First advert

This is the first draft of our poster; to create the look of a playing card, I scanned in a piece of screwed-up paper and placed and placed it on top the poster we created originally on Photoshop. The spades sign represents the band and is a recurring symbol in their name on their website and in their music videos.

Adverts

We have been researching many different band posters, but agreed that it would be easier to look further at posters that did not include photos of the band itself, because we cannot get the band to do a shoot. We have decided to try different techniques of presenting our band without having to have photos of them.

Here is an example of the band 'Crytal Castles', they have used a cartoon picture of a castle tower, which is iconic to the band's name ('Castles') with a rainbow shooting out, the colours represent the genre of music they produce (pop-techno).

Another example is the one for Led Zeppelin, the font in particular is iconic to the  band, because it's what they use on all their albums and posters. The picture is of London, which is where the band are from, and the plane above 'Big Ben' is called a 'Zeppelin' which is very relevant to the bands name. 

Advertising

Kerrang is a UK based magazine devoted to rock music. It was published on 6 June in 1981 as a one-off supplement in the 'Sounds' newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sounds made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. Kerrang was originally devoted to the 'New Wave of  British Heavy Metal' and the rise of the hard rock acts. In early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. 

Under The Influence have featured in Karrang magazine as 'up and coming artists' and also appeared on Karrrang T.V recently performing their new song 'Kings and  Cretins'. We believed that because of the genre of music, Kerrang would be the perfect magazine to advertise out band. 

Digipak 2

Here are the next two sections of our Digipak:

In the next section of our Digipak the graffiti theme is common again. The conveys the theme of being rebellious which the concept of our band and our original video idea was about.

Above is where the CD will go. In the centre of the road sign, which is circular, the CD will be placed with the outside of the building as the background.

Feedback from filming

Our rough cut was displayed to the class, during and after the showing of our rough cut we were given feedback in both positive and negative form, here is some of the feedback that we received:

Good points:

- Good pace of editing, the pace matches the song.
- A good variety of camera angles, lots of close ups which is good but also some long shots.
- Concept of the music video is good.

Ways to improve:

- Need to add performance.
- Reshoot the door as it is left open.
- Good shots but need more camera movement.

Filming update

What we still need to film:

This week we will film the rest of our narrative piece. We need to film more close ups of our main character when he goes outside to make the visuals coincide with the lyrics a lot more sufficiently. We then will have the main character going back to the house as he reaches the car, forgetting something. Again, we need to add numerous amounts of close ups of the main character to show emotion better and to add to the speed of the video especially during the chorus of the song. The main character will pick up tickets from the house and then run back to the car. the car will then arrive at a venue where the characters are about to watch the band “Under The Influence”.

Next week we will film the performance side of the video. We will have a band set up with instruments and will edit the shots in the video back and fourth from the performance to the narrative. We will lip sync the main character to fit the sound of “Vs The World” by “Under The Influence”. We need to use specific camera movements such as pans of the drummer which Under The Influence have done in their video to make it a lot more quicker. 

North Country Boy

For my third music video analysis, i have chosen North Country Boy by The Charlatans. I based my star image at the beginning of my blog on Tim Burgess from The Charlatans and linked it to the Madchester Music Scene. Along with analysing this music video, i will link it with Ian Brown's Stelify and Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box which i previously analysed. I will then state how they all link with out current band "Under The Influence" and will compare the different genre's that the music comes from.

The mise-en scene of the setting in the North Country Boy video is similar to that of Ian Brown's Stelify. The trait of walking through Manchester just like on Stelify occurs and as both Ian Brown and The Charlatans originate from Manchester similar codes and conventions were included. Also, both North Country Boy and Stelify are more concept based videos with no performance, albeit there is lip synching. Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana however was heavier and included a performance piece, this is why i feel that is is relevant to add a performance piece to our music video to Vs The world. As Vs the World is a more heavier Rock than the songs by The Charlatans and Ian Brown, we feel that we should follow the convention of including a performance and a narrative in it.

There are numerous close ups of the lead singer Tim Burgess in the video, this ties in with my star image as Tim Burgess is the main star from the video which fans relate to the most. As for editing, as the chorus of the song begins and the music gets slightly heavier the shot pace changes. The pacing of the shots becomes very quick which makes the music coincide with the visuals as they complement each other during the heavier and lower parts of the song. There is a red fill light during some of the shots where there are close ups of Tim Burgess singing, usually red fill lights would be used in movies, particularly Horror with the red lighting indicating danger or blood. In this instance the red fill lighting is used to make Tim stand out in the streets of Manchester. It objectifies him to the audience who relate to him the most out of the band.

