Final Editing

The production of our music video is nearing the end and so Reena and I went in our free time to make an issue of the narrative, editing techniques and the video as a whole to alter areas which needed to be improved. Since the video is supposed to be promoted to a much wider audience, we both thought our own views into what should be inputed would be irrelevant and so we asked for criticism, both positive and negative. After showing the class our music video, some suggestions were made in order to improve our video as a whole.

More Cut-ins
It was stated that some areas of the video were too repetive with certain scenes appearing more than once, also some played for far too long. Therefore it was suggested that we should introduce more inserts to construct a more fast-paced video. In order to make this successful we made sure that the clips changed on the beat of the music. This would also conform to the conventions of a Pop/Rock music video as the clips change on the beat which creates an upbeat feel and emphasises the continuous heavy drumming of the song. The use of cut ins foreshadow the narrative of the geek turning into superman.

Lip Synchronisation

Many noticed that the image didn't synchronise with the music as the female protagonist wasn't singing in time with the music. Speeding up and slowing down the clip deemed unsucessful and therefore we decided to use a cut in of the Superman character, deleting the clips of the female singing. But the new Superman clips still played were not fitting with the music as the song played the lyrics "He's a Superman". By doing this, the conventions of a Pop/Rock music video were challenged and developed as it is common for the chorus of Pop/Rock Music videos to be lip synchronised. However, by using both a short lip synchronisation and a longer insert of another scene, the group has developed these conventions in order to improve our video.

Editing

The music video is now beginning to take life, and is almost complete. In this editing session the following transitions and effects took place:

Cartoon Effect

Once again the cartoon effect was applied to highlight the comic book narrative connotations and influences. This effect was selected only on certain clips where the "Superman" character appears. We used unusual camera movements, including showing the character spinning around as the camera follows him, and can be related to the superheroic character as Superman changes into his costume.

Speed

Similar to the techniques used to express powers in comic books and cartoons, we sped up some scenes to create this effect. As the scene showing "Superman" changing into his new clothes, the original footage was too long and the pace too slow and so instead of cutting the clip, we sped it up.

Fade to Black

In order to end the video, we applied the fade to black effect in the final shots, which continued to play as the music ended. This effect is also applied in other pop/rock videos that we researched and shows in our own video that the characters' relationship is ongoing even after the music itself has ended or can be implied by the viewers own imagination as to what will happen next.

Editing

In the continuing process of our editing. Clips, although uneditied were placed in the correct places so it would be easier to edit in future. During this editing session, new effects and transitions were introduced, including a cartoon effect in keeping in tradition with our comic book theme.

Cartoon Effect

As mentioned previously, the cartoon effect was added to support the narrative as the song is called "Superman", who is associated with comics. Also, due to bad, grainy lighting in the speed dating scenes, this effect brightened up the shots a lot more as we changed the contrast settings. Futhermore, the cartoon effect reflected a sense of imagination as it is applied as the female protaganist imagines scenarios, highlighting her own imagination. Some scenes showed an ordinary shot fading into a 'cartoon' shot, and so it was important that the scenes showed continuity. This was achieved by cutting the scenes into two clips, then applying the effect and transitions.

Jump Cut

The jump cut was used as the beats of the song occured, which meant the shot changed to the next, making the scenes faster and more exciting. This was due to the sharpness of the cuts on the beat.

Reverse and Speed
Towards the end of the music video, as the female protaganist chooses her "Superman" (the geek), the Hunk and the Punk are shown going back down the road in reverse, achieved using the "reverse effect". This highlighted that these characters were walking away from the female's life as they were not chosen in the speed dating scenes. Speeding up the reverse added humour to the scenes, appealing to a more youthful audience.

Romantic Effect

The bad, grainy lighting mentioned previously was becoming difficult to manage and so although not intended to be a romantic scene as such, the romantic effect was added to the shot of the Hunk paying off the Devil. It lightened the shot and created a difference between the date scenes, this scene and the female's imagination.

Editing

After the problem of losing the majority of our work, the team continued the editing process, confident we would be able to reproduce and improve our music music video. As we followed our storyboards this made the editing uncomplicated, and the first 23 seconds were edited. The transitions that were included were:

Jump Cut

The jump cut was dominantly used to speed up the scenes where our characters were walking down the road to the speed date. The fast action appeals to the comic book influences and it also created an upbeat, fun feel to the scene and played on the beats of the music.

Wipe

Playing three scenes together would be too time consuming in editing, along with the fact that the software did not include this transition and so a wipe transition was applied as a substitute. It reinforced the chronology of the dates, first the Punk, then the Hunk and finally the geek (Superman) and turned out to be extremely effective, showing the differences and distinctions between the three dates.

Dream Effect

The dream effect was added to the scenes of the characters walking down the road to the speed dating event. It creates a relevance between the characters and the sign, but also adds to a surreal, unrealistic tone found in comic books, which was important in our research and planning ideas.

Editing Problem

It was discovered that the editing we had completed at the City Learning Centre last month had disappeared as it was not saved and so we had only 8 seconds of footage, rather than the previous 28. In this time we had manage to input the beat marks at the point of the beat in the music to allow for a transition to occur. As the beats were sharp, it allowed for a change of shot to happen every half a second. It was not possible to recover the missing file, although iMovie automatically saves any changes you make it seemed strange that the work had gone missing and it was not on the hard drive either. Therefore the production team have agreed to start our editing from scratch. Although time consuming, we can also improve on the work we have already completed.

Editing

In our lesson on 14th December we took a trip to the City Learning Centre to make use of their iMac equipment. The purpose of the morning was to receive help in the editing of our music video from a proffesional user of the iMovie programme and to gain progress in the final stages of the editing.

We encountered many problems on the day though. We had agreed earlier on that we wanted to use the transition applied in Blink 182's music video "Always", but it was not included in the iMovie software and so this would not be achieved which we were disappointed about. Instead we will use the "wipe" transition in it's place.

Our shot transitions we were told, were too slow and we were adviced that the transitions should occur on the sharp beat. This was achieved using a technique on the keyboard that cut each clip with precise timings for the beat by adding time markers.

Editing

The lesson on the 11th December was our first where we were able to make process in editing of our music video. Clips had to be cropped as the group noticed the white background was visible in some shots and not others. So in order for there to not be any mistakes with continuity it was vital this is was done. The music was then to be added to the iMovie programme from iTunes in order for us to apply it to the correct timing in the music. This was quite difficult as the song has strong. sharp beats and our transitions had to take effect at the timing of the beat. We managed to complete the introduction of the song.

Extra Filming by Reena

As mentioned before, on the main day of our filming, due to time-keeping we were not able to complete our day's shoot as thought. Reena therefore took the camera on a free weekend and filmed the last remaining scenes to our music video. It was also noted that we didn't have enough material for the requied minimum time of 3 minutes.

Reena was able to film "superman" played by Krishna and the female character played by herself, together enjoying themselves in the setting of a bedroom. Domestic settings like this give the audience a sense of familiarity and comfort. In terms of the narrative, it shows the relationship between the two "blossoming".

Filming - 5th December

We began our first and only day of shooting on Saturday 5th December. We had arranged to film at my house due to the setting for the speed dating scene as we felt my living room would be an ideal venue. However on the morning of filming we realised that my living room was infact too small and moving furniture around proved to be too difficult, and so relocated to Reena's house instead. The group agreed with this decision and we felt that we would be able to shoot the majority of our music video in one whole day. We had around 6 hours to film, but problems surrounding time keeping meant that filiming the rest of the scenes would have to occur at a later date.

Our first shots of the music video that we filmed involved shooting the characters walking from a distance towards the camera. This would create a jump cut effect between the characters. We wanted to use this shot not only to show that the three male characters making their way to the speed dating but to also reveal the different personalites through their style, walk and other actions.

We filmed the speed dating scenes which were originally meant to be shot at my house in my living, but due to the last minute set change we filmed them in Reena's bedroom. The lighting became a problem as it was quite dark and led to the shots looking quite grainy. The main shot used for these scenes was the Two shot not only to emphasise that the characters are "couples" but to highlight the connection or lack of between them.

Extreme close ups were used to emphasise certain aspects of the male character's attire. Such as the bow tie of the "geek", the lip piercing of the "punk" and the muscular physique of the "hunk". This technique would allow the audience's ideas to be influenced about the characters and their characteristics.

Our final shots of the day's filming were of our male characters, using a medium long shot. It is supposed to mimick a dream sequence used in many other Pop videos. It was to show the female protagonist comparing her three dates in their style and body language. It also allows the audience to compare them aswell.

Uploading for the First Time

In the Media lesson today, we uploaded all our footage from filming to begin editing on the iMac. We only began to experiment with transitions and effects as the software had recently been updated and the production team didn't feel as comfortable using it and so we did this to gain knowledge in more detail. We realised we were not able to apply a colour effect, in this case a red tint to make the scene appear more romantic, but we soon discovered other effects in replace of this.

Finishing Storyboarding

On Monday 23rd November, the group finally completed the storyboarding to our music video. The drawings and annotations for each frame were completed and were annotated with camera angles, instuctions and transitions.

Prop Making

In Friday 27th November's lesson the group had the opportunity to begin making props for our music video. We painted the sign we needed for the speed dating scenes which read "Saucy Single's Speed Dating".The sign has connotations of the devil, who of course appears in the scene.

Props we need...

One member of the production team, Reena, created a list of items which the groups needed in order to make our characters and setting appear verisimilitude. These items would be classed as the Mise-En-Scene, which plays a large role in the representations portrayed. For example, the use of candles at our speed dating setting suggests a very romantic atmosphere. It will also add soft lighting to the characters making them look dream-like. Secondly, the black attire worn by the 'Punk' will reinforce his dull personality and ambiguity as his role is very reserved. The use of glasses, and braces worn as the Geek's attire conform to the stereotype of a geek, which emphasise his supposed nerdy personality. Finally, the mirror and comb that the 'Hunk' character brings with him reveals his self loving, self obsessed personality.

Drawing Storyboard 2 and Discussions

On Monday 9th November lesson our team continued to produce our storyboard. Discussions took place as to what ideas could still be added to the storyboard and for filming, although our storyboard sketches and annotations remain incomplete, the meeting was still productive.

1. The angles of specific scenes, especially the scenes which accompany the sharp beats at the opening of the song. The chosen angles were used to convey a specific attitude. For example the shot of the girl's earring illustrates the character's stylish persona.
2. The iMac software used to edit our music video does not have the specific editing techniques we would like to use for certain shots. This proved a problem for our idea to edit three different takes in one shot so we have decided to change the filming technique of the scene instead.
3. The reliability of the characters and an agreement that if the actors are not available on the filming date, we must find another actor. This is due to the short time period we have to film.

Costume Designs

Our team have discussed the appropriate attire for the protagonist characters in our music video. As our characters are of the stereotypical punk, hunk, geek and girly girl character traits it is important to portray their personality through their costumes.

Reena has studied the iconography of each character and created a montage of images that reflect their implied qualities.

The personality of this character is apparent through her casual clothing which reflect her cool attitude. Like a majority of teenage girls, it is apparent this girl has an interest in fashion.

This is our punk character. His black clothing reflects connotations expressing a sinister appearance. The heavy make up however could act as a disguise, revealing that the character is not at all confident in themselves.

The hunk appears to be similar to the female character with their trendy fashion and modern clothing. But the various designer items have connotations of an arrogant attitude.

This is our geek character. This is because of his old fashioned style, which reflects his lifestyle and personality stereotypically. However his traits change drastically throughout the video as he becomes more confident and eventually makes his transformation as Superman. He is a reference to the character of Clarke Kent in the Superman comics and films.