Narrative Theory/videos

Narrative Theory

Our literal video

After looking at literal videos from Bruno Mars, Bonnie Tyler and James Blunt I attempted to make a literal video for Katy Perry's song "Roar". When given this task I thought it would be very easy but to my surprise it was actually a very hard task! You have to get the correct amount of syllables per word and a certain amount of words per line! It took much longer than we thought it would take and we managed to do about 2 minutes of it and we have not been able to publish it yet. 

LITERAL VIDEO Grenade - Bruno Mars

LITERAL VIDEO You're Beautiful - James Blunt

LITERAL VIDEO You're Beautiful - James Blunt

LITERAL VIDEO Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler

Simon Bradshaw album covers thoughts and questions

marlowe - 
1) "it's turning me on" debut EP 

• red - seduction which links to the title
• minimal - very intruiging
• drawn - like a comic drawing
• putting on lipstick - this also links to the title as the motion is quite seductive
• black - both the red and black colours are quite dark suggesting his music may be dark 
• There are no capitals which makes it stand out and question why?
• It doesn't feature the artist which suggests they concentrate on their music
• ambiguous to whether it is a band or a single person and if they are male or female
• Image looks 90s 

2) "darksparklecorner" 1st album

• heavily relying on the image to sell the music
• child looks quite scared it is very ambiguous
• who is the baby? 
• the same lower caps letters on the title, clearly runs throughout their albums
• the image gives quite an unsettling feeling
• why use a baby photo? 
• dated picture, it could be him as a baby
• what does the title mean, it doesn't really link to the photo
• very strong dark shadow

3) "a day in july" 2nd album

• where is the image
• suggests they like travelling
• could be more world influenced, developing over time
• suggests they like their music themselves, I can imagine the band playing up in the mountains to themselves. 
• again there is a lot of ambiguity as what does the photo mean
• none of the album covers link to the band themself
• 'they've got their head in the clouds'
• the font is bigger which may suggest the content of the album which would also link to the photo as it suggests a worldly content
• something nostalgic about his album covers
• is this picture from when he went on holiday? 
• weather is quite good which could relate to the mood of the music

4) "deep breathe fake air" 3rd album

• like a diagram 
• has sketches of hair which suggests a sense of realism 
• clear bloke images, quite simple
• why are there letters? should there be a key for us to understand the photo
• human body, human experience
• blue is quite a cold colour for a body
• there is a very definate change in this album, there was a sence on similarity in the first three however this diagram is different
• 'marlowe' is changed to black whereas before it was always white
• looks like coldplays album cover "a rush of blood to the head"

TESTCARD

1) "LINES" 1st album 

• colour is representing the idea of a card
• very minimalist
• image represents the title
• so simple
• suggests the band concentrate on the music
• acoustic 
• no colour
• looks eco friendly 
• same genre but different target audience maybe? 

ROJA 

1) "Promises I Should Have Kept" 1st album

• shakespeare type font
• spanish like 
• change of music
• mexican, western 
• culture element
• again nothing to do with the actual band 
• looks more creative like it has been drawn 

QUESTIONS TO ASK SIMON BRADSHAW 

1) why did you have a recurring theme of red on the first 4 albums ?
2) why don't marlowe use capital letters?
3) why did the band disband ? 
4)what was the idea behind the lines album cover layout? 
5) whos the kid on "darksparklecorner" and what are we supposed to be making of the image
6)why is "darksparklecorner" one word
7)why arn't you/band members on any of the ban covers
8)is Roja a completely different style of music
9)the landscape of the Roja album links to the marlowe album... why? 
10)why are there letters floating around the body on the deep breathe fake air cover
11)what would you classify your music as
12)is there a thread that goes through all of your work or is testcard and roja quite different
13)what do you do in the band? 
14)are you given creative influence on the design on the album or is it managed? 

Lip Sync Exercise

We started the exercise by getting the lyrics to the song 'Rather Be' by Clean Bandit. We had to go through the lyrics of the first verso so we knew what we were doing as we wanted to look good.

We then went into the studio and Luke went through what we were going to be doing to give us an understanding. Last weekend I went on a music video shoot so knew what I was doing therefore Luke appointed me as Assistant Director (AD), and also floor manager. This was exciting as I felt I had some responsibility and people were listening to me.

There were three stages in which we filmed. One behind a green screen, this had the ipad which had the playback on, then one on a dolly being tracked and the last on a sofa which was designed as a 'set'. Throughout the time in the studio I understood that listening to your AD was very important as when we all swapped roles I behaved in a different way and realised the AD organises the whole thing. I also learnt that speaking loudly saying  STANDING BY and ROLLING is very important otherwise the AD does not know that everyone is ready and could start shooting whilst other people aren't ready or everyone is ready just no one says anything.

We then went up to the edit suite after we had done all three stations. Here we were given a tutorial on how to edit a music video together with the frames and timings. When we were given this we went to synch frames together so we had an understanding of what to do. We were then given another tutorial on how to cut the piece together and then went off and did that with our footage. This was actually easier than I thought and I really enjoyed putting the whole piece together.

I thought that we did ours really well and maybe I would have taken a few different shots next time.  
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

 

Star Image Powerpoint

Star Image Powerpoint - Rihanna and Miley Cyrus

Comparing album covers

This album cover of Beyoncé clearly concentrates on sexuality and is a little explicit. Her body is covering her name which suggests there is no need for her full name as people know who she is. Additionally she is not looking into the camera therefore it is more 'cold sexy' and less intense for the viewer.
This album is her fourth album and she has simply called it '4'. This suggests that she doesn't need to be adventurous with her album names, who she is is the star and there is no need for distractions. We are made to fix our eyes on Beyoncé, her clothing is fairly provocative as her gilet just covers her boobs which gives the viewer a sense of mystery and temptation, especially males. The way she is posing is quite sexual and she is opening herself to the camera.

COMPARISON

Mumford and Sons have an image with them that is related to villages and the countryside. Such as this album cover 'sigh no more' and the EP cover 'awake my soul'. All four of them feature on each cover which suggests that their music is very much about them and what they make. In the album cover above, there is a whole village behind them which portrays the type of people that enjoy their music.

Their star image is their look. They are very 'chilled' and make their audience feel comfortable. Three of the members are looking into the camera however the centre right member is having a conversation with the far right member which gives a sense of a relaxed atmosphere and they are not completely set up. 

Passenger - Let Her Go

This video of Passenger, unlike many, is a set of him and his band performing the song. It looks like he is singing and they are playing live but actually the sound is synched on top. This draws the viewer in as it is like a performance and not a narrative. It cuts into the set up of the performance so the viewer can see how it is all set up and also makes the viewer feel part of the crew. The star image in this video is the music and the performance. As there is no narrative our concentration is purely on his voice and instruments. There is no intertextuality as suggested previously, it is purely based on the sound. Passenger has clearly aimed this video to his fans who don't expect anything more from him and appreciate his music.