We've had a reply from the castle saying we can use it :)

Thought i would study the album that ben (from the band mk zero) gave me. Inspiration for our dvd cover.

This is the front cover of Mk zero's album. It is subtle yet effective, i like the colours used. The fire pattern on the front gives an insite into the genre, rock. I think the blues show stereotypically that it is a male dominated band. Although the front has alot of negitive space it is a typically effective e.p cover.

Inside the front cover, there is a large picture of the band and the band members names. The black and white picture on the white background looks really effective, it makes it stand out, and also the band members names in bold black font stand out well. The actual c.d is very plain and I personally dont think it stands out, however it fits in with the colour sceem that is continuos throughout the style of the c.d.

On the inside of the front cover this e.p, very proffessionally has a thank you page to all those that have been involved with the production and distribution of the c.d. This page is the same blue used on the front cover, it again looks professional and subtle.

Overall i think the back of the c.d is my favourite. The fire pattern that started on the front of the c.d continues onto the back. The font on the back is great, effective and asthetically pleasing. The back again continues strictly with the theme that is obvious throughout. On the bottom left hand corner there is a barcode, we will have to remember to put this on our dvd cover. Looking at other albums and dvds the typical place to put the barcode is in the bottom corner of the item. It is always on the back.

To conclude, i think Mk zero's e.p has a good looking theme to it. However i feel thast it does'nt catch yor eye, the continuous colour scheem is nice, it is subtle and i think the colurs are effective. I don't think the front cover has anything going on, it has a plain piece of artwork on, i think it needs more going on.

Idealy i would like to make our front cover as appealing and interesting to the audience as possible. I would like us to add a few pictures, and even some made up comments, e.g " Amazing, the most outstanding, intricut music video this year!" we could even add fake age ratings and remebering to add in a barcode.

Ont he actual c.d it would be nice if we could add some writing and possibly even an image onto it.This again would add realism, and make it look as professional as possible.

Aimee xx

Treatment

Treatment proposal for music video.

Proposed Song/ Title: For our A2 media music video project we have chosen to do the song "Man vs Gravity" by the local band Mk zero.

Synopsis

Storyline: After storyboarding our ideas and planning our setting, we have come up with our video for 'man vs gravity'. As we are lucky to have the surroundings we do, we decided to use them to our advantage. The video starts of with an establishing shot, which shows the audience our setting. The setting is in and around ludlow castle, however we are going to make it look more abandoned and give it quite a synister and dark feel.

At the beginning of the video, the audience see three people, they are friends, and they are moving towards the castle, as they are intrigued as to what they might find in their surroundings.

As they step inside the castle they notice they are not alone, however, the other people they find in the building are 'evil/demon' versions of themselves. As the video continues the three friends have numerous encounters with there 'demon' selves. The video concludes with the three friends thinking they have escaped near death, they are running down a bank past the castle, when they run straight back into their 'demon' selves!!

Characters: Josh, Aimee and John. They are three friends who decided to explore the castle.

Josh Aimee and John are also playing the same roles in the castle but as evil versions. (3 characters throughout)

Setting: Ludlow Castle. Old School Room. We are hoping to start filming in the caste on the 5th February.

Length (time and shots): 3:09 (shots are on storyboard)

Format: Mini DV

Style: The genre of the band is indie rock. The song has a sinister feel to it as it has many minor notes, the lyrics also give the song a sinister feel to it. The band MK Zero are inspired by bands such as The Cure, Biffy Clyro, Jimmy Eat World and Hell is for Heroes. Our video is original because we are using the idea that we us normally and also see us differently, as demons/evil people. We will use close ups, medium close ups, establishing shots, high angle, long shots. The use of colours and lights are mainly used in the band scenes as we will have lights showing on the band throughout. During the castle scenes there will be natural lighting to make it look realistic.

Sound: The song that we used is called 15,000 feet by MK Zero. However at the beginning we have put in our own sounds before the music starts.

Narrative: Its got a simple narrative that isn't linked to the song. It is a linear narrative because there are no flashbacks.

Target Audience: The audience for this song would be aimed at indie rock followers within the age range of 16 - 25. They are in school, college, uni and at work, and are both male and female. Because they work and have had a good education they get enough money to buy music, magazines and go watch bands on tours. They listen to the music through their Ipod or mp3 player.

Technical Aspects: Cannon XM5, Sony Handicam. Lights. The locations we have used are Ludlow castle, the college drama studio and the woods near the river. Our group act all together as the director, editor and actors to make it fair for everyone.

Rationale: The video is worth making because there hasn't been one made for the song. The concept is unique because it draws on fantasy, not many music videos tend to do fantasy videos, I think that the video will want to make people watch it more than once.

Group A Media Studies
Ludlow College
Castle Square
Ludlow
Shropshire
SY8 1GD

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are students from Ludlow College. We are currently in our second year of Media Studies. For our A2 coursework, we need to make a music video and we would like to use the Castle as one of our locations. Our filming would mostly take place in the Inner Bailey and we would make sure that we did not disturb other visitors.

