THIS BLOG IS CLOSED

After a long and fruitful project, sweaty hours in disgustingly hot edit suite, and a rollercoaster of emotion;

We're done. The end.
Thankyou for your time, I hope it was enlightening

Bye bye :)

Evaluation Question 4; Reflections

Question 4 was quite a difficult question to take part in a discussion about.  We found that it was more describing but when we got into the production section of technologies it all started to flow.  I felt that I made some really good points about the software we used and also the camera hardware and how it greatly improved our project.  However I think a lot of the time we came across a bit too optimistic, as there were some hindrances that we could have spent longer discussing like the exposure settings on the camera.  We didn't quite understand the zebra lines and this meant that throughout our shoot we ended up with a lot of really dark footage which made the editing process really difficult.  In future we would learn how to use our camera a lot better before going out on the main shoot, probably through test shoots and general practices.
All in all though I felt the question went rather smoothly and was a good end to our evaluation, and that I made good, frequent and relevant points throughout.

Evaluation Question 3; Reflections

I started off Question 3 of our Evaluation discussion and I feel that in particular, this and question 1 were my top moments. Myself and Matt got into a really interesting discussion about the difference in genres seen through the artists brand images. I really felt I made some good points about how R&B is based on the glamour factor and how rock is more based around the music. This was a big deciding factor in doing a performance video for us and so it was good to get this into our evaluation. We didn't talk too much about our original demographic however and in the future this would have been a usual thing to discuss.

Evaluation Question 2; Reflections

Question 2 got off to a better start than where we left question 1, with Ben leading us into a discussion of epic proportions about the codes and conventions of websites and album covers.  This meant that while covering the combination of our products we equally covered the theory that we had missed out of question 1.  Although I did feel a bit left out of this question and that I did not say as much as I had liked to, especially seeing as I did a lot of the design work for the album cover and myspace.  However we did get across a lot of points on genre signifiers and things that linked heavily with question 3 (which I lead) meaning that we could develop them later.

Evaluation Question 1; Reflections

I felt that the first question of our evaluation went rather well.  I feel that I gave an adequate contribution throughout this question and that I touched on some really important points.  The biggest problem was a confusion about what evidence needed to go in each question and so technically we missed out the album cover and myspace conventions and codes in this question.  Obviously this was bad as we would lose lots of marks but instead we managed to cover this in question 2.  Even though Simon was leading the question we managed to pull it off very much as a group and therefore has an equal share of points.  The question focused very heavily on Goodwin and Vernallis and I think we got into a really good level of depth throughout.

Myspace page

Here is our finished Myspace page in all it's glory:

Here is a link as well

Album Cover Finished

Here is our finished artwork for Tear Down The Flagship's self-titled debut album:

Clips, Pictures, Myspaces and more for the Evaluation

Here are the videos, websites, and album covers, mentioned in our evaluation.

Every Time I Die - 'Wanderlust' : Where the idea of individual shots came from and vocalist walking down the corridor. Vocalist clothes also change when it moves to individual location. It is also mainly peformance with some concept thrown into the mix. Vocalist addresses audition as well.


Every Time I Die - Wanderlust on MUZU


Pantera - '5 Minutes Alone' : Lots of close ups and ECUs. Entirely performance based. Cut to beat and focuses on music. Dark lighting with spots on instruments. Cuts to instruments at important parts.



Muse - 'Dead Star' : Lots of instrument close ups. Dark lighting again. Focuses on music. Focus on guitar in opening riff.




Architects - 'Always' : Genre characteristics, energetic performance, headbanging, band setup and clothing. cut to the beat and quickly cut. Referenxced shots such as CU guitar and drums from side. Linked to person percentage of each member in video.



Architects - Always from Hopes Die Last on Vimeo.

Underoath - 'In Regards To Myself' : Inspiration behind the individual vocalist shots wiht stationary camera nad vocalist moving around room. Also darkly lit and same band setup.

In Regards To Myself - UnderOath

Disturbed1 | MySpace Video

Underoath - 'A Moment Suspended In Time' : Use of lyrics to inspire video. Words shown and cut to different members at different points. Mainly performance video with energy. Claustrophobic feel. Use of costume.




Alex Gaudino - 'Destination Calabria' : Lots of voyeuristic shots. Shows another genre and how ours is different. No instruments and not really about the music and more about the video content.





Madonna - 'Material Girl' : Star image motifs and intertextual references. Video focused on star image of Madonna and targets audience with Marilyn Monroe reference.



Muse - 'Uprising' - Link with single cover




MySpace

A Day To Remember - Unconventional MySpace look, more unique and professional looking, common today as people move away from MySpace
Set Your Goals - Very promotional, album cover, merch and video are all on show and clear to the viewer

Architects - Introduces the band individually and follows institutional conventions, such as showing the record label, endorsements and bookings

The Saturdays - Has a more scopophilic feel, with more emphasis on a celebrity personality and look. Bio + Pictures

Alexisonfire - Has a competition on the page, a fine example of viral marketing


Album Cover

International Superheroes of Hardcore - Takin It Ova - Strong visual theme, taken from title

Oh Sleeper - When I Am God - Dark, moody colours

Muse - Uprising Single Cover - Has common themes with Video - Teddybears

Reflections on the Test Screening and audience response so far

We did a screening of our music video to an audience this week to get some demographics for our evaluation, I felt that this went very well and we got some really positive response.

The actual statistics will be posted on the group blog during the evaluation blogs but in general it all basically matched our predictions in the treatment and we found that many of the archetypal comments we had made, turned out to be true

Reflections on Final Draft of the video

Can't say I'm unhappy that the practical part of the coursework is finally over, and it's safe to say we've made a positively delightful promotional package.

I'm so happy about how our final video has come out, especially how we managed to salvage such shoddy lighting over the past 4 weeks. I think we've worked really effectively as a group especially in our decision making and it's made the project go very smoothly (with a few tiny bumps along the way!)

We really managed to capture the energy of our performance and create a strong sense of progression throughout and I'm really looking forward to answering about this in detail in the evaluation stages!

Reflections on the Final Draft of the Album Art

We finished the Album art today. It's looking cracking :)
It took us a long time to change the whole look but keep the same brand image, but we did this through the photography and front cover being of the sea.  I'm really happy with the outcome and feel it was a really good effort :)

Reflections on Final Myspace page

http://www.myspace.com/teardowntheflagship

I'm really happy with how our final myspace has come out, we managed to get in the black and white to colour picture effects with our green screen photo shoot, which went rather well :)
I really like the blue theme we've got going and I'm particularly proud of the waves crashing down on the logo at the top of the page.

We managed to work in a viral marketing campaign, "Design our new t-shirt" as band merchandise is very big right now, with band logos across the chests of  budding teens everywhere, so this idea gives them a sense of relationship between them and the band, while advertising the album, band, and brand image everywhere.

