Filming task.

In preparation for filming our actual music video me and Toby went out to film for practice and to experiment with different angles and lighting we could use in our video. We took a 25 second section from our song and did a performance based short video. I enjoyed doing it as I could practice my performance skills along with technical skills such as using the camera/lighting and editing afterwards and trying out different editing techniques such as the colour grade we might use.


We filmed in a forest at around 4pm, the setting was quite good and could potentially be a setting for our actual music video. If I were to improve anything it would be the time of day, I think we should go at night as this fits the tone of the song and genre a bit more, however not too dark so you can see the performer.




I'm glad we went out and filmed as if we make mistakes now we can learn from them before we go and shoot the real thing, and this is exactly what we did. The shots we took were not in focus, two things we learnt from this was...
1) make sure the shot is in focus, do not twist the zoom dial to focus as this will not work.
2) shots out of focus can actually look good.


Here is the little video we made, we edited it on Premiere pro:




The things I liked in the video was the extreme close ups and the red lighting. Overall this was a good experience before we film our final video.

My Image.

Seeing as I will be performing in my video I will need a costume that suits the genre. My style will have to replicate those within the genre therefore I have done some research on what industrial bands/artists look like.

As you could of probably guessed there style is black/dark colours. Most of the artists wear dark clothing.

Here you can see is the band NIN, who are dressed very simple. Dark coloured jeans, leather jackets/coats and black hair (with the exeption of the blonde individual). In terms of hair the artists hair in industrial rock is usually black and quite long, my hair will be dyed black (temporarily!) and I will have it flat.


Make up is also used on some artists, here you can see Marilyn Manson with dark and white make-up, we will probably apply black make up to make my artist look more scary and intimidating which fits the genre and tone of the song.


Wrists bands and gloves are also used like in the picture to the right, I could purchase some black wrist bands and jewellery such as cross necklace which would relate to our track which is quite religious

Here is a piece of jewellery I could use in my performance, the knife and cross would defiantly suit my genre and artist.

Fear Factory - Replica.

While watching Fear Factory's 'Replica' I noticed some things we could use from this video and implement them into our video. The first special effect/shot would be this one:

This shot clip shows the band members teleport quickly which would match our music as the riff/beat in that section is similar to a section in our song, perhaps you could have me in the woods teleport from the back to the front right up to the camera.

This video uses a lot of flashes which match the beat of the music, we could also match the flashes of light to the beat of the music. The blue and white lights flash to match the ferociousness of the music.























Also regarding costume, the band wears similar costumes to what I will be wearing, the band in this video wear all black with gothic bracelets and long black/brown hair. This is the look I will be going for.

Fear Factory - Linchpin.

Lighting.
This music video for the track Linchpin is based in a small area. The band performs is a small space, the room is pitch black with a spotlight on the artist, this would look good in our video as it gives off a closed/trapped effect.

A blue lighting is also used which gives an electro effect and is something we want to incorporate in our video.

A smoke effect is also shown in this video, this looks kind of ghostly and spiritual which would fit with our song.

This shot here also look great, we thought about having black rain or some sort of liquid in our video and this guy swinging his head in the rain is something we are looking to do.

System of A Down - B.Y.O.B.

As I have not focused on lighting specifically while looking at music videos, I thought it would be a good idea to, as lighting is important to set the mood of the video and make it more visually interesting. As our song has some electro I want to include a variety of coloured lighting in my music video. We now have new lighting which gives us the opportunity to have lots of different colours instead of just relying on colour grading. After looking at this particular video by System of a Down it looks similar to the lighting we have and is it achievable lighting to create.

This red lighting that covers the band through most of the video is something we could easily do and it looks really good. The red would also match with our track and narrative. Do make this lighting we could use the red filter and attach it to the camera while we are filming.

The video also includes flashing orange/yellow lighting which would also look good in our video, and also flashing red/grey lighting, we could turn the lighting on/off rapidly to create this effect.

This flashing orange/yellow lighting occurs a lot, and we can accomplish this easily as it is close up to the artists face, however our colours would be darker and less vibrant like our track, and to suit the electro theme, the colours I will probably choose are blue, green, red, and normal flashing.

Linkin Park - Website Analysis.

Although Linkin Park are not necessarily in my genre specifically there music is somewhat similar to my track and they share the same conventions in their videos etc.. I really like the layout of their website as it looks really spaced out and clear, but cool at the same time.


The homepage is covered by what looks like an ice angel creature and its arrow points down towards the bottom of the website. The main thing I like about it is the massive image and the colour scheme which gives it a heavenly/cloudy theme which I could incorporate into my website as my track is about religion etc..

The home page is a lot longer than the rest of the pages which I like, it is laid out like a blog and you can scroll down several pages which gives you a picture of the band, their latest tracks, news, and promotional things such as joining their "underground" service. The extended home page is a good idea which I might use for my website, Instead of ramming lots of information onto one page you can scroll further down and space it out.

Another interesting element to the website is hovering. As you hover over an object, eg one of their albums or a news story it turns black.


The embedded YouTube videos on the page makes it look like their is a TV on the website

There is also a forum on the website which I haven't seen before.

Overall this is a great website and the colour scheme and images used will be something similar to what I use, for example the smoke theme but a bit darker.

Mushroomhead - Website Analysis.

