Vintage Effect

As I said I  have been experimenting trying to slowly introduce colour into the final section. This has worked however the colouring of the shots doesn't seem to marry with the theme of the video/song. I have been looking on YouTube to find a good 'vintage filter' to use but all of the versions use filters and functions that are not available on our version of Final Cut Express.

I asked around the class and someone else had found this problem so he made his own. I asked to borrow this and I used it and adapted it to fit my film. Here are the settings.

This week - final editing process.

This week I have ben adding the finishing touches onto my music video and starting to look at CD cover ideas.

The last bit I have been experimenting with is slowly introducing colour to the last section (the reverse section). I need to show to my audience that the ending is happy and the character has decided to keep the car. Slowly adding colour for the first time will be the clearest way of showing this.

Finished Product

Yesterday I attempted to upload the MOV file to YouTube - it took 200 minutes to upload but had an issue with the finalizing. I took it back to school and then re-exported the video as a AVI file, this meant the file size was significantly smaller and it finalized successfully.


 

First Draft #1 - Full

I have created my draft to get audience feedback for. The problem I have come across is I cannot upload it to YouTube, it is in the wrong format and my digi-stick hasn't got enough storage on it. I am borrowing a 32GB a shall hopefully upload it this evening.

Today I played about with the speed of the reversed section several times to allow it to fit with the music. I added a 'posterised' filter to show a difference in dynamics and that the section had changed mood. I also created a still frame to emphasise the change of sections.

Reversed Shot

This lesson I exported the video file of the section I wanted to be reversed, then added it into my project and reversed the whole section and sped it up by 380%

This is how it looks.

I need to find a way of transitioning into this as it might look a little out of place on its own, do do this I am going to experiment with filters.

Today - editing update - Reverse

Hello. So today I've been continuing to edit. I have got to the stage now that I need to reverse the video to fill the final 2 choruses. The basic idea works on single video files but I cannot apply the effect to multiple files. The easiest way I have found to make this possible is to export the multiple files in one video and then re-import it and add the effect. Unfortunately I will lose quality but it will work in the end.

First Draft - Bad Quality because of MPEG-4

Here is the first draft. The quality isn't the best because of having to use MPEG4 via YouTube.
I will film an audience response as soon as possible.

Photoshop introduction

Today we had a short intro into using Photoshop. An piece of image manipulation software.

We spent some time learning how to select certain elements of the image and spotlight particular parts of the image.

Here is the image I created. The eyes, mouth and bow tie are made from a picture of the earth. It was originally on a black background but because of the solid colour in the background I could select just the background and invert the selection to have just the earth. I squeezed and played with the shape of it to create the tie and the mouth. I mainly used presets.

These skills are important when I start work on my auxiliary task to create a cd cover and website. Being able to manipulate images will show my skill and help me successfully promote my band.

Continuity Error! - Used Car Sign

I discovered I had made a huge mistake. In the drive by shot there is no used car sign however in the still shot, the pivotal moment when the main character spots the 'used car sign', it suddenly appears out of thin air!

THIS IS THE DRIVE BY SHOT.

THIS IS THE STILL SHOT.


















I think it is too late to change now. I will speak to my teacher about picking up on some of the shots, which is one advantage to having my location close by.

Final Intro

This is how the intro will look. The rest of the video will be in black and white but I wanted this clock to be in full colour as it will grab the audience straight away. 

First Problem Continued...

To create the flatline sound I edited the single loop that I had already taken so it was just one beep. I then copyed it and pasted them together to form one long BEEEEEPPPPP!

Down the bottom you and see the multiple tracks put together and up the top you can see how they look together and one long beep.

Here is

First Problem...

Today I began the editing process. I came across I problem with the first two shots.

I filmed them portrait and this was an issue I overlooked. I thought I could just turn the video in Final Cut HOWEVER, because of the wide-screen format that the camera films in and that the editing software works in, it did not work. It was stretched.

The way I decided to conquer this was to layer the screen with multiple versions of the same shot and this would fill out the gaps in the screen. This however meant that I had to adjust and swap around the beginning so I added a bit of film before the music kicks in.

The bit I added was an alarm sound. I decided that I could play with the layers and edit them to follow the sound of the clock, which meant I had to source a sound from the internet and download it.
The only way I could find it to work was to make the alarm sound get faster and eventually flatline like a heart monitor. Unfortunately there wasn't a sound that matched up and sounded like the alarm sound I found so I went ahead and edited it myself using garage band.

I took the original audio and cut just one of the beep cycles. I singled this out and then multiplied it, after this I finally moved them slightly closer to create the quicker cycle. In final cut I manipulated it so it swings from the right speaker to the left speaker.

Final Filming Before Deadline

Sunday 21st October I plan to finalise my filming.

Get all the bedroom scenes DONE and then go out to the used car lot and film the few shots of my character looking around.

Because I am my character I will have help with the camera but my storyboards have exactly what I want on them. It is very clear and my camera operator will know what to film and which angles. I will firstly set up the camera and tripod and position the camera in the correct place(s), setting up the shot is necessary as otherwise the framing maybe wrong and it could waste time having to re-do them and do pick up shots at a later date.

I need to make sure that I get all these done by Sunday afternoon...otherwise I will miss the deadline.

Filming Update

Okay. So this week I had problems accessing 'Blogger' at home so I have had to wait until now to post.
Sunday 14th October I spent the afternoon filming my driving footage. We went to the locations, marked on a previous post, and spent the time re-shooting with my character in the shots.

As I am my own character I could not work the camera at all times. This meant I needed to set up the shits and have detailed instructions for my camera person to follow.

Apart from the occasional glimpse of the very edge of the car window, the shots look good and I am happy with how it went. If I am really careful I can crop the shots so that the car window is not seen.

This is to show that I have re-shot the scenes with my actor in there.

I am off to America with the school next week so I have 1 final day of filming to do before I leave.

Reverse Music Video...With Lip Sync.

This is a concept music video...

My original idea was to have certain lyrics picked out by the main character using lip syncing. I would need him to sing the lyrics backwards and this could be really difficult.

This video shows how it can work well but I don't think I have to time to do this. It is a great idea. I think if I had more time I would experiment with how it may work.

I am going to research on the internet about websites where you can learn to speak backwards. If this is successful I may attempt it.

Today...

Today I discovered there was a problem with my storyboard. I have not completely finished it. I need to  finish the last few scenes. It shouldn't take too long but I will publish some photos of the draft once I have finished.

Then all that needs to happen is a photo storyboard and I am ready to film.

Permission from Garage

Today I spoke to the manager at 'Cracknells' - the garage in which I would like to film in.

I wanted to make sure it was okay to film around the garage location on a Sunday and that if he saw me I am not being suspicious.

He said it was fine. The garage will be closed so there will not be anyone about. This is good as there will be no one to get in the way - unfortunately it means that the roll up garage door won't be open but that doesn't matter. As long as I don't show the door then it will work absolutely fine.

Locations

I have chosen locations close to home. Local locations mean that I do not have to spend money commuting and it means that if there is a problem, I can get to the place easy to do any overdubs or re-takes.

The location, for the driving shots, is about 1 mile away from my house -

The road is relatively straight and there is a well placed layby where the car can indicate and pull into.

The location for the bedroom and the shots of my character walking out of the house are actually in my house. My character is going to be me as it will be so much easier than having to mess about making sure people are free.

This house is the one I will be using. Where the woman is with a dog is about where I will be stood with a camera, framing the house and part of the garage. The camera will track the character along the garden path to the blue car. There will be my marked car and he will get in and drive off. 

The location for the garage scene is just around the corner from my house. 

My character will be stood near petrol price sign and the 'mechanic' will drive the car around from the rear of the garage (just further than the petrol pumps) towards my character. 

That is all. These are my three main location and they are all within a very short distance from each other. 

Andrew Goodwin

We have been studying a theorist called Andrew Goodwin and the importance/influence or his theories in music videos.

Goodwin tells us of common themes that he believes to define a music video, these are;

1 - Relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.
- Things that happen in the video, dance moves, items within the mise-en-scene, costume, and themes of the video link with the lyrics of the song.Sometimes literally the lyrics are acted out. This is used to show the meaning behind the lyrics/song.

2 - Relationship between the music and the visuals.

- The editing pace, cuts and effects are in time to the beat of the song. Also there may be a moment where things within the scene may represent instruments.

3 - Significant shots of the artists -  Demands of the record label mean that excessive use of close ups of the artist can occur. This creates an image of the artist and significant shots may occur across different music videos.
- This allows the record label to promote a set image for the band, which will help target audiences empathise with the band.


4 - Genre characteristics AKA 'iconography'

Certain characteristics (e.g movements, costume, dialogue) define the different genres of the band/artist. There are expectations that these moments happen in all of the artists music videos. It is used for a band/artist to become identifiable.

5 - Intertexual references.

- Referring to other forms of media within the video, for example television or films, other music videos, other artists - there are many forms of intertextuality.

6 -  Objectification

The female body is often objectified, seen as the voyeuristic view of the 'males' many close up shots of parts of the female body are seen as a form to attract a male audience.

Preliminary Filming

Because of the problems with the practicality of getting a camera mount, I needed to go out on location and film some experimental shots to make sure I can capture some usable footage.

This is how it turned out...

I think this worked well.

The one problem I had was the speed of the 'camera car'. It was too quick at 30mph so next time I will drive at 20 mph for the passing shots otherwise it speeds past too fast and the framing is ruined.

Another thing was getting the correct framing whilst moving. It was difficult to adjust whilst on the move. Next time driving slower will help.

The positive thing was that i found I could use the zoom feature to create the effect of the car speeding off. Timed right and this will work well.

I believe this is going to work well. As long as it is not rushed and I concentrate on the correct framing to not capture reflections or such like, this will look good.

Iconic Music Video From Before I Was Born

U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name

I have chosen this an an example of an iconic music video. When U2 performed this on top of a building on a main street in Los Angeles, it caused a huge stir and with 30, 000 people expected to show up there was no wonder the police had a freak out.

Even this performance video has clean examples of 'Goodwin 7'.   There are a number of iconic shots of the lead singer 'Bono'. This certain shot is of him singing with the famous Los Angeles skyscrapers in the background. 

This shot is particularly interesting as it shows a camera actually in shot. It's not a fake this is a real camera filming. U2 have used this music video to push boundaries turning a music video into almost a piece of film. Instead of just pretending to sing with a mock up of a band they have used real footage from the news and   and by doing this through the biggest media company in America they had an almost guaranteed chance of becoming successful.

This video was the first real attempt at pushing boundaries to the extreme and this makes it a perfect example of an ICONIC music video.  

Problems

Unfortunately I can not use the camera mount as It will be delivered too late into the filming process and the deadline is too tight to risk it. This means I need to find a different way to produce the shots of the moving car and of passing the car on the road.

The way I plan to do this is to find a car with a sunroof and stand up/lift the camera on a tripod through the sunroof. As long as I set the framing right this shouldn't be a problem.

For the passing the car I will roll down the passenger window and make sure I do not get any reflections of the camera in the car or an interior shots of the 'camera car'. I am also going to add an additional shot, this will be a still shot from across the other side of the road. Just as an extra angle if there is a real problem with filming.

Here are the pictures of the shots I want to achieve.

 If shot through the windscreen of the 'camera car' there will be reflections so to overcome this I will roll down the window and make sure the framing is correct.

---->                                                                    For this shot I want to use a variety of different     camera angles. This will be done by a passing shot of the car on the side of the road, I will again roll down the passenger window  to achieve this. 

