Star Image Task

McFly – Star Image

Star Construction in a Music Video:

One For The Radio:

The use of the scene from Back to The Future, linking to the bands name as McFly, helps to promote their image. Since many people will link the scene with the film, and therefore realise where the band name came from.

Lots of quick shots between the band members, mostly focusing on the main member, eg who is singing at the time or the drummer when it is mostly drums. There are a lot of close ups on the band members to show them singing. At the moment, we have avoided this type of shot. 


However I feel that our video could benefit from Direct Address and Lip Syncing, we have used the close up shots in out video of an performer lip syncing to add an star image to our video. We have kept the shot to an close up and at the most its an mid shot. We have had a one colour background, and if we kept the colour, it would be quite striking since it's blue and blue symbolises melancholia. 
 

These shots are contrasted with long shots to show the instruments being played. Which helps to construct the star image since the band are known for playing their own music.

The costumes also help to promote the bands image, the band are all dressed very casually, all in denim bottoms and normal shirts. This is made appealing to customers since they all look 'good' in the typical boy-band sense, and they are casual, which it could be suggested they look more approachable.

The background is very dull compared to the artists – Tom is in a bright green shirt and Dougie is in bright pink. The drum is also bright red, making the band stand put from the location.

 The bands album image is shown on the drum and the back screens, helping to promote their album, since people will recognise the symbol in the stores and hopefully buy it. An idea is to use the timer as the album cover, therefore, having close ups of the timer throughout is key.

 

The use of dark lighting helps to make the viewer focus on the main member on screen, i.e, in the screen shot below the background is made darker – looking almost black – to make the vocalist stand out.

 

The back lighting also produces an highlight for the vocalist (and guitarist) to make him stand out from the background. We have used to idea of a dark background with the actor/character in front of it. To make her stand out.

Star Construction on an Album Cover:

The Album cover here, features the aforementioned symbol, which is symbolic of the album. The band name is central in the album and due to the 'glowing' nature of the name it stands out, drawing an persons eye to the album.

The use of the black background and light pictures draws your eye to the 'boxes' which four of them include the band members all looking towards the band name. This helps the audience to associate them with the name, and therefore helps to promote their image.

The 3 colour scheme helps to promote the band as it isn't too distracting and bright and colourful. The use of the green on white and then contrasted on the black, sets the images and the writing out.

The photos in the corners are made to look drawn, which draws your eyes as the sketchy lines are not often seen on album covers. 

The glowing colours around the band's name 'McFly' help to connote the album title. The idea of glowing green is often associated with Radioactive material, and the title is 'Radio:ACTIVE'. 

Star Construction in a Website:

Supercity - McFly

The 'supercity' website promotes their star image, as it advertises their own record label. Super Records, it also relates back to one of their latest albums. The site is interactive, and has a lot of different features to it, and depending on the subscription you have, you can access a different amount.

You can pay to go to a 'meet' and 'greet'  this makes the band seem more approchable and friendly therefore adding to their image, plus people can meet their idols and therefore relate to the band more.

The band upload personal content onto the site and it allows the fans to feel closer to the band. The amount of videos they upload also promote their star image since they can upload their music and pictures to the site.

They also direct you to their store, where you can buy their tour merchandise, this makes means that you know the stuff you are buying isn't fake and is appealing to customers who may or not have been on the tour as it makes them feel involved. 

The band are thinking about removing some of the fee paying sections of their site, so that fans can get more involved.  

McFly Official

The second site is the site which lists their tour dates and other important events. It is set up with the newest logo prominent at the top. The site also links you to the Supercity site, which is the site used most by McFly. The site is very dark, to make the white writing eye catching.

The second site has fewer links and is less interactive, but has a news feed which allows the fan to write down key dates for new tours etc. 

The Song.

http://www.mp3unsigned.com/The_Sleepless/49833/#She%27s+All+Angles

The song opening reminds me of a somewhat 60's like song. I feel that the song has found inspiration from the Beatles on MP3unsigned, peterquinn writes "Great melodies with plenty of Beatle influence, but this sounds very contemporary somehow" - much like the band McFly, who's members like 60's music, and their son Ultraviolet sounds as if it were influenced by the Beatles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQSfeVUcH9A&feature=related

The song Ultraviolet has the same sort of beat, and has an ethereal feel to the video.

Live Action.

Live Action...

We decided to introduce live action into our video as well as having the stop motion.

We brainstormed ideas and came up with: a performance shot of someone playing a guitar or other instrument

A young child playing with Barbies when they come to live, and play out their own story.

A girl and boy, in their daily routine, switching between stopmotion and live action. Maybe a Disney theme, though we weren't sure how we'd fit that it.

Props.

Props...

Most of our video will be filmed using stop motion and Barbie dolls, therefore the props were crucial.

Firstly we needed to have a variety of barbie dolls, to use in the video and then the clothes and accessories to dress them with. My group thought about buying in some barbie dolls, but I had a large box of them in the attic so we decided to wait and look at what I had in my loft.

Secondly we would need Barbie furniture, we decided that we would possibly need kitchen stuff, living room stuff, chairs and a table and a bed. Also we decided we would need a car, to make the stop motion easier. Since pushing the car along seemed relatively simple.

Since I had a barbie car from when I was young, and most furniture we decided we wouldn't need to buy anything.

Location and Treatment

Today, in Media. We started on our Music Video Treatment and then went to scope out a possible filming location, in the building. With a selection of 'Barbie' dolls and the 'Barbie' car, we plan to use, we decided that the room would indeed be possible to use, if only we can design a background sheet.

We tried out a few different ways to place the Barbies, and eventually decided that we would have to try again with the stop motion studio.

Storyboarding - Video Discussions

In our Media class, my group discussed the storyboards, and we decided to film it.

Music Video Conventions

MUSIC VIDEO CONVENTIONS!

Camera Shots: Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist. Long shots are often used for band performances, to show the band and the intsruments being played.

Camera Movement: The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.

Mise-en-scene: This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en- scene puts importance on the representation of something. An example is, ‘Mad’ by Neyo. The mise-en scene involves him walking down a road alone, being in an isolated room. This reflects the isolation from his lover. Also, the props include hats and dark clothes which represent the down mood of the song. Similarly, the lighting is kept very dark as it is black and white; this connotes the angry and depressed mood. This is just one example of the mise en scene used to give an idea of how mise-en-scene works. Usually the setting, mood of the song and costume will all reflect one another. For example with a sad song, it may be raining in the video and the singers may be dressed in dull colours.

Editing: Jump cuts is the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts. 

Other main conventions consist of: 

Lighting: Some music videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist/s in an enhanced look.Usually consists of 'hard' or 'soft' lighting. Hard lighting is where there is an abundance of lighting, to make the scene look bright, usually will be all 3 of the '3 key lights'. In soft lighting one or more of the lights will be removed to create different effects.

Sound: Sound is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson – Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film.

Props: These are a vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular objects or people. 

Costume: This goes with the scenes in the song and reflects the genre. Costume is an important factor because it has a slight influence on how the viewers will dress because they use some of the celebrities as role models 

Colour: Colours tend to set the mood of the song through creating an atmosphere. For example, dark colours are used more in rock songs such as Kings of Leon and bright colours are seen to be used more in hip hop and pop videos. 

Music conventions in Indie/Rock:
• The colour of the video changes depending on the lyrics of the song and the tempo of the music it can be bright, dark and sometimes black and white.

• Tends to be black and white 

• The artist/band is shown throughout the video 

• Use of extreme close ups and long shots are popular  to show the main artist singing and other band mates performing as well as wide shots of the whole band.

• Dark costumes

• Usually a mixture of performance/narrative; sometimes the whole band performs and other times just the main vocalist sings. When Indie music videos do have a narrative they are often quite symbolic and do not literally follow the lyrics.

• Dark locations 

• Fast paced 

• Some use of special effects 

Examples: 

• Noel Gallagher

• Kings of Leon

• Blur

Foo Fighters - Walk

Foo Fighters - Walk

'Walk' is a mix of performance and narrative, the beginning of the video uses a lot of quick cuts, and changes in audio, to reflect confusion and chaos, and the utter madness of the main character from the world he is confined to. The video focuses fully on one man's journey. Journeys are often shown in music video. He is shown to be walking down a road in time to the music. It is an example of rhythmic editing.

The many cameo performances of the band in roles that are detrimental to the main character makes the viewer feel sorry for the character, and want to watch on. The song itself is very catchy and the lyrics could appeal to many, who feel trapped in the job they do, and the daily routines they do.

The character is carrying a guitar case the whole way through the video, suggesting that he will go back to performing. His costume suggests that he has been locked into a office job that he didn't like, since his top button is undone, suggesting he is stressed.

The video is rather mad, with the character running a man over in a golf buddy then crashing it into the water. Towards the end of the video it has the character getting back to music, and 'learning to walk again' since he is back doing what he loved. The shots of the band, are very typical of the music video genre. The close up shots, are also typical of the performance side.

Maximo Park - Hips and Lips

Maximo Park - Hips and Lips

Hips and Lips is filmed as if it were a home made 'fan' video, when in fact is is a staged and acted video, featuring an rather unknown actor. Hips and Lips is a rather untypical performance video, with a character miming along to the song, in his room. This use of the close up on the star, helps to promote a star image, and interest the audience.

The use of Maximo Park pictures helps to suggest that the character is a huge fan. There is a lack of moving camera angles, in the verses, with the camera mostly staying still, which is rather atypical. The use of the twirling and high angle could be used to disorientate the viewer.

The acting could be suggested as slightly narrative, since Hips and Lips are often referenced to in the 'fans' dance.The use of very casual costume helps to make the viewer feel that he was indeed a real fan, and wasn't an actor.

Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man

Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man

The video, unlike the High Flying Birds video, is fully performance. The video doesn't really reflect the lyrics, nor is it very abstract. The backdrop is very simple, in order to make the artists stand out. All of the artists wear a similar style of clothing. Vests and trousers, which range from black to brown to cream. Though they aren't dressed exactly the same, it makes the artists stand out as a band.

The video uses a lot of soft back lighting, to create the silhouette like images. Lighting is also used in the performance clips to create the glares in the screen that hide the star's features for a few second. The shots of the performers playing their instruments are very typical of performance videos. The close up of the performers face while they play is also typical of a music video. 

'Little Lion Man' uses flickering lights to capture the audiences attention. The use of lighting is prominent throughout the video. Since they want to present the star image of the band. The old wooden flooring and backdrop, reflect an older style, theme. The lights used could reflect an carnival like atmosphere. This reflects the light hearted tune of the song, without being overpowering. 

The use of close ups focused on the instruments with the side lighting removed, gives the light halo effect around it. Making it look ethereal and angelic.

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Everybody's On The Run

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Everybody's On The Run.

'Everybody's On the Run' is a narrative video, reflecting the lyrics. 'Everybody's on the Run' features four main characters. One is played by famous actress Mischa Barton, the shots focusing on her face promote her star image. This is typical of music videos, as they rely on the star image to intrigue the audience enough to watch on. The close up shots on the shoes, could connote the 'running' of the video, and promotes the image of the song. 

The long shots to show the female characters body is a very typical shot of a music video, and the close up on her abdomen, is also typical since it gives a shot of the cleavage which would interest the male viewer. There is also a similar shot focusing on the male, which would broaden the videos audience from just males to females. 

The video uses mirrors to show the reflections. This could be to create a slighlty mystical and ethereal effect to the video. Since the shot is of an reflection. It could also connote that there is a certain fantasy to the video, since reflections and mirrors are often connoted in literature and film as being the idealised version of events. The video uses a lot of rhythmic editing, and reflects the beat of the song. The use of fades and quick cuts helps to match with the pace of the song. 

The lyrics 'you gotta hold on' could be connoted in the video when the characters do not give up the chase, and it ends up well for them. The split screen is used to show two different reactions, and to also show the two different stories at the same time. The two story-lines that intertwine are both running parallel to each other, are both very similar, but both end together.