WEBSITE #5 - Tricky

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• Everything in the centre, with social media as emblems, not as words like with Suede
• Could have it in the centre, but instead of the new album out now, have some blurb line to enter the world of the city 
• Quite like the font too

ACT: Tricky

TENURE: 1985 - 87 (solo), 1987 - 95, 1995 - present (solo)
CATALOGUE: ...

GENRES: Trip hop, electronic, experimental hip-hop

LABEL: False Idols

WEBSITE LINK




SPLASHPAGE?
No

INDIE DP #5: Honeyblood - Babes Never Die

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• Haunting atmosphere, is a bit dystopian
• The child-like font, could be used in some of my

ACT: Honeyblood
FULL TITLE: Babes Never Die
YEAR: 2016
TYPE OF ALBUM: Second studio album
DESIGN: ..
PHOTOGRAPHY: ...

GENRE: 
LABEL: Fatcat Records

SINGLES:

No results, shows their relatively unknown status still:

The band not on the album cover, this follows the convention of indie groups not wanting to promote themselves too much, unlike more glamorous examples of girl groups like The Spice Girls + Fifth Harmony. However, their original album, Honeyblood, did this, which is not what is always done by indie groups's debut albums, showing this convention has exceptions.

FRONT COVER
No artist logo or album title, neither the artist themselves , favouring the artwork.


BACK COVER
Right in the centre, Rule of Thirds.










Record label logo (quite quirky)
Link with the forest.
The childlike font:
Barcode below 






INSIDE
...

PLANNING - Contacting Cast

Ring up Nissi, ask her when she's got time

Ring up Marie, ask her when she's got time

Ring up Matthew again, download that Discard app

Ring up Maurice 

Ring up Philipp, ask him if I can film him lip-synching the song

Ring up Jochen, ask if he can really not transport the drums in his van, and ask if there's anyone else

Ring up Julian, ask him when he's got time 

Ring up Dennis, ask him when he's got time, ask him whether he'

Ring up Silas, ask him when he's got time

Ring up Fabian, ask him for base guitar, micro with cables, drums and keyboard and another rhythm guitar, and drums if Joc and whether he could provide them, and even play the singer 

Text Saskia whether her boyfriend has got any other instruments, or could stand in

PHOTOSHOP - Potential Effects

GENERAL RESEARCH


A list of 50 tutorials by Hongkiat.

A list by Speckboy.

The Photoshop Tutorial YouTube channel.



FOR DYSTOPIAN URBAN SETTING

City Destruction.

Would shoot some low angles of city in order to achieve this.

These aren't really that appropriate.



MORE:
https://blog.photoshopcreative.co.uk/blog/tutorials/qa-tutorials/how-can-i-create-a-dystopian-image/
Google search for album covers specifically.

For the band members:

...

NARRATIVE Costume + Props

Possible Costume 1:

Odd socks or no socks 

Maybe chain (neck)

Make-Up like Souisie Soux 

Waist coat

Man's suit jacket 

Leather wrist bracelets 

Boots 

Braces

Fob watch

Ripped, frayed jeans or holed tights

RESEARCH TASK

If my protagonist is going to wear dreadlocks, what are the cultural associations/connotations of dreadlocks, is part of a subculture. Is it at the moment becoming more mainstream?

Possible costume 2:

A dress, but still with boots 

Leather jacket (link with the lead singer)

Possible Costume 3:

In a shirt and suit like the Francesca video 

ADD LATER?

• Cloth Cap
• Dreadlocks 

EX-PARTNER

COSTUME

• White shirt and black suit
• Lipstick
• With or without glasses 

PROPS

• Clothes to throw out
• Rucksack
• Photo to throw down

THE FLOWER SELLER
COSTUME
Cape cat so as to hide his face in

PROPS
bunch of flowers 

ALEXA

COSTUME

• White shirt
• White trousers
• Black bowler hat
• Black laced shoes

PROP
Black cane

PLANNING - Locations

WHERE

The Stones at Trier-West

The Warehouse in Trier-West, outside and/or inside (danger of it collapsing)

At the Marinensäule?

When am I going to go there?

WHEN

Before 16:00

NEED TO CHECK WHEN IT'S SNOWING

INSTRUMENTS

DRUMS
Bigger Drum: Base Drum
Smaller Drum: Side or Snare Drum
Cymbal Drum
Drum Stool
Kick Pedal
Drum Sticks 

PROPOSED FILMING DATES
...


TRANSPORT:
...

Time to assemble and dissemble, needs to be organised and thought through.
The photographer and the lead singer can be played by the same actor, costumes need to be distinct.

Don't be vague, be precise, be specific.

Visual Punch
Quirky

Quick, blitz, but give exact times, I need to shoot for an hour 
Which is the quickest sequence?

If they say no, ask do you have any suggested alternatives
If they say, that time
You simplify further what you plan to do or you look for other cast 

All of them need to sign a release form (do it jokingly: "It's nothing more than a formal requirement)

I NEED TO PHONE CALL:
Matthew
Philipp
Jochen
Julian Rambo
Dennis
Silas
Marie 

PLAN B FOR BAND:

If I can't get a band organised, you'll juts have to accept that you can't get it organised,
and just get a lead singer. 

IF POSSIBLE OTHER CHARACTERS 
The Clown like the
The Horse Scene from Decadence

ALSO NEED TO KNOW WHAT TIME 

Add the weather forecast 
Make-Up + Costume:


...

DEVELOPPING THE IDEA #5

Maybe the diegetic intro could be made up of small UGC videos entered by fans.

Also the sound should be similar to the intro of Arcade Fire's Everything Now 

The ritual dancing by the protagonist:

ARCTIC MONKEYS

*Insert embed code* (Snap Out Of It)

FRANCESCA BELMONTE

The Cloth over her back. Maybe also have her wear a suit like this:




Oh and I just realised, another subconscious intertextuality, it was the janitor in Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, the way I wanted her to dance like. 

DIEGETIC OUTRO
I think the end of Stay Together's long version on the single release, could be a very chilling way to end the video, as she realises something's going down, has something of Game Of Thrones 5x08 when the Whites attack.



...

INDIE DP #4: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• ...

ACT: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
FULL TITLE: It's Blitz!
YEAR: 2009
TYPE OF ALBUM: Third studio album
DESIGN: ..
PHOTOGRAPHY: ...

GENRE: Synth punk, alternative pop, indie rock
LABEL: Dress Up

SINGLES:

No results, shows their relatively unknown status still:



FRONT COVER
Artist and album title not on there, goes with the band not going there, they are not as eager as more mainstream bands and the majority of solo artists to have their image all over the branding.
Rule Of Thirds has been observed for the hand.
If this is a woman's hand, then it still enforces the hegemony of gender roles and images, and as this band has a female singer it might be assumed it's supposed to be her. 

BACK COVER
...

INSIDE
...

DIGIPAK #8: Halsey - Badlands

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• An introductory letter for the narrative, which could also be featured in a trailer 
• Buttons as extra merchandise
• The Stensel is super cool, 'nuff said 

ACT: Halsey
FULL TITLE: Badlands
YEAR: 2015
TYPE OF ALBUM: Debut studio album
DESIGN: 
PHOTOGRAPHY: 
                               
GENRE: 
LABEL: Astralwerks

SINGLES:

Unwrapping videos:

...



A student prezi on the design/artwork.

DIGIPAK #7: David Bowie - Outside

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• A shorts story to set out the mood
• The very artistic lyrics 

ACT: David Bowie
FULL TITLE: 1. Outside
YEAR: 1995
TYPE OF ALBUM: 19th studio album (Concept album)
DESIGN: Denovo, David Bowie
PHOTOGRAPHY: John Scarisbrick (Pinterest with early drafts)
GENRE: Industrial rock, Art rock
LABELS: BMG/Arista/RCA (Europe)
                    Virgin (US)

SINGLES:

This Discogs entry provided the most images.


BACKGROUND:

• This album is similar in its dystopian theme to his 1974 Diamond Dogs
• Bowie by now had come back to a more creative renaissance, after going for a more mainstream phase in the 1980s, which disappointed the critics and eventually
• So with this debate of high art vs popular culture in his mind, he created the concept for a concept album which deals with the narrative of the degradation of art 
• 
  

The whole arty design fits well for the philosophical debate of the degradation of art.

FRONT COVER

BACK COVER





INSIDE
Bowie created a whole world.

