CO - Digipak's relationship to video and original images

P. R. Brown is a graphic designer, photographer, and music video director. As well as being well known for directing music videos he is also known well for designing album covers. Some of the album covers he has designed are for Mötley Crüe, Korn, Godsmack and Marilyn Manson. However he has directed music videos in a range of ranges. Bands he has directed music videos for include Bullet For My Valentine, My Chemical Romance, The Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot and many more.




His full filmography follows

• 2012
• "Cross country" - Mack
• "McShake" - McDonalds
• "Giants" - American Idol/Ford
• "Hats off to the bull" - Chevelle
• "Comin Around" - Josh Thompson
• "Angels & Stars" - Eric Turner featuring Lupe Fiasco and Tinie Tempah
• 2011
• "HELL in HANDBASKET LIVE DVD'" - Meat Loaf
• "Face to the floor'" - Chevelle
• "Gimme all your lovin'" - Filter
• "Electric Eye" - As I Lay Dying
• "The Ghost" - The Hot Gates
• "Not Again" - Staind
• "Dance Without You" - Skylar Grey
• "C'mon" - B'z
• "Ate o Fim" - Madame Saatan
• "Respira" - Madame Saatan
• "Walking Dead Man" - Black Tide
• "That Fire" - Black Tide
• "Fireflies" - Ford/American Idol
• "Be yourself" - Ford/American Idol
• "World" - Ford/American Idol
• "All this beauty" - Ford/American Idol
• "Badass" - Saliva
• "The world" - Ford/American Idol
• "Don't wanna lie" - B'z
• "Lies of the Beautiful People" - Sixx A.M.2010
• 
  
• "Blackline Commercial" - Harley Davidson
• "XM@quot; - Corey Taylor
• "SING" - My Chemical Romance
• "Digital (Did You Tell)" - Stone Sour
• "Nowhere" - Murderdolls
• "Hesitate" - Stone Sour
• "Issues" - Escape the Fate
• "Say You'll Haunt Me" - Stone Sour
• "My Dark Place Alone" - Murderdolls
• "Half of My Heart" - John Mayer
• "Believe" - American Idol/Ford
• "Frozen Moment" - American Idol/Ford
• "All Night Long" - Buckcherry
• "Kung Fu Fighting" - American Idol/Ford
• "Our Time Now" - American Idol/Ford
• "Your Betrayal" - Bullet for My Valentine
• "The Last Fight" - Bullet for My Valentine
• "Tonight" - Dommin2009
• 
  
• "Tattoos & Tequila" - Vince Neil
• "Snuff" - Slipknot (co-directed with Shawn Crahan)
• "Letter from a Thief" - Chevelle
• "Hazardous" - Vanessa Amorosi
• "Doesn't Mean Anything" - Alicia Keys
• "Break" - Three Days Grace
• "Smash the Control Machine" - Otep
• "Let Down" - Dead By Sunrise
• "Crawl Back In" - Dead By Sunrise
• "Still Unbroken" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
• "One Day" - Matisyahu
• "Move Along" - American Idol - Ford commercial
• "Energy" - American Idol - Ford commercial
• "Mixed Up" - American Idol - Ford commercial
• "Pocket Full of Sunshine" - American Idol - Ford commercial
• "We Will Rock You" - American Idol - Ford commercial
• "Chocolate Box" - Prince featuring Q-Tip
• "Crimson and Clover" - Prince
• "Sulfur" - Slipknot
• "The Letter" feat. Vanessa Amorosi - Hoobastank (co-directed with Jess Carfield)
• "Crüe Fest Live DVD" - Mötley Crüe/Buckcherry/Papa Roach/Trapt
• "White Trash Circus" - Mötley Crüe2008
• 
  
• "My Turn" - Hoobastank
• "Dead Memories" - Slipknot
• "Another Way to Die" (theme from Quantum of Solace) - Alicia Keys and Jack White
• "Elephants" - Rachael Yamagata
• "Crüefest Live DVD" - Mötley Crüe
• "Mutherfucker of the Year" - Mötley Crüe
• "Tomorrow" - Sixx:A.M.
• "Psychosocial" - Slipknot
• "Who's Going Home with You Tonight?" - Trapt
• "Five Star Band" - Mead commercial
• "Saints of Los Angeles" - Mötley Crüe
• "Pray for Me" - Sixx:A.M.
• "The Stone" - Ashes Divide
• "Hollywood's Not America" - Ferras
• "The Step and the Walk" - The Duke Spirit
• "Great Divide" - Hanson2007
• 
  
• "Accidents Can Happen" - Sixx:A.M.
• "Confrontation" - Otep
• "Amazing" - Seal
• "Breed" - Otep
• "Almost Easy" - Avenged Sevenfold
• "That's the Way (My Love Is)" - Smashing Pumpkins
• "Over You" - Daughtry
• "1973" - James Blunt
• "My World" - Emigrate
• "New York City" - Emigrate
• "Life Is Beautiful" - Sixx:A.M.
• "Tarantula" - Smashing Pumpkins
• "Sweet Sacrifice" - Evanescence
• "Cry Over Me" - Meat Loaf
• "February Song" - Josh Groban2006
• 
  
• "Ghost Flowers" - Otep
• "Different Than You" - The Exies
• "Oh! Gravity." - Switchfoot
• "Crazy Bitch" (2nd version) - Buckcherry
• "Next 2 You" - Buckcherry
• "Wanna Love U Girl (Remix Feat. Busta Rhymes & Pharrell)" - Robin Thicke
• "Let Love In" - Goo Goo Dolls
• "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" - Meat Loaf
• "Original Fire" - Audioslave
• "Outrageous" - Paul Simon
• "30/30-150" - Stone Sour
• "Stay with You" - Goo Goo Dolls
• "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" - Evans Blue
• "Promise (You and Me)" - Reamonn
• "Marching Bands of Manhattan" - Death Cab for Cutie2005
• 
  
• "King Without a Crown" - Matisyahu
• "Something Inside of Me" - Wicked Wisdom
• "Ugly" - Sevendust
• "Where Do You Draw the Line?" - From Autumn to Ashes
• "Brother" - Dark New Day
• "I'm the One" - Static X
• "Same Old Situation" - Mötley Crüe
• "Sick Love Song" - Mötley Crüe
• "I Walked With a Zombie" - Wednesday 13
• "Walking Shade" - Billy Corgan2004
• 
  
• "If I Die Tomorrow" - Mötley Crüe
• "Lilacs and Lolita" - From Autumn to Ashes
• "Warhead" - Otep
• "Buried Alive" - Otep
• "Shut the Fuck Up" - Brides of Destruction
• "Lost Without Each Other" - Hanson2003
• 
  
• "The Only" - Static X
• "Remember" - Presence
• "Brick By Brick" - Grade 8
• "Transdermal Celebration" - Ween
• "I Could Care Less" - DevilDriver2002
• 
  
• "Milligram Smile" - From Autumn to Ashes
• "Build Your Cages" - Pulse Ultra
• "Dead in Hollywood" - Murderdolls
• "Anger Rising" - Jerry Cantrell
• "My Last Serenade" - Killswitch Engage

SB - Relationship of Artists to Genre

Miss May I

Metalcore is a very formulaic genre with many bands falling under the same sound. This is very typical of bands who fall under the Rise Records label, they're often ridiculed and parodied because of the similar musical style and influences and the majority of them sound very 'cut and paste' examples of bands like this are Attack Attack!, Miss May I and Make me Famous. These bands stick to the formulaic conventions of the genre heavily and don't really try to differ from the conventions, and follow all the rules, such as incorporating multiple breakdowns, dischords, clean vocal passages and dowtuned riffs.

The Devil Wears Prada

However there are bands who challenge the rules and can still be classed as a metalcore band. Examples of this are The Devil Wears Prada, letlive (to a certain extent) and Underoath. These bands are seen as changing the genre and often disregarding some of the common conventions. The Devil Wears Prada are famous for starting off like a typical Rise Records band. (regarded as the first band to start that trend off) They quickly left Rise Records and joined Ferret who are a more hardcore orientated label and started to incorporate more of the hardcore elements in their music. Gradually over time the band has got heavier and heavier while other bands (normally on Rise Records) have got less heavy and started to become what TDWP started out being. letlive. are a band that have incorporated many genres into their music they can be labelled as hardcore or metalcore but really they oppose genre and don't want to be caught under the same net as typical metalcore bands.