Above an example of the red fill light in the video to North Country Boy. Tim Burgess is made to be the stand out figure.

Ultimately i have learned from the analysis of the three music videos and my star image that we definitely should add a performance piece to our video. I also think that it is imperative that we add more close ups of our main character when he is outside, as we currently have little close ups. lip synching will need to be perfect to match the visuals and as the song is quite heavy, especially at the chorus we cannot afford to make a mistake while lip syncing. Lighting is something that i have mentioned little of in regards to out music video of late, that is because i thought it was of little significance to our song. By analysing North Country Boy by the Charlatans i have come to the conclusion that i was wrong and we definitely need to concentrate harder on lighting. I feel that we need to use lighting during certain close ups of the main character that we implement into the music video to convey specific emotion by him while he is in a hurry and running.

Digipak idea

We have began our Digipak idea which we will expand on in the upcoming lessons. We have used out skills in Graphics to create a CD based around our band "Under The Influence". We created all of the material ourselves and used no images of the band themselves. A few screen grabs below with descriptions will illustrate what we have done:

Above is the album cover that we created for our Digipak. We used our creativity on Photoshop to make the spade in the title and to combine the images together. We feel that the brick wall with the appeared graffiti compliments and links with the band as the theme of being rebellious is common again here. We also matched the font to be the same colour, size and type which will will consistently use.

Above is the inside page of our Digipak. the song lyrics to "Vs The World" which we are using for our music video are displayed here. We again used Photoshop to add the colourful background which links with the album cover as it is gain of outside graffiti.

We added the tour from "Under The Influence" on the next part of our Digipak above. We added the "Obey" logo as the lead signer from "Under the Influence" wears a snapback from Obey. On top of that there are obey logos visible across videos from Under The Influence which pushed us towards the decision of adding one in the Digipak.

Lyrics

Here are the lyrics to Vs The World by Under The Influence:

My eyes have turned blood red,
My hands are raised with war,
Won't take opinions as,
something that creates a law,
I can wear what i want,
i can do what i wish,
And if you hate me for it,
Well i don't give a shit,
Give me a name, subject, genre,
Or Stereotype,
I'll give two fingers up,
And a reason to believe the hype,
See i've been under siege,
From haters rising left and right,
But i'm not phased i putty them,
I'm sleeping well at night,

We were born for reasons that we fight with,
These are the rules I live my life with,
When will you ever learn,
Your never gonna stop us.

See life's an opportunity,
You've got to take what you get,
Take the love and hate,
Conquer both for respect,
We're all standing outside,
Of a broken home,
With years of anger,
We want a place of our own,
But never give up,
Never go knees to the floor,
Stay around keep knocking,
Until they answer the door,
Then they will finally listen,
An you can have your say,
Then they look to you,
So you can do things your way.

Never Give Up,
Never Go Knees To The Floor,
Stay Around,
Keep Knocking Until They Answer The Door   

As demonstrated by the lyrics, the theme of being rebellious which we originally had fits in with them. Our current concept of our main character being in a huge rush as he is late for the performance would also fit, we just need to add more shots when he runs outside. I feel that as the song builds up during the chorus, we need to add more shots to increase the pace of the video while the chorus of the song is playing.

Performance

We have planned to add a performance piece to our video which will make our video a lot more conventional towards the genre which we are using. We will set up instruments and get performers to pose as the band for the video. We will consistently switch from the narrative to the performance and on occasion will use transitions to switch the shots.

Stelify

This is my second music for analysis which is of Stellify by Ian Brown:

I am going to analyse Stellify by Ian Brown in depth due to my extra knowledge with i have learned from making our film so far. The video is both a performance and an abstract piece, with Ian Brown and the group behind performing the piece while walking down the streets of his home town Manchester. The trend of Ian Brown walking down the streets of Manchester while singing is common across his videos, with his song "FEAR" having him riding a small bike through streets again with him being the main icon of the video. The mise-en scene of the costume of Ian Brown wearing an Adidas tracksuit is common among his videos, Ian Brown is known for his Adidas clothing which he always wears in real life as well as his videos.

