Possible Name Research: Freya

I like the sound of the name Freya. I did some research and now I like it even more because I think it fits with the image of our artist.

Research

Freya is a goddess in Norse Paganism.
She is portrayed as the goddess of love, beauty and fertility.
She was also associated with war, battle, death, magic, prophecy and wealth.
She also appears in many myths.

I really like this as as she seems to be associated with mystical, out-of-this world elements. The fact that Freya is a goddess adds to her power and strength, which really ties in with our interpretation of 'Eyes on Fire' as we thought it was about the artist overcoming 'the other' and possibly winning.

Selina

Ooh I really like the tall straight trees... but I like the ones like in Grovelands too 'cause they have a bit more character... if you know what I mean... Would it be weird to have a mix?
I dunno, they look really good. Good ol' Jake :D And you of course for checking it out :)
I might form more of an opinion when I'm not quite so tired... this post is a wee bit redundant isn't it? Haha... The whole thing of the trees all looking so uniform could be quite good though, reflecting the masks and being lost and I don't think I actually know what I'm going on about atm BUT ANYWAY. GOOD WORK. :)
Mia xx

Trent Park

Being really bored at home, I decided to go to Trent Park to look at the foresty bit, as suggested by Jake Wynne. This is what I found:




I love the tall, straight trees; if we could shoot here early in the morning/just before sunset we'd probably get a really wicked, eerie look [I particularly like the lighting in the last pic]

There's quite a bit of woodland surrounding the trees, which we could use for the 'interaction' between the characters as well







Finally, I found an interesting little path, which I didn't follow all the way down 'cause it creeped me out a little, frankly.. But it's quite narrow, so we could have shots of the girl 'following' the masked figure down here or something along the lines of that..




Overall, I think the location has great potential for us to produce some fantastic shots in, and I think we should definitely consider using this place at some point in our vid to mix things up a little... What do y'all think?

-Selina-

Test Shoot 11/10/09

The group hard at work! Bhavika supervises while Mia applies make-up and Mary scouts the area for photos.

Experimentation with colour - done using Quality Street wrappers. The red was made by overlapping the purple and orange, which is why it's a little hazy.
Mary went a little crazy with some furry rainbow wool and a Christmas decoration, and jazzed up a nearby tree. The pink wrapper looks the best for this one...

Some more crazy coloured sweetie shots:

Selina also showed up on the shoot despite family commitments, so that was cool. =3 Overall, a good day's work - plenty of footage, lots of experimentation, and some new ideas!

Mia mentioned something about Alice in Wonderland, which I think we ought to talk about at our next group meeting - I think with the colours and costumes, we should really be focusing on making our video really surreal. =D

Mia, Mary & Cam techniques

Okay, even though I'm not gonna be here for the shoot, I thought I'd put my two cents in [after all, I am in the group too!]

ABSOLUTELY AGREE with the both of you - couldn't have put it better myself! Loving the shots of the forests at dawn - def something I'm up for doing...even if it's just getting location shots without the characters [that way you'd stay nice and warm, Mia :)] Oh, yeah and I like the Ace of Hearts thing - I think if we could get a little bit of the good ol' intertextuality in it'll give us quite a bit to talk about come eval time.
Although I'm not entirely sure about shooting on the tube thing - it could go horribly wrong and detract from the whole 'otherworldly' stuff...

Really, the only one thing that rings a bit of an alarm bell in my head is the Alice-in-Wonderland-esque fast-motion background shot thing; I haven't the foggiest how we'd achieve that...BUT I DID FIND THIS:



Obviously we're not using the same post-production programme as the one in the video, but at least we can kind of get the gist of what to do to achieve a similar effect. There's also a lot of other weird effects on this channel, which you might wanna check out: http://www.youtube.com/user/CyberLinkChannel

I've also been looking into changing the frame rate, so as to get a slow-mo effect [I'm guessing it'll work for fast-motion too]. The internet's not being very helpful by suggesting that the frame rate on a digital camcorder cannot be changed [only the shutter speed can], however I did come across this little piece of info on Yahoo! Answers that says: "This effect is achieved by recording at (super) high speed and playing back at just 24 frames per second." I'm not really sure how useful that is [it seems pretty straightforward, really], but we can always ask Ryan :)

-Selina-

Pre-shoot ideas/images

Okay, so the last test shoot didn't work out so great because we didn't have a clear idea of what we were doing. I think with our new idea, it's a lot more thematic. So I just wanted to run some images past you guys and check we're thinking along the same lines.

I really like the ghostly make-up here - sort of ethereal. I think it would be nice to build up the contrast between the lead female being only half there - like she's an echo or a memory or something - whereas the people in masks/fancy-dress would be larger than life, realer than real.

Also, I love this dress:

But I can see it being really expensive, not least because it would get muddy as the shoot went on. But it gives an idea of the sort of floaty feel that I was thinking of, just so that I know whether or not the rest of you guys were thinking along the same lines.

We were all talking about shooting in a forest, and there was talk of a smoke machine. If we can't get hold of one, we could always use morning mist to our advantage - I love walking in the early hours of the morning, so I'd be totally up for that, but I can understand if the rest of you aren't. But just look how atmospheric forests look in the early morning!

