Websites

In order to design a website for our own fake bands, it was imperative for us to research sites who are part of our chosen genre. This means that we can better understand the conventions of a band website, what we should include in our own and how to make it look as real and as professional as possibly: how else are we going to sell our album digipaks?

Brainstorm

Unknown song: Lyrics

NOTE: the following lyrics have been vaguely deciphered from listening to the song over and over again


I can see even with eyes closed the world despises
What is just a depiction, a vision of a modern design
Getting up while the getting is good
Think of me high wire
If you see me, watch your TV baby
You know I’m on
Your backbone ain’t broke
But don’t you be eyeing a professional
Wanna live, want destroy you’ve got to try

Do what you wanna do
See what you wanna see
Go where you wanna go
Be who you wanna be
Be who you gotta be
We need a major feat
Burn it down
Burn it down

You can see your eyes are closed
To shy from the sun
As bad as when the vision that you envision was undermined
Got out when the getting was good
You never fought if to think
Wanna live, once tried, you’ve got to try

Do what you wanna do
See what you wanna see
Go where you wanna go
Be who you wanna be
Be who you gotta be
We need a major feat, baby
Burn it down

I’m just talking shit
I’ll just mess it up
I just tune it out

There goes the day
Another I have wasted
Nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to say
I just sing, I don’t know
Oh-oh-oh
I don’t know
Oh-oh-oh, oh, oh, Oh-oh

Go

Do what you wanna do
See what you wanna see
Go where you wanna go uh uh
Be who you wanna be
Be who you gotta be
We need a major feat, baby
Burn it down
Burn it down

Lighting

Only God Forgives (2013)
Larry Smith, Cinematographer

One of the most important parts of film-making is cinematography--moreover, colouring and lighting. My favourite director, Nicolas Winding Refn, creates an atmosphere and general aesthetic in his work with solely the use of lighting and minimal dialog to create a psychedelic, Kubrick-esque experience for the viewer that intrigues then into watching as opposed to bombarding them with too heavy a storyline or dialog (much like Tarantino).
Different tone and textures picked out by harsh lights or deep shadows can define a music video befor the viewer even listens to the song. Additionally, something that I failed to anticipate whilst filming last year was grainy film--a result of poorly-planned lighting choices. 

Therefore when the green light had been given for my current media teacher to invest in new equipment - such as lighting - I thought that it would be best to experiment even beginning to film my music video.

The following lighting tests were achieved with a Rotolight borrowed from the Media department, and taking photographs on my phone of fabric blossoms in different lighting.

Shot indoors; natural light from the window. White background.

Due to the fact that I did not have a red light, I simply closed my red curtains, which created a low--budget red light due to the fact that the sun was leaking through the window.

First of all, I experimented with the lights before using the colour filters. Propping the pillow up against a pillow on the lft hand side of the bedside table, the low level of the lighting meant that certain shapes were picked up in the flower, whereas the right hand side remained unlit--creating a dramatic effect.

Shining the torch from above created a blue tinge due to the fact that the white light contrasted with the red background, achieving the Refn look and also acting as soft light that could be mistaken for a bright streetlight.

Using a white light, I've noticed, make the red background more pink ((or my blackberry camera is bad at picking up colours) - this lighting set up had a similar effect to the low side light above, except for the right side of the flowers were now lit.

Using a bright pink light cause the flowers to blend into their already warm surroundings. There was minimal light, and shadow became the only way of distinguishing shape on non-reflective surfaces.

Medium amber created a sickly contract and even caused my phone to pick up some green tones. It completely changed the range of colours into something warmer and more natural than what appears to be pink and blue neon.

THis was achieved by used the white, film-like colour ring over the rotolight, which softened the image and less light and contrast was picked up between the lights and shadows.

This final lighting test was with two of the rotolight. Due to the fact that the main light is brighter than the other, I used the blue film cover due to the fact that red was already the background cover. The light on the right was pink; it was an effective way of replicating an eery, neon location on a minimal budget.

Mooodboard ideas

After listening to my chosen song again and again, I took it upon myself to create a moodboard of things I would like to incorporate into my music video.

1. Wolves: I very much like the idea of having my puppet being a wolf, and perhaps he is hunting down the three little pigs throughout the song. When there is a break in the song, this could be when he finds out that he falls in love with the last pig. They are also aggressive, will be fun to 'punk up' and the puppet on amazon only costs £14.

2. Hotline Miami/Drive - I like the juxtapose of this electronic, eighties orientated, neon-bubblegum if it was incorporated in the music video. Also, the bright colours and darker, atmospheric undertones are my inspiration for lighting the piece.

3. Ed Sheeran puppet: After watching his music video, the idea of having a human musician and a puppet version of himself wreaking havoc seems interesting and in key with the Jim Henson-esque genre.

4. Punk fashion and slipknot are as close as I have come to whilst thinking about costumes.

5. The beginning of the unknown track reminds me quite a lot of the intro to vikings (written by Fever Ray), so the aggression of that show has bought me onto the ultraviolent way of thinking.

