Conventions of indie rock

Conventions of indie rock 

Music video Day 1 filming

Performance plan:

Using the editing technique of cross cutting, both performance and narrative clips will feature within the video. As a group, the decision to film the performance sections first was made because it allows for reassurance that if any issues occur when filming the narrative, the performance videos can be used alone to still be able to make a successful music video.Preparing for the worst is essential. 

• The performance is set to be filmed on the 28th October 
• The performance is shot indoors so no weather forecast is required

Props

Using an indie/ rock genre of song, the aesthetic best suited requires having a band. To make the band look authentic, instruments will be needed. Borrowing guitars from family members and using other resources to access drums, the indie band look is emphasised within the performance. 

Location:

For the performance location choice, a garage was chosen. Inspiration was taken from other music videos that we had watched as part of our research. Using a garage, the lighting can be controlled because of the absence of natural light. In addition, a range of shot angles can be used because the backdrop in a garage is bare. The minimal aesthetic to a garage adds to the indie/ rock look of the video. Planning to use a smoke machine to enhance the video and add another element, a grange provides the perfect environment because it's enclosed and smoke lingers as opposed to escaping through openings such as windows.

Costumes: 

After analysing similar bands to the band our group planned to create, a trend of costume style was noticed. Looking at bands such as The Arctic Monkey's, a minimal yet edgy image is created. The image below shows a stereotypical Arctic Monkey's outfit:

To follow style of The Arctic Monkey's without taking their image, a similar but also relativity different choice of costume was decided for our band members. The image below shows a rough sketch of the costume choice for the Band:

For the males within the group, plain t-shirts were chosen with the intention of maintaining the minimal element of their image. Consistency of ripped jeans between the two male band members not only adds to their intended edgy look, but will also create a band identity. For the female member of the band a black dress with boots and a black leather jacket has been chosen for their costume. Black is a colour often associated with this genre of music and is also a minimal and edgy colour. All three band members should therefore match and have a band identity suitable to the genre of music.

Below shows pictures taken of the actual costume elements that will be worn by the band when performing:

Equipment:

• Camera : Used to film. This Canon camera was chosen for filming because it provides a crisp, clear image as well as having a long battery life. Since filming can be time extensive, having a camera with a long battery life is helpful because it enables the camera to be in use all day. Therefore the battery needing charging doesn't become a distraction when filming.

• Tripod: Used to stabilise the camera and prevent shaking. Reasons for using this particular Tripod can be justified based on the camera being easily attached and the extension ability. Having extendable legs means the filming can be done at a range of heights, which helps create another dimension within our music video since the shots can become varied.

• Lights: Coloured lights adds a coloured glow to the footage. Having a glow to the music video helps to create not only an interesting element to the video, but also enables the video to gain a unique and recognisable look. If for example, the lights and colours were an element that was carried through to the digipak, then it would create an image recognisable with our band and chosen song.  

• Smoke machine: Use to create smoke and give a grunge image to the footage. This not only helps the video become more suited to the Indie Rock genre, but the smoke should also create a distorted image which can be seen as a metaphor for the narrative element of the video since the distortion has the connotation of the singers life becoming distorted since the end of his relationship.

Risk Assessment: 

Hazards

• The smoke machine could catch fire, potentially harming the crew. Despite being a low risk hazard, the smoke machine will be positioned on a concrete surface and not covered by any material in order to reduce the risk.
• The smoke machine also has the potential to choke the crew within the garage. Again this is a low risk hazard but the doors will be opened at frequent intervals to help ventilate the room and the smoke machine won't be used extensively for long periods of time.

Music video storyboard

Storyboard and animatic  

The following images are the storyboard for the Rise music video. Following a storyboard will help keep filming on track and to plan so that time isn't wasted when filming.

Animatic 

Focus Group

Focus Group

Audience Profiles

Audience Profiles

YouGov has a section on it's site labelled 'profiles' which is a section that provides information on the type of person who has interests in specific fields. By typing in, for example, a band name, YouGov will provide the stereotype of fans and provide background information on them such as gender, job type and age etc.

The only limitation of using YouGov is that the site only provides a certain amount of information before payment is required.

As part of creating our own music video, an image of our own band must also be created. By finding information on fans of bands similar to the band image we want to create, we can find information on who the average fan for our band would be and therefore can adapt the video to fit with the target audience. By creating an indie rock, band, bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Oasis and Imagine Dragons have been typed into YouGov to find information about their fans with the idea being the band we create will have similar fans.

YouGov Profile of Arctic Monkey fans

According to YouGov research the average fans of Arctic Monkeys are young males with careers in entertainment or sport. Perhaps including these elements within our music video will help to adapt the video to the intended audience.

Oasis

The results from YouGov suggests that the average fan for Oasis is somewhat similar to the fans of Arctic Monkeys. Both fans appear to generally be young males in the age category of 18-24.  A similar selection of jobs types also occurs between the two sets of fans. The fact the results are so similar implies that the target audience should be males around 18-24 years of age.

Imagine Dragons

According to YouGov results, the audience of Imagine Dragons is slightly different to those of the other bands because they're actually more likely to be female. However, the age category does appear to be the same.

The same age category between all 3 bands implies that if the band we create for our music video is intended to be a hybrid of the 3 bands selected, then the target audience of the video should be people around 18-24.  The fact the members of the band are going to be around 17 and 18 years old means the age of the band will be similar to the age of the suggested audience, which makes the band more relatable and more In tune.

Further research into the gender of fans of the chosen bands show that Oasis and Arctic Monkeys fans are actually only marginally more inclined to be male, with 53.9% of Arctic Monkey fans being male and 58.1% of Oasis fans being male. Close percentage between the genders in the fan base of these two bands and the slight margin of Imagine Dragons fans being female, indicates that the target audience for our band should not necessarily be gender specific. Potentially there should be a slight leaning towards a male fan base, but this leaning should not be too obvious for the reason that females also listen to similar music.

One way to address the target audience and satisfy male and female audiences is to include a band member of each gender so as too add positive and influential representations throughout. Having a female band member in a leading role such as the singer or guitarist means a female target audience should be satisfied with the representation of females in the music video. If the target audience is satisfied, the work will be more of a success.