All in all I feel we managed to stick to the conventions of a website/myspace page, but make something that is enjoyable to browse :)

Reflections on first draft of the Album Artwork

We designed our first idea for album art today, sticking with the themes of the myspace.
However Ms B says that she doesn't like how it seems to be all the same sort of artwork as on the myspace.
We'll have to have another look at our designs and see what we can do to change it, but still keep our brand image.

Reflections on first draft of Myspace

Myself and Ben came up with a first draft of our ideas for the myspace page today.  We decided on a Nautical theme using lots of blues and also the waves from Simon's original album art design.  We have decided to go against the standard myspace page using a DIV layout to go on top, thus making a webpage that looks how we want it to, rather than how myspace does.

A cool idea we found from http://www.myspace.com/considerthethief where the pictures turn to colour when you hover over them and are normally black and white.  We liked the way the band members are shown right underneath the top banner and so we have put this into our concept.

We want to expand our page in width as we find the column of information on a standard myspace too thin.
Hopefully the actual myspace will come out how we designed it :)

Reflections on the Edit so far

We've been editing for a little while and it looks like the video is finally coming together.  It was all looking a bit pear shaped so we had a really intensive group meeting about our editing style and things have picked up from there.
I found a really good way of editing which was to find all the clips we needed for each section of the song, sync them up, and cut them all identically in layers to create what looked like a massive grid of shots.  We then put on the "Show Frames" option on premiere and it was like having a giant storyboard of options for every cut.  Its made the editing so quick as its really just a matter of which shot fits the couple of seconds the best.

So far we've done about half the song, having lots of problems with the intro but hopefully they'll be resolved soon.
The slow motion section Simon has done is phenomenal.

Reflections on Captured Footage

We've finally captured all of our footage from the Main Shoot and we've had some mixed reactions.  Matt and Simon both think we need a re-shoot but I'm determined that there is so much we can do with the footage.

From the looks of things we put the exposure way too low meaning that all of our footage is really dark.  However me and Ben have been experimenting with the Luma Curve tool on premiere and reckon with a bit of tweaking we can sort out the shots.

On the plus side, Simon's individuals looks fantastic and this is going to be a key visual hook throughout the video.

Main Shoot Reflections

We had our Main Shoot yesterday and I'm happy to say it went really well.

We managed to get all of our footage in the space of about 8 hours and even though it was an exhausting day I can tell that the performance will come across really well.
I'm really happy with how the set up came out with the huge amp stacks we created and it looks really realistic in terms of genre conventions, so helpful having everybody know how to play the song for that extra perfect convincing look.
Our actors were really good and didn't have any problem with such a long shoot because it was so much fun. We also got loads of opportunities to play around with the new camera, something I'd really been looking forward to doing.
All in all I thought the performance, lighting, angles and in general the way the shoot went was so well executed and I'm really proud of our group!

DYM MYSPACE FEEDBACK

Very good Myspace research, Nick. This will guarantee some solid research marks by the end of the project.

Myspace Research Task

Death Cab For Cutie - Official Website
Url: http://www.deathcabforcutie.com/
Genre: Indie (American)/Alternative
Country of Origin: America (Seattle)
The bands official website is a flash layout with moving images and sections. The homepage is arranged in a circle around their band's name in the middle. There are links at the top and the bottom to safeguard against the crashing of the flash layout (a common occurence on such programs as the shoddy Internet Explorer). The main sections which are shown in the flash portion of the homepage are: Photos, Music, Videos, Fan Club, Tour Dates, Merch Store, News (with a live feed), Mailing List. The colour scheme is all white, oranges and greys, but very soft colours. This is a clear signifier of the genre of the music giving a very calm feel to the website rather than harsh contrasting colours associated more with heavier music. The photos are on a slideshow reel, with a calm dissolve between them. Each section has a small animation when you hover over it to make interesting visuals while browsing the site. If you roll over the bugles, they play a little jingle.
Each individual section of the site is made on a standard layout, with a cream background on the text boxes/link boxes etc, over a white main page background. The links at the top and the bottom stay the same and there is a big link back to their homepage in the top left. The colour scheme is still oranges/greys/white with the addition of the cream text boxes. These pages are a lot more simple than the extravagent homepage.
The website appeals to their audience by giving the standard expectations of music, videos, information, etc. The website stays key to the bands iconography and style of artwork from their albums therefore creating a synergy between their music and brand image.

UnderOath - Official Website
Url: http://www.underoath777.com/
Genre: Alternative/Post Hardcore
Country of Origin: America (Florida)
The band's official website is a flash layout based around the bands most recent album "Lost in the Sound of Separation". At a first glance I was disappointed thinking it very badly designed but soon discovered the links pull you flying across the screen to a different island in the background design where the section of the website is. It is all very arty and big bold colours representing the contrast of their musical style to the norm. The sections from the main flash layout are: NEWS, SHOWS, BAND, MUSIC, MEDIA, PHOTOS, JOURNAL, LINKS, CONTACT, eNEWS, MERCH. From this I can see similarities between their website and Death Cab's, giving a sense that audiences expect certain things on a band website and it is their job to deliver this. All the media is part of the flash layout so photos pop out and videos are embedded to the website. This is good as you don't need to leave the page to see any of their material. Obvious links are too their myspace and facebook page.
The band have chosen to use artwork from their current touring album "Lost in the Sound of Separation" for the site so it is a direct link to the bands brand image, easy for an audience to associate with the band as it is nothing different from what the fans expect of them. The bands record label is hardly mentioned or visible through the site, other than in the links section. This can be seen as a sign of independence from the bands label.

Bring Me The Horizon - Myspace Page
Url: http://www.myspace.com/bmth/
Genre: Metalcore/Black Metal
Country of Origin: England (Sheffield)
Straight away as we go onto BMTH's myspace page we see a huge different in genre signifiers from the previous two websites. The layout is almost all white, green and black with a background which is very grainy and harsh, looking like a worn down wall. The first thing we see is the cover art for the bands most recent album, depicting a girl holding some guts (not quite as sweet and calm as DCFC's website). This is showing the gore associated with this genre of music and hence why they used it for their album art (with an album called "Suicide Season" what can you expect). The myspace layout is using DIV codes to cover up the traditional layout and rearrange it how they want it. The music player is still in its usual place but all the info on the left hand side has been replaced with graphic designs, like photos of the band members, links to buy their albums, a link to the merch store, what equipment they use, and their most recent magazine cover. Underneath this is all their contact information very neatly presented. Most of this is a good example of marketing, with clear showing off of their endorsements while shoving all available band goods in your face.
The right hand side covers their tour dates, twitter updates, videos and the standard myspace layout of top friends and comments. There are also adverts to join their street team and to do with promotion packages. Their top friend is "Drop Dead", vocalist Oli Sykes own clothing brand, basically more band merch but keeping a direct link with them for fans.
This type of music and the scene that follows it are largely associated with myspace hence their main website being a myspace page. It is very simply laid out and the colour schemes and artwork follows all signifiers of the genre, making them a very fan friendly band. The twitter feed makes fans feel directly linked to the band.


