Props - Final Helmet- Flat template

Props -Final Helmet- Flat template

The image above is a flat template of the complete mask design for my robot created using Photoshop. I plan to print this template out and model it around a cardboard box to create the robots boxy head.

Props - Final Helmet Design + process

Prop - Final Helmet Design + process

 

Above is an image of various designs for the robots masks based on the blocky, game graphic theme I previously mentioned.  I was particularly inspired by the Dj's and similar musicians such as Daft Punk, Deadmau5,Cazzette and the Dj's from mars as well as the video game minecraft when designing the final look for the mask.

Visual elements which influenced my design

The Designs were mostly based on the idea of either looking like a typical 1950's idea of a robot or to make and intertextual reference to technology such as basing the face on the design of a boom box, or a VHS tape or a floppy disc in order to convey the sci-fi image my artist says was his intention in his music but keeping with the whimsical theme.

Finally one thing, that I thought should be consistent throughout the designs is that the robot must smile in some form in order to make the robot much more approachable to keep with the fun theme. However in some of my designs I did experiment with attempting to make the simile slightly creepy to show that the robot isn't exactly all good and fun.

Below is the final design of the robots mask created via Photoshop. I hope to print out the face and attach it to the front of the box as the face. I plan to apply similar methods all round the box to create the  full mask.

The robot

The Teddy boys

 The Teddy boys

The teddy boys or the Edwardian boys first appeared on the streets of south and west London in the 1950s. The gang were known for its extravagant dress code and defiant pose which made them popular subjects in the ever expanding media of magazines and television in the 1950s. Similar to the Spivs during world war II, the Teddy Boys became a media folk devil, however the same media also exposed numerous people to the Teddy Boy look and caused the spread of the gang until the Teddy boy became a nation wide style in the teen subculture as as well as being he first post-war teenage subculture.

 As inner city working class youth The group  would wear expensive Edwardian 'ted' suits designed for wealthy city gents in the early 50's or the 'drape' jackets favored by a number growing American rock 'n' roll artists.

They were once described as 'teenage terrorists' in a newspaper headline in may 1954.

The Teddy boy image was one which brought a powerful message. The acquisition of upper class dress by the working class was a defiant act. The media would constantly ridicule their exaggerated style, once even illustrating a typical teddy boy as a 'monkey in drape'.

In a 1954 article titled 'Get rid of them' a resident of brighton described them as "silly little self-advertising nincompoops" another resident went on to agree with this statement and add they are
"very nauseating specimens of English youth." and  "They are an awful disgrace to Brighton." 

Stop motion experimentation

Stop motion experimentation

In my intial ideas post I expressed an interest in using stop motion animation to feature people move in a robotic way. As I started to develop my ideas I started to persue an interest in presenting the idea of people lagging or glitching out as if they were in a video game as seen in the video below

Of course the video above was probably produced with editing techniques with video editting software i.e shooting two different shots and cutting between the two and then repeating the shots, for the purpose of an exercise I wanted to look at removing any fluidity found in movement to convey a robotic look as well as the way the producers of the video above repeat frames to show a lag or glitch effect.


Below is the outcome of my stop motion exercise using Photoshop. When it may come to the final product one can easily import the gif animation into after effects and then export it as video footage, however this may not exactly be advised as I would be creating more trouble for a process that could be done simply working with just video footage instead of images. In addition one may notice that I am currently wearing a jester hat to experiment with my chosen tone for the video.

To create this gif I simply took 3 photos of myself and then imported them to Photoshop. From there I created 7 frames and adjusted the visibility of each layer as the animation changed frame. To get the choppy look between each frame I timed the switchover to 0.1 seconds and then repeated certain images.After producing this exercise I believe that I may have stumbled onto a way to present the transformation of the office workers to the "zombie creatures" as mentioned in previous posts. Below is a mock up of how I think this would work.

Keeping with the glitching theme, the idea is to have these office workers glitch into these strange creatures by possibly filming footage of them normal, then employing stop motion techniques and at the last frame (which should look similar to the last frame) feature the worker wearing a mask or something to conceal there identity.

One may notice that I am currently wearing a jester hat to experiment with my chosen tone for the video. After producing the gif however I feel that instead of wearing the hat in the beginning save it for the last frame to add emphasis the strange tone to draw contrast between normality and the robots world.

Casting Call

Casting Call

To produce my music video I'm going to need to put together a fairly medium sized cast consisting of two main characters, the robot and the scientist and a few extras as the infected people to emphasise the robots take over.

To achieve this I first posted an ad for my production on social networking site Facebook in order to reach a mass audience and to target a possible demographic of 16- 24 year olds. According to  research on my audience profile post daft punks main demographic ( an artist who produces music similar to my chosen on) consists of 15-24 year old. I felt by targeting and starring this demographic in my video I may also be able to appeal to this demographic as well.

In the ad I have noted that I would like two males to play the leads and one of the males to be fairly tall. My reasoning behind this was that I would like the Robot to be played by someone who is tall and thin to convey a more alien look the character. Furthermore attached to the post is a concept image I have produced to convey the sort of tone/imagery I would like to feature in my music video. The concept image featured was produced using Photoshop as way of representing how visually the glitch effect of the robots take over of the digital world would look like as well as the tongue in cheek humor I would like to convey in the video as well as technological references to link with the information the music artist has sent to be about the track and with the visual styles of my chosen genre.

So far as a result of my post I've had 3 replies about the music video from people all claiming that they might be able to do it so there is still no confirmed cast as of yet.

However, to further reach an audience, I developed a print poster/ ad which I printed out in A3 and posted in my College's bulletin board.

 

I also printed out 10 copies of the ad and placed them in the tutor folders and requested that each tutor reads out the ad during tutor time to make sure that other students can hear about it they miss the ad on the board. Furthermore I have also handed a digital copy to a fellow student to post up in another college.

On all versions of the ad I have included contact details to contact me as well as my Skype account to allow those interested or involved to get in direct contact with me whilst I sort out more details. It should also allow for those involved to directly join in discussions with me if they are unsure of anything. Additionally I have also added that it would be recommended that those involved should try to bring fancy dress or mask however props will be provided. I have included this as a way of working around the scale of such a project in terms of cost issues that could arise If I am purchasing a large sum of props and costume that could be needed to film scenes with the infected characters.


Finally in terms of the design of the ad I have based it graphically on computer ads of the 70's and 80's to convey a retro look and to also convey the cheesy tone that I would like to be featured in my video.

Burnin Fever - visuals timeline

Burnin Fever - Visuals timeline


 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X28g-anv1b8

(unfortunately my blog is suffering from embedding issues so here's a video link to the timeline)

Above is a video I have produced using imovie to plan out the a timeline of events or visuals that will take place in my music video. The timeline is a summary of events, in the final product there should be a variety of shots that take place within the visuals. During the timeline of events it refers to an event named "footage of feminine lips eating an orange". The reason I have opted for feminine lips specifically to eat the orange at a fast rate was to convey a robotic look as mention previously in my intial ideas post but to also make reference to the convention of women on sexual display in music videos. For this sequence I wish to have eaten in a messy way to put the convention on its head and convey an unpleasant look rather than an attractive one. Furthermore, throughout the timeline I reference an object known as the doll. As previously mentioned in my "Initial ideas for Burnin Fever" post I plan on using a child's doll in certain shots to amplify certain lyrics such as "How much orange is there in a dead body" in an abstract and whimsical way to keep with the comic tone and to convey how chaotic the robot is.

Finally, for the lyric "What do you get when you cross a ballerina and a bastard? Ballesteros was his answer" at the last part of the timeline I mention "a picture of Ballesteros as a ballerina". From researching who or what the sample is referencing, I found out it's referencing Golfer Seve Ballesteros; perhaps at the end of the video one could suggest a picture which features Ballesteros transform into a ballerina which then transforms into the robot.

Burnin fever - possible locations, props, initial storyboard and brainstorm ideas

Burnin fever - Possible locations, props, initial storyboard and brainstorm ideas

The prezi above contains two A3 pages of plan/notes for my music video; these plans include a storyboard of possible shots for the first 48 seconds of the video, ideal locations to film certain scenes, props that would be needed for the shoot. Also included are, a new helmet design/concept for the robot, a sort of structure to the narrative of the video, ideas for imagery that could take place during certain places in the track as well as a short brainstorm as how to depict the robot taking over the digital world. To read the Prezi please full screen the presentation and zoom in on each page.

Below I have included some extra details concerning certain areas of the two A3 pages

A new helmet design

For the look of the robot I have decided to alter its appearance keeping the astronaut base helmet but opting for a more blocky look. I've decided to make the design look like a video game like graphic or pixel to suggest the robots more software like ties and to convey a technology theme/visual motif that can be found in my chosen genre of music for my music video and similar genres such as techno.

An example of pixel video game like graphics. I would like the robots mask to have a similar aesthetic to this

In addition, the use of a mask can convey the look of a masked DJ or artist; a convention  that is found in my chosen genre and similar genres.

"I did it because the thing in techno you weren’t supposed to do was to be recognized and stuff. The sort of unwritten rule was that you can’t put your face on the sleeve. It has to be like a circuit board or something. Therefore I put my face on the sleeve. That’s why I originally did it. But then I got carried away."

—Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin explaining anonymity in the techno genre.

Structure/Plot line

During my mind map, I started to develop a more focused structure to my music video. As mentioned before in another post my music video will follow the exploits of a scientist/hacker as he uploads a virus to the web causing which causes chaos in strange ways. After mind mapping and really thinking what the virus does and how it works I managed to come up with a structure and less broad idea to the events in the music video.

•  Sequence 1 - We are introduced to the Hacker as uploads the virus
• Sequence 2 -  We see the robot/virus affect the web/digital world as a group of office workers watch a viral video of the robot which also happens to be the virus
• Sequence 3 - The office workers get infected by watching the video
• Sequence 4 -The office workers spread the infection
• Sequence 5 - The infection is widespread and worldwide
• Sequence 6 - The Hacker gets infected by his own virus

Within the Prezi on the second page I have left some notes certain events that I would like to happen at certain times during the music video



 The virus and how it works

I have decided that the virus depicted in the video works by a person watching a video of the robot and  which causes them to lag or glitch out as if they were in a video game (to show the artists sci-fi image and to also keep with the technology theme). Eventually the viewers turn into a zombie like creatures which then spreads the virus to other people. The idea of a virus traveling via television or someone watching a video was influenced by the horror film called The ring which features a cursed video which people who watch it die within seven days. In my music video the people who watch the video do not die because it would cause a massive shift in tone furthermore one may suggest possible showing some sort intertextual reference or parody to the ring may be suitable in my music video to convey a comic tone that is desired as mentioned previously in my initial ideas post.

For zombie like creatures or infected I have taken inspiration from the Aphex twin music video, come to daddy which features a group of children wearing Aphex Twin masks and running around an causing chaos. The infected in my music video will take a similar approach to the children featured in come to daddy as they will wear masks to conceal their humanity and convey a subtle hint of creepiness however I would like to dress these infected people in fancy dress clothing such as pirate hats pyjamas or onsies to convey the comical and whimsical tone.


Other notes 

• Throughout my planning I will be referring to something as the digital world which refers to any types of visual texts such as TV, films and music videos which the robot lives in and is taking over.
• I would like the robots take over to be represented in a variety of ways which include the invasion of other genres similar to the music video Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California and how it features many of the tropes and stereotypical looks of certain music genres however this may be subject to change if it proves to much of a large scale to work with.
• Another way I would like to depict the robots take over of the digital world is to feature a sprite sequence similar to the music video Junior Senior -Move your Feet in which we see a simple dance animation of the robot in a video game like graphic.
• During the video as mentioned previous post I expressed my interest to use stock footage to draw parallels to how my chosen genre uses samples from other texts to create something new. This idea of visual samples was inspired by the music video Com Truise Brokendate a track of a similar genre to my chosen one. I have however chosen to use "visual samples" to convey and add emphasis to the virus overloading the digital world around 3:42 to 4:10 in which the pace of the music picks up and repeats the word fever several times. Furthermore, similar to Brokendate which features visual samples from old footage from the 80's, I too would like to use a mix of 80's/late 70's footage to convey a retro look whilst making reference to my chosen genre,nu disco's 80's origins

• Finally during my music video I would like to have some type based sequences similar to the music video Daft Punk - Technologic which features sequences of kinetic type flash on a small monitor. I would like to employ this effect to emphasize the lyrics"like a fever burnin', and let the love with feel" as computer commands.

• Words such as "Burnin" and "love" will be represented by rebuses such as an image of fire and a love heart to draw emphasis to such words. 
   
   
   

Exploring Target audience- Quantitative Research

 Exploring Target audience- Quantitative Research

Developing on my previous research on Daft Punk fans and my potential audience I once again produced a survey via survey monkey and published it on the same thread on the Daft Punk fan club forum hoping to attract the same or similar audience as previously. Unfortunately, I only managed to attract 16 of the original 29 asked so some of my results may be skewed

Below are my results from the survey

1. What is your gender?

    

   
   To improve on my previous investigation into a potential audience, when asked what is you gender 80% of those asked answered Male whereas only 3% replied as female, therefore possibly disputing my previous idea that my potential audience would make up a balanced share of male and female, however it must be emphasised that I only managed to attract 16 of the original group asked on the forum.

2.   How old are you?
   

   

   The purpose of this question was to confirm if this was in fact the same or similar age demographic I was targeting for my media text. When asked about their age everyone replied with the 15-24 age range which I believe would be both the type of audience attracted to Daft Punks music based on my previous research as well as the age demographic appropriate for the consumption of my video if I were to choose Daft Punk fans as a Target audience.

 3. What is your favourite type of music genre?

 

The question above was asked to investigate what other genre of music my potential audience would consume on the assumption that there favourite would be of course electronic based on the fact that my audience I've found are on the dedicated Daft Punk fan club which is dedicated to Daft Punks music and various forms of electric music. Voted on top was Electronic music as expected with 60% of the vote share. Coming in second was Dance music a similar genre to Electronic music but with more of an emphasis to dancing and fast paced beats, attracting 50% of vote share. Finally, the third most popular choice of genre was alternative music  attracting 43.75% of vote share. Because alternative music is such a broad genre in of itself discovering anything new about how my audience consumes music may prove to be difficult however this should not be a complete problem since it was third choice.The significance of Electronic and Dance music being the two top chosen genres could possibly mean that my chosen artist and song will be consumed by this potential audience. This information is based on my artist profile for my chosen song in which my artist has stated that he works mainly in French house and Nu disco; Nu disco a style which blends the use of electronic sounds and styles with a more dance related beat. This could mean that my artists work  could appeal to both of the most popular choices on this survey in terms of the music my audience tends to consume.

4. How do you normally Consume music?

When asked about how my potential audience consumes music, one would expect nowadays that said primary consumption would source from download or digital based means such as streaming on websites such as youtube. The purpose of this question was to investigate if one were to release my chosen song which platform will it be consumed the most and also if I were to release my music video for my audience to consume which distribution platform would be most appropriate. The option to download music gained the most amount of votes with 43.75%  of those asked selecting this option. In second came streaming with 31.25% of votes and surprisingly TV came in last with no one claiming to consume or listen to music via the television. I find this evidence quite significant as it means that if somehow I were to air my music video on a medium that is primarily visual based I will attract little to no audience. This may also reflect the "social network savvy-ness" of my potential audience as mention in my previous research; i.e one could assume that potential audience consume a lot of social networking sites perhaps they have little time to consume television or in fact social networking sites such as you tube have possibly replaced TV for them as a visual medium. When thinking how these results affect my music video one could suggest releasing it on two platforms in order to attract said audience. One being youtube a site which allows for those to both stream music and consume videos which would be an appropriate choice since streaming is the second most popular choice on the list. In order to attract the audience who mainly consume music via download I have found that it is indeed possible to release music videos accompanying songs on iTunes a popular distributor of digital music downloads. To distribute music on said site I have found that one would have to partner up with an established distributor; one distributor mentioned which helps with unsigned artists was CD baby which would allow the distribution of independent music the largest music download sites such as iTunes, Amazon music and spotify thus allowing the song and possibly video based on what I have learn't from iTunes to capture said "download" audience.


5&6 What is your favourite music video and what type of music video would be appropriate for a techno/electronic/house genre?

When asked what type of music video my audience would consider there favourite type of music video style 50% of said audience chose Narrative based and coming in second was concept based music videos gaining around 31.25% of votes. This would mean in order to pursue and appeal to said audience one would have to contain some sort of narrative theme to their video. I originally believed that a concept based video would best suit they style of my chosen artists song however this graph would prove that if I were to indeed attract this audience some narrative styles will need to be adapted into it even if this is being something as simple as representing an equilibrium, disruption and new equilibrium to my production. On the other hand, I wanted to see if my thoughts on electric based music such as techno and house being best suited for concept based videos would be valid based on some of my previous music video research. When asked about would concept based videos best suit this style of music concept videos gained majority of the vote attracting 68.75% of votes thus giving my initial thoughts some reinforcement as well as considering pushing more narrative styles in my music video to capture this audience whilst keeping the type of music video appropriate to the song.

7.What type of artist does this song remind you of?

The question above was asked to gain a better understanding of the type of song I have chosen to produce a music video for. By gaining a better understanding of the type of genre the song sounds like as well as other artists the song is similar to this would allow me to broaden my research as well as broaden my range of potential audiences which can be done by looking at the audiences of the similar artists recommended and finding what could appeal to them and attempt to adapt this information into my video. The same could be said about finding out what similar genre could link with my chosen song allowing me to take genre conventions from other similar genres to appeal to the fans of that said genre. Before posting this question, I wanted my chosen audience to hopefully say it reminds them of Daft Punk in order to validate my pursuit of this audience.

Among my responses I received 5 replies commenting that the song reminded them of Daft Punk or groups that a member of Daft Punk has been involved with (Le Knight Club and Stardust).This then provides me further evidence I need to justify my pursuit to target Daft Punk fans as potential audience for my video if the song backing up the visual reminds them of an artist they are fond of.

Other artists recommended such as Breakbot, Eric Prydz, Basement Jaxx etc. were mainly french DJ's and French house or house artists meaning the style of my song closely links within the house genre thus it would be appropriate to investigate appealing to said audience. Furthermore, these names of artists now allow me to analyse their  potential audiences and gain a better understanding of who my media product could appeal to.

8.Would you listen/download to the full song if made available to you?

Out of the 16 people asked if they would consume the song, I have chosen 50% of those either have said yes or have expressed some enthusiasm towards the track. The purpose of this question was to further investigate if the Daft Punk audience would be a suitable choice for my music video. Since half of those asked have offered positive feedback towards the song as well as an extra answer commenting "It's good but it's not precisely my taste in music" , this may prove that perhaps the Daft Punk fan demographic may still be possible to attract but not as simple as I simply believed. On the other hand, this should not be too much of a problem since due to results of the previous question I can still investigate other artist's audiences and reflect on who my product would appeal to. For the time being, the Daft Punk audience may remain as my primary audience until since there was an equal amount of positive and negative feedback amongst said group.

9. How much significance does a music video have on your view on the artist?

This particular question was asked whether a good music video would entice my chosen audience to consume the music product it was promoting. The top rated choice was a moderate amount, meaning that my audience does take in a fact the quality of the music video could affect what they think of the song, however for this audience it seems that the music behind the video plays a much larger role than the visuals.  On the other hand perhaps my question "How much significance does a music video have on your view on the artist" may have been worded wrong and need to be re-worked. I was primarily focusing on whether a good music video would equal to audience support of a song, however  looking back this question may give off the effect that what I am possibly asking is does a good music video equal to a good song or good artist which means these may be skewed and prove to be quite unreliable.


