Pre- Emptive Absolution

The song we will be shooting the music video for is Pre-Emptive Absolution by Speak Of The Devil.

This song has been written and recorded by Joe Holden (me) and Alex Holden, the lyrics are as follows:

Verse 1

Everybody keeps looking in your eyes

To find you've nothing to disguise

To find there's something to despise

Black ashes and a broken parachute

Make you wanna take a different route

Take a different route

Pre-Verse

For all the lives you've broken

Running out of time

For all the hearts you've stolen

Running out of time

Chorus

You say you're one of us again

and plead in guilty pieces

Victims will cry out once again

Pre-emptive absolution

Verse 2

Now he finds there's no such innocence

No such actions without a consequence

No regret and no bad conscience

Sane pictures that start to make no sense

Find you're stood on the wrong side of the fence

My actions speak the tale of self defense

Bridge

Welcome to the clan my brother,

to join us one more time

Now it's the time for the bell to toll,

The sentence for your crime

Chorus/outro

You say you're one of us again

and plead in guilty pieces

Victims will cry out once again

Pre-emptive absolution

A post containing the track will follow soon.

Joe Holden

Ancillary Task research

Green Day's album, American Idiot does not sport an image of the artist (band members) but still shows the genre of the band; punk rock - using typical style iconography and colours (red and black) - conventions associated with blood and religion and politics; serious subject matters often targeted in the lyrics of Punk Rock.

We are aiming to emulate this style; the album we are designing for lyrically covers the themes of love and hate, betrayal, and the struggles of every day society, cross linked with Politics.

The album will more than likely be called 'Knock Knock'... being 'a knock on the door of the government, the people and their illusion'.

Hence such themes will hopefully show through in the final product.

However....

Here we have Paramore's album 'Riot' - a great success musically and financially. As we can see below, the members of the band are shown on the album cover.

At the moment we are not planning on showing the artist on the cover, but we are planning on experimenting with this to see if the effect works for the image and style of the band; by taking multiple approaches at this task, we can pick and choose which we like best, and which fits the band's image.

Natalie (& Joe)

Cast & props lists and Costume ideas.

Recently I have been casting the actors for the music video:

Instrumentalists:

• Alex Holden - Guitar/Vocals
• Joe Holden - Bass Guitar/Vocals
• Dom Hogan - Drums/Vocals

Extras (in progress):

• Joe Beard

Props List:

• Marshall JVM410H
• Marshall 2x12 Cab
• Dean Razorback V guitar
• EBS Classic 450 bass amplifier
• EBS Classic Line Cab
• Bass Guitar
• Premier Drumkit & Zildjian Cymbals
• Drumsticks
• 3x Microphones
• 3x Microphone leads
• Effects unit/power amplifier
• Mixer
• 2x Monitors
• False Wireless units
• (banner if possible)

Costume Ideas:

Matching 'uniform':

• Black Shirt
• Black jeans
• Converse shoes
• Joe - red & black tie
• Alex - red tie
• Dom without tie

Performance location: Performance hall.

We will also be making use of the lighting in the Performance hall.

Joe Holden

Our music

By the way you need your track posted on here ASAP!
You cannot plan until you have both listened to the track and the lyrics are typed on here also!

Feedback 4/12/09

Good group- some good posts on music videos and artists however you need more detailed research on certain posts...

Research
- Include more research on branding (definitions) - see pack -reference quotes and ideas e.g. Naomi Klein
- include more on the history and conventions of the music video genre- see Andrew Goodwins and Pete Frasers ideas - use quotes etc... See packs
- What is your genre of music?
- As a subgenre of music video genre - what are the conventions of rock videos? Look and analyse some examples.
- Use Maslow's Hierarchy of needs to explain why your product will appeal to the audience (you can find an image of this on google.)

Planning
- make sure you have put your target audience questionnaires and results on here- charts are good.
- Storyboard and animatic with comments
- shooting schedule and call sheets
- health and safety form
- props list
- cast list
- location shots
- costume shots/ideas etc...

- keep blogging on your ideas and progress!

Miss McNulty

Locations

So far for the performance part of our music video we are planning to shoot it in the performance theater at college. It will be a good open space, and we will be able to use the lights.

Natalie

Conventions of music videos

In making a music videos there are typical conventions to follow such as...

• the lyrics of the song usually have a relationship with the visuals of the music video.
• Depending on the genre of the music depends on the style of the music video, such as rock videos are completely different then pop music videos. for example...

Madina Lake are a rock band, which has a dark, rebel look about




it showing their style, compared to Miley Cyrus who is a pop artist.






the use of the camera is important within music video. for example close ups and long shots are used the most to show the band or artist and to underline the lead singer, or the main feature.

• also the use of editing is significant, fast cut montage, wanting the audience to watch the video again, only a few use slow pace editing, for example both these music videos are different genres and the editing is different, in Madina Lake the editing is fast cut montage were as Miley Cyrus video is a lot slower as you can see.

Natalie

In creating a music video, we will need to follow some of the basic conventions that all music videos adhere to.

But to follow the typical conventions of a Rock music video, we will need to shoot in appropriate locations, and use appropriate props in order to meet the expectations of what our finished product should look like.

So far, we think such props for a music video should include:

- Guitars

- Amplifiers

- Drums

- Microphones

- Band costume

(list to be continued....)

Feedback 23/11//09

Good research group - good links and references to songs/images but you need more detail and research (quotes/ideas ) see packs.

You need more on branding - see pack - quotes ideas etc...

Try to include the conventions and the history of music video in your own words (e.g. use of close ups etc..) Also you need to reference Andrew Goodwin and Pete Fraser's ideas on the conventions of music videos - more on this required.

Also what are the conventions of the rock music video subgenre? What makes them distinctive from general music video conventions?

Target audience - you need an age range , gender bias, race and socio-economic status- you can have secondary audiences that are wider but you need a more specific target - dont forget to use Young and Rubicon for your psychographic profiling too. Dont forget to put your questionnaires and results on here also.

Now move on and look quickly at your other key concepts and we should be starting to see some planning - location shots/casting shots etc...

Remember to outline your artist/group idea and brand image you are trying to create/push through your products.

Questionnaire


Q1) How old are you?

…………………………………………………..

Q2) Are you male or female? (please tick ONE)
Male ....
Female….


Q3) what is your favourite genre of music?

…………………………………………………….

Q3) How often do you watch music videos?

………………………………………

Q4) Where do you watch music videos?
Online ….
TV….
Both….

Q5) What music channel do you watch the most?

……………………………………………

Q6) Does watching music videos every persuade you to by or download music?

…………………………………………….

Q7) which do you do?

Buy music from stores …..
Download music …..

Format and Narrative

For our music video we have decided to combine the performance style of video with a narrative based one. Hence we shall see the band performing, and a narrative playing alongside it.

We have also decided to challenge the conventional chronological narrative of a music video, instead utilizing a non-linear narrative, perhaps where events repeat themselves with a different resolution each time.

A similar idea can be seen in the video for 'Time After Time' by Elliot Minor.

Joe & Natalie

An example of a Branded band is Billy Talent. Whilst they are not associated with big products or names, they have a defined look - shown is their album cover for Billy Talent I - the style matching with the songs in their brash, aggressive, rebellious style.

The colours red and beige contrasting perhaps represent their 'bad boy' style and rebellious attitudes, whilst the tear/hole in the red half is reminiscent of a broken window - a well known symbol of youth crime and rebelliousness.

Here we have a video which shows us this image I have described in action. We can see that Billy Talent have gone for an almost Hollywood style look, using yellow and purple filters.

Joe & Natalie

Branding

A brand and a product are different, there not the same. The brand is the particular make of the product that is being sold, for example, instant coffee is a product but Kenco Nescafe and Tesco and Asda's own are all different brands of coffee.
Branding is about creating an image that people link with and the image and messages will get across to the targeted audiences for them buy the product.

Natalie & Joe

Our Group and Brief

Our group is comprised of Joe Holden & Natalie Ainsworth, and we have chosen the music promotion brief, involving the main product as a music promotion video.

For the ancillary tasks, we have chosen to create:

- A cover for the release of the band's album (digipak CD/DVD package)

- A magazine advertisement for the band and digipak album

Joe & Natalie