Christmas developments.

After finding out that my initial recordings were too short, I had to re-shoot some material.

This time  I made sure to time 3-5 seconds before and after each clip so the clips were long enough altogether.

I also found a net for the Digipak which will enable me to create my digipak very shortly

Digipak

This is a similar album cover to what I want to achieve, from a band very very similar to The Strokes in genre, time and style.
 the cover consists of just the band's name on a black background. The colours and font are very clean and could possibly represent a neon sign.

Here are some images representing ideas for my digipak and magazine advertisement.

Animatic

This is my animatic.

Animatic Production

I have begun my animatic. Animatics are similar to music videos although using storygoards instead of actual filmed footage. This is gain an insight into what the video will eventually look like.

A good example of an Animatic is 'Dirty Harry' by 'Gorillaz'

The drawings in this Animaticaresuperior to most, but that makes it a good example due to the likeness to the actual video.

I have a series of pictures represening shots which I will use, althought not lots. This is because in some of the shots, such as the chorus, I will gradually build up the shot starting with one quarter of the screen and bringing in others. My animatic won't be an accurate representation of my video.

Disclaimer

                   ' DISCLAIMER

By signing this disclaimer, I accept that I will appear in Joe Robinson’s A2 Media Coursework, a music video.

 I also accept that the video will ultimately end up being uploaded to Youtube or another video hosting website and give my permission for this.

SIGNED  …………………………….           DATE  ……………………….

NAME    ………………………………………………………………………….'

This is the disclaimer that will be signed by all of my actors, (4 of whom now.)

Analysis 3 - Undisclosed desires

this is the video to Muse's track 'Undisclosed Desires' which is Progressive rock/indie/rock/techno genre - a variety of genres. Muse are a British Prog rock/rock band who since 2009 have focused on a more wide audience and become more soft in their music. Contracted to WMG, they have 5 albums and instruments include guitars, bass, drums, synth and Pianos.

This video focuses on the band performing in a large room crammed full of technology, wires everywhere, lights everywhere, screens everywhere and amps everywhere. I think the emphasis of this video is to display and mock the overproduction involved with making a music video, because of various shots like where the usage of internal frames representing future shots foregrounds the behind the scenes of production of a music video. Strip lights and various other lights flash on and off in timing to the music and mini-TV screens with lyics on switch on and flick between lyrics as they're said. This is something which I want to incorporate in my video in the form of lyric boards. Another play on the production of a music video is the sheer amount of technology which can be seen in the video. an example of this is all of the cables which are hanging from the ceiling and trailing along the floor, as well as a shot close to the end where the lead singer clicks his fingers above his head, the sound of which is caught by 5-6 microphones solely dedicated to that single sound. It's this over the top syle which makes the video seem parodic of music video production.

The band are all in similar coloured clothing (red and black) which are associated with negativity and anger - the theme of the song. This is also mirrored by the set and the screens which show the lyrics - The words are red on a black background. Lights on the floor are white to create as much contrast and draw as much attention as possible from the viewer.

Cut into shots of the band performing are shots of a dancing woman. She is also in sync with the look of the set, having large frizzy red hair (possible to simulate static) and a black costume. She, like the set has lots of cables and wires etc. hanging from her, and dances in an overly enthusaistic way, even during the quieter parts of the song. I think this is once again having a stab at how ameteur of a look the video has to it. To top it all of, the dancer's white shoes are incredibly worn and dirty, giving the effect of 'they just found her and are in a rush to produce the video not care how she looks' to the video, because she really has no purpose whatsoever.

Cinematography in this video is quite strange, as it's a mixture between hand-held camera shots and professional looking still shots. I think the purpose if this is to demonstrate the difference between the two and like said earlier, mock the whole ameteur music video production process. The handheld shots are voyeuristic and noticably unsteady. A mixture of wide and close up shots are used, especially the close ups of the singe, for instance when he clicks his fingers. Close up shots help the audience recognise the institution and wide shots set the scene and give a feel of comfort in knowing the surroundings, so a combination of both is needed and often works well.

The video is also quite heavily edited. Shots cut at irregular rates although the cutting always matches the beat of the song. In some of the longer shots, there's continuity whereby slow mothion effects are added to the clip. These are all typically found during the slower parts of the song at the beginning, end and around 3 minutes. Another notable thing in this video is the use of subliminal 'slides' which display lyrics but instead of showing the screen with the lyrics on, what's actually on the screen is the shot. I want to use a combination of these two types of lyric exposure, for the subliminal full screen slides add a technological feel to the video, something I'm trying to acheive.

These are two examples of my lyric boards. I have chosen a 2nd font, JD Jessica, as well as the neon sign font. This is to ad some variety to the lyric boards seeing as full lines will be comprised of them.

This is an example of what my Lyric Boards I will use in some of my shots will look like.

I chose this font due to it being a replica of a neon sign, which fits the electrical feel of my chosen song well. this is also the reason I chose the specific colour. the other lyric boards will use the same font and be a variety of other colours including those on the picture below.

This is an idea for the on-screen lyrics which i will add during post production which occur in the first verse. The lines are arranged this way as the lyric is repeated 3 times and the font anc colour choice for the same reasons as the text above.

Test Shots

These photos are some early test shots which will give me a feel of the locations I'm using to film my video.
Some even may make it into the video during the stills part.

Cast/ Location list

The actors (only 3) will most probably be:
-Daniel Blackburn
-Sarah Dore
-Thomas Nelson

-Jacob fenwick (over 18)
-Andrew Hone (over 18)

I chose these actors due to their casual middle class appearence.

Locations:
College green room - various post-modern style shots which I'll add effects to.
College computer room - for parts with lyric boards - the abundance of computers really aids the technological feel of the video.

Little switzerland(woodland) - the contrast with the other locations as well as being a woodland area perfect for filming the 'I'm done with the office, i'm done with the office, I'm done with the office hello forest' part.

after some deliberation I've decided to use the wooded area in college instead of going to Humber Bridge country Park/Little switzerland.   I did this for the main reason that it's proximity to college/editing suites/my home means it's alot more convenient.

Marlborough ave - An upper middle class area of Hull with an abundance of trees and greenery allow the appearance of moving away from the inner city, as the song suggests.
 Multiple shots related to the trees and suburban lifestyle will be used and edited/reversed etc.

StoryBoards

this is the storyboard for the introduction, before the music starts, where the actors are trying to get the TV to work, and when it does, the video starts. The camera zooms out, and then in again once the picture appears on the TV. The first thing is a split screen shot of an actor sat on the left and stood/walking on the right. These pictures are intermittant and flash multiple times. The background is patterned and will flash between Tv static and coloured backgrounds.

During the introduction, but still before the vocals begin, an actor walking across a screen will be multiplied and upto 4 of him will appear in the same shot. the camera static and the background similar to the previous shots. when the vocals begin, the vocals will flash on screen in a neon style text font in time to the song and stills od the actors will appear and fade away against the same background as the previous shots.

When the song gets to the 'get off on the same floor' part, each time 'get off on the same floor' is said, a shot of the actor pressing an elevator button will play. The shot will be filmed differently, but the same button pressed each time.

Part : 'What are the reasons' - a computer room (probably a college room) with lyric boards. the boards will move around the room and the camera staying static.

Part: 'I wanna tell you' -  A computer screen with the lyrics ' I wanna tell you' being typed in different sizes and colours. then, zoomed in shot of 'NOTHING' being typed in large black letters.

The chorus: A 4 way split screen - (a light switch being turned on from two angles, a laptop being turned on, and a Tv remote being used) each shot is repeated once introduced, which 1 shot every 2~3 seconds is added. For the solo, A series of still photos of locations, cast, and photos of technology will be shown. each staying on screen for no longer than 0.5 seconds.

Last picture: Later in the song, the part: 'I don't want to fight, don't wanna break, you and me' repeats 3 times. A similar technique to earlier will be used, only this time with an actor holding the lyric boards. each repetition of the line the lyrics will be more and more complete and more instances of the same person will be on shot at once.

Part: 'I'm done with the office' - Location - Little switzerland (Woodland) - shots of the actor snapping a pencil, then snapping a ruler, then throwing a stationary pot to a side in time with the lines of lyrics which repeat thrice.  shot a the actor saying 'i still wanna ask you' from 3 different angles, in time with the repetition of the line, followed by a front on shot of someone with a lyric board saying 'SOMETHING' in contrast to the 'NOTHING' earlier.

Between 'I don't want to argue' and the end of the song, a series of shots which depict a person being frustrated at what he's seeing on the TV and wanting t turn it off. When it doesn't, he gets more annoyed and begins banging it. When it still won't turn off, he gets a baseball bat and swings at it, with the video ending just ahead of impact.

This was my initial idea for the part after the 2nd chorus, which i replaced with the current one.

Storyboard amendments

The storyboards I first produced are now obselete, although that doesn't mean I won't use them. The concepts and ideas i implemented in them I will still use, but transpose regular people onto them as opposed to a band.

Lyrics

You're so Right.


Tell me what happened                               (boring life, boring wife)
Tell me what happened
Tell me what happened
If you like
Get off on the same floor                 (Boring 9-5 job and routine conversation at dinner.)
Get off on the same floor
Get off on the same floor
Every night

What are the reasons                                           (technology breaking/annoyance/frustration
What are the reasons                                        
What are the reasons
To fall out
I wanna tell you
I wanna tell you
I wanna tell you
Nothing

Girl, I am on
At anytime
Girl, I want at any town.
I'm done with the office                                               (Wanting to escape and be technologyless)
I'm done with the office
I'm done with the office
Hello, forest
I still want to ask you
I still want to ask you
I still want to ask you
Something more

Yeah

I don't want to fight
Don't want it, baby
You and me

I don't want to fight                                                          (realising it is missed.)
Don't wanna make
You and me

I don't want to fight
Don't wanna make
You and me

I don't wanna argue                                                      (more frustration)
I don't wanna argue
I don't wanna argue
If you want
I wanna hurt you
I wanna hurt you                                                           (destroying of it.)
Maybe I'd hurt you
If I could.


In the video, I aim to turn the generic binary opposites story of love between man and woman into something more unique and against the conventions of indie music. Man will gain a new enemy, Technology. The video will show how much excessive technology can impact a video, much like how the use of excessive filters and vocal/instrument sound modifiers have made the song sound unreal and artificially produced.

Cast list

2 actors.
TBD. Will be dressed in average tshirt/trousers/jeans combo.


Location List
-One Empty/plain room/wall
-Multiple outside locations
-A TV set


Prop List -TBD
-Multiple random objects such as chairs, tables.bikes etc.

GoAnimate.com: S0009512media 2 by S0009512

Storyboards

I began work on my storyboards for the video.

I'll split the storyboards up into 2 sections - Experimental (the performance shots, which will have a variety of effects and experimental changes) and Other ( the 'narrative' element of the video, where the band will be seen without instruments.)

As there's no set order yet due to the lack of linear narrative, the shots will appear randomly throughout the video and not be in the same order as drawn.

Audience Feedback results.

I asked a series of questions regarding my research and proposed music video idea to try to gauge my audience:

What's your favourite aspect of a music video?
Performance - 2 votes
Vocals - 3 votes
Visual Imagery - 6 votes
Cinematography - 0 votes

The Peppermints are a local Hull band, have you heard of them?
Yes - 10 votes
No - 1 vote

If so, have you seen them perform?
Yes  - 8 votes
No - 4 votes

Which Genre of music do you think the Peppermints produce?
Rock - 10 votes
Pop - 0 votes
Country - 1 vote
Psychadelic - 0 votes

Which age bracket would you put yourself in?
<16 - 0 votes
17-20 - 10 votes
21-25 - 1 vote
26+ - 0 votes

Gender?
Male -8 votes
Female - 3 votes

Taken For a Fool - Analysis 2

The Strokes are an America Indie/Post Punk Revival band from New York. They're signed to RCA Records(Sony), and Rough Trade in the UK. A five piece band, they consist of two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a singer, and are known for their retro appearance and stylings reminiscent of 70'sand 80's music.

