Evaluation, Question 1, Final.

Copy of Media Studies, Evaluation Question 1. on Prezi

Evaluation Question 2, Final.



Using Photoshop, I have answered the Evaluation, Question 2.



Evaluation, Question 3, Final.

Evaluation, Question 4, Final.

 I have created a video/voiceover which recognises the variety of technogies that I've used throughout the piece of coursework, and also discussing how they've helped me...

Evaluation, Question 3, Plan.

I have recieved feedback for my coursework from a variety of different people, through a range of different sources. The most important pieces of feedback I have recieved are from my teachers, they have given me feedback by commenting on blog spots, stating what they like, dislike, and how I can improve my work. Secondly, I have spoken to my teachers in class, where they have disscussed my progression with me.

I will also be using social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to recieve feedback for my video, ancillary texts, I will ask people what they like dislike about the media, anybody can feel free to give their opinon, when it comes to making improvements and what I could've done better, I will ask other media students, and people of my target group, because then I will find people who's opinions really do matter, no disrespect to anybody else intended, because I still feel it would interesting to see what people who like different genres think of the video, since there is nothing wrong with expansion, but I beleive opinions from my target audience is more essential.

I will also be in facilites such as the library next week, where I will ask people to specifically watch my video, then I will ask them to answer a few questions on the video overall.

Finally, I believe the expections of the examiners, and their expectations are vital, because at the end of the day, they will be the one's who are judging you. Therefore it would pointless to do something that they are completely against, because you will most probably based receive little to no prasie for it. Hence why I believe it is important to listen to what the teachers inform you, because although they will have their own preference, they will still give you guidance and feedback according to the preference of the examiners.

Evaluation Question 2, Plan.

EVALUATION 2. How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

In this question you need to evaluate the sense of 'branding' you've created across your products. Once again you need to use a range of technologies to present your work.

Some tips

Pick out the elements you've chosen to carry across your work and explain why you feel these best represent your 'artist'.

There are similarities, and differences within my main product, the music video, and the ancillary products, my Dikipak and Posters. One is that the genre mix's in together, for instance my Digipak doesn't fits an indie genre because I have no actual images of the band, which is quite often the result for an indie band, when releasing a forthcoming album. This is carried into the video, because I do believe the band portray an indie image, every single member (excluding the drummer) was seen wearing a pair of shoes (Coincidently, it is once again common for the drummer of indie bands not to be as image orieentated as his peers)

Secondly, for my Digipak, I was running a back and white theme throughout. This was because The Mirrors Image are quite a dark band, in the lyrics, and songs that they produce. Therefore black and white is often renound for creating a strong colour pallet, when mixed together. So I believed it made sense for me to use this black and white theme, because the darkness it brings, which would infer to the lyrics and music of the band, and latterly the white colouring, would look light, representing The Mirrors Image being the light throughout this scene, and they would be the ones who stood out.

 Admittedly, the location of music video creates a horrendous contrast to both ancillary texts. This is my own fault however, because although wasn't dedicated enough to finding a great venue for filming, and I just wanted to find somewhere I could film, no matter what the quality. I had comtemplated filming in a dark outdoor environment, which would have been in conjunction with the ancillary texts, but I was not in coalition with the weather, which I could not trust, since we had downpours throughout the filming period, therefore this idea was blown out of the window.

For the Front Cover and Poster of my Dikipak and Poster respectively, I was trying to imply a relevance to the Physcological device 'Roarschach', I was hoping to create this effect, for one because I believed it would've looked creative and very artistic if done properly. I also wanted to emulate the 'Roarschach' technique is because of the pragmatic meaning behind it, the images are supposed to challenge your mind, the play tricks with you. Therefore I wanted to imply that the album cover would play tricks with your mind, and baffle you. Due to the poor Mise en Scene though, this idea wasn't really portrayed, which was a disappointed.

The Horrors, The Courteeners and Banyshambles are just a few example of bands of have used images as their album. I believe the main influence behind this, is because of the artistic side, if you have artistic piece of imagery on an album cover, it would become automatically intriguing to the people are looking at purchasing the record, also ut helps make your album more distinctive, recognisable, should I say, making your album that little bit different to all others.

Evaluation Question 1, Plan.

EVALUATION 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?What is the question asking?

This question requires you to demonstrate how your research and planning has influenced your work. You'll need to review your research and planning posts and identify which elements from the music videos and artists you've researched have been incorporated into your final pieces.

You need to be honest, does your product 'work'?

When responding DON'T:

• write an essay 
• simply list points 
• produce a PowerPoint 
• waffle! 
• claim to have been 'original' (you haven't been, it's not possible!) 
• ONLY discuss your video 

When responding DO:

• Write about all THREE products 
• Be creative (how can you respond in an entertaining yet informative way?) 
• Use technology (e.g. photoshop, tubechop, prezi, scribd, iMovie, soundcloud, flickr etc) 
• Be analytical (pick out specific examples and remember your A2 theorists as well as ones from AS. Barthes, Todorov, Mulvey, Gilmore, Goodwin, Stewart etc) 
• Explain every decisions (discuss the choices you made) 
• Use the correct vocabulary (longshot, verisimilitude, diegetic etc) 

For my music video, I atttempted to emulate simplistic music videos from the alternative/indie market, which takes up the vast majority of my music collection. Video's from bands such as The Horrors, The Vaccines, and The Cribs, often follow a simplistic performance, that focuses on the music, rather than the content of video. Therefore this was something that I believed could play into my hands, since I'm not the most technical person who has sat down at a computer. Admittedly, my music video wasn't supposed to become as basic as it did, but due to the lack of time (my own fault) and also my lack of skills, it turned out to be a basic video.

One image representation that I tried to stay away from was the new 'indie wave' look that started to sweep across the nation recently, with bands such as Friendly Fires, and The Maccabee's following this look. Although I did need to stick to my genre, therefore I felt the best way to go about this, was a follow a more tradional indie look, therefore I took inspiration from bands who were influenced by music from previous generations, such as The Courteeners, who are influenced by the Mod culture, and also sight The Smths as a large influence on them. This was something that I noted on original pitch, that I would take inspiration previous generations, and although I didn't completely go all out making this a music video that resembles a previous generation, I did still stick to the routes of my pitch, especially in the form of frontman Levi Strummer. I believe you could look at his image throughout the video, and he portrays a man who was influenced by previous generations. I also attempted mix this with the image of a band who know they are cool, I don't want to use the cringy phrase, but they know how to 'Give it Big' and I tried to portray by putting the bass player in parka coat, similar to one you would have seen a man such as Noel Gallagher, followed by putting the lead guitarist in a 'Pretty Green' jumper, pioneered by Liam Gallagher, so I was putting these clothes symbolised this genre of music on my band members.

If anything positive was to come out of the video, I believe it was the camera angles used. I wanted to get a lot of close ups, something you see in many in many videos today, once again by bands such as The Cribs, I did this because it cuts out anything irrevelant, there would be no need to have a long shot of Strummer when he is singing the vocals, because there would be no need to see his jeans, it's just important that you can see his mouth clearly. I also tried to get shots of the drummer hitting the actual drums, and than showing his face, this was because it makes for a better edit, because you can see the drummer hitting the beat on time, rather than seeing an image of the drummer as the music is playing, because once again this would be pointless. I carried this procedure out once again with the guitarists, showing them strum to the music, because this helped my video look like an actual video.

For my Digipak, the ideas that I had envisaged in my mind, were not those that were portrayed on the actual Digipak, I once again tried to emulate my genre, the majority of bands that I looked to for inspiration had had chosen an image, rather than a having themselves on the front cover, as that is more a 'pop'/'mainstream' thing to do. I tried to recreate a roarscharke physcological, not only did it give a deeper meaning of playing with your mind pragmatically, it also links back to bands such as The Horrors and The Courteeners, who have artistic images on their front covers. I continued to follow the inspirations from these bands for my back cover, by making it very simplistic, sticking to the black and white theme, and then just naming the tracks, along with all the legal requirements.

With my poster, I took the main image from my front cover and placed it onto the poster, I did this for one main reason, to make my band look more distinctive, so that people knew who they were looking at when they saw the image. Another technique of other bands from my genre, an example is below with The Courteeners.

Overall, I do believe I could have done the elements of this piece of coursework better, if I had given myself more time, or had organised myself better, although I'd like to think I adapted my work to make it look like I had created work relevant to my genre.

What's been happening in lessons.

In today's lesson, the 28th November, we have started think about our evaluations and how we are going to structure them, our teacher analysed question one, and spoke about what relevant features we need to disscuss in the evaluation question.

Editng.

I have completed the filming for my music video, so now the final task I need to complete is the editng, I am hoping to upload all of the footage onto a computer tonight, and then tomorrow actually start putting all the different scenes together.

Finally, in an ideal world, I am hoping that if all things go according to plan, I could've completed the editing by tomorrow, and have a completed music video.

Digipak Evaluation.

Above is my completed mock up for this years coursework, I feel content with parts of my Digipak, and other parts I believe could've came out better, and don't portray the image I'd visualised they would in my head.

First off, the front cover of my Digipak didn't go completely to plan, I was attempting to create a roarscharke esque, philosopical theory, although due to the colour transformation of the white faces, I had to create a black background, to make the contrast look acceptable. Although the postive note to this is that I was able to use a running black and white theme throughout the Digipak.

As for the back cover, I have attempted to keep it rather simple, knowing that with real digipak, it works, for instance I took inspiration from The Beatles 'The White Album', I believe the simplicity worked to a certain extent, since the back cover wasn't too overbearing, therefore it didn't look tacky, and unrealistic. So in my opinon, I believe it proves simplicity can often be the most affective.

The inside cover insert, where the disk would be kept, was also kept very simple, I took inspiration from bands such as The Courteeners, and wrote a message aimed towards fans of The Mirrors Image, The Courteeners and artists alike, do this to make their pieces of work more personal to the people who buy it, as if they're a friend of the fans, I kept it simple and stuck to the back and white theme that ran throughout the DigiPak, and although it could look basic, in my opinion it was important that I didn't overcomplicate things, because it could've made my work look worse if I'd attempted to make my work look more glamorous, as I doubted that I'd be able to pull it off.

For the other inside insert, I tried to make something that was creative and somewhat artistic, by writing The Mirrors Image down one side of the insert, and reflecting it to the opposite way round on the other half of the page. I did for the pragmatics, to imply that it was like looking into a mirrors, and seeing your image, playing on the bands name, The Mirrors Image, something that bands such as The Cribs and Blur have done in the past, which is link inserts to the name of their band or album. Although I admit that the insert may look overcrowded and tacky, and to an extent, cheap, but at the same time, there is a meaning behind it, and it wasn't simply done as a space filler.

