Sunday, 23 February 2014
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
LO2:
Asking Alexandria - To The Stage:
Asking Alexandria are a British metalcore band (Danny Worsnop, Ben Bruce, Cameron Liddell, Sam Bettley and James Cassells), they formed in 2008 when guitarist Ben Bruce returned to the UK and formed the band with his old companions, names mentioned above.
Frank Nasso was the director for Asking Alexandria's 'To The Stage' music video, he began his career in film at the age of 10, co-starring in major motion pictures. Whilst Frank never took an acting class to hone his craft, he continued to work consistently in film and TV throughout high school, but his focus shifted from being in front of the camera to being behind it. Frank's passion for the world of film production enabled him to graduate with honors from New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts in May 2006, earning a B.F.A. in Film & TV Production.
With the band being of a British origins, it's no surprise that Frank Nasso decided to depict them crossing a road in a line, to mirror The Beatles' popular picture when crossing Abbey Road in London; this depiction acts as a globally recogniseable anchor to them in nationality and perhaps trying to subtly connotate that Asking Alexandria may be as successful as The Beatles.
In relation to other camera shots, the video consistently shows close ups of facial expressions and key interests in the video's storyline, for example when the woman drops a drug into Danny's whiskey, the camera cuts to a close up of the drink and the pill dissolving, then Danny drinking from it.
Common characteristics of this genre include fast-paced editing, high saturation, band members being in a place altogether, and the popular terms sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Unsurprisingly, the video for To The Stage includes all of these characteristics at many different occassions.
The relationship between the lyrics in the song and the video's visuals correspond very well with each other, for example in relation to the title, in the first minute of the video each band member receives a text message from their band member saying "SET TIME MOVED. AA TO THE STAGE IN 30 MINUTES.". Another correspondance to point out is that in the chorus when Danny says "She's just a beautiful girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, I'm just a kick in the teeth" it shows the lead female character that Danny hooks up with walking towards him slowly, focus of the camera directed on her facial features showing her intentions and then it cuts to Danny smiling and many more drinks being poured with the line "I'm just a kick in the teeth" implying that heavy drinking and himself are a bad combination for anyone to be involved with. One more noticeable point lyircally is that after the drug dissolves in Danny's drink, and in the song itself he laughs manically, it shows James laughing in time, then with fast editing it cuts to lots of manic shots such as 'downing' drinks, blinding light, shaky camera movements, canted angles and hightened saturation.
In time with the song, the video frequently cuts to different shots in time with the song's beat. At points where the song tends to slow down or the guitar plays one long chord before playing another section, the visuals slow down with either lowered tempo in editing or even with the point in the video becoming less 'active', for example at 1:43 when the instruments just ring out with one chord/note, the point in the video shows them slowly walking toward the camera in a line together. The video constantly changes pace with the music being played.
The record company, Sumerian Records, seems to want to sell this track as a pure Rock 'n' Roll styled song, putting the band in light of the stereotypical themes. The company must also be either giving free advertisement or have a deal with Jack Daniel's whiskey as in the beginning it shows Danny holding a bottle of it, and frequently later on it is shown in the bar. The band is given a quite negative image in this video, shown as unloyal rockstars with little care for their scheduled gigs and their own well-being; however in the video it does show a caring side to them as friends toward one another, Ben seems concerned for Danny throughout and at the end he is searching frantically for him calling out his name in panic. The video is very different to others done by Asking Alexandria, for example the song 'A Prophecy' is simply just the band singing and playing at night in the rain, however A Prophecy was directed by Robby Starbuck and not To The Stage's director Frank Nasso.
The audience intended for To The Stage's video could be described as people with similar lifestyles to the components of the video; partying, drinking and sex. The video contains many innapropriate scenes, for example toward the end when Danny and the woman are quite literally 'getting freaky' upstairs in the bar. The audience is expected to be from ages 21 to 25 (the age of consent for drinking in America, although minors are no doubt expected to enjoy the video as well, like myself) and of a middle class demographic.
Pierce The Veil (ft. Kellin Quinn) - King For A Day:
Pierce the Veil is an American post-hardcore band from San Diego, California. Formed in 2006, the group was founded by brothers Vic and Mike Fuentes after the disbandment of the group Before Today (formerly Early Times), which was formed out of the San Diego punk rock scene. Other members of the band include Tony Perry (lead guitar) and Jaime Preciado (bassist and backing vocals). The director for the music video is unknown, but I am given to understand from several interviews I've watched with the band members, that they had a heavy influence on this video, particularly Vic and Kellin. They decided to go for a humorous extreme situation narrative, in where the employee-overworking, greedy, diluded boss of a bank is stealing money from the bank and putting it into a private Switzerland bank account. Vic and Kellin find out then plan to get revenge on him by meeting up with 'acquaintances' and all plan to stage a bank robbery and tie up the boss, gagged to a chair at watergun-point, ready for the police. The relationship between the lyrics and the video don't particularly have any correspondance, the lyrics such as "Imagine living like a king some day" could be the only relevance within the song to the video, as the whole video begins with a man wanting to flee with a large sum of money; other than this there is no relevance. The song does move in time with the video, in the sense that at softer parts such as the bridge when Vic sings "Hail Mary, Forgive Me, Blood For Blood, Hearts Beating..." etc. the video begins to show the team attempting to rob the bank gearing up slowly and then storming into the bank, gun in hand the song's bridge gets heavier; the more aggressive parts in the video move in relation with the heavier parts of the song. There appears to be no influence from any outside companies in the advertisement or music industry within the video, meaning they've kept things focused a lot on the band themselves as opposed to anything they're using/saying. The video isn't too different from any other videos by Pierce The Veil, they keep their footage focused mostly on the band, with small narratives behind this to keep interest in the video alive; making it more engaging.
Music Video Techniques:
Asking Alexandria are a British metalcore band (Danny Worsnop, Ben Bruce, Cameron Liddell, Sam Bettley and James Cassells), they formed in 2008 when guitarist Ben Bruce returned to the UK and formed the band with his old companions, names mentioned above.
Frank Nasso was the director for Asking Alexandria's 'To The Stage' music video, he began his career in film at the age of 10, co-starring in major motion pictures. Whilst Frank never took an acting class to hone his craft, he continued to work consistently in film and TV throughout high school, but his focus shifted from being in front of the camera to being behind it. Frank's passion for the world of film production enabled him to graduate with honors from New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts in May 2006, earning a B.F.A. in Film & TV Production.
With the band being of a British origins, it's no surprise that Frank Nasso decided to depict them crossing a road in a line, to mirror The Beatles' popular picture when crossing Abbey Road in London; this depiction acts as a globally recogniseable anchor to them in nationality and perhaps trying to subtly connotate that Asking Alexandria may be as successful as The Beatles.
In relation to other camera shots, the video consistently shows close ups of facial expressions and key interests in the video's storyline, for example when the woman drops a drug into Danny's whiskey, the camera cuts to a close up of the drink and the pill dissolving, then Danny drinking from it.
Common characteristics of this genre include fast-paced editing, high saturation, band members being in a place altogether, and the popular terms sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Unsurprisingly, the video for To The Stage includes all of these characteristics at many different occassions.
The relationship between the lyrics in the song and the video's visuals correspond very well with each other, for example in relation to the title, in the first minute of the video each band member receives a text message from their band member saying "SET TIME MOVED. AA TO THE STAGE IN 30 MINUTES.". Another correspondance to point out is that in the chorus when Danny says "She's just a beautiful girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, I'm just a kick in the teeth" it shows the lead female character that Danny hooks up with walking towards him slowly, focus of the camera directed on her facial features showing her intentions and then it cuts to Danny smiling and many more drinks being poured with the line "I'm just a kick in the teeth" implying that heavy drinking and himself are a bad combination for anyone to be involved with. One more noticeable point lyircally is that after the drug dissolves in Danny's drink, and in the song itself he laughs manically, it shows James laughing in time, then with fast editing it cuts to lots of manic shots such as 'downing' drinks, blinding light, shaky camera movements, canted angles and hightened saturation.
In time with the song, the video frequently cuts to different shots in time with the song's beat. At points where the song tends to slow down or the guitar plays one long chord before playing another section, the visuals slow down with either lowered tempo in editing or even with the point in the video becoming less 'active', for example at 1:43 when the instruments just ring out with one chord/note, the point in the video shows them slowly walking toward the camera in a line together. The video constantly changes pace with the music being played.
