I asked a questionnaire to seven students in my class, who are aged between 17 to 19 and I asked the following questions:

1.Have you ever heard of Noah and The Whale?

2.What type of music do you like to listen to?

3.Which do you like better a pop promo with a Narrative or performance?

4.Do you like music with Lyrics or without Lyrics?

5.Would you watch the pop promo of a song even if you didn’t like the song?

From the first question the results were interesting as a lot of people have heard of Noah and the Whale, out of the seven six people have heard of them. This is good in a way because it means that these students have an idea of what type of genre Noah and the whale play, but at the same time it’s bad as these students can compare our pop promo with the original pop promo’s of Noah and the Whale.

There were a various different types of genre for music, but the main types of genres were: Metal, Rock, R&B, Hip Hop, Pop, Trance, and Classical. A lot of these students prefer many different types of genres rather than sticking to one type. There is a joint top of genre of music, which is: Metal, Rock, RnB, and Hip-Hop, pop. This is bad for our group as the genre of music that Noah and the Whale like to perform is indie type music, which the students have not even included in their favorite types of music.

Our group asked this number three because for our pop promo it is just a narrative and we are interested in what people are more interested in performance or narrative. The result of this question came out equal (five each) which is interesting because a lot of the students chosen both. But this is good for our group, as we now know that it is not that important to have any performance and no one will be disappointed.

Our group asked the question four because some people in our class are actually doing a pop
promo without any lyrics and our group were wondering what these group of students actually prefer to listen to. This questions goes with what type of music people like to listen to all of those genre’s of music that they choose have lyrics in them normally apart from trance. This is good for our group as we have lyrics in ours also lyrics are good for a pop promo as it gives a narrative which we can follow rather than a pop promo without lyrics because then the pop promo has to go to the beat of the music rather than the lyrics.

The last question we asked because we want to know if any would actually be interested in looking up Noah and the Whale but the results of this showed that people prefer to watch a pop promo if they like the song, people who don’t mind watching a pop promo if they didn’t like the song only said that they would watch the pop promo for research. I think that this is a true point as if you like a song a lot most people want to see how the band have managed to create it on screen.

From our research of this questionnaire I can say that our group is on the right path of knowing how to capture this audience, but at the same time are really down side is that no one in our class enjoys indie, which might put our fellow students off our pop promo.

Bands similar to Noah and the Whale

Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons are a folk/blugrass band who have received positive critical acclaim from national newspapers such as the Guardian who featured them on their 'Band of the Day' online forum. They originated in London's pub folk scene (Twickenham in fact which is where Noah and the Whale originated) and have garnered a strong cult following amongst this crowd. In fact two of their band members even when to the same school as Noah and the Whale's bass player.

They released their debut album Lend Me Your Eyes in July 2008 and its lead single Roll Away Your Stone was featured as Radio 2's single of the week. They are attached to the label Chess Club which released their second album in November. In addition they made a successful appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival where they wooed audiences with their country-tinged acoustic anthems mainly featuring banjos and double bass. The band pride themselves on their lyrical sensibilities about love, loss and despair. They also dabble in socio-political messages which is a nod to the decades of work by Bob Dylan. Finally, the band features as one of its singers, Laura Marling who has sung with Noah and the Whale.

They finished a nationwide tour in 2008 with support from Peggy Sue, Pete Roe, The Cutaway and more. They are now touring with the Maccabees and have been longlisted for the BBCs Sound of 2009. As well as that they have received airtime and support from Radio 1 DJs Zane Lowe and Greg James as well as XFMs Dave Berry. Mumford & Sons won Best Band at the 3rd Annual BalconyTV Music Video Awards in Dublin on 3 July 2009. In addition they now have a specially designated playlist folder On Virgin TV On Demand along with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Lady Gaga which goes to the show that they have broken into mainstream culture.

