An example of the research we were given to conduct throughout the holidays.

Media Studies Advanced Portfolio

The band I have chosen to analyse is Muse as I have listened to them as I’ve grown up. The band uses obscure videos to identify themselves in their videos which almost always features at least one of the members of the band, throughout the years they’ve been together each video has been very strange and different, never a normal storyline to the video for example the video for the song ‘Bliss’ which features lead singer Matt Bellamy. The band has only ever really changed its image; a few different hairstyles have been tested but have always stayed within the same genre of music with a bit of experimentation going on within the genre but not straying too far from its roots.

From watching as few as a couple of videos you can tell that they aren’t a typical mainstream rock band, they have a bit of an edge that a lot of current bands don’t have. This builds up the longer the band have been together that suggests they first had their sound which is commonly classed as alternative rock and then once they had a fan base and were well known they started to experiment with the music they were producing and it worked for them. It shows that with experience artists and bands become more confident in experimenting with their sound. This genre is evident through their videos by the story lines the videos have and the type of characters they have in them. The fact that the band are shown a lot in the videos as main features shows that they are very much about the music they are creating. The film style hasn’t really changed much from the videos I’ve been able to find, it varies with different sparks of inspiration aimed at the target audience with the same filming styles (on the most part) yet very, very different videos on the whole.

The two videos I will be comparing are ‘Invincible’ and ‘Uprising’ as they are quite different due to tempo and pace etc. The mise-en-scene used is the use of the band instruments. In both of the videos the band with their instruments are featured playing the song within the video which shows that this signifies the artist. As you know who the artist of the song is if the band is featured in the video. The visual image of the band seems to be quite laid back and ‘cool’ which comes across well through their image as they are looked up to as ‘cool’ by their fans. In both songs the camera used slow shots to give off different effects. In ‘Invincible’ this is used to get the detail of the background in the video to help it bring the meaning of the video and the band together. The band’s videos relate to other media texts as a lot of different texts such as films have been getting a bit stranger with weird happenings going on and as the videos for Muse are very different and you wouldn’t usually think you’d use that for a rock video , and so they relate well.

Digipak Design Research

CD Cover 1
Muse ‘The Resistance’
Produced by Muse themselves.
The CD cover is very interesting with lots of
different colours in a weird shape which represents
the band well.

CD Cover 2
Green Day ‘Dookie’
Produced by Reprise Records
The CD cover goes well with the sound of the band,
like a big BOOM, and so portrays the band well.

CD Cover 3
Bowling For Soup ‘sorry for partyin’’
Produced by Jive Records
The CD cover exactly represents the band,
they are a fun, comical and well looked up to band.

CD Cover 4
Linkin’ Park ‘Hybrid Theory’
Produced by Warner Bros. Records
The CD artwork is very good but I wouldn’t say it  represents the appropriate iconography as it could  have done.  

By Abby Hellon

Pitch Feedback from Peers

As posted earlier in the week by our technician, we did our Pitch on Tuesday 4th October which was very nerve racking to say the least! but went pretty smoothly in the end. We got 14 different opinions on our ideas which have been very insightful and brought us to the attention of little things we'd missed and not considered. These are the feedback notes we got back from everyone in the class who watched our pitch:

1. Very original idea for a less original song - well done!
2. Like the idea of the parody - setting might be difficult trying to use a town with the public around.
3. Really like the idea and if you have the right props it will be easy to do. Very original. Maybe something else to make it more interesting?
4. How does the beginning fit into the rest of the video?
5. Didn't hear what you said about the advertisement. How is this relevant?
6. Will your idea fill 3 mins?
7. Good idea. Too many people around when trying to film?
8. Like the era, good idea. Well done :)
9. Love the song and idea, where's the location?
10. Good luck should be good :)
11. Love it man. xxx Maybe start in black and white and gradually grow in colour 'til the homeless person at the end is in full colour?
12. Excellent song choice, could be difficult to do a parody.
13. Unique idea, good song choice but could be difficult to do a comedy.
14. Good song choice and good, unique idea but I don't understand the promotional thing.

The feedback we got from the class has been really helpful and as so many people have found confusion about the location I watched back over the pitch and found that we didn't actually go into location really and so when questions were asked we explained how we would be filming in more run-down areas and council flats etc. rather than a town. 


As I said earlier, all of the feedback was very helpful, especially note number 11, as it has inspired an idea in the group that we are thoroughly considering to use, so thank you very much!


By Abby Hellon

PITCH