BOOKLET

Really creative lyrics:

INDIE DP #3: Kraftklub - Keine Nacht Für Niemand

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The colour of black in my case for Suede as general branding

ACT: Kraftklub
FULL TITLE: Keine Nacht Für Niemand 
                                           (No Night For No One, an intertextual pun on this album title)
YEAR: 2017
TYPE OF ALBUM: Third studio album
DESIGN: 
PHOTOGRAPHY: 

GENRE: Indie rock, Sprechgesang
LABEL: Vertigo (owned by UMG)

Un unwrapping video:

BRANDING
The choice of the colour red fits with the general look and rebranding, their previous album had been black, wearing black costume (the name even being In Schwarz = In Black).
They are now wearing red costumes, in all their music videos and their live performances (however as I discovered when I watched them live they take these off half-way through and underneath is their original classic look)

FRONT COVER:
The theme of the album title: "No night for one", meaning not getting any sleep, is represented through. This could be seen as a cultural code as it can be common to put matches between your eyes to keep yourself awake 
Same colour, font and case (upper), however very different in sizes.






INSIDE:
The opening track of the album, Band mit dem K, is an sarcastic take on the God-like status of bands, with lyrics such as "Through your bras onto our altar" "That's no spotlight, that's a halo". Also the lyric: "Meet us at the bar, we drink W-O-D-K-A" would seem to heavily suggest this whole image is a representation of that song, there can be a relationship between record sleeve and lyrics as well, like Goodwin said about music video.

...

POSSIBLE INFLUENCES - Dystopia

FROM SUEDE

We Are The Pigs

Suede were Britpop. Not just a mere cog in it but the oil that first greased the machine. They were the ones who, before they even released a single, were hailed by Melody Maker as Britain’s best new band; the ones who the music press, desperate for a something new they could own, backed to do it for Blighty and stick one on the Yanks. And yet Suede hated Britpop: the crass Carry-On humour, the cartoon laddism, the brutish and boozy boorishness – it left them cold. Such isolation fed into their second album Dog Man Star, a darkly extravagant masterpiece that stood against everything the movement they helped spawn had become. Just compare, for example, any of Oasis’s hymns to living big dreams in the big city and having it large with We Are the Pigs, in which London is turned into a thuggish dystopian playground, or a sexier version of Threads. “Well the church bells are calling/ Police cars on fire,” sings Anderson, like a camp town-crier preaching bloody insurrection, and then quickly turning crazed witch-catcher and shrieking “But deceit can’t save you!” And then there’s the odd musical flourishes: the crunching guitars, the blaring horns, the creepy choir of kids gleefully chanting “We will watch them burn.” Doomsday has seldom sounded so good.

Foreboding images like satellites and tower blocks, if I could have something as intimidating/threatening like that

The screen talking 






















DRAMAS ABOUT NUCLEAR APOCALYPSES:

• Threads
• The War Game
• The Day After

Just discovered this band through an article by The Guardian, with feminist dystopian music promos, 

THE LOOK OF "THE CITY"



...

DISTRIBUTION - The Album Artwork

The album artwork replicated as statues (from a music video)

..

MUSIC VIDEO THEORY #8 /GENRE THEORY #5: Music Video Genres

These are named as the six music video genres: 



None of these can really separated that exactly and strictly, Madonna's Music mixes live action and animation, my video could potentially as well.

1. PERFORMANCE

U2's Beautiful Day
where they go to various locations. 
"Giving their videos a theme" - So this is both a performance and concept video. 



The Strokes's You Only Live Once
The Strokes are a band which nearly only do performance videos.



2. SPECIAL EFFECTS
Chemical Brothers's however that also features dance 

3. STORY
"Where a narrative plays out to the lyrics of the music"
Differentiates between those where the band is in the video and not 

WITH THE ACT


WITHOUT THE ACT
...



4. DANCE
Have other Is still a style of performance.

When does an act stop simple just Performing but also dancing (does Dave Gahan's clapping and moving in I Feel You count as dancing)

A number of Chemical Bro
5. ANIMATION
Just like there are animated films and TV series, there are also animated music videos. Some acts do all of their videos animated, Gorillaz even used it to create different personalities. Some acts do it sometimes like Kasabian, some mix it like Madonna's Music.

And they also tell a story, and have some performance elements.

6. BROWSER
The interactive video that Arcade Fire did?