Research

First Idea

 
  
Discovery-The Summer War
Original music video

Narrative

As a group we have discussed that we want our video to be based on a narrative, a story that explains the lyrics to ensure that the song is relevant to the video. We have come up with a narrative that explains real life situations so its realistic and believable. The main topic is peer pressure, there will be a group of friends that are influencing a new member of the group to drink, smoke, party etc. So the new member is 'discovering' a new life and becoming a whole different person. The narrative also has a moral behind it, the moral is that peer pressure is strongly persuasive in a bad way.

Filming Techniques

For filming techniques we are not fully sure, but we have thought about many hand held shots to make it seem as though the audience is experiencing the change and influence with the character that is facing peer pressure. And we have also thought about many close shots for intimacy when performing and the narrative is being explained.  

-Palwasha Ayubi
 
Casting and Location: 
As we want to do performance and narrative, we were thinking to use male actors for the performance aspect of our video, because the lead singers of the bad 'The Summer War' are males.
We want at least 3 males for the performance. For the narrative part, some of us are willing to take part, and i can contact some other people who i think might be interested being in a music video.
The type of actors we are looking for a casual, with casual costumes jeans, and shirt.
We want to have minimum of 2 locations in our music video. One is going to be outdoor, and other indoors. For example house, and park?
However this is our initial idea and we will like to develop it as time passes.

-Harpreet Madan




Genre: Alternative/ Pop Punk

Muse: Starlight

\

 - Mainly a performance video, set on a ship in the middle of the sea.
- Casual clothing which is popular within the genre.
- The lighting in natural as it is set outside.
- All band members are shown.
- Close up shots of the members and their instruments
- High angle shots are used to establish the location
- low angle shots allow the lead singer to dominate the shot
- Editing is the same pace as the beat of the song
- Transitions such as fading in and out are used when the beat of the song is slower

The Killers: When You Were Young

-Simranjeet (ex member)

-Group work
__________________________________________________________________

Mood Board

-Manisha Singh
______________________________________________________________________

Analyzing Music video



In the beginning the pace of the music is very quietly and slowly after a while the string instrument starts and instantly the pace of the music changes just after few seconds brass instruments plays and it changes the volume of the music which tells the audience that an orchestra is taking plays but after one minute 30 seconds the music instrument changes completely to a drum playing it feels like if the music suddenly changes from old time orchestra to modern drum playing sets in todays world. this music video shows the two era of the music.  First one and half minute we hear the human voice and then after one and half minute we hear the robotic voice which also tells the audience the time changing in the video. The video characters are running from the music and the music is running after them this is shown by as the earth crust moves up having pointy and sharps edges small or big like the one we see on the screen of our gadgets, TV and computers and one by one the character falls in behind but one character in the end decided to jump in rather than runway from it. which shows that nobody can runway from music even if is in olden time or modern time.



The music begins with drum and guitar playing and then the lyrics take place the music is fast and loud. all the way the two type of instruments the drum set and the guitars which keeps the music simple and catchy. the video tells the audience about the characters and the one character who stand superior and changes the ones who are looking boring and dull into punk rock style by changing their cloths and their hair style which gives them confident as we can see that from facial expression. the superior character has the hair style like the liberty statue crown which tells us that he holds the power at that place as we all know the liberty statue is big.

 -Manisha Singh
________________________________________________________

Unconventional Concepts 

 We have decided as a group that whatever music genre we work on for our music video, we would like to try and add an unconventional concept from that specific music genre. For example, if it would be a slow song, we could add fast pace editing or if it was a man singing a girl could mimic his voice to make it like a parody. This makes it seem unexpected and different, but this will also make it memorable for watchers which helps to make our music video stand out from many others. A great example of this would be Alex Day's music video "I've got what it takes". Being unconventional in a music video is rarely used by music video producers, because it is a high risk of turning out wrong. Therefore we need to ensure as a group that we use this concept wisely and appropriately to ensure we haven't made the video odd. but sometimes this could also be the purpose for a producer  to make the watchers interpret the video for themselves. 

 

-Palwasha Ayubi
_____________________________________________________________________

 Analysis 'Discovery' and Pitch
The summer war have made an official lyrical music video. However we decided to make a narrative music video for their original song 'Discovery'. From the lyrics of their song, it seems like the song is about a group of friends who haven't seen each other in a long time 'i keep dreaming about all the friends that i don't see'. They are talking about how they use to have such a great time together 'It's been a while since we've dressed up for the night'. As the song is mentions the past 'Sixteen,looks like so much fun' we can concluded that the singer has 'discovered' their self, and who they want to be.

 

Our Pitch:
We decided that our music video will be narrative based. The music video will start with a young girl, who is about 17-19. she is going to be sitting in a room next to the window, with headphones in her ears and a picture of her friends in her hand. As she plays the song on her iPod the music begins, it's as if the audience will be listening to the music with her, therefore they can relate more.The camera then zooms into the picture, and the flash back starts. Where the girls are getting all dressed up in their room for a night out. We also want to shoot some shots on the road with lots of bright lighting's, to give our video wild atmosphere. We have thought of various locations; such as a busy road, a bed room, and high street. However this is not our final idea, we would like to add on to this and develop it for the better. At the end of our music video we decided the girls will meet again, although they will not talk to each other.

-Harpreet Madan

_______________________________________________________

Artist Research

The summer war is a band that consists of  three male members;
Tom Farr - Bass
Dave Ciaramella - Guitar
Jack Nolan - Drums
Influences:Lady GaGa, Avril Lavigne, The Olsen Twins

The music genre they use is alternative rock. By exploring their Facebook page and YouTube channel  i found out that the band does not make much of their own  music videos.Their YouTube channel only contains three proper music videos, two of which are lyrical. The band tends to make a performance based video.


Or lyrical as it is much easier, and cheaper.



As we don't have the right equipment to make a performance based video that will fit in with the other videos the band have made.We decided to make narrative based video that will have a little lip syncing.
While browsing on the internet, i realized that band makes a lot of music (audio) and not a music video for it.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thesummerwar

-Harpreet Madan
______________________________________________________

Concept

To make our music video more interesting, I have thought of using a concept behind it. As there is a part in which a glass bottle shatters, the main actress will be injured from this incident. There will be a close shot of her hand dripping blood, this image will be repeatedly shown throughout the music video. From the start it will be very faint and then it will become more visual as the song progresses. The bloody hand is a way to foreshadow that something bad will happen but it is also a way to grip the audiences attention. The story will eventually unravel and the audience will understand the meaning behind the bleeding hand. Right at the end of the video we would like to show this again, but we want to use a reverse shot of the blood going back, this connotates the idea that there is a happy ending between the two friends. We are not fully aware if we would like to go through with it, but I would like to attempt it in order to make a decision based on it. 

However, not bleeding as heavy as this 

-Palwasha Ayubi 

_________________________________________________________________

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Thought/beat seeing the sound - editing, fast or slow pace depending on the type of music/ beat. In comparison to our music video this part of Goodwin's theory is a important for us because our music genre is alternative rock. Therefore the pace of 'Discovery' is very fast so we need to use fast editing so the song and scenes match. We are looking to use fast forwarding in the music video to create a fast and fun effect. Due to the fast pace beat there will be quick scene changes as we want to tell a story. 

Narrative/performance - storyline, lyrics, dancers, artists. Songs/music videos fail to give us the complete narrative, it keeps the audience wondering what's the real meaning behind the song is. This theory of Goodwin is very key for us as our music video is purely based on a narrative, a story that is highly relative to the lyrics. similarly to Goodwin's theory about the narrative being complete our video will have a very clear storyline but the story wont be complete because the two good friends meet at then end and that's it. 

Technical aspect of music video - camera, lighting, editing to the right pace/beat, colour. Needs to look professional. This theory is used in all music video but in different ways. We will be using this theory wisely during our production as we need to ensure that our music video is understandable and looks like a real music video with the use of camera shots/angles, use of bright lighting e.g. city lights when the girls are out. 

- Manisha (editing and camera)
- Palwasha & Harpreet 
______________________________________________________________
 Types of lights

STROBE LIGHTING: Produces a fast flashing of light, however duration is short as it takes up a lot of energy providing excessively strong lighting.These lights is good for effects such as disco or parting.We can use this for the clubbing scene, as the fast coloured flashes will make give it the sense of parting theme.Heavy lighting and quite expensive.

LED LIGHTING: They are like small flashing lamps, can give similar effects as Strobe lighting. However Strobe lighting is much stronger as it contains more energy.LED lighting are also able to provide us with the parting theme effects. it costs less than Strobe lighting,easy to use and carry/pick up. Duration is also longer.

There its a better idea to use LED lighting as its efficient and less costly.

-Harpreet
 _____________________________________________________________

Lighting

We are going to be using LED coloured lighting which will give a party atmosphere indoor and it will make it look realistic. The coloured lighting can also reflect in emotions and peoples personalty therefore we will be using the light to create tension in scene when the two friends get into fights as there will be dull lighting and cars head light flashing down the road and before that we will be using light to give light mood during the party as many people feel free when they are enjoying with group of friends. while we are changing the lighting during the scene it will not just effect the mood and personalty of our characters but it will also effect the mood of the audience while they are watching the video because light can change the moods of people therefore this will make audience to think deep in the video. 

manisha singh

________________________________________________________________
Magazine advert-Layout

While browsing on NME's website, we came across a few adverts from different magazines. We liked some of the layouts which we can imply to our music advert. The layout above doesn't contain a lot of writing,this grabs the audiences attention because huge picture of the band. we can tell the men in foreground is the protagonist as he is standing out more than the others in the back round. Due to this picture the fans can recognise the band easily.

In this advert, the layout of the page causal than the other adverts. It is like a dairy as there is a picture of the pen on the side with some photographs. It looks like a dairy where someone records their memories.Our music video is based on the concept of 'memories' the idea of having photographs as a layout maybe a good idea because it fits with our theme. 

We would not like to use the layout above,as there isn't much information on band or music. The whole advert revolves around the band,because its the only main thing you see apart from the quote "In a Neverland kinda of way we haven't had to grow up yet..."

         

The quarter of the page covers the writing such as the heading and subtitle. "we're writing two new albums" is a very catchy because it makes the audience want to know what the two albums are. It's short but effective. We can use this technique in our music advert for 'the summer war'. 

-Harpreet Madan

Ancillary

______________________________________________________________________

ANCILLARY.pptx

-Palwasha 
__________________________________________________________________

Ancillary Research Digipak

Palwasha
______________________________________________________________
Christina Aguilera- Bionic (Digipack idea )

  --->
Close up shot






Music genre:Electro pop

In this digipack the main focus is Christina Aguilera. As a close up shot of her face is printed at the front and back of the digipack. Her bright red lipstick is appealing to the male audience which links in with the male gaze theory, adding to this her the close up of her blue eyes and flawless skin is features of femininity which is what the audience like to see. As she is directly looking into the camera this creates a connection between the artist and audiences. Her digipack links with her music videos as some are these close up shots are always used in her music video. Its easily recognisable, which is effective.We are also able to recognise the artist/character in the music video on the digipack.

We can build upon this idea by doing something similar when creating our digipack. For example we can use one of the characters from our music video on the digipack to show a connection between the two media products.We can be creative through mise en scene.

-Harpreet Madan

___________________________________________________________________________
Green Day-Album cover

Green Day is an alternative rock band. We can see this through the mise en scene, the dull and dark colors suggest that the genre is rock. As these are the key conventions we usually see in rock music videos or covers.The bold font makes the writing more visible and easy to read. The red titles are there to signify the important things, for example the name of the place where the concert will be held, or the red tie Billy Joe is wearing shows he is the protganist of the band. We could do something similar when creating our magazine advert or digipack. we could put some of the information in a different color to give it more meaning.

The band on the front cover makes it easy recognisable for the fans.In the picture the band is looking directly into the camera, also Billy Joe is pointing right at the audience. This is to create an relationship between the band and their fans, as they are inracting with the audience through camera.

I am able to point out the conventions of this album cover, such as the 'DVD' logo at the bottom and names of contribution, also the dates.I can tell that this is essential, because many other album covers i have looked at also include similar conventions, therefore i am aware that my digipack has to have these.

The costuem, props, and tattoos also gives the album cover that gothic rock genre theme.

-Harpreet