Actors/Models

Currently we are only planning to use Max in the video as he looks like a psychedelic artist and is the only one with musical experience in the group. He is not camera shy and knows how to play the song that we are going to do. He doesn't get ill often and will have to be there every time we film. 

We don't yet have a plan to use other people in the video. There is few people that are familiar with the genre or fit with the way it looks.

Stop motion test video

So we tested the stop motion idea with a piece of paper just to see what it would be like and this is what we came out with. Although the lighting chances due to the movement of Max, we thought that this look good enough to include something like this in the video.

Update 29/09/2016

We tried out stop motion videos yesterday. We have yet to figure out how to editing it together as the current software we use, Adobe Premier, won't let us import the images. From what we have put together it looks good and something that we defiantly want to use in the video. We will next have to test shot it with real people as we have planned to do in the video. It might take us a couple test shots to get it right.

Psychedelic video aesthetic

Things to include:

• Primary colours/black and white.
• performance base
• coloured filters
• strange locations
• Range of shots showing off different members on the band
• Strange in nature

We will have to possible think about using something like this in the video. There is a constant pick hue on the video making the rest of the colours washed out. This seems to be a common trait in other videos that i have seen. I think we will have to test shot it.

Group Roles

Grace Williams:

• Cinematographer or the stop motion and park scenes. 
• Editor of the video
• Website pages Home Page and Press
• Digipak 2 panels

Jake Ryder

• Director and cinematographer
• Video editor
• Website pages Home Page and Videos Page
• Digipak 2 panels

Max Atterby

•  Actor
• Video editor
• website pages, About and Tour dates
• Digipak 2 panels

Possible logos plan

These are some psychedelic inspired band logos. We will probably make a better one later, but we are thinking about using the bottom one as it most like other psychedelic band logos. I'm thinking that we will have to add a lot of different colours and that is the common theme of psychedelic rock. Or we will have to find a more calligraphic font.

Shot Lists

• Close up on instruments and band.
• Medium long shots as they perform.
• Mediums close ups as the band perform.
• Tracking shots as the band move.
• Dutch angle shots on the instruments as the band plays.
• Long shots on the band 
• Pan shots on the drummer

Instruments Plan

We probably won't be able to get the electric guitar. The other instruments are also used in the song and easy to get bar the flute. We may have to buy the flute for a musical instrument shop if we can't get our hands on it. Having these instruments will make the video look more authentic as they are very genre specific instruments. It would make the actors look more like they belonged in the video.

Stop motion tutorial

Idea for video:

We want to have portions of the video be stop motion. We want a moment at the start where the drummer is hitting the drum in stop motion. We found this video that provides a tutorial as to how to achieve the stop motion. We also wanted the end of the video to also be stop motion so that the other scenes are book ended by the stop motion shots. This would bring the video in a full circle. We will have to test shot this before using it.

Album Cover Design

We used a few tools (Select, Inverse and Fill) To create this effect (Left) in photoshop. We use the band Procol Harum as they are the kind of band that we are taking inspiration from. We selected there faces and then used that piece of the image to fill the rest of the image. It creates a collage of faces around the area of the image that was first selected.

The image effect makes it appear more like the psychedelic effect as it is more known for its strangeness and sfx. We plan on possible including an image like this one behind where the CD might go possibly.

Plan B Park Location.

In case we can't film in South Park, we found another park also with and bandstand and other locations that we might want to film at. It acts as a plan B in case we can't get the permission or something happens that doesn't allows us to film where we want. The overall look of the park isn't our first choice but it has what we are looking for in order to get the kinds of shots that we want to get. 

Risk assessment

Risk assessment of locations from Grace-Williams

Location plan - South Park, Darlington

We wanted to film in the bandstand of south park. We wanted to use for the performance later in the video. We have visited the site and are currently working on getting permission to film there.
Lighting may be required and In case we can't use this we will have to come up with a plan B. The weather may limit what we are able to do there or may postpone the shoot if we cannot do it. We want to have the band perform in the band stand so we should be ok to film in light rain and wind but it the weather is torrential then it will cause to postpone any filing that we had planned to do. 

Location Plan - The Space and The Studio (Location Recce)

The space

The studio

Used for website and Video - "Bone"

• Locations visited
• Risk assessment done
• Available access 
• We will be filming midday 
• Booking may cause an issue

We are thinking of using The space for the earlier in the video possible during the earlier stages of the video during the stop motion scenes and performance.

The studio will be use to take images for the digipak and website.

Inspiration

https://uk.pinterest.com/jake8093/inspiration/

Idea update - Common theme

After the feedback we were given after the pitch; people said that we need to find a common theme between all the products. Since we are doing a song entitled bone and having the narrative based around death, I was thinking that we could use skeletons or bones or zombies on the digipak and website. I download a range of different brushes form brusheezy to use. The image above contains some of our,(Me, Max and Jake's), favourites that we might end up using. I might try creating my own and sharing it with the others to see what they think. 

Location ideas

We have several ideas for locations to film the video. 

One locations being the space within college as there is a stage that the band can perform on. We were thinking of probably using this location at the very start of the video before moving on to another location.

Another location we were thinking of using is the band stand in Darlington's South Park. It would fit within the genre as 70s psychedelic or just music videos for that era in general do have bands playing in band stands. It would be another locations to use before the band would move to another locations

A third location that we want to film in is a graveyard. We would have to gain permission like all the other locations to film there but it would more difficult because it does pose some moral questions, such as is it disrespectful to film in a graveyard. If we can't get this locations we could just film in a park as they are very similar locations. We would need to secure some back up plans so that we have something to fall back on if this can't happen. A cemetery would work best with the narrative plot that we have in mind but we can work on that without it. 

costume ideas

Created with Padlet

This is costume research and ideas based on the feedback that we got from our pitch. We are going to try and use a 70s style that fits the genre. Our main inspiration for look is the Beatles and we want to use a style like theirs, but we also have back up ideas just in case we can't do this like the hippie style clothing, suits and plain clothing. 

Pitch Feedback

From the feedback given it is clear that we need to:

• Look more closely in to costume choices
• We need to plan our ideas in a lot more detail before we attempt the final products
• Find a theme that can run through all three of the products, I was thinking about using bones since the song is entitled bones and we intend to use this imagery in the video and thus we can carry it over to the other products.
• We need to explain our stop motion idea.
• Use more graphic on the website and digipak.
• We also need to think about the kind of locations that we could use.

Pitch

Talked about:

• Why the digipak idea changed. It was unrealistic and there was no way we could find anywhere close by that would let us take images of the animals.
• The website will include several pages with band information. We are also thinking about including social media sites to make it the band seem more real.
• The music video timeline is featured in a different post and details a basic frame for the video and themes
• A letter was written to the record label asking permission.
• We had a basic idea for costumes as being simple clothing.
• We thought about using and mix of colours ie bright and black and white.

Timeline

:00-0:05

Stop motion into footage - drum close up

0:05-0:10

Establishing shot of band

0:10-0:15

Camera pans up and around lead singer

0:15-0:20

Mid shot of singer

0:20-0:30

Mid shot of drummer.

0:30-0:35

Close up of guitar

0:40-0:45

Pan around drummer

0:45-0:50

Close up of flute player

0:50-0:55

Long  shot of band

0:55-1:00

Rotate around room, transition through wall to new location outside

1:00-1:05

Long shot of band

1:05-1:10

Close up of drummer, this time he is playing on a skull

1:10-1:15

Zoom out

1:15-1: 19

Long shot of band

1:20-1:30

Each line the band member is moved around into new positions in the same location

1:30-1:35

Band traveling towards camera - cutting so it looks like they’re teleporting forward one band member slightly behind.

1:40-1:45

Close up up of guitarist playing alone

1:45-1:50

Other band members step into the shot as the music picks up again. Medium close up.

1:50-1:55

Band except guitar player moves, long shot.

1:55-2:00

Stop a couple hundred meters away. Long shot of all band members as they move.

2:00-2:05

Band comes to a stop, static long shot

2:05-2:10

Medium close up, guitarist stands alone.

2:10-2:15 Stop motion hand waving blurred figure in the background

2:16  fades out

This is the basic structure that the video will follow. We have yet to work out the narrative structure that we will be weaving into to but we were thinking of possibly getting permission to film in a graveyard and have the narrative lead up to the final shots of the band playing in the graveyard. This would be withheld till the end of the video so that the audiences attention is kept. A sudden change of location and editing speed would keep people interested until the very end of the video. As this is obvious going to take time to achieve or may be denied we haven't based the timeline too closely on it as if it ends up not happening we would have to restructure the whole video. This basic frame allows us to have some flexibility with what we do.

More appropriate music video inspiration [Psychedelic rock]

This is a video more in line with the type of music video we will be doing. Of course we won't have a giant vulture or the 80s style editing but this is an example of the videos within the music genre that we are doing.

• Contains people performing
• They move through different locations.
• It has a clear narrative around the performance but the main focus is still the performance which links into the story.
• Brightly coloured and slightly bizarre
• Doesn't follow typical genre conventions of rock such as the use of colours and the costumes they wear. The plot is also different to normal rock songs as they would either be solely performance based or entirely narrative.This blends the two into one.
• It follows the typical structure of a music video where there is a change at the end to keep audiences to watch the video until the end. 

Video narrative ideas

 

 


We discussed filming part of the video in a graveyard and obtaining the council or the owner's permission. We came up with a narrative reason to justify filming in such a place as the band being "dead all along" it could be considered cliches however and further discussion will be required as to whether we go through with this idea or end up changing our minds.

Digipak flat plan

Our original idea was to have the digipak feature a farm animal on the front cover possibly from a low angle so that it looks intimidating and then have behind the scenes type images of the band with these animals. However it became apparent that this would be a good idea as it won't portray the genre or the band. We chose to go with something in the more psychedelic rock genre as that is more in line with the song that we are doing. It will still look more contemporary and up to date then most digipaks in this genre (especially if I have something to do with it) The colour will be a mixture of dark and light. Patterns will be included that would fit with the genre but don't make it look too much like a hippie music album.

Digipak idea update

We have decided to not go with the animal idea as we can't find a place that is close enough for use to have the access to the kinds of animals that we want and also I believe that the idea is dated and not in keeping with contemporary forms and conventions of the rock genre. We have decided to go with just images of the band members together on the front cover. As we couldn't all come to a conclusion on the colours that we wanted to do, we have decided to come to a compromised to have a mix of darker and lighter shades of colours that both challenge and conform to today's form and conventions of the rock genre. 

Letter to Record Ladel

Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College

Vane Terrace

Darlington

DL3 7AU

Heavenly Recordings

219 Portobello Road

London

W11 1LU

Dear Sir/Madam,

We are students doing A-Level media studies and our current project requires us to create a music video using pre-existing songs. Our group have chosen a song by one of your bands: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. We would like to use the song Bone from the album Paper Mache Dream Balloon. We thought to first seek your permission as to not invoke the copyright infringement Act.

The song will not be used for profit making purposes as we only wish to use it appropriately in our coursework. We would deeply appreciate your support and approval for this project.

Your response is highly anticipated.

Yours sincerely,

Grace Williams

Max Atterby

Jake Ryder

Letter to the record label asking permission to use the song that we have chosen.

Website Flat plans

 And rough Home page design in Wix

Target Audience

Our target audience is young people between the ages of 16 and 25 who are clearly interested in rock music. They are possibly smokers and more on the wild side. They would also be more relaxed people considering the song that we are doing. Their music choices would have to be either very specific or more diverse to enjoy the song that we are going to do.

Digipak inspiration and current ideas

For the digipak we were thinking of having the band feature with some kind of farm animal much like older album covers did. The animal on the cover will be shot from a low angle to look intimidating and imposing while on the inside panels of the digipak there will be behind the scenes type photos that would give the viewer an insight into the personality of the band members whilst also making them look more human. It would show a softer side of there personalities as they would be interacting with the animals that would have previously been shown to be imposing. 

Reflection On digipak Research

• The digipak needs to include at least one image of the band.
• Colours should relate to the genre or the theme of the music video.
• In the rock digipaks i have look at the text tends to be equally or slightly more integrated onto the album.
• Blank space can be effective but it is better to include more images so that the digipak doesn't look so empty.
• The design doesn't have to be overly complicated and involve complex graphics
• The band doesn't have to be the front cover and so we have another image as the front cover. The band will be featured else where on the digipak like being the CD.

Digipak Research

Created with Padlet

Reflection on Website Research

• Rock music sites tend to use black or grey somewhere on the website so it should probably be incorporated in ours.
• Websites that have more then one page tend to be more aesthetically pleasing and easier to use. 
• Social media sites are a definite, so we may create fake social media accounts to make the website more legitimate. 
• We will have to do a photoshoot with all the band members to be able to create a gallery as one of the pages on the site.
• We may need to create fake album covers to have a more believable discography. 
• The sites used fairly simple fonts, unlike the 1D site, so this will have to be something that will happen in the website that we create.
• Having discussed it with my group members they would like some aspect of bright colours on the website and I think there would be a tastefully and appropriate way to do this like the coldplay website with the rainbow coloured accents

Website Research

Mood Board

Collection of Album covers, websites and video that inspire the work that we are going to do.

Mock Site

http://048888.wixsite.com/mocksite

I found wix easy and simple to use. The site has preset templates that make the construction of a website a whole lot simpler. I learned how to use all the features of the site to use.

There is a simple way to add any features as there is a list and it only takes to clicks to add something.  I think that it will be very simple to create a  a website with this software. 

Song choice

We further discusses our song ideas and settled upon doing the song, "Bone" by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. We choice this song as it isn't a popular song and the video is not well now. It is also fairly simple to create a performance based video. The subject gives us some creativity as it can be used to make a complex narrative whilst still being focused on the performance. 

Website analysis

Websites:
http://www.brunomars.com/
http://www.onedirectionmusic.com/gb/home/
http://www.youmeatsix.co.uk/

Bruno Mars' site:

• It contains 5 pages not including the home the home screen, each has their navigation button. 
• The home screen consists of a range of images of images of him preforming on stage. There is a range of shot types ranging from medium close ups to medium long shots.
• It also advertises his latest album and most popular song.
• It allows the user to play videos, songs and buy song and merchandise making it interactive.
• It allows people to sigh up to the website so that they can talk to other fans. The sigh up  button is located in the header.
• The footer contains copyright information.
• The tour page has a notification system that allows users to be notified when new tour dates are announced.
• It signifies the genre as if focuses on the the artist and sells him as a brand. It also contains all of his music for sale making it clear from that rather than the use of colour and images.

Home page has large image of Bruno Mars performing on stage.Navigation buttons always on the left. Header has a option to select a country which changes the language and aesthetic of the website altogether.

Forum page for fans to communicate with one another. Encourage talk between. Interactive with site and people. The layout is clear and easy to follow as the newest forum is at the top of the page. The colours are basic and simple as to keep it all aesthetically pleasing as possible. 

News page keeps fans updates and encourages multi visits to the site. There are multiple links to the articles as the titles and icons take the user to a video or article. The navigation buttons are always on the left side of the screen and always have widgets that link the user to Bruno Mars' social medias.

Allows people to be notified when there are tours announced. It doesn't confuse people by having older tour dates still visible on the screen like some websites do.

One direction site:

• The home page feature multiple images of the band as is common with boy bands. The first shot is a medium close up with al
• There are 6 navigational buttons in different fonts at the same size. When the mouse is put above on of them it rapidly changes between the different fonts in a confusing manor.
• The home page also features extracts/pins from some of the other pages on the site. Gives the uses and idea as too what is on the other pages and a direct like so they don't have to search thought the site to find what they want.
• Music page contain links to their albums which then lead to more in depth pages on the album including links to videos, singles, exclusive photos and download links.
• The footer contains widgets for social media sites and a button that takes the back to the top of the page for easy use and convenience. It also contains legal/copyright information
• The site includes a page with information and images of each of the band members. Creates a closer connection with the fans as they feel they are getting insider knowledge on the band.
• The band members individual social media are also featured.
• Like all artist websites it contains and pages with tour dates and locations, however they aren't up to date.
• There is a journal pages which is band news and updates, calling it a journal makes it seem more intimate.
• There are two separate links that lead to things that you can buy from the band. Making these links the most interactive links.
• The colour scheme is very simple. It black and white mostly with different colours being for albums and the images.
• The genre is evident in the multiple images of the band that help to sell their brand. 

 You Me At Six site:

• A torch like effect is added to the mouse so the user can look in to darker parts of the image.
• There are not no navigation except for the widgets that link the user to social medias and the band merch shop. I makes the navigation of the site very simple as all you user have to do is scroll down the page to get all the information that they need.
• Links to places to down load the music is at the top of the page so that people hot have to scroll down to find them.
• The next "page" of the site contains a link to a youtube video advertising the bands music.
• The last part of the website contains upcoming tour dates.
• There are no images of the band on the site at all. The site emphasises the music over the bands image.
• The colour scheme is dark suggesting that the genre is rock. 
• The over all aesthetic of the website is very simple. It gets across the information it needs to without pages that take away from the music that they are trying to sell. 
• The video included is simple audio. Their image isn't used at all suggesting that they are trying to sell themselves as a brand and know that their music is the most important thing to sell.