Floor plans

These are the floor plans for three of my main scenes, they show the objects, people, the direction they are traveling, the camera's, the direction the cameras are facing and the direction the cameras are rotating. This is so that the director, actors and technicians know whats/who's going where for the scenes.

Production schedule

Production Schedule by Sol Collier on Scribd

Costumes, Actors and Props

Costumes, actors and props from SolCollier

Recce Photo's.

 The above four pictures are of where I would like to film part of the opening sequence. This is at a place called Burbush which is between Bransgore and Burley. I plan on taking Rowan along with the desk out here to film, it shouldn't be to hard as there is a car park a few hundred feet away from this location.

The above four pictures are for filming the part where Rowan meets the masked strangers. This is down a track on the Castleman trail just outside of Ringwood near the Steiner school, easy to access. I would be filming here with Rowan, Feagan, Stan and Matt for the scene.

Above are pictures of all the places I plan on filming inside my house, they would be for different scenes for example the bathroom is for when Rowan is lying in the bath, the room directly above this text is the therapy room and the bedroom/stairs are the very first locations I'm filming. This is all inside my house so therefore is very easily accessible and easy to film. I will be filming with Rowan and Zita.

Above are the pictures of where I plan on filming the scene when Rowan wakes up in a bush. This is at one end of Moors Valley that is near the Castleman trail. Easy to access as it would be being filmed straight after I filmed another clip down on the Castleman's trail.

Proof of contact with record company

Shot List

Shot List by Sol Collier on Scribd

Annotated Lyrics - Minute of Decay

There's not much left to love - Already the music video unless being sarcastic in my opinoin shouldnt be based around a positive experience.
Too tired today to hate
I feel the empty
I feel the minute of decay

I'm on my way down now - With the repetitive use of this lyric, I think it would be appropriate to have an physicall representation of what is being said e.g. Someone actualy moving down from being stood up to lying on the floor in time with the music. 
I'd like to take you with me
I'm on my way down

I'm on my way down now
I'd like to take you with me
I'm on my way down

The minute that it's born
It begins to die - This change in his voice for these lyrics could be a good time to incorporate meaninful imagery or a crucial part in the story I am going to show, such as something emotional to fit with the tempo change.
I'd love to just give in
I'd love to live this lie - Relevant to the dream based aspect of the music video

I've been to black and back
I've whited out my name
A lack of pain, a lack of hope
A lack of anything to say

I'm on my way down now - Maybe a repeat of the downward motion to fit in with the lyrics.
I'd like to take you with me
Im on my way down
Im on my way down

The minute that it's born
It begins to die
I'd love to just give in
I'd love to live this lie - Could repeat having specific dream related imagery in time with these lyrics
I'd love to live this lie

How do you see it?
How do you know?
How do you see it?
I've looked ahead and everything was dead
(How do you know?) - Could have cuts that when the lyrics in brackets were being sung I could cut away to emphisize the lyrics and his voice. 

I guess that I am too
(How do you see it?)
I've looked ahead and everything was dead
(How do you know?)
I guess that I am
I guess that I am too

The minute that its born
It begins to die
Id love to just give in
Oh, Id love to live this lie
Id love to live this lie

I'm on my way down now
I'd like to take you with me
Im on my way down

I'm on my way down now
I'd like to take you with me - The conclusion could be in time with these lyrics, I was thinking possible death of the protagonist. 
Im on my way down

Read more: Marilyn Manson - The Minute Of Decay Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Digipak and Poster advert analysis

