Message to the Moderator

Thank you for taking the time to read my individual and group blogs. You will find my finished video, album cover and website at the top of the blog, and are also available on our group blog.

To the right are some helpful links to relevant blogs as well as a lables list. All posts here and on the group blog have lables relevant to their content.

Please enjoy all the features I have available here, dating back to initial research in october.

- Eoin Brogan, Candidate Number 3100

This blog is now CLOSED!

This blog is now officially closed!


I am already reminicing about how much fun I have had over the weeks doing this project. I have been looking forward to this since I joined media in year 10 and it has far surpassed my expectations.

I have made an awesome video, and more importantly, some great friends.

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?


Production:


Cannon 550D

The Cannon 550D is an impressive camera. Although it's designed to be a stills camera it is still able to capture very high definition film. Luckily for my group I happen to own this rather exquisite camera, and we were extremely lucky to be given Premier Pro CS5 to edit on because it's one of the few softwares that's able to handle the quality. This is a very new media technology because it films onto digital memory rather than tape. This allowed us to avoid capturing in the lengthy process we're used to and to instead copy the footage straight over. The camera was easy to handle for handheld shots and this gave us a variety of options while filming.

Lights

Strobe; 650 Watt Redhead lights; Neon Bulbs

Artificial lighting was only necessary for our performance. Natural, outdoor lighting proved to be excellent for the narrative filming, especially under the lens' of the canon.


For the performance, however, we had to use a set of 3 650 watt Readhead lights. In total we had 3 performance shoots, and although our first shoot was over-exposed, it proved to be a learning curve and the second and during the second and third shoots the equipment proved invaluable.


For the second section of our performance, we decided to use neon paint which meant that the lighting needed to change. We used 2 neon bulbs, one above the performance and another at the side. Without those bulbs the neon element would not have been possible and there would have been no progression to our performance.

Premier Pro

Premier Pro CS5 was a fantastic editing software. Having a firm knowledge of CS3 I got to grips with the latest update quickly. We used Premier Pro to edit our track. The brief stated that our video must be 3 minutes or less, and our track selection was 4 minutes 30 seconds; even though Premier Pro is primarily for editing video, it worked brilliantly for cutting down and marginally speeding up our track, so it was under 3 minutes long.

We also used Premier Pro to create a promo montage-style video for the screening of all our music videos.

Photoshop

Photoshop was used heavily throughout the construction of our video, website and album cover. The album cover template itself was presented to us in a photoshop (.psd) format, making it the essential software to use for stills editing and graphics.

We created our main band logo on Photoshop:

After making this logo the blue and black colour scheme became consistent to our branding; as did the font of our name. The smokey effect round the letters was achieved through Photoshop and was also a motif we used across our album cover and website.

See here our album cover, which was entirely constructed in Photoshop:

We used Photoshop to edit promo pictures of the band, which were then used on our album cover and website. It helped us change the tints of pictures and put effects on them which suited our cold and metallic colour scheme.

The top shot is after the editing, the bottom is beforehand.

We used Photoshop to create a poster for an event with our band and another groups band together. We thought this was a good example of synergy, and could be made possible by Photoshop.







Colour

Here is a short video demonstrating the uses of our colour correcting software:

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 was used so much in the construction of our product. Particularly Wix.com was the website we used to make our website. It is a flash based online website designer. We were the first year in our school to get to use this software, and it proved to be a fantastic way to integrate our website in with the rest of our project.



You can embed videos, pictures, hyperlinks and sound files in to your website through Wix, and it allows for high levels of visual customisation, with many buttons, effects and features available.

Research:


Web 2.0
Google street view allowed us to location scout without having to leave our homes. Using youtube for inspiration, facebook questionaires to get an idea of what our audience likes, looking at other bands websites.. The list of uses is almost endless.

Before even proposing and song and video idea, we needed to gather information and inspiration from the huge array of videos now available online, through services such as YouTube and GoogleVideo.






Evaluation:


Web 2.0
YouTube and Facebook for posting our video and receiving feedback; and the YouTube video statistics will prove interesting later on after some views have (hopefully) amassed, we will be able to see if our video is watched by the demographic for which it was intended.



Using Facebook, we also made an event for our screening, which helped to promote it.




And finally, arguably the most important new media technology we have used:


BLOGGER!


We have used Blogger across all areas of the project; it is how we present all of our work and research findings to our teachers and examinator and the overall framework of our project.



All along the way, we have used blog posts on both our individual and group blogs to log progress and to present our portfolio.

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?





What have I learnt from this?
We decided the most useful audience feedback we could recieve would be from a range of people, and the video above summarizes some of our responses.

Our target audience was 16-24 year old males, with secondary target audiences including younger males (10-16) young adults (24+) and perhaps girls aged from 10 to 24. This was picked up on by everyone we interviewed, and anyone from our target audience who watched it failed to give it less than 8 out of 10. From this I have learnt that our attempts to link to our target market, with a fully male band, male lead in the narrative and dark set up, has been fully successful.

The strong points that have been mentioned were the editing, the strong performance in both narrative and performance parts of the video and particularly the UV section at the end. This has shown me what kind of things audiences look for. They want strong visual stimuli and just mainly to be kept entertained, which we achived through a strong progression in our video.

Some negative points include that our middle section sags slightly, as we reuse the idea of my character running, being cornered, then escaping once more about three times in a row. This simply re-enforces what I've already learnt from the possitives, namely that progression is what is needed to entertain an audience.

The most unfortunate feedback which we have recieved throughout the project is the lack of focus on the UV and kiss scene at the end. This was due to time constrains and could only have been made to work better had we been allowed to use the entier track. I have learnt from this that sometimes things just don't work, through no fault on our part. However the ending is still effective and I'm still proud of it.

Evaluation Question 2

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?


Throughout this project we have had to consider how well our main product and ancillary texts brand our band through synergy.This has to be kept consistent as it is extremely important for a debut artist to build a strong identity so as to stick in the minds of the audience.

We attempted to maintain a constant theme across all texts through a similar colour scheme. The website and album cover both contain our running theme of blue. However, so does our music video. We used a software called colour on our school computers. This software allowed us to colour correct our video; to add a blue tinge to the narrative. This made our video look moody and cold, but also related it to the rest of our texts.



You may also notice the use of our logo on the front cover of the album. This was a symbol I came up with while doodling in my English book. It combines three triangles to make one in the center, much like the three members of the band. The symbol also looks quite occult, as I took inspiration from the 'pentagram' or 'never ending star.'

This logo was used repeatedly throughout the video as well. We painted it onto the backdrop and also painted it onto my chest during the UV section of the performance.

We designed our website the way all good artists do: we designed it as the base of all our operations. It is the hub of our marketing campaign. It is as interactive as possible, with the audience able to contact the band, view the video, album, latest news and see upcoming gigs. We also made a Facebook and Twitter page for our band. Our target audience is young men, and over 90% of 16-24 olds use social networking sites. By adding our band to these sites we broaden our reach and appeal to suit their needs, integrating it all together through the website.

The idea is for it to be as user friendly and integrated as possible, the end goal being for the consumer to purchase our track and / or video.

You can see here the top banner of our website. This remains at the top of the screen constantly, allowing (no matter what the audience is looking at) the viewer to have access to purchase our new album by clicking on the link and being taken to itunes. You can also always see the bands logo constantly in the top right hand corner, which feature in the music video and on the album cover, as well as their iconic typeface, which is on the front cover of the album.

As you enter the website, our track plays automatically, and there is a tab which lets you view the finished video. There is also a link to YouTube in the bottom right of the page which takes you to our video. We also wore the same costume for our promotional shoot as we did for the video, and for the shots used on the album inside cover; some cross platform marketing, this would become the image and dress style of our band.

All three texts very clearly link together just by looking at them, and each one links to the other. The album sparks interest in the band by alluding to the fact that there's more to learn, through the silhouettes and half hidden logo. The music video is open to interpretation and has glimpses of our logo. This leads audience members to want to view more of the bands work and the website satisfies that. In short, I believe all texts work highly effectively in combination.

Evaluation Question 1

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS

The media product we created is a new drum and bass band called 'The Storm.' Their debut music video release and the album cover and website promote them as well. This project required us to think about conventions of existing debut artists; then make decisions whereas to use, develop or challenge these conventions in a way which worked beneficially to our overall project.

Using Barthes Enigma Code



The main enigman in the video is present in the narrative. The narrative has been left deliberately open ended, with little explaination into Eva's character. Audience feedback gave mixed responses, which was to be expected. However, all feedback adhered to our original idea of a boy battling with his past demons and then coming to grips with them and finding peace, symbolised by the switch in power then the kiss and fading of the girl at the end. This is a convention of music videos of our genre: to include open ended narratives that let the audience interpret what really happened.

