And if the classic "pants" sample were autotuned, would it still be recognisably different from the "pants" in this song?
We could have a short remix section (I told you this idea was easy to overcomplicate) It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his fancy pants... they're all he had, but don't feel bad, he'd do the same to everybody's pants. [Some Fancy Pants background music and then back to normal] We're having a party...
I see a cluster fuck on the horizon. Perhaps someone or someones with a vision could lay out the storyboard and we could see what parts need to be filled. My take.
We need a team to work on the music. Drums, guitar, guitar solo, harmonica or reasonable facimilies on all those things. Is there a karioke of this? I know we all like to play our stuff but that would be a huge time saver. Voices. I'm thinking everyone who wants and has the video capability can sing the verses. We'll string those together verse by verse. If you have something special you want to do during a particular line "i.e. Hold up onion dip and fritos, champales, fudgie the whale, etc" do so and the editor will try to get it in the mix. Alternately a two people could solo the verses and everyone do those goofy things on the video over the top of it. I kind of like this idea for ease of editing.
as was suggested everyone can come in on the chorus. we probably need a guide to follow to get the harmonys right. I'd say video wise, any pics or signs that you want to make and hold up we can flash through during the choruses.
Bridge My funny idea for the bridge is someone gets a vocal solo. preferable a womans voice. She sings to the camera but when she get to the "share my sleeping bag" she reclines back and pulls open the side of her sleeping bag. Then, over the guitar solo, we cut between three or four other women doing the same and end with one big, fat, hairy guy (like me) doing the same.
FYI this will be a lot of work to do in very short time.
Thoughts? BTW, the time for talk is running short.
The time has come to celebrate my birthday We just redid the basement, couch and all You're all invited, even Mark Manelli Just leave your coats and shoes in my front hall We'll put on records and no one will dance It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his pants
I'm having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement I'm having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
My mom is making onion dip and Fritos Her secret recipe that never fails My brother says he won't come down and punch me And we can drink his four-pack of Champales Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
I'm having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement I'm having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time A time for lovers You can share my sleeping bag
Guitar solo
I'm having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement I'm having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
We're discussing changing the lyrics to reflect the fact that we're having a party to celebrate his birthday.
Proposed complete lyrics:
The time has come to celebrate your birthday We just redid the basement, couch and all You're all invited, even Mark T Gordon Just leave your coats and shoes in our front hall We'll put on records and no one will dance It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his fancy pants... they're all he had, but don't feel bad, he'd do the same to everybody's pants.
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Our mom is making onion dip and Fritos Her secret recipe that never fails Our brother says he won't come down and punch me And we can drink his four-pack of Champales Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time A time for lovers You can share my (our?) sleeping bag
Guitar solo
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
In addition to singing-head video, we'll probably want some video of things mentioned in the song:
- basement couch - Mark's pants - coats and shoes in a front hall - onion dip - Fritos - a surly brother - Champales - Fudgie the Whale - candy - a spinning bottle - a sleeping bag - party decorations
In theory, assuming we're agreed on the timing, we could split the work of video editing and audio editing, and we'd be able to merge them together much later. That potentially avoids making Angela too much of a bottleneck and provides the opportunity to bring in different software.
My 2 cents is to keep things simple. The proposed lyrics sound fine, though I'm not sure about the 'pants' interlude. It's a funny idea, but I'm not sure it makes sense to break the format and go on a 'remix' tangent at the very beginning of the song.
Seeing as we're on a deadline, maybe it makes sense to have a roadmap for having the simplest possible version done quickly, which can be improved if there's time. In particular, I'd say just get the singing part together first; shots of the other song elements can be spliced in later, time permitting. Colleenky - if you're doing the guide track, could you do some additional harmony guide tracks?
All that said, someone needs to start making executive decisions if we're going to get anywhere . I'd say Bry should probably do so since he started the thread, or nominate someone else; Angelastic since she's doing the editing? Colleenky or Borba since they seem to be doing the musical arranging?
Angelastic - I can help with video editing, if you want\need it. I'll see if there's a way to do the tiling thing in Blender.
Sporksmith: Agreed. KISS method in the extreme. I think Borba's piano accompaniment is more than sufficient for our purposes. Anything else is gravy. Suggested plan of action: everyone start audio and/or video recording the melody NOW. Record extras if the mood strikes with the understanding that they might not be used. I'm gonna try to record a guide track tonight, at least for the melody. Absent any clarification, I'm gonna sing the pants-wetting line as it is in the original for now. A solo can be edited in later. I'll try to get to harmony tracks as soon as I can.
Again I ask, does it make any difference whether I record video on my webcam vs my mini camcorder?
Angelastic - Confirmed, I can do the video tiling in Blender. I just made a tiling thingy of myself singing "row row your boat" with myself in five layers, which I will not subject you to . Let me know what you'd like from me when we get to that point.
Colleenky - sounds like a plan! It probably doesn't make a difference which camera you use, as long as you can get it uploaded somewhere; Angelastic should probably give the definitive answer on acceptable video formats, though
there is a karaoke for this song. I just bought it and I can upload it somewhere for us all to use. I have set up a folder in the Mandelbrot Set folder on box.net called, We're having a Party. The karaoke file is in there.
Karaoke sounds like a plan then. Just to be clear, the only reason I did the piano track was because nobody else had yet come up with an alternative backing, but using the karaoke sound like the easiest way to get good result.
Webcam or mini camcorder are okay, I suspect a webcam will be lower quality and therefore produce a smaller file, which is probably an advantage for uploading/downloading etc, and makes it accessible to those who don't have anything better than a webcam (there won't be a sudden dip in quality when it gets to their parts.) We don't need the video to be super-high-quality, and when tiled the individual videos will be shown pretty small anyway.
I've taken the lyrics from mtgordon's post and added (in bold) suggestions which I mentioned earlier, and some I didn't, some more serious than others. For the record, I'm not sure about the pants thing either, it was just a random thought I was throwing out there. It's up to Mark and whether it fits into whatever he had in mind for his big pants-wetting moment.
The time has come to celebrate your birthday We just redid the base line, stomps and all [since Borba suggested stomps and handclaps... but it looks like we're not going to do that.] We're all invited, even Mark T Gordon (we are all invited, and all singing the song, but I am not sure who the plural 'you' would be) Just leave your coats and shoes in our front hall We'll put on records and no one will dance It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his fancy pants... they're all he had, but don't feel bad, he'd do the same to everybody's pants.
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Colleen is making onion dip and Fritos [this line would be sung solo by Colleenky as she shows her onion dip and Fritos] Her secret recipe that never fails Tom Cruise's lawyers won't come down and punch you [or perhaps some singer he 'competes' with? I just think we could do better than somebody's brother] And we can drink his four-pack of Champales [um... okay, maybe not Tom Cruise's Champales. We need an idea for this, though.] Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time A time for lovers You can share my (our?) sleeping bag
Guitar solo
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
I agree with Colleenky, basically everyone should record (on video) themselves singing the whole song, and doing whatever they think to do for various lines (it is not necessarily to do interesting things for every line, just whatever you think of/have equipment for), with the understanding that not all of their video or audio will be used, but some of both definitely will be.
All righty, then. I've just finished recording and mixing two versions of the melody guide track. Nothing's uploaded yet. I'll try to do another, incorporating Angela's changes, before I go to work in the morning. Otherwise, it might not get done for a couple of days. Right now, I'm going to bed. ::yawn::
Sure, chicazul, we're all invited! All you need to do is record yourself singing it into a webcam.
I think the guide track should be okay without the changes, it's a guide track, it doesn't have to have all the right words... besides, nobody has commented on my changes, perhaps they're a terrible idea (are we going to 'redo the base line' and does that even mean anything?) But I'll push them on you anyway for the sake of making progress.
Angela, I think that since it was your idea, you get to make the final decisions on the lyrics. :-)
Regarding the lines still in question... Since we're not changing the bass line or adding stomps, maybe we should keep the original line intact there? FWIW, "Our brother says he won't come down and punch you," has grown on me. It's like the original, with a twist. And, in the interest of time, we can record that *right now*. ;-) I'll record it that way for the guide track, and if it gets changed, so be it. One thought, though. Since we've already inserted a couple of fan names, maybe we could just add another fan name there. "Mike 'Spiff' Booth?" "And Kerrin?"
You know what would be cool? If we got Wil Wheaton to sing 'Wil Wheaton says he won't come down and punch you'. I mean they sang a whole song about Wil Wheaton, he might be willing to sing one line in return. First person to ask him gets cake.
