EDM Research "For A better Day" and Avicii Research TASK 4 & Task 6

Music Profile

Song Name: "For a Better Day"

Artist: Avicii

Genre: Electronic Dance Music or House Music

Release Date: 28th August 2015

EDM Fashion: How has EDM influenced Fashion?

• Early 1990's- rave community on more functional side. Phat pants was a favourite. Not only everyone loved it so much, it was really cool for party goes when they spun or dance. They have pockets for holding your things. Apart for phat pants, smiley faces, visors and boiler suits were the fashion of this era
• Late 1990's and early 2000's- Heavily influenced by LA roots of hip hop. Adidas sneakers and bell bottoms became a wardrobe casual along with cropped baby doll shirts. Neon have made it across the decade and are still now popular for many party goers while raving. Cyber style also ruled this era with basic blacks and colourful neon colours.
• Later stage of 2000's- there was a shift in rave culture. Furry accessories such as wrist bands or neck accessories became popular. Party goers started integrating these fashions styles, such as fluffies.

Fashion trends are always shifting. Long experienced members also appreciate kandi culture, but seems to be less tolerated by newcomers. Neon colours are still exisiting today, but more girls opt for micro shirts and skirts with cutouts. Ravers who favoured neon colours are also shifting to more earthy colours. Boiler suits have been replaced with onsies and ladies are introducing themselves to body suits and halters. Smileys are still mainstream but new faces have been trending such as aliens and holograms and psychedelic prints, appearing more in electronic fashion shows. Many ravers take the fashion game seriously and customs orders are making unique creations for festivals and events.

There has been many changes to EDM culture, but EDM fashion has kept its empowerment of self expressions and especially its uniqueness. Although fashion seems to be more revealing and expose, the inspiration still comes from the same place which is, "escaping reality, desire to be different". EDM fashion is a reflection of yourself embraced by you and every else.

Early 1990's

Late 1990's / Early 2000's

Shifted 2000's

Current

Communities- Interaction with fans

There are many ways EDM artist communicate with their fans, but mainly through social media. One of the  mains social medias are Facebook and Twitter. Mainly revealing new singles and albums, they also shares photos of their concerts by giving overviews and the atmosphere of the festivals or events. Most the the artist pages are not controlled by the actual artist, but some are fortunate enough to control their social medias, especially the ones that are less mainstream as they have more time. (Miami Horror & Kygo). However, artist usually have more access to other social medias such as Instagram (becoming of one main social medias) and snap chat (not all use it). Usually these social medias are used for giving a perspective of their lives by uploading photos and videos. Unfortunately, they're not as easy as Facebook in terms of communicating as most posts are bombarded with comments and it's artist impossible to read all comments with the time they have.

TV and Film

One of the most popular ways people find their music are soundtracks from films . Electronic soundtracks has been featured in movies for years. But from then until now, soundtracks didn't in movies didn't really feature much electronic music, but it's slowly appearing back to present films.

Social Network


Drive (2011)


Project X (2012)

We are your Friends (2015)

Radio and TV

EDM is a favourite on radio stations. Despite it playing most genres, gig hit artist such as Avicii and Calvin Harris are able to reach top of the charts. Some countries such as UK, Australia have most spots dominated by EDM tracks as most listeners enjoy EDM than any other songs.

EDM Genre takes 4 spots in the BBC official charts and one being on the top of the chart.

EDM tracks are now so mainstream nowadays, there are specific radio stations for EDM all across the world.

MTV has been a well know TV channel across the world that play songs during most times of the day. EDM has been with MTV since the beginning, but while the culture has grown and gained recognition, popular electronics were featured. Nowadays, EDM, especially dance tracks are featured most times on MTV as they are most popular.

Magazines

EDM has a place in magazines, but most sources are online as it's the easiest way to access them

Festivals

Electronic were often illegally played at hidden places. People would come up with secrets locations in warehouses, underground places, large open areas. By 1990's rave culture began to emerge into the world and eventually evolve to EDM festivals and concerts. Major festivals like Ultra and Tomorrow land showcase a large number of Djs playing various genres of EDM across multiple stages. Nowadays, festivals and concerts display and rely on visual spectacles as part of the overall experience, using complex lighting systems and laser shows along with what the audience could bring to the ground. This was different from underground rave culture as they cared more about safety, and organised by their cared nature.

