Brand Identity: Eliza Doolittle

To make sure we are marketing our artist to our target audience effectively, we have been looking at new artists like Eliza Doolittle for inspiration and how her brand identity attracts her audience.

In the past 10+ years, institutions and artists have been finding it difficult to sell their music to consumers. Therefore, the art of brand identity has been introduced into the music industry to appeal and sell music.

Signed to the Parlophone records, Eliza Doolittle's debut single went to number 3 in the UK charts and featured 'pack up' that went up in the top 5 UK singles charts. As a new artist entering the competitive streak of music, her aim is to address her target audience (16-25 females) and establish herself as an unique, niche individual.

Released in july 2010, her self titled album uses mixed media - illustration and photograph. Images of lips, stone henge and a volcano suggest that this album is full of surprises, themes and points of views through her songs. A pastel colour palette suggests a young, vibrant individual who will present these emotions through her songs.  Brand identity isn't only the way you present yourself through music videos, but also how you present yourself as a person. Here, she launches her album at Selfridges, London. By wearing orange and pink together, her cute ensemble suggests a care free and youthful attitude. This iconography can be carried throughout her singing career because over time she will be recognised for her style, music and personality.

This is the cover for her single 'rollerblades'. Yellow connotates happiness and youth. This cleverly thought out idea of having wheels painted on the wall to make it look like Eliza Doolittle is wearing rollerblades is very effective when portraying the message of individuality. 

The cover for single 'Pack Up'. The theme of the typography has itself been influenced by the name of the song; by the way lots of feelings are collaged into the words. This suggests that the song will discuss many issues and Eliza Doolittle will have a 'tip' or resolution for them. An example in her lyrics is 'pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and bury them beneath the sea'. As a role model her audience, in the uses and gratifications theory: the audience can have a personal identity towards the cd cover itself and relate to the artist's work.

Throughout her cd cover designs there has been the same font for her name. This typography has become a logo in itself and has become recognisable by music consumers. The way her 'i's are smaller than the rest of the text suggests an innocence about the artists as well as the way it looks hand rendered is very effective because it seems care-free.

Eliza Doolittle's brand identity is also reflected in the way her music videos are edited: slow paced and wipe transitions by pushing one frame onto the other to establish a strong continuity. This is seen in her music video 'Skinny Genes' where stop and go animation is also used to give a childlike vibe that suggests fun - like the artist herself.

Questionnaire 2: Targeted to our audience

From the resuts we collated on our first questionnaire, we asked a general audience to be ensure that we could identiy our true target audience: Females aged 15 - 20. We focused on asking them questions about current music videos and why they liked them; particulalary on the artist and their fashion and lifestyle because our aim is to be able to market our artist to that target audience with their preferences.

Questionnaire 2

1. Age?

15-16 [             ]               17-18 [           ]                         19-20 [       ]

2. How often do you watch music channels?

Everyday[    ]  Twice a week[    ]    Once a week[    ]     Never[    ]

3. Why do you watch music videos?

Escapism[    ]   Fashion inspiration[    ]             Entertainment[     ]    For new music videos[    ]

4. Which music genre do you prefer? *Select 2*

Pop[       ]                         R’n’B[        ]                              Rock[        ]                              Indie[        ]

Jazz[       ]                        Hip Hop[      ]                           Other, please specify:

5. Currently, which are your favourite music videos in charts *Select 2*

Cheryl Cole – Promise This [     ]                     Rihanna – Only Girl in the World [    ]

Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are[    ]        Cee Lo Green – Forget You[     ]

Katy Perry – Fireworks[    ]             Duck Sauce- Barbra Streisand[    ]

Tinie Tempah – Written in the Stars[    ]                            Travie Mcoy – Billionaire[     ]

Other, please specify:

6.     Why? *Select 2*

Creativity[    ]                   The song itself[    ]                    The artist[    ]                           

The Location[    ]                              The story/scenario[    ]                             Dancers[      ]          

7. What’s your opinion on the song I’ve just played to you?

Excellent[     ]                   Fairly Good[     ]                      Nothing Special[     ]

Terrible[     ]

8. Would you purchase this song?

Yes[     ]                           No[      ]

9. What lifestyle and fashion sense do you think this girl has?      

Preppy[      ]    Gothic[     ]               Indie[     ] Quirky[    ]                Sporty[     ]

Hippy[     ]                        Glamorous[    ]         Chavy[     ]              Ghetto Fabulous[     ]

10. Which female artist’s and celebrity lifestyle and fashion sense do you prefer? *Select 2*

Chery Cole[    ]                Rihanna[    ]             Lilly Allen[     ]          Beyonce[    ]                           

Katy Perry[     ]                Eliza Doolittle[    ]      Alexa Chung[             ]            Fern Cotton[   ]

Jil

Brand Image and Identity.

Many bands have a band identity or image that they follow. For bands and artists to be noticed and recognised by the public and audience, record labels usually create a band image/identity to create more sales and public appeal. This is why it is important, it makes band more popular among a wider range of audiences and brings in a lot more sales for the record labels. In some situations, brand imaging is sometimes stuck with the band, so whenever a logo or certain object is brought it, it instantly creates the image of the band or artist.

I am going to analyse Natasha Bedingfield for my brand imaging. Natasha Bedingfield is an English pop sing/ songwriter who first released her first album 'Unwritten' in 2004. When released it was famous for the lyrics being about Independence, opportunism and female empowerment. The songs 'These Words' and 'Single' were the first songs to be released of the album and were a great success, becoming number one in the UK charts. For this album, she was nominated four awards but unfortunately did not succeed. However, she performed on daytime television shows such as GMTV, Top of the Pops and CD:UK to promote her new album. Natasha hit the UK music scene with a bang, the album hit number one within two weeks of it's release. Critics said 'Natasha seems to have inherited the ridiculously catchy pop gene, and with her confident album Unwritten, she's sure not to go unnoticed.'

Her first album cover, as seen below, was the first album to be released. It's simple, yet bold. The creative font used stands out bold and portrays that this artist isn't your usual artist, that she is a bit quirky and different. The bronze, gold  and cream colours show that yes it is simple and plain, yet it portray the songs in the album as they stand out, some are slow while some are more upbeat and popular amongst an audience. 

Meanwhile, Natasha's videos are quirky and fast pace, while other happen to be slow, faded and romantic. Such as 'These Words' which is a fast pace, upbeat song with a bright, quirky video to fit the music. With plenty of editing and over exaggerated bright colours the video stands out from other pop videos released at the times. The funny imagery of Natasha scribbling on a piece of paper with black marker and the black marker to start dragging her boyfriend around the city to lead him to her was most memorable in the video. The quirky imagery such as the chairs flipping over and back and the bright quirky outfits she wears show the video connecting to the upbeat song and showing her image.

However, in the music video 'Soulmate' is a slow, romantic song. The video is faded, grey with many low key lighting creating shadows  This is creating the sad romantic imagery. The close ups and images of couples portrays the words of the song. Occasionally through the video certain things are more emphasized through colour, such as red hearts, wedding rings and certain words like 'partners'. At the end of the video a more high key lighting is shone on her face to show that maybe there is hope for love after such dark, low key images that portray the emotions of the song. This is completely the opposite of the other video which is more bright.

Natasha Bedingfield is known for her funny videos such as 'These words' and 'I wanna have your babies' which open her to a more wider audience. She is also known for her exaggerated bright colours and her quirky style in her videos. With an audience from 20 - 27, the audience is always in her next video and quirky fashion.

Jessica

Results for Audience Questionnaire 1

This chart shows the ages of the people who we gave our questionnaire to. We tried to give it to a varied range of people but as you can see the majority was 16-18 year olds.

