Advice from Music Video Director: Lucy Needs

This is my email that we sent to the music video director, Lucy Needs. We felt the need to send an email because we were struggling to form ideas, and even though we feel as though that we have finally reached a point where our idea for the video is coming together and we have a reasonable idea which can be very successful; we still wanted to get some advice and clarification of what to do with our idea. We decided to contact the music video director, Lucy Needs. She has directed the videos for the majority of Slow Club's songs, including one song off of the first album, two songs of the second album and currently one song off of the third album. The song used from the most recent album, Complete Surrender, is a video that we find to be very inspirational in both style and substance. So I asked her if she had any ideas as to how to go about creating the  vision and style that was seen in the video. As you can see, she recommended to create a slow mo throughout the video. This seems like something we might be interested in trying because of the fact that it is a very professional thing to do and we would be interested to see how that effect might turn out. Obviously this is something that we would have to consider quite strongly because if it goes wrong, bearing in mind that we have never made a video or used this technique before, we have to think whether it would actually be worth it or not because if it does go wrong then we might be producing a rather lacklustre music video. However, in saying this, I think it could be a technique that could be really beneficial to the look and feel of the music video and we want to make sure that we are pushing ourselves to our boundaries.
She also said about editing with the use of lights, to all of this this sounded like a really interesting technique that may actually be something to think about when creating our video. As we are making basically a dancing video, it would be good if we could get it to look like a one shot video because then that could really add an experience to the video and the use of light to essentially cut that would be something that would be very useful to use because we would be able to get the feel of the one shot video but we still would be editing and using cuts which is definitely beneficial to this particular video. We found this experience and the advice that Lucy gave us back to be so completely helpful because to hear how the professionals do it makes everything sound like it makes sense rather than our group going forward with this project with no clue how to make this. The interaction with Lucy is something that is going to inspire us all throughout the process.

Band Inspiration

The main source of inspiration for our music video is the band we are taking the song from for our music video, Arcade Fire. The band, who originate from Canada, are a seven piece that specialise in the Indie/Rock/Alternative genre. The reason why we have gained inspiration from them is because they are very different than all the other bands on the market and they make music that seems to speak to people on such a large scale. On their recent Reflektor Tour, they managed to fill massive venues with fans that sang all of the songs right back at them. The aura they give off is electric and this is something that we want to replicate in our music video, even though we are only going to be using the lead singer in our music video we still want to take publicity shots of our band with all of the members so that we can see how everything is looking and gain more inspiration from them as to what the final video is going to turn out like. We are excited as a group to see how this develops and what we are going to be achieving, we are confident that this video is going to do the song that Arcade Fire created justice and have the right style and look that they would want to see in any of their own music videos. We were also thinking of getting in touch with any of the directors that have actually made Arcade Fire's music videos because then they will be able to tell us exactly what that type of band would want from their videos and what they would want to achieve. We believe that this could be really beneficial to our final piece because having an expert opinion on the matter means that we can go further with our video and make something that looks really professional and impressive.

Here are examples of some of their most recent videos and they all have a look of something that we would like to replicate and take forward into our coursework. What we like in particular about these videos is their ability to look incredibly slick and yet still have an air of quirkiness about them that makes them stand out in comparison to other videos. In all of these videos there is a strong story line, for example the video for We Exist highlights the inequalities that transsexual people etc face. This is clearly highlighted throughout the lyrics of the song and also the visuals to go along side it. Even though we are not having a video with this particular message behind it, we are still wanting to create a message of unrequited love or love that slowly dying and we are wanting to produce a video that won't necessarily be telling the story in a direct fashion but in a way that can be clearly seen to be the case. With these videos, even though they are using the lyrics of the song it is done in a way that may not be necessarily obvious on the first viewing, which is essentially what we want to do and why we are inspired by the videos on the first place.  

Band Name and Biography

Band Name: PARABLES

Biography:
Originating from the heart of Birmingham, Parables have come from what you would expect to be nothing. Like most classic indie bands from England, the band met at school and after individually finding their way with their instruments; lead singer Alex Parkinson put an notice on the music announcement board calling for members of both sexes to join his band. With that he gained the likes of Esme Jordan, Josh Willis, Will Martin, and Noah Lawrence. Parables was created. Now in their early twenties, the band have progressed a lot since their high school days.
After applying a number of their songs to the BBC Introducing scheme, they were eventually picked up and asked to perform in the tent of the same name at Glastonbury Festival and since then they have taken over the radios. Their electric form of making powerful, emotive ballads to catchy, beat filled indie tracks; the band seem to have no limits into what they can achieve. 
Their first album came out in early 2010, Behold the Night, becoming an instant success in the Indie/Alternative market of music. The catchy beats and alternative sound that they seemed to create from the back of finishing their A-Levels generated a lot of attention from the top music magazines including NME, Q, and Clash. This catapulted Parables into cult status within the music community. 
Even though they have only been together for what seems like a few years, that hasn't stopped them from trying to crack the big market of America. Being a small band though that are still trying to find their feet, things can sometimes get tricky. However they have been through so much as a band and as friends that there is clearly a lot more to come from Parables.
 Their work ethic and strong personalities are keeping them on a steady stream of work load, from touring to writing Parables are keen to always be keeping themselves busy and in the eyes of the top music moguls.
However, there have been a lot of ups and downs within the band even throughout all of this success. Briefly having a hiatus during 2012 to focus on themselves as individuals due to the constant stream of excessive touring and working, however at the end of 2013 the music community were shocked to discover the secret release of Parables' new single, My Body is a Cage, this song became an instant success and raved about in the top music magazines by the top music critics. This was then followed by a press release announcing the launch of the band's third album in late 2014. This announcement sets them up to be one of the biggest and prestigious bands coming from the Midlands for years.  

25 Word Pitch Old and New

 OLD


NEW

Song Choices and Video Ideas

The song that we chosen for our music video is Arcade Fire's My Body is a Cage, we have chosen this song because of the fact that it is a fairly emotional song that seems to pick up to a crescendo halfway through. We feel like this is an important aspect of a song choice because we will be able to do quite a lot with the song and create a music video that will be very impressive and dramatic. Also because it is a man singing and also a woman in the background, it means that we have have both a male and female singer which we think will balance the video out nicely and hopefully create a nice narrative between them in the video. 
The video idea that we have had is very dramatic and hopefully will turn out very powerful and emotive. It will start with a man sitting on a chair in a bare room that is dark with a side spotlight on him so you can only see the left side of his face (it will be a very soft focus light), next we will be able to see the woman standing next to him facing away. It will start with a long shot as well at this point and slowly but surely pan into the duo to create a dramatic and emotive moment. When listening to the song you can hear that it is very slow and quiet, for this moment it will continue to be the opening shot and be a long sequence with no cuts in it. Again this will slowly be panning into the duo. For this song in particular we think that this idea of keeping the opening of the song quite soft and personal. As the song picks up so will the video, however the video will hopefully pick up before the song because the video might turn out quite boring and slow if it doesn't, however this is something that we can alter and see what works when we start filming.
The video will include some form of dancing and also include quirky transitions that will add an element of confusion to the video, this is because we were thinking that we will transition through the video by sweeping to the next shot. This will give a sense of the room being a lot bigger than it is and we will have the duo, or whoever the band may turn out to be, in different places doing different things with different sets behind them. 
We think the video probably sounds more ambitious than it might turn out to be when filming, as we will have nobody actually performing with instruments in the video it is important that we make the video interesting and engaging. We are very conscious and committed to producing the best video that we can and hopefully with this idea and hopefully what will end up being the final product be will seem very professional.
There are a lot of other songs as well that have caught our eye however we think this is the best song and the best idea that we have had so hopefully this will be able to go ahead.
We think it is important to remember our limits and that we are not professionals, however it is about believing in the video enough to make it seem very professional. We all believe that this idea can be really impressive.

Song Inspiration and Corresponding Genre Inspiration

Here are a few examples of the types of videos and also the type of genre we are going for, as you can see with all of these videos they are all very quirky and different whether they are a narrative or a performance video. This is important for us to emulate because it is really good inspiration and also can give us more ideas into how we can develop our music video ideas and create something that can really stand out. With all of these music videos they all seem to have a set colour scheme that can be really beneficial to decide on because then that gives the music video its professional vibe. We will try and create something very similar to these, at least something that is shown to be inspired by these. We are confident as a group that we will be able to achieve a video along the same lines as these.

Dance inspiration

Camera shot inspiration

Genre of music video

Inspiration for genre choice:














We have chosen an indie/alternative genre for our music video as this is a genre which interests and excites all four members of the group.