Research and Planning

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...to my blog, I hope you enjoy.

My Flickr is where I'll post the majority of my work, and here is the link:
My Flickr

However, there's also a link to my flickr on the right hand side column under the heading "Flickr", in the "Other Links" section.


Analysis of an existing Music Video

I'm going to take relevant sections of my marked analysis of the music video for "The Pretender" by "Foo Fighters".

"When the lights come on in the building, the lead singer/lead guitarist Dave Grohl enters the room and picks up his guitar; this emphasises his importance within the group immediately."



"As the interlude comes to a close, a few jump cuts are used which switch between medium-long shots and long shots, framing the different band members each walking up to their specific instruments; a possible reason for this is that they want to convey that each member brings their own unique sound to the song itself."



"It’s clear that the consistent use of quick cuts and the variety of different lengths of shots is key in the video to produce a feeling of passion, energy and also an element of anger; the fact that a repeated close-up of Dave Grohl moving in at the camera at speed as he sings has been intended to frighten the audience, another display of power, and the representation of masculinity is obvious in regards to how he wants to display power and come as a threat – this links to the message behind the song lyrics which is, in theory, aimed at the current President at the time, who was George Bush."



"As Grohl sings “You’re the pretender.” a low-angle shot is shown of him, displaying a feeling of superiority and strength – another link to masculinity. The power is strengthened with the use of a long shot from behind the lead singer, with the riot police officer far off in the background, which makes him look a lot smaller."



"The target audience of Rock music are usually expecting to see high-energy videos, and the theme of War and Violence is specifically associated with males, so you could say that the majority of the viewers of this video would in fact be male."

"The lead singer moves backwards from the microphone, and as the chorus breaks in, the whole red wall behind them bursts into what looks like red paint covers the whole room, including the band and the officers; this could signify all of the lives that were being lost at the time in Iraq, with the red paint being linked to the blood of the soldiers."



"The unstable camerawork is due to it now being handheld whilst the battle takes place, to portray confusion, as well as making the audience feel involved as everything looks as if it’s moving. A number of quick cuts are used at different lengths to further give impact of the energy and violence, whilst a sea of red is still visible, almost looking as if it’s raining blood; the officers are going down one by one, and as the end of the song is reached, Dave Grohl classically slams his guitar down on the floor to display his complete anger, as well as signifying that it’s the end of the song."







Shooting a video for "BearTrap"

So local Hardcore/Punk Rock outfit "BearTrap" (BearTrap MySpace) have agreed to let me shoot a promo music video for them in the next coming weeks. I thought this would be a good idea as they're a band who've just released their first EP, without having any videos for their songs. This allows me to have no competition against other videos as well as having a clear idea in mind for my overall outlook on the video itself.

The band consists of four members - lead singer (Charlie Barnes), lead guitarist (Robbie Bullock), Bassist (Callum Eastman) and drummer (Adam Dray), and have described their music as fitting into the genres of "Hardcore" and "Punk Rock". I'll be researching into that specific genre's demographic online (demographics) by searching similar artists of the same genre. I'll also be creating a questionnaire on facebook, (Questionnaire Q1...) where I'll ask listeners of those music genres to give their opinions and get to feedback to my specific related questions.

Looking at the Facebook questionnaire results, I can see some similarities within the answers:

1) House parties, alcohol and flashing lights are popular, and are also conventional within the genre, having looked at YouTube videos.

2) It's not agreed that violence is a key theme within Punk Rock music videos, but is certainly involved due to the extreme, high energy within the music and performances and should therefore be included.

3) The primary listening age seems to be around late teens to mid-twenties.

4) In the question "3 things you'd associate with the genre", the band's image appeared a few times, in particular referring to "Doc Martens" and "Braces and Jeans". Violence, anger, blood, smoking and tattoos were also associated with the genre.

When planning the video, I'll use this information as inspiration.

_____________________________________________________________


The band have their own MySpace which will be useful in assissting my research and planning.

I've made a few phone calls to the lead singer of the band, and I'll display these underneath this post entitled "CALL LOG" - this will be continuously updated.




This is the call sheet, with the numbers of the members within the band that I'm going to shoot a music video for. (Also on Flickr)


"CALL LOG"

Date: 22/09/2009
Time: 12:01

Organised photoshoot with BearTrap on the phone to Charlie. We decided upon 3 locations to shoot.