We would like to use the Castle on Friday the 5th of February, from 9am onwards.

As students, we were hoping to negotiate either a discount or possibly use the castle free of charge.


Many thanks,

Yours Faithfully,


John Lomax
Josh Cartwright
Aimee Williams
Group A Media Studies


This is a letter that is going to be sent to ludlow castle to hopefully give us permission to use it in out music video.

Polls

What is it you like to see in music videos?
	Humour
	Fashion
	Dancing
	Close ups
	Performance
	Narrative
	An unusual concept
pollcode.com free polls

Where do you watch your music videos?
	Youtube
	TV
	Other websites
	Phone
	Games consoles
	Other
pollcode.com free polls

Media studies
Defining the genre
Mk zero is a more indie rock genre based band. Indie rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s and earlier. The term is often used to describe the means of production and distribution of independent underground music, as well as the style of music that was first associated with this means of production. Indie rock artists are known for placing a premium on maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels (sometimes self-owned and operated) and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, airplay on independent or college radio stations and, in recent years, the Internet for promotion. Musicians classified as indie rock are typically signed to independent record labels, rather than major record labels, although there are many examples of indie musicians switching to major labels mid-career. This practice blurs the lines between indie and mainstream music and is often the subject of debate amongst fans. Indeed, some bands that have spent most of their careers on major labels are still occasionally referred to by the press as indie rock because of their sound or aesthetic. Some artists include;
• arctic monkeys
• pixies
• sonic youth

Risk assesment

This is the risk assessment I forgot to add the risk rating but the main risks that would cause a problem are running and the weather because they were the highest values at 30. So we will take special care while filming running scenes.

Costume (coz aimee loves the fashion)

Helllooooo, So after having a talk with Josh and Jon we have decided that our outfits for us playing the parts of ourselves should be pretty much like ourselves... However we also play the roles of 3 daemon versions of us...so we were thinking

*we should all wear black as black symbolizes bad, also the dark color conveys the mood
*make up (possibly completely white faces with dark eyes) again representing evil. Josh also liked the idea of us looking like clowns, so we might have a play around with that idea, possibly get two volunteers, one with the white face and one with the clown make up, then we can see which one we would prefer.
*We will see what edits would look good with what make up.
*All 3 of us are going to look pretty much the same as each other, make up and clothes wise. (like we are from the same cult of people)
*Black pumps for the evil versions of us.
*We are going to make the normal versions of us as realistic as possible, possibly with makeup to give that professional video look...:/ (it's going to be hard to make josh and jon look good though..) ha ha :P
*We have a second possibility for our costume for us looking evil...This is that we wear exactly the same clothes, however we throw mud on them or rip them. This shows that we are the same people but in a unpleasant light.


More ideas coming your way, Aimee xxx

Hello there. Sooo after a bit of talk with the group we have decided that an abandoned house/building would be hard to find as most of them have been torn down, also the health and safety of using a building like that would most likely end up with us being hurt or even worse, laughing at the one that got hurt and then breathing in all the asbestos in that has been there for years! It could happen. Soooo, luckily there happens to be a rather large castle at the top of ludlow which we may be able to use. However we may have to pay to get in, so we are going to have to ask the owners or manager of the place if we can get in for free to film. We shall have to wait and see. Thanks for reading!

beat sheet

This is our beat sheet this will help us plan when things happen in our video for example key moments such as a instrumental solo.

Questionnaireeee!

1) Male Female
(delete one that is appropriate for you)

2) Age -

3) What are your favorite genres?

4) Do you watch many music videos?

Textual Analysis 2 - Josh Cartwright

The second video i have chosen to do is another Foo Fighters one called 'Long Road to Ruin'. The director of this video was Jesse Peretz who has done other videos with the Foo Fighters such as, Big Me, Low, Learn to Fly and The One. Foo Fighters are known for their spoof videos e.g. Big Me, Long Road to Ruin and Learn to Fly, which means that they don't use the conventional rock music video.
This video is set in the 1970's and is a comedic spoof of a stereotypical hospital drama, but you see the actors in the TV drama in real life too. Each of the band members acting as different people. Dave Grohl plays "Davy Grolton", who stars as the main doctor, "Hansom Davidoff". Drummer Taylor Hawkins plays "Ty Hawkstone" ("Les Groper", Davidoff's womanizing colleague). Guitarist Chris Shiflett plays "Christopher Mishomotohama" ("Little Jimmy", a severely injured child). Bassist Nate Mendel plays "Ned Bender" ("Saul Goode", the show's shady antagonist). As always in their spoof videos there is a guest star and this is actress Rashida Jones as "Racinda Jules" ("Susan Belfontaine", the doctor's love interest).
The only relationship between the lyrics and visuals is that when Dave is singing the lyrics "long road to ruin" he is driving a car with the typical green screen behind, like they would in a 1970's TV drama.
There is a scene in the music video where you see Dave with his band, but they all look differently again because they would look like the actors that play in the soap opera. The band play in a shopping mall with loads of screaming girls around them.
There are close ups of all the band members. At the beginning of the video it shows the band members with their acting names and their role in the TV drama. Once again it is similar to the spoof videos they tend to do and change the look of the band members a lot.
There is a point where the notion of looking happens and is when Chris Shiflett watches Dave and Rashida kiss.
The main intertextual reference is that its a 1970's hospital drama taking the mick out of what could be General Hospital which was aired around the 1970's.
The video is performance based with the band acting only a short bit where they play their instruments. A narrative is used from the start which carries on all the way through the video, with a hospital drama in some parts and also showing an outside storyline to it. And it is also concept based with it being a "remake" of a 1970's hospital drama.

