Completed the video

 Today I decided to start editing the video on iMovie, and since we actually ad great footage the editing was simpler than expected, so it is safe to say that I already finished the video :) 

As I have mentioned many times, I still don't have Olga's part of the bass lines so it could be added the video's audio but that could be filmed on the upcoming week to finally finish the video. But yes as I said before, I finished editing the video, and I am satisfied with the turnout since it does look playful and the quality of the filming, editing, performance is really good so yes everything worked thank God.

Also, it is amazing how our preparations on schedule the filming on certain times of the day according to the genre, worked; since we were relying on the natural light in order to have a sunny day for the Indie part; gloomy for the punk/goth and warm sunset for the Flapper band; and all that is captivated in our video. I'm so happy and excited to share the video through here but I will do so as soon as I have the music exactly as it should be without having the necessity to add any filters for the color or the "old" aesthetic since I think that will leave out much of the details that the changing and our performance is involving, and we don't really want to leave that out. On the other side I need to start working on the other requirements of the projects, such as the Instagram account. Meaning I have to recollect all the great pics we have as a band.

P.S: I forgot to mention that the video both starts and finishes with an oculus opening/closing. It's really fun to watch.

The music's audio

 Today I met up with Valentina, taking advantage that we are in the spring break to make additional touchups for the song's audio since as I was editing it, the vocals were not on the rhythm, so we adjusted both the lyrics and record again. Other than that, we planned out how the we would like the video to be composed, and its layering would be:

1st half: Indie (intro and 1st verse of the song)

2nd half: Punk/Goth (2nd verse of the song)

3/4: Parallelism on Indie and Punk/Goth and introduction of the actual band Flapper (Bridge of the song)

Ending: Flapper performance.

For this project I decided not to organize the shots of video with storyboarding because that was not the approach I desired for the video, but rather as I have mentioned it before; approach it by filming in full shot of the band, so the scene would be like  stage performance, and the other part would be composed by medium shots with hand held camera movements so there would be more intimacy with the band. Other than that, we filmed moments that we improvised or kidding around so we would use it as aside footage for the music video, as the band The Police does as well.

Overall, I discussed this with the band in order to start editing as finish as soon as possible so I would be more than good with following the schedule.

I just need Olga's bass part but I will put everything together and add that when I have it :)

Updates on recordings

 So last time that I was here, I forgot to mention that I started already editing the sound, meaning the song's audio in the Garage Band App, since Valentina already finished recording her guitar parts which she did by herself since at that time on last Sunday, I had to already leave. However, she finished recording it and sent it to me to start editing and putting all things together.

As I was doing so, it turns out that the beat on the bass and the drums are not going synchronically since the bass was recorded doing the old version of the song, since on last Sunday, before filming we got to record again the song, along with the touchups on my drum parts what would overall alter the rhythm. Consequently, Olga has to record her part again, adapted to the new version of the song. So I will have to wait on that, meanwhile I have the rest putted together, and today I will start on editing the music video and creating the feed for the band's Instagram account which for your information is @flappertheband

Music video style

 So yes the music video is already filmed, but soon I will start editing. Therefore, this involves decisions on the presentation of the music video, since the color scheme of the video's filter will influence to the look. 

Therefore, for the part of "Indie Rock", I will involve filter's that give the idea that the video is a VHS from the 80's, for the nostalgic look not saying that it is from such era but rather make the video look more vintage and home made like Mac Demarco's, Ode to Viceroy.

Therefore, the colors will be altered and the picture would look more blurry overall. Those would be the add-ups for the music since our wardrobes and the lighting of the video is already done to go along the music style.

On the other side, the punk/goth rock scene would have a darker tone by using a filter that highlights the cold undertones of the image, and darkens the shadows such as it is visible in The Cure's music video on Lullaby.

Overall, both video involve blue tones as the film's image, what is available for us since part of the music video's shots, show the blue sky. Therefore, I will get to start editing to see how I will be able to play with making the first part of the video seem indie, more sweet and fun outlook; then on the other side it would be intended to make it a darker tone.