Finally, I believe some parts of my DigiPak may work, and I admit others could be improved upon, but I am happy with the geniune ideas and meanings behind the DigiPak, and the messages that I tried to put across, although the output wasn't quite the same, and the overall product in some way's wasn't what I ancipated when planning my DigiPak.

Filmimg.

I am hoping to complete the final pieces of my filming today, I have done the majority of the shots, but I just need to collect the final images of the frontman, as well as some extra shots of the guitarists.

It would be a big help if I am able to complete the filming today, because it give me over a week to edit the film in it's entirity, therefore increasing the chances of editing the music video to a higher standard, because it won't be as rushed.

Final Schedule List.

I have replanned the the scheduling dates for the filming and editing of my music video.

Band Members and Props

Pat Mills: Vocals, Props Needed: Mic, and the Mic Stand.
Callum Wills: Bass Guitar, Props: Bass Guitar.
Sam Green: Lead Guitar, Props: Electric Guitar.
Harry Simmons: Drums, Props: Drum Kit, Drum Sticks.

Shooting/Filming

Thursday Evening
Friday Evening (Possibly)

Next Week
Monday Evening (Final Shots)
Thursday Evening (Pick Up Shots)

Altogether, this will hopefully take no longer than 6 hours.

Now I just need to confirm the location availability, and organise the band members to make sure they'll turn up.

Filming Update.

Filming took place yesterday, but due to the terrential weather conditions, the filming had to be prosponed until further notice.

This morning we have arranged to film what will hopefully be the majority of the video, this afternoon. This means that thework rate will have to be very high, but hopefully it can be completed this afternoon.

Filming Dates.

Filming will be taking place tomorrow afternoon. I have spoken to the people who will be performing in the video, and they have all made themselves available. I will be using either one of two venues for the filming, either my garage, which I will be clearing out tonight, to see if I have enough room, if not then I will be going down to a local field and filming there.

Filming Update.

Due to Pat Mills who is playing the lead role in my music video, being away in London all week on work experience, I have not been able to complete filming for my music video. I know this leaves me with 5 day's to complete filming and editing, I am hoping to book out the school hall for filming today, and I have definitely booked out the school book for filming on Friday afternoon.

Album Poster Analysis.

Radiohead, The King Of Limbs, situated on the back of an NME, which is fronted by Liam Gallagher and his Beady Eye clan, I doubt he's pleased with that. Anyone, back to Radiohead, a band that need no introduction, not that they particularly get one with this album poster.

The Poster has 'Radiohead' written at the top of the poster, postioned backwards, in a large white font, with the whole background being black, situated under this is the name of the album, in slightly smaller font, this could have been done for one of two reasonur the first is because it is a way that Radiohead are getting the point across that they sell an album on the status of their name, rather than the quality of their album. Secondly it could be because the album name is longer than the band name, therefore to make the presentation look the better, they've made the font smaller. Continuing in the same structure, underneath this they have the release formats, and the date of it as well.

Following the written language, we see the image that has created for, and associated with The King Of Limbs album, in some way's it could described as a filler to take up some of the space of the poster, but you would guess it's their due to the relevance of the album artwork, in which it is included on the album.

Finally, with a swap in background, and font colour. the poster states you can purchase the album from HMV, this will have been included because Radiohead will have been paid to HMV's name on the magazine, as it will give their company more exposure.

Finally, next to this is the XL Recordings logo, they will want people to know Radiohead are on their label, therefore will want to be included on the poster.

Altogether this looks quite basic, but it doesn't look bad, tacky or rushed in any case. Which gives me confidence that I could create something simplistic, that would still work well.

Album Poster Analysis.

Arcade Fire, with their latest album, the critically acclaimed 'The Suburbs', released a very 'Ordinary promtional poster on the back of NME album, which coincidently, they were the cover stars, which could have been the reason they gave minimal information, since buyers of the magazine, would most probably be familiar with the band.

The only written context on the poster say's "Arcade Fire presents 'The Suburbs"", followed by the words "The Brand New Album" written slanted to the left in a red box. I believe the lack of writing on this works well actually, because it isn't asking readers to digest too much information, it's stating the name of the band, and the name of the album, respectively. The advantage of this is that they won't lose the readers attention, something which I could look to for inspiration when I come to complete my album.

Other than this, the backdrop to the album is album cover itself, this is example of getting the album image into the readers head, so that if they see it a shop, they will know what album it is, which could increase album sales.

Similar to many album posters, it's once again very simplistic, something that I could follow when it comes to making my final poster, as it grabs the readers attention and keeps it.

Album Poster Analysis.

This Poster was made to promote the debut album of highly anticipated band The Vaccines, 'What Did You Expect From The Vaccines'. The poster in many way's could be deemed quite simple, largely because the wiritng is keep minimal, and is kept in a black font, The name of the album is placed in large font, at the centre of the page, this is done so that people will be attracted to the Tname of the album as soon as they see it. Underneath is the date that the album was released, this is in a smaller font, nor is it in bold, simply because this isn't quite as an important piece of information, compared to the name of the album.

Other notable feartures include recommedations, and critcal success that the album has been given, such as " "The return of the great British guitar band" NME" and a four star rating off Q magazine. Obviuously these have been placed so that potential buyers of the album will see that music reviewers have given the album positves reviews, thereore this could persuade people to buy the magazine.

We also get a logo of Columbia Records, this is just because they want to make sure that people know The Vaccines belong to their label.

Also Play.com have their company advertised on the bottom right of the poster, which they will have paid. This is just because they believe this will help them expand their name.

