To prepare for making the music video we have done various practical exercises to learn the fundamental elements of Music Video making
EDITING to the beat and variation of shots- The Animal Music Video by Amena- Devine
We were given a range of camera footage and asked to make a music video using final cut. I’ve never used final cut before so I thought it would be hard but to my surprise I had a lot of fun.
Mastering final cut for me was very easy and there was a lot of shortcuts that I used e.g. to cut camera footage you can press ‘B’ as a blade tool and to use the arrow tool you press ‘A’. The precised blade tool allows you to cut the footage exactly where you want to and if you do happen to make a mistake you have the safety of knowing that the full clip is still stored in the library on the programme and on the actual timeline if you just drag and extend the end of the clip. There are different segments on the timeline which means you can edit more than one clip at a time with less clutter and confusion, this helped a lot as I was able to edit the video twice as fast as I did when we did the Busted swede.
When you are editing, sometimes the clips are too small to cut it precisely at the point you want, however, with this software it contains a precision editor so you can make the clips larger just so you can see what you are doing. It shows you exactly what your cutting bringing up the unused and used footage of that specific clip. If you want, you can even bring it up on both screens of the final cut just to be sure and to see it properly, if one isn’t enough. The library sorts out all clips into alphabetical order which allows your footage to be organised and so you don’t lose anything. You can also put all the special effects onto your clips with Final cut which means we don’t need to worry about special effects when shooting our footage for our media music video. It was hard matching the music with the visuals.
This music video was an upbeat song which meant a lot of footage cuts so it looked as good as it sounded. Editing this video made me see how hard it is just to make a music video let alone filming one. There is so much you have to consider, from the relationship between lyrics and visuals to the genre characteristics to the different ways to promote/sell the artists. Another thing I learnt with this task was having more camera footage than you need is better than not having enough camera footage as the music video I made only lasted 1 minute 30 seconds.
The storyboard also contributes to being organised for your music video as if you plan and have an accurate storyboard you will get all your footage you plan to have. There were a various amount of camera shots in the camera footage: Extreme close ups. Close ups, two-shots, low and high angle shots and establishing shots. Using a range of shots made this video look much better and it wasn’t boring as there were different shots that came up on the screen every 5-8 seconds. This made me see that making and editing a music video will be hard but it is going to be a fun challenge! We just have to be very organised, have a clear storyboard and work as a team and also consider Andrew Goodwins theory on the aspects of our music video.
PLANNING in detail and working with large groups
Busted Swede by Idowu Kukoyi
Whilst filming the 'Busted' swede as group, many issues came about. Organisation was the major issues, shoots were not organised well enough and our actors were unaware on what to do. Casting was not done effectively as people who were assigned to be the main group were not up for it. If we were to film the Busted swede again I would plan effectively, story board idea week before filming, cast actors who would be willing to perform in our video. From this it is important that their is someone to control and overseas the filming, as whilst filming people became restless, which made the pace in which we were filming slower. Lastly a portable music player that is loud enough for the crew to hear. This experience has given me a greater understanding of being organised and casting the right people, which I hope will contribute to the making of our music video.
FILMING and EDITING Creativity and lip syncing
ABC Video by Haddi Jallow
We were split into three groups for the filming of ABC, every group was designated a part from the song, in which they had to be creative and come up with something that wasn't in the actual music video. I learnt the importance of lip syncing and you cannot just mime the words, but you do actually have to sing it otherwise there is no emphasis. Editing the lip syncing was quite difficult, because there were times when the music was faster than the person actually singing, and it did look quite messy. Filming the video was quite difficult as well, because shoots weren't organised and not everyone knew what to do. Not having a storyboard at shoots can be very difficult, because it is difficult to explain to the actors what you want them to be doing and what. Filming and editing the ABC video has made me aware of how difficult it is to make a music video, it has taught me that organisation and communication are a key skill in succesfully producing a music video, as well as, turning up to shoots with the actual storyboard.
