Class Video Idea

Using HD Cameras

I have recently used HD cameras for the first time. I first used it for a mini vid where we were given the task of filming part of a song and creating a music video for it we had a song by Jason Donovan. The second time I used the HD cameras were for filming an event hosted by the school based around the olympics.

The HD cameras were no harder to use than the normal cameras that we had used previously for our coursework, they adapted to the lighting conditions quicker which was better for us as it was a sunny day when we filmed. They also gave a very noticeable increase in video and sound quality after we had rendered the clips onto Final Cut. The footage was differently uploaded and then it was different to export off of Final Cut as well. 

(WL) Obtaining Mini Vid Footage

On tuesday we went out to get footage for our mini vid task. We decided to go up to Ilkley moor for the shoot due to it's nice scenery and because the original video being set on moorland. Also in the comments of that video someone mentions the fact that videos set in the countryside are timeless. We used the camera hand help to save time setting up a tripod. We did struggle at times to keep it steady, however it did save us  a lot of time. Overall the HD cameras where easier to use than the mini Dv as we didn't have to worry about tapes or filming over footage. 

We experimented with different camera angles and zooms. We took performance footage and some scenery of things like ducks and flowers fitting in with the genre. I took us around 45 minutes to get all the footage as we had to go to different locations on the moor. We took shots from low angles and different distances using pans across showing moorland. We managed to sync most of the song well due to having the lyrics sheet on us at all times.  We had a few problems filming due to random people walking around the tarn, but there weren't that many people around which was good.

 

(AK) Mini Vid Confirmation

We decided to use the song Too Many Broken Hearts by Jason Donovan for our 'mini-vid' group task. We will film on Ilkley Moor as the scenery suits the pop style of Jason Donovan. Our video qill follow Will (who will be singing) walking over ther moors, standing on rocks and lying on the ground. Me and Sean will both be in the background playing a guitar (which we will borrow from the music department) at some point in the video.

(WL) Editing The Mini Vid

We used Final cut again for the editing of the mini vid and developing our skills using layering and effects. The first challenge was syncing the video clips to the original song and matching up the footages. We used keyframes to animate certain shots to zoom and spin into the flowers. We also synced certain parts with the beat of the song. When the drum machine makes a fill the shots cut in time with the song. Overall the editing went well We attempted to keep the cuts fairly fast to engage the audience. We used layers to make the scenery shots more interesting.

The Buggles- Video Killed the Radio Star

The Buggles- Video killed the Radio Star
Album: The Age of Plastic
Island Records
Released: 1979

• First music video to air on MTV in the USA on 1 August 1981
• Old music videos were mostly only performance, like this one. 
• The editing was slow and the takes were longer.
• MTV changed the way music videos were made, they were re invented to be fast paced.
• Digitisation has helped performers create music videos as they can now afford the equipment and to show them. 

(ALL) Learning From Mini-Vid

what makes for a good pitch? 

First of all to have a good pitch you need to have a good idea of what you want to create. You also need to have confidence behind your pitch and a good idea of where you want to film and what you want to be filming.

what are the key steps involved in R+P?

Firstly listening to the song and seeing if there are any noticeable lyrics, you can also watch the music video for inspiration, in the comments there was also feedback from someone in the comments "If you're gonna make a classic video that never ages - have nature scenery as a backdrop!"

if this had been the actual coursework, what would you have to add/improve (look at the assessment criteria) to get good marks for R+P?

We would of firstly spent much more time on looking at the songs music videos and music videos that are of the same genre. We would of also created things such as story boards and call sheets, we may have also asked for feedback on our idea from a number of people; including teenagers and adults. 

what can you say now about the roles of cinematographer, director, producer? is it important to have one person taking responsibility for each of these roles?

related to the last point, was your shoot well organised?

In terms of knowing where we wanted to shoot- yes. Although we didn't have much time to pick locations due to the sudden suprise of actually shooting part of a music video. 

what can/did go wrong on a shoot, and what steps help you overcome such problems (better still, prevent them from happening in the first place!)? 

School children cut short our filming. We also didn't have a tripod which on reflection didn't work out as well as we'd hoped.

did shoots take more/less time than you estimated?

Finding different locations took longer than the actual filming as we were productive with the time we had.

what difference does working with HD as opposed to mini-DV make?

We get sharper images and you can get more detail and better quality when either zooming in or out. 

is it necessary to stick to a genre you're familiar with to have a good idea?

No. We had a great time listening to Jason Donovan. 

what issues are raised by working within a group

We had different ideas on where to film and where not to film.

do you think you could manage a full music video production single-handed?

With a greater collection of clips as well as equipment such as multiple cameras and a tripod I think I could.

what more have you learned about Final Cut Express?

We have used new editing techniques such as key framing and rotating clips. 

how many shots do you now think a good music vid will have for every 30 seconds of screen time?

For 30 seconds they may have 20-30 shots.

did you shoot each planned shots repeatedly (from different angles)? did you need to shoot more sequences repeatedly to create better shot variation for editing a dynamic video?

As we had limited time we only shot a few of the shots at different angles.

anything else that occurs to you (eg importance of mise-en-scene and locations; pre-preparing cast with lines + basic direction; having loud portable media player to play track when shooting, dance choreography if relevant etc etc)?

We had a lyric sheet as well as a an iPod with the song on to play the music, this helped us to keep in time. 

Kanye West- Power

Power is a song released on may 28th 2010, the music video was directed by Macro Brambilla. 



The music video is very different to modern music videos, the music video is 1:43 long and is only made for a short part of the song (on the album the song is over 4 minutes long). The music video starts by showing the singer, Kanye West, it is what seems to be a still image of him. He has illuminated eyes and it then starts to zoom out, the whole music video seems to be a painting that is moving with characters coming in and out of the video at different times. 



The song entitles power which is shown in the music video by Kanye West being some sort of powerful person or being, he wears a large gold necklace and is always centre framed .


Nudity is represented throughout the music video, although you never see anything, the women are all in as little clothing as possible but when topless they have their back to the camera. 




At the end of the music video a halo is placed above Kanye West's head with a  sword through it this could represent him as having the power, as well as that he also has light shining down on him through the clouds which could represent him or the place being god-like. 

People are Strange

Yesterday we were hit with the task of thinking of a music video for the song People are Strange by The Doors. We listened to the song a number of times while having the lyrics in front of us, this was to help with inspiration for possible ideas that we could have. The idea I had was to have a number of people walk past the cameraman (his POV), they would all be wearing identical masks but have different clothing on. Some people would be working while others rushing to work, people would also pop out of alleyways and side roads, this would make the viewer feel cautious and make the song title literal.

Looking at a Past Students Blog

George Gamble's Blog:

• Links to other peoples blogs at the top of his own blog, it also gives a little description of what the blog is about. 
• Links list at the side of the blog which detail and group together all of the posts such as: practice music videos, links to their research of the music video and George's own Youtube videos that he has embedded into the blog. 
• The blog details where they started with their project and also how they progressed through the year.
• The blog also details information on what equipment they would use- differently they used their own camera which had better specs than the ones provided.
• The Final Cut, digi pack and magazine cover are posted at the top of his blog (the final posts), this makes it easy to locate the final work.

Issues with Song Selection

There are certain things that we can't include when creating a music video. First of all before we start to create the music video, we have to write to the copyright holders of the song and ask for permission to use the soundtrack in our music video. 


We also have to consider the length of the video; we don't want the song to be too short as we won't be able to get as amny marks as we would want and it would be harder to fit a narrative to the song, we also don't want the song to be too long either; as it will also be hard to stretch out the narrative and we would also have to collect a lot of shots to use.


The song cannot feature swearing, if it is small amounts we can bleep it out, but it is not allowed to contain a lot of strong words; or any racial or homophobic language. Nudity is also not allowed to feature in the music video, we can hint at it but not show it either; this is similar to alcohol; it should only be used if it fits the genre, it wouldn't be used in a pop song that is advertised to young people. Alcohol can also not be shown to give positive signs in music videos under advertisement laws, although it can still be featured in the videos. 

The A2 Brief!

At A2 you produce a portfolio of productions: a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options: a website homepage for the band; a digipak for the album’s release; a magazine advertisement for the digipak. So, that's a music video as your main text, plus two 'ancillary texts' linked to this.