Indie/Rock Genre

The indie/rock genre in music was generally not considered popular, as opposed to genres like: pop and hip-hop, but due to fashion changes and style in society, it is classed as the very "in" genre of music amongst teens nowadays. 
As highlighted in our pitch, similar bands in the genre are:

• Kings of Leon
• Arcade Fire
• My Chemical Romance
• Panic at the Disco
• Kaiser Chiefs
• The Kooks

... and many more! 
I find their music is emotionally stimulating, for the youth orientated target audience of (roughly, 15-25 years) because the use of the instruments and the, usually, sinister/dark heartfelt lyrics are what that this adolescent age group can particulary relate to. 

Here are a few music video examples of songs in this indie/rock genre of music:

Kings of Leon - 'Use Somebody'

My Chemical Romance - 'Helena'

Kaiser Chiefs - 'Everyday Day I Love You Less and Less'



The similar "themes" found in these music videos are the dark settings which allows to visually convey the sinister mood to the audience; this is due to the construction of lighting which identifies the contrast of dark and light more effectively.  Also, the uses of narratives conveying a story also could connect to the audience with similar subjects, such as a dying relationship or alcohol/drug abuse.  Each music video includes its own "motife" - which is a technique used to characterise the band individually - for example, in the Kaiser Chiefs music video, they use a blurred split screen of the band members' headhsots murged together creating a visual chaos.   
We will also have to consider using a motife in our own music video.

PITCH!

Okay, today 13th October was the presentation of our class pitches!Dynamic Productions presented the music video concept on a PowerpPoint presentation, and it included:

• Research into conventions of existing Indie/Rock music videos
• Our task schedule
• The type of shots we would use with test shots 
• We also discussed our promotional package ideas  
• Allocated roles in the project 

Our pitch was passed, and was praised that it included great depth of research/analysis as well as a strong conveyance of our narrative and the intended shots for our music video were presented visually - by the use of the YouTube clips.

Here is the recording of our presentation:

For my ancillary tasks in this project, I have decided to create a magazine advertisement (a Muse album advertising poster) and a digipack 

What are Muse?

I have decided to carry out further research on the band we are basing our project on; this just helps me get an idea of their target audience, their band album designs/logos and their genre of music.
Muse are an English rock band with an array of trophies and awards to vouch for their succession.  They are from Devon and were formed in 1994.  The band members are school friends :') :

Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboard/piano)  
Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, rhythm guitar)
Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, sampling)
Muse are mainly known for their 'best live band in the universe' (Unofficial North-American MUSE Appreciation Blog) performances, bursting with their contagious energy and their unconventional mix of music genres: these include alternative rock, heavy metal, electronica and classical music. 
They have released five studio albums in their career so far:

Showbiz (released in 1999)

Origins of Symmetry (released in 2001)

Absolution (released in 2003)

Black Holes and Revelations (released in 2006)

The Resistance (released in 2009)




A sixth studio album is currently in the process of being recorded and is expected to be released in October 2012.
They have also successfully won awards for their music; 'Black Holes and Revelations' earned them a nomination for the Mercury Prize (as one of the highly acclaimed albums of the year) as well as coming third place in the 'NME Albums of the Year' list in 2006.  Muse have also won five 'MTV Europe Music Awards', five 'Q Awards', four 'Kerrang! Awards' and an 'American Music Award'! - that's pretty amazing!
As well as all of these awards, the album, 'The Resistance' led Muse to nominations of three Grammy Awards where they won 'Best Rock Album'.

This is the link to their official website: 
http://muse.mu/






The album we are basing our song choice on from Muse, is from the album 'The Origins of Symmetry'; here are two songs from this album:

Plug In Baby



Bliss

Muse - Feeling Good

I have researched some additional information about our chosen song. 
'Feeling Good'
Here are the lyrics:

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me..
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea
You know how I feel
River running free
You know how I feel
Blossom in the trees
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me...
And I'm feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun
You know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all out having fun
You know what I mean
Sleep in peace
When, the this day is done
And this old world
Is a new world
And a bold world
For me...

Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine
You know how I feel
yeah, freedom is mine
When you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me...

yeah, ooh
Oh, ooh...

Oooh, ooh..free, free loving you...
Oooh, oooh
Feeling good

I have noticed, from the lyrics, that there are many references to "nature" and "being free", so it would be ironic to base our music video juxtaposing to this concept completely; by "trapping" our main character, in the narrative, in a web of lies weaved by his girlfriend.




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Chosen Song!

This lesson we finally chose our song choice and, after much debating and thinking, we chose:
'FEELING GOOD' - Muse

This got the group "feeling good" for we could now crack on with rest of the development process!
We chose this song as opposed to 'Glory', because we felt it could relate more to the target audience (by being a popular song choice from a stereotypical "indie" band) as well as the theme we have corresponded with it; relationships and break-ups are apparent in youth, so our message in our music video could help convey this.  Our involving of a major "break out" of (mild) violence and alcohol abuse could also appeal to 15 - 25 year olds which links to our chosen target audience. 
As well as this, we also finished up on our pitch presentation, which we are presenting next lesson, so overall it was a good lesson! 
This a live version of the song on 'Jools Holland' in 2001 performed by Muse:

'Feeling Good' was originally written for a musical in the 1960's, 'The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd' by English songwriters, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.  Cy Grant starred in this musical, him being the one who sang the original version.
This is the original version of 'Feelin' Good':

It is also a hugely popular song, with many adaptations from different artists, such as Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra Jr and Michael Buble; it is also used in the media world presently in the Virgin Atlantic Advert 2011 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbib-A6NpW8

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Behind These Hazel Eyes, Kelly Clarkson

The narrative of this story is very strong and I think it has been portrayed successfully!
The jist of the narrative is this - I have to explain it so my brief notes on the video are made clear: There is a woman (Kelly Clarkson's character) who is set to marry a man who is having an affair with another woman.  There are uses of symbolism and visual aids of the "bride's" mind for she is presented in three various ways: one portrayal is of her as the bride as part of the narrative; the second one is her dressed in black set apart from the narrative but overlooking the situation (she presents more of a "what if" character in the mind shown in a 2-Dimensional way) and the third portrayal of is of her totally apart from the storyline of the music video, but singing the song with the band in the background.  I LOVE the way narrative of the music video has been presented, for it expresses creativity and deeper thought to the story which is what attracted me to it, and probably other viewers also.
A feature I particulary liked in this video was from 0:43 - 1:04.  This is because it has Kelly Clarkson "inspecting" the affair of her marriage but in a symbolic way; she walks down the isle dressed in black singing the track but then gets involved visually.  The uncovering of the veil uncovers the truth!
This similar tecnique is also at 1:56 - 2:26 - it has the successful "clash" of the different personas of the main character coming together and reflecting on her decision and her life.  This is a clever way to gain different perspectives on a narrative which is what I think was the idea of this music video.  Using little aspects from this video could help show our creativity and thought into our music video piece, if we added them, which could make the representing of the narrative stronger and more appealing.

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Ain't No Other Man, Christina Aguilera

Here are just a few music videos I found inspiring and really striking!!

Maybe we could include some features in these into our group piece......?

I absolutely love this music video!

The vintage style theme is apparent throughout - by the strong use of the mise-en-scene as well as the jazzy genre of the song - which helps create the effectiveness of the music video.
The introduction of this video is very strong, for it has an unconventional diagonal pan across the screen with an overlay of the jazzy music; the setting is clearly in the 1900's - with flashy signs, flashy cars - at night which suggests to the viewers this video is set in a jazz nightclub.  I find the font of the headlines successful in conveying the time period of the music video, for they are thick and "bulky" which I think could be a successful tecnique we could use in our group music video.
Following this is a good-looking man dressed in a smart suit smoking out of a typical "girls" stage door - this shot consists of querky humour as well as the use of "gaze theory" - and this defines the setting and status of the area more.  The "gaze theory" is used again as a female character (Baby Jane) steps out of her flash car with only a shot of her feet.  I noticed how the lighting is dark, and I think this has been done to not only keep the audience intrigued, but to also set the contrast of the bright lighting used throughout the video after the introduction.  This is when the actual song begins (the trumpet playing) and the vibrancy and colour comes to life!

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Decisions, Decisions.....

Today's lesson was officially our first meeting as 'Dynamic Productions'!
We proposed two song ideas in the group, both very different in genre, narrative and style, however we all open mindedly shared ideas.  These were of the songs:
*  'Glory' - Ryan Leslie

*  'Feeling Good' - Muse

We created different storylines for each one but did not finalise what one we are creating; this was so we could recap and think individually which one would be more suitable and appropriate to make. 
After this, we started to create our mood boards for our music video (genre, theme: relationships, mixed with anger/depression, equipment needed etc.) whilst at the same time preparing a Powerpoint presentation for our pitch.  This included allocating of roles throughout this Advanced Portfolio project as well as the location scouting and target audience. 

Pitch Presentation in Progress

Here are a couple of pictures of the group (including myself) of us "working in action"!

Nick, Tayo, Kike and Antalia (me)

Overall it has been a productive lesson! :)

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