Audience

 All rights reserved by andylee133

The audience of this genre of music is varied. In an effort to understand the genre more, I have been to some recent rockabilly gigs at Harlow's Square. This band, the Jim Jones Revue, are a popular group for a niche audience, having done tours around the world and played famous shows like Later With Jools Holland. The audience was varied, with some of the audience being +50, and some were much younger. The average audience member would have been about 40.

Filming- proof

while filming we encountered a few problems, but managed to overcome most of them in such a way that we managed to come out of the experience with some usable shots.

planning shots

to help our planning of shots and ideas, we have been dissecting the lyrics and adding planning ideas.
i have transcribed the lyrics to give us ideas that could add to the narrative, and to make the filming of bands shots flow better.

Bacalao by The New Town Centres

I never wanted to go out on the pull,

I only went out for a few games of pool.

I wanted one drink, but stayed for several

I payed for every game and lost them all

I wasn’t down being down on my luck

Always expect the unexpected bunker

I went upstairs to the bit where you dance

I was looking for a little romance

I was alone,

My money blown

But I could dance, cos my friends had gone home

I cought her checking out my body popping

She caught me clocking, her body stocking

I thought no words would be needed here

But then some fella come whispered in her ear

And he was tall

And he was dark

And she was laughing at that circling shark

He’s a shifty so and so

(you never get to heaven if you don’t say no)

such a shifty so and so

you never get to heaven if you don’t say no)

come back home with me instead

(say you don’t believe a single word he said)

I’ve got angel wings upon

Ive got angel wings upon the top of my bed

I would have given up on her but

The thought of him and her was turning my gut

I had to step in and save the day

I walked right up with this to say.

He may be lush,

But I’ll make you blush.

I may be trouble but he’ll give you thrush

He’s a shifty so and so

(you never get to heaven if you don’t say no)

such a shifty so and so

(you never get to heaven if you don’t say no)

come back home with me instead

(say you don’t believe a single word he said)

I’ve got angel wings upon

Ive got angel wings upon the top of my bed

Ive got angel wings upon the top of my bed

Keyboard solo

Now he didn’t take too kind to my wise crack

He gave me a smack, so I gave him a smack back

We were rolling around in the dust

I saw that girl turn and leave in disgust

I pinned him down

He grabbed my crotch

But the I felt he wasn’t hurting me much

I looked into his eyes and he into mine

It was a frozen moment in time

I cant profess to being that way inclined

But the feel of that’s where I draw the line

So fine

All mine

Im going to take that man and make him mine mine mine (screaming)

He’s a shifty so and so

(you never get to heaven if you don’t say no)

such a shifty so and so

(you never get to heaven if you don’t say no)

come back home with me instead

(say you don’t believe a single word he said)

he’s got devil horns upon

he’s got devil horns upon the top of his head

he’s got devil horns upon the top of his head

he’s got devil horns upon the top of his head

Audience Research

Before we begin filming, we decided to create a short questionnaire to help us understand what our audience would like in a music video. We think that this will benefit our video, and will help us to discover what the audience will connect to in a music video.

We thought this result was especially interesting; the idea that our audience would prefer a performance-based video to a narrative one would challenge the current pop conventions, and would give the video a more interesting "live gig" feel.

The answer to this question was expected, and benefited us as most of the actors available to us would be teens.  however, this also means that we have to be even more careful when choosing actors and shots; music videos populated by teenage actors have the issue of seeming too amateur. 

This benefits both our genre and our audience; this is definitely something we will try, and if it benefits our video we will use this effect.

The mise-en-scene of a music video is very important; it can effect audience, reception and the amount it is played by an  institution. we will investigate the idea of dressing the band to look "smart", and this would also suit the rockabilly genre.

The two highest percentages were stage and street; it may be possible to mix these two settings to create a hybrid performance/narrative video

As we have to create an album cover for one of our ancillary tasks, i have been researching famous rockabilly album cover styles.

I have come to the conclusion that most of the album art from this genre is very stylised, and often in black or white, with either a picture of the frontman or a cartoon-like image/representation of the band.

This is the iconic Stray Cats logo, which uses anthropomorphism to create a rockabilly cat. This shows that the style of the music is normally carried over to the icon, and the album cover.

Richard Hawley's Truelove's Gutter album shows a stylised image of Hawley's face, with black as the main colour. The fact that it is a greyscale image shows the idea that editing pictures can create the stylised album cover. 

Hawley's Lady's Bridge album cover shows a more relaxed Hawley posing with an electric guitar,  a common instrument in this genre. The grey suit and green background shows a more colourful side of the music. 

Join Dan Sartain shows a meld of the cartoon frontman with some comic-like graphic violence. 

From this research I have come to the conclusion that modern rockabilly album covers have a much more stylised and artistic look, as opposed to the 1950's and 70's. They can be cartoonised, or they could just be a close-up of the frontman.

Style

Planning

We have been planning our filming, and will be shooting next thursday (4/11).
Below is our checklist for planning
Camera
Tripod
Room
Actors
Props/costume

The Polecats - Rockabilly Guy

This video has given me ideas for camera angles and interesting shots utilising the instruments that are synonymous with rockabilly; double bass and 50's microphones.

Institutions

I have been researching institutions that have the stylistic and monetary aspects needed to distribute our digipack. I have found a few different music labels with the connotations and audience that would ensure the digipack sells.

PunkRockBlues Records; this label is very adept in selling music to a niche audience and has had success with bands like The Jim Jones Revue, a garage/rockabilly band. "Described as sounding like a car crash between Little Richard and The MC5, The 'Revue play supercharged rock'n'roll inspired by The Killer, The Georgia Peach and of course The Memphis Flash and the deranged sons of Detroit." This fits our piece of music's overall feel, and as it is a UK based label it would fit with distribution as well.

http://www.punkrockblues.co.uk/

Another record label that would add to the albums distribution is the Western Star record label, advertised as "The Finest UK Rockabilly since 1999"

http://www.western-star.co.uk/

1980's "psychobilly" versus 1950's rockabilly. Which style to go for?

Email correspondance with the song creator Part 2

Reply from the songwriter;

Hi Ewan,Go for it!
We'd love to see the final results.
Good luck,
Jan

The idea that the songwriters are actually interested in our progress shows that the video may be used for a purpose one day.

other videos we like the look of.

this video has all the social connotations of the genre, including dark humour.

Email correspondance with the song creator.

Today I have emailed the guitarist of the New Town Centres, to respectfully ask if we could use their song.

Dear Jan,

My name is Ewan Smith, and I am a sixth form student in Essex. I am studying media and film, and would like to use The New Town Centres song Bacalao in some of my group’s Media Studies A2 coursework.
In this coursework, we have to create a music video which has strong ideological ties to the chosen piece of music. We’ve chosen your song because we liked the idea of doing a song without strong pre-conceived connotations, and an interesting theme that we can expand on in the video. It is not for financial gain, and if you would like we can keep you updated with our progress; if you agree to let us use the song, that is!

Yours sincerely,
Ewan Smith.

Planning Ideas

Bacalao- The New Town Centres
Rockabilly styles
Quiffs
Flick knives
Modern kids vs rockabilly gangs- the rockers steal the women