Some of their songs include:

Little Lion Man

Winter Winds

White Blank Page

Feel The Tide

The Cave

Primary Research

After finalising our idea we were required to pitch our ideas to the rest of our A Level group by telling them a brief version of the synopsis and treatment as well as playing them our song. It seemed that most of the group were not great fans of the song as it was "too happy and upbeat" which suggests that this section of our age group prefers a darker and more sombre melody to a typical Noah and the Whale tune. They did however express positive feedback for our narrative which involves the end of a relationship possibly because of the death of the girl involved. Although some of the group did express slight concerns that the song was not appropiate for the story and that the melancholic undertones would be subdued by the 'jolly' nature of the song but we countered this by saying that we are aiming for a 'bittersweet' tone which highlights the contrast between the good times and the bad in the relationship hence showing clearly the tragedy of these snippets of a broken heart. Our tutor meanwhile indicated support for our idea and was passionate about the themes we were looking to explore. Finally one problem we may have is that as we are using an established band our audience may already have prejudices which could dissuade them from liking our pop promo which would not be a problem for other groups who are using local bands that they know personally who are unknown to the vast majority of people.

Rundown of Lyrics

At the docks by himself sitting down looking at his legs looks sad-first 38secs

Oh well in five years time we could be walking round a zoo – high angle in park establishing to point of view in docks, walking around happy.

With the sun shining down over me and you

And there’ll be love in the bodies of the elephants too

And I’ll put my hands over your eyes, but you’ll peep through

Rapids cuts in-between music between time frames

And there’ll be sun sun sun –them happy in the docks

All over our bodies

And sun sun sun - switching back to him walking alone at the docks

All down our necks

And sun sun sun-happy couple

All over our faces

And sun sun sun- him alone

So what the heck

Cos I’ll be laughing at all your silly little jokes- This is set in the park playing tennis

And we’ll be laughing about how we used to smoke

All those stupid little cigarettes

And drink stupid wine

Cos it’s what we needed to have a good time

And it was fun fun fun

When we were drinking – them happy playing tennis ball bounces then cuts to him alone

It was fun fun fun

When we were drunk - him staring into the tennis court

And it was fun fun fun

When we were laughing -ball bounces back to them laughing playing tennis

It was fun fun fun

Oh it was fun – then him staring into tennis courts but we shoot him through the gate.

Oh well I look at you and say – Them playing hide and seek near the tree him hiding behind the tree

It’s the happiest that I’ve ever been

And I’ll say I no longer feel I have to be James Dean

And she’ll say – Them running down hill happy

Yah well I feel all pretty happy too

And I’m always pretty happy when I’m just kicking back with you

And it’ll be – Them happy playing still running up hill

Love love love

All through our bodies – cuts when he goes behind tree and turns around and cuts to him alone near the tree

And love love love

All through our minds – happy

And it be Love love love

All over her face - sad

And Love love love

All over mine - sad

Although maybe all these moments are just in my head – him lying in the road remembering times

I’ll be thinking ‘bout them as I’m lying in bed
And all that I believe might never really come true – she walks across but like a ghost and he sees her but she just vanishes

But in my mind I’m havin’ a pretty good time with you

Oh

Five years time – Them in the road and they are fighting

I might not know you

Five years time

We might not speak

Oh
In five years time

We might not get along

In five years time

You might just prove me wrong – you see her just vanish.

Oh there’ll be love love love – during this time is the different places that they were together (Christchurch, docks and the road) of them just being happy

Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love

Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love

Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love- by this bit you see him near the tree in Christchurch and him alone

Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love

Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love

Wherever you go

There’ll be love love love – this bit he scatteres ashes and we get a still shot (?) of the ashes coming out of the jar.

group Synopsis and Treatment

Synopsis

Song: "5 Years Time" by Noah and the Whale

This pop promo will be about a man remembering good times with his girlfriend. It involves two time scales, one when the couple are both happy together and the other when the relationship is over. This section will have a more melancholic tone. We will then reveal that his girlfriend is actually dead and he has been remembering some of their last moments together, some of which will be of them arguing. The video is about the man overcoming his grief.

We start at the docks for our first location with a high angle shot of the sun. At first we focus on the man wandering about aimlessly by the water’s edge and then sitting down and dangling his legs over the edge. We then cut to the two of them in the same location but at a different time after the man sees her reflection in the water. They seem happy and contented. During the chorus we cut rapidly between the two time periods to highlight the contrast of feelings.

