MA - N'SYNC Record Label

Jive Records 1981-2011 is the label responsible for 'NSYNC.


Label History
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. Jive operated as an independently managed label until 2002 when Bertelsmann Music Group acquired the remainder of Zomba for US $2.74 billion, which was at the time the largest-ever acquisition of an independent label with major-label distribution. Zomba, Jive's parent company, was formed in the mid seventies as a publishing and management company on Willesden Street in London. 
As the 1980s drew to a close, Jive went on to sign a plethora of hip-hop acts, including Too $hort and Schoolly D. By the early nineties, Jive had become a premiere label in the genre of hip-hop, thanks to the success of acts such as Whodini, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, E-40, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions, and R&B acts R. Kelly and Aaliyah.
By the late 1990s, despite its reputation for dealing heavily in hip-hop, Jive signed pop acts Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, and Britney Spears—all of whom achieved massive success as the 2000s dawned, and would become the three best-selling acts in the label's history. The company was later restructured with some Jive artists moving to a restructured Epic Records, while others stayed with Jive as it moved under the RCA Music Group. On October 7, 2011, it was announced that Jive, along with Arista and J Records would be shuttered. All artists on those labels were moved to RCA Records. 

Key Features of Genre - Boybands & Pop Music

For our coursework music vid, we have decided to focus on Gone by Nsync, the genre Nsync are categorised as are Pop.With Nsync being a boy band we expect to see slightly different features during the video, compared to a solo artist or maybe a girl band.
Boy bands are mainly involved in the Pop Genre, (also known as popular music) consisting only of Male members. During the videos of Boy bands, the members can be expected to dance aswel as singing, the dance moves are usely highly choreographed performances. In most cases the audience do not tend to see the members of the band playing musical instruments.
Most of the videos espessially done by our groups band Nsync mainly have a narrative and performance aspect to them, telling a story through the lyrics and the video. In some cases boy bands can be put together by a producers through audtitions.

History of Boy bands
The earliest Boy band to occur was in the 19th century between the 1800's and the 1900's called Barbershop Quarters, they began as a group of males singing four different parts and harmonies. Then between 1940 and 1950 a rival " male vocal" group developed in the use of Doo-Wop music. Doo-Wop were predessesors of previous boy bands, they sung about topics which included love,and other common themes used in Pop Music.
The term Boy band was not used untill the late 1980's up untill then they were known as " male vocal groups".

During the 1960's the main Boy bands which occured were The Osmands, Jackson 5 and The Munkees. Jackson 5 were a family made band that helped establish many of the music conventions that boy bands follow, For example all the members sang which is a common convention of a Boyband, instead of having a ' front man' and having the rest of the backing using instruments. 


However you could say that in the modern day the common convention can be challanged as Nsync seem to have a lead singer in the form of Justin Timberlake.


In the 1990's boybands such as Take That, East 17, Boyzone, 911,Nsync and Backstreet Boys developed forming the Britpop genre. Then in 1997 there was a change to pop orinated groups such as Nsync and BackStreet Boys that boy bands became popular and exploded commercially, dominating the US Market. 

MA - Track Backstory

MA- Track Backstory

Gone" is the second single from 'N Sync's third studio album, Celebrity. The single debuted on the band's 2001 Pop Odyssey World Tour, during the summer of 2001. The commercial release of the single didn't occur until Summer 2001. In 2002, Bachata[1] group, Aventura[2] covered the song on their album, We Broke the Rules. The song was nominated at the 44th Grammy Awards for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, but the track lost to U2's "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". In April 2002, a remix of the track, entitled the "Gone Clubbin I'll Be Back Late Mix", appeared as a double A-side with The Neptunes Remix of Girlfriend in several countries, however, was released as a solo single in both Europe and Australia. 


The Music Video
Directed by Herb Ritts and filmed in August 2001, the video wasn't released until late September because of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The video is in black and white, and has shots similar to Charlie Chaplin-esque footage. The video is a mixture of flashbacks of Justin Timberlake's video girlfriend and his world currently, all filmed in an apartment. The video shows flashbacks of his girlfriend's birthday party, and random parts in their apartment where emotional moments taken place.
 [wiki]




"Gone" is the anti-'NSYNC video. The group's clothing isn't changing as they dance. The guys aren't hanging by strings. They are singing and, basically, hanging out.

Ritts, who is also a famous photographer, liked the idea, but only as an introduction to the video. He felt the clip should center on an empty house where happier times were spent between Timberlake and the woman who was "Gone." Their relationship would be told in flashback, while the singer wretchedly strolled around the house.
The 17-year-old Croatian named Corrina was chosen to play the part of Justin's love interest. 

While the director did not manipulate a single frame in postproduction, he used different cameras, films and speeds to create different looks and effects.
During the birthday party scene, for instance, Ritts pushed the film to 60 frames a second to create the special flicker in the birthday candle.
For the intimate scenes with Timberlake and Corrina, the director of photography used a small handheld camera "so you really caught those moments," Ritts said.

[1]- Bachata is a genre of music that originated in the Dominican Republic in the early parts of the 20th Century and spread to other parts of Latin America and Mediterranean Europe. It became popular in the countryside and the rural neighborhoods of the Dominican Republic. Its subjects are often romantic; especially prevalent are tales of heartbreak and sadness.
[2]-Aventura is a former bachata music group from The Bronx, New York, United States. Aventura was formed in 1994 by Anthony Santos, Henry Santos, Lenny Santos, and Max Santos, three of whom are natives of The Bronx and one born in the Dominican Republic.^[1] Self-taught and determined, Aventura made their big break in 1999, with the hopes of breaking bachata music out from its traditional base and fuse it with modern popular sounds like hip hop and R&B - Wiki 

EF- The Pop Genre

Pop is the abbreviation for popular music. Pop music is normally known as commercially recorded music, which is often made for a youth  audience which consists of people between the ages of 14 - 18. 
In the pop genre songs are usually made to be relatively short and simple songs, which have elements of certain themes. Through out the development of the Pop Genre, many different genre's have been used as a basis for the form,vocal harmonies, instrumentals,tempo, backing and the rhythmic elements. The Genres used for the as influences for early Pop music include genres such as : 

• Sentimental Ballads 
• Gospel/Soul Music
• Jazz
• Country 
• Classical 
• Dance 
• Hip Hop/Rap 

Hatch and Millward define pop music as "a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz and folk musics".^[1] Although pop music is often seen as oriented towards the singles charts it is not the sum of all chart music, which has always contained songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs, while pop music as a genre is usually seen as existing and developing separately.^[2] Thus "pop music" may be used to describe a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative to rock and roll.^{[3] - Source Wikipedia}  



Characteristics of Pop Genre : 

• Aim to appeal to a general audience, rather than to sub-culture audiences. 
• Emphasis on the craftsmanship of the song and band rather than just the artistic quality.
• Emphasis on recording, production, and technology rather than the live performances. 
• Could tend to write and reflect on existing trends rather than developments. 
• Intended to encourage dancing when listening to the song, or could use dance beats, and rhythms. 

The main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure.^[15] Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically andharmonically with the verse.^[16] The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment.^[17] The lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions.^{[3] - Source Wikipedia}  

History of Pop Music 

In contrast to genres with clear origins and a traceable evolution, pop developed, and continues to expand, as a haphazard merging of styles. Pop is an amalgam of successive fashions, of elements of many differing styles that have been successful over the years and have ended up incorporated into the genre. This section introduces the most significant tunes of each decade, and shows the progression of pop to its current form.

1950s

The first songs to belong to the new category were crossover styles from the standard formats of the day. In country music, instrumental soloing was de-emphasised and more prominent vocals added, commonly backed by a string section and vocal chorus.

This was also the decade of the advent of rock and roll, a massively influential genre that spawned innumerable changes in the social and cultural fabric of the US, and subsequently the World. The convulsion began when "Rock Around the Clock" (Bill Haley, 1955) crowned the charts in the spring and summer of 1955.

1960s

The decade kicked off a style that is still recorded today, the novelty song, combining humorous or parodic lyrics and simple, catchy melodies. In 1961 a new format arose around close vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting the Californian relationship with surfing, girls and cars: Surf pop. This very successful style is epitomised by tunes like "Surfin' USA" (Beach Boys, 1963) or "Good Vibrations" (Beach Boys, 1966).

Producers' involvement in the business reached new levels in 1965 when Raybert Productions set out to create a pop band from scratch, selecting the members by their looks, dancing ability and appeal to different personalities of fan, rather than musical prowess. The company controlled every aspect of the group, from choice of music to individual behaviours, and guided them to extraordinary success in music, television and cinema. This type of prefabricated band was termed manufactured pop and is the precursor of boy bands and girl groups.

1970s

The main influence in the second half of the decade came from disco, a dance-oriented style with soaring, reverberated vocals, a steady beat and prominent, syncopated electric bass lines.

Country music re-entered pop in 1973, whilst the African American rhythms that had so affected the genre in the previous decade were still producing hits and expanding limits in this one.

1980s

The mutual benefits the film and music industries could afford each other were evidenced in this decade by the songs from movie soundtracks that became chart-toppers: "Eye of the Tiger", from 1982's Rocky III; "Flashdance... What a Feeling", from Flashdance (1983); or "Say You, Say Me", out of the 1985 blockbuster White Nights.

The return influences of pop were having a greater impact in this decade than ever before. Hits in the US charts came from the UK, "Careless Whisper" (George Michael, 1984) or "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" (Wham!, 1984).

The rock genre delivered a good number of pop hits this decade, with bands otherwise protective of their roots delving briefly into commercialism. See "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" (The Arrows, 1982) or "Every Breath You Take" (The Police, 1983).

A new kind of release debuted in this decade, the charity record, aimed at raising funds for a particular cause held dear by the performer(s). The first of these came from the British Isles in 1984, "Do They Know It's Christmas?", followed in 1985 by "We Are the World", and by "That's What Friends Are For" in 1986.

1990s

The nineties were clearly the decade of the female pop artist, their successful singles greatly outnumbering those of male performers. A few of the most significant are "Nothing Compares 2 U" (Sinead O´Connor, 1990), "Vogue" (Madonna, 1990), "Hero" (Mariah Carey, 1993), "Wannabe" (The SpiceGirls, 1996) and "...Baby One More Time" (Britney Spears, 1999).

Pop became truly international in the nineties, with hits coming from diverse and distant locations:

• Germany: "The Power" (1990), "Rhythm Is a Dancer" (1992) and "Mr Vain" (1993)
• UK: "The One and Only" (1991), Love Is All Around" (both 1994), “Candle in the Wind 1997"
• Spain: "Macarena" (1996)
• Italy: "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" (1998)
• Netherlands: "Boom Boom Boom Boom" (1998)
• Australia: "Truly Madly Deeply" (1998)

2000 to the Present Day

In a similar vein to the previous decade, female singers had a big influence on the pop genre in the noughties, with soulful ballads, hip hop pieces and dance tracks: "Fallin'" (Alicia Keys, 2001), "Whenever, Wherever" (Shakira, 2001), "White Flag" (Dido, 2003), "Since U Been Gone" (Avril Lavigne, 2005) and "Umbrella" (Rihanna, 2007).

Once more, African Americans contributed heartily to pop with diverse styles. Some hits were hip hop-based, such as "Yeah!" (Usher, 2004), other chart-toppers were variations on reggae beats ("It Wasn't Me" (Shaggy, 2000).

The international appeal of pop was evident in the new millennium, with artists from around the World influencing the genre and local variants merging with the mainstream. Latin pop was successful with songs from Spain, "Hero" (Enrique Iglesias, 2002), "Whenever, Wherever" (Shakira, 2002). Canada entered the charts with "That's the Way It Is" (Celine Dion, 2000) and British artists did the same with "Feel" (Robbie Williams, 2003) or "You're Beautiful" (James Blunt, 2005).

As of 2008, pop music is now currently the most popular style of music of youth culture, making competition with hip-hop, dance, and country. - Source Audials .com

History of Music Video

This information is the sheet in which we were given by Gina and Jess during their presentation on Media Language.

• In 1894 the nearest thing to music video was illustrated song. This was first used by Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern (sheet music publishers), who used a magic lantern to promote sales of their song. This involved projecting a series of still images on a screen at the same time as live performances.
• In 1926, many short films we produced as a result of the arrival of "talkies". Vitaphone shorts were usually approximately six minutes long and featured Art Deco-style animations and backgrounds in addition to a footage of the performer singing.
• In 1930 Spooney Melodies was the first true music video series.
• Cartoons in the early 1930s featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney featured several interpretations of classical pieces and were built around the music. 
• Live action musical shorts were also distributed to theaters.
• Another early form of music video were "promotional clips" which were one-song films. They were made in the 1940s for the Panoram visual jukebox. These generally consisted of short films of musical selections, normally just a band on a movie set bandstand, made for playing.
• Musical films were another important step towards the creation of music videos, and several well-known music videos have copied the style of classic Hollywood musicals from the 1930s-50s - eg. Material Girl by Madonna was closely modelled on "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
• In the late 1950s the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented.
• In the UK, British TV show Top of the Pops began playing music videos in the late 1970s where a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week.
• In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television. As a result of this, by the mid 1980s music video would play a very central role in the marketing of popular songs. Artists of this period such as Madonna owe the majority of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.
• There are two key developments towards the making of modern music video: the creation of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment, and visual effects created with techniques such as image composition. In addition to this, the development of high-quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras enable many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply in comparison to the higher costs of using film.
• In 1983, the most successful and influential music video of all time was released — the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller". The video set new standards for production, having cost US$500,000 to film.
• In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards (later to be known as the VMA's), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry.
• Another important development in music videos was the launch of The Chart Show on the UK's Channel 4 in 1986. This was a program which consisted entirely of music videos (the only outlet many videos had on British TV at the time), without presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics. The show moved to ITV in 1989.
• Artist continued to explore other ways of presenting their songs through music videos for example the 1985 Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" which used computer animation and also in 1986 Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animation. Both then went onto be hugely successful songs and the latter won nine MTV VMAs.
• In 1988 MTV then began showing hip hop music in their new show 'Yo! MTV Raps'
• With the creation of the Internet, music videos are now shared online with viewers. In the beginning, the people who put them on the net were part of IRC-based groups who recorded them as they appeared on TV then digitised them, exchanging the files via IRC channels.
• The website iFilm, which hosted short videos, including music videos, launched in 1997.
• Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos.
• By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos
• In 2005 YouTube was launched making the viewing of online video faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and MySpace's video functionality, which uses similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. Other artists such as Soulja Boy Tell 'Em also achieved some level of fame initially through videos only released online.
• In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels.
• MTV now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos.
• The Internet has become the primary growth income market for record company-produced music videos. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod with video playback capability.
• VEVO is a music video website launched by several major music publishers in December 2009. The videos on VEVO are syndicated to YouTube, with Google and VEVO sharing the advertising revenue.

[source: wikipedia]

All - Week 9 Podcast 3 - Genre and Directors

MA - Location Ideas So Far

We have had brief discussion on location. Just brainstorming places we think would look good.
What we have seen from looking at other boy band video they use a lot of outside locations such as cliff faces or open land.

Some of the idea we had are;

• A house (we may already have one)
• A park
• The moors
• A graveyard- this may cause a problem as we know that some people may be sensitive about this, we may need to ask permission

MA -Nsync Tracks

Our chosen band are NSYNC (also written as *NSYNC) The group consists of Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and JC Chasez. The group released their first self- titled album on May 26 1997 in Germany, this went to number 1 in its second week. The singles that were released from this were;

I want you back

• German Chart: 13
• Uk singles: 5
• USA Billboard Hot 100: 13

British Edit of NSYNC album

1. "Tearin' Up My Heart" (Radio Cut) Kristian Lundin; Max Martin 3:35 2. "I Just Wanna Be With You"   Full Force 4:03 3. "Here We Go" (Radio Cut) Bonny Aris; Toni Cottura 3:33 4. "For The Girl Who Has Everything" (Club Mix) Joylon Skinner; Veit Renn 3:46 5. "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You" (Remix) Carl Sturken; Evan Rogers 3:58 6. "You Got It"   Veit Renn 3:33 7. "I Need Love"   Gary Corolla 3:14 8. "I Want You Back" (Radio Cut) Denniz Pop, Max Martin 3:12 9. "Everything I Own"   David Gates 3:59 10. "Thinking Of You (I Drive Myself Crazy)" (Remix) Rick Nowels; Allan Rich; Ellen Shipley 4:00 11. "Crazy For You"   Christian Hamm 3:42 12. "Sailing"   Christopher Cross 4:36 13. "Giddy Up"   Veit Renn 4:09 14. "U Drive Me Crazy" (Radio Cut) Max Martin, Kristian Lundin 3:3 No Strings Attatched 2000 US Edition No. Title Writer(s) Length 1. "Bye Bye Bye"   Carlsson, Lundin, Schulze 3:20 2. "It's Gonna Be Me"   Martin, Carlsson, Yacoub 3:12 3. "Space Cowboy (Yippie-Yi-Yay)" (feat. Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes) Chasez, Lopes 4:23 4. "Just Got Paid"   Griffin, Hall, Kemp, Riley 4:10 5. "It Makes Me Ill"   Burrus, Briggs 3:30 6. "This I Promise You"   Marx 4:48 7. "No Strings Attached"   Chasez, Daymond, Greggs 3:48 8. "Digital Get Down"   Chasez, Nicoll, Renn 4:26 9. "Bringin' Da Noise"   Chasez, Renn 3:32 10. "That's When I'll Stop Loving You"   Warren 4:55 11. "I'll Be Good For You"   Antunes, Calloway, Pendergrass, Timberlake 3:59 12. "I Thought She Knew"   Wiley

Controversy over Rihanna's " We Found Love"

We found love

released: 19th October 2011.

director: Melina Matsoukas.

