Adam, Joe, Will. the best.

(Appendix 29)

2009-02-09T01:53:00.000-08:00

The majority of our editing was spread out over a duration of 2 weeks. All members of the team contributed to the development and production with utmost care and passionate detail.

Club Shoot 29/1/09 (Appendix 28)

2009-02-02T07:19:00.001-08:00

We shot at our second intended location on Thursday 29th January 2009.
We chose to shoot at a friend forthcoming 18th birthday party at El Mono club in Tunbridge Wells. We managed to get all of our intended story boarded shots and were very happy with the end result.
Filming could commence at 10pm that evening as this is when the party started. However for our desired effect, we needed to wait until the club filled up. This took some time as they were only allowing three people to enter at a time, creating an enormous queue and making us wait.
We were able to improvise and take filler shots. Myself as the lead was filmed getting a beer, drinking, aknowledging people and dancing withing a crowd. We got some fantastic crowd shots with the clubs lights adding an awesome ambient feel and constructing an authentic level of verisimilitude.
The money shot had to be the bouncer's exeptionally helpful co-operation and comprehensive acting skills. He agreed to get me (the lead) into an immobilising lock *which they use on a daily basis for unco-oporational customers that must be removed*, removing me from the club, down the stairs and disposing of me from the area via a light shove. This how ever did not go to plan the first time, as Joe was too close to the action and he missed me being thrown out. This worked out very well however as this gave us an opportunity to get a medium long shot of me being pushed to the floor.
The night, all in all was a great success for our shoot. Our friend also had a great birthday.
For now, until we edit. This seems to be our shooting phase finished. There is enough time however to film any more filer shots if we need to.

London Shoot 18.1.09 (Appendix 27)

2009-01-22T03:05:00.000-08:00

We travelled up to London on the Sunday last week. Despite initial problems for Adam and Joe not being able to catch a train from Tunbridge Wells due to engineering works at the station. I was on time and was able to catch a bus to Tonbridge and Will would catch that train from Sevenoaks. Due to the unexpected problems, Joe would meet us there as he missed the Bus and would have to wait 45 minutes for the next one.

At that time Joe arrived, it was around mid-day, we planned to begin filming at around dusk (4:30-5:00)
Walking to reccied destinations, to confirm the suitability of each one. We then reconvened to a different destiantion until our allotted time to film arrived.
4:30 came around so we proceeded to our first location : Bedford Court and then filmed on May's Court both small roads and well lit alleys near Covent garden.
We then went back toward The Strand and Durham House Street where we shot our stair sequence leading to the chase. The Chase commences through this road, onto John Adam Street and then onto York Buildings. From there we stumbled across an underground road leading onto Watergate Walk behind the Savoy Hotel. We shot a running scene using the scaffolding connected to the Savoy's rear entrance. We then stopped filming in the quiet back roads, and walked a short distance to the Victoria Embankment. Joe pitched up with the Camera and tri-pod at the Savoy Pier near the War Memorial to film Will and I running across the bridge adjacent to the London Eye.
Once that sequence was completed, we walked to get the train on the path connecting the bridge to Charing Cross Station. There was a small corridor that seemed perfect as a location, we decided to film there for an additional option insert into our chase.
After this we were finished...we got on the train and watched what we had spend the past 3 hours flming.

Sunday 18th of January (Appendix 26)

2009-01-15T02:58:00.000-08:00

We plan to go to London on the 18th of January to start the first shoot for our music video, we hope to film in the early evening so that its quite dark

Planning The Shoot (Appendix 25)

2009-01-15T01:45:00.000-08:00

We plan to make our first shoot date on the 18th of January 2008. We will be able to film the majority of our video, taking a train up to London and filming 90% of the chase sequences. Do to some unforseen circumstances, my car is currently unavailable so we will have to use a friends car, and film the car shots in and aroud the Tunbridge Wells suburbs.
Over the past few lessons, we have done a prcatice shoot and mocked up a chase scenario in and around school. We have learnt different techniques and seen what works and a team as apposed to what doesnt. We have some serious strengths as a group and we bounce off of each others ideas, adapting and compremising with nearly every shot.
The First Shoot is planned. (This sunday coming) we will keep posted on what happens...

