Location Shots

Here are some of the location shots we took whilst filming / of filming locations:

Guard's Island

Car Park

Bedroom

Town - blue corridor

 

Location Research

We plan on filming in both a house owned by one of our group member's families and the Town Centre closest to us. The filming of our music video will be in the dark so will be mostly lit by streetlights. This means that the actual location specifics do not matter and what we mainly want to use is the structure itself. We want to be able to show a wide shot of the skyline of our town centre and would like to shoot the images for our digipak with this location in mind. To do this we will have to be at a height which might make moving the equipment difficult. We also have to take the British weather into consideration. 

A Bedroom:

The filming the bedroom will be quite darkly lit and the laptop will be a main light source. We also need a mirror to be in the room because that will be where our actress will be doing the lip-syncing part of our music video. Our actress will also be getting ready to leave the house to get to the next part of the music video. The laptop will be a recurring feature in the video as it will be showing the FaceBook profile of our male lead, who is only featured virtually. Below is a copy of a typical girls bedroom, in the next blog post images of our actual locations will be featured.

A Car:

We are using a car as one of our locations because it will create a visual link to the lyrics. Filming in the car will be quite difficult however, we will find ways around the difficulties because of the importance of the scene.

Woods:

The woods is a secondary location of in which the lip-syncing will take place. The woods have an atmosphere which is quite mysterious and have a certain level of romance to them depending on the weather. Our actress will have the ability to move around and express emotions which are linked with the song. The lighting of the woods will be late afternoon ish therefore getting quite dark, as we do not have industry style lighting equipment we will have to make sure we are filming with enough time to spare as we don't want to miss out on filming opportunities because of the dark lighting and weather. 

Town Centre:

The town centre we live close to will be the location for one of our time lapses. We plan on sending our actress on a journey of certain locations and this will be a stepping stone for our next one. We plan on filming at night so it will be lit up by streetlights and won't be very busy at all.

Guards Island:

The bridges on Guards Island will be another one of our locations towards the end of the video. We like the location because it is on the river and you can see a lot from it. It is also very isolated so will be empty when we want to film. The only difficulty we will have will be with lighting because we want to film late afternoon, early evening but we will find a way around that issue.

 

Top of a Building:

The top of the building will be the location for the end of our music video and also the location for our digipak and promotional poster. We will be able to create our own equivalent of the New York skyline and create another visual link with the song. We wish to recreate the image below using our own town and have it happen at night so that we can fully appreciate the lights of town. 

Abstract Underpass

The abstract underpass was a last minute location which we added in. It will be used as a transition area where Phoebe will walk up and down so that we can use the shots in different areas of the music video as a transition. It is a cool area and a lot of different shot types will be used. 

Finalised Ideas - Digipak and Magazine Advertisement

Here is a scanned copy of our finalised digipak and magazine poster ideas.



The digipak dimensions are as follows:

Music Video Concept - Final Ideas

After coming up with a wide variety of initial ideas, as a group we finalised our favourite idea.

Our favourite idea was that the style of the music to be a day in the life of our character. Our main character is to be a girl, around the age of 18+. We want her outfits to reflect her mood and by this I mean because the song is quite sad we do not want her to be in bright colours because it would be incongruous to the theme of the song.

We want to show a journey, such as the main character getting ready for the night, we will show her make-up as well as her in different locations such as the woods and the top of a building. We want to show the town we are filming in because it goes with the theme of the song. We plan on making links with the lyrics and the visuals on certain lines such as "Losing my lover to the arms of another" and "New York City please go easy".

As we will not actually be filming in New York City we want to find a way to incorporate American culture in to our video as well.

Initial Ideas - Digipak and Magazine Advertisement

Through our research we found out that the Digipak and Magazine advertisement are usually all in sync especially with the music video itself. Therefore when coming up with some initial ideas we were consistent in the same theme.

Initial Music Video Concept Ideas

As we have chosen the song we want to film and have completed research into the types of videos already existing in the genre, we wanted to brainstorm the various ideas we believed would work with the song as well as the conventions of the EDM genre. Our initial ideas included locations, story lines, as well as an idea based in each style of video i.e. narrative and concept. We had to consider all the limitations we would have to face when filming, such as lighting, weather conditions and when everything and everyone would be available to film.


