Storyboard Animatic Video

Storyboards

Location Test Shots

Schedule List

Schedule list for filming:

• 1st October-12th October - Collect all necessary costumes, make-up and equipment for the video shoot, eg. top hat, hooded cloak, sweet dress, thatch basket.
• Saturday, 13th October - Film band shots.
• Sunday, 14th October - Film forest shots.
• Friday, 2nd November - Deadline for first draft of complete and edited video.
• Friday, 30th November - Deadline for final version of video.

Pitch Feedback

Having presented my Animoto video pitch to my peers I now have some feedback that I can take to modify the idea surrounding my video. My teacher gave me a lot to think about, some positive, some negative. The main thoughts were:

• The mise en scene would be a big part of my video and that if I wished to make it effective, I'll have to ensure that all my actors have make up and clothing that fits into the Marilyn Manson style of fashion. I have to ensure that it is done well and doesnt look rushed or out of place.
• I have to make sure that all of the people staring in my video go into it with an open mind. I need them to go all out to make it work and realise that it might not if a few of them become shy about their role.
• The location I am using of a wooded area is slightly cliche and overused for certain styles of music video and he said that I should vary it up slightly to prevent it becoming stale and boring.
• He also felt that I need to break up the narrative with some performing shots to link it to the song.

Overall however, I feel that if I get the right people and the right look, my video could turn out really good, though it could also turn out looking overthetop or like a parody just as easily. It's definitely a risky idea.

27 Word Pitch

Fear. Horror. Macabre. We all have that morbid fascination with death and the feeling of fear. We enjoy it and seek it out. That is Danse Macabre.

Music Video Moodboard

Audience Profile

My music video will be aimed mostly at 'metalheads' and 'goths/emos'. These two groups are wellknown for their darker view on life and their intimidating and heavy hitting lifestyles. They enjoy their music to be meanigful but also loud and strong. They hate the mainstream pop and R'n'B music that has taken over the world and want to be the complete opposite to the mainstream, using unnusual clothing and disturbing themes to do this. They live to shock and do so through connections to death and pain, and vulgar language and shocking imagery.

The website UK Tribes, which investigates the different groups that make up modern youth culture, would put my song and music video sort of inbetween 'Metalheads' and 'Emo'. The band, Marilyn Manson is often admired and listened to by the nearly extinct, 'Goth' subculture, but it is now moving more to generic metalheads. 'Emotionals' or 'Emos' as they are more commonly known, enjoy the creepy, emotional sound and lyrics that my song, Evidence, hold and so it would also appeal to them.

I hope to aim my music video at teenagers to young adults, so around 15-25. I will aim it more at Emos and Metalheads through the use of dark imagery and an eerie tone, whilst still maintaining the loud, heavy chorus that the song contains and death theme that metalheads are used to.

Song Choice

I have decided to use the Marilyn Manson song, Evidence, for my music video. This is one of his lesser known tracks from his album 'Eat Me, Drink Me' which many fans saw as too mainstream and emotional. It followed his break-ups with actress Evan Rachel Wood and burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese. Despite the album's lack of commercial and critical success, the song Evidence has a chilling rhythm throughout and details his attempts to wipe away the evidence of his relationship. I have chosen it mostly for its creepy essence, but also for the theme. I've decided to take the idea of cleaning away any evidence of his past relationship as physically removing the woman involved in his mind. I will have her walking through a dreamlike wooded area at dusk when an unknown creature begins to hunt her. This horror-like theme works with my metal genre very well and keeps with some of the context of the song.

Danse Macabre Twitter Page

https://twitter.com/OfficialDanseM

Band Name Explanation

I chose to call my band, Danse Macabre for a number of reasons. I decided to somehow incorporate the word "macabre" into my band name as it means "disturbing and horrifying because of involvement with or depiction of death and/or injury." I thought that this worked well with the horror theme I wanted my band to have, as a lot of metal bands focus on death and injury as a main theme. I decided that the use of macabre was a good way to describe my band straight from its name. I looked up macabre online and was directed to 'Danse Macabre' which is a latin phrase for 'The Dance of Death'. It symbolises that death is universal and that no matter our race, class or sex, we must all face the 'Dance of Death'. I found this very stimulating as an idea, as it symbolises a kind of grotesque equality. I decided to choose it as my band name as I feel a lot of their main ideas and themes could be based around this.

Band Biography

Danse Macabre

Band Members:

• Damien Thorn – Lead Singer
• Az Defila – Lead Guitar
• Lucy Feier – Bass Guitar
• Madison Baylock – Keyboard
• Adrian Shift – Drums

Damien Thorn and Lucy Feier created the band that became Danse Macabre in 2001. The two had become friends at Lincoln University in the late nineties, having discovered their shared loved of metal and gothic music. Feier had learnt acoustic guitar as a child and had begun to learn to play electric and bass guitar during university. Her main goal was to eventually form a metal band and Thorn seemed like the perfect person to join her, having heard him singing with his first grunge band, Hitter. The two became best friends and began to search local metal venues and record stores for other band members. Eventually they discovered Az Defila, a teenage guitarist playing small venues as a solo artist. He was doing covers of famous guitar tracks like Smoke on the Water, for a few quid a night. The two took him under their wing and turned their attention to drummers.

