Passion Pictures- Goldfrapp Video

Within Ollie Allgrove's talk with the class,I noticed that he mentioned his experiences with music videos. I was interested to see what his music videos were like, and see if I could gain some inspiration and knowledge from them that could help me with my video. One of the artists he mentioned working with was Goldfrapp, who I'd listened to before. While her music does not necessarily correspond with the genre that I'm thinking of using, her blend of synthpop and electronica in the song 'Annabelle' led to an interesting music video.

After watching the music video I was instantly struck by how idyllic it was. The opening shots all show a utopia, and while the video is very simplistic and uses little in the way of visual effects, it remains professional and interesting, we want to watch on to see what might happen to the young girl.

While the beginning of the video resembles a paradise, the black and white filter adds a coldness to the video, which unsettles the viewer a little, hinting that something isn't right. While some shots, especially within the forest appear haunting, and slightly unnerving from an audiences perspective. It is shots like these that demonstrate to an audience that all is not well, and add the tension that makes the music video interesting, besides visually striking.

From watching the music video, and having Ollie's perspective on making it, I was able to gain some possibly useful information that could be used within my music video. I feel like experimentation with various types of shots could help build tension and suspense in my video, which will encourage an audience to watch on. I also feel like experimenting with striking visuals would be interesting, while also having top quality professional cameras in the form of the new Black Magic Mini URSA cameras, which also happen to shoot in 4k, which would make visuals even more striking. 

Speaker notes

Ollie Allgrove- Passion Pictures (http://www.passion-pictures.com/)

• Ollie's past experiences include: feature films such as Shane Meadow's 'This Is England', music videos for the band Goldfrapp and Joe Lean and various television commercials.
• Works fro Passion Pictures, a very highly recognised company, who've worked on many films, mainly documentaries, such as 'Searching For Sugarman'.
• Passion Pictures are inspired to tell stories on screen and throughout their work.
• When making a music video, Passion Pictures' commissioner firstly will hear the pitch and then the band and director will be approached, to gain perspective on the ideologies that are to be portrayed within the video.
• The video will be controlled by the director, who will decide how it shall be portrayed.
• The video needs to be impressive enough to gain the artists recognition from a mainstream audience.
• The impact of a music video has become more widely received due to sites such as YouTube which broadcast an artist's video to a large audience.

How Would This Star Image In The Video Be Branded Across The Campaign?

To employ our star image throughout our artist's campaign, we would try to have a strong connection with the fan base of our artist, and make sure that the website shows this, an example of the level of interaction would be the 'nu rock' band 'The Strypes'.

It is made clear that 'The Strypes' have their fan's appreciation at their priority, as all their gigs and tweets from fans have been displayed on the home page of their website, not only showing the growing amounts of listeners but also that they notice all the posts made about them on social media. This corresponds with Dyer's paradox that 'A Star must be both present and absent'. This is something I feel that I would like to employ within our own website, as it emphasizes the community within their music genre.

As well as this sense of unity within the music, I would also like to portray a sense of individuality through the use of a digipack and album artwork. By showing all the artists as different people we would be able to emphasize the connection that they found through music, and despite their differences, the music they can make when they come together.

I feel that something similar to the artist Egyptian Hip Hop's album cover would suitably present the different styles of each individual, but also show them as a untied band, and therefore present to their audience how their differences brought them together, and allow the audience to find solace in that. Corresponding to Dyer's theory of 'A star must be an ideology'. I feel that this would present the band's ideologies while encouraging an audience to believe the same.

What Star Image Do You Want To Produce For Your Artist?

The Pitch

Today we pitched our music video idea to Luke and we took down the constructive feedback that he gave us. He mainly suggested that we change our song from the Jungle genre, to something more rock based, as he said it will be easier to coincide the video with the song. He also wanted us to research the ideologies behind the junglist movement and how they interact with each other whether it is an original movement, or whether it derived from reggae or the acid house movements.

Music Video Song- Memories

The song our group have chosen to create a music video for is 'Memories' by the artist Weezer. We feel that this song would best fit the concept of our video, while not too popular it also has an amateur music video, that was taken from a movie.

The Lyrics:
Pissing in plastic cups before we went on stage,

Playing hackey sack back when Audioslave was still Rage
Watching all the freaky Dutch kids vomit then have sex
Listening to techno music on the bus while we earned our checks

Memories make me want to go back there, back there
All the memories make me want to go back there, back there
All the memories, how can we make it back there, back there
I want to be there again

Messing with the journalists and telling stupid lies
They had a feeling that something was up
Because of the look in our eyes
In fact we didn't know what we were doing half of the time
We were so sure of ourselves and drove a long way through life

Memories make me want to go back there, back there
All the memories make me want to go back there, back there
All the memories, how can we make it back there, back there
I want to be there again

Now I got so many people that I got to look out for
I never know when I'll be called away to buy some food at the store
I can hear them babies crying and the lawn needs to be mowed
I gotta get my groove on because I'm freakin bored!

Memories make me want to go back there, back there
All the memories make me want to go back there, back there
All the memories, how can we make it back there, back there
I want to be there again

Music Video Treatment

Location:

Research Into Similar Artists

As our group researched deeper into finding similar artists to our own fictional one, we found that the music genre of Jungle, despite having faded since it's prime in the mid 1990's, was still a widely produced genre. After trawling through the artists who still produce music of this style, we found that the artist 'Top Cat' was not only the most acclaimed, but also the most similar to the artist we were aiming to create.

After researching Top Cat a little further, I found that he arguably has one of the most successful careers within his genre of Jungle. Top Cat has amassed 11 number 1 singles, 2 National top 20 hits, MC of the year 4 times and is also the only artist to hold the MC of the year on both the Jungle and reggae genres at the same time.

Pitching Ideas

Our group plans to pitch our ideas to Luke and the other Creative Directors on Friday, we have narrowed our ideas down to two main ideas, and then perhaps one alternate idea, which Nikita will be pitching.
Our first idea: Words Don't Come So Easily.
We chose this idea from Joel's pitch, as we decided that the experimentation with different shots and the use of an alternate location could make an interesting music video. The narrative for the video would be a couple, both stereotypically attractive people on a date in a 60s style diner, although the man in question spends his time on his phone, or not paying much attention to the girl. Whose eyes wander onto a slightly less attractive man, and they make each other laugh across the diner and eventually the girl gets up and walks over to the other man, who also stands and takes the girl out of the diner. Throughout the narrative we would have shots of the band playing in colloquial positions. For example, the guitarist could be sitting on a bench, the drummer could be in the kitchen of the diner, playing on pots and pans. We feel that this will make the band shots more interesting, as opposed to just cutting to a band playing in a room. We feel that including them in the narrative will give them more of a place in the audiences minds while watching the video.

Our second idea: I Am A Junglist.
This idea we chose from Angel's pitch, and I immediately connected with several ideas that Angel presented within his pitch. Angel's idea revolves around cavemen in a jungle or a forest, hunting for food, until they come across an abandoned set of DJ decks in the middle of the forest. As the bass kicks in for the song, the shot changes to see all of the cavemen dancing to the song and having fun. While I thought this idea was interesting, we worked on making the idea a little longer, so the video wouldn't be repetitive, and using a clip from the film 'Human Traffic', which portrays the 'Junglist' youth culture, we had an idea to set the start of the video in a record shop. We would have a record shop, into which would enter a group of cavemen, who would hand a record over to the shop owner who would play it. From there they would start to dance and knock the shop over, until we notice that the shop is in the middle of a jungle. I like this idea because I feel that it's unique and plus the odd nature of the video would attract a viewer's attention.

Meeting With Luke- Creative Director

Within our lesson today, we had a meeting with our creative director; Luke. He discussed what he thought would make a good music video, and what may hinder our chances of our music video being successful. He pointed out that we should avoid doing a well known, mainstream track, as the chances of the song already having a video are very high, plus we would have to compete with industry professionals, and the band themselves would be in the video, as opposed to our makeshift band. He also advised us to chose a song that we have no immediate connection to, as we will be hearing it over and over again, which will undoubtedly frustrate everyone, and would also affect the ideas that we have. We have also been instructed to have two ideas within the group, in case one of our videos is too complicated, or explicit in some way, so we will have to decide which ideas are the strongest. Although Luke did say that he has never had a video that has been too explicit, he did mention that we shouldn't deliberately try to be controversial, just in case there were any complications.

Music Genre Charts

Within our lesson today, we learned about profiling an audience. We looked at the BPI website, and from there we researched the most popular music genres of music of 2013.

I was surprised to find the rock music came first and pop music came second as I thought that Pop would come first. I was also surprised to find that both Pop and Rock music made up 64.8% of album sales. Using this information, we were able to decide which audience we could appeal to, we are still deciding between Dance and Rock music, as we decide that the rock industry and the dance industry would be harder genres to break into, as they posses a high amount of competition. 

We would like to challenge the music industry by making a band who not only have a unique image, but also have the ability to be noticed by a niche audience.  

Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines however was the best selling track of 2013, while still incorporating it within the Pop Music genre.

Link for the BFI website: https://www.bpi.co.uk/default.aspx

My Music Video Group

After the deliberation of deciding groups, I listened to the classes ideas and I decided that the ideas which corresponded mine the closest were Angel's and Nikita's. I enjoyed the inclusion of a narrative story from Nikita's idea, and decided that I would want to also pursue a video with a story, while Angel's more humorous, quirky approach appealed to me, plus his choice of music was alike mine, and we both found that we wanted to do a slightly more alternative video, using variations of slow motion, and abnormal camera angles and shots, which I felt resonated with videos such as Tyler The Creator's 'Tamale'.

I decided that I also liked Joel's idea of a vintage setting, using the band within the music video, but incorporating a twist within the video, I felt, added a unique and memorable moment to the video, such as The Prodigy's video for the song 'Smack My Bitch Up'.

Here is a photo of the group, that hopefully will achieve a music video that we have all contributed towards: 

 

Music Video Idea- Dressed To Kill- Preston

Throughout the summer I decided to explore some more music I could use with a video, so I went to Reading Festival and I found a song named Dressed To Kill, by Preston.

Idea:

I would want my video to start with a man holding shopping bags from shops such as Selfridges. The shot would then change to a close up of him putting on lipstick and make up, the video would then continue to show him dressing up in a dress and tights, putting on a wig and heels. After he has got ready he would walk over to the mirror and kiss it, leaving the mark of his lips on the mirror, we would then see through the mirror the man taking a gun out of the bath, and scrawling something on the door with lipstick. The camera would them follow as he walks out of the house, and loads the gun. As the song draws to a close we would see a still shot slowly zooming out of the door which he wrote on, it would say ‘Off to paint the town red’ and then show the band’s name under it. I feel that while the song itself does not correspond with this idea, the title ‘Dressed to Kill’ is illustrated by the video. Therefore I feel that this would agree with both the disjuncture and illustration theories suggested by Goodwin.

Band:

For the band, I would want them to appear unique, in the fact that the men dress as women and the women dress as men, I feel that their unique style would give them a unique selling point, while also posing as a good marketing strategy as they would be talked about by fans and by people who would otherwise not pay attention to the music. I feel the the band 'The New York Dolls' demonstrates this, using cross dressing in their self titled album 'New York Dolls', which received critical acclaim from popular music magazines, such as NME and Trouser Press. 

Music Video Idea- Alice Practice- Crystal Castles

While I was researching different music genres I explored my music playlist and found a song which I first discovered when I was younger, which I thought could be translated into an interesting music video. After researching the song, the only videos are lyric videos, therefore I feel like a music video for the song 'Alice Practice' would be something that hasn't been done before.

My Idea:

The song that I have chosen fits into the EDM (Electric Dance Music) genre. I feel that I could experiment with stylized uses of colors to create a video which corresponds with Goodwin's disjuncture theory.

I would want the video to start with an entirely black room with a single white spotlight shining down onto a single figure of a woman dancing to the song. As the beat is introduced I would want several white mannequins to appear, surrounding the woman. As more figures are introduced, at the break of the beat I would want the camera to appear as if it turned around upon itself. After the camera turns I would want the room to become bright white, with a group of people dancing around a black mannequin. After another transition I would have the black room, and the woman would crouch down and pick up an axe. She would then attack the mannequins, hitting them with the axe, in correspondence with the singer shouting. As the song draws to a close the camera would flip back over to the white room and surrounding the black mannequin would be all the dancers, dead, but instead of blood, I would have black paint splattered across the room.

Image and Band:

I would want the band to be portrayed as three members, one woman and two men, all with unique dress senses and styles. I would want the band to be portrayed as a stylish band with a small, but devoted cult following. I would use interesting variations of photoshoots to achieve this, and aim to make the band similar to such artists as Egyptian Hip Hop and Pendulum.

Music Video Idea- Simple Girl- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Throughout the Summer Holdiays I decided to explore some different genres of music on the music website 'Spotify', to see if I could discover some music that I could make a music video for. While searching I found a band named Dale Earnheardt Jr. Jr. I was immediately interested in their song 'Simple Girl'.

I was attracted to the innocent music and the playful chimes and decided that I could contrast this within my music video idea by making the atmosphere of the video one of a darker nature. I felt that using a combination of all three of Goodwin's theories (Narration, Amplification and Disjuncture) I could successfully intrigue an audience to watch the video, furthermore, after watching some of the other videos for the song, my idea does not appear to have been done before.

My idea was to start the video of a girls blinds on a sunny morning, using a slightly jaded shot to imply that something is wrong. 

I felt that Lana Del Rey's music video for 'High By The Beach' showed the disjointed utopian setting that I wanted to portray.

After the shot of the blinds, I felt that a continuous pan around a stereotypical young girl's room would use both amplification and narrative theories to connote innocence, which would contrast the darker images which would later be shown. 

 While Meghan Trainor's music video for 'Dear Future Husband' presented the stereotypical girly room which I feel would be suited well in my music video.

After the introduction to the music video I would like the darker images to appear synchronized with the lyrics, such as 'She'll never let you meet her family, but she'll show you pictures'. And as these lyrics are sung, an shot of various Polaroid photos of kidnapped people are shown on a table. I feel that shots like these would amplify the darker side of the music video, and also unnerve the audience, which would be an unexpected effect, given the innocence and frivolity of the tune.

As the song proceeds I would want to keep alternating between both innocent and sadistic images,