Final Music Video and Evaluation

Final music video

Here is my final finished music video, I've decided to shorten the song as 5 minutes was personally too long for me to film, and I decided to leave the narrative on a cliffhanger / an open enigma so the audience can put together their own ending. From researching other music video's by hybrid minds eg. 'Kismet', I found out that the music video's don't necessarily have any type of storyline they take the more experimental route which could be interpreted to be polysemic. The main basis to my narrative was to use fortune tellers in the use of phones, to also elaborate to the audience the lyrics but also as an element of fantasy and something i hadn't seen before. I wanted to incorporate this type of playful element to it however to also still look captivating as a whole different plot line. 

    

In my music video I really like the cuts and how I filmed a lot of different angles from the same scene so I was able to manage the 'fast paced' edit I was looking for. I really liked how this element of my music video turned out, I believe it surfaces the fast natural beat of the music I chose and really works well to bring out this tone. I think by using the narrative structure with a slight experimental natural feel it would appear more unique and create a lot of enigmas for the audience. I believe it fits into the genre of the music it relates to (liquid drum and bass) because it contains the soft element of the story along with the quick paced editing that I tried to incorporate the whole way through. I also feel as though the storyline I have does unfold in a chronological order or some sorts as the concept is very easily understood and when shown to people who haven't seen it before also agreed with this fact.

This song in particular is one of my favourite songs to listen to when I'm just doing anything really because of the softness of it, I prefer this version a lot more to the actual version as it amplifies the lyrics a lot more and makes them seem a lot more important as they've cut a lot of the initial ones out. I can picture the first time I heard it and what attracts me to this song and genre in particular is that every song i hear from it, every time I play it it always sounds like from the first time I heard it - incredible. I believe now more than ever there are certainly a lot more genres in the music industry than before, with lots of 'hybrids' and a lot of people are unknown to a lot of these. I believe that liquid drum and bass is a very big up and coming genre people are starting to realise and come to terms with, I chose it because it fits with the modern world and my narrative tries to draw you away from it in a sense which both contradict each other.

I think another element I would 100% definitely think about next time around is lighting. As you can see from different clips in my music video there are parts filmed outside and parts filmed inside, the inside clips tend to be that of a rubbish quality I personally do not like at all. This is due to using natural school lights that come off with more of a yellowy tone rather than a natural tone. For this I didn't use a very high ISO as I knew the lower you use it the more natural and better the quality normally comes out. Meaning if I did this whole video again i would definitely use maybe a ring light of some sort if I had the chance.
However not to toot my own trumpet but the quality of the footage took outside (this shot in particular) was definitely one of my favourites.

I actually filmed a LOT of footage for this, too much for one scene and not enough for others(or not enough good quality ones to use). If I was to redo this I know that I should try and get as much footage as possible, to try and fit the lyrics in time with the music wasn't too hard but to work my story around it I could've definitely planned a lot better. I also would've planned better, my initial plan was to only use one actor in it as put bluntly the less actors the less people you would have to let you down. So I was playing it rather safe to use just one actor a close friend who I knew wouldn't let me down. We actually also filmed on multiple days he had to wear the same outfit 3 days in a row (lol) which he certainly wasn't fond of, but it did help me.

In my music video you can see that I represented Andrew Goodwin's theory of illustrating lyrics through the use of the fortune teller which was used as my main motif of the experimental/narrative. I wouldn't class it as an illustrative video as per however I would say there are glimpses of illustrating moments and this would perhaps be one. Which does show the relationship between both elements in these parts is direct. Personally I believe I did really well in getting these lyrics exactly on par which helps me to get a better understanding of editing and premiere pro. The shots also look pretty similar to each other which was the exact look I was hoping for which I managed to achieve. 

Technical Issue:
There were multiple clips that I couldn't include in my final video which would've made the ending a lot more understandable and better in my opinion, however when editing my Mac book wouldn't encode the files as the IOS files (shot on my phone) were different to the camera files and every time I opened them they would freeze and wouldn't encode to MP4 which was increasingly frustrating which unfortunately wouldn't allow me to use them. 
However I have inserted a clip below so you can imagine the extra details yourself, a lot of them were very long so had trouble exporting to my macbook which is very slow anyway :

New Wave Film and Evaluation

New Wave Film

Evaluation

In my new wave film I tried to incorporate emotion and passion in different elements. Love, lust and loss and life all shot in handheld camera, slightly shaky and real locations to provide the classic connotations of the British New Wave. I used found footage and real people(not actors) to create the illusion of new wave, and social constructs. My video was slightly randomised shots however with a range of close ups, mid shots, playing about with lots of different speeds.

I decided to not use the voiceover and my original thoughts for the film due to not having the equipment and the actors to use multiple people, the voiceover would've made it a lot better and created more of a new wave feel however I decided against only due to the type of equipment I had.

I duplicated a few shots the main one I kept reusing was the train going past, I used this in a transition type way of on to the next scene as everything is so quiet . There is a slight narrative to it but you can interpret new wave in any way you want as long as you can back it up with your own evidence. But my way of interpreting it was a boy that had lost his first love, and was dealing with it in many different ways. Inspired by the New wave films I had researched with have many different interpretations. 

The sequence is randomised so I could incorporate the variety of shots and different types of new wave styles. I think what went well was the lighting in the film is very natural and you can tell it's handheld however the quality was still not diminished by this factor. From videoing it by phone the quality of it was outstanding, as you cant change the different shutter speeds or the ISO. I had to choose my certain times to film and I chose at the correct times which gave me the lighting I wanted.

I had a different plan to what I actually filmed and I cut out and mixed and match different clips to create the sequence I wanted. I believe that my actual plan would've been better if I had had more time to be able to edit i would've included a voiceover and many more shots, but some of the shots I had we're bad quality and shot at night so due to not having a high quality camera to be able to shoot well in the dark (unable to change ISO) i filmed everything in light.

I also would've contained more of a clear narrative as to some people it could be unclear what happens, however new wave is about life and my film exactly shows that with the included time lapses on real locations e.g train stations, in a car driving round a common area with many cars. I tried to vary the shot types but I would definitely include more if I redid with different angles of the same scene to create this common theme that runs throughout New Wave. The structure of my film is good with different sounds and different speeds of the same shots to create illusional effects. I believe my film fits into the new wave category however could be drastically improved with more new wave themes intertwined throughout and i could've used speech to make it more realistic.

By using real locations and handheld camera you can achieve a raw film, open to interpretation by the audience which new wave films are. My film contains raw emotions and very different interpretation of new wave with lots of locations people see in daily lives, I think the film would've been better in black and white, I would change if i were to redo it.

4 Hour Film Challenges

4 Hour Film Challenges

Unusual Perspective 4 Hour Film - Disconnected


First film we were asked to do for the first four hour film challenge was to film an 'unusual perspective' film. We were asked to film and edit this within four hours which is challenging as we have to think of a narrative, get actors/actresses and also film and edit which can be tough. During out studies at the moment we have been looking into the 'New Wave' era, this really influenced us on our idea to film and produce what we did in this sense, it has lots of new wave elements such as no real narrative and also you make up the plot line in your head as it's hard to comprehend and label it a narrative itself. 

(cant insert film - link broken)




I believe my film worked well because we used an unusual perspective (as the brief was), we had a different use of colour and the themes and values of our film were really different and out of the ordinary, the shots were in fact in really good focus however we can see in some shots that the definition and focus is really blurred but we found out that this is only due to the colours when they were placed onto the camera caused a type of block of the definition giving it a slightly blurred look. 

