Research into the Indie Genre

Indie pop is a genre of music that origniated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s. It has its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label such as Josef K, Orange Juice and the popular and dominant The Smiths.

Originally, the term Indie was established to describe artists on independant labels and the genre was named just after the release of NME's C86 tape which featured a variety of different bands including Primal Scream, Half Man Half Biscuit, Bogshed and The Wedding Present.

Overall, the indie pop genre has a dominating influence on the music industry today and successful indie pop artists and bands perform at festivals such as Glastonbury. Popular indie artists and bands include The Kooks, Kate Nash, Lilly Allen, Scouting for girls, Plain white T's.

Costumes

This is our costume's script. We decided to print off a copy of the song and annotate it with the costumes we will need for each scene.

Production schedule

We have produced a Production Schedule which we will need for the Production process. Our Production Schedule has enabled us to organise the filming process, For example, when we will film, the props we will need on that particular day and the characters we will require for particular scenes.

We have also started on our CD cover and are using Adobe photoshop CS3 to create our CD cover. We have used the top half of our poster to make a connection between the poster and CD cover however we have not decided on whether we will use this as this is our rough version.

We have recently started our CD poster advertising the new single We get on and we have used Adobe Photoshop CS3 to create it. We have chosen a colourful and bright cartoon like background which creates a link with Kate Nash's album and single covers which are also cartoon like and we feel the cartoon imagery links to Kate Nash's bright and bubbly character. Furthermore, we have used a font style which we believe creates a child-like feel which also links with Nash's previous single covers. Overall, we plan to have a photograph of Claudia sitting on a swing which is attached to the trees branch.

We will also include:

Company name - CLICK productions

Company logo

Release date of single

Reviews?

My Skills Audit

Poster analysis

For our media coursework we have to also design a poster promoting the new single therefore I have found a poster promoting Taylor Swift's single, Love Story. Although the poster isn't very clear I have identified a few important aspects that we will need to keep in mind for our poster. Firstly, at the bottom left side there is a logo saying Hal Leonard Corporation and this enables the audience to see who the music print publisher is. Furthermore, the photo of Taylor is the main focus of the poster as it takes up the most space and this suggests that Taylor is being sold on her image. She is presented as unique as she is wearing what looks like an old-fashioned renaissance dress and the way her hair is done up suggests that she is from another time. This different time period image is effective as it is unusual and her image differs from most artists in the charts who wear modern clothing. We would like to bear this in mind for our artist's image as we also want her to stand out and we want to portray Kate Nash's quirky personality. Overall, the whole imagery with the stone pillars behind her effectively creates a fairytale theme and magical feel and the title of the song, Love Story also suggests that it is a fairytale theme and perhaps Taylor is the princess. Additionally, the poster links to the music video of Love Story as in the video she is also wearing this dress and we will have to link our music video somehow to the poster. We have been brainstorming ideas lately and we plan to show the fifties twist in our poster and our CD cover therefore this could be our link to the music video. We also plan to include some cartoon elements to make a connection to Kate Nash's previous single covers which are cartoon like.

Questionaire

I have created a questionaire asking about the publics favourite female artists and we have distributed these questionaires to help us with our music video production, as we have asked what the public look for in a music video and what attracts them to a music video. Once we have received back the questionaires we will make a list of the key elements we have to include in our music video.

Questionnaire on female artists

Name your favourite(s) female singer?



What do you like about them?



What is their music genre?



Are you a fan of Kate Nash?



If yes, what do you like about Kate Nash?



What attracts you to an artist?



What is your favourite CD album cover?



Why do you like it?



What do you like about your favourite female singers recent music video?

