IDEA IS NOW FINALISED!

 

 

Our idea has been approved by our teacher which means we can now get on with the storyboard, timeline, casting, costume, set and locations. We have finalised the locations in all three areas of the music video. For the jamming part we are having the artist in the studio with her band. For the walking section we are having it down a disused railway track and for the girl and suitcase part we are having the location further down the railway track by the bridge.

 

For the lip sync close up section Fen will be wearing a big brown hat which will look similar to the picture on the left. 





The suitcase(we have changed the idea about a girl dragging a bag into a girl holding a suitcase because we feel it will look less messy) which will be held by the girl will look like the picture bellow:

This suitcase is an old fashioned suitcase which works well because it symbolises the old memories this girl is carrying. The style of the suitcase gives off a retro feel which fits in with the country style.   

We have started our timeline and our storyboard but need to finish it as soon as possible so that we can start with our casting of the band members etc. This is some of our storyboard bellow:

This shows the guitar introduction which is at the start of the song. We wanted to show the different locations and the artist in the beginning but without showing to much. The video will start with an establishing shot of the railway track/wooded area because this will be our main location.

 

NEARLY THERE.....

After discussing the love story idea, we felt it was clichéd and over done so to get ideas for our final strand we need to look at images which inspire us, or to think more about the song and what it is saying.

we have listened to 'Kiss The Future' a couple of times during the lesson and noted down lyrics which stood out. Lyrics which we wrote down are as followed:
1.'Careless, Wild and Free'
2.'To young for life take me'
3.'Remember how we used to be'
4.'Traveling through time'
5.'Memories will always follow and be apart of me'
6.'Changes happen for a reason'
7.'Don't let chances pass you by'
8.'Listen to what they say'

The lyrics which we focused on from that list were 3,4 and 5. The whole song but especially those lyrics are about saying goodbye to the past and embracing new things. This is what we wanted to focus on for our final strand. As a group we decided what is saying goodbye to the past?

Memoires is all about the past so we thought about having two young kids playing. The children will be playing games like cowboys and Indians (being 'careless, Wild and Free). This links in with Fen reflecting on when she was young and free. A line in the song is 'With ribbons in our hair', therefore we thought the girl could have ribbons in her hair (representing Fen). After thinking about this for a while we felt it would be difficult finding children who could do this. The children would have to be aged about 8 years old which meant they were at school which they could not miss.
We went back to thinking about what saying goodbye to past was like. 
We all had the same thought which was we  as we grew up we threw out old toys and pictures which were maybe to young for us now. We all liked this idea so decided to move forward with it.

We decided to have a girl dragging a bag in a wooded area(or remote) with the intention of getting rid of it. In the bag would be old pictures, toys, letter etc. A bag full of memories which she wants to get rid of.

Once she gets to the place where she wants to leave the bag we would add a visual effect. The effect would either be the bag gets burnt, buried or thrown into the river. Either one of these ideas would look good and create an exciting atmosphere. We need to know pitch this idea to our teacher and see what he thinks??????? 

I made this picture with images I could find. It would look this but with a girl instead of a man.

Our happy group as we come up with a final idea!

We have now finalised the country music video as a group so we are now trying to finalise what will be in the video. We have the main artist(Fen)walking down an old railway track(this will be our lip-sync section). The next strand is a performance element which will focus on Fen singing with her band. We have decided to get rid of the swing idea because it doesn't fit the country style. We are now coming up with the narrative. We have decided to use Fen as the narrator instead of her being in the narrative because we feel having someone else for the narrative would be a nice contrast.

Having looked at many different country videos I feel the trend is couples/love stories therefore we would like to have a simple love story in our music video. Our first idea for the couple was to get them to meet on a train because we felt this fitted in with our main artist walking down a disused train track. We wanted to film on a train, preferably Guildford station.

 Once we had thought this through we thought maybe this was to basic and not very romantic(as well as being hard to film). We then decided to have a girl waiting for a bus everyday whilst this boy drives past her each day. Each time he drives past her they would look at each other until one day he stops and offer's her a lift. We would film her on this bus whilst he drove alongside it. We thought that the guy should have a really nice car which he would be trying to impress this girl with. One of our group members has an Aston Martin which we thought we could use but then decided it didn't fit in with the sweet and innocence of the romance. Another car which we felt would work well would be an austin healey because it is old fashioned and has that country look about it.
Getting the car to the location would be very difficult and finding a boy student who can drive and looks good is hard to find.

     Another narrative would be a girl who works as a waitress (fits the stereotypical country theme) in a coffee shop (the coffee shop is located in cranleigh). The boy would constantly be going to into the shop to try and pluck up the courage to ask her out. They would flirt with each other until finally the boy asks her out.
We are currently running with this idea but I feel cranleigh might not be the right place for this because its quite a grim place which does not fit in with romantic country side feel therefore we may have to relocate. 

 

 

This is the girl we want to use - she is 18 and a model so will therefore look good in front of the camera. She also does drama so will be good at acting. We still need to decide on the boy.

