We experienced mix feelings when filming the performance shots. We needed to film 3 separate times. Our band, originally made up of 3 members, each portraying one person from Motorhead. The first shoot went brilliantly, we had no issues with getting the equipment, the stage where they would perform was free and the band was all there and on time. However, many of the shots we took there we’re problems with. To start with, the tripod we had booked was taken without us knowing, so lots of the shots we’re ruined by some movement. On some shots, we had the light in-front of the camera, an upon watching it, it became obvious that the glare would make the scene look bad. Some of the shots we took we’re also taken at an angle in which other parts of the room could be seen. For example, we took a shot from the side, but windows could be seen in the background, resulting in an artificial looking environment. At the end, it turned out we needed more shots.
The 2nd performance didn’t start as well as the first shoot. All the original band we’re present, on time and in the same outfits as last time. However, the one drum kit all groups had to share had been double booked so we had to wait an hour until the group before us had filmed as we allowed them film before us, as some of the groups members had to leave early. After we started to film, things went well. The faults we made last time such as the lights in front of the camera and shooting the windows in the background we made sure we didn’t make the same mistake twice. Things went well; we took many takes and had lots of ideas. However, when uploading the footage, the only explanation we could think of is that we saved it my documents and not the media storage device as the footage could not be found. This, obviously, was the most annoying thing that could happen so we had to re-film again.
The 3rd performance was scheduled 5 days before the deadline. We had to film then as there was no other chance. Unfortunately, out drummer could not make it so we needed to replace him, but this was a hard decision as the original knew the song, and our replacement did not. Another addition to the band was a singer, as the microphone stand could not be booked for this time. However, although we now have more members than Motorhead have, we felt the singing was better for the performance as when the bassist sang, there was not much emphasis on singing, and more on the bass playing, so the new addition helped with the acting. However, now that we have new members, the footage that could be used from the 1st shoot had to be removed and there we’re new members. There were also other problems again with double booking. The drums were needed by 3 groups, so we had to wait for the one group so out filming was delayed for an hour. After shooting, I offered to drive the drum kit to the other group, as they needed it over the weekend. Apart from the delay, filming went brilliantly. We made no mistakes regarding lights in front of the camera etc, and we also seen this as a chance to take photos for out DVD front cover and advert. This time we made sure that the photos and video footage was uploaded to the correct area, so we did not loose it again. We then had 5 days to upload and edit the performance into the video, however we decided to stay after school in order to make sure this was done in time.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Narrative blog
When we first started planning the video we decided that the setting for the narrative shots should reflect the style of an illegal poker game being played in dark and dusty basement or garage etc. One member of the group had a cellar so we decided that this would be the best place to film, as although it was quite small, it fitted in very well to the image that we were going for, as it was quite dark and dingy, and seemed quite a secretive location, that only certain people knew of the illegal gambling that was taking place. We decided that the actor’s costumes should look quite “gangster-like” and sleazy, with the boys in shirts/suits and the girls in classy dresses wearing a lot of make-up, almost reflective of typical 1940’s mob style. When we first began filming the narrative we began to encounter some problems; first of all, although we’d managed to acquire a poker table, it didn’t come with a table or legs for it to stand up on, so we had the actors having to balance it on their legs, making the movements and filming very awkward. Another problem we found when watching the footage back, was the lighting. As it was quite dark in the cellar we brought in extra lights to increase the brightness, however when we filmed we’d left some of the lights in front of the camera, highlighting where they were and making the filming look amateurish. Taking these problems into account, we decided on having a re-shoot of the narrative, this time we were more prepared. We managed to get a table for the poker table to balance on; also we were more prepared and focused on where the lights were placed, so that we could get the best possible shots. This time round we knew what shots had worked and which ones hadn’t from the previous footage, so we were more organized as for which shots and angles we wanted to include, also our actors were a lot more comfortable in their roles, as they had already had a “practise” with them, making, in our opinions, the second shooting a lot more successful than our first go at filming.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Rough cut video (including feedback)
After submitting a first draft, we received feedback. This was completed by the teachers and other members of the class on what they liked about the video and what they thought we needed to do to improve it. After looking at the responses, it would appear that there was a few recurring suggestions, therefore when working towards our finished product, we will use the key suggestions, to help us progress to a higher quality video.
The first point, I felt was of great significance, was to reduce the length of each shot. By shortening the duration of each clip, it would mean the footage will sustain the fast pace rhythm of our chosen song, which conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s theory that in a music video there must be a relationship between the music and the visuals.
Another way we could improve, which has been suggested in the feedback, was to make sure the performance footage was in synchronisation with the song. I felt this was the most vital change we had to make to our video because without this, it would not appear to be a professionally made product. To achieve this change and make the song look like it is being played rather than mimed; it will require the clips to be edited more carefully in ‘Adobe Premiere’.
Some of our ideas gained some positive comments. These included the locations we decided to shoot both the narrative and performances sections in, the costume and props used and several camera angles we used. The first being a close-up tracking shot of the poker chips being pulled towards the winning player in the narrative segment and the second, an over-the-shoulder shot of the drummer during the performance piece. Due to their popularity, these will all be included in the final draft of our project.
The final piece of advice I believe will help us accomplish a successful music video, is to use a wider variety of shots, including more close-ups of the vocal lines, drum beats and solo riffs in the performance section. By doing this, it will allow us to begin to work towards our first point of cutting down on high duration clips, because we will have more material to choose from.
Although, each piece of advice we received can be used to great effect, I think that to achieve the best result possible, all three must be combined with the existing ideas we gained compliments for.
The first point, I felt was of great significance, was to reduce the length of each shot. By shortening the duration of each clip, it would mean the footage will sustain the fast pace rhythm of our chosen song, which conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s theory that in a music video there must be a relationship between the music and the visuals.
Another way we could improve, which has been suggested in the feedback, was to make sure the performance footage was in synchronisation with the song. I felt this was the most vital change we had to make to our video because without this, it would not appear to be a professionally made product. To achieve this change and make the song look like it is being played rather than mimed; it will require the clips to be edited more carefully in ‘Adobe Premiere’.
Some of our ideas gained some positive comments. These included the locations we decided to shoot both the narrative and performances sections in, the costume and props used and several camera angles we used. The first being a close-up tracking shot of the poker chips being pulled towards the winning player in the narrative segment and the second, an over-the-shoulder shot of the drummer during the performance piece. Due to their popularity, these will all be included in the final draft of our project.
The final piece of advice I believe will help us accomplish a successful music video, is to use a wider variety of shots, including more close-ups of the vocal lines, drum beats and solo riffs in the performance section. By doing this, it will allow us to begin to work towards our first point of cutting down on high duration clips, because we will have more material to choose from.
Although, each piece of advice we received can be used to great effect, I think that to achieve the best result possible, all three must be combined with the existing ideas we gained compliments for.
Monday, 23 November 2009
Editing
Editing the video
For our group, editing was about the only thing that always went right. First of all, our group always had the opportunity to edit, and although there was only 6 computers in which had the software to edit the video, there was always enough for every group in the class. Most of the members in our group contributed to the editing, and did their fair share of it, resulting in various ideas and shots that would be used. Some small issues occurred such as opening the file could take up to 10 minutes, as lots of people would be trying to access the link storage the videos we’re saved under. However, this was only a small problem and didn’t really trouble our group greatly, as all other groups experienced this and there was no way to overcome it. As a group, we thought the editing went well, most of us understood how to do it, it was a great way to put all our ideas together if we took it in turns and good for feedback of the rest of the group.
