Music Video Production- Final Edit

Song- Titanium

In this evaluation I will be critiquing the final edit of my music video; I will look at both its strength and weaknesses, discuss why I chose to use the editing techniques I did and what I could of improved on.

Overall I believe the final edit of my music video turned out well, however personally I feel I could have spent longer on it and taken what I wrote in my midway evaluation in to more consideration. Since I took me a lot longer than it should have done to complete the rough edit I left myself little time for the final edit.

Whilst the music video follows the original narrative we had decided on it does not match up to the storyboard. The beginning of the song ‘Titanium’ consists of a long instrumental part which when devising the storyboards we had not realised. I decided from early on in my edit of the music video that I did not want the actual ‘story’ to begin during this part. After spending quite a while figuring out what I was going to do, I decided to play back the completed music video in reverse sped up. In my rough edit this piece of footage was originally 15 seconds long, however since I had to remove scenes from the music video the footage had to be elongated to 20 seconds. One thing that I wish I had not changed now is the fact that the scene continues to play even after the song has started- I should have left it as it was in the rough edit. My idea behind this opening sequence is that it shows a ‘story’ is about to be told- I want it to make viewers wonder how our protagonist got where she is now.

Once this first initial 20 seconds of the song is up the music video dips to white; in the midway evaluation I made a mistake of saying it represents that we are now in ‘the present’ however this is not the case, it represents a flashback- the story is being told from the beginning. As I had also mentioned in the midway evaluation I indented for the white dip to be a very short white flash. When I looked through all the effects whilst completing my final edit I found that I could only shorten the white dip- whilst this helped a little it was not how I wanted it to look, after dwelling on it for a while I decided it worked just as well.

Using white dips to show flashbacks is something I noticed is done in movies, so I believed it would work just as well in a music video. I use this particular effect a couple of times in the music video for the same purpose.

Personally I believe this is strength in the music video- it clearly represents a flashback.

Up until this point of the music video we do not really get a chance to see any of the editing techniques I chose to use. Before presenting the protagonist properly, I wanted to set the scene- whilst it did not turn out how I had originally envisioned it, I actually ended up preferring the outcome. I chose to use three different pieces of footage which were filmed in Eccles- they are simple shots that give us an idea of where she lives. I wanted the shots to give of the feeling of gloominess and isolation- that feeling of loneliness. The day we filmed these particular clips it was very sunny which was not in our favour, therefore I have used colour effects on the shots to make them appear a little more ‘overcast’. This is something that I believe to be a weakness in my music video; I wanted the lighting for the setting scene to look the same, however since I have added the effects I have made some shots look darker than others.

Since the song is very fast paced I have used a cut edit technique for the setting scene. The scene in which we transition from the outside of the protagonist apartment flats to the inside of her living room was a crossfade effect I discovered accidentally- however it is my favourite part of the music video. I wanted it to be obvious that she lives in the building, so I believe that works quite well.

The pan across the living room is very smooth with movement the whole way through. The music video then cut edits to a shot of the protagonist sat outside before cutting to a variety of shots of her running away from home. I wanted the video to have a linear narrative so those shots of her running away help in doing so. In the rough edit of the music video, I had originally used a ‘flashback’ scene following on from the shot of the protagonist sat outside; however I edited this out as I didn’t think it worked very well. There were too many transitions and flashes making the scene look very messy. Transitioning between these shots works much better now. I also mentioned in my midway evaluation that there was a slight gap between frames, however since I have completely cut out the ‘flashback’ this is no longer an issue.

Watching back the music video I came to the realisation that the scene in which we see the protagonist running through the puddle is a little wobbly towards the end- I should have stabilised the footage when I was editing it.

I also mentioned in the midway evaluation that the first shot of the protagonist running away was not very focused; when looking through the footage, I had nothing I could replace it with. If we had, had the time we could have gone out and re-filmed it, however it wasn’t a big issue so we didn’t.

I’ve also come to the realisation that one of my weaknesses is matching up footage to the music- whilst there is no lip synch in the video, some of the footage does not go with the music. It could have been edited differently to match it. For example, at the begging of the video, the song starts during the part where the music video is playing in reverse; I believe it should have started after that scene had ended.

In the rough edit of the video I struggle to piece together the train station scene without using too many effects, which as I mentioned looked tacky; however I have now resolved this issue. I kept the crossfade effect- the exact same one used at beginning of the music video- but removed all other effects and simply cut edited it together. After contemplating for a while I decided that I would keep the effect used on the stairs scene.

During the train station scene we see another flashback - I made no changes to this part of the music video other than shortening the length of the white dip. By using the same white dip for both flashback it represents the point I want clearly; there is familiarity.

The one issue I had whilst editing the footage was deciding on how to convey that the protagonist had boarded a train to London; we had no footage of it. I managed to piece two pieces of footage together taken at similar angles. In one shot we see the protagonist stood at a lamp post whilst in the piece following on from it, we see her gone and the train leaving- I cut edited these two pieces of footage together. This was the best and most simple way I could do it.

One thing that has caught my eye in particular about the train scene is the fact the lighting is constantly changing- whilst it doesn’t make a huge difference, it is noticeable. This is partly due to the fact we filmed at different parts of the days, however the major factor it due to me not editing the footage correctly. When using the colour corrector toll on the editing software, I did not check to make sure it was set to the exact same colour.

I wanted to set the ‘new scene’ before visiting the protagonist again, so I used a variety of footage of London. I did not change much about this from my rough edit other than the fact I sped up the clip of Big Ben by 3 seconds as I said I would in my mid-way evaluation.

The next few shots don’t really tell a story- we wanted to give the music video a bit of an abstract feel whilst still following the theme of the rest of the video. When out filming we did not manage to get any extreme close up’s of the protagonist so I had to zoom in on the footage on the editing software which caused the shots to become a little blurry; this couldn’t be helped, however I could definitely of chosen some better quality shots of the same footage.

I also chose to use some ‘random’ pieces of footage which I sped up to show time passing before we see our protagonist working at the café and arriving in a happy place in her life. One thing that I had intended to do in my music video was having the lighting get brighter as the video progressed as a way of representing the protagonist getting to a better place in her life. Whilst I have done this by simply using a colour correcting tool on, I know wish I had made the effect more obvious so I can portray what I want more accurately.

Whilst it may not seem it, the short black flash we see before the café scene is intentional. The only thing I changed during this scene is editing the pan so that it starts as soon as our protagonist begins to move rather than waiting a few seconds.

In the scene following on from the café- during which we see the protagonist ‘travelling’ from the inside of a car- I mentioned in my rough edit that the footage needed stabilising. This has now been done; I also decided to remove a few shots which I was either not able to stabilize or did not have enough time for in the music video.

My music video then ends with a clip from the beginning of the video- to remind us what she was reading at the beginning of the music video. As the song fades out we see the protagonist bowing on stage.

Watching my music video from beginning to end, I now much prefer it to my rough edit, I do believe there is allot I could of improved on or made better if I had used my time more effectively.