Practice Storyboard Pictures - Splitscreen

Here are some of the pictures we took last week as part of putting some of our storyboard images into action. We decided to try and practice some of the pictures in order to pick up any problems with our idea and generally see how it would look.

From doing so I believe we are happy to go ahead and use the shots in our final storyboard, which we have finished today, using split screens in our music video as it automatically creates the parallel storylines for our Villain and Hero, making the connection easier for when they meet later on in the story.

We have tried to conceal the identity of our characters to increase suspense, something that also makes the filming easier as we don't have to worry about continuity with make-up, as we hope to film these 'getting ready' shots at a different time to the main shots in Cambridge.

Some simple but important points we have found from doing this exercise are:

• We need to be consistent in the sides in which our characters are at the editing stage, e.g. in the examples in this post the villain is to the left and the hero to the right.

• We need to make sure we shoot each shot from the same angle and distance creating continuity in our music video, this was lacking in our test shots as you can see below but we have learnt from this.

Ali

Storyboard Update

We have completed the timing's for the whole of the storyboard which is SUCH a relief as it was the main thing holding us back form progress - because we didn't know where to start with the frames, but now it's complete we can get started on the key bits of narrative. the reason the timing is so important is that we are focusing on the concept of music to visuals and this has helped us see where the key timings are.

they will be scanned and uploaded pronto!








Roish

Progress on locations and Mr Mills :)

As stated in my previous post, as a group we discussed using a warehouse or something similar for some of the "rave" scenes or possibly the fight scnee could take place at this location.
I investigated which letting agencies had facilities for us to use. I called some up, but had a problem with us being students using the wareouses unsupervised. Some agencies just wouldnt allow us to use the warehouses on a one day contract.
However, Lacy Scott and Knight and Merryfields, were enthusiastic and willing for us to use them for a warehouse. They are both going to contact me next week to arrange when we can choose somewhere we want, or even whether it will be possible. They both raised the issue of money and ive asked whether they can enquire if it will be free, because we dont really have a budget to spend! So by next week we should know if we will have an extra locaion :)

Also Me and Olivia went to speak with Mr Mills, asking if he would be available and willig to feature in our music video as the dark and mysterious "boss" of Vickee (the hero) and he agreed so we have all of our characters sorted as well :)


Danni

Ideas on the storyboard

Ok, so for one of our tasks we have decided to take some photos on some of the ideas we have from our storyboard, this was good so we can experiment with different shot types and see if it would work in our video. Our main idea was to have a split screen which Ali will go into more detail, but with split screen it is showing the preparation of the hero and the villain getting ready before they fight. We also took some shots which hopefully will be quite effective, like the shot of Ali walking out of the door using a low angle, this makes Ali more powerful and a bigger role showing that she is more dominant, this shot will be used for the hero as we can show that she is more powerful than the villain. Another shot, is the shot of me, Danni and Roish I would say that the shot would be better closer because if it was more close-up, with my face in the middle as I am the villain and roish and danni on the side to show that they are my side-kicks this again gives the villain to be more in control rather than her side kicks, also how I am more forward and they are behind me, that shows that I am more dominant. These shots were quite successful as they have given us a bit of an idea of what shots we want to include in our music video.



Olivia

Contact lenses

So we have two main characters for our music video, a hero and a villain. I am going to be the villain in this video and I have done a bit of research for what type of costumes the prodigy wear, and the main thing that came across was the contact lenses!! Its really good how you can see the different effects with the people that wear contact lenses to those who don't and it would be a big difference to tell apart from the good and the bad. So we are planning to get white contact lenses as we thought it would be pretty freaky for me to wear them!! In a lot of the prodigy videos they wear different contact lenses as well, it is quite good with the genre of music as it is quite techno and different and random so it shows that they are trying to be random and give more of an effect in the music videos. It also relates to their industriel theme as wearing contact lenses can make them look dingey and dark and mixing with the blacks and whites to make them look freaky. There is also a website where you can get loads of different colours, they are not that expensive so if we decide that white isn't the best colour then we can go for some other ones, like neon contact lenses, i think that these would also be quite good as it relates to the album covers, with bright colours mixing with dark colours.


