Video Evaluation

Here is our final completed video for Bloc Party's song Ares. It uses a wide range of shots which each enables to add a different and desired effect to our music video. I feel that each shot makes makes our video seem more intriguing and interesting in a storyboard that could have easily been produced using the same shot over and over again.



Whilst I aim to evaluate the video in as much detail as possible it is noted that some shots have been used more than once to match either lyrics or instrumentals for that certain time span so i will only be covering this video on a shot by shot basis as i see fit.
Yet before i go into description of each of the shots used and how they work with the song i am first going to explain the camera settings and how we used them for certain effects. With the camera starting off on the auto settings we had to change these settings to match the situation of the shots and settings around us.

White Balance-This was changed to an outdoor setting, with this set it allowed for consistency of colour, image and tone of our shots when shooting outside, and as none of our shots were filmed inside it meant that we didn't have to keep switching back between the two.

Shutter Speed-The shutter speed is mainly used to effect the exposure and can be used to drastically or subtly modify the lightness and darkness of your shots, our shutter speed was set to 1/50. This speed allows for more sharper shots as well as a wide depth of field which we attempted to use on a few occasion in our shots.

Aperture- This setting controls the amount of light that is seen on our shots and is the prominent setting for altering exposure to be either lighter or darker. We had our aperture as closed so that the shots would consist of the same amount of light (weather depending) which makes the video seem more fluent and professional.

Manual Focus- The main reason for the use of manual focus is that it allows us to focus on exactly what we want. With auto focus the camera cannot properly identify what is meant to be in focus and will automatically focus on the first thing it can find. However with the use of manual focus we can choose what is in focus and allows us to perform shots such as the depth of field. This shot requires the white balance to be appropriate to where you are filming (in our case outside) as well as having a closed aperture and the use of a shutter speed on 1/50. With this now set we can then zoom in and focus before slowly zooming out and changing focus or visa versa. This allows for a shift in focusand creates an effect of drawing the audience as to where you want them to go in terms of concentration. Our group each attempted this shot yet it was Katie who actually used in correctly in our music video it occurs on the image below at in the video it is timed at 1:25 in our music video and is combined with a panning shot from left to right, yet it is only a narrow depth of field and isn't easily recognisable as the foreground appears blurred with the background in focus before switching to the foreground being in focus and the background appearing out of focus.

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

As a group we largely stuck to these camera setting to show continuity throughout the shootings and whilst i was only able to film some shots, (POV etc) the rest of the group always checked that when they filmed that the settings were correct for how we wanted them. With the settings of the camera now firmly established we could begin to film, and specific dates were used in filming. This is where good communication on set would prove vital so that group members knew what they where doing and how they were doing it. Unfortunately for us this was where we suffered the most. There were numerous times when the group had booked to film yet with only a few members turning up it was made difficult. The first time that we had arranged to meet up was: Wednesday 20th of January, yet neither me or Hannah showed up, i don't know why Hannah didn't and i forget why i didn't i think i had a Uni interview, yet both Katie and Amber showed up yet due to poor communication couldn't find each other, so Amber went out and shot the POV shots seen at the beginning of the film.

We then waited till Monday 1st of February when the whole group went out to film, yet due to the good weather conditions most of the stuff filmed couldn't be used with only Hannah's filming of the flooded establishing shots used. It is also worth pointing out that we couldn't really have started filming too much earlier than these points due to the amount of rain the the fact that we were also undecided on a place to shoot the film. Many of the cancellations also occurred due to rain and haven't been mentioned in this Production Schedule.

We arranged to film again on the 3rd of February yet only me and Amber showed up at 10 o clock when we had arranged to meet, with Katie in lessons till 12 and Hannah may have been on holiday? Yet unfortunately both me and Amber had forgotten to bring the props, i was meant to come in costume and she was meant to bring the mask so we had nothing to film.

Wednesday 10th of February was another scheduled day to film with Wednesdays being ideal as no one had lessons after twelve. Katie couldn't make it this time due to a driving lesson and it was me and Amber left to film again, yet we decided to cancel before hand as Katie had the mask. We then decided that we wouldn't film until March as I had Uni interviews every Wednesday until March and they couldn't film without me as i was playing both characters. At this point the three girls had managed to edit around a minutes worth of footage together, which i had taken no part in as i wasn't in the Monday lesson.

Yet on the Wednesday 3rd of March we had all scheduled to film and attempt to finish filming. Yet only me and Katie showed up but managed to get a large amount of the filming done.

In fact we thought we had finished but on Monday 8th of March after the whole group had edited what we had filmed we realised that there was still some more shots to fill.

Yet for some unknown reason we all delayed finishing the filming as we couldn't find a time when everyone was three so me and Katie finally went out on Thursday 25th of March and completed the filming, it was at this point when I, who was the only member who hadn't filmed yet due to being in the video, took some footage of myself walking through the woods in a close shot in which i held the camera and walked forwards creating a track shot.

With the filming now completed we spent Monday 29th finally completing the editing in which myself, Katie and Amber were present. The video was completed with each member of the group contributing to both filming and editing yet some largely more than others. The reason that i felt that our group struggled so much with the communication was that there was a real lack of motivation. As far of getting hold of each other Hannah was almost impossible to get hold at times even though me and Amber both had her number as well as Amber's phone at times being switched off. Me and Katie were the only ones who really properly communicated and i personally felt that we were the ones who had to take charge and made sure that the filming was done on time. In terms of the filming we did we originally had a shooting script and we had originally used Clapperboards which clearly labelled what shot we were doing, yet due to the weather these clapperboards and scripts (that were very basic clapperboards and scripts) would either blow away in the wind or get ruined by the rain and mud. In relation to paper on set we found ourselves only loosely applying our storyboard to our music video. As mentioned earlier there were some shots that couldn't be applied from our storyboard due to significant amounts of people on set, yet whilst many of the shots were followed, during the editing process we decided that the way they had been shot would look better in different positions such as the jumping of the camera showing me moving forward was placed further along to match "Set it, set it set it up!" yet other than that most of the shots used in the storyboard were followed by the group.


Every time that we did go out filming, apart from when Amber went out on her own, we took the tripod to use to steady the shots, however we rarely found ourselves using it. On the shots where i am in the mask and jump forward towards the camera was the only real time we used the tripod. The thing really is quite annoying to use as whilst unscrewing the upper sections to get the legs extended were easy placing the camera securely onto the top of the tripod was quite hard and most of the times during that shot we found ourselves having to have one hand on the camera as well. However we weren't too worried about this as the occasional shake of the camera were at times accidentally and at times deliberately used to connote fear into our music video. It was for this reason that we were comfortable with using zoom and depth of field as whilst both do edit the focus at times creating a blurred impression, they both also shake the focus a bit which provided another form of fear into our music video.

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF SHOTS

With the beginning of the song opening up with a slow tempo, low pitch sound we decided to begin with establishing shots. These shots were of the flooded woodland surrounding our area to film and were filmed by Hannah. They consist mainly of various short timed long shots that zoomed in and out in time with the music. The use of the camera was handheld to show slight shaking to embed the idea of something not quite right about the tranquil setting, a themes matched by the eerie sound of the song at that point.

When the guitar kicks in it cuts to a sped up pointing of view shot taking by Amber walking through the woods. The use of the POV shot sped up was to match the tempo of the song as well as well as showing the violent movement in the camera which embeds that the camera is running from something and is extremely scared. I personally feel that this is the most effective of the shots used as it matches the song really well as well as the simplicity of just speeding it up using Final Cut Pro making it effective and easy to create.

This shot is eventually followed by a pan shot around my face, whilst it isn't the most graceful of pans we wanted it in time with the lyrics (unfortunately it is just off) and meant that in order to keep the shots steady we would just film close ups before switching to a close up from a different view creating a distorted pan. Katie was filming this and we used the camera hand held as the shots only last a second if that. The following shot is a long shot of me walking and looking around. At first, however, it didn't match the tempo of the song so had to be sped up to match. This shot was used using the tripod yet as we had problems attaching it Katie had to keep one hand on the camera.

Many of the POV shots used also involve panning, high and low angle shots the one seen below shows the camera tilting up slightly to reveal the mask hidden in the tree. I feel that this accurately impersonates someone looking all over the place searching for something and it really makes the camera seem like it is coming from the eyes of a human. There is also emphasis placed when the mask is found with the zoom being used to emphasise its importance before zooming back out to portray how dangerous it is and that it should be kept well clear of. These shots are also extremely easy to produce and whilst not having to worry about the shake of the camera. All of these shots have been sped up to match the tempo of the song yet with slight camera movements being magnified it merely looks like a turn of the head.

After this point came one the most annoying shots to produce but also one of the best to watch. The lyrics are "set it, set it, set it up" and we decided to use the shot of my getting closer to the camera with out walking, it is based largely on the film The Ring. It is quite hard to show this to you using stills and there is also a link further up in the blog, yet the still below show the change in distance between characters without one of them motioning to move. Originally we had hoped in incorporate an other the shoulder shot much like in the clip but due to only having one actor we just left it as it walking towards the camera. This isn't a POV shot merely a long shot that turns into a close up without the camera moving. It required the tripod in order to keep the camera still for so many shots, and required a few takes with the positioning of the character vital. It is filmed by just keeping the camera in one place (Katie was overlooking to make sure the shots were fine) and recording before pausing the character would then move forward a few paces before recording, with this repeated a few times. The resulting effect really is quite eerie but took a lot of time when editing as well due to the extremely repetitive task of trying to accurately time each character movement with each "set it up". Yet the final result worked much better than we thought it would and really embeds the idea that this thing isn't human.

The next shot we used in the video was an attempted depth of field shot. It was Katie who actually used in correctly in our music video it occurs on the image below yet is more obvious in our music video and is combined with a panning shot from left to right, yet it is only a narrow depth of field and isn't easily recognisable as the foreground appears blurred with the background in focus before switching to the foreground being in focus and the background appearing out of focus. This basically emphasises that the camera is looking for something and when the character comes into focus it is an indicator that it is the centre of attention and should be noticed. We attempted this shot a few times with the desired affect that Katie would get behind a bush with a high angle shot looking up at the characrer with the focus origionally on the leaves before switching focus to the characters. Again using a handheld effect helped out it as when the camera shakes slightly after spotting the character it represents fear and since this is a POV shot it works.

The next shot worth mentioning is the track shotn that i did of myself walking through the woods. It was done by me holding the camera and Katie checking that the shot was fine. Then when she pressed record i would walk around moving my head as if looking for something. Whilst i think this shot works well and when sped up to match "we dance to the sound of sirens" creates a distorted abstract effect that matches the song, I do feel that i have ruined it a little with my inability to keep a straight face as i am not demonstrating much fear. However whilst techniqually it may not be a track shot the as there isn't anyone holding the camera tracking back with me i feel it still passes off for one. The reason that Katie didn't hold the camera and walk back was that there were sticks and bushes everywhere and she wouldn't have seen where she was going and may have fallen over with the camera. Also by me holding it it creates a high angle shot which embeds my emotions better, unfortunately the wrong ones.

The rest of the song mainly consist of similar or slightly modified shots that link with either the tempo or lyrics of the song however the last real change in shot occurs when the tempo of the song slows right down. It is just after the indie kid has fallen over and the camera switches to a POV shot that sees it lying on the floor, origionally we had hoped to place ot at and anlge or on its side to create an extreme canted shot. The image here is a failed canted shot, and the reason we didn't use it in our video was that we could only really take a still of this shot. The floor was quite muddy and we had to rest the camera on Katie's bag with a jumper over the top to stop it getting wet, yet on its side the camera wouldn't stay up so we had to resort to the origional positioning of the camera which could stay up unattended. This low angle long shot eventually ends with me picking up the camera and turning it into a close up of my face. It is meant to be another POV shot with me picking up the indie kid who has fallen over. In terms of the song, the shot is long and matches the slow tempo extremely well. After this shot more POV shots are seen of the character fleeing the area yet it isn't established which character it is to make the storyline of the song seem more abstract and ambigouos. The audience are then left to think that the video is finished when the screen blacks out but it ultimatley cuts back straight away with a medium shot of the character. This was used to attempt to scare the audience in time with the last drum beat, but i feel that there needed to be a longer black out.

UNUSED SHOTS

During filming of the video we ended up a number of shots that we felt weren't quite good enough to be placed in our music video. The shot below was a shot that we origionally wanted in our music video as it was a rule of three shot. This means that you have a horizontal divide and a vertical divide that that leaves a space to put the character which will draw attention to it. The reason we didn't use this shot is firstly that the sun glare made it an awkward place to put a character as the sun would make that shot harder to see; but also that the horizontal divider occured in the middle of the shot which didn't leave hardly any room for a character or object to be placed. This was unfortuante as we weren't really able to get another rule of three shot in a part from the shot based on The Ring in which there are two horizontal dividers, which does have the same sort of effect. Another shot that we chose to discard was this pan/track shot of a duck. We had origionally hoped to use this in the beginning of the song with the slow tempo, and wer going th have the duck swim then fly away in slow motion when the drums kicked in. This took patience and we have quite a lot of film, and ultimately after some rather inhumane attempts to get it to fly away we missed the shot and therefore were unable to use this shot.



FEEDBACK

After thoroughly analising my groups video, i would now call on other people to give feedback as to what they thought of the video much like how i did with both the digipack and the advert. The people who actually commented on the video were overall impressed. Especially in terms of how the shots matched the music. They liked the editing skills used the shots making the quicker, slower how they were put together. Although there were comments stating that they felt the timing at times was either brilliant or poor switch i agree with too. They commented as to how the video really matched the digipack and advert in terms of themes, motifs and simplicity. One person commented that more planning could have been spent on the custome to make it look scarier, and whilst we as a group did have orgional plans for this, we never got round to actually making or buying these costumes and had to settle for what we could find. So overall the feedback from the video compared to the other two tasks has been more positive and as a group i am proud of the effort put in by most of us, and happy with the overall outcome of the video as well as the personal outcomes of both the digipack and the advert.

On a personal level i feel that the simplicity of our video, combined with the editing that we put in really does pass off for a good video, and whilst more time could have been spent on setting costume and the shots, i feel that the video really does match the simplicity of Bloc Party and their albums and songs. We started off by wanting to make an abstract video and i defiantly felt that we have done just that. In combination with the research that the group put into the audience and other bands or artists from the rock genre and in combination with my digipack and advert, i feel that i have successfully created a cohesive Promo Pack and video. In terms of personal development i also feel that i have become much more organised and assetive, in terms of work i'm usually quite passive and don't get too worked up if something isn't done at a specific time, but as our time on this task got shorter i had to be the one to push forward and help get thing done. However the timing of my work could have been better, as you can tell by me posting this blog on the last day. Yet the fact that i have finished and that i feel an adequate job has been made of the task by my group i cant really have any complaints, apart from having to use blogger to do the whole task on. In terms of the technology i have already commented on Photoshop and InDesign which i found just about managable, and whilst other uses of technology such as Powerpoint and the cameras used were relitively simple, the two i had the most trouble with were Final Cut Pro and Blogger. Final Cut Pro is a very useful piece of technology and allows for easy editing however it can get extremely annoying when trying to edit small pieces of film into a sequence, with the layout of the programme unclear you really have to ask for help and keep saving so that you don't loose your work but towards the end of editing it became a lot more fluent. Blogger on the other hand is utterly useless! The sugarcoated version to my complaint about Blogger is that it looses your work, rearranges it the site shuts downs from time to time, i couldn't upload this post for ageeeeees! and it wont upload half the stuff i want to upload.

Yet Blogger aside I feel that the effort put into this production towards the end of the time span definately accounts for the lack of effort shown at the beginning and that overall and extremely well produced finished piece has been created.

Storyboarding

With the main outline for our ideas now set we could begin to map out our music video in terms of a storyboard. This would provide us with a clear and detailed format of the shots that we would use and where we would use them. Storyboarding also allows us to time our shots in relation to the song. I was the one in charge of splitting up the song and at times it was hard to decide at which second the song should be stopped at and a shot made, however i believe that it has been timed well enough and if there was overlapping between the shots and the times we could easily edit it by speeding up a shot or slowing one down, which luckily would also sit in well with the abstract feel that the song. In terms of time we can split the song up into certain areas with different moods and themes easily presentable.

0-23 seconds starts with an eerie atmosphere in which a girl is lulling to herself. This establishes a fearful and uneasy atmosphere. In the first 13 seconds we have decided to use establishing shots of different parts of the woods showing how desolate and quite it is. It will also represent the transition between the quietness and tranquility of the woods and how scary it can be. This also matches the change in moods in the song.

13-27 secs

We are introduced to our first character. He is to be played by me and will be represented in a typical indie stereotype with jeans and a hoody, he appears throughout these shots as running away from something unknown, much like in Bloc Party's Talons.

27- 41 secs

We are introduced to the pursuer of this chase scene a man dressed in black with a mask. Black typically represents derogatory themes such as darkness and danger. The mask not only fits in with the colour but also with the themes of war that are represented throughout the lyrics and our video.

41-53 secs

The verse starts at this point and with the repetitions of "war, war, war, war" we want the camera to catch the pursuer in different angles. as well as the elements of fear being portrayed by the indie kid, and the elements of terror embedded in the pursuer.

53- 1:08 secs

The same shot is used in "war, war, war, war" only with the indie kid instead this time this represents the conflict between the two but how they are also similar, much like with modern wars, the two opposing sides are much alike as they both have their own political problems.

1:08- 1: 23 secs

This is where the main forms of subtle violence comes through with the desperation of the "indie" kid and the blood and weapons of the pursuer.

1:23-1:49 secs

Unlike with the previous uses of the "war, war, war, war" line this time we will use switching back and forth between the characters two show the opposing sides in our video.

1:49-2:04 secs

This is the instrumentals in the song and have used these to show chase scenes as it is at a high tempo, the chase scene concludes with the "indie" kid knocking the pursuer over in a POV shot that will see the camera end up on its side.

2:04-2:18 secs

This part keeps the instrumentals but has lyrics over the top, we want to put an otherworldly aspect here as it matches the shouting and loud sounds of the instrumental it will consist of the pursuer walking towards the camera with the camera skipping to show the pursuer get closer, we hope to recreate something like what occurs at the end of this clip from the film The Ring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qttT_10QGQ0

2:18-2:43 secs

The tempo slows right down to much like the start of the song we want to use this part to show the body of the "indie" kid lying dead. This gradual zoom in is used as a reflection as to the effects of war and its consequences.

2:43-3:10 secs

This part resumes back to a high tempo sound and will be used to represent the pursuer fleeing the the area, yet on the way is left with ghastly reminders of what he has done with images of the "indie" kid popping up occasionally.

3:10-3:31 secs

The last section of the song is mainly just drums and we will use this to end the fleeing at let the character stop to face the camera and take off the mask, which will reveal the indie kid himself.

The main message of our idea is that war between two countries is basically war on yourself as whilst everyone in the world is unique we are all so alike in the things we do and the way we do them. It also encapsulates the fear of unknown threats which is where the mask is used to effect as well the war between genders with the view of equality being expressed.

Here is our actual storyboard uploaded onto blogger. The first two shots consist of establishing shots of two separate parts of the woods with the camera zooming in and out it. This matches the calm eerie beginning to the song with the zoom matching the change in volume between the humming. The next three shots consist of closer establishing shots with the zooming more extreme in order to represent the build up of the song in preparation for the drums and guitar that comes in. These three shots will last 7 seconds.
Shot numbers 6-7 will last 13 seconds and will be slow motion running through the woods, whilst on the storyboard we have made it a long shot we may change it to a POV shot to show him running in a more distorted and abstract way. At this point the drums will kick in and we will introduce the pursuer into our video. It is at this point that we hope to use the technique seen in the link above from The Ring to show the pursuer coming closer to the camera in an otherworldly fashion. We hope to do this in about four shots each lasting between 3-4 seconds to show the progression of the pursuer in time with each loud drum beat. We will then have the camera rotate around the character in time with the lyrics "war war war war" We will then use shots showing depth of field, between a tree and the indie kid hiding behind it.

We have decided that when a part of the song is repeated or similar to something else already in the lyrics we have decided to use some similar or same shots as they worked well with the lyrics and sound of the song at that point so therefore they will work again. Yet when the lyrics repeat "war, war, war, war" again we will use the same rotational shot yet with the other character this time. This will hopefully be identical to that of the pursuer. We were hoping to include some almost aerial shots of the characters running but this proved quite hard in production so we have changed it to more POV shots of running through the forest in time with the instrumentals. Shot 22 will be a low angle shot of looking through the pursuers legs showing the indie kid in the center, we will try to bring in a depth of field shot at this point to show the switch in emphasis on the characters. The camera will then slowly pan up for 3 seconds to show the blood dripping off of the pursuer's hands this will then lead to distorted close ups of the face of the indie kid showing his panic this this will be done by having me move sharply with the camera and then speeding it up to create a distorted effect. we will then attempt to knock the camera over in a POV shot when the lyrics read "Get out the way or get fucked up" This will occur after a few long shots of the two running and chasing each other, at shot 26 we hope to continuous switching between the faces at "War, war, war, war" last 2 seconds We also hope to incorporate an over the shoulder shot to show some diversity in the shots which will last for 4 seconds we will then recycle and re-use previous shots which will be the POV shots of the running as well as the shots where the characters gets gradually closer to the screen to represent the different styles that the two characters have, this occurs across the instrumentals for 12 seconds and another 10 seconds of the gradual approach of the pursuer which will be split up into four shots. When The slow tempo of the song kicks in we want to keep it as one shot of the indie kid lying motionless on the floor as the camera gradually zooms out this will be the longest shot of the entire video last 26 seconds but we may change it as it may be a bit boring so we may put the POV camera shot on the floor and have the pursuer slowly walk towards it. The rest of the story board finishes with various POV shots conveying the pursuer fleeing the area, and will end with a 2 second close up of the pursuer, but just before the screen will cut to black before a sudden flashed image of him to show surprise to audience.

ENFORCED EDITING

Unfortunately we will be unable to act out the entire storyboard to our liking as we were only able to get hold of myself for the acting so the through the leg shots and over the shoulder shots will not be done, also instead of seeing reminders of the indie kid towards the end of the song it will be the mask constantly in shot to portray an ambiguity of the death and whether or not it happened, much like in Talons represents the abstract feel of the song with an abstract song. However other than that we hope to keep the shots relatively the same with perhaps only a few modifications in the ordering of the shots. To show how we intend to keep to the shots we have listed small brief plans to tell us what shot is happening and for how long it is going to happen.

The Pitch

As part of the coursework we have to make a pitch to the record company about the band and our reasons as to why we chose them and the song "Ares" for our music video. The presentation itself provides thorough information about the band, its followers and our ideas on the song.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B6s132hCeanGMzE2YmE5N2YtOGIxYy00Mjk3LWEyYzctYjcxYjY5NTk3Mjg5&hl=en

Here is the provided link for our Powerpoint presentation pitching our idea to Wichita Recordings. Google documents won't seem to properly download our file so when clicking on the link if you click on the "download" button it will redirect you to our presentation.

The presentation itself differs from the one in the video due to technical faults that led to us losing the presentation, and therefore we had to recreate it and that is why some of the background images and information differ from the origional. Yet it still covers the main ideas of our music video as well as provided information on the band, as it is a video there is also proof that we have all participated and contributed to the presentation itself.
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B5WUAYNvqSRQMjhlYTY0NjAtN2UxZi00NzUxLTkzZmYtYWNjODFkMGQ5OTU4&hl=en

Much like the powerpoint we have had technical difficulties with uploading the pitch as it doesn't seem to want to work so i have instead posted the link that will take you to the pitch and enable you to watch it.

IDEAS

IDEAS SO FAR

Using the sound and lyrics of this song as a focal point we set about creating a music video to match the mood and theme of the song. We hope to explore the situations where this track would be played such as raves and parties, whilst also focusing on the lyrics themselves. Yet the target audience must also be taken into consideration when planning for ideas as they are ultimately the people who we are relating it to. Yet before we started brainstorming for ideas for our own music video we decided to observe and analysis two of Bloc Party's previous music videos to see if any of the themes used from those videos could be introduced into ours in order to create cohesion between ourselves and the band.


BLOC PARTY-FLUX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttcboE1GrNg

For the first analysis i chose to observe one of Bloc Party's older songs flux. The song itself was the start of Bloc Party's electronic beat in which up to this song the instrumentals mainly focused around guitars, so it provides relevance in terms of the electronic feel that Ares has to it.

The song itself starts with multiple shots of surrounding buildings sped up and put in sequence to create a distorted establishing shot. Once the tempo of the song increases with the volume the characters/monsters are introduced they appear with yet more sped up camera work that makes them appear otherworldly. The music video continues to match the pace of the song with direct links to the lyrics also established with "We were hoping for some romance" and "we need to talk" both appearing on the robot's mouths as well as gestures relating to these lines being used. None of the characters that appear have distinct human features. This is interesting as many of Bloc Party's other music videos such as Hunting For Witches and Helicopter use the band members themselves, yet they may have been excluded to suggest the change in music style that would soon follow this track. The video despite touching on themes of love and arguments displays a very childlike theme, perhaps to take into account the age of their target audience or even the gender (the fight scenes may have been made in an uneventful manner for these reasons). Bright colours are also used throughout this video. Whilst these colours are used as weapons by the creatures they also represent the target audiences hobbies of parties and raves, something that if we used in our video would not only strike up cohesion with the band but also relate to the target audience significantly. The video itself appears easy to create with most of the work done in editing (perhaps something we may need to take into consideration when creating ideas). When the tempo does eventually die down momentarily the camera shots do so to follow suit. Two shots appear fading over each other with close ups of the two enemies transgressing across each other. With our song also consisting of a high tempo, but with a momentary slow tempo it would prove wise to make sure the speed of shots of the camera also match the tempo. The remainder of the song basically consists of more carnage and destruction of the toy setting where the video is set. This destruction again matches the loud sounding noise that the song gives off something that we can apply in our music video.

BLOC PARTY- TALONS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTwFE_8v8Bc

The reason that i have decided on analysing Talons is that it is very similar to Ares in terms of sound and themes in the lyrics so by analysing this video we can broaden the information and our ideas that could be placed into our music video.

The video starts out with vocalist Kele Okereke running down a dark corridor with bright blue lights flashing on and off in relation to the guitar. Straight away the video matches the song in terms of lyrics with "In the dark" used by portraying a shadow in an otherwise light less room. The song Talons literally applies to running and hiding from something that is out to get them, this idea is matched in the video through the running and turning back in fear. Bloc Party also bring out their uniqueness here. In common horror films when being pursued by something otherworldly the lights around a character tend to go off or shut down, however in this case it more lights come on to light up the darkness, this may also relate to where you are most likely to hear this song played, parties and raves in which bright lights are common. The video gives off the impression that they are being chased by the light with a blue siren light used to briefly light up the darkness as well as keeping in time with the guitar used in the song. This oxymoronic theme of light and danger add to the abstract ideas that earlier appeared in flux and may be something that our group should use when creating our music video. The video continues along this theme of being pursued by the light and see see glimpses into what is chasing them though the face is never revealed, much like in flux. The video itself ends with shots of the city continually getting lighter whilst the main character locked in some sort of corridor with the final shot of him pressed up against a locked door with the light shining on his chest.

BRAINSTORMING

After looking at these videos a large variety of ideas have been thought up to be used in our own video for a Bloc Party song. However whilst using elements of these videos to use in our own will help with the continuity of our video in relation to the bands image, it is important that we bring in our own ideas to show that we have creativity instead of just copying already established ideas. The first idea that we thought of was in relation to the sound of the song. We decided on dancers dressed entirely in black against a black backdrop, with flashing neon lights attached to them in order to create a blurred abstract look that matches the sound of the song. The desired effect would hopefully like like the photo to the left yet we would settle for a less extravagant final production. We also wanted to include some sort of violence or at least the connotation that something or someone is after you. By achieving this we thought we would base our idea on the Talons video and have scenes in which someone is attempting to flee through dark abandoned corridors with a flashing light illuminating not only the corridor but also his fear. As our first idea we thought this one would work well as most of it could be done within the studio at the college, with occasional trips to Hellingly Mental Asylum (an abandoned and easily accessible area in which to film the chase scenes) in order to complete the video. A major recurring image in the song is that of sirens and whilst it may be an idea to include police sirens in this video (a way in which violence is stopped) we also thought it might be worthwhile to use the sirens of sea as an idea for this. The sirens of the sea used to sing to boats passing by and luring them into the rocky shore where the boats would sink and the men would perish (pretty violent if you ask me). This in turn lead to the idea of including crashing waves into the backdrop and abstracting them by turning them a neon green or pink. Not only does this carry on both themes of abstract and violence but also adds to an otherwise repetitive dance scene. Another idea to include on the backdrop is that of a thunder storm. As the song starts with a calm almost eerie mood which reminded us of the calm before the storm, so we could have dark clouds swirling around in the backdrop before the lightening kicks in when the tempo rises. However we have found access and time into Hellingly quite hard to find, with patrolling officers trying to keep people out of Hellingly and despite our expectations for the glow sticks and neon paint we didn't feel it would create the desired look that we feel was required for the video. With black jumpsuits and neon paint and glow sticks all costing money we decided that despite how quickly we may be able to film this idea it may be too pricey for a piece of A2 media coursework.

With the idea of spending money on a music hindering our plans video we turned to an alternative idea in which it would be the setting that matched the song and the storyline of our video. The outline of the idea would involve a chase scene throughout an abandoned warehouse (either Hellingly if accessible or an abandoned Lewes warehouse) in which we would have to people chasing each other and when the lyrics of the song reached "Listening, to dead singers, in your room In 98" they would eventually meet and fight, this matches the themes of the song in terms of violence and the idea of two opposites meeting is apparent in both Flux and Talons. We believed that by placing it in an abandoned warehouse it would not only match the abstract tune of the song but adds to the eerie start to the song. It would also allow multiple fast shots of the setting with different hallways and angles used to match the fast tempo of the guitar and drum beat. This chase scene also allows for many different types of camera shots such as close ups showing fear as well as long shots showing how far away each of the characters are from each other. POV shots can also be used to show the audience the views of the characters, and with the use of editing we can distort these shots to make it more fearful. This type of music video allows for more interesting camera shots and techniques such as depth of field that makes it more interesting for the audience instead of a repetitive few shot selection music video. This combined with the chase scene clearly connotes violence that matches the tune and themes of the song. We've also looked into the ideas of putting projections onto the wall to create an otherworldly theme that appears in other Bloc Party music videos. We have been told that this can be done in the studio onto a backdrop however it maybe a little difficult to transfer it onto the walls of the warehouse unless we brought the projector to the warehouse which i doubt we will be able to do as there will be no real place to plug it in or a means of transport. Another option was to film at Shoreham Cement Works as it provided more roaming space whilst still providing the same abandoned effect that Hellingly had. The reason this abandoned effect works well with the song is that the places look like they have become struck by war and violence, a recurring theme in the songs lyrics so they would be ideal locations to film in. However with only a few openings a week in which the group as a whole can get together to film and as it takes 52 minutes there and back it doesn't leave us with much filming time so we will have to look at alternatives.

The location we have set on is to film in a woods just inside of Lewes. As this is local to us it provides easy access and under the right effect it will provide just as good a place to film as the others. If it is a dull day and preferably gloomy then the idea of loneliness and abandonment can occur just like they would in the buildings. Ironically in comparison with the themes of the song the location of a woods appears pretty tranquil, yet we feel that with the characters and the actions that they do in the video will embed the idea that war can occur anywhere, even in the most peaceful areas. The woods also appears a quite solemn area which provides an eerie atmoshpere. This works well with the beginning of the song and combined with the actions of the characters creates a juxtaposition between the setting and the themes of the video which adds to the abstract elements of the song.

MISE-EN-SCENE

With the location now firmly set we could move onto using props, colour, make-up and costume to create ideas that would relate to previous Bloc Party music videos and therefore relate to their target audience. In relation to target audience, with the main majority being men, we are going to include more stereotypically masculine themes such as conflict and fear. However in relation to other Rock bands Bloc Party has a large female following so whilst these themes will be evident they will not be shown in directly graphic ways. The first example of this will be to have a female mask and make that as the pursuer's identity. With the natural setting of the woods now decided we may decide to include some props to add to the abstract form of the song, and in relation to violence, these may be weapons. One possible idea is to use a baseball bat yet paint it in neon colours, or just edit the colour in afterwards in order to relate to the party style sound of the song as well as connote the themes of violence. Yet other than that i doubt many props will be added, and we will probably just use whats on offer such as trees and hills in order to make the chase scenes more interesting.

As far as the colour of the video goes we will combine the natural dreariness of the woods with neon colours either used in editing or there and then. These bright colours not only stand out against the dreary backdrop but also relate to the sound of the song. Yet if the contrast is to obvious then we may choose to get rid of the bright neon colours and just place actions and camera shots in relation to the tempo and movement of the music. So the colours of the video will mostly consist of brown green and grey, which provides the main emphasis onto the characters as they will stand out more. As for the characters we will probably use one male and one female character to show the growing balance between the genders in the target audience. In both Talons and Flux most of the characters faces remain hidden by either shadow or a mask. With this in mind we have decided to mask both characters to show the coherence between our video and Bloc Parties video. The mask will be in the image of a female but worn by a man to show how they are extremely similar, with religious allusions being the story of Adam and Eve and how ultimatley Eve got them both expelled from the garden of Eden posing women as a threat.The use of this mask not only creates an abstract theme to the video but also creates a contrast between the grey/brown dreary backdrop and the pale white mask, thus drawing attention to the character. We had origionally decided to use two masks with the other being a gas mask which obviously connotes the war, yet we couldn't get hold of one so it is now an abstract war of gender . This adds connotations with the themes of war as well as creating a direct contrast in characters, man vs. women. The song itself does talk about slavery "The Africans and the Bengalis, He knows all the rude boys, Reebok Nike Adidas Puma" and this could provide one of the main reasons behind the hunt and pursue theme that we have chosen and may well be aided to our idea.

With both the mise-en-scene and the ideas now covered we have a brief outline of what will happen in our video. We are going to have the female mask like figure chase the one in the gas mask, with an eventually meeting in which they both run at each other before seeing the one in the gas mask carried off unconscious. This will allow for a variety of shots such as POV, close ups, long shots, over the shoulder shots and two shots, whilst both run and pursue each other around the woods. Yet in relation to the band themselves we have decided on a few modifications, in relation to their target audience we will include a stereotypical "indie" kid as it will appeal to the audience watching. He will consist of the typical jeans and hoody attire. In relation to other Bloc Party videos the idea of otherness is also something we wish to use and in relation to Bloc Party's Flux the idea of concealed identity creating fear appealed to us in particularly. We have decided to use a gas mark to conceal the other characters identity. This mask also allows us to relate the theme of the song back to war and violence.

COSTUME AND PROPS

As mentioned earlier we hope to use a stereotypical indie kid in our video to strike up a direct link between the target audience and our music video. He will consist of black plimsoll trainers

Dark blue jeans

And a white Hoody

Even the pursuer will be dressed in typically indie clothes with the same jeans, and similar shoes as well as a black v-neck top which connotes danger.







The mask is the only prop that we will be using in the music video. Originally we had hoped for a gas mark, as they have obvious connotations with war, however we were unable to obtain one and had to settle for the mask above. Whilst this was merely spontaneous we all felt that it worked mainly due to how creepy the mask was when i put it on, but because it also created a new view on war, the war between man and woman. The mask itself is feminine and creates a clash between man and women, yet it relgious aspects woman was created from man, hence why in the video i play both roles. This creates the idea that man and woman shouldn't fight or "war" as they are the same person, however i feel that this idea would have worked better with a wig aswell, as i could have had long hair which could easily be made to look scary, much like in The Ring.

With this in mind we now have a basic idea that consist of the indie kid played by me, running around an old abandoned woods being chased by a scary female indie kid also played by me, eventually the indie kid is captured but his destiny isn't revealed, much like in the video Talons this creates an ambigouos ending that fits in well with the abstract sound of the song as well as some of the confusing war based lyrics that go with it. We hope to use a lot of point of view shots as it creates a real personal sense of fear, yet whose point of view shot it is will remain a mystery to add to the abstract and the ambiguity of the song. We also feel that when the songs tempo dies down would be an ideal time for the two characters to meet as there is a real sense of tension and fear at this point, yet we don't quite know how we are ment to do this yet.


With a brief outline of the video now set we now need to draw up a storyboard.

Fan Base

BLOC PARTY'S DEMOGRAPHIC

After researching Bloc Party’s public image it was clear that there is a specific image associated with the band along with a specific group of followers that was vital to maintain in relation with our music video. It is important that our video portrays many of the images that are associated with past Bloc Party videos to show the coherence between our video and the band's videos; which will allow the band's fan base to relate to our video. To understand the look and image that the band have already obtained we looked at different media appearances that band made and how they were presented in each, this includes interviews, magazine features and public appearances.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF BLOC PARTY'S MAIN AUDIENCE.

Bloc party’s genre is typically focused on an Indie/ Rock or Alternative Dance / Rock. Since there breakthrough in 2003 they have appealed to a wide variety of people, however it would seem that their target audience is that of the ‘Indie’ genre producing music. The term "indie" is often used to describe a certain sound that a musician creates. "Indie" often refers to an artist or band that is not part of the mainstream culture and/or making music outside its influence. Though the sound of these bands may differ greatly, the "indie" definition comes from the do-it-yourself attitude and ability to work outside large corporations, and has become one of the largest and most appealing genres in the music industry. With NME stating "One of the most common and simplest definitions of "indie" is the definition of not being connected with a major recording label (currently one of the "Big Four" recording companies: Warner, Universal, Sony BMG and EMI)"-http://www.neardistance.co.uk/ . We looked into the ‘Indie’ stereotype to insure that the target audience for the group was the same as the audience we were trying to present to. This is vital as if we did not it would result in a lack of interest from existing fans, limiting our audience. It is therefore vital that research into popular music magazines that display "indie" bands was made. NME is the better known and established magazine that Bloc Party have featured in over the years. This obviously provides us with our first insight into Bloc Party's target audience. Seen here on the front page of NME as well as most of the surrounding articles being based on them it can be assumed that Bloc Party are considered as "headliners" in the indie rock genre and if our video is to match the cohesion of other Bloc Party videos then the audience watching them must be taken into consideration. With the indie stereotype originally standing for independent music labels it has since been defined by a type of music somewhere between rock and pop. Indie singers and bands have certain ethics like remaining faithful to their surroundings and where they started as well as ingonring the celebrity money-grabbing culture. An Indie band is said to 'sell out' if they let their music be used corporately on an advert or television programme. Indie bands commonly write their own songs. Yet our main concern with the indie genre is the audience. The questions that needed to be answered in relation to audience is what do they like to listen to? what do they wear? and how do they present themselves in terms of interests and hobbies? Whilst the answer to the first question is relatively self explanatory with Bloc Party and similar bands such as Artic Monkeys and Kasabian representing a diversified genre the other questions would require more information and insight into the indie genre.The NME reader profile allows insight into much needed information about the audience of the indie genre in general. It is here that it states that 69% of readers are male whilst 39% are female with the average age being 24. This gives us a generalised overview of the indie audience along with franchise information such as well known brands like Topman, Jack Daniels and the importance of living a good well informed life all represented. This therefore embeds them into the ABC1 category and provides a broad insight into their lives. Whilst this information is helpful it doesn't specifically relate to Bloc Party who, from listening to their music clearly diversify away from a typical indie rock band, so more detailed information and research on a Bloc Party fan base will have to be concocted.

Despite drawing influences from the likes of The Cure, Sonic Youth, Joy Division, The Smiths and Blur Bloc Parties sound has changed over previous albums from the deep bass and recognised guitar influence from their debut album Silent Alarm it was with their second album A Weekend In The City and in particular the song Flux that Bloc Party switched to a more electronic beat, an element that is clearly apparent in Ares) this has lead to a more defined audience compared with that of followers of the indie genre as a whole. This diversity is represented by vocalist Okereke who stated that their albums would display "some truly R'n'B styled beats, a song where [Tong] and [Moakes] play drums simultaneously [with] both eggshell-thin fragility and trouser-flapping hugeness", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloc_Party. So with this taken into consideration we can explore the fans of this "Trouser-flapping hugeness" and find out more about the target audience for our own music video.

BLOC PARTY PHYCOGRAPHICS

We looked onto the Bloc Party Facebook page to see how the band was presented in terms of fans and what sort of people were followers by analysing their interests, values , attitudes and lifestyles in an attempt to pick up on anything that can be used to strike a link to the audience in our music video. However due to the continued privacy over accounts on facebook only a broad summery can be made of the fan page which consists of 236,778 fans in total with their popularity continuing to rise. Despite only a brief analysis of fans due to security measures, we were able to access profiles in which most of the images were similar to each other with instruments, T-shirts consisting of logos and band appreciation were all common aspects. It is from this that we can assume that supporters of Bloc Party enjoy the instrumental aspects of the performance rather then just the appearance and attitudes of the band. This is also true of the stereotype of the ‘Indie’ culture which we previously made reference too.

DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH

By looking at examples of media features we can analyse the demographic for Bloc Party. We have made reference to www.nrs.com to analyse the target audience and demographic of the band. Despite NME readers consisting of 69% male the band's demographics show 53% of the audience being male. This proves that whilst analysis of media coverage that they are featured in is helpful it doesn't provide complete insight into a bands followers. With this rise in percentage of female followers it may be wise to include less masculine themes in the music video, with the theme of war or violence perhaps less graphic and obvious. With 64% of the audience being aged between thirteen to-thirty four representations of both teenagers and young adults should be taken into consideration, this could occur in the form of the ages of the characters used in the music video. as far as disposable income goes it ranges from £0 to £60k suggesting that fans are either still in education (with ages ranging from 13 upwards it is likely) or earn a moderately high income, thus placing them into the ABC1 bracket as mentioned previously. 60% are also still in a form of education, and whilst this may be a stereotypical view on my behalf perhaps themes of derelict housing and abandonment in terms of settings should be avoided due to the audiences well educated manner of living. Yet with this all taken into consideration we can now establish a mental image of the indie audience with age providing a vital factor as to the themes that should be represented in our music video, with this information on board planning a video with the aim to relate it to Bloc Party and their audiences can now begin.

Promo Pack

Our first coursework task for this project we would have to create a Promo Pack. A Promo Pack "is used for booking shows, "shopping" for record deals and publishing deals, assembling a management and legal team, and for gaining radio and television airtime." The Promo Pack consists of The artist's biography, a photo of the artist/band, a fact sheet"Write-ups and/or press releases, a demo tape/CD (3-5 of your best songs!), a song listA lyric sheet "

http://www.jmipub.com/press_kits.html

It is important that these three elements have cohesion as it conveys the relevance and importance that each of them have in selling the song. The Digipack itself is basically a CD/DVD cover which features the song that we have chosen: "Ares" by Bloc Party. We will produce the cover in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign using my own original photographs and ideas. Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc. resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Group, Inc., in 2000. MeadWestvaco licensed the name and designs to manufacturers around the world."Digipacks typically consist of a gate fold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside." As quoted by Wikipedia. This means that our Digipack will have to consist of four images for each panel: a front cover, back image and two inside panels. As you can see from the image below it is the bottom two panels that will be the most important as they are the two exterior panels that will first be on view to the audience and buyers; yet it is also important that the interior continues the cohesion of the genre and ideas of the design.

The digipack is just one element in an idea that will be use to promote our music video. A promo pack is used to relate the song to the rest of the promotional merchandise such as advertising posters and CD covers. Promotional packs should be coherent and make sure that all aspects of the pack are related by some sort of theme. Fall Out Boy's debut album "From Under The Cork Tree" shows an example of the cohesion of a promo pack.. The album cover in which the band a watching a stage is clearly mirrored in their album, in which a stage performance is used throughout. It is the mise-en-scene used here that creates this cohesion. This embeds a live performance theme into the viewers and listeners. This staged performance evidently continues in live performances, however Fall Out Boy could have continued this idea by the introduction of the red curtains that appear in both the Digipack and the music video. Here are two examples of one element of a promo pack, a digipack.

Both Blink 182's and Oasis' albums show ideal examples of what a digipack should look like. Both albums have a front and back cover that link together, with Blink 182's album consisting of the same black background colour and the same font used. Not only does this create cohesion through the covers but it also relates the album to the target audience, in terms of font and colour both relating to the rock genre. With both the font and colour of this album being the same it is clear that they are of the same promo pack, an element that is vital in making a successful digipack. However Blink 182 aren't really classed as heavy rock and don't cover much of the serious themes related to rock, it may be for this reason that they chose to add a rather child like image of a smiley face onto the front cover. The crosses of the smiley face may also connote mischief or other elements that transgress away from normal child like behaviour, yet in many animated images crosses for eyes usually represent the death of a character, suggesting that this album, which is their greatest hits will be the last as it is now the death of the band.

The use of unusual font type on both the front and back of the album cover not only creates cohesion but also adds to the rock genre theme of the digipack, as well as representing the bands unique look and sound. The colours of black and white, whilst not being very emotive show contrast and draw out the song titles, with more important/well known songs further identified with larger and brighter white font. The use of bordering the bands name on the back cover with a white box further highlights them as it is the first real block of colour that you see and draws attention to the band which automatically allows target audiences to identify with them. It is the only time that the font changes colour further embedding the ideology that they are unique from other rock bands, or maybe that they are singled out by fans or critics for some unknown reasons.

The idea of cohesion and relation for a target audience is also shown in Oasis' album "Definitely Maybe" also strengthens the element of cohesion on album covers. Both covers take place in the same room with each band member captured in the same action but in a different position. Yet unlike the Blink 182 album the two covers are separated by a side in blue which clearly stands out. This may be used to represent the bands change in style of music from previous albums hence the change of positioning in the band members. The back cover is also filled with text in black boxes and text different to that of the front cover, again strengthening the idea of an alternate style to the typical music that their target audience and the rock genre is used to. The band members in the photos also relate heavy to the rock/indie culture of the target audience, with many of the band wearing smart, stylish, but also comfy clothes much like the bands target audience would. The lack of action in the covers also connotes a very passive or cool theme to the band that further strengthens their popularity with their target audience, as Oasis' music always sounds slightly more acoustic than other rock bands, which creates this passive atmosphere. The cluttering of writing that appears on the back cover, also creates a sense of accomplishment and hectic lifestyle in which they live, this slightly relates to the bands songs as many of them are traditionally long, with many different themes and motifs explored. The deliberate lack of separation between text and image (unlike in Blink 182's album) also suggests that their music is part of their everyday life, and the fact that they have been positioned around it suggests that their music controls them. In relation to target audience this suggests that Oasis are in the music industry solely to please their fans and for a love of music compared to other artists who don't care about what they make as long as its money. This idea is also evident in the fact that they are actually in the images making it feel like you are almost in the room with them.

However my designs will be based on following the alternative rock genre, and based specifically on Bloc Party's song "Ares"and therefore there wont be major changes in styles between the four fronts that I produce. After looking at both digipack ideas, I have decided that all four panels for my digipack will have the same theme directly related to either the name, sound or lyrics of the song whilst drawing on previous Bloc Party album colours to make my idea specific to their target audience.

IDEA ONE

My first idea for my digipack was to relate the artwork to the name of the song "Ares." My idea was to have the front of the digipack consisting of a statue of the god of war Ares. I thought that this would relate specifically to the song, however in hindsight I've realised that it doesn't really relate to the rock genre. However I was planning to relate it to the sound of the song by adding the "Ares" to the statue in fluorescent graffiti writing to relate to the ideas of the music video in terms of the neon lighting. On the back cover I thought I would get the horizon in the same place to make it look like one picture, strengthening the cohesion between the two. However the main reason that I have decided against using this idea for my digipack, is that i would have no way of taking the photo myself unless I flew to Greece in order to take the picture. It is also the colour scheme that fails to relate my idea to the genre and ideas of our music video. With the setting and ideas of the contrast between bright lights and darkness already established my use of landscape doesn't really apply with this theme meaning that i doubt i will use this for my blog design. The inside sections of the digipack would consist of images of the Greek God of war Ares which relates to the name of the song. However I don't feel that this part of of the Digipack would be well constructed and would look rather bland, it also fails to relate to the images seen in our music video and by solely relating to the song title fails to match many of themes that are apparent across all Bloc Party songs, thus alienating it from the target audience in terms of its identity with the band.

Yet whilst this idea remains near impossible if i were to go ahead with it, i feel that i would change the weather of the images to a more stormy atmosphere as it creates more emotive imagery with war. The fonts used on both covers would also remain the same to create cohesion between the two and would hopefully be similar to actual Bloc Party album fonts, which remain the same over a variety of albums and singles. This font is a typical Serif font and has become iconic in relation to Bloc Party, however i feel that it doesn't really create to much in terms of effect on the audience and i may choose to experiment with the font to make it more related and interesting to my actual digipack. Yet if i want to have the name of the song Graffittied onto the statue in neon colours then it would probably be worthwhile to change the font to make it more realistic and graffiti like.

IDEA TWO

My second idea relates well to the neon lights idea, as well as the contrast between these lights and the darkness surrounding them. My draft for this idea of the digipack didn't plan out how i wanted it to, the idea was to have BLOC PARTY written in multicoloured bright neon lights with the name of the song ARES placed around the center with the brightness gradually fading towards the edges of the front cover. This would match the sound of the song as it has a very rave/party like feel to it. It would have also matched our original idea of the bright neon lights against the black backdrop and it also captures contrasting themes of loneliness and action which works well with the abstract feel of the song. However i feel that whilst this idea would take minimal work in terms of preparation for the shots it would take a lot of editing and experimentation in order to get the desired effect that i want. I don't believe that it is really that imaginative either as it is just bright colours against a black background which doesn't seem exciting or stir too many emotions. However if my desired idea for a digipack fails then this provides both an effective and simply constructed form for a digipack, yet since our idea has thus changed from the use of neon lights to a more simplistic and realistic video the only connotations this would have with the song would be to do with the general sound and feel of the song and much like in my previous design it would fail to relate to typical themes of Bloc Party songs, thus this idea would also alienate itself from the Bloc Party target audience who are used to simplistic designs which relate to deeper or hidden meanings across selected songs. However one reason as to why this idea would work well is that, InDesign and Photoshop allow for easy modification of certain aspects of your images such as colour and brightness, i have also included a typical Serif font which automatically relates to the target audience and their usual grasp of Bloc Party songs and albums.

