My Bands brand

These two images summarise what I want my album to look like as they demonstrate the immoral night out, and the morning of regret (or not) not morals staring you in the face etc...

Band Name:

• The Hassle- simplistic, shows the reckless edge which my video will have, will fit easily on the album.
  
  
  

  Something like this would work as a cover as it shows the morals, humour and information required.

  
  
  

My email to atists' agency, song permission

 

I have asked for permission to use my chosen song. As shown in the email above, I asked universal music if I can use Razorlight- 'In The Morning'. 

My Pitch

My Pitch from Freddy Allen on Vimeo.

This video shows my pitch to my class; I am explaining my song choice, digipack, target audience, video plot, representation etc. Give it a watch, and comment please...

 

The Vacccines Brand Indentity

The Vaccines have a very similar style to Razorlight and The Kooks in terma of the alternative music and the consistent bold font and white back ground in this recent EP but more generally their incorperate a more retro, perhaps uni-student like style to the art side of their business..

The Video for Melody Calling shows this retro but youth aimed styling. The split screen with both filtered natural shots to start the video demonstrates an artistic approach from the artist.

The next shot(s) retains the retro filtering, but develops the viewers undersatnding, showing the video to be about a relationship.

 

The next shots allow the gentle narrative to grow like the song does. Filter stays on bottom shot, top split becomes a phone conversation about what to do about a girl one of them likes. A more youthful problem, a imformal chat keeps the viewer entertained whilst also maintaining a good level of style as the simple idea becomes quite interesting and quirky.

The video ends with the boy and the girl sorting things out but leaving the viewer in the dark about how their relationship works out, an intriging cliffhanger which gives the narrative a bit more depth. This video shows how effective a simple narrative can be with the right camerawork and styling- this is something which I will need to replicate with my simplistic narrative.



 

The Kooks album covers

The Kooks adopt a very similar style of album artwork to Razorlight; block capitals, white background, band action shot. The Red font colour is the only distinctively different choice in the layout, showing the lack of variety in the genre, and that alternative rock is not primarily about art, it is more about substance is the case of these two artists.










The artist/brand identity again shown in this cover, with the red font again being very distinctive; this will begin to be noticed by fans of the band, creating an awareness and maybe an appreciation for the simplistic artistic choices which this band has made. The union jack is copied by The Kooks from past artists such as The Who and The Libertines who have made the image iconic to British rock. This could be aiming the album at fans of those bands, or simply at those appreciate the iconography. I may consider using similar techniques when marketing my media product.

Razorlight Album Covers

The band who's song I am using go for a very classic alternative album artwork. Band present, white background. In the first single cover, the black and white presents the night life which the song discusses. The words of  the song 'In the Morning' scribbled along the wall, the band members rubbing their eyes, alcohol present, demonstrates the exhausting, relentless night out. The cover achieve a stylish image, whilst engaging a wider audience by showing the story of the song. This is something I hope to replicate in my video.





The same principles and identity are maintained in this single cover. Block capitals, white background, scribbled words, band members acting within cover. This simplistic but stylish cover once again gives people the information they need, whilst maintaining good aesthetics. 

My Music Video Prezi

http://prezi.com/lrvyazxebz98/my-music-video/#

Practice video update

I have also been working on a practice music video (separate to the main idea) in order to help understand the Alternative genre slightly better, and to brush up on my camera skills. Hopefully this will be completed in the next few days. Don't Forget Who You Are by Miles Kane is the song I chosen to use; this is down to its liveliness and that i believe it is the ideal song to make a nice simple but effective music video for.

Song Choice

I have chosen 'In the Morning' by Razorlight for the song which will feature in my music video. I believe the song is a timeless classic, but the music video never really met its intentions of becoming popular to a young audience like the song does. The weirdness of the dancing etc didnt raise interest sufficiently to be remembered as well as the song. Therefore I believe I can capitalize on this, and make a video which captures the imagination of the target audience of young people, and tells the story of the song. The song itself has been repeatedly used in tv shows targeted at youthful audiences (The Inbetweeners, Gavin and Stacey) since its release in 2006, showing that its still revelant in modern popular culture and it is not a throwback. I will explain what I plan to do in the music video in a Prezi which will be posted very shortly, and I will then reinforce this message to my media class tomorrow when pitching my idea.

Action Plan

So far my media project is gradually developing with my research for my music video taking shape. Over the next term I will complete and then review my planning adding detail to market research and the theory/codes and conventions of the genre which I have picked; this will help achieve a good marking in my research- which count strongly to my overall grade.

 

Next week...

• In my own time I will complete a pratice music video to add to my blog, as it will give shape and reference to what type and quality of video I am trying to achieve.

• I will contuine to add analysis of Alternative Music videos to my blog, as they will give me a plethora of options when considering what styles I would like to incorperate in my video, and how I will be creative and make my video unique.

 

After that..

• I will begin to look for location for music video; as the sooner I look, the better the array of options I will discover.

• I will begin to plan my video and study what I do different from practice video and why.

Miles Kane- Rearrange. Analysis

The use of bright colours and text portray a more outgoing,positive atmosphere than in Jake Bugg's track. The same set up perhaps demonstrates a typicality of the alternative guitar-rock sub genre.

The long shot of Miles Kane on the mic, creates a unique but stylish image, which adds the art of the artists personal image and adds to the variety of the music video.

The backing band flash in and out of shot, adding depth and variety to the video, which cleverly keeps the viewer entertained

The texts features again in a countdown which engages the viewer and adds more enthusiasm to the already upbeat track, a very clever and simple technique which I would consider replicating if fitting.

