good progress jake - keep up the good work
looking forward to reading your theory application stuff
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Class music video theory - what i learned
I have found the past two media lessons on music video theory beneficial for my knowledge of the subject and for progression with our own music video. With our last project we did try to match up sound and visuals to emphasise particular parts of our thriller however not the extent that we will have to in our music video. In this respect i feel that the lesson really helped me gain a better understanding of how to shoot a music video and work sound and visuals together.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Reflections on test shoot weekend
I think that our test shoot weekend was important for us to do for our process of making a music video. We had some shots that worked well and others that didnt and seeing that will help us shoot in the furture. When we captured our footage today i realised that the process of filming a music video is very different to any other filming i've ever done. I learnt that you can film a sequence and cut it up to intertwine with other shots and this can be a lot more effective than filming each individual shot.
I look forward to filming our performance next weekend and mixing it in with the footage we filmed this weekend just gone.
I look forward to filming our performance next weekend and mixing it in with the footage we filmed this weekend just gone.
Goodwin theory
Andrew Goodwin has revolutionized music video theory by discarding previously accepted theory and instating his own. His theories work on the close relationship between music and visuals in a music video and how they work with and reflect off eachother.
His theories can be split into 6 main categories or point
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. a stage performance in a metal video, a dance routine for a boy/girl band).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (and this is either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and viduals (and this is either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist (visual hooks) and the artist may develop motifs which recurr across their work (a visual style). These include close-ups of the star's face (the 'money shots'), iconography of band image and visual trademarks/motifs.
5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (achieved with screens within screens, telescopes etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body (and I believe also increasingly the male body in recent times).
6. There is often intertextual reference (such as to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc.).
Monday, September 8, 2008
Myspace page research
To think about how to market our own band and eventually produce a myspace i've decided to research the Kings of Leon's myspace and see how they have done it.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=8554512
When you load up their myspace the bands 4 members take up the screen before you scroll down to their actual myspace page. The band are all dressed in black and white with straight hair and fringes. The way they are dressed represents the genre of music they play, dressed smartly but cooly with collars, ties and leather jackets. This gives the band an identity that makes them more memorable to fans and gives them personality.
By scrolling down you can access information about the band but most of the content is based on promoting their new album just out. Although you can watch videos of the band performing, see their latest news and read their blog promoting the album is clearly the main priority and they do this in several effective ways. As the audience is part of the 'myspace generation' the easiest ways to connect with them (and the way in with the KOL myspace does) are through online voting, texting, mobile no. and fan list and widgets (interactive html coded box that allows you to browse sections such as international, tour and musisc videos and the option to add to your own profile). What their myspace allows them to do is access a potentially huge market of teenagers (and olders/youngers) for free who come on the myspace to listen to the music free or read news/blog and end up signing on to something more. Fans will then remarket the band to their friends by adding a song, widget or subscribing to a blog and even add the band as a friend, showing others that they have.
By looking at the KOL myspace i can see the potential it has as a free marketting tool. I now realise the importance of having a myspace with lots of features for a fan to create a fanbase and encourage new listeners. For our myspace i think that we should use similar tools and tactics to promote our new single and lists etc. that help to create a fanbase.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=8554512
When you load up their myspace the bands 4 members take up the screen before you scroll down to their actual myspace page. The band are all dressed in black and white with straight hair and fringes. The way they are dressed represents the genre of music they play, dressed smartly but cooly with collars, ties and leather jackets. This gives the band an identity that makes them more memorable to fans and gives them personality.
By scrolling down you can access information about the band but most of the content is based on promoting their new album just out. Although you can watch videos of the band performing, see their latest news and read their blog promoting the album is clearly the main priority and they do this in several effective ways. As the audience is part of the 'myspace generation' the easiest ways to connect with them (and the way in with the KOL myspace does) are through online voting, texting, mobile no. and fan list and widgets (interactive html coded box that allows you to browse sections such as international, tour and musisc videos and the option to add to your own profile). What their myspace allows them to do is access a potentially huge market of teenagers (and olders/youngers) for free who come on the myspace to listen to the music free or read news/blog and end up signing on to something more. Fans will then remarket the band to their friends by adding a song, widget or subscribing to a blog and even add the band as a friend, showing others that they have.
By looking at the KOL myspace i can see the potential it has as a free marketting tool. I now realise the importance of having a myspace with lots of features for a fan to create a fanbase and encourage new listeners. For our myspace i think that we should use similar tools and tactics to promote our new single and lists etc. that help to create a fanbase.
Magazine cover research
Conventions:Barcode and price
Competition bubbles
Images boxed or frames with mini-headline
Coverlines relating to stories inside
Masthead at top
Quotes within coverlines to attract people to read whole story
Main image
General colours (no specific colour scheme): red, white, yellow, black, purple, pink
Band names listed at bottom as mini context page
Giveaway (CD)
Main image in front of masthead
Text and images frame but do not overwhelm main image
Breaking of conventions:
Biffy Clyro band behind masthead
No coverlines or other images on Ozzy cover
Crowded Greenday cover
Similarities:
All have a main image that doiminates and sells cover
Bright, strong colour schemes
Differences:
Some rely solely on mmain image and not on coverlines or other images
Some have competitions or giveaways
Some are crowded whilst others appear bare.
By looking at these covers of kerrang it helps me to see how bands create an image for themselves and market that image. This in turn will help me to create a band identity for our own band and use a specific image in the video, myspace and album cover.
