Final Production

 

Mise-En-Scene - Costume and Setting

After researching into bands of a similar or the same genre of Echotape(indie,) we have decided to dress our band members in skinny jeans, slightly baggy plain t-shirts and casual footwear. We have decided to do this because we feel our band isn’t trying to be something completely different so we wouldn’t dress them in over the top garments. But on the other hand, they are still an indie rock band and we need to portray that in the way that they dress. The actors in our music video need to look relaxed and laid back but still professinal, the costume code we are going to use will adhere to the standard conventions of out music genre. 

For the location, we thought that an outside place would be good, this is because it represents freedom which is a key theme throughout our song. This is one of the places that we decided to look at for shooting. We decided against this location because the road looked dirty on the day we wanted to film, there was also a few buildings in the background and also tractors working in the fields. We felt that these factors would ruin the rise-en-scene.

This next screen shot is from our second location, in the end we chose to film here because the road is longer and straighter meaning that there was more space to film. And it was also a quieter road which resulted in less disturbance from cars and also made for a safer place to film. 

Storyboard

Here is the storyboard that me and Ollie made for our music video.

Album Cover Analysis

Here I have analysed the album covers of 3 different albums from 3 different genres:

Analysis of Magazine Adverts

 Here I have analysed 3 different magazine adverts for 3 different bands.

Focus Group and Analysis

 

Focus Group

 

Focus Group Analysis

Question 1

For this question we gave our focus group a picture of a ‘Vampire Weekend’ album, we then asked them to identify the genre, everyone in our group identified it as an ‘Indie’ genre album. This means that mine and Oliver’s album design which took inspiration from this particular album is suitable and recognisable as an ‘Indie’ album.

Question 2

We played a short section of our song, Whiskey Bar, to the focus group then asked them what they liked about it. Out of the 5 people 3 of them really liked the song while the other two said they thought it was a bit repetitive and didn’t really like the lyrics.

Question 3

Question 3 was about the concept, Oliver read out a brief over view of the things we plan to put into our music video and some of the main concepts we plan to create. We got positive feedback from out ideas with a lot of interest with the Ikea style performance and the fairy lights. Also the use of split screen editing was considered good as long as it was done well.

Question 4

The focus group thought that the band would look quite normal, with jeans and boots. Very stereotypical of a ‘Hipster’ We did not get too much feedback here because the focus group just thought that the band should look like an average ‘Indie’ band.

Question 5

For the final question we asked what sort of audience (and stereotypes they would carry) our song would be aimed at. The group felt that the audience would be very edgy and cool and slightly ‘hipster’ and between the ages of about 17 to 26.

Job Roles

Created with Padlet

Vox Pop & Analysis

This Vox Pop shows us people's reactions when we asked them 'What is your favourite music video? and why?' 

Analysis:

What is your favourite music video?

We got a variety of music genres from our vox pop, such as;

• Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Danny California
• Beyoncé- Single Ladies
• Rihanna – Take A Bow
• Kid Cudi – Day’N’Night

Although none of these songs are really a part of the genre that I am planning to do I can gather basic ideas of what people in my potential target audience like in a music video which can be transferred into my music video.

And why?

• Mike said he liked the 'Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Danny California' because it's fun, interesting and different.
• Beth said she liked 'Beyoncé - Single Ladies' because she felt that the association to the song and the dance was good and she also felt that it was very unique.
• Olivia and Emily said that they liked 'Rihanna - Take a Bow' because of it's strong and interesting narrative.
• Dan said he enjoyed the 'Kick ID - day'n'night' music video because it was interesting and different and because it showed the effects of drugs on its users.
• Ryan said he liked the 'Michael Jackson - Thriller' music video because he felt that it was unique and never been done before.

What I have learnt:

From our vox pop I learnt that the main thing that people enjoy about a music video is that it is different, interesting and unique. These were the main points that people said made a music video their favourite and memorable. Aside from this, some people said that having an interesting story line and narrative with something that can be associated with it (such as a dance) made it fun to watch, but wasn't necessary to have. These last two points aren’t too relative to our music video as they don’t really fit in with the genre that I am planning to do.

Analysis of a 'Post Modern' Music Video

Post-Modernism

‘Clueless’ Vs. ‘Fancy-Iggy Azalea’ 

Lyrical Analysis

This is a photo of the lyrical analysis for our bands song 'Whiskey Bar'

History of Music Promo's

For 50 years music promos have been used as a key tool for bands to promote both themselves and their songs. Through out this time however, the way they have been able to do this has changed greatly and the skills and technology used to create them have come a long way, this has lead to them becoming a major part of the music industry. 

