Star Image

Richard Dyer's theory of "Stars" would be fitting with out music video. In our video we intend on having a range of audience star relationships. The first would be to have emotional affinity. This would be a loose connection between artist and audience, as they may find them attractive/stylish.

It could also be taken to the self-identification level, where the audience takes on the same persona as the people seen in the video, as they may feel that they like them much. Also, imitation may occur as people may like their style and certain things about them, which is quite common for our audience on younger people.

Risk Assesment

There are many risks involved with the filming with the video.

Firstly, as the video is being shot in the field, there is long grass and will be equipment such as wires and tripods lying about, this will mean that actors and crew could fall over this making it a serious hazard. The severity would only be medium, as it cannot cause any extremely bad injuries but could cause things like a twisted ankle. The precautions we could take would be to try not to leave things lying about on the floor and to make sure all members of crew know about the equipment lying about.

There maybe some temporary structures such as ladders up, so all crew will need to know how to use it. It's severity would be high, as a big fall off the ladder could result in multiple injuries. The precations we would take would be to make sure that a person was always holding the ladder and that they are positioned safely.

As in the field, we will be using cars to light up the area where we are filming, we will need to make sure that they are in neutral and are positioned so they are not blocking anything off. The severity of the risk is low, as it is unlikely that something could go wrong but we have to make sure that everything is taken seriously. The precautions are, as previously mentioned to put the cars gears in neutral.

One other prop we are using in the video  is that of a firework. The severity of this risk is obviously very high, as it is a dangerous object which can cause many injuries. Precautions such as wearing gloves and keeping a safe distance will have to taken, so that nothing goes wrong.

Storyboard Animatic

This is our storyboard animatic, it shows the order of our shots but also with the correct timing to give us a better idea of how our video will look in terms of shot types, positions, movements etc. 

Storyboard

Here is are storyboard, unfotunately one shot was atached on the edge of the storyboard, so would not scan.

Genre Inspiration

Bombay Bicycle Club are a band fairly similar to Little Comets. Both are quartets consisting of all males in their early twenties. Like Little Comets, they also create an infectious pop/soft rock sound with a definite tongue in cheek attitude displayed in the videos and overall persona.

For the video of "Evening/Morning", we see both elements of disjuncture and simple illustration. With the panda running across the streets, this shows the jokey personality that Bombay Bicycle Club share with Little Comets and this is something we would like to portray in our video.

 

Location Night time

Here are some pictures of what the location would look like at night. The effect is better than the daylight, I think it would make the video a bit cooler, in my opinion. 

This shows the basics of how we will light our set. This just shows one car lighting the area, we hope to use about 3 or 4 to get a better affect. 

This shows the view from the camera angle with normal car lights on. 

This shows the lights on full beam, the effect is obviously that it is brighter and we can see more of the background which will show the setting better. 

Here shows a person in this full beam light, the worry was that the lights wouldn't be bright enough to light all features of the person. This picture shows the lighting would be good enough. Hopefully with more car lights it will look brighter. Below is the point of view of the band. 

Location Daytime

This is what our location would look like in the daytime, the setting is meant to be quite plain and this suits very well. The problem with shooting a music video in daylight, is that it is very variable and if we are filming for hours on end it will be very difficult to keep the same light. The advantage of shooting at night therefore, is that we can control the light. (shown in next post).

Lighting

One thing we have been thinking about during the storyboard process is that of lighting. We have planned to shoot our video in the darkness, as we feel that this would add the perfect effect, aswe also plan to use a firework in the video.


The problem is that we will need substantial lighting to make the band video and so they just not look like shadows. Or first idea was to bring 4 cars into the field and have them on full beam, something which we plan to test beforehand.


Our second option is to edit the video after filming in the day although this could be an issue with the skills we have and the limited to time.


Our third option was to just abandon the idea of filming in the dark and make it work in the day but this is something we will find out after doing a lighting test.




Above is a video by The Drums, for their hit single "Let's Go Surfing". At the time, The Drums were a fairly small band, so will have had quite a low budget, so we plan on taking some inspiration from this video.

What are you doing?

At the moment we are focusing on completing the storyboard (see Harry at hard graft)

We have also decided to mainly film the video in an empty field and we are currently deciding whether to film at night, in the day but change it to look like the night or to just film in the day. The problem with filming in the night would be that the lighting would be poor. One of our ideas was to try to get about 4 cars behind the camera, all with full beam shining on the band & dancers but this needs testing. Below are some pictures of the possible filming locations.

Update...

We have decided to make the band a four piece as we feel having four members will be better as we want them to be of the highest quality. The band members are...

Jordan Halford - Guitarist

Benjamin Richard Harris - Bass

Max Hallam Vocalist

Callum Wills - Drums

Inspiration and research - Robbie Williams

One man who has always been keen on making intriguing and very different music videos is pop artist Robbie Williams. Although his music is very mainstream he has always taken a keen interest in trying to create unique and original music videos.



In this video we see Robbie Williams, dressed up as a member of Kiss, this therefore being an intertextual reference. Also, it is playing on the genre as Robbie Williams is a pop artist whereas Kiss are heavy metal.

Another video by Robbie Williams is "Supreme"



In this video you see Robbie Williams pretending to be a fake F1 driver, against former champion Jackie Stewart. This is an example of disjuncture as it is completely unrelated.

In this video you see Robbie Williams cross-dressing, pretending to be Madonna.



This is a tongue in cheek remake, fitting in with the title therefore being an example of illustration.

Pitch

Band Logo

Many bands have a logo, this can be a signature font or motif. These are used on album covers and band merchandise, they are also used for fans to be able to recognise the band easier. They can be also used to promote a band. 

Here is a moodboard including some examples of recognisable band logos/motifs. 

I have created a few logos in various fonts and designs, inspired by similar logos to those above. These are just a few rough logos that could be close to what we will pick for a final design. Some are very simple, with variations of text, some are a bit more illustrative and experimental. Possible logos below (slideshare) 

Possible Band Logos

View more presentations from Harry Simmons.

Audience Profile

Here is the audience profile...

Facebook Page

To expand the promotion of our band, along with a twitter and youtube page, I have created a facebook page. Bands regularly update their fans via many of these types of social networking sites to keep them in the loop and self-promote their music. 


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Wax/173695906040966 

Coldplay Music Videos

The videos for 'Yellow' and 'The Scientist' are both very interesting and unique. Both videos were filmed with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin singing altered versions of the song. 

The video for 'Yellow' is also interesting as it is just a one shot video. The song appears to be slow motion, although the song is played at full speed. Chris Martin had to learn and sing the song at double speed to create this slow motion effect. This effect works amazingly well for this video as the song suits the slow motion style. 







'The Scientist' video was filmed in a normal fashion, then flipped back to front. This is to emphasise the lyrics 'back to the start'. For Chris Martin to seem to be singing he had to learn and sing the song backwards. 


These ideas and adaptions from the way in which the artist sings are fairly simplistic to create a suitable affect to match the song. Similar ideas would be difficult, but not impossible to replicate. 

Band biography.

To show the full band history in a professional way, I have mocked up a wikipedia page for the band (Click Image for full size). 

Youtube

For the band, I have decided to create a youtube, so we can give regular updates via video...

WeAreBLACKWAX - YouTube

Kasabian - "L.S.F."

Kasabian - L.S.F.

The video is an example of illustration, as it shows a straightforward performance with some additional narrative, which is very simple. The genre characteristics displayed show a womens prison, which suggests that these are violent and stereotypically "butch" women.

When lead singer, Tom Meighan, says "we've got our backs to the wall", there is an shot shooing women with their backs up against the wall, which shows that their is some links between the lyrics and the visuals.

There are some close up shots of all of the members in the band, as well as some shots of the women in the prison. There is a contrast between some of the prisoners, as some are wearing quite revealing outfits and are seen through the "male gaze" whereas others are stereotypical prisoners, with tattoos and looking quite muscular.

I have set up a twitter for the band...

We Are BLACK WAX

We will be posting regularly and so people can hear about new stuff.

I will also be setting up a Facebook, youtube and soundcloud page in the future.

Band Name

The band name we have came up with is...

Band name ideas

Here is a moodboard/brainstorm type thing with ideas for band names. After much deliberation we finally decided thanks to this. It was made on photoshop

Song Title and Genre

For the music video,wehave decided that as a group the song we will be creating a video for is...


Little Comets - "Dancing Song".


Dancing Song - Little Comets

The song does not actually have a made video, which I feel will benefit us and allthe ideas will come from us and not trying to fit in with what Little Comets would do.

The genre of the band is indie/pop, so we are going to target that type of audience.

We will be posting all sort of influences for the music video but we have an overall idea of what we will be doing.

Music Video Analysis - 'Vampire Weekend - Cousins'

This music video features the genre characteristics of Amplification and Illustration. The video features the band performing, but does not just see them on stage. The video features different band members on a track moving down an alleyway. However the most interesting aspect of this video is the use of editing to create the effect of the band moving back and fourth along the track quickly. The shot frequently jump cuts from other parts of the track. The cuts work in time with the predominant drum beat. The frequent changes in costume and position of members of the band make for a hectic nature to the video, which works well with the pace of the song. The lead singer is the most featured on the platform on the track. The song only features the male members of the band and there are no reference to the notion of looking. The mise en scene and lighting make the video colourful and fun, the band's music is a reflection of this. 

Daft Punk - "Around The World"

Daft Punk - Around The World


The Daft Punk song, "Around The World" is composed using the genre category of disjuncture as it is completely abstract. However, the director, Michael Gondry tried to use all the people in the video to display different instruments. " The androids represent the singing robot voice; the physicality and small-minded rapidity of the athletes symbolizes the ascending/descending bass guitar; the femininity of the disco girls represents the high-pitched keyboard; the "itchy" skeletons serve for the guitars; the mummies represent the drum machine."


Due to the fact it being very abstract, there is no close up's of the artist. However robots are used and Daft Punk where robots masks, so this is quite fitting for the star image.


There is elements of the male gaze as there are women dressed up as synchronised swimmers, in revealing costumes, this suggesting that it is targeting males. However, the video's main aim is to be very unique and alternative, like Daft Punk the artists themselves.


There are elements of both amplification and disjuncture in the video. Disjuncture is represented as it is very abstract, with the dancers. However they are used to represent the music which is an element of amplification.


Intertextual references have been taken from this video, for LCD Soundsytem's "Daft Punk Is Playing At My House".

Music Video Analysis - 'Dananananaykroyd - Black Wax'

The video to 'Black Wax' can be seen to have the genre characteristics of Illustration as basically the video is a performance. The characteristics that make it more like Amplification are things like the interesting camera angles used and shots speeds. One of the most interesting aspects of this music video is the use of 'Point of View' camera angles. These show an angle as it would be from the view of an artist in the band. There are also wide shots used which show the whole band playing. The lead singers are the most featured in the video, both seen from the perspective of each other. The camera movement is used to show the swaying of the heads of the singers, which is shown in the opposite shot of each singers. The tempo of the song dictates the speed in which the shot changes, the drum beat is very predominant in this song and shots do tend to shift according to the pace at which the drum beats. An example of this is near the start when the band is clapping along to the drum beat. Dananananaykroyd are self-described as 'Fight-pop' which indicates an almost violent nature to their music, the aggression and tempo of the song is shown and amplified by some slow motion shots of the band thrashing about, but the slow motion brings a sense of calm and is quite effective in this video. The lighting used is minimal, it highlights the artists and we don't see much of the background, the mise en scene of the video is fairly simple, dark colours, whites. There is no real relation between the lyrics of the song and the visuals, but the way in which the song is sang and the band's particular genre is represented by the almost hectic feel to the music. There is use of male gaze in this video, the female guitarist and other woman in the video are featured with close ups of eyes and breasts. A motif used is the dog being walked through the performance area, although I personally don't see any relevance to the band. Another is when the lead singer lies down, this would be familiar to fans of the band as this is a feature of their live shows. 

Music Video Analysis - 'Friendly Fires - Hawaiian Air'

The video for 'Hawaiian Air' has a genre characteristic of Amplification, the video features some narrative elements; on the lyric 'Skipping the meal for a G&T' we see lead singer Ed Macfarlane drinking a gin & tonic. The lyrics of the song show the struggles of air travel, this is amplified with the mood and attitude shown by the expressions and body language the lead singer. The song's subject is air travel and the country of Hawaii, these are both shown in the music video. There are performance elements, for instance where we see other band members sitting either side in seats, playing guitar and drumming. There are a range of different types of shot, from on a plane with in the categories of narrative and performance and then to scenic shots of the Hawaiian coast. There is relation between the music and visuals, the song has many stretched out and emphasised words, this relates to what the video's aim is; to show the difficulties of air travel and how long and stretched out in can be. It could be argued that the accentuated words are an indication of moaning almost. The most-featured shot is a mid shot of the lead singer with 2 passengers sitting either side of him, the focus is mainly on his facial expressions and his emotion of struggle on the flight. There is also some examples of the male gaze used, some shots from Hawaiian beaches etc feature women dressed in bikinis dancing. Also shown is a sort of motif of the band, Ed Macfarlane is featured showing some of his signature flamboyant dancing. 

Music Video Analysis - TEED

The 1st video we have chose to analyse is Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - Trouble (alternative video).

The main genre characteristic present is that of amplification as the video is a performance by the actor involved, however, has an element of tongue in cheek as the video uses sarcasm to mock Orlando Higginbottom (TEED). The way he dances and the extravagant headwear he wears is all a tongue in cheek dig at the artist.



This short TubeChop shows the actor wearing the extravagant headwear and this is replicating T.E.E.D's star image as this is a trademark by him.


The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are both fitting and contradictory. The lyric 'you make me happy' is fitting as the actor is dancing, looking happy, as shown in the TubeChop.



However, the lyric 'I'm in trouble now' is used but still the actor looks happy and continues to dance. This suggesst rebellion and that he is that sort of character.



The relationship between music and visuals is fitting. Between 1:18 - 1:32 a steel drum type sound is used and culturally this fits in with holidays and the Caribbean.

 The mise en scene suggests that it is a holiday as the actors shirt is unbuttoned and there is a wooden backdrop suggesting a hotel in the Caribbean.

There were plenty of close up shots but due to the nature of the video no star image and Orlando did not feaure.