This is a photo taken from the railway bridge of Datchet train station where one of the final scenes (where JJ is sitting waiting for the train) in our video was filmed. 

This is a photograph of Leigh Park in Datchet where the party scene was filmed at a friends house. 

This is Cloud 9 productions completed Magazine advert for the Chase & Status album. The original photo is of the speakers and lighting system, as seen at the party/rave scene in our music video. We turned on the strobe lights and standard lighting system, and took several photos utilising the different coloured lights at our disposal to experiment with which combination looked best. In the end we chose this image not only because of the colour combination, which again provides an attractive contrast similar to that in our back cover, but because of the angles at the which the lights are pointed when the photo was taken. We thought when choosing between the images that this appeared the most suitable for our advert, because of the symmetrical pattern of the white lights at the bottom and then the way that the green strobe at the top goes off an individual angle. On the speakers at the front we have embedded the image of our front CD cover onto the grill of the speaker, we chose to do this as it gives the image a unique effect that we have not seen prior to this, giving the magazine advert a unique, subtle and interesting effect. Other images and writing have been added to bring an authenticity to the piece. As per magazine advert conventional there is a one word review and a star rating. There is also the logo of a magazine likely to advertise the Chase & Status Album such as NME. On the bottom of the advert is the release date of the album and the link to the bands website, this is a must have feature into today internet dependent world, as interactivity across all mediums of advertisement is key to marketing the band successfully.

This is our completed back cover image for the Chase & Status Album no more idols. We used the Adobe Photoshop software to firstly create a black background on which to place the text. We typed out the song names on the left hand side using white coloured font, then to make our back cover unique, we mirrored the text in the right hand side this time using yellow writing. We chose to use white and yellow writing as the two not only standout from the black background, but because when put together on opposite sides of the cover, they provide an attractive, eye catching contrast. Down the bottom of cover, to add authenticity and detail to the piece, after researching the various labels connected with the making of the album, we copied and pasted the 2 logo's of Mercury Records and Ram Records as these logo's would appear on an actual CD cover. We also placed a white barcode strip at the bottom because this would also appear on the cover in shops that would sell the CD with the case and cover around it.

Front CD Cover

This is our completed CD cover for the Chase & Status Album "No More Idols". We used this image for our front cover as we thought it had rebellious and aggressive connotations, both of which are embraced by Chase & Status' style of music and image. The mis en scene we included in the original photo is consistent with this, the person's outfit in the photo is a dark jacket with the hood up, and dark trousers, this is to make the figure seem more intimidating and imposing, giving him a "grim reaper" type look. The background behind the figure is also dark and shadowed, which allow the light coloured walls either side of him and the extensive graffiti that is on them to standout, giving a foreboding air to the picture and exactly the feel we were going for. We then added the white writing to the picture showing the title of the album and the name of the artist, the reason for choosing the colour white was because of its obvious stand out qualities, and although album covers in the past have not put that much emphasis on the band name and album title in the cover, we thought it necessary in this case as Chase & Status utilise a very "in your face" style of music and marketing which appeals to their fan base. This font in particular stood out to us as it has a very modern and sharp style, the neon sign quality that it has within the photo in the colour white was also a very convincing factor in our choice. The flames along the bottom are edited in from another photo we shot on the same day, encircling the figure in flames we thought, was crucial in supporting the satanic nature of the image. Our final addition to the image was adding an orange tint to the saturation, boosting the glowing effect that flames have in the picture, both either side of the figure and along the bottom.

Target Audience Analysis

The audience that are drawn to Chase and Status’ music is obviously fairly huge, as a massive seller in the album charts and much sought after live act, the cross section of people that embrace their music would be varied anyway due to positive critical acclaim and much radio support. This aside however, they gain an even bigger audience (and perhaps a more loyal one) by collaborating with different contemporary artists from varied genres such as Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempah (both popular rap artists), The White Lies (Indie Rock) and Plan B (Pop/Funk). These collaborations mixed in with Chase & Status’ trademark Dubstep/D&B infused style of dance music, is so popular because it caters for all tastes of music, as well as giving it the hardcore/taboo edge that Chase & Status bring.

The advantageous position that Chase & Status have is that even if people are not immediately drawn to their new album or the singles within it, the majority are likely to come across one of the collaborations, including a popular artist from past few months, that they have listened to before, perhaps not making them a die-hard fan straight away, but at the very least making them open and appreciative of Chase & Status’ style of music. Such wide genre selection has drawn comparisons with worldwide Dance acts such as The Prodigy and Pendulum.

The overall age of listeners can vary from the young, to people of 35 and over. However, the core audience and the one that the songs need to appeal to the most is the audience of 16-25, as this is the group of people that buy the most CD’s and merchandise, download the most tracks and have the biggest say in whether Chase & Status stay popular and successful. 


In our music video we addressed this main audience, by exclusively including people of this age range and putting them in a party setting that viewers will be able to relate to and identity with. The situation both the main characters are in involves a break down of relationships, this is also a common issue amongst teenagers, but this is a facet of the video viewers not only from the 16 to 25 age range, but anyone can relate to.

Risk Assessment Table for Cloud 9 Productions "Time" music video remake.

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Date	Location	Potential Risk	Level of Risk (L/M/H)	Action needed to minimize risk
1/10/2011	Datchet (Party Scene)	Damage to equipment, Trip hazards, People under the influence of Alcohol trying to use the equipment, or partygoers showing off in front of the camera.	Medium	1) Never leave equipment unattended. 2) Make sure people at the party know that there is something being filmed. 3) Film selectively to avoid attention seekers.
2/10/2011	Windsor (Danny’s House)	Damage or loss of the equipment.	Low	Don’t leave equipment unattended.
8/10/2011	Wargrave (Town Centre & Wargrave Train Station)	Damage or loss of the equipment	Low	Don’t leave equipment unattended.
20/10/2011	Windsor	Damage or loss of the equipment.	Low	Don’t leave equipment unattended.
8/11/2011	Windsor (Town Centre)	Damage or loss of the equipment.	Low	Don’t leave equipment unattended.

Shooting Schedule for Cloud 9 Productions "Time" Music Video remake

Scene	Date/ Time	Location	People	Equipment	Props
Fred’s Party Scene	01/10/2011	Datchet	Partygoers and the main character Aaron.	1 Camera &Tripod 1 Light enhancer	Big speakers and strobe lighting system
JJ at home/ walking scene	02/10/2011	Windsor	JJ Moss	1 Camera and Tripod	7 Clocks 1 Blackberry Phone 1 Sketch Pad
Train Station Scene	08/10/2011	Wargrave	JJ Moss	1 Camera and Tripod	N/A
Aaron walking home scene	20/10/2011	Windsor	Aaron Harris	1 Camera and Tripod	1 Blackberry Phone

Textual Analysis Essay No2

Coolio, or Artis Leon Ivey Jr. is an American rap artist/actor from Compton, California. He’s best known for his two extremely successful singles “Fantastic Voyage” and “Gangta’s Paradise”. It’s the music video for the song “Gangsta’s Paradise” that I am now going to be analyzing.

At this point it is worth noting that this song was included on the soundtrack for a film called “Dangerous Minds” and because of this there is a lot of movie style prolonged editing involved, and even some short dialogue at the beginning. The first shot in the video is a medium close up of someone’s legs as they walk down a corridor. The setting immediately stands out to the viewer as very dark and dingy, but we can immediately identify it as a school or a building of that nature by the lockers that line walls.

This first shot is prolonged until the camera cuts to a POV shot, which contains two intimidating individuals who due to the dark lighting are partly shadowed, adding to the foreboding atmosphere. The POV shot continues for a short while down the corridor, and the light becomes brighter in patches revealing aggressive looking men lining the corridor. After this the camera cuts 4 times between a completely shadowed man on his own, and then back to the person walking down the corridor. It is on the last two cuts of this sequence that both characters are revealed, the shadowed man being Coolio, and the person walking down the corridor revealed as Michelle Pfeiffer, the main actress in the film “Dangerous Minds”.

Just as I mentioned earlier the editing techniques involved, utilize a much more cinematic style in comparison with other music videos, cuts are slow and prolonged, and are used to replicate the slow swagger of the song, whilst also depicting Coolio as a infamous gangster type character. The fade transition is also used to great effect throughout, as it goes with the smooth repetitive nature of the music.

The sound in the background before the actual song kicks in is a heartbeat, this maybe inferring that the person walking down the corridor is nervous or apprehensive, or she maybe close to death as she seems to be in a dangerous environment. The song’s intro starts 15 seconds into the video, just before the woman character sits down in the room with Coolio. The lighting in the room is still quite dark, especially in Coolio’s half of the room, where the only source of light beams down on a small portion of his face, the room is lit this way because it adds an unpredictability and uneasiness to the scene, as we wonder why he’s lurking in the shadows, possibly hiding or concealing some as the case may be when involved with criminals.

Both character’s costumes are representative of the setting, no expensive clothes or jewelry are seen, only plain colored shirts, jeans and jackets. Coolio wears all black shirt and trousers with black sunglasses; the color of this costume also helps in creating the image that Coolio is a very intimidating and dangerous character, and as well, there is an official, businessman like style about the way he his dressed wish also conveys the message “I am the boss”. Michelle Pfeiffer is dressed in quite regular women’s clothes, which are jeans, white t-shirt and a black leather jacket, she Is dressed this way to be seen as the underdog in the situation. In comparison with the boss character that Coolio plays, her costume is normal, but with a fairly tough, streetwise edge in order get across to the viewer her rebellious attitude towards “The Boss”.

The shots included in this video vary from at the beginning, a POV shot, this is included to put the viewer in the shoes of the character that is actually walking down the corridor, and in this video attempts to create a nervy and intimidating atmosphere around the person filming by placing aggressive looking men in the scene. Shortly after this comes an innovative version of the shot reverse shot technique. This occurs when the woman and Coolio are in the room together, what makes the shot quite interesting is that whilst still using basic shot reverse shot, the camera starts at a close up and whist still focusing on the main character, creeps slowly back and pans around the room until it fades directly into the next shot, (when this is used it fades either to black or to a part of the room mostly concealed in darkness) or pans around the room until the opposite characters body blocks the camera and forces a cut. There are a few exceptions however when the camera pans from a close up of the woman, all the way back and round to an over shoulder shot from Coolio’s perspective where still the woman is still visible as the focal point. Other shots include high angle pans and various close ups on smoky backgrounds.

The other images that are prevalent in this video are short clips from the movie “Dangerous Minds” that the song was made for. These clips are interspersed with scenes shot for the video itself in order to prevent the video being one dimensional, as there is if not for the movie clips only two scenes on show for almost the entire video. Having the clips in there also helps the video serve its purpose as a promotional video for the film as well Coolio’s music.

Textual Analysis Essay No1

King of Leon are an internationally recognised multi-award winning Rock band from Mt. Juliet Tennessee. Formed in 1999 by the followill brothers and their cousin Cameron (whose second name is followill) they stayed relatively off the radar until their break through album “only by the night” became one of the biggest selling albums of the decade, along with numerous hit singles from the album “use somebody” and “sex on fire”. Their latest album “come around sundown” was released in late 2010 again to massive critical acclaim. The music video I am now about to analyse is from this album and is for the song called “Pyro”.

The video starts with a man walking into a tacky looking bar, the light is dim and there is a foreboding atmosphere that surrounds it. Immediately the mis en scene catches the viewer’s eye, as there is a close up of the typically American bar neon sign above the door, which adds to the tacky décor. Before entering the bar he helps a drunken man from the floor, the man is not well dressed and it is relatively safe to assume he is from a poor background.

This act by the main character shows he is at least a compassionate man, who is willing to help others; the music in the background is coming towards the end of the introduction and is still relatively quiet and calm in nature.

As the main character walks through the door the beat of the music and the volume of the music become more prevalent, when he walks through the camera pans for quite a while round the room without any cuts, we see most people in the bar are from similar backgrounds to the drunken man outside, they are all dressed in relatively similar dingy clothes, and the men look fairly tough and some old looking alcoholic types, there is also a stripper or erotic dancer in the corner adding a lecherous nature to the atmosphere. This panning shot basically helps the viewer form the opinion that you wouldn’t go into this bar if you didn’t have to.

The establishing panning shot cuts finally when the main character, goes to help a woman who is being abused by another man across the bar, he goes presumably to help her, but as soon as he intervenes is punched across the face by the man involved. The panning shot only stops when the punch is thrown, and cuts to the reverse angle showing the main character falling backwards towards the left of the camera after being punched, the slow motion continues throughout the chorus and the main character is punched again this time to the floor.

Throughout the second verse slow motion is also used, but faster cuts are used between medium shots and close ups of weird things that are happening round the bar, such as the old man with oxygen pipe up his nose, drinking whiskey with what looks like a daughter figure, then afterwards to another older fat man across the bar trying to get with a seemingly shy younger looking girl.

Whilst all this weird/ bad stuff is happening, the only man in the bar with a clear sense of morals is being beaten up by several men. The camera cuts to them throwing him into the mirror and kicking him whilst on the floor. Also the camera cuts away from this to see a woman crying, whom I assume is the woman who was with the abusive man in the first place,

And then again to the carefree stripper who seems oblivious to all the fighting going on in front of her.

The camera cuts back to the fight as the barmen chucks one of the men a baseball bat to further injure the main character. As he runs over one the main character starts levitating off the floor and is almost a Jesus figure in the scene amongst all the “sinners” in the bar. To conclude the music in the video is contrapuntal as the happy, calm riffs of the song and the jubilant chorus do not coincide with the unhappy and aggressive atmosphere and action that takes place in the bar. The slow motion is used to add a gracefulness to the fight which ultimately compliments the video overall.

Planning For Music Video and background info about artist

• Track title = Time - This song was released on the 29th April 2011, and was the 4th single to be released from the album "No More Idols". It features guest vocals from singer Delilah.
• Album Title = No More Idols - This Chase and Status' second full length studio album, was released on 28th of January 2011 to critical acclaim in the UK, where it peaked at number 2 in the album charts.
• What genre is the track? = the genre of music is classed as electronica, as all the songs on the album contain music that has been produced electronically, but there are a number of sub-genres such as drum and bass, dubstep and grime among others that are prevalent on the album.
• Artist's Label = RAM - established in 1992 by Andy C, RAM is the leading Dance music record label in the UK, as well as a big force on the UK club scene, being known for upping attendences astronomically wherever they go.
• Artist Profile = Chase and Status are a well established drum and bass act based in london, their first and second albums "More than Alot" and "No More Idols" were both hits in the UK, and the band are now common headliners for festivals and clubs, not just in the UK but around the world.
• Overveiw of target audience for artist = people of ages 16 - 25, this tends to be the age range of the fans of either chase and status or the club scene in the UK.
• Synopsis of Music Video Idea = As the lyrics in the song talk about a girl who has been left on her own by her partner, our group have chosen to use this and follow the story through the scenes in the video. The plan is to cut between only a few scenes and settings, with two main scenes. The first is to contain a hooded girl in a dimmly lit room, (this is the girl who's story the lyrics follow) the girl's face is not to be revealed until the end hence the hood, this idea is going to be used to give a sinister, spooky and unpredictable edge to the video. The other main scene is going to be of the girls boyfriend out with his friends in a pub or club (whichever ends up being the easiest option for us to film in), where he gets loads of texts and calls from his girlfriend (the girl in the room) which he ingnores, we then witness him cheat on his girlfriend in the misdt of a drunken stuper, he thinks nothing of it until he gets home, the girl answers the door knowing somehow what has happened, throws his clothes at him and kicks him out of the house.

This the cover of the Album "Appetite for Destruction" by the band Guns n Roses released in 1987. The original cover art for the album was deemed too explicit for mainstream CD shops to stock, so the band went with an idea based around a tattoo that a friend had designed. The image depicts skulls with standout features of the band members, such as the very bottom skull is clearly Slash as he is famous for wearing a top hat on stage. These skulls are decorating a standard cross, this religous imagery fits in with the bands masochistic superior attitude that they became infamous for later on. The background is black, which is a common colour to use for hard rock album cover, and the album name and band name are written on a red banner that is also commonly used to show glamour or class.

CD Analysis of CD cover

This is the album artwork for "come around sundown" by Kings of Leon released in late 2010.
The album artwork reflects a musical change of direction for the band as they move away from the loud arena rock anthems of their last album "only by the night" to a much calmer and less forceful brand of southern indie. The image on the cover depicts an island or peice of land with two palm trees on it and the sea in front of it. This choice of photo or painting matches the content of the album perfectly, as the image exudes relaxation and the want to escape from all stresses of normality, as do the laid back riffs and soulful singing of the band on the album. The colour scheme that has been chosen for the cover adds to the mood of it, as the gold and red colours relate to heat and warmth, characteristcs that are normally associated with glamerous holiday destinations and places that people go to relax. Also the photo or painting itself has been given a retro gloss, in refrence to kings of leon's past musical influences, as they are heavily prevalent in their music, particualarly on this album, as some of the songs are very melancholy, and thinking in the past. The name of the album and the band name on the cover also follow this retro style as they are written in white with a retro font dated from perhaps the 60s-70s.

Intro to our course

During this year of our Media A-levels I am going to be making a music video instead of a film opening.
I am enthusiastic about this project because I have always watched music channels such as MTV that display music videos 24/7 and have gained knowledge through having a musical background as to what is involved with making a successful music video. This hopefully will give me an advantage when I start the project.