Filming Diary - Day 5 - Otley

Day at a Glance

Last day of filming, after stocking up on supplys we headed to Otley for some good old filming. Turns out it wasn't good old filming due to the freezing weather and the fact we spent a hour hanging over a busy highway. 
I then had to leave early to catch a bus home so left the other two to film the last scene the UNDDERRRPASSSS.(inside joke, it says underpass) 

Production Diary (Don't listen to the second half)






Call Sheet 

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Filming Diary - Day 4 - Malham Cove

Day at a Glance

We though Leeds was a trek, a 9am start to get to Malham for a full day's filming. For me it was simply going home so it wasn't a problem. Dressed up for a full on expedition to the north pole yet it was a surprisingly warm day. 

Production Diary



Call Sheet 

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Filming Diary - Day 3 - Leeds City Carpark

Day at a Glance

A cold day and a long travel to reach this somewhat remote yet not remote destination led us a lovely series of shots and photography, As well as a lovely canal side stroll. 

Production Diary



Call Sheet

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Filming Diary - Day 2 - Burley in Wharfedale

Day at a Glance

A late start at Joel's house ended up with us rushing to finish before Darkness fell and also some spooky happenings in Joel's cupboard. 

Production Diary




Call Sheet

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Filming Diary - Day 1 - Middleton Woods

Day at a Glance

Day 1 of filming started with a few hitches such as missing equipment, but once we had it all sorted we trekked over the middleton woods for some serious filming.

Production Diary
 


Call Sheet

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Test: Snorri Cam

This video shows some test footage we made using the snorri cam (see previous post of what a snorri cam is).
The footage simply consists of me walking with the cam on, running with it on and trying a few different things out.

Building a SnorriCam on a Micro-Budget!

A SnorriCam is a piece of equipment used during the filming process. The title itself is misleading because its saying that its a camera when really the Snorri is more of a tripod. Though even calling it a tripod is misleading.

SnorriCam

The Snorri attaches to the actors body so when he moves the camera completely tracks him and in turn it creates a odd camera shot. The shot is often used to signify that something is amiss and because the shots main focus is on the face it can clearly show the emotions the actor is going through.



The Snorri is relatively untouched and isn't often seen in TV and film, though it has been used across a span of genres for instance in Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream 2000 which is a psychological thriller based on drug addictions, the Snorri is used during a lot of scenes with the characters under the influence of drugs. The Snorri has also been used in a more recent film Nicolas Stoller's Get Him to the Greek 2010, in this comedy film the Snorri is used in only a brief part of the film when one of characters is under the influence of drugs.

A SnorriShot

Snorri & Us

 The basis of our idea for our music video is around Drugs, and one of our ideas was to use a SnorriCam at the different locations to make he video stand out and give the same feeling that the snorri cam gives off in feature films. Unfortunatly we knew this idea was more of a dream because Snorris are expensive, priced around 800pound for industry grade. We knew that how ever much we loved media studies, 800 pounds for a potential A grade was not worth it (with our childhood incomes) and with that we dropped the idea.

:(

One day we discovered a few help guides though, with this the dream lived once more.
The help guides guided you to create a home made snorri, usually with a harness and a changeable arm, out of wood, nails, screws and old skateboards. This seems relatively fine for us, until we discovered another flaw, we didn't have the resources and the time to build one and once again the dream died.




One day after i decided to poke around a current build for a extension  to my house i discovered some of the equipment needed and with this decided to set myself a project. Due to my great skill in woodwork i managed to fashion a rather crude looking Snorri using a hand full of nails, some screws, some wood and old strap and a bungee cord and i bought a screw which the camera will fit onto.

The Equipment

Wood Saw, scary stuff

One of the super strong joints

Me wearing the Snorri

Success. I had created a snorri cam for the group. We created some test footage which can be seen in the next blog post.

Joel using the Snorri

Digipak - The FINAL Vinyl

This is the final Vinyl.

Front Panel



Back Panel



Inside

Track Listing and copy right information (see below)

Comparing size to a draft of our digipak

Location of vinyl with the sleeve

Side A

Side B

On the front cover we have not placed a artist name and album name as we wanted to go for a more minimalism idea. Instead we placed a sticket with this information, a barcode and more on the front so the owner of the vinyl could remove it and return the front cover to its orginial state.
The other information which is on the front says "the complete collection of the bands singles, featuring the latest release "Disorder". These songs showcase the band's pioneering sound, which resonates through music today - ensuring 35 years later their legacy lives on."

The backcover is the same with no information what so ever on the surface and no stickers.