For the next location we will be at Christchurch Park and we will witness the man making his way through a wooded area with the looming trees adding a hint of gloom in the promo’s tone. He will emerge and find himself looking on at an empty tennis court. We will then cut to the two of them playing in the tennis court beginning to have a slight disagreement. The girl will hit a ball away in anger and it will be picked up by the man in the next time scale. During the chorus we will once again cut rapidly between the time scales highlighting the contrast.

During the final section we will see the man lying on an empty road alone. We will then cut to the other time narrative to view the couple having a big argument which culminates in her walking away. Our final shot is of the man lying hopelessly in the road and then the girl appears above him but when he blinks she disappears.

Treatment

Editing:

Our narrative consists of two time scales so it will be important to make it clear which scale we are in by possibly using visually arresting cuts such as swipe edits when we switch time scales. Apart from those moments I intend to stick mostly to conventional edits although I may employ a couple of jump cuts during the argument to create an atmosphere of chaotic friction. I may also use a couple of graphic matches during the rapid cuts of the choruses in order to show the breaking symmetry of the periods.

In addition we have also discussed using a super 8 type of visual colour for the flashbacks as it creates a sense of hyper reality as well as harking back to a time in the past. It will also hopefully further distinguish between the different time scales keeping the audience abreast of what is happening in order to avoid confusion. It is also important to point out that editing can play a more significant role in this project than in our film noir project as cuts are often more obvious, numerous and stylised in pop promos. It will also be vitally important to integrate all of our establishing shots to highlight our changing locations as they play a vital role in showing the characters' relationship, i.e the waterfront is when they are calm and relatively happy (the smooth elegance of the boats and water) whereas the park with its wintery and wooded almost gothic atmosphere is better suited for the slightly souring nature of their relationship. Also the tennis court, a place of rivalry and competition, is ideal to show the first glimpses of conflict in their relationship.

Costumes

Beginning of the pop promo – Girl – Normal clothing (jeans, shirt) Man- Normal clothing (jeans, top)… when he is by himself he can be wearing a different top and jeans and a jacket (he can have his hands in the pocket jackets to make him look more sad)

New paragraph, middle – Girl – Wearing sporty clothing (tracksuit) Man – Wearing sporty clothing as well (tracksuit). Whenever man is alone he is wearing the same Jeans and jackets and he normally has his hands in his pockets to make it look like it is colder weather and he is sad.

New paragraph, middle (where the tree is) – Girl- Normal clothing, but different clothing from the beginning of the pop promo (jeans, shirt and thin jacket) Man- Normal clothing (jeans and top and thin coat). Whenever he is alone he is wearing the same clothing of the jeans top and jacket.

End – Girl – Normal clothing (jeans, top and a thicker coat) to show that it is getting colder. Man – Normal clothing (jeans, top and a thick coat).

Whenever the two of them are together their costumes should be lighter, for instance they can be wearing white or brighter colors like blue, to try and resemble summer. And as time goes by they wear darker clothing for instance the man could start with a normal blue shirt then when it goes further down the song it goes to a navy blue colour,

Whenever the man is by himself he can be wearing neutral colors, so a neutral jacket co lour like muddy grass green, and his shirt can be a black same with his jeans, to try and show he is mourning.

Props

Beginning of the pop promo – A bench (when the man is alone) but the bench will already be at the docks.

New paragraph, middle – We need two tennis rackets and at least 3 tennis balls in case we loose any.

New paragraph, middle – No props required here apart from the tree which will already be in Christchurch Park.

End – We need a jar that looks like an urn, also we need ashes, which we will get from Josh’s fireplace.

Lighting

Whenever the two are together it will be natural light to make it seem happier.

And whenever the man is by himself we should try and use low-key lighting to make things moodier or we can add more shade to make it look darker.

Cinematography

For the synopsis, we have collaborated our ideas and the Treatment has been delegated to each member of our group, and I agreed to create the Storyboards and therefore the Treatment for the Cinematography of the video. This was going to be the Group Treatment, a collaboration of the Treatments for different areas that will be covered during this project.

For this task to be completed accurately I took into consideration various rules, codes and conventions used by professionals and expert cameramen in the media, when filming with any type of video camera system. These include the “Rule of Thirds”, the “180 degree line rule”, the “30 degree line rule”, “Handles”, “Match-On-Action” (continuity and flow of one shot into another), and “Framing”.

The “180 degree line rule” will apply greatly to the continuity and comfortability of the video from the audience’s point of view. If the man walks from the right to the left of the screen and the girl from the left to the right of the screen, in shots to follow this known movement should be retained, unless otherwise shown by the camera, where the camera tracks from one side to the other. Then, once you have explained how the two characters have been moving and how we as an audience have ‘crossed’ that ‘line’, as a cameraman you can then begin to develop shots with a different point of view of the characters. Otherwise, a bad mistake and confusion can often lead to audiences becoming less interested in your production and your mishap is considered to be a moviemaking error and a bad piece of camerawork.

For the first shot, the establishing shot, we had discussed a possible point-of-view shot of the Sun. This is personification of the Sun because we are seeing what the Sun sees, if it had a point of view of our world. So, I took this as a consideration, and as a result I have decided that the first shot could either be a High Angle Shot from the Sun’s point-of-view, or indeed a Low Angle Shot of the Sun, then from the Low Angle the camera tilts down to look at the street, but at the same time elevating the tripod using the Elevate/Depress tripod controls, so that when the street does come into view we see the street as if it is from the Sun’s point-of-view, or that of a CCTV camera (as in the CCTV camera joke video above), but looking to the right of the street.

The second shot is a continuation of the first, so Match-On-Action is increasingly important here. We see the man walking, “wandering aimlessly by the water’s edge” as Josh had put in our Synopsis. I was thinking of maybe a High Angle Shot looking down to the left of the street, the camera on the opposite side of the street this time, and focusing on the man as he walks from the right to the left of the screen, continuing his movements from the first, establishing shot. I was hoping that to cut down on the number of shots we actually use, we could make these two opening shots into one long one, so that we are not worried about the flow of the cuts, but if we do film and edit these as two shots then we must pay particular attention to the “180 degree line rule” and the continuity and flow of the transition between the two shots.

The third shot is of the man as he sits down by the water’s edge and dangles his legs over the edge of the promenade, his legs dangling above the water. We could have a Wide Shot of him as he walks to where he will sit down, the camera panning left to give him some “looking space” in the framing of the shot when he sits down. As he has approached and sat down next to the camera, the shot changes from a Wide Shot to a Medium Shot. Originally I thought we could have only the man in focus (Shallow Focus) then when he crouches to sit down we re-focus the shot so that both the foreground and the background are in focus.

When he sits down, the next shot is of his legs dangled over the edge and his reflection in the water below. Because I wanted to show his legs at the bottom of the frame, I think this shot will be better shot as a handheld shot, and have a focus pull from his legs to his reflection, ready for the next shot of the water where we see him and his girlfriend reflected in the water. She isn’t really there, and the reflection of her is just one of his memories which sets us up for the shot to follow.

To be creative, I thought the next shot of the water could be in the past, still with their reflections in the water, only this time it is a memory, not so much an illusion. I thought we could have the shot of his legs and her legs dangling over the edge, only they are both in different clothing to his present - in summer clothes, and as they get up and leave happily from the spot at which they were sitting, in the next shot (a Long Shot), hand-in-hand, the real man in the present time still sits there, and sees his memory as if he is a ghost in another world, invisible to others but not to us, watching as their relationship together (in his past) progresses to the video’s climax. I reckon we can add this effect to the video in Editing, and only involves superimposing, or overlaying one shot onto another.

We had discussed, as a group and with our lecturer Jon, that we could use the effect on our video called “Super 8mm” which was an old type of camera. I researched this on various websites, and found a video on YouTube which was the best example I could find of this video effect. It comprises handheld footage with the style of watching a reel of negatives produced from, for example, a family holiday in the 1960s, viewed in the 21st Century. We agreed that if we could in fact create this kind of effect for our video on our Editing software Final Cut Pro (on the Apple Macintosh computers in our Editing suite), as the camera equipment we are using records onto Mini-DV Tapes, then we would use this effect to our advantage on shots where we see the man’s flashbacks and memories on-screen.

Concluding on the fact that our narrative is about a man who now has a sad life, remembering (through the use of flashbacks) the good times he had with his girlfriend, I thought of using mostly Wide Shots or Medium Shots, with a couple of Dutch Tilts here and there where appropriate and maybe a couple of Extreme Close-ups on their hands joined in his flashback. I want to include a shot where we are focused on a metal fence (in the tennis courts?) with them arguing in the background but out of focus, then pulling off a Focus-Pull so that when she leaves him after their argument (in the tennis courts?), we focus on him, alone, and possibly crying (or not).

Development of ideas

After playing around with several songs from the likes of David Bowie, Johnny Cash and Basement Jaxx we decided on 5 Years Time by Noah and the Whale. We decided on them because they were still relatively unknown and didn't have as fixed a reputation as the other artists we considered. This was important to us as we felt that it would give us more creative license that wouldn't be hampered by audience prejudices.

Furthermore after discussing story lines we came to the conclusion that the promo will feature two characters, a man and woman. Chris has agreed to play the man, following his highly acclaimed performance in our film noir project, whilst the girl will be played by our mutual friend Emily Halls. As an added point we have decided to film the scenes involving both characters from the point of view of the man in a similar style to the channel 4 sitcom Peep Show.

I should also mention that we briefly considered changing the song to another Noah and the Whale single, Blue Skies. The idea came about as we were talking about introducing more melancholic themes into the promo such as the death of the girl and the following grief of the man. I felt that Blue Skies was a more sombre tune than our original song and that therefore it may suit our story line better. However after further deliberation within the group we decided to stick with our original song and aim for the juxtaposition of the upbeat rhythm with the growing feeling of sadness in the mood of the story.

Research into band's marketing and promotions

Noah and the Whale are a British indie folk band. This is the cover for their second album The First Days of Spring which is also a film written and driected by lead singer Charlie Fink. He said in an interview on Radio Fivelive with Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode that he wanted to produce an album in a different way to other artists and this seemed an ideal way given his love of films (the band's name is taken from the film The Squid and the Whale). For the album the group were interviewed by many major media outlets such as Radio 1 and leading newspapers such as the Times which furthered their reputation.

Many publicity shots of the band, such as this one, play on their image as alternative to pop culture but not in a rebellious way like a rock band like Kasabian or Green Day might do but rather a slightly quircky even possibly quaint band. Most of their songs are about love and relationships and they cite their lyrical poetry to artists such as Bob Dylan however the band has yet to divulge into more socio-political agendas like Dylan did (civil rights being his biggest message).

They have made relatively few television appearances concentrating more on live gigs and have played gigs in place like Bristol, London, Leeds, Reading and Manchester as well as performing at the V festival and Glastonbury.

The band started out on the London pub scene and up until last year included vocalist Laura Marling in their lineup. They slowly built up a good reputation around London which culminated in them being signed on to Cherrytree Records and Vertigo in order to record their debut album, Peaceful the World Lays Me Down.

Included on that Album was the single 5 Years Time which was marketed as the 'Summer Single of the year.' It received many positive reviews from publications such as NME, the Guardian and even the BBC News website which all suggested that it was the tune everyone was whistling that summer. The band became a success almost overnight.

Target Audience and Fan Base (Star Construction)

As you can see the band deliberately portray themselves as slightly offbeat and quirky and still have a relatively small fan base. However this small fan base is very positive about the band, for example their is much enthusiasm for the announcement of new singles and tour dates on blogs such as Absolute Radio, Amazon and of course the band's official blog:

noahandthewhale.forums.umusic.co.uk which also includes entries from the band themselves often commenting on how their tours are progressing or if they are recording any new material.

I would suggest that the target audience for the group is a relatively small group of people who have an existing passion for indie and folk music and are part of a community of friends that does. They will probably also have a general interest in music of an alternative genre to that usually in the UK Charts which is usually dominated by Pop, Metal and Rap. The band however has discussed in interviews about moving towards a more punk rock sound which could possibly alienate some factions of their fan base.

A major factor in the band's image is how they dress, they appear to deliberately dress in an alternative fashion disregarding many modern conventions and they employ bright colours and scarves highlighting their quirky side.