Youtube Band Project

Cobus Potgeiter is a South African youtuber who creates primarily drumming based content. In January 2012, he set up this kick starter called "the YouTube Band Project", a scheme where he would get musicians from all over the world to send audition tapes over YouTube in the hopes that they could form a band and record an album. The kick starter was needed to fund travel, studio time and accommodation. During this process, after the band mates had been selected, Cobus made a vlog series following this once in a lifetime experience. below is a link to the Kick starter video and the first episode:

I feel like this experiment shows just how powerful technology and the internet is now and how it is able to connect us all. But aside from it being a good case study on how the media has brought us closer together; it is also a great documentary, which links to another type of media that i haven't gone into in my blog or research.

What i mainly draw from this is a greater understanding of the field in which i want to work in, sound for music and film. But it also carries the forms and conventions of many documentaries of a similar type. While it isn't a traditionally set out documentary, it builds upon many of the features present in them in order to best present the experience these 5 friends went through. I would highly recommend a viewing.

IMDb (Internet Movie DataBase)

IMDb is an internet TV and film database which has proved very useful and interesting in both my school and home life. On this site you can find: Actors profiles, Films, TV shows and many other interesting articles and lists for the users to sink their teeth into.

On a typical page for an actor consists of: a small Bio, where they were born, photos and what they are known for. This "what they are known for section" is incredibly useful if you wish to see more of an actor at their best. 

Where IMDb really shines is its film and TV pages though. On these you will find: the title, a score out of ten given by IMDb's own critics, a synopsis and the actors involved with their characters names at the side. This is especially helpful as it allows the user to seek out their favourite actors in a certain film to find more of their work. This was the case with me and Sam Rockwell when i watched "Green Mile" and loved his performance. from just 5 minutes of searching i had compiled a list films featuring him and also films related to those that i may enjoy. All in all, IMDb is a very useful tool for someone wishing to widen their film vocabulary and also strengthen their knowledge around the whole subject.

How Suspense is Built in Film

Over school holidays, i tend to find myself watching quite a few horrors and thrillers. There's something about the atmosphere and the tension created in both of these genre's that i can connect with very deeply. It was only until recently where i began to understand it after stumbling across a few interviews of Alfred Hitchcock where he define's the differences between suspense and mystery. To describe this, he used his famous analogy of the bomb, which is explained in the video below.

 While this is a very  good description of what suspense is, it doesn't describe how this can fit into a film. One scene from the recent film "the conjuring 2" carry's quite a lot of suspense using the pre-requisites of a suspenseful film.

Warning: this is a scary scene. Viewer discretion is advised 

This scene exhibits some elements that are common in suspenseful moments in cinema. Probably the most prolific in this particular sequence is the pacing, lighting and sound track. Suspense normally relies on the scene to be slow, but gradually gain momentum as it carries on. This is exhibited by the shadow walking towards the picture and the placement of the portrait in the background of most of the scene. This gives the audience a focal point of the scene- they know that what is going to happen will be related to that picture. This is aided by the music. Because there is virtually no music, or little sustained notes on the strings or something, it keeps the audiences attention purely on the visuals of the scene rather than overwhelming them. 

top five Best- Top five worst

One series on youtube I've been getting into recently is Walter Banasiak's Top five best/ Top five worst. In these videos, he comprises a list of 5 of an actors best and 5 of an actors worst performances in his opinion.

Part of the appeal of these series for me is the fact that it shows even some of Hollywood's most beloved actors (such as Ben Affleck, Johnny Depp and Jennifer Lawrence) have bad days and don's always put there all into a performance. And this can has such a detrimental effect on the final piece. It also introduces aundiences and fans to films that they may not have seen, even though they are considered fantastic films. This is the case for me watching "Ed Wood" after i saw it on the top 5 best of Johnny Depp's performances. Linked below are the Top five best and Top five worst videos for Jim Carrey.

 

This has proven to be quite a valuable tool for me as i always love finding new cinema experiences and widening my knowledge and skills through absorbing this medium. And with this third party presenting films that people have probably never heard of either supporting or destroying these actors work, it can help you to form a more critical view on many actors seen to be at the top of their game. This was the case for me and watching their top five best and worst of Tom Hanks; and actor who i previously thought was untouchable. But looking at some of the performances they bring to light, it is clear to see that every actor has the ability to have a bad performance.

Wildfire- Seafret

This video for "Wildfire" by Seafret i feel is incredibly clever in the way that it is incredibly simple, yet carries a strong message and links well with the song. The use of 3 primary camera angles, one location and the focus on the people's faces and the questions rather than their responses to the questions i though was very powerful as it links to what the experiment in the video was based around; expression. It ties with the song as it links with the idea of love spreading and growing like "wildfire", which is displayed in the video by the opening text talking about the previous experiment where two of the subjects were married 6 months after they took part. Also shown is a clever use of shot length towards the end during the 4 minutes that they spend staring at each other. It speeds up was each of the subjects starts to smile or change expression, also matching the beat behind the song.

This is one of my favourite music video's that I have seen recently, mainly due to its simplicity. But even with this simple set up with very few camera angles, it still creates a very powerful emotion that can be felt by everyone; love and compassion. The video creates this image of how trivial the modern perception of how to fall in love is and shows that all you need is to look into someone's eyes for a few minutes. It links with a similar video where immigrants and refugees living in England were made to look into the eyes of a person from a completely different country, background, identity to see if they could relate closer even though they often couldn't communicate very well. Yet, through this eye contact for a few minutes, they form a very strong connection; even bringing some to tears. I think an important thing that this video does is that when we are introduced to all the participants; even we, the audience, don't know where these people are from or their names. This puts us in the same position as the people taking part in this video, showing us that even though we are all from different places, walks of life; we are all still human.  

Learning about lighting

While i know its tricky, i was considering playing about with lighting in some areas of my video. Lighting is already going to be a large obstacle to overcome in this production due to the location and the mood of the video. I want to maintain a dark image without making the image grainy due to the light levels in the location. I know that i can darken it later on our editing software; but i have one idea for a scene that may require some thought about as regards to lighting. 

  This idea is that we are in the addicts perspective when he is sat on the floor. The guitarist walks out in front of him in the centre of his view. After a certain amount of time, he walks down the corridor that the addict is sat at the end of. At the other end of this corridor is a thick shadow (possibly some fog). I will hopefully accomplish this shadow with lighting.

Watching videos like the one below are incredibly useful as they give good tips on how to do complex techniques on a lower budget.

The Hobbit Sound Design

My dream career is working in sound design and sound engineering in film and music. Because of this, I spend some of my spend time watching videos about the process that goes into the sound scape of films and the effect that it can have when the sound is completely finished.


One series of videos that I am a big fan of is the behind the scenes videos of the Hobbit films. These videos cover a wide range of the areas of production; such as the makeup and prosthetics, camera work, pre production and concept art, and sound design and editing.

Both of these videos give a great insight into the planning and work load that goes into the creation of a soundscape for a film. I am particularly interested in the collection of Foley track and the creation of various sounds from unlikely sources (such as breaking celery to get the sound of breaking bones). For me, it is the idea that sound can be so freely manipulated and controlled to fit the video so accurately. It is for these reasons that I really want to go into this industry.

Use of Fade

(This is a repeat of this video. but i didn't talk about a technique that i have started to think about incorporating. This is a fan made video for the same song i'm thinking of doing)

this is a fan made video, meaning that i can still have some freedom with the production; but it has given me a nice technique that i can use, which is the use of a fade over the main clip of unrelated things such as the Lunar Landing and other clips of a similar nature to link to either hallucination or the feel of freedom that drugs supposedly give you. i was thinking of using it for when there are some close ups of the addict.

This could prove very useful to add to the underlying themes of drugs and highs, as i think that the way my production stands at the moment, it doesn't have enough links to the idea that the main character is high. Yet with this, i can link to this theme even stronger. I think i could use this to change mood aswell, starting out with more astral themes promoting freedom and weightlessness, but later moving towards harder images later on as reality starts to hit him.

Age Ratings on Music Videos

An article published last year on the BBC "Newsbeat" website delves into the issue of age rating on music videos. This has become a greater problem in recent years due to artists pushing the boundaries of what is deemed appropriate to be used to accompany a song. This new motion introduced means that record labels (such as the big three- Warner, Universal and Sony) will have to send all of their music through the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) meaning that they will be given an age rating before they can be shown.

But what does this mean for artists? well, with certain videos that seem to abuse the rather lax rules on music video, such as Nicki Minaj- Anaconda (shown below), we could see a distinct reduction of viewers due to a large amount not being able to access them online or on music channels due to age restrictions.

in terms of this research effecting my production, i don't think it will much. While themes like drugs and mental health are explored in it (and they would class as for a higher age rating) i don't feel it will have a large effect due to the target audience I'm hoping to attract, which will be young and older adults who have heard of the song in question. It may take a toll on the younger viewers of the song when it is put online, but i feel that will make for a smaller demographic.

Here is a link to the article: Age rating article

Options for the Main Task- Ancillary texts

If you have seen my overview of the A2 media course, you will have noticed that there is more to the coursework than just the production. In fact, we have to include two extra pieces using different media forms that link to our production. For a music video, i am given the option of creating an album cover, a home page for a band website or a magazine article for the album/ single. I have to choose two of those to accompany my main production. The only one i am definitely is the album cover as i like the creative possibilities related to the creation of covers.

album covers are incredibly important in giving the consumer an idea of the theme of the song/ album. i have found a few albums that do this well, and a few that don't.

