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Thursday 10 May 2012
Friday 4 May 2012
Evaluation question 3
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13343192/q3-what-have-you-learnt-from-audience-feedback
Monday 26 March 2012
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Saturday 18 February 2012
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Directors Pitch Activity
Ideas for the video – concept:
A narrative based video that includes the classic traits of film Noir with a slight contemporary twist in the characters appearance and dialogue to match the contemporary drums in the music, the narrative will be based on the generic murder/mystery genre and narrative events will coincide with the music.
Intertextual references: There are no direct Intertextual references with any other specific media text, the style of the music video and the music will remind the viewer of the 1950’s film noir genre through familiar technical features and generic narrative.
Locations/special features needed: locations will include a bar, residence and a bridge/path. The outside locations will be shot at night to help achieve the Noir feel, and the bar and residence is styled around the 1950-1960’s to achieve the same end.
My song contains no lyrics to deconstruct.
Sunday 5 February 2012
Friday 3 February 2012
Analyse two adverts of a band similar to your genre
Hitthefloormagazine.co.uk
Picture: The picture in this advert is fairly sci-fi and astrological. The name Bi polar refers to the two ends of the musical spectrum that he covers in this particular EP, the picture reflects this ideology with opposite ends of a planet being hot and cold, blue and red etc. It is a central dominant image that is not too cluttered and has a good balance of detail and colour; overall it is quite aesthetically pleasing.
Font: The font is plain, clear and bold; it does not distract from the overall picture but fits into the overall outer-space style of the advert.
Colour: The blue and red marks the juxtaposition being displayed in this advert, the contrast of two extremes.
Picture: The picture is quite minimalistic in the sense that they are using the artist’s image to sell the album instead of enticing imagery or effects. The faint décor in the background fits in nicely with the stylish, contemporary font and the light colours indicate the mood and genre of Cullum’s music.
Font: The font is contemporary and the connotations of its style and colour scheme match the connotations of the imagery and the music. It is an appropriate match for Cullum as the lighter tones of font, picture and musician all come together well.
Colour: The colour is minimalistic and represents the angle that the musician is coming from which is quite an achievement considering the colour scheme is white and pink, somehow this advert has succeeded in not coming across completely feminine.
Sunday 29 January 2012
Thursday 26 January 2012
Create a biography of my own musical artist
Ruff Intelligence bio:
Born: 1974
Henry Hopson was born in Cobham, Surrey to a well-off family and enjoyed his sheltered life up until the age of 14. His parents were classical and jazz enthusiasts and Henry followed suit with regular saxophone and violin lessons at his private school until a messy divorce separated the family and Hopson had no other choice than to attend a public school close to his mother’s house in leatherhead. Hopson experienced a drastic change in his school life going from a ‘straight A’ student to bunking lessons and smoking cannabis. Hopson kept his love for classical instruments and proceeded to teach himself saxophone and violin. Hopson was with a new crowd of friends at his public school and was soon influenced into ‘mixing’ jungle and drum and bass, Hopson took to mixing like a duck in water and was admired by his friends for his skill. Hopson religiously bought and mixed new vinyl’s within the genres of reggae, drum and bass and jungle and his practice soon paid off with regular nights at local clubs in and around Surrey. It took Hopson until the age of 23 to turn to the production side of music but when he finally did he brought with him his classical roots, the contrast of the genres was loved by the small crowd that followed him and tunes such as ‘sax n ting’ brought him the notoriety he holds today.
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Analysing two biographies of artists similar to mine
Jamie Cullum was born at Romford Hospital in Essex and was raised in Hullavington, Wiltshire. Cullum attended the private school, Grittleton House School, followed by sixth form at Sheldon School. Cullum then studied English Literature with a minor in Film Studies, at Reading University. He graduated with first class honours.
Jamie Cullum's mother is Anglo-Burmese. Her family settled in Wales after Burma was declared independent.
