How we will make our album cover

Looking at photos from various Arctic Monkeys photo shoots has given me an idea as to what type of photograph I'd like to use for our album cover image.

As you can see here, there is a close up of the entire band. This picture shows everyone but has a main focus on the lead singer.

This is clearly a theme that has run throughout their career as you can see Alex Turner is the only one looking at the camera in this picture and it seems to be focused on him, therefore making him the main focus of the picture and band itself.






After looking at these photo's I have decided to use a full band picture and only have the singer/singers looking into the camera.


You can see similar paths that have been taken by other bands of the 'indie rock' genre.
The Killers for example:

Once again the lead singer of the band is looking at the camera making him the main focus of the photograph which symbolises the fact that he could possibly be the most important member of the band or that he's the one that people are the most interested in.

Who would our video apply to?

Our video will appeal to fans of Indie Rock music, the age we are aiming at will be late teens to young adults because the video we will be making will be aimed at these specific niche audiences. The Indie Rock genre is niche as this is a subsidiary of the typical rock genre, this audience will be live within an urban population; cities and towns. We believe this will be affect as it relates to our personal upbringing, this relates to The Users and Gratifications Theory.

Looking at the original video

The original music video that was created for R U Mine was all shot in black and white through a single camera. The video is made to look like the band are filming themselves and this effective because it makes it look unprofessional and this is the image that they are trying to present as an 'indie' band.

There are similar shots used throughout the entirety of the video and therefore it is simple and straightforward. I believe that the whole video was made with the purpose of showing the band's image off to their audience. They seem to be trying to show that they are 'cool'. This has inspired me and my group to keep special effects to a minimum and make a video focussed heavily on story line. This video seems to lack excitement and therefore we want to make a more colourful and eye catching video, also he should be fast-paced and exciting to watch.  

Audience Research

These are the questions that me and Christian have came up with to find out more about our target audience and help us to make the video that we want to make.

How a classic album cover has inspired us

A classic album cover is 'Nevermind' by Nirvana; over 30 million copies have been sold of the album and therefore it was obviously successful in terms of sales. The music was obviously what sold the albums but the famous cover is often what people think of when talking about Nevermind. This cover inspired us because of the albums popularity and therefore we've decided to have a colourful album cover that will easily stand out because it will catch peoples attention and add something extra to our package as a whole.

Changing the idea of our story board

We have decided, as a group, to change the idea from our story board. We are reducing the amount of actors as we do not believe that the group should be relying on other people to be available whenever we want them to be. Therefore, we are cutting our plot-driven scenes and focusing more on the bands performance as we feel this has a much higher chance of being a successful music video.

Actors and Locations

Vevo (Case Study)

I am researching Vevo as all mainstream music vidoes today are put onto YouTube through this service and therefore it is relevant to our video as Indie has become an extremely popular genre over the past decade.

Vevo (stylized vevo) is a video hosting service owned and operated by a joint venture of Universal Music Group (UMG), Google, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Abu Dhabi Media. It launched on December 8, 2009.

Net Income: US$ 150 million (2011)

Storyboards

These are the storyboards that we will use when filming our final piece, they will give us guidance on what we need to do at every point in the song.

Company Presentation

This is the presentation our group made to present our idea to the rest of our class.

Male Gaze Theory

Male Gaze Theory

For feminists the gaze theory can be thought of in3 different ways, these include:

·         The way men look at women

·         The way women look at themselves

·         The way women look at other women

The camera often lingers on women’s curves
it regulates women to the status of objects
some theorists also have noted the sexualizing of the female body even in situations where female sexiness has nothing to do with the product being advertised

An example of the male gaze theory is the music video of the song ‘She’s so lovely’ by Scouting for Girls, because it shows the lead singer staring at a woman and even drooling at one point. The camera focuses on her bum at one point and follows her as she makes her way around the room. She is clearly being sexualised although the sing is talking about how ‘lovely’ she is so therefore you could argue that it fits with the lyrics.

Star Theory apllied to Alex Turner

Alex Turner is an example of someone that seems to have developed into a star over a long period of time. He has gone from being known as a typical boy from Sheffield to a worldwide superstar. Alex Turner has changed his look and even speaks in a different, clearer accent these days. This is to perhaps make him seem more ‘cool’. He could have been shaped by the record label that the Arctic Monkeys are on so that he is more likeable and possibly more relatable. A star is something that is constructed and therefore this suggests that it is in fact the people at Domino Records that have constructed Turner by changing things about him and telling him to act in a certain way. Alex Turner has a very distinctive personality and as he is now a ‘star’ people will try to imitate him and therefore he becomes an influence on modern society. Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and promote a certain ideology. Audience interest in these values enhances their 'star quality', and it is through conveying beliefs ideas and opinions outside music that performers help create their star persona. The persona of a star is something that is influenced by that particular stars audience and the star becomes what they think will be popular. Even the fact that Alex Turner is now often seen smoking when he is on stage, this is all a part of his persona as he is now what people view as a ’star’. In the two images that I have used on this piece of work you can see how Alex Turner has changed and become a ‘star’.

Deciding What Song To Use In Our Video

Arctic Monkeys- Arabella textual analysis

The video starts off with a shot of a woman putting her shoes on, it then rewinds and reveals the same thing again, this is possibly to show the audience that this is who the song is actually about: 'Arabella'. The whole video is shot in black and white to create a sort of vintage or old fashioned feel to it.

 

There are lots of performance sections in the video of the Arctic Monkeys with a varied amount of shots and angles being used. A close-up of the lead singer is a shot that is repeated a lot because the band will want to keep their image going throughout all of their videos and by using these shots they can clearly show that.

Every video from Arctic Monkeys new album is shot in black and white, this links the videos together and supports the idea of bands trying to put across their 'image' to the audience. This makes their videos distinctive and easily recognisable for fans or people just getting into their music which is good because it means that they're easily recognisable.


The performance sections of this particular music video are shot in a small club, this could possibly be to try and show people that Artic Monkeys can still play smaller, more intimate gigs as well as bigger shows and festival headline slots. This could possibly be them reminiscing about their roots and when they first started playing together as a band.

There are multiple shots of women dancing which connotes the male gaze theory and this is something that often occurs in 'rock and roll' music videos. This makes the band seem stereotypical and limited by their indie rock genre.

In conclusion, I think this video has the purpose to show off the bands look as it keeps the black and white effect from their other videos off of the album 'AM'. It also uses a rewind/fast forward effect that can be found in their other latest music videos. This feature being used in every video gives them a form of connectivity and allows the audience to form a story together. Therefore, I think this music video successfully achieves it's purpose.

Group Logo

This is the Logo my group will be using for our company. It will be featured throughout our digi-pack to give us a recognisable image to our audience.

 

Media History Museum Research

We researched some old pieces of equipment to see how technology has advanced over time in the media world. This shows that if we were to have shot our music video in a different past era it wouldn't have been anywhere near the level of quality that it'll end up being as technology has advanced so vastly.

VHS-Movie VKR-6820, Philips Radios

I’m a video-Tape-recorded/ -Player who was made in Germany, 1986 I was one of the first modern handheld video recorder. In the 1980’s the modern era was established and it was this that period brought about the technology we use today, in comparison to the modern day Philips video camera the dimensions have been dramatically decreased throughout time. Unlike many other devices found in the media world today I model ran on batteries as I soon became obsolete due to the invention of charger.

Samsung Sv261v

I am the Samsung SV261 Mono Video Recorder. Although budget-priced, I pack in some pretty nifty features including high speed rewind—an E180 video cassette can be rewound in under a minute. Thanks to the innovative CODO (Cassette Only Door Opening) system it is only possible for a video cassette to be inserted into the machine; this was revolutionary in focusing technology around the younger generations. Other features I include are NTSC tape playback, both short and long play, auto tuning and one-touch record. The SV261 comes complete with manual, RF cable and remote control.

 

ALBA CRS50Xi

I am a stereo cassette and radio recorder/player, I came out in the early 2000’s and I was some really high tech stuff. I am portable as I run on batteries and that was pretty ground breaking back in my day. I could record a whole radio session, if I desired. Further advancements of my model included a CD player, in which you may record to tape. I am diverse as I come in various colours to appeal to all folks.  

 

SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC-S930

I am a digital camera and I even have a memory card. This fact would be mind-blowing at the time of my release, I am still battery operated though which is rather disappointing. I have the revolutionary feature that is face detention which allowed me to detect people’s faces and focus in on them, this allows for even better HD photographs. My screen allows instant viewing of the photographic image and past storage. I have USB to boot. I have the power to delete at will; I’m a killing machine when I want to be.

