Rough Cut to Final Cut improvements.

Our Rough cut and our Final Cut will be very different. For our Final cut we need to add:

• Black and white effects for the Adele bit and maybe some color correcting in other scenes to fit the mood of the music.
• Some more fading transitions towards the end of the video to make it fit in with the music and make the music video easier on the eye.
• Tweak some of the lip sinking bit as they aren't completely finished yet.
• Overall make it smoother and better.

rough cut video

Our rough cut video produced

Editing Lesson 3

For this lesson we needed to finish the rough cut of our music video. We didn't think this was going to be too hard as we had been working on editing for the last two lessons and we were familiar with the editing techniques required to edit a music video but we also had to edit the last minute of the video in half a lesson!
During our editing we had to overcome many problems:

• First of all we realised some of our clips were too short compared to how they were supposed to be but we quickly fixed this problem by extending the clips around it and adding some fading effects to make it look smoother and feel more complete.
• We also started experimenting with some fading in and out techniques. But towards the end of the editing process we were running out of time so we had to stop using the fading transition. We are planning to use these after giving in our rough cut.

Once we finished our rough cut we will post it on our blog. 

Editing Lesson 2

Our first problem was that Final Cut said our backing track was offline because last lesson we didn't transfer it on to the Mac - to resolve this we copied it across to the Mac and and recreated the link in Final Cut.

After watching some of our footage we didn't realise that for some of the movement of Adele in one clip she would finish walking on her left leg and start in the next clip on the same leg and the same with the right leg which makes the overall video look slightly out of sync when you really focus on the walking.

Also while we were watching the Kanye sections of the footage back we noticed that the lip syncing wasn't as good as it could be but it still works for our music video, however because of this it has made syncing the Kanye footage to backing track quite difficult.

Editing Lesson 1

This lesson we have spent transferring our footage on to the Mac - Whilst this was happening we watched some of our footage through.

Once the footage had transferred onto the Mac we started editing our footage. The biggest task we have is making sure the lip syncing is right and on time with the backing track.

For shot 6 we have decided to use an alternative shot to what we had originally planned as with the different pieces of footage for this shot the one we have chosen was the best one in terms of framing, camerawork and lip syncing. The only problem with this is that it cuts out 'Adele's' legs where as we had originally planned to have a full body shot.

For some of our shots we have decided to start them and cut them earlier than we had originally intended as it makes the flow of the overall video better as well as fitting to the feel of the backing track more.

Evaluation of Filming

Overall our filming was a success however we did come across several problems. The biggest problem we came across is that Simon (the Kanye West actor) arrived to the filming late this meant we needed to change around the order of filming. As a result of changing the order of the filming we had to film the Adele section first, this resulted in the footage being filmed in day light so we weren't able to use the lighting effects which we had originally planned and can be seen on our storyboard.

We were pleased with the locations we chose for filming however the Cemetary produced the problems of members of the public walking across where we were filming due to the time of day as it was the prime time for dog walkers and people leaving work. The Car Park was really good as when it came to filming there it was completely empty so this will give our footage more of a professional feel as well as making the location fitting to the rap/ hip hop genre.

Our time estimates for filming were pretty much spot on and for some of our estimates on the call sheet the actual time we took was shorter as we didn't have to re-film some of the shot as much as we thought we would need to. Both for the Adele and Kanye West parts we feel that the lip syncing was pretty much spot on, although there is obviously room for improvement.

The weather was great for filming conditions however - for the genre of our music video it would have been better if the Adele section was cloudy rather than having a clear blue sky as it isn't as reflective of the genre, although we are unable to control the weather we could have avoided this problem if we filmed at an alternate time - however as we are using colour filters and turning the Adele section of the footage into black and white.

