Production diary and Reflective thoughts after veiwing rough cut (wip)

Producing the basic running animation:

In order to save time, I plan on animating a person running on the spot, the using my editing software, pan and crop the animation across the screen so it looks like he is running.
My first animation I produced of the main protagonist running was unsuccessful. I tried to do it quickly, and tried to have the clothes waving and his hair being adjusted by the wind. It took me hours. And the final product was nothing short of terrible.
I had a look on the internet for some suggestions and tips on animating, found a few, then watch some work by some of my favourite animation studios and thought how they would have done that, or drawn this, or how many frames would they use to do this etc. I then went back and started drawing up the rough sketches for the second attempt at the running animation. Once I had the rough sketches done I could think about adding more detail like his clothes and hair, each time placing the previous frame underneath my current one, so that I could trace the hair so it didn’t change too much and so that the proportions between each frame stayed relatively alike.
Once all the final sketches were done, I scanned each frame individually (which takes ages) and used animation shop to put the frames in sequence and see if the animation is smooth (obviously because I had spent hours producing these little animations, I was very forgiving if something may have been a bit out of place). Once happy I’ll get all the clean frames and trace them with my amazing pen ;) traditionally in animation, once the clean drawings have been made, producing the clean solid black lines would be done on the computer by using an onion skin and producing a vector path over the top so you can see the original sketch and produce a vector image as a separate picture using a pen tool. I didn’t do this, as I’m hopeless at using the pen tools and vectors. So instead I found a pen, that when used and the image scanned, left you with relatively solid lines to work with. So I traced every frame with a pen, then with these final clean solid, frames, scanned them all in and opened each image on Paint Shop Pro. Here I had to colour in each frame individually, which took a long time. The backgrounds of each frame I made one solid colour. This is so when it comes to editing, I can use the ‘chroma keyer’ to remove the background, and lay each animation over the scenes that I produced on simply 3D. this is pretty much the same as the technique used in movies, known as green/blue screen. Once coloured in, I would produce the animation in ‘Sony Vegas’, and render it as a separate video file. I actually reproduced the running animation three times befor ei was happy with how it looked.
























































Above are two frames that I drew, the first two show the original animation and how that looked (after my poor first attempt), and the second two show the redrawn animation after realising the second version i did still looked incorrect.
I had to use a drawing style that i could easily and quickly draw, and that was quite flexible. By flexible, i mean im able to manipulate it easily. Due to time restrictions, i wasn't able to produce high quality drawings, that were 'really' pleasing to look at,as the drawing and colouring process would take twice as long, instead i had to keep them simple, and because of that i feel the final look of the whole animation isn't going to look as polished as i would have liked.





This process is what I went through for each of the animations I produced. As I did more and more I began to get much better. The last two scenes I animated for my rough cut were the mid shots of the main protagonist running frantically, and the very last animation you see were the boy raises his head. These are my two favourite animations I did, as I feel they are quite smooth and although I thought I would struggle to do them, and yes, they did take a long time, they look nice and are pretty close to more professional animations I’ve seen, which I am personally proud of.




After putting together my rough cut, i noticed i still had a bit to do. some scenes were still not coloured, or, completely incomplete, such as the monster running mid shot, and the scene where the boy gets up off the floor and runs off (sample clip in the rough cut). I also felt I needed to redo the running long shots, as the running seemed too slow and looked unrealistic, and also the shot where the boy turns into the ally looks like its lacking some frames of animation and skips round the corner too quick. Also the car that passes at the beginning needs to be redone, and completely thought over.

Storyboard Animatic and Conceptual Drawings

Storyboard

The Pitch - Initial Ideas

I have chosen to undertake the production of a short story. The main reason I have chosen this brief is because it gives me the opportunity to produce an animated sequence, and due to my interest in Anime, it is something i would like to have a go at myself. I've had a go at animation before, but this gives me the opportunity to try harder and gain something from it.
Before i can start production on the short story, i will need to do some initial research looking into some of the generic conventions and styles that are apparent in short stories, and more particularly animated short stories. I'll need to look into the different ways characters are introduced, if any, and also the different techniques used to forward the narrative.
I'll need to produce a detailed storyboard that will help me in the production stages. this storyboard will show camera angles, camera and protagonist movement, and also clip duration. I'll also need to come up with a good plot, that may or may not follow the typical conventions of short films.

Production Company Logo Design

Here is my original sketch for my production companies logo. Seen as a lot of my work is inspired by japanese culture, anime and manga, i thought i would dedicate the logo in some way to the style or culture. i immedaitely thought of using a word and translating it to japanese and using that. i also looked at different Kanji symbols that i could use. In the end i used the word for crazy which is Muchuu. as i thought the word sounded quite cool. When designing the lettering i again thought back to japanese culture, and their 'Kawaii' culture, Kawaii meaning cute, and all things round, big eyed and cuddly looking. so i went for a soft bubbly bold font that's loose and curvy and bends round like a rainbow, further refering to kiddy things.



I wanted the colours of the logo to represent cuteness and fun and colour, so i went for a bright colourful palette and multicoloured lettering, again to refere to the kiddish look.

Production Company Background

20th Century Fox are one of the most major American film studios in America. It was created after the merging of two separate companies, 20th century films and the fox film company. Once joined the company began to be very popular, and today is now one of the biggest and most popular Film studios. It is famous for franchises such as X-men, Star Wars and Die Hard, and was the company that brought Shirley Temple to our screens.



The 20th Century fox logo was an art deco design by artist Emil Kosa, Jr. The fanfare was originally painted on layers of glass and animated frame by frame, these days it's all produced digitally.



Paramount Pictures Corporation is a world renowned film production and distribution company which was formed back in 1912 and is currently owned and part of Viacom. It is said its the most profitable film company. It is responsible for some of the most well known films and is one of the oldest film production companies. The Paramount mountain has been the companies logo since its creation, and even now, it is one of the oldest logos around, and a world recognised symbol. The company is responsible for films such as What women Want, Saving Private Ryan, The Italian Job and also original national treasures such as Popeye.



Both film companies are major names, and their images can be recognised all over the world. One of the major differences between the two, is that Paramount are not only a film production company, but also a distributor.

Primary Reasearch

Exhibition

The various ways of presenting and exhibiting short films is just as diverse as that of movies and music videos.

Film festivals are one of the more obvious places to view a series of short films. A film festival is usual an annual event that showcases various films that usually follow the theme of the evening. For instance it may be a robot theme, and therefore the organisers will choose some of the best robot related films to show. These films can be recent releases, old favourites, or even international films. The festival can even be dedicated to a particular actor or director, it's completely up to the organisers of the event. But it is at film festivals where award winning short films are likely to be showcased and first officially shown to the public or attendees.

Another way of presenting short films or a series of short films is via DVD. Animation companies that produce the short films are likely to release a DVD collection of their films so they are available for buying and owning. Animation companies like Pixar have done this on numerous occasions, releasing their official 'Pixar Short Film Collection' DVD. Collaborative DVD's are also created, such as Batman: Gotham Knight, and The animatrix. This is where various animation companies produce a short film based on the same character or story idea, and each animation studio have their own take on how the characters and setting are presented, usually using their own particular style.

Another way short films can be showcased within DVD's is in the extras or the special features. Normally trailers for related features are put here, but it is also common for short films that relate to the main feature to be displayed here. For instance, The film '9' is due to be released in cinema's soon, based on the short film by Shane Acker, but when the film is released on DVD, it is likely that the original short film will be in the special features or extras for anyone to watch that may not have seen the original story.



Due to the expanding technologies of the world of today it is possible to gain popularity through the Internet. Anyone is able to create websites and show their own work to the entire world. Thanks to websites like Youtube, Vimeo and Megavideo, it is even possible for people with no knowledge of creating websites to upload their own videos they have created. This makes the Internet the easiest place to find and view short films. Many Oscar award winning short films by students from various universities around the world can be found by searching on Youtube alone. And using searcgh engines like Google you can easily locate various producers of short films and other works, amateur or professional to delve into.

Open Research

As I plan on producing a short animated film, I will be directing all my open research at animation, animation studios and various techniques used in animation for short films.


Essentially, and most commonly, a short film follows a very loose path that includes lots of enigmas leaving the story very open ended. This approach tends to work best as it requires no final outcome, and no introductions of time, location or character need to be included.

Another approach for short films, most commonly related to that of Pixar's animated short films, is that of comedy. Presenting a quick, comedic sketch visually, allows for everyone to enjoy the film and immediately be pleased. These allow for a quick fix of entertainment, but can soon become old and loose their touch, which is why it's important for the studio to keep producing new sketches.



Short films can also have that sympathetic factor. Like the film 'kiwi' by Pixar. The film starts with you thinking, 'aww, what a cute little bird', then you wonder what it's doing, nailing long logs into a cliff, must be something cool because the little bird is so cute. Then you see it's a tree. Curiosity rises. Then he jumps and pops his little wings out, the camera turns and you can see that he has simulated flying by falling, just so he can feel like a real bird and you get another 'awwwwww!' from the audience, then the tear of joy runs down his face and that's it, everyone is immediately in love with kiwi. It becomes a massive hit because it's nostalgic, the bird is cute, and it makes some people laugh.

Different short films can also collaborate to tell a story or a number of different stories, as long as they are all based around the same idea. Take the 'Animatrix' for example. Lots of short films, each no longer than 10 minutes long, created by various different animation studios, to tell their side of the matrix story. The thing that makes the 'Animatrix' a good focal point of research for short animated films, is you can see the many different approaches that can be taken just to present a story based on the same idea. You can see a number of different animation styles, from clean lined styled animation in 'Beyond', to the more sketchy loose semi-real look of 'Kid's Story'.
This form of collaboration of short films is also apparent in 'Batman: Gotham Knight', where once again, the different studios each produce a short film based upon a similar idea, in this sense, Batman. And much like 'Animatrix', each short film has it's own style of animation, usually related to the animation studio that created it.



Around the world short films or 'shorts' are expected to be very different durations. In Europe, a short film is expected to be anything from 1-15 minutes, and the story usually involves a plot twist or is dedicated to showcasing visuals and or appearance. whereas in America, a short film is usually expected to be no longer than 50 minutes, and typically revolves around one character and the events the befall upon him/her. An example of a longer 50 minute short film could be 'Dead Leaves', an animated short film from japanese animation studio Production I.G. and directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, also known as 'Mr Toonz'. The story is centered around the two main characters, Retro, who for some reason has a TV for a head, and Pandy, and their escape from the DL (dead leaves) prison facility. The film is one of my all time favourites, and it's made by one of my favourite animation studios. Although focusing on the characters as expected from a longer duration short film, Dead Leaves also is a visually stunning piece of animation that break the boundaries between real and surreal.




Short films have so many conventions, it all depends on the creators wants and needs. The plot can be entirely open ended, usually used for short films of a duration of around 1-10 minutes, or it can be a short story that follows a character as he/she is making there way through a series of events, or meeting a character. Aesthetically, short films have no conventions at all. Short films are a good way to showcase a style or idea without having to spend years on it to get it finished (unless of course you want to).

Genre Comparative Study

Upon watching these two short films, you realise, much like many of the short films you'll find, they are computer generated. Both short films are very similar to that of the Pixar animated shorts, both aesthetically and plot wise.
Oktapodi uses love as the plot developer. the two small octopus are shown as being in love in the very first shot of the film. Then instantly the female is snatched up and taken by a squid butcher of some sort, and thus the whole thing kicks off and the male tries to save his love. The whole film is very funny and portrayed beautifully. The scenes within the van, and driving down the streets include some well composed shots and you really feel like your part of the action, which works very well with the pace and in maintaining interest, not that it's not interesting already. The character designs for the film are also very beautiful, the squids look like squids while retaining a comical and cute feel to them, and the antagonist is tall and skinny, like a tower, seemingly representing a colossus to the little squid, and thus is obviously a threat to them.
My favourite shot of the whole film is the shot when the butcher first notices the male squid at the van window, and the squids brain is waving in the wind. There's a suttle perspective to this shot that makes the squid seem so small and insignificant, and therefore making us feel for him and makes us want him to prevail in his task. Then of course he gets punched in the face, which just makes me laugh so much.
The palette used for this film is also well selected. The soft tones of the town make us aware that it's there, but doesn't distract us from the action. While the bright pastel colours of the squid let us know that they are important and keeps our eyes on them at all times.

Although details in Kiwi are much simpler than in Oktapodi, they really help to bring out the softer side of us all and then hit us with its incredibly tear jerking storyline. Basically Kiwi cannot fly, they are an exstinct bird and this is a film to show possible why. This particular Kiwi spends his life nailing trees to the side of a mountain only to later jump off the mountain in an attempt to simulate flying, even though he will inevitably die when he hits the floor.
Kiwi works so well as a short film as it hits us all in the heart and we really sympathise with him/her. It opens with a close up of the floor and kiwi's feet come in dragging something, this opening is much like the opening to Oktapodi, getting straight to the point and introducing the main characters involved. All of the shots composed in this short film are well placed. enough is shown to see what Kiwi is currently doing, but the whole picture is not shown until the end, and therefore nothing is given away. Throughout the entire film you begin to ask questions, what is Kiwi doing? why is he/she doing that? where did that hammer and nails come from? all these questions help maintain our interest throughout the film. And because Kiwi is so cute, we are interested in what he's doing and why he's doing it, everyone has a soft spot for cuteness, and this short film really takes advantage of that. Our emotions upon seeing what Kiwi has been working on, and seeing the amount of trees he's actually nailed to this mountain, are heightened by the music. When he jumps off the cliff, goggles on, and pops his little arms out and starts flapping them, the music kicks in. A soft lullaby score that once again hits us in the soft spot. Everything comes together, questions are answered, the music is there, and everyone watching cannot hold it in any longer, Kiwi cries and and the audience join in to, whether it be physically or mentally, everyone cries. The huge and well constructed build up has the same result for everyone, and that's why Kiwi is such a well done short film.
Both aesthetically and constructively, Kiwi and Oktapodi have so many similarities, but their differences are what make them truely unique and stand out.

Initial Short Film Analysis

'Tir Nan Og' is a short animated film by Fursy Teyssier as an end studies project. Prior to watching the short film I expected lots of long shots showing off the environment or specific areas of interest. I also expected that the meaning behind the story was not entirely obvious, and everyone that watches it would come up with their own outcome or conclusion. Another generic convention I expected to see within the short film was that it would either have no music, or be very reliant upon music and sound to maintain a nice pace and sense of anticipation or wonder. Short films also tend to not introduce characters with dialogue, unless this is needed to forward the narrative, and instead you accept the characters you see as being the main protagonist/s.
Upon watching the short film, the mysterious storyline convention became apparent, we don't know where we are, who these two people we are seeing are, and why they are playing a piano out in the desert, as it would seem. The strong enigma based story lines behind short films work really well, as it has no need for reason and the audience just accept what it is they are seeing. Also, although the creator of the short film may have an answer to the happenings of the story, the audience will probably come up with a thousand more possible outcomes and answers, and this key factor is what makes a short film watch able.
The plot of 'Tir Nan Og' is accompanied by a beautiful soundtrack. My expectations were not challenged here, and the soundtrack did a great job of helping the story along and adding atmosphere and mystery. This is something a lot of short films do, especially animated ones, as the addition of music adds depth to the visuals.
The main characters within the story although important, were not named, this would be because within a short story, its the visuals and events that tell the story and less the characters. This short film, in particular, does this very well, The audience follows the little girl in the story, who is seemingly as puzzled as the audience, and the film works well as the audience can relate to the girl and uncover the mystery together. This relationship then ends when the masked man reveals himself and the camera cuts to a long shot of the cliff so the audience don't get to see who it is and possibly get some questions answered, but instead is left hanging. This then, opens up even more questions and anxieties, leaving the audience in the perfect state of curiosity.

Change In Breif

I have decided to change my brief from music videos to short films, in particular, animated short films. This is because it is an area of more interest to me, as animation and comics etc, are something i would like to look into for a future occupation, and i would like to use this oppurtunity to create a short animation that i could later use as evidence of my capabilities in my own personal portfolio.

Research - Music Promo Research

Music Promos are short video clips used to aid the promoting of a single and band. These clips vary from an average of three minutes to five, but can be much, much longer, running on usually for as long as the song is. The video clip can even run on for a longer period of time compared to the music promo. Music videos follow many conventions which all depend on the genre the music entails. These conventions can relate to narrative, visuals, camera and lighting and the six stages of analysis.

