13.12.10 - Meeting With The Band

As planned the band representative came into school to meet with us during one of our media lessons. We were under the impression that at least one of the female singers would be at the meeting, but Keith (the bassist) came instead.

Firstly, Ian still didn't know which song we were doing but he confirmed they were not doing 'All The Single Ladies' despite Mr Sheppard saying that it was definite. This was frustrating as our first idea, even though it had little development, would have to be scrapped.

As promised I had the pictures of the sort of dresses I wanted the girls to wear and showed them to Ian. (Keith was talking to the other groups at this time as he is the bassist for many of the other bands).

After showing Ian the pictures the first thing he said was 'well the girls are a bit bigger than them' this wasn't appropriate or helpful as I had asked for pictures of the girls numerous times before and it was the best I could do without actually having seen them.

We then discussed the band name, and I showed him the list of fonts.

Ian thought the name was good as it fits in with the band really well, however, when Keith joined in the conversation after talking to the other groups, he just laughed. I don't think this was appropriate or professional behaviour from Keith.

We all agreed that we preferred the top font, and after sketching some logo ideas, I think it will be a fairly easy process to come up with an identifiable logo.

Another topic of discussion was the filming date, we knew it was going to be very difficult trying to organise 7 people with busy schedules, as well as trying to share band members with other groups. Three dates were suggested a few weeks ago, 4th of January being the first one, and in the meeting it was arranged for the 16th of January. I believed that the earlier we film the music video, it would allow for rehearsals and any mistakes or changes can be achieved well into the deadline set for the 21st of January to have all filming done. A further two dates were suggested so that any re-filming, or shots that we couldn't get on the 4th of January would easily be achieved. However the two band members in the discussion were unwilling to film this early as they wouldn't be ready and so the 16th of January was agreed.

It was highlighted that the band still had yet to meet up altogether and rehearse any songs and so this was very concerning, but they are due to rehearse later that night. It was also promised that an email would be written to follow up the meeting and confirm the song they were doing after their first ever rehearsal.

The other thing I had prepared for the meeting was a sketch of the promotional poster and how the general look of it would appear once finished.(Refer to 'Mind Maps and Scans' blog post) It consists of three panels where each girl would appear, wearing the same dress, yet posing differently. The instrument players would then appear in a semi silhouette with a fade around it, at the bottom of the three panels; this would signify that the three ladies are the 'main event'. The reason for the three panels would effectively be three different pictures, I considered the feasibility of arranging a meet up with all three of the girls at the same time apart from on the filming shoot. So realistically, three different pictures means that three different shoots could be arranged if needed.

I also asked if the contact details of the three lead singers could be forwarded to Molly so I could arrange a photo shoot for the promotional poster, it was suggested to do it on the same day as the filming date, however it has now been arranged that we have to share the day with another group as their band consists of a few of the same people from our band. Ian promised to email Molly possible dates that the girls could attend a photoshoot.

As of Tuesday 14th, Mr Sheppard called Ian to ask what song has been confirmed as an email wasn't sent as promised, and 'The Shoop Shoop Song' by Cher was confirmed as well as changing the filming date to the 23rd of January. There was very little consideration of January resits and exams but we don't have a choice as our band members are really busy.

Band Name and Fonts

Following the 'Motown Research' blogpost which I looked at the style of fonts and themes that occur in Motown names, I decided to try and finalise a band name and come up with suitable fonts for the house style and perhaps logo of the band.

As you can see from the 'Mind Maps, Scans, Plans' blogpost I wrote words which are associated with singing, bands, music and random band names. With this I then tried to adapt the word to fit the themes which I found such as 'The' '... & The ...' 'ettes' etc.

Finally I came up with 'The Harmonettes' and suggested it to the group, which they also approved of. I feel it fits well with the Motown themes highlighted but it also fits well with the three lead singers as they obviously have to harmonise with each other in a performance. It was fairly difficult trying to come up with an original band name, and still this name may not be accepted by the band itself but I have prepared the name none the less and then moved on to find fonts which would be usable.

The above fonts are what I have found to be possibilities for the house style font. The last two fonts are perhaps the least appropriate but I wanted to produce a range of fonts. I added them to the list in order to contrast with the others and go against the conventions of the Motown font, it is more elegant which links to the word 'harmony' but I think it may be too difficult to read on posters and advertisements.

With the third font, I tried to find one which could replicate the iconic Motown 'M' logo (see below), and I believe I have been successful in finding a font that does this however, it then poses the case of not being original for the band and whether they actually want a sole Motown identity.

The 4th font again tries to replicate the iconic Motown fonts and incorporates the underlinement in the 'Tamla Motown' logo (see below) however this is more individual and interesting.

Obviously these fonts will be discussed with the band members and the representative in the scheduled meeting, and it will ultimately be their decision on which font we use.

Suggested Outfits for Lead Singers

There has been a meeting scheduled on Monday 13th December to meet with Ian, the band's representative. In preparation for this I have found dresses which I think are appropriate according to my research and also fit in with modern trends which are suitable for a wedding audience.
As I am yet to actually see what any of the band looks like, due to Ian still not replying to Molly's email, I cannot look at dresses which would look better for certain body shapes and so the following images are based on my first thoughts and ideas of what they should wear.

These dresses are simple, following the fitted skirt style as seen in 'DreamGirls' and on the various pictures that can be found of Motown bands. The colours have been chosen to be simple and the shimery material adds a more formal appearance which is appropriate for a wedding.

Image Research

The image of a band is crucial as it makes them recognisable, likable and individual to other artists. As we are using a real band that is looking to use what we produce to promote their career, it is essential we style the band so they are identifiable and current.

We found out that their target market would be aimed at wedding events and receptions. This indicates that they should not wear casual clothes but slightly more formal/ dressy.

Sticking with the Motown theme, I have looked at same bands as before: 'The Velvelettes', 'Martha Reeves & The Vandellas', 'Diana Ross & The Supremes' and 'The Marvelettes'. Focusing particularly on the clothing, it is clear that many things have changed. I found the above images which demonstrate particular fashion of the era and are similar to what the above bands used to wear.
The site mentions that many dresses worn were A-line and so when it comes to finding the actual dress the girls will wear, I will keep this in mind.

Another trend seen in Motown fashion was the fitted skirts which was something I pictured in the first place. As there are not many music videos which come from the Motown era, I decided to watch the film 'Dream Girls' to get more ideas on the style and found that most of the dresses worn are similar to the above two pictures. For example:

Obviously the first picture is more glamorous, however, they still fit with the fitted look. The two other pictures have A-line style dresses. It is clear from the middle picture which features two opposing bands that ladies tend to wear the same colour and styled dress as their band members, again something I will take into consideration when it comes to styling the ladies that front our band.

websites used: fashion-era.com

More relevant pictures I found when researching can be seen below:

 



In my research I found that the male Motown singers usually wear smart suits, for example, Boyz II Men are seen in smart suits the majority of the time. Other bands such as Four Tops, and even Gladys Knight and The Pips all feature formal attire. However this research only uses examples from bands where the males are singers so it was difficult to find what the instrument players wear as they are usually in the background. I want to ensure I consider every aspect of the bands image.

With the formality of the attire in mind, I wanted the male image to be as modern as the girls and I instantly thought of the music video 'Hey Ya' by Outkast (seen above).

The styles of trousers I have found are smart, simple and black in colour. These fit with what Ian said about the band wearing all black, although I have now added the white braces to add to the Motown theme and to make the instrument players stand out in the background slightly. It also adds more individuality to the band.

I think that wearing the white braces with a nice black shirt would allow the band members to be identified as Motown yet they will not look too old fashioned compared to the above mentioned bands.

I have found some examples of the type of shirts I would like the band members to wear:

The left shirt is the style which I think is better as the buttons do not show; I think this will look smarter and appropriate for a wedding venue. The middle shirt is acceptable but the buttons showing could look slightly odd with the braces however I can't be too picky due to availability in the shops near the band members as well as their funding. The shirt on the right, in my opinion is the least appropriate as it is not formal and I think it would ruin the image if the band members had tattoos on their forearms and so it is best to go with a long sleeved shirt.

