idea - 

storyboard - 

script - kat

opening scene

director -

backstage scene

filming - syd

photos - kat

props - kat and some syd

directing - syd and kat

BRIEF RATIONALE

I have chosen to respond to Brief 3 of the AQA exam paper which requires me to create band and convey its brand/act within a known genre and also promote its new album and tour whilst attracting a larger audience through more mainstream methods (ie social networking, websites, viral videos). This is to be done in a short promotional video using interview/documentary style filming.

To answer Brief 3 I plan to publish a band within the punk rock/new wave genre which may attract a nostalgic cult audience of an older age -whom experienced it in its most popular age, as well as new audience members who are of the main target audience age.

 The make believe band ‘Femme Fatale’ (a French term meaning deadly woman) will not only succeed this but again attract a larger interest with its strong political views and ideas as commonly seen in the feminist punk rock girl band era of the 90’s revolving around third wave feminism mainly involving middle class white females but appeals to a wide range of audiences with a variety of backgrounds. This shall also clearly establish the bands ‘act’. Well known bands which are known to this scene labeled ‘Riot grrrl’ are Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, Bratmobile and Hole. Riot grrrl bands are often straight forward with their ideas and reject standard political norms with resistance and idea of gender revolution.  This conveys a shock factor especially to that of a modern audience which may attract more keen listeners.

To make the association clear between Femme Fatale and the Riot Grrl scene my short promotional video will bring out the band members influences in a Q&A interview style in which they will refer to well known feminist punk rock bands and also mainstream bands to attract a larger audience. Political views and ideas will also be addressed in Q&A. Femme Fatale shall also discuss their musical style and influences from various periods of music. To further solidify the brand of Femme Fatale I plan to create small pieces of merchandise commonly used in Riot Grrrl Bands such as posters and zines.

Along with band merchandise, the bands upcoming album and tour would be promoted by answering questions to do with the making of the album, the idea behind the album, and their preparation of their tour. Through the video the audience will grow to know the band personally as documents tend to veer to. I plan to do this by having the band members talk about their past experiences with the music scene and with meeting each other and forming the band. The video would also include behind the scene studio recording footage, home videos, backstage footage and live performances of perhaps previous shows with diagetic and non-diagetic sounds, which also contributes to the documentary codes and conventions of the video and promotes their brand/act, genre, album and tour to a wide range audience.

Following up on the documentary/interview style footage which will be aired on the bands myspace page, I plan to create a small opening sequence commonly seen in videos promoting bands. I will be involving a ‘DIY’ aspect associated with Riot Grrrl merchandise by presenting the opening sequence in a stop motion style video showing words being stamped into clay and later written in paper word by word, take by take. This opening sequence will introduce ‘Nutune Records’ and the band ‘Femme Fatale’, while following a theme based around the brand of the band.

Together with all the above content of my promotional video, I have also considered the filming technique to be used. Firstly, I will use many unsteady ‘rough shots’ which may blur in and appear amateur-like, however this contributes to the documentary and personal codes and conventions of the video and may introduce a feeling of casual comfortableness in the video. Slow moving (dolly shots) medium close ups and close ups wil be used to create a personal feel and sense of movement. Long shots will also be used to set the scene and focus on the environment of the interview – which will be in a small living room style with deco appropriate to the band . This compliments the bands identity as laid-back and casual.

Along with that, I plan to include cross cutting and insert shots to appropriate scenes or objects that may be in the room being interacted with by the audience members perhaps to explain something, or footage of  what they are referring to in their speech eg footage of live shows shown when talking about previous shows or footage or a music video they are referring to- may be their own).

Moveover, with the time given for the video (2-3 minutes) I plan to execute the scenes and dialogues quickly using cut away shots and continuity editing and move swiftly from one to another and having dialogue overlap over short cuts to make all use of the time given.

The video will have no narration or questioner but simply have the band members introduce themselves and answer questions – which will appear in text at the bottom of the screen- sometimes briefly and also continuingly when one topic leads to another. However I shall be careful in scripting this to make sure that they can be followed easily by viewers without confusion.

To conclude, in all the above, I plan to attract a wider audience through different means brought up frequently in the video, clearly establish the bands act by associating it with the Riot Grrrl scene. To promote their new album and upcoming tour, ive footage and behind the scene footage will be shown and altogether the video will maintain interview/documentary style codes and conventions in appreciation to the bands brand/act.

What are your influences?

- Riot grrrl bands AND more mainstream artists

- How feminism influences their music

When/how did music become a part of your life (individually then how with each other/forming the band)

What should we expect from your album

How have you been preparing for your upcoming tour

“We’re not anti-boy, we’re pro-girl.”

One of the riot grrrls main forms of communication was through the distribution of their home made zines. These zines not only gave these women a place to express themselves but they used their zines and publications as a way to make political statements. “ Zine making offered many girls a forum in which to discuss the marginalization they felt in the predominantly male punk scene and to discuss sexism and harassment with other girls and women who shared similar experiences.”

Riot grrrl bands often address issues such as rape, domestic abuse, sexuality, racism, patriarchy, and female empowerment

 riot grrrl is a subculture: zines, the DIY ethic, art, political action, and activism are part of the movement.

lyrics were realistic and socio-political, but also personally intimate

“BECAUSE we girls want to create mediums that speak to US. We are tired of boy band after boy band, boy zine after boy zine, boy punk after boy punk after boy… BECAUSE we need to talk to each other. Communication/inclusion is the key. We will never know if we don’t break the code of silence… BECAUSE in every form of media we see us/myself slapped, decapitated, laughed at, objectified, raped, trivialized, pushed, ignored, stereotyped, kicked, scorned, molested, silenced, invalidated, knifed, shot, choked and killed. BECAUSE a safe space needs to be created for girls where we can open our eyes and reach out to each other without being threatened by this sexist society and our day to day bullshit”

It was also super schizo to play shows where guys threw stuff at us, called us cunts and yelled “take it off” during our set, and then the next night perform for throngs of amazing girls singing along to every lyric and cheering after every song

Genre:

angry grrrl music

live footage

influences

Brand/act:

feminist/political views. riot grrrl views. FIERCE live performances 

-band merchandise - zines/art/patches/posters

-live footage/photos

-image/influences

-talking about it/opinions

Promote //Small flowers crack concrete//album:

behind the scenes/ studio practises/ bloopers

footage of them recording(singing into mic and proper) (messing around/ process of creating a song)

meaning/concept

Promote //     //Tour:

previous tours

flyers - footage of posters on the street of their stuff

tour bus

personal footage/diary

Larger Audience:

songs they listened to when they were younger

each of them have different initial ‘likes’

maria - harder stuff nirvana grunge soundgarden mudhoney ‘noise’ MISFITS <3

nor - rock n roll//the boat that rocked soundtrack

pull out a list that they made ages ago. one can have a list another can have a cd or cassette

influences

they found punk rock together and bonded over views

they cover some songs by famous people

Background:

home footage

how it started - individually then together 

influences

how?

no narration

occasional question on the screen

personal, conversational, casual talking BUT easy to follow. does not go so much off topic/track

individual interviews

combined interviews