Jordan Howes' A2 Media Blog

Monday, 4 October 2010

Find Your Tribe Video - Grunger

Location Planning 1

One location that was decided to use was a certain characters house; to reflect the average mundane lives of the characters and provide a stark contrast to the fame and fortune that was about to behold them. For the purpose of easiness I have decided to analyse my room.

The first signifier of a waning for a rock 'n 'roll lifestyle is the door- a Rolling Stones poster making connections with the rock genre icons that have influenced our video. Another is the scrawling D.I.Y lyrics on the door- taken from the Manic Street Preachers' song 'Faster' of their 1993 album 'The Holy Bible'- reflecting the punk rock ethic that that has influenced our video.

The Jimi Hendrix poster is also a signifier for the excessive lifestyle the video represents; with Hendrix dying of affixiating on his own vomit at the young age of 27. The unmade bed also shows a scruffy, mundane, lazy lifestyle just waiting to be transformed.

Another signifier are the guitars in the room- representing a wish to replicate the achievements of those shown throughout the room. This is also shown with items such as biographies of British punk band 'The Libertines' and Joy Division's Ian Curtis: with the former representing the rock n roll lifestyle of excess and the latter a sorry reminder of the frequent young-aged deaths that this lifestyle can claim. Song tabs can also been seen throughout the room- another signifier of the wish to replicate what the characters heroes have achieved.

Excessive lifestyle signifiers are not only represented in musical decor, posters for the film of Scarface also connotate the lifestyle and the plot shown in the video: with Scarface rising to become the biggest drug baron in California before losing it all due to his excessive lifestyle before being killed in the end of the film.

Friday, 1 October 2010

Written Treatment

"Frenzied eruption of raw rock culture"

The plot for our music video starts with the band sitting at home. We show their lives to be fairly mundane and average. One member of the band inherits a large sum of money. This changes the dynamic of the group’s life. The man who inherits the money promptly drives to pick up the members of the band as the music begins (Each band member enters car in sync with the music and their instruments which they bring with them). Now The plot halves into the performance shots of the band practice after they arrive in the car. The other half which will be cross-cut in and out of the band members spending their money in extravagant ways. Such as gambling, partying, after purchasing expensive clothing. The two halves melt back together after the party has finished and the band finds they have no money just like the beginning. They pick up their instruments once again and the music cuts out just as they begin to play.

We were influenced to a certain extent by the film Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.We thought the poker scene in the film was really well composed and works well with the music. Our poker scene will be based very closely to the style of this.

We are taking on the style of a monochrome film. This will be used to bringout a certain colour which will be chosen to emphasise a certain mood by using colour connotation. This is similar to the scene in 'Schindler's List' with the single red coat.

The film Rock n Rolla has good use of lighting in it which will influence how we light our own video. The use of dark to light contrasts creates connotations of moral ambiguity and looks startling.

For the performance elements in our music video our main influence is the style of Kasabian – Underdog. The slightly slowed down performance shots carry across a lot more passion.

Mis-en-scene Planning

This is a planning concept board; with the aspects covered explaining why these various choices have been made and their part in the rock genre history.

This is the aspect of the themes we have planned to use; one of these is anarchy. Anarchy was promoted in the British punk movement in which lawless excessive acts such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash promoted a rebellious ideal over considerable talent. This ideal may provide conflict in our video, as the rebellious characters may clash with law enforcement. Freedom is another theme we planned to use, from the law or (for teenagers, from concerned adults.) One common route or freedom-filled event is the road trip- which we may include in our video as it promotes (like the genre) freedom, verocity and escapism. The use of a car will also provde logistical use in finding locations. The theme of excess is also very important when planning our video- with rock pioneers such as Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin all becoming victims of excess; gambling is a strong subject in our video to promote this excess.

One location that was taken into consideration was a dirty, seedy underground club; providing the perfect backdrop to a rock gig- a place where partying and excessivness run wild. Another common place for rock infamy is the hotel room; a noteriously famous example being the myth surrounding the murder of Nancy Spungeon- with punk rocker boyfriend Sid Vicous arrested for her murder and committing suicide before his trial. Keith Moon of 'The Who' fame was renounded for his destruction of hotel rooms.

The costume use must reflect the punk rock ethic, the ripped tee-shirt signifying danger and attitude, a common attribute being spattered vibrant colours. Tight jeans signify sexual debauchery and emphasises a poor backround as jeans are too small. Shoes such as Chuck Taylor Converse are very popular in American rock; typically worn by Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame. A commonplace British rock genre shoe is the pointed shoe or 'chelsea boot', the pointed end emphasising danger and rebellion.