Review After Filming

After filming the gig at the Voodoo Lounge for my music video I would say that it was very successful. I managed to get plenty of footage throughout the night, including clips and full length videos of the song I am making the video for "Whatever Happened To Rock 'N' Roll?" which was performed twice for my benefit, once at the beginning of the set and at the end for their encore. I believe the choice of camera was a good selection as it performed exceptionally, keeping up with fast objects and taking rapid shots especially in the glaring flashing lights from the lights setup on stage. It managed to give my high quality video and audio in the low light, in terms of the visuals it was as good quality as actually being at the gig.

I was able to set up prior to the band coming on stage which meant I was able to get the camera correctly tuned and set for recording in low lighting. In terms of recording the band were very kind and helpful by giving me a song sheet meaning I knew when they were going to be playing the correct track. The audience were well behaved which meant that I didn't have much trouble with people trying to get into shots or jogging the camera etc.

Photograph taken by myself from the
Mojokings gig at the Voodoo Lounge
in Stamford on the 21st of  November.

However not everything did go according to plan, in my shot list and storyboard I had planned to get shots of the audience for the band, and from the audience research via my questionnaire this was something that my target audience wanted to see also. Although this was not possible to get a good shot of the audience as there weren't as many people who attended the gig as originally anticipated meaning in some of the shots the crowd look rather thin and I don't believe it reflects the true scale of people who attend performances by the Mojokings, their gigs are generally very busy and this is what I wanted to capture. I have tried to use some camera tricks to make it appear that there were more people, this was done through using close over the shoulder shots like it was from an audience members point of view, also these shots were inspired from The Brains 'Misery' music video which I have attempted to reference through the use of similar shot types.

Another thing which was a slight technicality was that the banner I had planned to be featured in the background could not be hung up. Though the Mojokings had the banner there was nowhere to actually hang it. Despite this after all I think it was actually better to not have anything in the background and having the plain black stage wall as it's actually less distracting from the band performing, so in actual fact this may have been a plus overall.

The venue itself was a good choice as it is a unique looking place with a great atmosphere even with few people. The stage was also great for getting multiple angled shots since it was open at the front and sides meaning it could get central shots as well as ones angled and ones from the side which were like seeing the audience from the bands perspective. Generally it allowed me to get a variety of shots as despite being a small venue there was plenty of space to get multiple shots.

In conclusion it was a very successful recording where I managed to get lots of brilliant shots as well as some good photographs which I may be able to use for my poster or digipak production in the future. It was tough to get all the footage filmed at once since I only had that night to get all the footage I needed, it was also the end of the bands tour for the year so there wouldn't have been any other opportunities to film the band live, but I believe that I managed to get all I needed for the video and I would say that I managed to get it done to a good quality standard despite some inconveniences.

Saturday 21st of November - Day Of Recording

Today I will be recording my footage for the Mojokings music video. I will be travelling to Stamford for the evening and recording the band perform. The event is from 8:30-12:00 so it will be late and the Mojokings are performing last. I have gone through the shots I need to get and I will make sure that I get critical shots such as ones of the lyrics when the song is playing. Since the music will be dubbed over the top of the performance some other shots e.g. general ones of the band performing will not be noticeable as different and therefore I can use this footage as well in the video overall.

To avoid any technical issues I might come across tonight I have done all I can to reduce them. Such as battery are charged on the camera, I also have backups in case for some reason the ones I have die randomly and also if anything goes wrong with my camera which I cannot sort out I do have a backup camera in the form of an iPad which if necessary could also perform the task of recording the band.

I have also spoken to the band and finalised details about the song and their performance so I know when they are playing the track for me to record. Although the Mojokings aren't playing until late I will be getting to the venue early so that I can set up my camera and also practice getting some shots of people coming in and set my camera up correctly so that it is ready to film the band when they do come on, this will save me less stress leading up to the recording as things will already be sorted and I won't need to sorting things out at the last minute.

Story Board

Shot List & Technical

Shots:

These are a list of shots that I would like to have featured in my music video:

• Start off as black with Mojokings logo "rock 'n' roll has got to go"
• Cut to close up of Oli playing drums
• Cut to footage of Rich playing bass (mid shot) with drums in background
• Cut to (close-up of) guitar and pan across band showing all instruments
• Close up of Paul singing
• Shot of crowd dancing and people drinking
• Focus on people's tattoos & clothes
• Side angled shots showing all band 
• Low angle shot of double bass
• High angle shot of guitar & Paul on vocals
• Close up of Mojokings bass drum
• Action shot of band preparing to go on stage
• Slow motion shot of Oli on drums
• Pan across drinks balanced on amplifiers 
• Shot of Paul playing guitar with Rich in background on bass (including some people in shot from the crowd)
• Close up of mouth saying the lyrics
• Eye line shot of drummer
• Angled shot looking down the guitar

Settings/ Technical:

• Background Mojokings, Whatever Happened To Rock 'N' Roll banner
• Shake effect on camera shots symbolising the loudness and power of the song (when bass & drums are shown)
• TV static style transitions between shots
• At the end of the video slowly fade out to black with crow cheering in the background
• Slow down of some fasts shots i.e. drums & crowd dancing
• Take sound from live performance to begin the song i.e. song name or 'thank you' at the end to incorporate into the video, make it different and seem more realistic
• Saturation of shots to make them seem bright and vibrant
• Intertextual references through costume can be made through featuring other bands T-shirts  merchandise - this is a conventional feature of Psychobilly music videos

Song Lyrics

Lyrics:

Full lyrics of the song are:

*The opening is an American DJ who was smashing RocknRoll records live on air* – 

“ROCK’N’ROLL HAS GOT TO GO!”
Whatever happened to selling your soul? Raising up the devil playing Rock 'n' Roll.
All their stuff well it's just to clean, got to show them why this stuff's so mean.
Whatever happened to selling your soul? Whatever happened to Rock 'n' Roll?

Whatever happened to chaos on the airwaves, sending our parents to an early grave?
Hillbilly cat getting filmed from the waist up, he took a sip from lucifers cup.
Whatever happened to selling your soul? Whatever happened to Rock 'n' Roll?

Whatever happened to selling your soul?... Raising up the devil playing Rock 'n' Roll.
Whatever happened to selling your soul?... Raising up the devil playing Rock 'n' Roll.
Whatever happened to selling your soul?... Raising up the devil playing Rock 'n' Roll.
Hillbilly cat getting filmed from the waist up, he took a sip from lucifers cup.

Whatever happened to selling your soul? Whatever happened to Rock 'n' Roll?
Whatever happened to Rock and Roll?
Whatever happened to Rock and Roll?
Whatever happened to Rock and Roll?
(drawn out) Whatever happened to Rock and Roll Yeah!

(quiet) Whatever happened to selling your soul? Raising up the devil playing Rock 'n' Roll.

*CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG*

The verse "Whatever happened to chaos on the airwaves, sending our parents to an early grave?Hillbilly cat getting filmed from the waist up, he took a sip from lucifers cup." relates to Elvis only being shown from the waist up on national TV as he was too sexual for a family audience.