IDEA THREE

Here is the third and final idea for my digi pack with its four panels. I have decided to base this one in the actual setting of the video and use the actual mask that we hope to use in the video. I already feel that this will be the design that i will use as it is directly specific to our music video, as well as being fairly simple to recreate. I hope to place a chair in the middle of a walkway in the forest as part of the shot. The reason for this is to create the abstract feel of the song. A chair will commonly be associated with household appliances so by placing it into the woods it creates a mysterious and abstract effect. This also allows me to create a supernatural or demonic element with the character in the mask, by placing the mask on back to front, this creates an image of it being all seeing even when it is not facing you, which is why the indie kid can never escape. The back panel further establishes this with the indie kid sitting on the chair staring at the mask indicating not only that he can never escape but also that they are the same person. By placing both these shots in a pathway will hopefully mean that nothing is behind them so attention is drawn to them. I may have to search for a bush or tree on each side that looks like it is almost circling the two to make all the surroundings draw into them. The font that i hope to use will be a Serif font to match traditional rock like albums and posters, yet i have altered it match the wood land, whilst this may have the downside that it will blend in and not be automatically recognisable, i hope that the colouring which may be a bright red to connote danger as well as striking up a comparison between the mask will draw attention to it from the background that it will be emerged in. On this design i have decided to include the lyrics of the song "Ares" the reason for this was that on my last to ideas the inside panels lacked any real imagery and were slightly bland so by adding lyrics it will make the panel look more eventful. I hoped to put the lyrics either side of the mask that has been trampled into the floor. This suggests that someone has carelessly trod on it whilst running away from something which conveys fear which is the focal point of our video. The final panel will consist of the mask hanging from the tree, this may take a few shots to capture right as it isn't easily see able and i may have to zoom in to capture the shot how i want it. This combined with the other shots basically suggests that the pursuer is everywhere in life and that you are always going to be faced with fear no matter what. This will be the only panel with no righting on it and will be the panel where the CD would go, as my back cover will have the track listings of the song as well as the bands name and "Ares" in the same font as the front cover, the lyrics will also be in this font to show continuity and cohesion much like on Blink 182's album.

THE FINISHED DIGIPACK

Here is the completed digipack as part of my Promo pack. The actual area where these photos were taken is in our music video so it automatically has cohesion between the two. I have decided to use the mask as a prominent theme of my Digipack as not only does it appear constantly in our music video but it also

makes links with the band itself and other Bloc Party videos. The theme of otherness and the unknown is explored by the band through unseen faces and masks so I feel that the use of the mask creates a more realistic likeness to the band themselves. Originally I wanted to create a distorted colour scheme to my Digipack to link it to our music video yet as there is no real sense of extravagant colours in our music video i have decided to ignore that for my Promo pack. I have illuminated the mask from the greyscale background to make it seem ghostly and death like, i feel that this fits in well with the lyrics of the song, the mood of our video and it also draws attention to the mask, which our music video constantly does. The two images in which only the mask appears were intentionally put into greyscale using InDesign. The main ideology behind this was that the images had come out too bright when i had taken them and when i made the image darker you couldn't really make sense of the background. However i feel that the grey background helps establish the gloomy sense of abandonment in the woods as well as capturing the sense of loneliness that appears in our music video. Yet i felt that if i just left all the images in grey scale then my digipack would look a bit dull and boring so by illuminating the mask in all four images i was able to make it appear more interesting. I managed to illuminate the mask on InDesign by clicking on the lasso option and changing it to the magnetic approach that allowed me to follow the outline of both the mask and the lips. From here i could then edit the colour of object highlighted by the lasso and edit the colour scheme of it. To do this all i had to do was to click on the levels icon and click on New Adjustment Layer anf by clicking on Hue/saturation i could create either a ghostly effect for the whole picture or change the colour of the highlighted area. After experimenting with this i decided to make the mask standout from the image by making it a ghostly blue with faded red lips. This creates an eerie effect that matches well with the mood and feeling of the song, the red lips also convey the femininity of the mask so some of the ambiguity becomes clearer. This use of Hue/Saturation really allows the mask, which is the focal point of the video and digipack standout and it would work well to recreate this in our music video, yet since we cannot change the colour of the mask techniques such as clos ups or depth of field would have to be used to draw the audiences attention to it. The greyscale that surrounds the mask also matches the desired mood of the video as it appears very desolate and abandoned with the use of leafless trees suggesting that winter had just passed which makes the area feel like a cold empty place which adds to the element of fear in our Promo Pack. As far as the font went i remembered in both my analysis of digipacks and adverts that many artists in the rock genre used basic Serif font, so i decided to use the same. However after experimentation i felt that it left my covers looking a bit bland so attempted a more unique Serif font much like what is evident on Blink 182's album. After searching on http://www.dafont.com/ i decided to use the font "Wilderness". The reason that i chose this particular font is that it was a Serif font which conveyed a forest like presentation that matched the bare trees in the background to my digipack but also looked slightly eerie so it was ideal for my Promo pack. I have also decided to keep this font white, as it stands out against the grey background whilst also demanding some attention. I also decided to include lyrics on one of the inner panels to make it more appealing but the panel that i wanted to put it on had too much white in the background so i had to move it to the other panel. My personal favourite shot is the one of me facing the mask on the chair. The main reason for the chair was to convey the abstract theme of the song by placing a household appliance into the forest, this also enables the characters to be right in the centre of the shots aswell.

Whilst attempting this digipack you really do get a bigger understanding of what skills are needed in order to complete the task effectively. It is important that patience, time and effort are all put into these images as it takes a while to get the shot exactly how you wanted it. I myself had to put the camera on a timer before running back to the seat which took multiple attempts to get right. You also get a better understanding for lighting compostion, with one of the main reasons for me changing it to greyscale being that the pictures came out too bright because of the sunlight. The weather itself can be extremely frustrating as certain days weren't appropriate for filming (this is evident in our muisc video when we had to go out one time when it was sunny which wasn't the right weather for our dreary video, yet it isn't too noticable). In terms of editing i felt that my editing skills have developed largely. It is quite easy to get frustrated with the technology that i used, in particularly photoshop and InDesign, yet i have learnt to bypass and find other techniques to create desired effects instead of getting annoyed with the lack of work that is being produced. Yet whilst i can easily comment on my own production the use of others to evaluate my work will provide an unbias evaluation on my product. In terms of other feedback i asked three people to look at all parts of my Promo Pack and tell me what they thought about it; the general feeling was that they like how the panels looked similar as it created a sort of cohesion much like on actual album covers. They felt that whilst the greyscale idea of the digipack worked well with the song and the abstract eerie feel, that they thought it was a bit bland. They liked the use of shots i chose to incorperate, with the positioning of these shots as one of the better elements of the panels. They liked how the text matched the setting and combined with the mask created an eerie effect. Yet most of them felt that it would work better with a bit more colour as it doesn't quite match the darkness that appears at times during the video. However overall i feel that my digipack fits in well in terms of media products for the rock genre, with the use of a Serif font as well as the simplicity of the panels. Yet it could also be argued that it challanges the media products of the rock genre as whilst the font is Serif it is also abstract and i fail to place the common use of a black background into my digipack. The reason for this is that it links back to the target audience and where they're most likely to listen to this song; at raes and parties which will consist of loud bright and abstract colours.

It is apparent that whilst my digipack does relate to my music video there are a few modifications that should be made if i were to attempt it again. I would probably try to take the photos at night with a flash, which would illuminate the center of the photo more. This would then allow me to put my images into colour. However i personally feel that the greyscale works well as it captures the idea of abandonement which works extremely well with the ideas of our music video.


THE ADVERT

Following my design for a digipack i also had to design and create an advert for my Promo pack. The aim of the advert is to advertise the song and album whilst presenting relevant information about the song such as release dates. Much like with the digipack i first chose to study other adverts of over singles/albums before drawing up my own ideas as to how i want my advert to look and why.

The first advert that i chose to study was the advert of Friendly Fires, for their debut album. I chose this as they fall under the same alternative rock genre as Bloc Party so the target audience would be similar meaning that many of the elements that appear in this advert would be beneficial to my advert as well. The main composition of the poster is that it consist of very few colours with black and white being the prominant colour. This not only draws the audience towards the information in the text but also to the image of the smashed mirror in the middle. This image conveys little colour yet due to the dark background of the image it still stands out. However the image itself gives away very little either metaphorically as well as in terms of the songs on the album suggesting that for my advert i should perhaps not try to relate to much to the themes of the song and instead just relate it to what will appear in our music video. The advert also has evidence of critical views of the album, as well as tour dates for the band. It may prove worthwhile to add both of these elements to my poster, as i plan to make it with simple effects as not to distract the audience from the information or from the cohesion between song, digipack and advert. The advert also provides websites about the songs and the artist themselves, which will again be something that i take into consideration when creating my own advert. The effect of a smashed mirror being the only image is both simplistic and effective as it doesn't demand too much attention whilst also creating an ambigious feeling about the song. If the advert explained everything about the song and band then no one would buy the album, and seeing as how the people who will be effected most be the persuasion of the advert will be the bands followers who presumable already know many of the themes and motifs of both the band and the song. I quite like the simplistic ideas of the advert as it doesn't patronise the target audience with too much hype or suggestiveness, something that i also hope to achieve when creating my advert. The font of the advert is a basic Serif font much like what is evident in both Bloc Party's and Oasis' albums, this general themes of using Serif in rock genre advertising is something that i should definately put into my advert design in order to establish it to rock and Bloc Party fans. However due to Bloc Party's alternate and ever changing sound it may be worthwhile to use a unique or distorted Serif font to emphasis the band's individualaity and uniqueness.

