The Swing Movement - Sample Scene 2

Here is our first sample scene for our narrative idea. This was meant to show the traveling aspect of our music video. Filmed on a HD camera and edited on Final Cut.

Podcast/6

Target Audience and feedback.

GG - Research into Digipaks (Alternative/Indie)

I have looked at five digipak examples from home for our specific genre of our music video (alternative/indie). After previously looking at the main codes and conventions in an earlier post, I am now going to be more specific and look at ones closely linked to our band.

Here is my previous post on digipaks: http://geogamm111.blogspot.com/2011/12/gg-codes-and-conventions-of-digipaks.html

The five bands I chose to look at were:

• White Lies
• The Libertines
• Arctic Monkeys
• Warpaint
• The Strokes

My first observation clearly showed that on all digipaks the song titles were presented on the back, although none of them had song length included. I also noticed that all of them consisted of barcodes, record label logo's and website information. These were always presented at the bottom of the pack.

Another observation showed that predominantly the front covers were plain and lacking any creative imagery (apart from The Libertines). They mainly consisted of the band name, and a single image or design. The 'Arctic Monkeys' case only consists of an image and nothing else, they rely heavily on advertisement of the image.

Finally, I noticed that inside all of the digipaks they consisted of a booklet. Inside it mainly had the lyrics to all the songs and some band information. Also it had imagery of behind the scenes and artistic design work.

GG - Things I have learnt using Final Cut Express

Today I discovered how to use multi layering, reverse shots, how to use special effects, how to use transitions and finally how to export it.

Firstly I learnt how to multi layer two or more shots together. (Place the clip above the clip you want to layer it with and select the above clip, go to motion, make the scale smaller, click on the centre button, then finally play around with the opacity. This has made our shots look much more professional and less boring to watch, it can help us create a sense of confusion for our main protagonist.

Secondly I learnt how to reverse shots, we will find this very helpful when shooting the shot of our protagonist travelling away. (Insert, modify, speed and finally reverse).

Thirdly I learnt how to use special effects to change the on screen look of the shot. This gives them a better look and can create a sense of confusion. (Select the clip you want ,effects, video filters then select the one you want).

Finally I learnt how to export clips from Final Cut to a portable file for youtube and other sites. This now means I can share all of my work onto internet sites like 'vimeo' and 'Youtube'.

Our Treatment

The Swing Movement - Jigsaw (Treatment)

GG - Final Idea

We have decided on the track 'Jigsaw' by 'The Swing Movement' to incorporate with our initial idea for our video. We believe this song will fit the needs of a 'face paced' drum beat and the lyrics can match with the scenario we planned.

The idea is two have both performance and narrative going on in the video, although they don't link. The male in the video will be running away from what appears to the viewer as a failed relationship. This will be portrayed through the use of flashbacks. We will create the look of these shots being in the past through editing them to make them black and white, we will also add a white flash before the shot comes on. We will film the male running away through driving away, then breaking down and finding a bike, then his tier pops and he runs the last part of his journey. Currently we are going with the idea that the viewer never finds out where the male ends up, but this could change.

The performance aspect will consist of the band practising in my basement, it will be shot like our first sample footage. We have had confirmation that at least two of the original band will be able to film. This will cross cut with the narrative throughout the whole video.

 Jigsaw (Single Version) by TheSwingMovement

We have taken two sets of practise footage, one consisting of performance, and one with narrative. We have learnt through this process some of the problems we may face when filming such as; road restrictions. These videos have also helped us learn new skills on Finalcut.

First sample footage (performance)

Here is our first sample scene for our performance footage. Filmed on a D300s and edited on iMovie.

TW - Right Here Right Now Idea 1 - Problems

We have constructed 2 ideas for this song, the first being shot with a band and one member being left behind 

and having o make his own way to where they are playing. George has detailed this idea on this blog post. 

After talking about this, I have seen the following problems in our idea, in which we have to overcome:

• How do we shoot the opening scene? Do the band leave him behind AFTER packing his stuff, 
• seemingly forgetting he is in the van. Should the band member run after the vehicle shouting, throw 
• drumsticks etc?
• Can we attain a van to shoot this scene with? A simple band practice or location where instruments 
• are already set up would be an easier idea.
• How many scenarios and modes of transport will be needed for the video? an the cast member ride 
• a skateboard for example? In the winter will we be able to shoot in a forest/river.
• Do the band realise they have left him behind IF we go this way and not have band practice?
• Should we involve some lip syncing to the main lyric 'Right here right now'? Possible shot is a very 
• fast paced, panning shot around in a snori cam angle, the main band member(one who is left behind) 
• saying these lyrics?
• How do we end the video?Performance? Going on to play? simple band practice as initially suggested?
• Will we need permission from crowd members, how many will we need?
• Finding a set location for the end scene IF we go with the idea of performance to a live audience in 
• the final scene
• Is there anyone he meets on the way? This is very unlikely and will only be used to aid the narrative, 
• if need.
• Could he possibly miss the performance, turn up to late? Narrative enigma if they let him back in the 
• band?
• Do we need performance footage in between shots of the band member trying to get to the venue?

All of these problems will be talked through by myself and George, and when we have a final idea with no 

problems we will do a full blogpost on how we have avoided the problems and how we intend to make this 

plan a success.

Videos linked to our idea (draft)

TW - Idea 1

My first idea is Hunting For Witches by Bloc Party. Although this song had a music video made in 2007, 

in the year of release, the video is purely of performance. This would mean as long as our idea differs 

from this, the video will be completely different in every aspect.



My idea would be to have increasingly fast paced shots of a paranoid character from 0- 25 seconds 

as it meets the strangeness of the song opening. It can then be cross cut from black and white, to 

showcase the past, to colour as to how he has got to where he is, which is the paranoid feeling of being 

followed. The black and white would show the character watching the news, and seeing a report on 

'witches' to meet the song lyrics. The cross cutting would see how he reacts to the report, and then 

shots of him trying to escape, and seeing people in hoods to be the 'witches'. The news report would 

meet the lyrics of 1:02. After the initial paranoia, the character would run to the loacation of the band 

playing (as performance shots would be included), and recruit them to go 'hunting' for the 'witches'. 

The final shots of the video would be of the group chasing the 'witches' into the woods, and the main 

character getting lost, he stumbles and as he turns he sees all of the hooded figures around him, 

indicating they will decide his fate.

TW - Idea 2

My 2nd idea is How Your Remind Me by Nickelback. Both the song and it's video was created in 2001 and 

is still extremely popular today.

My idea would again include performance shots, whilst the narrative would show the protagonist 

struggling with day to day life, as he is constantly reminded of a past relationship. This could 

be shown by having the woman seemingly appear in situations such as escaping a robbery, driving, 

or anything that could take his mind of an important situation, as these are early ideas that can be 

changed or improved. The idea is that seeing his ex partner will in short ruin all activity that is 

important or could be a big deal for him. Eventually, he will get extremely frustrated and go on a 

rampage in his house, destroying anything related to his ex, or just anything that crosses his path, 

beginning with a photo of them both together, that he rips in 2 to show the separation.

TW - Idea 3

My 3rd idea is to use To The Bone by The Swing Movement. This is George's brother's band therefore

filming performance footage would be very easy, compared to getting other bands. I had this idea on Friday,

and after speaking with George, we both like the song as an initial project. It was made in 2008 but 

no video has been created for this song.

The idea would be of a male character walking around, with lots of close ups from snori cam in particular,

looking around at people. many people are staring back at him, and this causes paranoia inside him and 

he begins to become agitated, This would continue until he finally snaps and proceeds to push around one 

particular person who is staring at him. The violence escalates and he ends up slamming the person to 

the floor, and walking away, while everyone stares at him, this time with reason. He would then break 

into a run, people still looking at him, and his pace increases until he is going full pace. His destination 

is his house and the last shot would be of him opening his door, and slamming it behind him, before 

he walks into a deserted living room, which would be just darkness, no lighting. This would meet the 

eerieness of the song, and a winter atmosphere would only add to an eerie theme.

TW - Idea 4

My 4th idea is Song 2 by Blur. This was made in 1997 which means that making a video for this would be no
problem, as it is now 14 years on.

The idea is to have cross cuts between performance and narrative, with the band being in both aspects. It would
begin with performance until the first lyrics begin, in which it would change to a man walking, he would lip
sync with a various range of cuts. The lyrics would not match the narrative though. The man will be walking
in dark attire down a long road, with occasional shots from an ELS shot from the end of the road in
order to show the distance they walk, and possibly some slow motion.
Every now and again throughout the walk another member of the band will appear, until finally there will
be all 4 band members at the end of the alley, the camera will then track them as they turn a corner
in slow motion, into the middle of a road. The will then stop there as another group come out opposite
them. They will then run at each other and a side view of them almost clashing when it cuts to black to
end the video.
My inspiration for this idea came when watching This is England and Green Street as this song is
commonly used in user made football videos on social media such as youtube, and the collison idea
came from Green Street especially to give an indication of football hooliganism, or hooliganism in general.

Podcast/4

Discussing anamatic's and storey boards. How they will help us.

GG - Music Video Idea/1 - Fatboy Slim (Right here, Right now)

My final and probably most likely new idea would be to the song Right here, Right now. My idea would be to have both performance and narrative, the performance would consist of 1/3rd of the music video.

I took inspiration from the music video by Coldplay on their new song 'Paradise'. We would have series of scenarios of a singular figure travelling throughout the Yorkshire country-side, (this would be cut with the performance as well). Firstly, the male would be travelling along in a car, the car then runs out of petrol just outside a bike shop. He then goes in a buys a second hand old bike, after further travelling along more country-side he gets a flat tyre. He then spots an old skateboard in a farm yard and so on. He finally reaches a river were he ditches the skateboard to cross the river, he then continues his travels on foot. Finally he reaches his destination of where the band, who are playing the performance aspect, are practising. We then see the meaning of the video, the main character kicks the drummer off playing the instrument and plays them himself showing he will not be replaced in the band.

The filming will consist of a huge range of short taken shots, I have lots of ideas and plan to do some practice footage of the narrative very soon.


Fatboy Slim - Ident 03 - 1 on MUZU.

Podcast/5

We have selected and thought of an idea for 'The Swing Movement - Jigsaw' after weeks on deciding.

GG - Music Video Idea/2 - The Clash (In Hammersmiths Palais)

The Clash originated in 1976 and emerged as a Punk Rock band, they were very popular during their time under the spot light.

My idea would be to have all footage in black and white, representing how old the song is. We would film in a rough area of a city or town, with the main characters dressed in quite old fashioned clothing, the 1980 puck look. The idea of the video would be four males searching around the derelict area, they all then come across some old instruments near a tip. They then gradually pick them up and start playing along to the song. Slowly a crowd gathers around them, and they start performing to an audience. At the end they all just put the interments down, everyone leaves and they continue with their routine before they found the instruments.

We would film in a rough run down area and all footage will be in black and white. We will use a range of shots to keep the audience guessing.

The Clash have made some very special and significant videos during their time, including the well received 'London Calling' video.

GG - Music Video Idea/3 - The Swing Movement (The Town or The City)

My reason for choosing The Swing Movement is because we would have easy access to the band, also we have all the instruments to film with. My idea would consist of mainly the performance aspect of music videos.

We would film a huge range of shots of the band playing in my basement at home, this would cover around half of the video. The rest would be a narrative of a male or female character struggling to come to terms with city life. We would create an impression of unhappiness and a sense of suffering as the person walks the city streets of Leeds. We will pick quite a rough area of Leeds to film, the main character will just be walking through the streets looking at his surroundings, this being the tall building and all the people who surround him. We would film the narrative aspect in black and white to create a sense of uncertainty. 

We will use a range of slow a fast takes, whilst also using transitions to cut between the two scenarios. 

I believe if I look at some of the Arctic Monkeys videos they will help with this idea. 

GG - Music Video Idea/4 - Fatboy Slim (Praise You)

For this idea I was thinking we could relate an idea to the 'big beat' genre of Fatboy Slim by using footage from a party. The song sticks to a basic structure, it follows a catchy tune throughout and the lyrics are the same all the way through.

My idea would be to have a narrative performance and a male falling in love with a girl. We would get a range of shots of him looking at her from long distance's and from hiding positions, this making it clear that the girl is unaware of this boys presents. The idea would be to create a 'stalking' feel with the main male not having the confidence to approach the girl. This would then lead to them both being at a party, they would both make eye contact (with them being surrounded by dancing people). The boy would both gradually approach each other leading the viewer to think she likes him. Then at the end she will walk straight past him and to another person behind him.

We would use a range of shots and a lot of fast pacing editing at the party scene. Also we would cross cut a lot of shots to signify the people their are drunk, also possibly using a fish eye lens. We would film all throughout Ilkley, on the grove and in the woods. The party scene would then either be shot at an actually friends party or in my basement where we will get a load of friends to act for us.

I have found a good persons videos to look at for ideas is David Guetta. 



Fatboy Slim - Praise You on MUZU.

Podcast - 2

Change of idea to 'The Swing Movement' after audience feedback showed our initial idea would prove hard to achieve.

GG - Codes and Conventions of a Digipaks

Digipaks

During class we looked at a range of different digipaks from ones made by students, and some made by professionals. Digipaks are something of the current times because they are seen as more economically friendly, this possibly increasing the chances of someone buying one. Below is a list of the common codes and conventions of digipaks:

• Tend to be made from the material cardboard.
• Image or band of the band who a print relevant to the band of the front.
• Band and album title.
• Website information.
• Copyright statement.
• Bar code.
• Track listing.
• Brief description of the band.
• Band and album name on the side, including category number and company logo.

GG - Codes and Conventions of a Magazine advertisement

Magazine advertisement
I looked at many examples of magazine advertisements for new bands promoting their music, below I give a list of the main codes and conventions of them. I researched and found that on average 50% of most magazines consist of advertisement for new albums and upcoming shows. 

• Album cover or band logo on show.
• Artist name.
• (Price)
• Release date.
• Star review.
• Where it is available.
• Tour dates.
• Band website.
• Record label information.
• Copyright statement.

GG - Practice footage

We plan to take some practice footage this week with the music from our new band selection 'The Swing Movement.'
Plan
We are going to take 30 seconds of performance shots of them playing. They are not all living in Ilkley at the moment so we will get others in to play the role of the band. This wont be a problem nearer christmas because they will all be coming home.
Location
We will film in my basement at home, in here there are all instruments including a microphone making it the easiest and best place for us to shoot some practice footage.

GG - Change in idea - 'The Swing Movement'

We have decided to scrap the Lazlo Bane idea, after lots of planning we have decided this idea wont work. Instead we are looking to do a song from the unsigned four piece band, 'The Swing movement.' We believe this idea is more achievable through us having access to the band,making our performance aspect a lot better. We are currently deciding on a song to do, below there is an example of a video someone made for them of their song 'To the Bone' which has been released onto the itunes store and Spotify.

The Swing Movement - To The Bone from Ben Symonds on Vimeo.

GG - Key Influences on our video idea

When thinking of an idea for our chosen band, we found looking at the Arctic Monkeys work was very helpful especially when it came to the music video itself.

The video for 'Teddy Picket' really helped us decide how we wanted to film our performance footage. They used a lot of close-up shots and shaky camera work. This made their video look more like a documentary and we liked this look.



Our narrative was set out to be based around a relationship breakdown. We looked at a lot of rom-coms to help us think of ideas of how we could show this on screen. We looked at a clip from the film 'Break Up' which showed a couple having an argument. I thought that this would help me when directing the actors through using more body language because we cannot usual speech.



Although we have both performance and narrative in our video we have no plan in making them link. Non of the band members will play a role in the narrative.

Podcast/3

Digipak and Mag-ad ideas. The main codes and conventions for them.

GG - Narrative and Performance in Music Videos

Narrative - Story on going in the video, can be something that links to the lyrics.
Performance - The band or the instruments being played on screen along to the song.
Not all music videos consist on both Narrative and Performance. You can either get an all performance video, or all narrative video. These are becoming much less common.
In modern day videos they mainly consist of both narrative and performance. A great example of this would be Coldplay - Fix You. The narrative links in well with the lyrics, this is commonly used in most music videos, the link between lyrics and whats going on on screen. Also the performance aspect of this video was done at a live concert, filmed on set. This works well with the rest of the video.

In mine and Toms music video we plan to use both performance and narrative. The narrative will be linked with the idea of 'Superman' explain in a previous post and the narrative will be based on our main male playing guitar on the streets singing along to the lyrics of the song.
We believe this will work really well together, also it will create a better video because it will be more interesting to watch.

GG - The Rise of the Directors

During the years of 1992-2004 it was seen as the 'rise of the directors.' Around this time directors and producers names started to get shown after a video on MTV. People started to become interested in the costs of production, also the different techniques each director used when designing an idea for a video.

1992–2004: Rise of the directorsIn December 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze,Stéphane Sednaoui, Mark Romanek and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze and F. Gary Gray, went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as Lasse Hallström and David Fincher.
Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive video of all time. During this period, MTV launched channels around the world to show music videos produced in each local market: MTV Latin America in 1993, MTV India in 1996, and MTV Mandarin in 1997, among others. MTV2, originally called "M2" and meant to show more alternative and older music videos, debuted in 1996.

Source: Wikipedia 

GG - A brief Idea of our Music Video Lazlo Bane - Superman

GG - Research into 'Alternative rock' genre (draft)

Alternative rock was introduced in the late 1970's early 1980's as was mainly an underground phenomenon. Only the occasional song became a hit such as; The Rolling Stones. A lot of Alternative rock bands toured regularly and released low budget albums as part of their underground work. The genre is seen to reject commercialism of mainstream culture. By the start of the 1990's Alternative rock started to become a hit in British society, with American bands such as; Velvet Underground, having big success in the UK.

In the early 21st century other Alternative rock bands such as; Franz Ferdinand have emerged, but it is seen that R&B and Rap are taking the main stage at the moment when it comes to super genres. 

TW - New Idea - 'Superman' By Lazlo Bane

George and I have recently had doubts about filming a music video for Right Here Right Now by Fatboy Slim,

 and after brief location scouting throughout the october half term, we decided our idea was not the best.
This led us to change our idea to Lazlo Bane'sSuperman, which is most recognized
as the theme song to the hit TV show, Scrubs.

Our new idea is very narrative based, with aspects of a performance. The narrative
would centre around a young man's endeavours and how he fails to achieve his goals,
until, meeting the lyrics, he becomes 'superman' (which would be met with a costume
 and screen effect) and he succeeds. However, at the end, he meets a girl who likes him for
 who he is and not superman, so he dumps the costume which would meet the main lyric of the song,
 'I'm no superman'. This narrative would be cross cut with scenes of the same
character playing an acoustic guitar and lip syncing with the lyrics of the song.

Early ideas for location is Ilkley, perhaps at the bandstand or in a spot commonly used
 by street performers. We also have plans to use a snori-cam to show the change between normal and
superman outfit. We also have plans to cast Jeremy Whitehead as the lead actor for
 the video (see right). Jeremy can play a guitar extremely well and has proven
 in the past to show great effort with lip syncing duties when required, so this experience
will prove extrememly useful.

Here is the song we are basing our idea on, and with it the music video that was
 originally created for it. It is a concept video with performance and shots of on
set footage from Scrubs, with lip syncing in the performance shots. Both these
 methods have been intertwined with shrinking the footage and allowing it to be
 played next to each other, showing more than one piece of footage at once.

GG - Representations of Women in music videos

Representations of women in music videos are very clear and obvious. For a few Pop and R&B female music artists they are not seen for having a 'good voice', they are seen for their 'good bodies' also known as the male gaze. An example of this would be 'Britteny Spears', for most critics she doesn't have a great voice, but this hasn't stopped her from being successful. A lot of her albums are sold through young girls aged 12-16 aspiring to be her, they look up to her. Also a she has a huge male audience, this is down to her looks, she attracts the males through the use of her music videos that portray her in a 'sexual' way.

Another is Avril Lavigne, she started her career with a 'skater boy' look. This proved to be a success at first but as the times changed, so did their tastes in genre. This meant she had to do something different in order to carry on being a success. She changed genres and became more focused around the 'pop' genre. She then came back into the spotlight achieving lots of number ones in the charts.

Females are used in many music videos, from Death metal to Pop (as part on the video not the band). This can help attract to a wider audience, firstly the female audience but also increasing the male audience through the male gaze. An example of this would be 50 cent with his video 'Down On Me'. (An example is shown below).

GG - Deconstruction of Wolfmother - Dimension

Band: Wolfmother
Song: Dimension
Year: 2006
Length: 1.46

Brief Overview
The video starts with shots of the band in colour playing their instruments. This only lasts a few seconds and then we go to the main part of the video. The image changes to black and white with a mountain like background. Throughout the rest of the video we just see a performance narrative in the same area.

Overall, this video is not to the highest standard. It lacks shot variety, it is all shot in one room and all in black and white. We do however see some of the codes and conventions of a typical music video. For example we see a lot of shots of the main lead singer, we also see the use of lip sinking, and finally close ups of the instruments being played. However this video has no narrative at all, it is all performance.

It is believed that Wolfmother made this video how it is to make a statement. They want to go against all the norms of a traditional music video, also they want to keep that rock 'n' roll look of not going with the norm. This proved to be a successful move for the band.

NOTICE

Any posts on my blog from now will either be headed 'GG' or 'TW.' This is just to show who has done the blog post as we will be sharing work from now. 

Podcast - 1

Here is our initial idea (Lazlo Bane/Superman) after rejecting the idea to to 'Fatboy Slim'.

Things I have learnt so far..

• How to use Final Cut to a good standard. 
• How much coverage is needed when producing a music video. 
• The basic outline of videos, narrative and performance. 
• How much an average priced music video costs.
• The codes and conventions of a music video. 
• The Buggles was the first music video to be shown on MTV.
• How to compare to different types of music videos. 
• New aspects of media language. 
• What censorship is. 
• What makes a good music video. 

......3 things I would like to learn about music videos:

• How to create a good narrative for my production.
• An increase in shot type knowledge, advanced shots. 
• To know all the ins and outs of final cut. 

Marking Gorlillaz 192000 Soulchild Remix

We have been set the task of marking a piece of last years A2 class, I have been given 'The Gorlilaz remix.'  I watched the video through several times and then, looked at the marking scheme. Here is what i though of the video.

• Holding a shot steady, where appropriate. Excellent. Throughout the whole of this video, when the producer has intended on keeping a steady shot, they have successfully done so. There are obvious uses of a tripod to achieve this. 
• Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate. Excellent. We see straight away great uses of framing. When you see empty bottles lying around the floor there is a slight dutch angle, this works really well and is done extremely well throughout. 
• Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate. Excellent/proficient. We see a very good range of shot types from different distances, my only argument would be that in the car shots, the types of shots used could have been done slightly better, also a few more long shots. I would sway more towards excellent though. 
• Shooting material appropriate to task set. Proficient. Although from a personal view I believe it is shot extremely well, the only problem it may come across is the message that is involved in the video. I would have given it excellent if it wasn't for this. 
• Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and settings. Excellent. Throughout the whole video we see excellent uses of setting. At the party scenes the relevant things are shown on screen. The clothing represents the time period that the video is set. Lighting throughout is excellently done, especially at the end when the use of the fish eye camera comes in. This aspect was really impressive. 
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to viewer. Excellent. The editing throughout the whole video is too a very high standard. The use of transitions is excellent, also the use of the fish-eye to represent that the protagonist is of a drunk nature. When he is skateboarding near the start, the use of the blurred effect really fits in well with the song. 
• Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately. Excellent. The use of shot transitions is too a very high standard. As I have already said, the blurred effect used is a good example of this. 
• Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task. Excellent. The music matches to the video throughout the whole video, what is on screen is relevant to the sound. Also is is obvious that the editing is incredibly done, especially at the party at the end. It is commonly well done all the way through. 

My mark would be 36/40

holding a shot steady, where appropriate;

Here is the mark scheme that I worked from.

A link to the whole mark scheme: http://www.scribd.com/doc/46418882/Music-Video-Blog-production-Guide

Class Video

We have completed our class video for 'Threw It On The Ground'. Overall I believe we have done a good job of re creating this music video.

It gave me a chance to practice using the the HD cameras and Final Cut.



We had to shoot in 5 different locations which proved time consuming. I learnt that planning is key and having a story board with you real helps.

My music video pitch

(I apologies for the poor quality) 

This is my pitch for the song 'Praise You' by 'Fatboy Slim'. I wanted to link the lyrics closely to the video so I used religious connotations with the lyrics 'praise you'. My idea was to show one male going through a rough time and only having religion there to comfort him.

Below is the video I made to help explain my idea.

'Fatboy Slim - Praise You' practice footage for pitch

Creating practice footage

Today I went and did some filming with my dad to play around with ideas for my music video. We linked the lyrics 'praise you' with the idea of christianity and religion. We played around with out of focus footage and different colouring. I then edited it on imovie and imported the soundtrack in, in all it is 1min long. This was all done on a HD camera. I am really pleased with the final outcome.

History of FatBoy Slim

Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook on 31 July 1963 in Bromley, England) better known by his former stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s. Cook has achieved considerable success in the UK charts, performing as Fatboy Slim and with The Housemartins, Beats International, and Freak Power. He currently performs as the Brighton Port Authority.
                                         Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Cook       


  
The main reason for us choosing Fatboy Slim is because firstly, with his music being the genre 'big beat' we believe by choosing a dance song we can be more creative. We also believe that because his songs have limited lyrics attached to them, we will not be tied doing with meaning. Basically, we don't have to link the video to closely to the lyrics.                                   

The history of Fatboy Slim continued...

Labels	Skint, Astralwerks, Southern Fried

Genres	Big beat, trip hop, rave

Years active	1981–present

'Norman Cook' most well known as 'Fatboy Slim' is one of Britain's best DJ's who was born on 31 July 1963 in Bromley, England. He first started DJing when he attended college in Brighton. A few clubs from London offered him to DJ after they played his first single “Santa Cruz”. And he did respond to their offer. Later he decided that he will gain more success if he opens his own club in Brighton, so he started this club and named it “Big Beat Boutique”. At this time FatBoy Slim was the resident of this club. Norman again attracted the audience, gaining more and more power and fens. He turned into one of the top DJs and remixers, working with such a stars like U2, Madonna, Cornershop, Wildchild, Beastie Boys, Fluke… even he remixed Queens “we will rock you”. On the New Years Eve of 2005, Fatboy Slim performed live in front of a tremendous crowd on Bondi Beach in Australia. During this all night set, Fatboy Slim reverted back to his original style of music production and DJ-ing with an emphasis on Dance music. The performance was absolutely amazing, the crowd was jumping and screaming all the time.

He received an award for Best Dance Act 1999 from the Brits and four MTV Video Award nominations for his video ‘Praise You’.

Final Pitch Idea

I have decided that for my pitch I am going to do 'Fatboy Slim - Praise You.' I believe this video gives me plenty of room to be creative. My idea is to do with religion and choice in Britain. How from christianity to music stars, things that people 'praise.' Hence the lyrics.
The filming will be of one man traveling around, with shots of religious venues and places throughout yorkshire. This symbolising his confusion and how signifying how Britain has changed so much. I have created a small video of what I want it to look like.

Bradford Film Festival Overview

We recently went to The co-operative film festival in Bradford to view fellow friends work on screen and to take part in activities going on there.


My day started with learning about the 'green screen.' This is a very communally used way of pretending to be somewhere when you are actually not there. The actor stands in front of a coloured wall and then through the use of clever technology what appears on screen is different. This is a very expensive way of producing a shot and one we cannot do, but learning about it was very interesting, plus we got to have a go.

We then went to look at special effects and make-up (advanced.) Here we learnt how they make cuts on bruise on screen for films and videos. We were surprised at how basic it was and easy to do. This was only a short session, but in films such as; Harry Potter, it can take hours to do make-up. Also in music videos such as; slipknot.

We then went to view all of our colleges work in the main room. Here a range of short films were shown, showing the true talent around the Bradford and worldwide area. They all received t-shirts and certificates showing their achievement for getting but forward for people to view their work.

Finally, I went to Final cut (express) for beginners. I used this as a way of refreshing my memory on how to work the software and quick short-cuts. I found this very helpful towards my editing on the project.

Overall it was a very good day, I learnt a lot about the film and video industry and, It helped me come up with new ideas for my own music video.

Codes and Conventions of Fatboy Slims music video's

Norman Cook, who is known as Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ and record producer. He created many well known songs such as; Praise You, Don't Let The Man Get You Down and Right Here, Right Now. Possibly the most iconic Fatboy Slim video is 'Weapon Of Choice' featuring actor Christopher Walken. It was directed by Spike Jonze and it won multiple awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards and earned a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Video, this was a massive success. 


In all of 'FBS's' video's, he appears in none of them. This will make it a lot easier for us when producing our video. They all have meaningful narratives to them, but they don't mainly match the lyrics. This is because his songs have limited lyrics in them. Also the camera shots tend to be still framed shots. Because his songs and videos were produced a long time ago, technology was no where near as advanced as it is now. 


His videos appear to have a very creative side. We don't see the usually narratives of a modern day music video. This feeling is created through clever and well thought about shot types/position. This is something we are going to have to focus on very closely when making ours, this is so the view doesn't get bored. 





Here is an example of one of his most well know songs, 'Right here, Right now.' This video is all about evolution and is very cleverly done. It is a great example of his type of videos.