Writing the Script

The script has been finalized after a couple of days of writing and reviewing it with my group. This was my entire process behind it.

First Draft

I began writing the first draft this Wednesday (February 26th) and finished it sometime last night. I attempted to give some time for my thoughts to develop on how I wanted the events to play out in the opening. My original version of the script was a full three pages and included the montage I wanted to incorporate for a while now. The spelling wasn't the best every now and then, but I focused more on getting my thoughts down onto the page for the first attempt. Here it is in full, with the actual screenshots I sent to my group once I finished writing it:

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Keith Floyd is the protagonist and failed actor from the original outline I made last week. We definitely wanted a rock-star type of name associated with him, so we thought this one matched really well. There are only two other characters written into the opening that way we could minimize the amount of actors required for the production. These characters are Keith's manager, Cole Pines, and the talk show host, Mike Merriweather. For Cole Pines, I specifically wanted him to act informal with Keith to emphasize that they have worked together for a long time before Keith's depressive phase, therefore he would know Keith the best. One of the biggest techniques I tried to implement into the screenplay was using the dialogue to develop Keith's character rather than it being explicitly stated in depth. From Cole’s dialogue, the audience would know that Keith Floyd is not in a good place and his goal to find success once again, but not his motivations or other details about him. This also would help to gain interest from the audience as they would want to hear Keith’s story. The substance abuse Keith struggles with is illustrated when he pulls out a flask of alcohol, which causes Cole to get angry about it as if it was an ongoing issue.

Second Draft

For the most part, my group enjoyed the script, but thought it would be longer than the two minutes we were aiming for. I had to agree. A full montage and short scene is a lot to pack in when trying to make the piece flow smoothly. In order to shorten it, I had to consider all aspects of the script to see what was important and what was unnecessary. This I believe also turned out to be a great method of evaluating the quality of the screenplay. I decided that cutting out the montage would make the most sense, but as well removing Mike Merriweather asking Keith Floyd if he was fine as it would most likely drag on too long and feel out of place in general. I also took the time to improve the dialogue and fix any grammatical errors to make sure the writing was fine. Rereading through the dialogue led to subtle changes that would help the flow of Keith and Cole's conversation, as well as improvements in the content of what is said. For example, instead of the generic "Break a leg" Cole says from the first draft, I changed it to "Show em' who you really are" to subtly plant the question into the audience mind of who Keith is. The idea is that this will cause viewers to wonder if Keith has genuine good within him or if his inner conflicts have changed his personality to something permanently disastrous. Once I finished with the second draft, the rest of my group took a peak of what I wrote and happily approved in class yesterday. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do:



INT. - INTERVIEW ROOM - N/A

The year is 1987 and the cocaine epidemic is at an all time high in the city of stars: Hollywood. Here, the world's expectations of glamour would be shattered if they truly know what their favorite actors were up to off camera. One of these tragic stories is of a once beloved actor facing not only his last shot in having career, but a good life.

Stress, pressure, and anxiety fill the atmosphere. Too much is at stake for washed-up actor KEITH FLOYD, who has been a recluse for years. He is currently suffering through depression, loneliness, and drug and alcohol abuse. He is planning on bringing his life back through a stellar comeback performance in a new generic action film from the era. He hopes that maybe the fame will save him once again, a foolish mindset which will only backfire instead of finding real help. Keith is standing in a hallway next to the set of an interview with his manager COLE PINES, the only person keeping his life on track. Cole is giving Keith a pep talk on the interview.

                COLE PINES

        (Sounding like a strict parent)

    Alright, just like we rehearsed. You go in there and give 'em the biggest smile of your life, explain a bit about your lead roll in the film, show some heart, and hit 'em with a bit of enthusiasm, it works like a charm.

Cole looks down for a brief second at a folder containing the rest of Keith’s schedule for the day.

                COLE PINES

    Look pal, you got this in the bag, so no need to stress.

