Choreography for dance section

(1,2) Sway right, left

(3,4) Kick left leg to side

(5,6) Prepare for pirouette

(7,8) Double pirouette

(1,2) Rise stepping forwards and rising arms right left

(3,4) Lean down bending right knee and stretching left heel

(5) Lead with right hand around in circle

(6,7,8) spins to upstage diagonal

(1,2) contraction to front stage

(3,4) Shasta to downstage diagonal

(5,6) Scissor leap

(7,8) attitude turn to right

Ideas for digipak photos

These photos were taken at sun set in a wood near to where I live and are for the photography design digipak:

I edited the third image down by putting a blue filter through it, to give it a colder feel:

Reflecting on how my research is going so far with A2

I am trying to be very thorough with my research, by analysing everything and finding photos and videos to back up my research. This often means that I fall behind and have to go back to tasks, which is getting everything a bit muddled up on my blog. Also I have been trying to look at more than just the minimum requirement to get a better understanding of the tasks and hopefully boost my grade. Me and the person I am working with have already exchanged mobile numbers so that we can keep in touch outside of the lessons as well to exchange ideas and let the other know of any circumstances which may arise and effect the project. Also we will book any equipment which we want to take out, and plan to use lighting and will need to book out the music studio. I think that with my research so far I still need to broaden the amount of resources which I am looking at, maybe but looking for them in magazines and looking at their merchandise.

Since AS I think my research skills have improved a lot, because my knowledge of sources have widened as l have been looking on the online shopping websites which sell their music and their own websites as well as just the YouTube clips of them performing. I am also including in my blog and experimenting with every idea which I have to try and get the best out-come overall. This year we will plan out our shoots better by keeping a more rigorous time schedule, because last time we didn’t plan out the whole thing at the start, and although there wasn’t any issues with it, this video is going to have a lot of cuts, and with lots of different scenes, so it will be nice to have a good idea about what we are going to do, how we are doing to do it, and when would be the best time. Especially as we would like to film in the woods at dusk when it’s looking dingy, so will have to pick a night when the weather is right. Plus I would like to experiment with different techniques more this year, to learn more about lighting, filters and other effects. I would like to put a blue filter on a lot of the shots, especially those in the woods and outside to make the video feel cold as well as being a link to the references to water.

I need to improve on my lip syncing, as it appeared to be a weakness especially in the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ video and ruins the whole video. To do this I will make sure that whenever filming a clip where lip-syncing is taking place, I will play the ‘Monster’ song whilst filming, so the character knows which part they are meant to be doing, and keeps it in time. Also one of the effects in the AS video were pointless and didn’t make sense to the audience, and so we need to make sure that both of us know why the other has added something in and discuss it.

To try to impress the examiner I need to start keeping a list of the websites I have got the information from and magazines or other media forms I have looks at, so the examiner knows that I have been thorough with my research. Also being creative with the camera angles and shots fits in with the stylistic qualities of the pop punk rock genre, so will be able to link and back up the decision to use any type of shot.

Initial Ideas

Narrative:

There is a very open narrative to the lyric of this song, which makes it easier for the audience to relate to, because they could identify with it no matter what is on their mind. The main part of the chorus which says 'stop the whole world from turning into a monster' implies that they are trying to do the right thing and save everything which is going wrong. The start implies the singer is talking about more people than just herself, referring to 'we' but not implying the gender or type of relationship means that it could be the relationship between any 2 or more people in any circumstance, but the mention of 'heart' shows a strong bond. The second verse is almost like claiming innocence, and blaming someone or something other than themselves. The tempo is very uplifting, like giving you the energy to carry on. Although it isn’t a particularly happy song, it doesn’t make you feel depressed.

Visual Style:

A lot of emphasis is put on the facial expressions of the artists, which communicate the emotion of the song to the audience. It also pays a lot of attention to the instruments with a lot of close ups. The editing often fits in with the tempo of the music, as if it’s very fast the cuts will be rapid. The cuts are also done in time with the music, and to emphasis certain points or notes in the piece. Unlike music videos in genres such as dance, where direct shots, whereas in the pop punk rock genre they experiment with the angles and shots a lot which means they don’t last very long, and are usually almost still images, but makes it look more interesting. The videos are often performance with narrative, as use it to show the audience who the band are and gain themselves exposure and publicity, as well as communicating a theme or idea to the sing, and giving the song a meaning and therefore more appeal to the audience. For the lighting I would like to have a blue filter when filming in the woods, to give a creepy effect and enhance the fact we are filming at night. Also as we will e filming in October, the woods will look very autumnal. Then in the studio i think it would look good to use a monochrome effect whilst actually filming, as it looks better than changing it to black and white in post production. 

Cast:

Girl who performs the singer and lip-syncing as the performer in the studio and standing in the woods, is different to the girl who performs the narrative without lip syncing who appears in other clips such as by the lake, on the peer, in the bedroom and other locations.

Practicalities (filming locations, costumes, time to film, etc.):

In a wood (possibly Apley wood because it has a lake and peer), by a lake, in a studio and in a bedroom. Costume would need to be the stereotypical pop punk rock fashion which is skinny jeans and t-shirt for the studio and recording room, using one main colour which is used for props and any other characters throughout. The costume for performing in the woods would be an evening dress, or something which a singer would usually wear on stage. The dance clips would be wearing dance clothes. The lake and peer clips would be wearing the same stereotypical punk pop rock clothing as in the studio. Filming would be best done in the evening because it would look good to have a dusk effect which would be dingy. As it would be in October, being autumn means the trees would be different shades of orange, red, brown and green which would look nice, plus a possible autumn sun set if we time it on the right night.

How this all links back to research into other media products:

This all links back to Paramore’s videos which they have released because we got the idea of filming performance in a wood from their video 'Decode'. Their videos are very typical of the punk pop rock genre, promoting themselves as performers by adding performance in, then promoting their song at the same time by adding in a narrative and having the band acting out as characters. The costume is very typical to the fashion sense of young people today (which we will use in our video) and using Paramore’s signature colours for a basis for this.

Plan for Digipak

Photograph Design
Location: Woods
Subject: Photograph or a wood at sunset, with the figure of a person standing behind a tree on the front, and the face of one of the girls in the video on the back (faded and semi transparent into the trees)
Pose: Facial expression = looking upset
Costume: Person standing behind the tree wearing black clothes and face on the front with hair blowing forwards
Angle: Direct approach
Font: Although in all of paramore's album cover's they use the same font for the artist's name and the name of the album, i wanted to do something different, although keeping it in the orange/red colour
Visual Sketch:

Artwork Design

Target Audience

The age range for people who are most likely to listen to the punk pop rock genre are teenagers and people aged between 13-24. It seems to appeal to a large proportion of this age range, but mainly groups of stereotypically people originally known in the 80s as punk-rockers, and now more popularly known as emos or scene kids who wear brightly coloured skinny jeans and t-shirts (similar to the artists of the music they listen to). So in my video i will need to include characters dressed in this type of clothing and within this age group.

Paramore Digipaks

All We Know Is Falling (released 24th April 2006)

Uses a Photo-shopped photograph. The brightness and contrast of colours has been increased, and stars added to the sky, but not as heavily photo-shopped as some album covers in the punk pop rock genre.

The main focus of the cover seems to be the red sofa, and the ‘Paramore’ above.

Riot (released 25th June 2007)

The main and biggest word draws attention by being orange/red in colour which fits with Hayley’s unique hair colour at the time, and a lot of their videos take this colour scheme.

‘Paramore’ is written within the cover, but doesn’t draw as much attention. It says ‘Paramore’ on the left of the cover.

Uses Artwork

Brand New Eyes (28th September 2009)

This cover also uses artwork. The first album cover uses a photograph, but then artwork for the second and third albums, so they must have thought it worked better. They are all quite abstracts and random designs, but often the design is used within the music videos as well, as in Misery Business the ‘Riot’ where the design is used all over the backdrop in the performance section which helps promote the album.

The cover from the ‘Brand New Eyes’ album, has a picture of a butterfly which has had its wings taken off links with the video for the song ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ which is in the album, as it contains a younger version Hayley Williams wearing fairy wings which she takes off in the end, and links with the lyrics ‘ripping wings off butterflies’. Also butterflies fly past the screen throughout. This song is essentially about growing up, and throughout their albums you can tell they are growing up, as the first cover doesn’t really show much about then, then ‘Riot’ seems to show their teenage rebellious and fun personality, whereas ‘Brand New Eyes’ seems a lot more grown up and calm in comparison. None of them show a picture of the band themselves, although they have released posters which show photos or heavily photo-shopped photos which are blended into artwork. They usually use only one colour per design, with their first album having the red sofa, the second album having the orang/red 'Riot!' and their third album having the yellow butterfly. These colour schemes also link with the colours they tend to dress in, hayley's hair colour, and the main colours and occasionally the tint on the lighting of the music video. The font on all 3 albums is also the same.

Photo of Hayley Williams wearing a Ramones t-shirt

This shows that Hayley Williams is a fan of the Ramones, as fans of bands often buy and wear t-shirts to support and promote their favourite bands. This also implies the Hayley had influence from this original punk band, which is likely to have inspired her own musical style.

Analysis of Evanescence Music Video

This video had an impact on me, because the deep meaningful narrative was portrayed really well in it due to effective camera work, editing, mise-en-scene and sound. The start is an overly cheesy TV advert in which the singer of the band and main character of the video stars in. But by the end of this scene, the music and her facial expression changes to a much darker, depressing feel which proves that the way the character appeared at the start was completely fake to how she really feels. Throughout the video it continuously cuts between her in the adverts doing her job and being the fake person that everyone thinks she is, in contrast to the unstable person who doesnt care about her appearance that she really is. She is never seen to be with anyone else other than a photographer an a few other actors with in the video (who she probably doesnt really know or care about) which implies a lonely existance, probably onbe of the reasons she is so unhappy.

Paramore

Paramore was formed as a Pop Punk Rock band in Franklin, America in 2004 and includes Hayley Williams (vocalist), Jeremy Davis (bassist) and Taylor York (Guitarist). I chose them because I have always liked their music and they are a prime example of the pop punk rock genre because their lyrics are original and the music is very up tempo which goes with their performance which is full of energy. Their signature colours are yellow, an orange/red and dark red. This has come from the colours Hayley dies her hair, but is also used throughout their music videos and digipaks. Their fashion sense is also typical to the genre, but the band still wear mainly their signature colours and they show their support for other bands (becoming the fans) which makes them easier for the audience to relate to.
Their target audience is probably adolescents aged 13-20, because their relatable lyrics and easy listening music is ideal for people wanting to find some identity with bands or just some light hearted songs. Hayley’s bold charisma gained them instant attention and fans, and was soon signed to Florida indie label Fueled by Ramen. Their 2007 album ‘Riot’ which sold over 2 million copies was nominated for the Grammy Award ‘Best New Artist’ in 2008 and their live CD/DVD ‘The Final Riot!’ went gold. They enjoy doing the live shows most, so performance is always a big part of their work and videos.

The Pop Punk Rock Genre

The New York Dolls, MC5 and The Velvet Underground are seen as the original punk artists. The Ramones are seen to be the beginning of modern pop punk music which was influenced by bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Damned, and other English bands. The music style didn’t attract a big audience to start with because it rejected mainstream culture and was associated to many as being disillusioned and rebellious which was destroying the mentality of the youth.

A typical song is around 3 and a half minutes long, including heavy and simplistic guitars, martial rhythms, and droll vocals. Classic punk lyrics were often challenging the government, about crime, poverty and other social problems. Whereas current pop punk artists usually sing about real life light hearted teenage lifestyle topics such as teen romance, having fun and growing up. Depending on the artist they sometime sing about drink and drugs. The Ramones and the Sex Pistols songs were full of anger, whereas Greenday, Blink182 and Paramore are more light hearted but still full of the same amount of energy and attitude which isn’t seen in any of the other music genres. Many American bands developed a sound which included more complex, extended guitar jams more suited to stadium rock. The genre is still developing, and a broad range of sounds have already developed in just the previous 40 years from the original punk genre, which has created pop punk and punk rock. The singers voices can sometimes sound as though they are shouting the lyrics when trying to communicate strong emotion. Also singing at the top of their vocal range and even with an American accent (be them American or not) is popular. But also includes much cleaner vocals.

Electric bass guitars and drums are often used to keep the fast rhythm and high tempo, and being quite dominating but simple. They are both there to compliment the electric lead guitar and vocals which are a key feature of the pop punk rock genre, and any other instrument which the band decide to have in their songs such as keyboard or trumpets, and keeps the melody memorable for the audience. Lead guitars or drum solos are quite common, although complicated solos can be seen as unnecessary. The guitars usually have a big impact on the emotion of the song and whether it makes the audience feel happy and full of energy or sad.

The main appeal of pop punk rock is that it gave the audience music with lyrics about topics which that they could relate to and identify themselves with. It now attracts more than just its original teenage ‘punk’ fans, as its known for its catchy melodies, fast tempos and memorable lyrics. Today’s teenagers have also grown up through its development and limelight in the media. Fashion has had a big impact on its appeal to the audience, and has developed throughout time, but the high impact noticeable style has not changed. A lot of colours, usually mismatched are common. Artists and fans also have piercings’, dyed hair and wear jewellery and hats. Typically in a music video the artist will wear t-shirt, skinny jeans or chinos, and trainers. But the colour and design would give them their individual identity. Fans usually try to replicate theur favourite bands fashion style by buying the same or similar clothes and accessories to what they wear in their videos, photos, performances, etc. Popular punk pop rock culture c,lothing brands include Famous Stars & Straps and Converse.

Mindmap of the Pop Punk Rock Genre

Adele

Adele writes her own music and makes her lyrics very poetic into soulful songs about her memories and lovers. She says in her biography on her website that she's 'always liked being centre of attension' which is shown through her album covers and most of her music videos as she the artist is the central focus.
She realised aged 14 that she wanted to be a singer, and decided to move to The Brit School hwere she spent her time in the rehearsal rooms with the equipment, singing and listening to music all day.

Album Cover Analysis

19 (Jan 2008)

1.     Daydreamer

2.     Best For Last

3.     Chasing Pavements

4.     Cold Shoulder

5.     Crazy For You

6.     Melt My Heart To Stone

7.     First Love

8.     Right As Rain

9.     Make You Feel My Love

10.  My Same

11.  Tired

12.  Hometown Glory

•        Close up photograph of the artist (Adele). Very moody low key lighting  which implies that the music is more emotional than upbeat, more for listening to at home than in a club

•        Can only see half of her face,  but is looking down and not at the camera and appears very thoughtful, this implies the music would be quiet mellow and meaningful

•        The name of the artist and album are in the bottom right corner, and stand out against the plain black background but still sits nicely with the photo

21 (Jan 2011)

1.     Rolling In The Deep

2.     Rumour Has It

3.     Turning Tables

4.     Don’t You Remember

5.     Set Fire To The Rain

6.     He Won’t Go

7.     Take It All

8.     I’ll Be Waiting

9.     One and Only

10.  Love Song

11.  Someone Like You

•        Black and white close up photograph of the artist (Adele)

•         Shows the name of artist and album clearly,  only colour is the green ‘21’, used to portray the calm feel of the music

•         Adele’s face takes up the whole cover, and plain background so as not to distract, very simple and purely to show the artist

•         Isn’t looking at the camera,  holding her back with a thoughtful expression which shows the music is emotional and has meaning to it

Indie Music

Indie Music is often the start of a new idea or sound to music by an artist, which usually catches on and results in shaping popular music. A lot of indie artists were not embraced when their music first came out, and took a while to catch on. These are seen to be ahead of their time, such a ‘Velvet Underground’.

In the 70’s, music went from the Beatles and other soft sounds which were around in the 60’s to more Punk Rock culture. In the 80’s indie became better known as ‘alternative music’ and big Indie Labels were formed and it became more mainstreamed, and many unsigned bands were still making music in their garages which showed there was still a lot of talent to come.

These artists aren't usually signed to a major record label, and instead to 'Independants Labels'. They like to put their own personality into their music, and so the songs are often heart felt and emotional, not nessessarily designed to just fit into the current fashion culture and sell. They often are seen as being rebellious, and aimed at people aged about 13-24 who want to have their own identity and not to just follow the crowd.

Indie Music Video Analysing

Example

Kickstarts:

·        Performance + narrative

·       Split screen: shows 2 people who are in separate places; also just effects for entertainment used whilst characters are dancing

·        Pastel colours effect on camera lens with filter, gives it a calm feel

·        Lip syncing in ordinary sceneries such as kitchen, garden and doorway

Changed the way you kiss me:

·        Performance

·        Black and white filter throughout

·        Performing in front of audience concentrating on them enjoying the music and dancing to it. Flashing disco lights shows it is suitable to be played in a club

·        Close up of washing face in mirror at the beginning, then in a car going somewhere

·        Slow motion highlights a change in tempo of the music. Rapid cuts highlights the climax in the music

Won’t go quietly:

·        Performance

·        Similar to ‘Changed the way you kiss me’ as they are performing in a club, keeps cutting to one girl in the club as if they are singing it to her.

Adele

Rolling in the Deep:

·        Performance + narrative

·        Lip syncing whilst sitting on a chair

·        Set in a big house with not much props or colour

·        Zooming in and out, which get faster towards the climax

·        Dancer in a dusty white room holding a stick and wearing a flowing dress which moves around the dust

·        Smashed plates shows anger in the song, which contradicts her soft voice

Someone Like You (performed in her home):

·        Performance

·        Close ups on the faces of Adele and her pianist

·        Concentrates on the performers rather than the location and there isn’t an audience or characters acting out the narrative. Instead uses objects which would be found in any home to show the narrative of the song. Such as the mirror which shows her reflection of thoughts

·        Doesn’t use her home to portray her wealth, which shows she isn’t a show off or arrogant.

·        Adele doesn’t move when singing and wears modest clothes, but it’s even more so in this video

Someone like you (official video)       

·        Narrative

·        Set in a home,

·        Uses actors as the characters, and never shows Adele singing

·        Cuts to photos and pages of information about the characters

·        Uses zoom, panning, rapid cuts, blur, filters and other shots and effects for emotional impact

Bloc Party:

Helicopter:

·        Performance

·        Includes bands playing their instruments and lip syncing

·        Special effects used to cut between the musicians and some to show them to be playing in a group

·        Set in an empty flat where they are playing in the centre of the rooms

·        More to entertain and show the band and rock culture, than to portray a narrative