DigiPak Research

Mark Ronson & the Business Intl - Record Collection

Mark Ronson is a musician and music producer, his style of music currently falls into the pop genre, but it generally more retro dance sort of pop. He collaborates with many vocalists and experiments with lots of different types of music. This album is titled "Record Collection" so, the artwork correlates well with the theme of the album, the front cover shows Mark's face made up of lots of different Record covers, with a cream background. It's an inventive way of just having a portrait of the Artist. The text featured on the cover i.e the album title and Mark Ronson's current alias, also comes in various forms of record styles so the font is different for each album cover on the front cover. This way of showing the front cover puts a new twist on boring album covers, and gives the feel for the album to be a different track each time, which goes with the genre that he is following at the moment. 
The back cover is pretty much the same, featuring the backs of different records. Normally, the track-list would be written in a list on the back of the album, but on this album it's nicely spread out as lists on separate albums, which again, matches the genre of retro pop that the artist is going for. the text is in different fonts, same as the front and looks nicely original. 
On the inside, the actual CD is oddly plain to say the outside is so loud and garish. I assume the CD is plain because that's how records look, plain, black and with a track-list on the front. The font on the CD is plain, and the artist's name looks 70's chic font, bringing the attention to the artist. 
The inside sleeve is in a standard book form like most albums, on the back is more of the record collection featuring most of the tracks on the album. On the inside of the sleeve, you immediately see bright colours and different fonts, which all look equally retro.. from the 70's or 80's. On most of the sides lyrics to the tracks are shown, but in the middle there's a larger collage of the body shot portrait Mark Ronson, using more record collections.
Over all the album is really colourful, and original I like the way that there's collages of the artist used in different ways, it looks seamless. And I like the way that the album title is 'Record Collection', and the whole album artwork is based on different record collections based on the figure of artist. I think we could take inspiration from this album as it looks really retro but really original and modern at the same time. And I think we could think about really linking the album title and the album artwork together, to do something different. As that's what Arctic Monkeys do, they do different things that don't really match the genre they're in, but oddly they still lead and give an example to the rest of the genre. 
-Sophie. 

Digipak Cover Research - Vampire Weekend

 We are unaware of the bands physical image (more of a pop genre convention) but we are aware of a chandelier and it looks as though there is a house party happening which implies that they are targeting a younger audience. The dark orangey colour scheme is another indie convention and suggests a deeper meaning within their songs. The font is very simple which, again, could reflect the “ordinary” band.

From the back of the albums we know what label Vampire Weekend are on (XL Records); we are also given the date of publishing and their latest album gives us two websites (XLRECORDS.COM & VAMPIREWEEKEND.COM). This back seems very simple; once again we are only given the song titles and the label information. The black and white colour scheme reinforces this theme of simplicity.

The inside of this album is very plain with a white background; so this suggests that the band themselves aren’t as exotic as “Lady Gaga”, they’re just a normal group of people. On the left there a lot of information given about the band and who helped out, this is also given on the Arctic Monkeys album so this may be something we add to our digipak. You can hardly read the information on their first CD as it has a bright yellow background and white writing; this bright colour arguably reflects the creative lyrics within the songs.

The images inside look as though they’ve been photocopied which was probably intenionally done to make this album seem almost different. They don’t need anything fancy because that’s not what they’re about. The lyrics are also given on different coloured backgrounds again creating this care-free attitude because the layout and fonts are really simple.

OUTER PACKAGING

 

This outer packaging is unique to this band; this makes their albums instantly recognisable to fans. Some words are more spaced out; this almost reflects the music videos as the spacing is very random.

Everything about this album seems simple which suggests that the band isn’t really bothered about everything looking “professional”; their focus is on the songs and their meanings.

-Katie

Digipak Cover Research - Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

This is the album cover for The Arctic Monkeys “Favourite worst nightmare” which is where our song “This house is a circus” comes from.  The colours for this cover are very generic to the indie genre as blacks and greys are used which could resemble the dark meaningful lyrics within the songs. There is an image of an estate which could relate back to the working class; most indie bands originate from working class backgrounds so this, again, is in fitting with the genre. Bright colours are used to show the rooms in the house which adds an edge to the dull image which again could reinforce the idea of their lyrics being different to other genres such as pop.

 

The back cover is slightly plain as the main colours used are black and yellow/ green reinforcing this idea of a dark image. No images are used; we just see the song titles which advertise the songs and not the bands image. The label is shown along with the official website for the band; this is a good way to subtly advertise the label. 

 

The inside of the digipak reflects the outside. The image to the left shows the back of the house that’s shown on the front cover. The image on the actual CD resembles a man with fiery glasses on; this, again, reverts back to this dark indie convention that reoccurs throughout the full digipak.

 

You would normally expect to see the lyrics within the booklet but what we see in this is the inner goings of this “house” that’s shown on the front cover. The first page gives a thank you to the people that helped make the album (e.g. Arctic Monkeys, photography, producer etc.). The rest of the booklet shows lots of images of random objects and colours that resemble what’s happening within this “house”.  From the picture above you can see that these images are quite dull and in fitting with the indie genre.

-Katie

The Strokes Website Analysis

The Strokes

I chose to look at The Strokes website because nearly all the bands we have looked at so far for research are British so I thought it would be good to look at an american band in the same genre as the Arctic Monkeys which The Strokes are.




-Rebecca

Kasabian CD analysis

After we complete our music video, we are required to create our own  CD digipack for the artist we used for our video, so in our case Arctic Monkeys. Before we do this we are getting plenty of research so we know what to include in our indie genre.

Kassabians latest album - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum:

I have chosen to look at Kasabian as they are a similar genre to Arctic Monkeys but slightly more alternative. As their albums progress it is clear their sound is changing and they are essentially getting a bit weirder and this CD pack is a very good example.

Overall this digipack is appropriate to the genre of alternative/indie as it sticks to some conventions most indie/alternative digipacks include such as including the band on the front cover, the band logo being very clear, track names on the back then photos or images that relate to the tone of the album which this album certainly does. Despite this bands are not always used on the cover such as in Arctic Monkeys first two albums they do not use the band. However the third album 'Humbug' is almost similar to this cover in the ways the band members are are positioned on the cover, however on the Arctic Monkeys album they are in a normal plain setting in ordinary clothing.

-Rebecca

Research

Research and analysis into CD Digipacks-


The Kooks-

 These images are from The Kooks's album Inside in/ Inside Out, released in 2006 and falls into the Indie genre, shared with the Arctic Monkeys.
The images on the front cover show a plain white background with the band playing instruments in black, showing the emphasis on the band, and the music, this fits in with the normal image for the indie genre, as the emphasis is that the band can use instruments to make music, not like boy band pop groups. Also on the front cover are reviews from indie magazines e.g Q, Mojo, NME. This shows that the band are up and coming, and recommended by experts in the music business. The font for the album is in black and red block capitals simple writing to carry on with the basic, simple feel of the album.
Images on the back cover the image carries on with the black and white, watching the band having a 'jamming' session. And the font is the same, throughout the digipack. The writing on the back shows the playlist of the album, and copyright smallprint. This image still is appropriate for the genre, the mise-en-scene is relevant, as they're playing the instruments and the image sells the band as people who care about the music, which is what fans of the indie genre look for in a band.
The actual CD is bright red, and the writing is in black and white. It looks like a simple but important album. It looks kind of retro, and simplistic. Also, the first 'o' of kooks is inventively, the hole in the CD.
The cover behind the CD is a role of negatives from pictures, of the band, of what we can assume on tour. So we see the band on stage, and messing around. This fits in the the indie genre, and makes the band seem fun and approachable, like normal lads. Also, it puts the focus onto the band and performing again. The image still conforms with the colour scheme and feel of the whole Digipak.
The inside sleeve of the Digipak, folds out and has the inside and the outside. The Inside features lots of background pictures of the band on tour, and having a nice time, which shows the band as friends as well and not just a band. The images are mostly still in black, white and red, but some are in colour as well. The writing   within the images feature snapshots of the lyrics for songs on the Album. Mostly the chorus or the bridge.
On the outside of the sleeve, there's an individual image of each band member, again playing their instrument, chilling out, and then one of the whole band together. All in black and white, then the album title running throught the images in red.
The album over all really fits into the indie genre, so I think as a group we can take alot from this example. The band is represented well, you get a feel that the band are chilled out, like normal lads, so they seem more sell able. I think for our digipak we could do something similar, maybe with a more lively theme but still chilled out and appropriate for the genre.
-Sophie.

Makeup Tests - Clowns

These are two photos of me with clown makeup that my friend did for me. We copied the design from Alex Turners makeup when the Arctic Monkeys dressed up as clowns for Friday Night with Jonathon Ross. This makeup will be used on the band but we may switch between them looking ordinary and then clown. 

-Rebecca

Website Analysis & Research

Mystery Jets

Images and Logo The image at the very top changes around every 5 seconds showing a different interesting insight to the band each time. For example there is an image of one of the band members shaving in a bathroom which fits into the theme of their latest album where all the band members are in a bathroom. This emphasises the fact that these people are just like everyone else and do everyday things.	Genre The indie genre in known for being a little bit edgy which is what this website promotes. The initial design is slightly plain but the changing random images add an edge to the website. There is no emphasis on the lead singer; it’s less about image and more about the music.
New Technology and Links There are links to Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. These are mainstream social network sites and advertise the band in more ways. Videos from Youtube are posted on the website advertising the bands new video.	Colour and Style Overall the colour of the website is slightly plain; mostly black and white colours are used. This makes the website seem basic but also looks quite professional.
Written Content The written content is very informal; from the twitter post we get a very informal direct message from one of the band members, “and thank you for the pink knickers that rained onto the stage...more for my collection.” This brings personality to the website as well as humor and reinforces the idea of them being “real” in comparison to Lady Gaga’s “put on” act.	Font and Layout The initial title “Mystery Jets” is in the same font as all the albums which subtly advertisers the albums. The font and layout is also very simple reinforcing this “ordinary” representation.
Target Audience ·         The artist is represented in an ordinary way which targets the audience as they can relate to the band. ·         The direct language also targets the audience as we’re not getting a fake voice.	Advertisements ·         New album “Serotonin” ·         ITunes ·         Tour dates ·         New single “show me the light” and the video for it.

-Katie

Rebecca's Website Research

Blur

This is my analysis of Blurs website. I chose to analyze Blur because they are an older indie style band who were mainly big in the nineties and in rival to other brit-pop indie band Oasis. 

Arctic Monkeys are still in their prime for this generation so I thought it would be interesting to look at an indie band less active now to compare. 

 - Rebecca

Filming and Editing Practice-

So we don't make lots of mistakes when we film our actual music video we had a try out filming 'Fake Tales of San Francisco' which is a song off the first album by Arctic Monkeys. I came across a few problems as only two of the band members I used were able to help out which meant recording different parts of the song separately. As well as this, they had no backing track to mime along with so timings were difficult. Despite this I think the video has worked reasonably well and will help us learn how to make things run smoothly when we actually film the band part to our video.


I experimented with lots of different shots so that the video stayed interesting as a lot of videos where we are just watching a band playing can feel a bit boring. I used close ups on instruments such as the foot on the bass pedal on the drums, the hands on the necks of the guitars and close ups of the singer. These allow the audience to understand the music more and in a way visually see what they hear. This was good to practice with synching the movements in time with the actual track.


Other shots I used were over the shoulder shots of the other band members so we could see the other person but still get a feel of what the other was doing. It also gave a more perspective shot so the audience felt like they were there. I often did shots where I move into them from different directions rather than dead pan shots because it fits with the upbeat fairly fast paced music and more movement makes it appear as if more is going on. From about 1.05 I start to turn the camera onto a canted angle which then becomes horizontal. This was at the part in the song where it gets more chaotic and loud with two distorted guitars playing together so I wanted to show the change in music visually and to throw the audience off.


I occasionally put a red filter over the shots to experiment with what it will look like as it is something we are considering for This House Is A Circus. I liked the effect because it makes it look more serial which is what we want to get across. 





- Rebecca.

Evaluation of previous student work-

Evaluation of previous student work-
In a lesson last week, we watched and evaluated examples of student work from last year. We found this exercise helpful, and enables us to have an idea of what not to do. It also showed us good examples, which we can gain inspiration and good ideas from. We marked the examples as from the mark scheme, so this allows us to know what we'll be marked on, and helps us to understand what we need to do to create a level 4 piece of work. 

- Sophie and Katie.

Visual Style

Today's Lesson- 11/10/10

In today's lesson we finished off our pitches and also researched into different videos that demonstrate good visual style. The videos demonstrated features like; relevant costumes settings and props, relevant style for the song, and that the over all mise-en-scene matches and is relevant to the genre of the song. Videos we looked at were of other student projects from previous years.

Here's a picture to show how we've been thinking about the visual style of our video.

- Sophie.

Pitch-

Starring Rebecca and Sophie.

Part 1 

Part 2

In our lesson we had to pitch our music video idea and discuss how we were going to stick to or challenge the conventions of our indie/rock genre. After we pitched, the class discussed and wrote down some feedback for us.

Class Feedback: Realistic goals, didnt really go into a narrative, difficult to do, good idea to film it at the aftermath of the party, good idea - need to make sure objects in dolls house correlate with real house, more trippy themes, interesting opening and ideas, need more typical circus thems, think about edits between locations, dolls house and actual party, need to think about how to link girl with dolls house.

Overall we belive that our pitch went well and the feedback was helpful and constructive. It has helped us to see that we need to think about some of our ideas in more detail to get a proper structured narrative and also think about the filming and editing for ceratin harder sections. 
- Rebecca

Location Pictures

House-

These pictures are of the house that we are going to be using for the video. The video will be a walkthrough the house, and so I've taken pictures this way. Although we will change the setting of the house slightly, as the video is meant to show an older teeneage house party so we will remove any of the props that make it look other wise, such as - photo frames, plants, etc. 

- Sophie

Recee Sheets for House Location (added 31/10/10) 

Here's a sheet showing a diagram of the house location, and explaining the issues, and positives of the location.

-Sophie 

Filming Research-

Filming Research 

I have an Arctic Monkeys live at the Apollo DVD which was directed by Richard Ayoade and I thought it would be useful to watch it and see how an actual live performance of the band was filmed.
I specifically looked at how 'This House is a Circus', the song we are making a music video for, was filmed as I wanted to see if they managed to capture the mood and tone of the song visually. It started off with no lights for the opening instrumental then a spotlight on Alex Turner when he began singing. The camera was constantly moving around or away from the band members with cuts between the drummer and singer as the drummer was doing back up. After focusing on the drummer the camera zoomed out to reveal everyone for the chorus. What was interesting is we very rarely got to see the audience, even when before or after Alex spoke to the crowd, the camera was focused on the band. This gave an up close and personal feel like I was watching on the stage as part of the band. This was an interesting effect that we could look at incorporating in our performance sections of the video.


Other techniques that could be interesting to explore is split screen on different band members playing their instruments. One of the DVD extra's was the entire gig filmed from six different cameras all placed on/facing the drum kit and drummer, Matt Helders. This gave a completely different perspective and was good to see how the music was broke down on the drums such as hearing and seeing the bass drum get hit etc.


-Rebecca

Step Outline-

First Step Outline-

Step outline: Arctic monkeys ‘This house is a circus’

Song Length: 3 minutes 11 seconds

Location: A house (kitchen, living room, garden)

Band: 4 members. 14 actors

12 seconds	Hall: girl walks into room, puts money in slot machine, band start playing intro
36 seconds	House: male walking in hallway, ordinary objects start to look strange e.g. photo frames. VERSE ONE
49 seconds	Kitchen: Looking for food, the toaster starts to talk to him (captions) VERSE TWO
1 min 15 seconds	Living room: A dog dancing with a guy. Long shot shows that this dog is actually a girl. CHORUS
1 min 40 seconds	Bathroom: sorting himself out INSTRUMENTAL
1 min 50	Hall: back to band playing instruments; close ups of guitar etc. INSTRUMENTAL
2 min	Room: Lots of coats piled up on the floor (long shot shows this to be people passed out on the floor) VERSE THREE
2 min 12 seconds	He goes to kitchen and sits down; everything around him goes really quickly as if time is going faster VERSE FOUR
2 min 38 seconds	Back to band playing, little girl walks out room. INSTRUMENTAL

More Detailed Step Outline

8 Seconds	Hall: a little girl walks into hall, puts money into a guitar case, curtains open and band start playing. Intro
36 seconds	House: male walking in hallway, He walks into the first room and sees a clown on the sofa; a mid shot shows that this is just a normal guy and the two start fighting.  VERSE ONE
49 seconds	He enters the next room and through his eyes we see a group of people having a tea part. A mid shot of the room reveals that this is a group of people doing shots and drinking games.  Pre chorus
1 min 14 seconds	Hall: Band performance,  Kitchen: The guy walks into the kitchen and opens a cupboard to find lots of different faces.  CHORUS
1 min 46 seconds	Hall: back to band playing instruments; close ups of guitar etc. Bathroom: washing his face INSTRUMENTAL
2 min	Corridor: He walks down the corridor and sees a photo of a child - the child then begins to dance.  VERSE THREE
2 min 12 seconds	Bedroom: He walks into a bedroom to find a bed with a bump; he goes up to this and uncovers, once again, a clown. A long shot of the room shows a very agitated drunk teenager. Hall: Close ups of the bands performance. Instrumental
2 min 22 seconds	Walking out the room and making his way to the kitchen. Pre Chorus
2 min 37 seconds	Hall: Band performance. Chorus
3 min 11 seconds	He sits down in the kitchen. Time goes very quickly as we see people getting food and making drinks. Little girl drops a male doll and walks over to the band and claps. Instrumental

- Katie.