Petrol Stations

A Photographers project documented, shot last year but re edited for launch of website.

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.

Artefacts Quick stuff

Artefact Four Evaluation

Again my test group has suffered to changes in time so not as many subjects could make the testing period. Due to the fact I had to sit in on the tests and contribute to get more data, this I was trying to avoid as the tracks are personal favourites and therefore I know them like the back of my hand; (biased results).

I moved the speakers of a 90º angle to the listener’s seats to give roughly the same effect as a pair of head phones. I thought that sitting between the speakers gave a better stereo field for instance when closing your eyes it was more like having the band playing around you instead of the sound source coming from the front.

The results and comparisons against the control are again pretty close however with some differences when I have finished all the artefacts I will take one subjects results for all the artefacts and see how close their results are, the averages are good to see a general pattern and so far I can say that the test unknowingly are giving different results to each test so they can perceive the different qualities when variables are changed. On my next artefact I will change the tracks played, I will specifically pick tracks that certain members of the test group like. I am hoping to get very different results this is due to emotional likes and dislike and how they play a huge part a person’s perception, if any of my panel are really not swayed in the marking I will be surprised (of course the trained eared members of the group might bring a very analytical view but) as my test group have very different tastes.

Evaluation Artefact 6

Well as we have been getting very close data it was decided to take each element and complete change them, so I brought the test group to my bedroom and allowed them to listen to the tracks alone to see if that changed their results. I changed the media source so mp3 instead of cd a different amplifier, the position in which they faced the speakers and the room shape and size was completely different from the other spaces tested in this I thought would give me larger margins within the resulting data.

But when looking at the comparisons against each average to that of the control again only very slight changes occur. I was expecting greater difference especially in this test as so many variables had been change; this leads me to believe that human perception is a very fickle thing (even If I were to recreate the control test I presume that I would not get the same averages but something very similar) likewise if I had played the tracks from a very low budget pair of computer speakers the difference would have been greater and more to what I was looking at however the amplitude of such speakers would not allow the clarity of the songs/tracks to come though.

In a conclusion to my question yes environmental factor can alter a person’s perception as the results were never completely the same as the control test. Further test work would give stronger conclusions. Using many more test subjects to get more accurate results would also greatly improve the reliability of data.

The addition of more artefacts may also be an aid to research question i.e. age ranges used, splitting the group into trained and untrained listeners etc.

The artefacts have given me clear views that tie in to my research for instance you can record a band in a bedroom but it will never sound as good as a band recorded in either a purpose built studio or a concert hall. But also made me realise why big time producer’s sound engineers etc get paid the amounts they do their contributions to any tracks they work on. I shall now re-read all artefact evaluations and put them into a more structured written essay with a much more rounded conclusion this shall be presented to my tutor after the Easter break.

23rd Feb

Written 23^rd Feb

From Working on my client project I have come to realise that every member of a film crew from the draughtsman to the runner is a crucial job. Having had planned my film shoot nearly completely unaided it is a son of a bitch. It is now Saturday and both my actors for the main roles have decided to fuck off at the last minute so now I need to find new ones by the time I come to shoot on Wednesday afternoon.

Okay done having a rant

Spp3

Clint Eastwood not just for his acting but his recent direction on letters from Iowa Jima, I have not yet seen the other flag of our fathers but I hear it as good. The story is very clear therefore it is easy to be absorbed by all the emotions of the scene and characters, the film has been edited into a kind of dulled or bleached monotone but still has its colours a technique much like what Riddle Scott uses.

I also like the fact that he has made two movies about exactly the same story but from two subjective points of view and unlike other war time movies he has not spared anything, it almost seems real the actual event the horrors of war.

RSP

So far so good now on my sixth artefact wooooooooo nearly at the end haha.

Artefact 5 Evaluation

Does Human Emotion alter a person’s perception? Well of course that is the only way in which we can define our opinions and likes and dislikes but I wanted to see if a panel who have been listening to music that they might not listen to, or like. By changing the music to people’s specific likes other may have an extreme dislike to some of the tracks.

I was hoping for a large change in results even with a majority of my panel consists of trained listeners.

The change was the largest I have seen so far through the artefacts; although some results were close to the results from the control test it was quiet obvious that peoples likes and dislike did alter perception even when asked to answer questions on specific elements of a track their emotions get in the way.

I also decided to put all the test subjects in the same test instead of splitting them up, this gave them the chance to chat between themselves and the results show there were some significantly samey results whether coping or the fact that they just agreed together about the specific attribute score. I will again be splitting the group up fo rhte sixth and final artefact.

The next artefact will be using the original music but I am going to completely change every thing from the room size, shape, speakers used, amplifier and also the medium that it is played from to see if I can get some extreme changes. I predict that if the test group can identify small changes when room or speaker placement is changed they will also be able to see the changes in the sixth artefact I hope the results reflect the amount of changes.

Client

This weekend i went to meet some other producer that i know socially and have given me a few pointers to improve the track.

The music video is now all ready to be shot on the 27th of this month Thunderbirds are GO!

Artefact 4

I have completed this and the evaluation will be posted as soon as i get back to my flat

Composer of famnous Scores

Right were to begin well we had Jaws A vilan with only two notes. composed by John Williams in 1975 but also did work on Et and Close Encounters again all impressive scores but nothing comes almost nearly as close as striking fear into someone.

Chariots of fire, the very beginning of electronica it brought the use of synthesisers to the fore front composed by Vangelis in 1981.

When you look at new composer for moves you might look at epics like Lord of the rings Howard Shore. has been their but funnly enough he also worked on Eastern Promise and a history of violence both films directed by David Cronnenberg whos work i have already looked at but when watching i did not pay as much notice to the music unlike the Lord of the Rings where the music carries you and brings a very large emotional link to it.

A man i regard very highly for his contribution to the films that he worked on with music on Bullitt with Steve Mcqueen and Dirty Harry with Clint Eastwood. both have a very jazzy feel but tie in perfectly being in San Francisco in the 1960's.
If you have a look at his lifes work the list for film music that he has done goes on Enter the Dragon all these films the music not only gives you the emotions from the movie but gives you a kinda feel of the characters in the movie, (their backgrounds). More recent Films have been the Rush Hour Scores which again capture the characters within the music, althought the characters are all quiet similar therefore the work he's involved have made him typecast.

Written 6^th Feb

I have finally got my actors which are a step up from having now actors and two locations are confirmed. Rescue rooms continue to be a thorn in my side. This will just require more communication.

Written 9^th Feb

Well just completed my third artefact things are going full steam the evaluation is below.

Unfortunately this artefact had a smaller test group due to over bookings of the test room. Looking at the data it would seem there are closer results to the control test,

In this test and that of the control the Naim amplifier was used, from this I can see that there is a difference between the two amplifiers even if quite subtle.

In comments added by the group pretty much ever test subject thinks the quality of the more expensive amplifier is higher, which was not the case last week. However some members of last week were not involved in this artefact as previously stated.

The use of a larger room made some of the tracks sound fuller as stated by one of the test subjects track three (Elgar’s Elegy for strings) the additional space allowed a better ambience and more reverb which created more effect upon each test subject.

I also included a quick test upon each subject listening to 20 seconds of track two on both systems and a clear comparison was made that the clarity of the Naim amplifier was much higher than that of the marantz. It had a much better response to the top and low end frequencies, which when looking back at my research is one of the main fundamentals a higher spec amplifier will bring.

The fact that the results do alter slightly to that of the control test shows that the perceived quality is changing.

For my next artefact I will be testing the Speaker placement (which will be slightly behind and also off to the side instead of directly behind, hopefully this may give a sense of listening to head phones) this will be a to see if the test subjects concentration changes when the sound source is maybe in a position that not many people would ever listen to. Another Artefact that is definitely needs to be tested Is human emotion, I hypothesis that tracks that people would hate and love will dramatically alter the results.

Written 11^th Feb

Unfortunately last week was quite hectic and I have not written about any other practioners however this week I will be looking into famous scores in movies for instance the jaws theme music etc.

Another Week

Written 29^th Jan

After Talking over current practioners that I aspire to my tutor wanted to no why I saw less skill or why people make hip hop or rap video’s in a different way than rock. By watching the following video’s as an example you will see that its more advertising based, money it would seem is not made by the emotions but by selling sex amongst other things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vXgpBVK24o&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9nsxKFqjFw&feature=related

RSP

Written 31^st Jan

Eval For Artefact 2

To begin with I got more test subjects this week manly trained subjects; which should bring a higher understanding of what’s going on in general, but also they way in which they answer the questionnaire altered. Some asked questions during the test about how they should answer the questionnaire whether they were marking the actual recording rather than just the audio they were hearing.

When looking at the results, there are not that many discrepancies. Although the clear comparison in cost and component quality between the amplifiers. However when asked, which amplifier people preferred the decision were very varied most people preferred the Marantz amplifier. When I listened to the two amplifiers the Marantz does have warmth to it as if someone had pressed the loudness button to boost both high and low frequencies. For the next artefact I will again be using the Naim as it has a clearer without any EQ. The next artefact will be altering the space with objects to break up the surfaces and sound waves this will lessen the rooms acoustic but may alter the sound to the listener’s ear it shall be interesting to see if any of my test subjects can hear a difference.