Group progress images

Individual Research - Michael Hickey and Connor Burgess

Poster Research

Looking into the tour and magazine posters of Hozier, there are several distinctive qualities that link to the qualities of indie rock.

Mise En Scene

Indie rock artists are stereotypically pictured wearing casual clothing and Hozier fits the criteria in the various posters. In this image, he is wearing a plain white t-shirt and a denim jacket this is considered causal clothing.

This shows us that in order to look the part in the music video and for the tour poster we have to create, we will have to wear similar clothing in order to fit the correct mise en scene.

Layout

The style of the font used for his name (Hozier) is unique in this poster. The font is unique as it is very imposing on the page as the bright yellow contrasts with the black and white imagery, which is directly relatable to the music video ‘Take me to church’ as the video is shot in black and white.

The tour poster is relatable to the genre of indie rock as there is a good balance between text and the image of the artist on the poster.

Props

The props used in this tour poster are relatable to the indie rock genre. Most of the artists like to be photographed with their instruments, as Hozier is here with his guitar.

From the microphone you can see that this image was taking whilst he was performing which is another recurring motif in the genre of indie rock (most artists who belong to the indie rock genre are photographed whilst performing).

Individual Research - Nathan Kearns

This is just some research I have been doing in my spare time so when it comes to making our music video, we will have some ideas and most importantly, know what to do. 

This is a quick video I watched to give me some ideas so I know what to do when coming to make the actual video.

I have also watched five music videos from behind the scenes to see what is going on and how the professionals do it. I have seen they all have a laugh making the music videos but as actors they have to be very serious and very emotional. The five videos I looked at were...

Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud

After looking at this behind the scenes footage, I can see a lot of things that we can use that are vey helpful like different camera angles and shots. Also seeing how they mad this video will help our main director (Michael) to look at where the actors and the cameras need to be when shooting.

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

Looking behind the scenes of an artist who made the most famous music videos in the world, I have been realistic and thought our video will not even be close to this standard, but we can take many ideas from it like the lighting, the camera angles and movement of the actors. 

Eminem - Not Afraid

This video is a much more advanced video that needs a lot of technology and will be hard to get ideas from because we don't have that kind of equipment. This video would have cost a lot of money due to the animation in the video.

Individual Research - Connor Burgess

Hozier (Andrew Hozier-Byrne) is an Irish musician from Bray, County Wiklow. The musician was born 17th March 1990, and his music belongs to the indie rock genre.

Hozier has only been writing his own music for two years and is mostly known for his song "Take me to church"the song that my group have decided to do for our music video.

Hozier began a degree in music at the Trinity College in Dublin before dropping out to record demo's for Universal Music. Before he was a solo artist he was a part of a band he met whilst in Trinity college, called Anuna.

He belonged to the group in the years 2009-2012 appearing on an international tour with group and appeared as asoloist in the song "La Chanson de Mardi Gras".

"Take me to church" was Hozier's breakthrough song after it became viral on Youtube, causing the song to top the Irish iTunes singles chart and second place on the official chart (25th October 2013).

I was first made aware of this song when one of my friends when to Leeds festival and he performed this song there. He has also toured in the United States,  earlier this year (June) the artist announced that he will be releasing his debut album called "Hozier". The Album was released in September in Ireland and has recently just been released globally this month.

Individual Research - Nathan Kearns

Take me to Church

This is quite a slow song that suits the tempo of the music video. The story looks like it is about two men who are from a low class area that has a lot of violence and is gang related. The two men look like they fall in love with each other and find out they are gay.

This looks like it is frowned upon in this area and local gangs need to do something about it. The two men look like they are former gang members or maybe still are in gangs and they try to keep it a secret. The song really relates to the video because its like a song about hiding and secrets being kept.

Lego House

This song is an option for what song we will do. Like the Hozier song and video, it is really slow and keep to the timing of the video. This video is about an Ed Sheeran fan who tries to be like him and is very obsessed with him. The fan (who is played by Harry Potter star Rupert Grint) looks like he is trying to make a music video and be like Ed Sheeran.At the end him and Ed Sheeran come face to face and he look like he is in shock. We probably wont use this song but we can take a lot of ideas from the video like camera angles and movements.

Dust land Fairytale

This song starts off slow by kicks in about a quarter of the way through as it then speeds up and the song becomes more interesting. The Killers are standing in the middle of a dust land and singing the song. Some of the camera angles on this video are very good and and very useful.

 I would have really liked to do this song but as a group we have decided to go with another song. This doesn't mean we cant take some good ideas from this video.

Individual Research - Michael Hickey

Indie/Rock Music Album Covers

For our music video that we are going to make we are looking at the song  “Take me to Church” by artist Hozier. Here are a few example of the type of Album Cover that are used for his music and I feel that they well elaborate on the mood and emotions from either the song or album.

I really like the style of these album covers and they well represent this style of music. I feel that it is important that the album cover relates to both the artist and music and I feel that hoziers does this well by linking his music and his background.

After researching into other album covers of a similar style and genre to Hozier I have found other album covers that can link to this. The album covers that I have found also relate to hoziers album covers and the vibes they create.

The American Folk Band “Bon Iver” uses similar techniques throughout there album covers to create an effective album cover to link the music and message behind the music. I also feel that the album covers from Bon Iver link well to Hoziers artistically as there are clear similarities.

I have also found a very low-key indie/rock band called “Sing for me Sandra” from Iceland. I feel that this album cover would link bon ivers and hoziers album covers well and leads for many possibilities for our album cover.

The final artist I have looked at is “All the luck in the world” who is an indie/folk band originating from Ireland. This is very relatable to Hozier and his style of music. I can also see how the cultural aspect of Ireland within their music has had an effect on the album covers and genre of music.

 

Throughout each of these artists and their style of music we can see how each of their album cover is very individual to their music although there are some clear similarities. You can see how most of these covers contain some form of life whether if it is the nature or animals. Most of the album covers focus on landscape, which heavily links to the origin of the artist and where they are from.

Moodboard

The Beginning