The Pitch

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B8hUVBlvod8vMDMyMTViODMtYzdhYi00MTBmLWExNGEtMzY1NjQ5NDBlMjE5&hl=en
Here is the powerpoint I used to assist with my pitch.


https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8hUVBlvod8vNjRmYTk4YjMtNmUxYi00NmU3LWEwYjktOWRkMGRmYWYwMzcy&hl=en

Here is the video of me performing my pitch

Intial Ideas

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8hUVBlvod8vYTYyNjNiZTAtZWZiZS00ODAxLTlkZGQtNTZiOTJiM2M4MGRj&hl=en

Here are my intial ideas for my music video.

Digipak

The Digipak is a style of CD or DVD packaging that was one of the first alternatives to Jewel Cases which is the most popular packaging for DVD's in recent years. It is made from paper board or card stock outer binding with one or more plastic trays which holds the CD or DVD inside. More recently manufacturers have began to use more environmental recycled components such as 100% post-consumer PET trays made from recycled bottles and for the board stock more sustainable materials. Katy Perry's album Teenage Dream was released in the US on a Digipak only basis. The digipack will be used to hold the music video for Bird Song as a part of a promo-pack for the song. Were using a digipak becauce its good for the environment and we can use recycled materials

Mise-en-scene

Due to the influence of our video for being on Paranormal Activities we are trying to keep to realism as much as possible so the styling of the set, clothing and characters should not be able to suprise or shock viewers of the video. To allow the audience of The Montagues to truly connect with the video the characters will be wearing an indie style of clothing mainly skinny jeans and a checked shirt for the male character and a loose fitting clothing style for the female character. The location of the narrative part of the music video will be set in a typical middle class home, one that would not look out of a place or too unrealistic when the audience watch. In my target research it shows that many of the readers of Kerrang and Q magazine were middle class and research outside Montagues gigs showed many of the fans to be middle class so the home shall reflect an average middle class household. The fact that there is nothing out of the ordinary with the household is juxtaposed with the obscure events that happen throughtout the course of the video, emphasising how strange the happenings are, giving the audience an opportunity to focus in and engage with the video more as they try and work out what are the reasons behind the weird occurances. The location for the band part of the music video is set in an abadoned school, to reflect the lyrics of the song and the band and actors themselves being in their late teens. The lyrics in Bird Song are a love song describing how the two lovers met at school "We met in a class of 24" so to make a further link between song and video and keeping with the theme of the paranormal it only seems reasonable to have it set in an abadoned school building. The band wear indie/ rocker clothing with skinny jeans, messy hair and retro shirts to keep with the target audience they represent. The size of the drum kit is also important as it was a lot larger it would invoke more of a metal audience something that the Montagues do not aim for.

Video Analysis

To assist me with the creation of my music video I will look at other music videos in the same genre as my artist to see how they use the narrative and the representation of the videos to appeal to their target audience. The first video I am going to analyse is Everlong by Foo Fighters. The artist is an inspiration for The Montagues and by analysing themes from this music video it will help to inspire a video that fans of the Foo Fighters will be able to relate to musically and visually. The video is a surreal and comical look into the world of horror films that were present around the 90's. This genre of film was very popular with the 18-24 age group that both Foo Fighters and The Montagues target so by creating a music video satirising this, it is more likely to appeal to this audience. The music video was met by critical acclaim from critics due to its blue lense which sets a creepy atmosphere that is juxtaposed with Micheal Gondry (the directors) humour. The popular culture references are dominant throughout with extras being dressed similarly to punk icons such as Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten.

The way that the members of the band all play characters in the video adds to the videos success. Other films referenced include The Evil Dead and Goldilocks. The change in lense colour from a dark blue in the some of the dream sequences and an orange lense for the dream within a dream and is filmed in black and white for the "real" sequences makes it flow simpler and easier to understand.

The use of the dissolve between scenes helps to emphasise the change between what is real and what is a dream. The video is reflective overall of the song about the male character being there no matter what for the female character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyvvCuIHrJw&ob=av2n .
The second video I am going to analyse is Biffy Clyro's The Captain another band who are a large influence for The Montagues. Again this video shows all the bands members playing characters and is the bands highest budget music video yet. It again derives its influence from film, this time in the pirate movie genre containing references from Treasure Island and Pirates Of The Carribean. The video has more of an emphasis on the music rather than the video. The video again was again very well recieved and won best video at both the Kerrang and the NME awards in 2010. The band are represented as striving for power as the lead singer is longing to get free from his prison on the ship while the rest of the band look to overthrow their royal navy captors a possible reference for Biffy Clyros determination to keep creative control over their music from their record label

Audiences can relate to the music video from most teenagers longing to be free which has been touched upon in films like Quadrophenia and more recently in the Twilight Saga. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Evn9MiIuqM

Target Audience Of Band

The target audience of The Montagues is generally between those of 15-24 years old of both gender due to those being 90% of those attending at gigs being of that demographic. This age group has always been seen as the age group with the most disposable income, so creating a music video for a band with this target audience is more likely to be an economic success. Looking at the UK singles chart from the 26th of September 2010 there are 13 bands of a similar genre to The Montagues in the top 40, so that also gives a good basis to push on with as it shows that there is an interest in this type of music in mainstream music at the moment






This is also emphasised by the fact that there are 4 artists of a similar genre in the top 20 in the US Billboard hot 100 showing that could also lead to success in America for similar reasons. One of the bands The Montagues are compared to musically are the Foo Fighters and on their Facebook page on the 28th of September 2010 they have 2,484,943 fans which only accounts for people who have made an effort to say they are fans of them which is an incredible amount.








Looking up at statistics of the people in Britain who fall in to a category of between 18 and 24 from the Office of National Statics from the census taken in 2001 out of the 59,756,000 people in Britain those between 18 and 24 come to about 7,247,000 of those which is about 12.1% showing that there is quite a large target audience to aim at.








Of course this will be reduced by the amount who actually listen to the specified indie-rock genre but this is still a large proportion of this percentage.

Introduction

My task is to create a music video for my A2 Media coursework. I will take a look into the target audience for the artist I choose and to assist in the creation of my music video I will look into and anaylise other music videos in the same genre. The task is a devolopment of my previous coursework in which I created a music video magazine using InDesign and Photoshop. Here is a link to my A/S media coursework.
http://asmediacourseworkmaintasknathanbloss.blogspot.com/

Permission

Due to "Bird Song" being written by myself as well the other members in The Perceptionists, there is less of a need for permission to be asked as copywriting is in my name. However I have asked the other members of my band by email to check that they're fine for me to create a music video for our song. Here is the email copied and pasted onto my blog.


Hey

For my A level Media Project I need to create a music video for any song that doesn't already have one. So I was wondering if you all didn't mind me creating one for Bird Song as it was killing two birds with one stone considering its a good song to create a music video and will hopefully help me get a good grade in this project and will give us so much wanted advertisement and means to expand yourselves on such means as YouTube.

Cheers Nathan.


Copyright is important in the music industry as it can prevent music being copied without royalties having to be paid. For example before "Bird Song" was copyrighted it could have been easily stolen by another band and put forward as their own and there would have been nothing we could do about it. Copyrighting allows bands to recieve royalties for a song being covered or played on the radio. It also means a name of a song can be disputed if it has the same name although this is an uncommon occurance. Lyrics of a song also come under the copyright law as a recent example of this is an expected court battle between The Beach Boys and Katy Perry over a similar like in Katy Perry's song "California Gurls".

Song Choice

The song I have chosen to create a music video is called "Bird Song" and it is written by my own band called The Perceptionists formally known as The Montagues. The song has been a popular favourite around the local area so it makes sense for a music video to be created for it. Another reason for this choice is that no-one will can fully understand a song like the writer of it, so this can create an opportunity to create more of a synchronised message between song and video compared to that of a director who has only a song a few times and has not understood the songs meaning. The traditional love song values of the song and the in depth story in the lyrics will allow the same story to be told in the music video but allowing the story to be told through sight as well as sound. Musically the song's constant change and dynamics, pace and intensity allow an arty music video to be created and allow it to attempt to stray away from a cliche pop love song. The other songs we were thinking of creating music videos for were "Falling For You" by Busted or "Ghosts" by Florence And The Machine. These songs were rejected as it would have been difficult to write as interesting a music video with the generic lyrics given and straying too far away from the story told by the song would create an oxymoron that would be unlikely to work. "Ghosts" was rejected as due to the arty style of the song it would require a really imaginative, exciting video with over the top costumes which would be difficult to create on a limited budget.

Here are the lyrics to "Bird Song" by The Perceptionists.


We met in a class of 24,
As you walked in through that door,
Your stone cold icy jaw,
it dropped straight to the floor

And you've got all your twisted ways
But you are getting me through the days
You are my mother nature
Determining the way I feel.

Exploring Music Video

The music video for Queens Bohemian Rhapsody is considered by many to be the first music video. Created in 1975 as a promo for the song, that was sent in to top of the pops due to its complexity and as it "would be embarrasing to perform live". The video has caused Queens hit to be placed at number twice in 1975 and in 1991 placing 31 weeks at the top of the charts and with a budget of only £3000 it was truly a magnificent feat. The use of camera filters gave the video a space age look whilst recreating the choir look from the front cover of Queen 2. The song and video have been parodied many times, most notably in the film Wayne's World (which caused the song to rise to the number 1 spot again in 1991) and by The Muppets in 2009.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vxc2eztpn0&ob=av2e

The video for Fatboy Slims Praise You was directed and performed by Spike Jonze and other amatuer dancers. The video was taken in 1 and a half takes (due to being stopped half way through) and filmed on 8 handheld cameras to give it an even more unprofessional look. It takes place outside a cinema and involves Spike Jonze and others performing an alternative dance outside of a cinema. The budget for the music video which was created in 1999 was incredibly low.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ulvqoneeze

The music video for Lady Gaga's Telephone was one of the most anticipated music videos since Micheal Jackson's Thriller with pop singers Beyonce, Tyrese Gibson and rock band Semi Precious Weapons all making cameos in the video. The video directed by controversial music video mastermind Jonas Akerlund who previously had made the exciting video for The Prodigy's Smack My Bitch up and Lady Gaga's Papparazi. Filming begin on January the 28th 2010 and was released a month later on March the 11th 2010 and premiered on Vevo.com. The video continues on from Paparazi and pays homage to Quentin Tarintino with the Pussy Wagon being a major reference. The video was critically acclaimed by critics and fans and recieved three nominations at the MTV music awards for best choreography, best collaboration and video of the year.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=evbsyphzf3u

In 2007 the video for Long Road To Ruin by Foo Fighters helped "The Foos" achieve big success in the UK and US allowing it to enter the UK singles chart, the US billboard top 100 and the US billboard hot mainstream rock tracks and causing it to top the UK rock chart and the US billboard hot modern rock tracks. The video is essentially a spoof towards the popular hospital soaps that were around in the 1970s all the members of the band appear in the video portraying actors playing characters, basically a show with-in a show. In order to avoid confusion to as what is part of the hospital soap and not a brown vintage style lense is used to portray the hospital drama whilst the real world is shown with a normal lense.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9xiobb4yqm&ob=av2e