Concept for Artist CD cover

Feedback

Excellent detailed and through blogging of concept which is clear and logically organised.  Really good presentation, embedded video works well and does teh use of links.  Clear understaning of what is needed for the concpet of the Music Video and reseraches exiting artists well.

Development of the narrative against the lyrics

Today we printed out the lyrics to Electric Feel, and then went through each line getting some shot ideas. Below is our ideas sheet at the moment.

We liked the after effects of this video. :)

Eco-Island Promo from Evo Films on Vimeo.

Effects we particularly liked, were the bouncing text, the flashing colours, and the lights on the edges, giving it a kind of retro feel.

Music Video - Task 2

Narrowing the ideas.

We have now decided that to avoid making our video seem really cliche, we should change to a more alternative act as bands like Blink have been done to death in the past. This led us to our current idea, MGMT. 

MGMT are a relatively recent group formed in 2005, and their debut album Oracular Spectacular was voted best album of 2008. (follow link for more info)

The song we had in mind is Electric Feel and we have chosen this because of its combination of a simple consistent bass line and we think it could have real potential for a unique video. 

Our narrative concept at the moment includes reference to cult films, namely Tarantino’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’. We decided that we liked the opening credits, where the 5 main characters are strolling down the road in slow motion, suited up, and thought we could adapt that idea.

Music Video - The Concept

Task 1

Today we began working on our music videos. In my group are Ian, Will, and Nico, and our initially we were considering metal as a genre, but this was soon ruled out as metal videos are notoriously difficult to combine with good narrative. Next was to do a rock/alternative genre, maybe along the lines of Sum 41, Blink 182, or Enter Shikari. Ian suggested we also have a look at the work of lesser known Trip Hop acts such as Wax Tailor, and we now feel that this genre can lend itself to some really artistic narrative ideas. 

The songs I proposed to the group were 

‘Juggernauts’ - Enter Shikari, 

‘Walk This Way’ - Aerosmith feat. Run DMC. 

I thought of these two songs, as I wanted a fairly upbeat song, and something that a lot of people would recognise. 

At the moment our ideas for narrative are still quite open, but after looking at a couple of videos, we have a bit of inspiration. From ‘Dilly’ - Band Of Horses, we decided we liked the idea of sepia filming, to give it an old school feel. In turn this led to Will’s idea of referencing cult films, namely Tarantino’s 'Reservoir Dogs'. 

What we would do here is subtly recreate a version of the slow-mo strolling scene, so than fans of Tarantino  would recognise and pick up on this.  

I would guess that our target audience will probably be that of people in their late teens to late 20’s, as they would have to be aware of present trends, but at the same time have a sizable knowledge of past ones, to fully ‘get’ the video, as we are thinking of doing a lot of reference. 

The Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options: 

• a website homepage for the band;

• a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD package); 

• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD package).

All material for all tasks to be produced by the candidates with the exception of acknowledged non-original sound or image material used in a limited way in video/radio work. Further guidance will be available in the support materials. For music video, permission should be sought from the artist for use of the audio track.

The centre will be expected to allocate marks according to four levels for each of three categories: 

• Research and Planning 
• Construction
• Evaluation

What is a Music Video

• "A music video is not primarily a commodity, but a promotional one." - Andrew Goodwin 1992
• "They now provide pictures for the songs in our heads. Goodbye imagination.... All kids need to do is watch and listen, stare straight ahead. No need to think, to embellish, to create, to imagine. The electric fix is in." - Joe Saltzman 
• Part of the construction of a particular band or star.

A music video can be either organic or synthetic, meaning the artist has control over the material produced, or they are just the performers of prewritten songs for a mass audience. 

Start of A2 Media

First blog post this year, and with a mix up of the classes, it's great to have a new mixture of peers to work with this. I think my target for the year is to hit the A* grade because I think I can. I have a good feeling about this year, and I'm going to make more of an effort to keep up to date with these blogs.