Ironically, as this lecture occurs, Keith pulls out a flask of liquor out of the inside of his coat and drinks it. Cole looks back up and angrily snatches it out of his hand. Honestly, he's surprised that Keith is attempting to do anything at all with his damned life at this point and is infuriated with the fact he's slipping up once again. Cole tries not to make a scene.

                COLE PINES

        (Angry but very hushed)

    Get this shit outta here!

                KEITH FLOYD

        (Jittery and sarcastic)

    Look, it’ll make me feel better. I thought you wanted me to show some heart?

                COLE PINES

    All you’re doing is making the headlines better when the tabloids find out how fucked your life has been after—

Keith intervenes before Cole goes too far.

                KEITH FLOYD

        (Trying to be stern)

    I don't need to hear any of your damn whining right now.

                COLE PINES

    Well, you also don’t need to be drinking any of this either. This is your only shot to get your reputation back. Remember that. 

Cole puts his hand on Keith's shoulder and pats him onward to the set.

                COLE PINES

        (Suddenly enthusiastic)

    Show em' who you really are.

Keith walks forward sighing. He traverses against the crowd of grips and television equipment to take a seat on a fuzzy couch. He looks up at the lights in a state of dissonance and feels trapped. Without noticing, the interviewer, MIKE MERRIWEATHER, takes a seat next to him. A crew member at this time begins to set up Keith’s lavaliere microphone.

                MIKE MERRIWEATHER

    Keith... Keith... Keith, can ya hear me?

Keith gets out of his trance and awkwardly responds to Mike.

                KEITH FLOYD

        (Dazed and confused)

    Uh, yeah. Yeah, sorry.

A crew member yells out that there is only 10 seconds before the show starts. Mike looks away from Keith with a confused face and fixes his posture as he turns to look at the camera. Keith attempts to awkwardly replicate Mike’s elegance, but gives up and slouches. Keith closes his eyes and breathes in as the floor manager of the show counts down from 5 seconds. The intro for the television program plays. Mike introduces himself and Keith to the audience.

                MIKE MERRIWEATHER

        (With a strong voice)

    Good evening, and welcome to another episode of Entertainment Daily. I’m your host Mike Merriweather, and tonight we’re going to be talking with the highly celebrated actor Keith Floyd. Keith, how are you after all of this time away from the big screen?

Keith forces a smile and answers Mike’s question.

                KEITH FLOYD

        (Enthusiastic, but jittery and forced)

    Well Mike, um, I’m doing great!

The Next Step - Planning

My group and I have begun planning out our project. After a long discussion with my group, we went over the various topics that we researched. Examples include costume design, the effects of drugs, character studies, color schemes, and the outline I had written yesterday. I got great feedback on it! My group specifically really liked the idea of using the montage after the opening scene to give context to the character's history and transformation. After discussing these topics, we came up with further details of the plot. The film will take place in the 1980's and takes place during the attempted return of the famous actor's career after being isolated for a long period of time. The interview from the opening scene is meant to promote his return to the big screen in an upcoming movie that he stars in. I'd say this plot-line takes influence from the movie Birdman (2014, dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu), which is about another washed up actor trying to revive his acting career through a theatre performance. We decided on having a manager character in the scene to boss the actor on what to say before the interview starts in order to tell the audience about this being the actor's last shot of being successful. We also want to arrange to see if we could get some extras (or in this case, some of our friends) on set when we film this interview scene to create a more busier feel to the situation.

The Screenplay

As pre-production starts in full as of this week, I will be focusing on writing the screenplay for the opening. I have never written a montage before while developing scripts, so before I begin the writing process, I decieded to search up online for an example of montage formatting. One of the first results was this handy website that had the information I needed. It turns out for a montage like the one I am writing, which takes place in multiple locations and different times of day, all I need to do is put the scene heading as  "MONTAGE - VARIOUS" instead of making multiple ones that scatter across the page. Under this slug line, I can list various parts of the montage in a much neater fashion. The sequences listed within a montage all include their own places, time, and description, meaning I am able to write it without making any technical compromises. Here is an example taken directly from the same online resource:

This was way simpler than I thought it would be, which thankfully will make my job easier. The content of the montage will still be difficult to develop as it is important for it to communicate across
pieces of exposition clearly to the audience in a cohesive manner. For this reason, I need to get started right away.

I will be using the online screenwriting service Celtx to create this script. Celtx is straightforward to use and I have had prior experience with it from earlier productions in class, making it my go to for the film opening. I'll make sure to get the first draft of the project finished within these upcoming days. Until next time!

Sources:

McDonnell, Megan, and Stuart Friedel. “How Do You Format a Montage in a Screenplay?” Screenwriting.Io, screenwriting.io/how-do-you-format-a-montage-in-a-screenplay/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.

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The Outline

Today I finally came up with the basic outline for the film opening. I gave myself time to visualize how I wanted the sequencing of the piece to flow and looked back on my previous research on film openings. I would trace my main influence of the opening to Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese) since more than half of the opening is a montage that heavily illustrates a dramatic tone. The other part of the opening is a very quick, yet ideally captivating scene that introduces the protagonist of the film. With that information in mind, here is my outline:

Beginning:

The opening begins with a scene that takes place during the moments before an interview with the protagonist, who is a very popular actor. The crew on the set are rapidly speaking and moving around to make last minute preparations as the show is about to go live. The lights, noise, and movement are extremely overbearing, which is hectic to incite a feeling of discomfort and anxiousness. These are the same emotions the actor radiates when he sits down in his seat waiting for the interview to start. The interviewer sits nexts to him and asks him how he’s feeling, and the actor responds by making a quick remark about feeling terrible. The interviewer responds by laughing as he takes it as a joke, which makes the actor more uncomfortable and jittery. When the show goes live, the interviewer welcomes the audiences then proceeds to question the actor about how his life of stardom is. The actor responds by forcing a smile and stating that he feels great.

Middle:
The middle of the opening is the start of the montage. Here the title card would appear, and production credits will begin to pop up throughout. This half of the montage is more based on the expected lifestyle of a celebrity: the fame, glamour, and being a celebrity. I plan on using dark music in this montage to create a juxtaposition to the “perfect” life shown. Possible shot examples are the actor being followed by paparazzi, expensive material objects such as a watch or car, and fake newspaper clippings of the celebrity expressing joy under headlines that indicated a once successful career.

End:
The end of the opening continues the montage, except the content becomes darker. This is a true glimpse into the lifestyle of the protagonist, one that is rampant of pressure, drug and alcohol abuse, and depression. Here the dark music would start to become cohesive with what is happening on screen, which I hope will create a cool “ah-ha” moment in the audience’s mind. This part serves to shatter the idea of the celebrity lifestyle set up earlier and introduces their actual grim lifestyle as the subject matter of the film.


What I hope this opening will accomplish is to create a dark atmosphere, indicate the genre, and establish both the narrative and conflict of the film. The purpose of the quick scene is for the audience to understand the character’s mindset in the simplest way possible, which are the words directly coming out of his mouth about feeling awful. The montage is of course there to show the title and production credits, but is also meant to guide the audience from the way of life they might expect from a celebrity to the harsh reality the film would present. With these elements set in place, I believe this will make for an excellent film opening.

Tomorrow, I’ll finally get the chance to sit down with my group and discuss what we have all researched in full these past couple of days. I am especially content with this outline in particular and hope they will like it too.

Finding Character Motivations

While writing the outline for my film opening, I started to become blank on what exactly to jot down. My basic idea of the film opening was of an unstable celebrity, the protagonist, acting distressed on either a talk show or an interview. After some time thinking, I linked this problem to the fact that I did not myself understand what was the cause of the celebrity’s self-destructive behavior. These motives are crucial to the entire story’s development and to create the interaction between the host and the celebrity. For this reason, I have researched character motivations in a story.