Digipak and Poster Analysis by Sol Collier on Scribd

Korn- Clown Goodwins analysis 2

 This is a performance based video but it also features narrative aspects due to the relation of visuals to the song. In this video the band tell a story of someone who is being bullied at school, this is done through a number of different ways including very quick cuts of the band aggressively thrashing around to angry lyrics which is amplifying the emotional motive behind the song as well as the conjuncture of the visuals to the lyrics which illustrates the meaning. This video also features heavily with cuts on beat or seeing the sound where by the image will change very frequently in sync with the snare being drummed as well as at the start the image is changing in time with the guitars rhythm. Which assists in telling the story because it makes the viewer feel more engaged with the rhythm of the song as the performance based piece of narrative unfolds. The singer Jonathan Davis has a very unique voice that is part of the Korn trademark, which is able to go from high pitch quieter painful whispering's all the way to a powerful destructive shout and this is incorporated in this song/video such as him when he is sat in the school shower which is an example of his quieter side but then when it cuts to a performance based shot he can be screaming in time with thrashing himself around it shows the other end of his signature vocal range. Which links in with his star image... 
However the star image is very unique, Jonathan Davis(the lead singer) is shown frequently as being trapped or inferior to others around him such as being trapped in a locker or to have people laughing at him as he is sat in the school showers which in sync reflects the lyrics and purpose behind the song which is a story about being laughed at, rejected and bullied. The image of the band is meant to be dark and sinister for that reason also such as a lot of the scenes where they are performing they are playing their music in a room surrounded by bits of old children's dolls, which is used to make the band seem edgy and angry about the portrayed rejection.

 This is an example of him performing with a quieter vocal range (above) however below is a shot of him performing with a much more aggressive voice in the music video "Clown"

Lip Sync and Prelim task music video. Shake it off by Taylor Swift

Ideas drafting

We listened to each others chosen songs in class and gave feedback about what she happen in the music video or how it should be made. This was some of the anonymous feedback I received:

- Black & White ballroom dancing.

- Black costumes, Performance based.

- Dark , tension builds. A protagonist on a pursuit to destroy the government leading an angry mob.

- Animation, rotting fruit in reverse.

- Abandoned shots of grimy places with broken glass.

- Performance outside in various locations.

- Dark scale lighting, close ups of guitar strings, close ups of just mouth singing and blood.

- Psychedelic, performance or concept, intense close up shots, dark/grungy location.

- Wedding starts out normal then turns into a riot.

- Mine music, badass main character, lipsync.

- Dark band playing with smoke.

- Shots of grungy scenes, psychedelic transitions, shot of just lips side on which works with whisper like vocals.

- Model village being destroyed in slow motion, black and white.

- Gothic imagery, spiders, black and white insanity.

- A dangerous guy in a car staring at somebody, criminal stuff, narrative no lipync.

I think that some of these ideas are really good such as the black and white ballroom dancing and the rotting fruit in reverse as these would fit in nicely with the genre and also what Marilyn Manson has tried to create in the past in his own videos. I also think that they would be enjoyable to try and create/film however some of the other ideas I'm not so keen on are a dangerous guy in a car staring at someone or A protagonist on a persuit to destroy the government leading an angry mob as they are either unrealistic or not what I would think to fit with the potential of the song.

Analysis of Gojira - The Shooting Star.

This music video by Gojira is a very abstract performance based piece of expression. It starts off with the band playing their music but the contrast and colour of everything is always changing in a psychedelic trance infusion between band member and a different range of colours then moves to these animations of astronomical based environments which although the songs title is based around astronomy none of the lyrics directly stood out to me as referring to space. Therefore making a lot of the animation especially when its featuring floating masks and golden glowing hands combined with the ever changing colours that are engrossing the band quite an abstract music video.

It is possibly because of this that gives the video its repeatability due to the audience trying to work out to what extent does these glowing astronomical environments fit with what Joe Duplantier is singing about. Therefore making the visuals in disjuncture to the song however I would combine that with some aspects of amplification because of the repetitive themes and its because of that makes the music video stick in your head and therefore relevant to amplification.

The technical aspects of this video are consistent throughout featuring a repetitive use of close ups of the band with their instruments taking up the center of the shot, some of the guitar shots are low angle shots where as the rest of the band is pretty consistently head height straight medium/close ups, followed by long takes of long shots of astronomical environments which are mostly slow moving tracking shots. That sequence repeats pretty frequently with a repetitive use of high saturated color which is what makes this video an abstract piece of expression.

 This is an example of the psychedelic performance depictions of the band (above) whereas below is an example of the strange unique astronomical environments which are used in this music video.