Acid House- 1988

Tomorrowland 2014

David Guetta Ultra Music Festival 2015

Avicii

Tim Bergling, better known as his stage name "Avicii" is a Swedish Electronic Music producer. He is one of the most prominent Dj's in this current period. He started off making music in his bedroom at the age of 18, remixing tracks and posting it on various blogs. Influence by big name electronic artist such as Daft Punk and Steve Angello, his electronic sounds became popular after being supported by Tiesto, who invited him to perform in Ibiza (a destination for party goers). He released his first single "Manman" in his bedroom hotel. By early 2011, his release a single "Levels" which was nominated for the Best Dance Recording at the Grammy 2013, but was catched up by Skrillex's single "Bangarang". In 2013, in debuted his album "True" and one of the songs included "Wake Me Up" reached the top of UK charts and confidently demonstrated his musical potential and directions. He became traditional to the music charts all over the world.

Avicii's Networth: $54 Million

Earnings in 2013: $20 Million

Earnings in 2014: $28 Million

Here are some of his biggest achievements

American Music Awards

• • 2014
  • Got nomination for American Music Award 
  • Favorite Artist - Electronic Dance Music
  • 2013
  • Won American Music Award 
  • Favorite Artist - Electronic Dance Music (EDM)

• Billboard Music Awards

  • 2014
  • Won Billboard Music Award 
  • Top Dance/Electronic Song
  • for "Wake Me Up"

• Grammy Awards

  • 2013
  • Got nomination for Grammy Award 
  • Best Dance Recording
  • for "Levels"

• iHeartRadio Music Awards

  • 2014
  • Won iHeartRadio Music Award 
  • EDM Song of the Year
  • for "Wake Me Up"
  • 2014
  • Got nomination for iHeartRadio Music Award 
  • Best Lyrics
  • for "Wake Me Up"

• • 2012
  • Won MTV Europe Music Award 
  • Best Electronic
  • for "Wake Me Up"

• NRJ DJ Awards

  • 2014
  • Won NRJ DJ Award 
  • Best International Male DJ
  • for "Wake Me Up"
  • shared with Aloe Blacc
  • 2014
  • Won NRJ DJ Award 
  • Best Electro/Dance Album
  • for "True"
  • shared with Aloe Blacc

• Teen Choice Awards

  • 2014
  • Won Teen Choice Award 
  • Choice EDM Song
  • for "Wake Me Up"
  • shared with Aloe Blacc

Fans of Avicii (UK)

UK Tribes

After doing some research on Avicii's audience, I came upon UKTRIBE which gives an insight of today's youthful culture. I was able to catogrised avicii's fans. I would say they go under Trendies under the aspirant group. The Aspirant is described as people who are up to date with current lifestyle and music. They keep with what's cool and accepted to society. No hard work intended, as most of stuff are easy to find and mainstream. The tribe would be catogrised of ages 16-21. Hitting festivals during summer such as Tomorrowland and Ultra, Although it's quite trending, they want to be the ones to be seen as seeing it first, so they post it on social media like Snapchat and Instagram.

From top sneaker brands like Adidas Orginals, Nike sportswear, Macbooks and iPhones, famous backpacks like Herschel, Bape & Supreme, the tribe has a spot for strong brand affiliations. They prove the Aspirant's cool status, but they need to be in the right place, right time and right people. 

EDM Research Origin

What is EDM?

EDM stands for electronic dance music which is a range of music produced largely by DJs in nightclubs, parties and festivals. EDM can sometimes be seens as a mix of a different song, but the DJ can create and collect a seamless collection of tracks and put them together. The term EDM wasn't taken to account as other terms such as dance music where more common terms that most people used in the early 2000's. EDM was used to re-brand the dance music genre in order to get more audience or stimulate the rave culture.

Origin

1960's- The birth of electronic dance music

Many audience say that the first signs of EDM was back in the early 60s, where people who had the funk and the soul played the bass and a couple of synthesizers too get the flow going. On the other hand, many other audience said it began with the use of Theremin, which is an instrument that allowed music to be created by movement.

