Although we still have a lot of tweaking to do my group and I have nearly completed adding all of the shots we need to our music video sequence! I am so happy to see the whole video come together at last and am eager to make it perfect by taking on the advice that we got during the screening and tweaking it to our audience's liking. This is the progress we have made since the first editing blog post:
I think that during the weeks we have had to edit that we have progressed pretty far and have made lots of changes to the sequence than when we first started. All we need to do now is fill in the final three gaps, sync all of the shots to the music, change the colour with the 'three-way colour corrector' effect and we should be finished!
We have a lot of fun whilst filming and this can often lead to a lot of laughter and some mistakes being made while the camera is still rolling. My group and I made a quick montage of our favourite bloopers over all of our shoots to contrast with the seriousness of our actual video and song!
After the holidays had past my group and I returned to editing the sequence and preparing for the mock exams. The editing of the sequence is a currently moving at a slower pace than we would like but we want to make sure we are happy with what we are editing. We have also been looking back at our animatic to see if we are following the structure that we initially planned. Many of the shots were in the same place (with the exception of quicker edits) as the shots like back to their drawn out partner:
We hope to continue on this route as the animatic makes the structure of our video a bit easier when it comes to editing our first draft.
After spending around a week on editing my group and I have created a brief outline of the order that the shots will go in. We have decided to complete this rough outline before adding in effects and certain other shots to make the sequence better as it will be easier to work on the narrative and performance based shots first.
The shots towards the end of the image are shots that we put effects on at the start of the editing process and the shots at the beginning is the order that we would like the shots to be in before editing them further. We hope to have our first draft finished as soon as possible so we can start adding effects and quicker edits to the sequence.
However a problem that I noticed is that the order we have made so far may not make sense to anyone outside the my group, as we know the messages behind each shot. I am also worried that we will not have enough footage for the whole sequence. I hope that we can avoid this by editing the sequence in a way that makes sense and then showing it to our target audience to get their feedback.
Today we started the editing process for our music video. When we started editing we noticed that some shots varied in colour and we learnt how to use the effect 'three-way colour corrector'. This effect allowed us to change the saturation and colour theme of the footage to match the other shots and the theme of the song:
We also decided to add a lens flare shot on top of the nature shots that we filmed in the forest to give in a 'dream-like' effect to symbolize that Noxa is in purgatory:
These were just a few of the edits that we made today and we plan to start editing the order of the video as soon as possible to be ready in time for our first screening in a weeks time. My group and I hope to either focus on the shots with effects like the ones above or to put all of the shots in order before adding any effects at all.
We now have a Canon XF100 to film with and my group and I have decided to re-film certain scenes with this camera and experiment with the lighting and focus. I made a brief edit to show a small part of what the camera can do:
For a trip we went to the British Film Institute to learn about making music videos and to meet a music video director for a Q&A. The trip was great and overall I learnt a lot and cannot wait to try out everything I have learnt.
If the powtoon does not show up please use this link:
Today we went for our second shoot at of forest location to film some more storyboard shots. We filmed both the beginning of the music video and the wondering around the location shots which were both planned on the storyboard. We also filmed both close-ups and long shots that both represent different messages and feelings. We plan to head back to our location once more to finish up all of our location shots. The link below is a glog containing all of the screenshots from our footage and why we chose to film certain shots:
In preparation for making a digipak I decided to practise editing images in Photoshop. I have briefly used Photoshop before however I felt like I needed a refresher in the basics. I took the behind-the-scenes picture we took at the forest, on top on a hill and I wanted to remove my group and I from the top of the hill and replace it will Noxa on top instead and then put one of the logos in the corner:
Simple yet it was good practise with removing one object and replacing it with another, adding some text and trying out the colour contrasts. It was overall good practise with Photoshop basics and it will help when I come to editing my digipak images.
My group and I have finished the animatic! Despite having some scary-looking drawings in the animatic I feel like it will be a great help when we start editing. As our animatic is like a storyboard to music it helped us identify where we wanted the shots to be in the song and how long we wanted them to be. The animatic should also make filming a lot easier as we know what shots we want in each location, however we have decided that we wanted to film more shots than we have planned so if we changed our mind on a certain shot we will have a wide choice of replacements.
