The finnished music video!

After putting our video on you tube, we got feedback from the artist (David Pottts). he left us a 5 star rating and the comment: 'Thanks lads and lasses! Really good... I'm honoured. Pottsy'.

we are very pleased with our final video.

Work Experience

While on the work experience I had in london at Blue Post Productions, I learnt of the many programmes that work together to make footage ready for broadcasting. I experienced working on the decks and watching as people in the 'smoke' rooms and the 'nitris' rooms would call the people on the decks (a huge room filled with a computer called the matrix) and then they would either change the format of footage or send footage up to the clients in the other rooms. I learnt about the legal requirements of footage, specifically how gamma can affect epileptic people. I watched how the professionals match the colours of footage that has been taken from different cameras, as they adjust the lighting and colours on screen. I went into the sound studios and watched the voice over people being recorded for adverts as they read the script into the microphone and it was mixed to fit with the images on screen. There were people working on channel 'Dave', a 'Nelly' music video, MTV projects, 'Fantasy Homes', and other such projects. I had a go on another editing programme called Avid, this is either used instead of final cut pro or along side it. The sections of the building were divided into online and off line. Online means working with footage that is 1:1 quality (broadcasting full quality) and the off line worked with low quality ( 15:1) and then edited it so that the computer would memorize the editing, and then find only the footage required, at a later date as it imports it. Not only could the editing be saved, but the footage, and the time lines. The time lines were always started at 10:00:00 for broadcasting, and this meant that with their half-a-frame accurate equipment they can use logs or the timescale to find specific footage.

Below: Blue Post Productions in London





Natalie Palmer

artist permission form

I have messaged the artist who made our track, he now has the address to send the permission form to, we are currently waiting for a reply from him. Our video will be sent off to the BBC in afew days.

Ben Smith

Expert Advice

Having been through the music video with a proffesional in the industry, he helped to give us ideas for improvements and enjoyed our relation to the pop genre and the colour use. he suggested that the fade outs to black were a little sudden and shocked the reader as they were quite random compared with the rest of the editing. he also suggested to expand our cut away scenes as they would help to link the narrative and the performance.

with new ideas in mind we went through out video again and wrote a list of improvements and we also want to take a step back and try outr some of our original ideas.

List of improvements:
the first layer effect needs a smoother fade out.
get rid of the fades to black
crosss fade the paper effects
put more cut away scenes where the current special montages are
the effects need smother fades
fade the keyboardist out befor the eyes are superimposed
dissolve the spinning shot to the kiss

test out our original idea of fish eye on the band
try out the use of our other special effects including the use of honey and acrylics, used in the test shots.

Natalie Palmer

Responses to the rough cut

The comments were divided into two sections:

Strengths

good editing
video layout was good (colours are bright)
good body language from characters in the video
effects were just right -suited the genre
good performance
nice use of colours
good camera angles and shots
good effects
good angles of the band playing
nice colours in background

Weaknesses

too many similar shots-drags a little bit
drags a little
rather repetitive
rando girl doesnt really fit
random shots
where is the bass?
the girl and boy seem a bit random

overall these comments are hard to direct our improvements towards, we already thought the cut away scenes were abit of a gamble, as we mainly used them to cover up the introduction of the harmonica. we need to think carefuly about how we can relate the cut aways to the music and make the whole song fit. the next step is to get advice from an expert.

Natalie Palmer

Rough Cut

Contact with the artist!

i have recently emailed and had further contact with David Potts the artist who created our track, this is what was said:

hey there, i think u already got a mesaage from one of us but were doing this lil' music video for u at our college, anyways just wanna say roll up is a blindng song! Have you heard of "the get up kids" or "new amsterdams" by any chance your voice sounds alot like there singer.
anyways your drummers making it nice and hard for me (good thing), keep writing kool music!

all the best Ben x

he said:

Cheers Ben

I played drums on that one! Thanks for the kind words. Will check out these bands you've mentioned. Ta. Pottsy

i also replied back to him regarding the BBC:


Get your Music Videos on BBC 2 with BBC Blast!

BBC Blast want your music videos for a programme running on BBC2 showcasing student work. You will need to get consent from all people involved in the project and also consent from the Artist that you are using for your video. To get your work submitted you will have to fill out these forms... GIVE YOUR FILLED OUT FORMS TO TANYA JONES IN
THE MEDIA OFFICE


Hey David,

Today i found out that the BBC are looking for example media studies projects, this means our finnished music video has a chance of being shown on the BBC for purely educational purposes. My teacher has said to ask you if it was ok to use your song (which will have both your name and the song name). If yes we need to send you a form confirming you allow us to use your song.

Please could you get back to us with your decision asap!

Thanks alot Ben x

He then said back:

Of course Ben! Use it and send me the forms. No problem.

David

Another music video

I chose to look at this music video in order to remind myself, that the ideas that we have come up with can be added to or changed, and that we can still research new techniques and learn from what we see before the filming process.

Below: this is 'clocks' by 'coldplay' which focuses on the use of colour, light and shadow, three main elements that have been considered throughout the planning of our own music video.

The opening starts with the silhouette of a piano, and player as blue rays of light pic out their outlines. this makes it effective because already the viewer wants to know who the person is. this is then drawn out by the entrance of the band, although the viewer can see them, their faces aren't very clear and it isn't until the actual singing that a close up shot is shown of a face.



The video continues playing with light effects and special angles (for example the silhouette of the singer which is defined by a ray of blue light down one side of him) and also adds in the use of smoke. the positioning of the singer and musicians is also very important. sometimes the singer is center of the frame, and sometimes he is placed to one side. one specific shot is where the singer is facing to the left, and also placed on the left of the screen. this adds interest and variety to the use of negative space within each shot.

The whole video is just of the performance, but because the lighting is so varied and the angles so different, it still captivates the audience. the use of colour is also recognized when the blue turns to yellows and greens, reflecting hos the tone and mood of the music has changed. we must not forget to reflect the mood of the song through the video that we produce.

Natalie Palmer

feedback on animatic

Really good stuff- very clear how it will progress, good pace. Keep pushing on and really aim to extend yourselves with this video. It can be great!

pete

Feedback

'yes,good continuity, some decnt shots-for animatic.'
'making some scenes making it clearer would improve it'
'good shot variation, pace and effects'
'good shots particuary liked the shots where the singer is close and the other musicians ae further away, good pace.'
'nice dynamics shots, good pics, nice editing and split screen.'
'good drawings, although no body parts. good idea. eyes=good.'

Our response:
the feedback we got is very encouraging, it seems to be entertaining the audience already, even though it is just an animatic. hopefully the storyline will become clearer with the use of moving image, and colour.

Natalie, Hannah Ben

General explanation of the animatic

The animation below shows how our ideas have come together so far, althouh all shots are not drawn, it gives us a good idea of the cut away shots and how they fit with the live band performance shots, as well as the lyrics. the animation deosnt show the use of colours, but it does show the use of time and how that should effect our editing. we havent finnished to the end of the song, but we plan to use the walk to conclude in the meeting of two people. Rounding of a generally good day. "Back to the roots, get your wellies on and sit under a tree and shout fuck off to the world. Enjoy life." this is a quote from the artist himself, which has inspired all our work so far.

Natalie, Hannah, Ben

Our Animation

Reminder for Natalie:

-suggest the use of glitter ball
-ask about flashing lights(from Lloyd)
-use the glass distortion idea(explain to group)

Natalie

Equipment and Props

Equipment people responsible...


Ben:
3x amplifiers
1x acoustic guitar
1x electric guitar
1x whole drum kit
1x keyboard
1x mic stand and mic
leeds
Hannah:
white sheets
glow sticks
Nat:
cut up paper
college:
swively chair
camera


Locations..
media filming room (white room)
media filming room (green room)
media filming room (black room)
college field (trees in background)
parkers peice? (dissapearing tree shot, along path shot)


for clothing we are planning on wairing smart casual whair for example checked shirts bangles and other colourful clothing items to make us stand out form the background colours of the room.
we are also planning on using the sheets for the paper drop shot to save time on clearing the paper up afterwards.


Ben Smith

Date set for filming band

Friday 28th of September, time: 1:55


Natalie Palmer

The Visual Influences of our Music Video

above: this is just one idea that we had to perceive the idea of gravity, trying to link visual images to the lyrics.



above: the fish eye technique is demonstrated here as it distorts what the audience sees.



above: i love this video because of its use of colour and it has always been a main influence in the back of my mind which is why i looked it up and put on here for you to see. this footage also includes how they made it happen, and shows how far some directors will go to get the effect they want. although we wont be bouncing a million bouncy balls down a street, we can still pick up on the idea that colour can be moving on the screen.



above: continuing on the visually entertaining theme, these editing effects are mind blowing to watch, they also link with the idea of distortion.



above: this video shows how complicated some effects are and the amount of time that goes in to developing ideas for effects. i like the idea of using colour rods and this isn't the first footage i have seen using glowing rods. an idea here would be to use glowing rods as the drummer's sticks, this incorporates the idea of using colour, and light contrasting with dark.



above: this video although homemade, reminds us that there are many techniques to be made without spending millions of pounds. there is a very quick shot that shows the boy in blue standing in a doorway, while he is in colour, the rest of the house is in black and white. this is where i got the idea for the video experimentation i uploaded on here earlier.



above: the ipod advert is very famous for its use of block bold colour backgrounds. i love this footage because it seems so visually simple, barely more than three colours on screen at one time, but is actually very complex in its making. the ipod itself has been coloured white in contrast with the black figure, making it the main focus point on the screen

Natalie Palmer

A Music Video Analysis

Lindy
The stands: ‘Do it like you like’

This video uses black and white as a theme to portray the boy band genre which the video entails. I chose this video to analyse because of its artistic compilations of the band. Although an audience may presume that watching a band for such a long time would be boring, this video shows that using interesting filming techniques and effects can add enough interest to captivate the viewer. This included the kaleidoscope effect, where the image of the artist is repeated within the same shot and layered.







To use the black and white means that silhouettes and light sources can create dynamic contrasts on screen. The opening uses a light source at the bottom right as the band walks towards their instruments. I like this because it hides the identity of the band and leaves the audience wanting to know what is going to happen and who the band members are. Shadows are used specifically behind the singer as the band can be seen moving behind him.

The lyrics talk about it being ‘tonight’ which can link to the dark setting where the band is playing. As well as lip syncing there is also interestingly angled shots of the instruments, which would also have to be synced in beat with the track.

The shots of the band become clearer as at the beginning most shots are distanced from the band, but as the song progresses the instruments and singer come into the foreground of the shots, and the audience can finally see who has been playing the music.

Finally it is clear that the editing has been based around the beat of the song, and the layering of voices particularly towards the end of the music video. Overall this video is successful because of its visually entertaining shots and the use of composition within each shot.

Natalie Palmer

The Week Plan

10-16th September:
-The Pitch
-finnish drawing story board
-upload visual influences
-upload one music video each and write about it

17-23rd September:
-Anamatic
-Planning prop
-Organise filming dates

24-30rd September:
-Start filming (even if just for testing) start experimenting with use of artistic shots
-arrange the band filming
-start editing any footage already accumilated

Natalie Palmer, Hannah Bresnen, Ben Smith

The Pitch

The overall video is based on the email we got from the artist telling us that the song was written just after the 9/11 crashes. he wanted to basically show that there is still a happy side of life even if bad things happen. using this as our basis we decided to keep the video bright with different portrayals of colour. we didn't want to make the video too complicated by adding a storyline, but at the same time we still want to add interest. finally we decided to focus on a character walking through a good day used as the cut away scenes. this leaves us to create imaginative effects that can either reflect the lyrics or just be portraying video effects. these ideas will be included either in the background of shots, with subtle links to the lyrics, or we have shots where the character themselves has something happen to them; for example we shall use a shot including two trees and the character shall walk behind the first one and then appear walking from behind the second tree. this leaves a gap where the audience presumed they would see the character between the two trees.

we want to make the video very artistic to create interesting visual effects, and we have a lot of leeway to make the band perceived from different points of view. one method which we have found in other music videos is the use of a fish eye lense. we can then play with light and refraction, and also link the distortion of the images on screen to become a metaphor for how life can become very distorted (links to everything seeming so bad, but when you step back you see that good things do still happen).

we shall use a variety of shots included hand held swooping shots and also close ups of features like eyes or feet. as the character finally reaches their destination, the song is almost concluded. the character embraces their partner in a hug (not too cheesy, but just gives a sense of love existing and being a good thing). the last few shots of the song include a close up of the guitar string that has played the last note, and a wide angle shot of the whole band as they stand in the echo of the song, and fade away.

Natalie Palmer

The Get Up Kids - The One You Want


we might use the spinning camera idea in our own video, we also like the idea of swapping charictors, or in our case band members in the video.






I Was A Cub Scout- "Our Smallest Adventures"


from this idea we are going to experiment with the idea of maybe attaching glowsticks my drum sticks, i think it again would play with the idea of vibrant eye-catching colours.


Ben Smith

An overview of our ideas so far

The video is going to be focused around the band, the use of a fish eye lense will add variety to these shots. the cut away will link to a character walking along, past images and interesting effects that line to either the lyrics or to carry the journey on, to make it interesting.

Natalie Palmer

Test Shots

Below: This video was made to show that we understand the logistics behind a green screen, and to try it out.



Below: This clip shows experiments with backgrounds i have tried. this involved using acrylic paint and honey, and an asoortement of solutions filmed close up.



Below: This shows some more close up exepriments focusing on colour and auror of the images.



Below: this is an experiment to show how the use of colour over a black and white location is very effective.



All these videos where made at home.

Natalie Palmer

more videos

taking back sunday-"makedamsure"


we like the ideas that are encoperated in this video, especaly the idea of merging the cut away/alternative shots with the band performing. we think that this will make our cut away shots seem more involved with the performance in our video, rather than them being seperated.





(+44) "when your heart stops beating"

in this video we like the idea of the moving shots (camera moving arround the performing band), we think that it will provide the viewer with unusual angle performance shots. we also like the idea at 2.04 where the camera is zooming (in time with the song) and the instraments constanly moving position.

Ben Smith

Email from the artist himself

Hi Hannah, well I'm flattered you're using it, thanks.

It was written a while back just after 9/11, holy war an all that. It's all about escapism really. There's a song by Macca called 'Heart Of The Country' and it was a little influenced by that emabracing of nature. Back to the roots, get your wellies on and sit under a tree and shout fuck off to the world. Enjoy life.

Hope that helps?

Pottsy

Hannah Bresnen

Teacher comments

You need each post to be dated separately- check your spellings !

great ideas so far- keep it going

MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT 2007/8

Welcome to our blog.

aims: to blog your pitch to such a position that you acan actually tell us about it, put anything else on the blog that you want to give you a start, all videos and images and ideas.

below are some brainstrming idea that we have collected over the interenet that will inspireus in our work.



above: this is a video (artist: the get up kids, song: action and action) that we have found that encorporates the ideas of having bright colours and high angle shots of the band performing. also the cuts to another scene are along the lones of what we are hoping to achieve.



above: this video (artist: red hot chili peppers, song: Zepher song) uses bright colours and interesting effects using superimposition and the split screen to create artistic backgrounds and a focus point for the viewer.

Our music video

artist: David Potts
song: roll up
style: pop/indie/rock

first impressions:
whe we first heard the song we imagined a band playing in a small room with bright colours as a feature of the music video. after discussing this idea together we came up with the following ideas:

-high angle shots
-track and zoom
-fish eye effect
-neutral or bright colours
-experimenting with alternative lenses (i.e. very artistic ideas like filming through bubbles or water)
-messing with light and shadow and the images of light refractig through water
-performance based with cuts to other shots
-the use of music and the beat of the rhythm affecting the editing pace and the cuts away to change the subject
-montages may also be a good effect to add interest, this is particuarlly important if we are not going to have a main storyline throughout the video.

although these ideas are good, we want the lyrics to affect the images on screen.

lyrics:
sometimes i cant resist
a flying fist
however much i try
to believe in a better place
a nicer face free from all man kind
get short in a hole in one
this better sore
that longs to be set free
everyone in their own space

chorus:
their own place
is how it has to be
so get away to the coutry
another day at a time
find yourself at the foot of a mountain
were you can get a little bit high
everyone is giving the answers
to questions i dont even ask
well i dont want to play your game anymore
where everythng is catching up fast
you may find it easier to see
i sleep when i am at peace

somtimes this gravity is killing me
im forever feeling down
who cares if i disappear
ths atmosphere ties me to the ground
escape this lack of plae whithout a trace
feet beyond believe

chorus:
their own place
is how it has to be
so get away to the coutry
another day at a time
find yourself at the foot of a mountain
were you can get a little bit high
everyone is giving the answers
to questions i dont even ask
well i dont want to play your game anymore
where everythng is catching up fast
you may find it easier to see
i sleep when i am at peace

lines that are significant to the image on screen:
'sometimes this gravty is killing me'
inspires images such as the on below, an ephos of peace and calm, which is also reffered to in the song; 'i sleep when i am at peace'







this is the myspace site for the artist of the song:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=118545202

Natalie Palmer, Hannah Bresnen, Ben Smith