6. Therefore, the Clockwork orange came to mind with its stylish violence and intriguing colour schemes and overall style.

7. In Capital Cities' music video titled "Kangaroo Court", the animal kingdom is depicted as a class system of people in masks; this has nothing to do with what I want in the music video, but there is a scene where red confetti explodes from the pig-butcher's chainsaws, which I am very interested in incorporating.

8. he grungy, disjointed music reminds me a lot of Queens of the Stone Age's ...Like Clockwork album mini-movie, which I adore for the artwork and colours.

Intertexuality | Tarantino

Intertextuality is when a form of media references another. You may have witnessed the Big Band Theory's heavy-handed examples of putting pop culture references into their show in place of actually comedy. Other examples are of adaptations or 'inspiration' for the creation of something. For example, the plot to Lion King was heavily devised from Hamlet.


A director who frequently uses Intertextuality in his work is Quentin Tarantino:


In one of Tarantino's earlier films Pulp Fiction, the character of Marcell's Wife blatantly describes the plot to his later project: Kill Bill, which is, in itself, an insane mesh of pop culture and movie references. There's music from the classic television series Green Hornet, The Bride dresses in bruce Lee's yellow jump suit during the fight scene etc.


Many more examples of intertextuality can be found in this short video:



Quentin Tarantino, In my view, is not the greatest director - but he is one of the most famous due to his successful merger of genres. he himself decided to go into the movie business whilst working at a video store; a friend of him encouraged him to write a script: That script just so happened to be Reservoir Dogs. Since then, many of his films have been salutes to his favourite genres.


Django Unchained (Blaxploitation/Western), Inglourious Basterds (War), Death proof (Exploitation), and Kill Bill (A Samurai movie which is also spliced together with elements of a Spaghetti Western.) The soundtrack itself features music from Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy.

Puppets & Eminem

Contextually, there is a very fine line between punk and hip hop: Both genres originated from the working class who wish to either escape their hum drum lives or make the world a better play. Anarchy, rebellion and revolution go hand in hand - and musicians such as Eminem are skilled at getting their own personal views and experiences across to their audience in quite a comedic nature. Much like Nerd Rock and Indie Hip Hop, his lyrics are hyper-literate and more narrative than contextual.

In the music video "Ass Like That", he is featured rapping with a puppet on his hand, telling the audience that he can say anything he wants to (very sexist things) if he's behind a symbol or a fun character. This is a metaphor for the music industry and various other platforms in social media: If you are likeable or famous, lots of your mistakes will be ruled off as quirky.

Examples of this vary from Justin Beiber to Amy Winehouse: strong personalities who eventually get away with murder due to their star status; they are puppets of social media and the views of the ruling class (a little bit of sociology in there for you) which keeps the proletariat under the assumption that they too can gain fame if they are talented or hard-working enough: A meritocracy of 'likeableness'.

• Thought Beats: The song is slow and features what I think is called a Tumbi (an Indian string instrument that makes the metallic, high-pitched strums between verses). There are also breaks in the music when Eminem begins to rap in an accent that isn't his own, which is completely out of sync with the slow, melodic backing music. Similar to punk, the lyrics are aggressive and actually conceal a social message.

• Narrative & Performance: The narrative of the music video is that Eminem is shouting out against the media to leave him alone, when he is in fact doing scandalous things such as frequenting strip clubs, making sex tapes and masturbating in a theatre--which he always gets forgiven for because he has a puppet-dog sidekick who can get away with anything.

• Star Image: Eminem is frequently seen being admired on the red carpet by baying crowds, and raps alongside other celebrities. Also, he has an obscene amount of scantily clad back-up dancers as he sings to the camera, creating that theory of looking that caters to an audience of ten year old boy who probably want to be him.

• Relation of Visuals to Song: Eminem and the puppet are lip syncing to the song. A running story of scandals typical to celebrities orientated around Eminem. He constantly drops names of celebrities to improve his credibility - and said celebrities appear as puppets in the video...He also uses a sling whilst singing about his slinky going "doyng doyng (and I quote,) doyng."

• Technical Aspects of Video: At the beginning, establishing shots and crowd scene are quickly shown. There are people cheering. The setting is a red carpet venue and the actors roll up in limousines. Mid shots are a common camera angle due to the fact that puppets and Eminem with a puppet on his hand and most commonly seen. Additionally, there are several low angel shots as Eminem does the typical rapper move of singing into a cameras on the floor to make himself seem taller or more powerful than the audience.

The idea of using puppets in a music video fascinates me. Well, it interests me more than hiring unreliable actors: Puppets are flexible, moderately cheap to make and will stretch me to be more creative in my music video as opposed to lip syncing a person in a plain white background.

Additionally, it is different. The punk genre prides itself in being just that, and it would be a witty take on Eminem's Ass like that due to the fact that the punk song's lyrics are actually quite positive ( and might actually appeal to a younger generation...sans a few curse words here or there.).