Case study Mainstream artist/independent label

5 Seconds of summer are a pop punk band on Capitol Records.

None of my facebook friends have recommended any of their material.

5 Seconds of Summer will be on tour in the US from the 4^th to the 17^th of August.

5 Seconds of Summer have gained massive commercial success over the last few months, having been compared to 1 Direction on a number of occasions and to the point that they will be supporting the band in the US. Managing to get in to the UK Top 40 currently at the 35 position.  They have featured in a number of magazines including Kerrang and RockSound.

Sumerian Records are a US based label who over the last few years have exploded with popularity with bands such as ASKING ALEXANDRIA, I SEE STARS  and PERIPHERY. The majority of the labels artists fall under the metalcore subgenre of metal and area that has become massively popular over the last few years.

The label mainly use magazines to advertise, especially within the UK where metal is much less popular and with a number of bands who are arguably some of the most easy going in their respective scenes the label and it’s artists are promoted largely by word of mouth and via social media.

Sumerian Records is partnered with ADA (Alternative Distribution Alliance) to distribute its music. ADA is an independent music distribution arm of Warner Music Group.

Sumerian’s audience is of mixed gender with an age range of 13-28 year old working class listeners.

Sumerian have been approached by Sony several times with offers only to be turned away believing that a partnership with such a massive name would tarnish their reputation as such a well-established alternative label.

Final production and Voice over.

Here is the completed peace, created with Final Cut, while it is perhaps the most aggravating peace of software around at least it gets the job done...



The version of the film with my voice over. A major challenge was getting everything in within two minutes

Practical evaluation

For the practical side of the course I thought hard about what I wanted to do and what genre it would fit in. I have been interested in the supernatural and the well documented examples of people with supernatural abilities and have done some extensive research of my own into the subject. This research lead me to a number of media texts including a video from YouTube explaining several areas that I hadn't considered and the film Chronicle, a found footage film documenting three friends who develop "superpowers" and how the power soon proves to be more than they expected.

This was the sort of film I wanted to create (had I been given the resources for a full 90 minute feature) with a more serious atmosphere and a wider array of powers. So I had the subject but still needed the genre. I didn't want to make a typical superhero action film akin to the X-men franchise. I considered the idea of a superhero film for adults or at least young adults. I started looking for genres that would fit, only finding that something along the lines of an action thriller would fit. I looked at a number of films such as The girl with the dragon tattoo; Elysium; Hummingbird and Hanna. The backdrop of the film Hanna seemed like the best direction to go with the hunter being hunted only with my idea the hunter would not yet be aware of why he/she is being hunted until they come face to face with the unimaginable situation.

An advertising poster for the movie, capturing it's essence in
in a single image

I had the full Idea but now had to think of the hard bit. How would such a film be opened, as film technologies get more and more advanced films get gradually longer on average with most being around one hundred minutes long and more. I wanted to introduce a what could be a complex story with complex characters without introducing too many characters if any at all. This would be (in my opinion) a great way to break convention. In my shot plan I did mention a number of characters would be involved but when it came to filming the idea solidified inside my head. Just two minutes of life. Telling a story through title cards, building tension and creating an enigma from the start. Filming took longer than I'd hoped at about four hours I had to consider every angle of filming. I had to make something as mundane as the morning rush hour seem at least a little more interesting and harder still was the idea of making an empty street look interesting. I filmed several areas in the local area from busy streets leading into and out of the city center to the quiet public foot paths and parks and the city center itself. I looked at a number of obscure lo

Editing the project was the hardest hurdle to get over as it's all well and good to have a great idea down on paper and even on film but another all together to put that great, original peace of work together to form one solid chunk that both you and your potential audience of fifteen to thirty something year olds will enjoy. To do this I had to keep each clip no longer than ten seconds long or risk the audience becoming increasingly bored by two minutes of footage consisting of only about four or five clips. Editing in final cut was a riot as while it got the job done I can't stand Apple and all that associate with it. 

THE PLAN (shot plan and script)

I have been researching in to the various elements of the Thriller genre and the expansive sub-genres surrounding it and have come to the conclusion that my final peace will belong somewhere within those sub-genres. I personally see the peace belonging to the supernatural and action thriller genres though as the film industry changes along with audiences so does the perception of genres and sub-genres. In terms of existing films that I have taken inspiration from they would be Chronicle, Carrie, Battle Royal Requiem and elements of Blood: The last vampire and documented cases of telekinetic abilities.

The plan for the final peace (the opening two minutes of a feature film) is to make something that keeps the audience guessing, throwing enigmas and ideas into the viewers mind from the word go. This will involve three to four actors and a number of props including a lighter and a knife. Filming will take two to three hours and will involve filming in the day and night.

I will be using a range of camera shots, mostly extreme close ups and long shots.

SHOT PLAN-

1-5 seconds- shot of the street in the middle of the day
6-10- Shot of the same street in early evening
11-15- shot of the same street at night
16-20- long shot of a person running alongside some opening credits reading- A chapel studios production
21-30- two people walking through a street -introduce music-
31-35- credits reading- Directed, edited and filmed by Scott D Perkins
36-50- text- All around the world people have shown to have gifts. At first just whispers and rumors but then videos started to surface, people bending spoons, producing sparks, freezing glasses of water. The videos didn't last as to be expected, people were ridiculed and shunned for what they could do. For a while the phenomenon went quiet, after those affected began to end their lives out of nowhere. Once again rumor spread that these gifted people were being hunted.
51-60- text- BY EACH OTHER.
61/2/3/- close up of someone holding a knife.
64-70- same person walking down a corridor with the knife
`71- 80- Text- Featuring music from- Hacktivist, Tesseract, Of mice and Men, Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill, Shadows of the damned), Hans Zimmer (Man of steel, Beyond two souls), Asking Alexandria, Gustavo Santaolalla (The last of Us).
81-85- close up of people running down stairs.
86-95-Someone running down a dark street.
96-100- text- in association with the RNC and the Chapel.
101-105- 
116-120- text- two weeks earlier.

SCRIPT

To maintain the enigma of the opening scenes I have kept dialogue out ot the scene.