Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Band Name

Finally, I have came up with a name for my band...

Little Gone Life

I think this name fits perfectly with the genres I am using (indie / alternative / rock), and I think it's a really catchy band name.

The name of the band implies that, even though they're young (i.e. 'little'), they may have wasted a lot of their life already (hence the 'gone life'). And so this name can link to the lyrics in their songs, which will make their lyrics more true and real to them.

For the self-titled album cover, I like the idea of using a flatline showing a heartbeat (implying that the heartbeat is that of a member of the band). Each beat on the flatline represents a time in their life, up until this point; e.g. early childhood, early teenage years, alcohol and drug use; and then the result of this; I will use images or sihloettes of images to portray these times in the person's life, and the images will follow the flatline into the next life stage, showing how decisions in early childhood can determine your early teenage years, and so on.

 
As you can see from the image, the heart beats decrease as the life progresses, implying that their lives are getting progressively worse and that their time is running out.

The album cover will be in black and white, and I have decided to use this image as their logo, so this will appear on their magazine feature.
I think I will put their name in the bottom right hand corner of the album cover, but in small writing, which is a common feature I have seen in the album covers I have researched.

The idea of the alcohol and drug use in my album cover / band logo came from research I have done, mainly from that of the Arctic Monkeys, as they're both a common theme throughout their lyrics and videos.

Thursday, 25 September 2014

Music Video Theories Part 2

Laura Mulvey

Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist.
She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London.
She worked for the British Film Institute for many years before becoming a university professor.
Mulvey is best known for her essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen.


The main features of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory are:
  • The representation of women in a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexuals male point of view
  • Scopophilia - the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies
  • Objectification of female characters
  • Patriarchal society
  • Active male and passive female
  • Men - controlling subjects
  • Women as an image
  • Men do the looking and the women are there to be looked at
  • Needs of the male ego


Her article, which was influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, was one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic framework.
Mulvey states that she intends to use Freud and Lacan's concepts as a "political weapon." She then used some of their concepts to argue that the cinematic apparatus of classical Hollywood cinema inevitably put the spectator in a masculine subject position, with the figure of the woman on screen as the object of desire and "the male gaze".
In the era of classical Hollywood cinema, viewers were encouraged to identify with the protagonist of the film, who were, and still are, overwhelmingly male. Meanwhile, Hollywood women characters of the 1950s and '60s were, according to Mulvey, coded with "to-be-looked-at-ness" whilst the camera positioning and the male viewer constituted the "bearer of the look." Mulvey suggests two distinct modes of the male gaze of this era: "voyeuristic" (i.e. seeing woman as image "to be looked at") and "fetishistic" (i.e. seeing woman as a substitute for "the lack," the underlying psychoanalytic fear of castration).

Mulvey argues that the only way to annihilate the patriarchal Hollywood system is to 'radically challenge and re-shape the filmic strategies of classical Hollywood with alternative feminist methods'. She calls for a 'new feminist avant-garde filmmaking' that would 'rupture the narrative pleasure of classical Hollywood filmmaking'. She writes, "It is said that analysing pleasure or beauty annihilates it. That is the intention of this article."


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After reading the comment:

Mulvey's theory has influenced my planning because I am going to focus a lot on more on the woman in my video than videos by similar bands, as they tend to focus more on the band and use the woman simply just for their looks. Also, instead of using a stereotypical 'good looking' couple, I'm not going to film their faces, which will make them 'anonymous' but it will also show that I am using the two people to represent every type of couple, and not just the conventional ones. This will be something different for my audience because they are used to seeing woman being objectified in videos, whereas I won't be doing that. But the audience will still be able to relate to it, and will hopefully connect more with my video than that of other bands.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Band-ity - Fall Out Boy

The final band I am going to look at for my brand identity research is Fall Out Boy.
They are an American Pop / Rock / Punk band, and have been around since 2003, with their first single, 'Dead On Arrival'.
The single was only released on vinyl or via digital download, not on a CD. Also, the vinyl sleeve and the vinyl itself were just blue, without a picture of the band and no logo, making it clear that the band wanted to focus on getting their music heard rather than marketing themselves. This immediately established to the audience / potential fans what sort of band they are, and what they want their band identity to consist of.


