Digipak Research

Audience Profile

Shot Count

For my shot count I decided to choose this video by Panic! At The Disco, called ‘I Write Sins Not Tragedies’. Their music is the same genre as my music video, so I feel that the style of their video would fit with what I want to do with my own.

Panic! At The Disco are generally stereotypical to their genre when it comes to the style of their music videos. The lead singer wears eye-liner, as does the protagonist of the narrative, and all the background characters/ dancers are dressed as circus performers with extravagant make-up. They are compared against another set of characters that convention would class as normal, and then shown to be the better people through a turn of situations.

In this task I had to count the amount of shots that were used to make up this music video, which are 138 shots. It was partially difficult to keep count of whenever to song went into the chorus, as the editing of the shots sped up with the rhythm of the music, but then slowed down with the music again when it went into another verse. A lot of the shots are either pans or zoom outs using, most likely, a track and dolly for a smooth and efficient effect as there are continuous cuts between these pans and zooms out, going from one to the other. Almost every other shot is of someone’s face or a close up on the singer’s mouth or lips. By doing this it helps to establish the story through the interactions shown between the people.

I feel that by looking at just the lyrics a simple story could be deducted, yet through the Mise En Scene and the deeper narrative shown in the video, unique and individual meaning are shown that one could not have taken from just the song, such as how you shouldn’t shut out your friends for the one you think you love, because they’re going to be the ones there for you when it doesn’t work out.

Genre

The Rock/ Punk genre of this song can be seen mainly through the style of the characters and story that is shown. And all these things can be seen through the editing. For example, whenever something dramatic is about to happen, a flash cut happens between shots, as though counting down to whatever will happen in the video next. The cuts between people and events are also very fast and sharp, fitting with the feeling and beat of the type of music. It keeps the viewer on edge and aware of the music – exactly how Rock affects people.

 Narrative

The story in the song is enhanced by the video, and by extension, each shot – allowing every situation or interaction to have clearer meaning through the editing. When the singer is introduced it is through a downwards tilt of the camera, then when it comes to the subject that he is signing about (two people getting married), they are introduced through an upwards tilt of the camera – helping to show that from the narrator’s point of view (the singers) he feel that he is the opposite to those he is singing about, for better or worst is yet to be shown in the video. By following a story the editing is shown to be much neater and collected than it would have been if no narrative presented itself.

Audience

Panic! At The Disco has no specific gender set when it comes to their audience, nor a specific age for that matter. However, listeners from the ages of 16 – 25 may relate the most to the music and style of the group. In previous videos they had been seen as a ‘steam punk’ style, different to the common and popular music of the time – Pop. This video is only a small step away from that idea with a song full of circus performers and dancing. By doing this the group make themselves stand out from all others of their own genre, allowing their audience to grow as they are easily noticed.

Representation

Currently, there are three members of Panic! At The Disco, yet the lead singer (as is usual) is the only member in this music video, and gets the most camera time amongst the others in previous music videos.  This is a clever technique to make it easier for people who are not big fans of the group. By only having one face as the iconic persona of the band it makes it easier for people to become familiar with them through the reorganisation of one band member.

Audience Survey & Results.

Album Poster Advert

First Completed Draft

Photoshoot Contact Sheet

Second Draft/Animatic Rough Edit

First Draft/Animatic Edit

Oppie Practise

For my practise at making an Oppie I first took a picture of myself using the camera built into the computer, and then loaded it into Photoshop. Using the paint brush tool I went over all the outlines, making that my first layer. After that I had to colour each part of myself in, biti by bit, using the dropper tool to make sure I had the exact colour. Each time I did this I made a new layer in Photoshop, even for each of my eyes, my nose and my mouth, and my necklaces. For my shirt I selected it and then used a filter called paint daub, which created the exact same effect, but was able to keep the detail of the pattern as well. At the end I selected all of it, inverted the selection and turned the background blue.
I felt that by doing this practise I understood the amount of work and effort that went into creating an album cover, especially in a diverse and original way.

Completed Digipak

I wanted to stick with the theme of black and white throughout the whole album for a feeling of consistency. I felt that by doing this the album cover would appear more professional; I also thought it would fit with the genre of the music, and the emotions of the song that I chose for my music video. For the front cover of the album I used a downloaded brush to create the branch effect - a technique that was slightly similar to the process of creating my Record Companies logo in Photoshop. I also downloaded a customised font called 'Requiem' for the title: 'You Me At Six - Sinners Never Sleep'. I chose this one as I felt the splatter effect of the writing seemed smart enough to be professional, yet messy enough to fit in with the rest of the album's theme. I felt that Matthews expression fits with the bitter and sad feeling that is portrayed by the branches that are twisting out of him. Whilst creating this I was reminded of the thorn branches that are linked with most fairy tales villains. Again, I felt this fit perfectly.

For the back cover I listed all the actual songs that are included in You Me At Six's album Sinners Never Sleep, including who are featured in certain song. For this I used the downloaded font 'Requiem' again. This was to make sure that there would continue to be a sense of consistency and professionalism. For the background I used another downloaded brush that created watercolour stains and splatter shapes. I wanted to do this so that it would fit in with the music video and the another image that I planned to use for the inside of the album  one taken from a screen shot of my actual music video. For the back cover I placed a miniaturised image of my Record Company logo (Ruby Records) in the bottom left corner, and a bar-code in the bottom right corner. In small print, below the track list, I copied a disclaimer message front the actual album 'Sinners Never Sleep' the only changes I made was when I changed the name 'Virgin Records' to 'Ruby Records, and when I added a fake website to the bottom of that message.

For the inside of the album I used an image from my music video, as already mentioned. It depicts one of the pots of paint after they had fallen, spilling out onto the floor. I felt that this tied in perfectly with the splatter patterns across the back cover, and on the CD it's self - also helping the whole thing link back to the music video. I used a filter over this image called 'Dark Sketch' after turning it black and white and altering the 'Contrast' and 'Vibrancy' settings. I feel that by doing this it linked in better with the settings of the art classroom from the music video, and the messy feeling of the album.

The background image behind the CD is again a downloaded brush of branches, helping to match with the front cover photo. I thought it would give a good effect if all that could be seen was the silhouetted branches all leading to the CD. As well as creating a feeling of bitter sadness, I hoped that that the branches would link to the flash back scenes of my music video were the characters could be seen in a field surrounded by farm lands and trees.

Finally, for the CD, I wanted to keep it simple, as I had seen for other disc of albums that were the same genre as mine. This was partly the reason that i put the disclaimer message on the back of the album, rather than on the bottom of the CD, as other albums have one. Another reason was that I wanted to use the splatter effect one last time on the CD, though only for a small portion. by doing this and, again, using the same font as the rest of the album, I'm connecting the design of the CD to not just the rest of the Digipak, but the music video as well.

Album Cover Photoshoot

Logo

Album Cover Inspiration

Record Logo Photoshop Practice

Here is a video I created to show the process of the effect I used in Photoshop when creating my Record Company Logo. This video is not actually of the logo, but of a practise.

Audience Research Survey

Ocean Avenue - In Depth Analysis

Yellow Card – Ocean Avenue. 

For my music video analysis I have chosen Yellowcard’s ‘Ocean Avenue’. My decision is because it fits the genre I am researching and it uses a clever technique of story line looping which I am interested in using in my own product. 

The Narrative shows the lead singer in a confusing entrance of getting up off the floor surrounded by shattered glass and starting to run through town, constantly cutting back to instrumental performance shots of him and the rest of the band. Whilst following him through the streets he runs, iconic actions and scene are shown to be recognisable for later on. Scenes such as the singer running trough a group of nuns, or tripping over a homeless man’s trolley. It’s also shown that the number one is printed onto the back of his jacket, although this isn’t noticed until later on. He then runs after a car that drives by, but falls behind – only to be tackled by two men that seem to have been chasing him. A longer cut to the instrumental performance is shown; where it is revealed that they are in a car garage where the car he was chasing is parked. Men then come into view whilst they are preforming and work on the car. It then cuts to the singer in the same position as the beginning, only it can be seen that the number two is suck to his jacket instead now, as he gets up from the shattered glass and runs away. It’s only as he avoids running into the nuns again that the audience can see he does things differently, suggesting that this is his second chance – which fits in with the different number on the back of his jacket. When he’s seen running through the streets the second time he jumps over the trolley of the homeless man and runs out onto the road where the car passed last time, only to show the audience that it’s coming up behind him and knocks him over. The third time is different, as it doesn’t start with him standing up and brushing the shattered glass off of him; it shows him and what is assumed to be his girlfriend asleep. The audience is then shown a significant briefcase beside his bed, then him sleeping alone, then the briefcase gone. This leads people to only assume that the girl stole his briefcase, something that’s then confirmed when shown the girl holding the briefcase and putting on sunglasses as she walks away and gets in a car. The main singer can then be seen running after her down the stairs, having gotten changed into the outfit that he’s been wearing for the whole video. However, there are two men waiting for him at the stairs at either side, a cut away to the girl starting up the car enhances the feeling of urgency, so it doesn’t seem as drastic when he jumps out of the window- resulting in the beginning frame that’s so familiar. It’s only then that the audience can see the number three stuck to the back of his jacket. After that it plays through the same scenes already seen from the past two replays, only for the third time everything goes well for him. When it comes to the car that killed him the last time, he remembers about it and turns around to stop it, where it is revealed that it was the girl all along that he was chasing. After a moment of staring the girl then indicates to the passenger seat and he enters the car and they drive away together. 

The Mise en scene of this music video is important when it comes to understanding the order that things have already happened, especially when it comes to the numbers that are stitched to the back of the lead singers jacket. The body language is also another give away when it comes to, for example, the way the lead singer acted towards the group nuns. The first time he ran straight through them, tripping over and wasting time. However it's clearly shown that he is aware that things are being repeated as after that he goes around them the second and third time. The differences in his actions helped to show this. 

Parts of the video cut towards live performance parts, were the band are wearing different clothes - to show that they are separate to themselves in the actual narrative of the video. These live performance parts are filmed in what appears to be a car garage, where shots of car work is shown occasionally, such as a license plate being taken off, or shades added to the back window. These things are not explained until the end when it's shown close up that it's the same car that his girlfriend used to take him with her/ escape/run him over with. I like the idea of a kind of plot twist being revealed in the narrative all because of the destination that part of the video was filmed in. One of the main props in this music video is a briefcase which must be valuable as every one is either stealing it or chasing after it. A symbol of a white lamb is on this briefcase, and has appeared in other music videos too. This is the directors signature, Marc Webb, who has also directed The Amazing Spiderman & 500 Days of Summer, along with many other music videos for many other musicians. 

From the Media Language it can be taken that in the end it's not just valuable objects that would have the lead singer chase the girl, when he decides to go with her it shows that he also loves. And the fact that she offered him to get into the car shows that she cares too. Although the conclusion is objective, perhaps the artists were trying to show that good things take second and third tries, and attempt to look past selfish wants and needs.

Treatment Sheet

Background 

You Me At Six are a rock band from Surrey, England that formed in 2004. They have five members: Josh Franceschi, Max Helyer, Chris Miler, Matt Barnes, and Dan Flint. The band uses the stereotypical instruments for their genre, drums, bass and various guitars. The band became recognizable from the success of their debut album, ‘Take Off Your Colours’ which included the singles ‘Finders Keepers’, ‘Save It For The Bedroom’, and ‘Kiss And Tell’, two of which made it into the UK singles charts. The groups main inspiration and influence include American rock bands such as Blink – 182, Incubus and Thrice. They have also been associated with Paramore, Kids in Glass Houses, Bring Me The Horizon, Panic! At the Disco, and All Time Low.  

‘Crash’ Concept and Ideas 

‘Crash’ is a song from the album ‘Sinners Never Sleep’ by You Me At Six. I chose this song because it builds up quite effectively into its expected style, the slow start allows the story to be told at its own pace. The story in question is that of a girl that the singer had been with since they were both quite young, unfortunately they broke up years later, but he always thought that she was the only girl he really loved, even when with other girls. In my video I plan to show flashbacks as the lyrics explain the way their relationship was. At the end I’m going to loop it back to how it started, drawing inspiration from the YellowCard  music video – Ocean Avenues. 

Visual Narrative. 

Throughout my video it will show the lead singers ex-girlfriend in an art classroom painting. This will seem to be in the present day, although small things in the background will change to hint that it's actually the singer just imagining it, slowly forgetting how it actually was. As he sings, the girls will never look at him, because he is looking back to before they broke up, so he's not there in her eyes. It is only as he tries to take hold of her that the scene goes back to when they first fought and broke up, and she reacts to him. Then it is no longer the present, but replays how it has already happened and what he was singing about in the first place, as they fought. 

Locations. 

The Flash Backs - A filed off the edge of Summer hill, probably to be filmed on a clear day if possible, as there is one shot where both the boy and girl are going to be silhouetted against the sunlight. Around the edges there is long grass which is also needed as there is another shot of there feet walking through that I have planned. 

The Art Classroom - A classroom from Hartlepool sixth from college, which needs a sink at one side, so that the girl can walk back and forth across the room as needed for certain shots. Small things will be continuously changing on the background to show the passing of time and how it's not really happening accurately, but just all inside the singers head. 

The Streets - When the singer is walking down the streets singing it'll be the only certain time that he is in the present. For this I want people to be around him, as in all the other shots it's just him and the girl, making it hard to certify when it was happening.  This part will be shot  in various laces around the centre of town at night, so that there will be lots of lights on and it will be busy enough for him to walk past and amongst people. 

Clothes and costume. 

For both the singer and the girl he is singing about they need to be dressed casually. When shooting the flashback scenes they need to be wearing coats/jackets as it will be filmed autumn and the trees in the background will be bare to show this. They should also be wearing sensible shoes as the ground is uneven and muddy in these areas and there will be some close up shots on there feet as they are stood and walking. 

For the art classroom scenes they will need to be dressed casually again, although without the coats/jackets. The girls hair will be a different colour to show the passing of time and to make it harder for the audience to see that it's the same girl at first.  

Lighting. 

For the flashback scenes I want to use just the sun and natural lighting to give the scene a dreamy kind of effect as the singer thinks back on it. For the classroom scenes I want to use just the ceiling lights to show how cold that scene was in his memory. For the streets part I want to have a warm light shone onto his face as he walks so that the focus will stay on him even when amongst other people, and also so that the focus on him won't get lost as it will be shot at night with light from other buildings being on around him. 

Camera Shots. 

I'm going to attempt to use a large array of camera shot, including long, sweeping shots and pans with the help of the track and dolly. Close up shots of feet will also be incorporated as I feel it will provide a good way to keep animosity for a time and also bring to light the beat of the song. I will also use the camera shots to help immediately highlight who's point of view the narrative is being told from. 

Editing. 

I'm feel that the narrative of my music video will rely heavily on the editing techniques, especially when trying to portray how the singer is only there in his mind as it is a flash back, and wont be known until he makes contact with the other character. Throughout the video I want the pace of the visuals to match evenly with the beat and rhythm of the soundtrack, including all cuts and speed of the pans and tracking shots. These can easily be fixed during editing. At one pint I am sure that I will need to edit two video clips to make appear as one: as the girl walks past the empty table the singer will appear sitting there, and singing to her. When shooting I'll make sure the girl is close enough to the camera so that for a split second each clip will look identical - which is where I will cut them and line them together.  

I will also use editing for the moments when I want to put things into slow motion, either by using an additional software called Twixtor, or by manually copying and adding frames amongst the pre-existing ones.

Props List

Props list from dusty96

Streets Call Sheets

Inspirational Videos

Lyric Breakdown

Lyric breakdown from dusty96

Mood Board

 

1)      The first image is of a field in the sun as I was certain that would be the sort of environment I would want to film all of my flash back scenes for when the lead singer was happily still together. I felt that it would create a contrast with the classroom and street scenes that are set in the present – which would help to show how much everything has changed, and it would easily show which the singer looks at more fondly.

2)      The next image of paint exploding helps to show how I want the music video to end as the pots of paint near the canvas exploded one by one to the words of the song. I also made sure that it had a black background as I think that when filming it myself I may also use a black background behind the canvas and easel to show how things aren’t real anymore, but rather are getting twisted by the lead singers emotions as he looks back on events.

3)      The third photo is of a couple that are ignoring each other due to a break in their relationship. I liked how this image used black and white as I feel it shows how this may now be in the past, as it is in the narrative of my music video. I also intend for the singer and the main girl to be ignoring each other up until the end. I feel that here it is portrayed perfectly of how they are in their own worlds away from each other.

4)      The fourth image of falling was included as I intend for the girls fall to be the climactic ending to the narrative of the video. In this shot I hope to film it in high speed, or else edited it to be shown in slow motion, and also be a multi shot so that it can be seen from many different angles.

5)      With this image of a person screaming with rage I thought it captured perfectly how the singer would be feeling inside as the song progresses and he tries harder to get the girl to notice him. This feeling goes with why the song would start screaming. The fact that this photo is in black and white too help to show that his feeling of anger is old and long pondered, since it has been a while since the singer and his girlfriend broke up.

6)      In this photo the camera is at floor level as it captures shoes. I wanted to do this sort of shot in my video for the flash back scenes as I didn’t want to reveal immediately who the girl in the field was, and that it was in fact the same girl that is focused on in the art classroom. I also like the idea that – since the whole thing is based on what the lead singer remembers and how he thinks – he paid attention to the small details.

7)      For the part of the music video where the singer walks down the street at night, alone, I wanted the street to look like the street in this image. With the lights flaring in the background. I felt that if it seemed cold and dark with lots of artificial light around, him, and it was the only time that he was alone then it would make yet another contrast to when he was with the girl. I also wanted this part to seem like the most realistic part, so that it could be suspected that whenever he’s actually with the girl it’s just a memory or an imagined scenario that represents his feeling. By making it seem more real I plan for there to be other people in the background, unlike any of the other shots.

8)      I used this photo of the paint brushes to help the imagery of the art classroom that most of the video will be filmed in. I also thought it would help to sum up the theme of the environment, and the character of the girl. In comparison to the lead singer I wanted the girl to seem independent and free to make her own choices and choices to do what makes her happy.

9)      This last picture is meant to depict the type of clothes I want the lead singer to wear, especially for the outdoor scenes. When he walks down the street alone, I really want to emphasise how it’s cold, as he continuously has flash back to a summers afternoon in the field when he was with the girl in the music video. It will also emphasise how much time has passed since then.