Polydor Records

During one of our Media lesson we had two members of Polydor Records, telling us about their business and personal experiences with big as well as unknown artists. Showing us few of their final products and their initial ideas, ideas how it developed.

As in A2 we are going through the process of making an idea, develop it and expand to a final fine production before the shooting day, and the similarities of the different steps we have to go through in comparison to a big business like it, was very interesting.

They gave us tips of what we should aim at, being realistic as well as creative and innovative.

-       It is crucial to talk to the main artist to understand their style, genre and ideas so to match them with the ideal art directors and staff to end up with the best result.

This step is crucial as it can determine the main clients satisfaction, something that Polydor Records really cares about.

-       The brief is another important part of pre production as it determine a meeting point between the artist and the company, if you are lucky you will fine people that will be happy with anything you come out with, oppositely to other that won’t agree and reject the project several times, making it more challenging as we all know that nothing will go perfectly either in pre or post production.

-       The brief has to have a clear structure and be as illustrative as possible for the clients to really get and perceive the intent of the music video, without any unexpected surprises. The brief will then turn into a detailed storyline and shot list used during the shooting and in post production for the editing process step by step.

-       The musician must be updates through out the whole shooting in case of sudden changes, as running out of time is a usual thing for this type of business. Usually it’s around 2 days of shooting.

-       The artist performance is essential as you can use through out the while video in case of any particular gaps within post production. Also the musician want to sell him/her self to the public to be as successful as possible, so a good representation of them is very important.

-       The director usually decided the colour pallet, knowing that you can’t satisfied everyone, and you need to find the right balance between art work and aesthetic.

I thought I was really useful as they emphasise several times the importance of entertaining the audience and the appeal of the music video, following trends, come out with original and innovative ideas isn’t easy so just keeping track with recent music video and have a clear detail plan before the shooting day is essential, for a final professional result.

My favourite product presented by Polypro Records