Initial Music video

After a week of filming and editing, I decided to showcase what I had so far to a class of about 11 in order to get some crucial commentary and suggestions on how I could possibly improve.

A piece of paper was handed to everyone with the layout of creative commentary and creative suggestions so I could get back what I did well and what could of been done better. This is great because when it comes to re-filming and/or editing, I know exactly what I need to improve on.

...

Overall, I was quite mutual with the feedback I received and not much really came as a surprise as I already an idea of what I had done wrong and what had to be improved. I found the commentary quite useful as it gave me an idea of what people liked and what I should keep the same.

The main aspects people found that I executed well are:

• Quantity (variety) and composition of shots 

• Performers are enthusiastic and passionate

• Original Song (good cover) 

• The opening

• Caught the live feel

• Comical style 

• Black and white editing

• Camera movements/angles

• The transitions

• Use of slow motion 

Examiners creative commentary:

"Love the ligher shot and how that cuts back and forth. The black and white works well. The track is AWESOME - SO IMPRESSED WITH THIS - great copy and brilliantly recorded."

The main aspects people feel could of been done better:

• The narrative ✓

• Some shots were a little mod ✓

• Over use of performance shots ✓

• Could possibly use jump cuts X

• Lip syncing ✓

• More energetic X

• Camera movements were not conventional X

• Looks a little like a parody X

• Cut the end of the song when it finishes ✓

• Could possibly add a story ✓

• Some shots are too long ✓

• Good use of high angle shot but it is used for too long ✓

• Performers look like they are messing about and not really in a music video X

• At the start, shot feels like its going to build up to something but lacks a drop. X

• Drums are very out of sync ✓

•  Continuity error ✓

[✓ = I agree ] [X = I disagree] 

Examiners creative Suggestions:

"It needs to be synced! not just the singing but also the drums and performance - markers are essential. - see me or Dani. You need more camera movement to match with the pace of the song. I think you should experiment with posterizing some of the shots - you could move in and out of that. Great performers - the shots and the locations need to support them. I want to the video to create the excitement that the song does."

I had a big crowd of people saying my music video looked more like a comedy peace than a intense music video. This believed this was unconventional. I completely disagree with this as in this particular genre of 'Screemo' the use of comedy is used throughout depending on different bands.

From the feedback I have received, I have planned to re-film almost all of the music video based on what people said.

[Task 17] Pitch of Ideas

For my music video I want to tell a story about two ninjas (enemies) coming together in a intense battle to death. I want the music video to start with a lighter going off with a shot looking through a fence and would like to add mist in order to make the video more mysterious, create more horror & fear, and also make it as intense as possible with a sense of enigma. I would like the battle to go to a stand still when the fighter clash swords and create energy and possibly explosion. I wanted my music video to be heavily edited because I believe this is not only conventional to the particular genre but also fits my aim of creating high intensity well. I want to the music video to end with a sword through one of the ninjas and blood coming out but would also like a flashback to the beginning scene of the lighter and misty fence.

The storyline will not be so important as it was requested by my audience that the performance shots created a live feel and made them think they were there, creating more intensity for the audience and therefore more enjoyment.

[Task 16] Health and Safety - Risk assessment

This task has helped me identify potential risks and how to minimise them creating a safe environment for band members and film crew. The process can never be completely safe and all members of the music video will be shown this assessment before we can start filming.

[Task 15] Magazine advert plan - draft/sketches

For my magazine design, it only took me one design to be satisfied. This design came mainly from inspirations from the research stage. The Slide is shown below:


I used their idea of showing the band members and choosing a cool location. For my location, I had used a dark wooded area.

The main colouring scheme however is completely different and dark rather than the cool light colouring shown above.

The designs will come out very much different as I am planning to use a real photograph of the band members and planning to put it all together in Adobe Photoshop.

[Task 14] Digipak plan - draft/sketches

I have one main idea for my digi-pak and this is a very dark coloured and simple but yet attracting piece.  This will likely change when it gets to me editing in Adobe Photoshop but will look based on the above design.

I made my design conventional by making it simple, dark themed and graphical with a picture of the band members featured on it.

This task will help me greatly for when it comes to creating the digi-pak as I now have a good idea on what to feature on the digi-pak. Furthermore, this task has helped me link conventions from my research, style of the band i'm recording and my own ideas to create this design.

[Task 13] Timeline of Music Video

0:00 - 0:10

Intro - Fading between shot of gates, high frame rate slow motion shot of a lighter being lit and two fighters doing their entrance 

0:10 - 0:12

Intro - Fades to guitar being played

0:12 - 0:16

Straight to a two shot of the performers screaming their first lines

0:16 - 0:17

Long shot of drums

0:17 - 0:19

Back to the two shot of the performers screaming

0:19 - 0:21

Back to the long shot of the drums being played

0:21 - 0:24

Mid shot of one of the performers doing a solo

0:24 - 0:26

Long shot of the drums 

0:26 - 0:30

Close up of the other performer doing a solo

0:30 - 0:35

Back to the two shot of the performers screaming

0:35 - 0:37

Long shot of drums being played

0:37 - 0:40

Back to the two shot of the performers screaming

0:40 - 0:42

Close-up solo of one of the performers doing a long scream

0:42 - 0:45

Back up intro fade between fence and lighter

0:45 - 0:50

Long shot - fighters initiate battle

0:50 - 0:52

Back up intro fade between fence and lighter

0:52 - 0:55 

Over shoulder shot - fighters clash swords 

0:55 - 1:00

Low angle shot looking up at two fighters clashing swords and giving out a lot of energy

1:00 - 1:010

Fading between a long shot of drums, mid shot of drums and performers dancing 

1:10 - 1:20

Long two shot of one of the performers on drums and the other screaming. Both performers interacting with each other with intense screaming.

1:20 - 1:30 

Behind the shoulder shot of one of the performers doing a solo

1:30 - 1:35

Back to narrative and a long, two shot of, one of the fighters being stabbed 

1:35 - 1:40 

Long two shot of one of the performers on drums and the other screaming. Both performers interacting with each other with intense screaming.

1:40 - 1:42 

The killer dragging the victim in a dolly close-up shot

1:42 - 1:47

Long two shot of one of the performers on drums and the other screaming. Both performers interacting with each other with intense screaming.

1:47 - 1:50 

Fading between solo of one of the screamers in a studio and one in a dark space, screaming the final line.

1:50 - 1:55

Fading back through the fence and lighter while slowly fading out to pitch black as the music fades. 

-

-

-

I believe this was help me a lot with the production and filming stage of the making of this music video as I have now have a straight idea with what's going to happen and when. 

[Task 12 B] Editing plan

For my music editing, I will be using a huge range of plugins and techniques in order to make it sound intense, fast pace and most importantly, professional. Some of these techniques include:

• Compressions (to level out the tracks and keep the volume and peak at a steady rate). 
• Reverb (to make it sound like its playing live) 
• Reverse Revereb (to give a ghostly effect) 
• Delay - making the sound wet (to add a echo to the track and make the song more intense
• Pitch shifter (to correct the singers pitch of voice
• Pitch correction (also referred as auto tune, this looks for parts in the recording for certain keys that are out of place and forces it to stay on a certain key). 
• Chorus (particularly for the chorus, I hope to make certain parts of the song sound like its being sang by more than one person). 
• Many more... 

For my film editing, I will be using again a huge range of editing techniques but will be trying to make the editing as natural as possible at time in order to keep this live feeling to the audience. I will be using: 

• Slow motion 
• colour grading 
• Optical Flares (to create a fake and artificial sun). 
• Masking (to mask out the sky and replace it with something more visually attracting and linking to the music video. 
• Motion tracking (to motion track logo's or objects in the video which will make it seem like the characters can see them. 
• Many more... 

This task has helped me successfully plan and put together my ideas from the research and myself into a plan. 

[Task 12 A] Editing machines/Programs

For the editing stage of this project, I hope to use a various amount of editing programs. These applications include:

• Adobe Premier Pro CC

• Adobe After effects CC

• A huge range of video co-pilot plugins (products) 

• Logic Pro X - This will be where i'm going to sound engineer, edit the sounds and record in the band members for their cover of the Katy Perry Dark Horse song. Furthermore, I will be mixing the music and editing it to sound professional.

• My home editing machine has Windows and Macintosh built in so I will be using both but mainly Windows for film editing and Macintosh for sound editing. 

• I will be recording the band in a music studio at Bristol Brunel Academy

• I will be using a macintosh for my musical editing machine. 

[Task 11] Analysis of Lyrics

[Task 10] Shot list

Producing this shot list plan has kept me confident and greatly organised for the filming. I believe it will come greatly to me (the director) as less pressure will be be placed.

[Task 9] Storyboard

 This will greatly help me with the filming and production because it has given me a fair idea of how to lay out the video and how every scene should look like. These ideas are sure to change but are helpful as they are an outline. 

[Task 8] Filming and Editing Time Plan

Currently, I and all the band members are working so therefore, mainly Wednesdays are free days for filming. Editing on the other hand is no worry and can be done at any time when I'm as I am editing on my own machine at home. I will be prioritising most time into editing because  that is was particularly time consuming during the workshops that we had carried out.

This plan will be highly useful to me because it will keep me on track and therefore, this is something I can refer back to at any time for organisation.

[Task 7] Letter to Label

For my song, I will be recording in a band doing a Heavy Metal cover of 'Dark Horse' by Katy Perry. Even though it is completely legal for us to do this as no profit will be gained, I decided to send a letter for permission from the record label anyway.

[Task 6] Props List

For this music video, I am mainly going to be using music props typically seen in metal music videos as shown from my research.

Electric Guitar (x1)



Bass Guitar (x1)


Full drum set

The drum set is obviously very large and difficult to move around as so a backup plan would just be to film parts of the music video in a music studio.



Cigarette (x1)








This task has helped me stay organised and plan out exactly what props we will need. From the looks of the type of music video we plan to produce, not many props will be needed but some of these props such as the drum set will be extremely difficult to move around to the location. A solution to this will be a big production crew of friends including at least one which has a car and can drive. Another possible solution to this would be to use a separate filming location for the music equipment i.e. studio and use a green screen.

[Task 5] Camera Movement Plan - Location

I am not planning to have much camera movement in my music video as this is seen as unconventional for this particular genre as instead of movement, there is fast cuts to narrative and shots of performance which make it seem like it is all done in one or two locations.

Below are a few possible camera movements I could use:

[Task 4] Location Planning

For the location, I refer back to my research and typical conventions of a normal metal music video as the song I am going to use, is going to be a metal screemo cover of Katy Perry Dark Horse. This means that the song is going to be quite and dark and very intense/fast pace.

My idea for this is firstly a dark wooded forest. This will be where the narrative will take place but I am still unsure if all the heavy props and musical equipment can be delivered to a location of this sort. We will have transport but there are no roads leading up to my desired location.

My first location for this is a park called 'Vassals Park' in Fishponds.

My second idea is more of a ambitious location as it is extremely far but would be great for the idea of this music video.  The location is a park is Clifton called 'Durdham Down.' It is very famous and will be extremely busy but with a little investigation, I found that inside the woods at a good time, it is actually pretty quiet.



And if it does snow this Christmas, then this location will be ideal.

My final possible location is a backup plan for unexpected weather and will mainly be used for the filming of the band members and music equipment. It is the music department studio at Bristol Brunel Academy. I already do music technology there so this will be a easy and nice location to use. The '.gif' used below is a showing of the recording studio. The room next door is very spacious and where we plan to film parts of this music video.

This task has helped me stay organised and plan my locations to decrease pressure for later and also a good way for me to connect ideas and conventions from the research stage into planning.

[Task 3] Costume Planning

For costume planning, I decided to put multiple images together and similar to the mood board, discuss what I hope to mirror (inspirations) and the similarities these different bands of the similar genre have in common.

Straight away we notice casual but band like clothing again as talked about in my research. The casual clothing is suitable for the particular weather and location but not specific to the genre style and could be clothing that anyone could wear. In other words, the costumes are not too flashy and therefore can be mirrored (copied) by the audience in order to increase the bands fame.

What is particularly interesting about these bands is the contrast in colour they have between them. They are not all wearing dark or light clothing and therefore all separated in style. The only exception to this would be the top photo on Linkin Park which all seem to be wearing dark clothing. This seems to work pretty good with that style of music but probably not something I will be considering when it comes to my own music video.

Furthermore, the general style of clothing (contrast, brand, etc.) makes the band actually look like a band and separates them to what we may see on the streets. This will be a high aim for me as even though it is not noticed by the audience, it has a huge effect on how to band stand out to the audience.

For my music video, I hope to not fuss too much about dressing up my actors but just suggesting they were something in style with this genre and possibly something quite dark. Plain clothing with no text on would be best but certain shirts with graphic pictures on will be fine.

From this task, I have not only developed my ideas but also made up my mind and successfully planned what the actors in my project will be wearing.

[Task 2] Mood board

Making this mood board has helped me put my inspirations together and form ideas for costume, colour, editing, camera shots, etc. This is great because from this mood board, I can tell the similarities and therefore what I can integrate into my own project keeping it conventional.

[Task 1] Initial Planning

I had a lot of ideas from the research stage and also a lot of ideas I wanted to experiment with outside typical conventions. Because of this, I chose to mind map out my ideas and note down all the ideas I had for the music video.

I found this task really useful as I could narrow down my ideas into choosing what might be best for my music video.

[Task 15] Magazine advertisement research

From this task, I have developed my ideas and gained inspirations for my magazine advertisement I will do for my own project. I am particularly interested in giving this live performances atmosphere to my magazine advertisement because not only do I think that this is conventional within this genre but also that it works to spot the viewers eye which would most likely be a fan of the metal genre. Furthermore, this will become very useful for when I sum up my ideas for the planning of this advertisement as I will already have inspirations and ideas in mind from this task.  

[Task 14] Digi-pack Research

Conclusion  

In conclusion I have found that most metal Digi-packs have a sense of creativity within them but also feature very plain and simple (dark) colours which gives the product this feeling of negative space. I am particularly interested in adding similar graphics from the 'Linkin park' album to my Digi-pack while keeping the same dark tone as the 'under the sunrise' Digi-pack. these are ideas and inspirations for when it comes to creating mine and this will come extremely useful as I now know what the audience of this genre are looking for, what is successful and finally the most beautiful. 

[Task 13] Tracking a Band through their career: Linkin Park

From this task I have learnt how much artists/bands can change over a number of years and how small/simple they started. I have also developed my knowledge on record labels and how hard it is to get signed when you're starting up. Furthermore, I've actually looked into specific artist careers and how they're interpreted amongst the viewers.

[Task 12] Music Channels

This task has taught me about the history of music channels and how music videos came to be. Furthermore, I now understand the importance of music channels and what a crucial way it is to watch music videos not just listen to them as seeing a track with vision is a great part of fully exploring the meanings of the tracks and therefore a better experience for the viewer. When planning my own I need to consider that users may use the internet on devices to watch music videos. Some of these include Youtube, Youko, etc. And so will need to be aware of these different methods.

[Task 11] Audience Research

To research the audience of my project, I had to look into collecting unanimous results from fans of the Metal genre. To do so, I carried out a survey on a website called 'Survey Monkey' and gave out the link to 15 participants.

The link to the survey is below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VC9KHPR

The results to the survey are below:

I found the results quite interesting but nothing really came as a surprise to what people expect of this genre.  Participants were mostly male and between the ages of 16 to 18. A lot of their favourite bands  and music videos were fast pace, intense and gave good live performances so this gives me ideas of making my music video seem live and choosing fast pace/intense lyrics.

For this, I have created a Voki to represent a main character for my participants ideas.

This then has helped me puzzle together what I need to include when it comes to my own music video. I now know who I need to make my music video appeal to.

From the completion of this task, I have further developed my views on my target audience and the importance of establishing this target audience. From doing this task, I can insure that I am including what is required of this genre. To make a successful music video, one must at all times consider their target audience at all times.

[Task 10] Analysis of previous students work

From the analysis of previous students work,  I can reflect back and take away some skills I can use/work on or develop such as a simple navigation, clear well organised layout and well use of technology such as Prezi, power points, go animate, etc. to further demonstrate/describe my point and also make my blog more visually appealing and therefore more exciting for the viewer.

The music videos have shown to me that someone with good planning and good research usually comes out with a good final product.

[Task 9] Inspirations

This task has helped me greatly in picking up techniques used by music videos in/outside my chosen genre. This well help in the production and planning stage as I have now I have more ideas for locations, shot types/movements, editing techniques, etc. I hope to go against the typical conventions but not by a lot and create similar effects to videos such as 'Rick Ross - Speeding' which is completely outside my genre but features a very visually exciting moving images to go with the lyrics. This not only adds visual excitement but also make the narrative more clear for the viewer which is not very common in a metal music video.

[Task 8 B] Carol Vernallis's theory

The tasks that we carried out really helped prove this theory. We did not notice it while actually filming/editing but later on when we watched the finish product and got peoples opinions we had noticed that we had concentrated too much on the narrative unlike a typical music video and it had came out quite confusing as they lyrics did not match what was on the screen (except for the lip sync).

A music video is by far more easier to produce as you have less to worry about and therefore more freedom with the production. For example, in a film, you will need to be constantly looking back at the shots, checking for continuity editing and if they all link up to make sense, while in a music video, you can just jump to places randomly with shots in different locations. However, in a music video, the elements such as colour, editing, composition are taken more into place and more crucial.

[Task 8 A] Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Godwin‟s theory highlights many ideas on music videos

The workshops we carrierd out really helped in proving this theory because we where given the task to produce a masic video with a specefic theme to a random song completely different to the theme we where given.

[Task 7] Genre research

In this task I have explored the older and more traditional Heavy Metal music videos in comparison to the ones we see today. While doing this, I picked up on what makes a successful music video and how to make my video inspirational while also successful.

I have learnt that they are focused around performance and making the video seem live to the audience, this is something that I want to factor in when planning my video.

The camera shots are a very important factor and something I should consider as they are all very strictly similar throughout most heavy metal music videos and sub genres. These shots include a lack of movements and locations but rather close-ups of the lead singer, long shots of the band members and mid shots of the drummer. Furthermore, sudden flashes and fast cuts increase pace and intensity of the music videos. This is defiantly something I would consider when it comes to my own project.

[Task 6] Influence of style

For this task I will be demonstrating inspiration from different forms of media with a particular focus on style. I will be doing this in preparation for costumes for my own music video.




 

My chosen music genre is heavily influenced by the dark colour styles and the features of having bright colours such as red with the actors/band members I want focused and/or associated with the audience. I have seen this throughout my research into conventions so this is not something that is new to this genre. Sin city is a reference and the best example to the black and white style featuring red to bring through the connotations of red being violence and love while also focusing on what the director wants focused.

This task will help me outline the different type of ideas for costumes I want to incorporate into my video and will furthermore aid me in the planning stage of this project.

[Task 5] Research into an Artist/Band

- From this task, I have developed my knowledge Linkin Park which is a similar band to what I intend to present for my music video. I now have a good idea of what kind of impression I want to give and what sort of album art and/or website to present.

[Task 4] Analysis of music videos

This task has allowed me to look into detail about the usual things that we would expect to see in a genre like this. From doing this, I can refer back to to this when it comes to planning and it will give me ideas and possible inspiration on how I could possibly structure my video in order for it to fit the conventions. Furthermore, It has also helped me understand how the band members are supposed to dominate the shots or in this case, possibly the lead singer which is something Carol Vernallis actually had said in one of her theories, no matter if its performance or narrative the artist should dominate the screen.

[Task 3] Research into existing companies that produce and distribute music videos

Island records

Island records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group.

2009 is the 50th anniversary of the official founding of island records. This record can be argued to be the most prestigious record label in history of British music. To mark this milestone the label is collaborating with island founder Chris Blackwell to arrange the Island 50 festival.

Chris Blackwell founded the Island lebel in Kingston, Jamaica in 1959 with capital of just £1000. Relocating to London in the early 60s Blackwell build the most diverse and enviable back catalogue of any independent record label in history. From island's early Jamaican roots in ska and rock-steady, through the label's expansion to become the cutting edge of progressive rock in the late 60s, and then on to the signing of such international supers as Bob Marley and U2, Blackwell brought to Island records a unique vision and passion which still informs the label's approach to this day.

Some of Island records Artists include:

• Afro jack
• Akon
• Aluna George
• Avicii
• Bob Marley
• Disclosure
• Niki Minaj
• Taio Cruz
• Tulisa
• Mac Miller

Distributors

• The Island Def Jam Music Group (US)
• Virgin EMI Records (UK)
• Universal Music Germany (EU)
• Universal Music Australia (Including Island Records Australia)
• Universal Music Group (Worldwide)

Locations:

• New York City
• Santa Monico, California

Genre

• Various, with a focus on rock and pop

- From this task, I have built my knowledge around the distribution companies/record labels behind all these well known music videos. From here, I can now start to think about the sort of distribution companies that would distribute my music video. 

[Task 2] Conventions of a Music Video

This task has allowed me to look more deeply into the conventions of the genre I am possibly interested in and understand the most common things with in them. 

Furthermore, I have also gained some ideas of what I could use when it comes to my own project.

[Task 1] History of Music Videos

Timeline for the history of music videos

Throughout the decade music videos have changed significantly and in a variety of ways from graphics to the quality of the sound and also music itself. During the 1960’s top of the pops was first brought onto the British television, however the music played on this program was music that was in the current charts. If the artist was unable to make the show the producers would then play a small clip the song for the nation to hear. Music videos first became rather popular in the 1980’s, the first popular music video was “ video killed the radio star” by The Buggles. These new music videos were new and exciting at the current time, and the whole concept of music videos then was to have a song accompanied by a skit-type or performance video. For example The Buggles music video was rather simple by just having the band on screen playing their instruments whilst their song was being played in the background. During the 1960’s The Beatles song ‘ Strawberry field” became rather famous due to the fact of that there were more effects were used during this video which only included a small element of performance with more narrative than singing. In todays culture, music videos have changed drastically. Throughout the mid 80’s, the majority of music videos still stuck to the performance variety, and sometimes included the odd special effect. Since the early 2000’s and up until today, the matter that music videos have almost changed completely. Whereas there are some videos that are still clinging onto the “ old school” genre which can been seen today on music networks which can come across as being strange to the older audiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs- The Buggles- Video killed the radio star

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzcZttcpYFQ- The Beatles- Strawberry field forever

Overall, music has changed overtime, and stayed the same, in numerous ways.
-record labels used truly care about developing their artists
-today, most record labels give you one shot and want you to just have hit songs
-bands used to fit loosely into the genres
-now there's 30 sub-genres for each genre and most musicians don't normally cross-over (music has become very specific)
-before the internet, bands from small towns probably couldn't be found
-now that there's the internet, musicians can post audio and videos on sites such as YouTube,  MySpace, and Facebook

Most inspirational music videos:

Why Do We Fall

Key quote: “Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, or an hour or a day, or even a year. But eventually it will subside, and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it will last forever.”

