Casting Call

As Emma knows more musicians than I do, she has sent out a casting call on FaceBook for extras in the music video.

Studio visit

I visited the studio today to have a look around at possible filming rooms. Here are some photos I took;

Room 1; I thought this could be the main shooting room, particularly as the room is very long and so long shots can be taken in here.

They have high ceiling lights that are rather dim. Fortunately the woman showing me around said that they have large studio lights that I can use if I want them which I will.



Room 2; This is actually a recoring and editing suite. I think I will use this for my intro where my artist, Emma, is setting up equipment. I could even record Emma through the window while she is in the room next door to give a natural and 'raw' feel to the filming. There is equipment I could also take shots of for extra footage.

There will also be other equipment readily available for me such as a mic stand (which will be necessary) and a drum kit (which would look good in the background of shots). 



Shot List

I have also written up a shot list so that I am clear on what shots I need for filming.

Animatic

Song

Emma has now sent me the mp3 file for the song Shake Shake. I can add this to my animatic.

My Artist

I have been talking with my artist, Emma, over FaceBook and she told me of bands/artists that have influenced her and therefore have influenced her music, including the song I am using.

After looking at the video she linked me to, I can see a lot of quick edits and short shots which I have included in my storyboarding. Quick zoom ins are also a part of the video which is something I can take for my own video. It is filmed in a very DIY style which is something I definitely wanted to do. This sense of amateur filming is created with hand held, jerky camera movements and with no HD quality to the film. There is also synaesthesia with "hold my hands" and the band members holding each others hands. There is only 1 filming location however, something that I have not planned as I want a little narrative, although small, running through the video. Interestingly the singers are all dancing along to the music. They do it lazily and without much choreography (I am guessing). This is perhaps something I can so with Emma.

Studio

I have decided to go down and see the studio next Saturday (22nd December) to see exactly where I will be shooting. I will also be able to take images and post them on here.

Storyboarding and Animatic

I only have a week and 2 days until the deadline and so to save me some time I will storyboard my video and use the images from that for my animatic. Here is what I have done so far.

Music Video planning

I printed out the lyrics of my song, listened to the music a few times and annotated the lyrics with whatever came to mind. I have decided I will definitely set most of the video in a studio (which I have arranged) and I will also have a small narrative running through the song, set in a cafe (which I will need to ask permission for).

Costumes and Props

I have planned all of the costume and props I will need for my video shoot.

Costume and props FINAL from zoeybaker

My Magazine Advert

This is my final Magazine Advert.

My digipack

This is my final digipack piece.

Taking photos

I took some photos on Wednesday and tried to place them on my digipack. I discovered that the backgrounds of each image were all very different and clashed when all placed on the digipack.

Therefore I will be re-shooting my photos tonight. This time though I will be shooting the instruments against a white background and therefore I can change the colour, or keep it white, of the background on the digipack panels.

My audience responses

This comment was for my front cover.

This person has suggested darker colours. I will not be doing this as I want the child-like theme of the digipack to come across strongly as the target audience are young. I am glad that this person mentioned the idea reminding them of The Wombats and Two Door Cinema Club as they are very Indie-Pop.

This comment was on my back cover.

This comment was added AFTER I created the Photoshop draft and so I will need to see whether this person has changed their mind when seeing that I have placed the song titles on both sides of the panel.

This comment was on my left hand panel.

I am glad that this person likes the idea of the digipack being bright as this was my idea from the very start of the planning process.

And finally,

I am encouraged by these comments.

I have created this using internet images on a Photoshop digipack template. I have done this to try and see what positions the images look best in. More importantly though, I did this to try out different fonts for the band title and song titles. 

I have uploaded this onto my Facebook group to see what they think about it.

Instruments

I have acquired all of the toy instruments that I need to photograph for my digipack. However, because I could not find a toy drum kit for the front cover, I am using a children's CD player instead.

Also, I have had the idea of making the background of the digipack in black and white and having the toy instruments in colour only. I will post this on my Facebook page to see what my target audience think about it.

Print advert

This is my first draft of how I want my magazine advert to look like.

• Large image of artist with guitar in a photo frame; showing that the instrument and the performance is key to this band. The frame is situated on the left hand side so that it is aesthetically pleasing. The frame could suggest voyeurism as she is female and entrapped in the frame; more of a mainstream convention.
• Record label at the bottom; typical of all adverts.
• The advert consists of many established music magazines praising the band and the single. 

New drafts of Digipack

These are my new ideas for my digipack. 

New Digipack idea

After talking to my teacher and attempting to think more creatively to make my idea more quirky, I am thinking about using toy instruments instead of real instrument into the concept art.

This still puts the focus on the instruments which is what I have always intended for my digipack, but it does it in a slightly entropic and more interesting way. This is thinking outside of the box.

