Letter Of Permission

We needed to send a letter to 'Bombay Bicycle Club's' label company. We sent both a physical letter and an attachment to an email to Island Records. In the letter we stated our purposes for the music track and the agreement for covering the track with another artist.

We received no reply to either of our communications. But continued our work anyway going by it was for education purposes.






Written By Joel
Letter By Ryan

Moodboard

We created a MoodBoard to help us get a feel for what sort of imagery and scenes to put into our final piece this will be especially helpful for creating the DigiPaks

Written and Image Edits By
Joel Wright

Original Images collected by
Ryan Moffitt

Choice of song

Our choice of song had to be changed due to a technical fault on the server, to remedy this we chose a different song "Dust on The Ground" by Bombay Bicycle Club. This was chosen on recommendation from a friend, after we listened to the song and planned a quick story we decided that the lyrics would work and could easily be translated into film. Although we liked the song we decided to organise a recording to cover the song, we chose our friend and fellow media studies student to preform the vocals and acoustic guitar and act in the film. The advantage of this is so that in the live performance shot he could look realistic when singing and playing guitar, and in the narrative shots we could have the same person so that the story has more power and emotional value, as with two different actors doing the different parts the story would be detached and fragmented,and as matt was readily available, the shooting schedule did not have to be changed. After we got the hard copy of the track and listened to it we decided that this was the direction to take our coursework and proceeded to use the track.

Written by Ryan Moffitt

Proof read by Joel Wright

Project Proposal

In this project we are going to film and make a music video. Also we are going to make a digipak. To do all this we need a strict planning schedule that we must follow closely. One part of our plan that we need to stick to is the shooting schedule. Due to the cameras and equipment being shared across multiple groups, we have a set, and minimal time to use them. So a member of our group will devise a schedule for us to fit to. This will allow us to make optimum use of our time, and possibly travel to any needed locations.

Our story is a hybrid of narrative and performance for a more entertaining piece, though this is not without its problems. Granted for every problem comes a Joel and Curtis solution XD Here is what we decided to do, for various reasons.

We decided to make not just one, but two story boards. One of which is the narrative, and the other is performance. This allows for vast elasticity for as we can now merge the two story boards at any given time, removing what does not wok and adapting what does. This idea allows us to have much more freedom in the creation of our video, mainly due to the salient fact that we had not yet heard the song before we began our planning. This caused palpable and perpetual hurdles for us to overcome.

After that we will need a treatment to follow and give us a rough outline as to what to film. This is basically a semblance of the story.

Our deadline has been made clear to us and we see how much of a stretch it will be to complete set work, however by sticking to the plans that we are to lay out, then we should be able to manage.

By Curtis S Jones
Input by Joel

And Ryan

Magazine Analysis

Magad reviews;
In this first magazine advert, there is a good use of light colours which give a surrealistic and morpheus feel to the advert. This, I would assume, links prevalently with the band themselves, who would be of an indie nature. Therefore aiming at a youthful audience of ages ranging from 16-24 years.

Also on the advert, there are reviews from magazines and other large franchises that the audience will respect. They obviously only chose good reviews, else they would have a completely opposite effect on the entire ad campaign.

Other small notable additions would be the mention of play.com, a very large internet supplier of music. There is also, the date at which you can purchase the album from.

This is the second advert that I have chosen. It is

a HMV advert, much like ours will be. And so we will need to have many of the same features. Like the palpable "hmv' logo. The right hand symbols that are also trademark of HMV.

The ad itself has a very dark feel, this fits snug with the genre of music, that being hard rock. A genre typified by a gothic nature, that requiring darkness.

Also, the image is just one person, this person is an icon to many who enjoy this genre. Therefore it is not a good idea to obscure or block him. A final footnote about him in the picture is his guitar. For those less knowledgeable as to who he is, this gives a final subtle hint.

This magazine advert is very different, a very unique looking ad that stands out. It is like a magazine within a magazine, smart :P. Also the themes within are decadent. This is something that we will be applying to our ad. What is surprising however is the brightness of the ad, this juxsta position of turpitude and brightness also helps it to stand out.

This, unlike other HMV ads is, as previously mentioned, bright. Where as HMV ads are usually black or dark? :s I however think we will stick to the conventions rather than changing it too much.

