The Platforms, Uses and Technology of Video Production for Interactive Media
In this essay I will be explaining the “Interactive Media” in Video Production also giving you examples as well.
Interactive Media really developed in the 1940’s and became more common in the 1950’s and 1960’s. When there was just one channel of the BBC to start which was then followed by ITV starting a channel. After this BBC was soon to release a second channel (BBC 2) which was the first coloured channel. All of the began back in the late 192 0’s when films came in, cinemas back then only showed 10 minute short films. However a lot later in 1980’s VHS recorders came in. This kick started the launch of DVDs, game consoles etc in the following years to come. The internet is full of information, videos, shopping, interactive books etc. Therefore there are many different platforms of media that we can view this media upon.
Platforms for Video in Interactive Media
The first area I shall be explaining is the Platforms of video production. These come in a number of different ways which I shall explain.
World Wide Web
The main platform for Video production is the “World Wide Web”. On the “World Wide Web” you are able to download and watch TV programmes, videos and films online sometimes at a cost but sites like the BBC’s “iplayer” offer there TV shows free of charge to download and view. Other channels such as ITV and Channel 4 also have similar things on there site. Furthermore sites such as YouTube and MySpace are places where you can watch just ordinary videos in your own time.
Email Attachments
Another key platform is Email Attachments, there are messages that are sent to your inbox from friends or companies which may contain either pop ups, virals or spam. A good example of this is the blender company “Blendex” the send round videos of there product blending numerous objects from iPods to golf clubs, people who are intrigued by this will send this around to there friends through attaching it to an email.
DVD’s
Also DVD’s are taking over email attachments as they are in the form of a disk which can show videos or films depending on size. The videos are a much higher quality than VHS and in some cases online videos. DVD’s have been updated recently thanks to HD TV so they released Blu-ray DVD’s and DVD players.
CD-ROM’s
Another platform in the form of disks are CD-ROM’s which are generally used for educational purposes. Companies can add there videos on to the disk to show examples and explanations making learning a lot easier for more visual learners.
Kiosks
In addition to the above “Kiosks” are becoming more and more common a “Kiosk” is a machine that holds information about the given location whether you are using one on Liverpool or London. “Kiosks have Video content, photos and internet access. This is very helpful for tourists or people who just generally need help finding something.
Presentations
Also there are Presentations these can be used for job pitches and in education, and are made on programmes such as PowerPoint and Flash. Presentations have mainly text but can have video content added in for explanations etc…
Red Button
The penultimate platform is the Red Button service on TV which comes in to use really only for TV adverts, multi choice TV and casting votes on live shows. For example Sports, x-factor etc… The red button can take the viewer to a new page on there screen showing additional information about the advert or offering the viewer the chance to vote on TV shows.
Mobile Devices
The final platform is Mobile Devices these are all portable consoles which are for easy viewing on the go. People can access some of the above such as the “World Wide Web” and Email Attachments. Straight from the palm of there hand.
Uses of Video in Interactive Media
There are a number of uses for video in interactive media examples of this are;
Short films
These are normally found on websites but also can pop up occasionally on certain TV channels around the world. They are basically Snippets of a film which will be out in the near future and are shown to the global public before it can be seen in cinemas. Short films can also be easily distributed on the Internet. Certain websites which encourage the submission of “user-created” short films such as “YouTube” and “BritFilms“ have attracted large communities of artists and viewers, whereas sites such as the “BBC Film Network” focus on showcasing curated British shorts.
Promotional Material
Consists of Adverts, editorials and have more content to show. They are pretty much shows as short trailers. They are used to promote certain products, bands etc…
Film Trailers
Film trailers are shown all over the internet and TV they are made to preview films and tempt the viewers into seeing the feature film. There are sites such as trailer.com which are made specifically for showing the latest film trailers.
User-generated Content
On YouTube alone there are thousands of videos which people have made or done there own comedy spoof on. These videos all vary in success.
Viral Marketing
Is where funny clips, adverts or film trailers which have been sent through email (usually through chain mail). This is for advertising purposes usually.
Advertising
Viral marketing has sky rocketed in the past couple of years due to the increase of household computers. Companies such as “Blendtech” use YouTube to show of there product globally.
Virtual Reality Tours
These are 360 degree tours of locations and buildings which can be accessed on “Google Earth”.
E-Learning
Is learning online purely through videos on sites such as expertvillage.com.
Video in Interactive Media Technologies
Video Compression
Is reducing the quantity of data used within images and also video to reduce the overall file size.
CODEC
Is a device that converts analogue signals in to digital signals. (Co=Compression & DEC=Decompression)
Streaming and Downloads
Streaming is where you watch or listen to the video/clips without having to download or pay any fees. However downloading is where you save the file to your computer and can view and keep the files freely.
Interactive Video Formats
MPEG otherwise known as “Moving Pictures Experts Group” carries out a complex routine which develops standard for digital file.
AVI or “Audio Video Interlace” is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file.
MOV is a movie for QuickTime for Microsoft windows.
WMV is and abbreviated version of Windows media video. A WMV is a compressed video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo.
Data Transfer Rates (Bandwidth)
“DTR” is the amount of digital data that is moved from one place to another in a specific given space of time.
Frame Rates
Is the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces consecutive images called frames. This term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS).
Screen Resolutions
The screen resolution of a digital television or other display devices is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed.
File Sizes
Simply measures the size of a computer file. It is typically measured in “bytes” with prefix. The maximum file size a file system supports depends on the number of bits reserved to store size information and the total size of the file system. These units are often described using the terms KB, MB, GB and TB respectively. For example the number of “bytes” in a “Gigabyte” (GB) is 1,073,741,824, this is equal to 1,024 “Megabytes” (MB).
Digital Rights Management
“DRM” is a type of hardware that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices. Digital rights management is being used by companies such as “Sony”, “Apple”, “Microsoft”, “AOL” and the “BBC”.
Media Players
The biggest in my opinion is the common household DVD which can be played on PC’s and DVD players. A DVD is a hard disk containing videos or pictures. Furthermore there is QuickTime is a video/audio playing program which was made by “Apple” to be mainly used on the “Macs”. But when “iTunes” started the program came with it as a way to show its better than rivalling media players. Probably the biggest competition is Windows Media Player is a video/audio playing program which is used on PC’s to watch videos and listen to music and more.
However online we have the BBC’s iplayer this is an online TV programme/ film viewer, which anyone can use for free. Finally there is RealPlayer which is a cross-platform media player which plays MP3 and MPEG-4.
Embedded Video
Is where you purposely place a video on a blog or site to explain something in more detail or to back up a point you have made. On sites such as blogger people can upload videos of there own work or others depending on what they are talking about.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Evaluation
Having just finished my groups music video we are all extremely pleased with the final piece. A lot of time and hard work has gone into creating "J.A.R.'s" - Sky High.
After having two group discussions this week we now understand every ones personal views on our Hip-Hop video. There were numerous good areas that people mentioned to us. These included the shots, effects, editing, singing and the fact that we managed to stick to our pitch also was a good area. On the other hand they also brought up the negatives that some of the cuts and shots were a bit "jerky" and "jumpy". Furthermore John said that the effects we used were "too cheesy" and "basically looked like three teenagers had access to video software". Which is a fair comment as we were experimenting with the effects and were not 100% with leaving them in or not so clearly leaving them in was a mistake.
Our uses of cinematography was very good we had a wide range of mixed shots and also had some great framing with out shots. Also our editing was kept at a good rhythm and pace throughout the piece.
In addition to this we looked the part with our props and costumes using mise-en-scene very well.
When getting to the process of editing we came across a big problem as we had kept watching the tape back when filming this ruined the time code making logging and capturing extremely hard. But after a good days work it paid off and we were able to edit with no faults the next day. When out shooting next time we should not watch back footage on the camera so much as there is no real need to.
What i really liked about the video was our imaginative shots we used as we were willing to experiment with the camera there and then.
We stuck very well to the genres codes and conventions and also kept it appealing to the target audience.
After having two group discussions this week we now understand every ones personal views on our Hip-Hop video. There were numerous good areas that people mentioned to us. These included the shots, effects, editing, singing and the fact that we managed to stick to our pitch also was a good area. On the other hand they also brought up the negatives that some of the cuts and shots were a bit "jerky" and "jumpy". Furthermore John said that the effects we used were "too cheesy" and "basically looked like three teenagers had access to video software". Which is a fair comment as we were experimenting with the effects and were not 100% with leaving them in or not so clearly leaving them in was a mistake.
Our uses of cinematography was very good we had a wide range of mixed shots and also had some great framing with out shots. Also our editing was kept at a good rhythm and pace throughout the piece.
In addition to this we looked the part with our props and costumes using mise-en-scene very well.
When getting to the process of editing we came across a big problem as we had kept watching the tape back when filming this ruined the time code making logging and capturing extremely hard. But after a good days work it paid off and we were able to edit with no faults the next day. When out shooting next time we should not watch back footage on the camera so much as there is no real need to.
What i really liked about the video was our imaginative shots we used as we were willing to experiment with the camera there and then.
We stuck very well to the genres codes and conventions and also kept it appealing to the target audience.
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
The Treatment.
Synopsis
Myself, Reece Selvadorai and Alex Palmer have produced and put together our own “Hip-Hop” track. The song was made to be aimed at teenagers roughly our age.
We have pulled all our ideas together for a video which would best suit this track, and the idea that came up the most was just to show most typical teenagers lifestyles. The video is a group effort therefore will be directed, filmed and acted by all of us. In the song we each have individual verses which we rap. Each section represents certain characteristics of teenagers for example there hobbies. We want to keep the video simple but also on the other hand make it extremely effective to watch. The video is also modern and will not use large numbers of props.
Furthermore the video shows friendship and that we are all different and that it should not affect the people we choose to be friends with we show this by at the end of the video we all come together as one.
