Music Video Evaluation

I started this unit by researching music video theories (Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis) and analysing 4 music videos of my choice. This gave me a better understanding of how to make a music video of my own. I was unsure on what approach to take at first but finally decided on a narrative based video for the song We Could Be by The Hunna. After planning out for this music video I realised that the idea and concept just wouldn't have worked for me with limitations I had with people willing to be in my video, and time to get everything I wanted filmed it wouldn't have been possible.

So I changed my song to Sweet Creature by Harry Styles and planned to do a narrative music video following the main character through everyday life and they infatuation with a passer by they see all the time. I wanted to leave the love interest open to interpretation in the terms of gender and sexuality so that it would be relatable to wider audience.

But after I started filming and editing this video together it wasn't fitting the idea I had for it in my head and no matter which clips of footage or which way I edited the footage it didn't work for me making me frustrated with myself and the video so I felt it would be best to scrap this idea and start over again. Also I had chose a song I really liked so I wanted to make it the best I possibly could and because it wasn't turning out right I was beginning to not like the song or artist and I didn't want to ruin it for myself; this being another reason I gave up on this idea.

My final video was my third idea of using found footage off YouTube and chose a song that I didn't really have an opinion on as I hadn't heard it before so that I found it easier to work with. I abandoned the idea of doing a narrative music video and did a conceptual music video; based around the name of the song 'Wanderlust' and used travel videos I found on YouTube.

While editing this music video I used new features of Premiere Pro that I hadn't used before like the razor tool to cut clips to sandwich another clip between them but them carrying on from each other as well as using it to get the fade in the right place of the clip.

I also had to add an adjustment layer for the first time to add the widescreen bars because once the clips were scaled to size they had the black bars at the top and bottom so to make the final product look more polished and professional I added the adjustment layer so that the bar were a part of every clip of the video.

At 0:03-0:08 the panning shots I layered a snippet with a low opacity and reversed it to give a jerking effect that matches to the warping sound in the song, this was my first attempt of layering a reversed clip and I feel it worked well but I had hoped it would have looked a little bit smoother and neater by making sure both clips matched each other. To do this I would alter the second clip (starting at 0:06 with the jerk at 0:08) so that the jerking motion was faster and the framing matched the first layer of footage.

The clips of people jumping in the pool (0:11-0:16) I feel would work better if they were a couple of frames later so that the splashes in the pool matched the beat in the music. That is something I would change if I was redo this edit just so that the final outcome looked more professional and polished.

I used a crossfade to link to complimenting clips at 0:19-0:20 I chose these clips because they illustrate the lyrics "daddy's girl" by the pulling of the hair and kissing his hand. I think the crossfade works well here to link the two clips together makes them work together well as one. Another part that illustrates the lyrics is at 0:26-0:27 when the plate of food is being placed at the time of the lyrics "Breakfast at Tiffany's", I feel that illustrating lyrics adds a cleverness to the music video and shows that the editing was thought about not just something to fill time; it shows that the lyrics were heard during the editing process by illustrating them with visuals that match.

The concept of this music video runs throughout. The being called Wanderlust gave me the inspiration to go with using found footage of travel vlogs to illustrate the song during the entire of the video. The locations vary from Bora Bora, California, the Maldives, the South Pacific, Dubai, Ibiza and several others; I think the variety of locations and countries emphasise the concept of wanderlust.

I chose to use jump cuts a lot throughout my editing because I feel it matched the beats in the music, a good example of this is at 0:28 when it cuts from the palm tree to the gut driving the quad bike; at the snap in the music it cuts from the tree to the quad bike. I think jump cuts were a good choice for this video because of the music and all the beats in it, they give a good marker to cut to a new clips. However I do feel that I played a bit to safe with transitions by relying a lot on using jump cuts and didn't experiment too far with anything other than jump cuts and crossfades.

