First Hand Research: Seeing Coco and the Butterfields live

In order to strengthen my research and gain deeper knowledge of the band's genre and style of music, I took the opportunity to see Coco and the Butterfields live. Being already a fan of their music, it was both extremely entertaining and also beneficial to strengthen my music video by helping me understand their performance and how they are as a group in order to reflect this into our production.

The venue in which they played at, and the people there, also helped establish the demographic audience of the band which helps us in our production in order to make a music video that will appeal to them, alongside the song. The venue in which they played at was called "The Fat Cat Brewery Tap" in which regularly hosts gigs Fridays and Sundays.

 http://fatcattap.co.uk/index.php

 

 

Based on their website, both layout and information, the pub appears very cosy and folksy and genuine and when visiting this place to watch the gig, this was very evident. It was ambient and the people were varied ages being from (excluding myself) 25 - 60 years old showing the varied group that would listen to the music. Though some were locals and didn't go necessarily for the music itself, it still represents the type of atmosphere the pub are looking for when they choose bands to play there and therefore those who regularly visit would potentially enjoy that genre of music.

 

 

And of course, Coco and the Butterfields played my group's chosen song "Warriors" which, with it's upbeat tune, created a great atmosphere in the pub by having an undeniably catchy beat that people only could help but tap their feet to. This then reflected the song which will prove beneficial when editing my music video in order to understand the mood the video, along with the song, should create. Therefore the shots and images featured should be positive, lively and joyous. This links to an aspect of Goodwin's theory by linking the music to the visuals in order to reflect the intention of the song.

A short clip from the performance of "Warriors".

Location - Norwich Plantation Gardens

There is a lot of history behind the Norwich Plantation Gardens, a crucial location featured in our music video. For example, this location was used when filming the 'Alice in Wonderland' scenes due to its magical and whimsical feel which can be likened to that of Wonderland as described in the  novel by Lewis Carroll and the film adaptation by Tim Burton.

When researching the history of the gardens, I found a lot of relevant information that only further strengthened our meaning behind the song and the visuals within the music video. For example;

"Undeterred Henry Trevor set about transforming the quarry into a magical landscape, rich in the features associated with Victorian gardens. The impressive Gothic revival fountain was his first creation, followed by majestic Italian terracing, medieval walls, follies and ferneries, serpentine walkways and parterres, wooden bridges, a rustic summerhouse, shrubberies and lawns, conifers and broadleaved trees."

 



The aspect of a "magical landscape" was the exact look my group and I set out for thus adding to the Alice theme we hoped to achieve.

 

 

Furthermore, the article goes on to state;

 

 "After the war the garden was virtually abandoned though neighbourhood children found the overgrown garden with its fantastic structures and hideaways a tempting playground, which they nicknamed ‘The Secret Garden’."

 

 

This shows many similarities to the story of Alice in Wonderland where the world of Wonderland was secret to everyone until Alice discovered it accidently. From this, she essentially found a playground through the whimsical features not known to reality. This link then provided a great location to utilise in order to create the illusion of Alice in Wonderland through mise en scene and costume. This then links to Goodwin's Theory where the music and the lyrics link with the visuals to add to the ambience in order to create an exciting and meaningful music video, doing the song justice.

Costume Design

The character, as played by Danielle, needed to dress distinctively different to that of the fairy tales and therefore we chose clothing that our demographic would wear. We chose muted colours to add to this distinction as the costume of characters such as Alice wear vividly bright costumes and therefore a binary opposition needed to be created. My group and I also incorporated the black ribbon within the hair as a signifier to the transition to Alice who wears a black headband. This then foreshadows what will happen by adding visual elements hinting to our audience.

Alice's costume is very distinctive and therefore my group and I ensured that we incorporated crucial aspects such as the blue dress and black headband so that our audience could understand visually what we are portraying. We took inspiration from the cartoon adaptation which is very traditional and recognisable (as pictured). The Mad Hatter is another distinctive character featured in Alice in Wonderland and therefore we incorporated him into our production. We ensured we featured the hat with the price tag "10/6" on it for our audience to immediately recognise and understand. Altogether, these characters and their costumes helped depict the fairy tale of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
                        

 Hansel & Gretel, our second transition featured, is another well-known fairy tale of German origin and their have been many interpretations of costumes for this. Based upon this, we created our own interpretation using features that our audience will understand in order to portray these characters effectively. For example, we included candy jewellery since a predominant theme of this fairy tale is sweets. We also included braces with white button up shirts and Danielle has "milkmaid" braids whilst Billy wears a hat. This links to the German origin thus showing inspiration and a clear link for our audience to understand.

The most recognisable feature of Little Red Riding Hood's costume is her red hooded cape and therefore this was a must. Due to our limited budget, we had to make the hood using resources that my group and I could find in order to keep the production costs low. As a result, we had a hood that represented that of the original fairy tale, and that of recent adaptations such as the film "Red Riding Hood" (as pictured).

Goldilocks hair was the most crucial thing to consider when constructing our costume since even her name referenced her hair. Therefore we curled it and tied it into bunches to replicate illustrations such as the one pictured below. From this, we then chose costume that reflected the song thus conforming to Goodwin's Theory of linking music to visuals. For example we used a 50's style flared skirt that had a lot of movement and which also featured a floral print.