We are hoping to and will follow the codes and conventions of the genre as you can’t have a Hip-Hop song without a Hip-Hop styled video. We will use locations like recording studios, abandoned graffiti ridden buildings and basketball courts. All of those listed are highly recognisable within the Hip-Hop genre and will be recognised by people who enjoy this sort of music. At some point early on I came up with the idea that we could have a basketball starting in one location and it rolling/ bouncing through each of our specific locations. Alex Palmer’s verse is about his hobby which is playing basketball, Reece Selvadorai’s is his car and mine is just me running as it would be odd having two sports in one video furthermore football does not really fit in with the Hip-Hop genre.
Treatment
We have a small minority of locations in mind for our music video these consist of a basketball court near Woodbridge, the docks in Ipswich and we are hoping to find an alley way in Ipswich as well. In the opening few shots we will use quite a lot of cinematography and we will show all of us together followed by single shots this is to keep the video modern and following the genres codes and conventions by building an atmosphere. The shots show us three posing whilst standing in a line against numerous walls and Reece’s car. We will get different shots and angles of us in the locations. In the introduction for the song shots will consist of short CU’s of our upper and lower bodies also this shows our clothing which is all similar a relevant to the songs lyrics and genre. All of our locations are quiet and there will be no background or surrounding activity. This is so the video will not be diverting the viewer’s attention away from the main focus of the music video. The chorus will be shot in a similar way as the verse shall be as we will sing the whole song through in the recording studio and we will use snippets of this in the video. Furthermore we will be using additional lighting inside as we have the access to plug sockets, we will use the lighting in numerous ways to enhance the style of the shots.
The first main scene of the video is Alex’s verse, this will be shot on a basketball court with him taking shots at the hoop and running around bouncing the ball whilst singing the words to his verse. In this scene we will all be wearing basketball jerseys and shorts.
The second verse is my verse which will be shot in a abandoned area of the docks originally my theme was skate or BMX but this will have to change as I cannot get hold of these props, also it will be quite hard to get them in to shoot with. So instead of this theme I will be shown as quite a laid back character. We hope to have a shot of me running behind the car singing but depends on whether it would be easy to shoot.
Finally we finish with Reece’s verse which consists of him sitting in his car singing and also standing against a wall listening to his iPod.
Laid in with these verses’s we will be placing shots of us singing in the recording studio.
Our target audience is young male teenagers roughly our age. As the video consists of a couple things they might enjoy doing. The genre of Hip-Hop is often shown in the wrong light. But our music video shows it in the right way as we are just having fun.
Myself, Reece Selvadorai and Alex Palmer have produced and put together our own “Hip-Hop” track. The song was made to be aimed at teenagers roughly our age.
We have pulled all our ideas together for a video which would best suit this track, and the idea that came up the most was just to show most typical teenagers lifestyles. The video is a group effort therefore will be directed, filmed and acted by all of us. In the song we each have individual verses which we rap. Each section represents certain characteristics of teenagers for example there hobbies. We want to keep the video simple but also on the other hand make it extremely effective to watch. The video is also modern and will not use large numbers of props.
Furthermore the video shows friendship and that we are all different and that it should not affect the people we choose to be friends with we show this by at the end of the video we all come together as one.
We are hoping to and will follow the codes and conventions of the genre as you can’t have a Hip-Hop song without a Hip-Hop styled video. We will use locations like recording studios, abandoned graffiti ridden buildings and basketball courts. All of those listed are highly recognisable within the Hip-Hop genre and will be recognised by people who enjoy this sort of music. At some point early on I came up with the idea that we could have a basketball starting in one location and it rolling/ bouncing through each of our specific locations. Alex Palmer’s verse is about his hobby which is playing basketball, Reece Selvadorai’s is his car and mine is just me running as it would be odd having two sports in one video furthermore football does not really fit in with the Hip-Hop genre.
Treatment
We have a small minority of locations in mind for our music video these consist of a basketball court near Woodbridge, the docks in Ipswich and we are hoping to find an alley way in Ipswich as well. In the opening few shots we will use quite a lot of cinematography and we will show all of us together followed by single shots this is to keep the video modern and following the genres codes and conventions by building an atmosphere. The shots show us three posing whilst standing in a line against numerous walls and Reece’s car. We will get different shots and angles of us in the locations. In the introduction for the song shots will consist of short CU’s of our upper and lower bodies also this shows our clothing which is all similar a relevant to the songs lyrics and genre. All of our locations are quiet and there will be no background or surrounding activity. This is so the video will not be diverting the viewer’s attention away from the main focus of the music video. The chorus will be shot in a similar way as the verse shall be as we will sing the whole song through in the recording studio and we will use snippets of this in the video. Furthermore we will be using additional lighting inside as we have the access to plug sockets, we will use the lighting in numerous ways to enhance the style of the shots.
The first main scene of the video is Alex’s verse, this will be shot on a basketball court with him taking shots at the hoop and running around bouncing the ball whilst singing the words to his verse. In this scene we will all be wearing basketball jerseys and shorts.
The second verse is my verse which will be shot in a abandoned area of the docks originally my theme was skate or BMX but this will have to change as I cannot get hold of these props, also it will be quite hard to get them in to shoot with. So instead of this theme I will be shown as quite a laid back character. We hope to have a shot of me running behind the car singing but depends on whether it would be easy to shoot.
