Timing Sheet update

I have finished off the rest of the time sheet, which once combined with what dom did on the timing sheet, will be posted on the group blog.

Past Few Days updates

The past few days i have gather props and sorting out costume for the shoot this weekend. All of the required instruments, The drum kit, Guitars and Mic, have been aquired and we will be taking them to the filming location over the next few days.

Outfits have also been sorted out, a casual look for the band members involves Flanel shirts aswell things that are common in videos such as branded labels such as DC and Jack Daniels.
For the guardian parts in the videos the band members will be wearing neat shirts, and will be well groomed.

The Narrative character (Robbie) will be in same outfit before the dream and during the dream to show that he has not changed unlike the band.

Dolby

As the ancillary is an advert for the digipak, title it as such as poster makes it seem confusing.

Main Task Planning

ALL OF THE MAIN TASK PLANNING IS ON THE GROUP BLOG

Font Ideas (Yours Sincerely, The Reaper)

Here are 3 Font ideas that would be used on botht the poster aswell as the Album

The first font is called 'Make Juice' It is a very sinister looking font, i felt it worked very well with the title, because the title itself is fairly sinister, But allthough a very decorative font it is still very easy to read and very Eye Catching.

The second font is 'Death Font' This font is a very blocky Serif Font, however the sideways letters make it stand out from other normall serifs, The horizontal letters look out of place, which i think for a band of this genre would want to use, as they want to stand out, and almost seem rebelious against the norm.

The third font style was chosen for the fact that while the title is sinister, it is also polite, and i feel that almost mocking that politeness in the title makes the font choice very interesting.

(These fonts can be used with a differnt colour, however for simplicity they are only black and white)

'Yours Sincerly, The reaper' will also the chosen album name for my ancillery tasks

Digi Pak Advert Layout

The Advert may follow a similar colourscheme to the album, but it may also be entirely differnt, thought darker colours are most likely going to be used so that it fits in with the name ofthe album and the band.

Album Layouts

The colours will depend on the construction mainly, however darker colours and decorative font that fits the album are most likley to be used.
Because the Chosen name for the Album is 'Yours Sincerely, The Reaper' I wanted something that was as almost as ironic as the title, Therefore and idea i had the idea that i could tie it into the song more with the visual image, my idea is to have a Bottle of Pills and Gin (Lyrics taken from the song) and have them wrapped up in a ribbon almost like a gift.

Aniclery Planning

Album
For the album i want a unique style to the album, but i also want it to tie in with the song that i am working on for the main task. Allthough when thinking of names i found it difficult to do so, However to come up with some names i decided to take some of the lyrics out of the song to use, which is common in certain cases.

Name ideas:
Gin, With a side of pills
A Happy suicide
Two Faced
Yours Sincerly, The Reaper

I wanted the name to contradictory much like the song itself, and i didnt want the album cover to be overcomplicated.

Poster/Advert
The poster i do not want to be as closely attached to the song as the album as i feel it represents the band more, as it would most liekly show the in person, For the poster i would want colours that suit the band, most likely dark colours, with the odd brighter colour in, A main image of the artists would probably be the main part of the poster, with tour dates advert, and possibly some infromation on the new album itself.

Mrs D

Well done for hitting your first deadline Lewis. You need to go back and add some details to research informing planning - you need to specifically identify what you have learnt and how you intend to incorporate it into your planning. Why have you analysed mag front covers when the ancillary option is mag advert?

Research and Planning

By using the research that i can get a specific idea as to what people expect in a music video, and to what genres, Because i am in a group our research is very broad and we can focus on areas that we have received similar results which can helps us in the planning as well as making, This includes the Ancillary tasks as well as the main piece.

Product Placement

Product Placement

Nowadays a lot of music is advertised using the internet. This is because it is incredibly easy for record labels to create websites to for the artists and post their music on YouTube to get it out there. Other ways exist to advertise music, one of the main alternatives is the TV on music channels, though often music related to the channel is advertised, unless music that is considered mainstream might be advertised on multiple channels.

