Green Screen Experiment (for narrative)

For our music video, we felt we needed to use green screen for the computers - to have interaction between two parts of the narrative, but screens don't look quite right when filmed.

We tried filming the computer with a matte green colour on fullscreen.

As you can see, the colour of the screen changes slightly when objects are placed between the screen and the camera. This caused the image superimposed on to the screen to distort and disappear - to get around this problem, we covered the screen in green paper.

As you can see, the image on the screen is a lot clearer than in the previous video, and isn't covered in shimmering dots.

Filming Schedule

PHOTOGRAPHY TO BE DONE DURING/FOLLOWING FILMING SESSIONS

Lyrics and Subsequent Ideas (on how to film it)

Modified tabs and Licensing Request

Bass Tabs (Changed to fit standard open D tuning)

G|-------------------------444444--------------------------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|------4--44-4444-2-2-2---------------4--44-4444-2222-2222-2222-2222--------|

D|-4-4----------------------------4-4----------------------------------------|

Verse (0:20)

G|----------------------------------------------------------|

D|--------------------------------4-------------------------|

A|------------------------------2---------------------------|

D|-4-4------------------------------------------------------|

G|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|-------------------------------------1111-2222-2222-2222-2222--2222-2222-2222-2222--|

D|-4444-4444-4444-4444--4444-4444-4444------------------------------------------------|

Pre-Chorus (0:42)

G|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|-------------------------------4-----------------------------------------------|

A|-----------2222-222--------------44-4444------------2222-2222-4444-6666-8888---|

D|-1111-1111-----------4-44-444-------------1111-1111----------------------------|

Chorus (0:52)

                                       h

G|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------4--------------------------------------------|

A|-2-222222-----------4-444444-------4^6---6-4--2-222222----------4444-4444-4444-4444-|

D|----------4-444444------------1-11---------------------4-444444---------------------|

                                         h

G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|-----------------------------------------4--------------------------------------------|

A|-2222-2222------------4444-4444------4^6---6-4--2-222222----------4444-4444-4444-4444-|

D|-----------4444-4444-------------111---------------------4-444444---------------------|

Re-Intro (1:14)

                              h p

G|-------------------------44^6^4--------------------------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|------4--44-4444-2-2-2---------------4--44-4444-2222-2222-2222-2222--------|

D|-4-4----------------------------4-4----------------------------------------|

Verse (1:25)

G|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|-----------------------------------------2222-2222-2222-2222----------------------|

D|-4444-4444-4444-4444-1111-1111-1111-1111---------------------4444-4444-4444-4444--|

G|----------------------------------------------------------------|

D|----------------------------------------------------------------|

A|-----------------------------22--22-----------------------------|

D|-44--44--------11--11----------------------4444-4444-4444-4444--|

Pre-Chorus (1:42)

G|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|-------------------------------4--------------------------------------------|

A|-----------2222-222--------------44-4444------------2222-2222--4444-4444----|

D|-1111-1111-----------4-44-444-------------1111-1111-------------------------|

Chorus (1:58)

                                       h

G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------4-------------------------------------------|

A|-2-222222-----------4-444444-------4^6---6-4--2-222222----------4444-44444444-4444-|

D|----------4-444444------------1-11---------------------4-444444--------------------|

                                     

G|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|-2222-2222------------4444-4444------------2-222222----------4444-4444-4444-4444--|

D|-----------4444-4444-------------1111-1111----------4-444444----------------------|

Bridge (2:20)

G|--------------------------|

D|--------------------------|

A|-----444-666-4444-4444----|

D|-111-------------------|

G|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|---------------------2222-2222-2222-2222---------------------4444-4444-4444-444---|

D|-6666-6666-6666-6666---------------------4444-4444-4444-4444--------------------4-|

G|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|-----------------------------------------2222-2222-2222-2222-4444-4444-4444-4444-4444--|

D|-6666-6666-6666-6666-1111-1111-1111-1111-----------------------------------------------|

G|------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|------------------------------------------------------------------|

A|----------4--------2-------------------------4-------2---2---2----|

D|-4----------------------------------4-----------------------------|

Chorus (2:56)

                                       h

G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------4-------------------------------------------|

A|-2-222222-----------4-444444-------4^6---6-4--2-222222----------4444-44444444-4444-|

D|----------4-444444------------1-11---------------------4-444444--------------------|

                                         h

G|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

D|-----------------------------------------4--------------------------------------------|

A|-2222-2222------------4444-4444------4^6---6-4--2-222222----------4444-4444-4444-4444-|

D|-----------4444-4444-------------111---------------------4-444444---------------------|

Outro (3:18)