Finally we finish with Reece’s verse which consists of him sitting in his car singing and also standing against a wall listening to his iPod.
Laid in with these verses’s we will be placing shots of us singing in the recording studio.
Our target audience is young male teenagers roughly our age. As the video consists of a couple things they might enjoy doing. The genre of Hip-Hop is often shown in the wrong light. But our music video shows it in the right way as we are just having fun.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Task 1 - Purpose of Music Videos
Brief History of the Genre
Music videos transformed the music business in the early 1980s. Making a visual recording of an artist performing on a video cassette meant that a small package containing the video could be sent to TV stations around the world and the artist could then be seen by millions of people everywhere within days of releasing a record.
The term ‘music video’ first became popular in the early 1980’s, but promotional music films had been around for a lot longer. Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is often though of as the first “modern” promotional film clip, although originally it was shot as the opening part of a documentary about his 1965 tour of England.
Back in the 1960's a number of experiments with promotional short films began. Bands which experimented with this were the likes of The Animals, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The ability to show short films of their latest releases meant that the band themselves did not have to perform the track. Therefore the appeal of the bands grew further. The Beatle’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” promotional film was especially important, it featured reverse film effects, stop motion animation, jump-cuts from daytime to night-time, and the band playing and later pouring paint over an upright piano. It was selected by the New York Museum of Modern Art as one of the most influential music videos in the late 1960s, along with another Beatle’s track, “Penny Lane”. By releasing these films bands could easily be seen all over the world, which a major part of the global phenomenon that the Beatles bacame in the 1960's.
In the 1970's more bands started making music videos – bands such as, Queen, David Bowie, The Jackson Five, Roxy Music, ABBA. In particular Queen’s video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” was considered groundbreaking, and is often said to have helped establish the “visual language” of the modern music video, and helped make it the third highest selling UK song ever.
In the 1980s music videos grew in numbers due to the launch of MTV in 1981, so there was a real demand to create music videos so that acts could be heard globally. However it was mainly British acts creating the videos for broadcast. Hence the massive “Brit invasion” of the US charts in the 1980's.
Music videos are for the artists preferred target audiences within the general public. Each artist whether solo or group have their own genres, for example "pop" and "rock" are two of the biggest genres in the music industry therefore getting the larger target audiences. By seeing an artists video potential fans can get an idea of that bands image and begin to relate to them more strongly. However music videos are not purely just for entertainment reasons there is a lot more to it. Artists are constantly competing against one another to reach out to as many of us as possible. So in releasing a music video they are intending to promote their albums and tracks. Most artists normally only used 3 or 4 songs off one album to shoot videos, this will illustrate to the viewers what the album has to offer. This is to hopefully make people go out and buy their music. They promote the artists by showing the viewers the meanings of the song whether it’s a love song or a song about drugs. Furthermore it gives the viewers a chance to see the artist visually instead of just hearing their instruments and their voices. It also offers a further opportunity for the track to "heard" as radio and the internet are the only other options to get their music out into the open.
Music videos also helps keep the artist in the public eye for as long as possible even months after the album has been released. There are a wide range of outlets for their music video to be seen examples of this are television channels like MTV, VH1, Kerrang, Hits TV, NME. Furthermore there’s the internet which includes Youtube, Vodpod, Videocore. The newest outlet for videos is downloads for ipods, mobile phones, blackberrys.
Videos for songs are often released quite a long time before the track is available to purchase, this helps create interest and hopefully a bigger demand for the song.
The music video may not have been made just for the band as their song may have been used for a soundtrack of a film. So their video may contain clips of the feature film appearing as part of the narrative/performance.
The success of a video can be judged just in terms of increased track sales, but also from the critical reaction to it within the music industry and by the public on sites like Myspace and Youtube.
Music videos transformed the music business in the early 1980s. Making a visual recording of an artist performing on a video cassette meant that a small package containing the video could be sent to TV stations around the world and the artist could then be seen by millions of people everywhere within days of releasing a record.
The term ‘music video’ first became popular in the early 1980’s, but promotional music films had been around for a lot longer. Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” is often though of as the first “modern” promotional film clip, although originally it was shot as the opening part of a documentary about his 1965 tour of England.
Back in the 1960's a number of experiments with promotional short films began. Bands which experimented with this were the likes of The Animals, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The ability to show short films of their latest releases meant that the band themselves did not have to perform the track. Therefore the appeal of the bands grew further. The Beatle’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” promotional film was especially important, it featured reverse film effects, stop motion animation, jump-cuts from daytime to night-time, and the band playing and later pouring paint over an upright piano. It was selected by the New York Museum of Modern Art as one of the most influential music videos in the late 1960s, along with another Beatle’s track, “Penny Lane”. By releasing these films bands could easily be seen all over the world, which a major part of the global phenomenon that the Beatles bacame in the 1960's.
In the 1970's more bands started making music videos – bands such as, Queen, David Bowie, The Jackson Five, Roxy Music, ABBA. In particular Queen’s video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” was considered groundbreaking, and is often said to have helped establish the “visual language” of the modern music video, and helped make it the third highest selling UK song ever.
