Analysing CD Covers

Like many CD covers from the Indie-rock genre, the Arctic Monkeys cover, which can be seen above, features members of the band. The cover has been produced to appear quite dark, which suggests negativity and depression, whilst the white effect used on the cover provides contrast. The band's name is quite small and discreet, allowing the photo to be the main focus of the artwork. In addition, this style can be used across many different types of marketing and promotional material.

The artwork for Definitely Maybe by Oasis also features a photo focus, whilst still retaining the iconic Oasis logo that has been used in much of their branding. There is still a focus on performance, as one of the members is sitting on the sofa with a guitar, although an element of disjuncture is present, with one person lying on the floor, and another sitting, facing away from everyone else. This is a theme that is potentially carried across in some of the band's music videos. In addition, the presence of wine in the shot perhaps links to the turbulent history that many of the band's audience may have.

 

 


The CD cover for Babel by Mumford & Sons does, like the other covers, retain the use of a photo focus, featuring members of the band. Here, the band appear separated from the rest of the scene, with the use of vintage props and items giving the cover and old feel. This perhaps indicates towards the band's background, and as the band are positioned in the centre of the shot, this draws attention to them. In addition, the shot appears quite informal, showing the relationship the band member's have between each other.

Music Promo Ideas

Understanding Lyrical Links - Pink

Pink is an incredibly talented pop artist who sings with passion in every one of her songs. All of her songs seem to involve anger as the main emotion portrayed within the lyrics and the videos. She is still a very good singer and co-writes her own songs allowing her to use how she feels in her music.

All her music is also quite upbeat and has a good tempo to it, meaning that her angry lyrics seem more passionate as she is almost telling her audience off by having such a fast pace to her music.

She has been around since 2000 and still people want to listen to her music and watch her videos. This is because she is passionate about her music and she sings about things that much of her audience can relate to. Also the music is described by her as 'pop rock' meaning that she seems to want to upset the genre a bit and not be like a normal pop artist, she wants to be unique and different.

Our expectations for a pop video is that it will be fairly high-budget and have clean-cut ,neat and expensive costumes as well as a story that generally involves the main artist playing a part in the story and the narrative of the video. The music videos for this genre tend to be quite 'feel good' and colourful to make the audience happy and because the pop genre is generally just based around solo artists, there is not very often much performance-based videos, they're usually completely based around a storyline told by the lyrics.

Pink has combined the 'feel good' feeling of the pop genre with the angry and fast-paced conventions of a rock video to effectively create a 'new style'.

Analysis of props compared with the lyrics:

This screenshot (left) shows Pink sitting on the sidelines at a volleyball game where she is part of the team. She is wearing a shirt that says the name of the team she is supposed to be playing for. At this point the lyrics say that she doesn't support the team, illustrating the lyrics and the costume in this is helpful to show to the audience that she is part of a team but her body language, attititude and the lyrics tell the audience that she doesn't want to be part of the team.







This screenshot (right) highlights what is being said in the lyrics 'My socks are never clean' and this use of props is clever as it illustrates the lyrics as well as shows her as being a bit strange and self-conscious about who she is, perfectly catching the emotions of the teenage girl audience that she is aiming this video at.







The lyrics at this point in the video say 'Every day I fight a war against the mirror', and the use of the mirror in this short scene (left) shows that she doesn't like the way she is and is portraying how Pink doesn't like looking in the mirror because of her self-consciousness and lack of belief in who she is and what she looks like.




 


This image (right) shows an intertextual link to a man called LA Reid, which links in with the lyrics as at this point, the words talk about how LA told Pink that she wouldn't make it in the music industry unless she changes everything about herself. He is a music producer so therefore she is basically linking this to the idea that people shouldn't let themselves be told what they can and cannot do in life by people, just because they have more authority.




This screenshot (left) doesn't particularly have a certain lyric that matches it, but it refers to the idea of self-harming which happens amongst the typical audience members that she is aiming this particular video. During this short scene she stabs the knife into a door to link to the idea that there is no need to self-harm because it's better to just get rid of the knife and move on with your life. This points out to the teenage girls, who this video is clearly aimed at, that they do not have to self-harm to one day be big or famous like Pink is.

Audience Research - Audience Profile

The typical audience member for the indie-rock genre that we are interested in is generally young adult or in their teen years. They dress in a stylish way, wearing clothes that are posh but aren't too bright and are generally simple and usually involves things like Vans shoes, mini-scarfs, headscarfs and leggings. Indie-rock audiences tend to dress well but not like they take themselves too seriously, meaning that they look casual but good.

The demographics of the indie-rock genre generally show the audience for the music to be fairly young, as well as being more a female thing as many indie-rock bands are male-centered, meaning that the girls take more of an interest than boys do generally, even though the music is enjoyed by males too.

Audiences for this genre tend to be quite brand loyal in everyting they do, often visiting shops or listening to bands that they know and like before visiting alternative options. This means that audiences for the genre only ever get larger as people tend to be quite loyal to the bands that they enjoy listening to.

When looking at the preferred media types for people who make up the audience of the indie-rock genre, it's hard to say whether they prefer television or music as these people tend to do both equally as much, watching TV when there is something they want to watch yet listening to music whenever they go out or are doing work or something that doesn't involve needing to hear, therefore allowing them to listen to music. As with most teenagers and young adults, this is the case so a media preference is hard to gain from the young audiences that support this genre of music.

 These people tend to be more into buying music and other electronics as well as clothes. In general, the products they buy tend to be more for a social factor than for economic reasons or just for home. Due to the ever-changing indie fashion, there is often a lot of clothes bought by the audience members, as well as electronics for spare time and to 'keep up with society' by having all the latest technology.

Audience Research - Methodology

To undertake audience research into what our audience expected from an indie-rock music video, we created a questionnaire, and issued it to 10 people. A copy of the questionnaire can be seen below:

I designed our questionnaire so that it gave the audience the opportunity to provide quantitative answers to our questions, as these can be analysed and evaluated more easily, using graphs, charts and percentage data. This enables us to get a better feel of our audience's views on music videos for this genre, enabling us to use our audience research more effectively.

When designing question three, which asks the audience about their expectations from an indie-rock music video, I took many of the common themes, ideas and conventions that are represented in music videos from the genre that I have noticed when doing research, and added these to the list of possible options for the audience to select. I also added some conventions of music videos from other genres, as this would allow us to perhaps identify any unusual opinions or misinterpretations of the genre. In addition, I allowed people the opportunity to say whether they expect to see intertextuality in music videos, as this would enable us to see whether this is a popular feature, and whether we should look to include this in our video.

Question four was designed to assess where people usually associate indie-rock videos with being set. By producing a list of popular settings for the genre, this question will allow us to assess which location is most popular, and this may influence our decision as to where we set our video, and also what type of video we choose to produce.

Question five enables us to see whether people prefer videos with a heavy focus on performance, or whether they like videos that include more of a narrative. Again, this information will be able to influence our decision on what content to include in our music video, and the audience's opinion is something that we will look at incorporating into our video.

Question six assesses the services people use to digest music videos. This will enable us to assess modern viewing trends, as we anticipate that a large number of people will watch music videos online, using services such as YouTube. In addition, the results will give us a suggestion of where people are when they watch music videos, those who enjoy videos on the television are likely to be watching at home, whilst those who watch videos on the internet are more likely to enjoy the videos whilst sitting at a desk, or whilst away from a fixed location.

Question seven is a continuation of question six, assessing which devices people choose to watch indie-rock videos on. As well as enabling us to find out which device is most popular in each category, which could have an impact on the ratio and resolution used to produce our video, we can find out which style of device is most popular for viewing music videos. In addition, we can further judge where people are likely to be located when viewing music videos, as those who use smartphones or tablets are often likely to be on the move when viewing music videos, whereas those who use a computer, be it in desktop or laptop form, are more likely to be positioned at a fixed location, such as a home or office desk.

Question 8 asks the audience whether they prefer videos that use amplification, illustration or disjuncture. It is important to gauge public opinion of this before starting the project, as it will allow us to formulate our plans for the video, having taken on board the thoughts of our sample audience.

Finally, question 9 assists us in creating an audience profile, by finding out what other forms of goods people who watch indie-rock music videos choose to buy. This would help us to target our video and associated material more effectively, whilst also aiding us in deciding whether traditional media, such as DVD's or discs, is a better way of providing our media instead of modern media methods, which may include online services and social networks.

Audience Research - Questionnaire Results

In order to conduct effective audience research, we carried out a questionnaire, which was given to a variety of people, in order to measure a variety of aspects to do with our project. The results from the questionnaire, along with an analysis of each question, can be seen below.

In the first question, we asked people to tell us their age, by selecting a category from a pre-defined list. The results show that 60% of the people surveyed were between 11-20, with 90% of the overall sample being under 30 years of age. Also, our results showed that none of the people questionned were over 50 years of age. This suggests to us that we should be targeting our video at people who are in this age category, by incorporating some of the themes and ideas that they suggested in further questions. 

Our results showed, perhaps surprisingly, that 70% of the people who watch indie-rock videos are female, with just 30% being male. This information suggests that this genre is perhaps moe appealing to females than was first expected, and again suggests to us that we need to be targeting our video at females more. If we were considering using targeted advertising on social media channels & websites, then we could perhaps consider targeting advertising at females.

Question three showed us what images, themes & conventions people expect from an indie-rock video. Although there was a fairly even mix between all options, the three conventions that came out on top were; shots of the band/artist, extra actors & intertextual links to other media prodctions/themes. Shots of the instruments, audience, nudity/suggestive content, fast editing and artificial lighting were all options that were very popular, and so we will look to incorporate some of these themes into our work where possible. 

Our research shows that 22% of our audience expect an indie-rock music video to be set outside. This could perhaps be because of the 'rough-and-ready' stereotypical image, which people may associate with outside urban environments. Again, this is something that we could perhaps look to incorporate into our music video. 

Our survey said that 56% of people prefer music promos with a narrative, whilst 44% of people like videos with performance elements included. Due to our relatively small sample size, these two figures are broadly similar, so we should be looking to include a mixture of both performance & narrative within our video. 

Question six shows that the majority of people watch music videos on YouTube, as was initially thought. This shows that YouTube is the best place for us to upload our music video, as this is the most popular platform for people to view videos of this genre on, allowing maximum reach for our product and the band. 

As a continuation from the last question, the results from question 7 show that Google tablets, along with laptops and desktops are the most popular platform for viewing music videos of this genre. With computers making up 40% of the result, smartphones making up 32% of the result and tablets the remaining 28%, this shows that the majority of people use traditional computing platforms to view music videos on. This also indicates where people choose to watch music videos of this genre - as most people watch on a computer, then they are either located at a fixed location, such as at a desk, rather than being mobile. This information helps us to decide which resolution and ratio we should use to publish our video, and also which devices we should target internet advertising. 

This question shows that most people prefer videos that use illustration. This could be because people who watch these sorts of videos generally find the story and message behind the video interesting, and like this to be highlighted within the video. This is something that we should consider incorporating into our video. 

Question 9 allowed us to get a feel for which other types of product people who lilke this genre choose to buy. As 40% chose to purchase clothing with their £10, this indicates that those who like this genre are conscious of fashion, and enjoy clothes shopping. 20% of people chose to purchase electronic goods, and so this indicates that these people like gadgets and technology, again suggesting that they like to keep up to date with the latest trends. This could be because most people who like this genre are under 30, as was demonstrated in question 1.

Ed Sheeran Lyrical Analysis

You Need Me, I Don't Need You - Ed Sheeran

Lyrics Analysis:

 

 

The video uses sign language to show the lyrcis that are being sung by Ed Sheeran. The lyrics are very personal to Ed Sheeran, telling the audience that people need his music but he doesn't need anybody else to interfere and write his music for him as he can do it himself.

 

Our Chosen Song

Idols and Upsets - Chasing Tigers

We have chosen to use Idols & Upsets by Chasing Tigers as our song for our music video. Chasing Tigers are an unsigned band from Norwich, and are made up of four members - Laurence Brooks, Dylan McCarthy, Jay Wiltshire & James Maas.

They are known for their Indie Pop/Rock music, seeing them sell out all of their gigs last year.

The Typical Conventions of the Rock Genre

I will study the rock genre in order to show the impact of genre on the promo. I will look at the camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene, performance and typical narrative of this particular genre.

Indie Rock:

Camera work:

The camera work for an Indie-Rock music video always involves a lot of close-ups of the band members as well as tracking shots of the performance and sometimes the audience. Also, the videos that involve stories usually have a lot of mid-shots to give a general idea to the audience of what is happening in the story as well as the idea that using mid-shots allows the audience to see all the people in the setting and their emotions and actions.

Editing:

The editing of Indie-Rock videos are usually fairly fast-paced and adrenaline-fueled, maintaining audience interest through use of a large variety of shots and effects to maintain an atompshere and keep up with the sound of the music. Also, there is usually a lot of straight-cutting between shots to do with the story and performance shots that highlight the band's talent and provide small breaks from the story so the audience get to see the band they love and get to feel what it would be like to see them perform.

Mise-en-scene:

Setting and Lighting - The setting of rock videos is usually fairly dark because it keeps the audience focused on what is going on and relates to the usual fast-pacing and loud music provided by the artist. They are also usually based around fairly normal settings like clubs or even the street. A lot of Indie-Rock videos are also located in just normal rooms like recording studios against a certain coloured backdrop like Nickleback's 'How you Remind me' which shows the performance past of the promo being in a normal room against a black background.
Props - The main props used are the instruments used by the bands but there are also usually other more normal props that relate to the story told by the lyrics or the narrative of the promo.
Costume - The costume of band members and artists of this genre are usually fairly casual and normal but some Indie-Rock bands like 'Empire of the Sun' wear weird and wopnderful costumes and dress in unique ways in order to humor, or even scare, audiences and make them want to watch on.

Performance:

Most videos of this genre involve an aspect of performance in them in order to show the ability and the talent of the band and also to capture the atmosphere of a live performance for the audience who are watching the video. Also, it allows the audience to see the band and feel a personal connection to them rather than just listening to their music whilst watching a random actor relaying a story to them through the video.

Typical Narrative:

The typical narrative of an Indie-Rock music promo is generally amplification as it 'amplifies' the main title of the song instead of focusing on specific lyrics throughout. Indie-rock generally focuses on this sort of music

Examples of the Indie-Rock Genre

Atlas Genius - Trojans

Members:
Keith Jeffery (Lead Vocals and Lead Guitar)
Michael Jeffery (Drums)
Darren Sell (Keyboards)
Location:
Adelaide, South Australia
Formed:
November 2009



Bastille - Pompei

Members:
Dan Smith
Chris Wood
Kyle Simmons
Will Farquarson
Location:
London, England
Formed:
June 2010



The Fray - Never Say Never

Members:
Joe King (Guitar and Vocals)
Isaac Slade (Lead Vocals and Piano)
Dave Welsh (Lead Guitar)
Ben Wysocki (Drummer)
Location:
Denver, Colorado
Formed:
2002



Fun - Carry On

Members:
Nate Ruess (Lead Vocals)
Andrew Dost (Lead Guitar)
Jack Antonoff (Drums)
Location:
New York
Formed:
March 2008

Impact of Genre on the Music Promo

Mumford & Sons - I Will Wait

Camera Work: The video uses lots of mid shots showing the performers on the stage. This is intersperced with close up shots, allowing us to see details of the musical instruments, along with long pan shots, which gives an indication of the size and scale of the audience. Shots from behind the stage are included, showing the audience what it must be like to perform on stage. This also gives the impression to the audience that they are privelliged people, who have been given a personal relationship with the band. In addition, soft focus shots are used, which gives the impression that the filming of the video is spontaneous, and has not been planned.

Editing: Fast-paced editing shots are used, with cuts made in time to the music. This allows the video to build up pace and gather momentum, although in the slower parts of the song, slower cuts are used. Shots that show audience reaction are also edited in at some points throughout the video, and this breaks up the action, making people want to watch the band even more. High angle pan shots are also cut into this video frequently, and this gives the audience perspective on the scale of the performance.

Mise-en-Scene: As this video is based on performance, the video is set in an arena or large outdoor music venue, which appears to be in America. Microphones, staging and instruments can all be seen, along with large TV screens that are used to show the live on screen action to the audience that are watching. The band are dressed in clothing that is synonomous with this genre.


Performance: This video focuses heavily on performance, and their relationship with the audience in the stadium. Many shots are included that show the band performing with their instruments, which show that the performers have musical talent. Many shots also show the crowd enjoying the performance and dancing

Typical Naratives: This video is based solely on the performance, and so does not include any narrative. I feel that this is an effective technique for the video, as it allows the musical talent of the band to come through. Also, this encourages the audience to focus on the lyrical content of the song, as the story is told through this medium.

Oasis - Wonderwall



Camera Work: This video uses a variety of different camera shots to present the song effectively. A mixture of mid, close up and extreme close up shots are used to show the performers and their instruments. The variety of shots makes the video more interesting, and adds to the enjoyment for the audience. Zoom shots are also used in this video, and these draw the attention of the audience onto a specific subject or item in the video. Although this video was produced in 1995, it is made to appear older, as the shots tend to be quite static, lacking any artistic flare.

Editing: In some parts of the video, the editing is quite fast paced, and shots are in time to the music. However, in other areas, cuts tend to be slower, allowing the audience to focus on the performers in the video. Cut away shots are used between the narrative and the performance, and at some points, the graphic match technique is used to link between the two scenes.

At one point, the shot has been edited so that the body of the guitar is blue, whilst the rest of the shot is in black & white, and in another scene, the same technique is applied to a hat. This technique has perhaps been used to draw attention to these objects, highlighting how these objects are more important than the other ones in the shot.

Mise-en-Scene: The performance element of the video is set in a rather neutral environment, which appears to be a factory or industrial building, whilst the narrative is set in many locations, including a cafe. Many props are used in this video, including a guitar, drum kit, staging and chairs. It appears that little artificial lighting is used in this production, which represents the band's heritage, showing that they have come from a deprived background, and where their budget for filming a music video was limited. The costumes that the performers wear in this production is fairly stereotypical with the indie-rock genre, with clothing tending to be fairly ordinary, which again represents the bands history, and makes them more popular with their target audience.

Performance: This video features a mixture of performance and narrative. The performance features the band performing in a studio, with the lead singer positioned in a chair some way in front of the rest of the band. This suggests that he is more important than the other band members. Many close up shots of the instruments being played are included, demostrating the musical talent and ability of the band.

Typical Narratives: This video uses disjuncture to tell the narrative, with seemingly random shots of clowns and darts being used to link to the narrative. This technique works effectively, as it captures the imagination of the audience, encouraging them to keep watching the video, as ultimately, all of the 'random' activities lead to the overall story, which is about the difficulty in reaching a loved one - a subject that indie-rock music commonly touches on.

The Pop Genre

Rude Boy - Rihanna

This music video challenges the conventions of a typical pop music video as the mise en scene does not particularly fit in with the stereotypical views of what a pop music video should be like.
The music video seems to use a basic video of Rihanna dancing and singing which is made black and white to allow her to stand out against the multicoloured animated background that moves with the music. The video is different because usually a video will have perfromance as well as a story, especially in pop and R&B videos whereas this one just has a performance element that is brought forward against an almost cartoon-like background.



She's Got You High - Mumm-ra

This music video is extremely clever as it shows people looking at sculptures and artwork in a museum atmosphere and the members of the band performing the song are shown as these peices of artwork and sculptures, allowing for a performance-based music video as well as being abstract and extremely unique. The performance is fairly conventional of a pop music video as it shows the band's talents through the use of performance but it is unconventional because there is no real storyline within the promo, it's all about people seeing things that aren't there, hence the title of the song, through using clever shots and fast-paced and clever editing to show the band performing as if they were artifacts and sculptures in a museum atmosphere.



Gold - Owl City

This music video is unconventional of the pop genre as there is no real performance in it. It portrays a friendship between a lonely old man and his trusted companion and how they face obstacles and overcome them. This follows the songs moral which is about a relationship between people and the emotions found within that relationship and how it is 'Gold'. This story is shown through an animated cartoon-type promo therefore making the music video interesting and unconventional to the genre, ineresting the audience and telling a story that people can relate to.

The Indie-Rock Genre

The 'Indie-Rock' genre was created in the United Kingdom & United States of America in the 1980's, as genre of alternative rock. The term was used to describe bands who retained an 'outsider' perspective as bands became more mainstream in the 1990's. This is also related to the Indie-Pop genre that developed in 1986.

Many famous indie-rock bands have developed over the years, including Oasis, The Arctic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons. These bands have been highly successful, using their brand and identity to help them sell records. These bands use their alternative, laid-back style to give the genre an identity.

Mumford & Sons used unconventional instruments and performance style in their music video of 'I will Wait', which defines the Indie-Rock genre. In the video, Banjos and Acoustic Guitars are used, which are perhaps not instruments that people would associate with a popular modern song. Also, the performers are presented in a somewhat 'rough and ready' style - unshaven and wearing open-neck shirts and jeans, which is perhaps not style that people would associate with successful bands. In many ways, this adds to the appeal of the genre for many, as people feel that it allows their core values and beliefs to come through.



Many messages are conveyed in the lyrics of songs in the Indie-Rock genre, and that is highlighted below in the lyrical analysis of Roll with It by Oasis.

 

Indie-rock bands typically comprise of males, who are often based in either the United States or the United Kingdom.

They represent people who come from 'ordinary' backgrounds, and often choose not to live the lifestyle of artists who have been incredibly successful, in the way that bands such as Take That or One Direction may choose to do.

Indie-rock bands often dress in a casual way, which is how many people in their target audience may also choose to dress. This helps them to fit in with their target audience, and also represents their background and history.

Members of Indie-Rock bands are often middle aged - usually in their 30's or 40's - meaning they have enough real life experience so that their audience believe in their message. This perhaps means that fans have more respect for the members of indie-rock bands than they would for a younger 'boy band', and this adds to the appeal of the genre. The target audience of the indie-rock genre tends to be any adrenaline-seeking people, mainly teenagers and young adults who like the loud rock side of the genre combined with the tuneful and structurally well-made videos and lyrics. The indie-rock genre means that the typical loud and fast-paced rock genre is combined with the easy-listening and tuneful features that the indie side brings to the indie-rock genre, coming together to create a fast, loud, yet lyrical type of music.

Indie rock bands tend to be fairly 'in' with the current fashions. They always dress in fairly conventional and normal clothing, usually casual, therefore not being completely unique like punk bands or creating their own new fashions like emo and heavy metal bands tend to do. Pop is usually fairly similar to indie rock costume but pop sometimes tends to use extravagant costumes and unique ideas to convey the morale of the song or just generally the artist of the music. For example, Lady Gaga is one pop artist who dresses in a very strange way regardless of her audience or what the lyrics of the song she is singing are. This leads to her having a fairly true identity and being unique within the pop industry.



Indie-rock lyrics always seem to be about life in general, they sometimes talk about things to do with relationships but they can also talk about other more random things like Foster the People do with their song 'Pumped Up Kicks' which basically relates to the life of a young person within society who obviouysly isn't as fortunate as other children that surround him.There are lots of indie-rock bands who sing about more random yet still common ideas like Foals, Empire of the Sun and Passion Pit. Although most indie-rock bands do wear traditionally fairly normal casual clothing, Empire of the Sun are one particular group that do not follow these conventions and in some of their muysic videos, they dress very strangely, especially in their video for 'We are the People'.



The conventions of an indie-rock promo:

- Location - tends to be fairly perfromance-based and if it isn't, it usually relates to the moral of the lyrics or the title of the song, indie-rock bands never really use disjuncture as it just isn't conventional for the genre.
- Costume - is usually quite casual and normal in relation to society's norms.
- Props - band perfomance-related props are used quite often in this genre as it portrays to the audience the atmosphere of a live-perfomance as well as shows off the talents of the band members.
- Camerawork - Lots of movement shots as well as mid-shots that are used effectively to show the band members faces as well as them playing their instruments, again promoting the talents of the band to the audience.
- Editing - Fast-paced editing adds to the atmosphere of the music and maintains the audience interest by using a good variety of shots and effects to 'spice up' the overall promo.

There are 2 different types of CD covers for indie-rock bands and performers.

The first of these is band covers; These generally show the members of the band in a fairly normal environment but in a humorous or  traditional manner. For example, the Mumford and Sons 'Sigh No More' album cover shows the 4 members of the band standing in a shop window highlighting that they are a casual band. The album covers also sometimes show the band members in fairly unique or unconventional surroundings. Foals are a good example of this with their album cover for 'Total Life Forever' which portrays the band members in a surreal environment (underwater) and shows their carefree style of music by the fact that they are deep underwater without any equipment or breathing apparatus.

The other types of album cover and magazine advert for indie-rock bands is an abstract view of the band or artist. Yet again, Foals are another good example of this with their album cover for 'Antidotes' which shows a drawing of a man with his mouth agape and a type of stained glass window image held within his mouth.

Also, they tend to be quite colourful so that they stand-out to the audience as well as being quite complex or random which shows a good understanding of the genre as I would describe indie-rock music as being catchy and definitely highlighting a carefree and fast-paced way of life. For example, Empire of the Sun and Foster the People highlight this randomness as well as the colourful abstract type of CD cover.

Chasing Tigers Band Profile

Genre:
Indie/Rock/Pop

Location:
Norwich

Formed:
2011

Members:
Laurence Brooks
Dylan McCarthy
Jay Wiltshire
James Maas



Formed in 2011, Chasing Tigers sold out all of their 2012 concerts and gigs. With the release of their debut single 'Idols and Upsets' which was released in 2012 through BTB Recordings. The band have been picked up on multiple radio stations including 'Manchester's All Fm' as well as 'BBC Introducing' and 'Future Radio'. They also did a streamed gig at Epic TV Studios which attracted 22'000 people worldwide via the internet.

They are currently an unsigned band but with gigs coming up ranging from the Symmetry Festival in Peterborough to VicFest in Norfolk in 2013, this band are only going from strength to strength.

Beechwood Band Profile

Genre:
Folk/Rock/Pop

Date Formed:
2004

Location:
Birmingham

Band Members:

Niven Smith - Guitar/Vocals

Chris Ashley - Guitar/Keyboard/Vocals

Robin Crump - Guitar/Vocals

Peter Taylor - Bass/Vocals

Peter Lovatt - Drums/Vocals

Representation:
Simple, clear image - quite laid back and informal. Uses white background representing purity and innocence.

Bio:
Beechwood were formed back in 2004 when Niven Smith and Chris Ashley met in a local pub and through a recommendation from a friend got together as an acoustic duo writing and performing their own songs and covers. In 2010 Beechwood were joined by Robin Crump, Peter Taylor and Peter Lovatt.

Choosing Music for Final Production

We are currently in the process of choosing a song by an unsigned band to use for our music video.

When looking for songs, we used www.unsigned.com, which is a database of artists and bands that are currently unsigned, along with YouTube, which allowed us to search for bands that were unsigned, giving us a feel of their reputation and following.

We decided that we like songs with a pop/modern feel, with enough pace to the track to allow us to encorporate a variety of shots into the video. After listening to many songs, we have shortlisted three tracks. Links and lyrics can be found below:

Beechwood UK - Recipie for Love (http://www.unsigned.com/beechwooduk)

Walking down the street your eyes are shining

Shining like the stars from above

When I see you smile

It makes it all worthwile

That’s the recipe of love

When the whole world round you sees me smiling

It’s clear that you’re the one for me

It’s there for all to see

That you’re the one for me

That’s the Recipe for Love

Ba b aba b aba b aba ba baa …..

That’s the recipe of Love

Take the pinch of your big eyes are shining

Mix it with the stars from above

Leave it for a while, and serve it with a smile

That’s the recipe for Love

Looking at your face fills me with wonder

A face the whole wide world is dreaming of

No other can compare

To the beauty that is there

That’s the recipe for Love

Ba b aba b aba b aba ba baa …..

That’s the recipe of Love

(Instrumental Solo)

Ba b aba b aba b aba ba baa …..

That’s the recipe,

That’s the recipe,

That’s the recipe of Love

Twenty One Pilots - Guns for Hands (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pmv8aQKO6k0)

I know what you think in the morning

When the sun shines on the ground

And shows what you have done

It shows where your mind has gone

And you swear to your parents

That it will never happen again

I know what that means,

I know

That you all have fun

And you never put the same thing on

And you all have plans

To take, to take it, to take it take it take it

Im trying, I’m trying to sleep

Im trying, I’m trying to sleep

But I can, but I can’t when you all have

Guns for Hands

I’m tryinig, I’m trying to sleep

I’m trying, I’m trying to sleep,

But I can, but I can’t when you all have

Guns for Hands

Let’s take this a second at a time

Let’s take this one song, this one rhyme

Together, let’s breathe

Together, to the beat

But there’s hope out the window

So that’s where we’ll go

Let’s go outside and we’ll all join hands

Join to and you’ll never understand

That you all have fun

And you never put the same thing on

And you all have plans

To take, to take it, to take it take it take it

I’m trying, I’m trying to sleep

I’m trying, I’m trying to sleep,

But I can, but I can’t when you all have

Guns for Hands

Hey hey hey hey ya ya ya

Chasing Tigers - Idols and Upsets (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PczwzftrhYk)

For two hours I thought you were never safe

You shocked my heart this way.

No second chance to make you mine

You left me crying, hurting inside

I never stop loving you till I die

You got it wrong we said goodbye

So I can’t be who you want so much

The person with the golden touch

Don’t give up on me now

Keep fighting for our love

Don’t give up on me now

You pick me up

You put me down

You pick me up

You put me down

You pick me up

You put me down

You pick me up

You put me down

I’m lying awake I’m aching for you

Please say it’s not true

We can’t change to make you right

Don’t give up without a fight

Don’t give up on me now

Keep fighting for our love

 

 

Don’t give up me now
 

You pick me up
You put me down
You pick me up
You put me down

 

You pick me up
You put me down
You pick me up
You put me down

(Instrumental)

You pick me up
You put me down
You pick me up
You put me down
 

You pick me up
You put me down
You pick me up
You put me down

We have now emailed all three bands, to ask for permission to use their music in our project. Once we have heard back from the bands, we will then make a decision as to which band we like.

Preliminary Task

Here's our video for Daniel Poulter's Bad Day

Click Here.

I feel that we learnt a lot from the production of our preliminary task, and developed many skills that we will be able to use in the production of our music video.

I was really pleased with the way our editing went with this piece, especially with the editing of the lip-syncing sections of the music video. This is a useful skill that we will be able to use in our music production, and this should be a good feature of our final video.

If we did this again, I would perhaps consider using more shots in the final edit, to give the video more pace. I also feel that we should perhaps be a bit more creative with the theme behind the video, and perhaps consider using amplification or disjuncture, to make our video more interesting.

Preliminary Task: CD Cover

Here is the CD cover that Matt Bostock made for our preliminary task as well as the explanation that he has personally written and the sources he has used in order to influence the creation of this product:

Click to see Larger Version. Produced for Educational Purposes only.

Our preliminary task music video was based upon the song 'Bad Day' by Daniel Powter. This gave me the opportunity to practice my skills in making a CD cover, which is one of the ancillary tasks that we will need to complete for our main piece of coursework.

I based my work on many professionally produced covers that use the 'Photo Feature' technique, which uses a simple photo of the artist on the front cover to draw attention to the product - something that artists such as Amy Winehouse, James Blunt and One Direction have done in the past (see covers below). This technique is often effective, as the simple design often draws people in, encouraging people to buy the album.

When making the front cover of my CD Cover, I found the photo of Daniel Powter from the internet, and used photo editing software to remove the background from the picture. Although the end result is quite effective, when we make our CD cover for our coursework, I would recommend that we take photos specifically for the purpose of using on the CD cover, so that we can ensure that the photos used best suit our requirements.

I also used the photo editing software to apply a Black & White effect to all of Daniel's body, except from his face. I feel that this would help the cover to stand out from many of the other CD's on the market, whilst also creating a talking point on social media sites.

I feel that the black background with a white glow on the front cover is effective, as black is a colour usually associated with depression and negative thoughts, which fits in with the album title 'Bad Day'. The white glow suggests that Daniel is stuck in a lonely and sad place, with no way of getting out, which again fits in with the title of the album.

Taking inspiration from other album covers, I decided that the title of the album does not need to be too big. This draws attention to the photo, and also fits in with modern branding conventions. In addition, I used the '>' symbol before Daniel's name, which helps to create a unique trademark identity, which could perhaps be used across other forms of marketing for the album. The use of the hashtag '#>DanielPowter' or '#>DP' could also be encouraged from the official Twitter account, which could also be used as an effective marketing tool.

The rear of the cover features a photo strip at the top, with photos of the artist. I chose to keep to a black and white theme on this side of the cover, as this also adds emphasis to the effect applied to Daniel's face on the front.

Conforming with convention for modern CD covers, I chose to leave an area of space blank on the back cover. Again, this represents purity and simplicity, and helps to keep the back cover in line with the styling on the front of the CD case, ensuring consistency is maintained.

The bottom section includes the Daniel Powter logo, and, in line with this styling, I have added the Warner Bros production logo, which is coloured in a similar way. At the bottom, I have included the official website address for Daniel Powter, and have added bold formatting to the 'D' and 'P' of the website address, which also creates a unique brand identity. Reference is also made to Daniel's Facebook & Twitter account, and I have coloured the social networking icons using the same colour scheme as Daniel's logo, which maintains consistency throughout the design.

Overall, I feel that this task has enabled me to develop the skills I will when producing our actual CD cover, whilst also learning how I could further improve my design in the future.

Preliminary Task: Storyboard