First day shooting

Leake street, a success! to Hackney Rd, a success! from Richmand Park, a fail, missing out on Vauxhall and Greenwich, also a fail.

We had an almost fatal disaster when we hit our first location of Richmand Park, the video camera was ruining the tapes and glitching instantly. The majority of deer had moved toward the centre of the park which was even more of a walk so we decided to focus on two sitting more or less near the entrance. Statues in front of us the deer remained content, however a unleashed dog decided to intrude, perfect as we wanted to capture running/prancing deer but the camera decided it wouldn't like to give us a break. The brainiac i am, i remembered video on my camera was equal quaility to the camera itself, so we decided, after discussing the predicament of 'what if the file doesn't import into final cut' to use my Cannon Powershot G9 to shoot our footage. Saved.
The shots of Battersea power station we decided to cut, we had not incorporated them into our Animatic and the shots would of been distant and limited, derelict alleys near Greenwich may still be a possibility, but its more of a convenient spot to shoot and time permitted us from this.

The footage we got was exactly what we envisaged, we found locations we had not planned which was inevitable and exciting. Mainly shooting in Leake st and Hackney road we found suitable lighting in the locations themselves. Another key change was the use of Hannah's camera fish eye lens, working by setting my camera to macro to focus onto the lens and holding it in front of the camera, tricky but worth it as the effect created echos the tone of the video and adds an unique dimension to our shots.

We had planned to shot the 'kebab scene' as we call it in Hackney Rd, along with the shots of 'girl' drunk outside the strip club being cared for by another male, the ignition of jealously and regret. However neither of these shots were done as the other male, was not available, and again down to time restrictions. The plan is now to shot this in Dartford town centre, thus our new plan B location.

Here are photographs on location, not screen shots

Just behind Hackney rd. The streetlamp softly highlighting Will's face, a megar glow contrasting to thick dark shadows.

Leake st, perfect Mise en Scene. Using the fish eye lens, this photograph has been edited appropriate to how the film will be, hightened contrast. The fish eye works beautifully within the confounds of a tunnel, enclosing the shot, the beautiful colour were a given and depict the gritty location of the video. Emotion captured depicts ultimate frustration. Lookin' fierceee


Just behind Hackney Rd. Finding the word erase purely an accident, looks a little cheesy, but the lighting was perfect and the metal shutter adds to the Mise en scene. Light from an above street lamp throws the directional shadow onto the backdrop, similar to the 'Everybody's fool' video, the shadow acts as his only companion.

Leake St again, the colours and textured wall almost encompass the protagonist, as he begins to rely on his surroundings.
A low angle shot with the stairs behind, an illusion of superiority and dominance which corresponds to the determined expression portrayed across Will's face.

Hannah's location photography, Leake st

And then, we called it a day.

Cast

William Martin - Male protagonist

What to wear? Grey hoodie, black coat, boots, black jeans, white t shirt, very casual, a casual urban mode of address will appeal to our male target audience.

William will have to maintain a constant emotion and understand the emotion over the course of the shooting. Anger, remorse and despair will have to be obvious through his actions and expressions in order for our video to mirror the dramatic lyrics. Will will have to act confrontational and defensive, however in flashbacks to the couple together he will be nothing but loving and comforting towards Paige, as their happy memories only increase the regret in his mind.

Paige Lidbury - Girl

What to wear? Again very casual but feminine, a fur coat, heels, jeans, attractive wear to again appeal to the target audience and maintain a stylish urban appearance.

Paige will have to be the catalyst to Wills anger, so during flashbacks she will have to be the face of happiness and intimacy, closeness and femininity is key.

Tom Martin - Other boy, to fit our narrative

What to wear? black coat, black jeans, a casual urban mode of address will increase relation in our male target audience.

Tom acts as a leash to Will's despair and regret, he is at the face of the confrontation and will have to act with the same defensiveness a male would in the situation, he is angry at the outburst shown by Will and will have to protect Paige to again emphasise our protagonists loneliness

Shoot Schedule

A tube map shows the route of our journey as we have planned each location. Google street maps got us a little closer to the exact places, whilst virtually walking down Hackney Rd we spotted a cafe named 'Taste of bitter love' Coinsidence? We could use this as a location of a flashback, showing them together through the window of the cafe or walking outside. Also on Hackney Rd was many fast food restaurants which could host flashbacks of the couple. All of these locations embody and establish and urban scene to fit to our genre.

On google street view I captured images of the places in question, also trying to find possible locations along Hackney Rd. to save time in darkness. This derelict house next to an abandoned hospital looks perfect for gritty urban decay for our genre and a possible strong location.

Again google mapping another location Battersea power station, we believed a long shot would look better than closer toward the area, thus the other side of Vauxhall bridge would be perfect to shoot from.

Okay so we know where were going! Thats a good start!

Location update

The inside Battersea Power-station idea will not work out as the permission and risk assessment is great, yet outside shots can still be done, yet other industrial places that are accessible can still be assessable. Walking from greenwich to the O2 riverside is extremely industrial and would make for great dramatic shots, these photographs were found on this website

The alley ways and derelict walls are prefect for the conflict and controversy we are trying to capture.

Plan B, Chase and Status, what are they about?

Though content wise, Plan states that with most of his songs he is "just telling a story" and that he is "just trying to portray something that's real that happens in everyday life". These stories are largely semi-fictional but include personal content as well.

'London rapper Plan B - known to his old ma as Ben Drew - isn't one to shy away from controversy. His debut LP offered a damning indictment of society's ills, but it was references to genital warts and unsavoury activities over a biscuit - those of a sensitive disposition should avoid 'Sick 2 Def' - that left a lasting impression. Four years on, and with follow-up LP The Defamation of Strickland Banks in the works, he's showing no sign of being tamed.

Quite the opposite - trailer single ‘Stay Too Long’ features the same lyrical ferocity as previous efforts. This time around, the tale is of a raucous and alcohol-fuelled night out that ends - as the title suggests - with girlfriend ignored and hotel bill unsettled. A rollicking combination of rock, funk and hip-hop, with a generous array of expletives chucked in for good measure, this tune will definitely help get the party started, but don't be surprised if the frenzied rapping of the final minute leaves you feeling queasy. ' - source

A recent beautifully honest interview from Plan b on Soccer FM , just ignore the dim questions and responses by, that lady. "Its got guitar in it", oh Christ. Touching upon his first album in which he bore 'his soul' and how his recent works are about expression and being a true artist.

"Don't ever expect anything from me, because i will turn it on it's head. With music I follow my heart and if something becomes stale,becomes boring, my hearts not in it, so i search for something else".
Plan B demonstrates his disregard to conventions people have set, and is not fearful to be controversial. His gritty honesty is warming, and his music is real. This will definitely have to be an aspect we try to encapsulate in our video.

taken from bbc home collective page

LOTS OF CHASE AND EVEN MORE STATUS

London based production duo: Chase & Status, really do start as they mean to go on.

In the past year they have not only permeated the Drum & Bass industry but succeeded in convincing several Drum & Bass labels to take a risk by putting their money on something a little different - an unfeasibly clever feat in these times. Chase & Status are less concerned with chasing their status and more concerned with making quality music. If you don’t already know about these rising stars, we suggest you get to know…

Another website avenue 61 hosts a review of Chase & Status and also talks about their collaboration with Plan B

"Relatively new to the Drum & Bass scene, Chase & Status quickly built up a firm fan base amongst those seeking a somewhat less archetypal D’n’B aesthetic. Whereas the majority of the harder D’n’B scene has often gravitated towards the classic pulse, limiting their sonic range to literally little more than drum and bass for instrumentation, C&S seem to have instituted themselves less in D’n’B aural sensibilities, but in the ideal of interweaving something all the more pleasant with the underlying D’n’B discourse"

Also posting...

For their latest release, C&S have enlisted the vocal help of London neo-balladeer, Plan B. Know for his close to the knuckle subject matter, favourite subjects include murder, rape & drug use, Plan B’s contribution is an extremely subtle, nuanced vocal track against which C&S solid D’n’B beats are given extra fervour. Whilst the lyrical subject matter is far less guttural than previous Plan B material, it still gives insight into something far darker than the lyrics themselves. It alludes to the context surrounding our protagonist’s untimely death but still paints a rather grim, foreboding portrait of the London underworld. - a beautiful review!

