Wednesday 14 October 2009
Feedback from Industry Practitioners.
I e-mailed David O'Neill, a director i met recently, and asked him what he thought. this is what he said.
Hi Tim
Wow! love the band, they're great. Good find.
As far as the video is concerned, its a live performance film, shot in a studio environment which is familiar territory, so you expect it to be quite straightforward/raw and about the music. The lighting is dark and moody which gives it atmosphere. the guy with the white shirt is overlit though and when you cut to him it breaks the mood a little. there is a moment where you see a white plug in a socket which catches the eye, but otherwise its all fine. Good to see some more close ups of hands on guitars etc. I'd throw in a bit more of that if you've got it, as the camera movement and frame size is a little repetitive.
The lead singer is so key to the bands identity, that I wanted to read a bit more in his face, so I'd have given him a little more light. I've seen a lot of films like this, and to be honest, its about selling the band. If the band is shit the video won't keep me there, but they're great, a bit like early Cure, so I wanted to hear the whole thing. Their next step is to find a way of getting people to be more excited about them, which is about stage performance/personality and style/image.
Dx
Hi Tim
Wow! love the band, they're great. Good find.
As far as the video is concerned, its a live performance film, shot in a studio environment which is familiar territory, so you expect it to be quite straightforward/raw and about the music. The lighting is dark and moody which gives it atmosphere. the guy with the white shirt is overlit though and when you cut to him it breaks the mood a little. there is a moment where you see a white plug in a socket which catches the eye, but otherwise its all fine. Good to see some more close ups of hands on guitars etc. I'd throw in a bit more of that if you've got it, as the camera movement and frame size is a little repetitive.
The lead singer is so key to the bands identity, that I wanted to read a bit more in his face, so I'd have given him a little more light. I've seen a lot of films like this, and to be honest, its about selling the band. If the band is shit the video won't keep me there, but they're great, a bit like early Cure, so I wanted to hear the whole thing. Their next step is to find a way of getting people to be more excited about them, which is about stage performance/personality and style/image.
Dx
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Importance of Commission for Media Practitioners
Commissioned work is important for any media practitioners in terms of portfolio and skills. Being able to create your own work and formulate ideas into products is good, but being able to be given someone else’s idea and create something for them is arguably as useful. if you can show that you have worked on a commission, it shows you have been able to work closely with a client for a given target, and have created something of a standard that they are happy with.
Having a portfolio of work with commissioned pieces can also be helpful in getting you further work. If, for example, you were commissioned to make an advert for a product, and you made a successful advert that the client was happy with, you could show that advert to another potential client as an example of what you can do. If they think the advert is good, they might ask you to create one for them. Alternatively, if you make a product that the client is happy with, they might ask you to create something else for them later on as you did good work.
However, if you create something that is delivered late or unfinished, the response could turn against you. If you seem like you have only done half a job, then the client may fire you, and recommend that other industry professionals don’t work with you in future. If your name gets recognized as somebody that can’t do work to a brief or deadline, you may find it very hard to find work in the industry.
Some people can also choose to specialize in certain areas, so they choose to find commissions in music videos or adverts, so they can ensure they do very good products for each commission instead of trying to do lots of different things and doing them all averagely. This could be good, as you could earn a reputation as being good at that certain area of the industry, however it could also mean people see you as a music video person, so wouldn’t consider you to create something else for them. This can significantly reduce the amount of paid work you can get and therefore you have to try and work harder to get out of a cycle of just making the same things over and over again.
Having a portfolio of work with commissioned pieces can also be helpful in getting you further work. If, for example, you were commissioned to make an advert for a product, and you made a successful advert that the client was happy with, you could show that advert to another potential client as an example of what you can do. If they think the advert is good, they might ask you to create one for them. Alternatively, if you make a product that the client is happy with, they might ask you to create something else for them later on as you did good work.
However, if you create something that is delivered late or unfinished, the response could turn against you. If you seem like you have only done half a job, then the client may fire you, and recommend that other industry professionals don’t work with you in future. If your name gets recognized as somebody that can’t do work to a brief or deadline, you may find it very hard to find work in the industry.
Some people can also choose to specialize in certain areas, so they choose to find commissions in music videos or adverts, so they can ensure they do very good products for each commission instead of trying to do lots of different things and doing them all averagely. This could be good, as you could earn a reputation as being good at that certain area of the industry, however it could also mean people see you as a music video person, so wouldn’t consider you to create something else for them. This can significantly reduce the amount of paid work you can get and therefore you have to try and work harder to get out of a cycle of just making the same things over and over again.
Monday 12 October 2009
Audience Feedback
I posted my video on facebook, and asked some people for feedback. I got several responses, however my friends aren't fantastic at giving feedback or answering questions. but this is what they said. The general feeling was that the video was very well done, but nobody really told me i should change anything.
I also put the video on YouTube and Vimeo, and collected some responses from there. I also showed the video to my family and friends 
when they watched it, and asked them to show people they knew so i could get some decent feedback. Most people really liked the video, they said it was really good. One or two said it was alright but they didn't think it was anything special and a few people just said they didn't like it.
when they watched it, and asked them to show people they knew so i could get some decent feedback. Most people really liked the video, they said it was really good. One or two said it was alright but they didn't think it was anything special and a few people just said they didn't like it.Unfortunately, nobody really told me any ways i could improve it, so the feedback may not prove to be very useful anyway.
Sunday 11 October 2009
Editing
I thought this video was quite easy to sync up, because a lot of our footage of the singer, he had his hand covering his mouth, so you couldn't really tell what he was saying anyway. This makes it slightly harder to prove we did any lip syncing, as does the effects we used over the singer. We removed a few of the effects from the start of the video so you could see a bit of lip syncing, and put more effects on at the end, so it sort of builds up as the song progresses.
After we had cut the footage down into shorter bits that we thought went well with the video, we watched it and decided there was something missing. We figured that if we added some effects we could give our video an extra little kick that it needed to be a success. We started with an effect called motion blur, which was used on the shots rotating round the singer. We thought this looked AWESOME, so it was used on a few more shots. We then found an effect called 'Bad TV', which cuts the shot in half and makes look like a broken TV. In order to make this shot more interesting, i copied the footage it was used in, placed it above the other footage so i could move them up and down at the same time and it would look like the screen was rolling properly. There is another effect being used called 'Echo', which isn't used as much as the others, but we decided it would look good in some places. It basically plays the footage over itself a few times within a split second of each other. I think it looks good.
After we had cut the footage down into shorter bits that we thought went well with the video, we watched it and decided there was something missing. We figured that if we added some effects we could give our video an extra little kick that it needed to be a success. We started with an effect called motion blur, which was used on the shots rotating round the singer. We thought this looked AWESOME, so it was used on a few more shots. We then found an effect called 'Bad TV', which cuts the shot in half and makes look like a broken TV. In order to make this shot more interesting, i copied the footage it was used in, placed it above the other footage so i could move them up and down at the same time and it would look like the screen was rolling properly. There is another effect being used called 'Echo', which isn't used as much as the others, but we decided it would look good in some places. It basically plays the footage over itself a few times within a split second of each other. I think it looks good.
Friday 9 October 2009
Feedback from band on rough cut 2
They liked some of the effects, some not so much. They liked the CCTV/blurred effects they used, and it allowed some of the badly framed shots to look much better. Originally, we didn't have so many effects, they told us to put more in. If we started with the CCTV effect, we should put it near the end, as well. We had some other effects that they didn't like, so we removed them.
We had to sync up some more of the vocals at the start of the video. With the effects, they were unable to see if we had synced it up properly. They suggested that we should do it more at the start to cover the sync errors. We also had to use the footage of the guitar during the guitar solo and not of the bassist. In our new edited version, we included the guitar.
They liked the fact that it was quite dark when it is shown on different screens, which made them more mysterious. They liked that, but they also liked that you could clearly see who it was the rest of the time, as that was one of the key thing they wanted.
We had to sync up some more of the vocals at the start of the video. With the effects, they were unable to see if we had synced it up properly. They suggested that we should do it more at the start to cover the sync errors. We also had to use the footage of the guitar during the guitar solo and not of the bassist. In our new edited version, we included the guitar.
They liked the fact that it was quite dark when it is shown on different screens, which made them more mysterious. They liked that, but they also liked that you could clearly see who it was the rest of the time, as that was one of the key thing they wanted.
Thursday 8 October 2009
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Feedback from the Band
The band watched the first rough cut i made the other day, and gave us some feedback. Basically, they said that if it is entirely performance based, we shouldn't cut from singer to different angle of singer, which i did accidentally as the different layers were on top of each other, so when i cut a bit out of one, it just showed the one beneath it, and i put the 2 of the singer on top of each other.
I also need to sync it up a bit more, some of the singing is slightly out, which i only noticed after watching the video a few times, and there is a bit of the drummer at the end which is totally out of sync. I also put in a lot of footage of the drummer, and should probably use something else.
They did like the speed of the video, they said it kept the pace up and worked for the song. They were also pleased we decided against the narrative because they said it would have slowed it down.
When i was first editing this, i really like the quick cuts at the start, but the more i watch it, the less i like it, because it just seems too quick and out of place. I prefer the slower cuts that start about halfway through. I also think it would be easier to use slower cuts because it means i can use the other footage at other points in the video. The music all sort of blurs into itself so there isn't really definitive tunes to try and sync to, which means i can put some bits of footage pretty much anywhere in the video
I also need to sync it up a bit more, some of the singing is slightly out, which i only noticed after watching the video a few times, and there is a bit of the drummer at the end which is totally out of sync. I also put in a lot of footage of the drummer, and should probably use something else.
They did like the speed of the video, they said it kept the pace up and worked for the song. They were also pleased we decided against the narrative because they said it would have slowed it down.
When i was first editing this, i really like the quick cuts at the start, but the more i watch it, the less i like it, because it just seems too quick and out of place. I prefer the slower cuts that start about halfway through. I also think it would be easier to use slower cuts because it means i can use the other footage at other points in the video. The music all sort of blurs into itself so there isn't really definitive tunes to try and sync to, which means i can put some bits of footage pretty much anywhere in the video
Sunday 4 October 2009
Rough Cut
This is the initial rough cut for our music video. I edited this together in about an hour earlier, so it isn't perfect. As we are now only using the footage from the rehearsal space, this gives an idea of what our video may look like in the end.
Friday 2 October 2009
Change of plan
We had decided that we were going to use some footage of the band in their rehearsal, and some of their live gig at the Junction. We had planned on filming some of the show tonight, as we were told they were playing around half 7. However in reality they are apparently not playing until half past 9, and neither me or mike can hang around long enough to get the film and get home, due to relying on public transport to get home. We cleared this with the band, because if they had been really set on having some live footage in the video we would havehad to film some, but they said it was alright, providing the finished video kept a good level of interest for long enough.
Filming
Today, me and Mike went filming for our music video. We had arranged with the band to film during their practice session, so we could basically get some footage of the band and assorted close ups and whatnot of them as they played the song. We got the band to play through the song about 8 times, and filmed it in different ways to get different footage each time. This is so we have plenty of footage to sort through, so there is no chance that we can miss any part of the song. We have also organized to get some footage when they play at the Junction on Friday. Simon has kindly said we can go on stage and get some shots into the crowd, and we are also hoping to get some video footage from in the crowd, looking up at them.
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