This is another video which I will use in my research. The aspect of this video I want to concentrate on is the cinematography and editing. Whereas the shots are very long relative to the pace of the music, the editing of adding multiple copies of the band members doing different things makes the video seem a lot more busy and chaotic. This is similar to a technique which I want to implement into my music video.
 the camera motion appears to be circular with the camera facing inwards. The camera makes many revolutions over the course of the video and remains continuous despite the cutting of shots. The imagery created by the multiple overlays of the band members helps to keep the editing visually fast paced despite the relatively long shots which may otherwise be dull and boring to watch.

The background of the video also seems edited. Many colourful lights which first resemble a park, with trees etc, move in jumps and jerks in the style of a soundboard(?) and them go on to form a parking lot and more of a city/concrete jumgle image. I can tell this has been edited in however due to how it appears the whole way around the 360 degrees of the circle. Whereas the technology is a little more advanced than the chroma key effect that Adobe Premiere Pro has, it's the same princple of hiding the original background.

The general Mise-en-Scene is however unrelated to how I would imagine the Mise-en-scene of my video would be. whereas this is very colourful, reminiscent of various 1980's videos, mine will be more plain and regular. Same goes for the band's costume. Usage of leather jackets and tight, skinny jeans, sunglasses, a sleeveless puffer jacket etc. all give the retro feel associated with the music from the album in which the song comes from. The lighting is also heavily tinted for this same effect. The flooring of the set is black to contrast all of the light and right colours used in the video and to replicate neon lights- a major part reference to the 80's when neon lights were widely used.

Skills Development.

I will write about how the abundance of digital technology available to me aided my creativity and how my skills with Digital technology and my creativity have gotten better.

At the start of A2 media I once again started a blog to track my developments on the project and get feedback from people. I used the integrated poll system on blogger to ask questions and gather feedback on different aspects of my project such as the genre of the video and how my ancillary texts worked together. Using this feedback I was able to make adjustments and alterations to my project.
 Digital Technology also helped me create most of the effects and editing of my music video as well as the visual appeal of my ancillary texts. I recorded the footage of my actors using a Canon MiniDV tape camcorder which i then captured onto a computer using Matrox Media tools software.
 I then used Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 in order to edit my production including cutting shots to match the beat of the song, a convention of most videos, synchronising the playing of the guitar in some of my shots to match the song, and adding effects to the video such as Chroma Key, which allowed me to transpose another background onto the shot, for example I changed the background of my performer from the wall of the College's green room to a Cyan colour. It also let me add title slides which I used to alert the consumers of the text to the name of the song, as well as the name of the record company. The other feature of this software I used was the ability to speed up or slow down the clip. all of these effects and features allowed me to expand my thinking while creating the video, as well as influencing some of my creative decisions based on things being possible which I hadn't previously anticipated.
 Initially I also wanted to use Adobe Flash CS3 in order to produce animated segments for my video, but then dismissed the idea because I realised I only wanted to try it was because it was available to try. This is an example of how digital technology has had a negative effect on my creative development.
  While producing my ancillary texts, I first used a Kodak M520 Digital camera with Panorama function to capture a panoramic picture. I then opened this picture using Adobe Photoshop CS3 where i applied a series of effects such as 'Posterise' to alter the image's appearance in order to produce a background for my digipak cover. I then added text which was a custom font 'Extravaganza' which Photoshop allowed me to make use of. Finally I adjusted the size of the picture and the text in order to produce my magazine advert, with photoshop allowing quick duplication of imagery meaning I had texts which shared main features and could be related visually to each other and to my music video.
 Overall, the presence of such an abundance of digital technology has drastically increased the amount of editing options available to me. This aided my creative development and meant that because of the experimentation i did, my project seems more developed despite straying from my initial ideas.

Techniques

There are a few different techniques I want to use in my video

-switching focus
-making the same person appear twice in the same shot.
-Chroma Key backgrounds of other places.
-Upside down and sideways footage

Pillar of Salt - Analysis 1

This is the music video for the Thermals' song 'Pillar of Salt'. It is going to be used as inspiration for my music video and is also a favoured band of the band members of which are going to be in my music video. As well as giving me ideas for the looks of the band's costume/appearance, it also gave me the idea to have the video filmed and contained within one room and having multiple different things such as balloons and things happening. Another idea this video gave me is the shifting of the band members forwards and backwards which can be accomplished byfilming two clips from the same static camera and cut editing them together.