Between 0:45-0:47 I had clips of a couple dancing on the beach with a clip of the girl dancing around on her own layered over the top with the opacity lowered. I did this because it was a new technique I had developed while working on this project and thought it worked well with the shot underneath. At 0:47 I had used the razor tool to cut away a part of the clip so that it was just on its own without the layer on top, I faded it in because I felt that it went from the bottom clip not being clear due to the top layer to it at its full opacity and I didn’t think it looked right and looked too snappy and like a different clip which isn’t what I was going for, but when I watch back I think there could have been a better way to merge to two clips together.

At 2:08 until 2:13 I attempted a small repeated montage of close ups of the girl, who features throughout, the first time through the clips the speed is set at the standard 100 but the repeat I changed the speed as the pace of the song picks up before the beat kicks back in for the next section of the song. I feel that for a first attempt at a montage style sequence it was okay but if was making this music for a client for them to use legitimately I would have hoped for it have looked more skilful.

The clips within the timeframe 2:15-2:21 demonstrate voyeurism, which Andrew Goodwin notes in his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory, as they all show the girl in a bikini or not a lot of clothes; but due to the nature of the video it allows the audience to not feel guilty for gazing upon her body in a sexual manners. This runs as a theme throughout the music video relating it to Mulvey’s Male Gaze, as the girl is portrayed as a sexual object throughout.

The waterfall layered over the top of the girl in the water (2:29-2:31) adds depth to the shot. I feel it shows off the beauty of the location and of the girl in the same shot. I really like the way this shot turned out once I had edited it together because the two layers’ opacity compliments each clip once combined as well as the point in the music and I feel created a good shot.

As a whole I feel the final product of this unit has been finished at an acceptable quality through the work of the editing and I feel that the new techniques I used during the project helped the finished video look more professional, although the new techniques need work to be up to a higher standard, I think they worked well with the style of video I was aiming to create. Overall I am pleased with how it turned out. 

Wanderlust - Blackbeard (WILDLYF Remix)

Harry Styles - Sweet Creature Music Video Draft

While editing the footage to create my music video, I wasn't feeling particularly connected or feeling the flow of editing. I wasn't enjoying editing and I couldn't see the final product in my head so I decided to stop editing rather than trying to finish a project I wouldn't be happy or proud with and wouldn't look good because I wasn't interested in it.

This is as far as I got in terms of editing this video. I tried to continue but it just wasn't working for me. This video is so short on this post because I was having trouble exporting the video with the whole song so I had to crop the audio to see whether it would let me export it that way; this is why I posted the screenshot at the top to show that I had started edit to the whole song but it just didn't work out.

Promotional Video: Final Product

Gantt Chart and Planning

This is the timing I aim to work by during the making of my promotional video, I know I won't fully keep the schedule but knowing I have a basic timescale to get things done.


For my promotional video I want to create a professional looking final product that isn't too formal as that would read true to the business I am making it for, and I am making this video to try and attract people to join the dance school. As the dance school is a fun and welcoming environment I want to capture this in the footage. I think that having students of the school give a testimonial of the school will help show that the dance school is a friendly place to be. I want the way I edit the video to show the excitement and happiness present in the dance school.

When I'm editing the separate classes I hope to mix and crossfade to show a link between them and that the students who take part in several classes enjoy them all equal. I want to display each dance style individually, but also show people that the feel of welcomeness runs through all dance styles.

Evaluation of Psychoanalytical Film

After looking at three different psychoanalytical theories in film; Freud's theory of self, Lacan's mirror stage and 'Lack' theory, and Mulvey's Male Gaze, I decided to make a short film as my final product of the unit. I chose to focus on Lacan's theory of 'Lack' and tried to portray this in a way that I thought many young people could find relatable. Although my focus was on the theory of 'lack', Freud's theory of self is also displayed in my film with the media representing the ‘id’, the girl being the ‘ego’ and the presence of her parents being the ‘superego’.

In my film I wanted to show a personal lack of what my character believe to be the normal life for a teenager, through watching TV shows like Skins, due to authoritative parents holding her back from being able to live how she wishes. There's no dialogue to imply she feels isolated from everything and everyone around her because of the way her parents are towards her.

