My wesbite

http://amberhemming.wix.com/nigelband

This is my website for my made-up band, I have only done the front page but added the pages I would have as though it was a real website to have. I wanted to promote the album so therefore I put the album cover as the image but found that it didn't fit the page that's why it's in a tiled effect.

Website Analysis - what it means for my ideas?

After looking at current band websites I can see that they interact with their fans a lot through forums and the ability for them to use social networking sites to keep up to date with what they're doing. I feel that in my website I should create a blog or forum in which I will update with stories to look like it's a genuine website that fans can keep track of where the band is and when. I will create my own merchandise page as this is a definite feature in which makes the band an identity for people to follow. Once I have established a song I will be able to consider the colour scheme for my website as I have also found a running theme throughout the videos, albums and website of bands for example The Black Keys. I think that if there is a running theme throughout the band then this makes them easily recognisable to other people and potential new fans that see their albums or music video and relate them both together. I want to use a unique menu bar instead of the typical text buttons but again until I'm sure about what song I am doing I will put more thought into this aspect.

http://www.theblackkeys.com/turnblue?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F

Band Websites

www.brunomars.com/uk/

The features of Bruno Mars' website is that on the front page as you scroll down the background changes which makes the layout of the overall website look really interesting. There are links to news, tour, music, photo and forum sites for fans and even the links to his social networking sites. This site is very interactive in that fans can scroll through a range of pages and watch his videos as if you click the image shown on the top of the picture it sends you to the youtube video link. The genre isn't signified in the website because it's distorted theme and edgy writing suggests a metal like atmosphere but it's very colourful implying it could have a pop theme.






www.onedirectionmusic.com/gb/home

In a similar way the One Direction website is very interactive for fans targetting their audience of young people because nowadays they like to talk to each other about things in common and with 1D being a very big band they have many fans to support this. There is places for many news articles and it's set out as a pop band would have it being colourful and making everything stand out. They have a 1D Tour Tracker that fans can see where abouts the boys are and also a new page for photos in which there are 15 albums of Fans, the boy individually and when they've been on tour this is good to target their audience as they want to see pictures and keep up to date with the band and where they are.

http://www.youmeatsix.co.uk/

You Me At Six's website is shown straight away as being a rock genre music website because of the black background at the beginning and the limited colours seen on the page. The interaction on the site is good as there are other pages you can visit for news and photos etc I like the fact that the images at the top of the site under YOU ME AT SIX change within a certain amount of seconds which is a good feature to have.

Random Album Cover

To make this random album cover, there were three steps we had to do; firstly, click a link and the name of the wikipedia page became our band name no matter what it was mine was as you can see Nigel, then click another link and whatever the last quotation was was the name of your album "when it's all over" and finally click the last link to take you to flickr and the third most popular picture became your album cover photo and this was the end product.

The reason I chose a larger font size for my band name was to make it stand out, the first thing that would be recognisable to the audience will be the band name as that's what the people buying the albums tend to search for first. I put that in black bold font again to make it stand out, appear to the target audience as I decided due to the image I got the music would be a older generation based song for example folk because it's an image which the older generations would appreciate more and the black font stands out in front of the image. I aligned the text in that way as I felt it looked professional and as the mountain range was shaped that way I thought it would be better suited to the right of the image. I changed the colour of the album name in order to emphasise the name of the album and for it to be distinguished easily from the band name. The album cover as a whole needed slight colour therefore I went for red because it is a typical colour associated with white and black and also still fit the target audience as it wasn't too bright or too dull fitting the genre of the music and age range. 

Digipack

Digipacks is a CD insert in which it has 6 panels and on each panel there's an image/lyrics in which follows the particular theme within the music video and represents the genre throughout. For example; 

• One Direction's digipack creates there identity as being young, fun and having a strong-bonded frienship as they're very close together smiling and looking happy with a direct mode of address towards the audience, bringing them in. Their natural colours throughout the images and smooth font shows the target audience as being young as it sells creativity within their image rather than their music. They have fashionable clothes and in their digipack would show images of the boys so that their target audience (girls) can look through them. 
• The Killers' digipack creates their identity as being mysterious and disjointed symbolising their genre as being indie in which people would immediately connote as being 'different'. The fact they're on the back of the digipack rather than the front reflects the stereotype that this music has the connotation of unhappy feelings etc. The target audience from the digipack appears predominately male as there is a woman on the front which appears to be the main focal point and there isn't much direct mode of address. 
• Finally, Katy Perry's digipack connotes the girly stereotype as she is wearing pink and the font at the top creates this image too. The background however contrasts this feeling as it's very dull suggesting she wants the audience to feel as though there's more to her than we already think. She uses her gender to create a wider target audience and she knows this is occuringtrying to brand herself as something different, this is so boys and girls like her music therefore reaching more people making more sales. It could appears she has two personalities being bright/dull or that she's hiding something behind her girly front, the title 'one of the boys' suggests the post-feminsist feel rather than branding herself as a girl intended audience.

