FILMING ISSUES

Just a little update some issues we've been having with our filming recently... We found an excellent location at a local dungeon, but unfortunately there was a troll there, resulting in us not being able to film... just thought you ought to know.

CD COVERS RESEARCH 2

Here are some CD/ record covers from similar bands to Skid Row who were working around the same time, that could possibly provide some inspiration for when we produce one.

A few notes I have made from these covers are that the colour black features prominently throughout, as-well as heavy rock music imagery such as skulls.

CD COVERS RESEARCH 1

Seeing as one of the ancillary tasks is to produce a CD cover, I have been looking at some of Skid Row's album/single covers to see how the band are represented, and how they promoted themselves.

I like these pictures, I see them representative of the fast paced rock and roll life style that the band carried out, which influenced their genre of music. I think we should consider this when producing our CD cover.

FILMING PROGRESS

We have since filmed another scene of the narrative, in which Ricky is shown at having a rough time at his day job working as a carpenters assistant. (My dad kindly acted and allowed us to film in his workshop.) He is shown quitting his job after being mistreated by his boss. This represents the misfortune and aggressive nature of the charactor, connoted by the song's lyrics.

On top of this, we have also filmed the required band shots at our chosen location of a run down barn. Dificulties involved carrying all the equiptment across a road and through some fields in the bitter cold. I think we got some good shots, however, and what lies next is the challenge of editing the instromental close up's to the music as well as lip - synching. Due to the sun setting early, we ran out of time to film all the vocals. To overcome this issue we have come to a desision that we will film the rest of the vocal shots in the schools photography studio. This will provide a change of scene, which I believe will make the video more interesting.

NEXT SHOOT: 01/12/10

Charlie Jones has booked out the school's photography studio for Wednesday 1st December. We will use this opportunity to film the rest of the vocal shots. We should be able to get some good quality shots due to the background and lighting facilities available. Props required: microphone stand and microphone.

BAND SHOTS LOCATION

This is a short video I made last weekend at the location where we have decided to film the band shots.  There is a lot of light as is an open barn, which could make for some interesting shots. Although it is the band shots that are being filmed here, I think that the derelict nature of the barn is reflective of the corrupt life of Ricky, the central character of the music videos narrative.

FOOTAGE UPLOADED

For our music video we are using two cameras (booking one out from school, the other is mine) in order to film the same shot from different angles, resulting in a lot more useable footage. One is a tape camera and the other uses a memory card - which we found takes longer to upload due to the amount of converting that needs to be done, so we will bear this in mind for future editing sessions.
We filmed our closing shot, which is James walking down a hill dropping an empty vodka bottle and disappearing into a twilight horizon. We started experimenting with creating a time-lapse from twilight to dark and will finish this experiment next lesson.

INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO

I love watching videos by bmx videographer Richard Thorne. In this particular one, he uses impressive filming and editing techniques to make an interesting video. The idea of colouring (perhaps a sort of de-saturation) in this is something which I think we could experiment with for our music video to give it an unhappy sort of feel that the song's lyrics imply, which we are using characterise the protagonist.

FIRST SHOOT

Today we met up our actor, James Wheeler, in order to film some of the outdoor shots for the narrative section of our video. It's getting darker a lot earlier now so it was wise to get these done whilst there is daylight time after school, because we tend to have various other commitments on weekends. The first scene we filmed included Ricky almost getting run over by a car, followed by an argument/confrontation with the driver. This was to demonstrate the character's aggressive nature, suggested by the songs lyrics.

For our first ever shoot, I think we worked well together and we got some brilliant shots, using two cameras to capture a broader range of angles. It was also a really enjoyable experience. 

THE BAND

Local band 'The Croft' have a agreed to learn '18 And Life' and perform in both the location and a few shots in the schools photography studio for our video's band shots.

MEETING NOTES 3

LOCATION

Found two possible locations to shoot the majority of the band shots... I think the second one has a lot more potential for some interesting shots, as well as looking derelict/ past its best, which in a way, reflects the themes of the song.

Location 1



Location 2

MEETING NOTES 2

Date: 14/10/10
Present: Ollie,James,Chalie
Weeks remaining until deadline: 7

Narrative draft: Basic draft of narrative, involving key scenes and characters. Complete this so we have a full narrative script. - James, Charlie and Ollie (by 22/10/10)
Location of band shots: Discussed potential location for band to play. Gather information and pictures so we can decide on destination. - Ollie (by 22/10/10)
Start Filming: Begin filming, band shots specifically. - James Charlie and Ollie (by 25/10/10)

ACTOR SECURED

My friend James Wheeler has agreed to play the part of Ricky, the lonely and misunderstood boy that is central to our music videos narrative. We think that he will suit the role and play it well.

PLANNING SCHEDULE

'JESUS OF SUBURBIA'

This song by Green Day is based on similar themes of Skid Row's '18 and Life'. The main character in this music video shares some of the characteristics we have been giving to our's. There are many interesting shots in this video, as well as representations of youth culture, that we feel could influence our music video.

MEETING NOTES 1

Date: 30/09/10
Present: Ollie, James, Charlie
Weeks remaining untill deadline: 10

Location: Find a location for the band to be shot - Ollie (by 01/10/10)
Location: Find varioius locations where the narrative could be shot - James/Charlie/Ollie (by 08/10/10)
Actors: Find an actor to play the main character of the music video - Ollie (by 04/10/10)
Band: Find a band that is prepared to play in the music video - James (by 04/10/10)
Props: Accuire the props to contribute to the mise-en-scene of the music video - Charlie (by 08/10/10)

AUDIENCE

Skid Row were a successful 1980's/90's hair metal band. Their music is listened to by both a male and a female audience, it is popular with adolescents, but older men tend to listen to it more than older women. From this information we can target our productions to connect with the lives of teenagers and young adults with a taste for rock music.

THEMES AND CONTEXT

Skid Row is a Hair Metal band who produced their best work in the late 80s/ early 90s. We have been researching a variety of their music videos, as well as ones by assosiated artists of the Hair Metal genre: Guns N Roses, W.A.S.P, Aerosmith, Motley Crue and more... We have noticed that band shots play a big roll in these videos, and have therefore decided that in order to reach our target audience it would be wise to place an emphasis on band shots in our video. These band shots will be combined with a storyline/narrative that could focus on and explore the following themes that we have identified within the lyrics of the song: isolation, youth culture, crime, agression and corruption .

LYRICS

The lyrics to a song tend to be very influential to the video which goes with it, which is why we are studying the lyrics to influence our music video and help us to identify a set of themes.

Here are the lyrics to 18 And Life:

Ricky was a young boy, he had a heart of stone.
Lived 9 to 5 and worked his fingers to the bone.
Just barely got out of school, came from the edge of town.
Fought like a switchblade so no one could take him down.
He had no money, oooh no good at home.
He walked the streets a soldier and he fought the world alone
And now its

18 and life you got it
18 and life you know
Your crime is time and its
18 and life to go
(repeat above)

Tequila in his heartbeat, his veins burned gasoline.
It kept his motor running but it never kept him clean.
They say he loved adventure, rickys the wild one.
He married trouble and had a courtship with a gun.
Bang bang shoot em up, the party never ends.
You cant think of dying when the bottles your best friend
And now its

Chorus

Accidents will happen they all heard ricky say
He fired his six-shot to the wind that blew a child away.

Chorus

SONG

We have chosen a song which we all feel happy with to make a music video, to which we could apply themes and genre conventions.

Here it is: 18 And Life by Skid Row...

THE PROJECT

My name is Ollie Sandles, I am working in a group of 3 with James Labdarbs and Charlie Jones towards creating our own self made music video to a song of our choice, which will go along side two ancillary tasks, which include making a magazine advert and a cd cover. All of these 3 things will have themes that tie them together as promotional material. This is my blog which I will be using to keep track of mine and my groups progress over the duration of the project.