Evaluation

The above video is a version of my final evaluation which I used to review my work. My evaluation is 20 minutes, therefore I had to significantly lower the resolution of the video and put it through a compression in order to upload to blogger, so the quality may be slightly grainy. My evaluation was vital to explaining the process that I underwent in the creation of my music video, digipak and poster advert. I used multiple programmes to create my evaluation. Imovie was crucial in the creation of my evaluation, this is the programme that I have on my computer and was more readily available to me and allowed me to view my whole evaluation on one timeline. Moreover, I used Youtube and Google Images a lot within my evaluation, alongside my own footage and images, to add dimension to my work. I was able to layer videos and images on top of my voice recordings to better answer the evaluation questions, to allow my work to become more creative and a more visual experience for the audience.

A higher quality version of my evaluation can be found on Youtube, as I was able to upload a higher resolution version to this platform, please click the link below to view this version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxl8TJO4Amo

When creating my evaluation it was vital for me to plan carefully, therefore I scripted what I read in my voiceover, to ensure that I was focused in what I was saying and directly addressing the question. The below images show examples of my scripts, and detail the planning process in the creation of the evaluation. My scripts varied in length, I found that question 2 required the longest script, as I considered the various different elements of my digipak and poster, and how these relate to conventions of the genre and popular artists. 

Overall, planning and the use of scripts for my voiceovers were pivotal to my work. Having recorded my voiceovers, I was then able to use my scripts in the construction of my evaluation, by using them to match my voiceovers with the correct visuals and ensure that these were in sync. Ultimately, I am pleased with my evaluation as I feel that various media technologies, including programmes such as: IMovie, Youtube and Microsoft word, allowed me to be creative and produce a detailed and thorough evaluation of my work.

Final Music Video

The above clip is the final copy of my finished music video. I had to lower the resolution of the file in order to upload it to blogger, so the quality is not as high as it is ordinarily. Therefore, the video may look a bit grainy, but I believe that it is still possible to get the overall effect of my video, despite the slightly lower quality. Overall, I am very pleased with my music video, I feel that I achieved what I had hoped to, and that it looks as professional as possible. I am pleased at the strength of the narrative, I feel that the storytelling quality to the video (which I believe the track alluded itself to) has really come out strongly, and that this balances well with the performance sections of the video. I feel that the elements of music videos that I liked and was inspired by have been used well also, given the use of lighting and colour in shots such as the close up of the older couple dancing. 

Given the importance of online promotion, I have also uploaded my music video to Youtube as this gives my audience another platform on which to view my video, the below link is to my music video on Youtube - please watch!

https://youtu.be/f0uOVm1Tf4o

Disclaimer: the song 'Nuvole Bianche' is by artist Ludovico Einaudi. The link to Ludovico Einaudi's website is below
http://www.ludovicoeinaudi.com/

Poster advert

Alongside my digipack, I also created a poster advert to promote the release of my artists' album, as is used by many popular artists. I used a combination of programmes to create my final product and am very happy with how it looks overall.

As can be seen from the above screenshot, I have used the same image as for my album cover, for my album poster. I chose to do this as I believe it conveys a sense of consistency and I really like the image as I feel that it is bold and simple so would draw the attention of my target audience. I used the same font and colour scheme as within my album cover, but have increased the size of the font to reflect the larger scale and space of the poster. There are multiple elements needed to fit with the conventions of music video posters, I started off with placing a five star rating and comment of a respected newspaper/ magazine as has been done by artists such as Ellie Goulding - however I was unsure about the placing of the writing at this stage, so continued to work on my poster.  

The next image shows the next stage of the editing process, I added another review to enforce the authenticity of the poster, adding details of the album being instore and available for purchase. Moreover, I then added social media icons, as this is potentially the number one way that modern artists market themselves and connect directly with their fans, therefore after researching I chose to include the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram icons as these are the top social media platforms used by successful artist such as Justin Bieber. However, I still was not happy with the placing of my writing and therefore moved my image to Indesign to add the final edits. 

Finished Product

This is my finished product. I made several changes to this image and feel that it looks much better than the previous attempt, the placing of the text and border enabled me to convey all of the key information. I moved the ratings and reviews down, placing them just above the horizon line to create a smooth line, and avoid the harshness of having the text just floating. I like this positioning as the artist name and album title are still the main feature, and the text no longer distracts from the actual image of the artist and landscape. Lastly, I added a black border at the foot of the image, as has been used by artists such as Ed Sheeran to communicate vital information. Within the border, I was able to announce the album as being instores and online, connecting my audience to the artist with his website information, I also used black and clear social media icons to give a smoother, more professional finish. Overall, I am very pleased with my final product, I feel that it fits with the rest of my digipack and music video, conforms to conventions of the genre by representing certain features such as ratings and website links, and looks authentic and believable as an album poster.

Complete Digipak

The below images are the product of my complete digipak. I am proud of the images and feel that they reflect a good standard as I researched popular artist's digipaks thoroughly, noting what I felt was best about each and have been inspired by, and developed the work of other artists in order to create my product.

There are numerous reasons why I chose the above image to be the front cover of my album, firstly I loved the natural landscape and feel that this is an effective image. Equally, it was important for me to have my artist featured heavily on the front cover as this ensures the focus is on the artist and not purely the scenery, this is also a convention of the music genre and massively popular artists such as Justin Bieber and Adele always have themselves on their albums. The image ties in with my music video, the shot was taken the same day that I filmed my video and I feel that this helps create a sense of unity amongst the video and digipak. This image required editing within Photoshop as is detailed in my previous posts but this allowed me to get the font exactly right. The font and colour of my text reflect the soft, classic colour scheme throughout my digipak I feel, and this is carried across to my music video titles as well.  

The above image shows the acknowledgement spread of my digipak. The image is a classic natural shot which is in keeping with the conventions of the classical music genre, but has been edited slightly to bring out the shadows and light to keep the image interesting. This image originally had sheet music layered over the top but I removed this as I felt that it wasn't in keeping with the themes of my digipack. For the writing on this page I used the same classic font to keep the unity, and researched the inside of digipaks extensively to ensure that my writing reflected that of a true album. I looked at acknowledgement pages by artist such as Beyonce, Pink Floyd and Tyga - all from different genres of music.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7292/11358457226_a78559b931_b.jpg
http://www.pinkfloydarchives.com/Discog/Austral/LP/TFC/TFC1/BC.jpg
http://api.ning.com/files/PagIQ*DP1O2rqRPLmNY11-aAI-7WCur1WGzusK7rzMApcx*VHDfChSoTmCFiMuijnffa*Kc-OdSCdeq5fQQAz3w*ZtyDThfc/credits2.jpg
Ultimately, the same types of acknowledgements were made, and these are what I replicated in my digipacks. It is important for the artist to acknowledge record producers, co writers, studio directors exct. to ensure all due credit is given and to avoid disputes - therefore this page is entirely dedicated to doing this and to prohibiting copyright to ensure that my product is authentic.

This image shows the second double page spread of my digipack. I have used this image for numerous reasons, when researching other digipacks it became evident that there are often subsequent images of the artist in the booklet, such as Rihanna's 'Loud' digipack which features a 6 page spread of herself. Therefore in order to make my digipack as realistic as possible, I mimicked this convention of having the artist featuring heavily throughout the digipack, to reinforce and further his image. Equally, I like how artistic the shot is, the contrast of light and blurred background give the head and shoulder shot a crisp look. I am able to have the image in black and white as I have used black and white filters within my video, thus this creates a sense of synergy across my products. In having the artist staring into the camera I feel there is a connection built up between artist and audience and this matches the writing that I paired this page with. I have used a traditional thank you page to thank the label, manager of my artist and fans, I finished the page with a signature to add to the personal feel of the page and help build a rapport with my fanbase.

The above image shows the back cover of my album. I used this image as the naturalistic imagery matches the themes throughout my digipack and seems to match the album cover especially. The image is ideal for my back cover given the natural framing, which allowed space for the track listing in the middle of the image. I have matched the font colour and style to that of the rest of my digipack to add continuity to the image. Lastly, I used Photoshop to lift images that were not mine such as the record label logo and bar code, these images were vital to adding authenticity to my product as these are found on every digipack that I researched. I also created a declaration using the text tool, as I found during my research it is imperative to prohibit illegal filesharing to protect the rights of the artist on the back cover of the album. Overall, I am pleased with how my digipack looks as I have researched the conventions of the genre thoroughly and have replicated certain elements to ensure that my product looks as real as possible. 

Putting together the digipak

There have been multiple changes that I have made to my digipak, having been predominantly using Photoshop to put my digipak together I then switched to the program Indesign which is far more effective and gives a more finished and professional finished product. The above image is the format that I had been using, a template from Google, whereas I have been able to use the 'compact disc' feature of Indesign which creates the C.D. booklet format automatically. 

The above image is the initial double page spread that I was intending to use within my digipak. The lack of lyrics to my song, being a piano track, was slightly unusual as this is typically a common spread within digipacks, I therefore attempted to develop this convention by layering sheet music over the top of my image. However, on closer inspection I feel that whilst a good idea, in practicality this does not look as professional as I would like, and has no correlation with the rest of my digipak - thus whilst I am using the image as it does match my natural theme - I will not be layering the sheet music over the top.

I then experimented with multiple images to ensure I had the right images for my digipak, I decided not to include this image as in the digipaks I have researched they often include multiple pictures of just the artist to enforce the brand, therefore I decided not to use this image as it is a two shot and I feel that my target audience would be confused as to why I have included my artists' partner in the shot.

The above image shows the design process and my work within Indesign, my original images did not fit the template of the programme so I had to edit the images in Photoshop. I changed the size of the image, adding more sky to the image to ensure that it filled the space and used the blur and smudge tool to allow a natural gradient. Equally, I was able to increase the resolution of the images which allowed me to keep the font style and colour that I originally used when I placed the images in Indesign. 

Whilst my front and back cover are finished, I am adding the final touches to the inside double pages to my digipak. The above image shows the tree shot which I had originally layered sheet music over. I feel that this image is effective given the silhouettes and shadows created by the bleaching effect of the sunlight - the image also conforms to my classic/ naturalistic theme and I have referenced the inspiration behind it in a previous post. I have left space opposite the image for writing as I am conforming to conventions of a digipack to make my own realistic, therefore I will be using an acknowledgement page.

This is the final double page spread of my digipak, I have used a classic head and shoulder shot of my artist, as I have seen in the digipaks of popular artists such as Rihanna, Ed Sheeran and Beyonce. I believe the image to be effective given its simplicity, there is synergy between this and the previous image given the link of trees and nature/ natural landscapes. I have left space on this image also for writing to conform to the conventions of the genre, on this double page spread I will do either a profile/ meet the artist which replicates what my original artist has done within his own digipacks, or a letter to the fans - I feel that a letter to the fans may be more beneficial as this builds a relationship between the artist and the fans, gives a more personal feel to the digipak, and allows me the opportunity to use Photoshop to create a signature for my artist.   

Music Video

Having made all of my adjustments and woven in my new filming, I am happy that my music video is finished and am now working on my evaluation. I will be posting updates on the progress of my evaluation on my blog, but the above video is a brief snapshot of my finished product - please feel free to watch!

New Filming/ Final Editing

Having reflected upon my music video I decided to do some final filming to really communicate the narrative of my video.

 I have filmed additionally more poignant and emotional scenes of my older couple to communicate the different seasons of life, to reinforce the realness and convey a sense there is conflict and changes that occur - but ultimately these are overcome by the couple reunited and dancing in the end of the video. I have also filmed other scenes as demonstrated by the above screen shot of my younger couple, to draw out the cross generational theme and communicate that they are connected to the elder couple. 

Moreover, my new filming has allowed me to match certain shots. For example, having filmed more of my younger couple,  I have been able to use the fade shot to create a transition of the younger woman's hand into the elder woman's hand - which whilst a fairly simple shot, visually makes quite an impact and shows the progression of time.  

Equally, I have used Final Cut Pro to adjust the opacity and utilise key markers to create fades in and out as a transition which I feel clarify the narrative, I am then able to join footage of my artist and elderly man to convey that my artist is supposed to be the elderly actor when he is younger - thus the editing process helped me to convey a sense of unity and mirroring between the two sequences.

Marketing - My artist and inspirations

When putting together my digipak it was important that I took influence from my artist. Ludovico Einaudi is clearly passionate about nature and elements of nature/ this form of photography feature heavily on his albums, therefore a way of connecting my created artist to the original artist is through encompassing a part of this natural theme into my work.

 The above image is the album cover of one of Einaudi's albums, 'In a time lapse' this and the images used by group 'Kodaline' have influenced my work and I therefore have included the below image as one of my double page spreads in my digipak as a tribute/ emulation of their work - but will be adding my own twist to reflect my artist and music video.  

This image is one of the double page spreads for my digipak, it is very much in the style of Ludovico Einaudi and Kodaline, however I have added my own individual style to the image, playing around with the curves and levels in Photoshop. Moreover, I have since placed sheet music over the top of the image, lowering the opacity so that the shot can still be seen, whilst hopefully appealing to the audience as an additional feature to the digipack will be the opportunity to play the song themselves. Having looked at Einaudi's digipacks I have noted the synergy and the way that my original artist has utilised various forms of media for self promotion - this led me on to consider the marketing of my artist and music video. 

When researching Ludovico Einaudi originally I wrote a blog post on his social media presence and website,

 http://bethsa2music.blogspot.de/2015/10/the-original-artist.html

In the post I noted that Einaudi has a large presence online, he has an extensive Facebook and Twitter page, a great website and Itunes/ Spotify page, as well as more traditional marketing techniques such as posters. This form of marketing is used my most artists and I therefore have begun to create an online presence for my artist as this is a vital way of creating a fan base/ connecting with the fans, as well as being fantastic for self promotion. 

 The above image is a screen shot from the Facebook page I have created for my artist! It is a public page which states my artist as a musician and allows the fan to interact by messaging, liking and commenting on my artist's post. The power of social media is vastly evident from Adele's recent success (as is detailed in a post on my blog) and is a tool which practically all artists utilise. The benefits of social media are that it is free self promotion and is used by the majority of my target audience, I have used the album cover as the profile picture to further promote my album, and the bio states that the release date of the album is upcoming, to draw the fans' attention and create hype.

The final image shows some of the activities and features of my artists' Facebook page. I have created posts to interest my fans and promote the release of my album, I have shared a 'sneak preview' photo of the creation of my digipack to interest fans, as well as announcing the forthcoming release date of the album 'Changes' and sharing a location that my artist will be performing at, encouraging fans to come and meet my artist - these are techniques of advertising that I have recreated that are used by popular artists on social media. My artist will have used a mixture of free self promotion through social media, as well as the more traditional release of an album poster, this mixture of marketing is I believe conforming to the norm of the music genre and would help my artist to increase in popularity and expand his fan base.

The below link is for my artist's Facebook page, please feel free to have a look! 

https://www.facebook.com/J.S.musician/

Digipak - the inside

I have also been working on the inside/ leaflet section of my digipak. I researched this section of the digipaks within my earlier posts and know therefore that it is important for the inside of the digipak to grab the audiences' attention and provide more information and insight into the artist/ album. Traditionally, many artists would include photographs which match the album cover for the inside leaflet and include the lyrics for their songs over the top, however as my track is purely a piano track I have needed to be more creative and find alternative information to include in my digipak.  

The below image is a screen shot of the editing process using Photoshop to create my first double page spread for my digipak. I decided to include a double page spread which includes the sheet music for the track of my music video, I thought that this could be an effective way of drawing in fans as there is the opportunity for the fan to play the track themselves, and it also conforms to the feature of digipak albums - to look creative and promote the artist/ build up a fan base.

I have used a photograph I took whilst on location and filming the music video to feature as the background for my page, to ensure that there is a sense of uniformity. I like the image as it fits with the theme of my album front and back cover of nature and light, I edited the image using the curves tool to really bring out the silhouettes of the leaves on the tree in the style of one of the artists who inspired the look of my album - Kodaline.

The final image shows the finished product of my first insert to my digipak. In order to achieve this, I layered copies of the sheet music to the track on my original photograph. I used various different features of Photoshop such as pasting the sheet music to a new document, resizing it manually to fit the size of the photograph and then dragging and dropping them into the same image. To create the finished effect I significantly reduced the opacity of the music so that whilst the notes are visible, so to is the image behind, I also used the text tool to write the artists' name and album title on the page, I used a different font that I felt reflected the nature of the image to add some variety to my digipak. Overall I am very pleased with this image, as I believe that it reflects the conventions of the digipak genre, whilst being slightly different to the traditional layering of lyrics.

Editing

The above video is a screen recording of my progress of the video within editing, this week I have been purely editing and working on weaving my narrative sequences in with the performance elements. The most challenging thing that I faced was syncing the track to the footage and I will discuss the details of this later in my post.

I experimented with the multi cam feature of Final Cut Pro but found that for my particular type of footage it was more effective for me to cut away from my main shot sequence by layering other shots over the top. I started by matching different shots to various parts of the track, as I had filmed my original footage with the track playing, therefore I was able to match this to my audio of the track. I have been using the colour match tool also to try and have some consistency light wise across both narrative and performance.

The above image shows my further progress, one key challenge that I have faced is matching the audio to my main footage, as when my artist played the piano when filming, certain parts of the track are slightly out of time which has proved difficult for me to edit and make look natural with the track over the top, therefore I have cut and re - placed my audio at certain points to try and match, however in places where I was unable to do this I have covered the transition with a portion of my narrative, I have found this to be an effective solution and feel that it now looks much better.

Going forward I have matched lots of my footage to the track, fitted the narrative in with the performance and have been focusing on cutting to the beat of the music. Despite being a piano track there is a consistent tempo/ beat or break in the music which makes it easier for me to identify where in the track i need to cut in a new shot. Over the weekend I will be filming more narrative, as I feel that this needs further development to convey my desired effect which is to emulate a love story over time but also, as i have seen in other music videos, to convey the realness of life.  

Digipak Progress - Back Cover

Within my lessons this week I have been working on the back cover for my digipak album. I have been working on two different images as I am torn between them, and have therefore created an entire back cover for both and will then compare them to get the right look for my digipack. In order to create an effective back cover I reviewed my post on digipaks and identified the different elements of them, what is necessary to make cover authentic, and what I most liked or disliked to ensure that my cover is finished to the most professional standard possible.  

The below image is one of the possibilities of my back cover for my C.D.  To achieve the colour of this image I experimented with the level and curves, I particularly liked this setting as I feel that it heightened the use of the colour and brings out the intricate silhouettes of the tree. I also used the text tool to create the script descending vertically down the side of the cover, I attempted to blend the colour of the writing with the colour of the sky to match my naturalistic theme. Equally, I have decided to have synergy between the front and back cover by using the same font of writing.What I didn't like about this was that I felt the image was slightly too large, and may be better suited as a result to a double page spread within the booklet.

As I continued to edit the image, I cropped the size of my photo to better match the look of an album cover, I do feel that it looks far better like this however I am still unsure. Having researched other back covers I knew that I needed a bar code, this was rather a lengthy process but the final look is far more professional. To get my bar code I copied and pasted an image of my original artists' back cover into photoshop, I then cropped this down to just the bar code and resized the bar code to match my image, having done this I was able to drag and drop the bar code into my back cover file and move it around until I found the correct position.    

Having repeated the bar code process for some other vital components of the cover, the last stage was for me to use the text tool to add the name of the tracks. For the titles of my songs I took inspiration from my artist, the theme of nature and of love so the tracks are a mixture of the original artists' songs 'Nightbook' to my made up names 'Changes'. For the text of my tracks I used the same formal style font and the same kinds of colours as the text at the side of the image. However, I had a real problem with ensuring my font was visible, and as can be seen from the image the font is barely visible, as the mixture of light and dark within the image meant that no natural hues and tones stood out - as a result of this and my hesitance at the relevance to my theme i have discounted this image and worked on a different final image.  

The above image is the alternative photo that I had for my back cover. I feel that this picturesque, natural, image and colour palette mirrors the front of the album, creating a greater sense of synergy and mirroring my front cover. The process for adding the the bar code was exactly the same, and I also have used the logo of a record company as is necessary to make my back cover credible. Having researched various companies thoroughly, I have chosen to use Decca Records as my record company. Decca Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, one of the big 3 and I feel that this smaller subsidiary best fits my artist and video as they are a slightly more niche/ instrumental part of the company whilst still being hugely successful popular, and accessible to a modern audience/ my younger target audience - producing artists such as country duo 'The Shires' and my original artist Ludovico Einaudi - http://decca.com/artists/.    

Another vital element to my cover which I discovered when researching is the small print that rests below the logo of the record company - the declarations. This writing provides vital information to the audience, it contains the year the C.D. is printed, references any co writers of the album, the record company information and a statement prohibiting illegal file sharing and copyrighting. The tool that I used to create this was the text tool, using a slightly less formal font and in the colour grey, as the covers I researched use a different colour to stand out, the writing is extremely small as it is  not supposed to feature prominently on my cover but is more of a formality which adds to the professional nature of the cover. My cover was almost finished at this stage, as I was able fortunately to drag and drop the bar code, Decca logo and small print from my previous discarded image. Therefore I was trying to get the balance of text and colour right of the track listing and side text for the spine of the C.D. - as can be seen from the image i was still struggling with the lightness of the image to make anything stand out.

The above image is my final copy of the back cover for my album which I am very pleased with. I was able to overcome my problems with colours by continuing to research other artists' album covers. What I did was to duplicate my layer and then create a rectangular shape within the tools of Photoshop, and fill this shape using the paint bucket. The next step for me was to reduce the opacity of the shape so that my text became clearer, whilst the image is still visible beneath that, I also decided to darken the colour of the text for my track listing which made it really stand out whilst still adhering to the colour palette of the image and still looking natural. Moreover, I used the text tool and same font, with a bright white font to ensure the spine of the C.D.  will stand out, detailing the name of the artist and album. Overall, I am pleased with my finished back cover and feel that it stays true to my themes, and will match the front cover and music video well.  

Extra Filming

Over the weekend I reviewed the notes from my previous post and filmed some additional shots for my music video. The filming I did was fairly minimal as I had planned to film my final home movie sequence, however I was unable to do this as my older actors were suddenly unavailable. I will as a result film this sequence later this week and have plenty of work on my digipack and editing of my current footage to be getting on with. 

I have filmed a bookcase at my actors home filled with pictures and memories, which is decorated with fairy lights - as well as being aesthetically pleasing the footage helps to further my narrative as it focuses on photographs of the couple when younger. The sequence is slightly low angle, wide shot which captures the flickering of the lights, before zooming in on one of the photographs.

The above image is the photograph that I zoomed in on and shows the couple about 20 years ago. I particularly liked this shot as the couple are clearly recognisable and in similar clothing to my modern day footage, moreover I feel that this will help with my narrative reflecting on the couples lives together and drawing a cross generational theme. I shot this sequence with a tripod and it has the flickering of the lights visible, lighting the picture. However, the footage has a slightly shaken effect, much like within hand held - whilst not ideal I feel that this gives a home filmed/ original/ authentic feel as if it could be a point of view shot from the couples' perspective.

The above image I have included from my timeline of filming to show the comparison of the couple, within the photograph and in a more modern setting. I will now review my footage and see where this new sequence fits, as my plan for building the narrative is not a solid storyline but rather segments and snapshots from the couples' life, as I have seen done within other artists' work such as Katy Perry's 'The One That Got Away' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahha3Cqe_fk 

Editing

Currently the editing process is ongoing and the below images are some snap shots of my work so far.  I have explained what effects/ transitions I have used in great detail in order to document this process.

The above image is a screen shot from my editing work on my video, within the programme Final Cut Pro X. I played around with various effects in Final Cut to create the opening sequence to my music video which is a time lapse. As storyboarded, I stayed out in the field that I filmed the music video in, at about 8 O'clock in the morning, filming sequences of about 20 minutes each. Having reviewed the footage, this was my favourite as it captured the movement of the clouds and transition of light effectively. The next step was to speed up my footage in order to create the time lapse, I did this originally on Imovie using the fast forward tool by 20% and transported the faster version to the computer with Final Cut Pro. Within Final Cut Pro I then edited the speed of the sequence further, adjusting using the fast forward or slow motion tool to create the best version. The only thing that I am disappointed about is a dark lense mark which can be seen throughout the sequence, I tried to eliminate this using Photoshop and editing frame by frame but this was taking far too long, therefore I will cover the mark with a title section. I am pleased with the accompanying sound track to the time lapse, as I wanted to imitate something that it seen within other music videos, whereby the track starts with naturalistic sounds (of birdsong in my case) before cutting to the song. 

The inspiration for this comes from music videos such as Bastille's 'Pompeii'
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F90Cw4l-8NY&list=PLzW1LVlKi6P3cOgjiLJb-4nztwSMFKbSW

Sia's 'Chandelier'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM
and Taylor Swift's 'I Knew You Were Trouble'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNoKguSdy4Y
These are just a few examples of music videos which take between 10 -20 seconds  and 2 minutes to set the scene of the video and do not come straight in with the track, and are as a result a part of my inspiration as to having the time lapse at the start of my video.

The above image displays another technique and tool that I have been using within Final Cut when editing my video. I used layering to create this image, and played around with the opacity so that the old man's hands are just visible but my artist's hands are more prominent in the shot. What I like about this image/ sequence is the way that there is synergy conveyed as the cross generational theme and the fact that I am drawing a comparison between the old man and the artist is made very clear to the audience through the layering. However, I feel that this definitely needs more work, I am unhappy with the conflicting angles of the different key boards and feel that too much of the older man's key board is visible in relation to his hands, and that his hands cannot be seen as clearly as I would like, to truly emphasise that connection - drawing together the elements of narrative and performance within my music video.

This image is an example of one of the more transitional shots that I have filmed. I like the sequence and have included this and the sequence captured by the image below although I am unsure of whether they will stay in my finished music video. I liked this shot as I feel that it is quite soft, atmospheric, matching the song and the out of focus lights flickering looks quite effective. However, I am indecisive as to whether I will use this shot and those similar as the footage is a bit shaky and I don't want it to distract from the main features - the narrative and performance of the video.

I loved this sequence as I really like the silhouettes that are created by the sunset, and the interesting shapes which are indicative of nature. The natural themes evoked by this sequence link to the theme of my digipack which involves my artist and a natural backdrop, equally this natural theme of the leaf and tree imagery is used within some of the original artist Ludovico Einaudi's album covers and also popular band Kodaline. Once again my only concern with this shot is the relevance to my video and I will therefore decide whether to include this or not later on in the editing process.

Finally, the above image is taken from one of the sequences of my older actor playing the piano, I played around with this sequence on Final Cut Pro as something about the colour was not quite right. Using the colour balance tool within Final Cut I was able to counteract the yellowish hue that the footage had due to the natural daylight, I am very pleased with how this sequence now looks as it has a brighter, cleaner and more professional finish and will blend with the other colours of my video to allow a smooth transition between shots.

Reviewing My Progress

The above video is a compilation using the media source Quick time player, of the performance elements of my video. Overall I am pleased with the length and difference of shots of the performance section of my music video which I am currently editing. However, I shot the entirety of the track from two separate angles, only including one of those key angles at the moment, having looked at my footage, I believe that I may use the other key angle to enable me to use cross cutting and Multi Cam - a technique often used by artists in modern music videos - therefore this may help me to connect with my younger target audience as it is what is the 'norm' within a variety of performance videos of varied musical genres.