Music Videos Ideas 2

Over the weekend I have been watching music channel and have found three videos in which I could take influence from the first is;

Miles Kane's "Rearrange" video I think is good in that he has different coloured backgrounds for each cut also even though he plays the guitar himself he does have other members of the band and sometimes each individual person is on their own in a take. I feel that this could be a good way to make a music video as each member could have a slot in that they're playing on their own say in a guitar/drums solo or just throughout the video so that the audience can see the members themselves.




Another music video I could take inspiration from is Twin Atlantic's "Brothers and Sisters" this is because they have a storyline with lip syncing still involved alongside a take of themselves in a warehouse/setting playing the song. The speed matches the cuts and how the members of the group change their energy within the song which is a good thing to learn from as this is what I need to do when I make my video.




Even though this is a relatively new video I feel that this could be another good video to use because it highlights the range of different genres within one video. Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" video shows many genres but each has there own costume/makeup/props and dance routine. This could take me a long time to do but in the end could finalise to be a good product.

Sam Smith analysis

In this video the location matches the lyrics of the song as he wakes up in a girls house in which he met the night before, I think in my video I will try and build my locations around the resources I have put once I've picked the song this will become easier to decide. Again the costume is fashionable and reliant on the performers genre but in my opinion he is dressed more dull than usual because it's more of an emotional song to the vamps one I previously analysed which means for my production my costume will also match the mood of the song. I think the way in which their are a lot of close-ups in this video makes the tone seem more emotional as they're picking out his facial expressions, this means for my video I will try and incorporate this effect to make sure the audience can engage into what the artist is trying to pursue. This artist is feature throughout the video and I think for my video I will stick to the main performers rather than separately making another narrative as it will be easier for the audience to recognise who is the artist etc as I want to be professional and create an identity as such for my performer.

The Vamps Analysis

From this analysis I have found that the typical location conventions for boyband are places like beaches and parks in that we would find teenagers hanging out these days. However, only if I was using all boys as my performers would I be able to use this in my production as I don't think in a girl group they usually find themselves on beaches. The video is very fun and energetic matching the song and the use of props emphasises the fact they're in the band when we see them playing together on the beach. I think that in my video I will definitely have the singer/band playing in a specific set places e.g dance studio or empty hall to show that they are more professional and seem more real. The costume and makeup is important in my production as I've found from this analysis that the genre conventions fulfill the outfits they wear, in my production I will ensure that I plan the outfits of my performers to match the genre and if I use girls in my video I will make sure I also plan their makeup according to what I'm doing. The equipment I need will be based around what location and what I decide my narrative if I have one is about, I want to focus upon the lead singer so I will definitely have a static camera at the front of the set capturing their singing, but also other cameras set out around the set to look at minor details like other facial expressions and people playing the intruments. The number of shots required will be based around how I plan my video but I know that I will need many in order to have enough video to edit, as I can see from this video there are different locations and a side narrative therefore a lot of shots would have been performed. If I have a band I will have at least 4 members as I think if I just had one singer they would find it difficult to act on their own. I will attempt to find a real band so that it looks more realistic to the audience if the performers can play the intruments in time with the song, but they don't have to sing as miming might be a better way of doing it.

What does this media for my ideas?

From my research I have found that most videos follow the rules of Andrew Goodwin and these videos make a better identity for the artist as many concepts are involved. I feel that for an audience to be engaged in your own video you will need to put your band in the video so they become more known to people watching, as for example in the Clean Bandit -Rather Be video they aren't involved once in the narrative of the song and don't feature therefore people won't recognise them on TV if they appeared but will recognise their music this could be due to the fact they're considered mainstream and are played on radio stations and featured on TV more than an indie band.

