Planning

Here are the ideas we came up with during our lesson, they show what we have in mind for our music and how we want to do it.

Image Annotation

From looking at the common rock band and the Kaiser Chiefs themselves we have came up with a good idea of how we want to present ourselves to the audience. We are going to follow the typical conventions of a rock band, below are pictures of a few bands I have looked at to get ideas from.

 To start with we have an image of the Kaiser Chiefs, from seeing this you can see that they stick to wearing very dark clothes which is a typical convention on this genre. I will follow this by wearing dark clothes also, to get the best out of this genre I feel I should be wearing either a suit which you can see from the person 2nd from the right, or what I feel would look even better would be a more casual rock look, an example of this can be seen from the image of Imagine Dragons. As you can see below they don't wear suits and have gone for a more casual rock look which I think works really well, to get the right costume I would like to wear clothes like the members in the middle, I feel the style of the jacket and the hoodie work really well with this genre as they are black to start with so the genre combination would be great, also from seeing their trousers although it's a small glimpse they are also black, I want to take this idea of black trousers and possible go for black jeans, I feel this would suit the style of rock video we are trying to do really well as it will get across our genre really well and also look more conventional and professional. Coldplay is another interesting example for the outfit we should be going for in a rock band, as you can see they have stuck to the dark colour theme as the other bands and dress in a smart casual  way, this works really well for the genre as it gives across a very professional feel to the band.



From looking at these images I have decided to go for the casual/typical rock look, I will follow the dark colour convention and will either wear black which I think would work really well or a dark navy blue which I think would be quite a cool  look. Next up I want to use either a jacket or hoodie for the video, I think this would fit in well with the look of the band and follow the conventions, I will then have either jeans which will be a dark blue or some black chinos, I feel this will fit in well with the conventions and finally I will wear a white T-Shirt, this will prevent all of the dark colours from washing me out and make me stand out more with that one colour to the other members as I am the lead performer for it.
 

Lyric Analysis

Here is our scanned in lyric analysis, here we have studied what the lyrics actually mean and tried to grasp a good concept of what they are about so that we can work towards making a music video with a narrative that suits the lyrics.

 

 

Role Pictures

Post 2: Members Roles

Here is the roles that have been taken up by group members and reasons why we decided this.

Song Choice

We chose the song "Learnt My Lesson Well" by the Kaiser Chiefs.

We choose this song as we felt it would be fairly simple to learn the lyrics so that way as we are performing it will look a lot better and lines won't be messed up. Also with that the backing track to the song has a very good fast pace to it and you can get a clear concept of the type of shot types and editing that will have to be done for this song. It also breaks up really well on the verses so it will have a good blend when we start to make the video for the song.

The genre of this song is Indie Rock.

Some initial I have thought of for the video is too really follow the typical conventions of this type genre, by this I mean will will use the typical editing conventions to keep the pace of the video fast so that it fits the lyrics and the quick paced instruments. The narrative of the video will be based around the band which will feature also Sophie who will take up a role in the video as part of the narrative.

I will be the main performer of the band with he other members taking up the role as band members and possibly playing the narrative characters.  We want to give of the image that we don't care what society thinks and what what we do to be on a big scale. We want to be considered rebellious as that is part of our genre

Also we will wear typical rock clothes you would expect, by this I mean to stick to the dark colours and wear the traditional rock clothes style.

For the locations we would like to consider using either an actual stage, an area that has fairly low lighting, a studio and a location with not much around as we want it to fit the typical rock conventions.

Example Questionnaires

Results from Questionaire

Scool Quest

 This chart here records the age of the people who took part in this survey with almost all of them being between the ages of 16-20 which will dramatically affect the results, this group was important to aim our questions at as this age group will be our audience.

1) White British was the most common group of people asked so this may reflect on the ethnicity are music will be aimed at.

2) The majority of people seemed to enjoy pop over rock so will look at ways on how we can challenge this popular genre

3) When asked over 50% of people answered yes which is good as we know we have an audience to aim at.

4) Here we have the artists names from Britain that people listened to the most associated with the rock genre

5) This question here is good as it lets us know that the people who are listening to rock music do enjoy British bands which we are.

6) From this we can learn on what we should be wearing and how we should present ourselves to the audience.

7) Here we can learn where the audience expects this genre to be performed so we can stick the conventions and the expectations of our audience.


8) These results here show what type of feeling we need to create from our video to make the audience happy with it and so it will follow what they want.

9) This question will help us out as it allows us to understand what we will need to keep the audience happy and not stray too far from the typical conventions.

Advertisement Research

This poster here is advertising the Fall Out Boy CD
At the top we have the name of the band in bold letters to that it catches the readers attention.
It features the name of the album being realised which is good as the target audience knows what they are buying.
It also has the date of release so people know when the CD will become available.
The advertisement also features a few of the songs that will be included in the album which is good as the audience know what to expect.
The image itself is very dark as it is meant to represent the style of rock music this group follows which is good as by seeing this the audience will know what type of stuff to expect.

This advertisement is very conventional yet again, it features at the top of the page the name of the band which is good so the audience can quickly see who this band is. What also makes this good is that it tells us where you can buy this CD from in the bottom left corner so we know where we can go to get it. In the same corner we also see the label this band is under which is good as their contracted to each other so it helps get their name further out there.  The advertisement also features a date of release so that people know when it is to become available to the public. Finally we have an image on the poster of the band which appears to be of them preforming live which is good also as it is a good link to what the CD is off.




This advertisement of The Horrors is good as it shows the name of the band at the top in the middle of the page along with the name of the album, the date of the albums release and finally the record company they belong too.

We then have an image of the band together in the middle of the page, this is good as their target audience can recognise them and also from seeing the type of clothes they wear and the colour usage we can make a good guess on the style of rock they are part off.

Genre Research 3

These are the typical conventions of a rock video

The artist and band will usually appear in the video




The song will be the soundtrack through the majority of the video, in some cases their is a short story before the music starts like in ''Walk'' By Foo Fighters.



The artist will often preform throughout the rock video either singing or being a fictional character in the story however this is not a common thing in a rock video.




A rock video will feature 3 or more different locations so that the target audience does not become bored seeing the same stuff. This will usually happen when the verse changes.




The video will feature lots of close ups of the singers face to establish him/her to the audience, close up's of the instruments and finally long shots and mid shots of the band.



The video will always contain a band



It may be a live performance



Costumes will usually be dark/edgy/gritty/urban

Genre Research 2

 Like most  rock music videos the editing starts of slow and then starts to cut at a fast pace once the song picks up its tempo. The music video uses cuts the most to keep the pace at a good tempo but also uses fades on occasion which works well as it keeps the audience interested instead of watching the same thing which becomes repetitive. The video also cuts between being in colour and in black and white which works very well as it mixes things up a fair bit and also is something different to what rock videos normally do.


With the sound it follows the typical convention of a rock video, these being that it has the sound of instruments particularly guitars in the background with the lead singer in the background, their is only diegetic sound in this video like in most rock videos.

The video uses a lot of close ups of the instruments which is very conventional of a rock video along with close up's of the faces so that the audience can make a connection, it also uses low angles shots where the person the shot is on will look into the camera which works well as it makes them look bigger and on a grander scale, finally it uses longshots to get all of the members in which is to show the audience that this is a band and not a one mean group, each person has an important role to play

The mise en scene remains very basic for this video, this is because they are not wearing traditional rock clothes like you would expect but very casual clothing items, this makes them come across as more normal which could allow the audience connect more to them, The lead singer also wears a cool pair of shades to make him stand out that much more which is good as it is important to establish the lead singer. We also have shots of the instruments being used which is good as it establishes to the audience what is being used and who is doing what.








The mise en scene in this video is very good as we see a fair bit from this, by this I mean we everything we would expect to see, we are given shots of the instruments being used by the band which is conventional, also we see the artist himself along with his band which again is conventional as it allows the audience to make a connection with the band. The band wear the colours of a rock band as in they are dark however that type of clothing they are wearing is not common as rock bands usually or at least when this song came out went with a scruffier look
.
The editing of the pace for this video remains conventional as it uses quick cuts to go from shot to shot at a quick pace so that it blends in well with the lyrics and sticks to the conventions of a rock video and doesn't look out of place.

Similar to the video before we only hear sound from the band, the instrumental sound in this video is a lot more powerful however and to some extent taken to another level as everything feels a lot grander which fits in well with the huge scale of Coldplay.

Like in the other video this one too follows the cinematography conventions of a rock video, by this I mean it uses lots of close ups of the faces of band members and close ups of the instruments which work really well as it covers a lot to keep the audience interested. long shots are also used so that you can see the band performing together which comes across very well and allows the audience to connect with the band.











 With this video the mise en scene is a lot more different to the typical conventions you would expect, although they follow the conventions of having the band members in the video along with the instruments the clothes they wear is not what you would expect from a rock band in the sense that they are a lot brighter and an unusual choice for this genre.

The editing remains conventional as you would expect from the rock genre, it maintains a fast pace going from shot to shot to keep the audience watching so they do not lose interest and turn over, they use standard cuts to keep the tempo at a fast pace so the shots feel more fluid which work really well.

For the sound similar to the other two videos analysed above it features just the band and lead singer in it with no other noise which is good as you want everyone focused on them and nobody else.

 With this music video we see the typical shot types from this genre, it uses long shots and medium shots to establish the bands and close ups of the lead singer so that the audience can make a connection.

Record Labels

Universal Music Group  (UMG)

UMG is a record label company based in California in the United Sates of America which formed in 1934 as Decca Records which then changed to MCA Music Entertainment Group in 1989 and then finally changed to UMG in 1996. Since it's creation it has becomes Americas largest US record label company. The company specialises in all genres of music as long as it will sell. One rock band that is under the UMG label is the Kaiser Chiefs.

Creation Records

Creation Records is a record company that was formed in 1983 by Alan McGee, the company is based in The United Kingdom, unlike Universal Music Group this label company only goes with the genres; alternative rock, noise pop, shoegazing and finally Britpop. A band that was under its label before they broke up was Oasis. Oasis singed for this independent record company in 1994 and released their first album ''Definitely Maybe'' under them

Warner Bros Records

This record label was formed in 1958 by Jack Warner. Warner Bros Records in 1999 became the record label partner for the TV channel Nickelodeon and Sony Net. The contract however ended in the summer of 2007.  Warner Bros Records is still the third-largest of the four major international music company's.  A band that has singed for Warner Bros is Muse, they released Origin of Symmetry and Hullabaloo in 2005 once they had signed for the giant record label company.

 

Cover Analysis

Artist names: Arctic Monkeys
Artists image appears on the front cover

Camerawork: Close up the artist. He appears to be starring right at the viewer. It is an important for the artist to be on front of the cover so that they can be recognised by the viewer.

Mise en scene: On this cover we see the artist smoking, this can tell us a lot about the style of the music as smoking is considered to be rebellious in a way.
The cover is in black and white which could tell us they of an old styled rock music.
The background looks to be curtains so this may indicate that they are be stage performers.

Mise en scene: Performance- The artist on this front cover has quite a closed body posture. He takes up most of the frame, he also has dreary eyes in this shot, because of all this it gives him quite a cool look that makes him look as if he is in control of everything around him



Camerawork: On the back of the cover we have yet another close up of the artist, this time however the artist is not looking straight forward and instead has his head in his hand.  We do not get any further information from this shot as it still uses the same shot type.

Mise en Scene: Performance-- The lead singer had a concealed body posture similar to the the font cover however his head in in his hand this time, this is very common for a rock album cover as they try to come off as cool and as if they don't care that a camera is their, they seem more authentic compared to a pop cover where they all try to look like their having fun which looks fake.

The background remains very similar to the front with the curtains  in the background.
We also see on the back the track list to the album so that the audience knows what songs they are going to be getting with the album.


Artists name- Oasis
Artists image appears on the front cover.

Camerawork- We are shown a low angle shot of the rock band which appear to be performing on a stage with the equipment in the background, unlike the first front cover from the Artic Monkeys this artist doesn't look into the camera so the connection is not being made with the audience in the same way but he is still on the front cover which is important so that he can be recognised by the target audience.

Mise En Scene- In the shot we have all of the members in the background playing their instruments, this is a common thing for a rock band to do as they want their style of music to be put out so the audience knows what their going to get and also as they are a band they want every member on the cover as their a team in a way and all should be recognised for thier talent. Their body posture is a lot more open which suggests that their music is expressed more freely and that their not shy of a big audience.



Mise En Scene- On the back of the cover we have the same conventions as most other albums, these being that we get a list of all of the tracks in this album along with a picture of the band to show again who they are to the audience so that they are recognised. In the picture however not ecer member looks at the band which is again very common for a rock band to do. The background colour used in purple which helps the text pop a lot more and also allows the picture to stand out more as they are wearing fairly dark clothes in a dark background, the lead singer however of the band in in a light blue whilst the others are in their dark coulours, this is so that he stands out and people will know just by seeing this that he is the lead singer.

Their is little camera work on the back cover as their is only the one shot, however a medium shot is used so that all of the members are seen and we can see a fair bit of them, this is important to have them in a shot type like this for the cover because they can be easily noticed and recognised by their audience.





Artist name- Kaiser Chiefs

Mise En Scene

In this front cover we have every member of the band appear clearly on the front cover with the lead singer in the middle. it is important for the artist to appear on the front cover so that the audience can easily recognise them. The album cover follows the conventions of a typical front cover as it also features the name of the group which is imporant so people know who they are along with the name of the album, they use a faded yellow type colour which makes the cover look old, this could tell us that their style of music is of old rock and not what people are hearing today, that they have stuck to the roots of the genre.

Cinematography


We have a medium close up of the band on the front cover, this is good as it allows them to be easily recognised by their audience. They all stare into the camera which is fairly unual for a rock band cover but because they do this it allows them to make a connection with the audience which is a good thing.

The back of the cover sticks to the conventional items you would see on the back cover. It features a list of all of the songs on the back so the audience knows what they are getting, it also has all of the record labels that the band belongs to. The colour on the back maintains the same colour as the front  with the same style font which reinforces the point that this could be an old school type of rock band and not like all this new stuff coming out.

Theories 3

Andrew Goodwin Theroy

Illustration

• Always cuts on beat
• images illustrate the literal meaning or feeling of the lyrics often just with the band singing and performing/dancing
• The band, area, band singing, dancing/playing instruments and dressed as would be expected

Amplification

• Film cuts on the beat but also to emphasise features
• Images in the video will amplify the lyrics, a specific narrative may be used that would not necessarily be picked up from reading the lyrics alone
• The band will take on fictional roles in the narrative

Disjunctive

• Film cuts of the beat- sometimes the sign of a badly made music video
• Images which do not relate to the lyrics are used sometimes by bands who are already very well destabilised and who can afford to take a risk
• The band take on an image that is nothing like or the complete opposite of their expected image

Goodwin says that the narrative of a music video is often the audiences own idea, he claims that the narrative and performance work together well in order to stop the audience interested in the video and not become bored.
He also states that when the artist is performing and acting at the same time it comes of as more natural and authentic. He feels it's in the artists best interest to make it look at real/natural as possible even though lip syncing is the most popular form.

He also claims that it is important to promote the singer's or stars image from the video, this plays a major role in their style and strongly influences the way their videos are made.

Goodwin also points out the artists mode if address. That a song can be seen as short stories with the artist being the storyteller. This is all shown through the narrative.  This narrative can be seen in this video by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, a story is played out here with the characters taking on fictional roles.

Theories 2

Vernails Theory is based around 4 key points that all relate to how music videos are constructed.

These are : Diegesis, Narrative, Editing and finally camera movement and framing.

Narrative

• She claims that the narrative of video is a visual response to the music
• She says that their is not always a direct balance between the narrative and performance of the people in the video.
• She claims that the structure of the video may appear disjointed.
• There may not always be a clear ending at the end of the video to the story
• The narrative may run by as a montage

Editing

• Vernails claims that editing may match the beat or musical phrases
• The music video can break or disrupt many of the ''rules'' of continuity editing.
• The edits can be really obvious to gain more attention opposed to continuity editing.

With the editing you could see

• Cutting with the lyrics
• Cuts on movement
• Break of the 30 degree and 180 degree rule
• Extreme jumps between time and location

It is unlikely to see smooth transitions in a music video along with match on action

Diegesis

• The diegesis will be revealed fairly slowly
• Characters along withy objects will often move to the music
• Can have many repetitions such as the beat, themes, performance and lyrics
• Actions are not always completed

Camera Movement/Framing

• The camera will often move to the lyrics
• Close ups of the performers and master shots for the locations are often used
• The movement and framing will run through the video and is distinctive to that particular video

An example of this style can be seen below

There is a lot of rhythm editing and the camera moves with the music which proves her theory right in this video.

Rock Mood Board