inuendo such as here.

Close-up's of the artists face (Mica Swain in the 'Go Get It' video below, for example) would also be present to show facial expression or emotion.

Top hip - hop artists according to www.artistdirect.com/music/hip-hop

1) Lil Wayne (right)
2) Eminem
3) Akon
4) Nicki Minaj
5) Linkin Park
6) Pitbull
7) LMFAO
8) 50 Cent
9) Lil' Boosie
10) Gucci Mane
11) Jay Z
12) Kanye West
13) Insane Clown Posse
14) Drake
15) T.I
16) Haystak
17) The Black Eyed Peas

Video and audience research

Jay Z - 'Young Forever'
The video is most popular with

Gender	Age
Female	13-17
Male	18-24
Male	25-34

The average age for hip hop/ R 'n' B fans is 17 - 25 for females and 18 - 27 for males acording to www.britishhiphop.co.uk/featurwes/articles/hip_hop_survey

Explain the methods you used to attract your audience in your AS coursework

For our thriller video we used several different camera angles including a zoom in/zoom out, above-the-shoulder shots and also various visual effects such as the use of fading out on a shot.
      Our character was a male, we did'nt include any female characters which makes it more aimed at male audiences. We chose to shoot our footage at various locations including here at school, outside a house and in a street. We thought that filming at one place would make it less realistic and less exciting, so shooting at different areas would make it more realistic.
      The only dialogue we used was one sentance. By only using this, the character seemed to be secretive and rather creepy. The audience also never see his face which makes it even more chilling and disturbing. The music we made was also chilling. It wasn't upbeat so it was a good choice for our footage.
      We found it quite challenging to choose title fonts which suited the theme that we wanted. we found a website called 'Dafont' which included many styles, and eventually we found one that we like and was suitable. For our filming we wanted a good atmosphere, when we filmed, the weather was quite cloudy and cold, which was good as we didn't want it too bright or sunny so that the light wasn't overwhelming and would create a glare for the camera.

Stars and Presentation

11.7.11    Stars and Presentation is about the image a band/artist presents to the public and media. For example, artists such as Katy Perry and Rihanna (right) would be show as sexy, rebellious and typical of a modern pop singer – outrageous clothing, lots of makeup and controversial. Whereas a typical heavy metal artist such as Rob Halford of Judas Priest (below left) or Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden (left), would be shown wearing studs, chains, spikes and leather, sporting long hair and having a powerful and aggressive stage presence. It is also interesting that all the singers/bands below have been controversial in some way – Katy Perry and Rihanna for their bombastic clothing and presentation, and Iron Maiden and Judas Priest for their Satanic imagery as well as demonic and violent song lyrics.