Another problem we encountered was exporting the finished video in a file that retained a high quality picture, but which wouldn't be too large a file to fit on to a memory stick. We needed to move the video over to another computer to upload it to the internet, as the iBook we were using didn't have an internet connection. We tried exporting as all the file types suggested by iMovie, however on all of them apart from the file type which was too large for our memory stick, the quality was much too low. As we didn't want to lose picture quality, we got around this by exporting the video as a large file and burning this file to a CD-R. We then copied this file onto another computer, and were then able to upload it as a large file with full quality retained.
Saturday, 9 April 2011
Editing
Editing the clip was where the music video really started to take shape, and for this task we used iMovie on an iBook G4 borrowed from schools Media Studies department. Whilst this software was good and allowed us to add all the effects we wanted to, it did cause some problems, chiefly in synching the performance to the music. We started editing the video in between days 1 and 2 of filming, so we started by adding the performance parts of the video to the timeline. We put them in place and got all the clips in synch with the music. However after we had filmed the conceptual, non-performance parts of the video and tried to edit them into place, each clip we put in pushed all the other clips out of synch. This meant that everything we'd edited previously was ineffective and was now completely out of synch. This created more problems in making it harder to discern how much of a clip we'd need to cut off for it to fit in place, however we got around it by noting down the times that clips would have to start and finish at for everything to be in synch, which allowed us to calculate how long the other clips we were putting in would have to be. This solved the problem of clips falling out of synch, however it was difficult to get everything into the right place still.
What Is a Music Video?
A music video is a short film that accompanies a piece of music for promotional or artistic purposes. Usually around 3-4 minutes in length, the modern music video spans a wide range of styles and themes. Many videos feature a narrative alligned to the lyrics of the song, many are centred around a concept and remain unrelated to the lyrics, and many utilise filmed performances, either as the subject of the video or in combination with the aforementioned two - usually as a result of the type of artist and/or genre.
Performance
A performance style music video features the artist in a recorded or simulated live performance. While arguably providing a more simplistic production process, the style allows the band to showcase their talents while appealing to the audiences who can perhaps not make it to or afford live concerts. This style may appeal more to the great performers, rather than the great recording artists - a band or artist who's strengths lie in live performances may choose this style over one that does not highlight their abilities. The style also allows the artist to appear less pretentious in that they appear to have spent less money meaning a less commercialised image is created. This style can also be used to promote tours or concerts by showing the audience a glimpse of the live shows.
Narrative
A narrative style music video features a storyline, often correlated to the lyrics of the song. Sometimes featuring the band, a narrative style allows the artist to construct or further the image they wish to create -whether it be through a fun or dramatic video. A narrative video appeals to the audience in that it allows them to see the artist's otherwise unseen personality and different sides to their character. An impressive music video can garner the artist extra popularity or exposure as new and existing audiences seek out the video.
Concept
A conceptual music video focuses around a singular idea or theme and tends to be fairly strange, unusual or occasionally surreal. In much the same way as a narrative style, a concept video has the power to attract the attentions of audiences both new and old, generating increased popularity or exposure for the band. While concept style videos tend to be rare due to the accessibility demands of the mainstream audience, a successful video can be of great benefit to the band's image and revenue.
Performance
A performance style music video features the artist in a recorded or simulated live performance. While arguably providing a more simplistic production process, the style allows the band to showcase their talents while appealing to the audiences who can perhaps not make it to or afford live concerts. This style may appeal more to the great performers, rather than the great recording artists - a band or artist who's strengths lie in live performances may choose this style over one that does not highlight their abilities. The style also allows the artist to appear less pretentious in that they appear to have spent less money meaning a less commercialised image is created. This style can also be used to promote tours or concerts by showing the audience a glimpse of the live shows.
Narrative
A narrative style music video features a storyline, often correlated to the lyrics of the song. Sometimes featuring the band, a narrative style allows the artist to construct or further the image they wish to create -whether it be through a fun or dramatic video. A narrative video appeals to the audience in that it allows them to see the artist's otherwise unseen personality and different sides to their character. An impressive music video can garner the artist extra popularity or exposure as new and existing audiences seek out the video.
Concept
A conceptual music video focuses around a singular idea or theme and tends to be fairly strange, unusual or occasionally surreal. In much the same way as a narrative style, a concept video has the power to attract the attentions of audiences both new and old, generating increased popularity or exposure for the band. While concept style videos tend to be rare due to the accessibility demands of the mainstream audience, a successful video can be of great benefit to the band's image and revenue.
What is the Purpose of a Music Video?
When creating a video, no matter what production processes go into making it or the style of the final product, the end aim is the same: Promotion.
While music television has perhaps waned in popularity, music videos are important in showcasing the artist on the new wave of music sharing technology - video sharing websites such as YouTube. A video is required to upload onto the website, but it is a free and simple form of production which has proven outstandingly effective. A successful (or unsuccessful) video can quickly be shared throughout the website, building world wide fame. As such the noughties has seen an influx of artists who have gained huge popularity rising from videos posted on video sharing website, perhaps the most famous of which being Justin Bieber who shot to worldwide fame after starting out on YouTube. This can in turn lead to record labels, single releases (especially on iTunes initially) and eventually tours - fulfilling the role the artist/band created the video for - to gain promotion in the hope of making money.
A performance style music video can help promote live shows and tours. By giving the audiences a glimpse of the live experience, a good video could entice the audience to attend such performances, garnering greater revenue for the band/artist and record labels, as the case may be. This again shows the music videos purpose as a promotional tool designed to increase income.
A successful music video can help a band/artist to build a reputation or image they desire, through differently styled videos. Largely influenced by genre, a band hoping to construct a dark image will in turn create videos with a darker feel to them. Aside from live performances, a music video is the only viable method the band/artist has to portray the way in which they see themselves and, as such, is essential in creating the band/artist a reputation and image.
While music television has perhaps waned in popularity, music videos are important in showcasing the artist on the new wave of music sharing technology - video sharing websites such as YouTube. A video is required to upload onto the website, but it is a free and simple form of production which has proven outstandingly effective. A successful (or unsuccessful) video can quickly be shared throughout the website, building world wide fame. As such the noughties has seen an influx of artists who have gained huge popularity rising from videos posted on video sharing website, perhaps the most famous of which being Justin Bieber who shot to worldwide fame after starting out on YouTube. This can in turn lead to record labels, single releases (especially on iTunes initially) and eventually tours - fulfilling the role the artist/band created the video for - to gain promotion in the hope of making money.
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| YouTube Sensation Justin Bieber |
A performance style music video can help promote live shows and tours. By giving the audiences a glimpse of the live experience, a good video could entice the audience to attend such performances, garnering greater revenue for the band/artist and record labels, as the case may be. This again shows the music videos purpose as a promotional tool designed to increase income.
A successful music video can help a band/artist to build a reputation or image they desire, through differently styled videos. Largely influenced by genre, a band hoping to construct a dark image will in turn create videos with a darker feel to them. Aside from live performances, a music video is the only viable method the band/artist has to portray the way in which they see themselves and, as such, is essential in creating the band/artist a reputation and image.
Filming: Day 2
Day 2 of the filming was for the none performance parts of the video. We filmed the shots that were pans over the collage and the shots with Mitch (the actor who did the non-performance parts of the video) and the masks. Shooting the pans of the collage was very simple, as we just took a few fairly long clips of the collage with the camera moving, knowing that we will be able to just cut the clip into small fragments and insert them where we want them in the video in the editing stage. For the shots of Mitch and the masks, we filmed separate shots of Mitch putting on each mask, taking each mask off, swapping each mask, and extended shots of him wearing each mask. This gave us all the shots we had planned for and gave us extra footage in case we need it to replace any segments that didn't work. This went well and we encountered no problems.
Filming: Day 1
Day 1 of the filming was to get the performance parts of the video filmed. We started off in the drama studio, filming the parts with Tom playing guitar. To set up before we filmed, we had to draw all the curtains around the walls and set up the lights. This involved setting up a lighting deck, for which we asked the 6th Form Performing Arts lighting technician for help with.
We set up the lights to light up the chair and the path from the side that Tom would follow, casting the rest of the room into relative darkness. We then started filming the first few shots. We had trouble with the first shot we wanted to do in which we wanted the camera to rotate around the chair by following the balcony, however we couldn't get a fast enough rotation without the camera being too shaky. Instead we opted for a stationary shot. Other problems we encountered at this point were of a similar nature, as we were unable to create the smooth movements we had desired. We tried balancing the tripod on tools for moving chairs around, however the tripod kept slipping off, so we settled for a handheld movement, trying to keep the camera as stable as possible. Another problem we encountered was in a shot in which the camera was supposed to start facing Tom playing guitar surrounded by smoke, start to rotate around him, then the smoke get too thick for the camera to see anything. However we couldn't get the smoke machine close enough to the centre of the room for the smoke to be thick enough for the camera to get lost in it there, so we decided we'd make a fade into the other shot with smoke and deal with the problem in the editing stage.
We set up the lights to light up the chair and the path from the side that Tom would follow, casting the rest of the room into relative darkness. We then started filming the first few shots. We had trouble with the first shot we wanted to do in which we wanted the camera to rotate around the chair by following the balcony, however we couldn't get a fast enough rotation without the camera being too shaky. Instead we opted for a stationary shot. Other problems we encountered at this point were of a similar nature, as we were unable to create the smooth movements we had desired. We tried balancing the tripod on tools for moving chairs around, however the tripod kept slipping off, so we settled for a handheld movement, trying to keep the camera as stable as possible. Another problem we encountered was in a shot in which the camera was supposed to start facing Tom playing guitar surrounded by smoke, start to rotate around him, then the smoke get too thick for the camera to see anything. However we couldn't get the smoke machine close enough to the centre of the room for the smoke to be thick enough for the camera to get lost in it there, so we decided we'd make a fade into the other shot with smoke and deal with the problem in the editing stage.
After filming the guitar performance parts, we moved to the music practice room to film the singing parts of the video. This went without problem, and other than those problems stated, shooting the performance parts of the video went well. To make sure that all the performance parts were in sync with the actual song, we took an mp3 player and a portable speaker to play whilst we were filming. This allowed Tom to be in the exact tempo of the song.
Location Scouting
The start of our video is going to be shot in a fairly large room, looking down on the performer walking across to a chair in the centre of the room. We had an idea as to where this could be shot while we were planning those shots, so we went to the Drama Studio in our school to see if it would look appropriate. The is a balcony around the top of the studio that allows to get high angle shots of the studio and there are curtains that can be pulled around 3 of the 4 walls to close it off. Filming from the balcony above the wall without a curtain allows the room to appear completely curtained off, allowing us to control what can be seen if we film there. Also there are many spot lights around the top of the studio that we can use to light specific places, such as the chair which the performer will walk across the room to, and the path that he'll follow. This will allow us to create a professional appearance to our lighting. We asked permission to film in the drama studio and to use the lighting equipment and we are allowed.
The schools drama studio fits the criteria for the room in which we'll film the guitar performances, especially as it has spotlights. The singing parts of the performance however will be shot in another place. For those shots we wanted a fairly small room with interesting walls. Again the school fulfilled another idea for a room that could be used, so we went to the music practice rooms. These rooms have curved walls which have lots of scratches on them, which provide an interesting backdrop. Also these walls are white, so make for a good contrast with the darkness of the drama studio.