Going back to 1964 The Beatles 'A Hard Day's Night' is widely regarded as the 'first music video' And it features small snipers from the entire album. This was seen as something never before done and the first of its kind. It made the audience aware of the band and their talents and used a lot of branding to. As well as this it also offered the viewer a sort of 'try before you buy' experience because they could hear parts of each song with out having to spend a lot of money on the whole album. 

In 1965 Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' was brought out, it was originally was created to be played on a jukebox, but ended up being a full music promo. This promo was different from ones before it, such as The Beatles because instead of using fast cuts and lots of shots this music promo was far simpler and just used one continual shot and no editing. 

The TV program 'Top of the Pops' ran from 1964 through to 2002 and created a need for music promos. This is because when bands were unable to perform live producers could simply show the music promo instead. Typical conventions were still used in the filming and editing of the show, for instance when bands were performing live cuts to the audience were often used to show what a good time everyone was having and a lot of close ups of the band were used as well as a lot of focus on them and their equipment. These shots and edits would have been conventional for a music promo.  


Looking again at The Beetles, they yet again changed the way music promos were used. Instead of heavily focusing on promoting the band they instead chose to take a more alternative and artistic route. This lead to the use of distorted images, slow motion editing, backwards editing and the use of colour to create a psychedelic feel, which matched up to the phase of drugs and LSD that they band were going through. The video seemed very surreal and artistic and hardly showed the band to be performing. 

In 1967, America created a constructed band called 'The Monkees' This was their answer to The Beetles. This band was a fun and silly band who's music promos clearly reflected this. We can see evidence of this is their music promo 'A Little Bit me, A Little Bit You' This promo was described as 'Wacky comedy' and featured no performance, just the band members messing around and being 'amusing.' Their band member, Mike Nesmith later went on to come up with the idea for MTV.

On of the most famous and hugely significant music promo is 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen in 1975. This was seen as a serious and full length music video and used simple editing to both advertise the band and show off their skills and talents. The video mainly uses cuts and fades and cut to the tempo of the music. Again, brand image was a large part of its need and creation. 

Similarly to 'Strawberry Fields Forever' David Bowies 'Ashes to Ashes' music promo from 1980 marked the start of a new 'romantic movement' era and resulted in a very strange and artistic promo. Throughout this promo there is a very unclear theme used or followed (if any) but does however show him performing. The video was commended on its use of special effects and lighting.

In 1980 Devo's 'Whip It' was the first heavy narrative based music promo. A lot of work was put into it to deliver a strong narrative to run along side the performance aspect of the promo the narrative was portrayed well through simple editing and effects. 

Finally, in 1981 Mike Nesmith came up with the idea of a TV channel devoted solely to showing music promos 24 hours a day. This idea was so good because it would have been very 'cheap telly' as there wasn't a need for a presenter or stage setting and all that would have been needed to do was organising what music promos would be shown when. This was an easy task because of course bands wanted their promos to be widely available to audiences all around the world! 


Durran Durran's 'Rio' in 1983 was the first promo to spend loads of money on their promo, £1m! This is because the music promo was very much a movie style video, using exotic locations and many characters and props. The setting was mainly a Caribbean beach and yacht with lots of attractive women. They also go with the 'comedy sells' theme like The Monkees. 

'Thriller' by Michael Jackson released in 1983 was the first ever music video to feature an intro before the actual promo began. This made the video extremely long and also gave a pre story into the video. The whole video is based on performance and narrative together as Jackson moves the narrative through using singing and dance breaks. This music video was seen as very scary when it first came out due to its excellent make-up, costume, setting and narrative. At the end of this very long promo a stream of credits is used which again was a first for a music promo. 

A break through in 'black and white' music was first seen in 1986 when Run DMC and Aerosmith did a collaboration together for 'Walk this way' This promo was so unique because it was the first time that these two types of music were brought together. This break through in music meant that rap music was now seen as a more acceptable form of music to be shown on MTV. It cleverly uses juxtaposition of the two bands to emphasis their talents and to advertise themselves equally to their audience.

In 1989 Madonna projected her megastardom even further with the use of her controversial music video 'Like a prayer' featuring her kissing and worshipping a 'Black Jesus' this religious imagery caused a lot of controversy and got people taking about her and the video. Besides from this the promo was very conventional  with the use of narrative and performance to entertain and advertise herself and talents. 

Conventions of a Music Promo: Cigarettes & Alcohol

Conventions Of a Music Promo:

Throughout the Oasis music promo 'Cigarettes& Alcohol' there are several very stereotypical conventions that we would expect to see. The main one being a lot of advertisement of the band. This is done through close up shots of the lead singers and also other members of the band, this is mainly used to create awareness of the band and also allows the viewers to see the band performing, it sort of gives the audience and fans a clarification that this band can actually perform and sing.

