Pitch Feedback

We got really positive responses from everyone, and Miss Blackborow said it was "excellent!" which made us happy!

The only things she said were what to do next;

listen to "pump it up" and other songs by Elvis Costello as it has a major influence on our song
make a shot list while looking at the lyrics
look for locations
Not even constructive criticism! One advantage we have is that we could film almost anywhere as the background isn't really important. The focus is on us, our makeup and costumes, and tight framing will make it easier to shoot anywhere.

So at the moment we are in the process of contacting some places which have white backgrounds, and potentially The Phoenix Cinema as one location.

Treatment

This is our treatment for the song Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders.

In our treatment we

Our target audience is fairly wide since we combine genre fans of electro-pop with Rogue Traders fans, with Neighbours watchers (the lead singer used to be in Neighbours), fans of Elvis Costello's "Pump It Up" as it samples the riff (predominantly older people), teens/young agults who enjoy dancing and clubbing. So basically, we have a really wide reach, which is great for us as our video should appeal to both genders and many people.

Treatment Presentation

This is the presentation we made as part of our pitch for our treatment. It is mostly visual as so that the audience didn't have to read off the presentation as we spoke to them and also so that they can visually see our idea.

Voodoo Child Presentation

Group Final Idea

Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child

After each pitching a final idea on our blogs we have finally decided on Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders. We picked this idea as it has a strong female lead which we can recreate with our group but mix it up by having all of us in the video.

Our idea is that we go completely concept and performance based and have all of us in the video in lots of different outfits, ranging from disco to glam rock to 60s and we make a montage of each of us in all of the outfits, lip syncing to the song. We also plan to confuse the audience by all wearing the same outfit and then all wearing different outfits as this will make the audience want to keep watching because they won't know who is who. We have decided on this because we are all confident in front of the camera and it reduces complications by not bringing other people into the project to perform for us. Also, we think this would make a really eye catching video as even though we don't have a narrative for the audience to follow, the strong performance and the direct eye contact with the camera will keep the audience involved and add in the voyeuristic element of music videos which proves to be popular and successful.

We also plan to illustrate a few of the lyrics, so far we have thought of these ideas:

• "Here come the drums" - we will be wearing band outfits and playing drums, if possible.
• "Put your cards on the table baby. Do I twist, do I fold?" - either a poker game or tarot card display which would act as a motif to keep the video moving
• "Why don't you tell me my future?" - use of the tarot cards
• "I'm coming undone" - unzipping or untying or something not too sexual, letting her hair down, or unravelling from puppet strings
• "You play me like a puppet" - puppet strings attached to us if possible

Quite a few of these ideas may be very hard to do (the puppet strings mostly) but we will see if we can do them, hopefully we can.

Final Idea

Chase & Status - Heartbeat

This is my final idea for our pitch on wednesday; it is Heartbeat by Chase & Status with vocals by Nneka. I have chosen this song because it has female vocals which means that we could use one of us from the group or ask a friend to play the singer and the lyrics give us the opportunity to make our music video either narrative or context based. We also have to opportunity to bring in intertextuality with references to other music and DJs.

My idea is that the music video is a mix of concept and narrative, with a narrative between a boy and girl/man and woman with images of dark, club scenes and abandoned street scenes as the music connotes quite a dark setting. For the idea of the club we have discussed asking for permission to film in the well known club, Fabric, as one of our group members has previously been given permission.

The dubstep genre of this song does not have many music videos, especially none particularly well known, which means that we can be very imaginative with this song as at the moment there is not well known genre conventions that we would need to follow or break to make the video familiar to the audience.

The Streets Case Study

1. Summarise how the image has changed/developed over time, and the music genre.
The Streets primarily started as a band made up around the creator and lasting member of The Streets, Mike Skinner, began making hip-hop and garage music but adopted a more indie feel when success came in 2000. However, the music has always maintained the garage beats, keeping true to the music despite breaking into the charts.
In 2008, Skinner made a point to highlight the new "peaceful, positive vibe" to his new LP, Everything Is Borrowed, in comparisson to 2006's The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living, which was more grimy with darker lyrics.
However, Skinner has said that the fifth record, the next to be released, would sound like the city of Berlin, and that the album will be "ravey". but will still be "one more banger" and, as strange as it sounds, "dancing music to drink tea to".

"The final Streets album (the fifth one) will be dark and futuristic. This could not be further from the album you're about to hear, but it's what is on my mind at the moment. I feel inspired by the synthesizer exhibition we just visited in Austria after the gig we just did."

2. Who are the fans? Do you have any sense of how the music companies have segmented the audiences? To what extent has the branding of a band been linked to target audience?
The Streets have a very widespread fanbase ranging from teenagers of both genders to students and young adults and even to drug users. Skinner's realistic and revealing lyrics often mention his battle with alcoholism and drug addiction which both widens and narrows their fanbase. Many drug users will be able to relate to his music and his lyrics and even seek advice in what he sings, whereas other people will be put off by the truthfulness of his songs and for the reason that he openly says he has used and abused drugs.

The Streets have not got a definite branding such as other bands apart from the 'cockney, typical geezer' type look, with Skinner wearing normal everyday clothes of polo shirts, jeans, t-shirts tracksuit bottoms, and caps. The recognisable image of The Streets is the clipper lighter that is on all of their albums, and once again this is just like an everyday object that makes him more normal and less of a celebrity. In a way the branding is to not look different to the people who listen to his music which links him to the fans and makes him familiar and almost like just one of your mates.

3. What marketing strategies can you identify? What kinds of stategies can you list?(above/below-the line? unexpected promo stunts? etc). List any examples of the use of synergy with other industries to promote other media/products in connection with a band/artist.
Skinner is an big fan of Reebok Classics shoes, often seen wearing a pair of white Workout Plus trainers, and has even mentioned them in the lyrics for his song "Let's Push Things Forward", in which he says, "Let's put on our Classics and have a little dance, shall we?". Therefore, in 2005 he signed up to appear in a twelve-month ad campaign for Reebok, joining other prominent celebrities in Reebok's "I Am What I Am" campaign. Skinner also collaborated with PETA2 in a campaign urging KFC to demand that chickens raised for them be treated more humanely.

Carol Vernallis

She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However, this is predefined for us by the Director - we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film - do you agree?
Yes I agree as the constant changing visuals in music video do make it very hard to create your own mental pictures because as the viewer there are too many images created by the director to concentrate on to let your mind wander. However, with some music videos there are more abstract shots which does allow the audience to look outside the director's choice. Therefore, with the longer shots of film and more abstract shots in more arty films it is possible to look outside the director's choice and create your own mental pictures, but it can also still be quite difficult.

She says music video is more like listening than viewing - do you agree?
No, I don't agree with this statement as music video can be just as much about the video as it is about the music. Many modern music videos reach almost 6-8 minutes long and are therefore about a narrative which the audience watch to enjoy just as much as they enjoy the music. The music video is also used to promote the band and therefore the audience see how the band want to promote themselves and the way they want to present their song and so we watch the music video to see this.

"We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame" - Agreed?
Yes, I agree as when we are presented with lots of short clips that may appear unrelated, in our minds we attempt to link the images and fill in the blanks, creating images in your mind.

The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?
Yes, I agree as the "beauty shot" is a stable point constantly reinforced throughout the music video to provide familiarity with the artist/main band member which particularly promotes new bands.

Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?
Yes I would say the viewer is drawn into the digesis of the film through the editing because the editing creats the narrative and shows the audience shots in particular order creating particular meanings. Simply swapping just two shots around could completely change the meaning of the shots and therefore the editing finalises the narrative.

Music video is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective - agreed?
This is true for the director as there are less conventions to follow in music video and the main convention of music video is to break conventions. However, the viewer has less freedom as they are being shot what the director wants them to see and the quick editing and quick shots mean you don't have time to create your own mental images and therefore don't question what you are seeing.

Carol Vernallis believes the image alone cannot tell the story - do you agree?
Yes I agree as out of the three elements of a music video: music, image and lyrics, the only one that is not essential for a music video is lyrics, but you can not make a music video without either music or image. Also, sometime the images are completely unrelated to the music or are opposites (contrapuntal) and if this was so then the viewer would not be able to understand the story fully.

Initial Ideas

Nneka - Heartbeat Chase & Status Remix

I have chose this track as an initial idea as it also does not have a music video yet, although it is recent, and because it has lyrics. Luckily the lyrics are by a female which means we could either use someone from our group or find a friend who is willing to be in the video, and we think it would be easier to find a girl to perform in our video than a guy.

I like this song as an idea for our music video as I think it has obvious beats which we would be able to edit to and the music has different stages which will allow us to change the pace of the editing to keep the music video interesting.

Like my other initial idea, I think it would be best to keep the video predominantly concept based, with only a little bit of narrative so that it does not seem like a short film to music. With the narrative I imagine a guy and a girl having an argument when they are out, most likely at a club, and the concept afterwards is the way that he makes her feel. This idea comes from the line 'can you feel the pain you're causing', so I imagine the girl acting in severe pain, lost and feeling isolated and alone even though she is in a crowded club. The song is quite dark and ominous and therefore I think the club scene, possibly of the nightclub Fabric which it is possible to get filming permission for, fits with the music really well.

