planning and drafts for the magazine advert

digipak planning

As a group we all had different ideas on how we wanted to design our digipak. We all design a individual mock up first to see what each of us thought our digipak should look. As a group we came up with the idea to design a digipak for a live DVD of the Maccabees, which included the official video of their most famous song ‘First Love’. After analysing various covers for digipaks, we found out that they were more focused on photos of the band and logos rather than album artwork. We thought it would be best if we created a logo, which we would use on the front cover. As the Maccabees are of the indie genre, which is associated with, artistic, abstract images, we decided we would use to relate within the theme and conform to the genre conventions. We also chose a colour scheme which is quite abstract, and that was black and white.

This is our original idea for the font/logo, which would be used, on our

Even though we really liked the font and thought it suited the ideology of the Maccabees, we though that it was simple and could do with adding more depth. We didn’t want to change the whole image so we just changed it slightly.

We came up with the idea to use this logo on the digipak and the advert so it would show a connection between the two and also create a link between the imagery and the band.

For the back cover of the digipak we wanted to use a live footage picture of the band since we couldn’t directly use a picture from the internet, Emily came up with the idea to take a photograph of her brother band and then put into black and white so it wasn’t too obvious that it wasn’t the actual band. The idea from using a picture of a live band was to give an insight into what the DVD would feature and want audiences expect to see from a live DVD. This is the photo we decided to use on our end product.

The next phases was to edited the picture into black and white, which fits in with the reoccurring theme of Black and white that is represented throughout our digipak.
For the inside panels, we decided to take pictures of the band members from the video and again using the idea of abstract themes we decided to silhouette the band members into black which contrasts with the white background again alluding the theme of abstract designs and matching the colour scheme.
Below are the original pictures we use before editing them.

we thought that adding the lyrics within the digipak would give a more realistic image as most albums and live DVDs have included lyrics from their songs, but it would also allow fans to see the lyrics if they wanted to sing-along with the song. We kept to the them of white and black because this is a iconography of what most indie genres represent.


These are the final digipak panels.

FRONT COVER

On the DVD spine we have added the name of the recording company as well as the logo to make the DVD seemed more authentic.

INSIDE PANEL 1

inside panel 2

inside panel 3

dvd disc

back cover of digipak

The Maccabees First love lyrics

'First Love' Lyrics
First love, Last love
Only love, it's only love

First love, Last love
Only love, it's only love

Do you miss home?
Do you miss home?
And are you cool?
Symmetrical?

Oh Oh Oh
Let's get married
And tick the boxes
Oh lets get married
And tick the boxes

Do you wanna be alone?
Do you wanna be alone?
And are you cool?
Symmetrical,
Analytical
Hypocritical
So critical
Nothing's perfect; I'm hoping I'll do

Oh nothing's perfect; I'm hoping I'll do

My mistake
And no mistake
And I would take it back if I could
So stay with me tonight

I'll make my bed, I'll lie in it
Enticing with its leopard print
I'll make my bed, I'll lie in it
Enticing with its leopard print
And matching velvet duvet

First love, Last love
Only love, it's only love

First love, Last love
Only love, it's only love
It's only love (x3)

we will used this lyrics for reading off cards as a part of the lip synching.

storyboards designs

here our storyboards desgins which will use for the next stage, filming.

Magazine Advert Planning

Instead of creating simply an advert we decided to create a page from a magazine that shows how the advert would be marketed and advertised to the mass audience of The Maccabees. Our idea was to incorporate a music magazine which would have a large target based audience to; we created a magazine page in the style of NMW, a renowned music magazine which promotes rock and indie bands. One of the reasons for choosing the magazine NME is the fact that they’ve been recently talking about the Maccabees and so we thought that the advert would fit and reach the right target audience. After researching the Maccabees we found lots of articles on the NME website so it would easy to access information about them and used this information within relation to our own product.
This is the magazine page we created

We also looked at some indie band adverts in the magazine and saw that they were simple and simplistic. So we decided to go we a simplistic look which would show the conventions and iconography of the indie genre but also show how the Maccabees use simple image to convey their message. For example, this is an advert that is promoting the Maccabee's new song 'Empty Vessels'

The advert for the Maccabees latest single is very simple, the main focus is the actual words and the photo used in the background isn’t overpowering and doesn’t over shadow the actual words which are promoting their latest single.
For our advert we decided to just focus on the text. This is our original idea for the advert which has been incorporated into the magazine page

However we decided to change the advert in order to match with the digipak so that is was more distinctive to the Maccabees and the indie genre. We used the front cover of the Maccabees digipak but inverted the colours so that there appear slightly different form the ones that we used on the digipak . the added abstract line patteren is a coherence theme throughout our digipak, again showing the link between the teo.
This is our final magazine advert

A Summary of Our Ideas

Before planning and creating and creating a storyboard out first task was to examine the original video by the Maccabees `First love` and decide what we could incorporate and identity key elements into our final product. Our overall goal is to produce a music video that audiences will be able to quickly distinguish and establish as being a Maccabees song. Next we create a list of key elements and features which we could use in our own version of the song without out directly copying the format of the video.

The list of feature/techniques we decided to include in our video are:
• Stop motion
• Random objects that have a hidden meaning
• The theme of love
• Subdued colours
• Fast paced movement which matches the tempo of the song
• Shots of the band
We thought that the video would best suit a combination between performance and narrative; however we decided that because of the confusing storyline/song we would make the majority of the video performance based with bits of a narrative structure that will empathise the relationship between the characters and the audience. The original video itself consist of quite a vague and random storyline and does follow a conventional music video in terms of performance and narrative structure.

We’re going to use a variety of camera angles however the majority of them will be close up shots and mid shots to focus on the detail but still hold the frame of the shot as well. As were are going to use a range of filming techniques such as stop motion, which is used a lot in videos by the Maccabees and indie bands in general, as well as fast motion to match the speed of tempo within the chorus region.

group meeting

re-filmed some scenes
work on blogs make sure all information is updated
divide tasks betweenm us in order to give everyone the opportunity to have ago

Progress over the last few days.

Progress over the last few days.
Since filming, we have now begun editing. We upload our footage on to final cut pro, this will be the software we will be using to edit the whole of our video. We have found that the lighting, quality and variety of shots have been improved since our first draft. The idea of using college as a location as a setting made it easy to re film any changes that arose in postproduction but it also gave that authentic look of studio rooms which was used in The Maccabees video. At this stage we have edited roughly around 1.38 minutes and we still have around 2minutes left to edit. Once all the clips are in order and in sync with the music, we will then edit the finer details such as lighting, contrast and the colours of each shot.

Conventions of the Indie Genre

Genre can be defined and explained in the following way:
The general feeling and emotion that a band/artist evokes in their audience and how they apply the conventions of their genre to their overall sound and appearance make them immediately distinctive and recognisable, instantly representing the genre their music fits into.

Conventions of a genre:
-typical instruments used
-typical sound/tempo/volume/style of singing
-context/themes of songs
-appearance of the band
My group - which consists of Steven, Sam, Emily and myself - have chosen a song which we will be using for our music video. We decided on 'First Love' by The Maccabees (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A1xu0BSs2s&ob=av2e).
The genre for our music video is indie. Indie music relatively comes from an independent scale incomparision to mainstream artist which are signed to major record labels such as universal records. The genre, subcultures, stylistic and cultural attributes, all relate the indie genre the genre completely operates through a do-it-yourself (DIY) approach.

The term “indie” is often used to mean a sound that relates to an individual interpreted, or the way that a sound is presented or made to fit in with those conventions. The term indie often relates to a band or artist that is not sign with any mainstream culture. The DIY approach gives the artist totally creative freedom such as Rough Trade Records does with their artists and bands.

The conventions of a music video vary depending on genre of music. However, some of the general conventions are:
• The artist is shown performing.
• Lyrics of the song influence the representation of the narrative and images shown within the video.
• The editing fits in with the pace of the song
• The clothing represents the genre
• Typical rock instruments e.g. guitars, and many indie bands use synthesizers and keyboards to add a psychedelic/weird tone to their music which makes it so distinctive from other music genres.
• Most dominated by males although there are a mixer of male to females for instance Florence and the machine.
For most indie music videos the conventions tends to follow a chronicle order of black and white, but not always. The use of close-ups, extremes close-ups and longshot are seen as a signature mark within the indie genre.

