Changing the narrative and song choice of our video

As discussed in previous blog posts as Ellie and myself began to film more and more for our music video we realised the difficulty we would have with certain individuals who we hoped at the time would be able to act in our video. Over the period of time we spent planning our music video, certain individuals cast due to personal circumstances were unable to continue acting in our media production. We were then faced with a difficult decision of rearranging actors and holding a recasting session. At this point in time, we aimed to keep the idea of various couples in the narrative and follow a range of story lines. However, after the recasting session we held it was made clear that the certain individuals who either could not continue filming or felt they weren't comfortable in the role, would make it almost impossible to keep the couples storyline successful. Ellie and myself therefore made the hard decision of changing the entire narrative of our video. We felt that at the stage we were in the process of filming and creating our music video that we would rather change the narrative now, no matter the extra level of work rather than come to the end of the year with a finished music video we did not think successful. What is unfortunate about this situation however, is the success of the shots we filmed of Lizzie and Sam, Ellie and myself thought we could perhaps include them in the new narrative. This is due to how both the actors and the characters they played in the video relating back to todays ever-changing society and how individuals such as Sam (being transgender) would raise awareness of this brushed aside topic that is rarely translated into everyday life and in things such as music videos. Music videos often stereotype gender and put male and female actors into very specific roles and boxes. By using Sam we aimed to show that music videos can break out of this segregator type loop. But we feel that they worked so well with the old song choice and narrative and did not fit at all with what we planned to film over the coming weeks. So regrettably, we decided to leave Lizzie and Sam's narrative out of the final cut of our video. We then looked at pairing our new narrative with our chosen song of 'Let It Happen' by Tame Impala. It was clear when we set out to do this that this song was much better suited to the old binary opposite narrative than the new narrative which sticks much more closely in relation to the psychedelic genre. We aim to continue to useful and ink moving through water in some shots and to also use abstract props that I hope will enhance the video and actors performance. Props such as coloured smoke grenades, powder paint and neon face paint. All these ideas have sprung from extensive research into the psychedelic genre and how to translate the genre to the audience when filming a music video. 

Taking this into consideration the song we have decided to use for our music video is still a song by the band Tame Impala off of their same album 'Currents' which was released in 2015. We have chosen to use this song 'Love/Paranoia'. The song fits into our planned narrative very effectively with the sound of manipulated vocals and swirling ambience. The song truly is psychedelic and Ellie and I aim to use the various build up of instruments and beat drops to our advantage and pair certain shots with these to show how we have looked at both narrative and song choice and worked with them together. This is something we found hard to achieve when working with 'Let It Happen' and our old narrative. After analysing the tempo, logistics, melody and some of the outstanding lyrics within 'Let it Happen' we then attempted to link this to some ideas we had relating the narrative of our music video. The song will work extremely well with abstract shots of various lengths and colour schemes. The song escalates in volume and speed and returns to slow quiet beats at various point throughout the song and this is something Ellie and I can work with to achieve a professional and precise final outcome. 

A rough outline of things we aim to include, that will be discussed to a greater extent in later blog posts would be: The miss-en-scene of our four chosen actors Luke, Ellie, Seb and Micky and their acting roles. The continuation of the filming of abstract elements such as ink, paint and neon black light shots. 

Re-casting

Over the period of time we spent planning our music video, certain individuals cast due to personal circumstances are unable to continue acting in our media production. Therefore, we were faced with a difficult decision of rearranging actors and holding a recasting session. There is only one couple that remains the same as when we first began casting, Lizzie and Sam. Individuals such as Ellis, Lucy and Micky have been placed into a couple (they were originally cast to act separately and individually) and individuals such as Ellie and Reg have been taken out of a couple where the other actor could not continue and placed together, awaiting a storyline. Seb has been recast after looking back at the auditions held at the beginning of production in search of a new actor, we came to the overall conclusion that Seb would best suit the role and storyline we have paired with him and Lucy.

New couple arrangements:

• Ellis and Micky,
• Lizzie and Sam,
• Lucy and Seb,
• Ellie and Reg.

Filming-Lizzie and Sam

Keeping to our production schedule we shot Lizzie and Sam's couple narrative of strong vs. weak on the 14th of October. The preparation behind this day of filming was organised and intense allowing no room for error. This was effective as upon arrival at the filming location we were able to spend the day focusing on the quality of the shots and angles we were filming, not spending unnecessary time with the equipment (we had already fully charged and prepared equipment before the filming date). We used two good quality cameras and two tripods to allow us to shoot a range of angles at the same time allowing the match on match with shots showing both characters to be as accurate and on point as possible. Overall the outcome of the filming session was positive, this is mainly down to team work and having great actors to work with (drama students) that listened to direction from Ellie and I and gave it their all. To add to this we checked the focus on all the shots that we took on the cameras before leaving an aspect of the scene and moving on to the next. When uploading the media to a iMac we were able to see the full detail of the shots and begin the editing process.

On-going behind the scene photos and videos-Lizzie and Sam

Development of filming skills and knowledge

Before our first filming date I took it upon myself to look into some interesting ways to develop my filming techniques and the range of shots we would achieve. The following are videos that I found useful and constructive:

• Camera Angles with Zach King
• Storyboarding with Zach King,
• Editing with Zach King,
• Filming techniques for students-Lisa study guides,
• Tips and tricks camera angles-Strawburry17,
• Camera angles, filming with the best camera angles-Devingraham

Institutional research

Looking into companies that would produce our music video, I firstly took into consideration music video production companies with good reviews and looked into some of the videos they have produced and which have been most successful. From this I have found three small production companies that would be realistic if we decided to produce our music video and release it to the public through a company (the three companies below are all within a realistic budget for a music video of our size).

• Litewave Media- is an outstanding music video production firm in Tampa Bay, Florida. The crew at Litewave Media has years of experience in the industry and consistently brings major movie studio quality to film productions throughout Florida. Litewave Media has a 3200-square-foot studio in Tampa and their film crew can facilitate on-location filming elsewhere. The NFL, Smithsonian, and ESPN are just a few of the company's clients. Christian Cashmir, the owner of the company, has worked with Foreigner, The Band Perry, and The Moody Blues. Litewave Media has produced music videos for Erin Crosgrove, Sara Alina and Come Back Alice.
• Partizan- is an award-winning video production company with hosting facilities in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, and Sao Paulo. With a dedicated online following and a penchant for creative, engaging content, they have twice been honoured as Gunn Report’s “Best Production Company in the World.” Music videos, feature films, documentaries, commercials, animation and interactive events are just some of the content that falls within their realm of creative expertise. Their team includes top talent in the television and film industry and their roster of clients speaks volumes about their innovative and captivating production style.
• Go Big L.A- produces high-quality music videos that can help established and up-and-coming artists grow bigger fan bases. This professional music video production company in Los Angeles has made videos for rock, hip hop and country acts as well as artists who perform in other genres. A full crew is able to handle the pre- and post-production work along with storyboarding and editing. Go Big L.A. offers initial consultations free of charge so that prospective clients can learn more about the services.

Props and costumes to be used within our music video plan:

List of props to be used:

