Saturday 29 December 2007

Update- 29th December

With our storyboard finished Chris and I have set our first date for filming. It will be on the 5th of January. We are filming at Seal Church Hall. The filming will commence at 2: 30 with just the band. and at 5 : 30 we are aiming to start filming with our audience. This day's filming should provide us with the majority of our shots for the music video. After this we will need to film on two other occasions; a day's filming for the outdoor narrative of the video (on the 6th) and the filming of the indoor scene containing just the lead singer and his "mardy bum" (hopefully this will be filmed on the 5th).

For the filming of the narrative we have organised that we have two cars and two drivers who can travel from location to location. Our aim is to finish filming by the 7th of January so that we have enough time to properly edit our music video.

I will be producing the call sheet and Chris will handling our shot list.

We have done two band practices on the 29th and 30th of December. Not only have the band been able to play together but it gave me and Chris the chance to explain the music video and show the band the type of shots which we will be using.

Sunday 16 December 2007

Ideas for the Narrative Shots

Jake and myself have discussed possible ideas for our narrative shots. We wanted them to follow the lyrics to the songs and to conform to the expectations of the audience, however we didn't want them to be to "cheesy".

Here are some of our ideas, with the corresponding lyrics:

Lyrics: None - Start of video before song starts
Idea: The lead singer, walking down an alley, using point of view shots. Also had the idea of him walking along with the camera stationary and as he steps over the camera, the camera twists upside down to show him walking off (for reference see this post: Technical Analysis - Chris and view the video for "Oceans Avenue" by Yellowcard starting at 00:27 and finishing at 00:32). Also have him walking through a crowd, to get to his performance.

Lyrics: "Remember cuddles in the kitchen"
Idea: Flashback, possibly in black and white, of happier times, when the leadsinger and his girfriend are hugging, possibly in a kitchen although this may verge on the "cheesy" factor.

Lyrics: "That reoccurs, oh when you say I don't care"
Idea: Have a close up on the lead singers face, having an argument with his girfriend, and as he sings the lyrics, have the girfriend "slap" him and use a swish-360-pan back to his face to connote him being slapped. Follow this up with him looking and singing "Well of course I do, yeah I clearly do!"

Lyrics: "Well now then Mardy Bum, Oh I'm in trouble again, aren't I"
Idea: We have a couple of idea for this part, we could use a selection of photos where the couple are together, but have them curling up in flames. Or have the lead singer on a park bench, under a lampost singing but not looking at the camera, similar to Stereophonics, "It means nothing" video, where he is on his bed singing.

Lyrics: None - End of video, song ended
Idea: Have the girlfriend and the leadsinger alone in the hall, looking at each other, and then the lead singer walking away, leaving the girl alone.

Tuesday 4 December 2007

planning review # 3 - CF

Very strong pitch - clear, focused, thorough, informed by primary and secondary research, planning for performance shoot already begun with actors and location. This is an excellent start to planning, everything clearly posted on the blog. I suggest that you now take a camera and do a detailed reccie, posting ideas on the narrative section. However this is a very strong project. Well done guys - keep it up for top marks.

Combined review of our Pitch.

Looking back at our pitch we would say that it went well. Not only did we receive positive feedback on our ideas but we also received new point of views, angles and ideas for our music video. We started the presentation by playing our track and having people write down their ideas and thoughts on the song and what they would put in a music video. This was useful because the people in our class where also media students, and because they where also doing music videos, they could provide a developed understanding of our idea and how we would achieve it.
Generally we received positive feedback particularly in our track choice which, it was agreed, was simple and reflected the band and its genre. Below is a list of ideas that other people mentioned when listening to the song:
  • Performance Based
  • About two people fighting- Narrative
  • Fast paced (particularly the cutting between shots and the camera movement)
  • It needs a real band (it need to be authentic)
  • Simple cutting
  • Avoiding complex special effects ( challenges the IndieRock genre)
  • Show the band being a fun group of friends
  • Light hearted- lost the girlfriend but not a dramatic emotional piece.

All of the ideas above are, to a certain degree, involved in our music video and this reinforced our idea. Our pitch was also very successful and we presented our ideas clearly and in detail using a powerpoint as an aid. We also included our moodboard in the powerpoint to show our ideas visually for ourselves and those who watched our pitch.

Field Trip to the National Film Theatre

10 Top tips from Pete Fraisers:
  1. Choose a short track
  2. Pitch for material with a simple but strong idea
  3. Storyboard - Plan people, placeces, props and costumes
  4. Blog - Use a blog to link ideas
  5. Know equipment - practice effects and shots
  6. Shoot at least 3 times - loads of shots and experiment
  7. Label captures, and break them up into managable chunks for editing
  8. When editing, set up performances, then cuts then special effects
  9. Get feedback
  10. Start analysis early

Monday 3 December 2007

Audience Research- focus group

Chris and I decided to use Qualitative research because we wanted to see how our target audience interacted with our song. As this type of research is subjective we knew that we would receive individual responses rather than Quantitative research because that only looked at statistics which could be miss leading.

Auidence Research Results - Combined Post

From our results, the audience have told us that the most common 5 words associated with the track were: (the number in brackets is how many people said it)
1. Indie (4)
2. Sad (4)
3. Catchy (3)
4. Fast (2)
5. Nostalgic (2) (meaning that the song had some natural romanticism)

The focus group also suggested that the track had a dark tone 3 people rating it 3 out of 10 on our scale, 1 ranking it 4 and the other ranking it 6.
Most people said it had an urban feeling, 2 people marking it as a 1 on the scale only one disagreeing saying it was rural, giving it at 7 out of 10.
There was mixed feelings towards the track being performance based or narrative based. Generally it was voted towards the middle of the scale with more people scaling it around 4.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

planning review # 2 - CF

Excellent record of ideas development... keep it up

Mardy Bum performed live.

I just wanted to point out that only the crowd sing the first verse. For authenticity we could have that in our music video? It would make the music video seem to be more like a live performance and less like something rehearsed and commercial. Leave a comment with what you think Chris.

Monday 26 November 2007

Videos and Shots of Interest

Title of Track: It means nothing
Artist: Stereophonics



Time of Interest: OO:14 to 00:40
Why it is interesting/relevent: These few shots show the singer lip syncing but not actually looking at the camera. This also gives the sense that he is thinking about something and/or regretting something. We could use a similar technique in our video of "Mardy Bum" when he is thinking about the good times they had together.



Title of Track: Until the day I die
Artist: Story of the Year



Time of Interest: OO:00 to 00:24 and 00:25 to 00:34
Why it is interesting/relevent: The first time of interest shows the singer and different objects related to the genre switching from back focus to front focus and I thought that this was an interesting technique. The second shot of interest shows how they do a live performance with quick cuts to the beat of the song.



Title of Track:Adam's Song
Artist: Blink 182



Time of Interest: 01:44 to 01:52
Why it is interesting/relevent: Uses black and white to distinguish flashbacks of happier times. Thought we may be able to use a similar technique in our video when he sings about his girlfriend and the happier times.



Title of Track: Only One
Artist: Yellowcard



Time of Interest: 00:41 to 00:49
Why it is interesting/relevent: Live performance.. dark location , only band are lit like spotlights.. we had a similar idea to this.

Sunday 25 November 2007

Technical Analysis - Chris

Name of Track: Ocean Avenue
Artist: Yellowcard



See folder for complete shot list

Summary

This video by Yellowcard uses a lot of quick shots with fast cuts and jump cuts showing the tempo and beats of the song. There are many shots which are just a second in length. There are lots of occasions when the lead singer, Ryan Key, is shown talking directly to the audience by facing us, using the first person mode of address. The video uses a disjunctive narrative, where the video narrative is different to the lyrical narrative. The narrative shots are often split with a performance shots. This allows the audience to have time to think about the narrative and to show that the band is actually playing constructing authenticity. Most of the shots show the star image, this is when there are close ups of the face of the lead singer. The mise-en-scene used gives the audience the illision of authenticity. Because the setting is realistic, the audience can believe it actually happened. There are shots where there is editing techniques such as overcranking, for example when the singer jumps out the window. However these are used limitedly to make it seem more of a spectacle when you see it.

