For further details on the technology I used in the production:
In order to find an artist for us to create a
promotional music video for, we looked on the website Unsigned.com. This was
because it is a way of finding an artist that has not yet been found by a
record company to sign them. This would avoid copyright issues because we would
know that the artist had not yet been discovered. We knew that we wanted to
produce a video for the genre of indie pop, so we searched this genre
specifically and found Andrea Storm Kaden. To get in contact with the artist we
sent her an email. We asked her permission to use her song and she agreed,
saying that if she liked it she would put it up on her YouTube channel.
Throughout the whole process of producing a
promotional music video, we used YouTube to find professional videos. This
helped us in the early stages when we wanted to find the conventions of music
videos in general, and those of our specific genre. Also when we were editing
it was a useful tool because we could get inspiration for any issues we found.
For example when we were unsure of a transition to use, or how long a shot
should last we looked at videos that inspired us in the beginning like Mumford
and Sons ‘Whispers in the Dark’.
From the amount of filming that we undertook we
learnt new skills about the process. For example, in the production we used a
panning shot. We tried this two different ways to see what would work better. We
did it just handheld for one try, and then tried it by holding the tripod and
moving the camera from there. The tripod made the panning shot much smoother
but the handheld shot had more control because it was closer and easier for us
to watch on the camera screen what it looked like.
Another thing we learnt was about the lighting.
Last year we had not used professional lighting but this year we borrowed a
light from a technician. This really increased the quality of the video because
the performer and the set was well lit, making the colours of the set and the
facial expressions of the singer much clearer. It took us a while to get used
to working the light, especially because we had to plug it into an electrical
pack which was quite difficult to work. We did have two lights however one of
them would not work, so we stuck to one and it still turned out well. The light
was very useful because we could alter the size of the beam and move it back
and forth to change where shadows were and to make sure the whole shot was lit.
Another thing we learnt was how to frame shots
well. In the past we had not realised that you can frame the shot on the camera
screen, but when you press record it cuts out some of the shot at the top and
bottom. We soon got used to this issue and made sure that we press record to
make sure everything fits before proceeding onto a take.
To edit our video we chose to use the programme
Final Cut Express. We started by using iMovie to get a rough cut of the
footage, as this is a simpler programme and does not take as long to use.
However it is not as good quality as Final Cut. We chose to push ourselves by
learning completely different software from scratch, but it would result in a
higher quality video because it is much more professional. Final Cut has more
possibilities with editing techniques, and the footage looks better as well. We
could not have split the screen in iMovie like we did in Final Cut, and we
would not have been able to make the sections change individually. Final Cut
also allows you to be more precise with editing, so syncing can be easier for
lyrics. The difficulty with Final Cut is that after changing anything you must
render it to view the video. This was very time consuming and made the editing
process take much longer but it was worth it for a better video.
On Final Cut we learnt how to change the sizes of
the shot and move them around, meaning we were able to execute our split screen
idea. We also learnt how to do freeze frames so there would be some sections of
the screen where the performing was miming the song and others where she was
still. Using Final Cut we had to get used to controlling four separate channels
along the bottom of the screen. Sometimes they would move along so we had to
make sure it stayed in sync rather than moving around and making all of the
footage out of timing.
An issue we found through editing was that at some
points our singer had either made a mistake with the lyrics, or she did not
open her mouth wide enough for it to look like she was singing the right
lyrics. This meant it took a lot of time to find the right moment in the clip
to sync to the song, or we had to shorten the clip to make it less obvious that
it did not look right.
Another problem was that in some shots there
were things that should not have been in the frame. Because Beth – our
performer – was struggling to smash the guitar, Jess stood in to do this. We
accidentally got her long hair in the shot, meaning that we had to crop it out
and only use a small part of the clip so it was unlikely people would notice.
There was also a part when I was throwing rose petals in front of a fan to blow
on Beth’s face. I accidentally got in the corner of the shot so again this had
to be cropped and shortened.
We still did use iMovie for one element of the
video. At the last part of it we return to a full screen and show the footage
rewinding so the paint lifts off the singer, the balloon inflates again and the
guitar reforms. We used iMovie for this because we had used the rewinding
technique before on there and it was very simple. Because this was one of the
last parts of editing we did it meant we would save time rather than learning
to do this on Final Cut. We exported this as a video from iMovie into Final Cut
and it worked very well without issues.
A new skill we learnt which we were very happy
with was the use of stop motion. We were inspired by this technique early on in
the planning stages because we knew it was a technique we found enjoyable to
watch, and wanted to learn it. When we were coming up with ideas for our video
we created a short stop motion piece to display our ideas. We took lots of
photographs of us holding a sheet of paper, and as we took more photos we added
more words as if a sentence was growing on the page. We really enjoyed this
task because we learnt a new technique from it that we would later use in our
promo. We used the technique again for a short experiment when we were finding
a way to show cracks growing down the arm of our performer. We wanted to do a
practise of the technique to see if it would work and look good. We were happy
with this, and then went on to use it in our promo a few different
times.
Photoshop was another media technology that I had
to become very familiar with for the production of the ancillary tasks. I had
used it previously but not for a long time. One of the things I found difficult
to understand with this programme was the use of layers. This was something it
took me a while to get the hang of because it can be quite confusing. However
once I had learnt how they work it made it much easier to operate.
A very effective technique that I learned in
Photoshop and used in the ancillaries was how to alter the colours of certain
parts of a picture. I learnt that by using a magic wand I can draw around a
certain part of a picture and make it into a new layer. For example here it was
the paint on the singer’s head. I separated this from the rest of the picture,
and because the paint was purple I changed it to blue using the hue/saturation
option. Then because the singer’s face is a separate layer I could make it
black and white with just the paint in colour. This draws attention to that
part of the picture and makes it sound out which looks quite attractive.
Another technique I learned was editing the
opacity of images. At an early stage of creating this part of the digipak, we
felt that the hands did not look very pleasant. Because the colours were so
dark, they looked like they were supposed to be dead or dismembered hands. It
also didn’t help that at that point all six hands were in quite claw-like
positions. To change this we decided we would use different photographs so the
hands would be in a range of positions. We also lightened the opacity of the
hands, and both of these changes really managed to make them look more alive
and elegant.
Blogger was a technology that I had used
previously but used in a more advanced way for this unit. I learnt to create a
blog with different headings on it so I could separate my work up into
preliminary, research, planning, production and evaluation. Within these I put
subheadings for different pieces of work I had uploaded so when they were
clicked on it would go to another page.
Exhibiting material online is beneficial because
it means it will reach a wide range of people. It was helpful for us because we
could show our digipak, magazine advert and promotional video and they could
give honest opinions and feedback on the final products.
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