Our Pitch to You

Indie Music Video Focus Group SessionOur Pitch to You

Oliver Cooke, Jay Kaye and Alex Hodgkinson

IntroductionHello, everyone. Thank you for taking your time out to be a part of todays focus group. In this short session, we are going to be conveying and presenting to you a series of concepts and ideas that some could say would fit into a music video of the indie genre. Our aim is to hopefully open up each of these ideas into discussion, so please feel free to actively give us any feedback where you think it could help. Thank you!

Q1 What technical aspects do you feel are the most important within a indie music video? CAMERAWORK The way to which our subjects are presented through complex camera techniques, in order to infer specific emotions, thoughts and concepts. SETTING The background locations and Mise-en-Scene within the video, which help to maintain an atmosphere directly presented through visual means. Literally and metaphorically supporting the views and thoughts of the main singer/performer.CLOTHING The costumes used to continually support the creation of an atmosphere based on social dress and the subsequent connotations of this. LIGHTING - The lighting is used to continually construct and maintain an atmosphere, and, depending on whether it is high or low key, develop varying levels of intimacy. SOUND - Exterior or diegetic sound can support the further intensions (other than to accompany the music) of a music video, and give the visuals extra potency.

Q2 Which dress sense, as suggested below, do you think would be the most appropriate for a main character in an indie music video?

Street Casual

Smart Suits

Smart Casual

Q3 Which of the following Moods best suit an indie music video?

Idea 1 Gritty, Urban Performance Pitch: Amongst the plain and emotionless background of brick houses and industrial warehouses, our lead singer stares directly and intimately, sometimes staring into the camera as he/she sings of their woes and past. We see the narrative of a past life shown parallel to this. It is filmed mostly in black and white, and is edited rather sharply, despite shots holding for a large amount of time.

Idea 2 Rural NarrativePitch: Running in slow motion through vast fields and plains, we see remnants of a life, seemingly lost to the curses of time and change. Shot so that light bleeds through the lens, but this makes it disorienting and conveys the idea that the performer is lost in the blurs of thought.

Idea 3 Claustrophobic inner-City narrativePitch: Alone amongst a vast crown in the centre of a town or city, our protagonist relates to the audience their discontent with life and humanity, their desire for change but seemingly no route away from the monotony of life. The camera rotates 360-degrees around our singer to show his loneliness, accentuated by the crowds around him.

Idea 4 Montage with emotional linksPitch: A heavy focus on narrative, displayed through montage, particularly used as a direct visual display of the emotions and psychological thoughts of the main character or singer. In a sense, this format of video allows for a direct connection between the emotions of the speaker and the response of the audience.