Monday, 17 January 2011
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
Research and Planning: Artist: Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro are a Scottish alternative rock group formed in the mid-nineties in Ayrshire, Scotland. The band is made up of singer and guitarist Simon Neil and twins James and Ben Johnson on Bass and Drums respectively. They spent the late-nineties and early 2000s in relative obscurity and built a cult fanbase. Their fourth album 'Puzzle', released in 2007, served to be their breakthrough and exposed them to a much wider audience. Their popularity has increased since then and their fifth album has placed them as one of the biggest British rock bands, even gaining them a top ten single with 'Many of Horror'.
As befits an alternative rock band, their style has been reasonably varied over their career. Their early albums consisted of post-hardcore and art-rock. From 'Puzzle' onwards their music has maintained the fundamental stylings of their earlier work, but it has been polished up and their albums contain some softer songs.
As befits an alternative rock band, their style has been reasonably varied over their career. Their early albums consisted of post-hardcore and art-rock. From 'Puzzle' onwards their music has maintained the fundamental stylings of their earlier work, but it has been polished up and their albums contain some softer songs.
Monday, 8 November 2010
Research and Planning: Genre: Alternative Rock
Popular Alternative Rock bands:
• Nirvana
• Pixies
• Muse
• Queens Of The Stone Age
• Weezer
• At The Drive In
• Foo Fighters
• Audioslave
• Manic Street Preachers
Alternative Rock is an umbrella term used to describe majority of the post-punk guitar bands since the 1980s. Although by definition it is fundamentally anti-mainstream, in the early 90s bands such as Nirvana topped the charts worldwide and since then alternative rock has been assimilated by the mainstream. Alternative rock can be vaguely categorised in two ways – either experimental acts with limited commercial appeal, or simply rock bands deemed to ‘edgy’ to be considered pop. Of course this is not an effective way of categorising as bands such as The Cure and fit have inhabited both categories over the course of their careers.
Although difficult to specify due to the breadth of the genre, general characteristics of alternative rock acts include:
• Dark colours; both clothing and album art etc.
• Lyrics more often covering social, political, or psychological topics.
An alternative rock music video might contain:
• Performance shots
• Heavy use of symbolism.
• Less reliance on special effects; due in part to lack of mainstream-level funding, and also to keep the audience’s attention on the song.
Alternative rock digipacks:
• Are less likely to make use of images of the band on the cover, instead often making use of artwork whether made by he band themselves (in the case of more DIY bands such as Los Campesinos! or Johnny Foreigner), or sometimes by famous designers (such as Storm Thorgeson who has made album art for bands such as Muse, Biffy Clyro, Audioslave, and Pink Floyd)
• Unlike pop artists, alternative rock bands will often be relying on a fanbase instead of attracting casual listeners and so will rely less on the attention grabbing tactics of a pop album cover.
• Nirvana
• Pixies
• Muse
• Queens Of The Stone Age
• Weezer
• At The Drive In
• Foo Fighters
• Audioslave
• Manic Street Preachers
Alternative Rock is an umbrella term used to describe majority of the post-punk guitar bands since the 1980s. Although by definition it is fundamentally anti-mainstream, in the early 90s bands such as Nirvana topped the charts worldwide and since then alternative rock has been assimilated by the mainstream. Alternative rock can be vaguely categorised in two ways – either experimental acts with limited commercial appeal, or simply rock bands deemed to ‘edgy’ to be considered pop. Of course this is not an effective way of categorising as bands such as The Cure and fit have inhabited both categories over the course of their careers.
Although difficult to specify due to the breadth of the genre, general characteristics of alternative rock acts include:
• Dark colours; both clothing and album art etc.
• Lyrics more often covering social, political, or psychological topics.
An alternative rock music video might contain:
• Performance shots
• Heavy use of symbolism.
• Less reliance on special effects; due in part to lack of mainstream-level funding, and also to keep the audience’s attention on the song.
Alternative rock digipacks:
• Are less likely to make use of images of the band on the cover, instead often making use of artwork whether made by he band themselves (in the case of more DIY bands such as Los Campesinos! or Johnny Foreigner), or sometimes by famous designers (such as Storm Thorgeson who has made album art for bands such as Muse, Biffy Clyro, Audioslave, and Pink Floyd)
• Unlike pop artists, alternative rock bands will often be relying on a fanbase instead of attracting casual listeners and so will rely less on the attention grabbing tactics of a pop album cover.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Planning: Song Decision
After much thought I decided to use the track 'Machines' by Biffy Clyro for my music video. This song belongs to the genre of Alternative Rock. I decided to use it as the genre, and especially the band, makes use of rich imagery which would work really well in a music video, and bring up some interesting ideas for a digi-pack.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Planning: Email to Record Company (14th Floor Records)
Dear Sir or Madam
For our ‘A’ Level Media Studies coursework we have to make a music video to accompany a song. For our project we would like to use 'Machines' by Biffy Clyro and are seeking your permission.
The resulting music video will not be used for commercial gain, will be hosted on a private coursework blog and also rendered on to DVD for the attention of our teacher and the coursework moderator. Should we not hear from you to the contrary within 14 days of the date of this email we will assume that your are happy for us to use this music under a fair use arrangement.
Should you require any further information please contact our teacher, Mr Scargill on scargill@guilsborough.northants.sch.uk
Yours faithfully, Sonny Drake
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