Media Attention..

This is a mood board constructed of cut-outs many different music magazine of which The Crookes have featured in.




These are some videos which have featured on numerous websites such as Youtube and LastFM

Conversations With The Band

We conducted all of our conversations and interviews 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.

Emails with the band....

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 @Chorus of Fools' or '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'? Thankyou Abbi, Loren and Amy


Hey 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

Interview....

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 ‘Chorus of Fools’?
Its a story about a depressed housewife who needs to lament her feelings (I think) and it shows how a relationship has its struggles but also the rewards of it.

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!


The information form the band has helped us decide exactly what to feature in the video and has confimred our thoughts on what the song is all about.

Some Of The Photo's To Use In The Video

These photos are all from my family album. These were my Great Grandparents photos dating from around the 1950's. When we came up with the idea of using old photos, these wwere the perfect ones to use. As they were taken about 60 years ago, the look very worn and old and some have some marks on them, but this made them fit even better in the video as they looked authentic.

FINAL Video Idea..

After a lot of thought about incorporating filming in to our music video, we have decided not to. The reason for this is that the video has such a distinct look and feel to it, and we feel that video footage would not be suitable for our video and we would not be able to create the right feel for the video in film. We also think that having lip synch in the video would not look as effective as all animation would, and it wouldn't fit in the video. We feel that only using animation and not footage will evoke the true feeling of The Crookes. We have decided this as we have now started using Adobe Premiere and are getting more familiar with it, therefore finding more tools we can use and more interesting ways to portray The Crookes than we could with footage.

The final idea for the video is that we will tell a story through the pictures. The pictures we have collected are from my family album. They are mainly pictures of my great grandparents and grandparents. The video will be portrayed as a story. Trying to plan the story was difficult as we lacked inspiration slightly and didn't fully understand Premiere Pro, so we decided to get on with the beginning of the video and make these decisions as we went along. This proved to be the right thing to do as our inspiration flourished and the ideas came out as we went along, making it a lot easier to create the story.

These were our initial ideas for the video, but things did change as we created it:
The beginning will be the opening of the book and the story will then unravel. The story is a love story, how two young people fall in love. Obviously there are twists and turns in the relationships and even a split, but it all comes together in the end. Throughout the video, the audience will see how the relationship forms, develops and even briefly ends. The pictures do not need to be edited much as they are from the 1950's, the era we are trying to create, so are all black and white and have a old feel to them. Some photo's which need to be edited, such as cropped or moved around, will be done in Photoshop, then imported into Adobe Premiere. The book at the beginning will be filmed by ourselves, and edited in Premiere

Thoughts for the Video

Our first thoughts for the video are to film at a picturesque, quiet location. The filming will incorporate the story we are trying to portray. It would be very difficult to get The Crookes to star in our video as they are very busy touring at the moment, but we have another local band who would be happy to perform in the band. The idea we have for the video does not incorporate much footage of the band anyway, as we want to keep it quite simple and a but mysterious as to who is in the video to tell the story. By this I mean, the camera angles would be very unusual and inventive, for example, shots of the behind of the person so the sudience do not know who it is. Camera angles like this and the idea of this video would keep in with the feel for the video. We also want to keep the video original and push the conventions of a normal music video by incorporating some animation in the video. The animation would incorporate pictures and text moulded together like a moving photo album to create a flowing storyline.

Initially we thought of filming at Britannia Pier in Great Yarmouth which is a
seaside resort. We thought this would fit in well with the Charlie Chaplin/Maccabbees theme. We also looked at Wroxham Broads as a possible setting as it is very quiet and peaceful location.

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We have looked into Britannia Pier in great detail and have decided that it is probably not suitable. Originally we thought Brittania Pier was unspoilt and unmodernised. We have looked into this and it has been modernised alot, therefore not suiting the bands image or the ideas we had for the video.
We have looked at many alternative locations including:
- Elm Hill, Norwich and
- Wroxham Broads (pictures above)
The main problem we are facing in filming outside is obviously the weather. Ideally our video would be set outdoors as we think this would work will and really tell the story, but if the lighting isn't right, it could spoil it. The only other option is to film it in the studio. The main idea for a studio video would have to be as if the band are performing, but we could possibly add some extra footage in with the band at different locations.

Mood Boards....

Chrous of Fools Lyrics

Chorus of Fools Lyrics, complete with annotation to guide our music video idea. We particularly like the reference to light and dark, and the idea of coldness... These ideas we will play with in our music video production- We love how these aspects fit in with the fact that this song is about a break up of a relationship.We can play with the idea of fate that is mentioned throughout the song and the poetic imagery of which is built up throughout. The lyrics are a great basis for us to play with and evolve our initial ideas when hearing the song.

Branding

In Music Videos.
Branding is especially important in music videos; it involves promotion of the band/artist and focuses on pushing forward their own visual representation. Music videos not only show off the bands own style, it also can present the band and give them recognition relating to success and status.
In a narrative music video, this can be used in order to market the band, usually these videos are more suggestive, rather than realistic, making it easier for the audience to watch the video over and over and wanting to keep watching it. This is important as a way to draw in the audience, as real life will not be as interesting to the audience, therefore would not draw them in as much. Repeatability is also very important in music videos, in order to market the band, this is needed to stick ideas in their mind; this can relate to representation of the band and how they are perceived by the public. The idea of repeatability is usually common in the chorus, with a range of shots that are shown numerous times, making it stick in the audiences mind.
Record labels can use an artists music video to change the audience perceptions of the band, and they use this tool to do so often.Videos can be used to increase sales, consolidate target audience and even promote other brands or businesses. Music videos are very powerful in terms of branding, whether it is the artist or other contributors; it can be a very clever aspect of the music industry to develop the persona of the artists.
Branding goes way beyond just the music video, it is followed through with merchandising, artwork, photography, press releases, logos, performance style and in our music video for The Crookes, we are going to focus on creating a distinct look for the band as a part of the branding and representation of the band. We will be able to mould our music video in order to inform the audience of the bands personal style and to also cater for a specific target audience, to attract the target audience. As we are branding towards niche subcultures it is extremely important that we get our marketing and representation spot on. This is essential as it can determine success. We will use visual elements to relate to the band and the genre of music, and focus on styling and appearance to create a unique look- this is all a huge part of branding, as well as artwork and making sure we focus on the ideas behind, sub-cultures and niche markets. It will be important that in our music video we take ideas from within the bands style, as to draw in the correct target audience. As they have such a distinct style, we will need to show their branding as independent and creative, appealing to their sub-culture. Teh idea for our video itself will hopefully show this brand we are trying to create, as it will not follow conventions.