Target Audience

Target Audience by Sol Collier on Scribd

As well as often being involved with the goth scene Marilyn Manson's target audience is generally people between 14-25 who are angry with either them selves or with the "System" as most of his songs are based around a lack of self respect for example Sweet Dreams and Tourniquet or a hated for society and pop culture for example The Fight Song and Irresponsible Hate Anthem. The reason why this age group is his target audience is because the teenagers who were listening to him when he first came out would now be in their 20's and the angry teenagers of today who are frustrated with themselves or the society they live in are also a fan of his music.

Hard Rock/ Metal genre research.

Evaluation of "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam using the narrative theories.

I decided to chose the video for the song "Jeremy" because it fits into the rock genre that I am planning on doing my music video from(specifically 90's rock, when it was at its best) and because its has a very aggressive twisted story a lot like how I plan to portray my song.

The first theorist I would like to talk about is Vladimir Propp who refers to the consistent use of specific characters in a story such as the hero, villain, princess ...etc. And within this video there are many of these characters which overlap into each other as well for example the boy Jeremy which the video is about could be considered the Hero because he is the protagonist which this story is based upon however he could also be considered the/one of the villains because he ends up fighting his problems by shooting his school class of students. However this story/video is full of villains/antagonists because its about a boy who has lots of problems because his parents abuse him and his peers bully him and he then becomes a killer so really the whole story is based upon villain esc characters hurting a child so much that he in turn becomes a villain also in the process of getting revenge. But these villains could also be thought of as dispatchers and helpers in a sense that they(parents) sent him on the journey Propp talks about in his theories by causing him pain through neglect but if the end idea of the story was to make him a killer then they(peers) also were the helpers in creating this story because they helped him become who he became.

The next theorist I would like to talk about is Tzvetan Todorov who talks about the cycle in narratives where there is an equilibrium and the equilibrium is broken and the restoration of balance is what the story is revolved around. In this video there is no clear restoration of the broken equilibrium however I personally believe that in some sense there is because, the equilibrium is broken when Jeremy doesn't receive attention or affection from his parents, and the continuum of destruction of the equilibrium is where he is consistently bullied by his peers in class. To which the resolution of the problem or repair of damage as Todorov refers to is him shooting them which is followed by the new equilibrium which is Jeremy as a murderer.

Following that is the theorist Roland Barthes which says that narratives are communicated through different codes, such as the "action code" which in the video "Jeremy" there are many actions from him self expressing through massive aggressive drawings at the start to then fighting with other class mates although that is explained through the song lyrics more than film to the conclusion of the narrative where he shoots his class peers. Another code which Barthes talks about is the "Semantic code" , and within this video there are many different characters/archetypes that are being shown for example of a boy who gets abused and bullied then shoots up his school which wasn't irregular in the 90's in America. Or the characterisation of the parents that don't really care which starts a chain reaction of self destruction within their child. Or the horrible class mates which didn't think anything of their actions because they are children which also contribute to the pain and suffering of the receiver(Jeremy). The last code I would like to talk about is the "Symbolic code" which features massively throughout the course of the video from him aggressively self expressing through art forms half naked alone in the forest which is already showing signs from the start of him experiencing problems to him fighting with class mates who pick on him, which is another problematic sign. Then it all concluding with his pain and anger amounting so much that he shoots up his class mates in school which signifies so many things like the level of neglect and bullying that he was experiencing at that time.

Narrative theory.

Bradwell&Thompson -  A chain of events in a cause and effect relationship occurring in time.


Branigan(1992) - A way of organising spatial and temporal events into cause-effects chain of events with a beginning, middle and an end that embodies a judgment about the nature of events.


Narrative theory analyses the way in which media texts communicate meaning about the events, narrative theory can be applied to range of different media including film, TV, photographs and magazines. Narrative analysis of internet based media is more problematic, though may still be relevant. For example, you could consider how someone's Facebook profile creates a narrative about their life.


Vladimir Propp(1928) - a Russian theorist suggested that there are a limited number of characters that share a function. These are ...
The villain
the hero
the donor, who provides a object with magical property.
the helper , who aids the hero.
the princess
her father, who rewards the hero.
the dispatcher, who sends the hero on his way.
the false hero.




Tzvetan Todorov(1969)
1. Equilibrium
2.Disruptions
3.Recognition of the distribution
4. An attempt to repair the damage
5. New equilibrium


Roland Barthes (1960s)


He recognised these five codes...
1. Action code - which refers to the events taking place thorough some action eg. a fight.#
2. Referential code - which refers to the information and explanation
3. Semantic code - which refers to the characters and characterisation
4. Enigma code - which is a narrative device that teases the audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved.Works to delay the story ending pleasurably.
5. Symbolic code - which refers to connotations of signs.


Claude Levi-Strauss (1972)
He examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, belifes and myths of a culture. These are usually expressed in Binary Oppositions.


Allan Cameron( 2008) - Modular narratives.


Anachronic - modified flashbacks/flash-forwards
Forking path - Alternative versions of the story.
Episodic - Collections of stories joined by a common theme
Split screen - Spatial rather than temporal lines


Postmodern Narratives
characteristics of Postmodern Narratives :
Irony, playfulness, black humour
Intertextuality
Pastiche
Metanarratives
Extreme self-reflexivity/ self awareness
Temporal distortion
Hyper reality


Narrative analysis


Narritive analysis involves considering how a range of elements including mise en scene , editing, camerawork, sound as well as events create meaning for an audience.


Theorist :                                          Examples:
Propp


Todorov


Barthes


Levi-strauss

Analysis of Alanis Morissette You Outta Know

Analysis of You Outta Know – Alanis Morissette 

The music video starts off by showing Alanis Performing dressing in very dark clothing with the audience nearly unable to see her face , then through various camera and editing effects such as a shaky camera, jump cuts and close ups which shows her moving aggressively all immediately show Alanis performing to be distorted and aggressive. Her backdrop is all in the desert which could be expressing underlying messages because it’s a very hot, dangerous bleak place and the whole song is lyrically about expressing her anger for her partner leaving her which relates the visuals to the song through the aggressive editing techniques and costume with the hot bleak background. Then approximately half way through the song she is shown getting changed from a completely black outfit into a white one which makes this video have narrative elements on top of it being a mostly performance video because of this transition she goes through to try and express her emotions. The chorus is always shown to be performed with the rest of the band in an derelict concrete building in the desert which reinforces the relation of visuals to the song and once she has shown the transition into the white outfit there is a montage that follows when the song takes a calmer tone showing her running around with all of the shots being primarily white and this could therefore be expressing her recovery from the breakup she is talking about in her lyrics. Then right at the end of the song she is shown in a colourful field that is full of plants and her getting into a blue blazer which still combined with the aggressive editing and narrative story shows a particular star image of her evolving over the time of the video by changing her costume three times throughout the song.

Preliminary task. Jean Ralphio & MouseRat

For the front cover of Mouse Rats album snake juice I decided to liquefy a line on the picture that went through all three members of the band on Photoshop to make it stand out but such a simple technique worked really well I think. I also used two different versions of the "Gothic" text on Photoshop to do the text for "Mouserat" and for "Snake juice" which I wasn't sure about at first but I believe that they work with the picture as a whole and also work well with the rock genre. 

For the back cover I did a few different edits because I couldn't find the right font for the text and I am still not completely satisfied with it now but it was the best one I could find. In hindsight I would have liked to make it still look better but I then outlined the text with a maroon colour to try make the white colour of the font stand out more but it still doesn't quite look right. I much prefer the work I did on the front cover rather than the back. 

For this Jean Ralphio poster I changed the HDR resolution settings and rotated it 90 degrees to give it the effect of him almost being sideways like he was at an odd angle then placed a black rectangle over his eyes to make it look more urban. I was then going to write "Flush with cash" across his eyes but there wasn't enough room so decided to put two $ signs instead just to emphasise and add effect. I then manipulated the text so it would arch round his head slightly and did ever other letter pink to stand out more. Then put a little bit of text in the corner horizontally with the T as the start of the name Tommy Fresh to again try to make it stand out slightly more.

Audience Theory 20/09

Audience Theory

·         All products have an audience

·         They also sometimes have niche audiences and can also have mass audiences.

·         The producer’s texts need to know the importance of their audience when making products.

The first audience theory- Frankfurt school

·         A group of media theorists in 1920’s and 30’s.

·         They produced the “Effects” model which considers society to be composed of isolated individuals who were susceptible to media messages. 

