Particular Book: Rube Goldberg Machine

Using books as domino pieces.
the idea is to get as many books as possible and play around with them in a studio.



INTRO:







The opening scene would include having some b&w ambiguous image which would slowly transform into a layer of books on the floor. So we start with a blurry image of smoke and then just before the focus reaches the books the second part of the first verse ('I don't read from that particular book') comes up.



Then we start building our domino composition (using stop motion perhaps).


At the highest point of the song (3:48) the domino pieces start falling that way portraying the denial (I don't read from that particular book).
The structure includes the traditional "build something and then destroy it" leitmotiv.
The very last domino piece could be that special ' particular' book'





Once we build the domino line, we can then have a variety of interesting shots mainly from up above etc.

Making a music video (in an uber creative way)

As you all (hopefully) know, I am making a music video for Hardback Fiction in a month or so. Had a little bit of disaster two weeks ago when the band member that I am working with announced that :
1. He's not in the band anymore
2. The band wants to promote a different song

****Panic attack****

It's all good now: Dave (the previously mentioned band member) is going to help me out on set and beforehand.
At the moment we're waiting for the band to finish the final recording and then we will be able to get things rolling.
I changed my initial idea that was submitted before Christmas so I now have to all the paperwork, sketchbooks, storyboards etc all over again.
The good thing is, that me and Dave meet up almost every week and exchange ideas, findings, concept examples so I thought I'd put some of this important stuff here.
Here's the playlist that I keep on updating for the references and styles we're gonna use while making the music video:

The Playlist


The whole process is really organic but I find it hard to drop my initial ideas and switch to others.

Research Progress

Trying to get to the discussion part before the draft hand in.

The books that I've read reshaped my research concept a little bit or at least helped me to structure the document in a more coherent order. I'm working on different parts at the moment but it's now clear what is missing and what needs rethinking and rewriting.

INTRODUCTION

I'm going to start with an overview of the current state of the music world. Starting from afar with the definition of The Millennials, the new generation. Their characteristics, habits, needs, ambitions.

This will lead to the worldwide indie culture concentrating on music in the first place.

Then I'll incorporate MTV and explain what role it has today. Will mention that this medium is slowly dying and this will lead me to the background.



BACKGROUND

As I understand, background is all about what's going on at the moment.
I'll try to be as up-to-date as possible.
2011, what's going on RIGHT NOW? Here I'm going to introduce YouTube, why is it important to look into this platform and what power and impact it has.

DISCUSSION
Where is the best place for an artist to appear?
Music marketing, stealth marketing. Music in advertising.
Types of music promotion.
The latest trends, biggest acts.
The use of the newest technology in music advertising.

Discussion about the world going digital.



CONCLUSION

Still a long way to get here!

Primary research.

Struggling with this little bit. Can't decide which method to use etc. Is a survey appropriate?

Concept for the Client Project

After discussing my ideas with several different people, I've made some amends.
At the very beginning, my plan was to make two different products:

Music Documentary
Home sessions

But after actually trying to imagine how these two very different types of video are going to work, I realised they won't. So I did my research. The plan was to find if somebody had done a similar project before.
Deborah, my client project supervisor expressed her opinion about my strengths and skills and she thinks that my calling card is narrative.
Had a similar conversation with Jools, he mentioned atmosphere as the main feature that describes my work. This made me think about how I actually approach all my projects. Don't really know if it's a positive thing but I do a lot of things instinctively e.g. on shoot I tend to do a lot of spontaneous decisions which later turn out to be the best bits of my work.

But anyhow, this post is about my client project.
My chosen client is a gypsy jazz band Maniere Des Bohemiens.





The band is quite new,they've been playing for the last couple of years together. They're not signed to any label but as the violinist Rob mentioned, they're not aiming for a contract, there's not much money in this type of music in the industry. Instead, they prefer doing live cozy gigs that attract their certain audience.
My plan was to represent the band for the first time, to make a music documentary explaining where this band comes from, who are the band members, how they came together to play their music etc. Also, the whole concept of a gypsy jazz band means (in my opinion) that these people are constantly traveling from place to place, 'home is where the heart is'. This led me to the idea of 'Home sessions', a series of live performances taking place at different locations such like Hand & Heart pub, one of the member's actual house where they rehearse, theatre , outdoors, etc.
Having rethought my idea, now I want to mix the live performance with some content and narrative. The viewer would have two different experiences:

1.If you watch only one segment of the series, you get the flavor of the band and their music but your don't get the whole story behind it.
2.If you watch the whole thing, you then have a full understanding about this particular band.

I seek for narrowing the distance between the band and its audience. Knowing how the music you like was born, puts you on the whole new level of connecting with the band.
As I see the structure of one of the home sessions it would go like this:

1. Create a 20-30s opening sequence for the whole documentary and use it at the beginning of each separate home session.

2. A short interview. Three main keypoints:
The origin of the band.
The present of the band
The future of the band

3. Live performance

4. Closing interview (I'm after some authentic stories, e.g. from their childhood, when and how they were first influenced by music.






Some examples of such documentaries:

Mumford & Sons Gentlemen of the Road series:




trailer:





Adele Live in her own home:





Jonsi Go Quiet acoustic version of his new album filmed in his own home:





The bottom line of this, of course, is promotion and introducing the band to the viral YouTube and Vimeo world.

Life (coursework) saver

http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/



I find this tiny piece of software incredibly useful. You create your own 'black list' (mine includes facebook, youtube, pininterest and other procrastination friendly sites) and set up your own timer. After pressing START there's no way to access the bad sites until the timer stops.
My roomate calls me irresponsible and immature because I can't resist wasting time doing absolutely nothing online. The sad thing is she's right. So I installed selfcontrol and things are about to (hopefully) change around here.

Post-deadline update

Last week I handed in my simulated client project and startUP factory report. Gave myself a word not to lament about it anymore even though I know I could have done it better.
But just like one wise man said 'it's done and dusted' so it's time to move on to my next projects.

RESEARCH

What impact does the visual presence of music have on its promotion and marketing?

Submit your answers via dropbox.



There's a pile of books next to my bed, a red-labeled document file on my desktop and constant stress in my head. It's almost impossible to understand how important these 3000-4000 words are. Currently reading stuff about the types of music marketing that I am not going to investigate. Did you know that Michael Jackson owns (well, used to) the copyright of every single song The Beatles have ever written? I didn't. That's the kind of stuff I'm digging in now just to get the flavor of the industry and the way things work there.



EXHIBITION PACKAGE

What happens when after two years of quite intense academic life you realise that your portfolio is basically empty? In my case, a panic attack. But then I started thinking about what could I possibly get done in this tight schedule and now I've got a little plan for some shorts that would go on my portfolio.


LIVE CLIENT PROJECT

Had a meeting with my clients before their gig. We discussed possible ideas and locations for the documentary and Home Sessions. I'm really excited but have to work on my brief and proposal.

So far so good.

Thank You video final edit

72 hours till the deadline and luckily there isn't a lot to be stressed about.
The only bit that's left to do is the paperwork.


Here's the final edit of my thank you video.
I managed to shrink the thing to 1:20s. Will see what the first responses sound like tomorrow at the tutorial.

Thank You video production

After the numerous times of changing my idea and the initial script, I finally settled down and decided on my final Thank You video concept.

As I mentioned before, my video is like a demonstration of a part of the three piece scheme.

The Storyboard:







The location I chose (the conservatoire) was perfect! Apart from the light that kept on changing every three minutes.
My actress Natalia came to see me at 1pm that way we had 2 hours of rehearsing before the DOP came to shoot. I'd like to thank Tom Pykett again, he basically saved my project. Tom joined our course this year, came from Confetti Studios. I had only heard about the technical abilities people at that school have. Yesterday I had a chance to see it with my own eyes. I'd never worked with somebody that knows so much about film production before, was amazing. He understood my vision right away and made it work. Thank you Tom!!!








I looked at the footage on Premiere today, looks good! It's one minute long tracking shot, all I am going to do is colour grading and synchronising the sound because we recorded it on Tom's camera (my Rebel doesn't have a whole lot of audio options).










Still working on the paperwork, the plan is to get EVERYTHING done tomorrow!

This short video taught me that you just can't be a 'one man band' when it comes to shooting. I had a hard time finding help (everybody I knew were mega busy that wednesday). To be honest, that was the first time I directed something, now I feel I was a little bit too picky and fussy about some shots, but that happens when you stand aside and watch the whole thing instead of staring at the camera screen. You start seeing tiny flaws and want to fix them right away. It was fun and great experience no matter what.

Final Year

After the most incredible summer in Alaska - I'm back!

And now it's a full-time activity.
University greeted me with deadlines and confusion. It's been two weeks and I'm currently working on these things:

Simulated Client Project
StartUP Factory Business Plan
Research Project



SIMULATED CLIENT PROJECT

We've got to make a product for the Alumni Association. I chose to make a 30s 'Thank You' video that would be shown to people after they make a donation.
The shoot is next week, I'm now working on pre production which is not my piece of cake. Anyway, regardless to all the obstacles (the machine that I ordered two weeks ago is still not here), I have high expectations for this short video. The first project of the year. Scary.




StartUP FACTORY


When did I enrol on a business course? Reading all the marketing - related material makes me dread the real world even more. Not too long before we all sell our souls to the big mighty industry of advertising! Trying to find the right combination of practitioners and come up with the greatest business plan.


RESEARCH



After many many confused days I'm finally starting to understand what my research project is going to be about.
Been trying to find a connection between the visual and the sonic aspects of moving image for the last 2 years. So naturally it led to something like this:'

The visual aspect of music.Selling music using visuals (NOT selling something else using music visuals).








There's always room for improvement and I still need to turn that pile of research papers into one sophisticated question.


Wish me luck!