"A Lovely Day"

2006-05-19T02:26:00.000-07:00

Overall I am very happy with my project because I , myself, (who is useless on a computer) have managed to make a music video that I can keep and show to my friends and family, that is actually quite good for a first attempt.
I feel that my aim of my video was to make a video that shows my boyfriend and myself having fun and doing nice things together, which we always do. When he watched it back he was extremely embarrassed as he looks very silly on it!

If I was to advise another student about making a music video for themselves I would tell them to pick a song and a subject matter that they like and is personal to them because you have to dedicate a lot of your time to making it right, so In my opinion it would work better this way, plus this will add your own style to your film.

If I was to do this project again I think I would collect lots more footage as I found that when I started putting it all together, I was left with hardly anything, so I had to film some more to finish it.

2006-05-19T02:19:00.000-07:00

PROBLEMS

I decided that at a certain point in my music video I wanted Sean and myself to be singing along to the words, but when I shot this footage we didn't have the music to sing along to so we sang from memory. This was extremely frustrating to play back in time with the music as we were singing faster that the actual speed of the song. I tried to slow the footage down, but once I did, I couldn't speed it back up again, so I had to get rid of most of this footage, which is quite a shame as it was really funny!

2006-05-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

FILMING IT...CONTINUED.

I decided to shoot my video using the camera hand held and also positioning it on my tv, cd player, desk and floor. I thought that doing this added another personal touch to my film, which worked quite well.
The filming process was extremely time consuming, it took much longer than my initial expectations, but it is worth it in the end.
I feel that that I could have been more organised during this module as I shot the footage over three days, and I would have been less stressed it I filmed it all on the same day, but I will now know for the future to organise my time more wisely.

2006-05-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

FILMING IT!!!

I have now startded to shoot my music video, and I am finding it extremely enjoyable. I have collected most of the footage that I want and I have started to edit it, which is taking much longer than I had expected. Although it is a lengthy process, I find it quite rewarding seeing my footage together with the music.

2006-05-11T03:42:00.000-07:00

USING THE CAMERA

At this stage I am unsure about how I am going to use the camera. I have never used a tripod before so I will have to try this out and compare it to using the camera hand-held. This will be quite useful as when I play the footage back I will be able to see what effect this creates. I think that holding the camera by hand will make the film quite natural and personal, but then I am thinking that using a tripod will look more proffessional, but I will just have to see what happens.

2006-05-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

STORYBOARDING

I feel that storyboarding is a really good way to get down my ideas as it is quite quick and easy to do, and it enables me to think about how I can make my film more interesting. This is a good way of looking at it, but I feel that when I start to actually shoot my film, it will change quite a lot from my storyboard, as the camera will take on its own role.

2006-05-11T02:07:00.000-07:00

8 DAYS TO GO!!!

Well, there's eight days left until the deadline of this project, and I still haven't managed to shoot my music video! Due to many problems with my ceramic project which had to be handed in on the 9th of May, I had to spend nearly all of my time re-building my final piece as it collapsed! But now my main focus is creating my music video to the best possible standard that I can achieve....In 8 days!!!

2006-05-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

FINAL IDEA

After some thought, I have now come up with a new idea which will be much easier for me to shoot. It will just include my boyfriend and myself, as apposed to including lots of my friends, which would be difficult as we are hardly ever together at the same time.
I have decided to make my music video about my boyfriend and I just simply having a "lovely day" together, which will be filmed to Bill Wither's "Lovely Day". This will show me at different stages of the day, from waking up, getting ready, going out and finally going to sleep.

SONG LYRICS

Here are the song lyrics.....

When I wake up in the morning
love
and the sun light hurts my eyes

And something without worning
love
bears heavy on my mind.
Then I look at you and the world's alright with me

Just one look at you and I know it's gonna be -

A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day

Lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day.
A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day

Lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day.

When the day that lies ahead of me seems impossible to face

And someone else instead of me always seems to know the way
Then I look at you and the world's alright with me

Just one look at you and I know it's gonna be -

A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day

When the day that lies ahead of me seems impossible to face
...
A lovely day - lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
lovely day
...

Here are some facts about the song "Lovely Day", and who helped write it.....

Skip Scarborough was a songwriter and producer who worked with Earth, Wind & Fire, Patti Labelle, LTD, and many other R&B stars before his death in 2003. He wrote the music for this, and was also the inspiration for the lyrics Withers came up. Says Withers, "Skip was a very nice, gentle man. The way Skip was, every day was just a lovely day. He was an optimist. If I had sat down with the same music and my collaborator had been somebody else with a different personality, it probably would have caused something else to cross my mind lyrically. It was a combination of the music and the person and the ambience in the room."
Withers: "We're all sponges in a sense. You put us around very nice people, and the nice things come out in us. You put us around some jerks, and we practice being jerks. We all adjust. Did you ever notice the difference in the way you speak to your grandmother or your best contemporary friend? If I had sat down with the same music and my collaborator had been somebody else with a different personality, it probably would have caused something else to cross my mind lyrically."
In 1999, this was used in a series of very popular commercials for The Gap, where it helped sell a lot of Khakis. Many people discovered the song because of the commercial.
Near the end of the song, Withers holds a note for 18 seconds... "Lovely Daaaaaaaaay." This might be the longest held vocal note of any hit song.
In 1992, a group called The Soul System remade this into a dance song that was used in the movie The Bodyguard. It wasn't the first time one of Withers' songs was made into a dance hit - in 1987 Club Noveau had a #1 hit with a cover of "Lean On Me."
Artists who have covered this include Clarence Carter, Hootie & the Blowfish, Take 6 and Luther Vandross. (Thanks to Bill WIthers for speaking with us about this song. For more, check out www.billwithersmusic.com.)

2006-03-20T01:59:00.000-08:00

MY INITIAL IDEAS

My initial thoughts for my music video were to create a visual collection of memories of my grandad using the song "Because you loved me" by Celine Dion. After some thought I found that this subject may be too emotional for me so I then thought about focusing the movie on my father. I think that the events in my childhood have made me the person that I am today, so my idea was to collect photographs of me as a child with both my mum and dad together, contrasting with them separated, with me stuck in the middle, expressing my feelings at this time. Then showing photographs of me alone, leading to my journey of moving in with my dad, growing up and coming to University.

STATE OF CONFUSION

I am now in a confused state again, thinking that I could make a movie to "All coming back to me now" by Celine Dion about a couple breaking up, using myself and my boyfriend as actors. This way I will find it easier as we are both here at St.Martins so I won't need to travel back home all of the time to collect things for it. But then the problem with this idea is that the song is five and a half minutes long.

I have yet another idea which contrasts with these quite depressing subjects, which is to use a song like Shania Twain's "I feel like a woman" to show my friends and I getting ready to go out in Lancaster. This showing each stage of us all getting ready, like having a shower, putting make-up on, doing eachother's hair etc. This would be quite fun for us to do and will be easily accessible as we all live together in Halls.

REALIZATION

I have now realized that it is going to be extremely hard for me to film this idea of my friends and I getting ready as everyone goes home and comes back at different times. Due to this dilemma, I shall now come up with a different idea which will mainly include my boyfriend and I, possibly with scanned in images aswell. I will initially pick a song and listen to it, which will create ideas in my head and I will then draw a quick storyboard to help trigger new ideas. Doing this will also give my ideas as to where the camera should be positioned to make the film more interesting.