Digipak

As one of our ancillary tasks, we need to create a digipak. We have to decide on what kind of look we want it to have, what to put on it, how it should fit together and also, who should be involved in making it.
To help us decide on these factors, we need to do a bit of research.
A digipak includes the front cover of a CD case. This usually consists of an image of a random object, instrument, person or animal. Solo singers are also shown on their albums, however, rarely is a band. This is due to the band being avaliable at different times and also as bands usually have a particular logo to represent them. For example, avenged sevenfold have the death bat, and metallica have a particular font of which their name is always written.

In the album cover below from the Kaiser Chiefs, the band has not been used. A simple snake skin background has been used with a tab that has the name of the band and album on it. The edges are tatty and it made to look like an old box lid. It says in small font 'a box of tricks' From this I would used the idea of a basic cover. I like that the cover simply says who it is by and what it is called. I don't think I would use the box idea but I would perhaps encorperate some ideas of my own.

In the cover below, again the band has not been used. However, unlike the one above, it is not just simply words. This time an icon has been used. The butterfly is a bright image which can represent the brightness and energy of the band. It also presents some sort of innocence, perhaps suggesting that it is not has hard as some forms of rock music. I like the idea of the butterfly but I don't think I would use it within our song. This is due to our band being all guys and this adding a slightly feminine feel to it.

Band shots

Originally, we had preferred the idea of using the band on the front cover. This would just make it that bit more personal to us. While we were at our venue doing the filming, we took the time to take some photos. However, our band had a lot of trouble standing still and there were hardly any photos of them that aren't blurred.

For this reason, we decided not to use them on the front cover.

Band Names

As the band we put together are not an actual band, and the song is not done by a famous artist, we had to come up with our own band name. This took a lot of time to do as it was hard to find a fitting name. These are the names we came up with:

The Riot
Revolt
Revolution
Rampage
Rage
Destruction
Disturbance
Deranged

The Band

We struggled to get a band together. James knew a band that could perform a song of theirs for us but they could only get to places around London and our venue was in Gravesend. This meant we had to get think of another option. We managed to get the actual singer of the song we have chosen and I managed to get together another three of my friends to do drums, bass and guitar. Luckily they were willing and put the effort in to learn the song in advance.
The people in our band are:

Jon
Our lead singer

Mikey
Our Guitarist

Jack

Our Bassist
Tom
Our Drummer

Chosen location

We original tried filming at both the studio and the cheap hall but decided neither was right for our video. So we rented out the Red Lion for a five hour slot and decided that it was perfect. It fit our genre of music and looked more like a band performance than anywhere else.

Cover Ideas

For our ancillery tasks we have to create a digipak and a magazine advertisement. For this we needed to come up with various things which we could put on the cover. Our ideas were:

Using the bands driving licenses and putting them together to make a square. The part that says 'driving license' would be changed to 'dancing license'.

Another is to get a model to wear a t-shirt saying 'license to dance' with them dancing. We haven't decided whether to have the whole model or just their torso so it is easier to read.

We also could use a silhouette of a dancer in negative or black and white with a bright colored writing over the image.

We also had the idea of using a crowd at a gig as it would show the mayhem and fun which we wanted to portray.

Cover Ideas - Licenses

For our album front cover, we had many ideas. Our favorites were either having the band, or as the song is licence to dance, using some form of licence. As part of this idea, we thought about taking each band member's driving licence and putting them together like a square. We discovered that the drummer of the band had no passed his test so only had a provisional, but we decided that this may have a nice effect.
Before we got the pictures of the band, I decided to take an example licence from the internet and see how easy it would be to change it from a 'driving licence' to a 'dancing licence'. This is how I did it.

First I pasted the original picture from google.

I then zoomed in and selected the 'NC' from 'licence'.

I then copied it and placed it within the word 'driving'.

After this I cut out the 'I' and moved the 'D' over and replaced the background with a patch of pink that was around the writing. I think drew a rough outline of where the 'A' needed to be.

I then found the closest matching font and pipetted the colour from the 'D'. I then placed the 'A' in the space.

I zoomed back out and this was my finished product.

Overall, it wasn't too hard to make but I will have to try doing this with a provisional which may not be as easy.

Animatic

Here is the animatic in all it's glory.

Animatic from Sarah Chamberlain on Vimeo.

Animatic process

The animatic was a very long winded process. First we had to draw the pictures and then transfer them to the computer and then put the images together to fit in time with the song which we have chosen. Our main problem was with the drawings. Although we had drawn a few in class, these somehow went missing so had to be replaced. As I was the one who lost them, I redrew the pictures we lost and the rest that we needed. I then went on to take photos of them all, transfer them onto the computer and from there put them into finalcut, in time with the song. It was very frustrating, especially as it was the exercise to get us used to the software and many mishaps happened. For example, after spending 2 hours on it, I forgot to render it, causing all of it to not open the next time I came to it and having to start fresh. Also, when I tried to do this, the software itself stopped showing the cuts from one image to another, so I had to start again on another computer. There were far less substantial issues with this attempt and within the next couple of lessons I got it finished.

Copyright

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

Copyright protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works. It allows an original work to be considered a property that is owned by somebody. The framework for Copyright Law is the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ('the Act').

WHEN DOES COPYRIGHT BEGIN?

In music, copyright begins automatically once a piece of music is created, and documented or recorded (eg. on video, tape or CD or simply writing down the notation of a score).

HOW LONG DOES COPYRIGHT LAST?

In the UK, copyright generally lasts for a period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.

Luckily the song we are using does no require copyright because the bands song we're using is not copyrighted and they are happy for us to use their material. This makes the process of creating a video easier because if you do copyright infringe in the music industry you personally can get fined a large sum.

For Example

A & M Records vs. Napster

The quintessential case against peer-to-peer filing sharing, it sparked debate over when sharing stops and stealing starts, and if sites that provide the platform can be held liable under copyright laws.

Napster launched in 1999, and provided a hub where users could download songs night and day from all over the world. Napster was sued by a number of major record labels in a joint copyright infringement lawsuit.

Possible Locations

Our next step is to choose the location where we film our performance. This will help set the mood and image that we desire for our band.

The first location that we looked at was a recording studio. James looked on the internet for premises that were affordable to red and found resident studios.We liked this location as the band not only could record the song there but also perform it to make it look more realistic. As the studio provides all the equipment, we would not need to worry about finding and transporting it ourselves. Also, the studio is actually for performing bands so we wouldn't have to set up an area to look like a performance area.

We also found a hall in New Eltham which would be cheap but unfortunately the lighting was poor and there were no plain walls so the backdrop would have looked poor.

We looked at the Red Lion in Gravesend. This would be a fiver an hour and could be hired at short notice providing it had a slot. There would be a band stage and lighting so all we would need is the band members and instruments.


The next location we considered was a underground car park such as Bluewater. This would have been effective as its remote and has a rebellious feel to it. We also liked the idea of an outdoors scenario. The only problems we would have had with this location is the lighting and permission to film so it was therefore impractical.

Licence to Dance Lyrics

Lyrics

It's late and I'm tired and I'm under prepared
I look down at my jeans they're all covered in tears

Nights like this with low-lights and music and dance

So let's go down town and have a few drinks

Cos you're all my mates I think

Now you'll all remember a night like this with low-lights and music and dance

Let's have a dance, let's have a drink

Cos there's no time to sit down and think

Get on your feet here comes your chance cause everybody you got a license to dance

You got a license to dance

It's late and I'm so tired except I've caught your eye

But I'm not the only one, I'll join the line

Of idealistic opportunistic men of our time

I'll join the line

Many men have been in order, they just all seem to adore her
Time by me, you can take your chance
Just blame it on the low-lights and music and dance
Let's have a dance, let's have a drink
Cos there's no time to sit down and think
Get on your feet here comes your chance cause everybody you got a license to dance
You got a license to dance
You got a license to dance
Now she's lying next to me, not much further I can see
Many questions lay unanswered, a clever boy leaves us departed
Low lights, music and dance, just blame it on
Low lights, music and dance, low lights music and dance
Let's have a dance, let's have a drink
Cos there's no time to sit down and think
Get on your feet here comes your chance cause everybody you got a license to dance
You got a license to dance
You got a license to dance

Video Idea

This particular video is difficult to think of a narrative to. We could only really think of one idea and none of us were all that keen on it. With the song talking about the idea of having a 'license to dance', we thought that we could incorporate the idea of actually have a license in order to dance. We could show a venue where a license is shown and then show a gig where people are dancing 'illegally' to our band. They could be seeming secretive and then the gig could perhaps be raided and a riot or fight could kick off.

As we were unhappy with this idea, we decided that it would be easier for us to film a performance for our video. As it is a friend's song, we can use the actual singer in the video and we have various other friends who can play the instruments. It would be more helpful if we were to find people who actually play the instruments and they can provide them for the shoot.

Songs

We listened to various songs and made a list of those we would like to do:

You Me At Six - Underdog
The Bloody Beetroots ft. Steve Aoki - WARP
Jon Youseman - Licence to Dance
The Bloodhound Gang - The Bad Touch
The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
Good Charlotte ft. M. Shadows and Synyster Gates - The River
Billy Talent- Surrender
Shinedown - 45
Rhianna - Disturbia
The Prodigy - The Omen
Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country
Faithless - Mass Destruction

We decided to do Jon Youseman - Licence to Dance as where he is a friend and is not signed, there would be no problem with copyright. Also, we could get the original band in for filming. We both really liked the song as it has a unique sound but sounds professional and has a lot of potential for a video.