Firstly is the album cover for "closer to the sun" by Slightly Stoopid.

Looking at this cover, you probably would assume this band was linked to more heavy music, political comments and more gritty topics with the big sound to accompany. However. this band is actually California Reggae. In fact, a lot of their album covers tend to link more to this gritty, dark imaging, rather than linking closer to their genre. One would assume this is either meant as a sort of joke or nod to other bands with similar album cover themes. But, i digress.

On the other end of the spectrum is Pink Floyd, who seem to much prefer the more simple covers that don't suggest much about genre. an example of this is the cover to "Dark Side of the Moon"

This incredibly elegant album cover carries very little suggestion as to the genre of the band, aside from it linking to a more modern, uncluttered sound. The use of the spectrum coming out of the prism suggests that the album will carry more depth or clarity compared to others (represented by the beam of white light entering the prism). But I may be reading in to it deeper than i should because of how much i love this album cover.

Palette and Treatment

Palette and treatment are two things that need to be heavily thought about at the start of any production; as these factors help determine the edge and the representations created in the production. These can turn an ordinary production into one of many things.

Palette normally refers to lighting, props and the set used in productions to help the overall suggestion carried through. While treatment is more closly linked to how the factors discussed in palette will actually effect the emotion of the viewer.

For example, if we look at this video for Calum Scott's "dancing on my own", we can gain a clearer understanding of how these two factors can influence a production.

From this video we can see various themes start to emerge, creating a rather somber an gloomy mood. The costume, set and filter are incredibly washed out, lending to the topic of the song draining the artist. The use of the amount of people along with them all wearing plain white with blank expressions links to how they aren't the focus of his eye as he is too drawn to watching his lover or crush being taken away. 

Can't Stop & Sound of Silence

I think the most ticky part of this pre production for a music video is trying to get an idea of how you're going to edit it and treat it. But with so many examples out there of pretty much every treatment style and editing techniques, it is easy to imagine and apply these different techniques and styles to our own videos.

Examples of completly contrasting music videos with vastly different editing styles and treatments are the video for Red Hot Chili Peppers- "Can't Stop" and Disturbed's cover of "Sound of Silence". Both of these videos compliment the songs the follow incredibly well, which shows the real breadth of treatments and editing styles.

On the rather random, crazy end of the treatment and editing section is "Can't Stop". It features the band in some of the  weirdest and crazy activities and props to carry the incredibly random nature of the song, and the band themsleves. There isn't really any Chronology to the video. Instead it just jumps between shots of the band doing rather weird activities; such as when they are popping in and out of Wheelie Bins, or when Anthony Kiedis (the lead singer) is in that weird body tent. One technique i like is how they use the tunnel at the begining to amplify the build up of the song. This paired with them matching scenes of vocals with the song form a closer link to the source material, which i feel is important for a music video.

On the other end of the spectrum is disturbed's cover of the "Sound of Silence". This song does feature some elements of story telling and chronology, and also links to the source material very well either through close ups of the singer, or what is being displayed on the screen. What I mean by this is that there is often links between the lyrics, instrumental and the video. An example of this is when the singer sings "In restless dreams i walked alone" we see a man walking alone in the video holding a guitar. This links further because it is this line that triggers the guitar to start in the song. Infact, this is where the video gets its sense of story telling from. It chooses to display what is going on in the lyrics on screen. It also links to the music too; such as when the drums come in on the verse starting with "fools said i you do not know" it includes shots of the drummer do his two strokes on the timpani.

Looking at these two videos has given me greater insight in the way that i could treat and edit my video. I'm thinking of leaning more towards "the sound of silence" as it links closer to the mood i'm trying to get across. However, i may go more towards the pace of the "Can't Stop" video in the choruses when the song gets heavier.

Wong Fu

Wong Fu is a Youtube channel and company that creates incrediby well made short films. It was created by Weseley Chan, Ted Fu and Phillip Wang in 2006. Their primary genres for videos tend to be romance, coming of age and comedy. One thing that shines in all wong fu productions is the production value, writing and cinematography. An example of where all of these factors are in full force is the video below called "The Last"

Wong Fu also create comedy shorts, like the video below:

below are links to their website, and then their youtube channel. The website is useful as it advertises new projects coming up, such as "everything before us"; a new mini series that the company are bringing out. Through these projects, Wong Fu is able to collaberate with many youtubers and other experts in other fields to create the best product at the end.


Wong Fu's Website

Wong Fu's Youtube

Nostalgia critic

Nostalgia critic is a character and series created by Doug Walker. In it, he reviews movies that are known to be awful and presents them in a funny, cynical manner. Mixed in with his reviews are little sketches and clips from other films to add to the comedic values. He's even done reviews for films that haven't been released by recreating the scenes and shots used in the film in a low budget style. Examples of films he reviewed this way are "Jurassic World" and "Star Wars; The Force Awakens".
an example of a review of his is linked below. Strong language from the start.

But Nostalgia critic doesn't just stop at film reviews. He also does shows where he treats film with a more serious edge and even discusses some interesting questions. Examples of series like this are his "top 11" series and, my personal favourite, "old versus New"; the title's being rather self explanatory. While these still feature element of his main show, they focus more on the good side of cinema rather than the rougher entries. below is his comparison between The old and New "Karate Kid" films. Again, strong language from the start.

I've been watching Nostalgia Critic for many years now and have learnt a lot from his videos; primarily in the fields of taking critical looks at films but also about having an opinion and running with it. While some of his jokes and little inputs may not hit the mark or can be confusing, it's been incredibly enjoyable watching his videos grow and develop over time. He is also head of a multi media review site called "that guy with the glasses". On this site you can find reviewers for almost all forms of media; along with some who do the behind the scenes entries or just talk about topics they are passionate. I couldn't recommend them highly enough. Below is a link to the site (now known as Channel Awesome).

Channel Awesome website

Mumford and Sons- Lover of the Light

In the run up to summer, our main objective is to decide on what main task we are going to do. For me, I have narrowed it down to either a music video or a short film. This is because I feel like I have the greatest experience and interest in these two mediums rather than radio dramas or podcasts. That being said, I now have to make my choice based on examples of each of these mediums. Firstly, I will look at "Lover of the Light" by Mumford and Sons.

This video, starring Idris Elba (one of my favourite actors at the moment), focuses on the life and journey of a man trying to connect back to the world. However, he is restricted by one factor. He is blind. I think this is very well played however, as there is no real sign posts provided. Instead, it is all done through props and the actor himself. One of my favourite scenes in the video is when he is about to leave the house but his grasp falls on his cane. The use of the hand shuddering amplifies his frustration and sadness about his condition and how it is his biggest restraint.

This theme of restraint is key to the flow of the music video, as it focuses a lot on him being free to roam and being one with nature. But, there still exist timly reminders that he is not well (such as the cane).

As music videos go, I like how much this one carries a story. Many exist just to carry the music or to give it greater depth to the experience for the viewer. This one actually follows a story and has quite a strong narrative and focuses on quite a melancholy theme of disability and isolation because of it.

The Deeper Questioning Grid

In our last lesson, we were introduced to this document called "the deeper questioning grid". This is a table that features the two first words of a question. The aim is to get us, the students, to adventure with out questions and aim for a greater understanding through the questions you ask. It is shown below.

 with this grid, we were asked to get into pairs (not partering with who we made our production with) and watch each others production. From this, we were tasked with making questions about their production with this grid.

I think this exersize gave everyone a greater understanding of what is expected at us from the A2 course and how we can better apply ourselves.

Course layout A2

For the course this year, we are given a wider variety of options of main task compared to last year where we had to do an opening sequence. Paired with this choice, we have to complete two other smaller tasks related to our main. These options are all shown in the powerpoint below. Apologies for the length of the power point.

Media Studies - A2 Course Layout by Ben court

AS Main Task Critique

Synopsis

For my AS level media main task, my partner Alyx and I wanted to dive into the aspects and conventions of horror films in order to contort pre concieved ideas of the christmas season. Our film focuses on a monster breaking into a families home and looking round the house. Much of this is drawn from slasher horror films such as Halloween, whilst mixing in with supernatural/creature films. 

Area's of success

I Think we achieved the mood we were striving for; focusing on the creature like characteristics of the being we follow. Furthemore, our structure for filming worked well. We decided to do all of our exterior shots during the festive season because decorations would still be out. This meant that we could build up a stock of good film that we could contiunally draw on in order to build up the ideas of the time of year. I feel our use of free hand camera was good too as it links closer to the idea of the creature, and choosing to do a majority of out exposition either through the radio broadcast or through items found inside the house that the monster looks at.

Areas of improvement 

i think one of our primary concerns and areas of improvement was how dark our peice was. Because we didn't understand just how much we could do in post production. And as we wanted our production to be quite dark. To achieve this, rather than using darkening in post, we made our set quite dark too. We used drapes and towels in order to darken our set. However, this means that a majority of our footage was rather dark and had to be brightened. This could have lead to a kind of bleaching effect on some of our clips, aswell as not being able to see much; especially in our ending shot. Aswell as a shoddy segway between a shot taken in a seperate location on a seperate day. These are my main gripes with our production however.

Conclusion

I feel like this task gave us an incredible introduction into film making. We are able to draw from our mistakes and are better informed on the theory done in class such as 180 rule and the rule of thirds. i can comfortably say that i feel way more confident in starting my A2 production after having this this experience.