Also the Album Cover has included on the bottom right of the page, so that now when people see the album in a show they will know that it is The Vaccines album. Also the backdrop to the poster, is the centre piece from the album itself, this helps give the poster more life, it's also the image phase The Vaccines that been going through during this album.

Overall, I believe this is the quite a simple in it's own respect, they are helping to their album into peoples minds, by having catch the readers eye, as it is based in the centre of the page. The affective simplicity is something I believe I could recreate on my poster.

Digipak Analysis.

With their album Wall of Arms, The Maccabee's did something very rare with their digipak, they simply created a fold out poster, which was an enlarged image of the album cover. The reason behind why the band would have chsoen to do this will have been because, they know people do enjoy to get something extra, at no cost. This front cover and digipak, is 'Pop Art' esque image, something in which the band are renound for, and they also look as if they've had a plasticine tint to them.



Another reason why The Maccabee's may have chosen to have done this is because they know most people recieve their music online now, and maybe do not actually see the need to create a good, strong, defining digipak nowaday's.

Nonetheless, I amend The Maccabee's for trying to be slightly different and not creating a typical digipak. Although, this isn't something I would consider when creating a digipak, due to the fact I'd be accused of laziness, and having a narrow though process.

Digipak Analysis.

The Blur album, Modern Life is Rubbish, at the time really signified at a modern day Britain, coincidently, and really played a part in defining the Britpop era. The front cover of the album really set's the tone, it's simply an image of a train on duty, But as is usually the case with Blur, there's more meaning to it and that.

This captures what Britain was like in the early 90's, there wasn't much to shout about, especially when it came to British music, due to Grunge era being in full flow, and the opening page into the dikipak explores this even further, it consists of the four members sitting of the band sitting on the train, looking glum, continuing to reitterate the point.

As you begin to flick through the pages, you get a copy of the lyrics to all the songs in the album, along with key's telling you how to play all the songs, the lyircs takes us to the second last page of the digipak. I believe this page really bodes in well with the lyrics in my opinion, and this is because on the page is a personal message from the band stating "Friends, you know who you are, you know we're grateful", to me this implies Blur know who their fans are, and want to share their music with them, and the best way to do this is by letting them know how to learn the songs. To finish with, the back page of the digipak is just another image of the train going by.

 
From this album artwork as a whole, I've decided that I believe Blur could be telling a narrative through their artwork, they start off by telling us that Britain is in a poor situation, and that as a band they were trying change this, but in the mean time, Briatin was continuing to go through this poor direction, which in my opinion is very clever, and imaginative.

Digipak Analysis.

The Digipak for the Demon Day's album, as expected, shows many signs of majestic creativity throughout the Digipak. This essestially is what to come to expect from Damon Albarn, and James Hewlitt. The Album cover seems reasonably basic, it's simply a close up side shot of each member of the animated band, if four seperate white boxes.



Although, it's as you start to unveal the rest of the album when the superiority really begins to shine, the digipak consists of a single cover for every song on the album.



Above, is the cover for Last Living Souls, a track off the album, this is a very eye catching cover, because the band stand out from the replica image behind them. Which gives a very thoughtful meaning to the cover, implying they're the last living souls, and nobody else is around them.

I believe the biggest factor of the Demon Day's digipak, is what I could learn from it, and I've figured out that is the animated effect can work really well, obviously it would be near on impossible for me to do it to the standard of Albarn and Hewlitt, since they are very skilled, and have nothing but the best equipment. Though I do like the effect, and since it's quite rare to see it, I believe it can really help your album stand out from the crowd.

Album, Back Cover.

Digipak Mock Up

The Mirrors Image Poster, Mock Up.

Album Cover Mock Up.

Above is the Mock Up for my Album Cover, for The Mirrors Image debut album, The Underground Sound.

For this album cover I have taken inspiration from the physocological technique 'Rorschach', the method of this is where, you place an image in front of someone, and the image looks jumbled, and you have try and tell what you can see within the image, for instance on my front cover, you can see a man looking sidewards. Rorschach is known for playing with your mind when looking at an image, which is what I liked about the image, because it could imply that The Mirrors Image, mess with your mind, or there debut album does.

After I completed the album mock up I decided that I wasn't a fan of the font that I used, I believe it looks  slightly childish, as if it had been drawn by a small child, and s if it doesn't fit in with the mood of the album. This is somehting that I would like to change, when it comes to making my final piece.

Finally I quite the contrast that has happened between the back and the white, and this is a colour scheme that I believe could work when I come to do my final, because unlike the font, it fits the tone of the album, and also helps to make the album look unpredictable, because from looking at the cover, you don't know what to expect you'll be listening to.

Examples of Album Covers

Album Cover Montage

Relating Cover to their Genres.

When looking at a digipack that I folow when it comes to making my own. Therefore I've looked at typical covers/digipacks from different genres, so I can look at what method I can follow.

Pop: Often when you see a pop album, you will have a picture of the band themselves, this could be because often pop attracts younger people, therefore the album cover will be quite distinct, due to artist being on their album cover. Furthermore some pop artists are often considered aestetically pleasing, so believe that if they put themselves on the front cover, then it will attract people into their record, look below for example...

Rock: Often when you see a Rock album digipack, you'll tend to see an image on the front, often being a large image, maybe that's associated with the band, the image may sometimes look 'creepy' and in your face. Once again this helps it to stand, likewise what happens with the Pop albums, even though the artwork itself looks nothing alike.

Indie: Finally, the Indie genre, the genre which I am following for my music video as a whole, which includes the digipak. Having researched different indie album covers, I've noticed a few ongoing diversities. These are that quite often the band who have created the album aare not on the cover, the cover usually consists of some sort of image that is symbollic to the band, the album, or the current image representation theme that the band are currently going through. Such as what The Courteeners did with their Falcon album, and the latter with Kasabian and their 'West Rider Pauper...' phase, through admittedly, they were on the front cover of that album themselves. Altogether, the examples shown below such as The Horrors, Primary Colours, Foals, Antidotes, and finally, Glasvegas, with their self titled debut album, all show features which I have spoken about, in the writing above.

Album Covers Analysis.

The Digipak and Artwork Used for Albums

Finished Storyboard.

Completed Storyboard

Completed Storyboard Animatic.

Here is my completed Storyboard Animatic, sorry for the big delay, and also for the poor standard of work.

Album Covers Analysis.

Album Artwork

Storyboard.

I have completed the storyboard, although I'm currently attempting to scan the storyboard, but struggling due to technical difficulty.

Although, I should have this issue sorted within 24 hours, and by this time, I hope to have both the storyboard, and animatic version complete.

Respesentation of The Mirrors Image

The Mirrors Image, the 'Indie' genre orientated band, represent a dark side to the 'Indie' style of music. Although the tradional meaning for the word, 'Indie, is independent, and the stereotypical idea is that people try so hard to be indie, the being inpendent is now common. Although today, being indie is often linked with wearing bright colours. Whereas The Mirrors Image are more of a darkened Indie band, therefore they're keeping some uniqueness to the 'Indie' genre.

The Mirrors Image often state that they believe their lyrics provide people with somewhere to go, when feeling down, as in having something to relate with. For instance their lyrics often explore into deep meanings, and The Mirrors Image, provide lyrics people can look to, for support.

The Mirrors Image are a band, who take to the road touring often, share a huge love with performing, hence why the band film many music videos, giving performances. As the band feel in their element, this way, because by now, they're very used to being on stage, and performing.

Risk Assessment

As I will be filming the majortity of music video in the school, so I'd like to imagine that there won't be too many risks. Obivously as I will be using guitars and lighting etc. there will be some will wires and cables out on show. One possible risk of this is that the performers and crew could trip over one of the wires. Positively though, the severity shouldn't be too high, and the wires should be noticeable, hence why the serverity should be quite low, and also because the injury that could be caused, shouln't be too painful.

Another thing I have to be careful of, is the stage, some of the performers in my video won't be used to working on a stage, therefore they could accidently fall off the stage, although the chances of this happening are quite slim, the serverity of this could be high, cosidering you could fall of the stage, and crack your head open on the hard floor.

Also because I will have lighting up, depending on how high I need the lighting up, I could need some sort of structure put together, this structure could be hazardous, for numberous reasons, one because someone would have to climb the structure to put the lights up, and if the lights aren't put up safely, they might fall down. I'd like to think the chances of this actually happening are very slim, although I won't actually be able to tell until the day, itself. Although if this actually happens, the severity could be quite high, simply because of if you fall from the structure, it could potentially be very dangerous, because falling could cause very serious body damage. Also if the lighting falls, and although it is very unlikely, the light could fall on your head, this could cause very severe damage to your boady again.

Update.

Currently I am at thecompleting stages of my storyboard, after this I will make it into an animatic, hopefully I will have finsibhed this by tonight.

Following this, I will go on complete the risk assessment, schedule list, and finally onto the representations, which I will post onto my blog, by tomorrow.

The Rest of the Band.

Have I decided to include the performance aspect into the music video, I also had to bring in the rest of the band mates to take part in the video.

Obviously as mentioned in a previous post, frontman Levi Strummer will be played by Pat Mills, I have found members of the band who can will be playing members of the band. On Drums will be Harry Simmons, he is already an A2 Media, who knows what needs to be done in order to gain success in this project. He has a drum kit, and has experience on playing the drums.

Callum Knight will be playing bass guitar, he claims to be able to play the bass, and Sam Green will be taking up the lead guitar, who can play the guitar.

Finally, I know all four will be punctual and efficient, and help me to achieve as high as possible. Neither I will be afraid to nag at them, if they just mess about, and don't take the music video seriously.

Big change to the music video!

I am currently completing the storyboarding for my music video, after whilst storyboarding I have come across some obsticles. These obsticles are in conjunction with the narrative style which I desired to follow, I have realised that the narrative will be much tougher than I had first imagined, because following this structure, has to include making very sharp cuts, and also you will need to provide a gripping narrative which will keep the watchers concentrated on your video. Being honest with myself, I am not sure if I have the potential to do this. Therefore I have decided to narrow down on the amount of narrative storytelling that I will include in my music, and focus more on the performance aspect (The Mirrors Image playing 'Who Can Say) than I had first planned, as their is meaning behind this.

By all means, I will still be attempting to recreate the narrative, but there will now be more shots of the band performing, than of Levi Strummer making his all important decision. I found it more difficult than I bargained for, to tell a narrative by using lyrics, rather than speech.

Although, there will be still be some shots of frontman Levi Strummer, and he goes on a search to find an answer to his big decision, and peforming the song 'Who Can Say' is a way of dealing with his personal problems.

Market Research.

I am doing some research for my music video, I will be attempting to find out what music videos people like, and their favourite videos of all time, and I will be asking people how often they watch these videos, and where etc.

Jack Ludford

On average, how you often do you watch music videos and where: Watches music videos daily for his own entertainment, often on youtube.

Do you like some songs more because of their music video: If would make me like the song more, I woudln't like a song because of the music video, but I might sometimes like a song more because of the video.

Do you have a favourite music video of all time: Kasabian, Empire, I find it quite different to most music videos, because of the setting of the music video.

Harry Simmons

On average, how you often do you watch music videos and where: I watch music videos, but I do not got out of my way to watch these videos, often I flick through all the music channels on sky, looking for a good music video, but I only do this when I can't find anything else to watch.

Do you like some songs more because of their music video: Well I'll listen to a song if I like the music video, but that doesn't always mean I like the song more, I just enjoy the video, so I'll watch the video more, and obviously this means that I'll listen to the song more.

Do you have a favourite music video of all time: Fat Less, Vindaloo, this isn't a joke, I like the way it makes a mockery of the Bittersweet Symphony video, technically the video uses intertextuality, and I find the video enjoyable as a whole.

Pat Mills

On average, how you often do you watch music videos and where: I enjoy watching music videos, and watch them often, mainly on NME TV, the 'Q' channel, and MTV Rocks, this is because I like the genre of music that is played on these channels, therefore because of this, I do sometimes find myself only watching music videos of the 'Indie' genre.

Do you like some songs more because of their music video: Yes, because I'll watch the video more, therefore I'll listen to more, often when this happens, the song will start to grow on me. because I watch the video more.

Do you have a favourite music video of all time: Yes, Prince Charming, by Adam and the Ants, this one is because of my dads influence, I've seen him watch the video to this song on MTV Classic many times. I really the narrative this story tells, and i also like it's basicness, but understand that at the time it was made, the effects would have been seen as being really good, which is what I really like about the video.

From this I have learnt that a good music video can make a song better, because people will watch the video more, therefore listening to the song more, so usually it grow the more you listen to it.

Also, judging by the research, people enjoy a narrative if it's told properly, and often you can capture peoples imagination, this could also result in people watching the video numerous times over, making the video a success.

The Narrative of my Music Video

By now, I'd like to think that you are aware I will be following a narrative structure when creating my music video, but as of yet I've not actually dedicated a post to tell telling the what the narrtive entails, and how it will develop.

The lyrics of 'Who can Say' go "and though it's hard for me to say, I think your better off this way, and though it's hard for m to say, I know you're better off this way" I have emphasised on the 'think' and 'know' here, I'd say from this, it's quite clear that the song is about Man who believes he has fallen out of love with his partner, but isn't quite sure finishing with her is the right thing to do, because he knows he will destroy her inside.

So the video will be following frontman Levi Strummer, as he is the man facing this decision, as he attempts to get his head clear, and think things through, before finally plucking up the courage, and doing what he believes is the right thing, finishing with his partner.

Douglas Hart.

Douglas Hart, founding member The Jesus and Mary Chain/music video producer, is somebody whom I have looked at for inspiration, this is because Hart produced has produced a number of music videos, for band who I have sighted as an influence, bands such as The Horrors, Ocean Colour Scene, and The Vaccines.

I have noted that Hart, often uses Disjuncture/Performance, as the main feature of his videos, as shown in the two videos enlisted below.





From this I have learnt you this style can work well, so I have decided to try and mix this performance in with Narrative, which will be the main style for my music video but during I have decided to show frontman Strummer performing the lyrics to this song. This is because it will bring in the performance style, whilst staying as a narrative video. This is because the performance aspect will show performing is very important, means a lot to him, and he takes it very seriously, and you imply this to the narrative side, such as this decision he is making, he is means a lot, and is very important to him.

One more final note, Douglas Hart has also prodcued Narrative Music Videos, check out 'The Day we Caught the Train' by Ocean Colour Scene, a video I have previously analysed, which you can find on this blog.

Amount of shots/edits.

For the official video for the song that I have chosen, Who Can Say, by The Horrors, are there only 123 shots, on estimate. The song lasts 3:41, usually for a song of this length the amounts of edits would often be around the 200 mark. So having 123 edits is quite rare.

Therefore, I have decided that I am going to keep the amount of shots under 200 edits, and aim for around 150 edits, on estimate. There are two reasons I have decided to do this, firstly because of the drum beat, this song is more guitar/key's heavy, and whilst the song is quick paced, the main drum beat is quite slow. I have posted the song below, and you'll notice that there is a 4 second gap between the drum beats, and although I will still be editing shots inbetween the beat, music videos are quite often edited to the beat of the song.



Latterly, the second reason behind this is the pragmatic reason, the narrative of the song follows frontman, Levi Strummer making a tough decision, and being in a difficult situation about his love life, therefore he must think things through slowly, which would make sense to have Strummer involved in some shots of a longer length, to imply that he is having to think long and hard over his decison.

The Mirrors Image, Night Out.

When gonig out for a couple of drinks, or an actual night out, you'd expect to see the The Mirrors Image wearing gear, they'd wear when performing a gig. expect to see a brash of Skinny Jeans, and a sea of pointed shoes.

The band would often visit a quiet, local pub, where they are comfortable, for a drink or two. Frontman Strummer would rarely be seen sipping on a lager, or cider, but rather consuming a spirit, topped up and accompanied with some Coke. As for the rest of the band, it wouldn't be too suprising to see them with a lager, or cider, (as well as seeing these drinks acconpany the band, when on stage at a gig) Nor would it would be suprising to see the band drinking a whisky during the seasonal winter months.