I decided to also study a second advert to give me a better idea of what common traits occur across a range of adverts. Kings Of Leon are another band that fall into the Rock genre so yet again in relation to target audience i can learn from what is evident in their posetr advertising their new album "Only By The Night". Much like with the Friendly Fires advert the poster contains very little contrast of colour with green being the primary stand out colour with the white title of Kings Of Leon being placed as the heading also demanding your attention. As with both adverts the band name has been placed at the top of the image as it is the first thing that the audience will read. Both images also have the band name in direct contrast with the background helping illuminate the band from the image. This poster also blends a humans face with that of an eagle. This creates a distorted image of a being that would work will for my idea in relation to the sense of unknown identity that appears in Bloc Party videos. The use of green may connote night vision, which links to technology, this is backed up by the use of "Only By The Night" appearing as if typed on a computer. Both the image and the font create a cohesion between the two, and bearing in mind that our music video is about war and fear it would be interesting to see if i could match the font with the image in terms of one of these themes. Whilst the remainder of this poster has been cut off for some reason, it is meant to consist of what features are in the album as well as a release date between for the album. This provides vital need to know information about the album which the target audience will appreciate, as it lets them know about what songs appear on the album aswell as when it is released, so i shall definately be adding these to my eventual poster. Yet again the font is typically Serif, yet with a futuristic edge to it, so it is basically set in stone that i will be using a Serif font in my poster as it has been used by many rock bands so far. The image itself seems to connote a lack of real identity as it is a merge of two creatures whilst it also reminds me of a reflection of some sort. Even the background is a merge of two different colours that combine allow over the page, this creates a troubled or unknown identity something that would relate to my advert and may be worth exploring.

With the analysis of two actual adverts now complete i could move onto creating flat plans portraying my own ideas about the song for an advert.

IDEA ONE

Here is my first idea for an advert. I'll admit that it is largely based on the Kings Of Leon poster above with the merging of two faces, however i feel that it works really well with the idea that in our music video the pursuer and the indie kid are alike. This should be reletively easy to produce with the Serif font at the top of the page being similar to that on traditional rock genre posters. There will also be large amounts of information at the bottom such as release dates magazine reviews and websites much like the Friendly Fires advert yet without the tour dates. The only thing that i am undecided on is the colour of the image, i may make it greyscale much like my digipack which will create cohesion, yet with my digipack you solely concentrated on the image so it didn't appear that dull but with a lot of information combined with the greyscale it may not appeal that much so the Serif font may be changed to red or a more attractive and appealing cover. It may also be worthwhile using the same font as the digipack as it can become iconised with Bloc Party which relates to the target audience in terms of when they see that font they will automatically realise that it is Bloc Party. As far as creating this design it will be the image that i will have the most trouble with i will have to set up a self timer on the camera and then crop and cut each quarter of the shot, which should hopefully be achievable. Yet i don't particularly like the idea of too much text on my poster as it wont appeal to the visuals of the target audience, so i may cut off some of the magazine reviews.

IDEA TWO

My second idea will be far more simplistic than the first which hopefully means that i wont spend too long editing as it should be able to be created in one shot. The image will mainly be a mixture of both my inner two digipack panels. I hope to mix the surrounding leaves of my first inner panel with that of the hanging trees in my second panel. This will hopefully be as simple as finding a tree with leaves and placing the mask on that tree, However since it is only just spring many of the leaves may not be back on the trees so i don't know if this can happen. As far as the font goes i wanted to border it with twigs and sticks to seperate it from a hectic and busy background, yet i feel i would have to achieve this through editing rather than an actual picture, and may have to make a border on InDesign. I have decided to keep the information minimal as i want the audience to concentrate on the mask and how it relates to the video, so i will only be putting the release date on this one so that it remains simplistic like Bloc Part's album covers. The big gap on the right hand side will hopefully be a tree and i hope to use the rule of three shot to bring the mask into the center of attention. the rule of three shot is typically used to place the item/object into the attention of the audience by illiminating parts of the shots with vertical or horizontal lines. So by using this i hope to draw attention to the mask rather than the background. Yet another way of achieving this would be to use the lasso technique to highlight the mask and make it brighter or illuminate it.

IDEA THREE

My final idea is actually very similar to the previous one in the sense that it will be the focusing on the mask hanging from the tree. Much like in the previous idea it will be in the centre of my page so it automatically draws attention to itself, yet instead of illuminating it i hope to illuminate the whole picture to further embed the idea that fear is everywhere by merging it in with the background. The only problem that i can foresee here is that it not stand out enough so i mah have to zoom in on the camera to enlarge the mask and make it stand out more. I have also decided to include an image of the CD itself onto the advert to promote what it is advertising. The Kings Of Leon advert is actually just an image of the album cover, with added information on the bottom, and whilst i don't want to do this as i feel it is repetitive i feel that by having the album somewhere on the page it would look more professional and direct comparisons between the two could be easily drawn up. With this in mind i wont have to comment on features such as what songs are on the CD and can solely concentrate on the release date whilst drawing attention to the images of the digipack and the advert and how they compare and contrast. It is for these reasons that i am going to base my advert around this flat plan.

THE FINISHED ADVERT

Here is the final completed advert for my Promo Pack as mentioned earlier it is based on idea three with the mask as the central figure and hanging from a tree. In order to capture this picture i had to get very close to the mask with the camera and zoom out slightly to make sure i captured it in a large form but not too blurry. As mentioned before i wanted to illuminate the whole picture to blend the mask into the background, i originally started by making the image darker but it failed to establish much of the background so i instead decided to make the image lighter. The result effect is that i have managed to create a ghostly or misty inversion of my origional file. I feel that it makes the image look like early morning in which the forest would be empty, so the feeling of isolation is established which fits in well with our music video. Unfortunately i couldn't match the background greyscale colour with that of the digipack so there is a distinct difference between the two. However i feel that it makes an easily established difference between the two whilst making the advert more interesting in terms of colours. With the illuminated greyscale another problem arose. The font, which subsequently is "Wilderness" which i used in my digipack, making it cohesive, wouldn't stand out very well if i left it white like on the digipack. At first i changed it to black lettering yet it didn't really fit in well with the rest of the advert due to it drew too much attention away from the rest of the poster. So i then decided to change it to red like i suggested in one of my original flat plans. At first i didn't really take too well to the colour bit it connotes danger and doesn't draw too much attention to itself and it is still readable it also matches the colour of lips which i tried to bring out with the magnetic lasso technique yet it only chnaged it from black to white, due to the fact that i had changed it to greyscale before adding the level to it. After Highlighting the magnetic lasso it was extremely hard to attempt to get a perfect outline of the lips which meant that if the hue/saturate did work then parts of the face would have been brightened to and it wouldn't have worked how i wanted it to. After this i also found out that the hue/saturate wouldn't really aid my design and my attempts to brighten the lips to red which would have made the advert look much better, wouldn't work so i had to keep my image basic. In terms of the actual photo itself i had already decided to convert it to greyscale to match the digipack to make it cohesive but other factors also effected my decision. The fact that it was a sunny day meant that it didn't match the mood of the video and the remainder of the promo pack. It also meant that there was a glare coming off of the mask and into the camera yet fortunately in greyscale it creates a sort of omnious glow that makes it quite eerie and almost a haunted effect for the woods. The image itself kind of contains a rule of three with the tree down the side and the horizon across the top which draws attention into the mask making it the focal point of the advert. Yet i don't feel that for an advert that it really conveys too much information and as such it isn't a typical advert as it has very little information regarding the song and band so that may be something that i would look to add if i were to complete it again.

Whilst i have given a detailed analysis of how i feel my final advert went, it would be wise to get a more collective feel as to the success of the advert through feedback from other people who had no involvement in the video or my Promo Pack. I chose the same three people who evaluated my digipack to again evaluate my advert as they have insight into what my actual Promo Pack should look like. They mainly commented as to how it looked very similar to some aspects of the digipack, yet the colouring was slightly lighter and that it had been edited more due to the abstract colouring. The main response to the red font was that they liked the font type as it matched the woods and was the same as the digipack but that they wouldn't have chosen red colouring as it stands out too much from the rest of the image. I explained how this would be good as it draws attention to the advert and the connotations that come with red and many thought that whilst this was a good and valid reason it still didn't quite fit in with the rest of the digipack. They said they enjoyed the simplicity of the advert and that it related to actual Bloc Party albums in terms of this. They mentioned that by putting the digipack onto the album it created more cohesion and got a real sense of trying to promote the songs. In terms of this album the skills i have learned are very similar to the skills developed in making the digipack however i would say that I have learnt more about the presentation of things and how certain aspects effect how much attention someone will pay to something.