HI my name is Tom, I go to Windsor Boys school where I take Media Studies at A-level, this blog will be used for research purposes, and also to chart me and my groups progress as we make our two minute film for our coursework, :)
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.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