The Research

From my research, it turns out motivation is not only a core element of any character, but it also is a fantastic method for a writer to enter the mind of a character and understand them better. This was exactly what I needed! Without any prior context of the celebrity’s actions, I could never properly create a meaningful opening. Motivation is not defined by what a character wants, but instead what they need, no matter how absurd or chaotic it might be. Character motivations can be split up into three categories based off of psychologist Abraham Maslow’s theory of the “Hierarchy of Need”, which models human motivation by needs on different levels. Here is what it looks like:

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

In terms of storytelling, we can apply these same three categories in determining motivations within a character:

• Basic needs refer to what is required for human survival and overall safety                 (examples: food, water, and sleep)

• Psychological needs refer to self-esteem, affection, and a sense of belonging               (examples: romantic and friendly relationships, respect, and success)

• Self-fulfillment needs derive from the process of self-actualization, or reaching a state of fulfilled potential.

After taking observation of the pyramid, I reflected on what would be the perfect motivation based on the information and the conflict my group settled on a couple of days ago.

Constructing Motivation

Since the protagonist is a celebrity, it would not make sense for the motivation to be a basic need due to their wealth and status. It also would not make sense for the achievement to be of self-fulfillment when going through a destructive episode, unless his ultimate goal is to live an extremely callous and careless life. This is why I am most likely going to implement a psychological need. I think that the celebrity could have a sense of inner-loneliness, which as a result creates a juxtaposition to how most would generally view someone who is popular. With the attention constantly on him, a sense of immense pressure and isolation from the rest of the world could begin to dig deep into his thoughts. By being the only one in the spotlight, the celebrity would be separated from everyone else socially and in terms of lifestyle. These depressing emotions could result in him needing a place where he can truly belong and genuine human connection. The celebrity could then attempt to supplement these needs through coping mechanisms such as frequent drug and alcohol abuse that is rampant in the entertainment industry. This will be the beginning of his descent into rock bottom.

Conclusion

Today’s research should help get me back on track writing the outline for the film opening. I’ll update you guys shortly with what I came up with. Take care!

Sources:

Reedsy. “Character Motivation: How to Write Believable Characters.” Reedsy, 17 Aug. 2018, blog.reedsy.com/character-motivation/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.

Scottsdale Recovery Center. “Drug Abuse in Hollywood.” Scottsdale Recovery Center, 12 Jan. 2019, scottsdalerecovery.com/drug-abuse-in-hollywood/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.

Mcleod, Saul. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.” Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 5 Feb. 2007, www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html. Accessed 22 Feb. 2020.

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Developing Conflict

The film opening is finally starting to take shape! Today in class I brought up to the rest of my group about my idea of making our project a tragedy and was met with positive feedback. My partner, Manuel, had gone further and suggested that the piece could work as a character study to give a more in-depth look into the protagonist. I thought it was a great idea that perfectly matched the vision I had in mind. Since the subgenre and its specifics for the opening was set, it was time to come up with our plot.

Our approach to creating a plot was to first develop a conflict. With a conflict incorporated from the beginning of the pre-production process, our film opening could have a clear path to follow in terms of setting up the rest of the story. Stories are developed from conflict, and without any the plot would have no device of pushing it forward. From my previous research of film openings, it is clear to see that setting up the plot in those first few minutes is essential. In order to figure out a conflict, I needed to understand the core aspects of one.

Basics of a Conflict

I started researching online to gather information about the fundamental factors behind the conflict of a story and was able to find this useful infographic in the process: 
   

What this illustrates are six typical story conflicts seen throughout a variety of media identified by different types of opposition, whether it be internal or external. Since the tragedy subgenre relies on a central weakness of a character, the conflict that made the most sense out of all of the options was “person against self”. After all, by the plot being a character study, witnessing up close the corruption of our protagonist coming from within would make for a further engrossing story. Further research of the topic made me understand that great conflicts do not only differ in whether they are just internal or external. A great conflict integrates an element of philosophical and moral questioning underneath. I still am trying to flesh this aspect of our plot out, but as of now I believe it will tinker with the idea that inner-change comes with acceptance and understanding. Considering once again that this would be a tragedy film, the message will come through by the protagonist not being able to accept that he was the problem all along instead of him actually following this philosophy. I also took the time to research numerous character flaws that we could apply to the protagonist. While researching various different options, this infographic details seven of the most destructive character flaws:

Arrogance and stubborness could work together to detail the protagonist’s downfall due to it matching with the concept of the character not being able to realize he is in the wrong, which will lead into the implementation of self-destruction. Through this research, the conflict for the film opening was developed.

The Birth of a Plot

Among this discussion of what flaws our character would have in the story, a burst of inspiration had struck me in class. If the film opening was about a celebrity going off the deep end, we would perfectly be able to execute both our conflict and genre. As we continued to discuss the basics of the story, we all started to get excited as we thought about it more. This to me is a sign of great things to come. 

From my experience so far, it is clear for me to see that it is important to connect and consider all aspects of a film opening in order to create a more cohesive piece. I plan on continuing to brainstorm in this same mindset as I begin writing the plot outline for the project.

Sources:

Now Novel. “6 Story Conflicts Possible in Your Book.” Now Novel, 5 Jan. 2015, www.nownovel.com/blog/kind-conflicts-possible-story/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

StudioBinder. “The Real Purpose of Conflict in Your Story.” StudioBinder, 1 Aug. 2019, www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-conflict-in-a-story/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

Patterson, Amanda. “123 Ideas For Character Flaws - A Writer’s Resource.” Writers Write, 25 June 2012, writerswrite.co.za/123-ideas-for-character-flaws/. Accessed 20 Feb. 2020.

Genre & Film Opening Research

I’m back! When I mentioned I would get to my genre research as soon as possible, I was not kidding. Today I’ve compiled some of the information I collected about dramas and their genre conventions. I as well went through three different film openings and assessed what I can take away from them in terms of producing an opening of my own. You can find my research below.

Drama - Genre Conventions

The term drama itself is somewhat self-explanatory in the sense that the films in this genre present dramatic plots and circumstances on screen. To be more specific, dramas rely on true to life conflict that induce emotional tension and release from both the audience and the characters experiencing these events unfold. Drama is developed by the implementation of various narrative elements, such as difficult subject matter, heavy themes, and especially realism. Films within this genre are typically as realistic as possible in order to relate to the real world, depict realistic situations, bring attention to current problems, and exemplify sincere character types because of it. Dramas focus on the human experience and its highs and lows; they are honest in their storytelling. Conflicts are usually based on the relationships people have with others or the battles they are facing within themselves. Since these stories center attention onto people’s interactions, resolution is generally found through their development or completion of a character arc (a total transformation of perspective of personality). 

The genre conventions of dramas are broad in nature, allowing for a wide array of various subgenres to exist under it. From what I have researched, these are the two that I am the most keen on:

Dramedy - A subgenre that incorporates a combination of the serious mood and themes of dramas and hilarious elements of comedies in order to provide comedic relief among the troubling situations unfolding. Personally, I love well executed comedy within cinema and find it to be entertaining, therefore combining both seems like a no-brainer. My only issue with the subgenre in regards to the film opening is that it would be challenging to establish an obvious tone with the limited amount of time we have when having to apply both sets of tropes.

Tragedy - A subgenre that revolves around the story of a protagonist with a major character flaw that results in their subsequent undoing. I think this would be a great option to choose for our opening for mainly two reasons. To begin with, by focusing on a singular character in our plot, we are able to work around (or at least reduce) the issue of finding actors. Secondly, the dramatic tone can be easily emphasized and the character flaw holding the protagonist back can help allude to an upcoming conflict. I will bring this idea up to the rest of my group as soon as possible, as I think this could totally work for our own opening. 

Film Openings

For my research on film openings, I decided to take a look at opening scenes from different renown dramas and attempt to understand what makes them great:

Good Will Hunting (1997, dir. Gus Van Sant)

Good Will Hunting quickly establishes the protagonist and his main strengths/weakness that he must face through the use of this short opening scene. This scene begins with a college professor describing the presence of a “mystery math magician” among them who solves some of the toughest math problems he gives out to the class. The professor offers a reward in hopes of the student coming forward, yet is out of luck since no one reveals themselves and the rest of the lecture hall looks puzzled. This moment reveals two things about the protagonist, which I think is extremely clever since he is not in the lecture hall at all. The main take away from this part is that the protagonist is not a student at the school, yet they are extremely smart. The professor leaves a problem that took the school’s faculty more than two years to complete and prove, as a challenge to the mysterious figure. Later on, a janitor is seen scribbling on the board but storms off when caught by the same college professor. To the professor’s surprise, the same equation he gave out earlier was solved completely by the janitor, making him the genius. These two moments in the scene work together to illustrate the fundamental description of the protagonist: he is a gifted and very intelligent man, but is living a life of a low class and blue collar worker. 

This scene is effective in developing the protagonist in a very straightforward and brilliant manner, making it an opening that I really enjoy. I specifically am attracted to how it does a lot more showing than it does telling with its information. For my film opening, I’m going to have to be as efficient as possible in communicating exposition as well, so I think I will refer back to this opening once I get a plot in mind.

Schindler's List (1993, dir. Steven Spielberg)

The opening scene from Schindler’s List is simple yet masterful in introducing the core themes of the story through symbolism. The film takes place in Poland during the Nazi’s reign, which was the cause for the persecution and genocide of the Jewish civilians in the nation. Due to the film’s core conflict deriving from the Holocaust, director Steven Spielberg decided to begin the film subtley with the use of prayer among a Jewish household. The group of Jews fade away (through use of a cross dissolve) and all that is left in the room are two lit candles. The camera begins to move closer towards the candles, and upon a tight close up of a singular candle, the flame from it runs out and all that is left is smoke. This sequence literally represents the Holocaust in how the Jewish were taken away, killed, and eventually burned up into smoke in the sky by the Nazis. The close up of the burnt out candle creates a graphic match to the smoke of a train arriving at a station, which was presumably used to take Jews away due to how families were depicted being registered. There was also a shift from color to black and white at this moment that puzzled me at first. Luckily, I was able to find this online resource on the impact of black and white in films, specifically refering to Schindler’s List as its primary example. The website states that the black and white illustrates the historical time period and an emphasis on “the duality of good and evil”. 

For my own film opening, I would definitely be interested in creating a purely symbolic sequence in order to both set the tone and be able to have some opening credits appear as it did in Schindler’s List. I will also make sure to keep color symbolism in mind as my group and I begin planning our opening out. 

Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)

Taxi Driver incorporates a night driving montage to set the tone for the rest of the film. Over-powering music opens the film as a shot of a taxi driving through the smoke filled New York City street reveal a title card. Throughout the montage, extreme close ups of the protagonist driving are used. The point of view shots in the sequence are slowed down and given an almost surreal glow to create a dreary and melancholy vibe, invoked through the smooth, lounge-esque jazz that begins to grow in the mix. I also interpret it as if the protagonist feels like he is stuck drifting through life and isolated, as if he was an outsider looking in. This montage as well is used to roll the opening credits and give little details into the protagonist’s state of mind, which to me screams "on edge". 

All in all, I think this opening accomplishes what we want to do with our opening: setting a very strong sense of tone and implementing credits. It also illustrates how effective music can be on helping to make an atmosphere apparent. I will try to get the best music possible for my opening because of this. On the other hand, I would probably want to add a scene to ours instead of it being purely montage to add more variation.

Conclusion

With all of this information in mind, from both genre and film opening research, I can report back to the rest of my group with some solid ideas on what direction we should head with our portfolio project. Our research will be the foundation of everything we do onwards.

