Photos from Shoot

Thursday 27th and Friday 28th October 2011

Props List

Before half term we compiled a list of every prop we would need to bring between us to either of the two shoots.

• Stepladder
• Hazard signs
• Traffic cones
• Guitar + Amp
• Bass Guitar
• Clipboard
• Hard hat
• Josh's outfit
• Paint x3
• Stereo/ipod speakers
• Paint trays x3
• Paint rollers x3
• Paint brushes - as many as possible
• False eyelashes
• Microphone + stand
• Chair/stool
• Pink blusher (for Charley's hair)
• Paint bucket logo
• Glitter

This is not including all three of our outfits for both shoots

Painting our backdrop

The narrative for our music video is based around painting, so one of the main props we had to buy for our shoot was paint, rollers and paint trays. We decided with the colours white, black and pink; white for the base colour, and black and pink to write our 'The XYZs' logo on the wall.

Group Meeting 20/10/11

During the final lesson before our half-term shoot, we had a group meeting with Ms Blackborow and Chris, the the technician, to finalise props and equipment.

The most important thing which needed to purchase was the paint. We decided on three tubs: black, white and bright pink. After researching them online, we agreed that the best plan would be to call up Wickes (they had the colours we wanted at good prices) and reserve them for instore collection, as Odelia would be able to pick them up later that evening.

Here are the colours we chose:

We would also be purchasing some plain white t-shirts for Josh, our actor, to wear, which we will buy from Primark the following day.


We looked into hiring retro-style microphones for the day, but they were very expensive, we decided it would be better to simply buy one from amazon/ebay, then the media department could keep it for future use after reimbursing us. At first we planned on having one each, but due to cost issues we decided just our lead singer (Odelia) would use one, and Charley and Jess would sing either side of her, playing guitar and bass, and at some points lean in and share the mic.

Actor Contract

We drew up an actor contract to ensure coherence between the group and our actor, Josh.

Group 6 Actor Contract

Logistics and Technical Planning 18/10/11

We talked to our technician Chris to discuss technical arrangements and logistics for the shoot as we are filming in his garage. Together we drew up a rough plan of our desired lighting arrangement and marked out the paintable walls in order to consider positioning of shots for the video- we will arrange this lighting in the Seward Studio later this week and film a lip-sync test shoot in order to make sure we are fully prepared for our shoot. Having agreed on the filming dates of 27th and 28th October we also drew up a rough schedule including call time for actors and crew, however a more detailed schedule will follow once we have finalised our desired shots and completed our storyboard. We also compiled a list of props and other general 'things' we need to source or accquire.

Tenchical Planning

Paint Inspiration

The video by Lights called Second Go features the singer dressed in white in an entirely white room, painting all over the walls with brightly coloured paint.

We liked the contrast of the bright paint against the totally white walls; this is an effect we think works really well visually and would therefore like to recreate in our video.

Group Meeting 18/10/11

We had a group meeting to start planning shots and creating a storyboard. Constantly listening to the song on repeat for inspiration, we used post-it notes to draw shots, in particular the CUs at the beginning of the video, which can easily be re-arranged on the paper if we change our minds about shot order, which of course we will at some point.

Once we had finished the rough idea of the storyboard for the opening sequence, we stuck this up on the wall of our edit suite along with other drawings of possible performance set ups, costume ideas and a variety of pictures to serve as a constant supply of inspiration.

Music Video Opening Inspiration

At the start of our video we want to use lots of CUs/ECUs of body parts, like lips, eyelashes and painted fingernails.

We took inspiration from the Pretty Little Liars credit sequence which has a similar effect:



The idea is to create the effect of voyeurism and start to objectify the body parts, lulling the viewer into a false sense that this video is going to be set in a strip club, until we show wider shots to reveal that this is not the case.

Feedback on our Treatment

We gave our pitch to our class and teachers and recieved a bit of feedback, summarised below:

• We don't want to overly sexualise the male at the end of the video when he is stripped down, as we do not want the male to be the main focus of the video. However, as a group we decided that we did not want a really 'small, weedy' male to play the part as everyone will feel really sorry for the male and view our band in a negative light. Therefore we thought that we would have the same actor, but we would have to make him look really stupid and goofy at the end, for example with Superman boxers and days of the week socks.
• As we do not actually play instruments in real life, they thought that it might be a good idea to fake play the instruments and play them really over the top.
• It was also suggested that we could try and break the conventions of the usual hierachy within a band by maybe swapping instruments, so there isn't the usual "frontman", as we want to band to be shown as equals. It could also mean we could incorporate a drummer, which could make us seem like more serious musicians, as then one person wouldn't be stuck at the back hidden by the drums, as we would all take equal turns. However, it could be potentially tricky as we would have to convincingly play the drums in time, which is probably harder than pretending to play the guitar.
• Ms Blackborow said that maybe we didn't need the arrival of the male painter/decorator at the end as it might be too much, so perhaps it would be better if the guy is just left on his own in his underwear, then gets up hastily and runs off with his briefcase. Alternatively, we could show the band running out and giggling down the street, perhaps with a few neighbours or on lookers wondering what is going on, especially if we decide to have the stripped down guy run out after us. We decided that the best idea would be to film the alternate endings, as they are quite simple, so then we could decide what worked best in the edit.
• The teachers also worried that if we were not being very flirty or if we were being overly sexual the viewers would read the band in the wrong way, and not in the cheeky, flirty way we wanted to convey. So they thought that we could be really cheeky and when the man comes to touch us, we could maybe slap him away with a paintbrush; being really flirty and 'hard-to-get'.
• They also thought that if we were cross cutting between the garage and the studio it may look slightly odd and not work, so suggested that we have the performance aspect of our video in the garage too. To differentiate the two set ups we would have the performance shots with instruments and perhaps a dust sheet behind us, with our band logo painted in large.
• As painting may be quite hard to shoot, a third of the video could be shots of the band setting up: tying up our hair, putting up ladders, dipping paintbrushes into the paint buckets..etc.

Treatment

 Here is our treatment for our music video idea (click to enlarge):

Potential Logos for 'The XYZs'

Fashion Inspiration

Glam emphasized outrageously flamboyant fashions: platform shoes, glittery costumes, garish make-up plastered on the face's of its primarily male performers.

A glam goth is a person who combines current goth styles with high street fashion. They switch baggy bondage trousers for high waisted leather shorts, and rupped tops for black sequined tops. They may still wear goth boots, or simply high heels. There dominant colour is still black, but they add a little sparkle to it.

Target Audience

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Nationality: British

Hobbies: Listening to music, surfing the internet (especially social networking), watching tv, reading magazines.

Music taste: Pop/rock, glam rock, alternative, indie

Music consumption habits: Listens to music on her mp3 on the go, listens to music on the computer while she works, watches music channels e.g. MTV, Viva, 4Music, watches music videos on YouTube.

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On the whole, our target audience would be aged 16-24, leaning towards females. This is because The XYZs are an all female band, with a strong sense of girl power in their debut single. The band may also target males as well, as the band members are all fairly attractive, and act quite flirty in the video. The core audience's nationality would be British as the band members are all British, and are signed to a British label. The songs are also sung in English, so secondary audiences would be English speaking countries, for example America and Canada.

Our target audience would be keen listeners of music, ones who always look for the freshest music around; either from watching music channels or finding out on the internet. The core audience would prefer genres such as pop/rock and glam rock as this is the type of genre that the song Stripper would fit under, and may also be fans of a few girlbands already. They would also be keen users of the internet and social networking, meaning that the label and band can directly contact them and inform them on everything they need to know, for example single release dates or tour dates.

Finally, the perfect audience member would also buy music legally, whether that be by buying a physical copy or downloading, so that the band and label can become successful and gain huge profits!

Musical Influences

We are taking inspiration from 1970s girl rock band The Runaways

They were the first big all-female rock band, and had huge mainstream success. They were known for being feisty and rebellious, yet glamorous as well as cool.


A modern-day influence would be The Veronicas.

They make mainstream pop music which is also quite rocky and electronic. Their style is quite glam-goth, as although they have tattoos and wear a lot of gothic-style black clothing, they are still girly and glamorous, which is how we want to be.

Cut Down Version

Here is the cut-down version of our song Stripper, lasting just over 3 minutes:



Lyrics

Well fellas you're late
And Maya, I'm here.
The boys in the band,
Decide to appear.
We walk through the door
Savour the air.
The girls on the floor,
I've come here to stare.
We've come here to stare.

