Animatic

Animatic from Alex Newcombe on Vimeo.

Here is the Animatic. This was made previous to our Rough Cut, and in hindsight we can clearly see that the audience feedback that we recieved was correct and our video was in fact going to be very repetitive. This lead to dramatic changes, which included the introduction of a storyline and the construction of a video generally less repetitive and more entertaining than the original.

Storyboard

A bit late, but here is the storyboard that we did before our rough cut.
Since we completed this, we have received our audience feedback, and can see that it is in fact very repetitive. This is why we have re-planned our project so that it is more entertaining and captivates the audience more.

Magazine Analysis

Whilst conducting my magazine advertisement analysis, I examined several magazines. These included multiple copies of both ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Metal Hammer’, as well as a copy of ‘playmusic’.
Whilst analysing these, I first looked in Kerrang!, and found the section dedicated to ‘Small Ads’. While looking through these, I found that they were mostly dedicated to online clothing shops of the more indie/emo/scene and to tour dates for bands as well. The adverts may have been towards tours for albums, but I found very little evidence towards actual albums. However, in regards to full page adverts, there was even less evidence of albums being advertised, more adverts dedicated towards the next edition of the magazine, and
the only other style of full page advert was for big brand products unrelated to music, such as hair gel and phone networks. This led me to believe that the ideal style of magazine advert would in fact be a smaller paged advert. However, since the time of this research, I have discovered that in fact we were required to create a full-page draft. By this point I had already created a first draft of our magazine advert suitable for a small ads section.

I then analysed the advert sections

in Metal Hammer. Although

this magazine is aimed at a completely different socio-economic group to our main product and its

ancillary tasks, with a completely different music genre as well, it has helped with the album advert style. I found a couple of full-page adverts, which helped me in trying to find the conventions of the media advert.

Playmusic was the last magazine I analysed, and this was a largely unhelpful and irrelevant magazine to analyse, simply because the large proportion of the magazine was dedicated to the more technical side of music, such as the different instruments and new instruments available for purchase.

Magazine Advert for Digipak Idea

During editing, Glenn tried an effect which I liked, so I asked him to grab it and send it to me.
I plan to use this as the basic picture for the advert, with text to the right hand side of it.
The text is going to say:
****
Rolling Stones
***
allmusic
Joshua Radin
We Were Here
OUT NOW

The Picture

Narrative ideas

We are currently toying with the idea of introducing a narrative into the song so we can extend our footage and have a better flow to the music video.
We have viewed our feedback from the rough-cut that we showed to the class, and have introduced a narrative for the music video. We have decided to introduce the idea that the woman (Lucy), who we showed briefly in the rough cut should play a much more prominent role in the video. We decided to write in the idea that Lucy and Glenn are a couple who at the beginning of the video are seemingly very happy with each other. However, we plan to put in parts of Lucy in the white dress in the woods, as we did in the rough cut, at the start of the video as this can hints that there will be a twist in the video, due to the imagery of the rose and the ribbons. Hopefully this will keep the audience interested.
We then go on to use memories, with a picture being taken to show the happy couple. At a later point in the video, we will see Glenn hanging up photos of him and Lucy, then ripping them down. Between the ripping down of the photos, and when they were originally put up, we will show Glenn and Lucy arguing. To finish the video, we plan to have Glenn attempting to give Lucy roses, but she rejects his last attempt at wining her back. Lucy will then pick up one of the roses, and this links in to the woods scene with Lucy in the white dress. However, this is aimed to be a cliffhanger as we want the audience to be asking what happened to her, and hopefully if another video was made, they would watch it to see if the questions were answered.

Letter for permission 2.0

I have found the email address that we need to apply for permission to for use of the song. I know it is last minute but it is a last minute decision.
Joshua Radin's record label is "Mom and Pop Records" and the email address that I need for Sales and Licensing is: thaddeus@momandpopmusic.com
Hopefully they will get back to us with good news.

New Cd Idea

As we have had to have our song changed due to the unreliability of the local bands, we have to change the idea of our CD Digipak.
At the moment, we have the idea of using a picture of Glenn standing in front of our filming location with a cigarette in hand. This is taken from a low position so we only see up to Glenn's belt and he is on the left hand side of the picture, with the view on the right.
We are going to call the album "Winter" and have the only the singers name of Joshua Radin on the album cover as well.

Yet another change of plans

We had the date and location sorted for our shoot of Accidents, until the day before every member of the band except the singer Marcus pulled out. Credit to Marcus that he tried to help but it was just impossible to get everyone together.
At this point we tried to find a new song that we could organise quickly, and Glenn suggested an acoustic song that he would willingly play.
Eventually, we decided on the song 'Winter' by Joshua Radin.
We have got the primary filming done and are currently working on just developing more ideas for the video.

'Burial' Lyrics

"Have a heart, break a leg tonight

In tribulations, I'm out of sight

let's make a scene tonight, and tear this building down

the water rises, it drags me down

I can't breathe, the memories consume me

as time past, this can't be happening.

We look, to the sky, our time has come at last

and please remember me when death has come to pass

just hold me close.

the beauty has arrived.

the hands tick, the clocks chime

the hourglass is running out.

when you see me coming,

you'll say your prayers just keep your mouth shut,

your hauled over the coals

this is a burial."