Sources:

https://www.filmsite.org/dramafilms.html

https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/952-drama/

https://www.sparknotes.com/film/schindlerslist/section2/

Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time, there was the story of, um... Well, I dunno.

Coming up with a great idea for a film is tough, especially if you have no clue what genre it is going to be in. This has been my struggle the past couple of days upon the commencement of the portfolio project. I’m overall very excited to finally create a film opening of my own and plan on it being something I truly can be proud of. My group and I really want to make something that is sublime, but there is a long road ahead of us if we plan on reaching that status. The first step on this journey is selecting the genre.

In person, we discussed some of our favorite films in order to come up with the type of genre and overall vibe we wanted to work with. The problem was that our answers ranged across the spectrum, from the beautiful and charming artistry of The Grand Budapest Hotel to the abstract and disturbing atmosphere of The Lighthouse. With the amount of variation in what we enjoy, the harder it became to select one course of action. This led to many arguments that continued the next two days through our smartphones.

Ultimately, we have all agreed to go with a drama as our chosen genre. I brought this idea up to the rest of my group upon the realization that with a drama film, there are countless paths to take in terms of developing a narrative and employing creative production techniques. Every great story has an element of drama to it and each of the films we brought up earlier could one way or another be considered a drama. 

As this project begins to take its first step forward, I will begin researching about dramas and their genre conventions as soon as I can, including analyzing different dramatic film openings to see what I can learn. I cannot wait to see what we will create!

Music Marketing Project

Everyday, we listen to our favorite music without any second thought of the extensive promotional work behind its success. This all changed for me once I was tasked with the same feat.

The official logo of Echo Park.

Overture

The assignment at hand was to first come up with a fake band or artist and design their brand and identity they stand by. We were then required to create a detailed marketing campaign for their “new” single, as well as a music video to go along with it. The objective was to provide a descriptive and realistic business model for our artist’s success, with the hopes of being able to have them break out into the music industry (fictionally). 

With those instructions given, there were only two other pieces of information at our disposal: a song title and its genre. My group was given a choice between four different tracks, but decided to go with the alternative song “15 Step”, as it was thematically and sonically the most dense and abstract when compared to the other generic options. Our reasoning behind the pick was that through the quirky elements, we could build a brand that matches the idiosyncratic bands and personas found across the internet. With the song selected, our long journey into the world of music marketing began.

Research and Building a Brand

The first step was research. Our data was collected from two well-established alternative bands known as Foster the People and Vampire Weekend, who are both signed under Coloumbia Records. Marketing trends prevalent between the bands were as follows:

• Demographic of 19 to 21 year-olds.
• Heavy use of the internet through implementation of social media and a website.
• Websites provide direct access to merchandising and ticket sales.
• Social media especially is a huge, relevant platform used to market and communicate with an audience.
• The more an audience is engaged with a band, the more they will consume their music.
• Marketing incorporates interactive and unorthodox promotional tactics such as mysterious teaser images and fan competitions.
• Continuity among all marketing materials and imagery.
• Distribution methods follow the current market of the digital age (streaming services), but as well cater to the aesthetic of vintage physical products (cassette tapes and vinyl records).

Vampire Weekend.

Foster the People

This information became the foundation of our marketing campaign and the beginning in creating a proper brand. The image we decided to make as a result of the compiled research was one of boldness. Our band was a somewhat obscure group of musicians with an absurd online presence and a voice of
the troubled millennial youth looking to escape from mundane life. The face of the band was a graphic design of a bright red sun behind the peak of a grey mountain rising into the sky. From this identity and the research behind it, we were able to start the execution of a proper marketing campaign. From that moment forward, the world (or at least the classroom) would know us as “Echo Park”.

The Marketing Campaign

Our marketing campaign had various parts, essentially being branches off of the tree that was our brand. 

Social media played multiple roles within our marketing campaign. Echo Park’s personality is on full display on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, showing goofy yet odd images and videos of the band. For their audience, these posts give light insight to the madness that is their music. This provides the same level of audience interaction and direct communication found through the social media accounts of the bands we researched. The two main marketing stunts for Echo Park are found on social media as well. The first technique are cryptic security camera videos of the band playing an instrument with the release date of 15 Step in the corner. As a result of these posts, suspense is built and the audience is teased, building up hype. The second technique is a social media challenge to take a picture of any security camera and use the caption “SMILE, YOU’RE ON CAMERA #15step” in order to hear a 30 second snippet of the song. This plays along with the band’s themes of anti-establishment and creates continuity among other marketing materials such as the technique above and the music video (check the music video section in order to hear a full explanation about the security camera). Through this technique, the audience is involved through this simple challenge that anyone can participate in, which makes it spread rapidly.

Here are samples of the two marketing techniques we used on social media platforms:

Marketing technique #1: Cryptic security camera footage.

Marketing technique #2: the 15 Step Challenge.

From the moment it loads, the Echo Park website immediately provides access to the single and its music video, along with upcoming performances (local to small venues in Miami since they just started performing), merchandising, and a blog. The merchandise applies the same imagery of the sun behind the mountain and includes shirts, posters, and vinyl records. As previously mentioned, alternative listeners enjoy authentic and older methods of consumption, therefore it made sense to include a record for Echo Park’s upcoming debut album on our website. The blog allows for further audience engagement, with the fans themselves being able to easily contact the band through a quick email form.

Here are samples of both the website and a vinyl record distributed by the band: 

Echo Park's website, which immediately promotes the band's new single and music video.

A vinyl record copy of Echo Park's upcoming debut album.

Producing a Music Video and What I Learned From It

Producing a music video is not as easy as it seems. One must consider all aspects of the song, the creative expression behind it, how the music video can promote and connect to the song, and how to appeal to the audience and demographic you are catering towards. For 15 Step, we knew that the symbolic themes behind the song and Echo Park’s brand meant that we had to produce an artistic experience that matches with both.

15 Step as a song indulges itself in the idea of being stuck in the same place while in the pursuit of something greater, which became the driving force behind the video’s concept. The plot is dystopian and somewhat abstract, as it follows a worker attempting to break free from his dull job and escape into the outside world. The worker’s freedom is soon enough cut off when his boss, which can be interpreted as “the powers that be”, suppresses him down. The overarching message behind the music video is that in a society like the one we live in today that is run by capitalism and the top 1%, we will never truly be free. These anti-establishment themes are the reason why the stylistic element of security cameras are found throughout the video and the marketing of the track. This declaration aligns itself with the core themes of the music, the brand of the band, and what struggling, angsty millennials could relate to. To establish this theme, we put in various film techniques we had learned during the course into our production. For example, we used mise-en-scène elements, such as a green exit sign and a big red button, color symbolism (with green representing freedom and nature while red represented confinement and danger), and rapid pace editing in order to invoke a sense of urgency.

Constructing the idea and its planning took a major amount of time, but it was essential to get right. From this experience, it taught me that if you are creating any type of video, pre-production is key. Proper scheduling and making good use of your time is another thing I learned during this production, as you do not want to be cramming things to the last minute (a long, rough night editing was enough to drill that into my mind).

Outro

It takes a lot of work to execute a proper marketing campaign. Research is crucial in order to determine what has worked for other trending artists or bands and what might work for yours. Taking a conventional and realistic approach to your campaign will make it successful, even if it means your band might not play at Madison Square Garden from the get-go. Following current movements in your marketing space, whether it might be implementing hefty social media usage or distributing music on various streaming services, is what will make your product relevant. Every characteristic of the band and their marketing should be a reason why someone would want to become a fan, especially when it comes to hitting your target audience. By applying all of these rules and creating a brand that has continuity in all aspects of its promotional content, only then is an effective marketing campaign accomplished.