Olivia

An example of 'Tricking'

This is the style of dance that we want to incorporate in our music video - the fight scene. I think it would be a great twist to the narrative. the boy's group is called 'whiplash' and they're all around the age of 13 to 15. they've been tricking for a few years and i thought it would be a great opportunity to see what we could use in our video. were still deciding on whether to use them or not.

Roish

no good

the key concept of this music video is the atmospheric idea of an illegal rave. the music video is set in what looks like an abandoned warehouse and has the sense if neglect and vandalism. the narrative of the video follows a man around the warehouse with the ravers in the background and the audience are led to question what he is doing as it looks like he is on a mission, the narrative is rather ambiguous until nearer the end.

the dancing throughout the video is a conventional aspect of a typical Prodigy video and this has inspired as into wanting to incorporate into our own video as we have mentioned before. although the dancing in this video doesn't look like its been choreographed, it still has a purpose to the video, it shows the sense of freedom and utopia that many ravers seek in their drug taking. we are planning on taking a more organised approach to our video and the choreography is going to be a bit more sleek, but the narrative in 'No good' is completely different to the narrative in 'invaders must die' so we never intended to follow the style of this video, it was just inspiring and helpful in showing us the conventional aspects of their videos.

the setting of this video is great for the concept and made us as a group consider all the different places we could shoot our fight scene, were still deciding on whether it would be too much hassle to get in touch with the council to see if they have anywhere we could possibly go to shoot and we were also weary of the lighting issues that would be involved. there is an abandoned pub in my village that would be a great place to shoot as it has been abandoned for over ten years and has been vandalised by some of the local 'yobs'. there has also been some illegal raves in there in the past so it;s obviously a great place for our video, there are still a few issues to resolve at the moment so for now i will be taking some pictures and uploading them as part of our pre-production process.

Roish

Possible camera shots and locations

In our media lesson today, Roish brought in a DVD of The Prodigy's music videos. We had already discussed many specific shots which we would like to incorporate into our own music video. We watched Baby's got a temper released in 1992, and saw that they had used jump cuts at the start of their video for when the band are getting changed. This was a primary idea of ours for the beginning of Invaders must die, when our hero and villain are getting ready to go out. This increases the speed of the scene and relates to Goodwins six, with the fast pace giving a relationship between the music and visuals.I have added the music video, Baby's got a temper. The jump shots I referenced are between 42 seconds and 1 minute.

Also during our planning we have realised through our research that the rave scene has a huge influence on The Prodigy and that many of their videos are set in dark, underground locations, eg. an abandoned subway. As a group we discussed having some scenes shot in a warehouse or a run down barn to relate back to The Prodigy's earlier work. We are currently researching whether this would be possible and contacting the council and friends to find locations :)


Danni

important facts about the Prodigy we MUST consider when constructing our music video

Invaders Must Die is the fifth album from a band long synonymous with bringing urban disruption to the countryside. Like uninvited guests dirtying up the landscape they've long trodden paths supposedly to them.

So Invaders Must Die then is awash with references to the free party generation. It thunders like the mother of all E-rushes, all hairs tingling, spine jumping and lips buzzing. But it ain't no retroactive arms-in-the-air, water-sharing nostalgia trip. This set is fuelled by the dog-thunder of punk's saliva-dripping rabid snarl. In fact its canines are so thoroughly bared that it's more likely to snap at your jugular and steal your water. Laughing all the while. In fact, the often overlooked dumb-assed humour that has always been at the heart of the band is has a full force presence here.

After 40 minutes of having your head battered by future nostalgia, serotonin levels twisted by feel-good horrorcore and your synapses snapped by whiplash attitude, Invaders Must Die delivers its final, brilliant twist - a horn drenched sunrise anthem that aches with the positivity of a new dawn. That track, 'Stand Up' laughs aloud like a victor, spreads its arms around its comrades (the unit, the family) and walks the line of a burning horizon with the swaggering look of satisfaction that only comes when you instinctively know you've achieved what you set out to do.

Invaders Must Die is the unique sound of The Prodigy, still trespassing after all these years, walking the path they've created for themselves. And with that free party attitude still breaking and entering where other's can only dream of following.

“We represent all that is great about Britain, and we should be protected like a national heritage,” laughs Liam as 'Stand Up' fades into the distance. He may well be right! The question is, are the established overlords of our green and pleasant land ready for this particular juggernaut to be jettisoned into the middle of Constable’s finest.

all of the above was hijacked from their biography on their website - http://www.theprodigy.com/the-prodigy/biography

it is obviously their new album was heavily influenced by their experiences in the rave scene - not saying that we should go raving and film the drug takin but we should try and incorporate the experiences of the rave lifstyle in an urban and country lifestyle - by mixing up camera shots or something outrageous


Roish

Who listens to The Prodigy

I asked students from around my sixth form social forum, what kind of people or audience they thought of when I asked them who listens to The Prodigy. I received a range of answers from Indie/rockers, Dance/techno lovers, ravers and a range of ages across generations. With this is mind I researched various Prodigy music videos ranging from their first releases in 1991 to the present day, to give an idea of why these audience types were suggested and whether they were just generalizations of the genre of The Prodigy’s music.
I also undertook some background research on how The Prodigy started out and how they rose to fame to get an idea of their original fan base. Liam Howlett the main front man for The Prodigy was highly involved in the rave scene just a few years before he found fame. He was a popular face and even became a DJ at several raves. This genre then became a heavy influence on their first album with dance and rave tracks with the occasional reggae style mixes. This highlights what a diverse band they are, shown by their ability to produce any style of music. I believe this to be the reason why they have such a range of target audiences.
After pushing their music at various gigs and raves their popularity grew and they rose to fame rapidly, with their first music video then being played on Top of the Pops and their fan base continued to expand.
Many of their fans were in their teenage years and were into the rave scene. This was incorporated in their first music video Charly. It was a very performance based video, set at a rave. This is a direct plug at their target audience and also is clearly intertextual by including video clips from 1970’s commercial advertisements “Charly cartoons”. Addressing their target audience who may remember the advertisements in their childhood and may take them on a nostalgia trip.



To further my research I looked at many message boards for The Prodigy and many people were commenting on how they had bought The Prodigy’s first album back in 1992 and they are still hearing their music on the radio now in 2009, proving how they have continued to be popular throughout the country.
Their later videos continued to stay performance based with elements of concept being introduced. These videos keep consistency throughout their work.
Another reoccurring motif than I found throughout the four music videos I analyzed, is the use of darkness and underground settings to set moods. Firestarter is set in an abandoned London subway, Poison was shot in a dark, mud infested underground room and No Good is set in an underground warehouse. Also with both No Good and Firestarter filmed in black and white. Genres associated with darkness are Emo/Indie and Rock music, conforming to the perception that listeners of The Prodigy and most probably audience to these genres.








This is continued in the design of their official website with the rave scene being incorporated with neon colours but then an industrial feel is given with black and white images and a dark edge to the images.

Danni

The Prodigy Website

The Prodigy has an official website where their homepage has a main picture of showing who the prodigy are, it has the main text at the front. i.e. showing the update of the main news and headlines. So that the audience can keep up to date with The Prodigy. It uses recognizable font and colours so that it doesn’t confuse the audience, and the title ‘The Prodigy’ is the most significant text on the page with its flashing and recognizable font. It also has social websites where you can see exactly what The Prodigy are doing i.e. facebook/Twitter. It also has advertisement for themselves, they have a link on the homepage which takes you directly to The Prodigy shop and subscriptions to joining up to the newsletters and mailing list. The other links that you can go to from the homepage are the band, music, news, gigs, photos, videos, shop, community and skins at the top of the homepage, the colour of the font is much different to the rest as it is in more fluorescent colours

so that it is more attractive for the audience to go onto the links. There is also music tracks on the homepage so you can choose some music to listen to while you’re browsing through the website, these are quite conventional elements for a website but what The Prodigy has as an unconventional website is a link where you can see pictures of the fans tattoos of The Prodigy, ‘We want your Prodigy tattoos!’, this is unconventional for a normal website but what makes The Prodigys website unique so it may attract a specific audience who has an interest in tattoos. They also have a video on the homepage to show the atmosphere of what a Prodigy concert is like, this can be a for a new fan who wants to see the experience of what one of their concerts are like, there are also backstage videos so the audience can relate to the artists and to see what they are like.

Olivia

Ancillary Task: CD Cover Design

The Prodigy’s previous album covers differ greatly from the simplistic approach of ‘Experience’ to the more complex pop art style of ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’.
One main point for The Prodigy's albums is that they don't include a picture of the band, unlike many other commercial bands therefore this helps us with copyrighted images and stresses that where another band may focus on the band The Prodigy prefere to focus on the music.


'Experience' is a very bold but rounded font, perhaps representing the band’s bold reputation yet making it visually appealing and therefore gaining sales.
Its simplicity is a very daring idea as this will make it blend into the background, unlike a later album e.g. 'Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned', but the record label may have wanted the cover to simply be able the music, without any distractions. Which may have been drastic but it did well nevertheless.





This bold font is continued into their ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ album, yet this time the writing is distorted to a curve, something that continues the warped nature of the image. The distressed face would have been used to capture the shop browser with its horrific style. The title has a humorous side suggesting this is the kind of music you’d turn to once you’ve lost a lover with songs like ‘No Good’ carrying on this theme of bad relationships. The colour palette for this cover is black, grey and white representing their very rough cut style of music, something that dramatically changes in the next album.


‘The Fat of the Land’ is the next album, released in 1997 and this time features a crab on a beach, again something that has a humorous side to it, whilst still having that eye catching element that the record label demand. The close up with blurred surroundings ensures that the crab stands out boldly, whilst making it seem like it is moving towards us. The crab continues the motif of a disturbing image, whilst this picture is not as strong as the face from ‘Music for the Jilted Generation,’ the crab as an animal is small but scary, so just like people are scared of spiders this plays on the fear of crabs. For the title we see the round boxes used in ‘Experience’ come back, yet with a different font. The font now is less bold, and the biggest change is the size of this title, suggesting that their popularity was at a high and the record label (XL Recordings )were sure that the loyal target market already set up would seek out the album rather than XL Recordings finding the audience with mounds of promotional work, although naturally some would still have been used to promote to a wider audience.
With this album we meet the recurring motif of the ant, something that is featured on ‘Invaders Must Die’, some 12 years later and is littered all over the artist’s website.


‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’, my personal favorite, takes on a total revamp of the previous album covers, this album is much more artistic with its pop art style image of a face including a hat, nose, glasses, lips and a cigarette, this is a much more colourful cover and more feminine with the face clearly a woman’s with pink and red at the forefront of the colour palette, this comes at a time when more female vocals are included in the songs for example in ‘Spitfire’.
The biggest part of this album is the fact that no title is included, not just no album title but no artist name either which is surprising after a seven year quiet period, but The Prodigy were lucky in that they managed to keep their popularity throughout this time.
The album hasn’t quite lost its strong imagery, for example the dogs either side of the face are quite menacing and the cigarette tinges the softer female imagery with a darker side, although this is still coloured pink.

‘Their Law’, a greatest hits album is reverting back the darker colours with black grey and blue, and the name has returned. The picture is of a badge on a jacket, a picture suggesting a biker audience, whilst also looking quite strong with the eagle image, and once again our trusty ant motif.









And the most up to date album is ‘Invaders Must Die’ cover is of a zeppelin in a field, suggesting war and consequently danger. The colour is focused at the bottom of the image concentrating on yellow, orange and red.
The font for the band title has returned to its bold style, with the slight italic touch giving it a more edgy feel. This is continued in the named title but this time it looks more free hand, like graffiti.





Looking at all these factors it seems that our album doesn’t have many boundaries as The Prodigy doesn’t have many set motifs. Although the ant is something that has come increasingly used throughout all promotional work and the title, if we should include it, should definately be bold but the choice of colour can be completely random.

I believe for our ancillary task, we should keep it simple, as The Prodigy’s past albums haven’t been too busy (with maybe ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ as a slight exception), and have concentrated on one image, be it a face or a crab, and give it the main focus.


Ali