Group 1 A2 2014/15: 2014

Monday 15 December 2014

PRODUCTION: Audience response to DigiPak cover

PRODUCTION: Audience response to DigiPak covers

Before we finalised our decision for our DigiPak covers, we decided to ask our audience which they preferred to see on an album cover. This was their response.

Right:
The lettering to us seemed unclear as it blended into the background, to our audience it was clear and easy enough to read. One audience member advised that the lettering be spaced out to give the effect of space created, the video includes a lot of open-air space and nature - creating a link between the video and cover.

The colouring was also very popular with the audience. Not only does it match the background but also creates tone to match the background - nature which is present throughout the video (except at the very end).

The actress isn't central, making the image almost odd but enticing.
The overall composition and the editing of the image interested the audience and made it look professional, this was a popular choice.

Left:
The actress is central in the image and is conventional of DigiPak covers. For a debut album, this would be the safest option for our artist - especially for a genre which is still niche but still up-and-coming.

Many audience members also agreed that this image created a mood that would be continued throughout the DigiPak and the music video.

Not only does this cover look professional but conforms to the genre's conventions; faded colours and simple lettering.

Thursday 13 November 2014

PRODUCTION: Filming in Richmond Park

We started filming at around 2pm to achieve the perfect lighting for our shots

We didn't want the footage taken earlier in the day to be saturated with light; we wanted there to be a slight contrast between the day time shots and night time shots so it smooth and not too dramatic

Also, filming around this time meant that the there was a slight shadow which created the atmosphere of serenity and calm - which is key to an indie music video to be able to relate it to the song's calm and slow melody

We used a combination of mid-shots (demonstrated above), close up shots, extreme close ups etc.

We deliberated for a long time on where to specifically shoot. Our setting, Richmond Park, was vast, so we needed to plan our time effectively in order to get all the footage we needed and minimise the amount of time we walked around the park finding where to shoot next

Some artistic shots were taken in between the grass. The song is inspired by nature, we thought it only appropriate to set the music video in a park to make the audience feel like they're surrounded by nature

In order for there to be a smooth transition from a natural setting, the park, to a more urban setting, Richmond High Street, we decided to take some footage of our actress looking out beyond Richmond Bridge

We thought this would add a sombre mood, as if the character wants to venture into the city and interact but is too frightened
We finished filming at around 6pm

Friday 24 October 2014

PLANNING: DigiPak Nets

We decided to choose a DigiPak Net design that included 6 panels and space for one CD.

Above is an example of what the DigiPak will look like; the front panel shows the actress in the location of the music video, the back cover is a continuation of the first - the actress standing with the dear in the park, and the rest of the panels are an arrangement of location shots. This is a background to the artist's lyrics, we didn't want to over-complicate these particular panels as they would also have text in front of them so we didn't want to distract from this.

I decided to make a second draft of this example, changing the back panel to have continuity with the first by having the actress centre framed but also giving a hazy look to the picture.

PLANNING: Schedule

When reviewing the footage, we noticed that it didn't give the desired effect that a conventional indie music video does. We didn't want to necessarily want to re-film the entire music video, instead we wanted to re-shoot particular shoots to improve its quality and the overall aesthetic of the video.

PLANNING: Raw Footage Analysis

PLANNING: Response to Audience Feedback On Animatic

What we found out from our audience feedback:

They like visuals matching the lyrics
The concept of our music video was interesting and related to the song
The audience were able to gauge the genre of the song from what we told them of the concept for our video and the demographic of the video fitting what we had in mind
Our audience advised us to make the story more prominent in the music video but agreed that cutting between performance shots to the storyline would give the music video repeatability

How we responded to our audience:

For the majority of the video, the visuals did match the lyrics, for example, 'Children of the woods come out to play', this is then followed by a shot of the actress walking through the park (or woods)
We found it appropriate to set the music video in a park after having listened to the song. Most of the video is filmed in Richmond Park but at the very end of the video, the actress emerges to find Richmond High Street - our urban setting.
Because the song is quiet, setting the video in Richmond Park would fit the mood of the song
We agreed with our target audience. By making the storyline prominent and using quick cuts or interesting editing, it creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption and repeatability

PLANNING: Audience Feedback on animatic

PLANNING: Animatic

Thursday 23 October 2014

PLANNING: Storyboard

PLANNING: Mood Board

PLANNING: Costume

Monday 20 October 2014

RESEARCH: Audience Profile

Audience Profile

Gender: Female

Age: 16 - 21

Occupation: Student (College/University)

Hobbies: Art, Partying, Fashion, Animal Activist

Music Genre: Indie/Indie Rock/Alternative

Films: Horror, Romance, Comedies

Food Preference: Natural

PLANNING: Location

PLANNING: Response to Audience Feedback

Major changes after Audience Feedback

At first we thought of having a narrative where the actor will walk through the park - to contrast the performance shots we will have the artist (mid-shots of Ellena with her guitar).

But, as we have already contacted the artist who is going to be performing in the music video anyway, it would be logically to film her as part of the narrative as well.

Also, instead of including quite a dramatic transition of rural (Richmond Park) to city (Richmond Town Center), it would be less time-consuming if we filmed the end of the music video in Terace Gardens in Richmond Park.

This gives a more subtle transition but still with an element of time passing and the light fading - showing a clear difference from the beginning to the end of the video.

PLANNING: Music video pitch

Friday 17 October 2014

PLANNING: Lyric Analysis

Thursday 16 October 2014

RESEARCH: Production skills

Our version of 'Baby One More Time'

Original

We practiced production of music videos by recreating an existing and successful music video. Together with our class we reproduced Britney Spears' music video "Hit me baby one more". dubbed by us as 'Budget Britney'.

In this recreation we have a number of students in our class appear in the music video interchangeably as Britney, and as such we had to learn a number of new techniques to help sync the scenes together with each other and the song.

Firstly, we had to learn how to sync up our song with our video. We did this by having our track exactly match the one that we had in the background playing in the raw footage. This was a different track from the normal song, as it included three bleeps at the beginning before the song began. We then synced the song to the video using these bleeps as a reference point that the program could use to make sure the lip syncing worked correctly.

Also, to make sure that the song was synced throughout our different scenes, we had to film all of our different shots all the way through to the end of the song, even if we were only going to use a small bit for the song. This meant that we had a large amount of footage that we had not planned on using, and allowed us to be flexible in what scenes we could choose and also let us use scenes that we didn't plan on using before.

This has also helped immensely with our own work on our music video, as we can put these to use to increase it's production quality. This will help us keep the video in sync, and also, because of the suggestions that our workshop leader gave us, we are going to be able to have flexibility in our scenes and shooting, as we are going to follow his advice and film through the entire scene in all of the different shots we are going to take.

PLANNING: Initial decisions with audience response

(2:30 to skip music)

RESEARCH: Audience Questionnaire

Link

RESEARCH: Record Label/Institutional Research

Glassnote Records

'Glassnote Entertainment Group is a full service independent music company founded by Daniel Glass, one of the most accomplished and respected music people in the industry.'

'Through Glassnote, Mr. Glass has created the next-generation Music Company. It can be looked at as a rebirth of the great independent record companies —Chrysalis, Motown, Atlantic and Island — but built for the ever-changing marketplace.'

'Glassnote is an artist-centric music company that appeals to the creative nature of individuals. We seek out and attract artists and producers who are independent by nature — artists who want to take ownership of their careers and are willing to work with a label to contribute to their success.'

London:

7 Old Park Lane
Mayfair
W1K 1QR

(p) 020 7183 6887

The extract above was taken from Glassnote's "About Us" page which explains Glassnote Entertainment Group's ideology and how they enable independent musicians to be heard in a crowded and ever-growing market-place. The label would suit our artist as she is an independent musician who needs a label who will not only allow her music to be hear in the UK but also Worldwide as Glassnote also has offices in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto.

Successful British bands the label represent include, Two Door Cinema Club, Mumford and Sons and Chvrches.

True Panther Sounds

'True Panther was started in 2004 by Dean Bein, Molly Samuel and Avi Klein to put out a tour-only 7" by Bein and Samuel's band Red Tape Apocalypse. The label moved with Bein from San Francisco to New York and continued to put out records from bands using a one-to-one project style, "putting money into something, praying it would sell enough to put out something else," as Bein explained in a recent interview with Microphone Memory Emotion.'

'The biggest success to come from TPS was the debut album from San Francisco-based band Girls. The album was a joint venture between Matador and True Panther and has become one of the most talked about indie albums of 2009, receiving critical praise from Pitchfork Media and The New York Times.'

The extract above was taken from True Panther sounds' Wikipedia page. This label would suit our artist as they have the ability to work with the artist and perhaps create a joint-venture with another label that will gain her an even bigger audience. Also, by being an overseas label, they would be able to give her an international audience. As a local, independent artist, her audience is limited and although she may not aspire for her music to become "mainstream", every artist aspires for their work to be heard by as many people as possible.

Sub Pop Records

'Sub Pop records is now known in the recording industry as a sanctuary of indie bands that are looking to push the envelope in experimental music. sub Pop records has a great ability to take music that is experimental and market it to the masses in the recording industry.'

'We mean to represent these artists as faithfully and diligently as possible'

Successful artists the label have signed include; Nirvana, Te Head and the Heart and Flight of the Concords.

This label would suit our artist as it conserves the artist's style whilst effectively marketing her to an audience. Although they are an overseas label, they are independent whose ideology means that they work with the artist to develop an image to be seen in the music industry. They also allow space for the artist to be experimental, whilst many other labels would be strict as to what kind of sound and image the artist portrays.

References:

http://www.details.com/culture-trends/music-and-books/201308/independent-music-labels-by-artists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Panther_Sounds

http://www.therichest.com/business/companies-business/five-of-the-most-innovative-indie-music-labels/3/

https://www.subpop.com/about

Wednesday 15 October 2014

RESEARCH: Music Video Song Shortlist

RESEARCH: Similar Artists

RESEARCH: Elena Garcia's discovery

We discovered Elena Garcia through her twitter account. She mentioned in her bio that she is a singer-songwriter and so we followed her hyperlink to her Soundcloud profile which contained three songs she had written and sung by herself.

Upon further investigation of her tweets and people she follows, it appears that she shown keen interest in rock bands like HAIM, RHODES and Sam Smith. She also supports fellow starting acoustic artists such as Josh Savage and Ella Walker.

Judging her Facebook page, most of her fans are friends and families since it has less than 100 likes. She is a starting artist and keen on pursuing a career in the music industry. She has also done a few gigs in venues across London.

We thought she would be a good choice as an artist since making her a music video would her her promote her music much visually and attract more fans. She is also the same age as us which would make it easy to communicate and work together with. When we contacted her, she sounded very excited and we kept in touch to update her on our work.