Editing Real

CD mock ups

Plan for pitch

Plan Shoot/ Photography call sheet

Planning for CD and print ads

Task 8 Case Studies

A Boogie wit da Hoodie A-Level Music video

Re-shooting

Editing session Practice video

Filming

Team Meetings

Actual Pitch

Copyright clearance form

Recce

Talent Release Forms

No talent release forms are required in our group as there is only two protagonists and we are still unaware if we are going to include any extras in the video, but the answer will most likely be no, will not include any other actors/extras.

Risk Assessment forms

Props, costumes, make up

Production team roles/ Actor Profiles

Video notice #2

Video notice

Unfortunately, the song that we decided to make a music video for, known as Drowning/Water by A Boogie wit da Hoodie ft. Kodak Black released the official music video on the 4th of October after our group decided to choose that specific song. The official video depicts the artist 'A Boogie wit Da Hoodie' in an underwater location throughout the whole song, which is an idea that we had and wrote on our storyboard, because of this we may not be able to use that idea in our final video.

Pitch Feedback

Storyboards

Call Sheet

Risk Assessment Forms

Talent Release forms

Location Release forms

Depicted above are two of our three chosen locations. The third one, being King's Cross Gasholder park isn't listed due to the fact that it is a public space and through research, we have found out that filming is permitted, because of this no location release form is required. 

Logistics planning

Logistics planning:






*Team meetings:

• Recorded using a grid, however there are a variety of methods using technology, for example, a series of video dairy's, blog posts and picture with annotations.

*Location release forms:

• Permission to use an actor or location

*Talent release forms:

• Illegal for people under the age of 16, they give you permission to upload the video onto different platforms

*Recce:

• Annotated photos of planned locations 

*Risk assessment forms:

• One form per location

*Call Sheet:

• This is a plan of the day for each shoot

*Costumes, Props and Makeup(Blog):

• Includes the actors/pictures/profiles

 

 

 

 

Song/Pitch

The main focus of our few previous was to mainly decide on a song and genre, in which we decided to choose a song by Boogie wit da Hoodie ft. Kodak Black ' Drowning'. We chose to do the Hip Hop genre as my group believed the actors including myself and another person would feel more comfortable with Hip Hop as it is very lively and animated  compared to a pop song or something similar with singing in which we discussed we would feel out of place. Secondly, we individually gathered a list of Hip Hop songs that  we each thought one another would like, and one that would be relevant. As we were deciding which would be the best option, we decided to go with the song 'Drowning' as we each had plenty of ideas that we could put towards the video. We recently started a pitch about the song which is in the process of being finished. The pitch has been written up on Google Slides which is effective and efficient as we can all edit the presentation simultaneously, however once we have all completed our individual slides, we may move the information onto Prezi so that we can add some effects to go with the presentation and possibly some background music which will be the song 'Drowning'. This pitch will include; possible locations to shoot the video, target audience, inspiration, actors/dancers etc. Lastly,  as our group presents our pitch which will last for approximately 10-15 minutes, we will also be recorded.

The song depicted down below does include some profanity which may be seen as sexiest and offensive to women and also the use of a racist word, however reasons for that will be provided in the upcoming pitch.

Initial ideas for music video

Todays lesson included our group verbally discussing and planning out our ideas for the music video, for example, the definite genre we are going to focus on, which we decided would be Hip Hop as we believe it would be the easiest genre to act out for us specifically, and the fact that there are countless areas in London suitable for the genre. The second factor that we talked about possibly adding in our final video was different editing techniques and visuals that could improve the aesthetics of the video. The last and final objective that we completed in todays session was viewing and analysing examples of previous music videos to gain a basic understanding of what a top grade video looks like, which then gave us tips and ideas that we could include in our final.

Editing session 2

Today was the second and final session to edit our footage, I believe today was very successful as me and my group did complete the task, which was to record a music video to a song which didn't have one, and then sync the video with the audio.This task was completed and my opinion on the final outcome of the video was positive however there were still mistakes that could yet be improved in the final project but as a practice round, this went pretty well. Once the audio and the video were in sync the task was basically completed, however, myself and my group decided to add in different transitions in between cuts and scenes which made the video appear more professional, however upon adding certain effects to the video it was clear that no one knew quite how to remove them or undo the process, resulting in an unwanted video effect in one of the scenes, which slightly downgraded the video.

Footage editing session

The main aim for todays session was to start editing the footage recorded from the day before. This session was rather productive as I would personally say we are about 50% from the final product. Although this process was quite simple  which might sound biased, but from my point of view, it followed through with quite a few steps. First of all our group and every other group had to collect their specific DSLR camera as they all still had the SD card in them, this SD card would then be ejected from the camera and inserted into the SD card port on the side of the mac. The second piece of equipment that we had to collect was a hard drive which similar to the cameras was organised with a number, purposely making it easier for the groups to identify their work. Once the hard drive was plugged into the mac, the next process was to import the footage and a couple relevant pictures from the SD card to the hard drive which took about two to three minutes due to the fact that there were so many files to move over. Whilst waiting for this process to be completed I opened a default app on the mac used for editing videos which is called 'Adobe Premiere Pro for Mac'. Once the files were imported, we then went on to open the files in the video editor which allowed us to obviously edit and save our work in progress. The first step to actually editing the video included finding an original version of the song, then opening that file in Adobe editor, and then syncing the our video with the audio of Drakes 'One Dance'. Although it was relatively easy to play the audio over the clips of the video, it's quite difficult to correctly align the two as the mac was automatically jumping to different periods and wasn't letting us manually adjust when the two started, for example the audio would play a millisecond before the video, and even though it seems minor, it was very visible in the playbacks and was simply destroying the outcome, however after many failed attempts we did succeed in syncing the two at the exact same time. This was the conclusion of todays session, and hopefully tomorrow we can finish adding in a few extra clips and the outro and also remove all of the default hard cuts in between the scenes and replace them with nice transactions to help the video flow.

Diagram 1



Diagram 2 

DSLR recap

Today, we recapped the topic of how to use a DSLR correctly since we haven't used them in a while, initially I couldn't remember a lot about the DSLR, however after going through a couple of key steps and features of the camera I started to remember specific concepts of the camera, such as; white balance, Auto and Manuel focus (AF-MF) etc. Once the recap session had concluded, I then went on to choose small groups of three including myself, I decided to choose two other individuals who shared a common interest relating to the genre of music, once I located these two individuals we then decided and agreed on a song relating to the music genre of Pop, this song being 'One dance by Drake, who isn't traditionally known for being a Pop artist and more specifically Rap, however this particular song is known to be a Pop and was good as it wasn't conventional for a Pop song to have a Rapper sing, which is unusual but interesting. The next process was to decide on one or two of us to then act out in our chosen location(s) for the practice run and the other individual to film on the DSLR. The location mainly included a field as it had exceptional lighting, probably due to the time of day which was roughly 10:35AM . Once all of this was completed we then chose a range of three shots to shoot with, including a; close up, mid shot and finally long shot as we thought that they were a necessity for a functional music video . The next step was to analyse the footage that was created and identify any possible mistakes and any strengths. One key flaw, which is not so much a mistake included a lack of movement between the two individuals in front of the lens, at first glance it was the first aspect that I noticed and made the footage rather awkward.

Production schedule

Practice music video

Music video practice reflection

Whilst completing the music video practice many aspects of the process, the first being the fact that we had to find a suitable song which everyone in the group agreed with which was very interesting and quite amusing. The second factor which was rather enjoyable was choosing the correct location to shoot/ record the video. It was mainly exciting to witness how different locations would change the tone of the song.
Some things that I learnt throughout the process which would help me with the main project include ensuring the camera settings have been adjusted correctly, for example the white balance, manual focus etc. Secondly once the shots were uploaded onto the Mac, by messing around with the software I was able to gain a basic understanding of how to use it effectively.
There were not a lot of major challenges, however one that stood out from the rest was making sure the video and the song were lined up properly and that they both played simultaneously. This part took several minutes longer than any of the other processes that were completed.
Finally, the major challenge that will be faced when completing the main project would be making sure the music video looks professional which can be portrayed by using the correct shots and transitions at the correct time, also making sure that there is a prominent link the genre of the music and the location that the video is shot in.
Some improvements that could be made for the main project include; using a variety of camera techniques and angles, and secondly focusing on mise-en-scene, including props, costume and location. Mise-en-scene is key and wasn't really reflected in the practice video mainly due the fact that we were restricted to shoot only in the college, suggesting that there are not many places that make a relevant link to the video. Another major improvement that can be made includes ensuring that the actor is enthusiastic and successfully portrays the song, through great lip syncing and body movements, such as dancing or something similar rather than standing still.
Referring back to camera and white balance, somewhere in completing the practice video, the settings may have been adjusted slightly, indicating that the shades and colour of individual shots were different to others, which made the final outcome seem more like single shots and made it seem as if there was no flow.
                       

Camera Induction Task

Drake: Hotline bling

You used to call me on my cell phone
Late night when you need my love
Call me on my cell phone
Late night when you need my love
And I know when that hotline bling
That can only mean one thing
I know when that hotline bling
That can only mean one thing

Ever since I left the city,
You got a reputation for yourself now
Everybody knows and I feel left out
Girl you got me down, you got me stressed out
'Cause ever since I left the city,
you started wearing less and goin' out more
Glasses of champagne out on the dance floor
Hangin' with some girls I've never seen before

• This is the 30-40 second section of lyrics that I will be focusing on and using in my initial practice.

Five possible locations to record:

• Table Tennis Section
• Corridors
• Staircase in Alfred house
• Grass area by the front gate
• Somewhere with a blank white wall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxpDa-c-4Mc

Case Study

These chosen case studies don't link to our chosen music genre of Hip Hop however I decided to choose them, because they are all originally performance based videos and all include my personal and relevant ideas which I may like to include in the final product.






Little Mix: Touch-performance based- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBAfejjUQoA




The song 'Touch' by Little mix is known to be a club anthem, and rather uplifting, filled with dance vibes and extremely hyped beats. Many would agree that the chorus alone can be successful in taking over your body. Even though we are not planning to do a similar routine, some ideas that are quite inspiring are the use of background actors who bring the video to life and is the kind of atmosphere we are planning to go for. Since we have chosen to do a Hip Hop based genre song, we thought about what aspects they glorify, from money, to jewellery, cars and other materialistic items, which could all be used to portray the theme. Similar to Little mix's 'Touch' we could use bright, colourful and designer clothing which focuses on colours representing different items; from green being associated with money and wealth, to purple being connected to royalty.
Mise en Scene- During the video many different coloured striped rooms(location) can be seen, resulting in the video almost appearing as a maze but ultimately just a studio, secondly the use of high key lighting which is conventional in the pop genre helps to identify the artists and their costumes, furthermore the equal distribution of actors/artists/dancers(unison/synchronized),the fact that they are all in unison, the protagonists especially infers that in fact they are a group. In addition to their costumes, they all appear to be rather provocative as in some shots, they can be seen wearing unusual type clothing, they also all had the same colour scheme and similar outfits, again inferring that they link together and are a group. Even though this video focuses on a brightly coloured maze to portray the lyrics, other locations which could be included, suggest outdoor locations in vast open spaces, preferably a mid day during summer as mid day would have perfect lighting and the summer season is associated with parties and good vibes compared to other seasons.


Editing- A variety of editing methods were used to piece the video together and all for different reasons. Firstly, the use of jump cuts allows the viewer(s) to see the scenes go back and forth, also, short intervals also known as breaks ensures the viewer(s) maintain interest in the video and they may become curious as to what might happen next, as videos tend to repeat themselves after a period of time. Cuts can become rather fast-paced and I noticed that this generally started to happen a couple lines before the chorus as the behaviour of the artists would be more energetic and result in more movement, technically speaking the fast pace cuts blend in with the artists to show rhythm, in addition there was a lot of cutting on the beat again showing rhythm. Last but not least, there was the use of  slow motion, which really allowed the viewer to get a good look at basically everything on the screen, from mise en scene to editing.




Camera- zoom in/out on the singers, Hand held, close up, birds eye view of all of them, pan/tracks to follow where the singing is happening, tilts.
Upon reading the lyrics to this song, I decided that the music video could be more than simply performance based but also narrative, since one of the lyrics in the first verse states " just the touch of your love is enough, to knock me off of my feet all week", the word enough indicates that this cant possibly be the first time that the two have touched, this specific lyric inspired me to come up with the idea of the actor having small flash backs, depicted through a variety of slow-paced cuts, and possibly betting lighting, indicating how great their first touch actually was.
My idea of a music video for this song would be a mixture of both performance and narrative, and not only one or the other, due to this there will be a couple of scenes including lip syncing, however it would mainly focus on the visuals.




Justin Bieber: Sorry( Purpose- The Movement)- performance based- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE





Firstly, the video was shot in a studio location with high key lighting, again a convention of the pop genre. Secondly, all artists and background dancers were all wearing different clothing, however one similarity that they shared was the fact that the clothing was oddly coloured and extremely bright, suggesting that there was some sort of theme. Unlike little mixes 'Touch' video there wasn't a large variety of editing techniques used, it was simply hard cuts and cross cuts to ensure that the viewer was able to view all of the dancers and cuts on the beat, which tended to be fast paced cuts to suit the pop genre. Lastly, focusing on the camera techniques and methods, there were wide/establishing shots, involving all ten or so background dancers, which allows the audience to see the fact that they are all in unison/sync. Secondly, in the use of close ups, allowing the audience to see their make up but also facial expressions which were extremely positive and energetic. Lastly, there was a few scenes which included full focus and shallow focus which are pretty similar, however shallow focus ensures that the audience is focused on one dancer or two, probably used in a mid-long shot, where as a full focused shot doesn't focus on anyone in particular.

Establishing/mid shot of the music video, depicts a happy atmosphere.

My idea of creating this music video would quite the opposite of this video, for example, this song includes high key lighting in a studio location and a variety of fast-paced cuts. however since the name of the song is 'Sorry' and one key lyric in the chorus includes "is it too late now to say sorry' conveys the idea that the actor had did something wrong, due to this I would choose a dark and dim location, if not film using a black and white filter to indicate regret and depression. I would include an extreme amount of slow-paced cuts to indicate sadness and emotional pain displayed by the actor. Furthermore I would add a lot of lip syncing to the video which would be shown through the protagonist and no other actors/artists to show how lonely they're without their muse. More specifically the location could be the protagonists house to suggest that they're feeling so down that they've actually just stayed at home and done nothing for a long period. To help portray this some props that could be used in different shots, include a phone with the actor texting the muse and receiving no replies, however in sync with the lyrics " cause I'm missing more than just your body", not only the phone, but also the weather could start to gradually change and become  slightly lighter to indicate how good he thinks of the muse, and how special she is to him. Secondly a picture/wallpaper of the two, implying that the actor is thinking about them, thirdly an empty fridge, implying that they have been binge eating due to their situation. Lastly their costume would include dirty clothing to suggest that they haven't thought about themselves or the appearance. Lastly pathetic fallacy could be used to reinforce the protagonists emotions, such as rain or thunder storms.

This images shows my concept of the song, and the atmosphere that the video should emit, and how it relates to the lyrics Overall, my concept of this music video wouldn't be performance based but rather narrative to emphasise the protagonists emotions towards his situation.

Rihanna: Wild Thoughts- performance based- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyaI4-5849w






Again, this video is performance based, however upon thoroughly reading the lyrics, they influenced me to think of a more creative way to create my own concept of the video. Personally I think that rather than performance based not only could it be narrative but also visual. One specific lyric includes " I wanna be your baby, baby, baby", from the word "wanna" I thought that at this specific time she's not his women, however she desperately wants to be, In other words she could potentially be dreaming or imagining about that situation. In this current time she doesn't sound unhappy but actually quite excited but in reality she could be bored with her relationship status. This idea of her imagination could be depicted through a zoom in technique, or an iris into her head to act as a transition into her imagination where everything would have a better atmosphere. This could be depicted through better lighting, showing that she is a lot happier in her new relationship, costumes, these costumes could be brightly colour and appear joyful compared to a shot before the audience enter the actors mind, props, such as flowers and any other romantic items and lastly an actor, to portray the muse. One potential location could be a field/park at night with a clear sky and minimal clouds where the two are laying there staring at one another whilst there are a bunch of stars and shooting stars are flying over them, but instead of conventional stars they could be diamonds and wedding rings to reinforce the lyrics " diamonds aint nothing when I'm shining with ya, diamonds aint nothing when I'm rocking with ya", in others words suggest that she's happy to be with the muse and isn't too bothered about getting married, hence why she and him are not star gazing instead.

This is how I would envision the entire music video, excluding the other two artists and replacing the with an actor, acting as the muse. This and other ideas would be the foundation of the video with other shots including silhouettes of objects such as trees, streetlights, cars etc. to infer that nothing else is important.

Close up of the protagonist, similar to my concept.

The video was situated in multiple locations from abandoned housing/accommodations to small markets with small populations. The was a large use of dark light throughout the video which was mostly likely due to the time of day, however low-key lighting may have been an alternative in some scenes such as Rihanna's solo in the bedroom scene. The disowns the conventional high key lighting of a pop song. There were minimal background dancers besides the protagonists and a couple actors in the market scene. Furthermore, all of the protagonists, from Rihanna to DJ Khalid to Bryson Tiller, were wearing completely different clothing items, to probably show that they are unique. There were many interval cuts mainly at the beginning of the video, to act as a slow build up until the protagonists were revealed. Again, there was a lot of cutting on the beat especially as this video was 50% performance based to indicate rhythm. Jump cuts were used to depict different scenes, from the bedroom scene to the small market scene. Lastly, slow motion was used, particularly in the bedroom scene where Rihanna's hair was blowing in time with the song, due to a fan located on a desk. Both track and zoom out were used in the market scene to show Rihanna and DJ Khalid dancing through the street. In addition to the market scene, the hand held camera technique was used once or twice to depict background dancers, in which some were also in slow motion. Finally pan and zoom in were used again in the bedroom scene when Rihanna was dancing on the bed to depict her outfit, which hand changed from the market scene but was still a dress and also the vibes that she was portraying.

Welcome Post

Hi, welcome to my blog. In this blog I will recording any series' of work produced for production pieces. This will include using a video as a medium to produce a music video.