Looking into initial designs for my third and final music video idea, I briefly researched Woodkid's website and album cover. His website is stylish yet simple, with his logo, a video of his latest song, and the links to his store and social networking sites.
On the contrary, whilst his album cover is also simple - the single image is somewhat busy and complicated. On some copies, it is alone, whilst on others, it is accompanied by Woodkid's cross-keys logo. From looking at both the website and album, it is apparent that Woodkid favours simple and stylish art, as well as muted colours.
Baring this in mind (whilst also using my own inspiration) when designing initial plans for my version of the music campaign behind Stabat Mater, I decided to follow Woodkid's ideals of a simple, yet stylish and muted colour palette design, but also decided that my artist, the up-and-coming "Jules", would want to create his star quality and get his image out into the world. I consequently decided to use images of Ben Affleck as a representation of Jules. For my website, I did the bare-minimum of an edit on wix.com just to get an idea of what I'd want my website for Jules to look like. I used a black and white palette (which I then continued with the album cover) and Palatino Linotype font for his title, given the 'classy' quality to his music. I am particularly fond of the atmospheric, interactive background (although this was just built in to the template - with my actual website, I think it would be good to create a replica-type image like this).
In regards to the album cover, I originally experimented with images such as a crucifix, rosary beads and even the ace of spades (trying to connect them to Jules' musical style and inspiration), but decided that I preferred a highly darkened and atmospheric grey-scale picture of the artist. Given how I don't think Stabat Mater would be the headlining song of his debut-album, I then created a song entitled 'Iscariot' in reference to Judas Iscariot, Jesus' betrayer and the thirteenth disciple - this affirming that the album would be highly religious influenced, and maybe even subject to inspiration from 'Renaissance' pieces.
I am very happy with these initial designs and imagine that if I go forward with this particular idea with my group, the final product wouldn't look all too different.
My third and final idea for a possible music video that my group and I could make next year as part of our A2 Media Coursework Portfolios is for the song Stabat Mater by acclaimed french artist, Woodkid. The song was released as a track on Woodkid's debut studio album, The Golden Age, released in 2013, and is considered to be of the orchestral pop genre. The Stabat Mater is the name of a 13th Century Catholic hymn to Mary, which portrays her suffering as Jesus Christ's mother during his crucifixion. Woodkid's Stabat Mater currently has no official music video.
the song's lyrics
My idea for the music video is a combination of Performance, Narrative and Concept styles. For my idea, I would need just two, simple locations: an empty black room, and an empty white room. As the song opens to the sound of a beating drum, a single male figure stands shirtless within the black room, slamming down large, elaborate drumsticks upon a grand, kettle drum. Talcum powder has been set upon the drum skin so that with each beat, a flurry of white powder disperses into the air. The only things he is wearing is a pair of old, ripped and stained trousers, and a very peculiar bronze face cage.
When more orchestral instruments join in, the video cuts to a new shot of a ballerina in a traditional, white ballerina's outfit, dancing alone to the song within the same black room. For the rest of the opening instrumental, the video occasionally cuts back to the drummer, and on one occasion, cuts to a shot of the white room, where a woman shrouded in a skin-hiding royal blue dress and matching veil (with a small silver crown on top) stands still, her hands before her in prayer - a small reference to Mary, Mother of God and the song's title.
Once the singing begins, the video cuts to a suited man standing within the black room, passionately singing into a 50's style microphone. During the verse, we are subject to short narrative-based shots (all within the white room) such as of a pair of holding hands, a couple arguing, and a black coffin alone within the middle of the room. On the line, "How could we be close again?" there is a shot of the man from the couple within the white room, holding a knife in the air, captivated by it.
With the return of the song's instrumental, we return to the ballerina (with a few shots here and there of the drummer), who is dancing with a severe air of desperation, her dance moves denoting that she is struggling with something, to some extent implicit that she is drowning or suffocating. As the singing returns for the second verse, the video cuts back to the singer. Within the verse, we see a shot of two black coffins next to each other within the white room, as well as another shot of a small child dropping a bouquet of flowers onto the floor (also within the white room). With the line, "A circle of horses," the video cuts back to the ballerina who is frantically dancing. As the verse progresses, she slows into a still position before dropping to her knees, silently screaming at the camera. She pulls a knife out, that was tucked into her skirt and whilst staring directly into the camera, slices across her stomach - a long bundle of red cloth tumbling out of the cut seams to her dress, denoting blood.
The final instrumental sees a number of still shots, such as the drummer, the two twin coffins, the ballerina 'dead' on the floor, the spilt flowers, 'Mary' making the sign of the cross, and finally the singer walking away from his microphone before the video fades to black at the end of the song. For my take on Stabat Mater, the artist (who would be the singer within the video) would be an organic singer-songwriter named "Jules", his musical style comparable to American singer Lana Del Rey, Swedish singer Lyyke Li, or even composer Hans Zimmer. The song would be one of the early released singles from his debut album. To summarise, the video would need:
Two sets: an empty black room, and an empty white room.
A cast of seven: a singer, a drummer, a ballerina, 'Mary', a male and female, and a child.
Four elaborate costumes and three 'every-day' costumes.
Nine props: a knife, two black coffins, a kettle drum and drumsticks, a bouquet of flowers, a bundle of red cloth, talcum powder, and a microphone.
Thinking about a complete music campaign for my second music video idea, researching into Bishop Briggs' official websites reveals a very underwhelming site, with little information, her latest music video on loop, and only a couple of links to her social networking sites.
Her latest single, Pray (Empty Gun), is yet to be released on an unnamed album (which thus has no official artwork yet) and consequently the visual theme across the platforms for this artist cannot be researched. However, there is a cover for this particular single:
Regardless, for my version of Pray (Empty Gun), the band behind the song is an indie duo called Pilgrim comprised up of a singer (who fronts the band) and a drummer. Their themes are very indie and alternative, whilst also modern and contemporary. I imagine them to be a duo with indie rock origins who are trying to break into the mainstream. For the visual theme across their homepage and digipak, I want it to be fundamentally black and white, perhaps with a hint of gold. I also envision their look, style and general images to be quite vital, thus conforming to Dyer's star theory. Consequently, both the homepage and digipak are going to be quite photograph-centric. Creating initial designs, I am going to use the font 'Avenida' due to its seemingly vintage quality, and also because it is simple yet stylish. However, given the fact that this band does not exist, I have very few images to work with - meaning my initial plans will be severely lacking in photographs. I planned a preliminary design for the homepage with the free online software of wix, although I'm purposefully sparing with the details given the obscurity surrounding this fictional band. I decided to stick with an indie, clean, simple, black-and-white, vintage sort of visual theme which I then stuck to when designing initial plans for the digipak, too.
When it comes to making the real music campaign, I want to have an excess of photos at my disposal, but I imagine I will keep a similar visual theme of 'classical, vintage, black and white'. Whether or not on the final digipak the drummer is also included, is something I'd additionally like to explore.
My second idea for a music video that my group and I could make next year as part of our A2 Media Coursework Portfolio is the song Pray (Empty Gun) by up-and-coming British artist, Bishop Briggs. The song is so new and unknown, that it has neither charted nor had an official music video created for it - which is good, because it means that we would be playing with fresh material and thus not be compared to anything. Instead, our video would stand out as being entirely original. The song was only released on August 12th, which, at the time of writing this post, was only 5 days ago. The artist behind my version of Pray (Empty Gun) would be an indie singer-songwriter duo named Pilgrim, comprised up of a female singer and male drummer - an organic duo of the indie pop and alternative rock genres. Their music style could be compared to American musician and singer BØRNS, as well as American rock band The Neighbourhood, or British indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, and the lead singer's attitude and general appearance would be comparable to Danish singer MØ, or Canadian singer, Grimes.
My idea for the music video is fundamentally comprised of two elements - a performance element, and a dance element. The performance element would, for the most part, be of the singer and drummer of Pilgrim, lip-syncing and playing, and the dance element would be of a pair of contemporary dancers. Ultimately, the lead singer is definitely more-so the frontrunner of the band, with her drummer counterpart more anonymous. The first verse and chorus takes place entirely within an empty, dark room that's constantly being filled with coloured smoke - the left side of the room is a baby blue, and the right side a bubblegum pink. Within the haze are the two dancers, a male and female, dressed in matching silver leotards. The singer of Pilgrim sits in the foreground, in front of the haze, her hair tied into twin space buns and wearing all black - black lipstick, circular black glasses, a black choker, an oversized black sweatshirt, a short black skirt, black fish net tights, and black heeled boots. The drummer simply wears a black hoodie, dark ripped jeans and shoes, and he plays in the same setting, but alone from the other components of the music video's scene [i.e: he is not alongside the singer or dancers]. The sequence continuously switches between focusing on the lip-syncing singer in Pilgrim, the drummer in Pilgrim, and the dancing couple (although favouring the lip-syncing Pilgrim).
For the second verse and chorus, there's a series of shots (predominantly from above) of Pilgrim lying within a ring of weapons (largely comprised up of [prop] guns and knives). Once again, this is occasionally intercut with shots of the two dancers and drummer from earlier within their silver leotards and the coloured smog. Pilgrim has her hair in two, long pigtail braids and is wearing a see-through black top (with black bra beneath), a green velour tracksuit jacket and baggy, black, pleated trousers. She wears the same black lipstick, and shoes from before, but now in addition to some thick golden necklaces and rings. She may even have a grill. This is to show the duo's 'New Money' modern musician attitude, and their desire to enter the mainstream and sell records.
The final chorus of the song sees the music video's final location introduced: a forest of tall pine trees. There are numerous shots of Pilgrim running through the forest, spreading her arms as if like a bird and sitting on a fallen tree or large boulder lip-syncing to the song. In these shots she wear the same black glasses, lipstick and choker as previously seen, as well as a black crop-top, blue denim jacket, and tight black trousers with big, black military boots. In certain shots, the drummer can also be seen in a male-counterpart to her costume (i.e: dark trousers, dark shoes and a similar denim jacket). The purpose of this location is to show that whilst Pilgrim wants to be a modern, 'New Money' contemporary group and gain popularity, they are still trying to stress that they are organic, and appreciative of their music and the power of nature. In many ways, they are trying to show that they are debatably a contradiction: synthetic and organic -- finding the happy medium between success and passion. Throughout the ultimate chorus, the video regularly cuts back to the two previous locations, drummer and dancers.
I envision the song to be a single on the duo's first official album thus stressing the importance of creating their star image and showcasing the singer as their frontrunner. For me, the band is an organic band who has signed to a more synthetic record label and is thus being modelled in a certain way despite trying to retain their original look and character. Realistically, the costumes (perhaps with the exception of the leotards) are easily obtainable, and as there are only four people in the music video, they will be easily cast-able and likely free when filming. The locations are low-key and easy to make (should we be able to obtain enough knives), and even if the weather is poor, our school is situated within plenty of forests for us to film in. In comparison to my first music video, this is far more sensible and realistic, and so it is much more likely that I will pursue this idea when moving forward into production.
In order to create an overall music campaign, alongside a music video there must also be a homepage and digipak. Consequently, to go alongside my initial music video idea I need to start thinking about initial designs and visual themes for the band's homepage and digipak. The official homepage, album cover, and single cover, for Danish band The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, is as follows:
The website homepage immediately advertises the band's third album 'Bring Us Together', with there also being an important emphasis on their social networking sites. Consequently, one can presume that it is for this reason that the visual theme doesn't quite correlate with the same sort of style as their initial album's front cover, 'Fruit', on which The Golden Age is a single.
For my music campaign of this song, The Golden Age, there are a few fundamental things I'd like to keep the same for there to be a well-established visual theme across the different platforms: the same font, and a similar colour scheme. Given the music video idea itself, undoubtedly both the homepage and the digipak need to be crazy and colourful. My band would be called Tina and the Jellyfish, a very organic band with an acid jazz/psychedelic pop style. Given their obscure, artistic nature, I feel like the visual theme is going to be more abstract, with very few actual photographs of the band.
Making an initial design on wix.com I decided to focus on making the homepage fun and vibrant, with a link to their debut album's leading track obvious and easily accessible. Although just a quick job, for the actual website I envision a very similar, fun-loving style. The font I used was 'Pacifica Condensed' given it's alternative, distinguishable look. Keeping with this established visual theme, the album cover would be very similar in style. Performing a speedy job on photoshop, I came up with the following design:
Not only are there similar colours, and the same font - but the background to the digipak and homepage are the same image. Also, to capture the audience's interest better and make the cover yet more colourful and interesting, I also added a very beautiful drawing of a jellyfish, designed by this artist. When making the actual homepage and digipak, all of our images would have to be entirely original - but I definitely thing that as a starting point, these initial designs are a strong start for my music campaign.
My first idea for a music video that my group could make next year as part of our A2 Media Portfolio is the song, The Golden Age by a Danish band called The Asteroids Galaxy Tour. The Golden Age is the only single from the band to chart/receive certification, but, whilst still being an immense achievement, only hitting the peak position of 70th in the UK top 100, meaning that the song is amicable, but also obscure enough for us to have more of a creative license when making the music video.
In terms of the official music video for The Asteroids Galaxy Tour's The Golden Age, it features very psychedelic themes with lots of colour and weird and wonderful moments. For the most part, the video explores the actual lyrics to the song whilst maintaining a very cosmic theme to the piece, in reference to the band's name. The band could easily be comparable to The Beatles due to the similarities with their otherworldly, psychedelic themes, and thus, in many ways, channels a vintage 60's vibe.
However, as part of a marketing campaign for Heineken beer, the band also made an alternative music video for their hit, The Golden Age. The other music video is a stark contrast, featuring the band looking very glamorous and entertaining at a party. Whilst the music video does retain a number of weird and wonderful moments (perhaps in reference to the band's style), they are to a much lesser extent, namely through the narrative's protagonist, a magician attending such a party.
For my take on The Golden Age, the artist would be a band called "Tina and the Jellyfish", consisting of a lead singer (the so-called Tina), guitarist, keyboardist, saxophonist, trumpet player and drummer. Within the music video, the band would also be accompanied by a trio of backing singers. They would be a very organic band, with an acid jazz/psychedelic pop style in reference to the band they were based off. Artists they would be comparable to are that of English duo, The Ting Tings and a more light-hearted version of South African duo Die Antwoord. The music video would be a combination of a Performance and Concept video, taking place across multiple locations.
As the song opens with its drum roll, there's a wide shot of Tina standing alone within a windowless seemingly abandoned bathroom, severely dilapidated with mould in the corner, cracked tiles, and black graffiti.
Tina stands with her head downcast, facing the floor, but dressed in vibrant, colourful clothing - some rainbow leggings, a fluffy pink jacket, retro round pink sunglasses and a bright yellow bandana. Her make-up is thick and colourful, almost clown-like.
When the music erupts into its first piano key, Tina snaps her head up, revealing a big grin as all around the room coloured powder explodes. Therein is the music video's first location, consisting of Tina lip-syncing and dancing within the coloured fog. In order to create the psychedelic nature to the music video numerous editing effects would later be applied (such as slow motion and reversal). For some of the dancing sequences, in order to capture the wacky, crazy nature of the band behind Tina, amongst the coloured fog, there would be someone in an animal costume (perhaps a tiger or panda - perhaps both?) dancing. For the lip-syncing sequences in such a location, should the fog get too much and obscure Tina as she sings, it might be prudent to have a fan off-camera and ready to operate.
For the song's chorus, there's a new location: some form of garage or basement with a reflective epoxy floor. There's brilliant blue lighting, creating an atmosphere of almost being underwater. The set consists of a number of spray-painted silver platforms each at various levels: on the uppermost platform and at the very back, the the trio of backing singers, on the next highest platform, the band's drummer (his drum kit emblazoned with the band's name and logo), the next, the saxophonist and trumpet player and the final platform, the keyboardist with his shiny, silver keyboard. On the ground and in front of them all is the guitarist and even more-so in the foreground than him, Tina.
Each person is dressed in some form of silver outfit ranging from the guitarist in a shiny silver suit, to one of the backing singers in a silver sequin dress. They also all have crazy silver makeup - painted lips, eyeshadow, glitter (even the men). In particular, the headliner Tina is wearing an outfit similar to what Elizabeth Hurley's character Vanessa Kensington wore in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery - despite the character having being set in the 90's, an indirect reference to the vintage 60's vibe channelled by the band. The drummer also, in particular, wears a jellyfish-like hat on his head in reference to the band's name.
The next verse sees a couple jiving in a large, wooden sauna. Behind them is Tina laying down quite nonchalantly, dressed only in a towel with big, Amy Winehouse-esque hair and long, dark blue eyelashes with matching lipstick lip-syncing along to the song, holding a carved out pineapple with tiny pink umbrella and yellow straw. The female dancer is wearing character shoes and an emerald green dress and the male dancer is wearing a white shirt, black trousers, dress shoes and red suspenders.
The dance would be choreographed based on the jive below:
The chorus returns to the second location (with the underwater theme) this time with two people dressed as giant jellyfish running around and dancing along. When the song slows down, the shot changes to the entire cast laying with their heads in a circle, facing the sky, laughing manically as the camera spirals around them from one face to the next, continuously speeding up.
The third verse has Tina sitting within the bathtub from the first location, the coloured powder having settled from the previous explosion. Wearing a vibrant green leotard, Tina sits with her knees cradled, the bathtub filled with murky, rainbow coloured water. She is completely soaked, with mascara all over her face. On her lips she wears bright red lipstick. The verse is one long side-on shot, slowly panning in on Tina staring at the camera and lip syncing in an almost overly enthusiastic way. Various different random objects have been placed in front of and around the bath tub, such as a model of the Virgin Mary, various teddy bears, a reggae hat, a couple of plants, Tina's pair of silver platform go-go boots, her pineapple drink with umbrella and straw, her pink fluffy jacket, and the drummer's jellyfish hat.
For the ultimate chorus of the song, it returns to the underwater-themed location, everyone having fun and performing. After the chorus has finished, in the last bridge-like sequence, it returns to the sauna where the whole band now sits in their silver costumes, watching as the couple jive. As the song finally comes to its end, the video flicks back to the underwater-themed location, everyone dancing as silver glitter falls from the sky and covers everything and everyone, using the same slow motion and reversal editing techniques as used in the very first sequence with the coloured powder.
The song would be the band's title track of their debut album and thus the reasoning behind the importance of featuring their image and identity as they try to construct their lead singer's star image as a carefree, fun, alternative artist. To summarise, this idea would need: three locations (abandoned bathroom, underwater-themed basement with numerous platforms, and a wooden sauna) technically all build-able, a cast of 14 (singer, guitarist, saxophonist, trumpet player, keyboardist, drummer, two dancers, two jellyfish, three backing singers and a panda/tiger) all cast-able from people at school, and a number of costumes (nine silver costumes, a colourful costume, two jellyfish costumes, one panda/tiger costume, a white towel, a male dancer's costume, a female dancer's costume, a green leotard).
