Alex will be positioned on the left side of the grass, lying facing upwards, holding a guitar playing looking at the camera; he will have headphones. Francesca is positioned next to Alex on the right side, in a shy-seductive pose. She is holding a microphone pulling down her dress at the same time. There will be black tape on her mouth. Nii-ashiquaye is next to Francesca on the right side holding drum sticks pretending to play while wearing sun glasses and is positioned is if he is in a drum line.
High Angle, Long Shot
Showing all of the band and a bit of the grass they are laying on.
Costume:
Alex: Shirt, skinny tie, long chinos (brown)
Vans/converses
Hair :long hair with a bang
Francesca: short low cut black dress, thin tights partly torn at the sides, pink Dr marten boots
Hair: long wavy ginger hair
Make up: smoky eye shadow, heavy eye liner, pink blusher, red lipstick
Nii-ashiquaye: blue polo shirt, long chinos (light brown), blue vans
Hair: Hi top
Empty crushed beer cans
Dr Dre Headphones
Ray Bans
Black tape
Drum sticks
Guitar
Microphone
Cigarettes
Gig tickets
IPhone
Band
Photographer
Location manager
Props / make up / hair artist
Camera, batteries, tripod, spotlights x3,
2
4:00pm
Camden Town river locks
Alex will be sitting on a rock in the middle of the river locks, holding his guitar pretending to play engaging with his band members. Francesca will be writing a song with a notebook and pen with headphones on, leaning on the lever. Nii-ashquaye will be pretending to play drums with his drum sticks on the rocks standing up
Long shot, eye level
Costume:
Alex: Shirt, skinny tie, long chinos (brown)
Vans/converses
Hair :long hair with a bang
Francesca: short low cut black dress, thin tights partly torn at the sides, pink Dr marten boots
Hair: long wavy ginger hair
Make up: smoky eye shadow, heavy eye liner, pink blusher, red lipstick
Nii-ashiquaye: polo, long chinos (light brown), blue vans
Hair: Hi top
Dr Dre headphones
Drum sticks
Guitar
Notepad
pen
Band
Photographer
Location manager
Props / make up / hair artist
Camera, batteries, tripod, spotlights x3,
3
6:00pm
Camden town on top of the town center building
Alex will be standing at the edge of a building with his guitar looking upwards out to the sky. Francesca will be standing next to Alex on his right side looking forward out to the sky, arms akimbo. Nii-ashquaye will be standing up holding a drum in his arm and on his other arm he will be holding drum sticks, looking forward out to the sky. This will be against the sunlight to get a silhouette image.
Long shot, low angle
Costume:
Alex: Shirt, skinny tie, long chinos (brown)
Vans/converses
Hair :long hair with a bang
Francesca: short low cut black dress, thin tights partly torn at the sides, pink Dr marten boots
Hair: long wavy ginger hair
Make up: smoky eye shadow, heavy eye liner, pink blusher, red lipstick
Nii-ashiquaye: polo, long chinos (light brown), blue vans
Hair: Hi top
Guitar
Drum
Drum sticks
Band
Photographer
Location manager
Props / make up / hair artist
Camera, batteries, tripod, spotlights x3,
This shooting schedule will be useful for me being in charge of the makeup and props as I have a clear guide of what I would need to bring for the day we shoot. The director has provided me with clear instructions of how he wants the artists to look and it’s up to me to go out and get these props for the shoot.
1.If you were able to dress in any brand what will it be?
We asked this question to relate to our music video and help us decide what type of costume we should provide for our band. This is useful as it gives us the generic conventions of indie which will provide our music video which the generic conventions.
2.In a music video what do you like to see; narrative based, concept based or performance based?
We asked this question as it will help us decide which type of music video we provide. Whether it should be narrative based, performance based or concept based; or if we should provide a mixture.
3.What are your top three favourite artists?
We asked this question as it will give us ideas from these favourite artists. As this is the indie sub-culture, they will also help us with the generic conventions which we should provide in our music video.
4.What do you do in your free time?
We asked this question so we can get ideas as what theme we should put in our music video/ album cover. For example if most people say they go to the park, then we may add a park theme so the audience can feel closer to the artists.
5.What’s your favourite style in clothing please tick from the list below:
Polo shirts [ ]
Shirts [ ]
Denim shirts [ ]
Chinos trousers [ ]
Skinny jeans [ ]
Monkey jeans [ ]
Canvas shoes [ ]
Boat shoes [ ]
Loafers [ ]
Espadrilles [ ]
We asked this question to help us with the costume of our band. What comes up as most frequent, we may decide to pick an outfit like that as this will represent the common Indie wear.
6.What’s your top three music videos?
We asked this question because we want music videos to compare to and copy certain styles that will attract to the Indie subculture. Also the common artists mentioned, we can research into their style of their music videos and costume and analysis how we can represent this in our music video.
7.What’s your dream job?
We asked this question as what the audience aspire to; we can try and include this in our music video so they will be more attracted to our music video. For example if most of the audience say they want to be a graphics designer, then we will include items that they will aspire to such as Mac laptops.
8.How do you usually receive your music?
Download Music [ ]
Buy CD’s [ ]
We asked this question because we want see if much people buy CDs much or just download music. This most people download, then we may need to think about making our album more attractive so people would want to buy it.
9.How do you watch music videos?
Online [ ]
Television [ ]
iPod [ ]
We asked this question because we want to see the most popular and from that make our video available to these media products. For example if Ipod is the most common, then will make sure our video is available so it can reach the highest views possible.
10.Can you relate to the music video lyrics?
YES OR NO
And why?
We asked this question so we can make our music video to be able to connect with the audience. If most of the audiences say they don’t relate to the videos, then asking why will give us the advantage to add this to our music video and allow the audience to relate to our video.
Questionnaire Results
1.1.If you were able to dress in any brand what will it be?
From this result it shows that from our subculture (Indie), Vans are the most popular brand of clothing they wear. This information will help us as we now know to include mainly Vans in out video so the audience will feel closer to the band and be able to relate to them. Brands such as Lazy Oaf won’t be included in our video as not much of our subculture recognises this and wear this brand. We may include brands such as Dr Martins as this brand is worn often by the subculture Indie.
1.2.In a music video what do you like to see; narrative based, concept based or performance based?
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie), they prefer performance based songs over narrative and concept based songs. This means that we need to include performance based in our music video as this is what our audience will mainly be expecting; they are used to seeing mainly performance based. As our budget is not high, we aren’t going to include performance based throughout our video, also this would be too linear and our audience may get bored. Narrative was the second preferred music video to be seen. We are going to include both narrative and performance based so our audience won’t get bored.
1.3.What are your top three favorite artists?
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly like Arctic Monkeys more than any other band we mentioned. This may be because the Arctic Monkeys have been in the music industry longer than the other bands; so they are more recognised. This shows that me and my group need to research into Arctic Monkeys and analysis key conventions they include so we can include this in our album cover and music video. For example this may include the costumes they wear, hair styles and common themes in their music videos.
1.4. What do you do in your free time?
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly hangs out in the park. This is useful for me and my group as we can now include these scenes in our music video so the Indie audience connected. For example we can now include our band at the park so the audience can feel a link with them and the band. Quite a lot of this subculture also smokes and goes to parties. This can help us with our album cover as we can make our band smoking in the park or at a party.
1.5. What’s your favorite style in clothing please tick from the list below:
From this result it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly wears canvas shoes with chino trousers and either a polo shirt or a shirt. This is very helpful for me and my group as we can make sure that our band wears these types of clothes in our music video and album cover so they fit better into the Indie subculture and attract them more.
1.6. What’s your top three music videos?
From the result it shows that our subculture (Indie) prefers Don’t You Look Good on the Dance Floor to the other two music videos. This shows that Arctic Monkeys are one of the most favorite bands along with their music videos in the Indie subculture. This will help me and my group as we can look at this music video and try to duplicate some of the conventions they use. Also to look at their album covers and get ideas from them. From this our Indie subculture with hopefully feel the same connection they feel with Arctic Monkeys with our band as there will be common themes.
1. 7. What’s your dream job?
In the options of this result, we tried to offer a range of job careers. From the results it shows that our subculture (Indie) most of them don’t know what they want to be when they’re older. This is useful for our group as we know that there are not much job aspirations. Although there was a few people who wanted to be a graphic designer. This will help us as we can include essentials for a graphic designer such as high tech gadgets. This would mean the audience will aspire to this and therefore feel connected.
1. 8. How do you usually receive your music?
From these results it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly downloads music rather than buy CD’s. This shows that we need to make our album cover attractive to the audience that they would want to buy our album cover.
< 9. How do you watch music videos?
From these results it shows that our subculture (Indie) mostly watches music videos online. This shows the popularity of the internet. This result will help me and me group as now we need to make sure our video is available online to achieve the highest viewing rates. We need to consider what popular website to upload it to such as YouTube. We also need to consider our video being available for Ipod viewers; this will increase our band’s popularity and allow them to gain greater recognition.
10. Can you relate to the music video lyrics?
From these results it shows that our subculture (Indie) can relate to music videos. This may be because of the conventions of indie being applied within the music videos; they feel connected as there are common norms and values with the band members and the audience. For example if the audience see their favourite Indie band chilling in the park, they may feel connected with the band as they usually do that too. This result has helped me and my group as we can also apply some common norms and values within the Indie subculture so they can relate to the music video. For example we can include similar outfits such as check shirts and canvas shoes so the Indie audience can relate to the band more.
Subculture
A subculture is a group of people who are united through a common value system and tastes (clothes, music, policies etc.) These common norms and values are against the mainstream.
An example of black youth’s subculture:
-Being individual, dress same within subculture
-Brand names such as Nike, Adidas, McKenzie etc. These brands are usually at JD Sports
-Similar to chavs
-‘Old Skool’ ‘New Skool’
Links to how the subcultures view:
-Seen as a rebellion subculture as they usually break the law
-Attitude to consumerism; they focus on appearance ad purchase certain brands
-Gang rivalry
-They aren’t seen as traditional as they produce new ideas (neophyte)
Here is an example of the subculture who will listen to our music, Indie:
-Being individual, dress same within subculture
-Brand names such as Vans, Converse etc. Chinos and check shirts are usually worn.
Links to how the subcultures view:
-They don’t usually conform but rebel by creating their own values.
-They have more on an attitude to consumerism then capitalism
-They’re more tribal than gang rivalry
-They aren’t seen as traditional as they produce new ideas (neophyte)
Subculture Theory
Grant Mc Cracken– The postmodern world is full of diversity, creativity and dynamic. Looking at the common values, we cannot say this is from one culture – the mainstream.
The CCCS (centre for contemporary cultural studies)– They ignore this view as they believe all subcultures are from the mainstream but believe this is a reaction against it.
Hebdige – believes although subculture appear different, they are deep down the same culture. There’s no subculture because if you look deeper, there’s enough richness to warrant renaming subcultures as little cultures.
CCCS is out of date as the mainstream is crumbling. If there’s no mainstream, there’s nothing teens react against. They’re driven by their motives and these are understood through own terms, individual terms. “There’s no mainstream, there are many streams.” – quote from Hebdige.
Criticism against CCCS:
-Generalises when it should be particularising.
-They don’t take into account of the. fact teens will often move between sub-cultures.
-Also a lot of people mix and match between subcultures. For example a boy may be in the ‘Chavs’ subculture but may also have elements of a ‘Goth’ subculture.
-Adults can conform to the mainstream but re-enter a subculture at a different time e.g. weekends. For example a teacher maybe be a ‘Goth’ on the weekends but during weekday be a conformist and follow the mainstream.
Pop music and youth subculture
Pop stars are presented in a certain way to appeal to a certain audience. The audience are unpredictable in their likes and dislikes that record labels can never truly know how to target them.
Dyer’s ‘Star Theory’
-Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes and will promote a certain ideology; fans who agree with this will support the star.
-Fans will imitate the star in order to get closer to them and their fancy lifestyle they appear to have. This could be the way they dress, copy behaviour etc.
-Dyer theory is to movie stars but this applies to pop stars as they have a faster way of gaining fans and popularity.
For example Two Door Cinema Club are an Indie band, so they show cultural norms and values within the Indie subculture that present a certain ideology and fans in the Indie subculture will agree and support this band. Therefore fans will feel connected with the star and try to get closer to them and their lifestyle by wearing similar clothing and similar behaviour.
Another example is Kylie Minogue:
In these images, Kylie has changed over time. This is because she needs to adapt to different audiences through time to keep an audience and to get a wider target audience.
Beliefs and values of Indie subculture
From look at NME, I believe the main subculture is Indie that read this magazine. I used Find Your Tribe and Youtube to find out what characteristics this group has:
Indie is short for the word independent. They are independent from the mainstream culture itself. They do whatever they like without worrying about fitting into the pop culture or mainstream. A value of theirs is just to be you; do what you want and wear what you want and not care what people think.
Clothing trends within the indie culture are focused on uniqueness and individuality of a person. Common clothing items include band T-shirts, vintage clothing, shirts, chinos, ties, cardigans, skinny jeans, Vans and Converse. They wear whatever they like, not just your typical designer brands. Popular indie stores include Urban Outfitters, Delia’s, Goodwill, Yesterday’s News etc.
The indie subcultures as a whole value ‘do it yourself’ projects. Most in this subculture like making their own clothing or altering things they already own to give it a more unique look. Also D.I.Y. projects like making their own music or films are often done. A lot of indie bands have a unique style and sound although they don’t all sound the same. They value the fact that they can make any type of music they like without people disapproving. Many followers of the indie culture are associated with local independent art and music scenes.
Target audience
Two Door Cinema Club’s say their genre of music is Alteronica which is a mix of pop, indie, rock and electro. This means they appeal to a broad range of music listeners. It is usually hard to establish the target audience of a band, although you can get a better idea from what companies promote their music. NME is a well established music company and their magazine often promotes Two Door Cinema Club with interviews and videos and blogs on their site. The NME magazine is aimed at 17 to 30 year old men but from looking at the statistics the median age is 25 and 73% of the readers are male resulting in 27% of the readers being female. These statistics show that they are appealing to their target audience. From these figures we need to appeal our music video to 17 to 30 year old males as they are going to be the ones that relate to the band the most; they would have heard and read about Two Door Cinema Club.
We need an album cover with artwork which represents the band ‘Highly Indie’ as a whole and what they stand for. An idea that we would like to work around is the band on the front cover in a day-to-day background. This could be any background that the audience can relate to. Calm colours that work well together which aren’t too bright or dark would fit our concept. The band members should be holding the instruments they play in the song and in casual clothing which the indie sub-culture would wear; also the idea of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil should be applied in the artwork.
Why are we doing it?
This is Highly Indie's debut album and we need this album to bring us the success; the artwork is key to our success. The consumers should be able to relate to the background so they feel closer to the band. The outfits will help group them in the correct genre without having to listen to their music. The colours shouldn’t be too bright; it might put of the wrong vibe, colours such as white, green and blue may be used.
Comparable products
Released: April 2008
Sales in first week: 65, 901
Released: June 2010
Sales in the first week: 70, 378
Released: July 2009
Sales in the first week: 92, 674
Released: June 2011
Sales in the first week: 48, 746
Consumer
Primary
70% Males aged 17-30
C2 D E
Secondary
30% Women aged 17-30
C2 D E
What is the reaction we want?
We want the consumers to feel like they can relate to this band. Consumers from the target audience should be able to build a relationship with the band from the common norms and values their sub culture believe in.
How Will We Know It Worked?
We will know this from our sale targets. If this is met or higher than the target, then we will know this is a success. Also we are going to do focus group where we will pay a few fans to look at our first drafts and give us their feedback. This will be helpful as we will be able to improve on the criticism they make.
Sales Target: 25, 000
Kay launch dates
Press Campaign: 8th January 2012
TVC Launch: 10th January 2012
Album Release: 15th January 2012
Album Sleeve
Description
To produce a friendly, relating album with the band showing their personality and emotion to appeal to the target audience; making them want to find out more about the band. Causing them to buy and listen to the album.
Deadlines
30th December 2011
Objective
To produce and present an album where target audience can relate within everyday life allowing them to cope more with life.
Proposition
To form a wider target audience within the indie genre to build a well known band resulting in commercial and economic success.
Tone of voice/ brand image/ positioning
Aimed to an audience who can relate themselves to the lyrics of the songs.
Restrictions/ limitations (mandatories)
The only restriction is to provide the artist name and album name.
Production Specs
One CD with a plastic case.
Creative Edge Spectrum
We want the album to be more on the creative side than the safe side to take a risk and show the consumers who the band are about.