Over the past few lessons my group and I have been working on an animatic to help us gain a better idea of what we want to film for our music video. We have sketched out the shots on post-it notes and have taken pictures of these notes before starting to edit the images alongside the corresponding lyric or sound.
Although we do not have enough shots for the entire song we still have a lot of shots to film whilst we come up with new ideas. The animatic gives us an idea on what lyrics in the song have shots related to them and how they will look.
Today my group and I decided to visit our main location: the forest. The connotations of the forest can vary from mysterious and magical to isolated and trapped and we wanted to see what themes came to mind when visiting our location for the first time as a group. Our main objective was to find some over head trees, winding and split paths and a bridge which we found! We also found many extra locations including a graffiti wall, a hill that can be used to make small silhouettes, a river, a empty car park, a small town and a field. There are so many places within the forest location that have certain connotations that we can make the most out of. After visiting our location I was left felling very inspired and I have many ideas for music video. Visiting our location will also make story-boarding and linking shots to certain locations will be a lot easier and more realistic.
I made sure to vlog the trip so I could show off our location and have something to refer back to when annotating our song lyrics in more detail. I decided to try and edit my vlog in time to the music to get use to that kind of editing for when we edit our music video, however I made each shot cut quickly to the next so that our location was shown but not in so much detail that it gives away to much as I want the location to be a one of the main factors of our video:
Apologises for my shaky hands and poor camera quality!
Carol Vernallis has a theory on music videos called "The Kindest Cut: Function and Meanings of Music Video Editing". Her theory explains that there are 4 main aspects of a music video:
Narrative
Editing
Camera Movement and Framing
Diegesis
NARRATIVE
Vernallis states that a music video is a response to the music, meaning the song comes first and the video is based around the sound and lyrics. She also states that the narrative of a music video does not need to be complete, this is shown through artistic narrative that leave the viewer questioning what they have just seen. Other narrative stories can leave the audience hanging by not completing the story or answering the questions that they raised in the video. A video that leaves many unanswered questions is Green Day's "21 Guns". After researching the plot it turns out that the couple in the video robbed a bank and the police are shooting their apartment but this plot is very unclear and requires several re-plays to fully get a understanding on what is happening:
EDITING
The editing of a music video typically has to match the tone and beat of the song and the most common cut to achieve this effect is the jump cut. Unlike a film a music video requires a different method of editing as continuity edits are not needed as much as they would be in a film. Rules such as the 30 and 180 degree rule do not apply as strongly and the transitions between texts are something noticeable, however this brings back the viewers attention.
CAMERA MOVEMENT AND FRAMING
Vernallis believes that music videos contain camera angles that move in time to the music and more extreme shots, such as close-ups and establishing shots, to show the characters emotions and expressions in more details to get a better feel of the song and how the character is reacting to the lyrics. There is always a theme amongst all of the shots which usually relates back to the lyrics. This is similar to the unanswered questions. A video were there are many close-ups and long shots is Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie". The close-ups of the two characters capture their emotions and how they are reacting to the story, Rihanna and Eminem also have some close-ups where they are serious faced to match the tone of the song. Eminem also moves in time to the music when we is shown in the field to help create a sense of rhythm and pace within the song:
DIEGESIS
Diegesis is the world created inside a video and how the characters react and behave to match the narrative that is at play. Characters may move in time to the music and the video and shot could hint or show glimpses of a characters personality and their mood from the way they are presented but will never fully disclose who the character is and why they are the person that they are in the video. This similar to the narrative as there can be many unanswered questions about the characters presented in the video.
When talking to my group we discussed using a slow song but some issues were raised when we talked about editing. Slower songs require slower editing and that can cause the audience to lose interest and after watching a few videos we decided to think about whether we wanted to use slow song. However one of the videos we watched was A Great Big World's "Say Something" and I wanted to go back and analyse the video in more detail.
The song itself is full of emotion and has a very moving message to it: "I am here for you". Many people spoke about how sad the song was when watching it but I think there is more behind it and want to find out what it is that makes this video so emotional. When reading through the comments of the video many people were explaining their loses as the song lyrics trigger this emotional train of thought and the video itself provided images that would make maybe people feel sad. Every scene in the video takes place in the same dark and open spaced area which creates a certain atmosphere.
The opening scene starts with one of the singers from A Great Big World playing the piano in the same dark and empty room. To me, this brings out the theme of isolation due to the mist and darkness that fills the room so that nothing else can be seen. Both the piano and the singer blend into the background suggesting his own isolation in the scene.
The second scene that is introduced is two people, presumably a couple from the way they are dressed, lying on top of a mattress bed before quickly cutting back the the piano scene and the singing begins. The editing here is very smooth as it introduces a new scene but quickly cuts back for the lip syncing and then having a close-up on each of the couple's face. The man looks angry or tense whereas the woman is upset and facing away from him. This could suggest maybe narrative plots: Is the male the dominant character in the relationship? Have they fallen out of love or where they ever in love? Is one of them abused? There is also a short cut from the woman's face to a water droplet falling which I like to interpret as a tear drop, which represent the current situation of the relationship. The woman also sits up and looks over at the man but he remains lying down, looking away from her. This scene can be interpreted in many different ways which is why I think many people could relate.
During the previous scene there is a cut back to the singer and a shot introducing Christina Aguilera as the female singer. The close-ups on both singers shows there serious faces to match the somber feel of the video. A new scene is then introduced: a young girl sitting alone on her bed. The space around her is dark - which could continue with the theme of isolation - yet she is wrapped up in white sheets. I believe that this is a symbol for her being the light in the darkness and the dark in this particular scene could represent fear. The girl then hides under her covers and a short, and dark, clip plays of two adults arguing. I missed this scene when watching the video for the first time and I think it gives a lot of meaning to this scene. The adults are most likely arguing, something that no child likes to hear, so the young girl flees to her bed but when the arguing continues she hides under the bed. Everything about the girl is related back to the colour white: her clothes, her bed sheets and her bed posts showing her innocence about the whole situation, which is matched by her hiding under the bed. Under her bed is a dog and I think that the dog represents the girl. Dogs often want the attention of their owners - in the girl's case her parents - and in this case when the parents argue she hides just like the dog.
The next scene, in my opinion, is the most emotional. A hospital bed is shown with an old woman lying inside, beside her is, presumably, her husband who is crying by her bedside. The theme of this scene is love and loss and it is presented beautifully. The edits are smooth and are in time with the piano making the sequence flow. Each edit back to the elderly couple shows the true sadness of the man and how he cannot cope without his wife. The sequence is the most relatable in the entire video as it links back to the song lyrics "say something, I'm giving up on you" and captures true human sadness within a couple seconds. The shots in this scene are similar to the first one. Shots of each character's face and many of them together except, unlike the first one, the man in this scene actually shows sadness towards his partner.
The next scene is back at the piano and it reveals that all of the stories are in the same room and one by one the emotionally hurt person in the scene walks over to the centre to be group together as one. This scene is beautifully edited: the woman in the first scene gets up and walks away leaving the man only to watch her go, the young girl is offered a hand which she takes. They all then have their own walking away shot to match the line of the song "I'm saying goodbye" - a powerful line matched with powerful visuals, each character is leaving the one they love because it is time to say goodbye.
This video is one of the best videos I have ever seen and it has completely changed my opinion of slow songs. This video proves that a slow song that have a good pacing, a narrative and performance shots and still make the audience feel all sorts of emotions and that is exactly what this video does. The editing and narrative and overall look of this video is something that I strive to have in my own music video and I will defiantly be re-watching this to get more ideas during the planning phase.
When editing the lighting workshop sequence I decided to take a small section of the song and work on editing the green screen effects and some filler shots to see how well they flowed together. I also decided to use random images for the green screen to see what worked rather than linking them to the song. As there were shadows on the green screen making the all of the green disappear was a little more difficult and can still be seen in some shots. I, personally, am not a fan of green screens and I hope to avoid using one in my final piece.
This is the end result:
In today's lesson we started to edit the footage we filmed during the lighting workshop. We had to make it interesting and different by changing the green screen, using effects and experimenting with the different camera angles. I think this exercise is a good way to practise my editing skills and to learn some effects that I could potentially use in my own music video. I worked on the lip-sync first as I wanted to match up the music and the lip-syncing and merge them together so I can edit the clips apart later on and use different camera angles.
