Liam Croft-Evaluation

1. Our song for Media was what is classed at typical Punk-Ska music which drew us to the song in the first place. The song is a fast paced, bouncy fun song that reflects on the childhood of the band and the crew they used to be a part of, the B.P.C. With this in mind we knew our video had to match the songs style and therefore used a lot of fast paced shots with visuals that corresponded to the lyrics of the song to help the video and the track compliment each other and really show we’ve thought about way they connect with each other. We wanted to make our video unique and challenge the conventions of what you’d normally find in a video. The typical punk attitude is care-free, have a good time, do what you feel like doing state of mind, and with the song demonstrating this our visuals had to also show that we didn’t care we people thought of us, we wanted to go out with our mates, have a good time, and as long as we were having fun, didn’t care what people thought of us. Our main inspiration was the video ‘What’s my age again’ by Blink 182 where they run down the street naked in a casual, careless manner as well as searching for old punk bands videos and The Filaments current videos and other tracks by them, this way we could get a feel for what kind of work they produce and we could learn more about the band. However this song was quite a medium paced and slow video compared to our song by the Filaments. So we again started searching YouTube for more inspiration, and started to come across home made jackass and pranks. These kind of videos mixed with the naked run of Blink 182 would give us enough footage to match the pace of the song and help show what the song was talking about. The lyrics to the song mentioned all the stupid stuff they did when they were younger and the activities they got up too to pass time, so with inspiration such as pranks and jackass we could relate to these lyrics.. We planned locations and costumes based on the online hit ‘Devvo’ who is seen as a grubby, chavy, council estate prowling yob, so we search for places that bands wouldn’t normally shoot in. Bands often want to show the glamorous style of their lives where as we wanted to show that this band was different, that we could have fun making due with what we had, therefore all of our locations were places we came across with people carrying on with their normal lives and leaving everything as natural as we found it. This again would help relate lyrics to visuals. Conventions of punk are usually a lot more grown up and wild than our video portrays, but this was our intentions to do childish things and just record us genuinely being us because we knew that the more natural the footage looked, the more people could relate to the song. We didn’t just match lyrics to visuals however. We also have a number of shots where music matches the visuals, for example in the instrumental breakdown there are a number of obvious, louder beats where we put footage that has something happening on the same point of the loud beat as well as using other beats and lyrics to switch to another shot that help carry the pace of the song. Finally our performance wasn’t similar to other music videos with performance in it as we did all of our lip syncing directly into the camera at a variety of locations that we shot other footage at. The way we switched between performance and our footage of general happenings helped so that footage didn’t drag on. The naked run carries on for the entire video however all together there is about 30 seconds of it on screen because of the way we wanted to keep the pace up and not bore our audience. We also looked at The Filaments current album covers for our research to look at how they attracted their audience as well as what kind of image they liked to show themselves as and how much what was on the cover related to their tracks and videos.

2. We began making our digipak and magazine advert with the intention of putting something in it that relates to our video and shows something that makes the audience notice just from that that we had a different, unique sounding song with a video to match. Our video and track showed the main conventions of punk but mixed in with a lot of fun, childish behavior, so we thought that with these two products to make we should extract one side to each one. The magazine advert showing our fun side of the video and the digipak cover showing the punk side of it, which then come together to create our music video with feel we wanted it to have. Our magazine cover was based on Annie Lebovitz’s famous Rolling Stone cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono which was taken to show the relationship of the couple, with John Lennon naked clinging on to Yoko. When people see this image the get a lot of emotion come over them as it was taken just 5 hour before John was murdered, however if you switch the role of John and Yoko to us in man thongs and golden masks, you get the same intriguing feels across you but in a much more enjoyable way. It shows that we’re the band that dare to do, that want to make people smile. Our digipak was then focused on showing the punk side of the video. We took an original photo of us in the thongs and hockey masks out on the street however blurred it and put a more focused image on to the screen of a camera phone that was in front of us and the camera. This way it showed that people thought we might be interesting, that people want to see us again by the fact they’re taking photographs. On the back of the cover was a variety of screen shots that we thought weren’t worthy of putting in the video however did show the amount of different locations, costumes and ideas we had to represent to video we intended to make. The images are put into Polaroid form then scattered across a screen shot of a dirty cement floor to show the griminess and low-life feel we wanted the audience to have come across them. We wanted to use shock factor mainly so that the image we produced stuck in the head of the audience and so that when they saw that image, they’d remember our unique video and remember what we were all about. With these two products advertising the video they catch the eye of the viewer and make them want to see more of it, which the actual video gives plenty of.