Written by Curtis

Adverts supplied by Joel

Digipak Analysis

Greenday digipak

View more presentations from HyperMegaMuffin.

music video comparison

For the first task we were asked to find similarities between two different music videos in the same genre

I choose the metal genre and the songs H.I.M: Wicked Game and Rob Zombie: Living Dead Girl

In the music video for Wicked Game H.I.M follow the conventions more strictly than in Rob Zombies Living dead girl E.g the whole band can be seen in wicked game and the video is performance and narrative whereas in living dead girl only Rob Zombie can be seen and the video is a homage to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. There are similarities in both H.I.M's Wicked Game and Rob Zombies Living Dead Girl both are dark in lighting and nature with the imagery being

dark and satanic at times both videos have moments that can be perceived as humorous. both videos have the lead singer singing straight to the camera and the audience, both videos have a narrative and story.

in conclusion both videos follow the general conventions of metal and both have their differences. most metal videos seem to have these main points: singing directly to camera, dark often satanic imagery, the whole band preforming at some point in the video, humorous moments and dark dank colours.

Music Video Analysis 8

Rob Zombie's Living Dead Girl

Genre: Heavy Metal

Usual generic conventions: instrumentals in the video, The whole band onscreen at once playing their instruments

non narrative based and loose connections with lyrics

analysis: Start with iris wipe into an iris shot, film grain and flicker thus giving the appearance of an old silent film giving an unusual style then the title appears in the style of the old silent films, throughout the whole of the music video the iris shot, film grain and flicker convey age and helps the viewer quickly understand that it is set in the late 18

00's early 1900's onwards this fits in with the lyrics to convey the narrative of a strange doctor reanimating a woman. The videos derives its imagery from a 1920 silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with Rob Zombie in the role of Caligari, and the eponymous girl in the place of Cesare the Somnambulist. The video imitates the appearance of aged, silent films, using inter-titles and artificially grainy and jumping film. Like Caligari, it also uses black and white film that has been tinted sepia, aqua, and violet for expressionistic effect. The video was directed by both Joseph kahn and Rob Zombie.

The video is typical for Rob Zombies work using surreal imagery and including comic moments His video work can be likened to the work of Rammstein who also use over the top imagery and comic moments for the same effect although their videos often don't correlate to their lyrics, and they often have the whole band instrumentals not just as a narrative


By Ryan Moffit

Music Video Analysis 7

Alice Cooper Poison

Genre: heavy metal

Usual generic Conventions: features whole band, lyrics coincide with video, Dark imagery and gothic clothing.

The video starts with alice cooper opening a door he is in shadow with light beams behind him and surrounded by fog this is so we are unable to clearly see him and is used to distance the audience from him this is often seen in metal videos.

strobe lighting and a black and white effect are used through out the video for visual appeal and to disorientate the viewer.

having the whole band appear in the video is conventional for the genre and is visually appealing for the fans, and give a concert like stimulus for said fans

the chains in the video are used to reenforce the lyrics of the song and makes the video more appealing and interesting to watch

alice cooper singing directly to the camera is conventional to the heavy metal genre and used to directly engage the audience

the metal contraption that alice cooper is chained to is again used to reenforce the lyrics and is a cinematically effective conclusion the video when the ghostly woman appears in alice coopers place at the start of the video where it is revealed alice kills her with poison

By Ryan Moffit

Music Video Analysis 6

Chosen Song - Jason Mraz "I’m Yours"

Location This piece is not specific about but from the opening scenes we can tell that it is based in a hot climate. Some of the indicators of this is the plan on the runway this could show travel and the foreign landscapes that we are presented in the opening 12 seconds. This idea of a location is then expanded on with different places depicted though out the music video. The sound of waves and the image of the road sign also reinforce this idea, along with the scenes of the sea showing a longing to travel and never stop.

Lighting The lighting in this video is all natural and unlike other music videos there is no secondary lighting to trying to remove the shadows. These dark shadows show an un certainty about the actors emotions or destination Editing By cutting from one image to another the viewer is forced to put together an image of where the performer is and what he doing. But due to the establishing shot we have some idea of the theme of this song with the main vocalist sitting in the shadows on a plan.

