Research: Digipacks

A Digipak is style of CD case first created by IMPAC Group, Inc. But is now owned and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside and is an alternative to the traditional CD case or Jewel case as it is technically known. 

Digipak

Jewel case

Digipacks can be more environmentally friendly and some companies even make them out of 100% post-consumer PET tray made from recycled bottles. They are also lighter and cheaper to produce. But not as resilient as Jewel Cases, however they are less likely to crack unlike Jewel Cases.

Analysis of an artists Digipack/CD case

Rage Against The Machine - Rage Agaisnt The Machine

Front Cover-
The cover features a photo of Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burning himself to death in Saigon in 1963. The monk was protesting President Ngô Đình Diệm's administration for oppressing the Buddhist religion and is one of the very significant pictures from the period that is synonymous with protest and the Vietnam war.
This fits perfectly with the band - Rage Against The Machine, who are a highly politcally charged band, and whos songs are all about protest and standing up for yourself against evils - particularly corprate America, cultural imperialism, and government oppression. The bands name is also a blatant reference to their views. As such this picture on the cover not only draws attention to their CD (due to controverisal nature and how well known it is) but also shows what the band is about, it is marketing and creating an ID for the band in its most simple form. The use of fire in particular shows the explosive nature of the band's music and their attitude.

Back cover-
The back cover is just the rest of the picture that is on the front cover, and contains the neccesary information such as the barcode and copyright and the names of those involved in the production of the music on the CD. All of the font is displayed in white on a black background, to look like the labels that come from a label maker. Giving the CD cover a very homemade look, adding to the bands ideology about doing things for yourself, and not submitting to corporations, as some CD covers may do, being professionally made and "synthetic" rather than the organic look that they are obviously going for here.

Guns N' Roses - Live Era '87-'93

Front Cover -
Live Era is a 2CD live album by Guns N' Roses, featuring recordings from concerts between 1987 and 1993. As such one can understand why the cover is how it is. The front cover is a collage of 6 posters that were created to advertise early shows. This fits with the theme of live concerts and shows newer listeners something about the band. And for people who already know the band they learn something about the band's past. The title is against a black background to make it stand out. The three sections of the title: "Guns N' Roses", "Live" and "Era '87-'93" are also in three differnet colours, the primary colours infact, this adds contrast between each part and the background, drawing the eye to it, and making it appealing as it is 3 well known colours.

Back cover -

VFX

Today we looked up a few visual effects that we needed to add to our video for the flashback scenes. the effects we added were colour correction to make the video black and white to show that it is in the past, and a slight Gaussian blur and radial blur to add to the fact that this is a memory and memories can be hazy.   Here are some screen shots:

Gaussian and radial blur parameters

colour correction, with saturation turned all the way down to make it B&W

whole screen

finished edit of clip

And here is the video that we used to helped us with the VFX:

Plan and information

Cast
Main cast
-Main character: 
[insert picture here]
-Girl: Abbey Thorogood
[insert picture]
-cheating boy: 
[insert picture here]


Band
-Singer: Dan Anstiss
[insert picture]
-Guitarist: Tom Burlinson
[insert picture]
-Bassist: Stephen Airey
[insert picture]
-Drummer: Matthew Oates
[insert picture]






Locations
Epsom and Ewell High School 
-Main hall with stage


Ewell Court park


Stonleigh


26 Woodlands Avenue, Worcester Park, Surrey, KT4 7AL (Tom Burlinson's house)


Props
Band equipment

• Microphone
• Drum kit
• Guitar
• Bass guitar
• Amplifiers
• Leads

Laptop (shots 11+12)

Jumper (shots 8,9,10)

Picture of girl and boy in a frame

Costume
Band

• Jeans
• Trainers
• Band tshirts
• hoodies/denim jackets

Main guy

• same as band

Girl

• indie style

Cheating guy

• same as band

Equipment

Lights - Esprirt Gemini GM 500

Cameras - Sony HVR-HD 1000E

Pentax K-x with 18-55mm f/5.6 lens

Tripod(s)

