About the Merley

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Loughton, essex, United Kingdom
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Monday 11 April 2011

Edits-Music Video

Here are some funny edits I put together form when were shooting our performance part of our music video:


Final-Music Video

Here is the pretty much final product of my music video, I have done some very minute tweaking the end with some flashes when the morph men change colour but apart from that here it is :


Sunday 10 April 2011

Decision- Song and Why we Chose it

Decision- Song and Why we Chose it

We chose Over and Over as our song because of a number of reasons.


First off all we all liked the song and felt it had a good bass line and a rhythm to which we could o a number of good edits to and a good build up at the end with which we could have a good performance to as we now do.


We also all liked the genre of music so therefore we were all more passionate about making our genre of music looking good, this made us want to perform well within the end of the performance section of the music video which paid off the create a good finale and build to the song.

Another reason why we chose it was because of the songs lyrics. We thought we could easily link there lyrics to images such as the the lyrics over and over where we put in the edit of me repeatedly stamping in the work place.  This was code for the repetitive life style of people who live in the city.

This was another idea, the narrative is about the boring life of city workers lower down who feel like they are maybe stuck in an endless job and who feel like they are just another small minority within a multinational company and they would't even be noticed if they left because of the enormous size of the business and the employees.

Analysis-Album Art- Codes and Conventions

Analysis-Album Art- Codes and Conventions

Here are the typical codes and conventions you would see within a album art, most albums will have these on the front:

The album art will typically represent the album or the band themselves

It will try to draw their specific target audience by employing techniques using colours or text that will attract the attention form the specific target audience.

It will establish the album and the artists name, along with the style or genre of music they produce

It will have persuasive elements in it to persuade the audience to buy it for example it may have a promotional offer.

The album art will try to be creative through text and imagery it may employ.  It will try to be original, individual and also have an artistic element to it.

Codes within these album covers are used to them communicate to the audience whatever message or ideology that they may want to get across.

Conventions are all things such as the band name, picture in the typical style of the artist or continuing on form previous album artwork, album name, imagery/art, price, explicit sign if the lyrics are extreme, and then a list of the songs on the back.

Analysis-Album Covers- Sergeant Pepper

sgt_pepper.jpg

There are the typical conventions of an album cover shown here.  There is the album name and the band name.  At the time this album cover was iconic as it was completely different to any other.  It was maybe a revolutionary way of making art for your album cover at the time.

It was one of the first album covers to turn art into others form of pop-art, by using these album arts in association with the band their art was another part of what defined them as a band.

In the album art there are lots of flowers.  This is a code for summer and 'summer of ' which is associated with this era as it was the 1960's when people were about free love and peace and freedom, so therefore there values comes through in these artists  album cover.

The drum is code for music .  It also has connotations with the circus.  The drum obviously shows them as the musical artists they are but also the circus connections shows the style of music which is fun, lively, colourful and entertaining.

The main people in the centre of the album cover are dressed in military esque clothing. The clothing however is very bright and colourful.  This has therefore undermined what a uniform stands for being in line with rules and regulations, instead it shows they have rebelled against this and done what they want and been unique as a band.  This may be what they want you to think of their music that it is unique and revolutionary. 

The other people in the picture look as if they could be famous people, such as the lady standing there with the elegant dress and the long blonde hair.  She looks Marilyn Monroe esque.  The could be a homage to these people showing how important these people are to the band or maybe showing the style of people/audience they feel their audience should be involved in or follow.

The back ground has a clear blue sky.  this is usually a code for freedom and tranquility. It is also code for a tropical place which could suggest they are in a tropical place, because the flowers are also very bright colours.  There is also a palm tree.  This is an important part of the album art.  This palm tree is usually associated with the Caribbean and desert Islands.  Therefore this is code for the band breaking away from the British persona.  These people whom are famous and who are artists who feel they may be better than us in some way have separated themselves from the norms of society and have gone to an exclusive Island separate from us as if they are some kind of Legends in their own right.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Analysis- Album Art- The Prodigy- 2


000-the_prodigy-more_music_for_the_jilted_generation-(remastered)-2008-cover.jpg
This album art is similar to their other album art.  Their use of black and white highlights the different areas on the album cover.

Such as the black and white around the bold prodigy text at the top of the album cover.

The image of the man screaming again like the other album cover could be a code for their style of music, and how the lyrics are very in your face and explicit.

The image of the mans face is behind what looks like a cloth.  This could be a code for the artist maybe feel trapped or the situation he is in he feels trapped.  The image also looks like it could be done in concrete as this also is code for being trapped as concrete doesn't move.

The caption underneath the face suggests that the audience/ target audience age group is a generation who are callous and who are quick on their feet at making decisions.  They are a generation who don't take no for an answer and want to speak out against the authority, as the imagery is showing in this album art.

Analysis- Album Art- The Prodigy


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This album art matches the name of the album.  The imagery of the two 'warriors'. I feel the image shows them actually fighting as if the 'warriors dance' is actually a name given for the war they have.  This is like their music, as their music iv very loud and is a very in your face genre of music.

The colours use din this album art makes it stand out. In particular it makes the words stand out more as they are in a bright red and the rest is in a black and white effect.

The images of the men and the writing is very electronic and sharp looking.  This could suggest the style of music and the editing they do in their music as a band.

The red could be a code for blood.  this could suggest maybe extremist lyrics or lyrics that maybe would make your 'ears bleed'.

However looking at the actual band name this is still in white which means the band name is not as important to stand out as the album name.

Analysis- Album Cover- Hot Chip

Analysis- Album Cover- Hot Chip



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This album cover is by the the artists that we chose to do our music video on This album art has many things in it that means that we link it to the ideas we have for our music video. 
It has repetition in this imagery with the continual repetition of the hot chips.  The shapes look as if they are being split into many.

Also in this album art there are lots of bright colours.  This goes in with the style of music video we want to do which is using bright colours and bright lighting contrasting with low lighting.  It also goes with this bands style of music as they produce electronic/rock style music which uses brights colours.

In this album art there is the repetitive imagery of the shapes being sliced over and over.  This links in again with our idea of repetition and the songs lyrics which talks about repetition.

The shapes look like 'hot chips' themselves. I feel here they are showing a representation of how people are in life.  We become so entangled and in the stresses of life;  (were the hot chip)  then all of a sudden something comes along and just cuts us or stops us dead in our tracks that makes us realise there is more to life.

There is  juxtaposition with the use of colours in this album art.  They have used the bright colours ti make the art itself stand oout and then the plain black and white for the band name, this suggests that they are more interested in your noticing their album art than their band name.

Monday 14 February 2011

Marketing- Reaching the target Audience

Recently I have been looking at my own musician " Deadmau5" as an example to show how artist connect with their audience. Recently I have come across sound cloud, and now I have found a website called u stream.tv which allows anyone with a webcam and an account to stream live whatever they may be doing.

So Deadmau5 has made himself an account and through this he streams himself live.  This enables the audience to see him create his music and gives a more personal feel/connection with the audience and artist.

There is also a feature that allows him to speak to his fans through a chat bar next to the video, which gives live chat feed to whom ever is watching.

Deadmau5 Live stream channel:

http://www.ustream.tv/discovery/live/all?q=deadmau5

Wednesday 9 February 2011

Marketing-Music Industry Changes

The music industry is now fast moving and constantly changing to adapt with the audiences demands and with technology.  There are now new ways in which we consume music.  Whether it now be wirelessly from our Laptops, iPods, iPads and so on.

We now find music through the internet.  This has changed the way we gain music.  We get it illegally off of websites such as "Pirate Bay" or "LimeWire".  There are however some websites and softwares that actively allow users to share music for free or at a small cost.  For example on iTunes you can buy music for a small price.  Also another software called "SoundCloud" that I use allows artists to upload music they have produced and then anyone to download it they want to get their music out there and heard.

This advancement has meant a severe decrease in people going out to record stores and shops to buy music physically.  Businesses who will feel the full effect of this will be the likes of HMV and Virgin Megastores.
WHo will see a decrease in, in store customers but an increase in customers online, downloading albums from their websites.

Therefore artists can;t market themselves through these Super stores for music, they have had to find ways in which their target audience will come across their music when using their iPods and Laptops and so on. These are some ways in which artist have got themselves into this market.

Deadmau5 and many other artists have made their own website where fans can follow their new music, buy new music and merchandise, and even keep track of fan posts on the website wall.

http://www.deadmau5.com/

He has also; like many other artists got himself onto social networking websites where people can"Like" him or "Follow" him as an artists and follow his feeds he puts on these websites.  Here are some links to his Facebook and Myspace pages.

http://www.facebook.com/deadmau5?v=app_174018782627184

http://www.myspace.com/deadmau5


Artists now rely on their audience using sources such as these where they can find information about them for things such as new album releases and tour dates.

Artists also promote their music through websites such as Youtube which allows the audience to listen and watch their music videos for free.  This gives the artists a much wider audience to play to as anyone could come across a link to an artists music on this website.  You can also create your own page as an artist on Youtube and this then allows for even more promotion of the artist.

Decision- Plan for Office Scene Filming

Plan for Office Scene Filming- Birds Eye View


Here I sat down with my group and we looked at our scene we could shoot next lesson and set out this scene that would be used as a makeshift office.  We looked at essential things such as the props, like the office wall partitions, piles of paper, phone and the computer to make it look more like an office environment.

We also looked at where our sources of light were coming from as to give a natural lighting effect and try not to use too much lighting from room lights.

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Decisions- When talking to Sir

When talking within our group about our video we talked about our doubts of our capabilities of shooting.  As a group we are afraid that we are not capable of making a music video that is flowing and that will be some what interesting to the audience.

When speaking to Sir he said that to make it interesting to the audience we can do it through camera shots.  However we could go along with making it a less interesting video to go along with the theme of the video being a day in the life of the character is boring.

Monday 7 February 2011

Decision- While Shooting

While shooting our video we came to a number of new decisions when going through our story board.

We looked at the shots of me going through the different parts of our music video and found some new things out that worked and didn't work when we came to film it.

For a start we went to go film the gym section.  When filming the shot of me on the rowing machine I wanted to do a low down shot looking up at me, but we thought of a number of things that were wrong with this that we didn't initially realise.

Like when you have a low angle shot on the person, this gives the audience the view that they are looking up to the character (me) in the video which creates a sense that they are more powerful than them.  However we are trying to show the opposite so therefore we need to show more high angle shots of me.

We also came across the problem that I would keep moving in and out of shot too much for it to look good enough, therefore we found it hard to choose a shot that was good for this section.

Also when filming the section for the office scene at the start it wasn't easy to show the boss coming in to give him the papers to put them down on his desk, so we have only shot me at the desk doing some repetitive stamping.

I feel now we have started to film a few of the different scenes we need we now realise the difficulties and time involved in filming a music video which we have had to learn how to adapt to and work with what we have.

Wednesday 2 February 2011

Editing-Text

Editing- Text


Here are some font styles that I was looking at for my album art or poster advert to show my development, I will talk briefly about my decisions and choices on each of them:



This was my first choice, I liked this one because of the non-conforming grammatical style with the capital letters in the middle of my name; however I felt this was too plain and wanted something with maybe an italic slant on it.



This font is a lot more bubbly and fun loving and in accordance with the style of music however I felt that it looked a bit like tribal writing or some kind of Sci-fi crop circle style and therefore went against it.


I then came across this font which I felt was the best so far, I liked that it had some curved edges and somepointed corners which gave a sense it was fun but at the same time was literally "edgy"which would be code for the style of music we are doing as a group.  However I felt it was too plain like this.

I then went into photoshop, I edited the black and turned it into white and then added an outer luminosity of green.  This is code for the style of music that I would be making our music video to, thereofore I felt this text was the best.

However I feel I may go onto other website to look around to see which a style of text I feel fits my genre of music and which would appeal to our target audience so it would catch their eye and make them want to buy our album.

These fonts were all found on:   http://www.1001freefonts.com/

Deadmau5 4x4=12 Album Cover Analysis


Deadmau5 4x4=12 - Album Cover Analysis

This album cover as plain as it is has a number of codes in it.

First off all are the colours used.  The dark black could be code for the dark night club and the scene of a night club.  It could also be code for the type of music and that it may be some kind of darker sinister style music.

As black is a formal colour, it could be an oxymoron as this type of music is not formal at all, the lyrics in some of the songs are informal and so is his whole style of music.

Black also is code for suction and sexualization; this is seen in women with wearing black dresses.  He could be denoting that there is some sexual element to his music.

When researching codes behind the colour black it said that it was "mysterious evoking a sense of potential and possibility"  This is interesting as his style of music is very creative, because the sounds are made on synthesizers so therefore in this album cover he could be using the colour black as code for that there is mystical sounds and possibility for a sound you have never heard before.

Another meaning behind the colour black I found out when researching it was that is was described as a "restful emptiness".  This could be code for the euphoric style and repetitive style of some of his music, that you may feel restful when listening to his music, but at the same time his music will will get you up and going but feel at piece in the madness.

The next colour used on the album cover is this luminosity from the green.  I also researched this colour and the meanings and codes in it and found out this:

Green is meant to be a "soothing, and relaxing mentally and physically" colour which therefore ties into the idea of the black being restful which means he has encoded the message that people will feel soothed an calm when listening to his music.

The luminosity from the green could be code the lights and style of clothes this type of audience would like to see and wear.  This is also adding an element of a fun side to his music which will appeal to this type of audience.

This luminous green will also appeal to the euphoric style of audience as people who may take pills look for this kind of music that when they "trip out" will look for a good place to go to really let loose and feel relaxed.

The green is reflected in the bottom of the album cover.  This I feel could be code for his music being reflected into us as an audience and that because we hear his music we are then influenced by his style and tastes and we change our views according to this as if he is in a way controlling us.

The album text is in a generic type style this goes along with his style of music being repetitive and always without fault because of the euphoric and electronic style.  It also is a bubbly sort of fun loving style which would appeal to this audience.

The text itself is anti-authoritative and rebellious to society as there are a number of grammatical errors.  He   does not use a capital letter for name, however I feel he may be doing this to show the focus is not on him as an artist nut the music.  He also uses the letter "5" as a letter "S".  And then the biggest and most obvious is the album name being a mathematical calculation and the answer is wrong, I feel this could be code his style of music and how he tries to break the conventions of music and break into new genres and sound that were never thought possible.

The face itself and the smiley face could be code for the "Acid House scene" and the "junkies" who take drugs while listening to this style of music and try and get a better high from "tripping out" in the middle of it.

The face is done in some sparkly looking dots.  This could be code for the face being a disco ball which shows the genre of music being a dance/trance/house style of music.

deadmau5 could use all this again and again in his album covers which he usually does to promote his ideas and views, therefore he would be using the "Cultivation Theory" which would be him constantly showing imagery and then us as the audience/listeners relating this to the real world.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Cultivation Theory- Prof. George Gergner

Cultivation Theory

While watching a programme the other day called "How TV ruined your Life" I came across this information.  A professor back in the 1960's who researched into the audience and the power of the television over the viewer.

He came up the theory called the "Cultivation Theory"which is:

Over time watching television alters a viewers perception of the real world.  If the viewer sees things more frequently they start to relate this perception of world on the television with that of the real world.

This means if they see something such as a dark alley in a city where crimes always go on, then they will start to believe that they are more susceptible to crime.  This could be at a time even when crime rates are going down people start to believe otherwise because of this increase in watching it on the television and relating it to the real world.

This could therefore be used in a good way as in the television producers could then shape their viewers perceptions of the world to a positive view or a negative one.  This all depends however on the viewer and how often they watch television.  The more the viewer watches television the more likely they are to be "cultivated" and believe more of what they see is in the real world.  less frequent viewers will have more access and input from other sources of media which will change their perception and views of the real world.

Mean World Syndrome

This Professor George Gergner calls the "Mean world syndrome".  This is the feeling of fear a person has to something they see on television such as the example.  We as viewers start to think the world is against us and is a "Mean world".

Mean world syndrome is commonly used in rap music videos with violence and gangs, showing killings and murders,  I could then use this in my own work if I wanted to show that the world I lived in was like this for then my audience to believe this.

However as this was made in the 1960's where people believed in a lot they saw on TV it is not so true today.  People get hold of actual facts and figures which actually confirm their firms told to them by the media such as crime figure or disprove what the media says such as there is a massive decrease in house prices for example.

Criticisms of Cultivation Theory

 McQuail argues that ‘it is almost impossible to deal convincingly with the complexity of posited relationships between symbolic structures, audience behaviour and audience views, given the many intervening and powerful social background factors'


He says that are views of the real world are not just changed by how much we take in television but all of the other media mediums and also our friends and people we talk to.


How I could use it in my own Work


I could use this in my own work by showing images of things that I feel as an artist are important to me in my videos. If i were to make more videos I would then show these images again in more of my videos which then increase the amount of times my viewers see this. This would then make my viewers believe this thing is real in real life or that is how I am.


For example I could place me driving cars in the video.  Then by me repeatedly doing this my viewers of my music video would think I like cars and therefore maybe as an artist copy this or believe in real life I am really interested in cars when in reality i could hate them.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Deadmau5 Marketing- Target Audience

Appealing to the Target Audience (Demographics)

Taking Deadmau5 as an example I first looked into what age group is target audience is which is between the targets of 18-30.  This is considered to be quite a big target audience.  For an artist knowing your target audiences age is crucial.  This is to make music that will appeal to that age group, foe example if your target age group was below the eighteen you could not then go talk about explicit material.

Another reason why target audience is crucial is to make sure your music as an artist will appeal to them more.  This will depend on how old they are and what years they were brought up in, this will be a major factor that influences their choice of music.  For example you would really get many people who are eighteen say who listen to music that was popular when their grandparents were around.

Another thing to consider with target audience is your image as a performer.  If you are a heavy metal player then the norm that the target audience would be expecting you to wear would be black with maybe a chain of some sort from your jeans and tattoos.  If you do not go with the target image then the demographic age will not be as appealed to your music say to someone who does dress like this.


Imagery and text used to gain Fans

On Deadmau5's Facebook page he uses a dark profile picture with his simple yet original "Mau5head" design.  This minimilistic picture is much like his music.  This image therefore will draw in people who not only like this kind of imagery but also the same type of music.

On my space as you can edit your profile lay out a lot more we can see there are more uses of dark colours and minimilistic uses of his"mau5head" logo.  He also uses a number of very luminous bright colours that really stand out form these darker colours.  This the draws the readers/viewers attention straight to the text or image, therefore making the more important text stand out.

The imagery used is iconic because we instantly associate this with deadmau5 and therefore when we see it we have this set image of what it should be like and who it is meant to be.


How they get their Music Heard

Their is the obvious youtube that every artist will want to get themselves into, however their are others ways they can get their music heard by the target audiences.

One way deadmau5 does it is to put youtube links onto his myspace and Facebook page, this will then direct the audience to more his music and therefore getting a larger amount of people watching his music videos.

He also then has video streaming on his Myspace page which means people can click and listen instantly to his music without having to redirect to youtube where other videos may be.

He also uses instant links to where you can listen to sample pieces and full pieces of his music and then also buy it there instantly making it really accessible for the demographic audience.

Contacting your audience

Deadmau5 uses a blog section on which Deadmau5 can post blogs which can be commented on my fans therefore creating a more personal touch to his page.

He also has a regular wall on Facebook on which people can message him and laso the same on myspace which people can post links to other things they think he may find interesting and also comment on things he may be doing or request things.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

Album Art and Magazine Advert





My album cover shows a consistency between the image in the back and front cover, showing the same image of the side on man.

This man is first shown in the front cover taking a pill. He is also made up of pills.  This imagery may suggest he is addicted to pills or is constantly having to take them because of a problem.  As our music video is to do with "a day in the life" of style it looks at also the issue of depression and repetition in daily life.

This repetition in daily life leads to depression therefore there is a connection here with the pills ad having to take them for depression they may be feeling.  This will also maybe relate to the audience and they may feel like they are depressed or their life is repetitive in some way and wanting it to change.

The second image is again linked into this idea of depression. We see the picture is of an x-ray of a man with a gun pointing into his mouth.  This is linked because some people get so depressed that they result in suicide.  This obviously is an extreme view of what could happen but is a good use of imagery on the back cover as a sort of warning as to what a repetitive lifestyle can lead to.





For this magazine advert I decided to keep thew colours neutral which again fits in with the theme of repetitiveness which we wills how in our music video and is represented through the lyrics of the song.

I have also shown repetition through my use of the band name and the album name by placing it a number of times on the page.  I have also used a different album cover as this was another one of my album ideas that I had previously and thought I would use it here.  As the imagery of the repetitive black lines again also fits in with the codes in my design of repetition and adds an understated look to the advert.  However I feel these understated look makes it look modern and fresh compared to a conventional eye catching magazine advert.