The inside cover is the same inside cover we used for the digipak but on the right panel we have added the band name, album name and track listing plus the following copright information.
"Prodced by Martin Mannett & Joy Division. 2107 785312 0C 2011 New Transmission Records Ltd.
The copyright in this sound recording is owned by New Transmission Records Ltd. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting prohibited. All Rights reserved Made in the EU LC00675."

We made sure that all the copyright information suited our record label and the band itself.

On the Vinyl itself we used stickers to change the vinyl to our own.

On the vinyl they is the band name, album name and record label name and logo on both sides as well as the side and the tracks which are on the side of the vinyl. They is the same copyright information talked about above plus some extra.

Digipak: Final

Here is the final Digipak.

Front View

Band name and album name

Band and album name on spine

view from back

track listing and legal info

Inside

Barcode

Disk with tracks on (a cd that looks like vinyl)

Bonus DVD

A4 Poster

  

Here is a small video of me taking you through the digipak.

Digipak: Developments of Digipaks Vodcast & Vinyl

Digipak: Collecting Digipak Photos + Original Digipak Photos

Getting the perfect picture for our digipaks was hard, we tried many different locations as it was important for us to have photos to choose from.

We created a video diary which follows our adventure in finding the perfect front cover picture.



And here is the original photographs we took for the digipak.

Digipaks: Different forms of music releases

Digipaks - The Art of Vinyl (JH)

The Art of Vinyls          

Vinyl Records (or LPs) originate back to the 1870s when inventor Thomas Edison created the earliest known Phonograph. A user on blurtit.com explains that "when you record on a vinyl disc, the sound is transferred into a recording needle. The needle scratches grooves in the disc. The sound manipulates the scratching into different wave forms. So when you run a stylus (or playing needle) through the grooves , it reverses the process and vibrates the needle. A preamp picks up the vibration. The vibration that it picks up is the song scratched into the disc."

Vinyl's boomed from the 1960s to the 1990's where they became outdated by the newest fad, tapes and then CDs. Though in more recent years the demand for Vinyl's has increased . In recent years we have seen the closing down of CD stores like Zaavi and Virgin Megastores, specialist vinyl-only music shops are opening. Even large highstreet shops such as Urban Outfitters (which is primarily a clothing store) sell vinyls.

Classic Records are a lot of money. Records are classed as vintage and vintage is in fashion these days. Not only car boot sales, but actual secondhand vinyl shops show that classic vinyls are in huge demand. This is particularly important for indie bands that's original vinyl had limited release. New Order's "Blue Monday" whilst being a massive chart hit, actually sold out of vinyl presses due to unexpected high demand.

It's not just an older audience that want vinyls. As previously mentioned, vintage shops are becoming ever more popular. But more than clothes, people want the possessions that went alongside them. The 80s in particular has seen a modern rebirth. There is also huge debate that the quality of vinyl recordings is substantially better than CD quality and even more-so than downloads. Younger audiences are starting to pick up classic records. I myself have even bought a vinyl (Jeff Buckley's "Grace") I have seen the profit that it may hold being the only LP released by the singer before his death. It is substantially important to us that our release will appeal to old and young audiences alike.

Limited Edition vinyls are also becoming more popular. Re-releasing albums is now very popular, and often we see limited edition vinyls go alongside this. These essentially become collector's items and again can be worth a lot. Some bands even number these just so fans (or collector's) know just how rare they are. Sometimes these feature different artwork again to stand out as being collectable.

But also more artistic bands release vinyl editions of  their albums at the same time that the CD and download is released. This is partly due to seeing an opportunity to tap into that certain market area, but also they too feel that vinyl is the true form of music release. Alternative rock band Brand New are an example of this having released both of their last two albums on vinyl. Their influences hail back to The Smiths and the 1980s so in a way the vinyl edition of the album is a way for them to put themselves side by side with their heroes.

This article from The Canadian Press sums things up pretty perfectly when it states about the way of the modern music release "iPods in one hand, vinyls in the other". 

Digipaks: The rebirth of LP's?

Are Digipaks the new vinyl's? plus vinyl research

Digipaks- Deconstruction of Digi vs Jewel Case

Deconstruction of Digi-pak and Jewel Case

Digipak - Initial Ideas

We came to our idea for the digi-pak relatively quickly after we first started brainstorming.
Like we did with the rest of the project we took a lot of our inspiration from old Joy Division photography & Artwork.

Idea 1

We played around with the idea of having a performance(ish) image of our character, Very similar to the image below.

The main focus point of the image would be in a grey/white shade with the background being black. The image itself would be similar to the one above but minus the microphone.

Idea 2


We decided to develop the idea a slight bit. We looked at the cover art for the Deborah Curtis's "Touching From a Distance" which shows Ian looking straight at the camera with a cigarette in his mouth.

We basically decided that we would copy this image but using our own actor. That would be the first cover with some text. We then came up with a quite strong idea, we thought that if the front cover would be a shot from the front we would made the back cover a shot from behind the actor and the actor would be in the exact same position.

The album art below is from the Arctic Monkeys album "Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not". When we showed people our idea we got many comments along the lines of "isn't that like the Arctic Monkey's album?". We didn't want our idea to be know as a copy of the AM album, when really that album cover was a cover of the image from Touching from a distance.

Development of Idea 2


We then decided to develop the idea, Joy Divisions iconic photography is set around Macclesfield in Manchester and featured a lot of images of Urbanisation and deindustrialisation. We decided we wanted to show this in the background on the front cover. Possibly in a location which features high rise apartments in the background.

Digipak: What you should expect to see

I will briefly go over what you should see on a digipak.

Expect to see

• Band name
• Album name
• track listing
• bar code
• record label
• copyright information
•  website
• CD 

 What you might see but not often

• QR code
• Bonus CD
• Digital download
• Poster
• Booklet 
•  

Podcast 5: Digipaks

Digipak: First Look

Digipak's are a style of compact disc or DVD packaging.
Digi-packs can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. The biggest difference between the jewel case (standard plastic case) and the digi-pak is that the digi-pak is usually made from a strong card instead of having a plastic casing.
                                                                                   

Digipacks were first created by MeadWestvaco, and their product, called Digi-Pak, is trademarked. However, as the format became more popular and began to be used by more manufacturers, the generic "digipack" came to be used to describe all soft CD packaging.





 Typically consist of..

• A gateway (Bookstyle) paperboard or card stock outer binding.
• With one or more plastic trays for holding CD or sometimes a paperboard pouch to store the CD.
• card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material.

Typically used for..

• Used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums
• Tall DVD Digipaks

Pros & Cons

• They look nice, and many bands and labels like to use them for aesthetic reasons. The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options because there is more room. However, they're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel cases.
• Digipacks don't crack like jewel cases do, but they will rip and eventually the paper begins to peel apart and separate.
• The trays in digipacks break much more often then in jewel cases. There's not as much protection since the outer portion of made of paper, so the teeth that hold the CD in place crack and fall out easily.
• When the teeth of the tray does break in a digipack, the CD falls out of the bottom of the digipack, because unlike jewel cases, there is nothing to hold it in.
• Digipacks can be more environmentally friendly than jewel cases because they can be made of recycled paper - however, they aren't always in fact made in this way.

Other information on Digi-paks:

•  Digi-paks have been described by some as a response to the decline in LP's, LP's use to be collectors ideas due to the artistic designs often found on the LP's and digi-paks have reignited the possible use of digi-paks as collecting items. 
• Digi-paks have often be designed as limited edition releases though infact now digi-paks are soon on track to be the more prominent form of release.

History of the Track

The track that we are working on "Disorder" is one of the more well known tracks by Joy Division
it wasn't a single but it was track 1 on side 1 of the LP for JD's first album Unknown Pleasures.

The track doesn't really have much history, it hasn't been featured on famous TV programs or used for high profile events, putting this aside they are a few interesting stages in its history.
sourse
The first is, like most songs they are a number of covers of the song, but even then they are by very unknown bands and out of all the big Joy Division songs this is one of least covered songs.
The song has been covered by Bedhead and Dada's Noise
Source here



Secondly the song was used as part of the soundtrack to hit 2010 game Skate 3.

Lastly the song was re recorded by the cast members of Control (see previous posts for more information) for the film. though in the clip below and the film they don't perform the song fully.



Lastly they has been a few edited versions of the songs for fun, the best being the 8-Bit version below.

JD - Disorder - Final Idea

This is the finalized idea which we are going to use. We've reached this idea through a lot of brainstorming and discussion as well as practice footage and development.
A lot more detail on the specific ideas is detailed on the previous 2 idea posts.

1. The video will follow just the one character.
2. The video is really split into too parts, part 1 is following the character as he walks towards a bridge while the second part are scenes from within the characters head, these scenes are representing states he is in. We are shooting scenes of complete isolation for example Malham cove and scenes of complete confinement which are shots within a cupboard. 
3. We will be filming at the following locations 

• Malham Cove
• Ilkley Woods "Middleton Woods"
• Otley "Bridge over bypass"
• Joel's House "Bedroom" 
• Leeds "Canal Path, Large industrial car park"
•  Burley "Street and underpass"

4. We will be using three pieces of extra equipment, the first is a snorri cam which is detailed in a previous idea post which we managed to construct, the second is a fish eye lens which we constructed using a glasses lens and some sellotape and the last piece of equipment is a 8mm camera app on one of the group members Ipod.