As well as advertising the band members, it is also quite common to see things such as props as a form of endorsement and advertising. Now a days we tend to see things like cars and phone or laptops being used throughout music videos but this was not always the case. In earlier music videos, such as this one, amps and guitars were often used as a way for the band to bring money it. This is clearly seen when the guitarist is shot using 'Marshall' Amps.

The use of props in this particular music video is very basic and literal, this images of people smoking and drinking alcohol. However simplicity does actually work for this music promo. The props, setting and 'actors' used in this promo work really well together and create a very grungy 'exclusive backstage party' effect. This could make the promo effective and popular because it allows 'average' people at home to feel as though they are part of the rock star life style.

Following on from this, the placement of the camera, in the audience looking up to Oasis, again adds to the feel that the viewer is actually there watching the band perform. This helps them to feel connected with the band without actually being there which of course will help to build up a fan base and maintain interest. By using a hand held camera the shot them becomes unsteady and continues to create an effect of being there and watching them live.

Oasis have kept with the common use of objectifying women in this music video, by having tall skinny girls wearing not much clothing they are yet again emphasizing the carelessness and free spirited lifestyle of a Rockstar band member.

Inspiration for my promo

This presentation shows where we took our inspiration from for our music video. I created it on a website called 'moovly' as I feel it makes my blog look more professional.

Genre

 Genre

 

"Genre is no longer a fixed set of elements"

Buckingham (1990) argues that genre is a "constant process if negotiation and change"

 

The genre of the music video will heavily impact the conventions that are seen within my music video.

 

Genre: A French word meaning 'kind or sort'

They have codes and conventions to help audiences identify the genre of something.  It is a repertoire of elements that an audience will expect to see, almost like a list of ingredients.  

 

Why is it helpful to know the genre of a media text before you view it?

• You know what to expect from it
• Helps you find similar things you might like
• Fulfils audience expectations
• Genre's are predictable
• Short hand way to communicate to the audience
• Quick set up or plots/characters
• Still needs a twist to help avoid clichés

 


Contentions of a 'pop' music video:

• Camera work
• Close ups of performer
• Lots of movement to make it more exciting
• Lots of zooms, panning and tracking
• Editing
• Cuts to the beat
• High brightness and contrast, long exposure
•  Fast paced cuts
• CGI

Mise-en-scene

• Setting
• Grand and luxurious setting
• Exotic
• Costume
• Big costumes - elaborate and over the top
• Bright colours
• Exaggerated clothing
• Lighting
• High key lighting
• Props
• Sexual desire
• Glamorous props  

• Performance/narrative
• Singing
• Dancing
• Integrated
• Disjuncture - without artistic meaning   

Band Bio

 

 

 

 

 

Echotape was formed in 2011 by a group of like-minded guys
from the music scene in a small, off-the-map town in the South of England.

Living together in their own studio and flat, the boys set about getting their music heard
from all corners of the globe. Their sense of adventure has seen the band perform
from Hollywood to Holyhead, Moscow to Madrid. Feature in London’s Tate Gallery,
have naked stage invasions in Dublin, and jam onstage with Carl Barat of The Libertines.

Their DIY approach was featured in Sky News' report and interview with the band on the
DIY ethic amongst new artists in November 2013. Their single "We Should Feel Like We Are In Love", trended on Sound Cloud after release in April 2014, clocking over 100,000 online plays through self-release,
and a sold-out limited edition run of 500 CD singles.

This also saw the band invited for a studio session with BBC Introducing South, and spend the summer on the festival circuit at the likes of The Great Escape, Liverpool Sound City and Blissfields.

 

 

 

Band members include;

Marc Burford, Dan Bowman; Dan Morris and Mike Burford

 

The song we have chose to do, Whiskey Bar, has been described as

 'An infectious, uplifting indie banger filled with passion and energy.'

Lead singer Marc Burford describes the track by saying,

 “We wanted to create a song with a party vibe that gets people excited. To jump around, let go and enjoy yourself”.

 

The band themselves are described as;

 

 'Fag-smoking, beer-swigging, string-strumming, floor-stomping, sweat-mopping, head-banging, , hip-shaking, good time rock n roll!.. the indie track of the year!' - Repeat Button

'This is one of those top drawer songs that sees everything fall into place from the off. 10/10' -U&I Magazine
'a pumping, feel-good, indie-rock anthem' - Rogue Magazine
'a powerful yet controlled riot' - Fortitude Magazine

  

 

Links to some of their pages below;

 

  http://facebook.com/Echotape
http://echotape.co.uk
http://soundcloud.com/echotape