My latest music video for Randolph's Leap was officially launched by Fence Records on Wednesday morning.
It is for their new single, News, which is available to download from here.
The 85-second animated video is based upon the concept of synesthesia, and inspired by the experimental film work of Len Lye, Oskar Fischinger, & Norman McLaren, amongst others (including Walt Disney's Fantasia).
Created over the past 6 weeks, it is all animated by hand with a range of materials including: Pencils, watercolours, ink, charcoal, the odd digital painting, paper, card, newspaper,and even denim!
Each hand-made frame of animation was produced at a size of either 50mms wide (mainly just for coloured backgrounds), or a tiny 18mms to help give the movements a lively organic energy.
I'll try posting some behind-the-scenes stuff about the making-of later this month.
Showing posts with label music videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music videos. Show all posts
Saturday, 16 February 2013
Monday, 21 January 2013
New music video: Influences
 |
| A selection of visual influences for my new music video (more details below). |
An Optical Poem (1938). Oskar Fischinger.
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/1b6wAr7knYw/
Swinging The Lambeth Walk (1939). Len Lye.
http://youtu.be/Q57lUSz0Oyw
Fantasia (1940). Walt Disney Studios.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtFR5WG9K8
Carmen Torero (1996). Aleksandra Korejwo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZJSNOtEE_Y
Russian architecture & design.
Loudmouth golf designs.
Monday, 14 January 2013
New music video in development
I'm busy producing a new animated music video for Glasgow-based genre-defying band, Randolph's Leap.
Having previously produced their music video for Counting Sheep (2011), I was recently contacted about making another video for them.
But this time, instead of utilising a mix of live-action & pixelation, this new video will be animated entirely with a hand-made abstract style similar to one of my old audio/visual experiments, Synesthesia (2008).
The production deadline is the end of January, ahead of a launch gig in Edinburgh next month: This is a little tight for my liking (particularly with my real job & a few other projects competing for my time) but it should be an interesting - and hopefully fun - project.
I'll try to post some of the influences & behind-the-scenes stuff over the coming days/weeks, so stayed tuned.
Having previously produced their music video for Counting Sheep (2011), I was recently contacted about making another video for them.
But this time, instead of utilising a mix of live-action & pixelation, this new video will be animated entirely with a hand-made abstract style similar to one of my old audio/visual experiments, Synesthesia (2008).
The production deadline is the end of January, ahead of a launch gig in Edinburgh next month: This is a little tight for my liking (particularly with my real job & a few other projects competing for my time) but it should be an interesting - and hopefully fun - project.
I'll try to post some of the influences & behind-the-scenes stuff over the coming days/weeks, so stayed tuned.
Monday, 27 June 2011
Music video: "Fear Is On Your Side"
A couple weeks ago I filmed and edited live-action footage for my latest music video: Fear Is On Your Side by Kill The Commodore, a melodic metal band from Perth.
We filmed loads of footage on two Sony Handycam video cameras during little over an hour in the small practice room of Clearwater Studios, Perth.
The compact size of the darkly-lit room with a large bright window presented some challenges during the filming process, however we managed to overcome these to a good extent.
I always knew it would be difficult to imitate the professional sheen of the music videos that we were using as inspiration (Slipknot's Before I Forget and The Eyes Of A Traitor's Come To My Senses), but considering our equipment and location I'm pretty happy with how the finished video looks.
We filmed loads of footage on two Sony Handycam video cameras during little over an hour in the small practice room of Clearwater Studios, Perth.
The compact size of the darkly-lit room with a large bright window presented some challenges during the filming process, however we managed to overcome these to a good extent.
I always knew it would be difficult to imitate the professional sheen of the music videos that we were using as inspiration (Slipknot's Before I Forget and The Eyes Of A Traitor's Come To My Senses), but considering our equipment and location I'm pretty happy with how the finished video looks.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Music video: "Counting Sheep"
On Sunday afternoon I was filming a quirky music video with Glasgow-based band Randolph's Leap, who have just released their new double A-side single "Counting Sheep / Deep Blue Sea" on Olive Grove Records.
I spent 2 hours filming the band (using both live-action and stopmotion-style photography) while Glasgow University Trampoline Club performed in the background: The result was a vast compilation of amusing footage, ready for editing.
After roughly 10 hours sifting through the footage and editing it all together, the video was complete. Today my finished video for "Counting Sheep" was released on both YouTube and Vimeo; and the news posted around the internet, leading to over 150 views within the first 12 hours of getting promoted.
So without further ado, here it is folks, enjoy!
Monday, 27 September 2010
First filming of a live gig
On Friday night I was at Mucky Mulligan's in Perth to film metal band Kill The Commodore as they played their first home gig since appearing at Bestival a few weeks ago.
I used my [very] recently purchased Sony DCR-SR58E Handycam; which is a big step down from the kind of camcorder I have
access to at my day-job, but it'll do for now until I discover whether a bigger camera would be worth it...
The little Handycam is very much just a point-and-shoot type of camera, which is simple enough to operate, but its manual controls (via touchscreen) are dreadful compared to the high-end camcorders that I have been used to at work. As a result of that issue (along with the short time I had to get familiar with the camera) my footage was rather hit-and-miss with numerous automatic controls conflicting with my manually-operated intentions. I also found, as per the warning in the operating guide, that loud noise (ie: live music) can interfere with the camera - to such an extent as to automatically cut the recording process after only so long on several occasions!
My above video, We Will Not Be Moved (live), should hopefully become the first of several to get edited from Friday night's gig footage; with the rest of the videos getting posted as they are finished.
To hear more from Kill The Commodore check out these links:
Kill The Commodore on Facebook
Kill The Commodore on Myspace
Kill The Commodore on Reverbnation
I used my [very] recently purchased Sony DCR-SR58E Handycam; which is a big step down from the kind of camcorder I have
access to at my day-job, but it'll do for now until I discover whether a bigger camera would be worth it...
The little Handycam is very much just a point-and-shoot type of camera, which is simple enough to operate, but its manual controls (via touchscreen) are dreadful compared to the high-end camcorders that I have been used to at work. As a result of that issue (along with the short time I had to get familiar with the camera) my footage was rather hit-and-miss with numerous automatic controls conflicting with my manually-operated intentions. I also found, as per the warning in the operating guide, that loud noise (ie: live music) can interfere with the camera - to such an extent as to automatically cut the recording process after only so long on several occasions!
My above video, We Will Not Be Moved (live), should hopefully become the first of several to get edited from Friday night's gig footage; with the rest of the videos getting posted as they are finished.
To hear more from Kill The Commodore check out these links:
Kill The Commodore on Facebook
Kill The Commodore on Myspace
Kill The Commodore on Reverbnation
Friday, 3 September 2010
Demoreel from "Dancing In The Dark"
I've just uploaded onto YouTube a short demoreel of my camerawork from the music video Dancing In The Dark by Lady Miss Emma.
It is the first live-action music video that I've worked on, and was produced by YMCA Multimedia in Perth - who I started working with towards the end of July.
The full music video, directed by David Forsyth, can be viewed by clicking here.
We filmed from the top of Kinnoull Hill (Perth, Scotland) during the sunrise of Friday 13 August, between the hours of 4am and 7am. Below are some photos from that day:
It is the first live-action music video that I've worked on, and was produced by YMCA Multimedia in Perth - who I started working with towards the end of July.
The full music video, directed by David Forsyth, can be viewed by clicking here.
We filmed from the top of Kinnoull Hill (Perth, Scotland) during the sunrise of Friday 13 August, between the hours of 4am and 7am. Below are some photos from that day:
The first footage we shot (at around 4:30am) was in darkness.
Dawn began at around 5am.
And here's the full sunrise at around 7am.
You can watch more of my videos on YouTube at:
You can listen to more music by Lady Miss Emma at:
And you can watch more Lady Miss Emma music videos at:
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Filmmaker Looking For Bands (& Other Folks)
If you are (or you know someone who is) a musician, actor, comedian, or sportsperson; and would like to have professionally-created footage for demo reels, promo material, DVDs, and/or websites, please get in touch with me and we’ll sort everything out.
I’m a Filmmaker and Artist from Kinross, who gained a BA (Hons) degree in Animation from the world-renowned Edinburgh College of Art in July 2009. I’ve worked on many film productions (both live-action and animated) over the past 5 years, and amongst my 20-odd credits are several films that have screened at international film festivals and won prestigious awards.
My own YouTube videos have received over 53,000 views and some of them have been:
- featured on the Max Power [car magazine] website (D1 Drifting At Knockhill);
- invited to be shown on MTV Europe (Die Skateboard);
- commissioned for a professional theatre production starring Abi Titmuss (Macbeth Vision 4);
- and included as a Bonus Feature on all UK-release Paranormal Activity DVDs and Blu-rays (Pigment of Imagination).
Following these achievements I’d like to begin working on a wide variety of projects that will help to both develop my creative skills and promote local talents.
