Iconic music poster - David Manning

Looking into this iconic music poster will help us understand how to create a professional poster.

Here is a very iconic poster of the Beatles. This is showing them where they some from as its taken in Liverpool where they all grow up. This is something we need to think about when constructing our poster as boy bands tend to show their roots where they grow up. The poster is also very simplistic which helps the enigma as your interested. Also the poster works well as the audience can relate to them as this is something the audience does everyday, walking across the road. They also show that they are a unit as they are in a line together with the same movement. The text shows the band name and album name, the Beatles use this font throughout all their music poster and videos and have become a iconic font, this is something we need to have in our music video by having the same font throughout the digipak, poster and music video. The long road also helps lead the viewer in because the eye naturally is drawn in.

Feedback 4 on digipack, poster and music video: Tom Ayling

Feedback 3 on digipack, poster and music video: David Manning

We have asked a series of questions to are main target audience of teenagers aged 13-19 this meant that we would get the direct feedback we want to know to find out if our audience products have for fore filled their target. We asked 50 people of this age range and 37 gave us a replayed questionnaire.
Here are the questions we have asked:

What genre of music videos do you think this music video is?
88% said the correct genre which was indie rock. Other genre thoughts where pop and rock.

This means that the majority think that are genre is correct. This means that we have for filled the genre.

How well do you think the music video fits the intended genre? Perfectly, very well, fine?
40% said perfectly. 40% said very well. 20% said fine.

Their is a even spread between perfectly and very well the intended genre. This is slightly confusing with the previous question. However this is still reflects a positive review which again shows that we have more or less shown a clear intended of our genre.

What do you think the most effective element of the music video is? Lighting, props/mise-en-scene, camerawork/editing?
14% light. 36 props/mise-en-scene. 50% camerawork/editing.

Are main effective element was camerawork. This means that we have shown a clear vision that is what we started off with that creating unique camera and editing to meet the indie genre.

What was the most memorable moment of the music video for you?

The most common response was when we had the same two people in the same shot. This shows are special effect worked well towards the narrative.

Conclusion:
Collectively are response are postive and genrally meet are intentions.

Feedback 2 on digipack, poster and music video: Tom Ayling

Feedback 1 on digipack, poster and music video: David Manning

Evaluation Question: How did you use media technologies in the construction & research, planning and evaluation stages? - David Manning

Construction:

Building from our experience at AS we used the some of the same successful media technologies as we did last year. Firstly, we used the AVC HD Cannon camera to record all our footage. It was brand new at the time so it was very quick and efficient to use. It was very user friendly and only took a matter of minutes to work out how to use.

We used Final Cut Express to edit our music video during the post production stages. We were able to use this efficiently and quickly as we had learnt the basic editing techniques last year. This meant we had more time to be experimental and therefore were able to use some really unique editing techniques, for example when we edited the footage to look like the same person appeared twice in one shot. We did this by layering two pieces of footage together, (both pieces of footage were shot in the same location on a tripod to ensure stability) and the cropping the images together and feathering the edges to match the other piece of footage.

Planning:

We used the video cameras to test how well we could lip sink to Cassius. It also helped us understand how the audience would view it and what we needed to do to make it look as realistic as possible. We learnt the knowing the lyrics to the song was vital and so was keeping the beat. We also had to make sure we put our all into it as a half hearted attempt looked really weak and didn't work at all!

Research:

When researching music videos we were reliant on YouTube to watch official videos on demand and analytically analyse them. We also used YouTube to help us come up with editing techniques and successful camera work that we could easily use in our music video.

We also visited official band websites to help us understand the typography and graphology of indie rock bands. It also helped us established a greater sense of identity for our music video, poster and digipak as it allowed us to understand how branding could be used successfully.

Evaluation:

We were able to gather some specific audience feedback by using a webcam to interview audiences to record and upload their feedback of our final product. This was a vital use of technology as it allowed us to get an in depth view of personal audience feedback and a one to one interaction with the people we aimed our work at.

We also used YouTube to evaluate our own work against others and to see how it was criticised or praised by YouTube users. This gave us international audience feedback.

Evaluation: Lighting - Tom Ayling

For lighting we had limited natural light because we filmed at the end of winter. Due to the lack of light we enhanced the contrast by using the slide bar on final cut express which allowed us to make all of our shots lighter and brighter.

the main effect we used to do with lighting is the when the lead singer is signing light house is an accident. We have a torch flashing in our lead singers face the flashing of the torch is meant to represent the image of a light house. The light house flash is also meant to represent a flash back of lead singer kissing a girl that he now reallies as a mistake. To achieve this we had to have the camera on a stand while I stood behind the camera and hold the flash light and attempt to flash the light in time with the beat. The difficulty with filming this is the fact that we could not see what where filming until we had finished that section of the song.

In the first few shot of the music video we used an over head projector and PowerPoint go give the effect of there being a light show going on behind the lead singer. To do this we had to spent time making 25 original slides which to do we drew numerous small squares using the line tool to create a strobe effect. When it came to filming we had to once again set the camera up on the stand while the lead singer stood up and positioned him self in the center of the camera shot by using the LCD screen on the side of the camera. While I sat next to the computer and tried to change the slides in time with music.

Evaluation Question: How effective is the combination of your main production and ancillary text?- David Manning

We feel we linked our main product and ancillary texts together successfully as we had a strong branding across the three products. We used the physical representation of the Tin Man to emphasise the name of our band and we used a lot of woodland imagery that featured in the music video as well as on the digipak. This made us choose the green coloured background for the poster as it was a link to the wood area. We decided not to use a wood area as the background for the poster as we didn't want to bore our target audience and always give them the same thing. We also felt that the green background linked to the 'cartoon' ideology of the indie genre, which Foals themselves used a lot of.

We used Cambria Body for all typography. This meant our font was always distinctive and recognisable. We also tried to use the coloured capitals for Cassius but this was not always possible as if the graphology behind the text was too 'busy' already, using a coloured font would have lost impact and looked messy. This was the only time we took the creative decision to not have the coloured font.

We also tried to incorporate unique ideas into all three products to keep our indie identity clear. In the music video we lied on skateboards with our heads facing upwards so when filmed from above it looked like we were floating slightly. We also edited the same person into one shot twice and used unique locations. In our poster we used the physical representation of the Tin Man and the striking green background, and in our Digipak we again used the physical representation of the Tin Man and had our main signer holding a sign with the track names on. We believe this unique and quirky style across all three products was successful. This conforms to the conventions of our indie genre.

Digipak (backcover & sides)- David Manning

The back cover keeps the wood theme carrying on, we also used the same idea for the inside cover. We have used the names off the Foals album to keep a link, however we have used are own identity with the style of correction. We added a text layer onto of the A3 paper and used the same process already mentioned in the inside cover.

The sides have got the same colour as the poster inside the digipak, this helped keep the corolation. The same text used in the music video, poster and front cover of the CD on the side, this again created a ferm identitiy.

Final digipack (front cover & inside cover)- David Manning

The front cover has been created useing Photoshop. We select invered around the TinMan then used the zoom filter, this helped draw the viewer in and have the TinMan as the main focal point. the TinMan shows are unquie, retro, cheap, which are the conventions of are indie rock band. We also used the same font that was used in the music video and poster with helped create the clarity between them all.

The inside cover shows anther unquie idea where the lead singer stood with an A3 bit of paper were we added a font layer. The background of the wood helpes emphasis tyhe lead singer as the background colours are dool, this also has relations between the music video as we filmed a lot in the woods.

Sketch idea for digipack- Tom Ayling

this would be the front page of the digi pack because it will have every one from the video and it will carry the narrative of the video from these four pictures.

What recourses are their to make the digipack and poster- David Manning

We have access to Photoshop, camera, tripod, wordpublisher and the internet for research. This will give us the chance to create somthing unquie like are music video.

Iconic digipacks- David Manning

What is a digipak pack?
A digipak is what holds the CD and is now seen as Art work for the band to show off their style. This also helps sell the CD however their is a decline due to online downloads where you don't buy the CD digipak so this is becoming less powerful as they don't need to sell them of the shelfs.



