After commencing with the sourcing of our costumes we started gathering pictures of the exact items being used and so we could check them off our list .

After starting to gather and source our props / costume items for the video, we have decided to change the decision of a plain white long-line t-shirt , for a white levi's t shirt, this is because it will be easier for us to source (not having to go out and purchase) meaning filming can commence sooner, as we would either have to go out and buy the shirt  , or wait for delivery, adding further complication to the project and taking the scheduling out of our hands is not something we want to do.

We also had considered changing for popular indie brand "stussy" shown below :
however the same issues arose, as we would have to pay €30 plus international delivery for the item , and then need to consider how much time will be lost waiting for the item.

After Choosing our name for our band, the next objective in terms of creating our artists identity was to come up with the iconic font/logo to represent our band. This was following on from the research we did on how existing bands like the fray/Bastille use their iconic logo/font as almost a trademark for their brand that fans can easily recognise.

For the Project, one of the elements we have to produce, is a digital package, with album cover art etc. Taking this into account we felt it was a good idea to research album covers within our genre. 

We have been trying to narrow down our target audience, we have had numerous discussions, we have come up with a broad age range that we are likely to target and that is 15-25. This is because we believe that this age group will be more involved with the struggles of relationships and jealousy, while also being old enough for us to create a complex narrative for the video.

For our main task I have been trying to find potential locations for the video, so far the search has been fruitless but I have come up with a list of locations for consideration, they are;

London - Camden, Leicester Square ect...
Cambridge - City center
Chelmsford - City center

We also have come up with a list of sub locations that will not be key to the main task, they are;

Living room
Kitchen
Street
Bedroom

These will hopefully allow us to create a powerful music video to the song we have chosen

In a recent audience feedback session we were discussing potential artists names, the two names were Neon Island and Liquid Noir. 

Green screen's are an important part of music videos as they provide a way to add special effects that might not be able  to achieve without, for example having footage of a car going down the road but not having the time or budget to be able to actually film in the road.

One idea we have come up with for the main task is to have the main character pose in the same position in different locations, this process is called stop motion and if we do this we feel like it will be effective because it will show off a very difficult technique that will prove to aid our final product be the best it can be.

The narrative of a music video is vital in creating a memorable video, to create a video that sticks into the audiences mind there are numerous ways to go about it;

This post is Continuing from the last post on costume for the micro element of mise en scene, this time focusing on the 1975.

While deciding on costuming for our video, we decided it was a good idea to research similar artists and the use of costuming within our genre. 

We also have at least one girl in our video; playing possibly the girl that the main character is thinking about, and with the scenes with both of them in.

Another location to consider , was for a field / desolate location.

After deciding on the base look for our artist , we also need to think about other characters in our video and what they will be wearing , as well as the costume for the artists costume change.

For our video , we are planning to film in multiple locations , they have to be fairly diverse and odd , so we will need to plan carefully.

For our artist , we want to stick very traditional with the indie look in terms of costume.  However we would be using many different costumes throughout the video due to the narrative we have chosen. However we feel it is a strong idea to come up with a base costume to return to between shots where his costume is changed for narrative purposes.

After all agreeing on the look we were searching for with our font/logo , we decided to begin searching for fonts.
"Neon lights" was a more retro choice  for the font , however we felt it may be too arcade like for our identity .
"Prisma", was our next discovery: we like the disco element for this font as it fits the "neon" element well, is easy to read and stands out well.
"Akka" is similar to the previous font "prisma" however uses the curves found in other fonts instead of sharp lines.

One scene we think would work particularly well at demonstrating the oddness of the things happening , as well as the fact the actor seems completely oblivious to everything around him , is while he is sitting on a bench singing to the camera , someone is either cutting his hair , or radically changing the actors hair seemingly without him noticing. 

When we were tasked with starting to plan our video , we at first were not sure where to start, coming up with an overall idea; of having the actor almost suspended in the video , with the location changing around him , and different random and wacky things happening to him while he is locked into the camera signing the song . This idea relates both to how a large part of indie videos is the odd things happening that aren't always explained, as well as the link to the lyrics and how he is fixated thinking about an unnamed girl . oblivious to the things happening to him/ around him , will represent the fixation on this girl , who we presume he will be singing to through the camera , however as the lyrics use "thinking about you" we can use his signing to the camera as him singing to the audience, that he is thinking about them; creating a parasocial relationship between the artist and the audience . 

Due to the slow start , and the range of different things that happens to the character , we feel that a more "out there" and abrupt ending would be better , as a slow drawn out ending wouldn't suit our video. 

At the start of the song , there is only guitar for a fair amount of time , and when the artist does start signing , it is quiet and slow, and there is no backing best yet. So we felt it would be best to start the video with a calm or slow start, as we planned to move into the more wacky part of the video when the main backing kicks in . 

As previously mentioned, for our project, we have to create a new Identity for our chosen artist. One part of this includes coming up with a new branding/name for the artist.

To start this process we wanted to look at the examples of existing bands/artists in our genre, and the reasons behind their names, however we quickly discovered that this was a difficult task, as short of asking the artist themselves, there was never an obvious reason or meaning behind the name that relates to the music. Instead the name, instead of being meaningful, or have a deeper relation with the music; the name was the ionic branding for the artist, setting their identity in stone. The name gives them something to work around when creating the identity, for example "the 1975"s name lends itself well to their black and white social media persona, however the lyrics and the music itself is not directly related, but the name gives them the identity.

The name isn't necessarily a part of the identity, but more of the base of it, that helps bring the whole artist image together.

To come up with an identity for our own artist, we began by brainstorming and coming up with lots of names to put on a shortlist to present to a group and ask their opinions. Some inspiration came from other band names and the way they were structured, the weirdest product of which was "Vietnamese ice-cream truck" ; loosely resembling two door cinema club.

We took our list and presented them to a group, and voice recorded the feedback on the ideas:

After delving into researching similar artists and their album covers in my previous artwork post, We decided to look at the existing cover for the artist we are using. As mentioned in the previous post , it is a strong concept to stick to the ideals of our artist , as the cover work needs to reflect their image and values, as not to alienate the fans. However for our project we are giving the artist their own identity that we need to justify and represent across all of the project, from the digipack to the video itself

For our chosen artist "sticky fingers" : uses the artwork shown below.












This cover is very abstract and wild, which can relate and tie into the themes shown in many videos of our chosen genre , however we feel we need to find the suitable new name for our artist before we decide on what theme to follow with the cover, as the identity (including the name) and the values of the artist play a large role in determining what their album covers contain.

HTTPS://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VDSXPDH

We have decided as a group to create a basic survey on surveymonkey, this will act as audience research because our questions aim to use fans of our target genre to gain third party opinions on decisions about our videos narrative: