A2 Media Studies – Initial Ideas
- 1. A2 Media Studies – Initial Ideas/Response to the Brief By Robert Glover
- 2. Ideas for Potential Songs: Below are some of the songs I feel that I could potentially use for my promotional package: -'What You Know' - Two Door Cinema Club -'Gunga Din' - The Libertines -'Seven Nation Army' - The White Stripes -'She Moves In Her Own Way' - The Kooks -'Not Nineteen Forever' - The Courteeners -'Bide Your Time' - The Courteeners -'Can't Stop' - Red Hot Chilli Peppers -'Gold On The Ceiling' - The Black Keys -’This is the Life’ - Two Door Cinema Club After reviewing my list of songs I have decided that the song that would work best for my promotional package and music video would be ‘Not Nineteen Forever’ by The Courteeners. I have come to this conclusion as I feel that the fact the song has a fairly quick rhythm and beat to it that will allow me to increase the rate at which I cut from shot to shot therefore making the video gain some continuity between it and the pace of the music itself. I also think that if the video has a series of shorter shots it is more engaging for the potential viewer who would almost certainly rather watch upbeat music set to shots that grab the attention as opposed to a less engaging song set to shots that are overly long and disengaging.
- 3. Courteeners are an English indie rock band formed in Middleton, Manchester in 2006 by Liam Fray (guitar/vocals), Michael Campbell (drums/backing vocals), Daniel "Conan" Moores (guitar) and Mark Cuppello (bass). The latter was replaced by the band's producer Joe Cross in 2015. They also tour with pianist Adam Payne, who has been featured on every album. They have released four studio albums: St. Jude (2008), Falcon (2010), Anna (2013) and Concrete Love (2014) as well as several EPs and one DVD album. The band is set to release their 5th album, Mapping the Rendezvous, on 28 October 2016. All the music and lyrics for the Courteeners' songs are written by the band's front man Liam Fray. He claims that all of the songs he has written are about personal experiences. Although Courteeners come largely under the Indie Rock Genre they are also associates of ‘Post-Brit Pop’ and ‘Post-Punk Revival’ genres. They won ‘The Guardian; First British Album Award’ in 2008 and the band members have known each other since they were just 10 years old.
- 4. The Brief ‘A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:’ - A website homepage for the band. - A Digipak for the album's release. - A magazine advertisement for the Digipak. After carefully studying the brief I have decided that out of three options for my promotional package beside the music video, that I want to do the Digipak for the album’s release and also the magazine advert for the Digipak. I have chosen to select these two options because I feel that they compliment each where as if I chose to do the website there would be less continuity as the other two options are based around the digipak and have more relevance to each other. I also feel that I can most probably do a better job at the advert and the digipak as opposed to the website because my knowledge of web design programs such as DreamWeaver and online sites such as Wix is less comprehensive.
- 5. What type of Album? In terms of the album I want to produce a ‘The Courteeners: The Best of’ which is essentially an album of the greatest hits consisting of songs taken from numerous previous albums, there will be 16 songs spread on one disc with a selection of music videos and never before seen footage available on the second disc, a DVD. The ‘best of’ album is something that does not already exist and I want to create this to showcase a selection of the band’s best tracks from their 8 years since their first album. For the tracklist songs will come from real albums such as ‘St Jude’, ‘Falcon’, ‘Anna’ and ‘Concrete Love’.
- 6. The Tracklist Disc 1: 1. “What Took You So long?” 2. “The Opener” 3. “Bide Your Time” 4. “Are You In Love With A Notion” 5. “Not Nineteen Forever” 6. “When You Want Something You Can’t Have” 7. “No You Didn’t, No You Don’t” 8. “Van Der Graaff” 9. “Take Over The World” 10. “Cavorting” 11. “Good Times Are Calling” 12. “If It Wasn’t For Me” 13. “Yesterday, Today & Probably Tomorrow” 14. “Lose Control” 15. “Push Yourself” 16. “How Good It was” Disc 2: Exclusive Behind the Scenes Footage and a selection of Music Videos.
- 7. What is the Song about?/The Lyrics Meaning: The song is about a conversation between a young man and his girlfriend who is older than him and is disappointed in him as a result of his ‘wild and hedonistic’ behaviour of that night. She drives him for food and he flirts with her in the car, she then reminds him of his age and suggests that he needs get his life together. He goes out again the next evening and chases yet another woman however she disappears without a trace before he can attempt to make conversation. He then drowns his sorrows and talks about how she probably wasn’t worth chasing anyway and he comes to understand what his girlfriend had said. "Not Nineteen Forever" She's had to peel me off the pavement Trying to insinuate sometimes I'm in danger of going too far Said would I like to go for tea and toast? Get your hand off my thigh In the car she turned to me and said // You're not nineteen forever, pull yourselves together I know it seems strange but things they change Older woman and a younger man Both of them doing all they can // Trying to get your attention all night long Asked you once, I asked you twice, asked you four times If you'd like to dance to that song front crawled the crowd Down the stairs and then I followed you out in the rain Nowhere to be found, never mind You'll probably never look that pretty again // You're not nineteen forever, pull yourselves together I know it seems strange but things they change Older woman and ever so slightly younger man God bless the band, they're doing all they can // You're not nineteen forever, pull yourselves together I know it seems strange but things they change Older woman and ever so slightly younger man God bless the band, they're doing all they can // You're not nineteen forever You're not nineteen forever You're not nineteen forever It's not me, you're definitely not clever
- 8. Idea for the Content of the Music Promo Video: I want to have at the very least a vague link between the lyrics of the song and the content of my promotional music video therefore the very basic outline for the video is to be about a boy who chases something he can’t have and ceases to appreciate the people he does have, leading to his downfall and questioning as to whether any of it was really worth it, I could relate the idea directly to a boy-girl situation or I could find a different perspective from which to look at it for example, trying to reignite his youth by being general mad and unruly which again would link back to the title of the song of trying to cling on to being Nineteen and not having to grow up and therefore re-evaluate. This idea would also give his girlfriend a reason to urge him to ‘get his life together’ I want the editing pace of the video to be relatively fast and snappy and I intend for many of the shots to emphasise small details such as speech and facial features in addition to the storyline of the video, the shots will be from a wide variety of different and interesting camera angles and shot types. e.g. Some Screen-clippings from the official Music video: