Mood Board Draft One

For our music video we have decided to use the song 'This is the Life' by Two Door Cinema Club. It fits into the genre of indie music, so I have thrown together images relating to the indie genre and the conventions and stylistic features that we are going to use in creating the video. I have illustrated the visual stimulus that would be associated with this genre- with examples of existing bands, fonts, stop motion animation, film grain, and the general style associated with the music, in the hope that this will give a clearer idea to the respective audience.

Digipak Research

This is my favourite digipak release from a band, it is essentially twelve blisters containing a 3 inch cd featuring one track on each disk, which had to be popped through the foil in order to be played. All credits were printed out on a medicinal information sheet and contained warnings on the possible side effects of listening to the band. Designed by Farrow/Spaceman.



The whole concept is pursued fully, with the hospital connotations continuing with every aspect of the digipak, from the ingenious track listings on the medicinal sheet, to the print on the side of the packet stating '12 tablets 70 min' in the typical pharmaceutical font, and the band name with a registered trade mark sign that not only anchors down the connotations of hospitals and treatment, but also the concept that it is an album and not just a prescription packet.

Digipaks

Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot" rather than a full plastic tray.

Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets. Because such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than jewel cases, it tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly.

Digipak-style cases grew in popularity among record labels and recording artists in the early 2000s.

Historically, Digipak was only available in large quantities. However, AGI has recently introduced a new product called digipak i-create for the consumer market. Digipak i-create is a web-supported concept that is aimed at the download, music, photo and creative markets.

- Extracted from Wikipedia

Further Research

As the genre we have decided to focus on is under the 'Indie and Alternative' genre, I have began to look at video's that fit into this classification, and note some of the usual conventions that feature in these sorts of video.


I have decided to focus on Alternative/Indie music videos for my research, as the song I have in mind fits into this genre.

The video 'Ooh La' by The Kooks illustrates many of the conventions typically found in pop rock / alternative videos. It focuses around a loose narrative in which a girlfriend of the band member is run over by a car, however it is not overtly structured around this and is most definitley an amplifying music video, as although this event is never mentioned in the lyrics the song is about the relationship between him and his past girlfriend- 'and ooh la, she was such a good girl to me
And ooh la, the world just chewed her up, and spat her out.' It focuses more on shots of the band, as well as shots of day to day life that are prominent within the video. It also incorporates old film footage, and is filmed with a grainy filter in black and white.



Another technique prominent within alternative music videos is Stop Motion. An animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved partially between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence.

This technique is used within Kate Nash's music video- 'Foundations'



This video is also Amplifying, as although the lyrics are not acted out step by step the general theme of someone in a relationship becoming increasingly disillusioned by their partner is pretty dominant in the video. I love the general mise en scene of a colourful and quirky setting, alongside the use of ordinary house hold objects that are used to illustrate the message and emotions of the video with the Stop Motion technique.

Emma and I liked these techniques so much we decided to experiment with film grain, different effects like the sepia and black and white tones, as well as stop motion animation using people and objects. Here is the finished project of our short experimentation with these techniques:

Planning

We had to ask for permission to use the song 'This Is The Life' by Two Door Cinema Club, so we emailed the manager of the band telling him about our course and if he and the band would allow us to use it.



After choosing the song it allowed us to have some clearer ideas for our video, from the use of the lyrics, to the general feel of the track. This video fits into the Alternative/Indie genre so I am going to research videos already produced by Two Door Cinema Club as well as other music videos that fit into this category.

Here is the song we have chosen-

Media 2.0

Flew suggested that the Internet stands out because it is networked, interactive and enables two way communication. Flew also suggested that the internet allows users to be both producers and consumers of the content.

In contrast to the past, before the development of the internet audiences can now be seen to be both producers and consumers of content. This is evident on sites such as 'YouTube' as the audience are able to not only watch and comment on videos, but upload and create their own videos. Social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook also allow audiences to be both prouducers and consumers. MySpace allows consumers to upload their own music and get reviews on it, as well as enabling audiences to watch and subscribe to other's music.

The shift from Media 1.0 to Media 2.0 allows the task of creating a promotional package for an album release a lot easier. Instead of having to physically take the package to people to get feedback and to promote it, you can just upload it online and get instant feedback off the target audience. Websites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are perfect for promoting artists.

As David Gauntlett suggests we no longer get fed the views of the corporations such as the bbc and have to work our life around their schedules, we can now take control of our own media, producing and watching media products in an accessible and most often free alternative using the internet. The media world has shifted from a 'Push' media to a 'Pull' media.

