Reflections on the Project

On the whole, I think the project went really well. In terms of group dynamic, everything ran smoothly and i feel my individual editing skills have improved greatly over the course of the project. In hindsight, I feel i would have liked to be a bit more creative with shots in the band performance and would have used a better light source in the narrative. However, I am still delighted with the final outcome and also the fact that I feel we really bonded as a group. We chose a song and idea that we knew would be challenging and i truly believe our hours of effort have really paid off and left us with a high-quality music video....

END OF PROJECT!

FINAL -Myspace link, Album Cover, Video

www.myspace.com/thescarlettpimpernells

Music Videos

Celine Dion - My Heart will go on

• Big song like 'Gold'
• Portrays powerful emotion - love
• Performance cut with a narrative
• Direct Address
• Money shots
• 0.44-0.48 - overlaying closeups of hands - similar to many of our intimate shots. we also used a few overlays
  

The Cribs - Men's Needs

• Voyeuristic views of woman, scopohphilic pleasures (although censored)
• One shot - interesting effect on audience
• Money shots
• Goes form out of focus to in focus very quickly. That teamed with the fast paced zooming and shaky handheld camera = disorientating
• band performance
• Mainly disjuncture (werid) but possibly some amplification???
  

The Cribs - Martell

• 0:48 similar shot to our microphone shot at....
• cut to the beat (music, visual relationship evident)
• money shots
• direct address
• amplification - 'slap on the back' - visuals show a mannequin with 3 red streaks on it's back, 'you hate my sunglasses' -mannequin with sunglasses on

Beyonce - Crazy in Love

(Embedding disabled)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0i38JRTyMik

• Voyeuristic views of women, objectifying their bodies
• Camera focused on parts of body - Shots of legs with red stilettos, CU of bum (zooming), chest pumps, silhouette in water etccccc
  
• Direct address whilst dancing/being 'sexy' - as if for the audience
• male gaze --> scopohrophilia

Westlfe -
-Flying without wings - typical of genre, matching outfits
-You raise me up - big song, black and white, powerful emotion portrayed

Lyrics and visuals link

There are three types of relationship that can exist between a music video's lyrics and visuals-

1) Illustration - not always literal, can be symbolic. Nevertheless, the lyrics and visuals will be linked directly.
2) Amplification - add/develop meaning to the song. Adds new layers.
3) Disjuncture - contradiction between the lyrics and image, generally unrelated.

Stroryboard of intimate instrumental section

I admit my drawing skills are not the finest....

Band logo

I know bands don't HAVE to have logos and many don't but i think that a band logo can enhance the identity of the band. It means that merchandise will be easier as well. However, i am aware that we are a small band but a recognisable logo would still help with our band image.
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A few distinguised band logos --> very recognisable

Foo Fighters

Disturbed


Nirvana

30 Seconds to mars

Kaiser Chiefs Research

Official Website - http://www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk/
-Recent News
-Gallery
-Forum
-Member info
-Live performances
-Merchandise stores

Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/kaiserchiefs
- Music
-Bulletins
- Blogs
-Freind Requesting
-Photos
-Upcoming shows
-Comments

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaiser-Chiefs/15155960214
-Photos
-Videos
-Fans
-Discography
-Comment Wall
-Discussion Board
-Information (biography etc)

Marketing

Would we be more likely to be in NME or Q magazine? hmmm

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Interesting Marketing Strategies

• The White Stipes - giving vinyl to critics
• McFly - gave away their album 'Radio:ACTIVE' for free in the mail on sunday
• Radiohead - let the fans choose the price of the album

Band pictures

Looked at Alphabeats's but they're wayyyyy to indie
Looking into Franz Ferdinand, Duran duran, u2, new order, sex pistols etc and will post any photos i find that i think look quite good. May need to have a group meeting to discuss myspace soon

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Was looking here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_Wave_bands_and_artists) for inspiration....Didn't find any.

Need to do

• Myspace work
• previous years music video analysis?
• Specific Band marketing
• ?
  

Theory Lesson Reflections

After reading Carol Vernallis theory work on music video ("The kindest cut: functions and meanings of music video editing") i found the most important tips to be....

1) The rules surrounding continuity in music video differ from those in films
Continuity is a lot more important in films (as it is needed for it to make sense) than it is in music videos.

2) Graphic matches can be used freely in music video
Music videos (due to the lack of rules) can use many more intersting editing techniques than film can get away with e.g. the graphic match.

3) Music videos frequently employ intentionally disjunctive edits
Editing in music videos is made jumpy and thus noticable intentionally as thge editing is as much part of the music video as the images. In film, the aim is to make the editing seamless.

