At last we finished our music video. For what seemed like an eternity, we've spent hours and hours slaving in our editing suite all for this video. I'm actually so happy that its done, its finished, its over, i could cry!!!
Its actually turned out amazingly. I never ever thought we would be able to produce a music video of such high quality. It really shows how, if you put enough time and effort into something, you can come out with something that you're really proud of and i'm extremely proud of this video!!!
We put a really high contrast on every shot which makes the video seem almost dream like. It also makes the banana and gorilla jump off the screen as if its almost fake.
We also finished the black and qhite sequence at the end with the yellow banana. Everyone who's seen the video thinks the ending scene is the best bit as they didn't see it coming, and can't believe we had to edit every single frame to get our effect. I suppose all of that effort was definatly worth it.
The black and white band shots in contrast with the colourful chase scene was a really good idea because it shows a clear contrast between the two which wasn't there before. Furthermore, the black and white doessn't take anything away from the band shots which was a worry and it looks really professional!!!!!!
Saturday, 10 November 2007
Band Shots
Below are a selection of shots we took of the band at the burnt down house in Hammersmith. We are hoping to use them for either the bands album cover or their press release. Either way, it was a good idea to take them !!!
I think these two images would make a really good front cover. They are a simple portrayal of the band and will easily show the consumer their identity as an indie band. The background is grimy yet beautifully textured which would link them even tighter to the indie genre.
I think these two images would make a really good front cover. They are a simple portrayal of the band and will easily show the consumer their identity as an indie band. The background is grimy yet beautifully textured which would link them even tighter to the indie genre.
This is a shot of the band posing infront of their instruments. It strengthens the view that they are signed to an indie label and we could use this for either their press release or the inside sleave/back cover for the album.
This final shot is the band posing through a destroyed part of a wall. If anything, it is just a really good photo, emphasising the uniqueness of their location. There are plenty of rough textures and the band look out of place - which i find strangely attractive!!!
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Colourful Banana in black and white background
Ok we've discovered how to actually do this and although it doesn't require the mose sophisticated knowledge on the edit suite, it is painstakingly long - hours and hours and hours long.
What you have to do is layer a colourful version of the shot ontop of a black and white version of it. At this point the whole thing will be in colour as the top layer is the colour layer. Now, you have to select the colour layer and add the effect 'garbage' to it. Garbage is a tool that allows you to crop a certain part of an image using either 4 points, 8 points or 16 points (16 points is for something very detailed and complicated and 4 point is for something like a window.
The worst is to come. You have to scroll through each individual frame of every shot you want to have colour and black and white in and edit them. So on the colour version of the video, whenever the banana is in the screen, you have to move the points to fit around him, effectivly cutting him out of the colour image. This way the colour image dissappears and you should only be left with the banana. But the trick is, the black and white video is underneath so the banana remains in colour and you've erased everything else colourful and are left with the black and white image.
This sound easy enough, but when you are on your 30th frame in a 4 second long piece of footage you could quite easily kill someone. We have to do this for all of the frames where the banana is in the burnt down house and unfortunatly he is in the house for about 30 seconds of footage. What is worse is that, because the banana is quite a pointy object you need to be detailed with your cropping which mean we have to use the 16 point garbage tool. Even worse, the banana is moving at high speed so every frame he has completely changed position and you need to move every point to fit with his body shape.
The hardest thing however is when the banana runs past a plank of wood. You don't want to wood to be in colour so you have to do an additional garbage for the side behind the wood and another one for the side of him infront of the wood.
HOW MADDENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What you have to do is layer a colourful version of the shot ontop of a black and white version of it. At this point the whole thing will be in colour as the top layer is the colour layer. Now, you have to select the colour layer and add the effect 'garbage' to it. Garbage is a tool that allows you to crop a certain part of an image using either 4 points, 8 points or 16 points (16 points is for something very detailed and complicated and 4 point is for something like a window.
