A year at BBC Newcastle – News, editing, animation and so much more

Today  pretty much marks exactly a year ago when I moved 250 miles up North to pursue a years job in the field of News and Live Broadcasting. When I accepted the job of Senior Operator at BBC Newcastle in July 2015, I was nervous and also excited about the opportunity that I had been given. When I was in college and university I had the original ambition of becoming a journalist and working in Television News the fact that I was offered a job to work in an environment that I had always had a fascination with and at a company that has always seem to be a distant goal to be achieved I felt overwhelmed and amazed at the opportunity that I have always wanted to have a go at being given to me.

The chance to work for a company that whenever I did work experience at (Blue Peter and Top of the Pops Magazine) I would walk around wide eyed and fascinated that I even had the opportunity to get a week or so working their for free, the fact I was now going to be paid to work there seemed surreal.

The year of working in local news has been such a great years worth experience and taught me so much about live broadcasting that I did not know before I joined the job. Working at companies like Sky and SYCO before meant that I had only worked in Post Production of Long Form or in Development so to see what the life of a live television show was like was amazing.

The first time I got shown into the studio and watched the Vision Mixer, TC and Director in the gallery were amazing and could never imagine playing anything out live or even being in charge of something so important.

I remember the first few months of working in the live broadcasting environment pretty nerve wracking. Whilst the people i worked with were so friendly and like a little family the thought that something I produced from maybe a minute to an hour a go was to be showed live on air was quite a scary experience when you are not used to it. The most scary thing that I had to do was play out live. This means that if there is a live studio chat or a journalist live at a scene they sometimes want facts to be animated on the screen over the top of them whilst they talk. I will never forget how scared i was the first time stopping and starting a graphic. I think it was a news story about shops now charging 5p for bags and i was holding my breath the whole time i played and paused the graphic and remember doing a little celebration dance sigh of relief and a woo in the graphics room as i was so flipping scared.

Whilst creating plasmas and playing out live was a nervewracking experience I will never forget the feeling of when I started producing graphics for news packages. I quite enjoyed doing these as you could be more creative in how you presented the facts and fell into the creations of it quite easily as it was  very similar to the type of graphics that you do in long form post production, just less time. One of the first ones I did was for the health reporter, Sharon Barbour about smoking in cars being banned. I created the graphic that she was really happy with, published it for the Picture Editors and thought nothing else about it. The next day Sharon came up to me and told me that the graphic had been received very well and that the news story that she had done was not just regional news but also national and the last time she look had reached 14 million people! That was one of the most overwhelmed and shocked i think i have ever felt in regards to a graphic before. I tend not to think about how many people are looking at your work as it is insane and something you cannot ever really imagine but 14 million! That is crazy and still shocks me to this day.

One thing I will be ever thankful to BBC Newcastle for is the opportunity they gave me to do is Editing. Video editing is something that I have been doing since i was 16 years old and has been something I fell in love with right from the start, throughout school and college i always gained nearly full marks for anything i edited and was an area of post production i always wanted to go into. I kept editing in University through Journalism and also when I changed courses by doing independent projects. Every job that i have had in television i have constantly tried to wiggle in editing at every possible chance. At Syco i ended up helping to edit sizzles even though i wasn’t hired for that, at SKY I ended up cutting taster tapes and mini videos as leaving presents for people but at BBC they actually trained my up on a new system and trained me on editing for news.

It was a great experience and loved every second. When I had my apprasal my boss even mentioned that he was shocked at how quickly i picked up editing for news and that Journalists were actually going to Producers specifically asking to cut with me which is such a high compliment and was such a lovely thing to hear. To actually be recognised and noticed for something that you originally wanted to do in Television is such a lovely feeling and to me is a way of proving to myself all those interviews I have been to in the past telling everyone i am a strong editor as well as producing graphics I wasn’t lying i knew i was and hearing it from others really is a lovely feeling.

I will never forget the first few weeks of editing. Quantel is so different to every other edit programme i have used before (AVID, FCP, Premier) that i was pretty nervous at first and also editing to tight deadlines is nerve wracking as hell at first. One of my first packages was with a journalist called Gerry Jackson and was a local story in relation to the Budget that George Osbourne has set. All the footage came in late and it was one of the headline stories so it had to be edited quickly. The journalist was stressed out and I was too as it was the first time i had to edit to the line of going live. We made the deadline but just as it hit 6:30 and that first time you have to work up to the last minute was so scary but over time i learnt to control my nerves and it is something that doesn’t happen that often apart from when there are big stories that could change at any time – for example, the day of the Brexit vote was both a fantastically interesting day to work in news and also very last minute as everything was always changing in politics.

A year in Newcastle and local news has given me so much experience and probably more then I have achieved from any other job before. I learnt so much about different areas of live broadcasting and that it is a fun but unpredictable environment to work in. The fact every day is different is really nice and also makes work a fun thing because you never know what is waiting behind the corner. I was able to use my skills of 3D animation that I have been training in to finally create something for television which again was such an achievement for me. I have gained so much from just 52 weeks and the fact that it now allows me to now journey on my career as a Video Editor as well as a Graphics Designer , i will always be thankful for.

 

Bartolo Creations 2015 Year Review

This year has been responsible for the biggest turn in my career so far in the television world. It has lead me to my biggest leap in my career yet as well as some of the projects that I am most proudest of.

I haven’t written for a while as life has taken a busy turn, so let me just first sum up where my Television career has taken me to and where it began. I was lucky enough to jump into a television job in September 2012, it had taken me about 6 to 7 long months of applying left right and centre for job after job to try and get into the door of television world then I was offered a Runners job at a post-production company in Soho which I stayed with for 3 months.