Here is a small version of the kooks digipak as you can see the front over has the band name, album name and a shot of the band members. The black and white shows that they are cheap and real like reality. They are all holding musical instruments which shows that they are indie and real not just singers. The clothing is showing their style and roughness.

Foals digipack- Tom Ayling

this is digipack from the the album which are song came from

the writing from this is very child like with the letters not being all the same size and the antidotes being shaded in

the main picture is what looks like the main singer.

the coulour scheme is very simplistic becuase through out the only colours apart from the multicouloured sweets in his mouth which could represent the fun and once again child like approach to there music. but the main colours used are black and a sandstone beige .

Research into digipack history- Tom Ayling

A digipack is somthing wich normally consists of a gatefold (bookstyle) paper/cardboard presentation as outerbinding and with one or more plastic trays which are cable of holding CDs or DVDs.

The first digipack that I can find is U2s Under a Blood Red Sky in 1986 to 1987.

However, due to the recent surge in online downloading legal and illegal there has been a decline in the amount of digipacks that have been brought due to the fact that this generation would rather buy a single rather than a whole album.

Final poster with analytical comments- David Manning

We have created a real life TinMan to play on the bands name. This has worked well for creating the indie retroness we want to create. It is also unique and diff rent which relates to all the productions in our advanced production.
We hang the TinMan off a tree and deleted the background on Photoshop. This meant that we could copy the TinMan 12 times and created a mint colour background.
We put the same font and color used in the music video and digipak this helped us have correlation and a Strong link between all products. The colour in the background is an old fashioned retro mint, this is very important to keep the same style running through out our music video and poster.
We made the poster size almost square this was to make sure that are identity could stand out even more by have an original poster size inside the digipack and also when on billboards though t poster will be shaped to this required shape. In summary we just want to use even more unique ways of construct are media products.
Overall i think it works well and meets the audience requirements as it is a play on word to the bands name and is very retro indie style.

Sketch idea for poster- Tom Ayling

on the left is an idea for the poster by having a a podium and having all the characters from the video. On the podium with are lead singer and the girl he walks off with on top. With the girl he rejected on the 2nd step. On the third step have a dog so it can still have element of Indie and randomness about it.

Who is our poster target audience? - Tom Ayling

From our questionnaire we have discovered that are target audience is going to be teenagers between the age of 15 and18. This is because we will try and make our poster appeal to both male and female. Also from our questionnaire we have found that we should definitely make our poster in colour so that we can grab the audiences attention.

Where would the poster be shown- Tom Ayling

We would try and get our poster shown in Milkshake bars this is because it is not mainstream and more indie which is the target market we are going for. We would also consider putting it in coffee chains such as Starbucks because it is quite a teenage environment which we are also aiming for as are demographic.

What the poster needs to contain- Tom Ayling

Are poster needs to contain
1:Rease date
2:Rferences to video
3:Pcture of tin man
4: Rcord producer
5:Copy right
6:Band name
7:Name of song
8:Must have some information about album
9:Imagery of some sort either computer generated or pictures taken by us

Foals posters- David Manning

This is an album poster for the Foals the band who came up with the song we have chosen to make a music video cover to. I thought that it was important to look at their poster because we have to have the same basic principles to meet the codes and conventions.

Here are a few key points...

• The main colour scheme is masculine, which suggests that the poster is aimed towards men.



• The poster looks damaged with white marks all over it. This helps the poster become retro as its looking dated yet has a modern look. It also shows that the band is rebellious as it doesn't mind looking rough and damaged.



• The name "Foals" is in bold, this helps the audience who hasn't heard of the band before know the name of the band and the name of the album.



• The main focus is on the sand timer, which relates to the album name "Total life forever". This then is kept interesting as the timer has two pictures that are the same of a man walking with mountains in the background, because this has the same picture in the timer it relates to the album name, as its trying to refer to life is never over because the timer cant run out. This unique smart idea also gives away the genre for indie, because most stereotypical album covers have the band members within the poster but the Foals choose to show their identity through being indie different.

History of music Poster- Tom Ayling

the music poster's used to be hand drawn to help promote local perfomances.

when the printing press was invetnted it ment that it could be used for advertising purposes. As the printing press got more sophistcated it became easier and cheaper to produce your compines artisit. But they were limited to text and crude art. the poster is one of cheretes music poster.

the next generation of music was named the golden age of music the belle epoque.which was during the late victorian era. this is when the artistic poster started . the main contributor to this was a french artist called jules cheret, he was credited for making serious art for serious artistis.He soon began to take commison for theses posters. it was in the begining of the art nouvera era.

in the first part of the 20th century the art nouvera era was pushed aside and was replaced by the art decor but music posters where pushed aside by two huge movments in the media industry these were radio and film and later on televison. due to the huge impact of theses new technololagies the use of posters to advertise musice saw a huge decline in the use of them.

the main reason that film had a huge impact in the decline of music poster was because short films where often based around music.

The second coming of the golden age was in the sixtes is when there was a cultural shift and the posters became a domintant way to advitsed the music gigs.Although pop music had been around for a decade it began to make head ways in to televison which ment acts would not have to rely on word of mouth and printed advertisments.

the 70s and onwards.

during the 70s televsion began to accept bands and singers that had once been conisdered underground and not well advertised. as a result of this posters once again declined as the primary sauce of advertisment.

Prop scouting- David Manning and Tom Ayling

The props we needed are.
1:Red paper preferably A3 to make multiple hearts out in case we rip any by accident.
2:Flash light for light house is accident .
3:Microphone for lead singer to sing into .
4:Gutiare for lead singer to play along to misc with.
5:Amp.
7:Lots of A3 paper to make paper clouds.
8:Coffee to represent how hes moved on due to him fading out.
9:Chips to make the 2nd best stand out.
10:Tray to go along with fast food restaurant set out by the chips.
11:Bar taps and drink to show hes in a pub.
12:Bed for when he is lying on the bed to show the different girls he is with.
13:Stand for microphone so it the lead singer can sing into it with holding it up.
14:Skateboard so he can roll into shot for the first shot of the music video.
15:Broom so the "cleaner" can sweep away the Cassius at the beginning of the music video.
16:Glitter so we could spell out Cassius.
17:White wallpaper to give the floor a white look while we filming.
18:Clear acrylic sheet so we can paint heart onto it.
19:Acrylic paint so we can paint onto the acrylic.

Final makeup- David Manning

With our research into the Foals, Kooks and Arctic monkeys we have noticed that none of the members of the band have any make up. We have decided to do this in our music video and will mean are male lead singer will keep a masculine rough approach.

Research into make up- Tom Ayling

Make up has/is used in many different ways it can be used to portray different emotions.

A classic example of this is a clowns make up it is designed to make children feel happy with the big smile painted on and bright colours.But in some forms of media there have been were clowns of have had the reverse effect to try and scare children or have nightmares.

Make up can be used to to try and transform some one into something there not for example making some appear older or can even been done to make a male appear female or visa versa.

Final costuming- David Manning

This was on outfit we put together that represented the indie genre. The young man has messy, over grown hair. He is wearing a dark grey jacket and black skinny jeans. He is also wearing grey show boots. All clothing colours are dull. This look was influenced by the image of thekooks (click here) earlier in blog. Their woodland setting also inspired our choice of location.

This outfit was inspired by our own intepritation of the genre as well as other bands. Although indie men are usually dressed in duller colours we needed a more obvious outfit to make the band member noticeable from the brick work. We still chose quirky clothing that reflected our genre appropriately.

This outfit attempted to incorporate 'youth' into the music video. We used a slightly brighter coloured shirt but dulled it down with fashionable brown skinny jeans. We think this matches the style of The Foals, who originally sang the song Cassius. We chose a black guitar and strap and black base to try and 'dull down' the outfit. We think this worked successfully.

To see research on any of the bands mentioned, please click here

Costuming Influences and Research- David Manning

Our genre influences our costuming a lot. The indie rock genre stereotypically includes young people dressed in indie/individual clothing. This means they often look quite quirky and retro, often using natural or dim coloured clothing.

As our band is a boy band, we should look specific

ally at indie men. The Kooks is an all male band that is considered indie. All of the band member are wearing skinny jeans, jackets and black shoe boots. Their tops are all patterned but usually dull colours. This is something we must consider when looking at costuming.

The Strokes are another indie band. They also wear dull coloured clothes, often with a black jacket and skinny jeans. The only slight difference is their shoes which are converse. One member of the band is smoking which emphasises the 'bad attitude' and 'rebellious' nature of indie bands. All these things should be considered when looking at costuming.

Final story boards- David Manning

Here are the last set of story boards.

Final story boards- David Manning

Here are the final story boards, this will show us the shoots we will need to take.

Label:

Locations- David Manning

We have been very selective with our locations due to are genre. This meant we had to look into retro or quirky locations where the lead singer could be located.

Milkshake bar: We used the milkshake bar as its really retro and went nicely with our narrative.

Woods: We wanted a rural setting so that are lead singer will look isolated and help him stand out due to the lack of enigma in the background.

Tonbridge Wells: This was an old fashion street with cobbled pavement, and went well with are indie theme.

House/white stage: This was appropriate for the opening as it has great light leading in from windows allowing to have a high contrast what we wanted.

Coffee House: We wanted to show a real life setting so that are audience could relate to the music video this is why we went for a coffee house.

Food court: This again we wanted to show a real life setting for are audience to see but then it also added the retro feel that we wanted to create the indie genre.

Back ground research on foals- David Manning

Foals are a English band which makes it easyer for us to ralate to and means that when we come to filming we can use English locations. They are a indie rock band from Oxford. They are signed toTransgressive records in England which shows the band for being retro and not a global band, as they dont have to many big name signings to the label. This emans when choosing a band label we need to look into a nicher band label.

Music video deconstructed, Cassius by Foals- David Manning and Tom Ayling

Cassias by Foals

This music uses a white canvas room for the mise-en-sense throughout. This helps the bands originality to show through, by their style of cloths, hair and facial expressions all creating the enigma.

The video contains a cows heart tied on string this helps the narrative some through about love. They also use the heart on string for editing effects by stopping to the beat when moving in a flow.

The narrative is about two different personalities in one person but this isn’t very clear in the video.

However the set has is a film studio so they used artificial lighting which helped create a clear image. The band also used lots of close ups which after watching the entire video you felt you had a bound with the singer, as you have seen all his emotions. This video is very much focused on the band members because there is very little for the audience to get distracted by apart from the hearts hanging by strings.

The main camera shots used in this video are close ups of the lead singer and mid shots showing the whole band singing intime with the music. Towards the end of this music video the band start to cut down the hearts hanging by the strings this could help to singify him losing out and becoming second best.

Iconic Music Video – The Pigeon Detectives- David Manning

The Pigeon Detectives – This is an Emergency

The video starts with a 4 screen split with a focus on the close up shot of guitars being played in time with the music. This is something we could achieve in our music video as it is a simple shot. At different points, a section of the four screens switches to a close up of another instrument being played and then the mouth of the lead singer when they start in the song.

The screen stays split for the entirety of the video which becomes very repetitive and boring. Nevertheless the shots within the split screen are very interesting. Lighting becomes very important; it is usually very dimly light to give the impression of a club and playing live. At 1:15, in the top right corner there is a blue spot light that take focus in the shot, this blast of colour is very effective and catches the audiences eye. It also makes the signer appear as a silhouette.

From around 2:20 the spilt screen starts to show mid shots of the band members upper body and face. The upper body starts to move from left to right very, very quickly. The background, tie, shirt and suit colour of the band members all start to change really quickly as well. This gives the impression of strobe lighting in a club and is something we could easily achieve during the post production stage of our editing by enhancing colours and contrast of footage.

There is a lot of red used throughout the video, red lighting, red clothing, red instruments and red colour enhancing. This could be to link to the song title, This is an Emergency. Emergencies often have connotations of danger and blood and fear with are all connotations of the colour red. Emergencies are often represented by the colour red. Also the EP digipack for the song is a grey cartoon man screaming, however his mouth is a dull red colour, this again links to the red in the video and provides branding across the digipack and the music video.

Iconic music video 4, deconstructed, Vouge- Tom Ayling

Madonna was the first female to start breaking down barriers of females being used as objects in music videos and started to form her own code and conventions when whenever she performed I am going to deconstruct her video Vogue.
Within the first 28 seconds of this music video you can already tell that they are at some upper class art function by the fact that even the cleaners are wearing tuxedos. When I say upper class I mean people who are in the A and B in the class system.
After the introduction you first get a chance to see Madonna wearing an elegant white ball gown with diamonds going up the spine which gives the audience the feeling like she is part of this upper class society. We then hear her say strike a pose which three males all immediately do. The camera then flips to a line of what appear to be client looking at these men as if it Is an auction but after a few seconds of this the camera switched to show the clients perspective and they are looking at art.
We then see Madonna in practically see through top which at the time this video was made was considered to be highly outrageous and then it seems again like these men are moulding clothes which could be the art work these clients are buying or it could be the men themselves these clients are looking to buy.
This whole video is shot in black and white which could de sexualise the whole video and make it classier. But even with the whole video in black and white Madonna still is the objectification of the male gaze because of the clothes she is wearing.

Codes and Conventions of a boy band- David Manning

Codes and Conventions are specific qualities and guidelines we must follow to communicate to our audience what our genre is. For the indie genre there are many codes and conventions:
- All members must be male
- Cheeky attitude, rebellious
- Good looking
- Young
- Fashionable
- Physically fit (although this stereotype is dying out in the 21st Century with bands like Kooks and Razorlight)

Codes and Conventions of the indie music genre- David Manning

Codes and Conventions are specific qualities and guidelines we must follow to communicate to our audience what our genre is. For the indie genre there are many codes and conventions:
- Unique fashion sense, often based around skinny jeans, shoe boots and dull coloured clothing although patterns are common
- A rebellious nature often inspired by the ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ slogan (although this is originally from the rock genre)
- Huge links to creative and imaginative ideas, symbols and drawings
- Links to nature and being outdoors
- Viewing everyday objects in a new light, so using basic camera angles and edits to make something ordinary look extraordinary
- Individual sound, unlike anything else – even within the genre
- Independent form others
- Often low budget and simplistic but creative

Reason for choosing the genre, disadvantages and constraints- David Manning

Reason for choosing our genre, advantages and constraints
Looking over our codes and conventions of the indie genre it is clear there are some advantages and constraints:

Advantages:
- Cheap production
- Viewing everyday objects in a new light could be difficult but the objects themselves would be easy to get hold of
- The links to nature is something we can achieve, filming in parks, woods and so on
- A rebellious nature should be easy to portray, often alcohol and cigarettes are used

Disadvantages
- We are very reliant on creativity and successfully making ‘normal’ things appear interesting
- Fashion is very closely linked to this genre, if we don’t get it right it could be a huge problem
- There are limited number of influences and people we can be inspired from as the genre is very niche
- Viewing everyday objects in a new light could be difficult

Research indie rock- David Manning

Indie rock is a sub-genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. The meaning of the term "indie rock" is contested today by many musicians, fans and commentators. Most use the term "indie" to describe any rock music produced by artists working within the network of independent record labels and underground music venues that emerged in the United States and elsewhere in 1980s and 1990s. Others see indie rock as a distinct genre of rock music with a specific artistic aesthetic, and care less about the context in which it is made. Many embrace both meanings of the word, believing that the aesthetics of the genre and its means of production are deeply intertwined.

Indie rock artists are known for placing a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, airplay on independent or college radio stations and, in recent years, theInternet for promotion. However, in the 2000s many acts with a musical style identified as "indie" signed to major record labels or their subsidiaries, and began promoting themselves through more traditional media outlets. This has led to a further blurring in the meaning of the term.

It will be important to stay true to convention of a indie rock band and we will have to keep referring thought out every stage that we are meeting these conventions and ideologies.