Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Permission for Song Use
As The Killers were signed with Island Records when the second video of Mr Brightside was released, we are going to e-mail them to find out if we can use the song for our coursework. If we used the song without permission it would go against the copyright law.
It stated on the Island Records website that they are very busy with e-mails, so if we do not get a reply then we will go ahead with our video.
It stated on the Island Records website that they are very busy with e-mails, so if we do not get a reply then we will go ahead with our video.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Mr. Brightside
This is the actual video for The Killers - Mr. Brightside. I am going to analyse this to see of there are any generic features that link with those from other Indie music videos that i have researched.
- Demonstrate genre characteristics
This Killers video is a hybrid, meaning that it uses both performance and narrative within the story. From my research i found that this was typical of the Indie genre, and must make my own video a hybid to stick to the genre. Many close ups of the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, help the audience establish that the focus is on him and that he is the main member of the band. This is alo reinforced because he is present in the narrative part of the video as well. When making my own video i will make sure that the main member of the band is known by using close ups of him singing and standing him at the front of the band. The instruments used in this Killers video are drums, guitar and chelo. Chelos are not typical of the Indie genre so in my own video i will use drums, guitars and a microphone as these are present in many Indie videos.
- Relationship between lyrics and visuals
There is a strong link between the lyrics and visuals of this video. There are many interpretations of the meaning of the song, but from the video the audience can clearly see that the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, is emotionally involved with a girl that he has only just met. This links with the lyrics 'it started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this, it was only a kiss,' conveying that he has kissed the girl and now wonders why he is totally in love with her. Finding that she is with someone else he trys to look on the brightside, hence the song being named 'Mr Brightside.' As this is typical of the Indie genre when i come to storyboard my own ideas i will annotate the lyrics to make sure that i have a link between lyrics and visuals.
- The demand of the record label
The first close up of a member of the band is of the lead singer, portraying that he is the main member of the group and that he is the main focus. This is reinforced when mid shots and close ups are shown of the other members of the band, but only for a short time. The focus is then drawn back to the lead singer by another close up and for a longer period of time. I will incorporate this into my own video.
- Demonstrate genre characteristics
This Killers video is a hybrid, meaning that it uses both performance and narrative within the story. From my research i found that this was typical of the Indie genre, and must make my own video a hybid to stick to the genre. Many close ups of the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, help the audience establish that the focus is on him and that he is the main member of the band. This is alo reinforced because he is present in the narrative part of the video as well. When making my own video i will make sure that the main member of the band is known by using close ups of him singing and standing him at the front of the band. The instruments used in this Killers video are drums, guitar and chelo. Chelos are not typical of the Indie genre so in my own video i will use drums, guitars and a microphone as these are present in many Indie videos.
- Relationship between lyrics and visuals
There is a strong link between the lyrics and visuals of this video. There are many interpretations of the meaning of the song, but from the video the audience can clearly see that the lead singer, Brandon Flowers, is emotionally involved with a girl that he has only just met. This links with the lyrics 'it started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this, it was only a kiss,' conveying that he has kissed the girl and now wonders why he is totally in love with her. Finding that she is with someone else he trys to look on the brightside, hence the song being named 'Mr Brightside.' As this is typical of the Indie genre when i come to storyboard my own ideas i will annotate the lyrics to make sure that i have a link between lyrics and visuals.
- The demand of the record label
The first close up of a member of the band is of the lead singer, portraying that he is the main member of the group and that he is the main focus. This is reinforced when mid shots and close ups are shown of the other members of the band, but only for a short time. The focus is then drawn back to the lead singer by another close up and for a longer period of time. I will incorporate this into my own video.
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
The artist and song that me and Rebecca have chosen to research and use in our coursework is The Killers - Mr. Brightside. We chose this artist because The Killers fit in very well with the genre of Indie, we are also familiar with many of their songs so we can relate our video to others of the band. This will make sure that we follow the key generic features of an indie music video. We chose the song, Mr. Brightside, because we felt that the lyrics gave us a lot of lee-way with what we could include in the video and can be interpreted in many different ways. This meant that we would not be limited when planning our video. The lyrics also tell a story so we could include a narrative as well as having it performance based, which is typical of the indie genre.
The Killers (Wikipedia) -
The Killers are an American based band, formed in 2002. The band consists of Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. The name 'The Killers' comes from the bass drum of a fictional band in the music video, New Order - Crystal. They have released 4 albums, Hot Fuss (2003), Sam's Town (2006), Sawdust (2007) and Day & Age (2008).
The record label, Lizard King (UK), now known as Marrakesh Records, first signed The Killers. Other record labels that The Killers have previously and currently been signed with are, Island (US) and Vertigo (UK).
Mr. Brightside (Wikipedia) -
Mr. Brightside was released in August 2003 from the album Hot Fuss and reached the top 10 in the UK. There are 2 videos for Mr. Brightside, the UK version is the original version and was The Killers first video; due to the fact that the band were on an independent record label the video was done with a low budget and was subsequently very basic. When they were signed by Island Records in the US the band decided to film a higher budget video: the American video for this song stars Flowers, Izabella Miko, and Eric Roberts in a love triangle, taking place within the context of a burlesque show. Directed by Sophie Muller, it was inspired by the 2001 film Moulin Rouge.
The Killers (Wikipedia) -
The Killers are an American based band, formed in 2002. The band consists of Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. The name 'The Killers' comes from the bass drum of a fictional band in the music video, New Order - Crystal. They have released 4 albums, Hot Fuss (2003), Sam's Town (2006), Sawdust (2007) and Day & Age (2008).
The record label, Lizard King (UK), now known as Marrakesh Records, first signed The Killers. Other record labels that The Killers have previously and currently been signed with are, Island (US) and Vertigo (UK).
Mr. Brightside (Wikipedia) -
Mr. Brightside was released in August 2003 from the album Hot Fuss and reached the top 10 in the UK. There are 2 videos for Mr. Brightside, the UK version is the original version and was The Killers first video; due to the fact that the band were on an independent record label the video was done with a low budget and was subsequently very basic. When they were signed by Island Records in the US the band decided to film a higher budget video: the American video for this song stars Flowers, Izabella Miko, and Eric Roberts in a love triangle, taking place within the context of a burlesque show. Directed by Sophie Muller, it was inspired by the 2001 film Moulin Rouge.
Generic Features - Indie Music Video
The 4 videos that me and Rebecca researched were:
The Killers - Human
The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way
The Killers - Bones
Maximo Park - Books from Boxes
Key generic features of an Indie music video:-
- Camerawork
A close up of the lead singers face is a main key feature, as it immediately shows the audience which member of the band the focus is on. In The Killers video, Human, a close up of Brandon Flowers portrays to the audience that he is the central member of the band. This is also shown in the other 3 videos that me and Rebecca looked at.
In 3 of the 4 videos, a mid angle, long master shot of the band is used. This very much links with the indie genre because all of the videos we looked at were performance based, meaning that the master shot emphasises the genre and shows the audience the band altogether; also showing the closeness of the group.
Extreme long mid angle shots of the band playing shows the unity of the group as a whole and seperates the performance from the narrative.
- Mise-en-scene
In all 4 of the videos the costumes were very slick, not too casual but not extremely formal. The costumes consisted of dark colours, suits and formal jeans/ trousers.
The costumes in the narrative based storyline also consisted of dark colours, helping it to blend into the video and not stand out as something completely different. It also keeps the focus on the band and the performance.
The setting of 2 of the videos was based in the city and 2 were set in the desert. As our video must be workable and realistic we would base ours in a city/ town as it would not be workable to film in the desert.
The props used in all 4 of the videos was instruments and a microphone. This is a typical feature of an indie music video because as they are mainly performance based the band must play as if to an audience. This means it must include all instruments.
- Editing
All of the videos used continuity editing, meaning that there is a beginning and an end to each. 3 of the videos followed a basic storyline whilst cutting back to the master shot of the band.
Jump cuts were also used in all of the videos, cutting from the narrative back to the performance. The performance based part of the video would show the band singing the chorus of the song, whereas the narrative would be shown during the verses.
All the video were cut off beat.
- Style of video
3 out of 4 of the videos were both performance and narrative based, meaning that they are a hybrid.
- Links between visuals and lyrics
The links were illustrated and amplifyed in all of the videos.
- Links between visuals and music
The links were illustrated and amplifyed in all of the videos.
The Killers - Human
The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way
The Killers - Bones
Maximo Park - Books from Boxes
Key generic features of an Indie music video:-
- Camerawork
A close up of the lead singers face is a main key feature, as it immediately shows the audience which member of the band the focus is on. In The Killers video, Human, a close up of Brandon Flowers portrays to the audience that he is the central member of the band. This is also shown in the other 3 videos that me and Rebecca looked at.
In 3 of the 4 videos, a mid angle, long master shot of the band is used. This very much links with the indie genre because all of the videos we looked at were performance based, meaning that the master shot emphasises the genre and shows the audience the band altogether; also showing the closeness of the group.
Extreme long mid angle shots of the band playing shows the unity of the group as a whole and seperates the performance from the narrative.
- Mise-en-scene
In all 4 of the videos the costumes were very slick, not too casual but not extremely formal. The costumes consisted of dark colours, suits and formal jeans/ trousers.
The costumes in the narrative based storyline also consisted of dark colours, helping it to blend into the video and not stand out as something completely different. It also keeps the focus on the band and the performance.
The setting of 2 of the videos was based in the city and 2 were set in the desert. As our video must be workable and realistic we would base ours in a city/ town as it would not be workable to film in the desert.
The props used in all 4 of the videos was instruments and a microphone. This is a typical feature of an indie music video because as they are mainly performance based the band must play as if to an audience. This means it must include all instruments.
- Editing
All of the videos used continuity editing, meaning that there is a beginning and an end to each. 3 of the videos followed a basic storyline whilst cutting back to the master shot of the band.
Jump cuts were also used in all of the videos, cutting from the narrative back to the performance. The performance based part of the video would show the band singing the chorus of the song, whereas the narrative would be shown during the verses.
All the video were cut off beat.
- Style of video
3 out of 4 of the videos were both performance and narrative based, meaning that they are a hybrid.
- Links between visuals and lyrics
The links were illustrated and amplifyed in all of the videos.
- Links between visuals and music
The links were illustrated and amplifyed in all of the videos.
Monday, 18 January 2010
Target Audience Conclusion
- Music Videos
All of the people from our target audience that we interviewed, or filled in our questionnaire watched music videos. The majority also watched them on the internet, meaning that when we come to storyboarding our own ideas we must make sure they are suitable to be shown on the internet. They also thought that the video should tell a story, this means that we must incorporate this into our video by linking the visuals and lyrics. This will keep our target audience interested and will help them relate to it; it will also help them relate to it if the actors in the narrative part of the video are of the same age as our target audience.
- Digipaks
Just over half of the people who filled in our questionnaire, and that we interviewed buy digipaks. The majority said that the front cover influences the sale and that colours and the background image would sway them into buying the digipak. When designing my own digipak i will use bright colours on my background image to catch the consumers eye and to ensure that it is interesting and appeals to my target audience.
- Advertisements
All of the people we asked bought magazines, but less than half bought a digipak because it had been advertised in a magazine. This means that when i design my own advert i will need to make it stand out enough to sway my target audience into buying my digipak. To do this i will use bright colours and make the artist name stand out to help distinguish the digipak that i am advertising.
All of the people from our target audience that we interviewed, or filled in our questionnaire watched music videos. The majority also watched them on the internet, meaning that when we come to storyboarding our own ideas we must make sure they are suitable to be shown on the internet. They also thought that the video should tell a story, this means that we must incorporate this into our video by linking the visuals and lyrics. This will keep our target audience interested and will help them relate to it; it will also help them relate to it if the actors in the narrative part of the video are of the same age as our target audience.
- Digipaks
Just over half of the people who filled in our questionnaire, and that we interviewed buy digipaks. The majority said that the front cover influences the sale and that colours and the background image would sway them into buying the digipak. When designing my own digipak i will use bright colours on my background image to catch the consumers eye and to ensure that it is interesting and appeals to my target audience.
- Advertisements
All of the people we asked bought magazines, but less than half bought a digipak because it had been advertised in a magazine. This means that when i design my own advert i will need to make it stand out enough to sway my target audience into buying my digipak. To do this i will use bright colours and make the artist name stand out to help distinguish the digipak that i am advertising.
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