The director of this music video was recently slammed for by anti rape campaigners who claimed the video showed a female (Rihanna) being possessed by a man, and is too

similar to most domestic cases although the director has recently hit back at these claims saying 'We love to do provocative imagery' and 'It's really just about it being toxic, and they're on this drug trip and that definitely plays a part, but I think it's also about being triumphant over those weaknesses, and she leaves him. It's not trying to glorify that type of relationship. 

The bad parts of it, that's what you don't want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life'

Rihanna herself has also spoken about the video "It's probably one of the deepest videos I've ever done. It's all about love and love being like a drug. You definitely get that from this - the good feeling of it and the dangers of it. That's what this video's about." 

'We Found Love' is Rihanna's new single with Calvin Harris and is the first to be taken from her forthcoming album, which is released in November'

FishEye Lens

FishEye Lens:

When filming directors may choose to use a Fisheye Lens, this could also be known as a wide angle lens. The first kind of fisheye lens to be used was the a "circularr fisheye lens", this lens took a 180 degree angle and and projected this as a circle withing the frame.
These kind of lens are mainly used when filming R&B music videos and in some cases Hip hop. An example of when a fisheye lens is used is during Missy Elliot's video for "Supa Dupa Fly" which was produced by Hype Williams, the fisheye lens after this video was made, was then known as Hype Williams signature.

The first Music video to be shot using a fisheye lens was the Beastie Boys " Shake your rump" in 1989.

EF - Representation Of Women In Music Videos

The way in which women are represented in music videos, especially a video by a male artist, is often a huge area which causes great controversy. The ideas and tactics shown in and by music videos surrounding women can be perceived in some cases as being very insulting and undermining to a woman's identity and nature. However there are many female artists who choose to flaunt what they have got in the form of sexuality by using sexual references and connotations in their music video in order to form a 'male gaze' for men. 


Males 'rappers' are often known for using women in their videos as a form of 'eye candy' having them half dressed, with most of there body shown normally their legs, thighs, stomach and in particular the breasts, a good example of this is in 50 Cent's music video for 'Candy Shop'. 


The name of the song can also hint how women are going to be represented 'candy' being the main metaphor of women, almost hinting that women are like sweets, tasty, seductive and addictive, once you had one you cant stop, which you can hear 50 Cent say at 0:38 seconds in the video. Feminists could see this as sexually exploiting women to the advantage of men, showing women as men's property not the independent women feminists want them to be. 

A theory that has often come up when looking at music videos is the "male gaze theory", which suggests that music videos will often use women with very little clothing on, who are also quite glamerous and 'busty' shown in the 50 Cent video previously mentioned. 


The idea behind their inclusion is that they will attract a male audience or the male gaze. This kind of technique is common in music videos, despite arguably been degrading to women. 

Women who present themselves as sexual objects in their music videos such as Lady Gaga, could be seen as a way of showing men how they treat or perceive women, showing the control men have over women, and how they see them. 

This is seen in Lady Gaga's video for 'Bad Romance'. 
To begin with she presents herself as this innocent women dressed in white with pale skin and pink eyes suggesting purity and innocence, how women are seen then she transforms in her clothing to this provocative black leather, bikini type clothing when the male begins to take control, this clothing can maybe hint that she is trying to present herself as a strong, in control women who isn't taken over by a man, shown in the end scene when she is on the bed with a skeleton, trying to show she has killed the man who was trying to hurt her. This video could be seen as a way of Lady Gage wanting to show the audience that women are not always the innocent, vulnerable women they are stereotyped to be. 

Here is a video I found on YouTube produced by somebody else, so this is not my video but i thought it was a good example to show visually : 





Here is another one explaining how someone else see's women representation in hip hop videos, this focuses more on how they see African American Women represented : 

All - Week 8 Podcast 2 - Media Language