Editing standstill?

In order to gain more marks for editing and effects in our music video we have decided to manipulate the image in the clip where Jake is miming. We have decided on repeating the clip into four sections and every time the word "go" is repeated towards the end of the chorus each image of the clip would be manipulated with the use of colour change.

However, this is proving difficult and unfortunately the clips either aren't in time with the music when the colour change appears or the clips are slightly wonky. We will be tweeking these errors and hopefully be able to make it work!

*UPDATE*****

We couldn't time the colour change right so we have opted to add a fade in so that all the clips fade out and we're left with a blank screen.

Video Effects?!

I have been playing around with the different effects on Final Cut Express to see how we can manipulate the clip in which our main character Jake is miming.

We aren't sure which effect to have or to simply leave it as it is. Feedback would be appreciated!

How I achieved these:

- I overlapped two of the same clips over the other and for the first effect I just modified the composition mode to "overlay" and changed the colours with the RGB Balance you can see that the clip is still slightly red so I will have to play around with the colours still.

- The second clip I did the same effect with the RGB balance to change the colour and then I replicated the clip so that I could get the 4 images. I then took the same clip and overlaid the clip on to the replicated clip and changed the composition mode to "screen".

New Idea?

We recently decided on changing the present time in our video to black and white but we aren't entirely sure! Please leave any feedback and watch the previous edit in the post before, thank you!

Music Video?!

Here is some of our final music video. It is a very rough edit and there are plenty of gaps where we haven't finished the filming.

Please leave feedback!

Learning Skills in Photoshop

Today we were learning how to use photoshop, we experimented with selecting certain parts of images and then pasting onto a new image and working with layers and effects.

Here is my example:

Photoshop 

Today we were taught the basics of photoshop, e.g layering, transforming and just generally editing images and getting grips to photoshop. This will be extremely useful as we are planning to do a digipack and will be perfect for when its comes to editing our images. 

The beginning of our long journey to editing...PART TWO

We are in the process of editing a fast paced sequence in the narrative to match the beat of our music video. However, because of how fast the beat of the music is we have had to rethink about how our narrative will play out. (screenshot one)

 

Screenshot one

Another struggle we are having is timing the opening shots to the beat of the music, as you can see in this screenshot (screenshot two) that the clips are short and snappy to fit the music but fitting these shots to the pace and still having the rest of the clips to match the beat further on is proving difficult.

Screenshot two

Our original idea wouldn't have enough footage to last the duration of the song when edited to fit the pace of it. Therefore we have discussed how we can fit new scenes into the narrative so that we have enough footage to play around with and are able to edit.

We have decided that we will have our main character mime to a verse of the song to clearly represent to the audience that the focus of our attention is on this main character when listening to the lyrics of the song.

Setting

Location

The image above shows one of our locations that we will be shooting a significant part of our music video in. We believe this to be a good location as the graffiti covered bridge gives a slight urban feel that is hard to establish in rural suffolk which ties in with our artist, Mac Miller who can be seen as an urban artist. It is also quite isolated and remote which could also be used to reflect his emotions. This location will be used for one of our flashback scenes as our male lead visits to relive the times he once had with his partner there. This footage that will be filmed there is quite vital to understanding the narrative within the video so we are pleased that we have found such a suitable location.

We are hoping to film here the coming weekend (Saturday 10th November)

The beginning of our long journey to editing...PART ONE

Today we have begun editing the opening shots of our music video. We feel it has gone better than we had originally anticipated and are rather pleased with the footage we have compiled so far.

We have considered the use of a flashback as our main character opens the door to fit with the beat of the music but we aren't completely sure yet. We are still deliberating. We have been taking into consideration the beat of the song quite a lot with regards to our editing so it flows well and also it applies to Goodwin's theory of the visuals matching the beat of the music.

The Divisions of Labour

We have begun constructing our music video where we have divided the roles of labour between us, Jack and I, equally.
However, Airi (me) has been more dominate with the editing side of things as she is more skilled with Final Cut.
Jack has been more dominant with the direction of the filming and visualizing how the music video plays out.

Unsupervised Tuesday 23rd October

Jack and I have completely settled on a two day filming schedule for Friday 2nd November to Sunday 4th November.

We decided this was a good date seeing as one of our cast members has to travel down from Colchester in order for us to film. Because of the distance between us we have decided to film on the Friday and Saturday and review all footage both evenings together on my own Macbook and then if we are unhappy with any shots or we need to reshoot certain scenes, we still have an extra day with our cast member to make sure all our footage is perfect.

Textual analysis of a previous students music video

Friend (Lover) by Evenings

As you can see this is not exactly a conventional music video song typical students usually use. The fact that this student has chosen a song that does not include lyrics is unconventional. The main focus of this song is purely based on the music, which leaves the student's concept ideas very wide. 

However, even though the song contains very little words we can still apply Goodwin's Theory to this student's previous work. Goodwin's Theory includes the relationship between music and visuals, this particular video clearly shows a link between the beat of the music and the visuals. During the first 40 seconds of the sequence it is very fast paced and in time with a new beat of the song, relating to Goodwin's theory. 
I think this was the strongest aspect of Goodwin's theory this student has applied particularly because of their song choice, we see that they also feature many close up's of 'the artist' throughout their video.

In terms of camerawork in the video, this is my favourite aspect. Their use of camera angles and movement throughout this student work is immaculate. There are many different shot variations and the movement of the camera is done very smoothly with a wide set of movement. 
My particular favourite is the beginning shot of the 'artist' lying on the floor and we get a close up of his face but then the camera moves to a canted low angle shot and then back to a normal close up.

Another favourite shot of mine is the ink being dropped in a clear vase of water, I thought the simplicity of dropping ink into a clear vase of water creates a great effect to the video itself.

With the mise en scene in this video we only really see natural settings of a forest and field, however, because of the concept this video reflects it is very appropriate therefore relates very well to the video.

Music Video

There are three main types of music video: Performance

                                                                Narrative      

                                                                Concept

The main conventions:

Performance - Main shots featured are that of the artist(s) performing.

- Often shows a live stage performance with shots cutting from the audience to the artist.

- Can be the artist's in "real life" situations e.g warming up, talking, fooling around.

- Includes lots of close ups of the artist

- There is often a particular visual style that goes with a artist (a motif) e.g particular clothing, props etc.

- Usually an artist appears to perform in an unusual place - all lip synched e.g a field or rooftop.

I have chosen the Jonas Brother's - Fly With Me as my example music video to anlayse.
We can see that there are many close up's of the artists.































This screenshots clearly show the artist on stage at a rehearsal performing. The music video also contains the band interacting with their fans (01:46 - 01:48) and messing around and having fun backstage.

Narrative - A narrative based music video mainly focuses on a complete narrative following the duration of the song. The storyline tends to be followed throughout the music video concluding with no loose ends, the narrative has reached an equilibrium. Many narrative based music videos play out like a short film. 

I have chosen Katy Perry - The One That Got Away as an example of a narrative based music video.

The narrative follows an elderly woman who is looking back on her life, the video starts with a close up shot of the protagonist as an elderly woman followed by a flashback of her past as an 18 year old. The main theme throughout this narrative is love, the two teenagers are quite clearly infatuated. As the video plays on the narrative soon develops and we see a fight between the two lovers. The male character grabs his stuff and leaves. As an a audience we expect to see a happy ending and this hope of a happy ending seems to be realistic as the male protagonist (1:37) finds Katy's veil and reminisces old times. As he decides to turn around he looks up and sees a boulder in the road, ultimately leading him to swerve and drive off the cliff. Our hopes of a happy ending are crushed, just like his car.

Concept - Concept music videos tend to feature thematic/symbolic ideas, for example,  it may feature a certain ideology or location with props that may connote a certain theme. The editing style and pace of editing is also used to help infer the meaning and build up the tension to a climatic reveal. Concept music videos are often known to push boundaries in regards to the actual concept or the micro elements that make up a music video. You would expect to see experimentative ideas within a concept music video and rather outrageous concepts. Within a concept music video you should also expect to see an exploration into different themes and concept ideas that will often be displayed in different genres of music.  

As you can see in this video by OK Go, we can see that they have used the idea of exercise and treadmills as their main focal point in their music video. They have created a whole dance routine completely based on the movement of the treadmill and slight choreography in helping them achieve the right movement for their dance.

Textual analysis of previous student examples: The Streets - Fit But You Know It 

In terms of mise en scene, this video is very good. The main character in the video has been costumed carefully to suit a certain type of person; the chav/lad. Immediately as the audience we can tell this from the burberry hat he is sporting which is typical chav attire, that he fitd the typicval stereotype. He's also wearing a harington jacket in most scenes which is another item of clothing often worn by this particular stereotype, another item of clothing that we can also associate with the stereotype is the Fred Perry polo shirts that he's wearing in various shots, these can also be associated with chav/lads. The final aspect of costuming is the way that the other boy in the video is dressed in formal attire, with a tie and shirt and is also going out with girl which could also say about the chav/lad character not being found attractive by females.  Another way they have helped the audience identify the character is the way he's often seen drinking beer, this supposedly a very typical trait of chav/lads and are often seen as 'lager louts.' With regards to locations, the main character is seen in a kebab shop which is also the type of  place chavs can be found. And it is also shot in an urban setting which also helps give a certain feel about the characters.   

In terms of editing it has many good techniques, for example they use multiple jump cutting throughout helping the video flow better. They also use a lot of fade out techniques to either change locations or to show intimate moments, however i think it only works for changing locations. The fading out technique also helps show his intoxicated state and fragile state of mind which is good as the audience can understand what the characters feeling through editing techniques. They also use graphic matches for changing locations as well which flows really well.    

The shot variation in the video is possibly the best aspect of the video, the camerawork is used cleverly and helps carry the video along at some points. For example they use a point of view shot of the bottom of the pint glass which is very clever and gives it a different dimension.The point of view shot when from the perspective of the intimidated boy in the alleyway (pictured below) also show the aggression of the stereotypes towards other people.  They also show over the shoulder shots to allow us to either see a character, location or to also see what the character is watching, so an alternative POV. There is a lot of camera techniques of going in and out of focus which creates a nice effect of the shot. 

The sound aspects of the video are also quite strong, the lip-syncing within the video is very good and manages to flow with lyrics well and keep up with the song which can sometimes be hard. The video also uses direct address throughout which is quite good as it gives it a more star value as he seems confident in what he's doing. 

Overall I think that this music video is a strong effort and contains a lot of shot variation and clever editing techniques which helps the video flow well and with the clever aspects of mise en scene helping the audience identify characters well. However its not perfect and i think they got a bit mixed up wether they wanted a narrative, concept or performance and ended having a bit of unbalance between the three. The video is available below:
  

Performance, Concept and Narrative 

Concept  

A concept music video will traditionally feature thematic/symbolic ideas, for example it may feature certain locations and props that have connotations of certain things e.g. a graveyard connotes death. It may also feature the use of montage heavily with the use of images to create meaning however this sometimes leads to it being contradictory. Another convention of concept music videos is the way in which lighting is used, this links back to the idea of symbolism so dark lighting maybe used to suggest  a low mood. The pace of the editing can also help create meaning and build it up to a climax, so a lot of shots are only two seconds long in order to quickly build meaning. With regards to Goodwins theory the idea of visuals matching the lyrics can be applied to concept music videos quite a lot however more often than not visuals contradict the lyrics in concept videos. Concept music videos can usually be described as pushing the boundaries, wether it be the actual concept or the camerawork and many of the micro elements, within a concept video you expect to see a lot experimenting from the director with new techniques and what not.  Finally, within the concept idea different themes are often explored by certain genres for example love and is often displayed in the pop genre.