The worst is to come. You have to scroll through each individual frame of every shot you want to have colour and black and white in and edit them. So on the colour version of the video, whenever the banana is in the screen, you have to move the points to fit around him, effectivly cutting him out of the colour image. This way the colour image dissappears and you should only be left with the banana. But the trick is, the black and white video is underneath so the banana remains in colour and you've erased everything else colourful and are left with the black and white image.
This sound easy enough, but when you are on your 30th frame in a 4 second long piece of footage you could quite easily kill someone. We have to do this for all of the frames where the banana is in the burnt down house and unfortunatly he is in the house for about 30 seconds of footage. What is worse is that, because the banana is quite a pointy object you need to be detailed with your cropping which mean we have to use the 16 point garbage tool. Even worse, the banana is moving at high speed so every frame he has completely changed position and you need to move every point to fit with his body shape.
The hardest thing however is when the banana runs past a plank of wood. You don't want to wood to be in colour so you have to do an additional garbage for the side behind the wood and another one for the side of him infront of the wood.
HOW MADDENING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oxford Street
Oh god what hell that was. It was actually so difficult to shoot in Oxford Street there were SOOOOOOOO many people.
We found a cafe called 'Cafe Fred' on Argyle Street which is right next to Oxford Circus. The waiters were quite annoyed we were shooting there as we didn't really ask for permission as we were just using their outside tables. They forced us to buy something so between the 3 of us we bought 1 chocolate croissant at the reasonble price of £1.95!!!!!
We found a cafe called 'Cafe Fred' on Argyle Street which is right next to Oxford Circus. The waiters were quite annoyed we were shooting there as we didn't really ask for permission as we were just using their outside tables. They forced us to buy something so between the 3 of us we bought 1 chocolate croissant at the reasonble price of £1.95!!!!!
Anyway, here we were really frustrated because so many people wanted pictures of the gorilla. It was so annoying. Furthermore, when we were shooting there were hundreds of people walking past and it was so hard to get any shot that we could actually use without it beind ruined by passers by. These two factors ment we were at the cafe about an hour longer than we should of been.
However, we got some great footage from it. We got the entire introduction shot and followed our strict shoot list to get what we needed.
Shot List
- lots of close ups of banana and body parts walking through the crowd
- shot following the banana walking through the crowd
- shot of a concealed and hairy figure reading a menu with 'cafe fred' on the front
- banana creeping forward, obviously seeing the gorilla
- long shot of the gorilla sitting at the cafe table reading the menu
- close up of the gorilla's menu as he peers over the top
- POV shot of the gorilla seeing the banana staring at him in horrow
- close up of the banana's terrified expression
- mid shot of the gorilla closing the menu and slamming it on the table
- close up of the banana's expression again and he starts to run
- shot of the gorilla rising from the chair and persuing the gorilla through the crowds
Looking back at it on the camera, everything looks really good and when we edit it together it should look awsome. I'm excited!!!!!
However, we got some great footage from it. We got the entire introduction shot and followed our strict shoot list to get what we needed.
Shot List
- lots of close ups of banana and body parts walking through the crowd
- shot following the banana walking through the crowd
- shot of a concealed and hairy figure reading a menu with 'cafe fred' on the front
- banana creeping forward, obviously seeing the gorilla
- long shot of the gorilla sitting at the cafe table reading the menu
- close up of the gorilla's menu as he peers over the top
- POV shot of the gorilla seeing the banana staring at him in horrow
- close up of the banana's terrified expression
- mid shot of the gorilla closing the menu and slamming it on the table
- close up of the banana's expression again and he starts to run
- shot of the gorilla rising from the chair and persuing the gorilla through the crowds
Looking back at it on the camera, everything looks really good and when we edit it together it should look awsome. I'm excited!!!!!
