Stephen McCann / 09-11-21
Our collective awareness of the effects on climate change caused by humanity are growing with increasing numbers of countries and continents now actively trying to fix the problem. But what exactly is the problem? Is it one thing or is it a multitude of elements causing the adverse effects on climate change? My forthcoming project will shine a light on those issues and ask just who, what is to blame. This audio-visual presentation has a singular aim... To make you self aware about what YOU can do to change. Deforestation, Greenhouse Gasses, Fossil Fuels, Methane, War, Greed, Ignorance and even our most coveted creation Capitalism all have a part to play in the systematic destruction of our natural home.
Week 1
My idea was inspired by the group I was placed in for our week 1 challenge. We had a lot of fun and gelled immediately, but through the laughs came some solid ideas for a project. My project has become one of a Musical piece accompanied with a music video. So far, my idea for the song is a soft sombre song to begin with at 70 bpm, which then intensifies into a hard techno-based track at 175bpm that has dark, destructive undertones which will accompany the video. The video itself, in terms of the sombre song, a short textual video will explain the effects of humanity on climate change. I will show simple, easy to digest statistics in the aim of engaging the viewer. As the song begins to build up, I will ask who/what is responsible in the video and when the song reaches fever pitch, I will show fast paced images/videos of several different atrocities that humanity has committed over a lifetime of war and greed. In the end, I will claim who is responsible for all of this, which will then reveal “you, me, we.”, possibly followed by a hashtag e.g #WeAreResponsible
Week 2
After the second weekly lecture on CMPD, I had further refined my ideas in terms of execution and idea for a video package. The breakout sessions would be critical in bouncing ideas off one another with an engaging group. We had organised to meet up outside of university to further our idea creation sessions to an increased level. Regarding the musical part of the project, I have decided to stick with the original plan of producing a soft track with a high intensity finish. As for the video package to accompany the music, I have come up with more ideas to add to the product. These new ideas come in the form of buzz words relating to the negative effects of climate change, such as Deforestation, Greenhouse Gasses, Methane etc. during the build up of the introduction of the high energy track. This will be followed by stock videos of climate change consequences and humanities devastating effect on it.
Week 3
Arriving at week 3, I had started to build the template of the track and collate images for the build up of the video package. What the genre will be is the soft build up that will be accompanied by basic facts on humanities negative impact on Climate Change with the build up becoming gradually more intense. The style of the music genre has changed to that of Gabber (hardcore techno). The reason being, with Drum and Bass, I don’t believe I can achieve the element of guilt, dread and doom with that type of genre, but with Gabber, the aggressive and distorted style can be recreated to form something evil and terrifying, which is the emotions I want to draw from the listener/viewer. An example of a Gabber track which demonstrates those emotions can be found here:
One thing I did have trouble with, was locating the original inspiration for this project. I vividly remember seeing a fast-cut, metal music video that had a series of disgusting images that artistically went very well with the song, but I cannot seem to locate it anywhere I look. Finding similarities will be tough, but by next week, hopefully I will have located the original source.
Week 4
This week was our introduction to meet our new supervisors for this subject. My supervisor met with me in a Zoom call to go over the project and dissect the meanings behind the music and the music video. My supervisor was extremely helpful both over zoom and the on-campus lecture, with ideas and inspiration that further refined my project, and even helped me find the original source of the visual side. The song/music video that inspired me (without even knowing it) was Metallica – Spit Out the Bone. A link for the track and music video is shown below; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m46Z0-HXySo
The fast-cut scene in the first 10 seconds of the song, albeit short, is the main source of this creative idea and will form the spine of the music video when the high energy side kicks in. Further research in high cut and fast-paced videos will be a necessity in gaining enough knowledge to produce a video that fits the track, has a piece of my identity and credits the style of fast-cut videos.
Through the zoom calls and on-campus lectures, refining my themes for this topic became much easier. The themes are relevant to the environment and survival, which right now, are going against the grain of each other. Within these broad topics, come more refined themes such as guilt, greed, ignorance and fear. All symbolistic in the degradation of the environment that humanity continues to cause through our selfish actions.
Week 5
This weeks CMPD session had to be missed due to a rare opportunity to work in a friends studio who has far better and more useful equipment/VST’s and samples that would greatly increase the strength of the audio. From last week, I made significant changes to the drums, in which I used Samples from a Drum N’ Bass sample pack (Liquid Propulsion) to ‘beef up’ the drums. I then moved on to creating a synthetic melody through a VST named ‘Sylenth’ by Lennar Digital, popular for its distorted melodies and arpeggios with a multitude of pre-sets to assist in sound creation. I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see the lecture today, but at the same time, I’m proud of what I managed to achieve in such a short time with the help of this studio for the day. The change of environment helped spurn new ideas and simple extra equipment such as a trackpad for easily skipping through the DAW.
Next week (or later this week), work will be done on tidying up the track and adding finishing touches to transitions /FX.
Week 6
During my time in week 6, I spent the time further producing the track as inspiration and ideas for this project seem to be coming fast and in volume. It is my belief that with the finalized track, the project (especially the video package) will become much easier and a more fluid process. An upcoming climate change conference (COP26) will be taking place in Glasgow this week, with plenty of marches and protests to be organised which may also help with inspiration and Greta Thunberg herself will be taking part in the protests. There will be many discussion points that will be brought to surface when the conference begins, and a close eye will be kept on information shared which may improve or strengthen the project.
In terms of the track, more work was done with FX to sharpen up the track and work on it sonically. Reverb automation was added to the intro percussion and compressors were also added to help them break through when the build up starts to begin. The build-up, now has some brass and platinum hits behind it to emphasize the points that will be raised during the video package. The levels in general were brought down to an acceptable level and the synthesizers in the main kick, now have FX added accordingly.
The video package is almost complete, with some small errors to be adjusted but thanks to the fluidity and ease of use from DaVinci Resolve 17, a free-to-use media creator, I was able to wrap the video up in a short amount of time. Next week, the write up will begin in a more formal declaration.
Week 7
With deadlines creeping up ever closer, I began writing the formal abstract for this project with creative sources and inspiration put into essay format. I had completed the essay with my supervisor giving facts and information on how to improve an already strong abstract.
She stated that she would get back to me with pointers on the finished draft in a documentation format that will be utilised in making the abstract stronger and more in depth. The main feature that was lacking from the write up was the personal touch that was overshadowed by the process I had taken. A very insightful conversation that has boosted my confidence in my writing skills and further increasing my inspiration and desire to have a perfect creative outcome.
With the song and the video package now completed, the next week will be the completion of the project with a formal contextualization of the project and explaining the challenges I overcame in creating something outside the box.
Week 8
With the contextualisation now complete, there is nothing left to do other than show you the final product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0US-hHx7h4&t=44s
This end product challenged me on different levels. It created an urge to delve deeper into unknown production techniques in an attempt to create something born of passion. I hope you enjoy,
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE. #WeAreResponsible