2nd Week of Production

In preparation for the first scheduled meeting with our band representative and a previous homework, we had to come up with a list of all initial questions to ask a band which we would be working for. The questions I came up with are as follows:

-         What do you want to achieve with the music video?

-         Who is your target audience?

-         Would you prefer to have a narrative in the video or just pure performance? (Do you have any ideas on the narrative?)

-         Is there a lead singer or someone that commands most of the attention in the band?

-         How do you want the air time distributed between band members?

-         Do you have any merchandise that could be used/ advertised in the music video?

-         What instruments are used, if any?

-         How many band members?

-         What genre is the music that you play?

-         Do the band members wear any particular items of clothing which can be identified to that particular member?

-         Who would you say the band is similar to?

-         Would they more likely appeal to a male or female audience, young or old etc?

-         Are there any existing music videos that you know of, like and would perhaps want similar elements incorporated into your video?

-         Where would you usually see the band advertised? Facebook, TV, Posters, Spotify Ads etc?

-         What do the band members look like?

During the first meeting with our representative (Ian Worsfold) not all questions mentioned above were asked but we gathered enough information to begin initial research. Ian stated that the 3 singers all have equal share of the vocals which indicated that they would have an equal share of air time between them, but would take priority over the instrument players.

It was highlighted that they do not have a specific genre of music as they tend to cover songs that people want to hear at the functions. They currently have no merchandise or recognisable attributes to their band which is something we can create during the project. According to Ian they have a large target audience due to the diversity of songs they play and label themselves as a wedding/ function band and sometimes do corporate gigs. As he said they are mainly a wedding band it suggests their target audience has a wide age range as you would find people of all ages at weddings.
Finally it was highlighted that the band aim to gain promotional media which can advertise the band at a wedding fair, they plan to set up stalls and play the music video behind them to attract potential bookings whilst the DVD and extras can be handed to the clients to take away.
After the first meeting with Ian we needed to come up with an idea for the music video in order for our research to stem off from this. We were told that the band were going to do 'All The Single Ladies' by Beyonce. I came up with the idea of an acoustic opening with hands clapping to the beat of the song, complimented by the drummer pressing the foot pedal, this would in turn introduce all the band members when they clap as well as being creative and the use of spot lights can be implemented. Obviously more research would be needed into similar videos which use this idea so we can perhaps replicate some shots and angles. 
I also suggested that we look at Motown themes for the band as when Ian said they were a wedding band I instantly thought of Motown and so this can be another branch of research for starters.

We then discussed research points to match our initial music video ideas and I have been assigned to research original Motown bands, names and logos in the hopes of coming up with a name for our band and I can combine this with the image research that someone else has been assigned.