Song Ideas before Prodigy

Okay so for me, I first really enjoyed the song drop by The Pharcyde. I really enjoyed how they made the whole video go backwards and at the start of the video you were confused because it looked like it was normal but it was backwards... strange eh? But I really like the idea of how this type of video was quite fun and laid back, like the artists and director had a good chemistry and were enjoying it and you can tell by the video. I also think its quite good how its a really good video but not very expensive as it is shot in location, I thought that the ideas in the video were really good how they got a really good effect from it being in backwards motion. They even put the lyrics backwards which was an awesome idea aswell!! So from this video it has given me a few ideas for our own video!! These are the lyrics of Drop by The Pharcyde:

[Bootie Brown:]

Let me freak the funk,
obsolete is the punk that talk more junk than Sanford sells
I jet propel at a rate that complice their mental state
as I invade their masquerade
they couldn't fade with a clipper blade
10 years in the trade is not enough, you can't cut it
I let you take a swing, and you bunted
for an easy out, I leave mc's with doubt
of exceeding, my name is Bottie Brown and I'm proceeding, leading,
they try to follow but they're shallow and hollow
I can see right through them like an empty 40 bottle, of O.E.
they have no key, or no clue
to the game at all, now they washed up
hung out to dry
standing looking stpud, wondering why
(why man?)
it was the fame, that they tried to get
now they walking around talkin about represent
and keep it real, but I got to appeal
cause they exisitng in a fantasy when holding the steel

[Slim Kid 3:]

rock a bye baby,
listen to my heart pumping to a fine ravine
of all things it's a vain of a shrine
all missions impossible are possible, cause I'm
heading for a new sector 365 days fron now, I'll
wipe the sweat from my brow
and each and every true will stick, or fall from the sky of my cloud nine
from homies all the way to chics, no matter how fine
cotrolling is a swollen way to wreck a proud mind
you hold it in your hands and watch a man start crying
tear after tear in the puppet man's hands
every time you take a stance you do the puppet man's dance
and the worlds at a stand-still
deep in broken mansville, trapped in the moat with an avil, still
killing yourself, and dogging ya health
you ain't amphibious, so grab a hold of yourself
[Bootie Brown:]

Let me freak the funk,
obsolete is the punk that talk more junk than Sanford sells
I jet propel at a rate that complice their mental state
as I invade their masquerade
they couldn't fade with a clipper blade
10 years in the trade is not enough, you can't cut it
I let you take a swing, and you bunted
for an easy out, I leave mc's with doubt
of exceeding, my name is Bottie Brown and I'm proceeding, leading,
they try to follow but they're shallow and hollow
I can see right through them like an empty 40 bottle, of O.E.
they have no key, or no clue
to the game at all, now they washed up
hung out to dry
standing looking stpud, wondering why
(why man?)
it was the fame, that they tried to get
now they walking around talkin about represent
and keep it real, but I got to appeal
cause they exisitng in a fantasy when holding the steel

[Slim Kid 3:]

rock a bye baby,
listen to my heart pumping to a fine ravine
of all things it's a vain of a shrine
all missions impossible are possible, cause I'm
heading for a new sector 365 days fron now, I'll
wipe the sweat from my brow
and each and every true will stick, or fall from the sky of my cloud nine
from homies all the way to chics, no matter how fine
cotrolling is a swollen way to wreck a proud mind
you hold it in your hands and watch a man start crying
tear after tear in the puppet man's hands
every time you take a stance you do the puppet man's dance
and the worlds at a stand-still
deep in broken mansville, trapped in the moat with an avil, still
killing yourself, and dogging ya health
you ain't amphibious, so grab a hold of yourself

[Knumbskull #1:]

shit is-shit is ill, my flow still will spill
toxic slick to shock you sick like electrocute
when I execute, acutely over the rythym
on those that pollute, extra dosages is what I gotta give em
got em mad and tremblin
cause I been up in my lad assemblin
misslies, to bomb the enemy
because they envy me, and the making of my mad currency
currently I think we're in a state of an emergency
cause niggas done sold their souls, and now their souls is hollow
and I think they can't follow
they can't swollow, the truth because it hurts
this is how I put it down, this is my earth, my turf
the worth of my birth is a billion, and you know what time it is
I'm going to make a million
[ Drop Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]
[Knumbskull #1:]

shit is-shit is ill, my flow still will spill
toxic slick to shock you sick like electrocute
when I execute, acutely over the rythym
on those that pollute, extra dosages is what I gotta give em
got em mad and tremblin
cause I been up in my lad assemblin
misslies, to bomb the enemy
because they envy me, and the making of my mad currency
currently I think we're in a state of an emergency
cause niggas done sold their souls, and now their souls is hollow
and I think they can't follow
they can't swollow, the truth because it hurts
this is how I put it down, this is my earth, my turf
the worth of my birth is a billion, and you know what time it is
I'm going to make a million

[ Drop Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Olivia

Massive Attack - Safe From Harm

As Danielle said we are looking at some different song options before finally deciding on The Prodigy, which will not only help us make sure we are using the right song but broaden our ideas with regards to shot types, mise-en-scene and in general, classic video conventions.

The video I’m looking at is Safe From Harm by Massive Attack, a narrative and performance based video, following Shara Nelson the featured singer getting up to her flat - a simple storyline, something that I feel naturally reflects the Trip-hop genre to which Massive Attack belong, with many of their videos following a simple idea but not without twists and turns which capture the audience’s attention.



Safe from harm
Uploaded by cyber_elwood. - Explore more music videos.


Lighting: Like Invaders Must Die, this video is set in black and white, but this time its use does not give an artistic feel, but reflects the grimy location of the block of flats and provides the sense unease that the song’s lyrics calls for. ‘Midnight ronkers, city slickers, gunmen and maniacs.’



The low lighting in all the scenes provides the expense and builds the enigma code of the song, for example the shots in the lift, a flashing light is used to create shadows which are later used to conceal a person outside her door again with the feeling of unease at the forefront of this choice of lighting, whilst reinstating the run down location with a broken light.

Camerawork: At the beginning, the introduction to the main character is provided in a shot which switches from a point of view shot to a mid shot when a man is intimidating her, with the point of view shot instantly making the audience sympathise with her then developing into a scene showing what she puts up with where she lives.

The camerawork is smooth yet is in the style of handheld, with the shot occasionally tilting and changing height.

We get close ups of all the characters, something Goodwin said was a part of the 6 key elements to a music video as it completes the demands of the record label getting the band’s image into the public eye.

There is a shot of a dead bird on the ground at the very beginning, instantly creating a negative image, something the audience is likely to be thinking about whilst watching the rest of the video.




A fish eye lens is used to show the man in the lift, accentuating his odd behaviour, possibly suggesting a link to drugs or madness in this instance due to its claustrophobic location of the lift.




Randomly, a person is shown standing behind a door, this disturbing imagine is meant to give the idea of our character isn’t safe there and that all is not as it should be.




Mise-en-Scene: A close up of a cigarette end is shown along with graffiti and broken glass to enhance the run down nature of the block.

Shara Nelson is dressed in a coat and bag, typical of her character, with others (of which some band members) are wearing glasses, carrying bags and smoking all items of an everyday nature.

Whilst these elements are all interesting we wouldn’t just be able to copy this original video therefore below I am putting the lyrics along with a few ideas of how we would make the video our own.

“Safe From Harm"

[Shara Nelson]

Midnight ronkers
City slickers
Gunmen and maniacs
All will feature on the freakshow (something we found very effective in our thriller was using a TV, using a jumping image, here we could recreate this to enhance this idea of a 'freakshow')
And I can't do nothing 'bout that, no
But if you hurt what's mine
I'll sure as hell retaliate

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight

[3d]

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me
To see me lookin' back at you (Arguably the best line in the song, it's one of those you have to think about for a second, therefore I think should be highlighted in some way, we could put up the lyrics on the screen, or maybe have an extreme close up of the words being sung)

[Shara Nelson]

Lucky dippers
Crazy chancers
Seems to be moving fast (the classic fastened up shot, perhaps filmed in town)
What happened to the nicities
Of my childhood days (childhood pictures)
Well I can't do nothing 'bout that, no
But if you hurt what's mine
I'll sure as hell retaliate

[3d]

I was lookin' back to see if you were
I was lookin I was
I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin' back at me
To see me lookin' back at you

[Shara Nelson]

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight (something that isn't made clear or even highlighted in MA's original video is whether the baby is literal, but I’m pretty sure it is and she is protecting her baby as they're naturally venerable, therefore we could include a child or baby in the video.. even though they do say never work with children or animals!)

You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight

[3d]

Tell us what it is dangerous
Friends and enemies I find it's contagious
And they're spreading through your system like a virus (could get some great imagery, water going down a drain, get some fake blood, or simply recreate a cough medicine advert!)
Yes the trouble in the end it makes you anxious

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin back at me
To see me lookin back at you

I was lookin' back to see if you were lookin back at me
To see me lookin back at you

[Shara Nelson]

But if you hurt what's mine
I'll sure as hell retaliate
You can free the world you can free my mind
Just as long as my baby's safe from harm tonight [x2]


Websites used:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/massiveattack/safefromharm.html
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9wp0z_massive-attack-safe-from-harm_music





Ali

original ideas for songs before actually choosing our actual one

Justice vs. Simian - We Are Your Friends
Uploaded by rooroo. - Explore more music videos.

when we were thinking about what songs we were going to pick, one of my first choices was this song as it one of my favs. but the song was rather uninspiring and i couldnt get any ideas of what we could do for it, as in what narratives we could use etc. and i also didnt want to end up hating it. i think going fo a more upbeat dance song was always going to be a winner for me as i always wanted to use my matre Vickee and play a part in the choreography, which is great fun. 'we are your friends' definately inspired the final song choice.

Roish

Influences

The Automatic - Monster
Uploaded by fabio-du-35. -

Brain fried tonight through misuse
Through misuse, through misuse
You can't avoid static abuse
Abuse, abuse

Without these pills you're let loose
You're let loose, you're let loose
Stand up, get out, no excuse
No excuse, no excuse

What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
What's that coming over the hill?

Confused, mind bruised, it seeps out
It seeps out, it seeps out
Face down, home town looks so grey
Looks so grey, looks so grey

Convexed you bend, twist and shout
Twist and shout, and shout
Stand up, brush off, get moving
Get moving, get moving

What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
(x4)

Face down, home town, face down, home town
Face down, home town, it looks so grey
(x4)

What's that coming over the hill
Is it a monster? Is it a monster?
(x4)

this song influenced the Comic book theme that were thinking of going for. the video is cheesy but reminds me of watching superman and other comic cartoons when i was younge, the over actin (rather badly) is what we want the antagonist to try and achieve as it will make the ending of the video more entertaining, we kind of want the audience to feel a bit sorry for her and her lack of power. i really like the fact that the video looks quite low budget aswell, as ours will be in the same kinf of concept, as were obviously skint students.

Roish

Other songs..

Before we definately decide on Invaders must die, we felt it neccesary to explore other ideas and song choices in the eventuality of situations changing.

A song which I found during our pre production, which I particularly liked was Technologic by Daft Punk. It is an upbeat song which we are hoping to use and is an against-the-norm, diverse song which so much creativity can come from!

This is the music video produced for the song








We had an idea of building a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals through showing a picture of every object mentioned in the song for example:



Lyrics: buy it, use it, break it, fix it
Therefore you would have images of something being bought, something being used etc This style mirrors The Beastie Boy music video, Sure shot directed by Spike Jonze who uses this technique. We could also include some intertextual references and cut on beat would be key.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5GXj1jwb1U&feature=related


However, doing this for the whole movie would be very hard going and may become a bit tedious on the audience. Also the rapid beat could make it difficult to fit every shot in and may be confusing for the audience!

Danni

Letter to Cooking Vinyl

Copy of the letter sent to Cooking Vinyl, the record label for The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die asking for permission of copyright:


To whom it may concern,

We are writing to ask for permission to use the song Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy for our A2 Media production coursework, in which we are making a music video. We are students at Thurston Community College and the use of the song will be for educational purposes only. As part of our coursework we update our progress on our blog and we will eventually be uploading the finished product on to there for you to view how we have used the song, if you wish to see it at http://roadmusicvideo.blogspot.com/

Yours faithfully,
Danielle Harrison, Alison Hourihan, Olivia Turner and Roisin McKenna-Crick

Now we must await the decision by the record company :) Fingers crossed!

Danni

test shots

We did some test shots to see how easy a contrazoom would be, and to check out how backward shots would look, Olive uploaded the video earlier. the test shots were mostly succesful so were now using some of the ideas in the actual video.

Roish

costume design ideas

These are some pictures of some ideas we have for our costume designs. we are thinking about using the logo from the prodigy album cover for the 'super hero' costume, and the ant logo for the villian.

Roish

Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy

Before attempting our music video it is important to look at other work, hence why we have looked at Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, Spike Jonze & Chris Cunningham but the original video is arguably most important during the planning stage.

These some elements that stood out:

Monochrome - the video is mainly in black and white creating a more artistic feel whilst giving the video an aged feel to it. Colour is used on the beach scenes, a split screen is used to keep the colour concentrated on just half of the shot, and this colour is brightly enhanced creating a stong contrast.

Quick editing pace - this is used throughout the video and fits in with Goodwin’s Six point of 'relationship between music and visuals,' as the shots speed up with the pace of the music. Jump cuts are also used to create a sense of unease for the audience, something that matches the gritty atmosphere in the music and video. This is definitely something we want to include, at the moment we believe we're going to include jump cuts at the beginning of the video when our protagonist is getting dressed, whilst making that link between music and visuals throughout the entire video

As discussed the highest point of the video coincides with the fastest pace in the music, this is between 2:45 and 2:55 where we get a series of faster cuts than previously, although we don’t intend to have the same images as the original video we do recognise this point as the time to have the climax of our video and for us this is when our fight scene between the two protagonists will occur.

Symbolism of the spiders – the image of the spider is used again and again in the narrative. We don’t want to totally disregard this part of the video but I don’t think we are going to be using it as much as they do in the official video, but we are intending to use it on the design for the t-shirts. The graphic matches of the spiders between shots make a change from continuity editing and therefore may be something we can discuss as a group.

Fun editing – the original video contains repeated images of the actor jumping, this is something we are keen to include in our video, as you can see in the videos in the test shots from previous posts we want to have reverse shots, slow motion and repeated images, we have practised this in the fight scene at editing stage and it came out successfully, we hope to upload this soon.

Camerawork – some shots are filmed using a hand held camera, this looks good for the official video but for us this can look too amateur, but for an effective contra-zoom it may be essential.

Close-ups of the warning signs and dead birds/fish are really successful in making a tense atmosphere for the audience, although we might not use warning signs we are going to use lots of close ups to break the monotony of two shots, along with wide shots, extreme close ups, establishing shots and high and low angles, all to give the video more range.

Ali

Costumes

We've decided to make our costumes with the help of Vicky so we can personalise our music video even more. We've done some rough outlines of what we hope it to look like, these will be uploaded by Roish soon. This picture shows us using the template that we hope to have on the t-shirts.

Ali

Pictures from test shots

Here are some pictures of from our test shot, as Olivia has explain below we used the dolly, pictured below, which proved too tricky, therefore we used the table instead.

Ali

Invaders Must Die

The invaders must die album was made in 2009, the track invaders must die has the most important lyric in the album. 'We are the prodigy'- this lyric just says it all about them as a band. The track itself makes a statement, it introduces the rest of the album to the rest of the 10 tracks. Invaders must die is not the most popular song on the album unlike take me to the hospital or omen but if we chose one of the hit singles then it would be harder to make it look better than the original music video.

Olivia

Jonathon Glazer case study :)

Jonathan Glazer started in advertising becoming renowned for his directing techniques. His most famous adverts were for Guinness and Stella Artois which both included traditional conventions which are evident throughout his work. Some reoccurring motifs of Glazer’s are; the use of monochrome throughout the shots, the use of male torsos, all of his shots are cinematic and all have high production values. For example in the “surfer” advert for Guinness males are shown surfing with no tops on, in monochrome and the advert is very cinematic, which if any shot is paused looks great. Glazer then moved on to directing music videos. Amongst his well known music videos are; Karma Police by Radiohead, Cosmo girl and Virtual insanity by Jamiroquai, with the latter winning him MTV director of the year in 1997. R.O.A.D productions really like the originality in all of his work and hope to add our own original creativity to our media production. Some of Glazers conventions we hope to use in our music video. One technique is slow motion. In an advert for VW, the whole advertisement is played in slow motion which adds emphasis on the images being shown which we hope to use in the fight scenes between the hero and the invader, to give the audience the full effect of the fighting. The majority of his work is concept based such as Virtual insanity and Karma Police, and we are hoping to follow this route of a concept based video for our production. In Karma Police, Glazer also uses the notion of looking throughout his film, with the audience gaining the perspective of a person in a car driving after someone. We are going to include point of view shits within our production to give that voyeuristic feel. This fits into the concept of a villain hiding from the hero, always feeling the need to watch over their shoulder.Im going to put the Guinness surfer advert onto this post so you can get a sense of Jonathon Glazer's style :)




Danni

Test shots

Okie doke, so we tried to see what a few shots were like. We liked the idea of backward shots, so we shot me walking bakwards on the table and jumping off backwards but when we put it in reverse it looks like I'm jumping onto the table and doing my weird dance. We also tried to do a few contra-zoom shots, we tried using the dolly but it was a bit useless so we pushed the camera along the table instead so the shots are not so jerky.

And this is what we got:

Olivia

Case Study - Spike Jonze

Adam Spiegel October 22, 1969

Spike Jonze started his career as a producer of 'Dirt magazine' alongside Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman. he then went on to co produce Jackass and Jackass the movie. he is well known for his skate videos and has made numerous music videos for artists such as the Beastie Boys and Jay Z.

Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet
Uploaded by scopitones. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

this music video for Bjork's 'Oh so quiet' is based on the music to visuals concept, where the video is choreographed around he music and the lyrics in the song. the video is very much in a musical/theatrical style and is mainly performance based. the ideao of our music video is that we take on the music to visuals concept as most of the camera movements and choreography are goinf to be heavily motivated by the beat of the song. the most inspiring parts of this Bjork video are based round Bjork as the main character. our video will be mainly dominated by the power of the females with minor dance parts (maybe) for some of the year 9 and 10 boys who 'trick' - (martial arts tricking) is the informal name of a relatively new underground alternative sport movement, combining martial arts, gymnastics, breakdancing and other activities to create an "aesthetic blend of flips, kicks, and twists." Tricking incorporates a variety of moves from different arts such as flips from gymnastics, 540 kick from Taekwondo, butterfly twist from Wushu and double leg from Capoeira. Tricking is recognizable by its flashy kicks, complex flips and twists, and its highly stylized movements which separate it from other arts. An individual who practices tricking is typically referred to as a "trickster" or "tricker". - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tricking.

(the reason for wanting to use some of the trickers in or video is to create more of a comical effect and for the antagonist to have a a group behind her, making her feel more powerful. the trickers may take on some of the 'martial arts' mover in the end fight scene that were planning on having but as yet we are still trying to arange with them)


Roish

Cover ideas for DVD case

Okay, so we are planning to do a prodigy song, so I have been looking up their CD covers to get inspiration for our DVD cover. I found that their covers seem to not be that extreme i.e. not filled with thousands of images, their imagery seems to be quite random but relates to their songs, for example warriors dance it has pictures of two weird alien things facing eachother and I guess they are ready to dance. The colours also seem to be quite vibrant, mainly black backgrounds but then with neon colours to make images stand out and also with the colours themselves. And they keep their font the same to make less confusion. These are only brief ideas at the moment but we are getting there :)












Olivia