Stop Motion - 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWL0FtpOjOI&feature=youtu.be

Behind the Scenes: Harry Potter

On Thursday (15th) we visited Harry Potter World in Watford and saw how certain aspects of the films were made and the real sets and props used in the films. We also had a behind the scenes lesson in which we learnt how delicate each and every prop can be, the different shots used in the films and their effects on the audience as well as how Hagrid was made to look 7ft 10 tall.

We also learnt some trade secrets such as the non existant ceiling in the grande hall, green screen used to film the flying cars and broomsticks, 4 different types of snow used at different places and sets, the art department and how they create the masks for each and every individual creature, the paper sets made so the camera positions can be marked on before filming starts and of course, the FAKE Hogwarts which uses a green screen to make all the landscaping shots.  

Feedback (Very Rough Cut) from Director Terry Hall

Today we Skype'd Terry Hall, a music video director who gave us some feedback and ideas to change on our music video rough cut and general ideas. Here is the feedback that he gave us:

• We want to keep a fluid style and tone in our music video so instead of having moving shots, we should use still frames so we do not contrast drastically from the amount of stop motion in our work.
• We need to ensure we include a lot of lip syncing so we keep a relationship between the artist and the artist
• Steps: have multiple mollie's moving and they layer them (The White Stripes- Hardest Button to Button, below)
• Random little shots that add to the theme (eg. just her turning in stop motion)
• When editing, take some frames out every now and then to make it more choppy
• try a new technique to reveal out initial keyboard shot (like a pan) 
• have our actor perform at half the speed and then speed that up to give it a weird jerky effect
• https://www.youtube.com/user/PESfilm/videos - the link to a directors channel that Terry suggested we should look at  
• http://vimeo.com/46287665 - sharp movement (zoom) within a moving shot

First Very Rough Cut

First cut of some stop motion

Tester Shots - Tea Cups

We began to start producing some tester shots for key stop motion frames for our music video. I experimented with tea cups taken from a birds eye view. This experimenting developed some issues we would need to fix for our real thing: mess, framing the shot (I am in it) and how we were going to add milk and capture it dispersing. 

Below, Priya investigated our Barbie shots (below) from multiple angles and heights as the body parts move and separate from the torso. The blood in my opinion was a step too far as I thought it didn't match the genre of the song. 

Pete Fraser at the BFI

On the 26th of November, we visited the BFI London, to take part in a media studies conference with OCR's chief examiner Pete Fraser. The conference was specified to A2 music videos (or promos), and how to get the best out of our product. The first half of the presentation explained a brief history of the music video dating back to the 1930s when they were called music 'promos' and consisted of film being scratched and coloured for advertisements; all the way through to the dawn of MTV in the 80s creating the first format on which to watch music videos from large bands of the time on TV. The music video also lead the way for female and black musicians such as Madonna and Michael Jackson. Jump to the late 1990s and big budgets in the millions were being spent on music videos such as Missy Elliot 'The Rain'. In 2005, the world saw the boom of online music video watching with the invention of YouTube which enabled anyone to watch but also upload their own covers of music videos individually.

Pete later showed us a 9 step plan on how to create the perfect music video, including winners and runner ups of past years competitions.

Lastly, we were given the opportunity to talk to a music video director names Jake, who was previously taught by Pete Fraser in his A Level year. Jake was also involved in the making of many music videos including 'Let Me Entertain You' by Robbie Williams, 'It's Raining Men' by Geri Halliwell' and 'Say You'll Be There' by The Spice Girls. 

 

http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk