Origins - WW1 Rap Battle

Hi

There's a little piece about this in the Features section but I thought I'd pop it in Showcase too. It's a sort of Horrible Histories / Epic Rap Battles-style thing and was commissioned as part of the BBC's current WW1 season for the iPlayer. It tells the story of how WW1 kicked off through the mouths of the key historical players. I composed and performed the music, co-wrote the lyrics, and performed George V's voice.

Hope you like it

cheers

Lee

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0211xbs/ww1-uncut-7-origins-rap-battle

Excellent.
Shame it's got a +16 rating, though.
For the want of a few well-placed swear-word substitutes, this would be great for schools etc.

thats epic

That is excellent Lee.

Does this mean you are now more famous than Bussell?

Quote: Will Cam @ 23rd June 2014, 1:16 PM BST

That is excellent Lee.

Does this mean you are now more famous than Bussell?

View original

Glad you llike it. The Bussell's terrible sex crimes towards small woodland creatures will soon eclipse anything I've ever done if the Operation Yewtree investigation goes well. Those poor, poor baby squirrels.

But no, Bussell has the cajones to actually get in front of a camera. I'm quite happy hiding on the other side

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUaWiy_QXc

James Blunts singing just for you Lee......

Quote: Lazzard @ 23rd June 2014, 12:42 PM BST

Excellent.
Shame it's got a +16 rating, though.
For the want of a few well-placed swear-word substitutes, this would be great for schools etc.

View original

Thanks! It was debated which way to go - so much so that we actually recorded a kiddy-friendly version. But they went the more adult route in the end. I suppose a few well-placed bleeps would clean it up if for little ears.

Quote: sootyj @ 23rd June 2014, 1:29 PM BST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjUaWiy_QXc

James Blunts singing just for you Lee......

View original

NEVER. POST. THAT. AGAIN.

Meh if I was mean I'd have posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuT6hughY-I

but seriously great work

Quote: sootyj @ 23rd June 2014, 1:34 PM BST

Meh if I was mean I'd have posted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuT6hughY-I

but seriously great work

View original

Thanks Soots. And what the Hell is that Shrek porn thing? It's depraved! *quickly Googles, unscrews jar of hand cream*

Yep. Definitely an excellent piece of work. I was just wondering why you went with separate voices and physical actors? There were a couple of points where the synching didn't seem perfect to me - although it could just be my crappy pc.

Quote: Ponderer @ 23rd June 2014, 1:53 PM BST

Yep. Definitely an excellent piece of work. I was just wondering why you went with separate voices and physical actors? There were a couple of points where the synching didn't seem perfect to me - although it could just be my crappy pc.

View original

We used voice actors who are used to doing accents / different voices etc, plus the physical actors were also cast because of their physical resemblance to the real historical characters. You're right, there are a few instances where the lipsynch isn't absolutely spot-on, but given the short amount of time we had to shoot the thing and the complexity of the piece, the cast did really admirably.

Ah. OK. I hadn't thought about the need to look like them as being that important; but, of course, in the context of the anniversary I guess it does. It just seemed that gave you an extra set of technical problems. I agree the actors did a very good job of synching to someone elses words while also acting, and the few bits where its not perfect don't detract from the overall quality.

Quote: Ponderer @ 23rd June 2014, 2:54 PM BST

Ah. OK. I hadn't thought about the need to look like them as being that important; but, of course, in the context of the anniversary I guess it does. It just seemed that gave you an extra set of technical problems. I agree the actors did a very good job of synching to someone elses words while also acting, and the few bits where its not perfect don't detract from the overall quality.

View original

To be fair, even if the physical actors had provided the voices, those voices would still have had to be have been recorded in a recording studio beforehand and then mimed to on filming day, so it wouldn't have made a lot of difference. It's impossible to record the vocals for something like this in real time as you film it. Everything is done in a recording studio.

Even the bit right at the end where the music stops and the Kaiser flounces off - if you listen carefully, you can hear his medals jangling, the sound of the cast's uniform material moving, the footsteps etc - those were all added in afterwards in the recording studio which had a Foley department. (Foley being a term used for creating sound effects with real objects.) Little peek behind the curtain for you!

And it catches drug dealers whilst making quips in 1980s Beverley hills