Saturday 17 December 2011

Almost There

When recording the footage we had no idea we were this close to the end of the song. It's a good thing that we have been editing as we go along. It's good because it helps us to get a clearer picture for what can be in the next shots - when things are put together it also creates a clearer picture (sort of like a jigsaw puzzle). Secondly we can also give feedback to each other as we go along instead of having to wait till the very end and possibly having to re-take some scenes.



Its better to work with what you have and build up from there instead of waiting for what you'll get (which may not be as great or tailor-made as it could have been). We are nearing the end of our video shooting and every minute of it has been a great experience. I am not sure about the others but I have never shot a music video before and seeing this complilation is overwhelming. We are almost there.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

At Last, We Have A Cast

Words cannot explain how overwhelmed I am about the cast finally coming together. We all met today and everything went well! We got on so well we felt like family - it felt almost too good to be true. (Photos and photoshoot coming soon).

Cast:
October Malone - Female protagonist
Kashif James - Male protagonist
Kyle Dyke - Kashif's friend
Stanley Onyekwelu - Kashif's friend
Daniel - Kusimo - Kashif's friend
Martin Kusimo - Kashif's friend
Ayo Olukoya - Artist/ Narrator
Sam Folorunsho - Artist/ Narrator
Elsie Cullen - October's friend

Roles:
October Malone - Actress
Kashif James - Actor
Kyle Dyke - Actor
Stanley Onyekwelu - Cameraman/ Storyboard designer/ Editor/ Actor
Daniel Kusimo - Director/ Schedule Organiser/ Researcher/ Actor
Martin Kusimo - Lead Editor/ Secondary Cameraman/ Producer/ Actor
Ayo Olukoya - Editor/ Tertiary Cameraman/ Artist/ Actor
Sam Folorunsho - Artist/ Actor
Elsie Cullen - Actress



Here is a cross between a test, teaser and trailer. This is for feedback purposes within the group and for us to talk about what can be improved, changed or removed.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

It's Best To Test (Fast Motion)

Me and Ayo were around Waterloo and to our amazement the entrance was as busy as a beehive! It also gave us a great idea that we are considering to include in our music video.



Fast motion scenes. In a previous post I mentioned how the calm instrumental is to juxtapose with the hectic busy lifestyle of Londoners. This effect will help us to achieve just that. We decided to record at an ice rink instead.

Why? Because everyone is going round and round in one direction making the motion have a smooth flow. Also, the less confident ice-skaters will obviously move slower than everyone else because they do not want to drop (even though we filmed many drops). Because the less experienced ice-skaters are moving slower than everyone else it will help you to see just how important motion is.

Later on we decided to do even more tests with Stanley and Daniel. Stanley and Daniel have been really busy with the cast and storyboard but they finally found some time to help us do some tests.



We wanted to see what effect we could get by showing time passing by.



We noticed that Ed Sheeran's 'A-Team' used the fast motion scenes as well. But in his video he has fast motion scenes with a still/ slower moving character - it gave us the idea to have our actors moving in normal motion but everything else faster (giving the impression that they are in their own world).



We put it to the test, and once again, things did not work out as well as we hoped it would. Ayo is the person you see walking towards the camera. What we tried to do was have fast motion vehicles but Ayo in normal motion. Therefore we tried to get around it by having Ayo walk extremely slow in real-time, so that when we sped up the footage it would look like he's walking normally. Unfortunately Ayo's movements do not look natural enough and its too hard to acheive this way.

Next we tried to have two layers of the same video. The top layer would have normal untouched footage and the second layer would be sped up footage of the vehicles. Again, we couldn't get around it. The lighting between the two layers conflict and shadows do not match with the timing.



Finally, we came to a conclusion. Fast motion scenes are great but we have dropped the idea of having slower moving characters. Although, our media technician told us we could achieve the effect by using a green screen: the green screen would show the sped up vehicles passing by and then have the actual characters recorded in front of the green screen. However, we would need a pretty big green screen and would have to resize both footages to match real life proportions. We would also have to include other features like shadows to make it look believable. On that note we completely withdrew the idea of having slow moving characters. Maybe we will include still characters instead.

As for now, I think its best we just stick to fast motion scenes with just vehicles no characters as you can see in the video above.

Thursday 1 December 2011

It's Best To Test (Red Filter)

In a previous post I showed that having a red filter would be a very nice effect for our music video. However I showed in Photoshop how to have the effect on a still shot. Whereas using the same method on a lenghty video would take a ridiculous amount of time. Also that was technically selective colouring and not 'filtering'.

However I decided to actually record footage at Waterloo to do an actual test. The footage was captured in HD and in colour. In the videos below you will be able to see how the filter works.



This is the before and after version showing a direct comparison.



This is the version with full resolution showing the red filter.

Unfortunately the filter did not work as well as we wanted it to. When I filter the other colours out in the software manually it also leaves grey patches where red is supposed to be. When the filter is applied with a software effect (automatically) it does a great job of capturing reds. However because red is in pink, orange, yellow and brown, some of those colours are picked up as well.

The red filter works really well in my opinion even though it does not completely filter. I am happy with the result and glad I tested it.

Storyboard & Boardmeeting

We held a boardmeeting about our music video, we discuss things like props, shots, editing effects and the storyboard.




Monday 21 November 2011

Is It A Dream?

We have came up with two ideas for our music video. Both of them will be similar but the concept is very different.
  1.  The first idea which I like very much is to have the protagonist in his own dream. In the dream the protagonist gets on with the girl he is speaking about. They are walking around London, smiling, conversing and having fun basically. Towards the end of the video the protagonist is rudely awakened by his parent for a silly reason and unfortunately returns to his boring, glum life.
  2. The second idea is a representation of real life however the protagonist and the girl are not getting along. In fact its like the girl does not see the protagonist. In this video the protagonist will be standing next to the girl but its like he's a ghost. Even though he is standing next to her, looking at her and talking about her she does not see him.
To give a better example of what I am trying to say you can watch this music video of Ludacris' 'Runaway Love'. In some of the scenes he appears near the people who he is talking about for audience purposes, but they do not notice him.

Music Video Conventions pt.II

We are looking at even more artist's music videos so we can capture as much influence and potential for our music video that we will definitely produce to highest quality imaginable.

The first video I found interesting was Sean Kingston's 'Eenie Meenie'.


The video consists of splitscreen and cloning. The cloning is technically splitting the screen as well. It allows you to duplicate any shot, giving the effect that there's two or more of the same thing.

I am particularly interested in the splitscreen. The splitscreen enables the music video to show 2 or more scenes at the same time. I love this effect and and we plan to use one side during the splitscreen to showcase London.

The second music video is Drake's 'Forever'.


I like the close-up shots of Drake. He doesn't look into the camera, it almost looks like he's talking to himself. We might have to use that shot for the protagonist in our video talking about the girl he likes.



The last video influence is Loick Essien's 'Stuttering'.

Finally we decided that this video was just perfect. Our music video and topic can completely relate to Loick Essien's one. Loick is also after a girl who he admires.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Red Is A Primary Colour

Red seems to be another important colour for this year's media project as well. Red is a distinctive, meaningful and interesting colour. In our AS media project we used a red filter for Tie (our short film opening sequence). Here we are using it yet again. Here are some shots i've edited using photoshop to portray the red filter we intend to use in our music video.




As you can see the red filter has made everything else black and white. I acheived this effect simply by:
1. Duplicating the layer
2. Desaturating the bottom layer
3. Using the magic toolbrush tool to make a selection of anything that is red (top layer)
4. Inverting selection and deleting (or cutting) inverted selection

And there you are... 4 easy steps will help you to produce this effect. Because there are two layers and the bottom one being black and white - when you delete the selection on the top layer only what you selected will show. In other words red on top, black and white on bottom.

 Here is a preview of the process in Photoshop. As you can see, two layers and my selection. Simple.

Monday 14 November 2011

London Is The Location


London Is The Location - free slideshows

I took these photos of Waterloo /Southbank myself. I hope you enjoy the slideshow and get to see some of the beautiful shots. 

PS: Its nice to play the song 'Looking At You' whilst watchimg this slideshow. It helps to capture the idea of our music video. Calm song, busy London. (Song can be found below in the previous post).

Monday 7 November 2011

Looking At Ideas

Finally the song has been completed.  Its in final stages and I love it! The song is called 'Looking At You'.
Looking At You ft. SVF by KdotC

Now the song is completed I can now have a clearer perspective and plan for the music video to work around. The song's chorus mentions the 'corner store' so when filming around Waterloo we will have to use a corner store as a prop.

Monday 10 October 2011

Locating A Location

We have come up with a location idea for our music video. Mise-En Scene is a very important consideration when making any type of video. However, for our music video we feel that it would be really effective to film around London Waterloo/ Southbank area.

Waterloo is a popular place in London its where most people commute to and from various destinations. However, we also want to film at night. Now that its winter time and the sun goes down quicker than usual it would give us more time to film.



Waterloo is a great place to film because it reminds people of the city and how hectic life can be. However our song is going to be calm which will hopefully have a juxtaposition. We have taken a different aproach and we are no longer using the beat we intended to. We are now using an instrumental entitled 'Forgive Me'. Forgive Me is a calm R'n'B beat that I created in Fruity Loops studio. You can hear it here:

Ayo has the lyrics to the 'Forgive Me' instrumental and we can't wait to put the song together. We are seriously motivated to work hard and achieve outstanding results this year. We are aiming high and definitely putting our all in.

I have also discussed with my team that the video should be black and white. But at the same time has a filter that allows red and white to be shown. Red means love and passion and white portrays cleanliness, purity and serenity. Both are considered as romantic colours and we are making the video depicts scenes of romance, caring and attraction. Which is a very important part of our song, so it is only right to do a narrative music video to match the song.

However, red and white are also very common colours that you will see around London. Red buses and white lights. Red buses flow through London as if it were a vessel - once again, we wanted to show busy lives but also keep it calm at the same time. The black and white effect will release a mellow feeling to the video viewers although anything red or white, whether it be buses, tail lights or even clothes will show up in colour.




Moreover, the colours red and white can both be found on the England flag and also the Union Jack. Britain, England, London. London is the location!

Saturday 24 September 2011

Hip Hop Should Stop?

Q: Hip hop music promotes materialism, misogyny and criminal activity. It is responsible for perpetuating negative stereotypes of young men and women. Do you agree?

Hip Hop is a genre where rappers and emcees like to express themselves on beats that usually consist of hard-hitting kicks and snares or claps.

It has been said that Hip Hop music promotes materialism, misogyny and criminal activity. It also portrays a bad image of young black women because Hip Hop is a genre of black origin which started to take a trend in New York in the 1970s. Here are two music videos that agree with the statement:

Moment For Life - Meek Mill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=806tX9ZN9GI

Cake - Lloyd Banks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q47FP731RUQ

In both music videos we can observe materialism is focused on, especially in 'Moment For Life' where criminal activity occurs. A gang of black males approach Meek Mill for some materials, his jewellery and beloved chains.

I agree with this statement as the Hip Hop scene is flooded with artists who swear and fill songs with nasty, negative or violent lyrics. For example, I have recently come across two artists, they are in the same gang: 'Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All' (OFWGKTA). The two artisrts go by the name of Earl Sweatshirt and Tyler, The Creator. I must say they do stand out because they use diverse beats that they produce themselves and their lyrical content is also different opposed to other artists.

Instead of rapping about guns and money like most other Hip Hop artists they look at Hip Hop from a different standpoint and usually mention killing, rape and religion.

Earl - Earl Sweatshirt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78_loMbmKJ8 (Music video)
http://www.rapgenius.com/Earl-sweatshirt-earl-lyrics (Lyrics meanings)

Yonkers - Tyler, The Creator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSbZidsgMfw (Music video)
http://www.rapgenius.com/Tyler-the-creator-yonkers-lyrics (Lyrics meanings)

The lyrical content in both songs is absolutely ear-opening and controversial. On the other hand there are positive Hip Hop artists out there like Lupe Fiasco and Nas. They withdraw from the usual talk about money, girls and cars and instead try to spread a positive influence through their music.

Nas has a track called 'I Can' and in that song he is encouraging the younger audience to aim high and motivate others to work hard and be what they want to be. To be big men and women with an actual future that is worth caring about. In the music video he is trying to break the stereotype of young black people. We can see that in the music video there are many black children so Nas is directly speaking to them through the power of music.

I Can - Nas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvVfgvHucRY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL (Music Video)
http://rapgenius.com/Nas-i-can-lyrics (Lyrics Meanings)

Lupe Fiasco's track is entitled 'Words I Never Said' in this song he releases what is in his mind, gets things off his chest and speaks about politics and the way the world is run by people who don't deserve the authority. Again, with the power of music he even targets President Obama and says what he did wrong. Lupe Fiasco speaks positive in this song because he wants top open peoples eyes about what should be changed and reveal the secrets that some may not know about.

Words I Never Said ft. Skylar Grey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvVfgvHucRY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL (Music Video)
http://rapgenius.com/Lupe-fiasco-words-i-never-said-lyrics (Lyrics Meanings)

Here are a few more songs that avoid the stereotypical Hip Hop music video and song.

Live Your Life ft. Rihanna - T.I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koVHN6eO4Xg (Music Video)
http://rapgenius.com/Ti-live-your-life-lyrics (Lyrics Meanings)

Airplanes ft. Hayley Williams - B.o.B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6-c223DUU (Music Video)
http://rapgenius.com/Bob-airplanes-lyrics (Lyrics Meanings)

How To Love - Lil Wayne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Gf4-eT3w0&ob=av3e (Music Video)
http://rapgenius.com/Lil-wayne-how-to-love-lyrics (Lyrics Meanings)

I hereby draw to the conclusion that even though Hip Hop is crowded with negative lyrics and music videos with bad influence - there are also Hip Hop artists that counter the statement and use Hip Hop to portray positive, motivational and caring songs.

Artists nowadays are using music to send or even preach messages across to young listeners and fans. Music especially conjoint with a powerful narrative video can encourage people to aim higher and do the best they can.

Thursday 28 July 2011

On The Beat

Our A2 media project will consist of a music track and an advert, website or album art cover for the relevant track. Therefore we have to start of with the music track. But to make a track we will need a beat and lyrics to go with it.

For me and my team, finding a beat is easy - as I have music production software and often produce work in my free time. In fact I also upload them to YouTube just to share my work and gather opinions. Because my work is already on the internet - the team insist that they have already found the track they would like to use.

The track is entitled 'Hadouken'. And the lyrics will be related to themes of anger and violence.
Here you can preview the beat but it is not exactly in final stages yet: 

Saturday 16 July 2011

Serving A Survey

We know quite a lot about music genres and the possible music scenes we are about to enter. However we felt it would be best to still hold a brief but detailed enough survey. Too many questions and the public may refrain from answering them all. Too little and it would be pointless. I feel that Daniel (in charge of research and scheduling) has put together a great questionnaire http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7RHWDX9

Monday 4 July 2011

Music Video Conventions

Today we learnt about three types of music videos. Perfomance, Conceptual - Narrative and Conceptual - Non Narrative.

+ Performance music videos show musical instruments actually being played in real time, the artist rapping/ singing or the artist dancing with other dancers. e.g. I Wanna Rock - Snoop Dogg


+ Narrative shows images relating to the song topic. The images and scenes enhance and reinforce the messages in the song. e.g. Yo (Excuse Me Miss) - Chris Brown


+ Non Narrative is reffered to as completely random. The images or scenes do not relate to the song. I Go - Wave Machines