3. From our rough cut audience feedback we found that our product didn’t actually match the intensions we had for our video. We managed to get good shots however a lot of people said that the pace of the song was much higher than pace of the video. We knew a lot of our shots dragged on and towards the rough cut deadline we began filming in locations not suited to the punk genre and shots that didn’t follow suit of any of our other footage. So from this feedback we gathered discussed together the shots we knew were too long and the shots that didn’t match our intended genre and replace them with something that was a lot better than what we had. Our main problem was the performance side of our video. The song itself is more rapping than singing so it was fairly difficult to get lip syncing in time with the track and the way we shot it with angles and backgrounds was poor compared to what we knew we could do. So we went back out and carefully chose the location and outfit for the 3 sections of performance we needed to improve. We also changed the angle a lot and tried to keep it varied throughout the entire video, so after receiving the feedback we began using low shots, mid shots, panning shots and close ups for the performance which ended up looking really good and the fact there was variety helped to keep the same interesting feel throughout the song. Another negative comment we received was that some of the video was good, random, feel-good footage that we wanted, however that dies out in parts bringing the pace and feeling down. So we thought that if they wanted random footage, instead of planning and filming shots, we would plan shots, but keep recording footage during the time we weren’t shooting an intentional shot. This way we had a lot of footage that wasn’t intended and that was just us genuinely doing stuff when looking for a new location or moving to the next shot. We had a lot of footage that we knew we couldn’t use however we did have a lot that was naturally us messing around as well as shots that could be used during the instrumental to fit with beats or to fit with shouts and lyrics. However we also received plenty of positive feedback from our group, a lot of it complementing the video in ways we intended it to be complimented. People said they’d never have the guts to do what we did, or never $thought they video could work as well as we’ve made it. Another compliment we received was the way people noticed the music fitting the visuals throughout the song. This kind of feedback helped us a lot because we knew what people liked and what people didn’t like, therefore we could go back out onto the streets and film more and more to please our audience as well as create something that we were happy with.

4. When making our products we relied a lot of new media technologies to help us through it. Our main source of inspiration was the internet and particularly YouTube. With a website made for posting videos about anything and everything there was no end really to finding inspiration for our video. We could use this to search music videos, to see how general and more famous punk bands like to portray their image with their video. We could also search for the pranks and stunts that we wanted to combine into our video and look at what worked well on camera and what didn’t. We also used Google and Amazon a lot when researching our digipak and magazine advert. We wanted to create the same unique feeling that our video did therefore we had to look at existing products and saw how they much they related to the video and how much they promoted the band and what the band represents. We mainly looked at albums and DVD covers by the likes of The Clash, The Ramones, The Madness and The Sex Pistols to get the idea of what we wanted on ours, as well as looking at more famous and modern covers to take the best bits and cram them all onto our digipak cover. For our magazine advert we came across a website with all of the most controversial covers of all time and the John and Yoko image really stuck out to us. If it wasn’t for the internet we’d never of had anything to inspire us to create the video. We also used the internet to blog our work and keep a diary of what’s happening and what needs to happen. With this at our hands we could really plan and develop ideas without forgetting any important information. We also used Final Cut Express to edit our entire video. This program helped a lot by the fact it was easy to find what you were looking for, the controls weren’t too complex, you could manage your clips and audio really well and pin point it down to exactly how we wanted it to be inch by inch. We filmed across 3 days and by the end of it our footage was all over the place, with no structure and different clips having tiny fragments of clips that we needed to use in our video, but with the easily manageable way FCE is set out we could locate clips and structure our footage in order too cut down the time we waste looking for the clips. The final main technology we used was Adobe Photoshop to create our digipak and magazine advert. Photoshop is a bit more complex and cramped up than any other media technologies we used however it was worth the effort because we could manipulate images a lot and change what would be an ordinary photo into Polaroid form which is what we did with our. Without these kinds of tools our final products wouldn’t have had the effect we intended them too have and we were lucky that we were given such technologies to create our final products with.

Magazine advert ideas.

When planning the image for our magazine advert, choosing an image that reflected the artist's was the most important thing to consider. The image I have chosen from our music video is about half way through, and shows the main 'artist's'/actor's in the music video. The artist's are represented as youthful, rebellious boys; they have careless attitudes and enjoy having fun. The image I have chosen shows the artist's in that way. Firstly the setting compliments the image; broken windows, the B.P.C logo in graffiti and generally the area of the image is not a typical area to be in, if they were law abiding youths. They're doing a dance/pose, this reflects their humorous selves.

It links to our video because it is following the theme of 'messing around' and having an enjoyable time with your friends. The artist's continue this sort of attitude throughout the music video, but I think this image reflects them in the most boisterous way.

The genre of music by The Filaments is ska/punk. The characteristics of ska punk often features fast tempos, guitar distortion, on beat punk-style interludes and shouted vocals. The fast beat tempo is reflected in our music video by the shots being very quick. The image I have chosen was from one of the many fast shots. The way ska/punk artist's usually present themselves is in the attitude reflected by the artist's in the music video. "Punk rock is meant to be our freedom. We're meant to be able to do what we want to do." - quotation describing punk beliefs.

The audience we have aimed our music video at is adults that enjoy this genre of music, mainly men. The track contains explicit language and behavior that isn't positively looked at for younger audiences to view. This image will appeal to the target audience because listeners of ska/punk embrace the amusing culture.

Digipak Final Cover

Magazine Advert Final

Feedback

- Liked the short pace of our clips, costumes and the random elements in our video.
- The group suggested that we use a 'man thong' image of the two running for our Digi pack. Or the three posing against the graffiti background.
- Thought the lip syncing could have been better, agreed that it was hard to do and thought we managed to successfully divert attention towards our other clips.

Final Video

Final idea for magazine cover

We've decided that we're going to stick with the idea of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the bed in our man thongs and gold masks.

What needs to go on the magazine cover

Photograph to cover page

Star ratings and reviews from well known magazines

Out when(date)

Myspace of band

Where to buy from ( logo of itunes, amazon etc)

Record label logo, website

Name of artist and song

Date of shooting- monday 23rd nov

Digipak ideas

Magazine advert

Needs to promote video and artist

Magazine

Name of artist

Name of album (featuring the track BPC)

Release date

Available from

Websites/myspace

Record Label

Reviews and ratings

DVD

Showcase the artist

Collectors item

Limited edition

Features-Out-takes, Documentary, making of, live, bonus tracks, uncut version, short films featuring artist, photographs

Rating-parental advise

Tuesday 10th

We've uploaded our footage, and made a good start into the editing of our video. The clips we got seem to fit really well, creating a better feel to the video that really grabs the viewers attention with lots of short effective shots. Overall we are happy with our progress.

Monday 9th

We've filmed our final footage, and we feel it went quite successfully. We managed to get the clips that we needed, including footage that grasps other groups feedback.

Magazine Advert Research

For our Magazine Cover we've decided to stick with the man thong idea but mix it in with a famous image. The shot will be on a bed or carpet with Liam laying on the floor and callum laying next to him curled up with his body wrapped around him whilst kissing him on the cheek. We'll be wearing the gold masks and man thongs that we sported rather well in the Music video. The genereal Idea of the shoot is to re-create the John Lennon and Yoko Ono famous image from the cover of Rolling Stone magazine



The lighting in the original photo is quite dark and grainy but we're thinking of making it a brighter photo to help represent the way we want our video to be seen.

Analysis of Peer Feedback

Overall we're pretty happy with the feedback to our Rough-Cut, We have taken into account the criticisms and plan to change them with our upcoming footage E.g Shaking Moo, and other extended shots that dampen the fast pace to our piece.

Shots we plan to change:
- 00:09, Garage walk (too long)
- 00:20, Rojiar verse 1 lip sync
- 00:23, Gareth verse1 lip sync
- 00:55, Liam verse 2 lip sync
- 1:07, 'BPC' (too long, put in close-ups)
- 1:31, Cut down Slow-mo Boxing (Rojiar)
- 1:48, Take out 2nd wheelie bin shot
- 1:59, Edit ShakinMoo Dance Scene

Video Roughcut

After Half Term

Plans for After Half-Term:
- Gareth lip sync Verse 1
- Liam lip sync Verse 2
- 'Hey Hey Hey'
- More dancing scenes
- Ass Slap
- Reaction shots
- Slap round face with bag of flour
- Fruit throw
- Mini Mosh-pit
- More Random Footage

Ideas for the magazine advert

Costume: Callum and Liam in their man thongs and face masks.
Location/setting: either a white background or an area with graffiti (similar to the areas we filmed).

Production meeting

Shooting - Monday 12th:

Walking down from garages
Performance (verse 1)
Wheelie bin
Exercise balls
River jump

Thursday 15th:

Naked run
Dance with shakin moo
Boxing
Performance verse 3
Hey hey hey's


Equipment:

Camera
Tripod
G-clamp
Car
I-pod and speakers


Actors:

Liam - Man thong run, Man thong river jump, Performance, Exercise balls, Boxing, Dance
Callum - Man thong run, Man thong river jump, Performance, Exercise balls, Boxing, Dance
Rojiar - Performance, Exercise and Boxing victim
Gareth - Performance, Exercise Ball, Boxing
Shakin Moo - Gets bullied, Dance
There may also be a couple of random actors to perform Reaction shots.

Contacting The Filaments

Hello, we're four Media students representing Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, UK.

For our coursework this year we've been asked to create a music video, we've chosen your song - B.P.C.

We hope that you'll be happy with us using it; and we'll be sure to send you the final video and welcome any feedback or thoughts on what we've produced.

Thanks very much.

More Inspiration

Goodwin's Points

To help us in our decision making process, and with the concept of our music video, here are Goodwins points.

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2)There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3)There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4)The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5)There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6)There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Lyrics

Lyrics to B.P.C. :


Benfleet punx crew is the name of the firm so dear to me.
You'll see them on the cider
and keeping it real out on the street.
We like to drink with them and sing with them
thats how its always been.
We spent our teenage years like a punk rock family.

Through all the party nights and pissed up fights, - Callum
a lot of shit went down
But we always stand together, we're unified and proud. - Liam
Back to those early gigs we were kids, - Gazza
but we knew how it had to be
The beenfleet punx and chelmsford crew in solidarity. - Gazza

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) - Callum

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Done down on southend seafront, a DIY gig.
The BPC gathers and they're busting out the drink
there gonna have a beer and have a laugh
thats what its all about.
And then it's back to Benfleet
the hometown have no doubt. - Callum + Liam

Hanging out on street corners
where its punx against the pricks.
nothing can confront us when musics in the mix
Nothing could be better than when I'm drinking with my friends.
BPC this one's for you united to the end.

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) - Whole Group

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) All

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!