10. What is your favourite music video

The question above was produced in order to further understand what music videos appeal to my audience. The idea is by understanding a trend in music videos that they choose I may be able to incorporate or perhaps I may have themes already in video planning that would attract this audience. To go in details trends or themes that could be found would be sci-fi elements or comical music videos based on my previous research on this audience.

Videos which were named

• Da Funk- Daft Punk

• Around the World ( answered 3 times) - Daft Punk

• Get By - Delta Heavy

• I am the Walrus - The Beatles

• On and On - Justice

• Take on me - AHA  

• Pursuit of happiness - Kid Cudi

• Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Ray

• Ali Bomaye - The Game

•  Tribute - Tenacious D 

• Lullaby -  Nickelback 

• Go to Hell - Go radio

• I'm not Alone - Calvin Harris

When looking through the selection of music videos one notices a trend between the majority of them with videos; I feel that a lot of them are either concept based or feature fantastical themes or feature abstract filters or effects to emphasise the visuals of the video. Videos such as Delta heavy, Da funk, Around the world, I'm not Alone and On and On, feature abstract visuals such stop motion toys, anthropomorphic dogs, dancing robots, mad scientists and scientists and women in cages and flying meat which convey concept based music video conventions leading to little plot and relying on strange imagery to entice its audiences. Whereas videos such as I am Walrus, take on me and Tribute although not exactly concept based feature similar surreal moments such as men in hippo outfits or comics coming to life or encounters with Devils. The same can also be applied to summertime madness which features imagery of the artist consumed by smoke overlaid against a vintage filter and also pursuit of happiness with its use of slow motion contrasted with real time within the same shot to convey a distorted atmosphere. In addition Ali Bomaye features shots within a sci-fi setting around 2:14 we can see sci-fi conventions such as neon lights and flying cars in the background which may possibly reflect the idea that my chosen audience is attracted to sci-fi themes and aesthetics.

To summarise this point perhaps based on the majority of the videos featuring fantastical elements it may seem what attracts my audience in terms of music videos are videos which focus less on the representation of real life and offer a sense of escapism or wonder to said audience. This may possibly reflect the idea that my audience are possibly made up of reformers one trait which is described as a reformer trait is that, "All rigid restrictions are irksome to you, be they hierarchies and bureaucracies, accepted ideas, roles, rules and routines – or tight collars and small windows."

In this context one could interpret this as saying that rigid restrictions bothering them could be applied to realism in music video in a similar way. Perhaps showing just what is real to this audience represents restriction and structure; more of the same whereas abstract and fantastical themes may show these rules being broken and show something new. Among my written answers many replies complimented the videos creativity, complexity but most significantly how "different" it was. This may further reflect my idea that this  majority of this audience are attracted to something different offered to them in life to be reflected on screen.

Conclusion

From further research according to these results may audience may be made up of a more male audience however this may still not be 100% reliable, 16- 24 years of age,  and are attracted to narrative based videos yet believe electronic based music mainly suits concept imagery. Additionally my chosen song my be able to attract another audience of house fans and has an equal chance to either be dismissed or consumed by my chosen audience. Moreover,depending on how the question was interpreted my audience may feel that the song should play a larger part in the consumption the song itself rather than how good the music video is for the song. Finally when thinking about what appeals to my audience in terms of what they see in a music video from my research it seems that fantastical elements and a sense of "uniqueness" captures this audience's interest possibly due to the fact that this audience may be made up of reformers. 

When applying this knowledge to my own media product it would be apparent that I would need to adopt more of a sense of narrative to my work as well pushing a surrealist quality to the work. Furthermore, if I were to actually host the video on a platform for this audience to consume the easiest and cost effective option whilst still gaining a large share of this audience would be releasing it on you tube based on my "how do you normally consume music question ?" whereas attempting to release it on itunes via CD baby although I would be attracting the larger "download" audience share it would cost money and thus  due to budget reasons the you tube option seems much easier and simpler.