The wombats album artwork

When analysing The Wombats album artwork, we see something different in comparison to those already analysed. Firstly, it is evident to see contrasts in the typography. The type face is similarly in a sans-serif font, being capitalised however, this small in comparison to the overall text to image ratio. Again, this has been aligned central as the name of both the album and the band are the most important pieces of information on the album. The typography further illustrates the name of the album, 'The Modern Glitch' as a sans-serif font can be considered both informal and contemporary. Likewise, to the albums by Indie Pop band, Scouting For Girls, a natural landscape has been included within the artwork as a backdrop. The central arrangement however, has a concept-based feeling. Here, a group of people are seen to be holding images in front of their faces, identifiably picturing a lounging seat but then an unknown object above. I feel that this has no relevance to the band or indeed, the Indie Pop genre however, this could relate to the modernity of the album, suggesting that society are covering their true identities.

Another album by The Wombats is called, 'A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation'. The album artwork,  opposes that of the above however, still applies visuals of a concept-based nature. Nevertheless the audience may be able to relate to what is pictured on the front of the album, interlinking with the everyday appearance of the band. The artwork for this, follows the rule of three composition with the cover being split into three horizontally. When looking more closely at the items on display, you are able to see various labels saying 'POP'. This therefore links to the genre of the bands music, as The Wombats are Indie Pop artists. The typography of 'The Wombats' has however stayed consistent between albums, acting as a known attribute of The Wombats. The typography additionally adds a sense of synthetic personalisation to the album cover as the text looks almost handwritten.

Bastille album artwork analysis

 

 When looking at the EP album cover for Bastilles, Bad Blood, a girl is seen to be in the sea. This is an image from the bands music video, something commonly seen on all of the EP covers. When considering the composition of the artwork, the rule of thirds, puts the head of the young girl in the top tiering central third. This is purposely done to draw attention to the girl, posing an usual scenerio to the audience. From a horizontal perspective, the bands name is posed central on the album cover in a large, bold, capitalised font. The font is further in a sans-serif type, likewise to the typography on the ablum covers by Scouting For Girls. Aligning the font central allows the audience to instantly reconigise the artist of the track, displaying the most important information in paramount position. The triangular symbol, representing the A in Bastille lets the audience further identify the band, acting as a logo to the bands name. The positioning of the text additionally draws the attention of the audience, making their eye track different paths of the typography, looking over the totality of the album cover. Finally, the typography is white in colour, acting as a contrast to the artwork, allowing the text to distinctly stand out as it has been superimposed onto the image face. Next, I will be analysing the EP cover Laura Palmer. There is much consistency in the apperance of the EP artwork by the band Bastille. Again, a shot from the bands music video has been used as the cover to the single. This shows a concept-based relationship between lyrics and visuals as a male figure is seen on a quad bike, wearing a money mask. Similarly, the typography is composed in the same manner, being capitalised and in the same type face. This shows consistency of the bands image, giving the band a persistant market selling point. Having the trianglular symbol further, applies to the Indie Pop genre by creating associations with the modern day, hipster youth culture. Moreover, this may attract the hipster subculture to listen to the music of Bastille therefore, making them more popular with the music industry. This links with the connotations of the Indie Pop genre having a do it yourself attitude, by simply taking a shot from their videos and superimposing text onto the top of the artwork. This may be an influence for our own album artwork, as this is a simple and effective way to create connections between existing visuals connotated by the band.

Scouting For Girls album artwork

 

Here, I will be analysing the album artwork of an Indie Pop band, Scouting For Girls. The artwork uses the rule of three composition, having the mountainousness landscape and typography in the top third, followed by the male figures in the middle third, to which I presume to be the band members, and the walkway in the bottom third. Having the figurative images in the centre of the artwork, helps attract the eye of the audience to the main image upon the cover. Superimposition has additionally been used to superimpose the walkway and figures onto a photographed background. This is noticeable, with a base of black and white, almost acting as sketched images. I feel this imagery has been used in order to portray the light-hearted atmosphere of the Indie Pop genre, along with the sense of community it provides with other individuals. When considering the typography, this is seen to be set central in a large sans-serif font. The use of a sans-serif font represents a modern text in contrast to the formality of the serif font, which is used in mediated items such as newspapers. The size of the text further establishes the bands name, making it easy to distinguish whom the album is by, with the colour white having been chosen as a contrasting colour to the background of the artwork enabling the typography to stand out.
Next, when looking at the back of the album, you are able to see that the landscaped imagery has consistently carried through. However, this time if you were looking at the rule of three from a vertical perspective, you are able to see that the bar code and young boy are set in the right third, and the main text of the song titles in the centre third. Again, this has been done to set emphasis on the most important part, upon the back of the album. Likewise to the front, the typography has remained co`nsistent, considering both the colour and font type.

Here, I will be looking at another album by the band, Scouting For Girls, The Light Between Us. Likewise to the above album, the artwork is simplistic, with the dominant image in the central third of the cover. With this album, there is a bold relationship between the title and the artwork. Again, the typography is in a sans-serif font, due to this font being more modern, with its more regular appearance on magagine covers. This font has been capitalised, aligining central, in a dark opposing font so that the typography makes a clear statement on the album cover. Corresponding to the Greatest Hits album, primary colours have predomintely been used as well as naturally occuring images, such as sunlight and seas in order to show the do it yourself attitude of the Indie Pop genre.

Moral Panic: Horse Meat Scandal

Irish food inspectors announced in mid-January that they had found horse meat in frozen beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK, and sold by a number of supermarket chains across the UK including, Tesco, Iceland, Aldi and Lidl.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279385/The-unpalatable-truth-The-horsemeat-scandal-brutal-warning-Britain-MUST-change-ways.html

The Horse meat scandal was regarded as a moral panic (Stan Cohen 1973). The media exaggerated the danger of consuming horse meat, with the risk of dangerous substances entering the human food chain through unregulated meat. However, the only drug to be identified was the veterinary drug, 'bute' which was found in less than 4% of horse meat samples.

When looking at articles encompassing the subject of the horse meat scandal, newspaper headlines are seen to be generally bias.  The media usually exaggerate the extent of news headlines in order to sell, or gain the publics attention.


When looking at the horse meat scandal, from the Food Standards Agency, a different message is put across to the audience however, this is still seen to be a bias interpretation of the scandal. As seen in many media sources, the newsreporter or business representer are usually white, middle-aged men. This presents a trustworthy and professional image to the audience, suggesting that the information being presented is an accurate source. The FSA interviewer states that they are 'not advising anyone to stop eating ready meals or products indeed, with beef in them'. This presents a highly contrasted view from the Daily Mail whom, said there was a 'risk of dangerous substances entering the human food chain'. This shows how the media are biased, depending on their side of the news headlines. Within the interview it is further claimed that 'we have two products that we have identified as being contaiminated'. Again, this information being projected to the audience could be inaccurate, enabling supermarkets to continue making sales of these 'contaminated' products. This opposes information from the BBC, confirming that 17 products had been found to be contaminated.

Fan profile

Audience Research

To collect audience research results, I created a survey on Survey Monkey and posted it onto an online forum. For this, I created an account for the 'The Feeling Offical Forum' where I posted up my survey for a fan group of the Indie Pop band, 'Scouting For Girls'. Here I designed a survey, compiling an image of a 'typical' Indie pop band fan.

From my results, responses were evenly collected from both genders. Most of the results were collected from our age targeted audience, this being 16-20 year olds. However, some responses were also collected from the age category of 21-25, but to a lesser extent. 

The next question again, was quantitive. This was a rather broad question asking; 'what music genres do you enjoy?'. From the results, a wide selection of music genres were selected however, these were as I expected, having no 'typical' Indie pop fan enjoy completely opposing genres such as; Blues, Classical, Country or Jazz.

Since the costume of our 'typical' Indie pop fan has been profiled, determined by the clothes worn by Indie Pop musicians, a question was asked; 'what is your typical dress?' to see whether our underpinning assumptions were correct. From our results we were able to see that we were correct, having the majority of fans wear denim or any other type of shirt, followed by patterned tops likewise to musicians such as Bastille and Scouting For Girls. 

From research, it was said that Indie Pop fans enjoy going to music festivals. Again, we wanted to see if the stereotypical assumption was right in accordance to our own audience. 'How often do you go to music festivals?' received a split in results. The majority, 67% said that they went to music festivals a couple of times a month. This is typically what we expected to see however, the remaining 33% said that they only went once a year. Therefore, this splits the Indie Pop audience, suggesting that it cannot be assumed that the 'typical' fan regularly goes to music festivals. 

The next question asked was a qualitive question, where the audience had to reply in their own words.  It is assumed that the 'typical' fan enjoys their music and socialising with likewise groups of individuals. From our results, most of the people asked would fit into this stereotypical assumption, with most results including the words; 'music', 'partying' and 'mates'.

For our music video, a narrative structure was chosen due to our audience preferring this over a performance or concept-based music video. 100% of our individuals agreed with each other that this is what they would like to see therefore, for the successfulness of our music video we went with our audiences preference.

The next question, again was related to decisions reguarding our music video. The question asked related to the colour of our shots. The choice given was colour, monochrome or a mixture of the two. The results revealed that our audience prefer both colour and monochromatic productions. This is therefore applied in our music video, distinguishing colour between the past and present tense.

 Following, we were curious whether our audience wanted to see the band in their music video. From analysing a variety of Indie Pop music videos, it was evident that there wasn't a theme for whether to include the artist or not. Our audience were split on opinions however, the majority of votes concluded that the artist wasn't necessarily needed in our music video.

Finally, when considering a topic for our music video, we didnt know whether it would best be related to individuals or contradictory to their lives. Therefore we asked; 'Would you prefer the subject in a music video to be relevant to you?' Along with the answer no, we offered the choice of preferring the music video to relate to society. From our results it was noticeable that our audience wanted a realistic storyline however, this was to be related to society. Hence, we chose a storyline consisting of alcohol and drug abuse, something which is hidden, but at the same time still happening unknowingly in society.

Human Traffic

1. How can Human Traffic be considered a social realist film?
Human Traffic could be segregated into the genre of social realist, due to the exploration of themes of 'coming age' suggesting that ideas throughout the film reflected and focused on what was happening in society over the time period. This is broken through the use of fantasies and looking into the camera, as well as alcohol and drug abuse, dialect and fashion contributions. This therefore, pushes the boundaries allowing the experience of real Britons to be put on the screen. For instance, typical youth representations of individuals feeling like they have to fit into society. This is shown in Human Traffic and also Quadrophenia, in the sense of music division.

2. How does the youth culture depicted resist or subvert mainstream society?
Cultural hegemony is present in Human Traffic. This witnesses the domination of a culturally diverse society by the upper or ruling class whom, manipulate the culture of society via beliefs, perceptions and values. Therefore, youths are seen to be subverting society with their alcohol and drug consumption. Furthermore, this is also shown through the 'living for the weekend' attitude, suggesting that youths dismiss the value of work.

3. What values or morals are present in the film?
It could be said that the youth have no morals in the film due to their 'live for the weekend' attitude. This however, may submerge moral panic with the elder generation as there may be concern that the behaviour of youths is likely to have a negative effect on society. This is shown by a positive drug value in all of the youths lives. This heavily contrasts with the overall perception of drugs from the adults view, as within a serious interview, Nina and Lulu are seen to be taking fun out of the seriousness of drug-taking. Human Traffic further suggests family values. This can be seen for example, when Moff is sitting down to a Sunday lunch with his family, representing that of a christian ritual. Additionally, this is seen within the same scene with the discussion of drugs, showing the morals of the family. It is also evidnetial that music may be a value, as the youth culture is divided depending on their music taste. Hence, this creates links with the film Quadrophenia, as the Mods and Rockers conflict over their musical personalities.

4. How can you consider the film to be British?
Apart from the location, the characters are being based on stereotypical British youths who are trying to escape their pointless lives in order to live for their drug-fuelled weekends. For example, with Nina not being able to get a place in college, this allows us as the audience to see her uneducated remarks about the course that she once hoped to do. Now she has a job which she doesn't enjoy, giving us a view of the youth culture as being unable to pursuit a higher career. Additionally, with the excessive alcohol and drug consumption of youths, this may portray youths as anti-social to the elder generations, such as parents.

5. Analyse one scene from the film


Here, I will be analysing the 'Look at your eyes' scene. Firstly I will be commenting on the camera angles, sound, and mise en scene of the clip.
When looking at the shots used in this scene, the majority consists of a mid shot with an interchangable close-up shot when nearing the end of the sequence. Additonally, these are all low angle shots, with the audience looking up at the two characters. This could represent youths perceptions of thinking that they know everything hence, having the camera look up in order to suggest power. This I feel gives the audience a sense of closeness with the characters within the scene, also directly looking into the camera so a relationship is established with the audience. On the other hand, the closeness of the camera could represent the intimacy of the characters friendship. Hence, this could link to youth representations, as youths send more times with their friends than their own family members.

The mise en scene of the scene comprises of two young men, sitting side by side, looking down into a mirrored table. Within, one of the young lads is seen to be smoking and the other creating a line of a white powered drug. This immediatey beings in the theory of cultural hegemony, creating a negative stereotype of youths in society. The use of drugs could also represent rebellion in society, due to their legal status. Furthermore, both the characters are seen to be chewing gum, something which may be looked upon as unprofessional in the business world.

Next, all the sound in the scene is diegetic, meaning that it is naturally occurring. This is present in the form of speech, a rolling pen, the taping of a card on the surface and house music, occuring faintly in the background. From this, elders may perceive the youth as anti-social due to their heavy use of tabhoo language. From their dialect it is moreover evident that youths have negative views on society with the suggestion of putting an unsane figure into parliament therefore, devalueing the efforts of the past and present governments. This could additionally label the youths as unintelligible.

Drugs laws driven by "moral panic"

• Most drug users harm neither themselves nor those around them
• Treated as a health issue
• It is driven more by 'moral panic' than by the practical desire to reduce harm
• ABC classification - drug users pay no attention to it
• People who used illegal drugs did not harm themselves or cause anyone else any trouble however, they are breaking the law by possessing drugs
• Drugs education should be moved to primary schools

The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971

• Prevents the non-medical use of certain drugs
• Drugs subject to this Act are known as 'controlled' drugs
• The Act prohibits unlawful possession
• Police have special powers to stop, detain and search people

 Offences under the Act:

• possession
• supply
• production, cultivation or manufacture
• import or export
• allowig premises for consumption or supply

Post humanism

• Moving beyond the limitations of a human
• Every human has these qualities
• Humans are never critical of their physical and mental limitations
• Human beings can alter their mental and physical state to become another being entirely

Ecstasy

• Class A drug
• Energy buzz
• Sounds and colours are more intense
• Feelings of great love - not a drug that makes people violent 
• Makes people feel chatty
• Psychological dependence
• Damage to the brain
• Linked to liver, kidney and heart problems
• 200 ecstasy related deaths in the UK since 1996

Media and Collective identity Notes

'Identity is comlicated. Everyone thinks they're got one' - Gauntlett 2007
...Magazines and talk show hosts urge is to explore our 'identity'. Religions and national identities are at the heart of our major international conflicts. Artists play with the idea of 'identity' in modern society. Blockbuster movie superheros have emotional conflicts about their 'true' identity. And the average teenager can create three online 'identities' before breakfast...Thinking about self identity and individuality can cause some anxiety - at least in cultures where individuals are encouraged to value heir personal uniqueness. Each of us would like to think - to some extent - that we have special, personal qualitites, which make us distinctive and valuable to other people in our lives (or potential future). But does this mean anything? is individuality just an illusion? Maybe we all are incredibly similar, but programmed to value miniuscule bits of differentation.

'A focus on identity requires us to pay close attention to the diverse ways in which media and technologies are used in everyday life, and the consequences both for individuals and for social groups' - Buckingham 2008

Behaviourism and Media Effects
- audience models

Effects Model
- audience duped and doped
- Hypnotised

Gratifications Model
- texts used to gratify needs and interests
- read, adjust, subvert other texts
- read in a way not intended by interpretting

Effects studies objectives
Social, Moral and Political objective
- To measure the power of media technologies to affect how individuals think, feel and act
Commercial objective
- To measure the effectiveness of advertising and publicity campaigns

Cumberbatch & Howitt - 1989
'The history of mass communications research is conspicuously lacking in any clear evidence on the precise influence of the mass media'

• Effects debate issue received in the 1990s (Barker and Petley, 2001)
• This relates to Human Traffic as individuals were influenced to take Heroin from watching the film, 'Train Spotting'

Laswell's chain of Communication - Harold Laswell, 1971

- Communication can be dissected into 5 processes:

Who - Control analysis
Says what - Content analyisis
In which channel - Media analysis
To whom - Audience analysis
To what effect - Effect analysis

Total conductance
- At every stage, information can be misunderstood or altered. This is like Chinese whispers, and is called 'Modified conductance' or 'No conductance'

Propaganda 
Propaganda is only effective if it can tap into the meanest as well as the keenest of intelligence. This must tap into latent public opinion within the society it aims to influence

Violent media - Wertham, 1955
'The quantity of violence in the media is stupendous'

• analysed crime comics and television
• children shown images and asked to interpret them
• children also asked to finish stories

Tests where deemed crude and artificial (Gauntlett, 2005)

1. Passivity - comics and TV makes children passive

2. Misconceptions - TV teaches children unhealthy values

3. Imitation - children copy what they see on TV

4. Identification - children see themselves as the strong character, even if this is the villain

5. Desensitisation - the high volume of violence desensitises children 

Warshaw - 1957

'To blame comic books...is simple minded'

Band Profile

'Follow Me' was the first song from the band, You Are The Empire. This tells a story of how nightmares are devious and negative, feeling as though they are being personified in everyday life. This song therefore, inspires individuals to pick their head and go searching for their nightmares, despite the consequences so that misery isn't forever lingering.


