Here's a YouTube Clip of my Band 'the Police Chiefs'
This was shot (by my mate Stan) at the Cheese & Grain, Frome, March 2007.
It was Shot on a Sony DVD Camcorder with built in Mic (records Sound in 5.1) and I edited it using Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD - this was because the Software can import from DVD, edit on a Timeline and overlay Titles & Graphics.
The editing was quite a challenge because Stan got progressively more plastered as the Gig went on and was Zooming in and out & panning all over the place as he explored what the Camera could do....this meant that there were few usable clips - so I had to take the best bits and edit them into a Compilation Promo and be quite creative with the Transitions. The footage is overexposed so I'll be listening with interest when we cover white balance !
Sunday 27 January 2008
BC1001 - Reflection on Media Roles
During this Semester we've looked at and had experience of a number of Media Roles.
We've covered Sound Recording & Editing, Research, Producing/Directing, Presenting and have examined all of the Roles involved with making a TV Drama Production.
With all of the Roles (particularly Research) we had to be very aware of the Legal aspects of gathering the information and using it within a context that represents it in a true light. When editing a piece together or Presenting information it is very easy to misrepresent the meaning of the information by rearranging what was said or using it out of context. We also looked at the issues of Copyright and examined the process involved with using Copyrighted Music in a DVD for General Release.
I had an idea about Copyright but was shocked at just how much is involved in ensuring that information is used and represented correctly - and just how much this is undermined by YouTube where basically anything can be put up and shared to a mass audience without much repercussion on Copyright.
Because of my musical background I really enjoyed the Modules on the Physics of Sound and Sound Editing where I got to explore and use my own ideas and experience to create some Projects that I took great pride in making. I've worked with Digital Effects and both Analogue Digital Sound Recording in the past so it was great to use this experience in a new context.
For the Soundscape project I spent time around Campus and my Village recording birdsong, running water, horses and included some Guitar playing which I recorded in the Kitchen ! For the finished project I then explored and used the Digital Effects within Soundtrack Pro to enhance the Tracks and try to create a piece that conveyed a mood.
For the Group Audio project we recorded interviews with a number of my friends in the Tribute Artist Business then basically had a lot of fun adding incidental music stabs and stings to try and keep the interviews interesting. For the "John Lennon" Interview I had to use Original Tracks as Martin couldn't provide any good quality mp3's to use with the piece. The Track used with the "Elton John" Interview was recorded and sung by the subject (Marcus Andrew) and was excellent so I used it to underline the whole Interview. (There was a slight pun in using "I guess that's they call it the Blues" - Marcus is currently not performing due to a broken ankle.....)
These Projects also gave experience of other Roles ;
(non-Technical) Editing - there was a wealth of material that was left out due to it not being interesting, relevant, likely to cause offence - or, if edited and used, it may have changed the context of what was originally said. Also we had to ensure that the edited piece flowed and made sense.
Researching - We had to contact each Artist, ask for agreement to be in the Programme, set up Interview dates & locations and provide advance copies of Questions along with Release Forms for the Interviews and keep all of the information within the Production Portfolio.
Producing - We had to take on Producers Roles to ensure the Programme was made to the Original Treatment, that the Interviews achieved usable material and also to ensue that Production meetings were held to keep everything on track.
Presenting - We Scripted and Presented the Programme (I hope we get more experience of this because we need it !)
Interviewing - I found that Interviewing someone is not just a matter of pointing a Mic at them and asking them to talk - you have to guide them and explain what you're hoping to get from them. Also you need to be prepared to step in with a question or comment if they are wandering off on a Tangent.
All in all I've really enjoyed the first Semester and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into Filming.
We've covered Sound Recording & Editing, Research, Producing/Directing, Presenting and have examined all of the Roles involved with making a TV Drama Production.
With all of the Roles (particularly Research) we had to be very aware of the Legal aspects of gathering the information and using it within a context that represents it in a true light. When editing a piece together or Presenting information it is very easy to misrepresent the meaning of the information by rearranging what was said or using it out of context. We also looked at the issues of Copyright and examined the process involved with using Copyrighted Music in a DVD for General Release.
I had an idea about Copyright but was shocked at just how much is involved in ensuring that information is used and represented correctly - and just how much this is undermined by YouTube where basically anything can be put up and shared to a mass audience without much repercussion on Copyright.
Because of my musical background I really enjoyed the Modules on the Physics of Sound and Sound Editing where I got to explore and use my own ideas and experience to create some Projects that I took great pride in making. I've worked with Digital Effects and both Analogue Digital Sound Recording in the past so it was great to use this experience in a new context.
For the Soundscape project I spent time around Campus and my Village recording birdsong, running water, horses and included some Guitar playing which I recorded in the Kitchen ! For the finished project I then explored and used the Digital Effects within Soundtrack Pro to enhance the Tracks and try to create a piece that conveyed a mood.
For the Group Audio project we recorded interviews with a number of my friends in the Tribute Artist Business then basically had a lot of fun adding incidental music stabs and stings to try and keep the interviews interesting. For the "John Lennon" Interview I had to use Original Tracks as Martin couldn't provide any good quality mp3's to use with the piece. The Track used with the "Elton John" Interview was recorded and sung by the subject (Marcus Andrew) and was excellent so I used it to underline the whole Interview. (There was a slight pun in using "I guess that's they call it the Blues" - Marcus is currently not performing due to a broken ankle.....)
These Projects also gave experience of other Roles ;
(non-Technical) Editing - there was a wealth of material that was left out due to it not being interesting, relevant, likely to cause offence - or, if edited and used, it may have changed the context of what was originally said. Also we had to ensure that the edited piece flowed and made sense.
Researching - We had to contact each Artist, ask for agreement to be in the Programme, set up Interview dates & locations and provide advance copies of Questions along with Release Forms for the Interviews and keep all of the information within the Production Portfolio.
Producing - We had to take on Producers Roles to ensure the Programme was made to the Original Treatment, that the Interviews achieved usable material and also to ensue that Production meetings were held to keep everything on track.
Presenting - We Scripted and Presented the Programme (I hope we get more experience of this because we need it !)
Interviewing - I found that Interviewing someone is not just a matter of pointing a Mic at them and asking them to talk - you have to guide them and explain what you're hoping to get from them. Also you need to be prepared to step in with a question or comment if they are wandering off on a Tangent.
All in all I've really enjoyed the first Semester and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into Filming.
Thursday 24 January 2008
U2 3D Movie hailed as 'a work of Art' by New York Times
U2 3D (2007)
NYT Critics' Pick This movie has been designated a Critic's Pick by the film reviewers of The Times.
Sounds like a completely new take on the 'Rockumentary' genre, this may spawn a whole new interest in producing 3D Movies - look forward to seeing it and hope they include a few 'Spinal Tap' moments !
NYT Critics' Pick This movie has been designated a Critic's Pick by the film reviewers of The Times.
The musical documentary “U2 3D,” which stitches together three performances by this Irish rock band during a recent tour of South America, is not merely a technical landmark — shot entirely in digital 3D — but also an aesthetic one, in that it’s the first Imax movie that deserves to be called a work of art.
The person most responsible for the film’s vision, Catherine Owens — one of the movie’s two directors, who is also in charge of production design for the band’s live shows — has brazenly ignored the usual stipulations about making a 3-D film. She favors quick edits and slow dissolves rather than long takes and hard cuts. Throughout, she layers the screen with multiple planes of information: long shots and medium shots of the musicians, images of the crowd, close-up details of graphics from the big screen that the band performs in front of that make the designs abstract and merge them with the performers.
The result is not a confusing mishmash of images but a musical/experimental work that visually simulates the sensation of thinking. The very idea of self-contained screen geography is thrillingly reconceived.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/movies/23band.html?ref=moviesSounds like a completely new take on the 'Rockumentary' genre, this may spawn a whole new interest in producing 3D Movies - look forward to seeing it and hope they include a few 'Spinal Tap' moments !
Thursday 17 January 2008
BBC Reporting Undercover in Kenya
This week John Simpson from the BBC has been sending special Reports from Kenya.The situation there is incredibly tense and is worsening daily, I hope we don't see another Rwanda situation happen where Millions of people are slaughtered whilst the rest of the World sits and watches. (I remember vividly at the time reports from Rwanda being kept out of the news by the unfortunate death of Ayrton Senna......)
The News Report I saw on Monday stressed that "the BBC is banned in Kenya so John is reporting from deep undercover in Kenya" before showing John strolling about in a crowded street - a large solitary white man walking about in broad daylight in a Kenyan Street was hardly the height of discretion !
Let's hope the situation there is closely Reported and that calm is restored without bloodshed or suffering.
Thursday 10 January 2008
BC1001 - 16-24 Age Group Commisioning
Here's a Slideshow about the characteristics of the 16-24 Age Group - from the perspective of BBC Programme Commisioning !
Liverpool Trip - Beatles Bonanza !
Over the Holidays we spent a few days in Liverpool and I took the opportunity to take in some of the local Culture !
We did the Magical Mystery Tour - which is a Bus ride around the City and takes in all of the Beatles Childhood homes plus Strawberry Fields (a Salvation Army Childrens Home - I always thought it was a Psychiatric Hospital !) and Penny Lane - you see all of the places mentioned in the Song - the shelter in the middle of the Roundabout, the Barbers, the Bank ....
Rory & me at Strawberry Fields
The Beatles Story Exhibition at the Albert Dock (with NUS Discount !) was great - a Journey through the early days of Rock'n'Roll with plenty of Film clips, Newsreel of Screaming Girls, old Guitars, John Lennons Specs, Original Contracts, Letters , a Full size Yellow Submarine, a recreation of the Cavern that was used in a Beatles Documentary - the list goes on.
What it brought home to me most was the huge impact the Fabs had not only Musically but Culturally and Socially and it made me wonder if we will ever see another Band that has such a lasting legacy. You can also see how proud the Liverpudlians are of the Beatles and how they put the City onto the World Stage.
We did the Magical Mystery Tour - which is a Bus ride around the City and takes in all of the Beatles Childhood homes plus Strawberry Fields (a Salvation Army Childrens Home - I always thought it was a Psychiatric Hospital !) and Penny Lane - you see all of the places mentioned in the Song - the shelter in the middle of the Roundabout, the Barbers, the Bank ....
Rory & me at Strawberry Fields
The Beatles Story Exhibition at the Albert Dock (with NUS Discount !) was great - a Journey through the early days of Rock'n'Roll with plenty of Film clips, Newsreel of Screaming Girls, old Guitars, John Lennons Specs, Original Contracts, Letters , a Full size Yellow Submarine, a recreation of the Cavern that was used in a Beatles Documentary - the list goes on.
What it brought home to me most was the huge impact the Fabs had not only Musically but Culturally and Socially and it made me wonder if we will ever see another Band that has such a lasting legacy. You can also see how proud the Liverpudlians are of the Beatles and how they put the City onto the World Stage.
Media News - ITV blends genres with new music show
ITV is drawing on the talents of Take That singer-songwriter Gary Barlow and Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips for a show that combines a stage school drama, behind-the-scenes real-life documentary and a revue finale.
Britannia High will feature Barlow heading a team of songwriters who will pen set-piece numbers for the fictional arts school's young pupils to perform.
Phillips will be the head of choreography, while David Ian, the West End producer who featured as a judge on Grease is the Word, will help her to select the performers.
Britannia High will start with two 60-minute documentaries that show Phillips, Ian and other producers picking the actors, as well as venturing into Barlow's recording studio.
This will be followed by eight hour-long instalments of Britannia High, a scripted drama about young actors vying with each other for centre stage and featuring music and dance routines created by Barlow and Phillips.
Britannia High will end with a 90-minute live episode, taking the form of an end-of-term revue featuring performances from the cast, mingled with further drama segments.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/10/itv.televisionInteresting Stuff ! Quite a mix of ideas and Genres - a rethink of Talent Shows...Big Names to pull the Viewers in and new Songs every week. Shows like 'X-Factor' are big hits and earn big money. There must be a lot of work going into developing similar shows but adding fresh ideas to keep people interested - or maybe they just write a few ideas down, pull them out f a hat and make a TV show out of it !!!!
BC1001 - Digital Cinema
This presentation looks at the world of Digital Cinema, the Technical Requirements and the possibilities !
BC1001 - Job Description
This Presentation was produced as part of the BC1001 Module - I chose to look at the Requirements for a Final Cut Pro Editor
BC1001 - Presentation on Music Copyright
This is a Slideshow that I created to explain the process of Licensing a piece of Music to be released Commercially in UK Shops
Deal or no Deal Trip !
Back in December we had a trip to Endemol to watch the Recording of 'Deal or no Deal' - we sat in the audience for the Recording of one show (I had to move because my T-Shirt was too bright !) and had a Studio Tour and question & answer Session. I was really interested in seeing the Sound Desk and Post Production Suites and that was my favourite part of the Tour - the Show is Filmed as it happens and then edited down to the right length for Broadcast, a few cutaways and reaction shots were done beforehand but basically what you see in the finished Programme is how it happened on the day - all in all a really interesting & worthwhile trip !
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)