Friday client meeting - with Colin

Today:

• Slushy unable to join us due to work commitments
• Colin and I spent the evening discussing and listening to Slushy's tune
• Aim: to acquire a track suited for music video production; along the lines of pop, happy/light mood, 'bubblegum', fun and bouncy
• PROBLEM is where to go next, see option further down v

Musical options from Slushy

Initial thoughts were that Slushy's two tracks were impressive, had massive potential, and could also do with further development.

Track 1 is really punchy - it is a really great idea but it is too intense for what I am looking for (I don't feel I'll be able to produce a video for it).

Track 2 is jazzy and groovy. It is upbeat and accessible but might be a bit too slow/soft; Colin suggests transforming into drum and bass for a different effect to weigh out the mood of the tune. Apart from lacking a poppy, bubble gum tone which we all agreed to aim for, it is a good track.

Discussions

We discussed representation in music videos again because it is particularly important in my project as I want to portray my music video in good light so that my artists are positively associated with it, and they get what they want out of it. For example, there is no use making a video about a female rapper when both of my clients produce a completely different type of music:

It has to be relevant for their target audience in some way, shape or form (this is where my Research section comes in well).

We discussed how videos make people feel; the focus of the topic being gratification - specifically in which the way a music video with crowds of people enjoying the music of the artist makes viewers feel engaged and involved in this popular focus.

We also spent time discussing how music is empowering to the core, how it helps memory, evokes emotions, what it makes us think about, and how it allows human beings to marvel at the natural world.

Options

Neither track was quite what I am looking for to develop for an ideal music video shoot (Problem encountered) so I have thought up three options to make the next moves:

1. I stop being picky and accept a track, immediately starting work on music video planning, even though the tracks haven't evoked very strong ideas so far
2. I press on with the tracks that we have, continuing the original plan which is for the two artists to finalise a track together by their own means and incomplete ideas, with myself as the project overseer.
3. I discuss with the artists about ideas, themes and unique selling points that I can display visually in my footage, and start working towards a shoot without the music, so that they can create the music for my footage (the opposite way round to my plan).

WHAT TO DO?

Option one appears to be the most logical, as it requires the artists to only do some touch ups on the selected track and finalise it for me; but I personally don't feel they are quite what I want as I haven't felt they strongly evoke any video ideas. Yet.

Option two is risky because it requires more time and this means the project will more than likely over run - bear in mind I am already half way through the Pre-production stage - but it means that I will probably get a better outcome on the musical side.

Option three seems to be some form of a compromise between the options because it means I can get straight on with focusing on the video (the next step) which is important.

I need to have a think about these options, so I will come back to them next time.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 4 hours

Brief client meeting and recap

Affairs:

• 30 mins spent going over the Research section to correct any mistakes and finalise details
• 30 mins spent on developing and creating a more detailed 'Time keeping' post
• Spent a couple of hours with DJ Play, general music discussion (waiting for Slushy response about next meeting etc)
• Next meeting hopefully this Friday 28th

Problem: I have noticed that when I view my blog, parts of it in subtly different formats have altered the text's appearance, so it is not consistent (some areas are different coloured or sized text). In order to fix this I will have to spend time reformatting it, or somehow retyping it. I plan to combat this problem at a later date, towards the end of this project, where I have time to review my work. In the mean time I will keep an eye out to make sure I do not upset any more of the text formatting (inserting text/links etc.).

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 3hrs

First client/artist meeting

Affair:

• Initial meeting with clients/artists

This evening we had all met up and had a music video discussion, main points on our agenda (with Slushy + DJ Play/Colin) are as follows:

• Artist are keen on producing a track specifically for my task; for that reason, I have requested that, instead of starting from scratch, they use their individual incomplete track ideas to be remixed by each other so that they can work to the deadline without it being impossible to achieve a full track in time
• My role is the project manager/overseer
• As Colin has many more years of experience in sound engineering he has agreed to allow Slushy the majority of creative input, so Colin's role will focus more on the final production and quality of the track
• Deadline for tune (started by 28th Nov and must have a finalised structure by end of pre-production, which is the 12th Dec)
• Expectations if the tunes needs more work: clients must decide on solid a structure to build video ideas around so that there is a clear idea for the shoot
• Discussion of the audio files and formats; how artists will share their files to produce the track most efficiently
• Artists share their views and their sounds/music; showing how they use techniques and make sounds on FL studio, hearing Slushy's music on Soundcloud and Colin's on his laptop
• Discussing mood, theme and tone of the tune to be put together. 
• Ideas about shooting, and (very important) how we all want to represent ourselves as artists
• How clients will benefit from this project

Next time on our agenda:

• Tune needs to be developed
• Solidify ideas for a video

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 3 hrs

Clients and meetings

Tasks:

• Choose my local artist (my client!) and get in contact with them
• Arrange a meeting

Today I have got into contact with the two artists I wish to use: they are Slushy and DJ Play (Colin G Chalkley). I know them as they are local.

They wish to combine ideas, collaborating to make an ideal track for this project - I am very pleased!

I have also expressed that there is a time limit, and we are pushed for time as this section is just four weeks long, and that includes all pre-production aspects (which means the track needs to be complete with an idea and story board all ready to go!).

Presented with this task, they have enthusiastically agreed.

Our meeting will be at the end of this week.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 2 hrs

Pre-Production timetable version 1

Pre-production consists of preparation for the music video shoot. I have from 14th Nov to the 12th Dec - 4 weeks, 20 hours, excluding the first date which is a switch between the two sections.

November 2014

14th - Start of Pre-Production and finalisation of Research (the survey!)

• Make this plan and type it up on blog
• Remake my survey on another site to finish the Research section completely

18th - Choose my local artist (my client!) and get in contact with them

• Arrange meeting

21st - Initial meeting with clients/artists

25th - Meeting with clients throughout the week for ideas and sounds

28th - Ideally clients tune ideas will be established

• Pitching a vague premise based on mood and discussing ideas
• Start story boarding where possible

December 2014

2nd - (Milestone One,1st December) Client's tune should start to take shape

• Developing premise further
• Ideally begin story boarding and shot list

5th - Tune should have taken shape, ready for ideas of video to be built around

• Story board and shot list development
• Recruiting actors/crew if necessary
• Finding locations

9th -Complete detailed story board and shot list

• Suggestion of dates and times for the shoot, tell crew/actors
• General final preparations

12th - Final allocated slot for pre-production

• Last minute preparations ready for first shoot

Start of Pre-Production and finalisation of the Research section

Tasks:

• Make plan for this new section
• Remake my survey on another site to finish the Research section completely

PROBLEM CONTINUES: Last time I gave up on SurveyMonkey, because it limited what I could do with my survey and did not allow me to complete it. 

This time, I spent a while trying to find a different site. I chose two new sites; kwiksurveys and freeonlinesurveys. Looking for something better than my previous experience, where its features would all be free, I was dissapointed yet again.

Both of these sites, although they did not appear to before I signed up, limited features I wanted to use and asked for money to continue use.

Outraged at this, I attempted to cancel my useless survey making accounts. Only 2/3 were deleted.

SurveyMonkey, as I found out via Google, will not give you any way to officially delete your account unless you formally request it in an email.

I have unlinked my Google plus account from the site and sent an email.

BUT - I found hope. A friend suggested Google forms, and, as a last resort, I tried it. It worked! Horah! Here is the link:

http://goo.gl/forms/fZbE9gZ8TA

I have recieved 20 responses so far, and I am please with this outcome.

There are 17 general questions to get people thinking about music videos, and to give me some insight into what their views are about them. I shared the 'form' over Facebook, so the participants consist mainly of family and friends, and friends of friends, since I was lucky enough to get a few shares.

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 2 hrs

Visit to Cambridge Libraries

11th - Visit Cambridge Libraries, from 10:30 to 13:00

• Go to Cambridge Libraries to obtain interesting quotes to add to Genre and Representation investigations
• Update my blog entries with the information, and also with responses to primary research

Problem: Arriving at 10:30 on the dot, and departing after 11, my trip to the library was, surprisingly, unsuccessful. I asked at the help desk on the main floor and on the top floor in the BFI section if they had any books relating to media, music video production or similar. The one and only book they were meant to have which was relevant wasn't available. Leaving town, I went back to the LRC at college and found more than 10 books relevant to my chosen area of study. I couldn't help but take more notes than probably necessary, since what I read is of such interest.

This is what I found;

Topic: Representation, author's view on music videos, influence of music videos

Book: Music & Youth Culture (2006)

Author: Dan Laughey

Quotes: 

Page 48, "[...] the homologous bodily manifestations of Jonathon Epstein's (1998) crudely labelled Generation X are couched in the same characteristics and manifestations of subcultural style - tattoos, body piercing, grunge music, drug use, long 'punk' hairstyles - without detailing any differential permutations in the deployment of these characteristics beyond their media-generated stereotypes."

Notes: Example of how negative representation leads to bad assumptions and stereotyping. Limiting people's perception of somebody dressed similarly because of the assumptions made about that group.

Page 93, "MTV [...] subtly targets music videos - which function as low art forms like advertisement - that pastiche forms of high art such as film noir to youth audiences who are required to acquire skills in detecting these intertextual moments. (1991:69)"

Notes: This clearly states Laughey's view of music videos; that they lack in skill and borrow from more skilled art forms.

Page 116, touches on the "complexities of audience reception," mentioning Katz et al. 1974 'uses and gratifications' theory, and Halls 1992 'encoding and decoding'.

Page 187, "Radically contextual narratives on music media influences only occasionally include persona declarations of being influenced by global cultural practices. [...] Perceptions of media influence on the clothing fashions of other youth practitioners also articulate a sense of radical contextualism [...] Amy  remembered the reaction to Geri Halliwell's public appearance dressed in a butterfly top: 'every shop started selling it[...]"
Notes: This is an example of how the media, influences people. It can be applied to music videos too.

Topic: Genre

Book: Media & Film Studies handbook (2007)

Author: V.Clark, P.Jones, B.Malyszko, D.Wharton

Quotes:

Page 88, "a genre is a loose category or classification of media product (e.g. tabloid newspaper, soap opera, science fiction film). Classification into one genre or another is governed by codes and conventions, and each has its own more or less obvious iconography. The codes and conventions of a genre refer both to the cultural signals contained in the text, and to the ways in which the text's content is presented."

Page 89, "[Genre] helps audiences know in advance what to expect of the product, and many become fans of certain genres; for producers, genre helps to make clear what is being proposed when they are pitching ideas for new products. Conversely, a media product that does not fall into a clear genre, and is therefore more challenging to describe, may be less successful than one that does."

Page 189, "...the people involved in making the representation (the writers, the presenters or actors, the editors) are all governed by their ow beliefs, values and attitudes. This means that no representation in the media is ever objective. Most media products tend to reproduce dominant ideologies in the way that they represent the world. This has led many minorities to complain that they are misrepresented in media texts."
Notes: Representation.

Page 140, "a visual rendition of a piece of music [...] made as a means of promoting it to the public. As such, music videos are a subgenre of the TV advertisement, and hence a very cheap form of programming, since royalties do not have to be paid. Music videos became widespread in the 1980s around the birth of MTV [...] The modern era of music video began with Qyeen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1957) and the Buggles' Video Killed the Radio Star, the first song to feature on MTV at its launch in 1981."

Page 141-2, "narrative: a story, whether factual of fictional. Narrative is a macro element in any film, which can only be understood by looking at the film as a whole." Then mentions; Vladmir Propp, Claude Levi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov, David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Robert McKee, and Christopher Vogler.

Topic: Purpose of music videos

Book: Make your own music video (2004)

Author: Ed Gaskell 

Quotes: 

Page 8, "The fact is that music has always been used to sell visuals, and now the visuals sell the music."

"They create word of mouth and tabloid headlines, they give a band a personality [...] Most of all, they get musicians and bands remembered."

TOTAL TIME SPENT: 3 hrs (half at the Library and LRC, half typing up).