'Burial'

Re-think

We have struggled to form an effective idea for 'Walking Disaster', and the ideas we have formed do not link in as we go through the song. This is why we have decided to revert to Glenn's original idea of 'Burial' by the amateur local band Accidents. We are going to do a performance video, and have set up a practice filming session at an Accidents band practice next week, and then we are planning to a a live gig for the filming using Acccidents as the band over the Christmas Holidays.

Setting for 'Walking Disaster'

For filming of 'Walking Disaster', we are going to need to find/go to several places to film. We may need:

- a front room with a window, in which to have the kid see his parents arguing through
- a city, such a London or Brighton
- a club
- many streets, some in residential areas and some in the city.

Interpretation

Today, I have been listening to the song 'Walking Disaster' with the lyrics in front of me, and I have been writing down every idea that comes into my head. They are only rough ideas so far and I have not consulted Sophie about them but it has given me a general idea of, personally, what I want the video to look like.
[pictures of text here]

Walking Disaster Lyrics

I haven't been home for a while
I'm sure everything's the same
Mom and Dad both in denial
And only jokes to take the blame

Sorry, Mom, but I don't miss you
Father's no name you deserve
I'm just a kid with no ambitions
Wouldn't come home for the world

Never know what I've become
The king of all that's said and done
The forgotten son

This city's buried in defeat
I walk along these no-name streets
Wave goodbye to home

As I fall...

At the dead-end I begin
To burn a bridge of innocence
Satisfaction guaranteed
A pillow-weight catastrophe

Our own mission nowhere bound
Inhibitions underground
A shallow grave I
Have dug all by myself

And now I've been gone for so long
I can't remember who was wrong
All innocence is long gone
I pledge allegiance to a world of disbelief
Where I belong

A walking disaster
The son of all bastards
You regret you made me
It's too late to save me
(You regret you made me
It's too late to save me)

As far as I can tell
It's just voices in my head
Am I talking to myself?
'Cause I don't know what I just said

(And she said)
As far as where I fell
Maybe I'm better off dead
Am I at the end of nowhere
Is this as good as it gets?

And now I've been gone for so long
I can't remember who was wrong
All innocence is long gone
I pledge allegiance to a world of disbelief
Where I belong

A walking disaster
The son of all bastards
You regret you made me
It's too late to save me
(To save me, to save me, to save me, ...)

("It's too late") [x2]

To save me, to save me, to save me, to save me

And now I've been gone for so long
I can't remember who was wrong
All innocence is long gone
I pledge allegiance to a world of disbelief
Where I belong

A walking disaster
The son of all bastards
You regret you made me
It's too late to save me

I will be home in a while
You don't have to say a word
I can't wait to see you smile
Wouldn't miss it for the world

I will be home in a while
You don't have to say a word
I can't wait to see you smile
Wouldn't miss it for the world

Other Characters

We also need to cast older characters to act as the parents in the video. Both of our mums would be willing to play the part of the mother, but we can't find anyone to play the role of the father.

The main character

We have decided that we will need a boy to play the main role, as the male voice singing would seem out of place with a girl actor.
We probably need him to be a bit younger than ourselves and we decided that he should have longer hair, as in my view this suits the music more than short hair, although Sophie disagreed to start with.
He should be wearing jeans and a hoody, both slightly dirty as if he has been walking for a bit, but also with a rucksack.

Letter for permission

Yesterday, I wrote to Island Def Jam for permission to use the song 'Walking Disaster' by Sum 41.
This is the letter I used:

Dear Copyright Holder,

We are A level students and I am writing to request your permission to use one track from the latest album by Sum 41 entitled Underclass Hero.

The track I wish to use is 'Walking Disaster', track 2 on the album.

With your permission, this track would be used in my current A-level Media Studies
project which involves creating a music video for a popular music track, as well as
producing an album and a magazine advert for the artist.

If I received your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational
context and be viewed by our media class, our teacher and the OCR exam board
moderator. It would NOT be released to a large audience or uploaded to any public
video websites.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout pre-
production and the final video itself. A copyright notice, with wording supplied by you
can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full
details.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Alex Newcombe and Sophie Brown

Filming

We decided that the filming wasn't up to standard in our opinion, as we did not put enough movement and they did not put enough enthusiasm into the performance so we have decided to change the song one more time to (hopefully as it is dependent on permission) 'Walking Disaster' by Sum 41. We are planning on doing a narrative video as the song is about kid who has run away from home due to annoyance at his parents and possible negligence. However, during the song he realises that he misses home and he begins to head back.

Possible Lighting for the Performance

Sophie's brother has allowed us to use some of his DJ equipment to possibly light the video. Here is a link to her blog post.

Yellow Box Booked

We have now successfully booked the location for our media video.
I went to the Big Yellow Box Company and queried them about the price, and at £52.88 for a week, plus the insurance which is at the rate of £2.50 for £2000 worth of stored goods.
This as been booked for the 24th October for primarily a week, but we have access for the next 4 weeks at extra weekly cost.
The storage box is 200 square feet and is the ideal size for our project.