I used the panning shot of the living room near the start of the film to show the type of life the character is having to live; it acts similarly to an establishing shot as it shows the environment and setting that this girls life is taking place. The fading overlap used while the girl is reading was done to show that her life is just happening, that she isn’t living it the way she wants to. It also gives the impression that when she is at home time just passes her by her without her noticing due to the absence of her parents and a ‘normal’ life.

Showing the close up of the note left by her parents makes it the only thing in shot making it the only focus point grabbing the attention of the audience; the jump to a closer shot highlights the strictness of the parents and how little control the girl has over her own life. Showing this shows the parents as a ‘superego’ type presence without being present, as they are trying to keep her on track while they aren’t around to keep her morally stable in their eyes and society’s.

I later use the note as a layer on top of another shot, a shot of the TV show ‘Skins’. I edited the opacity to show that as the girl watches shows like Skins and is exposed to this lifestyle the importance of living to her parents’ rules is slowing slipping from being a priority but also the fades and crossovers of the titles of Skins and a note left by the mum show that the two thoughts are crossing in her mind, whether to be who she wants and live her life how she wants or whether she wants to keep her mum happy and follow her rules. I decided that the use of a show like ‘Skins’ follows along with Freud’s theory of the self, as the show portrays the ‘id’ as it causes her to rebel and act somewhat childish by breaking the rules her parents set to keep her safe and on track.

The close ups of the phone that show a text from 'mum' show that although the parents aren't present at that moment in time they have a very strong hold on the girl and what she does. The close up indicates that it's an significant factor in the girls life, the messages her mum sends dictates the girls life without the mum herself being around, she has that much power and indoctrinated the girls mind with the her own ideals without taking her daughters preferences into consideration. The shots of the girl texting her mum I put between shots of her leaving bedrooms and the person in them and followed with a shot of her in bed clutching onto a bottle of wine with other alcohol and cigarettes etc over the bed and floor. I altered the speed of her replying to give the feeling that the girl is now used to having to text her mum the same sort of thing and that she isn’t bothered by lying to her mum.

The shots of the girl in bed with someone are the start of her rebelling and trying to gain the life she feels she's missing, I edited the texting in between each bed scene to show that she is starting rebel by not just sleeping with different people but lying to her parents as well about trusting her. The shot of the note flashing up on the fridge shows how controlling her parents are without even being present. I chose to put it there in the film because even though she’s going against what her parents expect of her their still in the back of her mind trying to keep her morally balanced.

I also used close ups when she is stood in the street smoking so that the concentration is solely on that she is smoking, which in the lifestyle her parents have her living isn't accepted so the close up makes it the focus of the shot.

I ended the film with the girl sneaking out and leaving it with an open ending on what happens after she sneaks out, the ending is left for viewer interpretation.

I feel that there are parts I would change or would have done differently, such as the when the girl is in the bed, I had intended to do a montage of her in a load of different beds with loads of different people to fully portray the idea of her sleeping around and rebelling against her lifestyle, however due to location restrictions and the lack of people willing to take part I had to change my idea and decided to do as her in two room, one obviously a male room and one a female room with the texting between them. I would feel that in places my editing could be better as I noticed that certain parts aren’t as clean as I would hope, like when the girl is texting and it swaps between the texting and her in the bedrooms, I would have liked that to be neater. However I like the part where I have reversed the opening shot and followed it with the original later in the film because I think it adds to the idea that her life is very plain and repetitive without much excitement when at home as it is a repeated shot. 

Psychoanalytical Film

Cutting to Music - Four Hour Film Challenge

This is my first attempt of cutting and editing to music. This was done as a four hour film challenge; to find footage, song and edit it all and be done within a four hour time frame. I found this particular challenge a great chance to experiment with Premiere Pro and the different features I could use when it comes to the music video unit later on in the course.

4 Hour Film Challenge

I used an instrumental cover of wRoNg by ZAYN. The brief was to cut footage to music. The footage used was found on the internet or files I already had saved; I edited it all together to match the beats in the music which will be helpful when editing the music video in the later unit.

ISO

ISO measure the sensitivity of the image sensor. A lower ISO setting has smaller grain meaning the image will be a better quality, whereas a higher ISO setting has a higher grain meaning the image will be a poorer quality. 



This clips shows demonstrations of ISO 100 and 200, because of the low ISO setting the image is a clear high quality with a small amount of grain; if it was a higher ISO setting there would be a higher grain making the image quality poor and there's also a chance it may have been overexposed if I'd have left all other settings the same for a low ISO.

Aperture

The space through which light passes through the lens on the camera. The change in aperture can provide more than one dimension into a photograph.
Aperture is measured in f-stops; the higher the f-stop the smaller the hole for light to be let in, and the lower the f-stop the larger the hole for the light.



This video is an example of a low f-stop (f2.8) using a 60mm lens. The focus of this shot is the wooden stump in the left of the screen, with the foreground and background not in focus. If I was to redo this I would aim to have the duck in focus rather than the wooden stump; but at the same time I think this example works well in displaying the aperture setting f2.8.

 

This video displays the aperture setting f8 using a standard lens. Using this f-stop and lens the whole shot should be in focus, however I am unsure that this is correct; so if I was to reshoot this setting I would make sure the entire shot is in focus and chose a setting that shows that the shot is in focus.

 

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the amount of time in which the camera is exposed to light. 



This clip is shot at 1/30 in 24fps and captures the movement in each frame, this a blurred effect to the shot as the camera catches more motion in each frame.




This video is shot at 1/50 which is best for 24fps as it is double the frame rate which gives a clearer image.




 The shutter speed of this clips is over 1/50th with 24fps, but I am unsure of the exact number, however as it over double of the frame rate it has given a crisp image and reduced the amount of motion caught by the camera unlike the first clip of 1/30th.

Lighting Set Ups

New Wave Rough Cut and Evaluation

The final cut of my New Wave film is very rough and lacks in effects due to my absence of experience with Premiere Pro and all it's features. As I got further into editing I got used to the software and felt I was able to add music to my footage, and chose a song I thought fit the footage well and towards the end of the film I began to edit the footage to fit the music and or lyrics. 

The American New Wave was a big influence of mine, since I'd studied it as a genre, the use of natural lighting to give a sense of verisimilitude to my film, also the use of unaware extras for the same reason as the lighting; it adds to the almost documentary style of film. The use hand held camera and long depth of field follow the conventions of the New Wave genre, in that it looks natural and a part of daily life without any sense of being staged and scripted. Also the French New Wave influenced me slightly in the use of jump cuts and unpolished editing, this was useful to me as it allowed me to get used to the software but to make a short film that demonstrated characteristics of my influences. In my film there's a shot on an escalator which is overexposed and the definition of the coat is lost. Despite the shot being overexposed I decided to leave it in the final cut because it compliments the genre as the genre as a whole is about capturing the shot and life rather than focusing on the technical components to each shot.

There are a several shots and edits that I am very proud of throughout my film; one being at the point when Eleanor is walking and smoking and shows to peace sign to the camera and the same time that the song says 'piece' although it isn't the same definition it was unintentional editing that fits really well and, I believe, adds to the film positively. Also the shot when it looks as though Eleanor throws the camera to the side as the music changes. I thought it was the ideal place for that shot and I edited it to be followed by the flickering light that doesn't quite fit the beat of the music yet fits so well to the feel of the film; nothing quite fits together and makes no sense but that's what makes it work. 

Labels and Bins in Premiere

 While editing my new wave video I have labelled all my clips so that it was easier to find the clip I was looking for. I also separated the clips into bin, one for all the footage that was shot in Birmingham and another for all other clips shot elsewhere. 
Using label and bins made this whole editing process a lot easier because it kept the work space clean and tidy and easy to find what I was looking for. I will continue to do this with all editing projects throughout the rest of the course as it just made editing run smoother.

Design Brief

After researching the American new wave in cinema from the 1960s to the 1980s, I found that the directors of this era of film disregarded all rules of cinema from before and just filmed how they wanted to get their final result. During my research I focused on The Graduate and Taxi Driver and found that both films share similar conventions had had very heavy focal points on the context of the period of which they were filmed; Vietnam War, social acceptance.

