Music Video analysis

30 music videos have so far been analysed by I, Anthony Preston, and Becki Gill. The aim of this analysis is to get a vague idea of what content to look for, how the videos are constructed etc. After some deliberation of chosen to analyse Weird Al Yankovic's-BOB, and The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars.

Alongside this my band session evaluation and Multi-Camera techniques report are coming along swimmingly, however I have hit a wall. The band session I've chosen happens to be the only one hidden away in the video vaults. And until I find this video I'm stuck however I have done everything possible up to that point.    

New Progress so Far

After being briefed on what the group has already done I was assigned with learning more about the items of clothing involved in the documentary. Following this I Aaron and Adam started doing Vox Pops in the cold afternoon. The results of this work were very good, aswell as learning the terms for every form of Islamic clothing we were going to be documenting we had tow very good answers to our Vox Pop question in the bag, the group was going from strength to strength.

But as always karma struck again as I was lectured by the unofficial group leader Aaron for not being passionate about the work and doing nothing but moan. I was incredibly insulted by this, aswell as feeling patronised and talked down to. 

The Next group I was given

My attempt at leadership failed and my group disbanded I had to re-evaluate the current groups and choose the one that could get me the most recognition and success. This time I chose based not no the idea, but the people within the group, after several hours of calculation I came to the conclusion that the "veil" group were the most likely to bring success as they had the most willing and intellectual members of the group contained within.

A Coup d'état?

Hearing the news of our leaders' suspension was a shock, but I soon got back into the work and declared myself the new group leader. I saw this as my opportunity to successfuly lead a group for the first time (aswell as the fact that I was the only member of the group to actually bid to be in it). I got together every page of his blog to read through and piece together his thoughts. For 2 days I was arranging reverything that Anthony had planned with the help of his girlfriend.

It was a challenging process, as the terms of his suspension meant I wasn't even permitted to contact him (and vice-versa). I was infuriated at the timing of this event and the hole it left in the team. In a shocking twist of fate I was told that the group had been dispanded completely and that I would have to choose another group to work in.

The rage that coursed through me that day was almost unbearable, in a day I had gone from pssible leadership and great progress in a group all the way back to square one.  

Crisis!

All the progress my group has made so far has been nothing more than a useless gesture! Due to some unforseen scandal involving our group leader he has been suspended for several weeks, I was only informed the day after this was announced by the person closest to him on the course (his girlfriend).

Progress so far

So far the leader (Anthony) has explained what the event is all about, and what we'd be doing on the day. Aswell as giving us the low-down on what would be provided for us. The thing we struggled with most (as much as it embarrases me to admit it), was the development of a central idea to weave the project together. Otherwise we were told it was jsut a "publicity video". The team leader has made clear his objectives for this factual programme as highlighted below:

Shot List

When the crew arrive on the sunday this is some of our shots that will be taken.
Prepairing shots.
We are going film the person getting prepaired dramaticly, by filming close ups of tying shoes, putting on jacket, putting on medic bag, hat and cocking gun.

Reenacment shots
Close up of loading a magazine
Long shots
Action shots when poeple are running and shooting

treament

my treatment is

• What it is our documentary- it is about a middle aged house wife who goes out to WW2 reenactments
• Where is it - it is at bury
• How are we going to do it - we are going to start of with a boring everyday house wife who lives at home and cut to snippets of the reenactments to grab audience attention. This should confuse the audience and make them want to know more. And the reenactment will be done in a saving private ryan sort of feel.
• Why are we doing the documentary- The documentary is to show people that an average evey day person could be interesting
• When are we shooting - we will be shooting on the 29th of may

Recce

top end of railway

Middle

Bottom

Lights

There will be plenty of light as it will be outside and there will be no need for electrical assistance.

Meaning there will be no cable left around and nothing pluged in.

Sound

There is going to be trains but not as the reenactment is happening so thats good.

There will be an audience so that may disrupt the sound although it shoundn't disrupt to much as there are some load bangs.

Access

The crew know how to get there they are being picked up at 8am and will be taken home at the end of the day.

We all have each others numbers so contact isnt a problem

There is a carpark on sight.

refreshments are available.

and there are public toliets around.

ITS A TRAIN STATION!!

Crew

Everyone knows the plan meet at 7.30am at the back of vue and bring waterproofs, food/money

I will have already taken the kit there

The Group I've been given

Thouh my Idea didn't make the final 6 I still had the complex task of choosing the group I| wanted to work with, it was not a decision to be made lightley. If I chose a group I wasn't happy with I would suffer the consequences for the rest of the term. So I created a small questionnaire for each group leader. No more than 3 questions were used, I asked every candidate these questions nad each of them gave me an equally long set of answers here where the replies I got from alot of the group leaders: 

Sammie: Seemed generally uninterested in what I had to say, and seemed very unenthusiastic about the idea she'd successfully lobbied for. Nothing really struck me as interesting about her Idea it seemed as though she just wanted to make another documentary about a man in a tough occupation. Sammie also seemed distracted during the process repeatedly asking me the questions I asked. 

Charlotte: Asking the questions to Charlotte was an "interesting" process. Although her idea had an interesting hook ot it (a documentary about salsa dancing), all she seemed to grasp about the project was the idea, when I asked her about the many trivialities of it i.e.style, locations, cast, purpose she seemed confused as if she didn't really know what she had successfuly put into production. 

Emily: Emily seemed again stuck initally to just the idea, I completely understood why she lobbied for it and thoguht that it was a noble thing to do, but she had the same problem as the tow leaders mentioned above, she had no enthusiasm for what I asked her about, it seemed as though she had bitten off more than she could chew. The only passionate display i got from Emily was hte fact that it was a subject close to her heart. 

Noreen and Sal: Possibly the shortest set of questions of all the group leaders, I couldn't quite beleive how eager they where to end the questionning, it seemed as thoguh they again where not very passionate about what they where about to do, although both Sal and Noreen seemed to have a good understanding and idea of what they where going to produce, they seemed to again lack enthusiasm and passion, the only shred of which came across for the same reason as Emily, that it was a subject close to them and their hearts. 

Anthony: It goes without saying that Anthony was the most passionate of all the candidates. He was the candidate with the most developed ideas, he showed me audio files he'd thoguht of using for lyrical content, sent me pictures, even went as far as giving me contact details. 


In the end It was down to me to give my reasons and fight for a place in Anthony's group, by the sounds of things I did just that with an email that in mr Jamie Holmans' words was "the only one in the class that was two pages long". Success I had the group I wanted

The Irresistible Rise of Arturo UI

This was the idea I pitched in the class, The title itself gives away the programme's subject matter, allow me to explain:

The main focus of the programme would've been the making of the Resistable rise of Arturo UI a play made by the Oswaldtwistle Civic theatre, now I know what you're probably thinking at this point but there were some very unusual features to this play that've never before been seen so locally or on such a small scale. 

What's the story? 

The Programme would've been (In essence) a "making of" for the play charting its "troubled" production, the fact that no-one had faith in its success, and of how one man through perserverance and artistic vision created a true work of art. 

These were the same Images that I used in my pitch that Friday. Notice anything wrong with them? Neither did my any of my peers, firstly every person in this photo has the face of a mime, none of the sets in these pictures are dressed, and the man in both pictures on the left hand side is an announcer between the scenes. All of these are very unconventional inclusions to a "local show" normally this is something that would be handled by a big company in London as opposed to a small local one that is infact still losing money.

So for these reasons and more this appealed to me as an interesting story.

The Venue? 


 Where else than the place where the events happened Ossy Civic Theatre:

 









Above are pictures of the venue that was planned, as you can see it's quite an open space so it would've been excellent for keeping the documentary interesting, aswell as this there's an air of authenticity about it. Initial advantages to the venue include the following: 

•  It's where the events actually happened.
•  It's equipped with proffesional lighting: Aswell as the visible chandeleirs there is proffesional lighting equipment here so all neccessary lighting could've been applied to create the desired effects (which I will expand on further in this blog). 
•  Filming is not limited by weather or time of day: In fitting with my proposed style all of the curtains pictured would've been shut, so therefore everything going on outside is irrelevant and doesn't affect the production process. 
•  It enforces the atmosphere and subject matter: From looking at the set alone you get an idea of what to expect, this being further enforced by the programmes actual content. 
• It's a local area: With it being only 4 miles away from the campus I effectively minimized transport costs. 

• Personal Aquantance: I'm personally aquanted with the commitee that run the venue, and they gave me full permission to film so long as I complied with their rules.  

 Style?

Had it been made the programme would've had many (I think) Interesting style choices: 

• It would Invoke a strong theatrical theme: In fitting with the subject matter there would've been many theatrical convention including but not limited to strong theatrical lighting on the characters and various points that the interviewees would've been placed. 
• I would've taken full advantage of the space: Interviewees would've been filmed all over the Civic so as to keep the  setting fresh and interesting. 
• Shots that remind the viewer: Shots used would be conventional shots appropriate to the moments they occupy but would always remind the viewer fo the setting working on perhaps a "subliminal" level. 

   Result? 


Though later I was told by my tutor Jamie that I had done an excellent pitch I was not one of hte final 6 chosen for production. Initially I was shocked mortified as I thought about what I could've possibly either done or not done to get into the final 6, so much so that I stayed behind to find out just why. 

I had a horrible feeling of emptiness as I waited to see Jamie, being the overtly dramatic person that I am I contemplated my self-proffessed "failure" as those around me told me that I hadn't. Finally I managed to see him and find out just why I wasn't chosen. I was soon informed that an overwhelming 99% of the reason my idea didn't get through was because the event had already happened.And I was also informed that with the standard I was working at an Idea of mine would eventually be chosen.

So in conclusion although I didn't get through the only reason I didn't was because of something beyond my control so there's no shame in a narrow second place, I learned not to presume failure because it could just be a minor error.I also learned that the real work begins in production 

 Iconic ending to a working day

That day as I left reassured of myself and what  I would do the most incredible thing happened. All that day it had been raining and cold (perhaps a sign of ill omen) and yet as I left the building the sun shone brightly and the water had all dried up, from then on I've been cautiously optimistic of my progress

Renovation and Reinvention

Though my work is generally of a very high standard my blog remains relatively "underdeveloped" by comparison. So the aim of my work here now is to make a plan reminiscent of Josef Stalin and redevelop my whole blog in "5 days" as opposed to 5 years. The renovation is aimed at improving the following:

Design and Content:
Safe to say the design of my blog could be much more attractive with just a few adjustments. Blogging is the future of this course i must go with it or I will be left behind. Nothing radical in design terms, a new backdrop, maybe a new colour scheme nothing too "out there".

Without content ofcourse making this blog is pointless. you may notice there's no Media related content in this blog, but this is an informative blog on what is to come. the way I see it this is my boxer, at the minute he's just a paperweight, but I'm gonna do my best to beef him up.  

Pitching Day

My what a day this has been. Though I've not done any Blogs highlighting my research I've done plenty of it. Aswell as this I set up an elaborate powerpoint which encapsulated the themes I wanted to highlight, and invoke the style of the programme I would produce. The Idea was to make a "making of" Expository Documentary about a play called the Resistible Rise of Arturo UI. 

Below is the same powerpoint I used to "wow" my peers and tutors at the Pitch today:

 

Paperwork and other troubles

The paperwork I'm proud to say is finished. Yet this was only the tip of the Iceberg. With my ideas firmly in place I need to formulate an elaborate and convincing plan for my factual programme. I dea's in mind I must secure reliable contacts. And formulate an artistic vision. It will require intensive thinking and elaborate plans, but this is hard work I'm willing to undertake.

Documentary Report

Day 1 of the report, I'm being productive with the time I have and getting straight into this work, I have a basic understanding of all the aspects of factual programming I've been asked to write. But my hunger for knowledge leaves me wanting more.

It's a start Ryan.

Ryan, remember that we only want you to develop your ideas for a documentary. Please do some research on documentaries and plan a powerpoint for a pitch. (First week back)
Your pitch should cover the subject, the feasibility, and the style of the production.

Email me if you need any help and good luck!

Jamie