reply from Cajun Dance Party

we sent cajun dance party an email with a link to our video and this is the reply we got back from them

dear jade sam patrick and lucy

we're in france about to play a gig, we're backstage and we all just watched the video you did! we loved it, and we think its so good. well done!

love cdp x

screenshot

here's a screen shot of us putting the scientist bit together in the right order at the beginning and end.

final video

new footage:

yesterday,Patrick, Lucy and i went to Stourbridge common in Cambridge to film the rest of our project, we got what we needed, and also some extra footage, and close ups of me singing the song. we were also able to film the swimming through the fields of hay scene. We had some trouble trying to film this before because we didn't know whwere to get the hay from, but Patrick had the initiative to go to a pet shop and buy a bag of hay.! now we have all the footage that we need, we can now get on with getting our piece edited before the deadline.

rough cut !

our rough cut still has not been posted onto the blog, it doesnt seem to want too!! we will keep trying as obviously it is important to see progress made throughout the making of our video.

jade

half term

the others plan to shoot at granchester during the holidays however i am unable to attend as i am away all half term. =(

jade

Progress..

Today we are placing clips onto the time line and arranging them in many different orders to test which looks best. its very difficult as it can look very jolty when we skip from one band setting to another, therefore we came up with the solution of placing other random clips in between every band shot, for example lions and other animals shot on the day.

jade.

editing:

we have started editing, and we have encountered a few problems along the way. first we had trouble lip syncing because you cant hear the song on the actual clips because it is very windy, so we had to lip sync the clips by looking carefully at when i start to sing and read my lips!
the second problem we have encountered was a small glitch in the footage where our video begins, the clip begins, and then starts again. we have overcome this problem by deciding to change clips for the opening scene of the song, and this has also filled a gap at the start that also made our piece look more unprofessional.

same song ... different version..

the song that we used to film our piece with was a completely different tempo to the song that we were issued by college. last lesson we tried to get the song that we used from my ipod onto the computer so we could lip sync our piece properly, but we were unable to do this, so we just had to mess about with our footage and put it in the order we want, and then lip sync as soon as we can get the same song uploaded onto the computer. we now have the correct song version, so we can now proceed with lip syncing our shots, and editing them into place. happy days!!

this is a screen shot of us editing the scientist part at the end and beginning we chose to do this first because we don't yet have the right song on final cut to the one we did the filming with so the lip syncing doesn't match.

Lucy

more annoyances :(

Our rough cut still hasn't been uploaded on our blog yet, this is because we left about half an hour of footage at the end of our piece by accident, this means it takes really long to upload to the blog, and for the past 2 lessons there hasn't been enough time for our video to fully upload so that is the reason for our rough cut NOT being on our blog yet. We have tried on more than one occasion to upload our rough cut, we are hoping to get it uploaded onto our blog as soon as possible. :)

problems :(

we have had a slight set back with our song, in that the song we used to film with is a slower pace to the song we were issued by the college. this is hindering the progress of our editing because we cant lip sync all our clips properly yet.
to overcome this we are going to have to put the song on a new CD, and then bring that into college and use it for the song that will be used in our final piece.

Another problem we have come across is also to do with lip syncing, and it is that when we filmed it was very windy so the waveforms aren't clear, this makes it much harder to lip sync because it means we have to sync the clip to the song by ear and eye.

risk assesment

reply from Linton zoo

our reply from Linton zoo was:

O.K. we look forward to meeting you all then.
Regards
Kim Simmons

Reply from Cajun dance party

this is the reply we got from cajun dance party:

Thats great we'd love to see it!
Thanks so much for choosing our song,
let us know when its finished!
cdp x

markscheme for level 4- excellent!

The production is well planned, with evidence of organised use of time and equipment. the candidate has devised an appropriate brief (assessments objective 8) as the starting point for research into similar products and a potential target audience. the use of actors, settings, props and technical resources is efficiently organised to allow the project to progress. where time-based , media are used, prior scripting and/or storyboarding is strongly evident. for print or ICT- based work, drafting is evident.

Traget audience

We will compose a questionnaire in order to establish our target audience, this will enable us to see what gender, age etc enjoy what type of music genera, which will allow us to construct a video matching peoples likes and expectaiotions....

the questionnaire is :

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. Whats your most remember able/ favorite music video and why?

4. What would you expect to see in an indie music video?

5.Do you like performance based/ narrative/ abstract/ dance videos?

