Prop & Costume List

Prop List

• Bouquet of Flowers
• Barrel Bag
• Guitar
• Other Instrument

Costume List

Dan

• Plaid Shirt
• Skinny Jeans/trousers (black or light denim)
• Blue Dress Shoes
• Harrington or Parka Jacket
• Possibly a hat

Matty

• Black coat
• Skinny Black Trousers
• Plaid Shirt
• Black Shoes

The Audience of my Video

The target audience for my video is the same audience that the rest of the Mumford and Sons songs attracts. The main type of people who will watch my music video will be an individual/alternative audience. Much like the other Mumford and sons songs 'The Cave' and 'white blank page' the video will be most popular with female ages 14-17 and male audiences 18-35. Many readers of magazines such as 'Q' will watch the video as Mumford and sons and other alternative folk rock bands have been featured in the magazine.

Music Video Animatic

This is the animatic I have made for my music video, it contains two performance shots which are over 20 seconds long. In the actual video these will not be like that but at the planning stage I couldn't think of anything to fill these gaps.

Location List

Location	Scenes to be filmed
Hooks Lane/Stoney Creek	Opening scene along with the main travelling scenes
Paull	Performance scene 1 & more travelling in the woods
Inside car (TBA need older more vintage car)	Hitch hiking scene
Paull - Humber river bank	Walking Scenes
TBA	Ending scene

Music Video Cast List

Cast List

Character Description	Actor
Performance Actor 1 (Vocalist & Guitarist)	Matty Connor
Performance Actor 2 (Banjo/Ucayali  Player)	Tony Beacock/ Barney Wilson
Performance Actor 3	Sam Mack
Narrative Actor 1 (Main Actor)	Dan Fishburn
Narrative Actor 2 (Main Actor’s Girlfriend)	TBA
Narrative Actor 3 (Trucker)	TBA

The Conventions of Folk Rock Music

Folk Rock is a hybrid genre that combines features from both folk and rock; it has been around since the mid 1960’s. Folk Rock started in the USA and UK and was popular with a mainstream audience into the early 70’s; at one point between these two times it was one of the most popular genres of music in the charts. The genre was started by the Los Angeles band The Byrd’s, who took some of Bob Dylan’s folk music and added rock instrumentals to the backing music.  Recently, especially in the UK Folk rock has started to make a comeback with new artists such as Mumford and Sons.

The stereotypical clothing worn by the members of a folk rock band is very vintage clothes. Items of clothing that stick to these conventions continue even now, despite the change in times in which the genre has been popular. Band members will be typically dressed in items such as collared shirts, waistcoats and trousers, and will conventionally look like the 1930's working class, although at the same time they still wear clothes which come from the current era like straight cut jeans. The haircuts that folk rock artists are also similar to that of the 1930's which was when folk music was most popular prior to its comeback through folk rock. Trilby’s are popular within folk rock bands, and are regularly seen in music videos especially with the more modern artists. The clothes and haircuts are only partially vintage, as the clothes are almost always reproductions of vintage clothing, and hair products and other modern styles will be used by the bands.

The music styles of folk rock are traditional folk sounding music with electric instruments such as guitars and keyboards. There are different styles of folk rock, as with the work of The Byrd’s the music had some quite hard rock, whereas Mumford and sons is quieter because of the use of acoustic instruments such as the acoustic guitar, the banjo, ukulele, fiddle and harmonica. The music that is produced by folk rock is quite easy listening, and has catchy music because of the instruments. A convention of the music that is not common in most genres is the way that the music can be performed when live. At the Brit Awards in 2011 Mumford and sons performed the song timshel unplugged with just an acoustic guitar and banjo on stage.  This is not a convention found in many other genres of music because they rely on computer generated music and electric amplifiers etc.

The audience that would stereotypically listen to this genre today would be an indie niche audience. The indie scene are as a stereotype usually listeners to the indie rock genre, however modern folk rock artists are attracting this similar audience.  Original Folk rock artists such as Creedence Clearwater revival and the beach boys are still followed today; this is again by a niche audience, usually by a similar indie audience who listen to vintage style music. At the time of these artists been in the charts, they were still attracting a very large mainstream audience and so the genre was popular and would have been played constantly on the radio and so over time the conventions of this genre can been seen to shift, which is common within all music genre’s.

Because of the conventions that point to the vintage side of the genre, music videos for artists in this genre often contain travel. Travel was obviously a key thing in 1930’s America as it was then when American’s were moving around to find work, and they would often have to walk great lengths through countryside. Villages and Towns are shown a lot more often than big cities in the artist’s videos, this is again a reference to the vintage side of the genre because the people who lived in the cities where stereotypically too rich to have to travel to earn money and make a living.

Blink 182 - All the Small Things (Music Video)

The music video for this song from Blink 182 is a mockery of other artists and their music video's. This can be seen right from the offset when the band are shown walking off a plane wearing fully white suits and strutting towards the camera. This is similar to the costumes and the styles used by The Backstreet Boys, westlife, Blue e.t.c. Blink 182 ended becoming well known for ignoring normal codes and conventions of their Genre of pop/punk rock and just mimicking other artists to mock their styles.

The camera shots used in the video follow the conventions of the music video style that is being mocked by the artists. a lot of wide angle shots and establishing shots are used to show the different locations that the band are performing and posing in. The shots mimic the style of pop music video's and the video is mainly made to look like a publicity stunt, and is filmed as though it is done by the paparrazi. Some of the shots are done in black and white and the artists are stood on the beach staring at the camera like in one of the old westlife video's.


The crowd that can be seen watching the band from the beginning of the video are again a mockery to the crowds that can be seen in other music video's from pop music, and are not the type of people stereotypically seen at a rock concert. The crowd is a very early reference to show that Blink 182 are not a band that follow the normal codes and conventions of their Genre.


The Video is very abstract, as it doesn't link in with what is going on in the lyrics at all. While the lyrics contain phrases such as 'she left me roses by the stairs, surprises let me know she cares' which is to do with his Girlfriend, yet the video is showing the artists on the beach and Travis dressed as a woman running along a beach with a volleyball.

Mumford and Sons - Winter Winds (Music Video)

Mumford and Sons are a British folk rock band that have been around since 2007, the band have one studio album entitiled 'Sign No More' which was released in 2009. The video I have chosen to analyse is that of the song 'winter winds' the video has a mixture of Narrative and perfomance as it is appears to show the band trying to get to a performance before it starts, but also shows some narrative that links in with the lyrics of the song.

The music video for winter winds is set in the countryside and in a small town, which is what you would associate with the genre of the music. The video starts off showing the members of the band running out of the woods covered in straw. The band are dressed in collared shirts, waistcoats and trousers, and look like the 1930's working class, although at the same time they still wear clothes which come from the current era like the straight cut jeans worn by Marcus Mumford throughout the video. The haircuts that the band have are also similar to that of the 1930's which was when folk music was most popular prior to its comeback through folk rock. The clothes and haircuts are only references as they are not exactly as they would have been in 1930's which can be seen through the hair products and shoes worn by the band members.

The opening of the video shows an establishing shot of three characters who turn out to be the band members, they run out onto a road and the camera zooms out to give a better of view of the setting of the characters. The camera cuts to Marcus Mumford walking through a corn field carrying an old chair and an acoustic guitar, the camera is zoomed in to show only his waistcoat, the edge of the guitar and the handle of the chair. Establishing shots and zoomed shots are very popular for the genre, this is because they can be used to show the typical countryside/village envirionment that is common within folk music.  

Throughout the Narrative of the video the band continue to appear as though they are the working class from the 1930's. Marcus Mumford can be seen dragging a chair and holding an acoustic guitar whilst walking through an overgrown field, he then has a spade and starts to dig at something but is then shown walking off again. The video looks as though it is going to stick to simply being in this 30's sort of style but then the band are shown laughing with a security guard at the entrance to a gig, and then walking onto the stage. The band are also seen travelling to that performance in a car and on a train.

Two different time periods are going on at the same time in the video, the one that is showing the band travelling and appearing at a modern day performance and the one of the band travelling in the 1930's. At some points in the video the two can't easily be made out from  one and other until something else happens and allows us to see them either in the countryside or shows a hint to the modern day lives on the band. 


The travelling to the show which the band are going to play could also represent the bands rise to fame, as they are shown having fun all the time along the way there. The fun they had whilst making an album and become well known was mentioned in an interview with Marcus Mumford and this could be a reference 

Wagon Wheel - Lyrics

Wagon Wheel

 

Headed down south to the land of the pines
And I'm thumbin' my way into North Caroline
Starin' up the road
Pray to God I see headlights

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours
Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers
And I'm a hopin' for Raleigh
I can see my baby tonight

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Runnin' from the cold up in New England
I was born to be a fiddler in an old-time stringband
My baby plays the guitar
I pick a banjo now
Oh, the North country winters keep a gettin' me now
Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave
But I ain't a turnin' back
To livin' that old life no more

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Walkin' to the south out of Roanoke
I caught a trucker out of Philly
Had a nice long toke
But he's a headed west from the Cumberland Gap
To Johnson City, Tennessee

And I gotta get a move on before the sun
I hear my baby callin' my name
And I know that she's the only one
And if I die in Raleigh
At least I will die free

So rock me mama like a wagon wheel
Rock me mama anyway you feel
Hey mama rock me
Rock me mama like the wind and the rain
Rock me mama like a south-bound train
Hey mama rock me

Music Video

The song that I plan to create a video for is the song Wagon Wheel, which was originally produced by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" but wasn't used and was left with only the chorus written. The lead singer of the folk band 'Old Crow Medicine Show' Ketch Secor wrote verses for the song and performed it under the producer David Rawlings. 

The song was covered in early 2010 for a BBC Radio 2 Session by Mumford and Sons, and it is this version of the song that I will be using for my video.

The History of Music Video's

Music Video – 'A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings.’ – Wikipedia

Music Video’s are seen everywhere these days, you can rarely turn on the TV without seeing some sort of music video, Obviously this wasn’t always the case as there was a long period in which music was produced when there wasn’t any way of creating music videos, people wanted to see the artist as well as hear their music. The first solution of this came with Top of The Pops which started in 1964, Top of the pops allowed viewers to see the top artists of the time performing live from their living rooms every Thursday evening. The very first artist to perform on the show was The Rolling Stones with their hit song ‘I wanna be your man.’

The very first appearance of music videos was started with Feature Films which contained the Songs of an artist as their soundtrack and often starred the actual Performer, Artist Elvis Presley featured in many feature films including Love Me Tender (1956) and Jailhouse Rock (1957.) This was to promote his music and also give the cinema viewers chance to see him performing. These were the earliest examples of Artists performing their music on the Big Screen for the Public to see.  

In 1964 The Beatles, released the first ‘promotional film,’ A hard day’s night which was shot in black and white and was presented as a mock documentary. The idea behind this concept was to allow the public to see their artists performing their songs in surreal situations to entertain the audience whilst letting them see the artist perform.  This Kick-started a decade long concept which continued with The Beatles second release with Help! In 1965 which was filmed in colour and had parts shot abroad in Switzerland and The Bahamas. These Feature Films continued throughout the 60’s including the documentary Don’t look Back, which focused on the UK Tour of Bob Dylan.

Music Television (MTV) formally launched on August 1^st 1961, was the first channel to air what is the modern day equivalent of a music video, in 1981 it started airing them around and at the time it started to play music videos only a few Music Videos had been created so they were looped constantly throughout the programs on MTV, it is said that the Beatles feature film A hard Day’s Night inspired the creation of MTV. The very first music video to be played on MTV was ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by The Buggles. This was one of the earliest music videos, and it contained a small narrative, but was mainly performance.

Because of Music Video’s, songs started to reach number one in the charts. David Bowie was the first example of this, his iconic and controversial video for ashes to ashes in which he is dressed like a woman, which was part of the whole act of Bowie, reached number one in 1980, and after this Music Video’s started to boom, all artists started to create them, perhaps one of, if not the most famous example is the video for Bohemian Rhapsody, made in 1975, it was this video which convinced British record companies to start making promotional video’s for other bands that they had contracts with. The band recorded the video to be shown on Top of the Pop’s due to them being unable to appear because they were on tour and didn’t want to mime to the song because of its complexity. It is still one of the most famous music videos of all time.

Just as music video’s were starting to just be the same length of the song, Michael Jackson went a stage further and created Thriller which was a 14 minute long short movie, created in 1983 Thriller took music videos to a new level. The video cost $500,000 to make and is frequently referred to as one of the most influential music videos of all time. The video which follows the codes and conventions of a teen American horror movie is still one of the most watched music videos even today.

There are four main types of music video that exist although many artists have created hybrids between two or more of the four, these are: Performance, in which an artist will be shown performing the song in a set scenario, e.g walking down a street or in a room at a hotel e.t.c. Performance music video’s where the first music video’s to be made and was the most common video’s at the time. An early example of a performance video is the Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody in which the band are playing the song on a range of different places, and performing for the audience. This video was created for Top of the Pops so it had to show the band performing the song due to this been what was normal at the time.

After the popularity of music videos started to expand, more types of video began to appear. The first was the narrative; this was a video that would focus on telling a story. This type of video is often popular with songs that are featured in movies and will often take clips from the movie it is featured in. Although other video’s that have narratives only contain a story, with no performance, one of the most famous examples of this would be the Right Here Right Now video by  FatBoy Slim. This video starts off in space and shows earth at the start and follows a single cell evolving into what turns into a human and then the character from the album cover for why try harder.

A very common combination of two of the types of music video been combined is the Aerosmith – I don’t wanna miss a thing video, this takes clips from Armageddon and the band is seen performing in different parts of the settings from the movie. The video does have parts of a performance video, but it is used to tell the story of Armageddon but without spoiling the film at the same time.

Abstract music videos are the music videos that started to come around the mid 80’s; an abstract video that was realised in 1986 by Peter Gabriel is the video for SledgeHammer. The video has no narrative, and although the artist can be seen almost all the way through the animation and the concept behind the video was only to promote the artist. The video also contains animation which is the final of the four types of music video; animation is fairly self explanatory and is just a video using animation.

The Music Video industry has taken another stop now, onto the internet. This first started to happen in 2001, with the launch of iTunes, which allowed users to purchase music videos and play them on their computers. Since then all artists post their music videos online. YouTube then came along, and since its launch in 2005, it has become one of the most visited websites alongside Face book and even Google artists such as Justin Bieber and Iyaz have both been discovered from their YouTube accounts. YouTube revolutionized the way people watch music videos. Before YouTube music videos simply weren’t as accessible. In December 2009 three of the big four launched VEVO, a joined video streaming service to promote their artists. VEVO is now linked in with YouTube and is one of the most used services in the world. 

The Brief

For my A2 media coursework I chose to create a promotion package for the release of an album. I am going to include a music promotion video. After I have created these I have to create two of the following:

• A website homepage for the band;
• A cover for its release as part of a digipak 
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak

In the process of creating these, I will be posting all of my research and drafts