Digi-pack research

Going back to my original artist research, I remember I did some on the unique group called "The Streets" with it's main member Mike Skinner. I then went back and looked t my research and I remembered that a certain song of theirs "Never went to church", the video is all in black and white, just like ours is.



The Streets - Never Went To Church on MUZU.

I love this video because I think the black and white really portrays the emotion in this song about losing a loved one. There are some really nice scenic shots and close ups of Mike which I could also take into consideration when it comes down to designing my digipack. The close ups re really good and I love how his face is in contrast and the rest of the background is slightly out of focus. Here are a few print screens of my favourite shots from this video and have given me excellent inspiration for my digi-pack cover.

These two print screen I like because the mise en scene is excellent. I love the first image of Mike walking along a platform nearby to a river of some sort, with the beautiful mountain in the background. Obviously, when it comes to my digi-pack I need to keep my ideas realistic and that there are no mountains anywhere near I live! So, instead, I will focus on the river idea and perhaps get a photo of Elle walking long a bridge near the River Thames. The second image I really like because of the snow on the platform with the train pulling in. I love that the snow stands out in the black and white effect. However, because its February, the lack of snow is here so I will perhaps have a really unique image of Elle standing in the middle of train platform, perhaps smoking a cigarette, with the train pulling past her in the background.

These next two print screens were taken from the part of the video where Mike Skinner is sitting on the train. I love the image where is he looking out of the window and you can see his reflection on the window. This could be an option and if Elle is looking out of the window, it shows that she has a lot on her mind and this reflects with the title of the songs on her album. The second print screen is very relevant to our music video as he too, is looking at a Polaroid photo and looking back on a memory. I thought of another idea which I can do for my digi-pack is by taking a photo of someone holding Polaroid photo with a picture of Elle on it. This way, Elle is still included on the cover, but she is represented as a memory instead.

This screen shot is the favourite of all the ones I have taken from the video. I love it because it is both a scenic shot, but with Mike incorporated in to it in a clever way. I could perhaps take a picture similar to this, but use a car window for a reflection rather then the caravan/trailer shown in this shot.

The final print screen I have chosen is a close up of Mike's face. I really like this as the composition of the shot is perfect and within the headroom that is left, I will still be able to put in all the necessary details that re needed on a digi-pack such as the price, title etc. I also love the fact that in black and white, this shot will really capture the emotion in Elle's eyes and how she is feeling whilst singing the song "broken arrow".

Genre Research - The Streets

Micheal Geoffrey "mike" skinner, normally goes by the name of "the streets" stage name. Born on the "7th November 1978, Mike has been in the music industry since a very young age.


At just 5 years old he started to learn the keyboard and it grew from there. He lived on a suburban council estate in the heart of Birmingham and had a pretty rough upbringing. In the mid 1990's he attended Bourneville Secondary School, but left at just the age of 15 to pursue his music career with no qualifications. However, he soon went straight into producing his own music. His music goes by the genre of contemporary/rap. It included both fast and slow beats and in some songs Mike 'raps/mc's', where as in slower songs such as "we never went to church" where he actually sings along to the lyrics rather then "song-talking".



Between 2000 and 2003 and he worked on his first album "Original Pirate Material" which was nominated for the mercury prize award. It was a success with the public and entered the top 20 in March 2001. It included singles such as "lets push things forward", "has it come to this" and "don't mug yourself". As you can see, by the names of the songs, What mike writes and produces is all true knowledge based and is hoping people will listen to the lyrics carefully as they mean a lot to him.


Between 2004 and 2005, he released his second album "A grand don't come for free" which again went into the top 20. In fact, one of the singles "your fit but don't ya know it" went in at number one in the charts in early 2005. "...Being number one for the first time, was by far the best moment of my life so far..." states Mike.


Since 2005, Mike has gone on to produce another 3 albums "The hardest way to make an easy living", "everything is borrowed" and his current album he is working on in 2010 is "computer blues".

He does lots of charity work and also enjoys doing live performances such as Party in the Park, and various private gigs and supporting work around London.

My favourite video from The Streets its definately the single "your fit but don't ya no it". I love the way that photographs are used as moving images as its from a point of view camera angle so its almost as if we are looking at Mike Skinner's photos. I also like the way how almost no "camera tricks" have been used in that it look like it has been done realistic and modern day and hasn't got anything false like artificial lighting or special effects. I makes the video look cleaner, sharper and crisper and I think it fits this song really well. The best thing about it though is Mike is pretty much playing himself in this video, so it makes it really fun to watch.





Another video by The Streets that I enjoyed was "when you wasn't famous". It has a really good comical edge to the video and made me laugh. Again it isn't a "show off" video as in "oh look at all the special editing techniques we can do" but has still been edited well and shows continuity throughout the video. I enjoy the streets videos so much because I like their music and how the videos really fit the genre and lyrics to their songs. I also think that this video would b able to be achieved as it isn't overly professional and so myself and my group aren't being too over ambitious.