Research and Planning

1. Research and Planning By Kyle Hayward

2. Our chosen media task. Within our media group we have decided to create a music video rather than a short film, this was because the 3 of us are heavily involved in music and bands and we had our own free music. Music is our passion so to be able to create a music video for our own music is more relevant to our tastes and interests than a short film. Devising a short film was considered, however, we thought a music video would be more enjoyable and come out with a better final result because of our knowledge in the selected area.

3. Target Audience. The audience that we decided to aim our product at was people of 16-30 years of age. This was because our music is unique and unusual and we often mould ourselves around surrealism rather than naturalism so we need a more matured audience to ensure that our intentions and aims are fully understood. Anyone under 16 may find our music and ideas complicated and struggle to process the concept and plots of our final product. Anyone over the age of 30 would likely find our music video distasteful and out there. We are aiming to interest people of the more indie, psychedelic and or punk style of music due to the melody we produce, Fans of dance or grime music would likely not enjoy our style of music. To create a correct product which represented our target audience we would have to research into existing products aiming at a similar audience. I took a variety of CD covers, Magazine Adverts and Music videos and analysed them in order to adapt different conventions we could interpret in our own product(s). This helped show customers of our own Target audience and what they liked in that Genre.

4. Mise en Scene Everything within the surrealism of our project will represent something or at least symbolise something significant. Costume: The animal heads are our the main source of costume and the main reasoning behind them is to add to the surrealism of the piece. The animals will amplify the Psychedelic feel of the piece, but in reality anything could have replaced the heads and the narrative would remain the same. Location/Setting: The setting was chosen after a long search for a suitable location. We thought the location brought the vibe of eeriness we were after through its numerous amount of trees and oddly coloured rocks around the scenery . Also the location offered opportunities for a variety of camera shots with the landscape in provided e.g. high angled shots from the peak of the cliffs and vice versa with upwards shot from the ground up to the cliffs. Planned storyboards: The extreme close up of the panda’s face is the point in the piece were we will create quite a terrifying atmosphere within the piece which made a change to a lot of the more comical shots through out the piece for example the ‘Tom and Jerry’ like chase scene where we plan to have a high angled shot of the animals chasing the victim then him chasing them back, this shot should help break the seriousness of the video.

6. What inspired me? Being a young musician myself creating a music video has always been a aspiration of mine and I often thought about what I might put into a music video before media was even a subject I was involved with. The coral’s song ‘Skelton key’ always interested me because of its unusual use of surrealism and the use of a animal head so I wanted to interpret that into our own piece in order to challenge normality, therefore the inspiration for the use of props and costume was already on hand. Inspiration for the narrative of our piece stemmed from ‘The Streets’ and their controversial music videos, Many of their music videos follow a clear narrative from start to finish telling a story with a deep message normally a over shadowed message such as Drugs or Underage drinking, as a group we wanted to apply a story to our piece in the same way to portray a message to our viewers. Finally my inspiration for the narrative within our piece links with the current social trends of the modern day and how easily people ,usually teenagers, can change their lifestyles and ambitions down to music alone, I wanted to challenge this in a subliminal way this is when the animal heads had a perfect opportunity to come into action representing modern day music influences.

7. Brief overview of our narratives and meaning with our music video. Our project for A2 media will be a music video to a song written and performed by ourselves, Hiding in the tress By The Skellion Gang, The video itself will show the tale of a young man who awakes in a foreign area and he has no recognition of getting there. It will soon become clear he’s been kidnapped by people wearing animal heads as he tries to escape the people he finds himself becoming more and more trapped, inevitably he falls into a trance due to the animals playing music to him and finally at the end you realise he's became one of them (The horse). The inner meaning within this music video is how easily music can control and even change a persons view on society and there tastes in fashion, food etc. When the animals play music to the victim and he becomes in a trance and helpless but to become one of them this was representing the stage at where people become to involved in music and change there standards due to the music. We would like to think our music video may effect some viewers and ensure they don’t take music to seriously and let it control them the way it does certain indivuals. INSERT PICTURE OF LYRICS FROM IPHONE Scribbled down lyrics - The Coral

8. Lyrics of the video. The lyrics of the video are linked with the concept of the video itself and how controlling music can become. The idea of ‘Hiding in the trees’ refers to the idea of people, usually younger members of society, who become to involved in music and shy away from interaction with the community around them. The idea came to us after noticing teenagers who got into darker genres of music and preferred to confine in themselves rather than socialise, and in some cases even self harm for a cry for help. The lyrics in the song ‘Come find me’ imply peoples cry for help and there intentions to hurt themselves in order to get help.

