Definition of a Music Video

A music video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles (e.g. animation and live action). Most music videos interpret images and scenes from the lyrics while others take a different approach. 

3 Songs

1. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
2. Pompeii - Bastille
3. People Help The People - Birdy

Final Evaluation

Are you satisfied with the final result? Did the editing require more/less time than you originally thought?

I am satisfied with the final result of my project, though there are some parts that could have been better, but I believe that it is much better than the rough edit was. The complete editing didn’t take as long as I originally anticipated, though some aspects took a bit longer than I thought they would. The soundtrack took much longer than I believed it would, as I am not very good at music but I like things to be the best I can get them to be and therefore I spent a long amount of time trying to get the music to my liking and to fit the film best. The editing wasn’t as hard as I thought and that’s why it didn’t take as much time. It also didn’t take as long as I thought because I had named every shot and placed them all in folders and bins once they were in Final Cut Pro, which made it much easier to find when I needed them. It also wasn’t as hard because I listened in class and picked up on most things fairly quickly, so it didn’t take long to do things I needed to do.

Would you like to change any aspects of your final film (scene editing, music, dialogue etc.)? If you could start the project again

I would have liked to improve some aspects of my project, such as some parts of the editing, soundtrack and some of the shots. Some of the editing in my film wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be, because I had to make it into the time limit, which caused me to extend a few shots that didn’t need to be that long. I also could have used a few better loops in the soundtrack, but I was running short on time, so I decided to perfect the film rather than the music. I believe some of the music didn’t fit as well towards the genre as I thought it would, but I am still happy with how it turned out. I could also have rerecorded some more of the audio rather than just the part I used, so that it would stay at an even level of sound rather than going from soft to loud. As I was editing, I also found out that a few of the shots were a bit too shaky and I also realised that we probably could have shot a few more scenes/different angles to further enhance the film. If I could start the project again, as a group I would plan the film much better and ask more questions regarding the storyline. Throughout the process we had a lot of issues regarding the storyline, which could have been resolved if we had thought about it a bit more and asked the important questions. I also would have made better use of the time we had in class and after school. As well as this, I would try and communicate with my group a lot more, as we had a lot of issues with that.

Discuss whether your film has turned out the way you pictured it?

My film has turned out how I pictured it. The rough edit wasn’t how I pictured the film to look at all. I wanted it to be much more storyline throughout the movie rather than at the end, but this didn’t happen, mainly because the others didn’t picture the film the way I did and we also didn’t have enough footage to complete it the way I wanted to. Coming from the rough edit, I am extremely happy with the way the film has been completed, and is the way I pictured it from the beginning. There are some aspects that were not the way I wanted them to be, such as angles, locations and ways some scenes were shot, but my vision changed a bit as the process went on and I think that in the time that we had and with the restrictions we had, the film did turn out how I pictured it. I also believe that some shots dragged on a bit too much, but overall I am happy.

Describe whether your film clearly depicts the intended genre and describe some specific editing techniques you have used to achieve this.

I believe that my film does clearly depict the intended genre of Film Noir. I believe the storyline is that of a typical film noir film and the techniques used in the editing process helped to depict the genre. Specific editing techniques I used to achieve this include; the use of black and white in flashbacks, which is typically used in film noir films, and also occasionally, the use of shadows/lighting. Also, using filters (brightness and contrast) to make the movie a bit darker, which is also seen in a typical film noir film.

Did you have all of the necessary shots to complete your film? Would additional footage or reshooting some scenes have helped during the editing process?

I don’t think that we had all the necessary shots for our film. We definitely had enough to complete the project successfully and well, but we could have had more to make the film even better. There were times during the editing process when I was stuck because I couldn’t find an accurate shot to put in the film. There were also times in the film that dragged on because we only filmed one angle of that particular shot. Also, some of the storyline didn’t make a lot of sense because of the lack of shots, and I had to go bad to some of the old footage to find something that fit into the storyline. Additional footage/reshooting some scenes would definitely have helped during the editing. Having more shots would have made it easier to edit, as I would have had more variety of shots to choose from whilst completing the task. I would also have a bit more storyline to go off.

Describe whether your group worked effectively or whether most of the work was left to one or two people.

I believe that our group didn't work very well together. We had a lot of communication issues and issues of some members of the group doing everything themselves and others doing nothing. We had a lot of issues during the planning and during the production. A lot of times half our group was busy on days the other half wasn’t which created time management issues. The majority of the time, I believe Sasha and I did most of the work, with managing the group and making sure we got everything done, but I also believe Sasha did a lot too independently. Millie and Maddie started off badly, but I believe by the end of the project they had both improved in their teamwork skills a lot. Also, Maddie and Millie got distracted a lot during the filming and caused some problems with time management as well. Overall, our group didn’t work very well together but at least we got the project done.

Explain whether you used Final Cut Pro to effectively organise your project (through the use of appropriate clip names, bins, sequences) and what you could improve for future projects.

I believe that I used Final Cut Pro very effectively to organise my project. I named all of my shots so they were easy to find and know what they were of. I placed all of my shots into bins in Final Cut so they were as well, easier to find and use. The bins were extremely useful, as they made the project much less cluttered and made everything much easier to work on. In the future I could probably name some of the shots better than I did, as a lot of them were just named things like, Gun1, Gun2, Gun3 etc. This made it a bit hard to know which one to use and sometimes they didn’t clearly explain what was in the shot, but I am very happy with how I used Final Cut to organise my project.

Describe any problems or difficulties you encountered during post-production and editing. These may include; technical difficulties, corrupt or missing files, difficulty using the editing software, problems exporting sound or video etc.

I didn’t run into too many problems during the post-production of my film. There were some difficulties sometimes when I forgot to reset the scratch disks, but luckily I hadn’t done much on the project at all and could afford to start again before I ran into any trouble for this. Another problem I faced was once I had exported the sound and placed it into Final Cut, there was a part where the soundtrack went staticy which was weird, but I fixed this by exporting the music again, but this time Mr Andrews had showed us how to do it properly, so it worked. Other difficulties I ran into include; some files not being converted properly, files not importing into Final Cut and having trouble applying some effects.

Clarify how you made use of storyboards, shot-lists and the rough-edit during the editing process. Discuss whether you made effective use of the EDL and Sound Design templates to support the editing and decision making process.

During the editing process, I used the shot list and rough-edit much more than the storyboards. The shot list helped a lot whilst creating the EDL, which I didn’t use as much as the shot list. The shot list helped to clarify what I had envisioned to come next in the film and to choose which shot to use next. The rough edit also helped a lot, as it showed me what shots looked good together during that process and what parts needed improvement. Also, because I didn’t really like the rough edit, it showed me what not to do during the final editing process and what parts the audience didn’t like. I think that I used the EDL fairly well, but not the Sound Design template. The EDL helped organise my thoughts on which shots to use but the Sound Design template didn’t really help that much, though it did clarify what type of music (mood) I needed for each section of the film. I think I left the Sound Design template very late to do. The EDL was definitely more helpful and useful to me than the Sound Design template.

Clarify any time-management issues you or your group encountered during the editing process and describe the steps you took to improve in this area.

Our group did encounter some time-management issues. We hadn’t finished re-shooting our footage when we were supposed to and we cut the converting and renaming very close. Millie and Maddie getting distracted during the process sometimes didn’t help with time management, and when some members of the group were available to film, other weren’t. Our group didn’t make effective use of the class time and we definitely did not organise enough afternoons to film. Steps I took to improve this was taking a bit of charge and making sure everyone was focused during the class time we had, and Sasha also helped with this by being very organised.

Discuss whether you undertook adequate and detailed reflection to throughout your project. Have you provided enough evidence to support your work? (Look back at your blogs/journals and think about whether it looks like a whole terms worth of work).

Looking back through my blog, I do believe I could have put more effort into my reflections by adding more with more detail. I kept forgetting to post on my blog because I was very focused on getting my project finished and on other subjects, but I still could have found more time for my blog. Even though there isn’t as much as possible on my blog, I do believe that I provided a sufficient amount of evidence to support my work. In the future I will remember to make blog posts by reminding myself (writing in my diary, etc) and by not stressing to much and making time for everything else as well. It doesn’t take very much time to write a blog post, so in the future I will make sure to blog more.

Complete

I am very happy that this project is finally over and I am happy with how my final turned out. I think I have made my edit significantly better than the rough edit was, as it doesn't have as many shots of shoes.

Sound Design Template (Click to enlarge)

EDLs (Click to make clearer)

Filming, Editing and Sound

This post is going to be fairly long, as I haven't posted anything in a while, as I kept forgetting because I was very focused on getting the film completed, and I have a lot to say about the production of the project.

Audio:

Last weekend I finished my film. I worked on the sound most of the weekend, though I did touch up my movie a bit. The music was hard for me to do, because I'm not very good at music, though I think it sounds good and matches with the film and I am happy with how it turned out. I tried to make it suspenseful in the parts where it should be and more intense during parts such as the shooting of the boss. I also made the music quiet when dialogue was happening and also made the dialogue a bit louder so it was easier to hear. I rerecorded some audio for the dialogue as well because it wasn't very loud and the school band was playing in the background of the footage, so I thought it would be best to rerecord the audio rather than putting up with it, so now it sounds much better. Overall the music turned out well and I'm happy with how it matches the film, though there are a few times where it probably could have flowed better.

In class this week, because we got an extension, I worked on touching up the audio a bit by making the dialogue louder and the music softer in sections, I also touched up the editing a little. At one point, when I put the audio into Final Cut there was a section that went a bit static, so I had to start again by putting the audio in again. I also had to export the song again after Mr Andrews showed us the proper way to do it. 

I have now exported my entire movie with audio and I am happy with the final result and I am ready to hand it in tomorrow.

Filming and editing of the film:

Throughout the process of editing the film, my group had some troubles. We weren't communicating very well and we hadn't thought the storyline through to the potential we could have. We ended up having to record a lot more footage than we had and we had to record a lot of the old movie too, because Millie didn't bring the dress she was wearing in the old footage to school (she's a boarder so we didn't have access to it at all). We had some trouble whilst filming as well, as some of us couldn't make days that others could, but we eventually got all the filming done. 

Once the filming was complete we also had some trouble converting the footage to give to everyone, because Sasha did it all herself when we sere supposed to do it as a group, and then the rest of us had to convert other scenes and give it to everyone in the group. This took a while and Millie and I had to stay back after class to finish copying it over to everyone's USBs. After we'd done this, it was much more of an individual task, so there were much less problems. 

After I had renamed all the footage so I knew what every shot was of, I began editing my film. There were a few times that I forgot to set the scratch disks, but luckily I hadn't done much at all and could afford to start that section again. 

I did the film scene by scene but I compressed the scenes into only 5 so it was much easier to edit. The editing didn't take too long because I knew what I wanted to do, but it did take time and precision. I am happy with how I edited the film and I am extremely happy that I got it into the time limit of 4 minutes. 

I used colour and black and white to convey the flashbacks in the film. I also used fades to white for this. I put the present footage in colour and the flashbacks in black and white. To change from present to past, I used fades to white. To make the fades to white I used a brightness and contrast filter and put the brightness right up, like Mr Andrews showed us in class.

I had a couple issues with footage not being converted into the Apple Intermediate Codec but that was very easy to fix. 

Overall I had a good time completing the film but there were a lot of times that it got fairly stressful. I am very happy with how the film has turned out and I am glad that the project is finally over.