Hello there and welcome to my A2 media blog The brief for the A2 course is: to form a group of two/three and produce a music video as the main product along with two ancillary texts: a digipak cover for the music video and a magazine advert for the digipak. We will also need to do research for the band we choose to do along with music videos from the same genre. We also need to research the typical codes and conventions for a music video. Feel free to leave any feedback on any of my posts Thanks
Today my Dad and myself finished our SnorriCam which took us around 3 days to complete and alot of bolts + screws! We used this guideto make our SnorriCam and went to B&Q and other hardware shops to get the relevant materials for the final product. I have provided a sequence of photos of the building process along with the final product image. I have also embedded a short clip of some test footage I took as soon as we had finished it.
Firstly we started out with a large piece of plywood that was lying around the garage which was needed to make the SnorriCam
We then marked out relevant sized rectangles for the two plywood base plates and then cut them out with an electric saw
Next we had to mark the holes that are used for the cordage to go through
After that we had two clearly drawn out base plates for them to be drilled out
We then drilled out the holes that we had labelled
Here is one after the holes has been drilled out
We then had to drill out strips for the cordage to go through which was really fiddly!
Next we drew out this which can be used to alter the angle of the snorricam
When it was all labelled we drilled out the holes so the camera could vary angle
We had to do the same process for another for the shoulder part of the SnorriCam
We then had to saw out two wooden planks the same length for the camera to be attatched to
We then bolted all of the things we had made to far together (apart from the chest plates) and we had created this, the basic mechanics of the SnorriCam
Unfortunatley we didn't take anymore photos of the building process, we only have pictures of the finished product, sorry about that! It only contained bolting things together anyway!
Here are the two chest plates attatched together using the cordage and connected to the pivoting arms etc...
Here is a CU of the cordage which attatched the mechanism to the person wearing it
Here is the camera bolted to the end of the SnorriCam
Here is a CU of the pivoting mechanism in which you can change the angle of the camera. It also shows all the bolts that are used to attatched it to the chest plates.
Here is the final product worn by myself
Here is some very simple test footage of the SnorriCam my dad and myself just finished constructing. It was just to see if it worked so is only very basic such as walking up and down stairs, on flat ground and then spinning around to see how it shaped up! And it works like a treat!
For the performance side of our music video we require a band to be able to lip sync and mime for the song which will then be cross cut between the narrative clips.
I am good friends with the drummer of the band "Ice Cream for Activists" Dave Atkinson and I happened to be talking about making a music video in media. After talking about it during tutor time, Dave said he was fairly interested when I asked him if he wanted to have his band "Ice Cream for Activists" in our music video. He is a fan of Muse as well as some of the other members of his band so he knew they would love to do it too.
We are currently waiting for them to get some practising in and learn all the lyrics etc. Once they are happy to be filmed and have all the lyrics and instruments we will arrange a day so we can do some filming at first just a practice. We will then edit the footage and play it to the class for feedback. If everything is okay or needs some improving we could go back again and redo any shots from the audience feedback.
The reason for this being a weak music video is because of the lack of shot variation. The only shots of the artist are MS and CU which make the video seem very unprofessional and not very adventurous or interesting. The use of the sfx is very cheesy and looks poor. I did a deconstruction of this music video in more detail which can be seen here.
The music video for Yellow for me is weak due to it being one consistent shot and therefore very little shot variation or effects. It is a very dull location with overcast weather and there is no change to the location other than some colour effects that change throughout from dark at the start to lighter at the beginning. The slow motion effect makes the video very sludgey and dull which is why it does not work for me. However the lip syncing is a very strong part of the music video, the footage has been slowed down however the lip syncing works fine which means that the lip syncing was done at twice the speed.
I like this music video because of the use of roto-scoping in it which makes it very interesting and entertaining to watch. It is a hybrid music video which again attracted me to the video but the main factor is that I grew up with the music video and when I was younger Linkin Park was one of my favourite artists.
This music video attracted me due to similar reasons to the Linkin Park video but also because at the time it was released I was alot younger and having things exploding all the time attracted me to the video. Another hybrid music video which works perfectly and adds animation to it aswell.
This music video interested me because of the wide range of effects which had been used in the video. It is only a performance music video and not a hybrid but with the extensive effects and with the location/stage moving all the time it keeps the audience interested and it works well.
The reason I like this music video is because of the comedic side to it and by the fact that frontman of the band Dave Grohl plays numerous characters within the video rather convincingly! The Foo Fighters are known for making ludicrous music videos which is a large selling point for them. You may notice that the members of Tenacious D appear in this music video at the start and end.
This music video is my favourite due to the comedy storyline and the fantastic gestures from the two members of the band. Its very simple and low budget yet works so well. The demon is played by Dave Grohl which is strange as they all appear in my top two music videos. Ben Stiller also has a cameo in this music video walking past the recording booth!
With Bliss being around for over 10 years now it has influenced many fans worldwide who have made use of Youtube and editing software available at home to create their own "fan edits" of the Bliss music video. There are many instrumental covers of the song by people as well as full remakes of the video as well as full studio cover recordings which can all be seen below. These all show that there is definatley an audience out there that is still interested in the song even after 10 years and we hope to target that audience when creating our production of the song.
Here is the entire music video created frame by frame in cartoon form. Made by someone and uploaded to Youtube. The video currently has 2,801 views on Youtube.
There is anothe version of the music video created by another Youtuber using After Effects which has 11,772 views.
Someone else created an "8-bit" version of the song similar to a song from an old N64 game. This video has 48,843 views
There is also a full piano and vocal cover on Youtube with 173,118views
Here is a guitar cover of the song with 17,229 views
There is a full drum cover of the song with 12,678 views
And there is a whole band cover of the song by one of Muse's best known tribute bands named Muscle Museum (named after the Muse song) with 2,008 views
On Youtube there is a studio recording of the song by tribute band "Muse-ic" it has 1,093 views
As well as a live version of the song with 1,122 views
Earlier this year NME released two short videos highlighting the main events throughout Muse's career. Similar to the post I created a few days ago (which can be seen here) it goes through each year and tells the story all the way from their start to 2010.
For our coursework pitches we were given 2 mins to explain our idea for a certain music video we had chosen to our class mates. We could use the aid of the track along with any visuals such as a powerpoint or even create the whole pitch as a film file and use video clips and images combined into one easy to view film.
For this task I decided to create a film which could then just be played to the class, therefore I could fit the most information into those 2 mins and help persuade my class mates to work with me and my idea.
After our pitches had been played/presented we then stood at the front and accepted any questions from our class mates. This was ment to be recorded however the media technician had some issues with the camera and that part of my pitch ended up not being recorded at all. However I plan to show the pitch to some other media students and then film their reactions and questions afterwards.
After all of that we were then given a further 30 secs to summarise our pitches and give a decent reason as to why people should work with us.My pitch was successfuland has gone on to be chosen for our coursework idea. I am working with Sam Pollock and Will Spivey for the coursework and our group blog post can be seen here.
Muse have released five studio albums from various different genres and from that released several music videos on each of the albums since 1999. There first music video was from their debut album and was called Uno.Most of the music videos are a hybrid of two of Goodwin's types, usually a narrative with performance footage cross cut into the narrative for effect however concept + performance has been used on different occassions.
Showbiz - 1999Like I said before, Muse's first music video was for the song Uno which was off the album Showbiz. The song actually has two music videos, however after research there didn't seem to be a reason as to why.
The "strips/bands" above + below the "Muse" text
Influence from the Muse logo (see logo to right)
The first music video is very very basic and is a concept/performance music video. Basically the video contains footage of the band membersstood still in the frame whilst passers-by just walk off in the rush hour. The music video also has performance footage from the band soundchecking in for the performance aspect. The editing is very simple and could easily be repeated in our coursework. The "strips"on the bands logo can be clearly distinguished throughout the music video around each of the clip which again can be achieved by us. Overall the budget appears to be very low and could have been done in just one day of filming. The budget is low mainly because the band has only just started out so there is no following as of yet. Looking back on the music video in 2005 Bellamy and Howard were "embarrassed"
Here is the first music video for the song
Narrative side to the music video
The second music video for the song is still fairly low budgetted however it does have a narrative side to it along with the performance side.The narrative side to the music video is of a girl searching for the band performing (which is cross cut inbetween the narrative). On several occassions the girl appears to be at the correct door however opens it to find nothing or even a huge drop off which she luckily manages to stop herself from falling.
