Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. There are also cases where songs are used in tie in marketing campaigns that allow them to become more than just a song. Tie ins and merchandising could be used in toys are marketing campaigns for food and other products. Although the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920s, they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip". Since the creation and increased popularity of YouTube, mainstream artists now promote new music videos by releasing trailers of short promos on the site for their upcoming song and music video. Consequentially, YouTube has been converted into a social media platform for celebrities and artists to market themselves to their fans and audiences.

Animation director

An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film. This may include directing the character design, background animation, and any other aspect of animation.

The role is not the same as the director of an animated film.

"Animation Director" can sometimes refer to somebody who handles the technical aspect of animation while a director works out everything on storyboards.

Differences between the American and Japanese Models

In the United States, the terms animation director and supervising animator are sometimes used interchangeably, and in essence, they refer to the same thing. As they are usually called supervising animators in the American tradition, animation directors who work in the United States will henceforth be referred to by that term. However, one key difference does exist: under the classical Disney model of American animation, supervising animators directly oversee the animation of a single character. For example, Eric Goldberg was the supervising animator of the Genie in Aladdin, but he was not involved in the animation of any other major characters or sequences.

Darren Hughes

Darren Colyn Hughes (born 3 April 1978) is a New Zealand former Member of Parliament between 2002 and 2011, first elected at the age of 24. He represented the Labour Party and was a Minister outside Cabinet in the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand.

In 2011 Hughes resigned from Parliament and in 2012 he relocated to the United Kingdom to become the Campaigns and Research Director of the Electoral Reform Society. In 2013 Hughes became Deputy Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, based in South London.

Current role

Darren Hughes is Deputy Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society (ERS). The ERS is a civil society organisation striving to make British democracy fit for the 21st century. Since joining the ERS in 2012, Hughes has been responsible for driving the Society’s campaigns and research priorities. Under the leadership of Hughes and Chief Executive Katie Ghose, the Electoral Reform Society has broadened its remit beyond its traditional focus on voting systems, to promote other issues that are vital to the health of British democracy. These priorities fall within the campaign and research fields of ‘A Fair Franchise’, ‘Who Runs Britain?’ and ‘Democratic Futures’.

Shayne Ward

Shayne Thomas Ward (born 16 October 1984) is an English pop singer and actor, who rose to fame as the winner of the second series of The X Factor. His debut single, "That's My Goal", was released in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2005 and became the last number one of 2005 on the UK Singles Chart and that year's Christmas number one. It sold 313,000 copies on its first day of sales, making it the third fastest-selling single of all time in the UK, behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and Will Young's "Evergreen", which sold 685,000 and 400,000 copies in their first days of sale respectively.

Ward is the only X Factor winner to release an original song as his winner's single; all other winners have released a cover version. Ward's prize, as winner, was a recording contract with Simon Cowell's Syco record label, which is co-owned by Sony Music. The contract had a stated value of £1 million, of which £150,000 was a cash advance and the remainder was allocated to recording and marketing costs. His eponymous debut album was released in April 2006. It debuted at number one on both the Irish and UK Albums Charts, going 4× Platinum in Ireland and Platinum in the UK. It also spawned two hit singles: "No Promises" and "Stand by Me". Follow-up album Breathless, featuring the top 10 hits "If That's OK with You" and "No U Hang Up", was released in November 2007 and topped the Irish charts, where it went 5× Platinum, but only managed number two in the UK.

Syco

Syco Entertainment, often known simply as Syco, is a global joint venture between Simon Cowell and Sony Music Entertainment focused on the production and marketing of music, television, film and digital content. It employs a staff of more than 50 in offices in London and Los Angeles and manages a string of high-profile television and music brands through partnerships with Sony Music labels and TV production partners, most notably FremantleMedia.

Syco was initially owned by Simon Cowell, then sold to Sony. But in 2010, a new company was formed as a 50/50 partnership between Cowell and Sony, keeping the pre-existing name Syco but titled as Syco Entertainment. In 2015, it was announced that the Syco Entertainment joint venture would be extended for a further 6 years. Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green, a close friend of Cowell, serves as an advisor to the company.Karren Brady, television personality and vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C., also serves as an advisor to the company.