Music Video Theory - Steve Archer's Theory

Steve Archer's Theory

• There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos
• Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band
• A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist's performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the 'repeatablility' factor

The video opens with an establishing panning shot of the frontman of the band.
It pans forwards and goes past him.

The shots of the band members playing their instruments are very well shot.
The band member is very tight in the frame and the handheld camera works effectively,
the shakiness going with the aggressiveness and fast pace of the song 

There are so many cuts in this video that it is impossible to count. A shot lasts no longer on screen than a few seconds. I find that the editing is fantastic and makes the video memorable. 

Throughout the music video each band member is on screen for a fairly equal amount of time.
Some bands only focus on one or two of the members but this promo has the whole band alot of the time
with the frontman being the main interest at times.



The narrative is shot in slow motion for the majority of the time. It splits the performance and also adds more to the video.





The narrative amplifies the lyrics as the narrative shows a group of men acting violent to an uknown enemy.
The lyrics 'Fuck the law, we wrote the order, fuck the bridge because we built the border' are amplified by the men acting as they don't have any concern for the law and are doing what they want.



Music Video Pitches

Video Tester Part 1

This is a quick test video that we did to see if we could pull off certain editing techniques we had seen from other music videos and were inspired to try and do the same.
For the first part where Zak Pinchin screams 'You've only done this to yourself' the lip syncing was done twice as fast so when we came to edit the footage, everything would be slowed considerably but the lip syncing would still fit.
The next part is Kelly Pinchin jumping just as a frontman from a metalcore band would on stage. We edited the footage to slow down and speed up at points and we think that it looks effective but can look alot better if we have more time to film and edit as this was a quick run through.

'Heartburn' by Architects is where we took inspiration to lip sync the lyrics twice as fast and then put a slow-mo effect on the footage. In the Architects video the band are walking along a desolate road and the slow motion looks really effective to capture the feel of the bleak landscape as well as having he front mans hair blow about. Whilst all this is happening the lyrics still lip sync perfectly to the actor and we really wanted to try and accomplish the same effective technique.

As we were limited to location we tried it in small classroom and only had one attempt at it but I believe that it looks good but could definitely do with some improvements. If we were to try it again with more space and do it a few more times we could edit it to fit perfectly but also add more slow motion to the footage.

Insitutions - TV Channel to show our chosen track

The channel that would be best to show our chosen track would be Kerrang! TV. The channel is loosely connected with the magazine 'Kerrang!' The stations playlist genre is very modern with nu-metal and pop-punk being the most popular genre played. Other genres such as heavy metal are played but not as often as the channel doesn't want to veer too far away the mainstream choice.

The channel is owned by Box Television which also has connections with Bauer Media Group which publishes the Kerrang! Magazine.

Kerrang! TV follows the same principles as the magazine, showing new and exciting bands whilst also having programmes dedicated to showing classic rock. Many of the videos on Kerrang! TV are censored to remove any swearing, violence or references to God.

According to http://www.barb.co.uk/ Kerrang! TV has an average daily reach of 120,000. When you think of the target audience, the channel is extremely popular as there is a small number of people that listen to the genre.

Kerrang! Magazine was first published in 1981 but has since then flourished as a weekly magazine and now has its own edition in Australia and is also published in Spanish. Kerrang! also has its own radio station which broadcasts to the West Midlands of England.

Kerrang! TV

Kerrang! Magazine

Kerrang! Radio

Digipacks

Digipacks are used as packaging for a CD or DVD, they are an alternative to the jewel case that was originally used and are now the favored choice by major record companies. They are a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd and though they have no official name, 'Digipack' has stuck due to the popularity and effectiveness of them.

Digipacks consist of a gatefold, a book style opening made of paperboard or card. They have a gloss finish with a range of artwork inside and outside depending on the artist. There is also an option to have either a plastic tray or slot for the CD/DVD to sit in.

Pros

• They are capable of holding more disks
• Look more creative and professional 
• Space for more innovative ideas
• Can hold more information
• Environmentally friendly
• Cheap to produce
• More design options
• Innovative premium product

Cons

• Open to wear and tear
• Plastic teeth that hold the disk can break
• More expensive to buy
• Can look old and ragged quickly
• Trays can break and come away from the other packaging

Deconstruction of Lyrics

Our chosen band - In Archives

In Archives are a 5 piece metalcore band from Peterborough. They were formed in 2010 and take influence from bands such as 'The Ghost Inside', 'Architects' and 'Parkway Drive.' They have released a 5 track EP with great local success.  

We have chosen to use this band as Kelly and Zak Pinchin are both in our group and we decided that they would benefit from a music video as well as us for our A Level. They are a very experienced and talented band so filming them playing their instruments won't be a problem. The band will also have all the instruments and props ready to use, so we don't have to worry about getting them from somewhere else.

The song is called Step Down and was recorded in the summer of 2011, where they had previously recorded their 5 track E.P. The recording is very proffessional and wouldn't seem out of place on rock TV channel, 'Kerrang' or 'Scuzz.'