Editing studio - Day 3

To create an effective end product we had to go through a lot of different edits in the process of post-production on our music video. Our rough cut was obviously our major edit before our finished product because it gave us initial feedback on our music video. Alongside this we had around 3 different edits after our rough cut which were all about cutting the lengths of the shots shorter to fit the pace and beat of the music more effectively. A specific music conventions that we adhered to and reinforced was repetition because at the beginning of editing our rough cut we didn't like the idea of of using the same shot again but then we realised that repetition was a good convention for a pop video and it allowed us to cut the shots shorter and duplicate them to make them occur more often in the edit.

We used numerous amounts of jump cuts and a fad to black at the end of our finished product. We did this because the fade to black created a conclusion but also mystery and complimented the gradual fade of the song at the end. The jump cut allowed us to match the shots with the fast beats of the song, emphasising a fun, party vibe that the beats of the song meant to infer. This differs from my AS editing because we didn't have to worry about continuity so much because we used random shots to compliment the random lyrics in the song.  The digital technologies that i used was adobe premier pro, my mac computer, a canon 5d mark III and a sony FS100 to film the music video. All of these technologies allowed me to become a prosumer by using technological convergence in an effective way. The canon 5D was used when the lighting was low in the set design i.e. In the UV and the projections set because it works better in smaller amounts of detail because of the closer zoom lens. The adobe software and mac computer allowed us all to edit and upload our footage to put the footage in sequential order on the software, adobe premier pro.

 Our media product represents our star image and how it is branded because it is a pop music video and we have put her in set designs that make her look extra ordinary and glamorous, therefore she has become the 'star image' because her fans and audience members will want to be her and will look up to her. The audience that we are trying to appeal to is young girls or teenagers ranging from 15 to 25 because the song itself is simple to remember and compliments this fun, girly and pink orientated music video.

From the process of constructing this music video I have learnt how to fade a shot from colour into black and white as well as fast cut certain shots to compliment this faster beat which was definitely a difficult process. Two key decisions that I made in the editing process was that I decided to use two different sets and interlock them by cross cutting them together at a fast pace that compliments the beat of the song. I also chose to use the girly set at the beginning of the music video rather then at the end because I think that it works more effectively if the dances and choreography clips come in when the music has built up in the chorus. My final product promotes the single release from my artists album because it compliments her overall image and creates a fun character that her audience members are able to witness. Our artists image is made to look glamorous so that her audience want to be like her. She is a goal that they want to gain or achieve.

I have been empowered as a prosumer of a media text because I am now creating a visual product for a song that has been created before. I am able to become a digital remixer of this song by creating my own text as well as gaining inspiration from other music videos like Rihanna's 'You da one' music video. I have learnt that the editing process of post production is a very gradual process and it is best to not change anything too drastically before gaining feedback from the rough cut because that is the best source of feedback throughout this editing process that I personally have gained.

Editing studio - Day 2

On the second day of editing we moved past the basics in offline editing and focused on cutting and editing the clips together. It was important to crop certain shots so that choreography clips fitted with the beat of the song. To cut each shot we used the cutting tool known as the 'razor' and this allowed us to cut clips short which was effective in getting rid of burry shots in our UV set design clips because a lot of these are out too blurry to comprehend or understand. Through cutting clips we then needed to put them into order and to do this i had to think about the shot composition as going from a long shot to a close up did not allow the clips to flow properly and in fact it looked strange from an audience's perspective. The shots need to go in order to make them look effective, to do this we used shots that went from a mid shot to a closeup so that each shot effectively moved and flowed into the other.

Once we tidied the shots and decided the composition we had to arrange the shots in sequential order and this was easier for my group because we did not have a specific narrative for our music video, the majority of it was based around artistic set designs. Originally we just picked our shots and played them down on the timeline but to organise it properly we tried to put the shots in order of what we thought might make more sense. So we used the light and floral pink set first as this created the 'daytime' look and then we used the UV set in the chorus's and closer towards the end of the music video as this showed the 'nighttime' look and the choreography in the UV set and the blinders set went with the beat of the music in the chorus of the song.

One of the most important aspects of editing a music video was to lip sync the shots to the soundtrack and playback because this creates the illusion that the artist singing the song is realistic. The playback time on each clip allowed us to align each shot with the diegetic soundtrack on the editing software so that it was believable from an audience's view. We used multiple layers on the timeline as this was dependant on how many shots we were using and we ended up using a lot of shots. 

The pace of the song was probably what made the music video so hard to edit but because our music video did not have a narrative, this actually makes it easier to edit because there is not a specific shot order that we needed to follow, we were able to create our own. The pace of the song has a very fast tempo which means that we needed to cut a lot of the shots really short so that they would be quick enough to go with the pace of the song and this meant that our music video took a lot longer to edit then we originally though it would take. This was why it was important to create a rough cut because we needed to gain feedback from our target audience as it gave us an idea of the order of our sets without having it completed to perfection or even finished. We got helpful feedback from teachers as well as other students that we used to complete and finish our music video.

Editing studio - Day 1

Digital editing is part of the creative post-production process of digital video making. The tern editing comes from the process of working with film, but now it increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The technology that i have used for this editing process is adobe premiere pro and adobe after effects.

The first process to undergo was was to review the shots and footage and select the best ones to go on to the timeline. We did this so that we could organise the video and the structure of it because it makes the process of editing the footage quicker if we have the shots of the different sets in order. Otherwise your timeline would be filled up with a variation of shots that you would never end up using. A mistake that we made initially was that we didn't actually name the shots so we had to remember the numbers which made the editing process take longer then it needed to. Soon after we realised this problem we named each shot giving us a clue of what set and which person was in the shot.  Some shots were rejected in the first process of selecting the shots. This was due to the fact that they were shots that were either out of focus or they were shots that we had retaken or reshot.

The use of the timeline was so that we were able to spread the shots out and cut them where we wanted to, keeping the timeline neat. The music track 'clap snap' was the first thing that we placed onto the timeline as this enabled us to then sync each shot up with the music n the correct place, meaning that the actor was lip-syncing the words correctly to the song. It was an import for us to rename these clips or shots because then we would be able to easily go and drag or cut the shot we wanted as without this we would have to remember the numbers of the shots which is unrealistic because it is forgettable and it doesn't tell us anything about the shot. The names of the shots tell you about the shot, therefore we do not have to search for the different sets through numerous shots, we can just look at the description of the shot within the name. Our music video is a 'pop video' therefore the conventions of this pop video are very specific. To represent these conventions, we used a lot of closeups to show the clear designs and conventions of a 'pop' video i.e pink designs, flowers and the intensity of their makeup. Using these pop conventions in our music video meant that we were adhering to these conventions as this is effective in allowing the audience to read and understand our media text.

Rough cut - feedback

This is our music video rough cut feedback video from our target audience. This process was really useful to us because it allowed us to gain from a target audience that would watch or buy this cd in the real world to then see what they thought and see what we needed to change. A majority of the feedback was positive but the changes that they suggested that we should make were very similar to the feedback from Luke. The video itself tells us what they have said that was good in the video and would could be changed or added. However overall the audience said that the cuts needed to be shorter and match the beat of the music. They enjoyed the visual look of interlocking both different sets and fast cutting them together but they thought that this would be more effective if we introduced this closer to the first chorus and not just in the last chorus because otherwise the visual effect becomes random.

When picking our target audience it was important to have a majority of them female because obviously they would have more helpful feedback as they would be the target audience or people that would by this artists music. Although this was the case we also had male audience members but only two because we thought it would interesting to try and please other people and expand out of the target audience rather then just applying our music video to the people we think would buy it. Music is all about expanding the target audience so that you can appeal to a variety of people and make our music video unique.

Luke's feedback of Rough Cut

Before we showed our target audience our rough cut to gain feedback, we showed Luke to see if it was to the best ability of a rough cut. This is what he had to say:

1) Overall our music video is too slow.
2) we need faster and more frequent cuts to match the beat of the music.
3) It would be better if there was more closeups of movement, much like the movement of her legs, rather then showing her face to the audience straight away. There needs to be more of a build up.
4) The fast cuts that mix the UV set with the blinders towards the end are good but he wants to see more of these throughout the video and for them to be introduced infall of the chorus's rather then just the one.
5) It would be better to use the UV set in all of the chorus's.
6) Luke wants us to use the set with the tone in it at the very beginning of the video rather then mixing it towards the end. Start with light and then go into dark, much like the process of day and night.
7) Only use the binders set in parts of the song when there is no use for the other sets. Otherwise the blinders set gets overused.
8) Needs more of a variation of cuts and the shot sizes.

Rough cut

Below is the video of our music video in a rough cut edit. The process of creating a rough cut is helpful because it allows us to gradually improve and sort the structure of the music video. By gradually going through the editing process it means that there is stress of getting it perfect in just one quick edit, which is very unlikely. Creating a rough cut was difficult because it meant that we had to sort out the most important feature of our music video, structure. The structure is a very important concept for any music video, but more importantly for our pop video because we have 5 different sets, which means that not all of them can be at the beginning of the video because that would just spoil all of the artists different looks, leading now where different at the the end of the song. Also a majority of our sets only suit certain parts of the song. For instance the blinders and UV set are more about dancing and liveliness, meaning that they would suit the chorus and the faster pace of the song because we are more likely to match them up to the beats of the song. overall the rough cut is a great process to let us know whether we can make improvements and it also allows us to receive feedback from our target audience on improvement that they think we should make.

Digipak cover - The first draft

This is the first sketch of our initial concept of what we want our digipak cover to look like. All the props and qualities that make up this digipak are very famine and definitely compliment the 'pop' concept of the music video that we have shot. We have involved props that were used in the music video so that both will compliment each other. These props are the flowers which will be orientated around the artists name, to do this I will probably use photoshop after shooting the photographs in the studio. We want to shoot the artist in the studio because we want professional looking photographs and we hope to make a lot of pictures to either use on the website so that all of the three text compliment each other or we will use it on the back of the digipak. This is only a draft sketch so there is still room for lots of improvement. I think so far the images are good but they focus too much on the visual used in the music video that we just shot and so we are not portraying the artist in the right way because we are trying to sell an album of music not just a single, so there are clearly still improvements that need to be made.