 

There are numerous establishing shots of the city which Ian Brown walks through during the video, these convey the setting of Manchester. The significance of Manchester is that it is home to the "Madchester Music Scene" with bands such as Oasis and his own The Stone Roses originating from there. My star image of Tim Burgess from The Charlatans links with the reference as they are a band which also were formed during the "Madchester Music Scene". With the video of a marching band playing a drums following Ian Brown who appears to be leading the line, there are traits from the video that makes me think Ian Brown is trying to say how the "Madchester Music Scene" is not dead and he is trying to bring it back to life, this could be backed up with the recent re-formation of The Stone Roses.

 

The performance of the video with the marching band playing coincides well with the song, the beat to the song also occasionally coincides with the shot changes, this builds up the tension from the video. Close ups and sometimes extreme close ups of Ian Brown while he is singing and walking is common in the video, these again show the star image of Ian Brown, as fans would want to see him as often as possible in the video. The Trumpet playing by the marching band again coincides with the song, which reiterates the previous point mentioned.

 

 

Shots of the footage

Above is a screen shot of a close up that of the shoes that our main character is about to put on. This shot shows extra detail of the object that is about to be used.

The above shot is an aerial shot of our main character when he is running down the stairs. The shot shows extra detail from above and makes more of the setting visible.

The shot above is another close up but this time of the keyboard that the main character uses. The shot coincides with the next one which has Under The Influence being written on the computer, at the same time that the keyboard is being used.

Shot List

Here is a rough shot list of which shots we plan to film within the next week:

Bedroom Scene:
- Shot of person sitting in chair in bedroom on computer.
- Close up of eyes
- Close up of hands
- Close up of watch?
- Close up of tickets

Running Scene:
- Getting up and throwing macbook on bed
- Grabbing Keys and Phone
- Picking up tickets
- Turning out light
- Running down the stairs (variety of shots)
- Putting on shoes
- Getting in car
- Close up of putting key in ignition

Car Scene:
- Car starting
- Close up of lights turning on
- Close up of eyes
- Clock
- Variety of shots with camera outside of car
- Picking Up friend

Research into the genre

The genre of the music that we are using is quite unique. The music is reather heavy but with rapping in between the chorus of the song. There are bands which are similar to Under The Influence which produce similar kinds of music to Vs The World. The best example of another band is Deaf Havana, with songs such as Little White Lies which has a similar sound and lyrics to that of Under The Influence - Vs The World.

Testing

We tested out filming in a car and what it would look like. We used shots from the front of the car which have the entire car visible. The quality of the GoPro that we used is shown to be very good at 1080p and there were no blurry sections in the shots. Although we have now opted not to go with the Gopro, the testing of it made us realise how difficult it would have been to ultimately use in our film. The GoPro was stuch to the front of the car and was constantly filming while we were driving.

Questionnaire results

Here are the results that we got from our questionnaire:

Media Questionnaire

Do you think that our concept fits the music from Under The Influence?

Yes (16)            No (2)                                    Maybe (10)

Do you like the idea of mixing music genres in a song? For example Under The Influence are a Punk/Metal band but they Rap as well.

Yes (25)  No (1)  Maybe (2)

Do you like our choice of music?

Yes (15)  No (5)  Maybe (8)

Do you like our drive-thru idea?

Yes (26)  No (0)  Maybe (2)

Do you think that out idea of using a car to take us to places in the video like a journey is a good one?

Yes (20)  No (2)  Maybe (6)

Are there any places/locations in particular that you think we should include in our video? ……

Answers included someones house and a music venue

 

Do you think that we have the right amount of characters in our video? (4)

Yes (15)  No (4)  Maybe (9)

Do you have any additional feedback/comments that you would like to make on our video idea? ….

Answers included switching the entire idea which we have now done and making a performance as well as a narrative based video.

Update

We thought that the idea of basing the music video around a car was not very clever, as we never figured out when to film and although we had a go pro if would have been incredibly difficult to film.

We decided to centre the music video around a main character who begins off on his laptop and finds out that he is late for something. he rushes to get ready while the music from Under the Influence plays. He then gets picked up by his friends but forgets something else so he goes back and gets tickets for a concert to see under the Influence.

The music video ends with the characters turning up at a venue about to see Under The influence! We have began shooting and about half of it is completed. we have taken into account lighting and have come up with a new storyboard for it. filming will conclude and hopefully finish within the next few days so that we can add the music into it and begin editing on the final cut.

Problems we encountered

We originally were going to have one of the members of the groups' car as the main setting in our music video. The driver of the car however got injured in a football match and was unable to drive for around three weeks. 

we also live a fair distance away from each other which is a problem as we need one of our houses to film and we all need to get to the same location. 

Under The Influence - Vs The World

Here is the video to Under The Influence - Vs The World:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YxefXwx4k8

Ideas

These are some of the ideas that we came up with on a mind map:

Pitch

Mood Board

Questionnaire

Here is the questionnaire that i made in regards to our pitch:

Media Questionnaire

Do you think that our concept fits the music from Under The Influence?

Yes                                                      No                                            Maybe  
        
              Do you like the idea of mixing music genres in a song? For example Under The Influence are a Punk/Metal band but they Rap as well.

   Yes                                                      No                                                  Maybe

Do you like our choice of music?

  Yes                                                      No                                                   Maybe

Do you like our drive-thru idea?

  Yes                                                      No                                                   Maybe

Do you think that out idea of using a car to take us to places in the video like a journey is a good one?

  Yes                                                      No                                                   Maybe

Are there any places/locations in particular that you think we should include in our video? ……                                                                              

Do you think that we have the right amount of characters in our video? (4)

  Yes                                                     No                                                   Maybe

Do you have any additional feedback/comments that you would like to make on our video idea? ….

Music video

We have been placed in groups to make a music video for a song that we either have permission for or for an unsigned band. Over the last few lessons we have been devising over different plans and different videos that we could use. The previous posts of a Star Image and a music video analysis have given me some extra knowledge of what i could include in our music video and what not to include. I will complete three more music video analyse's to give me more of an insight as to what we should and should not do in our video. I will create a questionnaire from our pitch which we will show in front of the class and i will upload both on my blog. I will also create a mood board which will go on this blog.

Star Image - Tim Burgess

I will be writing an analysis on how a star image is constructed on the artist Tim Burgess. Tim Burgess is the lead singer of the Indie band "The Charlatans", and has also launched a solo career since.
 
Above and to the right are photos of Tim Burgess during the nineties, the peak of The Charlatans' career.

Tim Burgess has always been the main and key focus of The Charlatans in their over twenty-year period of being active. As with most bands, with Foo Fighters and The Cure being examples, the lead singer has been the lead focus. Tim Burgess has been known for having a range of different hair styles, which have been a signature if his to fans of either himself or the band. He has been known to dye his hair, to change the style and length significantly, promoting him as not only a musician but a style icon also.

A lot of videos from The Charlatans have Tim Burgess focused on as the lead role opposed to the other members of the band. "How High" and "North Country Boy" are examples of that, where Tim is conveyed on camera a lot more than the rest of the band who all play smaller roles in the videos. Often videos from The Charlatans are performance based, with "The Only One I Know" being an example of this. Tim Burgess is again showed a lot more frequently even in the performance based videos as opposed to the rest of the band, to not only show him singing but to use him to promote the band and their videos together.

Many videos from The Charlatans follow a similar trend, with Tim Burgess constantly walking and singing while the band are either performing in other shots or are walking with him but without the camera focused on them. Tim Burgess is portrayed through the videos as being cool and as someone to look up to from an audience, the video to "Just Looking" shows Tim walking alone whilst waving to members of the band that he walks past, the shows the theme of being cool that the videos are trying to portray regarding him. Although Tim Burgess is shown the most out of the band in music videos from The Charlatans, the theme of voyeurism is not common among their videos, this is due to most of the videos from The Charlatans being aimed at males as opposed to females (who the Indie genre is more common with) so Tim Burgess is conveyed through aspiration as opposed to being a sexualised figure.

On the topic of the album covers, some of the albums by The Charlatans figure the entire band, and on occasion Tim Burgess is shown the most on the covers, with "Tellin Stories" being an example of this. Tim Burgess is shown more than the rest of the band on the album covers as he is the most recognisable to the audience, and with him shown on the covers fans are more likely to buy the album as they are more familiar with him, and they will be reminded of the previous music that he has been responsible for.

Above are the albums "Tellin Stories" and "Forever, The Singles" by The Charlatans, Tim Burgess is shown on the far right of "Tellin Stories" and in the upper, middle of "Forever, The Singles" as he is most recognised by audiences.

