Rockers.

The 60's Rockers were a huge part of British Youth Culture, here is my presentaion giving more information on them, their style and the theories behind youth sub-cultures.

Rockers Presentation

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Pop Folk Artists.

Brooke Annibale is an accoustic pop-folk artist. This genre is more successful than some people may know. I thought I'd pick out a few popular pop-folk artists and the videos they've produced for their videos. I thought this may give us some inspiration for our own video (even though we've made a detailed plan and are filming it in a few hours...) and may help with the editing and how we put it together. So, the first artists I've picked is Newton Faulkner who is very popular and I'm sure many people know...

The video for 'Dream Catch Me' focuses on the artist. We can obviously not go this but we are focusing on the representation of the artist we have made in Molly's character. The video focuses on memories and it travels through situations which is very similar to what we are doing and I really love how they've layered the lights over his face... it could be something we could try and do whilst editing as it would also fit with our 'Under Streetlights' theme and the lights at night.





This is probably the most stereotypical song I could have chosen for 'The Pogues' but hey ho. It's a HUGELY successful Christmas song and The Pogues are classed as 'pop-folk'. The video centres around a couple... it also deals with the past and memories and difficulties in a relationship. Our song is similar but the problems in Annibale's song aren't as apparent as in 'Fairytale of New York'. The video is largely set at night and their are some beautiful shots of lights at night... such as the trees draped with lights and the night sky.

Tuesday 6th December.

So, here are mine and Katherine's plans for our filming which is being done today! We wanted to use a whiteboard so we could doodle and plan our ideas and add and erase as we needed to.

So for our opening musical into (which last aprox 23 seconds) we are hoping to get quite a few different shots of our main person (Molly) walking around a countryside location and then make various split screens that will change in time to the music.


"Well I can't help but wonder why you can't help but cross my mind..."

Showing Molly walking alone, different angles, POV's e.t.c. Really zoning in on the fact she's alone and wondering... searching/lost.


(To be completed v soon)

Discussing Ideas

Me & Katherine discussing our wonderful ideas for our video. Well, mainly me but that wasn't intentional... I just talk too much, and play with my hair too much. ENJOY!

My storyboard...

So, this is my storyboard. I will now go on to explain in more depth. The number key is as follows...

1  2  3

4  5  6

1. POV shot (during musical intro) of country area, walking, sun setting, getting darker.

2. As soon as lyrics start... "I can't help but wonder why..." shows female lead character walking around in country landscape you have previously seen. Possible split screen of her walking from two different angles. Front and back? Two different sides?

3. "And I'm thinking of you". Zoom in closer of female. Her eyes look up, look around as if she feels a presence there of something missing. Looking around, hope?

4. "Hope one day it'll all be clear, I'll be there or you'll be here" looking out a window, dark outside, fire inside? Cosy house... waiting for someone. Longing for someone.

5. "Under streetlights, on long car rides" through the front window of a car, showing a journey... POV of someone but it's not made clear. Could be a memory. Shows streetlights, person(s) in car passing them. Then goes back to female character and similar stuff to before but she is in urban surroundings, multi-story car park. Retracing journeys?

6. "And be happy with you" shows guy but he is never fully revealed. You see parts of him, small memories. Possibly him laying down in a bed but only his mouth/hand or sections of him. At the end you may possibly see a car pull up but you never see who gets out, things may be hinted at but nothing is ever fully confirmed. Leaves a sense of mystery. 

I really like my storyboard and ideas and am interested to see Katherine's storyboard and her ideas. I think both of our ideas will combine to make something really interesting and using our skills we have acquired so far this year I'm really, really excited to start filming, editing and sharing our ideas with people and Brooke! :) 

Our song...

So, the song we've decided to use and have gotten permission to use is...


"Under Streetlights by Brooke Annibale. We both really like this song and seeing as Breanne never got back to us we figured it would make sense to use this song as we also really like this song and Brooke seems like someone we'll be able to work with more.


:)

Locations :)

Me & Katherine went out on a cruise around Norfolk and here are some of the locations we discovered and liked (minus the fog). We'll try and get un-foggy images at some stage but we are having to contend with the lovely British weather right now so yeah...

Elsing - field location that (minus the fog) has really nice views. Could be used for our hoped shot of a sunrise. 

 Street near field in Elsing. Could be cool to see car go past?

 Also a nice wall and wooded area by the above photo.

 Katherine in her car :) demonstrates that car going down here could be nice shot....

 Massive rain shower. We faced problems with the weather. We quite like this shot though, could split screen it with car going down road. To go with lyrics "long car rides". 

 Streetlights with a nice scenic tree.

 Under a streetlight. Interesting vantage point?

 River very close to many streetlights. Reflections in water? Tranquil, place to think.

 Bridge, river, streetlights. In Lenwade.

 Posh house in lenwade, with bridge, river e.t.c.

Bawdswell, another possible field.






























So yes, location possibilities :) we feel we'll have to research this more once the weather improves. (Hopefully it will soon!).

Due to Katherine being absent :( I took it upon myself to contact a couple more artists me and Katherine had said we had liked just in case Breanne says no (yay back up plans).


I've contacted Brooke Annibale and asked for her permission to use her song 'Under Streetlights'...





I've also contacted Grant Woell and asked to use his song 'Rewrite My Heart'...




So, we're kind of just tagging along for the ride currently and seeing what happens. All ace songs though so fingers crossed :)

New song, plan.

So, here is a brief outline of some ideas I've had initially about what we could include in the video for our new song (hopefully!) 'Catapult' by Breanne Duren.


 


Lyrics:
Let's go outside
forget everything for just one night } need to escape?
Nothing to hide
I wanna see you beneath the bright moonlight } want to see beneath the surface? see you shine
Let's do this right let's go explore } need for perfection within the exploring
Try something we've never tried before

This catapult will send us into the sky, into the sky } fly to the sky, towards fame?
No I won't let you fall
'Cause you were born, born to fly
Born to fly, born to fly } born to do this

They'll climb to the rooftops } everyone wants to see them
And just to see us come brushing by } fans?
Over the streets and the sidewalks
Well they'll come running out tonight
Something's bound to happen here
It's been bottled up, bottled up for years } secrets coming out, excitement and talent coming out

This catapult will send us into the sky, into the sky
No I won't let you fall
'Cause you were born to fly, born to fly
Through starry trails } aim for the stars
Tonight across the blue we'll sail } the ocean, crossing oceans, challenges
This catapult will send us into the sky
'Cause you were born to fly, born to fly, born to fly

We'll be like satellites and never touch the ground } once we get there we won't come down
Lost in northern lights we'll never come back, } lost in beauty and light
Never come back down!

This catapult will send us into the sky, into the sky
No I won't let you fall,
'Cause you were born to fly, born to fly
Through starry trails
Tonight across the blue we'll sail
This catapult will send us into the sky
'Cause you were born to fly, born to fly, born to flyYou were born to fly, born to fly, born to fly!

Ideas:

Multi-story car park? Top level, rooftop? Couple on there, looking over town... possibly at night? Reminds me slightly of the opening chapters of 'Paper Towns' by John Green where Margo and Q are going around getting revenge on people and go exploring their 'paper town' and are on the highest floor of a building looking down and discussing life. Everything takes place at night and it's their last adventure together before Margo leaves and Q goes to find her. Q loves Margo and Margo does this to try and help Q gain confidence and to give him an experience to motivate him to leave too. They're both high on life and take risks and have fun. It reminds me a lot of this and it could be interesting to include some situations from the book in the video?

Videos that I feel are relevant to my ideas, may have influenced some of my ideas...

Night, lights and breaking out and showing who you really are. Taking risks, upbeat and fun song.



Friends, lovers having fun and enjoying being young. Break out and enjoy summer.


Possible locations?
Multi-story car park
Park locations?
Fields...


MORE TO COME :)

Update from Katherine & I :)

So, here's out latest update: UPDATE


It basically outlines our plans to change song and has the song that we're hoping to change it to :)


Also here is a small clip of some more split screen trials... (using the new song we're hopefully going to be able to use)

Lana Del Rey - Video Games

Swinging in the backyard
Pull up in your fast car
Whistling my name

Open up a beer
And you take it over here
And play a video game

I'm in his favorite sun dress
Watching me get undressed
Take that body downtown

I say you the bestest
Lean in for a big kiss
Put his favorite perfume on

Go play a video game

It's you, it's you, it's all for you
Everything I do
I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do
I heard that you like the bad girls
Honey, is that true?
It's better than I ever even knew
They say that the world was built for two
Only worth living if somebody is loving you
Baby now you do

Singing in the old bars
Swinging with the old stars
Living for the fame

Kissing in the blue dark
Playing pool and wild darts
Video games

He holds me in his big arms
Drunk and I am seeing stars
This is all I think of

Watching all our friends fall
In and out of Old Paul's
This is my idea of fun
Playing video games

It's you, it's you, it's all for you
Everything I do
I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do
I heard that you like the bad girls
Honey, is that true?
It's better than I ever even knew
They say that the world was built for two
Only worth living if somebody is loving you
Baby now you do

(Now you do)

It's you, it's you, it's all for you
Everything I do
I tell you all the time
Heaven is a place on earth with you
Tell me all the things you want to do
I heard that you like the bad girls
Honey, is that true?
It's better than I ever even knew
They say that the world was built for two
Only worth living if somebody is loving you
Baby now you do

1 minute analysis:

Coming soon.

A couple of music videos I've come across recently...

So, as you can probably determine from previous posts Katherine and I have been experimenting with the split screen technique and it's a technique we really like and hope to use in our final video. So, I found a music video for the very popular Kid Cudi and his song 'Make Her Say'. I really like the techniques he used in this video, I don't think his style music is similar in any way to the 'Sunsets For Singles' but I think their is a lot of interesting shots and ideas of how we could further develop our split screens in this video. I'd really love to try something similar to the opening balloon shot and I like the concept of their being a shot of the same place from two different vantage points where you can see two different people doing different things (like at 1:10).





Whilst watching NME TV the other day I came across the above music video. I must admit I only caught the last minute or so and whilst I'm not a huge fan of the song I really like how the director (David Higgs) has  overlapped shots and made it have a really vintage style look. The main section of the video that I like start at around 3 minutes and the hue of the clips is really warm and dramatic. I'd like to try this style out as I like it a lot :) I'm not too sure how well it would fit with our song though... so it's definitely something we'll need to consider.

Final Cut - Split Screens & More Fun.

As you can tell, we have been doing lots of trials recently all in preperation for when we film and edit our real music video. Prior to doing these trials we had no idea how to make split screens so being the kind of people we are we said: challenge accepted! So, this is how we made our beautiful split screens...

Split Screens :)

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Hello, yes, please can I order a spaghetti bush?

1st April 1957


Some people would identify this date straight away as being April fools day but that didn't stop the BBC fooling the entire nation that Spaghetti grew on trees/bushes. See:




An article on the BBC's website (recently added) concerning this documentary reads:


"The BBC has received a mixed reaction to a spoof documentary broadcast this evening about spaghetti crops in Switzerland.
The hoax Panorama programme, narrated by distinguished broadcaster Richard Dimbleby, featured a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest.
It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.
But some viewers failed to see the funny side of the broadcast and criticised the BBC for airing the item on what is supposed to be a serious factual programme.
Others, however, were so intrigued they wanted to find out where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush.

Exotic delicacy
Spaghetti is not a widely-eaten food in the UK and is considered by many as an exotic delicacy.
Mr Dimbleby explained how each year the end of March is a very anxious time for Spaghetti harvesters all over Europe as severe frost can impair the flavour of the spaghetti.
He also explained how each strand of spaghetti always grows to the same length thanks to years of hard work by generations of growers.
This is believed to be one of the first times the medium of television has been used to stage an April Fools Day hoax."

Above I have highlighted some reasons given by the BBC as to why this probably fooled people, however here are 5 reasons why I believe this documentary fooled the nation :

1. Television was used for important announcements, this would have been seen as something serious to many people.
2. The narrator was Richard Dimbleby who was a distinguished broadcaster.
3. Dimbleby remains calm the entire time and has a very serious tone, he talks in detail about the crop, the process and the problems they face.
4. Their is actual footage to accompany Dimbleby's speech, it shows Swiss woman reaching to pick the crop and laying in in baskets and they look fully serious during the entire film. 
5. This was a feature of 'Panorama' a prestigious British program which was always very serious so people had no reason to believe this was a false broadcast.

Personal Susceptibility (Cantrill, 1947)

How susceptible a person/a nation is to believing something is real (when it is fake) is said to be down to these seven things:

1. Social insecurity (unemployment, political oppression.)
2. Personal phobias.
3. Amount of worry.
4. Lack of self confidence.
5. Fatalism (belief in fate, destiny).
6. Religiosity (belief in faith).
7. Frequency of church attendance. 

