genre analysis

Electro Indie is a term that is instantly distinguishable when mentioned in passing conversation. The term doesn’t hold any illusions as to what types of instrumentation are likely to be heard in this particular genre.
Indietronica (also called Indie electronic) is a music genre that combines indie, electronica, rock and pop music. Typical instruments used in indietronica music are electronic keyboard, synthesizer, sampler and drum machine. It is also closely related to the relatively less electronic and more acoustic chillwave (glo-fi) movement.
Indie electronic began in the early 1990s, with bands like Stereolab and Disco Inferno, and took off in the new millennium as the new digital technology developed. This included acts such as Broadcast from the UK, Justice from France, Lali Puna from Germany, and The Postal Service and Ratatat from the US, who mixed a variety of indie sounds with electronic music. These were largely produced on small independent labels.
Alternative dance or indie dance (also referred to as underground dance in the US) is a musical genre that mixes various musical subgenres with electronic dance music. Although largely confined to the British Isles, it has gained American and worldwide exposure through acts such as New Order in the 1980s and The Prodigy in the 1990s.
Allmusic states that alternative dance mixes the "melodic song structure of alternative and indie rock with the electronic beats, synths and/or samples, and club orientation of post-disco dance music". The Sacramento Bee calls it "postmodern–Eurosynth–technopop–New Wave in a blender". Cultural historian Piero Scaruffi suggests that electronic body music first witnessed in Belgium, and later in Canada, between 1980 and 1984 laid the foundations for the alternative dance saturation in the 90s.
The genre draws heavily on club culture for inspiration while incorporating other styles of music such as synthpop, acid house, and trip hop. The performers of alternative dance are closely identified with their music through a signature style, texture, or fusion of specific musical elements. They are usually signed to small record labels.
As computer technology and music software became more accessible and advanced at the start of the 21st century, bands tended to forego traditional studio production practices. High quality music was often conceived using little more than a single laptop computer. Such advances led to an increase in the amount of home-produced electronic music, including alternative dance, available via the Internet. According to BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac, part of the strength of the scene in the new millennium was "the sense of community"; she noted, "Websites, blogs and MySpace pages all get people talking about records and checking out each other's recommendations. It's not like the old club scene, where these established DJs dictated what would be big. Word-of-mouth is so important now."

filming schedule

This is a message to everyone we have asked to star in our music video, arranging times and dates that we can begin to film. Because we are using the drama studios at school, we have to make sure that A) everyone can make it, B) the studios are free (which i have double checked that they are) and C) that it is after the 10th.

Character Profiles

We have decided to include fact file's in our album art cover, giving a brief introduction to each band member, so that our audience can A) pick their favourites/those who they connect most with and B) can also understand more about the band that they are listening to.

Band member name: Josie Diamond

Age: 19

Relationship status: Dating Nate Parker

Favourite colour: Dark Purple

Place in band: Lead Singer

Hair Colour: Brunette

Skin Colour: Olive tones

Shoe Size: 5

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: Green

Favourite Song: Mumford & Sons- winter winds

Favourite Movie: Harry Potter

Favourite Book: Looking For Alaska- John Green

Talents: singing, dancing, acting

Hobbies: gymnastics, swimming and shopping

A Secret: I’ve never broken a bone

Inspiration: My best friend, she is always there for a hug and with chocolate

Favourite subject at school: Drama

Band Member name: Olivia rose

Age: 19

Relationship Status: Dating Kieron Smith

Favourite colour: Navy

Place in band: guitar and vocals

Hair Colour: Blonde

Skin Colour: Ivory skinned

Shoe Size: 5/6

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: Blue

Favourite Song: Taylor Swift- I knew you were trouble

Favourite Movie: Finding Nemo

Favourite Book: In Cold Blood

Talents: Sings

Hobbies: guitar, singing, song writing

A Secret: Still sleeps with a teddy bear at night

Inspiration: my older sister, who kept me strong when I felt lost

Favourite subject at school: English

 

Band member name: Andreia Stone

Age: 20

Relationship status: Single

Favourite colour: Dark blue

Place in band: drummer

Hair Colour: Brunette

Skin Colour: Slightly Tanned

Shoe Size: 5

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: brown

Favourite Song: Marina and the Diamonds- power and control

Favourite Movie: Spiderman

Favourite Book: Romeo and Juliet

Talents: bend her knees backwards

Hobbies: drumming, cooking, writing poetry

A Secret: I dream of going to study performing arts at university

Inspiration: my mum, who has been there for me since I was born

Favourite subject at school: philosophy

Band member name: Nicki Winter

Age: 20

Relationship status: single

Favourite colour: Dark Red

Place in band: bass guitar

Hair Colour: blonde

Skin Colour: tanned/olive

Shoe Size: 6

Dress Size: 10

Eye Colour: bright blue

Favourite Song: Florence and the machine- you’ve got the love

Favourite Movie: all art house films

Favourite Book: taming of the shrew

Talents: can style/dye hair

Hobbies: gardening, playing guitar, directing

A Secret: I am a scrabble champion

Inspiration: My dad, who paid for all my guitar lessons

Favourite subject at school: Media Studies

 

Band member name: Michaella Sparks

Age: 18

Relationship status: has a boyfriend of 18 months, Jamie Carter

Favourite colour: Green

Place in band: i play the symbols

Hair colour: light brown

Skin colour: light tanned

Shoe size: 5

Dress size: 8

Eye colour: brown

Favourite song: Rhianna- California king bed

Favourite movie: p.s I love you

Favourite book: The perks of being a wallflower

Talents: I’m a good sketcher and sculptor

Hobbies: ice skating, running and making cookies

A secret: my guilty pleasure is singing show tunes

Inspiration: my nan, always believed in me and supported me

Favourite subject at school: Art

Jack is our main male lead. He meets Olivia and Josie at a party and is instantly enticed by them. At the start of the song/music video, he feels like he can be in control of the two girls, by being their puppet master and in charge of their actions/emotions/behaviour. But when this power is subverted and the girl are in control, Jack is so taken by the female leads that he just follows them by a lost puppy. Still he continues in his ways to try and get the girls attention, simply because they are not interested. Towards the end of the video Jack slips both girls his number, who look at him with a sigh and tear it up in front him. 

our production company

WWSD?: What Would She Do?
I came up with this name late one night whilst brainstorming other possible production company names. I then researched the top 40 music video production companies ever and looked at what came up. This gave me a higher chance of inspiration when trying to come up with a name of mine. Then I reflected back on our theme, and knew I wanted something that was in-sync with it. Now the essence of female control and power grows every day, and then I read something on Twitter that I know a strong Christian would say about their leader Jesus, What Would Jesus Do? And that gave me the inspiration to think clearly about our own company name. I decided to change the words 'Jesus' to 'females' but then thought about making it more specific to us, and by changing 'females' to 'she'- I have created a stronger connection to the audience, with a thought process of 'if she can do it, do can I'. This saying can be used in every day life, such as the work place, as well as in casual situations like a party, which is the setting of our video.

Idea Adaptation:

In today's lesson (15th November) we decided that adding a 5th girl member to our band would be a good idea. The point of having a 5-member edgy girl band is to amplify the theme of female control, and how women can have the upper hand in certain situations, only if given the chance to. For example, having a 5th member increases the girl to guy ratio, which is now 5:1, and in this instance our guy (Jack) doesn't know which way to look, and that causes him grief. It also adds a 5th character, and so our target audience and one more person to relate to. We have done this for our audience because it stretches our target to wider prospects. However, we had sturggled to come up with an instrument for our 5th member, but after lsietning to the song on repeat, we have discovered that our new band member will play the symbols. So now our band consists of: a drummer, a symbolist/percussionist, a lead guitarist, a bass guitarist and a lead singer.

Theme/Idea Changes:

After close analyisis of the song lyrics (Rogue Traders- Voodoo Child) we had a sudden change of idea. Instead of having the female star in control of the male star, we have thought to not only add another female character, but to also have the male in control at first, and having the females 'gaining the upper hand' and subverting the power to be in their favour.

We decided to add a female character so that when the control/dominance is subverted, the effect takes its toll on the audience in a much bigger way. For example, by using a second dominant female charatcer, it gives the audience a more detailed specification of power and also the spectators can relate to the different stars, in related and unrelated ways.

The reason we decided that the guy would take some control in the beginning of the video is because it is a more realistic situation, having the guy be the dominant figure, especially with other recent media types that have been around lately, and to then subvert the power via the main girls. Also the song enlists a line saying 'play me like a puppet' and so we are adapting our theme around the explicit lyric, by having Jack hold puppeteer sticks above us and we move along with him.

Music Video Directors:

James Ash:
'Voodoo child' by Rogue Traders was originally recorded in australia, made it in the 2005 charts in uk.

James Ash joined Austrailian radio station 'Hitz' in 1993 and became a DJ in local clubs in late 1993.

Since 1994 Ash has released over forty remixes and original productions under names including:

Faith In Technology, Thunderchild, Elan, Union State and Rogue Traders.

I would choose James Ash to be our music video director as he co-produced and was a member of the Rogue Traders band, so therefore he already has experience with the song and would understand how we wanted to do things. He also has various music experience, which is very helpful with a theme as broad as ours, so he would be helpful and a very professional and structured man to work with.

TMS:
TMS produced Little Mix's song 'DNA' which has a very similar themed video to our idea so the producer/director would be a good and professional person/group to use as we have seen successful evidence of their video and the production company doing a good job.

TMS are an English song writing and record producing team, originating from West London. Tom Barnes, Ben Kohn & Peter Kelleher are all a part of the TMS production team, associated with genres such as: electronic, pop and hip-hop.

Their name derives from a local graffiti crew and the acronym has various meanings. Their first studio was a converted garden shed in Ealing, from where they initially started releasing UK garage pop on their own imprint.

I personally would thoroughly enjoy working with TMS, given the success they have had with other mainstream artists, and some indie artists too. The Little Mix song 'DNA' is a huge success for my group because of the similar themes that are portrayed in the video.

Music Videos that influenced me

Shania Twain- Man I Feel Like A Woman


Marina & The Diamonds- Power & Control



 Little Mix- DNA

M.I.A- Bad Gurlz

These music videos all link to our themes of female dominance, and my group have decided to take inspirations and similar camera angles/editing styles. These videos all include themes from cross-genre singers/artists and aren't a constant theme on their albums.

Some music videos loosely fit our themes, but they aren't about female dominance, more about female power and about not letting a guy take you for granted, which we can still display in our own music video.

Taylor Swift- We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Beyonce- Irreplaceable

These two songs are not directly linked to our theme of female dominance and power but has a slightly connection with the themes in their lyrics, about females standing up for their hearts and bodies. Neither of the previous two music videos mentioned (Taylor Swift, Beyonce) fit our chosen genre (electro-rock, electro-pop, dance) although the themes are similar and that is part of the reason we were inspired by them.

There are also role reversal videos, where the male is in control. An example of this is:

Calvin Harris- I Get All The Girls 

Gym Class Heroes- Cookie Jar