Next Steps

We have reached half-term at Sixth Form and therefore won't have another lesson until Wednesday November 7, meaning there will be little opportunity for us to develop any group ideas further until then. I do hope to be able to upload a recce between now and then, as well as further information about the music video, but there will be no considerable progress until I catch up with Saffy, Dan and Ollie in a fortnight's time.

Within that first week we will finalise our storyboards and begin the filming process. In order to do that we will also need to devise a schedule that we adhere to in order to keep on track and not fall behind. External factors beyond our control, like the weather, do impact upon our ability to film but with a bit of luck we shouldn't be hampered too badly with rain/adverse conditions. Alongside the filming we do I will develop my own products such as the website and digipak to ensure that they are close to completion by Christmas. If I am able to meet this deadline it will enable me to fine-tune anything that needs additional attention but I can focus most of my energy on the editing process and any last-minute filming that needs to take place.

Music Video Timeline

This will be an interpretation of what will happen in the music video and how it corresponds with the timing/lyrics in the song. Some of this could be subject to change at a later date, but this will act as a provisional guide. I've already created a lyrical timeline earlier in my blog (refer to October 3rd) and will use the same version here:

Lyrics lifted from: AZLyrics.com
One, two, three, uh! (0.00 - 0.02)  Establishing shot of skatepark and the people in it

My baby don't mess around          
Because she loves me so
And this I know for shooo..
Uh, But does she really wanna
But can't stand to see me
Walk out the dooor..
don't try to fight the feelin'
Because the thought alone is killing me right nooww..
Uh, thank god for mom and dad
For sticking two together
'Cause we don't know hooowww...
UH! (0.03 - 0.34)  Low shots of skaters around the park, mid-shots of dancing, high-angled shots, handheld mobile phone footage, tracking shots of skaters (basic introduction)

Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa..
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa..
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa..
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (0.35 - 1.07)  More skating shots and then stop-motion shots of graffiti with the words 'Hey Ya!'

You think you've got it
Ohh, you think you've got it
But got it just don't get it
Till' there's nothing at
AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaallllll..
We get together
Ohh, we get together
But seperate's always better when there's feelings
InvooooooOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOlved
If what they say is "Nothing is forever"
what makes, what makes, what makes
what makes, what makes LOOVVEEE?
(Love exception) So why you, why you
Why you, why you, why you are we so in denial
When we know we're not happy heeeerrreeee...
Y'all don't want me here you just wanna dance (1.08 - 1.42)  Close-ups of skaters and other dancing, miming to the lyrics of the song for first part of this section, then long-shots of the band (Me, Dan, Ollie, Saffy) in front of a green screen. The green screen will be of the original video by OutKast.

Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH) 
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (Don't want to meet your daddy, OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Just want you in my Caddy OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH, don't want to meet yo' mama OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Just wan't to make you cumma OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (I'm, OHH OH I'm, OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (I'm just being honest OHH OH, I'm just being honest) (Overlaps 1.41 - 2.12)  Refer back to the graffiti from the earlier chorus, miming to the lyrics, variety of shots of us dancing

Hey, alright now
Alright now fellas, (YEAH!)
Now what's cooler than bein' cool?
(ICE COLD!) I can't hear ya'
I say what's cooler than bein' cool?
(ICE COLD!) whooo...
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright.  (Overlaps 2.10 - 2.31) [DJ Rewind sound]

Boys do the first section - 'alright now fellas', we all do the section - 'alright, alright...'. Variety of shots of their dancing/flirting/messing about - potential dance-off?

------------------ (Mashup - cut to 'Roses' by OutKast for final section of video) ------------------

[Repeat 2x]
I know you'd like to thank your shit don't stank
But lean a little bit closer
See that roses really smell like poo-oo-ooo

Yeah, roses really smell like poo-oo-ooo (3.04 - 3.39)  Mid-shots of us all dancing to the new tune, close-ups of miming

Better come back down to Mars
Girl, quit chasin' cars
What happens when the dough get so low
Bitch, you ain't that fine
No way.. no way.. no way (3.39 - 4.12)  Saffy mimes this part of the song - close-ups and mid-shots, long-shots of everybody's reaction

[Repeat 2x]
Crazy bitch
Bitch, stupid ass bitch
Old punk ass bitch, old dumb ass bitch
A bitch is a bitch, just a bitch (4.12 - 4.49) [End]  Everybody congregates to mime the last part of the song, mixture of extreme close-ups and long-shots, slow dancing so perhaps handheld shots

New Twist To Music Video Idea

All the ideas we've amalgamated so far cater towards our wish to do a music video for OutKast's 'Hey Ya!'. We're pleased with how it appears to be shaping up and are looking forward to shooting what we've planned so far. 

However, as we were going back through our lyrical timelines we felt as if we could do something more with the video. We've been keen to be experimental with it and because we aren't producing a storyline-based video, we've had scope to be very creative with it. This morning I suggested something quite unique and was unsure as to how it would be received by the rest of the group - 3/4 of the way through the video I said we could fade out 'Hey Ya!' and play the final section of another OutKast classic called 'Roses'. This idea would allow us to incorporate a new mood at the conclusion of the video and focus more on somebody singing the song, just like in a proper music video. The fact it would be a 'mashup' epitomises the 21st century music theme of remix and it does potentially push the boundaries of what is expected from us - which is precisely why I feel it was a good idea to bring it up.

The idea would be to slow the tempo of the song down after the fast-paced verse of 'Hey Ya!' where a lot of dancing takes place. Once the chorus of 'Roses' is played, which will be the first part of this section, Saffy will sing the next verse before everybody who features in the video will sing in unison to see out the video. I believe this to be a contemporary idea and if we can make it cohesive editorially and visually then I can see no reason why it wouldn't be a success.

The rest of the group think it's a great idea and since then myself, Ollie and Dan have managed to establish some sort of plan to how it will look. This will be made clearer in the 'Music Video Timeline' I produce later on this morning.

Here's the video for 'Roses' from YouTube;

Potential Video Shots

Here are some of the shots we'd like to use in our OutKast - 'Hey Ya!' music video;

1. Establishing shot of the skatepark - panning wide
2. Low-angle shot of skaters
3. Close-ups of miming the lyrics to the song
4. Wide shot of graffiti
5. Handheld shots of dancing
6. Mid-shots/long-shots of green screen scenes
7. Medium/long-shot of graffiti
8. Tracking shot of skaters
9. Point of view shot (maybe with mobile phone)
10. High angle shots of the dancing, maybe even green screen
11. Mime in front of a crowd
12. Nightlife shots from mobile
13. Master-shot of city
14. Green screen of the original video with us dancing in front of it - long shot

Research In To Existing Music Websites

I can start to show how I have begun utilising the media technologies available to me to help aid my understanding of them. Music websites, for example, are a key part of a band's overall technical make-up and is something that needs to be reflective of the group. 

During recent research I have explored many existing music websites in order to gage what content MUST be included in my own website and what parts can be experimented with by each individual band/artist. I've studied their professional layout and themes to give me a greater idea of just how mine should look when completed.

As the song we are creating a video for belongs to a specialist band (OutKast), I need to create a website that is distinctive and unique. Here are some of the websites, from a broad range of genres, that I have looked at and found to be of a similar niche market;

Hard-Fi Official Website  – The website is clearly laid out and crammed full of informative content. Online audiences would find it easy to explore the website and pinpoint the pages they want to read. Epitomises the nature of the band as it’s ‘out there’ and full of colour.

Digitalism Official Website - As the band are an electro group that attempt to conceal their personalities until they get on stage, their website gives little away in terms of extra information, unlike Hard-Fi. They are a German group and the text on the site is predominantly German, as you’d expect, but it’s still easy to navigate.

Fenech-Soler Official Website - Fenech-Soler are a unique modern band that are surrounded by a shield of obscurity – fans find that it’s hard to define them specifically as a group. They play on this and make their official website reflect their mysterious nature. It’s a non-standard layout and set-up but it works in tandem with their inimitable style, ensuring that online audiences won’t be disappointed (you have to navigate an interactive pyramid on their home screen in order to find links to other pages within the website, see below).

So, content-wise, it quickly became apparent what sort of things I’d need to include in my website; a ‘news & blog’ type page, a photo gallery, a music video section, a podcast page and a link to the dates of our ‘tour’. Aside from these basics the rest of the website can be specifically reflective of our band and as we are a 'funk' group, we can initiate a stylish home page with many different colours. I instantly feel as though a patterned, bright webpage would fulfil the criteria of a band in this genre and satisfy the desire of our audience. Alongside this I'd search to find some fonts that are recognisable and relatable online and implement them on to the webpages. I won't use too many different ones though as that would result in a lack of coherency and continuity - something that doesn't exist on professional websites.

The research has come in very useful as I've a much greater understanding now of what items must feature in my own design. I've found that before my study in to this subject, I'd never really paid attention to music websites and the way they look, which indicates that I've never had a reason to doubt its professionalism or authenticity. However, I do think that if a website is eye-catching it would prove memorable and initiate a larger number of regular views - I'd like to ensure this is prevalent in mine. I've got a lot to consider but I'm better equipped to begin the creation process having undergone this studying.

Initial Ideas

In our group we have today discussed our ideas and aspirations for our music video. We were all of a similar understanding that we wanted to create a 'wacky' video to accompany Outkast's 'Hey Ya!'. I have recently watched videos of other A2 Media classes and noticed that the vast majority attempt to tell a story - something we don't wish to emulate. We want to create a modern representation of British youth along the lines of '21st century urban life'. It will hopefully be a celebration of all the things that epitomise teenage life in England.

From our mind-mapping we've come up with the following ideas/techniques we want to include;

- Green screen - This will create a colourful, flashy background that we can dance in front of. We can use all sorts of different backgrounds to create effects that we would be unable to produce normally.

- Dance moves, dance-off - We'd need volunteers/friends to make this possible but we'd like dancing to be the main theme throughout our video. We all believe we can find people who would be willing to take part.

- Paint - Colour is something we'd like to splash all over the video whether it be through spray paint graffiti or random throwing of multi-coloured paints. The idea of graffiti could be used to display lyrics to the song (i.e 'Hey Ya!').

- Skatepark - Potentially one of the locations we may choose to film at is a skatepark, where we could include a number of people skating and showing off on camera. With how popular such places are we don't think it will be a problem to find people happy to take part.

- Fish Eye lens - This would be another of the creative effects we'd like to incorporate in to the video for something a little different to standard footage.

- Pixelation - We like the idea of pixelating the faces of people within the video for a short time, perhaps at the beginning, before revealing their true identities. This would tie in with our recognition of the fact many of the older generations tend to label young people as a group and not respect our individuality. Their is a misconception that all teenagers are out to cause trouble and be problematic which is something we'd like to dispel by highlighting the fact we just enjoy ourselves.

- Polaroid pictures - This is one of the more memorable lines in the song and we'd like to get hold of some and use them whilst these lyrics are being sung. 

- Musical Instruments - In line with the beat of the song we want to use a variety of different instruments to further enhance our creativity.

- Singing in to Camera - We want to include a few examples of us singing in to the camera as most music videos include in the 21st century. It helps us to relate the video back to the song.

- Costume (afro wigs) - The use of afro wigs is something we'd like to include as a tribute to OutKast and we feel this representation will provide humour to the video. We don't know whether we'd maintain this theme for the entirety of the video but certainly a segment of it will have us dressed in wigs. This is one main example of mise-en-scene.

- Mobile phone footage - A few clips of mobile phone footage would capture the modern technology that we (our demographic of teenagers/young adults) are well accustomed to. 

- Day and Night shoots - A mixture of day shoots and night shoots would create a contrasting effect and allows us to be more experimental with the colours we try and incorporate.

This list is subject to change but these are our initial ideas and it's highly likely we'll use them when we film. It may transpire when we attempt to film that some of them are not feasible and if that is the case we'll be equipped with alternative plans.

OutKast 'Hey Ya!' Lyrical Timeline

Lyrics lifted from: AZLyrics.com

One, two, three, uh! (0.00 - 0.02)

My baby don't mess around
Because she loves me so
And this I know for shooo..
Uh, But does she really wanna
But can't stand to see me
Walk out the dooor..
don't try to fight the feelin'
Because the thought alone is killing me right nooww..
Uh, thank god for mom and dad
For sticking two together
'Cause we don't know hooowww...
UH! (0.03 - 0.34)

Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa..
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa..
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa..
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa..
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (0.35 - 1.07)

You think you've got it
Ohh, you think you've got it
But got it just don't get it
Till' there's nothing at
AaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaallllll..
We get together
Ohh, we get together
But seperate's always better when there's feelings
InvooooooOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOOlved
If what they say is "Nothing is forever"
what makes, what makes, what makes
what makes, what makes LOOVVEEE?
(Love exception) So why you, why you
Why you, why you, why you are we so in denial
When we know we're not happy heeeerrreeee...
Y'all don't want me here you just wanna dance (1.08 - 1.42)

Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (Don't want to meet your daddy, OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Just want you in my Caddy OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH, don't want to meet yo' mama OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Just wan't to make you cumma OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (I'm, OHH OH I'm, OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (I'm just being honest OHH OH, I'm just being honest) (Overlaps 1.41 - 2.12)

Hey, alright now
Alright now fellas, (YEAH!)
Now what's cooler than bein' cool?
(ICE COLD!) I can't hear ya'
I say what's cooler than bein' cool?
(ICE COLD!) whooo...
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, alright, alright
Alright, alright, Ok now ladies, (YEAH!)
I see we gon' break it down in just a few seconds
don't make me break it down for nothin'
Now I wanna see y'all on y'all baddest behavior
but i see Lend me some suga', I am your neighbor
Shake it, shake, shake it, shake it (OHH OH)
Shake it, shake it, shake, shake it, shake it, shake it (OHH OH)
Shake it, shake it like a Polaroid Picture, shake it, shake it
Shh you got to, shake it, shh shake it, shake it, got to shake it
(Shake it Suga') shake it like a Poloroid Picture (Overlaps 2.10 - 3.04)

Now while Beyonce's and Lucy Lui's
And baby dolls, get on the floor
(Get on the floor)
You know what to dooo..
You know what to dooo..
You know what to do! (Overlaps 3.03 - 3.20)

Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH) 
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Uh oh, Hey Ya)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (Uh, uh, OHH OH)
Heeeyyy... Yaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH)
Heeyy Yaaaaaaaa.. (OHH OH) (3.21 - 3.50 [Chorus fades] - End of song)

Song duration: 3 minutes 50 seconds.

OutKast - Hey Ya!

Over the past couple of weeks I've grouped up with three other people (Dan, Saffy, Ollie), who have similar ideas and aspirations as me, in order to create a music video. Having deliberated for a few hours as to what song we wished to cover in our video we finally settled upon OutKast's 'Hey Ya!', which we feel is the perfect choice for the wacky style of filming we want to do. Having been released in 2003 it remains a popular song even now almost 10 years later. It has become synonymous with energetic dance and has proven to be a catalyst for a whole new genre of music. It was one of the first successful attempts at creating a hybrid of dance, electro, funk, alternative hip-hop and pop. It's a unique adaptation of dealing with a problematic relationship and is unlike most other songs covering this topic in that it is uplifting, upbeat and optimistic. OutKast's official video reflects this and retains a lively, fast-paced feel throughout which has proven to be our inspiration at the initial ideas stage of pre-production.

Whilst impressive, we don't want to replicate the original video

We've watched the video several times to gain a greater understanding of all aspects, ranging from mise-en-scene to editing, and once we have devised a plan for our own version I will further study each piece of technical construction further. We've noted how the song was received by critics within the industry - PopMatters described it as 'brilliantly rousing' and 'spazzy with electrifying multiplicity', whilst NME labelled it 'akin to trying to lasso water'. We wish to retain these positive traits in our own version as it was a structure that clearly worked with audiences. Despite this we are already referring to ours as something that will 'be structured by having no structure'. This basically refers to the fact we'll have no specific storyline that we'll be presenting in the video - instead it will be a blend of incandescent colour and innocent teenage fun. The innocence of youth is very much our ideology at this point. We feel if we can capture it in an amusing, relatable way then we'll have been successful in injecting our own unique take on what is already a very 'out there' song and video.

We've yet to decide on our band's name but this is something we'll settle upon over the next few days as it's important we begin to finalise our identity. We don't want to mirror OutKast so it is very likely that whatever we call ourselves will be vastly different to their name. We've not got to a stage where we've assigned particular parts of the production to each member of the group but we'll all work together on the pre-production and post-production. The actual construction of the video will have to be considered carefully as there may be someone who doesn't wish to feature in it. Personally I'm keen to play an active part and hope to have a leading role of some sort when we've settled upon what it is that we are going to do.

Overall I'm very happy with our choice of song and feel we've given ourselves a great chance of producing a video that matches our personalities. The potential is there for us to take the video in any direction we wish and we'll certainly be creative when putting our ideas on camera.

OutKast - 'Hey Ya!' Official Video (YouTube):

(At the time of this blog entry being published the video has amassed over 23,330,000 views)