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Editing The Music Video

The editing process was quite intimidating at first as I was not that advanced with how to edit well. However, before I began to experiment on how to advance my music video, I focused on timing. Making sure that Alex was on time with the singer is important. The shot changes at the beginning were the same, and quite long. After editing the whole verse, I went back and cut some shots and included faster paced shots, and jump cuts. This made the video more exciting, rather than staying on one level. 

Furthermore, I decided that creating four boxes will also add more interest into our music video. Therefore, I made each shot of the box small, and placed them into four squares. In addition, following a YouTube tutorial I created a cartoon effect which will contribute to the style of our digipak. Using flash transitions, and fire burns increased the overall visual appeal.

Rough Cut

Behind the Scenes: Update

There was worse footage, but we couldn't put all of it. Because of the poor results we are going to have to find another main star. In my previous posts, I have confessed how appalling our first tries were. This is not necessarily a bad, we have more to write about when the exam comes. We can reflect back on our choices, and see where we went wrong and how in the future, we can identify who is going to be dedicated to doing the work.

Filming Day 3

We, as a group almost gave up on our main character, Tariq. Time seemed to be going by quickly, and we were behind on our schedule. I warned him that this would be his last day before we have no choice but to replace him. He has the potential to do well in the music video, so I though hard about what we could do as a group to bring the best out of him. The song is not particularly his music taste, so I thought about playing a song that is similar to his taste, "rap," and observing him. We placed the camera, and went to the corner of the room where, we and himself, couldn't see us. After that, we observed the footage and saw that he was more open and less static when we are not there. So, with this experiment, I took a few shots with us, out of view site. To our surprise, he had improved! Tariq was moving much more, and sounding the words out much more. When he sang along, he mumbled so I suggested to just lip sync the song but open his mouth wider. We had decided as a group, that there was hope and that we were proud of him - he is staying in the group. Finally making substantial progress.

Filming Day 2

Today did not go so well because our main character is still camera shy, but he is slightly getting better at remembering the lyrics. He is progressing steadily. He was still camera shy, and it started to irritate us all. As someone who is rather camera shy myself, I understand his nerves and anxiety. But, in order to ensure we get a fantastic video, all of that needs to be put aside. I filmed again and again, the two main problems was that he was not moving, and his mouth was barely opening. I told him that if he did not know the words properly, and sound them out, it will look disastrous. In addition, being static in a music video makes it both painful for him, and the audience to watch, so I had an idea. In front of him, he would observe a short YouTube clip of someone "air drumming", and playing the "air guitar" so that he would get a feel to a rythm.

Location Sheet

Treatment

Group Roles Michelle - Camera woman Georgia - Camera woman/Assistant Director Lauren - Director/Editor Tariq - Clean up - editing

Title: The iRonics ~ Posion

Synopsis: Character puts up audition posters for new band Waits in audition room in which sshe lip syncs first verse - no one arrives Moves on to band room to start his own band, starts unsuccessfully practising on all the instruments Moves on to streets Back to playing instruments but more successful this time Move on to skate park for photoshoot

Key Genre Conventions: Lip synching Instrument playing Dancing

Costume and Props

Filming Day 1

Filming today did not go as well as planned. It seems our main character is rather shy and embarrassed, even after numerous takes the footage was not meeting our expectations. It was filmed in a room, with a background full of posters, as desk and a chair. Tariq, the main character just has to go through a series of emotions while observing people audition. But, its harder to him than it seems. I concentrated on medium, and close up shots so that his facial expressions and hands are seen. Also, he did not learn the lyrics, so the fluidity is extremely off - the footage is rather awful. Hopefully, next week when everybody is free, his nerves will go away as he gets more comfortable with the camera.

Permission to use Track

We asked the team for the band's permission to use their song, they seemed pretty happy to let us use the song.

It's important to ask for permission to prevent copyright issues. Also, we do not know who certain artists would react to someone using their music without permission. Some may be flattered, while others may not be to pleased. Nevertheless, it is polite and prevents things from escalating.  Twitter, Facebook and email are easy to access, but we assumed that Twitter is most probably the most used form of social network. It only took a day for the Team to reply, which was relatively efficiently. 

Elton John - Lip syncing!

Our finished, filmed and edited music video.

(Royce and Lauren) 

We used a range of angles, and shot types to create our, not so masterpiece, masterpiece. 

Using the tracking shot made the video a bit more interesting, perhaps more entertaining.  I used close ups, wide shot, medium shot, side shot and dolly. I ensured that the shots weren’t too far away or else there would be a lack of focus on the singers.

I muted all the audio, and just played the Elton John track and ensured they learned the lyrics increase the accuracy of the lip syncing. Even though it is an ammeter video, if they did not learn the lyrics, the video would have looked like it was a fun video for family, or personal leisure. 

Using the cut tool, and select tool made it easier to remove, add and move what sections of the video I wanted. There was a lot of editing involved as there was a vast amount of amateurism within the video.

Being in the same position, and angle will make the music video less entertaining. Adding more angles would make it more entertaining.

What was difficult was making sure the actors were not embarrassed and not constantly laughing. Next time, I should use a HD camera and a change of clothes to “spice” up the video. This would make the video appear more professional.

First Production Gathering/Meeting

In our group of 4, we split our ideas unto a mind map. We all had creative ideas, which was split into two. 

The first idea was to choose the Marian Hill Song, One Time.

For this song, we thought of having a range of masquerade masks, perhaps 5. Each mask would represent different personalities that dominates when she is with a particular partner. The music video would have a Freudian twist to it.

Or, Jet Black Alley Cat, Poison.

The lead singer will have a journey with music. Where he will be dancing in cool backgrounds, such as a graffiti wall and underground tunnel at a train station. There will be a rock, but urban feel to this. 

Here, there are some costumes we are thinking of.

Decisions, decisions.

Artist Profile

They are a young group of 5 from Nashville, which most probably appeal to teenager, and perhaps 18-21 year olds. However, they are not the most typical band, as they have elements of pop, rock, and a sprinkle of indie.

They are different, exciting and bring a new flavour to the music industry. 

They have elements of The 1975, and Imagine Dragons.

Looking for an Artist

Copyright

Unsigned artists ensure that I will not get any issues with copyright. The artists that are unlikely to respond are the mainstreams ones like Justin Bieber, and One Direction

The artists that are more approachable, are unsigned and have a smaller fanbase, therefore they are more likely to respond

Where to find music 

Streaming sites such as Soundcloud have numerous artists. This makes it more likely to find an unsigned artist that will be okay with us using their track. It is the most efficient way, perhaps of asking for permission

Ideal track 

The track should be no longer than 5 minutes, and no less than 3 minutes. It should not be too fast, or too slow. Perhaps, something upbeat enough to be exciting but can be easily followed without looking like a mess. There should be enough lyrics to avoid, awkward gaps of music

Genres to avoid

Rap – Although it may be upbeat, most rap contains not just bad language but frequent sexual and explicit references.  Also, the lyrics are normally fast so it may look like a pathetic attempt to look like you have the same flow

Country – It is difficult to adapt to the conventional setting of country landscape, and cowboy attire. It would be even more difficult to access these areas due to the sort of town I listen to

Dubstep – This genre doesn’t have many vocals and the performance will not be as great. 

Potential Tracks

Marian Hill - One Time 

Jet Black Alley Cat - Poisen

Cherry V - Stole my heart beat