This video also shows elements of band/rock star culture which is just the band having fun and not playing music. This brings an element of humour into the video which i also hope to recreate.
 The cinematrograpy consists of fast paced editing along with cuts to the beat and very fast still rotations. This coincides with the rock/indie genre of the song, which also matches the the genre of the song i'm using.

The video takes place exclusively inside a plain white room, with a clock-in ? on the wall. The band clock in and begin playing. The camera is static and therefore the room and the shot remains constant wide shot of the room, exposing the band not in great detail. The band then move closer to the camera and furher away as well as doing various other things like riding a bike through the room and being on a cross-trainer. The significance of the white room is that white signifies a blank canvas which is later soiled and defectedby the band. However they use many different items including paint at the end, and leave the room covered in coloured paint. I think this relates to a piece of modern art and how modern art can be anything, and isn't for most people. This further asserts their position as in indie band.

History of the Music Video.

The concept of a music video first came to be when artists such as The Beatles made feature length films and included audio over certain parts in the early 1960's. Before this there wasn't really either the technology required to make music videos available, nor the demand for such texts due to the lack of TV accessibility.  The sheer success of bands like The Beatles meant their performances were always in demand by the public. Initially these feature films were to satisfy the demand for an artist by providing accessible footage of the band playing. The idea of promoting a track by producing a video to accompany it wouldn't come around until later.
 One example is 'A Hard Day's Night' wherein a segment of the film depicts the Beatles trying to outrun their raucous fans, which symbolises their need to produce such films. However the majority of early music videos were incredibly simple, for example 'Help' by the Beatles and 'Space Oddity' by David Bowie. Whereas these types of early music video provided gratification for the fans and viewers, by today's standards they're incredibly boring and poorly made.
 For instance, on 'Space Oddity' the cutting of the shots is ill-timed and doesn't fit the beat of the song. There's random zooming of the camera which has no meaning and isn't necessary as well as over saturated red lighting which is of no significance. Any space themed Mise-en-scene created is also cancelled out by the fact that Bowie is sat there with an acoustic guitar.
another example of these simple and primitive videos was Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' which provided a base for many others to be made. A simple concept of showing the lyrics to the song on cards which were dropped in time with when they were sung. The whole video was shot in one go and no editing of video was required. the rise of these artists in particular signified a change in the minds of young people, as these were the first artists to write their own songs, unlike the likes of Elvis Presley who were the first real manufactured pop stars we know and are popular today.
 It was Queen's video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in 1975 which was seen as the first video made for promotional purposes and the first to expand the boundaries of what was possible when making a music video.
 As technology advanced and music video production became more and more popular, TV began airing programmes like 'Top of the Pops' and 'The Old Grey Whistle Test', which featured pop artists at the time performing live. This and the introduction of whole TV channels(MTV) devoted to the showing of music videos signified the popularity of videos. It only seems ironic that in 1981 the first video shown on MTV was The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star'as the video accompanying the song started to become as if not more important than the actual song.
 Throughout the 80's bands began to produce videos which had a narrative to interweave with the performance footage as well as setting the boundaries on video budget higher. Good examples of this are Wham!'s 'Club Tropicana' and Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' which proved whoever spent the most money on their video tended to have the more successful singles.
 Since the evolution of abstract music videos and videos whose visual imagery is derived from the song's lyrics  have become more prominent - (Radiohead; No Surprises and Street Spirit - REM; Losing My Religion respectively.)  These types of video now mean there are 4 major styles of music video - Abstract/Lyrical Interpretation/Performance and Narrative.

Song choice and Audience

I'm choosing to make a music video for the Strokes' song 'you're so right'

they're a mainly indie rock band who've recently treaded into retro 80's stylistics within their music.
their audience therefore is mainly Indie.

Brief

I have decided to choose the music video brief, which details having to produce a Music promo video for an existing song. In addition to this I have to produce a cover for a Digipak associated with the track, and a magazine advertisement promoting the digipak.