In the 1980s music videos grew in numbers due to the launch of MTV in 1981, so there was a real demand to create music videos so that acts could be heard globally. However it was mainly British acts creating the videos for broadcast. Hence the massive “Brit invasion” of the US charts in the 1980's.
Music videos are for the artists preferred target audiences within the general public. Each artist whether solo or group have their own genres, for example "pop" and "rock" are two of the biggest genres in the music industry therefore getting the larger target audiences. By seeing an artists video potential fans can get an idea of that bands image and begin to relate to them more strongly. However music videos are not purely just for entertainment reasons there is a lot more to it. Artists are constantly competing against one another to reach out to as many of us as possible. So in releasing a music video they are intending to promote their albums and tracks. Most artists normally only used 3 or 4 songs off one album to shoot videos, this will illustrate to the viewers what the album has to offer. This is to hopefully make people go out and buy their music. They promote the artists by showing the viewers the meanings of the song whether it’s a love song or a song about drugs. Furthermore it gives the viewers a chance to see the artist visually instead of just hearing their instruments and their voices. It also offers a further opportunity for the track to "heard" as radio and the internet are the only other options to get their music out into the open.
Music videos also helps keep the artist in the public eye for as long as possible even months after the album has been released. There are a wide range of outlets for their music video to be seen examples of this are television channels like MTV, VH1, Kerrang, Hits TV, NME. Furthermore there’s the internet which includes Youtube, Vodpod, Videocore. The newest outlet for videos is downloads for ipods, mobile phones, blackberrys.
Videos for songs are often released quite a long time before the track is available to purchase, this helps create interest and hopefully a bigger demand for the song.
The music video may not have been made just for the band as their song may have been used for a soundtrack of a film. So their video may contain clips of the feature film appearing as part of the narrative/performance.
The success of a video can be judged just in terms of increased track sales, but also from the critical reaction to it within the music industry and by the public on sites like Myspace and Youtube.
Task 2 - Contemporary Music Video Research
Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly
This song was the first single from the band’s third album "There Is Nothing Left To Lose", on the labels "Roswell" and "RCA Records". The song itself was released on two different singles in the UK in October 18 1999. The video for the song was directed by Jesse Peretz and produced by Tina Nakane. The video also received a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2001.
This music video is a synergy of the song (Learn to Fly) and a parody of the comedy film "Airplane!" – there is intertextuality in the way the video ‘borrows’ many elements of the ‘airplane disaster’ genre of film (which Airplane! itself is parodying)
Mise-en-scene in the video is all linking heavily to the film. The main one is the fact that the video was shot on a simulator used for training flight cabin crews, so it exactly matches a real one with seats, cockpit, kitchen and TVs. Also there is a wide range of costumes used by throughout the video.
You probably couldn't find a stronger link between the lyrics and the visuals in any other music video. As the song is named learn to fly and the during the durations of the flight it slowly builds up to the conclusion of the band having to learn how to fly the plane
The video begins with the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass working in kitchen where they hurriedly hide a package containing ‘erotic’ sleeping powder when the flight attendant (Dave Grohl) comes in. In the background is a ‘muzak’ version of ‘Evelong’ one of band’s earlier songs. At 0.31 the Learn to Fly riff comes in and we see the band dressed as pilots sitting in the cockpit. Passengers begin to get on the plane (mostly played by the band members) including the use of ‘fat suits’ at 0.38. At 1.14 we first see concert footage of the band, shown on the cabin’s TV. At 1.51 the storyline develops with the cabin staff preparing coffee, not realising that the drug package is in the coffee maker. At 2.08 a clip of the band (from above) showing the drummer switches to a fan (played by Grohl) tapping the real Grohl on the shoulder – this is in time with the last 2 drum beats. At 2.32 the cabin crew begin serving the ‘drugged’ coffee to all of the crew and passengers, except the ‘real’ band members, who already have alcohol. The video continues switching between concert footage on the cabin screen and the humorous effects of the drugs on cabin and crew. At 3.03 the concert footage shows Grohl crowd surfing with arms outstretched (like a plane) and at 3.53 he twirls his mic stand like a propeller. The concert clips appear to have been specially filmed as there are so many different shots from angles that ‘conveniently’ fit with the rest of the video. At 3.13 the camera begins to tilt from side to side rapidly to show that the drugged pilots are losing control of the plane. At 4.01 the ‘real’ band take control of the plane, using a manual titled ‘Learn to Fly’. The video ends with Black & Gass being arrested with ‘Evelong’ muzak in the background again.
In the music video there were quite a few editing and visual effects, the first visual effect is at 3.22 this in when the pilot is seeing one of the flight attendants (Grohl) flying along side the plane which is followed by the fat woman seeing someone’s head turn into a ham burger at 3.27. The uses of cinematography consists in the lights being kept the same brightness through out in the cock pit and also the main seating area of the plane. Furthermore there were a couple interesting shots for example there was a lot of over shoulder shots and close ups with the occasional 2 shot and 3 shot..
The video fits into the rock genre when the video it cuts to the Foo Fighters playing a live concert with all there rock associated equipment for example guitars and drum kit, but the other content (e.g. dressing up in women’s clothes doesn’t really fit the ‘rock’ genre.) The music video is really a story with a strong narrative attending to the piece. The music video promotes the band extremely well as it shows off the bands sense of humour that they put into mostly all of there videos and have become well known for. The music video is aimed at young adults who are into this genre of music and videos with a humorous nature. This is confirmed by looking at commetnts on Youtube, where most people are talking about the humour in the video - "This vid is hilarious", "Always laff when I watch this vid", "Dave is so funny as a gay". This perhaps shows that while the video can add to people's enjoyment it might also distract them from the song. One person commented that they had "Always thought this song was about Grohl's relationship with God" until they saw the video, so it could be that for this person the video has made the song less meaningful.
The director Jesse Peretz was himself originally a bass player for the band Lemonheads in the late '80s. He began working as a director in the Boston area directing music videos (including for his own band) commercials, and the "Jimmy the Cabdriver" segments for MTV. His best known videos are probably the ones for Foo Fighters – he shot "Big Me",”The One”, “Long Road to Ruin” and “Low”. All of these videos are made in a humorous style, and feature quite clear narratives.
Most of his other videos are for smaller bands, although he did direct the video for “School of Rock” (from the film featuring Jack Black. In 1998, he directed his first feature film “First Love, Last Rites.” In 2007 he directed “The Ex” which is his first film with well known actors, although it received very poor critical reviews.
Bibliography
http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=10883
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learn_to_Fly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Short_Form_Music_Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IJS1rmhI6c
http://www.hollywood.com/
Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow
“Go With The Flow” was released in 2003 by Queens of the Stone Age from their album “Songs for the Deaf”. At the 46th Grammy Awards, the song was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. The music video was made in England by Shynola (a group of visual artists based in London who have worked together on a number of acclaimed music videos) . The video was nominated for the Best Art Direction, and won Best Special Effects at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
The video is shot completely in red, black and white, and features the band travelling through the desert at high speed in a 1960’s pickup truck along with other imagery, most of it of a sexual nature. The video is highly stylised with a very simple narrative of 2 cars racing towards each other.
The main Mise-en-scene feature is the two trucks which are hurtling towards each other down a deserted highway. Other Mise-en-scene such as telegraph poles, cactus plants, phone box with a raven on top and wooden fencing are mainly used for the purpose of highlighting the speed of the vehicles (as they race past) and indicating that they are in a desert. Throughout the video everyday objects are used in a sexually suggestive way. For example at 1.04 after a bikini wearing young woman is first seen draped across a car bonnet raising her leg, a guitar neck is shown rising at the same angle. At 1.20 the woman (enlarged) lies in the road with her legs open and a small car enters between them. At 1.53 the woman holds an oil can up and ‘oil’ squirts on her face. At 2.18 the woman is again shown on the car bonnet with her legs open as a man approaches her and begins to climb on the bonnet, straight after this the two cars meet and ‘merge’ causing a logo of a fork prong to enter a hole made by a coiled snake (the logos are on the 2 car bonnets.) This is followed at 2.35 by a swarm of ‘sperm’ that swim through the desert and cactus.
The video mainly uses sweeping shots which go over and around the truck and constantly highlight the speed of it. The only time that slower sweeps are used is when the woman is featured, although the camera is still moving.
As stated above the video won an award for visual effects. According to Chris Harding (of Shynola) the concept for the video was based on the artwork for the band’s album cover (mostly red and black) and the film Sin City which was released shortly before. The band also spend a lot of time working at a studio in the desert plus the ‘driving’ pace of the track fitted well with the high speed driving of the trucks.
The film took 8 weeks to make from inception. A live action shoot was done near Los Angeles featuring the band performing in the back of the truck as it speeds down a highway. Green screen was then used to add everything else around the truck. According to Harding the final video features a mix of “nurbs cacti, the dancing girls are animated texture sequences on hand placed planes, and the swimming sperm are instanced geometry flowing along curves. The trails of fire and smoke coming from the truck are sprites with animated texture sequences.”
Harding also says that as the video is so stylised because “We designed everything, right down to the logo's on the truck's gear stick. If we hadn't done this, when we came to do the actual work, we wouldn't have known what to do, and there would have been no continuity.” Stylised visual effects feature throughout the video, but especially at the end where there are lots of sweeping images all merging together, such as flowers, wheels, lines, speedometers and lips.
There aren’t many links between the visuals and the lyrics apart from the ‘flow’ of the swimming sperm and at 0.28 the line “she said I throw myself away” matches lead singer (Josh Homme) throwing away a beer can.
The music links to the video through the ‘driving’ speed of the track and the drummer drumming on the truck’s dashboard. Throughout most of the video the cuts are in time with strong drum beats.
The video fits well into the stereotype of the genre of rock as it features speed, fast cars, darkness and half naked women. Most of the comments about the video on sites such as Youtube are quite simplistic but generally positive. Comments such as "Awesome song and video","I can't get enough of this video", although some people give more detailed comments and have clearly thought about the quality of the video - e.g. "I think this is one of the most visually appealling and creative vids of the century so far","The artisitic direction of this video is amazing." There is also a comment that "If you like this stuff you should check my band out" which shows how a good video can inspire others to make music/videos.
Directors Shynola (Chris Harding, Richard "Kenny" Kenworthy, Jason Groves and Gideon Baws). met at art college. They did not originally intend to make music videos (they intended to make animated films) but found music video a good way to”Try out new ideas and get paid for it.” They preferred music videos to doing commercials as they would still have almost total control of their work. They are now very successful and have produced videos for top artists such as Radiohead, Coldplay and Blur. They have also done animation work for adverts (Nike,2002), television (The IT crowd, title sequences, 2006) and film (Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, 2004).
Bibliography
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=1072&page=2
Wikipedia
This song was the first single from the band’s third album "There Is Nothing Left To Lose", on the labels "Roswell" and "RCA Records". The song itself was released on two different singles in the UK in October 18 1999. The video for the song was directed by Jesse Peretz and produced by Tina Nakane. The video also received a Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2001.
This music video is a synergy of the song (Learn to Fly) and a parody of the comedy film "Airplane!" – there is intertextuality in the way the video ‘borrows’ many elements of the ‘airplane disaster’ genre of film (which Airplane! itself is parodying)
Mise-en-scene in the video is all linking heavily to the film. The main one is the fact that the video was shot on a simulator used for training flight cabin crews, so it exactly matches a real one with seats, cockpit, kitchen and TVs. Also there is a wide range of costumes used by throughout the video.
You probably couldn't find a stronger link between the lyrics and the visuals in any other music video. As the song is named learn to fly and the during the durations of the flight it slowly builds up to the conclusion of the band having to learn how to fly the plane
The video begins with the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass working in kitchen where they hurriedly hide a package containing ‘erotic’ sleeping powder when the flight attendant (Dave Grohl) comes in. In the background is a ‘muzak’ version of ‘Evelong’ one of band’s earlier songs. At 0.31 the Learn to Fly riff comes in and we see the band dressed as pilots sitting in the cockpit. Passengers begin to get on the plane (mostly played by the band members) including the use of ‘fat suits’ at 0.38. At 1.14 we first see concert footage of the band, shown on the cabin’s TV. At 1.51 the storyline develops with the cabin staff preparing coffee, not realising that the drug package is in the coffee maker. At 2.08 a clip of the band (from above) showing the drummer switches to a fan (played by Grohl) tapping the real Grohl on the shoulder – this is in time with the last 2 drum beats. At 2.32 the cabin crew begin serving the ‘drugged’ coffee to all of the crew and passengers, except the ‘real’ band members, who already have alcohol. The video continues switching between concert footage on the cabin screen and the humorous effects of the drugs on cabin and crew. At 3.03 the concert footage shows Grohl crowd surfing with arms outstretched (like a plane) and at 3.53 he twirls his mic stand like a propeller. The concert clips appear to have been specially filmed as there are so many different shots from angles that ‘conveniently’ fit with the rest of the video. At 3.13 the camera begins to tilt from side to side rapidly to show that the drugged pilots are losing control of the plane. At 4.01 the ‘real’ band take control of the plane, using a manual titled ‘Learn to Fly’. The video ends with Black & Gass being arrested with ‘Evelong’ muzak in the background again.
In the music video there were quite a few editing and visual effects, the first visual effect is at 3.22 this in when the pilot is seeing one of the flight attendants (Grohl) flying along side the plane which is followed by the fat woman seeing someone’s head turn into a ham burger at 3.27. The uses of cinematography consists in the lights being kept the same brightness through out in the cock pit and also the main seating area of the plane. Furthermore there were a couple interesting shots for example there was a lot of over shoulder shots and close ups with the occasional 2 shot and 3 shot..
The video fits into the rock genre when the video it cuts to the Foo Fighters playing a live concert with all there rock associated equipment for example guitars and drum kit, but the other content (e.g. dressing up in women’s clothes doesn’t really fit the ‘rock’ genre.) The music video is really a story with a strong narrative attending to the piece. The music video promotes the band extremely well as it shows off the bands sense of humour that they put into mostly all of there videos and have become well known for. The music video is aimed at young adults who are into this genre of music and videos with a humorous nature. This is confirmed by looking at commetnts on Youtube, where most people are talking about the humour in the video - "This vid is hilarious", "Always laff when I watch this vid", "Dave is so funny as a gay". This perhaps shows that while the video can add to people's enjoyment it might also distract them from the song. One person commented that they had "Always thought this song was about Grohl's relationship with God" until they saw the video, so it could be that for this person the video has made the song less meaningful.
The director Jesse Peretz was himself originally a bass player for the band Lemonheads in the late '80s. He began working as a director in the Boston area directing music videos (including for his own band) commercials, and the "Jimmy the Cabdriver" segments for MTV. His best known videos are probably the ones for Foo Fighters – he shot "Big Me",”The One”, “Long Road to Ruin” and “Low”. All of these videos are made in a humorous style, and feature quite clear narratives.
Most of his other videos are for smaller bands, although he did direct the video for “School of Rock” (from the film featuring Jack Black. In 1998, he directed his first feature film “First Love, Last Rites.” In 2007 he directed “The Ex” which is his first film with well known actors, although it received very poor critical reviews.
Bibliography
http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=10883
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learn_to_Fly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Best_Short_Form_Music_Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IJS1rmhI6c
http://www.hollywood.com/
Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow
“Go With The Flow” was released in 2003 by Queens of the Stone Age from their album “Songs for the Deaf”. At the 46th Grammy Awards, the song was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. The music video was made in England by Shynola (a group of visual artists based in London who have worked together on a number of acclaimed music videos) . The video was nominated for the Best Art Direction, and won Best Special Effects at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards.
The video is shot completely in red, black and white, and features the band travelling through the desert at high speed in a 1960’s pickup truck along with other imagery, most of it of a sexual nature. The video is highly stylised with a very simple narrative of 2 cars racing towards each other.
The main Mise-en-scene feature is the two trucks which are hurtling towards each other down a deserted highway. Other Mise-en-scene such as telegraph poles, cactus plants, phone box with a raven on top and wooden fencing are mainly used for the purpose of highlighting the speed of the vehicles (as they race past) and indicating that they are in a desert. Throughout the video everyday objects are used in a sexually suggestive way. For example at 1.04 after a bikini wearing young woman is first seen draped across a car bonnet raising her leg, a guitar neck is shown rising at the same angle. At 1.20 the woman (enlarged) lies in the road with her legs open and a small car enters between them. At 1.53 the woman holds an oil can up and ‘oil’ squirts on her face. At 2.18 the woman is again shown on the car bonnet with her legs open as a man approaches her and begins to climb on the bonnet, straight after this the two cars meet and ‘merge’ causing a logo of a fork prong to enter a hole made by a coiled snake (the logos are on the 2 car bonnets.) This is followed at 2.35 by a swarm of ‘sperm’ that swim through the desert and cactus.
The video mainly uses sweeping shots which go over and around the truck and constantly highlight the speed of it. The only time that slower sweeps are used is when the woman is featured, although the camera is still moving.
As stated above the video won an award for visual effects. According to Chris Harding (of Shynola) the concept for the video was based on the artwork for the band’s album cover (mostly red and black) and the film Sin City which was released shortly before. The band also spend a lot of time working at a studio in the desert plus the ‘driving’ pace of the track fitted well with the high speed driving of the trucks.
The film took 8 weeks to make from inception. A live action shoot was done near Los Angeles featuring the band performing in the back of the truck as it speeds down a highway. Green screen was then used to add everything else around the truck. According to Harding the final video features a mix of “nurbs cacti, the dancing girls are animated texture sequences on hand placed planes, and the swimming sperm are instanced geometry flowing along curves. The trails of fire and smoke coming from the truck are sprites with animated texture sequences.”
Harding also says that as the video is so stylised because “We designed everything, right down to the logo's on the truck's gear stick. If we hadn't done this, when we came to do the actual work, we wouldn't have known what to do, and there would have been no continuity.” Stylised visual effects feature throughout the video, but especially at the end where there are lots of sweeping images all merging together, such as flowers, wheels, lines, speedometers and lips.
There aren’t many links between the visuals and the lyrics apart from the ‘flow’ of the swimming sperm and at 0.28 the line “she said I throw myself away” matches lead singer (Josh Homme) throwing away a beer can.
The music links to the video through the ‘driving’ speed of the track and the drummer drumming on the truck’s dashboard. Throughout most of the video the cuts are in time with strong drum beats.
The video fits well into the stereotype of the genre of rock as it features speed, fast cars, darkness and half naked women. Most of the comments about the video on sites such as Youtube are quite simplistic but generally positive. Comments such as "Awesome song and video","I can't get enough of this video", although some people give more detailed comments and have clearly thought about the quality of the video - e.g. "I think this is one of the most visually appealling and creative vids of the century so far","The artisitic direction of this video is amazing." There is also a comment that "If you like this stuff you should check my band out" which shows how a good video can inspire others to make music/videos.
Directors Shynola (Chris Harding, Richard "Kenny" Kenworthy, Jason Groves and Gideon Baws). met at art college. They did not originally intend to make music videos (they intended to make animated films) but found music video a good way to”Try out new ideas and get paid for it.” They preferred music videos to doing commercials as they would still have almost total control of their work. They are now very successful and have produced videos for top artists such as Radiohead, Coldplay and Blur. They have also done animation work for adverts (Nike,2002), television (The IT crowd, title sequences, 2006) and film (Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy, 2004).
Bibliography
http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=1072&page=2
Wikipedia
Purposes of research
The reason research is so important is because it provides a strong background to the work i am undertaking.
There are two types of research these are;
Primary Research - Is research that you have undertaken by yourself and you have not relied on research which has been posted on the internet etc.. You have to collect your research and information from what's around you by going out and asking the public, friends or family. Therefor this research is your own and can not be found anywhere else.
Secondary Research - This is the complete opposite to primary research as this is information that you take off the internet or from books. This research is however is not reliable as anyone could of written it. In this case books are more likely to be the safer option as books have to go under checks to see if the information inside is reliable.
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