Animatic- Banquet- Bloc Party

Untitled from Jake Boswell on Vimeo.

Risk Assesment

Hazard: Climbing onto stage


Level of risk: Medium
Chance of hazard happening: Medium
Ensure to use stairs at side of stage

Hazard: Lights exploding

Level of risk: High
Chance of hazard happening: Low
Avoid flicking lights

Hazard: Equipment falling onto person

Level of risk: High
Chance of hazard happening: Low
Ensure all equipment is stable

Hazard: Tripping over wires

Level of risk: medium
Chance of hazard happening: High
Ensure care is taken when walking around

Hazard: Falling off stage

Level of risk: High
Chance of hazard happening: Medium
Ensure care is taken when walking near edge of stage

Storyboard - Part 1 (introduction and first minute)

I have included my introduction and first minute of shots that we plan to shoot for our music video. I tried to include a variety of shots that were inspired from existing ones that have been used before in a generic performance music video. I have included notes that will say the duration on how long the shots last, the lyrics being sung in that shot and the overall time scale since the start of the song.
My storyboard goes down the first column then down the second not across!

Album Covers- Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

I like this album cover as its so simple. However the black and white colour makes it an effective cover. The cover itself doesn't hint towards any genre of what the album could be. This makes the audience interested to find out what the album contains.

Song Choice

Our song choice is Banquet which is by Bloc Party, the reasons we have chose this song is that we feel that it would be first of all a song that we would all like to work with. Also that it would be song that would fit perfectly into that performance type music video (which is what the official music  video is). Lastly because of the speed and the beat of the song it would make it easier to do fast moving shots without it looking unnatural. This will give us more creativity control to do what we are picturing in our storyboard. I have also listed the lyrics for the song below.

A heart of stone, a smoking gun
I can give you life, I can take it away
A heart of stone, a smoking gun
I'm workin' it out, I'm
Why'd you feel so underrated?
Why'd you feel so negated?
Ha ha

Turning away from the light
Becoming adult
Turning into myself
I wanted to bite, not destroy
To feel her underneath
Turning into the light

She don't think straight
No, no, no, she don't think straight
She's got such a dirty mind and it never ever stops
And you don't taste like her and you never ever will
And we don't read the papers, we don't read the news
Heaven's never enough, we will never be fooled

Turning away from the light
Becoming adult
Turning into myself
I wanted to bite, not destroy
To feel her underneath
Turning into the light

And if you feel
(And if you feel)
A little left behind
(A little left behind)
We will wear you on the other side
And if you feel
(And if you feel)
A little left behind
(A little left behind)
We will wear you on the other side

'Cause I'm on fire
'Cause you know I'm on fire when you come
'Cause you know I'm on fire
'Cause you know I'm on fire so stub me out
'Cause I'm on fire
'Cause I'm on fire
'Cause I'm on fire
'Cause I'm on fire

Opening sequence for music video - Inspirations

We have thought of the idea of introducing our band in the opening sequence with a silhouette effect. This means obscuring the identity of the band by just lighting the background behind them. This would create a sense of mystery and make the start of the video more interesting for the audience. It will be used when the band are just appearing on stage, when they start playing however the lighting will gradually be faded in revealing the identity of the band member. I first thought of this idea when watching a few performance videos on you tube which use the same effect, this made me think it would be great for using as an introduction within our project. This opening I feel if we were thinking of a unique selling point for our video this would be one of them. We may need to do some test shots however to ensure that we can achieve an effective shot when shooting the video

Evaluation of Pitch

I felt that our pitch went ok but It would have been have been better if our ideas were more detailed. To improve this we have looked into more music videos that have inspired us. The animoto that I created was played at the start to show what our ideas are for the band, the questions we answered at the end I felt were answered to the best of our ability. However I felt after we had made our pitch that we need to be more concise and specific in the way that we want to present our band in the music video. We were limited in some ways for the animoto as we were limited to 25 words. This made it a bit difficult to pick word that we would associate with our band. Overall I think that our pitch was received well but has made us relise we need to refine our ideas. The type of music video that we are now aiming for as a group is a generic performance video that features our band.

Meeting

We have decided as a group that we will be meeting up on tuesday 27th september at a predetermined location. The problems that we are facing the most as a group is availablity which we have resolved by meeting up on this date. We aim to complete the storyboard by this date and this final meeting will be used to finalise the overal story.

Band logos

,

These band logos are similar to what we want to create. I like how simple they are but still very effective. The use of only two colours mainly black and white creates a contrast which makes the font stand out. In the Oasis logo the white font stands out clearly on the black background, creating a contrast and making it stand out. I also like the logos which show a bright colour to liven it up, such as the Nirvana logo as the colouring makes it intresting to look at as well the illustration. The Who logo stands out for me as the iconic MOD logo behind the font immidiatly tells us the genre of the band before we hear their music.

Locations- City Street at night

We may use some dark streets/ alleyways to do some of the shots that are inbetween performance shots.

The Stone Roses- Waterfall

This Iconic album cover stands out for me as it shows part of the Union Jack flag which is common in this genre of music as it shows britishness and how music is part of the culture. The flag is colourful which also makes the album stand out and immediatly catch the eye. This shows you do not have to put the band on the cover to show their style of music.

Band Biography

Lo!

Band Members:
Lead Vocals- Martin Larsson
Lead Guitar- Joe Sherman
Rhythm Guitar- Tom McMullen
Bass Guitar- Andy Burch
Drums- Mark Baldwin

Lo! origionally formed in Holgate School, Barnsley in their A level years. The band origionally formed as a three piece with Joe Sherman on guitar and vocals, Andy Burch on bass guitar and Mark Baldwin on drums.

They started by playing small gigs at their school, covering songs from bands like Arctic Monkeys as they were a big inspiration to the band as they were from a similar area and background. They made a name for themselves as a cover band and attracted a decent amount of fans when they started playing bigger venues in their towns.

They later decided to bring in Martin Larsson on lead vocals and Tom McMullen on rhythm guitar. This was so  they could play a wider range of songs that needed a fuller sound.

Lo! then decided to write their own material which was very succesful and made their local radio station. They then toured small venues around Barnsley. Again they gained a lot of fans from the tour. With the release of their first album 'Preservation' they attracted a large amount of media attention due to its review in NME. With this success they had a very successful tour around several 'O2 Academy's' around the country. Including: Brixton, Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Leeds and Plymouth.

They are soon to release their second album which the album name has not yet been released.

Album Covers-Bloc Party 'A Weekend in the City'

This is the cover of 'A Weekend in the City' by Bloc Party. We like the idea of the light-trails as we may use a video timelapse in our video.  

Weekly Schedule Update (19th september - 30th september)

All - Completing Storyboard for music video, 1 specific music video analysis each
Tom Parkin - Representation in our music video
Jack Ludford - Research
Jake Bosewell - Risk assesment

Locations- Stayfree Studios in Leicester

Stayfree Music

Stayfree Studios are rent out studios for bands to practice at. There is a room called "The Black Room" which is set out to look like a gig venue. It hasa stage, stacked 'Marshall' amplifiers, 'Pearl' drum kit, effects pedals, microphones, PA systems and various lighting effects.

We are considering renting out this room to film for our music video. Here are some pictures of it!

Oasis- Morning Glory cover

We like the idea that how such a simple album cover such as this one can become so iconic to the band and also the genre of music they represent. It is a very simple design and again dosn't give any hints as to what genre of music it is or the bands style if you are not familiar to them. I feel we could create an album cover with the same simplicity but also witht the same power to attract an audience by being intrested in what it could be about. They have used a street scene which suggets locaion is not a problem when finding an area to shoot, and you dont have to follow the usual album styles of a picture of the band for the cover to stand out.

Band Image

The clothing style we are looking at would be similar to bands such as Kasabian (feartured left). This is a common look of bands of the rock/indie genre. We would wear skinny jeans that are black or a shaded blue with casual shoes or trainers to represent a casual look. We would wear graphic or stripped t-shirts that show a variety of colours to again give that casual look. Black jackets would be worn open allow some colour to the style.

This is another example of this look in the mainstream indie genre. I like the black and white coloured graphic t-shirt with a casual jacket open over it. Darker coloured jackets of navy blue and black will suit the style better and we have decided on a darker dress style so we could create looks like these for our band.

I also like the look of the retro t-shirts that bands wear which is from a defiant era for their genre of music. The audience can tell a bands style of music from the style of clothes they are wearing.

The Cribs- Hey Scenesters analysis

I have chose this music video to analyse as it is a simple Illustration video that shows the band playing the song in a studio lay out. The band are shown to be playing in a garage location which is an idea we have thought of and we feel it would be easy to create this as we would have one location to film in and would be time and cost benificaial.



We could look at creating a similar opening to our video as it shows the band playing the song using their instruments as visuals. The fact the whole video is shot in one location means we could create something similar as thats what we feel would work.



I like the camera work in this clip as the extreme close ups show the emotion of the singers face and this alone tells the audience this is rock genre. The close ups on the guitars are effective as they show the audience the instruments being represented to give a live performance feel. The quick fire shots also suit the fast paced music and the style of the singing.



This clip shows how effective the dark colour scheme can work and well it suits this rock genre of music. The video shows a similar colour scheme to what we want, as the dark clothing and background works as a contrast with the bright light shown on the band. The Union Jack flag dispayed in the background is also typical within this genre and has previously been used with bands such as The Jam. We could include a bright colour to break up the dark.



I like the effects used in this clip as it is made to look like home recording and the lines running across shots make it look aged. This is also a common feature in rock videos as it looks quick and unplanned which gives it that simple effect. We would like to try and create a similar style video showing the audience what the bands style is.

Arctic Monkeys- Suck it and see cover

This is an album cover design that stood out to us as being effective. It is simple but stands out as it makes us want to find out more about the album as it gives little information about the band away if you are not familar with them. The music on the album is different to the bands previous albums so the tilte 'Suck it and see' is suggesting the audience should try it before they judge it. We could create a slogan to work in the same way for our album cover to stand out. The colour scheme is very basic but allows the title to be more effective, this works as people will be interested to find out more about the album.

Audience Profile

 

Name: James Richardson

Age: 18

Occupation: Student (6^th form)

Favourite music:  Indie/Rock

Likes

Going to gigs

Researching new music/bands

Dressing up to date

Going out with friends

Dislikes

Pop music

Favourite bands

The Raconteurs

Bloc Party

Arctic Monkeys

Kasabian

Kings of Leon

Feeder

Oasis

Hobbies

Going to gigs/festivals

Spending time with friends

Going to Football games

Finds music:

On the internet

Music magazines (NME)

Being at festivals

Hearing from friends who are into the same genre

Disposable Income

Clothes

Tickets for gigs

Tickets for football

Outings with friends

Cigarettes and Alcohol

Pitch

Moodboard

Music Video Analysis- Bloc Party- "The Prayer"

"The prayer" by Bloc Party is an example of a disjuncture music video with a small amount of illustration included. The camera then cuts to inside the night club on a long shot of the band sitting down in the club.




When the verse comes in we see a small use of illustration when the frontman mutters "Lord give me grace." The front man does this every time this line is said in the song. This section of the music video consists mainly of shots of the band sat on sofas, with the occasional shot of the dance floor.




When the chorus comes in the camera is focusing on two girls kissing on a sofa. The camera cuts quicker  during the chorus and focuses more on whats happening around the club. There are more close ups of the facial expressions of the band.

Music Video Analysis- Somewhere Else

In this clip the genre characteristics is shown to us by the style and fashion of the lead singer of the band. We can imidiatly see that this is an indie band as the haircut and the clothes he is wearing such as the long coat and shirt is a common style with this genre of music. The background being plain with buildings and street scences and the fact it is produced in black and white suggests they wanted a simple effect that has previously shown to be successful within this genre.



This clip shows a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as the singer clearly mimes out the lyrics to give the effect that he is singing as a live performance. He also acts out some of the visulas, for example during the line 'you keep your mouth shut' he makes the action on putting his hands to his mouth. Also points to himself when in the song he says 'me'.



In this clip we can see the art of the camera work as it mainly focuses on close ups and mid-shots of the lead singer. This is done to show the audience his emotions of how the song feels to him, and from this we can see it is portrayed as indie. We can also see him singing the song which alows the audience to feel him singing the song directly at them.

Music Video Analysis- The Raconteurs- Steady, As She Goes

"Steady, As She Goes" by The Raconteurs music video starts off as a disjuncture video. It starts off on an old, run down farm, following a cow for no apparent reason. The camera then zooms in towards a farm house. The camera is filming in an oversaturated and overlight style.





When the music comes in the camera does rapid cuts between the band performing in the farm house and chasing the cow. This is a section of disjuncture and illustration. This continues until the verse comes in.





The speed of the cuts slow down when the verse comes in. The colour also settles to only a slightly saturated colour but still blurred. However when the chorus comes in the picture returns to an over-saturated, blurred look and the camera cuts are faster.




In the second verse the style is very similar to the first. The video continues with the blurred picture and shots of empty, old fashioned rooms.





In the final verse and chorus the video is more focused on the band performing. As the music gets heavier the camera cuts quicker.




When the song finishes the shots last longer. The song finishes with the lead man switching his amplifier off.


Mise en Scene:
-Old, abandoned farm
-Livestock
-Farmhouse
-Guitars, Bass, Drums, amplifiers
-Old fashioned/ quirky outfits

Music video analysis- One Night In October

This clip shows visual features that resemble the song as the lyrics are put on a blackboared that the lead singer of the band is stood infront of. The lyrics individualy pop up on their own which makes the audience focus their attention on them and read each line. The video is fast paced which represents the tempo of the song. The constant replacement of lyrics keeps the audience alert and interested as the different fonts and colours used makes it appealing and easy to read.






Guitars are played throughout the song and to resemble the sound of them being used the band are shown playing them, this gives it the live performance effect which makes the music look more realistic. This also helps with the fast paced tempo of the song as the video is shown in fast motion to resemble the style of the song.



The camera work in this uses long shots to show the whole band playing their instuments to give the feel of a live performance. It focuses on the the lead singer/Guitarist of the band. This is to show he is focal point of the band and the audiece immidiatly recognises that. This also gives a relation between music and visuals as we can see the instuments being played and the audience

Analysis - What I've Done

This music video has an overall theme of life and how things have changed over the years. This is symbolized by the grass that grows shorter which is amplified by the music. The guitar riffs with the timing of the grass dieing.

The band is also featured highly within the video which is set within the Nevada desert. This is also a visual symbol of life and death which is associated with place which are remote and vast in size.

 The overall melody of the song then comes in which is much stronger than the rhythm already playing. A montage of various clips that involve war, global warming and famine is played whilst the lyrics match.

Later on in the video it turns to how things have changed such as countries that have fought a civil war and the fall of their dictators. Slow motion is then used after this which ties with the music creating amplification for effect.

The camera cross fading with the clips make the video one that is disjuncture because the clips match the lyrics and the overall theme of the video. I think that from analyzing this video I have learnt that jump cuts and camera angle forms quite an important part of the video. And the setting is very critical to a successful music video.

Analysis - Shoot the Runner

The start of the video is quite abrupt and features all of the band member in bright psychedelic purple. This sets the mood as quite vibrant as the audience watch on. The type of video is disjuncture this is because there is no blatent link between the concept of the band performing and the effects that are added to the band members.


As the video progresses paint splats begin to appear in random spots of the screen. They are the same colours that the band are this is futher inforcing the abstract comment that seems to have no relevance to the lyrics of the song. It is also a form of aplification as the paint splats occur when the beats of the drums take over the overall sound level. It ends when the lead singer begins the next verse of the song. They then become a recurring theme from then after they are introduced.


In various points of the song the camera is fully focused on the lead singer of the band, with an exstreme close up in some of the shots. This is used to gain a direct visual connection between him and those watching the video. The band follows the key conventions set for a band music video as they are all playing their musical instruments miming along to the beat of the rhythm.



A filler in between the last few verses is a middle 8, the band are slowed down in a strobe effect that matches the change to the melody. To differeciate from the next scene that follow where paint is splattered onto the band members symbolising the the strong rift of the organ playing in the background as if they are being struck.

I feel this video has elements that we could maybe emulate within our music video such as the the camera angles, and strob light effects used. However due to the amount of time and resources that are available to use, I doubt we could match the visual effects that are used to make the band the various colours and background effects used in the video. So overall I feel there are some key features that would be useful to include in our project and has also taught me that a simple concept can still make a great music video.

