Passion Picture Questionnaire and Answers with Ollie Allgrove

Ollie Allgrove works for Passion Pictures which makes low budget feature films, music videos, and commercials.
The company's better known work is the 'Searching for Sugarman'.
Passion Pictures is an independent, multi-award winning company.

Ollie mentioned to tell a story the main tools are animations, live action, design and visual effects.
He talked about how the director takes the idea and communicates those ideas from the brief to the product. The music business acts as a visual voice and use their creative point of view to present to an audience. The use their creativity to sell the story of the artist to their specific target audience. The music businesses purpose has changed to be more complex when creating a music video, to keep the attention of the audience and to engage them.
The artist wants hits and views online now and to make their videos and work to be memorable. Controversy is used in videos to engage the audience more and to make an impact on them, so it gets more attention and therefore more publicity.

The role of the artist and directors working together is to combine ideas to fit the brief and treatment of ideas frame by frame to keep the attention and engagement of the audience.

The different  aspects they need to consider when creating an image for the artist through their video is how they're dressed, if the video features the members of the band/the artist or they want to focus on the effects, and just overall to set a look that they want to use to target an audience.

Story boarding

The shoot - should be when all the information has been strictly organised and there are no questions left to answer about logistics or ideas. Before the actual shoot, all aspects of the ideas should be explored in depth and then problems can be identified and resolved.

Edit - lip syncing sections need to be thought through carefully when filming and to make sure all the music is synced up with he write sections in the song. Preparation needs to be done before going into editing, and don't just think that things can be fixed in post-production so getting it right in the shoot is crucial.

Costume Ideas

Costume was one of the points of feedback from when we pitched our idea.

To link the costume into the different sets I was think of using the same dress for two of the elements of the Water and the Woods. The feedback we got was that using a dress that we used in the water would be too cold to use in the woods sequence.

I think that instead of just the female singer wearing a plain flowy dress, it should be made of various materials which are quite ragged and can be built up for the different elements. We want to use ragged long cloths so we can drape them around the sets to submerge the artists into her sets. We also want to use this idea so we can incorporate the projections idea into the sets so they have something to be projected onto.

-Water : White cloths draped around he but very long so they are able to flow in the 'water' effect to give the effect of floating and suspension. Instead of having a structure to the dress it incorporates the costume into the whole set instead so it takes up more of a frame whilst still potentially being a long shot, this means that the design of the set can be based around her costume.

The image above shows the kind of style that i was thinking for the costume as it shows the variety of materials and fabrics. However I would like the fabrics to be longer and the corset are of the dress not maybe to be so structured or we could use that style as a base and build on top for the extra layers of fabrics.

 

Above is the kind of stripped fabric idea that i meant but i think that the quantity should be greater and the size of the strips so i could incorporate that into different areas of the set. 

Again above is a picture of the kind of fabrics id like to use. I think that they fabric strips should be long so we could tie them loosely to areas around the set so the actress is emerged i her own clothing as it gets twisted by the water.  

The image above shows the kind of projection idea of the after effect onto the cloths.

The images above is the kind of idea of how we would like the fabrics to be in the water and the length of the fabrics.

-Woods : For the woods scene we would use the same ragged dress but we could use the fact the it is all draped to layer more onto her so that the outside theme doesn't look strange and realistically would work better as the temperatures would be more fitting. 

However in this setting the cloths can be draped over the trees surrounding her .

Targets to Delegate to Group

Eliza
-work on costume and incorporating that into the different elements of the video

Zell
-think of more basic terms of the elements to the sets

Rosie
-thiknk about projections and ideas to work with

Response and Targets from Feedback

Water

-need to think of ways to make it less 'Alice in Wonderland' and just keep the aspect of surrealism
-think of costumes which we can link the sets together
-We will have to film it in in extra fast speed in order to be able to have the final video in slow motion.
-When concentrating on props we need and effect which we want to include within our video we  would have to make sure that we include a fan.
-We will have to make sure we have the right editing software in order to be able to edit it in this way


Woods

-We'd need to get rid of anything that would be associated with Alice in Wonderland
-We will have to make sure we include the main character within every frame in this video so that the whole video revolves around our main character.
-We will think of a method in which we'd be able to link the two themes together and make our video relevant throughout.
-We will think of something which we could include within the woods which links to the water and vice versa.
-We will further brainstorm our ideas in order to think of something which hasn't been done before and which is individual and innovative.
-We will consider this idea and think of ways in which we could tie in these themes too.

