Our Audience Feedback

We got 3 girls together and showed them our idea and asked them what they thought of them. They seemed to really like the idea and thought we should go ahead with it. I am happy with the reviews and think the 'Black Leafy Chainz' are doing pretty well. Shweet.

Notes from an Executive Producer

Today we were able to talk to an Executive producer, Ollie Allgrove, who works in a company called ‘The Mill’ and he helped us with tips and techniques for our music video's. I found it very interesting and useful and made a few notes during the talk:

• In charge of production department across UK
• themill.com
• helping people tell stories in a different way
• ‘we are artists, technologists and makers for all media, working at the frontiers of visual narrative’
• competitive environment, creatively and financially 
• 30 in house rosters
• 250 artists within 400 people working in London
• design back end technology allowing new techniques to be made
• visual effects Oscar for ‘Gladiator’

 

SSE Advert 2016 

• An orangutang walking around.. not normal 
• non of the shots of the orangutang are real
• 4th month study on the animal
• reference for movement with an ape impersonator lol
• Anything is possible!

• collaborating with record label and artist
• treatment at the end of it

• What’s the big idea?

• Write a treatment!
• has to have a voice
• doesn't have to feel like an essay
• trying to make and do something that is interesting
• back things up with images
• choose tracks that you are interested in and that you can respond to
• think about the images that you can balance your words with
• find references to how the style worked so you can help people understand where you are going

• story boards are very useful to set an idea going
• you are trying to make an image

Jolene and the jing jang jong

• location blagged
• simple effects
• simple props 
• someone running through a building, wanted someone in a POV shot to a rough top 
• single move
• extremely low budget
• helium balloon for the falling bit
• 2:22 long .. consider the timeline, don't make it too long if the budget is lower

• companies such as youtube etc nowadays allow careers to launch more easily as it gives them a platform to work from, giving room for music videos to bloom

Chemical Brothers

• simple treatment e.g. 'ballerina turns into robot'
• with your treatment think, how do you hook the narrative
• a lot of technical work
• 7200 frames
• scan the dancer and track the 3D model over her performance
• witness cameras, having a constant reference as to what her body is doing throughout
• begin to erase her body 
• cloth stimulation with her clothes etc
• 4 and a half months are hard work to complete
• budget was a slight issue but wanted to really execute the producers idea
• wasn't about the budget, was more about creating a quality piece of work

• Don't feel like you are copying other artists as you can use their work to be inspired by!
• set your own treatment
• don't make band look uncomfortable- get a performance out of a performer
• people have to understand what they are doing so over think it, over story board it and really be organised for the shoot day .. Nail it!
• over shoot if you can, make sure you have full coverage in the edit

Storyboard research

What is a story board?

- shows the 'narrative flow'
- visualised by a series of drawings which show the characters, setting, location and props in each shot
- some basic language

What is a story board?

- enables director to see what they want to see on the actual camera shots
- easy to see if directors ideas are going to work on screen so helps devise the sequence of the scenes
- used as a basis of discussion between film director and photographer to decide how the shots need to be acted, lit and shot
- normally used for sequences involving a lot of action or movement

What do story boards look like?

- Here is an example of a story board from a music video made:

When are story boards used?

- Pre-production --> rough ideas, visualising the shots that are going to take place and which ones will work

- Production --> copies are given to all the crew so everyone knows the base line to work with

- Post-production --> act as a visual reminder of what has been shot and the order can be edited 

For our storyboard, Honor is going to draw it as she does art and is probably the best artist out of all of us. We will have to take all of this research into consideration when using the story board so that we can use it in the most effective way it can work. As a group we will work on the storyboard and decide rough ideas so we can start drafting them until we come up with the main one in which we can use pre-production, during production and post-production. 

Here are the storyboards we have been given which we can use to begin drafting our ideas:

Greenlit Idea

As mentioned previously, the powder idea to 'WWISYA' was 'okayed' and therefore we going to go ahead with it. I am happy with this result as I can see the further development into the idea being interesting and unusual. Here is some extra research into the flower shots and ideas we did and Callum saved onto his Pinterest account:

Timeline

Callum made a really rough timeline...

...and then I rewrote it neatly.  It is only a rough timeline for the song with the the different shots we would like to use in it. Obviously we have a long way to go with the timeline we made in terms of development and other ideas however we thought we'd started with something a little less detail so we can expand into new ideas and details.

As you can see, we have written the different shots roughly at the times we hope to show them and what we will be shooting. I have highlighted the time the shots will take the video to in green. We realised, from this, that the song will be a bit too long and could get boring for the audience therefore in the process of developing the idea of the video we will have to think about cutting the song a little bit so that it is roughly between 2:50 and 3:00.

Little group pic whilst working incredibly hard on our timelines

Star Image for our artist

The star images we are trying to create are:

• cool
• hip
• easy going
• funky
• indie 
• Originality 
• youthfulness
• creativity
• good looks

I created a world cloud to express the star image we are going for:

These kind of images will appeal to fun loving, happy people in their mid 20s roughly. These elements of the artists will be the things to promote it and they will make the artist different and more exciting. Richard Dyer said that a star image is constructed out of a range of materials like videos, performances etc. and therefore our video which we will create will include bubbly, colourful, exciting shots linking in with the star image. This is how the audience become attracted to the artist.

Our artist is more organic because he is relatable to upcoming artists trying to become well known however he will have a bit of a synthetic side developing; he will be moulded by the audiences he begins to engage and his record label.

Example of USP (Unique Selling Points) of artists today and artists similar to ours:

This is Rihanna's album cover and her clear USP is her good looks and her body image. This is what attracts a lot of her fans.

MNEK is the artist I originally based this whole idea on and believe our artist will a star image very similar to him. He is USP is more about the cool vibes, image and personality then someone like Rihanna however she also has those point, she just presents them in a different way.

Shakka is also another artist with similar USP to our artist as he is down to earth, hip, cool, funky and quite a new artist building up his fans.

The Pitching Process

Today we pitched our two ideas to Luke who gave us advice as to what to and what not to develop further. Overall, it went pretty well and he seemed to enjoy both the ideas. Callum's first idea was kind of shut down because of the whole underwater poker match concept however he still thought it could of potentially been a really good video.
Here's the treatment we showed him:

Immediately he did say 'this is a well known song' which could end up going against us. He said it would be an extremely high budget video and if we were to do it it wouldn't look completely realistic because of the fact we wouldn't actually shoot a poker match completely underwater therefore there would have to be about 7-8 effects on each shot meaning we would have to spend hours in the editing sweet on the video. Due to other commitments we wouldn't be able to spend this kind of time on it however it would have been extremely cool and unusual to do.



We then moved on to the other idea and change of song, 'When Will I See You Again' by Shakka. Luke preferred this idea in a sense that it was more doable and would be of a lower budget to the other video idea. We pitched the idea using images from the mood board and images of kind of shots we have in mind. The whole colour theme would work extremely well, and the drawing idea, however we need to develop it further and think about the whole purpose of the things we are doing other wise there is no point. We still want to use powder and expose it through a more transparent shot instead of actually throwing it all over the performers; it will cause a massive mess and would take ages to clean up. We were told that we shouldn't use paint and powder, we must just stick to one because otherwise it becomes too much. Also the idea of paint falling down the backdrop was actually 'okayed' but the problem is it falls down straight away and you cannot control the speed of it. Therefore we wouldn't have any lips syncing in front of it. Maybe we could just cut back and forth to it instead. Other then those little pointers, we were given the nod and were told to further develop it so all is good so far!
Here is the Prezi we used to pitch the idea:

Our Mood Board

Meeting with video commission editors from 'Polydor Records'

In our lesson, as a class, we met with top music video commission editors, Emily Tedrake & Hanan Cher, who have worked with very famous artists such as Lana Del Ray, 1975 and others. It was a very interesting discussion and I feel I got a lot out of it.  (http://www.polydor.co.uk)

Notes

• Lana del ray, 1975
• Speak to artist first, they usually know what they want and then are matched to a suited director
• sometimes the artist just leaves it to the director if they don't know what to do 
• discuss whether the artist wants to be in the video, more of documentary etc
• write brief then send it to a few directors
• brief is usually pretty pacific, times, imagery, location, what the track is etc
• brief isn't always that specific so that the director can take a few ideas from
• then the director sends back a treatment and there is a discussion on what the best/right idea would be 
• shoot day is usually a day or two then the edit process then delivery
• 1 to 2 months to complete a full video from treatment to edit
• timing for videos has to be extremely pacific
• if the video is done in a short period of time it has to be extremely planned so everyone knows exactly the structure of the shooting etc 
• never combine different ideas as it would be stealing another directors work and idea
• need to keep artists, directors and everyone else happy as a lot of effort goes into the whole process
• when on shoots you have to check any issues that could arise after
• everything needs to be sorted pre shoot; if things go wrong everyone needs to be aware of what is being lost, no surprises
• lighting right, makeup is good, making sure artists are looking good
• if artist doesn’t like it, the whole video is scrapped
• do a really concise summary and then you can go into detail of the idea, and then visual elements
• ideas have to absolutely be realistic as they won’t be able to be done on a low budget
• avoid any arguments and stick to the original treatment 
• helps getting the artist and director face to face so that they can see how they get on
• consider visual art of the video and how you keep the audiences interests up
• something different happening in the middle 8 and then something exciting at the end
• consider how the track is going to ft with the visuals 
• try get as much performance element as you can - fill the whole track
• ‘promo news’ - a good website to find certain jobs 
• advertising agents
• colour palette in mind
• the grade is considered, balancing out all the colour - contrast, saturation, grain etc
• avoid linking image with lyrics 
• really research the artist and track

OFF BLOOM - ‘LOVE TO HATE’

• new artist 
• make a video like they are not signed to a major label
• people buying into the band not the music label 
• make it look like a friend has made it
• video to let the audience know what they are about
• low budget
• about getting enough imagery 
• getting a lot of shots in the edit
• sense of community 
• light

*VIDEO OUT IN OCTOBER*

JAX JONES - ‘HOUSE WORK’

• editor on set
• very quick
• needed for summer
• very low budget 
• director did it through passion

1975

• black and white - their logo, branded
• all has a matching aesthetic
• higher budget
• in a fair ground after hours at night time

DUSKY FT WILEY - SORT IT OUT SHARON

• mechanical sound 
• wily - eskimo 
• idea of going from cold to hot
• cold climate in Thailand
• everything with an x-ray effect - negative, you can get away with a lot
• however, each shot had to be colour matched which would’ve taken a while
• ice cubes and water in a jungle
• edit is very musical
• low budget

Audience Profile

As a group, we have decided that all our chosen songs would have a similar audience and therefore we wouldn't have too many different ages of audience. We want to attract all the ages which an audience could be as we would prefer to go for a more EDM track. However, the younger generation would prefer the music as it is quite a new style and can be quite intense at times. The social status of the majority of the audience would be C1, lower middle-class as they will be young and wouldn't be working. This would mean they wouldn't have an income to fund their wishes to see the artist/band or buy any of their things. They would use their parents money to fill their desire and therefore supervisory.

I have made a twitter account for an example of the type of fan base we are aiming to go for. She is a young 18 year old, into most/all types of music an

d appreciates any concept. She is quite edgy and bubbly, enjoying the fast pace of music:

Why connecting with your audience is important?

1. Your audience gets to know and like you

2. People help those they like

3. The principle of reciprocity

4. Build a passionate fan base

5. You can grow your network

6. Become a thought leader

7. Let your fans inspire your work

Doing research on audiences and their artist I found this: 

"Connecting with your audience is one of the most important things you can do as an artist. Sure these points apply to business in general, but they are especially true of artists. What artists must realise is, if they want to succeed and make art for a living, they need to learn to become a business. This may have negative connotations but it doesn’t have to. Since the rise of the internet and social media, companies have undergone a massive shift in how they interact with their customers. Instead of just blasting people with coupons and deals to get them to buy, they have begun creating connections. You can only fight on price so long before a customer leaves you forever. That is why connecting with your customers has become so important. Your audience is looking for something that sets you apart from everyone else. You can do this by listening to your audience and providing them with massive value. Start conversations with them. Understand their hopes, dreams, and fears. Make yourself accessible and become an important part of their lives."

Callum's research for his Idea

My group and I have chose 'Begin Again' by Knife Party as a possible song choice for our music video and I am going to present who they are and how my artists is similar to them and others in the same market.

Knife Party is an Australian electronic dance music duo and have released songs such as, 'Centipede', 'Internet Friends', 'Destroy Them With Lazers' and their newest song 'Battle Sirens'. They formed from two members of the drum and bass band Pendulum, Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen. 

SIMILAR ARTISTS:

Skrillex

Swedish House Mafia

Deadmau5

Porter Robinson

Knife Party are a very fun, energetic and individual group and their material is loved by electronic music fans and I feel I would base our artist on them as they make music to have fun and inspire people and that's what our artist would do.

I think the website should be based around the idea of this... 

This is Skrillex's website and it is full of pictures and videos of his gigs, private life, clothes and friends. I would want the website to be like this as it allows an artist to constantly engage with his fans and it shows them that artists are not all about money and success and that they create music for the love, appreciation and inspiration. 

Honor's research for her Idea

Similar Artists

RIHANNA

NAO

LIL KIM

rihannadaily.com

FAN PAGE

RIHANNA
http://www.rihannanow.com

Rihanna's record company is Roc Nation Records.






Here is Rihanna's music video for the song This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris ft Rihanna. This music video was released on 16th June 2016, so it is fairly recent:

Research for my Idea

1. 'When Will I See You Again' - Shakka

 I can imagine the artist with a look similar to drake or even Chris Brown. I would want them to be something along the lines of: Dark skinned or mix-raced, about 6ft, has to have cool swagger, they would also have to be able to perform extremely well as the song is vey lip synced, performance based. If they aren't then the music video would be complete rubbish. I believe the artist in the music video is the one that


carries the video as their performance type changes everything. However, with this specific idea, there will be a lot of things going on in the back ground in terms of colour, lighting, movement etc therefore the performance in this case isn't absolutely vital but still has to be very good. I like the urban kind of a look on the artist for this song as the song it's self has a very cool,

interesting feel to it.

 

 I would dress the artist in something similar to these kind of outfits. They are plain and simple however still stylish. even something like a black bomber jacket would be fine. The reason I would want to keep it simple is, as mentioned before, there will be so many other things going on in the video that you don't want the artist to draw attention away from that. In this case, the artist won't be the focal point of the video but at the same time it will only be them and maybe another girl who is dressed in things that are sensitive to UV rays (see my first idea). I generally think the simpler the better in this video as if he were to have a crazy outfit on the lights, the patterns, the colours and everything else would completely clash and would be too much for the audience to watch.

Campaign

In my initial ideas I chose to have and artist similar to MNEK in terms of website etc. and I would still stick with that Idea as I believe it would fit well, even though I haven't chosen to go with that original idea of flour and a blank box. I was warned that the powder and flour would be super messy and it would be hard to really capture the white box feel so I kind of left that idea, and used the idea from 'Trndsttr' I originally had. I do think MNEK would still fit into the lights idea and his website is very similar to the website I would choose to create.

(http://mnekofficial.com/)

As you can see it is quite digital and when you are actually on the website there is a lot of flashing sections, colour etc. On each tab there are all the useful bits of information the fans would want to know, with easy access for downloading things, viewing his social media etc. I don't think it would be difficult to make a website similar, incorporating the idea of colour and excitement into it. Obviously I wouldn't copy MNEK exactly but I would use his website and selling factors as inspiration for my artist.

All MNEK's album covers are things I have in mind for the digi packs. I think they are creative colourful and just what my artist would be like. I like how the name is clearly written and visible and how sometimes he has chose to use patterns and other times a solid block of colour. His works overall has inspired my with my artists campaign and think it could work well for him.