Music Video Diary

Pre- Production

Day one

For my music video I had to decide what to use as my song and I had a couple of songs in my mind including Propane Nightmares by Pendulum and Thunder in My Heart Again by Meck. I thought of dancers and things in my mind however I thought it was not different and exciting and also it would be very hard to find dancers and edit as well and as I’m not an editor, I would like to do something original and also very challenging in making it epic.

So I decided to use a song that I wouldn’t normally listen to but also like. So I chose In This Shirt by The Irrepressibles. The song uses a wide range of string instruments including violins. When I first heard it I thought it was quite depressing but then I had a change of thought that it was actually quite captivating and I had my video in my head within a minute and here I chose to have a message inside in my video but not make it boring. I then thought can I have this video to be watched by teenagers, and I think I can achieve the video with the song.

Day Two

So here I started work on the video with my paperwork, I completed treatment and storyboard, so I wanted to shoot early in East Grinstead which I did however my battery run out really quickly but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I had doubts about the video because the hardest location I wanted I could not find (hilltops- loads of them). And it was going to be harder than I thought when I needed loads of televisions. So I decided to scrap the whole idea and choose a new song- and quick.

Day Three

So I started to choose songs through my mp3 player and see if there was any images and ideas going through my head when I’m listening to a song and I had one when listening to Green Onions by Booker T and the Mg’s- a 60’s mod type band. My idea consisted of a 60’s feel which would be shot in the present day to recapture the decade. I thought this would be a fantastic idea as it was different to the obvious dance, grime/rap and today’s music.

Day four

So after a difficult three days, I wanted to get my pre-production work done as quickly as possible. I sorted my locations which were T41 as it included the green screen and somewhere outside of college for a banana shootout between my character and the joker.

Production

Day five

So I completed my pre-production and I was raring to go to shoot my dancing scene which included the green screen and help from Nicola. I shot using a HD DV camera. I needed a female dancer for my screen and there were shy classmates that didn’t want to participate so I had to shoot something else in the meantime before I found someone.

I used Nicola to shoot me playing the card game but first I shot cards falling down in front of the camera to use as my introduction and the ending of my video which will be slowed down in editing. It didn’t start well because I threw the cards at the same time but I did try to spread the cards when letting them go but they had to drop in small groups at a time which therefore worked. I also decided to throw the cards over the green screen and flying them everywhere in case so it will be creative to do so in editing and if I had nothing else to fill up at the end in case I had no more footage left and my narrative already ended.

I had my card game scenes completed and I was happy when the footage was played back and I now needed a dancer, and one fortunately said yes, the music video regular Zoyia Ali who wishes not to be named as dancing behind the screen with the red head did look a bit risqué. Firstly I used Zoyia in front of the screen with the light behind her casting a shadow but it was difficult to position the camera because occasionally Zoyia’s body would get in the way. I therefore positioned the camera behind the curtain with Zoyia in front of it and the red head behind her so it formed the idea silhouette. She isn’t the best dancer in the world but what I imagined in my head was nigh on perfect to this however when the footage was played back, the light was visible and also the pole but I was satisfied enough with it. When it was seen on editing, it was questioned whether I should re shoot the scene with Zoyia because it seemed a bit “dirty” but I was allowed to keep it.

Day Six

I uploaded the footage onto Avid and I did a bit of editing before needing a banana shootout scene which is based on my card game. In the game, the joker is out to kill me so I needed a joker and thought Shaun would be ideal but he was unavailable on the day so I asked Chid and he accepted to help me. I used a simple DV camera and I shot the footage and it didn’t take me long to shoot the scene. The quality of the footage was usable but it didn’t look high quality but I did feel that it did recapture the ambience of the 60’s particularly with the shots used such as a CU when Chid is looking evil whilst stalking me.

Post Production

Day Seven

On my first day of editing I started with the cards falling down in slow motion which I put a 60’s background on it but in black and white. Everything was very easy to edit and I did want it to be a simple edit with less naff edit tools because even though it is a 60’s concept based video, I still want to recapture the 60’s by colours, shots, randomness and very quick cuts- I don’t want any rubbish effects and transitions included.
I filled most of the video with the cards at the beginning and me playing the game, so it was a successful first day in the editing suite.

Day Eight

On my second day of editing, I had the dancing scene included and I did struggle to use the green screen effect on it, but Nicola showed me how to do it and afterwards I got the hang of it. I used the same background as the one with the cards falling but I decided to use colour, each time the music changed beats, the colours would change each time. This process did take some time and I enjoyed playing about with the colours, such as black and red and a mix of rainbow colours.

Day Nine

I put the footage of the banana shootout in and used a repetitive shot of the joker card and Chid to tell that Chid is the joker and this was a great way to say that he is the joker through the editing. The quality was not great on this footage so I used black and white effects which made it better and it still managed to have the feel of the 60’s.

Day Ten

There was a small gap that I needed to fill between the card game and the dance scene, and I had days of frustration. I had pictures of backgrounds first but I did think that it looked naff even though it went well with the music well. I therefore changed that to flashes of the dancing scene then after that the shot of me turning the dance card so it looked experimental and it worked with the narrative.

Day Eleven

My editing was going very well and smoothly and had no problems whatsoever but was going slower than expected due to colour changes and green screen effects. I then edited myself celebrating the victory over the joker and eating the banana, here the banana being eaten is also a way of celebrating the win and also the randomness coming into effect as it shows that the banana was a gun and also a good source of vitamins. I again used a regular feature in my editing which was switching between two clips and using at a fast pace-here I again used this with the banana and me in my chair winning. I then edited the card turning of winner and put it by slow motion. I also chose myself to be in a stylish black and white with the background in red. With these scenes of the card playing being consistent with the red background.

Day Twelve

Adding the effects of the card playing scenes because there is a shadow on the screen and want to get rid of it, here I did this on almost every one clip. I also hired an illustrator for my storyboard which would look perfectly for my animatics.