This could be applied to this incident in that:

1. Social insecurity - not much, Priminister of this time Harold Macmillan actually said that most people in Britain had "never had it so good". There could have been personal problems at home however for many people and of course there would have still been unemployment.
2. Personal phobias - I wouldn't say that phobias would come into this incident so much but a lot of people were unaware of where Spaghetti came from and as it said in the BBC Article a lot of people saw it as a 'foreign dish'. So I guess it could play on peoples fear of the unknown?
3. Amount of worry - if people believed it was true and then spoke to other people who believed it was true it was more likely to confirm peoples beliefs. This wasn't something with a high level of worry which could have possibly made it more believable? 
4. Lack of self confidence - People with low self confidence may be more susceptible to believing things because they have a lack of faith in their own judgement?
5. Fatalism - if people believe in destiny then they may not see that people are making jokes and believe that this information is being given to them as part of their journey and they have no reason to doubt it.
6. Religiosity - it could be said that if people believe in God they would also believe highly regarded things such as news broadcast to them.
7. Frequency of church attendance - as stated in above points, if people are religious and believe something to be true (that a lot of people would have seen) then when they go to church it is a chance for people to discuss it which encourages the belief. If you don't attend as frequently you may not talk about it with as many people.

So, according to Cantrill these are the reasons why people may be susceptible to believing things that are untrue. This can be applied to the example I've given in some respects so it would be fair to say that his theory has points that are quite frequently proven true.

And now to finish this post... a fun, short video that I found that highlights 10 hoaxes that have successfully fooled large amounts of people:

More posts shall be coming shortly, most have been saved as drafts for a while and just need tweaking then shall be up! Apologies for the blog traffic to come in the next couple of days!

Ed Sheeran copied me.

So, when I first got in contact with Steven a few months back we joked around saying that if anyone was going to play him in the music video it should be Rupert Grint (The ginger man who plays Ron Weasley to anyone silly enough to not know who he is). So, you can imagine my surprise when I find out that Ed Sheeran stole our idea and made a music video with Rupert Grint in it.







Now, even though I'm not Ed Sheeran's biggest fan I do actually like this song (amongst his other stuff). I also really like the video and think the narrative is funny but also has meanings within it. The messages I picked out is that there is now more widespread 'acceptance' of ginger people due to wide spread achievement and strong liking of the two very popular male's in this video. I know that there has always been this notion that ginger people were different to some people and their hair colour has always been something people have made fun of them for so I think a very underlying factor of this video is celebrating them both for their success. The main story does seem to be Rupert Grint stalking Ed Sheeran... this could show that people often confuse them, mix them up? It could also show that people try and change themselves to become their idols (like in Eminem's Stan, even though Ed Brown totally done this before...) as Grint does seem to be wearing very similar clothing to Sheeran in this video. I think it also pokes fun a bit at society for how they've radically all changed their opinion on ginger people mainly due to these two people, I'm sure they appreciate their fame but their ginger hair is still something that singles them out where as we never talk about how much we love Beyonce's brown hair or Reese Witherspoon's blonde hair. 


Very quick lyrics analysis:

I'm gonna pick up the pieces,
And build a lego house
When things go wrong we can knock it down

My three words have two meanings, three words, I Love You? Two meanings? what is the second...
There's one thing on my mind
It's all for you

And it's dark in a cold December, but I've got ya to keep me warm dark and cold in his heart/mind
And if you're broke I'll mend ya and keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on

I'm out of touch, I'm out of love
I'll pick you up when you're getting down
And of all these things I've done I think I love you better now

I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind
I'll do it all for you in time
And of all these things I've done I think I love you better now

I'm gonna paint you by numbers
And colour you in
If things go right we can frame it, and put you on a wall like in the video where Grint puts a frame on the wall in time with this

And it's so hard to say it but I've been here before
And I'll surrender up my heart
And swap it for yours

I'm out of touch, I'm out of love
I'll pick you up when you're getting down
And of all these things I've done I think I love you better now not loving properly before? "I'll do better"... promises?

I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind
I'll do it all for you in time
And of all these things I've done I think I love you better now

Don't hold me down
I think my braces are breaking and it's more than I can take

And if it's dark in a cold December, I've got ya to keep me warm romantic relationship? warmth shared indicates intimacy.
And if you're broke I'll mend ya and keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on

I'm out of touch, I'm out of love
I'll pick you up when you're getting down
And of all these things I've done I think I love you better now

I'm out of sight, I'm out of mind Lost sight of what is important, confused.
I'll do it all for you in time
And of all these things I've done I think I love you better now.