Prelimanry music video- Kasabian Eez-Eh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhSjb2Ckybk&list=UUht5fxUjha19_XNfG0mi2EA

Website Homepage Kasabian

This is the link to my website homepage. I created this as part of my preliminary task.
http://mussonjared.wix.com/kasabianmedia

What the preliminary consists of

For my preliminary task I am working with Christian and we are creating a video for a Kasabian song called Eez-Eh. We are also going to make a CD cover and band homepage to go with it. This will give us some good experience before we go into A2 media studies and I will feel more prepared to work by myself next year because that is what I intend to do.

Textual analysis of stereophonics homepage (website)

Band homepage textual analysis

 

There are multiple links on the homepage of stereophonics’ website to things such as ‘discography’, ‘tour’ and ‘shop’. This means that the main things that the marketing team of the bands website will want people to go on is just a single click away when the website is accessed. Also, the first thing that can be seen is the bands logo and multiple pictures taken from the band’s music videos and therefore the website works as a free constant advertisement for the band. This also gives people that are only just discovering the band a useful way to access the bands back catalogue of music.

 The homepage works well for long-time fans as well because they get to see what’s new with the band and can go back to view older work by the band if they want to. 

The band logo is displayed in the corner of the screen no matter where you are on the homepage; this is to show that the website is official and because of this people will know that they’re guaranteed proper information.

Preliminary Task- Filming experience

Lots of close ups are used in media studies to show that the main focus should be on the artist and that the artist/band is a product that need to be sold and by using close-ups it allows people to be under the illusion that they’re connecting with the artist. By watching multiple music videos it allowed me to realise this and it inspired the music video that me and Christian are making. The opening shot for our music video is a close-up of Christian to show that he is the lead singer of the band; this allows us to easily communicate to the audience, the fact that Christian is the main focus of our video as he is the artist. We have aimed to get many different shot types in our video but this proved to be quite difficult as we are only allowed around a minute of our chosen song. The song that we chose was ‘Eez-Eh’ by Kasabian; we selected this song because it is upbeat and allows us to make a fast paced video. This was a good decision in my opinion because the fast pace of the video allows us to get the shots that we wanted even though we found it difficult at points. Also, the song choice was successful because it is a very current song and most people should know it or at least have heard about it and therefore interest will be created within people that view our music video. We got a high angle shot of both me and Christian by having someone help us because it was easier to achieve with someone holding it than it was by using a tripod in this particular scene.

Music Video Textual analysis- Goodwins theory

The video starts with a close-up of the whole band with everything blacked out but their faces, this shows that they are the main focus of the video and that the they're possibly as important as the music. There are many shots of the singer riding a horse in an old fashioned kings outfit. Goodwin's theory of music videos claims that artists want to look unique and this could be the reasoning for the obscure outfit featured in the video. He is wearing a crown and cape, this could possibly be to connote his status within the band because many people believe that the singer/song writer is the most important member of the band. However, it could also be to just fit in with the video and I believe that it fits with the narrative of the video. There are numerous parts of the video where the actions made by the singer coincide with the lyrics. For example, when the lyric "all I ever needed is here in my arms" can be heard, the singer raises his arms and looks into the camera. This may have been done to make the audience feel like they're the ones being sang to and therefor have a sort of connection with the band. Fans will like this because they could possibly feel closer to the band somehow. Another example of this is that the singer stops miming halfway through the lyric, "words are very unnecessary" this is to represent the meaning of the lyric, that words don't need to be spoken. There are lots of close-up shots of the singer; this is another thing that fits in with the theory of Goodwin. Goodwin said that the image of an artist has to be created and developed over time. Perhaps this is why the video often flashes to the lead singer in a leather jacket because that is the look that he wants to maintain. The video changes between very darkly lighten scenes to scenes that take place in fields where the lighting is very bright and the colours standout. This could be to try and represent the diversity that the band has within their music; the band may think they that they've tried many different sounds and want to represent that in their music videos.

Textual Analysis of Album Cover: Sam's Town

The main image on the album cover is the band name in the font that The Killers always use, this creates a link within all of the music that they have created and allows their work to be easily recognised. The name of the album is also on the cover, this allows people that purchase the album to know exactly what they're buying and it is essential that the album title is put on the album itself. The album title is the only part of the physical album to contain colour, this could suggest numerous things such as the name of the album has great importance or that the band just wanted the name of the album to stand out to people. The artwork on the album is rather abstract, this could be to connote that the band make a unique type of music or that they just want to catch peoples eye if the see the album in a store. If the album gets peoples attention it may lead to more sales and a greater number of sales creates a larger amount of success.

Introduction to my blog

This is my blog for A2 Media Studies, I will be creating a music video and studying music videos. I will keep all of my evidence on this blog.