Mk Ultra - Muse

This is a link to the music video that we created.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AzNikBVKuU

Print Products

The Digipack Cover




We designed our cover as close to how Muse create theirs as we could. Muse use images that link in with the album or single to create there album covers. for ours we have taken a photo of a batch of the MK Ultra drug in the lab, this ties in nicely as it is what the song is about and what it is trying to stop. For the rest of the images we have told the story of the song with the inside being a photo of the riot in protest of the drug and finally the back cover how it ends with the business on the side of the protest.
We have kept the CD's as simple as we could and to how the band design theirs.The Music CD is just a plain reflective disk and the DVD the image of the inside cover however the colour is offset in a shade of orange to make it stand out slightly from the background of the digipak without looking to much out of place.


Above is the magazine article. We have also kept this in the same style as the band as most of their adverts reflect their singles front cover with key information like the single and its release date however muse often have tour dates on their poster as well However, we are not advertising a tour date or have information on tour dates to list on the poster.
The bands name is also large so it stands out to catch the viewers eye. Although this doesn’t look like much at first this is a true representation of how Muse advertise. This minimalistic approach shows a representation of Muse own adverts as there poster are kept on the bare minimum.

Album cover research

Group meeting

Meeting 7th December November: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
In today’s group meeting we were very eager to discuss on what was needed to be done in the final editing stage of out film. We knew our deadline for filming and editing was on the 14th December so a lot needed to be. Firstly we discussed the remaining footage that needed to be done. The footage that was to be done was final shots of band which is going to take place at Elliot’s house in his garden. The second piece of footage that needed to be filmed was footage of a small child (Rachel Smith) and the business man (Sam Taylor), which was going to take place down a country lane. We decided to do all this final footage on Friday 10th as we all could meet this date. We then discussed that we needed to add final touches on to the editing.

Cast List

Cast list

Samuel Taylor – Matt Bellamy
Elliot Smith – Dom Howard
Alex Williams – Chris Wolstenholme

Sam Taylor - Lead businessman
Steph Stevens – Scientist 1
Ben Sutton – Scientist 2
Alex Williams – Scientist 3
Tash Green – Paitient 1
Elliot Smith – Patient 2

Rachel Smith – Small Child
Sam Taylor – Riot Crowd
Glenn Dourish – Riot Crowd
Steph Stevens – Riot Crowd
Lauren Healy – Riot Crowd
Sophie Powell – Riot Crowd
Liz Watkiss – Riot Crowd
Charlotte Shropshire – Riot Crowd
Jenny Hickman – Riot Crowd
Tanya Whitehurst – Riot Crowd
Freya Wilde – Riot Crowd
Alex Williams – Riot Crowd
Tash Green – Riot Crowd
Elliot Smith – Riot Crowd
Stacey Green – Riot Crowd

Group meeting

Meeting 30th November: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
(ES) brought to attention that the film was missing part of the drug testing, so we discussed that we needed to film this seen ASAP. We arranged to film the drug testing scene on Friday the 3rd of the December since we all could attend this date. For the drug testing footage we suggested that we needed x3 extras (Stephanie Stevens, Ben Sutton and Glenn Dourish) to play as scientists. Again, we noticed that we needed to correctly fit the footage with the Song. This was to be done after this meeting.

Props and costumes

Costumes
• Band:
o White T-shirt x 3
o White trousers
o Black trousers x 2
o Red hoody
o Black hoody x 2
o Dark shoes x 3
o Masks x 3
• Businessmen
o Smart suit x 5
• Scientist
o Lab coats x 3
o Goggles
• Riot crowd and Small Child
o Red hoody x 9
o Black hoody x 9
o Masks x18
o Dark trousers

Props
• Guitar
• Drums
• Bass guitar
• Microphone and stand
• Amp
• Briefcase
• Clipboard
• Syringe
• Chemistry equipment
• Signs
• Flags
• Flare
• Car

Equipment
• Camera and Stands x 5
• Mobile phones x 5
• Lighting
• CD player

Budget
We have decided on a budget of £60 with an over draft of £30 as we have most of the props and equipment.

Group meeting

Meeting 23rd November: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
Editing the recent band footage was the main focus on today’s meeting, we filmed a lot of band footage and we realised that we had very little time to complete the rest of the editing and filming. So we discussed on doing some editing during our free time, which would mean we would be using our free time more effective, which resulted in getting the whole process done a whole lot quicker.

Film story line

My MK Ultra film plan – what I want to happen and how.
Main story line only

Man walks into facility (grove languages) with briefcase opens briefcase and takes out confidential folders labelled “Project MK Ultra” hands over to a male scientist (Alex) he opens folders looks as paperwork.

Scene changes to scientists making the drug MK Ultra. Shows shots of a patient being dragged through a corridor escorted by two large male scientists (Liam and Alex) between shots of drug production. Scene shows a close up of extracting drug into a syringe. Patients arm is prepared for injection.

Scene shows four – five business men monitoring administration of drug MK Ultra into patient. Scientists record results.

Scene shows success of drug

Scene shows Main business man shakes hands with lead scientist

Scene shows business man gets in his car and leave

Scene shows business man on his way home

Scene shows a small masked girl in the middle of the road

Man gets out seeing the girl

Girl runs away

Man left looking at sign girl left behind

Riot crowd / mob ambush

Man gets caught in the middle

Flare goes off signalling man being caught

Mob takes man to a building and pushes him into a chair and drugs him

Location Report

Production Schedule

This is our up to date production schedule

5th October: Plan what equipment, props and extras we need

14th October: Film riot scene at (Sophie’s house) all group members and extras


19th October: Edit recent footage (In Media Lesson) all group members

9th November: Film lab Scene (Chemistry Lab) all group members and Sam Taylor, Ben
Sutton, Glenn Dourish and Stephanie Stevens

16th November: Edit lab scene (In media lesson) all group members

19th November: Film band footage (Tasha’s House) all group members and Sam Taylor

23rd November: Edit recent band footage (In media Lesson) all group members

30th November: Edit recent band footage (In media Lesson) all group members.
Friday 3rd November: Film more of lab Scene (Chemistry Lab) all group members and
Sam Taylor, Ben Sutton, Glenn Dourish and Stephanie Stevens. Also film business man,
small child scene and outside footage at Sophie’s house. All members, Rachel Smith and Sam Taylor.

7th November: Final editing and digipack editing.

Group meeting

Meeting 16th November: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
Today we discussed about the very important band footage that needed to be filmed. (Sam Taylor) was only available on Thursday 19th November so all of the band footage had to be done and completed this coming Thursday. We decided that the band footage was going to take place at Natasha's house in the empty garage. We decided this would be a brilliant location as the garage has plenty of space and the dark background would fit perfectly within our film

Main storyline

To start with we needed to sit down and condense all of our ideas in to a workable story one that is appropriate for the band and related to the song and one that is achievable not only in the time allocated to recording but one that would fit in to a four minute song.

After a long discussion this is what our group came up with

• The Storyline starts with production of MK Ultra drug – so we will use short clips showing small segments of the production
• Then shown being put into a syringe
• Test of drug on a patient being monitored by the businessmen – we will use the businessman as a key linkage between the two parts of the story
• Businessmen leave facility gets in car and drives off
• Child in middle of road with balloon with a small sign saying “you cannot control us” – we will use the child as a reason for the man to stop the car the child will also be dressed in the same clothing as the mob so it will be wearing a white mask.
• Car stops
• Man gets out to see the child
• See sign picks sign up and reads it
• Mob attack – throughout the video we will be flashing up small clips of the mob to show that they have been organising this attack, it will also link to why the band are wearing masks
• Man is caught in middle of mob
• Flair goes off
• Man is seen being taken away
• The camera flashes between scenes of the mob with the flare.
• Finishes with the Mob.

Development Photos

Group meeting

Meeting 9th November: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG)
Today we realised that we had hardly any footage apart from the Riot scene and old lab scenes. We realised that we only had a few weeks to get it done, so we really needed to get a move on. The main focus on today’s lesson was editing the Riot scene and Lab scene. We discussed what we needed to do in the upcoming weeks. This was more band footage, drug testing scene and business man scene.

Group meeting

Meeting 2nd November: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
We were disappointed due to the fact that we weren’t able to complete the editing of the riot scene. We all thought that we would have completed the editing in the previous lesson. Of course, we didn’t think that the editing would have taken such a long time. The main priority of today’s lesson was to complete all of the riot footage.

Health and Safety

During the production of our video a lot of care will have to be taken with the safety procedures undertaken within certain for the duration of filming.
Such as:
• Using a flare correctly
• Creating and maintaining a safe bonfire
• Choosing a safe area for a bonfire
• Driving the car carefully and responsibly
• Care needs to be taken in the chemistry labs

We also got parental permission for the young girl (Rachel Smith) this is because she is under the age of 13 and the need for parental permission is essential, since she is part of our media production.

When using the flare we made sure that Alex was going to use it, since he is a responsible adult. After the flare has been used we shall dispense it in a bucket of cold water, to prevent any injuries.

When creating the bonfire we shall check the bonfire to make sure that there isn’t any aerosol or flammable items that may cause an explosion once lit, which can lead to injuries. We will also have buckets of water near the bonfire, just in case it goes out of our hands.

We are going to light the bonfire at the bottom of the garden away from the house and trees, this is so that they don’t get set on fire.

Since we are having a moving vehicle in our film, we have chosen a responsible adult to drive the car (Elliot Smith). We will only be reaching small speeds of 10 mph, to provide maximum safety,

Finally care needs to be taken in the chemistry labs. This is because we are mixing chemicals and we need to make sure that we are mixing the correct chemicals in a safe environment.

Group meeting

Meeting 19th October: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
In this session we wanted to complete the editing of the Riot scene. We were very keen to do this as we enjoyed looking through and editing our riot scene.

Questionnaire

We handed out this questionnaire to a random selection of people and they all had similar interests here are our results


1/. The main age group we were aiming for was 18-20. Most of our participants were in this age bracket
2/. Only 70% said they were interested in music videos
3/. The main reason for not was that they were not as accessible as people would like them to be.
4/. The main response for what they like to see in a music video was one that keeps the viewer entertained and one that doest get boring after watching it several times
5/. The channels mainly watched were NME and Scuzz however most of our results said that they liked to view the videos on the internet and youtube.
6/. All of our participants said no to buying music videos and they commented that they are not as accessible as they would like them to be.
7/.60% said that they liked muse
8/.70% of those asked said they like Muse videos because they are interesting and are always different.
9/. From our survey people would like to see a mixture between narrative and quick shots of the band. The narrative would have to be interesting and keep people on the edge of their seats.
10/.people said that they liked our ideas but said they would like to see more variation on the band scenes

Detailed band camera shots

Below is an initial plan I had for all the band footage for our music video. Parts are missing where I didn't complete the ideas. Our ideas changed a lot towards the end of creating this. Hence, why it has been left unfinished
Time What’s happening.

0 – 6 seconds Close up of lead guitar
6- 12 seconds Slow sweep of band starting from lead guitar
12 – 25 seconds Sharp, fast quick transition shots of band at all angles.
25 – 30 seconds Mid shot of singer face very slowly zooming out
30 – 35 seconds Further out shot including more band
35 – 40 seconds Slow shots quite far out
40 – 49 seconds
49 – 50 seconds Shot of drummer
50 -56 seconds Angles shot of singing, see all the band, band blurred
56 – 59 seconds High up shot of drumming
59 seconds – 1.02 min Bass guitar
1.02 – 1.05 min Long shot zooming in on singer
1.05 – 1.09 min Low angle of singer
1.09 – 1.12 min Mid shot of singer come from bass guitar direction
1.12 – 1.18 min Close up of singer face
1.18 – 1.21 min Long shot of band
1.21 – 1.26 min Slow shots of drummer
1.26 – 1.30 min Shots of singer in foreground drummer in background
1.30 – 1.36 min Pan shot of band
1.36 – 1.39 min Mid shot of drummer
1.39 – 1.43 min Bass guitar foreground singer background focus on singer
1.43 – 1.49 min Angles of singer
1.49 – 2.00 min Slow pan angles of band
2.00 – 2.10 min Slow shot of singer
2.10 – 2.16 min Fast angles of band
2.16 – 2.20 min Shots of guitar
2.20 – 2.30 min Bass and guitar
2.30 – 2.33 min Angles of singer
2.33 – 2.36 min High angle of drummer
2.36 – 2.40 min Shots of drumming and back of singer
2.40 – 2.45 min Bass and guitar
2.45 – 2.50 min Angles of band slow
2.50 – 2.54 min Drummer and bass
2.54 – 3.00 min Shots of singer with band in background blurred
3.00 – 3.06 min Band in foreground singer in back focus on singer
3.06 – 3.13 min
3.13 – 3.16 min
3.16 – 3.23 min
3.23 – 3.27 min
3.27 – 3.33 min
3.33 – 3.36 min Medium shots of band
3.36 – 3.42 min Quick shots of instruments
3.42 – 4.00 min Really fast action pace of bands playing
4.00 – 4.03 min Band throw masks towards camera

Group meeting

Meeting 12th October: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Natasha Green (NG):
In today’s brief meeting we discussed what needed to be done in the upcoming weeks. Firstly, we discussed about our recent filming that took place last Thursday on which we filmed our riot scene and lab scene. We discussed on how successful it was and what ideas we are going to use when editing it. We were severely motivated on continuing to do more filming and editing due to our brilliant footage of the riot scene.

Meeting 5th October: Members present Alex Williams (AW), Elliot Smith (ES), and Natasha Green (NG):
This afternoon we discussed many factors that will affect our planning for our film. For our music video we have decided that we are going to use two locations, a Victorian room and an open field these are for our two scenes that are going to be used in our video.

MUSE consists of three male members, Matt Bellamy, Chris W and Dom Howard. We decided that we are going to use Alex to play Chris, Elliot to play Dom Howard and our good friend Sam to play Matt Bellamy. The reason on why we picked Alex to play Chris is because he is very tall and looks the most like him. Elliot is going to play Dom due to similar heights and body structure and this is the same reason for Sam to play Matt.

The Band footage is going to be filmed a Victorian room that is very large with high ceilings. This is because some of MUSE recent videos have been shot in large rooms with high ceilings.

As we are filming the band we are going to require a lot of equipment this includes drum kit, lead guitar, bass guitar, mic stand, mic and Amp. Luckily some of us play instruments so all the equipment is very easy to get hold of.

Equipment:
5 cameras and Stands
Red bulb
Torches many as possible/ orange filter
CD player with music

We decided to use 5 cameras so that we can get a variety of camera shots and angles to work with. The red bulb will allow us to create atmosphere and will resemble previous muse videos. The CD player with the music will guide us on what parts we need to play and perform.

By looking through at previous MUSE videos we noticed that they all wear distinctive bright coloured outfits that are different to each other.

Chris ( Alex) : White trousers, white top, black suit jacket, dark shoes and face mask
Dom ( Elliot) : Green trousers, white top, black hoody, dark shoes and face mark
Matt ( Sam) : Red trousers, white top , red hoody, dark shoes and facemask

These colours are often worn by Muse, the facemask resembles a previous video by MUSE on where they used facemask this was in their video " supermassive black hole"

For our second location we decided to film it in a open farm / field this is where we are going to film our protest. We have decided to film and create a protest because we recently went to the MUSE gig a couple of weeks ago and we noticed that they opened the show with a protest against resistance. So we thought this would be a good MUSE element to add into our film, we are aiming to film it in twilight. This will allow us to see if the camera picks up the dark or if it is poor quality.

For our protest we are going to use 18 extras for our protest, these extras won't be hard to get hold of as these extras will be our friends.

Equipment:
5 Cameras and Stands
Potential vehicle
Torches
We are going to use 5 cameras so that we can get a variety of shots which will gives us to lot work with and edit for our final cut. The potential vehicle may be used to aid us with our filming; we thought that we could sit in the vehicle and film the protest to crate panning equipment. The torches are going to aid us with potential lighting and effects to give us the best possible shots.

Props:

Hand Held Flares

Bonfire

Bamboo poles

Flags

We have decided to use hand held flares as we feel that this will look good on film and come across as very effective and fit in with our protest theme. This is where the bonfire is also linked in with the hand held flares. The Bamboo polls and flags will be marked with the resistance logo to mark our protest.

We feel as if this meeting went very well as we discussed a lot and are eager to get started on the further details on the planning.

Textual analysis of digipak.

Haarp – Muse


This digipak contains a live DVD and a live CD from the bands Black Holes and Revelations tour at Wembley in 2007. From the cover the denotation we can make is that we can see the bands logo at the top of the case with the event name across the middle the band are silhouetted on the “haarp” logo and the stage can be seen behind that with the huge satellite themed lights towering over the logo. We can also see the Wembley arch between the satellite lights and underneath is the information and what the digipak contains the case is in black which creates a strong contrast with the white and gold in the pictures. The connotations we can make from the front cover is that the used of gold is trying to make the cover look elaborate and professional. Muse are famous for their use of lights on their live events them showing their huge lights on the cover emphasises this point. The Wembley arch shows where they played their gig and is a significance to the album as the album is a live production from Wembley stadium. The Album uses the main colours of black and gold throughout the digipak the CD and DVD are both assigned each colour.

Live 2003 – Coldplay


This Digipak also contains a live DVD and a live CD from the bands live tour in 2003.From the front cover alone the denotation we can make is that we can see the large crowd and the back of the lead singer. The whole front cover has been edited to be in black and white and the lead singer is in a shroud of light the band’s name and digipak are in white over a black background. The connotation we can from this front cover of a digipak is that they wanted the lead singer to see as though he had a massive involvement in the crowd as he seems to be erupting the crowd and as he is facing the crowd and away from the camera he implies that he was there for his fans and not for the fame of being on camera. The fact that the lead singer/fronts man isn’t actually standing on the stage insinuates that he had a lot of involvement with the crowd. The black and white front cover creates a strong contrast and makes the crowd look sharper

Live from the Royal Albert Hall – The Killers Digipak.



Again this digipak contains a DVD and a CD both featuring songs from the bands live performance at the Royal Albert Hall. From this front cover we can see the Royal Albert Hall with a full moon shining down on it. The whole front cover is design in a mosaic style which resembles closely with their latest album Day & Age front cover which looks identical minus the Royal Albert Hall, this ties in with the album as this live performance is from tour that followed that album. Therefore the connotation we can make with this digipak is that the use of purple is used to represent night time but using purple makes it feel calmer and more familiar than using black. The building in the middle of the front cover signifies where the live event was hosted. Purple is a reoccurring colour throughout this digipak. The connotations of the colour purple are royalty this ties with where the live performance was hosted

Textual analysis of music videos

Vlad the impaler – Kasabian

The first 8 seconds of this music video starts off with in a style of a dated film with the director’s name shown and other production teams listed. This then changes to show the main character in this video Vlad played by Noel Fielding walking towards the camera carrying a large stake in both hands. The camera is constantly moving to give a feel that your there watching. The title of the music video (Vlad the impaler) flashes up in red this gives a connotation of danger and threat. At 17 seconds the location changes to show Vlad’s home which is filled with numerous tools and machinery designed to makes weapons as we see him, this gives us the sense that he is a dangerous character. We then see the character at a tennis court watch two girls play tennis it then shows him murder the girl in the girl’s point of view. This theme carries on as we see Vlad attack numerous people with the same weapon the judgement that this character is dangerous is confirmed throughout the video. Red is a reoccurring colour which is often associated with Vlad this again provides the sense that he is a dangerous character. The whole video is film too look dated with a cheap feel about it, with a dated style of special effects.

Bliss – Muse

The video starts showing the main character of this music video up close. The main character is the lead singer from the band (Matt Bellamy) he is shown to have red hair and wearing a red top this provides a sense of danger but also a passion. This image changes to an establishing shot of the main location which appears to be a large hole outside a city. The establishing shot zooms in then changes to a bird’s eye view of the hole in the middle is a large plank where the main character stands. This zooms into his hair which we see blowing in the calm wind, an eerie music is being played at this moment. The camera angle then changes again to show what is down the hole and the music starts. when the music really gets started so does the video as we get quicker shots from different angles as we see the character plummet as the character plummets we see other member of the band watch him fall as he sings. The video is given a futuristic feel that ties in with the theme of the song. Although the band isn’t playing any of their instruments we do seem them regularly. This video then goes to show the main character float through space towards a large light where he disintegrates into.

Charmer – Kings 0f Leon

This video starts with an establishing shot of the location which is a deserted theatre the camera angles pans around as the stage curtain is lifted to show the band. We see the band silhouetted against the red back drop this gives a connotation of suspense and mystery. As the camera zooms in the lights slowly get brighter showing the band. The band is shown to play all their own instruments. This video provides some interesting close shots of the band playing their instruments which maybe useful for me when filming my band footage As the songs gets going, quicker shots are used when the song gets slower, slower shots are used. The main focus of this video is the lead singer. At some points it seems the video goes in slow motion which is a nice effect as it creates a sense of what is happening among all the quick shots. The entire band except for the lead singer is dressed in black this provides the lead singer to gain most of the cameras attention as he stands out the most. As the end the curtain drops shielding the band from the camera.

detailed potential story line

Below is one of our first initial ideas we had. Other group members Alex Williams and Natasha Green weren't overally keen on this idea however some of the ideas have potential to be in our final cut.

Dark shots night time, artificial lighting inside, dark clothes for riot, army jumpsuits etc, flares torches.

Close up of guitar playing intro, 0 – 6 seconds

Zoom out guitar at front rest of band behind at an angle 6 – 12 seconds

Different angles of band fast short shots 12 – 25 seconds

Riot crowd travelling 25 – 38 seconds

Army torturing riot person setting fire to banner using truth serum 38 – 50 seconds

Band 50 – 1.02 min

Riot crowd walking get our flags and signs large mass 1.02 – 1.20

Army gathering together guns and armoury etc 1.20 – 1.40

Riot crowd storm building find laptop, laptop shows band playing zooms in on screen
1.40 – 2.10

Band 2.10 – 2.16

Riot crowd closing laptop and exiting building 2.16 – 2.28

Army sneaking up on riot crowd 2.28 – 2.41

Band at riot/army location 2.41 – 2.54

Army start to attack riot crowd + band clips 2.54 – 3.36

Fight of riot crowd against army riot crowd falling 3.36 – 3.46

Riot crowd escape run back past band then army chase after firing leaves band
playing 3.46 – 3.39

Band members throw masks towards camera 3.39 – 4.03

A2 Music Video Group Meeting 1

Group members present: Elliot Smith, Natasha Green and Alex Williams

Band: Muse
Song Name: MK Ultra

During our group meeting this afternoon we discussed the ideas that are the main factors contributing into the production of our music video. The main purpose of today’s meeting was to discuss the ideas behind filming of the band footage parts of the video. We talked about the locations, props, equipment, costumes and the roles that are vital for the music video.

We decided that for the location of the band footage we would use Alex Williams's brother Simon's house for the filming, the reason why we chose this location is because Simon's bedroom reflects that of a Victorian bedroom so large space with high ceilings. This is vital as it gives us a lot more room to use.

We have also decided who will play as the band members in our footage, we have decided to use fellow group member Alex Williams, our friend Sam Taylor and myself for the actually footage as our builds resembles that of the band and we believe we can do a good job at mimicking the band.

We also discuss equipment and how it will be used. From our meeting we deduced that we will need roughly five cameras including camera stands, this is so we can get a varied range on angles, a red bulb to create a red glow and atmosphere, torches with different coloured filters (mainly orange) to further create atmosphere and a warm glow and finally a CD player so that we can listen to our chosen track and so we can mimic it accurately.

As props go we have decided that we need instruments (lead guitar, bass guitar, a drum kit, a microphone and a stand for the microphone), each band members will be wearing a full face white mask with each having individual costumes and we will need amps for our instruments.

When we were discussing costumes we were trying to think of ideas we can use that would mimic that of the bands current style. We decided that for Matt Bellamy (being played by Sam Taylor) he should wear tight red trousers, a white t-shirt, a red hooded jacket, dark shoes and a white face mask. For Dominic Howard (being played by myself Elliot Smith) we decided that he should wear tight green trousers, a white t-shirt, a black hooded jumper, dark shoes and the white full face white mask. And finally for Chris wolstenholme (being played by Alex Williams) White trousers, a white t-shirt, a black suit jacket, dark shoes and a white full face mask.

When discussing roles we have already assign people to the band member’s roles, but we will need about five camera men and at least three people to control our light system. We will give these roles friends who are willing to help out.

Theorists and Theories

Theorists and theories used to analysis a music or film product.

My first theorist is Roland Barthes (12th November 1915 – 25th March 1980) he was a French social and literary critic and he developed the theory concerning layers of meaning.

Roland Bathes. He founded the following theory of layers of meaning.

The first level of signification is denotation which is the description of what we see. Denotation is a visual significance of a product, nothing more.

E.g. Front cover to a digipak has a picture of a band on it.

The second level of significance is connotation. Connotation is what we think of the denotation, so connotation is what we think when we see an image.

E.g. Colour red suggests danger, threat, aggression and evil but also passion and love.

The third and final level of significance is myth or ideology. Myth or ideology is simply when you combine all the connotations together and try to grasp what the big picture of a product is.

E.g. Pictures of childhood toys and a strong mix of red insinuates that the product is playful with a sense of danger.

My second theorist is Laura Mulvey (15th August 1941 – present) how is a film and media studies professor. She developed the theory of the males gaze.
The male gaze is the theory that films and T.V products are film in a male’s point of view, they show males desires and males needs while neglecting the needs of a women.

E.g. In certain rap videos females are portrayed to be objects of sexual desire and nothing more or pictures showing male superiority over women.

My final theorist is Karl Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883). He was a German philosopher who stated that everything in our capitalist society is focused around making a profit.

E.g. Music videos play it safe and don’t bring up controversial discussions as this might affect sales and limit profits.

Voyeurism is the act of viewing the activities of other people unbeknown to them.

E.g. watching a movie or television the person watching it will be known as the voyeur as they are watching someone else undertake activities whom of which are unaware.

Poster analysis

Summary of research

From all the research above I have helped myself focus what I want to achieve through my music film production and the steps needed to achieve my desired product. Through the numerous group discussions I have had with fellow group members Alex Williams and Natasha Green we have successfully created a strong concept for a Muse music video concerning the song MK Ultra will details briefly the conspiracy surrounding project MK Ultra and also show images of Muse playing their song. We have developed our ideas into two sections. In one section we intend to show the band playing and the other will show the main story line of the music video.

Though looking at the music genres and the concepts involved in them, I have helped myself focus in on the style that Muse use in their music and in their videos. We have managed to capture their unique style and hopefully with our ideas play on with their current theme.

When analysing the music genre, videos and digipaks I found it very useful to refer back to key theorists such as Roland Barthes. With his theories kept in mind about layers of meaning and the concepts of denotation and connotation I found it generally easier to see around what is shown. His theories also help me take a much better understanding in Muse’s style and what things I need to keep in mind when making the final product. Karl Marx has helped me focus in at what I want to achieve from my music video and show me the direction I need to take to gain public views and profits of my film.

When I analysed the Music videos directed by professionals I found it useful to understand that a video doesn’t generally need to elaborate and full on a successful music video can be created quite simply and on the cheap but when I looked at Muse’s music videos this turns what I thought on its head. Muse focus a lot on style and design making their videos very artistic if we are going to make a video for them then I need copy and manipulate their style so I can produce a cheap production but also keep the image they have created.

When discussing which music label would best suit our music video it was important to take in account that our target audience are. Our initial intended audience would be young adults and teenagers but we intend to keep the audience as mainstream as possible so in that sense we would like our video to be able to be enjoyed by a large array of audiences. Because we want access to a large amount of audiences we will have to keep our video as audience friendly as possible. As a group we decided our ideal music label would be Warner Music Group (WMG) although thinking more sensibly it would be best suited if we broadcasted the video through websites such as YouTube or even the official Muse website. As we will be broadcasting the video through these websites we won’t be making a profit so we need to keep costs down as low as possible.

All my research has affected my planning of my film, it has caused some of my ideas to be affected some of which have been improved and others I have to abandon as they will not tie in with the themes that Muse have created.

The history of music videos

In modern time music videos represent a crucial part of the music industry. They act to open up the viewers eyes to what the band/artist intend them to see, and allows viewers to enjoy music in a whole new way. Music videos not only showcase an artist's singing talent, but also how they perform. Many musical artists made their careers a success by using music videos.

One could say that the very first music video was created in the late 19th century when a series of still pictures were projected onto a screen with live music playing simultaneously, this become a very popular form of entertainment but it took just
over 60 years to really hit off.

The history of the modern music video has its roots in the early 1960s with The Beatles first major motion picture, 'A Hard Day's Night'. This 1964 Beatles movie included musical segments that resemble today's music videos. That same year, the band began filming short promotional films for their songs which were then aired on television on variety of shows. The band used these promotional videos to boost tour sales and record sales. This idea soon developed further and several other bands from that generation followed cue such as The Beach Boys and The Animals who interpreted their music into promotional videos too.

By 1974 making music videos were a popular concept for many band/artists and it were these videos that aided the Australian programme Countdown to be aired on television. Countdown aired these promotional videos to viewers in a bid to increase record sales and develop music videos further.

On August 1st 1981 music videos were broadcasted on MTV for the very first time with the hit “video killed the radio star” by The Buggles which is a bit ironic as it was from here when music videos really started to make an impression on the music industry.

Singers like Madonna not only used music videos to promote their albums, but to create their images. In 1983, the almost 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller," was released. It became the world's most successful and influential video in music video history.
Nowadays, the music video is nearly as important as the song itself, sometimes even deciding the success of a song or artist. Collections of music videos are being sold on DVDs. Music video's greatest fans are apparently watching them muted just to enjoy their artistic value, as they consider it to be a new form of art. They consider that a music video should be assessed based on its visual qualities and not on the song quality. Female sex-appeal in music videos have become very popular as of late therefore this feature is being used excessively it music genres such as rap and hip-hop.

In conclusion, although music videos have been widely used to entertain viewers and influence the music the industry, it still relates with its originally purpose, to promote and make money.

Typical music label that might distribute our music video.

In an ideal situation we would hope that our music video would be produced and distributed to a major record company such as Sony, Emi, Warner and Universal. Ideally we would like to work in partnership with Warner Music Group (WMG) as not only will this maximise overall profit and general attention to our film but it will also tie in with previous Muse productions as previous videos have be distributed through WMG. Through our music video being distributed through Warner we can find ourselves in a better position to gain more views and more public awareness to our product. However as our music video will be produced on a low budget we can expect to find ourselves to be working with an independent record label such as stiff. Through using stiff we will have more of a say of how our video will be produced and distributed. Although we will find ourselves out of public awareness and generally profits will be less. We can also distribute this product ourselves through social networks and websites such as the video giant YouTube the benefits of using YouTube is that we can potentially get huge public awareness although we wont be making and direct profit from publishing it on YouTube we can expect people want to purchase the digpak that we produce and from that making a profit. Ideally we would like to get to point where our music video is being shown on the numerous television channels available such as MTV or NME. Another possibility would be to distribute the music video through the official Muse website, although we will need Muse official permission to broadcast it on the website we can hope to generate public views which have a better focus as they will be the band’s fans searching through the website this will promote gigs for the band and we generate profits for us.

Music Video reasoning

Here is the summary of our reasoning behind our video

After watching Muse live at Wembley back in September 11th 2010 we decided to make a video for them. We based it on their most recent album Resistance. We decided to use the 8th song on the album which is Mk Ultra. When we saw Muse live there was a strong feel of conspiracy and government control in their songs and their lyrics reflect this. At the beginning of the gig Muse were introduced with a riot which were meant to represent the G20 which took place in London a couple of years back, This introduction goes with the first song on the album which is Uprising however, we really liked the idea of the riot and decided to try and use the strong feel and exhilarating tension it created into our music video idea. The whole Mk Ultra background meaning is that of the American research and developing mind altering/controlling drugs back during late world war 2 we are going to try and represent this background story into a more modern situation,
From this we fashioned the idea of a rebellion against this drug, with the band leading the revolt.
In Muse’s music videos they rarely stay in one place so we decided to move the band footage outside when the narrative story went outside and stay inside when the story is revolves around being inside.

group meeting

Group meeting Septmeber 14th all group members present

Through the group discussion we looked at the prospects of making a music video or a short film. In our group discussion we were trying to generate some key ideas for either project of a small film or a music video. When we were contemplating the short film we wanted it to be based loosely around a comedy so we spent some time trying to find some witty jokes on the internet and trying to come up with an idea where we can incorporate the joke into a five minute film.
Problems occurred when the jokes we found weren’t suitable for film production or the jokes themselves weren’t funny enough to be made into a short film.
We then had a look at the prospects of making a music video we were able to generate better initial ideas. Through the group discussion we found this project to have the most potential.

For the music video we thought of using clips of videos we have already collected from previous gigs and festivals, we thought we could join these clips together and produce a live performance of a chosen band but we found our footage to be quite shaky which will be too inappropriate for a professional looking film.
Over the summer just gone, members of our group collected footage of some of the highlights of the holiday for a personal film for friends who are going their separate ways. We managed to collect up to 5 hours of actual footage which we could make into a film with a song played with it. The song doesn’t generally need to be associated with the clips but through the clips we can create a story for viewers for the purpose to entertain. If we use our own footage already collected we don’t generally need to show any band members as the story being shown shall be relevant enough.

In the end we decided against that and we thought of a whole new concept of creating a desired band and filming a story around them.

Summary and Description of Music Genre

The music genre we aim to work with is ‘alternative rock’ although the other genres we could possibly look into is ‘indie rock’ or ‘pop’, through this genre we have access to a lot of new upcoming bands as well as bands that have been around for a while. Each one creating an interesting video that brings out their genre of music. Alternative rock emerged during the 1980’s, although it didn’t really get popular until the mid 1990’s as it was seen as a rejection of mainstream culture through bands such as Blink 182 and Oasis. From the huge success these bands created new bands followed in their wake and now days we can see hundreds of bands labeled under the alternative rock genre.

The main band which we would like to work with is Muse, over the years Muse have created a unique style of music which comes from their fusion of many different music genres such as progressive rock, classical music, heavy metal, electronica and alternative rock. Their songs vary dramatically from their instrumental symphonies on the resistance album to the metal of Stockholm Syndrome on the Absolution album this shows their great flair of combining multiple different genres into one incredible song.