Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Storyboarding our music video



In todays lesson we began to plan and storyboard our music video. We have drawn out the scenes which we wish to use. This will help us in making our video as we will have a plan to follow and wont have to make up scenes on the spot, although we may part from our original plan if we have different ideas. We tried to include a number of ideas from the feedback we recieved from our target audience such as making it a narrative based music video as we only had one person who felt a performance based music video was preffered. We decided that if our film was going to be narrative based then it should be set outside where we had easy access to parks and other open spaces where we could film our chase.




Monday, 5 October 2009

Analysis of 3 Music Videos




Arctic Monkeys- Fluorescent Adolescent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9I9VBKPiw&feature=player_embedded)





I am analyising the song Flourescent Adoloscent. Flourescent Adolescent is By the Arctic Monkeys who are an English Indie band from Sheffild and is directed by Richard Ayoade. The video is for a song belonging to the genre of indie. The video shows caracteristics of being an indie video as it is a lot different from other videos in that it seems that it is completely of the Arctic Monkey own volition and not influenced by a record label or any other external sources which can be said for a lot of other Arctic Monkeys videos.

Fluorescent Adoloscent was really the main inspiration for our own music video. This is because we really liked the idea of people being chased by people in clown costumes and also using a handheld camera style which gives it the effect of being in real life. In this video we see an ongoing battle between the clowns and a gang of men and in the end it is the clowns who win. We also really liked the idea of special effects being used to blow up the car and if possible we would like to use this in our own video.
The mis-en-scene in this video is interesting. Costumes feature very heavily in this video, the clown costumes are all of varying colours and styles. But the colour red does feature quite heavily, I think the reason for this is that as there is a lot of fighting and i think the reason for the heavy use of red is to emphasise the violence in this video as red is the colour of blood and so is associated heavily with violence and fighting. props, lighting, etc.
A lot of the camera work in this video is done using a handheld camerawhich I think is a good technique to use for this particular video. The reason for this is because this video has a lot of fast movement by the characters and is a very fast moving video in terms of the editing so using handheld camera technique makes it seem as if the cameraman is running which adds to the notion that movement plays a big part in this video.


Kasabian- Fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd0Y1Sko7hA&feature=player_embedded)

This song is called 'Fire' and is by the band Kasabian. In this video we see a gang of robbers rob a bank using their guitars as weapons. At the start of the video a member of the band is singing and looking at himself in the mirror. This gives a visual representation of the song being performed by the band. Much of the filming is done by the use of c.c.t.v and filmed in black and white as we see the gang walk into the bank and take the money. I think this idea of filming using c.c.t.v is effective because it is different to how a music video is normally filmed and in this way it is an interesting approach and it is also appropriate for the video as the audience are witnessing a robbery take place. During the robbery we see the band using guitars as guns and i feel this brings a comedy feel to the video. The gun shots were hear in the video are a contradiction of using guitars as guns and these sounds are editted into the video and are not in the song alone. I think that the music and the visuals match the tempo of the track. At the beginning of the video we have the build up to the song and the story line which is very slow, in this slow tempo we see the lead singer of Kasabian singing along. However as the tempo speeds up so do the visuals as we see the band members moving frantically to finish the job.













Kasabian- Club Foot

This video is partly set in a recording studio as we see the band playing the song we are listening to. The only colours used are black and white which i think is simple but actually very effective. We see a number of war movie clips such as soldiers dressed in uniform and army vehicles. I think the idea of using the revolutionists helps potray the bands image of being rock stars/ rebels. This video gives off feelings of sadness and depression as it is all about the Hungarian Revolution where thousands of people lost their lives. The props and set of the video add to the sad, depressing and anti war effect as the start of the video before any real music starts concentrates on the derelict buildings, the ragged clothes the people are wearing the empty streets that give off a cold, ghost town looking effect, the life less trees and the poverty people are facing by showing them eating food straight out of a can. They do this to show people how bad war can be. Also the climax of the video shows the death of a women and this also adds to the audience's feelings of sadness. In this video we are again left with the message that war is a negative thing and more peaceful methods should be used to overcome a clash of opinions and i feel this really helps to show off some of the bands political views.

Our Questionnaire


This is an image of our questionnaire that we handed out to fellow students in our sixth form to get an idea about the types of music video people like and dislike.

Monday, 28 September 2009

CD cover Analysis: The Prodigy- Warriors Dance.


THE PRODIGY- WARRIOR'S DANCE
FRONT COVER:
The cover is very high tech. The cover is simple and using only three colours makes sure that the cover appeals to the audience. Black and red would usually make the audience think of danger however in this case it draws your attention. The image is unusual however links to the title of the song and the music video for this single which uses animation. The bands name is in the centre of the cover and the white bold font stands out against the black background and draws the audiences attention immediately. This would help the audience identify the bands cd easily if they were looking for it in a shop. All of the writing on the cover is in bold capitals and this helps it to stand out. I think that the characters and the writing on the cover give a real sense of speed and i think this helps to represent the pace of the music. In a way it links to the genre yet in another unless you know the band or know the style of this then you probably wouldn’t know that this is from the genre of dance.Although aimed at both genders, the image would predominantly appeal to males as the images are almost aggressive looking. The use of these strong, aggressive images suggests that the music will be that with a strong, heavy beat. We are able to get a good idea of the genre of music from this.

Sunday, 27 September 2009

CD cover analysis



Kasabian:




'Kasabian' -2004 album .

This is the band Kasabian's debut album realeased in 2004. This was one of our main influences for our own CD Cover. The genre of this CD is Indie Rock, this is the same genre as the song whih we have made our music video for.
This CD uses just 2 colours, black and white, which contrast well with each other. Although there is only 2 colours used, i find this to be very effective as the white image of the persons face really stands out against the black background and helps to grab the audience's attention. I feel that the image of the persons face is mysterious as it only shows half of their face and they are also partly covered by a scarf. I think this gives the buyer to the idea that the album may be quite mysterious itself and i feel this could make the buyer want to know more about the band and the album and therefore make them go out and buy it. I also feel that this album cover is very serious as we see the person with a scarf over their face in almost military style and i think this could be carrying a political message of anti war as this is then backed up in a number of their songs such as 'club foot'.
The band have decided to present the albums name in white bold and in capitals i think that this, again, is very striking and stands out against the black background and would immediately grab the buyers attention if they saw it in a shop. Also using the bands name as their album name could be a very clever marketing technique especially if it is their debut album or just simply to let the buyer know straight away who the album is by.

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

Other Band Research

THE KOOKS
Basic Info

Members:Luke Vocals, Hugh Guitar, Peter Bass And Paul Drums

Genre:Alternative, Indie

Hometown:Brighton, United Kingdom

Record label:Virgin Records



Current Location: London


Influences: Police, Jack Johnson,The Kinks, The Beatles, Funkadelic Parliament, Neil Young, Dylan, Mason Jennings, Free, Velvet Underground, Bowie, Lou Reed, John Butler Trio, John Martyn, Nick Drake, The Doors, The Smiths, Rolling Stones, Stone Roses, Jeff Buckley.


Biography: Brighton's The Kooks are that rarest of pop entities: a scuzzy, fresh-faced group to fully restore your faith in the holy grail of English singer-songwriting stretching from Supergrass via (early) Blur to The Kinks and beyond.Released in Jan 2006, the LP Inside in/Inside out, followed the hit singles You don't love me and 'She moves in her own way' getting rave reviews from the music press and gaining the Kooks the reputation of being Britain's youngest, hottest, live groups to date.The Band are currently on the road and have announced dates of a monster UK tour, as well as dates across Europe and America.


Tuesday, 22 September 2009

Previous gigs and performances


Kilimanjaro have already had a number of Gigs and have played at numerous venues across Bristol including the Colston hall, the Cooler, the Louisiana and the Croft.