Do you take this woman of death for the rest of your unnatural life?

WARNING: This song & video contains content some people may find unpleasant. I am analysing it though because I find the animation aspect of it to be incredibly good and interesting.


URL: http://youtu.be/VurhzANQ_B0
(Avenged Sevenfold - A Little Piece of Heaven... Embedding disabled by request, sorry!)

To summarize the video:
Man and woman are together, man proposes, woman laughs in his face. Man gets angry and stabs woman to death and rips her heart out, literally. He then has intercourse with her corpse, dances with her corpse and sews her up and stands her up in his house. He eats her heart, literally. Woman comes back to life (as a zombie) and rips heart of of mans chest, literally. Man spirals into hell and also becomes a zombie. They then go on a massive church masacre and kill everyone at a wedding. They then get married and live happily as zombies. Throughout the video there is a band of skeletons. THE END.

I feel the animation is incredibly detailed and very well made. The animator has paid attention to aspects such as light, shadow, texture and depth in the entire animation. As the image on the right displays there is great detail in the texture on the walls and the fog in the background. You can also see her shadow on the wall and on the stone in the bottom right. I feel that to include these factors in an animation is incredibly clever and it's something I think me and Katherine will try to consider if we make another animation for our music video.

Update.

Inspired by 'Honest - The Dirty Goods' we were hoping to record some footage, use a projector to project that footage then re-record.
However...
Projector Idea = BIG NO.
Unless anyone fancies giving us £100 to hire a prjector for 2 hours?
We're both students and the price is completely unfeesable so unfortunately this idea is probably going to have to wait until we're rich and famous.
We still feel our other ideas are strong enough to work with and will focus on them/look at ways around it.

First Draft Rough Trail SSFS :)

Inspired by 'Home - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes' me and Katherine wanted to try and film clips (as if they were a home video) and then put them together in an interesting way. We did want to try and capture an essence of a romance in these clips which was slightly difficult as the girl I was primarily filming was one of my closest friends and her boyfriend was unable to make it. I feel it worked okay considering the setbacks and also seeing as it's a first rough trial. 

I'm now going to create a survey as I did for the animation trial we did and gain feedback on what people feel works and doesn't work with this video and to see what improvements can be made in any further versions created.

Due to Katherine being quite ill recently I have filmed & edited all of this. This was obviously another slight setback but I'm sure that in the future it will have input from the both of us! :)


UPDATE: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TLWK9KB


Here's the survey, fill it in if you haven't already please! :)

We edited it a bit :)

We edited the end of our animation slightly. We prefer the ending now as we felt previously the ellipses was too quick and we also faded the text out. We will try and get some feedback on the new end but will probably not create another survey until more drastic changes have been made.


Please comment with any feedback if you're reading this!! :D

Current videos inspiring and influencing us.

This video is by a not very well known British band called 'Dirty Goods'. We're hoping to experiment with using a split screen in our video and also possibly use a projector to project video over a backdrop. We think the effect is really effective and really want to experiment with it, I also like how the swap between colour and black and white. It adds a contrast and ever-changing feel that helps engage the viewer.







The ellement of this video I really like is how they've used the tractor to create the light beams and make it look almost like a professional stage. I'd like to cross this idea with the one above and possibly use a projector in a barn area like the one used in Calvin Harris' video for 'You Used To Hold Me'. I'd like to try interesting and clever ways of using light to make our video stand out and have interesting qualities like the two above which makes it memorable.







As stated before we really like the idea of getting the couple we use to film their own footage over the course of a few days and then use that footage to project onto the backdrop. We may also use the footage they record in the video (without it being projected).







The part of this video in question is from 2:46 onwards. There are loads of short bursts of clips that Adam Young (Owl City) has recorded over the years. I really like the effect of how they look quite dated and are very realistic.







And finally, this is the video that inspired us to have a go at our own animation. It's simple yet effective and it won a competition so they must be doing something right. 

Animation Survey

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2SBK3VV


This is our survey that we are planning on using to obtain feedback on our short animation opening. We will post more on this soon when we get a decent number of responses. 

Tuesday 20th Sept Lesson.

On Tuesday's lesson me & Katherine spent an hour drawing a very brief animation story board (which you can see in the previous posts) and then spent the next hour of the lesson and lunch making a rough animation. Me & Katherine were both quite pleased with the end result considering we had been doubtful. The writing jumping around the screen had been a concern of ours but we decided it was quite a nice effect and it seemed to move in time with the music almost. We liked the koala sleeping too and really love the characters. I know Katherine really likes the idea of animation and so do I, I'm just slightly concerned about how much time it is going to take us and would also like to do some filming and have a narrative to the song. Anyway, here are some more ideas....

MORE IDEAS WE HAVE HAD!

Me & Katherine have put our heads together and have come up with some more ideas for our music video:

We really like the animation idea but as stated above time (and drawing skills) will need to be considered. Shall update on conclusion reached!

I really like the idea of getting whichever couple we use to use a video camera to film things they do together... like get them to go on a walk, out for a meal or whatever they want to do and get them to film parts of it so it seems like it's not filmed professionally. I think I gained this idea and inspiration from Edward Sharpe & The Magnetics Zeroes video for Home (see previous posts for video link and analysis). I really love how natural the clips are and the sense of true happiness in them, it's something the viewer can emotionally connect with.

We're also going to try and plan a narrative revolving around a couple (probably) and try and film some stuff ourselves. 

I'm sure more ideas will develop over time and we'll experiment with effects and concepts as we go along!

British Film Study

The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)

The film focuses on a typical British 'lads holiday' to Greece. There are four main characters called Will, Simon, Jay and Neil. Will serves as the main narrator in the series and in the film. The nationality of all the characters are British and they are well known in Britain as they have all stared in the TV series "The Inbetweeners". The film was directed by Ben Palmer who directed the TV series also and he is also British.

The characters are played by: Simon Bird Joe Thomas James Buckley Blake Harrison

I would place it in the comedy genre.

Jay Catwright

Characteristic: Obsessed by sex but frequently lies about his experiences. He is actually very awkward around females but is always showing off to try and impress his mates. He is actually a very insecure character and is always trying to be noticed, it is mentioned in the TV series that he often steals and it is referenced that he may have been sexually abused by his neighbour (a "game" that was "played") but Jay denies this. He has a good heart but has strange ways expressing this.

Semiotis: Fairly 'chavvy'... wears sporting clothing and usually speaks in a manor which could be considered as 'chavvy'.

Animation Opening Test

Me & Katherine had a go at animating and here if our end result... it took us about 2 hours to create this and since I've had feedback from a few people saying that it's rubbish. Such optimism and encouragement... anyway, here it is... all 18 seconds of it. (and the rest of the song... enjoy!)

SHE WAKES HIM UP HE'S IN A FOGGY HAZE...

This is mine & Katherine's amazing masterpiece :) (well, we did cheat slightly and trace Steven's original drawings... but we did colour them!) it illustrates the first verse(ish) of the song we've chosen :)

I done the top 2 and Katherine done the bottom one (the good one). 

Update

Hello,

Quick update...

I'm now working with Katherine Richards on this project :)

This is an idea we have for the opening verse, we're considering doing an animation. Please excuse my very poor drawing. I have included the lyrics below the image to which the visual fits. Obviously we'll have many more frames for the animation. This is just an early idea to show what we're hoping to do.

TTFN :)

Digipak Example - Katy Perry

The digipak for Katy Perry's latest album 'Teenage Dream' really caught my eye.


The disks within the digipak are fun and colourful, as if the artwork for the actual digipak. I think this ephasises Katy Pery's fun and vibrant image and the images of her show her as a sexualised female icon (with the vast amount of pink, her clothes and how she is almost naked in a lot of images.

Textual Analysis 2. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home.

Lyrics:


Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa
Not the way that I do love you

Holy roly, me, oh my, you’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Man, oh man, you’re my best friend, I scream it to the nothingness
There ain’t nothin’ that I need

Well, hot & heavy, pumpkin pie, chocolate candy, Jesus Christ
There ain’t nothin’ please me more than you

Chorus:
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
(2x)
La la la la, take me Home
Baby, I’m coming Home

I’ll follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark
Girl, I’ve never loved one like you

Moats & boats & waterfalls, alley ways & pay phone calls
I’ve been everywhere with you

That’s true

We laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night
Nothin’ new is sweeter than with you

And in the streets we’re running free like it’s only you and me
Geez, you’re something to see.

Chorus

“Jade?”
“Alexander?”
“Do you remember that day you fell out of my window?”
“I sure do, you came jumping out after me.”
“Well, you fell on the concrete and nearly broke your ass and you were bleeding all over the place and I rushed you off to the hospital. Do you remember that?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Well, there’s something I never told you about that night.”
“What didn’t you tell me?”
“While you were sitting in the backseat smoking a cigarette you thought was going to be your last, I was falling deep, deeply in love with you and I never told you ‘til just now.”
“Now I know.”

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is whenever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you

Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you

Ahh, Home
Yes, I am Home
Home is when I’m alone with you.

Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma & Pa!
Moats & boats & waterfalls, alley ways and pay phone calls!

Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Ahh, Home
Let me come Home
Home is when I’m alone with you


Essay:


The second video I have chosen to analyse is the video for Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros song 'Home'. The music video was released on May 13th 2010 and is the 6th song on their album "Up From Below". The video consists of clips of all the bands favourite memories from the past few years so there isn't a director for this video, the video is entirely made up of clips filmed by the band. The band is made up of many members, the vocals for this song are performed by Alex Elbert and Jade Castrinos. The bands main genre is indie-folk which is a genre also associated with Frank Turner and Mumford and Sons. A lot of music videos in this genre encourage travel and exploration of the world, it also encourages friends to come together and play music and enjoy life. This is shown in Mumford and Sons's video for Winter Winds where the group play music together and are shown walking through the countryside. It's often that videos for this genre will use these type of locations.
The visuals often represent the lyrics, in a generic sense the lyrics speak of a couple who find that they'll always be 'home' as long as they are with the person they love. When the lyrics go "you’re the apple of my eye" we get a brief shot of Elbert's eyes looking to the camera; in most shots they're covered by sun glasses. Also, when the line "I’ll follow you into the park, through the jungle, through the dark" is sung their are clips of Elbert chasing Castrinos through a wooded area which could draw resemblance to a 'jungle'. I think the lyric "I’ve been everywhere with you" is relevant to the whole of the visuals as it shows their adventures over the years together and is probably a lyric to sum up the entire video. They're also shown barefoot when the lyrics go "barefoot on a summer night. I think that it's pretty good that they've found clips to back up the lyrics of their song, I guess in a way they have probably written about their life and what they know so it may not have been so difficult.
The clips chop and change fairly quickly which fits the happy, lively beat of the music. There are also parts in the video where you can hear a trumpet being played or people whistling and the visuals will show people playing a trumpet of whistling to correspond with that. There are also select parts of the video where there will be someone shouting 'HEY!' and people will jump out as if they're saying 'HEY!'. The visuals calm to be longer clips of calm things (people sleeping on a bus, sunsets/rises) when the music slows down at about 04:05.
I think the record company are looking to sell this track as a 'something-to-listen-to-at-summer-whilst-with-your-mates' track. The video screams: fun, travel, exploring and adventure. I think the record label know that these kind of things are popular among today's youth and will want to promote the band with this image. It is a fairly new image for the band as their previous videos have been odd to say the least. Having only two previous videos, both are set in the desert. The opening for the video Kisses Over Babylon reminded me very much of the biblical story of Jesus's struggle for 40 days and 40 nights. It would appear Elbert is singing in a foreign language throughout the video. I'd say their song 'Home' represents a change in image and genre and the video is relevant to the song which is upbeat and happy. 
I wouldn't say that any members of the band are put on sexual display or sexualised in any way. The main message in this video is promoting love, not sex or lust. I'd say that some of the female members of the band show their femininity by wearing dresses or twirling a red parasol but regardless of that they're not really sexualised. The only notion of looking I could pick up on was that you can tell the clips have been filmed using a hand-held video recorder so there is the notion that these are private memories that have been personally made, unlike many commercially made videos.
I couldn't pick up on any inter textual references in this video, I think it's a very unique kind of video that hasn't been planned to have any inter textual references. It just documents a stage in the bands life. The video is a mix of concept and performance based as the band is seen performing at different stages in their 'home-videos'. 
I think this video is fully appropriate to create a new, fun image for the band and for the song. I think the idea behind this video is fun and I think the caption the band put under the video sums it up well: "This video for Home is a collection of some of our favorite memories over the past few years. We hope it feels like Home wherever you are watching this."