The Indie genre of music all tend to follow the convention of having quite a bizarre or corny story within the promo. Bands like Panic at the Disco include a story that fits the lyrics to the song. The video for 'I write sins not tragedies' depicts a wedding where the bride cheats on the groom, just as the song explains. Also the video for 'Wolf like me' by Tv on the radio, has the story of a man that wakes up only to find he has been turned into a werewolf. Those are just two examples, but it is very common for Indie based music to follow this convention.
In terms of Mise-en-scene within the Indie culture music, it varies depending on the band. Panic at the disco, as mentioned above, like to where very circus-esque clothing, making them look old fashioned and traditional. Where as other bands may just dress in casual smart attire. Saying this, Mise-en-scene can also depend on the music promo. If a narrative is involved, it is more than likely that the band will dress according to their characters. On the other hand, if no story is included within the narrative then it is likely that the band will dress in a familiar attire that will be recognisable, or even a trademark costume for the band.

Instrumental music although less mainstream in today's society also has its own conventions that the genre tends to follow. Although no links can be made between lyrics and visuals, there are obvious links between music and visuals. Taking the band 'The Album Leaf' as an example, and their track 'Twenty two Fourteen', all though no narrative is included with the track, the visuals are slow and often remain on the screen for long periods of time, adding to the atmospheric fantasia the music gives off. No particular things are filmed, just cityscapes, the streets of a town and nature. The video gives a sense of freedom and escapism. But it's the emotions put across that are what make this video work. Although not all the songs are purely instrumental, the ones that are do follow the typical conventions.
Scores written for the Star Wars films are purely instrumental. Some of these scores have music promos which can be found on the classical music channels. They may be less mainstream, but nevertheless they still get promoted and they still follow conventions. During the promo there is a strong use of extreme long shots showing the entire orchestra playing together, and neatly arranged around a large fantastic Colosseum or in a great hall. All musicians are formally dressed and look at one with the music, and a feeling of true passion is given off. Clips from the Star Wars films are also added to show the relation to the films, and this helps promote the film as well as the orchestra.

Rock videos tend to follow many different conventions, and it normally depends on the style of the song at hand, for rock songs can be slow, fast, loud, meaningful or completely random. One convention that is always followed, is showing the band performing their song, whether it be in a live performance, within the story space or outside the story space but on location. This is typical in almost every rock video made. Also a heavy promotion of the artist is also apparent. There are always close ups on the artist, and long shots showing the band playing their instruments. Lighting is also used well within the rock genre of music. 'Signals Over The Air' by the band 'Thursday' uses lots of dark lighting to hide the faces of the band, but during the chorus flashes of light occur which reveals more details to the appearance of the band and they become more recognisable.
Another conventions used some times in rock videos or more hardcore music involving heavy guitar riffs, is a camera attached to the end of the neck of the guitar looking down at the guitarist playing. This technique can be seen in 'Over The Air' (mentioned above), and is also appears in Hadouken's 'Liquid Lives' promo.
Many rock videos also tend to include band members from other bands or random famous people, this could be done to promote the popularity of the band as they are able to grab a hold of anyone they want to be included in the band. Songs like 'Learn To Fly' by Foo Fighters, includes Jack Black and Kyle Gass from Tenacious D, before they became a more popular artist. 'The Plot To Bomb The Pan Handle' by A Day To Remember includes a famous porn star. One of the best examples of this would be Nickelbacks's 'Rockstar' promo. The video includes hundreds of celebrities and random people miming the lyrics to the song. Although the band themselves are not in the video, it is a good technique used to promoting just how popular the band are.

Singer songwriters are a genre all on their own. Because the style of songs they write can often change, the conventions of their music promos can often change and follow the conventions of the genre the song fits. Artists like James Blunt, James Morrison and Newton Faulkner all fall into this category. Generally the promos include lots of promotion of the artist, including the artist within any included story space, and normally involved in a love interest. James Blunts '1973' has him singing about his love interest while walking down the streets of a quiet town. As he walks the lighting changes depending on the tempo of the song and the visual. The angles of which the camera is aimed at the artist also change. Long shots, mid shots and close ups are all incorporated to promote him as a solo artist. The video for 'Dream catch me' by Newton Faulkner is the best example of promoting the artist within this genre. The opening of the song includes extreme close ups of his mouth singing the song, and his fingers working the frets on the guitar. There are also lots of shots from behind so you can see his trademark red dreadlocks, and the video really aims to show him for who he is. The video for the song has him included in almost every shot of the video and this works really well for promoting him as this was the first single he released.