Whether this involves recording you live; in practice/rehearsals; or taking part in a narrative-based video / documentary / promo / or something more experimental: I am willing to work with you to create original and exciting material at a professional standard.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer not to appear in the video footage, but would like to have your material sampled and/or featured as a soundtrack to demo reels and short films please let me know and I will see what we can do.
If you are interested in this opportunity please get in contact with me, or if you know someone else that may be interested in it please send this message to them.
You can view a sample of my work on:
- Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ArtOfAndyRMacpherson
- YouTube at: www.youtube.com/AndyMacInBlack
- My blog/website at: www.AndyMacArt.co.uk
And you can contact me by e-mailing: AndyRMacpherson (AT) gmail (DOT) com
I’m a Filmmaker and Artist from Kinross, who gained a BA (Hons) degree in Animation from the world-renowned Edinburgh College of Art in July 2009. I’ve worked on many film productions (both live-action and animated) over the past 5 years, and amongst my 20-odd credits are several films that have screened at international film festivals and won prestigious awards.
My own YouTube videos have received over 53,000 views and some of them have been:
- featured on the Max Power [car magazine] website (D1 Drifting At Knockhill);
- invited to be shown on MTV Europe (Die Skateboard);
- commissioned for a professional theatre production starring Abi Titmuss (Macbeth Vision 4);
- and included as a Bonus Feature on all UK-release Paranormal Activity DVDs and Blu-rays (Pigment of Imagination).
Following these achievements I’d like to begin working on a wide variety of projects that will help to both develop my creative skills and promote local talents.
Whether this involves recording you live; in practice/rehearsals; or taking part in a narrative-based video / documentary / promo / or something more experimental: I am willing to work with you to create original and exciting material at a professional standard.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer not to appear in the video footage, but would like to have your material sampled and/or featured as a soundtrack to demo reels and short films please let me know and I will see what we can do.
I live in Kinross but have my own car, so if you are in Edinburgh, Fife, Stirling, Perthshire, or Dundee, you are perfectly placed to work with me.
I own a Sony Handycam camcorder; digital stills cameras; a laptop with audio, visual, & video editing software (Audacity, SoundForge, Photoshop, Vegas Movie Studio HD); and DVD publishing/printing equipment. So I can deliver top-notch work as long as you are willing to participate in one form or another…
I own a Sony Handycam camcorder; digital stills cameras; a laptop with audio, visual, & video editing software (Audacity, SoundForge, Photoshop, Vegas Movie Studio HD); and DVD publishing/printing equipment. So I can deliver top-notch work as long as you are willing to participate in one form or another…
If you are interested in this opportunity please get in contact with me, or if you know someone else that may be interested in it please send this message to them.
You can view a sample of my work on:
- Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ArtOfAndyRMacpherson
- YouTube at: www.youtube.com/AndyMacInBlack
- My blog/website at: www.AndyMacArt.co.uk
And you can contact me by e-mailing: AndyRMacpherson (AT) gmail (DOT) com
Monday, 6 July 2009
Synesthesia experiment hailed by iotaCenter
An experimental/abstract animation that I made in February 2008 for part of my 3rd Year Animation course at ECA has been noticed by the iotaCenter on Vimeo, and has been added to their Experimental Animation album on the site.
The iotaCenter is "a public benefit arts organization devoted to Abstract Cinema and Visual Music". They have an extensive collection of writings, original research, (and even DVDs for sale); which I found useful for researching some of my final year dissertation. Their description for the Experimental Animation album that recognises my video on Vimeo reads:
"iotaCenter is interested in both new and classic works being created and uploaded to Vimeo. Here we'll keep a list of those works we found to be unique".
My featured work [embedded below] is a 19 second experimental animation called Synesthesia Animated, which utilises an audio clip of the song Drive (Orchestral Live Version) by Incubus from the album Make Yourself: Tour Edition.
The animation sequence was composed over 2 weeks to synchronise with (and visually interpret) the elements of the audiotrack as I heard them.
The visuals are made from about 80 abstract watercolour paintings on 4" pieces of card, using a technique similar to cameraless animation - where I created each frame of animation without tracing the layout from the previous frame.
This technique causes the visuals to have a looseness that would be missing if the frames were traced, while the watercolours further enhance the vibrancy of the animation, which I think nicely reflects the audio.
Surprisingly, as of June 2009, there are only 5 videos in the album, but it is very nice to get recognised by the iotaCenter for creating a 'unique' piece of work...
I'd like to extend my gratitude to Murray Dalgleish for lending me the Tour Edition album, and to Alison Cross for lending me the Make Yourself album (as well as the S.C.I.E.N.C.E album) for the same project a week earlier than Murray.
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