Editing Update: Font Placement

One of the most challenging elements we have come across so far whilst constructing our digipak is the issue of where to put what font.

It is difficult because sometimes it just doesn't quite work. However, we have found a trial and error method works best; we try the font in a new place, and save that image as a separate file into a different folder. We then look through all of these saved images and discuss and compare which layouts work best.

This has happened on both the front and back covers, which we have been focusing on for now, as the inside is pretty simple. 

The only error with our system is that it is quite time consuming, however we have been able to schedule it in and can justify the time it takes with the (hopefully successful) outcome. 

Editing Update: Choosing The Images

Having taken so many photos during the shoot, we had a huge selection to choose from. We did this by copying certain photos each of us liked into an additional folder, which narrowed it down to about 20 images. From here, we just discussed what we thought would work best, and also asked fellow classmates for their opinion too.

We have decided the front cover will be a close up of the main actor in the music video with the powder paint splatted over her face. It is a very strong visually eye-catching piece and really suits the iconography of both our music video and album in general.

For the inside left, we have chosen to have an extreme close up of her eye, which is again another very powerful photo.

For the inside right (which sits behind the CD) we have gone for a close up of her lips, which links to those which appear in our music video. However, we are also considering keeping this and the CD plain matte black, as too much colour may be overwhelming.

Finally, for the back cover, we have chosen a back view of the actor, i.e. it is the back of her head. We will align this either to the left or the right, leaving a black space for the song list to go.

We are really happy with the images so far, and have been tweaking them in photoshop - slightly altering the lighting, contrast and saturation levels to make the photos reach their full potential.

Editing Update: Export Disaster!

We were at the stage where we were ready to export our film out of Final Cut Pro and all was going well until our trusty Mac, Sean, had a complete meltdown!

This was a complete disaster as the whole of our music video, including ALL original shoots and footage was on this particular mac's hard drive. We were really worried that we were going to lose all of our work and would have to start from scratch. It was an extremely tense time but we were hoping for the best.

Luckily, our IT Technician managed to work his magic and save the file, however it was not exported in the best quality it could have been, but frankly we were happy to have it at all!

We have now uploaded our video up onto YouTube and are able to breathe a big sigh of relief.

MTV Dance Logo

We had almost reached the end of our editing process, but there was one final polish to do. To make it look like an even more professional video, we decided to overlay the MTV Dance logo onto our existing sequence in the top left hand corner.

This would make it more believable in terms of it is easier for the audience to identify the genre and where they would find the video should it be released. It definitely made our music video look complete and was the final element to add before exporting the final cut, so it was a great feeling to have it done.

Editing Update: Problem Solving

After starting to colour grade all of our clips, we suddenly struck a problem surrounding the aspect of sending the file back to Final Cut Pro from Color.

The issue was that whem the footage arrived back onto Final Cut Pro, there were some clips missing and some which hadn't been colour graded. We believe this was due to a glitch in our computer, as all of the files were the correct type and there was no other obvious explanation.

To solve this, we had to find the missing clips and slot them back into their positions by looking back at the original sequence (luckily we had saved a copy!) After we had put them back in their place, we had to individually put each one through Color, so this process was far more time consuming than we initially planned.

However, once this process was complete, we were really happy with the look of the footage. Beforehand we were unsure as to whether it all intertwined together well, but this must have been to lighting and colour issues, as when the filtered clips were finished, it had a much more professional feel to it.

Letterboxing

Now that our sequence was completely finished - including the colour grading - we could letter box it all. This is whereby you put two black strips onto the frame; one at the top and one at the bottom, and effectively makes the style more widescreen and cinematic, thus looking more professional.

This was another very time consuming task as as we had to do it individually clip by clip. We then had to change the aspect ratio of some of the clips as the strips had cut out people's faces, so we'd have to shift the clip itself up or down within the canvas.

We decided to letterbox our music video not only because we feel it looks more polished and professional, but also because it is a common convention of many successful music videos.

Colour Grading

Because we had shot in a number of different locations, we knew that we would need to colour grade in order for the sequence to be consistent.

The powder paint fight shots were rather grainy so needed the contrast and brightness levels adjusted. The studio shots needed lifting up as it was a little dull, and the smashing plates/lip syncing shots needed the saturation increased to highlight the bright colours within the frames.

We used the programme, 'Color' to filter our shots through, however, none of us had previously used this editor before. To gain experience and knowledge, we watched several different online tutorials which were all really helpful in getting us started from the basics. We also experimented with the programme first hand, playing about with the different features and what they do.

We eventually realised that we had to do this whole process clip by clip, applying different filters (which could be saved separately, then dragged and dropped) onto each clip. This was a lengthy process which required a lot of patience - especially due to the amount of choppy shots we used.


We changed the colours, the contrast and the lighting and we then sent the sequence back to Final Cut Pro so that we could edit more if we needed too. The colour grading made the footage look like one whole music video and what made everything fit together in the end. This whole process was very successful.

Editing Update: Sequence Complete

Today, we got the whole of our sequence laid donw in pretty much it's final order - bar a few tweaks that will have to be made. It was quite a stressful day as we were restricted by time limits, but really wanted the sequence complete so that we could have the whole of next week to polish and neaten it all up. Despite this, we all pulled together and distributed jobs evenly, so in the end we managed to finish.

We have realised we haven't stuck so strongly to our storyboards, as some of the shots we were hoping to include did not fit the conventions/didn't quite work with the rest of the video, whereas some of the candid/experimental shots we got were much more dynamic and relevant. This has in turn made our video more natural and convincing, which is the vibe we were aiming for initially. We watched it through a few times, noting down things which could be improved; we all observed that it still didn't 'feel' quite right.