I love the idea of our video being in black-and-white, but some of these extreme contrast photos look really awesome. I was wondering if maybe we could incorporate something along these lines in our video - if you guys like it, that is. The middle photo of the above three is CGI, I think, but I just love the colour scheme.

THIS is an awesome photo that I found that I really want to experiment with. See how the right of it is really ethereal and in a cool colour? That's not post-production. That's a sweet wrapper put over the camera. I'd like to experiment with unusual production effects on the shoot, filming through different materials and suchlike.

We discussed other locations, but hadn't really decided for definite on anything. So here are some shots I'd really like to consider:

The lead female pressed up against the wall. I think this could work really well in the tunnel location that we've already used.

We've already talked about the tunnel shot, but what're your opinions on having it as a repeated theme within the video, having various shots framed so they look like tunnels? I like the idea, but I'm not sure how practical it would be - I mean, I'm straining to think of shots that could be tunnel-framed, tbh.

I want a bridge shot, preferably at night. There's something about the contrast between air and earth that's really highlighted by bridges, and especially in b&w, could look really good.

I quite like the idea of filming in a subway or tube station - obviously, we're not meant to, but I think if we can get away with it, it would be awesome. I'd really like a shot of narrow staircases (stations feel really claustrophobic, y'know?) and also one of the girl actually on the train - possibly seated right next to the circus freaks without realising?

We also need a stalker shot - tracking the girl from behind and also watching the masked people tracking her.

That's pretty much where my ideas are headed. Let me know if you're thinking along similar lines, or if we're on totally different tracks here, guys.

~Mary

Locations

Some brighter pics of those bits in Grovelands Park:

Online Marketing Analysis

Lily Allen's Myspace
Blog posts - informative rather than personal
BIG banner - buy her new album
Tour dates
Example videos, inc. HQ
Pictures - sexualised imagery, attracting male audience

Lily Allen's Website
Promoting new album, but smaller - in corner
"Lily News" - press updates, etc.
Interactivity - games, remix your own album, etc.
Tour dates
Audio/video
Link to Twitter updates and Bebo
Banners, icons, wallpapers, skins (MySpace)
Links to various social networking sites, Wiki, etc. - informative
"Lily's official forum"
Lyrics
Store - buy her music

Arctic Monkeys' Myspace
Personalised font and skin - silhouettes of the bands
Example videos
Gig venues/tour dates
Link to official site
Blog entries

Arctic Monkeys' Official Site
Matching skin to MySpace - helps develop brand image
"The View From" - behind the scenes, vlogs of background activity
News
Gigs
LOTS of photos, videos, etc.
Releases - track listings for albums, lyrics, related pictures
Fan uploads - videos, etc.
Need to be a member to post comments
Store - can buy music, t-shirts, tote bags, badges and songbooks
Links to social networking sites (bebo, Facebook, MySpace) and YouTube.

Epic Journeys' Launch

We've decided to go with more of an online release for Epic Journeys, though they will release their album in shops at a later point [which will be discussed later on]. The online release will consist of a few stages:

• Firstly, the new single will be available to download as part of iTunes' Free Download of the Week [similar to Lenka] - raising band awareness, plus, everyone loves a freebie!
• This is likely to be followed by the release of a digital EP with a few tracks off the upcoming album and a few B-sides, available to download from their MySpace/website/iTunes [free/relatively cheap price?]
• Lastly, their album will be available to buy/download online concurrent to its release in shops [May/June-the summer's hot new band!]

Also, while coming up with a band image, we came up with a super-cool marketing strategy for the band. Because the Dr. Martens are part of their signature look, we thought we could have the band design their own Docs, and with each purchase fans are given a special promo code which entitles them to a free download [it could be a song, a ringtone, wallpaper etc]

On the release of the band's album, Epic Journeys will be attending a special signing at HMV's flagship store [Oxford Street], where they will get to meet fans etc. Fans can also get wristbands from behind the counter which admits them to an extra-special acoustic performance session by the band. This is a great way of marketing the band because not only do fans get to meet them, they get to hear them perform, all under one roof, how awesome!

From this it is clear that their third-party affiliates would include:
HMV
Dr. Martens
iTunes

Epic Journeys' Launch - Band Style/Image

LILY ALLEN

ARCTIC MONKEYS

THE BAND
We wanted to go for a trendy, high-fashion look for the boys so we thought they could wear smart jackets and blazers, while still keeping it casual with hoodies and jeans. The outfit fourth from the left is quite typical of the indie genre, so we added it in for good measure.


Similarly, we think the girl should be wearing quite catwalk-esque dresses, sexy and fashionable, with a twist; Dr. Marten boots and a trilby. We feel this gives the band more of an edgier, unique look, making them easily distinguishable from all the other indie/alternative bands in the industry today.

The intended audience for this band are predominantly [female] 16-25 year olds, as we agreed that this is the typical age group which is interested in this genre of music. Furthermore, dedicated followers of fashion will also be hooked by the band's sense of style, as they are always dressed in all the latest trends. By styling the band in this particular way, we are able to widen our audience demographic, which is always a good thing!

Recce Recording!

Location Recce!

Yesterday we went on a bit of a hunt for locations, so we decided to record us discussing the day's findings while we looked through some photos we took. It's in the above post. This is a selection of the photos showing the key things. Might want to listen to the recording at the same time to have them explained :)

Mia xx