Task Brief

For our Media studies coursework me and my group have decided to make a music video, the music video we are making is going to be based on the song Up All Night by Razorlight. We chose this as the lyrics of the song are perfect for a music video. As soon as we heard the song and saw the lyrics we had ideas flowing.

The target audience

The main people we are trying to attract are people that are already fans of the band but the ages we are trying to attract are between the ages of 15 and 30. This is because most fans of the indie genre are between these ages.

The setting

There are going to be two setting in our video, one of these is going to be a bedroom, to link to the title. The room is going to be set at night with one light on, to give the idea of a man that cannot sleep due to the thought of a girl. The other setting is going to be in a town with him walking down the street with all other people walking in the opposite direction. We are going to film the main character mainly at night, this should give a code to the audience, that he is sleepless. We are also going to incorporate some scenes of a party into the video, this will show a girl and how he wants to talk to her, but knows its best not to. It will show the confusion in his mind.


Information on Razorlight

The genre of this song falls under indie rock bands also in this genre are; Bloc party, The Wombats, The Cribs and the killers. There is currently no music video released for this song by the band or the record label Mercury music. Razorlight, were founded in 2002 by lead singer and main songwriter, Johnny Borrell. They began by supporting the Libertines for varous venues, this was the main stepping stone in their careers getting spotted by Mercury records, this gave them the oppurtunity to release their first album. 'Up All Night' was very popular, getting to 3 in the UK album chart and going platinum 3 times.

The other albums released by Razorlight are, Razorlight and Spilway Fires. Spilway fires was released on the 3rd November, the first single from this album is called 'Wire to Wire' and has got to number 5 in the UK charts, this expected to get higher in the next few weeks. The second album released by the band got to number 1 in the UK charts and went platinum 5 times. The secod single from the album 'America' then got to number 1 in the UK and in the states, this was the first and only so far, Razorlight single to get to number in any country.

Lyrics for Up all Night- Razorlight

Research

Vampire Weekend- A-Punk

This video was clearly very cheap to make. The video is speeded up with all movements much faster than when they were filmed. Yet all dancing is still in time with the beat of the music. With the lips of the lead singer still in time with the music, dispite the video being sped up, this raises the question of how did they do it? The video is very simple and yet very effective, the light hearted fun of the video is very up lifting like the feeling the song gives the audience. The brightly coloured clothes worn by the band fit the songs beat, it is very suited to the band and the album also named Vampire Weekend.

This bands genre is indie but is also thought as afro-pop influenced, this video just goes to show that videos can be effective even on a low budget.

The main type of shots used in the video are long shots and mid shots. The long shots are used to show the effect of the dancing moves made by the band. Where as the mid shots are used to show the lead singers face when he is singing, this shows the lips sync as in time with the song but unlike the movements of the singer. This gives the connotation that he mouthed the song in slow motion.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ

The Kooks- Naive

This video was deconstructed as a group

Mise en scene
- Flash backs to the night before
- Urban street
- Alcohol on the bar, gives the connotation that the band and the girl are drunk and both did things as a result of the booze.
- The bedroom scenes of the morning after show that the lead singer is still angry and may not get over the way she behaves.


Camera angles
- Close up of the lead singer walking through the crowd at the gig
- Mid shot of the lead singer in bed the morning after
- Long shot of the lead singer

Effects
- Cuts between shots
- No effects between shots

Setting
- The first setting is a lonely street with only the lead singer walking down the pavement.
- The second setting is in his dream where he remembers the night before when they were at a gig.
- Another is the present time in a house the morning after

Characters
- The band with others at the gig
- A girl who looks to be the lead singer’s girlfriend in the video

Information on the later history of Mercury Records

'In 1961 the Dutch company Philips Records, having lost its distribution deal with Columbia Records outside North America, signed an exchange agreement with Mercury, and Philips subsequently bought Mercury and its subsidiary labels to expand its US base. In 1962 Philips merged its record operations with Deutsche Grammophon to become PolyGram in 1972.

Under PolyGram, Mercury absorbed Casablanca Records (also home to the 20th Century Records back catalogue), home of glam rockers KISS and disco stars Donna Summer and Village People, in 1982 and primarily became a rock/pop label with KISS, Scorpions, Rush, Kurtis Blow, Tears for Fears, Bon Jovi, Hanson, Cinderella, Treat and Def Leppard.

In late 1998, PolyGram was bought by Seagrams, which then absorbed the company into its Universal Music Group. Under the reorganization, Mercury Records was folded into the newly formed Island Def Jam Music Group. Mercury's pop roster was predominantly taken over by Island Records, while its urban artists found a new home at Def Jam Records. Mercury's former country unit became Mercury Nashville Records.'

Information on the record label taken from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Records

Questionnaire

The aim of this questionnaire will be to research what the public/audience, think about the way in which music videos are made and produced. Please circle one of the following answers:

1) In a music video, what key thing do you look for?

Action (Guns etc) Romance A storyline Animation Other ………………….

2) During the song, what would you rather see the band doing?

Mime the song (Lip-sync) Sing it live No images of the band singing the song

3) What format would you want to watch a Music Video in?

Black and White Colour Other…………………

4) Which time period would you want a music video to be in?

Past tense Future Modern day

5) How long would you want a music video to last?

2 minutes - 2.50 minutes 2.50 minutes – 3 minutes 3 minutes – 3.50 minutes

3.50 minutes – 4 minutes 4 minutes +

6) How many times would you want to see the same type of camera shot, during the music video? (E.g. close ups, still shots, zoom out, zoom in)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Thank you for your time


This will be asked to 30 people this should give us a good sample so that we can creat something that most people will like.

The research that I have completed has given me and my group many ideas of how to make this video. We have decided to go for a video that helps the audience understand the message of the song and a video that helps the audience understand the lyrics. The music videos that I deconstructed have helped us as a group to formulate more ideas. We have pastiched certain ideas from some of the videos, as we feel that they will help to explain the story.