Record Label Logo by Jo

We think that this record label would be interested in wanting to sign a contract with our band. Cherrytree Records was founded in 2005 by Martin Kierszenbaum. The label focuses on new artists with growth potential. The label also has an online radio station which focuses on pop alternative music. Cherrytree currently represents artists such as Ellie Goulding, Keane, La Roux, Robyn and The Feeling. They also have an impressive back catalogue featuring a range of bands and artists, from Noah and the Whale, Tommy Sparks, The Fratellis and also Lady Gaga.
Our song would fit perfectly into this record label because our band is new and has lots of potential. Also with artists such as Ellie Goulding and Noah and the Whale, it shows that they successfully represent indie artists and hopefully, in the future, the band would potentially be as successful as Lady Gaga.

Progress

As this was our first time using the green screen, we had to experiment. We chose a picture from Google and, with the help of a YouTube tutorial, learnt how to add the picture onto the green screen. After this, through a process of trial and error, we resized George and moved the background around until we found the best and most successful fit. 

The overall editing of the video is a very time consuming task as you have to be very precise and due to the complexity of the programme itself, it takes a long time to learn how the software works. After understanding the initial steps, we went about cutting our shots using the razor blade tool. Having to edit the shots in time with the music proved to be quite difficult to get the timing right and the having to constantly render the video itself is causing to be another time wasting task. But so far, we have edited over half our video and feel as though we have grasped the essential concept and workings of Final Cut  Express.

Editing Schedule

The majority of the editing will take place in our lessons, however any extra will take place after school. Here is a basic schedule that George has made, outlining the dates when editing will take place. 

Still Frame Analysis by George

The Kooks - Naive

1. Opening Shot: Shot one shows the main character being introduced to the viewer by walking downstairs from his flat. The shot is slow paced, this increases the tension for the viewer. The opening shots slow build up helps to imply to the viewer that the song will be slow paced and that will help the viewer to determine whether they want to listen on.

2. Characters Being Introduced: Luke Pritchard(lead vocals/guitar) is the first and only member of the band to be introduced. He is first shown to the viewer walking alone downstairs of his flat, this shown with slow paced close-ups of the members face shows to the audience that the character is vulnerable, weak and susceptible.

3. Artist's Performance: Luke Pritchards performance in this music video was very impressive. He is very relaxed and always in character throughout the video. The main thing for me that made him stand out was his vulnerability shown throughout. Another reason why I felt that Luke was very impressive was due to the fact that he always makes eye-contact with the camera this help create a relationship and connect with the viewer and makes them want to view more of the music video. Lukes rhythm when walking to the beat is also very impressive, for example, shown in screenshot 2.

4. Setting/Location: In this music video they use urban locations such as, a flat, kitchen area and concert arena. This is shown in all screenshots. From the video being set in urban dark areas this would show to users that Luke(main character) is alone and vulnerable. The whole video is set in dark urban areas, i feel this is due to the fact that it will be easy to film and wont be expensive to be able to put together.

5. Costumes And Props: In the video there isn't many props used only rundown house essentials for example, beds. This would show to the viewer that Luke doesn't have much money. The costumers used in the video are just the average indie wear, for example, black jeans, dark tops and leather jacket. This is shown in screenshots 1,2 and 6.

6. Camerawork and Editing: Throughout this music video there are several different camera types used, these include, long, medium and close ups. The long shots are mainly used when Luke is walking through town. The medium shots are used when Luke is walking through town, meeting friends at parties and a concert. The main camera type used throughout the video is close-ups, these shots are used a lot on Luke to show his emotion and his vulnerability to the audience.

Health and Safety

Our biggest risk will be when we are using the green screen equipment. We must make sure that everything is secure and in the right place so that there is no possibility of anything falling off and breaking. We must also be careful when filming in Guildford that we are filming in a safe area and away from any moving cars. But because we are all sensible people I'm sure we will stay clear of any danger.

Indie Iconography by Jo

Indie Iconography on Prezi

Initial Planning Brainstorms by Jo

Synopsis by Jo

Our video begins with a boy waking up and getting ready for school. The colours in the beginning of the video will be dull and this will emphasise the way in which the character's life is heading. As the song is about changing your life for the better, we decided to show the boy living a rebellious life that was going nowhere. He gets attracted by alcohol and smoking and gets kicked out of school. However, in order to show the lyrics relating to the visuals, when the line "This Groundhog day goes round" is sung, we decided to have the video start again with all the same shots. But the overall theme will have changed in order to emphasise how his life has changed. The bright colours will also show this so that it is evident to the audience. To finish the video we decided to use the green screen and create the impression that the boy has turned his life around and is now in a successful band that is slowly conquering the worlds music industry, ending in Hollywood, a notoriously hard place to succeed. This then shows the swap between the narrative and performance aspects of the video, as most indie videos tend to have a bit of both.

Nine Frame Analysis by Jo

Ladyhawke- My Delirium    

This shot shows the artist, Ladyhawke, sat in the corner of her bedroom. The messy bed, basic colours and simplicity of the room itself, emphasises the indie genre. Similar to many indie videos, the artist is the main focus and in this case, she is the only character.

In this close up shot, Ladyhawke is seen lying on a bed. This dim lighting adds to the sultry effect created by the music itself. Chequered shirts are commonly worn by both men and women and are considered highly fashionable. Along with her costume, the simple make up on her face contrasts well with her dark eye make up and adds an edgy side to the video.

Extreme close ups, in most music videos, are used to highlight the importance of a certain object. In this case, this shot shows an old vintage alarm clock. Vintage objects and clothing are associated with the indie genre. The meaning of delirium is when someone has sudden severe confusion or rapid changes in the brain. This idea of the clock ticking could emphasise counting down to her next change.

The use of this watercolour cartoon effect evokes the idea of the change in her brain, highlighting the name of the song. Although special effects are not too common in indie music videos as most are purely performance based, the varying effects appeal more to the audience and introduce the narrative and spectacle aspect of this video.

The colours used in these shots are again simple, there are no flashing bright colours and there is no dull feel to the video itself. The use of blues greens and reds create a more relaxed tone to the video, again emphasising the song. Driving through the dessert also expresses the idea of being free from her delirium.

                                      

The special effects sequence then cuts off and it goes back to the singer looking at herself in the mirror. Going back and fourth from special effects to the normal shot also emphasises the idea of her delirium, so the special effects may reflect her sudden confusion. The scenes in which the special effects sequence is set are the scenes from the pictures on the wall of her bedroom, the ones that you can see in this shot.

This aerial shot shows the car driving away into the distance. The use of the watercolour effect shows a rough image of what the scene would look like, almost as if the vision if blurry because of the effect of her confusion. 

This shot again shows the artist lip syncing as she is driving through the dessert. There is a slight colour change, potentially depicting how her moods suddenly change. However, similar to the other shot, there are no bright colours and although the effect itself is very complex, it gives of a very simple feel.

This final shot shows Ladyhawke playing the guitar while the image of her singing in the car is playing in the background. The calming purple colours may reflect how the music calms her down after her confusion. The close up of the instrument is another key factor linked to the genre of music. In many indie videos the band are seen playing their instruments, specifically during instrument solos. As she is playing a guitar solo, the main focus of this part of the video is on the instrument itself. 

Overall, this music video highlights many typical aspects of an indie music video. The simple colours, the costume, the shot types, the focus on instruments and the artist being the main focus of the video are all conventions of a typical indie video. The video is narrative and concept, however in order to make the audience keep watching the video, the narrative is not that obvious and you really have to search deep into the meaning of the song in order to understand it fully. 

Animatic

This animatic shows our initial storyboard ideas. However, as time passed, we had to adjust our ideas and go against the storyboard. The intended alleyway sequence proved to be unsuccessful due to lighting issues and weather issues which would have affected the continuity of the overall video. However, we did stick to the majority of our initial storyboard.

Shooting Schedule

Thursday 13th- Shooting around School
Monday 17th- Shooting the green screen
Wednesday 19th- Shooting at the House
Thursday 20th- Any extra shooting

Shot List

Here is a list of each of our shots that we used in each setting and why we chose this sort of shot:

House

1. Medium shot- this showed the main character waking up and also showed that he was in a bedroom and domestic environment 

2. Close up- showing him getting out of bed and also showed more of the bedroom setting

3. Close up sequence- this sequence showed him putting his t-shirt on but was also edited to fit the beat of the music and emphasise this convention of music videos

4. Long shot- walking down the stairs, this gave the audience more insight into his house and gave the idea that he is from a working class background, similar to our target audience

5. Close up- the character is walking to his door 

6. Medium shot- shows him leaving his house and, for a split second, the audience will speculate where he is going

School

1. Long tracking shot- follows the character and his friend, who later turns out to be in the band, walking into school, which can be seen by the gates in the background. Another long shot sequence shows the characters walking into the building

2. Close up- this sequence of 5 shots shows the characters walking up the stairs and also shows off more of the school environment

Green Screen

The green screen sequence is seen through a long shot as it allows the performers to be emphasised by the background, which in this instance is clouds, to represent how they are flying in the clouds and happy with life, even though, through the use of the beer can, it is evident that they are in fact not succeeding and are rebellious teenagers who do not seem to have any direction in life. 

School

1. Medium shot which leads to a close up- this shows the character, who has just pushed away a group of girls, walking into a classroom. The close up comes when he points and blows a kiss to the camera, adding humour to the video

2. Long shot- showing the character in a classroom setting, his rebellious side is again emphasised when he is asked to leave the classroom

3. Medium shot- after he has left the classroom he walks past a group of girls who bang the window trying to get his attention. This shows how although he may not be leading a successful life, he is popular with the girls, just like many rebellious teens nowadays are. This therefore emphasises reality

The next sequence of shots comes after the 'Groundhog Day' reference and is therefore a repetition of the beginning sequence. This intertextual reference links to the film because in the film, the character repeats each day exactly the same and therefore we emphasised this link by repeating the morning sequence. However, to add to our theme that you can always turn your life around, we changed the ending to show that our character had taken the high road and had become a more well rounded, better being, putting more emphasis on his school work and getting a girlfriend. We show this through a sequence which eventually leads to a humorous green screen ending. 

School

1. Establishing shot- this shows the character by himself walking into school, however he is without the beer can he originally had, and shows more of the school which helps to emphasise how he has changed and decided to focus more on his education

2. Long shot to medium shot- through this shot we can see the character turn away the offer of alcohol and chooses the girlfriend instead, again helping to highlight the changes he has made in his life

3. Medium shot to long shot- walking down the corridor which is meant to represent the backstage area before he takes to his performance. This shows the character and the girl skipping down the corridor, introducing the humorous aspect and building up to the end of the video

Green Screen

The last section of our video shows the two original characters again performing through a long shot. The images change varying from the Eiffel Tower to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and shows how the band have picked themselves up and have now become a successful band that are slowly breaking the music industries over the world and finally ending in Hollywood, a notoriously hard place to succeed in.

Props List

1. Indie clothing: Printed clothing and dark jeans are typical clothing within the indie genre as they represent the clothes that the target audience wear and therefore reflects reality. We decided to use dark jeans and a printed white t-shirt with a banana on to emphasise the overall happy and humorous aspect of our video




2. Beer cans: We decided to show our characters rebelliousness through the use of beer cans and that he brings them into school. This shows how, at the beginning of the video, he is a typical rebellious teenage boy which makes him popular, however, at the end of our video he has realised his priorities and understands that being seen as a 'cool boy' in fact does not get you a successful life outside of school. So, these beer cans help to emphasise and highlight the overall meaning of our video

3. Instruments: Guitars were used as a way of showing the audience that these actors were in fact the real members of the band, this of which is a convention of many indie music videos.

Indie Fashion by Jo

The style of music we chose to make a video of is indie and therefore, in order to make the costumes for our characters as accurate as possible, we did some further research into the clothing style of other
successful indie bands.
The most common trousers worn by the bands are jeans, and commonly skinny jeans. Some are bright colours such as red and electric blue, but most tend to be blue jeans or chinos.
Plain t-shirts with simple designs or cheque shirts are extremely popular with indie artists. We will try and match this style with our characters in our music video.

YouTube Documentaries

There were not very many relevant options that came up after searching 'Indie Documentaries' on YouTube, however, a 2007 BBC2 series called 'The Seven Ages of Rock-British Indie' gives an insight into the progression of British music. This shows the development of the rock/indie genre and shows how many artists influenced many artists who are now mainstream. Here is a link to a short clip describing the popularity of Oasis:



While searching, there were also many fan videos that had been made. Many had created a montage of their favourite indie songs and had published them for others to see and comment on. Here are some examples:

Record Label Research

Rough Trade

The British indie label, Rough Trade began in 1978 when Geoff Travis founded it in the back of his Notting Hill record shop. The first artists signed to the label were the Smiths, the Fall, and Stiff Little Fingers whose album ‘Inflammable Material’ which was Rough Trade’s first ever album release, sold more than 100,000 copies. Despite these early successes, the label went bust in 1991 but was re launched in 2000 when they signed a little-known band called ‘The Strokes’. Now owned by Beggars Group, the label manages acts such as Antony & the Johnsons and Micachu.

Domino

Domino Records was set up by Laurence Bell in 1993 and proved to be a success. It was set up to license American records for the UK. In 2006 Domino had a big success with ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ by Arctic Monkeys which became the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history. Before that, Domino had scored big hits with the first two albums by Franz Ferdinand. With the help of its star acts, Domino continues to release offbeat material from artists such as Anna Calvi, Wild Beasts and Four Tet.

Mute

Daniel Miller did not set out to become a music label founder, however, after releasing a single in 1978, many musicians started sending him their demos. Miller decided to release some of them and Mute Records has succeeded ever since. Guided by his love of synthetic music, Miller signed acts such as Depeche Mode.

Audience Research and Expectations

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9LYNNQT

Along with this surveymonkey website, we also conducted several questionnaires that we gave out to our peer group, who were also the target audience for our video. With a range of results that came back, we took on board what many thought would be a signature object for the band, which turned out to be the printed t-shirt. This idea that fashion is often associated with certain people has recently become very popular with examples including Justin Bieber, who is heavily associated with purple hoodies and of course, Lady Gaga who had no set fashion style but often wears very exaggerated, flamboyant pieces that contribute to her popularity. These also allow for many people to use her in other media texts, so if you saw someone wearing a meat dress, you would instantly associate this with Lady Gaga and therefore shows how successful intertextuality can be.
Our audience also told us that they would rather see more of the band itself rather than actors who had no association with the real music. This concept, of the band being involved in the actual video, is a typical convention of the indie genre. This adds to the overall simplicity of indie music videos and, as the target audience is mainly youth, many indie videos do not show that they have used lots of money. As the audience themselves will not have a substantial amount of money, the bands try to stay as simple as possible in order to reflect reality.
We decided that the narrative should remain simple, with one obvious meaning, however, as with most music videos it could not be too obvious or else the audience would not go back and watch it. This simple narrative concept is also shown in many other indie videos as there is no reason to confuse the audience with an on going story that they will then lose interest in. Most videos are about love, the troubles of life or relationships. With a lyric in 'Oh Me Oh My' being 'Groundhog day goes round', we decided to base our video on the idea that however bad your life has become, you can always turn it back round for the better. This simple message tells our audience what the video means and does not show it in a long winded narrative.

Target Audience: 15-25 year old males