• Neon glow in the dark face paint-Ellis, Micky, Joby and Lucy.
• Powder paint-to be used on objects and thrown at people, also to be shot on its own with black background.
• Oil paint in water dish-to be filmed moving around in the water, close up shot so you aren't bale to see the glass dish only the oil paint moving in the water, this will then be edited to further add to the psychedelic element within the video.
• Glass Vase-to be used by Sam, thrown on the floor, this can later be edited backwards and sped up.
• Friendship scrapbook-to be used by Lizzie as she looks through old memories of her and Sam. In seeing this Sam instigates the argument with Lizzie.
• Makeup-to be used by Sam, a variety of shots from different angles will be used and later edited.
• Hair Brush-to be used by Sam in a similar way as the makeup shots.
• Female clothing-to be used by Sam in a similar way as the makeup shots.
• Cigarettes-to be used by Reg, a vital element to his couple narrative showing him to be an unsavoury character when compared to how Mia is represented.
• Lighter-to be used by Reg along side the cigarettes.
• Sunglasses-to be used by a few characters, referencing the indie life style they all live, a key element within most psychedelic music videos.
• Phone-to be used by Callum a key prop to be used within his couple narrative showing his binary opposite 'technology'.
• DS-also to be used by Callum a key prop to be used within his couple narrative showing his binary opposite 'technology'.
• Healing crystals-to be used by Stevie a key prop in her couple narrative, to be used in opposite to Callum's devices, healing crystals and her setting (woodland) showing her binary opposite of 'humanity'.
• Blindfold-one of the most important props within our music video will be the blindfold used by Ellie and Luke, the blindfold representing ignorance within their couple narrative, the prop will be worn by both characters before the end of the video.

Character costume:

• Ellie: Basic and simple indie look. Jeans and a flowery top, the emphasis should not be on the outfit in this couple narrative but on the blindfold prop. Her hair will be curled and down. A minimal makeup look will be used to once again ensure all emphasis is placed onto the blindfold representing ignorance.
• Luke: Also a basic and simple indie look. Jeans and a t-shirt, once again, the emphasis should not be on the outfit in this couple narrative but on the blindfold prop representing ignorance.
• Reg: Reg will be depicted in all black in correspondence with his binary opposite, evil. His hair will be shown as messy and un kept. Black jeans, t-shirt, large coat and black boots.
• Mia: In contrast Mia will be dressed in white and light colours, light blue jeans, a white top, white shoes and I light coloured jacket/coat. Her hair will be down and straight. Minimal to light makeup will be used to give the impression of innocence and youth.
• Lizzie: Psychedelic indie trousers, a simple low cut top (our take on the male gaze) as Lizzie tries to attract Sam, but it is made clear throughout the video Sam is not interested in Lizzie, brightly coloured red jacket (indie).  
• Sam: Sam's costume is vital to the couple narrative he belongs too, he will be wearing provocative female clothing. His hair straightened and down. The video will see him put on his makeup and transform himself in front of Lizzie which is what causes their argument.  
• Callum: Basic yet effective and relevant look including jeans, gaming t-shirt, geeky glasses, dark coloured jacket and trainers. This links closely to Callum's binary opposite 'technology' showing the characters geeky and tech obsessed life within his day to day clothing.
• Stevie: An overall indie inspired down to earth look. Wavy, striped and brightly coloured trousers, a brightly coloured t-shirt, a large coat and converse shoes. Her hair will be shown as half up half down and crimped. Her makeup will be finished to a high standard with outgoing features such as largely winged eyeliner and contrasting eye shadow colours to her outfit.
• Lucy, Joby, Ellis and Micky: All four actors will be dressed in all black along side a black background with no lighting, they will be wearing neon glow in the dark face paint and so this is all that will be shown in the shot. By wearing all black it ensures no brightly coloured item will get caught in the shot.

Costume and prop research:

After analysing the props and costumes used within a very popular psychedelic music video, Tame Impala's "The Less I Know the Better". I took it upon myself to take a look at our brainstorming ideas and look at what aspects of the video would stay within the conventions of our chosen genre. Looking at the notes we had made previously I came across some ideas that would require some research before purchasing and using them in shots for our video.

Oil paint in water: Taking inspiration from the first three shots used in Tame Impala's "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards", using a deep glass dish and a variety of coloured oil paint we will aim to achieve similar shots to use as psychedelic elements to cut to throughout the video. 

Powder paint: Taking inspiration from the Madeon "The City" music video which uses powder paint as the main focus and plot of the video. The use of powder paint within the video links to the genre and the prop can be used in many different ways. Powder paint covering actors. hitting objects and exploding and smeered across floor and walls.

Neon face paint: Taking inspiration from the So Dang Dark music video. I looked at how neon glow in the dark face paint cab be used as an accessory in music videos and how from my research using a pitch black setting and this face paint the idea of lip syncing could be reinvented within the video and appraoched in a way that no other group may look into.

Analysis of costume, props and setting (location) in a music video:

Tame Impala's "The Less I Know the Better" music video uses a variety of props and costume variations to link to the psychedelic theme. The location of the video inspires the use of props and certain costumes within the video as the video is set within a American secondary school. The clip plays on the well-established dynamic of the head cheerleader hooking up with the star basketball player. Throughout the duration of the video it is made clear that the pretty cheer captain has a bit of a furry fetish, as she much prefers the team’s gorilla mascot “Trevor” to its leading scorer. The main portion of the video is shot within the schools gym, a few shots follow the couple outside of the school and even fewer have a plain black or white background. The last thirty seconds or so of the video are also completely animated which adds massively to the psychedelic elements of the video. Costume within the video is also in keeping with this, the female outfits within the video consist of very short skirts, yellow underwear, psychedelic patterned two pieces, skin tight jump suits with a glittery gorilla fist torso piece and basic high school cheer leading jerseys.

Surprisingly, natural makeup looks are used throughout and the girls hair remains down for the entire video, looking very natural and basic. A range of props are used such as dancing ribbons, black cut up fur, basket balls, cheer leading pom poms, large gorilla body pieces, bananas, paint, and large gorilla coat blankets. All of these are used to add to the psychedelic element present in all Tame Impala music videos and to refer back to the slightly strange narrative of the cheer leader much preferring the team’s gorilla mascot “Trevor” to its leading scorer. The lead scorers costume throughout the video remains simple, his basket ball kit and a similar jersey to that of the cheer leader. Trevor's costume is used to demonstrate the idea behind the video as he is depicted throughout the video as in a gorilla costume with a basket ball top. All psychedelic music videos strive to be outgoing and odd in some way, Tame Impala's "The Less I Know the Better" defiantly achieves this through its odd and confusing narrative that is only made clear near the end of the video and the use of bright and bold colours and themes from the outset throughout.

Location research

Filming locations and descriptions:

• Rochester-is a town and historic city in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway about 30 miles from London. Luke, Ellie, Reg and Mia will be filmed in Rochester. Luke and Ellie will walk over Rochester bridge and walk up the road to the large green area near the river. Reg and Mia will be filmed in vines and the surrounding areas.

• Halling-is a village on the North Downs in the northern part of Kent, England, covering 7.1 square kilometres of land. Callum and Stevie will be filmed in Halling, Stevie will be followed around picturesque woodland in Halling and Callum will be filmed leaving his house, they will both meet on a swing or bench by the end of the video.

• Ayelsford- is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England. Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. Lizzie and Sam will be filmed in a large house in Aylesford, the main filming locations within the house will be the bedroom, kitchen, living room and balcony.

Discussion Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos

Here is a link to a Prezi where I discussed Andrew Goodwin's theory of music videos. https://prezi.com/nhmhsup-xten/discussion-andrew-goodwins/

Primary and secondary target audience reseach

Primary Research:

We conducted two pieces of primary research in order to determine our target audience, the first a questionnaire aimed at all age groups to see how different age groups would respond to the obscure genre we have chosen. This questionnaire is shown below.

The second piece of primary research I conducted, by using the information gathered by the questionnaire aimed at a large range of age groups and people I used the feedback from the questionnaire which showed that the age group that responded with the highest praise for our chosen genre was 16-25 year olds. By creating a small survey for 16-25 year olds from our target quince to fill out I was then able to narrow down the demographic and see the scale of our target audience as from the results of both forms of primary evidence I found that around 60% of 16-25 year olds listen to, mainstream music and only around 40% listen to the psychedelic/indie music genre. However, as a group we are taking this as challenge and opportunity to push ourselves rather than something to put us off continuing with the genre. The survey is shown bellow:

Secondary Research:

When conducting secondary research I looked into an interesting and helpful article by Nicole Smith regarding 'The Influence of the 60s and Psychedelic Music and Culture on Modern Society'. The article gave me an interesting insight into how psychedelic music and the culture of the 1960s has an enormous influence and impact on the way we express ourselves in the modern era.

http://www.articlemyriad.com/influence-60s-psychedelic-music-culture-modern-society/

Auditions

Before casting the actors for our music video we conducted auditions and called in people that we felt would not only suit the genre we have chosen, but learning from decisions and mistakes made last year during AS Media we aimed to cast actors who would take their roles seriously and be dedicated to the final outcome of the music video. Actors that will be cast and do not appear in the audition tape are actors who Ellie and I mutually agreed upon and felt did not need to audition as we knew they fit our requirements perfectly (Luke and Seb). Actors who we were unsure of and asked to audition are shown in the audition tapes, we also allowed people who were auditioning to chose any song from Tame Impala's album 'Currents' to allow the actors to show a range of skills through picking their own song (Ellie and I were mainly interested in if the actors worked well with the psychedelic genre and any Tame Impala song would show us this). Ellie and I used the collated audition tapes to decide who to cast, the tapes made our decision easier as some actors put far more effort into their audition than others. To add to this Ellie and I also took into consideration the actors interests and skills. For example, actors who take art and/or drama related subject were more desirable to cast as their level of dedication and skill was far greater than that of other actors. Ellie and I also realised that location would play a role in the actors that we cast as some of the people we considered for the acting roles lived just under an hour away, therefore the expense of train fair may hinder filming and reliability.  All of these things Ellie and I agreed would have to be thought through before casting took place as to not put us behind schedule (using actors who lived far away and would affect filming). 

Storyboard

When planning and storyboarding for our music video we took into consideration the most effective ways in which we could pan to ensure we were effectively equipt when it came to filming. We firstly wrote all of our ideas about binary opposition down and brainstormed how we would use these ideas within our music videos and within certain shots, we had already decided on. We worked through this by figuring out how we wanted the couple's journey to start and end and the positioning of certain events and shots within the video. Taking the planning further and taking into consideration the timing of some shots we used our chosen song within an iMovie and added the shots we had decided on  as title credit to  plan the timing and layouts of shots to ensure when we left for filming we had extra shots after filming rather than returning with too little and not being able to complete the video to the high standard we are aiming for.

Production schedule

• 14th+15th October - Sam and Lizzie. Filming location: Lizzie's House.
• 28th+29th October - Reg and Mia. Filming location: Rochester (Castle grounds).
• 11th+12th November - Callum and Stevie. Filming location: Halling.
• 18th+19th November - Luke and Ellie. Filming location: Rochester (Vines).

Target audience

Before discovering our target audience we needed to firstly collate the information regarding our production as demonstrated and laid out in previous blogs. When looking into creating our music video it was clear to see that the target audience of the song/video would greatly influence the way in which we wish the video to be presented. One of the most important aspects of marketing and producing is researching a target audience and seeing how the product can be adapted to best suit them. Psychographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics.

In order to find this information, we needed to conduct both primary and secondary research. To do so we conducted a questionnaire and survey, the questionnaire was firstly aimed at a range of age groups. After collating the information given from these questionnaires, I then created a small survey aimed at the target demographic that responded in a largely positive way regarding our chosen song and genre. The results from both the questionnaire and survey showed that the most accepting and realistic target audience for our chosen genre and song choice would be young males and females ranging from the age group of 16-25.

From looking into the open question answers from the small survey I conducted aimed especially at 16-25 I found that psychedelic music appeals to them over other genres due to they see the music under the genre “as an expression of individuality”. They also feel as though “Psychedelic musicians create music that is very distinct because they are not controlled by an outside organization.” From the remainder of the feedback shown by our target audience, it is clear that a small demographic within the age range of 16-25-year-olds find “music from mainstream artists to sound the same/too familiar because they are controlled by record labels.” Looking further into the fragmentation of our target audience it’s clear that although some may see mainstream artists in this way the other portion (the portion we are aiming our music video at) see them as ‘too familiar’, when creating our music video we aim to branch away from this to appeal to our chosen target audience as much as possible.