The Definition Of A Champion

Key quote: “At some time you’re going to face your fears or your match and it’s okay to fail. You know, it’s okay. But, in my opinion, the true failure is in avoiding the confrontation or the challenge.

One Of The best

Key Quote: “If you've never failed, you've never lived.”

- From this task I developed my knowledge on music videos and learnt about the history of where music videos began/came from. Furthermore, I now can differentiate older music videos to more modern music videos and can confidentially say what has changed/stayed the same. 

How good did my music video work alongisde the song?

I believe my music video did not work as well as I wanted it to because of the way we had interpreted the lyrics and the way we had turned these words into visuals. My believe that the music video would of went much better if we had used one male actors and one female actor. This is because it would link with the overall theme of there being this breakup between a girl and boy and help the audience better understand the theme making the music video less confusing. Furthermore, the locations were not conventional and therefore confusing for the audience. If I was to do this again, I would use specific indoor space with carefully planned out movement from the actors.

Feedback on our music video

People said:

• That the music video was not clear to the theme
• It did not go with the song
• It got very confusing

Why where people confused about the theme, the video itself and why did the video not go with the song?

People may of been confused with the theme because of the way we interpreted the lyrics of the video. Another reason may of been because we had used male actors and therefore did not fit into this idea of a girl breaking up with a boy. If we were to do this again, I would use a male and female actor, and choose my locations more carefully as this particular theme cannot be shown that easily when in that particular outdoor space.

 

How are music videos edited differently from other media (watching final outcomes)

Music videos are edited in a way were they have more freedom with editing tecniques such as colour and CGI. This is because music videos do not really have to make sense and can for example have just a simple man running. We would not see this in other media products such as films. This is because films usually have to have editing related to the film itself whereas, music videos have the freedom and choice to be creative and expermient with editing tecniques.

Furthermore, because music videos are pre-recorded in a studio with high quality recordings, they require the actor to lip sync if the recordings include lyrics. Therefore, when editing later on, the editor has to be carefull of the clip positioning and match the audio with the recording.

Editing structure

Editing a music video is a crucial part of producing a music video as it makes lip syncing and a good quality music video possible to produce.

To have the actors lip sync perfectly with the imported music track, we used a tool known as a 'marker' which proved extremely useful as we could mark certain of the videos and the audio track to keep us aware where the music actually began in the music video and most importantly of all, where the lyrics actually came in. Doing this, we could easily match up where our actual singing began while recording and could match up the two to make a perfect lip sync.

During this task, it was important that sang out loud to the camera while recording and sang the whole song through on each go. This helped us with the editing part after on as it meant that we could listen/watch through our recordings and mark where our singing actually began and also which part of the song was where. Singing the whole song through each time helped us as we could easily split certain parts of the recordings and be able to easily replace them with one of the many shots.

Using the razor tool, we could split certain parts of the videos and cut out certain parts while keeping the rest of the clip.

Using audio effects, we could easily mute certain parts of the clips or in this case, the entire audio track. Furthermore, with this tool, we could fade in/out the music track to create a better overall feel to the music video and have the music fade in/out instead of it cutting in/out suddenly.

Narrative Workshop

"Music videos are simply an extension of the lyrics"

How could you prove/disprove this

One could watch a music video without the lyrics, then with the lyrics and finally, the music video itself with lyrics. Doing this, the test subject can make a judgement weather the music video meant anything alone, added anything to the final outcome and/or was parallel with the lyrics so that without listening to the lyrics, one could understand the main idea behind it.  

What does it mean?

Music videos show a visual meaning of what the lyrics interpret from the directors/artists perspective.

What is the main idea behind this?

Lyrics can simply be replaced with 'ideas' and this quote can simply be linked with Stuart Hall, and then be interpreted with his theory of encoding and decoding. For example, one can look at the lyrics of 'Miley Cyrus - Wrecking ball" and visually picture one thing while the artist/director could want them to picture another thing. In this case, the lyrics are completely parallel to the music video and when there are lyrics involving her on a wrecking ball. So basically, music videos can be seen and related with Stuart Hall's theory of preferred reading as the lyrics basically give you the freedom of constructing these lyrics (ideas) into visual thoughts of what the lyrics may be trying to portray. And similar to a book where you (the reader) create the scenes in your mind, the films that usually follow them construct these ideas for you and show you what the author wanted you to see.

How significant is this?

This is not so significant as we already know that music videos do not take anything away from the lyrics making them a simple extension.

What evidence can you already present for this?

The idea of reading lyrics of a song and portraying it one way in your mind and then watching the music video created for the lyrics to then compare the differences and see what the artist wanted you to see.

Do you agree with this? Explain your answer

I agree with this because music videos are extra to the lyrics and so cannot take away from the lyrics but can only add on as an extension. 

Writing Reviews of the Workshops

To improve my composition and framing knowledge, I took part in a workshop. First we got split mostly into small groups or split into individuals and got given a theme to work with. I got put independently and got given the theme 'Life and death.' For the start, we got given 25 minutes to go off and take 4 unique snapshots presenting this theme in a visually exciting way. I was not given any knowledge of composition and framing for the first shoot and this is what I came out with:


After that, we came back into class and presented our shots for the class to try and guess what the theme is from the images. Furthermore, I also had feedback on shots and found that it was not 'visually exciting' due to the lack of composition/framing techniques.

We then investigated certain techniques for improving composition and framing. For example,: negative space - a photo can be made more visually appealing by simply shooting the point of reference off centre with little visual distraction from the side.

We then got the opportunity to reshoot from the knowledge we had gained. From the pictures with comparison to the photos on top, I now feel like I have a much better understanding of how to create more aesthetically appealing footage.

Skills Development

Research & planning

Throughout the research and planning stage of my AS Portfolio Blog, I developed my skills to research and planning with the use of modern technology (the web).  From this, I was able to access a whole range of different products similar to my own ideas. Through this and can now, not only research in similar products but also compare my ideas/product with others similar to my own.

From this, I have learnt just how important the research and planning stage is. I have learnt that it is very important to research the conventions for the genre as it allow you to plan properly so you have open and clear ideas to what you are filming and the choices that you have. This then results in more time for production which I found to be crucial as the time scale was not very large.

Ensuring that everything was planned before production (props, location, etc). Was really important because this meant that less time was spent on this during the last minutes which then created more time for production and as everything was already planned (ready) things such as props where not forgotten and this also meant that I was not in a rush and always ready to film whenever the weather was good.

Creativity 

Creativity was not a huge issue for me considering that I also do Music Tech but my creativity was not great. As media really helped in improving my creativity and ideas by improving how I research and present my ideas. I used a various amount of websites such as 'Prezi' to present my ideas in a more organised and interesting way. 

Post production

At the start of the year, my biggest worry was the actual camera work (photography) as my skills/experience in this section was not great and so Media in AS really helped me improve in these areas thanks to little tasks/assignments and a preliminary tasks.

My skills in editing where already quite good but also could of done with little improvements as my knowledge in Premier Pro was not perfect. I had already spent a lot of free time creating/editing videos to be shown on the net (Youtube) and had a lot of practise in Adobe After effects CS6 and some broad knowledge in video editing programs such as Premier Pro.

Creating/choosing/editing music was also not a worry as I had already had good knowledge of this area due to a Music Tech course I was already doing. This had helped me use/edit diegetic/non diegetic sound in order to make my film opening more appealing and exciting to a wider audience.

My ability to work as a group and act as leader throughout the production was not a huge worry as I was already part of a national basketball team which required my skills in these areas. Although my experience in these skills where good, my experience within media production was not and so I had picked up a lot through small tasks and preliminary tasks we had done.