Possible Location for performance

As we have decided to shoot the performance base element of the video in an warehouse preferably abandoned, we fist had to find possible locations. After searching we have found a possible location in Upper Beading, Sussex. The building use to be a cement factory but has been out of use since 1991. The building is now owned by the Upper Beading Parish Council. Below are images of the interior and exterior of the building.

This location would be ideal for our music video, as the location fits the genre of the music, however there are several limitations of using this location.

Firstly we would need to get permission from Upper Beading Parish Council to get access to the site. We have recently emailed the council about have granted access to the area and we our currently waiting for a response from them.

As well as this, the factory does not have any electricity, this means that we could not charge cameras and use lights as well as anything else we need electricity for. My group and I our currently discussing a possible solution which is to buy or rent a generator which would power the lights and anything else we needed.

Lastly, the location of Upper Beading could become an issue as it would be hard to get the band and equipment to the location as it is near Brighton. The group have decided to would be best to drive up with the band and the equipment including a drum kit. We would likely need two or three cars, one for the drum kit and parts of the equipment and the other for the rest of the equipment and the band.

Below is the route from my house to Upper Beading town.

One Hundred Sleepless Nights Lyrics

I can't wait to see your brilliant face,
Light up the room around the pillowcase.
(She said) "Can you come over to my LA place?
Got something to tell you and it just can't wait!"

When I showed up, you held the door in tears,
Sat on the couch under the chandelier.
You said you're having a baby and before I could cry,
You're leaving me just when I thought you were mine!

But I don't see your face
Taken by the one-hearted race.
Home now but don't tell your other man,
I've got a hell of a plan.

Failing lights!
Amass that's one hundred sleepless nights.
And I might be holding on too tight,
But there is a beast in my heart and he won't let you leave alive.

Nightmares, no longer wait for sleep (No!)
Crawl on the ground on both your hands and knees,
Just like a, lion and you're the queen of the pride,
And we will feast together till the bones are dry!

But I don't see your face (Oh, no)
Taken by the one-hearted race.
Home now but don't tell your other man,
He's not part of the plan !

Failing lights!
Amass that's one hundred sleepless nights.
And I might be holding on too tight,
There's a beast in my heart and he won't let you leave alive!

Do you still love me? I am dying to know!
Or did you forget what we shared?
Out of sight, out of mind,
I was never even there!


Failing lights!
Amass that's one hundred sleepless nights.
And I might be holding on too tight,
But there's a beast in my heart and he won't let you leave alive!

This is the price you'll pay,
Thoughts in your head that will never die.
So don't you forget what we had,
It's like I was never even there!

GO!

Changing Music Video Idea

Since joining a group with a fellow student, we have decided to use her music video idea as the image and idea of the video is clearer. Here is my new idea

Changing Groups

I have recently decided to going a group with two other students from my class, after comparing ideas we have decided to use my partners idea as it is more realistic to film and edit her idea within the given time. I am now going to be doing my music video to the song "one hundred sleepless nights" by Pierce the Veil. As this is a very different genre to my original idea I am going to have to do more research on star image for post hard core rock bands.

Star image of Maroon 5

Here is my star image post where I will be looking at Maroon 5's image.



My band's image will be on another post in the near future

Andrew Goodwin's Conventions of a music video

Here is my slideshare on Andrew Goodwin's conventions of a music video



Underneath is Lady Gaga's "telephone" music video featuring Beyoncé

Organic & Synthetic Artists

Keith Negus, in his book Producing Pop talks about the two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry. Each ideology develops the artist's image and career in different ways and markets the artist to different audiences. These ideologies are:

• The Organic ideology of creativity 
• The Synthetic ideology of creativity

There are clear differences between the different types of artists, that are represented in order to ensure long or short term success. While organic artists are sold on their "authenticity" both musically and socially, synthetic artists are sold on the way they look and their trendy personalities and style. While both types of artists' appearances look their own and seem "unconstructed" record labels spend hours on end creating the right look for that artist.

The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity

The synthetic ideology of creativity focuses on a mixed approach to artists and material. Most synthetic groups are strangers put together for the reason to produce hits. In order for them to be popular they have songs written for their use leading to number one hits and a popular first album. Synthetic artists are often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences. The reason for synthetic artists is to create immediate short term income for the record labels, to usually spend on their organic artists.

The Organic Ideology of Creativity

Record labels give a 'naturalist' approach to organic artists. Unlike synthetic artists, organic artists are given time to grow to progress through their career, being supported and 'nutured' by their record label. As well as this organic artists have more say about their look which is just 'enhanced' by the record label.

Underneath is an organic band's music video and a synthetic band's music video.

                                        Mumford and Sons - "Little Lion Man'

There are certain aspects of this video, showing us that Mumford and Sons are an organic band.
First of all, before we see any members of the band, we are shown close ups of instruments including a banjo. The banjo helps portray the band as being organic as it is an instrument not which is used often in music, as it would not fit in with the norm. Secondly, The music video appears to be set in a barn which portrays the naturalistic approach they have taken in the music industry. Unlike synthetic artists we do not see any close up of the band members face for the minute of the song. Furthermore, we see by the unique sense of style the band has a say over their look, unlike synthetic artists. As well as this, the lighting in the video produces autumnal tonnes portraying they are organic. Lastly, the video is all performance based. This is unlike most synthetic artists showing they are organic.



                                        One Direction - "Story of My Life"

Unlike organic artists, within the first ten seconds of the video we are met with close ups of the member of the band, without instruments. This portrays the fact that the band is more into their looks and style then the music it self and that they can only sing and everything else has been handed to them, this shows that the band as a whole is being sold on their looks more then anything else. Furthermore, their are close ups of the members' tattoos. This method is used to bring out their rebellious side in order to attract a younger audience, mainly teenage girls. Lastly, unlike organic artists, the music video is very narrative based although they are singing. In this case it is to possibly show they vulnerability in order to continue to attract a younger female audience.

Underneath is an album cover of an organic band and a synthetic band.

One Direction - "Take Me Home" album cover

The first thing I noticed about this album cover was that its sunny and has summery colours, this portrays that the band is disposable and a synthetic band. As well as this you can see that they are selling themselves on the fact they are British,with the eccentric British style and the iconic telephone box in the middle of the cover. This shows they are  possibly trying to become popular in another country such as America. Furthermore, none of the band are holding instruments, conveying the fact that they are sold more on their looks rather than the music. Lastly, the band is showing the viewer their youthfulness and their rebellious side in order to attract a younger female audience.

Oasis - "Definitely Maybe" album cover

Oasis' album cover represents them as an organic band. Unlike synthetic artists, a member of the band is holding a guitar, portraying that the band is sold on its music. As well as this, there is a picture of Burt Bacharach  , a famous colt musician. This shows that the band has grown up with music as they have a knowledge of musical history. Furthermore, the lighting of the room produces muted colours showing that the band does not have to be as flashy and "colourful" as synthetic groups.

Recreating a cover

During this project I will have to create a digi-pack for my actor/artist. Before doing this I have tried to recreate an album cover by Kula Shaker on Adobe Photoshop Elements. This was a useful task as it has given me more practise with the software and the tolls needed to create an album cover.

1. In order to recreate the album cover, I firstly had to change the saturation of the background image, (the trees) giving them a blue tint. 
2. I then had to open the picture of the escalator and use the magnetic lasso tool to remove the part of the escalator I wanted from the rest of the photo.
3.  I then placed the needed part of the escalator into the image with trees.
4. After, I opened the picture of the scuba diver and used the magnetic lasso tool to remove the diver from the background.
5. Next, I placed the diver into the picture with the trees and the escalator.
6. I then used the dodge tool to lighten the middle of the image so the trees were barley visible.
7. Lastly, I placed the scuba diver in the right place and added the band name along with the album name.

 Next I used the erase tool so I would be able to remove the sides of the escalator so it would match the original.

Below is the original cover as well as my own imitation of it.

This is the original album cover for Kula Shaker's album Peanuts, Pics & Astronauts

This is my attempt of recreating the album cover

Initial Music Video Idea #3

 Jesse McCartney - "Beautiful Soul" (accoustic)

This video will be about a boy trying to sing his way into a girls heart. During the video the male actor will be following the female actor, the male actor will be sining the song while playing the gauitar. At the beggining of the song the girl will look rather uniterested, during the course of the song we will be able to visually see the boy winning her over. At the end of the song the female actor will finally turn around to kiss the boy showing he has succseeded in winning the girl over.

Initial Music Video Idea #2

Phillip Phillips - "Gone, Gone, Gone"

As Gone, Gone, Gone is a country pop song, I have decided to set the location of my music video a farm barn. The song will be completely performance based with a band playing the song. The focus of the song will mainly be on the music and the instruments rather then the looks of the band. During the video there will be close ups on the instruments and close up of the singers body excluding his whole face.

Initial Music Video Idea #1

 One Republic - "I Lived"

As this song was written for the Ryan Tedder's (the lead singer) son, I wanted to keep a strong father son relationship in the video. The video will start with a father holding his  infant son in his house. The character playing the father will then look up at a wall and see a series of imagined scenarios of his sons future life. As the song is about living life to the fullest, the visuals will have a strong correlation to the lyrics and the meaning behind them. Below is a screen shot and scene of Scrubs (TV show) which has a similar visual to what I hope to achieve in my music video.


                         

                                       Scrubs Series 8 Episode 19 "JD's Final Scene"

Lip Syncing Task

To start of my A2 media course, I created a lip syncing video to Carly Rae Jepson's Call me Maybe. The video is below.




For this video I chose to record myself, I did this by setting up tripods and holding a mono-pod. Although this made the number of shot types limited, I was able to film in a different way to what I had done before as well as experiencing lip singing myself. For this task I only used the room's lights. In order to get the best synchronisation I actually sang the song with the music and muted my voice and matched the song to my lip movement during editing. To edit this video I used Adobe Premiere. This task was useful as it improved my knowledge of the program and allowed me to learn new features of the program like resizing videos and putting them in the same frame. Altogether I think this task went well but if I was to redo it I would record the same thing several times with the camera in different angles to give my self a wider variety of shots.