Francesca and I had a successful shoot on Friday the 4th December. As we could not get hold of a third boy, we used another girl to be in the group of three who are filming and bullying the beggar. As I finished school early, I headed home to set up all the equipment while waiting for the rest of the actors to come back to my house to start filming.
Francesca arrived at my house at around 2.30 with four of our actors (Two boys, and two girls) Another actress was waiting at my house with me - the girl to be abandoned by the two boys. Before leaving my house, Francesca and I handed our copies of our pre-production storyboard to the cast and actors to look over. Most of the acting would be improvised however I wanted to show them that there was a structure to the day. Once they read through the storyboard, we put the equipment in our cars and drove to our first location in East Finchley. The location is a walk-way and path near a park, It was a five minute drive away.
The first shot involved the three teenagers appearing to tease the tramp by filming him on their mobile phones. The actor who played the tramp who we had filmed the week before was unable to attend the shoot so the actors had to pretend that he was there.
The shots of the three teenagers went quite well even though it was shot in only 20 minutes. Numerous shots were taken and this was definitely beneficial when it came down to the editing.
As no dialogue was present during the shoot we could direct the actors while they took the parts. This helped us is if they were doing a shot wrong we could speak over the camera and tell them what to do. When editing the shots we would simply remove the audio bars from the video footage in the editing software. This helped us direct the actors while filming which was much easier than telling them what to do then film in silence. After the scene of tormenting the beggar, we walked up the path and set the camera at an angle to film the teenagers walking along towards the camera. We did this in one shot as it was very easy to conduct and there wasn't much directing involved.
After this scene we are then introduced to the two promiscuous girls of whom are sitting on the bench. This is the shot where the group of teenagers walk by. What we wanted was for the group of teenagers to walk by them and start chatting them up. This shot was executed very well, just how my partner and I had imagined. The lonely girl would there therefore be left on her own - this continues our portrayal of isolation. Over 10 takes of this scene was needed so we could gather a range of angles and viewpoints. These shots also went quite well. My partner had taken a very good close up shot of Chloe's face while she turned away from her betrayed friends.
As this shot took quite a while to do, we didn't have long to finish off the rest of the shots as it was getting dark which would ruin the consistency of the shots. The final shot was of the boys flirting with the girls. This again was quite time consuming as we had to make the conversation look as natural as possible. What helped was that the group were already talking so the laughter we captured was natural. After a while we then see the group of teenagers walk back with the girls. The viewer can see that each of the individuals are 'drunk' as one of the girl characters staggers and stumbles as she walks. This is in relation to underage drinking which is common with alot of the youth today. In the editing process, we found that the darkness gave the shots a gritty and grainy look to them which emphasized the fact of depression and unhappiness.
Once we had finished the shots in the park, we all got back in the cars and traveled back to our last location which was my house. The entire group then had a small snack and tea break which was provided by me. Although this gave all our actors a well deserved rest, it did infact distract them and we struggled to get their sense of concentration back.
After 20 minutes of trying to get them to focus I thought what might be a better idea was just to film them in their natural state which was joking around and drinking. This came out very well and made the scene look completely natural. The house lights that were already within the living room, were used as the lighting to ensure the characters could be seen on camera and in high quality. Using the red-head lights that our school offered us would make the scene look staged and unrealistic - we wanted to create a realistic scene using 'real-life' lighting.
After these shots of 'flirting' and socializing were done, we then had to shoot the two girls arguing. This was achieved by the girls running upstairs and then they would start pulling each others hair. This looked very amateur even after putting it in the music video. We then decided just to add effects to the shot and blurred it out and cut the fighting into small segments. this made the scene look much better and professional.
Francesca and I then filmed the actors in their individual shots. We would ask them to first of all stare directly at the camera and then mime the lyrics to the song (so we could later synchronise it to the music track). This came out very well in the end and complimented the music video as a whole.
The afternoon as a whole was successful, even though we didn't have a long time to film outside, we did the best we could in the short amount of time. Even though the actors were great and did as they were told, it would of helped if they would of co operated much easier opposed to us having to keep on telling them to listen. Due to this we had to ensure we numerous takes for every single shot, as we had to make sure that we filmed correctly and successfully.
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Fridays Filming
We have arranged transport from school on Friday to film the left over footage for the music video. By creating an event on 'Facebook' we are now able to contact the various people and actors that are involved in the filming.
We have two boys and two girls definitely attending, we are still deciding which boy to invite along to star as the third and final boy actor.
Please see below a screenshot of the event on Facebook:
We have two boys and two girls definitely attending, we are still deciding which boy to invite along to star as the third and final boy actor.
Please see below a screenshot of the event on Facebook:
Schedule for tomorrows filming
We plan to shoot all the outside shots first as it gets dark at around 16.15.
(12.00 - 12.15: Planning with Francesca at my house)
Outside Scenes:
12.15 - 13.15: Shooting shots 6, 8, 9 & 10 (Boyfriend's scenes)
13.15 - 14.15 : Shooting shots 11 - 15 (Boyfriend and beggar's scenes)
14.15 - 15.15 : Shooting shots 16 - 20 (Beggar and boys' scenes)
15.15 - 15.45: Shooting shots 21 - 23 (Boys meet girls scenes)
15.45 - 16.15: Shooting shots 28 - 35 (Profile shots against wall)
16.15 - 16.30: Break from filming
Inside Scenes:
16.30 - 17.15 : Shooting shots 24-27 (Boys and girls socialising in house)
17.15 - 17.25: Dismiss all actors apart from boyfriend and girlfriend
17.25 - 18.00: Shooting shots 1 - 5 and 7 (Boyfriend and girlfriend scenes)
18.00 - Finish and clear up!
(12.00 - 12.15: Planning with Francesca at my house)
Outside Scenes:
12.15 - 13.15: Shooting shots 6, 8, 9 & 10 (Boyfriend's scenes)
13.15 - 14.15 : Shooting shots 11 - 15 (Boyfriend and beggar's scenes)
14.15 - 15.15 : Shooting shots 16 - 20 (Beggar and boys' scenes)
15.15 - 15.45: Shooting shots 21 - 23 (Boys meet girls scenes)
15.45 - 16.15: Shooting shots 28 - 35 (Profile shots against wall)
16.15 - 16.30: Break from filming
Inside Scenes:
16.30 - 17.15 : Shooting shots 24-27 (Boys and girls socialising in house)
17.15 - 17.25: Dismiss all actors apart from boyfriend and girlfriend
17.25 - 18.00: Shooting shots 1 - 5 and 7 (Boyfriend and girlfriend scenes)
18.00 - Finish and clear up!
Yesterdays filming
On the day of the filming, I had various disappointing telephone calls and text messages. All the actors had let us down apart from the couple at the beginning, and the beggar.
When Francesca arrived at my house, we realised the positive sides from the negative occurances. We were able to film shots 1 - 15 as we had the first main three characters.
We set up the camera on the dolly and we were ready to shoot. A few shots from the boyfriend and girlfriend scene were filmed (shots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7) We then also shot the beggar on the floor outside a shop along East Finchley highstreet.
