Digipaks- research

Magazine Advert- Arcade Fire

 

—With this magazine advert the thing that I find most appealing is the simplicity of the idea behind it, as despite this its very striking and memorable. This is a key aspect that I must ensure that my magazine advert adheres to.

Audience

Audience research- Indie

The target audience for my music video is primarily people who fall into the 'indie' category, this is 'someone who's heart lies with indie, rock, alternative, music like that'.[1] The reason that I am targeting this audience is because this is the target audience for The Vaccines, who's track I'm doing.

 'Even though the sound of their music is more old-fashioned, the idea and shallowness of their lyrics tends to reach out to a younger audience, lyrics usually limited to subjects like teenage sex and relationships, for example in 'post break-up sex' and 'norgaard' which talk about a 17year old not being ready yet.'[2] In accordance with this the age range of my target audience is 17-early 20's, as they are most likely to be attracted to the style of music.

Within this research into the Indie subculture, I completed a feedback session with members of it, in order to find out what type of things they would expect to see in the both the video and the ancillary texts. The key point which I found which was reoccurring was the inclusion of appropriate fashions which would relate to their target group specifically, which they could relate to. Taking this feedback on board if I include these fashions and ideologies within my media products I am ensuring that my audience is identifying with the products and thus making them more likely to want to consume them.


 Sources:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=indie%20kid
http://www.slideshare.net/smcmediastudies/analysis-of-images-the-vaccines

Industry

Artist
 

The Vaccines are an Indie Rock band that were formed in 2010 and signed to Columbia Records. They have released 2 albums and appear to focus on their abilities to deliver a high quality live performance. This image that the band aim to portray can be linked to Negus' 'organic ideology' where there is a more 'naturalistic approach to artists'. In accordance with this they are known for there performances at festivals which they seem to have as their main gigs rather than a tour.

By looking closer into the band I am able to take into consideration their image and style and ensure that I reflect theses with my video.

Record Company

Founded in 1888, Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers, instrumentalists and groups. From 1961 to 1990, its recordings were released outside the U.S. and Canada on the CBS Records label before adopting the Columbia name in most of the world. Today it is a premier subsidiary label of Sony Music Entertainment. Steve Barnett and Rick Rubin are the co-heads of Columbia Records. Mike Smith is MD of Columbia UK.

Similar artists to The Vaccines signed to Columbia:

• Foster the People
• The Fray
• Kasabian
• Kings of Leon
• The Shins

Sources: http://www.columbia.co.uk

Genre

The main genres within the music are;

• rock
• pop
• alternative

Indie Rock-

My chosen track from The Vaccines 'Family Friend' falls into the alternative category as it is considered as indie rock, which is a genre within alternative rock. The genre of indie rock first arised in the 1980's, the term 'indie' was originally used to describe the type of record label the term then became associated with the type of music they produced.

'Indie rock is free to explore sounds, emotions, and lyrical subjects that don't appeal to large, mainstream audiences'. With this ideology being attached to the genre there aren't many conventions that they typically follow within their music videos however there are some that are associated with the genre:

• everyday location
• normal people doing 'extraordinary' things
• tends to be black and white
• use of extreme close ups and long shots
• fast paced

By knowing stylistic features of music videos within the genre of my chosen track I am able to ensure that I include and or develop some of ideas based around these as it will allow me to make a video that is coherent with the genre of my track. In addition to this by considering these elements when making my video it will mean that my video is targeting the correct audience and illustrating themes and representations that are relevant to them.


Sources:
http://www.webcitation.org/mainframe.php

30sec Storyboarding

30sec storyboarding on Prezi

I chose this video as it is the same genre to my own chosen track and also it by the same band. By doing this I am able to see the average number of cuts that would be expected within my video as it is of a similar pace. In addition to this the style of the video with it cutting between the different elements of the narrative and performance whilst maintaining a storyline has been done in the same style that I would like my end product to look like.

Magazine Advert- The Vaccines

The element that I like the most within this magazine advert is the use of the album cover image in the background of the advert as its a subtle way of the promoting it and making it recognisable to the audience.

Music Video

Music Video Research on Prezi

Magazine Advert- Mumford & Sons

 

Of the magazine adverts that I have analysed this is closest to the style of the one that I would like to style my own to look like, this is as the way in which the theme is carried out throughout the advert but also how it relates to Mumford & Sons as a band and the style of music that they make is really effective.

Research: Stop Motion

In order to see what went into the process' of the making a stop motion video, I took a simple easy idea and with help in the filming process and made a practice piece.




By doing my practice piece I was able see how much works goes into making a stop motion video. I hardest part of making the video was the amount of photos that needed to be taken in order for the image to look like a fluent piece. This in its own raised problems as due to the size of files that the images would make it meant that we were limited to the amount of images that we could have on the camera at one time. Also in the editing process I found that I had to decrease the duration of the photographs in order to get them to cut fast through them but also that the image type had to be changed in order for them to work.

What works well about my video is the movement of the character as although it isn't always a smooth transition between its movements, it still appears as though it is moving by itself. This works best in the end section as the movements seem more real, this is as it was easier to move the character and we had more control over the movements.

Having done this I now know that to make any stop motion work within my music video it has to be a simple idea but executed to a high standard as by making it over complicated it will increase the chances of it looking detached from the video and unprofessional.

Research Analysis: Stop Motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on it own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Dolls with move-able joints or clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of re-positioning. 

Music videos:

• Coldplay- Strawberry Swing
• Oren Lavie- Her Morning Elegance

Stop motion can be used in more than one way, and as I don't have the ability to use many post production edits, stop motion can be used to give elements of the video an animated effect, for example, the video below is shot using only stop motion and the whole thing is created with post it notes. This simple idea is used to tremendous effect, and despite me not being able to produce something on this scale I am able to take inspiration from it and use the basis of the video within my own work.




The idea of using everyday household items or common objects is something which can be seen as an inspiration in The Prodigy video for 'Warrior's Dance'. This video is a clear of example of the use of intertextuality within the music video to cinema and also video games. This is as the video seems to mirror the key idea seen in the film Transformers (Michael Bay, 2007)  but also the nature of the video reflects something that may be associated with a video game. These conventions are outlined in Pete Fraser's theory, that the reason intertextuality is used is to give its audience who are able to make the link greater enjoyment and satisfaction when watching the video. In addition to this it makes the video memorable to those that identify the link as they are able to associate it with other forums.  Lastly the video also falls into 2 of the 6 of Fraser's main styles within a music video: animated and futuristic.

Directors Research

James Copeman

After several years as motion graphics designer and animator for clients such as E4, MTV, 4music and The Box he began directing music videos and his first video was for the critically acclaimed UK band Noah and The Whale. His style is noticeably distinct; his work consistently delivers charming and warm performances and strong colour palettes. He often uses his background to embellish and heighten the visuals.

Noah and The Whale- 5 Years Time

What I find impressive about James' work is the way in which he manipulates the perception of an image. I particularly like his use of making the 'Noah and The Whale - 5 years time' video look old fashioned and dated, within this I like the way in which he has used stop-motion to create a disjointed feel to the video. Throughout his work there is clear continous use of major post production techniques being used which is most evident in Diana Vicker's- 'Boy who murdered love'

Toby Lockerbie

" I don't particularly like crazy, nonsensical music videos, I do however love clever, creative videos and engaging cinematic and that's what I aspire to in my projects."

Toby is known for his work that he has done with Rizzle Kicks, with him making their first video 'Down with the Trumpets' which uses the technique of 'screens within screens' to great effect to make the shots and the movement within them more dynamic.  Furthermore, within this I like the use of graphic matches to change the mise en scene as although the camera shot isn't moving it allows the image to cut in a different and interesting way.

Since then he has continued to work with the band making several other music videos with them, one of which is 'When I was a Youngster'. With this video I like the which he plays upon the title of the song to continually cut between what is portrayed to be the singers in the past and the now present. By doing this he is clearly able to illustrate the theme of reflection/reminiscing. 

My favourite of his work, is the 'Prophet' video, which can be seen above, as his use of stop motion, and light manipulation to add animations to the video is a stunning combination of techniques.

Sources:
http://www.tobylockerbie.com/
http://www.loveandhate.co.uk/HOME.html

Shot Count Analysis

Shot Count Analysis

 



Track: Lost In the World
Artist: Kanye West & Bon Iver
Director: Ruth Hogben
Release Date: May 23rd 2012
Length: 4:19
Number of shots: 71
Average shot length: 3.6secs


Segment- '1.30-2.00'


Number of shots:11
Number of CU: 1
Number of ECU: 0
Number of LS: 8
Number of MS: 1
Number of panning shots: 0
Number of tilts: 1
Other shots: 

From doing this I have learnt that music videos don't have to include a wide variety of shots to be interesting, as they may depend on the movement within the shot and the transition between shots. As although only straight cuts are used in the edits to each shot it is very effective as they have made these fast and included an effect that looks like a flash. This works to great effect for the video as it disorientates and confuses the viewer which is in keeping with the context and themes of the song. However, the high usage of special effects without the video is something that I wont be able to do for my video as I do not have the facilities to do so, but I will able to ensure that the effects I use in the transitions between shot make my video fast paced and interesting.