Group Blog

Link: https://group-b-david-james-g324.blogspot.co.uk/

Music Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiVvAXzqA3c&feature=youtu.be


During this year, I have been working with James Donovan to create a music video for the David Bowie song; The Man Who Sold The World.
The group blog shows the process of the planning and filming for the video.
We shared responsibilities for the video, but I focused more on the group blog while James paid more attention to editing. We both worked on the storyboard and filming.


Research and Planning:
We started off with two options for our music video, the other one being Nine Inch Nails' Hurt. I preferred the David Bowie song so that is what we went with. I had several ideas for the video and wanted it to be quite a surreal experience. I wanted to take inspiration from songs such as Ashes to Ashes.


For the storyboard, it was basic just showing shots that we wanted to take.



Later on I would create a new storyboard that worked better as it showed the video in order.








I also took it upon myself to create a name for the band, while James created the album name. I didn't want something simple so I chose names that referenced history and mythology which led to the name being Nero Redivivus. I was also the one who created the logo through Photoshop.



Filming:
During this time, I took multiple shots on my own including; time-lapses of the sky and a crowd and a lip-sync. I also filmed a close-up for the VHS scene.

Thursday 16th November
Location: Yewtree Cemetery
Shots Taken: Depth of field, pan-shot and hand on tombstone.
Weather: It was sunny but still had a lot of wind blowing.
For these bits, I was the only person on the camera so I did the work for lip-syncing and setting up the music for the shots.

Saturday 25th November
Shots Taken: Mirror shots with greenscreen. Medium shot with lighting under face. Shot of water blowing with the wind.
Weather: Frequent rain. Bright. This didn't effect filming as we were inside.



Monday 4th December 2017: Greenscreen shots. Close-up of eye.

Saturday 9th December: Cemetery, re-shot depth of field, pan shot with lip-sync. James' house, re-shot the mirror scene and filmed shot in the cupboard. Town, shots of crowds and river.
The poor weather did affect some continuity but we re-shot the scenes were it would have been affected.

Sunday 10th December: Close up of putting a video into a video player. This is something that I did alone.


Editing and Extra:

Although James did the proper editing, I started off with an edit to see the order that the shots would go in which would influence the actual video.

I primarily focused on extra work during this period of time. This included creating a magazine advert and a digi-pack for our group.

I attempted to create a different magazine advert for the concert however this ended up looking terrible. I wanted to add in an image of the two of us. I had to put this into Photoshop to remove the background but this ended up looking poor.

I used an image that was taken from last year and used Photoshop to create two adverts; one for the CD and the other as promotion for a concert.

For the digi-pack, I used InDesign and got a template in order to design it. I used images from the music video, the logo, the magazine advert and images online to create it.

Link to Wix: 

https://davehutchings2000.wixsite.com/mysite

One of the things that needed to be created for promotional purposes was a website. I did this task by using Wix to design a website to promote the band.

The biggest problem was the fact that this was too complicated for me to create a good site. However I made three pages for basic presentation.

Overall, the greatest issue with making the website was that the designer existed to create a legitimate website for real music, not a fictional band like what we were doing. This mean that there was a lot about the base design that couldn't be changed.

Carol Vernallis Analysis of Music Video

Carol Vernallis had a theory that there are four key concepts to a music video; narrative, editing, camera movement/framing and diegesis.
I have decided to apply these concepts to the music video for Green Day's "Jesus of Suburbia"



Narrative: The narrative of the video is that of the titular character becoming disillusioned with his life, starts rebelling and eventually leaves his town.

Editing: The video makes multiple uses of jump cuts and fast editing. On several occasions, the lyrics and music stop entirely for regular conversations between people before going back to the song.This makes the video very intense which matches with the lyrics.

Camera Movement: The video uses close-ups many times as well as medium shot, long shots and crab shots. There are also examples of panning in the video to show different people.

Diegesis: The diegesis for the music video is revealed slowly in the video as it starts out as a bunch of seemingly random scenes but hold a meaning as they are telling a story. It is also linked to the album it came from "American Idiot" as all songs from it are pieces of the story it is telling.

Intertextuality

Definition-The term Intertextuality refers to the process of creating references to any kind of media text via another media text. In other words Intertextuality essentially means for a type of media(film,television,music etc) to pay homage to another media text.

An example of intertexuality in a music video is the song "You Know Me" by Robbie Williams.
While it starts off normally, it takes a turn when the man is pulled through a mirror into a world similar to that of Alice in Wonderland with Robbie dressed up as the White Rabbit. The intertexualtity here is the link between the video and the story.
Another example of intertexuality in the video is at the end where the lion in the MGM logo is replace by Robbie dressed as the rabbit.

Album Covers Analysis

Cover for 'The Last Stand' by Sabaton. Released in 2016.

This cover matches standard codes and conventions for album/CD covers as it features the name of the band, the name of the album and an image.