Even though we did not shoot the whole of the music video, we still acheived various shots. We have planned and arranged transport and actors for after school (as we finish at 13.30) on Friday (4th December) for more filming with more actors.
When Francesca arrived at my house, we realised the positive sides from the negative occurances. We were able to film shots 1 - 15 as we had the first main three characters.
We set up the camera on the dolly and we were ready to shoot. A few shots from the boyfriend and girlfriend scene were filmed (shots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7) We then also shot the beggar on the floor outside a shop along East Finchley highstreet.
Even though we did not shoot the whole of the music video, we still acheived various shots. We have planned and arranged transport and actors for after school (as we finish at 13.30) on Friday (4th December) for more filming with more actors.
First set of filming
After being let down last weekend by the weather (22/11) we decided to start filming in the afternoon of Friday the 27th of November. Yet as our two actors (boyfriend and girlfriend) were unable to get to the set, we had to ensure we filmed their scene (and all the others) on Sunday (29/11).
As we then found the two actors (the boyfriend and girlfriend) were unable to attend on the 29th, we have managed to secure two people stepping in for their part on Sunday. With the boyfriend and girlfriend fight scene sorted, the actors for the beggar, three boys and two other girls needed to be concluded.
With asking a last minute boy to act as the beggar, we managed to also find three boys to act as the bullies towards the beggar. We are still short of the two girls (near the end of the music video) yet we hope to ask some friends today and tonight who are willing to take part.
As we then found the two actors (the boyfriend and girlfriend) were unable to attend on the 29th, we have managed to secure two people stepping in for their part on Sunday. With the boyfriend and girlfriend fight scene sorted, the actors for the beggar, three boys and two other girls needed to be concluded.
With asking a last minute boy to act as the beggar, we managed to also find three boys to act as the bullies towards the beggar. We are still short of the two girls (near the end of the music video) yet we hope to ask some friends today and tonight who are willing to take part.
Tuesday 24 November 2009
Dissapointment.
When waking up on Sunday morning, hearing and seeing the rain outside was not a good start to the day. After speaking to Francesca early that morning, we thought it would be best if we postponed our filming to a later date.
Filming this sunday
I collected the camera & dolly this evening from school so we are now ready to shoot some footage this Sunday (22/11).
Francesca and I are going to discuss and plan tomorrow and Saturday which scenes we are going to film, and in what order.
Francesca and I are going to discuss and plan tomorrow and Saturday which scenes we are going to film, and in what order.
Requests to actors for filming
Francesca and I decided that we would be filming on Sunday the 22nd of November. Francesca's responsibility was to contact two of the eight actors. She messaged the 'Girlfriend' and the 'Street Child'.
The two images below show actors for the Girlfriend and the Street Child.
By using 'Facebook', she was able to contact the two actors with ease. Please see the screenshot below that documents are messaging.
The two images below show actors for the Girlfriend and the Street Child.
By using 'Facebook', she was able to contact the two actors with ease. Please see the screenshot below that documents are messaging.
Risk Assessment
This is the Risk Assessment that we made before we filmed our music video. The final column helped us assess the extent to which the risk was.
L = Low, M = Medium and H = High.
Please see the Risk Assessment below:
L = Low, M = Medium and H = High.
Please see the Risk Assessment below:
Wednesday 4 November 2009
Avant Garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". It refers to people that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics.
Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The notion of the existence of the avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism, as distinct from postmodernism. Many artists have aligned themselves with the avant-garde movement and still continue to do so.
Music videos are usually incorporated with Avant Garde techniques as they offer distinctive styles that are typically familiar. The concept of avant-garde refers exclusively to marginalized artists, writers, composers and thinkers whose work is not only opposed to mainstream commercial values, but often has an abrasive social or political edge. Throughout our music video we intend to use the following styles of Avant Garde:
Early Soviet Cinema
The new state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, officially came into existence on December 30, 1922. Frequent features include the use of the montage effect which incorporates the fast cuttings/splicing/editing of sequences and individual shots to create an association of images to produce meaning. Examples of Early Soviet Cinema can be found in The End of St. Petersburg (Vsevolod Pudovkin, 1927)
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact.
Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement. Entr'acte by René Clair (1924) is a renowned film which juxtaposes reality and produces a new meaning - a surreality.
Wednesday 28 October 2009
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Course on General Linguistics (1916)
The course on General Linguistics is the influential book compiled by Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye, that is based on notes taken from Ferdinand de Saussure's lectures at the University of Geneva between the years 1906 and 1911.
It was published after his death in 1916 and is generally regarded as the starting point of structuralism which is an approach to linguistics that grew vigorously in Europe and America in the first half of the 20th century. Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempt to analyze a specific field such as mythology. Although Ferdinand was specifically interested in historical linguistics, the Course develops a theory of semiotics that is more generally applicable especially within France.
He first describes the science of seminoilogy that is, the deconstruction of the significance of images and words.
The sign is described as a "double entity", made up of the signifier, or sound image and the signified, or concept. The sound image is a psychological, not a material concept, belonging to the system. Both components of the linguistic sign are inseparable. One way to appreciate this is to think of them as being like either side of a piece of paper - one side simply cannot exist without the other.
This is related to our coursework as all of the scenes are related as they all coherent with one another as they ‘cross lives’ with one another.
Ferdinand De Saussure was one of the founders of semiotics who can be seen below:
It was published after his death in 1916 and is generally regarded as the starting point of structuralism which is an approach to linguistics that grew vigorously in Europe and America in the first half of the 20th century. Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempt to analyze a specific field such as mythology. Although Ferdinand was specifically interested in historical linguistics, the Course develops a theory of semiotics that is more generally applicable especially within France.
He first describes the science of seminoilogy that is, the deconstruction of the significance of images and words.
The sign is described as a "double entity", made up of the signifier, or sound image and the signified, or concept. The sound image is a psychological, not a material concept, belonging to the system. Both components of the linguistic sign are inseparable. One way to appreciate this is to think of them as being like either side of a piece of paper - one side simply cannot exist without the other.
This is related to our coursework as all of the scenes are related as they all coherent with one another as they ‘cross lives’ with one another.
Ferdinand De Saussure was one of the founders of semiotics who can be seen below:
Semiotics that we intend our music video to include:
- Symbolic references are made as the teenagers drink from a cider bottle near the end of the music video in the park. Choosing cider as the beverage of choice is to show that even though it has a strong taste, the teenagers still choose to drink it opposed to something sweeter like bacardi. This in a way is a symbol of rebellion, adolescence and youth culture. The media play a major part in this by creating an image of a teenager such as defining them as binge drinkers, violent etc which many teenagers adopt and play on the role of a. It is a symbol that has been defined by society and culture within certain countries, UK and Scotland in particular with its high under-age drinking rate.
- Again, obvious symbol the beggar on the street. The audience can clearly see he is a beggar by the way he dresses, his location of choice (sleeping on a towel on main road) and his overall appearance. All of these represent his status in society. We can see many people avoid him, this is common in todays society whereby most people avoid those of whom are more needy than them - in a sense they stick to themselves
- Icons will be used as the two girls await on the park bench for some male attention. Their short skirts and low tops symbolise their goal; they are dressed provocatively and this connotes sexual desire that the girls want, or passers by also desire. Their clothing is symbolic of the female seductress as this is how, conventionally, people in our society judge other individuals by their appearance. The boys are instantly attracted to them for their 'easyness' appearance and ditch the girl that is with them. This also relates to patriarchy within society whereby it is the men who have the dominance over the women - it is the men who feel they can leave anyone and move onto someone new at the same time.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Previous Work
Previous to the music video, I have had various experiences with creating and editing videos.
The first example I have was done for my AS level project. We had to construct a horror sequence. I entitled this 'Rope' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnaZ4ouxD7k
From doing this, I learnt different type of cut shots such as Jump shot and filming techniques like panning etc. I would say this helped me when editing the music video as it taught me the overall guide onto how to produce a video by using the in house editing suite. I used the same techniques and effects such as cross fade and ghosting to implement them in my music video.
At the end of year 12, we did a preliminary task to master lip syncing. This task however was very hard as we didn't have the audio present with us so we had to think about the song and try and match the motions of the mouth with the actual song. This proved successful as we can see below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InfqUG1y_1U
We didn't want to have as much lip syncing in our music video as we saw it as a problem as there arent many lyrics within the actual track. We thought it would be better to put it at the end of the music video as a sort of 'relaxing ending' whereby we see all the actors together lip syncing the lyrics. We found this to be very effective on our audience.
Present main ideas & thoughts
Our main ideas and thoughts at the present ...
The aim of this music video is to show the loneliness that people suffer (in accordance to the lyrics) and by documenting various people, their way of life and the decisions they make, the audience will see this loneliness.
Our shots:
- In the first scene, the opening shot will consist of the couple arguing at each other - face -to-face. This is also where the soundtrack begins. The close up shots of each of their faces will show both of their emotions and anger.
Cut-away shots will be used in the video. When our beggar character is being laughed at by the group of teenagers in the park, a cut-away shot will be used to show the point of view of the tramp aswell as the point of view from a bystander walking past the attack.
As we wanted the underlying theme to be loneliness, we will represent this by having one of the characters who is mocking the tramp to then be rejected by the rest when they go off to see the two girls in the park. We will have a panning shot of the teenagers reaction as the as the camera will then pan in the direction that the teenager is looking at to see the remaining group of teenagers flirting with the girls.
Our narrative
When constructing the script for the music video, Francesca and I had decided that we want to have a linear structure meaning that everything will happen in order - each action affecting the other just like a time line. This will not only emphasise the realism that we want to portray but we also want our audience to understand what is happening with all the individual characters rather then seeing little snippets of them and not getting the full effect of their isolation from society.
Our props:
For the props, we needed something for the girlfriend to throw at door when the boyfriend exits. We thought that we could get a vase however we would only have one try at it as if we don't capture the shot correctly it is very expensive to use another so I thought that the girlfriend could chuck a hairbrush as it is light but is also something which could be at her hand when in the bedroom.
We will also need turntables for the shot of the hand pressing play on the turntable. The last prop we will need is the bottle of vodka for the tramp to be drinking and a bottle of cider for the teenagers to be drinking as it is a common scene to see teenagers drinking from a cider bottle nowadays.
Our locations:
The aim of this music video is to show the loneliness that people suffer (in accordance to the lyrics) and by documenting various people, their way of life and the decisions they make, the audience will see this loneliness.
Our theories
Hegemony is a derived term from the Greek language emphasising power amongst leaders. This power and notion needs to be considered throughout the meaning of the music video. In our case, Francesca and I have the power as we are the directors of the music video, who are exerting power over the other audience as we have the choice on what to put into the music video. In a sense, we are feeding them with the visuals to make them think and learn.
In the music video, the audience can relate to the teenagers as they are sitting on a park bench on a cold day. They are dressed provocatively and are seen to be drinking alcohol in public which in todays society as anti-social behaviour. This then 'injects' the audience with thoughts and images of negativity just like the hypodermic syringe model whereby it is explained that the media 'inject' their audience with visuals to rule their decisions. Similarly, it is obvious that we, as consumers, have been manipulated by the media.
In relation to this model, we are told that people dressed in that manner are, in fact, seductive characters, and have been manipulated, without knowing, to believe it. This is because the audience are convinced by the media that if you conform to a certain socaial norm, you are infact playing that part - this is otherwise known as the self fulfilling prophecy. In our music video there is a high level of hegemony; as there are stereotypes of all different social groups, these being age (teenagers), gender (attrative females) and status (homeless man).
Following a different theory, E. A. Kaplan explores the way in which the artists face and image creates a visual hook for the audience and is used as a basis in gathering the audiences attention. This is not in connection with Dubstep as dubstep is seen as a subgenre whereby the mainstream music industries haven't grapsed the structure of dubstep and how it is supposed to be presented so the conventions that Kaplan describes are not necessary in the dubstep music video, which we will create. This is because dubstep in a sense is a rebellion against mainstream music. We wanted to portray this in our music video by rejecting the usual norms and conventions of music videos and to do the complete opposite. Kaplan explains how the audience habituate with the artists face and image and get to understand their positioning and reasoning behind some of their actions they do on screen. This is the complete opposite to our music video as in our video, we don't have any lead singer, we have numerous characters taking on the part of the singer by lip syncing the lyrics.
Below is an image of the front cover of Kaplan's book:
Some may consider our thoughts and ideas to be similar to the teenage drama 'Skins'. Certain elements, like the underage drinking of alcohol and promiscious girls in particular, allow the ideas, and the potential music video, to include and have a sense of intertextuality behind them. This is because our main focus and overall reasoning behind our music video is that we wanted to play the part that apparently teenagers act and so by playing these roles that are given to us, we are in a way mocking societies pre defined views. The image below is of the characters of skins. The mono-chrome effect used in this image is something that both my partner and I appreciate as it gives a sense of 'dirtyness' and rawness that some advertisements might not go for as they might choose to use more colour as its more eye catching. We will implement this effect in the post-production process, whilst editing.
The aim of this music video is to show the loneliness that people suffer (in accordance to the lyrics) and by documenting various people, their way of life and the decisions they make, the audience will see this loneliness.
Our shots:
- In the first scene, the opening shot will consist of the couple arguing at each other - face -to-face. This is also where the soundtrack begins. The close up shots of each of their faces will show both of their emotions and anger.
As above states, the close up and extreme close up shots will be used mostly during the start of the music video and after the boyfriend leaves the room we will then see the full body shots. With these close up shots of the couples argument, the shots will switch and jump cut to various shots such as medium close up, medium long shot & long shot to show the boyfriend leaving the bedroom swearing at the girlfriend after she slaps him and walking on a road - all in time with the beat.
Cut-away shots will be used in the video. When our beggar character is being laughed at by the group of teenagers in the park, a cut-away shot will be used to show the point of view of the tramp aswell as the point of view from a bystander walking past the attack.
As we wanted the underlying theme to be loneliness, we will represent this by having one of the characters who is mocking the tramp to then be rejected by the rest when they go off to see the two girls in the park. We will have a panning shot of the teenagers reaction as the as the camera will then pan in the direction that the teenager is looking at to see the remaining group of teenagers flirting with the girls.
Our narrative
When constructing the script for the music video, Francesca and I had decided that we want to have a linear structure meaning that everything will happen in order - each action affecting the other just like a time line. This will not only emphasise the realism that we want to portray but we also want our audience to understand what is happening with all the individual characters rather then seeing little snippets of them and not getting the full effect of their isolation from society.
Our props:
For the props, we needed something for the girlfriend to throw at door when the boyfriend exits. We thought that we could get a vase however we would only have one try at it as if we don't capture the shot correctly it is very expensive to use another so I thought that the girlfriend could chuck a hairbrush as it is light but is also something which could be at her hand when in the bedroom.
We will also need turntables for the shot of the hand pressing play on the turntable. The last prop we will need is the bottle of vodka for the tramp to be drinking and a bottle of cider for the teenagers to be drinking as it is a common scene to see teenagers drinking from a cider bottle nowadays.
Our locations:
For the first and last shot we are going to be using my house. In the first shot, it will take place in my bedroom as we have enough space to film and we have access to lighting aswell as having the turntables present in my room which will be used for the shot of the hand. We will be using my living room for the last shot when the teenagers sit on the couch as the room again is large enough to film and there is lighting which we can use.
The aim of this music video is to show the loneliness that people suffer (in accordance to the lyrics) and by documenting various people, their way of life and the decisions they make, the audience will see this loneliness.
Our theories
Hegemony is a derived term from the Greek language emphasising power amongst leaders. This power and notion needs to be considered throughout the meaning of the music video. In our case, Francesca and I have the power as we are the directors of the music video, who are exerting power over the other audience as we have the choice on what to put into the music video. In a sense, we are feeding them with the visuals to make them think and learn.
In the music video, the audience can relate to the teenagers as they are sitting on a park bench on a cold day. They are dressed provocatively and are seen to be drinking alcohol in public which in todays society as anti-social behaviour. This then 'injects' the audience with thoughts and images of negativity just like the hypodermic syringe model whereby it is explained that the media 'inject' their audience with visuals to rule their decisions. Similarly, it is obvious that we, as consumers, have been manipulated by the media.
In relation to this model, we are told that people dressed in that manner are, in fact, seductive characters, and have been manipulated, without knowing, to believe it. This is because the audience are convinced by the media that if you conform to a certain socaial norm, you are infact playing that part - this is otherwise known as the self fulfilling prophecy. In our music video there is a high level of hegemony; as there are stereotypes of all different social groups, these being age (teenagers), gender (attrative females) and status (homeless man).
Following a different theory, E. A. Kaplan explores the way in which the artists face and image creates a visual hook for the audience and is used as a basis in gathering the audiences attention. This is not in connection with Dubstep as dubstep is seen as a subgenre whereby the mainstream music industries haven't grapsed the structure of dubstep and how it is supposed to be presented so the conventions that Kaplan describes are not necessary in the dubstep music video, which we will create. This is because dubstep in a sense is a rebellion against mainstream music. We wanted to portray this in our music video by rejecting the usual norms and conventions of music videos and to do the complete opposite. Kaplan explains how the audience habituate with the artists face and image and get to understand their positioning and reasoning behind some of their actions they do on screen. This is the complete opposite to our music video as in our video, we don't have any lead singer, we have numerous characters taking on the part of the singer by lip syncing the lyrics.
Below is an image of the front cover of Kaplan's book:
Some may consider our thoughts and ideas to be similar to the teenage drama 'Skins'. Certain elements, like the underage drinking of alcohol and promiscious girls in particular, allow the ideas, and the potential music video, to include and have a sense of intertextuality behind them. This is because our main focus and overall reasoning behind our music video is that we wanted to play the part that apparently teenagers act and so by playing these roles that are given to us, we are in a way mocking societies pre defined views. The image below is of the characters of skins. The mono-chrome effect used in this image is something that both my partner and I appreciate as it gives a sense of 'dirtyness' and rawness that some advertisements might not go for as they might choose to use more colour as its more eye catching. We will implement this effect in the post-production process, whilst editing.
Ideas for Primary CD Covers
Taking images from our storyboard and actual music video, we have come up with two rough ideas for our Digipak for Stenchman.
The Two Ideas
1. The first idea was to have the artist (Stenchman) hand pressing play on the turntables. This can be drawn and coloured by hand and then scanned into the computer and edited in Adobe Photoshop CS2. Using design package will allow us to be more creative and format the text etc.
2. The other idea we thought was to use every character involved in the music video and to display them in a grid. We will use a 3 by 3 grid with name of Stenchman being in the top left box, whereas the other 8 boxes will include a straight-on shot of the 8 characters with sad emotions. After thinking of this idea, we then looked for other CD covers that were similar, to see where we subconsciously got our idea from. When we looked around at various images, we discovered that our concept was very similar to that of the American sitcom show 'The Brady Bunch'. Please see the image below, similarly also with 9 boxes.
The image below is an interpretation of our idea for our CD cover. As we do not have the still shots yet, I have used the original pictures of The Brady Bunch family, just to show our idea of adding text to the image. As the image below is just a prototype, when it comes to creating our final product, the images will be of our eight characters involved in our music video.
Following this idea of 8 images in a grid/table, the clubnight 'Joyride' used a similar aspect in one of their flyers for their New Years party by getting all of their djs to pose. A Polaroid image is taken of them which gives a gritty image of them. Their flyer is very informal whereas in our CD cover, the story behind the characters is much more serious of that of their party.
The Two Ideas
1. The first idea was to have the artist (Stenchman) hand pressing play on the turntables. This can be drawn and coloured by hand and then scanned into the computer and edited in Adobe Photoshop CS2. Using design package will allow us to be more creative and format the text etc.
2. The other idea we thought was to use every character involved in the music video and to display them in a grid. We will use a 3 by 3 grid with name of Stenchman being in the top left box, whereas the other 8 boxes will include a straight-on shot of the 8 characters with sad emotions. After thinking of this idea, we then looked for other CD covers that were similar, to see where we subconsciously got our idea from. When we looked around at various images, we discovered that our concept was very similar to that of the American sitcom show 'The Brady Bunch'. Please see the image below, similarly also with 9 boxes.
The image below is an interpretation of our idea for our CD cover. As we do not have the still shots yet, I have used the original pictures of The Brady Bunch family, just to show our idea of adding text to the image. As the image below is just a prototype, when it comes to creating our final product, the images will be of our eight characters involved in our music video.
Following this idea of 8 images in a grid/table, the clubnight 'Joyride' used a similar aspect in one of their flyers for their New Years party by getting all of their djs to pose. A Polaroid image is taken of them which gives a gritty image of them. Their flyer is very informal whereas in our CD cover, the story behind the characters is much more serious of that of their party.
Tuesday 13 October 2009
The Digipack cover & Homepage
For our coursework this year we do not only need to create a Music Promotion Video, but we also need to create a Digipak CD Cover and a website Homepage for our artist (or band). I have done some research into some different bands and genres of music to give us a basic idea as to what guidelines we need to follow when it comes to making our own.
Silkie - City Limits
The first artist I looked at was jazz dubstep DJ 'Silkie'. His debut album are not only various images of London (where dubstep originates) but is also in contrast with his title 'city limits. The images look fairly bland due to the colour and resolution. They would not be seen as 'limiting the boundaries of conformist locations' which is suggestive in the title. The simple use of photography is seen in each image. It is well crafted and it appears to be a scrap book like a collage.
'Hidden' on top of the images, you can find a pair of headphones. This reflects his musical enthusiasm and relates to his DJing. The background and mellow tones in the album cover represent the minimal style of music that he produced for this album.
The text used on the album cover is a stencil font which again is minimal in itself as there is no tone or fill colour.
As for the Homepage on his website (myspace), the background is completely different to his album cover. From the screenshot of his Homepage (click here)http://i34.tinypic.com/wwdqpc.jpg, the font appears as arial and bold. This gives the website a 'hard-lined' effect and the lack of bright colours add to this. With simple content on the page such as videos and images, Silkies myspace is easy to navigate around. When the cursor hovers over each link to the page, it underlines the link; please follow this link below to Silkies myspace http://www.myspace.com/silkie86
The Rolling Stones - Exile of main st
Similarly to the Silkie, The Rolling Stones use a very simple concept in their album and digipak artwork. The cover has various obscure and bizarre pictures all in black and white. The effect that this has is very powerful as the contrast of the images have a much more powerful effect on the view. This can represent the segregation of ‘freaks’ in society. People who didn’t conform to the average look. This reflects the title of the album ‘Exile on the main ST’. The dark colours portray an eerie or scary effect, but the viewer may also be confused as it is a very abstract design. It has a ‘vintage' & possibly ‘alternative’ look to it, this can maybe imply the kind of music the Rolling Stones play.
The image below shows the Rolling Stones website homepage. Having the background white, the effect that their famous slogan (the tongue) is very powerful as its bright red and catches the viewer’s eye. Having simple grey font, this colour scheme enables the duo to appear quite professional and mature. The navigation along the top is in a times new Roman font which makes it easy to navigate. The simple and straight lettered font also shows the band's rawness and maybe a rock attitude as well. A slightly more interesting feature is that users can register on their website to access ‘hidden’ material such as a forum and to listen to their music. As you move the cursor along each word in the navigation bar, the page links turn yellow; please follow up this link to their website - http://www.rollingstones.com/home.php
Silkie - City Limits
The first artist I looked at was jazz dubstep DJ 'Silkie'. His debut album are not only various images of London (where dubstep originates) but is also in contrast with his title 'city limits. The images look fairly bland due to the colour and resolution. They would not be seen as 'limiting the boundaries of conformist locations' which is suggestive in the title. The simple use of photography is seen in each image. It is well crafted and it appears to be a scrap book like a collage.
'Hidden' on top of the images, you can find a pair of headphones. This reflects his musical enthusiasm and relates to his DJing. The background and mellow tones in the album cover represent the minimal style of music that he produced for this album.
The text used on the album cover is a stencil font which again is minimal in itself as there is no tone or fill colour.
As for the Homepage on his website (myspace), the background is completely different to his album cover. From the screenshot of his Homepage (click here)http://i34.tinypic.com/wwdqpc.jpg, the font appears as arial and bold. This gives the website a 'hard-lined' effect and the lack of bright colours add to this. With simple content on the page such as videos and images, Silkies myspace is easy to navigate around. When the cursor hovers over each link to the page, it underlines the link; please follow this link below to Silkies myspace http://www.myspace.com/silkie86
The Rolling Stones - Exile of main st
Similarly to the Silkie, The Rolling Stones use a very simple concept in their album and digipak artwork. The cover has various obscure and bizarre pictures all in black and white. The effect that this has is very powerful as the contrast of the images have a much more powerful effect on the view. This can represent the segregation of ‘freaks’ in society. People who didn’t conform to the average look. This reflects the title of the album ‘Exile on the main ST’. The dark colours portray an eerie or scary effect, but the viewer may also be confused as it is a very abstract design. It has a ‘vintage' & possibly ‘alternative’ look to it, this can maybe imply the kind of music the Rolling Stones play.
The image below shows the Rolling Stones website homepage. Having the background white, the effect that their famous slogan (the tongue) is very powerful as its bright red and catches the viewer’s eye. Having simple grey font, this colour scheme enables the duo to appear quite professional and mature. The navigation along the top is in a times new Roman font which makes it easy to navigate. The simple and straight lettered font also shows the band's rawness and maybe a rock attitude as well. A slightly more interesting feature is that users can register on their website to access ‘hidden’ material such as a forum and to listen to their music. As you move the cursor along each word in the navigation bar, the page links turn yellow; please follow up this link to their website - http://www.rollingstones.com/home.php
Friday 2 October 2009
Role Allocations
After the majority of our previous actors letting us down yesterday, it was decided to select new actors and re-allocate the roles to more reliable and suitable people. We feel as if these new actors will offer us a hybrid of identities as they are all individually different.
Please see the final Role Allocations below which displays the people we will use when we next film (hopefully this will be next Friday). The Suitability for Role column was written after we asked them to act out a couple of scenes as a 'mini-audition'. For example, we knew that Hayley Minn 'acted drunk very successfully' after we asked her to practice for us in this 'mini-audition' session we held.
Please see the final Role Allocations below which displays the people we will use when we next film (hopefully this will be next Friday). The Suitability for Role column was written after we asked them to act out a couple of scenes as a 'mini-audition'. For example, we knew that Hayley Minn 'acted drunk very successfully' after we asked her to practice for us in this 'mini-audition' session we held.
Laura Mulvey's 'Scopophilia'
After doing much more research into the theories that are present within music videos, we came across Laura Mulvey's theory of 'Scopophilia' which can be found in her book called 'Visual Pleasures.
In the music video, Francesca and I had decided we would want to have have two girls who will look look promiscuous, seductive and sluttish. We will be wanting these two girls to invite the two boys male gazes by taking advantage of their provocative clothing and sexual appearance. This is achieved by them wearing short skirts and a lot of makeup. This is a typical stereotype that is portrayed with teenage girls.
This objectifies the two girls as they are having to use their physical appearance to lure the male companions 'in'. This is seen throughout many music videos most commonly used and contested within the Hip Hop genre. Rappers such as Ludacris have portrayed women within their music videos as ‘sexual objects’ and conforms with the theory of patriarchy within society that men are dominant over women and they are there just to please men through their sexual acts. Ludacris has been criticised by feminists with his hit song ‘What’s your fantasy?’ in which he describes the women of having to fulfil his sexual needs and desires.
This is similar to the pop band 'The Pussycat Dolls' in which they use their glamorous lifestyles and attractive bodies to win over the eye of their audience.
We did not want to promote the extreme element of sex continually in our music video as even though dubstep is a generally a more male dominated genre, sexual imagery is not really present within any of the artwork or graphics used in Dubstep, so we didn't want to change that convention however by showing a few shots of the girls, we hoped to include the reference to the concept of Scopophilia.
In the music video, Francesca and I had decided we would want to have have two girls who will look look promiscuous, seductive and sluttish. We will be wanting these two girls to invite the two boys male gazes by taking advantage of their provocative clothing and sexual appearance. This is achieved by them wearing short skirts and a lot of makeup. This is a typical stereotype that is portrayed with teenage girls.
This objectifies the two girls as they are having to use their physical appearance to lure the male companions 'in'. This is seen throughout many music videos most commonly used and contested within the Hip Hop genre. Rappers such as Ludacris have portrayed women within their music videos as ‘sexual objects’ and conforms with the theory of patriarchy within society that men are dominant over women and they are there just to please men through their sexual acts. Ludacris has been criticised by feminists with his hit song ‘What’s your fantasy?’ in which he describes the women of having to fulfil his sexual needs and desires.
This is similar to the pop band 'The Pussycat Dolls' in which they use their glamorous lifestyles and attractive bodies to win over the eye of their audience.
We did not want to promote the extreme element of sex continually in our music video as even though dubstep is a generally a more male dominated genre, sexual imagery is not really present within any of the artwork or graphics used in Dubstep, so we didn't want to change that convention however by showing a few shots of the girls, we hoped to include the reference to the concept of Scopophilia.
Lyrics of the song
"One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one
One is the loneliest number
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number
One is the loneliest number
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number
No is the saddest experience you'll ever know
Yes, it's the saddest experience you'll ever know
`Cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one
One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do
Two can be as bad as one
It's the loneliest number since the number one"
Locations, Cast & Roles
After carefully looking into a range of different locations and cast, this is the final plan.
Locations:
Cast & Roles
Locations:
Cast & Roles
Wednesday 30 September 2009
Richard Dyer
Richard Dyer is an English academic who specialised in cinema and has gathered various theories about the way audiences are entertained. In his second book 'Only Entertainment' Dyer argues that entertainment is part of a common sense or cultural awareness which is always historically and culturally constructed. He discusses elements of utopia being an element in various media products, in other words, most music videos nowadays are 'fake' and unrealistic. This can certainly be said about a lot of mainstream and popular genres and music videos such as that of artists like Lady Gaga, Rihanna & Britney Spears yet Francesca and I feel as if ours will not be a 'utopian' video - we want it to reflect the truth about society and not to make our audience feel that the video does not portray reality.
Another point that Dyer discusses is that of 'star quality'. oThis is when the artist has an image created about them showing the audience at how 'amazing' and 'glamourous' their lifestyle is. This can mostly be found within rap videos where the artist is seen to have loose women around them and alot of money however in real life, they are usually poor and living in an environment close to poverty - I will discuss this point in another post later on.
Dyers 'star quality' is not really represented within the Dubstep music scene. The first music video that came out from the genre of dubstep was that of 'The Bug & Flow Dan - Skeng'. The video quality was low resolution and there wasnt a variety of shots however it recieved national exposure as it was the first of its kind and was a song stepping out of the mainstream and not conforming to any of the pre existing norms which we might see in a rap video.
You can view the video below:
Therefore Francesca and I would not to follow the same conventions as this video, or use this 'star quality' that Dyer mentions. We do not want any shots of the artist, Stenchman, as we feel it would ruin the narrative structure we aim to create.
An image of Richard Dyer can be viewed below:
Another point that Dyer discusses is that of 'star quality'. oThis is when the artist has an image created about them showing the audience at how 'amazing' and 'glamourous' their lifestyle is. This can mostly be found within rap videos where the artist is seen to have loose women around them and alot of money however in real life, they are usually poor and living in an environment close to poverty - I will discuss this point in another post later on.
Dyers 'star quality' is not really represented within the Dubstep music scene. The first music video that came out from the genre of dubstep was that of 'The Bug & Flow Dan - Skeng'. The video quality was low resolution and there wasnt a variety of shots however it recieved national exposure as it was the first of its kind and was a song stepping out of the mainstream and not conforming to any of the pre existing norms which we might see in a rap video.
You can view the video below:
Therefore Francesca and I would not to follow the same conventions as this video, or use this 'star quality' that Dyer mentions. We do not want any shots of the artist, Stenchman, as we feel it would ruin the narrative structure we aim to create.
An image of Richard Dyer can be viewed below:
Tuesday 29 September 2009
Video Ideas
In the beginning, the ideas we were both coming up with were varied as our music video had not yet been finalised. we had not chosen our music track. When we both heard 'The number One' by Stenchman, our ideas became similar as we both gathered that the theme should be lonelieness and isolation.
These theme became apparent within the song as the track itself has a very dulcet tone to it which was mostly because of the bassline which had a sub frequency added to it which made the song as a whole very dark and melancholy. When gathering ideas for the music video, we had set an initial idea that we should represent people as alone, isolated and deserted from society.
We were thinking of ways to achieve this and then I remembered I watched a film a couple of weeks before called 'Cash Back' and there was a distinctive scene which stayed in my mind for quite a while.
This was the opening scene to the film where we are introduced to a young couple arguing. The camera is supposed to represent what each character sees. I found this scene very powerful and imaginative.
You can view this scene in the video below and can be found at 1 minute and 10 seconds.
We want our audience to relate to this scene as we know many of them would have probably been in an argument within their relationships.
The image below is a shot of the scene we are referring to:
These theme became apparent within the song as the track itself has a very dulcet tone to it which was mostly because of the bassline which had a sub frequency added to it which made the song as a whole very dark and melancholy. When gathering ideas for the music video, we had set an initial idea that we should represent people as alone, isolated and deserted from society.
We were thinking of ways to achieve this and then I remembered I watched a film a couple of weeks before called 'Cash Back' and there was a distinctive scene which stayed in my mind for quite a while.
This was the opening scene to the film where we are introduced to a young couple arguing. The camera is supposed to represent what each character sees. I found this scene very powerful and imaginative.
You can view this scene in the video below and can be found at 1 minute and 10 seconds.
We want our audience to relate to this scene as we know many of them would have probably been in an argument within their relationships.
The image below is a shot of the scene we are referring to:
The facial expressions that both the male and female express are very compelling as even though we can't hear the girls narrative, we can understand that she is very angry with the way she uses her eyes and movements of her hands while arguing.
This shot is a deictic sign of anger and discontent as the shouting and anger of the girl has a direct connection with her emotions. When the girl chucks the vase of roses at the door in anger, it not only represents the 'ending' of their relationship but can also be seen as a symbolic sign as the red roses and the colour red are both representatives of love and romance, however, the fact that the vase is being destroyed, mirrors the same effects on their relationship. We decided to use this pastiche in our music video to stress the anger of the girl in our opening scene.
Other potential artists
After messaging 'Stenchman' on the social networking site: 'Facebook', we were able to get his permission to use his track, "The Number One". The image below are of Stenchman DJing at various venus, wearing his trademark mask.
Please see the messaging that took place between Stenchman and myself
Please see the messaging that took place between Stenchman and myself
As I'm also a DJ, this made it easier to communicate with 'Stenchman' as I had been in contact with him before. This has benefited us towards our coursework as it made getting permission much quicker.
By working within the Dubstep genre, I looked at other songs and artists before deciding to pursue in proposing to Stenchman. My friend is in a band called 'illAudio' and they had created a song which has elements of dubstep in it called, 'Make Money'. This song had interested us as they use samples of George Bush and put them into a context whereby it puts him in a negative light. We also liked the way they merged various shots of political violence within the world which reflected their violent however progresive song. We enjoyed the track itself however we found that it would be complex to work with the song as it is very fast paced and doesnt contain much narrative.
You can view the video below for their track:
Another artist that we were considering was 'Twizzle'. He hit song 'sky diving' has recently been remixed by up and coming djs 'Green Money Productions' and they have produced a more upbeat remix of the track. The song was however too difficult to incorporate the track into the video as there are hardly any vocals in the song and the beat is too consistent which we didnt want. Below is the youtube video of the track.
Some parts of the dubstep genre merge into sub-genres like Grime, Reggae and House. The artist 'Funckarma' falls under some of these sub-genres. Their music video, shown below, is a very simple and minimalistic idea. The beat consists of mostly synth sounds and drums, this is reflected in their video which just consists of mostly graphics of different colours almost like strobe lighting. We hope that some of this simplicity and minimalism not only to be reflective within our music video, but also our digipak work and website homepage.
The video is show below:
The last song we looked at was 'Holy Land' by 'Dan Bowskill'. A great musician and a good friend of mine, Dan Bowskill is a talented reggae musician. Even though his music isn't really dubstep, we felt that we could work with him as his song 'holy land' has alot of vocals present and the main purpose of our music video was to incorporate not only imagery but also vocals. The track interested us as it is not usually common for a reggae artist to incorporate 'rap' into their tracks however Dan Bowskill has proved that both forms of music can mix very well. The rapper 'Black Reign' spoke about the real issues of society which isnt shown in the media such as poverty, gang violence and corrupt police which is stated as 'babylon' which is a derived term from Jamaican slang which is supposed to represent the cruelty that the township people recieved from the cruel and harsh police force. As a strong fan of Reggae music I loved the track however, we wanted to experiment more with the video and we didn't want to have too much vocals in it so we could have a range of shots. Below is the youtube video of the track.
Friday 25 September 2009
Influences
Our influences for our videos vary. The main genre we looked at was 'urban'. The connotations to urban videos usually means that the environment is edgy and the colour is downtoned, mostly grey. Here are a few examples we looked at.
Professor Green - Upper Clapton Dance
Upper Clapton Dance by Professor Green contains many signifiers such as guns, drugs and violence within his music video, which gives the video quite a dark connotation throughout the video. To begin with, the audience instantly notice a clinical mise-en-scene, and the bleak white colour connotes a feeling of emptiness. The beginning close up focuses on the artists face, which is him observing his surroundings. Constantly throughout the video it appears the camera is attached to every actors head giving off a powerful effect of point of view, enabling the audience to focus on their expressions and motions, as the editing of the video remains quite fast paced, as the camera doesn't switch angles that much. For example, the un-sturdy movement of the camera matches the odd and quite uncomfortable feel to the video, and is in fact used as a hooking technique due to the fact the audience are completely involved in the actors movement.
Another hooking technique which is used to engage the audience is the story line as such, which of course connotates paranoia. The contrast and variation of all the actors also connotes a sense of poverty within the music video, as the audience can associate the images of the council estate and young single mothers with the issue of working class. This technique is followed by the camera above the head of the black man running and the camera below the thief, which furthermore connotes insanity and the restlessness, and the black and white footage matches the clinical plainness of the setting, making them stand out more. As the chorus is playing, different scenarios are still be played out which connotes darkness upon the video, despite the song itself being quite up beat. However, the clinical setting matches the lyrics, as each sentence reflects what is happening throughout the video such as the baby getting shot or kids acting like gangsters and the clinical white setting can itself be interpreted as violence and madness.
Leftfield & Afrika Bambaataa - Afrika Shox
A similar colour tone is seen in the music videos directed by Chris Cunningham. called 'Afrika Shox' by Leftfield. Afrika Shox is quite a un-settling video with quite disturbing scenes, such as the mise-en-scene is quite un-nerving and makes the audience feel uncomfortable when watching it. For example, the way the camera tracks and pans until the audience are introduced with a mid-shot of a man who is obviously in pain, and almost looks as if he has been possessed as his eyes are bloodshot and he seems dazed. The way that the music video follows his struggle as he wonder's round through a busy city stood out for me, as it's enticing the audience to feel guilty towards him; not a typical storyline you see with other conventional music video's.
The other reason I find this music video very influential is the fact that their is an underlying message of racism and oppression. This is not common with music videos nowadays and as the message is so controversial especially no that there is a black president however we still see segregation towards the black race even though it is supposed to be 'the land of equal opportunity'. I feel that for our music video, I want to implement a subtle however powerful message that the audience can take and perceive in their own way.
Professor Green - Upper Clapton Dance
Upper Clapton Dance by Professor Green contains many signifiers such as guns, drugs and violence within his music video, which gives the video quite a dark connotation throughout the video. To begin with, the audience instantly notice a clinical mise-en-scene, and the bleak white colour connotes a feeling of emptiness. The beginning close up focuses on the artists face, which is him observing his surroundings. Constantly throughout the video it appears the camera is attached to every actors head giving off a powerful effect of point of view, enabling the audience to focus on their expressions and motions, as the editing of the video remains quite fast paced, as the camera doesn't switch angles that much. For example, the un-sturdy movement of the camera matches the odd and quite uncomfortable feel to the video, and is in fact used as a hooking technique due to the fact the audience are completely involved in the actors movement.
Another hooking technique which is used to engage the audience is the story line as such, which of course connotates paranoia. The contrast and variation of all the actors also connotes a sense of poverty within the music video, as the audience can associate the images of the council estate and young single mothers with the issue of working class. This technique is followed by the camera above the head of the black man running and the camera below the thief, which furthermore connotes insanity and the restlessness, and the black and white footage matches the clinical plainness of the setting, making them stand out more. As the chorus is playing, different scenarios are still be played out which connotes darkness upon the video, despite the song itself being quite up beat. However, the clinical setting matches the lyrics, as each sentence reflects what is happening throughout the video such as the baby getting shot or kids acting like gangsters and the clinical white setting can itself be interpreted as violence and madness.
