TREATMENT

“Train Track Tracey”

Locations:

-Hampstead Heath (Forest)

-Metropolitan line train and station

This music video will be shot using a digital camera. The video will be performance/narrative with the performance and narrative scenes being shot through high colour contrast.

Scene 1

The music video begins with the lead singer on the train falling asleep to the rhythm of the train.MS of the lead singer. SC to a CU of the lead singer’s eyes closing. (Diegetic Soundtrack of train passing. Natural lighting.)

Scene 2

SC to a GRAPHIC MATCH of lead singers eyes closing then opening. The lead singer slowly opens his eyes to find himself lying in a forest. (shot out of focus, then gradually becomes in focus relating to the dream sequence, and the lead singer’s disorientation)

Scene 3

(Soundtrack fades into the band’s song ‘TTT’)

SC to the band playing in the woods

CU of drummer

Scene 4

SC to a LS of lead singer rising and noticing a female (Dressed in a white dress,slightly torn and muddy, illustrating purity and innocence)

SC to a MS of the female ‘Tracey’ gazing towards the lead singer

SC to a CU of lead singers face

Scene 5

Chase sequence, never quite catching the girl.

HA of Tracey gently running whilst looking back at the lead singer.

Series of Tracking MS of lead singer walking towards the camera (Editing will be fast forwarded to emphasise the dream like state.)

Scene 6

Cut away to LS of band playing. CU of band members playing instruments when they are prominent in the song.

Scene 7

HA of lead singer searching for Tracey. SA looking at the Tracey’s feet walking past. Cut into a Low angle hand held shot, circling the lead singer.

Scene 8

SC back to the band; a selection of shots compiling of CU’s, MS’s and high/low angles etc specific to the register and tone of the song.

Cut in and out from performance to narrative of music video will continue for majority of song.

Scene 9

Lead singer nearly catches Tracey as she slows down to meet him however she becomes slightly transparent, almost ghost like. SC into a CU of their hands almost touching.

Scene 10
SC back to the real world (lead singer is sitting down where the music video began) A slow pan to the left to show the female reading a novel; she tilts her head up to catch the eye of the lead singer.

END.




We will get a few people to look at this treatment and then review it in light of their comments.

Research 

-What type of label will be appropriate for our bands image and music?
Independent Indie/Rock labels in the UK.

-Which labels would sign our band?
Banquet Label, XL Recordings or Slam Dunk Records

-If this label is connected through cross-media ownership to other marketing         
potential/outlets
Banquet Label owns a chain of music stores so they would be able to sell their bands music at their shop. They also 
hold in-store gigs which will give them a chance to showcase their artists.Slam Dunk Records host 2 big festivals a year which would allow them to market their bands.

-Research similar artists to our band


Bombay bicycle club

Bombay Bicycle Club are a 4 piece british indie band formed in 2006 who hail from North London, England. Members include Jamie MacColl,  Suren de Saram,  Ed Nash  and  Jack  Steadman. Their debut EP, 'The Boy I Used To Be' was given a warm critical reception with their second EP, 'How We Are', debuting at the number two spot on the UK indie singles chart. Bombay Bicycle Club later signed with Island Records and debuted a full-length on that label, 'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose'. They are popular in the indie scene and share a similar style of music with out band, Oats.

Inspiration

During the research stage, we came across two videos that inspired us and helped us come up with a couple of ideas. Both videos are set in a forest and have a dream like quality to them, which are aspects we would like to incorporate in our music video.


Paramore - Decode






Paramore's video has a lot of close ups of the band and their instruments. I also noticed that the camera is always moving which exemplifies the search in the forest and makes the video very dramatic. The use of slow motion in certain parts of the video is very effective and creates a balance with the fast paced song and sped up shots. I really like the use of the trees in the shot and I think that is something we will incorporate into our own music video.

Bonobo - Eyes Down









Bonobo's video is set in the woods and is a very artistic representation of the song. It shows a women dressed in a flowing, colourful dress dancing through a picturesque forest. The whole video is in slow motion which creates a dramatic effect and matches the tempo and tone of the track. There is a specific part in the video at 0:50 where the girl dances towards the camera in slow motion. The sequence is broken up by a series of dissolves which i think creates an interesting effect. This is something I would like to incorporate into our music video.

Marketing Aims for Music Video

Target consumer: Our target consumers will be young adults aged between 16-21 from various backgrounds and ethnicities. The target audience is probably in education within this age range.

Unique Selling Point: Our video has a very creative and unique storyline which will keep the audience entertained and also visually illustrate the lyrics to the song. The band are also very talented, serious musicians and the song we have to work with is a reflection of that.

Attention/Awareness: word of mouth and social networking sites such as twitter, youtube and facebook.

Interest: The fact that the band are actually quite young could make the audience interested to see if they can actually create good music. 

Price: The music video will be priced at £9.99 which is a typical price for an album at various music retailers such as HMV and Play.com.

Promotion: Our music video will be hosted by Youtube and promoted online using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. This will ensure the product is promoted to a large audience due to the access most people have to the internet. It will also be promoted by word of mouth which is not as effective as online promotion but still helps get the band noticed.

Analysing A Music Video - Andrew Goodwin's Theory

I will be Applying Goodwin's theory of music video analysis to Love you better by The Maccabees. I chose this band because they make similar music to Oats and it will help me understand the elements of an Indie music video.

The first part of his theory states that the music video will display genre characteristics. Some characteristics of indie videos are stage/live performances of the band with a narrative or concept, as well as videos that make a statement. The Maccabees video clearly shows these characteristics through the performance and close ups of the instruments. Also, by showing the band performing in the video, it suggests that they are a creditable band that can play well live.

There is also a relationship between lyrics and visuals which are either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. In every music video, it is important that the video relates to the lyrics.

Goodwin also states that there is a relationship between music and visuals. The song is mostly fast paced which is reflected through the bright flashes of colour and fast cuts throughout the video. However, the chorus is quite slow and the bands members are frozen in place while the camera pans around them to reflect this. Also, whenever an instrument is prominent in the song, you see a close up of that instrument.

The demands of the record label will influence the way the band is represented in the video. For example, lots of close ups of the band members (especially the lead singer) and a specific visual style shown through motifs that recur across their work. This is true in The Maccabees video as there are close ups of the lead singer as well as the other band members.

Goodwin also states that there is frequent reference to the notion of looking, for example screens within screens, and plays with the way a person is seen. He also suggests that music videos are particularly voyeuristic with the treatment of the female body. Although this isn't seen in The Maccabees video, many others portray women as objects for people to look at.

There is also intertextual reference to films, TV programmes, other music videos ect. There aren't any in this video as it is quite minimal, with only the band performing and some visual effects.

Target Audience Research

In order to make a product that would be received well by our target audience (young adults aged 16-21) we had to carry out a quick survey which would give us information on how to go about creating a video that would sell. We created an online survey and 50 people responded that fit our specific audience.

Here are the questions we asked and the responses we received:

What is your gender?

Male: 31           Female: 19

How much money do you spend on entertainment in a week?

£0-£10 (36) £11-£20 (12) £21-£30 (2) £30+ (0)

    

How often do you watch music videos?
Never: 3      Sometimes: 15         Often: 32

Do you listen to bands/artists that would be considered indie?
Yes: 37  No: 13

Do you prefer music videos that contain narrative/storyline?
Yes: 42  No: 8

Do you prefer to see the artist performing in the music video?
Yes: 45  No: 5


With this information, we can go about creating a video that would attract people from our target audience and have potential marketing power.

Lyrics


Train Track Tracey - Oats

I caught your eye

on the train back

shooting looks between the seats

yeah oh oh

you were seated in a place, made us face to face

even feet to feet 

feet to feet

you were a shy princess 

although i held onto your gaze

I got that memorable feeling in my stomach

oh ill be kicking myself for days x2

if i didn't do what i wanted to

say the things that i needed to

anything at all x2

do the things i wanted to do

say the things that i absolutely had to

whatever came to mind

any reason i could find

to say walk away

walk away

but train track Tracey's here to stay

not going tomorrow

come back today

she told me her soul

she said that she wouldn't go

that's she was going to stay

so i could take her out

all over town

see the faces of others

see the smiles and the frowns

because of what goes on 

under the covers x2

but train track Tracey's gone away

she's leaving me tomorrow

even today she

told me her soul

she said that she had to go 

absolutely had to go 

now my patience is wearing thin

just like the white dress she was wearing

on a summers day, not so long ago

but enough memories to fade and go x2

but train track Tracey's here to stay

not going tomorrow

come back today

she told me her soul

she said that she wouldn't go

that's she was going to stay

i walked away

The Song

The song we are using for our video is called Train Track Tracey. We chose this video as it stimulated visuals when we first listened to it and is a song we think will be interesting to work with. Although it is quite long (4:43) my group and I feel that it is worth it due to the quality of the song and the challenge it will present. Here is the track from the bands official YouTube channel.

Band profile

The band we are making a music video for are called Oats.

Members:

Morgan Butterfield - Drums
Jacob Deleaz-Hassany - Vocals/ Rythm Guitar
Jake Head - Lead Guitar
Alfie Long - Bass

We were able to get hold of this band as a member of my group is friends with some of the band mates. They have had experience playing live gigs around london and have some what of a fan following. As for promotion, Oats have a myspace page (www.myspace.com/weareoats) and have been featured on Sound Advice UK's "Acoustic Sundays". They are currently unsigned but are actively seeking out opportunities for a future signing and are in the process of making an EP.

RESEARCH

The band we are making a music video for are called Oats and they make Indie music. To help get ideas for our video, I will research the Indie genre and also look at other artists that make music within that genre.



What Is Indie?
Indie refers to a specific genre of rock music that is based on combining aesthetics of classic rock, punk, garage and art rock. Indie rock artists are known for maintaining complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels and using touring, word-of-mouth, airplay and the internet as means for promotion.
Indie music origniated in the U.K and America in the 1980's and was, more or less, synonymous with Indie rock. Some definative British Indie rock bands were The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The Cure. A number of prominant Indie labels were also founded during this time. These include Dischord Records and Merge Records.


Lifestyle: The indie lifestyle attracts Young Adults (aged 16-21) and usually includes very artistic and creative people. The main idea is about being yourself and not conforming to mainstream culture.


Fashion: Vintage t-shirts and skinny jeans are the basis of most Indie wardrobes. Other Brands such as Converse, Vans, Topshop and American Apparel are also common.



































Other Indie Artists
Bombay Bicycle Club, Mumford and Sons, Everything Everything and The XX are just a few of the up and coming Indie bands.


Other well know bands are Bon Iver, Arcade fire, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys, Band of Horses, Florence and the Machine, Biffy Clyro and Friendly fires.

Famous music video editors

Jarrett Fijal has won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing 2 years in a row.
The videos he won the awards for are:


Beyonce - Single Ladies in 2009

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance in 2010 

I have looked at these videos and identified the techniques used in them. This will help me when i get to editing our groups video and it also shows me what a well edited video looks like.

Video Practice

As we have no experience using video cameras or editing using final cut pro, we had a practice shoot where we filmed a 'chase sequence'. The synopsis for our practice video was a girl, who has no money, steals a kit kat from another girl. A chase then ensues and the girl who stole the chocolate ends up trapped at a dead end. Just as you think something bad is going to happen, the thief offers to share the kit kat and the video ends. We shot this around our college, specifically the canteen and outside areas. We experimented with different angles and distance as well as a variety of camera shots. In the editing stage I had a chance to use final cut pro and get used to the programme. To exemplify the panic and urgency of the chase, I used a lot of straight cuts  and slowed down the shots at the climax of the video to make it more dramatic. Overall, I feel this exercise has really helped me and given me a deeper understanding of the role of an editor.

What is a music video?

Before we go about making our music video, we first have to state what a music video actually is.


Here is an extract from Wikipedia.com:
A music video or song video is a short video or film that accompanies a piece of music or song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. 


These are some general conventions in all music videos:
The video lasts at least as long as the track but can be longer if an intro/outro is used.
The artist/band usually is the main focus of the video
Some element of performance is seen such as singing, playing instruments, dancing or acting 
The video has some kind of concept that goes along with the track
The video may involve fragments of narrative
Different genres of music have different visual conventions in music videos

INTRODUCTION

During our first team meeting each person in the group was assigned roles and we went through the subsequent responsibilities each person would have. Chantelle is now the director, Mamoon is the cinematographer, Sophia is the producer and I am the Editor. I will have to have a deep understanding of the music videos objectives so that I can put together a video that appeals to the right audience. Editing is a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and an understanding of the functions available in the editing programme. This means I will have to learn to use Final Cut Pro and condense and organise the footage we get. As the editing is done in post-production, when we are at the shoot, I will be in charge of stills photography. 


As a group, we decided that we would try and find an indie/rock band to create a music video for. We felt that it would give us a lot of creative freedom and we are also familiar with artists from those genres.




Here are the starting points we cam up with at the initial meeting:


To begin with, we will examine the codes and conventions revolving around the genre of our chosen band. We will also examine the demographics of our band's audience to ensure that we make a video that appeals to them. This will be accomplished by investigating the audiences age, style, fashion, beliefs, ethnicity, gender, religion, and class.

When researching music marketing, we will think about:

-What type of label will be appropriate for our bands image and music?

-Which labels would sign our band?

-If this label is connected through cross-media ownership to other marketing         
  potential/outlets

-Research similar artists to our band

-Successful/unsuccessful artists similar to that of our group.

-Understand the codes and convections of music videos associated with the genre of our group.