The task given to us at the beginning of the year was to create a music video. This was to include us writing the lyrics to the song, making the song and of course recording it. We were all put into groups of 3 and had to start brainstorming for our genre, whether we were going to follow some sort of narrative of just go by a performance based video. In terms of genre we had to think, since the range is so great, what would we as a group be capable of doing and would enjoy. This didn’t come to us at first, and we decided to play around on the iMac program Garage Band.
The program utilizes pre recorded loops, which one can then edit into a particular order to create a song. It ranges from classical instruments, to human beat boxing and even sound effects. Using this program we began placing and editing tracks together in some hope that we could find out calling. It did end up coming to us, in a strange form. The song started off as a very acoustic sounding song, something similar to Newton Faulkner’s music. However we then found ourselves a long pre recorded vocal loop. Which lasted about 1 minute; it was the voice of a woman, in a sense wailing. Giving the song a very ominous feel to it, I then went on to add the drum beat. But only looking for heavy percussion types or African drums.
After adding them, we were really excited with the piece of music; however the genre wasn’t something obvious at first. To class it now, I would call the genre ‘Film’. As this is what it sounds like most, part of a film soundtrack. However due to the sound and feel to the song, singing or rapping was out of the question, as it would not fit well. Thanks to the help of one of our tutors, we decided to make the lyrics in the form of a News Broadcast.
Due to the tone of the song, we would need to create a time period and a devastating effect on the environment, economy or people. We realised that in 2 years time, 2012 was rolling around and it was the perfect thing to play on. However to create a solar flare would take so much money to make which we do not own. So we decided to put a little twist on it based on the temperature of the sun increasing, killing people through heat.
This is where the video comes in, with the uses of our shots and technological knowhow to create the idea of an increasing heat-wave on earth. Using simple shot ideas, and a tiny bit of editing we pulled off a unique video. With the first scene, our original idea was to have a news reporter standing outside the college and has people behind him at night. Making that first broadcast seem live, this would have given the effect of new years and everyone smiling and having fun. Due to time restrictions because of a faulty tape, we ran out of time to film that particular piece. But we created a backup, which is the boy rolling up a cigarette and smoking it. The reason this was done, was to show how society nowadays has very little care for a new year. How a lot of people would rather to just have a relaxing night and have to care about new years resolutions and such. I personally felt that was a very interesting concept to open our music video on, instead of something more predictable.
The next shot, focusing on the DAB radio was something that didn’t strike me as amazing. We all agreed to have that shot, as it would work well with that particular point in time, and also represent a passing of time in the video. However none of us had the very old radio’s, which would make a bigger impact in terms of the dials changing looking for a station. Rather than a digital device flicking through the many channels available with a boring blue backlight and rigid letters. One could say though the way I wanted would be predictable and the usage of the DAB radio brings us more into the technological society we are.
The following shot was a difficult one, not what the shot was (Long Shot). But the weather was not on our side for most of the week, making everything look dull and grey. Also due to the freezing temperatures we were suffering from, no one really wanted to get into summer gear. To our rescue came Reece, who for 5 minutes walked around in his tank top, though it didn’t give the shot a massive boost in thinking its summer, it helped. The portrait close up of his head wearing the headphones is to represent that the broadcast his actually happening at the same time as the action on screen. Thus linking the music and video a bit more.
The following scene of the Time Lapse is something I thoroughly enjoyed. The filming of it wasn’t excitingjust finding the right position so that we wouldn’t get in peoples way and recording for 20 minutes. What I enjoyed was watching it sped up, feeling a slight bit of professionalism about it. The long shot of the street was good, and because it was lunch time, plenty of shoppers were around town, thus giving plenty of things to fill the shot. Action was happening in the fore-ground, mid-ground and background, with the inclusion of interaction between the 3 made up an amazing shot.
Following on from that came the very fun chase scene. This part of the video I also felt went really well, and enjoyed it immensely. For this to work with the lyrics we decided to have a free running camera, follow a news reporter as he tried to escape a mob of angry and desperate people. The camera man at that time was to pretend he fell over, hence how the image becomes erratic and makes it seem like he falls over. Following on from that is my actual favourite shot in the entire video. The close up-Dutch tilt which focused on the limp body of the cameraman, whilst the news reporter was being chased. The detail of the stones on the ground and the hand really jump out at me. Also one can see the smoke from the cigarette slowly waft upwards into the sky with the mob running off in the distance, slowly becoming more blurred from view.
The next shot is where the same reporter and mob are chasing him down a hill and into a tunnel. When I saw the tunnel I noticed that above it one could perch and record from up on high. So instead of having one entire long shot from the tunnel, I chose to do a high angled long shot. Then as the actors and down the hill, I would tilt downwards following the action into the tunnel. This meant that when I edited the next shot with this, it would continue the pace and look right. The next shot showed the extent of the heat wave, with 2 bodies lying dead in the tunnel. I felt this made the interview with the ‘doctor’ become much darker, where even though he says it will get worse, the extent is has reached is already shown.
The following scene was another Time Lapse, which I actually recorded just in case we didn’t have enough footage. That plan was actually used, as after I had logged and captured all the clips, I saw we would be a bit short, so I added that in. It gives off a nice effect like the first one, however because it’s all cars, it is nothing special. My excuse for it would be it is showing people trying to escape, and get find refuge somewhere so they won’t die from the heat. I wouldn’t say this was a weakness to the film, but more like a neutral filler, something you would like to see but not be shocked or filled with awe and wonder at seeing it.
The final part of the video was the Sunset, and because of the weather we missed out on 1. The one we missed out on was a beauty, lasting for ages, giving off an orange to pink glow which was reflected of the clouds. Due to the net telling us the wrong time, we missed it, so on our last day of shooting, we chose the dramatic cloudy skyline instead. This wide shot actually paid off big time, with it being sped up the clouds movement was really nice. Also on the left hand side of the shot was a crane being used for the demolition of the old college building. It was in use so we got some movement which went really well, though we wish the crane on the right hand side of the shot was being used. As both going would have looked amazing and added more action on the 3 grounds. What was really good was the final sentence- forgiveness from our Eternal Sun God- at that precise moment the sun came out and shined very brightly as if it was reacting to that statement.
In terms of editing it was something that edited itself really. Nothing to complicated was needed, the only new thing I learnt was how to speed up or slow down a certain clip. This would be accessed in the Modify bar at Change Speed, then the higher percentage your gave the clip the faster it would run. On average our time lapse clips were running at over 5000%, this was so they would fit in at the correct times and give that movement of time effect. The rest of the clip was a simple cut down and place job, then soon after that I converted and exported the clip into a QuickTime Move Format and followed that up with a compression of that file using the program Compressor. This meant that moving the file to my USB and posting it on YouTube will take less time. Because of my past knowledge in the Quiz Project, I learnt how to do these things so I was able to quickly and easily apply them.
In terms of audience I would say our song would be aimed at those 16-25 as our target norm. Personally I feel that maybe this video could reach out to 25-30, as the ideas behind it are very dark and are being based on a phenomenon which ‘may or may not’ happen in 2 years time. In class we did a feedback session on the work we had done, and it came back 95% positive. Things like our work was unique, that the time lapse sequences were very interesting. That the music and video really complimented each other in terms of tone and genre, also that is was like a film trailer. These comments were really helpful and boosting after all the work we had done. The last 5% came as, there was too much of my voice in the music, and that some people didn’t fully understand what it was about. Now to most people in the class they would see it as a live news report, but other groups might not be able to see this. To rectify it a scrolling title was used which ran across the bottom of the video. Giving it that news bulletin effect, hopefully getting people to understand what the video is all about.
Overall in terms of technical, artistic and musical creativity I feel that my group and I did a really good job. Most other groups had their videos covered in special effects, some worked well whilst others didn’t. I feel that our simple approach made a powerful effect on the people who had watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Tuesday 2 February 2010
Interactive Media
Platforms for Video in Interactive Media
Nowadays the places where media can be accessed is huge, compared to the world of 1990. We now use the Internet to chat, surf, send, post and buy products, without having to leave the house. Video has become a near extinct technology, with DVD and Blue-Ray pushing through with better picture quality. Phones are now portable and have a wide range of functions other then calling, surfing the internet, taking photos, recording videos, even doubling up as a MP3 player.
As said before one platform for the interactive media world is the internet, this is now on of the main factors of life in modern society. The most common used one is Internet Explorer, which is called a browser. It’s not the only one around with others advertising faster download speeds, such as Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari. Because of this creation, people from other sides of the world can communicate, through programs like MSN Messenger. A social and free downloadable talk program, that allows you to add friends and talk to them.
For those that have lost contact with friends, new ‘Social Networking’ sites have emerged such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. These sites allow you to add friends to your ‘profile’ and talk with them, play games using special applications, host your photos and videos. Programs like MSN Messenger are very good in terms of keeping people in contact, especially if you move around a lot; this is the best way to keep in touch. The only downside to this program is that people tend to add email address they don’t know in order to find out who it is. This can lead to a virus infecting your computer or a paedophile talking to your children. For social networking sites they are also the home of paedophiles, and sadly you can’t tell who is who (unless you know them) on these sites. The good side to these sites is the contact factor, always able to talk to an old friend about how life has gone without the stress of looking through phonebooks.
Something more in tune with Video platforms on the internet is YouTube, a video sharing site. The largest of its kind, YouTube is open to all people, allowing people to post up home videos, bits from films or cartoons they like. Or even parts of films altogether, because of the freedom given to the users, almost anything can be put up. Of course all ages can view this site, so strict rules on content are in place. This is a very useful media platform, because people’s personal views about things can be put up. Corporations can advertise on it by posting there own adverts for people to watch, families can host up home videos and send the link to another member of the family so they can watch it. This service is known world wide and is very popular, it is helpful, simple to use and rarely disappoints.
Another media platform used a lot are Email Attachments, these can contain things like photos, music or home videos. These files can be viewed by whoever you sent it to, and if you need the data within somewhere else, you can email it to yourself. Email Attachments are a really good idea, and have worked really well, in all kinds of environments. Whether it be a social thing, or even for work. The only downside is the Attachment can contain a virus of some sort; the only way to tell is using anti-virus software such as Mc Caffe.
As said above DVD and CD are now becoming the household norm in terms of viewing films. In the 1980’s and 90’s Betamax and VHS were the kings of household entertainment. But with the birth of the DVD which could hold more information on it, making the quality of the film better. This also allowed for menus to be created, meaning you can change the settings of the film to your liking, this meant things like; changing the language, adding subtitles, even seeing the Directors Commentary whilst the film is playing. CD’s are also a powerful tool when you want to take music or films around with you. A blank CD can go through a system called Burning, this is where a file such as a music album, has its data basically embedded into the CD. This can only work once on 1 CD, which means if you have more things to burn you have to buy more CD’s. With the creation of these 2 technologies, Video Tapes and Floppy Disk Drives are becoming a Dead technology. However even if these tools are able to remove 2 bits of tech, they themselves have problems. Sometimes a file burned onto disk will come out a horrible quality, with all the sound and picture completely messed up.
Kiosks are now becoming a usual site in town centres. These have a connection to the internet and allow tourists or someone who is lost to find out about the town. Using this tech people can find out about bus times near them, whether or not a café or pub is nearby, or even which sites to see in town. This isn’t just a way to help someone; advertisements would be placed all over the screen, meaning the person using it would have to see them.
Using computer programming people can advertise or sell an idea though physical speech whilst having images and videos at the same time. These presentations now allow someone to get their idea across in a much easier way. This way he doesn’t have to carry around with him lots of copies of graphs and stuff, instead the presentation would have it on there for him. Also if he would need to show how something would increase, he can make the actual graph move in the way needed. This is yet another way we can use music and video to get our ideas across. The system itself is fairly simple to use, but to create amazing presentations the pictures aren’t just what people are looking for!
Nowadays on TV you tend to see the ‘red button’ come up at the top right of a screen, or the actual host/presenter will tell you to click it. This opens up yet another world of interactive media in the home, usually when you do click it, it can open a new set of channels and information. If you want to find out the weather without having to wait till the end of the news, pressing the red button can help you access that information quicker. If a sporting event with multiple matches going on at the same time appears, the res button will give you the choice of which match you want to watch. The red button system is very popular and is helpful, the only problem is that sometimes it takes ages for the system to load, making the idea of a quick check up kind of pointless.
Mobile phones, PDA’s and Game Consoles are now becoming another main feature in everyday life. Before you could only text and call with a phone, now you can take pictures, record videos, access the internet, and even listen to music. Games Consoles are also hitting the multi-platforming world, with the ability to play games both offline and online, to surf the internet online, to watch TV on them, download music and content and yes even host photos and music. These are very popular as almost everyone who is 14 and up will own a mobile phone and a Games Console of some sort. Because of the usage of the items is very easy it appeals to people of all age ranges, making them a very successful technology.
Uses of Video In Interactive Media
In the Interactive world Advertising is the largest world wide business. With the creation of every new technology that can hold Music, Videos or Images, the advertising world would be on it straight away. The main area for Advertising is the Internet and TV, since these are the technologies people tend to use more then anything else. On nearly every website you find, ever channel you see on TV will have advertisements, ranging from full mini videos to just an image with words on them acting as a link to the real information on the product. Whilst TV needs you to pay to place your advertisement up, on the internet it is all free, so it has invaded some of the more personal areas. An example of this is emails, and the term ‘spam’, companies manage to get hold of email addresses and send people information on their product. Always a nuisance but it is a very efficient way to promote you product.
Promotional Advertising is a very risky way to advertise, but if done right can reap huge rewards for the company. Promotional advertising usually encompasses something like a free trial for a program or game. In doing so people start to use it, and might enjoy it getting them to want the real product. This doesn’t just work on the person who is using the trial, if someone wanted to know what it was like before trying it out. They would find out from the people who have tried it, thus spreading the ‘word’ about this certain product. One such company that is very well known for its Promotional Advertising is Blizzard Entertainment and their online game World of Warcraft. Currently the worlds largest online role-playing game, they give a free 10 day trial for people to try it out. The offer is shown all over the place, on TV it is broadcasted, on the internet at the right sites, such as game sites it is advertised. Some of their adverts have even included celebrities like Mr. T or Ozzy Osborne, thus boosting the appeal of the game. This offer has been going on for over a year now, and the company is finding no real draw backs to it as they keep getting more and more paying subscribers. There usage of Promotional Advertising is very well done, and so they are having no problems with loss of money due to the free trial.
The second type of advertising is Viral Advertising; this type is not as blatant as the first type of advertising. Instead of making the product he main thing you see on the clip, it becomes part of the background and may only make an appearance at the end of the advert. This is sometimes done in a comedic fashion, with the advert completely taking the piss out of the product in question or what it is meant to ‘solve’. It can also make the appearance as a normal home made video, thus making people think it is a harmless bit of fun. However the fun would still put the product into the viewers mind, thus boosting the knowledge of the product. Because of sites like YouTube, this can be done cheaply and so no one would have to worry about the cost of advertising. One example of this is the Sprite Zero advert that was made to look like a home video. It shows a couple of guys playing a prank on a friend, which in the end goes horribly wrong. The end says ‘Friendship is Overrated, No sugar, no bull***t’. Insinuating that if the friends hadn’t maybe been drinking a fizzy drink, they wouldn’t have had the energy to do that prank. When Viral ads are done like this, very simple and quick, people tend to enjoy them more as is the case with this particular one.
Short films duration is in the name, its short compared to most films. These things usually last about 10 minutes, nothing massive, and will force a lot of information into your head in that small space of time. For things like Films, they tend to last about 4 minutes, and give the audience a taste of what is to come. For comedy films, some jokes are shown, action some high adrenaline pumping explosions are shown. All of this is done so that people will get excited over the release of the film, thus making them want to go see it. This isn’t just reserved to the distributors of films, user generated short films are found a lot on the internet. These films tend to be spoofs of actual films, cartoons, games or even a persons view on a certain topic. A well known one is the ‘real life Pac man’ which follows the life of the ghosts and how they suffer about their friends being eaten by Pac-man. It only lasts 4 minutes but is done like it was a real movie. Short films are a good way to get a point across about a film, or to just make your ideas known. Though if poorly done will not be accepted warmly by the audience in question.
When you create something like a video, game or music, the only place you can post it is on your own website or a User Generated Content site. These sites are like YouTube, which allow you to post any work you have done. This can be posted just for fun, or it can be done in hopes someone in the industry will find your work and contact you about it. The uploading is usually free, and it is all based down to your skills if you want to be noticed. You can also put links in these videos to you site or a blog which could contain more ideas, thus allowing people to learn more about what you are aiming to achieve. Blogs are a place for the written word, but are also user generated content, with these blogs you can create your own articles, even post up a book your righting. Most of them also allow you to embed movies into the posts, so you can easily show pictures or even give your readers some music to listen to whilst they read. UGSC’S (User Generated Content Sites) are a very good way for people to let out there freedom for free, this also helps promote themselves as aspiring artists, directors even writers. Though to do this one would need to be prepared to take harsh criticism as there are some nasty jealous people around.
Virtual Tours are now becoming an Estate Agents friend, since without having to take a person round a house several times, they can go through a virtual tour online or on DVD at home. It is very helpful for those with busy lifestyles, having it so they do not have to take time out of it to look around a house. This doesn’t have to just focus on houses for Estate Agents; Universities employ this technology, allowing students to see what the place is like before applying to it or deciding to visit it. They tend to show the dorms, library, campus, and cafeteria, everything that would catch the observer’s eye. Some even go to the length of having a small version for night life, so it boosts the student’s choice of the University.
E-Learning is now becoming used more and more. For those who have no time to go back to College or University to get a new qualification, the can use the internet to teach yourself a language, science, history, the list goes onwards. These sites usually are legit and you can get an actual certificate proving it, though its not just big learning to get a qualification these sites do. If there is just a general interest in something you can find the information on it and continue from there, it also may hold up small games to help with revision. Sites like the BBC’s Bitesize used for GCSE’s and A Levels are a Prime example of this. They hold the information you need for your up and coming exam and do it in a nice relaxing way. They also give revisions tips, small games to help boost your understanding of the topic and printable pages to use if your away from the computer. These are mainly used by Schools and Colleges, as they do have the information correct and students tend to enjoy there quizzes rather then listening to a teach blather on and on.
Games are now becoming a very dominant technology in our lives, as they are now able to multi-platform. However games themselves are becoming more and more realistic with the increase in better physics engines, graphics and artwork. Games well soon be entering the virtual world as we currently have things like the Wii which focuses on moving the body, which is read by an infa-red bar. This gets the body moving as if it was actually in the game, but visually you are still watching the action on a screen.
Video in Interactive Media Technologies
Video Compression is the ‘shrinking’ or ‘compressing’ of data, this is done so that people can receive files such as videos, music or images and not have to wait a long time for it to reach them. This is mainly done when someone is going to upload a video onto a site like YouTube, if the file is compressed, then uploading it will take hardly anytime at all. Whilst if you were to use the file straight from an editing program, just trying to put the file onto a USB would take a long time to do. The main program for compressing videos are called Codec, and these specialize in the coding of a data stream.
Codec work in a sort of ‘pair system’, to compress and code then to decompress/code you need the exact same type of Codec all the way through. For every file, there is a different type of Codec, they are needed if you want to send/upload/download files on the internet. With technology as it is, MPEG-4 is the most common and worldwide used Codec when it comes to film downloading. A reason for this is that this codec can be changed into other signal types, allows more flexibility with developers at creating multimedia software. The data compression isn’t just limited to Films, games as well have their own Codec called WinRar, which allows people to open and close the files as well as burn them onto disk. The systems of Codec are well done and helped achieve maximum efficiency and enjoyment from the programs that need to use it in order to be accessed.
On the internet, one can watch a film, or take it from a site onto their computer ‘live’. This is called Streaming and downloading, when you watch a show or user video that is called Streaming. Taking the actual video and ‘saving’ it to your computer to use it elsewhere is called Downloading. Many things factor in when trying to watch something online, such as connection speed which is measured in bytes. Bites range from just kilobytes which are exceedingly small files, to Megabytes, Gigabytes and onwards. 1000KB are in 1 Megabyte and the same amount of MB into Gig. That and the file you are watching is measured in this unit, the actual name of the data transfer rates is called a Bandwidth. The bandwidth’s speed is decided on the number of available data resources and those which have been ‘consumed already’. Using this data the computer can then be able to work on allowing you to watch your film online.
However if the resources are limited and your browser is not up-to-date, than the time taken for the video to load will increase. In terms of downloading it depends on your download speed and the size of the file you are trying to take. So if the actual file size is 600MB, and your download speed which is on average 2megabits a second, that is an hour long download. Of course if the bandwidth is not good then it would end up taking longer for it to happen. However it just doesn’t all fall onto the bandwidth and things like that, the Format as well is an important part of the package. Different media players on computers use a different format, meaning only a file made in that same format will be able to play. So things like WMV which is the format for Windows Media Player, or MOV which is a Quicktime format.
