Comparing an Organic and Synthetic Artist

Synthetic Artist - Olly Murs

- His name is bigger and bolder on the album cover rather than the name of the album thus showing him being promoted is more imported than the music. 

- His facial expressions connote sadness and make the audience feel empathy which will create more sales and will put a different feel on the music.

- The diverse colours on the front of the cover will make more people buy the album and make it more attractive in order to create more sales, not really caring about how good the music is.

- As the name is smaller and below his bigger name title showing the actual music is nit as important as his name being promoted and his fan base growing all to create more money.

- Stereotypical album of a synthetic artist to promote himself as a musician icon.
- Olly Murs' physical appearance is cool and fashionable to type and match his type of music 

This contrasts with the organic style Ed Sheeran has...

Organic Artist - Ed Sheeran

- In contrast Ed's cover deliberately doesn't put his name on the cover as he is selling his music not himself.

- As there is a simple colour scheme this shows that Ed Sheeran is an individual solely caring about his music and people buying his albums because they love his music.

- The simple image that Sheeran has on each album represents the music in that album which he tries to connote to his fans, but not being more forceful like the 'Olly Murs' cover above.

- Stereotypical organic styled cover as there is no name, a simple colour scheme and no mass imagery showing the audience and fans that he just wants his music to be loved and cared about by his fans, not everyone like a synthetic artist which purely wants to make the maximum amount of money. 

street art mood board

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

Street Photography Mood Board of Our Locations

Here is our street moodpboard. This moodboard reflects the locations we aim to use when in our 'fantasy' scene whereby we will have our lead singer running down an empty road in central London holding emotions of freedom as he joyfully sprints with his hands by his side. The images in the moodboard below portray the area we aim to use and furthermore, the feel it'll have when filmed. Also, we included the famous Abbey Road image of the Beatles, because it holds the same feel to what we are showing as the band walk across the pedestrian crossing.

The locations of our mood-board are vital as depending on where we film will have a knock on effect to how well we reach out to the hard rock fans and also how well we sell our star image through being an organic band to the dis-affected youth. If we are at busy locations, it'll be more challenging to adhere to generic conventions such as close ups due to many people walking past, behind the camera frequently. In addition to this, lip syncing may be challenging too as the noise from the public may distract our lead singer from what he is singing. The hard rock genre has to be sold through a good use of location and we aim to do this by being as a band in quiet areas to promote the loneliness our lead singer faces and the stigmas related to mental health.

Genre: grunge rock - as our genre is grunge rock which will be seen by the band playing in the studio we liked the contrast of our star artist running through the streets of London as we thought the Capitol would make for a really good release place for the star artist when they are out of the asylum.
Target Audience: disengaged youth/ rebellious teenagers - we thought the idea of having our non studio scenes based throughout London would fit the youth that our audience consists of, such as Abbey Road is a fashionable and historic location which has a nice contrast to out youthful audience.
Star Image: Our bands star image is similar to that of Biffy Clyro, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, the most accurate fit is Biffy Clyro, this is because they are a synthetic band playing different instruments who all contribute differently. We plan to develop our star image over time through love to our youthful audience by our artists being unique and especially through our cleverly chosen locations in our music video.
Synthetic or Organic: organic artists, unique band all playing different instruments therefore the location selected will be thought over and chosen carefully as they must be unique and special to our band as these mages will live on forever with our fans. Negus argues, not appealing to mainstream media and building fan base over time is essential to organic artists building a healthy fan base.
Conventions of a music video: we definitely fit conventions as all the music videos analysed by our team such as Biffy Clyro's 'Many of Horror' have the band playing in the studio which we have. However, we also subvert conventions as not many rock music videos use other locations to convey a story, another reason why our band is synthetic as we believe in our music and the stories we tell matter to our artists.

Second model of the street moodboard:

After much debate, we decided to create a second street moodboard to help conclude where the 'fantasy' scenes of the main artist running loose will take place. The image below all have something in common which contrasts moodboard one. This is the fact that all the pictures are completely generic and can be found in any culture all over the world, we liked the thought of this as our story line of a patient stuck in an asylum all day long occurs all over the world, therefore when they are let loose we love the idea that the scenes will be open to massive interpretation from our target audience.

Genre: grunge rock - as our genre is grunge rock which will be seen by the band playing in the studio we liked the contrast of our star artist running through a secluded, graphiti underpass which would be wide open for interpretation as we could show shots of words on the walls and include them in our video as our star artist runs through.

Target Audience: disengaged youth/ rebellious teenagers - we thought the idea of having our non studio scenes based throughout rough, graphiti underpasses would fit the rebellious youth that our audience consists of as its likely our audience members regularly go under these passes so it will make them feel more apart of the band.

Star Image: Our bands star image is similar to that of Biffy Clyro, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, the most accurate fit is Biffy Clyro, this is because they are a synthetic band playing different instruments who all contribute differently. We plan to develop our star image over time through love to our youthful audience by our artists being unique and especially through our cleverly chosen locations in our music video. Therefore these very one of a kind locations will only be seen in our music video, instead of shooting in front of Big Ben in London which will feature in many music videos.

Synthetic or Organic: organic artists, unique band all playing different instruments therefore the location selected will be thought over and chosen carefully as they must be unique and special to our band as these mages will live on forever with our fans. Negus argues, not appealing to mainstream media and building fan base over time is essential to organic artists building a healthy fan base.

Conventions of a music video: we definitely fit conventions as all the music videos analysed by our team such as Biffy Clyro's 'Many of Horror' have the band playing in the studio which we have. However, we also subvert conventions as not many rock music videos use other locations to convey a story, another reason why our band is synthetic as we believe in our music and the stories we tell matter to our artists.

Analysis of how a star has changed over time in music videos

Micheal Jackson

Bille Jean- 1982
This is where Micheal is becoming the biggest solo artist in the world but still at the early stages of his career. He is young, cool talented and that is shown through his music video of Bille Jean. He is in a cool outfit, dancing and just him having a good time without a deeper message.



Thriller- 1983
Only a year after Billie Jean so not much has changed, however its hard not to mention arguably the most famous music video of all time which is 13 minutes long. Similarly MJ is at the peak of his powers in this video is lots of choreography and a now famous dance, enhancing MJ star image at the time.



Man in the Mirror- 1987
In this Music video Micheal doesn't even feature, the video highlights the message of 'make that change' and shows powerful leaders and events that embodies his message. A Micheal got older instead of just dancing in his videos, he used them to send political and social messages as he became an icon.




Black or white- 1991
There was lots of publicity surrounding MJ ever changing through surgeries and skin colour, Micheal became quite freakish to many.  This video goes along with that as it is very strange and weird which many people thought MJ was at this point very abnormal. However, also had another strong political message on equality which is highlighted throughout the video again MJ used his videos to send messages.


Earth song- 1995
This video is another with a strong message about the destruction of the world and the environment, which was a common theme in his music videos as he got older.

4 Artists similar to our singer

Our lead singer Kurt Cobain, has long blonde locks. He had a severe drug addiction with mental health issues. He lived a short life yet he made such a strong impact on the music industry.

One artist immediately that springs to mind when I think of Kurt Cobain is Alex Garcia. He infers the same American rock star feel that Kurt does when he sings. His birthday is on September the 8th and he signed with long running record label Atlantic Records in 2009. Prior to this, he was signed with Fearless Records in 2006. Prior to his fame, he was one of the only original members of Mayday Parade as of 2014 along with Derek Sanders and Brooks Betts. In terms of mental health, Alex Garcia doesn't obtain any mental health issues that I am aware of so I suppose this does differ from Kurt however, in terms of musical talent, I think they both share a spark that not many other rock singers have.

The second artists that comes to mind is Brian Wilson from The Beach Boys. The Beach Boys were an American, California based rock band in the 1960's. Their lead singer, Brian Wilson, suffered some mental health issues. This potentially may have spiralled from his habits he developed which were: sleeping, doing drugs and overeating. Mr Wilson suffered from Schizoaffective Disorder, and was bipolar. These illness's made him hear voices in his head which ultimately limited his ability to compose and write songs. However, Wilson overcame his mental health issues and managed to finish off the album he began prior to being diagnosed, called 'Smile' which was a big moment for the band.

Another artist that we believe in similar to our lead singer is no other than the Syd Barrett, the Pink Floyd magician. Syd was not in fact diagnosed with any mental illness however, he was said to have either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder according to fellow musicians in the industry. With regards to his music, he was absolutely fantastic and had such a powerful and positive impact in the rock industry. Although he left, a song he sung with Pink Floyd known as Astronomy Dominie was composed in 1967 and remained a popular performed song even after Barrett left the band.



The singer who was in similar shoes to Kurt Cobain was a young adult by the name of Nick Drake. He had a gift at writing songs. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1974, only aged 26. During his lifetime, he wasn't as widely recognized as he became once he died. He suffered from severe depression and insomnia. These two mental illness's don't complement each other well at all as because Nick had trouble sleeping, he couldn't 'sleep away his sorrows'. He passed by overdosing on his anti-depressants. He was a exceptional singer and a gifted talent.

3 examples of analysis of CD covers and how they relate to genre, target audience, star image and synthetic vs organic artists

The name of this band is 'The Clash' and the genre of this album is Post-Punk, which is a broad type of rock music. At first the photographer who photographed the band did not want to use this photo as it was out of focus. But eventually they realised it would make a great album cover as it was said that 'it captures the ultimate rock'n'roll moment- total loss of control. The image is of the bassist smashing his guitar on the floor, this photo captures the star image of the band as rebellious and angry which are also connotations of the rock genre. The album cover was cover was voted the ninth best album cove of all time by Q magazine in 20001. This appeals to the target audience of rock'n'roll fans as the cover perfectly represents this genre. Also the picture of smashing a guitar shows rebellion and will attract rebellious and alienated teens. They are an organic rock band and they want their genre and what they represent to jump of the front cd cover. The colours of the background are black and white which represent the rock genre but further it helps the name of the album 'London Calling' which is in pink and green really stand out.

This album is by  Nirvana and the genre is alternative rock, released in 1993. The album cover shows an image in the centre of a beige background with the band name and album name. The image portrayed on the album cover is a transparent anatomical mannequin with angel wings. The colours of the image are burgundy, which contrasts with the light cream and beige colours of the background. The star image is presented through the album cover by having such a surreal image of a mannequin being conveyed. This is incredibly important because it helps to highlight the organic image of the band due to the fact that they are covering themes that would not usually be presented by mainstream pop groups. The genre of the band is also conveyed through this album cover. This is because the surreal imagery presented on the cover helps to outline the basic themes of Grunge music. This is because the lyrics in Grunge songs often portray serious and often surreal issues such as social alienation and a desire for freedom. These messages will relate to their target audience of the rebellious rock fans or the alienated in society who will resonate with the messages they are trying to portray.                 

                

This was the album cover Queens second album. The band were upset with how the first album cover failed to attract peoples attention to the album. For this album they are photographed by Mick Rock who previously worked with David Bowie and Iggy Pop. The band are in a Diamond formation, with heads tilted back against a black background. The genre of the album is hard rock and the dark colours help relate to the genre. The star image of the band is centred around them and the lighting is on their faces showing them as the stars as there is complete focus on them. This picture is mysterious with only the focus on their faces and the rest completely blacked out this attracts people to the album. The name of the album cover is on there and as it has the bands name in, it promotes and brings attention to both the album and the band. 