One of the reasons that advertisement on the internet has become so popular is that it is far cheaper then adverting on the TV, as well as very easy, Banner adds exists on almost every webpage, and unlike the TV, they are permanently displayed, which is a constant advertisement. On band websites the banner adverts are normally owned by the music label and used to advertise other artists within the label

Websites like YouTube have also made it VERY easy for music to be advertise, as often when watching a music video on YouTube, there are links to a site where you can purchase music from, along with this, since a company called Vevo came along they increased the advertising on YouTube, now whenever you watch a music video that is on a Vevo channel you will ALLWAYS have a music related advertisement, however it does not seem to do it by genre and rather just advertises music.

Advertisement on the TV does seem to be less related to music nowadays, and like stated above, does seem to be limited to music channels, however unlike the internet, it seems the genre is defined in these advertisement, for example a rock album may be announced but only on a rock channel, the same applies to pop. A case where this doesn’t happen is when a band is very, very large (mainstream), this may be advertised on multiple channels, because it sells well to all audiences, while it may be more common on channels with similar genres, it still often appears on others.

Ancillery Questionaires (Album And Magazine)

Questionnaire

What Gender are you?
4(Female)
5(male)

What Age are you?
6 (14-17)
2 ( 18 – 22)
2 (22+)
The ages i tried to vary, however i ended asking people around the age of 14-17 more due to the involvement with music around that age


Album Cover

What style of cover do you prefer?
4(artwork)
3(photographic)
3(band members)
This was fairly even when asked what they preferred for an album cover, with no significant patterns between age or gender

What colours would you prefer?
3 (dark)
6 (bright/colourful)
1 (other)
Brighter and colourful albums seem to be wanted more, which often focuses more around the pop/alternative genre of music, and all of the females that answered the questionnaire chose this option.

Would you want lyrics included?
7(yes)
3(no)
It seems to be that most people would want the booklet which often contains the lyrics for the song, however some people clearly would rather just have the music

Would style of font would you want?
5(decorative)
3(same as the bands)
2(none)
It seems that most people would want the title of the album to be in a decorative font or the bands, however some people would not want font, this could be that some bands make the albums easily recognisable to there own style



Magazine cover

For the cover would you want mainly?
4(main picture)
2(lots of smaller pictures)
4(a main and other pictures)
It seems that most people would want main picture, as well as smaller pictures, this is probably so that they can know what’s include in most of the magazine.

What colours would you prefer
4(dark)
3(colourful)
3(other)
It seems that for magazines the darker colours seems to be the more popular choice, however alot of the others, would have rather had a mix of bright and dark so that the magazine stood out.

Would you want a recognisable logo?
10(yes)
Everyone who filled out the questionnaire felt that magazines should have something which makes them easily recognisable and stand out from other magazines.

What kinds of font would you want?
8(stylized)
2(same as title)
It seems that most people would want a styleized font for the front cover on the magazine so that its unique, but a few people think that the front conver should the same font as the title.

Focus Group

Focus Group
Music video (OK-GO – This Too Shall Pass)
This To Shall pass is a Concept Video by Ok-Go and as a video is very interesting, and unusual so i picked this and showed it to 5 people then asked them some questions.

Do you think the video is entertaining? And what makes it entertaining?
Everyone in the Focus group thought that the video was very clever and very entertaining because of the way in which the video was done, They liked the fact that it was a concept, and so unique that it stood out form almost all other videos.

Is there any particular part which stands out?
The focus group agreed that almost all the video was very entertaining, and was difficult to pick out and one part that stood out above the rest, Though they all thought that at the very end of the video where all the band members appeared stood out, because it was the end of the video and it featured the band members.

Where they are problems with the video??
They all agreed that while the video is very entertaining, and a very good video, they felt that the music took a backseat to video, almost as if the song was added just to make the video slightly more interesting.

Do you feel that the band made a good enough appearance in the video?
Some members of the group felt that the appearance of random members of the band appearing at certain parts of the video fit with the style of the video, however others said that instead of the individuals appearing, the whole band should have been together at regular intervals, but still following the style of the video.

Questionaire Results (music Video)

What Gender are you?
6(female)
9(Male)
This question was almost evenly split between male and female though a few more males where asked.

How old are you?
2 (9-14)
7 (15-20)
3 (21 – 25)
3 (26+)
The age i tried to vary, however it was mostly older people that answered the questionnaire, i went for this range, as this is one of the age ranges that music tends to aim for

What genre(s) of music are you most interested in?
I did not give a multiple choice for this question as there are many catagories of music, however Rock and alternative seemed to be one of the more common answers, where as classical and Rap/RnB was only talked about a few times

What style of music video did you enjoy most?
5 – concept
8 – performance
7 – Narrative
For this question people circled more then one, however not 1 person circled Concept and then another style, it was always


Are there any Videos that stand out to you in particular, if so what video, and why?
For this question the videos of a band called OK-GO popped up a few times, as they make unusual concept videos which are often very entertaining


If you watch it on TV what channels do you watch them on?
This question was without a multiple choice options as there are many channels, Kerrang was one of the most common among the results which is a rock/alt channel, tying in with the genre related question, Heart(classical) was brought up a few times along with Scuzz(metal), and Stars(rap/RnB)

How do you view these videos?
7 (TV)
13 (YouTube)
2(ITunes)
Most people get there music from the internet these days as it seems easily accessible and is also free, and unlike the tv, you can chose what you want the same seems to apply for the TV, however on iTunes where you have to purchase the video it seems is a less common way of watching them.


How often do you watch music videos?
6 (everyday)
7 (often)
2(rarely)
It seems that music videos are watched regularly by people, this might be due to the accessibility of the internet, as well as the TV

Ancillery (The White Stripes Album)

This is the album cover for ‘Icky Thump’ By the white stripes. Like the Avenged Sevenfold album the first thing you notice is the colour, or in this case, the lack of it. The album colour consists of mainly black and white, which appears to be a re-occurring theme with the while stripes, and in this album cover, taking the band name almost literally. Because of the black and white the album really stands out, particularly the outfits in which the members are wearing.

There is not much in the way of font on this, but what little font there is, is displayed in a red box in a white font. Again the colours of White and red re-occur. They clash making the album stand out, and the red on the grey scaled background also makes it stand out even more so.

Ancillery (Avenged Sevenfold Album)

This is the album cover for Avenged Sevenfolds ‘Nightmare’. The first thing you notice is that the colours are very dark, with a blue tint in the background tying in with the name of the album. Aside from just the dark colours, other brighter colours are used, however they are very dull so that it fits in with the rest of the album. The artwork of the album is very Sinister, and it appears that it is almost mimicking the title of the album but through an image.

The font used for the Band name stands out as it is the usual font that is used; because it is white it stands out greatly on the dark background. The red that is used for the title of the album stands out even more that the band name, because t is such a brick red on such a dark background

Ancillery (Avenged Sevenfold Magazine)

This is the front cover of the album for the music magazine Kerrang, with the artist Avenged Sevenfold. Unlike the NVM cover with the white stripes, the picture of the artist on this magazine does not take up almost the entire page, although it takes up most of it. It appears you use the front text to attract readers, and then the image. The image is takes up less room then the other magazine perhaps due to the fact that there are more members, but like the NVM magazine, each are given a fair amount of the cover, showing each of their importance

The colours on this magazine are darker than that of the NME cover, however the colours the use with the font appear to stand out more, relying on the font and the colour to draw in the audience rather than the images. The dark background colour matches the shirts of the band members making the foreground and background match making it easier to look at, at more professionally done.

Ancillery (White stripes magazine)

This is a front cover for the Music magazine NME, the featuring Artist is the white Stripes. The magazine cover uses typical conventions that you may expect. The artist is the main focus of the magazine, so a picture of them takes over almost the entire front page, so that anyone who recognizes them may be interested in the band. The fact that there are also only two members means that they can use close up of the artists, this makes the magazine more personal towards the band members. And perhaps the use of a higher contrast on the picture that is used to help bring out the white on the image, then ties in with the band name

The colours are fairly standard, only ranging from shades of black, yellow and red. This keeps with a constant colour scheme. All of the font follows the colour scheme and is laid out in such a way to grab your attention. By using such colours which stand out on top of each other they can make the magazine far more noticeable.

The font used is a fairly standard serif font, however because of its size it can make you become interested in the magazine, therefore you may approach it and read further into the smaller headings to draw you in.

Dolby

Some good general comments here on meaning which you do link to the genre. Try to be a bit more technical in the analysis and look at the cuts/editing and techniques used. In addition, be clear as to what is trying to be communicated to the audience in the video- the mood or atmosphere of the song and how this is portrayed.

Questionaire (Music Video)

Questionnaire

What Gender are you?

[Male] [Female]

How old are you?

[9-14] [15-20] [21-25] [26+]

What genre(s) of music are you most interested in?


What style of music video did you enjoy most?

[Concept] [Performance] [Narrative]



Do you have a Favourite Music video? If so please say, and why do you like the video?



Are there any Videos that stand out to you in particular, if so what video, and why?



What would you expect to see in a music video?



If you watch it on TV what channels do you watch them on?



How do you view these videos?

[TV] [YouTube] [ITunes] [Other


How often do you watch music videos?

[Everyday] [Often] [Rarely] [never]


Do you think the promotion from music videos encourages people to buy their music, or do you feel other forms of promotion are better?

Avenged Sevenfold - Seize the Day

Avenged Sevenfold – Seize the Day

Seize the day is a narrative music video, mixed with a performance based video. It is an acoustic rock song, so typical styles of rock videos don’t worry. The video almost instantly starts out with the band playing instruments.

The Performance in this video is all done in a single area, with darkish dark colours; this perhaps reflects the lyrics of the song. A lot of close up camera shots are used of each of the Band members to show their skill with their instrument, which is a common thing for a music video for a band. In the intense parts of the song very fast zooms are used on the lead singer, helping the intense part of the songs, and the eye contact of the lead singer helps make the video personal because of the meaning.

The narrative is acted out by the band which is a common thing in most videos, in the narrative the colours are very dull, again fitting in with the lyrics. While the video does not fit directly with the lyrics, it still follows the basic meaning. In the narrative part of the video a large amount of close ups, as well as extreme are used to show the emotion of each of the people’s faces, so that it fits strongly with the meaning of the lyrics.

In one part of the video where the Band are robbing a convenience store the music becomes more intense, and so does the video, a high contrast to add to the intensity, Also handheld shots are used so that you feel you are there in the store are the time, drawing the viewer into the video more. Some unusual camera angles are used here. For example some of the camera angles are CCTV footage, which adds a sense of realism to the video.

Normally videos of this genre have hard cuts to the next scene, however a lot of fades are used when the scene changes, though hard cuts are then used to change takes from within that scene, making each scene feel obviously different form the others. perhaps to reflect the calmer side of the song, as well as this Bloom fades are used, These fades perhaps show the calmer side of the song.

Something that is quite a common feature in strong narrative videos is that sometimes the song stops, and it is pure narration, this happens in the middle of the video. The scene which is shown then strongly ties in with the lyrics within the song.

Gallows - Staring at the Rude Bois

Gallows - Staring at the Rude Bois

Gallows are a British punk band with very loud and aggressive style songs, the video for staring at the rude bois, is a mainly performance based song, with a small amount of narrative. Which is a fairly common feature in rock videos, however what’s different is that this happens early on, where as it is normally towards the end.

The video starts on with Frank carter (lead singer) walking through a train yard at night singing the star to the song. The abandoned and dark area fits in with the bands theme. During the early narrative the camera changes from medium close ups, to close ups while he sings, because of the close ups you see all of the aggression in his face, which makes the video more believable as it fits the song. And by looking directly at the camera as well as the audience the idea that the viewer is there is fortified. He eventually ends up climbing into a carriage where the rest of the band is.

The video at this point becomes very intense, as the audience are also in there jumping around to the music. The camera shot becomes incredibly shaky, like it is being shot handheld, almost to make the audience feel as if they are there, within these cuts there are a large amounts of close ups or medium close ups. This fits in with the intensity of the video. Along with this a lot of close ups on the instruments being played is shown, which is a very common aspect of the Rock/Punk genre. By using these techniques they are making the video interesting, showing the skill of the band members, as well as getting them involved with the audience in the carriage, by doing this they make the video very entertaining.

The lighting in the video varies, sometimes it is very dark, fitting in the with area, however in some of the intense parts of the songs a strong white light is shone on the camera adding to the intensity, a harsh red is also seen in the background, tinting almost the entire video. Adding aggression through the lighting almost brings even more intensity to the video.

The White stripes - Seven Nation Army

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

The first thing you notice about the video is the fact that the video is a performance, However it is done in a very conceptual way. The song itself is a rock song so it has typical things that you would expect from it, for example, very early on in the video Instruments become apparent, and close up on the person playing the song.

The video actually follows the tempo of the song as it has a solid beat, however in the faster parts of the song the video itself starts speeding up and flashing lights are incorporated into the video, making it more intense and fitting the genre itself, this is quite a common thing within the rock genre of videos.

However since the video is a conceptual video there are some unexpected things, for example the whole video is one camera shot, it never changes. Instead the video, is made up of separately recorded pieces of footage, these pieces are shaped onto a diamond which then come from a point of origin within a 4 point perspective frame. Most of the camera shots used are of the band members themselves, possible to show their importance in the video, For the guitarist allot of low camera angles showing him as a strong figure, which is a common aspect of rock videos. But it also changes from medium close ups to close ups when he is singing the song without his guitar. The drummer however rarely has different angles, they are mainly medium shots, which change from a front on angle to a side, although there is not much diversity in the camera angles it keeps with the beat, which rarely changes, almost showing the consistency of the drummer.

The colours used in the Video do fit in with the band name ‘The White Stripes’ as the colour white is a constantly reoccurring colour. The video itself looks like it has been edited with an increased contrast which brings out paler colours more, but the red looks like it has been enhanced to stand out on top of the white and black Along with this the colour Black and Red and a very common reoccurring colour. The video itself is situated on top of a black background, and made to look like there is a reflective floor, which shows a reflection of the video.

With the Conceptual video it immediately becomes very interesting to watch, and even though it is constantly repeating, and when the song is added on-to the video it becomes almost hypnotic, as the song and the video are repetitive, but it works as both the song and video become very catchy.

Mrs D

These are very good first drafts Lewis. You begin to unpick the use of colour well and explore the concept of the music promo. You need to be more explicit with your analysis in terms of music promo conventions and explore how 'star image' and 'band image' are created. Have another look at where you say there is only one camera shot. Do you mean viewpoint? You could also add more detail in terms of song lyrics matching the visuals. Keep up the good work.

Gallows - Staring At the Rude Bois (Draft)

Gallows - Staring at the Rude Bois

Gallows are a British punk band with very loud and aggressive style songs, the video for staring at the rude bois, is a mainly performance based song, with a small amount of narrative. Which is a fairly common feature in rock videos, however what’s different is that this happens early on, where as it is normally towards the end.

The video starts on with Frank carter (lead singer) walking through a train yard at night singing the star to the song. The abandoned and dark area fits in with the bands them. During the early narrative the camera changes from medium close ups, to close ups while he sings, though he never makes eye contact with the camera. He eventually ends up climbing into a carriage where the rest of the band is.

The video at this point becomes very intense, as the audience are also in there jumping around to the music. The camera shot becomes incredibly shaky, like it is being shot handheld, the cuts are very short, and a very large amount of close ups are used. This fits in with the intensity of the video. Along with this a lot of close ups on the instruments being played is shown, which is a very common aspect of the Rock/Punk genre. By using these techniques they are making the video interesting to watch along with listening to the song as it fits together

The lighting in the video varies, sometimes it is very dark, fitting in the with area, however in some of the intense parts of the songs a strong white light is shone on the camera adding to the intensity, a harsh red is also seen in the background, tinting almost the entire video

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (Draft)

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

The first thing you notice about the video is the fact that the video is a performance, However it is done in a very conceptual way. The song itself is a rock song so it has typical things that you would expect from it, for example, very early on in the video Instruments become apparent, and close up on the person playing the song.

The video actually follows the tempo of the song as it has a solid beat, however in the faster parts of the song the video itself starts speeding up and flashing lights are incorporated into the video, making it more intense and fitting the genre itself, this is quite a common thing within the rock genre of videos.

However since the video is a conceptual video there are some unexpected things, for example the whole video is one camera shot, it never changes. Instead the video, is made up of separately recorded pieces of footage, these pieces are shaped onto a diamond which then come from a point of origin within a 4 point perspective frame.

The colours used in the Video do fit in with the band name ‘The White Stripes’ as the colour white is a constantly reoccurring colour. The video itself looks like it has been edited with an increased contrast which brings out paler colours more, but the red looks like it has been enhanced to stand out on top of the white and black Along with this the colour Black and Red and a very common reoccurring colour. The video itself is situated on top of a black background, and made to look like there is a reflective floor, which shows a reflection of the video.

With the Conceptual video it immediately becomes very interesting to watch, and even though it is constantly repeating, and when the song is added on-to the video it becomes almost hypnotic, as the song and the video are repetitive, but it works as both the song and video become very catchy.

Deadlines