Which Skirt?

I was trying to choose which skirt to wear with the corset.... here's how that went..

Costumes test with charlotte

DYM MYSPACE FEEDBACK

Solid Myspace research, Amelia, but your pertinent notes pale into insignificance when compared to your detailed costume research. There are further guidance questions on the main MV blog, and you should also provide a summary of the main Myspace conventions somewhere on your blog.

Costume Inspiration

I've gathered inspiration for our costume ideas for the deadly sin idea. These aren't things we should wear exactly but we could use them a a basis for our looks. Most of these pictures are from the Metropolitan Costume Institure Gala as it's a night where celebs dress wild and wear wonderful things.

1. Lust
Instead of going down the route that lust=red and passion, we've decided to make lust seem more deadly, giving it a dominatrix feel. These images are the kind of feel we want the look to have (maybe not the one of the leather lingerie...)

I really like the gothic feel of this dress and it's fabulously ott but looks great

OK so this is really just underwear but its leather and dominatrix-y. worn with leggings instead of stockings it would be less provocative but still have the look we are going for.

I like this look of the leggings and blazer. It's got shouilder pads, sequins, it's the kind of the thing we were going for just with better shoes...

2. Envy

Envy and jealousy are seen as green, hence the expression 'green with envy'. Our inspired look will be of course: green, also glamorous and sexy.


This is the famous dress from atonement and it's very graceful and sophisticated. I love the rich green shade but I think our 'envy' should be vamped up a bit.

Some more green...

3. Greed/Glutony
We used Marie Antoinette as the basis for this as she was known for her extravagance and indulgence. We are going to base the look on her, whilst modernising it slightly.


Here's a picture of Kirstin Dunst in the 2006 film Marie Antoinette. I put this picture us to she ideas for the makeup (pale, rouge, red lips..) and the hair.


I think this dress is a modern day version of a marie antoinette/ french renaissance dress. If Ms. Antoinette were still alive today I believe she would have worn this dress.

This video for Girls Alouds 'Can't Speak French' shows the french renaissance inspired look, which looking at this wouldn't be too hard to copy.

4. Wrath
When thinking about rage and anger firey colours such as oranges and reds come to mind. Here's some inspiration I found we may use to inspire our costume for wrath


This dress is really beautiful. I really like the details of the corset. However I think it's too elegant and 'happy' looking.

I like how this dress it really structured and plastic-y.

This is a bit weird but I kind of like it. The crazy pattern and the hints of red and orange work well for our theme of rage.

Costumes!!

Here are just a selection of outfits/items of clothing i had found in my wadrobe that might work for one or two of our looks.

Album Cover Work

A: Look at a selection of album covers (minimum of ten, CD or vinyl), maybe from your own, your parents or a friends collection, or online - the more variety in genre, style, decade etc the better. Make notes in answer to the questions below:

1. What are the typical features that an album cover has? Make a list of all the elements they have in common.

• Names of Album
• Name of Artist/Band
• Picture of band or coontrasting that a picture of something really obscure and non realted.
• Most of them were colourful to help them stand out, or had a striking picture to make them memorable after all they are a marketing tool
• Track List
• Colour/font scheme - usually recognisable
• Barcode
• Legal/institutional info
• web address
  

2. How would you categorise the covers in front of you? Are there any other ways of distinguishing between them other than generically?

• The images used on the front: either band image, grapic design or completely obscure. Photos rather than designs or drawings.
• Mainstream/niche
• Group/solo artist
• Era
• Gender: Male or Female
• It's audience: old/young
• Record label

3. Album covers serve many different functions. What do you think these are (ie what is their purpose?)

• Marketing tool - selling the artist through image.
• Make them stand out on the shelves in stores
• Show a logo or graphic that is linked with the band to make it more recognisable
• Promote the image of the band
• Let the audience know what work will be on the album before they buy it
  

B:Choose one album cover out of your selection. It might be a particular favourite, or one that is particularly visually interesting. Prepare deconstruction notes of the cover (back, front, inside sleeve).

Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
A Rush of Blood to the Head was Coldplay's second studio album released on 26 August 2002 This image on the front cover is of half a 3D head and shoulders, on a plain white backgroud placed in the centre. The picture looks really eerie and creepy which shows Coldplay's unconventionality.

The cover art was designed by photographer Sølve Sundsbø and has quite an interesting story.
"Sundsbø had been hired by fashion magazine Dazed & Confused in the late 1990s to produce something with a "technological feel, something all white". As an artist, he tried to do "stuff that hasn't been done before, which is virtually impossible"; he suggested taking shots using a three-dimensional scanning machine.

The model for the shot wore an all-white makeup because it produces the "best results"; however, for the image, the model also wore a twill-coloured cape. The computer could not read the colours so it was replaced with spikes, and the head in the image was chopped because the machine only scanned 30 centimetres. The editor of the magazine liked the image and eventually featured it in one of their publications.

Martin saw the image in the magazine and approached Sundsbø for permission to use the image as the cover of A Rush of Blood to the Head. For the album's singles, Martin asked Sundsbø what he could do; the latter suggested scanning the head of each member of the band "

The red writing for the album title stands out and so highlights it to promote the new album. However the writing is down the left hand side so as not to distract from the interesting and abstract image. On the back the name of the album and the band name is down both sides of the album, with the picture and track names in the middle. I can't make any definate connections between the images and the text but you could say that it is ironic that the title is 'a rush of blood to the head' and the image has only a fraction of a head.

The band's genre is described as 'alternative rock' and so their look and branding must reflect this as well. This is why they haven't gone for a mainstream look of a picture of the band etc.

Textual Analysis of Music Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB7pQpNx-F4
1. Institutional/ reference info
-Which video are you analysing, who is it by, and who directed it.
Fighter- Christina Aquilera.
Directed by Floria Sigismondi
-What genre does the music belong to and what broad characteristics of that genre does the video have?
Genre- pop rock
" Pop rock is a mix of pop music and rock music utilizing a catchy pop style with light lyrics, and (typically) guitar-based songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music"
It uses her pop image but her rough voice and guitar/drums emphasise the 'rock' element. Dave Navarro (who played guitar for Red Hot Chilli Peppers) co-wrote and played guitar for the song.

2. What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
-she's talking about being stronger and she appears 'strong' by throwing things and smashing thigns. Other people around her are collapsing and she is continues to fight through alpl the bad things that are happenening to her in the video. The song is about the guy messing with her head trying to put her down and there are point where the camera shakes showing his words messing with her and she holds and shakes it to get rid of his words, showing they're not affecting him. Mostly the lyrics are amplified and at times just dont fit at all. There's a bit where she's stuck to the wall and trying to escape which fit with the lyrics of the chorus. When you look into it and find out that it was written about her ex-manager it makes much more sense.

" Makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder "

" Cause if it wasn't for all of your torture
I wouldn't know how to be this way now and never back down
So I wanna say thank you "

wikipedia says: "Aguilera tosses aside her kimono after furiously removing the pins on her back and throwing them away. A tattered, white, moth-covered dress is revealed, symbolising her metaphoric evolution from a larva to a pupa. In addition, her hair becomes white, and moths fly on to her." --->This shows her transformation from pop-princess to serious artist.

3. What is the relationship between music and visuals
The song is cut and edited to the beat with edgy angles and shakes
There are no solo instrumental bits because it is more about promoting her. However if you listen to the song on the album there are long instrumentals in the middle and at the end.

The video doesn't change the pace of the song, but makes it seem much more creepy and twisted with shakey camera work and the weird costumes. If you listen only to the music appart form the ochestral music at the beginning, it sounds like a rock song and so the video doesn't reflect this.

4. Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?
There are loads of CU's of Xtina but most don't fit with her previous image. Her record company are trying to re-invent her as a big important artist rather than just a pop star. The Stripped album which this song is taken from is Xtina reinventing herself and so all the videos she looks different but the first song of the album Dirrty marked the change for her.

5. Is there reference to the notion of looking?
Yes, there are lots of scopophilic shots of not only her but the other dancers. This song (unlike some of her others) seems less sexual however and more about empowerment. The costumes are not overly sexual, more really weird and quirky.

This music video is performance and concept based-a very even balance. The concept being the look and her performance being part of that.

Band Websites

Girls Aloud

http://www.girlsaloud.co.uk/site.php

The girls aloud website is really informative giving the fans loads of information about songs and what the band is up to. On the home page there is a MS picture of the band and a video message of their most current album and their tour. There are articles about their tour and how it went, as well as info about the 'year out' that they're taking and Cheryl's solo career. There isn't a colour scheme as such but the overall style is simple, grey with the flash of colour being their outfits. You can easily tell their genre is pop from the outfits they wear and the 'fun' theme of the website.

The links at the top to other pages read: Home, The Girls, gallery, diary, GA style, chat, music and videos, GA Club, shop, mobile, GA Games, sign up. If you sign up to the GA club you're gven exclusive access to images and other things.

Duffy

Her website is very plain and sophisticated looking with one simple MCU image of her in white contrasting on a black background. The black shows she is aiming at an older audience which fits with her old-school jazzy songs. Not only is it really stylised its really informative giving all gig dates, news; which includes website updates and anything that Duffy has been up to.

There is also a forum where fans can have discussions about her latest songs and what fans think. There is institutional info at the bottom which tells us she is on the universal label, as well as rough trade. There is an audio player at the top of every page so you can listen to her music, with a different song being played on every page.

Mika

http://www.mikasounds.com/

The website goes with his flamboyant personality. It's very bright and purple with a oclourful graphic at the top. The graphic is like a theme park or like out of space. The blue arch at the top stands out and draws you in toall the links hich give you extra info about Mika. you can spin it arount to see all the links which makes the website seem more fun and interactive. It kind of reminds me of a crazy pinball machine. There is a link to his facebook and twitter to make the fans feel connected.