6. Do you think an indie video should be all male, all female or mixed?

7. Do You think it should all be filmed in one location or a mixture?

8. Do you think you should be able to relate to the character in the video?

9. Do you think the lyrics should match the action going on in the video?

10. What time period do you think the music video should be in?

our email to cajun dance party

Hi we are media students from Long road sixth form college and we are currently creating a music video for a song of our choice and we have decided to use your song amylase.

If you would like a copy of the finished version let us know and we will send you one and we would appreciate feedback on your thoughts and oppinons.

Thanks
Hope you like it.


Jade, Lucy, Patrick & sam

Shot list

0. clock close up- show 3 o'clock
1. Establishing shot of the science lab
2. 3 scientists ( the 3 band members) mixing chemicals- medium shot
3.close up of the chemicals
4. chemicals react and explode
4.5 clock close up but speeding round showing time change.
5. *a fading special effect to show the changing of mental state*
6. establishing shot at the front of the zoo
7.band members in animal masks
8.close up of drum being played
9.establishing shot of band playing at botanical gardens
10.close up of the keyboard.
11.a combination of zoo animals
12. close up of guitar
13.chess board
......
(no particular order yet but shots included are:

• walking backwards through the crowds
• paint fight
• build up to hay fight
  we will be filming these from different angles in order to give variety within our shots).
  ......
  25. (roughly) botanical garden shot
  26. hay fights
  27. chess board|
  28. another instruments
  29. random running or crazy things?
  30. keep of the grass
  31. back at lab- scientist dirty and burnt, scruffy hair..shocked faces
  32. clock at it few minutes past 3..showing little time pass.
  33.hi-5ing laughing scientists
  
  jade and lucy
  

Planning peer assessment

1. content of each post any thing missing?

- 'Lots of analysis of professional work, content of posts are good, good images of locations + props
- 'good set of research developed and detailed, good location shots, provides a clear idea of how the video will look. lots of analysis and research. you can see how your ideas have been expanded and where they have come from.
- no call sheet

2. Is there evidence in the blog that the group has: completed background research? organised personnel, locations and equipment for shooting? Developed ideas since the initial concept?

- organised locations and equipment well e.g. wetsuit, instruments, locations
yes included student work and professional video
- very good location & equipment research, including additional ideas
- included everything

3. Improvements

- explain why you want to use the specific costumes and locations
Explain your ideas with a shot list. this would make sense og your overall plan.

4. overall assessment

- Level 3: Proficient planning 17- 23 marks.

jade, lucy, patrick and sam

positions in filming

when filming there will only be three members of the group within the video, leaving one member available to film, making it easier to change camera angles and suggest change.

Jade lucy sam patrick

Phone Call

this lesson we gave Linton zoo a phone call to check that it was okay to film there and they seemed really keen for us to all they said was we needed to send them an email with details so this is a copy of the email we sent them:

To Linton zoo

We gave you a phone call earlier about filming for our Longroad media music video project. We would like to film on Saturday 4th about 11 o'clock.

Please could you get back to us with details,
we really appreciate your co operation thank you,

From Jade, Patrick, Sam and Lucy.

Costume

For the main performance we are going to be dressed typical indie so it goes with the genre of the music as the only other typical indie convention we have is the instruments on the performance. So we will be in skinny jeans, all stars and polo shirts or alike. We may all wear waistcoats so we match.

lucy, sam, patrick, jade

call Sheet

Production Base:

• Linton zoo
• botanical gardens
• long road college
• grantchester
  
  Directer & producer
  Jade Bennett
  Lucy Anderson
  Patrick Moore
  Sam Judd
  
  Location Contacts
  linton zoo:
  
  
  production contacts
  
  Jades Contact number: 078952629**
  Lucy's contact number: 078953415**
  Sams contact number: 078172000**
  Patrick'scontact number: 078876208**
  
  every member of the production will be given a hard copy of the call sheet for reliability
  Shooting Schedule:
  
  Friday 03/10/2008-botanical gardens
  saturday 04/10/2008-linton zoo/ grantchester
  sunday 05/10/2008-grantchester if not completed on saturday
  
  
  Patrick, Jade, Sam & Lucy
  
  
  
  
  

feedback from animatic

Liked the idea that its witty and non conformity was clear as ideas and flow was erratic and non linear. More shots from different angles should be used in the botanical gardens setting to add variation.

we phoned up a lot of mazes to ask if we could film there but they had all been cut down because we're in the wrong season, so we're not going to film any of our video in a maze, and just use our other ideas.

