FIRST PITCH

The main conventions of current pop videos are;

· To always follow the artists’ image whether that is rebellion, romance or innocence. The brand identity must be followed as strictly as possible, for the mass consumption to enjoy. The best characteristics for an artist’s successful career for the current time are an edgy, rebellious, youthful, and attractive character. With a well built family including money alongside a genuine personality.

Kings of Leon who represent rebellion in the music industry

· The featuring of the artist. In almost all videos the artist is encouraged to feature to build a stronger narrative and image for the video.

· Camera use. To use a variety of shot types, camera angles and movement can create a edgy atmosphere that could follow our “rebellious” theme, imitating the current media.

· A strong narrative structure

· A strong theatrical performance

· Shot types is synchronization of the beat

· A good use of special effects. We will be using a blue screen to emphasise any backgrounds or unique effects

· A carefully constructed mise en scene

· High impact imagery to beat competition

Our first pitch consisted of our two main ideas and one as a backup if all else was to fail. Our back up video was immediately suggested as our main idea to use that we are going to strive towards. We were told that bringing in the genuine band would prevent any forced performances or awkward moments on film. Our idea is simplistic, with the indi/rock band performing with the blue screen where we will add special effects. There were two main worries that occurred; One being reliability. All the artists’ either live very far from the studio or attend school, so it could be hard to rely of them to arrive on the shoot day. Second being our small time gap in which we would be able to film. From the 2nd to the 24th of November is our only time to film and if they can only arrive on weekends after school it could be a difficult task.

The second idea consists of a band playing in their bedroom and the whole neighbour is physically drawn to the music. They all stop what they are doing and immediately drag themselves to the music. The response was positive, but some realistic questions were asked. “Where is the bedroom” “Where will we populate 40 people to act out for a day” and “you’ll need a variety of people in variations of age, appearance and gender.” We will need to ask cleaners, students, friends, teachers, family members etc to create a large group of people. Adding to our idea, pathos was suggested. For example, the conclusion to the video was that actually it was not the band, but the radio playing. We were left to consider whose house we could use and if the studio should be used at all, for the window or the interior design.

The third idea is a “rave” themed video, played by Goose. (band) We would convert the convention by showing no band. This is a risk because we will have a limited set of scenes and potentially a less structured narrative. The idea was to have many people all dressed in worn down, edgy clothing who are all running together to the “rave” in which the DJ is playing. The group must all be intimidating, rock like characters. We would then incorporate short, sharp shots of political events. E.g a bomb, tank or a soldier to add a narrative of aggression and an underlying message. Again, we were happy with the feed back and this time round we were simply encouraged to emphasise the idea we already had; adding a faceless DJ to the set in which he is left alone when a bomb is set off. Standing, still quietly will conclude the video nicely. Also to emphasise he narrative of “each man for himself” that society has broken down and rebellion has broken out. Uncontrollable aggression throughout the derelict land. Finally, we were given a few elements to research, one being how we could find a burnt out area or building that we could pass with the health and safety council.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

I began my independent research by searching through a variety of music channels as well as YouTube. In the search boxes, I typed in “pop videos”, “A2 student pop videos” and “unique music performances.” I found many very famous videos like Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd. I found a video performed by Pink Floyd which I found very influential. I managed to present a handle full of ideas from my researching process from media technology.
My three ideas;

1. Edge of Seventeen- Stevie Nicks
I begins with a long instrumental were one elegant girl will gently dance in a long, dress. Influenced from Florence and the Machine. Four other girls will move into the shot, with similar outfits on. Filming will turn to 360 degrees, with tracking and focusing in to specific points, e.g foot work, facial expression etc. One male enters the room but the girls still dominate the area, continuing to dance. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxMHhkzH_0)


2. G4L- Rihanna
This video would be shot in the studio. Again, a female dominated video. It will be blacked out, with one girl strutting through the studio. Flashing one light onto a part of the body every three seconds, unveiling the character. The singing begins and the lights become more frequent and with the beat the lights flash on and stay on. The girl stands in a ‘fierce’, domineering stance. The music then continues as she dancing a solo. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eP7MTsJpaQ&feature=fvst) 3. The Recluse- PlanB
This video is dominated by the male generation. The establishing shot begins with a drunken man slouching on a chair behind a table full of empty alcohol bottles. He stands up, singing and the camera tracks him. The camera will only be follow him, which is of his side to the left. No zooming, close up or different angles. As we follow him, he narrates the story of the song through the scenes he walks into. All the scenes are ‘frozen’ whilst he walks though everyone’s lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5TxIynodew \

THE FIVE STAGES OF PRODUCTION

Research and Development;
· Research
· Development
· Distribution
· Exhibition
Development of the initial idea is key to perfecting the video. Timelines, treatments, pitch, practicalities, storyboards, cast and camera tests are some of the tasks that are involved in developing the idea further. Pitching our idea to more superior, experienced individuals will help us to create a unique idea, as well as a realistic idea that is possible for our budget and timings. They can also help us with practicalities like camera settings and scenery which we would have found difficult and almost impossible to solve.
A target audience must be established through age, gender, social class and interests. For our pop video, we will most likely be targeting a young generation from 16-24. We will be playing an up tempo song, will current themes and interests of the culture of today. We will try to imitate the conventions of now, to encourage the targeted audience. Other videos will also be looked at for inspiration. Rhianna, Faithless and Justin Timberlake are some of the artists that we would like to incorporate in our film. Their image is what we would like to display. A “divaish”, rebellious attitude through the music and themes that we will be using.

Exhibition and Distribution;
Exhibition of our pop video will be through YouTube for public entertainment and feedback. The responses will help us to establish if we have achieved our target audience. The responses will help us to learn from our mistakes and feel some sense of achievement. For larger scaled pop videos, distribution companies will aim for a larger company e.g MTV or Kiss, depending on who the target audience is. Newspapers and interviews can also help to distribute the video to a wider population and possibly internationally.
Pre-Production;
A few weeks before our shoot day, we will be putting together a full call sheet. This is a vital tool to organise timings and props as well as sticking to some sort of structure on shoot day. It will include a cast list, names and numbers of all characters, production crew and their contact details as well as their jobs for the day, appropriate equipment, on hand wardrobe, locations of each scene, the shooting order to stick to schedule that we ensure everything can be shot in our one day shoot, lyrics, props and any extras that may be added through the process of our development. Pre-production is a key element to producing a successful pop video. On the shoot day, time is one thing that we cannot control, so being organised and ready for each scene will help us. Hopefully the organisation will reflect in our video.

Production;
As much work and pre planning we do in pre-production, we are unable to guarantee a smooth shoot day that all goes to plan. The day needs to be as stress free as possible and everything must be organised beforehand. The shoot day all comes down to knowing exactly how we want our video to be shot and being prepared for any errors that could occur. Under the pressure, second ideas and backups must be ready to prevent a longer delay in our day.
Post Production;
Editing and after effects completes the video. Credits, sounds and fading effects can dramatically change the dimension of the video and to a certain extent it can increase the success of the video if it had slightly flopped throughout the filming.

POP VIDEO AND MARKETING CAMPAIGN OUR BRIEF

The Brief

Your task is to create

• Three Multi Media Products
• Aimed at a specific target audience or audeinces
• To establish the image and bran of your singer or group and
• Help sell the song, their first single from their first album
• As part of a multi media marketing campaign.

The group or singer must be a new group (even if they are doing a copy of an exciting song).

the song is a single from thier first album.

The actual products to be produed are:

• The pop video
• A digipak for the album
• A magazine advert for the album