The track reviews

Reading a light heartened BBC review of 'End Credits', our chosen song, this depiction of the song for me is a perfect summary -
'It might start like strummy, summery indie pop, but the funereal strings soon blot out the sunshine, and when the beat kicks in, it is with all the cold force of a sleetfall on a blustery day. And even though there are patches of relief, where the onslaught stops and the clouds disperse a little, they don't last long before all hell breaks loose again' - Fraser McAlpine

Album Artwork Inspiration

We began to search for album covers appropriate to our chosen genre, i believe it is useful to gain ideas from similar genres without deviating from ours to get a wider ideas and convention base. Shifting through album artwork on itunes along with knowledge already helped us to gather ideas.

Deftones - Saturday night wrist

The Overlay on this album cover is exactly the effect we were looking for, four images especially the close up of the eye adds depth and intensity to the cover, and image of the girl in the foreground has a beautiful emotion and illuminating, sensual lighting. Photography is the basic foundation to this cover, manipulated in clever ways and set alongside a sensible choice of font. In all images she is looking up which brings a consistency of emotion along with the powerful extra close up of an eye which is mirrored on the back for cogency. The small writing is simple yet effective, its positioning at the top allows the image to be the focus, as this will be the most memorable aspect of the front cover design. However on the back panel the title and name are prominent, larger font as the smaller logistic information is formatted below. White font contrasts to the black dark background so the title will stand out in both cases, same font again maintains coherence in design long with the consistent use of green back and red. The composition is very powerful, the eye is drawn to the diagonal line created by the three overlays of the women's face, yet the circle overlay brings the attention back toward the middle and the dramatic pose of the women, the images are not of the band or artist, yet correlate to the track. Unusually track listings haven't been added to the back, however this could ironically enhance sales as a sense of mystery and fan intimacy is created - by buying the album you privileged to the track names.

I picked out this over of Pink Floyd's 'Animal' cover as it focuses on location which is unusual. This image gives geographical notification of the artist for a global audience. It is iconic and is actually one of our chosen locations. The image covers both the back and the front, a simple way to maintain coherence. The power of the image and urban atmosphere conveys immense historical information and i think this proves that a timeless cover can be simple, and that location can be the basis of a digipak cover without having special effects or dramatic colouring - obviously due to the ear of the cover technical aspects such as colour manipulation would not have existed.

An example of a modern cover which used location photography is bloc party's a weekend in the city. Again these both establish geographic location. A slow shutter speed captures passed car lights, yet as they have passed and only the light is left a sense of abandonment and stillness is captured and provokes a sense of thought. Vidid use of colouring is shown in both.
The location imagery transfers across all panels and all capture a vivid staleness of London. The urban tone is obvious, the red green and black tones are coherent throughout. Shadows and meager lighting is key to the digipak which creates a sinister ambiance. I took photographs of outside of the 6 paneled folding digipak. Against the scorching red sky the simple white font reads the title tracks that are aligned against the same line of the block of flats in the image.

Plan B - Inspiration which fits our genre and tone of track.
Photography again is the basis of the covers. Black, reds and oranges are prominent in the lighting and colouring of these covers creating a sinister and dramatic tone and a powerful memorable image. Arctic monkey's scummy man cover embodies the urban image we are looking at, his costume is stereotypically street and throws a shadow over the models face which increases intensity, depth and mystery. The powerful striking image is framed by a white background and is visually stimulating. A very simple font is used which again enhances the power of the image which is already very memorable to a potential audience.

Plan B's paint it blacker features a hand in extra closeup, surrounded by a shadow lying upon a white background; this produces a stark contrast to the blood which is an important feature. The gritty stained white is almost disturbing and by using a close up hand the pain is made more intense; a controversial and stereotypically 'ugly' image. This controversy links to Plan B's controversial music, lyrics and visuals. Black font is used to stand out against the white background, making the title clear to read and understand, unusually the tracks and artists featured on the album appear on the front of the cover as appose to the back . A very simple design approach i think makes the cover more powerful, as a busy design would clutter and distract the audience.
The back cover of Plan B's 'who needs actions when you got words' embodies every aspect i stated above surrounding the paint it blacker cover; vivid crimson blood emphasises the controversial disturbing image fitting to the lyrics and music. The hand is writing through the pain and in spite of the blood to suggest his lyrics are irrepressible and from the soul; he is immune to pain. Capturing the artists hand writing increases the intimacy of the album which is true to the nature of the tracks included, this intimacy is emphasised by the mise on scene of the digipak; suggest that the location is his personal area which you are being invited to witness. The graffiti type writing again creates a urban derelict atmosphere, the scale coveys its importance, a famous phrase 'actions speak louder than words' been reversed for his title to again expressive the importance of words in this album. His costume is casual and urban to reflect his persona and genre. The front cover is has a natural lighting yet green and blacks predominate creating a cold and almost inhabitable location ; emphasised by the exposed bare brick work - this does not feel like a home. His guitar and amp features in the cover which increases the artists authenticity. Although the furniture and props such as a leather arm chair, plant,and TV set would usually create a comfortable ambiance they are cluttered and not positioned in the room; his fearful look and the fact his is holding a over sized gun completely off sets this. The artist is holding the gun over his shoulder in a completely relaxed way, non intimidating or aggressive; is he fearful of audience reception, fearful of exposing these intimate and graphic lyrics? Defensive and ready to guard himself? As by means of protection? A gun has obvious street connotations but the intention seems deeper than purely a mode of address. The artist is missing a shoe, yet his body language shows his is completely comfortable with this, similar to the way he is immune to the blood cascading from his hand in the background. This album cover has been cleverly and meticulously staged to illustrate facts about the artist and the content of the album. On the inside of the CD the excat same mise en scene has been used as the front image, however his gun and guitar have swapped place, this suggests that once the album has been brought, he has become more personal and less guarded, now all he has is his guitar for protection, this is an extremely clever use of props.

Other inspirations:
Here the word mirrors the visual, a pure smooth flawless image is used in extra close up. Black shadows fill the gap between the white skin to increase depth of image. As the lips are not touching the intimacy is captured without having physical connection. The image depicts youthfulness, gender differentiation is hard but possible. The face on the left has a lighter shade of skin, her jaw is lifted and pale lips and white teeth are elegant and feminine where as the face on the right is slightly darker skin, a blemish, the nose is visible and casts a shadow on the other face, the lips are also darker. The image creates questions yet i think these are not meant to be answered, 'intimacy' surrounds every one whoever and where ever, this (intimacy) is the focus and the words are centred over the top of the image. A simple design with dramatic affect due to the visuals; again photography's importance is illustrated.

Target audience research /Updates

Target market is an extremely important factor as we can understand and try to relate to the audience, reaching out to our target audience successfully will have a correlation to sales and success of promotion. Each of our tasks will have to appeal to the target audience of the artist we have chosen. After researching into the target audience of our artist's genre, hip hop / dub-step which both umbrella under the urban scene, i can conclude there is no conscious about hip hop demographics. A lot of information I found was from America, as of course this is where the vast majority of hip/hop music resides although British hip - hop in the 21st century is up and coming, Plan B, a British urban artist, is certainly an anomaly in his field; could our product attempt to reach out to this vast market?

From wikipedia -
British hip hop was greatly influenced by United States’ hip hop. Hip hop music throughout the world is influenced by the United States hip hop but none are as similar as are the British and the US forms. The cultural diversity that exists in both these countries seems to be the relationship that makes them so comparable. The different cultures within these two countries are each creating their own form of hip hop individually. The effect of multi-cultural countries on music seems to be cross collaboration with the end result being a blending of all the different cultures. This merging of music puts the resultant hip hop from both the US and the UK on the top of the charts.

A statement I found on this hip hop website stated :
The global hip hop community: twenty four million people between the ages of 19-34, from a range of nationalities, ethnic groups and religions. Their collective spending power is $500 billion annually in the U.S. alone.

This age range seams ish appropriate to me, initally 34 feels too old of Plan B's genre, I would suggest that Plan B's fan base is the lower end of that age range, 19 - 29, an age range of young adults who would hear the track at clubs and bars to a slightly older generation but still below the age of having children etc as I believe this would definitely determine which music you brought and how much you listened to it. It my eyes anyway.

Another idea surfaced in a hip hop blog located here , giving the demographic Males 18 - 30.

However these age ranges for hip hop genre fails to be specific to our artist, which is a key point. I tried to look into the demographics for our chosen artists however this did not produce any reliable results. I decided that a reliable way to determine that our target audience is correct is to look on last fm. A website dedicated to tracking the listeners of artists.

Plan B is the second most popular British Hip Hop artist.
Chase and Status are one of the top Drum n Bass artists

The two artists profiles are hosted here (Plan B) and here (Chase and Status)

Chase and Status top listeners: Male 27, Female 17, Male 20, Male 25, Male, 20, Male 15, Male 18, Male 33

Plan B listeners: Male 25, Male 23, Male 21, Male 21, Male 17, Female 16, Male 23, Male 23, Male 18, Male 33
Plan B & Chase and Status top listeners - Male 27, Male unknown age, Male 20, Male 25, Male 18, Female 19, Male 20, Female unknown age, Male 20, Male 20

I took each of these print screens from the first page of 'Most Recent Listeners' The results were unanimous that Males aged 18 - 27 were the main target age group. The target audience will also be listeners of hip hop & drum and bass music. Females are part of the market yet they are not the audience we will be mainly targeting our product toward.

To conclude, our target market is Males aged 18 - 27 who are fans of hip hop / drum and bass music.

An article by Criag Davis' about Video Conventions

During my research i discovered this article by Crag Davis who establishes music video conventions, after reading through i discovered that these statements mirrored the conventions I established after my analysis. This was reassuring as I can now state music video conventions with confidence. The conventions I found are posted on my blog here.

Lighting - We could use the idea of switching from colour to black or white, desaturated to determine a flask back or memory, also a change of colour lighting will be useful in differentiating setting, chorus and verse change etc. We will endevour to think of clever ways to use artificial lighting in our video as we believe this is a key focus for making our video seem professional. This idea was also highlighted a lot during my research, from which we gained some inspiring ideas.

Mise en scene - We will interpret the genre of the track in our mise en scene, choosing gritty locations that reflect the urban music. We have thought about how we could stage the garage scene and thought about using old tattered furniture surrounded by clutter. - an intentional 'parodic' setting to exaggerate star image.

In post production we will think of innovative ways to use Final cuts many video filters and effects to the premium.
Even though our video is not planned to be a performance due to the genre of the track, these points were interesting and insighting especially the comments on a hybrid form video, cutting between performance and narrative as in Greenday's 21 Guns which I analysised. Also we could use the idea that the 'artist...often becomes part of that narrative story', as we are keen to switch between him singing/ performing alone in a desolate room and a subtle narrative.
This was reassuring, as the plan to our music videos narrative is not very strong, it hints at why he is in despair through use of flashbacks but we did worry that this would not be adequate for the audience. Craig Davis' claims that 'narrative code must be 'loose' or simply 'suggestive' which is reassuring.
Amplification - this is a convention we will endeavour to finish to a high quality, we have already began to interpret and amplify the lyrics from using a bleeding nose for the opening 'When the blood dries in my veins', here a 'connotative' link has been used. We are constantly thinking of ways to creatively interpret the lyrics and the mood of the video.

This is a idea i picked up on a lot after analysing already established music videos. Care full planning of camera positioning and movement will be needed - especially close ups! And the idea of lip syncing we will definitely use. During our editing we will then utilise these shots to edit to the fast drum n bass pace of our track. 'Jumping from location to person...without any normal narrative continuity', this means that we will have to be less aware of continuity editing as this will appear too much like a short piece of film, rather than following conventions of a music video.

The article found is hosted here.

Story Boarding

Instruction given:

"How do I create an Animatic

• Draw storyboard frames - nice and bold with black pen if necessary
• Take individual photos of each frame
• Upload the photos to the computer
• Import the photos into the edit programme
• Drop each image onto the time line and cut to required length
• Put music or other sound on the audio time line
• Add titles or ef
  fects / transitions as required
• Export to Quicktime and upload to Youtube or Vimeo
• Embed the video onto the blog or save it to a CD"
  
  We began by thinking of inspired shots, angles, costume and mise en scene we had gathered from our research. Then listening to our track we wrote down in order our narrative, then we could draw shots around this. Drawing the shots together I then scanned them into the computer so they could be seen clearer, it was also faster. Some of the images are shown above.
  
  Importing the images into final cut was simple, we then imported our music track.
  Following the listed sequence of narrative we dragged the images to the time line and listened for change of beat eg the introduction was changed in beats of 8. We repeated the images numerous times as obviously change of angle, distance, framing and action would fill the shot yet the main premise of the shot is captured in the drawing. Obviously this would then allow us to edit to the pace of the music. The animatic will be extremely useful for filming schedule as we are aware roughly of the shots we need to capture, and can direct specifically rather than being clueless. Final cut also allowed us to add effects to the images, we used dissolves during the introduction to move between shots and slow down the pace, this was useful as we could test out which transitions worked best with the music.
  
  Below is the final animatic exported to Quicktime movie. Hopefully after watching it you can being to understand the essence of the tone of our predicted video.