Individual Statement

There's two reasons to explain the passion i have for radio and audio productions. Personality and Delivery. When you listen to a radio presenter or a podcast or an audio transmission, short of radio dramas, the only things you can be drawn to is the likability, humor, wisdom, intelligence, timing or morality of the individual you are listening to. All of these qualities are extensions of personality.
There are too few mediums in modern times which rely predominantly on the personality of the host. TV show presenters have the added ability of visual aids such as props or simply using their own bodies to add to the overall impact of the performance. Audio mediums don't offer such luxuries, it is a medium in which you have to rely largely on your own charm, wit and intelligence, this is not as easy as it sounds. This challenge and the rewards that it offers is the reason i have such an admiration for productions such as The Hamish & Andy Show (Australia) The Ricky Gervais Show (Live radio & Podcasts) The Russell Brand Show (BBC Radio 2) The Guardians Football Weekly (Podcast) and How Stuff Works: Stuff You Should Know (Podcast). All of these hosts offer something completely different to the previous, not only topically but in the way their personalities dominate their respective fields. I hope, in the future to not only emulate these people but forge my own personal stamp on the industry.

When i was 18, I moved to Australia alone. This was arguably the most defining period of my life to date. I learnt an irreplaceable amount in those two years. I learnt work ethic, morals, principles and an outlook on life that still serves as the primary reason as to why i do all the things i do. I learnt appreciation for so many things that i wouldn't have even pondered before hand.
I am a firm believer that travel really does broaden the mind. It entrenches you in situations of tolerance, understanding and compassion for people different in every way to ones self.
I'm sure your sat in your chair, rolling your eyes thinking "another kid who thinks he has the entire world figured out". Well im proud to tell you that i don't at all, i don't have anything of any worth figured out. All i know are the things that inflame me. Music, literature, art, comedy, debate, knowledge to name but a few.
But I find that the most exciting thing in life, I still have so much to learn and experience.

Stories amaze me. I want to tell stories and hear stories time and again. I find the telling of a story or an observation one of the most endearing skills a man can possess. To enthrall, fascinate, suspend, shock, entrance or simply amuse someone with a story of your division is one of the greatest qualities of evolved man. Since time immemorial tales, stories, fiction have peppered our history. The earliest form of story telling acting essentially telling the news. Travelling from mouth to ear across the lands. In modern times i think the appreciation for the story teller has fallen and a less recognized skill.
I take pride in my ability to recount a tale. My ability to make people laugh. Or sooth a situation. I take pride in my use of language.
Im proud of my outlook on life. I know my personality is my most noticeable trait. And what better place to showcase that than on the most personable medium.

If i was to have my own radio show i would want it to simply make people laugh. But in a specific way. I don't want to just make jokes, i want to leave an impression. I want to change peoples outlooks on life. Life is taken far to seriously these days. People seem to forget the simple things to quickly, from my limited life experience I've come to the conclusion that life is all about the little things. After all, they are the things you really remember.
I don't think i could have a show that didn't heavily feature the audience members. Id want it to work under the premise of  "the peoples show" Its fairly rare to find a show that includes the audience frequently, too many shows forget that they are broadcasting to a demographic and its not just a place to sit and have a chat, something i hear frequently on the radio.
One thing i strongly agree with is assisting local, unsigned bands through radio, it always has been and is increasingly a ridiculously difficult industry to get in, the music business. I find it frustrating when large radio stations refuse to play anything other than the over manufactured nonsense from the charts. If i had any say on the topic i would strive to encourage our station to play demos etc if they were up to the standard.

I feel as though i have a above average amount of life and travel experience. Given that i moved to Australia, alone at the age of 18 it forced me to have to grow up and take responsibility for my own actions.

Purpose Of Making A Music Video

While She Sleeps - Our Courage, Our Cancer








http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3x_ZggOOoY&list=UUr3lfip6L1PRtcoh9FhEW9g&index=1&feature=plcp




I think this film works well as a promotional tool mostly due to the personal nature of the video, the film is literally just the band in an empty room with occasional cuts time what appears to be times past.

I think this would encourage the audience or potential fans as its a little bit like a private show. You can sort of get a feel for what it would be like to seem them live, also the film is quite up close on the band members and thus showing the majority of their emotions. This video is full of raw emotion from the vocals to the manner in which the instrumental members conduct themselves while playing.

Thinking from the perspective of someone who has never seen this band before, this video works well. It almost brings you to the place that the band are at. Its easy to get entrenched in the video and become a part of the emotion that spills over.

The video itself has been heavily publicised and thusly is available on a number of the bands 3rd party sites e.g vevo, youtube, vimeo and also a number of publication websites e.g metalhammer, kerrang, alternative press. I think this shows the band has risen to a level that demands the respect of all of these mediums.



Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uizQVriWp8M&list=UUOtn115fCfFKIxG7_Quv9ZA&index=37&feature=plcp
1,641,653 views on YouTube
© 2009 WMG

This video is quite facsinating in the ways its been created. It opens with the lead singer of the band walking through a picturesque woodland, then from the ground and the tree trunks peculiar shapes begin to arise and float around him. These shapes re-organise to form music notes the front man of the band arrives at a small cabin in the woods where the rest of the band await, setup for a band practice.

I think this video shows the band going to their quiet place and creating music, the thing that they love. Hence the Soul meeting the Body.
This film works because its specific to the title and the feel of the song. Later in the video the musical notes float far enough to reach civilization, people begin to catch them. This signifies to me and to any possbile new viewers that the band feel as though when they make music and distribute it to the world its almost as though they are giving a part of them selves with the music.
Death Cab are a world renowned band and they availability of this video demonstrates that. This is demonstrated in the amount of search files Google finds with the search "death cab for cutie- soul meets body music video" yields over 108,000 results.


Damian Rice - 9 Crimes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgqOSCgc8xc&feature=relmfu
8,494,316 views on YouTube

This video at first confused me, i wasnt really sure what was going on. And still kind of dont. What i have figured out is it appears to be a headless women in an alleyway.A head in an alleyway that turns into a balloon. A head that turns in to a balloon that Damien Rice carries around with him. A head that turns in to a balloon that Damien Rice carries around with him that gets shot down by some kids with a slingshot.
While this is a beautiful song. This, for me, doesnt work. It asks more questions than it answers.
As a new viewer i would look at this and arguably never ever turn it back on again. I really dont feel this video is in anyway applicable to the song.
That all being said, i feel as though this is could appeal to perhaps an older audience that may be better reciprocates of its true message. The song itself is beautiful but slow, the video reflects this. Its a very slow video which initially doesn't seem to have any valid point but this could be in the hope that the audience will devise their own meaning in an other wise pointless video.

Bon Iver - Towers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t60roHM1t7o&list=UUci2c90HJbY0VAS3_eLF3Wg&index=2&feature=plcp
481,213 views on YouTube
Director: NABIL (NABIL.com)
Producer: Kathleen Heffernan
DOP: Larkin Sieple
Editor: Isaac Hagy
FX/Post: andeffects.com
Color: Brandon Chavez
Production Company: NE Direction

This video has a much deeper meaning than i first anticipated, it relies mostly on a more primal beauty. A beauty in solitary, in nature and in achievement. The video appears to be telling the tale end of the story based around the life of a fisherman. He has towers that seem to be made out of wood and string on his window sill with drawings of much larger towers in the oceans hung above. These towers, to me, seem to be the old mans hobby, he builds them higher and higher. They represent his being, his livelihood.
The man takes one of his towers and drives through the woodland to a beach where his much larger towers stand gracefully in the ocean. He rows out to add his smaller tower to the majestic view ahead of him, but he falls. And with him falls the nearest of the towers in almost perfect sync.
To me these towers represent a mans achievements  perhaps the most important thing a man can do within his life. When that life ends the "towers", every mans "towers", fall with him.
For a new viewer this video could confuse most, but when taken in a less literal sense the meaning becomes clearer. It's intriguing and i think that is one of the stand out qualities of this video, it asks questions that you as the viewer need to answer. It leaves you with much larger questions to answer.

Cary Brothers - Ride

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3kALKf9oUY
982,761 Views on YouTube

If you had the ability to learn the hardest truths about your life would you be able to accept them and move forward with it ? This is what this song and video suggests. By showing a couple clearly in distress taking their belongings and leaving in a beaten up old car, you are showing a extremely clear point.

I think this video confronts societies fears of confronting their inner-most fears, lots of fears here, fear and confrontation. In all seriousness i think its a little bit difficult to create something out of nothing, which is a little bit similar to the entire video for this song. Its a bit of something in nothing, i think the video lacks it creativity and its shows.

Wiz Khalifa - Don't Lie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4YAjAGTxgk
5,093,030 Views on YouTube

This is arguably my favorite video, i really like how laid back it is. To put it simply its Wiz Khalifa and his friends chilling in Amsterdam. This video is a little more a statement of Wiz's life and his interested rather than having a deeper meaning demonstrated in some of the videos above.
This video related to me as a fan better as i could see that this was just about the guys in the video having fun, i think this is a really positive thing as too many artists try to make their music videos a piece of art. This video entertained me, and that ultimately is what they are there to do.

Basics For Studio Lighting

1

Start with your key lights. Every subject in your studio should have a key light directly on them. It should ideally hit them in the face or wherever you wish to focus attention. The more important the subject, the more important his or her key light.

2

Define your subjects with back lights. Too much light on the faces of your subjects can blend them into the background. To distinguish them from their surroundings, place a back light behind each subject. The back light is smaller than the key light and is shined either behind the subject or slightly upward. The goal is to make your subjects appear more three-dimensional.

3

Remove shadows with fill lights. When a studio fills up with conflicting light sources, strange shadows can appear. Get rid of them by placing fill lights at angles with the key lights and back lights. You will need to move the fill lights around to get your desired effect. Shadows are unpredictable so be patient and adapt.

4

Brighten the background. Sometimes the background gets lost in all the studio lighting. If the background is important, then light it separately from your subjects using the same rules. When you do this you, can often eliminate the back lights for your subjects since the background will already be lit.

5

Light for the action. Static studio lighting is fine if your subjects don't move. If your studio work involves blocking or other movement, then keeping key lights and back lights on each subject becomes impossible. In that case, light the entire studio as if it were a bright cloudy day. There should be plenty of light everywhere but no shadows. This can be achieved with indirect lighting and gels over the lights.

6

Add or remove lights to fit your desired outcome. Sometimes a special effect is the goal. If you want all the attention to be on a single person, then hit him or her with a key light and a back light, and leave the rest of the studio dark. If you want to shift attention from one subject to another, then shift the lighting or shift the subjects. If you want your subject to be an anonymous shadow then hit them with a bright back light alone.

1. Start in Darkness. Make sure there are no default lights, and there's no global ambience. When you add your first light, there should be no other light in the scene.

2. Add your Key Light. The Key Light creates the subject's main illumination, and defines the most visible lighting and shadows. Your Key Light represents the dominant light source, such as the sun, a window, or ceiling light - although the Key does not have to be positioned exactly at this source.

Create a spot light to serve as the Key. From the top view, offset the Key Light 15 to 45 degrees to the side (to the left or right) of the camera. From a side view, raise the Key Light above the camera, so that it hits your subject from about 15 to 45 degrees higher than the camera angle.

The key light is brighter than any other light illuminating the front of the subject, is the main shadow-caster in your scene, and casts the darkest shadows. Specular highlights are triggered by the Key Light.

NOTE: Be sure to stop and do test-renders here. Your "one light" scene (with just the key light) should have a nice balance and contrast between light and dark, and shading that uses all of the grays in between. Your "one light" should look almost like the final rendering, except that the shadows are pitch black and it has very harsh contrast - see the GIF animation at the top of this page, while it only has the Key light visible.

3. Add your Fill Light(s). The Fill Light softens and extends the illumination provided by the key light, and makes more of the subject visible. Fill Light can simulate light from the sky (other than the sun), secondary light sources such as table lamps, or reflected and bounced light in your scene. With several functions for Fill Lights, you may add several of them to a scene. Spot lights are the most useful, but point lights may be used.

From the top view, a Fill Light should come from a generally opposite angle than the Key - if the Key is on the left, the Fill should be on the right - but don't make all of your lighting 100% symmetrical! The Fill can be raised to the subject's height, but should be lower than the Key.

At most, Fill Lights can be about half as bright as your Key (a Key-to-Fill ratio of 2:1). For more shadowy environments, use only 1/8th the Key's brightness (a Key-to-Fill ratio of 8:1). If multiple Fills overlap, their sum still shouldn't compete with the Key.

Shadows from a Fill Light are optional, and often skipped. To simulate reflected light, tint the Fill color to match colors from the environment. Fill Lights are sometimes set to be Diffuse-only (set not to cast specular highlights.)

4. Add Rim Light. The Rim Light (also called Back Light) creates a bright line around the edge of the object, to help visually separate the object from the background.

From the top view, add a spot light, and position it behind your subject, opposite from the camera.  From the right view, position the Back Light above your subject.

Adjust the Rim Light until it gives you a clear, bright outline that highlights the top or side edge for your subject.  Rim Lights can be as bright as necessary to achieve the glints you want around the hair or sides of your subject. A Rim Light usually needs to cast shadows. Often you will need to use light linking to link rim lights only with the main subject being lit, so that it creates a rim of light around the top or side of your subject, without affecting the background:

No Back Light (left), Back Light added (right).

Media Blog: Music Video Notes (Introduction)

Music Video Notes (Introduction)

• 2m30s - 5m Advised time length.
• Choose own band/artist - Keep 'communication' - emails, phone calls.
• 'Purposes of Music Video' blog - Task 1 - mid October.
• 6-8 Music videos of your choice (professional).
• Promotional tool (artist, music track).
• Synergy (video being referenced in film/TV and works the other way)
• Spin off/amateur/paradody.
• Reference point but does not tally (6-8 = x)
• Availability
• Copies or where to find it
• Enhanced CD, USB flash drive, interactive media, exclusivity (where to see it first).
• Reaction
• Fan, audience feedback.
• Critics (magazines, reviews)
• Compilation shows (100 greatest)
• Listings/rankings

Task 2 - Comparing 2 Music Videos - late November

• What was the first music video you remember?
• What do you remember about it?
• How did you react at the time?
• Any particular scenes/images?
• Does it work today? (dated?)
• Contemporary audiences - how will they feel?

Multi-cam - production

The Gallery - The control room for production. Working in the gallery would be the vision mixer, direction, auto cue, lighting
The studio - Floor manager, Camera man, boom ops, sound recorder, set designer.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Multi-Camerajkj

Advantages -

• The show flows better
• Quicker angle change
• more shots in less time

Disadvantages -

• lighting
• cameras may get in the way.
• more organization needed.
• communications needed
• increased