How Michel Gondry Pulled off All Those Insane Effects in 'The White Stripes' Videos

When it comes to music video today, not much effort is put into them, due to there not being a stage to show them off anymore. However, in the days of MTV and other music video broadcasts, standing out by doing something new was something many bands strived for. The White Stripes, with the help of Michel Gondry, made simple but effective music videos that broke the norm in a genuine way.

Three videos were talked about in this article, all made by Gondry, were made using simple techniques to create something unique.

The first video, for the song Dead Leaves and the Dead Ground, was made with a simple but effective method involving projectors. The theme of the video is to show off the feeling on loneliness, like when a full house suddenly becomes empty, with only one person left inside. The way this feeling is conveyed in the music video is that scenes of a full house are played where they are needed by a projectors, which gives of the ghost like look to the footage, over the current scene of the one person in their solitude. This is a simple way to create this effect, and convey the message of the song in a unique way, making the video stand out.

The second video, for the song Fell in Love With a Girl, uses both a complicated and simple method mixed together. This video combines stop motion with lego pieces, and the mosaic effect in After Effects, to make the video look like it was fully done in legos. For the mosaic effect, the action needed is filmed, then it has the mosaic effect added to it and adjusted till it looks like the lego stop motion parts that were filmed. This really stood out, as even today stop motion is a difficult medium to use, but they made it slightly easier with the effects on the real footage.

The last video, for the song The Denial Twist, uses scaling in a way the normally looks wrong but works in this video. Due to the way the team built the set, the unnatural stretching of the footage only adds to the videos appeal, and makes it stand out. Another interesting thing about this video is it was filmed in one take, so it is a continuous shot throughout, with the camera man following the actors through the scenes.

Simplicity is important to both White and Gondry, which is carried over into both artists work, in the music and the video. The simplicity only seems to add to the overall charm of the work, and as a result, makes it more enjoyable. These effects can be made by almost anyone, but it's how it is used, that makes it different in the end.

I really do understand how in some cases, many would like to go above and beyond in their work, creating all thee complicated scenes and effects to try and create something amazing, I do strive for that sometimes. However, this dup really shows that simplicity isn't a bad thing, in fact, it can make something feel more genuine to the viewers when the project is simple. I'll try an remember that as I move forward,

The video was also very helpful with conveying the message it set out to tell us. The person who made this is a big fan of both White and Gondry's work, and as a result, can help to explain what is going on in each video. He seems really interested in this topic, and it really made me interested as well, which is a huge plus.

Bleh strikes back(Weekly Comments #16)

1. What I learned this week:
We didn't really learn anything as I'm typing this, as this was mostly a work week. The Children of Men analysis was due though, so that was one thing, at least.

2. What I want to learn:
Better fixes for audio

3. Something that frustrated me this week:
I hate that some of the people I know are so petty.
There is a friend of mine who is now stuck in the middle of the most ridiculous situation ever, and she feels absolutely horrible because these two people are mad at her now.
First off, "friend #1" is understandably upset that he can't hang out with his friend because of "friend #2" not liking him, that's fine I have the same issue with "friend #2" not inviting me to stuff. However he is now ignoring my friend, which is not right, and just gives a reason for him to be in the wrong.
"Friend #2" has been causing trouble for a while now. She's been really controlling over the decisions involving prom when it's suppose to be a group effort, and now she's trying to control who my friend is friends with, and her reasons are stupid at best for not liking "friend #1".
Both of them are acting so stupid and selfish, and the fact they can't see what they're doing to someone they call a friend, it angers me to no end.
Also "friend #2" is apparently mad at another friend of mine, and no one can figure out why, she just is.
Drama is so exhausting and infuriating.
(I've been restraining my word choice, trust me, it's hard when you're as angry as I am right now.)

4. Something that made me happy:
On the bright side, I'm being considered for an art scholarship, I'm sending my examples after I finish this, hope I get it!
Also Mother 3 is 11 now, and I completely forgot the game was released on 4/20, so that led to me getting a good laugh all things considered.

5. Video of the week!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojXdaYn3ebo&t=71s
This Youtuber, TennelleFlowers, is really amazing at talking about different media on her channel. From books to TV shows to movies and all that goes with it, she really is great at explaining her points, and addressing most sides. She's also a great animator, and did talk about the principles of animation on her channel, so new animators can be exposed to these principles. This video is about smear frames, and their place in animation, enjoy!

How Much Do Continuity Errors Really Matter in a Film?

In a film, a setting is composed to set the scene and draw the viewer in, and in turn engage them in the story being told. In this aspect continuity is both a blessing and a curse, because if you break this continuity, you could risk this break becoming the focus and breaking the immersion of the scene. However, in the long run, how much do continuity issues really matter in the big picture.

Well, in short, they don't matter in the long run. Many famous editors still include scenes that have errors in them, because outside of a small continuity issue, the scene may still be the best acted and the most powerful of the bunch. The editing points rule of six created by Walter Murch states what elements should be the most important when editing a film. The first and most important element, emotion, is what should be put above all else and is followed closely by story. If these elements are treated as top priority, the viewer should be drawn into what is going on, and as a result not notice or not care about continuity errors that are present.

A study involving eye tracking technology was done to explore where human attention in a film is focused on. In this study, it is shown that humans tend to focus on the faces present in a scene, and as a result don't normally catch a stray hand or crew member in the background or a missing glass on a table. Going along with this, if the emotions and story are compelling enough, mistakes can be hidden due to the focus being put more on what's going on instead of a mistake in the background.

In the end, if continuity errors are widely notice, it comes down to three reasons why. First off, someone could just be looking for mistakes in something they've watched before, which isn't so much a big deal as the other two reasons. The second reason could be that the error is just that big and apparent that even people not looking for these errors notice them, and it can really pull the audience out of the story. The third is probably the worst of the three, and that is that your film is just wasn't holding viewers attention, due to lack of attention to the emotion and story not being treated with the attention it needs. In the end, continuity errors aren't going to be a big deal if the film can hold the audience's attention, and so long as it isn't to big of an error.

This article is really interesting, and it also has the important reminder that even if you have a continuity error in your best shot, it can be forgiven or missed if the scene works into the emotion and story of the film. Sometimes we forget that even if you the editor notices the error, that doesn't mean someone watching your work will, so you shouldn't give up entirely on a shot if it still works the best in your narrative. I'll have to remind myself of that when I work from now on.

The video also worked really well, and like a movie, you may have to it twice to see some of the mistakes in the clips he's using. He also has experience in editing, as he uses some of his own examples to show he knows what he's talking about, and how unnoticeable these errors can really be. He also seems to carry the same thought process as the editors he talks about, so he can talk in depth about why so many famous editors don't get bothered by errors, and apply some of his own logic as well.            

Speed week (Weekly Comments #15)

1. What I learned this week:
Well, we had shadowing Wednesday, and that went decently well. We also got our 3rd editing tutorial that includes use of effects.

2. What I want to learn:
More complex effects

3. Something that frustrated me this week:
Not so much frustrated me as made me really exhausted mentally, but my dog had a seizure on Monday that scared me half to death, and so I had an anxiety spike this week. Thankfully she's okay now, it may have only been a one time thing, seeing as she was back to normal right after and is a very health dog in general.  

4. Something that made me happy:
Outside of that little incident, I was really happy this week, because I ended up being oddly productive this week. Seeing as I had been hit with what seemed like a curse of uninspired moods, it seems to have temporarily lifted, so lets hope it lasts.

5. Video of the week!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hVuv7mDNqM&index=152&list=LLfWAZ8mWDTXRgHkDhJKUl_A
This is an awesome animated tribute to Earthbound, enjoy!

Beats in story structure

In a story it's very common for the audience to tell when a character shifts emotions when beats are present in the story's structure. Beats are when the viewers can see the moment a characters mood shifts from one emotion to another, mostly to an emotion opposite the one just before the beat, and make the characters more readable as a result. Beats also push the story forward, which leads to the construction of a film, beats lead to scenes, scenes lead to sequences, sequences lead to movies.

In the video, the beats present in the final confrontation between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader are shown, and we see the importance of beats. At first, knowing Vader is his father and not wanting to fight him, Luke tries to bring out the human in Vader. However, wanting to instigate Luke, Vader digs into Luke's mind and starts to threaten to turn Leia to the dark side. This causes another beat, where Luke goes from calm and controlled to anger, and starts to fight Vader. This escalates until Luke cuts off Vader's hand, and we get another beat as Luke debates killing Vader, before refusing to give the emperor his wish to turn by killing Vader. This causes the emperor to attempt to kill Luke, and as this happens, Vader is now in the position to debate his next move. In the end, during a brief beat, Vader saves his son and kills the emperor.

These beats in this example show just how important beats in general are to move a story forward. Beats are not always used in film, and some films don't need beats to tell the story they're telling, however beats don't hurt a film's flow. Some beats can help use understand a character and build their personality, or beats can stay strictly to forwarding the story, that depends on the story being told.

Beats are part of the bigger picture, the scene, as sometimes without them a scene can drag or become awkward pacing wise. Once the scene is constructed, it gets put into the sequences that create the final product. So in theory, beats are one of the most important parts of a story's sequence, as beats are the building block of the film.

I honestly haven't even thought about the importance of beats, and now that I know more, I realized it's in a ton of films. Beats sometimes seem more powerful without dialogue, letting the characters expression show the beat, at least in my personal opinion. Beats are great elements, and some stories feel as if they would be better with them.

The video also does a great job at explaining beats. I could understand better with the example he used, and his explanation was very detailed in conveying his message. His humor also got a chuckle out of me to, and that's always and A+ in my book, better then it being boring.        

Food is good (Weekly Comments #14)

1. What I learned this week:
We were mostly working on the fictional short this week.

2. What I want to learn:
More editing tips.

3. Something that frustrated me this week:
My lack of money is really starting to bother me, because there are things I would really like to have, but I don't have the money to buy them. I'm going to apply to work at the local library, so I hope I can get that, at least.
4. Something that made me happy:
I have a lava cake right now, it smells amazing, I'm going to eat it once I'm done.

5. Video of the week!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcpmIQR94nw
Speaking of vlogs, hears one I watch a lot, it doesn't have b-roll but I still enjoy it.

Importance of Using B-Roll in Your Work

When it comes to filming, it's important to keep your audience interested in what their watching, which means you need to very your visuals. One of the ways you do this is to shot extra footage, b-role, to make a scene more interesting. This is most effectively mixed with shots of a person talking, maybe showing what their talking about or where they are, to make things more interesting.

B-roll is more valuable then it seems at first. B-roll can be used to fill in scenes that are lacking, can cover up transitions, and maybe give more elaboration to something a person is talking about. If you have a scene where the shots you have are people talking to each other and not much else, b-roll can add some extra shots the screen needs to feel complete and visually interesting, and create a better overall work.

If you want to make some interesting transitions, b-roll can be your best friend, and create some interesting scene changes. Lets say you have some smoke for example, if you shot some b-roll of it and edit it properly, it can create a cleverly hidden scene transition. Hiding transitions is mostly what b-roll is used for in this sense.

If you're making a documentary, or maybe a vlog like the video example, b-roll is almost essential to keep the viewers attention. In the case of documentaries, b-roll is mostly for showing what a person is talking about, as to give a visual explanation alongside the vocal explanation. Vlogs have a harder time doing this, and rely more on b-roll to hold the attention of the viewer.

In the end, it's never a bad idea to shot some random b-roll, as you may never know when you may need it. This falls into the category that you can never shot enough footage in general, and to keep this footage in a separate folder, that way you can have it to pull from. Doing this can create an interesting final product.

Really, I've seen examples of b-roll in a lot of things I watch, no matter what type for filmed media. It seems like it would be something to think about, but it's easy to forget about, but having a reminder in notes may really help. I'll personally try and remember that next time I film.