Three different ideas...

Our first idea was "(One of Those) Crazy Girls" by Paramore:



Good points: catchy song, lyrics easy to adapt into concept
Bad points: very cheesy, lyrics made concept predictable

Our second idea was "Fresh Start Fever" by You Me At Six:


 Good points: fast beat (lots of different shots), suited favourite genre of music, favourite band
Bad points: no story line, music video already produced, male protagonist

And our final idea (which we are very happy with) is "Mason Jar" by Smallpools:

 Good points: unknown band, no music video, catchy song, usable lyrics, lots of concept ideas
Bad points: a little repetitive

Song lyrics

Below are the song lyrics for Mason Jar by Smallpools. At first we wanted the music video to be completely narrative and to include no lip syncing however, now we disagree and have decided to use lip syncing in every verse to conform to music video conventions. We have chosen two lines in particular that would be easy to lip sync yet also are relevant for our concept. The lines in bold are the lines that will be lip synced by our male protagonist. 

She saw the world through a mason jar, it's foggy
She had the kids with the vicious smiles, they got me
Up on a hill with the trophy wives
She's doing all right, all, all, right (yeah)
They let her roam some tree or vine, no question
She's got a home with some shit to climb, don't mention
Been up and down like a hundred times

But I got to kill this conversation while
There is still sense in my mind
But I miss the way you feel
No one will ever know-oh-oh-oh

She wrote a film 'bout a double life, she's livin'
She had a weak co-star in mind, I give in
Mix something clear with the coffee grinds
We're shootin' all night, all, all, night (yeah)
I feel the shift of the fallen side, I'm leavin'
Nobody dares to take her side, still pleadin'
She's breakin' down tell me one more time

But I meant to kill this conversation
While there was still sense in my mind
But I miss the way you feel
No one will ever know-oh-oh-oh

Well we both know
The green will fade to gold
It wasn't that, I should've called them off
A face like stone
The pain begins to show
And it was not right, I should've called them off

But I miss the way you feel
(well we both know)
No one will ever know
(the green will fade to gold)
I miss the way you feel
It wasn't right I should've called them off
(no one will ever know)

But I miss the way you feel
(a face like stone)
No one will ever know
(the pain begins to show)
I miss the way you feel
It was not right I should've called them off
(no one will ever know)

First vlog

This is our first vlog discussing our latest ideas regarding our music video. We also look back on our treatment pitch and talk about our concept of the video.

Working on our treatment pitch

In preparation for our treatment pitch, my group and I created a Prezi explaining our concept of our music video and what we would include, such as costumes, locations and props. 

Here is the Prezi we created: http://prezi.com/jgtz33ac3iso/title/

This is a photo of my group and I working on our treatment pitch plan. 

Location planning

We brainstormed ideas for two of our locations - Enfield Town festival and Camden. We originally had spider diagrams for two other locations but yesterday, my group and I decided to not include Trafalgar Square or Crews Hill. Reasons for this is because we would have too many locations and not enough time to include footage of the male in our music video editing pictures of the models.

These brainstorms include ideas for angle shots for example, an arc shot featuring the male and a female, mise-en-scene for example the bunting in the festival and the famous icons in Camden, and just general things we will include in our music video.

We have also marked and made the decision of having a foot shot of each model with the male walking up to them and putting all the footage in a split screen visual from each location. This will be featured in one of the last verses when all the locations have been seen.

These are our ideas for the two locations we are not going to use: Crews Hill Farm and Trafalgar Square.

This lesson (pitch preparation)

This lesson, my group and I have been preparing for our pitch next week to show the class our ideas for our music video. We are also finalising our ideas and sorting out what will happen in each verse and chorus of the song.

Locations: male bedroom (James), Camden, Enfield Town Festival, Crews Hill, Knightsbridge and Trafalgar Square. These locations were chosen because of their famous icons such as the lions in Trafalgar Square and also the indie rock atmosphere in Camden.

So far we have already filmed in Enfield Town Festival with James and one of our "models" Nicola. Our footage was not exactly what we wanted but we're still going to use some of the footage for our final music video. Next weekend, we plan on visiting Camden and Trafalgar Square with two more "models".

We have also decided that James will lip sync one or two lines from each verse in each location, for example, the last line of the first verse will be lip synced in James's bedroom when he is looking at his laptop screen.

