Production Improvement

We have completed our first cut of our music video production but it was not long before we noticed things we could improve upon. When we were filming the shots in mine and Harry's bedroom, the light from the window made our faces look too dark and we couldn't see the lip synching.
Also some of the shots of me boxing was very blurry, this was because we had the settings of our camera on LP (long play) which lowers the quality but increases the length. We corrected this by reshooting the shots with the camera on MXP which vastly improved the quality.
The shots when I was lip synching to the mirror didn’t look right because no one could tell it was a mirror and it just looked like there was a pole in the way. We corrected this by including more of the mirror and less of the bed.
We have also decided to reshoot our filming in the park because it didn't look crazy enough, so Harry is going to wear a penguin costume and lip synch to the camera in the park to make it comical.

The scene when I’m in the hall didn’t come out right. Two of our cameras had a different lighting style to our other two, so we could only use two of them without it looking unusual. Consequently we are going to redo all the hall shots, but with MXP and all on one camera to keep it the same.

Audience's Feedback on the First Cut

Since we needed good feedback for our first cut of the music video and how to improve upon it, me and Jared set out to ask two girls and two boys of our age a few questions about our video, and overall we got some strong feedback.

1. Out of 10 how would you rate our music video?

Three people said 7/10 and one said 8/10, a moderately positive score for a first cut

2. Which was your favourite part?

The two boys said their favourite part of the music video was when I dropped various breakable items out of Jared's window, in contrast the two girls said their favourite part was the opening shot of the streets, all agreeing that the pace was correct and led well with each shot.

3. Which was your worst part?
All felt that their least favourite part was when our faces were in the dark as they were unable to see what was going on, this was solved in the next cut by re-filming these sections, and the problem has disappeared since.

4. Which was the funniest part?
Three of the four said they found Jared's bike ride down Chauncy hill funniest, on the other hand the other said that me dropping items out of Jared's window was the funniest part for them.

5. Which part needs the most improvement?
All said that the section of me lip-syncing with the punching bag needed improvement most as it appeared very blurring and the shots were too diverse for them.

6. Is the camerawork good enough, if not can it be improved?
Everyone agreed that the camerawork was good in general but the camerawork in the hall was weakest because it was not framed very well in comparison to other shots in the video.
 

7. Is the editing good enough, if not can it be improved?
The four people all said that the pace was fine despite the fast-paced beginning which was difficult to understand or see what was going on.

8. Is the pace correct or is it to slow/fast?

Three of the four people asked felt that the pace was fine, but one of the girls felt some shots as a result of the pace did not make sense, especially the beginning with Jared in the bedroom sequence.
 

9. Does the video look amusing?
They all found the video amusing and said that the only scene that didn't make them laugh were the shots featuring Jared lip-syncing in the hall.

10. Does our music video look professional?
The two boys felt the video did look professional except for the shots with students saying bonkers to the camera, it was quite clear that they were taken in school and as a consequence did not look as professional. The girls also added in that the black-and-white shot with Jared going down the hill as a slow-pace looked like it did not belong to the sequence.

The First Cut of Bonkers

The Editing Process

This is images of us editing our music video, we have recently looked for new ways to make the video look more crazy. We begain to experiment with the video transitions and effects available, some being good such as the 3D effect and as a result were used in the video, however quite a few of them we found no difference between before and after so did not use the effect or we felt that it was not crazy enough so did not get used.

The editing process in pictures

Filming in the School Hall

These are photographs of when we filmed in the school hall, we required assistance with the lighting as we did not know how to operate these lights in the hall. The lights worked effectively with our filming, the only challenge was to ensure that all three cameras we used were all filming and that I kept the movement of the camera in the middle which was being dollied along the floor as smooth as possible.

Pictures of my house for shooting

House Location

This is where my house, exactly where we filmed the bedroom sequence for our music video. I also walked around some of the streets close to my house which was somewhat tiring considering I had to hold a camera for quite some time.

Filming at my house

 These are photographs from the filming we did at my house, it was fairly simple filming and we were able to exploit as many different shots and angles as we could think of and what the size of my bedroom restricted us to; it was not a very large space after all!

Experimenting with camera settings

Me and Jared decided to try out the various camera settings on our camera which is a Canon Legria 206, moving around in the shots to see how it would turn out. We have concluded that we will most likely use the MXP setting because of the high quality which makes it look better, and we will not use the high/low exposure as the shots look worse compared to a normal exposure.

Footage of people saying Bonkers

This is footage of various people across the school saying the word 'Bonkers' which will be synced in with the song and rest of the video, it will be synced in wherever and whenever the song mentions the word 'Bonkers'.

Filming photographs

Sample lip-syncing

This was a test of the green screen we did to determine if we would need to use lighting, and even then what layout we would go for. We ultimately found no differences between lighting and no lighting so decided to just simply stick with no lighting. This could have been because the room in which the green screen is set up is already very bright.

Storyboard

Production Schedule

Date	What we're filming…
26th September	Park shooting
3rd October	Filming people saying Bonkers
7th October	Opening Scene at Harry’s house
10th October	Stage scene
13th October	Filming at my house & bike scene at Chauncy
17th October	Pick Ups

The Animatic

This is the animatic sequence for the introduction of the music video, we simply drew out all of our camera shots and angles we plan to use for when we do film this. We made the decision to do the shot with Jared waking up at different angles to create a more absurdist style to the video, these shots would be quickly intercut with each other to create an upbeat mood to the video.

The Pitch

This is the pitch for our media production, it is a music video for the song 'Bonkers' by Dizzee Rascal. When we showed our pitch towards the rest of the class we recieved positive feedback, our only thing now is to make sure the video lives up to our USP; it is entirely absurdist and unusual

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspirations: "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJO5HU_7_1w

The music video features Eminem performing the song in a psychiatric ward, a local Detroit neighborhood nearside a park, a fast-food joint, the Grammy Awards, and even in a factory where multiple clones of the rapper are produced. The video also features cameo appearances by Dr. Dre, D12, a lookalike of Kid Rock, Fred Durst, a lookalike of Carson Daly, Kathy Griffin, lookalikes of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, and even a stuffed Bill the Cat doll can also be seen being held in possession by one of the mental patients in the hospital scenes.

Actress and comedian Kathy Griffin, who is also known for insulting celebrities in her act, appears in the video as an attending nurse in a psychiatric ward.

The video also features Eminem dressed in the same superhero costume used by Tom Green in the Lonely Swedish video chasing a boy band, taking one of its members down to the ground and putting 'his bum on the man's lips.' The costume can be seen later in the "Without Me" music video following the release of The Eminem Show.

There are also more scenes showing one or more of the following (when the lyrics roll along with the video):

• 2 young boys watching the Discovery Channel on television with two rhinoceroses mating, then looking at each other in awe
• Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee chasing each other around a couch and Anderson screaming in front of the camera
• An obese man in underwear being enslaved by a dominatrix with a paddle
• A gay marriage is shown and Eminem breaks up the two men about to kiss each other (as a rejection to homosexuality) and showing disgust
• Eminem performing in a private room with all his clones produced from the factory with their heads bobbing to the music
• Eminem at the Grammy Awards dressing as Britney Spears, along with Fred Durst and Carson Daly pulling a blow-up doll of Christina Aguilera between their seats towards each other angrily until it flies out of the chair. 
• A clip from a cartoon of a frog tap-dancing on a turtle (from the 'Flip the Frog' film, Fiddlesticks) can be seen on a TV in the hospital and the viewer laughs at it.
• Eminem working in a fictional fast-food restaurant with an 'Ask Me' patch giving an obese woman her order and rejecting it because of the onion rings being forgotten, however he gets the onion rings and he spits in them, and gives the onion rings to the woman to complete her order, which she begins eating as she walks away. The same scene also shows Eminem driving recklessly around in circles in a parking lot in a blue AMC Pacer

Despite the controversial situations it is still humourous regardless, and will be of good use to me and my group, we can take the ideas from this by thinking of more outrageous situations to film.

Inspirations: "Trouble on my Mind" by Pusha T feat. Tyler, the Creator

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKL_ZoJQjc

In this video we see the two artists in Los Angeles wreaking havoc and showing ridiculous behaviour in general, we first see them throwing eggs at innocent passers-by during Pusha T's verse, then in Tyler's verse we see him rapping on a chair intended for people with disabilities, various other members of his group Odd Future following him whilst he flirts several times with an old woman in a humourous manner. We then finally see them in the last verse ruining a hotel room and a convenience store once again in a comical fashion. 

This video could be of good use and inspiration for my group, easily because of the comical and hectic situations and nature of the video, however we would not be exactly able to replicate these situations as we would most likely cause trouble for disorderly behaviour!

Inspirations: "All Of The Lights" by Kanye West feat. Rihanna and Kid Cudi with vocals by Fergie, Charlie Wilson, John Legend, Tony Williams, Alicia Keys, La Roux, The Dream, Ryan Leslie, Alvin Fields and Ken Lewis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfFfqiYLp0

This music video is directed by Hype Williams, a music video director known for directing hip-hop videos for artists such as Busta Rhymes, Kanye West, Nas and The Notorious B.I.G. In this video we first see a young child walking through several streets covered in snow, this occurs for a minute until we suddenly see the screen begin to change colours and we se several texts which are the lyrics and also credits to the artists and director. We then see shots of Kanye West rapping on top of a police car with lights on and also a handheld point-of-view shot presumably of him running back to home to find a man in bed with his wife! We also see shots of the artists Rihanna and Kid Cudi singing, notably without any flashing strobe light effects although there is a strong backlight behind them. Finally at the end of the video we see flashing text again with the artist credits and lyrics.

Of all inspirations I have found and posted onto the blog so far, I feel that this is the most unique and visually eye-catching, something that I feel me and Jared should utilise in our video by not just using shots but also flashing titles and texts, prehaps not in the same fast-paced, sudden style in the video though!