This is a chart to show the race of people we gave the questionnaire to, we tried to give it to a number of different people but also wanted to use an equal number of people from different races. We did this because people from different races enjoy varied genres of music and we wanted to explore what most people liked in order to create our video which would appeal to our target audience.

This chart shows us the genres of music that people like and as we can see R’n’B and Pop are the two most popular genres of music in which the audience liked. We believe that this is because most of the chart hits follow these genres and people listen to it and feel good.

This shows how many hours in a day people listen to music and it shows us that people listen to music on an average of 1-2 hours a day which could show that they are passionate about music and they enjoy music.

This shows us how people listen to music, and it shows us that most people listen to it via their iPod or on music channels. It also implies that most people are up-to-date with media and use it all to their advantage to listen to music.

Brand Image and Identity...

Nearly all artists and band have their own image and identity, which is clear throughout all of their music career. This is because once they are established audiences will be able to relate to them because of their image or brand. Such as 'Heinz' beans or 'The Body Shop', people relate and know these products because they are well established and have a brand image that is recognisable and individual. Many artists have a brand image or identity because the major record labels have give them one to maximise their sales once they are well known by a wide audience. This brand image can also stay with them if they leave the major labels because people associate this with them. For example Chris Brown was in a Spearmint advert so people may then recognise him from the advert on tv.

The artist I am going to look at is Taylor Swift, she is an American singer/songwriter/actress. She is part of 'Big Machine' record label and her songs fall into the genre's of country pop; pop; and teen pop. Her first debut single was "Tim McGraw" which reached number 6 in the charts in 2006.

This is the front cover of her first selling album which was self-titled "Taylor Swift" it was released on the 24th October 2006 and it sold 47,000 copies. She also was marked for the longest stay on the Billboard 200 for albums released in that decade.
The blue and green colours on the album cover make it stand out and colourful so that it will catch the attention of people and make it recognisable. The cover is quite basic and standard giving the impression that she likes her own style and wants to have her own image rather than "following the crowd" it can also indicate that she has quite a quirky style because her album cover is original and personal.

She is most well known for her songs that connote love such as "love story" and "mine." Most of her songs that she sings are quite slow paced and romantic. The settings of her music videos are usually in quite popular areas or places which seem to mean a lot to her. In "Love Story" it starts off in a school and in "mine" it starts off in a bar. Also in the videos her quirky dress sense is used because it seems as though she is wearing clothes in which she is comfortable with and she is also wearing clothes that are trendy which could interest a bigger audience due to her up-to-date style knowledge and people may look up to her as a style icon.

She also inspires young people and creates a bigger audience by playing a guitar which could then inspire more of an audience who enjoy to play their own music.

Polly

Audience Questionaire

How old are you

View more documents from jessdexter.

Jessica

Here our task was to produce a brand and achieve brand identity to a certain target audience, selling... a chocolate bar.

Music Video Analysis

By analysing 'love the way you lie' by Eminem and Rihanna we were able to understand what conventions are needed to appeal to a mass audience.

Album Sales...

From the 10th of October the top 10 selling albums of the week are as follows...

1. Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy
2. The Script - Science and Faith
3. Mumford and Sons - Sign No More
4. Phil Collins - Going Back
5. Central Band of the RAF - Reach for the Skies
6. Plan B - The Defamation of Stricklands Banks
7. Mark Ronson and The Business Intl - Record Collection
8. Brandon Flowers - Flamingo
9. Eminem - Recovery
10. A-ha - 25

Posted every Sunday with a new Top 10 taken from Billboard.com, digital albums are becoming more popular with the returning or artists of Eminem, a rapper and Phil Collins going solo.

The most successful album of all time selling over 110 million copies is Michael Jacksons Thriller album and combining his death, sales increased dramatically over the past year.

Jessica + Jil

UK top 20 album charts...

This is a list of the current top 2 albums in the UK taken from http://www.theofficialcharts.com/albums-chart/ which is updated every week.

1. COME AROUND SUNDOWN- KINGS OF LEON
2. CRAZY LOVE- MICHAEL BUBLE
3. WIDE AWAKE - JOE MCELDERRY
4. THE WANTED - WANTED
5. IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS - GREATEST - ROBBIE WILLIAMS
6. SPEAK NOW - TAYLOR SWIFT
7. DISC-OVERY - TINIE TEMPAH
8. THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION - BARBRA STREISAND
9. TEENAGE DREAM - KATY PERRY
10. LETTERS HOME - SOLDIERS
11. SCIENCE & FAITH - SCRIPT
12. THE UNION - ELTON JOHN & LEON RUSSELL
13. THE DEFAMATION OF STRICKLAND BANKS - PLAN B
14. TURN IT UP - PIXIE LOTT
15. THE FAME - LADY GAGA
16. 1967-1970 - BEATLES
17. 1962-1966 - BEATLES
18. RECOVERY - EMINEM
19. OLYMPIA - BRYAN FERRY
20. SIGH NO MORE - MUMFORD & SONS

This chart shows that there is a variety of popular music at the moment. It also shows that there is a variety of artists and genres that are mainstream atthe moment. It also shows that the audience don't necessarily want brand new artists and music; but someone who is already established that has an image and a specific genre that the audience can relate to and that will interest people.

Polly Hindle

Music Video Conventions: Eliza Doolittle

For a music video to be successful, it needs to follow conventions that allow viewes to understand they message they are potraying. Therefore, we need to ensure we understand all these elements for our future music video.
The music video will be analysing is Eliza Doolittle - Pack Up




Target Audience: Females, aged 15-20. Audience highlights the artist her self: young and fun.
Genre: Pop-Folk and Soul. This is especially noticed by the diagetic sound of the supporting artist Lloyd Wade; a distincitve gospel voice. This can also appeal to a wider audience because of his recognition in the music industry.

Mis en Scene consists of location, colour, lighting, costume and body language.
The location is in rural Jamaica, this is seen in an established long shot at the beginning of the music video with natural lighting to suggest serentity. Eliza Doolittle's mood is reflected with her costume, a medium close up in natural lighting of her wearing a lime top with blue jeans. The choice of these colours suggests happiness and a care-free attitude. The need to sell an artist through close up shots is vital because it creates a relationship with the viewer. An example of this is, a close up of her smiling in natural lighting to soften her features will appeal to her audience because similar to them, she is youthful and possesses innocent characteristics. In addition, an inviting mood is suggested in Eliza Doolittle's body lanugage in a medium close up of her dancing and looking at the camera, not only does this suggest to the viewer to join her but it also this the message of freedom and being able to express it.

One of Goodwin's conventions of music videos is using intertexuality so that viewers have reference to other music vidoes, artists or film texts. An example of this is a long shot of Eliza Doolittle riding on a motorbike, this is similar to artist Lilly Allen in music video LDN where she rides on a bicycle in London. Also a member of parlophone music label, the aim for producers was to possibly use the same target audience as Lilly Allen and attract them by using similar themes.
However, as a new artist, it is vital for Eliza Doolittle to develop her own star iconography as Goodwin states, this will become part her image throughout music videos, interviews and live performances. Her quirky, individual style of scrunchies, short shorts and play suites will appeal to her young target audience because similar and the genre of her music, it has niche characteristics.

Editing the visuals to establish the mood of the song is important as Fraser stated. This video has a slow pace and soft transisitons similar to the song: relaxing and cheery.
Another example of Pete Fraser's convention of music videos was that lyrics tend to establish a mood by using visuals assosciated with the song rather than using a mirror effect with the lyrics of a song. An example of this a suitcase being thrown away in the sea. This visual reflects the message of the lyrics and the name of the song 'Pack Up', suggesting to ignore your life problems. In addition, the music video being set in Jamaica presents the message of escapism and being care-free about your life; reflecting the lyrics 'don't worry about the calvary'.

Although th target audience are females, voyeurism is used to attract a male audience and allure them into watching that music video. This is seen in a close up shot of Eliza Doolittle's lower half and another close up of her breasts, these short editing shots may not be noticed easily for the target viewer, however this convention is used in music videos to exapand the audience and recieve more attention.

Conventions of a Music Video

For a music video to be successful there are many different conventions that it has to follow. Andrew Goodwin had six points of these conventions...


Genre Characteristics -Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography.
Visuals/lyrics - There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
Visuals/music -The artist may develop their own star iconography
Need to sell artist -There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups of main artist Intertextuality -There are likely to be intertextual references to other music videos
Voyeurism - There is likely to be reference to voyeurism such as treatment in women

Pete Fraser however, sees that music videos need more meaning, more of a narrative and story line, to give the audience more of a reason to watch and be entertained. For example, the video should allow more a varied access to the performer than a concert can. Fraser's alternative conventions are as follows....

Lyrics - Tend to establish a general feeling or mood rather than offering a coherent meaning. Key lines may play as part of the visuals.
Music - A music video tends to make use of tempo of the track to drive the editing.
Genre - Some video transcend genre, others can be categorised. These are reflected in the mise en scene, themes, performance and editing style
Cinematography - The camera is a significant impact on meaning. Movement, shot and distance need to be analysed. Movement may accompany the movement of performers to such as walking or dancing.
Editing - The most common form of editing used is fast cut montage rendering. Some videos do use slow pace.

The genre for the music video we plan to make is pop/folk I have chosen to anylse the music video 'Love like this' by Natasha Bedingfield feat Sean Kingston.

Love Like This

This video is like most typical pop videos. Girl sees a guy across from her she likes, soon they become close and after going to a great party and eventually by the end of the video they are together.

For the genre characteristics of this pop video are shown throughout. A girl falling in love with a boy, a party and bright, vibrant colours. Also the men are closely focused on. Close ups of the artist are shown throughout the video as well as her co artist, Sean Kingston. Also at the end of the video we get a few musical artist and instruments, such as drums, piano and DJ.

The male gaze is represented in this video as they have close up shots of the main male in the video as well as many others throughout. In female videos it is very typical of them to feature good looking men in there videos to entice a more open female audience.

In this video there are many links between the visuals and the links. For example, when she sings 'Never find a love like this' she makes hand gestures of a love heart she hold up her hands and holds them up in a heart position to symbol the word love. Also, when she sings 'Wrap your arms around me' The boy wraps her arms around her shoulders. When Sean Kingston sings 'rock side to side' all the people at the party begin to rock side to side. The songs is upbeat, fun and is represented through the video especially at the end with the party scene.

Jessica

Music Video and Conventions!

As we have to choose to create a music video it is essential for us to understand the common conventions of all music videos.

The most important convention of a music video is mise-en-scene because elements such as dress and costume can be a dramatic way of reflecting the mood and the genre of a song. For example in the Girls Aloud video “I’ll stand by you” the artists are wearing dark clothing, which indicates that the song is quite sad and depressing. Lighting is also an important technique to set the mood and genre; again in the girls aloud video the lighting is low key which emphasis the fact that it is quite a sad song.



The lyrics in this video give connotations of a sad feeling and the video mimics this, which makes the audience feel comfortable with it and able to relate to what is happening and they are able to realise that the song is quite a sad song.

The lyrics that are used in the song also establish a general feeling of the song and give the audience a sense of what the song is about. Although the lyrics can give the impression of a sad song the video may not follow this and can be quite contradictive and may not reflect the mood.

The editing is also an important factor because this will keep the audience excited. Even though the song may set the pace of the music video the cinematography and editing are important for the pace because if fast paced editing is used it makes the song seem as though it is faster, so it sets the general pace.

Most producers of music videos choose the genre and then conform to all the conventions and this is mostly so that the audience is able to relate to the music video itself. The four main categories which make it easy for us to define the genre are; mise-en-scene; performance; cinematography and editing.

Many producers incorporate intertextuality where the music videos make obvious reference to other products. For example the Lady GaGa video “Telephone” makes an obvious reference to the film “Kill Bill.” This is mostly used in popular artist’s music videos and mainstream videos because the producers know that they will attract a big audience just because of the artist. It also makes the video stand out more than others. Intertextuality is usually used with reference to films because the music video is often on the same level as the film and it can create and iconic moment or peak in the music video or film.



Andrew Goodwin stated that he believes there must be a link between the lyrics of the song and the visuals, this is whether they emphasise the mood and feeling or whether they contradict it. Both of these techniques would work very well if the audience understood what message the music video and lyrics are trying to send out.

Most artists and bands now have their own style, iconography and brand which people relate to and know so the audience are able to relate to their music video and lyrics. For example Lady Gaga has her own iconography which is her eccentric clothing and exaggerated style.

Andrew Goodwin also believes that certain camera shots are essential in a music video. For example close ups of the artist or band are essential so that the audience can relate to them. Long shots are also essential to give the audience an idea of where and what is going on.

He also states that voyeurism is generally to be used in most music videos because it sometimes invites a certain target audience. For example in the video 'Sexy Bitch' by David Guetta ft Akon, we see many girls in bikinis and not wearing many items of clothing. This would attract the male audience because they would like to look at the pretty girls who are hardly wearing any clothing.



Polly Hindle

Allison Crowe - This Little Bird

Free music for professional licensingThis little bird

This little bird has a wander lust

Yes, I am going to see everything

I'm going to feel

I'm going to understand

something here

something good

In a land in a different ocean

same idea, but different sea

just to have you

lying next to me

Oh, I'll be dancing in the fire

You'll be laughing at the stars

We'll be shouting from the buildings

We'll be waving at the cars

that pass us by as we stand here

as time moves around us

we are steady in this moment

no, time doesn't seem to phase us at all

This little bird's

flying East

for the Winter

And you may think that

my navigational equipment

is out of order

but I know

exactly what I’m doing

and yes I know

exactly where I'm going

To a corner in the East

after travelling so far

just to be with you

just to be where you are

I'll be dancing in the fire

You'll be laughing at the stars

We'll be shouting from the buildings

We'll be waving at the cars

that pass us as we stand here

as time moves around us

we are steady in this moment

No, time doesn't seem to move us at all

from where we are

 

We are standing in this moment

no, time…

This little bird’s

gonna see

the good life has to offer

and how you can give your heart

and still feel free

Initial Ideas!

We have decided to create a music video and a digi-pack which will also include a magazine advertisement that will promote our chosen artist. Our reason for choosing to create a music video is that it allows us to be freely imaginative and only has few conventions that don't restrict us to communicate to the audience.

The song we have chosen to feature in our music video is 'This Little Bird' by Allison Crowe. We found this song on Jamendo.com. As this song is from a creative commons website we cannot use the actual singer, so we will have to use an actor to replace the singer which we will cast later on in the project.
Our interpretation of 'This Little Bird' is a metaphor of a young girl who is enjoying life with loved ones and ready to 'take the world on', exploring and discovering new passions.

Therefore, our initial ideas for our music video is to focus on flashbacks that explain the lyrics of the song whilst telling a story for the reader. With a possible romance to a picnic in the park with her friends we will communicate different ideas effectively such as soft, delicate tones and pastel colours to portray the feeling of love and yellow and green colours to show that she is a youthful, fun person.

The genre of this song is Pop-Folk, with artists such as Joss Stone and Natalie Imbruglia included in this category. Although we are targeting at more of a mainstream audience, our aim is to still target a niche audience in the terms of individuality, creativity and style. Initially Pop-Folk now is not that popular compared to Indie music and R'n'B, hence our aim is to introduce this genre to a young audience by making sure our artist is appealing and different.

*WATCH THIS SPACE* ;)

Jess, Poll & Jil x