G|-------------------------444444-------------------111111-----------------||

D|--------------------------------------------------9-9-9------------------||

A|------4--44-4444-2-2-2---------------4--44-4444--------------------------||

D|-4-4----------------------------4-4--------------------------------------||

Storyboard

Branding - Band Name, Costume and Logo

Costume Ideas from SixFootSteve

OUR BAND - 'SATURDAY'S ALLIANCE'

BAND LOGOS

Branding on Prezi

Initial Ideas

Digipak Research

Music Channels

KERRANG! TV

Average Daily Viewers - 100,000

Average Weekly Viewers - 518,000

Launched in 2001, KERRANG! TV plays predominantly British and American 'nu metal' and 'pop-punk', with exceptions of Rock, Grunge, Rap (rarely), and a few other genres. It has frequent set playlists and video countdowns, which are often guest hosted by famous rock musicians/bands; but most of its air-time is open scheduled: operated by text request. It is part of subscription packages on all platforms, which include Sky, Smallworld Cable and Virgin Media. Their devoted audience of rock fans is made up of 60% males and 40% females with Kerrang!’s demographic fall into social class D-C. The predominate ethnicity of the readership is white British with a target population of 16-24 year olds. The magazine’s psychographic is defined as ‘people who aspire to be respected among other people and people who wish to have a high paid job.’

MTV

Average Daily Viewers - 415,000

Average Weekly Viewers - 2,179,000

On of the first and foremost music channels, it began in 1981 and played nothing but music videos. Although it originally had no set genre, only playing whatever music videos they had for whatever music was deemed popular at the time. By 1991, Nirvana led a trend of alternative music hitting the charts meaning bands like Alice in Chains, Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden received a vast amount of air-time. Subsequently, grunge and alternative rock had a rise in mainstream tastes,  and was soon followed by Pop/Skate-Punk like Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182. By the turn of the millennium, however, the demand for rock acts was on the decline and MTV began airing Electronica and Pop more and more frequently, alongside reality TV and youth-targeted comedy which has now taken over. MTV now has seperate channels for the playing of Music Videos. According to MTV's own research, 54% of its audience is in the 12 to 24 age group. This group watches MTV an average of a half an hour to two hours a day.

SMASH HITS

Average Daily Viewers - 139,000

Average Weekly Viewers - 756,000

SMASH HITS! is a commercial british channel owned by Box Television (who also own KERRANG! and 4Music). The channel plays generic pop in various shows - like Chartbusters, which plays current chart music; along with 'pop classics' in shows like POP DOMINATION; and the occasional countdown show (So and So's TOP 10!). It earns a large amount of money by taking requests given by viewers via a premium rate number. The target audience is the mainstream, as shown by its focus on Pop Music. However, unlike channels like MTV and Viva, this channel focusses on the younger regions of this audience - which can be seen by the bright, bold colours used in the logo and the focus on less sexually orientated pop music videos.

VIVA

Average Daily Viewers - 885,000

Average Weekly Viewers - 3,987,000

Initially started by an independent company based in Germany as a middle finger to the likes of MTV. Ironically, VIVA was later bought out by MTV and distributed across Europe, finally landing in the UK and Ireland in 2009, replacing TMF. VIVA (UK & Ireland) has its own unique logo and broadcasts not only the usual music channel staple of countdowns and charts shows, but teen-favourite TV shows like 16 and pregnant, South Park and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

GREATEST HITS TV

Average Daily Viewers - 70,000

Average Weekly Viewers - 361,000

The channel launched on 29 March 2010 on Sky channel 378 as Lava. Lava specialised in the Indie and rock music genres. Lava's remit was to provide a platform for young rock, pop punk and indie musicians, and features young unsigned music acts from around the United Kingdom. Lavas format allowed viewers to decide on the station's playlist through the use of a voting system which enables viewers to watch the videos they want to see. On 26 April 2011, Lava was rebranded as Greatest Hits TV.

Random Theory Stuffs

ADVANTAGES OF MUSIC CONSUMPTION FOR AUDIENCES
Try before you buy/30 second preview on iTunes
Free music - We 7, Spotify, LimeWire
Only one piece of hardware needed - iPhone, Sony Ericsson Phones
Suggestions - Genius on iTunes' ('If you liked this, you may like this)

Shawn Fanning made Napster
Cubase is top-notch/cheap-ish computer program for music production/recording.

DAVID GAUNTLETT Media Studies 2.0
In contemporary society audiences have a more sophisticated understanding of the media. They also have access to the means of production and are therefore becoming active users of the media, rather than passive consumers.

RICHARD SENNETT The Craftsman
In the 21st Century people are starting to make things and are becoming more creative. Websites like YouTube and MySpace have allowed audience to distribute their work. this has led to social well-being and increased self esteem.

WHEN AM I AN AUDIENCE?
When I listen to music on my Walkman - on way to and from school, just walking, talking if i'm with someone - PASSIVE.
In lessons - Talking, giving comments and replying to questions, writing, doodling - ACTIVE.
When I watch TV - Chatting with other people, laughing, doing work, watching, eating - PASSIVE.
When I play games on PS3 - Listening to music, chatting - PASSIVE.
When I watch YouTube videos - Leaving comments, liking/disliking/favouriting/sharing videos, laughing, chatting, listening to music, working - ACTIVE.
When I go to the cinema - PASSIVE.

VISIT BARB WEBSITE.

Music Video Directors/Iconic Music Videos

Jonas Ákerlund -
James Bond Theme - Moby
Smack My Bitch Up - The Prodigy
Whiskey in the Jar - Metallica
Beautiful Day - U2
Jump - Madonna
Telephone - Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce
Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
I Miss You - Blink-182
Me Julie - Ali G and Shaggy


Åkerlund was the drummer of the Swedish Viking/Black Metal band 'Bathory' from 1983-4. He first found fame as a music video director for Swedish pop act 'Roxette'. He became a 'mainstream' music video director when his video for The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up' sparked controversy for its depiction of drug use, nudity and violence, and has since worked with the likes of Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Blink-182, Metallica and various others.

Michael Gondry -
Hardest Button To Button - White Stripes
Mad World - Gary Jules
Fell In Love With A Girl - White Stripes
"Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor" & "Carol Brown" - Flight of the Conchords
Human Behaviour - Bjórk
Star Guitar - Chemical Brothers
Around The World - Daft Punk
Everlong - Foo Fighters


His career as a drummer in the French rock band 'Oui Oui', for whom he also made the music videos for. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of Björk, who sought him out and asked him to direct  "Human Behaviour". He's also well known for directing films including 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' which received critical acclaim and for directing a Levi's 501 Jeans advert which, despite earning a record for the most awards won by a TV commercial, was never permitted on air due to 'suggestive content'.

Spike Jonze -
Sabotage - Beastie Boys
Oh So Quiet - Bjórk
Praise You - Fatboy Slim
Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim
Wonderboy - Tenacious D
Buddy Holly - Weezer


Spike Jonze has various alter egos - his birth name is Adam Spiegel and he performed in the original video for 'Praise You' under the name of Richard Koufey, before showing it to Fatboy Slim who approved of a full version. The video received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Best Choreography, at that years MTV Awards which Jonze accepted, still in character.

Weird Al Yankovic -
Does his own music videos, often directly parodies the music videos of the songs he's altered -
Fat (Bad - Michael Jackson)
Smells Like Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana)
White and Nerdy (Ridin' - Chamillionaire)


While Yankovic's parodies generally don't include references to the original songs or artists, Yankovic's music videos have a tendency to parody the original song's music video in whole or in part. Most notably, the video for "Smells Like Nirvana" uses an extremely similar set (and some of the same actors to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The two videos actually went head to head at the MTV Music Video Awards for Best Male Video!

See also - OK Go

OK Go has earned considerable fame for their creative but often low-budget music videos, most of which have been promoted through Internet video sharing sites like YouTube. Many of these have become viral videos; the 2006 video for "Here It Goes Again", in which the band performed a complex routine with the aid of motorized treadmills, has received over 50 million views four years later.
-Best Short Form Music Video (2007) for "Here It Goes Again"
-Most Creative Video (2006) for "Here It Goes Again"
-MTV Europe Music Awards:
Nominated: Best Video (2006) for "A Million Ways"
-Grammy Awards of 2012

Nominated: Best Short Form Music Video for "All Is Not Lost"

Thriller (John Landis)
 
For the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, this video won three out of six of its nominations. "Thriller" won Viewers Choice, Best Overall Performance and Best Choreography.
The music video was listed as the "Greatest Video" on VH1's "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" in 2001. MTV listed the music video as being the "Greatest Music Video Ever Made" on their list, "MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made" in 1999. In July 2011, the music video was named one of "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos" by TIME magazine.

Previous Music Videos (The Good, The Bad and The Average)

Previous Music Videos:
GOOD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY-0mXKOY1s&feature=related

This music video has a great audio-visual match. The miming of the instruments is realistic, and they don't just mime playing, they perform - making a much more interesting visual experience. The acting was also good.
The editing was absolutely fantastic, with a great use of overlapping images and super-imposed images. The cuts are also well timed with the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHHL39JmbWs&feature=related

Really sinister-looking mise-en-scenes in the opening shots - although unrelated to the song, the tangled branches already make it slightly creepy.
The acting isn't as good as it could be, but it's not half-arsed - and the use of make-up and gratuitous gore is great.
I also particularly liked the use of strobe lighting (around a minute in), and the final scene was cleverly done to give the effect of the bath water fading red.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aFWrhZpx_M&feature=related

fantastic syncronisation between the drumbeat and the change of shots, and likewise with the lip-syncing. The performance, make-up, costume and set are incredibly clear, absolutely superb - within moments you can see she's a mental patient at a hospital; the shots of her in a red dress is her delusional imagining of herself; the shots of her in school is a flashback of what sent her mad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2zrRi06Rb0

This video makes great use of Green Screening and quick editing really well synchronised editing and playing. It also makes good use of CGI in the beginning, setting the scene and introducing the song and special effects.
At one point, it even puts the song in the background - drawing attention away from the song and towards the 'narrative'.

AVERAGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3rjif0RCmc&feature=related

This video follows the narrative of the song quite literally. The editing is quite good, but perhaps a little slow for such an upbeat, high-tempo song. Although the acting really suits the tone of the song and the narrative, the lip-synching often goes out of time and the singer does look a bit reserved and shy in places - understandable, but it does look a bit naff.


BAD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZjiqKLfsco&feature=related

Although mimed instruments is a good idea: fun, original, quirky - it's badly executed - even in the first 10 seconds, the drummer is seen completely out of time. The 'green screen' doesn't work either - they could have changed it to anything, or used it as a completely matte background, but instead they left it as it was, and it didn't even cover the whole background.
However, the narrative area of the film is alright, the acting is very corny and the editing is good, if a tad slow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7yWB_DI6tE
Unfortunately, this video has been changed so that it cannot be embedded, however this video is a prime example of how bad a music video can be. The acting is dreadful (although you can't fault them on enthusiasm), the instruments are obviously being mimed and the shots are way, way, way too long for such a fast-paced, upbeat song.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxhqaiAyZvI&feature=related

The editing is way too slow for such an upbeat and fun song. The person singing is in time, but it still doesn't look right. On the upside, the narrative is relatively clear, but the acting is terrible!!

A Brief History of Music Videos

Analysis of a Music Video

By The Way - Analysis of the Music Video

View more PowerPoint from SixFootSteve

Experimenting with videos

Stop Motion (aka 'Stop Frame) Animation - a series of photos played consecutively, giving the illusion of movement - as depicted beautifully in our Jelly Baby music video for 'Don't Feel Like Dancing' by The Scissor Sisters! Stop Motion is when a sequence of images (either photographs or drawings etc) are shown in quick succession - usually around 15 frames per second - giving the illusion of movement. This technique is favoured by Aardman, the creators of Wallace and Gromit, Flushed Away, Chicken Run and many other shows/films, who use this technique to bring "life" to clay figures.

We did an activity in lesson experimenting with Green Screen and Lip-Syncing, these are the results!
Lip syncing is just miming to the lyrics, then overlaying the music track during editing to get rid of any background noise.
Green screen is, on its most basic level, making the background a single colour using a screen, which makes it easier to change the background. This means you can create the illusion of your subject being absolutely anywhere. Videos can then be layered on top of each other, allowing one person to be in shot multiple times at once! It's called green screening only because green is the best colour to use for the background.




I like the format of this music video, pretending it's the trailer for a corny, high-school teen movie whilst still portraying a message (being different doesn't mean you aren't as good as everyone else). However, the story-line of the video is only very loosely linked to the lyrics of the actual song.
Another thing I like about the video is the way it shows near equal amounts of the band playing the song and the narrative (which stars the band). This was when the band was a lot less mainstream than they are now, so showing the band playing helps new listeners/viewers get a proper introduction to the band.


This video displays great use of a combination of live action and cartoon animation - done using green-screen!


Literally interprets the lyrics, in particular the lyrics: 'Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? (mowed your lawn)/Your mom came out with just a towel on (towel on)'. As seen in the thumbnail (before you click play), you can see a clever use of Green screen, in which they super-empose the singers image on to the reflection in the characters shades.


Uses Vox Pops with a mixture of people found on the street/street performers and celebrities.
 This is a good technique (to use the variety of celebrities), as it means they can put their names in the credits and as a result, this video may turn up when you search their names online - bringing additional audience to the songwriters - Nickelback.


This video has a really surreal use of green screen: the camera pans around the centre of the room, focussing on the people in the middle, who warp and morph from one person to another. The colours are strange - making a huge contrast between light and dark, bright and dull. This makes the atmosphere of the video quite sinister almost - as if something isn't reight about the surroundings. This matches with the lyrics of the song, which states how this one neighbourhood has ruined so many lives. The people in the middle shows a variety of characters who arew so strange, unique and slightly messed up in their own special way - emphasised by the constant morphing and changing.