Classification

From October 2014 the new implication of age restrictions on music videos will be set in place and begin. In August David Cameron announced plans to add age restrictions music videos "to help parents protect their children from some of the graphic content in online music videos". However there is some conflicted views as to whether this idea will work or not. Ella On The Run is one artist who has two views to the issue, she explains that the understands why they want to put age restrictions on music videos, as there are many over sexual and violent images that children of particular ages shouldn't see. However she also has concerns that if a restriction is put in place then certain artists will make videos much more sexualised and explicit and just put a higher age rating on it, just because they can. 

The artist FKA Twigs said 'I think that the answer to protecting younger viewers is not to ban things, it's to show an alternative.' He does present a fair argument that we no longer live in Victorian Britain, should we still be having children grow up with an elephant in the room, with anything sexual or graphic hidden behind close doors. Some people argue that it's worse to act like sex and violence is something bad and something we shouldn't discuss, as it then becomes something young people aim to try or see purely because its restricted. 

There is another side to the argument as the majority of record labels are already part of the BPI's parental advisory scheme, so is there any need for the a age restriction on videos. 

They seem to be focusing more on graphic violent content rather than content of a sexual nature to start with; “If it contains racist, or homophobic, or other types of discriminatory content it will now for the first time have to be classified. If it contains suicide or self harm, it will for the first time have to be classified. So the music industry is doing is looking at that level, and linking that to when they will submit content to us."

There is already filter in terms of the Parental Advisory Explicit Content label, however it this isn't a enforces filter, just a suggestion that the parents listen to the music before the child, to ensure it is suitable in the parents eyes. A child of any age can still buy it without an adult present though.


Following a sruvey in 2013 of 10,000 people about the classification laws there was one issue that arose strongly; 'A specific issue highlighted by the consultation is in relation to sexual content, where the public is particularly concerned about the sexualisation of girls, and pornography.  The content of music videos and the ease of accessibility of online porn are special worries.' hence this has become something the BBFC want to tackle. 

Its videos such as Nicki Minaj- Anaconda:  Nicki Minaj - "Anaconda" from > on Vimeo.
(http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2014/10/nicki-minaj-doesnt-get-all-the-talk-about-her-racy-anaconda-video/) That create such complaints. 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/29423817
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/10584304/Age-ratings-for-music-videos-Kids-this-Miley-Cyrus-music-video-isnt-for-you.-The-British-Board-of-Film-Classification-says-so.html
http://parental-advisory.co.uk/advice-for-parents/why-are-certain-songs-or-videos-labelled-explicit/
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-bbfc/media-centre/bbfc-launch-new-classification-guidelines
http://www.factmag.com/2014/01/13/british-board-of-film-classification-working-on-age-rating-for-music-videos/

Zombie Make up

A major thing I need to think about is my make up for the zombies in the video and what look I want them to have; conventional, unconventional, comic like etc.

After looking into a few different styles of make up for a zombie, I think I want to keep it away from the conventional zombie, with the green face and things like that and still for a more contempary style of make up like that of the character from warm bodies shown above on the left. A white pale face with dark eyes. In terms of costume for the character, I considered all the actors wearing the same thing, like all black or something similar. Like the actors in the video for Black Chandelier and also considered the actors in their own clothes, just a bit scuffed up and dirty, which I feel would work better. If there was a zombie apocalypse, it would make sense that the zombies are just in there own clothes from where they were bitten. So for continuity wise so work with the narrative of the video, their own clothes would make more sense.

Horror Film Conventions

I have previously mention that I would like the music video to have that 'trashy', conventional horror film feel too it, with all the key buzz lines that are used in all horror films, to help set the scene of the parody, none serious feel to my video.Below is a Slideshare I found explaining that the codes and conventions of horror films.

Horror Genre Conventions from CallumCarmichael

You can see the conventional location for horror films are quiet, excluded abandoned areas of isolation, where no one would hear the characters scream. I do intend to film my music video in a very quiet excluded place as previously stated.

In terms of the low and high camera angles I intend to use them, but mainly mixed in with he POT t camera angles. I will use these shots when giving the feel of seeing the band from the audiences eyes looking at the zombies and visa verse, particularly when the zombies a killing two of the band members. I will not be using the high and low angle shots in the penultimate scene, when the last band member is hiding up high, as the zombies will be looking up at the member, making them look like the weaker characters, however they will be the more powerful characters as they ultimately win, and kill the whole band.

The lighting will represent the whole feel of the location and theme to the music video, it will be low lit and have a dystopian feel to it. If I do decide to film in the pub they normally play in, there are stage lights that we might have access to to help create the right lighting.

There wont really be any conventional props, as the weapons will be the bands musical instruments and like most zombies, they wont have any weapons themselves.

The opening to the film 'Scream' has all the sterotypical conventions of a horror film in terms of everything I previous discussed but also convention lines and buzz dialogue.

