Above is the animatic for my music video, from looking at Kings of Leon's video I liked the close up shots of the instruments played as it shows the indie rock genre and band persona- individual shots of the members of the band.
What's more the use of close ups of the lead Singer Tamara represents a typical indie rock style girl and represents as she is the main focus in the band - like Blondie and Paramore.
The use of the shots of the photographs reflects the lyrics of the song - reflecting "memories" and a past relationship.
Mood band for the various photographs I took of the band, they are in a variety of settings, such as the living room where I filmed the band performing, an action shot of the lead singer Tamara singing, outside on the street to show realism (and this being typical of indie band album covers from research).
Tamara is the lead singer of the band. Her "original" image is a indie rock girl with "attitude"
Her favourite type of music is indie/rock such as Kate Nash, Maccabees, but also loves her emo/punk such as youmeatsix.
Jessica- Bass
Jessica is the bassist of the band, with a more rock image (for example her skull ring) to feature more of a variety in the band.
Joe & Kris- Guitar
Joe and Kris are the two guitarists of the band. Both indie image reflecting their clothes of the vintage fashion. Joe is the character for my narrative as well, I included Tamara and Joe for the narrative to song more of the band and to represent the band in the video.
Charlie- Drums
Charlie is the "cool" drummer in the band, mostly with his hood up he compliments Joe and Kris as he is the indie and rock combination.
Settings: Band playing in a house & Tamara and Joe outside- -(park) & Tamara in her Bedroom -Set in daytime for memories -sunshine. The band will have soft lighting.
Theme: The Band is playing just in their house, as a more "down to earth" indie band. The shots of Tamara and Joe are contrasted, some show happy "memories" of the two together, others show argument and tension (to be in line with the song) and others show Tamara on her own singing.
Social Realism is the main focus on the video, hence the domesticated settings. Variety of shots; zoom ins on instruments played, Tamara singing etc.
Audience- Teenagers of the indie rock class, therefore, the idea of Tamara and Joe "breaking up" from a relationship relates to my audience.
Costumes: The band will compliment eachother, some rock, indie and some a combination.
Props: Guitars, microphone, drums, Bass. Photographs of Tamara and Joe.
Here are a few bands I have began to explore that are similiar to my chosen band. For my digi pack I am researching bands like these, their "band image" and style.
Blondie
Blondie, although not a contemporary band, has the image that is similiar to my band. I focused on bands in which have a female main singer, backed by a male band. The image of Blondie creates the main focus of the singer.
CSS
CSS is a Brazilianrock band. The band was labeled as part of the explosion of the New Rave scene. Their songs are in both English and Portuguese. CSS is an abbreviation for Cansei de Ser Sexy literally "got tired of being sexy" in Portuguese. The band is a mixture of males and females and has an individual style.
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp is an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals/synthesizer) and Will Gregory (synthesizer). The duo has had nenowned success for their electronic indie sound, it focuses most on Alison (the singer) for representing Goldfrapp and the image.
Noah and the whale and Laura Marling.
Noah and the Whale are an EnglishIndie folk band from Twickenham, London, England formed in 2006. Their most famous song was combined with Laura Marling "5 Years Time" their folk combined with indie sound.
Singer-songwriter John Mayer had praised Williams' voice in a blog in October 2007, calling her "The great orange hope"; "orange" in reference to her hair colour.
Due to the female fronted aspect of the band, Paramore has gained comparisons to Kelly Clarkson and the aforementioned Avril Lavigne, to which one reviewer said was "sorely unfounded."[79][80] Reviewer Jonathan Bradley noted that "Paramore attacks its music with infectious enthusiasm."
Pixies
The Pixies are an American alternative rock band that formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986. The group consists of Black Francis (vocals, guitar), Joey Santiago (guitar), Kim Deal (bass guitar, vocals), and David Lovering (drums). While the Pixies found only modest success in their home country, they were significantly more successful in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, although never achieving prolonged mainstream success with their studio albums. The group disbanded in 1993 in acrimonious circumstances but reunited in 2004.
The band's style of music contains elements including indie rock and surf rock. Francis is the Pixies' primary songwriter and singer who has been noted for his yowling delivery. He has typically written about offbeat subjects, such as extraterrestrials, surrealism and Biblical violence.
The group has been described as a big influence on the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, though they disbanded before reaping any of the benefits this might have brought them.
Above is my animatic for "Charmer" by Kings of Leon. Alongside the official video.
I chose this particular video as my research is based on the indie rock genre of artists. My chosen artist is a band therefore for inspiration I decided to analyse certain band based music videos.
My animation displays 60 shots similar to the music video for Charmer by Kings Of Leon. I chose my animatic to be a band as I have chosen to research into the indie rock bands for my music video research. Kings of Leon display a strong band image; the grunge rock'n'roll. In the official music video the purpose is to represent purely the band, focusing on Kings of Leon instead of what the song is about.
In the video there are various shots used which I will consider using in my music video. Closeups of the band members playing the instruments in prominent throughout the video, for example at the bass solo, there is a a close up of Jared Followill's hand playing his bass guitar. What's more there are also use of high camera angles giving the video and band an edgy image. The use of panning in and out emphasize the focus on the band and their performance.
Charmer is a band based video therefore the band and their performance dominate the music video. What's more Charmer represents the band instead of concentrating on the lyrics and narrative. The mise en scene is in a hall of some type with red curtains (as shown as the start of the video) thus showing their performance on stage.
There are a variety of shots in the video; these include;
Close ups of the singer, Kaleb, panning shots showing the whole of the band.
A variety of angles and direction of camera are used such as high angle low angle and tilts. This gives the video variety and engages the viewer.
Long shots of the band performing to show setting and band persona
Close ups of the instruments being played
Medium shots of the band members individually performing to show band representation.
Pan out of the band to show them altogether, showing their clothing representing the indie rock genre.
Stay Together for the Kids - Blink 182 (original video)
The band originally started filming for the music video on September 10th 2001, however, due to the September 11 bombings both the band and the director Samuel Bayer opted to reshoot the video as the original idea was to film in a house in which had been knocked down, however this seemed too similiar to the New York bombings of the twin towers. Therefore, they shot several weeks later in a house that did not appear as it was falling down as it seemed less disrespectful.
I was instantly intruiged by this video, in comparison to their remake, this first video is more related to the song and the band. The first shot (before the song begins) is a black screen with the words "50 percent of American Households are destroyed by divorce", thus an instant relation to the song and also to real life, suggesting social realism. What's more many children, that are Blink 182's target audience, can relate to the theme of this video and song. Additionally, the use of words are used throughout the video, for example the several snap shots of graffitti, again relating to the song and mood of the song, and also the target audience.
There are several effective techniques in the video, the use of camera work is successful in both the genre and the type of song. The use of close ups on the guitars is in synch with the playing of the guitars throughout the song. What's more the use of the shake of the camera adds movement and beat to the video and reflects the music and again the mood of the song of destruction and anger. There are several panning shots which establish the band or the narrative alongside the setting of the video.
The setting also is effective, the destroyed and damaged house that the band are performing in emphasises the theme of the song and links with the lyrics. Furthermore, the band and the characters used in the video fit with the age range of the target audience and the "type" as it is "punkrock" genre.
Samuel Bayer was a graduate of New York City's School of visual Arts in 1987, in 1991, he moved to Los Angeles and became a popular director during the alternative rock era.
Bayer first launched his career with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” a landmark video which MTV has consistently rated as one of the most influential music videos ever made. His hands-on approach to filmmaking so clearly imprinted on his work, Bayer chooses to light, photograph and operate the camera on all his work.
In 2005 his video for Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” swept the MTV Music Awards, garnering seven Moon Men including Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Rock Video as well as the coveted Viewer’s Choice Award.In 2005, Bayer was also the recipient of the Kodak Lifetime Achievement Award for his work and Cinematography in music videos and was honored in 2006 by the Music Video Producers Association with his second Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2007 his video for Justin Timberlake’s “What Goes Around… Comes Around” ranked as iTunes fastest selling music video in history and went on to earn Bayer his second MTV Video Music Award for best director.
Other works of Bayer include:
Iron Maiden
The Charlatans
David Bowie
The Rolling Stones
Marilyn Manson
Blink 182
Aerosmith
Good Charlotte
My Chemical Romance
The Strokes
The Strokes - Heart In A Cage...
This video was shot in the heart of the busy New York City, it is shot in black and white and featured the band members playing in various locations in the city, such as on tall skyscrapers, or, in singer Julian Casablancas's case, the pavement etc. I really like this video (as the strokes are one of my favourite bands) but the idea behind the video. The various camera shots and angles are quirky and effective for example the shot of Julian (lead singer) on the pavement is a close up but on ground level. The contrast between the two ground shots and high raise building shots creates a great effect. What's more, this video clearly represents the band persona, with the use of black and white and the dress code, along with the guitars and instruments etc creates a indie vibe throughout the video. The references of the lyrics are often literally shown in the video for example the reference to the sun there is a shot of the guitarist with the sun rise in the background. Also, the lyrics reflect city life, therefore the use of the crowds rushing past the lead singer has an interesting take on the video, showing the typical New York City everyday.
The use of shots such as close ups and meduim shots of the instruments being played creates a very indie rock style in which this i will include in my own video. Also, the use of the high angle shot when the lead singer is lying on the floor- another consideration for my video- creating intermacy with the audience and singer.
Green Day -Boulevard Of Broken Dreams....
The award-winning music video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which was directed by Samuel Bayer, depicts the band members after their car has stalled in the desert, and they begin a melancholy walk down a dusty road. Scenes are interspersed with film footage, taken from around Los Angeles, of homeless people and other miserable sights. The video also features performance footage of the band playing the song in an abandoned warehouse.
The music videos for "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" were filmed with a single, continuous storyline — the video for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" picks up where "Holiday"'s left off, with the last few seconds of "Holiday" audible at the start of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video.
The video features a 1968 green Mercury Monterey convertible that was modified for filming in the "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" videos. The car features a hood ornament in the shape of the hand and heart grenade image from the American Idiot album cover, which was also used in the video for "Holiday". But the "iron fist" was actually used in the video for "Walking Contradiction", when the band members meet at a car towards the end of the video. The band's name is also on the front of the hood in silver letters. The band rode this car to the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.
As shown in an MTV Making the Video special, director Samuel Bayer used unorthodox techniques to achieve the aged look of the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" video, including using rear projection (as opposed to green screen) and physical damaging the negative: scratching the film with razor blades, pouring coffee on it, and smudging cigarettes on it.
The video of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2005, most notably for Video of the Year. It also won Best Group Video, Best Rock Video, Best Direction, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography.
Well I originally chose this indie rock band as I am into this sort of music, therefore my target audience would be young students (about 17-20's) like myself, my band most represents paramore meets arctic monkeys, therefore appeals to girls and boys that are into the whole indie fashion and genre. The band would no doubt play in a venue like Rock City (in Nottingham) not as "big" as bands such as Kasbian and Kings Of Leon, more in their early days!
Most of my peers are the main target audience for my band REDMANRED and are of the indie/rock style or interest.
Therefore I developed a short questionnaire to gather ideas together to ensure I meet the demands of my chosen target audience, here is an example of the questions I asked.
I received a lot of useful feedback from my questionnaires. Some included:
For Question 1:
Band style -clothing edgy and quirky
Vintage style
Diverse inspiration - collaraboration of mixed genres such as punk pop etc.
Low budget.
Individual, independent
For Question 2:
Kings of Leon - Bucket
Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker
Paramore
Kasbian
The Killers
For Question 3:
Elements in video include- costume- usual topshop/topman style
Part band performance and part narrative
Low budget music videos
Gritty/grainy
Visuals such as guitars, drums etc.
For Question 4:
Band performance in a quirky setting
Different/quirky editing
Band style/image that stands out
Concept throughout the video
Voyuerism?
For Question 5:
Majority wanted both
Some said pure band performance
Narrative- preferred if band was in the narrative.
