Album cover analysis

Oasis's debut album Definitely Maybe breaks most of the conventions of your stereotypical album cover as no one is looking at the camera as well as no one being the main focus, apart from maybe Liam as he is in the center. We see that Noel has an acoustic guitar which tells us that they are a guitar band but that is the only connotations we can draw from the cover.The font is quite simplistic and easy to read and the classic Oasis logo is also featured so it is recognizable giving the band a brand. The lighting is very naturalistic as this sticks to the simplistic style of the album. There is also a photo of former Man City player Rodney Marsh, this ties in with Oasis's down to earth Manchester roots.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory? is again quite an abstract album cover from Oasis. They use very bold simple text this time to make it stand out and again have their Oasis logo as to keep with the brand. The lighting is again naturalistic and shows two men (DJ Sean Rowley and producer Owen Morris) walking down Berwick Street in London. This street was chosen because there was a lot of record stores there at the time. The men are dressed in the same style as Liam and Noel Gallagher keeping to the indie conventions and are also shot out of focus.





Arctic Monkeys's humbug album cover shows all the band in shot. Much like Oasis's definitely maybe none of the members are the main focus, and drummer Matt Helders is taking a lot more of the focus than lead singer Alex Turner. The lighting is quite dark and an image of  one of the band members is repeated in the mirror. The photo image itself is faded over itself so we can see Matt Helders twice as well. The font is quite simplistic and not in the center of the frame at all, going against most album cover conventions. Also the title Humbug is not even featured on the cover which is quite strange for an album.





Again Arctic Monkeys album cover Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not does not feature the album title. Like Oasis's two covers it shows a logo that became a brand. Strangely this cover shows no members of the band at all. This is very different to most conventions as this was the Arctic Monkeys debut album and you would think that they would have wanted to get their image out to the public. The photo has been edited to black and white and is quite a dark image as the central character smoking seems to be quite down, which you would think would not be a good advertisement for the band.






Blur: The Best Of shows each member of the band in a profile shot that has been edited to look like a cartoon. It is very bright and colourful so it catches the eye. There is no text on the cover at all so it features no band or album name. This album stands out a lot more than the rest, it also breaks the dark bleak look of most of the other indie bands styled album covers. In my personal opinion I think this cover is a lot more successful than the rest because it is the most eye catching and I think I will take the most inspiration from this when designing my own album cover.

The Pitch
1- We would use the track 'Ritz to Rubble' by the Arctic Monkeys as this fits in with our genre and does not have an original video. There would be two narratives the first would be our band singing the song in a black and white edit using different colour's to make the instruments stand out. We would also close up on the individual members of the band and get shots from different angles of them playing. The second narrative would be the lead singer walking home from a rough night out with a black eye and a ripped up shirt, this would go with the song as it is all about the day after a night out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSaUYSyvqI&safe=active
2- Our second pitch would be a parody video of the Wizard of Oz. We would cover the Arctic Monkeys old yellow bricks in costumes from the film (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion). It would be a humorous video shot on green screen using clips from the film as the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLaeOrDmWQ4&safe=active
3- The third pitch would be a 'Bitter sweet symphony' style video where we would have the lead singer lip sinking Oasis's 'Acquiesce' as he walked through the busy streets of the town centre. We would use rewind and fast forward edits on the video to give the effect of time passing and going slower we would also use different colour tints on the lens to make the viewer feel different emotions as they are watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09zBftEqBN0&safe=active

Music video history
Here is in my opinion some of the most iconic music videos of all time. I will look at these videos and try to pick out some of the key points that make them so good, I will then try and incorporate some of these into my own video.

Johnny Cash- Hurt
Released in 2002 Johnny Cash's cover of the Nine Inch Nails track tries to capture the essence of Cash by using different photos of him from through out his life. Director Mark Romanek also uses clips showing Jesus Christ to represent Cash's devout christianity. The use of rotting fruit really signifys Johnny's detiorating health, the video became even more poignient with the death of Cash coming just seven months after its release.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go&safe=active

Bloodhound Gang- The bad touch
A very controversial video at the time, the uncut version icludes references to zoophilia, sex and homophobia it could also be deemed offensive to the French. Shot in Paris the video shows the band dressed in Monkey suits running around and pulling some stunts in the city of Paris. Even though the video is quite a simple concept it is still one of the most recognisable videos of all time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xat1GVnl8-k&safe=active                              

 Weezer- Buddy Holly
Weezer's Buddy Holly shows clips from the hit American TV show Happy days with he band performing at Arnold's drive in. The video combines contemporary clips from the band with clips from he show. A cameo appearance from Al Molinaro and a body double of the Fonz allowed them to look as thought they were actually in the show. The video wrote its self into the history books winning four awards at the MTV awards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemivUKb4f4&safe=active

Foo Fighters- Everlong 
Director Michael Gondry's video actually lasts longer than the original track so the song was edited to last the same time. It is a surreal, satirical parody video including themes from Evil Dead. The video also shows clips from the band playing with Taylor Hawkins on drums when in actual fact it was Dave Grohl. It was nominated for the best rock video at the 1998 MTV awards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBG7P-K-r1Y&safe=active

Michael Jackson- Thriller
Probably the most iconic music video of all time, Michael Jacksons original video is made as if it was a short film. Including parodies from 'An American Werewolf in London' and other horror classics the video mixes classic Jackson dance routines with the horror of a thriller film. The video received two Grammys and four MTV awards including the '100 greatest videos of all time'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA&safe=active
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG6oy46qKE4&safe=active

Band choices
Here is a list of possible bands that we would like to cover, all these bands belong to the indie rock genre of music.

The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses are an English rock band formed in the 'Madchester' movement during the 1980's. Originally founded by Ian Brown and John Squire the bands debut album 'The Stone Roses' was a breakthrough hit and received critical acclaim. However following a lengthy legal battle their second album 'Second Coming' was not recieved well and the band disbanded in 1996. If we were to choose a song by the Roses it would be a track from the first album.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJEvF7dPMNM

Oasis

Another English band formed in Manchester, Oasis took the baton from the Stone Roses and became one of the most successful bands of the 90's. Brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher's rebel image and antics kept them in the headlines and added to the success of the band. Liam was known for his iconic sunglasses and parka' jackets a very noticeable image for the band. The first album 'Definitely Maybe' was revolutionary and we would probably choose one of these tracks if we were to pick Oasis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJEvF7dPMNM

Arctic Monkeys

Formed in Sheffield the Arctic Monkeys lead by lead singer and guitarist Alex Turner took Britain by storm with their debut album which became the fastest selling British debut in music history. One of the first bands to come to the public attentions through the internet the Arctic Monkeys have changed their style and rebranded themselves throughout the 2000's and their latest album 'AM' is went straight into No.1 in the charts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w29Sa_QbPjY

Beady Eye

 Founded in 2009 after the disbanding of Oasis, lead singer Liam Gallagher formed his own band with the remaing members and ex Kasabian guitarist Jay Mehler. Although missing Oasis's chief songwriter Noel Gallagher, the first two albums released by the band have received great praise from critics and Oasis fans alike. I personally think that the second album 'BE' is much stronger than the first so I would prefer to choose a track from there instead of 'Different gear still speeding'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_m1VSsbawQ

Kasabian

Unlike the previous bands Kasabian is more straight up rock rather than the sub genre of indie like the rest of the groups. The band has been discribed as a mix between the 'Stone Roses and Primal Scream, with the swagger of Oasis.' Kasabian's self named debut album was received quite well by critics and fans a like. They carried on their success with later albums and really took off with the release of Velociraptor in 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZNObd4iI0k

Genre research- For the second video I chose Arctic Monkeys-The View from the Afternoon fromt he album Whatever people say I am that's what I'm not.

Arctic Monkeys- The View from the Afternoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeQAZsyucbQ&safe=active

1. Again like the Oasis track this video is shot in black and white, this is a convention of the genre and I think we will use this effect on our own video. This track starts with a high angle establishing shot of a suburban street with a woman walking through with a trolley. It sets the tone for the video and shows the kind of area where the band came from.





2. We the get another high angle shot of the drummer preparing himself. We get to see the instrument and the image of the artist.






3. As he starts playing it shows he is very skilled by the speed in which he is playing. Although he is not actually a member of the band these

shots are showing how integral the drummer is too songs like this as unlike most other Monkeys tracks Alex Turner isn't the sole focus of this video.



4. We are then shown a high angle long shot of the drummer playing in the middle of the street. We see the time of day pass as it shows how long hes been playing and the kind of dedication he has.






5. We then get a mid close up on a child with devil horns on. This is quite a strange image for this video

which has nothing to do with the band itself.






6. The focus is again on the artist as he plays the drums at a very high speed tempo. He in fact plays them so hard that his stick break and as the camera moves it shows the remains of all his other sticks scattered around the floor.




7. We get a close up on one of his adversaries of the text, as some young males come down and start abusing him he carries on playing the drums. This again shows his dedication and focus.






8. The next shot is completely different from the rest of the video. It is
shot in colour which instantly sticks in your mind, this effect looks a lot more effective as the rest of the video is in black and white.






9. The final shot shows him stop and water comes down him. this relates
to the previous shot where he was laying in the pool.

This video is quite different to most others as instead of focusing on the lead guitarist or singer it is solely on the drum player. Although it is quite a spectacle, I feel it could have been a better video if it had included the other members of the band. Although it was a drum heavy piece it still should have shown the lead singer and guitarist.