Our album cover

We took inspiration for this minimalistic colour scheme from existing drum and bass bands. Pendulum, Skrillex, Sub focus and Magnetic man to name but a few. The font is also inspired by these artists, drawing on their sci-fi feel, which stems from the electric aspect to the music.

Our website

As you can see above, our website has many similarities to pendulum's website. We have a large range of posts on the website orientated mainly around the live gigs. On the home page, the news feed and events page are as many reference to these gigs as would fit. This is because THE STORM, like many drum and bass artists, is all about the music. The website also stays true to the branding of THE STORM, with the colour scheme, choice of photos and use of the logo. This is a very common convention of all music artists as it keeps the band in the audiences mind.

Website sign off

Our Website, made on Wix.com

This marks the final section of our production complete. After problems with wix and a very long time making this website, it's such a relief to see all of our work complete together.

Album cover sign off

Our album cover has now been signed off too.

The inside cover of our album

The back of our album cover

The front of our album cover

The front cover doesn't include a picture of us, following the conventions of drum and bass albums. It does however have our shade of blue that we've used throughout the website. The logo is also used as a form of branding.


The inside has a progression of us, leading from me back to George. It took a lot of editing to get all the shots looking the same as they all had different lighting. However, the end result looks fantastic.


The back includes titles which took a lot of thought. It also contains the shade of blue that's included across our products and a picture that's used on the background of our website.

Video sign off!

Today we got the news we'd all been waiting for!


OUR VIDEO HAS BEEN SIGNED OFF


Although there is still work to be done on our blogs, website and album cover, it is still so thrilling to see our music video in its completed form.


The editing process has been so smooth. With three members of a group, any issue could be resolved with a simple 'majority rule.' This meant that all decisions were well split between us and we all managed to pitch in an equal amount. It has been so much fun working on this video and I'm extremely excited to get feedback on what people think.

Our Final Shoot!

Last night was our final shoot- the UV section of our performance.
As we knew this is going to be the best bit of our video we totally went for it. We had Olivia Murphy, an art student at Latymer, who came and covered us in the paint. We are so grateful for her help and we think the finished stuff looks really awesome.


We put different symbols on all of us. As the lead singer I had the bands logo on my chest. George had a very impressive tree travelling across him and Robbie had some of the runes on his face.


This is it. No more shooting. In many ways it's sad but at the same time, I'm highly excited to finally get a look at the finished result!

Final 2 narrative shoots

We spent the last two days shooting the final sections of our narrative.


Wednesday was a day of inspiration; we simply grabbed a camera, got in to costume and wondered around Edmonton looking for locations which would make for cool shots. The area around school is quite grungy looking; a large estate provided some great locations for us to use. Once again, we used our tried and true method of blocking it out, then shooting every possible angle repeatedly until we were totally satisfied! I'm really getting in to this role now; high levels of emotion are constantly required and being very scared at a creepy looking Eva is now becoming part of my daily routine!


It was very easy to put this together, filming this was very casual and because of how relaxed we can all be together now.


Thursday was a much more structured shoot; we had a full storyboard as this was the climactic fight scene in our video and so needed to be safely choreographed. It went really well; the location was near Robbie's house and looked great.


Filming like this was quick and effective, however a few of the shots we got had a tripod in the background. This means that in post there will be less shots to choose in editing.

Performance shoot reflections

Our first performance shoot, though we have some footage that we can use from it, the footage was all over exposed due to our inexperience with lighting. Here is a video demonstrating this effect:



We managed to get most, if not all of the shots we wanted. We didn't have much of a timetable but we did have a shot list which we followed as well as we possibly could. The shots we did get are beautiful, they are all usable, but naturally we will only use the best shots we have. 


From a performer's perspective it was quite difficult to get into the flow of things. I had to shout, play guitar, while remembering lyrics and dancing around. I felt like a bit of a fool at first but after a while it felt like we were all getting into it. I feel like I messed up a few takes, however in editing things like that can be taken care of.


Editing this with the footage we already have will be very exciting, it will really give us a feel of how well the video will come together. I'm really looking forward to this process.

Relocation

We have decided, as a group, that it will be best to fully focus our efforts on making our group blog look it's best.