As a teenager, Jamie Cullum played drums in a hip-hop group and also played guitar in bands named Raw Sausage and The Mystery Machine. He has said that Miles Davis and Tom Waits are amongst his biggest influences.
Jamie Cullum: Music Career
Jamie Cullum's first album was released in 1999. The album was entitled Jamie Cullum Trio - Heard It All Before. Only 500 copies were pressed and now reach up to around £600 on eBay. Geoff Gascoigne heard the album and invited Cullum to guest on his album Songs of the Summer.
Jamie Cullum's next album was released after he graduated from university. Entitled Pointless Nostalgic, the album attracted interest from Michael Parkinson and Melvyn Bragg. As a result, Cullum's debut TV appearance was on Michael Parkinson's BBC chat show. He was also the last musician to perform on Parkinson's 'Final Conversation' show in 2007. Pointless Nostalgic included new arrangements of classic tracks such as Thelonius Monk's 'Well You Needn't' and 'It Ain't Necessarily So' by George Gershwin.
Following Jamie Cullum's first performance on Parkinson's show, he signed a three album contract with Universal for around £1 million. His next album, Twentysomething, released in 2003, was awarded platinum status and became the number one album by a jazz artist in the UK. By the end of that year, he had become the best-selling jazz artist of all time. Twentysomething included a cover of 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over' by Jeff Buckley and 'I Get A Kick Out of You' by Cole Porter
Jamie Cullum's cover versions have become hugely popular. When he plays live, he has been known to cover artists as diverse as Kanye West ('Gold Digger'), White Stripes ('Seven Nation Army') and Massive Attack ('Teardrop'). He has also performed tracks by Rihanna, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley and Justin Timberlake.
Catching Tales was Cullum's third studio album and was released in 2005. The lead single, 'Get Your Way' was a collaboration with’ Dan the Automator’ (a member of Handsome Boy Modelling School and Gorillaz). The album was supposed to feature the track 'Wifey', which was a collaboration with Pharrell Williams, but the inclusion of the track was barred by legal problems.
In 2006, Jamie Cullum released a live album entitled Live at Ronnie Scott's.
June 2009 saw the release of Jamie Cullum's fourth album, The Pursuit. The lead single from the album was 'I'm All Over It', which received extensive mainstream radio airplay.
Jamie Cullum's mother is Anglo-Burmese. Her family settled in Wales after Burma was declared independent.
As a teenager, Jamie Cullum played drums in a hip-hop group and also played guitar in bands named Raw Sausage and The Mystery Machine. He has said that Miles Davis and Tom Waits are amongst his biggest influences.
Jamie Cullum: Music Career
Jamie Cullum's first album was released in 1999. The album was entitled Jamie Cullum Trio - Heard It All Before. Only 500 copies were pressed and now reach up to around £600 on eBay. Geoff Gascoigne heard the album and invited Cullum to guest on his album Songs of the Summer.
Jamie Cullum's next album was released after he graduated from university. Entitled Pointless Nostalgic, the album attracted interest from Michael Parkinson and Melvyn Bragg. As a result, Cullum's debut TV appearance was on Michael Parkinson's BBC chat show. He was also the last musician to perform on Parkinson's 'Final Conversation' show in 2007. Pointless Nostalgic included new arrangements of classic tracks such as Thelonius Monk's 'Well You Needn't' and 'It Ain't Necessarily So' by George Gershwin.
Following Jamie Cullum's first performance on Parkinson's show, he signed a three album contract with Universal for around £1 million. His next album, Twentysomething, released in 2003, was awarded platinum status and became the number one album by a jazz artist in the UK. By the end of that year, he had become the best-selling jazz artist of all time. Twentysomething included a cover of 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over' by Jeff Buckley and 'I Get A Kick Out of You' by Cole Porter
Jamie Cullum's cover versions have become hugely popular. When he plays live, he has been known to cover artists as diverse as Kanye West ('Gold Digger'), White Stripes ('Seven Nation Army') and Massive Attack ('Teardrop'). He has also performed tracks by Rihanna, Radiohead, Gnarls Barkley and Justin Timberlake.
Catching Tales was Cullum's third studio album and was released in 2005. The lead single, 'Get Your Way' was a collaboration with’ Dan the Automator’ (a member of Handsome Boy Modelling School and Gorillaz). The album was supposed to feature the track 'Wifey', which was a collaboration with Pharrell Williams, but the inclusion of the track was barred by legal problems.
In 2006, Jamie Cullum released a live album entitled Live at Ronnie Scott's.
June 2009 saw the release of Jamie Cullum's fourth album, The Pursuit. The lead single from the album was 'I'm All Over It', which received extensive mainstream radio airplay.
Reflection – As we can see from Cullum’s biography his upbringing is what you would expect of the image he presents to his audience and the type of audience he aims at would approve of the upbringing he has received. The genre of Jazz has certain glamour to it, a dignified and civilised respect surrounds the genre, so it would make sense that a middle/upper class boy educated in a private school. Cullum even released an album called ‘live at Ronnie Scott’s’ referring to the infamous jazz bar in central London.
Jake Carter will be a familiar face to all die-hard D&B fans, even though his new Sub Zero moniker may not be yet. Having toured the world, DJing everywhere, from Brazil to Russia, and produced some of the best jump up going as part of the widely acclaimed G Dub production unit, Jake is now embarking on an exciting new phase in his career – a solo project and a culmination of his musical achievements so far: Sub Zero.
Geordie born-and–bred, Jake, has been living in Leicester for the last six years, after re-locating from his native Newcastle home in 2003. He started out, like many D&B DJs, in his bedroom. Infected by jungle/D&B by his friends mix CDs and fuelled by the sounds of Goldie and LTJ Bukem, Jake became enthralled with the idea of being a DJ after watching an ‘Equinox’ documentary on rave culture at the tender age of 15.
Jake decided to take the next steps and managed to pick up a pair of old decks and slowly began to master the art of mixing. After hard graft, dedication, and numerous vinyl purchases later, he started getting bookings in and around Newcastle; DJ-ing at parties and flexing his skills on the decks in the clubs and the next logical stage for the ambitious 18-year old Sub Zero was to start making music himself.And so he decided to travel down the rocky road of music production. He lasted six months at college, studying ‘Music Technology’ alongside fellow G Dub partner, Adam Tindall, before he lost inspiration in the course and decided to take the tools of the trade into his bedroom studio and work from there. Together, with his trusty computer and sampler and the basics of music production emblazoned into his brain, Jake started making tunes obsessively and prolifically for the next few years.
Away from the constraints of institutionalized education, Jake flourished into an accomplished producer, favouring an energetic, jump up style of D&B that helped get early releases on DJ SS’ Formation Records, and paved the way to an exclusive deal with Hype and Pascal’s Real Playaz music empire.
The rest, as they say, is history. With an impressive back catalogue of work with G Dub, the support of the scene’s main players, and a wealth of experience – both as a DJ and producer – it is only right that Sub Zero is ready to take the next step in his already illustrious career. As part of the infamous Ganja crew, Sub Zero has the credibility and connections that most DJs can only dream of. Jake has worked hard to come as far as has, and is proud of his achievements.
In 2009, Sub Zero launched his solo career with the release of his debut single – ‘Spin Doc’ on Ganja Records. Already reaching Number One in the D&B Arena Download Charts, receiving large amounts of radio play, as well as play outs from the likes of Andy C, Hype and Grooverider, the success of this single speaks for itself, and bodes extremely well for Sub Zero’s future success.
As much inspired by the sounds of old school jungle and LTJ Bukem, as he is Vangelis’ film scores, Sub Zero is famous for his signature dance floor smashing style, making music predominantly to be played in clubs. Despite this, experimenting with sound, pushing the boundaries and doing something a bit different has, and always will, be very important to Jake. And, as he climbs higher and higher into the upper echelons of D&B production, we can only expect more great things to come from Sub Zero.
