final cut feedback

After showing our final piece to the class, we received a lot of feedback. It was said that our piece challenged its genres conventions, by using a lot of imagery which set it apart from other bands. However, it also used many conventions typical of a soft rock piece, such as heavily performance based shots. These performance shots were said to be very well lip-synced, however the shots may have been a bit too dark.
Many believed that the cuts and editing was suitable for the music, however certain scenes may have been slightly too long. Many of the scenes with green-screening were a success, and were said to be a good change of pace, but there should have been more present.
Although initially we intended for a literal narrative, it was said to be a Amplified relationship between Music and visuals. it was said that the music video brought the idea of wallys self journey, in the sense of re-finding himself.However, it was claimed that wally as the singer was slightly confusing.
Our target audience was said to be split, between a younger audience who play rock band, and an older generation who remember wally.

Green Screen

From our first attempt at green screen we learnt that the it's better to stand further away from the wall to reduce the green glare on our clothes, so that parts of our body doesn't fade away from the image.

Blog Peer Assessment Feedback

After participating in this event, we received a lot of constructive criticism.
Overall, the general opinion was that our blog was at a level 2 standard. This is because our initial idea has not been developed, as well as a lack of location shots.
It was mentioned that our band research was well done, and that some ideas were well explained. However, it was written that more test footage should be shown.
Another point of criticism was that alot of out blog was feedback and/or lyrics, but this may have been because we forgot to include the archived sections.

New York Fund Mood Board

A selection of pictures we found on the bands myspace page. You can see that these pictures are actually quite representative of some shots we intend to use in our video, a lot like the band shots where they are mostly in the dark with the instruments being the focus. They also represent the bands alternate image. With the bottom right image looking quite like Wally just in black and white showing wallys image is not far from the bands at all. Also the top centre image is very similar to the shots where Wally feels quite alone, in the centre/different with others not noticing/looking at him.

The New York Fund - Nobodys home Lyrics

Lyrics

Well, I woke up on a Monday, with the morning streaming in
And I rolled over just like I always do
Cause when I sleep I keep forgetting you don’t live here no more
And when I wake I keep on thinking of you

So I’ve been walking down the street, talking to myself for company
For so long I’m getting ready to die
And the girl up in the store says you don’t come round here no more
And she aint seen you in quite some time

Quite some time, Quite some time

Oh baby where did you go
Well the lights went off and there’s nobody home
Where did you go
Hey baby we got so close

Oh darling where did you go
Hey the lights when off and there aint nobody home
Where did you go
Ah baby we got so close

Come on back now
(guitar solo)

I got my finger on the trigger, I got your number in a phone
I wanna call, I wanna say, baby wont you come on home
And when I hear those bells are ringing I hear my devils start to sing
He singing “You wont get to see me anymore”

So you can find me on the street, where I’ve been dragging my feet
Yeah, I’ve been dragging them around all night
And I’ve been back up to the store, that girl don’t work there no more
And she aint been working there for quite some time

Quite some time, Quite some time

Oh baby where did you go
Well the lights went off and there's nobody home
Where did you go
Aw, baby we got so close

Oh baby where did you go
Well the lights went off and there’s nobody home
Where did you go
Hey baby we got so close

Quite some time, Quite some time
Quite some time, Quite some time
Quite some time, Quite some time
Quite some time, Quite some time

Oh baby where did you go
Well the lights went off and there’s nobody home
Where did you go
Hey baby we got so close

Oh darling where did you go
Hey the lights when out and there aint nobody home
Where did you go
Ah baby we got so close, SO CLOSE NOW

(guitar solo)

HANDWRITTEN BY: Tony Lynam, James Wood, Waq, Ryan

Band Research Continued...

This is the New York Fund playing live at Let's All Catch Up. We think the band have a country/alternate, slightly off centre, kind of a feel to them. This image will go well with our idea for the video to feature Wally as the idea is also a bit out there/odd. We think, though they don't have any videos, if they did this would be the kind of thing they would choose to include; similar to the other videos we have looked at on our blog these country/alternate kind of bands often go for a different tact in their videos to make them stand out from the norm.

test footage....

We decided to do some test footage so that when it came to the actual shooting of our music video we would have a fair idea on what locations and things we need and which ones just weren't work, we got a few good shots but we also realized that some aerial shots might not work for us especially with our Wally idea, we decided to get a 360 turn shot of Ryan aka Wally on the grass outside of the D block and we really liked the way the shot was portrayed and shown and the fact that it went well with the acting of Ryan and showed a sad and lost Wally which is what we wanted to show, We also had an aerial shot at the start with a zoom and a long shot going to a medium shot all the way through to a close up of Ryan which was a good shot however we wanted to show Wally being adventurous and we tried showing that by using a rock climbing wall but the rocks were too small and after numerous attempts we were not satisfied with it so we decided to ditch the idea after doing all the test footage. We also did a few shots in the green screen room because as we initially said that we would be using green screening quite a bit for our music video, and we found it good to work with and got some good medium shots and close ups and by doing this test footage it has assured us of using green screening for our final music video piece, We also leared that we should try not to have a shadow in the back while we are using the green screen because when u get to put the your chosen background you want then it won't show up good as you perhaps wanted it to be.