I plan to film in very busy areas such as cities like Birmingham where there are always a lot of people around which would be captured in my shots without being aware they are being extras in my film, giving my film a feeling of verisimilitude and more like the New Wave Films of the 60s. I aim for my film to also mirror American New Wave in the way that they tend to lack a complete narrative, include a lot of jump cuts and hand held camera; again adding a sense of realism. I intend to film at a local fireworks display which will hopefully break up the feeling of any structure to the film created by any clips from the built up city of Birmingham. I will be adding music over my film in hopes that I don't have to worry about the diegetic noise of the city and fireworks that may be picked up; also I hope that without the diegetic sound it will make the narrative more ambiguous and unknown.

As for camera and lighting techniques I plan to use natural light for all outdoor shots, again for the sense of verisimilitude and to show the influence of the American New Wave and its techniques. I will use a range of camera angles and shot types to add depth so my film isn't all on one level.

Editing Types - Own Examples

This video displays own examples of commonly used continuity editing techniques that correspond with those that are in the video of the editing types in films.

Making this video gave me the basic skills to use these editing techniques in my future projects.

Shot Type Examples

Pull Focus

I feel that this clip shows a good example of the 'pull focus' technique. Although a little shakey due to the fact this was hand held and currently still unsure of all the options available on Premiere Pro. The clip is also on the shorter side, and I would have liked for it to have been longer; however the other clip I shot was overexposed making it look unprofessional. The length and exposure of future clips are aspects I will focus on perfecting in order to make my work a higher standard.


This second video is the clip I chose not to add onto the one above, as it is overexposed and even shorter; as well as not displaying the pull focus as clearly as the guitar clip above.

Explain How the Text Has been Constructed to Create Meaning

Easy Rider (1969)

The meaning of a scene is created through a variety of textual and contextual techniques.

This scene from Dennis Hopper's 1969 film Easy Rider shows the LSD trip of the four characters of the scene. LSD became popular in the 60s by individuals like psychologist Timothy Leary who used it to encourage American students to 'turn on, tune in, and drop out'. In this scene begins with a midshot that establishes the characters involved but not revealing too much of the location. The characters are shown as disinterested and with a lack of enthusiasm just by looking at their body language. The Aloofness could be taken as a representation of how their regular daily life is, which could be why they are taking drugs, to add excitement into their life. This idea is supported by the low-key lighting that casts a dull undertone throughout the scene.

Once the group have taken the pills things start to speed up just a little, by the jerky jump cuts from the low angle of the building back to the group back to the building and back to the group shows there is something starting to happen, this could be a reflection of their mind as the drugs slowly start to take over from the inside. As well as the jump cuts showing the mental state of the group slowly deteriorating; the use of canted angles also show how the foursome are not in a sober state of mind as these angles are frequently used when the character themselves isn't quite sane, such technique is often associated with the Joker because of his psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies (depening on the actor). Although the technique isn't used to show the same state it still gives the same effect of a situation being as it should be.

The dialogue spoken by the characters right through the scene is barely audible due to the repetitive noise, similar to a train on tracks, that overlaps throughout thus somewhat drowning out the dialogue meaning the audience is never fully certain of what is happening during the acid trip, much like the group on said trip. I feel the scene not being fully audible and the speech overlapping gives a believable feel to the scene as I can only imagine the effect LSD would have on your mind during a trip and not being able to hear properly and everything being muffled and overlapped could be a realistic guess.

Although the lighting choices adds to the mundane atmosphere of the group, it wasn't all intentional, as a can of film was opened before it had been developed causing the odd colouring/lighting in this scene of the film. However it looks like an intentional accident as the consequence of the ordeal benefits the overall look and atmosphere of the scene. The dull colouring and lighting lasts through the trip, showing that although the group are being reckless by taking LSD their lives are still just as boring as before they've just added a little helping hand for a short amount of time.