In contrast a video like Arctic Monkeys - One For The Road features the whole band, this could be because they're considered an indie band and need people to recognise them, they have recently got bigger in terms of fan base so could be moving towards the mainstream side of the industry but they used to be indie and from my perspective still considered this. In this video they also use signs of visual and lyric relationships which sometimes can't be found in most videos because they re-brand their video completely differently, in my video I am going to try and use this relationship in order to make it easier for myself to come up with ideas. They also cut the shots on the beat of the song in the opening shots which I think is a good effect to have and draws the audience in which I want to try and re-create in my video. However, this video is in black and white and I want a colour video as I think it's more appealing on the eye but due to the tone and low-pitched tone I think the black and white colour scheme suits this song.

Videos from previous post

Andrew Godwin Music Video theory

Andrew Godwin's music video theory included six steps to attract an audience to your own music video and how to make it appealing. Firstly, demonstrating genre characteristics in your video bands like Royal Blood their music videos represent their music, a you can see in this screen grab there is a story going on with the band on the same shot in the foreground. This gives a disjointed view to the people watching but again signifies their music because it's very rock-like and therefore the audience will typically be teenagers who like to wear dark clothing and are very into their music rather than in contrast another band like One Direction who care a lot about appearance. As you can see in this video Royal Blood have a dark theme throughout, most of their videos are set like to portray a running theme and keep the audience into their music. The video below is Figure It Out, this video contains scenes of blood in which emphasises their target audience as being older because it's more of a violent nature yet if it was again using One Direction this wouldn't be found in their videos as it's more of a fun/happy lifestyle. 



Secondly, he says there should be a relationship between music and visuals, this isn't always apparent in music videos and isn't there to promote the band they're just there to highlight the narrative story, in pop videos this is very popular as it could be the "cheesy" thing to do in love songs where a girl meets boy etc and wouldn't usually be that popular in rock/indie videos as they like being different and sometimes have a totally random video which has nothing to do with the narrative of the song lyrics. For example, in the music video for MAGIC! - Rude the narrative is about marrying a girl throughout we can see two people in love but the lyrics also do match the visuals as in this picture he sings "jumped in my car" and there is an image of the men getting in a car. At the end of the video the girl and boy pretend to get married and therefore closes the song so the narrative has built-up to the ending.

Thirdly, the tone and atmosphere of the music appears in the visuals by the speed of the cuts and what actually happens in the video. An example of this is Kasabian - Bumblebeee the start of the song is very aggressive and fast paced therefore the visuals appear people getting crushed at a gig and jumping around (as you can see from the picture) having cutaways back to the band with the editing pace very fast to make the audience feel the song. Yet the song suddenly gets slower and this is where the shot duration becomes longer and the shot is just of the band very small in a lot of space which in constrast is very different from the previous scenes where everyone was close together. This represents the tone and makes the audience more drawn into the video, aswell the band are wearing white which is a more softer feel which represents the slower paced music yet the audience in the video are in dull clothing again represeting the atmosphere and creating a visual itself.

Another point he makes is the demand from the record label they want to make an image from the artist therefore they want a lot of close-ups of the artist and if they're trying to promote a certain "look" for themselves for example R&B singers want to try and create the image that they're violent/agressive to promote the street-like image to their audience in which they themselves want to recreate. In this video Eminem - Lose Yourself, he wears his hood-up which is a common thing to do in this genre of music he also shows scenes of violence which he isn't promoting but he wants to fulfill the "gangster" like image to his audience. The serious facial expressions also connote his agressive side and that he wants to be taken seriously, we see this throughout all videos of R&B singers/rappers.

In addition, the voyeuristic treatment of the female body is clear in many music videos the "male-gaze" attracts a wider audience for example in Nicki Minaj's videos she is known to flaunt her body especially in her new "anaconda" video, in my personal opinion I don't think it's suitable for younger children as she is wearing little clothing in most scenes therefore would hopefully think she has targetted this to an older audience. She again presents women in a sexual manner of which sometimes isn't neccesary just to promote her song, even the album cover is of her just wear a bikini.

Finally, there is often intertextual referencing in videos such as tv/films/other music videos. Blink-182 did a music video in which they took the mic out of "boybands" as they're from the rock genre, they did numerous costume changes and choreographed dance routine in order to change their usual music videos to something expect by a boyband in that era.

How these six steps will be incorporated into my work is that firstly, genre characteristics I will make sure that the clothes and the way in which my video is presented though props and lighting will describe and emphasise my genre well in my video and will suit my target audience. Before deciding upon what I will do for my video once I've picked my song I need to do audience research to ensure that I will attract these people and I'm not going off on the wrong track. Secondly, the music visuals relationship will be important to me because as a new comer to making a music video it could help me in deciding what my storyline or my set design could include. Things like songs about love singing a line about buying presents could show someone buying a present for someone else therefore I could use this to my advantage and not having to make a lot of hard work for myself by having to create an off topic video. Thirdly, the tone and atmosphere of the music I choose will replicate the cutting speed and also how fast the actors in the frame dance etc. I want to ensure that the pace isn't too quick for the music because it will become disjointed and effect the continuity of the song and maybe create a sense of uncertainty about the video. Fourthly, close-ups will be important in my video as the audience want to see the singers in the video so they feel as though they can interact with them and using close-ups is also better to show emotion and the singing in the frame as a whole in which I find a good thing to use. In addition the female body is used to attract a wider audience yet I don't think that would be appropriate for my music video as I don't want to sexualise my actors to make my video seem more appealing. Finally, inter-textual referencing could be taken from films which could be my inspiration for my video but I want to create my own identity so I'm not sure whether I will use this in my video.

Music Video ideas

Transitions between scenes
I thought that the start of this video where the transition between one scene and another looks good and I may want to use this. It's a unique effect to put into a music video and as my ideas build-up I may want to have different genres after each transition but I don't yet know what my genre of music is going to be. I don't think my transition will be this fast-paced in my music video because I want a longer section in between and instead of using transitions like this just at the start and quickly I am thinking this may be how I'm going to cut between shots throughout the whole of my video as it's a different take on things and could go well if I wanted to do a story as well as a band but I will need to elaborate on my ideas before I decide on using this. I would need to do some test shots in order to see if this was possible for me to do, as I don't wan to put this in my storyboard if I can't do this in my final product and hen have to change all my plan to accommodate a new idea.

Editing Skills Development

Editing is important as if the song has a particular beat sometimes cutting on the beat makes the video look better and have a particular emphasis on the shots. Editing in time is therefore significant as if it's not in time with the music it could become distant from the song/lyrics and won't fit with what you're trying to achieve. The editing should be done beforehand and then the minor details and special effects (if needed) after this is so your editing is perfected to how you want it before you start adding more things in. This is a video I edited using pre-recorded shots and a soundtrack shortened to 20 seconds, I aimed to cut on the beat and slow the shots down when the music was slower to help the audience grasp the concept. I feel as though what I wanted to achieve with the cutting of the shots was good but some of them weren't done particularly well and sometimes the shots were too slow for the song and therefore appeared to the audience as distorted. I think I did well in that the solo dancing of the monkey break dancing slowed down where the music changed near the beginning and this was a good affect to use. I have learnt a lot from doing this exercise and even though I only had 15 minutes to do this I feel I've learnt that time management is key in the editing of the music video too. It is going to take a lot of my time picking the correct shots I want to show and where I want to place them therefore will need to design a thorough storyboard to help with my planning.

Our Group

I'm Amber Hemming and this is Lily Hewes, this is our group for A2 Media!

We now have a new member Dom Brown!

Let Me Entertain You

In the music workshop we re-created this music video:


 


I learnt a lot about music video production by doing this workshop, firstly we made sure everyone had the correct costume and make-up on. We set up the lighting and cameras around the set we would be filming on, having props such as guitars, drums and a microphone to make it look realistic. There were four cameras; a main camera capturing the "Robbie character's" facial expressions and the band as a whole, another camera which was fixed focusing on the small detail such as zooming in on people playing the guitar etc, another was on a fig rig in which the person operating could get in closer and capture the build-up and move around to the speed of the music, and finally the last camera was operated by someone who was being pushed on a chair who could also move to the speed of the music.

I learnt that there needs to be several takes in a video production in order to get enough video to have enough for editing and enough cuts to different people in the band to make it a good video. As the director you need to get all the performers up for the performance and ensure they know the words to the song unless the lip syncing won't work. The song is synced with beeps at the start and it must be played on the set so the performer can hear it being played and know the speed and when to come into each verse or chorus. Planning and time management for this production will be essential as I need to get all the performers at the correct location with the right costume/props and film within a few days. A storyboard of the video I am making will help me in creating the best music video I can because I need to plan each shot to corrolate with the music tone/atmosphere, maybe think about doing a genre of music that isn't typically what I listen to will help and not a song that is familiar because then I can have my own take on the video and that will help boost my marks.