Evaluation of the filming

On our filming shoot, we encountered a couple of problems, some of which that:
- Our kanye west actor (simon) came late so we couldn't film both scenes during the day so we had to improvise with our filming, so we have to use colour filters.
      - this outcome  may allow us to do more with filters and editing, therefore we can experiment and may produce a better music video than we may of thought of we would of had.
- we got al ot of extra footage which we can include in the digipack, or the music video itself. Allowing us to create more layers and cut on beat al ot more often.
- we also were able to lip sync the music video clips effectively and we didn't have to re-film most of the scenes, except for the beginning as we were getting into it.

- both locations were good as it showed a contrast of a mellow atmosphere, and a urban location which was the car park. However there were large lamp posts on the car park which affected our filming, due to the lamp posts being in the way.
-In a way we were lucky to film the rapper scene at night in a light up area because we later discovered that the torch we were originally going to use for the cemetery scene was no where near bright enough to shot a scene in pitch black conditions.
- We might of had a couple of problems with pedestrians walking their dogs in the cemetery but we managed to work round it effectively thanks to Jakes patience.

animatic of the music video

Similarities between music videos about love and heart break.

Something that we have noticed between music videos for song that are about love and heart break is that it is quite common for some of the footage to be in black and white. This is something we have decided to do so we now know that we are fitting a common convention for this type of song.


Within Beyonce's music video for 'Broken Hearted Girl' she uses a mix of black and white and full colour fottage which is something we hope to do as it is effective and shows the emotion of the song quite effectively.

Problems We may face when filming

When we are filming our music video we may come across a number of problems, these are:

Changes in the weather

We have thought about the fact that we are going to be filming in autumn which means we can't expect the weather to be hot or sunny, but this doesn't matter for our music video as hot sunny weather won't fit our song. If it rains it won't effect filming too much as it

Technical Problems

We may find that the camera doesn't work, the battery runs out or there might not be enough memory on the camera. If this was to happen we would be able to use either Stacey's phone which would mean the quality f the footage isn't very good or Ruri's camera which would limit our time for filming as this would need to be collected.

Casting Problems

As we have decided to use someone from outside our group to be Kanye West they might not actually turn up, if this was to happen then either Ruri or Jake would have to take on the role.

Lesson - 10th OCT: Project so far

So far in this project we have had to decide which song to produce the music video for. We came to a problem when our group was split between two songs. Our decision was reached by going with the song we felt had more scope and would give us the best overall end result.

We have had to create our storyboard - this took longer than we anticipated as we decided to do it quite detailed so that our overall shooting time wouldn't be as long.

Our test filming went to plan - as all of the shots we decided to use are effective and work really well.

The analysis and research we have conducted so far has helped develop our ideas and has given us more ideas and possibilities of what we can do.

Kanye West - Demands of Record Label/ Reoccuring Smilarities

Whilst looking through Kanye West's music videos it has become fairly obvious that one of his traits in his music videos is for some of the footage to be in black and white, because of this we will need to consider editing some of the footage of 'Kanye West' so that it is in keeping with the music videos he has already released. This is important because it means the audience are able to easily connect the video to being one of Kanye West's.

Initial Storyboard Sketches

Previous Student Work Evaluation

This music video is fitting to the genre, as the setting is peaceful which fits the slow beat/rhythm of the song. The editing is really good as all the lip-syncing is spot on or near enough spot on, and cutting is on a beat which makes it feel more smoother. At 1:14 to 1:17 and 2:18 to 2:36 uses good use of editing as they layer the videos and creates a really good image and feeling on the music video, as it is the instrumental. The overall effect and feeling is really good as the location of the filming is prime and looks like a realistic music video. The lyrics are amplified illustratively "heart skipped a beat" and creates a artistic video. The use of lighting is good as it looks like they've used a filter with natural lighting as its dull but not grayscale. However there is no voyeurism in the music video at all and also no inter-textual reference which loses 2 points of the goodwins points. But overall it is a really good music video and really effective.

Influence - Kanye West: All of the Lights Music Video

Kanye West - All of the Lights

From the beginning of this music video to 58 seconds in there is a black and white filter which would either have been added during the editing process or the footage could have been filmed in black and white. In our music video we plan to edit some of our footage to be in black and white during the editing process. This video gives us an idea of what the effect would look like.



This effect is quite effective as it is emotive which is one of the feelings the song gives the listener so would be fitting for the music video to have the same feeling.

Influence - Kanye West: Homecoming Music Video

Kanye West - Homecoming

The use of black and white in this music video is something we hope to achieve in our music video as it give quite a classic effect and is emotive - which is something we need to get across in our music video as it the song itself is emotive

History of Modern Music Research

Below is the History of Modern Music of all genres

Below is the History of Modern Music for Pop (one of Adele's music Genre)

Track 101 (bottom of the spreadsheet) - Adele - Somone Like You

The other genres of Adele is soul/country soul/blues and Pop.



Video Reference: Adele - Chasing Pavements

All of Adele's video or the majority all represent relationship problems or death such as this one they are in a car crash. Even though this songs visuals dont represent the lyrics directly it talks about relation problems. Also the fact that the music video lip syncs in the style we want to where adele lip syncs around 1:31 to 1:33.5 with a tracking shot of her sideways of her lipsyncing is what we want to do for shot 6 in our shotlist.
Showing we are using the features of her types of music videos, and want to try make them as good as her vidoes.

Risk Analysis

Risk analysis
There will be some risks in filming this:


This can be a risk as if we're traveling by bikes then we will have risks of wind interfering with us, also when we're filming on the grafton center car park then it will be even more dangerous in case a big gust of wind comes, so we will overcome this risk by not filming on the edge of the car park and more towards the center of the car park.

Another risk is that we will be filming at night on a Friday night, so we are more likely to come across violence or accidents in Cambridge then other nights, so we will try stay out of the way on main roads or near Pubs/clubs.

We will also need to be aware of the roads and the general area as it will be getting dark half way through our filming time which will mean we need to  be wary of everything and everyone around us.

When we are filming in the car park we will need to be aware of the cars moving around us as if we aren't aware of what is going on we are at risk of being hit by a car. Therefore will will have to make sure we keep a eye on when and where the cars around us are moving.

Video Reference: Adele - Somone like you

The concept of this video that was released on the 29th September 2011, followed many of the ideas we had for our video without even analysing this video.
This music video was directed by Jake Nava who also directed Kanye West's music video 'Monster' therefore calibrating their work together in Jake Nava's style of this video can make a very effective video. The use of film grain effect and black and white amplifies the saddness and the loneliness of Adele.
Although Jake Nava didn't cut on the beat during this music video doesn't mean we can't as it's good to use and mix features of a music video.
We hope we can achieve a video of something nearly as good quality as this.

Goodwin's Analysis - Things We May Need To Consider

Andrew Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (Routledge 1992)

1. Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics (eg. stage performance in a metal music video and a dance routine in a boy/girl band music video)
2. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)
3. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups which the artist. The artist may also develop motifs which reoccur across their work (a visual style)
4. There is frequently refernece to ntion of looking (screen within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic* treatment of the female body
5. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programs, other music videos, etc)

*Voyeurism - is the pleasure of looking at someone who is unaware of being looked at (in the imaginary world)

20 second breakdown

0-20 Seconds:
Location: Cemetary

Adele's vocal starts instantly - there is no musical intro to the track because of this we have decided that our video should start with an extreme close up of Adele lip syncing the track starting with a side profile and then going into a full front profile in which Adele's head will be tilted down. From this the camera will zoom out at the same time Adele will lift her head to look directly at the camera. The shot will stay as a mid shot but Adele will walk towards the camera as the camera person is slowly walking backwards so that Adele stays within the same place in the frame. This will then cut to a side profile shot with Adele still walking and lip syncing but the camera will be tracking from the side. Adele will lip sync throughout this 20 second block.