The first thing I am drawn to on this CD cover is the red stamp of “BUSTED” because it is really blunt and bold and this makes it the most eye catching aspect of the CD cover.
The name of the artist is “Busted”. Their name is given just below the centre of the CD cover therefore it is highly visible but we can also see the three artists.
The typography being used is very bold, red lettering; the highly noticeable stamp of Busted links with the theme of the CD cover as the boys are presented as being in a police station therefore the stamp of “BUSTED” links with this as not only have the boys been caught out but also perhaps they’ve been caught red-handed, hence the red, very bold writing.
The main image on the CD cover is of the three boys in a police station standing in front of the height board. They each look individual as they are wearing different clothes however their fierce expressions emphasise that they are one and are part of the group. Furthermore, the CD cover does focus on the three boys and this emphasises that they are a voyeurism and they are being sold on their image and looks. Also, the whole police-station imagery reflects the bands name, “Busted” as the audience are given the impression that they have been caught out.
The image is a photograph of the three boys. This creates an emphasis on image and emphasises that the boys’ looks play a big part in appealing to their perhaps more female audience. Furthermore, their image also presents them as “bad boys” as they are confidently looking at the camera and are presenting themselves as quite fierce and aggressive. Perhaps they are aiming to appeal to a rebellious teenage audience. Their pose presents them as very masculine.
The CD cover isn’t very colourful. The main focus is the title and the boys therefore they are both in colour. However, the pale white background creates a serious atmosphere and perhaps the artists are trying to emphasise that they have attitude and are sincere.
The genre of music Busted belong to is pop rock. We can gather this from the clothes they are wearing. For example, baggy jeans, wrist bands, trainers.

Research on Kate Nash...

An outfit like the one above that Kate Nash is wearing would be appropriate for the comical scene in our music video where our main character dresses up like a detective with sunglasses to hide her identity when she plans to bump into the boy she likes.

Kate Marie Nash is an English singer and songwriter based in London. She grew up in Harrow, North West London and her music career started in 2006 when she uploaded her music to Myspace after numerous gigs and her music on Myspace helped her fanbase to grow and grow.

Furthermore, Kate Nash's album Made of bricks became the platinum selling UK number one album and Nash is recognised for her evident uniqueness in her songs such as Skeleton Song and Birds. Her songs are of the indie pop genre and within them she includes aspects of her very British upbringing making references to the underground and ticket inspectors. This is effective as it enables the British audience to connect and relate to her. Furthermore, Kate Nash' style and look is also unique therefore we want to emphasise her uniqueness in our music video and we will do this by creating a unique Kate Nash indie style for Claudia who is playing our main girl and we will also have a 50's twist in our video therefore in the flashbacks and when Claudia is not singing in the 50's bar everyone else will be dressed in normal clothes but Claudia will have a 50's twist. For example, we might do Claudia's hair and makeup like she is from the 50's or have her wearing vintage clothes like high waisted skirts and polkadot dresses.

Kate Nash's influences are Just Jack and Lilly Allen who both have a similar style of singing to Kate Nash.

This CD cover differs from the others as by focusing on the artist's look they are trying to sell the artist through her image. Furthermore, her facial expression looks thoughtful and perhaps optimistic and perhaps connects with the song's name, "Don't look away". Overall, for our CD cover we would like to photograph Claudia but unlike this CD cover we want to include cartoon images to increase the audience's understanding of Claudia's quirky and bubbly character and to emphasise her character we will make it colourful and eyecatching.

This CD cover is effective in the way it uses colourful, cartoon -like imagery which reflects Kate Nash's bubbly personality. We would also like to use cartoon - like imagery when creating our CD cover to emphasise Kate Nash's quirkiness and we hope to have cartoon representations of some of the themes in the song, for example, a cartoon image which represents love or friendship. Furthermore, the picture of the girl on the parachute is a simulacrum for Kate Nash and we are considering whether we should also have a simulacrum or a photograph of Claudia on the CD cover. Overall, the name of the song isn't highly visible here but Kate Nash's name is more bold and visible and the colour red has connotations of love which connects with the song.

Firstly, the title "My Conscience And I" emphasises that the song is very personal to her and suggests that she is going to confide in us. The decorative imagery used on the Cd cover is effective as it reminds me of a fortune tellers tent and this suggests that her songs are about fate and the future and the gold pillow and funky, colourful room decorations present fortune -telling imagery as does the banners with her name and the song title. These are effective as it looks like the signs advertising fortune-telling at a funfair or circus. Furthermore, the brain is effective as I feel it stands out the most and this perhaps suggests we are going to be given an insight into her mind. Overall, I think this CD cover is effective in the way it has a theme, in this case the theme is fortune-telling and I would like our CD cover to also have a theme which would relate to the song effectively. Furthermore, I think this CD cover is highly effective as it to an extent exposes the singer and is very personal as it emphasises her ideas about fate and the future. In this way, the audience feels involved and as if the singer is confiding in us therefore I hope to connect with the audience on a personal level in our CD cover.

CD Covers

The large black letter "L" could represent love as a lot of Lily Allen's songs are about love and the title suggests it is about love, "It's not me, it's you". The boldness of the letter and the fact that it is black perhaps suggests that she isn't in favour of love and has maybe had some bad experiences. The pale pink dress she is wearing presents her as very girly and evokes a contrast to the title, "It's not me, it's you". These words reflect a breakup and the fact that she is blaming the other person emphasises that she has a fierce and powerful side to her. Furthermore, the song title is in italic pink writing which connects with her pink dress and makes it more eye catching and the candy coloured pink dress and writing suggests that she may have a bubbly and fun side to her and the brightly coloured pink dress could be a signifier for her personality. Furthermore, Lily Allen is presented as having her eyes closed and she looks calm as if she is meditating. Perhaps she is emphasising that she has moved on and is calmly content without her ex partner? Furthermore, the way she is seated with her arms pushing the big letter away from her could perhaps be emphasising that she is pushing love away and her eyes being closed could be emphasising that she is closing herself or even protecting herself from being hurt? Overall, the black netting she is wearing in her hair is associated with death therefore it arouses a contrast between it and her pink dress and perhaps it represents the death of love and her eyes being closed could be her reflecting on her past relationship.

Location photos

"I locked myself in the toilet for the entire night"

The scene where the girl locks herself in the toilet after she sees the boy she likes kissing someone else will be filmed in Samantha's bathroom as pictured above.

"So I went to that party"

We will use Samantha's hallway to show the girl entering the house and walking past the people at the party.

The two photos above are of Samantha's living room where we plan to have lots of people enjoying themselves at the party.

Overall, we have decided to use Samantha's house for the party scenes as we have permission. Furthermore, her house has a lot of space to film the party scenes therefore we are not restricted. She also has a spacious garden, we therefore have the choice of whether we want to film some party scenes outside.

Our Final Storyboard

Casting

We have recently been thinking about who would be appropriate and suitable for the role of the Main girl in our music video. Overall, as a group we have decided to cast Claudia Glynn as the Main girl for a number of reasons. We feel we can rely on Claudia as she has maintained many commitments with her drama school in the past, therefore, we can rely on her to always be there for filming and rehearsals. Furthermore, we decided to cast Claudia as the main girl as she has alot of acting and singing experience therefore she will be professional and take her role seriously. Additionally, her singing experience means that when we film her singing to the camera in a 1950's bar, she can sing along so that the lip-syncing looks very professional and realistic and we can simply mute the sound on the camera. Overall, we feel that Claudia absolutely fits the role as her acting experience and talents means that when she sings she can express herself through her facial expressions and eyes and overall, emphasise her feelings for the boy and her devastation when she sees him with his girlfriend. Finally, Claudia is perfect for the role as she has a quirky sense of humour which fits in with the personality of the girl in the song and overall her acting experience advantages us as she can learn scripts quickly and she is used to taking directions. We aim to make Claudia look more 1950's to emphasise the 50's twist in our music video and we will do this by looking at 1950's fashion icons and the clothing and hairstyles they had.

We have also cast Eamon as the main boy as we feel he fits the role well and we can rely on him to be professional and take the role seriously; he is also happy to be in the video.

Finally, the understudys for our main characters will be Katie O'Kane and David Togher. Katie is our understudy for Claudia's character as she knows the song We Get On off by heart and Katie also dresses fashionably and sometimes dresses like she is from another time. For example, she wears big bows in her hair.

David is our understudy for Eamon's character as we feel we can trust him to be reliable and follow instructions.

Rough Storyboards