Video Storyboard

Production schedule

Filming schedule:

Friday 12th November

Test shots: Driving and Walking

Thursday 26th November

Walking shots in West Bay Lagoon
Film final driving shots in West Bay Lagoon
Travel to Al-Hitmi
Film walking test shots in Al-Hitmi

Friday 27th November

Begin preparing/decorating set for motel scene in West Bay Lagoon
Film motel scenes in West Bay Lagoon
Begin preparing set for house party scene in West Bay Lagoon
Film house party scene in West Bay Lagoon

End of November into beginning of January
Edit music video footage

January

Design website

Late January and Early February


Design digipak

Shot List

This is the finished shot list, created by going through the song and matching up our ideas for shots and narrative to the tone of the music. Whilst we may not follow this exactly it will mostly dictate filming and editing.

Survey Results

We distributed the survey over Facebook and Watsapp, gathering a total of 33 results. as shown below, the vast majority of these results are within the bracket of our target audience. We also have a few older and younger answers, which gives us an idea of what other perspectives on the genre could be.

The answer to this is very mixed. The majority said no, however the disparity in answers shows that it may not be overwhelmingly true. We will, however, go with the majority, and our album art will be reflective of the artistic design previously shown in Mount Kimbies releases.

The majority answer is that they do not want to see the artist. This fits with what we wanted to do, and with Mount Kimbies album art. There is a significant maybe answer, but this only means they can appreciate both kinds of cover.

The overwhelming majority of people preferred Mount Kimbie's album art to any of the other options. From this, we are going to create our album to be similar to theirs in that we will use bold colours and abstract geometric forms to create a cover focused on form.

For this we received a mixed decision between painting and graphic design. This fits into our plan to make the album art abstract and appearance based. We have decided that graphic design is more appropriate than a painting as it fits the modern nature of electronic music.

From this question it is very apparent that aesthetic design is the most important factor in the design of a website. Functionality remains important, but from this we will make sure to focus on the aesthetic design specifically.

As this question received an even split between XYLO and James Blake, we will look at the layouts of both these websites and try to create a compromise incorporating the best features of both of these websites.

Clearly from these results websites and Facebook are the most important ways to distribute information. We can reflect this by including important information on our website, and by prominently linking the Facebook page among other social media.

From these answers we will take the most frequently mentioned information and inclde this on our website. This seems to be Photographs, concert dates, merchandise, a biography, new releases, press and a blog. We may not include all of these: for example a gallery of photographs is unnecessary given the functionality of social media.

Filming process

Today we filmed the first part of the music video. We filmed all of the car shots in west bay, making a third of the video now filmed.
It proved difficult to film in the car, as we had learnt from the test shots. we used a shoulder mount, attached to the rear seats of the car, to film forward, and for side shots of the driving we attached the mount to the door, with the window open, in order to get a far enough shot.

We stuggled to get a good shot of walking from the side, and ended up using a skateboard to roll along; it is still not as steady as we'd like, but it is less jerky than the walking.

Audience Research: Survey

We decided to get feedback on the digipak with a survey instead of another focus group. This would allow us to get much more responses with considerable less organisation, as well as removing the limitations on the people asked that previously constrained us.
It would also allow us to much more easily show the media we want responses on: images, website links and such can be easily linked and embedded in a survey.
We decided to us multiple choice for most of the questions so as to save time, as people wouldn't want to type large paragraphs. it also gives us a simplified and easily used format to asses responses.

The survey begins by asking for basic personal information, so we know where the respondent falls within the target audience. We then ask the following questions concerning digipaks:

• Do you think it is important for bands to maintain consistency throughout all their album cover art?
• Do you prefer to see the artist featured on their album cover?
• What kind of picture do you prefer seeing on an album cover?
• Which of these album covers do you like the most? One is chosen from the three below.

The following questions concern websites:

• How would you like to receive news from a band online?
• What information do you expect to find on a musical act's online page?
• What is the most important factor in how much you enjoy a musical act's website?
• Which of these websites' layouts/designs do you like the most? One is chosen from the three below.

And the final survey:

Focus Group

We only managed to find 4 people willing to do the video. This consisted of three boys and one girl, all aged 16-18. The gender imbalance is unfortunate, but the age fits the target audience well.

Feedback on Electronic music videos in general:

What do you associate with electronic music videos?

Because of the associations of the video with an abstract but high definition visual style, we will focus on emulating this in our own piece.

What is your opinion towards narratives in music videos?

The group seemed to agree that music videos do not need to have a linear, cohesive narrative, but they do need to adhere to the music in some form, which is what we were planning to do anyway.

What do you think of having the artist in the music video?

We received both a positive and negative response from this question. For this reason we will choose to go with what we think will be best for the video, which is to not feature the artist performing. This fits both the conventions of electronic music videos, as well as being in line with what we want from the video: focus on the music

Do you prefer realism or surrealism in music videos, and why?

Although we again received mixed opinions, the scope and budget for our music video means we will be limited to realism, not surrealism.

Do you enjoy music videos that follow genre conventions, or challenge them?

Once again, we had mixed responses, but the general idea seems to be that we will make use of genre conventions as well as challenging some of them.




Feedback to the music video:



How did you feel about the lack of a clear narrative?

From this we received a positive response, and will proceed with our original plan to not include a clear narrative.

What did you think of the use of alternative editing techniques such as light leaks, or low quality film?

We received a positive reaction to this as well, and may experiment with some of these techniques, which we previously didn't really plan to include.

How do you think the colour scheme reflected the mood of the video?

Considering the notice they took of colours, this confirms that our target audience is aware and affected by colour schemes, something for us to focus on.

Do you think this music video effectively matches the song? Please explain.

One important part is that they noticed how the on screen action matches the pace of the music, something we want to do anyway, but will make sure to get right, as it is clearly a very important part of music videos.

What benefit did the locations have towards the tone of the video?

The group took note of how the locations fit the tone of the music. Unfortunately we are more limited in our choices than a full music video, however we have selected potential locations based on adherence to the tone of our song.

Location Planning

For our video, we want a lot of the environment to be urban and run down. This will provide a visual metaphor for the feelings of the protagonist, and the harsh mechanical lighting of construction sites and street lights provides an aesthetically pleasing colour scheme.

for this we are going to use the area called Al-Hitmi. This provides the environment and is easily accessible to us.

We went out to this area to scout out locations that we can use, and came back with a few potential choices.

Focus group planning

We decided that by asking people what they thought of electronic music videos, we may be able to get a better idea of what works and what doesn't. To do this we decided on a system where we would ask a group of people five general questions about music videos, then show them a music video from the genre we will be working with and then ask five more questions about it specifically.

General Questions:

• What do you associate with electronic music videos?
• What is your opinion towards narratives in music videos?
• What do you think of having the artist in the music video?
• Do you prefer realism or surrealism in music videos, and why?
• Do you enjoy music videos that follow genre conventions, or challenge them?

Once we have an answer to these, we will show them this music video for carbonated by Mount Kimbie:

Video Questions:

• Do you think this music video effectively matches the song? Please explain.
• How did you feel about the lack of a clear narrative?
• What did you think of the use of alternative editing techniques such as light leaks, or low quality film?
• How do you think the colour scheme reflected the mood of the video?
• What benefit did the locations have towards the tone of the video?

Character Profiles

There are two important characters in our piece. Because were not telling a full story in the sense that the audience will not hear them speak or find out much about them, we have not fleshed out their personalities with any major depth. We still came up with a basic framework of their characters to easily explain the emotional interactions we need to the actors.

Main Male character

Our main male character will be played by myself and is meant to be around 20 years old. He is emotionally distant, selfish and dysfunctional. He feels like he has been wronged even though most of his issues are self created. He is a difficult person to be around and very hostile in interactions.

Main Female character

The main female character is meant to be more sympathetic, though she is not completely justified. She is defensive and flighty, avoids tough situations, and fickle. She feels as though she doesn't deserve anything she receives from the male character, and that she is entirely the victim.

Plot Summary

Jack, the main male protagonist, avoids social interaction at a house party. the host tries to cheer him up, but he is unhappy and not involved. At this point, Ruby, the main female protagonist, arrives. here and jack have a romantic history with unclear complications. Drunk, unbalanced and angry with her presence, Jack starts a fight with another person at the party. the host stops him and Ruby ends up driving him home.
They drive in silence for a long time, and eventually begin talking. It is passive to begin with, but quickly they begin to argue. Although not revealed to the audience, Ruby left Jack at a time he was emotionally vulnerable and it left him unstable. As the argument continues Jack becomes more distraught and eventually gets out of the car and leaves. Ruby makes no attempt to stop him, as the incident reminded her of why she left him in the first place.
Jack wanders the streets, dejected and blaming the world around him for his issues. He chain smokes extensively and broods on his problems. Eventually he makes it back to his hotel room, and lies down. The ending is left ambiguous, as Ruby calls him, newly concerned as to where the night may have left him emotionally, but he does not answer, and is not seen in frame at any point.
While there is a linear narrative to our plot, it will be presented in a fragmented fashion.

Todorovs Narrative theory can be applied to our piece quite easily.

- Equilibrium: Jack is at a party, apathetic with the people around him.
- Disruption of equilibrium: Ruby arrives at the party and Jack becomes unsettled.

- Realisation of disruption: Jack gets into a fight to release his anger.
- Reparation of disruption: Jack and Ruby argue in the car and Jack broods on his mistakes
- Restoration of equilibrium: Unclear, but the bond between them is shown to be broken in some manner and therefore the issues he has related to her have been resolved, one way or another.

Synergy in Music Campaigns

Synergy is important in any campaign; audiences have to be able to associate different packages and releases with the musician who has released them to create a strong brand.

The band Disclosure used extremely strong synergy to create this branding for their Caracal album release. All of their releases featured the same imagery and motifs. Most notably, the sketchy face outline used constantly, which connects and identifies any promotional information released. This includes promotional photos, the album art, and the promotional videos released.
Across the board, the same fonts and colour schemes are used. this helps to associate the different releases with the single product, the album.



The album teaser for Caracal features the same sketched face and big cat that is on the album art. this creates an interesting repetition in a different form of media (video instead of photograph)  that can appeal to viewers and identifies this video as part of their campaign. The full album trailer reuses a lot of this iconography and applies it to the collaborators with the band, associating already known and liked acts with Disclosure.



The album art continues to use these images and ideas with the image being of a big cat with the sketched face outline.

As the main product, it can be considered that every other promotional item imitates the style of this one.

The website incorporates all of the elements found in other parts of the campaign, from font to photographs. The colour palette, imagery and design reflects that of the album, building the association. the background texture of the album is even used as the websites background. a Gif of the cat morphing into the album takes up prominence on the site, and is the first thing you see, an unusual and interesting way to connect the videos and album.




Even promotional posters for touring and live shows use the motifs. The black and grey is exactly the same as that of the website, similar fonts are used, and of course the face sketch, now synonymous with the band.

The promotional posters and photographs released all, once again, use the face sketch and dark colours associated with the band. Most posters use the same design as the album, so people know when they see the album itself that it is the same product that was advertised. If the album art was not used in a poster, people are likely to be confused as to whether it is the same album.

Narrative Analysis

Propps Narrative Theory -

Vladimir Propps character theory proposes that all media only features a selection of seven different character archetypes.
These are:
The Hero - who leads the story and usually marries the princess
The villain - who opposes the hero
The donor - who prepares the hero or gives them some sort of item to be used,
The helper - who assists the hero in his quest
The Princess - Often sought after throughout the plot and marries the Hero
The Dispatcher - Gives the Hero the quest or sends them out on it
The False Hero - not the villain, but often works against the Hero, appears at first to be the Hero, takes credit for the hero’s actions and/or attempts to marry the princess.


In the Odd Look Music video, the three main characters are apparent. The man in the letter jacket is the hero, as he stands up to the men attacking the waitress, who is the princess. The men attacking her are the villains; most emphasis is put on the one in the hat, who is seen to be the leader. Due to the length of a music video and its inability to audibly explain itself, Propps theory is less applicable. Most music videos want to limit characters, and don't have time to establish major linking plot threads. Our video, unlike this one, is not going to establish explicit characters or character types.

Todorov

Todorovs theory states that any media piece is compromised of 5 parts:

Equilibrium - At the beginning, a balanced normality is established.
Disruption - Something happens to destabilise this equilibrium.
Resolution - The characters find a solution to the disruption.
Restored Order - This solution is applied and the disruption is taken care of
New Equilibrium - usually different from the first equilibrium, it is a new order where everything is re-balanced.

In this music video these stages are quite clear. The equilibrium is the diner in a state of normality, the disruption is when the men attack the waitress, the resolution is the man in the jacket appearing, the restored order is him knocking out the attacks and the new equilibrium is him taking the waitress away. 

Our music video does not conform to Todorov's theory, although it will not be very clear either way due to it being non chronological.

In our video, the order will be that equilibrium: He's at a party. Disruption: Arrival of estranged ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, who he fights. After this point there is no real resolution or new equilibrium. We feel that by challenging narrative conventions the video makes it more interesting to watch, and fits with our focus group, who said they preferred challenging conventions.

Editing Analysis

The video begins with old home footage. The clips cut when the note being played changes, creating a link between video and audio. This is considered pleasing, and an effective way of keeping the video interesting. However, this is no the only time it cuts, as if they only cut on note changes the video would become rigid and dull.
Once the drums begin, the video changes to a man walking in some kind of field. the connection between the home video and this implies this is the boy. Now cuts occur in time with the drum beat, although never perfectly, giving a slight sense of unease to the video.
after a few seconds, the video cuts again, this time to the band performing. Naturally, they are in time to the audio, playing the song. The colours in these shots have been enhanced, coating the video in cool blue and soft purples that reflect the calm serenity of the song.
Again the video cuts back to the footage, although we now believe that the child is part of the band, from the way footage has been connected. This may not be true, but that is the effect of linking the three scenes.
The clips included from here on, continuing to cut in time with the beat for the most part, are very calm, matching the tone of the song.
Slow Motion footage is used, only of the man in the field, as slowing down the band would put them out of time and the found footage clips were never filmed at the right frame rate for effective slow motion. It's use makes the footage feel calm, methodical and slightly surreal, as nothing is really happening.
Once the singing begins, the video doesn't cut to the singer immediately, as is conventional. this puts focus on the non performance aspect of the video instead, highlighting that as the most important aspect of the video.
the videos throughout the chorus have been cut faster than previously, speeding up the tempo of the video and giving the viewer the impression that things are building up to something.
One clip of the man walking fades in between different times of the same shot, to show how far he has moved in a short space of time.
As the build up begins a time lapse of clouds moving starts. It seems like they have tried to match the speeds to create cohesion, and it has the effect of building tension.
the shots here are now cut very rapidly, at an increasing pace to add to this effect.
There is a moment of silenced mirrored by the screen going black, and once the song picks up again a rapidly sped up shot moving along a road gives the impression of moving quickly, juxtaposed against the previous use of sow motion which implied slow movement.
The video then slows down a little, returning to its previous pace, signalling that everything is drawing to a close.
The shots at the end of him on a beach are mirrored by use of home footage of the child on the beach.The connection between these two things is implied, and the viewer can discern the meaning of  the video, a man searching to relive or revisit his childhood memories.
They choose to end the video with a long shot of him standing on a beach, looking out to sea. This closes the video on a solemn note, but leaves a lot of enigma. Leaving the camera going down to look at the floor also gives the effect of effectively closing off the video, heavily identifying that it is over.

Digipak conventions

Digipaks are a form of CD packaging, usually made of thin card, which are less common than standard plastic casing but very frequently used, especially by independent acts that wish for the 'authenticity' of card instead of plastic. CDs are still the dominate form of physical music distribution, as vinyl's are the only truly viable alternative and those are expensive to produce, cumbersome and only cater to a niche market.

Front cover

Image:

     Album art is first and foremost the most important thing, other than the name of the artist, that an album can be sold on. A fan will buy the album for the artist, but to widen an audience and further sales the album must be visually appealing, and as the most prominent part, this means good album art. Bad album art can put people off buying an album entirely, whilst appealing art will draw a potential listener in and gain their interest. Since electronic music rarely features much of a human element (other than potentially a singer) its art more often than not will reflect this. Abstract art, non organic imagery and machinery are all commonly used by artists in the genre to reflect the style of their music.

Colour:

     The lack of substantial, recognisable imagery means that colour is vitally important in properly constructing a good piece of album art. Especially with such minimalistic designs, colour is what will draw attention, and increase chances of selling the album. Even ambient, melancholic or contemplative music can feature album art with vibrant colours, especially primary colours, and many employ contrasting or unusual colour schemes to show the experimental, independent nature of the music and to stand out. These powerful colour schemes compensate for minimalistic, abstract design by providing an alternate source of interest in the art than the shapes and form.

Text:

Naturally the name of the artist is an important part of the promotion of an album. Although some albums do not have the name of the artist on them, it is incredibly uncommon as it limits that albums sales as people may not recognise who it is, especially to a casual fan. However in the digital age this may become more popular, as most people buy their music online rather than physically, where the artists name is displayed automatically. Album names are also important for the same reason and help to identify the album from others.

Back cover

Image:

the back of an album will almost always link to the image on the front. this creates an aesthetic consistency most people find appealing, as well as help to identify the album if seen from behind. Rarely would it be identical, and it is most common for the artist to use a similar but altered design that continues the mood and colour scheme of the album.

Colour:

    Track listing is the norm for most albums. People want to know what songs are on the album, so they can see if any they like are on it. It also helps to identify song whilst listening to them, as many cd players do not have the functionality to display track names. Lists are the simplest way to do this, and are easily understood by the listener. These lists are also chronological, and sometimes have numbers, although in the sake of a minimalistic design this can often be left out. Font and style will match the rest of the digipak, as to maintain style and consistency. However, once again, with digital platforms overtaking physical sales, it has become increasingly popular not to include anything on the back, as digital albums rarely have a back. even with the physical releases some artist choose to simply leave the back blank.

Production details:

     

Not an important detail for fans, this information tends to be below the main text, in small, undisrupted font, as not to detract from the overall appearance of the digipak. it is necessary legal information, so unless the album is self produced (not uncommon for independent artists) it has to be included somewhere. Few artists have the freedom to not include this information.

Audience profile

its important to know a target audience so all aspects of production design can be focused towards a certain market, helping to sell that product. As our product is removed from mainstream pop culture, being a niche genre of music that does not appeal to a mass market, it is especially important to understand the audience that would enjoy our target and make sure our product appeals to them. An advantage we have is that our target audience is young, so have a greater understanding of the internet and how to use it, making it easier to sell our product to them through use of on-line media.

We realised that gender wasn't much of an object when it came to our target audience. Because the music is very removed from the physical world, and because of its niche and relative newness, it is less bogged down in pre-existing ideas and connotations. this gives us the freedom to market our brand in a gender neutral fashion, not thinking about traditional ideas of what men and women enjoy, which reflects the fact that the music is progressive and often drops traditional ideas. We will refer to our specific target audience subject as female, but ultimately it has no bearing on how we intend to market and present our brand.

Age: 18
Gender: Female
Interests: Film, modern art, architecture, 1990's period aesthetic

Evelyn Richards is a middle-class student with a mix of nostalgia for bygone era'sand a fascination with futurism. She derives pleasure from seeing these interests collide in the media she chooses to consume.

Favourite musicians:
- Com Truise
- Mount Kimbie
- King Krule
- Boards of Canada
- Bonobo

Favourite films:
- Drive (2011) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
- Irreversible (2003) directed by Gaspar Noé
- Nightcrawler (2014) directed by Dan Gilroy
- Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981) directed by Uli Edel
- Blue Valentine (2010) directed by Derek Cianfrance

Favourite artists:
- David Hockney
- Keith Haring
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Cruz Diez