Key Artists of the Genre
The most iconic indie bands of today are:
• The Maccabees - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fs1wkwAMQc
• The Wombats - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlOVEMHLAMc
• Arctic Monkeys - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30w8DyEJ__0
• The Strokes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l09H-3zzgA
• British Sea Power - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2n-7K0Ef6Y
• The Fratellis - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Bs9_k3kVc
• Foals - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaVE4WVlsDQ
• Editors - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO7tVypeYAo
• Foster the People - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTZ7iX4vTQ&ob=av2e
• Radiohead - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk
• Bloc Party - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdkmhquF60o

How to define a genre

Genre: anticipation and expectations of target audience.

MUSIC:
style of the band/artist - what makes them unique/different to others.
genre - what the band (and music) have in common with others

analysis of music videos:

MOTORHEAD - ACE OF SPADES
how would you describe the style of the band?
long hair, dark clothing, facial hair, messy, rough looking 'dont care attitude'

What genre is the song?
Rock/heavy metal - you can tell this because of the vocals which are loud and rough, and the heavy guitars

Nick Lacey believed that genre is split into three elements:

• Institution (record company)
• Text (video) created by artists and institution, using codes and conventions of the genre
• Audience: anticipate and expect certain things from a certain genre

Iconography work from September added

Iconography
"An icon is something that is really typical of that genre"
- Edwin Panoffsky - 1953

Paradigmatic - what we select from a genre to include in the music video
Syntagmatic - how you combine these selected elements in the video, and also how the video is edited and filmed.

Music videos represent the contexts and themes of the song and help to illustrate the meaning of it. They are a form of visual pleasure, especially to fans because they provide voyeurism/the pleasure of looking at the band or artist.

Location Report/Props and Costumes

Location
The majority of our scenes use generic backgrounds such as a white wall or a low wall by a bus stop. These backgrounds are easily accessible at college because they are so basic so we don't need to venture far to film. Because the backgrounds are so simple the video won't look like it was filmed in college and make the editing process easier to edit out .

Props and Costumes
Guitar

Paper cups/string

Photographs
Clothes typical of the 'indie' fashion for the band members

Average everyday clothes for the actors

Music Video Survey

Music Video Survey
We carried out a survey asking people what they like to see in a music video and these were the results.

skills i have learnt so far

Skills I have learnt
From the story of The Maccabees `first Love` video and creating the shot lists. I have learnt how important planning and prep is in terms of achieving successful end products. Teamwork is also vital when creating a music video I’ve learnt that as a team we can benefit each over singularly as well as haring our experience and ideas with one another. Co-operation is key when working as a team as our team has worked co-dependably as well as a group to ensure that tasks are completed before the deadline.
Watching other indie music video has allowed me to identity key aspects in terms of iconography and conventions. Its also taught me it helps to watch a video repeatedly in terms of analysing. Story boards are a fundamental aspect when planning a video, as it will help break up the narrative structure and use of different camera shots and angles when filming. The types of shots should also been taken into consideration so you know what needs to be done and in what time frame. Experimenting with different video camera helped me to learn different techniques that will help me with future projects. Having a go a lip-syncing was important to add the edge of realism to, but it was also a difficult task to get right because you needed to remember the timing of the music and how each shot would look when added to the music. Taking to many shots can be time consuming when in editing process so the key is to have more than the minimum but not to much. We ended up filming a number of times to make the video look as realistic as possible.

Wednesday 7th December 2011

Wednesday 7th December 2011
We managed to edit the video as a whole, but they are still a few tweaks to make the whole video run in time with the music. Also we need fill in gaps that are missing this means we have to go back to the footage we upload prior to editing and see if there is any feasible footage we can use to include, if not we will have to film again. Hopefully this is not the case as we have plenty of extra footage.
We showed our video to the rest of our class who gave us feedback on how we could improve our range of shots, included extra transitions, and fill in the gaps. We have taken in to consideration what needs to be done to improve our video as our aim is to produce a well-directed music video for our coursework. Getting feedback for further improvements and adjusting the visual aspects of the video in order to improve the quality of the video.
So far we feel as the video has been a significant improvement on our first draft but hopefully with our feedback we can make even further amendments to gain extra marks.

Progress over the last few days.

Progress over the last few days.
Since filming, we have no begun editing. We upload our footage on to final cut pro, this will be the software we will be using to edit the whole of our video. We have found that the lighting, quality and variety of shots have been improved since our first draft. The idea of using college as a location as a setting made it easy to re film any changes that arose in postproduction but it also gave that authentic look of studio rooms which was used in The Maccabees video. At this stage we have edited roughly around 1.38 minutes and we still have around 2minutes left to edit. Once all the clips are in order and in sync with the music, we will then edit the finer details such as lighting, contrast and the colours of each shot.

update on video

Update on Video
As planned in our schedule we begin the process of filming as of tomorrow. We have planed what will be need to film from last week in order to be fully prepared for the start of this week. Our list consistent of:
 Costume to be worn
 Various props
 Booking the camera and tripod
 What roles we would need to undertake
 Also make sure everyone knew why filming would commence

Filming:

Filming:
 The start of filming, we decided to film in chronicle order, we quickly realized that this would be impossible to accomplish as the video it self has no chronicle order/ structure within the Maccabees first love video.
 Next Stage of filming was to sort out want needed to be in each frame and shot and how we would incorporate this into our final product. But most importantly was can we used similar techniques to The Maccabees.
 One of the major problems that we had while filming was the inconsistency with the timing of the music and the lip-syncing not matching together at the exact time in unison. Re-filming and finding the right speed of music quickly and effectively resolved the problem.
 After resolving the issue with timing and music our next step was to form a mini narrative that could be included within our production, so that the narrative it self could tell a story but easily relate to the music video as well.

Planning stages:

Planning stages:
 First we had to decided was type of musical genre and conventions owe were going to pursue and the conventions
 Next stage was to research and analysis three music videos for our chosen genres, additionally I have added some other music genres what I was originally going to use until the departure of the person I was working with.
 After analyzing my three chosen music videos, I began to research digipaks and what connotations are linked in with the indie genre such as colours, images, fonts, and trademarks which are used me recognized bands that have a large fan based already. My three chosen digipaks conveys the themes and values used in music genres that makes them stand out and recognizable iconography. The analysis of the Nikki Minja album cover creates the connotations of the `Male Gaze Theory` by Laura Mulvey.

Individual responsibilities:

Individual responsibilities:
In terms of research and planning, the majority of the work was done as a group; we discussed our plans such as which type of music genre we wanted to do, if the music video was effective in terms of makings within our budget and resources. We held group meetings each week, setting our self targets what needed to be done and which task could be delegated between each of us. When it came to filming we shared time on the camera between Emily, Steven, Sam, and me. The majority of shots were down to Steven and Sam though we all shared individual input into how we were going to recreated The Maccabees Video. While one person was filming the rest of the group would be in charge of props, lighting and the music.

When it came to the post production stage, editing was divided between each of us although Sam took the reigns due to his previous knowledge of the software, however me, Steve and Emily all took parts in sharing our experience and ideas in helping out on the editing certain parts of the song.

While Steve and Sam worked on adding the finishing touches to editing me and Emily worked on creating the magazine advert and digipak, once again we swapped and delegated tasks between us to even the workload while working effectively as a group.

Tracking progress

How’s the project going so far:
So far the project has been going well, apart from a few hitches that arose in post production. We had a slight problem with the music and lip syncing not matching together in time. We decided that the best way of correcting this mistake was to re-film again in order to have a smooth running of the lip syncing and the music being in time.

Laura Muvley Male Gaze Theory

Brief synopsis of Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist born on august 15th 1941. She was educated at St Hilda's college, Oxford. She is currently a professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck University of London, but has previous experience working for the British film institute.

What is the Gaze?
The concept of the gaze is one that deals with how audience views the people presented.

Mulveys main theory is called 'the male gaze', this was to show that the female actresses in the 50s and 60s were to be looked at (to-be-looked-at-ness).
She suggests there are 2 modes of the male gaze of these era, 'voyeuristic', for example seeing women as 'whores' and 'fetishistic' seeing women as Madonnas.
The theory is to show that women were there to be seen and to entice men into the film.

For feminist it can be thought of in three ways:
How men look at women
How women look at themselves
How women look at other women

Laura Muvley coined the term `Male Gaze` in 1975. She believe that in film audiences have to `view` characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

Features of the Male Gaze
The camera lingers on the curves of the female body and events which occur to women are presented largely in the contents of a man’s reaction to these events.

Relegates women to status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

For example I found this clip of a music video on a webpage referencing the Male Gaze Theory by Laura Mulvey.
Scouting for girls- she so lovely

“I love the way she fills her clothes
she looks just like them girls in vogue”


Also The 'male gaze' theory can be applied to contemporary music videos particularly in genres such as rap and pop. Here is an example of voyeuristic tactics used to entice men into watching the candy shop video by 50 cent:

Watch the clip and identify how many references are made towards the Male Gaze?

Use of the Male Gaze Theory in everyday life
Some theorist have also noted the sexualizing of the female body even in the situations where female sexiness has nothing to do has doing to do with the product being analysis.

Criticism of Mulvey and the Gaze theory
Some women enjoyed being `looked` at e.g. beauty pageants.
The gaze can also be directed towards members of the same gender for sexual reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing.

Key theorist beliefs
Jonathan Schroeder (1998) “to gaze implies more than to look at- it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze.”

The Maccabees website analysis

http://www.themaccabees.co.uk

The conventions that are presented on The Maccabees website are audio and visuals elements, which begin to start as soon as you reach their homepage. The band has create a live performance that audience are shown to engage their fans into their performances I.e. gigs and how the band operates. The focus is straight away gage on the audience, using live footage of their activities keeps fans more interested and keeps them on the website for longer periods of time, but it also shows fans that the band are more targeted to live performance which many indie genres bands and audience enjoy in terms of viewing pleasures. The text on the homepage are links to other pages of the websites with information of the bands, upcoming gigs dates, and music. At the bottom of the page there are links which takes you to The Maccabees social networking sites. This is effective use of 360 marketing because fans can use these social networks to follow the bands activities and what they currently up to. The links at the top of the page lets the audience find out everything they need to about the band there is a section for lyrics, news, blogs, live, images and videos but extras that fans will enjoy. The layout of the website is simple with links at the top and bottom of the page, also the Maccabees logo is featured which is instantly recognisable to their target audience, the navigations buttons are also simple and effective making it easy to follow and use the website.

Who are the target audience?
The target audience are fans are the bands music and also fans of the indie genre. The age will probably range around 15- 30 years olds and most predominately female. Also the live footage will give new audiences a chance to see what the band are like but also draws them into the bands style of performance and maybe even converting them into liking the band.

How successful is it at promoting the artist?
The band are well promoted in terms of the use of videos and links to the bands activities within the website. The band is the first thing you hear and see, using direct engagement to interactive with their fan based. The bands promotion strategy is probably through the use of word of mouth, and the footage of the band its self. The Maccabees aren’t sign to a major record deal so they don’t have the financial backing that major record label do with artists, but the band are effective in promoting themselves in terms of using social networking sites such as Myspace, Twitter and Facebook to reach their fans.

This is the album advert for The Maccabees Wall Of Arms. It uses the same artwork as what is on its album so that the album can be recognised in shops or in magazines. There is no reviews or comments made by Music Critics to give ratings or information on the album. There is however a larger space at the bottom of the image which is taken up by smudges and paint dripping coming from the members of the bands.

The band members are dressed in bright and vibrant colours which gives a up-tempo approach to the theme there are presenting, they are also quite status like, like mannequins shop windows advertising new merchandise that has just arrived in stores.

This space could have been used to provide extra information on the bands forthcoming album or positive reviews which could have been used to market, advertise and entice audiences. This is a good example of an album advert that lacks information and bad marketing and advertising strategies to pull in potential cliental, the advert only shows the name of the band and the album title, and that it out now.

The image is eye-catching and shows that the band has develop a unique and individuality crafted, which goes with the albums marketing strategies. One most eye-catching element of the advert is the that text is ‘acclaimed’ twice on the advert, each time in different colours in order to make it stand out and grab the attention of the audience.

The magazine advert for Laura Marling is very simple but also very effective. The use of abstract picture is a common convention in her type of genre, many indie band use abstract design to convey they messages and values through pictures such as the one above to convey meaning into their personalities and music which are identify by target audiences.

The neutral colour scheme and bold black outlines work well with the plain background and text. The image is rather unusual, but the dark patterns pattern’s highlight the lighter flower in the centre which creates a focusing point and a area of interest to the target reader. There is no direct link to establish the artist from the advert, which makes the advert more imaginative for the reader.

The drawing expresses that though and detail have been inputted into the image and helps emphasise the outline of the human body. The rest of the image features leaves and trees which makes the whole theme more of a naturalistic element of the four elements of the earth. The layout is also very simple as the text and image is centralised, this makes the advert more easy to read and look at.

The colours complement each other and do not overtake one another. The use of one single neutral colour highlights elements to exposed the image. There is no type of shot features within this advert as is a drawing so no shot is need to illustrate the artist. The image fit’s the majority of the page which makes you focus on the image more closely and in depth, although a lot of graphical detail has been added to the drawing to emphasis themes within this advert. Editing has been used on the text to align the text and the image together. I like the use of old folk style text to convey the stylistic elements of a feminine theme. The overall thought on this magazine advert is very unique and eye catching the use of simplistic graphic and icon present a creative and imaginative way to present a artist the image and text links to the genre conventions and provides the relevant information.

Maccabees first draft digipak cover

my first draft of my digipak cover, my design was to create a indie feel in presenting my chosen genre for my music video. i chose colours that are closely linked with the indie genre, the lipstick image was to embed a connotation of the male-gaze theory by laura mulvey without using women presented, but by keeping the theme of the male identity hided.

The Maccabees 'First Love'

The Maccabees video ‘First Love’ follows a narrative structure and conveys themes of loneness through actors and props. The video in term of following a chronological order is seen to cut swiftly from scene to scene depicting to main theme of love and loneness. The video opens with a high angle shot of a woman lying on the floor outdoors, the camera then cuts to a man siting inside a room and a woman sitting on a chair and table in front of her. The types of cuts used in the video are fast and quick which conveys the changes through times but also expressing the feeling of love.

The storyline contains people who have lost love, or want love and a relationship. A number of props appear in the video symbolize the ideology of love and lost, for example in the scene where the woman is seen hammering pieces of clay could be a reference to heart break and taking out her frustration and angry.
click here to see video

Florence and the Machine Rabbit Heart Music Video analysis

Rabbit Heart is the fourth single from Florence’s debut album, Lungs and reached 12th in the UK singles chart after being released on 22nd June 2009. The genre of the song is classified as indie pop on the music site last.fm and alternative in the iTunes music store.

The video follows a narrative structure with Florence singing in a field accompanied by a number of actors and dancers. The theme seems to collaborated with a spiritual ritual that appears within the video, where the actors, dancers are seen dancing and having a feast which at this point the food is thrown from a table to the floor and finally Florence is boxed into a coffin and wrapped with a white cloth which is a symbolic reference to purity which could fit into to Ronald Bathes theory of connotation and denotation. The coffin is then pushed into the river floating peaceful away, which a signifier reference, to a Biblical story or ancient Burials like the Romans and the Greeks. These Spiritual and ancient themes relate back to the lyrics “ we raise it up, this offering, we raise it up” as well as the songs chorus.

The video opens with a extreme close up of Florence mouth with the rest of her face covered by a piece of see through material which has sequins at the end, again this gives the ideology of purity a woman unveiling her face. The camera the pans out then pans outwards towards Florence and she lifted the material from her face. This captures the audience interest as the video opens. Tracking shots, close ups and medium close up’s are regularly used throughout the music video making Florence constantly the centre of the audience’s attention.

Only one musical instrument from the song appears in the video. A man in a suit playing a harp appears immediately we are transport to a fairy tale of sorts creating a peaceful and harmonious background and themes, fitting along side the lyrics and meaning. Two other instruments are used in the video but are only used as props to aid the narrative and meaning within the contextual themes.

The rhythm of the song is slower than most of Florence and The Machine Videos, but still retains it upbeat posture within in terms and pop indie. The combined with the filter used on the camera and the occasional use of the fade transition gives the music video a dated theme, as to suggest that the video was a period drama of sorts.
A number of props appear in the video, most notably is the ending where Florence is carried towards the riverbank and pushed out onto the water. This makes the whole theme and ceremony of spirituality, purity and ancient rituals look like a joyful and Harmonious occasion as the singing and dancing takes centre stage.
While Rabbit Heart (Raise it up) wasn’t Florence’s first single, it was an important song as new artist are quickly label within the media for their public image. This video help shows that Florence is not the typical female sex symbol but an artist as an artist passionate about writing interesting with peculiar videos to accompany them. This could fit in with Laura Mulvey ideology of the Male Gaze.
click here to see video

Florence and the Machine

The album cover is made up of a bordered image of Florence. The image takes up the majority of the album cover with the artist’s name ‘Florence + the Machine’ taking up the area above the picture. The album name ‘Lungs’ has been written on top of the image by using layers in Photoshop, it almost looks like the lungs are tie around Florence neck, kind of like a necklace/ part of her accessories.
The main image on the album cover shows Florence wearing a see through sliver string dress, and a pair of lungs, which are attached to her. The fact that Florence has her eyes closed depicts the image and theme of harmony; naturalism in the background provides a sense of comfort and belonging. The image of Florence gives a innocent yet peaceful persona. The images allures
the theme of nature. This is something that is has been reflected in the majority of her single and EP covers

My group and I decided to a video using a song by the band the Maccabees called "First Love." The Maccabees are an Indy band so we decided to replicate their quirky nature in our video. We plan on using stop motion, green screen and quirky natured activities such has putting lips on a fist and creating the illusion of it singing. The music video will be a mixture of a narrative and performance. The video had to be fitting with the indy music of the maccabees.

