A method to distribute our song

Since our band is an independent band we could use the internet as the main way we advertise our song. A good method which a lot of independent artist sell and advertise their music is through the website Bandcamp. Bandcamp allows people to listen to songs from artists for free without adverts, it also allows downloads in a variety of formats including FLAC, AAC, MP3.

Claire

Sorry to hear about Emily and the illness. Do come and see me if you need to try and rearrange. Claire, don't have 2 tags, just use one for all posts. We can only send one URL to the examiner.
Emily, if you are I'll next time the shoot needs to go ahead without you.
Aykut do some blogging and catch up.

First day of filming thoughts

Today we went filming in North Hampton square, which is quite near college, so getting the equipment there by foot was easy enough. We started by placing our markers down on bandstand, which happened to be coloured ducks, this helped us swap places with each other and still being in the same position, so when we edited it, it looked much more smooth then it would have if we hadn't used markers. We filmed the first part of the song in the bandstand, then moved onto Aykut singing the later part of the song further inside the bandstand. Throughout our filming we had 2 rubbish and leave collectors roaming around the small paths in the square, which made it very hard to film for us because we couldn't hear the music to sing along to because the vans were so loud! This became very frustrating and tedious. It was actually a very big problem. Every time we thought they had stopped, they would start again. After they had stopped completely we tried to catch a few more shots before going back to school. We uploaded the the shots we got to the macs that lunchtime.

Filming

Today we had our first day of filming, the location was a bandstand in north hampton square. We filmed the opening part of the song and this including a performance part of the song with a ukulele. Fortunately the weather was clear and quite sunny despite being very cold. The performers had to whistle and play the ukulele in time with the beginning of the song. They then switched positions and repeated the performance, this will allow us to switch the positions when editing. Of course we had to make sure the camera was in the same position so that the switching would look realistic. Another part of the song which we filmed was the part where the lyrics are "And I'll put my hands over your eyes, but you'll peep through", at this part we filmed someone putting their hands over another's eyes but the person peeping through. This part will basically be illustrating the lyrics.
There was however some disturbance during our filming due to sweepers in the park, the loud noise they make meant we could not hear the song from the speakers well. This was resolved though when they left after a while.

Bandstand

Before you think I'm crazy,

On Thursday when we were planning filming this week, we could only see the weather-forecast up until Monday, which it claimed would be rainy, so Tuesday didn't look too great either. Thats why I am so excited about the sun that should be out tomorrow (although if its still this windy we might have to wait around awkwardly for slightly less windy moments!)

Tomorrow we are basically just filming the base tracks of us singing, from different angles and with jump cuts and well, its on the animatic.

We are going to be at Northampton square in the pretty pretty bandstand there in the sun with the ukelele and our whistling.

Tomorrow!

We start filming, so I have just been deciding what outfit to wear (a worrying amount of the stuff I own fits with the genre, it DOES make sense as I have quite a diverse taste in music and folks included within this AND I loved the original song when it came out which shows we have the right target audience!)

Also was thinking about how including so many wonderful art installations will really attract loads of art fans as well as people who don't know London well and may be really intrigued by the amount of installations just lolling about. 


Ok Ok well kinda mumbling, I just took a couple of photos of my outfit(s) for tomorrow depending on the temperature & the props I will bring. 

Sunglasses, hair things, BRIGHT tights and Uke! 

 Small details such as painted nails and brightly coloured eyeshadows should make our film seem more professional as they will add to the colourful and vibrent feel of the film. Detail is always an important part to the music videos we watched when getting inspiration for our own.

Lisa Mitchell, with eyeliner, lipstick and a hair bow.

Soo I was checking the weather today and I did a bit of a double take...

This is a GIF which you can only see fully when you click on it, by the way :).

Preparations for filming

Tomorrow we will start filming. Equipment and props that we will take include:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Ukulele
• Speaker
• Spare batteries 
• Still camera 

This is the route we will take, the location is not very far from college so we will walk there. 

Potential outfits and props for filming tomorrow

Another of Lisa Mitchell's videos

I tried to embed this for ages and then realised I was just using the link instead of the html code,

I think this music video is another great one to inspire us, its all in one shot so very very different to how ours will be but with some really nice features.
The polaroid photo taken at the start stays on Lisa Mitchell's shirt throughout and is revealed to the audience at the end,
I had an idea for our film of making a scrap book and whilst filming getting polaroid shots of different locations with us at them, and then when the song goes 'in five years time you might just prove me wrong' the camera could be panning over the book, then up to Emily, Aykut and I (who are in the film) with a completely different Mise en scene to indicate time going by which could be a sweet little ending for the film!

(If it actually ended there! But there are at least 40 seconds of music afterwards...) I also have some scepticism as to this even working as the polaroid film I have is quite small and thus we would probably have to have multiple shots of it to get close ups quickly and then it would end up looking like a slide show which is not atall the sign of a music video that looks professionally made! We would also probably have to change the mise en scene dramatically for the rest of the music video for it to look good, which would really take away from the vibrant and fun feel that we were going for!

Okay so I should get back to talking about this music video Neapolitan Dreams, its lovely, and I really like the childish features, such as little felt birds being held up by string and the Mise en Scene of walking through the woods whilst holding a basket, this also is proof we are heading in the right direction with the whole parky/ arty / cutesy look to our film as this is yet another folk video that breaks away from typical music video forms. Even whilst having a classically attractive female singer this music video does not sexualise anybody which is a key feature of folk as its sweet and pure and also breaks away from typical music videos which will also allow us to.

Weather accuracy

The weather filming today in North Hampton square turned out to be correct. We had some sun light come in through the trees which was actually really complimentary to our videos mise-en-scene. BBCs weather accuracy meant we went out filming with very little hesitation of what the weather was like or going to turn like. Thank you BBC weather for such an exact prediction!

Music video importance

A music video is very important in promoting a song in the right way. The video is the visual element of the song and can make a song more rememberable to the audience. The song and video is usually aimed at a specific audience and will create a connection with the artist. Direct eye contact on a video makes the singer seem powerful and grabs your attention, almost as if though they are talking to you. A fan of an artist will remember a particular video they have done because its been so capturing. To the music industry, I think bands and solo artists are always competing with each other to have the best video or song.

Here are some snaps from recent videos where the artist is using direct eye contact to make a connection with the audience

The weather predictions for filming dates

We are filming in north hampton square on tuesday, which is meant to be sunny

And we are filming at the barbican on thursday with sunny intervals

Test shots (photos)

State of Music Industry

From the beginning of this course we looked at the current state of the Music Industry, like the film industry last year, the music industry is in trouble due to online file sharing and illegal free downloading.

System of a Downs lead singer,Serj Tankian claims that there is no longer a music industry in an interview regarding the current state of the music industry. They also made a campaign against free downloading by making there Album title Steal This Album, as well as making the cover a white background with the text printed on the front.

Other examples of the music industry losing profits due to illegal downloads, is the retail store HMV. Due to low album sales HMV are being forced to close down multiple stores around Britain to try and avoid becoming Bankrupt.

 

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