Doing my film again I would definitely decide to sellotape the colours red/blue together as we had someone holding them up lat time which caused them to be constantly moving/not still. The filter impacts the definition too much in my opinion, they worked well but really changes the whole focus of the film, to change this for net time I would probably add the filters on photoshop instead of holding them up onto the actual camera. I would also film a bit more to make the context a bit more understandable (it was meant t be unusual perspective so the narrative doesn't necessarily need to make perfect sense however I would like it to have more of a clear element to it).





Illusions 4 Hour Film - Wii


In this 4 hour film challenge we were given the idea to create a film using illusional aspects, in this one we decided to create a stop motion type of film of the world-renowned wii theme tune song so that on each 'beat' we had each of us change position or shape of something within the scene was different as well as all of us having to be completely still when something has been moved so that it created the illusional aspect to it.

I believe that the film worked specially well, I think it was entertaining and grabs the eye of the audience as it's using a very classic song and has elements of humour to it. It's got that random and quirky aspect to it and in a way it's extremely satisfying to watch that on every beat something within the scene changes. The placing of the camera was very good as it doesn't move throughout the whole film which is a good technique to only use one person on the camera (as it could potentially move if more than one person was to be in charge of filming. It was very time consuming to edit as you have to get it on exact beat and some were long and some were very short so I believe that it is done very well. I also think watching it back quite frequently the beats are mostly on time which also adds to the illusion.

I think if I were to do it again i would have made it a lot longer as it doesn't actually finish to the whole wii song, or instead of making it longer bring it to an end in some way by either adding some of the and the camera is actually slightly out of focus in most shots so i would probably change the settings to make it more defined if I had personally filmed it. Other than them few minor details I think it has a really good and grabbing narrative. 

1920'S 4 Hour Film - RUN


For this four hour film challenge we were asked to compose a film that would fit into the 1920's era. the 19020's era was full of silent and black and white films that had a narrative as such and actors making really big exaggerating moves (as there was no sound). In the expressionism way in which we had to film was obvious and I added things such as the classic silent film music and the overlay in black and white to make it look like the very early 1900's films.



I think my film went well as within the group it was my original idea to film the footage we did (the narrative) as well as being a main actress in the film, it has the scenic style and signature look of a typical 1920's film. It has a playful element to it which is entertaining for the audience, the different choices and varied shot types worked and the narrative makes sense and is all in a specific order which helps the audience to understand it more. 

If I were to film it again however, I know I would now add a lot more varied angles, maybe close ups of faces with very big expressions, a lot more planning to it and planning of the shots, I would also add a few more title screens to carry the narrative through out with the chaser saying things like 'I have something for you' etc, to keep the narrative in play. I would also play about more with the effects to add a bit more of a stop motion type feel to it as the cameras in the 19020's had slight jolts. Overall my film works well in the 1920's theme but if I were to redo it I would now have a better idea of the more stylistic composition of the actual frames and how the film was going to work.




Music Video 4 Hour Film - About You


For this four hour film challenge we were asked to compose a music video from the song About you - XXYYXX (Sina Sadeghi Remix). We could interpret the song however we wanted and the challenge was to use a lot of stock footage to make the video. 

I was inspired heavily by the works of Koyaanisqatsi who uses beautiful scenes of the environment and then compares them to the city scenes now and how evolution of the world is ruining these beautiful climates. All of my footage was from the website pexels and I created the illusion using the different footages how man has changed the landscapes by creating these environmental damages. 
I think my film works well in the scenes it shows a drastic change and i created an illusion that changes on the exact beats. If i were to redo this challenge I would probably create more interesting slides to look at with more words as all of it is mainly just similar types of stock footage. I love the transition from each landscape where its got a kind of glitchy delusion feel. 

Elements of Cinematography

Cinematography
In cinematography, composition refers to the frame of the image and how the elements of the mis-en-scene appear in it. Composition guidelines must be observed when telling stories visually, as in filmmaking. Useful conventions are applied to make heroes stronger, villain ominous, generate anxiety, give the audience tranquility.