The beat will also allow us to use some effects really well, particularly lighting. At one point the beat is short and frequent and at this point I imagine strobe lighting (which they use at fabric) and at other changes in the beat I think it would be effective to use bright flashes as well as darkness and dimming, reflecting how she feels.

Initial Ideas

Chase & Status - Running
From the Album More Than Alot, 2008

I have picked this song as one of my initial ideas as even though it is recent, when this was released Chase & Status were still fairly unknown and therefore there is not yet a music video for it.

The song has lyrics which means we can have lip syncing in the video but I was thinking of the video being concept based as well as performance. The music starts of quite upbeat and happy but can be quite dark and heavy at times. This gives me the image of a dark and dingy setting, possibly some slow motion and flashes of bright lights. The concept I have thought of is loneliness and isolation shown by contrasting shots of busy places and the performer alone somewhere lip syncing to the song. I can also imagine a short narrative of a boy and a girl with possibly almost violent sexual encounters and a clear dependence of the guy on the girl.

I have not written a full treatment as of yet though, but am planning to do this after running the idea past the group to see whether it is worth looking at this track in more depth, or to leave this track and move on with another idea.

Teenage Dirtbag Video

Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag
Latymer Edition, edited by Amelia, Holly, Laura and Charlotte

Evaluation

1. What do you think you learnt from Friday's workshop? It could be specific things about making a music video OR general things about the production process.
Friday's work shop mostly taught patience. We had to be patient between shooting and whilst setting up shots, showing how long it takes to shoot as you have to have lots of takes so that you have enough footage in the edit to use the best shots and not be left with rubbish shots with nothing better to use. It also taught us to be prepared for long shoots and to bring in appropriate props and to have spares just to make sure that you're not going to be left with nothing.

2. For you, what was the best bit?
My favourite part of the workshop was the performance shots with everyone in the background although it was very tiring jumping up and down and dancing for the whole extract of the song about 5 times in a row.

3. How do you think the work we have done will impact on your group project?
I think the workshop has helped us see what it is like to shoot a music video and therefore has helped us to prepare for our own shoots as we know that we will have to shoot the video lots of times and have everything prepared in advance. It also helped us think about who we will have in the music video as it showed that shooting a music video is a long process and therefore we need to have people prepared to put their all in and be prepared for long shoots.

Lip Sync Practise

Girls Aloud - Sound of the Underground

Evaluation
1. What do you think you learnt from the Lip Sync workshop? It could be specific things about making a music video OR general things about the production process.
What I learnt most with the lip sync practise is that you really have to not be embarassed to perform and lip sync because it will show in the performance and will not look right when it comes to edit the song to the images. In the video, Laura and I tried to lose all inihibitions and just enjoy making the video, and I think that it really shows in the final edit. However, I have learnt that you really need to learn the words as there is a rather obvious bit in the video when neither Laura or I knew the words and therefore we had to use a clip that covered up best that we didn't know the words, but it is still rather obvious.

I also learnt to shoot the whole song more than once. In our lip sync practice we performed the whole song with both of us twice and the whole song individually once each as well. This left us with loads of footage to choose from, and meant that there is equal coverage of both of us in the video.

2. For you, what was the best bit?
My favourite bit, despite the initial embarassment of dancing around the drama room to Girls Aloud and singing along, was filming the lip sync because we ended up having a lot of fun and attempting to make up a routine in about 5 minutes and then remember it when we had to perform, at points in the video it is obvious we forgot. My favourite bit of the video is the shot of me just spinning around in the back randomly when I ran out of ideas for dancing, and also of the chorus parts of Laura and I dancing together.

3. How do you think the work we have done will impact on your group project?
The lip sync practise could be quite useful for when we come to do our group work as we are all willing to be in our music video and we can use these lip sync videos to see who is confident, who is good at lip syncing, who has good ideas of what to do with the camera and what kinds of songs people are keen to do from their song choice, although I think we are pretty sure we won't be doing a Girls Aloud song...

BLK feedback

Excellent research posts so far Charlotte, a great start to your background work for this project. I really like the analysis work you have done on music videos.

You are rather behind though on some of last term's classwork and you need to catch up fast, as it will be so busy when we get back to school.

We also need to get you using/applying advanced theory more explicitly when you analyse music videos, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin in the new term.

For now, your short term targets are:
1. Link your lip sync and workshop video to your blog
2. Post your workshop and lip synch evaluations
3. Post the work you have done for Miss T on Vernallis (see her post on the main music video blog for specific details)
4. Post your track research/ideas – we need to see what tracks you have in mind for your own video
5. Put some inspirational/useful weblinks up
6. Sort out your blog navigation – you need to link to the main music video blog for example
7. We need a photo and some info about you please!

All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.

Great effort so far, keep up the good work and see you soon!