Wednesday 24 November 2010

My band name.



I have used a series of different fronts in order to see which looks best for my band name, Lifelong Controversy. These fonts were found on the website http://www.dafont.com. When looking for fonts I wanted to use a font which looks like it belongs to the punk/rock genre.

Friday 19 November 2010

Analysing music video 3.

Analysing music video 2.




This particular music video by Green Day is based upon a film titled 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' which was an American 1975 drama film which was based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey. The narrative behind this film was that of a criminal, Randle Patrick McMurphy, who is transferred to a mental institution.

Analysing music video 1.



This video by Michael Jackson clearly belongs to the horror genre as it includes lots of conventions which belong to the horror genre. The video starts off with a black background with red text stating "Michael Jackson's Thriller". Red and black colours are a convention of horror movies as they are often associated with evil and danger.

The video begins with Michael and an un-named female character acting out asif they are characters within an 80's horror film. Both Jackson and the female character are wearing conventional 80's high school clothing which includes football jersy's and long dresses.

Whilst acting, Jackson then transforms into a Werewolf and begins to chase the female character. This is another convetion of horror films as usually a character will be hiding a deep dark secret, such as in this case Michael is a Werewolf, and then turns evil and attempts to kill the main female character.

The lighting throughout the video is dark and eery which is another convention which indicates to the audience that this video is based on horror films. The only light within the video is the light from the full moon which gives the video an eery effect. Typically within horror films there is low lighting and the main light source is usually natural light from the moon.

During the video, Jackson and the female character walk alone down a road with low lighting and appear to be cornered by zombies. Zombies are a typical enemy found within horror films and they have been used within this video as they help the audience to recognise that this video is ment to be a horror video as zombies are an iconic figure within horror films.

LIIAR.

Language - Editing, cinematography, sound, Mise-en-scene.

Institution - Record company, The Band/singer.

Ideaology - Genre. What does the genre suuggest.

Audience - Who the band and record company aim the music at.

Representation - How are they representing themselves. Creating an imagine of the band.

Blink-182 tracks.











Here are some examples of Blink-182 tracks taken from some of their albums. Toilet humour and teen angst are a common feature within Blink songs but songs such as 'Adam's song' and 'Stay Together for the Kids' embrace the bands darker side.

Band research.

Blink-182 is an American pop punk band formed in the early 90's. The band's members included bassist Mark Hoppus, Guitarist Tom DeLonge and drummer Scott Raynor. 'Cheshire Cat', the band's debut album was released in 1994 and was later followed by 'Dude Ranch' which was released in 1997. Scott Raynor eventually was replaced by current drummer Travis Barker during a tour in 1998.

Blink then later released four more albums, 'Enema of the State' (1999), 'The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!)' in November 2000, 'Take Off Your Pants and Jacket' (2001) and finally a self-titled album which was released in 2003. Some of Blink's biggest singles include 'What's my age again?', 'Dammit', 'All The Small Things', 'I Miss You' and 'First Date'. Blink-182 are a pop punk/punk rock band who have influenced many modern day bands such as All Time Low, Paramore, Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy.

During Blink's time together both DeLonge and Barker opted to join other bands whilst on time off from the band. Travis and Tom formed Box Car Racer with David Kennedy with their self-titled debut album released in May 2002. Whilst the side project with Tom was in progress, Travis was asked to join Transplants, a rap rock band, who released their album in October 2002. During Christmas 2002, Blink-182 regrouped in order to begin work on their new album.

However, even after all their success DeLonge left the band in early 2005 due to disagreements on touring and after he declined to record a new album. He later went to form Angels & Airwaves whilst Mark and Travis formed +44. Angels & Airwaves have so far released 3 albums, 'We Don't Need to Whisper' (2006), 'I-Empire' (2007) and 'Love: Part 1' (2010). Whilst DeLonge enjoyed further success with his new band, Hoppus and Barker also formed their own band entitled +44 who released their debut album in 2006, 'When Your Heart Stops Beating'. However, on September 19th, 2008, Travis barely survived a plane crash after performing at an event. Travis and two other passengers were the only survivors. Travis suffered second and third degree burns to his torso. After his horrific accident, DeLonge and Hoppus began to reconcile after their heated exchanges during the band's final days and eventually all three former band mates agreed to reform Blink-182.