Sabaton are a power metal band (a sub-genre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context). The cover doesn't represent this well as one wouldn't understand the genre from the cover alone.

The cover is memorable as it features images of soldiers from throughout history which is unusual for a album cover.
The image on the cover matches the album as it is called 'The Last Stand' and all songs on it focus on historical last stands involving the people on the cover.

Peak performance in the charts:
Sweden; 1
Austria; 2
Finland; 1
Germany; 2
Norway; 11
Switzerland; 1
Poland; 2
UK; 17
US; 63

Songs of Album: 
Sparta; Battle of Thermopylae

Last Dying Breath; Dragutin Gavrilović

Blood of Bannockburn; Battle of Bannockburn

Diary of an Unknown Soldier; Meuse-Argonne Offensive

The Lost Battalion; Lost Battalion (World War I)

Rorke's Drift; Battle of Rorke's Drift

The Last Stand; Stand of the Swiss Guard

Hill 3234; Battle for Hill 3234

Shiroyama; Battle of Shiroyama

Winged Hussars; Polish hussars/Battle of Vienna

The Last Battle; Battle for Castle Itter

Camouflage (Stan Ridgway Cover) (Bonus Track); Vietnam War


All Guns Blazing (Judas Priest Cover) (Bonus Track)

Cover for 'Heroes' by Sabaton. Released in 2014.

Similar to their album above, 'Heroes' features images of soldiers to match the name of the album. It also works because the image is eye-catching to someone browsing through album covers.
The images on both covers are not real people. It is obviously fake and comes across as an image from a video game.

Peak performance in the charts:
Sweden; 1. Gold
Austria; 11
Finland; 2. Gold
Germany; 3
Norway; 13
Switzerland; 7
Poland; 6
UK; 59
US; 99

Songs of Album: 
Night Witches; The all female Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment called "Night Witches".

No Bullets Fly; The Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident, in which German pilot Stigler accompanied a disabled American bomber back to the English Channel.

Smoking Snakes; Arlindo Lúcio da Silva, Geraldo Baeta da Cruz and Geraldo Rodrigues de Souza – 3 Brazilian Expeditionary Force soldiers who became separated from their unit and fought a large contingent of Germans in Italy on 14 April 1944. Refusing surrender, they fought to their deaths and were buried by the Germans, who placed a cross over their graves with the inscription 'Drei brasilianische Helden' (Three Brazilian Heroes).

Inmate 4859; Witold Pilecki, soldier of Polish Armia Krajowa and leader of resistance movement in the Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp, where he was interned voluntarily with inmate number 4859. Produced the Witold's Report.

To Hell and Back; Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated American veterans of World War II. Specifically his post war battle with; and victory over PTSD. Based off his own poem 'The Crosses Grow on Anzio' from his book 'To Hell and Back'

The Ballad of Bull; Corporal Leslie "Bull" Allen, an Australian Army soldier awarded the US Silver Star for rescuing 12 wounded American soldiers during the Papua New Guinea campaign of World War II.

Resist and Bite; Chasseurs Ardennais, an infantry formation of the Belgian Armed Forces that fought in the Battle of Belgium in World War II

Soldier of 3 Armies; Lauri Törni known as Larry Thorne, soldier of the Finnish Army, the German Waffen-SS, and the United States Army Green Berets in Vietnam

Far from the Fame; Hero of Czechoslovakia – Air Marshal Karel Janoušek, founder of Czechoslovakian forces in Royal Air Force. Later imprisoned by communist regime in Czechoslovakia.


Hearts of Iron; The German forces of the 12th and 9th Armies, who, facing defeat at the hands of the Soviets, created a corridor across the Elbe to protect fleeing refugees and soldiers to escape and surrender to the West.




Cover for 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by King Crimson. Released in 1969.

This is a very unusual album cover, as it doesn't feature the album's name or the band who made it. A person wouldn't know what this was just based on the image alone. This is what makes it appealing to the eye.

King Crimson is a progressive rock band and is known for the strange and dream-like songs that they produce so, in a way, this cover fits the band well.

Peak performance in the charts:
UK; 5. Gold
Canada; 27. Platinum
US; 28. Gold

Songs on Album:
21st Century Schizoid Man
        Mirrors

I Talk to the Wind

Epitaph
    March for No Reason
    Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Moonchild
   The Dream
   The Illusion

The Court of the Crimson King
  The Return of the Fire Witch

  The Dance of the Puppets




Cover for 'In the Wake of Poseidon' by King Crimson. Released in 1970.

Similar to their previous album cover 'In the Wake of Poseidon' features neither the name of the band or album, leaving only the image to draw in the audience.

The two albums are also similar in the naming of the albums. Both names evoke feelings of fantasy, matching the bizarre images.

Peak performance in the charts:
UK; 4
Canada; 28
US; 31

Songs on Album:
Peace – A Beginning

Pictures of a City
    including 42nd at Treadmill

Cadence and Cascade

In the Wake of Poseidon
    including Libra's Theme

Peace – A Theme

Cat Food

The Devil's Triangle
          I. "Merday Morn
          II. "Hand of Sceiron
          III. "Garden of Worm


Peace – An End

Auteur Theory

Auteur

French word for author.

The dictionary definition of an auteur is “a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author”.

What it means, in this situation, is that a director has a signature style and elements that will be recognisable in their different works.

Aphex Twin: Come to Daddy (1997)

Directed by Chris Cunningham.

Filmed on the same council estate where Stanley Kubrick shot many scenes in A Clockwork Orange.

The music video is very fast-paced to match with the music. It is also very much influenced by horror media based on all the things that happen in the video.

The video opens with an old woman walking a dog in a grimy, industrial setting. The dog urinates on an abandoned television lying on the pavement, causing it to sputter unexpectedly into life, and a distorted and warping headshot of Aphex Twin chanting the lyrics. This unleashes a spirit, accompanied by a gang of small children, who all wear grinning mask and who appear to inhabit the abandoned buildings. The children go around wreaking havoc, trashing an alley and chasing a man into his car. The thin man emerges from the television, screams in the woman's face, then gathers the children around him.

Madonna: Frozen (1998)

Directed by Chris Cunningham.

This music video, similar to Come to Daddy, is influenced by horror which shows itself due to what happens.

The video has a dark and creepy atmosphere to it. Moments of it that contribute to that atmosphere include; Madonna being alone dressed in black in the middle of nowhere, her turning into a flock of crows and there being copies of herself doing strange movements at the end.

The video begins with the camera skimming along a cracked, desiccated desert floor, and within seconds Madonna appears, hovering just above the ground in the distance. Her hands are covered with mehndi and an enigmatic symbol on one palm. In the video she slowly gestures and sways her arms toward the sky in the video, desperately pleading to her cold lover cited in the song. At one point Madonna falls, and as she hits the ground, she transforms into a flock of large, dark birds. Later, she transforms into a black dog. Three Madonnas also appear walking and crawling amid the desert throughout the video. As the song progresses, the sky darkens, and Madonna levitates from the ground. Her form then changes to a shiny black liquid, which runs along the desert floor and appears to be absorbed by the tattooed hands of another Madonna, who is curled up on the ground.

Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody

Directed by Bruce Gowers

Popularised the music video.

The video opens with a shot of the four band members in near darkness as they sing the a cappella part. The lights fade up, and the shots cross-fade into close-ups of Freddie. The composition of the shot is the same as Mick Rock's cover photograph for their second album Queen II. The photo, inspired by a photograph of actress Marlene Dietrich, was the band's favourite image of themselves. The video then fades into them playing their instruments. In the opera section of the video, the scene reverts to the Queen II standing positions, after which they perform once again on stage during the hard rock segment. In the closing seconds of the video Roger Taylor is depicted stripped to the waist, striking the tam in the manner of the trademark of the Rank Organisation's Gongman, familiar in the UK as the opening of all Rank film productions. All of the special effects were achieved during the recording, rather than editing. The visual effect of Mercury's face cascading away (during the echoed line "go") was accomplished by pointing the camera at a monitor, giving visual feedback, a glare analogous to audio feedback. The honeycomb illusion was created using a shaped lens. The video was edited within five hours because it was due to be broadcast the same week in which it was taped. The video was sent to the BBC as soon as it was completed and aired for the first time on Top of the Pops in November 1975. After a few weeks at number one, an edit of the video was created. The most obvious difference is the flames superimposed over the introduction as well as several alternate camera angles.

Michael Jackson: Rock with You

Directed by Bruce Gowers

Uses a shorter version of the song, the video features Michael in a sparkly sequined suit singing the song with a bright laser behind him. So it is a very minimalistic music video.

The style of Bruce Gowers’ music videos are those that have a lot of lighting and mainly feature the artist singing the song with those lights on them.

Mock Exam: CD

In our Media Mock Exam on Tuesday 17th October, we had to create a CD Digi-pack for the music video we created over the summer based on thumbnails that we created. This had to be finished in two hours.

This is the thumbnail style that I chose for my CD front and back covers.

This is the picture of the orginal plan I had for my CD cover. As can be seen, it is three sides instead of four. It is very basic but I did intend to keep its design layout for the actual Digi-pack.

This is the image I used for my front cover. I cropped it in Photoshop and afterwards got rid of the rest of the bricks.

In Photoshop, I added a blue background, text, a moon and skull for the logo. I also added a barcode which was supposed to be on the back but it was too late to change it.

This is an early version of my CD. As you can see, it doesn't have much on it just a bit on the front and the back cover having a picture of my eyes and the list of songs.

The images below are how my front and back covers for my CD looked by the end of the two hour exam. I used mainly images from my music video and images of the moon for the CD. The second square on the second row is supposed to be the design of the disk.

Printed version of my digi-pack.