Band Photoshoot

Today I am photoshooting the band for images for their website and Digipak. 

I am performing the shoot in a local woods, taking conventions from existing rock band album covers such as Black Stone Cherry; Folklore And Superstition.

This band do however take themselves quite serious, which Black Syndicate do not. So the overall feel of the Photoshoot/digipack cover will not be as serious.





Although they are a pop band, Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies are a parody/cover band from America. Their whole characteristics and personality is similar of that of Black Syndicate;



The overall style of my work will be a combination of the styles of the two bands; Black Stone Cherry and Me First And The Gimmie Gimmies

When looking up digipak case I discovered a number of templates that you can download and use for your own personal use. The standard Digipak case has two sleeves to it, one to store the booklet, the other sleeve for the CD itself. However when researching templates I was unable to find a template with two sleeves, so will adapt a template with a single sleeve to be correct for two sleeves.

http://www.oasiscd.com/graphics/templates-digipak.asp

Style of work

In terms of the style behind the Digipak and Website they said they wanted a particular style, a style like the band Black Stone Cherry; http://www.blackstonecherry.com/

The style of their website is very dark but simple and easy to navigate and follow around the site. I will keep the navigation and appearance of the site very simple too. However they did express that they wanted it to be a little more interactive, so will have links to videos rather than just a play button for the songs. On the home page there will be the more recently videos/songs, latest news and contact details.

The CD will be inspired by that of Black Stone Cherry's Folklore And Superstition album, based in a wood, with no form of special effects or anything. The font will be basic and not 'perfect' looking. I am looking at getting the member of the band to write it in their own hand writing to make it more personal to the band. The back would have the track list written on it, so would get the band members to write that too.

I will keep the template of the digipak simple and traditional. If you look at exciting digipaks from heavy metal/rock bands, their CD cases aren't overly complicated, but stay traditional.

Intertextuality

My plot and style for my music video has heavy influences from a range of sources, from bands to films. I have researched and explained these influences and intertexual references in the Prezi below.

Dead Man Blues Ideas

They said they'd love to do a Zombie Apocalypse video for their song Dead Man Blues.

This is the live recording of them performing the song at a Local pub;


The band also provided me with the lyrics to the song Dead Man Blues;

Main Riff (x4)

Verse (x4)

Woke up this morning,                      

Feeling dead inside,              

Society was swarmed,

By the infected tide.

The world’s overrun,      

And all hope is gone,

Devastation surrounds us,

But It’s time to move on.

Pre-Chorus (x2)

You only live once,

Or so I’ve been told,

It’s time you found out,

That the truth can be so cold.

Nowhere to run,

Nowhere to hide,

Hope of salvation,

has been cast aside.

Chorus (x2)

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

until the well runs dry,

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

Until it’s my time to die.

Main Riff (x2)

Verse (x4)

The dead own this land,

Now the rivers run red,

I’m being forced down,

the road that lays ahead.

I've fled from my home,

Into this land of despair,

If there’s someone above,

They Ignored all my prayers.

Pre chorus (x2)

I’m all alone,

And now I’m the freak,

Not a trace of hope,

And the future looks bleak.

The promise of refuge,

Is slowly wearing thin,

Our days are numbered,

God Cleanse our Sins.

Chorus (x2)

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

until the well runs dry,

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

Until it’s my time to die.

Main Riff (x2)

Bridge (x2)

Solo (Chorus x5?)

Verse (x2)

Death tightens its grip,

for one last attack,

This is my final hour,

and light fades to black.

If only we’d seen,

If only we had known,

that we were all destined,

to perish alone.

Pre-chorus (x2)

You only live once,

now the end has come,

My strength has been drained,

now my senses feel numb.

I’ve fought for my life,

Now blood stains my clothes,

It seems that This world,

Is coming to a close.

Chorus (x2)

I sing the dead man blues,

Because the well has run dry,

I sing the dead man blues,

Because I know it’s my time to die.

Main Riff (x4)

It’s my time to die

In terms of making a video about Zombie Apocalypse. It appreciate it will be difficult to make, and really push my skills and planning/time organisation, but that isn't a bad thing. I have been watching music videos for ideas and assistance in understanding how they are filmed, and remember the Biffy Cylro song Black Chandelier
Biffly Clyro Black Chandelier vimeo from NTSH London on Vimeo.

I have done some more research into a other music videos including zombies. I came across this website with a list of ten zombie music videos, ranking them to the best zombie videos;
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2012/10/walking_dead_zombie_music_videos.php

Number two on the list is Blondie- Mother; Blondie - "Mother" from Brian Zwiener on Vimeo.
.
I feel watching this it would be easy to make, but I really dont like the video. I feel it looks very basic and unprofessional. I feel the main issue is that due to the style of music, it isn't a very fast paced. When you compare this video to Biffy Clryos, the pace is very different, and I feel it works better when its faster. When it is slower like Blondies, the audience notice the poor acting and poor make up. Whereas when its faster pace you don't notice it as much. However, this video is good interms of the balance I want between the band and the zombies.

Number 5 was Peaches ft Iggy Pop- Kick It. PEACHES feat IGGY POP "KICK IT" from DAWN SHADFORTH on Vimeo.

I again feel like this one looks very basic and unprofessional. However the shots are faster in the majority of the video, meaning that it isn't as obvious that it was in Blondies video. It looks more like a parody video. But also, the video has no band clips in it, which I want in my video.

This unnoffical video for Jonathan Coulton is number 7 on the list; Jonathan Coulton - RE: Your Brains Music Video from Kirk Carson on Vimeo.
This video is definitely a parody. and not really want I want to do, but it does demonstrate how I could film the final band scene where the members have become zombies.

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!)'

Changes To Idea

I have considered my idea of using Powder paint for quite a while now, and after listening to more of Black Syndicates music, I have come to the conclusion that using powder paint wouldn't fit the style of their music. As much as I love music videos in the rain, it isn't practical as neither me or any of the band members have enough money to buy fake instruments to prevent damage.

The band have said that the main inspiration for their music is 'Pantera', so I watched some videos of theirs to help me generate ideas. Following a conversation with one band member, where he expressed how much he enjoys one of their videos particularity; Mouth Of  War
Pantera-Mouth For War from cagdas on Vimeo.

He said it is the bands favourite music video because of the way it looks. This is a style of music video I would like to create, one focusing on the cinematography and aesthetics of the video. This video is visually incredible and makes for a memorable music video. This is something I would love to achieve, watching this video gives me so many ideas for what I would like to achieve in my own work.

Many other bands produce music videos in a similar way,