Frame Rates or more commonly known as FPS (Frames per Second) is the frequency of consecutive images produced by a projectable device. Every second is made up of individual frames which when played in a continuous motion, create a sequence of images. The British Standard is 25 FPS whilst in the USA it is 24 FPS, the lower the number the worse the quality of the film becomes. However this is only noticeable at 12 FPS, as the image becomes jerky, and the pixels start to blend together. As of course the higher the frame rate the better the quality of the film.
The screen of a computer or television is made up of pixels and a ratio. The Picture Ratio is the height divided by the width of the screen. The most common ones are 4:3, 14:9 and 16:9, the smaller and closer together the ratio is, the different the shape is. So 4:3 is a very small box like shape, whilst nowadays people watch things in 16:9, tending to opt of the more widescreen view. Screen Resolution is how many pixels are within this ratio, a small screen would only need something small like 400x600, whilst something with a larger screen would be asking for 900x1200.
DRM or more known as Digital Rights Management, which is enforced more on the internet than anywhere else. It is like a digital copyright, usually placed on games, songs and videos. Their current hotspot would be a place like YouTube, where they would make sure no one was breaching the terms by posting up a music video. This is what they do when they check videos that are embedded into blogs or websites.
Nowadays the places where media can be accessed is huge, compared to the world of 1990. We now use the Internet to chat, surf, send, post and buy products, without having to leave the house. Video has become a near extinct technology, with DVD and Blue-Ray pushing through with better picture quality. Phones are now portable and have a wide range of functions other then calling, surfing the internet, taking photos, recording videos, even doubling up as a MP3 player.
As said before one platform for the interactive media world is the internet, this is now on of the main factors of life in modern society. The most common used one is Internet Explorer, which is called a browser. It’s not the only one around with others advertising faster download speeds, such as Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari. Because of this creation, people from other sides of the world can communicate, through programs like MSN Messenger. A social and free downloadable talk program, that allows you to add friends and talk to them.
For those that have lost contact with friends, new ‘Social Networking’ sites have emerged such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace. These sites allow you to add friends to your ‘profile’ and talk with them, play games using special applications, host your photos and videos. Programs like MSN Messenger are very good in terms of keeping people in contact, especially if you move around a lot; this is the best way to keep in touch. The only downside to this program is that people tend to add email address they don’t know in order to find out who it is. This can lead to a virus infecting your computer or a paedophile talking to your children. For social networking sites they are also the home of paedophiles, and sadly you can’t tell who is who (unless you know them) on these sites. The good side to these sites is the contact factor, always able to talk to an old friend about how life has gone without the stress of looking through phonebooks.
Something more in tune with Video platforms on the internet is YouTube, a video sharing site. The largest of its kind, YouTube is open to all people, allowing people to post up home videos, bits from films or cartoons they like. Or even parts of films altogether, because of the freedom given to the users, almost anything can be put up. Of course all ages can view this site, so strict rules on content are in place. This is a very useful media platform, because people’s personal views about things can be put up. Corporations can advertise on it by posting there own adverts for people to watch, families can host up home videos and send the link to another member of the family so they can watch it. This service is known world wide and is very popular, it is helpful, simple to use and rarely disappoints.
Another media platform used a lot are Email Attachments, these can contain things like photos, music or home videos. These files can be viewed by whoever you sent it to, and if you need the data within somewhere else, you can email it to yourself. Email Attachments are a really good idea, and have worked really well, in all kinds of environments. Whether it be a social thing, or even for work. The only downside is the Attachment can contain a virus of some sort; the only way to tell is using anti-virus software such as Mc Caffe.
As said above DVD and CD are now becoming the household norm in terms of viewing films. In the 1980’s and 90’s Betamax and VHS were the kings of household entertainment. But with the birth of the DVD which could hold more information on it, making the quality of the film better. This also allowed for menus to be created, meaning you can change the settings of the film to your liking, this meant things like; changing the language, adding subtitles, even seeing the Directors Commentary whilst the film is playing. CD’s are also a powerful tool when you want to take music or films around with you. A blank CD can go through a system called Burning, this is where a file such as a music album, has its data basically embedded into the CD. This can only work once on 1 CD, which means if you have more things to burn you have to buy more CD’s. With the creation of these 2 technologies, Video Tapes and Floppy Disk Drives are becoming a Dead technology. However even if these tools are able to remove 2 bits of tech, they themselves have problems. Sometimes a file burned onto disk will come out a horrible quality, with all the sound and picture completely messed up.
Kiosks are now becoming a usual site in town centres. These have a connection to the internet and allow tourists or someone who is lost to find out about the town. Using this tech people can find out about bus times near them, whether or not a café or pub is nearby, or even which sites to see in town. This isn’t just a way to help someone; advertisements would be placed all over the screen, meaning the person using it would have to see them.
Using computer programming people can advertise or sell an idea though physical speech whilst having images and videos at the same time. These presentations now allow someone to get their idea across in a much easier way. This way he doesn’t have to carry around with him lots of copies of graphs and stuff, instead the presentation would have it on there for him. Also if he would need to show how something would increase, he can make the actual graph move in the way needed. This is yet another way we can use music and video to get our ideas across. The system itself is fairly simple to use, but to create amazing presentations the pictures aren’t just what people are looking for!
Nowadays on TV you tend to see the ‘red button’ come up at the top right of a screen, or the actual host/presenter will tell you to click it. This opens up yet another world of interactive media in the home, usually when you do click it, it can open a new set of channels and information. If you want to find out the weather without having to wait till the end of the news, pressing the red button can help you access that information quicker. If a sporting event with multiple matches going on at the same time appears, the res button will give you the choice of which match you want to watch. The red button system is very popular and is helpful, the only problem is that sometimes it takes ages for the system to load, making the idea of a quick check up kind of pointless.
Mobile phones, PDA’s and Game Consoles are now becoming another main feature in everyday life. Before you could only text and call with a phone, now you can take pictures, record videos, access the internet, and even listen to music. Games Consoles are also hitting the multi-platforming world, with the ability to play games both offline and online, to surf the internet online, to watch TV on them, download music and content and yes even host photos and music. These are very popular as almost everyone who is 14 and up will own a mobile phone and a Games Console of some sort. Because of the usage of the items is very easy it appeals to people of all age ranges, making them a very successful technology.
Uses of Video In Interactive Media
In the Interactive world Advertising is the largest world wide business. With the creation of every new technology that can hold Music, Videos or Images, the advertising world would be on it straight away. The main area for Advertising is the Internet and TV, since these are the technologies people tend to use more then anything else. On nearly every website you find, ever channel you see on TV will have advertisements, ranging from full mini videos to just an image with words on them acting as a link to the real information on the product. Whilst TV needs you to pay to place your advertisement up, on the internet it is all free, so it has invaded some of the more personal areas. An example of this is emails, and the term ‘spam’, companies manage to get hold of email addresses and send people information on their product. Always a nuisance but it is a very efficient way to promote you product.
Promotional Advertising is a very risky way to advertise, but if done right can reap huge rewards for the company. Promotional advertising usually encompasses something like a free trial for a program or game. In doing so people start to use it, and might enjoy it getting them to want the real product. This doesn’t just work on the person who is using the trial, if someone wanted to know what it was like before trying it out. They would find out from the people who have tried it, thus spreading the ‘word’ about this certain product. One such company that is very well known for its Promotional Advertising is Blizzard Entertainment and their online game World of Warcraft. Currently the worlds largest online role-playing game, they give a free 10 day trial for people to try it out. The offer is shown all over the place, on TV it is broadcasted, on the internet at the right sites, such as game sites it is advertised. Some of their adverts have even included celebrities like Mr. T or Ozzy Osborne, thus boosting the appeal of the game. This offer has been going on for over a year now, and the company is finding no real draw backs to it as they keep getting more and more paying subscribers. There usage of Promotional Advertising is very well done, and so they are having no problems with loss of money due to the free trial.
The second type of advertising is Viral Advertising; this type is not as blatant as the first type of advertising. Instead of making the product he main thing you see on the clip, it becomes part of the background and may only make an appearance at the end of the advert. This is sometimes done in a comedic fashion, with the advert completely taking the piss out of the product in question or what it is meant to ‘solve’. It can also make the appearance as a normal home made video, thus making people think it is a harmless bit of fun. However the fun would still put the product into the viewers mind, thus boosting the knowledge of the product. Because of sites like YouTube, this can be done cheaply and so no one would have to worry about the cost of advertising. One example of this is the Sprite Zero advert that was made to look like a home video. It shows a couple of guys playing a prank on a friend, which in the end goes horribly wrong. The end says ‘Friendship is Overrated, No sugar, no bull***t’. Insinuating that if the friends hadn’t maybe been drinking a fizzy drink, they wouldn’t have had the energy to do that prank. When Viral ads are done like this, very simple and quick, people tend to enjoy them more as is the case with this particular one.
Short films duration is in the name, its short compared to most films. These things usually last about 10 minutes, nothing massive, and will force a lot of information into your head in that small space of time. For things like Films, they tend to last about 4 minutes, and give the audience a taste of what is to come. For comedy films, some jokes are shown, action some high adrenaline pumping explosions are shown. All of this is done so that people will get excited over the release of the film, thus making them want to go see it. This isn’t just reserved to the distributors of films, user generated short films are found a lot on the internet. These films tend to be spoofs of actual films, cartoons, games or even a persons view on a certain topic. A well known one is the ‘real life Pac man’ which follows the life of the ghosts and how they suffer about their friends being eaten by Pac-man. It only lasts 4 minutes but is done like it was a real movie. Short films are a good way to get a point across about a film, or to just make your ideas known. Though if poorly done will not be accepted warmly by the audience in question.
When you create something like a video, game or music, the only place you can post it is on your own website or a User Generated Content site. These sites are like YouTube, which allow you to post any work you have done. This can be posted just for fun, or it can be done in hopes someone in the industry will find your work and contact you about it. The uploading is usually free, and it is all based down to your skills if you want to be noticed. You can also put links in these videos to you site or a blog which could contain more ideas, thus allowing people to learn more about what you are aiming to achieve. Blogs are a place for the written word, but are also user generated content, with these blogs you can create your own articles, even post up a book your righting. Most of them also allow you to embed movies into the posts, so you can easily show pictures or even give your readers some music to listen to whilst they read. UGSC’S (User Generated Content Sites) are a very good way for people to let out there freedom for free, this also helps promote themselves as aspiring artists, directors even writers. Though to do this one would need to be prepared to take harsh criticism as there are some nasty jealous people around.
Virtual Tours are now becoming an Estate Agents friend, since without having to take a person round a house several times, they can go through a virtual tour online or on DVD at home. It is very helpful for those with busy lifestyles, having it so they do not have to take time out of it to look around a house. This doesn’t have to just focus on houses for Estate Agents; Universities employ this technology, allowing students to see what the place is like before applying to it or deciding to visit it. They tend to show the dorms, library, campus, and cafeteria, everything that would catch the observer’s eye. Some even go to the length of having a small version for night life, so it boosts the student’s choice of the University.
E-Learning is now becoming used more and more. For those who have no time to go back to College or University to get a new qualification, the can use the internet to teach yourself a language, science, history, the list goes onwards. These sites usually are legit and you can get an actual certificate proving it, though its not just big learning to get a qualification these sites do. If there is just a general interest in something you can find the information on it and continue from there, it also may hold up small games to help with revision. Sites like the BBC’s Bitesize used for GCSE’s and A Levels are a Prime example of this. They hold the information you need for your up and coming exam and do it in a nice relaxing way. They also give revisions tips, small games to help boost your understanding of the topic and printable pages to use if your away from the computer. These are mainly used by Schools and Colleges, as they do have the information correct and students tend to enjoy there quizzes rather then listening to a teach blather on and on.
Games are now becoming a very dominant technology in our lives, as they are now able to multi-platform. However games themselves are becoming more and more realistic with the increase in better physics engines, graphics and artwork. Games well soon be entering the virtual world as we currently have things like the Wii which focuses on moving the body, which is read by an infa-red bar. This gets the body moving as if it was actually in the game, but visually you are still watching the action on a screen.
Video in Interactive Media Technologies
Video Compression is the ‘shrinking’ or ‘compressing’ of data, this is done so that people can receive files such as videos, music or images and not have to wait a long time for it to reach them. This is mainly done when someone is going to upload a video onto a site like YouTube, if the file is compressed, then uploading it will take hardly anytime at all. Whilst if you were to use the file straight from an editing program, just trying to put the file onto a USB would take a long time to do. The main program for compressing videos are called Codec, and these specialize in the coding of a data stream.
Codec work in a sort of ‘pair system’, to compress and code then to decompress/code you need the exact same type of Codec all the way through. For every file, there is a different type of Codec, they are needed if you want to send/upload/download files on the internet. With technology as it is, MPEG-4 is the most common and worldwide used Codec when it comes to film downloading. A reason for this is that this codec can be changed into other signal types, allows more flexibility with developers at creating multimedia software. The data compression isn’t just limited to Films, games as well have their own Codec called WinRar, which allows people to open and close the files as well as burn them onto disk. The systems of Codec are well done and helped achieve maximum efficiency and enjoyment from the programs that need to use it in order to be accessed.
On the internet, one can watch a film, or take it from a site onto their computer ‘live’. This is called Streaming and downloading, when you watch a show or user video that is called Streaming. Taking the actual video and ‘saving’ it to your computer to use it elsewhere is called Downloading. Many things factor in when trying to watch something online, such as connection speed which is measured in bytes. Bites range from just kilobytes which are exceedingly small files, to Megabytes, Gigabytes and onwards. 1000KB are in 1 Megabyte and the same amount of MB into Gig. That and the file you are watching is measured in this unit, the actual name of the data transfer rates is called a Bandwidth. The bandwidth’s speed is decided on the number of available data resources and those which have been ‘consumed already’. Using this data the computer can then be able to work on allowing you to watch your film online.
However if the resources are limited and your browser is not up-to-date, than the time taken for the video to load will increase. In terms of downloading it depends on your download speed and the size of the file you are trying to take. So if the actual file size is 600MB, and your download speed which is on average 2megabits a second, that is an hour long download. Of course if the bandwidth is not good then it would end up taking longer for it to happen. However it just doesn’t all fall onto the bandwidth and things like that, the Format as well is an important part of the package. Different media players on computers use a different format, meaning only a file made in that same format will be able to play. So things like WMV which is the format for Windows Media Player, or MOV which is a Quicktime format.
Frame Rates or more commonly known as FPS (Frames per Second) is the frequency of consecutive images produced by a projectable device. Every second is made up of individual frames which when played in a continuous motion, create a sequence of images. The British Standard is 25 FPS whilst in the USA it is 24 FPS, the lower the number the worse the quality of the film becomes. However this is only noticeable at 12 FPS, as the image becomes jerky, and the pixels start to blend together. As of course the higher the frame rate the better the quality of the film.
The screen of a computer or television is made up of pixels and a ratio. The Picture Ratio is the height divided by the width of the screen. The most common ones are 4:3, 14:9 and 16:9, the smaller and closer together the ratio is, the different the shape is. So 4:3 is a very small box like shape, whilst nowadays people watch things in 16:9, tending to opt of the more widescreen view. Screen Resolution is how many pixels are within this ratio, a small screen would only need something small like 400x600, whilst something with a larger screen would be asking for 900x1200.
DRM or more known as Digital Rights Management, which is enforced more on the internet than anywhere else. It is like a digital copyright, usually placed on games, songs and videos. Their current hotspot would be a place like YouTube, where they would make sure no one was breaching the terms by posting up a music video. This is what they do when they check videos that are embedded into blogs or websites.
Synopsis and Treatment
Synopsis
The music we made is very dark and brooding, something one can’t sing lyrics to or rap with. So instead thanks to the help of our tutor Tim, he told us about maybe making into a news broadcast. We instantly loved the idea, and with 2012 rolling around the corner we decided to focus on that. However we did not want something crammed with special effects and a wanna-be Hollywood blockbuster. So after some brain storming we came up with the idea of not a solar flare, but just the increase in temperature. This actually hits 2 natural disasters with one stone, the prospect of the world ending in 2012, and global warming. The video will work with the lyrics, starting off in a happy mood, where people are joking around about the end, but soon it becomes reality.
The video will start at the beginning of 2012, the New Year had just rolled around, and people are enjoying it. Soon though the temperature starts to rise, with people thinking it is a normal heat wave. This will be portrayed with people walking around enjoying the sun and getting a tan. Alas it only gets worse, with the radio broadcasts, speaking about worse and worse stuff. From the gentle heat wave, it goes to a point, leaving the house uncovered is a health warning. Water shortages and riots spread out through the poorer countries, an interview with a doctor in astrophysics explains the situation. It then reaches the point where no life can survive the unimaginable heat, and the radio presenter himself gives up all hope. This will be shown through a numerous amount of time lapses, live handheld action, and some post production techniques will be used to help give emphasis on the death side.
The overall idea of the video is that though something like a massive solar flare may not destroy the earth then, something slower and maybe worse can happen. It’s a big universe anything can happen to this planet.
Treatment
The first scene if the video is set outside the college at night. This is meant to represent the early hours of new years morning. The mise-en-scene used in this scene is warm winter clothes, something people would wear when the temperature is below freezing. There will be one light, which will brighten up the ‘hosts’ face, this will create some shadows over the group behind him. In terms of people, there will be one host who will be lip syncing to the first set of lyrics in the song. Behind him is a large group of happy people enjoying another new year? The music will be non-diegetic, the song playing over, with only the hosts voice shining through. The camera will be in a fixed position, in a mid shot fashion, maybe one from the side will be done, however this is a very simple shot compared to the rest of the video. The pace and rhythm of the edit will keep up with the first part of the song, kept in a ‘real-time’ format. This means that it will keep running at the normal pace of the shot recorded. This will probably end with a fade out to the next scene.
The next scene is a relatively simple one just showing a radio, changing stations really quickly. The mise-en-scene surrounding the radio is a simple room, probably having a table, window and a TV near it. This represents an area of transition in our song, the ‘Calm before the Storm’ as it were. This also represents a passage of time, as no news broadcasts are heard at this moment, and the audience would suddenly be plunged into the beginning of the end. The sound is an effect, well in truth the sound of the radio changing stations would be diegetic as it fits in with the actual radio aspect. However the part itself I got from another song- Outkast/Speakerbox-GhettoMusic, then edited down to the beginning which is where the effect is placed. The shot size may start up on a medium close up, and might zoom in/out from the radio. The zoom, even though unnatural and something most camera’s try to avoid will help give emphasis on the passage of time. The edit will follow the same path as the first scene, however the fade out at the end, might change to a heavy saturation of bleach on the shot, causing it to ‘white out’ as it were.
The next scene works with the following new broadcast, at this point it’s just a rise in temperature nothing serious. This is portrayed by people walking along in the sun, wearing summer/beach clothes and enjoying it. One of the people walking will be wearing an interesting pair of headphones, which make it seem like he is listening to the radio and receiving the instructions given on it. The sound will be the music in the background, so its non-diegetic, nothing natural comes from this shot. The shots used will be a mixture of close-ups, medium shots and long shots, at different angles. With the editing, nothing will be sped up but with a bit of playing around I may be slown down a bit.
The following shot is a time lapse of a busy street. The mise-en-scene we can’t really control, however what will most likely have are people, shops and a street. The song will be playing in the background, as normal making it seem like another movement through time. The shot will be a long shot, and this will be recorded in 20 minutes segements. After that in the editing booth, we shall speed the shot up immensely to the point were 20 minutes of footage is only shown in like 5 seconds.
The next scene works with the lyrics of a riot in the middle east and Africa. It shows a reporter and the cameraman running away from a mob. What is shown is the camera held in a ‘free-hand’ with the reporter running in front. However all isn’t well as the camera man falls over, leaving the camera to keep recording a set of feet running past. The music is playing in the back ground, and the shots used will be focusing on mid shots and close ups. However we may mix it up during recording.
The following scene is the camera focusing on a street full of dead people. They all had succumbed to the dire temperature and this is where the broadcasts are getting worse and worse. The shots used will be a mixture of close ups and long shots. The music will be playing over and the clothes used are people in rags.
The second to last scene is the time lapse, this is when the sun is going down and will be filmed again in 20 minutes segments. It will be done in the park so hopefully we will have action going on in the foreground, mid ground and background, to give the shot some depth. The edit will again be sped up really fast, this way we can get the passage of time right. The very last scene is 2 people watching the last bit of news on the TV. This is when all hope is lost and people are just giving in to the heat. A new broadcast will be shown on the TV and an over the shoulder shot will be used between the 2 people. This is the end of the song and the edit will finish with a fade to white.
The target audience for the video is probably aimed at ages between 18-25. With its scene’s depicting the worlds end, a younger audience might not understand the message behind the video. The message is about survival and that even if what is predicted doesn’t happen, something worse might come along. The edits and tune will appeal to that age group because that is when people are thinking about stuff most. When their minds are starting to set in it ways, a song like this which offers up questions will get them thinking.
The music we made is very dark and brooding, something one can’t sing lyrics to or rap with. So instead thanks to the help of our tutor Tim, he told us about maybe making into a news broadcast. We instantly loved the idea, and with 2012 rolling around the corner we decided to focus on that. However we did not want something crammed with special effects and a wanna-be Hollywood blockbuster. So after some brain storming we came up with the idea of not a solar flare, but just the increase in temperature. This actually hits 2 natural disasters with one stone, the prospect of the world ending in 2012, and global warming. The video will work with the lyrics, starting off in a happy mood, where people are joking around about the end, but soon it becomes reality.
The video will start at the beginning of 2012, the New Year had just rolled around, and people are enjoying it. Soon though the temperature starts to rise, with people thinking it is a normal heat wave. This will be portrayed with people walking around enjoying the sun and getting a tan. Alas it only gets worse, with the radio broadcasts, speaking about worse and worse stuff. From the gentle heat wave, it goes to a point, leaving the house uncovered is a health warning. Water shortages and riots spread out through the poorer countries, an interview with a doctor in astrophysics explains the situation. It then reaches the point where no life can survive the unimaginable heat, and the radio presenter himself gives up all hope. This will be shown through a numerous amount of time lapses, live handheld action, and some post production techniques will be used to help give emphasis on the death side.
The overall idea of the video is that though something like a massive solar flare may not destroy the earth then, something slower and maybe worse can happen. It’s a big universe anything can happen to this planet.
Treatment
The first scene if the video is set outside the college at night. This is meant to represent the early hours of new years morning. The mise-en-scene used in this scene is warm winter clothes, something people would wear when the temperature is below freezing. There will be one light, which will brighten up the ‘hosts’ face, this will create some shadows over the group behind him. In terms of people, there will be one host who will be lip syncing to the first set of lyrics in the song. Behind him is a large group of happy people enjoying another new year? The music will be non-diegetic, the song playing over, with only the hosts voice shining through. The camera will be in a fixed position, in a mid shot fashion, maybe one from the side will be done, however this is a very simple shot compared to the rest of the video. The pace and rhythm of the edit will keep up with the first part of the song, kept in a ‘real-time’ format. This means that it will keep running at the normal pace of the shot recorded. This will probably end with a fade out to the next scene.
The next scene is a relatively simple one just showing a radio, changing stations really quickly. The mise-en-scene surrounding the radio is a simple room, probably having a table, window and a TV near it. This represents an area of transition in our song, the ‘Calm before the Storm’ as it were. This also represents a passage of time, as no news broadcasts are heard at this moment, and the audience would suddenly be plunged into the beginning of the end. The sound is an effect, well in truth the sound of the radio changing stations would be diegetic as it fits in with the actual radio aspect. However the part itself I got from another song- Outkast/Speakerbox-GhettoMusic, then edited down to the beginning which is where the effect is placed. The shot size may start up on a medium close up, and might zoom in/out from the radio. The zoom, even though unnatural and something most camera’s try to avoid will help give emphasis on the passage of time. The edit will follow the same path as the first scene, however the fade out at the end, might change to a heavy saturation of bleach on the shot, causing it to ‘white out’ as it were.
The next scene works with the following new broadcast, at this point it’s just a rise in temperature nothing serious. This is portrayed by people walking along in the sun, wearing summer/beach clothes and enjoying it. One of the people walking will be wearing an interesting pair of headphones, which make it seem like he is listening to the radio and receiving the instructions given on it. The sound will be the music in the background, so its non-diegetic, nothing natural comes from this shot. The shots used will be a mixture of close-ups, medium shots and long shots, at different angles. With the editing, nothing will be sped up but with a bit of playing around I may be slown down a bit.
The following shot is a time lapse of a busy street. The mise-en-scene we can’t really control, however what will most likely have are people, shops and a street. The song will be playing in the background, as normal making it seem like another movement through time. The shot will be a long shot, and this will be recorded in 20 minutes segements. After that in the editing booth, we shall speed the shot up immensely to the point were 20 minutes of footage is only shown in like 5 seconds.
The next scene works with the lyrics of a riot in the middle east and Africa. It shows a reporter and the cameraman running away from a mob. What is shown is the camera held in a ‘free-hand’ with the reporter running in front. However all isn’t well as the camera man falls over, leaving the camera to keep recording a set of feet running past. The music is playing in the back ground, and the shots used will be focusing on mid shots and close ups. However we may mix it up during recording.
The following scene is the camera focusing on a street full of dead people. They all had succumbed to the dire temperature and this is where the broadcasts are getting worse and worse. The shots used will be a mixture of close ups and long shots. The music will be playing over and the clothes used are people in rags.
The second to last scene is the time lapse, this is when the sun is going down and will be filmed again in 20 minutes segments. It will be done in the park so hopefully we will have action going on in the foreground, mid ground and background, to give the shot some depth. The edit will again be sped up really fast, this way we can get the passage of time right. The very last scene is 2 people watching the last bit of news on the TV. This is when all hope is lost and people are just giving in to the heat. A new broadcast will be shown on the TV and an over the shoulder shot will be used between the 2 people. This is the end of the song and the edit will finish with a fade to white.
The target audience for the video is probably aimed at ages between 18-25. With its scene’s depicting the worlds end, a younger audience might not understand the message behind the video. The message is about survival and that even if what is predicted doesn’t happen, something worse might come along. The edits and tune will appeal to that age group because that is when people are thinking about stuff most. When their minds are starting to set in it ways, a song like this which offers up questions will get them thinking.
Shooting Script
Tonatuih
Happy New Year everyone
2012 has just rolled over, for
those wishing the end of the world
i hope your not disapointed, for everyone else
i will see you next year, have a good one
During this A person is seen rolling up a cigarette and somking it
Next scene is a radio changing stations
Make sure your wearing that sunscreen,
the temperature is getting higher by the day.
Heatwave warning Ladis and Gentelmen
Keep those children safe
During this scene people are enjoying the sun and listening to a radio broadcast.
All over the world the temperatures
are increasing drammaticaly in Khartoum
Sudan it has reached 48 C people are getting
burnt by just standing outside. Do not leave the
house uncovered this is a health warning
During this part its one long time lapse sped up of a busy town centre
Riots have erupted all over Africa and
the Middle East. Water shortages have hit
the countries and people hard. Aid is being flown
over but even we do not know how to cope with this
A scene with a new reporter running away from a mob happens. The camera man falls over and they just run past him.
With us today us Doctor Johnothan Woods,
doctor is this the cause of global warming?
No this is indeed the suns strength, instead of the fore
told solar flare, the sund fuels consumption of
hydrogen has reached a critical state. It will
only get hotter from here on out.
The news reporter is running away from the gang, going through a tunnel with 2 people dead from the heat. Also another time lapse of a busy street it shown
Its finally happened, all nations have closed
their borders in terms of aid. Its every nation for
themselves. Godspeed to those poor souls who suffer
2 people watch the news as this is broadcasted on television
The heat, bodies litter the streets, plant life is dying
Any advice is usless now.
Just hold your hands in prayer, and look for
forgivness from out Eternal Sun God
As this final broadcast is done, a Time lapse of the sun setting is shown.
Happy New Year everyone
2012 has just rolled over, for
those wishing the end of the world
i hope your not disapointed, for everyone else
i will see you next year, have a good one
During this A person is seen rolling up a cigarette and somking it
Next scene is a radio changing stations
Make sure your wearing that sunscreen,
the temperature is getting higher by the day.
Heatwave warning Ladis and Gentelmen
Keep those children safe
During this scene people are enjoying the sun and listening to a radio broadcast.
All over the world the temperatures
are increasing drammaticaly in Khartoum
Sudan it has reached 48 C people are getting
burnt by just standing outside. Do not leave the
house uncovered this is a health warning
During this part its one long time lapse sped up of a busy town centre
Riots have erupted all over Africa and
the Middle East. Water shortages have hit
the countries and people hard. Aid is being flown
over but even we do not know how to cope with this
A scene with a new reporter running away from a mob happens. The camera man falls over and they just run past him.
With us today us Doctor Johnothan Woods,
doctor is this the cause of global warming?
No this is indeed the suns strength, instead of the fore
told solar flare, the sund fuels consumption of
hydrogen has reached a critical state. It will
only get hotter from here on out.
The news reporter is running away from the gang, going through a tunnel with 2 people dead from the heat. Also another time lapse of a busy street it shown
Its finally happened, all nations have closed
their borders in terms of aid. Its every nation for
themselves. Godspeed to those poor souls who suffer
2 people watch the news as this is broadcasted on television
The heat, bodies litter the streets, plant life is dying
Any advice is usless now.
Just hold your hands in prayer, and look for
forgivness from out Eternal Sun God
As this final broadcast is done, a Time lapse of the sun setting is shown.
Monday 11 January 2010
One Day Project- Lip Sync
This is the Lip Sync Video, me and my group made. Our song was The Winner Takes It All, by Abba, this song is very sad and powerful. So we decided to act on that and use dark tones and colours to work with this piece of music. The original idea was for me to pop out of nowhere and just sing the song, whilst Llawen was to be doing normal things, and be weirded out by me. Alas it came out very gay, nor that much of a problem because i feel, even if it is very cringe worthy to watch, it works with the music. Using Final Cut Pro I edited it down a lot to make sure everything wa fitting together nicely.
Tuesday 5 January 2010
Task 1-Purposes of Music Videos
Brief History on Music Videos
Music videos are designed to promote a band or singer, on multiple media platforms, ranging from T.V and Internet, to being able to be sent to iPods, Computers and the like. However they weren't always around, and at first it was only something used in palce of the actual musicians.
Back in the 1950's bands and singers had to traverse the road all year round, traveling from city to city, from country to country. Usually playing the same song over and over again, this of course would get tedious very fast, so peopel started to experiment with 'Promo Videos'. These videos had the band playing on a stage, like a normal performance, but then it was recorded, copied and then distributed around the world. This mean't that the band members could stay at home and relax, not have to play the same song over and over, and people would still get to hear and watch these videos. People like the Beatles and Bob Dylan had jumped on the train ride, since they were so popular, and racked up some large air miles, this would be a breath of fresh air for them. So as the 1960's rolled around, the promos were being made, small budget of course, nothing fancy, just giving the people the music they want.
It is a very simple idea, but this got people going crazy, and soon The Beatles and other artists such as The Monkees and The Animals. As the 60's past by, nearly every household in the UK had a T.V, and The beatles were abusing this, making more and more multiple promos, each becoming more intricate then the last. By 1967, the famous Strawberry Fields video wa released, ranging in full colour, and none of it really being performance based. This video took promotional videos to a new level, using techniques from films; slow motion, reversed film, weird lighting techniques, and the camera angles were a tad off.
However this wasn't caught on in the 1970's and it seemed a lot of artists were still sticking to the basic performance based videos. This can be shown by Abba, who have a basic lip syncing song with a white background, and the group playing instruments and singing. David Bowie as well, with his hit single 'Life on Mars' was just him singing with a white background. This was probably because the industry felt that their audience would only want to see their artist performing the song, not mixed with pointless distractions. However bit hitters like the Rolling Stones, had mushc more imaginative videos, which usually consisted of chopped up clips cuttign from a city, to a concert and finally some post produciton effects are added.
Even though this is mainly focused in Britan and America, New Zealand and Australia' bands soon picked up the ideas and followed suite. Also with the development of technology and nearly every house and home in the UK having a T.V. Australia was a key element in the development of music video broadcasting as it began making shows to host these videos. Some were called," Sounds Umlimited and Kommotion". The british show Top of the Pops, had been showing music videos since the early 70's however it limited the amount of those it woudl show, thus not becoming massive world wide.
By the 1980's music videos were all over the place. Also with the development of technology and nearly every house and home in the UK having a T.V. However in 1981 eyes turned to America as the Music Television program was launched, or M.T.V as we now know it nowadays. On it the song, 'Video Killed the Radio Star' was the first to emerge on its broadcast. The fact that the title of the song was in a sense actually happening during that time was quite amusing, now people were listening less and less to their raidos, and were focusing on the T.V. MTV was the first 24 hour music show, and signified that Music Videos had gone mainstream and the show was perfect for popualr music marketing. Also during this time, technology had taken another leap forward, with the editing and recording equipment standards rising much higher then previously. It also ushered more wild and strange videos, the performance based idea was slowly disappearing. From this revolution, music videos then began a new era, where the Directors themselves start to become famous for their work, the Internet becomes video friendly and another new medium for peopel to watch them is opened.
Task 2- Contemporary Resarch on 2 Videos
Bare Naked Ladies- One Week
This was their most famous song, which hit number 1 for 5 consecutive weeks. It has been used in multiple well known films such as; Digimon The Movie, American Pie as well as being covered by Weird Al Yankovic. The Video was created in 1998, the co-producer was David Lenoard and directed by McG- Joseph McGinty Nichol.
The video starts of in a setting just like the old German Caslte in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Which borrows heavily from that film, it then moves onto the Dukes of Hazzard, also Starsky and Hutch. At 0:14 in the video, the band is shown preforming the song, nothing amazing happens around them, but it also shows they are trying to hold onto the old promo vidoes of the past. moving on from that the real obvious refrence to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, apart from the numerous soldiers and colourful background, is a wind up toy doll, which is human sized. The doll moves her body in a 'Robot' fashion to the beat of the song, this happens at 0:26. Though the song just doesnt take its ideas from films, it also uses things from other pop songs. A prime example is the dancing devil group at 1:00, it isn't somethign that randonly appears, but focuses on the fact that in pop songs, woman dance around in a 'sinful' manner. At 1:30, the group uses The General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard, and the same Ford Gran Turismo from Starsky and Hutch. It gives them this car chase scene where Steven page has his head out of the window and continoues to give out the lyrics. Again this could have been done as a way to show that a lot of pop promos have cars either being showed off or being chased. The way they show the shots, is like a comic strip, the action is live and realistic, but in each 'box' different areas of both cars are shown. Towards the end of the song another band perfomace set is shown, but now infront of a coach, with everyone looking less smart.
The song works well with the video, because it is very upbeat and happy, and the video reflects that. The song itself is a large mess, a collaboration of references to famous artists, films and TV Shows. The group play this well, with the music moving quickly and fluidly to find random connections bewteen them, whether it be just because they ryhme or what they are based around is similar. The whole set always changing, from a magical land set from a fairytale book, to a more recent modern surbuban street, with large houses positioned all around. This keeps the audience's attention on the video and mainly on the band, because they are the only none changing thing in the video. Meaning people focus more on them the first time round and listen to the lyrics of the song, enjoying more. At 0:26, Ed Robertson talks about Aqua man, a DC comic hero, with his ability to talk to fish, he uses that as a jump board to connect to Chalet Suisse, a restaurant chain which would obviously work with fish. Then he connencts restaureant and fish to Sushi, which is a japanese delicacy. All that in just 4 seconds, a remarkable speed, and because its so fast, people will keep trying to listen to it, so they can find out what he says. At the beginning of the car sequence, at 1:34 a lyric going - Chickty China The Chinese Chicken, Take One Bite and your Brain Stops ticking. This is a reference to a line the rap artist Busta Ryhmes said in a song called Scenario, but also to the Bird Flu outbreak in China during that time.
The video is really up beat, as shown in comments made by people who have watched it.
Getwellkid- This Sums up how cool the 90's were
chickety china da chinese chicken....my favorite phrase of all time!!!!!!!!!! XD
reminds us all of the good times doesnt it?
The person may be being sarcastic, but I feel he is not, and that this is a genuine compliment, either way it shows that they are the fun side of the 90's and also its very sad cheesy side. This comment can work both ways as a positive and a negative for the song, as it can show how the past was an enjoyable time, but also that current generation are getting to old for that sort of thing. Overall, the song has been known in the current US chart- Hot 100 of the Decade as being in there, as well as featuring in a range of films. It made the band famous around the world, and most people of the current generation, if asked about it, or start hearing it will say they have heard it at one point. The target audience for this song would be aimed at around 16-25 year olds, with its pop culture like tune.
Flobots- Handlebars
In terms of who directed it, or such not much infromation can be found, no matter where I look. The group are owned by Universal Republic, which is a Division of the old Motown Republic group.
The entire video is animated, not using japanese techniques or silly cartoons. The animation is like it was all made up of cardboard, with the detail being very rigid, but through editing made flexible. The colours aren't very bright, like everything as been given an old touch to it, the shades being drained so it comes off like some old video. In terms of what it borrows from other media, it is a very original video, mainly taking what it knows from stereotypes connected to the lyrics as well as what is actually going on in the world. At the beginning we see our 2 main protagonists on a hill, watching over their city, then they ride down on bikes, not holding onto the handle bars, thus matching to the opening chorus and title of the song. This happens at 0:10 and in comparison to the rest of the song, represents the time of ignorance, as childeren when life is free, and no choices are forced upon you. At 0:21 our 2 friends have reached that stage and are shown 2 roads, wit ha sign post, one with a dove on it, and another with a corporate symbol upon it. This represnts the paths the 2 will take, one who will dive into the world of Economics, Industry and Politics. Whilst his friend will go into the more relaxed and creative side of the world, both wishing each other the best. From 0:27 to 1:04, we follow the street of the Dove, seeing the place in degradation. Not as in poor thrid world status, but the roads are broken up due to time, walls are dirty (represented by dark splotches). People aren't shown to be walking around quickly with jobs, they are all taking it in their stride, an american flag flapping in the wind signifying patriotism- The Land Of the Free- as its called.
At 1:04 we see our relaxed man talk to his friend through a video phone. The corporate man has a scared look upon his eyes at first, his world becoming dark, the colours now overly saturated, making it seem like some heavy gothic styled comic. From 1:10 to 1:34, we see how industry and the military affect the main city life. Surrounding him are adverts saying how a woman should look, a child pops out with a toy gun, a car emmiting lots of gas fro mits exhaust as a man throws his fag onto the ground. Pointing out how we liter and pollute our planet as well as forcing the idea of hate agasint others into the minds of young children. Moving on from that it shows how the man rises up in the company, till at 1:38 he is depicted as the President of the United States of America. A thought which people think about, how a high street chain or a powerful company will become so influential they will rise up and take power at the head of Government. Very interestingly at 1:53 it shows a dove (symbol of freedom) being attacked by a Falcon (bird of prey) with a Falcon fighter jet flying from behind. Representative of the whole'1984' of freedom being stripped for a militaristc state. From there onwards, it continoues on this theme, with the music becoming more heated as more freedom is removed. To the point where the relaxed man stands up against his old friend, with an army of rioters and rebels. As usual in the real world, some idiot in the police force is trigger happy, and soon all hell is let loose, with people dying all over the place. However the president himself is horrifed by what has happened, and even more so when his friend is shot down.
The lyrics of this song can be just as powerful as the visuals. Overall, it is only towards the end of the song where it picks up and everything becomes very violent and heated. The opening chorus of - I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars. no handlebars- works well with the openingsequence. It sounds like a child is boasting over this amazing feat, and is very innocent, and what is clever is Flobots use this theme, of boasting throughout the song. From 0:34 the bragging is focused on small non important things like - I can take apart a remote control, and i can almost put it back together. This would not effect your life majorly but to a kid, its an impressive skill. Movers,Shakers and Producers, Me and my friends understand the future- this is during the 'Corpoate Sequnce' the guy stating he knows what everyone wants, from where he stands, something that any child would boast majorly about. Though it may seem I'm waffling on about boasting, but this is what on a basic level, ths song is doing. The words it uses as well as the visual aspects, give it more flesh that creates a deeper meaning. At 2:12, it becomes very powerful, with the President talking about his strength, what he can do, his absoulute will. I can end the planet in a holocaust, in a holocaust- refreence to the power of the Nuclear and Hydrogen Bombs, which would scar the world, enviornmentally and economically. Capitolism at its most feared position, Dictatorship.
In terms of pubilc reaction, it was viewed on Youtube over 17 million times, after being out for 3 weeks it reached number 3 in the charts in U.S.A. The song causes people to think about what its meaning is, thus inspiring people to leave ignorance and start to learn the truth about things. Anyone who has posted this video up on youtube will have hundreds of people having their own different interpretation of the video but generally coming to the same conclusion. That society is beginning to become more and more like '1984' that the life of controlling your own path, is slowly disappearing from us. That we will soon be monitored nonstop, that Capitalism will go to far, and corporate big shots who have no clue about politcs will begin to take power.
This was their most famous song, which hit number 1 for 5 consecutive weeks. It has been used in multiple well known films such as; Digimon The Movie, American Pie as well as being covered by Weird Al Yankovic. The Video was created in 1998, the co-producer was David Lenoard and directed by McG- Joseph McGinty Nichol.
The video starts of in a setting just like the old German Caslte in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Which borrows heavily from that film, it then moves onto the Dukes of Hazzard, also Starsky and Hutch. At 0:14 in the video, the band is shown preforming the song, nothing amazing happens around them, but it also shows they are trying to hold onto the old promo vidoes of the past. moving on from that the real obvious refrence to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, apart from the numerous soldiers and colourful background, is a wind up toy doll, which is human sized. The doll moves her body in a 'Robot' fashion to the beat of the song, this happens at 0:26. Though the song just doesnt take its ideas from films, it also uses things from other pop songs. A prime example is the dancing devil group at 1:00, it isn't somethign that randonly appears, but focuses on the fact that in pop songs, woman dance around in a 'sinful' manner. At 1:30, the group uses The General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard, and the same Ford Gran Turismo from Starsky and Hutch. It gives them this car chase scene where Steven page has his head out of the window and continoues to give out the lyrics. Again this could have been done as a way to show that a lot of pop promos have cars either being showed off or being chased. The way they show the shots, is like a comic strip, the action is live and realistic, but in each 'box' different areas of both cars are shown. Towards the end of the song another band perfomace set is shown, but now infront of a coach, with everyone looking less smart.
The song works well with the video, because it is very upbeat and happy, and the video reflects that. The song itself is a large mess, a collaboration of references to famous artists, films and TV Shows. The group play this well, with the music moving quickly and fluidly to find random connections bewteen them, whether it be just because they ryhme or what they are based around is similar. The whole set always changing, from a magical land set from a fairytale book, to a more recent modern surbuban street, with large houses positioned all around. This keeps the audience's attention on the video and mainly on the band, because they are the only none changing thing in the video. Meaning people focus more on them the first time round and listen to the lyrics of the song, enjoying more. At 0:26, Ed Robertson talks about Aqua man, a DC comic hero, with his ability to talk to fish, he uses that as a jump board to connect to Chalet Suisse, a restaurant chain which would obviously work with fish. Then he connencts restaureant and fish to Sushi, which is a japanese delicacy. All that in just 4 seconds, a remarkable speed, and because its so fast, people will keep trying to listen to it, so they can find out what he says. At the beginning of the car sequence, at 1:34 a lyric going - Chickty China The Chinese Chicken, Take One Bite and your Brain Stops ticking. This is a reference to a line the rap artist Busta Ryhmes said in a song called Scenario, but also to the Bird Flu outbreak in China during that time.
The video is really up beat, as shown in comments made by people who have watched it.
Getwellkid- This Sums up how cool the 90's were
chickety china da chinese chicken....my favorite phrase of all time!!!!!!!!!! XD
reminds us all of the good times doesnt it?
The person may be being sarcastic, but I feel he is not, and that this is a genuine compliment, either way it shows that they are the fun side of the 90's and also its very sad cheesy side. This comment can work both ways as a positive and a negative for the song, as it can show how the past was an enjoyable time, but also that current generation are getting to old for that sort of thing. Overall, the song has been known in the current US chart- Hot 100 of the Decade as being in there, as well as featuring in a range of films. It made the band famous around the world, and most people of the current generation, if asked about it, or start hearing it will say they have heard it at one point. The target audience for this song would be aimed at around 16-25 year olds, with its pop culture like tune.
Flobots- Handlebars
In terms of who directed it, or such not much infromation can be found, no matter where I look. The group are owned by Universal Republic, which is a Division of the old Motown Republic group.
The entire video is animated, not using japanese techniques or silly cartoons. The animation is like it was all made up of cardboard, with the detail being very rigid, but through editing made flexible. The colours aren't very bright, like everything as been given an old touch to it, the shades being drained so it comes off like some old video. In terms of what it borrows from other media, it is a very original video, mainly taking what it knows from stereotypes connected to the lyrics as well as what is actually going on in the world. At the beginning we see our 2 main protagonists on a hill, watching over their city, then they ride down on bikes, not holding onto the handle bars, thus matching to the opening chorus and title of the song. This happens at 0:10 and in comparison to the rest of the song, represents the time of ignorance, as childeren when life is free, and no choices are forced upon you. At 0:21 our 2 friends have reached that stage and are shown 2 roads, wit ha sign post, one with a dove on it, and another with a corporate symbol upon it. This represnts the paths the 2 will take, one who will dive into the world of Economics, Industry and Politics. Whilst his friend will go into the more relaxed and creative side of the world, both wishing each other the best. From 0:27 to 1:04, we follow the street of the Dove, seeing the place in degradation. Not as in poor thrid world status, but the roads are broken up due to time, walls are dirty (represented by dark splotches). People aren't shown to be walking around quickly with jobs, they are all taking it in their stride, an american flag flapping in the wind signifying patriotism- The Land Of the Free- as its called.
At 1:04 we see our relaxed man talk to his friend through a video phone. The corporate man has a scared look upon his eyes at first, his world becoming dark, the colours now overly saturated, making it seem like some heavy gothic styled comic. From 1:10 to 1:34, we see how industry and the military affect the main city life. Surrounding him are adverts saying how a woman should look, a child pops out with a toy gun, a car emmiting lots of gas fro mits exhaust as a man throws his fag onto the ground. Pointing out how we liter and pollute our planet as well as forcing the idea of hate agasint others into the minds of young children. Moving on from that it shows how the man rises up in the company, till at 1:38 he is depicted as the President of the United States of America. A thought which people think about, how a high street chain or a powerful company will become so influential they will rise up and take power at the head of Government. Very interestingly at 1:53 it shows a dove (symbol of freedom) being attacked by a Falcon (bird of prey) with a Falcon fighter jet flying from behind. Representative of the whole'1984' of freedom being stripped for a militaristc state. From there onwards, it continoues on this theme, with the music becoming more heated as more freedom is removed. To the point where the relaxed man stands up against his old friend, with an army of rioters and rebels. As usual in the real world, some idiot in the police force is trigger happy, and soon all hell is let loose, with people dying all over the place. However the president himself is horrifed by what has happened, and even more so when his friend is shot down.
The lyrics of this song can be just as powerful as the visuals. Overall, it is only towards the end of the song where it picks up and everything becomes very violent and heated. The opening chorus of - I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handlebars. no handlebars- works well with the openingsequence. It sounds like a child is boasting over this amazing feat, and is very innocent, and what is clever is Flobots use this theme, of boasting throughout the song. From 0:34 the bragging is focused on small non important things like - I can take apart a remote control, and i can almost put it back together. This would not effect your life majorly but to a kid, its an impressive skill. Movers,Shakers and Producers, Me and my friends understand the future- this is during the 'Corpoate Sequnce' the guy stating he knows what everyone wants, from where he stands, something that any child would boast majorly about. Though it may seem I'm waffling on about boasting, but this is what on a basic level, ths song is doing. The words it uses as well as the visual aspects, give it more flesh that creates a deeper meaning. At 2:12, it becomes very powerful, with the President talking about his strength, what he can do, his absoulute will. I can end the planet in a holocaust, in a holocaust- refreence to the power of the Nuclear and Hydrogen Bombs, which would scar the world, enviornmentally and economically. Capitolism at its most feared position, Dictatorship.
In terms of pubilc reaction, it was viewed on Youtube over 17 million times, after being out for 3 weeks it reached number 3 in the charts in U.S.A. The song causes people to think about what its meaning is, thus inspiring people to leave ignorance and start to learn the truth about things. Anyone who has posted this video up on youtube will have hundreds of people having their own different interpretation of the video but generally coming to the same conclusion. That society is beginning to become more and more like '1984' that the life of controlling your own path, is slowly disappearing from us. That we will soon be monitored nonstop, that Capitalism will go to far, and corporate big shots who have no clue about politcs will begin to take power.
Task 3-Music Video Director
Michel Gondry was born on May 8th 1963, and since then he says he has only aged to 12 years old. Mentally of course, Michel imagination is massive this can be seen in his work. This doesn;t mean he has childish things dotted around the place, but he focuses a lot in trying to create something individual. The plans for his work would seem to cost a monstorus sum of money, and would end up looking better on paper then on screen. However he has not been beaten yet, with his work been called amazing, the best video the group has ever done. He started working in 1986, creating music videos for a french band called,' Oui Oui'. His videos caught the attention of Swedish artist Bjork, and worked on her song Human Behaviour.
As you can see from the video, it is fully of weird and wonderful costumes and sets. It looks like something out of a childs fairytale book, with the house and costumes worn by the people in it being very simple. Everything also seems to be made out of felt, and patched together. Even Bjork herself looks like a young child, or even a young woman, who is lost in these mysterious woods. At 0:57, she is sitting with a large spoon in a bowel, moving it around as if she wasn't really wanting the food, yet behind her a small moth as suddenly grown to the size of her window and is flapping agasint it. 1:40, she suddenly falls from a tree and shrink in size, smaller then a blade of grass, her 'adventure' begins, running from a hedgehog, even having to duck in the middle of the road as a car drives over. What is interesting about the car is that the bear is driving it, making me think that this is more of a weird dream then a story.
Since towards the end, the bear actualy beats up a hunter, and Bjork is on the moon calling out, making it seem like a radio tower. The video in itself is very odd, but it does seem like it could come from a dream.
This was one of Michel Gondry's early works, becoming more and more noticed because of this video, he went on to give Bjork seven more videos as well as working with people such as the White Stripes, Foo Fighters and even Radiohead. What draws people to his work, is most likely the positive reviews he gets from them, but also because they tend to work with the song best and fit in with the lyrics brilliantly. Though some of his works are not from the top of his head, Michel has used his past life expereinces in them, espacially in the Foo Fighters hit single Everlong. This was also done in a dream fashion, but had every member of the group in it. The lead singer and the drummer were the 'main characters' in the video, whislt the basist and guitarist were the 'bad guys'. The lead singer starts the transition of the dream, with water being squirted on the screan, which matches the action of him pissing into a toilet. His costume is some punk/gothic hard man, who has come to the wrong party and is given wierd looks by everyone for his clothes. Confrontation happens between the female role {Drummer) and the other 2, the lead singer comes in and break the fight. His right hand suddenly swells to enourmous preportions and he beats them down with it. The hand bit was actuall a reccuring nightmare that Michel Gondry had as a kid, and he would have his mother rub his hand to prove him that it was normal. He keeps the strangness going as they leave to a large telephone, ringing, thus deafaning them. Something that is normal to us, when the phone goes off during sleep, everyone hates it as it blasts in the ear and hurts. Michel Gondry took it to another level and over exaggerated it.
However Michel Gondry is not just known for his music videos, no his wings have spread even further into the realms of Advertising, TV and Film. With his advertising career, Michel has worked for numerous companies, such as Levi, AirFrance, and Smirnoff. He is usually known for working with Levi and Airfrance more then anyone else, as he makes very interesting videos. One as such seems to be advertising the jeans, as well as placing a twist on the 'pocket-watch' pocket we now find in jeans. However even though he has recorded it in the style of a 1940's/30's film, it is very modernised with the change of how we precieve sex in soceity.
The end is done to put a smile on people's faces at the revaltion. Also it gives the jeans a sort of naughty factor, capable of hiding secrets in their pockets. Also through the long drive to the girls house, you could say it doesn't show the character feeling uncomfortable or loosing the item he bought. Meaning no matter how long the trip you won't be let down by this brand.
Reactions to this advert are also mainly positive;
Bjork-ish....:D. Gondry=compulsive creative genious. Love his work....respect.
I hate commercials. But this is awesome. Occasionally, commercials can almost make you forget that their sole purpose is to get you to purchase some consumer good.
いまでいうダサカッコいいの走りとも捉えられる作品ですね。
It's cool!!
-one of the greatest movie plots i've ever seen (aswell as one of the most confusing)
As you can see the reactions from the pubile are all about praise. Some say about they always cry at this film, it has also gotten people to think about what life is all about. Whether they follow these newly found thoughts is unknown however, it shows that people really connected with the film. Even if it was very confusing for some, they still enjoyed it immensly showing that Michel Gondry is also a fantastic Director.
Michel's target Audience will vary greatly, as it depends on the artist and the song he has to work with. For example Human Behaviour could have easily been accessable to children to the age of 8. Because of all the soft colours, mise en scene and the narrative in the video, the children might not be able to understand the song and its meaning, they still would enjoy the video. Moving onto the Foo Fighters Everlong video, it again could be watched by a young auidence, maybe a bit older at like 12, but still watchable. The target audience for this video would be aimed at people between the ages of 16-25, as it has the aspects of low budget teen horrors and action movies. In terms of his overall work, Michel Gondry could be classed as being able to reach the ages of 12 and up.
Responses from the audience for his videos are usualy positive, even if they don't know its him, most peopel are enjoying his work. On Amazon.com, where they are selling his version of the 'Work of a Director' series, several customer said things such as;
Michel Gondry is widely acclaimed as one of the best - if not THE best - music promo directors ever.
This is a great DVD. If you like your music videos creative then this is for you!
Both of these signify the majority of the reactions to his work, however not all of them start of like this. A couple talk about finding Gondry through other directors such as Chris Cunningham.
When I heard about this series I was INSTANTLY excited. Finally, the chance to get my hands on some Chris Cunningham on DVD. So that was promptly ordered on Amazon. Hoping to also have the Spike Jonze one delivered to me as a choice Chrimbo present. And then there is this one, at first I thought 'I've not heard of Michel Gondry' and it was promptly shoved to the back of the priority purchases list
I'd only really heard of Michel Gondry because of some of the Bjork videos and the Chemical Brother's Star Guitar
In terms of common knowledge of the general populace, Michel Gondry is not very well known. The videos he makes are, but when it comes down ot who made them, people don;t really try to gain an interest. However, the reaction to the videos is positive, peopel talking about how creative the band were in making it. Then when people find out about the Director behind it and start watching more of his work, he himself gets the praise. So in the music world, Michel Gondry is an icon, with his work getting praised everytime.
As you can see from the video, it is fully of weird and wonderful costumes and sets. It looks like something out of a childs fairytale book, with the house and costumes worn by the people in it being very simple. Everything also seems to be made out of felt, and patched together. Even Bjork herself looks like a young child, or even a young woman, who is lost in these mysterious woods. At 0:57, she is sitting with a large spoon in a bowel, moving it around as if she wasn't really wanting the food, yet behind her a small moth as suddenly grown to the size of her window and is flapping agasint it. 1:40, she suddenly falls from a tree and shrink in size, smaller then a blade of grass, her 'adventure' begins, running from a hedgehog, even having to duck in the middle of the road as a car drives over. What is interesting about the car is that the bear is driving it, making me think that this is more of a weird dream then a story.
Since towards the end, the bear actualy beats up a hunter, and Bjork is on the moon calling out, making it seem like a radio tower. The video in itself is very odd, but it does seem like it could come from a dream.
This was one of Michel Gondry's early works, becoming more and more noticed because of this video, he went on to give Bjork seven more videos as well as working with people such as the White Stripes, Foo Fighters and even Radiohead. What draws people to his work, is most likely the positive reviews he gets from them, but also because they tend to work with the song best and fit in with the lyrics brilliantly. Though some of his works are not from the top of his head, Michel has used his past life expereinces in them, espacially in the Foo Fighters hit single Everlong. This was also done in a dream fashion, but had every member of the group in it. The lead singer and the drummer were the 'main characters' in the video, whislt the basist and guitarist were the 'bad guys'. The lead singer starts the transition of the dream, with water being squirted on the screan, which matches the action of him pissing into a toilet. His costume is some punk/gothic hard man, who has come to the wrong party and is given wierd looks by everyone for his clothes. Confrontation happens between the female role {Drummer) and the other 2, the lead singer comes in and break the fight. His right hand suddenly swells to enourmous preportions and he beats them down with it. The hand bit was actuall a reccuring nightmare that Michel Gondry had as a kid, and he would have his mother rub his hand to prove him that it was normal. He keeps the strangness going as they leave to a large telephone, ringing, thus deafaning them. Something that is normal to us, when the phone goes off during sleep, everyone hates it as it blasts in the ear and hurts. Michel Gondry took it to another level and over exaggerated it.
However Michel Gondry is not just known for his music videos, no his wings have spread even further into the realms of Advertising, TV and Film. With his advertising career, Michel has worked for numerous companies, such as Levi, AirFrance, and Smirnoff. He is usually known for working with Levi and Airfrance more then anyone else, as he makes very interesting videos. One as such seems to be advertising the jeans, as well as placing a twist on the 'pocket-watch' pocket we now find in jeans. However even though he has recorded it in the style of a 1940's/30's film, it is very modernised with the change of how we precieve sex in soceity.
The end is done to put a smile on people's faces at the revaltion. Also it gives the jeans a sort of naughty factor, capable of hiding secrets in their pockets. Also through the long drive to the girls house, you could say it doesn't show the character feeling uncomfortable or loosing the item he bought. Meaning no matter how long the trip you won't be let down by this brand.
Reactions to this advert are also mainly positive;
Bjork-ish....:D. Gondry=compulsive creative genious. Love his work....respect.
I hate commercials. But this is awesome. Occasionally, commercials can almost make you forget that their sole purpose is to get you to purchase some consumer good.
いまでいうダサカッコいいの走りとも捉えられる作品ですね。
It's cool!!
Even people who live in the far east, spain, america, all over if one clicks the see all psots to this video, they will see hundreds of positive comments in a mulitdute of languages. His work reaches out to everyone around the world with his far out ideas and concepts.
One of his most famous films, was called Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and is about a couple who erase their memoris of them even being together. The way the story is told is in a non-linear narration, meaning it is not told in the way it happened. So if somone was walking down the street, then a non linear way of explaning it would be startign from the middle of the walk or at the end and reversing it. This is how Michel Gondry chose to tell the people his story, about 2 lovers who have no recolection of each other, when they had been together for 2 years. The story also contains a bit of science-Fiction with a company containing the technology to erase memories from the human brain, which is where the main story is set, during the erasal of these memories.
The techniques Gondry used to show the removal of memories are a mixture of very dramatic ones to something a little more subtle. It ranged from certain things fading away like somone's name written on a card. The sound and picture quality becomes horrbile, like a poorely recorded shot or film strip starting to deteriorate. Other things like characters are continously swapped with themselves and a younger version, or people, cars even houses disappearing suddenly or collapsing. At one point the characters are made life size to the audience with a small world or the other way around, ususally done when they are trying to hide from things.
The film was nominated for 50 awards, and won 37 of them, including an Oscar for Best Writing/Original Screenplay. This film was recognised throughout major Film Festivals such as Deauville Film Festival and the Flanders International Film Festival. The film was made for 20 million dollars but grossed over 72 million, this is obviously showing that it was a big hitter around the world when it was released in 2004. Peoples reactions are things like;
-this movie was AWSOME
-man, i love this movie but it just makes you ache
-one of the greatest movie plots i've ever seen (aswell as one of the most confusing)
-This movie should be remembered as one of the best of this decade.
As you can see the reactions from the pubile are all about praise. Some say about they always cry at this film, it has also gotten people to think about what life is all about. Whether they follow these newly found thoughts is unknown however, it shows that people really connected with the film. Even if it was very confusing for some, they still enjoyed it immensly showing that Michel Gondry is also a fantastic Director.
Michel's target Audience will vary greatly, as it depends on the artist and the song he has to work with. For example Human Behaviour could have easily been accessable to children to the age of 8. Because of all the soft colours, mise en scene and the narrative in the video, the children might not be able to understand the song and its meaning, they still would enjoy the video. Moving onto the Foo Fighters Everlong video, it again could be watched by a young auidence, maybe a bit older at like 12, but still watchable. The target audience for this video would be aimed at people between the ages of 16-25, as it has the aspects of low budget teen horrors and action movies. In terms of his overall work, Michel Gondry could be classed as being able to reach the ages of 12 and up.
Responses from the audience for his videos are usualy positive, even if they don't know its him, most peopel are enjoying his work. On Amazon.com, where they are selling his version of the 'Work of a Director' series, several customer said things such as;
Michel Gondry is widely acclaimed as one of the best - if not THE best - music promo directors ever.
This is a great DVD. If you like your music videos creative then this is for you!
Both of these signify the majority of the reactions to his work, however not all of them start of like this. A couple talk about finding Gondry through other directors such as Chris Cunningham.
When I heard about this series I was INSTANTLY excited. Finally, the chance to get my hands on some Chris Cunningham on DVD. So that was promptly ordered on Amazon. Hoping to also have the Spike Jonze one delivered to me as a choice Chrimbo present. And then there is this one, at first I thought 'I've not heard of Michel Gondry' and it was promptly shoved to the back of the priority purchases list
I'd only really heard of Michel Gondry because of some of the Bjork videos and the Chemical Brother's Star Guitar
In terms of common knowledge of the general populace, Michel Gondry is not very well known. The videos he makes are, but when it comes down ot who made them, people don;t really try to gain an interest. However, the reaction to the videos is positive, peopel talking about how creative the band were in making it. Then when people find out about the Director behind it and start watching more of his work, he himself gets the praise. So in the music world, Michel Gondry is an icon, with his work getting praised everytime.
Bibliography
Wikipedia- Search for Brief History on Music Videos: 8/1/10
StarPolish Artist Advice- Search for How to Promote a Music Video 11/1/10
Wikipedia- Search for Barenaked Ladies: 13/1/10
Wikipedia- Seach For Flobots: 14/1/10 (Only found info on Universal Studios)
Wikipedia- Search of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 26/1/10
Mdb.com-Search for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 27/1/10
Amazon- Search for Michel Gondry: 26/1/10 (Used Customer reiviews)
Youtube-For video and auidence feedback resarch: 8,11,13,14,26/1/10
StarPolish Artist Advice- Search for How to Promote a Music Video 11/1/10
Wikipedia- Search for Barenaked Ladies: 13/1/10
Wikipedia- Seach For Flobots: 14/1/10 (Only found info on Universal Studios)
Wikipedia- Search of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 26/1/10
Mdb.com-Search for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 27/1/10
Amazon- Search for Michel Gondry: 26/1/10 (Used Customer reiviews)
Youtube-For video and auidence feedback resarch: 8,11,13,14,26/1/10
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