Music Video Construction

The programme we used to create and construct our music video was Final cut express on the Apple Mac. On this we edited footage that we took for our music video over the past few weeks.

In order to begin editing the music video , we had to make sure that the footage we took was converted to a MP4 file, otherwise known as Quick time. To bring the footage on to Final Cut they had to be imported similar, to other programmes through pressing file, import then choosing the folder or files.

After listening to the intro of the song and the length of it, we decided to use fireworks at the start, this way we would engage the audience from the beginning. After looking through the fireworks we found one video which contained a section that didn’t look like conventional fireworks due to it being filmed as a extreme close up. Also while listening to the song, and how there are distinct beats in the intro we wanted to edit the footage to complement this and therefore emphasising the that it is the start of the song. The first thing that needed to be done was cutting the image using the blade tool to fit the length of the intro.

Before the cutting the image, it had to be rendered this was signalled through the two red lines, the first line represented the video and the second was for the audio.

We repeatedly had to use the blade tool in this process to get the section that we needed. After doing so , to get the effect we needed we had to copy the edited footage by selecting the video, pressing edit then copy and paste.

Stages of editing the intro

After putting the videos side by side, we thought we should an atransition, to the make the videos flow together seamlessly. While trialling different video transitions we came across a cross dissolve which effectively executed what we envisioned.

Also throughout the video we used cross dissolving with videos of fireworks to the scene involving the actors, this allowed us to evoke feelings and emotion and emphasis in each scene. As fireworks can represent different feelings, such as passion, love, anger we used this as a way to captivate the audience. We done this at the start of the music video, because we show images that reflect different aspects of there relationship.

One of first thing we did on final cut was adding the song Katy B ‘Broken record’ on the time line. As you can see that the audio and videos were separated on different time lines, the video on top and audio underneath, this was helpful as this allowed us by using the lock buttons on the side to lock either the audio or footage so it wouldn't be affective it were to cut the footage if needed whether the duration was too long etc.

This is used in general to select and move clips

Blade tool, cut videos

Roll tool

This tool cropped videos

Slip tool

Zoom in and zoom out tool.

Pen tool

This tool is the select track forward tool.

Edit selection tool

Tools on Final Cut Express

We used the cutting tool a lot, in the process of editing our music video as it helped us to use specific parts of the clips/footage needed and to discard parts of the clips we didn’t feel was needed to be included to our video, this also allowed us to piece different clips together which where either a retake or of the same shot.

When we added video’s to final cuts we had to render them we had to do this at 2 main places. 1) when we added them to the timeline . 2) when we added an effect to them to make them work when playing them. To render the clips you had to go on the tab ‘Sequence’ then click on Render only ‘Needs render’ if it was the video that specially need to be edited or ‘Render all’ if the music and video clip that need to be rendered.

To the intro we had to add text to resemble a professional music video this included, the name of the artist Katy B and the song titled ‘on a mission’, we were able to place the text on top of the footage of the fireworks. As you can see from the image on the left that this was made possible because the timeline enables us to put different videos on separate layers. This wasn’t the only piece of text we added to the music video; because of the frequent scenes of fireworks that could be considered as flashing lights it was necessary for us to issue a warning at the start. By looking at other music videos that involve a warning at the start, we discovered that the warning usually happens before the music starts. To make our media product as realistic as possible we would have to the same, so we added the text at the beginning a moved the song forward so it would begin at the same time as the visual intro

The bridge of the song, is apart of the song where it slows down compared to the usually up tempo beat, to reflect the tone in this area we used less, edits and footage. After finding the place where the video fitted we realised that the length of the bridge and the video would be too long to keep the audience engaged, therefore we split the video up by adding a clip that reflected the lyrics. To accomplish this was simple, as like previously we imported the video, then used the blade tool to cut the part of the clip we needed. While using final cut we noticed by putting a overlapping the footage on a time line the video will automatically cut, in this instance we could use technique as it allowed us to cut the video exactly in the place we needed.

When placing video’s of the artist singer onto our video we had to this very carefully to make sure that the lip syncing fitted into the song correctly. For us to do it successfully we had to play the track repeatedly and carefully edge the song along the timeline to make sure the artist singing fitted in with the audio playing at the time to make sure they were sync together perfectly. As our video has quite a bite of lip syncing we had to repeat this process a few times.

After placing the video where it required to be, and watching it by pressing the play, we became aware that we needed to add a transition in order for the edited footage to be connected, and flow seamlessly. The transition that achieved the desired effect was cross dissolve. As you can see from the screen shot on the right, this finished outcome, the cross dissolve aided a smooth transition.

Cross dissolves were frequently used throughout our Music Video, this is because it created a sense of connection between each scene of our music video. This was essential especially in our music video as it contains two different tenses, Past and present. And cross dissolves help’s to

create a connection , between them giving our video a more professional outlook.

Cross dissolves also helped to connect the narrative sense with

the performance and abstract sense of our video, keeping our

video’s flowing throughout.

To create a sense of connection, we flashed between clips, this was effective as it captured the audiences attention and also, it filled in blank space in our video. We used

this technique when showing the ‘narrative’ when the boy and girl character where playing around or talking flicked between the ‘girl’ aka the artist singing to the lyrics of the

song.

To establish pass and present events in our music video we frequently used video filters to gain a black and white, as we learned from researching that this is used to represent flashbacks. To add video filters onto the footage, the video had to be selected then by clicking on effects we found video filters. However, when looking at the video filters the options were not clearly stated as greyscale, therefore this lead us to experiment with different filters to find the correct one. After doing so, we discovered the filter in image control, which was called tint.

When actually filming our music video we made sure we had a range of camera angles and costume changes, so that we could flick between different angles throughout our video to keep

the stimulus of our video flowing. Therefore capturing the audience attention. And also giving our music video a more professional flare, we did this clearly at the first chorus where the actor lip syncing in the studio on a side view of her face, whereas for the second part of the chorus a

mid shot is use, the different camera angles helps to express different emotions to the audience

For this video we used it to connect the second chorus and bridge to the song, to this we added a glow and tint which were both in video filters and in image control. Having the tint on the fireworks, allowed it link with the effect of the chorus as well as transitioning to the footage which was in full colour.

On this footage we used a different video filter in comparison to the other videos we edited. This filter was called echo, this gave the video of the person a ghost like effect, this was used to demonstrate that now she's lost her partner, she's losing her self. Not to mention, we did further editing on this clip, this involved cutting small sections of the footage out then putting them together which in turn changes the effect and speeds the walking scene up to relate to the songs.

On the last part of our music video we played a large amount of attention on the speed of our footage, as we wanted each main aspect, Narrative features, ‘Fireworks and heart animation’ to fit in with the tempo. As at the end of the video, the music speed up at first, and then slowed down we wanted to resemble the audio. We had to adjust the speeding of our footages, so they would fit in with the beat of the track. We did this mainly with the fireworks as we wanted them to go disperse at beat of the song, in which was a form of syncing. This technique therefore giving our video a more professional finish to the audience. During this we also added colouring effects to intensify the firework, in either black and white, or in colour to fit into the theme’s to represent the intenseness of the break up. A

Getting the footage of the heart on the final cut was done through windows movie maker. Firstly , we drew the heart then took pictures of it at each stage of completing it. Then we imported the images onto the programme, and put each individual heart on the storyboard, shown to the right. However, playing the footage we realised that the length of heart was too long so we didn’t get the desired each. To shorten the duration of each heart we had to change the storyboard to timeline, on here we could shorten or widen the clip by moving the arrows.

At this stage we wanted to test different transitions and effects and see which achieved the best suited look for our music video. The transition that we ended up using was the fade as it connected which image together and made it seem as though the footage was originally that way, to add the fade we had to put it on the arrow. After doing this we added a effect, because in our music video he had fireworks, as well as black and white footage, we trialled greyscale, however the filter did not feel suited to the video, this lead us to finding an effect that emulated the fireworks because of the bright explosion of colours.

In order to put the video on final cut it had to be published by clicking this option above.

After publishing the movie, we had to covert it to an mp4 file in order for us to import it on Final Cut express. When the video was placed on final cut, we cut the footage into different sections to position them in between different clips which included flash backs etc.

In the last part of our music video we interlink abstract themes to the narrative feature’s to create a more upbeat approach to our video. By this we used different effects to give our video a more up tempo appearance. By this I mean we added, a contrast in colours this was shown through several aspects, 1) the fireworks (representing the girls heart break), Whilst editing this we used the glow effect to intensify the colour of the fireworks, we also slowed down/Speeded up the timing of the fireworks to make them react to the beat of the song giving a connection between the audio and the imagery and also creating a contrast between the past ‘Black and white footage’. 2) We used stop animation to create a heart breaking, on this we edited the image to flash various colours which again contrast on the black and white footage and also with the fireworks as the heart was given the effect on which it continuously changed colour, this also connecting to the tempo of the music.

The text message saying “it’s over” plays a large role in our music video as it symbols the themes of the break up. As shots of the phone are cleverly plotted amongst several clips of our music video. At the end of the music video, we though we should express the theme head on to the audience, by this we put the phone showing the text message right at the end of our video.

Although the shot may have been similar to this featured before in our video we changed the edit so that the zoom was reversed to create a sense of a backwards storyline.