I chose these 3 sites as they all have their various contrasting factors but all have very big similarities that are obviously expected from a band website these days, like song players, music videos, news feeds and tour dates. We should keep these sort of things in mind when creating our myspace page to make it as authentic and marketable as possible.

Costume and Band Image

Myself and Matt had a meeting this lunch to discuss our thoughts on costume. We thought we'd post it on our individual blog to show the rest of the group at a later date.

Band Image:
When we talked about the music, we all had a very clear image in our head, that this is obviously young people performing (age group: 18-25). It's not pretentious and it's not trying to be anything, it is just a bunch of people with a passion for music, performing because it's what they want to do. We want to really reflect this in our own band image, but also create a sense of uniform but not to the point where they're all wearing the same thing, but rather a similar style.

Vocalist:
We want the vocalist to stand out from the rest of the band as he is the central focus of the video. Instead of always focusing on him through cutting, we will have it so that even in other members shots, your attention is drawn to him.
Costume (Simon): Straightened hair, bold red t-shirt, zip-up black jacket, black jeans, trainers.

Drums:
Usually in rock music the Drummer is the second main focus of attention, because of the constant movement and multiple things taking place. In our video we want to make the drummer feel more uniform with the rest of the band.
Costume (James): Messy ,Black jeans, supra purple/black trainers, and black t-shirt

Guitarists:
Costume (Nick): Hair messy at the back/straightened fringe, black skinny jeans, white V-neck, black and red checkered shirt, black and white canvas trainers.
Costume (Matt): Hair extreme spikey, black jeans straight fit, green checkered shirt, plain white shoes.

Bass:
Costume (David): Hair left neat and tidy, black jeans, tight fit t-shirt, grey t-shirt.

Reflections on Group Meeting today

Today we had our big group meeting before the pitch tomorrow (excited? scared? who knows). We had a really long discussion about the final treatment for our music video, now up on the main blog. Although there was much despair at how long this took from all with the whole group reduced to silence (a rare occurrence) by the end of the meeting, I thought it was a really successful meeting.

I can now clearly envision our music video in my mind how everyone sees it. Hopefully this meeting will help our pitch be a lot more fluent and united rather than 4 sets of ideas cluttered together. We also came up with loads of new ideas for the video and basically talked through the whole opening sequence in detail (an issue which had previously ailed us seeing as it's 40 seconds without singing or much going on!).

I'm really happy with our final pitch and I can't wait to get test shooting this weekend!

Myspace Pages and the like

Just a few links to website designs I've done before that may be cool for inspiration maybe?

http://www.myspace.com/wwtwuk
http://whowatchesthewatchmen.bigcartel.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ibreathefirescreamo

Project Artwork Idea

For all images if you want to look at them in more detail, click on the picture.

Here are some artwork ideas for our Project band. We all agreed that seeing as this genre of music seems to inspire a whole crazy load of nautical based band names, if we're meant to stick to stereotypes we should follow suit. One that I suggested is Tear Down The Flagship, that the others quite like, so we'll have to see if it sticks!

The pictures show my artwork design for the logo and how I made it. The first picture shows how I made the band title itself.

1. Started with plain text, three different fonts for each section of the title; "Tear Down" "The" "Flagship". These were plain black.
2. Grouped the text together so it was all one image. Added a scratch filter to the text to make it look worn out (typical hardcore band style thing to do).
3. Created a drop shadow to the bottom right of the image and changed the font to a turquoise like colour that I thought quite sea-like.
4. Combined the text and shadow for the final Band Font layout.

Next I created the images to go with the logo. I decided on an anchor and a squid/kraken. To make these I found black and white pencil drawings of both online. Next I added a full contrast and low brightness setting to each making it simply a black and white outline image, getting rid of all shading. I then individually coloured each section adding in shades and zooming in to get individual frames to make sure the colour was full and vibrant. However with the style of music in hand I went for a more low saturation style colour scheme. The red is meant to be a contrast to the logos colour. I then added the same Drop Shadow to each picture as on the logo.

After this I combined the two objects together. I cut the anchor in half and stuck one half in a layer above the logo, and one below. This allowed me to put the anchor through the "A" to make an individual and outstanding Logo.

I think the logo works quite well and fits the genre of music we are aiming to market with our project.

Previous Album Artwork Designs

I thought after seeing Simon's blog post on Album Art I'd look in my vault of treasures at some of the artwork I've done in the past for my own bands/projects.

The first bit of artwork to talk about is my Acoustic Solo Project Discography made up of loads of random singles and EPs all with individual covers. They all have quite calming covers are are pretty simple, usually with lots of smooth patterns and just a title and small picture.

This then leads onto my album design, where I went for a bit more of an indie feel, but still sticking to the warm, glowing, colour scheme. The whole album art is based around an orange colour scheme and some pictures I took at Hyde Park. They are all of nature and scenery as it is quite natural music, trying to avoid digital and electric instruments. This is an example of making artwork that brands the artist and suits the mood of the genre. Also with the Projects name being "Eternal Sunshine" I thought the orange and yellow scheme appropriate along with the solar flare on each page of the in-sleeve.

Next is my old band I Breathe Fire, a Pop Punk/Screamo band. The image is a lot sharper and there are not so many smooth edges. We decided to stick with the bands name as the Artwork theme seeing as it was a self titled EP. The album art is all based around parchment and fire, and the effect round the edges makes it look like the fire is burning through the cover. We decided to use the same pattern and back drop for the in-sleeve using a simple plain font not to over complicate the graphics.



The last bit of Artwork is for my most recent band "Who Watches The Watchmen" (named after a quote from the 1980s Graphic Novel and recent Film). We didn't want to be associated too much with the original branded product but stuck to the red and yellow colour scheme of the comic book. Also the exploding clock was our own creation of the Doomsday Clock that appears throughout "Watchmen". The background is a simple red and white gradient with a scratch filter on it to make it look worn away. The Band name is organised in an odd pattern to make it memorable and stand out. There is also a slight shadow round the edges of the clock and the band logo to make them stand out from the layers below.

Just thought this could be a nice inspiration post on the sort of Artwork I like to create and later when we show our favourite Album Art, I can go back and compare how I've been inspired myself.

Music Industry Marketing HW

1. Summarising in your own words what the 4Ps of music marketing are. Use the following categories:

a) What band/artist related products can audiences buy?
Other than the obvious of CDs, and Deluxe Editions of CDs, there are DVDs (often Live or documentary). band merch including t-shirts, bags, outerwear, shorts, hats, shoes, the like. Posters, some artists do biographies. Digital media like mp3 albums, music videos, podcasts.

b) Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?
Audiences can buy in physical format (Disc) from music shops (e.g. HMV, the late Zavvi), online from sites (like Amazon.co.uk, Play.com), General Stores like W.H.Smith sell CDs. You can buy music in digital format from iTunes, also sites like Amazon sell MP3 albums. Merchandise can be bought at live shows (including CDs) or on the bands personal merch store, often linked to from their personal site (such as myspace/facebook).

c) Give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products.
Free downloads off of the bands site. Mailing lists (such as Metallica's "Metal Militia" which shows the progression from physical mailing to digital mailing).

d) List between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies (including at least 3 internet based examples).

Slipknot - Before world tour 2008, posted videos on their websites promoting the tour in their typical stage costume telling fans to "be scared", "be warned" and "don't come to this tour". Form of reverse psychology.
Muse - New single "United States of Eurasia", put USB sticks in capital cities of the world with sections of the song in. Fans had to find the USB sticks and post the clip online so that eventually the whole song would be pieced together. Promotes them of album/song and also gets fans involved.
Architects/Elliot Minor/Your Demise - Get fans in music video. 15 seconds of fame principle. Fans feel involved with the music and the band. Band can get away with not really showing anyone in it but the fans feel like they have a personal connection to the video, song, band. Fans will tell friends about the video, good promotion.
Saosin - Send in text messages to a number, your name posted on the album artwork in the thankyous. Bit rubbish really, could hardly see your name as so many people texted in. Still feel part of the production and connected to the band.
Radiohead - Album, In Rainbows. Sold online as an auction style thing. Fans pay what they want for the album (or free). Their best selling album of all time. Fans can relate to bands anti-establishment style attitude through their choice to sell independently.


2. Who is frukt uk and what is their mission statement/company ethos?
"We’re all about music and are really very fond of it. Music colours people’s everyday lives. It’s found in the mundane and the exalted. It moves us all. And it’s thriving. We help brands access the passion and the communities, the lifestyle and the artists. Music is a vast cultural space - it's flexible, it's multi-channel, it's live and digital, it unites gender, race and age and it defines the spirit of generations.

You just need to know how to use it.

That’s where we come in."

Frukt come up with marketing strategies based around music and use them for bands or products and create case studies out of them.

Filming at high frame rates and its advantages

I have been doing a bit of research looking into the advantages of shooting on a high speed camera. Most cameras that we will be using will be 25-29.7 fps. However, if we really do want to do some experimenting with speed and motion this will have to filmed at a much higher frame rate. For example;

If you film at 25fps, when you reduce it to 50% you will end up with a video that is 12.5fps, not particularly good quality and the slow mo will look not particularly good. However, if you were to film at 50fps, the slowed down footage would end up at 25fps, which is standard filming speed and look normal with the rest of your footage.

The picture above is of the Sony PMW-EX3, the camera used on Jasmine's music video shoot. Aside from being a particularly good camera, on the side there is a dial to change the frame rate so that you can film different frame rates depending on what you intend to do with it in post production.

If we were really serious about filming some slow-mo stuff we could look into hiring a camera like the one above.

Post Production Skills (Crazy fun with lights and zooms)

So, I may be a rubbish editor/director/camera man but this is sometimes great for blogging. I know the horrid moment of getting to the edit suite, looking at a shot and going "Holy Guacamole that shot looks like ____", as it has occurred in my household more times than I care to count.

So here is a simple, bad example of what you can do with a really boring still shot to make it look good in post production. Yes it's very rough and I didn't spend that long on keyframing as I just wanted to do a rough example.



On the first clip, I have just a still Mid Shot I filmed of me playing along to the track. On its own it looks really boring. However, with just a bit of lighting and movement it immediately livens up. I did this by keyframing in zooms and pans while also adding brightness and contrast flashes to do lighting.

Weird speed tricks in videos (You're Ever So Inviting - UnderOath)

This video by Florida band UnderOath is a perfect example of weird use of speeds in videos. The main wide shot is done double speed. To achieve this UnderOath show in their documentary "777" that they played the song at half speed and then sped it up post production. This gives a really jolty effect but still has everyone playing in time to the song.

In contrast most of the individual band member shots are done the opposite way in slow motion to give a really weird overall effect, confusing the viewer. The constant changes between slow and fast motion really show the potential of music video to muck about with general film rules and restrictions.

Personal reflections on the Location Reccy

Today we went to the Art Smart centre in Edmonton. It took us a long and rainy bus journey to get there and even longer to find the actual building but once inside we lit up immediately.

The location is perfect for what we want. It has two different rooms, one downstairs which is covered in paint and really messy with loads of odd things scattered around, and one upstairs which is plain and clean with carpet. This was brilliant as we want two contrasting locations for the different sections of the song (see treatment below and on group blog). Also there are lots of individual art studios which were perfect for our idea of individual band member shots as they have tight corners and are very claustrophobic, the exact thing we're looking for. The lift also looked a bit murky, thinking of sticking the drummer in there.

We found lots of amazing handy things to use, such as the mini portable lights that could possibly blind a man, and the push carts which can take ridiculous amounts of weight and look perfect for tracking/arcing/panning

YAY

But by far our favourite points were these;
-There is a room with tea, biscuits and drinking water taps
-We can use it evenings and weekends freely with no disturbance
-The management are lovely and willing to help
-There are already speakers there to play the song from
-It's close to school so no horrible traveling
-There's a spot to plug in a microwave so I can bring tagliatelle from home to eat!
-We're allowed to film overnight and we would simply be given the keys to lock up

I'm very happy and this looks like a promising project. Makes a lovely change from last year.
Bring on the planning

Lostprophets - Start Something

This a song that we have decided as a group we would really like to do. It also helps that Miss B loves it and thinks its punchy and edgy!

Lyrics:

Verse
Start today, now show us how you feel.
Make your way, it's time to choose.
Have my say, I know, I know what I see.
Have my say, they think you'll lose
For all this to mean so much to me.
For all this, you make a move
Pass you by, it's all in this life you have
Pass you by, goodbye to you.

Chorus
1234 Move
If you don't stop there, you'll make it through.
Stop dreaming, start something
when it's in your hands to start anew

Verse
It's ok to use your ability.
You must know, it's hard to choose.
Time will tell, it's hard 'cause the way you feel
means you always seem to lose.
Seize the day, the one that you left behind
It seems so strange that you don't move
Frozen still in front of your own lights
Win or lose, its time to choose

Treatment:

After a reccy of our location this evening I have a clear vision of this video. The video will consist of three main sets of shots. One in a plain, clean space with the band all dressed in black, the next in a really messy workspace with very harsh lighting and strobes, and finally 5 individual claustrophobic band member shots. The video will be all performance and concept.

The locations will be flicked between to show the contrast in song sections. The verses have quite a pop-punky positive feel to them while the chorus is quite heavy and almost like a beatdown.

The plain location will be used for the verses (00:41, 01:40). The band will be performing in stage layout (drummer centre back, vocalist centre front, guitarists and bass in between). We will have a wide angle and individual band shots here that we will cut between to show a lively and energetic performance. It will be very brightly lit to emphasize the cleanliness and plainness of the room. The band will be wearing all black except maybe the vocalist wearing either a white top or a bright colour to stand out. The lead vocalist will do all singing and the guitarists will do the backing vocals and screaming. Our main focus will be on movement and quite normal camera angles but rarely ever still shots (apart from the wide angle).

The messy location will kick in on the "1,2,3,4 MOVE" (01:19, 02:18). This location is a lot darker and will be lit harshly. This will be partially helped by the powerful hand-held lights we found on the reccy which we will cluster together to make beacons of light facing upwards around the band. This scene will also use strobe lighting to create a really crazy mood and the band will be even more energetic than before. We will mimic the shots from the plain location but put odd cants and twists to them maybe involving focus to really mess with the viewers head.

The five individual band shots will be done in small rooms around the location, one of which is maybe the old lift we found on the reccy. These will be cut-aways used regularly throughout the entire video. My idea for them is to shoot the band members playing along to the song at half speed then in post production add a fish eye lens to the shot and put the song back up to normal speed. If we get the angles tight enough this will give a really claustrophobic feel to the shot and also make all of the band members movements really jolted and weird.

There are specific moments in the song where I also have very clear visions of particular shots. At the beginning before the vocals kick in there is a reverse cymbal (00:38) at which point I want to do a montage of reverse shots. I was thinking of tying this in with the ending of the video where there is a gong in the music (02:54). I wanted to have the vocalist throwing his mic on the floor at the end smashing it, and at 00:38 showing this clip in reverse and the mic flying back up into his hands before the singing starts. Also I wanted to show the drummer hitting his cymbals in reverse, again giving a really weird, crazy edge to the video to confuse the viewer and make them more interested in the concept of the song and video.

Another bit I've been thinking of is in the breakdown after the second chorus (02:35), the band can start playing in slow motion. To do this we can do the reverse of the individual cut-aways and film the song at 25-50% extra speed and slow it down. It will look really weird as everyone will be moving slowly but playing in time and will really fit in with the rest of the weird concepts in the video. This shot may be harder though as it will need to be a very high frame rate to slow down effectively.


This treatment does not really have anything to do with the lyrics but I don't think that particularly matters. The song is about stopping being lazy and doing something with your life and I think we can choose to show that by making a very energetic video that reflects the musical style rather than the lyrics.

Dizzee Rascal Marketing Task

1. Summarise the changing image of the band/artist as it has developed over time. It might also be useful to summarise the music genre also.

Dizzee has progressed from a grime genre, and is now seen as a garage/hip hop mix. He has incorporated more dance inspiration as seen in his collaborations with such artists as Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys and his support slot on his recent tour with The Prodigy. He has gone from being an independent to a more mainstream sound. This has expanded his fan base to more than just his original demographic of hip hop youths in London town. He has been quoted as saying he is “leaving his grime roots behind” in favour of more mainstream pop.


2. Who are the fans? Do you have any sense of how the music companies have segmented the audiences? To what extent has the branding of a band been linked to target audience?

The hip hop and grime genre has a history of a predominately black fan base. This is due to most of the artists being black themselves and that they come from similar social and class background, thus appealing to the demographic. They are like local heroes in a way. However, with the genres becoming increasingly more mainstream, the audience is becoming a much more mixed bag. This can be related to the more frequent appearance of rap artists in festivals, and the charts, thus making them more accessible for a larger, more mainstream audience.

In this case, the record company is Dizzee himself, as he produces and records his own songs and albums on his record label “Dirtee Stank”. This means that he is in complete control of how he brands himself and how he appeals to his audience, which he does through his genre and fashion.

By producing all his own music, Dizzee, or as I like to call him, Mr. Rascal, has stayed true to his independent roots by not relying on some fancy pants record company.


3. What marketing strategies can you identify? What kinds of stategies can you list? (above/below-the line? unexpected promo stunts? etc). List any examples of the use of synergy with other industries to promote other media/products in connection with a band/artist.

Dizzee’s first album, “Boy in da Corner”, was the first rap album to win a Mercury Prize. It has been voted one of the top albums of all time by MTV Base. This shows how Dizzee has embraced his grime culture and mixed it with mainstream to produce an album that was marketable to more than just the standard rap demographic.
During his time in the Roll Deep crew Dizzee was stabbed six times in a live show due to a rivalry with the So Solid Crew (there was some bottom pinching involved). Although this is obviously bad it brought about a surge of press, getting Dizzee’s relatively unknown status brought in to the limelight. This is akin to the gang rivalries of the 90s seen in West Coast and East Coast rap in the US.

In 2004, Dizzee Rascal made an international endorsement deal with urban brand Eckō and designed his own shoe with Nike in 2005.


4. Add any relevant links to your blog, especially Myspace page/music vids/official websites etc. A couple of illustrations (e.g key web design graphics/album cover photography) would also be useful to add to your blogs.

BLK feedback

Good work Nick, all up to date with some pleasing variety developing on this blog!

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis says the camera in music video seems to mimic the way we view sonic space... do you agree? Do you think we are conditioned by music video to read sonic space in particular ways?

Like everybody else on the year 13 media course this concept of sonic space is an utter mystery. If I were a detective I would know the answer but I am sadly not so will refer to Ms B!

She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However, this is predefined for us by the Director - we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film - do you agree?

This is partly true in my opinion. Yes, it is hard to concentrate on shots as they're only there for a few seconds at a time and unless they are for example the vocalist beauty shot then you won't see it too often in the video. The director has to choose which shots best compliment the music and the feel of the song in a small amount of time, but I feel that they put the audience in mind when choosing these.

She says music video is more like listening than viewing - do you agree?

I disagree, music video is a promotion tool for a song. It adds a new element to the song which is the visuals. They add new dimensions and meanings to the songs lyrics and also to the bands brand image. I think that music video is very much based on the viewing over the music.

"We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame" - Agreed?

Yes, this is true in my opinion. This is very handy in the creation of music video as we don't have time to make a fully complete narrative so you can use suggestion to hurry on the story.

The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?

Yes this is true as the point of a music video is to brand the artist and to constantly show shots of the artist makes us feel close to them, and helps to identify with them.

Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?

Yes, it is very close cut and fast cut aswell, meaning that we have to use our imaginations to fill in the rest of the space and story, involving us in the world of the music video.

Music video is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective - agreed?

In a sense as the artist/director can do what they want with the track, putting their own meaning on the song. However in terms of audience, the demographics will pretty much match the fan base because people only really would listen/watch videos of the genre of music they are in to.

Carol Vernallis believes the image alone cannot tell the story - do you agree?

Yes this is true as music video is all about the synergy between music and image. Without the music the video is empty and the meaning can be misinterpreted. The genre of music helps to identify the pace and style of the story.


Vernallis has some very good concepts on music video and I look forward to looking into them in more depth later this term.

BLK feedback

Excellent research and analysis posts so far Nick, such a great start to your background work for this project.

We need to get you using/applying advanced theory more explicitly when you analyse music videos this term, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin in the new term.

You are just missing one area of work from last term, get this up to date asap and then you can crack on with the project!

For now, your short term targets are:
1. Post the work you have done for Miss T on Vernallis. See the main Music Video Blog for the specific details of what is needed here

All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.

To move ahead with your project, you could start working with the rest of the group on your proposed track treatment, and get ready to pitch as soon as possible.

Great effort so far, keep up the good work and see you soon!

The Wombats Music Video Running Experience

As I know that Jasmine is coming into our lessons later in the term to talk more in depth about her music video and I'm sure we'll do some sort of case study on it I'll only briefly cover the events of last Thursday.

I got to be a runner on Jasmine Blackborow's music video shoot for "Let's Dance To Joy Division" by the Wombats. It was a really good experience, mainly getting to watch directors and crew at work from very close quarters. I may have spent the morning watching out for on coming cars but the rest of the day was a lot more eventful, filming the on set location in the apartment. It was really cool getting to see all the equipment and talking to the crew about their various experiences in the filming industry. Can't really thank Jasmine enough for the experience!

Can't wait to see the finished product

Always - PERFORMANCE

The Performance of Always (Architects, 2007)

The performance part of the video takes up around 60-70% of the video. There are 8 different shots throughout the performance and 220 cuts. Each band member gets one beauty shot and there is a second shot from a different angle of the drum kit. There is one wide shot of the whole band and a worms eye shot which is used only once at the very end of the video.

There is a black screen lasting 11 frames at 01:54:20 of the original video where there is silence in the music. I linked this with the Performance cuts.

The ratio of band members is very interesting. The vocalist got 97 cuts lasting 01;17;15,and the drummer got 54 lasting a total of 00;36;10. The guitarists have a very odd ratio as well. One guitarist and the bassist get about 5-7 seconds each whereas the other guitarist gets 15 seconds, basically double what they had. This may have been a choice from the band because one member did not want to be seen so much, or maybe that the other guitarist gave a much more interesting performance. The beauty shots are very interestingly done, all hand held from the looks of things and zooming in and out on important details of each member. The drummer's beauty shot is especially odd as it is at first an almost static high angle shot on the kit, but at 02;21 in the original video it changes to a beauty shot to get tighter angles on the drummer.

There are two shots in the performance which feel like they shouldn't be there, one at 01;42;16 and another at 02;19;04. My theory is that they needed to fill up space and these shots looked especially convincing. I think this as I doubt that they would have filmed a whole other take of the vocalist and only used it for a total of 25 frames!

Here is the shot list;

Always - NARRATIVE

The Narrative of Always (Architects, 2007)

Above is the Narrative as a short film. Obviously it is very badly cut due to the way it was in the music video but I think it illustrates very well the way to go about making a narrative. Make a short film! It needs as much care as a short film and should not be treated as just a space filler. The narrative of Always shows an architect struggling to design something, until he finds an unusual pattern on his neck which completes his sketch.

The narrative is made up of 21 different shots (video below) and 112 different cuts. It lasts around 01:25 in total which is around a third of the video, a fair proportion of music video to take up. It works well in contrast with the fast paced band performance as it is quite a slow paced story. The video starts with a plain black frame which makes up the 112th cut.



The roaming shots may look very different between each cut but it safe to assume this was all filmed as one big take where the cameraman went around the subject zooming in and out to get lots of different angles of the action.

Always - Architects, Video deconstruction

I have been deconstructing the Architects video for "Always" off of their 2007 album "Ruin" (Century Media). This deconstruction will be split into 3 separate posts. This one (general information), a post on Narrative and a post on Performance.

Here is the video;


Frame rate : 30fps
Length : 04;12;00
Narrative : 01;25;18 (around 30-35%)
Performance : 02;44;26 (around 65-70%)
Total Cuts : 335 of which 112 are Narrative and 223 are Performance

8 different performance shots
22 different narrative shots

1. There is never more than 1 narrative shot in a row.
   
2. The vocalist is shown for 01;40;13, which is more than the entire narrative put together.
   
3. The guitarists together don't even merit 30 seconds of video.
   
4. The drummer is the only band member with more than one shot of him adding up to a total of around 35 seconds of screen time.

Dethroned, The music video experience

Today I thought I should do some blogging, and the thing that has been on my mind constantly has been about different angles for shooting. So in my boredom and summer time I have made a guitar music video for Architects song Dethroned off of their 2009 album Hollow Crown. It is made up of 5 different angles of the guitar as well as some establishing shots. I tried to focus on these things while shooting and editing;

-Different distances and cants/slants on the shots, make them interesting
-Fast cutting, slow cutting, the whole deal.
-Cutting rhythmically with the music and using the pace of the song to determine my cuts.
-Focusing on what is most interesting to watch at a particular point.

Hope you enjoy!

Performance techniques

For the genre of music that we wish to do for our music video, there are certain aspects of performance that we need to make sure we pull off to give off the right representation and atmosphere for the genre. In heavy music the performance is all about energy and movement from the vocalist all the way to the drummer. Seeing as we want to do a mainly performance based video we need to pay close attention to detail with this.

Vocalist
The vocalist is the main focus in most music videos, however in this genre they get a lot less coverage than other genres. This is because the performance is a lot more based around a band as a group rather than a single individual. However, especially in bands like Architects where the guitarists are playing very complicated music it is essential the vocalist is constantly full of energy to put across the mood of the song. Head banging is a very common feature with the person moving their head violently in time with the song, working especially well if the vocalist has a full head of hair! (refer to the video - Early Grave, Architects) Although it may feel ridiculous to do it conveys the energy very well. Some vocalists use the microphone and its lead to create interest and movement, e.g. swinging it round their head, doing complicated movements with the lead (refer to the video - Make Damn Sure, Taking Back Sunday).

Guitarists (refer to the videos - "Vices Like Vipers, Oh Sleeper" and "Early Grave, Architects")
The guitarists all tend to work around the vocalist, but generally just move around the performance area so that although they may not be doing lots of fancy moves, the audiences is constantly kept interested. However in certain bits of songs sometimes the guitarists will find the music easy enough to play and also perform. Sometimes guitarists will head bang and even fling their guitars around them, over their shoulders, behind their heads and even all the way round their neck. Their job is generally to move around, not distracting from the vocalist but creating interest on the stage.

Drummer (refer to all three videos)
The drummer's role is to play the beat with energy and to convey interest to the audience much the same as the rest of the band. Obviously they cannot move from where they are but rather than just keeping to themselves they can be over the top with their movements. We found from the Wheatus video shoot that what you think to be a big movement on camera looks very weak and so everything needs to be completely over the top.

The general conclusion is that not only is it very difficult to write about performance techniques and much easier to demonstrate, but that for the genre of music we wish to do the vital thing to have is energy. If the band all move around the performance area and constantly engage each other then the performance will be interesting to watch, whereas without energy, it will become boring and repetitive

Architects - The music video experience in Colchester

Yesterday I did something I never thought I would; Got a return ticket to Colchester from London Liverpool St. and went to the Colchester Arts Centre. I did this however for some amazing research and brilliant networking opportunities which I'm going to talk about now.