Shot List for Music Video

This is our proposed shot list, however during filming, we have developed this further. My group and I utilised the locations to its full extent based on natural mise en scene already there, for example the Norwich Plantation Gardens had lots of features beneficial to our production to create a fantasy atmosphere.

Shot:	Character:	Location:	Camera Angle:	Lighting:	Type of Shot:	Action:
1.    Long Shot	Danielle	Back Garden	High Angle – to foreshadow what’s going to happen.	Ambient lighting – it will be filmed in daylight, outside.	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle will walk to a table in her back garden with a mysterious object on it.
2.    Over the shoulder	Danielle	Back Garden	High angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle will walk to a table in her back garden with a mysterious object on it. (continuous action being displayed through various shots)
3.    Tilt	Danielle	Back Garden		Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle walking
4.    Over the shoulder	Danielle	Back Garden	High angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle sits in the chair opposite to the mysterious object (a cup saying “drink me”).
5.    Extreme Close up	Danielle	Back Garden	Birds eye	Ambient Lighting	Still shot (handheld)	Danielle is looking at the cup with a confused look.
6.    Close up	Danielle	Back Garden	Low angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle picks up the cup and drinks from it.
7.    Extreme close up	Danielle	Back Garden	Eye-level	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle picks up the cup and drinks from it.
8.    Over the shoulder	Danielle (Alice)	Norwich Plantation Gardens	High angle – to suggest vulnerability	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	The first transition occurs to Alice in Wonderland, Danielle is confused.
9.    Medium	(location)	Norwich Plantation Gardens	Eye-level	Ambient Lighting	Panning shot.	To establish location in order to distinguish between reality and fantasy.
10.  Tilt	Danielle & Mad Hatter	Norwich Plantation Gardens	Low Angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod	Alice is introduced to the Mad Hatter.
11.  Extreme Close up	Danielle & Mad Hatter	Norwich Plantation Gardens	Low angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod	The Mad Hatter gives Alice a red rose (a recurring motif).
12.  Over the shoulder	Danielle & Mad Hatter	Norwich Plantation Gardens	Eye Level	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod	The Mad Hatter waves goodbye to Alice.
13.  Over the shoulder	Danielle	Norwich Plantation Gardens	Eye Level	Ambient Lighting	Tracking	Alice skips – causing the second transition to Hansel & Gretel.
14.  Medium	Danielle (Gretel)	UEA Lake		Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod	Danielle is now Gretel and is confused by the change of location and costume.
15.  Close up	Hansel	UEA Lake	Low angle to High angle	Ambient Lighting	Panning shot using tripod.	To establish another character (Hansel).
16. Long shot	Danielle & Hansel	UEA Lake		Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle is introduced to Hansel.
17.  Extreme close up	Danielle & Hansel	UEA Lake	Eye-level	Ambient Lighting	Tracking shot.	Danielle and Hansel are skipping.
18.  Extreme close up	Danielle & Hansel	UEA Lake	High angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	They see a gingerbread house and pick it up and put it in a basket.
19.  Extreme close up.	Danielle	UEA Lake	Birds eye	Ambient Lighting	Zoomed in.	Zoomed in shot to the basket and then zoomed out to reveal new location.
20.  Extreme Close up	Danielle (Little Red Riding Hood)	UEA Forest	Eye Level	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle (now LRRH) is walking through the forest.
21.  Over the shoulder	Danielle	UEA Forest	High angle - to suggest vulnerability	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.
22.  Long	Danielle	UEA Forest	Eye Level	Ambient Lighting	Panning using tripod.	Danielle stops and looks behind her (to imply there is something else in the forest).
23.  Extreme Close up	Danielle	UEA Forest	High angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Shot of red roses in basket to suggest a link between each fairy tale.
24.  Extreme Close up	Danielle	UEA Forest	Eye Level	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle walks up to the camera looking ahead, implying there is something ahead.
25.  Close up	Danielle (Goldilocks)	Chloe’s House	Eye Level	Ambient Lighting	Tracking shot.	Danielle (now Goldilocks) is skipping when she comes across a house.
26.  Tilt	Danielle	Chloe’s House	Low angle	Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle looks at her costume and then walks up to the house.
27.  Extreme close up	Danielle	Chloe’s House		Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle knocks on the doors, no one answers.
28.  Extreme close up	(Establish mise en scene)	Chloe’s House	Eye level	Non-ambient lighting (lights in house)	Panning shot.	Shot of three bowls as a hint to the fairy tale being portrayed.
29.  Medium	Danielle	Chloe’s House	Low angle	Non-ambient lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle gets into bed and falls asleep.
30.  Extreme close up	Danielle	Chloe’s House	High angle	Non-ambient lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle falls asleep.
31.  Close up	Danielle	Back Garden (same location as first shot)	High angle – to suggest vulnerability.	Ambient lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle wakes up, normally dressed and back at first location.
32.  Extreme close up	Danielle	Back Garden	Birds eye	Ambient lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Danielle looks at the cup and it is empty – this implies that the drink triggered the fairy tales.
33.  Extreme close up	Danielle	Back Garden		Ambient Lighting	Still shot using tripod.	Close up of her face to reveal her emotions.