After that job ended I went through a very few tough few months trying to find my next job in television. I wanted to bend the rules, I didn’t want to be a runner again – I didn’t enjoy it and felt that I would never be able to prove my skills and ability and ever be taken seriously by making cups of teas. I did a long length of research by asking editors in the industry, reading everywhere I can to see if I can break the standard way of getting into television without working up the chain and 80% of the answers I got were negative saying I had to be a runner, I had to work my way up the hierarchy.

In May of 2013, SYCO Entertainment gave me the freelance opportunity that I will always be so thankful for turning my TV career into a different where I will never have to be a runner again. I was hired two times for various different creative projects and the fact that my CV no longer had the word runner at the top opened the doors for me and started to lead my career down the journey I really wanted it to go. I am so grateful to SYCO Entertainment for giving me the opportunity I bought a pendant for my Pandora to mark the moment. (I have a cow on my Pandora that represents SYCOs owner, Simon COWell).

my Simon COWell

After that, the next year and a half was spent with various companies including SKY where I stayed for a year and three months and was the starting point of why 2015 has been a great year for my career. I started at SKY in 2014 and in that time I worked on a variety of different projects and programmes and this year the show that I spent quite a lot of 2014 working on finally got aired and it is something that I am really proud of. Not only was it the second show I ever produced graphics for, it was also the first six part series I had ever produced graphics for.

Weekend Warriors

Weekend Warriors is a six part series that aired on the Yesterday Channel in the UK and channels such as SBS Australia internationally. It was a six part documentary that followed the lives of re-enactors getting ready for shows around the United Kingdom. The show consisted of a lot of research before graphics even went ahead as each of the programmes needed to reflect the era in which they were discussing so that it was as historically correct as possible.

The graphics were spread over 5 months to produce and each episode took a lot of work as there were a lot of animations and graphics involved.For example each map that was in the episode took between 4 to 7 hours just to hand draw out without the colouring and texturing involved.

This map from Epsiode 2 took approx 5 hours to draw all the detail in and then another 3-7 hours colouring and getting all the details correct before animation. 

One of the main career events that has happened in 2015 is that I got offered a job as a Senior Operator at BBC News regional. This is a job that i have always wanted to do. Since the age of 13, I wanted to be a journalist, when i went to university to study Journalism, I realised that I loved learning about the practical side more then the theory / the law / politics. So after a year of Multi-Media Journalism I changed to a different course where I learnt how to make website, interactive animations and how to use Photoshop, Illustrator etc.

One of the many graphics I have done for Regional News

When I was offered the job I was so shocked and happy as it felt like my career was finally going in the direction I wanted it to go in. I always wanted to be part of the newsroom and was always wanting to get back to it in the angle that I wanted to. I wanted to be able to use my abilities as a motion graphic designer and video editor to inform the public with what is happening in the world. The fact that I have been given the opportunity to be a part of this world has made 2015 so special to me and for my career.

A graphic I did for National BBC News that reached 14 Million viewers

When I look back at the 3 years that I have been in television a lot has happened and I would of never of thought I would of got to this point so quickly. It hasn’t been an easy progression but one that I have worked hard for and want to keep pushing myself to do more things in the future that challenge my limits.

I am currently training myself on Cinema 4D so i can expand my skills into 3D animation and eventually use these skills to develop the way that information is being portrayed to the public in the news environment.

It does not include BBC news work, but here is a showreel of previous work.

 

 

 

 

 

The edit series #14 – Happy 15th Birthday to a film that changed my life…

American Beauty

Ok – that’s a bit dramatic for a title but in some ways it honestly is true. This year American Beauty turns 15 years old and even though it is a film I have only seen once it really did change my life and lead me down my career path as an editor / motion graphics designer.

Kevin Spacey in American Beauty

Back in 2006, I had to take my options for college and narrow down 4 AS subjects down to 3 A levels. My heart was set in continuing media, geography and English and dropping film studies. Why? Back then my heart was set on becoming a journalist and knew these three subjects would help me to get onto the course I so desperately wanted to do in Bournemouth. The reason I didn’t want to continue film studies was because in the first year I didn’t like it – it consisted of studying really unnecessary violent films and overly stupid Sci-Fi films like space balls and I didn’t see any point in continuing as I felt one of my lecturers as well wasn’t that good and was more interested in telling us stories about when he worked in Blockbuster trying to make it sound like he worked in Hollywood….

I think my tutor needed to learn what Hollywood was and that it isn’t Blockbuster Video…

My other tutor called Paul, pulled me aside and asked me to reconsider dropping film as he said I had a potential to do really well in the final year. I am glad that he said that because it made me think about it. A lot. And I eventually dropped English and took film and scored very nearly full marks in my A Levels. If it wasn’t for Paul trying to convince me, I think my career path may be very different today.

Anyway- back on to Subject – the reason that I told you that little anecdote is because the second year of film studies is where I learnt so much that helped me develop as a creative and American Beauty was the film that really opened up my eyes to how beautiful and clever cinematography can be.

Now i had dabbled in studying cinematography for quite a few years, studying Gladiator with Russell Crow when I was 15 at GCSE and at AS level with Media studies watching small clips of the Italian Job (the revamped version) and pirates of the Caribbean. However, the cinematography in American Beauty was like nothing I had ever seen before and was so amazed by the way everything was a hidden clue throughout the film.

The colour red. The colour red was the thing that really was one of the topics that fascinated me about American beauty. The way that it was used throughout the film to depict a message to the audience.

It was the first film that I had ever watched frame by frame, the opening sequence and was amazed at how much meaning and connotations could be received from a high angled pan going into a suburban area of America. The words, the colours, the leaves. It truly blew my mind away.

The high angle pan

The reason I have dedicated a post to this film is because it really helped me look at filming and post in a whole new light. Whenever I start a new project, I stop and think just a second about American Beauty and the amount of Mis-en-scene that was involved even in the first few seconds of that film and how everything can make an impact on an audience.

 

The Edit Series #13 – Sports

I will admit this straight out before writing any more of this blog – I am not a huge sports fan. When I was at school I got into football a little bit mainly because 80% of my friends were male and they were obsessed by it but I never really had that much interest in it (Only the World Cup). I remember when I was about 6-8  years old (and probably one of my earliest “sportiest” memories) I used to have a best friend who was obsessed with Man United and we used to simulate football games with the toys from my dolls house whenever he used to pop over after school for dinner.

( A few videos of songs for the World Cups – I was way more into the music then the sport)

As I grew up, I never really followed sports but I used to love playing them. When I was in high school I was in pretty much any team possible – Netball, Rounders, Hockey etc. I used to go to day events in the summer with my best friend at the time where we would play tennis, archery, trampolining etc. The only sport that I had a small amount of interest (even though I never had a chance to watch it) was Skating, and that was due to spending hours on end playing Tony Hawks. (I would like to make a note at this point, I did have a skate board but this “passion” to learn lasted a very short time as I could only turn left and I was a right wimp who didn’t want to break any bones / get bruises).

As I have got older, my interest in watching sports on television hasn’t developed however I love watching the sports in the Olympic / Winter Olympic Games and I also really like the fact now that I can now access footage of skating and extreme sports a lot easier now that the internet has now exploded. This post however is about something I didn’t realise existed until I went to Tampa over Christmas this year.

Over the Christmas period of 2013, I  was in Tampa Florida and due to the fact we don’t get a lot of the sport over in the UK, we decided to go to see Ice Hockey team Tampa Bay Lightning in action. Cut a long story short – I loved it, we both did, and ended up going to see them twice more and now I am a fan and follow the Bolts every game (also the teams that they are playing in at Sochi 14) This blog is not about how I have been converted to sports, it is actually about an area of Editing and Motion Graphics I didn’t even consider as an inspiration.

The one thing I love about America is the hype that they produce at events. I have been to a variety of musical and theatre events in the States and each and every one that I have been to has had a great development to the main event to make you excited. As soon as the videos for the introduction of the Ice Hockey started to play, i was amazed.

Ice Hockey and Tampa Bay Lightning 

I am not going to analyse bit by bit the Tampa Bay Lightning videos that are played as I am sure that if you went and saw any Hockey team in the States they would all have something very similar or relevant to that team (For example – there is a lot of lightning that strikes throughout the games for The Bolts). The one thing I absolutely loved about the videos was the editing to produce the suspense. The Motion Graphics that are used to pint point certain hits / collisions or slap shots really produce an emphasis and an excitement in the audience.

The thing that I like the most about the opening video for the Tampa Bay Lightning is the use of 3D graphics – it creates adrenaline and really portrays the excitement and the rush that the game of ice hockey can produce. When I first saw the introduction, I fell in love with some of it, as a Motion Graphics Designer and Editor, this happens a lot when I see a good piece of editing and could talk for Britain about a number of top favourites that I have.

I love the use of slow motion – this is one of my favourite things to do as an Editor, I don’t like it when it is over used, but when it is used correctly it can really look amazing. (Watch this space for a future blog post about this). There are two parts of the opening titles that are my favourite and have given me more inspiration as a Motion Graphics Designer – The first is the use of triangles in white to connote the workings of Ice Hockey and the important factors of the game.The reason I like this so much is because it connotes that even though Ice Hockey players are “human” they also have a “super human / robotic” power about them because they play for NHL and because they are playing at super speed.

The Captain Martin St Louis – slow motion and graphics to introduce

3D Motion Graphics used throughout produce major impact and excitement

White Lines used to connote there is more than meets the eye to a Hockey Player

The second part of the Motion Graphics that I love is the way that the name of the teams captain (and also my favourite player) St Louis name is animated to look like it is being sewn into a hockey shirt. It really emphasis and important part of the team (as he is the Captain) and that when it zooms out it connotes that it is not one person that makes a team, it is all the players.

Use of interesting graphics lightly put on the background throughout

The Captain, St Louis name being sewn into a jersey

I have been wanting to write a blog post about this since 21st December 2013 (as this was the first Ice Hockey game I went to) but due to travelling and other events that happen in life, I haven’t had the chance. I haven’t just walked away from The Forum in Tampa as an Ice Hockey fan, I have also walked away with my eyes wide opened feeling very inspired as an Editor and Motion Graphics designer. I never even thought that sport editing could be somewhere that pushes my creativity but in all honesty it has. From the first couple of minutes of that first game I felt like a whole new door had opened and that I now feel that I can take my Motion Graphics work to a whole new level from seeing something that adrenaline rushed.

Finally – Lets recognise other Ice Hockey Teams

Even though I am now a Tampa Bay Lightning fan, i felt it was a tad bias just praising the works of one team. So I went away this afternoon to have a look at other teams that are in the top 10 of the NHL League and also competitors in the Atlantic Division (which TBL are a part of) to see what other introductions were out there. They are al very different as you can see – out of all the ones I watched, I found Chicago Blackhawks and St Louis Blues impressive for the use of Motion Graphics.

Boston Bruins 

Chicago Blackhawks

St Louis Blues

Anaheim Ducks

New York Rangers

Montreal Canadians:

The Edit Series #12 – Animations on Television

I am going to go down a different road for the next set of blog posts as Animation is something very close to my heart. I love animations, I love the way it provides escapism and the way some of them are so clever and have deeper meaning as you grow up you see them in a different light. Two of my earliest memories is watching Rupert the Bear and The Frogs Song all the time with my Grandparents when I was about 2 or 3 and also watching The Jungle Book around this age as well and banging my hands on a black leather footrest in time to the beat of “I Wanna be Like you”.

I am a big fan of animation and love 2D and Stop Animation the most. This blog post will explore some of the animations I really admire because of the narratives, cinematography and the visual.

Shaun The Sheep

I love Aardman Animations, and this is one of my favourite television shows that they have done. For my final year at University, I analysed the opening shot of the show, frame by frame and analysed the cinematography and mis-en-scene. From doing that excerise I ended up loving this show even more and actually have a couple of them on DVD. I know that its a childrens show but the one thing that I really like about it is the little things hidden in the background of a lot of the shots. I am one of these people who loves looking at the background of a programme sometimes more then the actually main focus of the shot. I love looking out for things that are hidden for the audience to find and have a little laugh at the cleverness.

Winnie The Pooh
When I mention Winnie The Pooh, I don’t mean the new versions of it that have given Winnie a really weird and fat head, but I am talking about the television shows that were around in the nineties or before. There are two reasons why I have chosen to put this into my choices, one because it was one of my biggest childhood characters that I loved and two I adore the classic use of animation.

Animaniacs
This show was banned from the UK for being too rude for children but I used to love it when I was a kid. I borrowed a DVD from a friend at university (Thanks Tom!) to re-watch season one again and was quite taken aback at how many sexual innuendos were in the show! One of my favourite segments of the animation is when Yakko talks about the countries of the world. If it wasn’t for this show, we wouldn’t have Pinky and the Brain!

Spongebob Squarepants
I think while we are talking about innuendo cartoons for kids then I think that we need to mention this show. I have been watching this recently as it was on Netflix and I was amazed at how many hidden sexual innuendos are in the show! The main reason I have put this in my list is because I think it is so clever the way that real life mixes with the cartoon – like when Spongebob is throw out of water he turns into a real sponge. I think the little things in this animation really make it very clever and really like the concept of it.

Family Guy
I have a love hate relationship with this show – I do like it but I have to be in the mood to watch it. I watch it now and again to relax, but I wouldn’t say I watch it religiously and there are a lot of them out there that I haven’t seen. However, I saw an episode the other day that I found was really clever. It was an episode where Stewie and Brian keep going to different worlds and get animated in different ways such as Disney characters. I really like the humour of Seth McFarlene.

The Amazing Adventures of Morph
If i think back, I think this is one of the shows that got me really interested in animation. I had this on VHS as a kid and used to watch it a lot. One of my favourite episodes is when Morph and Charles climb the shelves to get Tony Harts Belgium Bun. I love the imagination behind this animation and even today really enjoy watching it.

The Simspons
The Simpsons is my favourite animation, when I started watching it as a kid I loved it so much that I used to record them off of BBC2 on VHS and have my own collections of them from TV. I also used to spend a lot of time drawing them and if you gave me a pen I could draw you a Homer Simpson or a Bart Simpson straight away not looking at anything. I love the Simpsons as it’s one of those shows that you never get bored with and no matter how many times you see an episode, you will always spot something new that you didn’t notice before.  Here are a few clips:

The Edit Series #11 – Music Videos with Major Narratives

Usually I like to try and write one blog post a day / spread them out over the week instead of one after another, but this has been a topic I have been wanting to write about for quite a while. The initial reason why I haven’t wrote this blog post before is that I was trying to collect more research to provide a bigger post. However, I will continue doing research and if I come up with some interesting findings I will write another blog post about this topic.

As I have stated in previous posts, I love love LOVE music videos and try to watch as many as I can to focus on the way it is edited to the beat, the styles and also the portrayal that the musician wants to reflect them. One type of music video that I have come across recently, is major narratives, that last for more then one song and in the two cases I am about to talk to you about, the whole album that the band is promoting. I came across this when I started to watch music videos for the band Marianas Trench and have also come across is with Fall Out Boy’s new album as well (more about them two later).

One that I am excited about is a rumour I have heard about Lady GaGa, that she is making a second video to follow on the narrative from the music video Telephone. I really hope this happens!

Marianas Trench – Ever After, music videos series. 

Before I discuss the videos, it’s important to first understand the album. As Wikipedia describes:

“Ever After also has a storyline told through the album’s songs as well as its digital booklet. The story tells of Josh Ramsay, who lands in Toyland and has an amazing adventure.

Josh Ramsay meets the ex king upon his waking up in a strange land in front of a toy factory. The King tells Josh that he was overthrown by the his wife Queen Carolina, after seducting him into a feeling of safety. She then stole the heart of his daughter, Princess Porcelain, which caused the king so much pain, that he let Carolina take the throne. Carolina locks Porcelain’s heart in a box atop a tower, which also holds various things she has also stolen; including Joshs way home. Carolina proceeded to steal the inhabitants hearts, and build her army of heartless toy soldiers. After hearing this tale, Josh sets of in search of Porcelain and his way home.

Carolina then comes to Josh in the night, and attempts to bribe him into ruling Toyland with her. This meant Josh would never be able to go home. So he turns her down. When Josh comes to, he finds Porcelain, who is human as well. She has the key to the box around her necks. When asked why she isn’t a toy like everyone else, she cannot remember. She couldn’t remember anything that happened before her heart had been stolen. She explains that Carolina’s soldiers have been stealing and locking away hearts without rebellion for some time. Josh and Porcelain then proceed to find the stuttering wise man, the one with the other half of the key.

Once they find the Stuttering Wise Man they discover that he is the brother of the Outcast King, and one of the few remaining inhabitants to have a heart. He explains that Porcelain showed up at the castle as a lost child and was adopted by the king. She is also from Josh’s homeland.

The Stuttering Wise Man then leads the two into the factory that creates the heartless toy soldiers. The trio then plead with the heartless soldiers to work together and overthrow the Queen. They soon convince the soldiers to go along with their plan. The Outcast King charges into battle with the rebel soldiers, outnumbered, as Porcelain, the Stuttering Wise Man, and Josh go up to the tower where the box is held.

The Queen sees Josh and tries to brutally attack him. Porcelain and the Prince then open the box as the Queen attempts to steal Josh’s heart. After a flash of light, Josh regains consciousness and hears joyful cheers from the courtyard below, and finds that they have defeated the Queen. However the Stuttering Prince is dead as the other half of the key had been his own heart. Porcelain throws Carolina off the tower to be swarmed by angry toy soldiers. The King retakes the throne and Porcelain and Josh go home, but find that after the adventure, it didn’t feel like home, so the two return to the kingdom and live happily ever after.”

(Sorry about the essay) The stories of the videos have a reflection of this story that is depicted throughout the album. I didn’t realise at first that the videos were connected, until I started seeing iconic objects in all of the videos. The one thing that I really like about some of the videos is that they are all very different and very random but once you have watched them in order to the tracklisting it starts to make sense. Reading items online about the videos as well also provide interesting reading for this video series. As iDoAirGuitar on YouTube states:

“Makes me think that Fallout is the dream sequence of By Now. He thinks that she will save him, but she betrays him. Haven’t Had Enough shows that he thought she’d be good for him, but wasn’t. Desperate Measures and Stutter are him saving himself… Which didn’t happen in reality.”

 I really like the use of sound in these videos to connote the strange things that are happening and find it pretty effective. I truly love these videos and find them such a creative concept and never get bored watching them and finding new things in the cinematography. I have attached all the videos below so you can make your own judgements.

(Never heard of Marianas Trench before? Here’s a little fact then that may interest you : Josh Ramsey  (Lead Singer) was one of the writers of Carley Rae Jepson’s huge hit “Call Me Maybe” )

Fall Out Boy – The Young Blood Chronicles. 

When Fall Out Boy returned to the music scene, I was one happy bunny as I really love their music and found their new album really good. However, just like Marianas Trench, they are releasing a set of videos – a MIGHTY 11 called The Young Blood Chronicles. When I started to watch them I was interested to see how the narrative would develop, however we are only 5 videos (The Mighty Fall being released about 4 hours ago) in and I am starting to worry as to whether the narrative is actually going to develop. From reading the many comments from fans etc online apparently the videos are a metaphor to the reasons why the band broke up and how they re-formed.

I will admit something now – I hate blood and gore and find in modern day society there are so many programmes and films that use unnecessary scenes of gore. I had quite an interesting conversation with someone the other day about censorship in the media – they were against sexy music videos and sexy lyrics being available for young teenagers to hear (such as songs like Blurred Lines, and Rihanna videos etc) HOWEVER they thought it was fine for a young teenager to watch really gore and blood fest films. This still amazes me that someone can accept something like that as being the “norm.”

This is one thing about Fall Out Boys videos that I can’t seem to get my head around. In the second video, they are kidnapped and taken to a torture chamber etc but this violence has started to happen in every video and I am hoping with the rest of the videos to come that they focus on something better. I know that a lot of people like this sort of entertainment, but even if they are creating metaphors for how their career has progressed, I personally feel there are better ways to show it in a few parts of their video. Love the album and the music so not arguing against that, but someone put it perfectly on the newest video on the comments on YouTube

“It’s like listening to a great song with a random video just being put over the top.”

[WARNING: some of these videos contain explicit imagery ]

I really like the underlying message and metaphors to these videos and I really hope that they develop.

The Edit Series #10 – Cooking and Food Shows

I love cooking and food shows – they are my guilty pleasure. I am a big foodie and love cooking and collect cookery books, recipes and cook / try out new recipes whenever I can. These pictures show just a few of the recipes I have scrap booked and cooking books that I have collected over the years.

Cook books

I love cooking and food shows for their creative, quick and fast paced editing. Over the years I have watched so many different food shows and noticed a variation of designs to make them look modern, rustic, independent or in the style of reality television. Here is a just a small hand full of shows that I love – not just for its recipes, but because of the way it is edited / graphics produced.

Jamie Oliver 15 Minute Meals

Out of all of Jamie Oliver television shows, this is one of my least favourites – however I really like the way that it is edited. I really like the short and fast edits to advertise the food that he is cooking. I really like the fact that the split screen is used a number of times to create a cool and modern look.

Come Dine With Me

I love this show and watch it a lot (especially on a lazy day) I find it very entertaining and really enjoy the format of the show. Recently, I have started to re-watch the first few seasons of the show and find it fascinating how different the editing is now compared to then. The editing in the earlier series is very basic and drags out the narration of the contestant who is cooking. In the later series of the show it gets to the facts about the person quicker and mixes the recipes in with them cooking them instead of the format in the earlier seasons where it goes Menu-reactions of other contestants – cooking prep – the meal.   The new seasons tend to go Part of menu revealed – reaction – cooking of this section – part of menu revealed – reaction – cooking – part of menu revealed – reaction – cooking – the meal. I love the celebrity episodes of CDWM as well as it shows some of them in a different light. One of my favourite episodes of CDWM is actually the worst episode. There was an episode based in Ramsgate where a contestant called Marcello Marin insulted and was really rude to every contestant he was up against. I didn’t like his manner, the one thing I found fascinating was the response that came afterwards. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1350672/Come-Dine-With-Me-swine-Marcello-Marins-1k-hate-messages-police-complaint.html  (read about the story here) A cooking show having this much impact on the public I find quite interesting. Here are clips from a few of the shows.

Fabulous Baker Brothers

The one thing that I like about this cooking show is the use of colour and rustic graphics used throughout it. It is based around two brothers, one who is a chef and the other who is a baker. It is fast paced editing and uses really warm and rustic colours through (what I am guessing) the Online edit which makes me really like the show.

Ace Of Cakes

My friend at University introduced me to this show and since then I try and watch it as much as I can. The one thing I do like about American television in general is how differently a show is edited that is in the same genre a a UK show. I would love to give a pile of the same footage to both an English Editor and an American Editor and see how differently they make the same show.  The one thing I really like about American Television is the way that they highlight the food that is going to be made in the show. They show it usually at the beginning, after every advert and then a huge focus on it at the end. I find that American television focusses mainly on the shock value or the drama of a food show where as UK cooking shows tend to just show you how things are made. I really like the way that AOC is edited and the way that it focusses on the production process of the cakes in the Charm City cake shop. I like the way that music is used throughout the show and that it feels like a sense of a reality show.

Cupcake Wars

I am not a big fan of cupcakes, and I very rarely watch this show, but its a programme I quite enjoy. This show produces tension, drama, and mixes the elements of reality television and talent competitions genres that the States tend to do a lot of. I like the way that the cupcakes have to be inventive. Unlike AOC, it thrives more on the drama and the competition between the contestants then the actual food, when it goes to breaks etc.

 

Nigel Slater Simple Suppers

I really like the simple and straight forward format to this show. One of my favourite things about this show is the Motion Graphics that are used in between the recipes. I love scrap books in general and the use of animation to make the recipes appear in a handwritten style in a scrapbook cooking book is very clever. I really like the way that the sounds of the garden are used throughout and the music as well. It is very simple editing (to obviously tie in with the name of the show) and thats why I love it so much from an editing perspective, as well as a television show.

 

There are many other food shows out there that I really like watching for either pleasure, to gain inspiration, of because of the feel of it. I could go on and talk about all the food shows I like or have watched over the years: The Great British Bake Off, Master chef, Heston, Food Glorious Food, Can’t Cook Won’t Cook, Ready Steady Cook, Saturday Kitchen, Gary Rhodes, Delia Smith, Jamie Does America, River Cottage, Man Vs Food, Paula Dean, etc etc but there are too many to mention. The point of this blog post was to highlight a couple in the recent year or so that I have found inspiring from an editing perspective.

The Edit Series #9 – Extreme Sports

One thing a lot of people don’t know about me is that I quite enjoy watching Extreme Sports – skateboarding in particular. It is not something I do on a regular basis, but if I happen to be flicking through the television and I find something like the X Games on, I will watch it. I am not the biggest of sports fans but I do enjoy extreme sports, the one thing I enjoy in particular is the videos that are produced to promote a person.

I grew up playing Tony Hawks on the PS2 – it wasn’t initially by choice – Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 came free with the console, but I ended up really enjoying it that I started to buy a new game every time one came out. Like I stated at the beginning – I am not a hard core fan of sports but I really used to enjoy the mini videos that you would open in the game of different professional skaters.

I have recently watched documentaries such as “Dogtown and Z Boys” and “Billabong Odyssey” because I was interested to learn more about the origins or vertical skateboarding and surfing. I love the way that tricks are slowdown and edited so here are a few of the videos that I love the editing to and the reasons why.

I felt that it was important to mention this topic as a post because it is another factor that inspired me to become an Editor.

Billabong Odyssey

I recently have only just watched this but I felt that it was worth mentioning as I really liked the way that some of the scenes were put together. The way that the speed of the surfing is slowed down and the was that the use of sounds is emphasised with the waves throughout the film make it a very interesting documentary to watch and also at times very visually beautiful. I love the reduction of speed to show action and I really enjoyed this because it did it a lot.

Bob Burnquist’s “Dreamland” – A Backyard Progression

I saw this video recently and fell in love with it – it sums up everything that I love about Skateboarding and other extreme sports promotional videos. The music creates a real sense of passion and determination. I love the use of cinematography and the way that the footage has been edited together. I adore the way that the colours have been manipulated in the online edit of the film and also the way that the motion is slowed down when he approaches a big trick. One of my favourite sections of the video is when the helicopter is introduced at the end. It fades to black and all you can hear are helicopter blades and then it goes on to the section where he performs tricks with the machine.

Tony Hawks Pro Skater videos

Like I stated at the beginning of this post – this is where I first gained an interest in Skateboarding and the promotional videos that are produced. I find extreme sports videos an inspiration and push you to do what you want in life and that nothing is impossible and that you can push the boundaries and break the limits. Here are a few of my favourite videos from the computer game to end this short but sweet blog post.

(couldn’t find the original video for this but near the end is a big gap jump that was part of a video on THPS4)

 

The Edit Series #8 – Romantic Episodes – TV

I came up with the idea for this blog post about a week ago when I re-watched an episode of The Office (US) where Michael proposes to Holly and forgot how much I loved the way it was done and started to think about other episodes in other television shows in which I have loved the romantic storyline, the way it was edited to create the build up and also the process in to how the couple have come together, been re-concelied or even broken apart. I felt it was an appropriate blog post to write this weekend as I have spent the weekend celebrating the love of a very great couple. So like every other girl, i have come away in a girly, optimistic lovey dovey mood and has romance on the mind. This blog is dedicated to the happy couple! 

Everyone has a list of television shows that they watch on a regular basis. I love comedy based shows and do tend to watch a lot of sitcoms. I do also like watching a few of the dramas as well. This list will mainly be of these two genres – so I apologise in advance if a show you watch has a great romantic episode / build up of a romance that is not mentioned – my list of “things i need to watch” keeps getting longer and longer and I should really start to tick things off of it. So – lets get started! 

(WARNING – This blog post contains spoiler alerts for those who haven’t seen these programmes – so if you are intending to watch them, please don’t read that section as it will ruin it for you. ) 

The Office (US) – Jim and Pam / Michael and Holly 

Since I started with them in the first paragraph, I thinks only fair that I start with them in the first show. I really like the way that the Office (US) build up romantic stories – the main one being Jim and Pam, but I am going to start with Michael and Holly first. 

MICHAEL AND HOLLY 

I heard about Steve Carrell’s decision to leave the office a long time before I saw the show as I got into it very late on and the episodes had already aired. I knew that he left in Season 7 so I was waiting to see how it was done. I felt through the beginning of the Season that the episodes were slowly running out of the holding power that kept me watching the show. But then something happened – they brought Holly back. How they brought her back I thought was a little bit predictable and sort of felt like everything was being rushed in the narrative so that Steve Carrell could leave. However, when I saw this episode it made me first well up with tears in my eyes (because it is such a sweet and romantic proposal) and also smile because they were giving Steve Carrell’s character a really lovely reason to leave the show. It is one of my favourite proposals I have watched on TV and love it. 

JIM AND PAM

The main couple that the US Office is based around, originally to mirror the relationship of the UK Office of Tim (Martin Freeman) and Dawn (Lucy Davis) but the results are completely different. I really liked the relationship story between Jim and Pam in the earlier seasons of the Office as it was all about whether they will or they won’t get together. There are two episodes that I love with Jim and Pam – the first one is the end of season 2 when Jim tells Pam that he is in love with her, and the second is the wedding. I love the wedding episode as it is based around a Youtube video but it really highlights the way that it again highlights the love between these two characters.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S – Monica and Chandler 

Chandler has always been my favourite character in Friends, and when he started seeing Monica, the stories started to become really exciting as to when people would find out they were together. I loved the comedy factor around the other Friends finding out and also how they found out. One of my favourite episodes is when Pheobe pretends to have a crush for Chandler to make him out the fact he is seeing Monica, and instead of just declaring he is seeing her, he admits for the first time that he is love with her. 

Chuck – Chuck and Sarah

Chuck is one of my all time favourite shows, and I love the story that develops between Chuck and Sarah. Its not just something that develops over one episode – it occurs for all 5 seasons but the real build up happens over the first three and leaves the audience always in tender hooks and screaming at the tv “be together already!?!?” The episode when they do end up together, is one of my favourites as he saves her life and shoots someone for the first time to save the woman that he loves.

I couldn’t find a YouTube clip to show this part, so here is a clip that shows their first kiss. Sarah knows that Chuck really likes her but has always told him that she doesn’t feel the same, When she thinks a bomb is going to go off she takes the last few seconds to show how she feels. 

 

The OC – Seth and Summer 

When this show first started, I never understood why people liked it and then one day when I was on a late start at college, i turned to channel 4 and it was on and I started watching it and it was an episode in season 2 where Seth and Summer get back together and I realised why people liked it. I then watched it from the beginning to watch the story between Seth and Summer and how it develops. The one thing that I love about The OC (and its also the same thing I love about Chuck ) is the way that the music is used to emphasise emotion. This is done alot in The OC, especially with romantic scenes. I cannot think of a specific scene or episode which I love because there are always loads of classic moments with Seth and Summer. I do like the way that they focus on they fact that  “opposites” attract. 

Dawsons Creek – Pacey and Joey

Keeping with the whole teen shibang, i will now go onto Dawsons Creek. I started watching this only this year, it came on Netflix and I thought “well got nothing else to watch, lets give it a go”. I very nearly stopped watching it after four or five episodes – i found it ridiculously cheesy and was getting irritated with bits of it. However, I stayed with it and watched it through to season 4 so far. I got irritated with the whole Dawson and Joey storyline as I found him pretty annoying to watch. I remember when I was about 16, there was a huge thing about Dawsons at school and the ending being that Joey chose Pacey. So i felt I needed to watch it to see what all the craze was about. When Joey and Pacey’s relationship started to develop, i started to understand why so many people watch it. The build up to the storyline was very well done and still (if I am honest) the only reason I watch Dawsons. Unlike The OC, I don’t like the music in Dawons, its so cheesy that it is a cringe fest. 

How I Met Your Mother – Barney and Robin

I get bored of this show. I was getting to a point where I was going to stop watching an then something happened. The player who sleeps with anything that walks starts to have feelings, and starts falling for his girl mate – Robin. The build up to this romance was really well done and was so great when they did become a couple. However I felt that it was dragged out and ruined when they were a couple and felt that episodes were just produced to fill the time in when the main character Ted finds the mother to his children. The seasons kept going round in circles and I was getting bored of them, however I did start watching again to see how Barney proposed to Robin and I thought it was really sweet. 

Gossip Girl – Chuck and Blair. 

I am not a big fan of this show, just like HIMYM, i find it is dragged out and goes round in circles. I only started watching it because I had nothing else to watch. The one thing I ended up keep watching for was the relationship between Chuck and Blair and if it would develop and how etc. It went round in circles  and got really boring. The first kiss was the reason I kept watching as the bad guy ends up falling for the girl who has pretty much everything. It was interesting at first but it just got boring and started to make no sense. The one thing I really liked about their first kiss was the editing, and the way that it was edited in time to Sum 41. 

 

AND FINALLY

I am going to finish with a show that provides comedy when their is love scenes / weddings. 

The Vicar of Dibley. 

There are always hilarious parts to these episodes when there is romance involved and I love it so much for it. Here are a few clips! Enjoy!

The Edit Series #7 – Musical Moments Pt 3 – Music Videos

I went away after writing my previous blog about Musical Moments in Television and started to think about Music Videos and the impacts that film Musicals can have on the theme of some of them. Music Videos are a vital part of a musician as it can be the main reasons that a song can gain recognition, a good example of this recently is Miley Cyrus’ song “We Can’t Stop” which became the fastest to reach 100 million views on VEVO beating current record holder Rihanna and Eminem with Love the Way you Lie. The music video for Miley is so different to her previous style that it produced shock factor on her new bad girl image and produced a lot of press coverage. 

Many bands and artists have used iconic scenes from Blockbuster films to get their music video or song noticed. By having these iconic images in them it creates entertainment and persuades an audience to watch the video more (and rack up the views on their YouTube). 

