Unit 4: Critical and Contextual Awareness in Creative Media Production - Task 4: Post-Production Diary - Music Video
Editing the music video first started with putting all of the fight scene together, this was to make it easier when needing to put cuts and other shots in-between as we wanted to keep the fight in chronological order to fit the story line from the start of the fight all the way to the end (which is also the very end of the music video). This was done the following week as we filmed on a Friday and we weren't able to edit over the weekend. It was also easier to start with the fight scene as we still had more to film and needed to understand the time that the fight sequence would take up in the video.
From the beginning of the project we all decided that the music video should be in black and white, as the music video is tonally dark and having the video in black and white would add to the intense atmosphere. We had also worked around lighting a lot during filming and having the music video in black and white heightened the exposure of light onscreen and also defined certain features and effects in the video. The actual filter that was added to the shots was Premiere Pros 'Monochrome Kodak 5205', this is a very bold black and white filter on the platform and is great to work around colour grading. I had previously used this filter and it was definitely a good idea to use this specific one again. Once agreeing on that particular filter, the rest of the shots that were placed in-between shots from the fight scene would then also have that filter put on them straight away.
As shots and cutaways were now starting to be placed in-between the fighting shots, we then needed to start placing the shots in time with the melody and beats of the music. So, right at the beginning of the video, it starts off with a piano melody, so shots that were used to start the narrative in the music video were cut together in time with the music.
The very beginning shot of the video is of Tom's shoes, stood in front of a river in Preston Park. Sam's idea when we first started on the project was to have the title of the song, "Free Falling", along with the name of the artist, "Leuk", shown quite quickly so that the video could then just start straightaway. So, the title and artist were placed next to Tom's shoes, just on top of the river. But, in this shot, Tom then walks out of the right side of the frame which is also the side where the text was displayed. So, the effect that was created was as Tom walks off, his shoes cover the text and as Tom is fully out of frame the text is then gone. This was a great way to explore the different ways of having text appear and then finding a clever way for it to disappear, rather than just placing the text on-screen and then taking it off and making it look abrupt and unprofessional.
We had got many shots of Tom hitting a punching bag in his garage, and our original thought of placing these different shots into the video was to place them in time with the drum beat, as we also filmed with the song playing in the background and Tom punched in time with the beat. So, punching shots were placed in-between the fight and made to be in time with the drum beat in the music, as well as also having some of the shots of the fight in time with the drum beat. This was a great idea as it looked great in the video but also made the visuals link back to the music of the song, as the drum beat is very heavy and harsh in the song and in our music video the fight and shots of Tom hitting the punching bag are very intense and violent.
This was now where we all started to get a bit worried as all of the usable footage was placed into the video, but there wasn't enough footage to add up to the length of the song. The song is 3 minutes and 34 seconds and at this point we were still a minute off. So, we all decided that we were going to try and film many more shots, mainly shots that we originally wanted and never got, to place in the video so that we could get it up to the same length of the song.
As we all started to worry about getting more footage and wondering if we would get all of it done in time, we then started looking through every single piece of footage that we got throughout the whole of filming and did find many shots that were salvable and that we were able to use for the music video. Luckily, we didn't need to film anymore and could spend the rest of our time trying to finish the music video and adding all of the new shots in.
All of the new pieces of footage were then placed into the video and the whole music video now started coming together really well. The main task now was to try and fit all of our shots of Sam playing the drums in time with the drum beat. This needed to be done well as it needed to look like Sam was actually playing the song and not just randomly hitting the drums. This was tough to do but, in the end, it was manageable and it fitted really well with the music.
Once this was finished, our tutor Danniella then had a look through our video. She said that it was really good but a few things just needed to be looked over and edited.
First was the colour of the fight scene needed to be changed as it was too light and needed to be much darker, as it is very intense and a very violent scene. This just needed to be changed through colour grading to heighten and enhance the shadows and darker areas of the shots, as well as to tone down the exposure of light as when we filmed it we only used the natural light from the sun and it was very bright that day. Once the colourisation of the shots was changed, it definitely made a huge difference as it changed the atmosphere of the shots, making them more dramatic and brutal and, tonally, much more sombre.