Editing the DVD cover and Advert.
Editing the DVD cover and Advert in photo shop seen out group encounter more problems than we did editing the video. First of all, some of our group wanted to do the DVD cover and Advert as a group and some wanted to do it individually. We decided that the people wanting to work as a group did and people wanting to work individually did after checking with the teachers. Editing the Advert for us took a long time. First of all, we took pictures of 52 individual playing cards. However, we took the photos on an angle without knowing so when placing the photos side by side, it took a long time to straighten them all up. It also took a long time to cut out the background of the cards because we took the cards against a yellow backgrounds hoping they would cut out fairly easily but some of the cards blended into the background. It took around 2/3 hours to cut the cards out so this was fairly time consuming. The initial idea for the DVD cover had to be totally changed. IF you look at the first draft, the idea was to take certain cards, take members of the band and put the head on top of the cards. However, the heads we’re far to small in the case of the joker card, and did not look as how I imagined. We also thought a skull would look good blended into the background as the card ace of spades means death. However, the skull we used was not an original image and could not be used. We decided we did not have enough time to draw something complicated like a skull so we had a total rethink about the whole DVD cover. Upon designing a new one, we all agreed in out group it looked better than before, so we we’re very happy with the final outcome.
For our group, editing was about the only thing that always went right. First of all, our group always had the opportunity to edit, and although there was only 6 computers in which had the software to edit the video, there was always enough for every group in the class. Most of the members in our group contributed to the editing, and did their fair share of it, resulting in various ideas and shots that would be used. Some small issues occurred such as opening the file could take up to 10 minutes, as lots of people would be trying to access the link storage the videos we’re saved under. However, this was only a small problem and didn’t really trouble our group greatly, as all other groups experienced this and there was no way to overcome it. As a group, we thought the editing went well, most of us understood how to do it, it was a great way to put all our ideas together if we took it in turns and good for feedback of the rest of the group.
Editing the DVD cover and Advert.
Editing the DVD cover and Advert in photo shop seen out group encounter more problems than we did editing the video. First of all, some of our group wanted to do the DVD cover and Advert as a group and some wanted to do it individually. We decided that the people wanting to work as a group did and people wanting to work individually did after checking with the teachers. Editing the Advert for us took a long time. First of all, we took pictures of 52 individual playing cards. However, we took the photos on an angle without knowing so when placing the photos side by side, it took a long time to straighten them all up. It also took a long time to cut out the background of the cards because we took the cards against a yellow backgrounds hoping they would cut out fairly easily but some of the cards blended into the background. It took around 2/3 hours to cut the cards out so this was fairly time consuming. The initial idea for the DVD cover had to be totally changed. IF you look at the first draft, the idea was to take certain cards, take members of the band and put the head on top of the cards. However, the heads we’re far to small in the case of the joker card, and did not look as how I imagined. We also thought a skull would look good blended into the background as the card ace of spades means death. However, the skull we used was not an original image and could not be used. We decided we did not have enough time to draw something complicated like a skull so we had a total rethink about the whole DVD cover. Upon designing a new one, we all agreed in out group it looked better than before, so we we’re very happy with the final outcome.
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Organisational Timetable
Thursday 28th September
Begin filming narrative section
Friday 29th September
Continue filming narrative section
Saturday 30th September
Continue filming narrative section
Sunday 1st October
Continue filming narrative section
Monday 2nd October
Continue filming narrative section
Tuesday 3rd October
Continue filming narrative section
Wednesday 4th October
Finish filming narrative section
Thursday 5th October
Begin filming performance section
Friday 6th October
Continue filming performance section
Saturday 7th October
Continue filming performance section
Sunday 8th October
Continue filming performance section
Monday 9st October
Continue filming performance section
Tuesday 10th October
Continue filming performance section
Wednesday 11th October
Finish filming performance section
Begin filming narrative section
Friday 29th September
Continue filming narrative section
Saturday 30th September
Continue filming narrative section
Sunday 1st October
Continue filming narrative section
Monday 2nd October
Continue filming narrative section
Tuesday 3rd October
Continue filming narrative section
Wednesday 4th October
Finish filming narrative section
Thursday 5th October
Begin filming performance section
Friday 6th October
Continue filming performance section
Saturday 7th October
Continue filming performance section
Sunday 8th October
Continue filming performance section
Monday 9st October
Continue filming performance section
Tuesday 10th October
Continue filming performance section
Wednesday 11th October
Finish filming performance section
Friday, 25 September 2009
Adverts analysis
• The most noticeable thing about the image, is the top half, with the picture. It includes many things, the grass and trees make it fell open and free, giving a sense that the genre of music is very easy listening and soft. It also includes a lake, again giving it a natural feel towards portraying the genre of music. It is very summery, having blue sky’s and sunny days and includes things you’d usually find in a garden including wooden benches, flowers etc.
• The title of artist and name of album stand out as the name of the artist, Paul Weller, is written in a very large white font, standing out against the busy picture behind it. The name of the albums, 22 dreams isn’t as bold but also stands out.
• The name of the album, 22 dreams, could mean that it features 22 of his greatest hits?
• On the bottom of the picture, there is a simple black background, quite a large contrast from the image above being very busy and summery. It turns to a boring, black but is used well as the colour of fonts used on it to get across the information stands out against it. The information says it is a new album, includes the release date and how it available with a deluxe 2cd. The word deluxe here would grab audiences attention if they were to buy it, as deluxe makes it seem more desirable.
• The advert for the album is very bizarre. The picture was the first thing I noticed and it is interesting as it has two women looking towards each other it the eyes replaced with leaves. The two woman are of African decent, which may suggest that the band Santogold are from abroad.
• The font of the name of the band looks as if there was a strip of paper and that they have cut the word out in it. It looks really good, as it draws peoples attention to it, whilst also being arty. It stands out against the green and black background as it is written in white. The name of the song has the same style of font, again, making people read it so they have to concentrate on it and don’t forget it.
• The background is leaves, which I earlier said covered the eye of the two women in the picture. This gives a natural feel towards the album, suggesting it is in the genre of easy listening and soft music.
• The album cover looks like a collage of things pasted onto a background picture of leaves. The picture of the women, along with the title look like they have been cut out of a magazine and stuck onto the picture. The effects have worked brilliantly as this image really grabbed my attention for being creative and arty.
• The picture for this album is very bizarre. It uses various colour and various shapes to make it up and it all works quite well to make in interesting picture. The prominent colours in it are red, yellow, green and black lines. The audiences attention goes straight towards the picture, meaning that the aim of the picture is achieving what it was meant to do, become eye catching in shops, people will notice it and if they like the band, most likely buy it.
• The charcoal grey background also makes the picture and font stand out. Although it’s quite a dull background, it works well with other elements of the album cover for the band.
• The big bold white font, for the name of the band and the song stand out well. Although it looks fairly simple, white font, big letters etc, it works well and stands out against the grey background. Again, this is a main part of the picture, without it, people wont know who the album is buy so making the letters big helps to draw peoples attention to it.
• Other information is written in a smaller white font, again to stand out against the grey. It includes information such as remixes of the song and reviews of it. Having these things may again, draw peoples attention making them more likely to buy the album if there are remixes of the song and good reviews.
• The first thing I noticed about this picture is the image of the band. They are all dressed in formal outfits, and looking smart. The main singer is suggested to be the one second from the left, as he is more forward than other members of the band, suggesting he is the front man.
• They are all holding onto a yellow umbrella, possibly used to divide them from the other side of the album cover.
• The background colour divides the two scenes. The background with the image of the band is a light grey, making the members stand out as some of them are dressed in grey. The other side of the advert has a plain black background, and contains information about the album, including name of the band, name of the album, reviews and a release date.
• All of the important information is written in orange, including the name of the band “Noah and the Whale”, the name of the album, “Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down”, songs that are included on the album that the band are well known for. Having all this information stand out against a black background draws people attention and if they find all the important information written in orange interesting, they are more likely to buy the album.
• On top of the image of the band is the another image, advertising the upcoming new single of theirs. This is clever, as they are using one method of advertising to advertise something else.
• The shot of this picture is taken in the sky, as everything seems different as clouds are on the bottom.
• There is a very apparent colour shceme. Mainly, greys, whites and other light shades are used for this image, possibly representing the band as very soft and gentle music.
• In the distance in the picture, you can see the hills and mountains. Again, a very peaceful image which again helps to portray the band as relaxing and soft.
• In the exact centre of the picture is the name of the band and song. Using black font against the greys and whites really makes it stand out, making it easy to read for the audience.
• In littler writing at the bottom, there is information about the song written in white. However, at the bottom, the colours are more brown and green, again, making it easy to read for the viewer and having different colour fonts against different coloured backgrounds is good as it doesn’t get boring.
• Although there isn’t much about this picture, it is very well taken how the clouds give it a soft relaxing feel towards the band, but also featuring the ground from the sky looks really good.
Research into similar artists.
Research into similar artists.
Iron maiden
Iron maiden fall into the same category genre as Motorhead, as Heavy Metal. They, as well as Motorhead, we’re formed in 1975 and have mad many famous songs. Most of there songs, like Motorhead are heavy and will analyse a video of there’s and compare it to Motorheads videos.
Aces High
• The video is telling the story about the battle of Britain, the first battle to be fought in the air. It starts with a famous speech made by Winston Churchill, and shows footage of soldiers running to there planes ready to fight.
• The footage follows what Winston Churchill says in his speech. For example, “We will fight in the hills” shows hills where they are likely to battle. This gives a sense of narrative to the video.
• 0.45 – fast take shots of explosions from various angles show how bad the battle was. The only long take in the scene is of a plane burning to the ground. This makes the viewer actually realise how bad the battle was, and how they are portraying war as a bad thing.
• 1.03 – As the intro to the song finishes, the footage changes from black and white footage of the battle, and goes into a colour performance shot of the band playing a live gig. Various shots are used to show each member of the band. Once the lyrics start, most footage is of the lead singer, Bruce Dickinson.
• During the song, the lyrics stop, and more black and white footage of the battle is shown. Again, using various angles, we see footage of the planes firing at others, whilst also flying in sync with one another.
• 3.45 – A high angle shot in black and white shows planes flying in the air with the word England, written on the land below. It shows how they will fight to keep England free against the enemy.
• The song was a great success, and achieved number 1 in the UK singles chart.
• It also lead to many covers of the song, by bands such as Arch Enemy, and Children of Bodom.
• The target audience for the song wouldn’t really be people who can associate with the battle, if they fought in it or even alive to see and hear about it whilst happening as this type of music wouldn’t appeal to an older target audience. It targets two people, the first, the heavy metal lover who are fans of the band, and not that they would like the music, but the older generation who can associate with the footage shown.
Another band that falls into the same genre as Motorhead is Black Sabbath. They we’re well known for there heavy metal songs and mostly as there front man was Ozzy Osbourne, who contributed to a lot of controversial acts the band had to go through including biting the head off a bat. I analysed “headless cross” by Black Sabbath.
• Various shots show most members of the band performing at the start of the song. A wide shot is used to show a blacksmith making the head, of a cross, in relation to the name of the song.
• 0.39 – a medium shot shows the lead singer singing, whilst emerging from mist. The effect sets the scene for the whole video, giving it a airy, misty feel to it.
• Whilst the camera is still filming the performance shot of him singing, there a few flashes of a cross in the ground. Again, this gives a narrative element to the video, instead of it being all performance like many of there other videos.
• 1.03 – The first master shot showing the whole band performing for the first time in the video. Fire is used to help frame the position of the band, which makes them seem more closed together, like a team
• 1.09 – the lyrics fall from the sky, then leads to a tilt up, to a black sky, again, following the narrative element of the video
• Throughout the video, shots of what looks to be a church are shown. This links into the cross idea, by setting it in a church yard, where crosses are used to remember the dead. Death, again, is a theme that is portrayed by many bands including Black Sabbath.
• 1.29 – A pan behind some trees, shows a cross being put up in the foggy background. The scene is very dark, making it seem fairly scary to the viewer, especially with the use of the fog surrounding them. The camera also makes it seems like a point of view shot, making it feel like someone is watching the people putting the cross up.
• 1.50 – a tilt down reveals a man, wearing a hood with his head tilted down within the dark mist. This gives a scary sense to the viewer, as we don’t know who he is or what he is doing standing there.
• 2.16 – a wide shot of a wall shows a shadowed figure walking along it. This is a fairly scary scene, as we can only see the shadow and not the actual person, giving a supernatural element to the video
• 2.36 – A wide shot shows many of the people in hoods walking across a path with a misty background. They are all carrying flames, again, giving a scary feel to the video.
• During the solo, various shots focus around the guitarist. This is because at this point, all the attention is on him, and the cameras showing him playing the solo show the audience he is a brilliant musician.
• 3.16 – The people in hoods carrying flames are now circling the cross we seen being put up earlier. Again, very scary feel to the video, as to what they are doing there with fire next to a cross, represent someone who has died.
• 4.10 – the words headless cross are sang, as the camera shows the cross seen earlier, has had the head of it removed. The narrative element is again shown here by the visuals following the lyrics.
What I have found whilst studying similar artists is that they all are mainly performance based videos. This is apparent in each video i studied although they both feature some kind of narrative perspective within the video. Another thing i realised is that they all deal with major themes. Many heavy metal songs focus on themes such as gambling, death, war, relationships etc.
Iron maiden
Iron maiden fall into the same category genre as Motorhead, as Heavy Metal. They, as well as Motorhead, we’re formed in 1975 and have mad many famous songs. Most of there songs, like Motorhead are heavy and will analyse a video of there’s and compare it to Motorheads videos.
Aces High
• The video is telling the story about the battle of Britain, the first battle to be fought in the air. It starts with a famous speech made by Winston Churchill, and shows footage of soldiers running to there planes ready to fight.
• The footage follows what Winston Churchill says in his speech. For example, “We will fight in the hills” shows hills where they are likely to battle. This gives a sense of narrative to the video.
• 0.45 – fast take shots of explosions from various angles show how bad the battle was. The only long take in the scene is of a plane burning to the ground. This makes the viewer actually realise how bad the battle was, and how they are portraying war as a bad thing.
