Picture Ideas for the DVD cover

Last lesson we were messing around with make-up for Olivia and took some pictures, we also took some pictures for the cover of the DVD which turned out really well, were going to try and photo-shop the pictures to make them look more dark and 'prodigy' like. I'm going to try and edit the photo of her with her hand in focus and her face in the background and put some people in the background taking pictures of her with flashes distorting the background to make it look like the paparazzi, which will look cool.
Roish

Letting agencies

No luck with the commercial letting agencies :( Looking back on it now, it seems like it may have been a long shot, asking permission to use a warehouse for the day for free hahaha!! However, another possible setting we have discussed for our fight scene is the skate park in Bury St Edmunds! I went and took a few photographs so that we could picture the scene whilst discussing it and for you all to get an idea of the type of setting we are looking for...



It is an isolated area which I think could potentially be a very effective setting for the fight scene, with the tricksters able to use parts of the setting ie. the ramps, for dramatic effect! I think it would be great! There is also really good lighting up there, with huge floodlights! So hopefully lighting wouldnt cause us any problems in reference to the quality of our pictures :)


Danni

Storyboards

We've finally finished our storyboards(complete with timings aswell thanks mine and Roish's strong determination!!)
This makes it a lot easier when it comes to filming as we know what we're doing and how.
So here they are, click to englarge.

Ali

Practice Storyboard Pictures - Splitscreen

Here are some of the pictures we took last week as part of putting some of our storyboard images into action. We decided to try and practice some of the pictures in order to pick up any problems with our idea and generally see how it would look.

From doing so I believe we are happy to go ahead and use the shots in our final storyboard, which we have finished today, using split screens in our music video as it automatically creates the parallel storylines for our Villain and Hero, making the connection easier for when they meet later on in the story.

We have tried to conceal the identity of our characters to increase suspense, something that also makes the filming easier as we don't have to worry about continuity with make-up, as we hope to film these 'getting ready' shots at a different time to the main shots in Cambridge.

Some simple but important points we have found from doing this exercise are:

• We need to be consistent in the sides in which our characters are at the editing stage, e.g. in the examples in this post the villain is to the left and the hero to the right.

• We need to make sure we shoot each shot from the same angle and distance creating continuity in our music video, this was lacking in our test shots as you can see below but we have learnt from this.

Ali

Storyboard Update

We have completed the timing's for the whole of the storyboard which is SUCH a relief as it was the main thing holding us back form progress - because we didn't know where to start with the frames, but now it's complete we can get started on the key bits of narrative. the reason the timing is so important is that we are focusing on the concept of music to visuals and this has helped us see where the key timings are.

they will be scanned and uploaded pronto!








Roish

Progress on locations and Mr Mills :)

As stated in my previous post, as a group we discussed using a warehouse or something similar for some of the "rave" scenes or possibly the fight scnee could take place at this location.
I investigated which letting agencies had facilities for us to use. I called some up, but had a problem with us being students using the wareouses unsupervised. Some agencies just wouldnt allow us to use the warehouses on a one day contract.
However, Lacy Scott and Knight and Merryfields, were enthusiastic and willing for us to use them for a warehouse. They are both going to contact me next week to arrange when we can choose somewhere we want, or even whether it will be possible. They both raised the issue of money and ive asked whether they can enquire if it will be free, because we dont really have a budget to spend! So by next week we should know if we will have an extra locaion :)

Also Me and Olivia went to speak with Mr Mills, asking if he would be available and willig to feature in our music video as the dark and mysterious "boss" of Vickee (the hero) and he agreed so we have all of our characters sorted as well :)


Danni

Ideas on the storyboard

Ok, so for one of our tasks we have decided to take some photos on some of the ideas we have from our storyboard, this was good so we can experiment with different shot types and see if it would work in our video. Our main idea was to have a split screen which Ali will go into more detail, but with split screen it is showing the preparation of the hero and the villain getting ready before they fight. We also took some shots which hopefully will be quite effective, like the shot of Ali walking out of the door using a low angle, this makes Ali more powerful and a bigger role showing that she is more dominant, this shot will be used for the hero as we can show that she is more powerful than the villain. Another shot, is the shot of me, Danni and Roish I would say that the shot would be better closer because if it was more close-up, with my face in the middle as I am the villain and roish and danni on the side to show that they are my side-kicks this again gives the villain to be more in control rather than her side kicks, also how I am more forward and they are behind me, that shows that I am more dominant. These shots were quite successful as they have given us a bit of an idea of what shots we want to include in our music video.



Olivia

Contact lenses

So we have two main characters for our music video, a hero and a villain. I am going to be the villain in this video and I have done a bit of research for what type of costumes the prodigy wear, and the main thing that came across was the contact lenses!! Its really good how you can see the different effects with the people that wear contact lenses to those who don't and it would be a big difference to tell apart from the good and the bad. So we are planning to get white contact lenses as we thought it would be pretty freaky for me to wear them!! In a lot of the prodigy videos they wear different contact lenses as well, it is quite good with the genre of music as it is quite techno and different and random so it shows that they are trying to be random and give more of an effect in the music videos. It also relates to their industriel theme as wearing contact lenses can make them look dingey and dark and mixing with the blacks and whites to make them look freaky. There is also a website where you can get loads of different colours, they are not that expensive so if we decide that white isn't the best colour then we can go for some other ones, like neon contact lenses, i think that these would also be quite good as it relates to the album covers, with bright colours mixing with dark colours.


Olivia

An example of 'Tricking'

This is the style of dance that we want to incorporate in our music video - the fight scene. I think it would be a great twist to the narrative. the boy's group is called 'whiplash' and they're all around the age of 13 to 15. they've been tricking for a few years and i thought it would be a great opportunity to see what we could use in our video. were still deciding on whether to use them or not.

Roish

no good

the key concept of this music video is the atmospheric idea of an illegal rave. the music video is set in what looks like an abandoned warehouse and has the sense if neglect and vandalism. the narrative of the video follows a man around the warehouse with the ravers in the background and the audience are led to question what he is doing as it looks like he is on a mission, the narrative is rather ambiguous until nearer the end.

the dancing throughout the video is a conventional aspect of a typical Prodigy video and this has inspired as into wanting to incorporate into our own video as we have mentioned before. although the dancing in this video doesn't look like its been choreographed, it still has a purpose to the video, it shows the sense of freedom and utopia that many ravers seek in their drug taking. we are planning on taking a more organised approach to our video and the choreography is going to be a bit more sleek, but the narrative in 'No good' is completely different to the narrative in 'invaders must die' so we never intended to follow the style of this video, it was just inspiring and helpful in showing us the conventional aspects of their videos.

the setting of this video is great for the concept and made us as a group consider all the different places we could shoot our fight scene, were still deciding on whether it would be too much hassle to get in touch with the council to see if they have anywhere we could possibly go to shoot and we were also weary of the lighting issues that would be involved. there is an abandoned pub in my village that would be a great place to shoot as it has been abandoned for over ten years and has been vandalised by some of the local 'yobs'. there has also been some illegal raves in there in the past so it;s obviously a great place for our video, there are still a few issues to resolve at the moment so for now i will be taking some pictures and uploading them as part of our pre-production process.

Roish

Possible camera shots and locations

In our media lesson today, Roish brought in a DVD of The Prodigy's music videos. We had already discussed many specific shots which we would like to incorporate into our own music video. We watched Baby's got a temper released in 1992, and saw that they had used jump cuts at the start of their video for when the band are getting changed. This was a primary idea of ours for the beginning of Invaders must die, when our hero and villain are getting ready to go out. This increases the speed of the scene and relates to Goodwins six, with the fast pace giving a relationship between the music and visuals.I have added the music video, Baby's got a temper. The jump shots I referenced are between 42 seconds and 1 minute.

Also during our planning we have realised through our research that the rave scene has a huge influence on The Prodigy and that many of their videos are set in dark, underground locations, eg. an abandoned subway. As a group we discussed having some scenes shot in a warehouse or a run down barn to relate back to The Prodigy's earlier work. We are currently researching whether this would be possible and contacting the council and friends to find locations :)


Danni

important facts about the Prodigy we MUST consider when constructing our music video

Invaders Must Die is the fifth album from a band long synonymous with bringing urban disruption to the countryside. Like uninvited guests dirtying up the landscape they've long trodden paths supposedly to them.

So Invaders Must Die then is awash with references to the free party generation. It thunders like the mother of all E-rushes, all hairs tingling, spine jumping and lips buzzing. But it ain't no retroactive arms-in-the-air, water-sharing nostalgia trip. This set is fuelled by the dog-thunder of punk's saliva-dripping rabid snarl. In fact its canines are so thoroughly bared that it's more likely to snap at your jugular and steal your water. Laughing all the while. In fact, the often overlooked dumb-assed humour that has always been at the heart of the band is has a full force presence here.

After 40 minutes of having your head battered by future nostalgia, serotonin levels twisted by feel-good horrorcore and your synapses snapped by whiplash attitude, Invaders Must Die delivers its final, brilliant twist - a horn drenched sunrise anthem that aches with the positivity of a new dawn. That track, 'Stand Up' laughs aloud like a victor, spreads its arms around its comrades (the unit, the family) and walks the line of a burning horizon with the swaggering look of satisfaction that only comes when you instinctively know you've achieved what you set out to do.

Invaders Must Die is the unique sound of The Prodigy, still trespassing after all these years, walking the path they've created for themselves. And with that free party attitude still breaking and entering where other's can only dream of following.

“We represent all that is great about Britain, and we should be protected like a national heritage,” laughs Liam as 'Stand Up' fades into the distance. He may well be right! The question is, are the established overlords of our green and pleasant land ready for this particular juggernaut to be jettisoned into the middle of Constable’s finest.

all of the above was hijacked from their biography on their website - http://www.theprodigy.com/the-prodigy/biography

it is obviously their new album was heavily influenced by their experiences in the rave scene - not saying that we should go raving and film the drug takin but we should try and incorporate the experiences of the rave lifstyle in an urban and country lifestyle - by mixing up camera shots or something outrageous


Roish

Who listens to The Prodigy

I asked students from around my sixth form social forum, what kind of people or audience they thought of when I asked them who listens to The Prodigy. I received a range of answers from Indie/rockers, Dance/techno lovers, ravers and a range of ages across generations. With this is mind I researched various Prodigy music videos ranging from their first releases in 1991 to the present day, to give an idea of why these audience types were suggested and whether they were just generalizations of the genre of The Prodigy’s music.
I also undertook some background research on how The Prodigy started out and how they rose to fame to get an idea of their original fan base. Liam Howlett the main front man for The Prodigy was highly involved in the rave scene just a few years before he found fame. He was a popular face and even became a DJ at several raves. This genre then became a heavy influence on their first album with dance and rave tracks with the occasional reggae style mixes. This highlights what a diverse band they are, shown by their ability to produce any style of music. I believe this to be the reason why they have such a range of target audiences.
After pushing their music at various gigs and raves their popularity grew and they rose to fame rapidly, with their first music video then being played on Top of the Pops and their fan base continued to expand.
Many of their fans were in their teenage years and were into the rave scene. This was incorporated in their first music video Charly. It was a very performance based video, set at a rave. This is a direct plug at their target audience and also is clearly intertextual by including video clips from 1970’s commercial advertisements “Charly cartoons”. Addressing their target audience who may remember the advertisements in their childhood and may take them on a nostalgia trip.



To further my research I looked at many message boards for The Prodigy and many people were commenting on how they had bought The Prodigy’s first album back in 1992 and they are still hearing their music on the radio now in 2009, proving how they have continued to be popular throughout the country.
Their later videos continued to stay performance based with elements of concept being introduced. These videos keep consistency throughout their work.
Another reoccurring motif than I found throughout the four music videos I analyzed, is the use of darkness and underground settings to set moods. Firestarter is set in an abandoned London subway, Poison was shot in a dark, mud infested underground room and No Good is set in an underground warehouse. Also with both No Good and Firestarter filmed in black and white. Genres associated with darkness are Emo/Indie and Rock music, conforming to the perception that listeners of The Prodigy and most probably audience to these genres.








This is continued in the design of their official website with the rave scene being incorporated with neon colours but then an industrial feel is given with black and white images and a dark edge to the images.

Danni

The Prodigy Website

The Prodigy has an official website where their homepage has a main picture of showing who the prodigy are, it has the main text at the front. i.e. showing the update of the main news and headlines. So that the audience can keep up to date with The Prodigy. It uses recognizable font and colours so that it doesn’t confuse the audience, and the title ‘The Prodigy’ is the most significant text on the page with its flashing and recognizable font. It also has social websites where you can see exactly what The Prodigy are doing i.e. facebook/Twitter. It also has advertisement for themselves, they have a link on the homepage which takes you directly to The Prodigy shop and subscriptions to joining up to the newsletters and mailing list. The other links that you can go to from the homepage are the band, music, news, gigs, photos, videos, shop, community and skins at the top of the homepage, the colour of the font is much different to the rest as it is in more fluorescent colours

so that it is more attractive for the audience to go onto the links. There is also music tracks on the homepage so you can choose some music to listen to while you’re browsing through the website, these are quite conventional elements for a website but what The Prodigy has as an unconventional website is a link where you can see pictures of the fans tattoos of The Prodigy, ‘We want your Prodigy tattoos!’, this is unconventional for a normal website but what makes The Prodigys website unique so it may attract a specific audience who has an interest in tattoos. They also have a video on the homepage to show the atmosphere of what a Prodigy concert is like, this can be a for a new fan who wants to see the experience of what one of their concerts are like, there are also backstage videos so the audience can relate to the artists and to see what they are like.

Olivia

Ancillary Task: CD Cover Design

The Prodigy’s previous album covers differ greatly from the simplistic approach of ‘Experience’ to the more complex pop art style of ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’.
One main point for The Prodigy's albums is that they don't include a picture of the band, unlike many other commercial bands therefore this helps us with copyrighted images and stresses that where another band may focus on the band The Prodigy prefere to focus on the music.


'Experience' is a very bold but rounded font, perhaps representing the band’s bold reputation yet making it visually appealing and therefore gaining sales.
Its simplicity is a very daring idea as this will make it blend into the background, unlike a later album e.g. 'Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned', but the record label may have wanted the cover to simply be able the music, without any distractions. Which may have been drastic but it did well nevertheless.





This bold font is continued into their ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ album, yet this time the writing is distorted to a curve, something that continues the warped nature of the image. The distressed face would have been used to capture the shop browser with its horrific style. The title has a humorous side suggesting this is the kind of music you’d turn to once you’ve lost a lover with songs like ‘No Good’ carrying on this theme of bad relationships. The colour palette for this cover is black, grey and white representing their very rough cut style of music, something that dramatically changes in the next album.


‘The Fat of the Land’ is the next album, released in 1997 and this time features a crab on a beach, again something that has a humorous side to it, whilst still having that eye catching element that the record label demand. The close up with blurred surroundings ensures that the crab stands out boldly, whilst making it seem like it is moving towards us. The crab continues the motif of a disturbing image, whilst this picture is not as strong as the face from ‘Music for the Jilted Generation,’ the crab as an animal is small but scary, so just like people are scared of spiders this plays on the fear of crabs. For the title we see the round boxes used in ‘Experience’ come back, yet with a different font. The font now is less bold, and the biggest change is the size of this title, suggesting that their popularity was at a high and the record label (XL Recordings )were sure that the loyal target market already set up would seek out the album rather than XL Recordings finding the audience with mounds of promotional work, although naturally some would still have been used to promote to a wider audience.
With this album we meet the recurring motif of the ant, something that is featured on ‘Invaders Must Die’, some 12 years later and is littered all over the artist’s website.


‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’, my personal favorite, takes on a total revamp of the previous album covers, this album is much more artistic with its pop art style image of a face including a hat, nose, glasses, lips and a cigarette, this is a much more colourful cover and more feminine with the face clearly a woman’s with pink and red at the forefront of the colour palette, this comes at a time when more female vocals are included in the songs for example in ‘Spitfire’.
The biggest part of this album is the fact that no title is included, not just no album title but no artist name either which is surprising after a seven year quiet period, but The Prodigy were lucky in that they managed to keep their popularity throughout this time.
The album hasn’t quite lost its strong imagery, for example the dogs either side of the face are quite menacing and the cigarette tinges the softer female imagery with a darker side, although this is still coloured pink.

‘Their Law’, a greatest hits album is reverting back the darker colours with black grey and blue, and the name has returned. The picture is of a badge on a jacket, a picture suggesting a biker audience, whilst also looking quite strong with the eagle image, and once again our trusty ant motif.









And the most up to date album is ‘Invaders Must Die’ cover is of a zeppelin in a field, suggesting war and consequently danger. The colour is focused at the bottom of the image concentrating on yellow, orange and red.
The font for the band title has returned to its bold style, with the slight italic touch giving it a more edgy feel. This is continued in the named title but this time it looks more free hand, like graffiti.





Looking at all these factors it seems that our album doesn’t have many boundaries as The Prodigy doesn’t have many set motifs. Although the ant is something that has come increasingly used throughout all promotional work and the title, if we should include it, should definately be bold but the choice of colour can be completely random.

I believe for our ancillary task, we should keep it simple, as The Prodigy’s past albums haven’t been too busy (with maybe ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ as a slight exception), and have concentrated on one image, be it a face or a crab, and give it the main focus.


Ali

Song Ideas before Prodigy

Okay so for me, I first really enjoyed the song drop by The Pharcyde. I really enjoyed how they made the whole video go backwards and at the start of the video you were confused because it looked like it was normal but it was backwards... strange eh? But I really like the idea of how this type of video was quite fun and laid back, like the artists and director had a good chemistry and were enjoying it and you can tell by the video. I also think its quite good how its a really good video but not very expensive as it is shot in location, I thought that the ideas in the video were really good how they got a really good effect from it being in backwards motion. They even put the lyrics backwards which was an awesome idea aswell!! So from this video it has given me a few ideas for our own video!! These are the lyrics of Drop by The Pharcyde:

[Bootie Brown:]

Let me freak the funk,
obsolete is the punk that talk more junk than Sanford sells
I jet propel at a rate that complice their mental state
as I invade their masquerade
they couldn't fade with a clipper blade
10 years in the trade is not enough, you can't cut it
I let you take a swing, and you bunted
for an easy out, I leave mc's with doubt
of exceeding, my name is Bottie Brown and I'm proceeding, leading,
they try to follow but they're shallow and hollow
I can see right through them like an empty 40 bottle, of O.E.
they have no key, or no clue
to the game at all, now they washed up
hung out to dry
standing looking stpud, wondering why
(why man?)
it was the fame, that they tried to get
now they walking around talkin about represent
and keep it real, but I got to appeal
cause they exisitng in a fantasy when holding the steel

[Slim Kid 3:]

rock a bye baby,
listen to my heart pumping to a fine ravine
of all things it's a vain of a shrine
all missions impossible are possible, cause I'm
heading for a new sector 365 days fron now, I'll
wipe the sweat from my brow
and each and every true will stick, or fall from the sky of my cloud nine
from homies all the way to chics, no matter how fine
cotrolling is a swollen way to wreck a proud mind
you hold it in your hands and watch a man start crying
tear after tear in the puppet man's hands
every time you take a stance you do the puppet man's dance
and the worlds at a stand-still
deep in broken mansville, trapped in the moat with an avil, still
killing yourself, and dogging ya health
you ain't amphibious, so grab a hold of yourself
[Bootie Brown:]

Let me freak the funk,
obsolete is the punk that talk more junk than Sanford sells
I jet propel at a rate that complice their mental state
as I invade their masquerade
they couldn't fade with a clipper blade
10 years in the trade is not enough, you can't cut it
I let you take a swing, and you bunted
for an easy out, I leave mc's with doubt
of exceeding, my name is Bottie Brown and I'm proceeding, leading,
they try to follow but they're shallow and hollow
I can see right through them like an empty 40 bottle, of O.E.
they have no key, or no clue
to the game at all, now they washed up
hung out to dry
standing looking stpud, wondering why
(why man?)
it was the fame, that they tried to get
now they walking around talkin about represent
and keep it real, but I got to appeal
cause they exisitng in a fantasy when holding the steel

[Slim Kid 3:]

rock a bye baby,
listen to my heart pumping to a fine ravine
of all things it's a vain of a shrine
all missions impossible are possible, cause I'm
heading for a new sector 365 days fron now, I'll
wipe the sweat from my brow
and each and every true will stick, or fall from the sky of my cloud nine
from homies all the way to chics, no matter how fine
cotrolling is a swollen way to wreck a proud mind
you hold it in your hands and watch a man start crying
tear after tear in the puppet man's hands
every time you take a stance you do the puppet man's dance
and the worlds at a stand-still
deep in broken mansville, trapped in the moat with an avil, still
killing yourself, and dogging ya health
you ain't amphibious, so grab a hold of yourself

[Knumbskull #1:]

shit is-shit is ill, my flow still will spill
toxic slick to shock you sick like electrocute
when I execute, acutely over the rythym
on those that pollute, extra dosages is what I gotta give em
got em mad and tremblin
cause I been up in my lad assemblin
misslies, to bomb the enemy
because they envy me, and the making of my mad currency
currently I think we're in a state of an emergency
cause niggas done sold their souls, and now their souls is hollow
and I think they can't follow
they can't swollow, the truth because it hurts
this is how I put it down, this is my earth, my turf
the worth of my birth is a billion, and you know what time it is
I'm going to make a million
[ Drop Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]
[Knumbskull #1:]

shit is-shit is ill, my flow still will spill
toxic slick to shock you sick like electrocute
when I execute, acutely over the rythym
on those that pollute, extra dosages is what I gotta give em
got em mad and tremblin
cause I been up in my lad assemblin
misslies, to bomb the enemy
because they envy me, and the making of my mad currency
currently I think we're in a state of an emergency
cause niggas done sold their souls, and now their souls is hollow
and I think they can't follow
they can't swollow, the truth because it hurts
this is how I put it down, this is my earth, my turf
the worth of my birth is a billion, and you know what time it is
I'm going to make a million

[ Drop Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Olivia

Massive Attack - Safe From Harm

As Danielle said we are looking at some different song options before finally deciding on The Prodigy, which will not only help us make sure we are using the right song but broaden our ideas with regards to shot types, mise-en-scene and in general, classic video conventions.

The video I’m looking at is Safe From Harm by Massive Attack, a narrative and performance based video, following Shara Nelson the featured singer getting up to her flat - a simple storyline, something that I feel naturally reflects the Trip-hop genre to which Massive Attack belong, with many of their videos following a simple idea but not without twists and turns which capture the audience’s attention.



Safe from harm
Uploaded by cyber_elwood. - Explore more music videos.


Lighting: Like Invaders Must Die, this video is set in black and white, but this time its use does not give an artistic feel, but reflects the grimy location of the block of flats and provides the sense unease that the song’s lyrics calls for. ‘Midnight ronkers, city slickers, gunmen and maniacs.’



The low lighting in all the scenes provides the expense and builds the enigma code of the song, for example the shots in the lift, a flashing light is used to create shadows which are later used to conceal a person outside her door again with the feeling of unease at the forefront of this choice of lighting, whilst reinstating the run down location with a broken light.

Camerawork: At the beginning, the introduction to the main character is provided in a shot which switches from a point of view shot to a mid shot when a man is intimidating her, with the point of view shot instantly making the audience sympathise with her then developing into a scene showing what she puts up with where she lives.

The camerawork is smooth yet is in the style of handheld, with the shot occasionally tilting and changing height.

We get close ups of all the characters, something Goodwin said was a part of the 6 key elements to a music video as it completes the demands of the record label getting the band’s image into the public eye.

There is a shot of a dead bird on the ground at the very beginning, instantly creating a negative image, something the audience is likely to be thinking about whilst watching the rest of the video.




A fish eye lens is used to show the man in the lift, accentuating his odd behaviour, possibly suggesting a link to drugs or madness in this instance due to its claustrophobic location of the lift.




Randomly, a person is shown standing behind a door, this disturbing imagine is meant to give the idea of our character isn’t safe there and that all is not as it should be.




Mise-en-Scene: A close up of a cigarette end is shown along with graffiti and broken glass to enhance the run down nature of the block.

Shara Nelson is dressed in a coat and bag, typical of her character, with others (of which some band members) are wearing glasses, carrying bags and smoking all items of an everyday nature.

Whilst these elements are all interesting we wouldn’t just be able to copy this original video therefore below I am putting the lyrics along with a few ideas of how we would make the video our own.

“Safe From Harm"

[Shara Nelson]

Midnight ronkers
City slickers
Gunmen and maniacs
All will feature on the freakshow (something we found very effective in our thriller was using a TV, using a jumping image, here we could recreate this to enhance this idea of a 'freakshow')
And I can't do nothing 'bout that, no
But if you hurt what's mine
I'll sure as hell retaliate

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight

[3d]

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me
To see me lookin' back at you (Arguably the best line in the song, it's one of those you have to think about for a second, therefore I think should be highlighted in some way, we could put up the lyrics on the screen, or maybe have an extreme close up of the words being sung)

[Shara Nelson]

Lucky dippers
Crazy chancers
Seems to be moving fast (the classic fastened up shot, perhaps filmed in town)
What happened to the nicities
Of my childhood days (childhood pictures)
Well I can't do nothing 'bout that, no
But if you hurt what's mine
I'll sure as hell retaliate

[3d]

I was lookin' back to see if you were
I was lookin I was
I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me
To see me lookin' back at you

[Shara Nelson]

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight (something that isn't made clear or even highlighted in MA's original video is whether the baby is literal, but I’m pretty sure it is and she is protecting her baby as they're naturally venerable, therefore we could include a child or baby in the video.. even though they do say never work with children or animals!)

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight

[3d]

Tell us what it is dangerous
Friends and enemies I find it's contagious
And they're spreading through your system like a virus (could get some great imagery, water going down a drain, get some fake blood, or simply recreate a cough medicine advert!)
Yes the trouble in the end it makes you anxious

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin back at me
To see me lookin back at you

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin back at me
To see me lookin back at you

[Shara Nelson]

But if you hurt what's mine
I'll sure as hell retaliate
You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight [x2]


Websites used:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/massiveattack/safefromharm.html
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9wp0z_massive-attack-safe-from-harm_music





Ali

original ideas for songs before actually choosing our actual one

Justice vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends
Uploaded by rooroo. - Explore more music videos.

when we were thinking about what songs we were going to pick, one of my first choices was this song as it one of my favs. but the song was rather uninspiring and i couldnt get any ideas of what we could do for it, as in what narratives we could use etc. and i also didnt want to end up hating it. i think going fo a more upbeat dance song was always going to be a winner for me as i always wanted to use my matre Vickee and play a part in the choreography, which is great fun. 'we are your friends' definately inspired the final song choice.

Roish

Influences

The Automatic - Monster
Uploaded by fabio-du-35. -

Brain fried tonight through misuse
Through misuse, through misuse
You can't avoid static abuse
Abuse, abuse

Without these pills you're let loose
You're let loose, you're let loose
Stand up, get out, no excuse
No excuse, no excuse

What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What's that coming over the hill?

Confused, mind bruised, it seeps out
It seeps out, it seeps out
Face down, home town looks so grey
Looks so grey, looks so grey

Convexed you bend, twist and shout
Twist and shout, and shout
Stand up, brush off, get moving
Get moving, get moving

What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
(x4)

Face down, home town, face down, home town
Face down, home town, it looks so grey
(x4)

What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
(x4)

this song influenced the Comic book theme that were thinking of going for. the video is cheesy but reminds me of watching superman and other comic cartoons when i was younge, the over actin (rather badly) is what we want the antagonist to try and achieve as it will make the ending of the video more entertaining, we kind of want the audience to feel a bit sorry for her and her lack of power. i really like the fact that the video looks quite low budget aswell, as ours will be in the same kinf of concept, as were obviously skint students.

Roish

Other songs..

Before we definately decide on Invaders must die, we felt it neccesary to explore other ideas and song choices in the eventuality of situations changing.

A song which I found during our pre production, which I particularly liked was Technologic by Daft Punk. It is an upbeat song which we are hoping to use and is an against-the-norm, diverse song which so much creativity can come from!

This is the music video produced for the song








We had an idea of building a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals through showing a picture of every object mentioned in the song for example:



Lyrics: buy it, use it, break it, fix it
Therefore you would have images of something being bought, something being used etc This style mirrors The Beastie Boy music video, Sure shot directed by Spike Jonze who uses this technique. We could also include some intertextual references and cut on beat would be key.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5GXj1jwb1U&feature=related


However, doing this for the whole movie would be very hard going and may become a bit tedious on the audience. Also the rapid beat could make it difficult to fit every shot in and may be confusing for the audience!

Danni

Letter to Cooking Vinyl

Copy of the letter sent to Cooking Vinyl, the record label for The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die asking for permission of copyright:


To whom it may concern,

We are writing to ask for permission to use the song Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy for our A2 Media production coursework, in which we are making a music video. We are students at Thurston Community College and the use of the song will be for educational purposes only. As part of our coursework we update our progress on our blog and we will eventually be uploading the finished product on to there for you to view how we have used the song, if you wish to see it at http://roadmusicvideo.blogspot.com/

Yours faithfully,
Danielle Harrison, Alison Hourihan, Olivia Turner and Roisin McKenna-Crick

Now we must await the decision by the record company :) Fingers crossed!

Danni

test shots

We did some test shots to see how easy a contrazoom would be, and to check out how backward shots would look, Olive uploaded the video earlier. the test shots were mostly succesful so were now using some of the ideas in the actual video.

Roish

costume design ideas

These are some pictures of some ideas we have for our costume designs. we are thinking about using the logo from the prodigy album cover for the 'super hero' costume, and the ant logo for the villian.

Roish

Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy

Before attempting our music video it is important to look at other work, hence why we have looked at Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, Spike Jonze & Chris Cunningham but the original video is arguably most important during the planning stage.

These some elements that stood out:

Monochrome - the video is mainly in black and white creating a more artistic feel whilst giving the video an aged feel to it. Colour is used on the beach scenes, a split screen is used to keep the colour concentrated on just half of the shot, and this colour is brightly enhanced creating a stong contrast.

Quick editing pace - this is used throughout the video and fits in with Goodwin’s Six point of 'relationship between music and visuals,' as the shots speed up with the pace of the music. Jump cuts are also used to create a sense of unease for the audience, something that matches the gritty atmosphere in the music and video. This is definitely something we want to include, at the moment we believe we're going to include jump cuts at the beginning of the video when our protagonist is getting dressed, whilst making that link between music and visuals throughout the entire video

As discussed the highest point of the video coincides with the fastest pace in the music, this is between 2:45 and 2:55 where we get a series of faster cuts than previously, although we don’t intend to have the same images as the original video we do recognise this point as the time to have the climax of our video and for us this is when our fight scene between the two protagonists will occur.

Symbolism of the spiders – the image of the spider is used again and again in the narrative. We don’t want to totally disregard this part of the video but I don’t think we are going to be using it as much as they do in the official video, but we are intending to use it on the design for the t-shirts. The graphic matches of the spiders between shots make a change from continuity editing and therefore may be something we can discuss as a group.

Fun editing – the original video contains repeated images of the actor jumping, this is something we are keen to include in our video, as you can see in the videos in the test shots from previous posts we want to have reverse shots, slow motion and repeated images, we have practised this in the fight scene at editing stage and it came out successfully, we hope to upload this soon.

Camerawork – some shots are filmed using a hand held camera, this looks good for the official video but for us this can look too amateur, but for an effective contra-zoom it may be essential.

Close-ups of the warning signs and dead birds/fish are really successful in making a tense atmosphere for the audience, although we might not use warning signs we are going to use lots of close ups to break the monotony of two shots, along with wide shots, extreme close ups, establishing shots and high and low angles, all to give the video more range.

Ali

Costumes

We've decided to make our costumes with the help of Vicky so we can personalise our music video even more. We've done some rough outlines of what we hope it to look like, these will be uploaded by Roish soon. This picture shows us using the template that we hope to have on the t-shirts.

Ali

Pictures from test shots

Here are some pictures of from our test shot, as Olivia has explain below we used the dolly, pictured below, which proved too tricky, therefore we used the table instead.

Ali

Invaders Must Die

The invaders must die album was made in 2009, the track invaders must die has the most important lyric in the album. 'We are the prodigy'- this lyric just says it all about them as a band. The track itself makes a statement, it introduces the rest of the album to the rest of the 10 tracks. Invaders must die is not the most popular song on the album unlike take me to the hospital or omen but if we chose one of the hit singles then it would be harder to make it look better than the original music video.

Olivia

Jonathon Glazer case study :)

Jonathan Glazer started in advertising becoming renowned for his directing techniques. His most famous adverts were for Guinness and Stella Artois which both included traditional conventions which are evident throughout his work. Some reoccurring motifs of Glazer’s are; the use of monochrome throughout the shots, the use of male torsos, all of his shots are cinematic and all have high production values. For example in the “surfer” advert for Guinness males are shown surfing with no tops on, in monochrome and the advert is very cinematic, which if any shot is paused looks great. Glazer then moved on to directing music videos. Amongst his well known music videos are; Karma Police by Radiohead, Cosmo girl and Virtual insanity by Jamiroquai, with the latter winning him MTV director of the year in 1997. R.O.A.D productions really like the originality in all of his work and hope to add our own original creativity to our media production. Some of Glazers conventions we hope to use in our music video. One technique is slow motion. In an advert for VW, the whole advertisement is played in slow motion which adds emphasis on the images being shown which we hope to use in the fight scenes between the hero and the invader, to give the audience the full effect of the fighting. The majority of his work is concept based such as Virtual insanity and Karma Police, and we are hoping to follow this route of a concept based video for our production. In Karma Police, Glazer also uses the notion of looking throughout his film, with the audience gaining the perspective of a person in a car driving after someone. We are going to include point of view shits within our production to give that voyeuristic feel. This fits into the concept of a villain hiding from the hero, always feeling the need to watch over their shoulder.Im going to put the Guinness surfer advert onto this post so you can get a sense of Jonathon Glazer's style :)




Danni