This post is to show the progression of the CD cover for the digipak. The front of the CD case cover (which is on the right... confusing right? see what I did there?) is going to be reasonably empty this should create a link to the 'The Pretender' single and the Foo Fighter's 'Echoes, silence, patience and grace' album covers. The back of the cover was inspired from Linkin Park's 'Hybrid Theory album on which the rear cover has the band stood together.
To make the cover look more like a conventional product I used a barcode generator (http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php) and placed it on the lower left on the back of the cover, (although thinking about it it doesn't look like it is in the right place) and added the Foo Fighter's web URL to the lower right of the back cover, and added a copyright notice below the barcode and copyright notice.
The poster follow the same conventions as the CD case does, however the poster looks bare in an earlier plan of the poster there was the same torn paper theme as on the CD case but I felt that this would look too similar to the case, as with the CD case the idea was inspired by the back cover to Linkin Park's 'Hybrid Theory' album.
Also like with the barcode on the CD cover I used http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php to create a QR code, this was used to create (is it synergy?) across multiple forms of media, in this case a poster to read and promote the CD and the QR code to link to the Foo Fighter's web URL for smartphones and the written URL for non-smartphone users.
This is the album cover for Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory album, the album itself was released in the year 2000.
Hybrid Theory Front Cover
The cover front cover has a solider character in the center of the cover this could sybolise a 'bold' and 'confident' look to the band. The compsosition of the cover seems to use the rule of thirds, "[HYBRID THEORY]" is in the bottom right of the cover and take up approximately a third of the cover's width.
A Digipak is a style of Compact Disk (CD) or Digital Video Disk (DVD) packaging, often accomponied by a poster or magizine advert is used to promote a particlar artist, and often uses the artist genre conventions to give more of a 'meaning' to album covers artwork'.
the main conventions of a digipak are:
The artist's name
Album name
Track list
Graphic
Website
Producer
Record Label
Coryrights
Barcode
(Sometimes) Sticker to promote a widely promoted song
The conventions for the genre Alternative Rock which The Pretender falls under are:
Dark (sometimes deep lyrics)
Loud instrument/audio
Screaming (often to get a narrative impact point across)
This character that I have developed is of the guitarist that has been based on the character Maka Albarn from Soul Eater.
This is the initial sketch of the guitarist
This is the digital sketch of the guitarist
This is a variation of the guitarist with the coat open
This is an updated version of the guitarist
This is the basis of the guitarist animation, it shows progression from the original sketch. the picture bottom left shows the arm movement for the animation.
I have been experiencing problems with my home system, I can access Internet Explorer etc, but as I type the URL of a number of websites (including Blogger) I keep getting the same 'This page cannot be displayed message' no matter how many time I refresh or re-type the address (perhaps a talk with our ISP is the next step to take, maybe they can suggest the appropriate action(s) to take"). However I am still able to sign into websites (such as deviantArt and upload work), along with this the USB ports on my computer keep 'malfunctioning' therefore making my External HDD, Printer/Scanner, and any other removable storage media useless, luckaly there is a second computer in the house, ok this computer isn't as powerful as mine but it will do the job, the only problems are that the wireless card ("or prehaps even the router") is unreliable, and my printer/scanner won't work on that computer.
Although we are doing an animation there are still risks that need to be taken into account, such as:
continual or recurring discomfort
aches and pains
throbbing
tingling
numbness
burning sensation
or stiffness
Musculoskeletal problems
Upper limb disorders such as repetitive strain injury (RSI) tenosynovitis and carpal tunnel syndrome - by far the most important as it can quickly lead to permanent incapacity
Back and neck pain and discomfort
Tension stress headaches and related ailments
Eye strain
Visual fatigue
Blurred or double vision
Burning and watering eyes
Headaches and frequent changes in prescription glasses
We (computer users) are advised to take at least an 15 minute break every hour, this is said to reduce problems such as RSI (Repeatitive Strain Injury) and reduce potential Eye strain.
However, most of my work entails drawing a sketch on paper (or in a sketchbook) and scanning it on to my home system, which will then be re-drawn in programs such as Adobe Photoshop, this will reduce the amount of possible 'problems' caused by prolonged computer use.
This still is of a guitarist based of a character from the anime series Soul Eater. This image is the main base image for a 'rocking' motion (see what I did there?), eventually there will be numerous different hair styles along with a movement plan too possibly three showing a before, mid, after.
Still 02
This still is a concept of the female guitarist, only minus the arms, with this still I still need to draw a guitar and the arms.
Last evening (Wednesday) I had set updated my computer updating from Windows XP Service Pack 2, to Service Pack 3, due to this I was unable to scan, udate the blog or use photoshop as I was advided to:
"Close all other programs during the update instalation."
One question that I keep asking myself is, "Why in all the options I had did I pick a animation?"
Well to be honest I'm not sure, I guess the best way to explain why is to simply to say, 'to do something different.' At first I was getting told by peers, etc "animation was the easy way out" but I they were wrong, there is (in my oppinion) far more work to be put into an animation, than an average live action music video, ("reading back over what I typed, that doesn't seem fair, but I'm not sure how to word it")
The official music video for the Foo Fighters' 'The Pretender' is a extremely basic performance based video, what makes the video interesting however is the quick cuts and the seemingly challenging camera shots used.
As I said in the opening, the music video itself is a performance, as there is the tradition band set-up
(Image of band set up here)
however this seems to change from around the second verse as there is a 'riot' control member introduced, and later more members are introduced. This may show and help give meaning to the track title 'The Pretender' as all the 'riot' control members each have a number, where as the band doesn't they are individual, although they remain in the 'alternative rock' stereotype. Throughout the track the lines:
"What if I say I'm not like the others" and "What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays, your the pretender, what if I say that I'll never surrender" this implies a confilct of stereotypes, eg the typical 'rockers' and the numbered riot officers. The band members each have their own persona where as the riot officers only have a number to relate to (figurtively speaking).
The tempo of the music video increases after approximately 00:00:32 (32 seconds in)along with quick cuts and focus points from the drums, followed by a guitar (not sure if solo is right). Later in the music video 00:03:17 to 00:03:27 (to be precise), the tempo gets reduced back to a similar beat to the beginning of the track, accompanied with a slight slow-mo effect and long shots to imply that there is a somewhat large impact point, followed at 00:03:28 by the implied impact point, until the ending or 'out-ro' which has the stereotypical, smashing of instruments on the floor.
Analysis of 'Foo Fighters: Best of You'
The music video for Best of you is a traditional performance piece with a fair amount of cut away, to keep the audience interested. The song it self is a 'softer' take on the 'rock' genre.
The establishing shot of the music video is a close up of the mic. and the vocalist, this suggests a sort of intimacy between the audience and the vocalist (approx. 00:00:00 to 00:00:43) during the opening, the close up shots alternate between close ups and extreme close ups. After this shot there is a small series of seemingly unrelated cutaway (approx. 00:00:44 to 00:00:46) that are used to keep the audience interested just after there is yet another close up, which then on the line 'I needed somewhere to hang my head' there is a impact point and a change to a band performance shot, mixed with close ups and cut away.
Analysis of 'Linkin Park: Breaking the Habit'
Linkin Park 'Breaking the Habbit' is track 9 from the album Meteora the music video for this track is different from the others as it is an AMV (animated music video), and the main insperation for my preposed AMV.
The video to this is a narritive, although I'm not quite sure of the plot. The narrative also appears to be reversed until the last part of the song, which is a rooftop performance but it doesn't seem to explain anything to do with 'why' the lead singer is on the bonnet of a car.
As the track title sugests the plots may be people that have certain habits that need changing, there is one plot in which a female character who is later revealed to be pregnant throws several objects at their partner, who is later revealed to be cheating on the female character perhaps this is the male's 'habit'. There is another character who appears to have a syringe full of a green substance, perhaps this is touching on drug abuse as a 'habit'.
