For our video we are planning on using several different locations. To begin with we plan on re-shooting the performance section of the video at Pirate Studios in Kirkstall. This is a better studio as it is a bigger space so we will have more room for different shot types and angles. As well as this, the studio is more lit than the previous location therefore the quality of the footage will be better.
For the narrative section of the video we will have to use several locations as we will follow the protagonist through his story. His progression will therefore taking him to new places meaning that we have to find more suitablelocations. To begin with we will meet the protagonist in the German Christmas Market in the centre of Leeds. Melissa was in Leeds this week and went to familiarise herself with the market and take pictures so we could plan where we want ourprotagonist to be positioned. The market has several stalls and is covered in fairy lights which gives it the festive, happy mood we desired in order to contrast with the cold exclusion of homelessness.
There are also gaps between the stalls which we were very excited about as we wanted to 'find' our protagonist hidden away in the market and this is the perfect place to position them, allowing them to be within and yet without.
We also discovered that there are attractions which would make for great establishing shots in our video such as a carousel, inflatable snow globe and ferris wheel. We even thought we might be able to go in the wheel, price dependant, to get some establishing shots of Leeds from a higher vantage point.
Overall we are very happy with this location and will definitely be making use of it in our video.Then we will follow him to Leeds Train Station where in the first narrative he tries to escape the abuse he receives in the city.
In the second narrative this is where we see the protagonisttaken by his friend who is trying to help him start a new life. After this we will use the bridge at Shipley Train Station. This is where the first story ends as we see the protagonist collapse on the bridge. But in the second narrative we will need a house and a front room in which the protagonist can set up their new life. After this we will go back to Leeds city Centre but this time the protagonist will be dressed in a suit to show how far he has come since he was homeless. For this location we were thinking of using Victoria Gate shopping centre as it looks very grand and spectacular, contrasting the more grungy street locations of the video.
On Thursday 9th November we collected our first bits of footage for our music video. This is very early in the process which allows us plenty of time to reshoot if we think it needs to be of a higher standard.
This also came before we started storyboarding but this wasn't a problem as we were filming the section of our music video which features the band so we didn't need to decide on the sequence of shots we needed as we weren't telling a story like we will be during the narrative section of the video. We did, however, need to think about the types of shots and camera angles we wanted. We took inspiration from other music videos in the same genre, specifically the Maroon 5 video for 'Harder to Breathe', to decide on how we wanted to position our camera. We settled on taking 3 cameras to minimise the number of times we had to run through the track. In the first run through we needed one was set up as a master shot to capture all the band members together and two off to the side, one focussing solely on the lead singer and the other on whoever was on the other side, perhaps a guitarist. Then in the second run through we would get more close up shotson the other members of the band.
Initially we were supposed to be filming in a location called Pirate Studios. We were very happy about this as it looked like a great location with lots of lights which we could use to create the mood we needed and get good quality footage. However, at the last minute the band changed locations to a different studio in Leeds called Jar Mills Studios. When we looked at this online we could tell it wasn't as ideal as the other, the rooms looked darker and less set up for filming than the other (which was specifically used for doing live streams or filming videos). Their time in the studio had also changed - it was now 7-10pm. Although this was less convenient, we decided to make the most of it by going to the Leeds Christmas Lights switch-on, which was on the same night, to get some cutaways and establishing shots for the music video.
Unfortunately Rob was unable to go but he helped us prepare and decide on our plan so me and Ed could execute it with as much ease as possible. We arrived at the studios with 3 cameras and 3 tripods and met with the band who were really lovely and eager to help in any way they could. However, we hadn't anticipated just how loud it would be in the soundproof room where they were playing as if on the main stage at a gig; luckily they were selling earplugs in the studios which we quickly purchased. Unfortunately this posed another issue - we were trying to set up three cameras with just two of us, making sure that each one was exactly the same so we could seamlessly cut between each shot, without being able to verbally communicate. This was a real challenge. In the end we had to use our phones to write down what we were saying and show it to each other just to get it all set up.
The next problem we had was lighting. It was pretty dark in the room with no proper lights we could use to improve the situation. The walls were also a deep red with the wall directly behind the band painted a matt black. This just absorbed all the light. We did the best we could by turning the ISO up to 400 however, we didn't want to take it any higher as it would make the picture grainy. Therefore the image was darker than would've been ideal.
The room was also very small which posed a challenge in getting all the band members into one shot and getting all the cameras set up as the floor was completely covered in wires. However, we managed it so the first run through we had amaster shot, a side shot and a shot of the singer. We had decided that we wanted the shot of the singer to be at a low angle and from the side, just like the angle on Adam Levine in the 'Harder to Breathe' video as we really liked this effect and saw that it was typical in the 'indie rock' genre. The camera on the singer and the master shotstayed static throughout the whole first run through however, me and Ed both stood at the side shot and moved the camera around depending on who was doing the most in the song at each given time and got a variety of shots includingtwo shot of the lead and backing singer during their harmonies together.
On the second run through we got a close upof each of the other band members - bass guitar, lead guitar and drummer. To get a good angle of the drummer we had to ask the lead singer to stand out of the set-up as he was stood in front of the drummer and the shot looked so much better from the front than from the side. This was okay though because we didn't need another master shotof the whole set-up so it didn't matter that there were cameras in the middle of it all this time.
We also made sure to get some pictures for our social media campaign.
The above video is our first rough cut, incorporating footage from the shoot at Jar Mills and the Christmas lights switch-on in Leeds city centre, which fortunately was taking place on the same evening. We managed to schedule the shoot so we could get a variety of angles of the band as well as the fireworks display and switch-on outside Town Hall. We edited the video and tried to incorporate some of the concepts we had been discussing prior to shooting. The video contains the following elements:
Rhythmic editing
Cuts between the band in performance and a location shoot around Leeds (At this stage we haven't begun to film the narrative portion of the video so shots of Leeds are substituting for this at this point)
Shifts from black and white to colour
A down-to-earth aesthetic in terms of the text and inclusion of real recorded sound from the shooting day
Establishing shots of Leeds
Close ups of the band members
After editing we have come to the conclusion that we should arrange another filming session with the band as the footage is ultimately more grainy and dark than we would have hoped to achieve. In order to get the video as professional looking as we can we need to either bring lighting equipment or shoot in a different location, as Jar Mills was unfortunately black and red with dim lighting that didn't translate well to camera (such as the original preferred venue Pirate Studios, which has its own lighting installed, including lighting with coloured gels that could give our video more vibrancy).
We also now need to plan a shoot at the Leeds German Christmas Market as this closes on December 24th and is a crucial desired location for the narrative portion of our video.
After consolidating our plans for what should be included in the video, narrative-wise, we put together a storyboard, drawn on paper. As this is a music video, and as such the content within should be directly synchronised with the song playing, we listened to the song repeatedly whilst doing so, and noting down how many bars of music each shot should play for, in order to understand the rhythm and pace of our video as well as how to organise it so that significant shots happen at the same time as significant moments in the music.
For example, we wanted the shot of James on Shipley station bridge to be at the end of the second verse so that when the instrumental section begins, the narrative is reset. Symbolically, the instrumental section is perfect for the second narrative as both introduce new ideas to what has come before, whether in music or in what is shown visually.
We scanned in the storyboard using a photocopier scanner and have placed them into an animatic video which you can view above, using FinalCutPro to place the images in order, with the song playing. This is a really helpful indicator of how the final video will look, and again how it will play out in relation to the song.
Our primary target audience are females aged 16-25 as, in our survey, the indie rock genre was more popular among our female participants than the men. Furthermore, narratives came out much more popular with women in our survey than men as over 20% more women picked it as an element of music videos they enjoy.
To appeal to them we are going to feature the band as females generally tend to enjoy seeing the members and getting to know them.
Our secondary target audience are males aged 16-25 as our male/female split in our audience was so close that we knew the genre appeals to both. Therefore we are creating a generally gender neutral music video that will appeal to both our primary and secondary target audienceby conveying a universal issue and rallying indiscriminate support.
However, when conducting our research we found that theindie rock genreactually had a relatively big audience of 40-54 year old men because it was a popular music genre in the 90s due to bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Therefore, we can't discount this audience as they could be interested in the band. However, they would be a tertiary target audience because the band is young and therefore less likely to appeal to an older audience.
A self aware sense of humour I’ve seen before in Kasabian’s music videos is highly prevalent in this concept/narrative video. The video appears to parody a David Attenborough-type nature documentary, in this case about a mouse. Theres a black comedy twist to this trope however as while in the first half of the music video the nature documentary is authentic looking (complete with a voiceover) and has a forest setting the second half shows the mouse wandering into the aftermath of a crime deal that has gone wrong complete with bodies and violent imagery. The video revels in some bleak and grisly mise-en-scene that sharply contrasts the natural beauty and peacefulness that sums up the beginning of the video and can be expected of nature documentaries. The subverting of expectations creates a somewhat funny but also unnerving effect with the video and befits indie rock videos which have a penchant for creative/unique concepts and self-awareness.
Maroon 5 - Harder to Breathe
To begin with the whole video uses dark colours and a lot of shadows for the mise-en-scene. This is a genre convention for the indie rock genre as a lot of the songs use a dark narrative and the visuals link to the music. A theory stated originally by Andrew Goodwin. The pace of the editing is very fast pace as this links to the pace of the drum beat in the background of the song. Most indie rock songs contain a beat like this therefore a pace editing pace is a classic genre convention for indie rock. However, this video also breaks genre conventions. For example, most indie songs are written to portray a deep and meaningful story. But this video contains no narrative and concentrates on the star image of the band. Although star image is a motif of Maroon 5. During the performance in this video a master shot is used as well as secondary shots. the master shot is stationary and views the whole band. The seoncdary shots are hand held and form close up shots on the performers and their instruments. Electric guitars and drums are classic images of indie rock therefore it is a genre convention to show these instruments in the video.
Elbow - Grounds for Divorce
This is an interesting video which first appears to be a relatively simple performance style but is edited in a very subtle but clever way. Every time the music repeats they use the same sequence of shots to accentuate this recurring melody. This idea of repeating and rewinding certain shots runs through the whole video and is used particularly well in shots where its effects are exaggerated e.g. when they start the snooker game. This is actually a similar concept to our video. The general video sticks within the genre conventions as it is made up of a 'live performance' and, although it definitely focusses more on the lead singer, there are shots acknowledging each of the musicians and backing singers in turn. This is something which we can take note of when filming the performance aspects of our video, to get the balance of screen time for each of the band members right in accordance to genre conventions.
The general colouring of this video is muted with very few bright colours or 'stand out' props or costumes. This is not something we can take inspiration from because our band have said they like bright colours and often use them in their promotional techniques. Therefore this is something we need to include in our video despite it not fully conforming to genre conventions. They also have elements of choreography within it with the girl dancing in the bar. This adds a layer of interest to what would otherwise be a purely performance based video. We don't need something like this in our video as it will be interwoven with a narrative which is actually the main focus of the video, therefore giving it layers of meaning beyond what this particular Elbow video has. Interestingly, here, the concept lies in the editing rather than in the actual camera work or mise en scene. All it's individuality was added after the video was shot through the use of the repeated and recurring sections of footage that go in time with the music. It's a clever idea and one that makes the video memorable so it stands out amongst all the other indie rock performance based videos.
Dan Croll - From Nowhere
This video from artist Dan Croll is similarly tongue-in-cheek and comic, putting the song within the context of a staring match tournament, a setup which isn't made initially apparent which helps the audience be drawn in. The video uses lots of awkward content to be quirky and funny, and can be compared to the works of Wes Anderson in this way. From the use of symmetrical shots parallel to the subject, a pastel colour scheme and performances full of quirkiness and awkwardness, the video gets its distinct style. The video also includes slow-motion effects and zooms as well as lots of eye contact to camera to not only represent the staring match but also add to the video's humorous tone.
Everything Everything - Cough Cough vs. Dan Croll - Bad Boy
Both of these videos incorporate an aspect we find interesting: the shift from black and white to colour, as follows.
Cough Cough - The shift at 1:00 is sudden and takes the video from one polar opposite to the other. It's masked by white light that makes the shift not too jarring and out-of-place. It also helps to emphasise the shift in the song from verse to chorus.
Bad Boy - From 2:11 to 2:55, the music video slowly introduces more colour gradient each time it cuts. This culminates in a colourful sequence at the end. The change isn't that noticeable which adds impact to what is happening on-screen.
47 people of varying ages filled out a survey I created with the site SurveyMonkey and from this we have managed to consolidate the audience research which informs us that our target age groups are 16-20 year olds and 41-50 year olds and that the indie rock genre appeals evenly to males and females.
On the graph below are the two age groups' genres of music they enjoy regularly listening to. The orange bar fifth from the top represents indie rock and as evidenced they are both one of the more popular genres of music within these two age groups, indicating interest.
Also from this question 46.15% of males surveyed said they enjoyed listening to indie rock music regularly, with 52.94% of females surveyed saying the same thing. This pretty much matches the information from YouGov regarding bands from the same genre, which was split almost 50/50 in terms of which gender prefers the genre. As in YouGov, the balance as expected leans slightly towards females rather than males.
I included this grid asking people which music video they would be most drawn to watching. Of the pictures, B and E represent the ideas we were thinking of creating in our video with the other images representing other genres like pop, rap, electronica and metal. 17/39 of people in our identified target audience chose options B and E which is almost half, a good indicator of interest in the video amongst our target audience we will create when there's a total of 7 options.
The below information asked people which bands/artists with a similar style to Tranqua Lite they had heard of, in order to give us an understanding about how popular the genre is amongst younger and older people. Our younger target audience aged 15-20 generally knew more of the more recent artists such as Catfish and the Bottlemen and Everything Everything but the 40-50's had strong knowledge of the older bands, eg. Pulp which had a 100% recognition compared to around 35%. This leads me to believe our video's primary target audience should be the 16-20 year-olds as Tranqua Lite are a new band so won't necessarily be as appealing to the 40-50's who may prefer to listen to more established artists.
In order to find out which aspects of music videos would appeal to our target audiences I created a survey question. The results below demonstrate some interesting results. People over the age of 41 had a high amount of interest in choreography being included however due to the naturalistic theme of our video and indie rock genre this is something I feel would take from our video rather than add to it. Also, there was general interest amongst both groups in using a narrative as well as performance. While young people preferred concept videos, the older people preferred performance emphasis. To appeal to both demographics, we've decided to add a subtle conceptual element that will hopefully make the video appealing to both by keeping the core emphasis on the story and performance setups. Young people were also keen to see representation of social issues and symbolism, and being our primary target audience this tells us our video is relevant to indie rock fans.
Shortly after requesting the demo, the band sent us an early version of the song which we used the lyrics, mood and structure to put together a list of concepts that made up our pitch.
On Monday 30th October, Rob from our group went to visit Tranqua Lite's frontman, Toby Womack. He discussed the points made at the pitch and asked for feedback regarding the work we have already produced.
The notable points that emerged from this meeting include:
The band are keen to have a colourful video as this is part of their brand identity.
The band would be happy for us to use other actors within the narrative portion of the video.
The band have a rehearsal studio in Kirkstall they would be interested in being a shooting location.
They were keen to include an interview with a real homeless person.
They liked the Biffy Clyro video's concept with the same events happening twice so this is something we should work to incorporate.
The song isn't inspired by a particular story but the overall issue of homelessness in Leeds.
We are now in the process of arranging a session where we film them performing the song at Pirate Studios in Kirkstall as they have offered an invitation. We will go and try to film them in this setting on this upcoming Monday to see if this location is effective and better than the originally planned use of greenscreen and blank backgrounds. As the location looks aesthetically pleasing and allows the opportunity to adjust lighting creatively, it may have a very good result.
