Audience Feedback on Music Video

Here we showed a group of students our music video and asked for some feedbacks in order to improve and modify our work. Here are the feedbacks given by the students.

Digipack Design

Here is a digipack which Evelyn had designed and created as she disagreed with our robotic ideas since she thinks it is too childish.

Here is the progress of making the digipack. 

Website Design- Draft

Here is the link to the website

I started designing a draft for the website for our music campaign. I came up with the name 'B-Side Label' which I thought sounded pretty alternative while still not being too whacky. The website is based on the initial idea of the robot being the focus of the star image.

This is the main homepage where the users will see when first enter the website. I chose an abstract photo of a robot and put a black and white filter into it on order to make it look kind of 1920s in order to fit in with the theme of the whole album.

I also added the biography section which gives a general introduction to the band- the genre of music they are producing, their latest album and most importantly their latest hit 'Beatophone.'

Designing and Sketching Campaigns

We started sketching and designing our album cover and website today and we were able to come up with a few creative ideas for our music campaign. We did not want to be too literal with the campaign by linking it straight to the music video idea. Instead, we thought about how the whole band should be represented rather than just designing what would fit in with the music video. We started brainstorming ideas for the album cover and came up with this really cool robotic idea as it fits in with the electro aspect of the band.

Here we brainstormed all the possible ideas for the album cover which could connotes the star image of the band.

 Here is a photo of me sketching the album covers. 

 I came up with an idea of having mechanical organs in which i sketched out a mechanical lung which could look really cool connecting with our robotic idea.

 Here is our strongest idea for the album cover. I sketched out the robot and included the moustache and box tie to connotes the 1920 element while still remaining the electro-swing ideology element. We also  came up with the idea of writing the album title in Thai to make it more interesting and unique. Also, Thai is a very symbolic language with abstract fonts which would look really cool as the album cover.

Finally, we started sketching our website using the ideology of the robot as the main element. The sketch on the left was our first sketch which I added the computers with many science equipments to make it suit the music video. I later realized that it would be better if the website promote the whole band instead of just one music video and decided to scrap the idea. 

Campaigns Research

Campaigns:
Here I researched a list of merchandise for a hardcore metal band called 'IPrevail' and found these t-shirts. The graphics in the front shows the singer live on the stage while the back has a screening of quite strong language. This impersonates the band as being rebellious which fits in with the ideology of metal bands.

However, here Nanci found a campaign for an Electro Swing band called 'Tape Five' which is the same genre as the band for our music video. The hoodie and merchandise for this band is simple and shows a saxophone player in which would fit in better as our campaign as it is the same genre + has the same instrument as our band. 

Website

The website for I Prevail is quite modern and abstract with colours and animations of skulls which resembles death and violence- an ideology set by metal music which means the website fits with the genre if the band perfectly. The website has sub headings which shows all the information about the band including their new releases, albums, contact, news and concert tours.

On the other side, Nanci researched a band called Tape Five as mentioned before which uses quite simple templates for their website. It uses simplistic style of fonts, background including neutral colours which makes it very quite to look at. The middle of the webpage shows different album covers that the band has released which is a form of marketing and advertisement introducing all the work the artist ever created. 

Another Electro Swing band we researched was called Parov Stellar who is a solo artist. His homepage was very simple but yet really effective. It has all the links to his other sub pages while still showing the big logo which represents his work. The style is quite simple which I really like and feel like it would fit in quite well with our music video.

Albums

I Prevail's album has a deep abstract artwork which correlates with the band being quite a new abstract hardcore metal band since the band included some techno element into their new album. The album cover shows a black shadow in between the red heart on the left with a blue abstract brain on the right with the album titled 'Heart vs Mind.' The artwork brings the album name to life as it shows how the person in the middle is stuck in between the heart and the mind.

Tape Five's album 'Circus Maximus' cover is also quite weird and abstract. It shows a guy wearing a hat pointing straight at the audience which shows some kind of authority. The top hat with black cane which he is holding which makes the audience interested on who this guy is. The fancy chair connotes how the guy could be of the higher authority. The font of the band is quite simple and the font for the album title is quite whacky and old-school which gives an impression of this album being whacky and old school.

Parov Steler's newest album 'The Demon Diaries' shows a dark abstract portrait of a woman holding her eyes closed with a crow on top of the album title. This creates an impression of ambiguous and confusion for the audience as the genre of the artist is 'Electro Swing' but the album cover appears quite dark and depressing which generates many questions for the audience of the genre which makes the audience wants to know more about the album. The font used is quite simple while the red colour is effective at making the album cover seems sad and down. 

Editing Session ~8

Today we started applying Matt's comments to our project. Instead of having 1 wide shot for 6 seconds at a time, I started adding mid shots and close-up shots in between the wide, making the music video look much less boring and gives it more dynamic. We used the blade tool to cut shots instead of creating a whole new cut in order to save time and prevent amateur errors from creating the wrong cut. We were going to create a whole new project in order to pursue Matt's comment but Nanci suggested that we could just use our current version and apply some changes to it. I came up with a solution to fix our scientist continuity where he was using the wrong hand- I decided that we should just use a close-up of Mike without showing his hand as that was the only way around it. We also started adding the tap-dance section in order to introduce the element before the climax.

Editing Session ~7

Today me and Nanci decided that we should come up and edit during our free period as our deadline for the music video isn't too far ahead. Unfortunately, we were unable to edit as we had some schedule issues with the other class. I will be editing tomorrow in enigma though in order to keep making progress for our music video.

Editing Session ~6

We showed our progress to other people in the edit suite and asked them for feedback. The feedback received were really useful as some of the audience spotted amateur errors such as the introduction of the saxophone player while there was no saxophone playing. We had to come up with the transition from 1920s to futuristic element in which Nanci suggests we could cut back n forth between the brass saxophone and the pink saxophone in order to show the change of element. We also needed to figure out when to start introducing the futuristic element whether we should bring it in earlier or give it a glimpse throughout the whole music video.

Editing Session ~5

In this session, we had an argument whether to use the shots of musicians or dancers in certain parts of the song, as my argument says that we should use the dancers more as the focus of this music video is more on the dancers rather than the musicians. However, Evelyn disagrees because the dancer's routines are too short which means we dont have enough footage but I had a solution around it where I decided to introduce the tap dancing element into the missing scene. Also we had issues deciding between using the shot of violin player's face or bow as we figured we already used the shot of the bow for one part of the song already. We also needed to find appropriate shots of the lip-sync in order to make it fit in with the dancers when we are cutting back and forth between the dancers and the scientist.

Editing Session ~4

Unfortunately, I was away for this session and could not contribute to our editing process. However, I have been told by my group that we had some issues with our current progress as we needed to obey some of the rules set by our teachers. We were told the 3 shots rule where we had to include 3 range of shots of one element before moving on to another. This was a major problem for us as our track is quite upbeat and funky in which i pictured our music video in my head to have lots of sudden cuts between the dancing element and the scientist element. Another problem was that we needed to introduce our scientist's face before the lip-sync begins. The last issue raised was that we need to make sure which instruments are actually playing at what time in the song, as we cannot show a saxophone player playing while there is no saxophone sound. This will help us to choose which shots to use next while making sure the rules are still being applied.

Editing Session ~3

We continued to edit the draft we saved from last session in which our aim this session was to get to the lip-sync section of the scientist. We looked through all the lip-sync clips we had and realised that we cannot use some of the footage due to our singer mouthing the lyrics instead of actually lip-syncing, making the footage look very unnatural. Also, our singer kept moving out of the frame while lip-syncing forcing us to trash that footage of the lip-sync. We worked around this by using close-up shots instead of just a plain wide due to many issues such as continuity and out-of-frame. We also accomplished sorting out continuity for the dancers and musicians which were not a problem compared to the scientist scene.

Editing Session ~2

Today we started putting shots together, starting with basic wide shots into close-ups while matching with the upbeats of the track. We sorted out the orders of each clips, choosing the appropriate orders and lengths of each shots in order to make sure continuity for the dancers and actors are consistent. However, we encountered a problem with continuity issue for the scientist in the container. In our only wide shot, he picked up the test tube with his right hand while in all the other close up shots, he picked it up with his left. We are finding a solution for this in which we will post an update post-solved.

Editing Session ~1

On our first editing session, we began to sync up all the shots that we have whilst also naming them and putting them in order. We began categorising each scene such as- F for futuristic, Mike for scientist. We also eliminated some of the shots which cannot be used due to unfinished shots or some shots were just plain useless.

Shoot Day Evaluation

Shoot Day Evaluation from Chris Himathongkom

Shot List

Here are the shot lists needed on the shooting day. This will ensure that we will shoot all the shots that we need to make the music video.

Finalising Lightings

1920s Jazz Club
For the scene, we want simple table lamps, simple plain lights on the stage in order to make the dancer stand out on the stage. In my opinion, the Galaxia LED Softbox will suit this job perfectly.

Futuristic Jazz Club
This scene will involve more exciting and colourful lightings in order to show futurism. Spotlights and hanging lights will be suitable for this scene as it makes the scene look more alive than the 1920s set up.

Science Lab
Lighting tubes will be very suitable here as it is quite a closed space meaning we can't install big lights and for it not to be seen in the set. We might include a very old lamp in order to show that the lab is set back in the 1920s.

Finalising Set Designs

1920s Jazz Club
Our set design will include a black backdrop made out of panels with wooden chairs and tables. The background could have some colours in order to bring out the 1920s sense. For the stage, we will be using rostra to create different level on the ground.

Futuristic Jazz Club
Our design will have a plain white flap in the background instead to create the sense of future. The stage will be covered in white fabric which the tables and chairs will also be switch to white which is more modern.

Science Lab
We want our lab to be quite plain and raw in which we will only include a table and a stool. The background will be raw as the inside of a shipping container already fits the connotation needed for the scene.

Finalising Props

We have categorised our shooting into 3 sections: 1920s, futuristic and a science lab


1920 Jazz Club
We concluded to have all the instruments for the band including: saxophone, violin, piano. The costumes for this scene includes black dresses for the musicians and black flapper dresses for the dancers.

Futuristic Jazz Club
We will still have similar instruments as the 1920s scene but instead everything becomes electronic. This includes electric violin, saxophone and electric keyboard. The dancers will change to be wearing silver dresses.


Science Lab
We need to ensure that the workspace looks messy and unorganised. The components for the lab includes test tubes, beakers, science equipments, LOTS of wires, old school computer, a desk and finally a stool.

Filming Roles

In the process of creating media product, there are 5 major roles in which is key to make the product successful: director, cameraman, art director, producer, sound playback and lighting desk.

The Director
A director is the person responsible for being the 'leader' of the crew. It is the person which instructs, organise and controls the film's artistic and dramatic aspects who visualises the script and make sure that visual is being shot onto the screen.

Who?
I feel that the role of director could be distributed between our group members as all of us has the visuals of how the music video would look on screen. However, due to the fact that I chose the song and had the visuals in my head prior to the group idea; I believe that I would fit into this role the most as I could visualise the music video already in my head.

The Cameraman
A cameraman is the person in charge of working with the camera; doing the actual shooting of the music video. It is the person who film all the footage and making sure that the scene looks good on camera in response to what the director wants them to do.

Who?
I feel that Evelyn would fit this role perfectly as she has more experience with cameras considering she takes photography as one of her subjects as well as being in film academy.

The Art Director
An art director is the person who is in charge of all the mise-en-scene, make-up, props and camera angles while making sure that continuity exists during the shoot of the music video to ensure that there will not be any problem about continuity during our editing phase.

Who?
I feel that this role should be distributed between the 3 of us as it is better to have more than one person looking out for these mistakes as it will be crucial during the editing phase if the art director didn't do their job properly.

The Producer
A producer is the person who makes sure everything is on track and goes as planned. This includes communicating with all the crew and cast members to make sure the shoot goes as smoothly as possible.

