For the research and planning aspect of this project, we mainly used the internet. This is so we could build up our knowledge on the conventions of music videos, digipaks and adverts and use this to come up with ideas for our own ones.
I used Google to search for images that could relate to the planning side of the music video. For example, looking into the costumes, make-up, props, locations colour schemes etc. It also came in very handy for the ancillary work as it was mostly based on researching into different artists' album covers and adverts. This helped us find inspiration for the promotional package for our own artist 'Eva Ellis'. Prezi and Slideshare was also used to present information and research on what I had found out.
YouTube was also very important for researching and analysing music videos. This also helped me recognise some of the theories we learnt being implemented in music videos which I normally wouldn't have recognised before. Looking at these music videos also helped us to get ideas for own video and think of how we could implement without fully copying them.
Blogger was an extremely vital technology as we used it to record our research, planning production and evaluation for the music video and ancillary products. Vimeo was really useful to view whenever it was needed and also to reflect on anything. Its also another way to check out the amount of views we had.
In the production stage of our project, we were able to use state of the art equipment. For example, the JVC camera, the digital camera, the flip camera and the SLR camera. Through out the filming process we used the JVC camera as well as the digital camera and our phones for any behind the scenes footage. They were very easy to use as we already got the hang of using it from the practical work in our AS year. The quality of the footage was just great as it was in HD! The camera enabled us to shoot a range of different shots such us mid shots, close ups etc. We mainly used the zoom for a lot of our panned zooms and close ups.
We used the flip cameras to record any feedback that we had at the screening of the video, music video pitches and ancillary pitches and feedback regarding that. We used the SLR camera (one that belonged to Eli and another that belonged to Rebecca) to take our pictures for the ancillary products. It was great fun to use these and we all took turns (apart from the artist) to take shots that we might want. The quality of these pictures were just AMAZING! Also we used Twitter and Instagram to communicate with our teachers and keep them up to date with the filming progress.
During the editing stage of the project, we were using the Macs A LOT. Through this we were able to use a lot of programmes and software to edit our work. For our music video we used Final Cut Pro to edit it. Its a very unique and fairly easy programme to use and it let us create the video just how we wanted it. For my ancillary products I used photoshop. I used this to crop images, adjust colour variations and the lighting. The one thing that I didn't like about photoshop was that it didn't have a lot of fonts that I liked. I was going to use two different font in the digipak but because I didn't find anything to compliment our main font 'Silent Reaction', I stuck to using just that. The font was downloaded from 'dafont.com' and then installed into photoshop where I could use it easily.
During both the production and editing stage, the video drive was a VITAL piece of technology. Without it we wouldn't have managed to get a lot done as ALL of our work was saved on this!
.jpg)
One of the techniques we
used on Final Cut Pro was the colour correction. We wanted a vintage-yellowish tint on our video because a lot of our inspiration came from Taylor Swift. She used this and made it seem more natural and earthy and this was the look we were going for. We adjusted the colour wheels ever so slightly because we didn't want to ruin the great natural lighting that we already had.
However the downside to this was that the colour correction came out better on the footage in Richmond Park than it did at the café. This was because it brought out the green more and you only saw a lot of this in Richmond. This made it very noticeable to see where the colour correction came out well and where it didn't.
Another technique we used on Final Cut Pro was the slowing down and speeding up of certain clips. Certain clips we slowed down to make it look more elegant and fit in with the flow and rhythm of the song. An example of this was when she was spinning around or when the leaves were being thrown at her. Whilst doing this we had to be careful of making sure that it was still cutting to the beat.
Other bits we sped up or slowed down because the lip synching was slightly out of synch simply because it wasn't said right. We overcame some parts by doing this but others parts we had to leave as it was. Even though it was a LITTLE bit out we still tried our hardest because we were extreme perfectionists that wanted to get it all right
I almost forgot to mention this but we did have to use photoshop for our music video. This was so that we could put the title of the song and the name of the artist onto the video but without the white background. we selected the white background with the magic wand tool and put it onto a transparent layer and then saved it. Once this was done we imported it into Final Cut Pro and then positioned it where we wanted it.
On Photoshop whilst editing the ancillary products, I adjusted the colour variations to give it the same effect that there was on the video. I added shades of green and red and decreased some of the blue to get it to a similar colour.
I also added outlines to some of the layers on the digipak and advert to make the text more visible. I did this by changing the layer settings and adding a stroke. I used my two central colours (white and red) to make it tie in with all of the products.
I used technologies such as slideshare, prezi, sliderocket and voki to present any information that I wanted to put up on blogger. Other technologies such as animoto, photosnack and makeagif, was used to present pictures and make it look more interesting rather than jus having them there.
Overall, I would say that without these pieces of technologies, I wouldn't have been able to do as much as I did to a high standard and it wouldn't have had that level of professionalism that it does. I could have used different methods to present any information that I had but there was some complications to them. For example, I started off using Kizoa to make a slideshow but once I finished and I wanted to publish it, I found out that I had to pay to do that. There were many other sites that I used and was pleased with but then lead me to that situation. I couldn't really find any other unique websites to do this. If I had found some, I would have used those to create variety within my blog.
Oh and before I forget, here's the animatic we made so you could get a basic preview of how we wanted our music video to look like before the filming stage!
No comments:
Post a Comment