The official website uses a picture of Tim Burgess in the home page above the "shows" category, which uses the star to promote the band through the website (http://www.thecharlatans.net/). Tim Burgess and The Charlatans have also been included with the "Madchester" music scene, alongside band member such as Noel Gallagher and Ian Brown. Tim Burgess has been known to have a similar style to the other Manchester band members, such as similar clothes, hair style and music, this helps promote not only The Charlatans but Tim Burgess himself as he is heavily linked and associated with the very popular music scene from Manchester, which millions of fans are familiar with.

In regards to mise-en scene, from the over twenty-year period that Tim Burgess has been involved in music, he has always been shown with an Indie-styled look. The clothes that he is seen wearing in numerous music videos include jeans and t-shirts with long hair which is very common across the genre. The streets, hotel rooms and hallways are common settings in music videos from The Charlatans, which are common places where partying, alcohol and smoking are common, which relate to the Indie genre because people who are associated with it such as Tim Burgess and Liam Gallagher are known for being "hard partyers" in real life.

In conclusion, Tim Burgess is used to promote his band "The Charlatans" through his portrayal on album covers and in music videos as he is the most popular person from the band who fans mostly aspire to. Tim Burgess is very much associated and his image is constructed through the Indie genre, his clothes and the fact that he has long hair, albeit he frequently changes it, also represents him as a style icon.

Heart Shaped Box

I will analyse the music video to Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P0SitRwy8

I have chosen the music video "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana to analyse in depth and see the styles and techniques which are used to create meaning and generate a response. The video is abstract while the performance side by the band is also conveyed, with not much of a narrative shown. The video consists of the band performing in a fantasy land which leads the audience into thinking that it is the imagination of the lead singer Kurt Cobain. I have chosen this video in particular to analyse as it is quite obscure and original with lots of parts to analyse in it.

The lead singer of the band (Kurt Cobain) is quite blatantly showcased  as the lead and main figure in the Heart Shaped Box video. The other members, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic are frequently shown in the background through long shots, they are often blurred out also. Kurt Cobain is consistently shown through close ups as fans of the band recognise him as the main man. The lead singer of most bands on most if not all occasions is shown as Cobain is in the Heart Shaped Box video for aspiration of them by the viewer, if you think of bands like Queen with Freddie Mercury or The Beatles with John Lennon as an example.

Although some lyrics of the song, particularly the song name, are sometimes illustrated in the video, the video primarily contradicts the lyrics. The band are however often seen in a Heart Shaped Box, especially at the end of the video, which shows how on occasion the lyrics do illustrate the video. The target audience of the video varies hugely, Nirvana fans in the time of the Grunge era (early 90's) were fully diverse when it comes to age, race and culture, of which Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana targets all.

The mise-en scene of costume in the video is very iconic of a Rock band, particularly that of the Grunge genre. Casual, ripped clothes with long hair were common across all grunge bands when the scene began in Seattle. Instead of wearing fully black costumes with black hair and make up like earlier bands of the 80's adopted, the Grunge scene and Nirvana proved through their various music videos, including Heart Shaped Box that you can wear normal, every day clothes and still be Rockers.

The subject of abortion and babies in general is common in the Heart Shaped box video. The props of the fetuses hanging from the branches half way through the video display this. The album of which the song was from is "in Utero", with numerous pictures of fetuses on the inside cover. The setting in Heart shaped Box is portrayed to show the vision of kurt Cobain, and the fact that at the time he was having his only daughter, the common use of babies and fetuses in his album covers and video's show that his own thoughts and vision was conveyed.

The video promotes the song to a large extent to it's audience. The image of Kurt Cobain which is often used in numerous Nirvana music videos (Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Come As You Are) is iconic to viewers and fans of the music. The man on the crucifix and the fantasy land with the little girl and the large woman makes the video original and iconic from others which promotes the song and the band to a wider audience range.

Introduction

This is my A2 Media Studies blog for the 2012/2013 academic year.

This blog will include the planning, development and the evaluation of mine and my groups' music video that will be created. My own personal research will be placed on this blog, including different music video analysis and a star image. The entire planning stages of the video will be conveyed, such as a storyboard and shot list, and developments which may include new ideas and class sessions will also be posted on this blog. Ideas for the concept of our eventual music video will be portrayed, along with different artists who are similar to the music that we chose to compare.

The evaluation of my music video will be split into four different sections, which will all be created on four different technologies. My ancillary texts along with my main texts will be displayed on this blog, along with ideas to convey the progress that I have made over a certain period of time. I will create a Digipak and an advert for my music video, which will also be shown on this blog and will be created using programmes such as 'Photoshop' to coincide with the music video that I will have created.