Second was that the cuts towards the end of the video needed to be much quicker, as the music builds up very quickly towards the end and shots needed to be in time with the beat and also needed to have a more suspenseful and dramatic climax once we found out the end result of the fight. Many shots of the fire, punching bag and fighting had cuts in-between them, quickening the pace towards the end and still dragging out some of the shots before the ending of the video. This looked much better as the shots became more eye-catching for a viewer and would keep them on the edge of their seat waiting for the impact of the ending of the fight.
We did also get some feedback from our artist, Luke, saying he really enjoyed the music video and the only improvement he would like to also have the shots at the end of the video much quicker and to add black cinematic bars. Tom was able to find a tutorial on YouTube that helped him create the cinematic bars to go at the top and bottom of the video. This definitely improved the music video as the bars made it look very professional, as many music videos now have cinematic bars placed onto them.
*Sent my evaluation to my teachers
From the beginning of the project we all decided that the music video should be in black and white, as the music video is tonally dark and having the video in black and white would add to the intense atmosphere. We had also worked around lighting a lot during filming and having the music video in black and white heightened the exposure of light onscreen and also defined certain features and effects in the video. The actual filter that was added to the shots was Premiere Pros 'Monochrome Kodak 5205', this is a very bold black and white filter on the platform and is great to work around colour grading. I had previously used this filter and it was definitely a good idea to use this specific one again. Once agreeing on that particular filter, the rest of the shots that were placed in-between shots from the fight scene would then also have that filter put on them straight away.
As shots and cutaways were now starting to be placed in-between the fighting shots, we then needed to start placing the shots in time with the melody and beats of the music. So, right at the beginning of the video, it starts off with a piano melody, so shots that were used to start the narrative in the music video were cut together in time with the music.
The very beginning shot of the video is of Tom's shoes, stood in front of a river in Preston Park. Sam's idea when we first started on the project was to have the title of the song, "Free Falling", along with the name of the artist, "Leuk", shown quite quickly so that the video could then just start straightaway. So, the title and artist were placed next to Tom's shoes, just on top of the river. But, in this shot, Tom then walks out of the right side of the frame which is also the side where the text was displayed. So, the effect that was created was as Tom walks off, his shoes cover the text and as Tom is fully out of frame the text is then gone. This was a great way to explore the different ways of having text appear and then finding a clever way for it to disappear, rather than just placing the text on-screen and then taking it off and making it look abrupt and unprofessional. 
This was now where we all started to get a bit worried as all of the usable footage was placed into the video, but there wasn't enough footage to add up to the length of the song. The song is 3 minutes and 34 seconds and at this point we were still a minute off. So, we all decided that we were going to try and film many more shots, mainly shots that we originally wanted and never got, to place in the video so that we could get it up to the same length of the song.
As we all started to worry about getting more footage and wondering if we would get all of it done in time, we then started looking through every single piece of footage that we got throughout the whole of filming and did find many shots that were salvable and that we were able to use for the music video. Luckily, we didn't need to film anymore and could spend the rest of our time trying to finish the music video and adding all of the new shots in.
All of the new pieces of footage were then placed into the video and the whole music video now started coming together really well. The main task now was to try and fit all of our shots of Sam playing the drums in time with the drum beat. This needed to be done well as it needed to look like Sam was actually playing the song and not just randomly hitting the drums. This was tough to do but, in the end, it was manageable and it fitted really well with the music. 
Once this was finished, our tutor Danniella then had a look through our video. She said that it was really good but a few things just needed to be looked over and edited.
Second was that the cuts towards the end of the video needed to be much quicker, as the music builds up very quickly towards the end and shots needed to be in time with the beat and also needed to have a more suspenseful and dramatic climax once we found out the end result of the fight. Many shots of the fire, punching bag and fighting had cuts in-between them, quickening the pace towards the end and still dragging out some of the shots before the ending of the video. This looked much better as the shots became more eye-catching for a viewer and would keep them on the edge of their seat waiting for the impact of the ending of the fight. 
We did also get some feedback from our artist, Luke, saying he really enjoyed the music video and the only improvement he would like to also have the shots at the end of the video much quicker and to add black cinematic bars. Tom was able to find a tutorial on YouTube that helped him create the cinematic bars to go at the top and bottom of the video. This definitely improved the music video as the bars made it look very professional, as many music videos now have cinematic bars placed onto them. *Sent my evaluation to my teachers
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