The Black Keys' CD Cover of the album "Brothers".
Monday, 23 November 2015
Thursday, 19 November 2015
Preliminary Project: Beck - Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime
For my preliminary project for my A2 music video I did Beck's Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime and I decided to give it a very arty feel with a simplistic performance piece that features a blurry lens, poured water rewinded and close-ups on flowers. A very arty piece that I shot with my friend (who is the main guitarist in the band I am making a music video for) in an attempt to create an illusory, weird, utopia-like film involving nature and blandness. I believe that I achieved my aspirations but was disappointed with the overall music video that I had made, I made a lot of mistakes with editing, planning and with some technology. Therefore, in my music video I will plan a lot more and use a lot more technology I am familiar with and will explore avenues of editing that I am willing to learn to a high standard.
Similar artists to TRASH - Spector - Case Study
I have decided to do some research not only into the genre of indie-rock but into their style as a whole (music video and social media tendencies).
One band that is similar to TRASH is Spector, especially through their stylistic music video in All The Sad Young Men directed by Laura Baker. It follows a similar style to TRASH's Hot Coffee through its low-quality montage of friends. Verification of the band's genuine friendship and suaveness. Similar to each other in their satirical nature as in All The Sad Young Men they are playing on a '1D' Merchandise Booth as they probably don't listen to '1D' but are sarcastically mocking the band. However, differences occur with motifs and professionalism of footage, throughout All The Sad Young Men it focusses on a young woman and young man having a good time whilst out at a party but it is juxtaposed by the anti-love song, the depressive lyrics of:
"do you like my clothes?
my hair?
my conversation?
did you hear me when i said you were the inspiration?
it's all meaningless now
as it was meaningless then
all the miserable girls
all the sad young men"
These lyrics hint at the author's paramour unappreciating them parallel with a man and a woman dancing that emphasises the sexualisation of the woman dancing around a pole. The rather melancholy lyrics about inattentive relationships parallel with the drunken madness of a night out with the couple hints at a greater sadness as happiness and depression is compared so closely.
At further investigation due to the words "did you hear me when I said you were the inspiration?" hints at a autobiographic song as it is implied the lyricist was referencing a love song that they had written. The repetition of 'meaningless' gives the song an uncomfortable take on young relationships and creates a rather misanthropic feel and depressive tone.
TRASH are similar with style of music video but opposite with messages in songs. Brochures is about running away with your lover and All The Sad Young Men displays messages of disappointment and the waste of time that relationships are.
Spector are also similar to TRASH in another of their songs, as they mock the indie-rock genre (similar to TRASH when they mocked the fickleness of music taste when they claimed to be selling Stone Roses tickets. The music video shows somebody googling "indie rock video" which hints that the genre is similar and are all out to copy each other. The lack of individualism and originality in indie rock is a key issue that Spector are addressing here and TRASH do similar things through their Tweets.
One band that is similar to TRASH is Spector, especially through their stylistic music video in All The Sad Young Men directed by Laura Baker. It follows a similar style to TRASH's Hot Coffee through its low-quality montage of friends. Verification of the band's genuine friendship and suaveness. Similar to each other in their satirical nature as in All The Sad Young Men they are playing on a '1D' Merchandise Booth as they probably don't listen to '1D' but are sarcastically mocking the band. However, differences occur with motifs and professionalism of footage, throughout All The Sad Young Men it focusses on a young woman and young man having a good time whilst out at a party but it is juxtaposed by the anti-love song, the depressive lyrics of:
"do you like my clothes?
my hair?
my conversation?
did you hear me when i said you were the inspiration?
it's all meaningless now
as it was meaningless then
all the miserable girls
all the sad young men"
These lyrics hint at the author's paramour unappreciating them parallel with a man and a woman dancing that emphasises the sexualisation of the woman dancing around a pole. The rather melancholy lyrics about inattentive relationships parallel with the drunken madness of a night out with the couple hints at a greater sadness as happiness and depression is compared so closely.
At further investigation due to the words "did you hear me when I said you were the inspiration?" hints at a autobiographic song as it is implied the lyricist was referencing a love song that they had written. The repetition of 'meaningless' gives the song an uncomfortable take on young relationships and creates a rather misanthropic feel and depressive tone.
TRASH are similar with style of music video but opposite with messages in songs. Brochures is about running away with your lover and All The Sad Young Men displays messages of disappointment and the waste of time that relationships are.
Spector are also similar to TRASH in another of their songs, as they mock the indie-rock genre (similar to TRASH when they mocked the fickleness of music taste when they claimed to be selling Stone Roses tickets. The music video shows somebody googling "indie rock video" which hints that the genre is similar and are all out to copy each other. The lack of individualism and originality in indie rock is a key issue that Spector are addressing here and TRASH do similar things through their Tweets.
Artist Case Study - TRASH
The group I will be shooting a music video for is a new and young indie band from Chesterfield and are called 'TRASH'.
Through social media 'TRASH' portray themselves very immature, unprofessional and generally messy (supported by their homemade music video called..), they frequently post satirical images and statuses and mock many stereotypes of the teenage generation and their stupidity over social medias.
The image I am referencing is where 2 of their members are posing in front of adult magazines with a creepy smirk and their guitar. This is a typical TRASH social media stunt as they are highlighting their immaturities and their sense of humour. Their teenage boy childishness is juxtaposed with Evan Martin (guitarist) and his excess of facial hair. They frequently use Twitter and Facebook to post funny statuses such as "I wanna be a door" and "selling 30 stone roses tickets £300 each. good price retweet" that mock many teenagers and their fickleness in music taste.
Through social media and their music videos it is apparent that TRASH don't want to be taken too seriously, despite their songs motifs and mature messages their appearance is that drives them as a satirical band. These pictures together show their closeness, friendship and togetherness as a group and I want to reflect this in my music video by having all of them in it and having film that expresses their close bonds.
TRASH are a young band but have already made a few music videos, one being for their song "Hot Coffee". The video is shot on what seems to be a home video camera, I would like to recreate this authenticity and homeliness parallel with them shooting in a recording studio, the ambience of the montage forces the band and audience a bond and introduces us to what seems as inside jokes with the witty group.
Through social media 'TRASH' portray themselves very immature, unprofessional and generally messy (supported by their homemade music video called..), they frequently post satirical images and statuses and mock many stereotypes of the teenage generation and their stupidity over social medias.
The image I am referencing is where 2 of their members are posing in front of adult magazines with a creepy smirk and their guitar. This is a typical TRASH social media stunt as they are highlighting their immaturities and their sense of humour. Their teenage boy childishness is juxtaposed with Evan Martin (guitarist) and his excess of facial hair. They frequently use Twitter and Facebook to post funny statuses such as "I wanna be a door" and "selling 30 stone roses tickets £300 each. good price retweet" that mock many teenagers and their fickleness in music taste.
Through social media and their music videos it is apparent that TRASH don't want to be taken too seriously, despite their songs motifs and mature messages their appearance is that drives them as a satirical band. These pictures together show their closeness, friendship and togetherness as a group and I want to reflect this in my music video by having all of them in it and having film that expresses their close bonds.
TRASH are a young band but have already made a few music videos, one being for their song "Hot Coffee". The video is shot on what seems to be a home video camera, I would like to recreate this authenticity and homeliness parallel with them shooting in a recording studio, the ambience of the montage forces the band and audience a bond and introduces us to what seems as inside jokes with the witty group.
With Evan Martin (Guitarist) picking his nose on camera to Bradley Weston (Drummer) changing the tire on his car, this homemade concoction of touring, recording and FIFA 10 is the reason for such a funny, informative and unique concept of a music video.
Editing
Hot Coffee's editing appears that it has been rushed and completed on Windows Movie Maker and I won't be recreating this in mine. With discussions with the band I will be able to create a music video with innovative editing and interesting camera shots whilst being able to showcase my skills whilst complying to TRASH's minimalist approach they love using with their editing, shooting and appearances.
Editing
Hot Coffee's editing appears that it has been rushed and completed on Windows Movie Maker and I won't be recreating this in mine. With discussions with the band I will be able to create a music video with innovative editing and interesting camera shots whilst being able to showcase my skills whilst complying to TRASH's minimalist approach they love using with their editing, shooting and appearances.
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975) - Laura Mulvey
Here is my presentation featuring Laura Mulvey when she coined the phrase "Male Gaze".
Tuesday, 13 October 2015
Music Video Regulation
Music Video Regulation
BBFC regulate music videos standing for British Board of Film Classification. They regulate music videos through Age Ratings An age rating is a guidance for the audience and the guardian of the viewer to suggest whether it is a suitable film or not.
In the interview with Krissi Murison, associate editor of the Sunday Times on the Today Programme (Radio 4), she stated that "[regulation of music video] would work with the constant parental supervision but in real life I'm not convinced".
Another option is full censorship, however, censorship of music videos only promotes that song instead of deterring them from watching it, for example, The Prodigy's Smack My B***h Up (uncensored version) has 1,940,869 views where as the censored version has about 4,000 views.
