Props.

In any normal movie or music video you can see a high amount of props. Whereas in our short three minute video we only had the idea to use one prop, an evelope. But in our Major game change we no longer required this prop.
After the game change. We used a pair of headphones. It was to show that the kid was drowning his sorrows within music. But he felt it was just not enough.

What Is Post-Modernism?

Post Modernism is the recognition that times around us are changing, that culture is moving on. Post-Modernism accepts that all pieces of media are open to user interpretation, therefore the value of all are equal to one another. An excellent example I could use is the TV show 'Dexter' which has an incredibly Post-Modernist concept, where we see the Miami metro lab tech also being Miami's biggest serial killer. Before Post-Modernism set in that would have not been culturally accepted as it would have been to dark. Another very Post Modern example is 'The Office' which was a British Sit-Com made in the early 2000's. Its genre was being a Mockumentary. A Mockumentary is the taking of a fictitious story line and showing it as realistic to the viewer. This is a good example purely because when it originally came out it had people questioning weather it was real or not. With it's Documentary layout and realistic Q&A sessions with the Co-Workers it really sets out to be real.

Rock of the Ages. 
This is a very Post- Modern example. As normal musicals contain classical music and tend to have one women singing about something stupid on a hill top. Whereas this has taken the whole idea of the stereotypical musical and turned it on its head. While still following most genre conventions. The music in the movie is a bit different from the standard things you would hear in a musical. They are all massive rock hits from the 80's and with that it sways away from the standard family musical, and becomes a more a 21st century musical in which we realize life isn't all glamorous and cheesy songs.



Pulp Fiction.

The film is interweaving some stories of gangsters. A boxer and robbers. The film breaks down the chronological time and demonstrates a particular fascination with intertextuality. For example bringing in some texts from both traditionally 'high' and 'low' realms of art. The use of different parts of media creates 'a loose, transitory combination of media consumption choices.' Pulp Fiction fractures the time by using asynchronous time lines, and by using different styles and combining them together to form a movie. It also demonstrates the postmodern obsession with signs and subjective perspective as the exclusive location of anything resembling meaning.

Editing - A Summary

Thus the arduous task of editing is complete. Even after our major game change in which i expressed earlier in my blog.

Above is the first screen shot that we have, this was taken before the game change in which we have all our old footage in. We only really worked on half this stuff on the 1st day of editing before my partner and I really decided to change a lot.

Next we have our new idea. With all the new stuff that we filmed put into action on Movie Maker. Non of it is in order. We added the music as one of the 1st things we did, so we could move things around it and make it fit accordingly. 

And finally here is the finished version. With everything in order and all of the transition shots and tones set into it. This is what our final piece will run off.

Whilst editing, I learnt a lot. Not to say i went in totally clueless, iv had some experience before, but never with anything this large. I understood the basics on how to move the scenes around and adjust the volume. That was about it. In my 3 weeks on Movie Maker, I'v learnt about transitions between scenes and not to use a straight cut all the time. I also learnt how to add music to the background and how to drown out video volume so i can use music volume. 

Not everything starts off perfect. I ended up with 7 attempts on my laptop before i got one that i felt was right. It was actually attempt 6 that turned out the best of all 7. 

But i did enjoy my task, and i found Movie Maker comfortable simple to work with.

This is a picture of my  partner and I editing our movie.

Our Genre And Our Video.

My partner and I have chosen to do 'Ambient Rock'. I have chosen Ambient Rock as it is a more free thought genre in comparison to the rest, without the addition of lyrics the music video is open to interpretation.Without the lock in of lyrics the story can turn around however the listener feels like it should. Hence why with the video we have left a few questions unanswered. such as;

• Did he actually jump at the end?
• What suddenly went so wrong in the happy relationship?
• Was it really worth it in the end?
• Is love the meaning of life, that as people we can function without an income, yet why does that mean happiness? 

Admittedly the last one is much deeper than the rest of them, but the video leaves that entirely up to interpretation. Its the way you want to view is the story that it tells. We just set up a simple basis for the story whereas you can mentally fill in the gaps, especially what happened during the time lapse. Why it went so sour? What happened?    

Shooting Schedule (Updated)

We actually had two sets of the shooting schedule. As we had a major game change so it was necessary in order to re complete some of the stuff we did. In both we had fours days in which we set out to complete this task.

 Above is the shooting schedule prior to the 5th of December. This was the one we set out on our original idea.

 Above is the new shooting schedule it was set post-December 3rd and this time round we encountered numerous mistakes which thankfully we managed to over turn.

Talking Heads Session.

Editing!

Thus begins the long task of editing. Finely tuning each nook and cranny of our presentation to make it not only fit in time with the music, but look appealing to the consumer. We believe that with hard work it will take us around 3-4 weeks to complete this task to a standard that we see to be of great quality.
Wish us luck!

Major Game Change!

My partner and I have both discussed this in deep and we have come to the conclusion that we need to change our story. Where before we had the male character (Mitch) leaving to join the army and dying, as we follow the female character (Ellen) try to overcome the lose of her love. But we didn't feel that captured what we wanted to be expressed in the music video. We wanted to move onto touchy subjects and I personally didn't feel that death in the army was to renounced in today's society. With the rise of depression by over half a million children in the UK and the suicide rates have risen significantly over the past few years, we wanted to address this issue. Even though it is only a small music video i wanted it to have a greater cause behind it, rather than just a cash grab in which i post half naked women to get more view's. In today's society people seem to follow more of those videos, pushing this type to one side. I just didn't believe i could get the same affect with the original idea.      

 These are the storyboards to the new shots that my partner and I created.

The Target Audience of Post-Rock/Ambient Rock

The target audience of our chosen genre is aimed around 30 - 50. Given its history and its cultural boom in the 70's and then later becoming huge in the 90's with band such as 'Tortoise' and 'Bark Psychosis'.
We came to the conclusion that the youth defines the music age. For example if you watch any 80's movie with teens in, They tend to have posters of Guns N' Roses and Def Leopard sprawled across their rooms and normally have the Vinyl tracks to match. This evidence was also seen in a more Post-Modern movie released recently called 'Rock of the Ages' which places teens in the height of the rock culture which was massive in the 80's and the older people who believed Rock was the devils music.
In the 90's 'indie' and 'Underground' music was massive, was really a youth cultured based genre.
We feel that people tend to grow up with the music they love as a teen as that's when you discover yourself so now those people would be 30 - 50 years old.

Our video on the other hand, While it fits the music, We feel there is no specified age gap in which we feel it specifies to. Personally I chose this idea to fit with anyone feeling the same. Its more of a show to put on to show people they aren't alone. If for the people that feel that way.

  

Straus's Theory Of Binary Oppositions.

Straus's was an anthropologist who lived in the early 1900's. He believe that we shouldn't just look at a word in its normal definition. yet more by they way we can understand the word and its opposite, or as he called it 'Binary opposites'. An example of 'Binary opposite' is Good and evil. How in most superhero movies we have the Good guy E.G. Superman and the villain Lex Luthor. This is used in an example that Lex has always wanted superman to die so he can fulfill out his evil plan. It is the whole idea that it is good VS evil. I personally believe that Binary opposite is what makes a movie or music video is what makes it interesting. As a superman movie without Lex Luthor or any kind of evil would be boring. It would just be superman flying around for two straight long hours and i don't believe that anyone would pay £8.50 to go see that.
In my video i want to use his theory to show the binary opposite of happy and sad. Where at the start we see a man, who is in love, who is content, who is clearly happy with what he has. Then later on in the movie. After all that is taken from him we see him broken, miserable and contemplating suicide. These are the binary opposites as without that initial happiness of the woman, he never would have fallen into the spiral of miserableness and depression.
   

Effect Theory

The effect theory is what the media does the audience.
The mass usage of the media is renounced to make people fall into the traps of its messaging. It is believed that consumers are Drugged / Hypnotized by the media. This is believed to be seen with the link between more violent TV shows and Violence in the youth. This idea links back to world war two with the idea of propaganda. How people only saw the Germans as bad and  visa-verse in Germany. Propaganda has to be effective if you can make people believe what Hitler was doing was good.
Moving away from WWII this theory has been around since the start of Television in the 50's and 60's when it became more accessible for people to watch.
With every theory there are counter arguments. It is noted as just a theory as there is no real research into whether this is true or not. It is noted that the media can be more helpful than hurtful in today's society. But these thoughts are pressed by the government.
So while seeming plausible it will only remain a theory.  