Lead Room

If a character is looking frame left, then he should be placed frame right. This makes the framing comfortable because the subject is looking at the open space in front of him. This open space is called lead room or lead space.If the actors were frame left, looking frame left, then the empty space would be behind them. This doesn't feel right because they would be looking at the edge of the frame. The proximity to the frame would generate a claustrophobic undertone that could upset some viewers.

Notice that when two shots of two actors in different sides of the screen are intercut together, the audience surmises that the actors are looking to one another, regardless of where they are.

Rule of Thirds

Another basic composition principle is called Rule of Thirds. To follow it, one must imagine the frame with two vertical lines and two horizontal lines, as to create three vertical sections of the same dimensions and three vertical sections also of the same size. The result is something like this:

The intersections of the lines are points of interest, where important objects are often placed. These points of interest are comfortable to the eye, thus the middle portion of the frame are kept "empty" or clear.

Filmmaker's Insight

Filmmakers, like any other group of artists, like to break rules. The guidelines here are just some basic concepts that any cinematographer or camera operator should know. In some circumstances, however, it's okay to stray away from these rules. 

Overlooking the norm is acceptable with motivation and purpose. With practice, you should be able to conceptualise extraordinary compositions and make them work in your favour. Consider Static Composition. Compositions with the majority of lines being horizontal or vertical are called Static Composition. In theory, horizontal and vertical lines are somewhat soothing, calm, tranquil.

REFERENCES
http://www.elementsofcinema.com/cinematography/composition.html

Research - The Development Of Editing Technology

Research the development of editing technology

include mention of;
-Early editing - cutting
-Moviola
-Flatbed Edit Suites
-Linear and Non-linear editing
-Online and Offline editing
-The digital Era (CMX-600, Edit Droid And Avid 1)
-Modern editing platforms (Final Cut, Premiere Pro)
-Film and file types

Include mention of key texts affected by the developments in technology. You must include videos and images that help illustrate your answers


Early Editing - Cutting

Early editing involved cutting down film negatives and placing them in order, it then went through a machine called the Moviola or the K.E.M. A Moviola is a device that allows a film editor to view the film while editing. It was fthe first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by Iwan Serrurier in 1924.

The Lumiere Brothers started it all off un 1895, they invented cinematography, it was a three way machine that recorded, captured and projected a motion picture. The work they produced only consisted of one long roll of film, a continuous shot. This means that they had to film everything in order as it took long amounts of time to cut and sew the film together this is why you can see in some of their films the mistakes they'd made that they had to keep in the film due to not having the advances editing technology that we have today such as premiere pro and final cut.


Moviola
A Moviola is a device that allows a film editor to view a film while editing. It was the first machine for motion picture editing when it was invented by Iwan Serrurier in 1924.


Flatbed Edit Suites
A prism reflects the images onto a screen, and a magnetic playback head reads the audio tracks. The most common flatbed editors are the six-plate which has one picture transport, two sound transports, and the eight-plate, which has two picture and two sound transports.



Linear Editing
Linear video editing is a video editing post-production process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined, ordered sequence.


Non-Linear Editing
Non-destructive editing is a form of audio, video, and image editing in which the original content is not modified in the course of editing; instead the edits are specified and modified by specialized software.
Non-linear video editing is achieved by loading the video material into a computer from analogue or digital tape.



Offline And Online Editing
Online and offline editing is very common in TV and other media projects which they hardly mentioned in film because of the blurred boundaries. 

Offline editing is actually a rough or draft cut of the project by editing a low-quality footage together, so the main editor and possibly director could get ideas for the final cut. Another role for an offline editor is to create an edit decision list (EDL) which is similar to log sheets (a list of shots). It is very important because once the offline editors done a list of the shots they put in a rough cut, the online editor would follow and make changes in order to edit a final cut. Offline editors can also make creative decisions; shots, cuts, dissolves, fades, etc.

