The Image of existing artists

Feeder- The band tend to try and look cool in all the images I have found of them. They tend to stand in a triangle formation and always have their lead singer standing at the front. This is something to note when we make a digipack for our band as it seems to be a strong convention for the lead singer to be in the forefront of the band.

The Feeling-  The band tend to also have their lead singer in the front of the band. They tend to make their lead singer the focus of attention to viewers. Some members of the band are wearing clothing that appears to draw attention. This could be for effect to  make sure they stick out as members of a band so people can know who they are. The band are all smartly dressed, as are all members from Feeder. This appears to be a convention of indie bands to try and look their best and be as smart as possible without wearing a full suit. This point will be noted when we are making our own digipack to make sure our band members are not overdressed, but are smart enough to look like they could be in an Indie band.

Kaiser Chiefs- The Kaiser Chiefs appear to conform with the other bands I have researched recently. They have their leader singer at the front and he is the focus of the digipack. In the first image, they are all wearing the same colour. This suggests unity with the group which is most likely what they wanted.

Overall, I believe when we make our digipack for our mock band, we should have the lead singer at the front with all the focus on the lead singer as this is a popular convention.

Studying a Genre of music videos

I thought I would research a genre of music that i'm looking at doing a video for so I chose to look into detail at Indie/Indie Rock/Alternative music. It is a very wide genre of music and most bands do not stick to the one genre, but are a mixture of various genres.

Feeder- In Feeder's music video "Feeling the moment" it continuously cuts back to the master shot of the band playing with the location constantly changing behind them. It appears that it is a popular convention to keep going back to a master shot of the band playing. This is something I feel my group will need to do as it establishes to the viewer who in the band plays what and this is a must for an indie rock bands music video.

The Feeling- In The Feeling's song "Love it when you call" the music video starts off with about 15 seconds without music but sound effects and an establishing shot during those 15 seconds. This could be a good idea in order to establish a narrative with the video. This could be something for my group to  think of if it is needed with our song choice. This video is very different to the Feeder video I just studied as this video focuses on a strong narrative and does not show any of the band members playing. It appears that the band felt that they wanted a good narrative that was not interrupted by seeing the band members playing.

Bon Iver- With Bon Iver's video, "Calgary" it varies greatly from the previous Indie music videos I have seen. Instead of following the apparently popular convention of having a master shot that shows all the members of the band, the video has a very strong and confusing narrative that i'm not going to pretend to understand.

Overall, I think we will probably do a music video that is similar to Feeder's video. This is because the video has a good master shot that shows all members of the band playing what they usually play within the band. I feel this is a good idea as it can let the viewers have a good insight into the band. I also feel we should have a good narrative that is not too complicated but represents some of the lyrics in the song we choose.

Song choice for music video

I have sent the following email to various different people involved with Ed Sheeran.

"Hi, i'm Ben Smith, an A2 student that goes to Newport Free Grammar School, in Essex. I have a project in Media Studies where I have to make a music video for the song of my choice. This music video is non-profit and is just for educational purposes. We have a choice of finding a song that is not copyrighted or to get permission to use a song that is copyrighted. I'm a fan of Ed Sheeran, and thought it would be great to make a music video of his music. Therefore, I was wondering if it were possible for me to make a music video for Ed Sheeran's song "One Night".

Many Thanks, Ben Smith"

I have not received any replies and I am therefore now looking for lesser known artists for permission to use their song and hopefully, I will receive a reply from them.

Vintage Trouble - Nobody Told Me Video Analysis

The band are represented as quite cool looking and all appear quite emotional, which conveys the feeling of the song.

The set is a white room, which just includes the whole band and their music instruments. There appears to be a washed out effect that also conveys the calmness of the song.

The band are all wearing fairly retro clothing, which goes with the genre of their music - which was more prominent in the 40s and 50s.

The cutting rate is very slow, which is a visual representation of the music. This affects the audience by relaxing them, which appears to be the intention of the video.

Blur - Song 2 Video Analysis

The band are represented as rather 'cool' and tough as they are in a dimly lit room and appear to be trying to look like a cool rock band. This contrasts with their previous, older videos that seem jokey and light-hearted.

The set is a small room, that appears to be when they are having a band practise. The whole video is in this same room, but as the video progresses, it appears there is strong wind, and the band members are blowing around.

They are all wearing fairly casual clothing which would suggest they are having a practise. Their props support this point as they are all playing the instrument that they play in the band.

The cutting rate varies throughout the video, however it tends to be fast paced as the music is fast paced.

Essay Question

There are various ways my group enticed the audience to continue watching the thriller video we made. For example we used a tension building piece of music in the background that built tension throughout the clip. This is a good characteristic of the genre (Thriller) which I believe my group did well.

Another way we enticed the audience was by using a spooky font, which added tension that is needed to grab the audience. It changes the mood of the film and this was good to do in order to keep the audience’s attention.

One way we grabbed the audiences attention was by using a ‘normal’ location that the audience can relate to as it was based in a house that added to the realism. The location was my house and it added to authenticity because it is a lived in house. This meant the audience could relate to the location. The effect of this was that the audience could put themselves in the main characters shoes as the location is believable.

Another way we did this was by using a clip of what looks like blood in a sink. This grabbed the audiences’ attention and made the audience think that something sinister is going on, which is the idea of it. There is a close-up of the ‘blood’ and this is to give the audience a clear view of what we, the directors wanted.

One use of editing we did to draw in the audience was using a washed out almost black and white effect on a clip of an army officer marching. This was to give a past-tense effect, which I believe was successful. We also varied the cutting rate throughout, but for the majority of the time, we had a fast cutting rate which we used to try and achieve tension for the audience as they don't get a long to see what is going on which gives a state of confusion.

Overall, I believe we managed to draw the audiences’ attention quite well. This is because we kept to certain Thriller conventions well and used good locations and music to make it a good Thriller clip. I believe we could have done better in some areas such as number of scenes as not much actually happened in our clip, instead there were long credits, which I didn’t like about our clip.

Muse - Knights of Cydonia Video Analysis

At the start of the video, the band aren't represented at all, instead there are various shots of a "Cowboy". However throughout, there are short cuts of the band playing. They are all dressed smartly in shirts and a couple of them are wearing big leather hats.

At one point the band are represented quite futuristically as an image of them is projected in a blue light. This could be a visual imagery of what their music sounds like, as they use synthesisers which give the electronic, futuristic sound.

Throughout parts of the video, there is a fast cutting rate. However, this varies throughout the video according to the pace of the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_sBOsh-vyI&ob=av3n