Poster Textual Analysis - Album Promotion

This is the Poster to promote the album 'Understanding What We've Grown To Be' by the post-hardcore band 'We Came As Romans'. I have placed it next to the album cover so you can see the cohesion between the two. The covers are the same. The poster is the same picture as the album cover, just cropped down.
The poster has some information regarding the album, such as the release date (in this case its already been released), The label, The album name, and of course who wrote it. Also some legal information.
This is an effective piece of prilmary text as the cohesion make the album instantly recognizable to the band after seeing the poster. This shows that cohesion is again important in the music or mainly in the marketing industry. Its the Thought around making it stand out thats very important and if it gets well known enough you wont need the band title.  

Media Priming.

The idea that the things we watch or listen to or read, influence our emotions and behavior. This is important in our media text as we wanted it to influence the emotions, not necessarily the behavior, but we wanted it to reflect today's society and the fact that people can take drastic measures towards things that we take out of proportion.

Poster Textual Analysis - Tour/Concert

This is the Linkin Park Poster for their Minutes to midnight. The most obvious thing at first glance is the band image. This is an obvious image for a poster as fans of the band who have done an slight research into the band will notice them straight off and will be instantly drawn to the poster. The second eye catching thing on the poster is the band name printed straight across the top. This is an instant eye catcher as the have made a cohesion between the style on the poster and the style on  the album cover. This shows that cohesion is a very important factor in band image. It makes for an instantly recognizable piece of prilimanry text, making it both eye catching and informative.
The tour is noticed as being called 'Minutes to Midnight' This is the name of the third studio album by the band. For fans of the album this is a must attend concert as not only will they be playing the whole album and that is noted by the fact they named it after the album.
Thirdly the info is important. When, where, how to book, all the important information you need to get hold of a ticket. As it is all well and good promoting a tour yet if no one can buy a ticket it will all be for nothing.
All these things will make for a successful poster that is both eye catching and informative and you need that in order to promote a successful concert.

Atlantic Records.

Atlantic records are best known for producing Rhythm and Blues, Rock and Roll, Hip-Hop and Jazz. this is the reason I chose this record label to support "Pangean"  as they produce the type of music this band have created.
They are a subsidiary of Warner-Bro's - Seven Arts, which was stated in 1967. They later expanded into the "Rock and Roll" music scene with signing band such as "Cream", "Led Zeppelin", "Yes" and "Foreigner", all of whom are English. Atlantic records played a massive role in popularizing the Genre "Rhythm and Blues" during the period of 1953 - 1954. Atlantic records played a massive role in this movement and lead "Rhythm and Blues" to move into the culture shift it had today.  

StoryBoards

Here in order is our storyboards. It is our ORIGINAL idea and we have slightly altered our idea in which i will upload later

This story is about two people who are in love and then one goes to the army and then dies, the story then follows the woman who has to deal with both the grief of missing him and then the grief of his death. Untill he come back in a form of a ghost to comfort her. 

The Band Interview

Location Search - Victoria Park

Our Final and best location was Victoria Park in Bedminster. We liked the park ambiance of our choice, it is quiet and remote, a few people around here and then yet we are able to capture all of our shots without people in it. The bench we have chosen looks over the whole of Bedminster area, which can give that romantic city allure where as when shes alone, we can make it look like even though there is an entire city around her, she feels like she will never be with anyone else again. Until the ghost of her former lover appears, she feels like its only her in a city full of people, the bench is more than a bench to her. it is a representation of where she and her lover (now deceased) used to hang out. I feel that the bench we have chosen capture this perfectly so for this choice we have chosen Victoria Park.

 <- these are the photos of our selected bench. as you can see you can see the bench over looks a city which we will use to our advantage ->

Location Search - Queens Square

Our third option was Queens Square, an place with a lot of history behind it, including the bloody riots of 1831, yet the history wasn't the thing that interested us about this place, it was the neat selection of bench's placed around a statue of William III. The fact that these are displayed neatly around the statue in perfect order, The ambiance of Queens Square was the only factor that really put us off the location. While it had a thriving community, that is the opposite of what we want. We want a remote location that represents the characters in their own personal bubble. Like no one else really matters in the world. The same with Harbourside, as we want to avoid others, and we cant entirely crowd control.

 

 The side shots of our chosen bench, as we can see people. 

 More shots of our chosen bench again we can see people.

   

Location Search - St Mary Redcliffe Churchyard

Our second and probably least likely location choice will be St Mary Radcliffe Churchyard. Whilst this location has beautiful scenery and is above Queens Square and Harbourside in appearance. A churchyard kind of promotes a death feeling, a feeling that we don't want the viewer to experience till the end. We are maiming more for a shock value rather than obvious. We want to promote the fact that even though the couple look totally in control and in charge of the situation, that every human life is fragile and meaningful. We want to display the depressing element of the video at the end, which would be hard to do within a churchyard, the location is beautiful yet just behind a church.

<- these pictures are the idea around 

the churchyard location, which we would choose,
yet on the floor are two graves, which gives the idea of death. ->

Location Search - Harbourside

Our location search took us to the lovely waterside of Bristol city docks, using this location would be nice, the tranquility of the night life, and the flare of the street lights would be perfect, The bench we were planning to use sits perfectly in the middle of two trees. It has a side view of a bridge, and sits opposite the restaurant Za Za Bazaar. The problem with this location, is even though the initial idea of the waterside sounds lovely, is that as only A2 students we cant perfectly crowd control. While we believe that the initial bench location is beautiful we are going for a quite spot, so it can make out that the characters we are portraying are the only people left, that no other lives matter to them but theirs and each others, and with other people around it can ruin that ambiance. Also opposite the water, we would like a tree filled forest/park. We want the location to be special to them, and no romantic moves take place opposite a low income all you can eat bar. Even though that can promote post-modernism, we are heading more for a tranquilizing setting and calm ambiance, with a touch of old style films, where everything is very generic and loving.

<- The side view of the bridge, looking over to the bar. Bench in corner.

To the right is a opposing view of the bench, ->

(would use as album cover) 

<- Same shot as above but not in 'Noir' tone, doesn't promote atmosphere so well  

Another back shot of bench, but having man ->

in it, Example of lack of crowd control

Location Search - Continued

Location Search (Thursday 3rd October) 

On this date, my partner and I set out on the grueling task of trying to find a prime location for our video shoot. We knew it had to set around a bench, but the question was, which bench? We ended up sussing out four locations to consider...

1. -Harbourside
2. -Saint Mary Redcliffe Churchyard
3. -Queens Square
4. -Victoria Park

Luckily for us we live in Bristol and our school is in a good location for us to travel to, to find prime locations for our media presentation. 

Location Search

Today is the big day. The day we search for our locations to shoot our video, wish us luck on this task!

Album Cover Analysis- We Came As Romans.

Unlike The amity affliction, We came as Romans have focused their significance of album covers over them all, with their unique design on each, if you know the band it will become instantaneously recognizable for fans. In all of the album covers their is a lot going on artistically. They all feature trees. Which helps with the bands instantaneously recognizable design, They are all dramatic with a lot of detail, showing that their cover wasn't just slapped together in a matter of hours but are more planned out, it shows it means a lot to them. as this is their own image, the one they created for themselves and its defiantly not a boring one.

Looking at it more contextually;
Colour
The colour is the same for most a different shade of blue or purple two colours that are related to each other. The colour scheme really links with each other keeping feel of a 'brand image' for the band.
Lighting
As for the lighting they are all dark, being drawn and not taken they were able to do this in a better way being able to get the exact light they want without making it look to over produced and photo shopped. The lighting is dark to represent what the band stand for coming out of the darkness and into the light.
Camera Angles
As they are all drawn it is hard to talk about the camera angles yet I can review why they put certain objects in certain places. The human like figures are always central they all seem to be battling their demons with 'understanding what we have grown to be' it is two entities injecting their tongues into his ear, one representing good and one evil. This shows he is combating his evil demons with good. In tracing back roots it shows a man escaping the tree he is bound to. Escaping the roots hes set himself into and being free. All three albums give the impression of battling demons and winning this is a signature that they have given with each cover.

Album Cover Analysis- Amity Affliction (Chasing Ghosts)

The amity affliction, this album chasing ghosts. The album cover caused massive controversy when originally released. The band had to initially apologize for the disturbing image printed on the front, yet it has become the most iconic symbol of the band. It was a whole representation of what the band stand for, the initial image of the man hanging is meant as a symbol of fear, its shows a dark dingy woods which looks airy. As a life less body swings from the tree tops, its mean to scare people away from suicide. The band also released another copy without the corpse, yet I feel that one isn't as effective, same as the band.
Colours 
The colours chosen are dark and dingy. The mist in front of the dark blue and particular shade of a dark forest green. This gives the element of death and despair. There are no happy or vibrant colour in the frame this gives the eeriness that they were going for.
Lighting
As well as the colours the lighting is also dark and depressing. The background makes it look like it is at night. This gives off feeling alone, that his whole world around him is dark and in a damp state and makes the scene itself look unhappy. which is what the band were aiming for.
Characters
The singular character is alone. No one around him that he has taken this action all by himself. This gives off loneliness which the band was aiming for that the character was alone in his final moments and its a ploy to scare people away from being alone in their final moments.
Costumes
Talking about the character his costume is that of a classic metal core fan. The rugged skinny jeans and the converse all are the main uniform of a rocker that this is how the audience they are aiming for dress. This comes across that they are relatable all having mental health issues themselves that maybe this album unlike others will speak to you. The band use all this to give off the look they are looking for.
Camera Techniques
Not only taking in those factors we take in the camera angle shot size and distance. Using these techniques we also come across the perfect album cover. The angle of the shot is straight on facing the man we are meant to be looking at showing that he is the main image in the shot that he is the main focus of what we are meant to be looking at keeping the tree to the side so we get an idea about what he has done. The shot itself is far out away from the man so we can get everything in view and that we can see him from far away so he looks distant to us. This is so he looks like a distant idea for us that we won't partake in what he has done. The shot cuts off his head so we cannot see what he looks like so if we are in that position we can imagine ourselves in that frame and then aspire to stay away from that. That why they used the costume they did as that's probably what the average person is wearing.
In conclusion they use all the elements of mise-en-scene to further the meaning of their cover and make it relatable to the consumer.

Album Cover Analysis - I Set My Friends On Fire (Astral Rejection)

While looking at album covers I have explored the controversial and the Cohesive album covers.
But one area i never looked at was the down right weird and eye catching. This is the most surreal album cover i have seen. As lets be honest nothing is more eye catching on a shelf than a narwhal merman riding a dune buggy through an space lightening storm over a city. The image alone will make you want to pick up a copy if you are looking for new music. An idea I probably will not go with but its still an interesting thought.

The Struggle For Music!

Whilst we have already created our storyboards, we are struggeling to find sutabile royalty free music to fit what we have. We were originally aiming to find a song with lyrics which expresses our son, but my partner and I have moved onto more Lyric free music to use to express our tragic storyline of a lost love and a tradgey which the female will over come. The music will need to bee slow and happy at the start and eventually speed up, it will take a lot of searching on every corner of the internet, but we will eventually get royalty free music which will fit.

Album Cover Analysis - Blurry Lights (Sounds of Emotion)

This is the album cover to Blurry Lights album Sounds of Emotion. The genre of this particular album is Ambient Rock/Post Rock, which is along the lines of what we produced. Looking at this cover and many others iv seen, They all seem to have a pattern of a Photograph taken with a different effect of a city or something along those lines. While that is just generalizing, it seems to be the norm for most covers of this particular genre. In a personal opinion, it doesn't come across as overly eye catching, but it has become a norm for the genre characteristic to be that. It kind of plays a way to be more of a marketing ploy for Ambient Rock bands to produce a album cover that relates to the others. As people have become familiar with the type of cover. This then will link to the genre, and it may persuade them to buy it. I feel like this is an idea that we could use. The colour of this cover is dark and bleak.
Colour
Using the dark morning sky and picture of a less than appealing blurry road really relates to the album itself.
Location
The shot is taken over what appears to be a balcony. The shot itself is wide and straight looking into the horizon over the busy highway.
Characters
Whilst a distinct lack of individuals in the shot there are many people in the vehicles below unaware of the photo and the photographer is unaware of the individuals in those vehicles. This shows that in a massive city surrounded by people that the individuals are not known by many this is the reason that they have choose this shot type and it strongly links the to the music that they play.
In conclusion the album cover uses subtle yet effective techniques to give off a good album cover to the consumers.

Textual analysis of music video 3

Name of artist: The Amity Affliction
Name of song: Chasing ghosts

Genre Characteristics.

1. -Dark lonely woods, the feeling of emptiness, with only two men.
2. -Suicide, The point of the video is a man preventing suicide of a himself.
3. -Ghosts, It shows the man following a ghost to save himself.
4. -The band clothing is a genre characteristic, mainly on the lead singer  

Relationship Between Lyrics And Visuals

1. -The lyrics are about a man who regrets taking the easy way out, such as suicide. The video links up to that as it shows a man being haunted by a woman as he chases himself down to stop himself hanging himself
2. -The song is called chasing ghosts, and he is chasing a female ghost who also committed suicide.

Relationship Between Music And Visuals

1. -Follows genre convention. Creepy woods a dark shack, a ghost and a prevention of hanging/suicide. These are all genre conventions of hardcore/metal-core and the genre is mainly about prevention of these kind of things.

Inter textual Reference

1. -Titled 'Chasing Ghosts' and the music video shows a man chasing a ghost, simple really?
2. -The twist is that he was chasing himself, as he regretted what he did. so he saved himself

The video was a mix of performance based and story line based, it showed the story of the man chasing his ghost and the band performing the song, whilst i personally found the performance a bit distracting as i was interested in the story, i shall keep this in mind when i film my music video presentation.

Textual analysis of music video 2

Name of artist: Disturbed
Name of song: Asylum

Genre Characteristics

1. -Darkness, the emptiness of the asylum represents insanity 
2. -Torture- the feeling of everyone against you
3. -Feeling or being repressed 
4. -Insanity 

Relationship Between Lyrics And Visuals 

1. -Singing about not wanting to die in an asylum while the visuals show his journey of escape 
2. -singing about insanity, the main character is classed as mentally insane 

Relationship Between Music And Visuals 

1.  -Follows genre convention of dark asylum, the feeling of emptiness or being alone has ravished this persons mind 

Inter textual References

1. -Titled asylum it follows the definition of insanity 
2. -''Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome'' 
3. -The character continuously tries to escape the asylum but always gets put back in his cell

This video is mainly story based as it focuses on the guy who tries to escape the asylum but it keeps with in the genre limitations and in-keeps withing the story of the song as they link together    

Textual analysis of music video

Name of track: Castle of Glass
Artist/director: Linkin Park

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScNNfyq3d_w

Genre Characteristics: 

1. -Sadness of the boy as he learns to deal with death of father  
2. -House falling apart, shows it as his world crumbles
3. -Depressed vibe around, everyone feeling it 
4. -Typical american setting, suburban    

Relationship Between Lyrics And Visuals 

1. -Sadness is a recurring theme between the lyrics and the video, the song sings about being broken while the boy shows that he is.
2. -Relation to the game 'Medal Of Honor' showing what the father did and how he died 
3. -Tells us how the boy feels and shows his reaction 

Relationship Between Music And Visuals 

1. -fast paced throughout, going along with the visuals 
2. -slows down with the visuals, the begging both music and images are slow
3. slow during suicide, fast during end

Close ups of artists and star image mortifs?

1. -close up of the vocalist
2. -The vocalist is the main character, connects the story with the band

Intertextual Refrences

1. -Suicide & Death
2. -Feelings related to it  
3. Inner message, trying to prevent people from suicide as it shows how it affects others
4. Speech from lead vocalist explainging past experiences and hotline

Performance based or concept based?

1. -Both it shows the band playing to the death and the singers reaction so two in one really