Whilst reviewing my footage and progress I have listed some general notes of improvement that I can make when doing my last bit of filming. My notes include some more varied, transitional shots to enforce my cross generational theme and ideas to make the narrative of my video more engaging for the audience. The narrative of my video is not heavily scripted as I intended to have some natural/ romantic shots of the elderly couple which I do feel that I have achieved. My narrative could be improved in certain areas, as although not a rigid story I have decided to encompass more 'snapshot' style sequences that I intend to weave in with the performance section, and to match the magical/ romantic feel of my track. Therefore, I have already filmed my elderly couple dancing in a decorated location with soft lighting, travelling by car (I am unsure of whether to use this), a scene of conflict or arguing, and a reconciliation as the elderly man is seen to play the piano (fitting with my artist playing the piano for the performance sequence) and then to begin to teach the elderly woman how to play. What I hope to film is a sequence involving old photographs or home movies of the couple to reinforce the cross generational theme and add to the storyline. Moreover, my review also involved considering whether transitional shots not directly linked to the story are used in music videos, as I filmed some short sequences of some fairy lights flickering, a candle and the sky at dusk which were effective shots but I am undecided as to whether they add anything to my video, or could potentially distract from my themes - therefore I will consider this when watching popular music videos.

Modern music video inspiration

The image to the left is taken from artist Avicii's  music video for the song Waiting For Love. I have researched several narrative music videos which use an older actor to see how they are put together. The video for Waiting For Love is unique, following an elderly man on his mobility scooter journeying to his wife. I liked this video given the bright use of colour, light and the
varied locations but felt that it was a bit too niche and spectacle.

The music video that I feel best represents the kind of look I am aiming for is Jamie Lawson's 'Wasn't Expecting That'. The song has been massively popular with over 8 million YouTube views and was rereleased under Ed Sheeran's management with a new music video in 2015, having been originally released in 2011. The song then reached the top 10 charts, peaking at number 6 in the UK. This has given me a sense of reassurance as this video is massively popular with teenagers/ young adults who are my main target audience - therefore I know that a video featuring an older couple, as well as my young actor/ artist are popular and will hopefully be well received. What I love about the video is the cross generational theme and transitions looking back on the elderly couple's life. The key difference between my video and this, is my storyline is not as deeply explored and it is not nearly as emotional as this video, but the exploration of relationships between young and old is something that I am hoping to achieve with my music video. Moreover, I do not want the narrative of my video to overwhelm it either and I am attempting to find a good balance between narrative and performance within the editing stage.

Editing

This past week I have been continuing to edit my music video. I have been focusing on moving my sequences around within the timeline, the order of events is important to get right as the below images are from my narrative sequence which I need to transition between the performance. I have found it difficult to decide where and for how long these sequences should be placed, and therefore will be working on this this week also, as I want to get a good balance of performance and narrative with the performance element being slightly more prominent.  

The above image was shot whilst driving up to London, it was handheld as I had not planned to film, however I may use the footage as a way of building up the narrative/ showing the life of the older couple. I liked this shot as I feel that it is framed well and works as a two shot, I also liked the mixture of colour from the London christmas lights/ traffic and the mixture of having the couple in focus and the view from the front window slightly out of focus.

The above image is my conflict scene, having researched narrative elements of videos, I found that they usually follow a certain formula which includes a scene of conflict to grab the audiences attention. I filmed my couple having a mock argument through an outside window to act as a literal scene of conflict, as it also fits with my storyline and sets up the next key sequence.

This scene was my conflict resolution, whereby after the argument the older woman is watching husband playing the piano and he then takes her hand and begins to teach her to play also. The resolution I have filmed I believe will be effective, as it ties in with the cross generational theme. The cuts and similar shots I have used between my young actor who is the main artist of the song, and the older man I believe does imply they are linked, and this will become more evident as I edit my video together.