Primary Research - Questionnaire Analysis

We asked a questionnaire to seven students in our class, who are aged between 17 to 19 and we asked the following questions:

1. Have you ever heard of Noah and The Whale?
   
2. What type of music do you like to listen to?
   
3. Which do you like better: a Music Promotional Video with a Narrative or Performance?
   
4. Do you like music with Lyrics or without Lyrics?
   
5. Would you watch the Video of a song even if you didn’t like the song?

From the first question the results were interesting as a lot of people have heard of Noah and the Whale; out of the seven, six people have heard of them. This is good, in a way, because it means that these students have an idea of what type of genre Noah and the Whale play, but at the same time it is bad as these students can compare our Music Promotional Video with the original, official Video that Noah and the Whale had created.

In the music world, there is a variety of different types of Genre for music, but the main types of Genres are: Metal, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Pop, Trance, Country, Folk (and nu-folk, where Noah and the Whale sits), Indie (Noah and the Whale are also an Indie band), and Classical. A lot of these students prefer many different types of Genres rather than sticking to just one Genre. There is a joint top for the most popular Genre of music in the answers to the Questionnaire which we had distributed. These are: Metal, Rock, R&B, Hip-Hop, and Pop. This isn’t a good result for our group as the Genres of music where Noah and the Whale like to perform in are Indie and Folk music Genres, which the students have not even included in their favourite types of music.

Because our Video contains only a narrative, we were interested in what people prefer in a music video. The choices we provided as answers for this question were either a “Performance-based Video”, or a “Narrative-based Video”. The result of this question resulted in an equal split between the two options, which is good to know because a lot of the students had chosen both. However, this is a good result for our group, as we now know that it is not that important to have any Performance and no one will be disappointed. If we were creating a Video for a Rock band, like AC/DC, then maybe we would have had to include some Performance.

In the fourth question, we asked do they like lyrics in a song or not in relation to Question 2, where we asked what Genre(s) of music they prefer. Because some people in our class are actually creating a Video for a song without lyrics, it seemed a relevant and important question to ask. This question related to Question 2 - what type of music people like to listen to, making a selection from those Genre’s of music that we provided as optional answers. Most of those Genres usually have lyrics in the songs, apart from “trance”. This is good for our group as we have lyrics in our song, “5 Years Time”. Also, lyrics are good for a Music Promotional Video as it can provide a Narrative which the audience can follow, rather than a Video without lyrics, because then the Promotional Video can follow the beat of the music rather than the lyrics of the song.

The last question we asked whether or not they would watch the video to a song even if they didn’t like the song. We wanted to know the answer to this because it is useful to know if any of the [asked] students would actually be interested in looking up Noah and the Whale. Unfortunately, the results of this question showed that people prefer to watch a Promotional Video for a song that they actually like. Students who didn’t mind watching a Video if they didn’t like the song only said that they would watch the Video for reasons to do with “Research”. I think that this is a true point - if you like a song a lot, most people want to see how the band have managed to create an image for it on screen (on television or on the Internet via a website such as YouTube).

Considering the results and answers collected from our research via this questionnaire, we think that our group is on the right path of knowing how to capture this audience, but at the same time we know that the down side of creating a video for this particular song is that no one in our class listens to or enjoys Indie or Folk music, which might put our fellow students off from watching our Music Promotional Video.

Primary Research - Feedback from A2 Media Class

Josh:

After finalising our idea we were required to pitch our ideas to the rest of our A Level group by telling them a brief version of the synopsis and treatment as well as playing them our song. It seemed that most of the group were not great fans of the song as it was "too happy and upbeat" which suggests that this section of our age group prefers a darker and more sombre melody to a typical Noah and the Whale tune. They did however express positive feedback for our narrative which involves the end of a relationship possibly because of the death of the girl involved. Although some of the group did express slight concerns that the song was not appropiate for the story and that the melancholic undertones would be subdued by the 'jolly' nature of the song but we countered this by saying that we are aiming for a 'bittersweet' tone which highlights the contrast between the good times and the bad in the relationship hence showing clearly the tragedy of these snippets of a broken heart. Our tutor meanwhile indicated support for our idea and was passionate about the themes we were looking to explore. Finally one problem we may have is that as we are using an established band our audience may already have prejudices which could dissuade them from liking our pop promo which would not be a problem for other groups who are using local bands that they know personally who are unknown to the vast majority of people.

Me: (This is the exact feedback, jotted down when spoken by other students):

• Maybe try to have the narrative in relation to the lyrics, not a sad story for a happy cheerful song, but could add sadder bits (car crashes etc.) near to end.
  
• Don’t bother with Action Man & Barbie dolls in the video - maybe just one shot (photograph) of them together, then not at all after this!
  
• May need a Hollywood ending, but the video itself needs more of a conclusion.
  
• The song is too literal, so maybe having a sad dark story with happy flashbacks may contradict the song/video relationship.

Group Idea: Synopsis for "5 Years Time" by Noah and the Whale

Synopsis
Song: "5 Years Time" by Noah and the Whale

This pop promo will be about a man remembering good times with his girlfriend. It involves two time scales, one when the couple are both happy together and the other when the relationship is over. This section will have a more melancholic tone. We will then reveal that his girlfriend is actually dead and he has been remembering some of their last moments together, some of which will be of them arguing. The video is about the man overcoming his grief.

We start at the docks for our first location with a high angle shot of the sun. At first we focus on the man wandering about aimlessly by the water’s edge and then sitting down and dangling his legs over the edge. We then cut to the two of them in the same location but at a different time after the man sees her reflection in the water. They seem happy and contented. During the instrumental chorus we cut rapidly between the two time periods to highlight the contrast of feelings.

For the next location we will be at Christchurch Park and we will witness the man making his way through a wooded area with the looming trees adding a hint of gloom in the promo’s tone. He will emerge and find himself looking on at an empty tennis court. We will then cut to the two of them playing in the tennis court beginning to have a slight disagreement. The girl will hit a ball away in anger and it will be picked up by the man in the next time scale. During the instrumental chorus we will once again cut rapidly between the time scales highlighting the contrast.

During the final trumpet section we will see the man lying on an empty road alone. We will then cut to the other time narrative to view the couple having a big argument which culminates in her walking away. Our final shot is of the man lying hopelessly in the road and then the girl appears above him but when he blinks she disappears.