Feedback on our Pitch

After the viewing of our animatic, we received plenty of useful feedback. Overall, the feedback was very positive, and raised some issues we may need to take into consideration.
The majority of viewers thought that the target audience was for older generations who grew up with wally (teens and up). One suggestion was to introduce other characters who were present in the wally universe which would add to the nostalgic feeling our music video will create. However, this may alienate a more casual audience, who know wally due to his iconic nature, but not the rest of the cast. By using wally, we could create a Random, yet memorable narrative which could suit the music in a quirky way.
Also, it was suggested to animate sections of our music video when we draw the backgrounds. This could bring these sections to life, and provide a more fluid piece.
We need to be mindful of our time, as green-screening may take up alot of time, which is a main concern.
Another suggestion was to merge cartoon with the band scenes. This would help to combine the band sections with the narrative. We will most likely attempt this, but also have plentiful band shots without green screening.

Costumes....and props....

We need to find a Wally costume and his glasses to make our video show as effectively as possible which will also increase and the whole video mostly depends on the fact of us getting an appropriate Wally or Wally look alike outfit, as well as the importance of the Wally costume, the costumes of our rock band are going to play a big part in the video also because they will be shown playing there instruments in intervals, and to show that its a professional music video done by a rock band we will have to get clothes and dress like a real life rock band to give viewers the real effectiveness.

Our possible thought of what exactly we need for Wally and the Rock band these might be changed when the official music video is made

Wally - We need a red and striped jumper. a wooly hat, jeans. and boots

Rock Band - jeans or dark trousers, casual shirts, casual trainers, possibly black hats

We will need a few props to make our video work - these will consist of Wally look alike glasses, instruments such as the some drums 2 guitars, holding bags, photo album book


All of the above are our initial thoughts of what we need to make our music video as professional as possible and this means that we might end up possibly changing them as we carry out the rest of the project and before we begin shooting for our actual music video

Weather Conditions......

The main idea of our video is Wally being depressed to help us to create a natural effect for a depressed scene and different angled shots we have decided that we would preferably prefer a wet and cloudy day which is quite damp, we want to make parts of our video in as real life as possible and he fact of the weather being bad in reality also helps us make our music video much more effective, however even if the weather isn't damp and cloudy it wouldn't make much of a difference because if we really need to create the effect then we could do that by editing and green screening parts the parts where we show Wally walking down a street feeling lonely and unwanted

Research on other music videos

We decided to put this video on our blog because it has similar concepts to our idea as in such that although there is a animated character in the video who is depressed and seems like hes become hopeless against life which is like our Wally idea and the fact that the location of the street in this video is similar to the idea of us making wally walk in the street all depressed and feeling down, also we prefer the weather to be cloudy and possibly damp when we shoot the scene of Wally walking down the street feeling depressed and this idea once again resembles with the idea in this video. We want the weather to look damp and cloudy as well as possibly wet so that the whole scene looks really depressed and the effect of the weather conditions will make our shots much more effective then if it was a nice and sunny hot day. We want our shots in the street to show more depression then stress and that why the cloudy and damp conditions can prove of being of high importance which we will have to hope to occur

new york fund

new york fund research

"Quote from Wikipedia"

The New York Fund started out life as an Indie outfit named Cherryfalls, forming in the early 'Noughties'. Lead singer, Joseph McAdam, originally from Glasgow, Scotland met guitarist Adrian Woodward at an acoustic gig in London and the two hit it off with their joint love of Teenage Fanclub proving to be a creative link between the two. Shortly after this initial meeting the two hooked up for a rehearsal, found drummer, Reuben, and finally bassist, James Anthony Austen Lewis and Cherryfalls was born. The band toured round small venues throughout London, noticeably ULU and attracted the attention of the major label Island Records at the Cross Keys in Chiswick where the managing director of Island Records spotted them, which led to them being signed.

Whilst signed with Island Records they released their debut single 'All My Sins' in May 2004 and wrote and recorded their debut album 'Winter/Winter', which, unfortunately never made it to the shops. However, although 'All My Sins' never made it on to the album, two further singles from that album; 'Standing Watching' and 'In Your Arms Again' were released in 2004. In 2005 a support slot alongside Feeder helped them to raise people's awareness of them and coincided with the release of their fourth single My Drug. However, despite their obviously increasing popularity, Island decided to only put out 500 copies of their LP for the whole of London. Sadly, after breaking in to the charts, Cherryfalls were dropped by Island. Drummer, Reuben left the band and Leo Sutherland was drafted in as the drummer in the newly named The New York Fund.

----

The new band led to a new sound, with the band taking advantage of the creative freedom that being unsigned had given them, Joe stating that

'It’s also really exciting to see yourself and your band and your music growing and changing. I guess that’s one of the big positives that came out of losing our ‘Big Major Deal’. It really gave us a lot of freedom to experiment, which I’m sure that we wouldn’t have had if we’d stayed with Island.'

Following a summer of heavy drinking and soul searching the band discovered the sound that they would stick with and hone over the next year. This sound was heavily influenced by country artists such as Ryan Adams and yet maintained the rockier edge that they had developed as Cherryfalls. Following another run of shows around the London venues, The New York Fund finally released their first, six track EP entitled 'The Guns EP' in February 2007. This EP was well received and led to them being championed by several radio DJs, most notably Dermot O'Leary on his show on BBC Radio 2, which has led to their track 'Nobody Home' being included on his 'Saturday Sessions' compilation.

The band follow the style of rockband in the way they play and do live performances

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K27d7Ut5bXo (cannot embed)

This music video starts off completely animated, but then transitions to the real world. This is another approach that we could have used, and can still incorporate in the end of our piece. This would help to show progression from the real world into a cartoon.




This music video, called Do Or Die by the super furry animals, uses the idea of fusing real life images and movment, with cartoon images and animations. This is an idea we are also thinking of using, by showing a real life wally interacting with cartoon environments and objects which we will draw ourselves. We hope to represent the false life wally leads due to his celebrity status, and in order to hide his lonely life.



This video has a similar idea to ours, by using pre-drawn backrounds (in this case from books) and green screening onto it. We want to do a similar idea, but draw the backgrounds ourselves in a more cartoon way.

Pitch Feedback....

After presenting our pitch we got a lot of feedback from our other class members and the teacher. Overall the feedback given was positive which gave us a good confidence boost for our group, this showed us that our ideas were clear and understanding and that they should be taken forward.

However at this stage it was hard to obtain detailed feedback because of the fact we haven't enhanced much on our initial ideas, especially because there was nothing of our own creation visually present, only pre-existing music videos that had a similar concept. Therefore our class members and teacher found it harder to give us in depth feedback and as a result we have decided to get feedback again once we have finished our animatic.

describing storyboards

A storyboard is a basic idea of our video which is broken down into different shots describing different angle an lighting contrasts.

The 1st shot will show Wally in his bedroom in his bed, just getting up.

The 2nd shot will consist of Wally getting dressed in front of a mirror.

The 3rd shot has Wally picking up his glasses and putting them on.

The 4th shot will have Wally exiting through his front gate with his house in the back drop. *We have decided we want to have Wally's house animated and we hope to accomplish this by using green screen*

The 5th Shot will consist of a close up of the back of the guitarist.

The 6th shot will consist of a medium shot of Wally getting into his car.

The 7th shot will consist of Wally being in his car and in his car he is looking at his photo album

The 8th shot will consist of a closeup on the photo album

The 9th shot will consist of the band being shown at different angles

The 10th shot will consist of of a zoom out of the photo album and moving the camera on to Wally recalling his happy memories

The 11th shot will consist of

The new innvoative idea.....

We are going to use some flashbacks which are going to be pencil drawings of wally in a book looking at his past, and we have decided that he will open the book when he wakes up as he feels depressed to cheer him up he goes into the city hoping it to be like the past where everyone was looking for him, and then goes on to he streets and the rest of the song is played in different locations as said in our location post, He finds his lost dog and that the book closing will be the end of the song.

locations....

We have decided that we are going to have a mix of locations including rural an urban places, as well as the beach which can go with the fact of wally being in a a big place and always being lost and never found. For the opening shit we have decided to use the travel lodge on the basis that it will be free and won't cost us much, we are planning on using Cambridge as our city grounds. and like going to a local village to do the rural shots.

We are probably going to make 3 different locations while we do the song 3 times to make it perfect, the first song will be done in a urban busy city place, the second song will be done inside a place and the final song will be done in a rural area like a village.


We have now decided that Wally's house will be a cartoon which we will need the green screening room to make this possible, and the green screen room will be one of our main locations in the video.

This video begins with shadowed views of the guitar. This is something we would like to attempt, with different angles of all the instruments. Our opening will have the added extra of revealing rock band instruments aswell.

After viewing this video, we would like to take away a sense of the use of cinematography. The scenes they used were very well shot, and we would like a similar style to our piece, with slightly more variation (for example, panning/walking with the camera).
Also, the on going theme of playing the guitar is something we would like to replicate with the use of rock band instruments.

Welcome to GROUP 21

Initial Plan.




The song we have chosen to do is Nobody's home, by The new york fund.
Upon hearing this song, our main idea was to have the main character acting out his life whilst holding and strumming on an acoustic guitar.
However, we have now decided to use rock band instrument to include new media technologies. We have decided to begin with subtle shots of the musicians expertly playing the instruments, but angling the camera in such a way that you cant see the instruments front. Then we will do a front shot, and it will be revealed that the instruments are from Rock band.
Our second underlying theme will be, that our main character will be Waldo/Wally. Through kids lives they have always searched for wally. Our music video will be placed after the fame that wally has come to know. Now, nobodies home, and nobodies looking for wally.