Colourful Banana - Black And White Band - a thought
Rumble Fish starring Matt Dillon (21 October 1983 USA) is shot entirely in black and white. However, in one scene we see 2 rumble fish in a tank and they are both in colour. This is absolutely amazing and jumps right off the screen - it is immediatly noticable and brilliantly done. I was thinking that this type of effect could be very very useful in our music video.
What if we could somehow have the bright yellow banana in colour when he enteres the house wherer the band are playing. As we know, the band are performing entirely in black and white, so to have a yellow banana at the scene would be absolutely amazing and would look visually stunning. It would clearly demonstrate the differences between the energy of the chase and the performance shots. Furthermore, it would add a new level of depth to our video and clearly shows the differences between the two locations.
However, i have absolutely no idea how to do this. I was just a thought but maybe we could find some way of pulling it off. Have to do some internet research or ask someone!!!
What if we could somehow have the bright yellow banana in colour when he enteres the house wherer the band are playing. As we know, the band are performing entirely in black and white, so to have a yellow banana at the scene would be absolutely amazing and would look visually stunning. It would clearly demonstrate the differences between the energy of the chase and the performance shots. Furthermore, it would add a new level of depth to our video and clearly shows the differences between the two locations.However, i have absolutely no idea how to do this. I was just a thought but maybe we could find some way of pulling it off. Have to do some internet research or ask someone!!!
Black and White band
When editing our video, we originally had both the narrative shots and the performance shots in colour. However, sometimes the action was happening so fast in the video that when we changed from narrative to performance, the whole thing was as big blur and you didn't take everything in -often missing important performance shots.
To combat this we put a really high contrast on the banana and gorilla shots. This way, every shot was jumping off the screen as it looked as if the banana was neon yello!!! this looks amazing. Everything else is really bright and fuzzy and has an almost dream like effect - very surreal.
Furthermore, we made all of the band shots black and white. This way, there is a stark contrast between the locations and we can appreciate both locations for their clever camera-framing and movement individually. You can also actually differentiate between the scenes and this is important.
At first i didn't thik the black and white would look good, but it appears to add layers and texture to the picture. The walls are originally quite dirty and a nasty brown colour but when put in black and white, they transform and look quite stunningly quirky. To me it gives the band their own identity which is very important. Because they aren't in colour but every other shot is, is makes them appear out of the ordinary instead of the gorilla and banana. strange no.
To combat this we put a really high contrast on the banana and gorilla shots. This way, every shot was jumping off the screen as it looked as if the banana was neon yello!!! this looks amazing. Everything else is really bright and fuzzy and has an almost dream like effect - very surreal.
Furthermore, we made all of the band shots black and white. This way, there is a stark contrast between the locations and we can appreciate both locations for their clever camera-framing and movement individually. You can also actually differentiate between the scenes and this is important.
At first i didn't thik the black and white would look good, but it appears to add layers and texture to the picture. The walls are originally quite dirty and a nasty brown colour but when put in black and white, they transform and look quite stunningly quirky. To me it gives the band their own identity which is very important. Because they aren't in colour but every other shot is, is makes them appear out of the ordinary instead of the gorilla and banana. strange no.
To-Do List
Ok, we have lots to do and not much time!!!
- album cover, get it sorted and take picture
- press release - exactly the same
- get everything ready for the shoot on saturday in oxford street to get our introduction done. this includes camera-bag (2), tripod (2), gorilla and banana costume, finding a location near oxford circus.
- for our shoot on sunday we need camera-bag (2), tripod (2), gorilla and banana costume, costume for the band, all of the instruments
- need to take photos at the house in hammersmith for the album cover and press release. Get this sorted.
- start drafting the 3000 word essay :(
- album cover, get it sorted and take picture
- press release - exactly the same
- get everything ready for the shoot on saturday in oxford street to get our introduction done. this includes camera-bag (2), tripod (2), gorilla and banana costume, finding a location near oxford circus.
- for our shoot on sunday we need camera-bag (2), tripod (2), gorilla and banana costume, costume for the band, all of the instruments
- need to take photos at the house in hammersmith for the album cover and press release. Get this sorted.
- start drafting the 3000 word essay :(
The ending - climax
How the hell are we going to end our video!!! We have a few ideas but none of them have materialised into anything. Whats worse, we are close to the shooting deadline and if we don't have anything by that time then we're in big trouble!!!!!!!!!
Ideas:
- The gorill and banana have been running so hard that they are both extremely knackered. The gorilla has the banana cornered but it panting severly - as is the banana. Somehow they are both so tired from running that they collapse on the floor.
- Alternatively, the banana is trapped with the gorilla bearing down ontop of him. At the last second the banana offers the gorilla something, another banana, a massive inflatble banana, a card for a female gorilla strip club.
- Somehow the banana manages to outrun the gorilla in a final piece of trickery. He is able to escape by scaling a wall, jumping ontop of a moving car, jumping onto a bus etc. Something interesting and climactic that will make the audience laugh and feel happy that the banana got away.
- Either the gorilla or the banana could die (or both) in some road related accident, or they run into a scrap yard and get killed in the crusher. Something comical as a good way to round off our music video.
- A BRILLIANT IDEA: As our band are playing in the burnt out house in Hammersmith, it would be a really good idea to link the chase to the band somehow. We could have the gorilla and the banana make their way to the derelict house and there can be some sort of a face off. Either they can sort out their own problems infront of the band or the band themselves can go and protect the banana, fighting off the gorilla.
- Even better, the gorilla and banana can run past the band and the band can watch as the drama unfolds. As they are in the top-floor of a building, the banana could push the gorilla out of a window or something like that. Then the band could come to the window and look and that could be our final shot!!!!!
OK - so to link the chase to here, we need to shoot a shot of the banana and the gorilla reeling round a corner at top speed and then link it to them running into the house where the band are playing. Sounds like a PLAN
Ideas:
- The gorill and banana have been running so hard that they are both extremely knackered. The gorilla has the banana cornered but it panting severly - as is the banana. Somehow they are both so tired from running that they collapse on the floor.
- Alternatively, the banana is trapped with the gorilla bearing down ontop of him. At the last second the banana offers the gorilla something, another banana, a massive inflatble banana, a card for a female gorilla strip club.
- Somehow the banana manages to outrun the gorilla in a final piece of trickery. He is able to escape by scaling a wall, jumping ontop of a moving car, jumping onto a bus etc. Something interesting and climactic that will make the audience laugh and feel happy that the banana got away.
- Either the gorilla or the banana could die (or both) in some road related accident, or they run into a scrap yard and get killed in the crusher. Something comical as a good way to round off our music video.
- A BRILLIANT IDEA: As our band are playing in the burnt out house in Hammersmith, it would be a really good idea to link the chase to the band somehow. We could have the gorilla and the banana make their way to the derelict house and there can be some sort of a face off. Either they can sort out their own problems infront of the band or the band themselves can go and protect the banana, fighting off the gorilla.
- Even better, the gorilla and banana can run past the band and the band can watch as the drama unfolds. As they are in the top-floor of a building, the banana could push the gorilla out of a window or something like that. Then the band could come to the window and look and that could be our final shot!!!!!
OK - so to link the chase to here, we need to shoot a shot of the banana and the gorilla reeling round a corner at top speed and then link it to them running into the house where the band are playing. Sounds like a PLAN
How does the chase begin - the meeting
We still haven't decided how the chase is going to begin. We have all agreed it needs to be quick (within the first 15 seconds) and comical for the audience.
Possible Idea
- we see the gorilla sitting in a bench with a newspaper
- we cut to the banana walking down a busy road
- we suddenly see the banana notice the gorilla
- we get a shot from the gorillas perspective as he sees the banana looking at him
- shot of the banana's terrified expression
- the banana starts running for his life
- the gorilla dropps his paper and chases after the banana
We all really like this idea and we all contributed to it. It would be brilliant if we could get this scene done in or near oxford street because then we could easily link the chase to it. It is fast, snappy, and comical which is what we need. What would be better would be if we can explain a real reason why the gorilla is chasing the banana and not just randomly have it.
Maybe the gorilla can be at a restaurant or cafe and instead of a newspaper be reading a menu. There are plenty of cafe's on oxford street so i am sure that this wouldn't be a problem to find. The only possible let down could be permission to film from a cafe.
Possible Idea
- we see the gorilla sitting in a bench with a newspaper
- we cut to the banana walking down a busy road
- we suddenly see the banana notice the gorilla
- we get a shot from the gorillas perspective as he sees the banana looking at him
- shot of the banana's terrified expression
- the banana starts running for his life
- the gorilla dropps his paper and chases after the banana
We all really like this idea and we all contributed to it. It would be brilliant if we could get this scene done in or near oxford street because then we could easily link the chase to it. It is fast, snappy, and comical which is what we need. What would be better would be if we can explain a real reason why the gorilla is chasing the banana and not just randomly have it.
Maybe the gorilla can be at a restaurant or cafe and instead of a newspaper be reading a menu. There are plenty of cafe's on oxford street so i am sure that this wouldn't be a problem to find. The only possible let down could be permission to film from a cafe.
Note on final production
A list to myself of things we need to get done. Possible ideas:
- opening sequence - banana/guitar cross-cutting
- enigmatic close-ups of different banana body parts
- enigmatic close-ups of the gorilla
- The entire music video should be cutting between the narrative chase and the band performance throughout the entire length of the video. i suggest a 65% narrative to a 35% performance
-Important and creative shots - Gorilla paw, banana tip of head, plenty of close ups on the face, gorilla scratching his head, shots in the upstairs of the house, singers face half in half out the shots, singing through things, the band addressing the camera (more personal), arc around the band members with the camera, singer is looking away from the camera and then faces it while in mid-line.
We need to get the band sorted with clothing. Possibly can borrow the clothes from Sameer's group! This includes skinny jeans and black converse shoes X3. This means all our band can have some. I think shirts and ties for the top half of the band - a generic indie style we can promote the band with
- opening sequence - banana/guitar cross-cutting
- enigmatic close-ups of different banana body parts
- enigmatic close-ups of the gorilla
- The entire music video should be cutting between the narrative chase and the band performance throughout the entire length of the video. i suggest a 65% narrative to a 35% performance
-Important and creative shots - Gorilla paw, banana tip of head, plenty of close ups on the face, gorilla scratching his head, shots in the upstairs of the house, singers face half in half out the shots, singing through things, the band addressing the camera (more personal), arc around the band members with the camera, singer is looking away from the camera and then faces it while in mid-line.
We need to get the band sorted with clothing. Possibly can borrow the clothes from Sameer's group! This includes skinny jeans and black converse shoes X3. This means all our band can have some. I think shirts and ties for the top half of the band - a generic indie style we can promote the band with
Real Shoot 3
Basically, this is where we reshot all of our awful footage from Hammersmith. We actually knew where to find it this time, so when we arrived we were quick to set up our instruments. We had to carry all of them upstairs onto a floor that was practically rotten and at one stage, my foot went straight through the floor.
- We made sure we were tight with our camera work and got plenty of close-ups on the band members and their instruments.
-We also had wide establishing shots of the band and this really showed off the location to the camera.
- NO GREENERY IN OUR SHOTS WHAT SO EVER
- Creative filming - shooting frames within frames of the band (i.e. through a wall that was destroyed by a bomb 15 years ago)
- We made sure we were tight with our camera work and got plenty of close-ups on the band members and their instruments.
-We also had wide establishing shots of the band and this really showed off the location to the camera.
- NO GREENERY IN OUR SHOTS WHAT SO EVER
- Creative filming - shooting frames within frames of the band (i.e. through a wall that was destroyed by a bomb 15 years ago)
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