Studio...

Just got an email from Bill Burnett from Farringdon Studios. He said that their fully booked until the weekend of the 24/25th October (the weekend at the start of half term). I'm not sure if its gonna be too late...especially because we're filming in the green screen studio after half term but I dno...what do you think? It would mean that we would definitely be ready thanks to loads of time to plan but I'm not sure if it's a good idea.
- Mel -

Shots to Test...

Although we will be unable to shoot on location, we are going to test the shots and the actor's performance.
Shots to test:
ECU - Eyes/Lips/Clenched fist/Parts of the body
CU - Face/Profile
MS/LS - Bedroom shot (on the bed)/Full body shot
OTS - Bedroom - looking at photo
Tilt - Body (MS/LS)
P.O.V - Through glass doors
HA - Curled up on the floor/Standing
Arc - Around him
Pans
- Group -

Treatment

Meeting 30th September

In our meeting today we discussed what we need to do on the day of our test shoot with our main actor, which we have organised for Wednesday 5th October.

We will need to test:
- Lipsynching
- Performance
- Costume
- Make-Up
- Shots
- Locations
We will also take some stills of the main actor.

Costumewise we need to decide on:
- Shoes
- Jeans
- Cardigans/Jackets
- T-shirts

In preparation we have decided on the exact shots we would like to test and will post a shot list shortly

- Group -

Cast...

Just spoke to Daniel...it's his LAST paintball tournament this weekend. But he can do Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings. And he also has Wednesday off college so I was thinking next Wednesday we could do the test shoot in lunch and our lesson against the green screen or we could do one of the evenings next week? Also he said he's been trying to learn the lyrics and said he's listened to the song everyday (bless him) and looked at the lyrics a couple of times but obviously thats harder for him so he's learning by listening. Oh, and he said theres this website that he's signed up to where you can advertise for roles your looking for, so he said he could put up an ad for the 'Tinie Tempah' part but obviously we would have to pay the actor so if we're getting the studios I don't think we could pay an actor as well.
- Mel -

Inspiration...

I've just watched Mr Hudson's new video for 'White Lies' on his website, and the director Nabil Elderkin (more about him on my blog), has used really good lighting in a lot of the shots that are great inspiration for our video. In the shots like the ones at 0.17, 3.02 etc I love how the light looks like it's reflecting off water, but the reason I think the sort of lighting (only lighting a small part of the shot) it would work well for our video as it's another way to light the featuring artists shots while still keeping it quite dark. I also like the fact that the song is slow but as Mr Hudson moves a lot in the shots and the camera also moves, the shots don't look static and boring.

Mr Hudson - White Lies

- Mel -

Yeh we did say that it didn’t look really wide and if you watch the music video that they shot there, there were no wide shots, they were all the closer ‘beauty’ shots of the girl. I also like the shots in ‘Ego’ when he’s leaning against the wall because the pose makes him look so cocky so I think it would be good if we could do that. But even if we use a green screen studio, we wont be able to do the shot if we take it from the angle that they did in the video, because we’ll need two walls wont we? I think if we film it from the front it won’t look as good, but I guess we’d have to test it. We’ll talk to miss on Monday and find out about the green screen studio like how big it is and stuff.

Tanya

Other ideas....

I like the idea of doing a shot through doors like this photo by Deborah Anderson:
It's really voyeuristic and I think it would really work well when we show them as children, and we can watch them through the doors as if we are 'Mr Hudson' looking back to it and remembering it from the outside. We could also do it when we are looking at 'Mr Hudson' as it would make him look even more vulnerable and alone, because the audience would be almost spying on him rather than in the shot next to him.

Oh and another idea from this photo also by Deborah Anderson:We could show 'Mr Hudson' lying on the bed on the phone, as if he is calling the girl, and if we do show a shot of the girl and guy together, depending how we do it, we could show her phone ringing with his face on the caller id (would look quite good on Bel's iPhone).

Another thing I thought we could do was shoot 'Mr Hudson' outside a bit but in places where the background is really plain. There's a Henri Silberman photo that shows this quite well which I will post when I can (here;s a link for now http://www.henrisilberman.com/portfolio/street.php?display=09) and I found a building very similar to it when I did some photography in London, which I think was just next to Goodge Street station (I'll check with Dan when I can), so we could possibly shoot there as well.

I also have a photo by Matthew Rolston:
It's kind of like what Aarti suggested of doing an OTS shot of 'Mr Hudson' looking in a mirror, which I think does look really good although we would obviously have to be careful about not gettiing the camera in the shot. There's also a shot by Mike Rosenthal of the guys face in a wing mirror which I think looks really good and we could do the 'Mr Hudson' shot similar to that but instead in a small mirror that you'd have in your bedroom.

The pictures are in the group folder, I'll post them when I can

- Mel -

Just a thought...

I was thinking about the sort of shots we want and I think for the black background and maybe for the white we're going to need a bigger studio than the one we're discussing at the moment. I think it will be ok for the CUs and Mid's of them but I don't think it's going to work for wide shots and the shots of whoever does Tinie Tempah, especially if we do want to add in some dance moves at some point. And also I kinda picture the Tinie Tempah part like leaning on the wall and stuff, like Kanye in the 'Ego' video which we can't really do in the Bill Burnett studio. Obviously it's still a really good place and if we can get it for a good price then we can still go there but I think we're going to need somewhere else as well, like maybe the green screen studio that miss was talking about? What do you two think?
- Mel -

Pitch Feedback

After our pitch yesterday we got feedback from other media students and our teacher. We have had suggestions as to who we can use to play the 'Tinie Tempah' role in our video.
Our targets for our following group meetings are to properly decide on the structure of the video, to ensure that the video progresses. We already have this by not showing the featuring artist until he starts his verse but we need to ensure that we plan this well. We also need to decide on an identity for the main artist and the featuring artist, which we will do in upcoming meetings,
- Mel, for the group -

The Pitch

Today we pitched our idea for our music video to our class and teacher. We prepared a detailed treatment as a group which explained our overall ideas about how we want the video to look and what sort of style we are aiming for. In a group meeting, we prepared answers to questions on what we knew about our chosen song, the genre of the track, the artist and the target audience (see other posts for these.) In our treatment, we focussed on the content of the video, applying Goodwinn's theory, as well as the artists and their image. We also included some information on the camera style and editing that we are aiming for. (click here to see the treatment.)

Tanya, for the group

Location

We've been in talks with a studio, which is mainly used for photography but is used for video shoots as well, which is perfect for the sort of location we want. They provide lighting, a white and black backdrop and the owner has said that he could give us a deal on a weekend, which would obviously be the perfect time for us to shoot. We are still emailing about what sort of deal he can offer us and fingers crossed its a good one! but for now here's a behind the scenes look at a music video being shot there ('Day One' being shot in the studio):

Behind The Scenes - Chanel Fusco "Sad Goodbyes"

- Mel, for the group -

Knock You Down - Inspiration

Knock you down was quite an inspirational video as it is also about two contrasting guys. I found that the range of shots used in particular and the gestures of both Neyo and Kanye West were what made this video more interesting to watch.

Other ideas I got from watching this video were:
As we have location limitations, we could base the performance within the narrative. Therefore, as well as the studio shots we could have the main guy singing in his bedroom thinking about the past. This is where we could add in the flashbacks of him and his best friend when they were younger to anchor the line ‘school boy fists’.

Other shots could include:
- a photo of the guy and girl in his room- he could perhaps rip it
- shots of him sitting on the bed thinking
- hand on his head to show he is upset
- Looking at himself in the mirror – ‘who’s gonna take you home..if it isn’t me’



This split screen using colour and black and white would be good to highlight the contrast between the two guys especially when the song goes ‘who’s gonna take you home?’… ‘I’m gonna take her home’

Aarti

Genre and Target Audience

The Genre of our Track
Mr Hudson’s music in general cannot be defined by any single genre as it is so varied. It is said to be a mix of RnB, Hip hop, Electro-Hop. His music has also been described as 'cocktail jazz meets hip-hop’.

This song in particular contains signifiers of many different genres for example, it has quite a mainstream RnB beat which is conventionally repeated throughout the song. It is also influenced by the genre of hip-hop which is evident from Tinie Tempah’s part. The instruments themselves ranging from drums, to electric guitar, to keyboard to steel pans, signify a variety of genres. On the whole, ‘the cocktail jazz meets hip hop’ can be defined through Mr Hudson’s voice itself.

Target Audience
Because of the range of genres, this song has quite a wide audience appeal. However, the primary target audience would probably be fans of music produced by artists such as Mr Hudson (especially after the success of Supernova) , Kanye West, and Tinie Tempah. We think that the Secondary audience would probably young people in their early teens (about 13 years) to people in their early twenties. We also think that the song would appeal to both genders, females because of the two male leads and males because of the song.
-Aarti, for the group-
UPDATE:
While our target audience has not greatly changed, there are some adjustments to be made. Our primary audience would be (older) teenagers (15-20) of both genders who are fans of mainstream music particularly steered towards the R&B genre. Our secondary audience would be fans of sub-genres of R&B, this would be a more underground style of music, for example music that focuses largely on rap e.g. N-Dubz and D-Fam
Here is a typical audience member:

- Group (Mel & Tanya) -

More About Our Chosen Artist & Track

Artist
Mr Hudson (Ben Hudson a.k.a Ben McDowie) was originally part of a band, Mr Hudson & The Library, which were signed to Universal, but is now branching off on his own with Kanye West as his mentor, and is signed to G.O.O.D Music (Kanye's label) as well as Mercury records. He has listed many influences, from The Police and David Bowie to Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzee Rascal. Due to the amount of influence over his music a clear genre can't be defined. His music has a mix of R&B, Pop, HipHop and has been described as 'cocktail jazz meets hip hop'. If you see him on stage you should expect to see a steelpan and a piano along with the relatively usual drumkit, guitar etc.

"I wanted to make a mainstream record, not structured or ornate. The first album (with his band) feels like an Escher drawing, all these layers and you don't know where you're going at any point. The way the songs are written and produced on this one is much more direct. It's not trying to reinvent the wheel.
It's straight, no chaser.”

Mr Hudson describes his aims for his debut solo album

Track
The song is off Mr Hudson's debut solo album, 'Straight No Chaser' which will be released in early October. It was originally Mr Hudson Ft Kanye West but we chose to go with the Radio One Live Lounge version which features Tinie Tempah instead. This is because the lyrics of his verse fit the themes of the song a lot better. Obviously as Mr Hudson's album is a hybrid of various genres this track also goes the same way. With a mainstream R&B beat, mixed with a drum kit, electric guitar, steelpan and keyboard, he plays on many genres, including R&B, Pop and many more. And then with Tinie Tempah featuring a slight mainstream hiphop feel is added and then Mr Hudsons vocals which give it that 'cocktail jazz meets hip hop' feel.


- Mel, for the group -

Meeting...

In our lesson yesterday we discussed ideas for our video. Watching the 'Celebration' video, I realised that the floor is wood, so if we can't find a plain studio then a stage could work if it's lit properly. As we have suggested before, we could show the boys when they were younger which we thought we could do this in black and white. Tanya also suggested doing stop motion for this part of the video to make it appear more like a home video. The boys could also be in a school uniform further highlighting their connection to each other, so its made clearer to the audience. We thought the boys could be doing something that people expect of boys for example playing a video game or playing football. We also have started to plan for our final treatment and have decided to use the half day today to get ready for our pitch.
- Mel, for the group -

Actors...

The person who was going to do the 'Tinie Tempah' role in our video did not turn up yesterday, after many reminders, so we will have to find someone else to play that role, as he has shown that he is unreliable. Luckily, we know early on as it means that we know his reliability before it's too late. This means that we now have to find someone new to be in our video and I have started looking, although at the moment we are working on our treatment, and so will be concentrating on that for the next couple of days rather than on finding actors. Once we have completed the treatment and have got feedback on it then we will start looking properly, perhaps holding auditions if we can't find anyone through contacts.
- Mel -

Ideas For The Video

Madonna - 'Celebration'


I like the idea of doing the silhouette seen at the beginning and I really like the close-ups of Kanye West's lips, shoes etc. that are in the video that Tanya posted, as this would hide who he is in an interesting way. But I think once we've seen who the rapper is, to make shots of him look more interesting, and also so that the shot isn't too dark, I think we could do a shot similar to the one in the 'Celebration' video at 0.06, as it lights up the shot in an interesting way.
At the beginning of the video, where we just see the one dancer, and Madonna, I think that's the sort of thing that we could to do in terms of contrast between the two, with Madonna in front of white and the dancer in front of black. I also noticed that the floor of the black background shots seem to be wood, so although we would rather use a studio than a stage, if we could light a stage properly it could work on a stage as well.
- Mel -

Video Ideas

For our video, I was thinking it would be a good idea to conceal the second artist until their introduced properly at 1:43min. This would build up his character more and reflect the fact that he thinks he’s ‘all that.’ Therefore I thought it was a good idea to look at ‘Ego’ (see video below) which shows this well and is relevant to the key themes of our song. The use of camera work at the start on Kanye West who’s talking about his ‘big ego’ really reflects the effect we want to create on our rapper. The use of extreme close-ups do this well, as well as great lighting to create a silhouette. The video also demonstrates good cocky gestures such as re-adjusting his collar/sunglasses/jacket, smiles to the side of his mouth, posing against the wall, hands in pockets, certain mouth movements, cocky laughs etc.

It also gives us ideas about costume, such as a pair of glasses, dressed in black (connotes he’s a bad character..) etc..


Ego – Kanye West and Beyonce

- Tanya -

Locations, Actors etc...

Hope ur having a good weekend.
I've been talking to people, and I think we might be able to get the Wyllots theatre and the lighting guy for a discount possibly, but I'll know better in a couple of days.
Also, I've asked Bernard to come into school on Tuesday after school to rap a song he knows in front of a camera and to get a couple of pictures and stuff, cos I figure if he's no good for it we might as well know now. I hope Tuesday's okay for you two, it's just that he can't do Monday and the other day's are open days etc. If you can't do Tuesday I don't mind filming him on my own.
Update:
I spoke to my Aunt and she said that the guy they know works for an outside company for lighting and that he wouldn't be able to get us a discount anywhere but he apparently also does lighting for Millfield, so if we go there then he might be the lighting guy. But our best bet would be to just use the education discount. And to be honest it probably makes more sense to use like a photographic studio or something for the sort of thing we want but I dno, we can talk about it on Monday.
And Bernard would apparently write the sort of lyrics that Tinie Tempah raps in the song so he should be able to perform them well. Anyway see you tomorrow
- Mel -

Final Song

Here is the song that our group is doing for our video:
Mr Hudson Ft Tinie Tempah - Anyone But Him


Lyrics:
Anyone but him
I'd rather hear you’d had the whole football team
than have to watch his filthy lips on your skin
Anyone but him

Anyone but him
With schoolboy fists, we can take this outside
But knowing my luck that … would win
Anyone but him

Who's gonna take you home, who's gonna take you home
Who's gonna take you home, if it isn't me

Anyone but him
My blood boils as my eyes turn green
Is this the best of the best of the scene
Anyone but him

Anyone but him
With schoolboy fists imma take this outside
But knowing my luck that ___ would win
Anyone but him

Who's gonna take you home, who's gonna take you home
Ohhh who's gonna take you home, if it isn't me…

Anyone but him
Look past the leather in the dash and the rims
And you will see his whole hustle wears thin
Anyone but him

Anyone but him
He's gonna take what you can't take back
And then's he's gone out the door on a whim
Anyone but him

Who's gonna take you home, ohhh who's gonna take you home
Listen, who's gonna take you home, if it isn't me…

Tinie T:
*Yes, Yes, Yes*
*Umm, Ye*
Umm
You win some, you lose some
I ring ‘em, I take ‘em out for Dim Sum and use ‘em
I can hear the two of ‘em, whispering in the loo,
They’ll be like he’ll sex us and he wont even text us
Like Houston, I’m reckless
English like my breakfast
And she date my manager, said he look like Kanye West does
I press her, then I press up
I sex her then I dress up,
Schoolboy fists but I throw punches like I’m Lennox,
I never heard a man so jealous, so jealous,
So tell us about those letters,
You know she let me open every single one you sent her,
When you cry for her attention, just remember I’m the centre
And on the first night she let me enter, HA!

Mr Hudson:
Oooh
Who’s gonna take you home
*I’m gonna take her home*
Who’s gonna take you home
*I said I’m gonna take her home*
Noo, who’s gonna take you home, if it isn’t me…
*Me! Me! Me! Me!*

Who’s gonna take you home
*I’m gonna take her home*
Who’s gonna take you home
*I said I’m gonna take her home*
Who’s gonna take you home, if it isn’t me…
*Me! Me! Me! Me!*

Who’s gonna take you home
If it isn’t me…
Who’s gonna take you home
If it isn’t me…
Who’s gonna take you home
If it isn’t me…

As we have suggested before, there is clear rivalry between the two artists over a girl. We have chosen not to do the Kanye West version of the song, which is on Tanya's blog, as the lyrics in Kanye West's rap don't show this rivalry as clearly whereas the Tinie Tempah rap does.

- Group -

Copyright

When we were looking for a song, we specifically chose this version of Anyone But Him. This version of the song is unreleased, and is never going to be released as it was a BBC Live Lounge recording. When the song is released next year, it is going to be released with a different rapper. We emailed the BBC to check that we could use the song and got an automated reply saying that they would look into it and get back to us, but we didn't here anything back after this. We also emailed Universal about the song but never heard anything back from them, and so decided to go ahead.

- Group -

Initial Ideas for 'Anyone But Him'

Today in our meeting we looked at the songs that we each have found and also looked for others. We looked at Mr Hudson's 'Anyone But Him' in a bit more detail and came up with some initial ideas for the video.

Overall the basic story is that Mr H. dated a girl, they broke up and then his best friend went behind his back and started dating her. When he finds out he is telling her that he excepts that she's moved on but doesn't want her to move on with his best friend. His friend has betrayed him and is now really arrogant about it as we can tell in his rap.

- We thought we could show ECUs and the silhuette of the second guy until he starts rapping meaning that he would be a mysterious figure until we see him.
- We realised we could play on the rivalry and could show the two artists to be complete opposites
- We also thought that we could do flashbacks to them as children, suggesting that they are lifelong friends and thats why the main singer is saying 'Anyone But Him' as its his best friend that has turned on him and become arrogant and cocky.
-We also thought we could cut to shots of the girl a couple of times, and cut to shots of the girl with the new guy.

- Group -

First Meeting

Welcome to our group blog, we can't wait to get started...
We had a very quick meeting at break today and we have all quickly discussed the songs we have in mind. We're going to have another group meeting next week to discuss things further, and hopefully finalise a song.
- Mel, for the group -