Bottom to top: Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, Travis Barker.


Genre.

The genres to which Blink-182 belong to are pop punk, punk rock and alternative rock.

Pop Punk.
The Pop punk combines elements of punk rock with pop music. The genre merges melodic pop music with the tempo of punk music. The origin of punk rock began in the late 1960s and early 1970s which helped lay the base for the pop punk sound which became popular around 1974. The Ramones' were one of the first bands to emerge with the punk rock sound. Contemporary pop punk roots are from bands such as Buzzcocks, Generation X, The Jam, The Undertones and Bad Religion.

Pop punk underwent a resurgence in the early 1990s. A DIY approach became popular to pop punk bands at the time and during the same time period independent record labels such as Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records started to emerge.

Between the years of 1994 and 1997 Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182 became the three heavyweight bands within the pop punk genre. Green Day released their first album, Dookie, in February 1994. The band was contracted to Lookout! Records at the time. LookOut! Records was one of many independent records labels which emerged during the 1990s. Dookie sold 20 million copies Worldwide. Due to their first major success, Green Day later performed at Woodstock '94 and won a Grammy for best alternative album. The Offspring then released their album titled Smash which was released after Green Day's Dookie.The band's sound had changed. They developed a pop punk sound that was different from their earlier work and their first single, "Come out and play" became a popular hit. "Dammnit" by Blink-182 became a chart topper during this time period which established their status within the music industry.

Blink-182 released Enema of the State in 1999. The album sold over 15 million copies Worldwide and included the #1 single "All the small things" and the #2 single "What's my age again?". Good Charlotte released their second album, The Young and the Hopeless, in 2002 which went triple platinum. Four years prior to this, The Offspring's album, Americana, which included singles such as "The Kid's aren't alright" and "Pretty fly" which also helped establish the new genre of pop punk. This style is still popular in our culture to this day.

Punk Rock.
Punk rock is a combination of protopunk and garage rock music. The punk rock genre originates from a mixture of Rock & Roll, Protopunk and garage rock. Punk rock is a fast paced sound which embraces the DIY idea which became popular in the early 1990s which many bands followed. Punk rock belongs to the rock genre and was developed between 1974 and 1976. Bands such as The Ramones and The Sex Pistols were and still are recognized throughout the music industry in 1976. These two bands followed the Punk rock genre. This genre became a major phenomenon in the UK during the late 1970's. Mainstream bands such as Green Day and The Offspring took on the Punk rock genre and by the beginning of the 1980s the Punk rock sound became more aggressive and became known as hardcore.

Alternative Rock.
Alternative rock is a genre developed from rock music which became popular in the 1980s and 90s. Alternative rock consists of Punk rock, Indie pop, Britpop, Hardcore punk, Hard rock and grunge. Before the 1990s, Alternative rock was known as College rock . The term "Alternative rock" only became popular in the 1990s. R.E.M were one of the first alternative rock bands and are still one of the most successful alternative rock bands since the emergance of the genre. Their debut album, Mumur, which was released in 1983 entered the top 40 immediately. Biffy Clyro, Muse, Flogging Molly, Foo Fighters, Keane, Oasis and Paramore are popular Alternative rock bands of the 21st century.

Lyrics.

I took her out it was a Friday night
I wore cologne to get the feeling right
We started making out and she took off my pants
But then I turned on the TV

And that's about the time she walked away from me
Nobody likes you when you're 23
I'm still more amused by TV shows
What the hell is ADD?
My friends say I should act my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?

Then later on, on the drive home
I called her mom from a pay phone
I said I was the cops
And your husband's in jail
This state looks down on sodomy

And that's about the time that bitch hung up on me
Nobody loves you when your 23
I'm still more amused by prank phone calls
What the hell is caller ID?
My friends say I should act my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?

And that's about the time she walked away from me
Nobody loves you when your 23
And you still act like you're in Freshman year
What the hell is wrong with me?
My friends say I should act my age
What's my age again?
What's my age again?

That's about the time she broke up with me (Please stay)
No one should take themselves so seriously (with me, please stay)
With many years ahead to fall in line (with me, please stay)
Why would you wish that on me? (with me)
I never want to act my age (please stay)
What's my age again? (with)
What's my age again? (me)

What's my age agaaaaaaaaain?

Blink-182 "What's my age again ?"



This is the Blink-182 track I have decided to use for my music video. I have decided to choose a track from Blink-182 as they are a World wide recognised pop punk band. I have chosen to create a music video for this specific track as it is one of the most popular tracks the band has produced and is a personal favourite of mine.

My idea for this video is to include a drummer, singer & rhythm guitarist, guitarist and bassist to act as a fiction band I have created. The video will consist of the band members walking into a garage/recording studio and finding that their instruments have been stolen and replaced with guitar hero and rockband instruments. When discovering this, the band then decide to use these toy instruments and play the track. Throughout the video the band members will be seen in different scenarios including each band memeber in which they act like children; riding bikes with stablizers, having tantrums, playing at parks etc etc. This will link into the tracks name "What's my age again?" as it will be featuring the teenage band memebers regressing to children and acting younger than what they actually are.

Brief.

  1. A promotion package for the release of an album to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
  • a website homepage for the band;
  • a cover for its release as part of a digipak. (CD/DVD package);
  • a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

Group breakdown.

After lengthy discussions me and my other memeber of my group decided that it would benefit us both if we worked alone. Due to disagreements in work ethic and ideas we have decided to part ways and work on individual projects. I have decided to create a music video as I originally intended before joining a group.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Cast members - David Barkworth.























Location photographs.






















Film production logo.

Film logos are used by movie studios in order to brand the films they are producing. The logo is typically seen at the beginning of the trailer and at the end as a closing image. Here are some examples of film logos:






Here is a draft of mine and Matthew's film logo. Matthew created it by using photo shop.



Our logo is a coat of arms. The coat of arms represents our identity, prestige and formality. A coat of arms were used as a heraldic design which was typically seen on a cloak or a shield during the mid-12th century. These coat of arms represented the person's identity, family or rank. In the 21st century coat of arms are still used in institutions such as Universities in order to represent the Establishment. Most coats of arms are personally designed, we have stood to that convention and designed ours. Here are some examples of coats of arms:








The coat of arms we've created will represent our movie logo. We have chosen to use a coat of arms as our logo as it represents our rank, prestige and formality which coat of arms traditionally do. Many individuals and institutions use coats of arms in the 21st century still as they are contemporary and traditional which is why we have chosen to create a personal coat of arms for our movie logo. We have chosen to include our names in our coat of arms as it establishes who is in control of the production, me and Matthew. The 'M' and the 'A' within our logo represent mine and Matthew's first names. However, later on in the production I believe the 'M' and the 'A' should be changed to the first letter of each other our last names, 'E' and 'B', as it seems more formal. The logo is intended to represent our prestige and formality which we would like our audience to see.

Thursday 4 November 2010

Location description.

Me and my group partner, Matthew Elliot, have analysed locations from thriller and horror films in order to compile a list of features we believe is necessary for our location. These features are:


  • Abandoned area.
  • Dark / low lighting.
  • Rural.
  • Heavily wooded.
  • Quiet.
  • Isolated.
  • Scary.
  • Untamed.

When deciding on our location, we had to consider many factors such as:

  • Distance.
  • Acessability.
  • Laws (Tresspassing).

Video production schedule.

November:
1st - Animatic
8th - Video Shoot
15th - Video Shoot
22nd - Upload and edit
29th - Edit

December:
6th - Edit
13th - Evaluation
20th/21st - Feedback

Change of background track.