• 1.03 – As the intro to the song finishes, the footage changes from black and white footage of the battle, and goes into a colour performance shot of the band playing a live gig. Various shots are used to show each member of the band. Once the lyrics start, most footage is of the lead singer, Bruce Dickinson.
• During the song, the lyrics stop, and more black and white footage of the battle is shown. Again, using various angles, we see footage of the planes firing at others, whilst also flying in sync with one another.
• 3.45 – A high angle shot in black and white shows planes flying in the air with the word England, written on the land below. It shows how they will fight to keep England free against the enemy.
• The song was a great success, and achieved number 1 in the UK singles chart.
• It also lead to many covers of the song, by bands such as Arch Enemy, and Children of Bodom.
• The target audience for the song wouldn’t really be people who can associate with the battle, if they fought in it or even alive to see and hear about it whilst happening as this type of music wouldn’t appeal to an older target audience. It targets two people, the first, the heavy metal lover who are fans of the band, and not that they would like the music, but the older generation who can associate with the footage shown.
Another band that falls into the same genre as Motorhead is Black Sabbath. They we’re well known for there heavy metal songs and mostly as there front man was Ozzy Osbourne, who contributed to a lot of controversial acts the band had to go through including biting the head off a bat. I analysed “headless cross” by Black Sabbath.
• Various shots show most members of the band performing at the start of the song. A wide shot is used to show a blacksmith making the head, of a cross, in relation to the name of the song.
• 0.39 – a medium shot shows the lead singer singing, whilst emerging from mist. The effect sets the scene for the whole video, giving it a airy, misty feel to it.
• Whilst the camera is still filming the performance shot of him singing, there a few flashes of a cross in the ground. Again, this gives a narrative element to the video, instead of it being all performance like many of there other videos.
• 1.03 – The first master shot showing the whole band performing for the first time in the video. Fire is used to help frame the position of the band, which makes them seem more closed together, like a team
• 1.09 – the lyrics fall from the sky, then leads to a tilt up, to a black sky, again, following the narrative element of the video
• Throughout the video, shots of what looks to be a church are shown. This links into the cross idea, by setting it in a church yard, where crosses are used to remember the dead. Death, again, is a theme that is portrayed by many bands including Black Sabbath.
• 1.29 – A pan behind some trees, shows a cross being put up in the foggy background. The scene is very dark, making it seem fairly scary to the viewer, especially with the use of the fog surrounding them. The camera also makes it seems like a point of view shot, making it feel like someone is watching the people putting the cross up.
• 1.50 – a tilt down reveals a man, wearing a hood with his head tilted down within the dark mist. This gives a scary sense to the viewer, as we don’t know who he is or what he is doing standing there.
• 2.16 – a wide shot of a wall shows a shadowed figure walking along it. This is a fairly scary scene, as we can only see the shadow and not the actual person, giving a supernatural element to the video
• 2.36 – A wide shot shows many of the people in hoods walking across a path with a misty background. They are all carrying flames, again, giving a scary feel to the video.
• During the solo, various shots focus around the guitarist. This is because at this point, all the attention is on him, and the cameras showing him playing the solo show the audience he is a brilliant musician.
• 3.16 – The people in hoods carrying flames are now circling the cross we seen being put up earlier. Again, very scary feel to the video, as to what they are doing there with fire next to a cross, represent someone who has died.
• 4.10 – the words headless cross are sang, as the camera shows the cross seen earlier, has had the head of it removed. The narrative element is again shown here by the visuals following the lyrics.
What I have found whilst studying similar artists is that they all are mainly performance based videos. This is apparent in each video i studied although they both feature some kind of narrative perspective within the video. Another thing i realised is that they all deal with major themes. Many heavy metal songs focus on themes such as gambling, death, war, relationships etc.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Audience research
1) What genre of music do you prefer?
Hard Rock Pop Dance Indie
2) What type of video do you prefer to watch (tick more than 1 of wanted)
Narrative Concept Performance
3) What current music video interests you?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4) What style of music video do you prefer? (tick more than one if wanted)
Annimated Stop-start Slow-mo Black and white Normal
5) What themes would you like to see in a video?
Death Romance Friendship Gambling
6) What colour theme would best suit a remake of the ace of spades?
Black/white/grey Bright colours
7) Which would best suit a location for the ace of spades?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Audience research analysis
Recently, I asked 10 people to fill out a questionnaire regarding research into music videos. I was hoping that I could get different ideas generate from the responses I got. The video that we are doing is “Ace of spades” my Motorhead and I’m hoping that people will be interested in watching the video and also contribute ideas that I could use in the video.
Question 1
My first question was “What type of music do you prefer to listen to”. I asked this question because i wanted a music video people would actually be interested in watching. It’s pointless making a video and nobody watching it because they don’t like the music. I’m hoping that Hard Rock is the most popular, as this is the genre of music Motorhead fall into.
From the results i collected, It was apparent that the most popular music was hard rock. This is good news as I was hoping people would want to listen to Hard Rock as this is the genre of music motorhead play.
Question 2
The second question I asked was “What type of video do you prefer” and gave them 3 options, Narrative, performance and concept. I also gave them a note telling them they can tick more than 1.
It is noticeable that narrative and performance were a lot more popular than concept. I believe this is because people may not understand concept, of having a music video tell a story that has no relation to the lyrics at all. Narrative does, which makes it easier to understand. It makes it even easier to understand if there is a reference to intertexuality. This is because if a music video uses a reference from a film for example, the viewer may understand the plot of the movie, making it easier to understand. Also having performance shots shows the skill the band possesses. It’s a great way to show the band off and make them seem like good performers.
Question 3
My 3rd question was “What current music videos interest you”. This was an open ended question and I asked it because I can research into these videos to see what shots, techniques and visual styles may be used that may appeal to the audience. From the Hard Rock videos people mentioned, I noticed various things that occur in most of them. They all have quite a dark theme, using lots of black and grey. This may encourage me to film a gambling scene for ace of spades in black and white. This colour can also represent the dark and dingy background and lifestyle gambling has.
Question 4
The 4th question I asked was “What type of music video effects do you enjoy the most”. I gave options such as animation, stop start etc. Here are the results Irecived from the 10 people I asked. I also said they can select more than 1, as we can use more than 1 effect.
It became apparent that black and white effects are the most popular. This may be because the effects are simple, and they show life in a totally different perspective, usually a quite dull, boring a depressive scene. The animation, slow motion and normal effects both got 3 people wanting them, these were less popular than the other option, stop start. This is a brilliant technique as things appear to move, but they are only photographs. As well as black and white, I will try and include stop start effects as well.
Question 5
My 5th question I asked was “What themes would you want to see in a remake of Ace of Spades”. I asked people to tick more than 1 box if they wanted and my results are shown below.
As the song is about gambling, 8 out of 10 people said gambling would be a good theme. Obviously, it gives a narrative view towards to song. I may not include any other themes, are these did not seem popular with the people I asked, so I may focus of the gambling side of the story more than anything else.
Question 6
The 6th question I asked was “What colour scheme would best suit a remake of Ace of Spades”. I asked people to only tick 1 as there was only two options. I asked this question as there are numerous colour schemes available so getting other peoples ideas will help to solve this problem.
As gambling is a bad thing to do, I was already thinking before I got people to do the questionnaire to film in black and white, as it shows gambling in a bad way by making it seem dull, and stingy. However, some colour on black and white could be effective. For example, filming the shot in black and white but highlight the colour of the poker chips can add a good effect and make the object stand out when I want it to stand out.
Question 7
The 7th question I asked was “which location would best suit a remake of the Ace of Spades”. I left this question open ended as there are hundreds of possible locations and not restricting people to a few options will give me more ideas. The majority of people said a dirty, dusty grey cellar would create a good atmosphere which also can represent the bad hobby the gambling is. I decided to listen to them, and decided to set up a poker table in a cellar. The atmosphere and setting are great and give a good sense of smokey, dusty illegal gambling, which can portray gambling as a bad thing which is what the song and video are attempting to do and how it can become a simple habit you get addicted to. I will show shots of people winning and loosing, but also trying to make the video represent gambling in a bad way to put people off doing it.
Hard Rock Pop Dance Indie
2) What type of video do you prefer to watch (tick more than 1 of wanted)
Narrative Concept Performance
3) What current music video interests you?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4) What style of music video do you prefer? (tick more than one if wanted)
Annimated Stop-start Slow-mo Black and white Normal
5) What themes would you like to see in a video?
Death Romance Friendship Gambling
6) What colour theme would best suit a remake of the ace of spades?
Black/white/grey Bright colours
7) Which would best suit a location for the ace of spades?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Audience research analysis
Recently, I asked 10 people to fill out a questionnaire regarding research into music videos. I was hoping that I could get different ideas generate from the responses I got. The video that we are doing is “Ace of spades” my Motorhead and I’m hoping that people will be interested in watching the video and also contribute ideas that I could use in the video.
Question 1
My first question was “What type of music do you prefer to listen to”. I asked this question because i wanted a music video people would actually be interested in watching. It’s pointless making a video and nobody watching it because they don’t like the music. I’m hoping that Hard Rock is the most popular, as this is the genre of music Motorhead fall into.
From the results i collected, It was apparent that the most popular music was hard rock. This is good news as I was hoping people would want to listen to Hard Rock as this is the genre of music motorhead play.
Question 2
The second question I asked was “What type of video do you prefer” and gave them 3 options, Narrative, performance and concept. I also gave them a note telling them they can tick more than 1.
It is noticeable that narrative and performance were a lot more popular than concept. I believe this is because people may not understand concept, of having a music video tell a story that has no relation to the lyrics at all. Narrative does, which makes it easier to understand. It makes it even easier to understand if there is a reference to intertexuality. This is because if a music video uses a reference from a film for example, the viewer may understand the plot of the movie, making it easier to understand. Also having performance shots shows the skill the band possesses. It’s a great way to show the band off and make them seem like good performers.
Question 3
My 3rd question was “What current music videos interest you”. This was an open ended question and I asked it because I can research into these videos to see what shots, techniques and visual styles may be used that may appeal to the audience. From the Hard Rock videos people mentioned, I noticed various things that occur in most of them. They all have quite a dark theme, using lots of black and grey. This may encourage me to film a gambling scene for ace of spades in black and white. This colour can also represent the dark and dingy background and lifestyle gambling has.
Question 4
The 4th question I asked was “What type of music video effects do you enjoy the most”. I gave options such as animation, stop start etc. Here are the results Irecived from the 10 people I asked. I also said they can select more than 1, as we can use more than 1 effect.
It became apparent that black and white effects are the most popular. This may be because the effects are simple, and they show life in a totally different perspective, usually a quite dull, boring a depressive scene. The animation, slow motion and normal effects both got 3 people wanting them, these were less popular than the other option, stop start. This is a brilliant technique as things appear to move, but they are only photographs. As well as black and white, I will try and include stop start effects as well.
Question 5
My 5th question I asked was “What themes would you want to see in a remake of Ace of Spades”. I asked people to tick more than 1 box if they wanted and my results are shown below.
As the song is about gambling, 8 out of 10 people said gambling would be a good theme. Obviously, it gives a narrative view towards to song. I may not include any other themes, are these did not seem popular with the people I asked, so I may focus of the gambling side of the story more than anything else.
Question 6
The 6th question I asked was “What colour scheme would best suit a remake of Ace of Spades”. I asked people to only tick 1 as there was only two options. I asked this question as there are numerous colour schemes available so getting other peoples ideas will help to solve this problem.
As gambling is a bad thing to do, I was already thinking before I got people to do the questionnaire to film in black and white, as it shows gambling in a bad way by making it seem dull, and stingy. However, some colour on black and white could be effective. For example, filming the shot in black and white but highlight the colour of the poker chips can add a good effect and make the object stand out when I want it to stand out.
Question 7
The 7th question I asked was “which location would best suit a remake of the Ace of Spades”. I left this question open ended as there are hundreds of possible locations and not restricting people to a few options will give me more ideas. The majority of people said a dirty, dusty grey cellar would create a good atmosphere which also can represent the bad hobby the gambling is. I decided to listen to them, and decided to set up a poker table in a cellar. The atmosphere and setting are great and give a good sense of smokey, dusty illegal gambling, which can portray gambling as a bad thing which is what the song and video are attempting to do and how it can become a simple habit you get addicted to. I will show shots of people winning and loosing, but also trying to make the video represent gambling in a bad way to put people off doing it.
• The video starts with the camera flying over the orange, misty and strange sea. The words “Crying Lightning” appear on top, to inform the viewer the name of the song.
• 0.12 – The camera tilts up, and with the mist disappearing, it reveals the band performing on a wooden sailing boat.
• 0.35 – A zoom in of Alex Turned singing then pans across the boat to reveal the whole band performing.
• 1.15 – As the lyrics “on a rainy afternoon” are sang, it begins to rain. The scene then turns blue, which gives a sense of the sea and rain. The rain not only ties in with the lyrics, but aso the name of the song, “crying lightning”.
• 1.30 – as the tempo of the music begins to increase, the sea and waves become more violent and choppy, which could relate to the heavier music.
• 2.40 – A tilt up reveals a guitarist emerging from the water. The high angle shot makes the figure look powerful, as if it should be feared, which is also shown on Alex Turners face as he looks upon the figure which emerged from the water.
• 3.13 – The pan across all the members of the band emerging from the water. The high angle master shot makes them all look large and powerful.
• Props used within the video are those that link to the sea. The drummer is frequently seen using objects such as a pipe, telescope and when playing drums as the large figure, they have been replaced with barrels. Also the more obvious props such as instruments and the boat are used but the lighting changeing to suit the mood of the music as well helps to create a scene that fits in with the lyrics as well as the music.
• Target audience – Fans of the indie/rock genre will appreciate this song, as it good example of the genre.
• Whilst using performance shots of the band in the boat and also as the large figures, they also use narrative by linking lyrics such as rainy afternoon, then it begins to rain. It also involves concept by being in violent waves in a wooden boat in the middle of the sea.
• Hearing the name of the song “thriller” you assume there to be action and things people will want to see. The start of the video shows that by showing a cinema watching a movie called thriller and a yellow eyed warewolf chasing a young girl. This automatically gets the viewer excited as they think the video is going to be entertaining the whole way through.
• The most noticeable thing in the film is obviously the ghouls. They make the viewer feel scared, which is the main point of the video, hence the name being “thriller”.
• After 29 seconds, an establishing shot is used on the cinema where the camera tilts down to reveal the title of a movie at a cinema, the movie called “thriller”.
