During your production - you MUST keep on updating you blog charting the your process and progress. You get marks for showing your creative process. Call this a PRODUCTION DIARY
Start a blog post.
Call it 'Production Diary' and then the date.
Write about how the project is going:
What you have achieved that day/lesson.
What still needs to be done and when you plan to do it.
What test footage you have done.
What influences your process.
What tutorials and advice you have found online.
What problems you anticipate and how you hope to over come them.
Post videos and pictures of the shoot/your documents to help illustrate the process.
AT THE VERY LEAST YOU MUST WRITE UP HOW EACH SHOOT WENT. IF THIS MEANS BACK DATING A POST, THEN DO SO.
These should be individual and there should be 3 minimum.
Have look at this post from Dave - it could do with more reflection and more detail about the shoot - but the examiner can get an idea of what he's up to.
GENRE RESEARCH TASK
FIRSTLY IDENTIFY THE GENRE OF MUSIC TRACK YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO DO FOR YOUR VIDEO:
The objective of this research is two-fold:
To show to the examiners that you understand the genre you are working to the extent that you can clearly identify its codes and conventions
To show that you have researched the genre in order to have a comprehensive knowledge of who is the potential audience.
Here’s a few tips and activities
ORIGINS
All music genres grow and develop from other types of music genres as musicians blend different styles and influences together. So where does your genre come from – which styles is it melding?
Who is seen as the main practitioner? Who are the main influences? Does the genre come from a certain scene/place/time?
When you’re researching this think about how all these influences work together – do the various musical influences affect the style/fashion/iconography of the genre? Does it influence what sort of audience it attracts?
Tips: Start at Wikipedia – use the references down below
Look on google videos – are there any relevant documentaries about the genre?
Have a look at this amazing Guardian Music Timeline. Or at this great music history documentary. It's from the 90s so stops at that point but goes from Rock'n'Roll to dance and hip hop - with each genre of music having it's own episode.
FASHION
Is there a certain look to the genre in terms of clothes? How can you describe it? Why do they dress this way? Are there any key influences? Are there any key labels? Is it a DIY culture? Is the music used to advertise certain brands?
Tips: collect images of fans and bands of the genre – line them up and look for common threads and themes?
COMMUNITIES
Are there any key scenes for the music (for instance is there an acknowledge capital of the genre (think Seattle for Grunge, London for grime etc). Why do you think this is the case?
How do fans communicate – is it a local scene? Is it a global scene – do fans have specific websites? Which ones are they What makes them different?
Are there Facebook and Myspace pages? What sort of people are fans of this?
Tips: Look at the Myspace pages for the bands – look at the sort of people who are fans of this – what do their myspaces look like? Are there key colours, images, interests? Is there a certain language that they use? Are there common references? Are there any clues to types of films/comic/books/tv they are into?
TV AND FILM
Are there any films that use this type of music as its soundtrack? Are there any practitioners of the genre that act? Find them – look at the trailers and clips – is there a theme/content/style that is relevant to the genre?
Where are fans of the this genre represented on TV and film? (for instance, the main characters of Juno all like folky-indie stuff, is there film where they all are like R’n’B or Britpop or Pop Punk)? What do they look like? What are the stories about?
Tips: look for the key artists on imdb.com where do they show up? Is this any use? Is the film influenced by the style of music? Is it a mainstream film? Is the film designed to attract fans of the genre?
RADIO AND TV STATIONS
If you want to hear the genre of music, where do you go? Where is it visible? Are there key radio shows or stations, or TV channels? If so look them up – how are they marketed? What images/fonts/iconography are used? What colours? What sounds? What references?
Who are the key personalities promoting this music? How do they represent themselves? What interests do they have?
MAGAZINES & FANZINES
Where do you read about this genre or find out about new artists?
Tips: look for links off fansites? Type in specific searches in google – search creatively.
CLUB NIGHTS & GIGS
Are there key (or even local) club nights that play this music? How are they marketed? What are the called? What sort of venue do they use? What sort of people go? What sort of stuff do they wear/drink/talk about?
Are there key festivals? How are they promoted?
Tips: Look for official sites – take screen shots of the web pages – look at the images and the set lists.
LABELS
Are there key brands associated with the genre? Clothes, shoes, drinks, snacks, hair products, hats, anything?
ACTIVITIES & LIFESTYLE
Is the genre all about good living? Partying? Being political? Angst? Productive? Silly? Creative? Being active? Being rich? Being poor? Being angry? (A lot this can be seen in the videos)
TECHNOLOGIES
Are there key technologies – either in the music (electronic instruments – think autotune for current r’n’b and pop) or related to the lifestyle.
Tips: Read reviews about music, look for tutorials about how to replicate the sound, look at the videos and at the mise-en-scene.)
To produce a good, well-rounded blog you MUST have thorough Target Audience research.
This is important for the following reasons:
- One of the evaluations question is around audience feedback
- Having an strong idea of who your target audience is will help in terms of creative process in the construction of the video: references, intertextuality, style, fashion etc.
- You can gauge whether you meeting audiences expectations or not.
1. Ideal audience type
From research into the genre of your music choice you should have an idea of your perfect audience type will be – in terms of what they wear, what media they consume, festival, radio, technology etc.
Using this create a visual depiction of you ideal target audience. Use Photoshop if you’re comfortable with it or Prezi.
A that will help you understand different demographics and audience types is this:
http://www.uktribes.com/
To access the site fully you will need the following password: Qspfntut
If you use this take screenshots of the part of the site you used.
Tag all your genre research posts and hyperlink them to this blog post pointing the moderator to where this information has come from.
FOR EXAMPLE
Identify the music genre of the track that you have chosen for your music video.
Next research into similar bands – look on wikipedia for associated acts, looks on the record label for institutional info, use Spotify and Last FM for recommendations, reviews for mentions of similar acts.
Make a list of bands that are similar:
Look at the videos of these bands and try to identify patterns and similarities in terms of the following:
REMEMBER TO EMBED VIDEOS AND TAKE THE NECESSARY SCREENSHOTS TO BACK UP YOUR POINTS
Use this table (download, make your own, or ask me for the original) and, as a team, decide on who is going to take on the specific role.
There are five roles so you will have to have one person taking on multiple roles.