The Mill

In todays lesson we had a visit from Ollie Allgrove who is a producer and creative executive at The Mill, who has extensive experience in producing/directing music videos(as well as features and other audio visual products. He mainly runs productions in Europe and even as an EP he still gets involved. For all his experience and talent, it's hard to believe that he never went to film school; instead he became a runner for a few projects and made sure that he wasn't late to set and that he did everything he was told. Gradually, after learning tips and tricks from a variety of projects he worked his way up the ranks and became what he is today...a success.

Ollie Allgrove:

 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1158295/

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-allgrove-17219224

The company started 27 years ago and is now the largest post-prodcution company in the world. 

Here are some examples of his work:

SSE Advert

The Mill wanted this Orangutang to look as realistic as possible as it was entirely made from CGI. This was evident when speaking to Ollie as he was very passionate about getting ideas across in a creative way and making it look authentic.

This also links to a project he worked on with Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong where he only had a budget of £5,000 and half of that was spent on location alone. When asking him how he made such a good video for such little money bearing in mind technology wasn't advanced, he told us that he had to be efficient and making the money go as far as possible.

This next shot would have normally cost around £145,000 to be done with professional but Oliver was able to pull it off for £147 and the result didn't look half bad. Rather than using expensive rigs and equipment, he simply used a few weather balloons, covered the camera in sponge and attached some trousers and shoes to the bottom of the camera to make it look like the legs and feet of Joe Lean and then dropped it off the roof of the building.

This video took one and a half day to film and the whole process took between 4-5 weeks including post-production so Oliver told us to use our time wisely and efficiently.

Tips from Oliver: 

The treatment is the first time that directors can have a look at what you want to show and you have to pitch it well to land the job, directors want to trust you enough so that they can part with their money and then it is your job to produce something good

Think of the way you speak on paper because that can affect your chances of even getting an interview. When presenting your ideas, be simple and hook them in. Show an interest in the artist and song and have plenty of ideas.

Watch other music videos to get ideas of the sort of stuff that gets commissioned.

The highest budget job that Oliver worked on was "Wide Open ft. Beck" by The Chemical Brothers. It approximately cost in the region of £200,000 - £300,000 and took 4 and a half months to make. There was no deadline and therefore it wasn't released until it was up to a certain standard.

Cast List

 

	Name: Genny Lewis Role: Singer Age: 17 Gender: Female Mobile Number: 07865794039
	Name: David Heal Role: Dancer Age: 17 Gender: Male Mobile Number: 07762396061
	Name: Megan Mackay Age: 17 Gender: Female Mobile Number: 07459026846

Potential Costume

Genny:

https://blackmilkclothing.com/products/battle-catsuit

The reason why we thought of a catsuit was because it was tight, therefore showing off her body and making her more sexual and as it's black it gives her a dark edge. Unfortunately this costume was out of stock. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/268513530/latex-catsuit-with-crotch-zipper

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We were looking for other types of Catsuits that weren't leather but we came to the conclusion that this one was too oily and wasn't sexually appealing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sexy-Ladies-Faux-Leather-Black-Wet-Look-Jumpsuit-Cat-Women-Catsuit-Outfit-/361508705342

This costume seemed perfect as it fit our criteria and was available to buy.

David and Megan: 

As we are silhouetting the dancers we thought that black leotards and unitards would work the best.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Plus-Size-Womens-Lycra-Spandex-Unitard-Tank-Top-One-Piece-Dance-Ballet-Gymnastics-Leotard-Catsuit-Black/32565334126.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.1.PzZnlB&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,searchweb201602_3_10057_10056_10065_10068_10055_10054_10069_10059_10058_418_10073_10017_10071_10070_10060_10061_10052_10062_10053_10050_10051,searchweb201603_4&btsid=58f1f646-73a7-4b7e-ae0f-11d98cf0ae7d

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Men-Black-Long-Sleeve-Unitard-Women-Spandex-Lycra-Ballet-Full-Body-Tight-Jumpsuit-Unitard-Dance-Costumes/32613953935.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.30.hIeB11&ws_ab_test=searchweb201556_8,searchweb201602_3_10057_10056_10065_10068_10055_10054_10069_10059_10058_418_10073_10017_10071_10070_10060_10061_10052_10062_10053_10050_10051,searchweb201603_4&btsid=8264a4d0-0fe3-4d80-853c-3e5d72fa6866

Eye contacts for the DJ and maybe Megan and David

http://www.foureyez.com/online-shop/contact-lens-colours/white-zombie-crazy-contact-lenses-pair.html

Timeline

Time	Lyrics	Screen
0:00	Home is where the heart is, and I gave it to you in a paper bag	Medium shot of artist under spotlight. Everything else black. Light capturing in strange ways.
0:06	Even though it's tarnished You told me it's the best you ever had, You got my...	Close up on artist. Same set as prior.
0:13	secret combination And I don't be giving that out easily, With my...	Wide shot of two dancers walking closer to each other in front of a white screen.
0:20	deep dedication You can tell that you were brought the same for me	Medium close up of artist under light. Artist moving neck and hands in a provocative way, then looks back at camera.
0:27	*Music build up*	Strobe on and off between artist and dancers. Strobe effect speeds up as music builds up.
0:39	So please don’t	Close up on artist’s lips under spotlight.
0:40	Let go, cause you know, exactly what we’ve found	Wide shot of dancers in front of white screen performing dance.
0:46	So please don't let go, my darling, you keep me hooked up underground	Wide shot of artist in light beam corridor performing towards the camera and camera follows back.
0:53	ground (repeats)	Letterbox between wide shot of dancers and close up on artist’s lips. Dancers in the middle and artist split on the outside.
1:00	Gonna be you	Letterbox moves so that only dancers can be seen performing.
1:06	In you’re big house on the hills	Long shot of artist in light beam corridor, camera slowly zooming in
1:09	Where(repeats)	editing used to make artist look as though there is a malfunction.
1:10	you keep your dollar bills	Camera still zooming in to artist comes to a stop.
1:13	And you stashed my heart somewhere in the dark Keep it safe I know you will	Wide shot/Close ups of dancers performing dance. Moving from slow motion to normal pace.
1:20	know you will, know you will	Close up in light beam corridor.
1:25	I know you will...meant to be	Editing merges close up of artist miming the lyrics with the dance. Eventually merges back out to artist where she mimes line
1:30	*Music*	Editing done in such a way it cuts to black on every 5th beat. Cuts between dancers and extreme close ups of artist in spotlight set.
1:43	Rolling with the punches So they won't get inside our happiness	Wide shot of artist inside transparent cube performing to camera.
1:48	uh (repeats)	Cut looking like a malfunction between artist and black smoke filling cube.
1:49	Love is always hunted But you're white rose is soaring through my tear	Intense shots of dancers.
1:54	Cause you know you give me something Yeah you give me exactly what I need	Medium shot of artist in cube whilst smoke filling up.
2:01	Got my blood pumping  You know you always draw more blood, I bleed	Intense shots of dancers.
2:07	*Music build up*	Medium shot of artist in light beam corridor. Lights flashing on and off to music.
2:13	*Music build up*	Artist under spotlight with strobes whilst moving in seductive way.
2:19	So please don’t let go, cause you know, exactly what we found	Wide/close up shots of dancers
2:25	So please don't let go, my darling You keep me hooked up underground	Close up of artist against smoke filling cube.
2:32	ground (repeats)	Letterbox between wide shot of dancers and close up on artist’s lips. Dancers in the middle and artist split on the outside.
2:38	Gonna be you	Letterbox moves so that only dancers can be seen performing. Strobe lights start to increase.
2:45	*Music*	Cut to black every 3 beats. Moves between close up of artist in different set locations and close up on dancers.
2:58	you and me	close up under spotlight of artist.
3:01	gonna be everything you ever dreamed	Medium close up of artist in smoke filled cube.
3:04	gonna be you and me	medium shot of artist in light beam corridor. Lights flashing to beat of music.
3:08	gonna be everything and everything we’re meant to be	Wide shot of dancers in front of white screen together and white screen turns off. End.

Credit: Eloise Roitman

Idea change

So after more meetings we have now decided that our idea to go with colour has been scrapped and instead we are going to focus on black and white as a colour theme. This can provide high contrast and the idea is to go with low key lighting, with 3 complex sets to film in. I have sent an email to the dancers so they have a copy of the track and they can begin choreography work with the brief of keeping a hip hop/ contemporary vibe.

Credit: Ben South

Treatment

After having problems with our concept, we felt it was important to sit down and come up with a concrete concept. Our track was an intense drum and bass remix by Baaeur of a Disclosure song called You & Me. With this in mind, it will be important that the intensity will be displayed through our song. This could be done through intense dances and club-like lighting. As well as this, we also studied the lyrics. After doing so, we picked up ideas of entrapment and isolation through a love struggle. As the song was quite personal, and the intensity of the beats represented this, I felt it was important to show this through our conceptual choices. Our choice of sets will demonstrate this. For example, the light corridor trapped the artist as it was a confined space. The lighting, in the corridor, changed throughout the song to correlate with the intensity of the music. During the slower bits, the artist was lit with beauty lighting, however in the intense bits it was strobing; to uphold the club-like atmosphere. The beauty lighting would be important to keep throughout the video as we want to sell our artist mainly on looks, instead of talent. It also would help to emphasise that she was the main selling point in the video which would be important as we are going to ensure that the DJ will feature less than her and be less charismatic. The DJ is also important for fulfilling our concept as we will use him as a reflection of this club-like set up. Finally, to ensure that the love story will be shown through the video, we will have a dance that will reflect the lyrics. The story of the song will be reflected through the dance, therefore meaning the concept of love will be displayed. 

Feedback

On Monday we had to deliver our pitch and receive feedback on our concept and the elements we would use in the video.

After delivering the pitch, we were told that our concept wasn't fully developed and we were focusing on interesting shots rather than the progression of the video. Our original idea of using coloured water drums had to be reconsidered as we would have to reset every time we hit the drums. We also quickly dismissed the balloon idea as the colours didn't compliment our set scheme.

Despite the criticism we had some positive feedback. They really liked our colour scheme as well as the use of silhouettes as the textures boded well together and they approved Jenny as our actress.

They also found the light box and colour wheel idea very appealing but there were concerns that the wheel would take too long to build.

A suggestion was made that we used a frame technique called "Letterbox"

The normal procedure of this technique would be to split the screen up into sections with different shapes and angles and some sort of transition/link between each change. However we also acknowledged that we could take it in a literal sense where the artist actually climbs out of the frame. This could be done by building our own black frame. 

This is an example of how we can link strobe, colour and letter-boxing:

                        

To show progression we were considering starting in all white and then colour can slowly start to break through.

          

                                 

Combining these all together we were thinking to create this kind of image. As the song is very fast we need our video to keep up with the pace and to illustrate the image of a crazy ex girlfriend.

                          

The Song

This song has a very quick tempo and it wasn't a part of our original choices. We felt that our other ideas were all quite dark and would require a performance with a band which we didn't want. Previously we had cancelled our songs down to three options; Lost My Way - Plan B, Dreaming - Smallpools and Crazy Dream - Tom Misch. 

After our process of cancelling down (which can be seen in previous blogs), we didn't have any more ideas for songs so Ben, Eloise and myself spent an hour searching for songs.

A couple of options arose such as:

Rumour Mill - Rudimental

In2 - WSTRN

We experimented with a feature on Youtube which allows you to speed up a song;

Although we didn't use this song, we gained inspiration from the pace of the song once sped up, which led us to look for songs with a fast tempo.

We also wanted to take elements from "In2" such as their use of colour;

These two songs helped us to conjure up the idea of using a fast/party song with the use of colour.

Crazy Dream - Tom Misch

After cancelling out most of our songs, this was the first song that we really connected with and could see a potential video. Eloise and Dasha were particularly favourites of this song, however Ben and I weren't so keen. We liked the song, however we thought that the pace of the song was too slow and on top of that the style suggested a 70s theme which Ben and I don't know much about and therefore generating ideas would be hard.

Music Video Pitch

Polydor Comes To Town

Today we were given a talk from two video commissioners from Polydor Records.

Polydor's history is second to none with their vast variety of genres being displayed across different eras. From the 60s 'Beat Boom' onwards, through the eras of rock, disco and punk, the label has been involved in every significant new musical development. Now, the likes of Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Ray mantain Polydor's cutting-edge reputation.

Emily Tedrake who began the talk currently has 14 videos commissioned as can be seen in her videography.

Her job as a commissioner is to - 

Match the director with the artist. Once the artist wishes to make a new video, it is the video commissioners job to send a brief to the directors. From this they will receive treatments which will be reviewed by management and the artist to find the right fit. Normally, they will recieve 5-10 per track. Prior to this the band would have set a budget however some artists find it difficult to fund their videos so the commissioner will try and work on product placement in order to gain sponsorship for the video, for example the Saturdays, very bizarrely have a car at the beginning f their video but it funded the project. Budgets for music videos range from £5,000 to around £200,000.

In their words, some of the best videos are those of which the artists already have an idea such as the video commissioned by Emily for "The 1975"

Matching the director with the artist is key.

The artist sometimes works with the same director but by the second video the artist has usually fallen out with the director as friction builds between them so they stop working with each other after that. However some partnerships flourish because the artist and director may have similar tastes and ideas. Shooting a music video takes normally 1-2 days and the whole process from sending briefs all the way to a final cut is around 1-2 months.

Some directors  only do 1 or 2 videos a year and make a lot whereas the smaller director are lucky to make £500 per video as they have to shoot commercials. Someone like Emil Nava who directs for Ellie Goulding, Calvin Harris and DJ Snake makes around £50,000 per video.

Below are some examples of Emily Tedrake's work - 

Limit to your love - James Blake

Thinkin bout you - Mabel

On my mind - Ellie Goulding

About Nico & Vinz

Nico & Vinz are a Norwegian singing and sogwriting duo, composed of Kahouly Nicolay "Nico" Sereba from Holmlia, Oslo and Vincent "Vinz Dery From Lambertseter, Oslo. They formed in 2009 as Envy and are based in Oslo. They changed their name to Nico & Vinz in January 2014 after the international success of "Am I Wrong" and because of their signing with Warner Bros. Records to avoid confusion with similar artists.

Nicolay and Vincent are Norwegian and African as they have Ivorian and Ghanian backgrounds. Due to their mix of cultures and living in a country that welcomes immigrants from all over the world, Nico and Vinz have become inspired to make music that has a message. Vinz says, "It is important for us to inspire. We sing about things we've been going through and about finding ourselves. To us it's important to have a message, and the goal for us is to inspire people to find happiness".

Due to the success of "Am I Wrong", Nico & Vinz chnaged the credits of the song to the new adopted name. The song reached #2 in Norway, Sweden and Netherlands as well as #1 in America.

Take a listen to their hit single as well as another of their other songs.

"Am I Wrong"

"Hold it Together"

Website:

 http://thatshowyouknow.nicoandvinz.com/?ref=http://www.nicoandvinz.com/aboutus

Social Media:

https://www.instagram.com/nicoandvinz/

https://twitter.com/nicoandvinz?lang=en-gb

https://www.facebook.com/nicoandvinz/