Back from Christmas

Well back down to reality after a lovely 5 days off..wow.. now back to the grind stone. and I have am very excited to be getting back to work as over the next few weeks I will be creating Daniel and Lewis's music video that I have been talking about. I was kind of worried that it wouldn't get done before submissions but luckily we very kindly got an extra week so its all stations GO GO GO

CHRISTMAS

Well I am away off home tomorrow until Thursday the 27th so I wont be blogging or doing any work for the next 6 days, I am looking forward to a wee break, knowing me though I will be stressing and thinking about lots of new ideas. Anyways happy holidays!

Some tests for the introduction

Ok so I went a walk today with an idea for the introduction to Daniel and Lewis's music video. This is just a test but I think it works pretty well.

I went down to the tay bridge and stood in the middle of the walk way. I filmed the cars passing and played around with the settings from really abstract blur to high quaility.
When I got home I watched all the footage back and really liked the maximum blurred versions, I added some timing delays and some width delays so that the cars left slight trails like in night time, long exposure pictures. eg. ----->








The reason I wanted this idea as the introduction is that I thought the starting was atmospheric and thought this style would really work. Here is one of the tests that I have done along with the introduction music.

Gaelic Music video Finished!

Well that it all finished and ready to be sent away. I am so so happy with the results. I think it compliments and enhances the music while staying sympathetic the melody.

What I wanted to create

-I wanted to create a part abstract film about a lazy Sunday walk playing on the fact that the song is a modern take on a "walking" style song
-I wanted to have shots that provoked a nostalgic feeling to symbolize the past/happy memories
-I wanted to include movement to symbolize travel and loved ones that aren't close by
-I wanted to create a airy, silky piece of visuals that harmonized with the melody.
-As Gaelic is a small language, I had to make sure the visuals conveyed the essence of the song so that non-Gaelic viewers could understand the song.

I feel I have accomplished everything that I set out to achieve. I have learned so much in after effect and premier pro through trial and error and good tutorials.

So here it is...hope you enjoy it.. and lets hope that I win :D

Nostalgic test-take two

After an unsuccessful first try at making some film look nostalgic, I feel I have achieved the aim a lot better with this video. I simplified it down from the last test. Adding black and white, increasing the contrast and adding an ever so slight blur to it so it wasn't full hd quality. 

Creating an old nostalgic feeling

I want to have parts of the music video with a kind of nostalgic feeling, like a visual of what someone imagines when thinking of the past in their minds. I have been playing around with colour tones, noise and grain effects, scratches and dust effects and roughing the edges. Here is a test

I am not too happy with the result. It looks far too grainy and I am not very sure on the rough looking outline. Ahh well, back to the drawing board with this one..

Smoke test

I had already had smoke tests that had been shot during a drawing class in uni but I didn't really have anything to do with them, and they were a little bit boring on their own. So I thought it would be great to incorporate a windy, airy feel with some smoke. I played around with the effects in after effects and applied a cartoon effect which gave a really nice soft graphical edge to the video. I also added a tint of blue so the smoke could stand out better.

Cars distorted

This is another media test for the Gaelic music video. I wanted some parts of the video to be quite abstract and just simply to follow the similar characteristics of the song. This was some footage that I had take of cars just when I was walking home one night. I played around with the distort, warp, delay, and blur to create this piece and adjusted the speed so that it was flowing with the music. It works really well with the music and creates a feeling of slowing down time. 

Train media test

So I have been playing around with the train media test and I wanted to add a nice flow and soft textured look to one of them so here is the test. I have tried it with another track just to see how the atmosphere is affected. It was just a test but it will be going in the Gaelic music video (minus the soundtrack)

Train Footage

I was on the train the other day and thought it would be a good idea to take some moving footage of the landscape  I think it will work really well with the Rhythm of the Gaelic Song. Here the videos I took. Hopefully they will edit in nicely to the video to symbolize traveling to visit her family.

They have a nice soft feeling of time passing by, with calm colour tones.

Let there be light

These are some concept film take in a drawing class. I really love the blurred candle, I was blowing at it but not too much to blow it out and it created a lovely effect.

Gaelic Music Video

Ok So I'm going to start on the Gaelic Music Video Competition. Firstly, here is a link to the song to listen to. Its down at the bottom and entitled " Clann a’ Ghreusaiche". The whole song is in Gaelic but non-Gaelic speakers can enter too. I have a copy of the words in English and its about the island that she loves, Raasay and her family even though they are far away.

Here are the lyrics:


1. Take my greeting over the Sound
Over to the green island that I love

Near the misty mountainous island (Skye)
Dun Caan is under the clouds

2. The little island is so famous
Raasay is my love

Clachan, Oscaig, Manitoba
Fladda, Torran, up to Rona

3. Clan MacLeod will be there forever
The Shoemaker’s clan are my family

After the war you took the land
There was no one in the area left wanting

4. Sorley, spread you poetry
The Cullins and Hallaig

Calum, come up the road
From the castle up to Arnish

5. A big family, of high standing and renown
Three sisters, six brothers

We are spread throughout the country
But our blessings and our greetings go to the island

Its a beautiful, soft song with a sweet melody and silky voices. I want to have a similar effect in the video. For this video I plan to focus on Timing, Rhythm, Harmony that has been applied in constructing the song and apply these characteristics to my video.



Link to song: http://www.feisean.org/en/projects/project.php?ID=11