Lip syncing exercise

1. How did you feel about the editing programme and learning to use it?

I felt that the editing programme we used was relatively straightforward to use and I saw many features that I feel could be translated well into our actual music video, such as certain transitions, effects and edit styles.

2. What did you learn about making music videos from this exercise

I learnt how to use the actual editing programme efficiently, from capturing a video onto the programme, to editing and using transitions. I also learnt how to direct myself and others in terms of positioning and actions and use the camera effectively. I believe all of these things will stand me in good stead when coming to recording the real music video, as I will already understand how to use the camera and editing programme and so will not waste time on these things.

3. How will what you have learnt affect how you approach you proper production?

I will be able to translate what I have learnt in terms of editing and filming into the music video easily, meaning that I will have more time to focus on the creative side of things such as; interesting shots that fit the genre of the song, the content and direction. It also gave me a clue as to how pre-planning causes less time to be wasted.

Storyboards

BRADLEY'S ROUGH STORYBOARD FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

LOUISE'S ROUGH STORYBOARD FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE MUSIC VIDEO

 

At the beginning we discussed briefly about what we wanted the music video to be about. We then split up and created storyboards, adding in the visions we had in our heads and then re-grouping to discuss once more. Initially I wanted to totally highlight the rebellious nature of the students and so thought the intro. to the song could include messy mise en scene and actions such as blowing smoke in a friends face to wake them up to underline the teasing/youthful and rebellious attitudes of the teenagers however when discussing we thought that it may not be possible to fit so much into just a 24 second introduction.

Possible Camera Placements - for filming of The Skints gig

Ideas

Ideas For Music Video

• Live Lounge videos: we thought this may be a good idea as none of these type of songs have any pre-existing videos and therefore we can create something unique that will not be compared to the original video.
•  A local band: we thought of actually using a local bands music and the band themselves to feature in the video.
• We thought that our video should be highly ambiguous, with many messages being conveyed and codes being used. We thought we would do this by using typical music video conventions through things such as camera movement/editing, mise en scene, lighting, sound etc. 
• A band ‘The Skints’ – Michael thought of this band as he goes to see them playing live often but we all enjoy this music. We thought this would be a good idea as, although they are an signed, they aren't 'famous' and also they have no video to compare ours to which gives us creative freedom. We thought we could perhaps film the band at a gig as well as feature a narrative in the video. However we realise that this may not be one hundred percent feasible, so we may use people to act as the band or if not create a predominantly narrative based video.
• We decided to focus on the band the skints to create our video around. From listening to their music we gathered that the band is of the ‘ska’ genre.
• The lyrics focus on society, violence, culture etc.
• The band is not generic/mainstream

Details such as this can help us to create a video that we believe could reflects the bands nature and ideologies effectively.

We have chosen to do Up against the wall

Ideas for videos

• Stereotypical reggae/ska features: Drugs (cannabis), anti authority
• Possible location: Camden, typical urban area
• Perhaps lyrics fit with what the audience see on the video
• Party 
• Horror type movie convention to fit in with the song. For example at the end of the song the sound fades down in pitch then suddenly shoots back up. We thought this reflected the part in horror movies where equilibrium is restored then suddenly something odd and unusual happens again as a sort of cliff hanger.
• To fit in with the lyrics at the beginning. A male protaganist 'grabs his coat' in a run down messy flat. Colour tones of the video = greyscale. Makes his way to the job centre. Smoking = anti authority. Looking on the touch screen computer for jobs - Sign in the background 'shortage of jobs' Later on show him busking - people not interested in his music. TV shop across the road - a bunch of teens looking on admirably at a mainstream pop artist - JLS? Shows the protagonists face - noticeably annoyed - drops guitar slouches '
• End could start at the beginning - cuts to band performing/gig throughout.
• Another idea could be featuring characters that completely do not fit into the ska/reggae genre to cause the audience to be somewhat confused and make them think about the music they are listening to more.
• We thought that we could include temporal leaps and mix up the chronology of the video. We could film the gig sequence and throughout edit these clips in between the narrative until the character in the narrative finally ends up at the gig. We thought this may be a good idea as it is a common feature of the ska/new reggae genre.

After anaylising ska/reggae like music videos from bands such as

Dub city rockers

Sonic Boom Six

Random Hand

We found that there was a sort of rawness to these music video's as quite often, due to not being mainstream music, these artists were not signed to a major record label, if any at all. This caused the video's to be some what D.I.Y and home made. Sonic Boom six and Random hand were the closest to the skints in terms of music, as they had an ska vibe but were english and mentioned their roots in their lyrics and video. They always combined the band performance and sometimes narrative. This narrative is often a portrayal of a person who is completely separate from the ska/reggae stereotype, and shows their mundane life. Often creating a depressing atmosphere, to juxtapose the upbeat and often cheery soundtrack.


Posted by Louise

Rough Lyrics

 I grab mah jacket and mah packet and I head out the door

The sun it is a shining and I want to explore so I take a little trip to another town club

Build up a little spliff... And we be rocking to the dub BOOM

Boom goes the bass, bop bop go da drum. Da vocal come around like an instruction 
no man can resist the primitive call, of a London never put our backs up against the wall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

I babble and they want to see a man a fall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

But bablyon gone know we massive, stand tall

SAYYYYYYYYY

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd a checking his flow

 I grab mah jacket and mah packet and I head out the door

The sun it is a shining and I want to explore so I take a little trip to another town club

Build up a little spliff... And we be rocking to the dub BOOM

Boom goes the bass, bop bop go da drum. Da vocal come around like an instruction 

no man can resist the primitive call, of a London never put our backs up against the wall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

I babble and they want to see a man a fall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

But bablyon gone know we massive, stand tall

SAYYYYYYYYY

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd a checking his flow

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd a checking his flow

We can play just when i wanna take a stand

The one that'd better mess around 

The fire coming down, I leave them under the 

The music from Jamaica all the love that i have found

And now excuse me as i tell it so profound

 I grab mah jacket and mah packet and I head out the door

The sun it is a shining and I want to explore so I take a little trip to another town club

Build up a little spliff... And we be rocking to the dub BOOM

Boom goes the bass, bop bop go da drum. Da vocal come around like an instruction 

no man can resist the primitive call, of a London never put our backs up against the wall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

I babble and they want to see a man a fall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

But bablyon gone know we massive, stand tall

SAYYYYYYYYY

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd a checking his flow

Take a walk on the outside too

I need to justify it

The sun it is a shining

There no need to be hiding from it

Ma reggae man he come to see me in the club

He told me he a walking and he followed the sound of dub

He told me ten ten ten ten times, he told me ten ten ten ten times

He told me ten ten ten ten ten times, he told me ten ten ten ten times

The floor so loud that travelled through his body as he said it

His eyes were bright and full of love

He held me as he said it

No man can resist the primitive call

But London never put our backs up against the wall

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

Reggae man held me close and tell me ten times he was

Up against the wall

Up against the wall

Now London let you tell me

Let your freedom, for you got to have

Soul, soul, low no check it

And see the worm and hear the words

And felt it so check it

And then said my man don’t resist

the primitive call

the London oh they making all my people stand tall

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd checking his flow

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd checking his flow

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd checking his flow

Out where the reggae man go

Is where the sunshine and wind blow

And when he looked down low

He see the reggae crowd checking his flow

_________________________________________________________________________________

25th November 2010
Following our pitch we jotted down what would be happening in the narrative during certain parts of the narrative. This clarified where we would edit certain clips with relation to lyrics.

Introduction to MLB

Hi, we are (from left to right) Louise, Michael and Bradley and we are MLB/Beercan productions. We have chosen this name as it establishes the anti-authority demographic we wish to aim to in our music video. MLB is also short, snappy and sounds professional. This is our blog.