Adrian Shift was playing in a Metallica tribute band, Metallican at the time and Thorn saw him playing at one of the university’s music nights. He immediately approached Shift and by the next day, he was part of the band. By 1999, the four piece were playing small shows under the name, Exploit & Destroy. They were playing as a more traditional thrash metal band at the time and were gaining little success. All that changed in the late 2000s, when Damien Thorn’s girlfriend Alicia committed suicide. Thorn was thrown into extreme depression and wound up surviving through music. He became a big fan of the band Marilyn Manson and decided that his band had to take a new darker route if they hoped to find any success.

And so, Danse Macabre was created from the ashes of Exploit & Destroy. Their new style of industrial and doom metal required a hint of electronic music and so they found female keyboard player, Madison Baylock in 2002. She had been playing as part of another smaller industrial metal band at the time and decided to leave and tensions in the band became violent. Over the next few years, Danse Macabre began to take over the metal world, releasing several critically acclaimed albums such as, The Rat Race and Personification of Death. Az Defila left the band for a few years from 2004-2007 and was replaced by Nat Skin, but returned after Thorn ran into him again and decided to offer him his place back, having recieved much criticism for their change of guitarist.

The band is the embodiment of controversy and has caused an uproar of Christian churches all across the world. Their so-called satanic themes and anti-establishment messages have won them many enemies, but also many fans. Over their 11 year career they have managed to become one of the most feared and loved bands in the world; hated by parents, idolised by teens.

It has become clear over the years that the band has become less and less Danse Macabre and more and more Damien Thorn. The lead singer has become the band's entire image and has begun to overshadow the other members. Maybe it's just the way most shock metal bands go, but the frontman has become the embodiement of the band.

Examples of Other Hard Rock/Metal Album Covers

Example of Other Hard Rock/Metal Music Video - Disturbed - Indestructible

This video differs from the others I have looked at, as it doesn't focus on a horror theme at all, rather focusing on war and killing, which could be considered horror I suppose. It has a strong narrative, going through the ages of man's existence, showing how war hasn't really changed all that much. It focuses strongly on action and speed, with the shots being set up to highlight this. The use of slowmotion before the soldiers attack is very effective, and I like the parallel editing used to flick between the narrative and the perfomance.

Example of Other Hard Rock/Metal Music Videos - Slipknot - Psychosocial

Once again, this video uses a lot of quick, oddly angeled and shaky shots, throughout it. It also uses moments of slow motion, which I think is an interesting idea. Some quick shots also seem out of place, such as a random shot of a dead dog, and I would like to replicate these random shots in my video. I also like the horror, satanic type feel the video has, highlighted by the over-the-top masks and costumes they all wear.

Example of Other Hard Rock/Metal Music Videos - Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl

I really like the retro 1900s film style that this video uses, making it seem like one of the very early horror films like Dracula or Frankenstein. It also uses an odd variety of hues and saturations to give it that old-school horror look. I find the jerkiness of the camera during certain shots is also a good effect that adds to its retro feel.

Example of Other Hard Rock/Metal Music Videos - Metallica - One

This video focuses greatly on shadow and darkness, and tells a very ambiguous narrative, which is what I hope my video will also contain. The video is also uses a great amount of desaturation which I feel is a very good way to build mystery and eeriness.

Example of Other Hard Rock/Metal Music Videos - Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Another video by Marilyn Manson, this song, 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' uses some very odd shots and camera effects. The way everything seems to be warped and motion blur is turned onto an extreme, makes Manson and all of his band members seem very demonic and fear centred. The contrast also seems to have been turned up by a lot, along with the darkness. I like this whole group of effects that have been used for this video, and hope to replicate some of them in my video.

Example of Other Hard Rock/Metal Music Videos - Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People

I have chosen to show this video, 'The Beautiful People' by Marilyn Manson, because it is one of his most gothic, horror centred music videos. I love the way the video uses lots of quick, obscure shots from odd angles to show what's going on. I also like the use of filters on this video, such as strange lighting and hues. The shakiness of the camera also makes it feel more real and gritty adding to the horror and weirdness of the shots and their content.

Genre and Song Ideas

I have decided to use a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal song for my music video as this is the genre I enjoy listening to the most and know the most about. I have gone through my library of songs and have narrowed it down to three possibilities, all by the band Marilyn Manson. The three songs I may use are 'Evidence', 'Apple of Sodom' and 'Dope Hat'. I have chosen to use one of this band's songs as I want my music video to have a creepy and unnerving theme to it and Marilyn Manson's songs fit this idea well. They are quite dark and gothic which would allow me to use a variety of strange shots and filters in editing.

A2 Coureswork Schedule

A2 Media Studies Schedule 2012-13 Lutterworth College