Music Video Production - The Crookes (8)

Emailing

Email Sent:
Hey, This is Abbi, Amy and Loren. For our A Level Media project we need to make a music video for an unsigned act. We were wondering if we could use one of your tracks? We are intersted in using 'A Colliers Wife' if that would be possible? Our media teacher is concerned about copyright as you have released it through Rough Trade. One of our main concerns is that the work would have to be posted on Youtube to be marked, so we want to make sure that this is okay. Do we need to contact your management to confirm? Also, if we cannot use 'A Colliers Wife' is there any others we could use, such as 'Backtreet Lovers'? ThankyouAbbi, Loren and AmyHey

Reply:
Abbi,Thanks for using our tracks, you can use whichever one you want, Rough Trade only own the release not the songs themselves so we have all copyright of them which means we can allow whoever we want to use them. Any song is fine, do you need us to send any mp3s over? Let us know if you do,
Alex

We conducted our interview with The Crookes via Email. This was the only realistic way we could do it as the band are extremely busy at the moment touring.

What’s the origin of your band name?
Well it was mine (Alex) and Daniel's idea really, we lived in Crookes in our first year of university and opposite the road from our accomidation was a sign for 'Crookes' so we went from there really. It was a lazy name and we always meant to change it but I think the chance of a name change has gone now...

How did you come together as a group?
Me and Daniel first met in first year and then we met George and Russell through mutual friends and club nights etc and we went from there.

What genre of music do you consider your work to be?
Interesting question... I guess it would be wrong to call it anything else but pop. Although we're all inspired by a lot of different stuff, its always had a poppy element especially in the melodies.

How would you describe your band in 3 words?
Not Too Serious

What/who influences your musical style?
Erm.. 50's guitar pop like Buddy Holly/Little Richard, 60's motown/pop as in The Beatles, The Kinks and The Ronettes and modern stuff like Richard Hawley, Vampire Weekend and The Shins.

What inspires you?
Musically.. the above, and i guess as all English Literature students we're pretty inspired by different types of literature.

Who writes your songs and how does the writing process work?
Dan writes the lyrics and Alex writes a lot of the music, but it is a collaborative effort when it comes down to putting the song together whihc is arguablly the hardest part.

What are the main themes or topics that arise in your music?
Daniel uses a lot of literary references in the lyrics, the songs are often about fictional people who become the basis for a story. The songs are normally stories opposed to self-indulagent love songs.

How did you develop the unique look of the band?
We have a unique look?! Well if we do its down to having no money and shopping in the cheapest of shops.

Can you describe your gigs; visually and musically?
A lot of energy, lots of dancing, lots of head shaking. Musically, I'm not sure, I think a bit more full -on than many people would expect from a band that started as an acoustic band.

What key events have moulded the direction of the band?
Errr, there has been quite a few. Obviously meeting George was a massive step forward, but from there on in things like going to BBC Studios (Maida Vale) and Abbey Road really made us realise that we all wanted to play in the band as a serious thing.

How does a day in the life of ‘The Crookes’ unravel?
A fair few trips to Co-op, a heafty amount of caffiene, listening to records in the front room and practising in the basement for as long as we can without getting ricketts.

What is the storyline behind the song ‘A Colliers Wife’?
Its a story about a depressed housewife who needs to lament her feelings (I think)

What do you think are the most important aspects of a music video?
The editing, I think that even if the content of a video is a bit naff, the editing in line with the music is the most important thing.

Do your lyrics present reality or are they of a fictional nature?
A fictional nature, we all think that writing too many personal songs is a bit arrogant.

What are your aspirations for the future?Hopefully release an album, and just continue writing and touring really.

Any last words?
Apologies for the late response!

Here is a sample of what we would like our music video to be like. Due to the band being an indie/pop band we know that the importance of branding and promoting the band in the correct way is key. With this in mind we want to continue the 50s vibe that the band carry and enhance this. With the use of the old film footage look we created this as a way of representing the band. This 5second clip could feature at the beginning of every video they create acting as a promotional and branding stratedgy. It could therefore act as their logo. It is a simple yet effective way of creating that 1950s indie/folk aspect that the band evoke.

Another influence of The Maccabees, however this consists much more of imagery and movement opposed to the previous video from The Maccabees. As former students of English Literature The Crookes, are also know for their "wry lyrical turns" further reinforcing their ties with Sheffield's musical legacy. Noel Gallagher said of the band, 'they've got good lyrics. All bands from Sheffield have good lyrics.' This major influence of the lyrics brought us to the idea of imagery and movement.



The strong link The Crookes have with their home town and family is obvious. We can also see this in The Maccabees 'Toothpaste Kisses' video. Throughout the video we can see, what looks like, family photos and places which seem special to the band. Each picture and place obviously has a special meaning to Maccabees. We think this would be good to include in The Crookes video as they have such hometown and family ties.

The editing in The Maccabees video is amazing. It is sleek and stylistic, innovative and creative. The motifs in the video emphasises their poetic flare and personality, which ties in with The Crookes as we think this would be inportant to show their personality in the video. We would also include 1950's motifs in The Crookes video as it reflects their personality and creates a theme.

Our second ideas is much more modern in time and is much more fresh opposed to our first idea of Charlie Chaplin. The second idea is much more minimilistic. We were influenced greatly by a British Band, The Maccabees. The Maccabees are an English indie band, based in Brighton and originally from south London. They have released two albums so far, Colour It In, with a follow-up, Wall of Arms, released on 4th May 2009.
Here is the video that inspired us.


The Maccabees - First Love

Smernicki | MySpace Video`

The video consists of little movement and lots of still shots. This minimilistic movement adds emphasis on the lyrics opposed to the imagery. The shots also consist on minimaln props and surroundings. Due to the Maccabees being a British indie band they like to use objects and surroundings of their home country/city. The use cars, televisions and other props that are very 'old school'. The video consists of close-up shots and there is very clear lip-sync between the voice-over and the main singer. The apparence of the Maccabees is also very 'old school' and normal. Just like The Crookes their style is an important way of portraying the correct image and style of thier music.

The Crookes style has been described as influenced by "old-time" pop-music, with elements of 50's and 60's songwriting, this in turn would influence our music video. Just like The Maccabees video we would like to also keep it very minimilistic in movement and props to emphasis the poetic lyrics that The Crookes evoke. However, we would like to include elements of the 1950s style and influence as this is a major part of The Crookes, both their music and image. We would carry through the tone of the Sepia effect to make their music video unique and apparent to the style of the band.

Our first idea for our music video for The Crookes was mainly inspired by the work of Charlie Chaplin, the use of black and white tones and 1930s style and influence. Modern Times is a 1936 comedy film by Charlie Chaplin that has his iconic Little Tramp character struggling to survive in the modern, industrialized world. The film is a comment on the desperate employment and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Great Depression, conditions created, in Chaplin's view, by the efficiencies of modern industrialization. When we first saw this video we immidiatly thought of the Crookes and how much of an influence Charlie Chaplin and his work, in particular Modern Times, has on our work. When we first heard The Crookes we thought of black and white theme and an old 30s/50s style video to compliment their work.

We initially liked the idea of using fast paced movement in a 'slapstick' kind of way. In 'Modern Times' most of the film was shot at "silent speed", 18 frames per second, which when projected at "sound speed", 24 frames per second, which makes the slapstick action appear even more frenetic.




We also liked that The Crookes seemed to push the barriers in the music world. The are very original and unique and do not like to conform to the norm. In 'Modern Times' the reference to drugs seen in the prison sequence is somewhat daring for the time, which reflects The Crookes behaviour too.

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comedic actor and film director. Chaplin became one of the most famous actors as well as a notable filmmaker, composer and musician in the early to mid Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. What brought us to look at Charlie Chaplen is the style in which he uses in his productions. The effects of his work are similar to the effects and moods that we what to create with our band, The Crookes. We also love the way in which they move and the techniques to do this. At times the movements change in speed which adds drama and effect to his work. Therefore this ties in greatly with our initial ideas for our music video.

What i particuarly like about this video is the story that is behind the camera, the lyrics tell a story that we can watch through the music video. The camera work cleverly lets us see the mise-en-scene which allows us as the audience to gather more information about the story to the lyrics. The camera work consists of subtle camera shots and it moves at a slow pace to follow the pace of the track. The video is of an excellant quality, with relevant costumes and settings. Justin Timberlake pulls it off yet again.

This video is one of my favourites, the technical feautures make this video standout and is up-to-date for the 21st century. I love how relavant the video is to the song and do not think it could have been done any better. Its sleek, sharp movement and range of camera shots make this video eye-catching and unique. The technical features are at their very best and the quality of the video is amazing. I believe this video made the song so successful

There are many reasons for why i have chosen to upload this video as one of my favourites. I particuarly like the scene of this music video, as a new artist Lady Gaga has pulled out all the stops to make her first music video a hit. It is fresh, new and urban to the max. The camera shots are edgy and clean making the video excting. The pace of the song is quick and this is also indicated by the quick pace in the camera work, particuarly the camera shots and changes. It's no wonder her song was such a hit...thats thanks to the lyrics and the video.

A beautiful video to a beautiful song. So great how they tell the stories of this real life couple with the photos. Dreamy, gentle loveliness. The video is just as delicate and soft as the lyrics and bass of this song. I love the subtle approach and it works brilliantly with the track. It runs smoothly and has been edited well. With moving flowers and swirls this video makes you feel the love!

Here is my Summer music video project.

This music video was a very fun and enjoyable way to get to grips with the things involved in making a music video! Although the style and theme of this video is completely different to my main music video for my A2 project i still think that this video helped. This video consisted of all film footage and although it works well with this video i dont think it would have given The Crookes justice for the theme of their song and them as a band. This video is fun and this matching the lyrics and genre of the band- S Club 7.