Oak ash and Thorn

I thought it may be appropriate to go over the thought behind the credit scene. While it is obvious that in the song "The spirit of Albion" by Damh the Bard the lyrics Oak, ash and Thorn are sung, this is only one part of the reason for having it as a central focus in the video. In a way I felt like the credit scene could be a homage to my own tastes and inspiration as it isn't directly linked with the style of my music video itself (As in the camera movement tells a more visual and abstract story).
 To make a very long point short, the main reason for the extra song added here By Peter Bellamy, is because I find it to be of strong inspiration to me.
The interesting thing is that not so long ago I found this music video by a Celtic rock band called Coyote Run,

I think that this video is actually really well done, in many ways it is very simple, but the execution and style is so top notch and crossed with a slight bit of humour so that the band doesn't appear over serious. They sing a cracking version and I just thought it deserved a little recognition! 

Planet Man Ill be there

I meant to upload this a week ago but only saved it as a draft. Anyway this song inspired me to do the special effect scenes, the ones focusing on the druids at Stone Henge. This song is quite a powerful one, but I like the way that it isn't too serious about itself which I feel is the effect of having a sun float around the main singer. It also visually shows how the singer feels, trying to show the song, a possible way to caterer for people with hearing difficulties, but to still enjoy the video/gain something from it.

Final upload update

Its taken a while to upload it to youtube for a second time, but here it is the all finished version.
Do feel free to make any comparisons and tell me what you think.

Thanks.

Evaluation

Here is my evaluation

Just click here the link and download to view in powerpoint!

Questionnaire

Hello, this is a short and simple questionnaire on my (music video (link)). The aim of this questionnaire is to understand what others liked about my music video (for instance if there was a scene that stood out over all the others), what parts of the video didn't run well and if the video made sense and was consistent.


What you liked:

Question 1, Did you like the intro scene before the music video started?

Question 2, Did you like the driving scenes?

Question 3, Did you like the special effects, such as the druid casting a spell at stone henge?

Question 4, Did you like the editing of scenes to the music? If yes, was their a scene you particularly favor?

Question 5, Would you watch the video again?

Question 6, Did you enjoy the video overall?

Question 7, Anything else you liked?





What you disliked:

Question 1, Was the music editing off in any place? If yes, please specify.

Question 2, Did you dislike certain scenes not having a transition ?

Question 3, Did the special effects on the druids at stone henge seem out of place?

Question 4, Did you dislike the length overall?

Question 5, Was there any scene you particularly disliked ?

Question 6, Did you not like the theme?

Question 7, Anything else you disliked?





Video consistency:

Question 1, Did the scenes match to the sound throughout? If not, say where please.

Question 2, Did the theme of the land of albion (magic, british isles, faires, love etc) represented?

Question 3, Were there any jumps in the video that seemed out of place? Please, be specific.

Question 4, Were there any jumps in the music that seemed out of place?

Question 5, Did the credit scene connect with the motif of the music video?

Question 6, Did the focus on crowds and groups appear represented to you?

Question 7, Anything thing else you noticed that was not consistant?





Music choice:


Question 1, Did you like the main song choice Spirit of Albion?

Question 2, Did the song fit the video in general?

Question 3, Were there any points where the video and audio worked particularly well together?

Question 4, Could you see yourself buying the song now you've seen the music video?

Question 5, Did the inclusion of other songs work well with the main video (intro music/first scene/credits)?

Question 6, Do you feel the musician, Damh the Bard was presented in the video enough or too much?

Question 7, Any other comments on the music?





Length of Video:


Question 1, Did the video run too long overal?

Question 2, Were there any scenes spesfically which ran too long in the video?

Question 3, Did the chorus appear too many times in the music video?

Question 4, Did the "Desperado productions" scene run for too long?

Question 5, Were the credits too long/dull?

Question 6, Did the driving scenes go on for too long?

Question 7, Any other comments on the length?





Suggestions:

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Koas Free Partys and the order of the singing oak

Druids of Kaos, Order of Singing Oak was started in the 2000 equinox. Since that time many have joined, piloting walks and gathering the spirit of moots.
 The relevance of Druids of Kaos in my music video comes down to the sections showing mass gatherings.
  They have a connection with Druids (a link to spirit of albion) who make them different to a normal party.
   They don elf ears, spread stories and gather in peace.
The druids of Kaos carry the wind of the Oak on their shoulders, spreading the sound of joy and merriment.
These scenes of party's are more magic than mayhem.

Music Video

This is the first upload of the music video.
There are some bits that at the present time do not appear right, but that is because I've uploaded the wrong version. An updated version will be uploaded later today with a blogpost referencing it.
Please, save any comments for the future upload.

Update, finished and final version now uploaded! Click here to go to the page

 Thanks

My advert

As described in an earlier post on adverts, my music video advert will centre around driving, using the reference of driving scenes used in the music video to produce an contextual link between the advert and the music video. It is also a decent way of incorporated the scenes I took while driving but didn't feel suited the music video.
Below I will post a screen shot of the story board

This was not drawn in order, so I have rearranged them below as well as including a re-written caption with each scene.

 This scene is the first prominent scene, taken outside of my house. The scene acts as an entrance into the video, a wide view to get a scape of the scene, followed by the door shutting and jumping to the next scene inside the van.

 This scene shows the engine being started, this is the last scene where you can here an ambient noise. The reason for including ambient noise till this point is to give a sense of suspense before the track starts. I have mostly including only hand acting as a way of keeping the attention on the journey/song, rather than the actors. The engine starting is an important scene as it signifies the start of the journey, the engine is therefore cutting all sound and making sound isolated to the radio.

This scene is shot from a low angle because one I didn't have enough time to print out the album art onto a disk, so this meant there was a bit of illusion needed to make the audience believe it is the CD. This effect also gives a feeling of power to the radio, as though it commands the journey (in a way it does, edit cuts etc).
 It is shot in silence to keep the focus on the song.

Conveniently, the vans engine starts from the press of a Red button. The red button is a prominent image of power, dramatic change normally linked to that of the bomb. To the metaphor here is that the button is pressed, the song plays, as though the song will make a dramatic change like a bomb, but more positive and less destructive of course.
 Once edited this scene lacked something by just starting on the song, so to make it clear that the button was starting the radio, I got a clip of a radio being tuned in and cut it down so that there was an opening into the song.

This scene plays into the next one, it gives a brief but powerful start to the journey, the van whizzing past a corner...

...Then quickly cutting to see it disappear into the distance, prompting the next scene.

This is where I will use scenes Ive taken, such as going over the bridge from Wales to England, or shots that I didn't think were good enough to include in the actual music video. They are mostly timed cuts keeping to the rhyme of the song. This will lead up to a drop in the music, cut by me and then exaggerated by the sound effect of a Projectile Missile going off...

This will then roll into the next scene using an iris effect as the scene rolls past the camera through the last scene, to make it appear as though the van is breaking through the scene.
This will end with the title of the song/video/artist and a "COMING SOON" message.

Then I will make the advert and upload it before I upload the finished Music video, thus making a semi-tralier. The music played over the top of this advert will be a section of the song,"Spirit of albion" of which the music video is  based. This will run probably no longer than 30 seconds at the most.

The advert for the video, after taking the scenes and editing.
I had to go to the begining of Frogrove Lane instead of BroadStreet because there were road works.

And the print advert is posted below along with some description:

So I decided to stylise my poster around the same idea as the video advert, portraying a journey using my Van as a visual means of conveying this idea. Below I have done a rough mock up of how it may look on a bus stop Ad, minus a gloss effect of course...

Blind Gaurdian

At the begining of the video there is a scene which at the present time has no music, I fell the song by Blind Gaurdian The bards song seems quite fitting. However I may actually use it at the end as the lyrics say"Now you all know the bards and there songs" So chronologically it would make sence.
I'm going to be using 10 - 15 seconds of the song.

I field out an email to them on their site, but lost the print screen.



However I could a caption of the page after it had been sent, as seen above.

Now I wait for their reply.

Music video advert

As spoken about in my previous post on advertisements, this post will be about my concept and then later I will post the rough draft of the advert and then finally the advert itself.

"Spirit of albion". The advert will be separate from the music video, having its own running narrative.
It will be somewhat commercial but only in the appropriate sense, as the song itself lends itself to be a little more serious.

My initial concept is to have a scene filmed from inside the van, having clear shots of the album cover I have created. Then when the CD has been put on the video becomes a prelude to what is in the video, which will be the point where clips of the music video I've created will start to appear.

Though it will have its own narrative seperate from the music video, it will contain a few short clips taken from the music video. This however will be in between the adverts narrative, similar to how certain product have a small dramatic narrative, interrupted by a clear advertisement of the product being advertised.

This will be obvious by a matching narriator listing a few key features of the music video and would it would be perfect for anyone to listen to, as well as typical conventions like copyright jargon" and label endorsements at the end such as where to buy the product from.

RSA Films

When trying to find some examples of music video adverts I stumbled upon this music video.
The video demonstrates a proper use of visual tempo, it cuts from one scene to another with only a few seconds in between leading to a smooth and flowing piece.
  The only way in which I couldn't borrow ideas from it is the effect given by focusing on a small intimate setting.
  This would not portray my song as it is about the country and the land and so while people make an appearance this is not the focus of my music video. Scenes in my video require a little more of a broader scope, the effect of it not being so intimate means the viewer may feel slightly detached and therefore not respond to the video so well.
However, if the video can match the songs rhythm I think this will create a more primal connection relying on the viewers eyes and ears, meaning the inappropriate/ over use of people could actually be detrimental to the outcome of the video.

King Charles

Not the filthy monarch.

Whilst up late the other night I was watching Q music channel and King Charles video Bam Bam came on. I'd seen this before, but noticed that there were some similarities to my own video, he has a focus point and images (or clips of road journeys going by).
  This makes me wonder if having the whole video constantly moving forward is the logical way of progression, certainly in "Bam Bam" the flow of moving forward helps keep with the rhythm of the song.