Planning Review #1 CF

Excellent start. Relevant choice of videos, detailed perceptive analyisis and your initial response to your track is very promising.

This blog demonstrates clear, effective group collaboration. Well done. Keep up good work!

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Technical analysis results





From my technical analysis of "Four Kicks" by Kings of Leon I was able to see that:



  • There where 41 CU shots of the band. 12 shots where CU's of the Lead singer. This is over a 1/4 of the total shots in the music video. Thus we should aim to try and need the same proportion of shots of the band.
  • Never once did the band actually look at the camera, just as Arctic Monkeys never did in their video Teddy Picker. Therefore in our video it would be smart to not have the band acknowledging the camera.
  • There where 10 shots of the whole band and 11 containing more than one member of the band (but not all of them) so it is clear that the band have to be seen as a collective group of friends.

Monday 19 November 2007

Mardy Bum- our idea

Although we have talked about the fact that we want to use Arctic Monkeys "Mardy Bum" for a music video we have never said what our idea for our music video is. Basically it is going to be performance based. The band will be performing at a secret gig and the lead singer will be singing about his "Mardy Bum" (a person who moans a lot who, in this case, we are interpreting as an ex-girlfriend). During this performance their will be images of a happy relationship falling into the disarray that Alex Turner (the lead singer) is singing about in the song.

Thursday 15 November 2007

Music Video Analysis 2 - Chris

Name of Track: Whistle for the Choir
Artist: The Fratellis



This video is useful for my coursework as it shows a UK based alternative rock band similar to Arctic Monkeys. It is also a performance based video, with elements of narrative.
The setting is a dark street in Glasgow. This is typical in alternative rock video's as it is a sub-urban location.
The Genre Characteristics shown in the video are the urban British town, and how they are playing their instruments, typically drums and guitars. There are strong relationships between the lyrics and the visuals. Such as when he says "And it's 4 in the morning, and I'm walking along" it is set during the night and he is walking along a street. It is also shown when he says "Because I may be a beggar and you maybe the queen" he is lying on the streets, similar to a begger.
Roland Barthes' theory of "Grain of Voice" is relevant to this video. There is a typical northern accent and can be trade marked to this artist. This also occurs in Arctic Monkeys songs and videos. There is a clear sense of first person mode of address. The lead singer, Jon Fratelli, is looking directly at the audience, and is singing to us. This gives the audience a sense of para-social intimacy, as he is looking at the audience and talking to them. The video also starts with a ECU of his eye and then moves to a CU of his face and upper body, showing the audience him singing and looking at us. The song does contain a narrative, but it is not a complete narrative. This encourages the audience to watch repeat viewings to try and understand what is going on, this is the narrative fuzz.
This video is an example of illustration. It uses the video to reinforce the lyrics and the meaning of the song. It is about a guy, the lead singer, who meets a girl who he thinks is to good for him but wants to be with her anyway. This is shown through the lyrics "Because I may be a beggar and you maybe the queen", showing how he thinks she is a lot better then him.
The camera shots in this video are slow moving, Steadicam shots. There are a wide range of close ups as well as long shots of the city scape and walking into the moonlight. The post-production digital effects include a high contrast level, with a grayish/green tint to it. However there are bold primary colours that stand out, such as the yellow lines on the pavement.
The "Meat" of the video is where there are cuts to close-ups of the singer's face and this is evident in "Whistle for the Choir". The video starts off with a close up of his face, and there are lots of shots of his face when he is walking towards the camera and singing.
The Mise-en-scene is useful to the video as it constructs a sense of authenticity and realness as the performance is shown and they are in "a big big city". It is also set at night which reinforces the lyrics "And it's 4 in the morning, and I'm walking along".

Music Video Analysis 2- Jake

Track: Teddy Picker
Artist: Arctic Monkeys



I am looking at this video because it is performance lead, like our music video will be, and the song is by the same band that perform our music video.

