Music Video: Further Progression

Dynamic Productions have recently had another meeting to discuss the progression of our project. In this meeting we have discussed problems that must be attended to. The main problem being the casting, the new cast is as follows:


Narrative:


Main character (narrative and band): Charlie Morgan


Female character: Katherine MacDonald


Other male: Tayo Adeboye (me) 




Band:


Lead Singer of Band: Charlie Morgan


Lead Guitar of band: Luke Desborough


Drummer of band: Nicholas Berreen 


There were many different reasons for changing the cast members. One was thatwe wanted to find characters that had a natural chemistry on set as there would be a scene where the girl (Katherine) will be seen flirting with a boy (Myself). We felt that this was important as it was agreed awkwardness should be avoided as a naturalistic scene would convey the connotative subtext behind this scene. 


Another  reason for the selection of the new characters was due to that fact that they all dress in a manner that is associated with the 'indie' genre. 


The third reason for choosing characters such as the Band members was because they are able to play instruments, this  was an important feature as we wanted to capture a natural 'mime' allowing for perfect sync of instruments with the music creating a further sense of realism. 


Below are images of the location for our next shoot. 

Music Video Further Research

After identifying the niche we will be appealing to lies in the category of 'Indie' research had to be conducted into the specific conventions of music videos of this genre. Below is a music video by the 'Kings of Leon' which has allowed us to identify basic codes and conventions of the indie genre such as the use of darker colours in narrative shots, in their music video the colours used tend to be darker shades of bright colours such as green. This reflects the sadness that is conveyed in many videos of this particular genre.

It was also important to research music videos of other genres so that other generic conventions of music videos in general could be identified, also to identify any use of camera shots that we would be able to develop and incorporate into our video. An example of this is video below by Rizzle Kicks, the use of fast cuts which kept the tempo whilst at the same time moving the narrative along allowing the audience to receive Narrative Theory clearly was a concept that Dynamic productions wanted to incorporate into our own music video through the use of a different transitions. Below is the music video for Rizzle Kicks 'Down with the Trumpets'

Progression of Music Video and Rushes (Post Production)

Dynamic Productions are still in the process of capturing footage for the music video, but we have recently analysed the rushes of our previous shoot of the band shots and started the post production stage of editing and evaluating what we have captured. This has been done so that we as a group are able to maintain our production schedule and keep to the time limit set.

Below is 40 second clip that shows various clips of the band shots. Music is provided and cross fades to different sections of the song that Dynamic Productions will use. Currently some shots are not in the correct places but this allows us to assess how to correctly link shots together and allows us to further our knowledge of editing by correcting these mistakes, also we have agreed that our music video will have a circular narrative. Also as a result of this short clip we have also been able to identify what that the scenes we already have conform to the indie genre in terms of:

Location - We are now able to assess whether the locations selected reflect the sadness and depression the song conveys through its ironic title 'Feeling Good', we felt the abandoned building used in our video does this

Costume - By looking at this rush from the view of the audience we have been able to assess whether the costumes of all the characters conform to the costumes of 'Indie' artists

Lighting - By watching the raw uncut rush we have been able to assess whether the lighting conforms to the lighting of other indie music videos, when comparing it to other music videos of this genre, it was evident that it did not conform therefore we have decided to use colour correction so that the audience are able to receive the sadness and depression that is portrayed throughout the video from the lighting as well as the narrative

Band Shots: Storyboard

Above is the storyboard Dynamic Productions followed during the filming of the Band shots, by using this storyboard it was relatively simple to film as we already knew exactly the way in which shots would be captured. Also as a result of the storyboard we were able to capture other shots that had not originally been thought of as the storyboard gave the group ideas which were expanded.

Location Scouting

Above are pictures taken when Dynamic Production members Tayo Adeboye (myself) & Nicholas Berreen went location scouting for possible places where the Band shots would be taken. One image contains the main character and lead band member Charlie Morgan, this picture was taken to help identify whether this location would conform to the motif of the music video which is heartbreak, depression and the sad side of love, this location also conformed to the conventions of an indie music video by being urban. As a result of scouting this location which Dynamic Productions found by asking local people this location was used in our music video

Progression: Cancellations and Progression

Dynamic productions planned to film twice during the chirstmas half term (27th December and the 3rd January). Due to actors not being availible and weather problems our arrangements were cacelled. We are currently reviewing the weather over the next few weeks and trying to ensure that we film on dates when our actors are available. We are aiming to film the narrative for the video relatively soon. 


Although these cancellations may have put a halt on the production process we have a large amount of  footage filmed at the abandoned building to edit. Currently we have completed a large section of the music video and are now in the process of working on our individual ancillary tasks while ensuring that the agreed upon house style will remain consistent.

Production Schedule: Alterations

Dynamic productions had come together for a board meeting. In this meeting we discussed the basis of recording the music video and the order in which aspects of the video would be recorded. In this meeting we came to an agreement on who would be cast, the characters as they are now are:

Narrative:

Main character of narrative: Charlie Morgan

Girl in narrative: Louise Salter 

Other boy in narrative: Charlie Hayford

Band:

Lead Singer of Band: Charlie Morgan

Bassist or Drummer of band: Paul Healey 

Bassist or Drummer of band: Nicholas Berreen 

However due to problems with the time period in which the filming was to be recorded 2 of the original cast members were replaced, the 2 new characters are Luke Desborough who is a band member and Katherine McDonald who is now the female in the narrative. 

Style Sheet Analysis

After researching the codes and conventions of the 'Indie' genre, and also researching the codes and conventions specific to the band 'Muse' I have been able to identify the type that should be incorporated into my ancillary products.

Above is a list of band names that are shown on a promotional poster for Reading Festival. Each band  has a specific type of font representative of its name. One constant convention in all the names is the use of simplicity of the fonts. As all of the bands and artists above named are classified as 'Indie' artists it could be suggested that the use of simple fonts is a convention of the Indie genre.  


Also Muse uses a sans serif font with bold text, surrounding it are lines above and below the text. This is a font style that is iconic to the band and is  used on all media products related to them. To incorporate Reception Theory into my products all Muse products i produce and also produced by my fellow group will use a similar simplistic font and also the two lines. Audiences will associate the use of simplistic font with the indie genre, audiences will also further associate the use of the lines above and below the text with Muse as this is an iconic feature of Muse typography. Thus audience will receive all products with this specific feature on it as a Muse product. Below is the 'Pk and Co' font that Dynamic productions has chosen to incorporate into all of our products. this was chosen as the audience responded most positively to it. Also below are other possible fonts that we considered using.

Pk & Co font

Getting up font

 You La Tengo font

Final Song Choice/ Research

Here is the final song choice, some of the codes and conventions of Muse will be integrated into the music video my group is producing. This is also research as the codes and conventions Muse incorporate into their videos can be identified in this video and other Muse videos. This allows Genre Theory to be properly incorporated into our music video and ancillary products as we are able to identify the specific codes and conventions of Muse and the products.


It is also important to note that the original version of 'Feelin' Good' was performed by Cy Grant for the musical 'The Roar of the Greasepaint - The smell of the Crowd' this is important as the original version of the song was not suitable for any of the concepts of our music video as it has been sung in a completely different way. Upon further research I discovered other artists such Michael Bublé and Nina Simone had also sang renditions of this song but it was decided that the version that allowed us to convey different emotions through the way it was sung was the version by Muse as the way they have sang it illustrates a range of different emotions. To illustrate the difference in emotion between the two renditions I have posted the Muse rendition, and also the original version showing how different the two versions are and why the Muse version was the better choice in terms of the music video we wanted to capture. 

Muse: Research

Muse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of  Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, piano, keyboards, keytar), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, harmonica) and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers, sampling, harmtar).


The album that contains the song for our music video (Feeling Good) is 'Origins of Symmetry'.Below is the album art. Also posted below are images of the band members which portrays the simplicity of their image, on this image and other research into the conventions of Muse we will base our Ancillary tasks and the costumes for the music video. 

Also provided is the track list for the album Origins of Symmetry, from the names of the songs it is evident that the connotative subtext behind these song titles is very ominous and at times dark suggesting that Muse tends to convey itself in a foreboding manor to the audience. This is also known through denotative analysis of the images below as members of the band tend to wear dark clothes. 


1. "New Born" 
2. "Bliss" 
3. "Space Dementia" 
4. "Hyper Music" 
5. "Plug In Baby" 
6. "Citizen Erased" 
7. "Micro Cuts" 
8. "Screenager" 
9. "Darkshines" 
10. "Feeling Good" 
11. "Megalomania"