GROUP: Sevenoaks Fireworks Shoot

On Saturday the 8th of November last week Sevenoaks district council organized a torch march and firework display. We planned to use this event to our advantage for out third scene, being the firework sequence. We prepared a shot list and call sheet as well as a risk assessment acknowledging the possibility of rain. Although forecasts showed signs of bad weather that evening we proceeded to the location making sure that we could stay in a dry interior in case of bad weather. Unfortunately this was the case and due to heavy rain the torch march was cancelled, this being the main section that we were there to film, we were not able to shoot.

We are currently in the process of rescheduling our next two shoots, We plan to be performing our Hornslodge Fields shoot on Sunday the 16th, the weather forecast predicts clouds with low chance of rain. For our firework sequence planned for Sevenoaks we are having to reconsider either another event to attend of or redrafting the opening of our final scene.

BBK: Digipak Analysis

I have chosen to analyse a Family Rain single, this is because although we are able to gain influence from other Digipaks, The Family Rain's branding has developed prominent visual themes and motifs throughout their debut singles collection. The album cover above for 'Trust me… Im a Genius' was their first single, establishing the selection.

When first seeing the piece it is not evident as to what genre the music is, as the use of a logo in the form of a symbol is often used across several genres such as Dance and Hip Hop. This makes it hard to recognise the Alternative Rock tone of the band as an initial response. However the presence of the men in suits from around the 50's era may portray a relation to the view of the rock and roll era.

The album cover displays a mirrored image of an assembly of young men in a dim lit room, all of whom appear to be looking into the camera. The image has a faint purple filter, this has been used in other videos of the band. The texture of the image gives it a vintage tone anchoring the 50's costume and location seen my the old industrial lights that hang above the men. The logo of the band is imposed on the centre of the cover where the image is split reading the bands name and the name of the single.

The bands alternative, blues rock genre can be seen to be signified by the costume of iconic suits and mise-en-scene within the picture the era that the picture is based in relates to the genre. The purpose of the image is not established immediately within its mise-en-scene. The large amount of young men in suits may connote a school photograph, perhaps relating to the boyhood and the brotherly meta-narrative constructed by the band.
The songs title 'Trust me.. Im a Genius' is also read in first person address, the image may be a POV view of the speaker as the boys listen to the 'Genius'. The fact that the speaker is informing these young people that they must 'trust' him, this may be seen as social intertextual satire towards propaganda in the 50's era around the height of capitalism. The fact that he has to say that he is a 'genius' may connote that he in fact is not a genius and that his pretence towards the audience are false.
The image may also be a representation of the bands audience. Although the boys sit with blank faces, their expressions may be interpreted as mesmerised or hypnotised which may be linked to the propaganda references. This may my signifying an extra-ordinary controlling nature of the band.

The absence of the band within their debut single also signifies aspects of the bands star image. They retain the stardom paradox remaining present through first person address in the song title whilst being physically absent from the cover. Their absence also connotes an artistic prevalence rather than commercial prioritising the music before the band themselves.

The bands absence becomes a theme in many of their print work pieces, allowing the tear drop logo to become a representation of them as is always remains at the centre of each image as can be seen in the gig poster to the right.

The poster to the left however contradicts the previous themes. This print was released in late 2013 in promotion of a London show the band would perform. The use of a faint purple colour filter is repeated forming a common theme of their band representation. The colour may be a reflection of vintage photography and the effects of exposure on film camera.

The three brothers are shown sat side by side on a wall, the wall is on a gradient leading from the right up to the left where the oldest of the brothers sits perhaps signifying a hierarchy. However this is only subtle and the overall composition of the band sees them in equal standings. The bands meta-narrative is a important focal point of their star image, the idea of the 'family' allows the band to appear ordinary and close to one another, a reassuring quality for their audience allowing them to fill in their representation with ideals of their own family.

The brothers bond and friendship can be seen through their representation in mise-en-scene. Firstly their composition on the wall presenting them as equal, the way they sit on the wall appears adolescent adhering to the 'loitering' stereotypes of british youths, a theme they reference in many of their videos displaying brotherly playfulness. The band can also be seen to be wearing similar style clothes, jackets, jeans and Dr. Martens shoes are worn by all three as well as the corresponding colours of black, white and red. The bands image has been replicated in Dr. Marten's 'stand for something' campaign, as they claim to choose clothing that they feel represents their 'sound' and their audience, 'we stand for the crowd'.

The house in the background of the shot appears to be old and weathered, this could be a connotation  of the ordinary side of the star image paradox or a representation of their home signifying how they are still the same as they were as kids, returning the home together.

In conclusion the bands construction of star image through their representation in their print advertising signifies a family bond and brotherly companionship, qualities many socially admire or strive towards personally making the band an attractive representation of societies norms beliefs and values. Their use of symbolism and theme through their logo and colour scheme creates each work piece to be part of an ordered collection provoking completion of an otherwise in complete package.

BS: Digipak analysis

I have chosen to look at The Family Rain, and their promotional campaign/ Digi pack. The genre of their music is alternative rock, with the main roots of their aural sound rock, with more indie sounds within. 

There are many visual signifiers within this digipak, the album cover includes many objects which the band have featured in music videos, other album covers, and lyrics of various tracks. All of these signs and symbols show band coherence and continuity, linking each object directly to the band image, and to some extent subliminally promoting different tracks as the audience are intrigued at the denotation of each, for example the small smoke grenade links to another album "Trust me I'm a genius" and the small pot of pills to the album cover of "Feel Better (FRANK)". Each different object helps to conform and identify the genre of alternative rock, as the different quirky objects add a sense of individuality and alternative style, rather then a purely rock band, who have a very similar style within their album covers/ digipaks. 

These are two rock bands ACDC (right) and Guns'n'Roses (left), clearly both album covers are very similar featuring the band members in a dark low lit room; in comparison to The Family Rain's album cover there are many differences, and iconic signs to identify the difference in genre. There are more vibrant and interesting colours and objects featured within the alternative rock album cover, perhaps suggesting  a difference in aural sound, again reinforcing the more quirky and individual style and sounds within alternative rock, which is constructed through the use of colour. The comparison between the two clearly shows that the myth of rock bands being violent and inconsiderate is broken by The Family Rain, the album cover is not dark and gloomy, but colourful and expressive.

The band members are all looking directly into the camera, this is a first person mode of address and breaks common characteristics of film, usually the actors/ band members would be looking past the camera, by doing this it creates some sort of connection to the band's audience. Each member of the band has a serious facial expression perhaps connoting their serious attitude toward their music, and also to conform to key conventions of their genre.

Much like the rest of the bands album covers they have developed prominent visual themes and motifs. Below are some more examples of their existing album covers. As you can see there is a clear theme of the tear drop shape, this has become an iconic sign for the band, playing a huge roll in their advertising and branding. But this symbol is deceiving of the genre as visual signs similar to this are often seen within the dance genre; but it exaggerates the alternative more individual style of The Family Rain, and to some extent distances their music from the rock genre. All of the bands album covers have been created to look more grainy and vintage, using fainter and duller colours which creates a continuous colour scheme throughout all their digipaks, again reinforcing the bands overall style and image.

 

 

As well as analysing and researching various different album covers we are also required to complete an advertising campaign, with a feature within a relevant magazine. I have decided to look at the bands existing campaigns mainly focusing on their posters, as I hope to take some influence from these.

 

 
This was a poster advertising the band's concert more then their album, but it is interesting to note the appearance of their iconic tear drop signifier, which is the most prominent feature within this poster. Clearly this connotes the importance of the iconic sign and holds creates a code of the relation of this symbol and the band them selves, to some extent this symbol has become an indexical sign to the band as in almost every form of advertising this sign is seen and signifies the band even if they are absent from campaigns.

There is a theme of band absence within the debut and following album covers which is a signifier of the band's star image, although to some extent they are present within each album cover through the iconic and related signs as well as the titles and band name. Obviously the band are not physically present within the majority of their album covers which connotes more of an artistic approach focusing more on promoting the music more then them selves.

 

In conclusion there is clear continuity throughout the band's work and within their advertising campaigns and album covers. Through all of this there is some sense of star image being created, but not to the extreme extent of those more industrial/commercial artists.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GROUP: Brighton Shoot Preparation

On Thursday the 29th we set out to Brighton to film the second part of our video. Having been on a location recce earlier on in the year we were confident with our knowledge of the areas and where we where going to. Because we all live in different towns we arranged somewhere to meet where we could get picked up in the car for the journey. We had to keep in mind that on top of the travelling there and back and gradual loss of light as it is getting in the winter months that we would have to be exact and precise in our shoot in order to make the most of the time. In  preparation for this we created a call sheet and risk assessment to logically organise.

GROUP: Storyboarding Process and Scheduling

This week we have started our storyboarding process. We are halfway through at this point, using our lesson time to have discussions around every shot we create, taking into consideration pace and rhythm with the music and elements of illustrative imagery matching sections of the song with the performance aspects of the video.

We are also organising days that we can shoot on in the up and coming holiday period and selecting the most appropriate and aesthetically pleasing firework display for us to shoot at.

BBK: Brighton Shoot Personal Review

Our Brighton shoot began in the morning as I prepared and packed the equipment we needed noted on our call sheet into the car, we proceeded to Max's house before meeting Ben and Eloise at Tonbridge station. Due to traffic issues the journey down there took two hours and we began shooting at twelve o'clock. We decided to film the shots including the instruments first so that we could get them out of the way in the best sunlight. We set up the equipment on the beach and set up our shots effectively. We then packed the equipment away and proceeded with the rest of the footage each of us using the camera dependent of who was in shot at the time. We all helped in considering the shots composition in relation to the storyboard we had created.

MB: Digipak Analysis

 

I have chosen to analyse the album artwork from The Family Rain's single "Feel Better (FRANK)", the band's fifth single prior to the release of their debut album "Under the Volcano". Despite the band having designed each of prior singles similarly, Feel Better takes a different approach visually, removing the "drop logo" that the band has come to affiliated with, and instead have used a small section of their debut album cover to make this, as everything on their album cover relates to one of the songs; this being some drugs, which are later seen in the official music video.

The artwork for the single cover has some connotations towards the genre it belongs to; namely the skulls and crucifix present in the background, perhaps connoting  heavier style of rock music than reality. The symbol created by the bottle of pills also relates to the counter-society culture that rock and roll has often been associated with since it's inception. Similar to the actual album cover, the single's colours are bright and vibrant, which takes connotation away from such a heavy genre of music and brings it into line with more mainstream alternative rock forms. The band have also chosen to impose their name, and the name of the single onto the cover, as they are not yet popular enough to establish themselves without any physical presence. This is apparent on the album cover, where all three brothers and present.



Previous single covers by "The Family Rain"

However, more than just connoting the genre of music which it belongs to, the single cover also has connotations towards the members of the band themselves. Everything present on the album cover has some relation to either a song, or something to do with their family. This furthers the metanarrative created by the band name, and promotes the meaning behind it. "Family is important". Perhaps not the most "rocky" sounding slogan of all time, but through the songs that have been based upon situations that arose through their childhood, it shows where it can get you.

The band however, did choose to remain absent on all of their single covers prior to the release of the album, perhaps as an artistic choice, so as to establish their logo, or, as Dyer would say, to establish their "star-image". As mentioned previously, rock music has traditionally been associated with rebellion against to norm, and the choice to remain absent from something that is effectively a promotion for yourself is a big decision, especially for a band that has not fully established themselves into mainstream culture, but through doing so have established their stance towards it.