Imagine Dragons CD Cover Practice

Here I have created a CD cover for the band 'Imagine Dragons'. Their song ' On Top Of The World' is my teams choice for our A2 music video piece. The cover and insert was created using photoshop CC.

Front

Back

Insert

Our Pitch Video

In this post you can view our music video pitch which was edited by myself and my work partner, Jamie.

You can view the video by clicking here.

Website Analysis

Here is a link for a website analysis that I created for the American rock band: Paramore. The prezi can be viewed by clicking here.

'The Kindest Cut' Textual Analysis

In this post I will use the knowledge gained from this post I created previously and apply it to a music video. The song I have chosen to do a textual analysis of is called 'St. Patrick' by a band named Pvris (pronounced as Paris) and the music video can be viewed here.

Mise-en-scene

In this video the sequence of shots is set on various different locations. However as the video continues its apparent that it consists of two main pieces which are: a continuous string of outdoor shots and a string of indoor shots which has been filmed in a studio. The use of this setting allows the audience to become familiar with the band members but the images don't distract them from the audio. Vernallis states that the editing of the sequence of shots and setting used is key because it enables a relationship between the song and image to be formed.

The band members (actors) in the video are positioned in the frames consistently throughout, with Lynn (the lead singer) positioned in the middle. This will clearly indicate to the audience that she is the lead character but by having the two male band members (Alex and Brian) positioned either side of her this gives the audience a sense of unity and that they're a team.
Vernallis' says that a close up of the singer's face in a music video is often shot and edited in such a way to leave us with a way of grasping hold of some musical element, which might be the main hook or a small detail. In the music video close up of Lynn's face is repeated to allow the audience to form a connection between imagery and audio. 

Camera shots

The shots used in the video are mainly long shots that are at eye level for the audience. This is  possibly done to allow us as an audience to get to know the band members and see essentially what they look like, which is reinforced by the short track shots where the camera follows them walking in the long shots used. 

The other main focus of shots is close ups of the band members which can be used to show expression/emotions. Using the 'Kindest Cut' theory, Vernallis says that music videos often present a flow of images that are too rich and materials that seem to dissolve too quickly. The use of a close up gives the and something to commit to memory and the intense isolation of the shot keeps the viewer present. An example of this is the close ups used to break up the string of continuous long track shots. 

Editing

Vernallis says that music videos may avoid continuity editing because these techniques would give a visual track too strong a forward trajectory and the image might seem to overtake the song. Which is something a music video will try to avoid because its purpose is to provide a visual image that will support the song used and enhance the audience's experience whilst expanding the artist into subsidiary media platforms. 

The editing used in the music video is quick paced and on beat to the track itself. This means that the images shown are more complimentary to the sound because it keeps the video as a whole from becoming disjointed. 

Vernallis' 'The Kindest Cut'

In this presentation provided, I explore some of the key areas involved with editing music videos using Carol Vernallis' 'The Kindest Cut' methods which can be transferred onto my A2 music video. 

The presentation can be viewed here. 

Star Theory



Dyer has written extensively about the role of stars in TV, film and the music industry. Irrespective of the medium , stars have key features in common. Dyer states that a star is an image and not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials. Furthermore that stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings they portray in their particular field.

The extent of the popularity of a particular star depends upon the integration between various different subsidiary media platforms e.g magazines, TV, radio and the internet to allow them to maximise their potential audience for their products.

Dyer also states that the star image is incoherent and incomplete and this is due to two main paradoxes:

1. The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer
2. The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer

The incoherence of the star ensures that the audience is continuously striving to 'complete' or to 'make sense of' of the star. This is achieved by the consumption of the stars products but will always be left unsatisfied. Which means that fans will go away determined to continue consuming the star in attempts to complete their image.

Hayley Williams:
Hayley Williams (aged 25) is the lead singer of the American rock band 'Paramore' which was founded in 2004. Today Paramore consists of herself, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York.



Applying Dyer's 'Star Theory' to Hayley Williams would show that she is considered a star but also a music performer. This is because Hayley is in the successful band Paramore, who have 3.3million followers on Twitter and 29.8 million likes on Facebook. Dyer would argue that Hayley is a star because her own personal Twitter has 3.9 million followers, which is even more than the official band Twitter account.

Therefore it satisfies paradox 2 as it means Hayley is simultaneously present (a large online presence) and absent (difficulty of actually engaging with her) for the consumer. Also, her presence in a wide range of subsidiary media (social networks, appearances on TV shows such as The Talking Dead, she also features as a playable character in one of the Guitar Hero games) means that Hayley can construct an image that she desires to portray to the target audience.

Dan Reynolds:
Dan Reynolds (aged 27) is the lead singer of the Las Vegas based rock band 'Imagine Dragons' who were founded in 2008.

Applying Dyer's 'Star Theory' to Dan Reynolds would show that he might not be considered a star but without a doubt a music performer. This is because he only has 102k followers on Twitter which is considerably less than the amount Hayley Williams has. Also, he has less presence with subsidiary media platforms and that means that he has a lesser star image that has been constructed which will attract a smaller, niche audience.

Our music video pitch presentation

Here is a link to my groups music video pitch in the form of a presentation. The presentation was used as a basis for our pitch containing:

• Song/artist choice. 
• Our main ideas for the video we want to create.
• The equipment that we would be using etc...