Digipack CD Artwork Research

Here are a few of CD artworks that I have looked into in preparation for the designing and creation of our own Rock Digipack for Raided By Waves.

We believe this research to be extremely important as again it provides us with the knowledge of what a typical rock CD looks like and what artworks are commonly used. This will be vital when it comes to planning and creating our own CD artwork for our Digipack.

Digipack Research

We have planned to meet up with the band on the 30th Nov to take the photos for our digi-pack, including the front and back covers and the inlay. We decided that we would like to take photos displaying the entire band and the girl. We have been discussing ideas and we have decided we have a few options of what we could do, one idea is to have the girl topless facing the band and take the photo from behind the girl to create sex appeal as we aren't actually showing anything. However, the having the girl in that position teases the audience and it also gives the stereotypical impression of rock band as it implies that they are getting girls to do whatever they want for them. Another idea that we have discussed is to have the band stood on a long stretch of road and their bodies would create a shadow on the road, with the idea of their bodies casting the logo of the band in shadow form. The pictures below display our perfect scenery that we would need to use to create our digipack aswell as an example of what we plan to do with our shadow of the band however with our bands logo.

'Smells Like Teen Spirit'- Nirvana

In this music video the scene is set in a school gym and given a sepia effect throughout the video, this helps the audience link the lyrics to the actual location and setting of the video, the stereotypical view of teenagers being rebellious or unclean. The genre of this video is rock and the video also displays the rebellious attitude of rock, for example, mosh pits, smashing instruments and crowd surfing. Not only this but the Mise en Scene of the video also displays the Rock Genre with the instruments, such as drums, guitar and bass as well as the bands. The costumes featured in the video represent Rock but also have a clear link to the actual title of the song and that lyrics as their main target audience were "teenagers". They are seen to be wearing jeans and t-shirts, something that was very popular within the genre in the 90's.

Also in the video there are a group of cheerleaders that can be seen wearing stereotypical costumes, this helps to emphasise the location of the video being at a school or high school. The target audience for this particular artist and the song it's self would be between 16-24,  both "teenagers" and students. The cutting rate in this video is reasonably quick, cutting between the performance of the band and the crowd moshing throughout. Nirvana were followed by most teenagers in their dressing as they usually dressed casually in clothes such as jeans and shirts/T-shirts. Both the band and crowd are seen to also be wearing quite dark clothing as well, this fits in with the scene of the video. The performance the band give throughout the video again is a typical Rock concert, after each chorus the band gets the crowd moving more and more until eventually the song ends and the band smash there instruments, something which again may appeal more to teenagers as they will want to copy their idols. Throughout the video I believe that the band whilst causing destruction are also portrayed as very likeable and respected people especially within the world of Rock.

Kurt Cobain can be seen singing into the camera as well during the video, making the video feel more personal as if he is singing to not just the audience in the video but the audience watching the video. The video contains a variety of different shots, such as close ups, long shots and also high angle shots and a panning shots. There is also a variety of shots that show a cleaner dancing to the music, he is very much older than anyone else in the video, what this may represent is an older generation reminiscing or wanting to re-discover there youth.

Digipack Analysis Photos

Below displays proof of our group analysing 'The Red Hot Chili Peppers' on A3 paper so we can clearly exhibit our ideas through photos which we planned to put onto this blog. As well as this we created our groups logo for 'Lithium Studio'. Will is a very creative artist and decided to design the logo himself, he decided to use the element symbol 'LI' to present the word Lithium.

Chosen Genre Update

Due to the Dubstep idea falling through as Modestep were unable to perform for us we looked and found another artist which is in the rock genre. We believe that rock will be an easier genre to recreate and it will help us to achieve a greater level of success with our video.

'Foo Fighters- Pretender' Performance Studio Analysis

As we have already chosen that we are filming our video in a studio I chosen to look at the particular video because it displays the bands performance in a large studio. The video is a cross between band performance and narrative music video as it has cuts away from the studio for the narrative. The video opens with the lead singer walking into the warehouse and is then followed by the rest of the band, it then cuts to the band playing the opening of the song.

In the performance part of the video there are a lot of quick cuts between the different band members and the band as a whole. Camera shots that involved are close-ups of the band members particularly the lead and the band members instruments. There are also a lot of long shots of the whole band in the warehouse. We could use some of these camera shots in our performance despite the fact that they are not in a studio as such, more of a warehouse. However, we could still use these performance techniques. Long shots of the whole band would not be as easy because we will not have this kind of size but it stills gives us a better understanding of how we could use the studio.

The other section of this video is the narrative. At the chorus of the song the riot control man enter and we start to see conflict. We are shown close ups of the band and the riot controllers and consistent cuts between both of them. This is something we will not be recreating as they have brought the narrative into the studio unlike most rock videos which will separate the performance and the narrative and this is what we plan to do.

Chosen Genre

As a group we have decided to use Dubstep as our genre as we have personal links to an artist through group members and also it allows us to experiment with our narrative and performance to a greater level.

How You Remind Me- Nickelback Narative Analysis

Nickelback are comparable with our selected artist for a number of reasons. The biggest comparison is the narrative as he is singing about his emotion and you really see the artist get angry and upset during the performance side of the video. For our narrative we plan to film about the inspiration behind the lyrics which is about a guy who goes to Copenhagen and falls in love out there but the problem is that he has a girlfriend back in the UK and the song is about the secret sin (the girl). In our music video we really want to capture the emotion of the song through the leader singer. Throughout the song the lead singer sings directly into the camera whilst maintaining eye contact with it. Also later in the song the lead singer begins to shout the lyrics whilst looking up to display his anger.


The shots of the narrative showed the lead singer with his head in his hand looking depressed and alone, also the dark tinting of the shots and low key lighting gave the scene an even gloomier/depressing mood. Also he is imagining the girl still being with him which is displayed use high key lighting, the camera is used to make the woman look beautiful, also there is a close up of the womans eyes staring straight at the camera which gives the audience the impression she is looking at the audience. At the end of the song he rejects the girl, as he sings that he is sorry for handing her a heart worth breaking. Also the idea of the lead singer imagining the woman could be an effective narrative to use. Lastly the scenery of the video is set in his house, on the street and at a concert and during the video he is walking to the concert.

Tenacious D Digipack Analysis

Filming a performance- Jet

Jet 'Are you gonna be my girl' involves studio performance shots that interested me as we are filming a studio performance and would be able to use lots of the shots used in this video. A shot that I found particularly interesting was the shot on 00:13 of the video where the camera pan's across the drum kit then carries on past the bass guitarist. Also there are lots of close up of the guitars which we could use for our video. The close ups of the face and mic whilst the lyrics are being sung is a shot which we could use as it looks effective and it clearly shows what lyrics are being sung. The panning, tracking and zooming shots look very effective in this video as it makes it look more exciting than just normal still shots. We could also learn something from the end of the video as the band members become more relaxed and seem to be enjoying the performance, we could try and use this towards the end of the performance. Lastly we could use some close up on certain things such as symbols, amps, mics, etc.

Most Popular Rock Music Videos

The two music videos below are both very famous music videos that display the conventions of rock, Sweet Child O' Mine is the third single by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and the third from their 1987 debut studio album (Appetite for Destruction). Released on August 17, 1988, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first and only number-one single in the U.S. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, when re-released in 1989. Are You Gonna Be My Girl is a song by the Australian rock band Jet, featured on their 2003 album Get Born. It was the first single from the album, released in 2003 in Australia and the UK, and in 2004 in the United States. The song is often cited for similarities to Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life'.

Guns and Roses- Sweet Child o' Mine



Jet- Are you gonna be my girl

Modestep

Modestep use a wide selection of unique shots that look perfect for the genre of music we are planning to do. Modestep focus mostly on low angled shots lokoing up at the band with lots of light flashing/moving behind them. This makes the band members stand out more as they are drawn to the centre of the shot. Also Modesteps appearnce is what we aim to display our artists as, as they wear mostly black and white clothing with graphics on the front of the tee shirts. Also tattoos and a variety of haircuts making each of the artists look unique. Modestep as based mostly of performance which is another feature we want to include in our music video as we ar filming inside a studio.

Demographics of Comparable Artists

Red Hot Chili Peppers-

Nirvana-

Nickleback-

Characteristics of Rock

Some characteristics of Rock music are :

- Strong rhythm

- Singable melodies

- Simple accompaniment

- Guitar riffs/ostinatos

-Guitar/Drum Solos

Basic Instruments are :

- 3 guitars

- lead, rhythm and bass
- Vocals - Keyboard
- Drum kit

Rock History and Trends

Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as rock and roll in 1950s America and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources. Musically, rock has centered around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature utilizing a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse and common musical characteristics are difficult to define. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Also rock is well known for live performances as the intruments invloved create an electric atmosphere. The hand gesture below is a very common rock gesture, everybody is pretty much familiar with the infamous “devils horns” hand signal as it is very popular amongst heavy metal fans.