Music Video Analysis- Standing next to me

In this clip the two band members matching are dressed smartly wearing sharp looking suits. The audience recognises this style with previous bands such as The Beatles and will immidiatly expect a similar genre of music. Their suits match the black and white background and this colour scheme runs throughout the video, the colour scheme is simple but effective as the colours stand out and this effect is common in indie genre videos. The position of the band members is key to the name of the song 'Standing next to me' as the two band members are shown playing the song as a live performance standing side by side throughout.





The dancers are also dressed to follow the black and white colour scheme which keeps the video looking smart. The dancers are all in time with the music and and every move is on a beat to the song. This creates a relationship between music and the visuals as it is clear that the dancing has been put in to also resemble the style of the song as it is quick and sharp.



This clip shows that the video can be categorised as Illustration as it is set up to represent a live performance and the music and lyrics have been shown in a a simple way. They have used guitars to represent the music visuals as that is the instrument you can hear. This also shows the camera work and close ups are frequent of the two band members together. this is done to show they are the importance of thie music video so we know they are the artists of this song. It is aslo done to show their style as the camera spins around them showing them dressed in the same style.

Research and Planning- Shoot The Runner

The bright colour contrasts with the black background which makes the oranges and purples stand out. The different colours all used throughout the video immidiatly make it stand out as exciting and something different, which suits the style of music as electronics sounds throughout this bands songs are exciting and different. We cannot tell the dress style from the video but the use of hats and buttoned jackets suggest they also have an indie style approach dress sense to go with their music. The audience recognises this look and knows what genre of music this band plays.
The video slows down as the tempo of the song slows down, this shows the relationship between the music and visuals.

Research and Planning- If ya wanna

From watching the video we can see genre characteristics from the bright background lighting. The bright colours of blue, orange and red give the video a vibrant and livley feel, which matches the livley fast paced song. We immidiatly can tell this band is portraying an indie music style by the clothes they are wearing. The gutars used are also recognised by the audience as commonly used instuments with indie bands.
There is a clear relationship between the music and visuals as the whole video shows the the band playing the song. This is to give the video a feel as if the the adience are watching it live. As the video is shown as a live performance it makes it simple but effective, and the audience is able to see the band for what they are. The lighting changes with the beat of the music at the start of the video which gives it a pattern. We can tell it set out to resemble a live performance as it shows close ups of the guitars being played to the song correctly, this gives it a more realistic feel.
There are close ups on the lead singer and ths is done to show his facial expressions and passion for the music. This is common with the indie genre of music and this is also genre charactristics. It focuses on the lead singer as he is the face of the band and his style of singing represents the style of the band, as well as his dress style.
The video category is Illustration as the whole music video is the band playing the song as if it is a live performance.

Research and Planning- Standing next to me

The band are wearing matching suits and this dress style alone makes the audience associate them with a smart and sharp sounding music. We also recognise this style from past band that were successfull such as The Beatles, and we assume this could be a similar genre. The black and white colour scheme of the background and also the dancers dresses continue to make this band look smart. The contrast of only the black and white throughout make the video simple but effective. The matching suits and similar hair cuts makes us recognise this style as they give the impression they are showing what music inspired them. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visulas, the song is tiltled 'standing next to me' and throughout the video the two band members are standing side by side and even walk next to eachother. This is clever and may be unnoticed to the audience.
The dancers in the video are in time with the beat of the music which creates a relationship with the music and visuals. The dancing is fast and sharp, which again follows the style of the music. There are many mid shots of the two members of the band together instead of the usual close ups of the lead singer only. This is to show they are both the centre peice of the band and they dress in the same style which makes it easier for the audience to understand them as a band and to allow first impressions of the music from their style.
This video category is Illustration as it is simple straight foward video with the band shown playing the song to give the impression it is a live performance.

Work load for 9th september

Tom Parkin (team leader) - Mood board and preparation for 25 word pitch
Jake Boswell - Band biography and twitter feed set up
Jack Ludford - Audience profile and conduct market research
All - Band name and type of genre and song for music video

Note for the examiner 2

Please be aware that Joe Pearce is no longer in our group as he has decided to drop media studies. We now have a new group member Jack Ludford