Never Understand

Well tehn. Editing's progressing along nicely, and I think I'll have learned how to use Final Cut by the time it's due in.
So, what else to do? There aren't any lyrics for me to annotate, which is a bit less work but will probably cost me in the assessment. I've not really done any textual analysis of videos yet, so I've decided to follow the example of Jake and James and do it here. At the moment I'm just using the ones that obviously influenced my attempt.

1. Beastie Boys- Sabotage

Our decision to use silly costumes was a spur of the moment thing, but it's reminiscent of this, so I'm claiming it as an influence. In this case they provide comic effect by spoofing the conventions of 70s cop shows (huge tashes etc). Intertextual references!
Some of that crazy theory guy (Goodwin)'s stuff is reflected here. There's a "reference to voyeurism" in a brief shot of one of the cops using binoculars. While they're aren't shots of the band performing we do get close ups of them in their outfits, particular in their respective title card freeze frames ("starring Nathan Wind as Cochese" etc); presumably this satisfied the record company's wish to show the performers. The music definitely reflects the visuals, as it sounds like the kind of theme we'd associate with the kind of show they're spoofing. The lyrics don't correspond so much, although the line "I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate" is a reference to the 70s, which the video is supposedly set in... any takers? No?
Overall, I personally think this is a genius video that seems to have been designed to make people like me laugh, what with the cars going through cardboard boxes and people being tackled into swimming pools and rubbish.

2. Hüsker Dü- Could You Be The One

My use of blue and red acetate over the lighting may well have been subconsciously inspired by how they use it here, though I didn't go as far as that alternately blue and red thing pulled sideways over the camera. This kind of reminds we're watching through a camera (voyeurism!). Stylistically my video's more similar to this one ("live" performance being a convention of rock videos, cheers Goodwin). One thing it's got on mine is the camera that actually moves to track the performers (I didn't have anyone to move mine).
Anyway, here we get close ups of all band members playing and in Bob Mould's case singing- the guitar solo opens with a close up on the instrument, too. Is this a relationship between music and visuals? There doesn't appear to be any between lyrics and visuals, it's all performance. There's all sorts of crazy lighting and background stuff going on (80s!)

Think I'll leave it there for now, I am very, very hungry.

I've Been Tired

AAAAAAAYYYYYYYY. I got all my filming done on Saturday and Sunday, and I'm now importing it to Final Cut. This represents possibly the easiest filming experience I've had- I got more or less the shots I wanted without any reshoots or rescheduling.

DAY ONE: SATURDAY
All the "performance" bits were done here. I had some help from Dad in emptying the shed (cheers for that). Unfortunately he wasn't about when I cut down my acetate to go on the lighting... burned me fingers, that light was stupid hot.
When Tom CN arrived he hadn't got his guitar amp- not a major problem, as we won't need any diegetic sound, although it made it difficult for the drums to keep time. Oh well. We had the idea of wearing various silly hats etc, with each of us wearing different ones for each performance take. Well, I've always tried to be receptive to spontaneous on-set ideas (or I've always been opportunistic, whichever you prefer). The takes were generally fine, though we had to be quick when using the acetate on the lighting. Because the light was so hot, the seperate acetate sheets would be melted together by the end of the take. The fumes were pretty righteous, too.
We got everything we needed, and it was in a happy frame of mind that I left to go out on the razz.

DAY TWO: SUNDAY
I wasn't feeling too healthy when I woke up, but pressed on to get filming done around 11/12. These exterior scenes involved my brother and Josh Mower dancing and fighting in ridiculous outfits. At least two drivers hooted at us as we went to our location.
We actually got these scenes done quite quickly, leaving Tom and Josh free to, in their words, go down the pub. I finished off some POV shots (this included a long walk to that big house outside Thurston, which was NOT fun), then came home, only to be badgered by my dad into completing a B and Q application. Kehrazy days.

I still need to import footage from one of the tapes, but after that it's five weeks of editing. I think the big Tom/Josh punch up and the take where we all swapped instruments will have to stay on the gag reel, though.

Wierd at my school

It's finally done. The recording of me, my brother and Tom CN playing a little song we wrote called "Suffolkating" was last night after school, and now I have two takes (all done live, mind). One's slightly marred by a weak ending and some slap bass on my part that sounds very thumpy and distracting on the track, so I think I'll use the other one. I'd ideally have liked to make the drums a bit quieter than they came out, but I doubt I'll be able to edit just that part now.
To be honest, though, it's an achievement just to have got a version that I'm happy to use; and now I can say honestly that I've helped make an actual recorded song. I'd also like to say cheers to Tom Phillips for staying around for several hours to record it and not getting visibly annoyed at our impromptu Punjabi MC jams.

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Now then, I've booked cameras for the video for next Friday. All that remains before filming is agreeing with all the people in the video when we're doing everything, and sorting out something in the way of a coloured filter for the lighting. At the moment I'm seriously considering a blue shirt or my German folder.

Oh yeah, at the moment I think the band name on the video is going to be Iwazaru. Not only is it the name of a character from the completely insane videogame Killer7, it's also the Japanese for "Speak No Evil", which I think goes quite well with the song's instrumental nature. What does everyone else think?