To give me some inspiration for making my website I had a look Mushroomhead's website to establish some conventions and see what I would need to include in my website. As you can see the opening page is bold and striking, grabbing the readers attention straight away. The homepage has a background image with the website in front of this. The bands name is clearly wrote at the top in a creative font and there is a picture of the band members looking at the camera which gives a sense of intimacy and it looks cool. Although the title of the band is in a crazy font the actual website font is clear and simple as it needs to be easy for the viewer to read.

As you can see there is the main bar stretched across the top which gives you options to go to: news, tour dates, merch, albums, videos, gallery and contact. The main thing of the homepage is the bands latest news including things such as who they are going on tour with and them as appearing as guests on radio stations ect. Down either sides there are links to their new album and social media sites such as Twitter, their latest tour dates and their latest videos and photos. 

On the news page of the website their is a little box which gives you the latest tweets from the band and you can also follow them on Twitter, In addition to this you can tweet the band directly from the box.

At the bottom of the website you have all of their direct links to YouTube, Apple, Twitter and Facebook.

The rest of there pages are simple layout just like the album page, everything is clear and simple.

 

 

Overall I have took a few things from this website, I really like the background picture of the band, I think I will use this and do a photo shoot and have my artist in the background. I also like the twitter box and the simplicity of the site.

Slipknot - 'Psychosocial' Analysis.

Today I am going to analyse the Video for Slipknot's song Psychosocial using Steve Archer's theories on how to study music videos. The video is all performance and features the band in a field in the dark.


There are five things I am looking for in this video the first being...
'Though Beats'.
Roland Barthes theory, 'grain and voice' can apply to the video, this views the voice as more of an expressive instrument, and is unique to the singer. The grain of voice used in this video is very hard hitting and is a mix between screamo and shouting, this is matching to the video which shows the performers head banging and the lead singer shouting. This works hand in hand with star image as the lead singer trademark is the shouting type voice which is associated to the band and is shown in their video's. The structure and tempo of the song matches the music video, and also the instruments used match the visuals the hard hitting drums and guitar riffs match the visuals of fire and head banging.

'Narrative and Performance'.
This video consists of the band just performing which matches their image accordingly, as they are well know for live gigs. The reason for this is to show the band can rock out so they will come and watch them live. Lip syncing close ups and the band miming playing instruments is at the heart of their videos as this is their image and it also matches the music.

'The Star Image'.
Star image is a key aspect in Slipknot videos, I can be seen as one of the reasons why they are so popular, this is in relation to their performance and unique style and sound of their music. They are known for their crazy masks, strange behaviour, awesome live shows and music style. Their meta-narrative has developed over time and has established them as one of the biggest names in their genre. This is down to their costumes and themes of their videos. Their star image is evident in this video, for example it shows the band going crazy and the costume and theme eg dark lighting are always the same in their videos.

'Relating the music to the Visuals'.
There are three ways music videos work to support the song, this music video illustrates the meaning of the lyrics and the genre. This is the most straight forward technique to visualisation, everything in this music video is based on the song which is hard-core. The visuals match the music and unlike other music videos of their doesn't go against the music.

'Technical aspects of the music video'.
Speed- the camera movement in this music video is a mix of slow, to show the band clearly performing and fast to match the pace and tone of the singers voice as it gets louder and really aggressive.
- Fast cutting and montage editing is plays a big part in some of slipknot's songs however in this video it doesn't apply, in fact slow motion is actually used more which matches the tempo of the song which is fairly slow at points.
- Digital effects in this video include, colour grading, blurring and fast and slow motion.
- Meat- the meat of this music video as in most is to cut to the close up of the singers face however is also to show the band performing.
- Beats, the drums and guitar riffs match the cuts in this music video.
- Lighting and colour in this video is dark and grey like most in the genre.
-Lastly the Mise en scene is one of the most important part of music videos, in this video the Mise en scene is very cool with the band performing in pitch black with fire all around them and of course weird props and their trademark masks.

Video Ideas.

As we are now getting closer to planning our music video, Me and Toby started thinking about the Location of our track and ideas for the narrative.

We got some feedback from our class mates and teachers and I have constructed a few ideas based around this:

For the narrative we though about linking it to murder, this is because the lyrics are very religious and relate to the fact that a demon of some sort is chasing him. Our narrative would be a man who has committed a murder and he is now paying for his sins. Perhaps he is constantly reminded of the murder he committed and thinks that demons are tracking him down. Some scenes include :

- At the start he could be kneeling with his hands covered in blood, hinting at the fact he has committed a murder.
- Him in the public but all he can hear are whispers from demons.
- Him in a confined space feeling lost with dark lighting.
- Him in a ring of fire or around fire.

Lyrics that may link with the narrative include:


"It's dark and I'm lost, there's a breath in the wind and the breath is malicious and I
Don't know whether to run or should I drop to my knees and pretend I'm religious becauseIt's cold and I'm scared and the whispers are a madness that voices the question to God:"



"Here in the black there's a feeling of loss" - This lyric could relate to the fact he's committed a murder, and he's now ' In the black'.


"It's here and I'm feeling like a thought in the mind but it's beautifully vicious and I
Can't hide, not sure if I want to, it crawls in the mist like a vision of Judas" - This is where I got the public idea from, while he's living his life after he has committed a sin the devil is coming for him and he can't hide. Its also very religious relating to god and Judas like he's looking for mercy.


"Here in the black, it comes for me" - these lyrics give me a vision of him praying or something in a corner but he cant escape from the sins he's committed.


"And all your hopes just bleed away" - we could include some type of blood in the video.


Here are some examples of the type of shot/theme we might use in the video: