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.
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, September 21, 2009
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
http://www.myspace.com/wwtwuk
http://whowatchesthewatchmen.bigcartel.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ibreathefirescreamo
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 f
irst 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.
The f
irst 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.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
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.
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 EckÅ 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.
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 EckÅ 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.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, August 31, 2009
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
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
Sunday, August 30, 2009
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;
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.
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
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
- There is never more than 1 narrative shot in a row.
- The vocalist is shown for 01;40;13, which is more than the entire narrative put together.
- The guitarists together don't even merit 30 seconds of video.
- 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.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
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!
-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!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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
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
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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;
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.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
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.
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