Geordie born-and–bred, Jake, has been living in Leicester for the last six years, after re-locating from his native Newcastle home in 2003. He started out, like many D&B DJs, in his bedroom. Infected by jungle/D&B by his friends mix CDs and fuelled by the sounds of Goldie and LTJ Bukem, Jake became enthralled with the idea of being a DJ after watching an ‘Equinox’ documentary on rave culture at the tender age of 15.
Jake decided to take the next steps and managed to pick up a pair of old decks and slowly began to master the art of mixing. After hard graft, dedication, and numerous vinyl purchases later, he started getting bookings in and around Newcastle; DJ-ing at parties and flexing his skills on the decks in the clubs and the next logical stage for the ambitious 18-year old Sub Zero was to start making music himself.And so he decided to travel down the rocky road of music production. He lasted six months at college, studying ‘Music Technology’ alongside fellow G Dub partner, Adam Tindall, before he lost inspiration in the course and decided to take the tools of the trade into his bedroom studio and work from there. Together, with his trusty computer and sampler and the basics of music production emblazoned into his brain, Jake started making tunes obsessively and prolifically for the next few years.
Away from the constraints of institutionalized education, Jake flourished into an accomplished producer, favouring an energetic, jump up style of D&B that helped get early releases on DJ SS’ Formation Records, and paved the way to an exclusive deal with Hype and Pascal’s Real Playaz music empire.
The rest, as they say, is history. With an impressive back catalogue of work with G Dub, the support of the scene’s main players, and a wealth of experience – both as a DJ and producer – it is only right that Sub Zero is ready to take the next step in his already illustrious career. As part of the infamous Ganja crew, Sub Zero has the credibility and connections that most DJs can only dream of. Jake has worked hard to come as far as has, and is proud of his achievements.
In 2009, Sub Zero launched his solo career with the release of his debut single – ‘Spin Doc’ on Ganja Records. Already reaching Number One in the D&B Arena Download Charts, receiving large amounts of radio play, as well as play outs from the likes of Andy C, Hype and Grooverider, the success of this single speaks for itself, and bodes extremely well for Sub Zero’s future success.
As much inspired by the sounds of old school jungle and LTJ Bukem, as he is Vangelis’ film scores, Sub Zero is famous for his signature dance floor smashing style, making music predominantly to be played in clubs. Despite this, experimenting with sound, pushing the boundaries and doing something a bit different has, and always will, be very important to Jake. And, as he climbs higher and higher into the upper echelons of D&B production, we can only expect more great things to come from Sub Zero.
Reflection:
Comparing this biography to Jamie Cullum’s we can see the difference in how they appeal to their targeted audience. For example notice how this biography doesn’t mention anything about family life or education. It also mentions him getting a pair of ‘old’ decks, a comment that doesn’t exactly paint a picture of a wealthy, well-off upbringing. Comparing the pictures we can even indicate from the gritty filter and pose of sub-zero that he leads a different life to the clean-cut, glossy presentation of Jamie Cullum. Instead the bio focuses on his determination to change his lifestyle and make it big in the ‘Rave’ scene, something that his audience of young, working/to middle class fans can relate to and be inspired by.Saturday 21 January 2012
Analyzing two album covers of artists similar to mine
1st CD cover: L.A. Noire soundtrack
This CD cover exhibits the distinctive features of Film Noir perfectly with the central dominant image being a dignified, attractive woman with a jazz band silhouetted behind her shrouded in smoke. Distinctive lighting and visual style also help to suggest the aesthetic style of Film Noir. Even the font and colour of the title coincides with the overall effect of nostalgia for Film Noir.
