The Maccabees - first love.

The Maccabees are an indie rock band based in Brighton, originally from south london, signed to Fierce Panda Records. Jet Pack Man are similar to the Maccabees as they have based their sound a great deal on the individual sound that the Maccabees have. 

The Maccabees video for first love is similar to the type of video i would like to create. I really like the way that the video is put together, it is highly based on the rules of photography, this would be an advantage to me as i would be able to bring my knowledge of photography to my video. It is a disjunctive video, this is something i would like to try to do, but first i will need to understand the rules to be able to make a disjunctive video. In this frame the women draws around herself in chalk, i like the birds eye view shot looking down on her, this is an unusual shot due to what the women is doing. In the second frame i can see that the rule of thirds is used here as the man on the chair is on one third, the lockers on in the middle and the stairs are on the final third. 

Link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHpEyzXiJk 

Various shot ideas.

Trombone shot - track back whilst zooming forward.

To make a subject disappear - camera static, in the shot, pause, remove them from shot. 

Tilt - changing perspective, define gravity. Look at Laroux - Bulletproof 1 min 27.

Lip synching - speeding up the track, when editing slow it down.

Time lapse - speed up/fastforward, stand still, film for 10 minutes everyone walking by.

Transitions - cutting on extra close ups, track back.

Cut behind black seamless one shot.

Possible artists and bands.

My first possible artist is a young acoustic artist called Steve Luscombe from torquay devon. He would link to artists such as Jason Maraz, Laura Marling and The Kooks. A typical audience that would follow Steve would be people who like acoustic and mellow music as most of his songs are just acoustic with the exception of a few songs where he has a subtle drum beat in the background. He regularly play gigs at small venues generally acoustic night at bars such a rude bar in torquay. Rude bar is an indie underground bar, it regularly holds acoustic nights and indie nights where local bands and artists can play for free. The typical age range would be teenagers and young adults in their early twenties, this is due to the fact that this age range would typically see him playing at rude bar at jam night at rude. The lifestyle of the audience would tend to be generally similar as they they share the same love of music and going to gigs. Steve is currently creating a myspace page, therefore making himself available on web2.

My second option is a band called jet pack man, they are a four piece band from torquay devon. Hugh Reed (vocals) Tom Jones (drums) Alex Howard (bass) and Warwick Simpkin (guitar). Similar bands to Jet Pack Man are The Maccabees, The Kooks, The Foals. Their typical audience would be teenagers to young adults in their twenties, they would be able to access Jet Pack Man at various gigs, they play at many different venues like rude bar in torquay and plan b in torquay. Their audience would typically share the same interests like music and going to gigs. They currently are using web2 to promote themselves. By producing web2 pages they enable themselves to reach out to a wider audience. It also means that anyone can see there page therefore increasing chances of a larger fan base. The obvious adantages of Web 2 is that it is a cheap and easy method of advertising themselves. They have a few songs on their website, various photographs of gigs they play. The representation of the band is created to suit the genre of music through their dress code e.g. Long hair, skinny jeans typical indie clothing.

Various directors i am interested in.

The three directors that i am interested are Michel Gondry, Anton Corbijn and Chris Cunningham, all three of these directors are autuers as they each have their own distinct styles. 

The first director I am going to look at is Michel Gondry. He uses a lot of dreamscape ideas and surrealism in his videos. There is one video in particular that jumps out to me is The White Stripes - the hardest button to button. I like this videos because it is synchronous to the beat of the drum, i think this is really interesting to watch, I would like to try something similar in my music video. Another aspect to this video that i think is interesting is the stop motion, I think this creates a fascinating effect that the viewer is gripped to watch. 

The second director that i am interested in is Anton Corbijn. Corbijn bases a lot of his work within rules of photography. He uses the rule of thirds to frame his work, he also uses black and white to create a gritty and raw effect to his videos. One videos that attracts me most is Travis - love will come through. This video is interesting as it is reverse narrative, the video had to be filmed backwards as in the video the man lays in bed and his hair grows, this is to represents time going by. I think simple ideas like this create really interesting videos.

The third and final director that i am interested in is Chris Cunningham, he tends to create videos he uses synchronous editing to create fast paced videos. His work is grungy, dark and mysterious. One video in particular that i am interested in is Aphex Twin - come to daddy, this video uses amazing editing techniques. One example would be synchronous editing and various flashes and jump cuts. I personally would not take influence directly from Chris's style as it is very gothic and grungy, this genre is not one i would necessarily take to as i would lean to something more like Anton Corbijn as i am interested in the way that i would use my knowledge of photography to enhance my skills within filming. However i would like to adopt some aspects of Chris's editing styles, like editing synchronous to the beat and subtle jump cuts. 

Representations.

I have chosen to look at three different artists and see how their representations are created throughout their music videos and photographs. How an artist or bands is repesented is important as they may appeal to a specific audience. For example Marlyne Manson tends to have gothic style that runs through his videos, this is a constant representation that does not tend to change. Whereas Britney Spears tends to have a some sort of sexy theme throughout her videos, however this does change as is some of her videos she will be represented as a powerful female figure, the male fanticy or an innocent young girl.