Other...

-We will make sure, when editing our footage, that we intercut between the two.
-We will re-design our costume in order for it to be suitable for cold conditions, however we will try our hardest to design the dress in a way which makes it look tasteful and not tacky.
-We will look at changing the colours of our dress in particular themes in order for the thematic ideas to link with the rest of our ideas.

Feedback from 1st Group Pitch

Water

-it needs to be shot in a specific way to make it look like shes really in water.
-use dusty effects and layers of colours and effects
-use fans to make hair a dress flow like she's actually in water

Woods

-it's too Alice in Wonderland
-we need to think of other things to give the same effect of surrealism
-we need something that links all the scenes together

-water and woods as locations used a lot - quite typical - again need another element to link them together
-may run out of footage - another element
-the costume works in the water scene but may not work in the weather conditions in the winter when filming outside in the woods - as it's cold - need to think of alternative costumes

other..

-the female is too focused on so we need to think of other ways to make her blend in but not be followed constantly

Music Video Pitch

Music Video Pitch from elizafernandapollock

Creative Process

This is a sheet with a list of our initial ideas as a group as we tried to combine some of the themes and song ideas. 

Feedback on Idea 3 (San Cisco)

My idea for this song would be based around nature so the sets would be in the woods but have a surreal style to it, so things out of place among the nature with a narrative of dysfunctional relationships to fit with the conflicting sense of the imagery. These themes fit in firstly with the narrative of the song, Wild Things, as its in the wilderness but it makes it more interesting and adds a different narrative that would be expected.
The feedback I got from this idea was that it was my best developed idea. They liked the setting and staging with fairy lights to make it quite dreamy and surreal. They thought it was interesting to have a sort of Alice in Wonderland theme.

To respond to this feedback I think I could use artistic elements from my ideas like the distorted/kaleidoscope effect. I think that there should be a separate setting to the woods otherwise it may get a bit repetitive so maybe if the woods/surreal idea was a dream set apart from real life setting where the performance is.

Feedback on Idea 2 (Phoenix)

The idea for this music video was to have a vintage style looking film to show the style of the music of the band. I would have a loose narrative of fandom to create a literal video  for the narrative of the song. I think this was my weakest idea and in my feedback People also said that it wasn't very clear what I wanted the narrative and themes to be about. Bu they liked the vintage idea fitting with the sound of the recording of their music and their voices.

In response to the feedback I want to create a personable image for the band by using an element of behind the scenes with the band in a homely non superstar atmosphere to make the band more relatable to their audience. The other element would be the theme of fandom to contrast to the relatable, normal people image that I would show as another element.

Feedback on Idea 1 (Tame Impala)

Idea 1 - Tame Impala : Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

My ideas for this song was to be more visual and not have a narrative but have more artistic elements. The colours would be psychedelic and it would  have a set where they would be  in dark areas with projections of colourful patterns and images like water running through water or marbelling effects projected onto them. This fits in with the conventions of their indie 70's rock because the music flows with the images of  the projections.

The feedback I got from this idea was that the imagery was effective and simple. They said that the colours and images projected fits well with the song, and would be easy to develop. The idea that was most liked was the artistic filming techniques like using a kaleidoscope in some parts of the performance to add more interest to the piece. 

I think that the idea is quite limited and repetitive so could get quite boring with the projections and performance all the way through so to make it more interesting I could experiment with colour moods to show the different paces of the stages of the song. 

Or another way to add another dimension to the video would be to maybe have a vague narrative being shown on a projection or a vintage style tape which would fit in with the vintage 70's style of the band. 

Digipack + Homepage for 3rd Idea - San Cisco

I think for the images in this digipack and homepage should have the same themes and imagery from that of the video. The photos should be focused on the band members mostly not so much the characters from the video though. I think some of the images should hvae the band meme=bers in the forground though, in the woods to create a link with the music video and keep the idea of the rawness of their music but maybe have some out of place objects like a tea party setting or something like the image below.

Digipack + Homepage of 2nd Idea - Phoenix

For the images on the digipack and homepage for Phoenix, I was thinking of having fairy lighting as a backdrop for images of the band members, with a filter to make it look quite vintage to fit in with the music video theme.

For the font on the cover, I think a type writer font would fit best with these images to give it that sense of age. 

I like this image of Mumford and Sons as it makes the band members seem quite relatable and like normal people and I would like to represent Phoenix to these kind of people, in a similar sort of style setting. 

Digipack + Homepage for 1st Idea - Tame Impala

For the first digipack and homepage idea for Tame Impala, as I mentioned before, their music is based around 70s rock. So for the images on the digipack, they would be quite psychedelic and colourful.

This fits in with my music video idea as the projections and lighting in the video are colourful and have quite a flowy feeling like the image above. Or the images could be marbled inks and paints to create the same effect. Another image idea to go with the digipack is the artist with projecitons of these kind of images layered on top of them. 

The writing on the front I think should be in black so it stands out against the colours but in a basic not bold font so it keeps in with the image of the band in not being such a pop band. 

I think there should also be images of the band members dressed in 70s style clothing to fit in with the music genre. 

 I think we could also create some actual art work to fit in with the themes.

3rd Music Video Idea - San Cisco : Wild Thing

San Cisco - Wild Thing

The song I have chosen for my idea is quite upbeat and uses quite raw instrument sound so not electronic at all which is slightly different to the other songs I have chosen. I was thinking if using more of a narrative alongside a live performance. A narrative because it could be adapted to the narrative of the song. I think the fact that they have quite an instrumental sound is why I think a live performance would be fitting, also because they have quite a personable character to their music of indie pop/rock which could give the audience an insight to a behind the scenes feel.

For the narrative I was thinking of having more a more surreal theme to contrast against the pure atmosphere of the countryside and also to fit with the sound of their music. Relationships would be a theme but to fit with the theme of wilderness the couples and other characters would be wearing masks to highlight the dysfunctional relationship that I am trying to convey. I think for props there should be other objects that are out of place in the situation.

The setting I think would be outdoors in the countryside or in the woods to enhance the feeling and themes of raw music and not false.

And have close ups of characters and band members to create a relationship between the audience and the band. 

I like the autumnous feel of the image above and I think that a fairy lit setting outside for the performance area would look quite good as the live performance section of the video. 

2nd Music Video Idea - Phoenix : Litsztomania

Phoenix - Litsztomania

This band has quite a vintage style in all their images and social media pages. 

The song is based on fan girls for a German romantic literary figure Heinrich Heine's Litszt piano performance. So instead of having a direct obvious fan girl, I wanted to make the video more subtle hint toward fandom and the social hierarchy brought on by fame. 

I think the band's image is that they are relatable normal people so I think a live performance with a separate story line relevant to the fan idea. I wanted to use quite dated looking film instead of high quality to stick to their vintage kind of image.

I think some of the shots could take place outside with fairylights for a performance set.

1st Music Video Idea - Tame Impala : Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

Feels Like We Only Go Backwards  - Tame Impala

This is one of the bands logo. They're mainly influenced by 70's rock. For my idea i'm thinking of using more abstract images rather than a strong narrative as the song is slow and more moody not so much telling a story. I want to use colour filter over basic imagery and characters to make it more psychedelic as that is what the bands theme is(1 male and 1 female). I want a lot of the film to be in slow motion and reversed. I want a vague 70s theme as that is what the band is mostly influenced with their music. 

The images below are my main influence and a visual representation of what I want to show. 

I think that silhouettes against the colour projected backgrounds would create a cool effect as well. I could experiment with different filming techniques like using a kaleidoscope in some areas of the video.