The animation itself is smooth with a varied amount of shot types and angles, as well as cutaway to the seperate plots to keep the viewer interested
Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began The verse above sugests that there is is some sort of secret or plot that has been hidden, as the line "Keep you in the dark" suggests, the line "You know they all pretend" suggests that everyone know about this secret and is 'pretending' not to know anything about it, but then the lyric shanges to "And so it all began" suggesting that there is a narrative (story) and it will get explained, or it may be implying that the 'secret is out' and creating a different narrative
Send in your skeletons Sing as their bones go marching in again They need you buried deep The secrets that you keep are ever ready Are you ready? "Send in your skeletons" may suggest that people may follow what they read or hear over than find out the 'truth' and form an opinion. The line "They need you buried deep" may suggest that the 'truth' needs to be buried, or that someone who wants the truth won't get it. "The secrets that you keep are ever ready" may suggest that everyone's secrets are always ready to be discovered, and the lines "are you ready?" suggest that the truth or the secret is about to be exposed I'm finished making sense Done pleading ignorance That whole defense
Spinning infinity Boy, the wheel is spinning me It's never ending, never ending Same old story
The lines "I'm finished making sense, Done pleading ignorance, Boy the wheel is spinning me, Its never ending, Same old story" may suggest that the narrative is about to change from a 'relaxed' tone to a reasonably 'aggressive' tone with a 'given up' attitude.
What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say that I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say that I'll never surrender?
The repeated chorus may suggest an aggressive taunt to whoever is in 'control' (at this point in the music video, a single riot officer enters the shot as a from of opposition, this could be the 'control').
In time or so I'm told I'm just another soul for sale, oh well The page is out of print, we are not permanent We're temporary, temporary Same old story
The line "I'm just another soul for sale, oh well" maysugest that the vocalist is 'just' another person that will sell out their beleifs, followed with "oh well" may suggest that they don't care. the line "Same old story" is repeated, again this may be used to increase the 'rebelious' tone of the song. What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say that I'll never surrender? What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say I will never surrender?
The repeated chorus may suggest an aggressive taunt to whoever is in 'control' (at this point in the music video, a group of riot officers line up this could be the 'control').
I'm the voice inside your head you refuse to hear I'm the face that you have to face, mirrorin' your stare I'm what's left, I'm what's right, I'm the enemy I'm the hand that'll take you down, bring you to your knees So who are you? Yeah, who are you? Yeah, who are you? Yeah, who are you?
This verse seems to be the 'I'm taking a stand' point in the song. The lyrics "I'm the face that you have to face, mirrorin' your stare" suggest the conflict between society/ form of control and the band, this line may also suggest how the two sides are now of equal power. The lines "I'm what's left, I'm what's right, I'm the enemy" may suggest that the control (riot officers) are surrounded by the band/group. The lines "I'm the hand that'll take you down, bring you to your knees" may suggest that the group are about to take an even more aggressive stance whilst threatening the form of control with their defeat.
Keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend
At this point in the song the tone goes from aggressive to soft, followed then by an impact point which then raises the tone back up to an aggressive manner. What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say I will never surrender?
At this point in the music video there is a impact point used, which then 'defeats' the opposition, by repelling the control group.
What if I say I'm not like the others? What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? You're the pretender What if I say that I'll never surrender?
What if I say you're not like the others? (Keep you in the dark) What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? (You know they all pretend) You're the pretender What if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others? (Keep you in the dark) What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays? (You know they all pretend) You're the pretender What if I say I will never surrender?
So who are you? Yeah, who are you? Yeah, who are you? The final line to to song, are used quite aggressivly to an extent that they demand an answer instead or just simply asking "who are you?". At this point in the music video a member of the band smashes his guitar on the floor (this meets a 'rock' media convention).
An Idea that both myself and "Percy" share is a slow zoom, similar to that from the of the 'Dethklok Vid: Detharmonic' but instead using orb like shapes that will possibly have a glow around the orb center.
To get the simplified Chinese characters I have used google translator to find what "Guitarist" and "Singer", look like, from this I had sketched out the characters as close to the google results as possible.
Both myself and "Percy" (Simon Bell) are still thinking of locations, perhaps we should take photos of locations that we can redesign into an anime style.
Simon (Corby) has advised us to have at mininum a base image for each character. As well as this we have been advised by both teachers to think of numerous backgrounds
A while ago now I had looked at various anime series that I used to watch as a child, from this I may be able to incorporate some of the movement poses into our work...
Today myself and Simon another member of the group have decided that it may be in both our interests to join up as oppose to working on seperate projects, if we can come to some kind of arrangement this will (or should) cut the work load into a more manage able state.
Ok so this is more of a compliation of scenes from the anime series 'Soul Eater', this still works well.
There are multiple ideas I would like to add to my work, such as the running (2:15-2:32) this could be a good item to add as in the song the pretender there is increased beat at some places...
Today the wold walk was canceled, although this has allowed me more time on my animation.
however as the walk was supposed to be today I haven't brought the necessary equipment to continue my work.
On a plus side however, I have spent the weekend practising and developing my drawing of manga.
I have just looked on youtube for foo fighters' the pretender music vid and have found this...
There are a number of things I like about this video, such as the pace of editing, and how although it is all clips from an anime series called Bleach, I think the clips work well with the song The Pretender
I have begun researching anime characters and art styles, and there are more than I had realised.
There are 5 main anime types appear to be:
1)Shojo- aimed at young girls
2)Shonen-- aimed at young boys
3)Seinen-- aimed at teenage boys or young male
4)Josei-- aimed at young women
Below are some examples of characters from of the anime genres listed above.
Light Yagami - Death Note
Shonen
Goku - Dragon Ball Z
Shonen generally preferred by young/teenage males, a predominate feature is a supernatural force such as a Shinigami (God of Death) in series such as Death Note, or characters such as Goku (left) who have supernatural powers and often fight a main antagonist during the course of the series. They focus on promoting ideologies such as team work and friendship and sometimes even challenge the reader with contrivershal topics such as in Death Note were the protagonist can be seen as both good and bad character.
Shojo (少女漫画shōjo manga?) is manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18. The nameromanizes the Japanese少女 (shōjo), literally "little female". Shōjo manga covers many subjects in a variety of narrative and graphic styles, from historical drama to science fiction — often with a strong focus on human and romantic relationships and emotions.
Seinen is a subset ofmangathat is generally targeted at a 18–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed atbusinessmenwell into their 40s. In Japanese, the wordSeinenmeans "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters. (The female equivalent to seinen manga isjosei manga.)
Josei comics for women,pronounced [dʑosei])also known as "ladies"(レディースredīsu?)or "ladies' comics"(レディコミredikomi?, lit. "LadyComi"), is a term that refers to the target demographic ofmangacreated mostly bywomenfor lateteenageandadultfemale audiences. Readers range from 15-44.[1]In Japanese, the wordjoseimeans simply "woman", "female", "feminine", "womanhood" and has no manga-related connotations at all.
The stories tend to be about everyday experiences of women living in Japan. Though there are some that cover high school, most cover the lives of adult women. The style also tends to be a more restrained, realistic version of shōjo manga, keeping some of the wispy features and getting rid of the very large sparkly eyes. There are exceptions in the style described above, but what defines josei is some degree of stylistic continuity of comics within this particular demographic (the same is true with different demographics that have different stylistic tendencies).
Josei comics can portray realistic romance, as opposed to the mostly idealized romance of shōjo manga, but it does not always have to be. A famous example of a josei is Honey and Clover, which was animated, which is unusual for josei comics.[original research?] Josei tends to be both more sexually explicit and contain more mature storytelling, although that is not always true either. It
From some of the PDF documents I have print screened and pasted into a Photoshop document.
from this Simon has made a quick demo of what I may be able to achieve.
Unfortunately I have been unable to resupply with tracing paper etc due to various illnesses, the amount I have left should see me through until the summer holidays.
Today (Wednesday) I have managed to have the images for the proposed animation cells scanned and sent to my school e-mail address however I cannot access my e-mails on the computers in class. Although the cells have been scanned in they are unfortunately in PDF documents as appose to JPEG although this isn't ideal Simon has said that we may be able to work with the cells.
Perhaps the images can be converted into a more suitable format.
The cells of the animation I have at this moment are of a guitarist and a close up of the guitarist's hand.
today (Sunday), I have looked at more 'Dethklok' music videos, this has helped me understand the effectivness of cell animation...
As I have said in a previous post, the great things about the 'Dethklok' music videos is that they are basic with screen effects added to detract the viewers attention from the sometimes static images, also most of the guitar footage is looped.
Today I have seen a music video that is animated, and works exceptionally well.
The great thing about this video is that the animation itself is stylised and has a combination of on screen effects to retract the viewers attention from the sometimes still images.
This may be the better animation route that I can take as the characters as basic.
After yet more thinking I starting to think that the song that I had originally chosen "The Pretender" may be more difficult than originally thought, although the official music video is basic and I had got most of the inspiration from it.
From research I have found that animation works at approximately 10 frames per second therefore a animated video for the song I want to do, would have approximately 4,250 pictures to represent the frames.
Another starting point I that I had thought of was still following he animation route but instead of the whole thing been animated, there would be a comic book-like clip showing each panel but have only small impact points segments of the song animated.
I have managed to find the Lyrics for the song "the pretender"
Keep you in the dark
You know they all pretend
Keep you in the dark
And so it all began
Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones go marching in again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are ever ready
Are you ready?
I'm finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance
That whole defense
Spinning infinity
Boy, the wheel is spinning me
It's never ending, never ending
Same old story
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say that I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
In time or so I'm told
I'm just another soul for sale, oh well
The page is out of print, we are not permanent
We're temporary, temporary
Same old story
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
I'm the voice inside your head you refuse to hear
I'm the face that you have to face, mirrorin' your stare
I'm what's left, I'm what's right, I'm the enemy
I'm the hand that'll take you down, bring you to your knees
So who are you? Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you? Yeah, who are you?
Keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say that I'll never surrender?
What if I say you're not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
(You know they all pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
What if I say I'm not like the others?
(Keep you in the dark)
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
(You know they all pretend)
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender?
So who are you? Yeah, who are you?
Yeah, who are you?
Following the animation route there are many other forms of animation that an entire moving picture, animation may also be in comic art style and have only set parts animated such as the impact points of an instrument for instance.
Below is part 1 of 4, of the Uncharted: eye of indra motion comic.
Ok so this isn't a music video, but it does have a nice stylized look to it, and sums up my thinking into where to go next.
As the first part of my planning I have reduced the amount of songs that I would like to do to around three songs by Foo Fighter's.
The Music video for the song is basic with many different camera shots with varied lengths and few transitions.
Also I feel that filming with others may present various timetable conflicts, perhaps I should follow the animation route. And whats more if I can take and obtain a photo of the hall from the gallery...
Due to varied problems and such I have been unable to obtain a guitar.
Instead however I have been looking at music videos by various artists.
The first music video I have looked at is Linkin Park's "Breaking the Habit"
The style of this video is animated and may well be a reasonable starting point to my own music video.
The characters used although they appear to be drawn out and animated they do not appear to be too complex.
The second music video I have looked at is SUM-41's "What we're all about"
Even though this song/music video was used as a marketing campaign for the 2002 movie 'Spiderman' there are a fair few neat ideas that I may be able to use.
Such as the unreal use of gravity.
The Third music video I have researched is Foo Fighter's "The Pretender"
This may be a easy song to shoot video footage for as there are few transitions required.
This post is to show the progression of the CD cover for the digipak. The front of the CD case cover (which is on the right... confusing right? see what I did there?) is going to be reasonably empty this should create a link to the 'The Pretender' single and the Foo Fighter's 'Echoes, silence, patience and grace' album covers. The back of the cover was inspired from Linkin Park's 'Hybrid Theory album on which the rear cover has the band stood together.