'Take A Seat' is another song by the band. Through the lyrics of the song, the band is expressing the emotions felt by an individual when they're in an unstoppable state of mind, telling a story out loud without dwelling on it or living in the past.

London Riots 2011

When looking at the Sky News report on the London Riots, an interview is taking place with some teenage gang members whom were involved in the riots. This immediately strikes me as being biased, as the only people being interviewed are those whom set out to steal. Hence, these four individuals are structuring societies viewpoint on the London riots, suggesting that everyone protesting, inevitably ended up causing mass destruction. It should also be noted that the news reporter is a white, middle class male, contrasting against the appearance of the rioters. This therefore represents the presenter as the knowledgeable individual, suggesting that what he is reporting is the correct information due to complete contrasts in appearance.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/dec/05/anger-police-fuelled-riots-study
This article from 'The Guardian', what would be considered to be a reliable source, is just as biased. For instance, the article states that 'the Guardian and The London School of Economics interviewed 270 people who rioted in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham, Manchester and Salford'. Although sources where taken from a variety of locations, having only interviewed rioters again, only gives one perspective of the events, suggesting that all the locals were involved in the violence. From the 270 interviewed, the 'typical' stereotyped rioter was labelled. This suggested that the majority of the rioters were young and male, either students or unemployed. Additionally, half of the interviewers were black, with 73% having been stopped by the police in the last 12 months however, these individual didn't class these as 'race riots'. This fits society's stereotypical perception of a criminal. Also when interviewed, rioters confirmed they rioted due to 'opportunism' suggesting a lack of voice, in power and wealth. Hence, it could be said that the riots are down to inequality of income in society.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/12/london-riots-2011-alf-biber-tottenham_n_1144040.html
Originally found on Twitter,from the Huffington Post, 'London Riots 2011: Victims Face A Difficult Christmas And An Uncertain Future'. The choice of the word 'victim' is incredibly strong, suggesting the riots resulted in severe effects for the locals. The use of the word, parallels with stories such as the Glasgow Helicopter Crash and the Philippines Typhoon, where innocent civilians lost their lives. Further, 'An Uncertain Future' suggests that the London riots had a permanent effect on the livelihood of the locals however in reality, locals were only affected in the short term with the loss of businesses. When reading the article, the writer has included irrelevant information in order for the public to feel sympathetic for the 'victim' these include lines as such; 'His wife died in 2010' 'Alf Biber grew up half-starved'. This therefore sets an image for all the locals, representing them as innocent and fragile, being unable to defend for themselves against the 'gangs of youths'.

To summarise, all Youtube, The Guardian and Twitter, have been biased on account of the London Riots. This has both been when representing the rioters, suggesting that everyone protesting was inevitably out to cause destruction, but also that of the locals, denoting them as frail and distort victims. This shows how the media exaggerate news stories in order to panic their audience, gaining greater attention from viewers. Hence, the saying is supported;  "If it bleeds, it leads"

My interpretation of a 'Typical' You Are The Empire fan

When compiling an image of what I assume to be a 'typical' You Are The Empire fan, I would base this upon fans of the Indie Pop genre. This is usually defined by an individual or groups image. This look is more cutting edge and extreme, not conforming to any general style but instead,offering several statements from one single outfit. The costume of a 'typical' fan commonly suits a general vintage apparel for example, denim shirts and iconic t-shirts. This also includes items of clothing such as waistcoats, cardigans and skinny jeans. Furthermore, this follows the fashion of Indie Pop bands including, Bastille and The Wombats. Other music genre interests include Indie Rock and Alternative, genres which suit a niche audience in opposition to those which are more mainstream such as Pop and R&B. The favoured environment of an Indie fan would be that of music cultural festivals, thrift shops or Urban Outfitters, allowing the introduction of beautiful noise and socialisation.
The sense of socialising can be seen in a variety of Indie Pop music videos for instance, 'She's So Lovely' by Scouting For Girls and 'Techno Fan' by The Wombats. Like wise to the typical 'Indie' fan, music videos by the artist Bastille often portray their character as a singeton, conforming to the suggested differentation of the 'Indie' fan.

Summary of 'Youth culture movies: how soon is too soon?'

• The magic number is 13 years before making a youth culture film
• 90s rave culture is difficult to pursue any artistic or box-office success
• Human Traffic portrays a bunch of clubbers going through highs and comedowns of an E-enhanced night in early 90s Cardiff 
• The benefit of further hindsight makes films more nuanced and profound
• 'the last days of Sex Pistols legend Sid Vicious' came out a mere 8 years after the events it was addressing. This was too close to effectively process what had gone on
• Period films are expected to contextualise and analyse, to foster or confront nostalgia and explain why adults have become who they are now
• "A significant period of time has to pass between the height of the experience you are seeking to capture and the release of your film" Anything between 13-25 years
• Youth focus is identifiable through music,fashion and haircuts
• There is an importance of establishing a link between the era covered in the movie and the social concerns nagging at its present day audience
• Director Richard Jobson is taking on a sequel to Quadrophenia with a time gap of 40 years however, the story has crucial modern parallels. Its about a new decade and a state of emergency Britain 
• Affection for personal youth reboots due to milestones of marriage, parenthood or mortgages as well as financial and familial responsibilities
• The middle age desire to recapture a brief moment of freedom and invention that youth once provided
• People want to return to the moment when they found out who they were
• Films about teenagers often serve the need of ageing film makers to look back on meanings to explain

To summarise, there is a time limit on the release of Youth culture films, as enough time has to spare after the event in order for film makers to process what has gone on.

Shotlist

Planning Schedule

Style of 'You Are The Empire'

Casting Characters

Main character Description:

The main character in our music video (Protagonist) is a young girl battling a drug and alcohol addiction. This influences her character to be anti-social therefore, loneliness is shown throughout our music video. This idea is heavily influenced by other media platforms we have analysed, such as the character Effy, from the Television series 'Skins' and stereotypical representations of 'druggies' in music videos such as, 'A-Team' by Ed Sheeran. 

Callisto Ryder-Dixon 

Callisto is a 17 year old girl at our college studying Art, English Language and Sociology. We originally choose to cast Callisto as our main character due to her having studied drama in high school. This is clearly projected in her personality as a confident and expressive individual. Additionally, with the study of sociology this has incited her into different mind sets of individuals therefore, being able to give an accurate representation of someone with an addition. We also felt that Callisto had typical features of the representations we have been studying, for instance long brown hair and dark make-up under the eyes. 

Abbi Chase

Abbi is a 18 year old student, acting as the second half of my pair. She is studying Art, Photography and Media at Reepham College. As an alternative, it would be incredibly easy to use Abbi as the main casting character in our production as she is aware of the storyline of which our production has to follow. This would make the filming easier for me to achieve, as explanations of the plot wouldn't have to be explained. In addition, this is more convenient as Abbi will be a reliable source, knowing that she will turn up for filming according to the schedule. Abbi further fits the criteria of our main character as she has dark hair and similar features to the girls whom we have identified in other music videos, shown on our mood board. 

Nicole Eddy

Myself. I am a 17 year old student studying Media, English Language and Economics. I was chosen for the casting of the Drug Dealer as I am aware of the storyline and thus, what needs achieving in the shots. Furthermore, it is convenient for me to take this part as I will be doing the majority of the filming meaning that I will always be on seen so Im a reliable source for this small casting part. Although, I may not have the typical appearance this is irrelevant as the drug dealer's face will be covered by a hood.

Location

The shooting for our music video will take place at my house, as this allows us access to an internal area with the facilities that we require. Another strong reasoning for choosing this location was down to convenience, both for myself and the other casting members.

The majority of our shooting will take place within a bedroom. A bedroom is an ideal location for our storyline as this represents the loneliness of our character, being restricted by the four walls she's surrounded by. Hence, this anti-social behaviour is the result of her alcohol and drug abuse, witnessing a sense of isolation from society.This room was specifically chosen due to the dark colour of a wall face. The colour black is usually symbolic of death and mystery therefore, this reflects the mystery of the young girls addiction, conjuring thoughts of fear and the unknown. Internally, we will also be using a bathroom, due to the importance of reflections. From watching numerous influencing music videos with themes of relevance to our storyline such as, 'A-Team' by Ed Sheeran and 'Flashing Lights' by Chase&Status, we have seen that mirrored reflections are commonly used. We wish to include this is our own music video therefore, a bathroom seems like the most logical location for these shots. Furthermore, we plan to use a dark area such as a cupboard, for a section of our filming. The use of low key lighting will enable us to represent the night before, using a flash light to denote the alternating consciousness and unconsciousness of the girls mind. Props used inside the house will include, alcohol bottles, an injection, needles and a bandage. These will be situated in the girls bedroom, suggesting that rather than food and drink, these are being replaced with drugs and alcohol as her living essentials. 

A smaller ratio of our filming will also be shot externally, surrounding the house. This will only be used for the scene in which the girl comes in contact with a drug dealer. Considering reality, we considered an external surrounding to be better. However, we will be filming during the day so in response we will apply a black and white filter to our shots in order to apply a sense of darkness. This will additionally symbolise the negativity of the transaction taking place. For the exterior shooting, we will be using the props of money and flour.

The location of our music video furthermore links to other music videos that we have been studying such as; Time by Chase&Status which captures both an external and an internal home environment. This provides a location which a wide range of audiences can relate to but additionally, prodividing insights into the home lives of other individuals within society.

Equipment and Software

For our shooting we will be using a range of equipment. Firstly and most importantly, we will be using a SONY Handycam HDV 108i. This will be the only camera used at all time throughout our shooting. We chose to use a small Handycam as this will allow us the easiest and greatest movement in our filming. We have also had a lot of practice using the camera from last year and know how to use each setting saving us time so we don't have to learn how to use any other camera, making best use of our day of filming.

We also used a Manfrotto tripod to ensure all our shots are level and steady. The tripod is easily manoeuvrable which will help us to capture the right shots at each location, and we can also easily set the right height.

Additionally, we will be using an imac for our editing process and we will be using Final Cut Express and imovie software's for editing the film. Both are easy to use, accessible and will help us to create the best video possible. Furthermore, We plan to capture the footage in imovie and then move it to final cut express to do the further editing needed as it is is lightly more advance in what can be achieved in reference to effects.We are also going to use a flash light app on a Samsung Galaxy SII, it has a strobe setting which we will use to re-create the lighting for a 'Party' atmosphere. This hopefully will also look slightly 'Stop Motion' gaining an effect that we originally wanted to use but didn't have the time for. 

Props and Costume

Props

Sherbet as a substitute for cocaine. This will be used for the first scene where our girl will snort drugs and fall back onto the bed. It may also be used in a flashback sequence throughout the music video. We want it to look like she will be snorting the drug through a rolled up note or another piece of paper, and we will be shooting this as a close up shot on her face, framing the actions. The picture above is from the music video 'Let you go' by chase and status, showing a shot of the protagonist taking drugs, we want to recreate the same shot and the same sense of false 'Love' for something such as drugs or alcohol.

We will need alcoholic bottles for numerous parts of the video such as the flashbacks of the night before and her bedroom the day after. This will also play on the lyrics of the song, about how her love for this addiction is making her re-do previous mistakes over and over.  Inspiration for adding this came from the music video by Chase and Status-Flashing Lights, in a scene where it is also apparent that alcohol had an influence on mistakes from the previous night. The drink in this scene is in a decanter which we will consider using when choosing the type of drink and what its in. This shot really frames the alcohol and how much it influences the story line from that point onwards.

We will need a mirror to do a shot similar to the one on the left where at one point our protagonist will look into the mirror 'reflecting' on her actions and what happened the night before. We would also like to use a mirror which has a 'rough' old and 'rusty' feel to it, one that isn't perfect, to compliment the character of the girl.

Costume

Ripped tights and a black skirt- we felt that this was the best option for the girls character as its as if she doesn't have the money for new tights, the tights also show a resemblance to a 'ripped' life and a fragile character. The black theme was inspired by the character Effy from the TV series 'Skins' as shown below she is wearing a similar outfit to the one we plan to use, she has also come from a slightly broken background, uses drugs and has a troubled life. The colour black also symbolises darkness, which is a trait that our girl has, a certain mystery about her life and why she is the way she is.

'Things We Lost In The Fire' textual analysis

Here, I will be analysing the music video 'Things We Lost In The Fire' by Bastille. Bastille began a solo project with singer-songwriter Dan Smith, whom later moved to Ireland in purpose to form a band. The band now comprises of the four members; Daniel Smith, Chris Wood, William Farquarson and Kyle Simmons. The name of the band derives, from Bastille Day, the date of Daniel Smith's birthday. Bastille produce music of the Indie Pop genre, likewise to the unsigned band whom I am working with. 'Things We Lost In The Fire' was written by the lead vocalist and likewise produced with the help of Mark Crew. The video doesn't explicitly fit into the typical conventions of the Indie Rock genre however, the artist is heavily involved within.

Firstly, when looking at the relationship between lyrics and visuals, these are seen to be contradictory. For example the two consequential lines, 'All that we've amassed' 'sits before us shattered into ash'. In the first instance a middle-aged man is shown picking up, what I assume to be a bullet. The word 'amassed' refers to a gathering together therefore, this contradicts the lyrics as the shot only encompasses a lone man and bullet. This then leads onto the visuals of a wolf standing high upon a car rooftop. The lyrics at this current point are 'sits before us shattered into ash' this immediately controverts the visuals as the four legged mammal is shown standing. Additionally, the two are irrelevant against each other, not even having the slightest link. However, a slight few lyrics are narrated in tenuous way. The last repetition of 'lost' is imaged with a gun falling to the ground. A gun is a lethal weapon therefore, symbolic of death. Exploring this further, a death is a loss due to permanent decease hence, the visuals could be said to narrate the lyrics significantly at this instance. Moreover, the lyrics represent the Indie Pop genre as emotions are explored, those of both sadness and loneliness.

Considering the relationship between the music and the visuals, this is seen to be fairly strong and consistent. The music sets in 16 seconds into the video, following 3 long shots, establishing the setting. For here on in, transitions between shots fall on either the eighth or fourth beat depending on the tempo of the beat. For instance from 3 mins 20, the chorus emerges, altering shots on a time signature of four four over the time period of the verse.

The message behind 'Things We Lost In The Fire' isn't self-explanatory. From a personal approach I feel that the lead singer, Daniel Smith is traversing through a dream full of symbolism. The most noticeable theme I feel is death. Apart from the gun, death is also shown in a stereotypical manner with the inclusion of Muslins in burkas. Furthermore, this could be said to relate to a wide audience as everyone witnesses bereavement in their lives and the lingering emotions from such an event. Other audiences may also include those who listen to bands such as; The Wombats, Mumford&sons and The Hoosiers, as these all commonly collected under the Indie Pop genre.

When looking at the artist throughout the video, Dan Smith, isn't represented as a significant figure as a characterised role isn't played. However, the inclusion of the lead singer enables the audience to form an image of the band, taking into account the costume and overall look of the artist. Further, a large amount of materialised goods aren't displayed, suggesting the artist to be an 'average' man. In turn this creates a greater connection with the audience, as it is believed that the artist is more comparative with the audience. This opposes other music videos in the same genre such as, 'How To Be A Heartbreaker' by Marina and the Diamonds where the female singer is seen to be surrounded by half naked mean. This is something most females would contemplate as unprovable.

Additionally, when looking at other videos by Bastille, these are seen to follow both a Narrative and Concept-based structure. A story is always told in a subtle manner however, the lyrics and visuals contravene. The slight difference nonetheless, is that the artist doesn't always appear in the music videos, for instance in 'Of The Night'.

Within the video there is a certain notion of looking. This is especially apparent from 1:19 to 1:30 when a young girl is seen walking through, what I assume to be a bar, turning heads of the males present. This represents the female as an icon of beauty. This opposes some representations of women in music videos such as, 'Pour It Up' by Rihanna, where females are represented as sex objects from a male viewpoint.
Like both my textual analysis' on 'Sunshine' and 'She's so lovely', this music video isn't used for the purpose to promote. One key reason why other media platforms aren't represented in any of Bastille's music videos is due to the band being contemporary. Unlike 'She's So Lovely' featuring in both a TV series and film, Bastille is too recent to have yet taken advantage of these opportunities.

Penultimately, when considering the production of 'Things We Lost In The Fire' this is seen to be both Narrative and Concept based. This means that the video follows a storyline, of which it does but in a vague manner. This can be seen however, with the outcome at the end of the production. The video is furthermore Concept-based, as the visuals don't support the lyrics. For instance, 'I was the match and you were the roar' sees corresponding visuals of a car pulling away from a junction, showing no links between the two components. However, I feel this technique allows the audience to interpret the storyline themselves.

To conclude my textual analysis for 'Things We Lost In The Fire' by Bastille, Indie Pop characteristics are noticeable with the lead singer taking an active role in the production of the music video. Not only does he appear in the video, but Daniel Smith also took part in writing and producing the song. Furthermore, the song plays to a large audience as the artist portrays himself as a comparable figure to the audience. Likewise to previous videos, the productions are fairly similar, encompassing a concept-based narrative in relationship to the lyrics and visuals. Surreal clips are used to reflect Daniel Smiths love of David Lynchs style and themes, replicated in the bands videos.

'She's So Lovely' textual analysis

Here, I will be analysing the music video 'She's so lovely' by Scouting For Girls. The founding memebers of the band, Roy Stride, Greg Churchouse and Peter Ellard have known each other since childhood, with two of the members having met at Cub Scouts. Scouting For Girls produce music of the Indie Pop and Rock genre. This music video was written by the lead vocalist, Roy Stride and produced by Andy Green in 2007. "I write a lot about falling in love and breaking up. I don't know who said it but someone said the best songs are about the first five minutes and the last five minutes of a relationship, with I agree with" This music video fits into the general Indie Rock genre as the video shows a 'do it yourself' attitude, with the artists getting involved, both displaying a performance and narrative based video.

Firstly, when looking at the relationship between the lyrics and visuals, these are seen to both Illustrate and Contradict. For example, 'I love the way she bits her lip' is perfectly illustrated within the video. At this point, the paraded female is seen to be in a close -up shot, biting her lip whilst giving direct address to the audience. Other lyrics may also be illustrated, but to a more subtle extent, 'I don't know how we'll make it through this'. Here the music video presents the lead vocalist approach a bar. Alcohol is something usually associated with drowning sowers and therefore, subtly interlinks with the lyrics. However, the visuals also contradict the lyrics. This is commonly seen when the video switches to being performance based, showing the band playing rather than narrating a storyline. The lyrics further represent the Indie Rock genre, as emotions are explored, those of which appeal to a large audience.

In opposition to this, I feel that the relationship between the music and visuals is fairly inconsistent. Having cut straight into the beat after 3 seconds, the first transition happens in the time signature of four:four. Although after this, the transitions don't follow the pre-meditated time signature, neither do follow any recognisable pattern.

Personally, I feel that the message behind this music video is quite straight forward. The music video is set in a bowling alley, where the lead singer, Roy Stride is trying to attract the attention of a pretty girl. However, the girl already has a boyfriend, so Roy Stride sets out to get the attention of the young lady. This is seen to be successful at the end of the music video, when the shoes of the pair are seen to be walking away together with the females costume matching that of the males. This therefore, applies to a wide audience, as falling in love can happen to someone in any age division whether adolescent, middle-aged or elderly. Other audiences may also include those whom listen to bands such as; Bastille, The Kooks and Noah and the Whale, as these all gather under the same genre of Indie Pop.
When looking at the artist throughout the video, Roy Stride may be classed as the 'weak link'. His character plays the role of the underdog, whom is second best to the pretty ladies' boyfriend. I feel these characteristics allow the audience to connect with the artist to a greater extent, as this appeals as a mutual concept to the audience. This therefore clashes with some music videos in the same genre such as Bastille, 'Of The Night' where the main character is seen communicating with the deceased. This is shows impossibitily, creating a sense of fantasy amongst the audience.
Furthermore, when looking at previous music videos by Scouting for girls, these are seen to use both the performance and narrative concepts within 'She's So Lovely'. For example, the song 'Love How it Hurts' projects a music video, entirely narrative-based. This encorporates a storyline very similar to my above analysis however, this is shown with a progression over time. In opposition 'Heartbeat' shows a primarily performance-based video, aside from the lyrical line 'I skip a heartbeat' wherein, a repetitive narrative in shown. Hence, music videos by Scouting For Girls are fairly consistant in both their meaning and lyric to visual representation.

Within the music video there is a distinguishable notion of looking. This is shown with both the action of pointing and the gazing of the men upon the female character. This represents the female as the centre of action, symbolising her tenderly as a sex object. This may be apprarent in the lyrics 'She's pretty, a fitty'. However, this highly contrasts the sexual display of women in music videos such as 'Hard Out Here' by Lily Allen, where women are shown in an irrespectical and undescent nature.

Like my contextual analysis on the music video, 'Sunshine' by Matisyahu, there are minimal or even no intertextual references with other music vidoes. Although, there are nill within this music video, the song was used in the popular TV series, 'Ugly Betty' on Channel 4. This could therefore be used as a promotion device to those whom watch the TV series.

Penultimately, when considering the production of 'She's So Lovely' the video is evenly shared between being a Narrative and Performanced-based video. This means that the video follows a storyline, but also witnesses sections of the band playing. The video could also be said to encompass small areas of concept, as the lyrics and visuals dont always compliment one another. For example the lyrics of the first chorus, ' I don't know, I don't know, I don't know' show the visuals of Roy Stride bowling therefore, creating no immediate connection between the two.

To conclude my textul analysis of 'She's So Lovely' by Scouting For Girls, Indie Pop charcateristics are witnessed throughout the video, as the video has a strong 'do it yourself attitude', with the lead singer taking a key role in the narrative sequence. Furthermore, the video plays to a large audience as Roy Stride describes, "When people listen to your music, they have to be able to connect with it and feel what you're singing about and that's why people like us, because we're normal blokes who sing about things everyone can understand". Like previous videos, the band don't focus heavily on promoting their videos however, their tracks do feature on other media platforms such as TV, 'Ugly Betty' and within the Dutch movie 'Loft'.

Pace of Editing

When considering the pace of editing for our song 'Love Diamonds', we choose a similar genre and paced song to overview the music video to. Analysing the first 45 seconds of 'Elvis ain't dead' by Scouting For Girls, we were able to count 21 cuts on different beats of the music. Even though there aren't cuts on every beat of the music, the camera is seen to either be tracking or panning the shot. Other alternatives include different paces of action within the shots therefore, matching the pace of the music.

First view feedback

Having captured the majority of our footage, our first view of it on desktop saw the filming to be relatively successful. Having last minute changes to our casting character, we came to the decision of having one of us acting and the other filming. Although this is not what we had initially planned, this worked to our advance due to us both having a clear idea of what needed shooting, rather than having to explain our synopsis to our found actor. Surprisingly, all our filming was captured on a single day, opposing our initial thoughts of having to film over 48 hours. I feel our main issue was that of the lighting however, we moved to different locations of the house in order to provide a lighting associated more with night. In contrast, the costume of the female as an alcoholic was effective, applying our knowledge from relatable music videos such as 'A-Team' and 'Flashing Lights'. Our use of props, also increased the realism of our filming including that of flour in place of cocaine, alcohol bottles and needles. I believe that once a colour filter has been placed upon some of the shots, our filming will have improved in quality, given the genre.

Planning schedule

Planning to film, we hope to take the two days, Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st October, out of the half term to film the majority of our sequence. Having cast our main character, transport links between locations will be easy, allowing the two days to encompass all of our filming. We hope to start filming early morning, allowing us most of the day to shoot.


Location:  We have decided to film the majority of our shots at my house. This is because we ideally need scenes with enclosed surroundings such as bedrooms, so that the audience are able recognise the theme of loneliness as a result of the young girls drug abuse. Not only this, but the claustrophobic atmosphere mimics the small aspects of which the girls life revolves around, this being her addiction. Furthermore, an inside location allows us to alter the lighting, enabling scenes to witness differentiations in meaning. Inside the house we will use the props of a bed and a mirror, acting as another reason why we have chosen to film inside a house. This will play a key role in connecting with the audience, contradicting the 'ordinary' feeling of a home with that of someone using the four walls as a shelter.  

Only one scene we will be using a different location, this being the party scene. At this moment in time, we are unclear of when and where we will be filming this, having two possible alternatives. Ideally, we are hoping for a party to fall over the half term however, if this is not the case we have a back up plan of filming in a dark mobile classroom at our college. For this we have already arranged for a mass group of students to participate therefore, actively representing a partying atmosphere. Props in hand for this would simply be a mobile phone, using a strobe light application to replicate a correlated surrounding.

Mood Board

Here, we have created a mood board, taking a variety of screens from different music videos. From this, it is evident that close-ups are a commonly used shot, which will influence the camera composition for our filming. These images have been chosen, relating to our intial ideas for our music video. Not only will these help to influence our storyline but, prompt our choice of props and costume.

Looking back now having shot the majority of our music video, this mood board was incredibly influencitial for the complilation of our shots. We heavily followed the theme of reflection, representing the difference in personality of the female with excessive alcohol and drug consumption. Hence, the top left shot of the female has been re-created within our music video, representing the state of the girl the morning after her night of drug and alcohol abuse. This then leads me onto the shot below, of the man sniffig. This has been miniced by our female actress using the props of sugar and a rolled up £5 note to exemplify the snorting of cocaine. Furthermore, the top right image helped construct the apperance of our female character. Having applied dark,smudged make up to the eyes of the girl this suggested the female to malnourished and a physical wreck. Finally, exploring some of these music videos further such as 'A-Team' and 'Flashing Lights', this urged us to put a filter on our film. We purpose to use both the natural light and a black and white filter, depending on the contrast of different times of day. This could therefore, be used to illustrate the part and present tense or the dissimilarity in the characters mood or emotions.

Costume ideas

When compiling ideas on the costume of the main character, a variety of music videos have been explored to hinder the main dress of such a character.

In the music video 'A Team' by Ed Sheeran, the main subject character is seen to be wearing ripped tights. This could represent the struggle in which the girl has gone through, resulting in physical and mental damage. Furthermore, the female is wearing a hoodie with the hood up, covering her face. This suggests the covering of her identity, also relating to the new covering the drugs and alcohol have put on her personality. Additionally, the clothes worn are generally seen to be over sized suggesting that drugs and alcohol have become the necessities of her life rather than the usual essentials of food and water. This also interlinks with the make up of the character, being very pale in face therefore suggesting an individual who is physically suffering from a deficiency in health. This is also supported with the character being dark under the eyes imitating a lack of sleep. Finally, within this music video the subject is noticeably wearing large hoop earrings. This is something people would normally associate with 'cheap' hence, attributing the character into stereotypical jobs such as drug dealing and prostitution due to consistent expenditures on drugs and alcohol.

Likewise in the music video of 'Flashing Lights' the victim is wearing fishnet tights. This is a common costume, stereotyping the female as vulnerable with the excessive visibility of bare skin, making the character an easy target. Holes in the tights could further pre-empt the outcome of events, showing imagery of an unfixable nature. Additionally, the subjects are always seen to be dressed in black, representing negative emotions and in some cases symbolising death. This is seen to be the case within the music video by Chase&Status, with the young female passing away as the outcome.

From analysing these music videos, this has been used to structure the appearance for our main character. In our music video are subject has encompassed the look of ripped tights, baggy clothing of which is dark in colour and scenes where her face in overcasted. Alongside, heavy black make up was applied to the eyes of the character, making here look cheap and in a physical state of disorder. The 'cheap' look was futhered by the application of large gold hoops, representing a typically stereotype of someone with a lack of class.