Shooting Script

Props- Paper city ( consisting of juice cartons and smarties tubes)
           Paper Boat (Origami)
           Lego Person
           Lego Trees


Costume- Casual clothes for the singer i.e. ordinary clothes
                Similar clothes to the lego character to try and emphasize that it is the singers view as the lego character.


Locations- Belfast, Waterfront, River
                 Clares' house(for the lego city)
                 Fanum House (Opening Shot)


Lighting- The Waterfront at night will be lit up and the lego city should be lit up by a lamp.


Expressions of singer- Sad, upset, shocked at the idea of the city ruining nature and the environment.
                                    Turns to happy whilst the paper city falls down and the lego trees emerge.

-Dean

Storyboard

- Clare :)

More CD cover pictures

This picture is at the waterfront and i could probably photoshop a paper boat into it so that it seems like the paper boat is floating down the river. Apparently we are not allowed to use these pictures so when we go to film at the waterfront ill try to get one like it.

We are also supposed to be filming tomorrow so Gerdy if you read this be in!


-Dean

Cd Cover

We have started looking at how to make our CD cover and also what is going to be on it. I've got a template for the design but we still have to decide on what is going on each part of the cover. Its a six panel digipack so we have 5 panels to fill and one panel for the actual CD.


Some examples of what could be in the Cover below:

The idea of the river flowing through a city. To fit with the idea of the destruction of nature.

-Dean

Update!

We're planning to get more filming done next week and the week after. Currently trying to seek lots of cardboard to make our paper city but overall things looking on track! :)

-Clare

Stop Motion- Its Magic!

This video is unbelievable, the idea of the video is great and the song is also amazing!




-Dean

Impossible!!!!!!!!!

This video is ridiculous and to quote my group member Dean "WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!". We think there must have been some amazing type of effects used because there is no way this is possible without effects on ordinary stop motion.



-GERARD

The T-Shirt War!!!!

Another great stop motion video.



-GERARD

The Deborah Express

Deb is off today so we as a group thought we would give her something to smile about and ensure a speedy recovery (lol ;) ) so to restore our group to full potential. This was our first real effort at a paper boat and who better to dedicate it to than our fearless leader... Deb!!!!!!. Get well soon!!!

All the best from your loving group , -GERDY, - DEAN, AND OFCOURSE OUR WEE CLARE BEAR!!!

Inspired!!!!!

This guy is such a legend and this video shows that.



-GERDY

Best Stop Motion Ever!!!!!

I don't have a clue how long this take but its the best stop motion video i have seen and hopefully ours will be half as good.



-GERDY

Post -it sop motion.

This is the most famous stop motion video on youtube. It took the student over 6 months to make this video.



-GERDY

Clare & Deborah's Stop Motion Vids

Hello!


Clare and I experimented with stop motion during our free periods in school. It was so time consuming but we battled through it and created two videos! They're both just little testers on how to use stop motion but we're actually pretty proud :). The first follows the adventures of Jeremy the Bug, the co-ordinator of the Lights website so we thought it would be clever to make a video including him since we're using Lights music in our music video. Then it cuts to us just making a "Hello!" using the stop motion effect.






The second video follows Bernard and Sandy, two apples that our in love but then Sandy runs off with Cricky (The bottle) leaving Bernard heartbroken.




- Deborah & Clare

Paper City

Me and Gerard have been looking at how to build a paper city and the video below will be the closest we will probably get to creating a paper city. Some other videos show a lot more detailed paper cities but giving my previous attempt of the paper boat i doubt that will go well! So we will give it a go and see what happens.



-Dean

Stop motion tutorial and some examples!

Been looking at how to use stop motion and some examples of it being used in television.
It's quite a simple, but extremely time-consuming process and requires a lot of patience. The process involves taking pictures of an object, which in our case will be a paper boat, and moving the object very slightly each shot, these photos are then put together and speeded up to give the illusion that the object is moving.

Here's a simple tutorial on how to do a basic stop-motion animation (might want to turn the volume down though...)


I also looked at some examples of more advanced stop motion being used in television, film and just on YouTube.


This is just an amateur video from YouTube, it's very simple but is a good example of stop motion.


This is a television example of stop motion. The Magic Roundabout was created in the 60's and 70's, before CGI was created and shows a more advanced example of stop motion being used.


This is a trailer for 2005 film, Corpse Bride. It is a modern example of stop motion being used on a large medium. It gives the film a unique feel compared to modern animations using CGI.

-Clare :)

Time Lapse

We got the time lapse finished on Saturday there! I went to Fanum at around 2ish and recorded a scenic shot of Belfast from around 4 - 6, so got the day fading into darkness. Looks well! Now we just have to speed it up to fit into our music video, Dean and Gerard are currently working on uploading the shot and editing. Clare's researching how we're going to go about using the stop motion technique.

- Deborah

Audience Feedback

We just recorded a feedback session with Hannah, Michael, Cara, Catherine and Aisling; all people of our age group at whom our music video will be aimed at primarily.
Overall, we seemed to get good feedback and positive reviews of our idea and song, although they also provided us with useful critiques which may help us rethink a few ideas. 


-Clare :)

I completed the storyboard in school the other day, just thinking here though that it would be a good idea to have our video come full circle; so the beginning shot is the pan of Belfast and the end of the video should close with this shot too. Just to round it up nicely!


- Deborah

Shots being used.

Pan shot of Belfast with fade-in transition of over the shoulder shot of girl cutting/folding paper

Close-up shot of girl singing along to lyrics of the song

Cut to point-of-view shot of hands cutting paper out (making paper buildings) then continued point-of-view shot of hands which place completed paper building amongst a paper city (representing the skyline from the first shot)

High angle above paper city to give an overview

Cuts back to close-up shot of girl singing along to lyrics, camera zooms out to show her making a paper boat, girl is still singing along to lyrics

Mid-shot showing girl placing completed boat beside the paper city

Use of stop-motion, with a canted angle, to show boat travelling through buildings, this will create a jerky action - as the boat travels, the buildings it passes either fall or crumple down

Back to mid-shot of girl as she places Lego trees in the position where the buildings were.

Stop-motion used again as paper boat makes its way to an actual river and then is dropped in by a hand.

-Clare :)

Possible Ideas

We're currently looking into the idea of using a paper boat and using stop-motion to make it seem animated.
We have came up with a definite opening shot which will be a panoramic shot of Belfast and will be time-lapsed. Our idea for the rest of the video is to make a 'paper city' which will be knocked down as this paper boat makes it way to the river, as the buildings fall or crumple, they will be replaced by Lego trees. At the end of the video the boat will finally reach the river and sail away.

- Deborah, Dean, Clare :)

Failed attempt

I think we have decided to use the idea of a paper boat now in our video, so i tried to make one in class.
It is safe to say that it was rubbish! Still trying to come up with more ideas for the video and hopefully we can either get someone who is good at origami or my paper boat making skills will improve for our actual filming!

-Dean

New Ideas!!!!

We are currently creating new ideas as we all did not think the last ideas we created did not suit the Lights essence so we have decided to generate more "MAD" ideas.

-GERDY

Paper Boat scene

This will be similar to our idea of a paper boat sailing down a river throughout our music video.
This clip is from the film "It the Clown" and begins at 9.40.

-Dean

Related Artists...

After looking on Last.fm, Owl City seems to be an artist which has a similar style of music to our chosen artist Lights. 'Vanilla Twilight' seems to be a slower tempo song, which we may be able to draw some inspiration from for our music video.



Another recommendation from Last.fm, this is the side project of the artist behind Owl City. It's a nice wee acoustic song, with a really simple animated video which seems to fit in with the theme of the song.

-Clare :)

Update!

Gerdy and Deborah have both contributed different ideas for our music video and as a group we are all trying to combine and contribute more ideas to create a diverse video. We seem to all be in agreement on the idea of the main backdrop for the video being along a river, which ties in with the lyrics of the song. We're coming up with storyboards and trying to work out how to use the website-creating software, Dreamweaver, which means we'll hopefully have started creating our website for our product by the end of the week.

-Clare :)

Exploring similar artists

I've posted on the Lights forum under media (http://board.iamlights.com/index.php?/topic/7998-music-video-for-river-acoustic/) about what bands her avid listeners would tune into it's difficult to determine though because Lights' genre is normally electronic - synth pop however, we're using an acoustic version of her song River that was released on a one-off acoustic ep. So whilst most people are saying that bands like Owl City and Postal Service are what they would listen to, these bands sound nothing like this acoustic ep but rather, like her actual album which is all electronic.


The research I've carried out on Last Fm however, has allowed me to determine what artists people are listening too that have added River (Acoustic) to their libraries. It seems that The Maine and
The Ready Set are bands that others are listening to which are related to River.


Her album cover for the acoustic ep is completely basic possibly reflecting the simplicity of this ep compared to her other album which would require much more detail with all the different instruments etc.

- Deborah

Opening shot location

This is Fanum House on Great Victoria Street where we intend on using to create our opening shot. We would be shooting a panoramic shot from the top floor, which has an amazing view overlooking Belfast and the surrounding area, particularly at night, which is when we are planning to shoot the opening.


-Clare :)

Ideas for our video...

Posting this video as we discussed the possibility of using Lego and even stop-motion animation in our coursework, this is a good example of this and would definitely be very different to use.

-Clare :)

Interview!

For the rest of the group who want to know what she's all about here you go :) :



- Deborah

Lights

Some background information on our chosen artist:


Lights Valerie Poxleitner (born Valerie Anne Poxleitner; 11 April 1987), known professionally as Lights was born in Timmins, Ontario. She was raised by missionary parents and spent much of her childhood in various parts of the world, ranging from the Philippines to Jamaica. Lights indicated her primary influence as Björk, whom she has said she would like to work with someday. She also spoke glowingly of Phil Collins's songwriting and Abba's music, and particularly enjoys the European production-based music the such as The Knife.




"It was Lights' online profile that really solidified her fan base. Between the singer's MySpace page, her personal web site iamlights.com and her passion for web-based fantasy games like World of Warcraft, the artist's online identity is as evolved as your nerdiest teenage boy's and this is something she's very proud of."


- Deborah

The River By Lights- Lyrics

Out across cities I see buildings burn into piles,
And watch the world in wonder, as mountains turn into tiles,
And trees losing their leaves and their faces becoming tired
I wish I could discover something that doesn't expire;
Come and stumble me

Take me river, carry me far
Lead me river, like a mother
Take me over to some other unknown
Pull me in the undertow

Such are the things that make a kingdom rumble and shatter,
The same dynamic that another day would never matter,
It really just depends on who's giving and who's receiving,
And things that don't make sense are always a little deceiving;
Come and stumble me

Take me river, carry me far
Lead me river, like a mother
Take me over to some other unknown
Pull me in the undertow

Take me river, carry me far

Lead me river, like a mother

Take me over to some other unknown

Pull me in the undertow

I wanna go where you're going
A follower, following
Changing, but never changed
Claiming, but never claimed

Take me river, carry me far
Lead me river, like a mother
Take me over to some other unknown
Pull me in the undertow

Take me river, carry me far
Lead me river, like a mother
Take me over to some other unknown
Pull me in the undertow

-Dean

We are the Kings

In my opinion our group is the king of the groups. This is evident due to our wide variety of music tastes between me , deano, deb and clare. we are gonna rule!!!

Paramore Playing God

This is another Paramore Influence for me. I love this song and as there is currently no music video for it it could be another option for us for creating a music video.



- GERDY

Lights - River

This is my favorite song ever!!


I don't even know how to explain it, the lyrics are so true and the simple acoustic guitar in the background compliments it perfectly! It tells the story of how nature is being replaced by material beings and nobodies appreciating it anymore. Ahh it's amazing, please listen. :)



- Deborah

Bruno Mars The Other Side

This is another influence for us in creating our video. This song allows us to create a variety of ideas about how to set up the music video. the other side could imply the difference between life and death, wealth and poverty, fame and being ordinary.



- GERDY

Sia - Buttons

I adore this video! This clearly wouldn't cost much to make so we could definitely re-enact something along the same lines of this. This shows that the song doesn't necessarily have to match the video. We're thinking along the lines of the acoustic genre at the moment and I can't really see this video matching into the genre we're going to use but it's still unreal and should be shared so yeah!


- Deborah

The Frames Falling Slowly

All four of us agreed that this may be an option as a song for our music video.



- GERDY

The Strokes

Thought the first few opening shots were pretty good, with all the people rushing past and I like the noir effect. Not much happens in the video but there are still some good shots and locations.

-Clare :)

Kanye West - Heartless

The cartoon effect in this video totally makes it. I love the story it tells and just the whole look of it is class, I don't particularly like this genre of music but the video makes up for it.



- Deborah

Just The Way You Are!!!

This Bruno Mars song just the way you are is brilliant because of the effects the get just from some tape recorders strips. Its amazing.



-GERDY

Mountains!

This video is about the difference between the mountains and the sea. The mountains represent good shown by the colour white and the sea represents evil shown in black. This video states that everyone has both good and evil in them. I like the use of the bold colours white and black used in this. It a great video and a good song



- GERDY

God And Satan

This is a really weird video about wondering what happens when we die. The video is about not knowing whether or not we go to heaven or hell when we die. Its a strange video but presents the subject of religion really well.



- GERDY

Nothin on You!!

This is a class video because of its torn page effect. It gives the effect of a scrap book which i think is genious. B.O.B. is quality.



GERDY

Goodbye Mr A

This is a great idea for a video as it brings in the idea of superheroes and also uses a comic style of editing. The song is also very good! The song is by the Hoosiers and called "Goodbye Mr A."




-Dean

Nysnc are Legends!!!!

This video is brilliant as the band act as action figures, an influence for this video was small soldiers in 1998.



- GERDY

Thriller!!!

I cant believe it took this long to up the greatest music video of all time.



- GERDY

Youtube Account!!

Just Letting all of our followers know they can follow us on youtube. Our account name is DGDC12311. We look forward to your future comments on out videos.

- GERDY

I thought this was quite a good video, it has a 1980's style, made to look like something from an old Nintendo game even though it was made in the early 00's. Plus it has singing hotdogs.


I hate this song, but the video is pretty freaky and the special effects are good, despite the song.
-Clare

Coldplay Again

Strawberry Swing this time and it is another brilliant video, the song is not the best but the video makes up for it. The idea for this video is just unbelievable and the effects/making of this video must have taken such a long time. If our group could do anything like this it would be amazing





-Dean