Unsigned Band/Artist profile

Zoe and Gemma
Zoe and Gemma is made up of two- and sometimes three- people. Zoe and Gemma are both 17 year olds studying drama and music and hoping to make it in the industry. Their sound focuses on slower paced singer songwriter music featuring instruments such as piano and acoustic guitar. The genre of this band is hard to place but I would add it to acoustic, folk, and soft indie music.

I am using a band I know personally for my music video coursework. However their music is mostly made up of covers and they would prefer me to use a cover of theirs for the video. The cover they have chosen is of a song by Bon Iver- I can't make you love me. I have permission from my artist to use their cover but I still need permission from Bon Iver for them to cover it. I emailed Bon Iver's management asking for permission for song use as can be seen below. As can also be seen below I am yet to recieve a reply from the artist granting my wish to use their song. However I know that the management of such a high profile and busy band must recieve many many emails a day, therefore I can assume that since I have not recieved an email back forbidding me from using the song, it is okay to do so. Since I will only be using the song for educational intent it is unlikely that the artist would have a problem with me using their song anyway.

Bon Iver song- I can't make you love me



lyrics to the song

Turn down the lights,
Turn down the bed,
Turn down these voices, inside my head.
Lay down with me,
Tell me no lies,
Just hold me close, don't patronize me
Don't patronize me.
Cause I can't make you love me
If you don't
You can't make your heart feel
Something it won't
Here in the dark
These final hours
I will lay down my heart
I feel the power but you don't
No, you don't
Cause I can't make you love me, If you don't.
If you don't,
No you won't,
I close my eyes
I won't see
The love you don't feel
When you're holding me
Morning will come and I'll do what's right
Just give me til then to give up this fight
And I will give up this fight
Cause I can't make you love me if you don't
I can't make your heart feel something it won't
Here in the dark in these final hours
I will lay down my heart
I feel the power but you don't
No you don't
I can't make you love me if you don't
If you don't,
No, you won't
I found love darling,
I found love darling,
I found love darling,
I found love darling, yeah
I found love darling, darling, darling
Love in a nick of time
I found love darling, yeah
Love in a nick of time

Youth Culture

Youth cultures are formed from a criteria consisting of dress/fashion, music influences, rebellion against "the norm", having a collective identity and being marginalised. Teenagers are the age group which stereotypically fall into such cultures. The word teenager means a constructed social group. They were in part made by marketers to sell products and services to. In the 1960's and 1970's there was an uprising and rebellion against consumerism which led to the forming of "counter culture". The trend has continued by formation of user generated cultures online.

Ketley theory 2007- "Among young people themselves, a wide range of colourful labels such as "Goths, Skaters, Greebos and Surfers" are often used to make distinctions between the behaviours of specific frienship groups"

The youth culture criteria includes:

• dress codes
• music influences
• expression- rebellion and apposing against traditional apperances and views
• fitting into a group but at the same time being an outsider
• literature- fan magazines, fan sites
• cultural practices- behaviours, morals, codes
• being marginalised-  the minority
• having an opinion leader, band member, avid fan- who can change the opinion of the group.

Keu words in Youth Culture

collective identity- the self that finds solidarity with others who are similar

mediated- how the media influences and portrays social groups and the influence this has on their identity.

"We" media- marginalised social groups have often used media as a way of forging their own collective identity. This can challenege how social groups are represented in the media, this is a form of Self Representation. We media is also a word for anything that is produced by us and not by professionals and organisations.

Prosumers- producers and consumers, we consume and distribute- due to proliferation of technology.

The first youth culture were the "bowery boys" or "soap locks". The bowery boys were antivist, anti catholic and anti irish gang based north of the five points district of New York City in the mid-19th century. They were primarily single males who frequently visited the saloons and brothels of the Bowery and dressed in black stovepipe hats, red shirts, black flared trousers, high-heeled calfskin boots and black vests, with oil slicked hair- hence the name "soap locks". The bowery boys were known as a gang and not a group which has uring the New York Draft Riots of 1863, the Bowery boys took part in much of the looting and fighting with rival gangs. They even developed their own dialect- the words B'hoy and g'hal  were the slang words used to describe the young men and woman of the lower working class of Manhattan.

Digipak Analysis 1

What is a digipak?
A digipak is a CD packaging style often used for singles or special editions of CD albums. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book style) paperboard or card stock binding with one or more trays inside capable of holding a CD.
Digipaks are commonly used throughout the modern music industry.

Here is an analysis of a Crystal Fighters Digipak

This is the Digipak for the album "Star of Love" by the acoustic/indie band Crystal Fighters. The front cover pictured here shows the album artwork for the band. They have used either illustration or digital illustration to create a fantasy scene consisting of three scare crow like figures amongst a rural setting. This creates a mysterious fantasy theme to the album, the viewer is already intrigued by the strangeness of the artwork, attracting them to the CD.  The font of the band name is in a curling, authentic looking style with a multitude of colours. This suggests age and also again fantasy. This mystical world image is enforced by the multi coloured sky.

The inside cover depicts another illustrated image of sunlight streaming through an overgrown window. This image again represents a fantasy world that is taking over thee norm. I feel these images suit the sound of Crystal Fighters which is somewhat unconventional. The right fold over shows a scarecrow character up close as well as a thank you message again in the authentic font that looks aged and mystical.

The CD itself continues with the colour theme and fantasy artwork. The colour scheme throughout this digipak is mainly of pink, yellow, brown and green, with hints of blue and red. This colourful combination and the use of the sun presents a very happy image that is associated with nature and the outdoors.

 The back cover is left plainer than the rest of the digipak. It includes the track listing running down the middle against a soft coloured pink, yellow and blue background that echoes a setting/rising sun in the sky.  There are no photographic images of the band on any of the digipak artwork. This shows that the band are successful/well known enough to be able to only provide the name and be recognised. However it also shows the slightly alternate nature of the band and their music which helps them to stand out from the crowd within their genre. The themes of fantasy, dreams, nature, sunlight and the rural countryside are prominent here.

Textual Analysis of Music Video- Falling by HAIM

I have chosen to analyse section 0.00- 0.44 of the music video for HAIM's song "Falling"

 The music video starts off with a fade from black image of a forest scene. This sets the scene for the music video and provides a somewhat eerie atmosphere. The forest is illuminated by a low sun in the distance, it is unclear whether the sun is rising or setting but the lighting is warm toned and lowly set. There is also a hue or tint to the screen which makes the settings look lighter and mistier.
 

The camera then cuts to several close up shots of different pieces of scenery including leaves, patterns of light and sparkling water. These shots depict a calm and still place. The musical accompaniment is of a steady softened drum beat that could interpreted as either a heart beat or footsteps. This builds tension within the quiet atmosphere.
 

The music reaches a change in pace and with a clicking sound the artists are introduced, wandering onscreen and looking around. Their actions and the jungle like setting depict a tale of discovery and adventure. As the lyrics begin "
I hurl into the moment like I'm standing at the edge (I know)

That no one's gonna turn me 'round
Just one more step, I could let go" the camera focuses on quick shots of the artists lips, hands and hair all of which are lit by the low sun. The focus on the lips draws attention to the lyrics which link to the shots that follow. The shot that says "one more step" is featured whilst this image below of a tracking shot as the artist moves.

The shots in this music video tend to show only sections of the performers and rarely their entire form. I personally love this use of shots as it is different to others I've seen and provides a unique style to the video. The music continues to build up again and continues with the lyrics "




Oh and in the middle, I hear the voices and they're calling for me now (I know) And nothing's gonna wake me now Cause I'm a slave to the sound." The following shots depict the artists moving through the leaves, there are often branches obscuring parts of the cameras view, which adds to the only-seeing-sections style of the video and the mysterious atmosphere. 

The music is still building in volume and pace with the lyrics "

And they're calling, Don't stop, no, I'll never give up And I'll never look back, just hold your head up And if it gets rough, it's time to get rough
They keep saying" These lyrics relate well to the visuals as the performers are traveling through the woods, they are trying to get somewhere- linking to the lines "don't stop" and "never look back". 

The shots quicken as the music instensifys, and there are two shots of firstly close ups on clothing, or unpacking, another link to the "journey" theme of the video. The second, a very quick shot is of one of the artists turning to look at the camera, however this artist is still obscured partly by her hair, still keeping with the "not showing all" theme. 
As the song hits the chorus  the obscured shots are broken by a full shot of the three artists from further away. This creates an impact on the viewer who has until this point not seen the full band together. This change is also a good accompaniment to the chorus "

Don't stop, no one's ever enough
I'll never look back, never give up
And if it gets rough, it's time to get rough
But now I'm falling, falling, falling
Falling, falling, falling,
Falling, falling, falling, falling, oh"