The record company, Sumerian Records, seems to want to sell this track as a pure Rock 'n' Roll styled song, putting the band in light of the stereotypical themes. The company must also be either giving free advertisement or have a deal with Jack Daniel's whiskey as in the beginning it shows Danny holding a bottle of it, and frequently later on it is shown in the bar. The band is given a quite negative image in this video, shown as unloyal rockstars with little care for their scheduled gigs and their own well-being; however in the video it does show a caring side to them as friends toward one another, Ben seems concerned for Danny throughout and at the end he is searching frantically for him calling out his name in panic. The video is very different to others done by Asking Alexandria, for example the song 'A Prophecy' is simply just the band singing and playing at night in the rain, however A Prophecy was directed by Robby Starbuck and not To The Stage's director Frank Nasso.
The audience intended for To The Stage's video could be described as people with similar lifestyles to the components of the video; partying, drinking and sex. The video contains many innapropriate scenes, for example toward the end when Danny and the woman are quite literally 'getting freaky' upstairs in the bar. The audience is expected to be from ages 21 to 25 (the age of consent for drinking in America, although minors are no doubt expected to enjoy the video as well, like myself) and of a middle class demographic.
Pierce The Veil (ft. Kellin Quinn) - King For A Day:
Pierce the Veil is an American post-hardcore band from San Diego, California. Formed in 2006, the group was founded by brothers Vic and Mike Fuentes after the disbandment of the group Before Today (formerly Early Times), which was formed out of the San Diego punk rock scene. Other members of the band include Tony Perry (lead guitar) and Jaime Preciado (bassist and backing vocals). The director for the music video is unknown, but I am given to understand from several interviews I've watched with the band members, that they had a heavy influence on this video, particularly Vic and Kellin. They decided to go for a humorous extreme situation narrative, in where the employee-overworking, greedy, diluded boss of a bank is stealing money from the bank and putting it into a private Switzerland bank account. Vic and Kellin find out then plan to get revenge on him by meeting up with 'acquaintances' and all plan to stage a bank robbery and tie up the boss, gagged to a chair at watergun-point, ready for the police. The relationship between the lyrics and the video don't particularly have any correspondance, the lyrics such as "Imagine living like a king some day" could be the only relevance within the song to the video, as the whole video begins with a man wanting to flee with a large sum of money; other than this there is no relevance. The song does move in time with the video, in the sense that at softer parts such as the bridge when Vic sings "Hail Mary, Forgive Me, Blood For Blood, Hearts Beating..." etc. the video begins to show the team attempting to rob the bank gearing up slowly and then storming into the bank, gun in hand the song's bridge gets heavier; the more aggressive parts in the video move in relation with the heavier parts of the song. There appears to be no influence from any outside companies in the advertisement or music industry within the video, meaning they've kept things focused a lot on the band themselves as opposed to anything they're using/saying. The video isn't too different from any other videos by Pierce The Veil, they keep their footage focused mostly on the band, with small narratives behind this to keep interest in the video alive; making it more engaging.
Music Video Techniques:
LO3:
Initial ideas:
Three Days Grace - Break
Papa Roach - Kick In The Teeth
Costumes & Props:
For costumes, in my production I will get actors to relate things to their character’s status in the context of the music video. For example, the bully will be wearing more layers than the victims, giving the impression they are bigger and stronger, and will be wearing things with connotations of aggression or strength, such as leather jackets. Whereas the victims or characters of lesser status will be wearing things with connotations of weakness, such as more ‘childish’ clothing and less layers.
Props will not be majorly needed within the music video, I am focusing entirely on the characters, the only use of props will be the instruments for the band members.
Locations recce & Shooting schedule:
Evidence of seeking permission to use music:
Found footage:
Due to unfortunate circumstances involving the band I had previously, I was no longer able to gather them together so I decided as allowed to use stock footage of a band playing and edit it to make it look as though they were playing the right song and lipsyncing well. I used footage from YouTube from the band called Hour Band, their video for 'Nothing Ever Stops' can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZm8IGwfggI
Editing log:
This is Sony Vegas Pro 11, with my music video for 'Enemies' in mid-editing. To start with I thought I would go for a black and white storyline in with coloured band shots, so I turned all my storyline footage into greyscale at 90%. I adjusted the tempo of each track such as the close up of the walking feet to be in time with the music's drumbeat. After sorting out the timing, I next moved on to make titles come in and shake with the footage with the 'earthquake' effect. Thinking of the meaning of the song - being yourself and not letting anyone push you around - I thought that making the title text red and in a distorted/ripped font (Scorched Earth SF) it would give good connotations of danger, anger and rage; which relates to the main antagonist. After adjusting text, I decided to add in an old film flickering effect to make the footage have a more rustic vibe. Moving onto the band shots, I was unable to organise the band that I was in contact with as they had 'musical differences', so I decided as allowed to use stock footage of a band playing and edit it to make it look as though they were playing the right song and lipsyncing well, also boosting the saturation of the band shots in editing to give a more vibrant aura to the life of the video, making it more lively; keeping the song enjoyable as constant greyscale can get tedious for the audience.