Rundown of Lyrics - "5 Years Time", by Emily Swager

http://snc-a2media09-eswager.blogspot.com/2009/11/idea-for-noah-and-whale-5-years-time.html

Emily Swager, one of our group members, typed up this simple document, with the lyrics of our song "5 Years Time" and alongside these lyrics are notes regarding camera footage, which I shall cover in my Cinematography Treatment. These were our ideas at the start, lyrics are in black and camera notes are in Italics and in red. I got this from her Blog, the URL address for this specific 'Post' is above!
___________________________________________________________________

(At the docks by himself sitting down looking at his legs looks sad - first 38secs)

Oh well in five years time we
could be walking round a zoo (high angle shot in park (establishing) to point of view in docks, walking around happy)
With the sun shining down over me and you
And there’ll be love in the bodies of the elephants too
And I’ll put my hands over your eyes, but you’ll peep through

(Rapidly cuts between two different time frames)

And there’ll be sun sun sun (them happy in the docks)
All over our bodies
And sun sun sun (switching back to him walking alone at the docks)
All down our necks
And sun sun sun (happy couple)
All over our faces
And sun sun sun (him alone)
So what the heck

Cos I’ll be laughing at all your
silly little jokes (This is set in the park playing tennis)
And we’ll be laughing about how we used to smoke
All those stupid little cigarettes, and drink stupid wine
Cos it’s what we needed to have a good time
And it was fun fun fun
When we were drinking (them happy playing tennis ball bounces then cuts to him alone)

It was fun fun fun
When we were drunk (him staring into the tennis court)
And it was fun fun fun
When we were laughing (ball bounces back to them laughing playing tennis)
It was fun fun fun
Oh it was fun (then him staring into tennis courts but we shoot him through the gate)

Oh well I look at you and say (Them playing hide and seek near the tree him hiding behind the tree)
It’s the happiest that I’ve ever been
And I’ll say I no longer feel I have to be James Dean
And she’ll say (Them running down hill happy)
Yeah well I feel all pretty happy too
And I’m always pretty happy when I’m just kicking back with you
And it’ll be (Them happy playing still running up hill)
Love love love

All through our bodies (cuts when he goes behind tree and turns)
around and cuts to him alone near the tree
And love love love
All through our minds (happy)

And it be Love love love
All over her face (sad)
And Love love love
All over mine (sad)

Although maybe all these moments are just in my head (him lying in the road remembering times)
I’ll be thinking ‘bout them as I’m lying in bed
And all that I believe might never really come true (she walks across but like a ghost and he sees her but she just vanishes)
But in my mind I’m havin’ a pretty good time with you

Oh, In Five years time (Them in the road and they are fighting)
I might not know you
In Five years time
We might not speak
Oh, In five years time
We might not get along
In five years time,
You might just prove me wrong (we see her just vanish)

Oh there’ll be love love love (during this time is the different places that they were together: Christchurch Park, Docks - Ipswich Waterfront, and the street) of them just being happy)
Wherever you go
There’ll be love love love
Wherever you go
There’ll be love love love
Wherever you go
There’ll be love love love (by this bit you see him near the tree in Christchurch Park and him alone)
Wherever you go
There’ll be love love love
Wherever you go
There’ll be love love love
Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love (this bit he scatteres ashes and we get a still shot (?) of the ashes coming out of the jar).

Group Production Meetings: More Decisions

During the most recent group production meeting, we collaborated our ideas and created a Group Synopsis and Treatment. The Group Treatment would include the Treatment of each group member's position (Josh is Producer and Editor, Emily is Art Director and in charge of Mise-En-Scene, and I am Director/Cinematographer/Co-Editor).

After compromising because of our conflicts in song ideas, we decided to use the song Blue Skies instead of 5 Years Time (both songs by Noah and the Whale) as the song seemed better suited to our ideas for the Synopsis, where 5 Years Time was more of a happy, jolly song.

Of course, where I became Chief Editor last year, since our Editor (not Josh!) wasn't confident enough to actually "Edit" our video, Josh's role this year as Producer has been combined with the role as Chief Editor, and to remain in "touch" with Editing and the Post-Production process, I have opted to be Co-Editor, even though my role as Director/Cinematographer doesn't actually combine this role.

Originally, Josh and I had ideas of using David Bowie's song Life On Mars?, and when he sings about the "girl with the mousy hair" we automatically saw the perfect choice of actress - Emily Halls, a girl who we re friendly with, who is in our English lectures. She had agreed, at the time, to act in our video, and still is willing to give up some of her study time to act in our video.

As my acting in front of the camera was so terrible last year, we decided it only be the right decision to give me the acting role this year, for two reasons: to further improve my acting skills (I'm better at drama and action than happiness or anything else), and for the pleasure of laughing at me during post-production. Just like we did last year, when, in the Outtakes video that I created during my spare time, the clip where I run up the hill in Alexandra Park - the bit which took seven takes to get perfect, as every time I ran up I slipped, fell, and either avoided or bathed in the mud that was gradually getting deeper on the small hill. It was pure error, and not for the fun of it, as I remember well the washing up I had to do that same evening.

The group synopsis was typed-up by our Producer/Editor Josh, whose job it is to make sure the final Group Synopsis is a collaboration of each group member's Synopsis ideas. Therefore, as with last year, I have linked to Josh's Blog (above) where he has typed -up the Group Synopsis; he also sent a copy to me to post onto my Blog, which was the Group Synopsis (above) - our final collaboration of ideas before filming the actual video.

Develop individual ideas for Package: PP, CD, AD

When we were originally doing “5 Years Time” as the song for our Music Promotional Video, I started to look at how Noah and the Whale had promoted this song and the album on which it was published, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, and how the band had been marketed on posters and music videos made by the band. I analysed three music videos created by Noah and the Whale, one for 5 Years Time, one for the song which we were going to do as a replacement - Blue Skies, and the video for the song Shape of my Heart.

Once I had completed this analysis I was aware of how the band has been marketed and how they market themselves, and with my group I was able to discuss the possible options for the structure of our narrative. Then I went on to analyse the album covers for the two albums Noah and the Whale have released - Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, and The First Days of Spring. I also analysed the covers for the e-single of 5 Years Time and that of the newly-decided song to use for our Music Promotional Video, Blue Skies.

The band’s debut album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, the picture to the left (the purple one), looks like it has been drawn by hand and is a painting of what the artist (the person who designed the album cover, not the musician) sees in the music. It also reminds me of the 1980s and modern-day cartoons and television programmes such as South Park (even though I don’t really watch it), and is just a simple drawing, in similar ways to which the music is also simple. The Single-Cover for “5 Years Time” (the yellow one in the middle) incorporates some of the features and colours of the album from which it originated, but has these details inside the shape of the number ‘5’. Where their first album cover has a tree and what looks to be someone’s house inside a tree and a man and a woman sitting outside in the garden, and a strange grey thing with legs behind the woman (I’m assuming it’s a monster of some kind, or even a ghost - since it’s grey), and high contrast colours instead of normal world colours, the cover for the Single CD of “5 Years Time” seems to have the same drawings in the tree except inside the shape of a ‘5’ with a plain yellow background. The logo is the same on the Single CD Cover as it is on the Album CD Cover, only a different colour (blue on Single, yellow on Album) since the song is from that album and the band is keeping their corporate image going (just like a brand logo such as Coca-Cola).

A step into the modern world, their new 2009 album The First Days of Spring (the album cover second from right) sees a photo of Noah and the Whale band members in a grassy field, frontman Charlie Fink looking at the audience though either an old camera of some sort or a handheld telescope, the other three band members to the left him out of focus and looking up at the sky as if they are looking at the title of the album and waiting for ‘the first days’ of Spring.

The part of the photograph on the right, where Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink looks through either an old camera or a handheld telescope, has been edited so that he actually looks as if he is from the 1970s. (I found another image on the web, below - similar). The colours and the way in which the photograph for the album cover has been taken reminds me of photographs I have seen from the 1970s which have faded and lost some of their colour over the years or that never really had as much colour in the first place. Maybe this has been done deliberately - as with the band’s logo which is now typed in capitals in the typeface Times New Roman, and the album cover written in a classical-music style typeface which reflects the band’s redeveloped ‘image’.

Their cover for the Single CD for “Blue Skies” is similar to the Album Cover in terms of typefaces and sizes of text, but what makes this different is the photo of a blue sky in the background and, in the foreground, I think I can see the band members in silhouettes, walking their bikes across a sandy landscape in front of the “blue skies”. The sand appears to be a monotone colour with the silhouettes, so that the main focus is on the text which seems to be “in” the sky. Having two artworks from their Debut album and two from their new 2009 album, one for the Album and one for the Single CD in each case, it is easy to declare that not only have the band developed but they have moved away from the pretty artworks of a child to the plain, simple yet declarative artworks of a professional photographer. Also, showing the band is a major selling point on most Album and Single CD Covers, as this technique also promotes and sells the band, not just the music.

I have found out the difference between the Album and Single CD Covers for one of the songs which we had wanted to use and the song which we now want to use for our Music Promotional Video, and so the Cover which I will create will incorporate and combine some of the images, typefaces, drawings and colours that have been used in Noah and the Whale’s previous album artworks.

Therefore, I was hoping to create an Album Cover for the “Blue Skies” and "5 Years Time" songs on it, but this would be a new album featuring the best-selling songs of Noah and the Whale, even though the songs from the new album The First Days of Spring, including Blue Skies, haven’t yet had enough time to sell. My album artwork will be incorporating Noah and the Whale’s image, the image that they seem to have redeveloped, but the artwork has to appeal to audiences of Noah and the Whale music otherwise the album simply wouldn’t sell.

Originally, I thought that the Album Artwork could feature a photograph from the video itself, maybe this could be where I bring in my “Action Man and Barbie dolls” idea! The CD package (Digipack) itself could be a montage or mosaic of several images from our video or images of wildlife in a wood or forest. The front would be different from the back, and so on through the Digipack, until all faces of the Digipack have a different image or item, but similarly-themed, on them.

I thought the band’s artwork for the Single CD of “Blue Skies” was a little too bland and plain and should have contained more to portray the song itself, other than silhouettes of the band members on the backdrop of a plain blue sky. Their album cover was a little bit more exciting, but both designs lacked something. As if they were designed to be too perfect and too precise. I went and researched other band’s artwork for Single CDs and Albums, looking at some of AC/DC’s artwork, some artwork from The Beach Boys and then Status Quo. What I found was that on some covers there were shots, or photographs, of the band members. On one of The Beach Boys’ old vinyl records, which I found at home in my collection of vinyl records, not only were they there but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. I looked at my Status Quo Greatest Hits double-CD Digipack (“XS All Areas”), and although the image on the front cover featured a photograph/hand-drawing of the two main members of the band, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, but they were playing their guitars with long hair. The shot had been drawn/taken when in concert, where the boys were performing their famous rock and roll moves whilst playing their guitars, which they still do today, and similarly with The Beach Boys they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I looked at Fleetwood Mac’s "Tango In The Night" album (below), which had a painting of wildlife in what looks to be a night in a tropical rainforest, with the birds and creatures. It was the back cover which most appealed to me - in the middle there was a portrait-shaped photograph of the Fleetwood Mac band members, and around this was the names of the songs. But the names of songs had actually been placed around the photograph as if it was a “Spider-diagram”. This was a big inspiration for me and I shall try to incorporate this design into my design for the “Blue Skies” Album, and I will need to call the Album something which bears some resemblance with the band Noah and the Whale. The name which I think should go on the CD, the Digipack/cover and the Poster should be something like “Not Enough To Be Said”.

The labels to go on the CD could then be of resemblance to the Digipack/CD Covers, with a montage or mosaic of images, but inside the text, rather like the way in which several patterns are inside the number ‘5’ on the Single CD Cover for “5 Years Time”. The magazine poster could also have the montage of images, in a portrait-rectangular shape, with the date of release, songs featured on the album and quotes from several reviews. The reviews may have to be made up for the purpose of the poster, or instead we could combine several quotes from already-existing reviews of the albums Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down and The First Days of Spring from magazines such as “Q Magazine” or “Kerrang”, or from any other music magazine available. LightScribe technology is built-in with some laptops sold in shops today, and basically allows the user to burn an image to the disc via the lasers in the CD/DVD Drive, without the use of paper and glue. It might be an idea to consider this and to find out who owns a laptop with LightScribe technology, as we can then look at a perfectly designed (and created) labelled Music CD.

Research into a Band Similar to Noah and the Whale

Josh Carried Out the Following Research:

Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons are a folk/blugrass band who have received positive critical acclaim from national newspapers such as the Guardian who featured them on their 'Band of the Day' online forum. They originated in London's pub folk scene (Twickenham in fact which is where Noah and the Whale originated) and have garnered a strong cult following amongst this crowd. In fact two of their band members even when to the same school as Noah and the Whale's bass player.

They released their debut album Lend Me Your Eyes in July 2008 and its lead single Roll Away Your Stone was featured as Radio 2's single of the week. They are attached to the label Chess Club which released their second album in November. In addition they made a successful appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival where they wooed audiences with their country-tinged acoustic anthems mainly featuring banjos and double bass. The band pride themselves on their lyrical sensibilities about love, loss and despair. They also dabble in socio-political messages which is a nod to the decades of work by Bob Dylan. Finally, the band features as one of its singers, Laura Marling who has sung with Noah and the Whale.

They finished a nationwide tour in 2008 with support from Peggy Sue, Pete Roe, The Cutaway and more. They are now touring with the Maccabees and have been longlisted for the BBCs Sound of 2009. As well as that they have received airtime and support from Radio 1 DJs Zane Lowe and Greg James as well as XFMs Dave Berry. Mumford & Sons won Best Band at the 3rd Annual BalconyTV Music Video Awards in Dublin on 3 July 2009. In addition they now have a specially designated playlist folder On Virgin TV On Demand along with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga which goes to the show that they have broken into mainstream culture.

Some of their songs include:

• Little Lion Man
• Winter Winds
• White Blank Page
• Feel The Tide
• The Cave

Research into Target Audience and Fan Base - Noah and the Whale

Noah and the Whale is a lesser known British indie folk group. The song “5 Years Time” was released as part of the album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down and also as a digital download, or e-single, and the version I am using is the e-single since it is generally better quality than the album version. The band is aimed at fans of the Indie and Folk music genres, but as the band is from the modern age I would suggest that their preferable audience would be younger generations, who might also be interested in Pop and Rhythm & Blues (R&B), as Noah and the Whale is part of the new age of Indie and Folk music, where Folk is traditionally linked with Country music.

The song 5 Years Time was re-released as an e-single (digital download) as it was such a success in the UK Singles Chart, then the band’s new album, The First Days of Spring was released in 2009 whilst the band were on tour. If their single "5 Years Time" could reach the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart then they must appeal to younger generations (such as teenagers) who have grown up in the modern era of technological advancements, such as the ability to download music from the internet via torrents, peer-to-peer programmes and illegal "free mp3" download websites which are openly available. There are decreasing numbers in people who buy music CDs and instead download from the internet. There are legal ways of downloading these songs but the return received for the music is destroying the music industry, so many of the big bands are struggling for money whereas newer lesser known bands are succeeding. An example is the success of the UK band Arctic Monkeys who launched themselves via the internet, online forums and word of mouth until they offered downloads of their songs. Their popularity on the internet meant record companies were offering them an official contract. Therefore, through analysis of one band, I am beginning to understand that Noah and the Whale may only appeal to people who know about recent technological advancements and how widely available these mediums of technology now are.

Research into Band/Artist’s Star Construction - Noah and the Whale

Noah and the Whale, the British Indie Folk band, have attended music festivals such Latitude, V Festival and Glastonbury. They were formed in London in 2006, and their name comes form the band’s favourite movie, The Squid and the Whale. This and the film’s director (Noah Baumbach) make up the name of the band. They have made an appearance on the Jeremy Warmsley internet television show Welcome to our TV show, and the band’s debut album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, reached number 5 in the UK Album Chart that year. In 2009 the band brought out their second album, The First Days of Spring. The song that we are doing, 5 Years Time, reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart in 2008, their highest-placed song in the charts to date.

The “Star Image” of Noah and the Whale is how they are perceived by their audience. The audience, as I have researched at one of the band’s forums, http://noahandthewhale.forums.umusic.co.uk/, and http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/music/artists/noah_and_the_whale/fans/thread/86917/.To be honest, people have said that they don’t like the song 5 Years Time, but some have said that they like it and the song has “grown on me”. A good choice then, I think - create a video for a supposedly unlikeable song (although I like it) that should create some amount of awareness of the band. Looking at this small piece of research, I can easily see that the people who have posted these thoughts on the Absolute Radio forum have no particular interest in the Indie or Folk music genres, and when a song like this comes along they would much rather add their pounds and pennies to the millions earned by artists such as Madonna, Beyoncé, or even the late Michael Jackson.

Josh completed more of this:

As you may have seen, the band deliberately portray themselves as slightly offbeat and quirky and still have a relatively small fan base. A major factor that could contribute towards this idea and the band's image is how they dress. However this small fan base is very positive about the band, for example their is much enthusiasm for the announcement of new singles and tour dates on blogs such as Absolute Radio, Amazon and of course the band's official blog:
noahandthewhale.forums.umusic.co.uk which also includes entries from the band themselves often commenting on how their tours are progressing or if they are recording any new material.

I would suggest that the target audience for the group is a relatively small group of people who have an existing passion for indie and folk music and are part of a community of friends that does. They will probably also have a general interest in music of an alternative genre to that usually in the UK Charts which is usually dominated by Pop, Metal and Rap. The band however has discussed in interviews about moving towards a more punk rock sound which could possibly alienate some factions of their fan base.

Research into Band/Artist’s Marketing & Promotions - Noah and the Whale

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/aug/23/noah-whale-charlie-fink-marling

In the above link (webpage) the interviewer and The Guardian newspaper journalist Alice Fisher speaks with Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink, and talks of how the band can be described as "nu-folk". This article, if successful in promoting the band, and if read by fans or even new fans, can promote the band's new album The First Days of Spring and is a promotion that the band [possibly] didn't have to pay for, unlike advertisements in magazines which are paid for my the band.

Josh did some more research, as did Emily:

Noah and the Whale are a British indie folk band. This is the cover for their second album The First Days of Spring which is also a film written and driected by lead singer Charlie Fink. He said in an interview on Radio Fivelive with Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode that he wanted to produce an album in a different way to other artists and this seemed an ideal way given his love of films (the band's name is taken from the film The Squid and the Whale). For the album the group were interviewed by many major media outlets such as Radio 1 and leading newspapers such as the Times which furthered their reputation.

Many publicity shots of the band, such as this one, play on their image as alternative to pop culture but not in a rebellious way like a rock band like Kasabian or Green Day might do but rather a slightly quircky even possibly quaint band. Most of their songs are about love and relationships and they cite their lyrical poetry to artists such as Bob Dylan however the band has yet to divulge into more socio-political agendas like Dylan did (civil rights being his biggest message).

They have made relatively few television appearances concentrating more on live gigs and have played gigs in place like Bristol, London, Leeds, Reading and Manchester as well as performing at the V festival and Glastonbury.

The band started out on the London pub scene and up until last year included vocalist Laura Marling in their lineup. They slowly built up a good reputation around London which culminated in them being signed on to Cherrytree Records and Vertigo in order to record their debut album, Peaceful the World Lays Me Down.

Included on that Album was the single 5 Years Time which was marketed as the 'Summer Single of the year.' It received many positive reviews from publications such as NME, the Guardian and even the BBC News website which all suggested that it was the tune everyone was whistling that summer. The band became a success almost overnight.

Research into Noah and the Whale's Previous Music Videos

Josh and Emily also contributed time and effort into studying the previous music videos of Noah and the Whale. I have credited their work with links below to the specific posts:

Josh's Analysis of 3 Pop Promos by Noah and the Whale (Blue Skies, Love Of An Orchestra, Shape Of My Heart)

Emily's Analysis of 3 Pop Promos by Noah and the Whale:

2 Bodies 1 Heart

Love Of An Orchestra

Shape Of My Heart

Analysis of 3 Pop Promos by Noah and the Whale

2 Bodies 1 Heart:

The opening scene of this video is what inspired us, especially Emily, in the desired costumes to be worn during filming of our Music Promotional Video for the song “5 Years Time”. In the video, Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink wears what looks to be a wintery jacket from the 1990s, and the bright colours sparked the idea of our character in our Pop Promo for “5 Years Time” wearing bright tennis or jogging tracksuits. The video is mainly shot inside a gym where band members perform gymnastics and dance, but the video is also shot outside, where the frontman (Fink) is listening to the song via headphones. They also stand beside trophies where photographers take their picture, with the band members singing along to the lyrics.

I like the ending to the video - this best describes and shows the effect which can use in our video, I think they’re called “Super 8mm” Type film cameras. The director uses mainly Wide Shots of the band as they try to show the audience the relationship between the lyrics and the music.

From what I can see, there are only two relationships between the lyrics and the visuals which are portrayed in the video. The first relationship is shown in the chorus when the band members have their hands over their hearts. The second occurrence in the video can be seen when and the shoelaces on their opposite-sided shoes are tied together. This shows that between the two shoes the shoelaces are the ‘one heart’, relating to the “2 Bodies and 1 Heart” feel to the very basic narrative. Fink sings of a relationship between him and a girlfriend, and how similar they are to each other.The relationship between the music and the visuals can be found near to the end of the video when the band members move their arms in time with the music (dancing), and even stop their dance movements when the song itself stops.

Genre characteristics shown in this video and song relate strongly to Indie folk music. The medium toned lighting of the video shows this, and Fink’s singing voice sets the tone of the music, therefore making it easier to identify the music genre.The video is performance based, yet the ‘faint-but-still-visible’ narrative crops up in many of the shots. The band members play their instruments, similar to what they do in other videos of theirs such as 5 Years Time. To me, the small narrative is relating to the way in which we want to win but want to win smaller games such as Primary School and Nursery games which we played when we were younger.This video does in fact promote the band as the only people to appear in the video are the band members (Fink & company). Interestingly, they appear in this video more often than in the other music videos the band has released, which goes to show that the director wanted to promote them as much as possible.

I reckon the intended audience is younger adults who are fond of Indie Folk music. Because of the immediate connotations of Folk music, maybe older people (45+) would like this new era of Indie Folk music.

5 Years Time:

The song which we are creating a music promotional video for is “5 Years Time”. It’s another of Noah and the Whale’s Indie Folk songs, included on the album “Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down” and was later released as an E-Single Digital Download. It reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart a couple of years ago, so this song was a massive hit for the group, considering the fact that it was released on their debut album. As far as I am aware, “5 Years Time” has been the biggest selling song for Noah and the Whale to date. Therefore, my decision to analyse their version of the video made for the song seemed appropriate as I can then see how the band’s interpretation of the song will differ from our interpretation of the song, and possibly use some of the themes used in their video to our benefit. The notes I gather from this video will also go towards my version of the Synopsis and my initial ideas for the Treatment of the video, and also for the Cinematography Treatment of my group’s final and developed ideas.

Visual Stylistics
M-E-S: The video is located in two locations - a theatre and in a park. The minor location is in the zoo, at the start of the lyrics when “we could be in the zoo” is sung. The theatre is decorated in old, dark 20th Century (or older) colours, objects and materials. A patterned red carpet, red curtains, dark wood panel walls, and a red sofa. Each band member is introduced during the opening instrumental verse. Behind “Doug” and hanging on the yellow stage curtains is a “5” shaped part balloon, highlighting the importance of this number and the name of the song. “Love” is printed on white and purple cushions on the sofa, mirror and pictures hanging on the wood panel walls. On-stage, the performers wear blue jackets, yellow nylon shirts and red-framed and black-tinted sunglasses. Sitting on the sofa, watching the class act, is the band members, dressed in blue pullovers and pretty much the same as the class act. On “sun sun sun” the band members act-out the movements of the sun with their arms in the park, wearing scout’s clothes (yellow nylon shirts and shorts, purple scarves), and on “fun fun fun” the band members act-out the movements of having fun, thrusting their waists forwards and backwards (only lightly, to not offend the video’s audience) on stage in the theatre, wearing the blue, yellow and red-framed glasses costumes. Near the end the band perform the song with their instruments and vocals. Then the band members walk through the park about three-quarters of the way through the video, on the spoken chorus without instruments, in scout’s clothing once again. Near the end the bartenders and band members dance behind the bar in-sync with the music, then the performers on stage bow to the audience. The video ends in the park, where the band members release two party balloons, one of them is the “5” from the theatre and the other is heart-shaped. Then they run off away from the camera.

Cinematography
On each shot of the band members, Medium Shots, Medium Close-ups and Wide Shots are common, and are used to not only show us the character but to show us where they are and what they are doing in that location. When “T’Bone” is playing his violin in the shot near the beginning with the ‘5’ balloon behind him, there is evidence of Key Lighting being used at a low angle pointing up (shadow above and behind him on yellow stage curtains). There is a Big Close-up of the guitar that frontman Charlie Fink strums in the opening riff to the song. On the lyrics, he sings “in the zoo”, so a Low-Angle Wide Shot is used to show him and Laura sitting on a bench in the zoo, as if posing for a photograph. A Medium Close-up of Fink singing and playing guitar.
There is a Big Close-up of Fink and Laura’s heads (at 0.54 seconds), when in the lyrics he sings “peek through”, Fink’s hands over Laura’s eyes, moves fingers to show her “peeking through”. At 0.59 seconds, there is a slightly Low-Angled Long Shot of the four boys from the band, acting out the “sun sun sun” movements, then again but in different costume for “fun fun fun” later in the song. There is a High-Angled Extreme Close-up of one of the boy’s feet at the end of the “sun sun sun” part of the video (1 minute 8 seconds). All in all, the video hasn’t been made with very complex shots, as the video needs to be simple in a similar way to the simple nature of the music and the lyrics.

Editing
The editing in this video is superb. Various visual transitions between shots are used, and the video is really lifted by its aged film effect and look and feel of the video with this effect. The transitions look pretty basic and randomly chosen, as if edited on the home-user’s “Windows Movie Maker” programme/software found on many of Microsoft’s ‘Windows XP’ computers, and not a professional video editing programme. Also, the way the video has been edited has a good impact on the viewer. The various, seemingly random transitions add more of a light-hearted nature to the video as they have been selected to give the video this kind of look and feel, and together with the aged film effects the cuts between the shots are spaced out but at medium speed. This is important as it would look uncomfortable to have too many quick shots in a video for a slow-paced song or too many slow cuts in a video for a fast-paced song.

Special Effects
In group production meetings we had discussed the use of the “Super 8mm” film effect in Final Cut Pro, which basically adds an aged look to the video, rather like the playback of old film from 1970’s which has aged, lost some of its colour and is jerky. I discovered that this feature has been used in the other two Noah and the Whale music videos which I have analysed, yet the aged film effect seems to have been used all the way through this video.


Relationship between lyrics and visuals
The video relates a lot to the lyrics. Obvious evidence is at the start with the “zoo”, the location is in the zoo, then the “sun sun sun”, “fun fun fun”, “love love love” and “5 years time, 5 years time, 5 years time” have acted-out movements that relate to the words that are sung. The band members even sing along with the lyrics almost always throughout the video, except where they are acting out the lyrics with their body parts.

Relationship between music and visuals
The visuals relate heavily to the music in this video, as the violins are visibly played when they are played in the music, and the guitar is visibly played by Fink on the opening guitar riff (30 seconds onwards). This goes for just about any other instrument, especially in the ending when the band are together, on-stage, in the theatre playing instruments and singing. The visual cuts between shots occur on the drum beats, as expected from Noah and the Whale videos.

Close-ups of artist and Star Image Motifs
In the opening thirty or so seconds, there are various Close-ups and Medium Shots of each band member with their instruments and their names printed on-screen as titles.

Intertextuality None, but the cushions and the chair when the band members are the audience (1 minute 14 seconds) remind me of a log-wood cabin café up a mountain near Mayrhofen in Austria.

Narrative-based, Performance-based, Concept-based or a combination?
The whole video seems to be performance-based, and as I have noticed in this and the other two Noah and the Whale music videos I have analysed (2 Bodies 1 Heart and Shape Of My Heart) there is a little bit of narrative involved, where they try and relate the video to the lyrics.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I must admit that the song is catchy and the video is fun to watch, as is their Shape Of My Heart video, and this video shows signs of sticking to their Indie and Folk genres, especially their “nu-folk” style video effects and transitions that really give the video a facelift from being like a home movie or a photo album, which is the idea that I have gathered from this video. Not only does the music stick to the themes that Noah and the Whale have set out in their other videos but they have added their own touch to the video, and instead of performing in the same way as other bands in their music video for “5 Years Time”, but they also act in their own videos, which for many bands wouldn’t be the case. This video especially has given be a different perspective as to how the band themselves view the song, which gives me inspiration to complete my own video based on the ideas gathered from this video and the themes used, which relate to the lyrics and the music. Therefore, I must conclude for the analysis of all three videos which I have looked at - I am inspired by the costumes used in 2 Bodies 1 Heart, I am inspired by the humour, the costumes, and character names and relationships in Shape Of My Heart and am inspired by the themes used in 5 Years Time which I hope to engage and use in my version of 5 Years Time.

Shape Of My Heart:

The next Music Promotional Video that I have analysed by Noah and the Whale is “Shape Of My Heart”, another of their Indie Folk songs from the album “The First Days of Spring”. The rhythmic high-pitched guitar music carries with it some of the characteristics you might find in Folk music, but Noah and the Whale, as seen and heard throughout the rest of the videos which I have analysed, are indeed a ‘nu-folk’ band and have added their own, independent ‘touch’ to this known music genre.

Visual Stylistics
MES: The establishing shot comprises of the back of a wrestler jumping about with his arms raised in a kind of superhero stance, in front of what looks to be a fairground attraction - a pack of cards lined along shelves, only the cards are bigger than normal playing cards (good use of props). The character “El Corazon” (the wrestler) first is in his wrestling suit, then in the next few shots he walks towards the “El Maxio Wrestling Club” in a smart black suit, yet still wearing his yellow facial wrestling mask. The Noah and the Whale band members are all wearing similar pale blue jackets and trousers (outside the Wrestling Club) and yellow shirts Mexican-style and all are wearing traditional Mexican-style black ‘Sombrero’ hats. When El Corazon enters shot in his black suit, the camera tracks right, with him on the left of the screen in a Medium Shot, giving him looking space as he walks in slow-motion to the right, the girl using wedding-style confetti and flower-petals to throw over him as he walks by her (she is now standing), giving this character a sense of importance in this video, which we later learn more about. Interesting use of smoke when Frank is introduced near the end of the video.

Characters, their ‘Tabloid Newspaper Headline’ nicknames, (and their costumes) and location where they appear:

1. El Corazon (Wrestler costume): appears in every scene (all locations)


2. The Communist “the Commy Wife Beater!” (Pirate/Nazi Officer costume): appears in the boxer’s workout room.


3. Wolf Boy “Puberty Bites Back!” (Normal clothes and hair): appears in gym where El Corazon is weight-lifting.


4. Vamparella “Busty Blood Sucker From Hell!” (Black and green exposed-cleavage tight suit): appears in toilets after El Corazon has flushed the toilet (notices her in mirror, humour as he first focuses on her breasts.


5. Mr One Eye “He’s Only Got One Eye!” (Comic superhero costume with red drape and huge eye as its head): jumps down stairs to bottom where El Corazon notices him.


6. Killer Robot “He’s Programmed... To Kill!” (tin-foil and mirror-like material-covered box): seems to ‘zap’ into the scene at the bottom of the stairs, like when Star Trek characters are ‘beamed to and from the U.S.S. Enterprise’.


7. Frank “Just Call Him Sir!” (tall hunchback version of Frankenstein, without the pole-through-neck): walks crookedly through mist/stage-smoke into room of the boxing ring.

Cinematography: The second shot seems to be one of the longest during the opening sequence. The camera tilts down from a Low-Angle Wide Shot of the sign at the top of the Wrestling Club, then as the camera tilts and pans to the bottom left, the frame is zoomed in so that the shot has transformed into a Medium Shot of frontman Charlie Fink playing his guitar, then zooms out to show the girl of the group, pans left to the other group members by the door, playing what looks to be a larger version of a baby’s rattle, pans right to Fink once more and zooms in to a Medium Close-Up of the girl who is clearly sitting down. This is one of the most complex scenes in the video as so many features of the video-camera are used, such as the tilt, pan and zoom features.

Editing: The first titles to appear do so on his back in yellow, the typeface looks to be the kind used in a cartoon (reminds me of the opening sequence to The Flintstones), which reads: “El Corazon in Shape Of My Heart...featuring” with the ‘featuring’ in a smaller sized yellow typeface, and underneath this appears the “Noah and the Whale” square-typeface and shaped logo which appears in many of their videos, including “5 Years Time”.

Special Effects: The first shot has been cleverly edited to look like older footage, maybe a memorable time from the past. The simple yet effective old-age film effect has been added, along with the well known sound of old film, to give the opening establishing shot more emphasis over the rest of the video. The same effect has been added at a couple of other points during the video.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals
In terms of the narrative, the video doesn’t really associate itself with the lyrics. Having said that, the band members when shown are playing their instruments and Fink is miming along with the lyrics, so there is a little bit of performance.

Relationship between music and visuals
Each cut is in tune and occurs with the beats of the song, and various comic-book transitions, including the ‘zigzag’ transition, are used between two shots, mainly to stage the end of one of the characters’ scenes (their death) and onto the next character in the next fight-scene, keeping to the traditions of wrestling.

Close-ups of artist and star image motifs
Frontman Fink and the other band members can be found singing or playing instruments in all sorts of strange locations as we follow the story of El Corazon, the fictional wrestler. The girl is kidnapped by “The Communist (The Commy Wife Beater)”, the band members play instruments in the gym welcoming the arrival of “Wolf Boy” and Fink plays guitar in the toilets when El Corazon is confronted by “Vamparella”. Basically, the band members are focused in every scene except from the scene where The Communist is confronted with El Corazon.

Intertextuality
Possibly some intertextuality to the WWE (wrestling), and possibly references to slapstick comedy such as Mr. Bean, and also the aged-film effect and Mexican costumes could be references to old programmes from the 1970s.

Narrative-based, Performance-based or Concept-based, or combined?
Narrative-based with performance in the background of each shot of the narrative scenes. There is added humour to the characters: how they are dressed, how they act and how they fight with El Corazon, our main character and hero of the day. The ending starts with a heart-shaped transition from the downfall of Frank to the girl thanking and kissing her hero, El Corazon, the other Noah and the Whale band members clapping their hands together in acknowledgement of their achievement as storytellers - using good to defeat evil.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I honestly have to say that even though I have been analysing the video, it has to be one of my favourites now, mainly because of the humour in the fight-scenes between El Corazon and the characters in the character list above. The video shows signs of sticking to the Indie and nu-Folk genres that other music videos of Noah and the Whale show signs of, including shots and close-ups of the band members as they sing, play instruments and watch as the fictional baddies are taken down by fictional wrestler El Corazon. The ending seems to be the happy fairytale ending and really does conclude both the video and my analysis.

Group Production Meetings - Decisions

After joining a group of students in my A2 Media lecture, the same group as in my AS lectures (Josh, Emily and I), we discussed the songs which we each wanted to create a video for. While Emily wanted to do a video for a song by Marilyn Manson, I wanted to do either a video for a Chris Rea song, or as Josh and I had agreed earlier, maybe a David Bowie song. Unfortunately we could compromise, which is when Josh spoke of a band called Noah and the Whale. The song, 5 Years Time, was recognisable from an advertisement for a car on television in a commercial break. This was the better choice, because musicians such as David Bowie and Marilyn Manson have already have a “package” around them (in other words, they are famous and already have an “image” in the public eye). Whereas, a lesser known group such as Noah and the Whale didn’t have the same amount of fame as David Bowie, and this choice of music seemed vital, since we then had the chance to create a new impression of the group.

The term ‘narrative’ is not used as much as ‘story’, but people know that, in some way, it refers to stories. In fact, stories are endemic to our lives; so taking this into consideration we were able to start to think about the synopsis for the video in our own individual ways. Most music videos contain performance, but since our band wasn’t a small, local band it wouldn’t be possible to have them in the video. So my initial idea was to have a narrative-based video, and to somehow incorporate some performance into the video - maybe one of the characters miming along to the lyrics.

As with any television programme or film, the narrative in our video must orientate the audience quickly, giving them unambiguous signs about things like a hero or villain, a recognisable setting, an understandable style (Rap, Hip-Hop, Rock, Pop, Classical or Opera, and Easy Listening), and a conventional narrative structure - the cause, the effect and the motivation.

After a few group production meetings, I was able to gather my thoughts about the song and produce a rough synopsis and treatment (ECMS - Editing, Cinematography, Mise-En-Scene, and Sound) for the video. This was completed before the next group production meeting, the following week, so that we could discuss each other’s ideas and start to collaborate our ideas into more of a group synopsis and treatment. For the group treatment, we first had to decide our group roles. As I enjoyed being cameraman last year, I took the opportunity to do it again, and to be the Co-editor in Post Production. Josh stuck with his post, as the Writer /Producer of the video, and Emily returned to her post as the Art Director, taking into consideration all the factors within the Mise-En-Scene of the project (including: location, costumes, and make-up). Our lecturer had suggested that for this project we form a group of no more than three members, and since the Editing post had been incorporated into the Writer /Producer job, Josh was announce as the Editor.

Individual Piece of Music and Initial ideas, Synopsis/Treatment - "5 Years Time" by Noah and the Whale

In a group discussion, the final group production meeting for drawing up a Group Synopsis and Treatment and the Treatment for each role, we completed the process of Pre-Production Research, and the remaining responsibility to gather costumes, props and find the appropriate locations for our video was delegated evenly between each group member.



Synopsis/Treatment


As the song starts, we are in someone’s kitchen. The camera tracks forward, then diagonally-right, from one side of the room to the other, from the oven/cooker to the refrigerator (i.e. the room ideally is square-shaped with the sink on the central cupboards/work-surfaces. There is a archway to the far-right hand corner, next to the fridge, where a man walks past the fridge from the kitchen into the next room, the dining room, then to his left through another archway into the living room, but all we see is the fridge, and he is out of focus, before the camera tracks to the fridge). The man has a child, maybe age 7 or 8, who is jumping around in front of him, as he walks through to the living room (out of focus) whilst checking his post/mail in his hands.

The camera focuses on a photograph (a Medium Close-up) which has been stuck onto the fridge door, the top half of the six foot-tall refrigerator. When the whistling (the introduction) stops and the banjo /guitar is played (in the song), the camera zooms-in from a Medium Close-up of the photograph to a Big Close-up of the photograph when it fills the screen.

In group production meetings, we had discussed the use of dolls in our video. Since I had a few Action Man dolls and Emily had a few Barbie dolls left (after selling most of her collection online) we discussed the idea of using the dolls in a kind of animation (like Wallace and Gromit) and then a shot where the dolls stand in a pose, and real-life people stand in the same pose, so that the cut (in editing) from dolls to reality was almost unnoticeable. In synchronised time with the song, when the banjos start I thought maybe having these dolls laying on sun beds by a swimming pool with cocktails in their hands, the male reading a newspaper and the girl getting a tan. Then the cut /transition from the dolls to the real-life actors would take place, and the main part of the video would commence. I then thought that during the main part of the video (with the actors) there could be shots, going back to the dolls, maybe just photographs or even the dolls moving in a movie at 24 frames per second.

My main inspiration for the Action Man and Barbie dolls sequence came after watching the music video for Barbie Girl, by Aqua, which for them was a big hit in the late 1990’s. And although this would be a hard task to achieve, it is possible to do; but I may have to abandon this idea of the dolls moving in the video (a mini-animation in the video) as we may not have enough time to create this little animation.

The original narrative I had drawn up was to follow a man reminiscing. The transition from the plastic dolls to real actors occurs as he reminisces because either him being with the girl is real and therefore a flashback or it could be a fantasy of his, such as the “Hottest girl in your High School” fantasy that many males dream about in today’s world.

Maybe the man and the woman together is a flashback which he has when he looks at the photographs on his fridge door. Therefore the flashbacks are a look back at a past relationship which he wished could have gone on forever. In the location where we decide as a group to film /shoot this video, other people which are not central to the plot (e.g. pedestrians) cannot see the man and the woman together, and in editing maybe the man and the woman holding hands walking together are in colour and everything around them is black-and-white until they touch the things around them, transforming the world around them from black-and-white into colour, a metaphorical transformation from sadness to happiness. I thought the most appropriate setting (the location) to use when filming the actors would be a park, where there are autumnal leaves to represent his unfortunately dying feelings for her as the video goes on.

There are three possible parks which could be used as the setting for the first half of the video - Alexandra Park behind the College building (the location which we used for our Film Noir project last year, 1 minute walk from College); Christchurch Park (3 minute walk from town centre of Ipswich, and near to where Josh lives); and Chantry Park (near the Copdock Interchange and along London Road in Ipswich, but across river, 30-45 minutes walk from town centre).

http://chrisk-media.blogspot.com/ (my AS Media Studies Coursework Project Blog).

As Josh lives near to College if we wanted to film in an interior location, maybe for an interior shot then Josh’s house could be used, with his permission of course. An interior location also acts as a backup plan in the event of bad weather on the day of filming.

I realise that I may have thought-up a narrative based on the sadness the man is feeling, and that this mood is a massive contrast to the mood and tone of the song, and therefore it could be that the man has divorced his wife, but with the happy mood he is in he may, for instance, be feeling happy because he is about to be re-married to her; or instead they are closer than they were before, which then leads to a happy family later in the video.

Anyhow, the flashbacks will create a sense of jumping back and forth from past and present or past and future. If the flashbacks were in the past but everything else we see is in the future, then we could film the relationship as it stands in the future, but whether they are together anymore will be something I shall take into consideration.

When the man and the woman are in a park, I was thinking that maybe there could be an overhead crane shot (Wide-Shot) looking down at the ground where a park-keeper has blown the brown autumnal leaves off the footpaths and onto the grass and into the shape of a heart, a resemblance of the strength of the love between the man and the woman which we are now following.

Maybe he sleeps one night and in his dream the Action Man and Barbie dolls in his dream represent his feelings towards the togetherness he longs for with his girlfriend in real life. And to add to the humour of the video, maybe the Action Man doll speaks to him (but since the video might only contain the music, and therefore no other sounds, we might have to draw a speech bubble in editing where the doll’s speech appears). My inspiration for this part of the video came from the man who had a dream of the snow dogs lying on sun-beds talking to him, a hilarious nightmare he has, in the Walt Disney film Snow Dogs. And in the Dog "Buddies" films - Snow Buddies, Space Buddies, and Santa Buddies.

Because of all the flashbacks that are shown, the viewer is given the sense that he is piecing together all of his memories, just like a jigsaw puzzle, until we see why he is piecing together all these memories, at the end of the video when he walks through the park with his girlfriend, hand-in-hand.

To create the contrasts between the happy flashbacks and the sad flashbacks, I was thinking that, in post-production we could drain all the colour until it is nearly black and white for the sad memories, and maybe showing only red lipstick on the girl’s lips (in the style of the movies Sin City and The Spirit), and have saturated, “candy coloured” shots for the happier memories.

Since I wanted also to create a sense of slapstick comedy, I thought that in one of the man’s sadder memories his girlfriend slaps him, so hard that his head falls off, but all we see is the ground and a pumpkin falling to the ground, bouncing off the ground and rolling down the hill, the now headless man running after his head, the infuriated girl walking in the opposite direction.

The establishing shot could be a sad moment, where in editing we have drained all the colours, and when the song starts the over-saturated candy colours come into play, when the happier part of the song starts - when the guitar is played. The guitar is being played at one of the highest-pitched frets, so I was given the impression of a swaying Hawaiian song, including girls in coconut bras and grass skirts, but seeing as this might be impossible in the middle of autumn and early winter when we film the video, I might have to abandon this idea, along with the 24 frames per second Action Man and Barbie dolls mini-animation.

Again, adding to the slapstick comedy and humour, I thought of maybe having a magic squirrel as the narrator of the video, with a conductor’s baton (classical and orchestral music), and was thinking that the squirrel’s baton could be a magic wand, with a bit of intertextuality to the recent Harry Potter film franchise. I couldn't find an image on the internet that best suited my description, but the image I did find, a spoof on the Star Wars Jedi Knights, provided further inspiration and ideas with which I am able to use towards the making of our Music Promotional Video.

The cuts from shot to shot in the video could be done through cross-cutting, or maybe a mosaic image, with each shot making up part of the mosaic jigsaw puzzle.

Individual Piece of Music and Initial ideas, Synopsis/Treatment

My initial idea was to use the track Windy Town by British musician Chris Rea (from the album New Light Through Old Windows). The artist appeals to me, and the song itself is a mix of 1980s pop, country and guitar, and easy listening music genres. I like the song, and I have studied another of his songs, The Road To Hell [Part 2], which is to be released on a greatest hits CD on October 5th 2009, called Still So Far To Go...The Best of Chris Rea. The lyrics suggested to me that the video should be located in a winter scene but in a town centre, and in post-production the video is edited so that everything around the singer is speeded up, to emphasise the busy non-stop streets of a city; and when he sings he is the only one who has slowed down to take a look at the bigger picture of his small life in a big world.

As for the synopsis and general storyline /narrative contained within my music video, the viewer would follow a man (broad, with a thick black duffle coat, in his late thirties /early forties) as he walked home from work, possibly with a happy life and looking forward to Christmas, after getting off the bus (about a minute into the song) and continuing his journey home by foot. We see his thoughts on-screen, and as he passes shop windows the window displays of shops resemble a certain memory or thought, and as each shop window is differently laid out we start to gather information about this man and his life. He was a band member, and recalls the times he spent touring and selling the brand image of his music group. Performance will be incorporated into the video, the man singing along to the lyrics as he walks, then walks past the camera as the camera focuses on a shop window, and therefore one of his memories.

Another, alternative storyline could incorporate the same location, costume and window displays representing his memories, but instead of being happy as he walks home maybe he is depressed; depressed mainly through missing the good old days of his life and now looks forward to reliving those days, knowing that Christmas is on the horizon and that he will have to buy presents for all the family, even though Christmas decorations and presents have been in shops since before Halloween.

Either way, I was hoping to have Long and Medium-Long Shots of the character, with him on the right of the screen and the shop windows on the left (giving him some looking-space), maybe with some panning (to the left) shots.

For the location, I thought maybe the centre of Ipswich, but since this can sometimes be busy (especially before Christmas, when we are going to be filming our video) we might have to shoot these shots either first thing in the morning before the high-street shops open or at closing time (17:00-18:00 hrs) when it is dark. An alternative location could be backstreet shops - the lesser known ones scattered around Ipswich.
If it was to rain or there was bad weather on the day of filming, I was thinking of either incorporating this into the story or filming in an interior location but keeping the vibes of the original storyline (maybe inside College?).

If we were forced to film in an interior location, maybe the man is instead watching television and recalls memories as if his head were physically plugged into the television set, like plugging a camcorder to the television when viewing homemade movies and family photographs. Or, instead of watching television, he could walk past his refrigerator. On the refrigerator is photographs and fridge magnets, all of which remind him of his past. The camera focuses on one of the postcard-size photographs (developed from a negative from a film-camera), a Wide Shot of the photograph (including the paper-frame around it), and as with all the photographs and fridge magnets the still fades into a moving image for the viewer to watch, and I was thinking of making this transition in editing (post-production) so that the rest of his memory plays as a moving image from the photograph on the refrigerator. As we’re going to be using a new piece of Editing Software this year, called Final Cut Pro, I will learn how to create different transitions and hopefully I will be able to do this kind of transition in the video we choose to do as a group.

The destination of the narrative, or the conclusion to the video, would be the man walking (a tracking long-shot with him on the right of the screen and tracking left) the camera following him until he reaches his front door (where the camera stops tracking and the shot fades to black). The reason for this is I wanted to make sure the viewer has been made aware of his life and knows that life should go on, just like a show, “...the show must go on”, which is where the video ends, as we know what he wants out of life and the cold weather should reflect his current feelings and attitudes towards his life and also those feelings which he wants to feel, and the thoughts which he wants to come true - a happy life maybe.

I found the tune on a video that one user had created on YouTube - it is not the official video for the song, but it is the official song nevertheless (below).