This is our prop, costume, make-up and equipment list. It lists when we will use the specific items and what we will be wearing in the particular scene. We have also listed where we will get the costuming/objects, such as, already owning the item, borrowing from a friend or buying from a store.
The email is to The Young Turk Records to ask if we can use their song 'Right Thing to Do' by SBTRKT ft. Jessie Ware. We need to ask permission from the record label because of the copyright laws of using and publishing a song that is not own by our group.
As part of our digipack we must create the album cover for our artist. Below I have designed two different front and back covers and have developed and created ideas that fit with our chosen genre and song choice. 'Right Thing to Do' by SBTRKT ft. Jessie Ware is an alternative dance track. Therefore both covers represent different parts of the conventions of alternative dance artwork. This album cover front and back incorporated the convention of very club like lighting. As the genre is called alternative dance, it is played in places were people dance (obviously). Therefore we have developed that club idea and bought it into our artist look and style. This album cover is slightly different. I've focused more on the artist by using a close up shot on both the front and the back. The artist face will be painted tribal like to give the audience a unique selling point. By seeing the paint they know it's our artist even if you just see the hand on the back of the cover. This quirkiness is conventional because all alternative dance artists are slightly different to just dance producers. For example if you look at the clothing style of MGMT this is a very clear statement of individuality. My initial idea for painting our artist came from Strategy an artist that alternative dance producers such as Dub Phizix uses on his tracks. I developed my own style of painting from the one below to create our artists style on the album from and back.
We have chosen three main locations to shoot our music video in. Therefore there and three main performance shots, where the artist will perform and lip sync to the song we have chosen.
This is southbank skate park. We thought as a group this location is very good to use in our music video and it's produces it's own low key lighting and it's very urban. This links with our urban theme of the video. Also the graffiti gives us a urban background. However we will be writing a letter to the council to ask for permission to film on the premises. Alot of our performance shots will be here.
Our second location is just normal everyday streets. We are more likely to film at night and see the artist lip sync to the song whilst walking. The street helps develop the concept of our video as it's about 'what happens behind closed doors'. Using an everyday street emphasizes the idea that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors and that people do weird and wonderful things when they feel no one is watching.
Finally a park will give us a contrast in lighting and mood for our video. The contrast will give the audience a break from the moody looking atmosphere. However this also ties in with our concept as the actors we use in the behind closed doors scene may be used in Nonsuch park showing how different they are when outside infront of people.
This is the talent release form signed by Grace who will star in our music video. She has given her permission to star in our music video and will let us know when she is available.
This is our photo shoot plan, it shows when we are going to take the images and what we need to make these successful. We each have a role to play in this and we have decided on our locations and props we need.
This is the draft version of what our advert will look like. It will have our artist in the corner with paint on her face (her trademark). In the background and pointing towards her will be multicoloured lights (linking to the genre of Alternative Dance as she is in a club) and she will be the focal point of the picture. Above her is the name of the artist and the name of the album. Below these are reviews from professional reviewers or fellow artists. It then states when the album is released and underneath has ways of keeping track of the artist (twitter, Facebook and a newsletter). Finally the record label logo is shown in the corner with the fine print next to it.
We had 45 minutes to create a tester album cover. We had to use images, it had to contain a barcode and record label logo, it had to have a title and some song names. I have good knowledge with photoshop so I could use my skills for this exercise. We had to descale the images using the SHIFT key to make sure the image doesn't become pixellated and stretched. We also learned that the composition of the images is key because if you only take a picture of the top half of a body it would look cut and weird, not professional like we are aiming to create. The measurements of the canvas were 26x12 (12 for each side and 2 for the margin). This exercise allowed us to learn the layout of an album cover and what needs to be done to create a successful and professional looking album cover.
For the second part of our technical tutorial we learned how to use green screen successfully and some tips to do so. Tips before editing; make sure the green green is stretched to reduce creases which will make chroma-keying much easier as it will be more of a solid colour. Another tip is; make sure lights are facing the fabric to decrease shadows cast onto it, to further help this stand further away from the green screen to not have your shadow on it.
