Last Week

It is now the last week of the term. I was going to do a small project and create a music video for the song We Will Rock You by Queen, but as i have only 3 practical days of school left, and only 2 lessons for media, i have chosen to continue my research on next year's main project. I am going to do more research on rock based groups which i think will be more suitable ofr my music video package for next year.

Practice Project - Summer Term 2010.

After finishing my initial research on era's of a band, and finishing the extension task of analysing a music video, i have chosen to do a little project on queen. It consists of planning a music video, shooting it and editing it. I have chosen the song We Will Rock You because it has very few lines and the lyrics are easy to learn. The hard bit will be trying to do the guitar solo at the end to keep up with the music, but it is an obstacle that i will overcome. I have a short time period of now until the end of the term, which is on 23rd of July, therefor choosing such a short song as a practice. I will start by drawing a storyboard, then scanning and uploading it to my blog. Then i will move onto shooting and finally editing.

Research, Aerosmith - Extension Task

The original music video for the first hit single “Dream On” by the American rock band Aerosmith is made up of a live concert at different angles and shots, which contrasts and makes each line of the song give a different feeling, for example, at the beginning, the video shows the orchestra playing, whilst a few seconds in, shows Steven Tyler’s face for a second, this shows how important he is, this is shown because the orchestra is shown as a whole lot where as Steven is shown on his own, making him the important member right from the beginning.

Furthermore, as time passes within the video, within the time period of 0:22 and 0:40, an object is shown to be lowered to the stage, this become clearer that is a piano and a man is playing it, at 0:43, that man is shown to be Steven Tyler and he is one again the centre of attention because he is the lead singer. The music video goes on to be nothing other than a live show, which is what most music videos are like within that era; Guns N’ Roses have done the same with the original Paradise City music video or even the song “Rock N’ Roll All Night” by the famous rock band Kiss, they are shown performing their song in a concert, but only difference is that the crowd level has been lowered and song volume has been maximised to make it look more like a dedicated music video rather than a simple concert, captured by a hand camera. The genre expected from this particular band was not as well illustrated as it probably should have been; this is due to the orchestra shown throughout the whole clip, Aerosmith are known for their hard rock genre, large outside concerts, and the only sound coming would be from the guitars, Steven Tyler leading, Joe Perry backing and the crowd screaming, but to see something like this, an orchestra, Steven Tyler on the piano and all happening inside a building is definitely a turn of events. But this quickly changes, near to mid-half of the video, as you hear Steven Tyler screaming passionately about this song, drums being hit like it is a jungle and the guitarists ripping a hole in the space and time continuum, just when the audience starts to wonder why this is the music video to one of the greatest rock songs ever made and to the song that lifted off the careers of the most famous band in the world, they realise that it doesn’t matter where this is happening, the only thing that matters is that it is happening, Steven Tyler is singing and people are enjoying themselves. The narrative of the clip is very linear; it goes from beginning to the ending, no interruptions, which is something you wouldn’t expect from a music video which is a live concert anyway, unlike one of the music Videos from Kiss, which shows different clips from different live concerts and a variation of images used within the video. Below is a screenshot of the clip and the link to the video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Qd9VR1gD

Research, Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

"I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" is a Power Ballad by American rock bandAerosmith. It appeared on the soundtrack to the film Armageddon. The song was Aerosmith's most successful single in their career, and became a huge hit for the band internationally, reaching #1 in many countries around the world, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It was a shift from the hard rock music Aerosmith was ordinarily known for, and being more of a pop-rock song.

This is not only close to what they achieved in 1986 with their top hit song Walk this way (Run D.M.C. cover), they also managed to link with a very famous movie, which took their sales up so much that it kept them at number 1 in the USA, for about 4 weeks straight, this was an achievement as it sent them in the top 100 songs list, and after 28 years of group formation, this was their first song to do so. This song was their first crossover to the pop side, thus being a power ballad and not simple rock, which the group was based upon. Below is the album art cover which the song was released with, this is significant to the song because it links to the movie which this song has been made for and the music video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_0UXRY_rY , was very significant to the song and movie also because it included clips of the movie within the music video and it shows what Aerosmith have become through time, from a genre of american hard rock, to power ballads for a movie.

Research, Aerosmith - Walk This Way

"Walk This Way" is a song by American rock group, Aerosmith. It was written by Steven Tyler (whom is the leader of Aerosmith) and Joe Perry (whom is the lead guitarist of the band). It was originally released as the second single from their 1975 album ‘Toys In the Attic’. In addition to being one of the songs that helped break Aerosmith into the mainstream in the 1970s, it also helped resurrect their career of Aerosmith, bring them back into the charts and helped create the sub genre of ‘Rock/Rap’ when it was covered by rappers Run D.M.C. in 1986 on their album ‘Raising Hell'.

This song changed the way Aerosmith was seen by the masses, it had a change of audience, now that of the most famous rapper groups of the decade had collided with the most famous rock band of the century, they were both bound to share listeners. This clash was the first of it’s kind, but certainly not the last; for example, the most recent one being the song ‘Rockstar 101’ by Rihanna, one of the most sensational pop stars of the decade, whom collided her talents with the lead ex-guitarist of the band Guns N’ Roses, who happens to be the greatest guitar player alongside Jimi Hendrix and Joe Perry; when these two crossed paths, it was no surprise to the general audience as this has been done before, all starting from walk this way by Aerosmith and covered by Run D.M.C. Below is the album art cover which the first version of Walk this way was released in, not the newer rap version. The link to the newer version with Run D.M.C. is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIbHPs_M55Q . This music video illustrates the different genres clashing together. First you have the hippies with the long clothes and guitars, then you have the rappers with the clean tight symmetrical clothing, and DJ set. This was the first video of it's kind, to get such different acts, together and make them perform, which is why this has become one of the most significant videos of all time.

Research, Aerosmith - Dream On

Aerosmith is the first debut album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in 1973. It featured the famous song “Dream On” which got them their break; Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song not only became their first major hit, but also a legacy which is still reminded to my generation through rock music video channels every once in a while. The song was later re-released in 1976 as a single and went straight into the charts, alongside their 2^nd and 3^rd album Get Your Wings and Toys in The Attic. This song is a significant symbol to the band because of its genre and time it was written; Dream On had the original rock feel to it, the loud drums, the clear vocals, the screams and the guitar solos.

And being at beginning of the 70’s, this was the best time for it to shine through and make a hit for itself, and making Aerosmith close to the greatest rock band ever. All of Aerosmith’s songs had a slight tone of sadness to them, yet the lyrics and the music could make masses cry with joy at their concerts. This was the band’s first concept of music, , but as time went on, so did their type of music, but they never lost their original touch. Bellow is the album art cover of the album this song was first released. The link for this music video is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6Qd9VR1gD8

A2 Update 1

It has now been almost a month since we have came back from our study leave to continue Media Studies at an A2 level. We have started to think about what we are doing for next year’s project. I have chosen to do a music video, an album art cover and a Digi-pak for the CD as well as a Poster for the music video of my choice. I have started my research on the particular genre that i want, Rock, and decided to look on the internet for amateur artists whom have done covers of famous songs. I have joined up with Jamie-lee Carr and Emily Smith in hope to make a group which will help us all do the best we can in next year's media project. I have been trying to post a blog on this website for about two weeks, but every time i have had issues with the internet or technical problems, thus not being able to talk about what i have been doing, but now i am able to fully talk about my works in depth. In the next few blogs, i will be sharing the research which i have done on my chosen artist.