Some locations and props shots

the band members will wear wet suits like this when 'swimming through the fields of hay'
this is the field where we will have the paint fight.
this is the green room we made film the experiment here and then merge it in with the lab.

we will use lab coats like these but white for the scientists to wear, and film the beginning bit where there doing the experiment in a lab like this.


















these are the instruments we will use











By Lucy and Sam

animatic

we have decided that we want to book the camera for next weekend 3rd October. We will film at the botanical gardens, zoo, and the field of hay. And then the lab, paint fight with water pistols, and the chess board in lesson time.

the props we need to get for our filming are:

• wetsuits, flippers snorkles
  
• water pistols and paint
• chess board
• animal masks
• instruments- keyboard, guitar and drum
  

sam judd analysis of professional music video:

Professional music video analysis:
The music video I am analysing is smack my bitch up by the prodigy, the reason I am analysing this video is because it is very unconventional in lots of senses.

First of all, the whole video is a point of view shot, which is very unconventional and you don’t see it that often, but it also has a brilliant effect, especially if it is very well done the whole way through as it is in this video. There isn’t any diversity in the camera work of this video as it is all shot from the same angle, which makes you question if much thought has gone into this video, but also you have to remember that they have had to assess each shot throughout the video so that nothing is given away until the end.

An unusual thing about this music video is that at the beginning of the video it seems that someone is just performing a daily routine e.g. shower, shave, get dressed, and then you see the person pouring then swigging a drink, and then it goes from putting shoes on, to show them snorting a line of cocaine, and I thought that this was unusual because lots of music videos are heavily influenced by drugs, but you don’t often see people taking them in music videos.
There aren’t many special effects in this video, but the ones they use aren’t anything like CGI they are just devices to make the video look and seem more realistic. For example, when you see the person vomit, it looks real, and there is a sound effect with it too, this makes it seem realistic.
Another thing that makes this video very unconventional is that later on in the video the person enters an “erotic bar”, and there are scenes of nudity and aggressiveness towards the dancers, and then he leaves with one of the dancers. There are then e few sex scenes, the dancer leaves and then the camera looks towards the mirror and reflecting back is a frail looking girl sitting on the end of the bed, which is what the whole video pretty much leads up to, but I think that this is very different to most other music videos and it is very original.

Additional ideas

As our anamatics were in process we came up with new orders and new shots..after..the anamatic had been shot, therefore new ideas will be placed on our blog..

One idea is developing on our already existing idea about the speeding clock,we have thought to start the video with the clock showing one time and then wen the video finishes the clock is shown again only one minute after the time at the begining of the video, showing the scientists experiment made them all think they was on a crazy trip however really..no time had passed.

jade

student video analysis

The video I am analysing is called shooting star.

The genre of the song is rock/pop. They have some of the typical conventions you would expect to see in this genre like the band playing there instruments like the guitar and drums, there is also a narrative going on of a man singing about the girl he wants back.

In the camera work they have used lots of different angles and shots. This works well because a lot of there video is of them performing in a forest and this would get a bit boring if it was shot with the same angle and same distance shot the hole way through. Some of the angles they have used are straight on, high, low and they have used close ups, medium shots and low angle shots. On a couple of the shots they have used a fish eye lens which gives a frame to the shot and holds the whole band together well. There is a shot from high up through the branches on the tree. I think that this shot is really effective because it looks like they are being watched by someone and as if the girl is spying on them.

I think that the shot where they zoom into the photo and it turns into them playing in real life is a really shot because it looks really professional as you could imagine seeing it in a real music video but I think it would fit in better if it was put in earlier on because you see them performing and then it flicks to the photos and then its back to them performing.

They have edited it together so it changes angles and flicks between the narrative and the performance of the band. As the song speeds up the change of shot starts to change a bit faster and the camera gets a bit shakey but I think that they could of changed the pace at which the shot changes a bit better to the time of the beat in the music. They have overlapped some of there shots so they fade in and out of each other which makes the video run smoothly.

They have connected some of the lyrics up to what’s going on in the video like when he sings the line ‘I’ll be knocking at your window’ we see a clip of him throwing up a stick at her window from her point of view, this helps us to understand what’s going on in the song as we can see it as well as hear it.

By Lucy

In this video 'Bijork - It's Oh So Quiet they' use a technique where shes singing twice as fast and then when they get back to editing it they slow it down so it looks like shes singing normally but everything else is in slow motion. We got the idea from this of singing in half the speed and then speeding it up so it looks like everything is moving really fast.



Another influence we have had is from the Drop video by The Pharcyde in this video they have reversed everything and made the band members sing and walk backwards so when its edited they look like there walking forward and singing normally, this is a technique we're going to try in our video but we're not going to do the singing because that would be to hard. we particularly liked the water bit where it all goes up so we're going to try and do this with hay. We're going to film doing this technique in a busy place so the crowds contrast the characters movement.



This 4 minute video called Esurio Admitto by a student is another video that influenced us to use the reverse technique.

Jades analysis of student video

I watched a few student videos and settled on analysing group P1-03 'Getting away. I chose this because i found many positive points within the video.
Firstly the mise-en-scene is very effective, for example the video starts from within a house and shows the outside to show an ordinary town house, the location changes dramatically as it switches to a seaside, both the beach and the town shops etc. the change in location is great as it prevents bordem with its variety. The costume they wear are simple daily clothes as the song is representing the life of an ordinary couple. The camera shots are very good too, they vary in short and long shots mostly, for example there are quite a few close ups of the lead singer laying down on the sand and then switching to long shots of the couple.
The narrative is interesting also as the main singer is apparently 'invisible' to the couple and any other citizens within the video. Its as thought the main singer is singing about other peoples life, looking at them in an critical way. The only sound is that from the music track itself, its quite a mellow song, acoustic, but catchy and the words are easy to understand therefore the content of the video is also very simple to grasp and relate too.
the video is very simple with very little going on but the combination of things such as the effective narrative and different locations creates an interesting and well performed music video and it proves you dont need lots of cramped shots to make it sucsessfull.



This is the link to 'Getting away'

jade.

teachers feedback to pitch

you have clearly a lot of ideas for the music video. your ideas about mise-en-scene are particularly plentiful and your consideration of the relationship between lyrics and images has clearly been in-depth. try now to focus on a few strong ideas (don't try to ft in everything) and work out how the separate performance/narrative sequences with inter cut and work together effectively. a good start in the planning progress well done.

Pitch

Narrative - scientist starts off by carrying out an experiment
with some test tubes, which goes wrong and sends fumes into his face, causing him to go into a trip, next fading into bright colours and hallucinogenic images. the story will continue wit the character or band appearing in a zoo disorientated, being followed by people with animal masks and animals around. From the lyrics 'Dont you know this will be chess forever' a scene will be created where a giant game of chess is played, with either real people, or figurines on a normal size chess board filmed on i-stop motion. Also the lyric ' we'll swim throgh the fields of hay' gave the idea of a hay fight or a scene revolving around hay, e.g. person in swim suit playin in hay.

Loction ideas-

• botanical gardens - this is where we will most of the band shots of the performance
  
• linton zoo - this is where the band members will land after doing the science experiment, then there will be shots of them running around them going crazy with the animals and maybe a few shots of them singing and playing there instruments here. As it will be busy here we may do the shots of them running up to people scaring them in animal masks
  
• science lab - this will be the first and last shot of the video will be, they will do the experiment that sends them into the dream and then they will wake up again in the same place at the end.
  
• field- granchester - this is where we will film the hay fight with them in the wet suits.
  
• wandlebry - more band performance shots
  
• maze - a place where we can do the main performance if we can find an open one
  
• chess board - primary school
  

Ideas:

- scientists doing tests - catalysts etc
- botanical gardens - filming character through the gardens
- zoo, wildlife park - running around in animal masks at a zoo
- giant chess set - people playing each other at chess
- Gog magog hills/ wandlebury
- mazes - running through mazes
- hay - playing with hay/hay fights
- clocks - speeding up clocks
- character walking through crowds reversing

group members, song title, artist, lyrics

group members: Patrick , Sam , Lucy , Jade

Song title: Amylase

Artist: Cajun dance party

Lyrics: Lets not forget, lets not forget what happened in the past,
You were right/you were wrong, yeah but everything was fast,
So when we build this ship remember to make it last,
Increase the time it takes to paint and build the mast,

Lets save this game for never,
Or you know this could be chess forever,
I’ll take your piece,
Then you’ll take mine,
Stalemate and we’ve just wasted time,

Yeah the past’s the route of the growing that happens now,
So lets remember not to turn on straight to a row,
We can see through the haze of misty glaze,
So now lets travel positively forward through the maze,

Lets save this game for never,
Or you know this could be chess forever,
I’ll take your piece,
Then you’ll take mine,
Stalemate and we’ve just wasted time,

We’ll swim through the fields of hay,

You’re the catalyst that makes things faster,
Amylase will dry up the plaster

Welcome to GROUP 11