The first artist i am going to focus on is Michael Jackson. Michael's representation changes a great deal throughout his videos. In "Beat It" he is represented as being the good guy who tries to break up the fight. He is also represented as one of the cool guys as he is dancing at the front of the crowd, all the other people in the video begin to follow him. 

The second band i am going to focus on is the Prodigy, when they began their representation was similar to that of a boy-band. However as their music progressed and their fan base grew they were able to form into their own image. This changed to something that was more suited to their genre of music, it was grungy and unique. 

  

The history of the music video.

Today we looked at the history of the music video.

1950 was the first ever colour TV transmission. Music videos were originally born out of practicality, if a artist could not perform live then a music video was produced to take their place. Music videos were originally very cheap to produce for example Queen - Bohemian rhapsody only cost £3500. In 1981 MTV for the first time aired a music video, "video killed the radio star". MTV stated with very few videos, it was the audience's demand that made music videos grow. 

An artist or bands representation can change within a music video. For example in Britney Spears "Lucky" she is presented to be innocent and sweet, whereas in "Slave for you" presents her to be provocative and sexy.

Michel Jackson's "Thriller" was one of the first music videos that used intertextuality. The money for this music video came from franchising. 

Third deconstruction.

Metric - dead disco.

Screen grab one.

A silhouette of the band is created, this immediately creates enigma as the audience wants to know who they are and what they are doing. The backdrop of the city and the building creates a rock star image for the band as they are in the city. 

Screen grab two.

The low lighting in contrast with the flashing lights works well to create enigma as the audience still wants to know more about the band image. The flashing lights create a rock star look to the music video as it is fast and jumpy.

Second deconstruction.

Rage against the machine - killing in the name of. 

Screen grab one.

Low level light to represent the darkness of the bands image and their lyrics. Red flash lights are used this could represent a sense of danger about the band. 

Screen grab two.

There are crowd shots of the fans in the mosh pit. We can see the anger and violence from the fans this could be representative of the bands image and values. Again the lighting is dark, this again represents the gothic and rebellious nature of the band.

Deconstruction of three music videos.

Kylie Minogue.

Screen grab one.

Pink top represents a feminine character, it also make her standout against the rest of the crowd, she tells the audience that she is the singer, it also tells us that she is important within the music video.

Screen grab two.

The lighting is bright and vibrant to represent the singers emotions and

to represent the lyrics. Kylie is generally centrally framed through out this music video, this again suggests that she is important within the video.

Key words.

Keywords:
Wiz Pan An extremely quick pan leaving blurrs after it pans
Crash zoom An extremely quick forward zoom
Today we studied:
Spike Jonze - Its oh so quiet- Bjork
Practice deconstruction:
Contrast in opening- visual contrast - starts like a horror
Lighting effects match tempo + structure
Synchronous (up beat = fast) (slow = low key lighting)
Similar to musical = Borrows conventions of musical
Centrally framed
Orange dress = stand out
Artist is represented as quirky
Cam slowly tracks Bjork
Low key lighting + slow "its oh so quiet"= illustrative
Trumpet blair = wizpan, crash zoom, mise en scene borrowed from musicals and continuity editing (when stunt double is used to flip)
Walks on crain = rises up = symbolizing status/feeling
=Amplified narrative

Beastie Boys:
Fast pace
Comical -> Borrows from stereo typical "70s cop shows"
Titles matched with still shot of action e.g like the film snatch

Key words.

Keywords:

• Disjunctive: A technique to go against the representations of the music.
• Amplified: A technique used to 'amplify' (reinforce) a distinctive idea (exajurates)
• Illustrative: A technique used to reinforce the lyrics of the music.

Today we studied:

Chris Cunningham- "Come on my selector" Square Pusher

Michelle Gondry- "Sugar Water" Cibo Matto

Chris Cunningham took a electro drum and base track and added a disjunctive narrative.

Michelle Gondry also used a disjunctive narrative.

Music directors.

Today we began looking at music videos by various directors. We looked at Anton Corbijn, Chris Cunningham and Michelle Gondry. We had to watch videos and analyse the ideas and techniques that the directors apply to their videos. The directors we studied were Michelle Gondry, Antoine Corbic and Chris Cunningham.

Michelle Gondry: 
Born in France, his career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for a french rock band.
Gondry has directed music videos for artists:

Daft punk

The White stripes

The chemical brothers

Radiohead 

Beck

Anton Corbijn:
Was born May 20, 1955, originally a photographer from the Netherlands.
He is also well known for directing music videos, some of them including:
Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus (1989) and 
Nivarna's heart shaped box (1993).


Chris Cunningham:

He was born in Reading in 1970 and grew up in Lakenheath, Suffolk
Has had close ties to Warp Records since his first production for Autechre
His video for Bjork's "All is full of love" won multiple awards, including an MTV music video award for Breakthrough Video and was nominated for a grammy for Best Short Form Music Video
His video for Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" was nominated for the "Best Video" award at the Brit Awards 2000. 

Outline of A2 Course.

50% practical production

1. Music Video 

• research and planning 
• production
• evaluation

2. DVD cover

Magazine advert for a band/artist/track

50% Critical evaluation (an exam based on practical work over last 2 years) Critical Perspective: Identity of males Mrs Muir