Genre Replication (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air)

[ VIDEO WIP ]

CD Cover Meme

The rules:

1. Go to Wikipedia. Hit random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to Random quotations. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on explore the last seven days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use photoshop or similar to put it all together. Preferably in a square format layout, like a nice old-timey vinyl album cover.

WIKI ARTICLE: Worker Studio

QUOTATION: and damned if you don't

The title 'Worker Studio' sounded to me like a nu-wave or electro band, so I researched the genre and its sister styles such as 'Synthpop', 'Techno', 'Dubstep' and 'Trip Hop'.

TRIP HOP

Trip hop is a genre of electronic music that originated in the early 90s in the United Kingdom. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which contains influences of soul, funk and jazz. It is separated from standard electro due to the fact that the music is based on ambient repetition and drum-based breakdowns. "A fusion of Hip Hop and Electronica until neither genre is recognisable.'

Example of Trip hop artists include:

Each of these CD covers have the image of an individual on the cover, with support Goodwin's theory on the aspect of looking. Also, they are diverse in nature: Where massive attack uses bright colours and textured spray paints, Tricky's album is sterile and clean and the image of the man in the middle is faded and contrasted, which perhaps ties in with the effect the music may have on a listener.

However, Portishead's CD cover seemed the most suitable for the single image rule, so I decided to draw inspiration from the Dummy Album.

Although somewhere along the line, I got carried away with photoshop:

The stripes were achieved with the selection and vertical transform tool, and the middle section was the result of tampering with the brightness and contrast with the curve tool. The font is clean and simple, and centred in order to draw the eye - as adding another image (of a person in the centre) was not allowed.

The Lip Syncing Ancillary

The lip syncing exercise was to teach us how much of a pain it is to match the music to the video during the editing process. Also, it taught us the importance of filming as many scenes as possible and planning extensively before being let loose with a camera.
Our group's chosen song was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Filming locations including the photography studio and the grounds of Post sixteen. You may notice that not all of the actors were skilled at lip syncing (myself included.)

Examples for Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Theory

Thought Beats/Narrative/Performance: 
As a store clerk listens to Mindless Self Indulgence, he begins to see the world like a comic book and lashes out t the customers who are not paying attention to him. Additionally, clips of the band playing at a concert are peppered throughout so that both a narrative and performance are established.
Star Image:
The band are selling their brand as well as keeping the viewer interested in the narration. They are doing this by appearing on-screen and also showing their symbol: A graphic of a nuclear explosion.
Relations of Visuals to Song:
The relation of visuals to the song are achieved by having the actor lip sync the lyrics. It appears as though as he lashes out, he is singing to the customers. Although there is no concept of looking at the audience, the audience may feel a connection with this lowly store clerk, especially if this is their desired genre of music or can empathise with the plight of the worker bee, yada yada. The mise en scene is bland and bleak during the store scenes, but the images of the band are dark and vibrant. CGI is used to created the background of the store; overall, it looks like something straight from Vasquez' comic books.
Technical Aspects:
There are quick cuts that matched the beats to the song. There is even a scene where karate chop sound effect coincides with the store clerk kicking a customer in the face. Also at the very beginning, the actor's head bangs along with the guitar music. All of the clothes are cheap and bland, and the band's attire is alternative and punky.

The director of the music video is Jhonen C. Vasquez (born September 1, 1974). He is American comic book writer and cartoonist best known for creating the Nickelodeon animated series Invader Zim and the comic book Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, as well as its spin-off comics Squee! and I Feel Sick.

The music video's style is not dissimilar to the themes of his work, which feature ultraviolence, alternative fashion, sugar and loud music.

The scene we see is an establishing shot of the supermarket. It has been computer-generated in such a way that it doesn't seem real. 

 A check-out sign begins to manfunction - it is filmed from a low angle, which signifies power.

 On the other hand, the first face we see if from a mid-shot, which adds a sense of familiarity which would not occur if the first time we see him is from a deep shot.

The lack of eye contact throughout the music video connotes isolation and also goes against Goodwin's theory over the 'concept of looking'. Despite the old woman being in the same mid shot, there is no familiarity with the two.

After getting electrocuted by the sign, a connection is made with what is seen and what is heard. 

Match on action is used as the music begins, telling us that listening to this band's music is no different to getting a shock or waking up.

As the guitars begin, the store clerk begins to headbang. This is not in key with the drab surroundings and the contrast is enough to draw the audience in.

More quick cuts are used with match on action in order to match the rhythm of the song with the visuals. For example in this shot, the clerk moves to punch the customer in the face,

and in this shot, a different angle shows the impact of the fist. Additional non-diegetic sound effects of a karate-style sucker punch overlaps the end of the verse to add a comedic effect to the violence.

The audience is not supposed to feel closeness with the protagonist of the music video, as he is being recalled or spied upon by the audience. Therefore no eye contact is used. He is just a man; and example of why 'rock and roll is bad'.

A deep, long shot of the supermarket is used to show the mass of queuing customers, which homogenises them as one thing or part of the background.

A low angle shot which cuts off the head of the clerk show him at work as the tempo of the music gets quicker and quicker. Each time a product is scanned, the beep ties in the with drum beat and other extra sound effects.

This is followed with a high angle shot as the clerk talks into the phone. It may be insinuated that this shows the man to be weak or insecure, or even watched as he pulls odd faces and talks to the person on the other end.

His weakness is taken away with a mid shot; the music and the electric shock and everything else ties into his uncaring nature now. He doesn't care about the man on the other end of the phone. This gives him power.

With said power, he's apparently learnt telekinesis.

Everything the man says is now censore and seemingly translated into the lyrics of the song. Clear and black and white for the indifferent shopper to see. Jhonen Vasquez' comic book experience now comes into play, as he has literally covered the protagonist's mouth with a little black bar often seen on reality TV shows.

A close up shows him freaking out,

and against, the shopper is indifferent. An over-the-shoulder shot is used to display this man's connection to the clerk.

'Ooh' is a part of the song, sung by the actor in a patronising fashion.

Another part of the music video I thought amusing was the use of a puppet: commonly associated with children shows and seaside Punch and Judy booths--completely taken out of context.

The Andrew Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin has theorised that in order to make a successful music video, there are five key aspects that must be followed:

• Thought beats revolve around the story that is being told in the music video, 

• and the actual lyrics of a song which the add to the Narrative & Performance of the artist. Despite this common trope, music videos are famed for not giving a complete narrative, in fact, they often ignore the common narration seen in films and television. Mark Romanek (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Linkin Park) has stated that when he makes his videos, he 'ignores the right hand side of his brain' in order to create something truly abstract and memorable that has coherent repeatability. The catchier the song combined with the aesthetics of the piece is all to keep the audience interested in the song. Lip syncing add to the narrative and the performance due to the fact that viewers respond to the brand of the musicians; 

• Star Image is a way in which money is made from music video and artists. For example, fans of Thirty Seconds to Mars will be excited about seeing their newest music video--and to further sell the brand of the band, their triangle motifs may be scattered throughout the video like Easter eggs for viewers to identify. The more they view the video, the more they will see. 

• The more they see, the more links they will perceive to be in the Relation of Visuals to Song. The visuals of the music video help to Illustrate the meanings of the lyrics, Amplify the the music so that it gets stuck into the audience's head and to Disjuncture any clear meaning so that people can take whatever message they want from what they have watched.

• Last but not least, all of the above are achieved with the Technical Aspects of Video: The use of camera angles, the Mise en scene (actors, costumes, sets, make-up), Editing, Sound Special Effects ('diegetics' of the narration) and how the video is cut in order to accentuate the beats of the song.

Introduction

The media discipline that shall be studied throughout the course of this year are Music Videos, including their many genres, the technical aspects, stars, director, bands and important issues that affect the music industry.