Digipak Progress

Digipak- a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs.


The two main images I'm considering using, out of the array I took of the field over the two occasions, are these two.

This first Image will be used as the cover of the digipak. I felt as though this was a great shot because of the brilliant lighting and great overall quality.

This is the photo I plan to use for the backing of my digipak. In the cover photo, just to the right of the centre, there is a bridge in the distance. This photo was taken on said bridge, so I feel as though using the two in conjunction would be very complementary.

Here is what they looked like when I was finished using photoshop to turn them into my cover and backing.

Field Photos (January 2017)

I recently took some more photos of the field backing my house, in order to get some more shots that I could use for my digipak advert, and I feel as though the wet terrain actually looks better in the pictures. I wanted to take some more photos for my digipak advert, as I felt that having some varying shots of the band member contemplating the meaning and usefulness of the maks on a bridge was a very good idea and conveys the much needed change of the artist.

Aditionally, These shots provided me with the idea that towards the end of my music video, it may be an idea for the band to throw their masks over the bridge, to symbolise them finally making the necessary change of removing the masks. For my music video, I had my band member constantly looking over and contemplating the masks anyway, showing how they where still always there, and always a major part of the group. I feel as though discarding the masks over the bridge here would provide good closure, and would also provide me with a good reason to use one of these photos in my digipak, as the bridge would then be very relevant.

So I was given the suggestion that the field behind my house could house some interesting and possibly ideal shooting locations for my music video. So I took a selection of photos of various areas of the field, some of which I feel could also be used for my digipak, as they have adequate lighting and would fit well with the diegesis of the fictional character in my music video.

While we were shooting, the wind actually blew several of my props away, but the position in which this mask got stuck in the tree I feel actually could be used, and could be very symbolic of how the band is stuck in a rut currently.

Ancillery Text-Digipak Planning

For my CD cover, backing and disc artwork, I plan to use the subject of the bands reformation without masks as a cornerstone.

Conventionally, rock/alternative rock genres have around ten songs per album, and five or eight songs per EP.

So I decided to create 12 song titles for my CD backing, to show the comeback that accompanies the transformation of The Boston Buried into Buried In Boston is not a conventional one, and that they're coming back with more material than expected to emphasise the drastic change is not just an attempt to stay relevant.

This template will be crucial in the creation of my digipak.

Song Titles:

Unmasked
Undead (Cover)
Game Over
Like A Phoenix
Digital Worlds
New Horizons
Ready Player One?
Boss Battles are Supposed to be Rewarding Experiences
Benjamin is Broken
Return to Normality/Escape from Reality
We Fooled You
Closing the Distance

Reasoning behind the song titles:

Unmasked- The reasoning behind this song title is very straight forward-the band members used to wear masks as part of their identity when they were The Boston Buried, but now that they have found a new identity in the form of Buried In Boston they have discarded the masks, therefore 'unmasking' themselves in doing so.

Boss Battles are Supposed to be Rewarding Experiences-Many of the rock bands that are popular in the music scene today include references to test the listener's cultural capitol in their song titles. For example: A Day To Remember have a song titled 'You be Tails, I'll be Sonic' in reference to the popular video game series featuring every gamer's favourite blue hedgehog, and the fact that the second player has to take the role of his yellow cat sidekick Miles 'Tails' Prour. Four Year Strong have a song titled 'We All Float Down Here' as a reference to Stephen King's 'It', and an up and coming band by the name of Abandoned By Bears has a song by the name of 'Bomberman Vs Mega-man' a reference to the early days of gaming where these two gaming franchises battled for popularity. So I opted to do a similar thing, giving reference to one of AngryJoe's criticisms of the games The Order 1866 and Destiny in which he complains about the lack-luster boss battles in the games, stating that they didn't feel rewarding at all and gave the player no worthwhile rewards after their defeat. Considering that the members of my band also enjoy video games immensely it only made sense to include video game themed titles to their songs.

Like A Phoenix- For this song the inspiration was the idea behind the phoenix itself and how that relates to the bands' situation. In mythos the phoenix is said to be a mythical creature able to come back from the dead. When it dies it becomes a pile of ash, and shortly after will be reborn from said pile completely anew. I found this to be an incredibly effective metaphor for Buried in Boston, as the deep creative rut they where in could be seen as the 'death' of the old band, and the name change, new album, discarding of masks and narrative of the music video for Game Over could all be seen as way for the band to be 'reborn' if you will, for them to rise from the ashes of the old artist and name. On another note, it was also a reference to the popular Fall Out Boy song 'The Phoenix', giving the band a varied taste in music and deeper sense of identity.

We Fooled You- This song has several meanings behind it. Initially this song was inspired by another song from the rock genre of a similar name by the artist Awaken The Giant named I Fooled You. I felt as though the title of We Fooled You as a method of the band members to make a statement to their audience, their critics and pretty much anyone else in the industry that they are no longer down and out and no longer in a creative rut, but are now soaring with a new identity and brand new album. Prior to this, it seemed as though they may be stuck in their creative rut permanently, but they broke out of it and fooled the industry.

Undead- This is a cover of a song by the same name by Rap/Rock artist Hollywood Undead and Buried in Boston is opting to cover this song themselves as a tribute to the band that inspired them initially, and a throwback to their roots and their old image.

Game Over- This song is the one I chose for my actual music video, and so hold the most significance for the artist. Buried In Boston opted to write this song as a way of portraying the end of their creative rut, and an end to their old, stale identity. All the band members used to do is sit and play video games all day because they were unable to create new material. The title Game Over is symbolic of them returning to their old creative ways and coming out of the rut of doing nothing but playing video games (this is also symbolised at the end of the music video when my character turns off the console).

Digital Worlds- The idea of the virtual world and the real one being intertwined was an idea that I found fascinating and attempted to capture some of the creativity of the concept in my music video. This song title represents the band's identical feelings on the matter. The name is a sort of tribute to how video games can contain more interesting world within them than the real one we live in, and at the same time the concept that video games can take over and become your life if you let them, which is what happened to the band member that I play.

New Horizons- The title new horizons represents the new opportunities the band now has a plethora of new opportunities befitting them now that they are creating again. It also takes inspiration from a line from the song Gravity of You by Starset, in which the vocalist states he is "riding the horizon". The actual meaning behind this line is different from my inferred one, in the way that the song is referencing the event horizon of a black hole, whereas the meaning for the term for my artist is one of a resurgence of potential, and the idea that they are rising up in the industry again.

Ready Player One?- This song was a reference to the video game centered novel by Ernest Cline

Benjamin isn't Broken- This title is a blatant reference to the popular rock band Breaking Benjamin. Moreover Breaking Benjamin recently came back from an eight year hiatus reformed with every member except for the lead singer being replaced. The members of Buried In Boston would obviously have seen this, and taken inspiration from their ability to come back and be successful after so long.

Return to Normality/Escape from Reality- Again I wanted this title to relate video games to a sense of escapism.

Closing the Distance-

Draft Music Video

Here is the draft for my music video. Unfortunately I didn't get to film in my desired location, but will be able to do this for the final version. This first draft was filmed in my house, whereas my aim was to film in my Aunt's, as it has perfect locations for each scene I want to include. Unfortunately they where out of the country over Christmas and I didn't have the material to coagulate a music video from the footage I was able to get previously, so had to settle for my second choice of filming location.

I still feel as though this draft captures the basics, and is more than suitable to provide an idea on the basics of what I plan to do in the final version.

Health and Safety Assessment

For the filming of my music video there are only a small amount of safety risks. I have been provided with this grid as an example of how to properly assess the risks that could arise while I'm filming and how to  properly prepare for them and how to ensure to the best of my ability that they don't take place in the first place.

My Music Video: Influences (Including Textual Analysis)

(Script)

With a song such as ‘Game Over’ I think it’s pretty obvious where most my inspiration came from for my music video. If you were to say: Extreme birdwatching, Non-Contact Rugby or whatever the hell is going on here {insert clip of Asian man eating noodles in a washing machine as it spins} you would be wrong. It was actually video games.

I’ve played video games for as long as I can remember, starting off with the old classics on PS1 and GameBoy such as Pokemon, Medal of Honour and Crash Bandicoot. I have even delved into the incredibly retro consoles, such as the SNES and N64. They’ve been a practically daily part of my life for over a decade, which is the majority of my life so far, so they’re obviously going to hold some sort of significance in my choice of song.  This particular song, if you couldn’t already tell, is all about video games. In summary, the writer talks about how he relates his life to a video game, and how he just wants to find a better way to live, or “play it”. The link here is that video games, to me at least, can be so entertaining and so utterly enthralling that your life begins to revolve around them…or in the case of my chosen song, your life can actually be accurately and closely related to one.

Specifically I took inspiration from action RPG games, ones in which a drastic emphasis is places on you creating your own adventure. Your own character, your own story, your own choices.

As for the music that I found inspiring, Falling In Reverse were obviously a big part of it, as they made the song. The Rock genre has changed a lot since its inception, and the fact that a band like Falling In Reverse can be classed as rock is proof of this. They dabble in a lot of rap and electric, as well as heavy song with powerful instrumentals and choruses. They are incredibly varied, yet are still primarily classified as rock. This is very similar to another band that I took a lot of inspiration from, Hollywood Undead, who create a very interesting and large mix of rock and rap songs, and even have one that leans heavily towards country with elements of pop (I'll be there) . This mixing of genres is becoming commonplace in many forms of media, not just music (i.e RomZomComs, Shaun of the Dead) which is why, even though this particular song is rock; I found it fitting to state artists from several genres as inspiration, primarily the ones that fit into more than one genre.

So firstly, I took inspiration from a lot of artist that mixed the genres and continued to blur the lines. Namely-Starset. This band has currently released two studio albums and is famous for mixing heavy electric beats and baselines with incredible guitar input and some of the best and heaviest drumming I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. [Starset-Ricochet] The singer sounds amazingly like Benjamin Buntley, the lead singer of Breaking Benjamin (who are another one of my inspirations., so it's clear that the mixing of genres is a large ficus of my inspirations as I find it to be a fascinating concept, as it has spawned some of my favourite music.






Additionally, the mixing of rap and rock of Hollywood Undead was an obvious inspiration, as I based my AS coursework on them almost entirely, which can be seen by the use of masks by all of the band members. Linkin Park too, as they were some of the first to inter-splice genres with their mix of pop punk and rap, which kickstarted the idea’s popularity. This trend of the mixing of genres is incredibly post modern, and can be seen in an ever-increasing number of artists, such as From Ashes To New, who sound almost identical to Hollywood Undead.

Storyboard