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25 October 2004 Hi everyone, Natalie here. Thanks to everyone who came along to the Deviate gig, it was a good night all round with 3 terrific bands. Thanks to Grimlock and Soulfuric for their chunky riffs and solid performances. (Soulfuric...you really should continue on and find yourselves a replacement drummer...don't stop now!!!). Just for the hell of it, this week I thought I might attempt listing my top 10 albums and maybe in a week or two list my top 10 songs. So here goes. By the way, these aren't necessarily in order because that's just too hard to do and I've purposely not included compilations and live albums. 1.) KISS - Paul Stanley 2.) VAST - Music For People 3.) Sonata Arctica - Winterheart's Guild 4.) Duran Duran - Duran Duran 5.) Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free 6.) Richie Sambora - Stranger In This Town 7.) Steve Perry - For The Love Of Strange Medicine 8.) KISS - Dressed To Kill 9.) Iron Savior - Unification 10.) Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance
OK......I can't quite stop here at 10 .. there's a couple more that probably should go on the list as my favourite's.
11.) Hyperion - Where Stone Is Unscarred. 12.) Journey - Anything with Steve Perry on it is awesome. 13.) Duran Duran - Rio 14.) KISS - Unmasked
Well....there it is. Not particularly metal I know but I'm not strictly a metal gal. These are albums that I have put on for the first time and thought WOW... how good is this ..........and to this day still keep going back to them and think....... WOW!
My favourite compilation and live albums would have to be;
1.) Journey - Times 3. 2.) KISS - Alive 3 3.) Rainbow - On Stage 4.) U2 - Under A Blood Red Sky 5.) Judas Priest - Unleashed In The East 6.) Judas Priest - Metal Works 7.) Gamma Ray - Alive 95 8.) Journey - Greatest Hits Live 9.) Loverboy - Greatest Hits 10.) KISS - MTV Unplugged
OK...I'll stop there. Now before you email me all your complaints.....this is my list....... not yours. This is what I like. I know there's heaps of great albums out there but these are what I listen to the most.
Cheers Natalie
7 October 2004 Hi Everyone, Well it's finally done. The new clip for Darker Shade Of Hate is ready and waiting for you to download and take a look at. We hope you like it. Check it out and if you want, email us and let us know what you think. Cheers Medusa 21 September 2004
MAKING VIDEOS PART 3 TOTAL
HOURS-3 TOTAL BEERS 4 X 800ML TOTAL SANITY-NONE-BUT THAT’S OK THE
VIDEOS DONE Well after having
last week off due to exhaustion and having a quick break we finished up
the video.
The last part of the song was left, with the huge scream in the song
requiring something special to give it the effect it needed. We dug
through all the takes to find the best footage, then made a composite of
several shots and also using fade-in effects to really make this part of
the video effective.
Once all the footage is then completed, the effects have to be applied
to the appropriate spots. For the video to flow, certain fade-ins have
to be applied to spots throughout the vid to make the scenes flow
smoothly.
With over 80-100 separate scenes, this can take a little time, but has
to be done to make the clip work.
Was actually quite surprised how quickly the end of the video came
together and some of the overall effects used in the song show that this
is definitely the best work we have done yet.
Overall, the video has taken about 8 hours to finish, which for a 4
minute song is a lot of work, but as the end result will show, has been
worth the time. With different ideas, concepts and effects used, this
is something when we look back in ten years time and go “gee what a
bunch of idiots! but the video looks cool”, I think we will still be
happy with it. Will load the video up for you internet download people
soon.
Keep an eye out for the debut viewing on Russ Kellets Show on Channel 31
shortly.
Anyway, the video is done, my sanity is gone, the video guy has been
paid (thanks Brett, this would not have happened without your expertise
and contribution to the project. Wait for the next one!), and I am
heading off for a week of drinking and fishing.
Cheers
Greg
15 September 2004 Hey Metalheadz,
Wez. 3 September 2004
Making Videos Part 2
2nd day. 2.5 hours total. 3 minutes edited. 4 Bottles 800ml Beer.
Starting to lose sanity………..
Hey from greg from Medusa. For those of you just joining us, we shot a
video several weeks ago for the title track off the album, which the
band is editing with our 4th member and video guy Brett. (there you go
mate you get a credit!)
Well….Day 2 of editing the video for Darker Shade went well. The 2nd
verse/chorus and solo has been finished, and also the first section of
the breakdown.We shot some extra footage on the day of the shoot, which
was to be incorporated as a “concept”. When we looked back at the
footage, and thought ”what the hell are we going to do with this???”, we
now found a spot for it.
After trying a few ideas, we came up with what is going to be the final
result. There are a few photos of this concept up in the promo photos
section. Overall, it looks good, and adds a bit to the video itself. The
breakdown section of the song is perfect to incorporate the idea, as it
runs with the theme of the song. We nearly didn’t use it, but then by
chance it actually worked! Anyway…..
Next week: finishing the remainder of the clip, and then the beginning
of making all the final adjustments. This will take a week to make sure
all the scenes flow, and to make sure that the video looks damn good.
See you next week
Greg PS: Drink beer! It helps with editing videos!
31 August 2004
Making videos Part 1 Thought I might run
a diary on the editing side of darker shade of hate filmclip. A lot of
people get a kick out of behind the scenes shit, so here it is. Day 1. 2 ½ hours
work. 1 minute 30 seconds of video edited. 3 x 800ml bottles of beer
drunk. Sanity intact. In total, the
footage we have is close to 80 minutes and everyone's ideas were put
into the shoot. We wanted to include some different ideas, effects, and
some goofy stuff as well.
The editing session
started out with a small hitch- due to a misplacing of a copy of the
album to supply the track, there was a small delay. Once sorted, the
session started. After loading up
all the good footage it is ready to be cut up into a new video. What was
the easiest way to edit this together is to load entire takes up onto
the computer. Because we mimed to the track, it is simply a case of
matching (couldn’t spell synching-sinking??.....anyway..), the track to
the footage. We ended up with 10 full tracks (drums, guitars, vocals and
full band takes) to switch the footage around. Then we look at the
individual takes for the best footage. We shot some
footage with a strobe light flickering, and that will be used throughout
the song. It is bloody hard to watch this as it is almost blinding.
However, as an effect used briefly, it looks very cool. Sometimes a take
might look good in certain points, and then some parts might not be
usable. With 80 minutes of footage, we eliminated any possible spots
where we literally would have no usable footage. So far we have not had
any major problems. To date, we have
edited the intro, the first verse and the chorus. By the end of the
session, it is very tiring to do this work and concentration starts to
lapse. Rather than persist, it is better to call it a night and
continue on at the next session. Next week: second
verse, chorus, and most importantly-guitar solo Till then Greg
Medusa Ps. Saw Alarum cd
launch Saturday night. Very cool. Good gig and good to catch up with a
few people not seen for a while.
24 August 2004 Hi everyone, Well what a wet and miserable Saturday it was just gone but the film shoot for Darker Shade Of Hate went very well, smoke and all from the strobe light (boy oh boy are those things hard on the eyes and old brain). Wez couldn't help himself, he had to break a string miming. The film location was in a car spray booth to get the effect we were looking for. A BIG thankyou to Paul for his kind generosity for letting us use his facilities. Also a BIG thank you to Brett once again for doing a terrific job of filming . Greg and Brett will be sitting down with I'm sure many beers, over the next couple of weeks, sifting through all of the footage and editing it all into a clip that hopefully is our best to date. As soon as it is ready we'll put it up on the web for you all to see and we'll also be sending copies to all of the TV music shows so keep an eye out. You can check out some pics of the shoot on our photos page. Going back to our gig at The Duke Of Windsor, thanks to everyone who came along. It was a really good night. I can't tell how good it felt to play at a venue that had an excellent PA and sound system. It was one of the most enjoyable gigs I've done because the sound on and off stage was excellent and when you're not worrying about what you can't hear on stage, it makes playing a gig so much fun. Can't wait to play there again. We'll I think that's all for now. Stay heavy \m/ \m/ Cheers Natalie
4 August 2004
26 July 2004 Hey Metalheadz, 15 July 2004 Hi Medusa heads, Welcome to the new look web site. You'll find all the features we had before plus a few extra bits and pieces. The site will be updated on a regular basis with news on what the band and band members have been up to, photos, gig dates etc. This site is for you guys, our fans, so if you have any suggestions for the web, what you like or what you don't like or maybe you have some questions about the band or for a band member please email us or sign the guest book. A BIG, BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came to the gig at Deviate. What a sensational night, 3 very good bands and a terrific crowd to support us all. It was great to see some new faces in the crowd as well as our trusty regulars. Thank you to Soulfuric and Moredhel who both played well and put on very good shows of their own. If you haven't already, check out the new clip for Lockdown and keep an eye out for it on Channel 31 on Russ Kellett's show as well as Asylum and Noise TV. Stay tuned and stay heavy. Cheers Natalie, Wez & Greg. \m/ \m/
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