• 0.35 – A tracking shot is used to follow Michael Jackson and his girlfriend walking down the street. Michael is trying to scare his girlfriend by saying lyrics such as “something evil is lurking in the dark”. She laughs it off thinking it’s a joke.
• 1.40 – various shots are used to show ghouls emerging from hidden places. The ghouls are the main part of the video, and many different kind of shots are used to show many kinds of ghouls.
• 2.02 – A master shot shows every monster walking towards Michael and his girlfriend. The use of the mist and the dark setting help to emphasise the scared feeling the viewer should be feeling.
• 2.23 – close up showing one of the ghouls, the first time the camera shows the face clearly. Again, this makes the viewer feel scared, the main aim of the video.
• 2.26 – a Close up of Michaels girlfriend shows her scared. The camera then dollys around to reveal Michael has became one of the ghouls and that the movie before showing someone looking similar to him and turning inot a warewolf could be a type of foreshadowing this event. This shot of Michael comes as a surprise to the viewer. As there was no indication he would become one as he was also looking worried whilst being surrounded earlier.
• 2.40 – A very effective master shot is used to reveal all the ghouls dancing. Very surreal makes the video scary, yet also humorous. The camera then moves backwards, left and right, following the dancers, but also keeping Michael Jackson in the centre as he is the main character and main dancer.
• The main structure of this video is based around narrative and performance based. The performance can be when he is dancing with all the ghouls. As Michael Jackson is an amazing dancer, he usually shows this off in his videos. Narrative storyline as the lyrics fit in with the image.
• The mise en scene for this video is very fitting. ghoul costumes, an old abandoned dusty house, dark sky, mist etc all help to make the video scary.
• The target audience for this video would be fans of the horror genre. They could appreciate this video as they enjoy scary things.
• This video was a major part of Michael Jackson career. It was shown on TV as a premier special after 11pm when it was released and he became well known for the video. It won many awards for him.
• This video is set in new York and performed against the stock exchange. The main aim of the video is to make people realise how common poverty is, and that the government and politicians only care about the market and stock exchange. They performed the video outside the stock exchange, and after seeing in the video several times being told to get down and trying to be stopped by police, the refuse and continue, before getting arrested at the end.
• The video starts off with a zoom in of wall street, and inside the stock exchange of everyone working.
• 0.26 – A master shot is used to show the whole band performing whilst standing outside the stock exchange. Including shots of police telling them to get down.
• 0.37 – A medium shot shows a man in a studio, hosting a game show with the title written across his head, “Who wants to be filthy f%*£ing rich.
• 0.47 – The lead singer sings the lyrics “the world is my expense” with a shot of money on the background. This tells the audience that he is talking about how expensive it is to live.
• 1.16 – one of the questions in the game show is “how many Americans don’t have health care” with the possible answers 45 million, and a few old people. Showing that the contestant is naive, the guesses a few old people and gets it wrong. Other questions in this game throughout the video with people always getting them wrong are “woman make, 30% less than men or babies” and “How many Americans live in poverty” with the possible answers “35 million, and what’s poverty”. This is showing that not many people are aware of how many people are poor and that nothing is being done to solve it.
• 1.11 – high angle shot of the guitarist playing with people jumping around him. This is showing that people are getting involved and supporting the music they are playing which helps to support the reason they are playing which is to make the government aware of all the bad things they are doing nothing to help.
• 2.25 – a medium shot shows the bassist being told to stop playing by police. They tell him, then try to stop him playing the strings. He still continues which shows that he is trying to do anything to make people aware.
• 3.20 – various shots show the band being taken away and the stock exchange closing. This shows that they made people aware and at the very end, this message is shown. “At 2.52pm in the middle of trading day, the stock exchange was forced to close it’s doors. No money was harmed”. The fact they closed it down and then say no money was harmed shows they are being sarcastic towards them.
• The video is showing people what bad things are happening that nobody is helping to solve. It makes people aware and also puts pressure onto the government and politicians to do something now it has been more publicised.
• Target audience to this video could well be people who can relate to what they are trying to show. People who live in poverty might agree and this may resort to them putting more pressure of the government to do something.
• Performance based narrative is used when they are playing at the stock exchange. Various shots show this frequently throughout the video. Narrative is certainly used, where things they say mean something important and that the shots of the game show, the money in the background and them to not stop playing shows this.
red and black animation is prominent throughout the video. The animation is always present and the video is set in the desert on a long stretch of road.
• The video starts off quite relaxed, just a shot of the fence disappearing into the distance. Suddenly, the video kicks in with a blast of music and the car crashing through the fence and steering itself onto the road.
• 0.06 a pan shows the band on the truck performing. The drummer is in the passenger seat, while the guitarist and bassist are on the back.
• Everything is extremely past paced, also shown through the shot of the car hitting the red zone in the revs, then speeding off into the distance. Things are very quick and are only on screen for around a second.
• 0.56 – the camera shows a bug walking across the road, which the car the runs over, the camera dollys around to follow the car then tilts up to reveal a girl dancing.
• 1.20 – the car is driving off into the long distance and a wide Ariel shot is used to show a sexual innuendo of the car driving off to the girl from a distance, as the girl is very large in comparison to the size of the car.
• A tilt down reveals another car, people wearing balaclavas looking very mad and aggressive. They speed off into the distance which gives the feeling that they are possibly chasing there bands car.
• An Ariel shot shows the car driving up towards it from a distance at a very fast pace. The camera flips over to follow it once it has passed the camera. This is a simple use of camera work but looks very clever and effective.
• 2.24 – a shot of the cars about to crash, literally centimetres away then fades in to two people about to kiss. Once the cars do crash, it again fades to show the people kissing. Back to crashing cars, and an explosion of sperm again is another sexual innuendo used to show the video as being very modern and sexy.
• After the explosion, new colours are used to make it look arty. Shots of flowers and dancers make the video look quite trippy.
• All structures of the video is used. Performance on the back of the pick up truck shows the band performing the song. Narrative as the lyrics fit into the image. For example “she said i throw myself away”, then leads to josh home actually throwing something off the truck. “go with the flow” could mean lots in this video. Concept as there are a lot of random happenings in this video. The explosion of sperm, the dancers, the enemy car etc.
• The target audience could be arty people, as they would appreciate the innuendos, colour and animation of the video.
• Firstly, the most noticeable thing about the video is the animation that it starts with and uses frequently throughout the video. The lead singer is drawing himself and these visual effects could be linked to the lyrics “I’m beginning to feel I should be the one behind the wheel”. This could mean taking control of his life and steering (referring to the wheel) his life in a new direction.
• The animation doesn’t have much colour, which could represent a plain and bland life he has lived.
• The lyrics throughout the song occasionally refer to possibly “steering the wheel” into a new direction.
• At 20 seconds, the camera zooms into the lead singers face, revealing a blank expression, which again could link to the bland colour of the animation of how he feels about his life. Boring, dull and that he needs to take control.
• On 39 seconds, the use of editing by fading from the lead singers face normally into the animated face of the lead singer. This is a very clever technique of editing as it is simple yet effective by merging the two different pictures.
• 1.14 – A high angle shot is used to make him look powerful and big. This could again relate to the lyrics about having to take control of his life and turn it around.
• 2.30 – again, turning his life around is shown through the camera filming upside down. Things appear obscure and distorted.
• 3.26 – a medium shot of some decks is quickly edited to show different sides of the DJ in rhythm with the beat of the decks. This makes the filming feel more smooth and the editing in time.
• There is lots of performance shots used in the video. Guitar playing, drumming and singing are all examples. Also, a narrative is used in the form of animation which is showing then that he needs to turn his life around.
• Mise en scene in the video include instruments and that’s mainly it. They have filmed the video in a large room mainly with wooden flooring and nothing else. Again, this could relate to his boring and dull un-entertaining life and showing this through having a large, empty, open room.
• Target audience – arty people would appreciate this video, as they can appreciate the animation side of it. Very acoustic/indie meaning it can be targeted to a larger range of music genre fans.
• The video starts with the camera flying over the orange, misty and strange sea. The words “Crying Lightning” appear on top, to inform the viewer the name of the song.
• 0.12 – The camera tilts up, and with the mist disappearing, it reveals the band performing on a wooden sailing boat.
• 0.35 – A zoom in of Alex Turned singing then pans across the boat to reveal the whole band performing.
• 1.15 – As the lyrics “on a rainy afternoon” are sang, it begins to rain. The scene then turns blue, which gives a sense of the sea and rain. The rain not only ties in with the lyrics, but aso the name of the song, “crying lightning”.
• 1.30 – as the tempo of the music begins to increase, the sea and waves become more violent and choppy, which could relate to the heavier music.
• 2.40 – A tilt up reveals a guitarist emerging from the water. The high angle shot makes the figure look powerful, as if it should be feared, which is also shown on Alex Turners face as he looks upon the figure which emerged from the water.
• 3.13 – The pan across all the members of the band emerging from the water. The high angle master shot makes them all look large and powerful.
• Props used within the video are those that link to the sea. The drummer is frequently seen using objects such as a pipe, telescope and when playing drums as the large figure, they have been replaced with barrels. Also the more obvious props such as instruments and the boat are used but the lighting changeing to suit the mood of the music as well helps to create a scene that fits in with the lyrics as well as the music.
• Target audience – Fans of the indie/rock genre will appreciate this song, as it good example of the genre.
• Whilst using performance shots of the band in the boat and also as the large figures, they also use narrative by linking lyrics such as rainy afternoon, then it begins to rain. It also involves concept by being in violent waves in a wooden boat in the middle of the sea.
Music Theory
Music video theory
John Goodwin believed that for a music video to be recognised and successful it must have 6 features to it. These we’re;
• Genre Characteristics – Every genre of music has a certain Characteristics, for example, a heavy metal video might have a lot of performance shots, and a pop video may have lots of dance scenes.
• Relationship between lyrics and visual – this means that whats happening in the video must have something to do with the lyrics so it has at least some narrative based scenes.
• Relationship between music and visuals – Whatever tempo or beat of music should be shown in the visuals. For example, calm music shown have calm acting.
• Lots of close up shots – including the artists, props, motifs. There should be some kind of visual style.
• Frequent notion to looking and treatment of the female body – seeing things from different perspectives, For example through a telescope, seeing things more clearly. Studying of the female body.
• Intertextual references – Should link to something else such as a film, tv or other music video.
I agree with these ideas, that the visuals should link to the music and the lyrics and that the intertextual references help the audience to understand the stoy maybe etc. However, for a music video to include all of these factors is very hard and rare to find. One video that contains all of this is “The Kill” by 30 Seconds to Mars. I analysed the video only looking for these 6 elements and here is what i found.
Genre Characteristics
• Rock band wearing all black
• Lots of performance shots
Relationship between visuals and lyrics
• “I tried to be someone else” whilst looking at the person identical to him
Relationship between visuals and music
• The way Jared Leto sings in the chorus when the tempo of the music builds up becomes more aggressive, as if he is shouting down the microphone
• Playing the instruments also becomes more flamboyant, For example, swinging guitars around. As if they were performing a real gig.
Lots of close ups
• There are many close up’s of Jared Leto singing.
• Close ups of objects that possibly have meanings behind them
Looking/female body
• At one point a woman comes out the shower to kiss one of the members of the band
• When Jared Leto see’s himself, he is looking into what is essentially him, just from a different perspective.
Intertextual references
• The whole video is based around the classic horror movie “The Shining”. It includes many scenes from the movie, including the room number and not to go in the room, being in charge of a hotel over a winter, the two girls, one member of the band sits behind the bar and although we never see the bar person, it is still a very noticeable scene, which is used in the video
• Another reference could be when he is throwing the ball against the wall, it could be a reference to “The Great Escape” where steve McQueen throws the ball against the wall as he is trapped and it kills time. This could be a reference to feeling trapped in the hotel.
The video was an extreme success and has achieved over 30 million views on YouTube. So as this video contained everything that was believe to make a good video by Goodwin, then his theory is very accurate and correct.
I tried to analyse other music videos such as “That Golden Rule” by Biffy clyro but only met 4 of the criteria. Other videos I tried to see if they would fit in with the specification we’re Enter Shikari, Radiohead, Arctic monkeys ect but only 3 or 4 we’re met. I do think the theory is a good one, and that if it includes all criteria it is a success, however, finding a video which included everything was fairly difficult as not many videos actually do contain all the factors Goodwin thought would make a successful video so although it is the recipe for a successful video, it also makes a rare and complicated video.
John Goodwin believed that for a music video to be recognised and successful it must have 6 features to it. These we’re;
• Genre Characteristics – Every genre of music has a certain Characteristics, for example, a heavy metal video might have a lot of performance shots, and a pop video may have lots of dance scenes.
• Relationship between lyrics and visual – this means that whats happening in the video must have something to do with the lyrics so it has at least some narrative based scenes.
• Relationship between music and visuals – Whatever tempo or beat of music should be shown in the visuals. For example, calm music shown have calm acting.
• Lots of close up shots – including the artists, props, motifs. There should be some kind of visual style.
• Frequent notion to looking and treatment of the female body – seeing things from different perspectives, For example through a telescope, seeing things more clearly. Studying of the female body.
• Intertextual references – Should link to something else such as a film, tv or other music video.
I agree with these ideas, that the visuals should link to the music and the lyrics and that the intertextual references help the audience to understand the stoy maybe etc. However, for a music video to include all of these factors is very hard and rare to find. One video that contains all of this is “The Kill” by 30 Seconds to Mars. I analysed the video only looking for these 6 elements and here is what i found.
Genre Characteristics
• Rock band wearing all black
• Lots of performance shots
Relationship between visuals and lyrics
• “I tried to be someone else” whilst looking at the person identical to him
Relationship between visuals and music
• The way Jared Leto sings in the chorus when the tempo of the music builds up becomes more aggressive, as if he is shouting down the microphone
• Playing the instruments also becomes more flamboyant, For example, swinging guitars around. As if they were performing a real gig.
Lots of close ups
• There are many close up’s of Jared Leto singing.
• Close ups of objects that possibly have meanings behind them
Looking/female body
• At one point a woman comes out the shower to kiss one of the members of the band
• When Jared Leto see’s himself, he is looking into what is essentially him, just from a different perspective.
