Institution Final Decision: Rough Trade

After careful consideration my partner and I decided that rough trade should be our chosen institution as it matches our artist the best and they have a lot of knowledge about Indie music.

Filming Plans for Friday 25th October

Today I decided that i will go to crystal palace park and dulwich park with the artist for at least 2-3 hours to film parts of the music video. I text the artist to let her know the details e.g. the meeting spot and her costume and I booked a camera, monopod and speakers with the film and media department.

In order for the music video to flow I have to ensure that there are no continuity errors so I checked the weather and it is similar to the first time that we went filming.

I also planned the journey and how get to crystal palace park from the meeting place. Below is a picture of the journey that i planned via journey planner.

Filming Schedule

Thursday 25th October: Today me and regina are going to crystal palace park and dulwich park to film the location shots and the artist as well we hope to do this for at least 2 hours.

Friday 26th October: Today me and Regina hope to carry on with the filming we did yesterday and improve any shots we feel was not carried out very well.

Plans to Film on October 25th

My partner and I decided to film Cleo on Thursday for 2-3 hours in Crystal Palace Park we have decided to meet outside the park for 1.30pm and stay there until around 4.30pm before it gets too dark outside. We are hoping to film her next to a river/lake and in a green space.

Production Entry: Portable Speakers

In todays media lesson Sir and I discussed the importance of the artists looking as if they were actually singing. We thought that it would be best to carry portable speakers so the artist can sing along with the music and it would be easier for me to see if the music goes with the lyrics.

Below is a picture of the speakers I would use when on location with the artist. They are simple to use and extremely effective as they can plug into a phone or iPod. they are also loud enough for both me and the artist to hear.

Institutional Research: Rough Trade

My partner and I decided to look for a record label that would be suitable for our artist. after looking at instutions through the google search engine. We came to a decision that Rough Trade would fit our artist and her music best after investigating it. The genres of music they represented included Indie/Alternative, Pop and Dreampop. As our song is of the Indie genre and an coming artist they were most likely to sign the artist as is was a typical independent record label who typically sign small indie bands and artists such as Warpaint

Institutional Research: Polydor Records

When doing my music analysis I found that a common record label that kept recurring was Polydor Records. Polydor Records is known for its long, prestigious and varied a musical history. It was founded in Germany in 1946 as the popular music arm of the long-established Deutsche Grammophon label, the UK division of Polydor was not established until ten years later.

Initially, the label concentrated on releasing continental-made recordings. However now the label boast plenty of big pop names from Ronan Keating to Daniel Bedingfield. As well as indie artist like ours including Ellie Goulding who's music video I analysed. I believe that Polydor Records would promote our band because it has bands/artists that produce similar kind of music to the song "youth" by Daughter.

Production Diary Entry: Final Cut Pro

Today I used final cut pro for the first time and edited some shots that we had on the camera. I learnt how to detach audio, balance the colour, add transitions to various clips such as cross dissolve and, edit the length of clips.

Production Diary Entry: Smoke Grenades

Today in Mr Roberts lessons my partner and I had a discussion about the availability of using smoke grenades in our music production at first we thought it may be a dangerous thing but after researching into it we discovered it was harmless the availability of it was rather easy. However there was a downside to using this firstly we would have to buy them ourselves and if we needed a lot of it could be rather costly also the smoke only lasts for 30 seconds so we would have to be extremely methodological in working out how we would film it happening for example what shots we would use and the angles ect. In addition to this as majority of our filming takes places in public places e.g. the school and in public paths we would have to ensure that we ask for the permission and if it is granted to us, not to damage the property.Below is a demonstration of how a smoke grenade works and the outcome of it.

Production Entry: Smoke Grenades

After researching the cost of smoke grenades and the availability of it I found a company the makes them and sells them at £2.99 each they are called Air Soft. They also have various colours to choose from including red, blue, green and purple. The company website is www.roeairsoft.co.uk. Below is an image of the product the we would buy.

Production Diary Entry: Use of Smoke in the Music Video

After watching Florence and the Machine 2012 version of “the dogs days are over” we saw that they used coloured smoke in the music video and thought this would be good if we used it as it is part of the indie codes and conventions and could a huge impact on our music video.

Costume Ideas

We have not officially decided on a costume for the main artist yet but after watching numerous indie/alternative music videos it is clear that most of them have a distinct style. Below are some images of some costume ideas I had for the main artist to wear. These include creepers, body con skirts, flowing skirts and dresses, skull jewellery and other vintage style clothing.


Black Bodycon Skirt

Short sleeved Tie-dye Shirt

Long sleeved Tie-dye Shirt

Various Style Creepers

Skull Style Jewellery

Indie Style Rings

Pink Mesh skirt

Printed Style Bodycon skirt

Blue Bodycon Skirt

Final Casting: Cleo Bartley

Regina and I decided that we wanted to challenge the typical codes and convention of having a white female for our indie artist instead we decided to use a girl not of this ethinic background but of a mixed one below are images of other artists that currently produce Indie/ alternative music similar to our song and have the same style and look as our artist does.

Lianne La Havas


Corinne Bailey Ray


Cleo Sol


Cleo Bartley(Our artist)

Filming Technique: DSLR

For my preliminary task; fast/slow sequence my group used a "normal" video camera which was not of very good quality. Therefore my partner and I decided to use a HD camcorder as the quality of the footage will be better. In our favor we managed to get hold of a DSLR camera which will enable us to have sharp and clean cut, when filming.

Montage of Camera shots

Below are a montage of camera shots that are used in various indie/alternative videos. I did this t see when common characteristics came in the music videos. from what i have seen it s clear that all shots need to be tight and the only shots that I saw that were long shots tended to be establishing shots or location and if they were long shots there had t me a motive to why they were used. this placed emphasis on the fact that all shots needed to be close ups or medium shots in order to match the codes and conventions of the indie genre.

Production Diary: Entry

Today in Mr Roberts’s lesson we were discussing the importance of animatic story boards and how useful they are to ensure that the music video is a success. Story boards are essential as they create the scene with the soundtrack behind it before filming has even began, this gives the director and film director an idea of what they need to do. It also helps the editor as they know roughly how long each shot will last for and what should come before and after each one. In my group we decided that I would complete the story board and create an animatic one with the track behind it. Also I would edit the footage that was filmed.

Below is an example of an animatic storyborad that was completed by a previous media student and is an example of what ours should look like.

Music Analysis: "110%"

Synopsis

Our music video is about a girl who narrates through conceptual visual images and powerful lyrics, the dangers of being youthful. The song explores the consequences of the activities people find fun or exhilarating whilst they're young, but speaks about it in retrospect showing that the outcome isn't always a happy ending. The verses speak about living life only focusing on the beginning (youth) and the end which are only mere visions of the future, but unfortunately result in death before the promising future has come. The chorus reflects on how young people damage themselves and only have themselves to blame in the end when they are left sad, alone and damaged.

Music Analysis: "Dog days Are Over"

Music Analysis: "Dog Days Are Over" (2010 version) from carmiiewallace

Music Analysis: "Where is the love"

It is clear that the song me and Regina decided to use for our music video is based on how youths of today portray themselves. There are many moments within the song that could make good illustrative moments however it would harm/damage their bodies as the illustrative moments are based on sex, drugs, smoking and alcohol. After an in-depth discussion with my teacher; miss Ferdinand, about our idea for our music video me and my partner thought that it was best if we had the stereotype youth holding up placards such as smoking to still convey this image without damaging their bodies. Although we thought this would be a good idea I do not know of any current indie artists or bands that have done this before so I decided to analysis a hip-hop band; The black eyed peas which have followed out this concept before.

Below is the music video for black eyed peas “where is the love” and my audio response on sound cloud

Music Analysis: "Born To Die"

Music Analysis: Larna Del Ray - Born To Die from carmiiewallace

Treatment/Music Video Ideas

Music Analysis: "Guns and Horses"

Music Video Analysis: "Guns and Horses"

Target Audience Research

As I know little about the Indie culture I thought it was best to do audience research on what the indie culture is like and how they like to portray themselves after doing a simple Google search I am across numerous blogs which were based on “Indies” it became apparent that they enjoyed to create their own clothes to depict themselves as individuals/one of a kind. It also showed me the creative side of the indie tradition as what they made seemed to be eccentric and unpredictable such as newspaper nail polish ect. Below is a slideshow of various interesting things that I found which could be implemented in order to create a successful Indie music video

Indie Mood Board

Indie Mood Board

Audience research: Indie Style/clothing

Audience Research