Audience Research- Fonts

To help me decide between two different fonts for the Magazine Advert and Digipak, I asked a selection of people which they preferred from these:

7 people said they preferred the top font and 9 people said they preferred the bottom font. I did the fonts on both black and white as I still was not sure what colour I will be doing the background. 

The results of this short questionnaire have helped me with choosing the font I will be going to use.

Magazine Advert Mock up 2

I created a digital version of my magazine mock up, so I could try out different fonts and styles to see what would look good.

Storyboard

Costume Planning

Brainstorming

Treatment

The main idea for my video is that the female in a couple has died, leaving her male partner behind.the video will follow him as he grieves and most importantly tries to move on. He spends time looking through memories of them together. He collects these objects up, from a variety of places and takes them to the living room floor, spreading them out. We watch him as time passes and he just sits there, looking at all the memories they shared together along with other random objects. (There will be multiple jump cuts, showing the passage of time both whilst he's placing the objects and whilst he's admiring them. This idea was taken from 'For Mayor in Splitsville' by the same band)
We then cut to the next day, where he is moving everything to another room, mindlessly, only to realise he's created a memorial to his late partner. (I will use jump cuts to show him both moving the objects from one room to another and adding stuff to create a memorial, once again to show the passage of time) Realising this, he feels embarrassed about it an decides to pack it up, in case anybody sees it, or as the song implies, to avoid the memories of better times they shared together.
He starts to pack things in boxes and thinks about what to do with them, whether to throw them away or to pack them into the loft and hide them away. (I will shoot clips of both of these 'decisions')
(Whilst he is packing stuff up, there will be close ups of seemingly random objects that he is packing away)
He then goes around the house, picking up objects that take him back to memories they shared, such as holidays together. He then adds these to the boxes of other stuff.
(Here is where I will add the photos from London, taking him into video 'memories' of their holiday there.)


[Possibly adding in, possibly not depending on if we can find a suitable location]
Between the memorial and the packing up, the song mentions a memory of passing a graveyard. I would like to get some shots of the 'couple' walking through a graveyard to add in where the song mentions one as I feel it would add a more obvious 'death' feel to the video.
If possible, I would also like to get a close up of a recent grave of a female, fitting the age bracket, to add to the end of the video. Though I know the chances of finding this are slim to none.

Actor/ Performer Decision

When I first mentioned the task of doing a music video, my brother immediately volunteered himself to be in it. Since he has been in music videos before (People's from previous years) and since I had used him in my Thriller video from last year, I decided that it would be easy to work with him as he has had experience doing this sort of thing and I knew his strengths and weaknesses when it comes to acting.
My brother is a musician, making him an easy choice to be in the band. I've decided to use him as the main male actor because it is much easier to work with somebody you know well rather than a stranger. I also decided to use my brother as I knew which band I wanted to do, and the band is fronted by a male, meaning I could use my brother for either role (Singer/ actor) or for both.

For the other members, I decided to use some of my brothers friends as they are also all musicians and have there own instruments. Also since they all live in the same house, it would make getting them together and filming the video, much easier. The look of the band is easy to manipulate as all they will have to do is wear casual clothing that is fairly 'hipstery'. This means that the look of the people themselves is not important as they don't need to suit a particular genre.

I decided I wanted to use a female in the performance too as I knew it would add a bit more realism/ depth to the video. I wanted to make her as a 'memory' walking around the house but not quite there. I will be able to make this effect in editing.
Once again, the female I will be using is one of my brothers friends. This works well as they are of a similar age, making the 'relationship' more believable. Also it means that I won't have to get somebody to come up with me to my brothers house in Leeds, as she will already be near there.

Props Preparation

For my video, I will need to make a 'memorial' of random objects/ mementos. To do this, I will be using random objects that I can find around my brothers house, as well as taking a few extra things up, such as ticket stubs, old books, postcards, letters etc. that suit the theme of the song.
I will also be taking some photos of 'memories' in London to add to the memorial. When the actor picks these 'memories' up, I will cut clips in, that I shot at the same time as the photos. This will make the video seem more realistic than if there was just a random selection of objects.
I will also be using some boxes to 'pack'  the memorial away, as mentioned in the song.

The only other props I will be using will be things from around the house (Sofas, tables etc.) And instruments for the performance. Since all the actors I will be using are actually musicians, they will already have the instruments with them, meaning I won't need to borrow any to take up.

Risk Assessment

Since I will be shooting most of the video in a house, with natural lighting, there are not many risks to it.
When I shoot things in London, I will have to be aware of risks when shooting in a busy place as I may be in the way etc. But I will just have to be aware of my surroundings whilst I am doing this. I should also be aware of the risk of getting my phone (Which I will using to record whilst there) stolen. This will mean that I loose my footage. To avoid this, I will keep my phone at the bottom of my bag and on my at all times. This should help to reduce the risk of it getting stolen.

Shooting Scedule

I will be going to my brother's house from 3rd - 5th October to shoot the video.
I don't know at what time I will be shooting each individual sequence but the separate shots I will need to do will be:

A master shot of a 'performance'
Close ups of people playing instruments/ singing (to cut in at random parts)
Narrative shots
- Living room narrative of male
- Living room shot of female to overlay in editing
- Hallways narrative (Moving objects)
- Dining room/ kitchen table
- Shots of the 'memorial'
- Boxing up said memorial
- Random shots of the house (Empty of people)


I will also be going to London to shoot some of the clips I need. These will be inserted randomly throughout the video and I do not need the actors/ band to be in them.
I will need shots of 'memories' in London (Including the London Eye, Big Ben/ Parliament etc.)
     I will also need printed photos of these places to use for props. (Or postcards of the places)

Track

The track I have chosen to use is 'Objects in Space' by La Dispute. This is from the album 'Rooms of the House'. The song was written about somebody moving on. La Dispute did an interview where they discussed the theme of the album and what the songs were written about.
One reason I chose this song is because there is a simple backing track, it makes it much easier to record a 'performance' than if there was a more complicated one. This is because a complicated track would make it much harder for people to act like they are playing the song, than having a simple, repeated beat to follow.
Another reason is because the song and the lyrics have a pretty obvious narrative that would be easy to create, but they are also very open to interpretation, meaning I could put my own spin on the song and really make it my own. It also means I'm not bound by specific ideas making it hard to create a narrative video. (Eg. talking about the seaside would make it hard to film as I'd have to travel there with everyone to film it.)

Lyrics for 'Objects in Space'

Yesterday alone I laid everything out on the carpet
Books, kitchen things, objects with specific purpose or none
Arranged them sideways in a grid on the floor there unmoored
Out of context and then considered it
First the whole picture, then everything individually
Humming along at the deadest pace imaginable
One object then another and then the next
And I wondered what they meant there
If they meant anything still

Found notes
Camping supplies
A book you bought in the desert
“Identifying Wildflowers”
Pictures from vacations
From parties
Kitschy gifts we bought from rest stops
On that road trip out West
Objects
Everything itself
And then memory

All of it laid out there
From the dining room
The living room
The hallway and the basement and the kitchen
From that room we called the office
But never used
Even the bathroom
Everything laid out there on the floor on the carpet out of context

And I sat there for hours

Today I moved everything from the floor to the table in the dining room
Placed each thing carefully without reason or at least without one I understood or could describe
There on the table together and when I was done and stepped back I realized what I had made
Keepsakes Pictures Letters Ordinary objects all collected there

A memorial

And I thought of ones on highways or set by gravestones
All the things you see there but don’t understand but still bring a remembered thing back vividly
Invoke someone’s reality when there together in that place in that way out of context
And I knew I had to take it down before anybody else saw
Tomorrow I plan to put them all somewhere
Those things
In boxes
Side of the road
Attic maybe
All these things that push and pull me through history
To places I once was, places I might’ve gone, places I ended up going

Postcards
Ticket stubs from one thing or another
A personalized coffee mug neither your name nor mine
Phone cards and old phones
A page from an old calendar I bought once at a thrift store and insisted on hanging
That cycles of the moon print
Photos
Old boots of mine

Put them in boxes

And I sat there for hours
In the living room first
Then in the dining room
Moving things around
Picking things up and seeing where they took me
To what place in history
What moment on our timeline
Where we were, where I was, where I thought we’d end up
In this house or on the highway
Driving somewhere near Christmas
In the desert or anywhere else

And I put them in boxes

Permission

The location I will be using for filming will be my brothers house. My brother has given me permission to film there, as have his room mates. We will not be going outside of filming anywhere else around there so extra permission is not necessary.
The actors I will be using are friends of my brothers who volunteered to be in the video, thus giving me permission to use them in it.

I plan to film some clips of 'touristy' places in London to use in the video. I will try and avoid filming people's faces, in order to avoid any problems this may cause.

Magazine Advert Mock Up

I took the idea for my magazine advert from the Mumford and Sons advert I looked at. I liked the idea of having multiple pictures on the advert, with different members in each picture. Since the album is called 'Rooms of the House' I decided that I could show the different members in different areas of the house. It also ties in well with the music video I will be doing (Though not directly)

I also liked the layout of the Mumford and Sons advert, making it very easy to read and quickly get the information from. I brought this idea into my own mock up.

I haven't decided the font for the advert yet as I need to choose one that suits the pictures, therefore I left the information in plain block capitals.

The logo underneath the picture is the logo of the band themselves. although it won't add to my marks for my advert, I thought it looked nice and helped to tie the band to the album more.

The record labels at the bottom are ones the ones that the album has been released on. Most of the adverts I've seen had logos from the record label.

This is just a rough sketch of my idea and there are some bits I didn't properly remove, so I will do a more accurate mock up after I have seen the photos I will be using for it.

This is the questionnaire I created for my Audience Research on Survey Monkey.

Audience Research

*

1. What is your age?

What is your age?  16 or younger 15-17 18-20 21-30 31-40 41-60 61 or older

*

2. Are you male or female?

Are you male or female?  Male Female

*

3. How often do you watch music videos?

How often do you watch music videos?  Extremely often Very often Moderately often Slightly often Not at all often Never

*

4. What of these genres do you reguarly listen to?

What of these genres do you reguarly listen to?  Pop Rock Spoken Word Alternative Indie Hip Hop Country Electro

Other (please specify)

*

5. How important do you think costume is in a music video?

How important do you think costume is in a music video?  Most important thing Fairly important Not very important Not important at all I don't know

*

6. What type of music video do you prefer?

What type of music video do you prefer?  Only narrative (Only a story) Only performance Mixture of the two

7. What type of narrative do you prefer in a music video?

What type of narrative do youpreferin a music video?  Illustration (illustrating the meaning of lyrics and genre, providing a sometimes over literal set of images) Amplification (retain a link with the song and work to enhance or develop ideas, rather than fundamentally changing them) Disjuncture (ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings)

*

8. Have you heard of the band La Dispute?

Have you heard of the band La Dispute?  Yes- heard of and listen reguarly to Yes- heard of and listened to before Yes- heard of but never listened to No

9. What ideas does this song give you for a music video?

What ideas does thissong give you for a music video?

*

10. Do you think this is a good idea for a music video? What additions/ improvements would you make?

Do you think thisis a good idea for a music video? What additions/ improvements would you make?

For Question 9, there was a link to the song I'll be doing, 'Objects in Space' by La Dispute
Question 10 had a link to my treatment, so I could get some feedback on the idea that I had.

The website I used creates graphs from the results I get. These are the results:

Some of the answers I received have been helpful in adjusting the video I am going to do. The comments I got, particularly on my treatment, although brief, have helped change some of my ideas and have helped me to think more about how I'm going to link the story and the song.

Digipak Mock Up

I first drew out my idea for my Digipak on paper so I had an idea of what I wanted. I left blank slots where the pictures are going to be as I'm not sure of how I am set the band out in them. I also left blank the places where I will be putting reviews of the album and lyrics to the songs as these will be fitted around the pictures on the album, which I do not yet have.





I also decided to make a basic mock up of the ideas I have so far, on Photoshop. This helped me to get more of an idea of what I would be able to do when it comes round to making the final digipak.
The blank slots are where pictures of the 'band' are going to be and there is a cut-out in one of the flaps, to make a wallet for a booklet to be placed.

I had a look at some fonts online and found one that I thought would suit the band. I think it looks good for the album title and the band name, however I do not think it works well for the track list. Therefore I am going to look for some more fonts that would be suitable for the tracks, but will keep the font I already have for the album title and band name.