This was the 9th single by the band, titled 'Thnks Fr Th Mmrs' (Thanks For The Memories), and was released in 2007. The title of this song is similar to 'The Neighbourhood'; when they felt they were enough of an established artist, they cut out the vowels and a few consonants of their name (The Nbhd), and Fall Out Boy have done a similar thing with the title of this single. However, this was done because the record label asked the band to shorten the titles of their singles, because they were too long, so the band used 'Thnks Fr Th Mmrs' as the title, as a sort of ironic 'dig' at their label.
Bassist Pete Wentz explained that the song refers to a romantic relationship in which the initial sentiments have gone, but both lovers continue to "sleep with each other" to 'satisfy their physical and mental desires'. The cover of the song, therefore, might symbolise a clock on their relationship; it's only a matter of time before the couple totally lose that spark and no longer want to be together, hence the clock. Also, the word 'memories' in the title is a reference to time, which could be a direct reference to the clock in the picture.



The latest single released by the band is 'Centuries', and was released on the 9th September 2014. This is the first single released by the band this year, and saw the return of the band's more 'rockier' sound, since the bands' 2013 singles were said to be more 'pop' than 'rock'. "We started writing 'Centuries' while we were on tour because we felt the calling. Traveling the world for the last year we have seen and been a part of the landscape and fabric of music - from tiny sweaty clubs in Australia to insanely huge festivals in the UK. It felt impossible not to react to it." Patrick Stump said about the song. "We don’t feel any urge to turn the clock back; we crave something new, our place in it all. That some kids from the middle of nowhere in the USA can make a mark or will scream long enough until the world listens, is amazing - but it’s all just to prove to the next kid that she can pick up a guitar and know that it is a weapon. Make no mistake, “Centuries” is the story of David & Goliath. It is us passing along the story of how we feel right before we step on stage, trading feeling small and human for all the sweat and grit and sheer power of belief it takes to stare down a giant. Sometimes wrongs are righted. Sometimes if you scream loud enough the world will listen. Sometimes the quintessential loser wins. Sometimes the giant falls."
The band also released an intense Scantron-directed music video for the song, which was filmed using Instagram’s new 'Hyperlapse' app to give a super-fast, super thorough tour of Chicago. They said they wanted to do something different to fit with their new sound, and they thought that this would be the best way to do it. By making a video using this technology, they got a lot of people talking, and the video already has 3.5 million views. They have said that this video is only just the promo video and that there is an official video to follow, which has left social media wondering how they are going to top their lyric video.


In 2009, Fall Out Boy, released a greatest hits albums named 'Believers Never Die – Greatest Hits'. It featured all of the singles the band had released up until that point, with 2 extra songs which no one has heard yet.
The artwork was designed by an artist called Daniel Danger. He has designed and illustrated for the likes of Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, The Black Keys, Arcade Fire, and Snow Patrol.
The band released this album because they knew they weren't going to be releasing a new album for a few years, and they feared about disconnecting themselves from their fans, and so they were unusual with their reasons for releasing a greatest hits album - they did it for the fans so they had an album to listen to whilst they waited for their next album, whereas a lot of artists release a greatest hits album because their record label predicts a lot of money will come from it. “A lot of people think it’s just the label contract, pushing it out, but we’re putting two new songs on there, one that a lot of people liked off the mixtape we made, then we’re including two bonus tracks,” Pete Wentz said. “There’s DVD commentary on all our videos, then there’s gonna be a lot of secret messages to our fans in the artwork. It’s not just some straightforward thing.”



The music video for 'America's Suitehearts'  involves various people being drastically changed by the media and paparazzi, which is what the song is said to be about. The video is made up of clips of the band performing in exaggerated circus costumes on a carousel, and the music video is said to be inspired by director Federico Fellini, as well as the film 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'.



Each band member's costume represents a character from various lyrics on Folie à Deux', the album which the song features on:
  • Patrick Stump: Dr. Benzedrine (Mr. Benzedrine from "20 Dollar Nose Bleed")
  • Pete Wentz: Mr. Sandman (from "Headfirst Slide into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet")
  • Andy Hurley: Donnie the Catcher (from "What a Catch, Donnie")
  • Joe Trohman: Horse Shoe Crab (from "The (Shipped) Gold Standard")



The music video for 'What a Catch, Donnie' was a turning point for the band, as it was dedicated to Atlanta rapper 'Dolla', who was shot and killed a few months before the song's release. The band shot the video for the song on 1st July 2009, and was released on MTV on 6th August 2009.
Pete Wentz said "We haven't done a video like this before, a video dedicated to someone's death, the death of our best friend and rapper, Dolla. We hope to shoot the video for 'What a Catch, Donnie' in the same place he was shot.
The video follows lead singer, Patrick Stump, alone at sea trying to find his way home. 


Throughout most of the video, he is fishing, reading in his cabin, playing the piano, and suffering from loneliness.
Eventually, he finds a seagull trapped in ropes on his ship. He frees and befriends the bird and so the two set sail together and Patrick is no longer lonely.
Towards the end of the video, Patrick starts to fish again but finds strange objects such as deer antlers (from Antler Boy in 'Sugar, We're Goin Down'), a black and white striped jacket (the jacket Patrick wore in 'Dance, Dance'), and a bass drum (one of Andy Hurley's drums). Finally, he comes across a sign featuring the letters F, O, and B (the sign from 'Thnks fr th Mmrs'. He then looks up and spots a white casket (from the music video for 'This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race') as well as a sinking ship. He immediately turns the boat around to rescue the survivors on the lifeboats (who include Joe Trohman, Andy Hurley, Spencer Smith, Brendon Urie, and everyone else (except Pete Wentz) who has worked with Fall Out Boy over the past few years).

After all of the survivors are on the boat celebrating because they were rescued, Patrick looks out at the sinking ship. In the top right corner you can see a man assumed to be the captain in a white uniform saluting; Pete Wentz. Once all of the survivors are on the boat, and getting closer to shore, Patrick sets free his Seagull friend and watches him fly off with his family into the coast. At the end of the song it also depicts some of their greatest hits. In the background they sing chorus lines from their songs "Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy", "Sugar We're Goin Down", "Dance, Dance", "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race", "Thnks fr th Mmrs", and "Growing Up".
However, there was a mix-up with the release of the video, because the distributors released the wrong version of the music video. In the one they released, it featured a badly CGI-ed Pete Wentz, but the band just laughed it off and the fans found it amusing. “I kind of came up with the ‘Captain goes down with the ship’ idea, only somehow that got CGI-ed into, like, ‘Titanic’ on a $2 budget,” Wentz told MTV News. “It was not good, so that’s the only reason why I took myself out of it. It takes away from a video that I think is a really good piece."


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After reading the comment:

Fall Out Boy's 'brandity' isn't as consistent as that of other bands I've looked at (e.g. Arctic Monkeys and The Neighbourhood), as their album and single artworks vary in style and design, and their music videos are different in their styles and what they present and portray. For example, the video for 'American Suitehearts' is a metaphor for what the media can do to people; they change them and shape them to become almost 'clones' of what they want you to be, and they control you. The band follow this theme of trying to go against the norms of society throughout their lyrics, and this is what makes them different from other bands, but it is also what I like about them, and what has inspired me to  use a metaphor for my band's logo (the heart beat).

Monday, 22 September 2014

Pitch

Before we started to work on our music videos, we made a 'pitch' to the rest of the class and our media teacher, where we answered any questions people had about our video.


(A lot has changed since we did this pitch, but I am uploading it as a point of reference so I can see what has changed since the start of the year).





Music Video Pitch from Amy Washbourne on Vimeo.

Clips To Film

I am currently in the middle of putting together a rough cut of footage for my music video.
However, I have only filmed a small amount (my footage from America) and I needed to see what shots I needed to support my narrative. Therefore, I have made a table featuring the type of shots I want, and what part of the song they will fit with, making it clearer for me when it comes to filming:

I will refer back to this table when I start to film so that I can figure out where and when I need to film a lot quicker than I would be able to without a plan.
Even though this on only a rough guide and I haven't gone into a lot of detail in the table, it will leave me room to be flexible when I'm shooting, as a lot of my ideas come to me when I'm stood with the camera in my hands.
I will, however, post any ideas I have in the time between now and when it comes to shooting, so I can refer back to my plans in my evaluation.

Friday, 19 September 2014

Band-ity - Arctic Monkeys

The second band I am going to research as part of my research into bands' brand identity (band-ity) are the Arctic Monkeys. They fall into the genre of alternative rock, similar to The Neighbourhood.
 
 


This was the first studio album released by the band, in 2006. It was named 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. The model on the cover is 19 year old Chris McClure. He was a friend of the Arctic Monkeys when the band gave him, his cousin, and a best friend money to spend on drinking and a night out. The photo of McClure squinting at the camera and smoking a cigarette that ended up on the cover of the album was  taken late that night. There was some controversy surrounding the cover art after the album release — a Scotland health official said the photo “reinforces the idea that smoking is OK.” However, Johnny Bradshaw, the band’s product manager, responded to criticism by saying, “you can see from the image smoking is not doing him the world of good.”
 


This is the album cover for 'Favourite Worst Nightmare', released in 2007. The building used in the music video and on the album cover is a row of houses situated in Liverpool which was marked for demolition. The video’s makers took down walls and removed windows and fences, and the interior of the house was then painted with psychedelic murals; front and back elevations of the house were ripped off to reveal the paintings for the shoot. The area was due for demolition and was therefore chosen because of the availability of empty houses. The cover portrays a sort of 'hippie' / '70s theme, as seen through the contrast in colours of the inside of the derelict house and the title of the album in the top corner.

 



This was the 3rd album released by the band, in 2009, and is the first album cover which features the band. It was the first real time that the fans got to see and hear the band since their huge success in America, and this was the start of the Arctic Monkeys' 'rockier' sound. The idea of the band being on the front of the cover is unusual for their genre of music, because it's usually either an artistic image, or just a simple logo with a plain-ish background. The colours of the album are very different than their other artwork, mainly because it's not in black and white or full of dark colours. Even though at first glance the cover just looks like the band have been caught off-guard when they were standing around talking, a closer look will reveal implications of drug use; for example, the fact that Alex Turner is rubbing his nose, implying that he's just taken cocaine possibly. Also, the image of Alex has been duplicated above him, suggesting a sort of 'trip' caused by the drugs.

 
 




This is my favourite album cover by the band, mainly because it's so simple. The minimalistic sound wave features the initials of the band 'AM', which is also the title of the album, in the middle of the wave. The band haven't commented about the cover, which adds a sense of mystery to it, but the sound wave flows (mind the pun) into the lyric video for 'Do I Wanna Know'.
 

 
 




The website for the band is similar to the album cover of 'AM' - the black and white colour scheme with the bold writing. The website changes regularly, and may possibly even change to fit their style at the time of releasing a new album. For example, their old website (below) had a totally different font and style to how the website looks now.
 

The first music video the band released was 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco', released in 2005. It is quite a simple video, with half of the video being performance based, and the other half is footage of the band on tour, mainly through a fish-eye camera. The performance is filmed in small venues in several different locations, and was directed by Chris Commons & Mark Bull, friends of the band.
 

 

 

 
The video for Fluorescent Adolescent was filmed in 2007 and was directed by  Richard Ayoade and features Stephen Graham, who previously appeared on the  "When the Sun Goes Down" video. The video premiered on Channel 4, which is unusual for a music video.
The music video is based around a fight between a group of clowns and a group of non-clowns at an abandoned warehouse. The  leaders of the two groups have a flashback showing that they were friends when they were young children. During the flashback, photos of the band as young children are shown, but, throughout the fight, each group leader attempts to kill the other. As the music video climaxes, the non-clown leader tries to run over the clown leader. However the clown leader notices that the non-clown leader's car (with the non-clown leader inside) has been leaking fuel and drops his cigarette lighter. The car quickly catches fire and the clown leader looks on as his former friend burns and the music video ends.
 
The video is loosely inspired by the poem "Out of Control Circus" by John Cooper Clarke. Turner says he's a fan and gets lyrical inspiration from Clarke. The poem is also printed inside the CD release of "Fluorescent Adolescent."


 
 

In 2011, Arctic Monkeys released 5 music videos, all of which were directed by Focus Creeps, and they later directed 5 more music videos by the band. Focus Creeps have one aim - to portray teenage rebellion in their videos, and I think they do this perfectly in the video for 'Suck It And See', with the video for 'Evil Twin' being almost a follow-up video. It premiered in 2011 and  tells a narrative story of a biker (drummer Matt Helders) and his relationship with a lover, portrayed by American model Breana McDow.

The video is set in California and mocks the macho nature of American biker culture. It has also been suggested that the video is a tongue-in-cheek response to criticism that the band's sound has become too "Americanised".
The "Evil Twin" video continues the story but has a faster, darker tone, and Alex Turner briefly appears in this video.



The most recent music video that the band have released is 'Snap Out Of It', also directed by Focus Creeps. It stars the Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman, and tells the story of 'the insanity of a broken heart'.
Sigman is filmed staring into thin air, cooking meat, frantically replaying grainy footage of the band in rehearsal, and sobbing excessively while dressed in the official uniform of the mournful ex-girlfriend: a big bra.
 
This video has been heavily criticised by critics for being too 'egotistic' of Alex (mainly because a beautiful woman is frantically dancing around and getting emotional over old videos of him). Also, they've said that the video 'doesn't leave room for interpretation' and it is too 'forward' in the way it portrays the woman in this video; implying that she is nothing without him and he no longer has a man so she isn't going to be able to cope.
 
 
Another criticism of the band in recent years is that Alex Turner has become the 'main image' of the band - he is the spokesperson and the recognisable face of the band (if you asked anyone who is not a fan of Arctic Monkeys to identify the other band members, they'd struggle). This is mainly because of the media, because they always push for a lead singer or spokesperson of the band, which is now Alex Turner. Just because he is the lead singer, though, it does not mean that he is automatically the main person. For example, Fall Out Boy's lead singer is Patrick Stump, but the bassist, Pete Wentz, is the focal point of the band with thanks to the media, so now he is the centre of the photoshoots and interviews.
I found some pictures of Arctic Monkeys before Alex was the centre of attention from the media... :
 


...and some after... :
 
Alex is wearing a white jacket whereas the other band members are wearing black jackets. Coincidence?
 
 
 
Alex has been placed in front of the rest of the band, and has been styled differently to them to make him stand out more.
 
 
 
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After reading the comment:
 
The Arctic Monkeys haven't exactly created a brand identity themselves, but more the media has for them over time. This is something that I don't exactly want for my band, so I am going to focus more on the promotion of their music rather than the band members themselves. This will stop the media from choosing a 'lead signer' without the consent of the band, which you can see was done with the Arctic Monkeys, and will make the media look more at their music rather than the band's image.

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Band-ity - The Neighbourhood

My next 3 posts are going to be research into 3 different bands from the alternative / rock genre, and I will look at their band's brand identity (band-ity); i.e. album covers, single covers, videos, websites, lyrics etc.
This will help with my research and will help me back up my choices for the way I am branding my band.


The first band I am going to research is The Neighbourhood, as they are the main inspiration for my band.

The band have described their sound and everything they do as 'black and white', which is shown in everything they do.

This was the first official release by the band; 'I'm Sorry' was released in May 2012 and is an LP featuring 3 songs. You can see that this is where the band's branding started, with the beginning of the grey-scale background and the band's logo being the main focus on the cover. In the background of this cover and of 'Thank You' are pictures of California, which is where the band are from.



'Thank You,' is a single released in December 2012, featuring 2 songs. The band's logo features at the bottom of the single, and the name of the band is written along the right hand side of the cover in small font. This emphasises how the band want to focus more on the branding of their band rather than their commercial image. Also, the image on the cover is a screenshot from the music video of the single, making it easy for new fans of the band to see the image and remember the video, or visa-versa.
 
 
 
This is the debut album of The Neighbourhood, titled 'I Love You' and released in April 2013, which contains 11 songs. The album cover is extremely clever in its design, because the images on the cover are the title of the album (eye, heart, U); the band have written the title of the album in 3 simple images, including the upside down house which is the band's logo. I like the fact that the band have established their logo throughout their previous releases and LP covers, so they feel like they can use their logo without writing their name on the album and the fans will still know it's there's.
The band have been asked several times about their album and LPs, mainly why they used the statements 'I'm Sorry', 'Thank you', and 'I Love You' as the titles. Jessie (the lead singer) said this: "They’re all statements that are supposed to be very powerful and meaningful, but are so abused in everyday life that the meaning has basically been stripped from them. I am a huge believer that a vibe is more important than words could be. Melody and harmony does more to a human being than words do in all aspects of life."


This is an LP released by the band in December 2013, featuring 3 songs. The simple white background highlights the writing and makes it more prominent  Also, the name of the band isn't in full, the vowels are taken out; they feel they are established enough now after 3 previous releases to not need to write their band name fully.
 
 
The band's website (http://thenbhd.com/gb/) also follows the black and white theme, and so does the video on the first page of their website, as you can see above.
 
All videos by the band have been directed and produced by the same duo, ENDS (Zack Sekuler & Daniel Iglesias Jr.). This makes the brand identity of the band a lot more consecutive, and the band are good friends with ENDS so they have a lot more artistic freedom with their videos than other artists generally have, and their videos are widely open for interpretation.
'Sweater Weather'
The video follows the band around California in an old-fashioned car with a the 50s theme.
 
'Female Robbery'
This is a Hitchcock-inspired video, and portrays a chilling story of a young girl who, caught between a drunk dad and an unhappy mum, is dragged to what looks like her own funeral, but all is not what it seems.
 
'Let It Go'
The video is a very powerful representation of the meaning of the lyrics; "The song is about letting things go and letting things roll off your back," he said. "I think it's something we have to learn as human beings - the ability to take something negative in, digest it, and move on. It doesn't mean to forget about it. It doesn't mean let it take you over. Just living with it and functioning still.", Jesse - lead singer.
'Afraid'
This video shows lead singer, Jesse Rutherford, shown in past (teen) and present forms. Rutherford himself was naked throughout much of the video to express his vulnerability and fears, also the eyelids show the different perspectives of everyone in the band, from writing the songs, to playing basketball. The video also incorporated a part of OG Ron C's 'Chopped Not Slopped' remix in the middle of it.
Also, with the previous release of a vinyl record for their LP 'I'm Sorry' and my idea of releasing a vinyl for 'Sweater Weather' for my band, I thought it would be good to use this quote from The Neighbourhood members Jesse and Bryan to support my idea for wanting to release a vinyl version of the single...
"Do you think vinyl is still an important music format?"
Jesse: Very. Not, in my personal opinion, not for listening, but for collecting and for appreciating.
Bryan: I think it's better. I think for listening. I think the sound quality is better. Sometimes it's just not worth the squeeze, in terms of… to get a record player now, if you want a nice one, they're very expensive. You have to get the sound system to be able to play that record, and you have to go and buy the vinyl. So it's kind of a hassle to get it all but, if I had the option of already having it all and being able to play it, I would use it a lot more, because I know that technically, the sound quality is better.
 
 
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After reading the comment:
 
I love the greyscale they use throughout their music videos and album covers, and I hope to use this in my own pieces. Also, the videos are very different from other videos in this genre, and they're always open for interpretation, which is what I find so appealing about them. I will try to incorporate this into my own video, and use simple props and backgrounds to do so.

Friday, 12 September 2014

Vinyl Record

Because my music video is going to set in the 1950s, I thought it would be more relevant if I used a vinyl record in my video rather than a CD.

Unfortunately, The Neighbourhood were due to release a vinyl of the song 'Sweater Weather' but their label discontinued it before it was released. So I made my own.
I did this by designing a sticker of the band's album, with the same dimensions as the sticker on the vinyl record I am using (Frankie Goes To Hollywood).
I then put the sticker over the old label to make it look as if it's the original vinyl.



My dad has a box full of old vinyl records, and I used this as a prop for my video; I put the vinyl I'm using inside of the box amongst the other records, and I film myself picking out the vinyl from inside the box and putting it on the record player.


I will post the clip of the record player, which will be used in my music video, in the next week, once I have edited it.

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

Styling

After watching, studying, and analysing several different Alternative/Indie/Rock bands and their music videos, I have noticed that a lot of them wear similar / the same sort of clothes.
They all seem to wear very plain and simple black and white clothing, usually black skinny jeans with a white vest or t-shirt, and then a leather jacket; so smart-casual.

The bands below are not only similar to The Neighbourhood in terms of music, but also with their image - all of the bands have done several photo shoots in black and white and this helps to create their 'image'. 


The Neighbourhood
 
Arctic Monkeys

The 1975

Imagine Dragons

Kodaline


Kings Of Leon
 

Last Dinosaurs



Fall Out Boy
 

All of the bands above seem to wear nearly the same outfits: large, chunky jackets; sunglasses; hats; large jumpers; long necklaces; black skinny jeans; denim jackets; festival wristbands; watches; and bracelets.



I have also been researching stylists whom work on music videos for artists like The Neighbourhood.

The 3 stylists which have styled my favourite artists in some of favourite music videos are David Thomas ( http://www.davidthomasstylist.com/motion/music-videos), Emma Lamp (http://www.emmalamp.com/#!portraits/c164h), and Mark Anthony Bradley (http://markanthonybradley.com)

David Thomas
His clientele includes artists such as Jon Bon Jovi, Kanye West, Oasis, Snow Patrol. In terms of music videos, he's styled for Arctic Monkeys 'Arabella', John Legend 'Tonight', and Kayne West 'Monster'.

 

 




Emma Lamp
She has styled artists for their music videos such as The 1975 'The City', Mumford and Sons 'Winter Winds', and Lower Than Atlantis 'Love Someone Else'.





 
 
The Lower Than Atlantis video is set in a diner and is styled to look like it is set in the 50s, the same as my video, so I looked at their video for outfit inspirations.
 



Mark Anthony Bradley
He has styled videos such as McFly 'That's The Truth', and Pixie Lott 'Boys And Girls'.