The Pitch

Link to the presentation: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B0QNSAHIClA-NGZhNGMyZWItNTgzNy00MjQ0LWJhZjEtZTAzNGFmMmNmY2Yx&hl=en_GB

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Link to the video: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0QNSAHIClA-YTA0MzQ1M2UtOWJkYi00Yzg2LThhM2QtOGNmZGQ5NjVlZGE0&authkey=CN_E8T8&hl=en_GB

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In this blog, is a video of clip of me and my partner presenting our initial ideas for our video to the rest of our group. We used information previously gathered earlier on in the blog on target audience and presented this information to the group. Above is a link to the video of the pitch and the presentation that me and my partner produced.

Initial Ideas

The image below is a print screened image of the mind-map we produced on the initial ideas of our video. Please click the image to enlarge.















We have many initial ideas to go into the production phase of our video. Our main idea is to shoot the entire video with a black and white effect, to reflect the dark mood and tone of the song. We have chosen to incorporate the idea of the flashback to show the history of our individual and why he is so troubled, showing things like splitting up with his girlfriend over drug abuse, leaving home and getting into trouble with the police. These flashbacks will be shown in a darker tone of black and white, as they will be showing dark moments from his past. We plan to shoot the video in the middle of the night before sunrise, showing our character leaving a police station after spending most of the night in custody. He then proceeds to put his headphones in, as the song starts and the video begins.

Our character will need to be wearing old tattered clothing, look tired and unclean and appear to be in distress. As the song progresses we plan to show the flashbacks showing the dark past of the character before cultimating in the realisation of his drug addiction with a twist at the end. We plan to use a handheld camera to reflect our characters disorinetation and confusion. At this stage of the planning process, we feel have collected a number of ideas which will hopefully be put towards making our idea for the video become a reality.

Copying an existing video

One a lesson a week, we have a session which focuses on teaching the class how to use the cameras effectively, introduce the class to the cameras as well as basics in using them safely. Our first session of the term, we looked at the video "Teenage Dirtbag" by a band called Wheatus. This particular video was shot in a school in America, so the aim of the class was to recreate and replicate the video shot by shot to aid the class in using the cameras through effective demonstration. Before any filming could take place, we had time to familiarise ourselves with the camera by looking at how to set up the tripod to gain a steady shot and how to safely add and remove the camera from the tripod. We additionally looked at how to replace the tapes to record footage as well as how to record and zoom when filming. We then spent a lesson breaking down the opening scenes of the video in a storyboard, and learnt how effective the use of the storyboarding technique is in media production. This helped the class to realise how much time and planning is spent before the shot can be recorded, looking in detail at factors such as the location of the shot, costume and props used in the shot, the description of the sound and audio and many other factors. You will a copy of the storyboard scanned into this blog.

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After focusing on the storyboarding of the video, we then went on location to begin to film the opening shots as a class. This enabled us to use a shooting script for the first time and learn how to put this into practice when filming. The shooting script provided us with information on the shot number, shot type, description of the action, the camera movement as well as the number of takes and notes on each take. The notes on each take would enable the class to decide as a group on whether or not the take was effective and what needed to be done in the next take to make it better. We also got to use to using the clapperboard, you will find a copy of the shooting script scanned into this blog. Once all the background research had been done into the video, we split up into two groups and filmed half the video each so more footage could be filmed in our restricted time period. Each group used their own props and used their own knowledge of camera movement to produce shots which were similar if not replicating the ones used in Wheatus' video. At the end of both groups conducting the filming, we came together as a whole class to edit the footage. We were split into groups and given a laptop, using the program final cut pro to edit our footage. To take part in this process, we needed to connect the camera to the laptop through a firewire cable. We then logged and captured the video so it was copied into the program and allowed us to cut between the shots. We additionally learnt how to convert the video from NTSC to PAL and reduce the frames per second. Furthermore, we were shown how to use shortcuts and to save our clip to a scratch disk. Here is a link to a copy of "Teenage Dirtbag" produced by our group and a link to an example of using timelapse filming.

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Teenage Dirtbag: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0QNSAHIClA-YjQ4ZmUwMDktNWViNS00ZTZlLWE1NzUtNTM1ZTI0NWJmZTk5&hl=en_GB

Timelapse: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B0QNSAHIClA-ZDQ5ZmM2MDctOTUwMC00Y2JjLWFjYTUtOTg3YjQ0MmVmMTE3&hl=en_GB

Video Analysis

Video 1: The Streets- Dry your eyes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHOf3s70w-c)
Video 2: The Streets- Blinded by the lights (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7MCbis75wk)

In this blog I am going to focus on two additional videos from The Streets to see what sort of videos they have chosen to produce previously. This will hopefully provide me with inspiration and ideas for my video and allow me to see the sorts of videos The Streets choose to produce alongside their songs so my video can follow a similar trend. I will be adding screen grabs from the videos on chosen shots which i feel lead to the video being effective and providing the video with a story. The first video is a song called dry your eyes. The song is about a man trying to cope with his girlfriend breaking up with him and went to number one in the UK and in Ireland. I felt it was a good choice to decide to focus upon this video as it has many connotations to stay positive with similar themes of loneliness.

The video opens with a long shot showing the lead singer and the persona of the video sitting under a light on a un-lit road with his dog. Instantly the video is telling us that the character is alone and is shown in a shot on his own to demonstrate this. The video then proceeds to show him in a snooker hall, with the theme of loneliness being replicated in that no other character is shown in the shot other than himself and the dog. The use of the dog is showing that it is the only person the character can currently relate to and the only thing wishing to be with him.

Throughout the video, there is a constant theme of loneliness as Mike is never shown in a shot with any other character just himself. When the camera moves in for a close up (as pictured), his face is very sullen and has little expression demonstrating that he is likely to be in a bad mood and upset with what has happened. The Video has similar shots throughout, with a number of establishing shots showing his change of setting from the swimming pool, to the cafe, to the betting shop and other locations. This could possibly suggest due to his varying location that the character is looking for something or someone and that it is thing certain thing that will cheer him up or make him feel better.

One shot which i found interesting was the close-up on the games machine when he visits the arcade. The screen reads "you lose", which other then suggesting the character has lost at the game, also suggests that he is a loser and has lost in his relationship with his girlfriend. The video shows locations which would usually be full with people such as the supermarket, cinema and a football stadium, all empty with only the character and his dog being shown in each one, this is effective in showing that the character feels totally alone in the world and lost.

The video finishes with a shot of the main character and his dog back at what looks to be his home, the dog seemingly moves towards Mike who lovingly accepts the dogs gesture and he embraces the dog looking as if the dog is the only thing left who he can relate with and who wants to be around him. The video is powerful in demonstrating the mood of the character after his girlfriend splits up and shows him alone throughout the video clearly promoting a constant theme of loneliness. The theme of the song is very similar to the song we have chosen, therefore i may use the idea of this video in the production of my own.

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The second song and video I have chosen to analyse is a song called “blinded by the lights”. The song focuses on a main character, again played by the bands lead singer Mike Skinner, who goes to a wedding to meet his girlfriend. He then proceeds to take drugs whilst the girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend. The video focuses on the mood of the character as he notices his girlfriend isn’t there and turns to drugs and excessive drinking to try and make his mood better. The video opens with a phone conversation between mike and his girlfriend. The signal drops and the girl sends him a text message saying “c u in da corner x x”. Due to the text and the alternating shots between the couple, it tells us the couple are close and plan to meet at the party. At this moment of the video we assume they are together.

The scene changes and Mike is seen at a wedding, a handheld camera is used to track Mike as he walks through the wedding looking around trying to find his girlfriend, Simone. He realises she isn’t there and spots some friends over on another table who are drinking heavily and he joins them. The handheld camera is effective in showing mike’s confusion about where simone could be and it also could potentially show nervousness due to the shaking of the camera about meeting her. A close up then shows him taking MDMA with the continued look of confusion on his face as he looks around for her.

Mike then walks to the front of the building to get reception or as the lyric states, "get bars on my phone". He begins to send a text to his friend Dan who is also not there, the shot then changes to an over the shoulder shot which shows simone and dan in the cloakroom kissing. It's at this point of the video that Mikes mood really deteriorates and a close-up over the bar shows that he is starting to feel the effects of the drink and drugs as his friends are shown to be forcing him to drink more, possibly due to the fact they know what is happening between Dan and Simone and they want Mike to not realise by getting him drunk. There are short shots however throughout, still showing Mike looking around for Simone. The handheld camera is then used again to show Mikes drunken state, with the angle tilting and moving as he walks into the toilet and does a couple of lines of cocaine. Its then we see that Simone and Dan are now in the toilet with Dan filming Simone giving him oral sex in the cubicle. A high angle shot reveals Mike and his friend in the next cubicle snorthing cocaine demonstrarting how close Mike came to finding them.

They then walk through into a disco room, where the handheld camera is used to focus on Mike's face showing us that he is in a drunken state and the tilting of the camera is again used. Through a point of view shot we see a medium close up on Simone and Dan dancing together. This is the first point of the video where Mike realises what has been potentially going on. As he attempts to make his way over to them, a fight breaks out between all of the men which cultimates in Mike ending up on the floor covered in blood in a dramatic close up to finish the video. This video demonstrates an emotional rollercoaster of an evening for the main character, it shows him at first being concerned about Simone not being there, then getting drunk of excessive drinking and drugs and eventually discovering his girlfriend has been cheating on him. The main point of the video was the handheld being used to demonstarte Mike being disorintated and is a technique im debating about using in my final video.

Both videos from the streets were very powerful and hard-hitting and both focused on the theme of women leading to mens lives being ruined. The dramatic style of both videos is something I will hoping to capture in my final video. Things such as in both videos the main character mimed the words throughout in an epilogue style format and the fact both videos featured constant close up on the character are two techniques I will be looking to incorporate into my video.