Genre research-
I watched a video from our chosen genre (Indie rock) and took screen grabs from it to try and take some of the better ideas and conventions from it to put it into my own video.

Oasis Wonderwall- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hzrDeceEKc&safe=active
1. Simple shot of Noel playing the guitar, it is edited to be black and white a feature that runs through out the entire video. It is a mid close up so that you can see his face and shoulders and also the top of the instrument.




2. Another shot, this time a long one showing the drum player. This is an
action shot and we can see a lot more going on.







3. We now get a long shot of the entire band, the guitar that is handed to
Noel also has an effect on it so that it stands out. By making it a different colour to the rest of the video we pay more attention to it.





4. The frame is now split into four different images of Noel. This
reminded me of the Beatles album cover from 'A Hard Days Night', I also thought it looked like a passport photo shot.




5. In the next frame we are introduced to the concept of the video,
which is the circus. The colour edit has again been used so that the clowns hat stands out from the rest of the shot.





6. We now get a long shot of lead singer Liam in front of the band. He is
sat there as he is the front man so in theory he is more important than the rest of the group.






7. We now close up onto Liam singing to add to importance. We are shown his iconic John Lennon style sun glasses which tells us more about his style and image.





8. In the next frame we get a close up on the cello, no artist is shown just
the instrument. This shot shows that the cellist is not part of the band and that is why they are not in the frame.






9. In the final frame we return to the clown again where he is now going to turn of the Oasis record. This signifies the end of the song.



























I think that is video is quite successful, it has a strong concept, shows all the members of the band, shows people singing and playing the instruments. Also I feel like the black and white edit and colour filter work well together making certain images stand out from the background.

Chief examiners guidance- 
The chief examiners definition of a music video-

• The video lasts at least as long as the track (can be longer if you have an intro or outro or both)
• The video features the artist/band quite prominently
• The video features some element of performance- singing and playing instruments (usually miming) and often dancing or acting too 
• The video has some kind of concept along with the track
• The video does not feature a complete narrative but the concept may involve fragments of narrative
• Different genres of music produce slightly different visual conventions in music videos

Here are some steps I will need to follow if I want to make a successful video 

Step 1 Limbering up- Film the band warming up before they start playing, completely improvised no need for any rehearsals. Film from different angles so you can get a feel for how you are going to make your video.

Step 2 Write a treatment- This is your pitch for the track, you will also need to put in what your concept will be. It needs to be clear and realistic. 

Step 3 Choose your track- You shouldn't choose a track that is too well known as the chances are it will not look as good as the original. You should also make sure you choose a song that stimulates some visuals and doesn't last too long. 

Step 4 Research- Look closely at the videos from the genre you are going to use, pick out some of the conventions from the videos and use these in your own. You should also watch videos made by other students to see some strengths and weaknesses and look out for some things to avoid. 

Step 5 Planning- Make sure you storyboard all your ideas first, as you will need some visuals to help you with the video. After you've done this make them into an animatic so you can see what your video will look and if it works as a concept.You should also plan the logistics, this is all about how well you manage your production. Costumes, props, locations, camera equipment etc. will all need to be organised before you can start shooting your video.  

Step 6 Blogging- Make sure you put everything you do in your blog, from concept ideas to inspirations. 

Step 7 Equipment- You need to know how to use your equipment, and how to get the best results out of it. Also you will have to film it somewhere audible as you want the music to be as loud as possible. 

Step 8 Shooting- Film the performance at least ten times with different set ups. Viewers need to be kept entertained and to do this you will need lots of different material. 

Step 9 Capturing- Don't forget to label everything you capture and to organise it.

Step 10 Editing- Sync up the performances first, do lots of different cuts as to make your work look dynamic. Do all effects last and upload a first draft onto your blog so you can get feedback and apply it to your final video. 

Research guide- Here is a list of suggested websites to look at while I am researching my project-

• Chief Examiner's 'How to do this module'
• City & Islington - excellent blog + video. Use as a benchmark.
• Hurtwood House - excellent exemplar material
• Latymer College- more good student work
• Media Edu on Music Video production
• Media Edu on post-productiont
• Media Edu on pre-production
• OCR Media Studies G324 exemplar page
• OCR previous guidance page
• TWSF past student exemplar work

Brief

Brief- For my A2 media coursework I have been asked to create the following-

• A Promotional Package for the release of an album, to include: 

• • a music promo video; 

• • a 6 page cover for its release on Digipack; 

• • an A4 magazine advertisement for the album. 

• A Blog Giving Visual + Text Evidence of Research & Planning to include: 

• A Blog, which gives visual + text evidence of the Evaluation of the following questions, which must be answered: