Filming; Instruments

In this session we as a group decided to film some shots of the band playing instruments, we decided to do this as it was a common trait that we had seen in Ska 2tone artists work, and therefore we felt it was an important part that needed to be included in our music video. This included some extreme close ups shots of Stacey pressing buttons on the saxophone and chords being played on a bass guitar.

We also filmed some long shots so that we could have Stacey playing both the guitar and saxophone at the same time. This would be more difficult to edit using Final Cut as we would have to crop some of the shot.

I felt this schedule was successful as we got a lot of effective shots that can be used in the video as cut a ways and the close up of the saxophone can be shown on the actually part where the saxophone is heard.

Uploading

We spent this lesson uploading our re-shoot onto our music video, this was because we needed this footage so that we could continue editing. As we had already done a lot of our video already when we realised we needed to re-shoot.

However I took this time to begin experimenting on Final Cut as I have never used it before, so I started by experimenting on a clip that we weren't going to use and worked on the using the colour corrector and making it change throughout the clip. After doing this we decided that we would use this idea in the music video.

Fliming; Re-Shooting

Today after school I re-shot in the recording studio with help from my other group members. We decided to re-shoot because the main singer (myself) wasn't in the appropriate costume of Ska genre, so for this session I thought about it and thought that shorts, a long cardigan and a scarf. after researching the Ska i saw that they wore tailored trousers and blazers, however to modernise it I came up with a colour such as pink and tailored shorts.

To achieve different shots types at the same time, we decided to set up cameras in different locations in the room. we had one in a mid shot of the singer, one on a tripod, one at a low angle and we also used a FIG-RIG to get close ups and moving shots. We also tried a shot hand held at high angle, which is conventional in Ska genres, were they did high angle shots of the lead singer and band. The amount of different shots that we did allowed us to gain interesting shots that would appeal to the audience, as the recording studio shots are used a lot throughout the music video, so using interesting shots would keep the audience engaged.

I am pleased with this session as I feel we got a lot of footage that we can use, I was also acting and performing the song. i am also pleased because we thought more about everything, such as the lighting, which were small flood lights which looked light spotlights all over the room.

Filming;

In this session myself and Stacey, took it upon ourselves to do some more filming as Sam and Thomas worked on doing some more editing on the music video.

I felt that it was a good idea that we filmed Stacey in the same way that we filmed me singing the chorus so that we could use split screen, so that we can put the shots in different squares on the screen so that it looks as if I am singing to myself. The split screen was reminiscent of Ska genre, as we had seen it in The Selector music video.

FIlming & Editing;

During today's lesson, Myself Tom and Sam went and filmed some sections that could be used for the music video.

-- We had the idea of having a man running across the screen, to add a comedic aspect to the video, we were lucky to found someone in the common room who was willing to help us out. We filmed him in a long shot running across a white wall.

-- We then filmed myself singing the chorus facing different places, (looking up, then down, then left and right) in close ups. Our idea is to put the shots in different squares on the screen so that it looks as if I am singing to myself.

We then uploaded to clips onto the Mac's in Final Cut were Tom tired to use the Chorma Key to lose the background , however the actors clothing wasnt contrasting enough for the effect to work. there was also a problem with shawdowing, so we have to re shoot this next lesson.

Editing

In this session we were editing and experimenting with the opacity of the clip were I (the main singer) is in the music studio, so that you can see me singing and my foot tapping at the same time.

We also had to re-construct what we had done in the previous session, as we were unable to save. however this was done quickly as we knew what we were doing.

Filming; Outside of School

For the line 'All the teachers in the pub, passing round the ready rub', we had decided that we were going to use stop animation to show a drink going down as if someone is drinking it.

I went outside of school and filmed a close up of the glass and the bottle of Magners so that it would add something to the shot. we decided to use stop animation as is had previously been successful in our music video and wanted to use more it as it would keep the audience engaged in what is going on.

Editing

In this session we continued with editing were we;

-- We started to experiment with splitting the screen into four clips so the audience would not get bored of watching them one after the other, also the shots relate to each other as 1 shot shows the point of view of what is going on, the other shows close up reactions of the band members and headmaster on a wheely chair and mid shot of a wheely race.

-- To do this we used super composition, however we were unable to save it but when it comes to re-doing it, it wont take us long.

This was also a response to a music video 'Gangster' by 'The Specials', this also helps add to the pace of the music video.

-- We also used the colour corrector at the beginning of the video so we had 4 square (black and white), which is again a response to the same Ska music video by 'The Specials'.

The black and whitsqaures we hope makes the audience think of the Ska genre and the original version of the song, so they can apreciate the way we have gone against and followed the conventions of Ska to bring it into the 21st century of music videos.

Editing

During today's lesson we started to edit our footage on Final Cut. We started off with the establishing shot of a school building with some trees in the shot. Most of the editing in this session was done by Tom as he is the only one in our group who knows how to use final cut and the rest of us and the class have not had a tutorial from Mr Winters yet, so Tom showed us some of the basic stuff we need to know.

Uploading

Today we decided that we have got to the point were we can start to upload our filming, this gave us the chance to remind us of what we have already shot and what we still need to shot. it also let us look at what we need to re-shot, so that we can get more interesting shots or see what we don't need and look at how we are going to piece all of these together.

Filming; Re-Shots in the Corridor

After watching back our previously recorded shots we realised that the shots mainly done via the Fig-Rig were the best. the Fig-Rig allowed us to get the same effect we would with a hand held camera but it wasn't shaky. the person holding the Fig-Rig was also able to see their faces which meant that they looked at the camera more so when we upload it, it will look like you looking start ahead.

These shots were intreesting to watch back and to film as it gave up different angles that we could used, as we filmed to same shots from a low angleand high angle, to see which worked better.

Filming; In the Corridor

In this session we decided to focus on the line 'Headmasters breaking all the rules', and for these shots we first decided to have me sitting on a wheely chair and have me being pushed down the corridor, first filming form my viewpoint and then my facial expressions. We also filmed Sam (Headmaster) being pushed down the corridor by myself and Stacey (Band Member). this was to show rules being broken as you should be having chair races, and especially if you are the headmaster (Sam).

However these shots were mainly practice shots as not everyone had the right clothing that we needed to have for these shots. We also in this session experiemented with using the Fig-Rig, which we used to film the point of view of the person. We also filmed the camera on a tripod at the side of the corridor, so that we could film my feet as they went past.

Filming; Around School

For today's session we decided that we would get some more filming done and film some shots around school. First we did a extreme close up of my eye, because it was a shot from our storyboard but i dont think that we are going to use is as we dont feel it fits in with anything.

After this was done we did another extreme close up but of a key hole so that you could see through i, this was a good shot as you can see through it but, what you see through it dosent fit in with the following shot sthat woudl be used. This shot had to be filmed using a hand held and using the tripod so that we could see which one was better, as the camera had to be in the right place, close enought to see through the key hole.

Finally we filmled the fire bell using a and held shot, but it was kind of shakey, however this shot could still be used as the shot needs to look like the bell rings. Even thought these shots are random most of them will be used in our music video as they relate to the surroundings.

Uploading

In today's session we decided to upload our images onto iMovie then copy it over to Final Cut. This gave us the opportunity to see everything that we have filmed and see what we can and can't use, and what we need to re-shot and still film, from the 3 tapes that we have.

Filming; In a Classroom

For the line 'Sits alone and bend his cane' we decide top use he same concept of headmaster breaking all the rules as film our headmaster (Sam), lounging around in a staff room eating sweets and breaking all the conventions of what a teacher should be doing. we thought this would be good to use on the music video as it adds fits in with the lyrics and the whole school idea of teachers breaking tradition.

We took various shots;

-- We recorded on a tripod over the shoulder shot to create an effect someone was watching him,

-- Low angle to give the headmaster status, a reflective shot to make the shot more interesting

-- And various other experimental shots.

Filming; In the Office

For this filming session we had previously decided to shoot in an office and so booked a room that we could film in. We wanted to use the office to film mainly for the lyrics 'sits alone and bends his cane' and thought that using a headmatsers office's matched the lyrics, so to try and add a homour elimante to it myself and Stacey made posters that read; 'How to Cane', 'Student Dicipline', 'Detention List' & 'Students to Cane List'.

For this we did two different shots, one were we used the tripod and panned around the room, to wear the lists were resting on the desk and one were Tom used a hand held camera and panned round the room, to were the posters were up on the wall.

However we didn't get alot get a lot of shots done that we may have liked to, beacuse whilst in the room we decided that we wanted to film the band members in it, so that it could relate to the shots more through the use of fast jump cuts between the room and the band member singing in the lyrics in the room,. But we unfortuantely didnt have to correct costume to wear to film in, so are going to have to book the room again, and film then.

Filming; Woodshop

For today's lesson we decided that we were goin to flim in the woodshop room; for the lyrics 'smashing up the woodwork tools'. For this shot we used stopmotion animation, so that the tools looked like they were moving themselves.

To achieve this we first filmed a high angle shot of the hammer laying on thw ork bench, filming each shot for 2seconds then slightly moving it. after this we filmed a close up of the hammer coming down on a piece of wood, to look like it was hammering it, so all we needed to do after uploading it was to speed it up.

In this shot i noticed that Sam's bag was in it, in the background with his pencil case of 'Zippy' sticking out of it. but we dedcided to leave it in as we felt it made the shot more humourous and more interestiong to the audience. I felt this session of filming was succesfull as we got all of the filming that we intended to.

Booking Places for Filming

During todays lesson we were told that we had 2 weeks left of filming, and therefore decided that we were going to book rooms that we needed and to ask people to appear in our music video. below is our plan of filming;

September 29th -- Period One: Film in wood shop.
September 29th -- After School: Film Mr.Hume and have booked the FIG-RIG to film. September 30th - Period Three: Film in office (poster's needed).

Filming; Shooting in the Playground

On our storyboard we decided to have a ball boucne across the screen, so Myself Tom ad Sam decided to=hat during this lesson we would film this. As it is a ball bouncing across the screen it didn't leave us with many shot types to do. So we experiemented with the ball bouncing over the camera, which didn't work as we had to make sure that the person throwing the ball wasnt in the shot or not the get any shadows in the shot, or hit the camera.

We also filmed the establishing shot of the school sign, and with this we are hoping to change the school name through the use of the Mac computers.

Shooting Schedule

Storyboard 8

Storyboards 7

Storyboards 6

Storyboards 5

Storyboards 4

Storyboards 3

Storyboards 2

Storyboards 1

Shooting in The Recording Studio

Re-Recording Baggy Trousers

We starting the planning of our music video we decided that we wanted to have a female sing the song and after searching every where we found that there was no female that sang that song, our that there was hardly any female Ska bands.

From this we thought that it would be a could idea to go against the conventions of a Ska Bands and create a Female one. We decided that i would sing the vocals and that Stacey McDougall, this was because we wanted to push the Ska band convetions and have a Black female lead.

Music Video Powerpoint

Planning; Annotating Lyrics

Chosen Song

Our Chosen song is Madness' Baggy Trouser as i feel that we can use the same consept as them, as it is also a low budget video, while at the same time making it more colourful to appeal to the 21st century.

Ska Moodboard

Ska Music Videos

This is one of Madness' popular songs, which is also analysed in the a pervious chart.

However unlike the Selectors' Missing Words, the mis-en-scene is within a house relating to the lyrics the band is saying, but the main thing shown in this video is the lead singer and the band members playing their instruments, in a small room, which adds a comedic value to the video and it also relates to their target audience of that time, who properly remember when the whole family was round and they were crapped in a small room. Madness' music video generally tend to link the actual lyrics to what is being shown in some way.

Other song from the Ska genre is; The Selecter -- Missing Words; This music video is the only Ska band that seems to have a Black Female singer in it. This song also has a reggae sound to it, with the beat in the backgorund that they have used.

Common within Ska 2Tone music videos the band is the main thing that is shown to be going on in the video, along with close ups and birds eye view shots of the band performing. This could be made more interesting through the use of split screens which can show the band playing but from different angles and close ups of the band members. However through only showing the band this can becoming boring to the audience, which is something that I feel my music video should challenge, through not showing as much of the band performing with instruments but through the use of other narrative means such as setting and mise-en-scene.

Analysis of 2 Ska Videos

Research Into Ska

Ska music origniated in Jamacia in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae, which combined elements of Carribbean mento and Calypso, with American Jazz and Rhythm and Blues.

In the early 1960s this music became popular with British Mods and later many skinheads and the English 2 Tone came about in 1970s.

2 Tone started in the areas of conventry and was a fusion of Jamican Ska Rhythms and melodies with punk rock's more aggressive guitar chords and lyrics. This style of Ska had a faster tempo, fuller instruments and a harder edge.
One of the most effective 2 Tone bands were Madness bringing 2 Tone to the mainstream, with The Specials and The Selecter coming after them.

Choosing a Genre

Based on our group we looked at our questionnaire analysis from each person and found out that the most common style of genre was; Indie and Pop.

Then after researching into different songs that we were all hapy doing, we found the genre Ska which is a older version on Indie Pop. We then looked at Ska Video's and Artist's such as; Maddness, The Specials, No Doubt, Too Much Too Tone and The Selecter.

After looking at different Ska video's we then decided to do Maddness' Baggy Trousers because we felt we could use there idea of making a simple video funny, and relatable to a young audience because we remember what it was like to be at school and therefore can relate to the lyrics our the clips within the music video.

Research; Musc Video Editing Analysis -- Radiohead

Research into Music Videos -- Bordwell & Thompson's Theory

Graphic-
shapes, colours, light & dark, movement & status.
graphic match.
graphic continuity (follow)/discontinuity (not follow).
super 8 + DV footage types.

Rhythmic-
duration of shots.
accent, beat & tempo.
build tension.
same duration for each clip.
steady metrical beat.

Spatial-
continuity.
establishing shot.
connective relationship.
spatial co-existance.
cross cutting.

Temporal-
order, duration & frequency.
flashbacks, flash forwards.
elipse.
punctuation - slow dissolve, fade.
empty frames.
cutaway.
frequency, tension & expectation.

Research into Music Videos -- Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis
- The kindest cut: functions and meanings of music videos.
famine approach.
editing styles blend.
discursive form.

Classic Continuity - (Bordwell - 1987)
further narrative.
limited taxonomy of shot types to 'naturalise' movement from shot to shot.
narrow set of editing possibilities - shot reverse shot.
preserve the flow of time, cohearance and space.
single clear and constant story.


Montage
narrative not key.
expressive frames, angles and shots joined by colour.
varity of editing - jump cuts and conflict.
discontinuity rather than continuity in time and space.
viewer challenged to extrapolate meanings and formulate 'new' ideas.

Research -- Low Budget Analysis

I feel that for my music video, that the use of humour and editing to the beat would be very effective, especially if the humour can relate to the audience member in the form of an everyday situation, and the editing to the beat helps with timing and the pace of a music video. for example within Drum and Bass a fast beat means that a lot is going on which can be shown through a lot of short fast clips within the video.

Research -- Low Budget

After collecting data from my questionnaire i watched low budget music videos, or some with no budget at all to see what made the effective and what ones didn't work.

Research -- Questionnaire Analysis

Research -- Questionnaire

Research -- Questionnaire

To gain an understanding of what a 21st century audience wanted in an act, i created a questionnaire that would help me find out what 21st century audiences that made an effective music video such as; genre, bands or solos artists etc.