BH- NiN: Remix

Trent Reznor launched his own remix website- where the fans (for free) could download the multi-tracks free of charge and remix the tracks as they pleased, which incured the wrath of Universal records who wanted more control of how Reznor released his music. All remixes on the site are avalible to download free of charge and Reznor also used it as a platfrom to release some previously unheard tracks or tracks that had only ever been avalible in more obscure ways. [Draft]

BH - Further ideas/ developments

A shot from 'We're in this together

now' (1999)

We have decided on a very contrasting style of video with a very dark style to it, bearing in mind prior Nine Inch Nails Videos such as 'We're in This Together now', which features a strongly stylised (B&W) type and use of close ups of lip syncing- then contrasted with long shots of people running







Closer (1994)

However we also bear in mind other Nine Inch Nails videos, such as 'Closer' & 'The Perfect Drug', also heavily stylised, with Closer being shot using an old film reel from the 20's to give it a more aged look. we hope that a blend of these looks and styles will create a unique video that viewers will want to watch again and again and be the figurehead of a strong media package.





We have paid close attention to the Nine Inch Nails back catalogue of music videos from the early industrial/ pop-esq sound through to the more recent- with more to come and closer analysis to come in future blog posts.

KM - Example of weak music video "Coldplay - Yellow"

Artist: Coldplay
Song Title: Yellow
Genre: Alternative Rock
Director: James Frost

Vocalist - Chris Martin

In my opinion this is a very poor music video, there is no shot variation, as the whole four and a half minute video is one continuous shot tracking backwards. This continuous shot could be justified if there was some dramatic change in mise-en-scene through the video, such as the colour changes, or things appearing and disappearing in the background behind the singer as he walks along, however the same non contrasting, dreary colours are used throughout, with the exception of the very end of the video where it gets slightly lighter due to the sun-rise.

KM - Albanian Music Video/ Gaga Comparison

This Albanian music video is an example of a fairly awful music video, from an objective perspective: It has almost no shot variation of any kind, extremely long takes, only one location used. All these aspects challenge the codes and conventions of music video as a format, irrelevant of genre. If you compare this to a high budget, mainstream American artist's music video such as Lady Gaga's Telephone, the contrast is immediately apparent. The Gaga video features fast pace editing, frequent location and other mise-en-scene changes such as clothing and other props. It is clearly high budget, as on top of all the mise-en-scene aspects, actors like Tyrese Gibson feature, which is another expense that clearly isn't feasible for the creators of the Albanian video. Lady Gaga's high budgets for these videos are well justified however, as nearly all of her official videos on Youtube have +50 million views, with Bad Romance having the most, at over 400 million.

KM - My Favourite Music Videos

Here are 5 of my favourite music videos, in no particular order:


Young Guns - Weight Of The World



A simple video, but I really like the natural scenery that is used.

Nightwish - The Islander



I think there are some really interesting concept ideas in this video.

Avenged Sevenfold - So Far Away



I think the use of past footage of the deceased drummer really fit with the meaning of the song.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Soul To Squeeze



Flipped version as official couldn't be embedded.

Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger



Classic Oasis music video.

Group - Podcast 1

 HBK Podcast 1 by HPK

BH- Nine Inch Nails, A history of...

Nine Inch Nails 'formed' in 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio whilst Trent Reznor was working as a cleaner at Right Track Studio, Trent recorded his first demo's in the studio after hours- playing most of the instruments himself he made a demo set later known as 'Purest Feeling', heavily influenced by industrial artist 'Skinny Puppy', later released as a bootleg in 1994 by Hawk Records. Their live shows have ranged from the violent and muddy to hi-tech light shows as time has gone on leading to much more advanced sounds- as close to studio as possible; Trent Reznor writes all music but often hires a band when it comes to the recording and live shows (wouldn't make a very good one man live show...)
Reznor however has moved onto other things- his new project with his wife; How to Destroy Angels and scoring several films- having previously been involved with David Lynch film Lost Highway and Natural born Killers directed by Oliver Stone.


 His more recent forays have been with long time collaborator Atticus Ross to create the score for Social Network by David Fincher- (who also directed the video for 'Only') and more recently Renzor and Ross have been working on the score to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo also by Fincher. Reznor and Ross also won an Oscar for their work on Social Network last year- and Reznor has been working on a HBO adaptation of his dystopian Year Zero with the writer from Fight Club being roped in to help based on Reznors 2008 album and ARG (alternate Reality Game) used to help market the album. 

In 1988 Reznor was working as a cleaner at Right Track Studios when he created his first ever demos later known as 'Purest Feeling' a very early version of Pretty Hate Machine- the first big release by Nine Inch Nails spawning singles like 'Head Like a Hole', 'Sin' and 'Down in It'- this wave of more mainstream industrial, combined with the very pop feel to some of the songs proved a success, one which launched Nine Inch Nails into the early 90's. 
This lead to an intense touring period, this and creative issues between Reznor and TVT records led to a huge delay util Reznor released...










Broken, which was much heavier than their previous work, in 1992, following Reznors absence over the arguments with the record company. Which led to this statement by Reznor to be put in the sleeve of each vinyl record.


Broken was secretly recorded from march to august 1992 in a variety of locations
without the permission of
the record label
to ensure it could fester without Divine intervention
now They just leave me alone and let me do what I want

"Broken was a hard recording to make
Broken is an ugly record made during an ugly time in my life
Broken marks phase three of nine inch nails: the becoming
I am starting to realize what this is all about
and I don't like it

Flood starting out producing but I ended up
I'm not sure why

maybe I am what everbody seems to think I am

nine inch nails is still not a real band with real people playing real instruments
there will be no touring for Broken

I am starting work on my new full-length recording - The Downward Spiral - which I
hope will be finished the beginning of 1993

some will come along for the ride, some won't
Trent Reznor, 1992

From Ninwiki 

Happiness in Slavery

These new- darker tracks gave way to something much darker- the Broken film- which to this  day has still never officially been released due to the extreme and graphic content of the video which depicts a slow and ritualistic killing filmed on a very low-res camera- leading some to believe that it was infact a real killing...seriously. 

And as Reznor said the next release was The Downward Spiral- the big 'hit' for Nine Inch Nails with the song 'Closer' combined with a controversial video by Mark Romanek made it gold dust.

A concept album about the general destruction and fall of one man led to some seriously overwrought tracks filled with noise and screams. The 90's proved to be the biggest decade for Nine Inch Nails who at that point seemed to be going from strength to strength- a new sound with each new album as it appeared at that point.

(turn your speakers up)

Cue a five year gap in which Reznors problems became news and he all but vanished from 

the musical scene until 1999 with The Fragile which cut opinion in two- some seeing it as overwrought and far too depressing and others seeing it as a work of art spread over two discs of goodness. 

Although defiantly more depressing than the prior album The Fragile did contain some single material such as 'We're in this together now'  and the censored 'Starsuckers'

Cue another vanishing act from Reznor- who goes into rehab for alcohol addiction and 6 years go by until the release of 'With Teeth' a much more mainstream album- filled with catchy songs with plenty to make them far more catchy then the Fragile with more hooks to boot but it seemed almost that Nine Inch Nails had lost its bite or to others had adapted to a more modern audience.It generally divided fans.


Year Zero appeared 18 months later- a slick concept album on what Reznor perceived to be flaws on the american society. He said that the album was 'for a movie that never existed' This, however, is on the way, with Reznor producing a show for HBO with a hopeful air date of late 2012.
To compliment this Reznor created a vast online viral marketing scheme. Focusing on the proposed end of the world with a totalitarian US government in control- and various drugs used to control the masses with daily terrorist attacks taking place in protest- something not too far detached from today- releasing websites and codes for fans to trawl through. 
Here is one example:


http://anotherversionofthetruth.com/  




However Reznor took issue with the record companies pricing of it and prompted fans to 'steal it' leading to another huge fallout between Reznor and Universal Records. Signaling his departure to the foundation of 'Null Corperation' through which Reznor published Ghosts I-IV and the Slip for free for charge and launched the NiN remix site (more on this in future blog posts)


Following this seperation he begin to work on film soundtracks with Atticus Ross- on Social Network by David Fincher and the upcoming Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.


Thus concludes 20+ years of Nine Inch Nails history with Reznors promise that there's more to come...

KM - Group update (draft)

After hearing all the classes' pitches I decided to join Ben Hudson and Harry Knight in doing Ben's idea for the Nine Inch Nail's song - Metal, as we all agreed that it was a well thought out idea that we'd all like to create.

Name: Harry Knight
Nickname: HK
Favourite Artist/ Band: Example
Favourite Film: The Hangover














Name: Ben Hudson
Nickname: Mash-head
Favourite Artist/ Band: Nine Inch Nails
Favourite Film: Donnie Darko
























Name: Kyle Meeson
Nickname: Tone
Favourite Artist/ Band: Avenged Sevenfold
Favourite Film: Fight Club

Coursework Pitch

For my 2 minute coursework pitch to the rest of the class I decided to create a powerpoint presentation to play in the background while I explained my idea for the Red Hot Chili Pepper's song - Backwoods.

The Band

I chose this song because it is relatively short and didn't have an official video made for it already, also I am a big fan of the band. My idea was for a mainly narrative based video, with some band performance thrown in as well, the narrative was based around two friends walking along a path through some woods when one of them disappears, and the other friends has to follow clues, sent by text to find him. In terms of mise-en-scene I was planning on having the two protagonists in stereotypical teenage clothing (hoodies, trainers and jeans) and film when it was snowing, which would be for two purposes, to provide intertextual references to the band's previous work (the song "Snow"), and to add an eerie feel to the whole video.

Vodcast - Video Comparison

Harry Knight and I got together to do a vodcast on comparing two very different music video's, "Martin Solveig - Hello" and "Avenged Sevenfold - Afterlife", we talked about aspects of mise-en-scene, and more in relation to music genre.