From this song the Indie Rock genre is clear. The band play in a basic recording studio and their equipment is transported in an old transit van. This modesty shows that the band represents simplicity- they will not fool people into liking their music with dramatic videos and crazy onstage performances- they are their to play music. The simplicity of performance that the Arcitc Monkeys have has to be carried over to our music video so that we conform to these Indie Rock conventions but it is important to make sure that out video has repeatability as the music video is there to entertain.
The music video is also very visually simple. For example there are no complex editing techniques or visual effects, what you see is what you get. This provides appeal to a different audience than, for example, Britney Spears as the band is actively avoiding selling themselves. In our modern day cult of celebrity a growing percentage of audiences are moving from popular music to this alternative Indie scene. This is shown by the Arctic Monkeys having the fastest selling album in UK chart history "selling 363,735 copies in the first week" (Wikipedia, sourced from TheGuardian.com. The title was "Arctic monkeys make chart history" and it was written by Alex Kumi) despite the fact that they are signed to an alternative record label (Domino records). They also showed that they are not a pop music sensation by being the first ever band to be shortlisted for the mercury music awards (one of the most prestigious and artistic based music awards in Europe) for two years in a row.
The track "Teddy Picker" is about celebrities becoming commodities or, as Arctic Monkeys put it, the "teddy" which is pulled up above other bands (Teddy's) by the picker (media producers) yet just as soon as they are made "stars" they fall into notoriety- joining the pile of used and discarded commodities. They are highlighting this point and stating that they will not sell out and try to be the world's biggest pop sensation. After all "who'd want to be men of the people...when there's people like... you".

Group Roles

Director and storyboard: Jake
Audience Research: Chris
Editor: Mainly Chris
Cameraman: Chris and Jake
Location Reccie: Chris and Jake

Wednesday 14 November 2007

Track Choice.

Me and Chris narrowed our song choices down to three:

1: Less Than Jake- "The Science of Selling Yourself" (suggested by Jake)
2: Streetlight Manifesto- "On&On&On" (suggested by Jake)
3: Arctic Monkeys- "Mardy Bum" (suggested by Chris)

After discussing our ideas for the music videos and the band's genres it was clear that if we tried to do song 1 or 2 Chris would be being lead into a project in which he could not easily participate because he did not have a strong interest in or knowledge of Ska music. Therefore we dicided to pick "Mardy Bum" by the Arctic Monkeys because we both had a good knowledge of genre. Also, although we both liked Less Than Jake's "The Science of Selling Yourself" it seemed to be too slow and we both thought that our idea for "Mardy Bum" was better.

Monday 12 November 2007

Music Video Analysis 1 - Chris

Name of Track: Fluorescent Adolescent
Artist: Arctic Monkeys



Genre Characteristics: There is elements of fighting, which has links to rock, and rebellion.
What is the relationship between music and visuals? As the music speeds up and drumming is emphasised more, the visuals on the screen also speed up, and actions such as fighting/chasing take place.
What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals? There is very little relationship. Although there is a sense of irony, as they sing "Last laugh lane" whilst dressed as clowns.
Is it performance-based, narrative based or concept-based? The video has a conceptual narrative. This video follows a disjunctive style as the video doesn't relate to the song, it follows its own story. However it has a conceptual touch to it, as it doesn't quite make sense.
Intertextual References There are intertextual refrences to other songs in the genre such as Radioheads "Karma Police". The endings are similar with the cars exploding and engulfed in fire.

The video doesn't use a the first person mode of address as there aren't any shots of the band themselves playing intrustments. However the video keeps to the tempo of the song. The audience is encouraged to watch the video repeatedly as it is a commical video and people will laugh at it. The Disjunctive narrative ignores the lyrics of the song and creates its own narrative.
The camera shots often are medium shots showing fighting between characters. However there are close ups of the faces and this is the "Meat" in the video. There is fast paced cutting between each shot and this keeps to the beat and rhythm of the song. The mise-en-scene of the video helps set the mood as it a derelict warehouse and a scene where fights may occur.. unlike if it was in a city where it would feel less realistic and therefore this video keeps its authenticity.

Friday 9 November 2007

Music Channels Questions

How do audiences consume music channels?

Audiences consume music channels casually and with a commitment. Casually means that the audience will just flick through the channels and trying to find something that interests them. However commitment based viewing is when the audience knows what is on and watches the program based on that.
An active, or focused, viewing of music channels attracts the attentive audience, ones who pay attention to the music channels often with deeper relationships. A passive, or ambient viewing, consists mainly of background and communal viewing. There is a mass appeal from this as there are often continuous streams of music, played as a radio on the TV.
In a survey conducted by “Emap”, 90% of 16-34 year olds watch music channels because they have nothing else to do. 75% of the focused viewing accounts for people watching because of new video releases. However 82% of the ambient viewers, watch the music video’s in the background.

Why are they commercially viable with such a small audience share?

Although the audience share of music channels is fairly small, what makes them commercially viable is the impact they have on the advertisement agencies. As these music channels are often narrowcast media texts, they know what their audience is and therefore they can tell exactly what audience the advertisements can target. An example of this is the “Creative Zen”. “Emap” allowed the “Creative Zen” to own the majority of the 22 music channels, at the most relevant times of the day for their audience. The different music channels of different genres have different advertisements attracting different audiences. 76% of the core target audience was reached in the 6 week sponsorship period. 46,991 entries in a “Lucazade” promotion were received which is staggering as the average response is around 1,500.

Music Video Analysis 1- Jake



Genre: Alternative Rock (blending Punk, Funk and traditional Rock)

Type of Video: This video is performance based and it used by the band to show that they are relaxed, fun and can mock themselves.

Concept: The video is "inspired by the one -minute sculptures of Erwin Wurm". This artistic concept is being analysed because the video, despite some clear computerised effects(the camera travelling up the big yellow tube), would be easy (and cheap) to make and would work well with music from the rock genre.

The video features all four band members performing abstract actions. This disjunctured theme seems to have no purpose but to advertise the band who provide an attractive performance and seem to have a relaxed view of music. The director, Mark Romanek, used a colour scheme which revolved around bright colour, in particular orange (the backwash in the performance sequences), and lighting which provided a clean-cut atmosphere which integrates perfectly with the videos theme. The random acts that the band undertake have no clear purpose but because of the entertainment that they provide repeatability is created. Classic rock music rebellion is created in the video in a variety of ways. The guitarist, John Frusciante, has long unkempt hair and while playing guitar throws his body around the stage. Moreover the band is being unconventional because they are doing things that most people would not for example wearing a tent, standing in a bin and running down a deserted corridor with huge lights on your back which would be considered post-modern as they are breaking the rules of society e.g. standing in a bin. This video is also post-modern because the text has no set meaning. The music video plays with an idea and puts it to the music of red hot chili peppers- it is not designed to have a huge political or social impact.

Goodwin and his key features of music videos.

Genre Characteristics: Rebellion motifs stem from the Punk side of the genre. Therefore the bass player (Flea) and guitarist (Fruscante) do a lot of head banging and, while they play, throw themselves around the stage. Anthony Keidis highlights the bands alternative rock roots by dancing in an unconventional fashion which includes weird jumps and arm movements. Rebellion is also shown by Fruscante's long hair and the fact that the band seem to constantly go topless and show their tattoos which could be seen as modern rebellion motifs.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals: although the visuals have nothing to do with the song every five to ten seconds the director will cut to Anthony Keidis lipsinking.

Relationship between music and visuals:

Close-ups and artist motifs: There are a large number of close-ups of Anthony Keidis which show that he is the frontman of the band. He is topless throughout the video (other band members are too but less frequently and noticeably). This is a rebellion motif that the band created when they started to appear on stage naked.

Notion of looking: Because of the weird things that Anthony Keidis does we are draw into watching him. This is also because in many shots he knowingly takes up much of the camera shot, particularly in shots when he is alone. In these instances he leans in towards the camera and creates a CU or ECU. This makes the audience look at the lead singer. Yet there are no shots of Keidis looking at himself which states that Rock is not meant to be appearance but musically lead.

Intertextual references: Clearly there is an artistic reference to "the one- minute sculptures of Erwin Wurm".

Other important points to note.

  • The "Meat" of the music video (shots of the singer and band) usually seems to occur during the chorus.
  • The "Speed" of the music video has to correspond with the actual song.
  • The music video cuts with the "Beat" of the song
  • The stage in the video reinforces the band's authenticity