Location photos

Research into CD covers

Slipknot - All Hope is Gone

This is a design that is quite similar to how I want my own CD cover to look, using photos from my filming to create a similar sort of scene, with my actor posing as the band members in over the top, theatrical poses amidst the wooded location my filming is going to be taking place in. It has a rustic look that I'd like to try and emulate and as well as the fact that all of the band members are disguised, in this case through masks, which is something I'm planning to try and use for my cover/video with my singer's face hidden by a balaclava.

Mortiis - The Smell of Rain




I also felt like this cover is one that I think my own cover could look like. It uses a number of distortions and effect to give it the appearance of looking very old and worn. One approach I've been thinking of applying to my cover has been a film grain effect to give it an extra sense of mood and atmosphere. One potential similar idea I could use is to have a photo of my singer lying down, injured, with his back up against a log, framed in a similar way to this cover, perhaps in a look of anguish or pain to further reflect the mood I would be trying to create.

Permission from band

This is the email I sent to the band requesting their permission for the use of the track as well as their subsequent reply, though I have since decided to use a different song than the one I had originally asked to use (I ask to use Fight & Survive in the initial email and have since chosen to use Brothers in Arms instead).

Risk assessment

Tripping / falling - avoid filming near sloped/potentially dangerous locations and/or areas with a lot of bramble or heavy woodland to prevent any potential accidental falls or injuries. I will be filming in a wooded area, so I will need to make sure to film in clear, open areas where the risks of injuries will be greatly reduced.

Cuts / scrapes - avoid having actors go near or through heavy bramble and avoid using props that can potentially injure actors if misused or abused (e.g. scissors, knives, nails). Keep the amount of quick movement / running around to a minimum while filming.

Road collision - avoid going near roads or filming on roads while working, or at least when oncoming traffic is visible. Keep actors off of the roads and out of the way of cars.

Head injuries - keep actors away from sloped areas of the woodland and away from areas heavy with tree roots or overly rough terrain. Make sure actors don't go running through heavily wooded areas where they can risk accidentally running into a branch or hitting themselves against a tree trunk.

Falling into water / potentially drowning - Staying away from wet areas like rivers, canals, streams or bogs while filming, and if having to go near them keep actors and the camera equipment a reasonably safe distance away.

Damage to camera / expensive equipment - Keep actors a safe distance away from the equipment while filming to prevent them from accidentally knocking or running into anything. Make sure to keep an eye on all equipment at all times, to prevent it potentially getting stolen. Keep equipment away from wet areas to avoid it getting permanently damaged.

Getting harassed / mugged - keep all camera equipment in plain sight and stay near public paths and highly visible areas while filming to prevent anything being stolen without you being aware of such. Make sure not to harass any members of the public or try, start trouble or purposefully antagonise those that might cause you trouble.

Costumes and props

The guitar is perhaps the only prop I plan on using aside from anything interesting I find at the location. The weapons in the video will be implied rather than seen so I don't think I will need any sort of prop to represent them. The costumes I have chosen help to increase the authenticity of the story and make it seem more real and believable, as it is actual army-surplus gear.

Storyboard

I decided upon giving my video an armed forces theme due to the tone of the song (which is entitled "Brothers in Arms" and the fact that I have a number of appropriate props and costume items on hand after the time I spent as part of an air cadets squadron. The video take place in a wooded area (Hemlock woods, an area close to where I live) and the number of actors being minimal, having the singer and another actor who will be playing the guitar as well as a number of other bit parts throughout the narrative (as both the enemy, whose face will never be shown and the soldier who arrives to help at the end of the story).

Research into band, genre and record labels

Band -

Godsized are a hard rock band based in London and apparently "got serious"* and first began playing a large number of live shows in 2007. Godsized are comprised of Glen on guitar and vocals, Neil on guitar, Gav on bass and Effon on drums. Their main aim is to put "everything they have into creating heavy, groove based hard rock with powerful, dynamic live shows". They recruited their drummer, Effon, in 2008, which "boosted their collective sense of purpose and direction". They first went into the studio in August 08 to record their self-released, 5-track EP "Brothers in Arms" with producer Mark Mynett. It was later mastered in Los Angeles by Brian Gardner (who had previously worked on albums by bands Lamb of God and Alter Bridge). They recently played short set on the Sophie Lancaster stage of heavy metal festival Bloodstock Open Air.

*quotes taken from the band's Myspace page

Record labels -

Roadrunner Records - Currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group, Roadrunner Records was first founded in the Netherlands in 1980 and mainly concentrates on hard rock, heavy metal and hardcore punk acts. They have open offices around the world in the US, Wales, Germany, France, Japan, Australia, Denmark and Canada. The first Roadrunner Records act to enter the Billboard top 200 albums chart was the band King Diamond while the Sepultura album Chaos A.D. was the first to crack the top 40. Type O Negative were the first Roadrunner band to have an album go gold with Bloody Kisses (as well as being the first Roadrunner band to receive radio play) and Slipknot were the first to have an album go platinum with Iowa.

Other notable Roadrunner acts include: Nickelback, Machine Head, Killswitch Engage, Soulfly, Stone Sour, Trivium, Black Stone Cherry, Cradle of Filth, Dragonforce, Dream Theater, Megadeth and Opeth.

Nuclear Blast - An independent label formed in 1987, Nuclear Blast started off releasing hardcore punk records and have since become well known for their focus on metal, specifically the melodic death metal, power metal and black metal sub genres. The label gained popularity after black metal became increasingly popular in the European underground in the early nineties and by 1996 Nuclear Blast artists were beginning to appear in European charts. Swedish band Meshuggah before the first band on the Nuclear Blast label to break into the Billboard top 200 with their 2002 album Nothing.

Some of their most successful artists include: Blind Guardian, Soilwork, In Flames, Dimmu Borgir, Anthrax, Death, Behemoth and Nightwish.

Being two of the biggest rock/metal labels in the world, Roadrunner and Nuclear Blast could very well be good fits for Godsized if they ever were to be signed to a major label (though they seem content in self-releasing their music for the time being). Both labels sign a wide range of bands from many different rock/metal sub genres and the band could receive acclaim or recognition under either label. Nuclear Blast in particular have taken many previously underground bands and helped them reach success and popularity that they probably wouldn't have achieved otherwise, such as black metal band Dimmur Borgir, who (like many bands from the scene's genesis) had very humble beginnings and have gone on to sell a large number of albums, with their most recent release, In Sorte Diaboli, going on to grab the number 1 spot on the album chart in their native Norway.

However, Roadrunner have been criticised for mainly being interested in current or trendy artists. For example many of their thrash or death metal bands that were popular in the 90s have since either left after enduring ill treatment or have been dropped from the label. This includes bands like Obituary, Decide, Death and Pestilence.

Genre -

Heavy Metal - A genre that branched off from rock (blues rock and psychedelic rock in particular), metal first surfaced in England and the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The genre is characterised by high levels of distortion, extended guitar solos, heavy beats and an overall loud sound. The lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity, but this isn't always the case. Metal is notable for having a huge number of different sub genres, these including: death, black, power, battle, symphonic, gothic, melodic, progressive, doom, thrash and glam metals (not to mention hybrid genres such as metalcore and nu-metal).

Early bands from the genre include Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Judas Priest expanded on the genres evolution by ditching the blues influences and Motorhead introduced various punk rock sensibilities and an increased sense of speed. Bands such as Iron Maiden followed a similar vein. In the 1980s glam metal became highly popular with bands like Motley Crue while more underground bands introduced a more aggressive, extreme style (resulting in the thrash, death and black metal subgenres).

Video treatment

My video will include a mix of both performance and narrative aspects. It will start off with a few establishing shots to set the scene and show the location, a wooded area. Then when the song’s vocals begin I will cut to shots of the singer and guitarist. From then on, the parts of the song with vocals will concentrate on the singer while guitar lead sections will be intercut with shots of the guitarist playing. They will both be clad in camouflaged army uniforms, with the singer wearing a balaclava and the guitarist wearing camouflage face-paint, though his face will rarely be shown. The video will have an army theme and will be based around the military, partly because the title and subject of the song and partly because I used to be part of an air cadet’s squadron and have various props and costume items available, as well of basic knowledge of how certain operations are run and techniques are performed. The song’s title (“Brothers in Arms”) as well as certain lyrics fit in with the military theme I plan to apply to my video. The shot that intrudes the performers will be a sped up shot of the speeded up, and then going back to normal speed when it reaches them.

The main narrative of my video starts with a soldier (the singer) being dragged away by two comrades (one of which will be the guitarist, one of which will be me). It then cuts back to the singer stalking through the woods before he was injured, perhaps including a sequence involving him crawling through a section of tall grass and him observing the surrounding terrain from a high point (depending on time constraints). There will be the occasional POV (point of view) shot both from his perspective, and from enemy combatants watching him from a distance. At one point he suddenly falls over, as if shot and grasps his leg in pain. He will then proceed to crawl behind a nearby log to protect himself from any future incoming fire.

The remainder of the narrative segments will involve him attempting to escape from unseen assailants, maybe including a few shots of him struggling to get up a steep embankment. The narrative will end with the soldier backed into a corner by an enemy and him standing over him as if preparing to kill him (using a low angle shot to make him look large and powerful compared to his fallen adversary). His face won’t be shown. Another soldier will appear behind him and will appear to grab him and/or slit his throat (though this obviously won’t be seen; only alluded to). The enemy soldier will drop to the ground and the two allies will then drag the wounded singer to safety, in a replay of the shot from earlier in the video. The closing shot of the video will be a reverse of the one that introduces the band, with them having stopped playing and the camera appearing to be speeding away from them.