First Storyboard photos

First Storyboard photos

This slideshow shows examples of how we match certain shots to the bar.

Audience Research Question

1. What it is the focus of most records you listen to?

2. Do you listen to bands, groups, solo artists?

3. Do you think the background culture of a band influences there music?

4. Do you think the music video of a record should relate?

5. Are you passive or active when viewing a music video?

Audience Theory

By B Jacko

Rough Storyboard Planning

Rough Planning

Filming Locations

Prezi of locations

Madonna Star Theory

'Stars' end up losing who they are and become the archetypal ‘Star’- the term star refers to a semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell.
Madonna has been given the honorific nickname of 'The Queen of Pop'.

-Supposedly talent - Yes
-Big Personality - Demanding and a bit diva-ish
-Well known - Globally
-like able or hate able - Mixed views.
-Good looking – stands out (distinctive) - Yes good looking and always updating her style, applying directly to the theory.
-iconography/ become an archetype
-Sexual magnetism - Some may say, sexual magnetism.
-anti-authoritarian (don’t care) - Not really.
-Originality - forever changing
-Youthfulness - surgery to appear young
-Rebellion - Provocative, risky videos
-Aggression and anger (depending on the genre) - Not really.
-Consumption of drugs -Yes, in the past.
-success against the odds - Worked her way through the industry

 

▪       A star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music])

▪       Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.

The Male Gaze Theory Textual Analysis

Female of the Species - Space

 

 

 

 

The colour gradient of the video at the beginning displays the band in black and white, highlighting the female in colour. This makes the woman the main object of the video relating to The Male Gaze Theory.

 

 

However, even though women are the main subject of the video throughout, they are presented in a mysterious and dangerous way to relate to the subject of the song. For example females are shown to be 'inviting' as evoked through the women's hand gestures, yet also that they are fully aware of what they are doing, and have the ultimate power.

 

This shot examples this by panning up towards the woman sat in the chair, in a position of what we would assume to be authority and confidence. The panning up suggests how she is a level higher than the viewer, in which according to the Theory would be a heterosexual male insinuating his lack of dominance. This additionally could suggest how having the woman at a typical average level of height, she is now actually equal to men.

 

Our Logo

Our logo, is made of our group's initials (TAB). We devised this logo from wanting our names involved in the company and additionally we chose a guitar symbol as we wanted display that our company didn't want to differ from the original raw power of music.

TAB Records Pitch

TAB Records Pitch

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Bold, iconic and symbolic, the cover to Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album is the exact vision of Richard Wright’s wish of a "smarter, neater - more classy" covers than previous Pink Floyd albums. Dark Side of the Moon is one of the recognised album, covers in history.

Designed by longstanding Floyd associates and masters of spaced out imagery, Hipgnosis and George Hardie, the diffusing prism references the lyrical content of the album and Pink Floyd’s extravagant light shows, that were popular in the 1970s and 1980s.

The prism image was the centrepoint of some fairly lavish packaging, which included two posters and stickers of the pyramids.

In addition, the prism of light on The Dark Side Of The Moon misses out indigo from the spectrum.

Case Study of One Particular Music Video Director

Jamie Hewlett

English artist Jamie Hewlett directs animated music videos specifically for his co-created (with Damon Albarn) British virtual band Gorillaz. The videos heavily contain intertexual references to a wide variety of pop culture, mostly films. All the videos additionally contain an continual storyline which is linked to the canonical universe of Gorillaz.

  Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz

The animated music video was directed by Jamie Hewlett and Pete Candeland. It starts with the Gorillaz logo in red against a black screen, and the following quote from the 1978 film Dawn of the Dead: "Every dead body that is not exterminated, gets up and kills. The people it kills, get up and kill" in Japanese then in English. This phrase was deemed offensive in some countries and a censored version was produced that omits this intro. The video and song name is a reference to the famous western starring actor Clint Eastwood, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. An interpolation of the yell from the film's theme song can be heard at the beginning of the video, followed by sinister laughter from Murdoc. The notes that the melodica plays are also based on the yell. The band is seen playing their music against a completely white backdrop. 2-D is seen wearing a T-Virus shirt most likely referencing Resident Evil. Russel's cap then begins to mysteriously rise on its own, and the ghost of Del appears to be emerging from under it. He begins to rap, leaving the other band members dumbfounded, and the backdrop at this point is that of a cemetery. Del then begins to summon enormous tombstones to burst out of the ground, as a heavy shower of rain and thunderstorm begins. Shortly afterwards, zombie gorilla hands rise up from the ground. Murdoc is grabbed by the crotch and pulled to the ground, a reference to the Peter Jackson zombie film Braindead. Seconds later, the zombie gorillas themselves rise up. Murdoc immediately flees at the sight of them, with a number of them pursuing him. He then turns and glares at them out of frustration at his inability to escape, and the zombie apes engage in a bizarre dance routine before Murdoc is finally struck by lightning, this dance routine is similar to the choreography of Michael Jackson's music video "Thriller". Noodle is then shown joyfully skipping along, almost as if she is completely unaware of her surroundings, and in her playful skipping, she delivers a hard kick to one of the zombie gorillas in the face. Immediately afterwards, Del is then sucked back into Russel's head as the gorillas all disintegrate, and the band members are left standing in the cemetery, now bright with sunlight. The video then concludes with a split screen showing each of the four band members and their names. The video has a running time of 4:32, which is significantly different from the album version, which runs for approximately 5:44, however, the album version features about 1:30 of the backing track playing with no vocals over the top. The video for "Clint Eastwood" won an award at the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival Awards in 2001, defeating entries by Blur, Fatboy Slim, Radiohead and Robbie Williams.*

*Source - Wikipedia

Final CD Artwork for Preliminary

The artwork reflects the genre of music and has clear visuals links and context with our music video. The artwork has been fitted to accurate dimensions of an average CD case. The chosen font evokes the deteriorated, trippy and casual style of the band and it's clear influence of the drug culture. 

Prelim video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIcBTvMJTAU

Music Video Website

http://postacidwavvesmedia.weebly.com/



This is a link to our preliminary task's website. The website clearly displays the typical expectations of a bandsite's website. Initially, the website opens with a promo to the band's new song, accompanied with video, to attract people and fans instantly to the new product.

Website Analysis

Lana Del Rey's Official Website

Lana Del Rey's website displays exclusivity towards her fans through the options of how to purchase her music. Her music is available on different platforms such as Lps and CDs, appealing and giving a wider choose of access to her fans preferred way.

The website also reflects how Lana wished to present herself, through her retro, smooth, 1960 style. This is seen through the use of many filters on her images to give a certain 'timeless' and 'vintage' effect, showing how she wishes to be seen in an artistic style. There are many close-ups and poses of herself in the photos, displayed in  a stylish and tasteful appearance, evoking that she is the main product.


In another section there is the listing of her future live performances, in which leads to the option of purchasing a ticket for that venue. This is clearly set out in a simple style, making it easy for the viewer to see the listing.

There is also a display of her albums and the music included, along with a gallery of her various photos from different occasions. This shows that Lana wishes to give her fans more insight and access to her more personal elements. 

Analysis of a CD Cover

Babes In Toyland ~ Fontanelle

The cover photo — an image of a naked doll held up in front of a mirror — was taken for the album by photographer  Cindy Sherman. The image itself, is rather obscure and unquie reflecting the nature of the band's attitude and how they choose to be original in their work and play freely.

The band has explained the album's name as referring to the soft spot on the top of a baby's skull, as well as to a little fountain used by fairies. It is also the name of a magician consulted by Gilles de Rais, the real-life murderer who inspired the fairy tale "Bluebeard".

The dark colouring of the image connotes a more heavy sound, as such colours are associated with 'Rock'. The red font accompanies this idea, as it stands-out 'loud and proud', being a vivid colour.

Strangely, there is no 'Parent Advisory' sticker, as the album does contain much explicit content. However, this may be because it is original artwork and is not presented in it's sale state.

The album cover is rather simplistic from the image and solid black collum, promoting a straightforward and no nonsense style, that the product is raw and to the point.

History of Music Videos

According to the Internet Accuracy Project, The Big Bopper was the first to coin the phrase "music video", in 1959. A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV (airing in 1981) was solely based displaying the videos back-to-back. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described more as 'promotional videos'.

Music videos use a wide range of styles and techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation, music, and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, or relate to particular subject. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.

An Early example of a music video is St Louis Blues. Blues singer Bessie Smith appeared in a two-reel short film called Saint Louis Blues ( 1929 ) featuring a dramatized performance of the hit song. It was shown in theatres until 1932.

In 1940, Walt Disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous pieces of classical music. The Warner Brothers cartoon, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theatres.

The defining work in the development of the modern music video was The Beatles ' first major motion picture, A Hard Day's Night in 1964 , directed by Richard Lester . The musical segments in this film arguably set out the basic visual vocabulary of today's music videos, influencing a vast number of contemporary musicians, and countless subsequent pop and rock group music videos.

Music Video Contextual Analysis

Music Video -  Heart-Shaped Box ~ Nirvana
Director - Anton Corbijn (With much input from Kurt Cobain)

There are many dramatic close-ups of Kurt Cobain’s face, during the chorus in the lines ‘Hey! Wait!’ These close-ups matched with the lyrics and timed to the bar, suggest urgency and the intention to catch the viewer/listener’s attention. Also the switch between the focused and unfocused shot, causes the viewer to experience hallucinated and ghosted movement, evoking a sense of squander and confusion.

There is also many lyrical reference visuals. For example in the line 'meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet', inferring sexual intercourse, the video displays foetuses hanging in the trees and a young girl in a Ku Klux Klan outfit, jumping and trying to reach them. The reasoning for this is because much of the video contains naturalistic imagery yet controversial imagery. Sex for example is seen as a socially uncomfortable  yet completely biological  subject and the video explicitly displays the reality of it and evokes other nature themes of the 'life and death' aspect, in a thought-provoking and open perspective. Again the Ku Klux Klan girl, possibly suggests spoiled innocence and man-made corruption of the world, and how people themselves destroy the natural beauty of the world.  

There are slight intertexual references such as towards the scenery of 'The Wizard Of OZ', from the bright and artificial colouring paired with the fields of flowers and trees. There are many religious symbols shown such as the 'crucifixion', which  along with KKK reference, caused much controversy. However ultimately much of the video is left to the viewer's interpretation.

The video is very much done in a creative style, with Kurt Cobain planning much storyboarding, going into immense detail. It has a possible slight narrative story but also, the band is seen to be a large part of it too with their performance of the song, due to their great input.

Also this song, album and band are so amazing and wonderful. ♥♪♫

Goodwin's music video analysis

Andrew Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory'

(Routledge 1992)

• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
  (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).
  
• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
  (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
  
• There is a relationship between music and visuals
  (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
  
• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work
  (a visual style).
  
• There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
  
• There is often intertexual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc).  

Welcome!

Welcome to my A2 blog, hope you enjoy! ^-^
On this blog, I will include: research, planning and evaluation on my music video project.