Decided not to have a Set

When we were talking to Luke he concluded it would be better to film the majority of the music video in the carpark and the security guards office. In this case having the third element doesn't suit this music video narrative, as its would be better time spent filming in the carpark a majority of the day. Luke said that having the band playing in the carpark would give a more dynamic look for the music video. This meant our group would have to start to focus more towards the narrative to ensure we would enough or surplus footage.  Now my target is to get the storyboard done to ensure we have enough of footage on the day of your shoot.

Talking to the Set Designer

In our lesson our group spoke to a set designer (Jacqueline) and light designer (Jack). When we spoke to our set desginer our group was still undecided whether or not we would have a set. We spoke to the set designer Jacqueline about our set (which is the in the set below). We had talked about having a very urban look towards, as we wanted to have an illegal look towards the music video in the set. The set looks like a grundy basement with pipes at the background. Jacqueline said this set was very doable but she was wondering if it better to have a green screen in a background however we concluded we would prefer an actual set as our lighting would be dark (which would make it harder for the green screen to work).  Another group has a similar set design to our set therefore Jacquline as looked if it would be better if we shared sets? Luke didn't recommended this as he said its very easy to tell that they were the same set therefore we didn't go for the sharing sets.

When we spoke to jack about having police spotlights over the band he said this could be easily done. As there are other group planning on using powerful lights for similar use. First our group initially thought we would use a police alarm but Jack said it would not be powerful enough to power to give the effect we would have wanted. 

One of the questions I asked was how would we power lighting on our location and Jack said our school has 2 daylight lights which would be powerful enough for filming in the carpark. Especially as our group would be filming on the second highest floor on the carpark therefore it would have lighting inbuilt.

Prop List

Our group has constructed a prop list to illustrate the equipment our group requires for our music video. Therefore we clearly indicated which equipment our school will provide us and the other equipment we can bring.

Things we would like the school to help us get

Things our group will provide

Constructing a Storyboard

Everyone in our group decided on the general narrative of the music video. Therefore we would all have a general idea for the music video. We all thought it would be best to focus on the narrative rather than having than band playing as that is quite self explanatory. We printed out a story board template making it easier/quicker to build a story board.

Asking for Permission

Our group sent out the permission to requires to use the song Jungle by X Ambassadors as Interscope Records owns the copyrights the to song. Our group did this ro avoid any legal issues like copyright infringement . As we didn't want them to misunderstand to thinking we are using their song for profit (as this music video is non profitable).

Test Video

Our came up with the simple narrative of security guards chucking the bands equipment off the roof therefore in our test video we filmed it to see how our idea would look like. The software used was premier pro and all the footage was filmed using a smartphone therefore the quality isn't very good.

Coming up with an Ending

Luke thought our simple narrative would be fine as long as we think of a better ending for the music video. As Luke though having the equipment and lead singer thrown off the roof would be challenging to perform as once the audiences see them throw it off the roof than we want to see it break. In order for this we would require a higher budget.

Therefore our group needs to think of a viable yet clever ending to have for our simple narrative.

Band Rehearsal

Our Group had a band rehearsal for the first time, this allowed us to see how the band looked like as an overall performance. In general our group looked very believable and looked quite professional however they would still need to rehearse more together, as the guitarist didn't know all the chords and Max Boast didn't know all the words for the song.

Today what we established was that we didn't need a pianist in our band (which we initially had). As having the band as a trio worked well like bands like Green Day. The band was able to illastrate the tone of the song making it more visually believable.

Our lead singer Max Boast is initially wasn't our first choice however our group took a gamble on him and it worked our very well. As our group decided that using Max Boast acting experience would allow him to sell towards the audience that he was he lead singer. Therefore towards the end Max Boast ended up being the perfect singer in our group.

Casting

Lead Singer: 

Our group has decided to cast Max Boast as our lead singer after auditioning him as his acting skills was able to make it believable. Max was very confident in front of the camera and was able to carry out this star image our group was looking for. As Max's presence on the screen makes it seem believable especially with his band around him. Max's hair wipe made the it more pleasing to watch, as it adds something to the rock element. 

Guitarist:

Our guitarist is a very experienced musician and is capable of playing guitar, drumming and piano. We wanted Thomas Guerlet as our guitarist as he is a very tall person making him seem older and more intimidating. I personally auditioned with Thomas as I saw him play individually and watched him on Youtube.

Thomas Guerlet

Drummer:

Initially our group wanted Tom Saville for our video as he fits the role with his general aesthetic towards. However he was in high demand therefore we were not able to capture him into our music video. Therefore we just asked our school department to recommend a drummer whom had long hair. The person our right is our potential drummer as we just need confirmation he is free.

Potential New drummer

Tom Saville - Initial Drummer

Polydor Record Company Talk

Today we had a talk from Emily whom currently works in Polydor records to explain to us about treatments and what her role is as a video commissioner.

Emily is a video commissioner who's aim is to oversea the whole music video. Their job is to represent both the artist and the director (combining two creative elements). This was important as many directors want to only use narrative however studio's want to represent the artist/band.
Then they would ask 5 to 10 directors to send in a treatment, which includes a lot of pictures and summaries their idea (brief explanation).

Things to ensure

Clear storyboard, helping to ensure everyone on the set is clear on the music video and fully understands it.

Typical Problems that may occur

Is one of your shots doesn't work out then as a director you must think of solutions on the spot i.e. is the music video King by Years and years they were meant to have the pain moving around the room and the pianist had to try keep playing.

Use of Studio

Over the past few years Emily said she hasn't been on a set for a long time. This may be due towards filmmakers trying to make their music video more narrative.

Pros - It better for controlled weather, as living in UK the weather is unpredictable
Cons - Can be more expensive and it gets rid of the dynamic shots form natural view

Planning For Rehearsals

As our group involves a band performance we need to start organising the band to playing together to make it seem more natural. Therefore I have sent and email to each of the band member.

Our plan is to have a test rehearsal by tomorrow and organise the band playing together. We will film the test rehearsal and may put that in our test shoot.

Security Guard Uniform

We were looking at the general costumes that our group could use to make it seem realistic. This is because we want the it to look realistic. Our group has to be careful we don't over exaggerate the costume i.e in the top left caption as it looks cool but doesn't look realistic. The other two pictures have a more realistic appeal towards it, as in UK that is how they normally dress.

However from the past thrillers they used costumes like this to convey they work in the carpark. Our group can work with this and add a yellow jacket if we feel its necessary. This gives our group a general idea of how the costumes will look like. 

What we will see in the car park

Order of events in the car park

• band carrying instruments into car park
• stumbles upon guard, who thinks nothing of it
• goes onto the roof, sets up instruments, starts playing
• guard on duty starts to hear noise, follows sound
• finds amp lead, follows it
• finds band playing on roof, playing it to the world
• Goes to small band member orders him to stop, big band member then intimidates guard and tells him to go away
• Band starts to play
• Guard retreats, calls in backup with walkies talkie 
• Massive backup guy (Andy) comes in 
• Bands big speakers playing on the roof
• The band members being thrown off the roof

We felt at the end of the music video it should have a big ending where the lead singer gets thrown off the roof. This would be a cool dramatic ending (but not to serious ending).

Elements to add to Carpark scene

Today our group needed to focus on adding a third element to the music video. Our group got inspired from the music video the Pretender by Foo Flighters. As we took inspiration from the S.W.A.T team trying to stop the band from playing. We felt it had a similar appeal as our music video seems rebellious; suiting with our song.


Our group chose and decided on having the band setting up and playing on the roof top. It would consist of the band playing a life gig however the guards will be trying to stop the band form playing on the roof top of the car park. Later as the guards go up and listen they start to enjoy the music being played.

Things that will happen in the carpark

• Band walking with a few instruments walking to the top car park
• Band setting up on the roof 
• Security Guard see's a lead connected up to the roof top (then follows it)
• Security guard trying to stop the band from playing
• The security guard listen to the music by holding down the walkie talkie 
• The security guard enjoying the music being played and starts to relax and untuck their shits...

The could also be other shots of people in the town looking up listening to the band and there could also be people looking out of their office through the window or even a girl doing her work and listens to the song by looking out the window.

Ideas for third in Car Park

I have considered different elements that our group would be able to do. I have thought of 2 different narrative scenes that could happen in the car park.

1. The first narrative could be a girl getting her bag stolen however as time progresses she beats up the two thieves up. This could give a cool creative element towards the music video. Suiting with the song as its about the streets how people look different to how they actually are.

       2. The second idea consist of a SWAT team trying to stop the band from playing. This idea would      consist of a swat team trying to stop the band from playing however the band fights back through their music

Collecting Sets

Our group collective combined different sets to build inspiration for our music video. We have planned to net pick from this selection and made an adaptation to make it suit our music video.

This music video by Green Day "American Idiot" has the band playing in a warehouse then green slime comes spitting out. They use that as a third stand for the music video.

Change in story

Our teachers and Luke were not the fond of the idea of the room smashing up with the new track our group proposed. However when we spoke to Luke we decided to use our old location of the car park as it suits with tone of the song. We decided we would have the band playing in the car park, which would have a powerful image.



Luke said he enjoyed the vision of the band playing in the car park however we would need to find the third stand to buy up more time of the song. Therefore by next week our group would need to focus on different stories to why the band is playing on the room tops. Our group would look at a couple of sets and get inspiration and see how other rock bands make their music video impressive.

Focusing On Performance

Today our group meet up with Luke to talk about our music video concept. When we spoke to Luke he told us that he did not enjoy our song choice Sail by Awolnation. As Luke said he didn't want our group to compete against a really popular main stream video. Therefore I found a song that allowed us to use the exact same narrative and performance with a different song.

The new song is Jungle by X Ambassadors, Jamie N Commons

 

Luke told us to focus on how the set for the performance and narrative would look like. So I use my knowledge from google sketch up to illustrate how it should look like.

The Performance would consist of a drummer, guitarist, pianist and a singer. For the performance aspect it would have a projection on the singers of leaves linking with the song Jungle.

General Timeline

I filled out a general timeline for the music video to see find the holes within our music video. I noticed that having stuff just smashing up may seem to be quite repetitive however it could work if our group comes up with a creative reason to why he is smashing it up.

Our group had to fill out the gaps before we proposed the timeline. However the one major worry I felt is that our group would be going against a very famous song. Therefore I was thinking why would someone watch our music video over the official video which has millions of videos. Therefore I feel our group should choose a song with a similar genre and tone so we can use the same narrative.

Meeting with Luke

Our group pitched our reverse smashing up idea to Luke. Luke understood the general concept on having everything in reverse and he enjoyed the song. The problems that he brought up was how would our group get a lot of seconds of the person breaking the stuff in the room. As our group would have to find a bunch of stuff breaking while making it interesting as it would only be visually interesting rather than it having a good narrative.


The other problem is that the song we pitched is too well known. This will make it seem as if we are competing with the actual music video as people would compare our music video with the original.





Luke made our group look at the set to see if there was enough space for all we plan on having in our narrative. The space shown would give our protagonist a small space to support all the destruction. If our group was planning on smashing stuff we would have to be careful as the walls are supported by a thin small layer.

Different Song Choice

During the lesson my group decided upon changing the song while using the same concept as before. Our old concept was based around cool visual effect which included reverse shots i.e.

The song our group decided to go for was Sail by Awolnation which is within the electronic rock genre. The general concept of the video is based on a guy breaking a room in reverse as the song conveys anger. 

However as this song is very well known I will keep in mind other song that sound similar to Sail. As Luke may reject the idea as the song is too well known.