The first use of the Theremin was in the song by the The Beach Boys Good Vibrations in 1966



1970's- The Next Stage of EDM

The 1970s were introduced to disco, one of the most popular genres and still is. It was the first sight of electronic music. Something called the EuroDance was emerged during this period of time, as well as funk, groove, jazz. Disco Divas such as Gloria Gaynnor and Donna Summer pioneered the introduction of groovy, bass heavy electronic music. The release of Saturday Night Fever by the Bee Gees, demonstrated the boom of synthesized music.

1980- Decade of experimental

1980s was the era of experimental with electronic instruments. One band that heavily used synthesized sounds with rock music was The Alans Parsons Project. A sound engineer demonstrated and displayed the technicality of electronic music through experimental albums. One of them being the "Eye In The Sky".

Electro, House and Techno also gained popularity in this era. The band Kraftwek played a major role on defining and promoting the foundation of electronic music, and samples of their work are still used in the present. Notably house music was born in Chicago, which was influenced by funk and soul. Techno on the other hand, was formed in Detroit. This is where the Beleville Three decided to produce something technical. While they were at it, the Germans has a huge obsession for Techno.




1990's- Demand for Computers

By the early 90's technology has massively improved and at the same time, cost being lowered. Because of this, people were able to start producing their own electronic music. The genre "Down Tempo" and Lounge became the 90's favourite and at the same time, teen pop was dominating the audience. The European Electronic boom led to the creations of many super-clubs such as MinistryOfSound and Fabric. MinistryOfSound in particular, is a nightclub that started out in London, but has diversified to a multimedia entertainment media. Having their own radio station and media related products.

Techno grew bigger in Germany overtime, mainly in Frankfurt but now Berlin. The DJ culture became more popular, which artist such as Paul Van Dyke, ATB and Pete Tong becoming household names. Trance and Goa Trance also emerged during this era and became the thing in the Netherlands. Armin Van Buuren was favourite. Eventually, Ibiza became the main destination for party goers.

Costume Research

Drug Dealers 

What they wear

Younger individuals 

Younger adults who have gone into drug dealing often wear clothes which comfortable to them and often tries to stop others from identifying them. They usually wear a hoodie and long trousers with old sneakers describing them as an unknown person. These people are often at the beginning of entering the business. As they progress and earn more money, they usually have more money and buy valuable goods. For example they buy gold chains and other non-sense clothing which might give them higher reputation as they understand the market for it.

Older drug dealers

As drug dealers who have been in the business for a longer time, they usually wear suits to show the buyers that the person is trust worthy and has a high reputation. Given that they have a lot of experience in the market, they are often rich and are at a higher standard of living. 

Skills Audit

Creativity
Through out media studies (From AS to current A2), my creativity level has gone up by a lot. before our opening intro, I usually wouldn't express my ideas or creativity because sometimes I fear that people would go against and trying to be a norm was the objective. Having control of most of my coursework in AS allowed me to express and share most of my ideas to the group and thinking "outside the box". I learnt that you should "Just Do it" because you never where your thoughts would end up like. The outcome can be very positive, but then it could be negative. However, I didn't receive any negativity just suggestions from my teammates so we can all come to an agreement. From what I've obtained from the opening intro, I was able to conceive more ideas for our music video that is in the making. If you believe in your ideas, there's no right or wrong to it. This has also lead me to solving problems in more creative mindset.

Technical
On the technology side of things, my skills were mostly acquired from our opening intro in AS Media. Being able to hold on to the camera, I was able to understand and learn different camera angles.Not only that, I was able to understand and master editing software such as After Effects and Premier Pro and use them to edit our scenes. Learning from tutorials on youtube, I also learnt some skills myself while using the software to edit the opening credits. These skills will be applied to our A2 coursework which will give us a better start. In the mean time, I will also try to experiment with more camera angles and editing camera to gives a better media product.

Organisation
It could be said the my organisation was appalling from the beginning of half term. My organisation skills has heavily improved. By having passion for this media studies, it had allowed me to work under a short period of time. Our Dead Alive opening intro was sent within the deadline.

Persistence
Jumping IGCSE to A levels was huge and a levels had led me to many obstacles and problems. In media Studies, I made most of the decisions in the group, but my teammates were still feeding ideas to me. When we made our first rough cut, we all had mixed feelings about it because it didn't suit all of our needs. The idea of  a "home invasion" was scrapped. We then talked to each other and we all generated different ideas. Eventually we were able to come together and agree on the new genre, that was the post apocalyptic theme. What I've learnt from this was to understand that there will be obstacles and setbacks, then prepare for them. Nothing important was accomplished without the problems and difficulties that came along the way. That's how we ended up with Dead Alive, the best decision we've throughout the year.
 

Risk Assessment

Location Scouting Report

Aerial Shot of Our Locations

Understanding music treatment

Music videos with big budgets usually come in different forms such as short movies. Music video varies from artists performing in live settings to videos with a fully developed story line. Like any other movie, music are required to be scripted. Those scripts are written from a fully developed treatment. A music treatment is a sketch or a concept of a music video which clarifies to artist what the music video will be based on. A music treatment is written in present time and it demonstrates details and ideas about the music as a concept which features its overall setting, looks and tone. A successful music treatment will be able to demonstrate ideas and details to the artist easily giving them are better guideline or structure to the planned music video.

Here's an example

 

Here's the original video


 


The similarities
- The concept of the music video
- The same vibe, same tone and looks
- Same story line

The Difference
- No Taco Bell
- Different anti climatic ending

Drone Problem

So we got the Drone!!!!!!

We can finally get some test footage and shots for our rough cut!!!.

However there was a problem... a huge problem.....

The area we tried to do some test shots in was a no fly zone. As we were confused and annoyed we realised that the wasteland was right next to a domestic airport. There is a massive circle around the airport and it covers the wasteland. Not only can't we do test shots around the school, we can't do take aerial shots of the wasteland scene so that's out of the checklist.

So that was a bummer and now we have to think of other ideas..

Possbile solutions

One of the obvious alternatives to film somewhere else, but it will be hard to find a place similar to the wasteland. The other problem with this is having access to these places. The wasteland is next to school and we have the privilege to film in it.

The other solution is just to give up the drone and find other ways of shooting. 

Film Set Up Presentation

For A Better Day Timeline Plan

Music Timeline "For A Better Day" from Sean Bishop

Purpose of Music Video

One of the biggest purpose of a music video is to sell the song, and by making a music video invokes an action where the audience will remember the song. Music videos express the meanings of the song and because of that, the audience is able to understand the song more. Music Videos usually demonstrates the lyrics or meaning with movement and emotions of the characters or sometimes the video display various arts to create more meaning.




Promotion
A music video can lead to many types of promotion such as the song itself which in turn promotes the album and even the artist. Take Gangnam Style for example. First artist to obtain a billion views on YouTube. The social network is held responsible for making the video famous on a such incredible scales. He then won the best video at MTV Europe Music Awards. All of this led to special collaborations with K-pop star Hyuna, Justin Bieber and will.i.am etc. The music video caused the share price of the record company to increase by 568.8%.

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Synergy
Product placement is also a way for the record company and the artist themselves to generate more income. For example major label artist will have product placement in the music videos. Some one the most popular brands are Beats, Coke, Jordans.

 

For a Better Day "Plan Box"

For a Better Day- Avicii Rough plan

Director: Sean & Alex

Team: Sean, Alex, Alex, Kit, Harry, Ben

Setting: The 2 main locations are School Backyard & and the empty field next to my village. We might plan to use the city (Bangkok) For Aerial Shots or Maybe timelapse.

School Backyard. We plan to use this location for the ending of the scene where we kill the boss.

Empty Field. Used for the beginning of the scene or maybe even the ending. We plan to use this for the meetup

Who were we influenced by for our music video?

- Music video by Duke Dumont- Won't look back. (The Slow cuts and extreme close ups. The Music itself is based on a heist.

- Addicted to you by Avicii. Also another music video about a heist which has similar cuts and shots to our plan shots.