Groups

Within our project we are going to be working in groups. For our music video, James Ellis, Alex Bee and me are going to be working together as we have similar ideas and we reckon we will work well together. We had an initial discussion about what we wanted to do and agreed on a narrative or a performance mixed with a narrative. We then went on to listen to various tracks for inspiration.
Originally we had wanted to do 'Invaders must Die' by the Prodigy as we could do a video about segregation via racism or sexism or another issue. We also thought about doing parts in slow motion to add effect. However, we decided that the Prodigy were far too well known and people would have preconceptions over what their video should involve. We then went on to look at less well known bands and artists.

Music Video Analysis 1

Good Charlotte feat. M.Shadows and Synyster Gates- The River

Lyrics

[Joel]
As I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of LA
The footsteps that were next to me
Have gone their separate ways
I've seen enough now
To know that beautiful things
Don't always stay that way
I've done enough now
To know this beautiful place
Isn't everything they say

I heard that evil comes disguised
Like the city of angels
I'm walking towards the light

Baptized in the river
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city with the sinner
I've done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I'm a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I'm trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I'm delivered
I'm delivered

[M.Shadows]
You're from a small town
You're gonna grow up fast
Underneath these lights
Down in Hollywood
On the boulevard
The dead come back to life

To the praying Mother
And the worried Father
Let your children go
If they come back
They'll come home stronger
And if they don't
You'll know

[Joel]
They think that evil comes disguised
Like the city of angels
I'm walking towards the light

Baptized in the river
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered
In the city with the sinner
I've done a lot of things wrong
But I swear I'm a believer
Like the prodigal son
I was out on my own
Now I'm trying to find my way back home
Baptized in the river
I'm delivered
I'm delivered

Baptized in the river (on my own)
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered (on my own, on my own)

Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered
Baptized in the river (on my own)
I wanna be delivered

I confess I'm a sinner
I've seen a vision of my life
And I wanna be delivered

Starts with an establishing shot of five screens lit yellow in a warehouse, set up like a stage.
As the symbols are hit each screen changes to a shot of each member of Good Charlotte, one by one. The camera then cuts to medium close up of one screen with the lead singer pulling up his collar. It then cuts to another medium close up of another screen where the guitarist preparing himself, then to another of the other pulling down his guitar, and then another of the bassist swinging his arm slowly in a circle. The camera then cuts to a long shot of the lead singer standing on a stage in front of one of the screens which flicks though various shots, while he punches his arm up when the guitar kicks in.

He then taps his foot in time to the drum before the camera cuts to a extreme close up of a pan of his hands in a praying position on the next guitar strum. It then cuts to a cut of low angled close up of him as he looks up still praying. A long shot is then used of the 5 screens again, this time showing differing images, with the guitarist playing in front of the central one. The next shot used is low angled and of the other guitarist strumming. A series of images are then flicked between on one of the screens in time with the fast pace of the end of the bar. The camera then cuts to a low angled medium shot of the guitarist playing his guitar and whipping it round. The camera cuts to a long shot of the same guitarist silhouetted against three of the screens. Two extreme close ups are then used of the leader singers chest and face as he draws a cross over his body. The next shot is of the siloutted guitarist at medium close up and then the same as a long shot and then once again from below. There is then an establishing shot of the five screens with various flashing images. There is then an extreme long shot of the lead singer tapping his feet to the music and then the silouetted guitarist at a medium close up from the side. Two close ups of one of the screens is then used to show two tattoos spelling out LA.

As the first line is sung 3 shots are use. One is a close up of one of the screens with the lead singer singing, then next an establishing shot of warehouse and the lead singer moving in front of the screens and the last a pan of the guitairist holding his guitar. The next two shots are of the lead singer from the side, one long shot and the other a close up of his face. There is then one of the bassist and then some more flashing images on the screens. The lead singer is presented again in a close up and then the screen is used to present the guitarist before cutting back to the lead singer at a medium close up. The rest of the verse continues with various shots of the screens and band members.

The chorus continues in the same fashion, except for the band members tranforming into each other as they turn.

As it is a performance video, therest of the video is repeatitive of what we have already seen. However, as the members of the other band are brought into the song, the transformations and cuts included them too. Also, the transformations change from simply turning to face trasitions, while the person is standing up, when their hands move in front of their face and more.

Year 13 Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).