·         Hyper dermic needle theory which suggests that media can be injected into the minds of a passive audience which will believe everything they are told.

·         Linear communication

·         Injected into the mid of the audience by a medium that meant that they instinctively believed what they were being told. 

The second audience theory- The two step flow

·         Developed by Lazarsfeld and Katz in the 1940’s and 50’s

·         Two steps

·         First step – opinion leaders get information from a media source.

·         Second step- opinion leaders then pass the information along with their interpretation, to others (friends, family etc) ]

·         More likely to be influenced by other people than the mass media

·         People’s choice(book) 1940’s by Lazersfeld , Personal Influence by Katz

·         Audience no longer passive in the communication process

·         2012- survey on twitter showed that people are getting the news from opinion leaders rather than the bigger news corporation. Which leaves the audience of the opinion leaders only ever receiving a twisted version or subjective version of the truth.

·         More likely to buy a product if its recommended by friends or people who provide a trusted opinion.

·         Strengths – audeinces are active and seen as a part of society

·         Weaknesses- more than two steps in the flow of communication

·         During the 1960’s, as the first generation grow up with television become grown ups, its become increasingly apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts

·         Far from being passive mass , audiences were made up of individuals, who actively consumed texts for different reasons and in different ways.

·         This later became the “uses and gratifications theory”

Bulmer and Katz 1974 – uses and gratifications theory

·         1. Diversion- escape from reality

·         2. Personal relationships – using the media for personal interaction

·         3. Personal identity – Finding yourself reflected in texts

·         4. Surveillance – information that could be useful for living

·         Instant messaging- relaxation, entertainment, inclusion, fashion, escape and affection. Affection and sociability are for heavy users whereas to do it for fashion is more predominant for light users.

·         Online gaming- success, social interaction accomplishment

David Moorely

·         The nationwide audience 1980’s

·         Dominant reading- the reader shares the same opinion

·         Negotiated reading- the reader partially shares the same opinion

·         Oppositional reading- the reader completely disagrees with the opinion 

Continuing Media Theory- Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin (1992) - Dancing in the distraction factory

He wrote there are six key things in a music video.
1. lyrics that fits with the visuals
2.  There is often inter-textual references to films, other music videos, TV series.
3. There is frequent reference to notion of looking( screens within screens, mirrors, stages.ect) and particuarly voyeristic treatment of the female body. The male gaze- Laura Mulvey. Of which there are three parts. 1. men looking at women 2. women looking at themselves 3. women looking at women
4. Genre characteristics
5. Music that fits with the visuals- cuts on beat
6. The demands of the record label will need lots of close ups of the artists and the artists may develop motifs which recur across their work.

He also wrote about the five key ways to analyse a music video

1. Thought beats - seeing the sound.
Look at the structure of the song, the voice of the song and then the artists mode of address.

2. Narrative and Performance. - We only tend to get a gist of the meaning of the song and therefore have to work out the rest of the narrative yourself. Music videos should have coherent repeat-ability, so that the audience could watch them over and over again. The artist working as narrator and participant helps authenticity. The audience needs to believe its real.

3. Star image-  Meta narrative, showing the artist develop over time and how are they being represented.

4. Relation of visuals to the song- There are three ways in which music videos work to promote a song. Illustrate , where a music video uses a set of images to illustrate a meaning. Amplify, where meaning and effects are repeated so they are stuck in your head. Disjuncture- there is no relationship between what your hearing and what is being shown visually.

5. Technical aspects - This is what holds a music video together , through camera work, angle and movement combined with speed , editing, sound , special effects and mise en scene. The setting of a music video is vital. It needs to look authentic to look professional.

Examples of music video.

There are three different types of contemporary music video that often get used.
They are...

Performance - Where the artists show footage of them playing their music to an audience or in a studio.
Example : Slipknot - Wait and Bleed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1zCN0YhW1s
Narrative - Where there is a visual story that is shown along side the music often in relation to what is being sung about in the song.
Example : Micheal Jackson - Thriller. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA  

Conceptual - Where there is an on going visual idea that is frequently used in the video and can often be obscure.
Example : OKGO - Here it goes again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA