Objective: To develop understanding of the new business model used by Radiohead.
How did Radiohead release “In Rainbows” (production, distribution and marketing)?
In Rainbows was recorded in London, Somerset, Wiltshire, and Oxfordshire with producers Mark Stent and Nigel Godrich. Radiohead worked on In Rainbows for more than two years, beginning in early 2005. In between recording, the band toured Europe and North America for three months in mid-2006.
In Rainbows is the seventh album by the English alternative rock band Radiohead. It was first released on 10 October 2007 as a digital download, followed by a standard CD release in most countries during the last week of 2007.
In Rainbows was physically released in the UK in late December on XL Recordings and in North America in January 2008 on TBD Records, charting at number one both in the UK and in the US.
Days after announcing the album's completion, Radiohead released In Rainbows as a digital download that customers could order for whatever price they saw fit. Upon its retail release, In Rainbows entered the UK Album Chart and the U.S. Billboard 200 at number one; it went on to sell three million copies worldwide in both digital and physical formats. The album earned widespread critical acclaim, and was ranked as one of the best albums of 2007 by several publications. In 2009, the record won two Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Special Limited Edition Package.
Radiohead retained ownership of the album recordings and song compositions for In Rainbows. The download and "disc box" versions of the album are self-released by the band, while for the physical release, the band licensed the music to record labels.
The album's licensing agreements for all releases continue to be managed by the band's publisher, Warner Chappell Music Publishing.
Success (figures/reception)
In early October 2007, a spokesman for the band reported that "most people [paid] a normal retail price with very few trying to buy [the download version] for a penny" and that most fans had pre-ordered the disc box. Citing a source close to the band, Gigwise.com reported that by the day of its online release, the album had sold 1.2 million copies.
The claim, however, has been dismissed by band manager Bryce Edge as "exaggerated".
According to an Internet survey conducted by Record of the Day of 3,000 people, about one-third of people who downloaded the album paid nothing, with the average price paid being £4. When asked in a December 2007 interview by The Observer how many disc boxes were ordered, the band members responded with various answers ranging between 60,000 and 80,000. In October 2008, a report from Warner Chappell revealed that although most people paid nothing for the download, pre-release sales were more profitable than the total money from sales of Hail to the Thief. The report also stated that the disc box sold 100,000 copies.
The album's download and "disc box" sales were not eligible for inclusion in the UK Albums Chart because the website is not a chart-registered retailer. The week of its retail release, In Rainbows peaked at number one on the UK Album Chart, with first week sales of 44,602 copies. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 156 due to street date violations, but reached number one on the chart the following week. The record sold 122,000 copies in the United States in its first week of official release, according to SoundScan. In October 2008, the band's publisher Warner Chappell Music Publishing revealed that the album had sold three million copies (including digital and physical format sales) since the album's physical release in January. The vinyl edition of In Rainbows was the top selling vinyl album of 2008.
Information found from wikipedia.
Tours:
October 08:
-Japan
August 08:
-USA
-Canada
July 08:
-Netherlands, Denmark,
-Belgium
-France
-Germany
June 08:
-Ireland
-France
-Spain
-Italy
-Germany
-England
-Scotland
May 08:
-USA
March 09:
-Mexico
-Brazil
-Argentina
-Chile
http://www.radiohead.com/tourdates/
Use of new technology:
- Used the internet for the listeners to download music
- By keeping a record of the downloader’s email addresses, they could market and advertise their work and news about gigs and tours, for example.
- It was cheaper for them to produce their own music and distribute it online, without a record company (allowing them to gain the profits). The advance in technology (computers and software) allowed them to do this.
- The internet allowed their music to globalise so more and more people could listen, resulting in them having more fans than the loyal ones they already had.
- Fans of their music could either download the music for free or they could pay for what they thought was a reasonable price.
The importance of audience:
There is a wide-spread audience due to the band starting early so over the years, there has been more and more people enjoying their music. The audience is made up of different ages, from young adults, to people around their 30’s. The band have succeeded on behalf of the profits from the downloads and the money from the numerous tours and festivals, for example, The Lovebox Weekender festival. The wider the audience is, the more support they have, so they can count on them for their profits.
Tuesday 3 March 2009
Radio Head (music industry)
Thriller Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product uses forms and conventions of real media products such as: ‘Kidulthood’, ‘Layer Cake’, ‘Vertigo’, ‘China Town’ and ‘Millers Crossing’. There are specific thriller themes and signifiers that we intended to focus on and use to develop the thriller genre and our own product. One signifier is a typical male protagonist and flawed hero. For instance, China Town’s main character has a fear of heights consequently portraying him as a flawed hero. He also happens to be a smoker and drinker which are additional flaws.
The most important influences from other films that helped us develop our thriller were mise-en-scene and camera work. A typical thriller signifier is staircases (-all of the films we have considered to be most influential had), as when you look down the banisters they can create a spiral. Spirals can connote how thriller narratives can be twisting and turning and therefore unpredictable, similar to the party scene which gets out of control in Kidulthood.
Many of the shots are taken at night, which increases the mysterious and intimidating atmosphere. Thrillers show that crimes are often committed at night, so this was the main reason we wanted to film and set the introduction in the dark. This could be associated with the numerous scenes set at night in Kidulthood and Layer Cake. An example in our film includes, when the two young men meet for the gun exchange. The darkness hid the older man’s face and therefore his identity too, creating questions such as: “Who is he?”. A comment from a student evaluating our product actually praised this effect. On the other hand, a number of evaluators mentioned the lighting in our thriller was not high quality. I do agree with this as there are parts of the film where it is difficult to distinguish the setting and what was going on. If we were to re-create the parts in the darker lighting, we could have either found better lighting and attached lighting on the camera, or change the location.
China Town has another convention that is apparent in our film, and this is the use of shadows. In our thriller the shadows are often cast on the walls and on the ground. It creates a mysterious and sinister atmosphere as commonly only a silhouette is visible.
The characters in all of the influential films owned a gun. In Millers Crossing, every character appears to have a gun of some sort, which shows how they want to feel more powerful, protected and manly. In our thriller, the gun (shown in the exchange) is the main icon that we needed to suggest that there would be some kind of violence and confrontation. The issue of young adults getting involved with this kind of lifestyle is also shown more realistically in Kidulthood.
The editing in our thriller introduction was fast- paced with the use of shortened shots to make the film introduction hooking. Layer Cake has some very swift shots that merge rapidly together, an example is when the character “XXXX” is sitting in his armchair, having taken drugs and alcohol, and then the next shot of him with his balaclava on about to kill a man. By building tension, it helps engage the audience and keep their attention focused on the film.
The genre of music we used was electro-computer-generated and worked extremely well with our film. The soundtrack is quite similar to those in Layer Cake and Kidulthood, as it went from a slow tempo to a quicker tempo. The music was a crucial decision that we had to make and get right in order for the whole introduction to fit together. As the introduction draws to an end, the close up of the gun and the sudden black out is complimented by the music. The beat and rhythm of the soundtrack was successful in building tension and creating suspense.
The use of varied camera shots and techniques were based on the shots seen in other thrillers. One example is in Millers Crossing, where the two thugs walk up the stairs to their victim’s bedroom, guns at their side. We did a version of this for the older man. This was also to show how the characters differ from one another, in how they are dressed- casual and more professional.
Our thriller did not specifically challenge forms and conventions of real media products, we instead chose to use and expand on the thriller genre. Our knowledge of thrillers was built up around looking and analysing other thrillers.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The gender of the characters in our thriller was all male. The ages were different, ranging from 17-18 year old males, and an older male around 30. The younger males were the thug gangsters who plotted to invade the older male’s house. The older male was a classy gangster, in that he had a good job making reasonable money and had a big house. The younger males’ class was low and quite poor. This is shown how they had to resort to committing a crime in a nicer area than from their council estate homes. The race of the cast was mainly white, except the character Jitmal (gang member) whom is mixed race.
In our thriller, we did not represent women, which could be sexist in some views. The idea was women not getting involved with this kind of lifestyle. The men may be represented as: violent, scheming, desperate criminals, who think they are above the law. We wanted the men to appear as though they wanted power and control, as they did not have with their finances. The use of guns shows how they will do anything, maybe to make themselves look threatening to others. One member evaluating our thriller in fact noticed how there were no females cast (Why weren’t there any ladies?).
Our thriller does not have one main villain or hero as both our main characters do not fit into these roles. Nevertheless, Simon and the older man could both have villain characteristics, for instance, they both appear violent as they are holding guns. The victim role could also be either, as Simon is being made to invade the house through peer pressure. The older man is perhaps more of the victim as his house is being broken into.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The distribution that would probably be the most willing to distribute our film may be Working Title films, as our thriller is not independent and is more main stream. Working Title has distributed many mainstream films, such as "Bridget Jones's Diary" due to their convergence with Universal Studios.
The two examples that were mostly influential to us were Kidulthood, Adulthood and Layer Cake. Kidulthood was distributed by Revolver Entertainment, who have mainly distributed thriller productions which include crime thrillers and French noir thrillers and has several best selling and award-winning films. Layer Cake was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, a separation of Sony. P. Entertainment which obtains finances and distributes independent films from the USA.Our thriller is more main stream so it would more likely be exhibited through a multiplex outlet such as Odeon or Vue.
Who would be audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product is made up of ages between 16- 22, whom include students, C1 and C2 workers based on the demographics. The gender of our audience will consist of males as the cast of the film is completely males. This could have an affect on the overall audience as many females may not enjoy it. On the other hand, we researched television shows that the audience may watch for entertainment, examples include: CSI, where the demographic 'females under 18' had an overall 429 votes resulting with the highest average being 9.4. Males under 18 were close with: 486 votes making 8.9 the highest average. The second example, The Bill was reasonably interested the demographic 'females under 18' with 14 votes and the highest average of 9.0. This could be indicating that females may enjoy the programmes. Further more, the influential thrillers have contributed to the audience as we took into account what audiences viewed (and enjoyed) them.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The ways in which we attracted our audience were through four, useful factors. Firstly, the characters in the film were similar ages to our target audience. The age range was between 16- 22 year olds so by choosing actors around this age it probably made them able to relate to the characters. For one, clothing and sense of style would contribute to how the audience will relate to the characters. The main young character, Simon is the narrator, as in we see what happens in his eyes, so the audience will relate to him, as we see how he does and copes with his actions.
The setting and location, along with the mise-en-scene may be able to relate to the characters too, if they live in a similar area to that in the film.
Further more, the narrative explores how gangs and friends can be loyal to one another, despite their differences. This could add to the chances of the audience being able to relate.
Our group thought we did hook the audience as it had a mysterious and intriguing narrative and plot. The gun shot at the end was the climax at the end, that we achieved by using a gun shot sound, with the black out, to leave the introduction as a cliff hanger.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
One of the main processes of constructing our thriller was the camera work, whilst filming. We developed an understanding of how to use equipment as we were not that experienced at the start of the project. This includes how to use tripods, and the camera. We learnt how to shoot footage, using camera techniques that we had briefly practiced beforehand.
The camera techniques include how to use shots, movements and so on for specific effects. For example, we used a number of mid shots to show the body language, the characters position, expressions and the actions they are doing, for instance when Simon breaks into the kitchen window.
The editing process was the most difficult to complete as we were not acquainted of the software (Adobe Premiere Elements). Despite this, we soon became aware of how to use the software and most importantly how to use the effects to make our thriller polished.
During the process, we developed an insight to how you have to cut the captured footage to go in a readable narrative. The majority of the audience found our narrative understandable and easy to follow. The most challenging aspect of the editing process was to get the whole clip to be on a certain time limit. We had to in fact cut a whole piece of filming in order for it to be closer to the two minute limit.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
To start the project, we had to organize methods of planning our thriller production. We did have lack of communication to begin with but as we got into the project more, this did improve. The planning consisted of thinking of initial ideas for what our thrillers plot could be. Once we had a basic idea that we liked, we created storyboards that helped to suggest shots, movements, mise-en-scene, and so forth for the introduction. This was relatively similar to the process of the preliminary task but was more detailed and thorough. We also had to think about the casting and the simplest way to designate roles was to ask people we knew.
The filming process was difficult in aspects of how we had to make extra time to do the filming. There were many occasions when we had to leave the filming to the next day or another time, therefore delaying the production.
The preliminary task helped us get familiar with how to use the editing software, for example, cutting and rendering it. Whilst we edited our thriller, it was important to make the narrative as readable as possible, by sequencing the shots. Therefore helping the audience understand and engage with the film.
We did have to shorten the piece of music as it was too long. We also cut and moved a specific part of the soundtrack for the climax at the end making the audience hooked and want to continue watching the rest.
The next process was how to export the product as an avi. file to Windows Media and then online to YouTube. This was a less challenging thing to do and we were pleased when the final product was on.
Overall, I have learnt an incredible amount about all the processes which you complete to create a film. The roles in which I most played a part in were the planning and editing processes. In the filming process I helped with making sure the set was appropriate, for instance, the lighting in the hallway. We had to decide on the filming process, who was steadiest with the camera and this was my partner Roxxy. My other partner played two of the characters in the film which meant that he was important in the casting. We all learnt how to overcome problems by working as a team.
Our media product uses forms and conventions of real media products such as: ‘Kidulthood’, ‘Layer Cake’, ‘Vertigo’, ‘China Town’ and ‘Millers Crossing’. There are specific thriller themes and signifiers that we intended to focus on and use to develop the thriller genre and our own product. One signifier is a typical male protagonist and flawed hero. For instance, China Town’s main character has a fear of heights consequently portraying him as a flawed hero. He also happens to be a smoker and drinker which are additional flaws.
The most important influences from other films that helped us develop our thriller were mise-en-scene and camera work. A typical thriller signifier is staircases (-all of the films we have considered to be most influential had), as when you look down the banisters they can create a spiral. Spirals can connote how thriller narratives can be twisting and turning and therefore unpredictable, similar to the party scene which gets out of control in Kidulthood.
Many of the shots are taken at night, which increases the mysterious and intimidating atmosphere. Thrillers show that crimes are often committed at night, so this was the main reason we wanted to film and set the introduction in the dark. This could be associated with the numerous scenes set at night in Kidulthood and Layer Cake. An example in our film includes, when the two young men meet for the gun exchange. The darkness hid the older man’s face and therefore his identity too, creating questions such as: “Who is he?”. A comment from a student evaluating our product actually praised this effect. On the other hand, a number of evaluators mentioned the lighting in our thriller was not high quality. I do agree with this as there are parts of the film where it is difficult to distinguish the setting and what was going on. If we were to re-create the parts in the darker lighting, we could have either found better lighting and attached lighting on the camera, or change the location.
China Town has another convention that is apparent in our film, and this is the use of shadows. In our thriller the shadows are often cast on the walls and on the ground. It creates a mysterious and sinister atmosphere as commonly only a silhouette is visible.
The characters in all of the influential films owned a gun. In Millers Crossing, every character appears to have a gun of some sort, which shows how they want to feel more powerful, protected and manly. In our thriller, the gun (shown in the exchange) is the main icon that we needed to suggest that there would be some kind of violence and confrontation. The issue of young adults getting involved with this kind of lifestyle is also shown more realistically in Kidulthood.
The editing in our thriller introduction was fast- paced with the use of shortened shots to make the film introduction hooking. Layer Cake has some very swift shots that merge rapidly together, an example is when the character “XXXX” is sitting in his armchair, having taken drugs and alcohol, and then the next shot of him with his balaclava on about to kill a man. By building tension, it helps engage the audience and keep their attention focused on the film.
The genre of music we used was electro-computer-generated and worked extremely well with our film. The soundtrack is quite similar to those in Layer Cake and Kidulthood, as it went from a slow tempo to a quicker tempo. The music was a crucial decision that we had to make and get right in order for the whole introduction to fit together. As the introduction draws to an end, the close up of the gun and the sudden black out is complimented by the music. The beat and rhythm of the soundtrack was successful in building tension and creating suspense.
The use of varied camera shots and techniques were based on the shots seen in other thrillers. One example is in Millers Crossing, where the two thugs walk up the stairs to their victim’s bedroom, guns at their side. We did a version of this for the older man. This was also to show how the characters differ from one another, in how they are dressed- casual and more professional.
Our thriller did not specifically challenge forms and conventions of real media products, we instead chose to use and expand on the thriller genre. Our knowledge of thrillers was built up around looking and analysing other thrillers.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The gender of the characters in our thriller was all male. The ages were different, ranging from 17-18 year old males, and an older male around 30. The younger males were the thug gangsters who plotted to invade the older male’s house. The older male was a classy gangster, in that he had a good job making reasonable money and had a big house. The younger males’ class was low and quite poor. This is shown how they had to resort to committing a crime in a nicer area than from their council estate homes. The race of the cast was mainly white, except the character Jitmal (gang member) whom is mixed race.
In our thriller, we did not represent women, which could be sexist in some views. The idea was women not getting involved with this kind of lifestyle. The men may be represented as: violent, scheming, desperate criminals, who think they are above the law. We wanted the men to appear as though they wanted power and control, as they did not have with their finances. The use of guns shows how they will do anything, maybe to make themselves look threatening to others. One member evaluating our thriller in fact noticed how there were no females cast (Why weren’t there any ladies?).
Our thriller does not have one main villain or hero as both our main characters do not fit into these roles. Nevertheless, Simon and the older man could both have villain characteristics, for instance, they both appear violent as they are holding guns. The victim role could also be either, as Simon is being made to invade the house through peer pressure. The older man is perhaps more of the victim as his house is being broken into.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
The distribution that would probably be the most willing to distribute our film may be Working Title films, as our thriller is not independent and is more main stream. Working Title has distributed many mainstream films, such as "Bridget Jones's Diary" due to their convergence with Universal Studios.
The two examples that were mostly influential to us were Kidulthood, Adulthood and Layer Cake. Kidulthood was distributed by Revolver Entertainment, who have mainly distributed thriller productions which include crime thrillers and French noir thrillers and has several best selling and award-winning films. Layer Cake was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, a separation of Sony. P. Entertainment which obtains finances and distributes independent films from the USA.Our thriller is more main stream so it would more likely be exhibited through a multiplex outlet such as Odeon or Vue.
Who would be audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product is made up of ages between 16- 22, whom include students, C1 and C2 workers based on the demographics. The gender of our audience will consist of males as the cast of the film is completely males. This could have an affect on the overall audience as many females may not enjoy it. On the other hand, we researched television shows that the audience may watch for entertainment, examples include: CSI, where the demographic 'females under 18' had an overall 429 votes resulting with the highest average being 9.4. Males under 18 were close with: 486 votes making 8.9 the highest average. The second example, The Bill was reasonably interested the demographic 'females under 18' with 14 votes and the highest average of 9.0. This could be indicating that females may enjoy the programmes. Further more, the influential thrillers have contributed to the audience as we took into account what audiences viewed (and enjoyed) them.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The ways in which we attracted our audience were through four, useful factors. Firstly, the characters in the film were similar ages to our target audience. The age range was between 16- 22 year olds so by choosing actors around this age it probably made them able to relate to the characters. For one, clothing and sense of style would contribute to how the audience will relate to the characters. The main young character, Simon is the narrator, as in we see what happens in his eyes, so the audience will relate to him, as we see how he does and copes with his actions.
The setting and location, along with the mise-en-scene may be able to relate to the characters too, if they live in a similar area to that in the film.
Further more, the narrative explores how gangs and friends can be loyal to one another, despite their differences. This could add to the chances of the audience being able to relate.
Our group thought we did hook the audience as it had a mysterious and intriguing narrative and plot. The gun shot at the end was the climax at the end, that we achieved by using a gun shot sound, with the black out, to leave the introduction as a cliff hanger.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
One of the main processes of constructing our thriller was the camera work, whilst filming. We developed an understanding of how to use equipment as we were not that experienced at the start of the project. This includes how to use tripods, and the camera. We learnt how to shoot footage, using camera techniques that we had briefly practiced beforehand.
The camera techniques include how to use shots, movements and so on for specific effects. For example, we used a number of mid shots to show the body language, the characters position, expressions and the actions they are doing, for instance when Simon breaks into the kitchen window.
The editing process was the most difficult to complete as we were not acquainted of the software (Adobe Premiere Elements). Despite this, we soon became aware of how to use the software and most importantly how to use the effects to make our thriller polished.
During the process, we developed an insight to how you have to cut the captured footage to go in a readable narrative. The majority of the audience found our narrative understandable and easy to follow. The most challenging aspect of the editing process was to get the whole clip to be on a certain time limit. We had to in fact cut a whole piece of filming in order for it to be closer to the two minute limit.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
To start the project, we had to organize methods of planning our thriller production. We did have lack of communication to begin with but as we got into the project more, this did improve. The planning consisted of thinking of initial ideas for what our thrillers plot could be. Once we had a basic idea that we liked, we created storyboards that helped to suggest shots, movements, mise-en-scene, and so forth for the introduction. This was relatively similar to the process of the preliminary task but was more detailed and thorough. We also had to think about the casting and the simplest way to designate roles was to ask people we knew.
The filming process was difficult in aspects of how we had to make extra time to do the filming. There were many occasions when we had to leave the filming to the next day or another time, therefore delaying the production.
The preliminary task helped us get familiar with how to use the editing software, for example, cutting and rendering it. Whilst we edited our thriller, it was important to make the narrative as readable as possible, by sequencing the shots. Therefore helping the audience understand and engage with the film.
We did have to shorten the piece of music as it was too long. We also cut and moved a specific part of the soundtrack for the climax at the end making the audience hooked and want to continue watching the rest.
The next process was how to export the product as an avi. file to Windows Media and then online to YouTube. This was a less challenging thing to do and we were pleased when the final product was on.
Overall, I have learnt an incredible amount about all the processes which you complete to create a film. The roles in which I most played a part in were the planning and editing processes. In the filming process I helped with making sure the set was appropriate, for instance, the lighting in the hallway. We had to decide on the filming process, who was steadiest with the camera and this was my partner Roxxy. My other partner played two of the characters in the film which meant that he was important in the casting. We all learnt how to overcome problems by working as a team.
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