13EJamesVlahos: January 2012

Thursday 26 January 2012

Asking Alexandria - The Final Episode Music Video Analysis (3)

1. Institutional/Reference Information
I am analysing Asking Alexandria's music video "The Final Episode". The reason why is because of it's creativty on following the beat of the music and genre and how he varies his voice for each part of the lyrics to give it a unique feel to it, It is directed by -
2. What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?

3. What is the relationship between music and visuals?
The relationship between the music and the visuals is very much exact, as it appears to always keep on track with the music and maintaing the speed and beats even when it is showing items fall in slow motion, It also gets faster with more cuts when the song speeds up and gets heavier. Which it also does the same when the music is abit slower, however it is still very quick paced and heavy. The visuals show them head banging in their own unique form of style, along with the drums and guitars as well as the vocalist, their inside a garage looking place showing it's private and their free to go wild just like the song can be considered.
4. Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
There are plenty of close-ups of the artists and their star image, which is long styled hairm dressed in black and some tattoo's, It also shows close ups when it goes into the vocalist singing his lines and head banging, it also shows slow motions close ups of the guitarists whilst playing entertaingly, The camera also likes to track itself forward and backwards into their faces.
5. Is there reference to the notion of looking?
There is not really any sexual displays at all however they have their own image of notion for looking as I'm sure plenty of girls may find someone in the band attractive and like what they see if their into that sort of boys so the notion of looking is dependant hugely on the individuals, however there is nothing at all sexual about this video just wildness.
6. Are there intertextual references?
This music video is perhaps related to many other rock genre based music videos as they it's known for performance in areas which are slightly abandoned and have no one around meaning they can perform widly without worries and have full effect of the band being viewed. Also the style of tattoo's and hair and clothes may also be common along a certain sterotype known as emos or goths.
7. Is the music video performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based?
My view on this music video is that it is highly performance based and not really anything else , As in the music video they appear just to be going wild and singing as if it was a live show with no one turning up to watch it.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Black Veil Brides - Fallen Angels Music Video Analysis (2)

1. Institutional/Reference Information
The Music video I'm analysing is Black Veil Brides, Fallen Angel which is directed by (Name).
The genre that the music belongs to is most deffinately rock and that is shown in it's characteristics of the music video which is both scenery and individuals as the scenery is based around a location set in fire and out in no where showing asteriods hitting the earth, Also the way that the band and also other people who are just within the music video but nothing main are all dressed in a rockish unique way with war paint painted over them and crazy hair styles along with sense of clothes.
2. What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
There is deffinately links between the lyrics and the visuals, these however could be tricky to find for some as it is done in a smart way, such as "We are the fallen angels" and there are asteriods hitting the earth resulting in people who could be considered as outcasts to some, resulting in the lyrics Fallen Angels. The lyrics "We scream,we shout, we are the fallen angels" also define that they are proud of who they are no matter what their judged by people, it also shows this by a huge crowd of people in make up dressed emoish and rockish with war paint all over them that they do not mind being outcasted for who they are. "Take joy in who you are, we know that our wings have flown" These lyrics also back up their voice of being outcasted for their style and interests however their joyful and feel free to do it.
3. What is the relationship music and visuals?
The relationship between the music and visuals too are also very similar , as they like to stick to their beats and their hardcore instrumentals which maintain a quick and heavy pace but the music video's visuals manage to keep up with it making it look effective and entertaining and very interesting. Also when the guitarist has his solo, it shows plenty of clips of him from many different angels and cuts playing his guitar whilst the camera is always moving.
4. Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
Yes there are plenty of great effective close-ups which is filmed amazingly capturing awesome image's, it also shows the bands own look which is very rocky looking and perhaps emoish, however it looks amazing. The close-ups vary widely of each band members facial expression and instrument such as the lead singer has the most close-ups but generally has the camera on him mostly, The lead singer throughout the entire song always has quick close-ups whilst he's singing, and at the very end it quickly goes over all of the band members faces with a close up, then after showing them all individually it shows them all together representing their individuals but in a band and each have their own look.
5. Is there reference to the notion of looking?
There is most deffinatly the notion of looking, it would be hard not to with such an amazingly filmed music video which looks very exciting and effective in the way that it looks very unique and I would say that there is easily no other video which looks like this one, which means even if your not too into the music and prefer different genres that you' still find the music video very interesting.

6. Are there intertextual references?

7. Is the music video performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based?
I'd say that the music was most deffinately mixed, It deffinately has a huge set of performance-based in their music video, as a lot of the time it shows the band themselves just together singing with passion and entertainment other then standing there together and just not doing much, But I'd also say it's very narrative-based also as it shows a lot of unique people who perhaps are outcast's in normal society if dressing like that which represents "we are the Fallen Angels"

Reasons for choice of artist

The reason's for why I am picking the artist Jeffree Star is because of he is a unique different type of artist and a unique indiviual who is not very known worldwide compared to many artists. This proves effective as the exam board said the choice of artist must not be to well known and I believe that even though Jeffree Star may well be known but it's only to a certain group of indiviuals so he is not massive world wide.

Another reason why I have chosen Jeffree Star is because I like plenty of his songs and they are all pretty much heartfelt lyrics and have strong uses of words and meanings. Also the song I have chosen seems very narrative and can be used effectively to bring excitement and entertainment along with nice looking images and clips for the music videos, I also feel I could listen and work with this song without getting tired or bored with it which will be extremely useful when editting.

Monday 23 January 2012

Black Veil Brides - Marketing Analysis

Black Veil Brides use a huge variety of ways in advertising their band and marketing themselves. Since there is a massive improvement within technology, that even downloading songs pirately for free the music industry have to attempt to counter it however even with piracy there are still huge amounts of sales, just not as much as there would be without downloading.

Black Veil Brides use the old ways of marketing their band such as advertisements when playing concerts or doing gigs, awareing people who walk pass or find it interesting and feel they would like to go see it they can see the time, date and how much and a picture of the band and where it's being performed. This is much more of a billboard, poster type of marketing for places which have a huge amount of people walking around such as in a high street.

They also have their own website and their own youtube account in which they publish their songs as they can make some income from views on youtube as people are going to listen to it freely on youtube anyway so they may aswell make a profit from it other then a loss from it being listened to on someone else.

They also use technology to it's full ability on marketing theirself such as not only having their CD's in shops allowing them to be purchased, they also have their CD's on ITunes and websites such as amazon etc. They also have their own facebook page in which they keep their fans updated and allow others to see their page that are also interested. This allows fans to see when their doing concerts, merchandising clothing, accesories etc. They also interact with the fans by each memeber of the band owning a twitter account in which allows users to follow them and interact with the band, but also the band to post such that wouldn't necessarily be posted to the band page.

The band has become very popular winning Kerrang's Best International Band, Best Vocalist etc proving to be very sucessful in it's early rise to fame. So their marketing is paying off very well and their name is getting spread around.

Thursday 19 January 2012

Contacting Jeffree Star

This is me trying to contact Jeffree Star to gain permission to use his song Prisoner for my A2 Music Video.

Recent Problems

I've had some few recent problems in getting everyone available at the same time for a good couple of hours so that I can accomplish a good amount of filming to make it effective and get as much done as possible within the day and a lot of footage to work with to avoid complications of getting everyone back together. However filming on the Sunday seems like the easiest option and I shall take it.

Thursday 12 January 2012

CHANGE OF SONG!

As I was finding it very tough and as an indiviual to work with the Adam Lambert "Whataya Want From Me" Song and producing the music video for it as a performance based video, I've decided to take a more narrative approache to a new song which I have listened to and have a lot of effective narrative lyrics to work with as well as a funky upbeat song.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Filming

As I got down to filming and everything was in place, it seemed as if it wasn't to go exactly like I planned. The reasons for this is partly because of the shots within the camera as filming never really looked exciting or as special as I was expecting it to and it did not suit the song. Another reason was the performer was reluctant to performing as it came to the time feeling very nervous and anxious also getting very self confident meaning I am in need to find another performer first and to make some changes to my ideas and plans.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Specific Album Art Analysis

Album Analysis 1 : Black Veil Brides - Rebels

This album art shows the audience procisely the sort of music there is going to be as the apperance of the person within the image looks like a rocker with his leather jacket and chains mixed with his long hair and masucline posture. Also the dark planet placed in the way he is facing also shows it could be some what dark or meaningful music with heart felt lyrics also the title of the alum placed on his jackets back "Rebels" indicate some sort of rebellion. It also is very effective in it's difference to other album covers.

Album Analysis 2 : Adam Lambert - Better Than I Know Myself (Single)

This single cover has the artist placed on the left looking to his right with a somewhat emotional thoughtful face dressed in black with his hair styled and spiked along wit his black earring showing he has a fashion sense. The Font to his name and the lyrics vary but showing some sort of funk or groove to it placed in front of the grey looking and yellow looking background showing it could relate to a thoughtful song.

Album Analysis 3 : Bring Me The Horizon - There is A Hell, Believe Me I've Seen it, There is A Heaven, Let's Keep It A Secret

This album cover of Bring Me The Horizon features no words but only a picture of a person placed in a mask however split into two showing a male on the left and a female on the right. The male on the left is holding a dagger and dressed in a black robe showing dirt and hair on his body. However the female on the right is dressed in white with dirt her arm holding keys showing somewhat as if they female is a prisoner to a male. Meaning the songs to this album could be dark and heartfelt as well as perhaps about experiences.
Album Analysis 4 : Asking Alexandria - Reckless & Relentless

This album cover show the audience that it is going to have somewhat heart felt lyrics as you can see the album cover is called "Reckless & Relentless" Already powerful words used to describe somewhat of a breakdown. Also the image of the lady in the image looking roughed up and torn dress sat in a manly way alongside a smashed TV as well as the image being in black and white it shows some level of Rock.

Album Analysis 5 : Michael Jackson - Bad

This album cover is a old album of Michael Jackson, which the title of the album is "Bad" the image of the artist himself standing alone in a blank background looks with the word Bad shows he has somewhat decided to go for the stud looking person going for some sort of aggression shown in his facial expression and even though not much is happening it is very effective cause of the apperance.

Introduction to Myself

Hello, As You may no my name is James Vlahos. I'm currently studying Media, Art, PE and ICT, I am only 18 years old however as I was born on March the 1st I shall be turning 19 in the same year meaning I'm a year older then the vast majority of year 13 in this 6th form and most students here.

I'm a friendly happy cheerful chap who tries to think positive about everything and attempts his best at all his work, However has a few distractions as I am only 1 of 7 children meaning distractions can happen whenever when I'm home. However this has what adapted me to getting used to all the things I am used to such as loud noise and nuisances.

I'm currently in the process of planning and filming my media music video which had a quick sudden change of the song however by the same artist. The reason I felt the need to change the song is as getting about 1:30 minutes through planning my first choice I found it wasn't suitable or exactly easily possible on myself to fully plan the whole 4 minutes without it losing it's plot planned, meaning I have chosen to go for a much more narrative approache with a different song which I believe I can work extremely well with.