The schools drama studio fits the criteria for the room in which we'll film the guitar performances, especially as it has spotlights. The singing parts of the performance however will be shot in another place. For those shots we wanted a fairly small room with interesting walls. Again the school fulfilled another idea for a room that could be used, so we went to the music practice rooms. These rooms have curved walls which have lots of scratches on them, which provide an interesting backdrop. Also these walls are white, so make for a good contrast with the darkness of the drama studio.
For the other parts of the video, we will be using the collage of models as a backdrop, so as long as we're in a room where we can control the lighting, it doesn't particularly matter where we film it.
Prop/Equipment/Costume List
In order to make sure we have everything we need for filming on each day, we've made a prop and costume list.
The collage was made out of pictures from magazines. We chose the look of it because of the relation to the lyrics of the song "Blue eyed baby you were always so friendly/Blonde haired lady you were never ever ready". Many of the pictures we chose fit these descriptions of women, and so followed one of Goodwin's key features of a music video in relating the images to the lyrics.
Day 1 - Performance Filming
- Camera
- Tripod
- Acoustic guitar
- Electric guitar
- Midi guitar
- Bass guitar
- Smoke machine
- Snare box
- Snare box sticks
- MP3 player/speaker
- Chair
- Casual/Smart clothes
Day 2 - Concept Filming
- Camera
- Tripod
- Collage of models
- 2 masks
- Blu tac
The collage was made out of pictures from magazines. We chose the look of it because of the relation to the lyrics of the song "Blue eyed baby you were always so friendly/Blonde haired lady you were never ever ready". Many of the pictures we chose fit these descriptions of women, and so followed one of Goodwin's key features of a music video in relating the images to the lyrics.
Director Profile: Michel Gondry
Background:
Gondry was born on May 8, 1963 in Versailles, France.
Career:
Gondry began his career making music videos for the French rock band 'Oui Oui'. The style of his music videos caught the attention of Björk, kick starting a long term collaboration with the artist. He has also collaborated with artists such as Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck.
Style:
He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène.
Director Profile: Jonas Åkerlund
Background:
Born on November 10, 1965, the Swedish Åkerlund began his career in music as a member of heavy metal band Bathory before moving into directing.
Career:
After finding fame working with Swedish pop act Roxette, Åkerlund went on to work with artists from many different genres such as Lady Gaga, Metallica, Christina Aguilera, U2, Blink-182, Pink, Rammstein, and Britney Spears. He is also a long time collaborator with Madonna, having worked on a series of her music videos as well as her documentary, "I'm Going to Tell You a Secret." His video for Madonna's song "Ray of Light" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record seven awards at 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year.
Style:
Åkerlund is known for his stylish music videos which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. His more recent works for Rammstein, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears have courted controversy for their 'pornographic' content.
Director Profile: Mark Romanek
Background:
Born in Chicago on September 18, 1959, Romanek studied a four-year film production and theory program at a progressive public high school. He graduated from Ithaca College, New York with a degree in cinema and photography. He spent the next few years writing screenplays before releasing his first feature film, Static.
Career:
After signing with Satellite Films, Romanek decided to focus on music videos. Working with some of the top artists from different genres, he quickly established himself as one of the most innovative video artists working today. Creating groundbreaking videos for such varied artists as
Style:
Romanek is known for his unique and often disturbing style. His videos tend to be artistically and expertly filmed, filled with intimate and often provocative images, and on occasion, controversial, as the perverse visions in his clip for Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” proved.
Friday, 8 April 2011
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
New media technologies are an integral part of any contemporary video production, and as such have played a large part in the production of our music video. In the research stage of our video, media technologies mostly came into play in the form of being able to see real music videos online on YouTube.com. This made it very easy to research forms and conventions, as almost all music videos that have been made are available on that site. Also this site was sued to research new filming techniques in music videos, such as the video produced by Doritos for Professor Green's video 'Coming to Get Me' which features a 360 degree camera which can be rotated by the viewer. The internet was integral in our research in other areas as well, such as looking up Photoshop techniques to apply to our album cover, finding website builders to aid in the construction of our website for the band, and for finding out as much about videos we found influential and their directors. In short, the internet was an incredibly comprehensive tool for all aspects of our research.
In terms of planning, new media technologies were less useful. Our planning was mostly done via storyboarding on paper, however knowing we were going to be using iMovie to edit the video, it did help that we were able to see what effects we would be able to use it to apply, which did help in panning the video.
As iMovie was used for the editing of our video, it was this technology that helped in the construction phase of our music video. The editing techniques that were available, such as cutting to the beat and changing effects such as contrast and colour shift throughout shots greatly helped in the construction of our video. The effects were used to break long shots up and stop them from being monotonous. Technologies such as Photoshop and www.wix.com were also integral for creating our ancillary tasks, as they allow for great creativity whilst helping you to create a professional appearance.
In the evaluation stage, new media technologies we used were in the form of social networking sites such as Facebook. This site allowed us to easily get audience feedback, as we could post the video onto the homepage of contacts we know. This made it very easy for people to both find the video and to leave their feedback. This was a much better way of getting feedback than simply uploading the video onto youtube, as on youtube the audience is a lot bigger, but there are a lot more videos for people to watch, so ours was not likely to be seen by many people, especially as the video we created was for a local band, limiting the size of the audience searching for their music.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
To gather audience feedback I posted the video onto Facebook. I chose to use facebook rather than youtube as the video on youtube would be harder for such a large audience as youtube attracts to come across, considering how much other material is uploaded onto the site. Facebook seemed like a better idea because I could use it to directly ask people I know who are more likely to respond to the video. Thusly in choosing to get feedback through facebook rather than youtube I decreased the size of my audience, but increased the size of my audience that would provide feedback.
From my audience feedback I have learned the importance of lighting in a video. A lot of the feedback I received praised the lighting used in the shots in the drama studio and recommended that we should have used more of those shots, as they looked professional. Jonathan Russell said 'Think the bits in the studio are really effective, lighting looks professional, if anything I think you should have done more of it in the drama studio. Good performance music video'
This brought attention to the fact that the performance parts of the video that we used relatively sparingly were much more effective than other shots that we used more. It has made me realise that we should have focused more on lighting the shots such as the conceptual parts with the masks being taken on and off, to try and keep them at the same standard as the other shots we had which were praised.
Aimee Booth said 'the camera angles are well thought out and the edits are nice, very randomly put together but its good'
This helped assure me that the style of the video we had created through the edits, cuts and the way different parts of the video had been put together had worked. It assured me that we had created a video that conformed to the indie style of the band and so pleased the target audience, yet in conjunction with the previous comment showed that we had still created a video with a professional appearance.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I believe the combination of our music video and digipak was effective, as the digipak used props that were used during the video. Recurring images throughout music videos and other associated products are used as marketing tools, so that when an audience sees one of the products they immediately associate it with the other. We used this idea and so featured the collage of models, which was seen extensively in the video, as the background of the album cover. The masks, which as they are relatively unexplained in the video, when seen strike an immediate connection to the mystery of them in the video, so we decided to feature them on the album cover too. The guitar neck lying across the collage was featured for three reasons. Firstly, Tom was seen playing the guitar in the video, and so this being on the album cover again helped make a connection between the video and the album cover. Secondly, we wanted to emphasise the bands musicality, as their image is that of musicians, as opposed to some bands which focus on modelling. The third reason the guitar is on the album cover is because of the album cover the band already has. We wanted to create a common motif throughout their album covers to even further help the market aspect of the video and the ancillary tasks.
Therefore I think that our music video and album cover combined well, as they have common features with each other, and with previous album covers from the band.
The website combined less well with the video, however there are connections. The collage used in the video gives an arty, handmade feel to the video. This is replicated in the website by the hand drawn appearance of the scroll bar along the bottom of the photo gallery on the main page. This reference is further pushed by the almost polaroid picture appearance of photos throughout the website, creating even more of a homemade feel to the website, which correlates with the video. The background to the website was chosen because the colour and the texture, as well as being much more interesting than a solid colour, pushed the nature of the bands indie feel. Therefore overall I believe the combination of our main product and the ancillary tasks was effective.
Therefore I think that our music video and album cover combined well, as they have common features with each other, and with previous album covers from the band.
The website combined less well with the video, however there are connections. The collage used in the video gives an arty, handmade feel to the video. This is replicated in the website by the hand drawn appearance of the scroll bar along the bottom of the photo gallery on the main page. This reference is further pushed by the almost polaroid picture appearance of photos throughout the website, creating even more of a homemade feel to the website, which correlates with the video. The background to the website was chosen because the colour and the texture, as well as being much more interesting than a solid colour, pushed the nature of the bands indie feel. Therefore overall I believe the combination of our main product and the ancillary tasks was effective.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
With reference to Goodwin's theory of music videos, our music video conforms to 3 of the 6 key points. The first key point, a connection between the lyrics and the visuals, is shown through the sections of the video which focus on the collage. The lyrics of the song mention a 'blonde haired lady' and so it was this we focused on when creating the collage. We picked out pictures of predominantly blonde models, and that the collage is of models relates to the basis of the lyrics being on women, and so therefore we can see that the video conforms to the key point of music videos of having a connection between the lyrics and the visuals.
The second key point to which our music video conforms is that there is a connection between the music and the visuals. This is shown in the parts of the song at 0:48 and 1:34 minutes in, where the effects applied to the shots change in time with the beat of the song. These edits help to reinforce the rhythm of the song, and give the video a greater feel of movement.
The video also conforms to genre characteristics of indie music video by placing an emphasis on performance. Much of the video shows Tom either singing or playing guitar, and as indie bands often want to distance themselves from genres such as pop, music videos from the genre will often feature the band playing instrument. Our video conforms to this with the shots based around Tom playing guitar.
Goodwin's key point of an emphasis on 'looking' is neither conformed to nor subverted from in our video. The male gaze is present in that the shots of the collage focus on models, however it is not done in a provocative or suggestive way as in many music videos. Instead it relates to the lyrics of the song and reflects upon past relationships, and so the key point of the male gaze is more developed than conformed to.
The video does not conform to Goodwin's other key points as there is no intertextual reference present, and the band is an independent one and therefore the video can't be subject to the demands of the record label, as they don't have one. However the video does place a fairly large emphasis on the performer, and so if they were signed to a record label, their demands would most likely be satisfied by this music video.
Creating the Digipak
To create the digipak, we took a still shot of props used int the music video. This is to create a common thread between the music video and the digipak, a common feature found throughout a lot of marketing of bands. We used a photo of the collage featured in the video with the two masks lying on top of it and a guitar neck going across it. When the photo was taken we put it onto photoshop and began editing it. The idea we had was that we would use the same photo for the front and back cover of the digipak and add different effects to them.
The first effect that we used on the picture was raising the contrast. This was an effect used a lot in the music video, therefore this created another link to the video. We also used filter effects to change the colours of the picture. Coupled with the deep shadows created by the high contrast, this created an effect shown above, where there were dashes of colour in places, surrounded by outlines of black. After this we put the text over the top. The text we chose was the name of the band at the top, and the name of the album at the bottom. This is a very common feature across all genres. We chose the font used to make it look like it was handwriting, as this correlates to the indie/acoustic feel of the band. However we had trouble making the text stand out, due to there being many colours in the background image. The solution we found to this was to add a black glow effect to the text, to give the text it's own background to stand out against. This was a technique we learned how to do from our previous practice with Photoshop when creating glowing lines, so our research into techniques definately helped with the creation of the digipak.
The first effect we used to create the back cover was to 'liquify' certain areas. This meant dragging parts of the picture across as if they were melting. We used this effect on the noses of the masks, to make it look as if the noses had grown. This was chosen because of the connotations of noses growing to stories such as Pinocchio, and the implication it made about the women in the collage behind the masks. The next effect we included was one to make the image look as if it had been drawn in wax. Coupled with the liquified effect, this created a good image to contrast with the front cover, yet still being of the same initial image.
The first effect that we used on the picture was raising the contrast. This was an effect used a lot in the music video, therefore this created another link to the video. We also used filter effects to change the colours of the picture. Coupled with the deep shadows created by the high contrast, this created an effect shown above, where there were dashes of colour in places, surrounded by outlines of black. After this we put the text over the top. The text we chose was the name of the band at the top, and the name of the album at the bottom. This is a very common feature across all genres. We chose the font used to make it look like it was handwriting, as this correlates to the indie/acoustic feel of the band. However we had trouble making the text stand out, due to there being many colours in the background image. The solution we found to this was to add a black glow effect to the text, to give the text it's own background to stand out against. This was a technique we learned how to do from our previous practice with Photoshop when creating glowing lines, so our research into techniques definately helped with the creation of the digipak.
The first effect we used to create the back cover was to 'liquify' certain areas. This meant dragging parts of the picture across as if they were melting. We used this effect on the noses of the masks, to make it look as if the noses had grown. This was chosen because of the connotations of noses growing to stories such as Pinocchio, and the implication it made about the women in the collage behind the masks. The next effect we included was one to make the image look as if it had been drawn in wax. Coupled with the liquified effect, this created a good image to contrast with the front cover, yet still being of the same initial image.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Opposed to the effects theory, Uses and Gratifications theory suggest that instead of being used by the media, audiences use the media to gratify their own needs. It suggests that the media fulfils an audiences need for information, and that the more we get our information from the media the more we become dependant on it. Other uses that it is said audiences can get out of the media are a sense of personal identity, social interaction, and entertainment. From media representations and stereotypes, and through written media such as magazines, audiences can get a feel for who they and their peer groups are. Common conversation topics are about tv shows and news broadcasts, therefore media can be used to give audiences topics to talk about with others, improving their social wellbeing. Audiences can use the entertainment provided by the media as a form of escapism, to allow them to forget about their lives and to indulge themselves in a world more attractive to them. Entertainment allows audiences to escape to a 'utopia', although rarely a literal utopia, but 'rather the utopianism is contained in the feelings it embodies' as said by Dyer, a theorist on Uses and Gratifications. This quote means that rather than take us to a perfect world, entertainment from the media can show us utopian contrasts to what we may be feeling. For example, if an audience is exhausted, media entertainment can show energy.
This theory is less criticised than effects theory, as it does allow for the audience to have a say in what it receives - audiences only take in media relevant to the information they wish to gain - however it is still criticised. The theory is criticised by many people as it 'let's the media off the hook'. These people believe that the audience has no say over what the media produces, thereby refuting uses and gratifications theory, as the audience is never truly in control of what it sees.
Effects Theory
Effects theory is an audience theory that suggests audiences 'absorb' media messages and are influenced by what they have seen to change their behaviour. It is this theory that lies behind the justification for censorship, as it is believed that exposure to violence in films and on tv could lead to causing people to be violent after watching them. This theory is backed up by Bandura's 'Bobo Doll' experiment. In the experiment, Bandura, a psychologist, observed the behaviour of children after they had watched violent tv shows and compared this behaviour to a control group that hadn't watched violent tv. He found that after watching the violent shows, children were more prone to acting violently towards a 'bobo doll' toy, whereas the other children would play calmly with other toys. However this experiment can be refuted, as the bobo doll that the children were given to play with is a toy designed for being violent towards in the first place. Therefore children acting violently towards it doesn't suggest that violent media caused them to be violent at all.
Effects theory is often discredited, as it relies on the belief that all audiences receive media messages in the exact same way, with no room for interpretation, and that when audiences have seen the media, they are effected by it. This does not hold true, as if it were so everyone who saw an advert would go out and buy the product advertised, and two different people wouldn't be able to have different opinions on the same film. Clearly this is not true, however despite this effects theory still has a great effect on censorship and therefore on all our lives.
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Final Website Production
This is the website we have produced. It is a fully functioning website and contains the digipak cover and the music video within it.
www.wix.com/pluto173/theivories
www.wix.com/pluto173/theivories
Final Digipak Production
These are the final images we have produced for the digipak. For the front and back cover we used the same initial image then used different effects to create contrasting, yet similar pictures.
This is the front cover.
And This is the back cover.
This is the front cover.
And This is the back cover.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Digipak Research
As the band we are doing is an indie/acoustic band, we have been looking at album covers for bands of those genres. Common themes appear to be drawn and collage effects, such as in the pictures below, so we will likely follow down this route.
Another common feature of indie album covers is that the band don't appear on the cover itself. Instead they tend to heavily feature highly artistic imagery, although rarely of a realistic nature. Often they go for a surreal feel, or a distinctly 'modern art' look. An example of a surreal album cover is the new release from the band 'The Strokes'. The cover for the album 'Angles' features a picture heavily reminiscent of the work of artist and mathematician M.C. Escher. The paradoxical image is clearly surreal, and is a feature of many indie album covers, so is a route that I would look into going down when designing my own digipak.
Final Music Video Production
This is our final production of a music video for the song My Fair Lady by The Ivories. We think it has turned out well, and have already recieved good feedback about it.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Website Creation
As we've switched which song we're making a music video for, we've had to start again in making a website for the band. Using the website that we were pointed towards, www.wix.com, we have started making a website for the band. As the band is of the acoustic/alternative genre the colour scheme we've gone for is pastel colours, with effects on the photos to make them feel like polaroids. This helps to give the website a photo album feel, which adds to the feel of the band.
Because of using wix to create the site, we have created a fully functioning website. On the site we have included pages for information about the band, track listing for their EP, ways to contact the band and a main page with a photo gallery. The style of things such as the scroll bar on the photo gallery and the background of all the pages were chosen to fit the colour scheme and fit in with the photo album feeling of the site.
Because of using wix to create the site, we have created a fully functioning website. On the site we have included pages for information about the band, track listing for their EP, ways to contact the band and a main page with a photo gallery. The style of things such as the scroll bar on the photo gallery and the background of all the pages were chosen to fit the colour scheme and fit in with the photo album feeling of the site.
Planning the Video
These are photos from the storyboard we drew for the music video. They include timings and annotations, as we wanted our planning to be precise, so when it comes down to actually filming the video we'll know exactly what we need to shoot. Also it helps with getting ideas for how we will edit some of the shots, with various effects and transitions.
The first frame, starting at 0 seconds is an overview of a darkened room with a stool in the middle. The shot is taken from a balcony above the room, and looks down as the man walks across the room towards the stool. The shot was chosen because it sets the scene, showing where this part of the video is taking place. The second frame is a cut to the man, this time looking up at him from just beneath him and to from the left. This shot gives a close up introduction of the man, and starts at 7 seconds.
The first frame is a return to the first shot, this time having rotated slightly. The man has now sat down on the stool with his guitar. This shot comes in between 8 and 9 seconds in. The second frame is a shot of the headstock of the guitar as it's being tuned. This is to give a focus on the musicality of the artist and is at 12 seconds.
This shot is still of the man setting up his guitar, but focuses on his face rather than the guitar. This is to give a personal feeling to the man, to help the audience associate with him. This is at 14 seconds in.
The first frame is a mid shot that shows the man start to join in with the music, at a melody which starts at 16 seconds and ends at 21 seconds. The second frame is when the music starts to build up, at which point the camera will start rotating around the man playing in sync with the new rhythm in the song. This shot is so that the video picks up pace at the same point as the music.
The first frame describes the camera panning over a collage of pictures of female models with common sayings pasted over them, all in a collage fashion. This forms an association with the lyrics, which conforms to forms of music videos as shown in Goodwin's theory. This happens at 26 seconds. The second frame is a cut back to the man playing guitar.
This frame is a cut to the man in a different room singing. It comes in at 34 seconds, at the same point that the singing in the song starts, and shows association between the music and the video.
The first frame describes the man looking through a selection of guitars of bizarre and unusual shapes and designs. This shot happens at 41 seconds and will then fade to black. The second shot at48 seconds shows a snare block being hit in time with the music. Each time it is his it will flash up out of blackness, with an edit changing the colour of the shot. After each hit the shot will quickly return to black. This sequence will start at 48 seconds.
The first frame at 50 seconds is a close up on the face of a different man to previous shots. There will be a perspective change, an effect created by zooming the camera in as the camera physically moves away and vice versa. At 55 seconds he will put a mask on his face.
At 56 seconds a plume of smoke will come up in front of his face. This will be done using a smoke machine to fire smoke just in front of his face, then in the editing stage we'll speed up the shot to make it appear very fast.
At 56 seconds it will cut back to the artist singing in a small room, in sync with the song. At 1:01 there will be a cut to the masked man taking his mask off. While he takes it off there will be several jump cuts, to help add an appearance of motion to the shot.
At 1:01 the masked man puts a different mask on. When he lifts the mask up there will be an edit of the colour. At 1:05 there will be a cut back to the singer, this time a close up looking at the left of his face.
At 1:09 there will be a cut back to several pans over the collage of models, possibly with love letters resting on top of it.
At 1:12 there will be a cut back to the close up on the left of the singers face, as he continues a line from before. At 1:19 there will be lots of fast jump cuts between the masked man switching between masks. Between each jump the colour of the shot will change, giving a fast motion to the shot.
1:24 shows a cut back to the man playing guitar in the first room. The room will now be full of smoke, created by a smoke machine. The camera will rotate around the guitarist, and then get lost in the smoke. While it's in the smoke it will cut to the shot shown in the second frame, pull out of the smoke and come to rest in an over the shoulder shot looking out over a large room, as whilst the camera was in the smoke, the room that the shot is in has changed.
As the snare block is hit again, at 1:33, the last shot will flash into different colours, aiding the rhythm of the song.
At 1:34 there will be another cut back to the collage of models, this time with one of the masks used in other shots resting on it. The next shot at 1:41 will return to the singer in the room, this time with the guitars from an earlier shot in the background.
The first frame, starting at 0 seconds is an overview of a darkened room with a stool in the middle. The shot is taken from a balcony above the room, and looks down as the man walks across the room towards the stool. The shot was chosen because it sets the scene, showing where this part of the video is taking place. The second frame is a cut to the man, this time looking up at him from just beneath him and to from the left. This shot gives a close up introduction of the man, and starts at 7 seconds.
This shot is still of the man setting up his guitar, but focuses on his face rather than the guitar. This is to give a personal feeling to the man, to help the audience associate with him. This is at 14 seconds in.
The first frame is a mid shot that shows the man start to join in with the music, at a melody which starts at 16 seconds and ends at 21 seconds. The second frame is when the music starts to build up, at which point the camera will start rotating around the man playing in sync with the new rhythm in the song. This shot is so that the video picks up pace at the same point as the music.
The first frame describes the camera panning over a collage of pictures of female models with common sayings pasted over them, all in a collage fashion. This forms an association with the lyrics, which conforms to forms of music videos as shown in Goodwin's theory. This happens at 26 seconds. The second frame is a cut back to the man playing guitar.
This frame is a cut to the man in a different room singing. It comes in at 34 seconds, at the same point that the singing in the song starts, and shows association between the music and the video.
