Following on from my email to Stewart Thornhill, permisson has been granted and a location suggested for our filming. Here is the response I recieved:
Mart
Dear Martin,
I don’t think that you need to request busking permits as strictly speaking you’re not busking. As far as a suitable location, I would recommend using Chapel Bar beyond the bars outside seating areas and close to the public seats. It is an official busking pitch but rarely used so you will not get any hassle there from buskers wanting to perform there at the same time. You would get problems using other busking pitches as they are more popular.
If you do get approached by our community protection officers, you can show them this email as proof of permission being granted.
It was brought up in our pitch feedback that a busking license might be required for our music video. Today I emailed Stewart Thornhill (who is Nottingham's City Centre Neighbourhood Action Officer) regarding the issue.
I emailed him the following:
Dear Mr Thornhill,
I am a Media Studies student at Bilborough College and am working in a group of 3 to produce a music video. We are currently in the planning stages of the process.
Our main idea for the video involves two buskers on opposite sides of a street, from cut scenes the consumer will know they were a couple and have recently split up. Throughout the video they strive to outdo each other with their busking. Eventually the girl gives up, goes across to the boy and steals his equipment.
For this idea to work, would we need a busking license?
We/Our two actors/musicians would not be taking any money from the public (if we do get given money, it would be given back instantly). We would obviously be filming the busking from a variety of angles, lengths etc, like what would be seen in a standard music video. So do we need a license to film in the street? We wouldn't film any members of the public, just our two actors/musicians.
We would be filming for about 2 hours for one day, and possibly a second day if a re-shoot is required.
Please can you advise me/us on what we can/cannot do and where we can/cannot do it.
I have been researching busking in Nottingham and got your details off the following link: http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=9409&p=0
Yours Sincerely,
Mart Smith
The album cover for Jenny & Johnny's album "I'm Having Fun Now" shows Jenny and Johnny in their usual vintage style with their old station wagon in the background on what seems to be country road in America which fits in with their very "All american" style. They are also lying very close together which shows how they are usually marketed on their personal relationship, not just the fact that they are in a band together.
Johnny and Jenny use their "His&Hers" style theme in their merchandise by having his and hers t-shirts. The t-shirts also feature the bands logo which makes them recognisable as Jenny&Johnny band shirts.
Jenny & Johnny's Merchandise also seems to suggest that they are marketed more towards a female audience as most of their merchandise would appeal more to a female market, for example the "Jenny & Johnny Tote Bag" (pictured)
Their merchandise also maintains their vintage theme as they have a Vinyl version of their album "I'm Having Fun Now" availible in their online shop.
(Pictured)
Jenny & Johnny also show examples of synergy in their music promotion as they featured in an episode of Gossip Girl which is on Warner Bros TV which is owned by conglomerate company Warner Brothers who also own Jenny & Johnny's record label WMG.
Jenny and Johnny use new media technology to promote their music as they have a myspace and a facebook page (links below)
This is a research task that we have been given to complete on our artist:
I think that Jenny and Johnny come under the genre of Alternative or Indie Folk. Another band that I think could be classified under this genre is Belle and Sebastian. Both artists have a very vintage style, Johnny and Jenny generally have a 50's rock&roll style whereas Belle & Sebastian's style is more 60's. Their style's differ slightly in the sense that Jenny and Johnny always look quite casual and slightly scruffy wheras Belle and Sebastian usually look very smart and neat which I think is because they are aimed at a slightly older market than Jenny and Johnny.
In this picture you can see that Belle and Sebastian all have a smart, 60's style image, all matching and wearing similar colours.
In this picture you can see that Jenny and Johnny have a matching vintage style and they both have their names and band symbol on their jackets which shows that their image is important to the way they are marketed.
Jenny and Johnny have only been a band for a year. Prior to that they both had solo projects and Jenny was part of a band called Rilo Kiley.
Rilo Kiley - The Moneymaker Music Video
When Jenny Lewis was with the band Rilo Kiley I think her image was quite different to how it is now that she is part of Jenny & Johnny. As you can see in the pictureabove her style seemed to have more of a 70's influence. Clearly she is still in keeping with the vintage theme but she has taken her style from a different era.
As you can see in the images above Jenny Lewis's image changed alot during her time as a solo artist which seems to suggest that she was experimenting with it alot and trying to find a look that suited her and her music best.
However, during his solo project Johnathan Rice's image seems to have remained fairly consistent. He seems to have had quite a folk image with the long hair and check shirts and always looks very casual, as if he hasn't really given much thought to what he is wearing.
Then, after forming Jenny&Johnny together both Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice's images changed to the matching 50's vintage style that their fans recoginse them by today.
As I have previously stated Jenny&Johnny don't actually have a music video yet but I have been looking at music videos from similar artists and from Jenny Lewis and Johnathan Rice's previous musical projects to get an idea of what kind of generic conventions are evident in music video's for their style of music. These usual include both an element of performance and narrative in the video and quite often (though not always) the narrative is centered around some form of alternative lover story. This can seen in the video below from Jenny Lewis's former band Rilo Kiley.
Music videos by Alternative bands usually feature the theme of rebellion and often center around people who live an alternative lifestyle to the societal norm. This theme often features things along the lines of sex, drugs and rock&roll. This theme can be seen in another of Rilo Kiley's video which features porn stars.
More conventions of alternative music video's are hand held/home video style camera shots, unexpected camera angles and low-key natural lighting. All of these things can be seen in the video below from Johnathan Rice's solo project.
Below is a review I found on Amazon of Jenny & Johnny's debut album "I'm Having Fun Now" from the BBC.
Review
When will the law of diminishing returns kick in for Jenny Lewis? Since Rilo Kiley’s 2004 breakthrough More Adventurous, we’ve had their equally inspired Under the Blacklight album, two superb and varied solo records (Rabbit Fur Coat and Acid Tongue) and now this collaboration with boyfriend Johnathan Rice (whose own folk-troubadour career seems on permanent hold). I’m Having Fun Now is probably Lewis’ most streamlined, pop-centric album, but if the title indicates something throwaway, that’s not Lewis’ style. She can effortlessly turn out cookie-cutter and bubblegum-pretty pop but always with cunning, narrative smarts and a darker underbelly to even her most purring delivery. Ask Elvis Costello, who was so inspired by working with Jenny and Johnny on Carpetbaggers that he enlisted them and their Acid Tongue band to help make 2008’s Momofuku, his most liberated album in years. In any case, this is pop cut from the same cloth as Fleetwood Mac, and with the taut jangling style of early R.E.M. Production-wise, it’s definitely Mac-glossy, but tunes this good sometimes find their natural home. The album was recorded in Nebraska (she’s big buddies with Bright Eyes) during the worst Midwestern winter in 150 years (the front door of their guest house actually froze shut) but it radiates Californian sunshine – even when Lewis is lamenting her home state’s economic demise, as on Big Wave. But it’s Rice who kicks off the album with Scissor Runner, another gorgeous jangler that will seduce all fans of Byrds-descended jangle.
Rice also fronts a more sombre Switchblade. The intro, "it’s been one long year of Saturday nights in the city of a sleeping sun," draws you into a tale of despair as Lewis coos, "see you on the way up" while Rice sighs, "on the way down." If the couple’s love life resembles their vocals, they’re clearly having fun. They take turns, duet and dovetail so well, you can’t imagine they’ll ever break up. The just plain gorgeous New Yorker Cartoon is their harmonising high, run close by Just Like Zeus, another blast of UV rays that won’t damage your health.
I’m Having Fun Now hasn’t the range and tension of the best Lewis records (a few more twists like Rice’s unexpected Lou Reed-ish swagger on Committed would have been good). But if you’re California dreamin’ on such a winter’s day, this is a blast. Forget She & Him; Jenny and Johnny are alt-pop’s hot, fun couple.
--Martin Aston
As you can see in the video below we pitched our music video to the group last friday. Unfortunately Bronwyn was unable to attend as she was on a college trip to Finland. However, she did work on the powerpoint presentation with us beforehand. When creating the presentation we split the slides up so that each group member did an equal ammount and we all worked very hard on making our slides look pretty and enlightened! But typically when we all emailed our individual slides to my home email to be put together onto one powerpoint the technology had other ideas but, long story short, after much stress and a last minute scramble we managed to get the presentation ready on time for tuesdays deadline. As it turned out we didn't have to do our presentation until Fridays lesson which gave us slightly more time to prepare ourselves. We were very nervous about pitching our idea to the group but overall we felt the pitch didn't go too badly although we were worried that we didn't give a clear enough description of our idea so we explained it in a little more detail after the group had discussed our idea. We recieved some feedback on both our pitch and our idea as a whole which we will be posting to the blog shortly. See you soon! :) Beth
The album cover for Jenny & Johnny's album "I'm Having Fun Now" shows Jenny and Johnny in their usual vintage style with their old station wagon in the background on what seems to be country road in America which fits in with their very "All american" style. They are also lying very close together which shows how they are usually marketed on their personal relationship, not just the fact that they are in a band together. 
Review