Thursday 17 October 2013

Drawing inspiration from Artist's website

The first website I drew my inspiration from was Suie Paparude's website. The fact that they used their symbol in such big way on the first page and incorporated it really inspired me as I believe that this way they represent truly their artist identity and there is more chance that it will stick on people's mind. Also I like the clarity of the website which means that the fans don't need to spend hours searching for the needed information. Suie Paparude are also smart in connecting fans to their music through soundcloud so while they are browsing through the site, people can listen to some of their tracks.



Other website I liked was Jamie Callum's. It is modern and simplistic. It follows minimalistic and sleek approach and concentrates on artist's talent which is important as our artist is pretty underground and not commercial at all. Callum also has a gallery page where his fans can follow his everyday life and him on tours. This is a fantastic and a personal way to connect with fans.



The last website which is really worth mentioning is unconventional and very original artist's Tauba Auerbach's. Her website is artistic but I think that this factor is very crucial and worth noting as many of our target audiences are artists, painters themselves therefore they will really respond and appreciate this type of a webpage.




Sunday 13 October 2013

Album Cover Art

Today during media class time, the group and I were discussing the possible album cover art for our artists. After looking for a website to get inspired, we found "facets.com" that contained beautifully structured shapes which could potentially go on the album cover. I especially liked the forest inspired one as it links well with our plot line. The image of a fox done by Justin Maller is equally impressive and something that we will try to achieve and recreate by using photoshop.





From Facets I moved on to Dubstep musician cover arts like Knife Party's "Road Valley", Skrillex's  "Bangarang"and Bassnectar's Heads Up".  I noticed that there are a lot of similarities between those three in tone, style and scheme. I also liked the presence of surrealism in them and such appearance is likely to stay in the viewer's mind.







Saturday 12 October 2013

Shoot Day 2


On Wednesday 7th of November we got to shoot our last location number 4, the boss's office. To complete those scenes we needed a big office, an office desk, an old computer, a hunting gun and couches. It also required Mr Fox ( Hendrick) to not only "trash" the office but also to mercilessly kill the boss ( Jason). So Bee, Gill and I got a lot of close-ups/reaction shots of the boss seeing Mr. Fox with the gun and then Hendrick shooting him. It was a long afternoon but at the end I think we got the right shots. Even though the desk was so big and unflippable, we still managed to compensate from it by shooting different objects on the desk like the symbolic apple and the glass with "whiskey".


Account of the first shoot day





Last Thursday we began shooting the music video for KOAN Sound’s “Trouble in the West”. We began setting up the equipment and moving around our props at 8:50.  As we realized later
 later that morning, some of the props we were planning on using were unavailable, for example the old TV and the fur for Mr. Fox was hard to get hold of. By 10 o’clock we were ready to shoot our Cave Rave scene with Brandon and Zander. For the first hour of shooting, the crew concentrated on getting the shots of D.J decks and the “Kid foxes” which was very successful. In my point of view, the deejaying looked very real as Gil taught them the basic technique which definitely helped. Then under the direction of our set designer Scott, we filmed the scenes under variety of lights and smokes making the location look like a real party scene. By 11.30 we brought in some extras, dancers to fill in the rave. We dressed them up in hipster, grunge looking clothes to give the audience a more stylized feel. This was effective as it targets our potential audience and projects the artist’s image better. By 1 p.m. our crew was done with the location number 1. It took us about an hour to set up location 2 as we had to bring in completely different props and make that space look homey and cozy as it was the “Foxes house” scene. This location was essentially meant to be filmed outside in the forest to give it a “wild, rural” effect but due to poor weather conditions it had to be changed.  As we found out later during an editing session, using green-screen is way easier than shooting outside so this decision was for the better. For the location number 2 we had to bring in new characters like Mr. Fox (Hendrick) and Mrs. Fox  (Arabella). Shooting our establishing shot on that location was extremely difficult due to the lack of big shooting space and so that needed to be changed from a full wide shot to mid-shots of the kid foxes, Arabella standing by the fridge and Hendrick reading his newspaper. At the end, it looked alright and made sense when cutting it in the editing suite. I especially liked the light coming from the fridge once Arabella opens it and her reaction shot to it being empty. This location took us some time as that time more main characters were involved and directing them and framing the shots was getting more complex. By 16:00 we were done completely with location 2 and were ready to move on to the table scene. The table scene was especially fun to film as we got to use the tracking technique for the camera to which I wasn’t introduced before and our props were also very “yummy”. The last shot we got of the “never-ending table”, the bosses head and Mr. Fox lighting up a cigar was particularly well-made as it truly captured the mischievous and dark atmosphere of the music video. That day we finished shooting by 18:30 p.m. and even though we were exhausted, the results are worth all this hard work!  


Friday 11 October 2013

Shooting Schedule


Trouble in the West – Shooting Schedule

Tuesday – Filming in the studio

8:50 - Unpacking and setting up the necessary equipment

10:00 – Shooting scenes: 18,19,20,21 (Location I)

11:30 – Looking for extras

11:50- 13:00 Shooting scenes: 15,16,17 (Location I)

13:00 -14:00 Lunch break

14:00 – Setting up location II, unpacking props

15:00-16:30 Shooting scenes: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (Location II)

16:30-17:00 Setting up the table and unpacking the food (Location III)

17:00-18:00 Shooting scenes: 22,23,24 (Location III)

18:00 Pack up the equipment


Wednesday- Filming the Office scenes (Cornhill)

15:00 – Unpacking and setting up the equipment

15:30 – Shooting scenes: 8,9,10,11 (Location IV)

17:00 - Pack up the equipment


 Thursday – Pick up shots (Guildford)

16:00- Setting up the equipment

16:30-18:00 Shooting scenes: 12,13,14 (Location V)

18:00 Pack up the equipment and leave