Above are examples of trousers which would be acceptable to wear, they are smart trousers which would be appropriate for a wedding venue and also makes the band members look more professional. And they also conform to the requirements of the instrument players wearing all black.

9.12.10/ 10.12.10 - No Response/ Concerns

Earlier in the week I expressed some concerns about how this project will turn out. Obviously we are relying on the band representative to communicate with his fellow band members however; Molly emailed him a few weeks ago and is still yet to get a reply. This suggests that if he isn't communicating with us then he can't be communicating with the other band members.

During a lesson while we were all together we decided to call Ian to ask him if he got the email, he said he just found it and will reply, but he didn't. We were also going to ask him the questions in the email but he said he couldn't confirm anything such as the Motown image or if they are definitely doing 'All the Single Ladies' for the music video as he hadn't contacted the other band members so he said he would contact them and email Molly back soon.

Another week or so and he didn't email back after that so I told Molly we should ring him again. I decided to ring him on behalf of Molly because I didn't think I could express my concerns through someone else (I used Molly's phone so that he still only has one number to call us on).

I called him at 11:30am and there was no answer and so I tried again at around 1.I basically said that we only have 2 weeks left at school before we break up for Christmas and after that we need to be ready for filming. (a range of dates were given to him in the email that he didn't reply to). I also asked if the band had had their first ever rehearsal yet, and he said he was in the process of arranging it.

For our project to really start we need to actually see what the band members look like and he said he only had their Facebook contact details at the minute so he was going to arrange to get appropriate pictures. After that he said he would call me or Molly back at 3:00pm as he was going to chase the band as soon as he was home. We didn't receive a call or a follow up email which was promised.

Resulting from this, the next day, (10/12/10) I went to Mr Sheppard, with Max, to express my concerns again and tell him that we've had no email replies, and no returned call. I asked what we could do because we effectively have nothing to go by and Mr Sheppard confirmed we will definitely do the Motown image and 'All The Single Ladies' and on Monday, Ian (the representative) will be bringing a band member along with him so we can talk to him again. Mr Sheppard said we should give the band a name by Monday and that I should have some logos drawn and the image sorted.

Having then getting the confirmation from Mr Sheppard about the Motown image and confirming the 'Single Ladies' song, I brainstormed band names and outfit ideas and plan to gather images of certain dresses which I think would be good for the three girls, I also plan to present this on Monday to Ian and the band members that attend the meeting.

Email to Representative

Following the first meeting with Ian, I suggested a few things that Molly should ask in the first email we send to our representative, we asked for the following things to be confirmed:

- Motown image - Do all band members agree it would be appropriate?

- Song - Are they definitely recording 'Single Ladies' by Beyonce?

- Pictures - Can we have pictures of the three girls so I can research the image of the band which would be suitable

- Locations - We need to try and get permission for suitable locations for the music video, any ideas?

- Filming dates - Possible on: 04th of January, 07th of January, 11th of January and 16th of January

We wanted to set a filming date for as soon as possible in order to meet the internal deadline but also enable us to re-film at a later date if any problems are incurred or any further footage is required. These dates are also convenient for students who have January exams all throughout the month.

Scheduled Group Meeting

It was arranged for everyone in the group to meet up at 8:45am on Monday, 6th of December. However on the way to school on this day, my mum's car broke down and it was too dangerous to go to school. When i got back home after attempting to go to school, I called Molly to let her know that I wouldn't be at the meeting and explained the situation. 

Later in the evening I left Molly a message on facebook to let her know that I wouldn't be in the next day as the car still isn't fixed and i have no other way of getting into school.

Mind Maps, Scans, Plans

This post features all mind maps and ideas created throughout the whole project including ideas for the first song choice as well as when the song was later changed.
Video Ideas

This mind map demonstrates the basic idea which I came up with, the Spotlight inspiration came from the film DreamGirls whereas the hand clapping and drum beating was inspired by the popular youtube channel 'PomplamooseMusic', as seen in the opening of the video below.



I feel by replicating some of the modern elements from the youtube video we can create a music video which would appeal to younger audiences with the engaging editing and then the old style Motown sounds would entise the older audiences.
It was also a possible idea to put the music video in black and white in order to be similar to the original music video by Beyonce and this would also conform to Motown conventions of black and white due to the era of non-colour TV.

Clothing Ideas

This mindmap demonstrates the influences for outfits. I firstly sketched certain dresses that I had in my head and from previous knowledge of the eras clothing and then found that they were similar to those in certain films and music videos.






The above videos are examples of where I have got my inspiration from and the following pictures are specific relevant examples of clothing:

Name Ideas

This is how I came up with the name for the group, it was difficult to think of an original band name so I decided to write everything to do with singing on a piece of paper and then try to mould the word into the conventions I found with Motown names.
Refer to blog posts: 'Motown Research'

Motown Research

I have been assigned the role of researching Motown bands, names and logos to fit with our first ideas of creating a Motown themed band for this project. The band will be doing a cover version of Beyonce's 'Single Ladies' and so it could be interesting to mix the iconic image of Motown with the modern sounds of Beyonce.

Motown was a major music label, first established in the early 60's by Berry Gordy Jr., originally known as Tamla Records. As the style of music and fashion has changed since then I will be careful in selecting the Motown elements which I choose to incorporate into our band's identity as it is important to keep up with trends and appeal to the large target audience, highlighted by our representative.

Firstly I looked on the Classic Motown website to find bands which featured three female lead singers. I found 'The Velvelettes' 'Martha Reeves & The Vandellas', 'Diana Ross & The Supremes' and 'The Marvelettes' and can instantly see similarities between each group. For example, they all wear similar dresses and outfits in pictures that can be found:

If we look specifically at the fonts in the above pictures there are a few recurring themes such as: bold, black text, no italics and simple fonts. However, having searched other Motown logos and fonts, it can be seen that the use of highlights behind the main text is used (also seen in the above Diana Ross & The Supremes album cover).

This shows that despite the use of bold simple fonts, they can be made more interesting with highlights. I think this is something which I can easily incorporate into our bands logo.

As with many widely known brands, logos and labels they can become recognisable through their font and a house style is created. I feel it is important to create a house font or style for the band in order to have their own originality in their chosen market. And I will look at different fonts later.

Looking at Motown names, it is apparent that most of the names follow similar themes such as 'Someone & The Somethings' eg. Diana Ross & The Supremes. Many names have 'The' in it but I have noticed that bands with female singers tend to have 'ettes' at the end of the name e.g The Velvelettes, The Marvelettes etc.
Now I have researched the main themes seen with Motown I will be able to create a mind map of ideas for names and logos and then discuss them with my group.

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.

1st Week of Production

In the first week of production, we have been introduced to the people we have to work with and the bands that our group has been assigned. Molly Edwards, Zoe Vamplew, Max Hewitt and myself will be working as a team to produce the following: 
- A band name
- A band logo
- A full music video
- A CD Cover
- A DVD cover
- Promotional posters
- A set of value added material including; a behind the scenes documentary, a video commentary, a photo gallery and a promotional gallery.
- All of the necessary research and planning.


We have been given the following internal deadlines:

PRE PRODUCTION – November 5^th to January 3^rd, 2011

PRODUCTION - January 3^rd and you may not film after January 21^st

POST PRODUCTION - 24^th January to 18^th February, 2011

Band Viewing will take place shortly after February 18th 


During our first media lesson together we discussed our strengths and decided which roles we would like to undertake for the project:
Molly - Producer
Max - Director
Me - Designer/ Photographer
Zoe - Technical


Our band currently does not have a name, logo or website and cannot be assigned to a specific genre of music as they are newly formed. We know that the group consists of 3 lead female singers and 4 instrument players.

Designer and Photographer's role.

I believe my role is to make the overall decision on the costume each band member wears. This means selecting appropriate outfits which compliment the band, conform to conventions and how they want to be portrayed. It is achievable through careful research and questioning to ensure that the band are happy with the decisions I make.

I also believe my role is to ensure the set design is appropriate and attractive for the video to make sure the band is fully advertised. This involves looking closely at the location to see how it can be improved if at all possible, and making use of all the resources available.

Photography has been an interest of mine for many years and my online gallery demonstrates this, having said this to the group it was decided that I would be best suited to take the photographer's role due to my experience and knowledge of photography, having previously taken a course in it.