Practice shooting final shot
This is practice for a shot we will do to end our music video. In the real thing the first locatioin will be in the narrative and the second he will be with the band with the face paint on. Our idea with this shot is to link the two (which will also be done with the addition of facepaint to the band members) sequences and create a sense of unity for the ending.
For this one the two shots don't match up perfectly and it is more of a fade but in the real hting we will try harder and have more time to perfect it.
In this one the second shot is too close but it still looks okay.
Ideally the switch should not be noticeable as it will switch while focusing on the same point of the singers back which will be taking up the whole screen. In the music video we will use a black hoody which will also make the transition easier.
Location/mood shooting in Brick Lane
Hey, these are the photos i took on monday in brick lane. I tried to take location photos but also photos that captured the mood of our song and music video. There were a lot of photos though so i mainly just uploaded the locations and may upload some of the others in another post later.
These stairs are just up the side of a building that you can climb up and leed to flats which we could film him running up or down.
This is the view from the top of the stairs down to the street below that we could use to get some good high angle shots.
You can climn over a wall to get into this area and by filming from the inside close to the bars we good get some good shots of the street on the other side (or vice versa).
This is a little side street that carries on much the same as it goes down. The teeth graffitti on the right of the shot are quite cool too.
Lots of shops in the area have big graffittied letters in different colours like this, we would have to check first but perhaps we could include shots of mike running past these in the order a s t h e n i a to spell out the song name. We wouldnt have these shots straight after eachother but interwined with other shots.
This is a part of a housing esate that you can walk into and there are some good places we could film inside.
This alley and bins might be good to film from or through.
This archway and railings looked good off down a side road.
Although this looks fairly busy, if we got there as the market traders were setting up or closing down (as they are in the shot) the boxes etc. create the illusion of business but without the people there they make it look very empty.
EDIT:
After our test shoot weekend in which we filmed in canary wharf we realised that as our best time (for practicality) is to film at the weekend we should film in areas that are busy for business (but ampty at the weekend) rather than places like brick lane (that are always fairly busy and dominated by the market at the weekend). As we found out by looking at previous latymer music videos, real music videos and by doing work in class however we realise that it is possible to film in multiple locations as if they are next to each other and so it is our plan to film in canary wharf, some small side streets (possibly in brick lane) and maybe around liverpool st. or bank.
These stairs are just up the side of a building that you can climb up and leed to flats which we could film him running up or down.
This is the view from the top of the stairs down to the street below that we could use to get some good high angle shots.
You can climn over a wall to get into this area and by filming from the inside close to the bars we good get some good shots of the street on the other side (or vice versa).
This is a little side street that carries on much the same as it goes down. The teeth graffitti on the right of the shot are quite cool too.
Lots of shops in the area have big graffittied letters in different colours like this, we would have to check first but perhaps we could include shots of mike running past these in the order a s t h e n i a to spell out the song name. We wouldnt have these shots straight after eachother but interwined with other shots.
This is a part of a housing esate that you can walk into and there are some good places we could film inside.
This alley and bins might be good to film from or through.
This archway and railings looked good off down a side road.
Although this looks fairly busy, if we got there as the market traders were setting up or closing down (as they are in the shot) the boxes etc. create the illusion of business but without the people there they make it look very empty.
EDIT:
After our test shoot weekend in which we filmed in canary wharf we realised that as our best time (for practicality) is to film at the weekend we should film in areas that are busy for business (but ampty at the weekend) rather than places like brick lane (that are always fairly busy and dominated by the market at the weekend). As we found out by looking at previous latymer music videos, real music videos and by doing work in class however we realise that it is possible to film in multiple locations as if they are next to each other and so it is our plan to film in canary wharf, some small side streets (possibly in brick lane) and maybe around liverpool st. or bank.
Thoughts on choice of song
I realised that since our decision on a track for our music video i have not expressed my thoughts on the song. The song we are using is called Asthenia and is by Blink 182.
This is what wikipedia says about the song: 'The intro features NASA transmissions. According to Tom DeLonge, "This song is about one thing only, an astronaut sitting in a space capsule about the size of a car, floating above the earth. He's contemplating if coming back or not will make a difference on such a negative place. A song about the loss of hope. A term was coined for the breakdown of life in space and it is called Asthenia, the name of the track."'
Our interpretation of the song however focuses more on lonliness and isolation and we plan to focus on specific lyrics such as 'Is somebody out there will somebody listen', 'I miss you so much' and 'Should I go back should I go back should I' and on these lyrics we will emphasise them with close ups of our singer singing.
I am excited to be getting on with making the music video for asthenia as i have been a fan of the band and song for a while and have previously wondered why there is no video for such a good song that is full of meaning and interpretation. I think we will make the most of the song in our video by encompassing the dark and lonely mood of the song in both our performance and narrative.
This is what wikipedia says about the song: 'The intro features NASA transmissions. According to Tom DeLonge, "This song is about one thing only, an astronaut sitting in a space capsule about the size of a car, floating above the earth. He's contemplating if coming back or not will make a difference on such a negative place. A song about the loss of hope. A term was coined for the breakdown of life in space and it is called Asthenia, the name of the track."'
Our interpretation of the song however focuses more on lonliness and isolation and we plan to focus on specific lyrics such as 'Is somebody out there will somebody listen', 'I miss you so much' and 'Should I go back should I go back should I' and on these lyrics we will emphasise them with close ups of our singer singing.
I am excited to be getting on with making the music video for asthenia as i have been a fan of the band and song for a while and have previously wondered why there is no video for such a good song that is full of meaning and interpretation. I think we will make the most of the song in our video by encompassing the dark and lonely mood of the song in both our performance and narrative.
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