Date: 02/10/2009
Time: 16:32

Call made to Charlie asking for permission to shoot a promo music video for his band. He asked my price. I said "for you Charlie, it's always free", and he accepted my offer.

Date: 08/10/2009
Time: 17:47

Call made to Charlie, discussing ideas of the video - We both agreed that what I proposed was a good idea (this will all be storyboarded later) given the fact that he'd handed me the lyrics for the song that I liked on the EP entitled "Aurele Catoure", and he told me that he'd inform the other members. I arranged to have a band interview with "BearTrap" tomorrow at 5pm.




26/09/2009

Finished band photoshoot, couldn't have gone any better. The weather was great and with the short amount of time we had to fit in all 3 locations - Dartford park, a derelict care home in Wilmington and their studio (I shot in the studio as live photos are conventional within the genre, as the high energy performances are a huge feature within the music, and I felt this should be displayed when photographing the band) - I managed to get more than enough photos of the band. The photos will be used either as part of the website design, or the album cover, or maybe both!



Above is the location in Wilmington where I shot in the old care home.
I've set a link on the right hand side to my "Flickr" account where the photos from the band shoot will be displayed.
I chose to shoot the photos in this location, as the worn away building, with bricks lying around, dirt, and a real gritty feel seems really closely associated with the hardcore/punk rock genre - lyrics and image are strongly related with grittiness, real life events and angst, and I felt the mood portrayed in the photos worked.

The band dressed conventionally for the genre of music that they play; as stated in a few of the questionnaire answers, the lead singer is wearing Doc Martens, braces and jeans, with the other members wearing band tees and hoodies which is also conventional. The figure expressions were also very conventional, using serious expressions and a strong overall band image. An example of this can be seen in this image: BearTrap Image


10/10/2009

Band interview went great, got to ask all of my questions and establish the target audience for the particular genre - the band dealt with the whole thing professionally. A slight problem faced was the amount of equipment I had to carry: 2x Videocamera bags, 1x DSLR bag, 2x Tripods, all by myself! But it was definitely worth it looking back at the footage.




I asked the band genre related questions, as well as questions relating to the website, video and album cover. I then managed to gain some footage of the song "Aurele Catoure" live in rehearsal, as a little teaser for the official video.

I gained inspiration from a couple of NME interviews I found on YouTube, which are displayed on the right hand side in the "Other Links" section.

Attending "Music For Life" tonight, where BearTrap are headlining. The event's taking place in Bar Mondo in Dartford, and I'm going down with my equipment to get some live footage of BearTrap as well as make a bit of money shooting a couple of other bands (;





15/10/2009

BearTrap interview is up on YouTube: BearTrap Interview

As well as asking questions related to genre, and demographics, I also managed to include some live footage from the gig that I attended above.
The band explained that the majority of the listening audience are late teens to early twenties, so this gives me an idea of who to target when it comes to writing a questionnaire on Facebook. The band also state that they prefer house parties to clubs and pubs, so I'll take this into consideration when storyboarding my music video.
The band have given me a rough idea of what they'd like the album cover to look like -- something "decapitated", or something with blood, and black and white writing. With the website, the band would like to see relevant links, gig updates and photos by myself.

The link is also on the right hand column, in the "Other Links" section.


24/10/2009
Casting:

I've spoken to Charlie about the two main actors I'll need in the video playing the part of the girl, who cheats on him, as well as the "Masked Man":

The girl is going to be played by a friend of the band, and the "Masked Man" will be played by another friend of the band who's a DJ who performs under the name "Mista Gee" - he has his own custom designed mask which he'll be using in the video, and I've favoured this mask over the mask that I purchased on eBay.

The fans in the house party will be played by friends of the band.



Related Websites

I've noticed that from the websites that I've researched into, the band's image is very important, and it feels like a necessity to include an image on the website itself. It's also important to display gig updates, and possibly an embedded video of the band's latest track.

(See Flickr annotations Flickr annotations

Related Music Videos

During my research into music videos for these two genres, it's clear that I should include a lot of live playing, and not more than half of the video should be based on narrative. I should use the effect slow-motion as it's worked well for the Gallows video (link on the right hand column under "Music Videos").


Related Album Covers

Looking at related album covers, it's obvious that I shouldn't use an image of the band, and should base it sorely on artwork/surrealism, which is conventional for that specific genre of music. See Flickr annotations - Flickr annotations