Leftfield & Afrika Bambaataa - Afrika Shox
A similar colour tone is seen in the music videos directed by Chris Cunningham. called 'Afrika Shox' by Leftfield. Afrika Shox is quite a un-settling video with quite disturbing scenes, such as the mise-en-scene is quite un-nerving and makes the audience feel uncomfortable when watching it. For example, the way the camera tracks and pans until the audience are introduced with a mid-shot of a man who is obviously in pain, and almost looks as if he has been possessed as his eyes are bloodshot and he seems dazed. The way that the music video follows his struggle as he wonder's round through a busy city stood out for me, as it's enticing the audience to feel guilty towards him; not a typical storyline you see with other conventional music video's.
The other reason I find this music video very influential is the fact that their is an underlying message of racism and oppression. This is not common with music videos nowadays and as the message is so controversial especially no that there is a black president however we still see segregation towards the black race even though it is supposed to be 'the land of equal opportunity'. I feel that for our music video, I want to implement a subtle however powerful message that the audience can take and perceive in their own way.
Introduction
In our media class we were introduced to blogging. I will be presenting all my work in this blog and will try and blog atleast twice a week.
I grouped up with a friend of mine to be my partner for this media project. Her name is Francesca Baldwin. I state this because some of my work might seem similar to hers as we are working together.
As a pair, we began to decide upon an artist for whom we will dedicate our music video for. As I am a DJ and a dubstep enthusiast, I thought it would only be right to base the music video on this genre. Dubstep is a relatively new genre which emerged in 2003 stemming from underground genres such as Garage, Drum & Bass and 2step.
The term Dub in Dubstep is in relation to the predominantly Jamaican genre 'Dub' where the producer will create a track and will then apply that track to a mixing board. Individual parts of the track are layered onto the mixing desk and are then altered with effects such as 'reverb', 'delay' and 'echo'. An iconic figure in dub music and the originator of the genre is 'King Tubby' An example of his work can be found in the video below:
The term Step in 'Dubstep' is in relation to the genre 2step/garage. This genre was formed in the late 90s which breached on the sounds of Hardcore and Acid. The tracks are mostly drum patterns with subtle basslines. An example of this genre can be found below:
The first artist that we looked at is ‘Stenchman’ and the track ‘The Number One’.
The original track is called 'One (is the loneliest number)' by 'Three Dog Night'. Stenchman is a dubstep producer originating from Bristol. He has had many hits such as 'Too Much Ket', 'Beat the banker' & 'Lemongrass'. I recommended this track to my partner as I feel that the track is original and I get a sense of engagement when listening to it. A sense of loneliness can be found within the lyrics of the song as it talks about being single and lonely within a busy world. Both myself and my partner felt an overlying sense of isolation when listening to the track and this is exactly what type of theme we want to portray within the music video.
Please view the video below which is Stenchman - The Number One
As well as looking at music videos for influences, we also have to study theories which we will implement their ideas into the video itself. One of the theorists we have studies is Andrew Goodwin. Goodwin is author of several books concerning contemporary media. He identifies various codes and conventions that are found within music videos. He states that there is usually a common relationship between the lyrics of the track and visuals they portray.
Francesca and I have discussed this theory and have realized that what Goodwin talks about is actually very true. For example, in rock music videos, their is a common theme whereby most of the shots of of the band members performing their tracks with lots of close of shots of the instruments.
If we were to finalise using Stenchman for our music video, then we will be able to play around with the conventions as the track itself is created digitally so there cannot be any shots of instruments or of Stenchman himself as his appearance remains a mystery - he wears a mask when performing live.In our music video, we are not going to try and conform to any norms of music videos and will try and create an original piece
The basis around dubstep is that the sound should be played via turntables as the Djs that play it are mostly from the 'old school' era of analog production whereby CDs were not even created yet. We have considered having small shots of a vinyl spinning around on a turntable. This will then relate to Goodwins theory however it will still not be conforming to his view that there is always a relationship between the artist and the visuals.
As I have close ties with Stenchman and the indepdendent label he is signed to - 'True Tiger', gaining access to the personal rights of his track will be very easy as all I would need to do is either message him or his management via email.
I grouped up with a friend of mine to be my partner for this media project. Her name is Francesca Baldwin. I state this because some of my work might seem similar to hers as we are working together.
As a pair, we began to decide upon an artist for whom we will dedicate our music video for. As I am a DJ and a dubstep enthusiast, I thought it would only be right to base the music video on this genre. Dubstep is a relatively new genre which emerged in 2003 stemming from underground genres such as Garage, Drum & Bass and 2step.
The term Dub in Dubstep is in relation to the predominantly Jamaican genre 'Dub' where the producer will create a track and will then apply that track to a mixing board. Individual parts of the track are layered onto the mixing desk and are then altered with effects such as 'reverb', 'delay' and 'echo'. An iconic figure in dub music and the originator of the genre is 'King Tubby' An example of his work can be found in the video below:
The term Step in 'Dubstep' is in relation to the genre 2step/garage. This genre was formed in the late 90s which breached on the sounds of Hardcore and Acid. The tracks are mostly drum patterns with subtle basslines. An example of this genre can be found below:
The first artist that we looked at is ‘Stenchman’ and the track ‘The Number One’.
The original track is called 'One (is the loneliest number)' by 'Three Dog Night'. Stenchman is a dubstep producer originating from Bristol. He has had many hits such as 'Too Much Ket', 'Beat the banker' & 'Lemongrass'. I recommended this track to my partner as I feel that the track is original and I get a sense of engagement when listening to it. A sense of loneliness can be found within the lyrics of the song as it talks about being single and lonely within a busy world. Both myself and my partner felt an overlying sense of isolation when listening to the track and this is exactly what type of theme we want to portray within the music video.
Please view the video below which is Stenchman - The Number One
As well as looking at music videos for influences, we also have to study theories which we will implement their ideas into the video itself. One of the theorists we have studies is Andrew Goodwin. Goodwin is author of several books concerning contemporary media. He identifies various codes and conventions that are found within music videos. He states that there is usually a common relationship between the lyrics of the track and visuals they portray.
Francesca and I have discussed this theory and have realized that what Goodwin talks about is actually very true. For example, in rock music videos, their is a common theme whereby most of the shots of of the band members performing their tracks with lots of close of shots of the instruments.
If we were to finalise using Stenchman for our music video, then we will be able to play around with the conventions as the track itself is created digitally so there cannot be any shots of instruments or of Stenchman himself as his appearance remains a mystery - he wears a mask when performing live.In our music video, we are not going to try and conform to any norms of music videos and will try and create an original piece
The basis around dubstep is that the sound should be played via turntables as the Djs that play it are mostly from the 'old school' era of analog production whereby CDs were not even created yet. We have considered having small shots of a vinyl spinning around on a turntable. This will then relate to Goodwins theory however it will still not be conforming to his view that there is always a relationship between the artist and the visuals.
As I have close ties with Stenchman and the indepdendent label he is signed to - 'True Tiger', gaining access to the personal rights of his track will be very easy as all I would need to do is either message him or his management via email.
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