Chosing a track from the short list

We had a few problems selecting our final track as there was a lot of disagreement, however we managed  to come to the conclusion of Prodigy - 'Warrior's Dance'.



As the song is slightly disturbing in that its not calm and peaceful we wanted to represent this in the music video. We thought of having a tribal theme but keeping aspects of a party, located in the woods around a bonfire.
Our cast would have face paint and we wanted to have people in cages to create a more interesting vibe. We wrote down a few key words deacribing what we had in mind and this is what we came up with:

• Tribal
• Hunt
• Fire
• Party
• Cages
• Instincts
• Primal
• Alpha-male
• Drums
• Forest
• Tripping
• Competition
• Masks
• Theft
• Warriors
• Spears
• Sex
• Ritual
• Paints
• Chanting

Keith Negus

Negus suggests that an artist/band is either organic or Synthetic, however both are commercial products as they are selling their image and their music to their target audience.

Organic Qualities:

• Authentic
• Original
• 'Natural'
• Play their own instruments
• write their on music and songs

Synthetic Qualities:

• Manufactured by record company
• Controlled
• Short term profits-helps fund later on
• Record company nutures talent
• The artists will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out

An example of synthetic artists/bands are boybands, such as JLS. They auditioned for X factor and were the runners up of the competition. Although they have choice in what they wear to a certain extent, they are dressed by their personal stylists and are portrayed how their record company want them.

They do no write their own music, lyrics or play their own instuments as their music is made using technology. Their star image has changed throughout their fame in order to fit with their mainstream audience. Because they are mainstream they have had several number ones as they have a huge audience.

An example of an organic artist/band is John Mayer. He writes his own music and lyrics, playing his own instruments. He is not in the charts as much as JLS, however he will have long term income rather than short term whilst being respected just as much.

As you can tell just from their album covers, the synthetic band focus on their looks and their image, whilst the oganic artist, John Mayer focuses on him and his music. This also applies for their music videos.

Richard Dyer

Dyer has written a lot about the roles of stars in film, TV and music. Despite the medium, stars have lots of key features in common:

• A star is only an image, not a real person. They are constructed from raw materials,such as advertising and magazines.  Audience have a huge impact on their star image, such as JLS, who have been put together and changed accordingly to target market. They are never shown as their true selves.
• Stars are 'commodities', produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.
• Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media, such as, magazines, TV, radio and the internet. In order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences.
• The star image in made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audiences.

Another example of a boy 'band' who has been very constructed is 'One Direction'. They were put together by X factor, not even having met each other from before. They dress fashionably, how young/teenage girls would want or expect.

They do not write their own music and none of them play instuments. They music is synthetic. They are told how to act and have each been given a way of acting to conform their star image.

Pitching my music video idea

To pitch my music video idea I chose to use a PowerPoint presentation, as its quick and to the point. I also had the choice to put in images which I thought was vital as I want the people I pitch my idea how I invision it. Another reason I chose PowerPoint is its easy to watch, rather than reading off a page of writting as people lose interest quickly.

Here's link to Tonight - Lykke Li

                        Click HERE to watch Blue Stone - "Bridges" Official Music Video  

                   

Click HERE to see the official music video of Time by Chase & Status focusing on domestic violence



Response to Pitch

Response:

- More verbal domestic violence, rather than physical abuse. Showing the emotional side of things.

- The artists voice is mystical, urban so to include these scenes into my video was thought to be a good idea.

- Using a run down derelict housing estate - In Horsley there is evacuated, run down council houses which could be effective for filming in the urban area.

- A few people suggested to have a mystical, fairy character singing in an urban area to contrast the two elements.

- Having two or more different scenes was complimented as it makes it much more interesting and draws more attention and interest from the audience.

- Somebody suggested that the abusive side is delicately told, not too harsh.

- Another idea somebody had was instead of having her partner abusing her, having a child living with her father abusing her mother as it has a much stronger meaning and more powerful.



I found that the response I was given was helpful as it was given from my main target audience, which makes it more reliable and valuable.

After I was given advice from various people I re thought about my idea and decided to take in the advice about having verbal abuse rather than physical, as I think it could be too harsh other wise. I will try and tell it more delicately which was another point I have reconsidered.

Tzetvan Todorov

Tzetvan Todorov is a Bulgarian academic and Philosopher but also a theorist in many aspects, but in particular, films and music videos. He annotates music videos. He proposed all mainstream narratives to a similar structure.

Todorov suggests most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is seen as 'normal'.

Theory of Narrative:

1. Equilibrium - where everything is it should be.
2. A disruption of the equlibrium by some action
3. A recognition that there has been a disruption to the equilibruim
4. Resolution - An attempt to repair the distribution
5. A reinstatement of the equilibrium

Examples:

If I were a Boy - Beyonce:
Equilibruim-Lack of trust in their relationship
Disruption-Her being put into his shoes-reverse roles
Recognition-When  Beyonce is flirting with another guy
Resolution-She realises shes just a girl
Equlibrium-Things go back to normal 'Your just a boy & im just a girl'




When the sun goes Down - Arctic Monkeys
Equilibruim-Shes a prostetute on the street with her pimp
Disruption-She falls in love with the magician
Recognition-pimp finds out
Resolution-pimp turns girl against  magician
Equlibrium-Shes back on the street as a prostetute

Analysing CD covers

We can detect a numerous amount of things about a band/artist from album covers, without even knowing anything about them.

For example I've taken 'The White Stripes - ELEPHANT', which I know nothing about.

Genre - Rock/Punk-The colours are red, black and white which symbolise quite dark, sinister colours. Its showing a girl tied up crying, whilst the man sitting next to her is looking smug with a bat in his hand.

She is representing an elephant; she is tied up, and there are peanuts on the floor below her feet and on the reverse side of the album cover she is standing on a stall, scared of a mouse which is below her.

They are sitting on a trunk, which could be a play on words, symbolising an elephants trunk.

Lettering/Font - The font it quite simple, the 'E's throughout the album cover are red, which creates an uneasy feeling. Red symbolises danger, which fits in with the 'punk' side of things.

The 'ElE' in elephant, appears like its meant to look like the front of an elephant, the 'L' being the trunk, and the 'E's being the ears. The album name it larger than the artists, showing thats what they've chosen to focus on.

Target Audience - Judging from the album cover, I would suggest its alternative. I could picture the audience being teenagers/goths/emos.

How do the band/artists choose to represent themselves through the CD cover? - 

I think they are trying to portray themselves as different, possible mysterious and hard to read. They seem dark and sinister and slightly creepy as it mentions they are siblings.

They have chosen to have themselves on the front cover - wanting to focus on themselves, maybe not well known enough to have something different.

Music Video - Textual Analysis

In deciding how to shoot our preliminary task we selected a few artists that were similar, one of which was a band called 'Funeral Party'. We chose their song 'Finale' as it was simple, yet effective. 

This is one of the music videos we will get inspiration from when filming our prelim music video. 


Camera Work:
 - Close ups of singer
 - Medium close ups of the band
 - Close ups of their instruments
 - Hand help camera; Guerrilla style


Editing:
 - There is no narrative in this music video
 - They cut between the band, the instruments and close ups



Mise-en-Scene:
  - The mise-en-scene is very simple. The band is located in an empty room
  - The room is dark and gloomy with one window with light beaming in 
  - There is a slightly greenish light 
  - They have chosen this location as I think it reflects their image
  - The walls have graffiti and the paint is peeling
  - There are cables on the floor, highlighting they are focused on their music as they are an              organic band

Advanced Production Portfolio - Initial Ideas

Once we had got into our group we started with brainstorming and sharing our ideas with each other.
We wanted an artist which we could focus on, not only their music but also include a substory to interact the viewer and make our music video more relatable and interesting. In order to draw attention to their music, we decided a band would be the easiest option as they would have instuments we could focus on as well as the singer. With a band it also makes it easier to create a story behind the song as their lyrics are mostly organic as it could prove more difficult to work with an artist with manufactured music.

This is a rough list of selected bands and artists we thought we could use to base our music video around:

- The Used

- Hot Hot Heat


- LostProphets
- You me at 6

- Thirty Seconds to Mars:



- Blink 182
- Biffy Clyro
- Wombats
- Bloc Party
- Crystal Castles

- Friendly Fires:


- Ou est le Swimming Pool
- Maroon 5

- Razor Light


- Oasis
- Justice
- +44
- French Soler

- Vampire Weekend:

Preliminary Task

This is our final, edited preliminary task. 







We got into groups and were each given a section of the song. We were given the last section which we used to our advantage as we had the ending. We tried to focus on all the aspects of the band as they are an organic band, who create their own music. They focus mainly on their music so we wanted to show this in their video by focusing not only on the band members but also focusing a lot of the audience's attention onto the instuments.