Website Influences

Before we started designing the flat plans for our own website we decided to look at some websites that we thought would influence our own. The titles link directly to the original websites.

Dog Is Dead

Landing Page

Home Page

As soon as you enter the website you are taken to a landing page which advertises their latest album, this is something we want to do on our own website.We liked the layout and the blue, white and black colour scheme of Dog Is Dead's website because it is simple and very effective, clearly connoting the indie genre. Every page has a similar look and layout which makes it synergistic and there are lots of pages for audiences to interact with. However, we did not like the blog-like layout of the homepage because having to scroll down is too linear and not interactive enough.

The 1975

Home Page

Links page

The homepage of the 1975's website has a blocky layout similar to websites such as Tumblr which is incredibly aesthetically pleasing. Each post is a photo or an update about the band which gives the audience a huge amount of content to interact with and share. The black and white aesthetic continues throughout the entire website and effectively connotes The 1975 as a moody, serious indie band. The links list is something that we really loved because it is so simple but incorporates the logos of various companies while keeping  the synergistic aesthetic of the whole site.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Home Page

Discography Page

The striking simplicity of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's website was something that we really liked. The home page has a focal image which is from the band's latest album although we didn't understand why it wasn't present on every page. The way the colour of the website changes as you hover over the menu bar is really nice aesthetically and is a way of getting the audience to interact with the website.

Dan Croll

Home Page

Live Dates Page

Dan Croll's website is very simple but is effective. It actually only has two pages a home page and one for live dates with links to external websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Promotion of his debut album is predominant and is the key focus of the page. It has a feed of Dan Croll's instagram photos, something we are keen to include in our own website.

We will definitely use these websites as influence when designing our own; from the layouts to how they have conveyed artist image.

Props

Our video is mostly prop based so we thought a lot about the props that we wanted and needed. Because the themes of the song are nostalgia, youth and coming-of-age we wanted our props to relate to that to add depth to our video.

Firstly, in our production meeting we brainstormed a list of props and made a note of our ideas on Gavin's iPhone. We continued this on our Facebook group and came up with an initial props list which we sorted into props that we had access to and props that we would need to buy. To stick with the nostalgic theme we came up with props that related to our childhoods in the 90s and the 00s.

A monopoly game from the 80s

Our notes on Gavin's iPhone

Our initial props list on the Facebook group

In our next production meeting we came up with a final shot list and sorted them in terms of scale. We did this because it would help us with our structure.

Our final props list

As the song progresses the scale of the props will get bigger so we split the song into four sections for: small, medium and large props and confetti and balloons. This will give us a guideline when creating our animatic.

Our song split up in terms of structure

Our next step was to source the props that we didn't have ourselves. The easiest way was to buy these online so we set about finding the props we wanted using websites such as amazon and ebay. Once we had found an item that we were happy with we copied the link into a word document and made a note of the price.

Our props notes

Once we had our final props word document we ordered them through the school so that they would arrive on time for the shoot.

Our final props word document

Production Meetings Summary - Week beginning 6th October

This week we had two meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. As usual we drew up our week's agenda and this week we completed everything on it. This week we focused on props, starting the shot list and website inspirations.

Our agenda for this week

I have detailed our props and our website influences in separate posts. Below are the notes that we made after looking through various artists websites that we liked.

Our notes on website

Production Meetings Summary - Week beginning 29th September

Below is the agenda that we created for this week's meetings. It gave us a guide of what we needed to have done by the end of the week. We had two group meetings, one on tuesday and another one on thursday.

Our Agenda

Lyrics

We looked at the lyrics of the song and found themes of nostalgia, coming-of-age and youth. We decided that we could use these themes in our video to guide our creative decisions and give the video another layer of meaning.

Progression

Feedback from our steal-o-matic told us that we needed to have some kind of structure in our music video. We decided that our video didn't suit a narrative as that would make it too complex and a bit convoluted. As a result we chose to progress our video visually by:

Changing outfits depending on the setup - Each band member would have a different costume for the performance setup, the props setups and the confetti shots.

Pacing the editing - As the video progresses the editing will become faster paced.

Increasing the scale of the props - We categorised our props by scale ie. small, medium and large, and decided to start with smaller props and end with the largest props.

Changing background colour - to provide some variation we are going to change the colour of the cyclorama in the studio.

Our notes on progression

Set-ups

Because we weren't yet ready to start planning specific shots we decided to do a rough outline of our setups.For the performance we want to change the colour of the background and cut between different colours, have amps in the background and have CUs and Master Shots.For the props setups we want the set to be empty and shoot master shots and close ups.We then thought about our miscellaneous setups which are yet to be decided.

Our notes on set-ups

Band Image

When deciding on our band image we first looked at the whole band's image then each individual member.

Whole Band - We wanted the band's personality to come across in all media of them and for the image to match the music. Therefore we decided that the band would be playful, fun, happy and all friends. Because of the themes of the song we wanted them to be youthful too.

For individual band members we wanted to choose images that were similar to their personalities so it would be easier to project those images on camera.

Kayvon - Kayvon is the Lead Vocalist and Guitarist of the band so we wanted to connote him as the leader. He is the most confident but is modest and also cool.

Gavin - Gavin is the Joker of the group so he is funny and relaxed. We felt that this would suit Gavin.

Alice - As the only female member of the group we wanted to make her aspirational. Because this is an indie band her image needed to fit with that so she is tomboyish, quirky and chilled.

Our notes on Band Image

Costumes

Having decided on our band image we chose the costumes for each band member. We came up with a few options of outfits that we liked and had access to. We wanted to go for costumes that were conventionally indie and took influence from artists such as Dan Croll, George Ezra and Daughter.

George Ezra

Dan Croll

The props setups (fun bits) will be a bit more relaxed than the performance shots to provide some contrast and variation in our video. By making the props setups costumes more relaxed it will help to connote the band's playful image.We decided that Kayvon would always be more dressed up than the other two to connote him as the leader of the band. For example in the props setups he will be wearing a t-shirt with an unbuttoned shirt over the top but Gavin and Alice will just be wearing t-shirts.

Our notes on costume

Overall this was a very successful week for production meetings.

Steal-o-matic

Our idea for our music video is to have a three-piece indie band, performing and messing around with props in a pastel-coloured lit studio. This steal-o-matic is a collection of our influences that we want to use for our music video, the text explains the certain aspects of clips that we would like to use. We only used text on clips that are open to interpretation i.e. they have aspects that have not influenced us.

To make the steal-o-matic, the group first decided on the media texts that we would use. We made a youtube playlist of 13 videos which we then downloaded using Keepvid.com, a website that allows you to download videos of off youtube in HD. As I have done a lot of montage editing and had free time I did the bulk of the editing, the rest of the group also did editing in their free time; we used Adobe Premiere Pro.

This is the youtube playlist that we made of our influences:

Our Artist

notes from our meeting

As a group we decided that we wanted a three-piece band, made up of two males and a female.


Initially, our idea for the band was to have Kayvon as the lead singer and guitarist, Josh (another media student) as the Bassist and Gavin on drums. However, on reflection we realised that this was very generic and did not break any kind of conventions, which was something that we wanted to do. All-male bands are very common in the indie genre.

All-male indie band Vampire Weekend

All-male indie band Dog Is Dead

After consideration we decided to switch Josh with Alice and have a female bassist. This would break the conventions of the indie genre and give us a USP which we could market to a wider audience; A female bassist will be aspirational for female indie fans. Also because all three of our band members are in our production group it makes scheduling that much easier and means we have a reliable cast.

Our Chosen Track

The Track:



The track that we have chosen is 'Talk Through The Night' by indie band Dog Is Dead, it was released in 2012 on their debut album 'All Our Favourite Stories'. The song is melodic, light and upbeat achieved through instruments (such as the electric guitar), major chords and harmonies. Through its sound and lyrics the song connotes feelings of nostalgia, growing up and friendship which is something that we hope to reflect in our own music video.

Some of the lyrics that connote nostalgia, growing up and friendship

The Band:

Dog Is Dead

The original artist are five-piece indie pop band from Nottingham: Dog Is Dead. The track is from their debut and to-date only full studio album. They have been together since 2009 and since then have released 3 EPs and 1 Album, been played on Radio 1 and Radio 6 Music, supported artists such as Two Door Cinema Club and OK Go and played at various UK Music festivals including Glastonbury, Reading and Latitude.


Copyright and Permission:

On looking at Dog Is Dead's SoundCloud page we found that the song is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence which means we can use it for our video  as long as we give 'appropriate credit' to Dog Is Dead as the original artist.

This is under the track on Dog Is Dead's SoundCloud page

The official terms and definition of a Creative Commons Licence

Choosing the Track:

Before deciding on this track we went through all of our group's blogs and made a longlist of the songs that we thought were suitable. We narrowed down this longlist into shortlist using a set of criteria:

A checklist of the criteria we used to select our song

Our final four songs were:

Always Like This - Dan Croll

We liked the energy of this song and we thought that it would really suit the light and playful image that we wanted to have for the band. It was also close to 3 minutes but not everyone in the group liked it so we didn't choose it.

Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club

We liked how upbeat and indie pop this song was but it didn't have the right amount of energy to suit our artist's image.

Take It As It Comes - J.Roddy Walston & The Business

We liked the beat and the sound of this song but we thought that it was a bit too heavy for what we were looking for. We didn't think our idea would fit with this song.

Talk Through The Night - Dog Is Dead

We eventually chose this song because it met all of our criteria.

The whole group is happy with this song choice and we think that we can make a successful music video for it.

Record Label

Having researched both major and independent record labels, we decided to create our own UK independent record label called 'Alma Gavon Records', which would be part of Beggars Group.

Alma Gavon Records:

Alma Gavon Records is based in East London and specialises in new and up-and-coming indie and alternative bands and artists. They believe in giving new bands the opportunity to establish a position in the industry while developing their brand, music and fan base.

Notes from our meeting

Because we mainly represent indie and alternative bands, we would represent artists such as Lewis Watson, Dan Croll, Daughter and Dog Is Dead.

Daughter

Dan Croll

The Beggars Group:

The Beggars Group is one of the largest groups of independent labels in the world. It is an independent record company consisting of 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade and XL Recordings; We intend for Alma Gavon Records to go alongside these four labels.

Logo:

The name Alma Gavon Records came from our AS Coursework, where our production company was named Alma Gavon Studios. We intend to have a similar logo but instead of a sword and shield the character will have a vinyl record because it is a record company.

The logo for our AS film production company

Our Audience

Notes from our meeting

Core Audience:

As a group we decided that our core audience would be indie fans of all ages. We realised that by not specifying an age for our primary audience we would extend our appeal and give ourselves a wider reach. Our group is also part of the core audience so we felt it would be easier when marketing our Artist.

Visual representation of indie fans

Secondary Audience:

We decided to be more specific with our secondary audience and target UK 16-24 year old males and females. Indie music is a popular genre among this age group and this is not gender specific; it is also listened to by 16-24 year olds who are not indie fans. Our band is British so that's why we made it UK specific.

Visual representations of 16-24 year olds

Production Meetings Summary - Week beginning 22nd September

This week we had production meetings on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes and Tuesday after school. During these meetings we discussed our ideas and came up with solid ideas for our four key decisions:

1. Our Audience:

We looked at the UK audience and the current trends in UK music with questions such as: Which audience group is reachable and commercially viable? What needs and gratifications will our audience needs satisfying? From this we considered gaps in the market and a genre that would suit our group.

2. Our Record Label:

We researched various independent record labels and looked at the kind of values they had and the artists that they represented. We modelled our record label on record labels that we liked because of their images and their artists.

3. Our Chosen track:

To choose our track we looked through the group's individual blogs and made a shortlist of songs from our suggested tracks. We narrowed this list down until we had chosen a final song.

4. Our Artist:

After choosing our track, we chose a band that looked like it could realistically be performing the song. We considered typical representations in our genre.

This is a notes sheet from one of our meetings