Who?
I feel that this role has already been distributed between the 3 of us as each of us has been working together to develop the ideas. However, I think this role would fit me as I have visuals of how I want the music video to be screened meaning that I know what I want the crew members to do.

Sound Playback and Lighting Desk
A sound playback and lighting desk is responsible for how the sound and lighting is on set. It is the person who will make sure the shadows, sounds and lip-sync looks good on screen.

Who?
I feel that Nanci would fit this role as she has the most knowledge about lightings and sound as she is a theatre student meaning she will know how the lighting should work.

Shooting Schedule + Call List

TIME	PEOPLE REQUIRED	PROPS/COSTUMES REQUIRED	LOCATION	WHAT ARE WE DOING
8:30 – 9:30	Chris, Evelyn, Nanci	N/A	Studio	Organising final things – checking everything is sorted – setting up
8:30 – 9:30	Cressie, Laura, Oriana, Sally	Makeup and Hair materials 1920's dresses Character shoes	N10	Makeup Hair Running choreography
9:30 – 10:00	Cressie, Evelyn, Klaudia, Oriana, Sally	Violin Sax Black Outfits 1920's dresses Character shoes	Studio	Musicians Dancers (1920's)
10:20 – 11:30	Cressie, Evelyn, Klaudia, Oriana, Sally	Violin Sax Black Outfits 1920's dresses Character shoes	Studio	Musicians Dancers (1920's)
11:30 – 12:00	Cressie, Laura, Oriana, Sally	Makeup, Hair, Futuristic Dresses	N10	Changeover from 1920's to futuristic
12:00 – 13:00	Cressie, Sally, Oriana	Futuristic dresses Character shoes	Studio	(Futuristic Dancing)
13:00 – 13:50	LUNCH
13:50 – 14:45	Cressie, Evelyn, Klaudia, Oriana, Sally	Violin Sax Futuristic dresses Character shoes	Studio	Futuristic Musicians Dancers
14:45 – 15:00	Chris, Evelyn, Nanci	N/A	Studio	Clear up studio
15:00 – 16:00	Mike	Lab coat 1920's suit Goggles Wires Test tubes 4 computer screens	Shipping Container	Mad scientist sections
16:00 – 17:00	Mike	Lab coat 1920's suit Goggles Lamp Wires Test tubes 4 computer screens	Shipping container	Mad scientist sections Lip Sync
17:00 – 18:00	Chris, Evelyn, Nanci	N/A	Shipping container	Clear up shipping container

Here is the shooting schedule our group made prior to the shoot in order to make sure everything is on time.

Cast Confirmation

Here we sent the email of the shooting confirmed date to ur casts to see whether they will be able to take part or not.

Our shoot date

We have our finalised shooting day which will be on the Tuesday of 8th November 2016. This will be a problem as there will be November Assessments going on in the school for most A1 students, meaning that our casts may not be available for the shooting day. However, we will work around this and find a solution to this problem.

Letter of Copyright: Confirmation

Today I received an approval email for all rights order from the record company 'Wagram Music.'

Storyboard Annotated and Scanned

Distinguishing Between 1920s and Futuristic: Band members

Here I carried out some further research into differentiating the 2 time frames on screen.

1920s

I expect the jazz band members to be wearing quite formal white shirt with black ties/bowties. Also bowler hats would give a good impression of being in the past.

Futuristic

After the peak of the song, I imagine the band members to be more colourful, dissing the bowler hat with now maybe a modern hat or slick back hair for men. Also the band becomes more lively meaning they would dance and move around more.

Recruiting Casts Responses

Here are a few responses we received after emailing the 12 girls to take part in our music video.

Casting/Recruiting Our Actors/Actresses

Here is a copy of the email sent to 12 different girls in our school, asking whether they would want to participate in our music video. We are currently looking for 3 dancers in which we will audition them later after the agreed to take part in the video. 

Casting for Beatophone

Casting our music video from NanciKelham1999

Set Designers Meeting

Today we had our set designers coming in to discuss with us all the props, sets and how we want the scene to set out. We showed them our set designs and prop list in which we received quite a positive overall feedback from them.

Our main issue was distinguishing the difference between the 1920s theme and the modern theme and how it will look different on the screen, how we will establish the time-travelling idea to the audience. Other main issues involve the instruments of the jazz band which some of them we do not know where to get and who to play them.

Here are the lists written down by one of the two set designers that came in:

From the meeting, we decided to use a futuristic robotic dance instead of a club element as the peak of the song doesn't change that much in comparison to the start of the song. We also found a double bass player name Mike Elvin, who also owns a futuristic-looking double bass which fits in perfectly with our music video idea. Also, we decided to look into William Robinson's inventions which Luke kindly suggested could work really well with the mad scientist. This is because it would look much better on screen if we have a lot of wires and whacky scientific equipments rather than having just one old computer sitting in a room.

Set Design: Beatophone

We drew rough sketches of our set design in order to visualise our idea as a group, here are the first drafts for each of the 3 elements.

However, we developed these rough sketches and Evelyn has managed to create a video via Sims in order to make it 3D and therefore establish what we want even further. 

Animatic: Beatophone

An animatic is an animated storyboard which is cut and edited to the pace of the song. We created this to show how the storyboard works along with the beat of the song. This helps us visualise how the storyboard will turn into an actual music video as it has been edited to fit right into the beats/tempo on what we want each shot to be on. This has been really useful for us as we can identify what we are missing from the storyboard as well as realising we may need more shots. We need to consider the fact that our song is quite up beat and funky therefore the shots transition may need to be quite frequent and constant.

We are also considering shortening the song to 3:00 mins instead of 3:51 as it may be too long for our music video idea.

Response Letter of Permission for Copyright

Within 10 minutes after sending our email, Wagram Music record company kindly responded with an email stating they will carefully consider our request.

Prop list

Instruments	Where from?
Double Bass -Traditional
Double Bass - Electronic	Mike Elvin has one
Violin - Traditional	Can borrow it from a friend
Violin - Electronic	Have one
Piano - Traditional	School has one - cannot move it (Ebay?)
Piano - Electronic	School has one
Saxophone	Klaudia W. has one
Drumkit	School has one
Set	Where from?
Shipping Container	School has one behind the studio
Studio	School has one
Red Curtains	School has black curtains which can be lit in red light to make them appear tinted
Stage Roster	School has one
Walls (Brown & White)	School has panels we can use to create a wall
Floor Tiles (Carpet & Checkered Lino)	School has them
Costumes	Where from?
Dresses for Dancers	Elisabeth
Steampunk Goggles for Scientist	Amazon (not that expensive)
Scientist lab coat	Theatre/Science department
Suits for audience	Actors/theatre department
Make-Up	Where from?
1920’s style
Futuristic style
Props	Where from?
Frames/Posters	Ebay
LED old-school pub boards	(IF WE CAN)
Computer Action Prop	Junkyard/Ebay
1920 Desk Lamp	Ebay
Smoke/Dry Ice (possibly)	Photography dept. has a smoke machine
Chairs and Round Tables	Assuming school has them (Speakeasy)
Futuristic Lamps	I have a funky desk lamp
Plants	School has them
Test Tubes/Science-y Stuff	Chemistry Lab (clean)
Vintage Slide Projector (possibly???)	Ebay
Scientific Coffee Machine	Chemistry
Lighting	Where from?
Tealight Candles	Can purchase electronic or real ones
ETC Source Four Junior	Provided by school
JTE Pixelline 1044 Fixtures (possibly)	Provided by school
Galaxia LED Softlight	Provided by school
Martin Mac 700 Profiles (possibly)	Provided by school
Atomic 300 DMX (possibly)	Provided by school
Possibly adding lights to the computer (010)	Possibly provided by school
LED Tape	Not that expensive on amazon

Wires connected have a lot of music videos to look at and take inspiration from

to different things in the shipping container to show that scientist is doing something really crazy rather than just simply an old computer - William Robinson-esque inventions

Having the 1920 jazz club projected on something, scientist kind of messing around with the old thing, it explodes and then switches to the kind of futuristic setting.

Public Broadcasting Service Band -