Since the last meeting we have developed our narrative and concept for the pop promo further. Unfortunately we have a shortage of male actors so the storyline has changes so that the relationship will form between 2 girls. We will go on our first shoot next week... the beach! We wanted to include nature shots and we though that by showing one of the girl on location at the beach in the best way of incorporating this. The other girl will mainly be shot in urban location which we hope to film in Ipswich the week after.
Location finders checklists, Maps and risk assessments will be complete by Jess because as Editor she doesn't have too much to do at the moment. We need to gain permission to shoot in a bar and record shop, but the rest of the locations are public. Maya is busy drawing rough storyboards and completing shot lists. Nicola has also drawn up a rough art treatment for the pop promo, and busy deciding characters costumes etc.
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Friday, 27 November 2009
Group Idea - Treatment
Mise-en-scene
Costumes/Make up
For Jessica's character I want her to be wearing a bright coat when moving around in the everyday scenes, this will make her stand out against the general public. In the everyday scenes I want Jessica to be wearing natural make up to show off natural beauty. In the bar scenes i want Jessica's character to be wearing a black dress that it tight fitting to show her femininity, I want her to accessorise this dress with a brightly coloured belt to carried on the theme from the other scenes. In the bar scenes i want Jessica's make up to be a bit more apparent with her wearing more mascara to emphasize her eyes. During the bedrooms scenes i want Jessica's character to be wearing Pajamas to show she is at home and in a relaxed environment, during all of Jessica's scenes i want her hair to be straight and blonde as this will contrast with Nicola's characters hair.
For Nicola's character i want her to be wearing a black coat and a brightly coloured scarf during the everyday scenes again the brightly coloured scarf will make her stand out. For the bar scene i was Nicola's character to be wearing more colour than usual, to do this i will dress her in a brightly coloured skirt and team this with a black top and a bright red belt, the use of colours will help her to seem confident.
For the bedroom scene i want Nicola's character to be in Pj's this will make her look comfortable i also want her to wrapped in a duvet this will give the impression that she is about to go to bed. I want Nicola's character to have curly brown hair this will contrast with Jessica's character and help the audience to distinguish between them.
Lighting
The everyday scenes are set outdoors and will be naturally lit as i don't want the promo to look too stylized whereas the bedroom scenes will be dimly lit with the focus of the light on the character to help them be the focus of the scene rather than their surroundings. During the make up scenes the focus of the light will be on the characters face as this is what we want the audience to look at.
Locations
We have a few different locations in our piece, we have the waterfront university building, the two bedrooms and the bar/
I chose the waterfront building as it looks modern and artsy and i felt this would go with the tone and feel of our music, i also chose it because of the amount of traffic needed for the time lapse element of our promo. The bedrooms are dressed are differently as i wanted the two characters to have different personalities and tastes, Jessica's character has a printed wallpaper and a large bed with a candle lamp giving a hippy/oriental theme to the room whereas Nicola's character has a simple room.
The bar is chose for the decor, it is bright and uses bold colours which i felt matched the tome of the promo. it looks modern and niche which i think would appeal to the audience of our music as they would most likely hang out in bars rather than clubs.
Props
For the props we need to mobile phones i decided to use smart-phones such as the blackberry phone in our promo to show modern technology.
Performance
The characters in our promo will be tackling the subject of homosexuality and in their performance they need to be flirty and attracted to each other without glamorizing lesbianism and making it look over the top. During the bar scene where the characters meet for the first time i want them to flirt with each other but smiling and touching each others arms or hair, then when Jessica's characters says goodbye and the characters kiss, i have decided that they will kiss on the cheek as a fully passionate kiss would be inappropriate and distract from the message we are trying to put across
Cinematography Treatment by Maya
I am cinematographer for the group, so will be responsible for directing the positioning of the video camera for each shot that we film, in order to achieve the appropriate effect for our video whilst ensuring we adhere to the various codes and conventions of filmmaking.
However, as we are aiming our promotional package for this video to be towards young people who enjoy alternative music out of the mainstream, I would like to incorporate experimental cinematography into the video and challenge some of the codes and conventions and perhaps break a few of the guidelines! I am hoping to include several "unplanned" shots in each of the locations, that when we are filming on set we can experiment with different angles and shot sizes with the camera in unusual places, to create a really edgy and interesting music video that pushes the boundaries of what shots you normally see in your average music video (mid shots of the artist etc).
As our artist Lawrence King is not featuring in our music video, we do not need to worry about including lots of close ups and shots of the artist in our video. Instead, we have a storyline of two characters meeting by chance throughout the day, culminating in them meeting at a bar later that day. The main point we need to convey to the audience is that these two women are attracted to each other.
To do this, I plan to use multiple close up shot-reverse-shots in the bar scenes to show their reactions when they first meet and talk in the bar and the fact that the close ups with show they are giving each other alot of eye contact will suggest that they are indeed attracted to each other.
As well as shots of our actors, I want to include lots of wide shots of our locations such as the college, the beach by the river, and the bar to show the environments the actors are in. We are lucky to have found a beach to film on with such pretty scenery so we need to make sure we show it off it its full advantage with wide panning shots! I also want to try to capture some birds flying over the rivers water using a panning long shot. We will film a low angle wide shot of the college entrance as the girls enter the building (at separate times). This will show that the college is a big place full of people and that there’s only a small chance they would meet each other unintentionally in such a big building, and that they are a “small fish in the sea” if you get what I mean!. When Jessica is walking her dog on the beach, we will use a panning wide shot from left to right shot, which will enable the viewer to see both Jessica, the dog, and the scenery they are in.
There is a scene that we are going to have where one girl is waiting at the traffic lights outside of the college waiting for light at the pedestrian crossing to go from red to green. For this I want to position the camera so we have a lot of depth in the frame – the “green man” on the traffic light in the foreground, and the college in the background with the marina with its many boats in the distance, all whilst there are pedestrians walking past and cars driving past in the frame. This will create a much more interesting shot than just filming a close up of the traffic light itself turning from red to green.
The bar scene is where I really want to try some unconventional shots, as well as dutch tilts perhaps to make a somewhat boring shot of a girl walking into the bar a little more interesting for the audience to watch. I know in the bar we are filming in there are metal chairs with thin slats all over them, I was thinking perhaps we could place the camera behind one of them and film, perhaps creating a voyeuristic effect, or maybe film through the translucent windows of the bar so it will be like the audience are drawn into these character’s worlds.
We are also hoping to include some time lapse of one of the girls driving along the road (with the camera rested on the dashboard so it will look like the drivers point of view as they are driving along the road), which will create the sense of a passage of time which, under normal circumstances, would take too long or would be extremely boring to watch in ‘real time’. 10 minutes of footage should be enough, and then in the editing room we will speed up the footage so it will only be a few seconds long. We could also like to incorporate a point of view shot from the front seat of the car while the car is driving but obviously this poses problems as to how we film this whilst driving the car! As a little touch showing attention to detail, I also want to include a big-close-up shot one of the girls holding a iPod (that’s playing a Lawrence King track), and also near the end when we see them saving each others numbers into their mobile phones, to show to the audience that they will hopefully be seeing each other again and that this is not the end.
As I learnt last year in our AS Project, I must remember to obey the Rule of thirds. You imagine breaking your image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have nine parts. The theory is that if you place points of interest along the lines then the image becomes more balanced and enables the audience can interact with it more naturally.
I must continue remember the basic guidelines such as the 180 degree line rule. The 180° rule states that two characters (in the same scene) should always have the same left/right relationship to each other, and that the camera should not cross the imaginary axis connecting the two characters. I watched this video on YouTube to refresh my memory of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdyyuqmCW14
Also, I need to make sure I obey the 30° rule. This is a basic film editing guideline that says the camera needs to move at least 30° between shots of the same subject. This makes the shots different enough to avoid a jump cut, however too much movement around the subject may violate the 180° rule
Costumes/Make up
For Jessica's character I want her to be wearing a bright coat when moving around in the everyday scenes, this will make her stand out against the general public. In the everyday scenes I want Jessica to be wearing natural make up to show off natural beauty. In the bar scenes i want Jessica's character to be wearing a black dress that it tight fitting to show her femininity, I want her to accessorise this dress with a brightly coloured belt to carried on the theme from the other scenes. In the bar scenes i want Jessica's make up to be a bit more apparent with her wearing more mascara to emphasize her eyes. During the bedrooms scenes i want Jessica's character to be wearing Pajamas to show she is at home and in a relaxed environment, during all of Jessica's scenes i want her hair to be straight and blonde as this will contrast with Nicola's characters hair.
For Nicola's character i want her to be wearing a black coat and a brightly coloured scarf during the everyday scenes again the brightly coloured scarf will make her stand out. For the bar scene i was Nicola's character to be wearing more colour than usual, to do this i will dress her in a brightly coloured skirt and team this with a black top and a bright red belt, the use of colours will help her to seem confident.
For the bedroom scene i want Nicola's character to be in Pj's this will make her look comfortable i also want her to wrapped in a duvet this will give the impression that she is about to go to bed. I want Nicola's character to have curly brown hair this will contrast with Jessica's character and help the audience to distinguish between them.
Lighting
The everyday scenes are set outdoors and will be naturally lit as i don't want the promo to look too stylized whereas the bedroom scenes will be dimly lit with the focus of the light on the character to help them be the focus of the scene rather than their surroundings. During the make up scenes the focus of the light will be on the characters face as this is what we want the audience to look at.
Locations
We have a few different locations in our piece, we have the waterfront university building, the two bedrooms and the bar/
I chose the waterfront building as it looks modern and artsy and i felt this would go with the tone and feel of our music, i also chose it because of the amount of traffic needed for the time lapse element of our promo. The bedrooms are dressed are differently as i wanted the two characters to have different personalities and tastes, Jessica's character has a printed wallpaper and a large bed with a candle lamp giving a hippy/oriental theme to the room whereas Nicola's character has a simple room.
The bar is chose for the decor, it is bright and uses bold colours which i felt matched the tome of the promo. it looks modern and niche which i think would appeal to the audience of our music as they would most likely hang out in bars rather than clubs.
Props
For the props we need to mobile phones i decided to use smart-phones such as the blackberry phone in our promo to show modern technology.
Performance
The characters in our promo will be tackling the subject of homosexuality and in their performance they need to be flirty and attracted to each other without glamorizing lesbianism and making it look over the top. During the bar scene where the characters meet for the first time i want them to flirt with each other but smiling and touching each others arms or hair, then when Jessica's characters says goodbye and the characters kiss, i have decided that they will kiss on the cheek as a fully passionate kiss would be inappropriate and distract from the message we are trying to put across
Cinematography Treatment by Maya
I am cinematographer for the group, so will be responsible for directing the positioning of the video camera for each shot that we film, in order to achieve the appropriate effect for our video whilst ensuring we adhere to the various codes and conventions of filmmaking.
However, as we are aiming our promotional package for this video to be towards young people who enjoy alternative music out of the mainstream, I would like to incorporate experimental cinematography into the video and challenge some of the codes and conventions and perhaps break a few of the guidelines! I am hoping to include several "unplanned" shots in each of the locations, that when we are filming on set we can experiment with different angles and shot sizes with the camera in unusual places, to create a really edgy and interesting music video that pushes the boundaries of what shots you normally see in your average music video (mid shots of the artist etc).
As our artist Lawrence King is not featuring in our music video, we do not need to worry about including lots of close ups and shots of the artist in our video. Instead, we have a storyline of two characters meeting by chance throughout the day, culminating in them meeting at a bar later that day. The main point we need to convey to the audience is that these two women are attracted to each other.
To do this, I plan to use multiple close up shot-reverse-shots in the bar scenes to show their reactions when they first meet and talk in the bar and the fact that the close ups with show they are giving each other alot of eye contact will suggest that they are indeed attracted to each other.
As well as shots of our actors, I want to include lots of wide shots of our locations such as the college, the beach by the river, and the bar to show the environments the actors are in. We are lucky to have found a beach to film on with such pretty scenery so we need to make sure we show it off it its full advantage with wide panning shots! I also want to try to capture some birds flying over the rivers water using a panning long shot. We will film a low angle wide shot of the college entrance as the girls enter the building (at separate times). This will show that the college is a big place full of people and that there’s only a small chance they would meet each other unintentionally in such a big building, and that they are a “small fish in the sea” if you get what I mean!. When Jessica is walking her dog on the beach, we will use a panning wide shot from left to right shot, which will enable the viewer to see both Jessica, the dog, and the scenery they are in.
There is a scene that we are going to have where one girl is waiting at the traffic lights outside of the college waiting for light at the pedestrian crossing to go from red to green. For this I want to position the camera so we have a lot of depth in the frame – the “green man” on the traffic light in the foreground, and the college in the background with the marina with its many boats in the distance, all whilst there are pedestrians walking past and cars driving past in the frame. This will create a much more interesting shot than just filming a close up of the traffic light itself turning from red to green.
The bar scene is where I really want to try some unconventional shots, as well as dutch tilts perhaps to make a somewhat boring shot of a girl walking into the bar a little more interesting for the audience to watch. I know in the bar we are filming in there are metal chairs with thin slats all over them, I was thinking perhaps we could place the camera behind one of them and film, perhaps creating a voyeuristic effect, or maybe film through the translucent windows of the bar so it will be like the audience are drawn into these character’s worlds.
We are also hoping to include some time lapse of one of the girls driving along the road (with the camera rested on the dashboard so it will look like the drivers point of view as they are driving along the road), which will create the sense of a passage of time which, under normal circumstances, would take too long or would be extremely boring to watch in ‘real time’. 10 minutes of footage should be enough, and then in the editing room we will speed up the footage so it will only be a few seconds long. We could also like to incorporate a point of view shot from the front seat of the car while the car is driving but obviously this poses problems as to how we film this whilst driving the car! As a little touch showing attention to detail, I also want to include a big-close-up shot one of the girls holding a iPod (that’s playing a Lawrence King track), and also near the end when we see them saving each others numbers into their mobile phones, to show to the audience that they will hopefully be seeing each other again and that this is not the end.
As I learnt last year in our AS Project, I must remember to obey the Rule of thirds. You imagine breaking your image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have nine parts. The theory is that if you place points of interest along the lines then the image becomes more balanced and enables the audience can interact with it more naturally.
I must continue remember the basic guidelines such as the 180 degree line rule. The 180° rule states that two characters (in the same scene) should always have the same left/right relationship to each other, and that the camera should not cross the imaginary axis connecting the two characters. I watched this video on YouTube to refresh my memory of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdyyuqmCW14
Also, I need to make sure I obey the 30° rule. This is a basic film editing guideline that says the camera needs to move at least 30° between shots of the same subject. This makes the shots different enough to avoid a jump cut, however too much movement around the subject may violate the 180° rule
Editing Treatment-Jessica Hayward
For the beginning of the music video we have decided on 2 possible ways of editing the opening sequence. Our second editing option requires us to shoot no extra footage or make any changes to the narrative so we have decided we will try both ways in post production, to see which looks best.
1. The opening sequence will feature Nicola and Jess both checking their phones, anticipating a call that doesn't arrive. I will then reverse footage of a clock, showing the viewer we are going back in time to the previous morning.
or
2. Instead of reversing the clock to show passed time, we will reverse the whole music video, condensing it down to approximately 20 seconds to show the viewer we are going back to the beginning of that day, to show why both girls are waiting in bed for a phone call.
.....
Images of Nicola and Jess entering the college, followed by jump cut to shots of the college atrium. I will edit these in fast motion, again to show passing of time through the college day. Possibly fade different angles of the college atrium together. Cut to Jess and Nicola bored in class, with match cuts between the two to show the similarity of their situations.
Jump cut to Nicola walking to the record store. Whilst flicking through the records we ideally want to get Nicola to do this in time to the music, but I may be required to slow down/ speed up the footage in the editing stage to achieve this. We will see Nicola leave the shop and the camera will concentrate on the traffic. At this stage I will again put the footage into fast motion to show the passing of time. Jump cut to shot of the sea lapping the shore, possibly slow down footage depending on the rate the tide will be coming in. Followed by the shots of Jess etc. Cut to long shot of waves lapping beach again, except something will be written in the sand and footage will be sped up to show it disappearing.
Jump cut to the makeup sequence with graphic match between Nicola and Jess putting on their mascara. Nicola and Jess will then leave their houses. A close up shot will reveal Jess's eyes in her rear view mirror driving. Possible fast motion of traffic flying by again. Cut to an establishing shot of Ollies bar to reveal to the viewer where the 2 girls are going. Footage of people dancing in the club will possibly be fast motioned.
The meeting sequence will feature shot-reverse-shot to show the conversation flowing between Nicola and Jess. This will be followed by quick cuts to big close-ups of eyes and lips, to create a feeling of tension between the two. A slightly slow motion shot of their hands touching will then feature. Followed by match cuts of both saving there numbers into each other phones. As Jess leaves the building the image will slowly be faded out in time with the music.
Once the music has stopped, we will resume the narrative from the very beginning of the music video, showing both girls in bed waiting for a phone call, looking board. Jump cut to Nicola's phone ringing, emphasising the surprise. Finish with close up of Nicola saying 'Hey'. Fade to black.
1. The opening sequence will feature Nicola and Jess both checking their phones, anticipating a call that doesn't arrive. I will then reverse footage of a clock, showing the viewer we are going back in time to the previous morning.
or
2. Instead of reversing the clock to show passed time, we will reverse the whole music video, condensing it down to approximately 20 seconds to show the viewer we are going back to the beginning of that day, to show why both girls are waiting in bed for a phone call.
.....
Images of Nicola and Jess entering the college, followed by jump cut to shots of the college atrium. I will edit these in fast motion, again to show passing of time through the college day. Possibly fade different angles of the college atrium together. Cut to Jess and Nicola bored in class, with match cuts between the two to show the similarity of their situations.
Jump cut to Nicola walking to the record store. Whilst flicking through the records we ideally want to get Nicola to do this in time to the music, but I may be required to slow down/ speed up the footage in the editing stage to achieve this. We will see Nicola leave the shop and the camera will concentrate on the traffic. At this stage I will again put the footage into fast motion to show the passing of time. Jump cut to shot of the sea lapping the shore, possibly slow down footage depending on the rate the tide will be coming in. Followed by the shots of Jess etc. Cut to long shot of waves lapping beach again, except something will be written in the sand and footage will be sped up to show it disappearing.
Jump cut to the makeup sequence with graphic match between Nicola and Jess putting on their mascara. Nicola and Jess will then leave their houses. A close up shot will reveal Jess's eyes in her rear view mirror driving. Possible fast motion of traffic flying by again. Cut to an establishing shot of Ollies bar to reveal to the viewer where the 2 girls are going. Footage of people dancing in the club will possibly be fast motioned.
The meeting sequence will feature shot-reverse-shot to show the conversation flowing between Nicola and Jess. This will be followed by quick cuts to big close-ups of eyes and lips, to create a feeling of tension between the two. A slightly slow motion shot of their hands touching will then feature. Followed by match cuts of both saving there numbers into each other phones. As Jess leaves the building the image will slowly be faded out in time with the music.
Once the music has stopped, we will resume the narrative from the very beginning of the music video, showing both girls in bed waiting for a phone call, looking board. Jump cut to Nicola's phone ringing, emphasising the surprise. Finish with close up of Nicola saying 'Hey'. Fade to black.
Experimental Motion and Editing Effects
Our group know that we wish to time lapse some of our footage during the editing stage. To discover how much footage compresses down to the final product once the speed has been increased we did a practice shot. We decided Nicola would sit perfectly still in the middle of the college atrium whilst people move around her for 20 minutes.
I captured the footage in Final Cut Pro and put it into the timeline. I then used the speed option to essentially put the footage on fast forward. At first I tried 500% and 1000% but this did not make a significant impact on the movement around her. In the end, we set it at 9000% speed which is the video you can see above. This is the most suitable speed setting for this footage as the atrium wasn't that busy. 20 minutes compressed down 7 seconds worth of footage
Through doing this preliminary editing exercise I have got to grips with how to use Final Cut Pro and we have an idea of the length of footage we will need, and how much that will compress down to, to create time lapse sequences. Due to the location being different as well- the cars will be moving at a faster pace than the students in the atrium-I imagine 9000% will be too fast, I will use 2000-4000% region as we will want to keep it in pace to the music.
Production Meeting 3
Today we brought together all our individual ideas and discussed them. All our ideas are quite similar in some respects so it wasn't that hard to all agree on a final idea. We want our narrative to center around a boy and a girl who cross paths throughout the day but never notice each other. Near the end of the music video they will finally meet and form a relationship. However, we are still keen to include nature shots to reflect the inspirations Lawrence King has within his music. Over the next few week we will pin down locations and characters, and then begin our treatments.
My Synopsis and Treatment
Before we came up with our group idea for our pop promo, we had to come up with an individual idea that would then be shared with the group and the best ideas would make it into the promo.
My individual idea as far as the narrative is concerned are as follows
- Like existing bands i want to use time lapse to show the passing of time and to help emphasize the beauty of everyday life.
