Final Cut #2 (Finished Music Video)

(editing - Rosie)

Final Cut #1 Feedback:

After finishing our first final cut we posted it on numerous social media websites to gain feed back from other people outside of our media class. Below are some of the comments made on facebook:

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  Toni Fryer really great video, well done girlsss 

  16 April at 12:45 · Unlike · 1
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  Helen Acton Love the change from b/w to colour ☆ really suggests cold and warmth, and v nice editing ☆ to sync with the single notes of the song..mwah mwah 

  16 April at 12:53 · Unlike · 1
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  Roshni Kanabar Great video!! really well edited! very #Profesh xxx

  16 April at 13:10 · Unlike · 1
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  Katie Jamson love this! the transitions between scenes really fits with the music and the pan shots are fabulous. Black and white compliments the percussion and tones of the music. The editing is fantastic and it has excellent quality of filming! Brilliant! 

  16 April at 13:14 · Unlike · 1
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  Sam Byrne Some good composition and effective camera angles and effects. Black and white to colour is also effective to give the impression of cold, opressive atmosphere to warm and welcoming.
  Good job!

  17 April at 18:09 · Like

We also shared it through twitter and these are some of the responses we got:

Becky tweeted:
"the bit with the girls dancing and the part were you filmed people walking about in town were both really good!"

Katrina tweeted:
"I watched this earlier, ridiculously good! Enjoyed it so much "

Hayley Tweeted:
"this is wicked! Cheeky snap of Sophie in there! And my 'cousin' ruby was dancing, well done!"

Chelsea tweeted:
"omg that's amazing!!!!"


Additionally to this we sent it to a friend who is currently studying media in america and this is what he had to say about our video:

"Good song choice! Love Birdy
okkk the video, I like that it's in black and white for most of it and it goes well with the song. the use of fades is really effective as well, maybe some of the other shots that don't have fades would look better if they fade to have continuityI really liked the scenes with the dancers and the shots were well framed

I thought it was really clever when it bled into colour at the end but I think the start would look better in b&w rather than colour.
I really liked the shots focused on the singer and the dancers, but some of the shots of just people were a bit dull and didn't have a lot of context, maybe more shots of trees and the environment might be nice, some shots of the sea possibly, but overall it's fabulous!"



(work by rosie)

Broadcaster research - MTV

When publishing music videos to the public, music videos are normally shown on music video channels in order to promote the artist, song and record label. Usually large companies such as MTV are used who have rights in all areas of the music business and broadcast internationally. MTV would by the broadcaster of our chose if we were to promote our music video as this broadcaster is aimed at the under 30's, which covers our target audience of people in their late teens and early twenties. As MTV promote internationally, our music video would be shown globally therefore gaining more promotion which leads to more sales. MTV is also the parent company of other types of music channels such as MTV hits, MTV base, MTV classics, MTV rocks and MTV dance, meaning the music video can be also promoted on these channels as well especially as Birdy is Folk, Indie Folk, Indie Pop and Indie Rock. 

Research: Hannah

Transitions Research

(Research: Hannah) 

Specific music video research

We then also looked into more music videos which focus on the journey, particularly with multiple walking shots. The Verve- Bitter Sweet Symphony, showcases exactly this, with the lead singer miming to the song whilst walking down a busy street. The music video location is particularly urban, shown by the shutters of the shops, the road sign and multiple people walking. We will use this urban mis en scene in our music video, as both the Birdy video and the verve video incorporate this. We will use the high street as our 'urban setting'. 

The location shots in Sinead O'Connor- Nothing Compares 2 U are also something we would like to use as inspiration, particularly the use of the water which is reflective and matches the theme of our song. The video also shows images of the lead walking through the park which we will try to recreate. 

As we plan to change our video from black and white to colour, we researched into music videos which were mainly in black and white. There were many videos which used this feature yet limited ones which changed to colour. We found the scripts- If you could see me now as this used both colour and black and white in the final cut. The black and white is inter-changed throughout the video, rather than the black and white changing to colour as we are interested in trying to achieve. We do, however, we do like the fact that the colour is used symbolically, during times of happiness which we also want to use.  

As we were interested in initially incorporating dance into our music video. We struggled to find a dance video which used a soft ballad rather than a full dance to a club song. We settled for Pink- Try as this used the contemporary dance which we liked. The music video uses a vary of angles when shooting, which makes the overal look dynamic. The music video also has other features other than dancing, meaning we can also add a narrative which seems to be a usual choice for most music videos. We will have to look further into the dance filming as the sequence will have to be choreographed around the camera to ensure fluidity.  


Research: Hannah 

Final Cut #1

Here is the final cut of our music video.
We plan to post it on social networking sights to get constructive criticism's of it and to see what other peoople, who have not followed our project, think of it.

Many different filming sesstions were carried out to complete this and to get all the footage of what was needed. After we had filmed all we needed to, I then went through all of our footage and edited it all togetehr.

