After presenting my music video in class today, there were certain things that were pointed out to me and suggestions of what I could change to make the piece better. The tutors did not like the cartoon effect I had added at the end and suggested I remove that and replace it with something more original and subtle. Athough I quite liked the cartoon effect I decided to take their advice and change it for something a little bit different. I added a rough texture to the footage and added an image of different shapes made up of lines to the background, which I made more translucent by turning the opacity down. This gave the piece a nice, artistic feel which I liked.
Another thing the tutors said was that the artwork I had produced for the piece was nice and it ws a shame that the black and white effect and colour tints had taken away from the colours and vibrancy of the original piece. I therefore decided I was going to mask out the artwork and keyframe it to move with the footage so that the original image of the artwork would be seen through the colour effects. However I hit a problem as I have used a pixelation technique which means the fluid motion of the keyframes doesn't fit with the footage. I really want to create this effect so I will seek advice and keep trying to mask the artwork.
Monday 19 March 2012
Sunday 18 March 2012
Evaluation
When we were first told we were going to be producing a music video for this project, I was really looking forward to it as I am interested in the process of making music videos and have often considered pursuing this more after I have graduated. However when we were given the song we had to use, I became a little bit concerned because the lyrics to the song seemed completely random and didn't make much sense, which meant it was going to be difficult to create a music video that was relevant to the song.
I listened to the 30 second clip a couple of times to see if any visuals would pop into my head and luckily they did. When listening to the style of the song, the idea of using the pixelation technique crept into my mind. I knew that with only 3 and a half weeks to produce the video I needed to work quickly and develop ideas sooner rather than later, so I decided to go with the pixelation technique. The next step was deciding what I was going to do with the technique to make it more interesting and to hold the audiences attention, as a simple 30 seconds of pixelation could quickly become boring. I therefore decided I would play with colour, changing the colour throughout the video to keep things interesting. I decided to begin with a black and white colour effect, then add in a colour tint, then in the last 30 seconds add several colour tints so the visuals were always changing.
With the technique and style of my video decided, the difficult bit came, deciding what to physically have in front of the camera. As I said previously this was difficult because the lyrics gave no indication about the meaning of the song, so it was therefore impossible to connect the meaning of the song with the visuals in the video. After listening to the song more and reading the lyrics, I decided to shoot a sort of dance routine using some of my male friends as the band members. The lyrics frequently mention nature, so I wanted to shoot the video outdoors in a natural environment. I decided to use a park with a farely open foreground and trees/bushes in the background. When thinking about the styling for the video I thought that it would be an interesting contrast to the environment for the group members to be wearing suits.
I wrote a list of choreography for the members to perform. It was really basic, moving one body part at a time, but I was hoping that when all 5 of them were doing it in sync, with the pixelation technique, it would look good. I also decided to feature pieces of 'artwork' for the group to hold in the video. This was mainly to add a bit more colour and creativity and to add some interesting shapes to the footage.
I managed to get everything planned quite quickly which I was please with, as I am learning more and more how important it is to be able to develop ideas and produce work quickly. Once I had everything planned I just needed my group members to do the shoot.
This was a bit more difficult to negotiate as a number of the friends I was using have jobs or university so trying to find a couple of hours where all 6 of us were free was tricky and I ended up doing the shoot almost a week later than was planned. This put pressure on me because I knew I didn't have much time to edit. I therefore decided that while I was waiting for the day of the shoot to come I would use some old pixelation footage to practice the editing technique I was going to use, so when it came to the real footage I would know exactly what to do. This was really helpful because it allowed me to experiment a little bit with the colour tints without wasting any time.
The day of the shoot was really good. I managed to get everything that I wanted shot and it didn't take too long (around 45 minutes). I was really pleased that my friends were able to help me and that they did everything I asked. When I uploaded the images and had a look, I was thrilled with the photos as I thought they looked quite professional.
Because I had already had a trial run of the edit, editing the real material was quick and easy and I even added a few extra effects to make it really stand out, including a cartoon effect which transformed the video into something I hadn't considered, but was really happy with.
In conclusion I am pleased with my music video. I managed to achieve everything I set out to and the finished piece looks better than I had pictured in my head. I think it was more difficult to generate ideas than it perhaps could have been because of the song choice and I think that if we had been given a song with a clearer message, I would have been able to create something better. But as we are learning throughout this course, you can't always choose the media you have to work with and you just have to do the best you can with what you've got, which I think is a really important message.
I listened to the 30 second clip a couple of times to see if any visuals would pop into my head and luckily they did. When listening to the style of the song, the idea of using the pixelation technique crept into my mind. I knew that with only 3 and a half weeks to produce the video I needed to work quickly and develop ideas sooner rather than later, so I decided to go with the pixelation technique. The next step was deciding what I was going to do with the technique to make it more interesting and to hold the audiences attention, as a simple 30 seconds of pixelation could quickly become boring. I therefore decided I would play with colour, changing the colour throughout the video to keep things interesting. I decided to begin with a black and white colour effect, then add in a colour tint, then in the last 30 seconds add several colour tints so the visuals were always changing.
With the technique and style of my video decided, the difficult bit came, deciding what to physically have in front of the camera. As I said previously this was difficult because the lyrics gave no indication about the meaning of the song, so it was therefore impossible to connect the meaning of the song with the visuals in the video. After listening to the song more and reading the lyrics, I decided to shoot a sort of dance routine using some of my male friends as the band members. The lyrics frequently mention nature, so I wanted to shoot the video outdoors in a natural environment. I decided to use a park with a farely open foreground and trees/bushes in the background. When thinking about the styling for the video I thought that it would be an interesting contrast to the environment for the group members to be wearing suits.
I wrote a list of choreography for the members to perform. It was really basic, moving one body part at a time, but I was hoping that when all 5 of them were doing it in sync, with the pixelation technique, it would look good. I also decided to feature pieces of 'artwork' for the group to hold in the video. This was mainly to add a bit more colour and creativity and to add some interesting shapes to the footage.
I managed to get everything planned quite quickly which I was please with, as I am learning more and more how important it is to be able to develop ideas and produce work quickly. Once I had everything planned I just needed my group members to do the shoot.
This was a bit more difficult to negotiate as a number of the friends I was using have jobs or university so trying to find a couple of hours where all 6 of us were free was tricky and I ended up doing the shoot almost a week later than was planned. This put pressure on me because I knew I didn't have much time to edit. I therefore decided that while I was waiting for the day of the shoot to come I would use some old pixelation footage to practice the editing technique I was going to use, so when it came to the real footage I would know exactly what to do. This was really helpful because it allowed me to experiment a little bit with the colour tints without wasting any time.
The day of the shoot was really good. I managed to get everything that I wanted shot and it didn't take too long (around 45 minutes). I was really pleased that my friends were able to help me and that they did everything I asked. When I uploaded the images and had a look, I was thrilled with the photos as I thought they looked quite professional.
Because I had already had a trial run of the edit, editing the real material was quick and easy and I even added a few extra effects to make it really stand out, including a cartoon effect which transformed the video into something I hadn't considered, but was really happy with.
In conclusion I am pleased with my music video. I managed to achieve everything I set out to and the finished piece looks better than I had pictured in my head. I think it was more difficult to generate ideas than it perhaps could have been because of the song choice and I think that if we had been given a song with a clearer message, I would have been able to create something better. But as we are learning throughout this course, you can't always choose the media you have to work with and you just have to do the best you can with what you've got, which I think is a really important message.
Thursday 15 March 2012
Shooting and Editing day: 15/03/12
Today I shot the photographs for my music video. I met the 5 people who were to be in the video at a park, told them about the project and what I wanted them to do and set my equipment up. Once they had been briefed about what they were doing, I took the photographs. The shoot took about 45 minutes to do.
I then brought the photographs home and uploaded them onto my computer. I brought them in After Effects as a JPEG sequence and added the music clip in with it. When I RAM previewed the image sequence it was way too fast and took only 3 seconds to run through all 68 images I had taken. I therefore used time stretch to make the sequence run at the same time as the music clip (31 seconds). When the timing was set up, I then went on the add the colour tints to duplicate layers and keyframe the opacity of the different layers so that the sequence would change colour as it progressed. I started with a black and white effect and then added in red, blue, yellow, purple and green colour tints to add interest and fun to the clip.
However when I had done this, I felt there was something missing from the piece. So I decided to have a look through the stylize menu on After Effects for inspiration. I came across the Cartoon style and applied it to my work, just to see what it would look like. I was surprised by how interesting it looked and how much it added to my work, so I decided to keep it.
I am going to revisit the clip this weekend to see if there is anything else that I can add, perhaps some text or graphics.
I then brought the photographs home and uploaded them onto my computer. I brought them in After Effects as a JPEG sequence and added the music clip in with it. When I RAM previewed the image sequence it was way too fast and took only 3 seconds to run through all 68 images I had taken. I therefore used time stretch to make the sequence run at the same time as the music clip (31 seconds). When the timing was set up, I then went on the add the colour tints to duplicate layers and keyframe the opacity of the different layers so that the sequence would change colour as it progressed. I started with a black and white effect and then added in red, blue, yellow, purple and green colour tints to add interest and fun to the clip.
However when I had done this, I felt there was something missing from the piece. So I decided to have a look through the stylize menu on After Effects for inspiration. I came across the Cartoon style and applied it to my work, just to see what it would look like. I was surprised by how interesting it looked and how much it added to my work, so I decided to keep it.
I am going to revisit the clip this weekend to see if there is anything else that I can add, perhaps some text or graphics.
First 10 seconds: 1 group member
Second 10 seconds: 3 group members
Third 10 seconds: 5 group members
Monday 12 March 2012
Pixelation Test: 12/03/12
Today I worked on the post production section of my idea. Because I am not going to be able to shoot my images until Thursday due to timing arrangements, I decided that I would practice the techniques I want to use so that when I do have my final images I will quickly be able to complete the post work.
I used images from a pixelation tutorial last year as the test images for my work. I wanted to create a strobing effect using black and white and colour tint.
I used images from a pixelation tutorial last year as the test images for my work. I wanted to create a strobing effect using black and white and colour tint.
My pixelation test
Sunday 4 March 2012
Project Update: 04/03/12
This week have been thinking and developing my ideas for my music video. I have decided to shoot my music video in an outdoors, nature environment, as many of the lyrics in the song relate to nature and the outdoors. I am going to use 5 of my male friends who will be in the music video. They will be dressed in suits, shirts and ties, as I thought this would give an interesting contrast to the nature environment they will be situated in. The music video will begin with one person completing a series of movements whilst holding a piece of artwork (I have been working on these pieces this week, pictures will feature below). I thought that including pieces of art would give the video the artistic twist that I feel goes well with the music. The first person will be alone for 10 seconds. Then two more people will appear to the side and slightly behind the first person. The 'dance' movements will be repeated. After the next 10 seconds, two more people will appear behind and to the side of the second row, making a pyramid of 5 people. Again the movements will be repeated, whilst they are all holding different piece of artwork. It is really important to me for the moves to be clean, sharp and in synchronisation, as this will create the effect I want.
My intention is to shoot the music video next weekend, giving me a week for the editing, which should be plenty of time.
My intention is to shoot the music video next weekend, giving me a week for the editing, which should be plenty of time.
Paintings for use in music video
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