Intertextual references
• The whole video is based around the classic horror movie “The Shining”. It includes many scenes from the movie, including the room number and not to go in the room, being in charge of a hotel over a winter, the two girls, one member of the band sits behind the bar and although we never see the bar person, it is still a very noticeable scene, which is used in the video
• Another reference could be when he is throwing the ball against the wall, it could be a reference to “The Great Escape” where steve McQueen throws the ball against the wall as he is trapped and it kills time. This could be a reference to feeling trapped in the hotel.
The video was an extreme success and has achieved over 30 million views on YouTube. So as this video contained everything that was believe to make a good video by Goodwin, then his theory is very accurate and correct.
I tried to analyse other music videos such as “That Golden Rule” by Biffy clyro but only met 4 of the criteria. Other videos I tried to see if they would fit in with the specification we’re Enter Shikari, Radiohead, Arctic monkeys ect but only 3 or 4 we’re met. I do think the theory is a good one, and that if it includes all criteria it is a success, however, finding a video which included everything was fairly difficult as not many videos actually do contain all the factors Goodwin thought would make a successful video so although it is the recipe for a successful video, it also makes a rare and complicated video.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Summer homework - Covers
• The front cover of this DVD cover is mainly the title and picture of Michael Jackson. The picture is simple a shot of Michael Jackson doing a dance he is well noticed for. He is wearing clothes associated with him, a suit, black shoes and white socks.
• The title on the front cover has 2 colours. His name is in black and to show that the DVD is made up of his number ones, the word “one” is written in red to stand out against the white background and black font and black and white picture also used on the front cover.
• The picture on the back of the DVD cover is again Michael doing a dance he is well know for by standing on his toes. However, the shot is just a close up of his feet and not showing anymore of him. This is used because his target audience can associate just his feet with him.
• Red font is used to read the list of songs on the DVD. Red could be used to write the name of the songs as they are all number ones and on the front cover, the word one is in red.
• The main background colour on this cover is white, and is used because the picture and font stand out really well against the colour and make for easy reading for the audience.
• There are 3 main colour schemes to this DVD cover, they are black, white and orange. Black is used as a main background as most font colours are easily read upon it. The white is mainly used as this, font against white background. Firstly for the band name at the top of the cover and secondly the list of songs within the DVD. As black and white is common, the orange is use for things such as writing used for dates, band name on the back of the cover etc.
• On the front cover there is only 2 pictures. 2 full pictures which viewers can easily see, but these pictures have also been broken into pieces to make a collage between the full images. The full images show the bands 2 main members, Noel and Liam Gallager. Noals picture is a close up of him wearing galsses with a natural expression with his mouth. The picture of Liam is a medium shot of him looking away from the camera wearing a smart suit jacket and t-shirt.
• On the back, the pictures of Liam and Noel are used again but there are also pictures of the other members. The audience can tell that :iam and Noel are the main members due to their pictures being larger and used a lot more than the other members.
• The writing overlaps other writing on both sides of the covers. This technique is good because it is still readable as they are both different colours but also it looks clever and arty.
• This cover is obviously very colourful. The background colour is lime green and the font colours and pictures of colours are colours which stand out well against it like red, blue etc.
• The front covers picture is an animated performance shot of the band playing. The title is also using humour to attract it’s audience saying “The show must go off”. This suggest that maybe the band is quite childish by have a cartoon picture and using humour which could identify it’s target audience. There is also a theatre theme, being reinforced by the red curtain and a band playing on stage.
• The name of the band is easy to see. It is written in white against a red background and the font is fairly large. The same on the back, although still using the white font, it is against a yellow background.
• On the back, there are more pictures but on the back they are not animated. They are all performance shots but from different angles including master shot, close up etc. The pictures are set in frames which again makes it seem quite grand and that it is performed in a large theatre.
• The song list stands out amongst the busy crowded back cover. The yellowy background stands out against the lime green background and the black writing stands out making the list easy to read for the audience.
• Although the cover is very busy with things overlapping each other and using lots of different colours, it looks really good. Important things stand out and the theme of the theatre with the grand frames and the red curtain make it seem that the live show has been performed in a theatre.
• On the DVD cover, the background is a baige colour, mainly with red and black font used on top. These colour fonts stand out well against the colour, meaning and easy to read DVD cover.
• The largest part of the front of the cover is a performance shot of the guitarist Angus Young. The schoolboy image he had was very well know for AC/DC so the audience can associate the image with the band.
• The logo above the head of the picture stands out very well. The lightening bolt referring to AC/DC as electrical outputs but could also refer to there electric and power driven performances. The size of the logo is fairly large and although there is only 4 letters in the name, it is large enough to stand out well without taken up a majority of the cover.
• The title of the DVD “World series of rock” is written in red on the front and back of the cover. Like the logo, this stands out really well against the bage background.
• On the back, there again more performance shot pictures of the band performing. This time there are different members of the band.
• Black font is used to read the names of the songs played. This black font (like the red) stands out well and is easy to read for the audience.
• There are black borders on the back separating 2 sections of font and 2 pictures. This is used so that it spaces components out so that the back cover is not cramped with things overlapping others.
• The background colour of this cover is black, which is linked to the dark and heavy music that the band play. The black is used well as writing, such as song titles and dvd title is in red. This stands out well so it makes it easy for the audience to read.
• The picture on the front is of masks the band wear. The band is well known for wearing masks so the picture represents the whole image the band portray. The masks look quite aggressive, and intimidating as you cant see the bands real faces. This picture does the represent the bands main image.
• On the front cover, Slipknot is written in a different kind of font to other font on the cover. This stands out well as it is what identifies the DVD, but also the white font stands out against the black and also other red font on the cover.
• On the back there are no pictures, only writting with a list of the songs played on the DVD. This is red font to stand out against the black background making it easy to read for the audience.
• Like many other DVD covers I analysed, the band is a rock band. And a recouring theme for rock band DVD covers is to have a plain black background with red font for titles and song titles. This cover is no exception, the front cover doesn’t have much on. The black background again makes it easy for the reader to read the red font for the name, location and date of the event.
• On the front cover though, the most obvious feature is the logo of the band, made up of a skull, guns and roses. It’s the most colourful feature on the front cover and stand out well as there isn’t much black so it therefore does not blend into the background, which is all black.
• Again, like many other rock band covers, on the back of the cover, there is red font listing song titles and credits, which stand out against a black background.
• On the back, there are also some pictures. All 3 are performance pictures of the band playing in the event which stand out amongst the cover as there are no oither pictures that are not animated.
very noticeable thing about this is the union jack flag. The use of this has two meanings. First about the nationality, which shows the viewer they are classic British rock which helps to find it’s target audience. Secondly, it shows that the show they are playing a gig in England, which is also highlighted well by writing the venue and date in white against a red background which stands out well so the reader can easily see where they we’re playing.
• The font of the bands name “Def Leppard” is in a very unique font, very pointy which stands out amongst the other fonts which are also on the cover. This font would be used to stand out so the audience can easily see what the DVD is about and who is the main subject.
• On the cover there are two pictures. On the front cover, there is a master shot of the band posing. They stand out well by wearing dark colours and having the photo taken against a light background. The second picture is a performance shot of the lead singer coming down some stairs to the main stage to perform. As the shot is very wide, it also shows some other members of the band performing as well.
• The main background colour is black. This would be mainly used so they can use white font to show the songs played and the name of the DVD. It is simply used as it stands out well and clearly shows what it is meant to.