Production planning
We started our production by working, as a group on the video we were to make. We wanted to extend the meaning of the song into our video but did not want to simply illustrate it as this would not leave enough room for us to be creative with our production and would patronise viewers. We started by listening to the song and discussed our interpretation of what we heard. We agreed that the singer seemed lonely and mournful but at the same time content and nostalgic. We decided to take the emotions found within the song and use these as a basis for a narrative which would run throughout our video. We all felt the song was very soulful and needed a strong main character to personify this. We wanted a character which was an enigma to the viewers. We wanted them to be intrigued by the character. We eventually developed the idea of having a self involved, lonely, thoughtful enigmatic character. The character would have a spark about them which would create an enigma for the viewers. This spark would be shown through the characters intriguing mannerisms. We wanted to show this spark through visually interesting idiosyncrasies of the character.
Casting
Album cover
The album cover is in a 12” vinyl format. It is a simple photomontage which is very stylistic and surreal. The background image is of a road stretching into the horizon. The road is distorted to give an exaggerated sense of perspective which draws the viewer’s focus into the image. The sky is dark and fierce which denotes the emotive nature of the music. In the fore ground there is the band logo, which appears to be lying on the road. There is a green circular signpost with an abstract image which is recognisable as some kind of animal. A circular sign post is used to signify danger to viewer. The unconventional icon within the sign warns the viewer of the band’s will to break conventions and to experiment with their music. The road gives connotations of a journey. There is a jelly fish in the sky, from which light radiates. This seems visionary, almost sacred. This is satirical; the band does obviously not worship jelly fish, or promote the worship of jelly fish. It shows their will to challenge conformity, tradition and authority. Making the band seem rebellious, is a non offensive way. This makes it appeal to an audience looking for some thing alternative, without offending the mainstream. In the bottom right hand corner of the cover is the band logo.
‘The adventures of…’ is a jokey, catchy name for the album. It has immediate connotations of comic books and epic stories. This links in with the comic style of the band’s logo, this shows the fun, humorous aspects of the band. The adventures of… also has connotations of epic stories, this denotes the form of this album, which like the ‘Beach boy’s’ ‘pet sounds’ has a continuous narrative running throughout the album. The logo is circular, with the band centred inside the motif. The logo gives connotations of a record sticker; this makes it appeal to the popular culture of an older audience whom have always bought their music in vinyl format. It also corresponds to the current fashions in media formats. The band itself is drawn as a very stylised cartoon
We have used a number of generic signifiers to make it immediately clear to the viewers what they can expect from this media product. Firstly we have a traditional band format, with lead gatair, drummer, and bassist. The band shots are edited in a conventional way, with them being used to show the instrumental, we have a establishing/hook shot of the band playing together and pay attention to the detail of the music using close ups and extreme close-ups. The alternative nature of the music is also portrayed to the viewer by use of strange camera angles and creative movements of the camera. However, the band defies conventions by having no lead singer. There is an empty microphone in the centre of the frame. The band seems to look lost and soulless, like the character in the narrative.
The clothes worn by the character and the band are very grungy, stylish and are a clear indicator to the genre of the song.
The video opens with a shot of a man in bed; it is dark and clearly morning. The shot is an immediate enigma to viewers, creating questions which they need answered, this draws them into the video, making them immediately involved and intergraded with the product. The shot really gives no signifiers to what type of text this is. The shot pans down slowly, passing down over the character’s sprawled hand. He has a piece of ribbon tied round his wrist. This suggests that he has some one close to, or has had someone close to him, as it is impossible to tie such a thing round your own wrist. The band also has connotations of the bands given out at music festivals such as Glastonbury and the reading festival. This is in keeping with our core audience’s popular culture and there for makes it easier to relate to and under stand the character, narrative and style of the video. The camera continues to pan down to reveal a view under the character’s bed. Under a bed is a hidden place, which is quite personal. There are clothes strewn carelessly on floor. There are bottles and cigarettes in the fore ground suggesting the demise of the character. There is a pair of skateboarding shoes, which again link with the popular culture of the primary audience, complimenting them. As the camera shows under the bed it becomes clear that it is a double bed. This raises another enigma; was there some one else in the bed? Did there used to be someone else who shared this bed? Pair of feet lower themselves to the floor and wait. A hand reaches down and removes a whiskey bottle form one of the shoes, lifts it out of the frame and replaces it. This shows the alcoholic nature of the character. It links alcoholism with demise by showing such a messy room and an un happy character, demoting drinking. In the top left had corner of the image is a vinyl cover with a stylised image of a girl …THE PAVEMENT
The inside of the cover is a photo of Anish Kapoor’s recent work in the sculpture hall of the Tate modern. The audience will gain more pleasure if they can link the image to their popular culture, extending the meaning of the image to them.
The back cover is an image which was taken along the south bank of London. It contains many messages about capitalism discouraging drinking and holds strong political messages.
The video shows flashes to a girl on three occasions, on each occasion the imagery gets clearer and less dreamlike.
Throughout the video the character shows us more of his emotions, opening up to the audience, letting them into his persona. Overall it is a very optimistic video.
Our video has a basic narrative, this is a convention of Indie videos. Indie videos tend to have a have a narrative, which conveys meaning to the audience, often of a politically orientated nature. It is a convention for Indie videos to be original and come up with new ideas and styles which challenge the conventions of pop videos. In this way, in the sub genre of Indie pop videos it is conventional to break and challenge the style and form of popular, ‘glossy’ videos and to create unique style unique to the band.
Audience research shows that viewers had mixed interpretations of the product we created.
Our video has been created for mainstream viewing. The video is three minutes long and contains no materials unsuitable for mainstream broadcasting. It follows the form of a video with a narrative and also has band short. The style of the video is delicately scruffy, grungy and establishes an unique style. The video follows the actions of a young man who looks the student type in a day. It shows his reactions to the world around him, building a character through actions. He starts the day weary, de motivated, depressive. There seems to be some thing missing from his life. As he wakes up, grooms himself and ventures into the city purposeless he seems laboured, lost and lonely. At the same time he has a spark to him, like an element of hope or a cherished memory which keeps him going. This narrative is broken by clips with a different style; of a young, happy, pretty girl. The style of these shots is distinct to the rest of the video as they are less saturated, more blurred, and ghosted. All these make it seem more dreamlike helping to anchor the meaning of the shots within the story line. The video also contains band shots which further help to anchor the genre of the band and gives the band more identity. The video has a meandering, gentle pace with rhymic but syncopated and soft editing. We use inventive, The imagery is soft, tactile and subtle. We have decreased the saturation of the video making the colours seem faded and aged. It makes the footage seem stylised and surreal; creating style. This effect also helps to give the footage continuity, which was hard to maintain when shooting in a number of different locations without studio lighting. We also blurred and deinterlaced the footage to give it a filmic feel giving classic quality. The band shots are stark and contrasty, in these sections the editing is more rhymic and is more creative and intrusive.
Part 3
Independent or Indie music is alternative music with underground roots. Whilst the genre has anti establishment beliefs the Indie bands thrive off the mainstream industry. It uses the mainstream industry in two ways. Firstly, the mainstream music industry provides something to oppose. Indie bands often thrive from breaking the rules of the popular establishment, providing audiences with something which they can call their own, which is not the promoted to the mainstream. In this way the audience can feel that they are making decisions for themselves, making them feel in control of their decisions. This helps them to feel more independent, and gives them social identity. At the same time Indie bands use the mainstream to promote and sell themselves. Using the mainstream industry, Indie bands can commodify themselves through their attitudes, values, beliefs and especially their style.
Tippo would be marketed to the mainstream through enigmatic, original schemes. One idea would extend the themes used on the album cover. The Tippo logo would be printed as stickers and would be stuck on roads all round the centre of London, including Oxford Street, Tottenham court road and the surrounding area as well as in and around venues. The stickers would set up an enigma, which could only be solved by the album cover. People who view both would feel rewarded by the extra understanding. This would give direct reference to our front cover, making it more rewarding for people who had seen the stickers. We could also place the unconventional sign used on our front cover on sign posts around London. This would be thought provoking and enigmatic.
We had censorship in mind when making our video and there are no materials of an offensive nature.
Audience research
Indie industry