We particularly liked a narrative idea because it was the most popular amongst EDM genre music videos.

'New York City' - Lyrics Deconstruction

I deconstructed the lyrics of this song with my subjective interpretation. As well as analysing the lyrics themselves, I broke down the song's timings in order to record how long each verse was.

The purpose of breaking down the timings is that so when we are planning our music video and creating a storyboard we know how long each verse is and what kind of visuals are needed and how long they should be shown for. It helps us breakdown the song and its generally useful during the planning stages. 

'New York City' - Lyrics

To know what it's like to love somebody the way I love you

To know what it's like to love somebody the way I love you

To know how it feels to kill yourself with bad habits

To know what you want, know you'll never truly have it

New York City, please go easy on me tonight

New York City, please go easy on this heart of mine

Cause I'm losing my lover to the arms of another

New York City, please go easy on me tonight

When I went away, saw your face in my rear-view

I know that look on your face, that I had lost you

New York City, please go easy on me tonight

New York City, please go easy on this heart of mine

Cause I'm losing my lover to the arms of another

New York City, please go easy on me tonight

You promised, I promised

I never knew I could be this selfish

Nights downtown, it's a new town

But I keep thinking I see your face in the crowd

But you're not here and you won't be

Cause you love me enough to let go of me

New York City, please go easy on me tonight

New York City, please go easy on this heart of mine

Cause I'm losing my lover to the arms of another

New York City, please go easy on me tonight

Chosen Song: 'New York City' - The Chainsmokers

Our chosen song is 'New York City' by The Chainsmokers.

'New York City' features on The Chainsmoker's 5-song EP 'Bouquet'. We chose this song because it does not yet have a music video and it will fit perfectly into the genre we wanted. As a group, we each have different music tastes; however, when we heard this song we came to a mutual agreement that this was the song we wanted to use. The song was unusual and the opportunities to create a music video from a variety of styles was seemingly endless as there wasn't a previously dictated path for the video to follow.

Production will be taking place in the winter. With a knowledge of British weather, it is likely to be aesthetically miserable; this however will not hinder our production process because the song itself will fit in well with somewhat miserable weather.

Audience Research - Who is the Target Audience?

In order to make sure that our promotional materials appeal to our target audience, we decided it would be in our best interest to bring together a focus group to provide us with feedback at various stages in our planning, production and post production. Our focus group have so far helped by providing their opinions on what they consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of the music videos we have been researching. In the future, the focus group will give our group feedback on our own work. At certain stages we will ask them to view what we've come up with and provide us with positive and negative feedback.

When putting together our focus group, our overall goal was to come up with a sample of people which are a representation of our target audience. In order to do this, we began by pinpointing our target audience and creating a typical profile of a member.

Audience Profile:

Age: 15-24

Gender: Primarily female but males are included

Registrar General's Social Scale: C1/B/E 

Shelby's Psychographic Cluster: 'Innovators: who wish to make their mark'

Description:

A typical member of our target audience would be a female, however the various promotions will be targeted for both males and females. When researching The Chainsmokers original productions and who typically goes to see them live, we personally felt that they catered slightly more for women than men. They would also be in their late teens or early twenties - perhaps a sixth-form/university student. They would be someone who wishes to strive in the world they are present in and make their mark and could possibly see themselves as rebellious - someone who wishes to remake their world in their own image. We also think that the members of our target audience would most defiantly enjoy going to gigs and festivals, much like those of Nass and Boomtown, where dance/EDM music is sort after. 

In terms of Elihu Katz's 'Uses and Gratifications', a member of our focus group would be someone who gains a sense of their own identity from the music they listen to and someone who uses music as a form of escapism from the stresses of everyday life drama. The 'Uses and Gratifications' model suggests that audiences use the media rather than being used by the media. 

Focus Group:

Using this audience profile (above) as a base, we compiled a group of five people who are within the same friendship group so to an extent share similarities and are similar ages/genders with our target audience. We will continue to use the exact same members of the focus group throughout the development of our coursework and evaluations. 

Phoebe: Studies Drama, English Literature, and Philosophy and Ethics at A-Level. Her hobbies consist of playing guitar (very musical person and enjoys going to gigs and festivals), blogging and reading. 

James: Studies Mathematics, Economics and Geography. His hobbies are football, going to the gym, and socialising. 

Alex: Studies History, Geography and Business Studies. Hobbies consist of horse riding and socialising with friends from school and work.

Scarlett: Studies Geography, Business Studies and Drama. Her hobbies include dancing, athletics and socialising with friends.

Ben: Studies Psychology, Biology and Chemistry. Ben's hobbies include playing cricket and attending gigs.

Analysis of Record Label - Disruptor Records and Columbia Records

Disruptor Records

Disruptor Records is a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment. Disruptor Records "streamlines label capabilities with a uniform strategic goal of long term artist development". They use forward-thinking progressive marketing methods which revolve around genuine, non-commercialised promotion. They also focus on direct artist/fan communication relationships to build artists careers. 

Disruptor Management is the artist management division which continues on the same philosophy of the label with a 24/7 dedication to career building, creating loyal fan bases, and also strategic planning for commercial success. 

Selector Songs is a joint venture with Sony/ATV Music Publishing and represents some of the most talented and upcoming songwriters, producers and artists from many different countries around the world.

Artists: 

The label has a total of six artists as of September 2016. They are; 'The Chainsmokers', 'Life of Dillon', 'Lost Kings', 'XYLO', 'Jocelyn Alice' and 'DJ Vanic'. 

The label is very active on social media. Their website has links to every account they operate as well as an address in which people can use to get in touch. 

Website link: http://www.disruptorrecords.com

Columbia Records

Columbia Records (known as Columbia) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc.; the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from the American Graphophone Company, the successor to the Volta Graphophone Company.

Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, being the second major record company to produce recorded records. Columbia records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists and bands. The Columbia name was adopted internationally in 1990. It is one of Sony Music's three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records.

Artists:

Adele, A R Rahman, Barbra Streisand, Beyoncé, Bring Me the Horizon, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Calvin Harris, Celine Dion, Daft Punk, David Gilmour, Earl Sweatshirt, Electric Light Orchestra, Ella Henderson, James Arthur, J. Cole, Juicy J, Lavengro, Little Mix, Madeon, MKTO, Nine Inch Nails, One Direction, Passion Pit, Patti Smith, Pharrell Williams, Rachel Platten, Russ, the Neighbourhood, The Script, T.I., Train, ZHU and the casts of Fox's hit television shows Glee and Empire. 

In 2012, Columbia Records gained the highest label share on adult contemporary radio in the US, and was named the number-one adult contemporary label that year.

Website link: http://www.columbiarecords.com

The Chainsmokers: Artist and Genre Research

The Chainsmokers are an American DJ duo consisting of Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall. They were formed as an EDM DJ duo in 2012 under the management of Adam Alpert in New York City. Initially, the duo started out by making remixes of indie bands. In 2012 they collaborated with Indian actress and artist Priyanka Chopra on the single 'Erase' which was followed by 'The Rookie' in early 2013.

Their single '#selfie' was released for free in December 2013 and picked up by Dim Mak Records who re-released it in January 2014 and eventually streamed it to Republic Records. The single helped the duo to achieve breakthrough success as it charted internationally and peaked on the Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

August 5th 2014, The Chainsmokers released 'Kanye' featuring sirenXX which was the follow up to '#Selfie'. Around seven months later, they released 'Let You Go', featuring the American synth-pop group, Great Good Fine Ok.

The Chainsmokers signed with Disruptor Records, a joint venture label with Sony Music Entertainment as well as Columbia Records which is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment; this was by their manager Adam Alpert in April 2015.

On October 23rd, 2015, The Chainsmokers released their first EP titled 'Bouquet' which features the songs; 'New York City', 'Waterbed', 'Until You Were Gone', 'Good Intentions' and 'Roses'. Their follow-up single 'Don't Let Me Down' was released on February 5th, 2016 featuring the singer Daya. A couple of months later they released the single 'Inside Out' which featured the Austrian singer Charlee.

On July 29th 2016, The Chainsmokers released 'Closer' featuring the singer Halsey, which reached number 1 on the US Hot 100 and UK singles charts. 

Genre:

The Chainsmokers associated genres are:

• Electro house
• Progressive House
• Electric Dance Music
• Trap Music
• Electropop
• Dance-pop

Conventions of these genres: When it comes to EDM (Electric Dance Music) dancing plays a huge role, mainly due to the fact that this music is found in clubs where people are typically there to dance. It is also conventional for the artists not to appear in the videos as they usually have a narrative, more often than not unrelated to the lyrics. A summary of a standard EDM music video is that an upbeat song has an equally upbeat video with an unrelated narrative, and dance and party scenes. Bright colours are common as well as women dressed in minimal clothing.

Through research of the EDM genre itself, I have found that music videos for this genre do not have many codes and conventions; this is because it allows more freedom for the artist. Most artists follow the same creative routes and create a video which is suited to young people.

"House/Dance music is a genre of electronic dance music - originating in the American city of Chicago in the early 80s. At the start of this new craze, this genre was generally dance-based music, which was then characterized by repetitive 4/4 beats and the rhythms were mainly provided by drum machines, off-beat hi-hat cymbals and synthesized baselines. Now, this genre has moved on, but has still kept several of these core elements. This has manifested into fusion sub genres, the likes of euro house, tech house and electro house." - https://prezi.com/ypvixntzrug3/dancehouse-genre-conventions/ 

Modern artists with this genre include: 

• Calvin Harris
• Zedd
• Diplo
• Avicii
• Tiesto
• The Chainsmokers
• Nicki Minaj

Statistics of this genre: The industry is said to be worth $6.9 billion.

Music Video Permission / Response

Below is a copy of the letter we sent to the management of The Chainsmokers and their label Disruptor Records who own the rights to the song "New York City". We sent the email on the week commencing the 5th of September 2016 and as of the 26th of September 2016 we have no yet heard back.


As of yet we have not received a reply; however we are still continuing in our planning process unless the management team responds and denies permission.

If they do not give us permission, we understand that we will need to start our process again.

Katy Perry: One of The Boys - Digipak and Magazine Promotional Poster Deconstruction

Although Katy Perry's music is not apart of the genre I have chosen, as a pop artist she follows the more conventional path of advertisement and production. By this I mean she uses magazines as a part of promotion and I was able to find all parts of the album i.e. the panels. 

Katy Perry - Digipak

Front Panel

Katy Perry's "One of the Boys" album cover is very girly and provides an innocent feeling to it. The garden littered with pink items such as the blanket and the record player are spread out across the whole album cover. This almost forces the audience to look at the entire cover and notice how feminine it is. There is a very sweet vibe across the entire cover. The bubblegum writing provides a playful feeling, linking to the style of music such as pop and dance, something most typically listened to by tween girls. The artist is biting on her sunglasses and lounging in a position which could be considered sensual. The overall feel of the album cover is very ascetically pleasing. 

The record label would want Katy Perry to focus her market on a particular group such as tweens, girls in particular. By using the colour pink and being as innocent as possible on the front cover, it appeals to the younger girls and their parents as they see Katy Perry as an innocent role model. 

Inside Panel:

The inside panel follows the same garden theme as the front cover. Katy Perry is very feminine and the colours agree with the girly vibe. She is overall quite innocent in the first shot but gets more sensual as the images move on. She is looking at the camera and is connecting with the audience who have brought her album. The overall outfit and hairstyle leans towards a more 90's era and this is quite a unique look to go for in modern times. The flowers and the cherry in Katy's hair is very feminine and provides a sweet kind of vibe. 

CD:

The CD has the artists name and album title either side of the strawberry written in the same font as they were on the front cover. The colours are still following the same scheme and along with the strawberry are continuing the theme of femininity and nature also. 

Back Panel:

The back and side panels are both consistent with the garden theme. Katy Perry is staring directly at the camera and is trying to make a connection with the audience by making eye contact. Her outfit, including hair and makeup is consistent and provides a sense of continuity. Along with the outside, the garden is providing a sense of summer or spring time. The sun has connotations of brightness and joy as well as enjoyable, memorable times. The font has been consistent throughout the album and so has the colour scheme. 

The back cover has traditional conventions such as the barcode and the record labels' logos in clear sight. It is very important for the audience to be able to see the record label because Katy Perry is their artist and they want to be represented as well as her on the album. On the side panels, there is the artists name and the name of the album alongside the record labels logo and a serial number. 

Magazine Promotional Poster:

Above is the magazine promotional poster of Katy Perry's album "One of the boys". The same location as the album cover (the garden) has been used on the poster, however instead of a wide shot, this one has a long shot, showing Katy Perry's whole figure. Katy is doing what can be considered a sweet/enticing pose whilst making direct eye contact with the camera. The same bubblegum girly font has be used for 'Katy Perry' and 'One of the Boys' as well as on the information on the bottom left corner which is saying the album is out now and featuring a top selling single. By continuously using the same font and colour scheme, the audience is able to become familiar with the product and various other products associated with it such as in this case the poster. The audience will be able to see this poster and go into a shop and be able to instantly recognise the album they are trying to find because of the identifiable features. By using a full length image of Katy Perry, the audience is able to see what she looks like and how she presents herself. The information on the bottom left corner is enticing fans who of may only heard the one song to buy the album to not only hear that song but several others they may enjoy just as much. The release date is "Out Now" which means that fans are able to go out and buy the album straight after seeing the poster as oppose to waiting for a release date. The album cover itself is also publicised in the bottom corner so that fans will without a doubt be able to tell what they're looking for. The poster also contains links to Katy Perry's website so that if so desired, the fans could look them up and find out more about Katy Perry as an artist. 

Justin Bieber: Purpose - Digipak and Magazine Promotional Poster Deconstruction

Justin Bieber - Digipak

Front Panel

The album cover is very simplistic and is similar to the "Where are U now" because of its simplicity. The video is basic and has fans drawing random things onto Bieber and this album cover has Justin Bieber being covered in what seems to be random logos and symbols. Justin Bieber seems to be quite in-depth thought and is not looking at the camera.

Justin Bieber was signed when he was quite young and this means as an artist he has had many opportunities to reinvent himself. Previously before this album, Justin had a bad boy reputation and was getting into trouble a lot with the law, this made his career suffer and many fans lost respect for him. Also, fans' parents saw him as a bad role model and influence on their children and this also hindered his career. The "Purpose" album is meant to be about Bieber coming back from the hard ships and saying that he's on the road to successes once again. His record label would've likely to be cautious because of how volatile Bieber has been in the past. However, they would've let him have his own creative direction because there are plenty of labels out there who want Justin Bieber as their own artist. 

The front album cover is very basic in the sense that it doesn't have a lot going on. By this I mean that aside from the symbols on the background, there isn't a lot else happening. The artists name is not present on the front cover and this shows that Justin Bieber is relying on fans knowing who he is instead of actually printing his name alongside the album's title. It is very unconventional to not feature a written version of the artist's name. The album title is quite small and at the bottom of the cover and this is not very conventional because it usually should be in a place obvious to the audience. Justin Bieber is a solo artist and therefore doesn't have to share the spotlight therefore he takes up the entire front cover.

Back Panel

The back album cover is a lot more traditionally conventional than the front cover. It is very full and contains a lot of information. There is a black and white colour scheme with a hint of dark green in the track list. The image is very different to that on the front cover as this is not an unclose image of the artist and intact shows him off with a skateboard doing his own thing. All of the conventional features are included such as the barcode, record label's logos, copyright information and the track list itself. 

Promotional Poster - Single version

The promotional poster for the single "What Do You Mean" is very basic and simple. It is unlike the album poster because it is Bieber holding up a white piece of card with the single's name on. Next to him is when the single is available which is now. It doesn't have any links to how to get the single so it is up to the fans on getting it.

Tour Promotional Poster

This promotion poster is actually for the tour related to this album as I was unable to find a magazine promotional poster for the album itself. 

The Promotional Tour Poster is very similar to the the album cover in the sense that Bieber is facing away from the camera

. It is likely that the similarities are so that the audience can have some artist recognition and be able to create a connection between each of the artists products. There is the album the tour is promoting in the bottom left corner, this creates another brand of recognition for the audience. The artists name is at the top of the poster in large, bold lettering; this makes it clear who the artist is and whose tour it is. 

There are conventional features such as the tour dates, they are on every tour poster, as well as when tickets are available to be brought and where just below them. The logos are important because it is likely to be the record labels who are paying for the tour therefore need to be recognised on the poster. Also featured is the supporting acts, this is important because fans are always likely to be interested in who is supporting the tour.