Ancillary Research (Album Cover Design)

Here are 3 of my favorite album covers, each ranging in complexity. The far right is Rainbow's Rising album and features a piece of very well constructed artwork. Although this is one of my favorite designs, i feel it would be much to complex to produce and could not be printed in black and white. The second is from Guns N' Roses and is the 1988 Appetite For Destruction album. It features the bands faces as skulls and i thought this was a really good and easy idea to create. The 3rd is Van Halens 1984 first album and shows each member of the band with the logo in the middle. i like this design as its simple to make and could be produced in black and white. i think my final album cover will look most like this one.

Ancillary Research (Poster Design)

For my Ancillary task, i have decided to produce a live poster and album cover as this will benefit my band out side of the class room. Here i have chosen 3 differnt posters from the same genre and time period im trying to recreate. This first is of Led Zeppelin live in Knebworth. This is relativly well known poster and i think this is mainly due to the simple yet effective layout. The contrast of the bands names agains the black background makes them really stand out with the headling act at the top in a different font and colour to make them stand out evan more. The second poster is of the Greatful Dead live at the Warfield Theater. I have chosen to look at this poster because it's an idea i might consider trying to recreate. What i had in mind was the two giant skelleton band members leaning on a famouse venue in bristol. And finaly i have chosen Pink Floyd live in the Oakland Coliseum in 1977. I have chosen this as it is one of my favourite poster. The giant pig is an icon from their Animals album which was released prior to this. I was planning to incorporate an icon into both the album cover and poster.

New Genre And Style

The style of the band im currently playing is, a cross between late 1970s punk mixed with the sleaze rock from America in the late 1980s early 90s. Bands such as for example Guns n' Roses mixed with SLF or Skid Row crossed with the clash. As MTV was created in the mid 80s, there isnt really many music videos of the genre. Although there were a few. They contained very little narrative and where usualy shot of the band performing their song. This is what i plan to do as its quick, easy and typical of the genre. The shot sequences are generaly fast paced and use mid to close shot types. Things are generaly shot in low colour or black and white and feature tracking shots and low angle pans.

Media Theories

Theories of the Media
There are several theories concerning the Media and its audience:The Hypodermic Syringe theoryDating from the 1920s, its based on the idea that the Media is like a syringe, it injects ideas, attitudes and beliefs onto the audience and as a powerless mass, the audience has no choice but to be influenced by it.The Culmination TheoryAfter the audience has watched the same thing repeatedly they become de-sensitised to it. For instance, if the audience is constantly watching violence, eventually they will feel less sensitive to the subject.The Two-step flow TheoryThe theory that states that the audience won't actually affected by the media text itself, but only by the discussions that the audience has on itThe Encoding/Decoding theoryThis theory come in two parts:Encoding is the process where the producers construct the textDecoding is the process where the audience reads, understands and interprets the text.This theory also states that different media text will be interpreted differently depending on the viewers' identity, culture and opinions.

Change Of Plan

Due to recent events inside the group, i have decided to work solo to complete this project. The idea of using an original sound track is still in place but the people and song we will be doing has changed. I plan to shoot a music video for my band outside of school playing an original song in side the school hall. It has a good stage and would be perfect to shoot my video as there is little narrative.

More Specific Conventions

Are music video will be a hybrid of several genres. I have done some research by looking at videos from Rock, Pop and a hip hop style genre to find out what the main conventions are and if any of them use the same.

Rock/Indie.
-Tend to be dark lighting and colours, or Evan black or white.
-The Artist or band tends to be shown through out the video.
-Use of extreme close ups and longs shots are more common.
-Dark locations.
-Fast paced.
-Some special effects.

Hip-Hop.
-Location tends to be inside a club or a party.
-Use of alcohol or drugs.
-Recognised Brands of clothing.
-Expensive cars and houses featured.
-Camera shots tend to be long including group shots to show the money of the production involved. Close ups tend to be more of the female characters to show jewellery and rich aspects of the character.
-Well dressed attractive women.
-Rarely Follows a story line.

Pop Music.
-Bright and colourful.
-Close ups to show cheerful upbeat expressions and emotions.
-Extreme close ups to show innocence also.
-Aimed at a teenage audience.
-Nearly always a possative, happy video.

Conventions Of A Standard Music Video

Camera Shots.
A music video consits primaraly of Long and Mid shots and close ups. This is so that the director can easly convey the artist, location and feelings involed directly to the audience. Close ups are also used to not only show the artists emotions, but to reflect the lyrics of the song with the movement of the artists lips.

Camera Movement.
This is simple to follow and track the movements of the band.
They include tilts, tracking, pans and crane shots in the majority of common music videos.

Editing.
A jump cut is the main form of editing technique in a music video. This is because it creates a sudden changes of scene, transitions like fades and disolves are also very common in a music video.

Lighting.
The lighting plays a important role in what the overal mood of the video is.
Some music videos are black and white to help emphisise a particular mood and some have artificial lighting to place the artist in a enhanced look.

Sound.
Sound is nearly always the artist's song and vocals but in some cases, directors can turn a music video into a short film. Much like Michael Jacksons Thriller video.

Props.
These are vitial to creating the scene and give significance on particular objects or people.

Colour.
Like lighting, the colour also plays a huge part in the overall mood of the video. For example dark colours are generally used in rock songs, giving a dark mood to the video. Where as a pop song would use quite light, bright colours.