The first frame describes the man looking through a selection of guitars of bizarre and unusual shapes and designs. This shot happens at 41 seconds and will then fade to black. The second shot at48 seconds shows a snare block being hit in time with the music. Each time it is his it will flash up out of blackness, with an edit changing the colour of the shot. After each hit the shot will quickly return to black. This sequence will start at 48 seconds.
The first frame at 50 seconds is a close up on the face of a different man to previous shots. There will be a perspective change, an effect created by zooming the camera in as the camera physically moves away and vice versa. At 55 seconds he will put a mask on his face.
At 56 seconds a plume of smoke will come up in front of his face. This will be done using a smoke machine to fire smoke just in front of his face, then in the editing stage we'll speed up the shot to make it appear very fast.
At 56 seconds it will cut back to the artist singing in a small room, in sync with the song. At 1:01 there will be a cut to the masked man taking his mask off. While he takes it off there will be several jump cuts, to help add an appearance of motion to the shot.
At 1:01 the masked man puts a different mask on. When he lifts the mask up there will be an edit of the colour. At 1:05 there will be a cut back to the singer, this time a close up looking at the left of his face.
At 1:09 there will be a cut back to several pans over the collage of models, possibly with love letters resting on top of it.
At 1:12 there will be a cut back to the close up on the left of the singers face, as he continues a line from before. At 1:19 there will be lots of fast jump cuts between the masked man switching between masks. Between each jump the colour of the shot will change, giving a fast motion to the shot.
1:24 shows a cut back to the man playing guitar in the first room. The room will now be full of smoke, created by a smoke machine. The camera will rotate around the guitarist, and then get lost in the smoke. While it's in the smoke it will cut to the shot shown in the second frame, pull out of the smoke and come to rest in an over the shoulder shot looking out over a large room, as whilst the camera was in the smoke, the room that the shot is in has changed.
As the snare block is hit again, at 1:33, the last shot will flash into different colours, aiding the rhythm of the song.
At 1:44 there will be a cut to the guitarist playing guitar, this time being a close up on his strumming hand. This will be in sync with the strumming of the song. At 1:45 there will be a cut to the guitarist playing a different guitar, and again at 1:46. These shots will be cut to the beat.
Change in Song
Whilst storyboarding the video for 'The Man Comes Around' we decided that we were going to change which song we're doing. Instead of Johnny Cash we have decided to make a video for a local band, 'The Ivories'. We decided this because we know the band personally, and they are willing to appear in the video. This will allow us to add an extra sense of authenticity to the video, rather than have someone pretending to be Johnny Cash in the video, and they will know how to play their songs without someone else having to learn them to mime to the music. Also we can talk with the band and they can contribute their own ideas to the video, as many bands do with professional music videos, and when we have made the video they can use it as an actual promotional tool. The song of theirs that we will be doing is 'My Fair Lady' from their EP 'Walk The Steps'. The genre of the band is acoustic/alternative/indie, so it terms of forms and conventions of music videos we will have to look into typical features of those genres.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Website Creation Research
Using Google we have found a website that allows you to design your own website easily, and have started creating a website for Johnny Cash, however the website, www.bandzoogle.com, is only free for 90 days. Because of this we have contacted the administrators of the website to ask if, because it's purely for coursework use, we can use their website for free until the coursework is marked. However the owner of www.bandzoogle.com got back to us and has told us that we can't use his website for free, however he did point us in the direction of a similar site that is completely free, called www.wix.com. We have started using this website to create a homepage for Johnny Cash.
In terms of the design of the website, we are going to reference Johnny Cash's reputation as The Man In Black, by having the website predominantly black.
In terms of the design of the website, we are going to reference Johnny Cash's reputation as The Man In Black, by having the website predominantly black.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Album Cover Design Research: Photoshop Techniques
We have been looking into techniques that can be applied via Adobe Photoshop to create effects of album covers, and one that we've been looking into and practicing with is and effects that creates a glowing line that wraps around figures in the photograph. This effect involves creating a path, removing sections of it behind the figures to give it a 3-dimensional effect, and then adding glows and blurs to it.
As a test I used a picture of the band Skindred as it was a high quality photo, so even at a large size it wasn't distorted. Below are the picture before and after the effects were put on.
The process I followed to create the effect was as follows:
- I created a new layer and drew a path with the pen tool.
- I set the brush tool to 5px and 100% hardness, then returned to the pen tool and right clicked on the path. On the pop up menu I clicked stroke path.
- I use the eraser to remove any parts of the path that I wanted to appear behind the people, creating a 3-D effect.
- Using layer styles I created an inner and outer glow on the path. I duplicated this layer, removed the glows and added a gaussian blur.
- Then I created a new layer and set the brush tool to 3px and 0% hardness. In the brush palette I activated shape dynamics and scattering. Then I used the pen tool to right click on the path and used stroke path again. This created the particle effect on the path.
- After that I used the eraser again to remove any particles that I wanted to appear behind the people.
- Then I repeated those steps until I had as many glowing lines as I wanted.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Digipak Research
As an established artist for a long time, Johnny Cash's albums have a very similar cover design. Often they feature a picture of him in black and white with the word 'CASH' in large capital letters. It is the word 'CASH' which draws the attention of anyone seeing the album, and is something of a trademark of his albums. Therefore in our digipak cover we will try to incorporate this into our design.
Johnny Cash is also known as 'The Man In Black'. As we obviously cannot use Johnny Cash himself in any photos we take for the digipak, we will use his reputation as the Man In Black instead. This will allow us to shoot a photo in black and white like in his existing album designs, and give a representation of Johnny Cash without having to have a picture of him. For the pictures to go on the inside covers of the digipak we will likely use pictures of religious imagery used in the video, such as bibles and crucifixes.
Johnny Cash is also known as 'The Man In Black'. As we obviously cannot use Johnny Cash himself in any photos we take for the digipak, we will use his reputation as the Man In Black instead. This will allow us to shoot a photo in black and white like in his existing album designs, and give a representation of Johnny Cash without having to have a picture of him. For the pictures to go on the inside covers of the digipak we will likely use pictures of religious imagery used in the video, such as bibles and crucifixes.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Decision On Song
Having shortlisted 'Rat Race' by Skindred and 'The Man Comes Around' by Johnny Cash as our choice of songs, we have decided to settle on 'The Man Comes Around'. We feel this is the best choice because of the religious imagery allowing for more and better ideas for the music video to follow. Also there is not already a music video for this song, so we don't have anything to avoid to stop our video being too similar to an existing one.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Choice of Songs
The shortlisted songs we are choosing between for making a music video for are 'Rat Race' by Skindred, and 'The Man Comes Around' by Johnny Cash. The reason for having 'Rat Race' as an option is because of the convergence of different musical genres, being Metal and Reggae, allowing for different styles and conventions to be played with in the production. This choice would allow us a fairly wide selection of possible video themes to follow, be it connecting the images to the lyrics or to use props and costumes that conform to the style of the band. 'The Man Comes Around' is an option because it is quite a different style to most songs which get music videos, so it would allow us to be more creative with the ideas for the video. Also many of the lyrics of the song are bible quotes from the Book of Revelation which would allow for us to include a lot of religious symbolism in the video, which can help with giving us ideas for shots and events.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Analysis of a Music Video: Skindred - Pressure
Another video I'm going to analyse for forms and conventions is Pressure by Skindred, for which the video was directed by Marci Friesland.
Skindred are a 'reggae-metal' band, and so there are certain representations of themselves that they want to present through their videos, such as being laid back, fun-loving and bohemian. The video creates this feel through using an effect that makes the band look like cut out pictures in a collage. The video is a hybrid of the performance and concept forms of music videos, in that the majority of the video is the artists performing, but it is presented in a surreal way.
Skindred are a 'reggae-metal' band, and so there are certain representations of themselves that they want to present through their videos, such as being laid back, fun-loving and bohemian. The video creates this feel through using an effect that makes the band look like cut out pictures in a collage. The video is a hybrid of the performance and concept forms of music videos, in that the majority of the video is the artists performing, but it is presented in a surreal way.
The video follows genre characteristics of rock/metal videos by being a performance video and showing much of the performance on a large stage playing to a crowd. The video does relate to the music, in that there are cuts, zooms and camera movements in sync with the beat of the song, however there doesn't appear to be a connection between the video and the lyrics. The record label will have been satisfied with the video as virtually the whole video contains shots of the band. Also the bands motif of Jamaican descendance and influence but British patriotism is shown through the large Jamaican flag and the Union Jack morphing together behind the stage. This gives the band a motif which can be carried through into their other videos. The Male Gaze is also present in the video, as there are female dancers throughout the video.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Analysis of a Music Video: Stone Sour - Through Glass
In order to know the forms and conventions realised through music videos, I will analyse music videos from various genres and compare and contrast them.
The first music video I will look at is "Through Glass" by Stone Sour. This video was produced by Roadrunner Records and directed by Tony Petrossian.
The main feature of the video is the way in which the special effects are used to aid the representation of both the band and the people from Hollywood that they're mocking. Throughout the video people who represent Hollywood stars who claim to be meaningful people are shown to be cardboard cut outs, showing the message of the video is that those people are shallow and fake. The representation of the band is therefore the opposite of this, showing they are trying to portray themselves as deep and unique people. This message will have been chosen because of the target audience of the band, being people who tend to stay away from the mainstream.
The editing and the camera shots are used to give the video a very smooth, flowing feel. This reinforces the idea of Hollywood being fake, as it compares the smoothness of the camera motion in this Hollywood mansion with the flawlessness desired by individuals trying to make themselves beautiful. In stark contrast to this the band stand very apart from the other people, visually.
We can see several of Goodwin's key points in this video, such as intertextual reference, as the Hollywood sign changed to say 'Hollowood' shows a distortion of an iconic symbol. The lead singer, Corey Taylor, spends much of the video looking directly into the camera, and so the notion of 'looking' is used here. However, the other aspect of 'looking', being the voyeuristic view of women, is mocked in this video by showing attractive women but presenting them as shallow. Clearly from the performance sections of the video the record label have been able to get many shots of the band in, and their contrast to the other people in the video creates a motif for them, fulfilling another of Goodwin's key points. The video also follows some genre characteristics of rock music videos, such as including a lot of performance shots and by mocking 'the man'.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Goodwin's Theory
Media theologist Andrew Goodwin identified several key features of music videos which are used in almost all contemporary videos.
1 - There can be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, either amplifying or contradicting them.
- This can mean that the themes, mise-en-scene or events of the video match with lyrics of the song, to help put across the message of the song and video.
2 - There can be a relationship between the music and the visuals, either amplifying or contradicting them.
- This can mean that the cuts and edits of the video are in sync with the rhythm and beat of the song matching cuts or effects to specific drum beats or notes.
3 - Music videos have genre characteristics.
- This means that certain features are expected out of a video depending on the genre of the music, for example a girl band is expected to have dancers and close ups of the singers, whilst a metal band is expected to have performance shots of guitars and drums cut to a fast beat.
4 - Often due to the demands of the record label, artists videos will include many close ups of the artist and will often develop motifs that recur across multiple videos.
- This allows the record label to promote a set image for the band, which will help target audiences empathise with the band.
5 - There is often an emphasis on 'looking'
- This means that the 'male gaze' is often used to attract a male audience. The male gaze is a focus on presenting things that appeal to men. This most often means a voyeuristic view of, and an objectification, of women. The emphasis on looking also includes the artist looking directly into the camera. This helps the audience connect with the artist.
6 - Often there can be intertextual references.
- This means that music videos reference other forms of media, most commonly film, but sometimes television and classic music videos.
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