Although, The Mirrors Image do also enjoy going for a big night out on the town, and do enjoy to hit the club scene, and to put it simply, go and have a good time.

The Performers.

I have decided that I will be using a man named Pat Mills, will be portraying the character Levi Strummer in my music video for 'The Mirrors Image, Who Can Say. This was a rather straight forward decision for me to make, because I know Pat will be a good punctual worker, and will also work to produce, which will help me produce a good quality music video.

Although, the main reason as to why I have chosen Pat to star in my music video, is because he also familiar with my inspirations, and knows what style I am trying to put across, therefore I believe he would perform better than most. He has a strong interest in music, and is familiar with music from different generations, and also a wide variety of genres. Therefore he knows what I'm looking to produce in my music video, and what I've taken inspiration from, making to the best candidate to star in my music video, for The Mirrors Image, Who Can Say.

(Note, on previous blogs I've stated that I won't be using cheque shirts, this is Pat as himself, not portraying The Mirrors Image, frontman.)

Band Image.

As a band, The Mirrors Image take their image representation quite seriously. When filming music, or performing gigs, they attempt to dress up well, and hope people notice their image, with the thought process that people will like the band more if they dress well, as well as by making good music.

You will often see The Mirrors Image portraying themselves in a pair of vintage shoes, or boots, not boots, as in 'military boots', but more boots that would be in the style of shoes. Other than this expect to see The Mirrors Image showing off wearing leather jackets, or if not a Harrinton Jacket. You may also notice The Mirrors Image wearing a quirked up blazer, for a formal, or important occasion.

Members of the band, will also often wear a mixture of Shirts and T-shirts, more times than not, the T-shirt will striped. As for the latter, they will quite often be plainly coloured shirts, instead of typical mixed chequered shirts you see in today's market.

As for the leg's, The Mirrors Image, will be seen wearing Skinny Jeans, often being called 'too skinny' by critics, but frontman Levi Strummer will always perform gigs, and shoot the bands videos wearing Skinny Jeans.

Examples of other texts.

Listed below, are a selection of some of my favourite music videos...


I have this video by Gorillaz, because I believe some of the effects used are extraordinary, although this is because Damon Albarn, and James Hewlitt have used top of the range after effect, and edting equipment. Although I also like this video because the narrative story that comes with the amazing effects. Although when creating a music video such as the one I will be making, using effects such as these, just would not be possible, so apart from the narrative code, I wouldn't be able to take much inspiration from this video, on the speical effects side.



I have chosen this video, mainly because there are glimpses that the video follows the 3 different styles of music video, the disjuncture, because Foals leave the stage, and a little boy just comes and play's their song, and no specific is given as to why, which could be considered disjuncture. Also because of Foals at the beginning, and the boy, both are performing the song. Which could make the song a performance style. Finally, the song follows a narrative code, it seems to follow the narrative that the boy in building in confidence, and is coming into his comfort zone, because of this, I have realised that it is possible, to mix in different narrative structures, in the same music video.

Video Location

For the location of my music video, I believe the setting of the video will be in the outdoors, a rural setting in the outdoors. The meaning of the song I have chosen, is about a Man telling his partner that he no longer loves her, and is finding it hard to tell her, because he will break her heart, but he knows it is the best thing for her.

This is why I am planning to create a narrative music, because the story itself follows a narrative, I'll attempt to tell this story, following the man as he tries to get his head straight before he breaks his partners heart.

The reason I'll be filming the video in the outdoors is because the man, will want to break away from city life, and spend some time in peaceful surroundings, where he can think straight.

Intertexuality.

Within my music video, I believe Intertexuality could be considered option for me to use. Intertexuality in videos, is taking a piece of footage from a previous video, and recreate this piece, but by giving it a new twist.

I believe this method can work, mainly because of the nostalgia that come along with it, because usually the intertexuality is quite easy to notice that it has been emualted. People who liked the original, will often grow fond of the video that reportrayed it.

As I'm looking to take influence from previous generations, e.g. the 80's, I believe using textuality could work quite well. This is due to the fact that people will hopefully see the piece of intertextuality, then see that I have taken inspiration from these videos of previous eras.

Band Profile.

The Mirrors Image, a three-piece band spanning from the city of Leicester. Frontman, and also part time guitarist Levi Strummer, created the band when he was 15 years old, he is also the songwriter for the band, whilst also being spokesman, he has even appeared in previous music videos the band have made. Due to the other 'Media Shy' members of the band, who are yet to feel confident in the spotlight.

Although Strummer does not have a problem with this.The young man has a 'vibrant' and 'quirky' personality, mixed in with his fasinating dark side, giving him confidence within his society, these different sides of Strummer also to come life when he along with the rest of the band, make their intriguing music, colloaborating upbeat tempo's with a dark, twisted, fanatical edge.

The band are set to release their debut album, 'The Underground Sound', later this year, with high hopes that upcoming single 'Who Can Say' will provide them with some success, and help to elavate their debut release. Coming off the back of full support tour with The Cribs, the Leicestershire outfit are confident their fans will warm to the album, as well as bringing some new attention to themselves.

Can The Mirrors Image step into limelight with their hands held high, Who can say'...

The Mirrors Image, Twitter Page.

Here is the link to 'The Mirrors Image' Twitter Page. As of yet there are not many tweet on the page, however this will be turned around in the next couple of day's.

http://twitter.com/#!/Thereal_mirrors

Band Name

For my Media Music Video Project this year, I have decided on a band name for artists in the video, the group will be called 'The Mirrors Image'. I have taken inspirations for this names for two reasons, the first reason is because it is the title to the opening track of the The Horrors second album 'Primary Colours', The Horrors, subsequently one of 'The Horrors' favourite bands, as you'd expect.

The second reason I have named the band 'The Mirrors Image' is because of the connotations associated with it, for example 'What you see is what you get', as they don't, they dress how they like, create the music that they like, and in general, represent themselves exactly how they like. So in relation to this, when you look into the mirror, 'What you see is what you get', you cannot why when looking into a mirror.

Hence why I believed 'The Mirrors Image' would a good, and creative name for the band.

Music Video Pitch, Evaluation.

After completing my pitch to the rest of the class, I believe it went reasonably well. Via the pitch, I let people know what my influences for this video are, and also what styles of image, I will attempt to follow. Also which song I used, and I hope people saw the link in what song I'd chosen to do, with the styles I am trying to create, well, no questions were asked querying why I'd chosen 'Who Can Say' by The Horrors, so I hope people understood my decision.

Although, location and what style of video I was doing wasn't included on the pitch slideshow, After being asked a question on where I would be filming the video, I informed the whole class that I would be following a Narrative style of video, elaborate, as well as informing the class that I had all but decided that I will be filming the video in outdoors, with the likely choose for a location, being a rural area.

Other than that, I believe the students who watched my pitch were relatively clear on the ideas I had come up with for the video, and that they understood my idea trying to mix in inspiration from 80's ear etc, alongside new styles of music, and music videos.

Finally, I am relatively pleased with the outcome of pitch, even though I do believe the standard of my slideshow could have been better, but altogether I believe it did the job fine. Plus, because I managed to answer any queries on the music video with a reasonable answer, I believe it covered up for any slight cracks in the slideshow all together, giving me satisfaction for my completed pitch.

Moodboard.

The following Moodboard contains a number of images/people who have an inspiration of some kind, on my Music Video Project...

Media Moodboard

Music Video Pitch.

Audience Profile.

Audience Profile

If I was to create a specific image, that a fan of my Artist/Song would follow, then it would something along the lines as the following…

Fan Base

Mainly, fans of the band would be both males and females, most probably of the age between 16-25. Obviously though, this would have exceptions.

Favourite Bands

The Horrors

The Cribs

General Fiasco

The Vaccines

Primal Scream

Ocean Colour Scene

Yuck

The Strokes

The Joy Formidable

Givers

Cat’s Eyes

Favourite Films

Trainspotting

Party Party

Scum

This is England

A Clockwork Orange

Favourite Festivals

Glastonbury

Reading (Even though it’s different to Glastonbury)

Bestival

Favourite Clothes

Often, fans of this band would be seen around wearing skinny jeans, most probably a pair of shaded blue or black skinny jeans, straying away bright coloured jeans such as red or yellow, hence following a more traditional look. The skinny jeans would usually be accompanied a pair a smart looking shoes, or boots for that matter, staying away from trainers such as ‘Vans’ which you often see people wearing in today’s society. This is because the band follows a traditional dress code used by their predecessors such as The Clash, a band who’d you rarely see wearing trainers.

Also, fans of the band, would often be scene in some of kind of leather or denim jacket, this would be because, quite often they will see (artist) either walk on stage to stage to a set in this style of clothing. Also you’d expect to find striped T-Shirts amongst fans, as well as the band itself. Other than this, seeing fans in a plainly coloured shirt (staying away from multi-coloured cheque shirts) would not be a large surprise.

Obviously, not all fans, would wear the same attire to support, as most people still have their own unique style, and nobody is exactly the same. Although there is a general wave of fashion ideas that followers of the band would wear.

Pictured above: Liam Fray (left) and Faris Badwan (right)

Music Video Analysis.

'The Day We Caught the Train' a Mid 1990's era, 'Britpop', and also modern day classic, by 'Ocean Colour Scene' follows a Narrtive Video structure. This is because during a time when the song was created, it was era when Bristish music was on a high. This meant the music video consisted of the members of the band, just enjoying themselves doing whatever they please, and worrying about issues in life, which makes it a narritive structured video because  this is what the song is affectively about.

Bright and colourful backgrounds are used throughout the video, such as green tree’s and a blue swimming pool. I believe this has been done to make sure that because it set’s a ‘feel good’ background to the video, which links back to the narrative structure of the video, because a feel good background, needs to accompany the Ocean Colour Scene themselves feeling good, Otherwise, if this wasn’t the case, and the video was based around, a dark and cloudy night, the video would show inconsistency, as shown in the video below



‘The Day We Caught the Train’ video does not follow the ‘Notion of Looking’ technique. The band are not looking to draw people into watching their video, due to their looks. Rather than that Ocean Colour Scene, would rather draw in their fans, by making music videos that convey the songs they write. This way people will be able to relate to Ocean Colour Scene as a band, giving more of another influence over their fans.

Also, the video does not follow, or use any special effect techniques, to give their video a more, ‘retro’ or ‘funky’ edge, which shows that simplicity can work very well in getting across the message you want, rather than throwing in the lots of projection into the background, just to make your video more exciting.



From this video I have learn that following a narrative style can work wel, depending on whether you have the a strong narrative to tell, something that will make you go back and watch over and over again, and also, as long as the lighting etc. suit the tone, and narrative you are hoping to tell, for instance if the creating an upbeat song, where the mood is supposedly happy, then lighting would be brighter to suit this.