Textual Analysis 1 - Josh Cartwright

I did Low by The Foo Fighters. The Director of the video is Jesse Peretz.

Foo fighters are an Alternative Rock/Hard Rock based band. However this video doesn't contain many of the generic features that a typical rock video would have.

This video only used a hand held camera in which the singer Dave Grohl and actor Jack Black were the only ones in it. The hand held camera gives it an unsteady feel and makes it feel quite chaotic. Jack Black often features in The Foo Fighters videos such as 'Learn to Fly'. As well as Jack Black featuring in Foo Fighters videos, Dave Grohl also features in the band that Jack Black is in, Tenacious D. Dave played the devil in the song 'Tribute' and also in Tenacious D's movie the pick of destiny, which he also played the devil.

The lyrics go well with the video, all the things that happen in the video are showing the lowest of low. Both of the men in the video are playing as stereotypical rednecks with the wife beater tops, 4x4's and drinking beer all the time. What happens in the video is unusual for what you would imagine a typical redneck to be doing, becoming a cross dresser.

There isn't a relationship between the music and visuals because it isn't your typical rock video as they no instruments are shown.
All through the video the artist does have close ups as it is a hand held camera they use to film it. As it is filmed on a hand held camera it is almost as if they are documenting a night out, however because he is portrayed as a redneck people might not be able to notice him as his usual self.
There is a definitely a sense of voyeurism because you are seeing what these two men like to get up to at night by themselves, it could almost be showing the secret life of a stereotypical southern American, and as it is done on a hand held camera it gives off the feeling like your being watched.
The song was used for a TV commercial for 'Best Buy' featuring office workers becoming rowdy, which is low of workers to do, hence the name of the song. The video is mainly performance based. There is no narrative because they have just been let loose with a video camera to film what they like.

Snow :(

Once again the snow has stopped the rest of my group turn up, Aimee and John. However it shouldn't really stop me from doing any work, so today ill carry on with storyboarding an idea for the rest of the group to look at and add ideas onto the ones that i have created. Until next time. Ciau! 

Searching for a home

I recently posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone knew of any abandoned/derelict places around where we live. However there appears to be none! Even if there is anywhere, it is too dangerous to film in or it has been torn down. I have heard of a website though where people go to old factories or hospitals to take photos, i may have a look on that to see whether or not it is easy to get to, or if it is a safe place to go. 

In the mean time heres a little song i wrote. "Hellooo....is it me your looking for?" ah i cant be botherd. GOODNIGHT! 

Its Aimee :] analysis of music video. motion city soundtrack, it had to be you!

* rock/pop/punk genre.
*Constant link between the lyrics and the visuals. Love story, linking in with the love lyrics.
*Consistent story line, two lonely puppets that fall in love, watching motion city soundtrack on late night t.v advertisements. The two puppets go through a theme park ride, this representing their relationship with one another.
*Continuous shots of the band, they are being shown on a t.v screen, there are also cardboard cutouts of the band members in the theme park ride. this is performance, narrative and concept based. You see the band performing throughout, on the t.v screen. It is concept based because the rest of the video is annimated as the main roles are puppets. The video is narrative based because its a story of them falling in love, breaking up and the realisation from the male puppet that he has lost the love of his life.
* There is a strong relationship link between the music and visuals because you see the band play the song as the song is playing over it.
*There is no sexual reference in the music video.
*There is a notion of looking because we (as the audience) are looking at the puppets who are looking at the band playing on their t.v screen at home.

Back to work! :(

As the new year starts so does the filming. We have had a few ideas of what we plan on doing. Basically we are going to need to find a big abandoned building to film in. If we cant find a building then maybe a forest. Obviously we are going to have to plan this well, not sure what we are going to do if we cant get one, but we will think of something. Setting put aside, the main idea was that there was going to be two different sides to us, as we go inside the building/forest another "version" of us will appear but more scary. We don't want to make it look silly we want to make it quite serious and professional, so the use of lighting, make up and setting will contribute to it. 

This is as far as the ideas have got to since we have spoke about them and at the moment two of my group members are away due to weather conditions (Aimee and John) which leaves me, Josh. However thinking of all the ideas by myself wont be fair on the other two as they wont have any input into it, so best thing to do now is to wait for them to join me back in the cold room in media and discuss more.

Happy New Year! from Josh