Tempered Tides Moodboard

As a group, we debated concepts and themes we could incorporate into the video for 'Tempered Tides', coming up with the following list of ideas:

This list basically contains the following ideas/concepts:

• Explores elements of homelessness, breaking stereotypes
• Bookended with shots of magpies
• Subtle bird imagery (birdcage, feathers, eggs, actual birds, SFX etc.)
• Use of time lapses
• Incorporate public transport, idea of travelling around
• Band cameos/play the homeless characters
• Black and white with colour slowly creeping in
• Narrative involves character being helped to recovery by a friend
• Start with interview of a real homeless person
• Groundhog Day-style cycle of events
• The same events happening twice but with different outcomes

We put together some mood boards of images that correspond to the concepts that accompanied our pitch:

Our Pitch

After preparing our moodboard and list of concepts we pitched our video idea to the class:

Overall I believe this was a successful pitch as we effectively covered all the areas we needed to consider before going ahead with production, from locations and actors to potential difficulties and challenges, as well as what action we needed to take with the band in order to progress further. We have now created a YouTube channel as well as an Instagram account for Magpie Media, our collective company name.

'Tempered Tides' Lyrics

The text below is a set of the lyrics, provided to us by Tranqua Lite. This was helpful to us in terms of putting together ideas for the narrative (the comparisons of a bird/magpie to a homeless person is something we're looking to explore in the video and ancillary products). It also allows us to easily see patterns and key moments in the lyrics. In this song's case, the line "Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn" is repeated several times so this section of the song we may need to emphasise visually to reflect the line's significance. Our idea currently is to have the positive shift in tone within the narrative occur by this point to reflect the hopeful lyrics:



INTRO

VERSE 1
Soaring through the sky you spot me vulnerable and broken.
A product of your mess, I'm just a twinkle in your eye.
I hear the tidings of magpies, the laws of which unspoken,
You pick, you choose, you claw until you're strong enough to fly.

VERSE 2
Why are the things you choose to steal so delicate and glistening?
Alluring though they seem they don't mean anything to me.
Your ear to the ground you act as though you're surely listening
The meaning of my life is not the product that you [seek]

INSTRUMENTAL

VERSE 3
I've seen one thousand souls as the year colds, they're torn and rusting.
The year itself in riches but the torment won't subside.
One thousand more outside these bodies cold and worn, untrusting.
Don't pick at people's eyeballs you will make the people blind.
(GUITAR SOLO)
One thousand souls are torn.

INSTRUMENTAL

CHORUS
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
You turn the tides, the tides are turned and now you are unworn
(Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn)
You turn the tides, the tides are turned and now you are unworn
(Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn)

INSTRUMENTAL, FEATURING GUITAR SOLO

OUTRO
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn
Turn the tides, the tides will be unworn

Audience Research - Foals

Foals are an indie rock band formed in Oxford in 2005. They are signed to Warner Bros. Records and released their debut album, 'Antidote', in 2008. They have since released three more albums and have won awards such as the 'Best Live Act' at the 2013 Q Awards.

Their average audience is 18-24 year old females of social grade C2DE in London. This is interesting because, when I looked deeper, the split between men and women in the general population was almost a dead 50/50 split with their women making up 50.7% of their fan base and men making the other 49.3. These are the same statistics I found for 'Pulp' and is too close to really suggest a specific gender preference so perhaps this genre is actually just quite gender neutral, suggesting our video should be too.

This is a really odd music video their's where they've used some kind of GoPro 360 degree camera to create a really interesting image that they've then superimposed the artist onto. This means they can control the environment by adding in scenery and animals as well as multiple versions of the same artist. I really like the effect this has, although I feel It's not varied enough. The problem with sole performance videos is that they get boring if it's not intercut with some other action, therefore I feel that we definitely need to add either some concept pieces or a narrative to add some interest to the video. I also like the black and white effect of this video however, I don't feel like that's suited to 'Howl's' image which appears to be more colourful and slightly influenced by the 70's as far as colouring and styles go. The music is similar to 'Foals' but their image is slightly different and I think this should be embraced and emphasised to set them apart rather than just trying to copy another band's style. 

Audience Research - Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro is a Scottish alternative rock band made up of 3 members called Simon Neil, James Johnston and Ben Johnston. They are currently signed with 14th Floor Records. The target audience for the band is 18-25 year olds but slightly more popular with females. However, they target their music at both males and females. The band is also popular with 40-50 year olds. This is because indie and alternative rock was popular back when this age group were teenagers therefore it's the music they grew up with and still follow to this day. This has been the same with all the indie bands we have researched so far therefore showing a clear trend in the target audience of the genre.

In their video for "Biblical" they employ characteristics which will attract all of their target audiences. First of all the establishing shot is full of dark and bleak colours such as blacks and browns. This is a classic genre convention of the indie rock genre therefore linking back to the older indie rock videos of the 1980's. This will attract the older generation as it will remind them of the songs they listened to when they were teenager therefore this link will make them interested in this song. The younger female audience members will be attracted by the star treatment in the video. Front man Simon Neil is attractive and he stars in the whole video therefore making the video attractive and interesting for this target audience. Finally the younger males will like this video as a lot of the mise-en-scene presents violence such as punching the glass window and the thugs beating up Neil with baseball bats.

These characteristics are repeated throughout the bands other music videos. For example, in "Black Chandelier" the background is often dark with black and white being a motif for the genre. The band members also appear topless therefore creating a voyeuristic feel for the video. The narrative of the video is also violent as it contains a police chase with helicopters.