4) Music videos can create confusion about what is an edit and what is not
Intersting camera movement can blur the line in music video between what is an edit and what is not.

5) One cannot construct a typical shot order for music video
Due to the free nature of music video (i.e. random/ no rules). Things like narrative don't have to be shot chronologically or in fact make any sense at all meaning you can basically do anything you want (not saying there is no narrative, just less emphasis placed upon it unlike film)

6) Unlike films, music videos do not divide neatly into scenes
"contain internal repetition and often possess a kind of symmetry"

Music Video Director Analysis

I tried to find out who directed the original Gold - Spandau Ballet music video but i couldn't find the information anywhere. HOWEVER I did find out that Band member Gary Kemp started writing this as a spoof of James Bond theme songs (specifically Goldfinger) which i thought was quite interesting. Anyway i decided to look into other music video directors...
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Jonas Odell
Information obtained from wikipedia

- DOB - 10th November 1962, Stockholm Sweden
-a swedish music/film video director
-founder of 'FilmTecknarna'
-specialises in a mix of animation and live action

Videos He's directed

• Take me out -Franz Ferdinand (for which he received an award for an award for a breakthrough video of the year at the MTV Music Awards 2004, as well as a Grammy nomination.
• Feeling a moment - Feeder
• Strict Machine - Goldfrapp

Found this video ('Michael' by Franz Ferdinand) while looking for Franz Ferdinand music directors and i noticed a number of similarities between our music video and the performance in the above video. There are a lot of CU 'beauty shots' of the main vocalist and there are 4 members positioned in basically the same way as in our music video. Both videos also have the same set up i.e. a performance and a narrative.

Genre

It could be said that 'eighties' is a genre in itself but researching into it a bit deeper I've found that in the early 80s the most popular genre was 'disco' and for the rest of the 80s hard rock, glam rock and 'hairbands' dominated

THIS website gives a list of songs and bands who were very popular in the eighties
Further research -http://80music.about.com/cs/tp.htm

The Music Scene
Taken from here ...

The 1980s was a decade of revolutionary changes on the music scene. The two major developments were the advent of MTV and the compact disc. Music became more diverse, with new wave, heavy metal, rap, techno pop, alternative rock and the "new" country sounds. And music became a huge marketing tool as filmmakers, TV producers and manufacturers of everything from sneakers to soft drinks used hit songs and hot performers to sell their products.

MTV was called "illustrated radio" and a "subliminal fashion show" by its detractors, who complained that it elevated image over music. Daryl Hall, of the pop duo Hall and Oates, said that "the visual has begun to overpower the music." But music videos revived an industry that was in decline in 1979, when revenues plunged 10% in a single year. Video dance clubs sprang up everywhere. Radio played a wider variety of music. Many artists acknowledged the impact of MTV on their careers; Duran Duran understood that their appeal depended on music video exposure. No artist surpassed Madonna in terms of taking advantage of the decade's image-based music revolution.

U2, Tina Turner

Applied Theory

Andrew Goodwin in his book "Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992)" set out a number of charateristics/features common to all music videos. They are as follows...

1) Muisc videos demonstrate genre characteristics
There is a definate 80s influence evident in our music video idea which is shown through our mise-en-scene, performance style, costume etc

2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
Our idea doesn't stick to this rigidly as it's quite abstract and is more conceptual than literal. Howeevr there are specific lyrics such as 'remember we were partners in crime' and 'the man witht he suit and the pace' which directly link to our narrative story (amplification) and helped us to initially think up ideas.

3) There is a relationship between music and visuals
The performance in our music video idea links to the eighties style of music in our chice of hairstyles, costumes etc which helps withour bands band image but our narrative part is more film noir, 20s infleunced which makes this particualr music video by the band unique...

4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur their work. These include CU of the star's face, iconography of band image, visual trademarks/motifs.
We plan for our performance to be mainly CU, tightly framed shots with only a few whole band shots every so often. The bands 80s style should be part of their image and should continue to be evident in further videos

5) There is frequently refereence to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
The female charater in our video is supposed to be a femme fatale (master os seduction etc) which has sexual connotations. There will be lots of shots of her walking, CU of specific parts of her body (e.g. lips, eyes etc) .......

6) There is often intertextual reference
The video plays homage to 80s culture and referances other bands such as Franze Ferdinanad, Spandau Ballet, and Duran Duran. There are also intertextuak referance to traditional film noir characters e.g. femme fatale

Song Choice

Spandau ballet - Gold
Weahve made a unanimous group decision to make a music video to the song 'Gold' from the eighties band, Spandua Ballet. It is a big song, quite similar to Celine Dions 'my heart will go on' in the way that eveyrone knows it. This means it will be a real challenge to make our video believable, entertaining and suitable for repeat viewing and therefore successful. However, I feel with extensive planning, group cohesion and also the fact that all the members in our group have individual skills and are dedicated, I think we can do it =)

Holidays

Right well I'm off today and back on the 17th so i highly doubt there'll be any more postings between now and then...

Things we want in the narrative...

-Chandelier
-Cobbled Stone Streets
-Street light
- Grand staircase

Inspiration

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

-Cut with a film - quite filmic
-Perfomance linked with films (i.e. he is watching it)
-Band performance
-BIG SONG!
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Ultravox - Vienna

-film noir (black and white)

-old style outfits e.g. detective coats

-cobbled streets and garnd buildings - exactly the kind of loactions we're looking for

Sure, thanks for asking to use the layout =]
Emma
x

Music Video Conventions

Although general rules in the film industry are continually broken intentionally in the music video industry, music videos still have some identifiable conventions.

There are many signifiers in music video that can be used to tell what genre they belong in e.g guitars for rock or metal, no instruments for pop etc. Artists can also be presented in a certain way to fit their unique image and genre e.g. singing, dancing, playing, instruments, acting.

Images in a music video can be used to illustrate, amplify or contradict the music or the lyrics. Illustrative images are basically narrative. Images that amplify develop the meaning behind the lyrics or the music and aren't directly linked. Images that contradict the music or lyrics are essentially completely random but usually make the more enjoyable, entertaining, popular music videos for audiences.

Due to the fact that the music industry id generally made by men for men, it can often present a voyeuristic view of woman. However, in recent years things have been changing due to new markets opening up e.g. the gay market.

Muisc videos can also draw upon other texts (e.g. eighties popular culture, films) for intertextuality

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I didn't watch it all the way through but the first few minutes were brilliant (in a laugh at kind of way)

Reminders

Stuff I/we need to do (either on here or the group blog)

• Music Video Analysis
• Music video conventions work
• Past Amateur Music Videos
• Actor, location photos
• Inspiration
• Album cover stuff
  

Here's your group work on Marketing!

Femme Fatale Research

"an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire"

"ability to entrance and hypnotize her male victim"

"Her charms leach the virility and independence of lovers, leaving them shells of themselves"

"In contemporary times the femme fatale is symbolic of women of free will and unrestrained passion."

"Survives as heroine and anti-heroine"

"In social life, the femme fatale tortures her lover in an asymmetrical relationship, denying confirmation of her affection. She usually drives him to the point of obsession and exhaustion so that he is incapable of making rational decisions" I think this is very interesting....possible narrative for our music video

-Wikipedia

I looked on google for some femme fatale photos so we could start thinking about costume, props, MES etc but they were all a bit on the slutty side and not quite the look I had in mind. However here are some pictures I thought were quite good.

BLK feedback

no progress on this blog for a while Cat, please add to it regularly - gaps are to be avoided as this will have a negative impact on the marking of your individual work for this project

Moodboard

Sum 41, Bowling for Soup, Son of Dork
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Due to our genre AND idea change i realised that this post, although it could be said to be initial research seems quite irrelevant. Therefore i thought I'd put up lots of pictures that either directly link to our music video (e.g. costumes) or to the idea behind it (e.g. film noir)

BLK feedback

great ideas Cat, there may be some issues with some of these tracks but i think they are all fairly do-able. If a track is too long, we can cut/fade it at an appropriate point. I agree with the prodigy/pendulum point. anyway good work. try and complete any unfinished bits asap and get them out the way.

The Chemical Brothers - Elektrobank Analysis

Editing
-cuts
-footage set to the pace of the music
-cut aways (e.g. father, crowd, judge)
-dissolves (e.g. at the end)
-fades (e.g. between girl and coach)

Mise-en-scene/ colour/costume
-Natural lighting
-blue and white colour scheme
-red ribbon - stands out
-gym competition - small crowd - realistic

Camera framing and movement
-Establishing shot
-Door - frame within a frame
-high angle --> shows location
-POV shots (e.g. girl)
-hand held (e.g. thumbs up)
-tracking shots (shows distance travelled)
-long shots

SFX
-slow motion --> emphasises action

Target Audience
male, 20s to mid 30s

Eminem - Stan Analysis

Editing
-Straight cuts
-Fades to and from black
-Fades between different storylines or locations
-Cross cuts
-Cut to a beat

Lighting
-Realistic lighting (ambient?)
-All quite low lit
-Lighting in basement is dimmer
-Lightening??

