Robots In Disguise - Turn It Up (Comparision)

This is a video by another Long Road Media group (S1-21) for another Robots In Disguise song called "Turn It Up"

In comparison, our video is very different.

• The pace of the song affects the pace of the video. The pace of their video is a lot slower than our one because of the speed of the song.
• Their video is more performance based
• They use humans instead of robots
• 
  

Screen Grabs

Here are some screen grabs from our final video



This is our "lip synced" shots
We wrote the lyrics from the song on paper and stuck them to the wall to represent the robots "singing" the words.





This is our point of view shot of the robots buying drugs. We used a green filter and typewriter effect to make it look obviously different so the audience would know that it is from the robots point of view.

Final Feedback

outline: We wanted our video to be quite varied by including band shots, a story line and other different shots so the audience would be more entertained by the video.

genre: Bright colours are used which represent electro music

relationships: There is a strong relationship between the music and the visuals, in the pace and exaggerated colouring. there are some links with the lyrics as well.

camera work: Good sped up- jump shots work well. mostly static camera but movement within shots makes up for it.

editing: Fast paced, keeps viewers interested, good effects, good bright colours, shame only a few shots were wide screen.

mise-en-scene: Costumes well thought out locations are good except street(?!)

special effects: Colour gooooooooood! green screen goood!

Final Music Video Analysis

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

Our music video was not a very popular genre so there isn't very many videos to compare our one too. However, the futuristic feel (which came from the use of robots) and the "rave" shots all fit well with the electro style of the music.


2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

For some lines in our song we stuck the lyrics to the wall to fit with the music. We also had the word 'girl' spelled out in time to the chanting in the song. It also gave a change to the rest of our video, which didn't really relate to the words. The story did not have anything to do with the lyrics.

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

Most of our shots fit with the music. A lot of our shots are sped up to keep in time with the beat and the "rave" bit is made to fit with the slower music.


4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

The name of the band was Robots in Disguise and from this name we managed to get inspiration. we used people disguised as robots in our video which is an inversion of the band's name. we used lots of silver and bright colours which are easily linked to the band as they often wear flamboyant costumes and crazy make up.

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Although our robots are supposed to be girls i don't think they are particularly sexually desirable to most humans. so i don't think our video has any sexually voyeuristic tendencies.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

the only intertextual reference in our video is probably the writing at the bottom of the screen showing the point of view shots. this has been used previously in films such as terminator.

Final Music Video

Half term filming

Being intelligent A level students...when deciding what we would film we somehow managed to leave the most important part of the filming last. This is the part filmed in town of the robots walking around cambridge getting "drunk" and that.
We need to film:

• several shots of robots walking around on regent street genereally messing about and drinking their robot oil.
• a few shots of people walking past lip syncing...we need to find someone to do this.
• the shot of one of the robots (or all) "self destructing" ie. fettling.
• shots of robots walking up and down which last a long time so they can be sped up.
  

We might also film:

• more shots of robots dancing
• a full band shot?!

At the moment we are editing the shots we will keep for the final piece and putting them in place in relation to where they will be in the song for the final piece. We need to replace the rubbish bit of the robots getting drunk near the bus and by adenbrookes. We only filmed this because we didnt have anything for the above night bit. These are just pilot shots to get ideas of timing and stuff.

by Emma the robot making extraordinaire

Screen grabs

This part of our video is at the very start and is one of the first few shots that the audience sees. It is a performance shot.




This is one of the "psychedelic" parts of our video. We found backgrounds on Google Image Search and put them as the background of a dancing robot section. After we made this bit of our video however the group decided that we didn't actually like it. But we're stuck with it due to lack of time.

Rough Cut Feed Back

Group 54 said- "The first shots were wicked. Liked the lighting, nice monochromatic vibe. Robots get boring, need a singer or something too? Camera work and tonality deteriorates. Green screen looks tacky. Village wasnt best setting. Would be better in a more urban area.

Group 49 said- "Started off well. Shot following robot too long. Green / white screen worked, blakc and white bit good. Shaking/ sped up/ jerkiness was good but used too much. Robot home made suits were good."

Group 50 said- "Good dancers. Nice effects, speeding up and words could cut to drums etc in the longer shots."

Group 52 said- "Like low angle shots of robot playing instruments. Good editing on first shots. like black and white. Shakiness makes eyes go funny.Good costumes. Not the best background for drum shot. Like the robot numbers in corner of screen. Locations bit random sometimes."

Potty-meister N said- "i like the robot P.O.V green shots with writing. Some bits go on too long. eg, walking down the street. Finish the dancing green screen shots. Put in a background. Tighten up weaker parts such as robot coming out of house, bit slow."

stolen ideas

we really should get some lip syncing in. somehow we forgot it when filmng. we might get some different shots so there is more of a variety of footage, eg more close ups? more instrumenty bits.

Rough Cut

This is our rough cut. enjoy.
x

brand spanking new ideas.

its a bit late in the game but we have some new ideas. first is the words on the wall thing we are using at the beginning but we might use it a few more times seeing as it looks cool and we have lots of space to fill.
the second is that we will get shots of robots dancing around in the green/white/black room and maybe speed it up and use lots of effects such as weird contrast stuff. (ask phil or max. they're good at edity stuff). we can use this at different intervals throughout the video randomly. it doesnt really link in with the story but will look bitchin hopefully. it will also take up some space.
oo emma / phil just had good ideas!
we can use green screen cgi on this bit to get us some extra marks. sciting boys and girls!

Robot costume update

Here is robot costume number 1 nearly finished. Just need a few milk bottle top buttons and stuff. Legs are still a problem. So are hands. I may have to spray paint some rubber gloves silver. Well not up for it but i love my group so much i will.
also need to spray the other one. i thoguth someone else was making the third robot but it seems i am making htem all.
tomorrow rachael's pal DAN (humorous alan partridge reference) is coming in so we can film the firast shot of teh robot bass player(see animatic) and a few more bits. we can also film the "you like to throw up words" bit (see test shots.)
EXCITEMENT!!!!!!!
emma whitton.
re-e-wind. then the crowd say bo....
seleeeeecta

Shots for Tuesday 2nd October

This is our shot list for Tuesday 2nd October:

• Bass shot
  black & white rooms - maybe green
  angles change in time with bass line
  

• First verse
  black/white/green room
  robot character at the side of the screen
  words appear on the wall in relation to the song (i.e. You like to throw up words)
  
  
• Robots dancing/raving
  green room
  robots drinking, etc, having a party

Rachael

our robot costumes so farrr:O!

do you read me.... over.........
this may just look like a mash of colour which makes no sense but if you turn your head 90 degrees to the left you will realise it is my bad self wearing our robot costume so far. we need a helmet. tonight i will be spraing it silver. it will be safe. and all who sees it shall bow down before me. just realised there are bare legs in this costume. maybe roboty shoes could solve this.

XD

more updates tomorrow lads. enjoy/
x

Last Year Music Video

Camerawork

• Close up shot at the start
• Mid shots of people playing instruments - quite centered in order to show all of the performer
  
• Lots of close ups for lip syncing means that the vocals are the main focus of the video
  

Editing

• Obviously the editing is very prominent in this video
• There are lots of quick cuts to keep up with the pace of the song
• Colour filter's were used to make the video seem very vibrant and surreal
• Transparent filter used at the start to make it look more spacey
• Additional shots taken from the internet (of rocket taking off)

Setting

• Green screened
• Space
• Under a bridge
• Graffiti
• The settings are mostly space related such as deserts which look like space launch locations and the green screened planets
  

Performance

• Main performer wears a Russian style silly hat, large sunglasses, open biker jacket and a white vest
  
• Backing performer wearing baggy, hip hop style clothes, large sunglasses and a trilby hat
• Does "rap hands" whilst miming
• Guitar solo performed with a lot of energy
• Over exaggerated movements to fit with the song

Genre Conventions

• The behaviour of the performers are quite conventional for a rap style music video
• A lot of the focus in the video is of the main performer with a small amount of focus on the back up singers.
  
• lots of graffiti in the back ground and is written during the video
• lots of movement of the main performer (aka dancing etc..)
  

more truly inspirational videos

this video is a funny music video about a robot. the person in the video wears a robot suit and also contains a first person shot that we may use.

by emma and max

Animatic

Animatic by Emma and Rachael

Drawings by Max

Response to Animatic

• Include more extreme close ups of main singer during performance shots
• Different angles of performance shots (i.e. low angles, side angles, etc.)
• Point of view shot will be different - without mask covering shot
• Shots of robots walking down the street will be sped up as well as slowed down
  
• For the point of view shot we might use a green filter to make it look futuristic
• 
  

Filming Locations

We are going to use different areas for our different shots. Some filming locations are:

- Phil's house (in the middle of his street and at his door)

- Town, Regent Street Cambridge, outside night clubs and bars such as the regal.

- Field in Linton for band performance.

- Cambridge Faculty of Law

- Jesus Green

Emma, Phil, Rachael

Smack my bitch up!

Prodigy - Smack my bitch up! The video follows a character as they go for a night out. It start with the person getting ready in there house and then goes onto them getting drunk in a nightclub. The person gets very drunk and starts harassing girls. All the shots are done in 1st person view. The video follows movement and starts getting wilder as the person gets drunker.

This gave us the ideas for our 1st person sections and gave us some more possible ideas for camera work.

Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up (Banned From MTV) - kewego
This Prodigy clip was banned from MTV... Maybe too hot ? Otherwise it's really nice...

Keywords: electro mtv clip music techno banned prodigy smack my bitch up

Video from bigmama

Phil

Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys - Intergalactic




This video inspired us and our ideas. It helped us decide on our robot costumes. The jerky movements in the Tokyo train station performance inspired us to do the same thing in our video. We are going to speed up a clip of the robot walking down the street to give it a comical, robotic styling.

phil

Animals

One of our ideas was to flash pictures of animals during the lyrics "I'm a dog I'm a pig I'm a cow I'm a bird (Tweet Tweet)". Here are some pictures we will use if we decide to carry out this idea.

phil AND EMMA

Shots

Performance shots

• shot of bassist robot playing black bass guitar. in black and white. shot starts as close up on pick ups/strings and zooms out as low angle shot.
  
• mid shots of robot band members playing intsruments in a field
  
• other mid shots of performance in various settings
  

Actual stuff happening shots

• mid shots of robots walking along street on night out
• p.o.v of people (not robots) walking past lip syncing the lyrics
• close ups and lid shots of robot passing round engine oil
  
• high angle shot of robot "self destructed on floor"
  

TEACHER PITCH FEEDBACK

Well explained visual concept.

Consider limiting yourselves to 2 costumes only and integrating some performance so as to show proficiency in lip-synching.

Beware of over-reliance on Point-of-View shots, and limited lip-synching will mean you have to show evidence of other technical skills (green-screen, graphics, etc)

Pitch'in

The music track we will be using for our music video is Girl by Robots In Disguise. Robots In Disguise are a band with Electronica / Punk / Pop influences with 2 female members and there is an existing video for this track.

Our idea for the characters in our video is that we will have 4 robots (we are considering using less characters to save time but we think that this will fail to convey the rowdy group mood we want to create) who are all members of a band, going out and drinking and having a wild night out. Generally just acting like rockstars, however as they are robots, everything that they do will be in relation to robots. For example, instead of drinking alcohol to get drunk, they will be drinking engine oil. At the end of the video, the robots will all self destruct due to excessive partying. All members of the band will be female (in relation to the song lyrics and title).

Our initial video idea is to mix different generic music video conventions, such as a band performance, a comedy story line and other parallel edits. We are planning on filming in several different locations, including fields, city centre, a party and a house. In our video all the characters will be robots. The costumes will be made of cardboard boxes and other household objects. We think that this will create an interesting contrast between the normal every day setting and the makeshift futuristic design of the robots. we are considering leaving a rectangular hole around the mouth araea so the robots can lip sync.

Some specific shots that we are planning to have include the first scene of the bassist of the band playing the bass line close up and zooming outwards, point of view shots from one characters perspective whilst drinking, quick shots of the characters holding up letters written on a piece of paper spelling out the word "Girl". Our lip syncing shots will be from a robot's perspective of people walking past mouthing the lyrics. this will create the effect of random people (often drunk) walking up to them in the street and talking to them. The last scene would be one character outside falling to the floor. The general shots we are planning on having in our video include a band performing outside - possibly in a field, the characters walking through the city centre, and we are considering filming a party scene inside a house.

We are planning on beginning our music video in black and white, then we will have the remainder of the video in colour. At the end of the video will have quick clips from all the different settings throughout our video to evaluate the video.

Other music videos that we have looked at for influences include Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (which has robots fighting and walking round and things) and The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up (where we got the idea of point of view shots of characters drinking).

The End.

Pitch Ideas

• Band performance
• Point of view of robot drinking (getting more dizzy)
• Robots partying
• Robots getting ready ?
• Robots holding letters / signs
• Close up of robots head walking around sped up
• lip syncing of certain lines
• drum roll cuts
• begin with black & white bassist
• end with different shots from different scenes
• Self destruct button

max phil emma rachael

Original Video

This is the original video by Robots In Disguise. Obviously they had a larger budget and more time so were able to do more for the video.

emma, phil, max, rachael

first ideas

robot suits.
tin foil!!!!
robots playing instruments
slinkies
performance based
feminist robots
stop motion?!
lip syncing
green screen?
robots in a taxi
robots on a girls night out
getting drunk - oil
smoking
pills - nuts and bolts
a robot holds each letter of g i r l



emma, phil, max, rachael

Girl- Robots in Disguise

Girl lyrics
You like to throw up words
Speak to us s'if we got germs
And label us with junior terms
I'm a dog I'm a pig I'm a cow I'm a bird (Tweet Tweet)
Your tongue twists and scars
I need these tags like stabs in the heart
Names for my sex - Oh Blah Blah Blah
I'm a slag I'm a slut I'm a tramp I'm a tart
It's not a dirty word
It's not a dirty word
C'mon use it dream it choose it own it sign it scream it
G-I-R-L GIRL
We're a double X and proud of it
So vexed -Shan't mind our language
With the F word - F for feminist
I'm a doll I'm a witch I'm a peach I'm a bitch
Hands up if you wanna be in our gang
Cos ladies need a modern vocab
and for starters snatch the old school slang
I'm a twat I'm a bag I'm a cunt I'm a shag

MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT 2007/8

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