Grime music videos can include a number of conventions and styles. The dark synths in the background of the music already help add a atmosphere to the video. Chipmunks 'Who are you?' video is typical of this. The synth in the background helps give the grime feel to the song and the dark lighting in the video enhances this dark atmosphere. Props are used to give the video that street edge. You can see the artist and friends sitting on BMX's and just slowly moving to the music as Chipmunk rhymes. The whole video is a shroud in darkness, and this will promote the darker more gangsta side to the artist, so he grows in popularity in the more underground end of the music world aswell as his promotion in the mainstream charts.

Underground hip hop music promos are the most varying of all the genres. Because the bands are usually independent, or signed to their ow label, the videos are usually very low budget and most include cheap animation probably because it can be done by almost anyone and in a way is quite effective. One advantage of these promos is that so many different bands are included in each others videos, this is most likely just to help get their name out, and to show, that even though they are not mainstream and don't have lots of money, they are a community in their own. There is always a strong use of promoting the artist and the visuals usually match the lyrics or at least genre.

Research - The Growth of Music Videos (incomplete)

1924 – short video animations were made to accompany an orchestral score. Max Fleischer (Popeye, Betty Boop and Superman) began making 'Screen songs', which were a series of sing along animations.

1930 – cartoons would have bands performing their songs in live action sequences during the cartoon.

1940's – The Soundies were being introduced in Chicago. They were the original music videos. Short 3 minute sequences involving dance sequences and other things.

The original Walt Disney films were created around music, and this began to open doors for the link between music and visuals.

Musical films really began to innovate the idea of music videos. Madonna's 'Material Girl' has obvious links to the stage play 'Diamonds are a girls best friend', and the use of dance routines in music videos could have been inspired by the dancing involved in the on stage performances.

1959 – The term 'music video' was first coined by The Big Popper Richardson.

Late 1950's – The Scopitone was introduced. Which was a visual Jukebox.

1960's – began the innovation of music and visuals. After the introducing of the Scopitone in France, other version were patented in other countries.

1964 - The Animals made a promo clip for their hit 'House of the Rising Sun'. The video was in full colour, and featured long shots, mid shots and close ups the band doing a sequence of choreographed moves around a set.

1964 – The Beatles starred in a hit black and white film which included funny dialogue and well thought out musical sequences.

1965 – The Beatles starred in their second feature called 'Help!' The film was in ful colour and had the band go on a musical adventure involving assassins, around London and a number of different locations too

1965 – The Beatles began to make 'film inserts' which were pretty much music videos. This was so they didn't have to make an 'in person' appearances.

You could say that The Beatles were probably the first to start the trend of music promos. At the same time of their production of 'Film Inserts' , The UK band The Byrds began using the same technique.

1967 – promo video clips started to grow in importance. Many film inserts were produced by bands within the UK so that they could be seen on screen and not have to make a live appearance, much like The Beatles.

1966 – The first real 'plot' promo video was made for the Kinks single 'Dead End Street'. Although no lip sync was included, the on screen visuals were made to match some of the key words within the songs lyrics.

During this period, promotional clips began to grow in populraity, with bands like The Who and The Moody Blues making them they soon became very important in the music industry.
1974 – In the UK music videos and music itself began to reign. And the introduction of Top of The Pops really boosted musics popularity with the average person being able to see their favourite artists perform live, although they were miming. The other problem is that BBC had strict rules on the number of ''outsourced' music promos they could use.

Research - Genre Comparative Study

The two videos, one by Lostprophets and the other by Seether, although both of the rock genre and do follow some of the typical conventions, do have their differences when it comes to analysing them to the six stage analysis of music videos.
Both videos have a strong influence on promoting the artist, mostly the lead singer although the band are included too. Seethers' Fake It, has the band on a number of fake sets, and the video includes lots of close ups on the lead singers face and has the band included within the videos narrative. This helps promote the artist and make their faces known to the audience so that they know who is singing the song. Compared to Fake It, Last Train Home does not promote the lead singer over the band as much, and unlike Seether, the band are not part of the videos main narrative, but are included in a side narrative with the band performing on the back of a lorry going down streets with everyone following them and chanting to the music. This follows the generic conventions of rock videos as the band are usually shown performing in front of an audience, and this also adds a touch of voyeurism to the video as the band are being watched from houses and the streets by onlookers.
Last Train Home has a lot of links between music and visuals. As Lostprophets are a rock band, in terms of Mise-en-scene, all the extras within the video are wearing stereotypical rock clothing like black hoodies, jeans and studded bracelets. Also every time the drums or guitars start to build up and go really loud, like in the chorus, you get a lot of close ups on them and the person playing them. The link between music and visuals is also apparent in seethers Fake It. Because of the rock genre, there is a heavy emphasis on the bands instruments. There are lots of close ups on the guitarists and the drummers, and also lots of close ups on the lead singers guitar, keeping the lead singer as the main focus of the band.
There is a obvious link between lyrics and visuals for Seethers' Fake It. The song talks about faking what you don't have, and the video shows the band on a fake set of a private jet among others, and this obvious link helps to bring the lyrics to life, and help give understanding to the song. This link can also be seen in Lostprophets Last train home. When they say 'and we sing...' the whole band, and the onlookers sing along too, and this adds to the feeling of togetherness that the lyrics are trying to give out.
One of the sets to Seether's Fake it is dark snowy woods, this set is similar to one from the music video to 'Wonderboy' by Tenacious D. Also the set on a plane with all the dancing women smothering themselves over the band is similar to the idea of the mile high club, and could may well be a reference to this idea. Also towards the end of the video one of the women are filming her and the lead singer on a phone, which appears to be a Nokia. This is a bit of promotion for the phones brand. There are also references to the use of Photoshop in the video, as he says ' I can fake it with the best of anyone' and they are healing the women's face and adding a tanned look to her face. Furthermore towards the end of the video, you see a clapper board come down in front of the camera which has the artists name, name of the song, and the director of the video on it.
There is also lots of voyeurism in Fake it as the band are on set the camera pans out and you can see that these sets are fake, and that the band are being filmed by a camera crew within the music video. So they are being filmed within a film as such.
The narrative to Lostprophets Last train home includes none of the band members, which is sometimes typical within this genre of music. The story behind the narrative has many meanings, and could be interpreted in a number of different ways and leaves the audience to think about it themselves.

Research - Initial Six Stage Analysis

The song Don't Jump by the German punk rock band Tokio Hotel, includes many of the six features that most music videos follow. There is a lot of focus on the band in all their videos and this one is no exception, having the band be the main protagonists of the narrative within the music video.
The narrative of the video matches the lyrics to the song, so there is a direct link between lyrics and visuals. The lead singer is shown twice, one down on the streets looking up at the other, which is about to jump off the building. The band is playing within the narrative space, so you can see the drummer in the streets playing within the story space while the story is unfolding, this is also apparent for the two guitarists.
There is a lot of close up and mid shots on the lead singer, further promoting him. The lead singer is also the main protagonist of the narrative to the song, having his personality split and thus two of him are shown. The other band members are also shown throughout the video as onlookers to the possible suicide, but these are not as obvious as the lead singer. In terms of mise-en-scene, the band are dressed accordingly, matching their punk rock genre of music. Although the lead singers clothes are a lot more noticeable and so is his hair.
The opening of the video introduces the band as a whole, including close ups on the guitarist, and the drummer. The look and aesthetics of the video are all linked to the band and the narrative. The dark look of the video matches the dark genre of music, there are no bright colours, and this also links to the story behind the video, suicide is not a cheery topic. Voyeurism is shown within the videos narrative where the onlookers to the lead singers suicide are looking up at him, again implying that he is the centre of attention.
There is a link between music and visuals in terms of mise-en-scene. The band members clothes match the genre of music, and the appearance of the band members tend to follow a generic convention when it comes to the genre of music. In the song there is also a direct link between lyrics and visuals because the song talks about calm rooftops and manic streets, and this is shown in the video with their being slight chaos on the streets while the lead singer walks through them.
Lip sync in this video is not good, mostly because the band are German, so syncing the lyrics with the video is difficult, but a good job has been done, and the different order of clips doesn't mess up the narrative, or confuse the audience in any way.