Yeah

Dont touch the girls,
Dont kiss the girls,
I have the right to pull the girls.
Get in a fight,
On every night,
The scratches, the bruises and the bites.
But i wanna touch,
And i wanna kiss,
And if you say no then i will persist,
With you tonight,
You'll make it right.
You know that you're wetting my appetite.

You can call me x,
You can call me y,
You can call me z,
You can come and try.
Come and try.

Don't know what you think you're doing to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! Stripper)
Dont know what you see its getting to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! I wanna be your mister)
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na

Like your perfume,
Your skin is smooth.
The way you move,
I'm in the mood.
Tease the crowd,
Please the crowd,
I'm boiling I want you to see me now.
You get me girl,
When you're nervous well,
And when your hand is in the thong.
You may be right,
I close them tight,
You're saving the best for me tonight.

You can call me x,
You can call me y,
You can call me z,
You can come and try.
Come and try.

Don't know what you think you're doing to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! Stripper)
Dont know what you see its getting to me,
(Hey! Stripper, Hey! I wanna be your mister)
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na

I've come to stare,
I've come to stare,
You like me to stare?
I like your underwear.
I've come to stare,
I am a voyeur.

Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na
Na na, Na na, Na na, Na na, Na

Influences and Attitude Moodboard

Practicalities

Now that we have come up with an idea for our music video, it is important to consider the practicalities of the shoot.

• The school Seward Studio should be available for the performance
• Hopefully Chris, our media technician, will have a garage available to use for the narrative, if not we can use one of our houses - the location is adaptable
• We will be able to get instruments from friends
• We would have to buy paint but most other props, like dungarees and paintbrushes, we should be able to come up with between us
• We still need someone to cameo as the painter, but that shot is very short so it’d be easy to find someone
• The three group members will play the band
• We have an actor, Josh Pedro, to play the man:

Max Factor Advert

We found a Max Factor television advert that uses our song Stripper. It is very girly and glamorous, suggesting a target audience yet again of young women and teenagers. Because it is a lipgloss advert, there are lots of close-ups of puckered lips and kisses, which also fits really well with the rocky yet sensual-sounding music. We also want to incorporate close-ups like that to make the video sexy and to add enigma at the start before the viewer realises that it is not in fact set in a strip club. The girls in the video dance quite provocatively and pose as a voiceover talks about how the gloss can 'enhance your curves', again establishing the song as quite sexy and burlesque-feeling.

Copyright Post

We emailed the record label of the Soho Dolls A&G Records in order to ask permission to use the song for our video.

Initial Idea

Here is the idea we have so far for the music video, imagined collectively amongst our group:

Performance: Studio set-up with a projector projecting a pre-filmed paint splat montage onto us. We will be dressed in our band performance clothes (see mood board) We will ideally have old style microphone stands and instruments: guitar, bass, keyboard. Charley will be the lead singer (and possibly keyboardist), and Odelia and Jess will play guitar and bass.

Narrative:  The scene begins with a shot of a paint bucket being put down with the name/logo of our band on the front, the shot then zooms out slightly to show feet walking away, wearing high heels. We then cut to a shot of a radio being put down on a table and pressing play, which is when the music starts. There will then be shots of us painting the walls of the house and possibly lip syncing along. A man enters in a suit and sits down reading the paper, perhaps with a cup of tea. He minds his own business until he glances over and does a double take, notices that the girls are quite dressed up and acting quite suggestively (or so he thinks). Stylistically the shots from his POV will be soft focus, focus pulls- creating a dream like, fantasy quality- playing on the idea of a male fantasy. He begins to be a bit hypnotised by the band and goes to touch them, but as he reaches out, he gets a shock and turns his hand over to see red paint dripping down- he is literally caught red handed. In his confusion and fluster he dirties his clothes and the more excited he gets the more paint appears on him. The band circles him and begins tugging at his clothing, he notices how messy he looks and begins to take it off, spurred by the flirtatiousness of the band. Eventually he ends up in just his pants and socks, and the band cheekily run off with his clothes (he is still oblivious at this point). The girls have left the door open and a painter/decorator (manly, gruff, builder type) walks in, sees the man and looks confused. Through this we are subverting the idea of ‘stripper’ objectifying the man instead.