When looking at the official video for the song we realised that it has a quirky off beat nature. We will be replicating some of the actions the maccabees do in the video such as talking through paper cups. We will be using a variety of camera angles including the regular kinds such as close ups and wide shots. We might even use some different types such as being on an angle or looking down or up at people.

Overall, the project seems to be going fine so far and is in track to be something special

group meeting 3rd October

the Maccabees
General ideas of the video
Techniques we're going to use: stop motion, green screen
combination of narrative and performance

Front Cover
Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday: the text is written along the bottom of the cover in a light grey front in contrast with the word “pink” which is written in a different font and colour. Which defines the whole purpose and ideology of the album concept; the Barbie style and iconography gives a insight into her persona and colours that surround and represent her as a individual. Which connotes the concept of a girly look yet surreal atmosphere being deliver here. The font almost looks like it been written in pink lipstick again keeping the ideology of ‘Barbie’. The rest of the text ‘Nicki Minaj’ and ‘Friday’ is in a thin, grey, capital font on the white background looking very calm and relax, yet it still stands out and captures audience response. The colour pink takes prominence on ‘Nicki Minaj Pink Friday’ cover reinforcing her conventional ‘Barbie’ style, which has become an iconic image for Nicki and her fan base. Her bright pink hair on a baby pink organza material all on the background. The image is a long shot of the artist with a slight high angle; making her seem small to contradict her long legs she ‘supposedly’ has, she is sat down on the backdrop of a solid pink background linking to the album title and her ‘Barbie’ persona. The whole ideology of the Barbie dolls reinforced with her plastic, flawless appearance fits in with Laura Muvley concept of the Male Gaze. ( the idea of a women conforming to a male fantasy within the media industry)

Back cover


The background colour is a light shade of pink, which fades into white; giving the image a more sophisticated look, than just block colours. The tracks numbers are in a dark grey colour but still manage to keep within the neutral themes, while the track titles are in white- which evidently makes it clearer and concise for the reader. This is the deluxe edition; therefore there are two extra tracks, again written in a darker grey colour. Along the bottom on the cover is all the additional information, including producers and technical workers who helped create the album, company logos, parental advisory logo and the anti-piracy warning. Lastly, on the spines there are two strips of a darker pink colour, with the artist name and album title. Image: it’s a long shot of Nicki crouched down on the floor, in a flamboyant, organza pink dress with high heels platform bubblegum pink boots and her bright pink hair- which again embeds the ideology of this typical Barbie icon image with a twist of her own personality. Her posture is straight; she is pouting and has placed her hand in a graceful, yet royal way, to mimic upper class, elite people. This presents her to be very humorous person, which is conveyed through her facial expression and body language.

history of Indie Music

Indie rock is a sub-genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others. Originally used to describe record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. As grunge and punk revival bands in the US, and then Britpop bands in the UK, broke into the mainstream in the 1990s, it came to be used to identify those acts that retained an outsider and underground perspective. In the 2000s, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, a number of indie rock acts began to enjoy commercial success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.
Indie rock, derived from "independent", describes the small and relatively low budget labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although distribution deals are often struck with major corporate companies these labels and the bands they host have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences.

The Maccabees

The Maccabees are a rock band from Brighton, England. They have released two albums so far, Colour It In in 2007, with a follow-up, Wall of Arms, released on 4 May 2009
The band came up with the name by flicking through the Bible and picking out a random word. Despite adopting a name with religious connotations, lead singer Orlando Weeks has more recently affirmed, in an interview on Steve Lamacq's BBC Radio 1 show, that none of the band is religious. Their lyrics often include an atheistic theme, in particular their second album's title track, "Wall of Arms".
Their debut single, "X-Ray", was released on Promise records on 28 November 2005, and received some evening play on London radio station Xfm London. They received little significant exposure, however, until six months later, when they released their second single, "Latchmere", the subject of which is the wave machine at the Latchmere Leisure Centre in Battersea, South London,[2] on Fierce Panda Records in April 2006. This was championed by Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and received airtime on MTV2. The video, directed by Hugh Frost and Samuel Bebbington, also proved an internet hit after it was posted on YouTube.