Although the narrative of the film is very different to that of what my music video will be, you can see the clear conventions in this opening scheme.



The scene is set very clearly, a teenage girl home alone, a weird guy stalking her and shots like the gas cooker lighting to create tension with the audience, and creates a risky environment, leaving the audience ready for the character to die or get injured. There is a lot of silence in the opening scene, and when there is music, it is tension building string instruments which again builds that tension. After the door bell rings and the character shouts who is there, the stalker on the phone even says, 'you should never say whose there, dont you watch scary movies, its a death wish.  you might as well come out here to investigate a strange noise or something', they are drawing attention to the conventions of horror films. Conventions my film will follow. The memeber of the band does go out to investigate what the noise is, and ask, whose there? so meeting those conventions in such an obvious way it makes it parody-like.

Catch up with Band

I have recently been considering the style of video I want for my music video, and whether I want it to be serious or more of a glam rock parody. I felt like it was important to ask the band what they wanted, but knowing their personalities I knew what they would say.

I was correct in my thinking that they would want more of a parody, glam rock styled video. Videos from artists such as Alice Cooper, Steel Panther, Slade, Queen, and The Darkness etc. All the members of the band are often very silly, and mess around all the time. In terms of directing, if I decided to make my work a parody it makes easy in some ways to direct as they will need to be silly to some extent.

Questionnaire answers

After receiving answers from my questionnaire, I created an Emaze presentation to deconstruct and analysis' the answers I got.

Website Style

The look of the website is also very important. It needs to work and conform with the style of the music video and of the CD cover. To make me website i will be using Wix. I have got screenshots of a couple of website layouts that I could use for my website. The look to the website will in most cases be completely different but I have put them in as examples of what I could do in terms of layout.

The website to left is very simple but allows me to change is a lot. The theme is nice, however has more of a film style to it, rather than music.

This website has the potential to be very eye catching, obviously all the pictures and text be would be changed. It has a simple lay out, that can easily be made more personal and effect for the style of band I am working with.

This website like the previous is very simple but that isn't always a bad thing. One plus both these websites have is that the home page allows me to fill it with an image of the band for the audience to see as soon as they open the page.

This page is again similar to the previous two, however it is set to have more information shown on the front page. However it does also have a classy, higher class more prestigious look to the work, something I don't necessarily think it appropriate for the band I am working with.

This is the best style of page I feel. It gives me the ability to make the whole homepage a picture of the band, meeting a convention of many band websites from many genres, but unlike the previous pages, you can scroll up and down on each page, whereas on the previous styles, the page was everything you could see in the image. This style also still has tabs like before. I think this would be the best choice of website, as it looks professional, but most importantly, it means I can put the most important aspects of the website and latest news on the homepage for the audience to find straight away.

To prove that the rights can be edited to look more appropriate for the genre of music I'm working with I put together a quick mock of a website for the band Pantera. I used them as Black Syndicate have said they take a lot of inspiration from Pantera. As you can see the site style still looks effect in a completely different genre. 

The genre of my products

Genre has become very difficult to distinguish between into clear set out genres and groups, as the boundaries between different genres have blurred, hence the emergence of hybrid/sub genres. However you can still work around the sub genres the band falls into(Heavy Rock/Heavy Metal), even the bands itself can't give themselves a clear genre as quoted of their Youtube page, 'Citing influences from all sorts of places (the guitarist being into blues and the drummer into heavy metal!)'

Style of Video

In terms of the aesthetics and look of my music video, there were two ideas I have been thinking about for a while. Filming it in the rain, to give a dramatic, dystopian look to the video. However I was aware the members of the band wouldn't like that idea, as it would damage their equipment. The other idea I had was to use Powder paint. It means that I could get the same shots I would achieve with water but shouldn't damage the instruments. I did feel it was important to look into whether it would damage the instruments at all, but it proved to be very difficult. However I found music videos that use paint, such as the Blue Man Group, as you can see in this video, the use paint on the drums. It isn't however powder paint.




I have also put a post on social networks to see if other people can think of a music video where powder paint it used.

There are places I can buy this powder paint(holi), it isn't too expensive, but I can also make it. I have found a series of very helpful videos on YouTube as to how to make these paints. 

It is very easy to get hold of though if I decide not to make it, I can buy it from places like Ebay and Amazon, in a vary of colours and sizes.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TEMPERA-POWDER-PAINT-X-4-500G-TUBS-BLUE-GREEN-BLACK-RED-/331209258490?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item4d1d9c35fa

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fluorescent-Powder-Paint-Blue-2-5kg-/321476647137?pt=UK_Crafts_DrawingSupplies_EH&hash=item4ad98058e1

Comparitive Research

I put together a Prezi talking through styles of products depending the genre of the band.

I put together a table going into further detail comparing the different bands on different aspects and conventions of music videos and the industry.