Online editing is a final cut of the project by editing a high quality footage together. Online editors would reconstruct the final cut based on the EDL, created by the offline editors. They will add visual effects, lower third titles, and apply colour correction. I noticed that the reason the offline editing has to be done first is because it is cheaper to use in a long period of time in contrast to online editing.

The Digital Era 

CMX-600
A CMX-600 is the first non-linear video editing system. This system was first introduced in 1971 by CMX Systems, a joint collaboration between CBS and Memorex. CMX referred to it as a "RAVE", or a Random Access Video Editing. 
CMX was formed as a joint venture between CBS and Memorex. There goal was to produce a revolutionary new offline video editing system. This system stored the video on computer disks, which provided instant access to both picture and sound, and the ability to make, and see, changes in real time.

This new systems was called a Random Access Video Editor (R.A.V.E). Adrian Ettlinger, of CBS, provided the concept for the new system, and Memorex, then heavily involved in data recording, provided the disk recording technology.
Complete control of the editing process was done with a Light Pen. The editing console (pictured above) housed two black and white monitors. The monitor on the right was used by the editor to select scenes, select cut points, and to control playback. All this was done by clicking on parts of the screen.

The left hand monitor showed the edited sequence. You could at any time play the sequence, forward, or backward, and at a variety of speeds.
 
Edit Droid
The Edit Droid i a computerised analog NLE (non-linear system), which was developed by Lucas film spin-off company, the Droid Works and Convergence Corporation who formed a joint venture company. The company existed up through the mid-80's to the early 90's in an attempt to move from analog editing methods to digital. Edit droid debuted at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 62nd Annual meeting in Las Vegas in 1984 concurrent with another editing tool that would compete with the Edit Droid for all its years in production, the Montage Picture Processor. The Edit Droid was never a commercial success and after the close of The Droid Works in 1987 and subsequent redevelopment of the product for seven years, the software was eventually sold to Avid Technology in 1993.


AVID 1

Avid Technology is an American technology and multimedia company founded in August 1987 by Bill Warner, based in Burlington, Massachusetts. It specialises in audio and video; specifically, digital non-linear editing (NLE) systems, management and distribution services.

Avid products are now used in the television and video industry to create television shows, feature films and commercials. Media Composer, a professional software-based non-linear editing system is Avid's flagship product.

Avid was founded by a marketing manager from Apollo Computer, Bill Warner. A prototype of their first digital non-linear editing system (the Avid 1) was shown in a private suite at the National Association of Broadcasters convention April 1988. The Avid 1 was based on the Apple macintosh 11 computer, with special hardware and software of Avid's own design installed.

Final Cut Pro
Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia Incorporative and later by Apple incorporative. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro X 10.4.6, runs on Intel-based Mac computers powered by MacOS High Sierra or later. The software allows users to log and transfer video onto a hard drive (internal or external), where it can be edited, processed, and output to a wide variety of formats. The fully rewritten Final Cut Pro X was introduced by Apple in 2011.

Since the early 2000s, Final Cut Pro has developed a large and expanding user base, mainly video editors and independent filmmakers. It had also made connections with film and television editors who have traditionally used Avid Technology's Media Composer. According to a 2017 study, Final Cut Pro made up 49% of the US professional editing market, with Avid at 22%. A published survey in 2008 by the American Cinema Editors Guild placed their users at 21% Final Cut Pro (and growing from previous surveys of this group), while all others were on an Avid system of some kind.



Premiere Pro
Adobe Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing app developed by Adobe Systems and published as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud licensing program. First launched in 2003, Adobe Premiere Pro is a successor of Adobe Premiere (first began in 1991). It is geared towards professional video editing, while its sibling, Adobe Premiere Elements is targeted towards the consumer market.


REFERENCES
http://www.vtoldboys.com/editingmuseum/cmx600.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EditDroid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avid_Technology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Cut_Pro

HNC Enrolment Task - Easy Rider

HNC Enrolment task clip from 'Easy Rider'

Conduct textual analysis on the following scene from Easy Rider (1969):

Explain how the text has been constructed to create meaning:

clip link : https://youtu.be/SDAdzb9IeGU

The film plot line entrails two hippies travelling America on motorbikes, they constantly have an intake of drugs within the movie(and supposedly the actors were using real drugs at the time). Earlier on in the film someone they travelled with gave them the LSD(acid) and told them to take it when they were at 'the right place', so they decided that that was the perfect time to trip. Initially the opening shot to the first clip I would say is a mid shot as they are all sitting down, the first take is 56 seconds before the first jump cut which is extremely long for a shot but helps to take the viewers on to the story which makes the scene seem much more powerful as they are experiencing the entire story from one perspective. The first jump cut inserted is a quick second interval of the rundown cemetery building they are in front of which is the start of where their minds start to drift from taking the mysterious drug. They are each shown in different clothes, the two boys wearing typical 'hippie' type clothing and the two women dressed what would of been named as scandalous back in the 60's. All four of them however are shown to be easily influenced and all enjoy the use of recreational drug and alcohol abuse shown in the clip as they pass a bottle of it round and one man pictured to be smoking. There wasn't a major proposition for health back in the 60's as everyone smoked and drank as if it were the norm back then hippies smoked marijuana, kids in ghettos pushed heroin, and Timothy Leary(Harvard professor), urged the world to try LSD. Hence in popular imagination, the 1960's were the heyday of illegal drug use - however historical data indicate they probably weren't.
As Peter offers out the LSD the women question 'what is that?' and 'what do you do with it?' suggesting their lack of education in drugs but also suggesting the fact that it tustve been a new wave drug or just in that area people wee unknown to its recreational use.
The ambient diegetic sound in the background being a continuous monotonous sound like a train chugging along on a track, the sound could signify a heartbeat as it is consistent and uninterrupted up until 1.46s where the beat comes to a sudden stop.
The montage begins with a gradual jump cut, a voice of god type voiceover and things are said such as 'creator of heaven and earth, was crucified, died and was buried, he descended into hell' which makes these biblical connotations seem very eerie and sinister when confronted with the meaning of them for this scene as they are in a graveyard filming.
then as the LSD is slowly immersed into their systems the editing mimics this by increasing in pace while its getting faster and faster the montage becomes more daunting as we start to see them naked sprawled in the graveyard and other varied shot types which try to make the audience feel uneasy as the producers are trying to imitate their visions and trips to the audience. The varied shot types, and the fast pace of it creates a very hallucinogenic view for the audience to almost see it through their eyes the randomised shots and quite dark meanings.

The statue Peter is filmed holding onto while he implores 'shut up' proposes to the audience he is hallucinating/having a bad trip he is pictured at around 1:58 in five different shots all exactly the same length and focus, just changing his position showing his demise. I also read somewhere that when Peter is holding the statue, that director Dennis Hopper had asked Peter to talk to the statue as if he were talking to his mother who had committed suicide at ten years old, Peter had refused to do it as he had never formally confronted his feelings about his mother's death. However Hopper had insisted on it which is why you hear Peter call the statue 'Mother', and he states that he both loves her and hates her, which expressed his conflicted emotions. This scene in fact persuaded Bob Dylan to allow the use of his song "It's Alright Ma" in one of the final scenes, which contains lyrics referencing suicide, Peter told Dylan, "I need to hear those words" as Dylan has agreed to its use.
Which entrails that it wasn't in fact acting and that he had actually had an emotional breakdown in the scene thinking about how his mothers suicide affected him which now knowing that information creates much more significance and desolation. Some of the weird lighting effects in the LSD scene also came about because a can of film was accidentally exposed when it was opened before being developed.

Unit 31 Editing