Editing Text into our Music Video

In our chosen song, there is a specific line which says "You're not dating her". As we are unable to get another actor to act in our video, we decided to edit text onto the footage that we had filmed. We decided on this idea as a group, and overall thought it looked fun and quirky which mainly targeted our target audience.

We got our inspiration from this music video by Kanye West : All of the Lights ft Rihanna & Kid Cudi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfFfqiYLp0

These are a few photos taken of screenshots from our music video:

This is the font we chose to use 'que fontita' as we believe this would create the kind of look we were trying to achieve, giving a new dimension to our music video. We believed that it gave off a quirky and fun look about it. We also believed that it almost looked like graffiti, which becomes popular amongst the youthful age; our target audience. 

Filming in the studio

As our music video is almost done, we only have a few snippets in which we need to fill in the gaps with footage. Therefore in our lesson on the 13th December, we decided to go into the photography studios, and film lip singing. With the lighting provided, we filmed some excellent shoots almost making them look professional.

We were in the studio for up to about an hour, as we had to repeat certain different sections of the songs, to ensure that Sam had got them on point. There was also moments when Sam forgot the lyrics, therefore we had to film again. We were very patient with Sam, as at the end of the day, we all want to achieve the best mark we can, and to also produce a very successful and amazing music video.

Whilst filming, we continuously came up with different camera angles and movements, to ensure that we had a variety of angles, and to make certain that the camera movement was continuously flowing, to make it more exciting rather than keeping it at a fixed position.

As our chosen song 'Weather Girl' by 'Polar Collective' has a steady beat to it, me and Sam both came up with the idea of filming the camera at Sam's foot, which he would tap in beat to the music. We came up with this idea, to flourish our understanding of rhythmic editing, and to also present it within our video, to show passion and coordination.

At the end of the lesson, we uploaded the footage we had filmed in the studio, and began to fill in the gaps, with the footage. As we had spent most of the lesson filming, we only roughly had about 10 minutes to upload and begin to edit, therefore we decided mutually together, and decided to focus on the editing next lesson, to ensure that nothing was rushed. Also, as Becca had left half way through the lesson, we thought it was only fair, to also edit it next lesson, to make sure that we all had an input, as at the end of the day we are working as a team, and we all need each other's idea's and opinions to make us successful.

Digipak Ideas

For our Digipak, we have come up with several different ideas, which we will photograph first and then collect and choose the best one. One of our ideas are to photograph, using the rule of thirds alongside a mid-close up of Sam sitting on a park bench with his guitar, producing and flourishing the star image. To make the shoot creative, we have decided to include silly string, to make it bright and colourful, targeting our chosen audience; teenagers. Also, with this time of year, the weather is very dull and glim, therefore the silly string will look vibrant and florescent up against the gloomy background; this is the type of image we would like to go for. 

A second one of our ideas is to photograph Sam also sitting on a park bench, but this time, to be holding an umbrella. We have decided on the umbrella as an extra prop, to give a quirkiness feeling to the cover, and to also resemble his 'depression' in one of the songs 'Weather Girl' which is our chosen song for our music video, and which is also on the album. With this idea in mind, we have also thought about also using the silly string, and covering it all over the umbrella, so pieces are dangling onto Sam. This would create a cool, bright and funky look, therefore enhancing the look that we want to distribute to our target audience.

             

Our third idea was to completely cover Sam in silly string. To make this work, we would photograph Sam up against a White background, to ensure that the silly string on Sam is the key feature of the photograph. However, there would be two difficulties in covering Sam, this being that silly string is sticky, and it may be hard to get off Sam's clothing and skin. Also, as Sam is fair skinned, he may have a reaction to the silly string, therefore we wouldn't want to put him at risk. 

These are just a few of our ideas outlined.

Today's Lesson

In today's lesson, we attempted to edit some more footage into our music video. But, whilst Becca and Sam were filming, they accidentally filmed them talking about ideas, rather than the actual ideas them self. Therefore, we wrote down what our ideas were, and arranged another date to film.

Colour Correction

Colour correction is a brilliant tool seen within the final cut pro programme which enables you to control the saturation, contrast and white balance of your clip. For our specific video this is vital in constructing the look we want to achieve, which is a vibrant, high contrast one. Specifically we used/will use the 3 way colour correcting tool which gives us even more control over the way our footage looks and will be percieved. 

In my opinion this is a brilliant example of the way colour correction can really transform a piece of footage for the better. As you can see the three colour wheels on the left are what ultimately give you the full control over the saturation, white balance and contrast of the shot. When the saturation is altered this either emphasises or dampens the colour, eventually putting it into black and white. Whereas the white balance controls the lightness of the shot either making it washed out, which is what you would maybe use in creating a thriller or as in a music video case it can add real depth to the shot, creating a dynamic image. Furthermore the control that is possible over contrast is the most useful for our specific music video as this allows us to create vibrant, dynamic footage which almost takes on a cartoon feel which is what we are after in order to construct our quirky/indie music video. We are constantly using this helpful tool throughout our video as it emphasises our use of lighting which ultimately makes our footage look more professional as well as being well put together. Evidently within the image above, this tool is helpful in many ways, especially in emphasising the headlights of the car, making it look more powerful than it is, in addition to this it also gives the shot a 3d dynamic unlike the image before it was colour corrected. Editing using colour correction ultimately is to engage our target audience as it is apparrent that a more dynamic image creates more attention rather than just a plain 2d image which hasn't been edited. This is because our target audience of young adults are used to seeing dynamic imagery through the new tech films and music videos and that is why we want to achieve this look within our music video, and our answer to this is effective lighting and good use of colour correction.

Trouble with natural lighting

Last lesson, we attempted to film some more footage for our music video. We wanted to set the scene with Barbie sunbathing on the Grass, where we would pan up her body to portray voyeurism. However, we were unable to do this, as the weather was very unreliable. As we are filming in Winter, we are finding it very hard to be able to get a chance of sunshine, as the sky's are very dull and grey. But, as we are still interested in filming this scene, we will look out for the sunshine, and quickly film it.

Today's Lesson

In today's lesson, we filmed some more footage which by the end of the lesson, we edited into our music video on Final Cut Pro. As most of our footage is taken inside, we decided that it would be a good idea to film footage outside, to give the video a mixed atmosphere.

The filming took place in Sam's car, and at the bus stop just around the corner from our Sixthform centre. We also took some shots of the clouds, to flourish the weather.