20-40 Seconds:
Location: Cemetary

This will follow a similar pattern of shot angles as the first 20 second block starting with an extreme close up of Adele lip syncing from a side profile but instead of her being stationary she will be walking but won't be positioned in the center of the frame but to the left of it. This will then cut to an extreme close up of Adele with her head slightly tilted downwards lip syncing and still walking towards the camera as the camera moves backwards. This will then go back to the first shot of an extreme close up of Adele from the side profile whilst still walking with the camera still following her keeping Adele to the left of the frame. At around 30 seconds Adele will stop walking and look up to create emphasis on the beat. From this point it will cut to a mid shot of Adele walking towards the camera and the camera walking backwards whilst still lip syncing, this will the cut to a close up of Adele still walking and lip syncing.

40-60 Seconds:
Location: Cementary

This part of the music video will look similar to the last 20 seconds.  lot of shots of Adele lip syncing and walking through the graveyard. We wil also include some fading and split screens insome shots to make this section more interesting to the viewer.

60-100 Seconds:
Location Parking lot.

In this part of the video we introduce Kanye West. Much like Adele he is walking somewhere while lip syncing to the rap section. We also added some split screens, Zoom ins, fading  and quick cuts on the beat to the music.

100-180 Seconds:

In this section the pace of the music video slows down and we have decided to include a lot of panning shots of the artists and landscapes. We added some fading into the cuts between these to make the video smoother and go with the music. We also added different contrasts to different shots; some of them being in colour and others in black and white. We did this because we wanted to make the visuals more interesting to the audience

Video Reference: Kanye West: All OF The Lights

The first minute of this Kanye West video is similar to the black and white effect we hope to achieve within our footage in terms of the effect not the actual shot.

Location Pictures

For our music video we will be shooting the footage all around Cambridge. The main locations for which we will be shooting is:

GRAFTON CENTER CAR PARK


This is one of the main locations as this is where the 'rapper' location is. This is because this location is quite representative of the rap genre.

CHRIST'S PIECE


Would be used to film 'Adele' as it is quite a big space and we could create some artistic shots using this location, also it is quite representative of the soul genre.

MILL ROAD CEMETARY

This will also be used in the same way as Christ's Piece as it will create quite an artistic location and is how we will mainly symbolise and reflect the lyrics in the video. Both 'Adele' and 'Kanye West' will be shot for some of the video within this location.

Call Sheet

Call Sheet
Camera man - Jake Groves
Director - Stacey Hubbard
Lighting - Ruri Grass

CHARACTERS :
Adele - Stacey Hubbard
Kanye West - Simon Pullen

LOCATIONS :
Mill Road Cemetary
Grafton Center, Rooftop Car Park
Cambridge, Historic City Center

PLAN :
14/10/11 - 4:10pm - Ruri takes the camera out from college
14/10/11 - 5:00pm - Everyone meets outside the Grafton Center, Poundland
14/10/11 - 5:15pm - Go up to the Car Park to film the rapper scenes
14/10/11 - 6:15pm - Pack up and get ready to go to the second location
14/10/11 - 6.30pm - Go to Mill Road Cemetary
14/10/11 - 7:00pm - Start filming Adele's section of the music video in the Cemetary
14/10/11 - 8:30pm - Finish filming Adele's section

15/10/11 - 9:00am - Ruri will film panning shots of the historic part of Cambridge

16/10/11 - Not filming

17/10/11 - 8:45 - Ruri will return the camera to media department

NOTES :

- Timing may change depending upon traveling times (some members of the group are cycling others are walking), problems with filming times (having to re-film sections).
- If people are late or delayed for some reason this could affect our schedule

EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS :
Jake - 07769263699
Ruri -07794840092
Stacey - 07834463734

Shot Lists

Shot list 1-12

shot list 13-24

Storyboard

Feedback From Pitch

Who is going to play who?
Adele is going to be played by ...
Kanye West is going to be played by Simon who goes to Drama School, and has the same color skin as Kanye West so suits the position.