Also I want to include a static shot, with the camera stationed the opposite of the road. 

This is the shot section that I want to include the sunroof. I will attach the camera to a tripod (very securely) frame the shot and make sure it stays sturdy.

Camera Car Mount

As I have established there is an issue with me not having a camera car mount. I have looked at a few YouTube videos and this one seems to be the best of how to home make one...




This seems to be the quickest way and cheapest way. It also seems pretty strong. This may be how I will experiment. If this doesn't work I will go back and have to compromise by using shots inside the camera car.

Storyboard first update

Today I finished my shot plan and my first draft storyboard. I am really not much of an artist so I have decided that I will now take this and produce a storyboard made from pictures I will take in the locations.

The locations are nearby so it will be easy to re-produce. There is one down fall in that I will have to find all my props early, however for this video it should be simple as I am using all my own props that I have around the house so they shouldn't be too hard to find.

As some of my shots will be taken from inside a moving car (camera car) behind my characters car this means I need to research into how I will do this effectively. I have a few ideas but need to research them so I have a deeper understanding.


Here are some of my ideas -

This is an idea that works with suction cups. They stick to the bonnet of the car and are incredibly secure. Having one of these would assure that I wouldn't get a glimpse of the reflection in the windscreen or of the interior of the camera car.
HOWEVER - This is very expensive! I do not have to budget to be able to afford this.









Another option is to homemake a mount, this would assure I do not get bad shots, but if I am not careful it could break and/or not be strong enough and break to camera. This would not be good news. Even though I am not going to be driving fast it is still an issue that i need to be aware of. Also there is a tight deadline and not a huge amount of time to carefully craft this piece of technology.

The next thing I could do would be to compromise and use well designed camera angles within the camera car. I will have to experiment if I did this.

First Music Video/Final Cut Attempt

Here we have our first attempt at using Final Cut and the special effects unit in the software.

We tried to include as many of the 'Goodwin 7' rules as possible, in this video we have; close up shots of the artist/artists, narrative structure, concept parts, performance (lip syncing).

The special effects used are; split screen (multiple layered screens) and green screen - we didn't have to time to add the rest.

This video is successful as it gives us an idea and valuable experience in how to use the special features tabs on Final Cut effectively and how to use/set up things like green screen and split screen.

The problem we had was when adding some of the background in the green screen it didn't work 100% well as the curtain wasn't pulled tight and the colours that we were wearing clashed with the programme. The next thing was in the split screen on of the characters was cut out of the frame
(2 minutes 15 seconds) if I were to do this again it would need to be set up with more space between the three positions so that there was room to crop the frame.
The last issue was the lip syncing. This was mainly down to NOT learning the words. This is HUGELY important when lip syncing, sometimes it look really fake and obvious that I am not singing. Learn the words next time. Other than that I think it looked good. Some great experience before we even start thinking about our music videos.

There is also a video lesson we did using 'key frames' teaching the class how to do it. At the moment there is an issue with locating it, we are on the hunt at the moment. I will post it as soon as it is found.

Audience Feedback

After deciding on my song I then played it to the class to get some feedback on any ideas they think I could include.

STORYLINE - 

5/8 people asked had a similar idea, they could see a RELATIONSHIP involved in the storyline somewhere.

3/8 People saw one person on his own walking through different locations like a park and fields, telling the story of the song.

The majority of people thought that a relationship, showing two different people in the film, would work the best and this I have to agree with it. I want there to be two different characters and it links with the lyrics of the song.

HAPPY OR SAD THEME?

Every person asked said that they could see a positive side to the song and that they wanted to feel happy at the end of the video.

This is also how I saw it. The song is about helping people and being happy!

CONCEPT, PERFORMANCE OR NARRATIVE?

8/8 people said they wanted to see a narrative cross with performance. So shots of the male character singing but while the narrative evolves around him.

I decided that this would be a great idea but I would need to make the whole video like this and if I wanted to use anything like a reverse scene then it would make it really tricky to sync in Final Cut. It's possible but I would have to record it more than once and I don't have time to learn the song backwards as I will be going to America with the school at the end of October.

Past Students Work

This video is a concept. The idea is random and doesn't really show a narrative. It's really simple and explores the possibility of dance and movement to the beat. The editing is done to the beat.
There is use of rewinding to create an interesting look (at 1.27). I really like this and I would like to include it within my own work. 

There are no real experiments with camera angles apart from a few close ups (of the radio at the beginning and end). This is the same for mise en scene. The establishing shot of the man with the cup of tea is chosen appropriately. They have dressed the man in a smart shirt and trousers and he looks as if it is early morning and he's off to work in an office. 

The use of the car is a clever idea. Wherever you go it's in the shot at some point and it links nicely with each scene. 

If I want to use a car in my video I need to make sure it is not centered around the car, otherwise it is seen as an excuse to use a car. 

First ideas

 During the writing and recording process of the song there was one camera shot that I saw and  I thought would fit well.
It is a drive-by/tracking shot of a character on the side of a road stood outside an old type car. This will be in the chorus section that links to the lyrics 'waiting on the roadside for recovery'.

I looked at a few videos/music videos that use stop-motion and I have decided I would love to include some. I had the inspiration that I could turn a 'real' shot into a drawn one on a post it note or bit of paper.

I will post some of the videos in a later video.

Song Choice and Very First Ideas

I spent the past week sifting through song ideas. I really struggled and couldn't come up with any ideas and couldn't connect with any of the songs.

I decided to look at it form a different angle and start with an idea. I began with the idea of stop motion but for the deadline we have been given that would be impractical, so I decided that I wanted a fast-forwarded video of somebody writing the 'important' lyrics on an item, e.g a box or a post-it note. Although this is a relatively easy idea I need something to make it more interesting as it could become very boring very quickly.

My next idea was to have a storyline. A kind of boy meets girl type but again it just seemed a little stereotypical and could also get monotonous quickly. This means I need a completely new idea.

Taking inspiration from Mark Romanek I looked completely elsewhere and decided I wanted to merge ideas. Concept and narrative. I want to try and get drawings on post it notes and turn them into a giant picture by the end. This uses a small amount of stop motion (maybe in a chorus section) to create a lyric video feel and I want to also include a narrative.

I really struggled with song ideas. None of the lyrics seemed to be jumping out and stimulate ideas. So therefore I came upon the decision to write a song. This is the song...

Existing Music Videos

This is a perfect example of a 'one shot wonder' music video. It is a concept based idea filmed with only  a tracking shot and a clever use of green screen. 

The main theme of the video is about showing 2 conflicting stories. A positive and a negative. One of the artist 'Charlie Simpson' walking in the light with good things happening around him. Everything in the background is reflecting his mood and are like normal everyday things you might see. The version that seems like 'reality' is of the artist walking in the dark with everything that surrounds him going wrong, dead flowers, having a drink thrown in his face and a car broken down in the background.
As the song progresses the 'regret' that is sung about is represented by the video shot in the dark. 

There is a type of narrative in the story although it may not be completely clear. The video shows the artist picking up flowers, giving them to a female, and by the end he alone again. Maybe there is a break up or something similar. However there is clearly a wedding going on (2mins 20sec) this could be the reason for the dress code the artist is dressed in, also this could accent how he feels about the break up. 

Personally I really like this idea. I would like to experiment into factoring the idea of a scene within a scene into my own work. Although this would be great to do for the whole film I do not think this is physically possible for me to devise. 

Director Study

Mark Romanek -

I created an online presentation about my first chosen director

Here is the presentation...

Mark Romanek - Director Study on Prezi

NEW BLOG!

Welcome to my new BlogSpot. 


There is previous work on my old address so here is a link

http://productionsbypbn.blogspot.co.uk