Performance 

Performance music videos are pretty self-explanatory, the video will feature the band members performing with there instruments. It can be live stage performance, with shots of the band playing and then shots of the audience spectating the performance. They may also feature the artists in 'real life' situations, for example warming up, backstage or just messing around. Another prominent convention of performance videos are the need for lots of close ups of the artist, however there is a difference of which band members will get the most camera time and which will not, for example the best looking band member and lead singer is more likely to get more camera time than the drummer. The video will also feature a specific visual style that goes with the artist/band  e.g. particular clothing, actions, props and types of images. Often artists will perform in unusual locations such a rooftop, on top of a bus or just in a field.

Narrative 

Narrative music videos will often tell a story for the duration of the song which may relate to what is being sung by the artist. A frequent example of this is a love song which will follow the course of a relationship and its deterioration and we as the audience will spectate it for the duration of the song. So a narrative music video can be described as a 'mini-film' as it contains the same structure as a film; beginning, middle and end. This is also capitalized upon when promoting a film, filmmakers may centre a certain song that is about to be released parallel to the release of the film and make the music video, clips of the upcoming film (if it can relate to the lyrics) to boost publicity for both parties.

Where do you watch music videos?

This bar chart shows the most popular place to watch music videos is YouTube, this could be because its the most accessible.
We gained this result with a combined result from males and females aged 16 - 18, in order to see if YouTube is the preferred viewing media we'll need to gather information from a broader view from different age groups.

What is your favourite genre of music?

The pie chart displayed shows the popularity of various genres between our peers. This is combined from results of six females and 3 males all aged between 16-18. We can see that the most popular genre is rock, indie and acoustic in this age bracket.

Our Shot List

Shot 1	Extreme close up (low key lighting)
Shot 2	Mid shot (background out of focus)
Shot 3	Background comes into focus
Shot 4	Camera turns (on tripod) and tracks character’s movement out of the room
Shot 5	Worms eye view
Shot 6	Worms eye views from props perspective (car keys)
Shot 7	Shot from the perspective of the backseats with Jake in the drivers seat
Shot 8	Over the shoulder shot
Shot 9	Long shot as Jake leaves the close
Shot 10	Moving shot of driving down the road
Shot 11	Worms eye view as his foot leaves the car
Shot 12	Over the shoulder shot to show character identifying location
Shot 13	Establishing shot
Shot 14	(Flashback shot) Camera pans around couple as they hug
Shot 15	Long shot showing them frolicking
Shot 16	Close up with sunset in the background
Shot 17	(Back to reality) Tracking shot of Jake walking through the woodland surroundings (low key lighting if possible)
Shot 18	Over the shoulder shot (car in background)
Shot 19	Extreme close up of him opening car door
Shot 20	Moving shot of character leaving location
Shot 21	In car shot (character looking dejected)
Shot 22	In car shot character looking extremely low , picture montage fades over the screen of the couple
Shot 23	Character arrives in new location (bury in the evening), same shot with foot coming out of the car
Shot 24	Flashback once again of couple in different location acting as a couple (colour manipulation)
Shot 25	Mid shot of character walking aimlessly alone
Shot 26	High angle shot of him walking
Shot 27	Returns to car
Shot 28	In car shot
Shot 29	Pulling into original location (home)
Shot 30	Worms eye views of foot leaving the car
Shot 31	Tracking shot of character walking to front door
Shot 32	Camera positioned behind his hand with car keys in focus, girlfriend in the background but not clearly visible (blurred)
Shot 33	Girlfriend comes into focus
Shot 34	Girlfriend out of focus, camera back on keys, drops keys
Shot 35	End credits

Unsupervised PART 2

We have started to create a questionnaire to log all our audience research.

Here we have an example questionnaire where we have annotated and analysed which questions are appropriate and what questions we can alter to make easier to group the answers from our target audience. We mainly are using a range of closed questions and not many questions that are open for the person taking our questionnaire to answer with a complete anomaly to other participators.

 This is the annotated version of an example questionnaire:

Our final questionnaire draft. We have not completed this questionnaire yet but this is our progress into the final questionnaire. 

As you can see we have incorporated questions from the example questionnaire but adapted them to get a clearer more accurate audience response.

Unsupervised Lesson Tuesday 9th October

In this lesson we had finalised our story board completed with notes and sketches, once again we will insert our final story board in chronological order.

Page 1 of our storyboard

Page 2 of 4

Page 3 of 4

Page 4 of 4

We have organised and arranged the specific days we would like to film, all our actors we have chosen to play the parts in our music video have all be informed and confirmed to the filming dates.

Textual Analysis: Dr.Dre, Snoop Dogg - Nuthin' But A G Thang

Released in November 1992 'Nuthin But A G Thang' is the first single taken off Dr Dre's debut solo album, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The track can be considered typical of its genre (gangsta rap) many of the themes on the track and within the video are exactly what we associate with the genre. This can be related to Goodwin's theory, as he believed 'music videos are there to demonstrate genre characteristics' this is displayed in the video a lot. In terms of mise en scene this can be linked perfectly. Many of the people in the video conform to the typical dress sense associated with the genre; baggy jeans, timbalands and baseball caps. Another distinctive prop displayed in the genre is the cars, the cars displayed are 'Lowriders' which are often seen in these videos and are common in that culture. An important prop that also features is guns, when a man is seen tending to the barbecue which is also a stereotypically male thing to do, he has a gun in his back pocket. As crime and guns are seen to be a big part of gangsta rap culture this typical of the genre. Also throughout the video women can be seen walking around with not much clothing on, which  also common within the genre, they are usually placed as an object of desire for the men and aren't usually seen doing anything productive, just flaunting there bodies.  

One aspect of the music video i have chosen to look at is the representation of men. This particular genre of music can be considered extremely male dominated. When listening to or watching a video from the genre the audience are expecting to see the males as dominant and superior to the females within the video. In relation to Nuthin But A G Thang this is quite obvious, with Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg taking a large amount of the camera time and then most of the people in the background being male we only occasionally see females and when we do they are either objectified or belittled. For example, when playing volleyball a scantily clad women has her bra pulled down by a male behind her which shows a lack of respect. Also at the end of the video a women is soaked in alcohol (as displayed in the screenshot below) by two males for no reason which once again shows the lack of respect, not at any point do we see the males in any position of losing power. This is typical of the genre and satisfies audiences expectations as this is what they are accustomed to from the type of music.

At the moment a lot of the videos i've been looking at in terms of research and planning have been from the same genre (Hip-hop) however I don't think our video will feature many aspects displayed in this particular genre of music with regards to visual style.

Nuthin But A G Thang is displayed below:

  



Taylor Swift - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

I have chosen Taylor Swift's new music video to analyse because I found it very different to her usual narrative based music videos. This video in particular reminded me a lot of Bruno Mars' - The Lazy Song.
Upon further inspection I found out that both director's are different yet both video styles are very similar.
Taylor's music video was directed by Declan Whitebloom whereas Bruno's was directed by Cameron Duddy.

Looking into Declan's music video archive we can clearly see his auteur style is performance based rather than narrative.


A few examples of this are:
One Direction - One Thing
Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl - In My Mind
Lawson - When She Was Mine

Applying Goodwin's Theory:

This music video demonstrates the certain genre characteristics that Taylor Swift's music is known for. Her music tends to be very relatable to late teen/early twenties aged females. This particular song is very upbeat and pop, a fun song you'd expect girls to be singing into a hairbrush with a group of their friends during a 'girls night in'. 
This music video represents these genre characteristics down to a T.

In this next screen shot we can see how the lyrics and visuals match. Taylor sings the line "you called me up again tonight/But oooh, this time I'm telling you, I'm telling you" we get a perfect match to lyrics and visual making the narrative easy to follow.

Throughout the video we get various shots focusing on a close up of the singer, Taylor Swift. This is very common in many music videos.