Our group went away during a lesson on own clothes day recently to interview some students around the school who we thought would be our target audience judging on how they dressed and looked. Two of my group members then came to conclusions on our target market, and who specifically it will be aimed at from our song choice and what sort of video will be most effective.
The song we chose, Young Blood by The Naked and Famous is that of the indie genre but it also has a slight electronic synthesised dance beat to it as well which fits well as every member of our group is interested in indie alternative rock, the song will be primarily aimed at the indie genre market or in that direction at least, but because it is also a dance/electronic type of music as well it means that we don't have to appeal to the niche market of the indie music lovers as it can also interest indie music lovers.
In order to get a good understanding of indie scenesters we looked at the UK Tribes website, this would give us an insight into how they dress, what they are like and how to attract them.
Here shows the type of brands that they are most interested in and tend to wear, their media consumption, so how they get access to media and how much of it they use and what are their most used form of media.
This means that we could target these specific/mostly used type of media for our promotion package to try and target them and attract them.
Here is a video from the UK tribes website that explains the indie scene and what they wear. "Indie Scenesters exist thanks to the fashionable status of guitar music (though for them it’s often about mixing it up with more electronic sounds) and are linked to the general rise of instant fashionability – of fashion and music trends having much faster lifecycles thanks to the commodification of cool. Scenesters don't mind bands achieving mainstream success, but prefer them before the masses cotton on – their own version of second album syndrome. There is significant role reversal in the Indie Scenester Tribe, with both boys and girls dressing in tight fitting clothes and often sporting make-up and accessories. The relatively recent return of the Ray-Ban Wayfarer (in all colours) is big with this crowd as they love to be the first to pick up on the rebirth of a once popular fashion item." The above passage gives us an idea of what the band members should be wearing and what attire they should have, Both boys and girls dress in tight fitting clothes, this is typical of the indie scene also wearing The type of clothes that the band will be wearing is solely based on the indie tribe and slightly stereo typical in a way although its typical to the newer indie tribe, some examples of the type of clothes that the band will be wearing;
l very popular within this group and top man can provide them all. Above you can see a image that I have taken from the Topman website it shows a model wearing cloths typical associated with indie Scenesters. It is also common for them to roll up there sleeves ans short and long sleeved shirts as well and rolling up the bottom of there trousers to show the ankles. common footwear worn would be Van's, boat shoes, desert boots and espadrilles. Commonly associated with the indie is the 'Old Man' look also called 'Vintage' where many people wear striped and patterned jumpers and shirts with colors such as beige being very popular. and knit wear often is worn. Although baggy jumpers and tops are popular skinny clothes are also extremely popular and very common with skinny jeans a must for all indie 'wannabes'.
I have sent an email to the bands manager to try and get permission to use the song for our video here are the screenshots;
With the performance part of the video we wanted to keep it as simple as possible. As researching the instruments behind the band were very stereotypical with two guitars, a drum kit, keyboard, synthesiser and a lead singer. We were thinking of finding an empty room, blacking it out and then having a single light (Maybe coloured) shining through from the background silhouetting and lighting up the band members.
A member of our group created a 3D model in cinema 4D and rendered out to produce a similar reconstruction of the scene. Unfortunately the lighting isn't as realistic with a lower contrast than in real life but we can see a rough layout and style. The good thing about shooting in the dark is that the location wont have to be as important as shooting in the day time. There is also a video below of short rotation of the 3D models showing it a little clearer.
Also below are screen shots from the music video from the song "Speed of sound" by Coldplay. This shows a similiar sort of idea however instead of using a single light they use a massive screen which later lights up in the video. However the idea of light from the background creates a very clever effect. There are also screen shots from Muse's "Time is Running Out" and The Arctic Monkeys' "Brianstorm". The Arctic Monkeys' song also recreates a very similar effect with a sepia tone to the video but i included Muse's song because i think the overall blue lights and tone look better in comparison.
Speed of Sound by Coldplay
Time is Running Out by Muse Brianstorm by Arctic Monkeys Narrative With the narrative elements and part of the video we wanted it to be quite random but sort the atmosphere and mood of the song. Therefore we were thinking of filming sequences of groups of different people and friends enjoying themselves and having edited to the music very similar to some of Calvin Harris' music videos. One idea i wanted to expand upon was a group of friends having a camp fire in a wood or field during dusk. In the music video to "Olympic Airways" a song by The Foals there a small clip of a group of people with a bunch of black balloons in a field and then letting them drift off into the distance. This was a very clever idea that looks very appealing while suiting the style of video we want to shoot. It is also very easy to recreate and can involve or be applied to all different age groups making it a viable option.
I also really like the use of balloons in this advert by aero for their chocolate bar "Aero Bubbles". Although it has no relation to music video i think the concept is really clever and as we were planing on doing some shots based in a skatepark it maybe really cool to try and recreate this concept into the narrative. This could link into the previous scene with the group of friends in a field. We could then use balloons to create a relationship between all of the narrative clips despite them being different locations and people. Another thing i think looks good is the use of flares in the background. This can be either used in the narrative with a group of friends mucking around with them as seen below or could be used in the performance and placed on the floor to light up the place. The pictures below are from Rihanna's Music Video (Left) "We Found Love" and Jamie T's video (Right) "Sticks and Stones". I personally think it would look better included in the narrative with people on the back of bikes with them riding along similar to Rihanna's video. Other related shots of use of a forest or wood in a music video by the artist The macabees who have a fight scene in a woods. It wasn't the scene that interested me but the way the shots were filmed with the sun rays coming through the branches and creating lens flares on the camera. These shots are very well suited to the style of narrative that we are aiming to accomplish. Luckily one of our members of the group lives right next to a forest so this is easy access and flares can later be magnified in post production if needed.
Also as we have go pro camera's we are able to film under water scenes in HD and slow motion as the camera has a frame rate of 128 which is four times better quality than a normal DLSR camera. For example to the left is a photo of bubbles during a slow motion film clip which could include if it suited the video. In conjunction we were thinking of shooting a beach scene with friends running and around on the sea front and caves so this sort of shot could be tied into that. A shot of someone diving into the water filmed from below. This could create a very cool effect especially when played in slow motion. Proof that this sort of narrative fits style fits the music is the video (Left). This was created in final cut where we took the music video from Calvin Harris's "Feel So Close" which has the same idea of different groups of people dancing and having fun to music and then replacing the song with our music choice. Even though they are completely unrelated they fit together really well. The only parts which show the video isn't real is when the Calvin Harris sings along to his song in the video. Type of Shot
Obviously mentioned before was the use of a go pro camera to achieve sloe motion shots and underwater shots. But we have also researched into other types of shot we could play around with. One is called the vertigo shot which plays with the perspective of the shot. This was firstly used in the film vertigo and most famous for its use in Jaws but is a type of shot (Video) which we can try. It is created by zooming out the same distance as walking towards the character. This bends the background and focusses/stresses the importance of the object or character in focus. However i don't exactly know how we are going to be able to fit this in with a music video but it is a concept and idea available at our disposal. This is a shot which appears where the camera fly's through glass and in this case a window. This would be particularly good in the intro of the song, for example where the camera could fly through a window of a car into a shot of a man tuning a radio into the song. This is created in after effects and adds a professional element to the video giving it a making the overall video look alot more realistic. However it does require a dolly to have a smooth path when the camera tracks towards into the car. The original shot is without the window and then the window is added in post production. The Go Pro can be used for a number of different types of shot. The first is an underwater shot which can be used because of the compact case that the go pro comes with. This is water and shockproof, shown in the video below which is completely shot with the go pro showing the quality the camera can produce. The other type of shot that it could be used for is shown in Group Love's song "Colours". This is where the camera is fixed to the waist of the actor and then tilted up to capture the top half. This creates a clever effect giving the audience a feeling of the atmosphere in the video and could be included in the narrative parts of the video.
Our first initial plans were to produce a performance based video, furthermore we settled on the indie genre of music so it was most appropriate to do a performance video. Each of us in the group wrote down 2 songs we each thought we be the best to do and the ones we liked, Blue Blood by Foals was the first song we listened to baring in mind that we needed someone that looked like he sounded like the singer of the band.
The start of the song is slow and that is an aspect we liked, there is a very subtle drum riff along with a guitar riff with him singing over the top, around 1 minute 30 seconds in the song kicks in which is something else we really liked because it would enable us to shoot a slow paced, subtle introduction and then make it faster paced which is something quite unique about the song.
Another Foals song we looked at was Olympic Airways, i personally really liked the song but i understood its flaws, the fact that it didn't have a guitar solo was a downfall and that there wasn't a clear break in the music.
We then started to look at Bombay Bicycle Club as they have some nice music that relates heavily to the style of indie that we want. The first song was Always Like This, again we needed to take into account who we knew that looks like they have the same voice as the person singing, which is the first problem with Bombay Bicycle Club as the lead singer has a very distinct voice so they were ruled out straight away, we looked into another song by them which is a more instrumental based song rather a heavily vocalised song, Autumn starts with a strong drum riff which then later incorporates the other instruments, the first verse is very short which means there wouldnt be many close ups of our lead singer, his voice in this song is also slightly different to the last and in my personal opinion it sounds less distinct to his voice in the other songs by them.
When looking at music videos at first, we looked at the indie genre of music because idealistically we were going to produce the video within that genre and most probably performance based, the videos we started look at first were nothing special; Olympic Airways by Foals is a terribly bland video with no structure at all, its a performance video where the band are in the woods with the instruments and amps performing to the camera, there are also spontaneous un-related shots thrown in the video. Although the shots were rather pointless it fits in with the style of music, nearer the end of the video we see a crowd of people including the band, in a field sitting down with black balloons, as a group we agreed that we liked the idea a lot and thought it was something that we could possibly use in our video.
Another foals video with some good camera work in is Spanish Sahara, the video is consisted of long cut shots based in the arctic by the looks of it as it shows melting of polar ice caps. There are lots of close ups of the lead singer Yanis Philipakis and then some other shots thrown in that have no relevance to the lyrics but go well with the tempo and tone of the song. There is also a hint of juxtaposition in the video which is something i would like to incorporate into my own video, it shows a blazing fire in a snowy environment.
We then looked at Calvin Harris' video to Feel So Close, although its not of the indie genre its still a s genre we would consider doing even though it would be significantly harder to film and produce.
The video features different groups of people tuning into he radio to listen to the same song, this includes Harris in a car listening to the radio and singing to his song. The general structure of the video is quite pointless and random again, but it does show the genre of music in the video and it gives of a general vibe to go out, dance and have fun. If the song we ended up choosing was of the dance genre then this could be an option for us to look into doing, its simple but effective style of video. The lyrics "I feel so close to you right now, its a force field, i wear my heart above my skin like a big deal, and theres no stopping us right now, i feel so close to you right now"This shows us that the video is loosely related to the song and its trying to emphasise the point that is being made, which is quite simply 'Love'.
Another Calvin Harris song featuring Rihanna is We Found Love, the start of the video has a sort of narated introduction where there are clips being shown of Rihanna and her boyfriend going through the good and the bad while a british woman is talking over the top, when the song then gets underway we then see more clips of Rihanna having fun and spending time with her boyfriend, towards the later part of the video, it shows clips of them arguing. The video is also mildly drug referenced showing clips of pills and tablets in the shot, this type of video is again spontaneous and random but its suits the genre because of that reason, the lyrics are again loosely related to the video but the video is based more on the genre than the lyrics.
When we started looking back into the indie genre, we looked at the video to Time is Running Out by muse, its a performance based video with some choreography thrown in. It features the band on top of a large round table with people sat around it whilst they perform the song, the people sat around the table then get up and start to dance to the music. I wasn't too sure on the video although the rest of my group liked it a lot because of the types of shots used, there are lots of close ups of the lead singer Matt Bellamy and a lot of long shots showing the room and the scene. The lighting is something i actually liked about the video, its low lighting form a large circular ring that goes around the table giving a nice effect to the video, there is also low level red lighting in the background which contrasts with the cyan from the other lights.
Another music video was Brianstorm by Arctic Monkeys, the opening shot of this video is something we really liked and would like to use, it shows the band setting up to play silhouetted with a sepia effect from the lighting, only the silhouettes of the band members and there instruments can be seen. It gives a tense feel about the video and would be a great opening shot to use.
This video also has quick short clips and fast paced cut transitions which isnt something we would use but its a great effect as it makes it difficult to concentrate on the image put in front of you.
Another Arctic Monkey video we looked at was Fluorescent Adolescent, the video to start with seems rather pointless and stupid but as it gets underway it starts to unravel. There are two groups of men, one group dressed in clown costumes and the the other in smart attire, the two groups start with a car chase then get out of the cars to start fighting each other, the general handheld type of footage is what we liked about the video and think it might be something we could use in our video.
I have chosen Fatboy Slim's video of his well renowned song 'Weapon of Choice', the video features actor Christopher Walken dancing and flying around a deserted Marriot hotel in Los Angles.
The video was directed by Spike Jonez in 2000 when they hired the Marriot hotel in Los Angeles and got actor Christopher Walken, who was a trained dancer before he started his acting career, to dance around the silent hotel to the music. The video won six MTV music awards back in 2001, Walken was also awarded one of MTV's awards for best choreography. This video was also ranked number one in a list of top 100 music videos by VH1in april 2002. The type of genre this music is electronic dance, it has fast paced BPM that people can dance to hence the narrative by Christopher Walken, our song that we are planning on using is going to be electronic dance so this video is most appropriate with the random, spontaneous sort of performance.
The video starts with Walken Sitting in an arm chair in the hotel, wearing a formal attire and looking very glum and as if he waiting for something or someone, the music then proceeds to be played and Walken twitches, looks up and around at a cleaning cart and back towards the camera, the firm camera shot from the tripod helps to emphasise the dullness of his look, the video is also tone mapped to give it a sepia look to the short film.
The music then starts to pick up a little and Walken then stands up out of his chair, then all of a sudden he then springs into action with the music, his footsteps are choreographed to the beat of the music.
Walken dances over to the huge doors and the open simultaneously to his gesture, he prances through them rings the bell which is a different shot to the rest of the video as its a medium close up showing the bell and him hitting it to emphasise the noise, he dances back through and proceeds to jump onto a luggage cart, spins on it and jump off, all of which is filmed as a medium long shot on a steadi-cam to take away the noticeability of the handheld camera work.
Walken encounters the escalator next as he jumps onto the steps and 'grooves' to the beat, moving his top half of his body to the music, the camera tracks towards him and onto the escalator then back down as he runs back past the camera in a rush, the next shot is a medium long shot, tracking Walken from his right hand side as he prances down the corridoor, each leap that he takes is exactly in time with the music and then at the end he does a somersault to finish it off, he then pops his head up in time with the beat.
He then continues to leap around the hotel until he reaches a table that he jumps up onto, kicks the papers and magazines that are on the table off and starts tap dancing during the breakdown of the song, this shot unlike most of the others is a fixated shot from a camera on a tripod, the gradual zoom of the camera gets us prepared and builds us up to the part of the song.
The lyrics to the song is as follows
Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Listen to the sound of my voice You can check it all out, it's the weapon of choice
Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice It's the new weapon, weapon of choice
[2x Chorus:] You can go with this, Or you can go with that, You can go with this, Or you can go with that, You can go with this, Or you can go with that, Or you can throw with (us) [only the 1st time]
Walk without rhythm it won't attrack the worm
Walk without rhythm and it won't attrack the worm
Walk without rhythm and it won't attrack the worm
If you walk without rhythm ah, you never learn
Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Don't be shocked by the tone of my voice Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Be careful, we don't know them Be careful, we don't know them Be careful, we don't know them
[2x Chorus]
Organically grown, through the hemisphere I roam Too big love to the angels of light Yeah, and my girl
She just don't understand is gone beyond being a man
As I drift off into the night, I'm in flight She's a Boy scout no doubt but I'm going to hold my cool, because of easy rules
Yeah, so move on baby, yeah
Halfway between the gutter and the stars, yeah Halfway between the gutter and the stars, yeah
[2x Chorus]
The lyrics of the song are minimal and simple but effective, in the first verse it suggests that he is different to what you can see.
The next part of the song is where Walken dives over one of the balconies in the building, to our surprise in the next shot we see him flying around the building.
By using Christopher Walken in the video, it is the unique selling point that the record label have tried to go with, if you know Walken you will know that he would usually play a very serious role in the films that he has starred in, this means that they have taken what he is typically known for and turned it upside down and little do people know that Walken is a trained dancer and choreographer which adds to the effect. At the time of filming this video Walken was 58 years old, to see a 58 year old man running, dancing and flying around an deserted classy hotel is a strange and bizarre sight to say the least, but with the strange, random style of video comes a the people that want to see something different and just out of the ordinary which is where this video excels.
Using Walken as the main star, creates a seriousness about the video as soon as you see him, in the start, he is sitting in the chair looking clam and serious but soon after he springs into action when the music is playing, this really gives off the vibe of 'Theres more than what meets the eye'.
Other videos that british musician Fatboy Slim has released are just as strange and bizarre as this one, the video to the song 'Praise you' directed by Spike Jonez again is an amatuer hand held camera based video, also known as gurilla style (shot on location without obtaining permission from the owners of the building) of a dance routine that is performed outside of a typical American movie theatre, puzzled onlookers watch in shock and disbelief that its really happening.
The video cross promotes Walkens image, it shows him in a different light compared to how we would usually see him, this shows him doing something completely out of the blue and random.
I really like the concept behind this video, to me Jonze has taken someone that we all know and see as a serious figure in the film industry and put him in a strange, bizarre scenario that we never new could be done, the lyrics are soft and subtle but make the overall video slightly more strange, 'Dont be shocked by the tone of my voice, check out my weapon, weapon of choice' is a key line in the chorus that structures the video. The style of video is great and i would look into doing it in my final video, i like the spontaneous, juxtaposition of the scenario and the way in which its filmed, on a steadi-cam mostly.