26/09/2011

Aims of the lesson:
*To continue thinking about genre in your music video coursework.
*To explore possible opitions in critical perspectives in exam.

Genre
* Typical instruments
* Typical sound/ pace/ volume/ tempo of music
* Typical style of singing
* Context themes
* the look of the Band/ Artist apperance

Icons: something which is really typical of that genre. (Edwin Panofsky) (1933)
Paradigmatic: what we select from genre to put into a video.
Syntagmatic: how we combine them in the music video and how its edited and filmed.

Pleasures of watching a music video?
Visual representation of the song
Fashion within genre and comparsion of am i fashionable
pleasure of lookin (Voyerism) sexual attraction
Music Video with narrative
Product Placement
the video can sometimes make the song

Genres
* Screamo- intensity
* Catharis- getting it all out of your system
* Pop- easy- cheers you up
* Punk- rebellion- rejecting how you should behave

19/09/2011

find at least three examples of didgipaks covers that belong to a chosen genre and at least one magazine advert featuring that genre.

Roland Bathes (Mythology) (1975)
Stage 1- Denotation
Stage 2- Contation
Stage 3- Myth or ideology

Laura Mulvey (Male Gaze)
Sexuality is constructed within existing power relationship.

Analysing Busted Muisc Video

Look at the first minute of the video. Note down how long each shot lasts for - and what happens in each shot. Use terms link connotations to analyse what you see.

The main theme of the music video is the sexual attraction of a schoolteacher from school pupils also members of the band. The shots of the teacher and the connation’s of her actions refers to her as being a sexual object for the fantasy of theses students who seem fascinated by her that she does in the music video in this section of the music video last up to a minute. The contrast to this in this section of the music video is the shots that use the members of the band, who are Charlie Simpson, Matt Willis and also James Bourne.


Examples of this include:

0:04: Eyes of the teacher.
0:11-0:14: Charlie Simpson performing the part of the song which he sings.
0:46-0:51: Band performs in the schoolyard.

What types of shots and camera angles are used? For instance, are there a lot of close-up shots or mid-shots? Are there any high or low angles?

There is a mixture of camera angles and shots in the music video. There are a lot of close-up shots of the teacher and also of the members of the band. This shows the importance of the members of the band because it is their music video and they’re promoting an image to us as the consumer also the teacher is an iconic member of the cast as she is the main attraction for the video. The mid-shots in the music video are of the members of the band when they perform in the schoolyard and also of the other pupils in the class.

Is the video performance-based or does it have a narrative structure? Or is it a mixture of both?

The music video is a mixture of performance-based and narrative-based music videos. This is evident of the use of a story about the members of the band being attracted to one of their teachers at school for the narrative-based part of the music video, it is also evident that it is a performance-based music video because of the members of the band singing the song during the class scenes as well as performing the song with the instruments in the schoolyard.

Busted video; What I Go School for

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzh8G4HdWVU

This image for beyonce i am tour represent her a powerful yet dominated, her feature as a spectular female brings out her diva aptitude in the music business but also as a icon. The dark silhouette on the back gives the impression that this performer is powerful in her performance structure and excels at reaching fans expectations. Beyonce name on the front cover is big, bold and in capitals making her seems as a big phemoumal singer as well as a performer. The DVD symbol on the front cover also audiences to know this a DVD features Beyonce in concert of her latest performance.

The image cover for this digipak gives a synposis of the singer Beyonce Knowles on the back cover, giving audiences a in tell on her life from a member of a famous girl band destiny child and as a singer on her own. the back cover also gives a list of track and videos which features on the dvd and the cd audio, it also gives a list of websites where you can get more information on the singer and upcoming gigs and events.
the back cover also has a barcode which makes the didgipak look more realistic and also logos of companies involved within the making of the Digipak cover and Beyonce record label. the front cover features a image of the singer beyonce which pictures her a glamorous diva in her own making this superstar is internationally known as a icon and a voice for woman all over the women but keep a classy look which gives connation and meaning. the tiles features the dvd product Beyonce live in wembley.