Architects (the band who's song we want to use in our music video) were shooting their new video for the track "Follow The Water" off of their new album. The video is a performance based video so they sent out a request to any fans who wanted to be involved to just turn up. It was a very interesting and fantastic experience.

When I arrived Architects were mid way through shooting all their band shots on the stage. The first thing I saw was a huge light behind the building shining through the back window (which was stained glass as the venue used to be a church) from outside. When inside, you could see this was done to create some really cool light effects that made the whole back wall glow and gave the whole room an orange tint. Before going in we had to sign consent forms basically saying that whatever happened was our fault not Architects, who weren't to blame if any injuries occurred.

Before going in I saw the guitarist Timothy Hiller-Brook who I've had previous encounters in from buying his guitar earlier in the year. I talked to him about our A2 coursework and how we were planning to do their song, and his and the fellow band members reply was that they thought it was a brilliant idea, and that they had absolutely no problem with us using their song.

When inside, we as a crowd did 3 takes of the song, 2 where the band were miming along to the CD and one where they played the song live. However there were about 6 or so different cameras in use so that from those 3 takes the crew got lots of shots. The crew consisted of a director, a director of photography and two runners as well as the venues sound and light team. One camera was placed above the edge of the stage on the lighting rig facing directly down to get a complete birdseye view of the band performing and the crowd responding to them. Another set up used was 3 cameras on an arced piece of metal to get three different perspectives of the same shot. There were also 2 handheld camera rigs that the runners were using just roaming and filming the band and the crowd whenever they thought something suitably interesting was happening for close ups.
Also, when the band performed their live set later, the camera crew came on and got lots of random footage to montage in. They could do this by just making sure they never showed guitarists actually playing specific riffs or the vocalist singing lyrics etc.

However, by far my best achievement of the day was managing to talk to the director after the shoot, Stuart Birchall who has directed many other videos of the hardcore genre. He was very helpful and I managed to get his email off him, after telling him also about our A2 media coursework, which he said he would love to help out with if we have any questions or specifically as I asked, help finding a location.

I asked him mainly about the band shots earlier in the day. He told me these things;

• The crew got to the venue at 9am and the band got there about the same time. They set up for 2 hours and started filming from 11am until 5pm, where they got the crowd in and did another 2 hours of filming.
  
• He took about 40 different shots of the band of which about the same amount of takes were taken. He said they did this to save time on the shoot, as with that many different shots it would be quite easy to throw out any rubbish footage.
• To plan the shots, he drew up some storyboards before hand for his ideas, but also made the band run through the song first to see what they were like as performers. He then took notes on important factors (how they move, exciting riffs to watch, drum fills) and planned out more shots that would relate to the band as performers.
  
• They took 4 different wide angle shots of the entire band performing the whole song.
• For each band member they took 2 different "Beauty Shots" (it was nice to hear familiarity in the way he talked and also how Jake has talked to us, seeing a mutual understanding of filming between directors) of each band member, focusing on their faces, not only in CU but MCU and MS also, for which the band performed the whole song.
• Each member also had 2 general roaming shots of them taken where the camera would follow them as they performed from different angles.
• The 3 camera rig used in the crowd shots was also used here. Stuart said that at some points they had all 6 cameras mounted on the rig for what he called "Bullet Shots" which I will have to research some more. He did they to get 6 different shots of the same performance at one time, especially useful for the drummer as he can focus on certain drums when they are being used, and with Dan Searle having such a big kit and large number of drums and cymbals this is very important.
• They used the lighting to reflect the moods in the song. During the heavy first half of the song the light is a very harsh orange/red with strobes to give it a very harsh feel. However when everything drops out except the guitar and the song slows down, the light suddenly changes to a spotlight on the band with a slight blue tint. When the rest of the band drop back in, the lighting returns to its previous state.
• When asking Stuart about grading I asked if he was going to grade it similarly to Adam Powell's Architects videos in which there is a ver contrasted low saturation grade. He said, not only did he want to make his video stand out, but he wanted the grade to reflect the energy of the crowd, and therefore would use a very colourful grade for impact and energy, really making contrast between all the different colours.
• I asked him whether the whole video was going to be performance and he told me that he was doing two cuts. A directors cut with a narrative in and one video which was solely performance. He would then show both to the band and they would decide amongst themselves which they liked the best.

I really enjoyed the day and it was brilliant being able to talk to the director and find out more about the shoot, and I hope I can use some of the techniques he told me about in my own music video later this year.

We're All Alone - Architects (Split - Single, 2008, Thirty Days of Night Records) Song deconstruction

Note: All timings in this post are in reference to the youtube clip of "We're All Alone" at the top of the blog

In this post I am going to deconstruct my proposed song for music video in terms of the different sections and what happens in each. Once we have gone more in depth with the song we will be able to use this information to determine the speed of cuts and edits, the use of transitions and the filming style suitable for each section as it happens. Also from this we can determine the obvious "3 section split" in the song. I see the song as having two obvious moods and this being separated into ternary form (A, B, A) in the sense of the mood, but beneath I have gone more in depth and given each section a specific coding.


SECTION 1 (00:00 - 01:30) :

00:00 - 00:11 (Intro)
Lead guitar and drums only things doing anything. No vocals. Rhythm guitar and bass playing long chords. Fast paced, drum beat on the off beat, fast riff. Ends with vocals and other guitars coming in to drop into the next section

00:11 - 00:31 (Section A)
Vocals come in. Both guitars playing the riff, bass aswell. Drums breakdown. Much slower beat (not tempo wise but pace). All instruments in rhythmic unison at end of the phrase to bring in the next section.

00:31 - 00:41 (Section B)
Everything cuts out except lead guitar for a second then everything comes back in. No time signature. Very fast complex riff. Timeless feel. Drums are only doing fills rather than a beat to keep time, used as an instrument rather than a rhythmic device. Vocals very drawn out over the phrases, not in obvious places.

00:41 - 01:06 (Section C)
Back in an obvious 4 in a bar time signature, drums similar to intro on the off beat. Guitars playing simple chord patterns with a slightly more lead line over the top. Bass following the root of the chords. Gang vocals, involving the whole band to emphasise the words "All on our own". Those four words repeated three times to really drive in the point of the song. At the end of the section plays half of the intro again but with a vocal line to add variation before going back to the original section.

01:06 - 01:30 (Section A.2)
Same riff and beat as first time round section A, but altered lyrics, similar theme but has been developed through section B & C. End of the section (01:23 - 01:30) is different with an extra part of the riff added on, again similar to section B it has no real time signature but instead follows the rhythmic patterns of the riffs following descending scales leading down to the first chord of section D.


SECTION 2 (01:30 - 02:48) :

01:30 - 01:50 (Section D)
The song takes a completely different mood with the guitars playing straight drawn out chords and the drums playing lots of fills. The vocals are screaming long lines that emphasise the change in lyrical direction as well as mood of the song. The lyrics are "And I just don't care anymore about you, You can sit and suffer alone without me". This shows that the character has given up hope on whoever the lyrics were aimed at before. These lyrics are reflected by the song with the riff at the end of A.2 being a big descending scale and then stopping with the chords. This is a clear sign that the editing should become slower and reflect the mood of the song.

01:50 - 02:14 (Section D.2)
Now a lead guitar line comes in and the song picks up pace, not quite as fast as the original riffs but gives the song direction and a driving force. The lyrics are simple so as not to distract from the intricate guitar part.

02:14 - 02:39 (Section D.3)
The drums break down into a slower beat and singing begins (first time in the song). The singing creates a very melodic section in contrast to the really dissonant chords and patterns seen in the opening sections of the song. The pattern repeats twice with different lyrics and then manages to go directly back to the same speed and pace of the original riffs.

02:39 - 02:48 (Section E)
This is a small linking section to bring the pace back up and not make the change of mood sound too sudden. It is a simple build up with some drum fills and simple chords.


SECTION 3 (02:48 - 03:03) :

02:48 - 03:03 (Section B)
This is an exact repeat of the first section B but ends very suddenly with the vocals left going after all the instruments have stopped on the line "We're all alone" which is the driving theme of the song so that it sticks in your head.

Genre Comparisons

To compare genres I have taken my two favourite bands ("Architects" & "Death Cab for Cutie") and chosen a music video by each. I have been focusing mainly on the pace of the video in relation to the pace of the song.

In "Always" (Architects - Ruin, 2007) the editing is very fast and constantly cutting between narrative and performance. The performance is very edgy and there is constant motion whereas the narrative is cleverly placed in between, using lots of still shots with very little going on. This means that the glimpses of storyline are easy to take in while the performance continues being impressive and interesting to watch.

In "Soul Meets Body" (Death Cab for Cutie - Plans, 2005) the editing is very slow, with very long shots which interchange very smoothly, the song following a very direct narrative which the band take part in rather than the performance being a seperate entity (like in "Always").

The two songs both really reflect their genres, with the Architects video being fast cut and paced and going along with the fast drum beats and intricate riffs, whereas the DCFC video is very slow paced like the quiet, calm song, and reflects this through its mise en scene and slow narrative.

I have been deconstructing these videos further and will go into more depth about them in later posts.

We're All Alone Lyrics

I am your hero
Still I sleep alone at night
In years you'll thank me
For getting everything right
I am the sun
Still I sit alone in a red sky
Keeping my eyes on you
Were all alone

In time you'll find that
Were all on our own (all on our own)
Were all on our own , chasing nothing
My dreams have fallen , I'm wearing thin
I need something to fill this void I'm constantly in
And I can't do this

I am your hero
I just don't care tonight
In years you'll forget me
I got everything right
I am the sun
I didn't rise today
I left you in darkness

And I just don't care anymore about you
You can sit and suffer alone without me

I am your hero
Save your "thank you"'s

In times to come ill rise above this
But for now i'll just sit here (save your "thank you" 's)
My dreams have fallen once again
My dreams have fallen once again

I need something to fill this void I'm in

Guitar Syncing

Seeing as me, Matt and Simon have basically chosen the song we are going to do for our project I thought it important to think about the possibility that I may be playing guitar in this video. To think about this I have learnt the song we want to use and practiced playing along accurately with the recording. Whether I play the song perfectly or not, the point is that it looks like I am playing it perfect. This is very important for the performance for if the guitar playing looks wrong the performance overall will look very tacky. From this exercise I have seen the importance of practicing a song and making sure you know a song inside out for the video shoot.

The main things I have observed as important are these;
-Playing in time
-Playing something that works synchronously with the song (when the song changes chord, you must as well otherwise it looks wrong)
-Playing the right kind of instrument (I'm using an electric guitar rather than say a banjo!)
-Being able to play the song from start to finish so that any moment of the take can be used

Reflections on the Teenage Dirtbag video shoot

1. What do you think you learnt from Friday's workshop?
Friday's workshop was a very eye opening experience into the world of shooting and directing a music video. Although preferably I'd have liked to be behind the camera working on the technical team it was a very good experience to be involved in the acting and performance. The biggest thing for me was working with Jake Wynne. Watching him direct was very interesting and made me think very hard about the role of the director and also the role of the performer in relation with the director. There has to be a connection between the two and almost an onset chemistry for them to understand what they want to achieve and how to go about creating this in music video form. Jake worked closely with every actor getting very involved in every shot and this approach made him enjoyable to work with but let you know exactly what he wanted you to do, and how to do this.
The second point for me was about the camera work. I learnt a lot watching the Camera crew work especially about their role on the shoot and their position of power in comparison to the director. Although the director is ultimately in charge, he works closely with the camera crew to find the most appropriate and creative way of doing a shot. The two main features of camerawork I observed were the use of manual focus and tracks, both of which made me think about the use of motion in video and how important it is to adding interest to what can look a quite dull performance.
This leads on nicely to my last point of interest, the performance itself. I learnt about how tiring a performance shoot is, and how important it is to keep optimistic and energetic at all times, to help the director achieve the best possible video outcome. It is important to know your character well and to know the song back to front, as if you don't, your performance will look dreadful! I think we managed to pull off some great performance shots by working well as a group and these skills I will carry across to our main project.

2. For you, what was the best bit?
My favourite part of the day by far was the band shots as they were really fun to take part in. Once you'd gotten over the inital embarrassment of being infront of a camera singing Wheatus, you could really let yourself go and enjoy yourself. Working with the rest of the band was really fun as we managed to put on a great ensemble performance, really bouncing off eachothers mannerisms and ideas, and working with Jake inbetween shots to pull off even more convincing imitations of the Wheatus band members. It was brilliant being able to adopt a different identity for the day and try and imagine yourself as them. Also, playing with Simon dancing round a pair of bongos, shaking an apple and a banana was a truely hilarious experience and definitely one I will never forget. Music and media are my passions and it was wonderful to get to combine the two in a way that will really benefit me throughout the duration of the course.

3. How do you think the work we have done will impact on your group project?
This workshop will greatly change the way I think about approaching my group project. For a start I now know to completely plan out every single shot and test how to shoot it in advance to save time on the day. I know better how to work as an ensemble and listen to the director, following their instructions precisely. I have learnt how important it is to really be on the ball and not mess about seeing as a shoot can take a very long time, and the more tired you are, the less convincing a performance you will be able to give. For me especially with the possibility of being the vocalist in our group project the workshop was especially helpful as it has taught me a lot about lip syncing and the role of the lead vocalist as an icon, something for the audience to focus on throughout the video. I know we need to give the band an identity and an image and make sure that carries on throughout the video.
On the technical side I'm definitely more willing to try more complicated shot types and using the manual settings on the camera to change the depth of field. I think movement of the camera is a must have to make the video interesting and will make sure to incorporate this into my ideas.