A Mindmap

I did a little mindmap for preparation for my essay. Here it is.

Scanned notes

Here are some notes I made on Marshall McLuhan's "Medium is Massage" .

All doable

I'm all for the all-singing-all-dancing-high-budget music video because they are usually quite good. Still they seem so advanced and high end that I guess I end up dismissing them as being "a long way off"-which they are-and thus aren't very inspirational.

When I see a video like the one below though it's a different story. You see the level of technical knowledge required for such a video (which is really the only barrier between the artist's creativity and the end product) is so relatively basic, that I can understand to a greater extent how the video was made. More importantly though it is also a great deal of encouragement to the amateur film maker as this shows the kind of high quality work that can be done with basic experience. In many ways I prefer this simple approach to music promos as I feel it fulfills all the requirements of a promo whilst having that edge of not be too "tryhard".

Music; no, Art; yes,

The more my entrance to the real world of work looms the more I am reminded of the fact that

I'm going to have to kiss many a behind and do a great deal of dull work for clients I neither like nor respect. Then I considered videos such as those below...

The music for the videos below are a cancer. They are not music they are a marketing team disguised as a bunch of monotonous jingles. However when it comes to music promos, I do not feel guilty in saying that I adore every bit of the evil marketing team's method. You see this is one of those cases where I feel that one can separate a piece of work from its god awful initial purpose. Whilst there may be a team of culture-less apes responsible for the video's germination, at the end of the day there will always be room for a smoking hot production team to nurture and caress a music promo into a work of art in it's own right. In a slightly bizarre way, if I were to direct a video like those below, I'd imagine I'd get a kick just from the knowledge that I'd subverted the pop industry a fraction by actually making some form of creative effort.

A good experiment

The Holy Chicken of Life & Music from NOMINT on Vimeo.

I know I've bitched about experimental films before but this is an exception. Or maybe it isn't. You see my problem with experimental film is still just as present in this film as is it is in any other; it's meaning is so hidden/non existent that-to the viewer-the creative decisions behind its making are basically arbitrary and therefore unskilled. However this film is different in that it contains a great deal of objective appeal; it is good quality. The animation and art direction in it are top notch, the characters are well drawn and I especially like the sharp cut out vibe. This I feel provides good objective quality as a backbone for any experimentation in that that because the makers have hooked my interest with quality in other departments it means that I am ready to give the film's more testing aspects a look over.

DJ Derek

DJ Derek pt. 2 from Grand Finale on Vimeo.

Came across this today. It's major appeal is obvious; the subject matter is both interesting and heart warming. Everyone loves a friendly old man and everyone's intrigued by an anomaly. I think that this concept of a successful odd one out is present in many popular films like; Babe, Cool Runnings and Ali G in Da House. Also though I really like how it's shot, it doesn't feel like one's standard documentary style documentary that, let's face it, has no style. There has been some nice colour grading to make it feel warm and fitting with the subject matter and some nice cinematography that's a little more than just documentary style.

More Spoof News

I thought that this was just a move (well worth a watch) but it turns out there are legions of spoof clips online made by "The Onion". Onion news makes a business of spoofing everything in a American style and puts out regular you tube videos.

A Goal...

A friend of mine showed me this the other day. It's a cracking tune anyway but the video makes it really interesting. Right now I feel that directing a video like this-this kind of style, this level of technical skill, this kind of audio visual synergy-is a realistic enough goal to set myself to achieve in the not too distant future. Of course I can't say this with a great deal of conviction seeing as I'm only an After Effects novice but I nevertheless get the feeling that the techniques involved here are quite straight forward. With a fair bit of knowledge of how to use a high speed camera, careful masking and some solid Maya work a video like this doesn't seem too far off.

On Close Inspection

Stumbled across this the other day. Not really much to say about it really I just wanted to post it. You see I can't really put my finger on why I like it so much. It's probably because it appears to be bunch of familiar bits of vegetation that one still can't seem to make out in full.

Film Festival 2

I thought I would catch more of the festival while I still could so I quickly bought a ticket one afternoon to see a film entitled "R U There? This film sounded up my street from the word go as the story revolved around a professional gamer and questions surrounding the nature of reality. The story is simple and there are only really two prominent characters. The film consists of a world champion gamer travelling to Taipei to compete in a gaming championship. Whilst in his hotel he meets a local girl who despite their lack of language manages to make him take a break from his gaming. A lot of this break involves the two of them conversing in the online world Second Life-somthing I was all too familiar with just under a year ago. There a numerous blatent parallels with the film "Lost in Translation" and whilst I did quite enjoy watching R U There? it is still a rather cheap imitation. Never the less it was an entertaining view even if only to see a film cleverly incorporate machinima into a film and so on the ratings card I ended up giving it three out of five stars.

A Convenient Board

For some reason Heaven 17 appeared on the breakfast news on T.V this morning and my bleary eyes were bombarded with this video. It was all pretty cool but I'd say the shot at around 2.45 (pictured) might as well be a mood board for the idea that I've got in my head at this stage; loud and crude with simple compositing making for a slightly retro vibe.

Da Choon!

I've finally finalised the tune I'm using for my music video. I'm not a huge hip hop fan but for some reason I felt like doing a track with some rapping in it. When I heard this track, immediately I had quite a clear picture in my head of what this track's video should look like. There is just one snag, can't make out all the lyrics. I've emailed the artist and he said he'd send them to me but I'm still waiting so at the worst I'll be unable to have live action rapping for maybe a third of the lyrics. Not ideal but I feel it's a small price to pay for such a top tune.

Film Festival 1

The other day I went along to my first event at the Leeds film festival, to see a Norwegian film entitled "The Bothersome Man". I can safely say that I didn't know what to expect seeing as I'm not particularly familiar with Norwegian cinema and I've never been to a film festival before. Anyway I was eager to try something new and it wasn't as if I had much to loose (it only cost a fiver).

The film involved the story of a twenty to thirty something man who arrives in a Norwegian city with no recollection of how he got there. He manages to acquire a "respectable" life on paper whilst witnessing numerous surreal and uncanny goings on. Without giving too much away, soon he starts to stray from this normal life and goes against the grain to such an extent that the normal world spits him out, leaving him to search for another way of living. In short I feel this film, with its mixture of black humour and moderate surrealism is meant to be an attack in the supposed "desired life" and how we have become so obsessed with obtaining it we all too easily turn into unquestioning zombies who are numb to the question of whether or not they are actually living their lives. The protagonist in this film illustrates what society can often do to those who don't conform to this way of living.

The Bug

Whilst insects may have little intellect with which to be taught, there is one bug that looks like he is a mentor. I felt that the Praying Mantis looks as if he has lots to say yet abstains from saying it to his fellow creepy crawlies; waiting for their own desire to learn to motivate them and come forth to be taught. I think it's just his knowing face combined with a rather clumsy body that suggest to me his wisdom despite an odd appearance.

Good Simple Ideas

Here are some more of the kinds of video that I'm after. Some of them are all too familiar, some not. Either way they are all exceptional for the simple fact that they don't fanny about with anything other than one concept that can be explained concisely, done to perfection.

Dhalsim and Ghandi

Here are two rather similar characters that are slightly more familiar to many of us than Buddha. Both are skinny Indian and (usually) pacifists. Ghandi I feel is a little more inspirational to my character design as unlike Dhalsim he did have a great deal more power hidden within is scrawny body. Dhalsim does most definately kick ass and looks like he does aswell. Still, he does look quite mystic and intrigueing, a quality that I want my character to have.

The Buddha

I can't believe I didn't mention this person before. The Buddha is probably the epitome of the qualities I've outlined. The facial features on the original Indian Buddha are the kind of thing I think I'm after at the moment: calm and understated. The Chinese laughing Buddha on the right isn't nearly as modest yet his light hearted expression is still a sign of his inner peace due to supreme knowledge and wisdom and thus equally befitting of the character I've got in mind.

Avant Garde

I thought I'd write a quick review for a little something I went to the other day at the Hyde Park Picture house in Leeds.

It was Friday evening and my classmates and I, went on down to see the finals of an avant-garde film competition. I'm going to keep this short but certainly not sweet because although it was free, I can safely say that this was a massive waste of energy and boring as hell, I can't even remember the name of the event it was that insignificant. It all consisted of one incomprehensible film after another. They were basically cliched art films. Some involved nudity and feces, others involved crude filming of irrelevant material with badly composed shots and meaningless scripts. I say meaningless but hey, maybe I and my four mates are just simple minded inartistic Philistines who can't appreciate the finer aspects of life. But no seriously, I am still very much of the opinion that my friends and I are in fact normal human beings who are clever enough to know that cinema that is incomprehensible for the sake of it is not art but actually just a cheap and deceptive excuse for it. There were two o.k films but even those were nothing special and without blowing my own horn I can safely say that my friends and I can produce better work. Anyway at least we all learnt what kind of films not to make.

Beautifully Simple

We've just got our second brief for our film and visual effects module and this time we're making a music videos. We have to work on at least two videos as any role that takes our fancy. I'm going to direct and produce one video and then try and edit one or two.

I feel that the best videos are usually the simplest ones, ones that can be summed up in one sentence and this above video is a prime example. I mean all this video involves are bug! I wouldn't be surprised if this hadn't all been shot and edited within a day. Anyway, whilst I'm not sure what my video is going to look like, I certainly know that it is going to be based around one concise and stylish gimmick.

My Mentors

These are characters who are inspirational to me and thus I have pictures of them on my bedroom wall...

Starting from the top left going clockwise...

Jan and Rainy from the film Into the Wild are a hippy couple that the main character runs into on two separate occasions. They don't appear prominently as mentors during the film and it is definitely arguable that they are even mentors at all! For me they symbolize an enlightened way of living. They don't concern themselves with anything that isn't entirely necessary or beautiful all they need is each other, their van, their dog a little money from selling bric a brac for petrol and other supplies and most importantly the sky/trees/open road in general. They are some of the happiest people I have ever come across. Into the wild was based on a true story I have you know and whilst I'm certainly not sure that the real versions of these characters were akin to their film portrayals, I know for a fact that their is a thriving community of these sorts of people throughout California and the rest of the world. I.e there are lots of real life Jan and Raineys.

I first came across Norman Cook when I was about ten when I bought his album "you've come a long long way baby". To this day he still is one of my favourite artists and on top of all that he has a chactacter I can't help but look up to. As well as being a throughly successful yet modest d.j, he has a unique form lovable, child irrevence that is rarely found within anyone who commands any form of respect.

Finally we come to my favourite character of the lot. I certainly by no means watch the O.C any more but Sandy Cohen the philanthropic, surfer lawer originally from the streets of the bronx still holds a special place in my heart-and on my wall. Sandy Cohen is just ethical and not a poncy preachy way either. He always knows what to do and is always right yet perfectly accepting that he could be wrong. Everybody loves him for it whilst he stopps it from going to his head and carries on stopping everyone around him from loosing theirs. He's also a real man on a level deeper than the overly confident, macho apha male type. No surprise that his wife's smoking hot then!