Rise against - Hero of War (9 frame analysis)

Ian Brady Pixel man

This is Ian Brady after I turned him into a pixel character. I have used photoshop very little, only ever before to create a couple of opies but that was much simpler than this. I found this task a little bit difficult to start with as I did not really know what to do, but once I got the hang of it I found it more time consuming than hard. I think this is a success as I believe you can see that this is Ian Brady quite easily and that it looks like him. Unfortunately there is a few gaps, so to improve it I could make sure that it is all coloured in, also the colours on the face would look better if they were better blended in with one another. Overall I am happy with the final product.

My Opie shot

This is my Opie I made using PhotoShop with inspiration taken from the blur album cover. 

The artwork was created by Julian Opie, which the art is named after.

Evaluation of task

I have not used photoshop before so I expected this task to be a challenge, however after seeing a tutorial I found that using it was very easy and did not make many mistakes. Overall I think my Opie was a success, however I would like to of improved the mouth as it a little bit to big for my liking, apart from that I am happy with my final product.

Justin bieber As long as you love me lip sync

We had to do a lip sync task in preparation for A2, this was so we could practice our editing for when it comes to our final product next year, and to get a feel for lip syncing. Jacob Egan was the camera man in this video and I was the actor lip syncing. Although it was only a practice we completed the entire song as even though it would take longer to do and edit, it would provide us with extra practice for next year. In conclusion I think this has helped my prepare for next year as I have learnt how to sync up audio and video from different sources and it also helped me practice lip syncing for if I decide to be the actor in the final production when it comes to it. I also enjoy editing and making videos so I also had fun creating a video with the cameras and final cut.

Link to progression blog

Progression blog

Detailed Analysis

For my music video analysis I have decided to analyse the video 'Misery Business' by Paramore. I have chosen this song as it fits in with the genre I am researching on.
The song starts off with the band playing their introduction to the song. The beat and the pace of the song is shown by the use of editing with a cut after every note from the guitar; this is one of Andrew Goodwin's theories of 'Thought Beats', but then cuts to the beat of the drum after the into has finished. The video has one main actor along with the band who is shown of the screen, this main actor is this woman who is going around and causing trouble and generally not being very nice. The lyrics also represent the what is on the screen, for example at the end of the song the words 'It just feels so good' is sung while on the video the band are showing how fake the nasty woman is while smiling and looking happy and smug about what they have just done.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene and colours used in the video differ between light and dark colours, when the band is on the screen the colours tend to be quite dark or dull except for Hayley Williams hair which stands out as it is bright and ginger, along with her bright orange top which could show that she is the 'light in the dark' or 'hero in the night' who is too come and apprehend the nasty lady going around the school being horrible to the other students. When in the corridors the colours is all bright with the main actress wearing a bright blue top which makes her stand out from all the colours on the screen. 

Narrative

The narrative is easy too follow and fits in with the song at some points but then does not,(goes with Andrew Goodwins theory that the visual and the lyrics go hand in hand), and the story is that of a nasty woman going around a school being nasty to her fellow school mates. This keeps the viewer interested and wanting to continue watching to see what she does next and if she will be aprehended for her horrible ways. In the end of the narrative we see the band come and make a fool out of this woman. The lyrics talk about how there is this horrible woman who comes in and takes the boy away but she then gets him back and in the video the woman comes along and takes important things away from people but in the end she gets what is coming to her and she gets made out to be a fool.

Star image

There is a star image in this video as we see the band just as much if not more than the narrative, with a close up of Hayley Williams which fits in with the pop part of the pop-rock genre. However in coordinate with the rock part, we see a lot of the band playing instruments along with some narrative. Paramore is quite a big popular band now and everyone who is a fan of them know what all the band members look like as most of the videos follow the same structure of close up with the main singer but narrative and long shots and close up of the band playing their instruments. She also appeals to a male audience as she is attractive and would bring in teenage males.

Editing

The use of editing is clever as in the introduction and the first verse, for every beat there is a jump cut to different angles of the band and then to the school and then back to the band. In the chorus the jump cut is used again but what is on the screen is on for a longer period of time before cutting to something else. This carried on in the second verse and is used to show the narrative of the woman causing havoc throughout the school but then showing the band again as it is conventional to show the and playing in this genre. In the next chorus we see more fast paced editing with a new type to the video when they have flashed the image upside at the beat of the drum. As the song slows down when singing the next verse so does the editing leaving the image on screen for longer, then when it picks back up so does the pace of editing. The final shot is a long shot of the woman kneeling down as she has just been humiliated.   

The theory of Andrew Goodwin

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Purpose of a music video

The purpose of a music video in my opinion depends on the type of genre of music the video is for. If the genre is pop music then the music video's purpose is to show the artists style and look, if the genre is any type of Rock the purpose of the video is to show a narrative and to show the genre.

A2 Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with:

• a digipak for the album’s release;
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak.