Final Idea

Final idea is that we will make a journey video of the band with them walking through a field and getting to a camping location. We are thinking about filming next Thursday but first Ryan, Sam and James are going to look round at locations to check whether they are good or not for filming.


We will post feedback on the location hunt later, with photos!

Also idea for editing would be to add film grain and sepia effect to create an old style to the footage, to continue with the genre of the music.

Teacher Feedback on Blog

Your blog looks incredible - the amount of content and the detail of the content is fantastic. Well done.
The only recommendations I would make for improving your blog further is to embed the auteur presentations we did in the first couple of weeks, these can be found on slideshare.net if you type P1-Auteur into the search box.
My only other tip would be to remember that your blog is an academic piece of work. It is fine to reflect the personality of the group but do remember it is read by examiners and is assessed.
Excellent work so far, keep going.

like i said,

here's a VERY rough version of our magazine ad, in monoprint.

Ideas Ideas Ideas Ideas Ideas

I've had another idea, that we could film at dusk/ night or very early morning.
We could bring paper lanterns & little tea lights.
I think this'd look good if we were to do the scene of a picnic/tea party.
Or to see the couple holding hands and walking through a field/woods.

Contacting Feist

After e-mailing Feist via her myspace page, we still haven't got a reply as of today.
Maybe she's just really busy?

I've tried to find an official e-mail address, but no luck.
Will keep trying though!

We also did our pitch today.
It went very well, even if we were a bit over prepared (not that its a bad thing)
The likelihood of us getting our chosen track is pretty high, as i dont think anyone else has actually pitched for it.

So, overall yay us :)

However from the feedback from the rest of the class we found we need to do more work on the narrative because we are not sure on whether we are doing a love story or journey story.

sams idea no. 4

Costumes/Props

Costumes

• Dress up clothes - pretty dresses, superheroes
• Dungarees
• Tweed suit
• Glasses
• Bright colours

Props

• Cardboard rocket
• picnic stuff
• tricycle
• giant mirror
• acoustic guitar
• drum
• toys
• teddy bears
• old car
  

These are just some initial ideas we came up with when thinking about costumes/props. We will expand on this a lot more once we have come up with a finite idea for what we are doing.

Locations

Some possible locations and where to find them:

Bottisham

• Woods
• Big Open Fields
• Abandoned Barn
• James, Ryan and Sam's houses
• Play area
  

Lode

• Abandoned train station
• Windmill and surrounding area
  

Fulbourn

• Nature Reserve

St. Ives

• Ram's dad's farm
• Big fields
• Ram's house
  

sams idea no. 3

i had an idea for the digipack cover. we could try and make it a monoprint, like this "black cat" piece.

i'll make a rough version later on, just wanted to see what everyone else thought.

sams idea no. 2

imagine this, in a field, less funeral like clothing, less people, more skipping and running and laughing, and a cardboard rocket being built, and you get the picture.

i love the visual style of this video, the slight blurriness and the faded colours. i know i will be heavily influenced by this during the editing process.

Digipack ideas

We started thinking about the types of things you would want to see on the digipack of a singer/songwriter.

As Feist is just one person we thought that they would be the primary focus for someone who would buy the digipack. Based on this we thought having interviews with her would be a fantastic idea. As there might be too much focus on her we thought that having interviews with the director/producers of the video would be a good idea as this may provide more insight into the inspiration for the artist as well as the inspiration the artist can generate.

We started thinking about the genre of music and the type of person who would be likely to buy the digipack. The music is quite a laid-back style known as "New Folk". We thought about the type of extras someone like this would be interested in watching. We would include:

• On set diary
• On tour diary
• Feist's festival survival guide
• Interview with Fesit
• Interview with director/producers
• Badges/stickers
• Video for "Mushaboom"
• Poster
• Cardboard case (recycled)
• CD-Rom capabilities - desktops, screensavers etc.
  

idea and prop list

i really like the style of this photo, the seting and the colours.
just an idea.

PROP LIST

A drum
An acoustic guitar?
Hats
Feathers
Sticks
Cardboard
Tin Foil
Wooden utensils?
Marker pens
Stones
Flowers
Pots and pans?
Camping bags
Drumsticks
Dice
Telescope!

honestly

i prefer my moon my man

Spike Jonze

I decided to have look into Spike Jonze's body of work. I saw the trailer for Where The Wild Things Are this morning. I liked the story about the child escaping the real world, in which his mother pays him no attention, into a world of his imagination. As the idea of imagination was something we had for our music video I thought I would have a look at some of his videos. I had a look at 'Y Control' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 'Get Back' by Ludacris and 'Weapon of Choice' by Fat Boy Slim.

Annoyingly all three videos have embedding disabled so I have provided the links.

Y Control - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3zPbBMbnjI

This video features children acting as an anarchist mob of some kind. The idea behind this video is that children learn from copying so it is possible for children to end up bad as they are very impressionable. We have an interest in using children in our video, however I think we would be using them in quite a different way. The message is quite similar though, as we would be looking at how everything was nice and innocent when you were a child and you had no worries in the world. This goes with the lyrics of the song as they are about the worries when in love.

Get Back - Ludacris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJeZe50ut5A

This video is a completely different genre to the previous but Jonze still manages to bring his own unique visual style to it. This video doesn't have any children but it does have certain visuals to relate to what's going on. In the video Ludacris gets into a fight with someone and his muscles on his arms are blown to a funny proportion. This could be something we can consider for our video; taking something from reality and changing it in some way to make it humourous in the way it looks.

Weapon of Choice - Fat Boy Slim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZwZiU0kKs

This video doens't really have any special effects in the way of distortion of image. It is really a simple concept; Christopher Walken dancing around an empty hotel and ends up flying. I really liked this as it was just one man having a good time to music. This was one of our ideas for our music video so finding something like this showed how a simple context like that can look really good.

Ideas - Frightened Rabbit

I looked at some more music videos that i thought were quite interesting.



I really like the animation in this video and i think we can achieve this with some live footage as well. Also the sketchy kind of feel to it will fit really well in our music video and it will make it more enjoyable for our target audience.



Another interesting video by the same band is 'Bright Pink Bookmark' I think this is an excellent video because it has a very interesting concept and you can watch it multiple times without getting bored.
Looking into Goodwins points, this video has some really good features; such as the visual images of things growing fits nicely with the calm relaxed music, making the video very hypnotic. This is key for this video because it has no lyrics so it is important to keep the viewer interested in watching so that they remember it. This kind of video is very typical of this genre so it makes the visual advertising for the band more difficult but yet it helps them greatly because the people who like this genre generally like this kind of video.

Both of these videos are of a similar genre to 'I feel it all' so looking at these videos will help gage what the target audience likes and what competition there is out there.

Text Experiments

I had a bit of free time this evening and decided to play around with the text a little bit.

I took influence from the fonts we had looked at and decided to just try writing the name of the song in a similar font. I did three different designs. One with a shaded 3D effect and no colour. The second had the same shaded 3D effect and added colour. The third had a full black 3D effect with the same colour as the second. The examples are below.

































































Ryan - I saw James' idea and I wanted to see what it would look like animated so I made a simple GIF file.




Ryan's Gif looks really cool. Although it has just dawned on me that I got the name of the song wrong. Oh well, it still looks good.

An idea from James

This evening I watched Live And Let Die, which in my mind is one of the best James Bond films. This then got me thinking about some of the iconic figures of cinema that all young boys and girls which they could be. I thought that this may be an interesting idea to consider when it came to our video.

As one of our main ideas was a young couple having a good time I thought that the idea of dressing up as some of these characters and have the characters acting like them. James Bond was a particular inspiration in this as every young boy wants to be him and he is a figure many girls find attractive.

This got me thinking about other similar characters. I thought about Indiana Jones and Han Solo as well. These characters are both instantly recognisable and also have female counterparts eg. Marion and Princess Leia repsectively.

This is just an idea that I am yet to discuss with my group but I just wanted to put it on the blog so the idea was there if it was to develop.

Font Mood Board

Collectively, we all decided that we wanted a sketchy style font to be used in our video. This sketch style will be repeated in the animation that'll be added to our video.

For example: when the lyrics "the wings are wide" are sung, animated wings will be edited around the subject. (This is not final, just an idea)

This will be the same for the fonts.

More inspiration

This is a really cool ad i saw by Mini, who drew out their ad on an etch a sketch.

I think the idea is really simple and works well with Mini, who're an established brand, and have an iconic car.

To pull something like this off would be really good, but also quite difficult.
We could maybe do something like this for our magazine advert. An advert of the DVD cover.


Also, another etch a sketch inspiration, i found this video by Maldroid- Rock N Roll
The video is of the band, and shows them each drawing on an etch a sketch. The drawings are animations of them performing etc. I think it really works for this band, as they almost have a "nerdy" or quirky tinge to their music & style.

Concept art

I have done some concept art based on our initial ideas.

This picture would be used for the magazine advert and hopefully be a screenshot from the actual video once we have added some animation to the clips. It could also be the front cover of the DVD as this would create a similarity throughout all of our products.

Mood Board

This is our mood board, it is a collection of our ideas for the music video. We want to make some of the video animated, like the video Sam posted before.

Whoo! Alright! Yeah! Uhuh!

Watch!

you should watch this. it has the perfect animation style, incorporated into the video.

Initial Ideas

Following on from the influences of Juno, Nick and Norah and Away We Go I think that an interesting idea to do would be something about a young couple in love.


One of my ideas is the the couple doing fun stuff and just generally having a good time together. This would take place in some sort of location they could go together.

Some possible ideas for location

• The Park
• The Seaside
• A Field
• A Farm
• Town

Some possible ideas for what they could be doing

• Having a picnic
• Building a rocket
• Making a sandcastle
• Playing on swings etc.
• Playing in the sea
• Running really fast down a hill
• Making mudcakes
• Cartwheels
• Riding bikes
• Making a cake

We definitely like the idea of a couple. We could take influence from Juno and Nick and Norah and focus on a teenage couple. An alternative to this that would break convention in to focus on a young couple aged around 8-10. This would be quite a nice idea as it would focus on the innocence of love.

NOTE. I think maybe it should be people our age, acting young, living old memories. Sam

Another idea Ram had, at the end. Would be to have a couple (boy & girl) get really close, either about to kiss, or kiss (nothing major, don't get too excited :) and then have the whole shot tear in half. Then the torn paper could either get caught in the wind, or dropped on the floor. If they're dropped on the floor, i think it'd look good if two different people pick up a piece each and walk away.

BIG IDEA FLASH

THEY COULD BE GOING TO THE FOREST TO BUILD A ROCKET.

i'm startin to feel it all

this is the kind of video style that would suit this song.
at the moment i have the idea of a group of friends, or just a boy or girl, walking to certain place, in a forest or wood, carrying something, a drum kit or a chest of drawers, something rustic. the video would have a very neutral color, almost sepia, and would seem like an old movie.

More influences

Following on from Noah and the Whale I also felt some influences from films.

I really like independent films and thought that some of these would offere great influences when it came to our video.

In particular I like Juno, Nick and Norah's Infinite Play-list and Away We Go.




Juno is a quirky story about a teenage couple who get pregnant. The film follows Juno's story as she tries to find a couple to adopt the baby when it's born. The film features an interesting soundtrack as well.














Nick and Norah's Infinite Play-list is, again, a quirky film about a young boy and girl who fall in love over one crazy night in New York. This film also had an interesting soundtrack.


















Away We Go is a little different to Juno and Nick and Norah as it isn't about teenagers. It focuses on a 30-something couple who are looking for the perfect place to raise their child.


















What I like about all these films is the low-budget feel about them. It makes the locations and costumes a lot more interesting as they actually have to be filmed in real locations rather than building a set in a studio. The costumes tend to be a lot more interesting as well as they just use cheap clothes which makes for some interesting outfits and costumes for the characters.

I also think that something like this will be a lot easier to recreate as we are working on no budget and will just have to use stuff we can find ourselves.

Friendly Fires Band Poster

Ryan and Sam copied out the Friendly Fires band poster. We looked into the different ways in which the poster is used to advertise the band.

Influences

My idea when I heard the song was some sort of independent homemade feel.

A music video that immediately came to mind was the video for 5 Years Time by Noah and the Whale.



I like the way this video looks and how it shows the band as well as some sort of story. I also like the visual representation of the lyrics as part of the performance.

Intertextual reference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHFk4tOXzSU

Above is the link to Jennifer Lopez- I'm glad.

(The enbedding was disabled, sorry)

The video has direct references to Flashdance throughout.

It opens with the most memorable part of the film; the protagonist's audition into dance school.

The song then kicks in, and Jennfier Lopez re-plays key scenes from flashdance (such as, the performance on stage with the bucket of water and chain, the protagonist working out, etc)

The costume is also very alike, such as when Jennifer Lopez is sitting on a stool, she's wearing red heels and an oversized jumper. Alex, from flashdance does this also.

Here are some examples to compare with

Music DVD cover analysis

This is Mariah Carey's number 1's DVD.
It features promotional video's from her current album and forthcoming.
It also has a biography and all her number one songs.
The cover is very simple. Mariah Carey is an artist known worldwide. Her number 1's album cover is very similar to this, so by doing her DVD cover with the same concept, helps her fans and audience recognise her work.

This DVD offers nothing exclusive, apart from one promotional video. This shows that Mariah's fans don't need freebies and gifts to be encouraged to buy her DVD.
I like this cover because of its simplicity and slight air of arrogance, which is what the "diva" Mariah Carey is known for.

Music Video Analysis

Jose Vanders- Faces going places

Jose Vanders would best be described as a soft folk, indie artist. This track inparticular is very simple and mellow. She's an unsigned artist, which you can tell because she's constantly advertising her album., throughtout the video. Like Goodwin says, there's a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as the lyrics of the song is located at a tube station, and she's singing through the adverts in the station. There is definetly the notion of looking, and a frame within frames, as we're looking at the adverts, especially for the first part of the song. Lots of close ups are used too, which is selling her, as well as the album and song; this is done excesively as she's unsigned and needs all the promotion she can get.

Video from youtube.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlfcBf39Whg

Goodwins points

To help us in our decision making process, and with the concept of our music video, here are Goodwins points.

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2)There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3)There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4)The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5)There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6)There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Contacting Feist

Like normal music video directors, they have a working relationship with the artist. They generally contact them reguarly to tell them their ideas.

We hope to do the same, so i found that Feist had a myspace page, and i e-mailed her on there.

Here's what i sent her:

Hi, my name's Ram

I, along with 3 other students represent Long Road College in Cambridge, UK.

We're all studying media studies, and for our current project, we have to create a music video.

We've chosen your song- i feel it all.

I hope that you'll be ok with us using your song; we'll also contact you as much as possible with our ideas etc, so you can make an input too.

Thanks very much
Ram.

Hopefully we should get a reply!
http://www.myspace.com/feist

Lyrics to I feel it all

I found the lyrics to I feel it All,
I think this will help us come up with an idea, as one of Goodwin's points is the video and lyrics having a connection.


I feel it all I feel it all
I feel it all I feel it all
The wings are wide the wings are wide
Wild card inside wild card inside

Oh I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll be the one to hold the gun

I know more than I knew before
I know more than I knew before
I didn't rest I didn't stop
Did we fight or did we talk

Oh I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll be the one to hold the gun

I love you more
I love you more
I don't know what I knew before
But now I know I wanna win the war

No one likes to take a test
Sometimes you know more is less
Put your weight against the door
Kick drum on the basement floor
Stranded in a fog of words
Loved him like a winter bird
On my head the water pours
Gulf stream through the open door
Fly away
Fly away to what you want to make

I feel it all, I feel it all
I feel it all I feel it all
The wings are wide, the wings are wide
Wild card inside, wild card inside

Oh I'll be the one to break my heart
I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll be the one who'll break my heart
I'll end it thought you started it

The truth lies
The truth lied
And lies divide
Lies divide

Lyrics found at a-zlyrics.com

Song Choice

After being given the track listing for our group, we whittled down the list to

Feist- I can feel it all.

The song is a very mellow, what seems to be love song.
Feist's style is almost folk indie.

She's from Toronto, Canada, and she's with a major label.

Magazine Advert Analysis

For my magazine analysis I had Jay-Z's 'The Blueprint 3'.

This advert was simple and quite literally served the purpose of letting people know this album was coming without trying to sell the artist in any obvious way.

This wasn't needed as Jay-Z is a world famous rap artist and will already have a huge fan base who will buy his album.

Analysing music DVD adverts- RAM'S

We analysed music DVD adverts, i did Rufus Wainwright's "Milwaukee at Last"

My version is to the right, with the analysis. The original is below

I initially looked at this video because i like the group, but turns out the direction is good too. The director, Pfadfinderei (who also is the lighting manager at their gigs, and often has a specially prepared video on a screen behind them), manages to make a simple concept strikingly absorbing with the use of fast paced editing and quick transitions. The editing keeps strictly keeps to the beat, and the fact the beat in this bands songs can be varied, it gives Pfadfiderei a lot of maneuverability.

Ryan's Fvourite Music Video.

My favourite music video is 'Can't Stop' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I like this music video because it's really unusual and it has an interesting narrative. Plus the music video is quite different to conventional rock music videos, so this is why i like it.

Ram's favourite video

Not necessarily my favourite video, but i chose Feeder- Just a day

I like this video because it's very fun, and simple. It's just an accumulation of fan made video's, which are all very funny.

Here it is:

James's Favourite Music Video

For my favourite music video I chose The Kill by 30 Seconds Mars. I like this video because the video was an inter-textual reference to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. I thought it was really cool and a bit different. Here it is:

"Oh my God, First Post!"

Hellooo, this is group P1-04. From left to right: Sam, Ryan, James and Ram.



Sam - Boy. 17.
Favourite Band - Moderat

Ryan - Man. 17.
Favourite Band - Stereophonics

James - Man/Boy. 17.
Favourite Band - Muse

Ram - The Girl. 17.
Favourite Band - "I don't have one!"


Ram's quote of the day - "do both, do both, do both, do both, do both."

P.S. Ram isn't as stupid as James, Ryan & Sam like to make out. They need me. :)
P.P.S ...