It was. Well, we'll see if Wil Wheaton replies, and whether he's happy to share his Champales. If so, then there's no need to change the preceding lines.
BTW, Mike Lombardo suggested I contact Molly about asking Wil Wheaton, since they're buds and all. I've emailed her and invited her to join the project as well. We'll see...
P.S. I feel kinda weird singing about myself in the third person, so could everyone sing along there, Angela?
I only just saw this (I looked back and saw that you added it, after being confused about what you meant in the other post.) Of course, we can have everyone singing there, if you want, but you'll be the one shown in the video. Maybe WIl Wheaton (if he agrees to do it) will want everyone singing along on his lines too. That's for the singers and the sound-mixing crew (do we have a sound-mixing crew/person?) to think about, I just know who will be on the screen.
As long as we're getting celebrity friends involved, I bet Paul and Storm would want to play along. ("Paulandstorm say they won't come down and punch you...."?)
The problem with Paul and Storm is that the emphasis would have to be on the 'and', and it would sound weird in that tune... we could ask them to share the sleeping bag (I like robgonzo's idea for that!) or sit on the couch in the basement, though, or just appear in some other random place in the song.
BTW, I want to appear in one of the 'We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement' video parts, because I like candy. But since I'm making the video anyway, I guess I don't need to tell you that.
Alright! I'm psyched! Thanks so much, Colleenky, for the vocal guide, without which my participation would be impossible. Now I'll just wait for an official lyric sheet and set up the ol' webcam thinger. Standing by . . .
In the interests of keeping things moving, I'm going to assume that either Wil Wheaton agrees (WP:BB if you speak wikipedian) or whoever does say they won't come down and punch him will sing that part solo. So, in my official capacity as the person who bosses other people around and then acts as though she's done something useful herself (I will record myself singing when it's daytime, and you'll probably wish I hadn't), I present you the official lyric sheet:
The time has come to celebrate your birthday We just redid the basement, couch and all. We're all invited, even Mark T. Gordon Just leave your coats and shoes in our front hall We'll put on records and no one will dance It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his pants [any fancy pants stuff would be added in later, if at all]
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Colleen is making onion dip and Fritos Her secret recipe that never fails Wil Wheaton says he won't come down and punch you And we can drink his four-pack of Champales Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time A time for lovers You can share our sleeping bag
Guitar solo (with clips of increasingly unappealing [or increasingly not-JoCo's-type/preferred gender/number/species] people lying in sleeping bags and beckoning and/or just random quick things that people wanted to do or show to the camera.)
We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement We're having a party Hey, you wanna sleep over? We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
If you have ideas for doing anything that goes with any of the lines, do it, and it might end up in the finished product. In any case, everybody who submits video will be shown at least on some part of the screen for some part of the song.
I've got the guide tracks and am practicing - thanks Colleenky!
Would it be funny if I wear my outfit from our I feel fantastic video? Or attention whorish \ distracting?
On a related note, I think I could get 'angry coworker' to make a cameo for the 'hit you' line, if we don't get wilw, since he's a 'scary' character from that video. Not sure how recognizable he'd be though, or how it would work lyrically.
On a related related note, Bonnie (blackcatbonifide) will probably also be recording a voice track
All sound like good ideas, it would be kind of funny for all of us to reference other videos we're in, if we can (Kerrin in fancy pants! Kerrin in fancy pants!) Your video reminds me that I still have to do something with the footage from that time I filmed a time-lapse of my entire day.
I think you can upload your videos to box.net but I'm not sure how the collaborator links work or whether there is enough space for everyone to put videos there, so I will delegate... uh... Colleenky to answer this question.
I think this is the collaborator's link for Mandelbrot Set. You'll have to sign up for a (free) box.net account. There's a folder for We're Having a Party.
(Sorry for the delayed response. Work, followed by signing lease on the new place, followed by Black Dynamite - which is hysterical, by the way.)
Any word from Molly/Wil? Should I email Paul and Storm asking for their cooperation? (Both in offering to share JoCo's sleeping bag and in bringing in Wil Wheaton.)
On the subject of Paul and Storm, here's another half-baked, half-cut idea inspired by a photo they took: An Irish drunk guy won't come down and hug you... but you can't drink his four-pack of Champales.
I'll attempt to get a melody vid up this weekend, and hopefully the harmony. I did a couple takes last night and, uh, I think I need to practice a little more
Oh, boy. I've got a cold, so my already poor singing is just abysmal now. I will drink lots of lemon and honey tea and do my best, but oh gods, it's bad. Also, being my first ever contribution to a collab video, the production learning curve is steep. I will totally understand if you don't use more than three seconds of my video, but I really hope there will be at least three seconds of usable footage!
Is there consensus on the "our brother won't come down and punch you" line?
Argh, am I expected to make a decision on the punching line? Personally, I like 'big brother' rather than 'our brother', and maybe that would be a safer bet if we assume that any celebrity guests would sing solo. I know, that contradicts my last message, but I am indecisive and should not be trusted to lead a minion horde. Next time I see either of them active on Twitter, I'll twitter at Wil and Hodgman with a link to the relevant part of this thread, and hope they reply promptly (Colleenky might have more sway with Hodgman though. 'Course, for him we'd probably have to change more lyrics, so it'd be difficult.) Or someone else could do so if they appear while I'm asleep or on a train or at a party in the rain or on a boat with a goat or in a box with a fox.
Anyway, I say, don't worry too much about whether the singing or the video are great, even if some of us [at this point I briefly turn off my MacBook Pro's screen and look at my reflection] can't sing and others don't find anything particularly interesting to do for the camera, together we'll make it great [but will we make it on time? Tune in next week for the exciting endgame.] 'Usable footage' doesn't even have to be anything fancy, surely just tiled videos of four people singing into webcam will look good.
Thanks for the reassurance, Angelastic. I've been trying and trying, and I'm kind of losing heart, I just can't hit any of the low notes in the melody. I really feel sorry for the person who will have to listen to my audio. I may have to submit just a harmony track. Video is improving a bit so that's good.
Thanks also for continuing to work on potential guest appearance(s)!
...on a train or at a party in the rain or on a boat with a goat or in a box with a fox.
Hahaha! No boxes, foxes, houses, mouses, husbands and wives - no spouses!
FWIW, I've echoed your Twitter request, Angela. Though, I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome. :-S
Autumnraina and others shouldn't worry too much about the quality of the vocals. First of all, it's probably not as bad as you think. Second, it'll all come out in the wash, mixed in with everything else. Third, it's all in fun. Enthusiasm goes a long way! :-)
I wonder whether they're waiting for their forum registrations to be approved.
Hmm okay, deadline... well, his birthday's on a Tuesday, I'm not sure exactly when with the time zones and all, so I'll say it should be uploaded somewhere on Monday (by the way, I was thinking, to make more of a buzz and safeguard against YouTube upload bugs, perhaps I could upload the finished video to mediafire or box.net and each participant could upload it to their own YouTube account.) This means there's a whole weekend in which to stay up all night playing with stuff. (Heck, if I decided this was a good enough excuse, I could even go to the Apple Store on Saturday and pick up a copy of Final Cut Express.) I could set a deadline of Friday (27th) night Geneva time (though that would thwart anyone who only has time to record on weekends), and then secretly actually accept late additions up until I wake up early Saturday afternoon. However, I'm only doing the video. Somebody (anybody?) out there has to mix the audio. And it'd be nice if I had the mixed audio before I finish the video, in case the timing is not exactly the same or something. So, I should let whoever is mixing the audio decide on a deadline. Somebody's going to mix the audio, right? I would prefer somebody who knows more about music and mixing and which voices shouldn't be too loud to do that part.
Other random rules I'm making up as I go along: Name your video file after whatever you want to be called in the credits Maybe give your Twitter username so I can make a list of the users involved, thus making it easier to credit everyone when twittering JoCo about it
I will totally make a video after my midterm on Monday.
ETA: Tiled, as in floor tiles, not Titled, as in Best. Concert. Ever.
EETA: Five questions:
Do you want us to rip the audio/aproximately sinc the vocals ourselves, or just post the video? (May not matter if you are just ripping out the chorus) Box.net, or other location? (for the videos [large file size.]) Downgrade quality to a certain size, or leave as is? File Type of video or vox? Is there a final version of the lyrics/an example of them yet? (I haven't looked at box.net yet.)
My digital camera messes with the timing tracker of the videos it makes, so I have to edit it a little already. It wouldn't be too much trouble to do any of these things for my submission.
Is anyone going to mix the audio? 'cause I'd rather not do that as well as doing the video. Whoever does that can answer the first question.
I don't know what the file size limit is for box.net. If you can't put things there, put them on mediafire or somewhere, as long as you put a link here. Webcam quality (640x480) is probably quicker to upload/download but I guess it's not critical, these days people have fast Internet. I think my old computer took longer converting video to low resolution than it would have uploading at full-size.
Final lyrics are in my earlier post, except that without hearing from Wil Wheaton I think we should say 'Big Brother says'. Colleenky put an example on box.net. If you prefer 'our brother', well, be the first to record and then everyone else will have to follow your lead.
Comments
We could have a short remix section (I told you this idea was easy to overcomplicate) It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his fancy pants... they're all he had, but don't feel bad, he'd do the same to everybody's pants. [Some Fancy Pants background music and then back to normal] We're having a party...
Perhaps someone or someones with a vision could lay out the storyboard and we could see what parts need to be filled.
My take.
We need a team to work on the music.
Drums, guitar, guitar solo, harmonica or reasonable facimilies on all those things. Is there a karioke of this? I know we all like to play our stuff but that would be a huge time saver.
Voices.
I'm thinking everyone who wants and has the video capability can sing the verses.
We'll string those together verse by verse. If you have something special you want to do during a particular line "i.e. Hold up onion dip and fritos, champales, fudgie the whale, etc" do so and the editor will try to get it in the mix.
Alternately a two people could solo the verses and everyone do those goofy things on the video over the top of it. I kind of like this idea for ease of editing.
as was suggested everyone can come in on the chorus.
we probably need a guide to follow to get the harmonys right.
I'd say video wise, any pics or signs that you want to make and hold up we can flash through during the choruses.
Bridge
My funny idea for the bridge is someone gets a vocal solo. preferable a womans voice.
She sings to the camera but when she get to the "share my sleeping bag" she reclines back and pulls open the side of her sleeping bag. Then, over the guitar solo, we cut between three or four other women doing the same and end with one big, fat, hairy guy (like me) doing the same.
FYI this will be a lot of work to do in very short time.
Thoughts? BTW, the time for talk is running short.
The time has come to celebrate my birthday
We just redid the basement, couch and all
You're all invited, even Mark Manelli
Just leave your coats and shoes in my front hall
We'll put on records and no one will dance
It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his pants
I'm having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
I'm having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
My mom is making onion dip and Fritos
Her secret recipe that never fails
My brother says he won't come down and punch me
And we can drink his four-pack of Champales
Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale
Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
I'm having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
I'm having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time
A time for lovers
You can share my sleeping bag
Guitar solo
I'm having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
I'm having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Proposed complete lyrics:
The time has come to celebrate your birthday
We just redid the basement, couch and all
You're all invited, even Mark T Gordon
Just leave your coats and shoes in our front hall
We'll put on records and no one will dance
It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his fancy pants... they're all he had, but don't feel bad, he'd do the same to everybody's pants.
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Our mom is making onion dip and Fritos
Her secret recipe that never fails
Our brother says he won't come down and punch me
And we can drink his four-pack of Champales
Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale
Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time
A time for lovers
You can share my (our?) sleeping bag
Guitar solo
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
In addition to singing-head video, we'll probably want some video of things mentioned in the song:
- basement couch
- Mark's pants
- coats and shoes in a front hall
- onion dip
- Fritos
- a surly brother
- Champales
- Fudgie the Whale
- candy
- a spinning bottle
- a sleeping bag
- party decorations
In theory, assuming we're agreed on the timing, we could split the work of video editing and audio editing, and we'd be able to merge them together much later. That potentially avoids making Angela too much of a bottleneck and provides the opportunity to bring in different software.
BTW, I love the sleeping bag idea!
Seeing as we're on a deadline, maybe it makes sense to have a roadmap for having the simplest possible version done quickly, which can be improved if there's time. In particular, I'd say just get the singing part together first; shots of the other song elements can be spliced in later, time permitting. Colleenky - if you're doing the guide track, could you do some additional harmony guide tracks?
All that said, someone needs to start making executive decisions if we're going to get anywhere
Angelastic - I can help with video editing, if you want\need it. I'll see if there's a way to do the tiling thing in Blender.
Again I ask, does it make any difference whether I record video on my webcam vs my mini camcorder?
