Location List & Recces

1. Forty Hall Gardens 

This is a manor house of the 1620s in Forty Hill, Enfield, North London. The house is used as a museum today and is surrounded by a beautiful garden, pond and forest.

 Advantages: 

-Helps to create crisp, clean shots which overlooks the gardens
-Open to use to the public (no restrictions)
-A wide range of areas within the house and garden to use.
-Great for creating a narrative music video

Disadvantages: 

-Because it is open to the public, we may end up getting other people in our shots
-It may be too 'pretty' to fit the 'dark' and 'eerie' music video that we want to create.
-Using the outdoor part of the location makes us exposed to bad weather conditions.
-Too large and varied (hard to make shooting and creative decisions) - bad time management.

2. Photography Studio 

To get quick mid shots (inspired by the 'How Deep Is Your Love' music video), we have thought of using our school photography studio.

Advantages:  

-On school site, which means easy access to the location - No travel needed
-Studio lights equipment provided with the the room
-Good framing
-No time restrictions
-Easily accessible
-We don't need the whole group to go along - good time management

Disadvantages: 

-We may become too comfortable with the studio and decided not to pursue other locations
-Relatively small
-Would need teachers assistant if we want to use more complex equipment.

3. Enfield Town Park 

This is a little park in Enfield Town which is open to the public.

 Advantages: 

-Easily accessible (Within walking distance)
-Open to the public
-Open plan and very big (wide range of areas within the location to shoot
-Clean and bright shots

Disadvantages:

-Because it is open to the public, we may have other people in shot (when we dont want to)
-Used as a golf course
-We may not be allowed access due to work being done
-The location may not match the 'eerie' and 'dark' shots that we are going for. 

Our Band Name & Track List!

We have picked our track list and Band Name!

Before picking our track list, we did an activity in class where we wrote down a noun, adjective and another noun on a piece of paper and rotated each paper between the members of our group. This provided us with random words which made up a sentence. From this exercise, we were able to use a few words from the sentence to make up part of our tracklist.

Our Band Name is : The IVth 

We came up with this name as we like the idea of having 'The' at the start of our name, and since we are four members in a group, we went with the number four. We thought it would also be interesting and unique to use Roman Numerals for the number '4' and then add a 'th' at the end. The 'IVth' represents us as a group and the fourth member.

The original name of our song is 'Free The Animal' but because we cannot use this name, we decided to look through the lyrics of our song to find a word which we could substitute with the name, but still has a significance with the song. We've decided to go with 'Canon Ball' as the name of the song.

From the activity we did  in class, we have come up with our track list.

Track List:

1). The Black Microphone
2). Screaming
3). The Old Elephant
4). Incapable Window
5). Dancing Keys
6). Back In Time
7). Generic
8). Obsessed
9). Staircase To Heaven
10). Underground Love
11). Canonball

Album Name: 'ANIMAL'

Band Names Beginning With 'The'

I did some research about band names beginning with 'The' as this is the path we would like to take. This is to get further inspiration for finding a band name which represents our group well.

1. The Who

 'The Who' are an English rock band that formed in 1964. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The Clash 

'The 'Clash' were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, dub, funk, ska and rockabilly.

3. The Libertines

The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barat and Pete Doherty.

4. The 1975

The 1975 are an English rock band formed in Manchester. The group consists of Matthew Healy, Adam Hann, George Daniel and Ross MacDonald

Thinking Of A Band Name

We have started thinking of a name for our band and a track list. In order to find a name that is suitable for our band and the look we want, we did some research into already existing Indie bands and artists who have unique and interesting names. We found some below:

1. The Strokes 
2. The 1975
3. PVRIS
4. alt J
5. You Me At Six

We also researched an album name for each artist in order to find inspiration for the name of our album.

1. The Strokes - 'Angles'
2. The 1975 - '1975'
3. PVRIS - 'White Noise'
4. alt J - 'Emotion'
5. You Me At Six - 'Take Off Your Colours' 

After doing this research, my group and I have decided that we would like a band name that begins with 'The'.

Steve Archers Music Video Theory

Steve Archers theory on music videos includes things to look for in a music video.

Things to look for in a music video:

• Seeing the sounds 
• Narrative & Performance 
• Star Image 
• How the visuals related to the song 
• Technical Aspects 

• Steve Archer's Music Video Analysis

  1. Camera Work

  He realised that camera work is highly significant when identifying meaning in a music video, which is why it is highly considered and largely valued during production. Movement accompanies the performer or can be used to create a dynamic approach to the location. For example, the camera circling a performer as they perform in a remote location.
  
  

  2. The 'Close Up'

  The close up shot can be used to create intimacy and emotion between the performer and the audience. This technique also assists in selling the artist as a whole.
  

  3. Editing 

  The main focus with this technique is the pace of the transitions and the duration. The pace tends to create a mood for the music video and conforms to an element of the genre. For example, a rock music video would usually be fast paced due to the beats and pace of the song, which results in a quick pace of the transitions.
  

  4. Voyeurism

  This suggests that there is a voyeuristic view towards woman and the female body in music videos to please the male viewers. This can also be known as 'the male gaze', where characters are sexualized and the camera may zero in on female body parts.
  
  

  5. Technical Aspects 

  Archers technical aspects refer to:
  
  • Speed: created by the camera work and editing 
  • Beats: the rhythm of the song should match the speed/rhythm of the editing. 
  • Light & Colour: emphasizes the key moments within the music video, and helps to create a dynamic effect. Colour also helps to identify what genre the song is. 
  • Mise-en-scene: the setting and props contributes to the realistic side of the video, creating realism.

Storyboarding!

So we have started story boarding for our music video. Because we have already thought about our narrative and effects, this benefits us, as we know exactly what look we want for our video. 

We first had to plan our storyboard by using post-it notes, which helps us identify what would go into each block and what information needs to be included. This saves us time, and allows us to ensure that we are including every single detail of information, in terms of shots and duration.

Below are photos of us planning our storyboard, while watching our compiled video and listening to our song. 

 

Below is a vlog of us while doing our storyboard. 

Lip Syncing Exercise!!

In order to get a feel of the song and it's lyrical content, we decided to do a lip sync practise as a group. 

This was very successful as it gave us an idea of where we need to improve and how we could help Lauren when doing the actual filming. From all of us that did the exercise, we have decided to have Lauren as our main protagonist, as we feel that she was the one who had lip syncing. This was because when filming, she sang the song out loud instead of just miming, which makes it more believable. She also sings outside of school, which makes her a a lot more experienced than the rest of us. She is also able to keep a straight face and remain serious when being filmed compared to the rest of us. 

Overall, I think this exercise was very useful and also quite fun! We now know that Lauren will need to work on learning the lyrics of the song, because she struggled with it a little bit during the practise. 

Copyright Permission

In order to get permission to use the song (as we are basically copyrighting the song), we emailed the producer of our chosen song 'Free The Animal' - Greg Kurstin. This allows us to receive full permission to use the song in our music video.