Colour
-Dirty, dark, green tinged --> poor standard of living
- Black and white --> memories, fame

Mise-en-scene
-Lightening --> danger, 'horror movie'
-Rain --> doom and gloom
-Mirrors --> reflections on past, what he wants to be
-Photographs --> Memories, fame, obsession
-Grimy Bathroom -peeling paint, dirty etc

Camera
- 'beauty shots' of Eminem
- Voyeuristic shots --> through windows, frame within frame in car
-Vertical tracks
-Horizontal tracks
High angle - viewing scene objectively, not there
-Circling and low angles of Stan - focus

Costume
All quite chilled out, not too dressed up...reflects class of society and surroundings

SFX
-Lightning
-Rain
-Car into water
-End with the window
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Representation
-Obsession, violence and aggression are seen in the video but not actually by Eminem - less violent for him
- The real celebrity life - obsessive fans, has the same problems as normal people (girlfriend issues) etc

Narrative
-Informal realtionship between stan and eminiem, funeral, dido and stan relationship, obsession

Audience

-Young, teenage audience to mid-20s

-eminem and dido fans

Initial Ideas - Possible Tracks

• Luke and I like Angelspit but the song we have in mind has a few issues with lyrics i.e. the repetition of 'pill binge'
• Millionaire by Queens of the Stone Age...everyone in the group seems quite keen on this one.
• Angela and I quite like Infected Mushroom's music (e.g. suliman) but the majority of their songs are too long.
• Any of Pendulum's tracks that don't have videos...likewise the Prodigy. Very adaptable and have a lot of potential.
• Seeing how fun our remake of busted was and how good it turned out we are all now keen to do something similar e.g. mcfly, sum 41, blink 182, new found glory or another busted song.
  

BLK FEEDBACK

Some useful work here Cat, but don't forget to post your track ideas asap

Marketing Strategy Reflection - The Dynobots

What did you miss out?
- A unique selling point although perhaps we don't have one because we were trying to market ourselves at a conventional indie band who are just like everyone else.
-Myapce - 'Featured Artist' section, top friends of other big bands
-Signing in HMV
-Turning on the Christmas lights
-Use location to market e.g. make a music video in traf. square, london --> get attention

What have you learnt?
- Have a deeper unerstanding of what it means to market 'above the line' and 'below the line'
- USP helps band stand out or blend in the the current music scene
- Merchandise doen't have to link directly to the band themselves or there music e.g. the sheep on our cover
- Timing is everything e.g. christmas, released so as to go head to ehad with another band/ avoid this
- Convention is needed up to a cetain point to give the artists identity but can be broken
- It might not suit a bands image to play big venue's like wembly....rather do a pub crawl
- Marchandise can be produced cheaply at home e.g. tshirt designing kit
- Some bands/artists obviously don't write their own myspace blogs etc( air of mystery around their private life) whereas others do it themselves/makes it seem as if they've done it themselves making it more persoanl, informal and fun.
- There are lots of tactics involved with getting on radio e.g. free demos / merchandise for a competition
-It's not what you know but who you know! (makes a big difference in the business)

LostProphets Cover

***Interesting Article***


Images Used

- 2 eagles
- road or trainline on a bridge?
- high rise buildings of the city in the distance
- lone figure in a hoodie and jeans
- black, blue and white colour scheme

Text
- lostprophets typical symbol at the top - first thing you see, bold, important - not capitalised (not formal??fun??)
- swirly writing for album cover name at the bottom - hadnwriting, caligraphy, samller (less important) -> more personal

Anchorage
-colour scheme of blue, black and white
- album title

Iconography
-the eagle is present in a lot of lost prophets merchandie - could be said to be their logo (distinguishing)

Audience

-Both a male and a female target audience (men idolise them, woman fancy them etc)

-Young teens to possibly mid 20s although that may be pusing it)

Album Cover Research

1) Biffy Clyro - Puzzle

2) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sex Sugar Majik

3) Buckcherry - 15

4) Pendulum - Hold Your Colour

5) Jamie T - Panic Prevention

6) Plan B - Who Needs Actions When You Got Words

7) Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious


8) Tenacious D - The Pick Of Destiny

9) Muse - Absolution

10) Angelspit - Krankenhaus

1 - What are the typical features each cover has?

Artist/band name - All but 6
CD name - All
Main image or focus point - All

Background - All

2 - How can the covers be catagorised?

Those with the star on them - 2??, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
Those with other images on them - 1, 2???, 3, 4, 7
Those using colour - All
Those with the image as the main focus - All but 6
Those with text as the main focus - 6

3 - What are the purposes of these covers?

To promote the image of the artist/band
To be eye catching/stand out
To sell the album
To advertise the genre of music to audience
To appeal to the specific audience