     

These are a few pictures of the artist to give an idea of what she looks like.

FINAL DECISIONS FOR WHICH MUSIC VIDEO WE GO FOR?...

 

 

This pictures represent's the performance element as well as the style element. For the performance element I thought Fen should be on a stage with her band members - Guitarist, pianist and a drummer. The backdrop could maybe be just a plain red curtain (the usual one you find in a theatre) or we could put a set in(maybe in someone's house or basement). For the stylist approach I want Fen on a swing in front of a house or windows like the picture above. I would love to have sparks or water falling from the roof onto fen or maybe just around her. If this was to difficult to do then maybe we could add the effects in post production.

For the narrative part I want Fen and a couple to be walking down this disused railway track which has been turned into a public footpath. Within the pathway there are bridges and wooded areas which we could use as well. The young couple will be in love walking together and Fen will look back at them. Either fen is just singing about them or she is in love with the boy but trying to move forward and look into the future and forget about the past(the boy).

Today a lady called Emily came in who commissions music videos. She works for Polydor record company which is owned by Universal which is a major company. Emily will be approached by an artist or their representation and asked to produce a music video for them. She will then be given a budget which she can work with. Emily will make a brief about the music video and send it to potential directors. Emily likes to look for new up and coming directors because they will be affordable given her sometimes restricted budget. occasionally she may upload the brief onto site like Anvil video where directors can send in their ideas for the video (the brief will contain information about locations the artist likes or pictures and videos which the artist wants their video to look like). Once a director has been chosen that director will them make a treatment for the video after Emily has sent out the brief.
The brief should be attention grabbing because singers/bands have busy lives and sometimes they don't have time to read the whole treatment, therefore the treatment needs to be straight to the point with pictures so that the artist can see what it will look like. Less words are normally better because pictures will really show you what the atmosphere and setting will look like.

Music video's can cost from one thousand pounds up to one hundred and 60 thousand pounds. Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' music video cost sixty thousand pounds and was shot in one day. Emily then worked on James Blake's music video was shot over two days including one day of shooting in a studio. Emily says that shooting in a studio is very helpful because it means you can control the lighting whatever the weather.

 

Emily says that nowadays music videos work best on the internet rather than TV because people are constantly on youtube where all these videos are put. Another bad thing about TV is that they have to cut out any bad images out of the video therefore getting rid of some of the artists intentions for the video. For our music videos, website and album covers  Emily says we should  have continuity throughout the three. We have to make links between them all because we are making a package which sell of each other therefore need to all feel like the same product.   

CHANGE OF PLAN....

The whole idea about Fen trying to hitchhike to the gig as well as having a little girl running around in a wood felt a bit cliché. I watched the music video parachute by Charlie Simpson which is a very clever music video because it focusses on a man walking whilst holding a screen. Bad things happen to the man, for example someone gives him a bunch of dead flowers but on the screen someone gives him a bunch of colourful fess flowers. The screen represents good things but the reality is bad.

I thought maybe we could do this for the country song but I don't think it will suit the style of the song. I shall speak to the teachers and see what they think?

I was then speaking to a teacher who told me maybe I could have something completely unexpected like having this graceful girl (Fen) walking through a battle scene. I then thought about the movie schindler's list because in one scene they have this girl walking and the only colour which we can see is the red in her red coat. I like the idea about juxtaposing a scene because it is interesting and something different. This idea could maybe for the stylist strand.
For the lip sync strand I thought about have Fen in a recording studio recording her song with a man on a guitar recording his part of the song (guitar part). This works well because it is as if she is recording her first single. Something like this -

This as far as we have got. I shall think of a proper narrative over the weekend!!!

LUKE'S LESSON ON MUSIC VIDEO'S.....

"We are a pop video company" not GCSE students anymore. We have to create something which has to compete with hundreds of other artists/songs/music video therefore we have think about what works well in the industry and is there a gap for anything in the market?
  
No matter what the song (lady gaga song or a Beyoncé song) it has to be the first song by the artist we have created. 
First of all we have to come up with a concept. The video has to reflect the feel of the song and the image of the band in order to succeed. 3 strands including a performance element which is the most important because if everything else goes wrong at least you have the band performing which is essentially what a music video is. The second strand is the lip sync/narrative and the 3rd strand is the band just being cool/hanging out (exclusive footage of the band). 
 
Day before the shoot we have to go into the studio and set up our set. On the day of the shoot we shoot in the studio from 9:00 till 3:00 then from then on we shoot on location. We have to make sure the band who we pick can play the instruments otherwise it will look fake and awful. We have to consider that A2's can only be in one music video so choosing the right person is vital.

Luke talked to us about mood films. Mood films are before the actual the music video. They are bits of footage cut together which give of the mood you are trying to create for the real music video. It helps create ideas for the real music and it helps directors who are thinking about taking on the project because if a director likes the mood film then he/she will probably shoot the real music video.

This video is a good example of how camera work can be simple. The camera stays still in every shot and lets the things which is in front of the camera create the music video.

Feedback From PowerPoint
Key Points

People loved the idea that I was going to be using a real artist for the music video. Using a real artist means that she does not need to learn the lyrics of the song because she knows them already. Using a real artist also means it will look very real on screen because its the same girl singing and the same girl in the video lip syncing. If we got a song and a random it might not look right ( the persons singing voice might not look right on the person who you have chosen, therefore finding the right person who looks right is difficult because they might not want to do it or maybe they are busy).Overall have an already formed artist saves you a lot of time finding the right the person and it means you don't need to worry about that person not knowing the lyrics.


Another point that came up in the discussion was the links between the girl in the field, the attic and the party scene. People did not see how they were relevant to each other. People didn't understand who the girl was and why was she running through the field/woods. People thought the party scene did not fit the rhythm of the song - it needed to be more simple and slowly to fit the genre of the song. The attic confused people because attics are normally seen as sad or creepy places which was not what the song is about.

Doing a party scene outside may also be difficult because of the weather. If it ended up raining this may ruin the shoot. We would be filming in November which will be cold therefore people in dresses will end up being freezing which will probably show when we film them.

I know need to go away and think about the feedback and adapt my idea to make it better.

We have been put into groups of 3-4 for the music videos. I am in a group with maddie and Alexandra. We have spoken about our music video ideas and now have chosen our favourites from each person. Above is the power point explaining my idea which is based on the artist "FEN". I will show this to the class and get their feedback which will help to either develop my idea or maybe help when it comes to developing someone else's idea. Bellow is my other groups power points which explain their ideas. 

Idea's For Music Video's 

1.  The artist is called "Fen Sandleson" and she is a country singer  aged 17. Even though "Birdy" is not a country singer I would say they have a similliar look and sound. 

They are both young and have not been created by a label. They are their own people and won't change according to whats hot right now. The song we would use is called "Kiss the Future which is abutting saying goodbye to the past and looking into the future. The music video would be very mistercal and fantasy like. The video would look into the past and present. A small girl would be walking in the woods(this would represent Fen as a child). The child would be running around the woods, playing with sticks and swinging on a swing. The child would be looking into the future which would be Fen at a party. The party would be outside on a huge feild or maybe even another wood. People would be dressed in long dresses with flowers in their hair and boys in baggy shirts with baggy hippii trousers. People would be wearing masks and running around with ribbons. We could have some parts with Fen standing in the middle of it all, maybe if everything around her speeds up but she stays singing in normal speed. Other parts would be of Fen in an old rusty attic looking out of the window (into the future). 

The good idea about using Fen is that she can help with ideas because it is her song. She would not have to learn the lines of the song because she knows them already and she would work hard because she is getting a music video made for her.

The two pictures are what I want it to look light.

Idea 2. The next group or solo singer would be a more rocky pop singer/group. The song is called "Crown On The Ground". The music video would centre around school kids causing chaos (Breaking into shops, stealing things etc). The other part of the music video would be cheerleaders dancing. The song has a sense of youth and edge to it therefore I think cheerleaders would fit well because they are young and if we make the dance quite sexual then it would certainly have an edge to it.
The kids should be rich rids walking down the street as if they own the place, taking stuff that doesn't belong to them. Then cheerleaders(maybe at the kids school). would be for more of a visual approach whereas the wannabe kids are more the narrative.

 

My Final Idea is a song called "Over The Love". The artist would be called "Greta James". I would call her style of music "Indie" and would compare her to the likes of Ellie Goulding or Daughter. 
The music video would be focused on a women wearing this yellow dress (as stated in the song). I pictured her on a tall tower or skyscraper with the wind blowing her hair and dress around. It would look good if lots of it was in slow-motion as well as lots of close-ups to give off a delicate feeling.

 

PIRACY

It costs record labels quarter of millions of pounds to make an album and the way they get their money back is by people buying it. The problem is that nowadays there are so many unlicensed sites which allow you to download music all for free.

In the long run this means songs on ITunes may become cheaper because this might persuade people to buy the best quailty song for not a small amount of money rather than an ok version for free.

One person who spoke out about piracy was Lily Allen.

Lily Allen said it was easy for older artits to be ok for free downloads because they had already made most of their money before digital downloading was assessable. WHAT about new and upcoming singers? It will be harder for them because instead of people buying their songs, they are just downloading them for free. When lily Allen spoke out about this she recieved death threats and abuse from people, forcing her to close down her site.

Noel Gallagher

Noel Gallagher says it costs him a quarter of a million pounds to make his music so people who want it for free can "F*ck off!"

This is why tours go on for so long. It costs so much to make records therefore to make a profit they can't just rely on people buying the album anymore (the fact that most people download for free means they hardly make any money on the album its self), they need to do longer tours in order to make more cash!

People were happy to pay before technolgy allowed us to get songs for free and now the "unwillingness to pay for music is creating self perpetuating conveyer belt of cookie-cutter pop starts" - Helienne Lindvall