5. We are going to have a look at 2 new locations compared to the last brainstorm, listed above these are the canal path and the underpass. Both these locations will be used to show the character moving towards the bridge. Both locations have a urban feel to them and both provide excellent scope for experimenting with light and setting. When we are filming in Burley and in Leeds we will check these locations out.

Recent Coverage of the Band

As mentioned in other blog posts, Joy Division split up in 1980 after their short but successful career.
So seeing as it has been 30 years since the end of JD they is hardly any coverage of the band these days apart from the occasional article in a music magazine for instance a countdown article for the 50 darkest albums according to NME listed JD's Closer as number 23. And also on the 18th June 2009 they was a article celebrating 30 years of Unknown Pleasures.

Also since 1981, 10 compilation albums have been released with the most recent one being released in 2010 which was a singles album titled "Singles 1978 - 80"

Also in 2008 a rockumentary was released titled "Joy Division" which follows the band from the start to the end.

Record Label Profile: Factory Records

"Factory Records was a Manchester based British independent record label, started in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The record label's three biggest bands have been Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays, 
 Factory Records used a creative team  which gave the label, and the artists recording for it, a particular sound and image. The label employed a unique cataloguing system that gave a number not just to its musical releases, but to artwork and other objects." Quoted from Wikipedia entry on Factory Records

 Timeline 
Features extensive quoting from "www.factoryrecords.net"

1978: Factory Records began as a club . Tony and Alan were joined by designer Peter Saville and Producer Martin Hannett to form FR
1979: Released Factory Sampler, their first EP which featured acts who played at their original club.
1979: "Unknown Pleasures" by Joy Division was to be the first album released by Factory, at this time the manager of Joy Divison Rob Gretto joined the label. The album went on to receive critical acclaim which the band generating success and appearing on the front cover of NME magazine as well as record a session with  BBC DJ John Peel. JD's success is credited to turning the label into a "true business".
1980: Was a bad year for Factory Records, Ian Curtis the lead singer of JD,  commit suicide due to ill health and depression. this was just short of the release of their second album. The album still was successful and the rest of the band members went on to form New Order which was also a large part of Factory.
1981: Factory were at the centre of a music scene of their own creation. The huge "Madchester" scene - named, of course, for Manchester started in the summer of 81 and continued through the summer of 82.
1982: At the center of the scene was the famous Hacienda. Gretto opened a FR supported club in Manchester. The club was central to the evolving scene in Manchester during the 80's and many famous DJ started behind the decks their. Designed by FR designer Saville the club was a instant hit but due to a policy of low priced entry and drinks and the fact that most of the users of the club preferred to spend their money on drugs over drinks the club rarely made any profit. Though this didnt stop the club outliving the record label with its door closing in 1997.
1992:  With costs of running FR current bands such as recording the Happy Monday's album in Barbados and New Order's second album costs spiraling out of control, and the Hacienda eating up the rest of their money the company faced bankruptcy.
However a potential rescue deal with London Records was arranged but it fell through when London records relieased that factory didnt own the bands back catalogues. And the comapny declared bankrupt in 1992.
1997:  Though the record label was finished by now the Hacienda still continued until 1997 when it couldn't afford to keep its door open.
2007: Wilson who was at first a TV presenter in Manchester and the driving force behind the record label died of a heart attack. Because of his work in developing the city of Manchester and the culture of the city he was dubbed  Mr Manchester, after his death they was a big hole in the cultural life of Manchester

The Rest of Them:

Wilson was known as the main man behind FR but really the other members were crucial to its early success. Seville designed all the labels early sleeves and had a long running relationship with Joy Division and later New Order. His designs were widely reconized as FR's and his designs were a large part behind the Hacienda.
Producer Hannett's work on the early Factory releases defined the post-punk sound and, according to Joy Division's bassist Hook, “he created the Joy Division sound”. Joy Division's originally wanted to be part of Manchester and manager Gretto got them to be part of FR.

Catalogue Numbers:

Compared to other record labels, FR did things differently when it came to their products and instead created a eccentric catalog system. Instead of running chronologically different bands had their own number, for example Happy Monday's releases usually had a catalog number ending in a 2. Every aspect of FR had its own number, FAC01 is a poster advertising a club night. FAC61 was the number given to a law suit brought against the label by former partner Hannett. FAC501, the final catalogue number, was given to Tony Wilson's coffin.

A semi-fictional account of the story of Factory Records was depicted in the film 24hr Party People in 2002.