Print Work: The Concept

My first  idea for my 4 panel digipack is to have the band on the front with their instruments in a full body shot to establish their brand identity; they take music seriously. I want them to come across as quirky though so I will have them wearing trademark bright colours while they are smiling, to make them seem friendly and down to earth. The back cover of the digipack will be a high angled shot looking down on the instruments, including a guitar and a drum kit, with the single titles placed over the top in post-production. The third panel will have a tight shot of a bass guitar stood up against a brick wall making it seem edgy.
This idea was inspired by the indie-pop bands Mumford and Sons and Noah and the Whale who like to move away from the pop genre towards the indie genre. However on re-evaluating the song I am going to use, I have decided that it is more pop than indie and so I am trying to come up with creative ideas that are more quirky.

This is my first draft for my digipack.

Confirmation

I have had confirmation on the singer that I am using in my video, who also wrote and sang the song that I'm using in my video.

She has also confirmed that she would like to get involved in the video as the artist.

I now also have a studio booked for filming and have had confirmation that I can film on Wednesday 2nd January. The studio is locally based so it will be easy to get the actor and myself there on filming day.

Focus Group

So I have set up a Facebook group so that I am able to get audience feedback on any ideas I post on the group.

I have introduced it in an informal way so that my friends are more likely to give feedback when I ask them to.

Time Management

This is a first deadline plan. I will try to stick to these deadlines in order to be as organised as possible as I am working with a real band.

Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man

Analysis of Generic Conventions

 

 

This video is set in only one place with the artists playing the song on a theatre stage. This demonstrates immediately that the band is all about the performance and the music. Nevertheless, extreme close-ups of their faces are still included in the video (which is more typical of a Pop video) to establish the relationship between the audience and the artists so that the audience feels intimate with the band themselves. These close-up's include chiaroscuro lighting which adds an element of mystery to the band but also is created by simple small light bulbs scattered around the set which creates that DIY feel that is typical of an Indie-Pop video. The emotions shown on the faces of the artists creates a connection between the mood of the song (gloomy and sad undertones) and the audience (who should be feeling sad).

Instruments play a vital part in the video, making the band come across as serious musicians who make their own music (as opposed to pop stars having it done for them). Extreme close-up's of the multiple instruments used by the band, including more obscure instuments such as a banjo, allows the band to come across as multi-talented and much more Indie than Pop.

It is interesting that this video is also set in a social environment however there is no audience watching them. This reflects the song's theme of lonliness and upset. It also creates an intimate feel with the audience watching the video at home who may have felt more detatched from the band if there had been a second audience in the video. 

There is a little bit of synaesthesia present that establishes the difference between the first verse and chorus (but less so in the later chorus). During this chorus, there is a long shot of all four of the artists on the stage and throughout this, the camera tracks forward slowly until the end of the chorus in which the shot changes. This shot is effective because it simply shows all of the artists singing together in harmony as opposed to many shots of the artists together which would create a fast pace which does not go with the slow tone of the song.

Noah and the Whale- 5 Years Time

Analysis of Generic Conventions

In this Indie-Pop video, the texture is very grainy and gives a feeling of a 1980’s camcorder, a shaky hand held camera adding to the low quality. This is typical for this genre as it adds a ‘DIY’ effect to the video. This effect allows the audience to feel that it would be just as easy for them to create a similar video and this connects the artist to the audience. 

The video is very illustrative, an example being when a bust shot of the male artist has his hands over her eyes, allowing her to peak through in a head and shoulders shot when the lyrics “I’ll put my hands over your eyes but you’ll peak through” appear. Synaesthesia plays a large part in the video. It establishes the difference between the chorus and the verses which is a theory of Goodwin. When the chorus plays (“Fun fun fun”) the artists stand and act out the lyrics by pointing to the sky on the beat of the words, dressed in bright yellow boy scouts clothing, even though they are in their late 20’s (a theme of youth and childhood antics runs through the video). It happen again in later chorus where the words change to “five years time” where the artists put their hand forward for “five”, make a Y shape with their arms for “years” and make a T shape for “time”. This adds to the animation of the video and gives the part of the audience who are more mainstream the chance to learn the easy routines. The actions the artists make add a sense of child-like fun which in turn would make the audience feel happy. 

The video also has a theme of socialising which is common in Indie-Pop videos. The artists are seen enjoying themselves with local people in a pub. This gives the sense that the band is fun and enjoys normal activities that the audience would probably take part in. This makes the artists seem approachable and the kind of people the audience could get along with if they met. It would also be a cheap, if not free, setting for the band who would not have much money to spend on the video and so any audience member who creates music or film videos could be inspired by this. Most Indie-Pop videos will create the look of socialising by having the setting as their house, a garage or outside whereas a pub is more obvious but works better with the strangers in the background giving a realistic feel.  

Instruments play a vital part in the video because it shows the audience that they are genuine artists who don’t necessarily want the fame but take their music seriously. The scenes where they play instruments are frequent but not continuous as the video is mainly made up of vocals. When there is an instrumental, the artists make full use of showing off their instrumental talent. The second shot is of the female artist playing a ukulele on a sofa; this looks casual and natural. For twenty two seconds the artists play violins and another ukulele and at one point even shake a shaker. This demonstrates their range of instruments used in the song, showing off to the audience that they are definitely not pop stars and have no desire to be. During this the editing is different to that used on any pop video as the editor plays around with chopping up the screen into parts, fragmenting the artists and having one artist playing the ukulele in the top left hand corner of the frame and the artist playing the violin in the rest of the frame. This gives the audience different things to look at and emphasises the creativeness not only in the artists but behind the scenes also. 

Research- Print Adverts

In this post I will research the different print adverts that I have found for Indie-Pop artists. I will analyse the adverts and use this research for my own print advert that I will create later on.

These print adverts are for the single 'Hands' from The Ting Tings. The background is full of bright colours which is typical of the Indie-Pop genre as this is what sells to the young, mainly female audience. The font is large and bold which reflects The Ting Tings music which is very loud with many drum beats. There seems to be splatters of paint across the writing which connotes rebellion; this shows The Ting Tings to be something 'different' and 'out there' which would attract the young, easily influenced audience. On the second advert at the bottom left hand corner is The Ting Tings website which would have links to buy their music and have a list of their tour dates, amongst other links. This sells the artist as it will give information to those who perhaps have not heard of the band before. What is different about these adverts is that it doesn't feature the artist whereas most adverts would. This gives The Ting Tings an edge as, with just writing and no impressions of the artists, the audience can make up their own mind about what they could look like which adds intrigue.

This is more of a traditional advert compared to that of The Ting Tings. Mumford and Sons are a more traditional band that don't break the rules. Here, they are using quotes from famous, international newspapers such as 'The New York Times' saying positive things about their new album and giving them credit. This will attract the audience who would have heard some of these newspapers. What is most interesting is that the newspapers will attract every type of audience as the target audience for Mumford and Sons would recognise online entertainment website SPIN whereas more mainstream listeners would spot NME magazine. The colours used include dull browns and beige which emphasise the rustic, old fashioned feel that goes with Mumford and Sons. The image makes the band look like serious and intelligent musicians with the lead singer holding a scroll and two others holding their instruments. This emphasises the fact that they are not music making pop stars.

Research- Digipacks

In this post, I will be researching various artists in the Indie-Pop genre that have released digipacks and print adverts. This research will help me with deciding what kind of digipack and print advert I will create for my coursework.

Digipacks

This front cover is very simple. It is typical of the  pop genre to try and sell the artist as a 'star' as opposed to an artist. which is what this image is doing; there are no instruments or signs that they want you to buy the album for the music. Although Goulding's music is in the indie-pop genre, her label evidently wants to make her more of a pop star. The font is something I can take from this into my own digipack; it is thin and in capitals which is found on many indie-pop covers. This is attractive because it seems simplistic which is a convention of indie-pop; the more DIY and easy it looks, the more it attracts the creative, aspiring audience.  

What I like about this cover is that the album is named "The First Days of Spring" and the image is set in the Spring time, illustrating the title. The cover is also a simple design with a grainy, DIY effect to it, making it feel very Indie and is something I could easily do in Photoshop. The image blurs out the artists (apart from the main singer) which is important because the Indie-Pop genre focuses on the music more than the artists. 

The back cover is very aesthetically pleasing. The lighting makes the image very bright and connotes hopefulness and freedom (with the open space in front of the artists). This attracts the target audience as they are young aspirer's. The information about the record label and its logo is very small and placed at the bottom of the back cover. This is something I need to do for my digipack because Indie-Pop artists don't like to focus on the fact that they have a record deal; they prefer it to stay  private because they don't want people thinking that other people have a certain amount of control over their music.

Again, this cover is very simple. It uses a large open beach as its background which connotes freedom and the ability to do whatever one wants. This gives off a calm, relaxing feel which reflects the type of music that Of Monsters And Men produce. The image is slightly grainy, once more emphasising the DIY feel and with the clothing that the lead singer is wearing, it has an old fashioned, 1950's feel to it. The only writing is the title of the album and the band name in the top left hand corner. This is small and does not attract the eye immediately which shows that the focus should be on the image and what it makes the audience feel. The colours of the font, pink and white, goes against the typical connotations that go with the noun "monsters" and "men". This demonstrates that the band goes against the typical stereotypes that go with gender; this is typical of Indie-Pop artists. 

The CD is pink with white clouds amongst it. This emphasises the feeling of freedom and relaxation. The image on the case is of the sea against the grey/white sky. This reminds me that the digipack doesn't have different images on each side but that they all relate to one another and in this case, the images carry on from one side to another. This is something I would like to do with my digipack because I believe that the audience would get more pleasure from seeing related images as this is less confusing.