Monday, 12 November 2007

Our Final Video!!

Here is our final video!!

Organisational Documents

Shot List:


Shot Log:


Re-Shoot List:

Capture List:



Sunday, 11 November 2007

My Brainstorm Of Possible Band Names

My Brainstorm Of Possible Band Name
Here is a list of the band names I put forward to the group as possibilities as our band's name.
  • HeadCandi
  • Delerium
  • Traffic
  • Aryan
  • The Colour Principle
  • Stammer
  • Boyduck

We adapted HeadCandi, and all agreed to use that as our band's name

My Track Choice and Idea

My Track Choice and Idea
I thought of an RnB song by Megan Rochelle called Let Go, which I also had an idea for. I put this idea forward to the group. After much discussion, however, we all felt that it would be too difficult to make a RnB video not look ameteur and tacky, as none of us knew any actors that would be perfect for the role, nor do we have money to spend on using flash cars, exotic locations etc, which are usually part of RnB music videos. Here, however is a brief synopsis of my idea
There was a male and a female character who have recently split up, and in the music video we would show their relationship together and how love can turn into an unhealthy obsession, as the male character becomes obsessed with his ex-girlfriend

My List of Possible Tracks

My List of Possible Tracks

  1. The Streets - Blinded by the Lights. After much discussion over this track, we realised that this does not meet our criteria, as it has already had a video that has been released. We did however all agree that this genre of music would be a good genre for our music video
  2. The Streets - The Irony of it All. Once again we discussed whether this song could be our song choice, however after discussing it with our teach we all agreed that the streets had too much of a distinct image and sound, that trying to create a video to any of their songs could lead to our video looking like we were rtying to imitate Mike Skinner, therefore we no longer looked at any Streets songs
  3. The Spill Canvas- The Tide. We all listened to the song and two of us really liked it, however the other 2 were not too keen on it an felt that it would be a risk of becoming boring

Inspirational Album Covers

Inspirational Album Covers
All of these album covers are from artists who produce the same genre music as our band does. After looking at several RnB artists album covers, I thought I would look at some srtists/groups within our bands genre of music
Some of these have the band on them, as the RnB covers dow, however far more of these album covers break the conventions by not including a picture of the artists of the front cover. From these I have realised that it is not necessary to include a picture on our front cover of our artist, as long as we include it on either the back cover or the inside sleeve. This allows us to create a more abstract and orginal front cover, one which people are more likely to remember.

Mariah Carey's Glitter Album Cover Analysis

Mariah Carey's Glitter Album Cover Analysis

Front Cover :
Image

  • Picture of Mariah herself, looking glam and extremely happy
  • Pink colour scheme connotes femininty
  • An inspiring picture, as she looks stunning
  • The bright lights in the background relates to the name of the album 'Glitter'
  • The bright light make her look as if she is on stage, signifying her fame and fortune
  • She has a lot of flesh showing, amking her look sexy and quite seductive. This would appeal to the male audience
Text
  • The Album title 'Glitter'- all in lower case, very feminine lettering and the dot on the i looks like a sparkle, so is keeping in theme with the rest of the cover
  • Name of the artist-much plainer wording, with a capital letter, allows the buyers to easily recognise who's album it is
  • Sticker is on the cover informing the audience of Mariah's hits from this album


Text and Image

  • Blending colour schemes, as the image of Mariah has a pink tint on it in order to match with the background
  • 'Glitter' is the title and there are bright sparkly, glittery dots all over the front cover


Back Cover:



Background Image
  • The skyline of some high-rise building, looks like a city
  • Pink and Purple colour scheme to match the front cover
  • Blurred image through the over exposure of lights, maing it look quite galm and out of this world


Text

  • Text is purple and white contrasting to the pink background, mkaing it easy to read
  • Lots of text, Credits for teh production team and the important names are in a larger font
  • Once again a very feminine font
  • Clear track list, with each track duration
  • Bar code


Inside Sleeve:

Image


  • The building behind Mariah seem to be the ones we could only see the top of on the back cover.
  • Mariah is wearing a very revealing top and is standing in a provocative pose. Her top says 'I love NY', showing her roots as an American artist
  • Once again she looks stunning, and someon people would aspire to look like and be like
  • The over-exposed light effect is being used in this image aswell, making it look as if Mariah is on stage


Text

  • There is no text on the inside sleeve


Overall:

  • The overall look of the album cover is extremely professional and glam. It is acting as a way of promting Mariah as this beautiful icon, therefore drawing people into buying the album
  • The album cover is a promostional tool for the album, and draws peoples attention to what they could buy, through is very bright colours.
  • Industries mentioned on the album cover are Virgin Records America

Album Cover Analysis

Album Cover Analysis

Typical Features of Album Covers
  • Album Title on front
  • Artist Name on front
  • Album Title on spine
  • Artist Name on spine
  • Band Motif
  • Photo of Artist on front (particularly debut albums)
  • Picture of Artist on back
  • Bar code on back
  • Track List on back
  • Record Company Logo on back
  • Copyright information, licensing etc. on back
  • Sticker on front listing a few of the most well known tracks, awards won or parental guidance information
  • Serial number on spine
  • Record Company Name on Spine
  • Accompanying Booklet (Photos of artist, thank-you page, lyrics)
  • Artist's official website address on back
  • CD itself decorated

Ways of Categorising Album Covers

  • Band/Solo Artist
  • Decade
  • Country of Origin
  • Ordinary Album/Greatest Hits
  • Record Label
  • Age of Artist
  • Type of Album ( e.g. Soundtrack or Christmas album)
  • Live/Studio
  • Single/Double CD
  • Colour Schemes
  • Artist pictured/ not pictured
  • Format (CD/Vinyl)
  • Male/Female/Mixed Artists
  • New Album/ Re-release of old album in new format
  • Already established Artist/ Debut Album
  • Card/Plastic
  • Glossy, Large Budget/Cheaply Made, Independent
  • Single artist or band/Compilation Album of many Artists

Purposes of Album Covers

  • To make money through selling album
  • To serve a decorative purpose and look nice in some-one's CD collection- fans like to improve and up date their collections regularly

Purpose of a Front Cover

  • Grab buyer's attention to pick up the album and in particular new fans
  • Inform the audience of what the album is
  • Promote and image for the artist
  • Connote a particular genre

Purpose of Back Cover

  • Informer buyer's of the album content
  • To further the promotion of the artist

Purpose of the Spine

  • Allows for easy identification when the CD is in a CD rack, making it more convenient

My Brainstorm Of Possible Actors

My Brainstorm Of Possible Actors

Male Actors:

Tom, who is 17 and is already a member of a band, therefore would be a confident performer and is used to singing professionally


Jon Fox, who is also 17, has the Indie look, which we want for our band and also has a very confident and out-going personality


Female Actresses:

Sophie, who is 17 and enjoys singing and has the innocent look we would like our female character to have. She has also attended stage school for a number of years
Francesca, who is 18 and is stunning and would look brilliant on camera, however test shots would need to be carried out, as I am unsure as to whether she can act
Caiomhlin, who is 17 and i a drama student at Latymer and a confident, stunning girl, who would also have the perfect look for our female actress

Music Video Analysis: Student Videos

Music Video Analysis: Student Videos

Towers of London : Red High Heels


What Works?

  • Good choice of actors
  • Locations looked professional and the lighting worked effectively
  • Costumes were effective
  • Variety of camera work- static and lots of movement
  • CU's used well
  • Effective quick editing, which the majority of them time cut to the beat of the music
  • Use of humour

What Doesn't Work?

  • The storyline is confusing and I didn't really understand it
  • The dancing look rather uneasy at times
  • The video sometimes looked jumpy, therefore dissolves may have been better in some transitions

Boy Crazy : High School Rejects Music Video

What Works?

  • The locations fitted with the theme of the song
  • The narration was clear
  • Good use of CU's and original angles, especially on the performance shots
  • Good use of humour

What Doesn't Work?

  • Narration is a bit cheesy
  • The costumes look rather tacky and not very professional
  • The performers didn't look like they were actually playing the instruments and therefore it didn't look realistic

Deja Vu : Myrah Music Video


What Works?

  • Excellent choice of actors
  • Variety of camera work, movement and distances and angles
  • Strong performance
  • Very coherent and hitting narrative, which makes the audience really think about what they have seen
  • Black and White worked well
  • Good costumes

What Doesn't Work?

  • There is too much happening in the background on the performance shots
  • Some of the performers dancing shots seem uneasy and are unnecessary
  • A variety of backdrops in the performance would have been less boring

Significant Risk : Have You Ever? Music Video

What Works?

  • The lighting in the performance shots
  • The CU's of the performance shots and the different angles used in them
  • The contrast between the light in one location and the dark in the other
  • Use of humour
  • The choice of actor for the performer, as he looks realistic and not as if he is miming

What Doesn't Work?

  • There needs to be more locations, as it gets monotonous after a while
  • The narrative is confusing and i couldn't understand what was happening and what connection the visuals had to the lyrics
  • The costumes could have been more thought about
  • There could have been a more distinctive visual style
  • The song was a very boring song

Soul.Fool: Love Machine

Whats Works?

  • The black and white effect
  • The costumes
  • Excellent choice of actors, who really go for it and are not holding back at all
  • Good use of humour in order to get their narration across
  • Good editing techniques and use of speeding things up, as it made it more interesting

Waht Doesn't Work

  • There are parts where the video is a bit jumpy
  • It gets a bit cheesy and cliched in places

Music Video Analysis : Coldplay's The Scientist

Music Video Analysis : Coldplay's The Scientist
Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals
  • Illustrative : He sings 'Nobody said it was easy' and we can see his pain and emotion of his tragic loss. He also sings 'now lets go back to the start' and the video is actually shown to us backwards so we are literally going back to the start.
  • Amplification: We discover the reasons behind why he is singing 'nobody said it was easy' even though the lyrics themselves do not tell us
Relationship between Music and Visuals
  • Illustrative : Sound-vision editing and slow paced. Cuts are on the beat of the music

Performance, Narrative or Concept Based

  • Performance : This plays a substantial part of the video, as we follow the lead singer throughout the video singing
  • Narrative : There is a narrative, as we are being shown that he has lost his girlfriend through a tragic car crash
  • Concept : The emotional effects of loosing someone close to you
Visual Hooks
  • There are lots of CU's and ECU's of his face, which makes her the visual hook. We see him clearly expression his pain and devastation
Genre Characteristics (Indie/ Rock)
  • Music and Lyrics : Emotional lyrics with slow paced indie rock music
  • Editing : Slow editing, which mainly fits with the pace of the music
  • Gesture Codes : Emotional expression when he is singing into the camera
  • Fashion : Skinny jeans, tight tops, rugged unshaven look
  • Artist : Well-known male lead singer of a band
References to the Notion of Looking
  • We follow him, as he walks backwards and it is as if we are there following him.
  • He also sings directly to the camera, invoting us to watch his performance


Music Video Analysis : Alicia Keys Fallin

Music Video Analysis : Alicia Keys Fallin


Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals

  • Illustrative : She is singing about how she feels about her love life, and the visuals show us her story of her lovelife
  • Amplification : We are shown the reasons behind how she feels, as she sings about her feelings towards her lovelife

Relationship between Music and Visuals
  • Illustrative : Sound-vision editing and very slow paced. The visuals of the people's faces on the coach are cut to the beat of the music
Performance, Narrative or Concept Based
  • Performance : We watch her playing the piano and also she frequently sing into the camera
  • Narrative : We follow her story of her lovelife and learn about her past
  • Concept : The difficulties of being in love with someone, especially when they are in prison

Visual Hooks

  • There are lots of CU's and ECU's of her face as she sings
  • There are lots of ECU's of her hands playing the piano, which she is extremely well-known for, as she is a song-writer as well.

Genre Characteristics (RnB)
  • Music and Lyrics : Slow paced music, with the piano being the main instrument
  • Editing : Slow editing, which mainly fits with the pace of the music
  • Gesture Codes : Pouring her heart out about her feelings by singing emotionly to the camera
  • Fashion : Urban hairstyle and clothing
  • Artist : Well-known black female singer
  • Mise-en-scene : Low-key lightings

References to the Notion of Looking
  • She is singing to the camera, therefore leading us to look at her.
  • She also looks at others, however, when she stares out of the coach at the workers and when she looks longingly through the glass at her boyfriend in prison, who stares back
Intertextual References

  • To her other song 'Girlfriend', which is playing on the radio at the start of the video
  • Prision life, by portraying prisoners in orange and blue jumpsuits and the interior of the prison

Music Video Analysis: Madonna's Like A Virgin

Music Video Analysis: Madonna's Like A Virgin

Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals

  • Illustrative : She is wearing white and her body is very covered connoting purity, as she sings 'like a virgin'. There are also many signifier's of love used, for example, gondolas, which re-enforce the lyrics. There is also a lion shown roaming around, as she sings about the 'wilderness'
  • Contradiction : Throughout the video Madonna is acting in a very provocative, sexual manner and is dressed in black but is singing about how she feels like a virgin.


Relationship between Music and Visuals

  • Illustrative : Sound-vision editing and very fast paced
  • Contradicting : Some dissolves and cuts are not fast paced like the music

Performance, Narrative or Concept Based

  • Performance : This is the main focus of the video, as she is putting a show on for the camera throughout
  • Narrative : There is a slight narrative, however it is not a proper story nor is it whole
  • Concept : Sex and sexuality

Visual Hooks

  • There are lots of CU's and ECU's of her face, which makes her the visual hook and also many of her lips. There are also many CU's of her over the top jewellery and crucifixes. There is also the constant repetition of her sexual, provocative dancing.


Genre Characteristics (80's Pop)

  • Music and Lyrics : Up-beat pop/dance style music
  • Editing : Fast editing, which mainly fits with the pace of the music
  • Gesture Codes : Dancing style
  • Fashion : Big hair style, elaborate make-up, clothes and jewellery
  • Artist : Well-known pop singer


References to the Notion of Looking

  • She is singing to the camera, therefore leading us to look at her. We also see her in low angle a lot making us feel as if we are looking up at her
  • We get a great sense of voyeurism when we are watching her in an intimate situation with her partner

Intertextual References

  • The 1980's Decade : Clothes, hair, make-up, jewellery, dancing
    Venice : Gondolas connotes romance and traditionalist

Music Video Analysis: Take That's Babe

Music Video Analysis: Take That's Babe




Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals

  • Illustrative : They are singing about loosing a girl and their upset is obvious as they are alone and look miserable. And example of this is when he literally sees his son acroos the room when the lyrics say 'I saw hus face...he had my eyes'. The women and son also arrive, as the lyrics are saying 'I'm back again'

  • Amplification : The idea of the chessboard, which is trying to connote complexity and the difficulties of relationships
Relationship betwen Music and Visuals


  • Illustrative : Sound-vision editing
Performace, Narrative or Concept Based


  • Performace : There a shots of them singing into the camera of all of them performing and also just of each member individually

  • Narrative : We see one group member's story of them being reunited with their family
Visual Hooks


  • There are lots of CU's and ECU's of the group members singing into the camera
Genre Characteristics (boy band)


  • Mise-en-scene : Romantic setting, foreign country, snow etc. Colour tint : Orangey hue

  • Music and lyrics : Slow tempo music and lyrics are about love

  • Editing : Slow editing, which fits with the pace of the music

  • Love interest : Stunning women

  • Gesture codes : Entire group singing, emotion is shown through their expressions. They seem as if they are puring their heart out
Intertextual References


  • Russian revolution : Families are seperated as the men go off to fight. Some men return and are reunited with their families, however others are assumed dead
References to the Notion of Looking


  • The performers look into the camera as they sing. We are watching their story and the camera is following the man as he is reunited with his girlfriend and son, making it feel as if we are there. It is a voyeuristic style.

Music Video Analysis: Take That's Babe

Music Video Analysis: Take That's Babe
Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals
  • Illustrative : They are singing about loosing a girl and their upset is obvious as they are alone and look miserable. And example of this is when he literally sees his son acroos the room when the lyrics say 'I saw hus face...he had my eyes'. The women and son also arrive, as the lyrics are saying 'I'm back again'
  • Amplification : The idea of the chessboard, which is trying to connote complexity and the difficulties of relationships

Relationship betwen Music and Visuals

  • Illustrative : Sound-vision editing
Performace, Narrative or Concept Based
  • Performace : There a shots of them singing into the camera of all of them performing and also just of each member individually
  • Narrative : We see one group member's story of them being reunited with their family

Visual Hooks

  • There are lots of CU's and ECU's of the group members singing into the camera

Genre Characteristics (boy band)

  • Mise-en-scene : Romantic setting, foreign country, snow etc. Colour tint : Orangey hue
  • Music and lyrics : Slow tempo music and lyrics are about love
  • Editing : Slow editing, which fits with the pace of the music
  • Love interest : Stunning women
  • Gesture codes : Entire group singing, emotion is shown through their expressions. They seem as if they are puring their heart out

Intertextual References

  • Russian revolution : Families are seperated as the men go off to fight. Some men return and are reunited with their families, however others are assumed dead#

References to the Notion of Looking

  • The performers look into the camera as they sing. We are watching their story and the camera is following the man as he is reunited with his girlfriend and son, making it feel as if we are there. It is a voyeuristic style.