First Pitch

The band would be trying to get a message across through their music rather than worrying about their image. The band would be ideological and would be subverting the explicit promotion of the artist’s image. As a pop video we would be imitating a wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement. We would be imitating repetition of reoccurring thematic elements at least three times so the audience considers it as a sign of importance. We would also be imitating a narrative structure and a performance element for this particular video. There is a possibility that the flexibility to disregard realism would be imitated in the pop video. We would also be imitating shots cut tightly to the beat of the track. The use of special effects in this pop video would not be necessary so we would subvert the convention. We would be imitating a carefully constructed mise en scene appropriate to the content of the track as well as part of getting the image across rather than worrying about the image of the band. I would also like the video to be high impact instantly so we would try and imitate this convention as well.

I pitched the third idea I had to Luke our film teacher who is executive producer. It was about the man walking though a council estate and London in a hoody with the camera following him at night. People wearing similar attire would join him as he walked purposefully towards something. During the video, the subjects face would not be shown until the end, so this gives a sense of anticipation to the audience.

Luke’s comments:

It’s hard to get planning permission on a council estate and shooting at night would mean that the lighting plans would have to be efficient and hard to achieve. Shooting in a place where you do not have control of the conditions always leads to continuity problems and other various difficulties. The idea was ruled out after these comments.

As a group we have not decided what we are doing yet.

Research and Development

I looked at various music videos to see the different types of styles and shot techniques used. I came up with the ideas when I was listening to the actual song as well and I felt this helped me come up with ideas. For my ideas I took influence from different music videos which I liked the most and have composed three ideas for a pop video. The first idea consists of using the concept of learned association. An example of this would be every time a snare drum is played this will be shot as someone hitting a tyre with a drum stick.

Over a certain amount of time of the audience watching the video they will expect the sound of a snare drum when there is a shot of someone about to hit a tyre. I imagined the setting of this to be in a junk yard or a scrap heap so that thrown away items could be used as instruments. The song I picked for this idea is Burial by Miike Snow.

This is the Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAUxIOc0d0I

Other shot ideas would include wide shots of the band playing on “junk instruments” and various close ups of what they are playing.

The second Idea I thought of was a classic band with a classic set up. ( i.e guitar’s, drums, keyboard, bass) The setting of this would be in a Hospital Room where they were playing a private gig to one of their mates. Shot ideas for this product would include close up’ of the musicians playing their instruments and various other different shots to show where they were playing. For example close up’s of the hospital equipment.

The song I chose for this is by a band called Cazals and it is called “Too cut a long story short”

The third Idea I had I took influence from a video called “Stress” by the artist Justice. This is their video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfjCyXmMZek

My idea consists of a man in his apartment getting ready to go out. The apartment is in poor condition as part of the set. The man gets ready by putting on his shoes and hoody and this would be shown by close up’s. However throughout the montage of the subject getting ready, the audience never see’s his face. Once the man has got ready he leaves his apartment which is located in a council estate. The camera then has various tracking shots, following the man through the council estate and through the streets of London. While his is walking down people on the street look at him as if there is something wrong with him and as the audience has not seen his face this can create interest. As the man is walking down the street other people wearing similar clothing join him from side alleys. Eventually there is a whole crowd of people walking purposefully towards something.

I pitched these ideas to my group and some of the people liked the idea about man being followed out of a council estate and into the streets. The idea about the hospital did not take great interest to the other people in my group.

The Five Stages of Production

In the film and TV production world there are an accepted 5 stages of production. Whether in fiction as outlined by film theorist Richard Maltby in his book 'Hollywood Cinema' or infactual documentary as outlined by Michael Rabiger in his book 'Directing the Documentary', the 5 stages are the same. They are:
- Research and Development
- Pre Production
- Shoot
- Editing
- Distribution


Our group will research and develop our idea and treat it in terms of performance, possible narrative and possible other images. Each person in our group has created three ideas that we have pitched to each other. We will continue to discuss and manipulate our ideas so that we can piece together a pop video. This is stage 1 of the 5 stages in production. In Stage 2 of production is when we have been given the green light and are able to begin pre production.


As a group we will need to organise what roles we are going to have as individuals in our group. A timeline and a detailed storyboard including technical directions, soundtrack lyrics, lighting, actions, location, special effects, editing transitions and timings will need to be completed. Floor and lighting plans will also need to be planned out before the shoot. Diagrams will be drawn to use on the day of the shoot. A shooting schedule will also need to be prepared and this needs to have a list of shots as they are to be shot, so different from the storyboard. An Equipment and props list needs to be checked off on the day of the shoot as well. A cast list with pictures and details of the actors also needs to be prepared before the shoot. Stage 3 of production is the shoot day.




Everyone does the job that they have been assigned to and the crew have to be checked a couple days before. This then leads to post production which is the fourth stage of production. Everyone in the group should contribute to editing. Stage 5 is distribution and exhibition. This may be done through internet, marketing sites and social space. CD’s and DVD’s are another way as well.

POP VIDEO AND MARKETING CAMPAIGN 2010/2011

You have to create:
- THREE MULTI MEDIA PRODUCTS
- TO ESTABLISH THE IMAGE AND BRAND OF YOUR SINGER AND GROUP and
- HELP SELL THE SONG FROM THEIR FIRST ALBUM.

The group or singer must be a NEW GROUP (even if they are doing a copy of an existing song).

The song is a SINGLE from their FIRST ALBUM.

The actual products to be produced are:
- THE POP VIDEO
- A DIGIPAK for the ALBUM
- A MAGAZINE ADVERT for the ALBUM.