Task 12 - Target Audience

Target Audience

Task 11 - Inspiration and Directors

 Inspiration and Directors

Task 10 - Record Label Research

Task 9 - Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

Linkin Park - "Minutes To Midnight"

This is the DIgipak for Linkin Park's album " Minutes to Midnight". On this digipak there is the use of minimal colours once again. Black and white features very prominently, particularly on the album cover. The album cover makes it appear like the band member are silhouettes. However they are not it is just the band members wearing dark clothing on a white background. This is done in a similar fashion on what would be the back of the album cover where the band are looking into the water. One common theme in this digipak is the use of dark on light. The three pictorial parts of the digipak show the band members wearing black clothes on a lighter background. The CD itself is a little different as it has grey on a white background. The band's logo features very heavily on the album cover.

The Killers - “Sam’s Town”

This is the digipak for the album “Sam’s Town” by The Killers. The top left of this image shows the album cover. The album cover rather oddly shows an image of a woman in a bikini and a goat with what looks like a trailer or caravan in the background. In the centre of the album cover is the artist's name and album title. The album title is the only part of the album cover that shows any full colour as it is in red text. A fancy font has also been used to display the album title. The fact that there is a woman in a bikini on this album cover could be a voyeuristic method. The goat features prominently throughout the digipak as it is on the CD as well as one of the panels of the digipak. There is also a picture of the band standing at one of the ends of the trailer. Only two of the band members are making direct eye contact with the camera whilst they are all dressed in dark colours. Again we see the use of dark on light. The hole digipak has been greyscaled.


 

 

The Gaslight Anthem - “The 59 Sound”

This is a digipak from The Gaslight Anthem for there album “The 59 Sound”. The album cover features a picture of the band looking into the camera. The lead singer is the most prominent figure in this. Also on the album cover is the band name as well as the album title. The album title and the band name are in the same font but they are different colours. This helps the album stand out. There is a track listing on the digipak. Another part of the digipak is dedicated to giving credits to people during the production of the album. The CD has a basic design. It is all black apart from the record label logo and the band name and album title. The band name is once again in white whereas the album title is once again in blue.

Mumford and Sons - “Babel”

This digipak is different to the previous ones I have analysed. This digipak features a lot of colour and that has been given off by the setting. It appears the band are in a small village square at a festival or fête. The album cover features the band in the foreground with what looks like local residents in the background. The people in the background have been slightly blurred which helps centre the focus even more on the band. Also on the digipak is the same image that's on the album cover just without the band or the people in the background. On the back of the album cover there is a track listing done as if in a brick format. The background to the track listing is a brick wall. The font used is all very similar and it fits in with the bands folk genre. The CD is a navy blue colour with a pattern type design on it. The CD also features three logos also.

Franz Ferdinand - “Franz Ferdinand”

This is the digipak for Franz Ferdinand for the album of the same name. The front cover only features the band's name and other than that it is a blank canvas. This album was released back when Franz Ferdinand were only just coming onto the scene and as so the use of just the band's name would be a good first draw for the first album. It also shows that the band are not focused on any gimmicks and that it is the music that matters.

On the back cover there's a track listing for the album alongside an image of almost mosaic woman as an image to accompany the track listing. The inside cover features credits for the album done in a circle. There are two discs with this album with one of them being a bonus disc. Both discs have the same design however one is black and one is white. There is a saturated image of the band on both discs which is in the opposite colour to the main part of the disc.

 

Task 8 - Music Video Analysis Part 2

Gaslight Anthem - 45

Narrative

The narrative of this song is all about the lead singer reminiscing of the time of record players. The video however has two narratives. One is that the band is just playing in a dark room and the other is fans turning up to a gig and then the band perform live.

Camera

There are a lot of closeups used in this video. These are mainly focused on the faces of the band members when they are playing their music. There are also long shots in this music video. These occur rarely throughout the video but they are used to show the band performing on stage and the camera is positioned behind the fans. There is a number of medium shots used in this video fro, when the band are getting ready to perform to when they actually are performing.

Sound

The only sound used in this video is the actual track from the band Gaslight Anthem.

Editing

There is no use of any special effects or major editing techniques during this video. There are of course jump cuts and such in this video but the video is mainly focused on the music and the band performing rather than having a narrative based video and as such the need for huge amounts of editing is not required.

Mise-en-scene

The band members in this video are wearing the stereotypical rock clothing. The band members are all wearing clothes that they would wear in real life so there is no specific costumes for this video. Setting wise when the band are playing to nobody else they are in a darkened room with just a few spotlights shining on them. It is hard to determine what setting this was done in because of the lighting. When the band are performing live to their fans there is still the dark setting but there is the blue lighting to accompany the white lighting. Also the band appear to be performing on a fairly small stage in a small venue.

Dropkick Murphys - Rose Tattoo

Narrative

The story behind this video is one of the lead singer telling the story of growing up and how he got his tattoos. The tattoos of the lead singer document his life story. The narrative of the video is that the band are sitting in bar around a table. Such things a playing cards, poker chips and beers are on the table also. The band also start performing the song whilst sat round the table.

Camera

This video is unique. Although there are a lot of live camera shots a lot a still images have been used in this video as well. These images generally seem to show the city of Boston (America). Such skills as inside a tattoo parlour and the tattoos themselves are also used extensively. In terms of actual camera shots there are a large amount of closeups. This is because the actual filming predominantly takes place around the table in the bar. The closeups included feature the tattoos, the playing cards and most of all the lead singer.  

Editing

No major editing techniques have been used in this video other than the usual jump cuts as well as the placement of the still images. The whole video however has been created with a grey scale filter

Mise-en-scene

No real mise-en-scene has been played upon for this music video. The band members are wearing no special costumes as they are all wearing clothes they would wear anyway. The setting is the only factor of mise en scene in this video. It appears the band are in an Irish bar where it seems like there isn't a great deal of lighting.

Task 8 - Music Video Analysis Part 1

Jake Bugg - "Seen It All"

Narrative

The story of this music video involves a young man around his early to mid 20s wandering aimlessly around Glasgow. There are multiple parts in the video when the main character spots the Police and he hides away from them. Also there are parts in the video that seem paranormal. The main character touches a dewy window from the outside but the handprint is from the inside. He also plays ping pong and his opponent being Jake Bugg just disappears at one point. The main character also manages to pull a door which would be a push door. At the end of the video the character looks at a TV screen and the news is on. The news reports that there was a victim of a stabbing the previous night and then a picture of the main character appears on the news channel. It is now clear that the main character is a ghost or a lost spirit.

Camera

There is the use of a lot of close ups and establishing shots in particular in this video. The close ups are mainly used to depict the emotions on the characters face as there is an intriguing narrative behind the events of the video. There are also a fair few medium shots but these are more few and far between compared to the amount of close ups used.

Sound

The only sound used in this video is the actual track from Jake Bugg.

Editing

There are a good amount of effects used in this video. There are multiple occasions when slow motion is used. One of these occurs when the character is dancing outside of the cafe and another example is when he is playing ping pong. At the end of the video when the character finds out that he died the night before, he fades away as if he wasn't there. This is a really good effect to use in this situation as if gives a clear answer to thee viewer that the character was a ghost all along and nobody could see him anyway.

Mise-en-scene

The video is set in the Scottish city of Glasgow. Glasgow is a city renowned for its troubles with violence and this is a good setting for the narrative of the video. The character is wearing normal everyday clothes which suggests that he is just a normal person. However there is one point in the video where he looks down at his shirt and there is a gaping hole in it. This is clearly a result of a stabbing but there is no blood stains on his shirt. This part links the lyrics to the video as such lyrics as “Everyone here has a knife” and “Someone stabbed him with a knife”.

Dan Croll - "From Nowhere"

Narrative

The narrative of this video features a staring contest. This links in with the lyrics in the video, “Everytime I stare into your eyes”.

Camera

There is a particularly large amount of close ups in this video. This is to demonstrate the look on people's faces during the staring contest. There are a range of medium shots that have been used in this video. This is mainly for the band members who are also in the staring contest and they are playing their instruments at the same time. The medium shot is used to present that they are playing their instruments. There is a distinct lack of anything larger than a medium shot in this music video. This also the use of high angle shots and these are used to look down upon the props that the organisers of this competition are sorting i.e the stopwatch and the ribbons for competitors.

Sound

The only sound used in this video is the actual track from Dan Croll.

Editing

There is a lack of any major editing techniques in this video. There are only jump cuts really used and the added text to say what competitor number a character is.

Mise-en-scene

The setting of this video appears to be a small town hall or something very similar where there is a small stage setup. All the characters in this video are wearing casual everyday clothing.

Goodwins Theory on Music Videos

Goodwins Theory on Music Videos

Task 7 - Prelim Photography Task

 

Freedom

Shutter speed: 1/60

Aperture: F4

ISO:800

 

Freedom

Shutter speed: 1/50

Aperture: F18

ISO:20

 

Trapped

Shutter speed:1/40

Aperture: F12

ISO:800

Trapped
Shutter speed:1/25
Aperture: F22
ISO:600

I did a photography task to get an idea of how we can use pictures when it comes to making the digipak. We tried out a range of different shutter speeds, aperturs and ISO's. We had also been given things to represent through our images. We got given Trapped and Freedom. This was a useful task to do as it gave me a better idea of how I can use the camera to get better or different images. It was a good thing to do this as it means that when I come to creating a digipak the images I use can have different effects on them depending upon the settings in which I have the camera on.

Task 6 - Magazine Ads

Magazine Advert Analysis

This magazine advert is to promote the Black Keys' new album at that point, "Brothers". The advert clearly states that this was an advert in Q magazine which means that the readers of this magazine are likely to know who the Black Keys are or listen to them. The advert itself is very basic yet effective. A plain but unique font has been used and it helps the text stand out. There is a strange mixture of colours used also. The background is brown whereas the text is split between a faded red colour and white. At the bottom of the advert there is a white border. The layout is very basic but it looks good. Everything has been centred and it does help the text stand out. Also there is a larger font used for the more important part of the ad. "The Black Keys" and "Brothers" are in a larger font which would immediately draw the readers attention to them.

This is an old advert for the Oasis album "(Whats the Story) Morning Glory. There is the use of a very minimalistic approach with this ad. Only black and white colours have been used and there is not the overuse of text. There is a clear emphasis on the important parts of this ad. The Oasis logo is the most notable thing on the page and it grabs your attention. There is also underneath the album cover which is used in an effort to promote the album further. Then there is the title of the album along with a track listing which is in a smaller text than the album title. Then Right at the bottom is the release date for the album which is positioned in a place to not be overbearing but still to stand out.

This is an advert for the Arctic Monkeys and their tour. There is still the clear minimalistic approach using only black and white however there is an image of the front man performing live. This would help to sell the tour as it is a picture of him performing live and in the background there is also a large crowd. The arctic monkeys logo features very prominently and it takes up almost 1/3 of the total ad. The bottom 1/3 is dominated by the tour dates. The white text on the grey scale background really helps the poster to stand out.









This is a magazine advert for the album "Empire" by Kasabian. The text for the bands name is very prominent on this ad. This stands out clearly as there is not many dark
colours in this ad. The background of the ad is a playing card which features a historic latinesque image. As this image is made up of many colours it draws the reader in and they are draw to the text below. On the bottom of the ad there is the release date also in dark colours which stands out.


This magazine advert is for the album Total Life Forever by Foals. Not much information is given on this ad and it is mainly centered around the picture shown and the text. This is an interesting decision. The fact that no information is given could lead to people looking this up themselves which may urge them to make the purchase. The image on the screen shows the band all underwater.

Task 5 - Research into my chosen genre

Indie Rock

For the genre that I am thinking about making a music video on I chose Indie Rock. This is because I like this genre of music.

Background History and Key Players today

Indie Rock is a genre of alternate rock which originated in the UK in the 80s. The band R.E.M and The Smiths were the pioneers and front runners of Indie Rock in the US and UK respectively. The major players in the Indie Rock genre today are the Arctic Monkeys.

Conventions of Indie Rock Music

Indie Rock music tends to be like normal rock music just not as heavy. And as such the instruments used are slightly different. Indie Rock artists typically use Guitars, Bass, drums as well as vocals. The type of guitar used may be an electric guitar or even an acoustic guitar. The vocalist often plays the guitar themselves also. Lyrically indie rock music can be used to tell a story or make a statement about something.

Conventions of Indie Rock Music Videos

Indie Rock musician are often seen as laid back. The majority of indie rock bands are fully male, Oasis and Arctic Monkeys being examples of these. As the artists themselves are often laid back this reflects in the way they dress. Many Indie rock artists can be seen wearing leather jackets and jeans and it has become almost the mandatory style for this genre. Generally the colours that artists wear are dark colours. Very often for the setting of an indie rock music video the setting is a normal location such as a pub where the band is playing or just a street. There is often the use of a large amount of close ups particularly on the main character in the video or the vocalist or both. There is the use of quick jump cuts in indie rock videos particularly when there is a fast paced song.

Task 3 - Research into a marketing package

Arctic Monkeys - AM

I have decided to use the latest Arctic Monkeys album, AM as the focus of this task.

The cover art is really basic and simple yet effective. The cover seems to resemble a heart beat monitor which kind of looks like a pair of sunglasses. There are only two colours used on this being the black and white but they seem to stand out. This is a very minimialistic design for a digipak which shows that the band aren't worried about their image and that it is the music that matters.

The poster for the Arctic Monkeys album AM shows the same house style as the album cover. There is still the minimalism in the use of the black and white along with the heart monitor symbol.

Music Video Theorists

Adorno

Adorno believed that music videos were created to give the public false needs. Adorno believes capitalists are behind this. False needs are things that we think about that don't matter and they act as distractions from real problems. Adorno believes that these false needs are created to help cover up things happening with the government. He also says that these false needs are created and satisfied in one go.

Hebdige

Hebdige is on the other spectrum to Adorno. Hebdige says that people interpret music videos differently. This is based on the type of person and their background will help them to interpret the music video in a certain way. Hebdige's main point is that this can lead to subcultures like punk and more niche artists away from the mainstream music.

Negus  

Negus' theory is based off of two ideologies. Negus believes that there are two different types of artist. These ideologies are ideologies of creativity and one is organic and the other is synthetic. Organic is when an artist focuses on albums and they sustain their status in the industry as they are a long term solution. Because there is the focus on albums the artists image enhances. Synthetic is short term and it mainly features 1,2,3 hit wonders. The image of the artist is constructed by the company. An example of organic would be Michael Jackson and an example of synthetic would be One Direction.  

Dyer

Dyer focuses on the idea of artists being stars. He believes that stars have common features. Dyers definition of a star is an image and not a real person. He says that the image is constructed through advertising and other media outlets. Dyer believes stars are commodities and that they are based on two paradoxes. The first paradox is that stars are ordinary and extra ordinary. These means that the stars can be see doing normal things like shopping but their talent makes them stand out from the crowd. The second paradox is that stars are present and absent. This is based on that the consumer gets to see so much into the stars life through TV, radio and magazines that they know them when in fact they dont. 

Purpose of Music Videos

I created a mindmap on mindmup to demonstrates the purpose of music videos.

Boom!

Adobe and MTV set up a competition for young directors to make a music video. In this video some professional directors give tips on how to make a good music video. One director said that the music video should either be funny, exciting or sexy. Another director gave advice on storyboarding. She said that directors should make basic storyboards as they are easy to interpret and add ideas to aswell as being less time consuming. She also said that preparation is key and that everything needs to be complete by the time of filming. It is important to plan your day to allow time for everything you need to get done. Time management is a major factor also as many music videos may be set on other peoples property. The owner of a property may need to use it themselves so there wont be much scope for overlapping time. The music video itself needs to be graphically interesting and also have elements of simplicity. The band or actors featured in music videos need to be charismatic and brave for being able to be in front of the camera. They also need to make the video relaxing and enjoyable.

Timeline of Music Video History

I have created a timeline of Music Video History. This is based of the article from Pete Fraser Teaching Music Video (BFI 2004)

Task 1 - Shot Count Analysis

Track: Little Black Submarines                                             
Artist: The Black Keys                                      
Director: N/A                                  
Release Date: 4 September 2012
Length of video: 3:32
Number of shots in entire video: 167
Average length of shot: 1.7 seconds

0:00 - 0:30
Number of shots in 30 second segment: 14
Within the 30 second segment there are:
Number of CU: 6
Number of ECU: 4
Number of LS: 0
Number of MS: 4
Number of panning shots: 0
Number of tilts: 0
Other shots: 0

I have learned some good things from doing this task. By analysing the music video much closely I have been able to see what things go into making a good music video. This will help me when I make my own music video as I can see what the process would be in creating this music video.

Task 2 - Previous Students Work

For this task I am looking at a previous students work.

Student 1

Link to Students Work - http://2015a2jacob.blogspot.co.uk/

As an example I used Jacob Maud's Work as one example

Research and Planning

This student has included some very detailed research in their blog.  They have also used different media formats in their work to reinforce the points he is making with his research. In terms of planning Jacob has included a lot of images to demonstrate the filming locations which can really help to give the reader an easier understanding of the locations. Although there are very detailed posts they could do with being a little more consise as they are very long winded paragraphs. Also whilst it is a positive that only one genre has been looked into this student could have benefited from implementing elements from a different genre to make the video unique.

Music Video

First of all the music video is great. It tells a great story and it has some great acting. There are parts in the video which really match up with the song. It is really clear what the relationship is between the two characters in the video. The only weakness would be that the video does no feature the band which may not necessarily be the best for a small band. 

Digipak

For the digipak the student has made it easy for the reader to see the progress in making the digipak. There are images which show the raw images to them being edited to the final images. The final images also look very professional. The only weakness to this part would be that the black and white filter is a simple filter and it is not really unique.

Magazine Advert

Like the Digipak the magazine advert looks high quality and professional. It is also good how the cigarette is in the foreground of the image and the actress is in the backgound. Also like the Digipak there is a clear documentated progression in the creation of the final magazine advert.

Evaluation

The student has used a range of different media formats in the creation of the evaluation. From images, videos and slideshows there is a variety of ways the student has done their responses to the questions. For the text responses they should be broken up into paragraphs as it is hard to read through a massive block of text.

Student 2    

Link to students work - http://2015a2rory.blogspot.co.uk/
This student I used is Rory Ford

Research and Planning

The research and planning is generally very good. This student has broken up their points by using different posts for each research point. He has also used pictures to accompany the text. One weakness of his work is that he has used black and grey text on a black background which make it hard to see.

Music Video

The music video is in my opinion really good. The video focuses on the band solely which I think is a good thing. There are a range of different camera angles and shots used in the video which gives the video diversity. The black and white filter fits the band and the genre of music. Although this is a good feature it isnt unique and its is a pretty common thing in music videos.

Digipak

The digipak looks good and professional. The images are really clear and they fit the genre of the band. One thing that is particularly good is the track listing included on the digipak. However in the blog their progress whislt making the digipak is not documentated. There is draft versions of the digipak but no raw images. This is a bad thing because you can not tell the progression from raw images to the finished digipak.  

Magazine Advert

The magazine advert is very good and it looks very authentic and professional. He stuck with the black and white filter as in the Digipak. Also the bands text doesnt look like it has been placed onto the background image and the font makes it really fit in. However there is no explanation to how they created the magazine that why or why they did.

 Evaluation

A good thing about this students evaluation is that he has used some different media formats to answer the questions. He has a sound clip and a presentation as well as some text to accompany the answers. For the response where he just did a text response he broke it down into paragraphs that is really good.

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

Task Outline and Real Video

The task that we have been given is to recreate a real music video in our groups. The song that we are going to cover is Keri Hilson - Knock You Down ft. Kanye West, Ne-Yo. We are going to cover the part in the full video from 3 minutes to 4 minutes which features Kanye West and Keri Hilson. I am doing this in a group with Irena and Steph. Irena has also edited the part of the clip we are doing.

 Planning

 My group and I have already decided the roles we are going to take in this task. I will be playing the part of Kanye West when he is directly looking into the camera with Irena taking the full part of Keri Hilson as well as Steph playing a part as Kanye West in the latter stages of this production.

I am also going to look over the lyrics I need to lip sync to.

Lyrics

Tell me now can you make it past your caspers
So we can finally fly off into NASA
You was always the cheerleader of my dreams
You seem to only date the head of football teams
And I was the class clown that, always kept you laughin'
We, were never meant to be baby we just happened
So please, don't mess up the trick... hey young world I'm the new slick rick
They say I move too quick, but we can't let the moment pass us
Let the hourglass pass right into ashes

Filming

We filmed our preliminary task over the course of 2 lessons. In the first lesson we completed the filming of my part in the video. In the second lesson I was behind the camera filming Irena's and Steph's parts in the film.

Final Product

My Contribution 

I contributed to a good part in this video. I feature in the first 33 seconds of the video on screen. I also filmed the parts in which Irena and Steph are in the scene together as well as some scened featuring only Irena or Steph on their own. In terms of editing I did some but not a whole lot. I am not the best with editing so it was probably a good thing that I didnt feature in it too heavily as Steph and Irena are better at it then I am anyway.

Evaluation

I believe that as a group we have done a really good job with this prelim task.We have done a great job in recreating the real music video as best we can as there are some things we could not recreate like the hour glass and the smoke but we improvised with them, I feel like the acting we all did in our video was to a good quality and that we managed to replicate some of the actions from the video very well. We have done very well in post production making the split screen as well as using the black and white filter for certain scenes. There was one point in the video where the camera was a bit shaky and that was my fault as I was filming that part as well as in my part I did stumble on my words a little but it isn't too noticeable.