The Cultural Studies Approach Perspective on Audience:

David Morley developed a theory to understand how the media might be powerful in influencing audiences through effects research, yet also encourage researchers to understand the active nature of certain audiences using the gratifications theory.

The approach sees audiences as active, stating that different audiences adopt different standpoints in relation to the values expressed within a media text:

Preferred reading- The audience recognise the values being offered by the text and accepts them as natural and correct.

Negotiated reading- The audience recognise the values in the text as legitimate and accept them in general, but adapt their reading of the text to fit in with their experiences and interest.

Oppositional reading- The audience understands the values in the text, but disagrees with them and rejects them.

This theory contradicts the 'Effects Model Theory' as it opposes the psychological methods of testing and instead utilises the sociological methods of testing audiences consumption. Where the Effects Model views audiences as passive, sometimes referred to as the Hypodermic needle theory where the message is 'injected' into the audience and psychologically changes their behaviour, the Cultural Studies theory views audiences as active which then enables audiences to take different reading positions in relation to a media text.

Theorists on Music Videos: Propp and Strauss

Theroists on Music Videos: Goodwin

Goodwin has identified a number of key features in music videos, I have tried to find the best example of a video that encorporates as many of these features as possible. Although I feel that the major flaw in these categorisations is that they are too broad to allow a tight encompassing of a particular genre to a music video, as it is difficult to find a video that has all of these aspects integrated. However it is obvious that these are common traits in individual videos.

-A relationship between the lyrics and visual, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. (The song is about 'partying in the usa' and the video is literally, a party in the usa)



- A relationship between the music and visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music. (Edits are cut on the beat, the choreography is in time with the music, Miley Cyrus mimes to the lyrics and the visuals are interpreted from the essence of the lyrics and music)

- Genre related style and iconography present. (The song has a country style rhythm and melody and the visuals reflect this with the mise-en-scene of a texas desert, with westernised cars and props and costumes with 'dukes of hazard' hot pants and cowboy boots, with american flags highly prominent in the background)



- Intertextual references to other media texts may be present. (References to 'Jay Z song was on' / 'I see the Hollywood sign' / 'The Britney song was on')

- Multiple close ups of the main artist or vocalists. (A mixture of shots ranging from wide to extreme closee ups of the lead singer, frequently throughout the video)



- Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females. (Numerous shots of women dancing suggestively from the lead singer, to girls dancing in the background, in a more voyeuristic manner)

Theroists on Music Videos: Todorov

Todorov's narrative theory:

The theory that there are five stages in narrative structure-

* Equilibrium
* Disequilibrium (disruption)
* Recognition
* Reparation
* New equilibrium

Here is an example of this theory applied to a working example:

The View - Same Jeans (Official Music Video). Watch more top selected videos about: The View

The first shot illustrates the equilibrium of lead singer Kyle with dark lighting and a medium close up of him sleeping in bed.

The disruption occurs when someone knocks on the door calling his name and waking him up. This is illustrated with a close up on his face, and a shift in lighting and perspective giving the impression of morning light.

The recognition begins when we see a close up of Kyles legs (in jeans, which is also a link to the title of the song) as he gets out of bed, and he walks over to the curtains where a wide angle shot reveals him opening the curtains and looking out to the view of the morning, resulting in a change to bright lighting and the beginning of the music, signalling a start to the video.

The reparation is signalled by Kyle walking on stage to the gig he is performing at, finally completing the task he was woken up to do. With a drastic lighting change, to red strobe lights and a typical mise-en-scene of a bustling rock gig, with fast edits on beat and close ups of the band members. We then see Kyle come off stage and work his way through numerous house parties, with point of view shots, and a hand held camera. He walks the streets until he arrives back at his hotel.

The new equilibrium is restored as Kyle makes his way up to his room and we see him fall onto the bed illustrated in a slow motion wide shot, as he gets ready to go back to sleep.

The representation of male figures in the video is residual in the fact that men are viewed as slovenly creatures with poor hygiene and lazy tendencies, leading a hedonistic lifestyle of drugs rock and roll and parties, as well as the stereotypical 'rock and roll' band. Having a young white male construct the narrative is also typical of music videos, and therefore the video doesn't really challenge these residual stereotypes of gender, and the only emergent idea is that of the females in the crowd scene who are showed to be in the midst of the action being pushed and dancing wildly, as this view of 'moshing' is more commonly associated with men.