What is happening with the lighting?
1 possibility: use torches or several torches as we don't have any power supply to where we are filming for the powerful lights from the school

Deadlines

Deadlines

• Monday 17th October: Music Video Shooting Deadline
• Friday 21st October (last lesson of week): Music Video Rough Cut Deadline:
• Friday 11th November (last lesson of week): Music Video Final Deadline

• Friday 25th November (last lesson of week): Ancillary Products Deadline
• Friday 16th December (last lesson of week): Evaluative Commentary

Auteur: Colin Tilley

Colin Tilley is an up and coming music video director born on 27th June 1988. Currently he works for Riveting Entertainment and has directed videos for Usher, Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, and Ciara along with many others.

A very common style within Colin Tilley's music videos is to make some of the video so that it is in blck and white, this effect can be seen in the following videos:

Justin Bieber - U Smile
Chris Brown - No Bull****
Ciara - Speechless
Jason Derulo - It Girl

Along with using the black and white effect Colin Tilley's work is very artistic in how he represents the female artist such as in Beyonce's 1+1 video which can be seen below:

Also Colin Tilley emphasises the narrative within the lyrics of the song he is directing the video for is there one that is particularly evident, such as in Chris Brown's song Next To You Ft. Justin Bieber:

Adele melt my heart stone pitch

S1-29 Music Video Pitch on Prezi

Soundtrack Selections

Below are the categories we had listen and analyse the 12 music tracks.

1 - emotion

2 - colour

3 - location

4 - props

5 - actors

6 lighting

After listening to twelve different tracks these are the five that appeal most to us.

Track 4
This track was obviously Adele and Kanye West. This track has a lot of different possibilities for the music video because its crossing rap and soul/blues. Due to this the music video can cover many aspects which follow both genres. Could follow multiple locations and weather changes (although we can't control the weather). It's quite a reflective/ mellow song. The location could be in a forest or woods which would be fitting to the lyrics. Also due to the nature of the song the colours and lighting shouldn't be bright but should instead be fairly dull and dark.

Track 7
This track was sung by '10 bucks'. This track would be a very mellow song as it creates a sad atmosphere from the guitar solo, this song could create opportunities to create original type of a Music Video of the main location of the music video of the artist singing on a stool with his guitar, with overlaying clips of clips relating to the lyrics (one of Goodwins points). The lighting could be dark but possibly with a spotlight to emphasize the artists sadness and the mellow atmosphere, this could be re-enforced with the use of dark colors too.

Track 12
This track had the sound of Usher/ Ne-Yo due to the nature of the genre the focus and genre specifics are fairly distinctive. Normally the music video would follow the story line of the lyrics this would follow a situation within real life and would have the artists playing the 'lead'. Also within some point of the video there would be a dance routine as this fits the genre and the style of these types of artists. Another idea we had for this song is that the artist/rapper could be singing up to his girlfriend/girl he loves in a flat window while he's down on the street, which would turn the emotion of the film around and break Goodwin's points (not necessary to use his points). The location of the music video for a track like this would be inside, with 'normal' lighting.

Track 10
This song gives a feeling of happiness and energetic atmosphere, it makes the first thing that comes to your mind is a dance routine in a dance studio, perhaps ballet dancers and and they are dancing towards the beat of the music as well as the scene cuts (jump cuts) and the artist/singer which will have to be a girl (girls only in the song with bright colours) so she is walking through the dance studio, such as the Geri Halliwell - Raining Men video where she's dancing and singing in the video, but ours would have less voyeurism. This would have to have bright lighting and feminine colours such as pink etc.

Track 

Auteur Lesson - Michel Gondry

The term Auteur was first coined by film critics in the 1950's to describe directors with an artistic signature across their body of work. Auteur is the French for the word author.
The term Auteur comes from hte french magazine Cahiers du cinema, this group of magazine critics praised such filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock. The term auteur was founded in 1954 in a article which re-evolutioned Hollywood movies, such as Alfred Hitchcock's movies himself.

                      

MICHEL GONDRY!

Michel Gondry's filmography portfolio features his trademark, surrealism and or the use of visual effects. Many of his music videos follow these styles which make these abstract and unique music videos.

Some of his videos include:

Kylie Minogue - Come into my World

In this video you can see that Michel Gondry has experimented a lot with green screen and top of the range visual effects for the time period it was made in. Michel Gondry's video are very repetitive, this is also shown in some of the Chemical Brothers music videos he directed. This music video uses repetitiveness is used to give it a unique identity and amplify the objectivity of the song 'Come into my World' as she's just showing her world all the time, as in an advertisement.

Gary Jules - Mad World

As you can see within these two music videos Gondry's style is very consistent especially with the use of the dancers. Michel Gondry's auteur signature is highly amplified in his music video Mad World through the abstract visual effects creating a surrealist atmosphere as you don't see people dancing in a street making outlines of people. Michel's use of visual effects have made the songs known and unique, as Mad World has 35million views and is highly recognised for its video.

Michel Gondry's Filmography

Information from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327273/

Analysing different music videos

Spoof video

I'm on a Boat - The Lonely Island

This video is a spoof video because it mimics rappers style of music video and track, they do this through the use of the boat and other props which you would normally see within rap music videos. The location of the video on the expensive boat in the middle of the sea is really common within rap videos so it follows some of the main conventions with rap videos. The artist also wears what appears to be expensive suits which is again fitting to the rap music genre. The lighting is bright, it creates sun spots behind the artists which is fitting with the genre and also reflects off of the boat and the jewellery the artists are wearing which emphasises these props.

The video engages the audience through the humorous element which is amplified through the exaggerated use of props. Such as the boat and blow up dolphin. You can also see that the video is successful through the number of hits on youtube.

A Video With A Message

Firework - Katy Perry

This video portrays the message which is within the lyrics and makes the more obvious to the audience. For example when she says let your colours show we see different people being themselves such as the homosexual couple. The overall message of the video is to be happy with who your are and dont be afraid of being yourself. This music video is very successful as it has won many awards and has reached 222 million views on youtube.

A Shocking Video

Robbie Williams - Rock DJ

This video is shocking because he rips his skin off and pulls apart his muscles while females start eating his flesh and portray cannibalism and enjoying it, which is very graphical.  The last minute of the film was re-edited so it could be shown on MTV/Television channels so it just showed a skeleton and not the graphical parts. This music video was quite successful due to the nature of the video more people talk about it, also as the video is old it only had 5.5 million views on you-tube as it was in the 1990s, it was the fourth best selling single in 200 in the UK, showing it was a successful music video.

A Video that presents an artist in a different way to their usual image

Madonna has presneted herself differently from 4minutes completely, since she made you must love me, this couild be due to record label demands. However it's mainly under the influence of her re-launching her career, you  can compare the 2 videos completely, and all her music videos produced by WMG and they all the same, and her music videos with voyeurism are much more popular. Such as 4 minutes music video has 9,837,162 views and her video You must love me has only 620thousand views, which is a huge difference.

An alternative/Experimental video

This video is an alternative to the normal type of music video you would come across. The surrealism of the video and visual effects and green screen empathise the fact of drugs create a whole new world from the words 'Time to pretend'. The experimental approach fo the video makes this video unique as it's of good quality and keeps the audience interested, this can be reinforced with the evidence of 21,682,817 total views just on youtube. Prooving that even experiemntal videos are succesful aswell.

finished by jake groves

Photoshop practice - Magazine advert

This was the first attempt at creating the magazine advert, whilst we were getting familiar with the skills and tools on photoshop which we learnt last year.

This was our second attempt - which looks more professional. The orientation of the poster isn't very conventional as it is landscape however this would possibly be more eye catching as it would fit across a double page. Within the advert it includes all the relevant information needed for informing the audience of when the single would be released and where it can be purchased, although there isn't a price for the track on the advert this is normally the same for all tracks but could be added to improve the content of the advert.

MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT!!