PLanning The First Shoot (Appendix 24)

2009-01-08T04:28:00.000-08:00

Animatics (Appendix 23)

2009-01-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

For our next stage of group planning, we are filming our animatics to give us an idea of the timescale and the shots we are using with the correct timings. Our story boards have been drawn up and we are filming each still that is drawn in each box. Ten seconds worth of footage is taken per shot. This is done so that we can capture them into premiere elements and manipulate them due to the length of shot that we require in the actual video. We are effectively pre filming our music video with a cartoon/stickfigures. This is an important part of our planning procedure as it is a far more visual manner and we can ut it down on paper rather than having our plans purely in our heads. This too aids in a more consensual view shared between the three people in this group. It's helping our planning as we will be able to see our still plans in a more complex and dynamic format after it has been captured on elements. We will then be able to lay our track underneath the images and give us a true feel for the additional gaps that need to be filled and hopefully any problems that come to light will be easily fixed.

Animatic Process (Appendix 22)

2009-01-05T02:05:00.000-08:00

Feedback #3

2008-11-30T09:44:00.000-08:00

Guys,

I am concerned about your planning grades so far. At the moment there are a number of gaps on this blog. You don't seem to be taking the deadlines very seriously and your analysis are still a little brief.

You need to seriously consider the grade you are aiming for in this unit and invest some time in improving your entries. I will review your current grade for the research element of planning as of level 3 (C/B) for planning ONCE more. All gaps need to be complete by the time you do your pitch.

Last chance to improve.

Textual Analysis,Chemical Brother Believe. (Appendix 21)

2008-11-28T01:55:00.000-08:00

What have you learnt from this exercise?
Having analysed a narrative based music video which is the style of music video we intend to create, it has given me an insight into how a music video of this nature needs to be made, i can see in detail the type of shots needed to be used as well as being able to see how music is incorparated to match the track, it will make it much easy when coming to create our own music video, because we will be aware of the basic structure needed.

How long are the shots?
Most of the shots are between onw and three second shots, which consist of alot of detail, this helps to create an effective and believeable narrative.

How are they cut?
Most of the shots are very quick cuts from scene to scene showing the enviroment of which the video is shot in detail as well as giving the viewer a real insight into the video and helping them to be able to understand it in detail.

What shot size is predominantly used?
The main shot size within the video was Medium Close Ups, this allowed to give the main characters constant emotions, therefore alligning the viewer within as well as alos making it apparaent the goings on of the other charcters within the video and the background enviroment.

How does the camera move?
The canera rarely moves within the video it mainly showed static shots of the enviroment and the happenings of the video, when moving cams were used in tended to be a steady cam showing POV of the Man.

Are there any long static shots?
There are no long static shots the longest being about four seconds, this helps to create a detailed narrative, and really helps to bring the viewer into the narrative.

Relationship with lyrics/music?
The music throughout the song is linked towards the narrative, while changing the tempo and beat to match the masn emotions the subconsiously links the viewer towards the man, and therefore reinforces the narrative.

How is the narrative constructed?
The narrative is constructed by having many deatilied shots and it slowly builds up to the chase scene being man and machine, the music also helps add to the narrative as it is linked to the shots.

Are any types of performance shots repeated?

What will you now use from this when planning your own work?
When planning i will be able to use the ideas of how the shots should be and how to build up the narrativefor the planning of my music video.

Geering's Technical Analysis Evaluation of Teardrop (Appendix 20)

2008-11-28T01:46:00.000-08:00

What have you learnt from this exercise?
I have learned that there are many different shots in a music video, more than expected. There are filler shots when required, for instance if there is no vocals or there is a drop in the music.
How long are the shots?
The shots vary in length depending on the desired effect from the director. The are some quick cut shots which last less than a second and some shots that can last up to 22 seconds. Each different shot has something to establish. Whether it is anchoring a beat in the music or it is showing the audience some lip syncing.
How are they cut?
There tends to be just straight cuts, although in the video i analysed there were some fades too. Howwever this is due to the dark setting and is relevant to the type of video we aim to shoot.
What shot size is predominantly used?
Close ups, be it extreme close-ups, medium close-ups or normal close-ups themselves, they are predominantly used. Yet for our video, we hope to do a sort of chase sequence where we will need to mix both establishing shots with reaction shots.
How does the camera move?
The camera mopvements arevery smooth which suits the song's tempo and rythmn. So again our will differ due to its fast paced beat and its drops in rythmn.
Are there any long static shots?
Yes, reaction shots are used combined with ECU's and when the foetus is 'singing' along with the track there are some long static shots. One 22 second shot at the end, one ten second static shot in the middle and a few 3 and 5 second static shots around the track as a whole.
Relationship with lyrics/music?
The foetus mimics / sings along withthe track in a lip sync-like manner.
How is the narrative constructed?
The fller shots of the uterus establish that the foetus is in a womb. Whilst this can all be inferred via ideological discourse that the foetus is being sung to by it's carrying mother.
Are any types of performance shots repeated?
No, although some shots are similar, there are alot of different angle of the foetus, giving the feeling that it is suspaneded in the 'weightless floatation' that is provided by the amniotic fluid.
What will you now use from this when planning your own work?
The fades are a brilliant idea in a darkened situation as they look vastly more subtle and help the narrative flow far more easily. The mixture of shots we will have to use has also come to light during this analysis. Our track has slow moments and fast paced drops in music, so we will have to uses shots accordingly.

Focus Group Results (Appendix 19)

2008-11-25T05:42:00.000-08:00

We played our focus group our chosen track, and got them to write down anything that came into their heads related to the track.
- night time, street lighting was one response....
- another came up with 'the great binge' which we found quite interesting. So, we researched it.
'It is a term used by historians to describe a period from 1870 to 1914 when drugs were developed and widely consumed, alongside strong alcholic drinks. Which without todays prohibitions would be coonsidered excessive.'
The "binge" started in the 1860s, when Absinthe became popular in Europe. After the Franco-Prussian War, most French vines were destroyed by the phylloxera epidemic, destroying the supply of wine. This created an opening for the then new and unfamiliar drink.

other responses included ;
- clubbing
- friends
- drugs / overdose / tripping out
- eary voice

settings that were not asked for but were surprisiungly given were as follows:
- city / urban backdrop at night
- a club
- ibiza / kavos / magaluf
- house party
- a sports training session
- just pitch black... this final one we felt could be quite enigmatic and found the possible setting insightful as we hadnt thought of things like and intense training session for sport.
However, with the sporting idea it would be hard to tie in the line 'under the influence' which is repeated time after time. It may work well for an energy drink advert though!

By the time we had played it a second time, and shown the participants our mood boards...it was clear that our thoughts were on the same 'wavelength' to that of the rest of our target audience.

- street racing came up (our headlight idea)
- drugs came up over and over again...the name and the repeated tag line are hard to avoid, yet we feel as a group that any drug consumption my be very subtly touched upon if we are to include it in our video.
- alcohol was another reoccuring item on people's lists.
This, we feel could be a key part of our video's narrative. Alcohol combined with our character's binge drinkin behaviour could lead to many things, aiding in the completion of a four minute video.

We then asked our participants what music videos they have seen and liked. There were a mixed bag of genres, bands and artists...

- robbie williams (Rock DJ)
- adele (chasing pavements)
- chris brown (superhuman)
- chris brown (with you)
- aerosmith (don't wanna miss a thing)
- the script (the man who cant be moved)
- kardinal ft. akon (dangerous)

we then asked each person why they liked it.

Rock Dj :
- the 360 degree camera action
- he was my favourite artist when i was younger
- it portrays alot of his personality / attitude (cheeky chappy)
- the lion pants!

Chasing Pavements :
- like nothing seen before
- quite abstract, lying and moving with the camera facing down onto the pavement
- simply a great song
- quite a hard narrative to follow *negative*

Superhuman
- "Chris Brown and Keri Hilson's chemistry"
- Emotional song
- Lighting and texture of footage, (soft lighting, high exposure)
- "He's hot" (a female participant's p.o.v!)
- "Stylish"
- Well shot (keeps audience interested, and "i'd definately watch it again")

With you
- Jenny from the block like setting..."home town"..."boy next door type thing"
- "I love the way his jumper changes colour!"
- Smooth dance moves "I think he moonwalks!?"

Don't Wanna Miss A Thing
- "Just Amazing"
- "Bits from Armegeddon are in it and it's a fave of mine"

The man who can't be moved
- "The lyrics EXACTLY match the video" (visual and audio relationship)
- its a really sad song
- "it seems really real...like the news reporters"

Dangerous
- Classic R&B blingage on show
- "The girl is buff aswell as dangerous!"
- the collaboration is clear to see within the video
- "where its set looks nice and sunny"

We found this session really informative and we learned alot about how other people, both boys and girls perceive music videos and how we can adapt or collaborated ideas as a group to tap into the zeitgeist!

Feedback #2

2008-11-23T12:32:00.001-08:00

Where is your audience research?
Deadline was Friday...

Textual Analysis #2 Goldfrapp-Happiness (Appendix 18)

2008-11-19T03:23:00.000-08:00

"Happiness" is a folktronica song performed by British duo Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's fourth album Seventh Tree (2008). It was released as the album's second single. The music video for "Happiness" was directed by Dougal Wilson. The video features a young man, dressed in a white suit, jumping for joy through his neighborhood. The video begins with Alison Goldfrapp sitting on a stoop when suddenly the young man appears from a cellar door. Goldfrapp makes additional Cameo appearances in the video as a black haired bus traveler, a police woman, a bush trimmer, and a braided flower stand keeper. Will Gregory makes similar appearances as, among others, a trash collector and a mailman. The video concludes with the cast of background characters coming together along with the young man, who then jumps in a circle with young children and a dancing dog. In the final scene, two elderly people – Goldfrapp and Gregory – arrive to join.

The video undertakes a narrative approach, visually the video is clearly set in a residential area of London, this is apparent by the culture references dotted about the video, mainly through characters and occupations; binman, policeman and women, lollipop man etc. The video appears to be one continuous shot, but when analysed closely you can see cuts as objects pan past close to the camera. Light colours are emphasised as greyer and darker objects fade in to the background. The video features a digital technique to create the effect that the music is pulsating through the street. There is subliminal advertising of Goldfrapp throughout the video as both members appear as characters, with Alison mouthing the vocals, which adds a performance, shot but different to usual performance shots. The video is theatrical and although has a narrative video it still advertises the band and song, but manages to maintain a more artistic approach and look. There is a huge amount of cultural reference within the video. The video is about happiness and is set on what in what we could consider in today’s society, a normal boring street that is mundane and dull. The video challenges the representation of britain as a society, and the man in the suit bouncing represents happiness, and as he travels he spreads the happiness to others and makes joy out of normal tasks. The video is entertaining as it features classes and iconic social groups all joining together and dancing about which makes the ideological discourse.

The video was high in the charts, and all the is generically a smaller genre of music, but is technically POP. Goldfrapp is highly established within our society so they are recognizable.

Here is the link to the music video- http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=So93Iny2HWI

Textual Analysis #1 The Chemical Brothers-Believe (Appendix 17)

2008-11-19T02:56:00.000-08:00

"Believe" was the second single from The Chemical Brothers 2005 album Push the Button. The single was released in early May 2005 and peaked at #18 in the charts.The song features BlocParty's Kele Okereke on vocals.I chose to analyse this music video because it demonstrates an outstanding portrayal of paranoia and mental breakdown. It has a classic realist narrative, and I feel that the video really does the eery track justice. The track is electronic and the majority of the framework is constructed of mechanical noises and sound effects, so this CGI robotic twist is effective linear to the track.The music video, directed by Dom and Nic, Dom and Nic is the working name of directors Nick Goffey and Dominic Hawley. Contains scenes filmed at the now defunct MG Rover Longbridge plant. It starts out with a man watching women in an exercise video dance on a window TV in a store, this image is a parody of Eric Prydz ‘Call On Me’ video which has been criticised as ‘soft porn, not an art form.’ This is intertextuality and reference to popular culture.

The video follows a man's transformation from a responsible worker at an automotive plant to a paranoid schizophrenic, collapsed in fits of laughter on a public street. The man notices a group of welding robots pointing at him as he walks by. The man later catches one of the machines at a nearby park, drinking from the industrial river. The robot acts suprised, as though caught in the midst of an illicit act. The man continues to encounter the robot throughout the video in various courses of his dull day, with emphasis on the representation of blue collar worker's despair in capitalist society. Around him, people seem not to notice the robots, nor acknowledge him as they chase the him around the city. Towards the end, the man runs to the roof of a parking garage, a robot climbs up the side of the building and corners him at the edge of the roof. Just as the robot is about to attack, it vanishes. The man descends to the street. Robots are coming toward him from every direction and manhole covers and streetlights emit comet-like tails colored in iridescent hues. The triangular-textured wall of a building in front of him flickers into the same iridescent shades, before falling apart in a cascade of colored tiles. Laughing maniacally, the man falls to the street as his hallucinations blot out his last rational view of the world around him. These visual effects are used to portray his vision of insanity and it shows how despite grasping onto his sanity he eventually lets it slip, which I believe is why the tiles slip and fall as a visual pun.

The video is primarily a chase scene and in no way follows the meta-narrative of The Chemical Brothers themselves. The video is constructed of amateur handy-cam footage and CGI to re-enact the robots. The video has a classic realist narrative which is usually avoided by artists in their videos. Usually because they want to market there music and themselves as a brand name. Although they are not marketing themselves as a brand an image is portrayed of The Chemical Brother DJ’s themselves on the wallpaper of the boss’s computer screen. The selling appeal to the brand is the video itself, it is entirely original and holds the repetitivity factor- meaning that people will watch it over again sub-consciously taking in the video, if they want to or not. The video contains a constant grey wash to represent the man’s mundane and dull lifestyle, the characterisation of everybody except the man is repetitive which connotes his repetitive job and life. The video is post-modern as it takes a stereotypical cultured view of London and incorporates overrunning of technology and challenges dominant ideological discourse on mental health. The track itself is quite famous but only primarily in British pop culture, The Chemical Brothers main appeal is their live DJ sets and concerts, consumption of a video like this would be on less diverse/specialist music channels or over the internet, for example www.youtube.com.

Here is a link to the video http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c_IkUysQASQ

Audience Research (Appendix 16)

2008-11-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

We are going to perform a qualitative based research using a focus group, consisting of 8 varied target consumers. We will play them the chosen track and then give them a set of questions to gather in their immediate thoughts and ideas.
We are holding it after an english lesson so that we can use the diverse spectrum of social groups within our class. For doing this research, we will be able to determine how our favoured target audience will want to perceive our track. This will give us a larger awareness about how our current ideas will be recieved and from this we will be able to change some ideas as well as developing them.

Adam's mood board (Appendix 15)

2008-11-18T06:03:00.001-08:00

Feedback grade #1

2008-11-18T05:26:00.001-08:00

Adam, Joe, Will
While there are some interesting videos mentioned here, there are significant gaps in your planning. Will and Adam - you are missing a textual analysis and as far as I can see, you have not gone back to improve the first ones on the basis of my comments.

While Adam and Will have posted up moodboards - I couldn't view them, Joe's is missing and there was no evaluation of ideas.

You must tidy this up, improve and post a number of entries explaining your concept so far.

Currently planning grade at level 3.

Auteur Research 2- Hype Williams (Appendix 14)

2008-11-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

Harold "Hype" Williams (born 1970 in Queens, New York) is an American music video and film director of African-American and Honduran descent. The son of working-class parents, he grew up wanting to be a painter. Williams displayed his work by tagging local billboards, storefronts, and playgrounds using HYPE as his graffiti tag. "That's probably what stimulated my interests in color," he says. "I wanted to be Basquiat or Keith Haring of the streets."

Williams is notable for creating a number of groundbreaking and successful music videos for hip hop and R&B artists such as LL Cool J ("Doin' It"), Nas ("If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)", Missy Elliott ("The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "She's a Bitch"), Busta Rhymes ("Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See") and Jay-Z ("Big Pimpin').
In 1998, he directed his first feature film, Belly.
Williams "signature style", although it is not exhibited in all videos, involves shots placed in regular widescreen ratio, while another set of shots is placed in the spaces which would normally be left blank in widescreen ratio videos. Videos that use this style include "So Sick" by Ne-Yo, "In My Hood" by Young Jeezy, "Check On It" by Beyoncé, and many others.

Even today Hype Williams continues to earn accolades from audiences, critics and industry peers for his vibrantly entertaining work in music, film, photography and advertising he has shot over 200 music videos.

Hype is an auteur of the more comercially frameworked music videos, although he holds artistic merit a lot of his videos feature performance based styles that market the artist. And reinforces meta-narratives.

Simon Henwood...Music Videos, artforms? (Appendix 13)

2008-11-13T03:12:00.000-08:00

Simon Henwood was previously more reknowned for being and artist/graphic designer, rather than a music video director. However he had done a director roles for artists such as Roisin Murphy, Imogen Heap and Badly Drawn Boy. He has though, added a world famous and incredibly popular artisit to his portfolio. Kanye West came to him for his new song ; Love Lockdown. The video adds an incredible idea to the song's meaning, the level of amlification is impressive, the stereotypical Kaye West video is started. With him in an almost trademark white outfit, as seen in touch the sky and gold digger.
Simon Henwood deals with quite abstract art. He plays with commercialism rather than conforming to it. So in terms of the question; Are Music Videos Art or Advertisements? I feel that he is a case for it being art. His artistic impressions and clear, abnormal perspective are inherent within his directed videos.

http://www.simonhenwood.com/flash/#

Mood Board 2 (Appendix 11)

2008-11-13T02:41:00.001-08:00

Mood Board (Appendix 10)

2008-11-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

Me and Joe found this in media today Will...THIS IS OUR TRACK!!! (Appendix 9)

2008-11-07T03:25:00.001-08:00

(Appendix 9)
Listen to the chemical brothers : under the influence

just been talking about what we could do with it. It could be good

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Q5j9kXT_o
^ just the track

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=L6hdTD_PM5E&feature=related
^ someone's video for it

Possible Tracks... (Appendix 8)

2008-11-07T01:52:00.000-08:00

just been looking at some songs guys, try and have a listen to some and let me know what you think

daisy lane - stereophonics - pull the pin *album*
drowning - stereophonics - pull the pin *album*
we cant rewind - feeder - echo park *album*
oxygen - feeder - echo park *album*
Just a day - feeder

none have videos

and i found a few more of the type we had discussed but i cant remember them at the moment...yeah let me know boys

(Appendix 7)

2008-11-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

Daft Punk, Around the World, 1997. (Michael Gondry)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K0HSD_i2DvA&feature=channel

Awesome song and video, great watch and beat and music i think are linked awesomely to the dancing narrative. The set of 16 characters are shown in the video and are depicted as robots, walking around a circular platform representing a vinyl record. The song is meant to be a visual representation with each charcter representing an instrument. The Androids as the voice, the rapidity of the athletes to symbolize the bass guitars ascending and descending, the femininty of the swimmers to be the high pitched keyboard, 'ichty' skeletons to serve as the guitars and the mummies to represent the drum machine. For me its excellent work of choreography how all the dancers are perfectly in time and it just flows against the music, although the music is very simple and rarely changes beat the video i think just makes the song.

The mise-en-scene of each dancer and the costumes they are wearing to reflect upon the instruments, added with the set design show how easily a great video can be created from something so simple, and how linking the music to the dancers really add to the track. Plus the flashing lights in the background are used to match colour with the beat of the song, and the phrase 'Around the World' which is repeated regulary matches to the movements of the characters as the walk around the record. the track works well as a subsidary media, by creating a really awe-inpsiring track and compels the viewer to watch more of Daft Punk's abstract style videos and songs. This track is to show how technology is progressing much like some of their other videos the including of robots, setting the video upon a huge circle depicting a vinyl record and then having the charcters represent the new instruments, shows the transition through technology from record player to CD.

Great video, and shows how well choreographed dancing can work so well against a simple beat.