Analysis/research into a band's culture & style - You Me At Six

[insert podcast here]

music video storyboard

Treatment

Our music video is going to promote the You Me At Six single Stay With Me. The idea for our video is about the story of a boy and a girl, and the breakdown of their relationship. This (love, relationships, the breakdown of said relationships) is a common theme for You Me At Six’s songs and as such, we decided to continue with this theme. The tone of the song and they lyrics also played a major part in this.
The video will be a mix of narrative and performance. With the narrative taking a slightly fragmented form, it will be chronologically linear, but with flashbacks, the desired effect once editing is complete is that the mix of narrative, flashback (of which there are 2) and performance will create a video that feels fragmented. This is because we want it to reflect the emotions of our main character in the video.
The plot of the narrative is that of a young man who has just been dumped by his girlfriend, saying that she no longer wants a relationship. He then goes home and sees all of the pictures of them together, and possessions which start the series of flash backs, then we cut to some time shortly later (a week or 2 later) in which we see him talking to a friend via text etc, in which he is told to go after her. He does and as he is talking to her, her new boyfriend comes round the corner, resulting in him leaving and the girl now being the one who is upset. Intercut with this is performance video of the band and a few scenes of the girl out with her new boyfriend

Research: Branding

 Branding can be defined as a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. As such branding is an important part of the music business. Record companies can spend hours creating a defined "brand" for a band, particularly with pop bands, many of which are fabricated by the record companies. These brands are important as they will say something about the artist to the audience and have the potential to change audiences perceptions of them. To a band a brand is a unique identity that says something about them. 


An example of this is with a band such as Iron Maiden, who use the same logo and dress the same for every show and photo shoot etc. along with their instantly recognizable mascot - Eddie

Letter to You Me At Six requesting permission to use "Stay With Me"

To make sure that our video is not infringing the rights of the band we have drafted a letter to send to them, asking for permission to use their song. Here it is:

"Dear You Me At Six

I am writing to you on behalf of my school (Epsom and Ewell high school) to ask for permission to use your song “Stay With Me” in my 6^th form media class’ media coursework.

I’m an A level student studying media and as part of our coursework for the course, we have to create a music video, CD cover and advert to promote a single. Our group decided on your song and as such we are writing to you to ask for permission to use your song. We understand that under the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 we do not have to ask for permission as this is for educational and non-profit purposes, however out of courtesy we would still like to extend to you this letter asking for express written permission.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and we hope to hear from you soon,

Yours sincerely,

Tom Burlinson, Sophie Griffin, Pryank Patel and Shanice Farley"

song we decided on

Our group decided on Stay With Me by You Me At Six

We decided on this after much deliberation and thinking about what style of music we wanted to go with and then narrowing it down to a band and then song. This was difficult as we all have different music tastes, but we managed to compromise and came up with a good song in the end.

Analysis of a music video: The Strokes - Last Nite

The Strokes are a garage/post-punk revival and indie rock band from New York, America. Formed in 1999, their unique brand of indie rock has garnered them critical aclaim both at home, and most notably in the UK, getting support from magazines such as NME. Since then they have released 4 albums and toured the world, playing many large festivals, most recently headlining the Reading and Leeds Festival on 26-28th August 2011.

This is an analysis of the music video released to promote the single Last Nite from their first album Is This It


The music video is a very simple performance video in which the band plays the song on a set that looks like it might be on an American chat show (Jay Leno, Conan O'Brian etc), however, rather than have the song taken from the album and dubbed over the video and the band mines the track, the song featured in the video is being performed live and would have been recorded on the set at the same time as the video. From this we can assume that the song would have been done in one take, with a multi cam shoot (like on live television shows) further adding to the late night talk show style of the video.

As the video is purely a performance video there is no relationship between the lyrics and visuals other than we can see the band performing. Even when examining the meaning of the lyrics and the story behind it, (which is about the break up of a relationship and youthful depression) there is still very little link. It could be argued that Julian Casablancas' performance in the video is indicitive of the emotion and feelings that the lyrics narrative is trying to convey. However, if you do some more research into the band, you will see that this is just how Casablancas is onstage. It his usual act and stage persona, or even, just how he is as a person, and so we are just seeing his version of the typical "nonchalant, sex, drugs, rock n' roll attitude and arrogant-tinged-swagger". This can be seen with the other members of the band, playing the song with a passion and rock n roll attitude, either moving about or standing still, looking at their instrument, their face obscured by long hair.


This along with the bands "costume" (one is to assume that this is what they normally wear and it is not a fabricated look/style created for the video) which is t-shirts, jeans, leather jackets and converse trainers (which are commonly known to represent the counter culture) all give the representation of masculine, strong and slight arrogance. All commonly associated with rock music. This is all part of genre specific iconography (one of the key parts of Goodwin's theory)

Research: audience research into music videos

I have created a survey on www.surveymonkey.com - 
to do research into the demographic that watches music videos and how they consume them. This will be useful when it comes to promoting my music video at a later date and when we have to make a digi-pack for our chosen song. 


Here is a link to my survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NL6GSX2


I will psot this on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Reddit and other forums it for 4 weeks before collecting, analysing and collating the results to be posted on this blog

Goodwins analysis Prezi

http://prezi.com/s9vtskiw0tde/media-goodwins-analysis/

Analysis of a music video: Ghost Town - The Specials

The Specials are a Ska/2 tone band from Coventry, England and were at the height of their success between 1977 and 1984. This is an analysis of the music video for their song "Ghost Town"  which was only ever released as a single.


The video focuses on the band all driving in one car, around an empty city, which fits with the title of the song. And we get a lot of shots looking at the band in the car, singing along to the lyrics of the song. In the case of this promotional video, i think the aim is purely to promote the band and their message (which i will come to later) and get it out to people rather than tell a story or entertain people. 


The main focus of the video is on the empty town and the lyrics to the song. the song is about the themes of urban decay, unemployment and violence in the inner cities, it is a piece of social commentary as it also references the recession that the country was experiencing at end of the 70's/beginning of the 80's. therefore the central idea of a ghost town is actually a metaphor for what is happening to the inner cities at the time. this song and by extension the video, which looks at the effect of these and shows the band exploring the ghost town, is voyeuristic and has intertextuality. 


In terms of keeping with the conventions of a music video, this does well. there are a lot of close ups of the artists to promote them, as well as a lot of genre specific iconography. the band is mixed race, and they are all wearing "mod style" outifits, which were common, suits, loafers, pork pie hats etc, which are all black and white. the video is shot in colour though. 


There is also a link between the music and visuals, with most of the cuts in the visuals happening on the beat of the music. also the music is quite dark and serious, so the visuals reflect this, with a lot of shots of concrete tall buildings on a grey day or in the evening to make everything more serious.

Album cover from The Specials self-titled first album

Analysis of a music video: Mary Mary - RUN DMC

RUN DMC are an early rap/hip hop group from the late 80's. This is an analysis of the music video created to promote their single "Mary Mary"  ( a song originally by The Monkees) from the album "Tougher Than Leather".


The video is created to promote the band and the song, as well as to tell a story, the story seen in this video is of an angry mother who thinks that RUN DMC has a bad attitude and their lyrics are "poisoning America" and so has gone to a show to protest against them etc.The video cuts between this comedy and RUN DMC's performance at the show  that Mary Mary has gone to protest. However, this is had been made into satire and instead of this being a serious video, it is more a video about RUN DMC rejecting the notion that they are bad and promotes their good side instead. 


Nevertheless, as the song is by a hip hop group there are certain things we expect,  stereotypes to be seen etc. so we do still see the band in their Adidas clothing and trainers (the band even loved the brand so much they wrote a song about Adidas), gold chains and a DJ deck in the centre of the stage with a large percentage of the audience being African American. We also see the promotional video follow the conventions of a music video and we get a lot of close ups of the band , as well as a voyeuristic look into their show and to the "story" that is happening in conjunction to this. 


Mary Mary tries to show that the band follow the conventions of a band in the late 80's with "sex, drugs and rock n roll" and we see her try to prove to a "documentary crew" that is following her that RUN DMC promotes sex and drugs, and instead we see this turned around and with each example something else is offered - a van in the parking lot that looks like someone may be having sex inside, instead turns out to be people exercising, and they say "no Mary Mary, RUN DMC promotes a healthy body, we're aerobecising", the same happens when she approaches a smoke filled car expecting to find drugs, but instead finds monks who are lighting incense and say "no Mary Mary, RUN DMC promotes a healthy mind, we're spiritualising". This is how the band rejects the bad notions that people have about them (which when put in context with the time, were quite significant as i will discuss later) and instead promotes them as a good example.


There is a link with the lyrics music and visuals as well, all of the lyrics are about mary and her attitude etc, something we see reflected in the portrayal of Mary's character in the video, and with the music, we see visual links such as fireworks that go off at the same beat as the drums etc.


As i mentioned earlier this video means a lot more when put in the context of 1980's America, as it has intertextuality. In the late 80's a group got together called The Parents Music Resource Centre, a.k.a The Washington wives (after the women that set it up) and it aimed at censoring music and getting music banned that was deemed inappropriate, bands were attacked and accused of poising America's youth with glorification of violence, drugs, sex, the occult in some cases. this may seem normal as this still sometimes happens, however this was a major event in the late 80's and RUN DMC's video is not only a promotion of them, but a counter attack against the PRMC who devalue the name of musicians who are just trying to make music

RUN DMC during their heyday in the 80's

analysis of a music video: Lithium - Nirvana

Nirvana are a band from the early 90's, exploding out of Seattle with their mix of metal, punk and melody that made them one of the defining bands that created grunge music. Kurt, Dave and Krist became icons, but it wasn't to last, as Kurt committed suicide in 1994.


This is an analysis of the music video released to promote the single Lithium from their second album Nervermind


The video made up entirely of live concert footage (as opposed to "live" footage shot in a studio or a dramatised sort of video with a story etc) we can assume that this would have been shot on their most recent tour and not only promotes the song and the band, but also their live shows, which are a major source of income for the band. The video shows the energy and tremendous presence of the band and their show, inviting people to come and experience this themselves. 


Keeping this in mind then it is easy to see that there is actually very few links between the lyrics and the visuals, apart from the obvious, singing of the lyrics, and seeing Kurt Cobain singing them into the mic. However, there is one instance where a link can be made, with the lyric "I'm not gonna crack" in the bridge we see Kurt going wild and smashing up his equipment and guitar as well as the drum kit and smashing his head against the amplifier, being at odds with the lyrics on the level of " i will not go crazy (i will not crack)" and on the level of the equipment will not crack and break despite the abuse. 


Instead of a link lyrically, there is a link visually, with the slower sections like the verse having long holds on one person or slow cross-fades between shots, whereas the more aggressive, energetic sections such as the chorus have faster cuts and more jolting and quick camera movements, with shots of the crowd as well, however, interestingly these shots have all been put into slow motion, or at the least, played slower than they were originally recorded at. Giving an odd and surreal feel, which may link to the meaning of the lyrics.


Being a video for a rock band, there are genre specific things we expect to see, and this video fulfils those, with the band being what you would expect, long haired male musicians, playing instruments on stage rather than a recording or synthesised songs, with a large and also mainly long haired crows. The macho element of rock music is unashamedly out on display in this video.  The video also has a lot of close ups of the artists, to promote them as much as possible and so you know about them. 


The video has elements of voyeurism as well. Because a concert is usually an event in which you must purchase a ticket, only a select few can see them at any one time, however this video lets everyone have a look and watch in on elements of their live shows, enticing them to pay money to see them live and it also gives a clue as to what they might expect should they pay to see the show. 

A Nirvana gig from about 1991-92

a group photo of the band

Evaluation of Preliminary task

For my preliminary task I had to work with a group to create a music video for Annie Lennox's A whiter shade of pale. This was part of a 2 day workshop that we undertook at school so that we could learn the basics of videography and how to properly construct a music video with all of the technical elements as well. This would mean that our preliminary task could have more focus and we could learn more from it, rather than attempting to make a video that although would teach us about the technical elements of using the camera, composing the shot, lighting etc. It would be lacking in context when trying to evaluate what we had learned and applying it to a music video, which is a very niche area with several key components.


before we created our video, we were taught the key areas which often always appear in music videos, they are:

• a link between the lyrics and visuals
• a link between the music and visuals
• genre specific iconography
• close ups of the artist(s)
• voyeurism
• intertextuality

Our group spent the first day brainstorming ideas, creating a treatment, then story-boarding the video, as well as creating a list of necessary locations and props. the remainder of the day was spent beginning the filming. On the second day we finished filming and then began editing our video.


I found the 2 days very useful. The knowledge we gained about the theory of music videos was and will be invaluable in creating an authentic music video and my group paid close attention to this, making sure we got all of the elements into the video. 


Working in a group was useful also, i had not previously thought about making a music video on my own when i had heard that this would be the coursework, however after the preliminary task, i found that it would nigh on impossible and the benefits offered by working in a group, far outweigh the cost of doing this alone. When working in a cohesive sensible group allows for increased organisation and a greater pool of ideas from which to choose from, thus giving better creative and technical freedoms. it also means that more than one thing can be done at once and giving more momentum to your work, getting it done to the same quality but faster. However this relies heavily on a group that can work together and get along without clashing of egos and having the ability to be able to compromise. 


I have also learnt about the technical side of videography, about framing a shot, lighting and how sometimes we have to deviate from the story board sometimes, either because the shot doesn't look good, is not possible, or because we have thought of something else to add/alter while on location/set. Labeling your tapes is also a crucial thing that i have learnt and then leaving them somewhere safe so that none of your footage is lost in the time between finishing filming and downloading al of your footage onto the iMac.


As well as learning about the cameras, i also learnt about Final Cut, the program that we will be using to edit our footage. i have already used an iMac so that was not a problem, but Final Cut was important to understand, i feel that i very quickly picked up how to edit the clips in a way i wanted them. however adding effects to clips, such as making them Black and White (B&W) is something i need more practice on, and if necaesary i will ask someone with more knowledge than myself to help me. 

Overall I felt that I have learnt a lot from the preliminary task, but I still have much more to learn and improve, thus improving my work too.