As such, my individual blog may be somewhat lacking in posts for the next few weeks. We decided that for every bit of paperwork and inspiration we may find, instead of posting it on our individual blogs (and then the other members having to replicate that), it would be better to post most stuff on the group blog and to share our work evenly between us. We are all really good friends and have no problem in splitting the work load between us; not one of us has done any more than the others so claiming work individually seems unnecessary and overly time consuming when we could maintain a constant, strong group portfolio on our group blog.


Find the link to our group blog on the right hand side with my other links.


I will post some reflections on shoots and other personal notes on here, and the posts will pick up again around the time of our evaluation in mid-December.

Walthamstow shoots

Today and yesterday were spent in Walthamstow shooting the chase sequence. We were very near to Eva's house and that meant that the shoot day was very easy to work with. We got some very effective footage and I'm very happy with everything we shot.

The key shot that we wanted to get was of Eva with the contact lenses in. The shot was difficult to frame and position, due to the fact that Eva had to turn into shot without being able to see, because we wanted her to turn with her eyes closed.

Today was a much more productive day. We improvised an entire section and it worked brilliantly. We stuck to the style of shooting that has been working for us so far, namely: shoot it from 100 different angles and one of the shots will be good. This will give us a variety of options when it comes to editing and will make for a better video in the end.

Again directing was something I was worried about. I really had to make sure that the actors weren't too tired from running back and forth while also focusing on time restraints. 

Location scouting

Today was spent planning. We spent time looking on google street view for locations to shoot our next few chase scenes.

We have found some decent places, however we have had to make a great number of plans since we cant rely purely on street view to plan. We will go to Walthamstow to look at our selected alleyways and streets and then decided which one will be best to use while shooting.

First Shoot

Today was quite a fluid day. We managed to get a whole lot of filming done and were very proud of our first attempt at shooting.


Looking back at the footage we noticed a few problems. The background was decently cluttered and some of the framing was off. However one shot in particular is definitely making the final cut. It is of Robbie leaning back to reveal Eva in the distance.


Directing and filming went very well. I was worried about ordering my friends around but everyone worked really professionally together. It was a promising first day and I have confidence it will work really well in the end.

Set design

We have decided that in order to further brand our band, we are putting our logo on the back of our set. In order to achieve this we had the help of our friend Olivia, an avid art student. She showed us the technique we needed to make this idea a reality. 

Here are some pictures of us making the set. It took about 3 hours work to also put the UV runes and symbols on the set as well. It was a lot of work but the outcome is very impressive.

Song choice

Unfortunately, my music video idea was not accepted by Miss Blackborow. She suggested we go with Robbie's idea for the song "Witchcraft" by Pendulum. This was due to the fact that my song choice had a predominantly adult sounding voice and to use teenagers to sing about the subject of love always comes across as slightly unprofessional (see Justin Bieber)


However, Robbie's idea is a highly exciting one and I'm very much looking forward to working on this project regardless

Interactivity on an artist's website

I will be looking at One Direction's official website to identify all the ways the audience can interact with the website and all the opportunities to buy product.

The very first thing we see is the smiling faces of the bromantics. This image of them in the back of the camper van is the corner stone of the marketing campaign for 1D. This sells them brilliantly as happy and fun kids.

Initial Ideas

I have been told by Miss Blackborow to submit an initial idea for a music video along side the other members of our group. This will give a wider scope of choice and allow her to decided which idea would best suit our group's dynamic.


Song Selection:



The basic idea for this video, being an acoustic version, is just a man and his guitar. He would appear in various locations: busking on the underground, in a field, on stage at an open mic night etc. In each of these locations we repeatedly see a girl walking away who the singer plainly holds an interest in. However she never notices him (drawing inspiration from the line "will you recognise me") This would appear to go on for days on end, until finally the girl starts paying attention. The climatic twist at the end however, is that he finds someone else, and the video ends with the singer walking off with his new found love while the girl who was the subject of his initial affections, is now left standing where he once stood.


The idea is simple, effective and draws on the lyrics for inspiration throughout. I believe this could be a very good music video if done correctly. I would have Robbie Lardi playing the guitar, as he learns it already and would be able to give a convincing performance, which is pivotal to the whole idea.

Intertextuality in music videos

This video contains more nerdy references than any other music video i could find. The list is as follows:

Sega - 0:33
Sunset Riders - 0:35
Super Mario Bros. - 0:43
Rick Roll'd! - 0:46
Star Wars - 0:50
Excite Bike - 1:00
Bubble Bobble - 1:01
Angry Birds - 1:04
Super Mario Bros. - 1:06
Ballon Fight - 1:06
T&C Surfing - 1:06
Elevator Action - 1:11
Pitfall - 1:13
Q*Bert - 1:16
X-Box Achievement Easter Egg - 1:31
Super Mario Bros. - 1:39
Street Fighter II - 1:42
Marvel vs Capcom - 1:44
Ke$ha - 1:48
Grand Theft Auto - 1:58
Pac-Man - 2:01
Grand Theft Auto - 2:03
PaRappa The Rapper - 2:06
The Orange Box - 2:10
The Legend of Zelda - 2:13
Metal Gear Solid - 2:17
Pokemon - 2:23
Hello Kitty - 2:23
Felix the Cat - 2:23
Super Mario Bros. - 2:24
Star Wars - 2:25
Donkey Kong - 2:26
The Impossible Cube - 2:27
Tintin - 2:27
Keyboard Cat - 2:28
Hello Kitty - 2:31
Angry Birds - 2:40
Donkey Kong - 2:40
Darth Vader - 2:40
Pac-Man - 2:43
Zero Wing - 2:43
Twinsen's Odyssey - 2:47
Street Fighter II - 2:50
Mortal Kombat - 2:53
Duck Hunt - 2:54
Sam and Max - 3:00
Kenny G - 3:04
Rise of the Triad - 3:12
The Simpsons - 3:13
Bomberman - 3:17
Final Fantasy - 3:29
PaRappa The Rapper - 3:30
Pac-Man - 3:32
Adventure Time - 3:34
Katamari Damacy - 3:38
Sonic the Hedgehog - 3:46
Sad Cat - 4:14
Garfield - 4:17
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 4:21
Street Fighter - 4:21
Super Mario Bros. - 4:29
Pro Wrestling - 4:34
Clayfighter - 4:40
The Neverhood - 4:44
The video is made by Goldfish and all of the hidden references are in some way related to the band. For example all enemies are represented as cats, like the stormtroopers, all the people in the bar and bomberman, while the band and friends (like princess peach) are all fish/goldfish related. The intertextual references span from memes to original/classic gaming as well as modern games. These references don't add to the lyrics or music but make for a fun viewing experience that's juxtaposed to the song.

Music videos and their representations of males

Masculine identities in music videos

Here are a variety of different representations of the male identity in music videos. The first of which is "mockingbird" by eminem. The video depicts an unusual stereotype of male father figures, as in this video the father has left home but still cares very much for what he's lost, rather than feeling free and not caring for his children.
The second image is from the video of the famous world cup hit "three lions on a shirt." The image is of one of the "lads" leading his son out to play a match against the Germans. This male image is very stereotypical to English men.
The third image is from the beloved hit by lonely island "I just had sex ft. akon" The male image represented here is obviously one of the "sex obsessed" young adult which is a trend throughout the whole video; with the band bragging constantly about sexual conquest.
The fourth image is another eminem video "I love the way you lie" In this the male character is seen to dominate his female counterpart and is viewed as cheating scum. This is an unfortunately common stereotype in the media industry, however in this video his girlfriend is seen to fight back, and hard!
The final image is of the well loved Cee Lo Green with his hit "F**k You" this video represents the loveliest of male images in my mind; one of a man who couldn't care less that a girl he likes doesn't like him back. It is an uncommon image of men and that is why it was so famous.

Research: Album Covers

1. What are the typical features that an album cover has?

Album covers vary in so many ways between artists. From the variety of images I have above I can see that they often contain images of the band or artist, the title of the album and/or name of the artist. However even those features aren't necessarily a part of the album work. Most commonly among these images however, you can see that they represent the artist/genre/songs through the use of imagery. The primary example would be 'My Chemical Romance' with their album 'The Black Parade' which uses very dark and creepy imagery to represent the "emo" genre.

2. How would you categorise the covers in front of you?
The albums here could be categorised in so niche spectrum's as genre or even artists! Some of them can even be a product of the year they were designed in, for example the 'Beatles' album which is clearly late 60's work. There are some very broad categories that they can come under however:

Band photo: This covers everything from a simple but meaningful image of Ed Sheeran in orange, to the Beatles crossing a road stricken with imagery and conspiracy. The images are never simple and always contain some special methods of representation for the band.

Creative Photography: This is used in many album covers and is often combined with the title of the album or band to anchor the image. It can also contain some hidden message (or blatant at that) but will occasionally just be a symbol for the band or genre, like the killers image of the tops of London apartment blocks.

Digital Design: Much like creative photography these images are computer designed and generally couple with genre's like

3. What do you think the different functions/purposes of album covers?
The obvious answer to this is to sell the music. As they say the first bite is with the eye, and these album covers are the very first taste that the audience get of the music before they buy it. They display clearly what to expect i.e. genre, style and intertextual references.  I guess another function of it is an expression for the artist, regarding their thoughts, perhaps during the writing or to show what influences them.

Looking at a music video director: Francis Lawrence

Francis Lawrence has always been one of my favorite directors. He's directed some major hits like "I Am Legend" and "Water For Elephants" which are two films that i have always loved. He was born in Vienna, Austria and moved to Los Angeles at the age of three. The first music video shot with him as head director was Tidal Force - A Man Rides Through. He quickly became known for his original and imaginative music video scripts and visual directing style. He has now directed a massive range of music videos for major artists.

P!nk - Just Like A Pill

This video always intrigued me. I first saw it on singstar when i was much younger than i am today. I felt the video brilliantly captured the feeling of loosing yourself (drug induced or not) and the performance that he gets out of pink is just fantastic. The video remains constantly eye catching and seems to flow with the disjointed sounding song so perfectly.

Green Day - Warning

In this video you continue to get a sense of Francis Lawrence's style. He loves confusing the audience in terms of placement in the scene, keeping attention and at the same time not causing you to suspend your disbelief and get too immersed in the digesis and listen to the track instead. He also loves the bad boy image, as is seen in the shot where the protagonist is running in a swimming pool under a clearly marked "do not run sign"

Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

I chose this video because it differs so much from the first two. However, you can still see Francis Lawrence's style peeking through. The video plays with the placement of the audience in the small space of the lighted room. The high key lighting and grungy look are also common across these videos. However the genre of this song requires more dance troops and choreography than the first two which were primarily performance based pop rock.

Gwen Stefani - What You Waiting For?

this is another song I first saw on singstar (which is where I first found Francis Lawrence) This video contains his beloved transition, his lighting styles, strange juxtaposed images and use of super imposing the same person into a shot twice. I love all his videos because they are all so different and yet so similar. He never looses the things he loves yet keeps each artist unique. If I am able to replicate just a few of his styles and looks  into my videos I will be very happy.

What Music Means To Me

Childhood

Anyone who was born in the 90's who claims they don't go mental every time they hear this song is a liar. The song was one of my favourites and I even remember singing it during long car journeys and while shopping with my mother. It continues to represent me today, as I sit on the brink between adulthood and my childhood years. I can't remember how long ago it was that I first heard it but this song will always hold a strong place in my memories.

Teens
This song is one that I have never particularly enjoyed, however not only does it hold very strong sentimental value for me, the uplifting beat and yet somehow sombre acoustic ukulele seem to sum up for me my teenage years. I first heard the song when it was played to me by an old girlfriend, as one of the pieces she would be singing in a competition. It was later a song that featured on a mixed tape that a girl I was very interested in gave to me. The song always reminds me of my mid teens and (although it's not the best of songs) it will surely be a song that I continue to like throughout my life.

Today

This is a song that recently was added to my spotify. As my recent enjoyment of "Chase & Status" hit a bit of a high, I felt it was an appropriate choice for my modern choice. The song hits home well for me, the attitude and feel to it seem to reflect me in some ways. It is also slightly uncharacteristic of "Chase & Status" as a song. I feel that the slightly different aspect of it represents my unusual characteristics and attitudes.

Added Bonus

As a special treat I give you (in true glee style) an acoustic mash up of all three songs. I apologise in advance for its shoddiness, but regardless, here is the song that represents my life as a whole, the ups and downs, the flow (and lack of it in places) and of course my terrible voice.

My Group's Final Edit

Here is my group's edit of the 5ive workshop footage:

Prelim Evaluation

1. Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

I very much enjoyed the day, despite how tiring and difficult it was. I think the best part of the whole day had to be the end. Feeling sad, relieved, happy, tired and somehow still having the energy after 12 hours of working under burning lights to dance with everyone around the hall to the last ever playing of the song... until the edit.

I also loved the harsh reality of it all. This shoot was almost exactly like others I had been on with jake (except more fun). It gave everyone a real taste of what their future could be like and that is an unmatchable gift. It was also great working with all the crew, and being taught by a professional director was especially beneficial.

 

2. What did you learn from participating in the workshop?

I learnt a lot about the many jobs that have to be done to keep the day running smoothly. Runners, cable bashers, camera operators and grips, the director who takes care of the whole shoot and the assistant director who takes care of the director. I knew all these jobs existed but seeing them all work so hard gave me a new found respect for everyone in the industry. I also learnt a lot about how things can go wrong, even professionally; cameras breaking or not connecting, lights not working, a shot not lined up in a way it can work. This makes me feel more confident in my future shoot, because its not about avoiding these occurrences, its about how you deal with them.

I also learnt a lot about the technological side to the shoot, got to understand how the jib and camera work properly. I also saw Jake's attempt at lighting which was good despite not being his forte.

3. Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

The footage was just fantastic. The 5D truely has one of the best quality pictures I have ever seen. The camera makes such a difference, as even if we'd shot the exact same footage on a standard video camera it wouldn't have looked anywhere near as good. Watching it for the first time on monday was such an amazing moment, when I realised this was going to be a really, really good video.

Our group decided not to edit the footage into an exact replica of the original 5ive video. We decided to do this because when attempting to match up our footage to their cuts it didnt feel right. I wanted to make it more our own work and so we spent our time editing what the footage we shot wanted us to. The video we made has some of teh same feel with the choppy editing, jump cuts and slow-motion dancing. However the feel of the shots we chose (I think) is more friendly and "poppy"

 

4. How do you think your workshop experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework?

I now know just how hard it can be to do take after take after take and have learnt, from watching Jake, how to appropriately deal with actors to get the best performance out of them i possibly can. I know not to be too ambitious when shooting, because even when we knew exactly what shots we were meant to get we still couldn't quite manage it all. I think I shall try and go with the flow more during my shoot and obviously make sure I have absolutely everything ready with backups.

Everybody Get Up Re-Edit

A task was set to re-edit a cut up and mismatched version of the music video. Due to complications arising when video files were transferred from one computer to another, we found that not all shots matched up perfectly (no matter how fantastic an editor you are). However looking at our final cut; the main video with the original top right for comparison, I feel we did a very successful job. The purpose of the task was to demonstrate just how many cuts, in such quick sucession were needed for such a small section of film. task was fairly challenging, and showed us just how hard it will be to edit both the coming music video, and our music video next year.

Lipsynch work

Here is our attempt at a lipsynch of 'Five's 'Everybody get up.' I think we did well to put energy and enthusiasm into the piece. In my group were James, Frank and myself and although a lot of the footage was unusable due to background messups and a habit of forgetting words, I think the edit really does us justice in terms of how effective and entertaining we can be in media work.

What did I learn from this?

I learnt that when filming it is important to get several takes of the same shot, rather than relying on other shots to overlap and compensate. Each runthrough should be done to the best of our ability until we get a near perfect take then move on. This wasn't really possible with our time restraint however.

I also learnt that when editing it would be good to organise the different shots into bins; not just "Frank" "Eoin" and "James" but groups like "dancing clips" that would be good to cut to in instrumentals and a "gimicks" bin where we put all the silly stuff we got up to, so we can add it where it's appropriate rather than just where it falls with the music.

Finally I learnt that filming these can be a lot of fun so long as you find the right balance of sillyness and seriousness. I hope I can translate that to the big shoot as well as my coursework in the near future.

My Audition

My biggest hope is to be cast as "Abs" the first member of the band to jump offstage and rap at the camera. I feel I have more than proved my worth in terms of enthusiasm (having actually completed homeworks on time) and showing a great deal of commitment, having learnt the dance and all the words in time for the lipsynch work. I also feel that I am an avid performer and will bring great things to the table as a member of five. As an added incentive to choosing me for this role, it will deffinetly boost my love of media and my comitment to continueing this level of work that I have been putting in so far this year... If I'm not chosen, my confidence will surely be shot and I might not feel so inclined to keep working nicely in media...

Only joking! No matter what happens I will be thrilled to be taking part, even if I am unable to be a member of five (or to a greater extent Abs)

What I learnt from Jake Wynne

Jake Wynne

Jake Wynne makes short films and directs and edits music videos and advertisements. He runs workshops in schools and colleges for students to improve their practical work.

