Breaking up for christmas

Today we broke up for Christmas, due to the delay caused by the VHS conversion we have decided to borrow a laptop from school so that we can edit our video over the holidays.

VHS Tape

On Friday we sent our tape off to a shop that will convert it to digital footage that we can edit on Final Cut Pro. Tomorrow we will get our footage back and we will begin editing.

Editing Continued

Here is a picture of the editing software we used, Final Cut Pro 5

Beginning editing

Today we got our converted footage back from the shop and began editing our music video, we're on schedule to have our video finished and uploaded by next Monday (21st Dec)

Filming update

Today we filmed in the boiler room of our school. This is good for our music video as it is a very isolated setting. We got some good shots of Lewis lip syncing.

Filming today

Today we filmed some footage of me playing bass in the old sixth form block. This is a great setting because the derelict setting is really eerie. We will be filming some footage of Lewis playing the keyboard in the hall tomorrow.

Permisssion to use the old 6th form block

Today we asked the headmaster of our school if we could film in the old 6th form block and he said we could. This would be an interesting location to film, as the school have been planning to knock the building down for a while. The derelict setting would be a great place to get some shots of the band playing.

Filming today

Today we planned to film some footage in the hall, however the year 11s had their mock GCSEs on so we couldn't film. Instead of doing nothing we went up to the music studio and got some footage of us playing up there, we might use this footage in-between other shots in our planned location.

music video ratings

It is important for us to consider age ratings when creating a music video, adding unsuitable themes could isolate our target audience. The song we have picked is clean and does not contain any bad language or themes. This means that we should create a music video that is also clean as not to stop young fans of the song from watching the music video.


This is becoming an increasingly important factor to remember as Youtube are starting to issue age ratings on their music videos.

BBFC Age Ratings

How do the British Board of Film Certificate rate films?

Films ratings are based on the content in the film. Material that shows

• Violence
• Nudity/Sex
• Drug use
• Blood/Gore
• Bad Language
• Discrimination
• Suggestible themes (these may be dangerous acts that children imitate)

How is 'Sense8' postmodern?

'Sense8' is an American science fiction drama, the plot revolves around 8 people from different walks of life who suddenly become mentally and emotionally linked. Sense8 aims to explore topics that are often ignored in other, more conventional sci fi shows such as: identity, sexuality,gender and religion.

One reason why Sense8 is so clearly postmodern is that the programme revolves around the blurring of reality. The characters have momentary experiences of each other’s lives. In the first 10 minutes this becomes apparent, when we see police officer Will gorski wake up from a nightmare and precede to go and complain about the loud music from the neighbouring apartment. He knocks on the door and we can hear the dance music coming from inside. When no one answers the door, Will kicks the door down and the music stops. He finds the apartment empty and there is no trace of anyone. We as the audience know that he is experiencing the sound of the nightclub from character Riley Blue, an Icelandic DJ living in London. This scene is cleverly edited as the music is represented as digetic sound, because it is not revealed that he is experiencing Riley’s hearing until he enters the empty apartment.

Another example of the blurring of fiction and reality is when we are presented with a scene in a church, where a man is approaching the alter wielding a gun. He holds the gun up to the priests head and is about to shoot when the director calls cut. We are then shown that this is just the set of a film and they are all actors. This scene would not have the same effect it does if it revealed this straight away. Instead we are made to feel uneasy with the intense non digetic music and the slow tracking shot of the feet walking along.

In the first episode of Sense8 we are introduced to the main 8 characters within the first 25 minutes. This Constant switching between each character’s experience creates a lack of clear metanarrative which makes us intrigued to discover their link to each other. This is also a feature of post modernism

The transgender character Nomi Marks is not immediately revealed as a trans man and instead is shown with her lesbian lover. This creates the feeling that transgendered people are just like anyone else (which they are). However other shows in the past have either not included trans people or included them as a token character which have no effect on the plot of the piece. This shift in attitudes towards sexuality and gender is an extremely current topic, this emphasised how up to date with modern life Sense8 is and is effective in its approach towards modern issues.

School Trip

Today we visited 'F.A.C.T' (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology), we watched the film 'The Princess Bride', it was a good film and I couldn't help but try and analyse the postmodern aspects of it. An example of these postmodern features would be the fact that it is essentially a story within a story. The film cuts between the fairy tale and the young boy's reaction to the story.

 

 After watching the film we had a short talk from a member of the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) He told us how films are rated and explained why 'The Princess Bride' is rated a PG (Parental Guidance). Here is the link to the BBFC Website

Here is a picture of FACT in Liverpool

Timeline for music video

Locations: School Hall, Recording Studio, George's back garden, abandoned Sixth Form Block.

Begin Filming- 7th November  


Finish Filming: 10th December 


Convert Footage to digital: 11th December 


Begin Editing:  14th December 


Finish Editing/Upload to Youtube: 21st December

Storyboard 1

planning 2

Planning 1

Location moodboard

costume ideas

Jangle pop is similar to the style of indie rock in the way that the band members dress. This is why we have chosen to base our costume choice off the indie rock band Bombay Bicycle Club

They wear plain unbranded shirts and t shirts and plain trousers. Our clothing choice will be similar to this band

Testing the V/H/S camera

Today we tested the VHS camera, it worked well and added a retro effect, however we are currently waiting for the arrival of some tapes to film onto

Here is a panorama of our school hall.We will draw the stage curtains and add coloured lighting when we are filming our video

Here is George using the VHS camera

Survey for audience

Create your own user feedback survey

An example of a controversial music video

The prodigy- Smack my bitch up
This music video was very controversial at the time of its release, as the behaviour shown is very graphic.

The whole video is shot from what we assume to be the point of view of a man. This video documents a person going out and engaging in: drug use, car theft, violence. This is very controversial as most other music videos at the time were not graphic. However in recent years, music videos have become more and more raunchy. This is a marketing strategy to create hysteria around an artist's videos which often increases sales.

The prodigy made this music video in an attempt to break down gender stereotypes. We assume we are watching a man's behaviour, because we associate violence with men more than women. Right at the end of the video, the person we have been watching is revealed to be a woman

This video was made at a time when it was assumed that domestic violence was only an issue in hetrosexual relationships, where the man is violent to the woman. Where as in reality, violence is an issue in lesbian couples too. It is clever the way that we are allowed to make our own assumptions about the person before it's revealed.

V/H/S recorder

Today we found an old V/H/S recorder in school. I think filming parts of our music video on this would add an interesting retro effect to our piece, especially when each member is in their chamber of reflection. This old style will help us conform to the genre. We will have to convert the tape to digital format before editing the video.

Here are some photos of the film camera.

 

 Here's George holding the camera

 

Mood board

Here is a collection of photos I got from the internet, they display the basic themes of our music video.