A different take onto the situation is that instead of censoring everything, banning and preventing everything the other option is to just have open relationships with the children, by keeping them fully aware of the internet and the videos that it has on it, this removes the 'coolness' of censored videos by having the right amount of exposure.
One example of a banned music video was M.I.A. - Born Free probably because the video features the mass genocide of gingers. This video was banned off of YouTube and was only viewable on Vevo, this is due to its severely racist themes and tendencies within. The ideological concerns with is are racism, a crime that is contemporarily being combatted by a lot of organisations.
Another banned music video was Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, a song I had no intention of listening to, however, due to its controversy I felt obliged to watch the video to see what the fuss was all about, after the helium balloons spelling out "Robin Thicke Has A Big D**k" I realised.
Lily Allen mocked Thicke's helium balloon exhibition and spelled out "Lily Allen Has A Baggy P***y" in her song "Hard Out Here" and critics called her out on it.
Later on Lily Allen caused controversy again with her song "Our Time" as MTV wanted a clean version. Lily Allen responded.
"MTV want to ban the 'Our Time' video during the daytime, unless they get a clean edit that show you a) NOT DRINKING FROM A FLASK and b) NOT DISPLAYING ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR FROM DRINKING BY FIGHTING WITH THE HOT DOG. I told the label we are NOT making a clean version of the video."
and I stand by Lily Allen's statement, this video shows mild taboo that everyone is familiar with, this is in fact quite comical, Thicke's uncensored video isn't. M.I.A.'s version isn't. The Prodigy's video is not.
In my opinion regulation of such abundance is impossible, even though I wouldn't want my younger siblings watching the mass genocide of gingers but there is nothing stopping them from claiming to be over 18. I think the only potential solutions are 1) not hiding anything, just having the age rating as a warning but having an open relationship with the younger audiences.
Thursday, 8 October 2015
Q Magazine: "Mini-Movie" Music Video
The underlying message to Q Magazine's article was that Mini-Movies are ruining Music Video.
They state that Mini Movies such as Bitch Better Have My Money by Rihanna is "long, self-regarding, hubristic and flamboyantly expensive" to this I agree, and I also find the parallel statistics of artists who create a Mini-Movie and quickly perish in the music industry pretty humorous. The music video is just horrendous, excessively bloody just to be controversial. It makes me cringe to think that Rihanna's producers thought it was a good idea to make this video.
The article regards Mini-Movies as a last stab at regaining popularity at being different but there are not many good examples, however, saying this I really enjoyed Kendrick Lamar's Alright because it wasn't "snooty" as the article suggested others were. It's political messages and portrayal of the racial injustice in America between black people and the authorities features a hard hitting poem that ends with Kendrick Lamar being shot, inferring that whenever a Black Man stands out, is deviant to everyone else (as Kendrick flies in his video and stands on a lamppost) the policeman doesn't interact with him, he just points his finger and shoots. The video has strong messages as it initially is parallel with a narration by Kendrick Lamar and the message is amplified.
These two Mini-Movies are great examples of a good Mini-Movie and a terrible Mini-Movie. One complimenting what the article states, one contradicting it.
Mini-movies give the song a strong narrative and has the potential to have a real strong effect and message. However, the risk can turn sour and be misconstrued.
They state that Mini Movies such as Bitch Better Have My Money by Rihanna is "long, self-regarding, hubristic and flamboyantly expensive" to this I agree, and I also find the parallel statistics of artists who create a Mini-Movie and quickly perish in the music industry pretty humorous. The music video is just horrendous, excessively bloody just to be controversial. It makes me cringe to think that Rihanna's producers thought it was a good idea to make this video.
The article regards Mini-Movies as a last stab at regaining popularity at being different but there are not many good examples, however, saying this I really enjoyed Kendrick Lamar's Alright because it wasn't "snooty" as the article suggested others were. It's political messages and portrayal of the racial injustice in America between black people and the authorities features a hard hitting poem that ends with Kendrick Lamar being shot, inferring that whenever a Black Man stands out, is deviant to everyone else (as Kendrick flies in his video and stands on a lamppost) the policeman doesn't interact with him, he just points his finger and shoots. The video has strong messages as it initially is parallel with a narration by Kendrick Lamar and the message is amplified.
These two Mini-Movies are great examples of a good Mini-Movie and a terrible Mini-Movie. One complimenting what the article states, one contradicting it.
Mini-movies give the song a strong narrative and has the potential to have a real strong effect and message. However, the risk can turn sour and be misconstrued.
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