One of the videos he has worked on that we saw in his session was by a band called Nojahoda. The video was crazy and juxta which matched both the bands style of performance and the music! Although Jake advised us that this was definitely not the kind of video we should attempt to do for our coursework project it definitely inspired me to be creative and to think outside the box.

Although I have been on very tiring shoots before, Jake reminded me how long the shoot that we were going to do would be. He also emphasized how it has to look real! We have to really sing so the cameras pick up on our throat movements and it doesn't look faked, we have to act as if we are really into it; because if we're not then how will the audience be?

Gorillaz - Stylo

The "Gorillaz" have always been band I admire. I chose to look at their song "Stylo" because I felt that it fit the criteria for an effective music video, as well as being a personal favourite. Jamie Hewlett directed this desert car chase video, it broke records and was viewed 900,000 times in its first 24 hours.

1) Instant Impact:

           The instant impact isn't quite as strong as it could be, however the video does instantly attract the viewers attention by first only showing an inviting open road and then covering what it says on the front of the car with smoke. This instantly intrigues the viewer and invites them in, making them want to see more. The harshness of the scene also contributes to the impact at the start. The obvious heat and other dangers surrounding this deserted road can be seen right from the start of the video.

2) Non-Linear Editing

           The video uses this at one several stages in the video; when the cop first begins to follow them it cuts straight to him driving behind them. This was probably done to save time and keep the flow of the video going. Similar cuts like that are used throughout the video, particularly in the chase scene. One other instance of non-linear editing comes around when the policeman is claimed by death and it cuts to flashbacks of the first things we saw in the videos narrative.

3) Repetitions

           Repeated shots of the road and the cars are used as they are, basically, the whole focus of the video. Repeated images of the black fog are used for the narrative and shots of the word "stylo" on the grill are used repeatedly.

4) Strong Sense of Artist Identity

           Murdoc, 2D and Noodle (three members of the animated gorillaz band) are depicted in this video in a style not attempted by the band before. The band used 3D effects to create a full image of the band for the first time, still maintaining the classic look and feel of the usual artwork.

5) A Performance

           The performance here comes from the lovable animated characters of the band and Mr. Badass himself, Mr. Bruce Willis, who does a great job of holding a gun and looking tough like in every movie he's ever been in. The band don't do much performing of the song itself but Murdoc can be seen mouthing along to the words during the chase.

6) Visual Pleasures

           The animation of the cars, desert, characters, gun shots, smoke and death are all fantastic and stick to a common trend that means you stay interested and can follow what's happening in the crazy plot line.

7) Wow Factor!

           This video wowed it's audience with its guest appearance of Bruce Willis and first time use of 3D on the main characters. The action and interpretable plot-line also add to this crazy video's effect on it's audience.

8) Provoke a Reaction

           The first reaction this video got out of me was one of distinct confusion. A lot of the crazy happenings shocked me and the ending both made me laugh and sit for a moment puzzling what I had just seen. However, one over riding feeling was the one that made me want to watch it again, and I can't have been alone in that with over 900,000 views in 24 hours!

9) Works on Different Levels

           The Gorillaz have a running plot line throughout their videos. In this one we meet Cyborg Noodle for the first time, who is the newest member for the band created for their album Plastic Beach. In the storyline, she was created by the band leader, Murdoc, as a replacement for the band's original guitarist, Noodle, whose whereabouts were allegedly unknown. She was created through the use of cybernetic prosthetics as well as some DNA samples of Noodle that were salvaged from the wreckage of the flying windmill island which was destroyed in the "El Mañana" music video. However without knowing this viewers can still enjoy watching the visuals and interpret it their own way.

10) Pop Culture

           Again the obvious answer is the use of Bruce Willis. It was also released (though not confirmed) that the film Mad Max inspired a lot of the stylisation in the video. They also reference themselves. During the video, references are made to three other tracks on the album:

• As he is being run off the road, the officer crashes through and wrecks a billboard poster of "Superfast Jellyfish".
• There is a sign labeled "Sweepstakes" that can be seen when the scene of the police officer's wrecked car is returned to.
• At the end of the clip, the submerged car that was occupied by the animated members of the Gorillaz transforms into a shark-shaped submarine, which begins the music video for "On Melancholy Hill".