Colleenky - sounds like a plan! It probably doesn't make a difference which camera you use, as long as you can get it uploaded somewhere; Angelastic should probably give the definitive answer on acceptable video formats, though
I have set up a folder in the Mandelbrot Set folder on box.net called, We're having a Party. The karaoke file is in there.
I've taken the lyrics from mtgordon's post and added (in bold) suggestions which I mentioned earlier, and some I didn't, some more serious than others. For the record, I'm not sure about the pants thing either, it was just a random thought I was throwing out there. It's up to Mark and whether it fits into whatever he had in mind for his big pants-wetting moment.
The time has come to celebrate your birthday
We just redid the base line, stomps and all [since Borba suggested stomps and handclaps... but it looks like we're not going to do that.]
We're all invited, even Mark T Gordon (we are all invited, and all singing the song, but I am not sure who the plural 'you' would be)
Just leave your coats and shoes in our front hall
We'll put on records and no one will dance
It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his fancy pants... they're all he had, but don't feel bad, he'd do the same to everybody's pants.
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Colleen is making onion dip and Fritos [this line would be sung solo by Colleenky as she shows her onion dip and Fritos]
Her secret recipe that never fails
Tom Cruise's lawyers won't come down and punch you [or perhaps some singer he 'competes' with? I just think we could do better than somebody's brother]
And we can drink his four-pack of Champales [um... okay, maybe not Tom Cruise's Champales. We need an idea for this, though.]
Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale
Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time
A time for lovers
You can share my (our?) sleeping bag
Guitar solo
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
I agree with Colleenky, basically everyone should record (on video) themselves singing the whole song, and doing whatever they think to do for various lines (it is not necessarily to do interesting things for every line, just whatever you think of/have equipment for), with the understanding that not all of their video or audio will be used, but some of both definitely will be.
I've just been a lurker here, but I very much like the party song idea...is this something that a newbie can get in on?
I think the guide track should be okay without the changes, it's a guide track, it doesn't have to have all the right words... besides, nobody has commented on my changes, perhaps they're a terrible idea (are we going to 'redo the base line' and does that even mean anything?) But I'll push them on you anyway for the sake of making progress.
Regarding the lines still in question... Since we're not changing the bass line or adding stomps, maybe we should keep the original line intact there? FWIW, "Our brother says he won't come down and punch you," has grown on me. It's like the original, with a twist. And, in the interest of time, we can record that *right now*. ;-) I'll record it that way for the guide track, and if it gets changed, so be it. One thought, though. Since we've already inserted a couple of fan names, maybe we could just add another fan name there. "Mike 'Spiff' Booth?" "And Kerrin?"
Or If it's a fan, somebody big and/or scary... but Andy Bates has the stressed syllables in the wrong places.
hehe... (MESSAGE REDACTED) won't come down and punch you...
ETA: Guide tracks for melody and chorus harmony have been uploaded. A couple of words might still change, but at least it's there.
P.S. I feel kinda weird singing about myself in the third person, so could everyone sing along there, Angela?
(Someone else fix the appropriate rhyme.)
BTW, Mike Lombardo suggested I contact Molly about asking Wil Wheaton, since they're buds and all. I've emailed her and invited her to join the project as well. We'll see...
(I should really get back to work.)
(I should really get back to work too.)
The time has come to celebrate your birthday
We just redid the basement, couch and all.
We're all invited, even Mark T. Gordon
Just leave your coats and shoes in our front hall
We'll put on records and no one will dance
It's gonna be funny when Mark wets his pants [any fancy pants stuff would be added in later, if at all]
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Colleen is making onion dip and Fritos
Her secret recipe that never fails
Wil Wheaton says he won't come down and punch you
And we can drink his four-pack of Champales
Expect a visit from Fudgie the Whale
Ice cream and crunchies in his fudgy tail
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
Bed time is quiet time
A time for lovers
You can share our sleeping bag
Guitar solo (with clips of increasingly unappealing [or increasingly not-JoCo's-type/preferred gender/number/species] people lying in sleeping bags and beckoning and/or just random quick things that people wanted to do or show to the camera.)
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna eat candy and get headaches in the basement
We're having a party
Hey, you wanna sleep over?
We're gonna play spin the bottle till it's time to go to bed
If you have ideas for doing anything that goes with any of the lines, do it, and it might end up in the finished product. In any case, everybody who submits video will be shown at least on some part of the screen for some part of the song.
