In our own production, there is various shots in which a branded products can be seen.
As opposed to random products, we have carefully selected certain brands to create a particular image for our music video.
Relentless has its own brand image of being an energy drink for the active and adventurous.
Smirnoff has a brand associated with partying, and often promotes itself through events, such as the Nightlife Exchange Project
Although there is no footage of anyone smoking in the video, the cigarette packets suggest this idea of youths smoking. Marlboro is one of the most well know brand of cigarettes. 'They represent the symbol of wildness and freedom' [marlboro]
Nike. A sports brand that has a strong reputation in youths, skating and other extreme sports, which is an important aspect in our target audience.
As 18 year olds, Emma and I are in the age range of our productions target audience.
This has allowed us to include influences from some of the programs we watch, in order to create verisimiltude for the theme and genre of our music video.
skins pres
The opening sequence of series 3 of skins, where Freddie skateboards down the mainstreet in Bristol was very influential for our media coursework. It has been disabled for embedding, but here is the link to it on YouTube Making of episode 1, series 3 of skins.
Our rough cut was shown to the other media class during their lesson.
We weren't there to give a brief synopsis of our rough cut, nor tell them what was missing, or footage that was simply there to give an example of what actual shots will be replacing.
So based on minimul background knowledge of our music video, here is the feedback:
Fish-eye transition random, needs re-doing. FX on shots v. good
Sitting in the kitchen drinking is a bit slow - go straight to party?
Like the party bit, but flickering too fast. Needs more exageration and bizarness
Like the FX and shot variation. Editing needs to be quicker
In car - unsure of lipsyncing? looked like its supposed to be
Lipsyncing, done right, would work. should be more. Fish-eye disguesed emptiness of rave setting.
Blurred motion FX - more of this would be good. Fish-eye really like and strobe works very well.
Flows well, like the linear narrative.
Regarding suiting our target audience, here is the feedback they gave:
Also good, but some a bit empty, unrealistic.
Yes, some fast shots, cellar shots v good. - but some too slow
A bit too slow, especially at the beginning Some framing - head out of shot
Yes, theme works
Yes , can relate to it. I see it happening.
Works for TA, especially for students, not younger school ones though
Yes, because of youth rebellion lifestyle
as 18 - 24 it works, tho also appropriate for 15 - 17 audience.
Following our target audience, we aim to re-shoot and improve the following:
Hopefully re-shoot some rave scenes, using fish-eye. - have strobe underneath camera to try and light up more of the face.
Link up the fish-eye and normal scenes better - esp. when going from rave to Callum and Vicky going upstairs.
Film the car scenes - lip sync.
Again, noone picked up on the T-shirt change at the beginning - but still want to re-shoot.
Maybe more, quick shots of drinking in the kitchen. - if not, speed up in editing
Here is some brief notes regarding some of our decision making in the editing process of our music video.
Originally the skateboarding scene was going to be majority snorricam, but as that seemed slow and quite dull, I broke it up with clips of him doing tricks. - Possible chance to shoot extra footage and add in more shots of him from different angles.
The lighting whilst using the snorricam was very dark on his face, so using the editing tools, gamma, brightness and contrast, I have made it slightly lighter so it's easier to see his face.
Added affect on Callum as he leaves the house and jumps on skateboard - ghost trails - which add the sense of fast movement in slow motion.
Added a transition from the table & ring of fire to Megan and Nick doing a shot to signify a time change.
Non additive dissolve - "Compares the pixels in the two clips and displays the lighter of the two as the first clip fades out and second fades in"
Same transition used from the shot of Megan to the 'rave' scenes.
Overlap of clips and 50% opacity on the sequence of Callum and Vicky going up stairs to connote a drunken memory - blurred and no correct order to sequence of shots, all just on top of each other.
Changes made after second rough cut
Our second rough cut featured all of our footage, with basic editing by being cut to roughly the right length and in the correct order. After getting some feedback on our second rough cut, and most people saying that they liked the footage, Emma and I then went back to Final Cut and started our final stages of editing.
Cut and reverse. When Callum goes down the stairs, to make the shot a bit more interesting rather than one long take, we have cut and reversed 2 of the sections, in time to the beat of the song, to make it a bit more in sync with the song.
Tighter cuts on the sequence of Callum going to the fridge, making it flow more smoothly.
Instead of having the lip syncing in the car one continuous shot, we have split up the shot with some cut away shots, which in our second rough cut we had at the end of the sequence. This creates some more shot variation in the sequence.
Getting out of the car - before I had cut the long pause between the car lights turning off and them getting out of the car. Dave picked up on the slight jump in editing, and so instead of cutting, we have split the clip into 3, and have the middle section sped up to around 140%, which I think gives a nice, subtle effect along with the part of the song as a cloud lifts and the lighting on the car shifts. (easier to see visually than explain)
From audience feedback, we were told that the transition from normal lens to fisheye wasn't very smooth. After playing with some different effects, we have put on Light Rays effect, which distorts the image with bright rays of light. Using this affect on the shot of the DJ, and then the beginning of the fisheye clip, creates a more subtle transition as well as a time ellipsis effect.
The ending of the video, where Callum and Vicky go upstairs, the lighting seemed really bright and a bit unreal in the situation of a house party and so using the Desaturate effects, I changed the colouring a little bit, just to make it match the rest of the footage more.
There have been times where we've had to choose between different editing effects.
Some have been more simple, with something like the order in which shots appear, others needed a little bit more thought over, with the various effects available on Final Cut.
Here is an example of two clips which we have had to decide over.
Whether to keep it simple sequence which visually is easy to follow, or instead use effects to create a visual representation of the situation - being drunk.
With the majority of our filming completed, we have produced a rough cut of our footage.
I have edited the majority of the music video, after brainstorming ideas with Emma for how it should look, effects we can add and the footage we should include.
There are a few blank spaces, in which we need to re-shoot and add footage that we haven't currently got.