Written By Joel

Music Video Analysis 5

Chosen Song – Cut/Copy - "Lights and Music" Location This music video is obviously taken in a studio. And they are projecting a video of themselves onto the wall behind them. This is made obvious at 1:15 where we see on of the band members walking in front of the camera and the same effect behind him. Camera Angles In this video majority of the shots are cutting people out due to the

background effect, this then makes the viewer piece together the images of the band members. The first full shot we see of someone is at 0:33 this could show that the he is more important than other performers (Lead Vocals) Lighting I think the lighting mainly comes from a side lamp to lights the side of the performers and the rest of the lighting are covered by the video background being projected onto them. This shows that the darkness can be over come with colors (Good wins over Evil) Costume Like my previous analysis the performers are wear very casual clothing. But because there is no form of drama in this performance there is no need for any change of clothes. When you look closely at the members of the band you can see although they are wearing casual clothing they are also all wearing white this could link with the Good over Evil theme again, showing the music is counteracting the darkness. Editing In this video we start with a blurry image of some colours, which then slowly turn into a image of one of the performers. BY starting with a black background and slowly introducing a blurry image of the band we both disorientate the viewer and intrigues them as the want to know what the image will become. Written By Joel

Music Video Analysis 4

Chosen Song -Vampire Weekend - "Cousins" Location In this music video you can see that the footage has been shot in the alley of a built up area. They have used different items that have been painted and also shapes to give the video more colour and disorientate the viewer.

Camera Angles This music video is quite clever as it uses a static shot with no panning but the camera has been loaded onto a dolly and track allowing them to move back and forward. Then during the editing process they have cut so during the singing of the song the viewer sees the singer jump from place to place will the song continue un-interrupted. Lighting At first look we see just the natural lighting on the street but after considering how to get extra light on the performers I think that there would have been use of reflective panels, this could show that they are not trying to give the music a dark or happy feel that in the end its just music that doesn't make any sense. For example at 0:47 we can see that the left side of the performers are being lightened Costume Like most music videos of this genre the performers are wearing their casual clothes while performing. We see a change in this at 0:55 where they start putting some drama into the music video we see that the vocalists clothing changes to fit the music. After that instant the clothing of the band returns to casual and the video continues. Finally at 1:50 the bands clothing changes to a black jumpsuit this could indicate a darker side to the performers or linking to a phrase in the lyrics Editing The movement of the cuts regularly to the beat of the music, this then allows the viewer to get more of a feel for the music. At 0:33 we see a simple cut to change the item and at 1:47 when the singer changes. Both of these situations are simple to reproduce but in the way they have been used can give an excellent effect.

Written By Joel

Music video comparitives

These are all the similarities of the video's I have collected. They have these similarities because they are in similar genres, metal, heavy metal and industrial. So their audience and techniques should have some similarities;

• All have a narrative
• Dark and uncomfortable to watch
• Animated
• Elements of a movie
• Deep meanings
• Begins dark
• Video picks up with the music
• Working class audience symbolized in all video's
• Pertaining to injustice

By Curtis S Jones

Music video analysis 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPhvqP-eWWM

• This video has a creepy feel throughout
• A narrative but not very well explained
• Video used mainly as an intro for the band
• This video was banned
• Very dark and uncomfortable to watch
• Sounds added in; Beeps, flies, etc
• Grainy

By Curtis S Jones

• semi-Animated
• Fast cuts and action
• Shows the bands various affectations
• Elements of a horror movie

Music video analysis 2

This video is about the misuse of power. The two main characters are greed and unity. Unity is

represented by the "good" character who the narrative follows and greed by the large monocle

wearing man shown throughout.

The video begins with military machines, showing that this song and video are pertaining to war

in a big way, and that the machines are in black and have a red and white symbol that looks a semblance

like the swastika tells us that the video is not looking favorably on war.

The flags are then shown on some black, suited soldiers. This symbolizes how the song is also

aimed at the countries themselves.

In amongst shots of war and carnage there is a shot of "greed" sitting calmly or even happily. This

is stating that the people in power are gaining from this, and this gain feeds their greed.

The video then goes to show how this is affecting the civilians, the average people, and that they

are suffering just to behoove the "Men of steel".

The video then goes on to the character unity, showing that if pushed too far, the people who are

being negatively affected by an injustice can fight back, and stand up, or in this video's representation,

break free. Through the smoke and umbra comes unity, hope, justice.

An "S" lands on Unity because the lyrics state "superman where are you know?", implying that maybe

he is our "superman", he then however throws the "S" away, saying that he is no superman, he

is but any man and every man.

He then stands up to the injustice, and others follow, this is showing that we all have a voice, and

if together, it can be heard.