Origin Of Symmetry - 2001Muse's second studio album saw a release of new music videos and also an increase in the budgets due to their success fromShowbiz. From this they could go to further lengths with the music videos and achieve a greater result.
SFX in the music video
New Born from Origin of Symmetry clearly shows the increase in budget by the fact that right from the start there are sfx used, also they filmed the crowd on a screen and added them in seperatley after which is a long way from standing in a street with people walking past. In an interview Wolstenholme said "I think it was the first decent video that we did". The music video is a hybrid between a narrative and performance which is fairly typical for the genre.
An interesting fact about New Born!:When Muse played on the TV show "Live and Kicking" (ironic name!) the BBC producers asked Muse to mime the song. Instead they decided to swap Chris and Dom around to different instruments and Matt just proceeded to mess around. They have done this on countless occassions when asked to mime on TV shows and most notibly in 2009 when they all swapped instruments on an Italian show which can be seen here. They see the whole miming thing as a complete joke and pointless. They only use miming on music videos. I think some other artists today should do the same!
Thermal Imaging Camera effect
Absolution - 2003The music video for Stockholm Syndrome saw a different angle to the range of music videos from Muse. This video is a concept combined with performance and is very unique. The music video has been shot entirely with thermal imaging cameras to give a very distinct shot. The concept side of the music video is basically pouring/dripping water onto the band members face along with just messing around to give a very cool effect on the thermal cameras whilst the majority of the video is performance based and nothing much else. The budget has been raised again as they are using these special cameras.
Performance - lip syncing
There is another music video for this song which has been released for the US and is a performance/narrative hybrid music video. The basic narrative is the band are playing on an American chatshow and performing to the show audience. The video uses sfx and stuntmen when the chaos happens on the chatshow and there are a fair ammount of extras used within the video. The budget would probably be higher than the UK version of the song due to the sfx and the props they use within the video to destroy everything within the location.
Performance in front of a green screen
Black Holes and Revelations - 20062006 saw Muse releasing a music video which is almost entirely using sfx. Invincible is a hybrid between a narrative music video and performance footage. The performance side is cross cut between as usual. However the majority is filmed infront of a green screen and uses sfx to great effect. The narrative for the music video is based on the theme park ride "it's a small world" and it basically runs through the events of the history of the world such as Ancient Egypt, Rome and World War 2 then the end is some sort of madness between all the time periods. The performance footage is of the band riding on this theme park ride whilst playing their instruments within the boat.
Behind the Scenes type shot
The Resistance - 20092009 saw the return of a fairly basic music video however with a more recent touch to it. Like the old Muse music videos it seems fairly low budget and the location is fairly small too with not too much happening however there are the few sfx with the text. The music video is a hybrid between a concept and a performance video because of the band playing to the cameras etc. There are interesting shots where it shows some sort of "behind the scenes" shots which are very well framed and look good, which we could take inspiration from. The music video is for Undisclosed Desires.
Multi-layering
B-side videosThere are a few examples of B-side music videos. In your World is an example which is fairly simple apart from a few sfx which have been used in the editing software. The basic idea of the music video is a performance video which has footage from Hullabaloo (2001 live DVD) cross cut with studio recording. Multi-layering has been used in the video along with a few strange video effects were Bellamy's face goes sort of see-through which could be hard for us to replicate as I am not sure how it is done.
Camera on the headstock
Another example of a b-side video would be Dead Star. This was made back in 2002 and you can tell because of the very low budget feel to it. The video only cost £50 to make and was filmed on Sony Handycams, however filmed in Winston Churchill's house! The video was colour graded to give it a dark and grainy effect. There are a few nice examples of the camera on the headstock of the guitar which could be used by us in our coursework on the performance footage. The music video is performance based and features the band performing in a basement so it will not have taken long at all and with that budget it is perfectly achieveable by us. I think because of the fact it is a b-side they just wanted to rush the video and get it out there. The editing is very fast though so if we wanted to have similar results we would need tonnes of coverage!
Today we (Sam, Will and myself) created a new blog for our production group: Swillob Productions
This blog will contain any updates on the current idea, the group itself + any rough cuts of the music video. We aim to keep the audience updated on everything we are doing!
Feel free to follow the new company blog and leave any suggestions/comments on it!
Muse are a three piece band formed in 1994, in Teignmouth, Devon. Muse consist of Matt Bellamy, (guitar, piano, keyboard, keytar and lead vocalist) Chris Wolstenholme (bassist, backing vocals, keyboard and guitar) and Dom Howard (percussion, synth and human bones) and have kept the same line up since they began. Since 2006 Muse have been joined on stage by Morgan Nicholls to help play some rhythm guitar, bass, piano and extra vocals on some songs. Muse are known for putting on exhilarating live performances and have been named "best band in the world" and "best live band" on multiple occasions. They have released songs/albums from a wide range of different genres such as space rock, new prog, electronica, heavy metal, prog rock and classical to name a few however they are most commonly labelled as Alternative Rock. To date they have released five studio albums. Showbiz (1999), Origin of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes and Revelations (2006) and The Resistance (2009) And another album in the works rumoured to be released some time in spring/summer next year. Muse have also released three live albums, Hullabaloo (2002), Absolution Tour (2005) and H.A.A.R.P (2008).
Reading 1992 line-up
1992 -1992 is a key year for Muse. As it was the first time they all attended the Reading Festival together and saw bands such as Nirvanaperform a spectacular set and is said to be one of the best of their career.(Reading 1992 was very important to Nirvana as well, as it was their last UK concert due to Kurt Cobain's death) From the festival the three saw what they wanted to do for the rest of their lives and be like Nirvana on that stage at some point. From that they thought they would give it a go and atleast see what happened. They had all seen each other play around school and thought it wouldn't be a bad idea. They were in different bands over the years/months prior to this but found that something special sparked when they played together. This is where their journey began.
Muse - 1994
1994 -Saw the "proper" start of Muse in a small retirement village in Devon. It is also a key time as it was their first performance and at the time they were known as the "Rocket Baby Dolls" with a goth/glam image and they entered a local "battle of the bands" competition smashing all of their instruments in the process of the gig. Bellamy said "It was supposed to be a protest, a statement"..."so, when
we actually won, it was a real shock. A massive shock. After that, we
started taking ourselves seriously" After that they got rid of the current name and came up with Muse due to it "looking good on gig posters" and because someone suggested that the reason that a lot of bands were forming around Teignmouth was due to a muse hanging around the town.
£4,214 for four songs!
1995 - 1995 is a key event for a rather strange reason. It is because of a cassette recording of "This is a Muse demo" which contains four songs all composed and written by Matt. The demo was recorded in Chris' house and the songs were never released. However on the 23rd of May 2011 a recording of the tape was surfaced on Youtube and the demo was posted on ebay and later sold for £4,214 to a Muse collector...that's only £1,053 per song, what a bargin! The cover of the tape says "Geobell Music" It is thought that Geobell is short for George Bellamy, and that he helped record the demo. Matthew Bellamy either spelt his name wrong or 'Mat' was how he spelt his name at the time.
The Newton Abbot Demo (1997
1997 -An occurance similar to 1995 happened in 1997 with the release of the "Newton Abbot Demo" which was again written and composed by Bellamy and recorded in Newton Abbot Studios in 1996/7. This tape went through a similar process to the last however it was put on ebay in 2008 and Muse fans all donated money together to purchase the tape. Around £2,500 was raised and then digital copies were released and shared for free.
Muse (EP) - 1998
1998 -1998 saw the debut EP for Muse called...."Muse (EP)" 999 hand-numbered copies were made and it was released on 11 May 1998 by Sawmills Studio label Dangerous Records. Three of the EP's four songs – "Overdue", "Cave" and "Escape" – were re-recorded for the band's full-length debut album Showbiz, while the song "Coma" turned into a B-side of the "Cave" Single. On the cover of the EP is a distorted and re-arranged image of the band's drummer, Dominic Howard.
Showbiz - Muse's debut album (1999)
1999 - 1999 marks the release of Muse's debut album Showbiz. Upon its release, many critics were quick to dismiss the album as "promising" yet derivative of other alternative rock bands of the 90s and many critics drawing comparisons to Radiohead, some even pointing out that this album is produced by John Leckie, who also worked on said band's The Bends album.
The album seems to have drawn something of a following since its release
however, as in 2009 the album was placed in the top 20 British albums
of the last 20 years by the UK edition of MSN. As well as this, several
songs from the album appear to have had lasting appeal among fans, such
as the title track, which was one of the band's most requested songs
during The Resistance Tour in 2010, when the band staged a fan vote for songs to be played during that tour's stadium leg.The song was not played; however, Unintended and Cave were played
several times throughout the tour, with Sunburn being introduced during
later performances of the tour.Sourced from Wikipedia
Album No. 2 - 2001
2001 -Marks the release of Muse's second album Origin of Symmetry. "Origin" features Muse's best known song Plug in Baby. Plug in Baby has won countless awards but most recently the "riff of the decade" and is named by fans as one of the main highlights of their live sets.
Origin of Symmetry came first about through the changes Muse underwent during their intensive touring in promotion of Showbiz, with a lot of material written whilst touring.However, this album is more riff orientated and slightly darker than Showbiz, containing several songs which use piano or organ. Origin of Symmetry was intended as a more progressive rock-styled album,with different vocal styles than that of Showbiz.
The ambition behind the album was to show the harder rock and eccentric
elements of the band, that they felt had not been seen so far.This included bringing back a lot of music "filtered out" from Showbiz.The bass in the album is also more prominent and distorted. Some of the
songs of the album draw influence from the band members' relationships
suffering from the effects of them being on tour.Sourced from Musewiki.
The 10 year anniversay of Origin of Symmetry occured this year and for the celebration of the album the band decided to play the entire album from start to finish at this years Reading and Leeds Festivals. Something they had never done before, for this they had to rehearse some songs they hadn't played since around 2001 however some of the songs such as Plug in Baby and New Born had stayed on the set list since the release.
2003 -2003 marks the release of Muse's third album Absolution.
Absolution is Muse's third album and was released worldwide during September 2003, with the first single, "Stockholm Syndrome", being released on the 14th July 2003. The album was recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios in Ireland and AIR Studios on London during 2003.The songs featured on Absolution were written whilst Muse toured in support of Origin of Symmetry and Hullabaloo, with some songs such as " Fury" originating as early as early 2000. Rich Costey began producing Absolution after a the tracks " Blackout" and " Butterflies & Hurricanes" were recorded with Paul Reeve, who co-produced Showbiz and John Cornfield, who engineered Showbiz and Orgin of Symmetry.Like the previous Muse album, Orgin of Symmetry, Absolution is influenced by classical composers such as Sergei Rachmaninov and Samuel Barber, whilst "Endlessly" introduces a more electronic sound with songs such as " The Small Print" and " Thoughts of a Dying Atheist" being guitar-led.
Absolution (3rd album) - 2003
The songs " Fury"and " Soldier's Poem" were originally intended to appear on Absolution. Whilst Matt wanted to keep "Fury" on the album, it was dropped in favour of " The Small Print" as per Dom and Chris's preference,and it became the Japanese bonus track and B-side to "Sing for Absolution".
Matt suggested in 2008 that this was because the band did not like
"Fury" as much after playing it live before the album's release. "Soldier's Poem" was ultimately reworked for the follow-up to Absolution, Black Holes and Revelations
Sourced from Musewiki.
Matt at the end of "Blackout"
2004 -2004 marks a key mile stone in Muse's career as it was the first time the band headlined Glastonbury Festival.At the time Muse were fairly unknown and it was a big risk by festival organiser Michael Eavishowever he believed they could pull it off. For beingunknown at the time they were an instant sucess and Eavis said they were the perfect booking and it couldn't have gone any better. From Glastonbury Muse were on a spiral up and up to greatness and nothing was going to stop them...however after Stockholm Syndrome, the final song of the set at Glastonbury, Dom Howard's father collapsed to the floor from a heart attack and died on site. With Dom completley unaware on stage they continued and it wasn't until he walked off the stage until he recieved the sad news after the "best gig of our lives"..."Thank you Glastonbury... you've been f**king amazing, cheers, take care and good night" said Howard. Shortly after Howard considered quiting the band alltogether however he thought that his dad would want him to carry on with it and so he did.
Black Holes and Revelations is Muse's fourth studio album, released three years after previous album Absolution, in July 2006. The album is less classically orientated than Origin of Symmetry and Absolution,
while introducing new influences including jazz, soul and R&B. The
album contains elements of these genres. The varied influences on the
album can be traced to the intial demos and recording made in the
Château Miraval studioand the later recordings in New York City,where Matt DJed in a club and the band recorded the remaining songs in the Electric Lady Studios.Inspiration for the album was taken from a wide variety of other artists, from contemporary acts such as Lightning Bolt[6] and Rage Against The Machine, to composer Ennio Morriconeand jazz singer Nina Simone.
The album is dedicated to the memory of Helen Kirk.
Muse - Wembley (2007)
2007 -2007 marks a massive event for the band, the first time playing Wembley Stadium...twice! Yes 2007 was the year that Muse first played at the recently finished Wembley Stadium for the first time and also being the first band to actually play there (George Michael was the first act who played there on the 9th June, beating Muse to that title!). 90,000 tickets were sold in less than 45 minutes so they released a second date the day after because of its success, which then went on to do the same thing but in a little shy of an hour. Muse's live DVD H.A.A.R.P was filmed at Wembley over the two days and a CD was released to accompany it which was released in 2008. Muse's H.A.A.R.P appearance was named Wembley's "Greatest Ever Event" from 1923-2010 by fans beating the likes of Queen's appearence along with Michael Jackson's "Bad" tour and even the 1966 England world cup win. It is rumoured that a statue is being created of the band and will be showcased at Wembley Stadium for generations to come.
2009 - 2009 marks the release of Muse's most recent and fifth studio album, The Resistance.
The Resistance - 2009
Muse's fifth studio album, The Resistance, was released on September 14th
2009. Like previous Muse albums it draws from a wide range of genres
and influences, including glam rock, R&B, disco and classical. The Resistance sees the return of instrumentation previously used on Origin of Symmetry, including a church organ (Unnatural Selection) and llama toenails (United States of Eurasia). Matthew Bellamy
summarised the album as having "an emphasis on rhythm and contemporary
R&B at the start. Then it gets epic and strange, then it becomes
contemporary classical music."
The band won the Grammy for Best Rock Album with The Resistance in 2011.
Sourced from Musewiki.
A Seaside Rendezvous - 2009
2009 is know for another special event which took place in Teignmouth, Devon. For the celebration of their new album Muse returned to their hometown to play two shows with songs from their new album along with the classics. 20,00 fans turned up along with the locals to showcase two fantastic evenings. The shows created a massive buzz for the local community and is the latest big thing to happen there since The Beatles stayed in a hotel there over 40 years ago.
The Edge with Muse - 2010
2010 -2010 saw the return of Muse to the pyramid stage for the second time. Headlining Glastonbury for the second time and being joined by a very special guest...The Edge!!! best known as the guitarist of Irish rock band U2 (who had to cancel their appearence at the festival the same year due to Bono's injury). The Edge named Muse as "the power trio of our century" during an interview at the festival and thought they were the perfect band to headline the festival once again.
Gig in space - 20??
The future - Muse are currently in the process of recording a new album and rumours are that it is expected to be released on the 3rd of May 2012. No gigs have been arranged so far so we don't expect to hear much about them until May next year.
In January this year reports said that Muse are planning to play a gig in space and Bellamy said "I do think it will be possible in the future and I'm sure it will happen in my lifetime. We'd love to be part of that."
