Costume ideas for our music video

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Girl Costume Ideas



Boy Costume Ideas



We want our music video to have post modernist influence and include intertexual references to bands that have influenced Smaller Than You within our costume. This is a sucessful aspect of many band's costumes, arguably most noticabely with Amy Winehouse, who is most commonly recognised by her thick flicked black eyeliner and a beehive, inspired by influential artists such as Tammi Terrel and The Supremes.

Our target audience is both males and females between the ages of 15 and 25. I have noticed to way it is becoming increasingly popular for young people to become interested in older, past bands (this is reflected in the way high street stores that target young people such as NewLook and Topman have started to sell 'retro-look' intertextual clothes featuring artists such as Blondie, David Bowie and The Clash.)
examples of this:





(Mens, Both Topman)



(Womens, Newlook)


Our costume needs to fit in with Ska/skateboarder generic conventions and yet still be fashionable to appeal to a mainstream audience.
The skateboarding theme has been used a lot recently in modern media productions, as can be seen in this fortnight's More! magazine in a feature photoshoot (below).
More! is a women's magazine with a target audience of 16-30 ( a very similar age group to our target audience) and this photoshoot represents the way skateboarding is seen in 2009 as rebellious or alternative yet, importantly, fashionable. The title of the fashionshoot is 'Wild at Heart' (and features different animal prints). This animalistic theme and the name of the shoot reflects the way skateboarding is seen in modern culture as 'wild': rebellious and different.













I think we will encorporate the male skateboarder's look that features on these pages, for example the Vans Tshirts, because they are contemporary and fashionable and a generic convention. The costumes the male models wear are very similar to Ross and Chris's costumes last sunday, for example the beanie hat, jeans, logo or band Tshirt and skate shoes.
However I don't think we should encorporate the costumes of the female model or the way she is being presented. She is extremely sexualised, wearing short dresses and heels, and also is presented in a very passive way, ( for example just standing posing or looking pretty as the male models are in the real action around her). This is what our media group are trying to challenge within our music video, and so this has given me some thought to what we should be avoiding.
However, the female model's makeup (pink lips and dark eyes) is involved within the Ska convention and we could bare this in mind when dressing our female cast members.

Music Video StoryBoard

warm lighting/ natural day lighting
It is important that we have continuity throughout our film as it is a linear structure that is meant to look like it is filmed throughout the day. The end shot needs to be slightly darker as it is meant to look like it is the evening and so we will film it when the sun begins to set (at around 7 o'clock).


Shot One: Wide shot/ very long shot, deep focus, of Jake standing outside Soundclash with drumsticks in his hand.

Shot Two: Zoom, Close up of Jake attaching a smaller than you ticket to the drumsticks with an elastic band. Behind him is a poster for Smaller Than You (the band we are promoting) playing tonight. Suddenly we see a hand come out and snatch the drumsticks from him.

Shot Three:
1) Midshot of a boy on a skateboard skating off with Jakes drumsticks.
2)Long shot, (birds eye view if manageable) of Norwich Forum. Boy we previously saw is now at the forum. There is another poster behind him. The drumsticks are then snatched again.

Shot Four:
1) Mid length shot of boy skateboarding with the drumsticks in his hand.
2) High angle(if possible), two shot of sticks being passed/snatched by a girl outside the castle. She then skates away.

Shot Five: Mid length shot of the girl waiting at a bus stop.

Shot Six: Close up of girl sitting on the bus. The sound goes muffled as she puts her headphones in.




Shot Seven: Long shot. Sound is no longer muffled. Girl is off the bus and by a wall with lots of promotional Smaller Than You posters. Two shot, sticks are snatched again.

Shot Eight: Mid length hand held track shot of boy skating with the sticks.

Shot Nine: Close up as sticks are snatched again.

Shot Ten: Mid shot as we discover it is Jake holding the sticks once again.

Shot Eleven: Long shot as Jake goes through a door.

Shot Tweleve:Door closes behind Jake. Zoom to a close up of a poster saying 'Smaller Than You play here tonight'.

music video influences/ideas for costumes

My research into these SKA inspired artists could help me incorporate their style into my costume ideas or use them for intextual references throughout the music video.


Gwen stefani & her harajuku girls



Desmond Dekker



Bob Marley and the Wailers



Reel Big Fish



Prince Buster

definition of SKA

(this is research copied from http://ska.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_history_of_ska and is not my own writing)

Developed in the late 1950's, ska music originally evolved from the style of Jamaican music that included calypso beats as well as jazz and blues riffs. The genre became known for its scratchy beats, fast tempo and the piano, guitar (and in later stages, horns) as the prevailing instruments.

Ska music became known as the precursor to reggae, and became widely popular in the 1960's. During this time, Jamaica's "Rude Boys" helped spur the popularity of ska music because it was this genre that the subculture preferred to listen to.

Oddly enough however, many of the ska artists during this time actually rejected the rude boys and their violent tendencies, despite the fact that this subculture was said to have come about because of ska.

Pioneers of Ska Music
There are many theories pertaining to the originator of ska music, but it's mostly unclear who was truly responsible for bringing ska music into the limelight. For example, one theory believes ska music became a kind of response to American music. Yet another theory claims that Prince Buster (a.k.a. Cecil Campbell) created ska music.

Whatever the case maybe, the first true ska recordings began in the early 1960's. At the 1964 New York's World Fair, ska music first began to take shape as a popular form of music for many people. Byron Lee and the Dragonaires were the main stage event and performed with other early ska musicians like Prince Buster and Peter Tosh.




Eventually, ska began to change its sound as American music did the same thing. You could hear richer vocals and more of a rocksteady sound during the late 1960's - even the tempo was slower. You could hear the way ska changed by listening to the artists of the time; bands like the Melodians, the Paragons, and Desmond Dekker resembled a rich tapestry of what ska music was slowly evolving into.

The Revival of Ska
As ska music grew to be a popular genre of music, revival bands in the United States started to form. One such band, The Toasters, could effectively be argued as the frontrunner of the ska revival. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Operation Ivy paid homage to ska music by incorporating a distinctly ska sound into their punk music, thereby creating the ska punk genre.

Finally, during the late 1990's, mainstream ska bands began to see a dip in popularity. Despite this fact, there are still several ska-infused bands today who enjoy a good bit of fame, including Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and The Slackers.

While several bands have moved away from their ska sound to emulate various forms of punk or rock, still many other bands remain true to the early sounds of ska music.



Read more: http://ska.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_history_of_ska#ixzz0QcQnmTOv

Music video ideas

CAST

* Jake (the drummer of the band)
* around 5 male teenagers who can skateboard (tbc)
* one female teenager who can skateboard

IDEAS

We have decided to film are music video in a linear structure. The video begins with Jake (the drummer of the band) coming out of sound clash with drum sticks with a smaller than you ticket wrapped round them in his hand. A skateboarder then snatches the sticks from him and the camera follows him. There is then a relay effect of different skateboarders snatching the drum sticks. Each skateboarder will be filmed in a famous significant place in norwich, with posters saying 'SMALLER THAN YOU PLAYING TONIGHT' behind them. Then one of the skateboarders gets on a bus (we are still deciding if this should be a sightseeing bus) and puts his headphones in. At this point, the song becomes muffled. he then takes out the headphones as he gets off the bus and the music becomes clear. Jake then snatches them back and goes into the art center, entering a door. when the door shuts, we see a sign that says 'Smaller than you playing here tonight'.


How this fits with the conventions of the SKA genre
Smaller Than You's sound is very fast paced. This will fit in well with the fast pace of skateboarding. Skateboarding itself is oftion associated with SKA and fans of SKA. The history of SKA includes SKA artists rejecting Jamaica's 'Rude Boys' violent tendecies. This is reflected in our music video becuase although at first it seems as though the sticks are being stolen, it is actually an act of contribution and spreading the word about their music (and their gig that night). The fact the the video will end with jake getting his sticks back conforms with SKA history yet challenges the conventions of Rap, Metal and Alternative videos that could be seen as promoting illegal and violent acts.
The passing of the drumsticks from person to person represents the history of ska music and the way it has passed from culture to culture, country to country through different generations. The drumsticks represent the ska genre and it's significant recognisable beat.


PROPS

*drumsticks and elastic band
*smaller than you ticket
*skateboard
*smaller than you posters
*MP3
*5 bus tickets

location ideas for music video.

We want to emphasise the fact that our band are british as a way of appealing to audiences. Norwich is not very well known in the british music industry but the use of regional accents and using home locations has done well for bands such as The Kooks (from Brighton), The Arctic Monkeys (from Sheffield) and Oasis (from Manchester).
Despite this we don't want our music video looking like a tourism home video or too mainstream. We want our video to reflect the urban/underground roots of the Ska genre and therefore will also shoot in places that appeal to alternative music fans, such as around Anglia Square's graffitti and The Forum carpark.

Significant places in norwich or cultural signifiers we could use are:

The Norwich Cathedral



The Castle Museum



The Forum



The Norwich Market



We also want places in norwich that represent the music scene, such as:

Sound Clash



Norwich Arts Center



Places that reflect the urban/alternative Ska genre:

The Forum carpark

Anglia Square



This planning map from google shows the way our locations are in walking distance from each other and our all around Norwich city center. This is useful for us as it means we don't have to arrange transport to and from our locations.



Other Location Details:

The graffitti in Anglia Square has recently been painted over so we plan to ask permission to draw our own graffitti with a pen that will wash off with water.

We need to be very careful when filming our cast skateboarding down The Forum carpark and plan to do this early in the morning when it is not busy as it could otherwise be very dangerous. One member of our group will also look out for cars that are turning in.

We will also need to ask Norwich Art Center for permission to film Jake walking in and out as this may take a few takes and could disturb the people inside.