We concluded that this was however, down to the colour grading within our film, which we will be working on over the whole of next week, so we decided to leave at that today and re-evaluate once we had colour graded all of our footage.

Editing Update: All Footage Complete!

we are now at the stage whereby we have filmed all of our footage we will need and imported it into Final Cut Pro. The powder paint and studio shoots were already uploaded, but this still left us with some gaps we had to fill, or our existing footage had started to become repetitive - losing the audiences' attention, which is why we chose to add more shots.

We can now focus on embedding the clips from our final two shoots (lip syncing and plate smashing). After the sequence is fully laid down and complete, we can start to add the finishing touches like colour grading, letter boxing and logo. It really feels like it's all coming together, and we are aiming to be finished by the end of next week. We have been spending any spare time we can find to work on our project so it's a mix of relief and excitement to see it come together.

Editing Update: Decision Making

After importing the footage from the two shoots we have done and editing it together, we still feel like it is missing something. To solve this, we decided to brainstorm as a group how we could solve this, and after going through more dance music videos, saw that there is often an element of performance within the piece.

So we have decided to do a third shoot which will mean we can embed the element of performance into our music video. We will film close-ups of people's lips covered singing the lyrics, covered in powder paint splatters so as the theme is continued and maintained throughout. We are going to use females only for this shoot as the paint will look more striking and lipstick-like rather than messy.

Additionally, to give the music video even more energy, we are going to do a shoot where we smash china plates. This action holds many connotations to do with love and relationships. We also think it would look really effective if we put a little mound of powder paint on the plate before we drop it, so as when it hits the ground, it is an explosion of colour and glass.

We think this will help break up the sequence a bit, as currently the powder paint fight and studio footage looks very dynamic and striking at the beginning, but it feels a little repetitive at times. It also means we will have employed narrative, concept and performance into our music video which broadens its appeal.

Editing Investigation: White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

 

I haven't counted the cuts in Seven Nation Army as such because it is pretty much one smooth panning zoom shot which fades into different scenes. The editing in this song was truly iconic for it's time - and still is now. It must have taken great skill to put it all together with a number of clips being overlaid and precision timing in place.

 

What I love is how the visuals build up with the song and are exactly to the beat everytime - it really gets the audience into the rhythm of the already-catchy beat. The white and black theme with splashes of red relates to the band name, 'White Stripes' It is very disorientatiing at tiems because you do not quite know ehere to look as it is so fast oaced there is a lot to take in, but this is what makes the video so unique.

Editing Investigation: Animals - Martin Garrix

 

The editing within this music video has been effectively carried out to match the upbeat, club anthem sound of the song. There are approximately 144 cuts throughout which proves the fast pace and makes for choppy cuts.

 The effect of shrinking time is used within the whole video and reasonably choppy cuts are employed.

There is a large proportion of the music video which involves shrinking cinematic time, for example, the club atmosphere probablytakes place over a longer period of time, but we only see the highlights. This links to the theme of the animals coming out at midnight, and the connotations this holds to clubbing. 

There are also points in the video where cinematic time has been expanded, for example the shots of the group of men walking/dancing down the corridor has been put in show motion to match the build up of the song.

Following on from this, the visuals don't always match the music beat-for-beat, but they certainly follow the general pace of the song. There are more dynamic, choppy cuts that quickly switch between two scenes when the music is at its climax, then when the beat drops it goes back to the more static, representative shots the video started off with.

Overall, the editor(s) have created a successful dance video whereby the visuals which have been put together suit the music and make it aesthetically easy to watch and pleasing for the audience.

Editing Investigation: Spectrum - Florence & The Machine

In Florence & TheMachine's, 'Spectrum', I have observed that there are 122 cuts, which at first glance seems like a large amount whereby we would assume it is a constantly fast paced video, however considereing the song is over five minutes long, comparitively it is not quite as fast paced as initially thought.

 

A notably unique element of this music video is the fact that the first cut of Florence sitting on the Atlantis-like throne holds for 40 seconds. This is a huge amount of time in music video terms, and would usually have taken up a good third of the video in a more average three minute music video.

However the music video does fit in more cuts following this powerful opening scene which acts as a huge build up alongside the soft, harp chords which are the backbone of the song. The pace of the visuals speeds up immediately as the song bursts into the more instrument heavy chorus when , "Say my name" is sung.

Not only does the content within the video speed up - for example, the dancers become increasingly more fluid and dymanic, starting in textbook ballet shapes but evolving into more abstract shapes as the song develops - but the actual cuts themselves do too. The most cuts occured during the chorus and teh least during the more toned-down verses which demonstrates how the editor(s) built in this mirror-like set of visuals, as it makes it easy and interesting for the audience to watch; it makes sense for them and fits conventions.

Editing Update: Importing the Powder Paint Footage

We started to edit our music video the day after we shot the footage we had shot of the powder paint the night before - we were very excited about seeing what it looked like!

We started by importing and naming all of our clips which makes finding footage so much easier. We try and describe the clip, e.g. 'Close Up Selina Good'. We realised when we put the footage into Final Cut Pro that the wide shots were of lesser quality and had no depth to them in comparison to the close ups & the mid shots which were sharper and better lit.

To solve this, we decided to use the less quality shots in quick, choppy succession and hold the greater quality shots for longer. We have decided to match the pace of the visuals to the pace of the song so this actually works quite well considering it's a dance video.

So far with the editing we think it has gone extremely well and we are very happy with how it is turning out. The powder paint fight was a huge success and we are very excited about it's potential.