The chorus gets brighter colours, signalling the climax/peak of the song, this focuses the reader to the screen in the part of the song which they are by large meant to enjoy the most, and the part they are most likely to remember. A clever and simple technique which i will consider replicating. 

Jake Bugg- What Doesn't Kill You. Analysis

The simplicity shown in R U Mine is repeated in more recent video by Jake Bugg. The stylish atmosphere created using the black and white theme is understandable as Jake Bugg is of  a similar sub-genre, and perhaps partially inspired by the Arctic Monkeys. Therefore perhaps it is worth considering for me to narrow my video long term planning to the few artists which i would most like to emulate, in order to achieve a style which i enjoy and understand, and additionally has been proven to succeed in the professional world.
The video consists of Jake Bugg smashing out a fast paced rock song solo. The intimacy of the close up shots combines well with the energy of the song, revealing Bugg's passion for what his lyrics describe.




The plain, arguably scruffy room, combined with the battered amp Jake Bugg has chosen, perhaps infers the hard times in which the song is discussing. It is important that the mood of the location matches the mood of the song (in these sort of music videos), as it reinforces the energy and messages within the track.

The close ups, bordering on extreme close ups of Jake Bugg's face, allows the viewer to see the whites of his eyes whilst he shouts out this loud, aggressive track. As mentioned earlier, the facial expressions through the visuals, reinforce the messages of the song in a simplistic but yet effective manner. This is important in maintaining the audience, as the musician is also an actor in this context- and the emotions he is portraying must be convincing. This is something which I am worried that I may struggle with due to nerves etc; but I must overcome this.
The close ups on the guitar expresses the rock genre being aimed for, but also shows the authenticity of the guitar playing in the video, as the viewers can see the chords being played etc; this adds a level of realism, which is required in a high level video. I must consider this if I make a guitar-rock type video

R U Mine- Arctic Monkeys. Analysis

A modern music video now, and these 5 shots show the simplicity which went into creating a memorable, stylish video. Starting with a radio intro in black and white which is remarkably understated for such an explosive track. Black and white does add style but quite takes it into quite a niche area within the genre alternative rock.

The bulk of the song is Alex Turner and Matt Helders (members of AM), driving around in the dark- whilst singing and dancing to the song. This makes the video become satirical and adds an extra dimension to the spectacle, interesting the viewer. 

Turner and Helders have control of the camera, and continually move it around the car, in a perhaps half-hearted, un-serious manner adding to the humour of the video, and freshening up simplistic shots- so that the viewer doesn't get bored.





Later in the video, turner gets out of the car in time for the guitar solo- which he then mimics. This enforces the playful humorous of the video and shows skill in editing and timing from the video producers.

At the end of the video, the band leave the car and pickup their instruments and finish the song, creating a clever juxtaposition in that the band actually play their instruments and aren't wannabes like the rest of the video suggests. A clever technique which I will consider using in the future.



This video therefore enforces my opinion and possibly a tradition that videos within this genre do not need to be over complicated to become classics, a certain niche style should be incorporated however, and I will look to achieve this.

The Alternative Genre

The Alternative genre is basically popular music which does not quite fall under the category of rock, pop, dance, indie etc. Therefore the range of music makes for wide range of videos and themes within. One thing I immediately noticed is that traditionally alternative videos are very simplistic and easy to shoot.

2 Examples:

Coldplay- Yellow (1999)
The video of Coldplay's first major hit is merely Chris Martin belting out the lyrics whilst walking along a beach on a miserable day.
The simplicity becomes iconic however, as the feel good nature of song is captured perfectly by Martins high spirits despite such a bleak back drop. Therefore anyone old enough to remember when the song came out, knows the classic video.

Radiohead- Street Spirit (1997)
This video is also similarly iconic and simplistic. The video is lots of simple shot in the dark around a few caravans, sped up and slowed down, to create a chaotic effect which is suits the song nicely. The slow motion shots are something which i could cleverly use to make a lot out of little, like in this video.

Update

Introduction

First of all, hello again. After a summer of relaxing and studying, I'm back and full of enthusiasm towards the prospect of creating a professional music video, but more importantly a fascinating one.

What have I learned

Having reviewed my previous efforts of making a rap video or similar, I have used my new knowledge of music video theories and representations to understand how poorly thought out the video in fact  was. Rule 1 of Andrew Goodwin's- Dancing in the Distraction reveals this (video link explaining the theory).The low morals of man passed on the floor were not fully explained or justified, creating a confusion which not view well.

 In addition the hazy, slow motion camera shots do not get the effects which was looking for, therefore research must be done into which camera shots suit which genre best.

Genre change

Expanding on what I have just mentioned, as I did not capture the essence of a rap video in my first video attempt, and i'm now inclined to believe i would be better suited making an Alternative music video rather than rap, as objectively speaking i have known more about that genre for a longer time.

Animoto: Why I Plan To Use It

Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows. Animoto is based in New York City with an office in San Francisco. Animoto was founded in 2006 by Jason Hsiao, Brad Jefferson, Steve Clifton and Tom Clifton because of the poor video quality found on the internet. I plan to use Animoto to present my ideas for my music video to allow my audience to understand my thought process and to examine the spine of my video plan for imperfections. This will help me grow and focus my ideas before a camera has even been used; showing that if used correctly, Animoto can be a  useful new technology to me. The website claims:
'Animoto makes it easy to create professional-quality videos on your computer and mobile device. At our core, we believe that video is the most powerful way to communicate what you care most deeply about—whether that’s your family, business, or a cause—and that making videos shouldn’t be limited to only those with technical know-how and expensive production equipment.