Changes Made Along The Way

Production Diary

September 7th


I was given the task of producing a music video, from the planning stages
through filming and post production. I have been told to come up with possible song choices.

September 14th

I've chosen three potential songs to use for my music video. They are;

Heroin - The Velvet Underground
There She Goes - The La's
New York I Love You - LCD SoundSystem

September 17th

Today I was told that the songs I've chosen have all been rejected and I need to choose three more. My new songs are;

Short Change Hero - The Heavy
Ask Me Anything - The Strokes
Yeah Yeah - Willy Moon

September 21st

I've decided to go with Ask Me Anything by The Strokes as the subject of my music video. The reasoning behind this is because I've come to think that Short Change Hero is boring and I don't know if I could keep people entertained for the entire duration. Willy Moon was definitely one to think about but in the end I decided that it was such an energetic song that the only way to do it justice would be to do it on a huge scale and I currently have neither the time nor the budget. This left The Strokes which I think will be a great song and should eventually become a great music video.

September 28th

I've written a questionnaire and plan on giving out to people in order to gain a better understanding of what it is exactly that people are looking for in an artist these days.

October 5th


I've shortlisted three potential names for my artist. The names vary from being related to the group to obscure and without relevance. Whichever name I choose should work well as there are innumerable bands with simple names as well as a vast number with non-sensical ones.

The name's I've chosen are Dylan Hunter, Tick-Tock and Ghost Party.


October 12th

The final choice for the name of my musical group is Ghost Party. I decided to go with this because I like the puzzling nature of it's obscurity. The idea for the name came about partly as a result of listening to 'Little Ghost' by The White Stripes and then 'Bonfire' by Knife Party.

October 19th

I've begun to storyboard my video and will hopefully begin shooting fairly soon.

October 26th

I filmed myself lip synching the chorus of 'Ask Me Anything' by The Strokes. I now need to overdub the original recording and remove the sound, then I'll upload it to YouTube and this blog.

November 2nd

I found out that Willy Moon released a music video for his song 'Yeah Yeah'. This is most probably because of the increased popularity it no doubt gained as a result of being the theme to an Apple advert. I guess it's a good thing I didn't choose that song after all.

November 9th

Feedback from the questionnaire I created has shown positive response towards my song choice. Several of the people I surveyed liked it because they thought it a strange and unusual choice, especially considering some of the other material by The Strokes I could have chosen.

November 16th

I have finished my storyboard and plan to start filming as soon as possible.

November 23rd

Filming has been delayed until I can find the camera and tripod I require to start shooting. In the meantime, I have begun to design my digi-pak. I am currently using Adobe Fireworks CS6 and Adobe Photoshop CS6 to do this. The first draft of that will be uploaded soon.

November 30th

Filming has resumed. As I am filming my video in very few locations; my apartment, the corridors of my building and the carpark I should be able to upload the first draft by teh end of the week.

December 7th



December 14th



December 21st



December 28th

I did nothing today as it is the christmas holidays and all of my work is at school.

January 5th



January 12th

 

Health & Safety Information (Risk Assessment)

Shooting Schedule

Filming Practice

Lip Synching

Final Band Name

Ghost Party

I've decided to use Ghost Party as the final choice for my band name. The name comes from a song by rap artist George Watsky called Ghost Party which I was listening to while writing on my blog. I like the song, it's by no means my favorite but doesn't stand out to me as amazing. After a little while of trying to think of other possible names and then asking what my friends thought, this is the one I decided stick with.

Possible Band Names

Ghost Party

I got the idea for this name listening to a song called 'Ghost Party' by rap Artist George Watsky. It stuck in my head for a while after so I decided to put it on this list.

Wyston

This is the first name of W.H. Auden and I thought it was really memorable as it has become an uncommon name in the 21st century. Some people might not even realise it's a person's name.

Captcha

This is the small piece of code on a website that checks whether or not you are human by making you type in ridiculous words. They annoy me and I hate filling them in, so I wanted to use the name for something more entertaining.

Treatment

Questionnaire Feedback

I gave 30 copies of my questionnaire randomly to people in my year in order to find out what my target audience were looking for in a new artist. From the results I determined that a large majority of people questioned were male and preferred listening to modern, upbeat music in the electronic and rock genres. I also discovered that of the 30 people, more than three quarters watched more music videos online using sites such as YouTube and VEVO.

This has helped me as I can now tailor my song choice and accompanying music video to better suit audience tastes, which can only be a good thing.

Questionnaire

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

What are your three favourite music videos?

4. Choose a video from the question above. What about it makes you like the video?

5. Do you prefer music videos with or without special effects?

6. Do you watch more music videos online or on TV?

7. What three genres of music do you listen to the most?

8. Have you heard of The Strokes?

9. Listen to 'Ask Me Anything' by The Strokes. Do you like it?

10. What do you think 'Ask Me Anything' by The Strokes is about?  

Ideas For Location

I want to shoot the entire video in and around my apartment building. Possible locations are; the interior of my flat, the corridors and stairwell of my apartment building and the multi-storey car park connected to the building. There may be other locations but for the time being these are the only places I plan on shooting in.

Music Video Storyboard

Music Video Narrative

View of Adam side on, sat in a bath, wearing a black shirt.

View of Adam head on, he slowly slides down until he is submerged in the water.

Shot of a bathroom mirror. after a few seconds, Adam lifts his head up from the sink, it's wet. He's wearing a white t-shirt.

He goes to leave. 

Shot of his feet walking, pan and follow them out of the room.

View of Adam from behind as he walks down the corridor towards the front door.

Shot from the front door, outside. The door opens and Adam looks out, still wet in both directions, then closes the door.

Shot lingers on the door.

[CHORUS

Sat by the bath, dry and dressed in the clothes he wore in the bath. Adam sings the chorus aloud, not to anyone in particular.

CHORUS]

Adam, sat on the sofa, watching TV. The shot is a steady timelapse. It's night, the lights are off and he is lit by the TV.

The timelapse ends. Adam suddenly gets up, dropping the remote and runs to the door. He opens it and runs out, then right.

[CHORUS

Adam is stood at the far end of the hall. Each time he sings a line of the chorus, he jumps slightly closer to the camera until he is stood right in front of it.

CHORUS]

Back inside, he slides down the front door, miserable, dejected.

Fast cuts between Adam looking at himself in the bathroom mirror, sat by the bath moving erratically and watching TV.

Adam, back in the bathroom looks at himself in the mirror, then plunges his face back into the sink.

He sits up in the bath, ending the video by coming full circle. 

Ask Me Anything - The Strokes (Lyrics)

Right, wrong, what to do?

Someday it will come to you

Hostile Indians

We named out summer camp for you

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I'm in utter dismay

I've got nothing to say

Harmless children

We named our soldiers after you

Don't be a coconut

God is trying to talk to you

we could drag it out

But that's for other bands to do

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

Got no reason to live

But I will fight to survive

I've got nothing to hide

Wish I wasn't so shy

I'd like to watch

I'd like to read

I'd like a part

I'd like the lead

But

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

I've got nothing to say

Got no reason to live

But I'll kill to survive

I've got nothing to hide

Wish I wasn't so shy

Feedback On Song Choices And Music Video Ideas

The first three songs I chose were rejected, each for a different reason. 'Heroin' for drug references, 'There She Goes' for already having a music video and 'New York I Love You'  for sounding too monotonous, though I contested that one as a matter of taste.

Of the second three chosen songs, 'Ask Me Anything' was the clear favourite among those in my class and several other people I asked. 

Music Video Ideas

Short Change Hero - The Heavy

The lead would be a man, sad and lonely, who feels unappreciated and ignored in his day today life. There would be three settings; a train, an office and the lead's home. In each of these places something will happen to antagonise the lead and make him feel bad. 

There will also be a sequence in each location which takes place inside the lead's mind. In his imagination, he is dressed as a soldier and subverts each confrontation so that it ends in his favour, with him looking like a hero. 

While all of this is happening there will be shots of the lead writing a letter interspersed in the video. At the end it will be implied that the letter is a suicide note, but instead of committing suicide he throws the note away and walks off, dressed in his army fatigues.

Ask Me Anything - The Strokes

Th entire narrative would take place in the time between a man submerging himself in a bath full of water and when he comes back up for air. This would create a kind of dream likle/ imagination scenario where the narrative doesn't make sense and things are a little bit strange. 

Possible Song Choices

Ask Me Anything - The Strokes

Short Change Hero - The Heavy

Yeah Yeah - Willy Moon

I've chosen these songs because, until I was told to make a music video I'd never heard any of them and I found I could envisage a possible music video for each of them. Of the three, my favourite at the moment is Ask Me Anything by The Strokes but that is likely to change as I listen to them over the next few days.

What Music Means To Me

Bob Dylan – Blowin’ In The Wind (Free Wheelin’ Bob Dylan)

I don’t really remember too much of what I was listening too before the age of 10 because as well as popular music my Dad would often play obscure albums or soundtracks and I wouldn’t be able to differentiate between a lot of things. However a number of songs do stand out in my mind as being played regularly and a lot of them have stayed with me up to today and are on my iPod, which I take with me most places. Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash are two artists whom I would consider particularly influential. ‘Blowin’ in the wind’ by Bob Dylan and ‘Jackson’ by Johnny Cash have always been some of my favourite songs and I can listen to these songs as well as many others that they’ve made at any time. I do feel I have to say though that I struggle to find the same connections to many Bob Dylan songs from any album he released after 1976 as I feel he became more corporate and his music suffered as a result of that. This would also have been around the time that he started his ‘NeverEnding tour’ and playing primarily for others instead of himself as he did early in his career.

Owl City – Fuzzy Blue Lights (Of June)

Before 2005 the only music I really listened to was what my dad would play from his CD collection so on my 11^th birthday, just before I went to secondary school I got my first laptop and started to amass my own music collection. I remember finding owl city when I was searching for new music on MySpace. Adam Young, the man behind the moniker ‘Owl City’ has just put out a free EP called ‘Of June’ and it was one of the first Eps to go into my iTunes playlist. Owl City, from then on has become a staple in any iTunes library I make which is saying something as I often delete my entire music collection and start from scratch in order to find new music and keep things fresh.

Girl Talk – Down For The Count (All Day)

Although the most recent album of four was released in 2010 with the first being released eight years prior in 2002, I only discovered Girl Talk at the end of 2011. The song ‘Down For The Count’ was the first of his songs that I heard and I think that’s why it stands out to me more than some of his others. The way he produces songs is to sample pieces of music from various other artists and to mix them together into something completely new. In his new album ‘All Day’ for example, he sampled over 500 pieces of music from more than 60 different artists spanning a whole variety of genres and decades.