You've Got Time

My group and I copied the Orange Is The New Black theme song and intro video to practice our angle shots, costume and make-up.

Original video:


Our video:

The Smallpools and our idea...

The Smallpools are an American four-piece indie pop band that formed in 2013. They are signed with RCA Labels who are quite big in the record industry, having signed with artists such as Shakira and Kelly Clarkson. The band have also toured with Two Door Cinema Club, a very popular and known band.

My group and I came up with an idea for our music video featuring the song "Mason Jar". We brainstormed the locations, actors, camera shots and many other details that would be highlighted in our music video. 

Song choice

From the start, my group and I believed (One Of Those) Crazy Girls by Paramore was the perfect song for our music video. However, after a lot of thought and inspirations, we have decided on a different song called Mason Jar by The Smallpools.



Smallpools' genre is completely different to the genre my group and I originally wanted to do, which was alternative rock. The reason why we decided to scrap the Paramore song was because we believed our idea for the music video was too predictable as it followed the lyrics exactly. We want to add our own twist with our video and to do that with this song would be too hard. We searched for a long time for a band with a song that we liked, preferably with a female vocalist. However, when we came across the Smallpools' "Mason Jar", we really liked it.

Possible locations for music video

Today I came across a place near Crews Hill with beautiful scenery that may be useful for our music video as it has elements of a rock genre music video if we were to come here during the evening or at night.

Rock Bands...

Nirvana

Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. They were signed with Sub Pop Records in 1989 and have released three full-length studio albums in their 7 year career and has become one of the most influential rock bands of the modern era.

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The band consists of founding members Anthony Kiedis and Michael Balzary, Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer. The band have won 7 Grammy Awards and have become one of the best-selling bands of all time. They have been signed with EMI and Warner Bros. 

Linkin Park 

Linkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California from 1996. The band have been signed with Warner Bros. and Machine Shop. The band consists of Chester Bennington, Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson, Dave Farrell, Joe Hahn and Mike Shinoda.

Record Labels

Sumerian Records

Sumerian Records is an independent American record label based in Washington D.C and Los Angeles. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen and made a deal with the video game series Rock Band to bring its music to Rock Band Network.

Sub Pop Records

Sub Pop Records was founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman in Seattle, Washington. The label achieved fame in the late 1980s for singing Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mudhoney. They are credited with taking the first steps toward popularizing grunge music however still sign alternative rock bands.

Hopeless Records

Hopeless Records is an independent record label based in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. The label started in 1993 by Louis Posen and the artists signed by the label are mostly punk rock, pop punk, post-hardcore or alternative rock. Some of their most well-known artists include Avenged Sevenfold, All Time Low and Enter Shikari.

4AD Records

4AD is a independent British record label founded by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1979. The label was originally funded by Beggars Banquet Records. 

Out of the following record labels mentioned above, 4AD Records would be most appropriate as they are British and based in the UK however, I feel that Hopeless Records would be the best. This is because they are a big record company, known by thousands due to the many world known bands they have signed. This results in our music video having a chance to become more popular, if we were to be signed. 

Paramore's labels

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that came from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became very popular by the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream rock music.

Paramore is an American alternative rock band formed in 2004. The band currently consists of a female lead singer Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York. 

One of the many reasons why we chose Paramore is because the lead singer is female which means one of us from our group would be able to participate. Moreover, the band is one of our favourite bands of all time and using a song that we all know and love will be a lot of fun.

Paramore signed with Atlantic Records, an American record label known for signing artists and bands with rock and roll, jazz and hip-hop genres. 

Atlantic then decided to share the band with Fueled By Ramen, a Florida based record label, who then officially signed the band in April 2005. 

Prelim

"Rock Star" by Nickelback was the song we chose for our prelim as the many different shots meant that everyone in our group could participate.


We tried our best to replicate the background and props as shown in the music video, for example, the basketball with the hoop behind the character. This was fairly hard to do as the music video is shot in America and famous monuments were used as the background and obviously we were not able to replicate exactly. So instead, we used our school building and car park as substitutes. Furthermore, our costumes did not match those shown in the music video but we considered the different shots and angles more important than the mise-en-scene.

Chosen song

For a while, my group and I have decided on (One Of Those) Crazy Girls by Paramore as our chosen song for our music video. Our preferred music genre is alternative rock and Paramore is a band that has been producing alternative rock for years.