Thursday 22 November 2012

Tracklist

1)  i just need a friend
2) swallowed pride
3) broken key
4) skinny little bastard
5) journey
6) 54 council houses
7) the enterprise
8) this road

tracks 2,3 and 5 were my own idea's, where as the others were Carl's own song titles, used for authenticity.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Group Discussion

In our most recent group discussion, we decided that within our video, as well as including elements of dance, and mirrors, that we should include some black and white filter shots, and some colour shots.


This is because that we feel, as the video is likely to be split into, prior and post drug taking. We feel that the use of the filters, will connote the two contrasting connotations received from the meanings within the song.

Thursday 15 November 2012

DIGIPAK JOURNEY

Digipack locations and ideas

I found this location on my travels, and felt that it was a really good idea for my cover. The isolated tree with a nice foreground, represents a sort of simplistic, and natural feel to the design of the cover. This fits in with the housestyle of other covers from similar artists. As it will be winter during filming, it is likely to be quite muddy, so precautions should be taken to ensure that equipment remains clean and functional.


I have a few idea's about the cover

1) A master shot of the tree with the hills in the back ground, with the artist in a darker filter, with a guitar.
2) A master shot with the artist, and the actor within the song sitting either side of the tree
3) A close up shot of the artists face leaning against the tree, sat down.


Fonts for digipack




These fonts in particular are fonts I am considering for my digipak. I feel that the represent the genre and fit in well with the albums simplistic and natural house style.

Music Video Research

Kid Cudi ft. MGMT - Pursuit of Happiness.

Within this video, by Brody Baker, there are a variety of camera shots. The video opens with a close up on on a record player. When the dial hits the record, this is when the audio actually begins to play, matching the sound to the visual.







As the the songs kicks in, a master shot of the room is shown. Cudi, the artist is shown between 2 sofa's full of people, separated from the rest of the people in the shot. This connotes his physical separation from people, but as the first verse kicks in, everything apart from Cudi in the centre of the shot, is put into slow motion. This connotes Cudi's internal separation, and that although his body is at the, we are to presume party via the mise en scene, his mind is elsewhere. We get the impression that this is a party via the use of props in terms of alcohol, and the lively design set up in the shot. There is also the of a cut away, to a three shot of people dancing.

The use of slow motion is evidence that the video does have aspects of literalness, like Goodwin said. Cudi uses the lyric 'people told me slow my roll, I'm screaming out **** that'. This suggests that although the slow motion could suggest his separation from everyone, it is not necessarily bad. On the contrary it could suggest that everyone is, in effect 'too slow' for him.





As the song enters it's first chorus, there are two master shots. The mise en scene appears to be much more lively, in comparison to the long take in the verse beforehand. This either gives the impression of parallel editing, or ellipsis. As the two shot of Cudi comes at 0:49, we notice that Cudi is still in real time, whilst the rest of the party is in slow motion.






However, in the low angle mid shot of the confetti, as the sharp sound plays on the song, the handheld camera increases it's speed and pans/tilts down onto a higher angle master shot of the party. This is an example of Goodwins Synaesthesia.








Throughout the music video, the star, Cudi is never situated within the crowd. For instance the early master shot I mentioned earlier, as well as the similar master shot on the right. The producer of the video has purposely enhanced this 'isolated' feel to thhe video by ensuring all the people around Cudi are facing away, and in slow motion, whilst he remains in the centre of the screen, and in real time. As he is the centre of the shot, he is obviously the main focus, and as mentioned earlier, his 'isolation' has positive and negative connotations.



 However as we see later within the music video, when the instrumental kicks in, Cudi is surrounded by people, and this, in effect negates the isolation feel to the video. This suggests some relation from the visuals to the audio. When there are vocals present on the verses, there is a sense of isolation directed towards cudi on screen. When the chorus kicks in, he is seen with one other individual, which connotes some sort of connection between the two characters as they are seen together on every chorus. Finally, when the instrumental is played, without vocals, Cudi is seen as a much more enigmatic figure within the shots, interacting with more characters. This suggests some sort of connection to what happens on screen for verse, chorus and instrumental, each with their different connotations. Throughout the video, Cudi appears to change as a person and begins to fit into Claude Levi-Strauss suggestion about Binary Oppositions, in this case - alone vs together. This also ties in with what Sven E Carlsson stated about music videos. He stated that binary oppositons drive music videos forward. This is present in this video, as you can see the gradual change from isolation towards together.

Moving on from that, elements of Goodwins theory about star image are also present within this video. The mix between slow motion and Cudi in real time outlines him as the star. Also, the number of master shots within a group, and when he is in the centre portray him as the main character. This is reinforced by the multiple close ups we have of Cudi between shots.




In regards to redundancy and entropy, the video itself, based around a party is highly redundant. We see elements of alcohol, music and a variety of people. There is nothing out of the ordinary compared to the stereotypical definition of a 'party. However, obviously the use of slow motion, fast forward mixed with real time effects makes the screening of the video entropic, as the mix between Cudi in real time, and everyone around him in slow motion is unexpected. The blend between entropic and redundancy within the video is well used, and clearly identifies and singles out the star from the extra's, allowing for, as mentioned earlier, negative and positive connotations of isolation.


Tuesday 13 November 2012

Digipak

Having put much thought into the design of my digipak, I have decided to sway away from the busy covers, and stick to the more simplistic house styles, but ensuring that the effect is just as prominent. I have chosen to do this because I feel that this design suits the artist, and his specific place within the singer songwriter/nu folk genre.

Idea's


We recently discussed the use of mirrors, and quick shots in our music video to convey a sense of pragmatic parallel editing.

Monday 12 November 2012

Pitch Feedback

On a whole, the pitch presentation went well, with much positive peer to peer feedback being gained. Most people liked the use of the dancing elements within our video, with references to ballet, more specifically the film 'Black Swan'. The use of post-it notes was also admired for originality. When receiving feedback from our teacher, he pointed out specific improvements : 1)Higher levels of entropy 2) Lessen the elements of mainstream 3)Include more original elements 4)Think about lighting for the dancing

Friday 9 November 2012

Tim Burton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqlDQfbbjN0

















Tim Burton is famous for his darkly themed films,including Batman and Alice in Wonderland.As a group we really liked his idea's, and feel that some aspects, not all, could be included in our video. For instance his use of costumes is fitting for our dance scenes, and his use of make up. We also liked Darren Aronofsky, who directed Black Swan.

Digipack Print Research

Bruno Mars Digipak - Doo-wops and Hooligans

Front - As you can see from the image, the front of this album does not feature any actual shots of the artist, or anything else, but is simply a computerized image. However the 'image' itself does suit the genre (Pop/Teen). It is pretty much an overhead shot of a person walking along what seems to be a jet stream from a plane.

 This is highly entropic, which appeals to the target audience of teenagers, and does fit in with the seemingly 'dreamy' 'lazy' or 'chilled' connotation we as listeners receive from this music.



 The font is also quite humorous and entropic, with it's flowing style fitting perfectly with the jet stream road. The font combined with the jet stream road, and it's simplistic design, securely apply anchorage, and connote a series of dream-like, and chilled vibes from the cover, which appeals extremely well to it's target audience.





The back of the digipak is similar to the front, using the same house style in regards to colours and font. It continues the simplistic idea, and includes just the bare minimum, the track list on the back. It also uses a circle around the track list.

 This actually works really well, as in regards to shapes, circles can be seen as the most flowing, requiring very little effort. It fits in well with the flowing nature on the front of the piece. 

The circle also separates the track list from the rest of the back, so the piece doesn't become boring.



With the inlay of the digipak, it sticks to the same house style, using the same colours and fonts incorporated throughout, and surprisingly sustains the simplistic design.

 Despite the amount of writing on the page, it is not a busy inlay, and therefore it maintains the feel of the genre and the connotations.






Ed Sheeran +



The front of the digipak is dominated by a close up of Sheerans face. However, the producers have used an orange filter all the way around the front, and faded the close up into bold areas of orange around the outside. 

The orange filter and the use of fading gives the cover a simplistic design, similar but different in ways to the Bruno Mars cover. It is a simplistic design, but it dominates a lot more space than the Bruno Mars cover, but it still has it's empty space area's.

 There is no real mix of colours, similar to the previous digipak, and although the focus point of the cover is quite large, there is nothing else to pull your attention away, other than the + in the bottom right hand corner of the piece. This is what the album is called, and it actually fits in really well with the connotations of the piece.

 Similar to the Bruno Mars, it is a chilled, laid back cover, and instead of having a long title, a very simple sign has been used, which keeps these connotations in place.



The back of the cover maintain the orange background, and use of white colouring, but also incorporates a completely contrasting black colour to the opposite side. The use of black is used very out of place, and is therefore quite entropic, and it is clear to see that here, the producer of the digipak is trying to shake the conventions of the genre in regards to house style, and this is not usually seen.

 The use of white against the orange background for the track list is used well, as it brings out the main focal point well, amongst the shocking black. Also the use of only black and white in regards to font continues the simplistic design we have seen in both digipaks now, as they are the two base colours in our society.

 The use of orange does differ away from this slightly, but the fact it covers the entirety of the digipak keeps to the simplistic design.


When designing my own digipak, after looking at both of these pieces, I think it is very important to keep to a simplistic design, as my artist is very similar to both of these. I really liked the computerized effects on Bruno Mars's front cover, but I accept that this would be hard to achieve, and I also think it is very important that the artist them self features somewhere on the digipak. I think that when taking my shots for my digipak, I will most likely use a close up, like the one used in Sheerans, but attempt to keep to a simplistic design. I will also attempt to keep to a similar house style, and only use 2/3 colours, so as to keep to this style.








This advert for Ed Sheeran's album '+' is very clearly directed at an audience who have a distinct knowledge of him and his music.

 Like on the album cover, the orange filter throughout makes the cover very distinct and eye catching for the audience. The use of orange is also a play on his image, as he has recognisably ginger hair, which is used as a selling point. This is a recurring theme in regards to Sheeran, and allows fans to know when something is to do with him.

 The style of font resembles a typewriter, which fits in with the simplistic house style that occurs in the album cover also. 

The use of white and black fonts distinguishes one thing from another, and this is utilised to promote the different companies that are selling the album.

His face is the main focus point in the advert, which combined with the sharp colour, acts a very good eye catcher.

I really like the use of of white and black colour fonts, to distinguish one thing from another, and I hope to incorporate this within my advert.







As you can see above, album covers in this genre are 2 contrasting types. On one hand you have the simplistic house styles, used for impact, and the use of one focus point brings the reader in. On the other you have much more busy, abstract and entropic house styles, which draw the reader in with the use of colours, or array of images.  In my work, I hope to replicate some of these features within my own work. I particularly like the abstract water colour on the bottom right hand album cover, and also the technological design of Noah and the Whales album.