Final Myspace

www.myspace.com/thescarlettpimpernells



Some screen shots of our myspace page:

Final Video

Our Album cover

Final Album Cover:
Front Cover:

Insert:


Back:


Larger, more helpful images can be found
here http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq148/group2d/front.jpg
and here http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq148/group2d/back.jpg
I put together the front cover, which i made from images that the other members of the group had edited; having changed brightness and contrast etc. Angela found the font, called "HookedUp" on the interweb. James made the insert, and i put the two of them onto the same PSP file. I used Paint Shop Pro for the entire thinng.
I am particularly proud with the back cover. Taking a picture of the blank background was a good idea. James and I came up with the names of the tracks, making them sound proud and pretentious, for example "The End (Part 1)" is track 3. I made the SP and MX logos quickly on PSP, I thought that the SP logo had to have the signature font of the band. The Barcode came from google, and the serial number "MXR90234 / 0289384-2" although being made up, is in the same form as real serial numbers. I looked at a number of albums, most notably "Steal This Album" by System of a Down as templates for the conventions, like barcode, and serial number. I hope i got it as accurate as possible when i made the cover.

xx

Audience

Audience of video

The Timeline storyboard i made, i put onto a timeline so that we would know how things happen and when in relation to the actual sounds of the song.

i made this before we had finished shooting, and it helped alot in helping james to get the right emotion.




Also, i put in a timecode so i could see more precisely where things were.

Here is a basic storyboard that i made, just to help know where things happen and what should be in the video at what places.

larger size can be found here:

http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq148/group2d/1.jpg

http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq148/group2d/2.jpg

http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq148/group2d/3.jpg

xx

Myspace analysis

Common conventions and features of a Music Myspace:
Box with artist name, profile views, last logged in, and a link to pics and vids.Band menbers section usually contains info on individual members, and maybe a picture.Space to list influences.Space to list "sounds like"Space for record label and label type.Music player, with popular/new songs from the bandList of upcoming showsList of blog postsTop FriendsCommentsThese things are standard for any music myspace, but some bands change these to suit their needs.

Example 1:
Dragonforce. http://www.myspace.com/dragonforce
Large logo and picture of the band right at the topstraight away plugging themselves, with discography and an advert for Ibanez "signature series" Dragonforce guitars, and "official merch store". Obviously very commercial.Doesn't use Myspace template, but keeps the two columns, for instance, instead of the box with the picture and band name etc, there is just this image http://thomashope.com/themike/Dragonforce/images/DF_side_01.gifUpcoming shows is not using myspace templateMusic videos all over the page.Clear. Pale text on dark background.

Example 2:
Bloc Party. http://www.myspace.com/blocparty
Plain black background, with white text.Standard Myspace style, with the info box clear. Has band logo at top of info box.Gig listingsBlog postsMusic videos in Youtube style playersuse the "General Info" box properly; lists band members in the correct section, and influences in influences."About" section has music videos, and a plug to buy latest album.At the top is okug for latest album, with link to interactive "Click here to build your own 'intimacy' mini site"

Example 3:
Gorillaz http://www.myspace.com/gorillaz
Super Standard myspace, has kept all of myspace's formatting without adding anything fancy of their own.Has pictures of the band members under each of their namesthe about section is very long, with slideshows of the band, and links to buy their latest album, and links to all their videos.It also has a long ~400 word bio section.the text is black on yellow text boxes, on a very Gorillaz-style hand drawn background

From this, i have concluded that in our myspace, we can realistically either keep the trad myspace layout, or do something edgy and different. We need to put on our song, or at least make it look like it. Also, we need photos of the band, on the page and in the pics section. We also need the music video on the page.
xx

My original Myspace

I made this myspace, although i said that the main image would get bigger, the background could be changed, and the sizes would be better, they didn't like it. I think i still have the HTML for it somewhere, i'll stick it up on some kind of hosting for a real impression. I don't want all this work to get lost.

Also while i'm here, i had some original ideas. Seeing as there were four of us, we could have had a theme based on the pack of cards, each of us would have represented a suit. I was playing around with photoshop to try and make a cover, i might have saved that somewhere too.

I liked it; not just because I had made it. I thought that it fitted in with the band's identity of wanting to not fit in with the norm.

Institutions

key music video institutions

My Feedback Questionnaire

I made an online questionnaire for the group, where we get emails to the group email address that i set up, of the responses to the questionnaire.

I also put the video up, obviously, so that people can watch the video before answering the questions.

i hope that this helps us reach a wider audience..

find it here: http://group2d.googlepages.com/

cover art

as we have decided on "the scarlet pimpernels" as our band name, and i have been thinking about cover art.
my main idea is a red rose/flower, on a plain white background. the rose will be vectory, like this http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/577172/2/istockphoto_577172-vector-rose.jpg but with the shape like this http://i.pbase.com/o6/91/43791/1/39531401.9W7F3NGv.6EET9042_web_red_rose.jpg .

i think there should be no text on the cover, or maybe very small writing ina corner, just as a convention. this is so that the main image stays striking.

Music video analysis

Music video analysis

Thoughts on Hat and Coat

They seem good for our Film Noir ideas, the colours are good, although it will be in black and white, I think it's god to still think about colour for just incase.

I think it's a good find on the Hat and coat.

Lip Synching practise

(Repost from group Blog)

Here is a video that James and I made to practise lipsynching, nearer the start of the project, it's just taken a while to get onto youtube.




We thought it would be fun to do, we had a free afternoon and thought it would be beneficial practise, having been enthusised by the busted day.

xx Luke

Test Shoot thoughts

http://musicvideogroup22008.blogspot.com/2008/07/test-shoot.html
here is Angela's thoughts on the matter, with the video.

I think that it was super helpful, as it gave me the chance to test shoot James, so i can see how to film him.

Also, it showed us that it is possible for such a powerful voice to come out of li'l ole James.

Peace out

Here's your group work on Marketing!

Music Video Research

******** http://latymermediamusicvideo2008.blogspot.com/2008/06/help-with-music-video-research.html ******

BLK feedback

no progress on this blog for a while Luke, please add to it regularly - gaps are to be avoided as this will have a negative impact on the marking of your individual work for this project

BLK feedback

some great posts Luke, keep up to date by posting your thoughts/reflections on the progression being made by the group.

lets have some analysis of some music vids using the framework we've used in class.

like the playlist, good idea.

stunning

I agree about the white album (so called as it had no title and so this just described it) (but I'm sure you already knew that!) and the system of a down album - they're both very stunning and stand out a mile despite a lack of any decent art!

album research

1- +44 - When your heart stops beating

2) The Beatles - The White Album
3) Pendulum - Hold Your Colour
4) System of a Down - Steal This Album!
5) O.P.M. - Menace To Sobriety

6) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication

7) Angelspit - Krankhaus
8) Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing
9) A1 - The A List
10) The Prodigy - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Typical Features

- All have a striking image, with the exception of The White Album, which is striking in itself, as it is just blank. Steal This Album is notable, as like the White Album, there is no striking image, but the message offered by the cover and title itself are rather contraversial, making the album cover as a whole striking without the need for a striking image.

- Most have the album name, except for the White Album, When Your Heart Stops Beating, and Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. This is because in the case of the White album, the artist name speaks for itself, and the title of the album is descriptive of the cover. In the case of +44, it is a striking image of the band name, a band whuich was much hyped at conception, so the name speaks for itself. Always outnumbered, Never Outgunned is rather anomalous, as it lets the image speak over both the title, and artist name.

- All of them except Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned have the artist name. The White Album, although mot noticable, has the artist name embossed into the vinyl cover, which is why i chose to use the vinyl version not the CD version.

Ways of Categorising the Covers.

- The A list, Krankhaus, The best damn Thing, all have a striking image of the artist.

- Always outnumbered, Never Outgunned, Californication, Menace To Sobriety, Hold Your Colour, and When Your heart Stops Beating all have a striking, more artistically abstract image

some initial thinking

There are two real directions i can see my idea going, both of which are certainly feesable.



The first is a public hidden camera thing, with a public performance, with alot of focus on public reactions, two very obvious examples of this are "praise you" by Fatboy Slim (dir. Spike Jonze) and "Slam" by Pendulum.

My second possible idea is a really cheesy euro-beat or j-pop song with a really brightly coloured video, with simple choreographed dance routines. The song could be something like "bing bang" by lazytown, the song i had been considering for this one is "Running in the 90s" by initial D. The dance routiney thing i have been thinking, is choreography like "wearing my rolex" by Wiley, or a brilliant example, "baby one more time" by Britney Spears, or "thriller" by Michael Jackson. Yes, oviously we aren't proffessional dancers, but maybe 5 or so people doing a dance routine, could be super effective.