RESEARCH: BAND STYLING

The following pictures are from the Urban Outfitters Blog and I found them fitting in achieving the star image we are trying to reflect into lead singer Jonny. 

Checkered and Branded Shirt paired with Dark Washed Jeans

Baseball jacket, Layered Sweaters and T-Shirts.
Both seen wearing light suede shoes.

Bennie Hats worn, Indie style represented through
Aztec pattern.

RESEARCH: CONVENTIONS OF AN ABLUM COVER

Code and Conventions of an Album Cover

- Bold and Simplistic Fonts

- Few Characters

-Simplistic Design and Colour Scheme

- Images or tone representative of music on album

- Close-ups of the artist themselves

Album Covers will often focus on the artists image and the their genre. They have the purpose of establishing the artist's image which can be done through close-up's making the album more personal. By picking features that are characteristic of the artist,  consumers will associate the album with them. Artists will also often promote their album through direct address in which they simply just have their name across the album in order to be recognised more simply. 

CONSTRUCTION: SHOT LISTS FOR SKATEBOARDING

SHOT LISTS FOR DIRECTOR

- Establishing Shot

-Panning Shot

-Tilt up and Down

- Extreme Close Up Shot 

- Mid Shot


-Over the Shoulder Shot when friends meet

- Point of View Shot

-Cut- In Shot

 The more variety in shots will mean the more dimension the scene will have for our music video.

PLANNING: CALL SHEET FOR SKATEBOARDING

Skateboarding Scene for ONE MORE YEAR

CREW: 

              Will Wright- 98willwright@claremont.org

              Jonny Fitzgerald- 98jonnyfitzgerald@claremont.org

              Charlie Lewin- 
98charlielewin@claremont.org

ACTORS:

               Will Wright- playing Jonny's friend and skateboarding expert 

                Jonny Fitzgerald- Seen making appearance to Skate Park meeting friend

LOCATION:

                   Cobham Skate Park

SCHEDULE:   MONDAY 26th November 2:15 -4.00 pm   

                          Weather forecasted to be partly sunny

PROPS REQUIRED: Skateboard, Will and Jonny's skating clothing, OPTEKA Camcorder Action Stabiliser, Fully Charged Canon Camera.

RESEARCH: BUG

BUG is a music video showcase presenting " The Evolution of Music Videos". It provides a comments on not only music video's but also colourful youtube video's. 

Creater Knight comments its like 'going round to a friends house and having him open his laptop to show you the interesting and amusing things he's found or made'. Along with co-producer Buxton, 
Knight has set up BUG with the intention of presenting interesting music video productions with the intention of interesting others. 

However, In my case, BUG can serve as a useful platform to learn about the code and conventions of music videos, presenting itself as an effective research tool for my coursework. 

PLANNING: Target Audience Research

Click Here For My Yudu Of Target Audience Research

CONSTRUCTION: Stop Motion

 We have started constructing our music video with initially filming the narrative of Jonny walking to football to meet his friends. He used a close up of him kicking up the ball which we think is a visually inviting shot.







However our group is cautious since we don't want our whole video to be completely narrative and would like in incorporate more visually interesting shot which we though could be achieved effectively through stop motion.

Our group started experimenting in class with making a tower of stuff that Jonny would find on his desk. We then experimented with lining up pens on a desk and through stop motion we would have them moving up the desk to Jonny before the exam.

By incorporating more abstract shots it will give our music video more dimensions.

PLANNING: EDITING TECHNIQUES

We studied the film opening of the movie “LES BLEUS DE RAMVILLE” which is renown for its excellence and I was inspired by the variety of shots that were used within the first minute. The visual texture and delight of the opening along with the continually changing camera shots resulted in a strong interest.

In order to make our video just as visually engaging as this particular films opening sequence, our group has decided to take note of the high angle and low angle shots along with the constant extreme close ups which create a montage effect. The slow motion that was used, I think also had a good effect for the viewers.

Our group particularly enjoyed the extreme low angle close ups since this could be incorporated in our music video with having this shot used when Jonny is seen doing kick ups with the football. We hope that this shot has the same positive effect as it did in the film opening. 

PLANNING: TIMELINE

The timeline gives our group guidance since it specifies the specific shots we want to achieve within a time frame. We tried to make it as detailed as possible by making the time frame within seconds. 

FILMING: OPENING SCENE

October 30th our group got together to film the opening scene shot of the trunk being filled with Jonny's belongings.

 We started working with over the shoulder shots of clothing being packed into the trunk. Our group started brainstorming and came up with a new shot idea. We wanted to have Jonny pack pictures of him and his friends in his trunk as a transition from the scene of him and his friends taking pictures. We filmed Jonny taking pictures with his friend on photo booth with all different effects for a shot to add more colour to the shot. We then printed off the pictures and had him pack them in the trunk would we will use as a transition shot from the picture taking scene.

It was useful to all meet up and start actually filming and getting initial shots done, this allows us to get a head start on the editing process of the music video.

Shots Done :
Establishing Shot
Panning Shot
Over the Shoulder Shot 
Point of View Shot

PLANNING: Mood Board

I made this Mood Board using images that I thought would capture our groups overall approach in how we wish to present our music video. The pictures all compliment the Indie/ Alternative genre of the song and can be relatable to the bands target audience. 

PLANNING: Test Footage

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR TEST FOOTAGE

Our group wanted to experiment with camera angles and shots through test footage. It also allows us to get used to the editing routines. For this particular test footage we edited it using imovie. 

PLANNING: Permission to use Track

Nick Fitzgerald is the lead singer of the Band Fij and having one of our group members being his brother makes getting permission to use his song for our music video easy. 

PLANNING: How my Band created its Star Brand

In order to establish their star brand image Fij has used serveal social media platforms

Interviews on BBC radio has given them the opportunity for promotion

Pictures on their Facebook page has also given the band to expand on their Indie star image. Being an emerging band they follow the footsteps of well established bands through marketing techniques used, never the less they aren't at the stage of having a recording studio that can arrange print publicity for them. This would include Digi-Packs, print adverts, billboards and flyers.

Through the use of graphics and iconography the band Fij can deliver the message of their band and establish their style and genre. On their Facebook page in order for this to happen, there should be a stronger visual presence.

The selling of named merchandise serves as a badge of loyalty to the band and signals belonging to a sub-culture. Fij could establish their star image through selling products such as T-shirts promoting their band.

The music can't be purchased through websites such as iTunes however You-tube serves as a platform for people to listen to their music. 

Fij has Gigs to develop their star image however if they posted details about the Gigs on their Facebook page they might turn into performances of a bigger scale. 

RESEARCH: Directors Label

Click to view my slideshare on Directors Label

RESEARCH: Trends

Trends in Music History...

1950s- Rock and Roll Genre
1960s- Swinging sixties - Motown primarily featuring African American artists
1970s- Rock Genre with bands such as Kiss
1980s- MTV generation
1990s- Hard Rock and Heavy Metal with Bon Jovi and RUN DMC
2000's- Several diverse music genres Nirvana, Oasis, Blur, Spice Girls

Today in 2012 we have been seeing the particular music trends:

Young Hollywood Stars such as Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepson and One Direction are central in the music industry.

- This music is often orientated to a young audience with the artists being teen idols. The promotion of pop music was greatly effected due to the rise in music television channels such as MTV. The lyrics and subject matter of their songs often are about love and relationships and tend to be simplistic. Pop music is popular today since the beats of the music often encourage dancing which is reflected in the upbeat and choreographed music videos.

- The music videos often consist of fast paced editing, straight forward narrative and related situations and scenairos that teenagers would find themselves in, making it relatable to their audience.


This is what my group is trying to achieve in our music video "Our Song". We want to present the daily activities of a group of friends which other young audiences will relate too making the song relevant to them.

RESEARCH: Stardom

The Star Image: 

The Music Business relies on big named stars to fund its activities however only about one in ten acts put out by the industry actually makes any money. 

Therefore what is described as the “meta-narrative star image” has an important role to play in the music video making process. Meta-narrative star image describes the development of a stars image over a period of time and the stories that surround a particular artist.

CASE STUDY: 

For example the Red Hot Chili Peppers illustrate their star image through their music video “ Can’t Stop”.  The video builds a picture of the performers as a group of friends larking around, having fun, play fighting at times, experimenting and getting things wrong. There is a laddish feel to the video, which compliments their unconventional star image. 

The Red Hot Chili Peppers promote themselves through social media by having- An official website, Twitter and Facebook which allows their fan base to keep up to date with their activities. This accessibility is liked by the fans and contributes to their "stardom. 

Their website consists of upcoming tours, music, videos and photos of the band not only from performances but also from the press. 

The information that the band provides for their fans on their website gives an opportunity for the fans to understand and learn more about them as a band, again contributing to their stardom.

Social Media is a significant platform and creates "word of mouth" for the band. The more people the know the bigger the stardom the band will get.

RESEARCH: Music Television Channels

Music television is a type of television programmes which focuses predominantly on playing music videos from bands or artists.
Music Television programmes may also host their own charts.

Examples are MTV, Kerrang TV and VH1. MTV is an American cable television channel based in New York City that launched in 1981.

MTV significantly influence popular culture and succeeded earning $7 million in advertising revenue in the first 18 months. 

It remained a critical part of the music industry by leveraging music videos to help the image of artists such as Michael Jackson, Guns n’ Roses and 2Pac. The digital revolution in the 90s really put the pressure on the music industry with music videos, which became the one of the primary way of enjoying music. The industry was worried about declining CD sales. Music Television serves as platform for music videos to be accessible and watched by wide audiences.