Group Roles

William Attwood - Director of Photography/Driver/Clapper Board
Shadia Jempeji - Floor Manager/Hair & Make-Up/Costume/Location
Sam Liddle - Editing/Organise Band(/actors)

PhotoShop

PhotoShop will be used to create the album artwork and magazine advert for the coursework ancillary tasks.

Using the above tools I produced this as part of a PhotoShop taster session. We shot photos on a green screen and removed the background in PhotoShop, and in text boxes highlighted the conventions of a CD back cover: track listings, record label, bar code, side panels and band name.

Green Screen

Green Screens (or blue screens) are commonly used in films and music videos as an aid to special/visual effects. It enables the makers of the product to remove and replace backgrounds, so it makes it looks like the subject is somewhere they are not (eg, space).



Green Screens can also be used in photography (album art work in this instance) for similar reasons.
It can be used to enhance costume, background and mise-en-scene in general. Perhaps used most famously in the Harry Potter films to create the invisibility cloak effect.

There are some rules:
- do not wear green, as then the subject will blend in with the background and be removed with it in post-production
- be aware of shadows (lit from front, back and sides) therefore not destroying the effect
- ensure there is a curve in the material, as there will be a cut off between the floor and background when the green screen is removed through the 'Chroma key' tool.

practical tips for music video filming:
- a multiple camera set up, to cover different angles - helps with continuity as you can have three shots playing over each other in Final Cut editing programme
- a floor manager to control music playback
- film the song all the way through, and ensure cameras are rolling at the same time - easier to edit and avoids have discontinuity between lip syncing and track.

Dolly Zoom/Vertigo effect

The dolly zoom, or Vertigo effect, is an 'in-camera' trick used to create a sense of disorientation and panic (the sensation of falling away from oneself). It is achieved by zooming out and tracking in (or vice versa) simultaneously; the speed should be constant for each variable in order to keep the central focus of the frame unchanged.

It is particularly well known for being used in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' (which gives the trick its name) and Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws'.

Magazine Advertisement Research

Something we decided to do in our ancillary tasks to look at how album artwork and magazine adverts link. For example, Biffy Clyro, an artist in our genre, on their single 'Saturday Superhouse' used the same design for their magazine advertisement and their CD cover. It has a very stripped back and simple image. It also links to some of the imagery created by the lyrics of the song (eg, the crows represent 'darkness')

The advert also includes lots of important details, like the band website, the record label website, the track release date and in what formats the song will be available.
Some adverts include reviews of the album, which make the band sound really exciting and make readers want to buy the album.

Music Label Research

Warner Music Group
est: 1958 - it is the only one of the big four labels with no origins in either the Columbia Phonography Company or Berliner Gramophone.
HQ: New York, USA
divisions: Atlantic, Warner Bros. Records inc., Rhino Entertainment and the Independent Label Group
other signed artists: A-Ha, My Chemical Romance, Pendulum


East West Records
est: 1955 (went into hibernation until 1990)
HQ: USA
parent company: owned by the Warner Music Group but operates under WMG's 'Independent Music Group' lead by Sylvia Rhone. In 2004 the company was absorbed into Atlantic Records, after the demise of it's sister label Elektra Records, only to be revived in 2005 as a label focussing entirely on 'Indie' bands.
other signed artists: AC/DC, Buffalo Tom, Ednaswap


Mushroom Records
est: 1972
HQ: Melbourne, Australia
parent: Bought by Australian division of Warner Bros. in 2005, but became an indepent label again in 2010. Founded by Michael Gudinski.
other signed artists: Gabrilla Cilmi, Kylie Mingoue, Garbage

Album Cover research

The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
Front:
- logo in large letters, dominates the image, know who the artist is
- cartoon links to imagery in music video (costume, marching etc.)
- anarchic font
- colour pallet is the same as the titular music video
Back:
- continuation of theme, cartoon figure is different
- newspaper headline font -> develops Victorian/carnival theme
- Behind the scenes listed: crew - websites - FBI warning
- title of album & artist on the side bars


Screen. Aim. Fire. - Bullet for my Valentine

Front:
- crows, lightning, eye of the storm - forboding
- gothic imagery
- yellow/blue wipe on image
- smoke = mystical
Back:
- continuation of colours and imagery
- inside clock tower



Nothing Personal - All Time Low

Front:
- wall paper
- images relate to song list (woman = 'Stella', cassette = 'Lost in Stereo', wall paper = 'Walls')
- Personal, hand-drawn font
Back:
- plain font & colour
- list of songs
- a few scribbles continue from font cover
- bar code
- record labels

Conventions of Genre

1- bleak colours often black, white and grey to match the bleak/melancholy theme of the music video.
2- audience on screen bands show their audiences in the video to show how popular they are and how successful they are, it also tells the viewers how to react to the music.
3- strobe effects flashing lights or flashes in editing.
4- slow motion to build tension and excitement.
5- 'stripped back'/simple style artists don't tell big stories in their music videos, pick out the theme of the music or portray their inspiration for the song.
6- camera in audience adoring perspective on artists, also make the viewer at home feel like they are in the auditorium with their favourite band.
7- cutaways to help tell story or location.
8- head banging the stereotypical dance move for the young audience in this genre.
9- plain dress sense quite conservative and withdrawn in terms of colour (black), nothing particularly outlandish or lively.
10- quick cuts to create excitement.
11- OTT performance extravagant, almost theatrical, when it comes to performing instruments to make video more visually interesting.

Genre Music Videos

Muse – Undisclosed Desires http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8OOWcsFj0U

Mise-en-Scene	Editing	Cinematography	Performance/Representation
- ‘Underground lair’ atmosphere, sense of being forbidden (links to the titular ‘desires’?) - Silver/grey/white background contrasted with the black/red/blue of the costumes - plays with the conventions of music video-making, showing the glass that frames ‘Matt’s close-up, wide shot’ etc. - electrical cables connects with the genre of music that is playing and theme of video – electric/robotic (man plugs wires into his shoes) - words of song appear on screen to give them emphasis - girl dancing in dirty white trainers, suggests that the purity of white has been corrupted.	- cutaways to dancer, people moving instruments, words appearing on screen - cuts to feet at start, man plugging cable into shoes and woman dancing - black out at the end, finality/cliff hanger?	- slick, stylish - dull white, electrical lighting - tracking, makes the video more interesting, sense of exploring the theme in the video - high tilted angles showing distortion of status - low angles woman dancing creates a more impressive image	- sporadic motion of the female dancer matches with the music – quite confused and constricted motions suggests she is conflicted - costume of the female dancer is dressed in electric cables, connoting she has been kidnapped or restricted. The first shot is of her legs, masculine connotations - costumes of the males are quite conservative, black sun glasses & black leather jackets and t-shirts – don’t show much emotion, just stand and play at their respective instruments

Placebo – Pure Morning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbHkwrGgsoA&feature=related

Mise-en-scene	Editing	Cinematography	Performance/Representation
- grey/black very dull colours, even the yellows/reds of fire engine have been numbed. – bleak - twist on suicide theme, singer starts walking down the building	- slow motion, builds tension - cut away, creates ‘will he/won’t he?’ question in viewers mind. Builds tension. - music and video fade out in unison	- high angle off the building, to show depth – make the audience scared that singer might jump	- stereotypical Goth image: black nail varnish, long black hair and black clothes – commit suicide - performance is very minimal, artist stands blank faced at camera for most of the video. The background actors portray shock and horror at the singer committing suicide.

Bullet for my Valentine – Hand of Blood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZwjTVXP5Dg

Mise-en-scene	Editing	Cinematography	Performance/Representation
- light fades in with music - head banging to drum beat - UV lights; red, white and green strobes - Young audience head banging with the song, shows band is popular and the target audience	- quick cuts	- still camera in few positions: close up, wide, mid and extreme close-up - hand held, emphasises the sense of frenzy in the room	- young audience jumping up and down with the music, club scene - emo image, greasy hair, ripped clothes, tattoos

All Time Low – Lost in Stereo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VH45MMtFWQ

Mise-en-scene	Editing	Cinematography	Performance/Representation
- concert and behind the scenes - vast concert hall filled with thousands of fans, band looks popular - guy driving a golf buggy into geese, cross-dressing, paintballing, speaking on banana phones portraying how ‘funny’ and ‘quirky’ the group is - city	- photo montage at the start showing crowd waiting for band to begin - cutaway photos of city to show the location	- crane shot of audience, shows how large it is - hand held camera in the crowd to make viewer feel like they are in the audience	- attempts to show a typical day back stage at an All Time Low concert. Shows how ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’ the band is.

My Chemical Romance – Black Parade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDWgsQhbaqU

Mise-en-scene	Editing	Cinematography	Performance/Representation
- snowy, bleak dystopia - blood red is the only prominent colour – disturbing - hospital has disturbing connotation, suggestion of madness. Patient looks ill - parade through debris and destruction, theme links with lyrics (‘your memory will carry on’) - pale face on a black & white TV, feeling of 1984 (the book) and rebellion	- black & white - aged effect, makes footage look old - band appears in a circle effect, centre of attention also like an old video - jump cuts (man on float, then off float)	- wide shots of the destruction and of the ‘black parade’ - high angles, suggests the band is singing to some higher power (like in 1984 to the big brother character) - zooms, creates excitement	- quite theatrical (esp. in the hospital by the nurses) - avoids the typical head banging - band plays their respective instruments

Genre Mood Board

The images I have chosen resonate with the 'Alternative Heavy Rock' genre as they encompasses the wide spectrum of the genre. The artists are all well known in their genre and have been very popular artists, setting many trends. There are some typical of the genre - lots of dark colours contrasted with a stark white with an obvious influence from the style of the 60s/70s/80s when this style of music was at its peak.