Music Videos

The chief examiner came in to talk to us about how we could achieve good marks in our A2 Coursework, I learned a lot from his tops tips and will be taking his advice in order to build my marks up towards my final grade. 

 

Firstly, he started with planning and how it's essential for the performers to know the words perfectly in order to reach the top boundary for the music video marks. The organisation of costume and location is also vital because to fit a specific genre of music it will have to match what the performers are wearing. I am thinking about using a storyboard to plan my video through thoroughly he gave us a template in which had 30 second intervals to plan every little detail. 

 

We have done some skills development in our A2 Fortnight and will be using this week to carry on practicing editing and filming as this will improve our knowledge for the equipment and software we will be using for the development of our coursework. In the shoot the examiner told us to shoot the performance at least ten times with different set-ups with plenty of cutaways experimenting with extra angles and lighting changes. 

 

Uploading rough cuts is good for the moderator to see the progress made in decision making and how you've got to the end from where you had started. Effects should be left until the end after all the editing has been finished. 

 

Avoiding a really famous song or artist will reduce the temptation to wanting to copy there video, ensuring you put your own take on it, think about a sub-genre and a strong visual aiming for 3 minutes or just under. 

Our blogs must produce the sequence of the journey that our work has made, consisting of research and planning with all three products not just focusing upon the music video. To start our blog it is a good idea to use real music videos in which we have got inspiration from for our work especially of the genre we are working in. Even using visuals such as TV and adverts or films using the "steal-o-matic effect. Again when creating the album covers and website we should look at existing band creation and embed them into our blog to show the designs we're getting influence from.

In the filming workshop with Jake I learnt about:

• Camera setup; we used five different camera setups in our workshop but in our music video two should be enough, we should set them up where we feel would get the best shots. One camera set up facing the band/lead singer face on in order to catch all the performance grasping the emotions but then another that focuses upon the smaller detail for example the guitar movements or the drums.
• Playing the track; the track must be played whilst the performance is taking place, this is so the music can match up to the lip syncing and by adding beeps to the start of the track this will help it match up perfectly.
• Number of takes; the minimum number of takes should be around 10, this is so we can get a lot of video and having too much and editing it is better than not having enough.
• Costume; the costume should have had a lot of planning and should represent the genre being performed.
• Performance; the performance should look professional and as the directors we need to get our performers putting as much effort in as possible for our work to look good.  

Holiday Homework

I have learnt that to make a music video you need to take numerous takes in order to get enough video to edit, taking into consideration time management this needs to be good because it’s going to take a long time to do all these shots all the way through. The amount of shots also needs to be a lot because of the fact more shots of good quality will get me a higher grade; also my performers need to have practiced the song thoroughly to know the words so the lip syncing fits to the song in time. I need to plan my costume according to the genre I’m doing as this will also account for my marks and make the video look more professional in that I take in consideration and influences from music videos of that genre in order for it to look good, props like microphones, guitars etc. will be a good set for the video in which I could cut from if I want to make a storyline beside it.

Whilst I was making my music videos I learnt how to use the fig rig and how to position people in the frame in order to get a good shot. It’s better if the main focal point, which is probably the lead singer, to be in the centre of the frame as they’re what the audience will be looking at as they’re the ones who are singing the song. The impact of these skills that will have on my A2 work is that now I can successful design a suitable setting for my video because I have been given some ideas from this workshop. I understand more clearly about the importance of lighting and what affects it will have upon the feeling and mood of my video which should replicate the genre clearly. The fact I have learnt about camera positioning and using the different cameras to take different angled shots means that I can incorporate this into my video so that I can acquire more marks for my coursework, if I just stayed at one angle at a certain distance the video would be boring and the audience wouldn't be engaged as much as if the music fit with the particular camera shots. 

Ideas for my A2 Work are that I want to create a video with numerous cutaways to a different location so that it creates a narrative alongside a setting atmosphere. I want to emphasise the genre as much as possible so I feel that I should use suitable props and well planned outfits in order to grasp this aspect as soon as the audience watch the video. I want to make sure that my actors are enthusiastic about doing this because then they will put a lo of energy into it whereas with my skills development work the people that did it were too embarrassed. I also know now to create one long take of the video instead of just acting out the shots I want as it will let me have enough video footage to edit and it doesn't appear jumpy. 

Skills Development

These videos are what my group re-created in A2 Fortnight for our skills development. I have embedded the originals below to show you what they looked like. In my next post I will evaluate the positive and negative aspects of my videos and what I learnt during skills development on software and hardware.