Album Cover Research

As one of our ancillary tasks, we shall be creating a digipak for the album of the song artist. The artwork is heavily important as it is what would help appeal to the buyer when among a shelf within a shop, and it can give an indication of the style of music to be expected on the disc. Although the title of the album is far from confirmed, we initially decided it would be suitable to share Licence To Dance as both the name of the single and album, as many established artists have done in the past.

When researching album covers by other bands within the rock/indie/alternative sector, the actual artist rarely features in person, instead using symbols, animals or simply abstract pieces of art and photography. This is something we must consider if we want to produce a realistic product.

A Band Name

The artist of our chosen song performs solo, rather than in a band as depicted in our music video, therefore we saw it fitting to create our own name for the group. We wanted something that would suit the energy conveyed by the band members within the video, but also something fairly sharp and aggressive - as the track is quite heavily influenced by the rock genre. Below are some of the initial names we came up with:

 

The Riot

The Reverb
Revolt
Revolution
Rampage
Rage
Destruction
Disturbance
Deranged


EDIT: After much deliberation, we have decided that The Reverb shall be the name of our band! I believed that this would be the most marketable of our options, because all others appeared a little too "heavy metal".

Editing on Final Cut

With our footage now filmed in its entirety, we are able to begin piecing together our music video! Final Cut Express is a professional editing programme and is what I shall be using for the completion of our coursework. By watching online tutorials, I have been able to come to grips with the various tools available from the software to create a realistic music video. Although quite time-consuming and at first complicated, the editing process is proven to be very enjoyable.

Filming @ The Red Lion

We visited the Red Lion in Gravesend as previously planned, for a five hour slot of filming. All members of the band and our own group arrived on time so things were able to run smoothly. However one issue we did encounter was the availability of instruments for the band to mime along to, and instead we had to provide our own. To transport an entire drum kit around was proven a struggle, yet we managed it in the end! Jon, the lead vocalist, had also made arrangements prior and consequently had to leave earlier than everybody else. Although this was originally perceived as a worry to the group, we worked around this by firstly filming individual shots of him, as well as frames of the entire band, then save close ups of the remaining band members for later.


Me, Sarah and James all were given a chance in filming and directing, making sure to work together as a team and share our input. We made sure to shoot everything twice over, as we came to the conclusion that too much footage is far better than not having enough. The band also co-operated with us and followed our instructions when asked, which made the whole day much easier. Once the allocated time slot was up and we had collected over an hour of footage, it was a wrap!

Update on Location

Upon visiting our previous choice in location, Resident Studios, we were unable to record any footage to the quality that we hoped, due to insufficient lighting (although promised when booking) and a lack of time due to delays in travel; as a result of the unpredictable snow and weather conditions at the time. Although we had missed two hours of our planned booking time, we were still instructed to pay full price. We agreed that the filming was below par as a consequence, so rather than travel to the studio for a second time with the cost of another large fee - we believed it would be better appropriate to choose a different location for our music video. Here were some of our plans:

1. An underground car park. There are many of these around that portray an industrial look, and we thought it would bode well with the sounds of the song. However this may not allow us much freedom as there would most likely be restrictions as to what we can do, and may not be allowed permission to perform all together. Finding access to a power source may also be an issue, but it is essential to the making of our music video for lighting and other aspects.

2. A hall in New Eltham. Sarah was aware of a local hall that may be of great use to us, even hiring out the location for practice in filming. We were allowed much opportunity to film whatever it liked, but unfortunately the hall did not set the scene in the way we had intended, as the general mise en scène contradicts the aggressive nature of the song - coming across as too plain and ordinary. There were also many fixtures in the room that were unable to move, again disrupting their look.

3. The Red Lion pub. One possible location we were aware of was this particular pub in Gravesend, which offered a stage where actual bands have performed gigs in the past. We decided this was perfect for our band as it coincides with our bands image and have rented out the hall for a five hour slot, which we hope this time will become a success.