Location Shots

These are all shots of Volcrepe warehouse. This was an open, abandoned location which gave us the eerie setting we needed. The drained and damaged walls along side the collapsed roofs all gave us the nightmarish and isolated location we really wanted to find for our video. This scary location alongside the make-up of Caitlin worked well in creating a miseerable and dull atmosphere for our project.

The shot of the make it right first time sign was very important to our music video because we feel it comes across as if Caitlin is saying this to the person she is haunting, Matt. The marsh and growth around the room is also effective as gives the effect of this unreal, abandoned place that only her and Matt can go to.

 The shot of the window shows her mental instability, as she sits in the window searching for answers to the pieces missing in her life. the abstract location shots of the door and the bridge show the structure of the warehouse and the real reason why we filmed her. there are objects and pieces of imagery we simply wuld not find anywhere else so this was very pleasing. the shot of the room ws so effective as it shows the light shining through the cracked window and just gives it this abstract effect. it shows there is sometjing just not right here, and its good that this was the case as our whole video is based around a lunatic and the instablity of several characters minds.

The shot of the collpased roof show the age of the building, with certain objects all over the floor. This gives the effect that the building is out of use, and the fact that we would film here shows the fragile mind of each character, as it is a location which represents lunatics and abstract mind.The establishing shot of the whole warehouse is shown too, the building was big, dark and old and this was the perfect location we needed in order to get the effect we wanted, this being abstract, fragile and dismantled.


Billy Greenall/Matt J.

The Challenges Of AS Work compared to A2 Work

Nature of the Task

Compared to AS Level, the nature of this task was much more difficult as there were two sides to this task to make it a conventional music video. Linking the narrative side to the performance side was something we felt was key but was not easy. We felt that compared to AS, there just had to be one idea which would then lead into the basis for the whole task, meaning less thinking. With this project, we had to think of when certain things would happen and what would happen after that and so on, it had to be planned a lot more than first thought.

Style of Filming

The first major difference here was the fact that there was a lot more footage needed for a music video than for the opening to a short film. This was because the video had to be the length of the song we were using, and in this case it was over 3 minutes long compared to the 2 minutes from last year. With music videos we had researched, there was lot more movement in the camera, there was a much wider range of shots, in AS we used a lot of shots but they were all fixed to the camera and there was little handheld recording. Tools such as the rig were used in this project to give us a much easier movement of the camera. Although we did have a lot of footage left over, we still used a lot, which shows a difference in the demands for footage between the two tasks. Finding lots and lots of footage wasn’t an issue, but making it all interesting and different was, so we turned to the rig and other tools to achieve this.

Style of Editing

Editing proved to be very difficult. The main difference was how complicated our timeline turned out to be compared to last year. Editing took longer because we had so much footage, and because we had some much footage to use it was difficult to decide which shots were really good, and which ones was average. Another issue for editing and having so much footage was the fact that it took a longer time to covert files and go through each one, remembering which ones we planned to keep ect. The timeline was so long and complicated it was hard for us to filter each one individually, there simply was not enough time, and so we pasted attributes across slides but it would have been nice to add a unique effect on each slide as we did in AS coursework.

Amount of Work

This was the main difference between the two tasks. The amount of filming, thinking, editing, everything was so much more than that was needed in AS and this made it so difficult. Time, commitment and determination are all things which we needed a lot more of this time around than in AS in our opinion as we stayed nights after college, plucking away at the project trying to get it as best we could. It was non-stop, from the first lesson of planning, to the filming then straight into a mass of editing; the work load was huge and still has been for the blog to be completed alongside the CD covers. We feel that the main reason the work was so tough was because in editing, we had to cut the clips to the beat of the song the best we could, using some programmes we had not used before. 

Billy Greenall.

Editing Week 3.

Week 3 of the editing process for our video commenced on the 21^st November.

This week of editing was the week we finished off our timeline in readiness for adding professional touches and filters in the final week before the deadline.

We had approached the last part of the song and the timeline was coming along nicely at this point, because this part was a chorus we decided to use more performance aspects and close ups as the main focus.  We again lip synced the words ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, but with Billy instead of Matt yo avoid repletion.

The big drum playing parts fitted well with the close ups of Raphael in the performance shots we had taken. We used more close ups to fill the gaps as the end of the song approached. We then had to find a suitable ending for the video which also showed a clear link between the narrative and performance aspects of our music video.

We found that the shot of Matt walking out of the studio, feeling ill and possessed was the best route to use for this section. We placed shots of Matt fainting in the control room at the end of the video to show his pain and the fact that Caitlin had supposedly killed him, but these shots did not work well so we had to reconsider.

We decided that the facial expressions of the other band members upon Matts exit (confused/puzzled) meant that it was clear Matt was feeling uncomfortable or ill, and had to leave the performance. We then took the shot of Matt looking isolated on the stairs and played that, followed by the shot of Caitlin sat on the wall looking very evil. This worked a lot better with the timing of the song too.

We then made sure the video was all ready to add the effects we needed in the final week of editing, in all fairness, at this point we had spent little time doing work outside of lesson and it was now clear we had to spend time outside of these to achieve the deadline. We decided to stay behind 3 nights after college to make sure we were certain of finishing a piece we had put a lot of effort into.



Billy Greenall.

Editing Week 2.

Week 2 of our editing started on the week commencing Monday 14^th November.

After leaving our editing at the introduction of Matt at the chorus of the song in the previous week, we decided to finish this section of the song and move onto the footage we had recorded in the factory in Glossop.

We finished the first performance section with close ups of each other in the band, and with Matt lip syncing the famous ‘Dark side of the Moon’ lyrics to show his main role in the band. The shots we included were interesting as they were shot from high and low angles, and were also recorded whilst rotating the camera around each band member using the rig.

So, with the first chorus out of the way, we searched thoroughly for the best shot to start with the factory footage. Because the main idea in the narrative part of the video was that Caitlin was in Matt’s head, we decided to introduce Caitlin then have a shot of Caitlin walking around the room, then Matt doing the same, and we then faded them on top of each other using the opacity tool in Final Cut Pro. This added a good effect and was one we felt we could use further on in the music video.

After this, there was what sounded like an evil laugh in the song, and we had found a perfect this to match this. We put in the shot of Caitlin laughing at a sign in the factory, and although it took time to match it perfectly with the laugh, the end product was very satisfying. We then proceeded to use the opacity tool again on two successive occasions, with Matt and Caitlin on the stairs and sat on the window. Although this turned out to be effective, we were curious we had overused this tool, but were told it worked well and so decided to keep the shots we had used.

After this we decided to carry on linking the shots to the lyrics of the song. We used the shot of Matt and Caitlin both walking out of the doors on the bottom floor of the factory, and the Matt following Caitlin through the ruins into a secluded building, we felt this best described the fact Caitlin was in Matts head. In this room Caitlin takes Matt’s keys and locks the door, we included these shots on the time line in close proximity with the lyrics.

Two shots we had excellent feedback from were then included. They were the shots of Matt and Caitlin sat on the window with the background in shot, they were taken very high up and are excellent location shots, and we found that putting them in close together meant the lyrics of the song would also be seen through each shot. It was at this point we approached the end of the week’s work and the second and final chorus where we would carry on the week after.

There was still a fair amount of editing to do, but with hard work we knew we could pull through to the end.

Billy Greenall.

Editing Week 1.

We started our editing on the week commencing Monday 7^th November 2011.

On the Friday previous to this date we filmed all of our performance side of the video, in the recording studio in college. Although this idea was basic we knew we could do a lot in the editing suite and with the camera to enhance the shots and make them a lot more interesting.

So by this point we had converted all of our files using Quick Time and were now ready to edit our clips using Final Cut Pro.

The first thing we did was put together a time line for our piece, listening carefully to the words and trying our best to manufacture a linear link between the words and the shots. Once we had a rough idea of the way we wanted our shots to be structured, we looked for a shit which would be good for starting our piece. This is where we found the shots Caitlin in the park to be most effective.

The start of the song is quite eerie and dreamy, so we put in the shot of Caitlin running towards the camera and back again as our opening shot, we slowed it down to match it to the slow pace of the song and this worked well. We then continued with more shots of Caitlin, delaying the introduction of the other main person in the narrative side of our video, Matt. We found the shits we had taken all seemed to be quite fast compared to the beat of the song, so slowing shots down using the speed filter in Final Cut Pro proved to be a big influence on our music video.

We found that adding shots and editing them wasn’t working well as it was wasting too much time, so decided we would get as many shots as could onto the time line, then add any effects and filters we wanted.

We then proceeded to add a couple more shots of Caitlin in the woods, and decided it was time to introduce Matt into the video. We felt the best way to do this was through the performance side of the project and so cut to this side as the chorus of the song approached. We started with an establishing shot of the band and then proceeded to use the close ups we had recorded for parts of the song we were lip syncing.

Although we had a lot of work still to do, we had started the editing process to our piece wlel and were happy with how it was going at this point.

Billy Greenall.

Analysing a CD Advert

This advert poster was found at music store HMV for the Kings of Leon album: Come around Sundown. As seen earlier in the blog, Kings of Leon are often noticed as a modern day Pink Floyd. This is a very conventional album advertisement, with the band name at the top of the page, and the name of the album with its release date are at the bottom of the page. These are both expected pieces of text which are needed on any advert in order to make it informative and useful. Another small feature is the tiny HMV sign in the bottom left hand corner of the page, this is important because it informs the reader where they can get the album, covering all the criteria of things needed within an album advert. Next to this is the Kings of Leon website. Including this is important as it gives authenticity to the advert, and another place where the album can be bought.

The only other feature to talk about in this advert is the image used for the background on this advertisement. In this case, sunset colours are used with a palm tree to create the image of a mellow and bright place, certainly positive and this is a good selling point for the advert. The complexions of the colours go well with each other, the shadow at the bottom of the page suggests a sunset and this shows a definite link to the album name. The way the palm tree comes down from the top of the page and creates a shadow creates a dark to light to dark colour theme and this will be important when making our own advert. A grainy effect has been added to the colours to give it a faded feel, this is an interesting effect as it suggests the fading of the day into night, or in other words the fading of the sun.

It is important to have a parallel link between the images used and the title of the album. This makes the advert clearer and more conventional, giving it more selling power through the eyes of the advert.

Billy Greenall.

Analysing CD Covers – 3: Cage the Elephant – The Wishing Stone (Album)

Analysing CD Covers – 3: Cage the Elephant – The Wishing Stone (Album)

Front Cover

The album ‘Wishing Stone’ by Cage the Elephant is a similar type of rock as Pink Floyd. The front cover of this album shows a violent looking character which connotes mystery. The character seems fantastical as it seems to be a human with an animal head; this again is a very unconventional and unpredictable imagery which shows a good sense of creativity in the album. This could be important when considering our album cover. The gold and shadowed colours used for the cover give it a natural and rugged feel and the black font used for the title and band name works well with these colours. Getting the colour background is important for how the cover is displayed, and the font is in an old half gothic, half safari-like style giving it a very unique and different appearance. Originality is important.

Back Cover

The back cover of this album is very basic. One criticism is that there is no sense of authenticity due to the fact there is no barcode or copyright logos. However, the gold and shadowed colours are used again for good consistency which is important. There is a small black drawing of a tree and a caped character, again unexplained, keeping the independent features of the cover constant from the front through to the back of the album cover. Consistency is important alongside originality.

Inside Artwork 1

This first section of inside artwork is an important one as it contains the track list. The gold theme of colour is still present which goes well with the rest of the cover. The title of the band is found in the same gothic font at the top of the page for effect, informing the buyer one more time exactly what album they are listening to. Then comes the track list, 7 songs in a Victorian style, black font. This gives good historic context and suggests the album contains an old rock genre as it refers to earlier times in Britain. This kind of context is important when using the creative mind for an album cover. The last feature on this section of artwork is a drawing of a house on fire. This unexplained, almost random imagery is effective because it gives a fresh and unconventional feel to the album cover. This theme is kept consistent which is also good, as it leaves the buyer to make their own interpretations of the images, in this case the house could be seen as negative and it is important to get either a negative or positive idea across in the album cover.

Inside Artwork 2

There is nothing to talk about on this section of the cover except for the fact that this is where the CD would be. The gold colour is kept consistent as expected, and the page is blank.

Billy Greenall.