Further Problems with iMovie

Our school technician has spent a lot of time recently trying to get our versions of Final Cut to work. When we started our lesson this week, we believed that the version was working as I was no able to import my files. However, upon playing back the video I had put together I discovered it wasn't working.

For some files, when I play the videos there is video but not proper audio; only a beeping sound. And other file types would also have a beeping as the audio and just display an image in place of the actually visuals, saying 'unrendered'.

We got the technical to come and have a look at the program to see if they could help, he said that there was an issue with the program and the files were not being sorted in the correct folders from the program, so until he can fix this issue, the program wont work.

However, the school is considering getting the new version of Final Cut bought and installed onto the Macs.

Dead Man Blues Ideas

They said they'd love to do a Zombie Apocalypse video for their song Dead Man Blues.

This is the live recording of them performing the song at a Local pub;


The band also provided me with the lyrics to the song Dead Man Blues;

Main Riff (x4)

Verse (x4)

Woke up this morning,                      

Feeling dead inside,              

Society was swarmed,

By the infected tide.

The world’s overrun,      

And all hope is gone,

Devastation surrounds us,

But It’s time to move on.

Pre-Chorus (x2)

You only live once,

Or so I’ve been told,

It’s time you found out,

That the truth can be so cold.

Nowhere to run,

Nowhere to hide,

Hope of salvation,

has been cast aside.

Chorus (x2)

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

until the well runs dry,

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

Until it’s my time to die.

Main Riff (x2)

Verse (x4)

The dead own this land,

Now the rivers run red,

I’m being forced down,

the road that lays ahead.

I've fled from my home,

Into this land of despair,

If there’s someone above,

They Ignored all my prayers.

Pre chorus (x2)

I’m all alone,

And now I’m the freak,

Not a trace of hope,

And the future looks bleak.

The promise of refuge,

Is slowly wearing thin,

Our days are numbered,

God Cleanse our Sins.

Chorus (x2)

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

until the well runs dry,

I’ll sing the dead man blues,

Until it’s my time to die.

Main Riff (x2)

Bridge (x2)

Solo (Chorus x5?)

Verse (x2)

Death tightens its grip,

for one last attack,

This is my final hour,

and light fades to black.

If only we’d seen,

If only we had known,

that we were all destined,

to perish alone.

Pre-chorus (x2)

You only live once,

now the end has come,

My strength has been drained,

now my senses feel numb.

I’ve fought for my life,

Now blood stains my clothes,

It seems that This world,

Is coming to a close.

Chorus (x2)

I sing the dead man blues,

Because the well has run dry,

I sing the dead man blues,

Because I know it’s my time to die.

Main Riff (x4)

It’s my time to die

In terms of making a video about Zombie Apocalypse. It appreciate it will be difficult to make, and really push my skills and planning/time organisation, but that isn't a bad thing. I have been watching music videos for ideas and assistance in understanding how they are filmed, and remember the Biffy Cylro song Black Chandelier
Biffly Clyro Black Chandelier vimeo from NTSH London on Vimeo.

I have done some more research into a other music videos including zombies. I came across this website with a list of ten zombie music videos, ranking them to the best zombie videos;
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2012/10/walking_dead_zombie_music_videos.php

Number two on the list is Blondie- Mother; Blondie - "Mother" from Brian Zwiener on Vimeo.
.
I feel watching this it would be easy to make, but I really dont like the video. I feel it looks very basic and unprofessional. I feel the main issue is that due to the style of music, it isn't a very fast paced. When you compare this video to Biffy Clryos, the pace is very different, and I feel it works better when its faster. When it is slower like Blondies, the audience notice the poor acting and poor make up. Whereas when its faster pace you don't notice it as much. However, this video is good interms of the balance I want between the band and the zombies.

Number 5 was Peaches ft Iggy Pop- Kick It. PEACHES feat IGGY POP "KICK IT" from DAWN SHADFORTH on Vimeo.

I again feel like this one looks very basic and unprofessional. However the shots are faster in the majority of the video, meaning that it isn't as obvious that it was in Blondies video. It looks more like a parody video. But also, the video has no band clips in it, which I want in my video.

This unnoffical video for Jonathan Coulton is number 7 on the list; Jonathan Coulton - RE: Your Brains Music Video from Kirk Carson on Vimeo.
This video is definitely a parody. and not really want I want to do, but it does demonstrate how I could film the final band scene where the members have become zombies.

Update on Final Cut Express Progress

For about three weeks I have been tying to upload videos to Final Cut Express, but was facing problems at very stage. From actually having a lincese on a working Mac, to actually get the clips into the software. The manual and everything I read online stated that the clips should be added though the Log And Transfer window, in a MOV or MP4 format, however it wouldn't let me upload a video on that format, or any formats at that. 

So in todays lesson, I looked at it in a different angle. So tried to convert it in a software called MPEG Streamclip, a software I has seen used in some videos or articles about uploading to Final Cut Express. But even when I tried to add the video though the 'Log and Transfer' tab it just didn't work. So looking at more videos, I came across someone who uploaded it through the import file tab on the file tab. Before this hadn't accepted any of my file types, however after converting one of my clips to evey single file type available to convert to on MPEG Streamclip, there were four it let me open; DV, AVI, WMV and MP4. However as you can see from below, when I actually added the clips to my timeline, it wouldn't let me play them but instead display an image reading unrendered. When I googled this error message it was hard to follow the issue, 

In the end I discovered that the DV file didn't didn't display this message, as you can see here. 

Upon further research when I got home from Sixth Form and wasn't faced with any blocked websites, I came across this answer and advice explaining the error message; 'any time you edit your movie, you need to re render it, it does take a long time to do for the first time, but as you make only minor changes in your video, you can render it faster, but to render the audio and video, you need to press "alt+R". For more detail just look in the sequence menu on the bar on the top of the screen.' So when I'm back at Sixth Form and on the Macs I will try this,