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Filming in the street in a central location filled with fast cars and large buses.	Low risk as we will not be filming in the middle of the street. We will be cautious regardless of the low risk as camera equipment could fall into the road and as we are borrowing the property we have a legal responsibility of looking after it. In order to counteract the risk, we will be so cautious every time we film or go near to the road.
Equipment being stolen	High risk as we will be in the vibrant busy London city, constantly on the go and moving. We acknowledge that we may encounter people on the streets who may ‘approach us’ however, we will always be looking about our equipment and leave it in our car when we are not using it.  We will counteract the risk by labelling our equipment if it were to be ‘misplaced’ so people can contact us if need be.
Car crashing on the way to filming	Medium risk. We will only drive with those who have their driving licence which certainly minimizes the risk as they know how to drive safely as they would have recently passed their car theory test and know the rules of the road to avoid any accidents.  We will counteract the risk by driving with labels on our car informing drivers that there are fragile items in the car to avoid any cars zooming past us dangerously.
If actors can’t make it on the day due to illness. Or if they become ill during filming	Low risk as we will ensure our actors are fit and ready to film by texting them prior to filming (the day before). We will also avoid any unforeseen illness's by making sure all actors are 100% fit and healthy to film the night before. We will also let them have a good night sleep the night before. If the actors become ill during filming, we will carry a pack of ibuprofen and calpol to ensure a speedy recovery so they can get back up and finish filming
Tripping over equipment.	Low risk as our equipment is wireless without cables required. We will keep all of our equipment close together regardless so our group and anyone around us around can visibly see where the equipment is situated within our filming area.
Equipment getting water damaged	Living in a wet environment, there is a possibility that it'll rain on the day we film. To ensure safety upon our filming equipment, we will keep it covered at all times and when we are exposed, we will either use an umbrella to cover rain from going on it or film in a sheltered area.

Idea Development: Lighting Changes

Initial Lighting Idea: Initially all the asylum scenes were going to have the same lighting scheme which was going to be a bright ice white to make it look strictly like a mental institution.

New Lighting Idea: We decided to develop the initial idea by adding the use of colour filters. The core of the asylum scenes will still be the bright ice white room, however in order to express the simple and uneventful life of a patient in an asylum we decided to add colour filters. We will put each filter over a light for different scenes to express the same thing every day for patients in institutions. The colours will emphasise the boredom and simplicity of asylum life which will help the audience to create a better connection to the patient.

List of props and equipment we need

White bed sheets

Why? - We need lots of white bed sheets to cover the studio we will be filming in to make it look like a medial asylum.

Pills

Why? - We need lots of different shaped and colour pills to emphasise the life of someone stuck in an institution and to signify how mental patients are pacified.

Straight Jacket

Why? - We want to portray that the actor is a danger to himself therefore by showing that his arms and movement is constricted it connotes this.

Guitar/Base/Drums/Microphone

Why? - Because its a music video and we decided to use a diverse range of instruments to make our video more unique and unpredictable. 

Glass Box/Stool

Why? - We need a stool to put the glass box on as in the scene with the different colour rooms it will stand in the centre of the room and we will need a stool to place it at body height so we can put an object in the box to connote the patient being trapped inside a box.

Colour Filters

Why? - We need to portray that the patient is in multiple different rooms, so by using colour filters the different coloured rooms will show that the patient is in a different place at a different time, however all the rooms look the same which emphasises the boring and uneventful life of a patient in a mental institution.

Medical Tool

Why? - Medical tools will be seen in the room to further emphasise the asylum life to the audience.

Computer Screen/VCR Machine

Why? - We were able to obtain old computer screen monitors to smash as well as a VCR machine to smash when the patient gets angry in the asylum.

Wooden Chair

Why? - The patient will be sitting in the white room in their straight jacket an later on in the video the patient will smash the chair.

Baseball Bat

Why? - Baseball bat for the patient to smash the computer screen and VCR machine.

Symptoms of a Paranoid Schizophrenic

One of the roles our main actor will be playing is that of a psychiatric patient, and the mental illness I have attributed him is paranoid schizophrenia. Therefore in order to better direct his role and to create actions and scenes that fit the part and that feel realistic, we must better understand the mental illness and learn of its symptoms in order to implement them into his role. We will do this by having a scene in the music video where there will be several copies of our main actor playing his patient role in the same shot and same room, and each copy will be acting out a single symptom of the disorder.

The first symptom is DELUSIONS which is where you believe things that are generally illogical and can come in for different categories; Delusions of persecution (belief that everyone around you is out to get you), Delusions of reference (belief that natural environmental events are specifically meant for you), Delusions of Grandeur (belief that you are a famous figure or that you have special abilities), Delusions of Control (belief that you whole life is in control of a higher force). Delusions are extremely common in paranoid schizophrenic patients occurring in 90% of those with the disorder and it occurs even when there is evidence that their beliefs aren't true. To implement these symptoms into our scene we will attach strings to our actor from an invisible puppeteer which imply that he is being controlled by an unseeable force.

The second symptom is HALLUCINATIONS which are the different ways that our senses are distorted and are allowed to misinterpret external things. The most common one is auditory hallucination which is in the form of hearing voices, caused by misinterpreting the voice of our inner scribe. the hallucinations are normally meaningful to the patient, and they often think it is a loved one speaking to them, however the comments they hear are usually violent and abusive. Placing this in the scene we will have our actor sitting on a chair with very closed body language and constantly jerking from side to side as if he is hearing imaginary voices.

The third symptom is DISORGANISED SPEECH due to troubles with concentration and maintaining train of thought. It manifests itself within the way you speak such as:

• Loose associations where you shift from topic to topic without any links to one another as your train of thought progresses, 
• Neologisms where you make up words which only make sense to you
• Perseveration where you repeat words and statements saying the same thing over and over
• Clang which is making meaningless rhymes within sentences

This will be displayed within the scene by having our actor saying words aloud and looking confused to portray himself loosing train of thought multiple times.

The fourth symptom is DISORGANISED BEHAVIOUR where your behaviour impairs your ability to live adequately and towards certain goals. Mainly manifesting as, the decline in daily functionality, unpredictable/inappropriate emotional responses to external stimuli, useless/bizarre behaviours, lack of impulse control. These behaviours normally disrupt the patients ability to take care of themselves at home, at work and in social situation. The way we will implement this into the scene is to display our actor performing a bizarre behaviour such as inflating a plastic bag.

The fifth and last symptom is ABSENCE OF NORMAL BEHAVIOURS also know as negative behaviours where there is the absence of normal behaviours in healthy individuals, such as:

• Lack of emotional expression - inexpressive face, lack of eye contact, blank facial expressions
• Lack of interest or enthusiasm - Lack of motivation or self-care
• Seeming lack of interest in the world - Unawareness of the environment, social withdrawal
• Speech difficulties and abnormalities - Inability to carry a conversation; short answers to questions and maintaining a monotone in conversations

This will be directed into the scene by having our actor stand still with zero facial expression and zero emotions showing.

The scene will end with another copy of the actor running into the room and running out as if he is displeased with his mental disorder and he wants to escape from the life it entails

Feedback on Music video Idea

  

1. Do you like our idea and why? If not state why. 

- Ethan Labelda - Likes our idea and how we will cut between the patient as a patient and the patient as part of a band. Ethan stated how it is effective as the video is set in a mental institution the video expresses the double life as a patient and as an artist. 

Team Response - We appreciate the response as we talked about making the cuts between the character as a patient and as a member of a band a key part of our music video to express the two different lifestyles.

2. Do you like our idea and why? If not state why.

- Sam Martin - The location is interesting, the school is nearby, easy to get to and potentially be able to use some teachers as actors. How are you going to make an ice white room though to film in?

Team response - We agree that the location offers a wide range of flexibility as it supplies us with a vast selection of different locations as well as an effective studio where is where we will plan to make the ice white room by putting white bed sheets in the background of the room.

3. Do you like our idea, what aspects catch your eye? If not state why. 

- Dani Alexander - It's an ok idea, I don't like how it will be set in just a white studio, I think there should be props there such as pills on the side, a cup of water so the audience will definitely understand this is a patient in an asylum. I really like the idea and contrast when they patient is running around London showing he is free when he is singing compared to his isolation in the asylum.

Team Response - We take the criticism on board and we will definitely make the white room look like an asylum and connotes to the audience as a stressful place to be isolated inside through the use of props. Additionally, we will ensure the running free scenes based in London will be in the correct locations to make the star image of our character look as free as possible when he is singing to highlight the contrast of his life as a patient and an artist.

Update - (More Feedback) 

                           

Fight Club is a movie that strongly relates to the narrative of our idea

Fight Club is a movie from 1999 which is all about a man suffering a mental illness and wants to change his life. There is Edward Norton who works in an office who has a boring normal job and gets involved in a plane crash. When he is in the plane crash, he falls asleep and goes into a phantasmagoria fantasy world. Then he becomes mentally insane and his new person embodies everything he wants. He has fighting skills and can make bombs out of soap. This new person is exactly who he wants to be yet it is all a fantasy.

This film relates to our idea as we want to positively represent mental health issues and disability  and do it delicately and carefully. Therefore, we will have our main actor institutionalised but show how he escapes being institutionalized through his dreams. We will show how our singer escapes his day to day existence through his dreams of being a rockstar. We feel this would also appeal to the target audience of a rock/InD band as they may also feel alienated from society and want to smash the system.

About the lead singer of Nirvana - Kurt Cobain

As we chose to do the song Lithium by Nirvana it was sensible to do some external research about there lead singer. Kurt Cobain had such a huge impact the music industry. Sadly, he passed away so young aged 27 on the 5th of April 1994.

Nirvana is a grunge, alternative rock band who all knew that Kurt did have mental health issues. He was not the only one that had this in his family. Two of his uncles committed suicide with a bullet to their heads. While the cause of Kurt's death is still unfounded, we do know that he died with a bullet in his head too.

After watching some interviews and looking into Kurt Cobain, his music felt more powerful to me as I knew what he was singing meant something to him and weather or not it helped him escape his problems, it was really fantastic music.

One of the problems that seemed to be with Cobain was simply his drug addiction. At one of his shows he accidentally overdosed before going on stage. Luckily he was 'saved' by a female called Courtney Love and Kurt went on to perform as if nothing happened. Now, some may see this as crazy but I suppose Kurt seemed to live the life of a rockstar.

All in all, I personally am into a wide variety of music. From rap to heavy metal, it varies a lot. I initially wasn't huge on Nirvana but looking into the band and now understanding the mental struggles Kurt went through on a daily basis, it has shaped my view on them differently and I like them. I also think the mental hardships Kurt experienced will work well with our idea as the narrative reflects this in a positive way.

one flew over the cuckoo's nest mood board

Phantasmagoria

The definition of phantasmagoria is a dream like state where it has hard to tell the difference weather something really happened or if your dreaming it. This is the message we are putting across in our music video.

This links to our narrative as it is all about a man in a mental institution who enters a phantasmagoric state whereby he is running free in a road/alleyway with police 'chasing him'. The idea behind the actor running free is the element of him escaping his mental problems and then the police are meant to represent his mental problems 'chasing' him back to reality.

A painter known as Will Boyd and a photographer by the name of Hubert Cecil, came together to do a series of art and photography named, 'CecilBoyd'. Their collaboration took 2 and a half years to complete. It is based on female identity and centred from Hubert Cecils, nightclub photography when he was a student yet twisted, with a high concept fashion editorial. 

Here are two of my own favourite paintings from the collaboration of work. I thought I'd show the contrast of colours in each painting. With the darker painting showing white and charcoal almost representing a wedding. It has a darker feel to it with a more mysteriousness to it due to the faces on the wall squeezed together. 

The pink painting connotes love and fun for me. The two girls with the high black shoes, short dress and whips symbolises strippers/pole dancers at a nightclub. The pink and blue colours have a positive feel to it and the girls behind the face is a very creative idea.

This all links to our music video as our narrative is all about a man who enters a phantasmagoria of freedom and is let go of his mental reality. Whilst he enters this state, the entire mood is shown positively with backgrounds to show time passing by such as clouds and the actor running down a road. Him running will symbolise him running towards his freedom and then the police officers chasing him represents his mental problems trying to catch him back.