CO - Role of Audience Feedback

As we near the end of our production stage of our music video, we can safely say as a collective that audience feedback has been an extremely important and significant part of the creation of the video. Without it, we would not know what to expect from a wide demographic or a second target audience, let alone a first one, and each session of feedback has helped us strengthen both our performance and our narrative as we worked on it. The audience feedback ranged from smaller points such as "This person could be wearing this instead of this to create a better mis-en-scene" etc. to much larger points such as "I recommend you film in an entirely different location", both of which we took into account and used to help better our production. Similarly to that we also took into account more technical aspects, such as improvements that could be made using Final Cut Express, and also utilizing parts from its large palette of effects to incorporate the use of new media technologies into our music video.

CO - Using Final Cut Express

As a way of incorporating the use of new media technologies, classes this year and the year beforehand have heavily advocated the use of Final Cut Express, a variant of Apple's hugely successful Final Cut Pro. This rather fantastic utility allows users to import footage in a variety of formats including .xml, .mov, .mp4 and many more and use a whole host of different tools, appliances and devices to edit whatever you want. We all thought that the use of Final Cut Express helped us extensively throughout the video's creation, and still is. It was of course a huge step up to being restricted to iMovie '08, which was the program that a majority of us used last year for our film openings, as we got to use so many more features; notable examples on our video include (or will include when we're done with it) various "hot colour" tints such as deep red and sepia, glows, fades, possible dazzles, the earthquake effect (which obviously shakes a chosen focal point to simulate a tremor) and a lot of fade in/fade out/cross dissolve transitions. However, the main effect that we used in FCE was the use of the bezier brightness and contrast slider, where we darkened and lightened shots we needed, which we couldn't do before. To summarise, the use of Final Cut Express has greatly helped Sublime Transcendence achieve all we wanted by using effects and precision within the post-production stages of our video.

CO - Representation of Gender in our Video

To begin with, it would be important to note that our video roughly features the gender-based conventions of most metalcore/metal, as the most predominant feature is the fully male lineup of Sunburnt In December. Most bands of the genre have this gendered approach, such as August Burns Red, The Devil Wears Prada, The Acacia Strain, Periphery and more, just off the top of my head. Going against this convention however, are bands such as Kittie, Arch Enemy, Aliases, Eyes Set to Kill, iwrestledabearonce! and more all feature female

Leah from ALIASES, a prog-
ressive metalcore band, a subgenre near
our own one, defying the convention
of all metalcore bands having all-male members.

vocalists or members. We realised that we had the all-male set that the target audience for our genre would recognise, yet within our actual video's narrative, we tried to break away from convention a little bit, because of the reason that it is often a final girl/scream queen that is obviously chased by an unseen being, inhuman or other, and all of us in Sublime Transcendence agreed it was a good idea to have an all-male cast, not just for practicalities, but so we could link it well to the performance whilst forming a binary opposite to the more conventional female leads.

All - Feedback For Latest Rough Cut

Today we got the following feedback:
Cross dissolve from the shot of the band members walking into the distance to the shot leading to the band.
In the lead to the band being shown include more diegetic sound
Or remove the first section (the narrative introduction) and have the shot leading up to the band as the first shot
The narrative aspects need to be earlier
Need to think more carefully on the transitions used and how long
Change the line "Guys just going for a piss"
Animate shots therefore allowing for zooming in shots, especially for the vocalist
Smooth down the audio instead of dropping it harshly when there are lines in the narrative
Cut back to the performance aspect and cut the shot where two band members fall.

CO - Using Final Cut Express

As a way of incorporating the use of new media technologies, classes this year and the year beforehand have heavily advocated the use of Final Cut Express, a variant of Apple's hugely successful Final Cut Pro. This rather fantastic utility allows users to import footage in a variety of formats including .xml, .mov, .mp4 and many more and use a whole host of different tools, appliances and devices to edit whatever you want. We all thought that the use of Final Cut Express helped us extensively throughout the video's creation, and still is. It was of course a huge step up to being restricted to iMovie '08, which was the program that a majority of us used last year for our film openings, as we got to use so many more features; notable examples on our video include (or will include when we're done with it) various "hot colour" tints such as deep red and sepia, glows, fades, possible dazzles, the earthquake effect (which obviously shakes a chosen focal point to simulate a tremor) and a lot of fade in/fade out/cross dissolve transitions. However, the main effect that we used in FCE was the use of the bezier brightness and contrast slider, where we darkened and lightened shots we needed, which we couldn't do before. To summarise, the use of Final Cut Express has greatly helped Sublime Transcendence achieve all we wanted by using effects and precision within the post-production stages of our video.

All - Final Digipak Designs

Here are the main panels that we are using for our digipak, all have gone numerous feedback-induced changes along the way. We plan to use some images of the landscape for possible additional panels too.

Front panel.

Lyrics.

Credits.

Back panel.

ALL - More feedback

We have edited another sample scene and got feedback on it from the class,

• Remove all swearing
• Get rid of shots done on the second camera because they contrast way too much with the quality of the main, first one
• Consider reshooting, again, due to the location not being remote enough 
• For the narrative, get rid of most of the dialogue in the introduction and focus on the mid shot of the cigarette being lit
• Keep the shots of torches on the ground 
• Delay the beginning of the song and the band playing and continue with the diegetic intro and the narrative

ALL - Performance footage update

Yesterday, Sublime Transcendence and the other members of Sunburnt In December met to film the performance of our Like A Match To An Arsonist video. Unfortunately Jem wasn't there as he had 'work' so we drafted in our friend James Newton to play bass. Before they arrived, we all started making the props; these includes making the fake blood (cunningly fashioned by mixing hot golden syrup, water and red food colouring) and intestines created from jelly, tissue paper, and the freshly-made fake blood.

The rest of SBID then arrived and we set up the drums and guitars in the same location as our last shoot; the snow covered much of the surrounding area (as it tends to do) which masked the road behind us and also some of the houses, giving our location a much nicer look and a more remote one. We recorded a whole lot of coverage, over an hour of performance, much more than we shot last time, which was about half of that, maybe even less, and we made sure we used a lot of more camera angles and techniques due to the use of two cameras rather than one. We had decided to film, effectivly, every shot with the two cameras therefore leaving us two different angles per one play through.

The band also played with playback this time. Therefore there is less chance of the band being out of time unlike before. 

We are importing the footage today however it will take longer as we have more footage than previously as well as having to import the footage from two cameras. However we aim to start editing the footage as soon as possible. 

One problem we have noticed while looking through the footage is the possible continuity error of the snow, we filmed in the snow and now the snow is melting away.  This could cause a problem when we film our narrative as there is less snow. We could mention this in the video with some dialogue, but it's going to be very hard to slip into the conversation.

ALL - Feedback from first performance cut

During editing for a full sample video we have discovered a numerous amount of errors. 






Last time filming the decision was taken that, when close-ups are were being shot the only person in his position is the person being filmed. This means that shots which are good and are suitable for the videos can't be used because the shot reveals that he his playing by himself since there aren't any band members around him. Too add this this cars and houses are also in the background of some shots.






Another issue was that we didn't gain enough covered of the band as a whole. This has lead to use using two shots, one from behind some bushes and the other being in front of the band, for the majority of the time when the band is being shown as a whole. As well as this the band didn't play with playback therefore in stages they are out of time either by playing the song too quick or too slow.






To solve these issues when we next film, which is planned to be this Sunday, all band members will have playback. We will also try to use two cameras in two different positions to obtain more footage in the same time frame. We are also planning to film the diegetic intro and some narrative aspects depending on timing. The latter two will be filmed at night

ALL - Storyboard

Here is our storyboard for Sunburnt In December's "Like A Match To An Arsonist". Sunburnt In December "Like A Match To An Arsonist" Storyboard

SB - Miss May I - Masses of a Dying Breed Deconstruction

Band: Miss May I

Song Title: Masses of a Dying Breed

Year: 2011

Genre: Metalcore

Director: Bradley R. Golowin & Kevin Prose Cross

Target Audience: 15-24

Using Goodman's theory this video would fit into all categories as there is a narrative however it is un related to the lyrics, as well as some performance footage. The video has very fast takes this links in with the genre of the song, (metalcore). When we film our video we need to take this into account and film a large ammount of shots so we can edit between them easily.

The shot variation and the framing in the video is very good. In the video there are a large amount of clsoe ups on individual band members and their instruments, in these shots the camera is usually moving wether it being in a handheld fashion or tracking. The handheld movement makes the band member playing their instrument look more dynamic when they move and signifies that this genre of music is usually associated with action and movement. There is also good use of long shots and extreme long shots of the performance and the narrative. Most of these also include some form of movement such as tracking. In one shot the camera is low to the groiund tracking the band members across the forest, this shot would be very useful to replicate because it's also featured in other videos of the same genre and looked very effective at showing all the band members without it being a boring stationary shot, it also looks as if something is prowling along the floor this could link in with our idea of a monster chasing the band members.

The narrative in the video is set in the american civil war, and the video depicts a bloody battle between two groups of armed men. The video is very bloody and gritty, this is reflected in the shooting and editing of the video. The handheld movement in the performance footage simulates a documentary like approach to filming his makes the situation seem realistic. The handheld movement also adds to the action of the scene making the video very movement orientated which fits into the genre.

SB - Target Audience

Fans at a Your Demise gig

Metalcore fans tend to be teenagers (15-24) of both genders, however the genre is very male orientated but it seems that females are more vocal about their opinions on metalcore bands as well as other topics associated with metalcore. The target audience tends to be 15- 24 this is evident through websites associated with the genre like Facebook groups, twitter, forums such as Kerrang!

Metalcore is more of a masculine genre than others possibly due to the heavy nature of the music. Live performances usually cater to a male audience because of things such as 'mosh pits' 'headbanging' and 'hardcore dancing' these are very active quite violent actions which appeal to more active male fans.

The genre is frowned upon by older generations due to it being a micro genre and the repetitiveness of the genre. Another reason could be the fact that metalcore is heavily influenced by old thrash metal bands such as Sepultura, Napalm Death and Metallica.

Iwrestledabearonce

The majority of bands have all male members which also reinforces that the genre is a very male orientated genre. However there are bands such as Iwrestledabearonce and arch enemy are two examples of metalcore bands including female members.

CO - More Magazine Ad Feedback...

Today Sublime Transcendence got feedback from our teacher and our classmates on our advert for the magazine. On the whole the idea was well received, but the main point is that there is apparently now too much text on the page, which was a result of trying to get all the necessary information on. Obviously this meant that the background needs to be more dominant as well, and perhaps less simplistic than just the tree design we had been going with previously. I will redesign the poster shortly with all these points taken into account, and using probably a different background picture, hopefully featuring the band.

CO - Magazine Advert - Edition Three

This is my latest attempt at creating the magazine advert, after getting the general idea of what it should look like eventually, and I took all the feedback from my previous efforts into account when designing this one; there is a more dominant and striking background this time, and I also included less (or noticeably less) text but the vital information is still present, and I included stills from the video as well. Click this link to see the maximised image.

SB - Movement In Metalcore Music Videos

Movement is a key aspect of metalcore videos, it visually show the velocity of the music on screen. It also shows the impact of the music on screen and the heavy, deafening sounds shaking the camera. I've been looking at examples of music videos which use movement well and looking at how we can replicate this.



Napalm Death - When all is Said and Done from Wake Up Now Festival on Vimeo.

Napalm Death use handheld movements typically the camera swaying from side to side or up and down this could also connote headbanging, moshing and hardcore dancing. a lot of the shots however do not show movement. This is a nice way to cut away from all of the excitement of the close ups. During close ups or individual shots of the band movement is shown, however when we see the whole band there's only a tiny bit of movement or none at all.

RM - Narrative Aspect

The start of the music video will feature a diegetic introduction with the band packing up, just after a gig. During this there will be band members discussing the next location and the possibility of a recurring occurrence for the band's future music videos. The music video will also feature Mitch who couldn't be at the latest film shoot, on 21st January 2012, however he would either be the driver whom drives them to their next location or still in the band depending on whether we need to record the performance footage again. This sequence would be around 30 to 60 seconds, with the latter being the maximum possible length.


After this sequence the next aspect would feature the vehicle broken down on the moors. Each band member would be performing a certain task, adventuring into the wilderness or messing around on certain instruments. Conor would be in the back of the car playing on his drums or tapping on his legs to a rhythm whilst listening to a song on his ipod. This song would be a happier song, a binary opposite to what is happening outside. Jem would be trying to fix the motor, whilst Sam, Elliot and Mitch would explore the surrounding area all splitting up in the process. Whilst each band member is spread out each one gets picked off one by one. The creature that picks off each band member will remain a narrative enigma throughout the video, although parts of the being will be shown onscreen e.g. the monsters claw, pictured to the right. This would be interlinked with the performance footage. This aspect of the music video would feature throughout the video and also form the ending with Conor being pulled out of the car.

ALL - Performance footage shot

Yesterday, all of Sublime Transcendence and all of Sunburnt In December (excluding our guitarist Mitch, who couldn't make it to the shoot) went up to the disclosed location, a forest-y area within our town and shot the performance footage for our video. We used stationary and moving shots, tried to implement some shot variation and also varied the camera angles a bit. We'll upload it to our designated Mac tomorrow and begin editing it; we also shot some of it in time with the song, such as the close up guitar parts but most of the song we mimed live, so use of slowing down/speeding up some parts will be necessary. We have yet to shoot the narrative, but once that's done, we'll upload that to the timeline and begin editing it between the performance!

The loss of a member being able to film was at first an inconvenience, but we can hopefully continue on with the remaining four of us; a certain member being available wasn't absolutely integral to the pitch and everything should go to plan as it would've done if Mitch could've helped Sublime Transcendence out anyway. Concerning the band's appearance in the digipak, we are shooting photos within the week which were scheduled to be done even before Mitch announced he couldn't make it so we'll get on without him.

CO - More digipak updates - FRONT

Similar to the feedback for the magazine article in the post before, I have taken the criticisms and points made by both our media teacher and also various other groups in the class. Many of the comments were design orientated, such as fonts needing to be changed, colour schemes and more. Here are the latest edition of the front of the digipak.

CO - Magazine Ads: Second Edition

Over the last few days, I have been working on editing the magazine article after the initial feedback. That feedback generally went along the lines of;

• More features and aspects - the magazine advert needed additional information on it such as tour dates of the featured band.
• Tickets details, such as where you can buy them from
• Merch details, same as ticket aspects; where you can buy it.
• More variation in the font and general style of the advert.

I have taken this feedback into account and I have edited the design, subtly, but in such a way that you can see the changes. Click here to see the maximised image.  

SB - Uploading and editing our test footage

We have just uploaded our test footage and we're now starting to dabble in editing and have found some problems and what we need to rectify such as the band playing too fast or slow, things in the background like coats and bags as well as the occasional passer by. We've also found some gems of shots and framing behind bushes and behind trees.

CO/RM - Final location scouting

After school today, Richard and I visited the area we're shooting at on Saturday. We took some pictures to give potential feedback providers.

CO - Magazine Ad Finalised

This weekend I started work on the magazine article which is required for the course, accompanying the digipak. I used one of the blogs from last year, Beth Cooper's, and also a magazine ad I found in popular underground metal music magazine, Metal Hammer. For applications, I used PhotoShop primarily, and also the iPhone app Instagram, to edit one of the CD's on the front cover. I included information such as the band's releases, contact info and social networking options, how it is available for download and more. Below are some screenshots from when I was working on the magazine advert.

Creating the layers...

...and editing the images.

The filesize of the final image is 15.3MB which is extremely large for a .jpg file, so the picture on this  blog is not as big as possible. Click here to see the image maximised.

CO - Feedback on digpak designs so far

Our teacher and some of our classmates have given Sublime Transcendence some feedback regarding the initial digipak ideas, and while everyone agreed that the general stellar/cosmic/celestial idea was a nice touch and a nice theme to go with. However, a few disagreed with the stag's head design on the front, arguing that because the skull was a Flash drawing, it looked too cartoonish and novelty to be considered normal for the genre. Here is another similar design but with a different take on the skull; I took a photo of a dog's skull and doctored and edited it to sit the theme of the cover.