Target Audience and distribution

 For the band Flapper our target audience is between the ages of 13-24 due to how it possesses the target audience of the Alternative Rock sub-genre and Indie Rock, which is mostly composed by a target audience of 38% of the ages 15-24. On the other side, 26% is composed of the ages 25-34, an as the ages increase the percentages of the audience decrease.

Therefore, our music genre would target the most on teenagers and young adults, which most likely are students and dependent on their parents, what overall influences how we would distribute our product since most of their economic state would not secure many investments in our products such as CD's or purchasing the album on iTunes. Consequently, we have decided to distribute our product through YouTube since it is an approachable medium to all such age ranges, and with the help of the algorithm we could be more present to the people who enjoy covers of their favorite rock songs or bands. And when the band possesses more content, we will look towards posting our content on Spotify.

On the other side, our target audience is different when it comes to gender ratio, since most of the times Alternative Rock bands possess a 66% ratio of men, women being only the 34%. However, since our band is composed by only women, probably this will be altered since the rock music genre, is mainly dominated by male artists and audiences because when it is compared to Grunge bands like  Nirvana most of their target audience where men, when on the other side the Grunge band Hole, which was mainly composed by women; appealed female audiences the most.

As a result, the band Flapper would create content for mostly female audiences of the ages 13-25, with the taste on Alternative and Indie Rock music, which would be easy to acquire through YouTube, and possibly through a website of the band, that soon will be created were more info of the band would be posted and the merchandise would be available as well.

Discussing with classmates

 As I got to reunite with classmates to discuss on our projects, I got the opportunity to delve deeper on my project compared to last time since many of my classmates where doing the same marketing project and my classmates were interested on my project's concept and mechanisms. As we discussed, we mentioned aspects such as how to create enough content for our blog posts, the editing of the video, specially the style intended in which I got to mention that our intention is to make a "home-made" music video in which we don't pretend to be cool Rockstars, just ourselves and if someone found that cool, ok good!

On the other side, as content for the blog posts Autumn recommended me to start planning out the distribution process for the music video, as well as demonstrating my target audience in order to highlight my decisions on the music video and content of the Instagram page. Therefore, I consider that I have to go over again the requisites for the project in order to plan out better how I would manage the content for the Instagram account, as well as how to denote better my target audience so through the distribution I could make evident that our content is for them! :)

It is filmed

 Today we have dedicated most of the day to filming and I am really tired. We started at 12PM at Valentina's house, but before we started filming we decided to first record the rough version of the song again so we could play it as the background while filming, and so that it would also be the closest thing to the definite version of the song. So we spent like 2 hours getting ready, making the last details and changes to record. We did so, and then got our outfits ready to first film indie, since our schedule of shooting was:

Indie: afternoon

Punk/Goth: later in the afternoon.

Natural us: Evening.

So "The last rays of light" would go according to the mood of the rock genre we were representing.

As I said before, we filmed with the "misfit" instruments to represent the theme of the song, and also have more fun on the representation of the band because even though it is a commercial music video, we decided to have fun on alternating the reality of what actual instrument each of us played. However, in last minute we decided that I would be the front-man in all the versions, and the only things we switched were the instruments, and actually I think that was the best idea so we wouldn't confuse in an unnecessary manner.

The afternoon went by and overall we created sequences of filming 3 versions of stationary shots and 3 other versions of handheld footage in random shots meaning low angle, close-ups on the instruments and close-up on the shoes. As I said on two blogs ago, as part of the indie style we decided to be quirky on camera and not really trying to be cool nor professional, just natural. On the other side, the punk side would influence the video to be not too self explanatory but rather represent the band as it is without the purpose of making everyone agree to it. However wants to listen, do so!

Lastly, we defined that there will be no reshooting so again it will come off as more natural. Therefore, this week will be designated for video selection and possibly start editing, but definitely spring break is editing time, perfect to meet up with the band and decide which filters to add and constantly ask for their opinion on how they like the video best.

Here I will leave a photo that was out of our comfort zone, but I believe that it at least demonstrated a deep part of our dark soul. (This is obviously not true, we are actually really lighthearted people).

Olga as Siouxsie Sioux, Valentina as Joey Ramone and me as Robert Smith.

Have a great rest of your day!