The video then has a slow rewinding part, this is because within the song he is remembering what

it was like before, before the men in power were overtaken by avarice.

The two main characters then meet, the greed and power fears the voice and the unity.

By Curtis S Jones

Music video analysis

• This video begins in the dark in near silence. This fits to the song that also begins nearly silent.
• Then, the music kicks in, heavy and loud. So the video follows suit.
• It goes to a man using heavy threshing machinery.
• There are many quick cuts whilst the instruments are playing.
• Whilst the singer is singing then the cut rate slows as does the action on screen.
• The men in the video are of working class and this relates to the average listener of industrial music.
• Dark and dirty video, showing the hovel of their dwellings, this is a huge contrast to the next location.
• The woman enters and is deified by her dominance, the mens reaction to her etc.
• The video then has cuts back to the men working in the mine, and this shows us that they are working for her.
• The shots back to the mine also shows the bipolar lifestyle they live, seemingly due to her.
• The song itself is a love song, though as what happens with many Rammstein video's, the song is similar but

not exactly the same topic.

• As with all Rammstein videos that require actors (all except Links 2 3 4 and Moskau) the band themselves

play the roles.

• The narrative is a key feature in all Rammstein videos.
• As with the narrative in a lot of songs of a similar genre, like metal or heavy metal, the video is about an

injustice of sorts.

• At the "funeral" all the characters show unhappiness, even though she was the evil character.
• One person then looks up in joy, relief that they are know free. This is followed by an instrumental.
• Whilst she is dead the lyrics say "she is the brightest star of them all". This relates to the start of the video,

that though she mistreated them, she was the best thing that they knew

• The chorus then changes to "Nie kommt die sonne - never comes the sun" rather than "hier kommt die sonne -

here comes the sun". This lyric change in the video means that she has now gone, and whatever hope they had

before, has gone forever. However exclusively for the video, the chorus then changes back, this is when she comes

to, and is not dead, as previously predicted. In the normal version of the song, it remains as "nie kommt die sonne"

though the change is made specifically for the video. Also the intro from the normal version is added at the end of

this version, and it ends with the word "aus - end" that is usually at the start of the song after a count from 1-9. This

count is a german march, though the march goes from 1-10, at 10 it ends, though Sonne never reaches 10, this

symbolizes that his torment never ends.

By Curtis S Jones

Technology Available to Us

Blog Technology

We have looked around and found different ways to make our blog more multimedia based. With the help from a whole array of websites, such as the usual Youtube, Vimeo, SlideShare and Flickr. But we wanted to expand our knowledge even more and found some site that we never new existed. There where two that are worth mentioning firstly Picnik. This website gives us the opportunity to edit our images in a photoshop mock up, now when members of the group are at home we can make changes to our images simple and easily without the need for Photoshop.


P.S A more advanced Photoshop interface has been found called SplashUp

The second website is called Prezi, this website allows a supercharged version of powerpoint. This means instead of using the common website Slideshare for static slide we can get some more movement into the documents. You can see our first use of this below where we discus what camera to use ( Link Below).


Production Technology
Cameras to Choose



The software we are going to use is Final Cut Pro this allows us to use the wild array of tools that FCP has to offer. The other reason we have chosen to use this software is because every member of the group is familiar with the software meaning continues work can be carried out even when there are absences.

Written by Joel

Introduction

Welcome


This is an introduction to our A2 media blog. This is our second blog due to technical difficulties. Our original plans and blogs were made redundant when the song and music video had an entire overhaul. This was because our first song needed recording, and when the group member left it never did. And so we had to find a new song, and so a member of another group offered us a cover he had previously recorded. Hence we have had to create a whole new, single group blog. All of our old blogs can still be viewed, I shall put a link within this intro so you can see our previous work. Some of the work will be transfered over onto this blog due to it being still usable, but the majority can't be saved.

Joel Wright Blog

Curtis Jones Blog

Ryan Moffitt Blog

Why Music Video's are Important?


This entire piece of work is wrapped around the production of a music video. Music videos are one of the best ways to market songs. They add the visual element to the sound based medium. This allows the audience to enjoy music in multiple and varying ways. Due to this we knew that we had to fit the standing codes and conventions of existing music videos, both genre specific and not. This allows our video to be easily viewable to all, and not intimidating in anyway.

By Curtis input from Joel