Filming - Wednesday 12th December

Today was our first day of filming and with a member of our group missing we decided to film one of the shortest, easiest parts that required the least amount of people: the drum narrative. Prior to today I went to the drama department in the school and asked if we could borrow the drama green room. We decided to use this room because we needed a relatively small room and it allowed us to  give the drum character a costume that fit; which was wearing props. While we were in here we found a costume that looked like a cleaner's jumpsuit which we used to make him stand out even more compared to the other three members of the band. We managed to film everything we set out to today plus more. The filming we set out to have complete was the part of the narrative where the singer enters the drummer's room, meets the drummer who is dancing with a broom and takes the drummer out of his room. We filmed this much quicker than we had planned and so we decided to use the rest of our time filming the scenes where the singer and drummer get in the elevator and some of the shots that take place in the ele.

Practicing using Logomaker

We also practiced using Logomaker for if we wanted to use the program to make our logo. This is what I created: 

I don't think i'll use this software to create my final logo as it is too simple and I can't create what I want to with it.

Practicing using Picmonkey for digipaks

Today we practiced using Picmonkey (an image editing software) to edit an image. I used a random image that I found from the internet and edited it so it would look for the front page of a digipak. This is the image i used:

I used Picmonkey to edit the colours, sharpen the photo, adjust the exposure, change the temperature, removed wrinkles, put some images over the top, add the name of the band and add in a border. I did this because it makes it look much more old-fashioned and more like an album from the 1960s. I also added the musical notes to show that the main focus of the band is the music. This is the finished piece: 

This is the back cover's unedited photo:

Here is it edited and with a track listing.

I decided to edit the shadows and contrast of the image to make it look darker and to make the bushes look more black. I chose a park because it was synergistic with the front cover as the people in the front  cover image were in a park. I also decided to have the track listing diagonally because it looks more unique than if it was just going straight down. I don't think I'm going to use this image for the final back cover but I may use the names of the songs and the formatting of the track listing.

Here is what the digipack looks like with the front and back cover:

2 Column Storyboard - Peer assessment feedback

Today we made a rough 2 column storyboard of the opening 15 seconds of our music video. We then swapped this with another group and gave and received peer assessment and feedback. This is the feedback we received:

• Our terminology may not be understood by non-musicians so we should change it to suit the people reading it.
• We should put shot types on every shot we use.
• It was too detailed as 15 seconds was a whole page. It should be less detailed and less specific on every shot.
• At the moment it is all performance and the narrative is too unclear.

Although we understood this criticism and took it into account I don't think we're going to change anything to our 2 column storyboard or our idea. This is because our narrative fully arrives 20 seconds in and becomes clearer then. Also, we are the ones reading the storyboard so as long as we understand what we've wrote it is ok.

Focus Groups

Analysing a music video - Joan Jett

I analysed Joan Jett's music video for Bad Reputation. This was to help me research music videos and to look at how artists are represented in them. I made a video commentary for this below:

Plan of website on iWeb

Here's a basic plan of the layout of my website showing where everything will go:

Practicing using iWeb

Today I practiced using iWeb for when I use it to create the website for my band. A made a website about myself as practice. I found it relatively easy to use as it was very simple and easy to follow.Here's what I did:

Artist representation (Frankenstein)

This image (known as a frankenstein) is a mashup of other images that help represent the ideology of my band if their ideology was hypothtically a person.

• Head (Noel Gallagher) - I have used Noel Gallagher as the head of the frankenstein as it represents the genre of our band and the type of music they play as well as the target audience (as the target audience for our band is similar to that of Oasis's). Also, our band is a British indie band, similar to Oasis.
• Body (Hippie shirt) - The hippie shirt represents the emotions and ideals that are portrayed by our band. Our band is a kind hearted communal band that promote peace and love - similar to hippie bands of the 1960s.
• Legs (Jeans) - The jeans have been used to represent the members of the band and how they are a youthful group of boys who live in a modern society - like the target audience. It shows that although the band is a throwback band they are still the same as any ~18 year old boy in modern society.
• Scooter - The scooter represents the style of the band. The band is a throwback band to 1960s Britain and the mod culture that was around at the time - similar to bands like The Who.

Richard Dyer's Star Theory - David Bowie

David Bowie

Analysing band synergy - Interpol

Interpol

Questionnaires

This is the music video that we are going to distibute in order to get some ideas for our focus group and music video.

Questionnaire

Initial group ideas

Today our group looked at and considered a large number of ideas for the initial idea for our music video. We began by writing down any ideas we had, so that we could go back to them later if we wanted, or we could even combine ideas. We have yet to set a definitive idea but in another lesson we are going to look at the list of potential ideas and pick the pnes that we especially like. perhaps combine them, and then pick tthe best one out of what we come up with. Here are some of the potential ideas we noted:

• The performance aspect of the song could appear in an elevator as it matches the lyrics of the song.
• We could film the performance in front of a green screen and add in backgrounds that fit the song such as space, etc.
• In any video we use we should use a lot of bright, vibrant colours as the song should not be presented naturally to the audience as it is a song about space.
• Use of the British flag to show off the ideals of the band and thir patriotism.
• Different members of the band playing at different speeds
• Set in an old british cafe
• The narrative could show a member of the band hallucinating.
• A narrative where the band are perfoaming to a crowd of one. They dream of performing to a large crowd. There dream becomes a reality and everything seems normal. Then the audoence start transforming into some sort of hellish creatures. The band are then saved by their original one fan and they go back to performing to the one fan.
• Band members wearing different bright colours. Background is dull colours. Band light up the street as they go past. 

Initial website ideas

This was the initial paper design for my website. Some parts will have to be changed when I design it on iWeb due to limits with the program. I will have to alter it to be portrait rather than landscape. I will also have to substitute the scrolling images in the centre for static images.

Mood Board for Digipack

This is a mood board that I created which shows all the iconography and representations of the band. Each different pciture or piece of text on this mood board represents a different part of the bands iconography.

• Sign - The sign goes hand in hand with the name of the band: "The Lost Boy." It shows how their a group of youngsters who entirly sure what their goal in life is and what they should be doing to achive it; hence them being lost. This relates to the target audience who would be a similar age of the band members (~18).
• Bike - The bike relates to the 60's mod lifestlye which is what the band are modelled after. Mod culture was a popular lifestly back in the 1960's Britain and bands such as The Who and The Kinks were popular among mods. Our band is highly British and is, in a way, a modern homage to the Mod lifestyle.
• People - The group of people holding hands shows that it is a communal band. The band are going to have a good, kind hearted image as opposed to other bands who are presented as rebels.
• Guitar - The guitar shows that they are a small band who are in the music business to make good music and share it with people rather than being in it for money.
• Fairy/bird - This represents the innocence of the band, and again, goes against traditional genre conventions where most bands are portrayed as rebellious.
• British flag - The flag shows that the band is highly British and patriotic and that they don't want to be labelled in with American indie bands (e.g. Interpol, the Strokes) but would rather be labelled in with British indie bands (e.g. Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs).
• Space - This is the theme of the song and could also potentialy be the them of the album.
• Fonts - The fonts are made to look delibrately simple and black as this fits in with the Indie genre. Some also have an old fashion look to them showing that the band is more of a throwback to old bands rather than trying to fit in with the modern crowd.

Inital ideas for music video

1) The first idea was a rather literal video, following the narrative of the lyrics mixed with elements of the performance. The whole video will take place inside an elevator. At the very beginning of the video the band are setting up the instruments, mics, etc., inside an elevator. When the vocals come we see some close-up shots of the singer. When the chorus comes in the rest of the band join in the performance. At that moment the video should become much more shaky and use special lighting/visual effects as if the elevator is lifting off into space. The whole video is performance of the band but using clever shots and editing techniques you give the audience the impression that they are taking off into space in the elevator. Use a lot of unique and varying shots of the band to avoid the video from getting boring.

2) There are two parts of the video. Narrative and performance. The performance aspect is the same as the first idea (performance inside an elevator and techniques that give it the impression of it taking off). The narrative focuses on the singer. The general theme behind the idea is 'escapism' which is why he wants to escape into space. The narrative shows his general problems in life: bullying, parent issues, etc.

3) Another performance video. Record it using green screen. Use different space themed backgrounds throughout the video. Use lots of interesting camera shots/effects. Use lots of colours. Use lots of different lighting/visual effects. Make it look very unreal and abstract. Use different speeds. Use different video filters. This idea relies heavily on smart and spontaneous camera shots as well as a lot of post-production.

4) This idea has nothing to do with the song or the lyrics but shows what our band stands for. Our band appeals to the youth and is an indie band that is very communal. A mix of performance and narrative. The band will be performing in a small, local community hall to a group of young people. Random shots of narrative can be shown of the band helping out the community. For example, painting a building, helping out children, helping old ladies across the street. This helps get the ideals of the band across in the video. Will be very upbeat and use happy colours/lighting.

Practicing lip syncing - Bon Jovi

Today I practiced recording and editing myself lip-syncing to Bon Jovi's song 'Bad Medicine.' The main reason I underwent this task was because I will be directing someone who is lip-syncing for our coursework. Now that I've seen and practiced the process of lip-synicing it will be much easier for me to direct someone into doing the same and it will look much more effective. Also, this task taught me how to sync up three video clips with an audio clip which I will also have to do while editing the music video that we produce.

Practicing filming a band

Today we acquired the Year 10 band and had them mime a song that they had previously recorded. We set up a number of cameras and recorded them as they were miming their song. We did this as practice for when we will have to record a band's performance for our coursework.

This was good practice as it showed us how creative and spontaneous we had to be while filming. For a music video shots can't really be planned and you just have to do what you think is right at the time. In one take I was assigned to film only the singer. I ran around her a lot and did a lot of close-ups where  I went up to her and put the camera right in her face. At the time this may have made her feel uncomfortable but it made a good shot and will be effective. We also used a static camera that was filming a long shot of the band and a dolly shot using a camera person sitting on a wheelchair. The other cameras we used were roaming cameras.

When we come to film our own band we will only be using one camera but this exercise has helped us learn how to film effective shots. We have also learned useful techniques about how to direct a band and to get the shots that you want. This will allow us to make our videos look much more professional compared to when we made music videos at GCSE level. When we're directing we now know what is important in getting the band to act energetically and what can go wrong. We learnt that in the first take the band's performance is generally less energetic and won't look as good as later takes. We also learnt that the best way to get the band act energetically is to act positive and to encourage them to go as crazy as possible and we will tell them if they need to dial it down.

The Strokes - Website Analysis

http://www.thestrokes.com/us

The background colour of The Strokes' website is black which is similar to a lot of Indie bands (e.g. Interpol) and therefore the target audience will be familiar with it and will show that they are an Indie band.

The font type is very simple and has been done that way to create ease for the user. They also used white text on a black background to help with this and to make the text easy to read. They have also been neatly and simply placed in the middle of the page to increase usability.

The button in the top right corner is the bands logo and has been designed to clearly stand out so straight away the audience will know what the website is. Also, the design of the logo makes them look like an old-styled glamourous band (designed like old-fashoined American diners) which is rather different. Indie bands always use quirks.

The only image on the front page is a hero shot of the band performing. This is a form of mode of address as this gives the user a quick feel for the band because they can see the instruments that they use, the costumes that they wear and just the overall feel of the band.

The primary target audience for this band would be the reformer. This is because the website focuses more on the band and the music itself rather than glamour and fame.

There isn't a lot of body copy on this website because the primary target audience are more likely to get into the band by listening to their music rather than reading about them. However, there is a 'read more' button for fans that are interested in reading about them.

The band has a store button for there website, but as well as, this they are also advertising their latest album on the left side of every landing page.

The website also has convergence because you can use your Facebook or Twitter account to sign up for The Strokes' website.

One of the landing pages on the website is a community page. This allows fans to share their thoughts and feelings about the band and provides good publicity to the band.

Our song choice

For our coursework we have chosen the song Space Elevator by The Smiling Lies

We signed up to a website that the band is also signed up to called reverbnation.com . On here we became a fan of them and asked them if we were allowed permission to use their music video for our coursework.