Thursday, 29 September 2016

Analysis and Similar Artists


Analysis and similar bands
Harry Preen: Harry is an artist which performs in either indie/alternative or indie rock. He follows the conventions of typical indie or indie rock. This genre is made up of many different elements.


Setting- The setting of indie/alternative is often an open outdoor space, whether its in a town, or in a woodland area. The setting can vary a lot in indie music videos, this is because indie music videos usually follow a narrative which takes them to many different locations.



Shots- The shots usually consist of carefully composed and framed shots which have a very arty feel. there are lots of different types of shots, ranging from close ups to long shots, and everything in-between. The shots change from high to low and usually have a hand held effect. This hand held look is to make it look almost as if a friend has just been filming as they go along, it is a way of drawing the audience in and making them feel as if they are there.

Mise-en-scene- the MES of the indie genre is usually very simple and more every day clothing and make up, there is nothing out of the ordinary or different. The costume is things like shirt and jeans, possibly smart shoes or boots, but nothing that's too different from everyday clothing. Makeup is usually kept to a minimum and people are portrayed as they actually look. 



The lighting is often low key, like around sunset. However can it be medium, such as every day, daylight. This is partially due to the idea that indie is individual, and there aren't many other genres that also have normal daylight lighting, Pop is usually very high key, rap/R and B is usually low key lighting, much like rock and metal.




Props in this music video will be very important, this is because it is largely narrative, we will need things like a car, guitars, and microphones, the idea of props it to bring an element of realism to the video. it makes it seem more like something that might actually be used rather than miming the props, or use of them.  For example, the use of instruments.



Similar bands/Artist:



Whilst Arctic Monkeys are a much bigger band, they still do a lot of their work in a similar style, which is of the Indie/Indie rock genre. They follow many of the conventions of the indie/ indie rock genre, this is down to things such as the costume, this consists of things like the shirts, jeans, boots, jackets, hairstyles etc. Their shots vary greatly through their music videos much like any other. however they are individual in the way the have little performance in most of their videos, they sometimes even have non and don't follow the conventions of indie music videos.



Another very similar artist is Hozier. This artist is very similar, he wears shirts and jeans, much like Harry, he is indie/indie rock, and plays some very similar sorts of music. he takes a slightly different approach but still a very common one with the hairstyle as his hair is longer than Harry's. This picture shows the image Hozier chooses to be viewed as.







First draft for Idea

Narrative The main idea for our narrative stemmed from what we believe the song to be about, leaving for university and leaving your family and friends behind. Our video will depict an 18 year old male packing up his car and saying goodbye to his family before heading off to university. On the drive to university he has flashbacks of some good memories of being at home involving girls, drinking with friends and playing gigs with his old band.


Performance
The performance element of the video will come from the main character singing along with the song in his car on the way to university. This will begin approximately half way through the video when the song slows down and becomes more emotional (we will also slow the amount of shots in this section).

The first half of the video will take place in the house and on the drive of the main characters family, here he will be seen loading his car, saying goodbye to his family and emptying out his old room to an empty shell of what it was before. Although this is emotional, we try to also capture some excitement of what is to come for the character and we hope to ensure that this section of the video comes across more as the beginning of a new chapter as appose to the ending of another.
In the second half of the video we shall be depicting the journey, although this starts off happy and excitable, flashing back to past memories our character becomes upset and melancholic, we shall film this section of the video in the hours before, during, and after sunset, this should show a form of pathetic fallacy in the environment, that as the character becomes more upset, the light outside dwindles.

Monday, 26 September 2016

Genre and Artist Image

Harry Preen is the artist that we have chosen to create our music video for. The genre of this artist is indie rock. The song chosen for our video is called Overboard, and has a very distinctive indie rock sound, composing of guitar and drums. The indie genre is heavily effected by image. the image of the artist or band in the indie genre is one of the things that people love about the genre. The image of Harry is strong and clear.


Here you can see he is wearing a shirt which is conventional dress of the indie alternative genre, his hair is slicked back and up which is also a common hair style in the indie genre. the black and white photo gives the feel of the song. it is happy but with an edge, one might imagine empty fields, and sunsets when listening to the song.

More picture of Harry Preen:
 
 

Music Video 'Re-Think'

RE-THINK


Unfortunate, after getting so far with our planning, we have come to the conclusion that the idea of a depressing music video, to the song 'sunset yellow' by Allusondrugs, is not the best idea. it will be very hard to create and as a group we have come to the conclusion that it wont work very well. this means we have had so choose a new song. the new song we have chosen to do is by an individual artists, Harry Preen. the song we have chosen is Overboard. The song is still under the indie genre, possibly under the subgenre of indie rock, however is not so rock and is not as psychedelic. It is happier, which fits in better with the more stereotypical conventions of the indie genre.

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

What makes an effective Vox Pop?

Vox Pop Planning Notes:


What makes an effective Vox Pop?
  • Arrange of demographics
  • Person preferably on the right hand side
  • In-direct gaze to the camera – needs to look to the person on camera left
  • Public area – seems natural
  • Should be done with a formal attitude
  • Question should not be heard – title shot of the question


Questions:
  • What is your favourite music video and why?
  • What do you like to see in a music video?
  • Prefer band performance or narrative?
  • What is your favourite genre of music?
  • What would you expect to see in a music video?
  • What style of music video do you enjoy viewing?
  • What gets you talking about music videos?
  • What would your ideal music video contain?
  • Do you prefer narrative, illustrative, disjuncture or amplification music videos?
Focus groups:

What makes an effective focus group?
  • Having a range of demographics to see how their opinions change
  • Variety of questions
  • Focus on target demographic
  • Get a variety of genders
  • Variety of techniques – thumbs up/down, questionnaire, open and closed ended questions, poll everywhere


Potential questions for the Vox Pops:

  • Do you like the track?
  • What themes do you consider when you hear it?
  • Who would you think would listen to the track?
  • What would you expect from the music video listening to this track?
  • What lyrics from the song do you remember the most?
  • Does it fit with the specific genre?
  • What can you imagine is happening in this track?
  • Do you prefer narrative, illustration, disjuncture or amplification for this track?
  • Can you image performance and/or lip syncing?