Friday, October 16, 2009

Copyright for using the track

To XL recordings,

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa by Vampire Weekend.

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours sincerely


Maria, Athena and Emma
Hurtwood House School

XL- Other signed off competing bands

XL recordings- record label


This recording compnay was once initially dance musically orientated, however they have now broadened their horizons and signed a range of band with more original indi music styles.
- Other acts also signed by XL recordings:


Basemnet Jaxx






























Jack penate


















































Dizzee rascal


From researching the competing bands and looking at their album covers, it is clear to see that the use of bright colours and artistry is vital and a key theme in heir covers. Therefore when creating our own album cover for ‘Picassos enemies’ we will also have to hake this into account as we are signed to the same labelling company we will have to adapt to suit the same style as well as compete for audiences attend and to produce sales for our band.

XL - Vampire weekend -institutional Context of the band



To view the site click on the link below.



Vampire Weekend News:
Vampire Weekend Premiere New Song, "Horchata", Announce Tour
From http://www.pitchfork.com/news/36697-vampire-weekend-count-down-to-new-track-download-tour-dates/ at 05/10/09 05:50 PM. 0 comments.
The tasteful viral build up to Vampire Weekend's new record, Contra, continues with the premiere of LP opener "Horchata" via their website in mere moments, according a countdown clock ticking down now.
UPDATE: It's available now! Download/stream the track below!
The track starts frontman Ezra Koenig singing, "In December drinking horchata/ I look psychotic in a balaclava," before stomping drums, lofty back up vocals, and whimsical strings eventually join him. There's a lot going on on this song.
In our recent interview with Koenig, he told us all about the strong California influence on Contra, and he's backing up the claim with a two-week tour of the state come November. The trek finds Vampire Weekend hitting cities without baseball teams like Pioneertown, Visalia, and Lomita, where they'll play a VFW Hall. A press release hints that daily announcements tipping off fans to "impromptu events" throughout the Cali trek will be found on the band's website, too.
Contra is out January 12 on XL.

Pop Art Ideas- Andy Warhol

Pop Art was defined by images of material goods and popular culture. Pop artists rejected the serious nature of the art world. To do this, these artists painted or printed everyday images of things that usually are not considered art. These images included photographs from magazines, drink advertisements and drawings from popular comic strips.

He once said that he thought everyone should think alike and be like a machine
He said that in the future, everybody will be famous for fifteen minutes.

I chose to use Andy Warhol in the video to demonstrate the idea behind the band being fun loving as well as the art work portraying the bands presence but absence to their audience due to the pop art being created/ painted or a print of everyday images of things that usually are not considered art and the nom. Therefore making rh band reachable and present to their audience.

Andy Warhols- Marilyn monroe






























Pop Art Images



Our audience specifications

Our bands lifestyle:
1.Would listen to radio stations such as radio 1;
2.Regular gig attendees, as music would play a huge part in their lifestyles.
3.They would read nme (a magazine) and be most interested in programmes on channel 4 as 4.they are more cutting edge and original
5.They watch never mind the buzz cocks.
6.They would shop in places such as oxford street Camden and Portobello road.
7.They would attend college or school with high prospects and an enjoyment for life.

A2- Demographic and psychographic profile

Rather than seeing our audience as masses of people or simply viewing them in numerical terms, we segmented them into demographic and psychographic profiles.
A Demographic segmentation is where the audience is segmented according to various significant social criteria, e.g. gender, class, race and sexuality.
The reason behind this was to break down the audience in order to generate an idea of what our target audience would be such as 16-24 year olds and therefore what there interests are, as a result making them accessible and enabling us to appeal to them in a suitable manner.
Additionally this, the demographic segmentation allows us to separate our target audience into various socio economic categories, such as on the JICNARS scale our audience would fall under A (Higher management), B (middle management) and C1 (junior management). This is due to the more sophisticated elements of their videos such as pop art. However the disadvantages of this method of categorisation can be that it is misleading when targeting an audience, as these may highlight superficial similarities and differences, as two people may fall under the same category e.g. 16-24 year olds, yet they may lead completely different lifestyles.
A more accurate way of segmenting our audience is Psychographic segmentation, also known as lifestyle profiling. This combines a psychological profile of our consumer with ideas of how they conducted their life in the market place. This process allows us to see the various attitudes, values, beliefs and lifestyle choices used to predict future consumption. On the VALS they would most predominantly be experiences.

A2- Storyboarding.























































































Thursday, October 8, 2009

Treatment for Pop Video

Our video is surrounded and designed by the Pop Art movement. We researched Pop Art Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein and incorporated their design into our video. This acts as an aid to humanise the band. It also makes then accessible where everyone can create this artwork and not just those with extraordinary talent.
The colours used in the Pop Art was an inspiration to our overall design as it reflects the fun loving, excitable and quirky nature of the band. The fact the band are presented in frames shows how society idolise celebrities and show hoe the media is a driving force in how we consume music and the bands behind it.

The narrative of the video includes a female artist hanging up her portrait of the band. These images then come to life as they are hung up. This creates the paradox of the band being present but absent, satisfying the audience however driving them to want more. It appears to us that the female is idolising the band, however this is turned around at the end where the band hang up a painting of the Artist. This challenges the stereotype that a girl would idolise the band and in fact the band are looking at the girl because she is attractive meaning the roles are reversed.
The performance aspect of the video shows the band playing their own instruments. This shows the audience that they are versatile and talented individuals who make their own music and own songs. It also helps the band to look more organic even though the imagery is synthetic. This element of performance will reach out to audiences who like bands that play their own instruments. The way the performance is presented will also show that the band are fun loving and are exciting. The use of bright colours on the guitar will literally tell the audience “Music makes the world colourful” and hopefully after seeing the band perform their talent the audience will either want to go and learn musical instruments or carry on playing.

FINISHED THRILLER OPENING ON YOUTUBE- NIBIRU!