- I want to follow one character through the period of the song and i want to show that character in different settings for example in a busy high street with people rushing past them and on the beach the beach showing the tide coming in.
- I want to use speeded up footage of cars moving and clocks to show the ellipsis of time.
- I also want to slow time down as the character moves from one setting to another.
- I also want to use images of moving clouds and at the end of the song i want to slow the footage down and show the character at peace laying in the grass.
- I would also like to do a time lapsed nightclub or bar scene to show the nightlife
My treatment ideas
- Mise-en-scene will play a big role in my pop promo to make the character stand out for example being in bright clothing.
- I will also being using a lot of long shots of the character standing still so that when the footage is sped up it will look as if everyone is rushing around the character.
- I will use both high and low angle shots to create interesting view points.
- Wide shots of both the nature scenes and the city scenes with be used to show contrast.
My Ideas for the Pop Promo
Before we got together as a group, we all came up with our own ideas for our chosen song.
My initial idea was to keep the pop promo simple. I want to show the contrast between a town and the countryside.
The pop promo follows a young girl as she travels through the town and through the countryside.
The young girl attends a college which you see her walk in an out of with traffic speeding by,
the young girl also visits a bar and a night club and you see the busy lights of the town. This is contrasted with when she is in the countryside where you see her walking her dog, laying the grass looking up at the sky and walking along a beach.
To make my vision happen i will use time lapse to show how busy the town is compared to the countryside, i will also make the lighting in the country brighter in the countryside this will emphasize the gloominesss of the town.
The character will be wearing wearing a bright pink coat which will help her stand out from the crowd.
Lawrence King questionnaire
To gain further knowledge of Lawrence King and get an insight into his music we emailed him a questionnaire which he politely completed.
Hi Lawrence! Firstly, how would you classify your music into genres?
I tend to describe it as Experimental/ Ambient/ Electronica. However I'm not putting myself into boxes just yet, things may change!
What is the inspiration behind your music?
Mainly nature and the wonderful things it creates... sunsets, bright blue skies the sound of a pebble hitting the water etc. But also the journey of time within nature and the concept of day and night.
What other artists would you consider in a similar genre to yourself?
I like the works of Boards of Canada, Four Tet and Zero 7. We aren't exactly the same but you get the idea.
How come you don't have any music videos?
Music videos are less common in electronic music- we like to concentrate more on the music! However some of the bands I have mentioned before have done music videos and I do believe they can sometimes help do justice to the song. As I'm not a big artist yet, still a student, there wouldn't be much point to making a music video until i gain a bigger fan base after considering costs etc. Unless more student like you want to make them anyway!
What do you enjoy in music videos (any genre)?
Variety is key, some have a great story to them, whilst others you just see the band performing and its still great. I don't believe its necessary to see the artist unless its a band, then its cool to see them all play together. I enjoy some of the more weirder music videos from Aphex Twin as you genuinely want to keep on watching to see what the hells is going on. Its always nice to see things you have never seen before in music videos- new environments and cultures etc.
What would you like to see in the music video we make for you?
That's really up to you, I have nothing set in my mind, hopefully you have got an idea what my music is all about and use inspiration from that. But I'm all for being experimental and doing what no one has done before so go crazy! I wouldn't want it to be generic and copied.
And... Would you like to be in it?
Preferably not, I'm quite keen to remain anonymous as an artist. I want people to concentrate on the music not me. This isn't like pop music where the image of the artist is key to the success. (Lucky for me? lol)
Thanks Lawrence!
Hi Lawrence! Firstly, how would you classify your music into genres?
I tend to describe it as Experimental/ Ambient/ Electronica. However I'm not putting myself into boxes just yet, things may change!
What is the inspiration behind your music?
Mainly nature and the wonderful things it creates... sunsets, bright blue skies the sound of a pebble hitting the water etc. But also the journey of time within nature and the concept of day and night.
What other artists would you consider in a similar genre to yourself?
I like the works of Boards of Canada, Four Tet and Zero 7. We aren't exactly the same but you get the idea.
How come you don't have any music videos?
Music videos are less common in electronic music- we like to concentrate more on the music! However some of the bands I have mentioned before have done music videos and I do believe they can sometimes help do justice to the song. As I'm not a big artist yet, still a student, there wouldn't be much point to making a music video until i gain a bigger fan base after considering costs etc. Unless more student like you want to make them anyway!
What do you enjoy in music videos (any genre)?
Variety is key, some have a great story to them, whilst others you just see the band performing and its still great. I don't believe its necessary to see the artist unless its a band, then its cool to see them all play together. I enjoy some of the more weirder music videos from Aphex Twin as you genuinely want to keep on watching to see what the hells is going on. Its always nice to see things you have never seen before in music videos- new environments and cultures etc.
What would you like to see in the music video we make for you?
That's really up to you, I have nothing set in my mind, hopefully you have got an idea what my music is all about and use inspiration from that. But I'm all for being experimental and doing what no one has done before so go crazy! I wouldn't want it to be generic and copied.
And... Would you like to be in it?
Preferably not, I'm quite keen to remain anonymous as an artist. I want people to concentrate on the music not me. This isn't like pop music where the image of the artist is key to the success. (Lucky for me? lol)
Thanks Lawrence!
Primary Research on Lawrence King by Jessica
Our group is in a unique situation compared to our other classmates in regards to our chosen artist; we discovered Lawrence King as he is a friend of Nicola and she had heard his music. Although this gives us an advantage as we can contact him directly for research it also means he is not yet fully established and so we cannot gain inspiration/direction from previous music videos.
A quick introduction to Lawrence King
Lawrence is 20 years old
He is currently a student at the University of Hertfordshire
He studies Music Technology
His music is predominately in the Electronic genre
You can listen to his music on his MYSPACE, LASTFM, SOUNDCLOUD
Many of his inspirations and music collection are listed on his DISCOGS page
Lawrence networks on his TWITTER page to share ideas and feedback with other artists.
A quick introduction to Lawrence King
Lawrence is 20 years old
He is currently a student at the University of Hertfordshire
He studies Music Technology
His music is predominately in the Electronic genre
You can listen to his music on his MYSPACE, LASTFM, SOUNDCLOUD
Many of his inspirations and music collection are listed on his DISCOGS page
Lawrence networks on his TWITTER page to share ideas and feedback with other artists.
Research in Homosexuality in Pop Promos By Jessica Hayward
Our narratives centres around Girl A and Girl B who cross paths and begin a relationship. Although we originally intended for the relationship to form between a girl and boy, the availability of actors has meant we had to consider other alternatives. However, this has gave us the opportunity to venture into raising issues through our music video, i.e the acceptability of homosexuality within the music industry. Although socially homosexuality is now widely accepted, its is still not seen often in music videos. I feel the decision to go ahead with this narrative within our music video is in-line with the progressive thinking that I discovered in my research for electronic music videos.
History
In 1981 after the emergence of MTV the popularity and volume of music videos increased drastically. At this time homosexuality in music videos was few and far between. However a growing number of artists sporting the androgynous image such as Annie Lennox and openly gay artists such as Boy George introduced the issue into their music videos. However this did not represent the average homosexual person as the character were often over dramatized.
One exception was Bruce Springsteen. The video above was for his track Tougher than the Rest. Couples are shown kissing throughout the video, with gay and lesbian couples featured alongside heterosexual couples and this projects the correct image of homosexual relationships- no different from all the rest! Many Rock 'n' Roll artists used lesbianism in a derogatory way in the late 80's/90's. Instead of promoting sexual differences positively they were often glorified and for entertainment purposes. Women often shown stripping, kissing and getting intimate featured strongly and a feminist reading of this is that it is purely for a mans entertainment.
The emergence of t.A.T.u (Russian short hand for this girl loves that girl) glamorised lesbianism in a way that some may criticise as not being beneficial to the cause. The above video is for their no.1 hit All The Things She Said and features the romance of 2 girls and kissing throughout. Some praised the video for putting lesbians into the mainstream, and the cinematography of the video- showing girls behind bars etc- accurately portrayed the struggle of lesbian couples. However the video also received a huge backlash as the girls are in school uniform and the fact that the are both heterosexual in real life means that the video was just to entertain the male population. More recently artists such as Lady GaGa have fought for equal rights for homosexual and transgendered couple as displayed in her video for Telephone.
History
In 1981 after the emergence of MTV the popularity and volume of music videos increased drastically. At this time homosexuality in music videos was few and far between. However a growing number of artists sporting the androgynous image such as Annie Lennox and openly gay artists such as Boy George introduced the issue into their music videos. However this did not represent the average homosexual person as the character were often over dramatized.
One exception was Bruce Springsteen. The video above was for his track Tougher than the Rest. Couples are shown kissing throughout the video, with gay and lesbian couples featured alongside heterosexual couples and this projects the correct image of homosexual relationships- no different from all the rest! Many Rock 'n' Roll artists used lesbianism in a derogatory way in the late 80's/90's. Instead of promoting sexual differences positively they were often glorified and for entertainment purposes. Women often shown stripping, kissing and getting intimate featured strongly and a feminist reading of this is that it is purely for a mans entertainment.
The emergence of t.A.T.u (Russian short hand for this girl loves that girl) glamorised lesbianism in a way that some may criticise as not being beneficial to the cause. The above video is for their no.1 hit All The Things She Said and features the romance of 2 girls and kissing throughout. Some praised the video for putting lesbians into the mainstream, and the cinematography of the video- showing girls behind bars etc- accurately portrayed the struggle of lesbian couples. However the video also received a huge backlash as the girls are in school uniform and the fact that the are both heterosexual in real life means that the video was just to entertain the male population. More recently artists such as Lady GaGa have fought for equal rights for homosexual and transgendered couple as displayed in her video for Telephone.
Research Questionnaire
Age- Average age of participants was 19, but ranged from 16-26
It was important for us to gain the views from our target audience who we typically identified as 18-25, although we were limited by the people available to fill in the questionnaire.
Sex- M- 45% F- 55%
We don't believe there is any gender preference to the electronic music genre so we aimed to get equal views from both boys and girls.
1. How many music videos do you watch a week?
0- 5%
0- 5 - 10%
1-5 - 10%
5-10 - 10%
10-15 - 15%
15- 20 - 20%
20+ -30%
2. How important is it for a song to have an accompanying video?
Won’t listen without a video- 10%
Fairly important- 60%
Not bothered either way- 25%
Don’t watch music videos- 5%
The results tell us that the majority like to see music videos, and interestingly it is actually vital to some. Electronic artists often don't have music videos and we believe this is a disadvantage and they may loose a proportion of a potential audience albeit quite small. An intriguing music video is a good way to get someone listening to your music if they have never heard it before.
3. Do you enjoy music without lyrics?
Yes- 20%
No- 50%
Exceptionally - 30%
We asked this question as we needed to gauge how responsive are audience would be to Lawrence King's music. Unfortunately half of the people we interviewed do not listen to lyricless music but we hope this could change once they had been introduced to different types of music, and a music video maybe a good way of doing this.
4. Do you ever listen to Electronic or Chillout music?
Yes- 15%
No- 45%
Sometimes- 40%
45% of the people we interviewed do not listen to electronic music whether this be because of personal tastes or access to different type of genres. The electronic genre is not widely played or promoted on TV or radio so the results are not surprising. However many seem to like it occasionally and the medium of music video may help promote this further.
5. Do you think it’s important to see the artist in the music video?
Yes- 65%
No- 35%
It is useful to point out that mostly girls answered Yes, and when we asked why it was often because they like to gain fashion ideas from pop role models. Many participants also commented that if they were listening to music with out lyrics like dance music or d'n'b they often do not care about seeing the artists. The opposite is true with bands and pop stars. Our group therefore believe that it is not a necessity for Lawrence to be in the music video unless it would benefit our final piece.
6. Do you like to see a narrative (i.e story) in the music video?
Yes- 75%
No- 25%
From these result it is obvious that the larger majority like to have something to follow within a music video and we will definitely incorporate a narrative within our music video.
Research into Similar Bands by Maya
As the artist of our chosen song to make a pop promo for is not well known and hasn't had any previous marketing campaigns or pop promos made, I have been researching artists that make similar music and have had previous marketing campaigns and pop promos. Nicola has been researching Zero 7, and Jessica has been researching Star of the Lid and Four Tet. I have been researching Boards Of Canada, a Scottish electronic music duo.
Genres: Electronic, Downtempo, Ambient, Experimental, Psychedelic, IDM (intelligent dance music)
Years active: 1986 - present
www.boardsofcanada.com
Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. They are signed to Warp Records and have released several works on that label with little advertising and few interviews, while also having an obscure and elusive back-catalogue of releases on their self-run label Music70.
Their music is reminiscent of the artificial, warm and scratchy sounds of 1970s media and prominent themes include nostalgia, childhood and the natural world. They are said to take the documentary films made by the National Film Board of Canada (Canada's public film producer and distributor), from which their group name is derived, as a source of inspiration.
Major releases:
- 1998: Music Has the Right to Children – (Warp/Skam) #193 UK
- 2000: In a Beautiful Place Out in the Country – (Warp/Music70)
- 2002: Geogaddi – (Warp/Music70) #21 UK
- 2005: The Campfire Headphase – (Warp) #41 UK
- 2006: Trans Canada Highway (Warp)
I think that the target audience for Boards of Canada's music will be fairly young people aged 18-30 (although there's nothing to say older people wouldn't like it), either male or female, and the key feature that defines their audience is people's music tastes - whether they have an open mind when it comes to what music they listen to and would enjoy non-mainstream music, and that will enjoy experimental and electronic music.
Music Video
This is the music video for Boards of Canada's song "Dayvan Cowboy", taken from the album "The Campfire Headphase". It was directed by Melissa Olson and has been watched over 820,000 times on YouTube. The video consists of footage from Joe Kittinger's famous parachute jump from 19.5 miles (31.4 km) altitude. Later on in the video, slow-motion footage of big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton is used. It is quite simple, no complicated narrative, just watching an amazing spectacle of someone jumping from plane and the view they had and imagining the adrenaline rush that he must of felt, and I think it works really well with the uplifting feel of this song. It "matches" the album cover and their overall marketing campaign, with a strong nature and artistic theme, and I think the music video has a very broad appeal in terms of who will watch it.
This is the only official music video Boards of Canada has (the rest on Youtube are fanmade). Some artists in this genre of music choose to simply not have pop promos and just have their songs. We hope to show that having a music video can be a great addition to your song, and can really help to create a promotional package that can help to promote the band/artist.
Album Covers
This one is for the album Geogaddi released in 2002. It is of what appears to be silhouettes of people standing with their arms and legs outstretched , amongst some trees, around a star or planet. It is almost as if it is simply a tie-die pattern, and then on closer inspection you realise its actually humans and objects.The red and orange tones give a warm and friendly feel to the cover. It has a symmetrical look to it, and a psychedelic feel. This goes very well with the fact that the music is of the electronic/ambient/psychedelic genre. Personally I think the font size that has been used for the title of the album and the band name is too small, and when we make our own album cover we need to carefully consider the size of the font we use so that it is easy for everyone to read.
This one is for the album The Campfire Headphase released in 2005. It is a photograph of a man, but we cannot see his identity as the image has a green and blue smokey/liquid like overlay. It is almost as if water has been poured onto the photograph, making it damaged but giving a nice affect. I really like this cover and it has given me some good ideas on what I could make my album cover like. As our artist is fairly anonymous, we could have a photo of him (or someone similar as it wouldn't really matter) then overlay it with something such as an effect or colour, to give the impression that our artist is rather mysterious and unknown as you cannot see his identity.
Interesting typography has been used for the words "Boards Of Canada" with all the letter A's being changed, and we could experiment with fonts when making our album cover to give a unique and interesting feel to it and make it stand out from the crowd.
Print Adverts (Posters)
Here is a print advert for the album The Campfire Headphase. It is heavily based on album's cover - the same photo, typeface, look and feel. This increases continuity, strengthens the albums brand identity, and helps the audience to recognise that this advertises the album, so when they go into a record shop looking for it they will know what it looks like. I am going to do similar with my music album promotional package, and make the album cover and magazine advert very similar in style, as it works really well in strengthening the artist's and the albums identity. As the photo of the poster is quite bad quality, I can't see what is written in the smallprint underneath the title, but I presume it is the albums release date, and perhaps a link to their website, which is really crucial to put on a print advert so people know where to find more information on the album or artist.
Research into Similar Bands By Jessica
Four Tet is the stage name for Kieran Hebden, who is a solo experimental, electronic DJ and musician that Lawrence King named as one of his influences. Similarly, The music from Four Tet is also predominately lyricless. Four Tet uses samples from r'n'b and hip hop to Jazz and other electronica mixed with Hebden's guitar tracks. VH1 describes him as "balancing organic and programmed sounds" in his music.
The video for Hands is filmed in soft focus to give the images a distorted feel. The images all fit into the nature theme, with animals, leaves and a jellyfish. The video is understated and concept based, meant as an accompaniment for the music, not a video in its own right. Its evident that the artist wants his music to be the talking point, not the music video.
She Moves She is one of Four Tet's adventures into a more professional artistic music video, directed by Ed Holdsworth. The music video is concept based, beginning with a train leaving a station, with the video shown as a point of view shot for the trains window. The images start unaffected at first, but become introverted, illustrated and mirrored. The colours are often enhanced or turned negative. The footage is show in fast motion, in beat to the music. At the end the images duplicate to the beat of the music until they become nonexistent.
The above video is for the Four Tet track Smile Around Your Face and features actor Mark Heap. The video is one very simple concept- a continuous close up of Mark's face. However, The close up tracks to follow Mark as he goes about his day, almost as if the camera is strapped on the front of his body. Nothing out of the ordinary happens on Mark's day; he leaves his house, gets the bus, take a tumble on the bus and gets a headache, takes his kids to the park and has a bath. However if you look a little deeper into the narrative the video becomes highly emotional. Mark is picking his kids up from another house (presumably an ex wife) and takes them to play at the park but has to take them back again. When alone later in the bath the cinematography suggests he is sad that he cannot be with his children and the time he has with them is precious. This is done by blending the shot of him in the park with his children and the one with him in the bath- making it almost feel like a daydream. After the sequence when Mark falls over of the bus the video is edited in such a way that we are aware that Mark has a headache. The colours are distorted and saturated, and are uneasy to look at.
I previously analysed Four Tet's music videos and I will now do the same for his print designs- album cover, posters and adverts.
Above is the latest Four Tet album design There Is Love In You (2010). Interestingly, the front of the album cover doesn't contain the album name or title of the artist. This would not be something I would use on my design as the artist we are designing for is up and coming, and promotion of his name is important. However, the individuality of this design and the rising popularity of Four Tet means that this cover is memorable as a Four Tet album. A black background in punctured by many round circles each with a different image within- a mixture of abstract forms and colour, flowers and nature.
Above is the Magazine advert for Four Tet's 2010 tour. The theme of the album cover has been carried over to the advert and is providing the background image. The Artist name has been included this time probably because some one flicking through a magazine may not know or assume that this is an advert for Four Tet, where as someone buying the album would already know what the album looks like and who the artist is. The Artist name is in a simple, modern, bold text that almost looks like it has been cutout of the background and contrast well so it can be clearly read. The symbols used to communicate who the support acts are add a friendly and fun touch to the advert. The style of text used to list the tour dates is classic and simple, a feeling of sophistication had definitely been created.
This is Four Tet's first ever album DIALOGUE (1999). It contrasts with their latest album as it has and artist title and album name clearly displayed in bold, central text. In regards to colour, The album uses greyscale which gives a feeling of simplicity (much like their first album). The nice effect of condensation behind the text brings an interesting focal point to the design. The black circle in the middle gives the illusion of a classic LP within the case, that is being distorted by the trapped condensation.
Apologies for the small image! Above is a framed version of Four Tet's promotional advertisement for their album Everything Ecstatic (2005). As usual with Four Tet, the images of the advertisement correspond with the album. I particularly like this design for its fun use of bubblegum colours- it shows Four Tet are not afraid of looking too 'girly' and 'sweet'. However by doing this it creates an extremely fun looking advert that is bound to catch peoples attention.
I can conclude from my research into Four Tet's print designs that there is no set style for an electronic artist, the key is to experiment with doing something different and make it interesting in a subtle way or an obvious way. Images of nature feature heavily across their designs as a whole as do fun colours and computer aided designs.
The video for Hands is filmed in soft focus to give the images a distorted feel. The images all fit into the nature theme, with animals, leaves and a jellyfish. The video is understated and concept based, meant as an accompaniment for the music, not a video in its own right. Its evident that the artist wants his music to be the talking point, not the music video.
She Moves She is one of Four Tet's adventures into a more professional artistic music video, directed by Ed Holdsworth. The music video is concept based, beginning with a train leaving a station, with the video shown as a point of view shot for the trains window. The images start unaffected at first, but become introverted, illustrated and mirrored. The colours are often enhanced or turned negative. The footage is show in fast motion, in beat to the music. At the end the images duplicate to the beat of the music until they become nonexistent.
The above video is for the Four Tet track Smile Around Your Face and features actor Mark Heap. The video is one very simple concept- a continuous close up of Mark's face. However, The close up tracks to follow Mark as he goes about his day, almost as if the camera is strapped on the front of his body. Nothing out of the ordinary happens on Mark's day; he leaves his house, gets the bus, take a tumble on the bus and gets a headache, takes his kids to the park and has a bath. However if you look a little deeper into the narrative the video becomes highly emotional. Mark is picking his kids up from another house (presumably an ex wife) and takes them to play at the park but has to take them back again. When alone later in the bath the cinematography suggests he is sad that he cannot be with his children and the time he has with them is precious. This is done by blending the shot of him in the park with his children and the one with him in the bath- making it almost feel like a daydream. After the sequence when Mark falls over of the bus the video is edited in such a way that we are aware that Mark has a headache. The colours are distorted and saturated, and are uneasy to look at.
I previously analysed Four Tet's music videos and I will now do the same for his print designs- album cover, posters and adverts.
Above is the latest Four Tet album design There Is Love In You (2010). Interestingly, the front of the album cover doesn't contain the album name or title of the artist. This would not be something I would use on my design as the artist we are designing for is up and coming, and promotion of his name is important. However, the individuality of this design and the rising popularity of Four Tet means that this cover is memorable as a Four Tet album. A black background in punctured by many round circles each with a different image within- a mixture of abstract forms and colour, flowers and nature.Above is the Magazine advert for Four Tet's 2010 tour. The theme of the album cover has been carried over to the advert and is providing the background image. The Artist name has been included this time probably because some one flicking through a magazine may not know or assume that this is an advert for Four Tet, where as someone buying the album would already know what the album looks like and who the artist is. The Artist name is in a simple, modern, bold text that almost looks like it has been cutout of the background and contrast well so it can be clearly read. The symbols used to communicate who the support acts are add a friendly and fun touch to the advert. The style of text used to list the tour dates is classic and simple, a feeling of sophistication had definitely been created.This is Four Tet's first ever album DIALOGUE (1999). It contrasts with their latest album as it has and artist title and album name clearly displayed in bold, central text. In regards to colour, The album uses greyscale which gives a feeling of simplicity (much like their first album). The nice effect of condensation behind the text brings an interesting focal point to the design. The black circle in the middle gives the illusion of a classic LP within the case, that is being distorted by the trapped condensation.Apologies for the small image! Above is a framed version of Four Tet's promotional advertisement for their album Everything Ecstatic (2005). As usual with Four Tet, the images of the advertisement correspond with the album. I particularly like this design for its fun use of bubblegum colours- it shows Four Tet are not afraid of looking too 'girly' and 'sweet'. However by doing this it creates an extremely fun looking advert that is bound to catch peoples attention.I can conclude from my research into Four Tet's print designs that there is no set style for an electronic artist, the key is to experiment with doing something different and make it interesting in a subtle way or an obvious way. Images of nature feature heavily across their designs as a whole as do fun colours and computer aided designs.
Research into Similar Bands
Zero 7
I have chosen to research in to bands that are similar to the kind of music that Lawrence makes as he is not an established artist I need to research in to how bands like him promote themselves.
Zero 7 are a Grammy nominated ambient music duo from the UK comprising of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker and they use guest vocalists on their tracks such as Tina Dico, Sophie Barker and Mozez. So far they have had four studio albums since 2001; Simple things (2001) When it Falls (2004) The Garden (2006) and Yeah Ghost (2009) and their music has been TV shows such as CSI, Smallville and Sex in the City and coke-cola
Zero 7 use youtube to promote there music, the have their own youtube channel on which they put their pop promos and they also have a link to their website which is promoting their new album “yeah ghost”. Their music videos are quite abstract for example the video for destiny is done in a cartoon style in black and white with tints of red and orange following a girl going about her day and seeing couple and relationships everywhere and then at the end of the music video the black and white turns to colour when the girl is walking down the street towards a café where someone is waiting for her, i think this video works well with the lyrics are the promo shows how couple/relationships work together and how destiny shapes the world around us, this video is more narrative based as we do not see the band performing which a typical convention for this genre of music. this video uses lots of mid shots and panning shots to show the girls travels and point of view shots showing what the girl sees on her way to meet her friend/partner.
Star Image/Construction
With this genre of music the bands are fairly low key and use the internet to do their advertising or use word of mouth to get there music out and Zero 7 are much the same as they use various artists to do the vocals on their tracks and i think this is they way most artists from this genre like to be, they like to remain anonymous and not gain all the fame and just have their music appreciated just for the fact that they make good music.
Production Meeting 2
Today our task was to finalise our music choice. We had listened to some Lawrence King tracks in the week on Last.fm and the whole group enjoyed the music. Lawrence sent us some tracks that he thought were particularly suitable for a pop promo. We decided on the track - Gravity and Habit- as we felt the change in styles and tempo throughout the song would make for a more interesting pop promo.
Our initial ideas was a nature vs. urban idea, shots of the city and of nature. After speaking to Jon we realise we need to incorporate a stronger narrative in the promo. So for next week we are all going to come up with individual ideas which include a narrative and research what similar artists have done for their music videos.
Our roles within the group have been decided..
Maya Mathias- Cinematographer
Nicola Wright- Art Director
Jessica Hayward- Editor, Producer
Our initial ideas was a nature vs. urban idea, shots of the city and of nature. After speaking to Jon we realise we need to incorporate a stronger narrative in the promo. So for next week we are all going to come up with individual ideas which include a narrative and research what similar artists have done for their music videos.
Our roles within the group have been decided..
Maya Mathias- Cinematographer
Nicola Wright- Art Director
Jessica Hayward- Editor, Producer
Analysis of Pop Promos
Zero 7- Crosses
This music video is from the same genre as the song we are choosing
to make a music video for. This music video uses cartoon style images
which go with the lyrics and the images also move with the beat of the music,
the start of the video uses images of people playing drums in time
with the music which is visually interesting. This video has a kaleidoscope feel to it as
it moves from a small circular image out to reveal a bigger image,
with all the images moving in time to the beat of the music. It then moves in to a zoetrope
style which works well with the basic animation style, that makes this concept based
video. The band are a fairly anonymous band and the use different
artists for the vocals on their tracks so the band are using their videos to keep themselves
anonymous which works well for the style of band they are as a lot
of bands from this genre do choose to remain anonymous.
Analysis of Pop Promos
Mika- We are golden
Genre Characteristics
Mika's style of music is very typical pop with catchy beats and lyrics, it has a following of young girls and also has a homosexual following, his videos are typically bright and bubbly, full of colour and are usually over the top.
This is the video for "We are golden", the song is basically about being young and having fun and the video emulates this with lots of shots of Mika running around acting like a child, the use of long shots show how he is an adult that doesn't about showing his young and childlike side, here are lots of cuts scenes to toys and cartoons and the room itself has a childlike feel due to the mise-en-scene used e.g toys around the room and bright colours makes the room like a young boys room.
The visual images link with the music as at the start of the promo Mika puts a cassette in a cassette player and then the music starts and he starts dancing around which gives the feel that he listening to the song a singing and dancing around to it in his bedroom, also he is acting like a child which is relevant to the song.
Mika's performance is more performance based but not the stereotypical kind of performance as its not on a stage and there is not a obvious audience.
This video also has shots of Mika against colours backgrounds just performing and also this video has religious and sexual connotations with him towards the end of the promo standing in a crucifix position with an open roof and a time lapse sky, also the there are shots of him in a childish gimp style mask and there are shots of him with lights around his head which looks like the crown of thorns and also lights around his crotch which gives a sexual feel, this is unexpected in his videos and could hint at his sexuality.
Album Cover and Advert Analysis
This album cover is very childlike with the use of animation and the cartoon style gives a very childlike tone to the album cover. This album cover seems to be quite masculine with the space imagery and the messiness of the room in which the character on the cover is laying. the book that the character is reading teamed with the space imagery and the strange view from the window in the bottom left corner create the idea of imagination which again is childlike trait.
There are two different fonts used on the album cover the font used for "MIKA" is very comic book like and stands out against the background, the font used for "the boy who knew too much" is rounded making it look bubbly this also gives the album cover a child like tone. the advert uses the same image as the album cover but the space imagery is in black and white with the album release date and other information in white this makes it stand out against the black background.
Analysis of Pop Promos
Killswitch Engage- The End of Heartache
This video is mainly performance based with the band performing the song against a black background and the band
are all in dark clothing which is significant as the band is a metal band. The song is a dark love song which is indicated by both
the background and clothing of the band and also the lyrics.
There are interesting uses of cinematography in this video such as when the band are performing there are nice camera movements
around the band which sweep through the band as they are performing. There are many interesting shots in this pop promo such as close ups
on members of the band and parts of their instruments and at one point there is a nice close up into the bands logo on one of the guitars, and
throughout this pop promo there are extreme close ups which seem like they zoom in so far that it breaks in to pixels/ individual skin cells or particles which are
mini TV screens which play shots from an exophoric reference which is Resident Evil- Apocalypse as this song is from the sound track i found this an
interesting use of editing. When they used this they also had a graphic match from the two characters in the film and then the lead member of the bands eye
which also shows how the characters are linked. This song fits the genre that Killswitch Engage are from as its all about heavy guitars and drums and shows
that they are serious about their music. They also dress like typical "metal" artists as they are all in dark clothing and they are all headbanging and thrashing their
guitars around.
The Lyrics
Seek me,
Call me,
I'll be waiting
Seek me,
Call me,
I'll be waiting
This distance,
This dissolution
I cling to memories while falling
Sleep brings release,
And the hope of a new day
Waking the misery of being without you
Surrender, I give in
Another moment is another eternity
(Seek me) For comfort,
(Call me) For solace
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
(Seek me) Completion,
(Call me) I'll be waiting
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
You know me, you know me all too well
My only desire - to bridge our division
In sorrow I speak your name
And my voice mirrors, mirrors my torment
(Seek me) For comfort,
(Call me) For solace
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
(Seek me) Completion,
(Call me) I'll be waiting
(I'll be waiting here) For the end of my broken heart
Am I breathing?
My strength fails me
Your picture, a bitter memory
For comfort,
For solace
(Seek me) For comfort,
(Call me) For solace
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart
These are the lyrics to the song and the song is about a broken love and one of the people from the relationship isn't willing
to let go of the relationship yet and how they are waiting for their other half to come back to them this indicated in the song when
the lyrics go -
(Seek me) For comfort,
(Call me) For solace
(I'll be waiting) For the end of my broken heart.
because he is saying that he will be there to comfort and provide solace for the other half of the relationship and that he will be waiting for them to come back which will in turn mend the broken heart.
These lyrics are also relevant to the film that this song is from as the film is about how a couple got split up and turned in monsters, as they were both injected with the "T virus" to turn them into weapons, one was Alice and she stayed in human form and remembers some of her previous life and then there is "Nemesis" who was Alice's boyfriend in the previous life and he becomes a monster and doesn't have his human form and the film is about how they are put against each other and then they realize who they are to each other and how they used to love each other.
I think the intended audience for this band/song are people who like the film or people who are into metal so i would classify this as teenagers and rebels, i think this a more "lovey" song by the band so therefore i think that it accessible to females even though there audience are probably predominately male.
What Makes a Good Pop Promo?
A good pop promo depends on the audience as an audience for the rock genre will have a different idea of what makes a good pop promo compared the audience for the RnB genre.
A good pop promo also depends on what type of promo it is for example whether it is concept based, narrative based or performance based.
I have found that a good pop promo should include a range of interesting shots and camera movements that focus around the idea of the promo whether it be the band and their performance or the story line of the promo.
The use of mise-en-scene helps to attract the viewer, for example in the Mika pop promo for we are golden there is a lot of bright colors and props which capture the audiences attention.
Sound is a clearly important part of a pop promo obviously with the track being the most important part of the promo but some promos also use other types of sound such as diagetic sound for example nature sounds or traffic sounds which relate to the world of the promo.
The editing of a pop promo helps it flow and work with the music for example in the Zero 7 music video i looked at the visuals are edited to work with the music, which helps the audience connect the visuals to the music.
Friday, 6 November 2009
The History of Music Videos
One of the first noted relationship between music tracks and visual material can be traced back to Oscar Fischinger in Germany in the 1920’s and the in the 1930’s with his abstract, visual interpretations such as Komposition in Blau (1935) and his later work on the Disney film Fantasia (1939)
After this, short films were made to showcase an artist in the early days of sound filmmaking, films upto eight minutes long in duration were used to display the talents of artists from Billie Holiday to Bing Crosby. These short films played in cinema screenings but were mainly as reels on the forerunner of the video jukebox the panarom.
The panarom was used in juke joints and bars in its heyday from 1939-46 but died out quickly after the war, it contained a 20inch screen with back projection and contained a reel of eight shorts with played in a sequence and thousands of these 16mm films know as “soundies” were produced. In these days the shorts were more sexually and even politically explicit than the music videos of today are as they were less likely to be censored.
The idea of the panarom was resurrected in France with the birth of the Scopitone, the machine provided films in colour and indvidual selection, play and rewind 36 short films, giving consumer choice.
Within time television coverage of pop music attempted to capture the new teenage audience from American Bandstand in the USA in the 1950’s through to Top of the Pops in the mis-1960’s in the UK and the need to have musical act on TV led to the creation of short promo films often used in place of studio appearance. The Beatles made films for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever.
MTV was launched in 1981 airing “Video Killed the Radio Star” and beginning 24-hour-a-day music television and by the mid-1980’s MTV was taken over by Viacom, MTV also played a central role in popular music production and the music business, also having it’s own version of the Oscars, The Video Music Awards. VH1 was established as an album orientated channel aimed at an older audience. Then the launch of the European version of MTV in 1987 led to a swift uptake of subscribers.
Viacom was responsible for music moving away from the narrow rock video market to a wider range of music genre giving MTV a more conventional schedule.
At the start of MTV it was very white music orientated with not much music of black origin until Hype Williams who lead the way for music of black origins in the 1990's.
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