Would it be funny if I wear my outfit from our I feel fantastic video? Or attention whorish \ distracting?
On a related note, I think I could get 'angry coworker' to make a cameo for the 'hit you' line, if we don't get wilw, since he's a 'scary' character from that video. Not sure how recognizable he'd be though, or how it would work lyrically.
On a related related note, Bonnie (blackcatbonifide) will probably also be recording a voice track
Oh, and how do we upload our videos?
I think you can upload your videos to box.net but I'm not sure how the collaborator links work or whether there is enough space for everyone to put videos there, so I will delegate... uh... Colleenky to answer this question.
(Sorry for the delayed response. Work, followed by signing lease on the new place, followed by Black Dynamite - which is hysterical, by the way.)
ETA: I emailed Paul and Storm.
I'll attempt to get a melody vid up this weekend, and hopefully the harmony. I did a couple takes last night and, uh, I think I need to practice a little more
Is there consensus on the "our brother won't come down and punch you" line?
Anyway, I say, don't worry too much about whether the singing or the video are great, even if some of us [at this point I briefly turn off my MacBook Pro's screen and look at my reflection] can't sing and others don't find anything particularly interesting to do for the camera, together we'll make it great [but will we make it on time? Tune in next week for the exciting endgame.] 'Usable footage' doesn't even have to be anything fancy, surely just tiled videos of four people singing into webcam will look good.
Thanks also for continuing to work on potential guest appearance(s)!
ETA: I feel sorry for whoever listens to my audio too, but that's why I volunteered for video and not audio mixing. ;D
FWIW, I've echoed your Twitter request, Angela. Though, I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome. :-S
Autumnraina and others shouldn't worry too much about the quality of the vocals. First of all, it's probably not as bad as you think. Second, it'll all come out in the wash, mixed in with everything else. Third, it's all in fun. Enthusiasm goes a long way! :-)
Angela: Submission deadline?
Hmm okay, deadline... well, his birthday's on a Tuesday, I'm not sure exactly when with the time zones and all, so I'll say it should be uploaded somewhere on Monday (by the way, I was thinking, to make more of a buzz and safeguard against YouTube upload bugs, perhaps I could upload the finished video to mediafire or box.net and each participant could upload it to their own YouTube account.) This means there's a whole weekend in which to stay up all night playing with stuff. (Heck, if I decided this was a good enough excuse, I could even go to the Apple Store on Saturday and pick up a copy of Final Cut Express.) I could set a deadline of Friday (27th) night Geneva time (though that would thwart anyone who only has time to record on weekends), and then secretly actually accept late additions up until I wake up early Saturday afternoon. However, I'm only doing the video. Somebody (anybody?) out there has to mix the audio. And it'd be nice if I had the mixed audio before I finish the video, in case the timing is not exactly the same or something. So, I should let whoever is mixing the audio decide on a deadline. Somebody's going to mix the audio, right? I would prefer somebody who knows more about music and mixing and which voices shouldn't be too loud to do that part.
Other random rules I'm making up as I go along:
Name your video file after whatever you want to be called in the credits
Maybe give your Twitter username so I can make a list of the users involved, thus making it easier to credit everyone when twittering JoCo about it
I will totally make a video after my midterm on Monday.
ETA: Tiled, as in floor tiles, not Titled, as in Best. Concert. Ever.
EETA: Five questions:
Do you want us to rip the audio/aproximately sinc the vocals ourselves, or just post the video? (May not matter if you are just ripping out the chorus)
Box.net, or other location? (for the videos [large file size.])
Downgrade quality to a certain size, or leave as is?
File Type of video or vox?
Is there a final version of the lyrics/an example of them yet? (I haven't looked at box.net yet.)
My digital camera messes with the timing tracker of the videos it makes, so I have to edit it a little already. It wouldn't be too much trouble to do any of these things for my submission.
I don't know what the file size limit is for box.net. If you can't put things there, put them on mediafire or somewhere, as long as you put a link here. Webcam quality (640x480) is probably quicker to upload/download but I guess it's not critical, these days people have fast Internet. I think my old computer took longer converting video to low resolution than it would have uploading at full-size.
Final lyrics are in my earlier post, except that without hearing from Wil Wheaton I think we should say 'Big Brother says'. Colleenky put an example on box.net. If you prefer 'our brother', well, be the first to record and then everyone else will have to follow your lead.