Diary Entry 26/01/11 - How the filming went

Diary Entry 19/01/11 - Getting ready for filming

Diary Entry 19/01/11 - Just getting ready to go and film for the music video

All Pre-Production work

What is a treatment ?

At the beginning of every music video project, there is a need to work with the artist to define a desired treatment. A video treatment, also known as video concept, outlines information with regards to what the music video will be about.

My Treatment - It is very basic, hasn't got alot of detail as it is just an outline of a possible version of the video. I also realised that some of the scene might be impossible to film (such as the perfromance scene) as it would be hard to find a large crowd and a legit venue to perform in.

The video starts with an establishing shot of Trafalgar square in central London. It is nighttime and the square is lit up by the various lights.

FAST CUTS of other landmarks in central London such as Big Ben, London eye, London bridge, River Thames etc until Pink starts singing.

CUT to the band standing in a row with their backs turned. They seem to be on some sort of empty road in the daytime. They start moving around appearing as if they are looking for something behind cars and dustbins.

Cut to front view of band, all wearing casual clothes ie – jeans and tops. They begin lip singing to the lyrics of the song while dancing up the street. (during this scene, various shots of different cuts from different views. Ie . long shots, close ups, birdseye view shot etc. )

When chorus comes CUT to a stage where the band are performing in front of a crowd. Everyone is lip synching The band are a little more dressed up now – wearing things like tailored shorts, blazers, vest tops. Also goth looking makeup such as black eyeliner and black lipstick. Rae on the drums, Lucinda on the mic, Dutchie on the keyboard and Setareh on the guitar. The girls are clearly giving a performance which the audience are loving. Lots of movement like jumping, good stage presence. (once again various shots will be used with fast cuts to make it a very fast paced video.)

Before the end of the chorus the girls fall back on stage CUT to them falling back on grass at a park. The girls are back in casual clothes (makes it seem they are back in their normal lives where they are not performing.) They are playing around in the grass and on swings and slides at the park, lip synching and being aware that the camera is there. (almost like they are recording themselves.) Once again different shots of the scene are used with fast cuts to keep up the pace of the video.

Chorus scene is repeated again (Stage performance) with minor changes such as interacting with audience by holding their hands or throwing things to them.

CUT to a bedroom scene where all the girls are in pyjamas…The shirt and bottom types that mainly men wear. Focus on Teri lip synching slow part while the other comfort her. Various slow cuts of shots of this

While the chorus approaches the girls decide to have a pillow fight to increase the pace of the song again. Back to a very fast paced song with fast cuts.

Finish off song alternating between shots of stage performance and pillow fight scene.

Animatics

At it simplest, an animatic is a series of still images edited together and shown in a sequence. Rough dialogue and a rough soundtrack are then added to these images to test if they are working effectively together. With this the directors and animators can then work out camera positions, shot lists and any timing issues. The process is repeated until it is perfected An advantage of using storyboards is that it allows the user to experiment with changes in the storyline to evoke a stronger reaction of interest from its target audience.

This is my simple animatic for a possible version of the 'So What' video

Recces

Location scouting in Camden Town

similar text

My first chosen similar text is Scandal.

Scandalスキャンダル is a Japanese pop/rock girl band. Proclaiming themselves as "The Most Powerful Japanese Girlie Pop Rock", they are composed of four high school girls from Osaka, Japan: Haruna Ono, Tomomi Ogawa, Mami Sasazaki, and Rina Suzuki. Scandal is very energetic, mostly because Ono, the eldest and leader of the band, shares lead vocals with the other three members, in order to not have a focus on one girl in particular and to give each time in the limelight.
An interesting note about the group is the unique way in which they chose to promote themselves. Since they are fans of Japanese animation and manga, they wanted to be represented in animated form, turning each member into an animated character. The animated Scandal is featured on a series of promotional videos on the band's website. (wikipedia )

I feel that this girl band is very much like the artists we are trying to portray in our music video.

We have many things in common ;

Both a four girl band

both students

Both in the pop/rock genre

Both play instruments

Here is a video of theirs o give you a little taste of what they are about

What I like about them and how they relate to the band we are trying to create

Second Similar text is a girl band called Vixen

Vixen, one of the most successful female rock bands in the world, produced massive hits like “Edge of a Broken Heart” and “Cryin’” securing their position in the rock charts – including 4 singles in Billboard’s Hot 100. Vixen has reappeared with two new albums, a delicate explosion of new talent and passionate forces, producing a new sound while staying true to their roots.

They are a typical rock and roll band with the big hair and leather.

I would have loved to create a band like this as I love 80's music. However we have to create a band that a 21st century audience of teenagers can relate to in order to be successful.

Their very first album was released in 1988 and is called 'Vixen'

here is the cover

They are very different from Scandal as they are an older and emerged closer to the beginning of the rock period. They were a very successful band.

Although they are not exactly the same as the band we are trying to create, they still follow the general codes and conventions of a rock girl band and this is why I chose them.

Here is the video for the single 'Edge of a broken heart' from their first album.

Preliminary Tasks

Although I was not in the F-word video, I took part in the final stages of editing.

The original song:

Audience types

Mainstream - This is a large audience that watch or listen to one thing. It is calculated by ratings or box office.

Main genres would be POP, ROCK, HIP-HOP and RnB with videos by artists such as :

Videos

Cult - A small but loyal following audience of a particular media text. Genres such as GRIME, GARAGE etc

Artists include:

Videos:

The other Audience types are:

Subversive - This is an audience that watch controversial media texts that could offend.

Alternative - Opposite of mainstream. Audience enjoy media texts that are similar to similar to mainstream media texts, but differ in various ways.

Below is an image of my target audience

My target audience is will be mainly teenage girls as we are are a teenage girl band. I would hope for us to be a mainstream band, but it is likely we will be cult or Alternative as the mainstream audiences usually consist of RnB these days.

Genre - Codes and Conventions

ROCK MUSIC

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.

Musically, rock has centred around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music with a 4/4 beat utilizing a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse and common musical characteristics are difficult to define. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Unlike pop music, rock places an emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity. (wikipedia)

Conventions of Rock music videos

* Instruments - mainly guitar

* Performance

* All about the song

* Minimal Mise - en - scene

Kings of Leon - Sex is on fire

POP MUSIC

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. Pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, but as a genre is particularly associated with the rock and roll and later rockstyle.

"Pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged"

Conventions of Pop music videos

* All about artist image

* Videos have a polished look.....usually fantasy or scenarios that lack mundane realism

* Intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-oriented beats or rhythms with dance routines in videos

Britney Spears - Baby one more time

GIRL BANDS

Here are some pictures and videos of prominent girl bands in the rock/pop/ punk genre.

Crucified Barbara

Danger Gang