There are many examples of bands using films by certain directors (e.g – Tarentino, Nolan) films with certain outstanding characters (action heroes etc) and stories of romance (500 Days of Summer, She’s All That etc) as part of or the whole of the narrative of their music video. Here is a few examples of this:

Wale – The Break Up Song (Based on (500) Days of Summer)

I only just saw this video today as I was researching this topic and feel that it is a perfect example of what I am trying to make with this section of this blog. It is a complete mirror version of the film and is shown the whole way through the film. It also quotes an iconic part of the film. It was released in 2011, and has reached over 10 million views on YouTube

Steps – Say Your Be Mine (based on various films from 1999)

This music video is based around all the films that were famous at the time that it was released – the video includes Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, There’s Something about Mary, Catwoman and Austin Powers. This video takes iconic sections of films that are about romance and people falling in love to emphasise the theme of the song. Released in 1999, it was released as a double A side with a cover of Kylie Minogues “Better the Devil you Know.” It reached number 4 in the UK charts.

Taylor Swift – You Belong with Me (based on the standard Teenage film set up)

This video is based on the standard teen movie about the lead girl being a geek and not being able to be with the popular guy who she is best friends with. In the end of the movie the predictable outcome occurs where the lead geek girl has a makeover, discovers contact lenses and wears a beautiful dress and wins over the guy of her dreams. Reference – She’s All That, 10 Things I Hate About you, A Cinderella Story, A Boy Girl Thing, Never Been Kissed etc ( I could go on, but i think you get the point!)

You Belong with Me was released in 2009, has reached over 200,000,000 views on YouTube, it reached number 2 in the US Billboard charts and only number 30 in the UK Charts. 

 

Before we carry on about film musical moments being shown in music videos I want to focus on another area of the Musical Moments in music videos – the mock and the reflection of the genre videos. 

Many Musicians and bands have used images and sections of other music videos to produce either a “fresh look” or to take the mickey out of other musicians and their genres. These next few examples of videos highlight this point. 

Blink-182 – All The Small Things 

This was one of the first videos that came to mind when I started to think of this point. The song was one of Blink-182s biggest hits and was used at the end of the Charlies Angels film in the credits. One of the reasons that it did so well was because of the video mocking all the boybands and pop stars around in 2000. It mocks bands such as Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Ricky Martin, Britney Spears and Christina. 

The song reached number 2 in the UK Charts, number 6 in the US Billboard charts 

The Wanted – Walks Like Rihanna

In this more modern example, The Wanted music video uses and re-enact famous scenes from other boyband music videos such as Take That, Backstreet Boys, N*Sync to express their feelings about a woman they are singing about and that the woman is a big fan of the boybands. 

I also mentioned that there are some songs that highlight the genre of the band in the song. This classes as a musical moment in my opinion because it is highlighting and emphasising what the band / musician is known for.

 N*Sync – Pop

This song was the first that came to my mind when I thought of this as it is a song all about the genre of pop and the criticism it gains in the press for being part of a boyband etc. 

Now back to the main reason for this blog I originally set out to do – when I had the idea for the blog post yesterday,  my main thought was not about whether music videos recreate film scenes as I already knew that they. My main thought was about the genre of film the Musical and whether music videos would either recreate musicals or use them to produce new unique versions to create a  new “Musical Moment” ( i hope you are still following, trying to break this down as easily as I can) After researching this afternoon, I found some new ones to add to the list I already had. So here are the ones that I have found and that I want to discuss.

Will Young – Your Game

When I first saw this music video, I fell in love with it. The whole song is based around a Musical Theatre performance and is actually one of my inspirations for planning this blog post. This changing of the scenary, the dance routines and the song all create a real feeling of emotion and when I first watched this I felt like it was inspired by the exotic scenary of Moulin Rouge and also some of the old Musicals. This is a video that really defines what I mean by “Musical Moments” in music videos. 

 

She and Him – I Could of Been Your Girl (60’s Musicals)

Back in May, I saw Zooey Deschanel’s blog site Hello Giggles, posted the new She and HIm music video, as soon as I saw it and loved it. Zooey who was the director of this video stated on the website that   “it gave me a chance to give a nod to some of my favorite ’60s musicals.” It may not have any iconic scenes from Musicals but it really does reflect the musicals of that era and the dance routines. 

The Killers – Mr Brightside (Moulin Rouge)

This music video is based around the story  / themes of Moulin Rouge, and the fact that the song is about jealously, it makes perfect sense to base it on this film. Just like Moulin Rouge it is based around a Prostitute who does everything to please the men in the video but Brandon Flowers is in love with her (just like Christian with Satine in Moulin Rouge) .

 Madonna – Material Girl (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

This music video is based on the Marlyn Monroe film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes film. It is specifically focussed on the scene of the song Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend. The lyrics of the song and the glamour that Madonna naturally brings means that this movie cross over works very well. 

 Marilyn Manson – Dope Hat (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

What do you do when you are trying to get known or maintain your status as the weirdest and scariest man in rock? You take the freakiest bit of a childs film and make it even more weirder. Welcome to Marilyn Mansons take on the tunnel scene of Charlie and the Chocolate factory. 

(WARNING : This is a Marilyn Manson video so like his other many videos it does contain some scenes not suitable for children)

 Panic! At The Disco – Ready To Go (Mary Poppins and Singin’ In the Rain)

This video explores many different elements and I love it because it is so unpredictable. It is a very entertaining video to watch because it changes location in each of the verses and choruses. Halfway through the video Brendan Urie does the Chim Chimney dance from Mary Poppins and ends the video in a very similar high street as to the one where Gene Kelly sings the iconic song from “Singin’ in the Rain. “

De La Soul feat. Redman – Oooh! (Wizard of Oz)

 I came across this video today when I was researching and I really like the way that they have taken the concept of the Wizard and altered it so its relevant to their genre. They end up in the land of colour by the woman falling over a step as she goes to enter a club. 

 

AND FINALLY

There is always on an that likes taking things that little bit farther and doing things differently to everyone else. HIs films are not musicals but they are always an extend of the films that he is in.  – Here are the videos of Mr Will Smith.