Editing Diary
17th October, 2017
After filming both narrative sequences of my music video, I decided to experiment with the footage in order to construct a rough cut or example of how I could construct the narrative of the music video: making a clear distinction between the two separate narratives could be challenging, yet was essential in order to avoid audience confusion.
What went well?
Initially, editing allowed me to understand whether or not I had managed to achieve the anticipated style and mood for my music video: assembling the various pieces of footage in a chronological manner enabled me to see that the natural theme successfully ran throughout both sides of the narrative (something that I was worried wouldn't come across in the end). Editing also proved to me that a clear, easy-to-follow narrative could be derived from the existing footage, which was relieving to know.
I also experimented with the colour of the footage. By using Apple's iMovie, I was able to alter the saturation, contrast, lighting and tints of the videos, which helped to enhance the colour green within the shots. By doing this, I was able to improve the prominence of the natural green colour and therefore the theme of nature, and make the weather in the bicycle sequence appear nicer (the brighter lighting gave the illusion of a sunnier day). Together, these experiments with the colour enhanced the mise-en-scene to allow a more optimistic message to be decoded by the audience.
I also experimented with the colour of the footage. By using Apple's iMovie, I was able to alter the saturation, contrast, lighting and tints of the videos, which helped to enhance the colour green within the shots. By doing this, I was able to improve the prominence of the natural green colour and therefore the theme of nature, and make the weather in the bicycle sequence appear nicer (the brighter lighting gave the illusion of a sunnier day). Together, these experiments with the colour enhanced the mise-en-scene to allow a more optimistic message to be decoded by the audience.
What could have been better?
By experimenting with the existing footage, even without the performance footage ready to be incorporated, I was able to recognise that there was not actually enough footage to fill the whole timeline of the song. Despite having storyboarded the music video, I had inaccurately planned the length of each shot: most of them I had planned to last around two seconds each, but at this pace editing seemed too slow for the fun, optimistic rhythm of the song. In terms of shots, I felt like I had enough variety but feared that any more 'running' or 'cycling' shots would result in a boring, repetitive narrative (and this aspect was made even more challenging when considering the fact that the song itself is very repetitive too). Editing on this day inspired me to film some cutaway shots to fill in the unexpected gaps in the music video.
20th March, 2018
The whole music video could not have come together without the performance sequence of the video, which was filmed at a later date for continuity purposes, and to ensure that the weather was suitable. After filming the performance, the full rough cut skeleton of the music video could be constructed.
What went well?
The aspect of editing that I was most pleased about was the clarity of the narrative. The best shots for the performance, since the whole song was recorded several times, was easy to extract and use within the video to take up larger chunks of time that needed to be filled. I found that the performance shots were particularly helpful at breaking up the two halves of the narrative (the bike sequences and the running sequences), making sure that the two halves were distinct enough to be able to differentiate between them. It was also interesting to use the 'fade to black' transition, which I weaved into the music video (unplanned, in some instances) to create a dramatic effect or to slow down the editing to a speed which accurately corresponded to the tempo of the song.
I experimented with different overlay effects on the program to try and enhance the complexity of the music video, and to make the visuals more interesting and unique for the audience. I implemented the opacity tool and split-screen tool on some cutaways, for example.
What could have been better?After watching the first full draft of the music video, I became aware that the entire performance sequence of the music video was taken from the same take. In other pop music videos, the performer is often seen against various other backgrounds which helps to keep the performance side more interesting to watch for the audience. To improve this, I aim to replace some of the performance shots with alternative versions.
I found it frustrating that I lacked the ideal amount of footage to cover the whole song. Re-shoots were now difficult in regards to continuity errors, so to improvise I repeated or reused a couple of shots, trying to keep it more subtle by using alternative effects to conceal the fact that the audience could have already seen the shot earlier on in the video. Toying further with the existing footage should reduce the need of repeated shots in the final product.
20th March, 2018
The whole music video could not have come together without the performance sequence of the video, which was filmed at a later date for continuity purposes, and to ensure that the weather was suitable. After filming the performance, the full rough cut skeleton of the music video could be constructed.
What went well?
The aspect of editing that I was most pleased about was the clarity of the narrative. The best shots for the performance, since the whole song was recorded several times, was easy to extract and use within the video to take up larger chunks of time that needed to be filled. I found that the performance shots were particularly helpful at breaking up the two halves of the narrative (the bike sequences and the running sequences), making sure that the two halves were distinct enough to be able to differentiate between them. It was also interesting to use the 'fade to black' transition, which I weaved into the music video (unplanned, in some instances) to create a dramatic effect or to slow down the editing to a speed which accurately corresponded to the tempo of the song.
I experimented with different overlay effects on the program to try and enhance the complexity of the music video, and to make the visuals more interesting and unique for the audience. I implemented the opacity tool and split-screen tool on some cutaways, for example.
What could have been better?After watching the first full draft of the music video, I became aware that the entire performance sequence of the music video was taken from the same take. In other pop music videos, the performer is often seen against various other backgrounds which helps to keep the performance side more interesting to watch for the audience. To improve this, I aim to replace some of the performance shots with alternative versions.
I found it frustrating that I lacked the ideal amount of footage to cover the whole song. Re-shoots were now difficult in regards to continuity errors, so to improvise I repeated or reused a couple of shots, trying to keep it more subtle by using alternative effects to conceal the fact that the audience could have already seen the shot earlier on in the video. Toying further with the existing footage should reduce the need of repeated shots in the final product.
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