2nd cover (vinyl sleeve): Dave Brubeck’s greatest hits
This album cover represents Dave Brubeck as quite a well groomed, civilised man as seems to be the norm for Jazz artists. Image is just as important as the music you produce in the genre of jazz a lot of emphasis is placed on glamour. Again we see the low key lighting that also seems to be a trait of images associated with jazz and iconic Film Noir images.
Friday 20 January 2012
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Analyzing my music videos
3rd video Ruff Intelligence – Sax N Ting
This is the song I am planning to create a music video for, unfortunately the artist is not ‘big’ enough to produce a video for his track but in my opinion the music creates a very clear picture of what sort of video would suit the track.
Videos that can portray what sort of video I want to create to coincide with it would be:
A clear example of Film Noir that displays classic traits and motifs that I hope to include in my video. Examples of these motifs would be the concept of the ‘Femme fatale’, the low-key black and white visual style and the narrative most commonly associated with Film Noir, crime dramas.
Another product that demonstrates the angle I am going for is the recently created ‘Rock star games’ video game: ‘L.A. Noire'
Film Noir focuses on the darker side of the human condition and L.A. Noire ticks all the boxes by shooting the game in the distinctive visual styles of Film Noir, dealing with narratives including crime fighting, corruption gambling and drugs. To top it all off the entire games soundtrack consists of Jazz.
So aside from these specific themes and motifs, Film Noir also puts very strong emphasis on voyeurism and the admiration of the female body, another reference to the concept of the ‘femme fatale’ which originated from the early 90’s during the era of Film Noir.
Analyzing my music videos
2nd video: Dusty Springfield – spooky
Lyrics and visuals: Again due to the performance only type of video that accompanies this song the only link we can find between lyrics and visuals is Dusty Springfield’s animated singing in the centre of the shot. This type of video would have been expected in the early 60’s, when this song was covered by Springfield.
Music and visuals: There is also very little relationship between the music and the visuals with straight cuts acting as the predominant edit throughout the video with the most exotic edits being slow zooms and a pan at the beginning and end. The zooms and pans are not synchronised with the music but simply for glamorous effect coupled with the occasional fade.
Close ups and motifs: The video consists of mid-shots and long-shots no close ups are used in the video and there are certainly no re occurring motifs.
Voyeurism: There is no significant theme of voyeurism to be found in this video either
Intertextuality: Due to the context there are no intertextual references
This video is performance based.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fola80rQop4
Analysing my music videos
Genre: Jazz
1st video: The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Take five
Lyrics and visuals: The Dave Brubeck Quartet was a jazz band that produced instrumentals so obviously there can be no relationships between lyrics and visuals. The group was also founded in 1951, a time when music videos were commonly videos of the performers performing their music, nothing like the short pieces of art that accompany tracks today. The video is also shot in black and white due to the time it was produced in.
Music and visuals: One of the ways in which the visuals relate to the music is the camera slowly and smoothly panning throughout the video this matches jazz as a genre and is appropriate for the ‘cool’, ‘smooth’ vibes that are commonly associated with Jazz. The video matches the music in another way as well, whatever musician and instrument is the most predominant in the song at the time will be shown in the foreground or on his own. An example would be when Joe Morello performs his drum solo the camera pans slowly over each member of the Quartet until finally resting on him for the duration of the solo.
Close ups and motifs: there is no use of close ups in the video at all, the closest it comes to close ups are by using mid shots when each musician takes their turn at a solo. The band are being marketed as dignified, civilised musicians, the type of musicians who would appeal to the dignified, civilised audience that Jazz is associated with. There is no use of motifs.
Voyeurism: Again due to the context that surrounds the band and video there is next to no reference to voyeurism or sexualised displays.
Intertexuality: There are no intertextual references in the video.
The Video is performance based.
Monday 2 January 2012
My A2 Media Coursework
When choosing a Artist and song for this year's course i decided to opt for a more underground artist.
Ruff Intelligence - Sax'n'Ting is the song i will be recreating a video for.
Ruff Intelligence - Sax'n'Ting is the song i will be recreating a video for.
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