Three Days Grace - Break
Papa Roach - Kick In The Teeth
When I
started I originally had 3 ideas to work with, I first wanted to do Break by
Three Days Grace and relate the video to the common theme in music of
relationships, but I wanted to give it elements of revenge, insanity and
destruction to make it interesting. I planned on involving close up shots of
facial expressions and even a scene where something would be set on fire in
excess. However after planning these ideas I then came to the conclusion that
it would need far more time than I have to get this video perfected. Then I
moved onto another of my likings, Papa Roach. The song Kick In The Teeth can
easily relate to anyone that takes a lot of hassle from people, and has to put
up with it whilst the rage builds up inside them, we see things like this every
day, most likely it’s happening to you at some point in your life right now,
however miniscule it may be. I thought of the film ‘Wanted’ and thought this
relates greatly to the main character who takes all the unnecessary hassle from
his boss and then one day gives in to his emotions, hits a co-worker with a
keyboard and quits. I wanted to follow a main character on his progression to
redemption and starting a new, fresh life; however again I thought this would
take far longer than I have to perfect it.
Final idea:
Shinedown - Enemies
I
then moved to one of my favourite bands, Shinedown.
Shinedown have huge understanding and respect for equality, with songs like
Bully and Second Chance, they show that they contribute huge amounts of emotion
and support in their music. Enemies talks about someone, be it a person or a
group, being greedy with lyrics like “You’ve got the world on it’s knees,
you’re taking all that you please” and then claiming that said person/group
will get nothing from you through wrath and fear - “but you’ll get nothing from
me, but enemies”. With this song I plan to make the music video centring the
strong topic of bullying, involving a person being bullied by one particular
antagonist, whom will then get revenge on the
bully by standing up for who they are and just being themselves, or merely walking away from the troubles and not feeling the need to resort to the antagonist's level of violence.
The video is
going to revolve around themes of strength, isolation and redemption.
Costumes & Props:
For costumes, in my production I will get actors to relate things to their character’s status in the context of the music video. For example, the bully will be wearing more layers than the victims, giving the impression they are bigger and stronger, and will be wearing things with connotations of aggression or strength, such as leather jackets. Whereas the victims or characters of lesser status will be wearing things with connotations of weakness, such as more ‘childish’ clothing and less layers.
Props will not be majorly needed within the music video, I am focusing entirely on the characters, the only use of props will be the instruments for the band members.
Locations recce & Shooting schedule:
Evidence of seeking permission to use music:
Found footage:
Due to unfortunate circumstances involving the band I had previously, I was no longer able to gather them together so I decided as allowed to use stock footage of a band playing and edit it to make it look as though they were playing the right song and lipsyncing well. I used footage from YouTube from the band called Hour Band, their video for 'Nothing Ever Stops' can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZm8IGwfggI
Editing log:
This is Sony Vegas Pro 11, with my music video for 'Enemies' in mid-editing. To start with I thought I would go for a black and white storyline in with coloured band shots, so I turned all my storyline footage into greyscale at 90%. I adjusted the tempo of each track such as the close up of the walking feet to be in time with the music's drumbeat. After sorting out the timing, I next moved on to make titles come in and shake with the footage with the 'earthquake' effect. Thinking of the meaning of the song - being yourself and not letting anyone push you around - I thought that making the title text red and in a distorted/ripped font (Scorched Earth SF) it would give good connotations of danger, anger and rage; which relates to the main antagonist. After adjusting text, I decided to add in an old film flickering effect to make the footage have a more rustic vibe. Moving onto the band shots, I was unable to organise the band that I was in contact with as they had 'musical differences', so I decided as allowed to use stock footage of a band playing and edit it to make it look as though they were playing the right song and lipsyncing well, also boosting the saturation of the band shots in editing to give a more vibrant aura to the life of the video, making it more lively; keeping the song enjoyable as constant greyscale can get tedious for the audience.
LO4:
Preview:
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Final (Unresponsive upload for some reason, click the link):
Final (Unresponsive upload for some reason, click the link):
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