Showing posts with label famous music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label famous music. Show all posts

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

ARTWORK

The image is rather bad quality, most probably due to the screen-shotting. But here's the artwork in all its 6-sided glory!


     For the front cover, I decided to stick with a simple image of two band members standing on either side of the tree from the music video we made. The overall tone is sepia, with the intention to make the whole artwork seem old or vintage. However, the deletion of the eyes of every band member on this digi-pack was intended to imply that music isn't a feast for the eyes, but for the ears, emanating from the mouth and the instruments. This is why I shot a photo of the guitar in the tree; to direct the consumer's attention to the instrument's odd positioning to emphasise this message; It's not visual material, it's audio material. It's supposed to generate a feeling of confusion because it looks so eccentric in a normal background.
      I named the band The Project because that's what the whole media coursework is; a project. It's a monosyllabic title, like The Killers, because the band doesn't need a creative name if the music is the creative factor of the coursework as well as the artwork and the rest of the ancillary products.
   I titled it Days Out In Sepia because of the superficial reason; the sepia tone, and also the reason that every image in the digi-pack is outside, and in particular the 'Public Footpath' sign, the Ferris Wheel and the Castle being synonymous with going on a day out. The three squares of artwork that aren't there to serve any purpose other than to present and promote the album have been accompanied with lyrics from certain songs: the castle background is presented with the lyrics from the 9th track Castle; the band member without any eyes leaning against the tree is accompanied with lyrics from track 1, Sound Without Sight; and the footpath sign is shown along with lyrics from track 3 Human
    I named the record label Out of School Records because I had used the same title for a previous short film that I made as an extra-curricular activity, named Out of School Productions. It is intended to be sort of a running trademark with the labelling. The barcode adds a sense of authenticity to the album as well.

   The track names were all thought up on the spot as I inserted text boxes onto the back artwork. I had, the vast majority of the time, since revisiting the image that was took 2 years ago, been heavily considering this photo for the track-list background because of the space that the sky gives beside the ferris wheel. Enough to place the 10 songs of the track list in. I named a few particular songs from certain images in front of me: the song title Sound Without Sight was named that because of every band member being eyeless, with the intention to emphasise sound, not sight. Human was named that because we made the music video to the original song by The Killers, so a connection was prioritised. Lunar Park was named because of the theme park background to the track list, which is also called Lunar Park, so it suggests that this song will be made into a video, because of the visual representation of it, the same with the lyrics to songs accompanying other artwork. I also named track 5 Braggadocio because it was simply the title of the font I was using for almost the entire artwork. And finally, Castle was named that because of the inner square of artwork consisting of a castle in the distance, protruding from a post-modern, yet slightly pastoral setting.
   The vignette style of the artwork for the disc-holder was intended to match the subsequent insertion of the blank disc-holder image, eventually making it more transparent so that the background image can be seen, as well as the circular match between the background and the disc-holder.
     
    

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

What is a Music Video?

What is a Music Video?

      A music video, from my own perspective, is the further expressing of the emotion that cannot be expressed fully by just sound. The manufacturing of a music video helps with this creation of the further emotion needed. However, music videos are also made to provide more meaning to the songs they are filmed for. Overall, a music video is made to entertain, provoke thought and to showcase more from the song and its subject. Basically, a music video is a vehicle for the song and provokes the audience to gain its popularity which in turn affects its sales.

Early Examples
       Early examples of music videos would be songs mainly from the 60'S to the 80's, with examples such as 'ABC' by The Jackson 5 in 1970 (Click Here for the Video).Further on down the years, The Buggles' hit song 'Video Killed the Radio Star' (Click Here for the Video)was the first (or one of the first) music video to play on MTV in 1979. Another music video that is also another early example is the infamous 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen (Click Here for the Video)which was released in 1975. Quite a lot of the classic music videos were notable influences to music videos of the noughties. Such as 'Take On Me' by A-Ha (Click Here for the Video)which was the influence for a large section of the 2013 video 'Feel This Moment' by Christina Aguilera and Pitbull (Click Here for the Video), where the background chorus music is an altered techno version of the famous music from A-Ha's original hit. This is an example of why most music videos lately aren't unique or entertaining, because they are mostly influenced by the classics.

Important Music Videos

Amidst the giant variety of unique, not-so-unique and classic music videos that have been released in the past 50 years, there is a rather large percentage of those that do express proper messages and importance. Michael Jackson was probably one of the optimum artists who not only created amazing music, but created amazing videos to go with them. Michael addresses the worlds problems through his number one hit (of many), 'Man in the Mirror' (Click Here for the Video),  which explores the issues of racism, poverty, war and equal rights among other problems. It is clear that Michael Jackson was genuinely interested in problems that he cared about, which is why he is probably the most famous artist who was ever known because of his vision and voice. Jackson's most infamous music video, 'Thriller' (Click Here for the Video) became the most famous music video ever to be released. It has influenced many videos after it and broke the record for being at number one for almost a year. 'Thriller' is one of the most influential videos ever made. British Songstress Kate Bush became a very important figure in the music world as her diverse and rhythmic tunes that held subliminal messages galore, glorified her talent to the world. Her debut video, 'Wuthering Heights' (Click Here for the Video), which was released in 1978 when Bush was just nineteen, became a huge and popular tune, which defined Kate as one of the most important and influential women of the music world, as she influenced many modern artists, including Florence & the Machine. The rock'n roll era was a very important time when 10 minute ballads expressed songs of emotion and messages. This era began in the mid 1950's with 'Bill Haley & his Comets', who practically founded the rock'n roll genre. An example is shown in their video 'Rock Around the clock' (Click Here for the video) in 1954. Elvis Presley, dubbed 'The King of Rock'n Roll' was a major influence on the music 
industry as he was 'crowned' for his musical talent and his contribution to Rock'n Roll as a genre. One 
of his most famous videos 'In the Ghetto'(Click Here for the Video) is widely considered a Rock'n Roll 
classic. The techno era throughout the 80's could be said to have been partially started by the British 
band 'Eurythmics', who, with their famous video of 'Sweet Dreams (are made of this)' (Click Here for the Video),
which rose their status, along with many other hit videos that made them become one of the most praised
bands in the music world with its alternative techno vibes.


My Favorite Music Videos

       I mostly enjoy the more low key, and quite depressing videos, as they convey more meaning and I 
enjoy looking for the subliminal messages that they hold. My top 4 music videos are:

5. 'Earth Song' by Michael Jackson (Click Here for the Video). Positively one of the most powerful video ever
 made for music. Jackson addresses the world's problems through imaginative lyrics and amazing set 
pieces. Probably the most emotive video I've ever seen, even surpassing 'Man in the Mirror'.
3.'Running Up That Hill' by Kate Bush (Click Here for the Video). A classic in any sense. Bush provides us 
with complicated and swift dance moves that reflect the emotion and the rhythm of the song. It gives a
 completely different take on the 'relationship' aspect of the song. We're taken through different scenarios 
that all depict beautiful but slightly disturbing scenes. 
4. 'Like a Prayer' by Madonna (Click Here for the Video). I love this video for the reason that it was highly
  controversial when it was released. The soulful music combined with atmospheric and sometimes
  tragic set pieces to allow for emotion to follow.
1. 'Little Talks' by Of Monsters & Men (Click Here for the Video). Even though it's a modern piece, the 
video for this amazing song depicts a beautiful, yet ashen grey mountainous landscape where the 
stranded cartoon band members make a trek with a guardian angel to help them. The video also 
synchronizes the tune with various events and appearances in the video to keep the beat going. It's certainly
 the most unique music video of the noughties.
2.Never Let Me Go' by Florence & the Machine (Click Here for the Video). Highly emotional video centered 
around the effect of suicide for a young couple, when one of them is revealed to have drowned. Very dark yet
 harmonious video depicting the subtle tearing apart of a relationship due to a suicide, which is made more
 emotional when they are both shown to be together, never wanting to let each other go. Basically the title.