I tried to edit as I went along so it wasn't all left down to the last minute. This really helped me edit it as it also meant that we coule correct filming errors as we went along and refilmed things. I did all the editing in Serif Movie Plus because it gives alot of editing options that other programmes such a Windows Movie Maker do not.

Second time filming the dancers

Finished First Draft

Here is the final edited film that I edited from footage from multiple shoots. This is only our first draft but it has helped us decide what we still need to do and gives us a better idea on the strengths and weakness's of our video.

After finishing this final cut we sat down as a group and combined with the input of our teacher we have come up with the following strengths and weakness's.

Weakness's
- It appears she is walking to much. We need to try to make it seem as she is walking for a purpose. The purpose is of course to get to the field and perform the last section of the song. But this does not come across very well.
- At the first section of our music video where she is singing into the camera it does not give the right feel we were going for. We aimed to make it seem as she is singing aimlessly, almost mumbling but it is very clear she is singing out and performing. Because of this we will re-film but from a slightly different angle so that the camera is further behind her but can still see her lips moving.

- In the intro when the film cuts between close ups of flowers. It works well but when it starts to cut between the waterfall we see the same effect and it starts to become tedious. Because of this we will try to find something else to be here
-Since filming the dancers we have really sat down and worked out how to film them properly. This includes almost filming move by move to make sure we get good cuts. This has all steamed from the poor quality of the filming we currently have of them.
- We also need to think about introducing the dancers earlier in the video to make them fit better, we are considering seeing them physically bump into the lead.
- In the final section of the video we see the lead singing into the camera. This is framed completely wrong and will need to rethought.

Strength's
- Good Continuity
- The shaking at the start of the music video and the clips of the everyday people link well.
- Rule of thirds used well throughout apart from final section.
- The introduction of color as the music volume increases is good.
-The tracking shot of the normal, everyday people works really well. It was filmed while being on a bus so we plan to alter the technique slightly so we can control how fast we go by using a car instead.

Update on Progress

After the Christmas holidays we have got together and looked at what we still need to do. We have been set some deadlines by our teachers which are as follows.

End of January - We must have completed our first full draft of our music video. This will not be finished and may need some re-shooting and more editing in places but will have the bulk of the video and will have no gaps, running smoothly.
End of February - We must have completed our final draft. There maybe time to go back and iron out a few issues after we have finished everything else but the idea is that by the start of March we must have moved onto the auxiliary tasks.
End of March - We must have finished the auxiliary tasks in full.
End of April - During April we will do the evaluation questions, and depending on how quickly we get them finished we will go back to our music video and iron out any little problems. However, by the end of April we must have finished the entirety of our coursework and have handed it all in.

Also at this group meeting we arranged a few more filming sessions in the up and coming weeks.

Changing The Leads Outfit

Originally we envisioned the lead wearing a white skaters dress, a black bowler hat and coat, and a red scarf. 

However, having gone to the pier and started filming we started to find a few issues. 

Above is a picture from out first filming session, as you can see the coat looks too bulky and goes against the sleek, smooth, feminine, angelic look we were going for. Because of this we had to review what we had chosen as clothes. 

Despite the cold weather, we decided to remove the coat while we filmed for the second time as well as changing her shoes from clumpy books to light weight canvas shoes. 

Below is her final look. You can see we have removed the coat and the light weight shoes. We think this really helps us achieve the more feminine look we were aiming for. 

As we are filming outside, on a windy pier in the middle of winter we make sure we always have someone there with extra layers of clothes for the model to warm up in between shots. 

First draft of First Section of Music Video

This is the first draft for our first section of the video. We still need to re-shoot at Hall Place but to get a better idea of where we're going I put this together as a first attempt.

Second time filming at Erith Pier

After the first shoot at Erith Pier we decided we needed to go back and change things while re-shooting. We changed her clothes, her hair, her shoes, we made her make-up more bold and we brought a speaker so we could play the music to the song out loud during the lip-syncing shots. All four of us attended as we filming during the afternoon.





The camera we were using was Cannon Legria FS306. we used a tripod to help up get a steady shot. A advantage of this tripod is that you can turn it around gentle to gain a smoother pan shot.
























This is the outfit we can see her in. We kept the same dress but removed the coat as well as adding the hat. We also changed the shoes and restyled the hair.







It was a freezing cold day but Katie managed to power through in just a summer dress and two pairs of clear tights. We would set up the shots with her in a coat and scarf and then get her to take it off just as we start to film. As soon as that take was done we would then wrap her back up again.



During the sections of filming where Katie was supposed to be lip syncing I had to stand behind her, just out of shot, with my iPod playing the song out loud so that we could fit the song to her lips easier. You can see this in the Gif on the left. You can also see me holding her coat for when we finish the shot so she can warm up as quickly as possible.

First Bits of Filming at Erith

This is the first bits of filming on Erith Pier. These kind of clips will go at the start of the music video, during the first verse. I was unable to attend the filming due to a work commitment but together Hannah, Katie and Danielle used a number of different techniques, such as the rule of thirds and the golden hour filming.

After I edited these clips we got together as a group and reviewed the footage. We have seen a number of improvements we need to take into account when filming next. These are:
- We need Katie (the model) to walk slower.
- We are changing the clothing she is wearing. We think the coat is to heavy and goes against the mood we are trying to create. Further more we think we need to look over what shoes to have her in, her current shoes are black thick boots and it again goes against the mood we are striving for.
- We are also going to try out other methods to pan as the way we are currently using does not work very well as it is bumpy and jumpy.
- Also from edited the pieces I have discovered that we require her to sing along to the music when we want to lip-sync. This is so that her lips move in time perfectly with the music.

First pieces of edited footage

Having had our first bits of filming to play around with I started to play around while editing them. I have then arranged them into different sections so we could each easily write about them.

Section A - Animal Life.
These animal shots were taken in Hall Place. Due to the environment most of the wildlife consists of water birds such a geese. The clips by the river are very shaky as we forgot to bring the tripod. However, we can still see potential in these to be used during the first half of the video. While I was editing these pieces I noticed that just cutting from clip to clip was often harsh on the eye and so added in fades. However, we do not plan to use fades in our final piece. Because of this I think its important to clearly think out the layout of each clip so it is not such a big jump from one clip to another. My favorite clip in this section is of the birds flying, but to be able to sue this kind of shot in our music video we would have to be careful of the surroundings as in this clip we have a lamppost come into shot which we would not want in the final cut.

Section B - Leaves.
This is a short sequence about how we could assemble our different clips and angles within our music video. While filming we shot this single action of dropping a leaf many times from many different angles and here i have tried to utilize that as best as i can to show the journey of the leaf. This kind of clip would fit nicely into the middle and ending section of our video.

Section C - Hugging.
Similarly to Section B, we filmed this actin of hugging from many different angles and I have carefully selected which angle to go in what order so that ti appears the camera is moving around the couple and slowly getting further away from them. You will also notice that on the final transition I have created a  fade. I did this to show that time has passed since the last clip, as a way of explaining why they have moved from a rather still position on the bench to a more animated motion of walking away form the camera. This kind of clip would be used within the first section of our music video.

Section D - Every Day People
This section was hard to shot as we tried to do it with people knowing we were filming them as they would act different. The first clip is of a man shutting down his shop. We thought this important to film as it is a every day activity that you wouldn't normally notice. Next is a man briskly walking along the road in a leather jacket with his hands tucked in the pockets. We thought this would be a good idea to film as it leaves you wondering why he is in a hurry and if he is cold which will add to the melancholy feel of our music video.

Steadicam Research

This is some research that Hannah has done. I have put into a prezi. From this research we now feel that have a found a way around the problem we were having with shaking while filming,

Vlog of the first filming session.

This is a Vlog of our first ever day filming. Many issues occurred during the day but we did our best to carry on, the video follows us around and shows examples of shots we have taken. There will be another video uploaded at a later date where the footage we got has been edited and would be ready to go into our music video if we choose to use it. 

On the day myself, Katie and Hannah were present as Danielle was busy. 

Research about how to film Contemporary Dance

Alleviate.
Alleviate are a dance duo from the show Got to Dance. They did contemporary dance very similar to the type we are going to be doing. Things we have seen from looking at how they have been filmed includes the way that the camera tracks her as she runs across the stage. Furthermore, when they are both moving in the same direction the camera with cut to a shot where the dancers are moving towards them. Another technique we can see being used is having a very close up shot on a intimate moment followed by a shot from a large distance, as if the camera doesn't want to intrude on the moment. 

Billy & Kathryn.
Billy & Kathryn were also on a television show designed o showcase different types of dancing. In there dance the camera started by circling them, this is done because the dance starts with a intimate m moment. In this piece the camera also follows him and has very close up moments during a moments stillness in the dance followed by a much wider shot. During the final sequence of the dance we see the camera cut further and further away from them. I believe this is done to show the camera retracting from watching. 

Natalli and Vincent.
During this dance the main technique used are the way the camera shots to make her seem like the dominant, larger figure over him. This is done by camera shots and clever setting of the dance. Another aspect of filming that is looked at during this dance that it is not looked at in nay of the others we have looked at is the idea that the camera acts as if it can feel what the pair are doing too. For example, when she pushes him the camera tilts to show the dizzy effect he is feeling at the time.

Research for Type of shot

Having done this research we now feel more confident about the types of shots we want to use within our music video. We plan to use Point of views at the beginning of our music video as well as at odd moments within the middle and ending sections. We thing a pan shot would be good but hard to do so if we can find a good way to do it with the resources we have to we hand we will use it during the final sequences. The same goes for tracking shots as we only have certain equipment at our disposal but it would definitely help our look if we could work it in somehow. 

(Research by Katie)

Research about lighting a outside shot

As we plan to film outside having electric lights up would impossible and impractical. Because of this we have looked into the other ways and how to use natural light to our advantage.

Planning our Costumes, Make-up and Props