Today's filming

Today was a mix of stress and relief.

In the morning i was playing the mad hatter in christina's music video, but because of people being ill or transport or whatever, we didn't start filming till about 12 when everyone was a little fed up and cold. I hope the footage turned out well for their group though. I also played as an extra in Yas's video.

I got to Coleridge at 1:30 in the end where we managed to grab Liam as an extra performer to go with me and Rob. We also brought Sven for cinematography as the pieces i've seen him film are impressive. We started walking towards town and due to the weather everyone was losing their morale and the performance had to look convincing so we managed to find a staircase to a park where we filmed a couple of run-throughs in different costume and a close up on the singer (me). We then decided to go to the train station to do some filming there. I didn't get a chance to look at the footage but i hope it's good because it turned out to be a spectacular set with the sun setting as people came in and out of taxis. In the end only Tom turned up and had made the sign for the protest. As i said yesterday though this was not integral and due to time constraints we didn't end up filming the protest and just did lots of run-throughs in different set ups. One in particular which i though was good was a walking shot, front on of the singer wearing the same shirt as from the bank meeting lip synching the song.

Overall today went better than expected we are still minus a few cutaways but those can be filmed at long road on monday.

CHANGE OF BLOG

I recently decided to change my blog to make it look more appealing, now to me the header at the top looks poo-brown to me but i've been told that it's red so i'll have to take their word on it.

ENJOY!

Photos from Rob's group video

I wont actually get a chance to transfer the photos i took from the shoot onto anyone in Rob's group laptop so i'm just gonna put the photos up here.

I actually took more than 4 photos but my camera sometimes decides to randomly put things out of focus when the photos are transferred onto the computer just to piss me off

so these were the ones in focus.

Tomorrow!

Today we filmed the bank scene so tomorrow is the scenes filmed in town. In the morning i'll be helping Rob's group in their Alice and Wonderland style music video, playing the Mad Hatter. After doing so i'll be meeting Tom and Alex in Coleridge to get cameras and leave for town. Alex said he'd be making the sign for friday so hopefully that'll be brought for tomorrow. If Alex wasn't able to make the sign we'll simply have to do without the protestor. To be honest when watching our rough footage shot in long road, while it was shabby and you could see the camera sometimes, i found it amazing that different shots with lip synch could actually make a good music video. This has lead me to consider bringing in several changes of clothes for myself in which i can be wearing at different "pitches" in town (a pitch is where a busker plays). I was quite apprehensive towards this idea at the beginning as i was determined to have a storyline present but from watching other peoples rough footage i found that a storyline really isn't necessary at all. This doesn't mean the man with the sign's story is gone but it isn't integral to the quality of the video.

Hoping the shoot will go down well tomorrow and everything will be filmed so i can relax for the weekend :D

MANSION IN THE SKY TABS

Quite awhile ago when we started the project i decided to learn the chords for the song. This would give the final video more authenticity about it being a live performance.

Am G Am
Could you forget the awful things ive done
Am G Am
could you forget the awful things ive done
D Am
im sure i will become your favorite son
Am G Am
if you forgive the awful things ive done

Am G Am
sweet jesus could you take this pain away?
Am G Am
sweet jesus could you drag this shame away?
D Am
if the devil offers know that i will say.
Am G Am
"sweet jesus blood it washed my sins away."

Am G Am
so open up your big house in the sky
Am G Am
yes open up your big house in the sky.
D Am
but don't ask me what i've done cause i will lie.
Am G Am
just open up your big house in the sky,
Am G Am
open up your mansion in the sky.

Some f the lyrics i found don't actually sound clear in the song so the lyrics i wrote for tom previously still look good on camera, even if they aren't the correct lyrics.

Photos from todays footage

Today we filmed the bank scene for the second verse of the music video

These are the written lyrics i held up for Tom when he lip synched the final verse

These are other photos of us filming on set

I brought in two different shirts to wear to see which one went down best, in the end i decided to go for white shirt with a black tie and black jeans. I also had a choice of being scruffy or neat. In the end we decided looking neat was best. Here are the photos taken of different costume and whether it was scruffy or neat

NEAT BLUE SHIRT

SCRUFFY BLUE SHIRT

NEAT WHITE SHIRT (chosen)

SRUFFY WHITE SHIRT (worst choice)

Please excuse my lovely expression on the last photo, it was pretty early.

DIGIPACK (SINGLE VERSION)

This is what my digi-pack would look like if it were a single

Rough cut

L3 TEST FOOTAGE - MANSION IN THE SKY - MAX, ALEX & TOM B from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

Work done on Tuesday morning 9th Feb

Filmed rehearsals of Mansion in the sky

We started filming the rehearsals of mansion in the sky. We ran into a few problems. For one, when performing the song the performers (Myself and Rob) had difficulty getting the speed right. This required several takes to be shot and the last take still isn't perfect. In the afternoon we will be filming more test footage in and around the college.

Schedule

Monday: 10:50 - 12:20

creating digipak pictures using pictures taken from town
Tuesday: 10:50 - 12:20 full video run-through
01:05 - 04:10 find props, film practice, cutaways
Wednesday: Unavailable due to college activities
Thursday: 09:00 - 12:20 Film bank scene footage
Friday: 10:50 - 04:10 Editing and maybe more filming, depending on time

Deadlines for music video

2nd - 5th of Feb - Animatic week

This week we are going to be doing our animatics. This will be at least 30 - 40 seconds long and can be for any part of the song. Its purpose would be to give the band/manager an idea of what the video will look like. We will be trying to think of literally ever shot we could put in there so that it keeps up a pace and looks effective.

8th - 12th of Feb - Test footage week

This will involve making phone calls to get proper permission to film then once we have this we will drive over to all our locations and get as much footage as we can. We will experiment with different angles, static or moving and see how we will manage the suns position as this could very easily be a problem for us. We may then very roughly edit this together with the soundtrack and upload it to the blog.

15th - 19th of Feb

HALF TERM

22nd - 26th of Feb - Filming week

In this week we will be doing all our actual filming. We will take what we learn from our test footage and shoot everything. We will try to shoot more than what we've planned so that we can be sure we have enough footage.

1st - 5th of March - Rough cut week

This week will be focused on creating a rough cut. The deadline for this is friday the 5th. I am looking forward to this part as it is when we see all out work start to come together. Hopefully it will all go well and we won't have any problems with the amount of footage we get etc. We are tying to avoid this. Any time that we have free this week we will be spending on our digipaks as these are due in next week.

8th - 12th of March - Finished video week

Our final video has to be finished by the end of this week so we will be working hard to finish our edit. 11th of March is the deadline for our digipak.

15th - 19th of March - Evaluation week

In this week we will be doing a lot of evaluation tasks and looking back on our project.

Some rough storyboard set ups

Practicing with photography

We recently had two lessons based solely on photography, this was to increase our awareness for good angles and shots. Here are some of the shots we took.

These are some shots i took with my own camera while in town.

Feedback from pitches

Similar videos

A video that draws upon some ideas that we are using as well is the video for the Badly Drawn Boy video for the song all possibilities, it features heavily on busking which will feature a lot in our video

Badly Drawn Boy |MTV Music

Treatment for Mansion in the Sky

Set outside a bank, all camera shots are taken from inside or outside the bank. 2 Men dressed as hobos (or not haven’t decided quite yet). Sit facing the bank with a guitar each and begin to play to start the tune.

They have a sign saying “Jobless men keep going, we can’t take care of our own”. The song switches between shots at a steady slow rate at first, including some shots at night with them sitting on the sidewalk busking. Bank shot on first lyric “Could you forget the awful things i’ve done?”. A pedestrian (actor) will walk by the two performers stop then sit next to them.

This is clipped in with shots of singing at various busking spots. Throughout the song more and more pedestrians come and sit down with the two performers. The most start to come to sit down on the second verse “Sweet Jesus could you wash my sadness away?”

In the solo following the second verse people from inside the bank begin to walk outside and sit with the performers too. The group is quite large now, the solo clips in-between shots of the group sitting and the two performers writing the sign and tuning their guitar, there are also shots of them walking to the bank and shots of busking spots again.

Last verse is comprised of all shots previously mentioned clipping between one another with lip synch on all of them. When song finishes people are still sitting and the shot fades out.

Alternate take

Set outside a bank, scruffy looking man walks up to bank with a sign and holds it up/attaches to himself, the sign is saying “Jobless men keep going, we can’t take care of our own”. The two performers are seen down the road and a preparing to perform. As they start playing the song cues in, camera shots cut between the two performers and the man at several banks holding the same sign (performers will be at same location throughout song, just with different angles).

As the first verse starts the man is seen talking to various people as they walk into the bank, he is trying to get them to hold up the sign with him. (has a megaphone if possible if not then just shouting it doesn’t matter what he’s shouting as you wont hear it). Hopefully gets some people to hold up the sign as he shouts down the megaphone. Throughout the first verse shots clip between the man’s protest at different banks and the performers playing the song on the street.

All people who hold up the sign must be real people in order to get the dramatic effect right. no matter what happens the shots will look good as if people agree to hold up the sign there is a upbeat feel to the song if they refuse then there’ll be a sorrow feeling to the song. Either way will be fine.

As the second verse begins the man is seen sitting across a desk (he is well dressed) talking to a man sitting across from him in a suit (Banker). The man is looking very desperate and looks as though he’s begging, the banker is looking very solemn. On the last line of the verse the banker stamps a form or signs a form DENIED. During the whole verse shots are only clipped between the meeting and the performers, not the actual protest.

As the solo starts at the end of the second verse the man is seen wrecking the bankers desk (sweeping of papers, kicking over things). Security (anyone wearing a suit) drags the man away as he manically struggles. Shots clip the same as the second verse but once he is taken away he is seen making the sign. On the second half of the solo clip between making the sign, crying/breaking down and the performers playing the solo. The last verse opens with the banker sitting at his desk in a solemn/depressed state, he lip-synch’s the first two lines of the last verse. These two lines clip in between the banker the guitar playing (on the street) accompanying it. the last lines of the song switch between the performer lip-synching, the banker doing the same and the man outside the various banks protesting. Last shot is man Either being taken away from protesting or leaving by his own accord.

Actual Music Video

Here is the music video that is officially for "Mansion in the sky" by the brian jonestown massacre


It is rather uneventful and am looking forward to comparing it to our finished video

LYRICS

Could you forget the awful things I've done?
Could you forget the awful things I've done?
Well I'm sure I will become your favorite son.
If you forgive the awful things I've done.

Sweet Jesus could you wash my sadness away?
Sweet Jesus could you take this pain away?
If the devil offers know that i will say.
"Sweet Jesus blood it washed my sins away."

Make room in your masion in the sky
Open up your big house in the sky
But don't ask me what I've done cause I will lie.
Just make me in your masion in the sky
Make room in your masion in the sky

Music video

Here are some other music videos from the band Brian Jonestown Massacre

GOING TO HELL

WHEN

Moodboard