Main Shoot Reflections

The shoot went really well and I think that we have enough to good footage to avoid a reshoot. We all seem happy about how it went and are all exhausted after using all our energy. It should all be worth it though and I can't wait to capture the footage and to work with it in the edit suite.

Band Website Analysis

1. The Blackout - Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/theblackout



The main colours used on the layout are green, black and orange. Which are the colours linking with their latest release. Black is also commonly associated with the genre that they are a part of. The album cover is at the top of the page so that it is the first thing you see. ECU at the side display each band member and their role in the band.

They also display all of their current tour dates and all of their promo videos released so far. The main one that they display at the top of their page is the video for their new single, 'Save Our Selves (The Warning). This is because they are currently promoting it and want to people to hear the song and then use the links below it to purchase the track or album that it is on.



As per usual on every band's Myspace page their are contact and label details along with a vast list of friends including bands they are currently on tour with and their record company. Linked with their label, Epitaph, there are also adverts to do with other bands on the label who are either touring at the moment or have had a recent release.



2. Alexisonfire - Official - http://theonlybandever.com/



When going onto Alexisonfire's official website the vibrant pink that confronts oneself is unsuspected unless you own a copy of their latest album, Old Crows/Young Cardinals. This is because the album cover is pink in nature and has a delectable image of a red cardinal bird on it. This is a move away from the more darker tones more commonly associated with the Post-Hardcore genre. On their homepage they also have a bird's feather which relates to the album and the same font used on the cover. From their homepage you can view the latest news about the band and also some of their upcoming tour dates along with their latest video. From here their are also many lins across the top of the page to different sections of the site.



These range from 'media' which displays pictures of the band to the ievitable 'store' section where you can buy products ranging from cds to shirts. A feature that may be different from other bands is that their section about themselves titled 'about' is actually written by the band themselves to give over a more personal feeling about it. They also have a 'community' page where fans send in their own content that could be videos of the band live or drawings of the members. These are all available to view and once again adds to the personal nature of the site.

3. The Devil Wears Prada - Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/tdwp


At the top of The Devil Wears Prada's Myspace page is their name in massive bold typing to let you know that you are in the right place. Behind it is a nicely drawn picture of a tree which is their latest album cover and relates to the title of it, 'With Roots Above And Branches Below'. The colours used are also dark like ' The Blackout''s page and the colours also link once again to their latest release.
There seems to be an endless amount of adverts and promotional material on their Myspace. These include their discography, merchandise and even downloadable ringtones. This seems a much less personal experience than Alexisonfire's website as it feels much more of an industry driven website and almost as if they have not had a part in creating it. It is also annoying that half of the videos don't seem to play as they are an American band and MTV don't allow English people to watch them due to stupid copyright issues. There are numerous images of the band in the stereotypical genre image with tattoos and fringes. This makes it more accessible for fans to copy their look.

Album Cover Montage

Here are the album covers that I made notes on in the form of a lovely square montage:

Album Cover Deconstruction: Every Time I Die - 'New Junk Aesthetic'

I have chosen to deconstruct the cover of Every Time I Die's 5th and Latest album, 'New Junk Aesthetic'. The genre that this album falls into is a mix of Southern Rock and Hardcore. The album was released on the 14th September 2009 and is not only one of my favourite album covers, but also has some very interesting artwork. I own the deluxe edition which includes two discs and comes in the form of a digipak case. I am unable to find any pictures of the sleeve or back cover online, but I shall definately bring it into the lesson.

The image on the front cover portrays a mythical god covering his eyes, but somehow seeing through them. This could suggest that there are things he does not wish to see, but has no choice except to. The graphically drawn artwork continues in the album booklet as every song on the album has its own illustration to go with it and are all drawn by the band's guitar player, Jordan Buckley. The same colours are also used throughout which are the mundane creams, whites and greys, but always with the striking pink standing out to highlight areas.

The text used for the bands name uses the same font as has been used on all of their albums with their iconically curly 'I', which in this case matches the image by being coloured pink. This front cover purely has the objective of grabbing the attention of people as opposed to the back cover and sleeve which give you song information including lyrics. There are no images of the band members in the digipak as this is their 5th album and if you were a fan of them you would probably know what they looked like. This is also consistent with the genre as many heavier bands don't rely on their looks or style as much as other genres such as pop and indie. We can tell form the highly detailed illustration on the cover that the band take their time and consider music a creative artform.

The 4 Ps

a) What band/artist related products can audiences buy?
Products range from the actual music that they produce which comes in many different formats, such as cds, downloads and dvds. Other products include the bands merchandise which fans buy to be associated with the artist. These are often mainly clothing and posters.

b) Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?
The internet has recently taken over from high street shops as online sites such as Amazon and Play have become more favourable compared to HMV and other retailers. Downloading is now popular, this applies to both paid for content and illegally downloaded music. Bands myspace pages also offer fans a chance to hear their music. All of their videos can also be freely viewed on sites such as Youtube.

c) Give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products.

• Record companys sometimes give out free sampler cds in places like magazines to give their artists greater exposure. Both Epitaph and Roadrunner records have done this in recent months.
• Mailing lists are also very popular among artists as they keep the fans up to date on breaking news.

d) List between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies (including at least 3 internet based examples).

• If you preordered Enter Shikari's new single online you got the service charge on your gig ticket discounted for a show on their upcoming tour.
• Saosin gave fans the chance to be credited on their album booklet if they texted in their name to a given number. Example of subambulant marketing.
• Radiohead let fans decide on how much they wanted to pay for their new album. They were the first to do this and it has recently spread to other media platforms with the new 'Championship Manager' video game poised to do the same.
• Green Day released their single 'Know Your Enemy' without any warning or publicising. This started rumours that a new song was out and momentum eventually picked up and got people talking about them again.
• Slipknot posted a video on youtube and their myspace 'encouraging' fans to go to their shows on their 2008 US tour.

Referencing

I have decided to edit together some bits of other bands videos, such as shots I like that I feel would add to our music video. I realise that some may be impossible to pull off or very hard, but we could attempt to do some similar things to create the same effects.

Music Video Referencing from Simon Cardy on Vimeo.

Genre Stuff

Here is prove that the visuals of a music video really do have to match the genre of music. I was bored so decided to sync up Britney's video and August Burns Red cover of 'Hit Me Baby One More Time'. We can see that the whole mise-en-scene of the video doesn't fit the track as well as the cast. It does, however, provide a few chuckles at some points where it matches quite well.

Hit Me Baby One More Time from Simon Cardy on Vimeo.