Exhibition

The music producer will be displaying their work in a both so as to allow us to get a good sound and recreation of our individual work this exhibition is open to the public and perspectives employers to see what we have done this year. Date to be confirmed but early June.

Competitions

I have been looking around especially on the net at competitions a few have court my attention for instance; Exposure and Adobe Fosters Student Filmmaking at Cannes, uk student films, promax student film awards and mac video which is a very new program which i shall look into alot more after the hand in on the 14th april

i have been downloaded both the rules and entry forms but as of yet need to give it more thought.

Devil Made Woman Music Video

Images for cd and dvd covers

Client Project Evaluaion

Having now completed my client project, I am very pleased with both the music single and video. The project began midway through December with the recording of the band (before their tour in Europe which began just after the New Year) until the end of March.

To begin with I recorded my client Major Seventh over the Christmas period. This was a simple task, first recording a live session and then slowly putting together a clean multitracked version with the live session as a guide for both myself and the band members playing their solo instruments. The tracks were all finished within three days due to delays with organising the members to turn up for the studio sessions. However once in the studio the band took little time as the song was well rehearsed. After the Christmas and the band had left the studio I begun to clean the tracks with compression, equalisation and any other effects I saw fit to make the song crisp but not harsh. (With the band in Europe I have been relying on Huw Feather to play the part of my client, Huw has been overlooking all aspects of my project as discussed prior to the beginning of this project.)

Once I had finished cleaning all the tracks I mix them down to a stereo master, the master was then given additional compression sparingly as well as other effects to make it radio ready i.e. volume and effects to a pleasant and correct level. In mid February I emailed the band two copies of the song a direct copy of the studio recording and a second with additional extras that I had added to give a more rounded sound (for example the synth). The band chose the track with additional extras to my pleasure. This is the track you will hear on the single and video. However, also on the single I have added a mix of the song with additional effects on the vocals. The band have not yet heard the second version on the single but of course will allow them the chance to hear it before as a master copy before going to the press. The mastering took longer than I though this is down to the fact that the song has not much mid range I attempted to compress and EQ certain elements to bring the mid range up but with doing this interrupted the feel of the song and also the band played it this way so I must keep it as an accurate representation. The master was finished two weeks before the beginning of the shoot.

The music video, any production with limited or no funds is never going to be easy time to begin, however without the band in the country they had given me complete artistic control. But without the band appearing themselves in the video I need a band or group of musicians to learn and imitate the band on stage; they were wear balaclavas to hide their identity and give the impression that they were the real band.

I decided to make a music video to aid the single as well as showing that my interests lie both in audio/sound production and also film production, which I took upon many roles from producer and director through to location manager and editor.

After scouting many locations I fell on a decision to shot the band and nightclub scenes in Rescue Rooms Nottingham this was maybe not a wise choice due to the amount of extra’s I got on the night of the shoot but it was exactly the right location for the shot list and so worth the risk.

The second main location was a wonderful old home with many rooms with a gothic roof and lovely curved ceilings, which was perfect for the role of the devil.

It was a shame but the owner did not allow me to alter the room and without a budget I could not bring too many props to the scene, but I had planned to use a filter over the entire video either via using After Effects or Premier the issue were not as great.

I contracted an art student to work with me on the storyboard; we worked from the shot list and songs lyrics as no script was written. Doing this gave me a second opinion on the shots prior to the day of the shoot. I used a crew of four including myself on the shoot they are fellow practioners from the course and university; this gave me the freedom to just direct and not worry about lights or the camera.

The experience gave me a better understanding of exactly what to do as a leader on a film video etc; but working in a team allowed others to display opinions whether technical from the camera operator or artistic from the actors. (This is different from mixing the single which was done solely by myself with test groups at various intervals.)

Unfortunately I had a real problem with actors fortunately I knew the chances of being let down by people so I planned for several back ups just in case. I decided to try and use the website star now as well as putting up posters and notices around the university. The website was useful at first and it seemed many people were interested in the music video and when talking to some of the actors and actresses they seemed very willing and gave me confirmations that they would be in the video but the day before each one of them sent emails apologies for the fact that they could not make the day of the shoot all I must say with petty excuses and a couple without excuses at all.

The entire video was shot on one day due to mainly to cost and time restraints of equipment booking. This unfortunately meant a 25 hour day for the crew; whom I am very grateful to but I believe from the outcome it was worth getting it all done in the one day as I could then just worry about the edit and dvd authoring. As I have done a fair amount of work experience on television adverts and films the hours were close to industry standard.

The edit was done by myself over the Easter period which is a role I do not enjoy as much as either music production or directing but I wanted to show that I can still use skills I had learnt from the first two years of the degree.

I shoot and edit the video purposefully in both 16.9 for the band and 4.3 for the narrative; this was to firstly identify a clear comparison to seeing the band onstage instead of the narrative, and secondly the fact that it seems to me that in the media world you really need to push the boundaries and do something different; to create an element of your own, as everything has been done before, so was interesting to try and make work. The music video has also a purposeful red filter over it as it ties in with the devil; I though of using this effect due to seeing Riddle Scott’s gladiator and kingdom of heaven, both have coloured filters which look impressive and give each film an identity.

The DVD includes the music video as well as the single without any images. The menu has been custom built for this DVD using Photoshop and encore.

The cd and dvd covers were both an extra element I wanted to add to round off the project. I contracted a graphic designer to aid me with the front page art and logos on the cases. Unfortunately the band will not see the product until late September when they return from Europe but I feel confident they will be pleased with the work and the outcome as much as I am.