Meeting

Isaac has spoken to his Pastor , he is quite happy for me to film. I have a brief meeting with him on Wednesday 2nd March, with Isaac just to discuss exactly what i will be filming and content etc. I've planned to film now on 6th March at Isaac's church.

I've also asked Isaac to book a practice room for Friday 11th March , to film Isaac in a drumming session.

I will shortly post my storyboards and shot lists for both filming days.

All Of The Lights

Another visual treat from Mr.West, released this week from the album "My Beautiful Dark Fantasy, Watch The Throne"

(Directed by famous Hip hop music video director, Hype WIlliams.)

Williams plays around with typography for the chorus of the song (throughout the whole video).... using only the words of the chorus at the beginning of the video. Using a wide variety of fonts for the individual words, conveying no real sense of uniformed style, in terms of the typography. Textures, within the fonts is also widely used.

Colour.Style.Camera.

The start of the video features a young girl walking across a bleak, winter city (which is assumedly West's home city of Chicago) ... The use saturated black and white is not dissimilar to the same style in West's video "Heard Em Say"

Only a minute later , are we introduced to Kanye West, via a midshot (in an tight alley way) which only exposes the top half of his legs and upper body. His face shadowed out, with various bright colours added in after filming. Various similar shots are present throughout the whole video.

The whole video incorporates shadows, heavily, with a selection bright colours, flashing continuously throughout the video...lights obviously being the prominent theme of the video.

Critically, i feel that the video doesn't efficiently use the lighting in a way thats compelling. In other words i feel that the use of constant rapid flashing is distracting....However I think if the use of the different flashing colours was radically reduced, the effect and impact would have been greater.

Locations?

Whilst i need to capture obvious shots, i.e. Isaac practicing drums, i also need to capture a human element in which he is in his natural environment, and church is where he spends a lot of his time.

At the moment, he is contacting his Pastor, just to ensure that it is ok for me to go ahead and film on the 27TH February , because obviously its something of a sensitive nature so i wouldn't want to disrespect anybody in a place of worship.


In terms of other locations, I've been thinking about non conventional places in which i could film Isaac drumming....but obviously with musical equipment this is proving to be quite difficult. So perhaps i should focus a lot more heavily on the effects that i want to achieve , whilst using a conventional promotional video formula, in terms of shots and narrative.


Crystan

Damian Marley and Nas - Patience

Nas and Damian Marley Patience from WorldWideLegacy on Vimeo.

Taken from the Distant Relatives collaborative album of Nas and Damian Marley...this video is quite similar to the Kanye West - "Power" video, this video uses the same kind of tones, colour grading, as well image overlays.


It differs in that there is a lot more movement in the video itself, and is nowhere near as static, and offers audience an actual performance of the song, therefore a much more conventional music video, with elements of surrealism.

Critically, i'm not sure if this video works as well as the "Power" video, however.

Higher Ground

After speaking to Isaac quite closely, I've chosen a song by Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground.

I feel that the funk/soul genre of the song is in keeping with the positive/upbeat tone that i hope to encapsulate in this piece.

The other options of songs that were options were :

Israel - Everywhere That I Go

Emmanuel JR - Cant Take Me

I've also asked Isaac to think of 5 key phrases/sentences that capture his belief system/moral and religion, in which i will fade down the sound quite considerably.

With this, a mid shot of his face will appear, with the words appearing on the left hand side (here i will recapture the typography skills i learnt on the first assignment)

In conjunction with this I will colour grade his face, and the background, similarly to the Zoo's of Berlin video, switching colours.

Crystan

VIMEO

"Zoo's of Berlin"

Zoos of Berlin - Electrical Way from Pomp&Clout on Vimeo.

I'm particularly interested in the first 20 seconds, and the way in which the colour's switch to negatives, as well as overlaying several of different images...

If anybody knows of any tutorials that would help me achieve this, please let me know!

Crystan

Planning - Inspirations

"Cant Tell Me Nothing"

Colour

- Blue

- Grey

- Black (interchanging - highlighting and changing

contrast between

actress and Kanye)

General/Camera shots etc

- Mid overhead shots, not quite arial, and not eye level

either

Planning - Inspirations

"Welcome to Heartbreak"

Colour

- Overlays, stills and moving

images.

- Negatives, pixelated images

unfinished/gritty

- Disjointed, no real narrative/

point/outcome.

General/Camera shots etc

- Michael Jackson "Dont stop til you get enough"

Intertextual link

- Overlayering of images, time delay, to the beat.

- Stills used more than actual moving footage.

Planning - Inspirations

"Power"

I've been taking a look at the famous or infamous (view him as you like) Kanye West's videos.

Whatever you're opinion of his antics, the colour grading used in his videos are simply beautiful.

A few examples of the key video's i have taken a close look at are;

Power, Welcome to Heartbreak and Can't tell me Nothing.

Colour

- Sepia/Gold tones

- Gold highlights on the Angels wings. (particularly at 0:48 secs)

- Grey/Blue highlights on the clouds (thunder/lightening)

General/Camera shots etc

- Slow Motion (Angels)

- Fast/quick zooms (no real

camera movement

- Stills layered to created a static effect

(Camera panning in and out)

- Circular/oval framing on edges, adding

another dimension - changing overall shape

and mood of the video. Creating another

dimension.

Assignment Two - Isaac/Concepts/Ideas

Assignment one required students to create typography based final video pieces, using Adobe After Effects.

The second assignment is enables students to be alot more creative , in terms of shooting our own video footage, as well as software.

I've decided to create a Promotional video celebrating the work of a close friend of mine, and fellow Canterbury Christ Church student, Isaac.

Isaac is currently studying music production, but has recently secured a full scholarship with the university, due to his amazing drumming skills. As a devote Christian, Isaac is heavily involved with creating and performing Gospel music.

Welcome

I've opted to keep a blog, in order to demonstrate my whole planning, filming and editing process.


In the past i've found it the most effective way for myself to make sure that i stay on track , keeping my blog as up to date as possible means that I' m constantly thinking about what needs to happen next, in order for the whole process to be successful.



I'll be really grateful for any input, advice , direction or links for tutorials that you may feel would be beneficial.

Crystan.