9. Music videos analysed. I analysed two music videos, Each being of very different genres of music however each having a similar abstract style about them. Jay Z – On to the next one: Jay z known for his hip hop genre of music, The video itself doesn’t really seem to follow a straight forward narrative as I talk about in the analyse, however it’s a assortment of random and strange images/clips pieced together to make a interesting music video. I chose to analyse this video because it was a very different genre of music to what I personally listen to and watch so to see how different genres present similar intentions was useful. The Coral – Skeleton Key: The coral a band with music similar to our own groups so it was useful to see how a band with a similar genre presented a abstract music video. How the two helped: Because there was such a huge difference in the style of music between the two videos it was helpful to see how they can present a similar abstract video. Both videos were effective and interesting to watch and in comparison both used similar techniques within the video even though they are contrasting styles of music music. Some techniques form both were applied to our own project, such as the animal heads like the animals in ‘Skeleton Key’ and flashing surreal images and motions like the ‘On to the next one’ for example when we show the symbol in four separate squares. Link to Jay-Z : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM1RChZk1EU Link to The Coral : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yXK2R-GI9c

10. Anaylsis of the music video ‘Jay-Z : On to the next one’ • Immediately from watching Jay-z’s music video its quite clear its a unique take on music video, From the start until the finish the music video is one some might call disturbing. It seems as there is no clear storyline rather just a sequence of random and strange images/people in twined with Jay-z scattered through the video performing in a sunglasses and a circle of small lights behind him. We see images varying from Sneakers (Shoes) bleeding white fluids to basketballs on fire bouncing, there's also a lot of reference to the number three throughout, the number is persistently seen but not in its number form For example there's 3 lines on a car shown, 3 milk bottles, 3 lights shining, 3 stripes on a wad of dollars etc.. i personally believe this is to promote his album ‘The Blueprint 3’ however the music video has attracted the attention of conspiracy theories claiming the video has hidden meanings in the images linking him to a underground society named the ‘Illumaniti’. Within our media group we are going to take elements of this music video and insert them into our own music video, we are looking to use the idea of linking the random images within our music video however linked to the clear story we are looking to portray, we think this idea could help give our piece a more effective and eerie edge as this is the feel we are looking for.

11. CD Cover and Magazine advert. Research was taken into CD covers and Magazine adverts to help give guidance in the way I should go about styling my own. I analysed real media products and broke down there characteristics and took interest in the similar layout they followed. In the bottom right hand corner you can see an example of a magazine advert i analysed, i analysed a total of 6 CD cover and 3 Magazine adverts in order to accumulate my research preparing me to create my own range of Covers and adverts. In the following slides you will se my created media produced under the influence of the research I acquired.

12. The glow coming from behind the people could be to show that there's something special about them. (godlike) The white contrasts with solid black background Band name and title is in small font I believe this is to make sure the titles doesn't dwell away from the importance of the image on the CD case Similar to our ideas with the theme of four masked people. Solid black background to make the four people stand out more. Upside down guitar to possibly to show things aren't as they seem

13. Image consumes around two thirds of the back cover, My theory for this is to add to the Trippy/Psychedelic the band incorporates with there music. The Genre is similar to my own bands. Track listings laid out in numeric order, very standard listing, this gives the Back a mature feel which links with the house style of the CD. Black background, Helps the track names stand out and appeal more to the audience. Barcode, Typical media convention.

14. The background (Floor tiles) is very dull, like most Covers this helps attract the audiences attention to the image the artist wants you to look the shoes. The font is boring, small and white. The meaning behind this could be because the artist is not well established so therefore not showboating his name, another reason could be because again he doesn't want to distract his audience away from the picture. The shoes are the only brightly coloured image on this cover, this has been purposely done to show the audience there relevance to the them of the CD, Looking sharp. Slight glow off the shoes again refers back to the importance of them and there importance to the cover.

15. Artist and album name in small again, helps remind the audience of who's included on the CD as the artist is not massively known to a mass audience. Layout of the track listings is very basic and unoriginal, upside of this its very easy to read and establish the artist to his songs. Large picture of the artist again gives fans instant recognition of the Joe Jackson, attracting there attention to his new CD. White background helps all other conventions on the back cover stand out to the audience. Also the white links with the shoes on the front cover giving the CD a clear house style.

16. One of the most famous CD covers of all time. Very naturalistic and simple idea, yet very effective. No editing or tampering, in its own right its more a picture than a cd cover. Instant attraction to the cover as the beatles are icons and there present attract the audience.

17. Compared to the front of the CD which is very simplistic, The back has a lot more attention to detail and is huge contrast in comparison to the front. The Bands name straight away raises the audiences attention as they are a renown band. The lady and her clothes help establish the time period Track listing is quite difficult to read, however the band name and album title is extremely easy to read because there status is huge.

18. Cartoon styled imagery, different from the usual style of a magazine advert this is to intrigue the audience and try and obtain a future sale from them as its a extremely unique style of advert. Solid white background to help information stand out on the advert as the writings quite bright or either solid black All vital information the company wants you to know about is in big bold letter and bright colours, for example : ‘New album out now’ and ‘Christopher Holland’ are in big and yellow font and his album name in blue. All other information on the advert is in smaller font as its not as important in the eyes of the makers. Ensuring the audience acknowledge his albums on sale Christopher Holland All information about the Artists contact information, is at the bottom is to insure all variety of consumers over different markets can buy his music and him and his companies obtain maximum profits.

19. The band name is in the largest font, this is because there name is well established so there name is publicity in Itself and gets the readers Attention. Main image and theme of the album, this image links with the album so automatically sparks the links with fans of Led Zeppelin. Solid black background so that the adverts content stands out to the reader. All information that isn't relevant in selling copies of the album is in extremely small font to ensure potential consumers focus on the more important aspects e.g. release dates. Gives the audience details of when the album is released in order to achieve high profits.

20. Conclusion When creating our own CD covers and magazine adverts for our music, we will take elements from all 5 of the above media in order to create a attractive digipak for our band. All 5 forms of media are extremely different but well recognised meaning there is no correct way to design a CD cover or Magazine advert neither is there a correct audience to aim it at.