After the filming we then key out the green and replace it with a background of our choice, for our practice we chose Mount Everest. When the image is selected place it on a track and have your video placed on another track. On the effects tab, select filter and choose 'chroma-keyer', then use the select colour tool and choose the green background. This allows us the delete the layer and have a background of our choice. This has given us another technique we could use in our music video.
Above is what my questionnaire looked like, with all the questions on show. Below are some of the results I received that have been analysed and put into graphs to show the data.
This question was a very important one from the questionnaire. With these answers it allows my group and I to narrow down to which age group we are targeting. By looking at the results the biggest age group is 16-20. This means we can begin to target a specific audience and research/plan what that specific age group looks for in a music video.
This question allowed us to look at what most people listen to and it is as we expected. The pop genre is the most popular but surprisingly the Alternative genre is the second highest with R+B. The Alternative genre targets a niche market, this could suggest that the Alternative genre is becoming more popular. This will help my group and I as it allows us to create a music video that aims at a wider audience.
This question directly relates to our music video. Most of the answers suggested that they preferred fast paced editing that cut on the beat, and this relates to our sub genre of Dance from the Alternative genre. This allows us (when we get to the editing stage of our music video) to make the cuts fast paced and on the beat to match the answers from this question.
What do you expect the costuming to look like?
This question relates to our music video and digi-pack we will create. The appearance of the band/artist is very important in a music video as it can build/create their iconography. The results show that they expect an Alternative Dance artist/band to wear normal clothing with a twist that creates their own persona.
XL Recordings are an independent London based record label. They were established in 1989 from the label group called 'Beggars Banquet Records'. In 1989 they broke away and formed their own label, XL Recordings.
XL Recordings are known for representing a wide range of genres and artists. They represents artists such as; The Prodigy, Vampire Weekend, The XX, M.I.A and Dizzee Rascal. A subsidiary of XL Recordings is Young Turks who represents a possible artist my group and I might use, SBTRKT. They also represent Sampha and Jessie Ware (who have both worked with SBTRKT.)
XL Recordings are a perfect record label for my group and I. They represent a possible artist that we may use for our project - SBTRKT, they also represent a lot of artists that relate to our genre. They are also based in London and we need to have our music label based in England for our project.
679 Artists and its subsidiary 679MGMT is a record label based in London and was established in 2001. It was formed after a man named Nick Worthington left his role at XL Recordings. He made a deal with Warner Music to create a new record label and thus 679 was created. 679MGMT (management) was established in 2011. 679 (usually shortened to this instead of 679 Artists) tends to deal with a specific genre of music, and that genre is alternative/indie artists. They represent artists such as Marina and the Diamonds, Plan B and The Streets. This means this record label fits in perfectly with our project as we are making an Alternative Dance genre music video and they represent alternative artists.
Cherry Red Records is an independent, London based record label that was established in 1978. Cherry Red started as primarily a rock record label, but has slowly began to delve into the alternative genre.
As they are a well established record label they help their artists get success through extensive advertising, which is what we need to do in our project. They represent more unknown artists such as Teenage Filmstars, Hazel O Connor and Linx. This record label seems a strong contender for my group and I as it aims at our genre and has strong connections with advertising, this will help our group loads.
I think the best record label out of these three for my group and I is XL Recordings. They are a small independent (meaning they represent low budget artists like we need to create for our project), they are based in London - which is in the criteria for our project, and they represent possible artists that we might use for our project.
His debut album 'SBTRKT' named after the artist himself was released in June 2011. The album depicts SBTRKT wearing a mask (as he does in all of his live performances) that has a main in a raincoat painted onto it. We never see who SBTRKT is and this ambiguous relationship between the viewer and the artist is intriguing. No title is written on the front cover and this is non-convetnial of an album cover. I assume as the album is named after himself, he expects the viewer to know what the album is called if he puts himself on the cover. The cover has a washed out effect, with colours saturated apart from the mask. This is typical of the Alternative Dance genre, but the mask breaks this convention.
'Immersion' - Pendulum
This album was released in May 2010 and was the third and final album from the band. The cover shows two people underwater in an almost magical scene. Weird underwater plant life and animals are shown on either side of the people, these plants and animals glow light that add a magical feel to the album cover. The fact that these two people are underwater and holding hands could symbolise the name of the album, they have become 'Immersed' underwater. The colours are vibrant and therefore breaks the typical convention of a washed out vintage look that most albums in the Alternative Dance genre have.
'Electra Heart' - Marina and the Diamonds
This album was released April 2012 and is the second album from the artist. Straight away we see that she is dressed very differently from the normal 'everyday' clothing and this fits into the genre instantly. The cover has a weird fuzzy/distorted look about it, almost making it look vintage but new at the same time, this is very typical of the Alternative Dance genre. The text is bold and catches our attention straight away. The album cover is very simple and this is a typical convention of the Alternative Dance genre.
This music video breaks the typical conventions of the Alternative Dance genre. The same 6-7 second dance is performed on a loop throughout the video. This is a weird experience for the viewer, however, every time the dance starts again, something will change in the video. Like the effort the dancers put in, the position of the band that are singing, the costuming of everyone in the video and the background of the video.
The band are dressed in all black, this is a typical convention of an Alternative Dance music video because they want to look original and try to be different. The same camera movement/angle is used throughout the video, this is a track out from a close up of the four people at the back, slowly tracks out to the band singing, then reaches the two people at the front then starts again. This repeating process of the music video is very original and hasn't been used before. The setting is in a black room with a big 'X' on the wall, stating the bands name 'The XX'. The blank room allows the viewer to focus on the dancers and the band performing the song as this process is repeated. When the camera tracks to the end it cuts very quickly back to the beginning and almost drags the viewer to watch the same scene again. Although the same shot is used throughout, the viewer doesn't experience viewer fatigue as slight changes happen in the shots. The band moves positions throughout and the dancers slowly begin to change the routine.
This is the final motif in the music video. It has changed drastically from the beginning one. Some of the dancers have left, the lights on the walls have turned off. The dance routine is nearly non existent and the background begins to burn. Only then does the music video change. The final woman thats dances is in slow motion, allowing the viewer again to focus on the dancing, rather than the non existent narrative.
Pendulum - 'Watercolour'
This music video is very abstract and doesn't really have a narrative. Most of the shots are filled with the band playing instruments/singing, but some shots show weird looking planets, space, heavy rain and the audience that they are performing to. The video is primarily filled with a washed out pastel blue. The editing has been used to create a graphic match (see image 1 and 2). The first part of the music video everything is calm, the cuts happen off beat and shots don't change that much. But when the beat of the song begins to speed up as do the shots and what happens in the music video.
Heavy rain begins to fall and slow motion special FX is used to emphasise this. We get this euphoric feeling from the music and the video, this is a typical convention of the Alternative Dance genre. The blue colour of the miss en scene continues and we feel calm despite the beat being fast. We are bombarded with images of the crowd dancing in the rain and makes us want to dance (the main aim of the Alternative Dance genre). The costuming of the band is all black (again a typical convention of an Alternative Dance genre music video). The slight narrative begins to show - it seems they are playing to the weird looking planet which begins to release light (creating a very interesting composition). The video seems blurred and I think this was done so we get the euphoric feeling even more than we do normally. A variety of shot types and angles are used, but mainly close ups so we feel close to the music.
The colour then drastically changes from a pastel blue to a bright orange/yellow. This brightens the mood up and the music begins to increase in speed again. Light is shined into the camera to create a lens blur in most shots and this again adds to the euphoric feel of the music video and song. The performance is solid throughout the video and doesn't really focus on a narrative. We are positioned in the crowd in certain shots so we feel like we are a part of the performance and experience the atmosphere. This is a typical convention of this genre. In conclusion, this video is typical of that of a Alternative Dance music video. Its upbeat, the cuts happen often and we are bombarded with images of partying and laughing, the lighting is cleverly used and we get a feeling of euphoria when we listen to the song and watch the music video.
