Looking Back!

Looking back to the time when we were planning for our final music video we analysed three music videos that has influenced our final planning decisions. As we have produced our rough cut video and nearly to an end with our final music video I thought we should have a look back on the three music videos that has influenced our final planning decisions and see if we have successfully incorporated the features we decided upon. 

Our first video was Rita Ora ft Dj Fresh- Hot Right Now -This video has influenced us the location and the theme for our final video. Rita Ora's video was very urban and there were lots of shots of graffiti. Looking at our rough cut we have definitely created and urban feel with our shots of graffiti and the use of the mise en scene.

Shots from Rita Ora's music video

Shots from our Rough Cut

The second video was Flo Rida ft David Guetta- Club Can't Handle Me - The club shots in this video has influenced our final video. There were shots of people dancing and there were some flashing lights, we wanted to convey this in our music video and by looking at our rough cut I think we have done this pretty well as we had different ranges of shots in the club. Although in Flo Rida's video he was in the club himself, in our rough cut we didn't have our artist shown in any of the club scenes.

Shots from Flo Rida's Music Video

Shots from our Rough Cut

 

The final video was Emily Osment- Love Sick -The strobing and flashing  lights in this video has influenced our final video. In Emily's video there are different ranges of vibrant colours and lights. Looking at our rough cut, we can say we have incorporated some of these well for instance our projector shots with the vibrant flashing lights.

Emily Osment video

Our Rough Cut Video

Comparison of our music video with Florence + The Machine 'Spectrum'

I listened to the original version of 'Spectrum' by Florence + The Machine and i'm glad that we decided to do the remixed version by Calvin Harris. The original is a lot slower in terms of beats and sounds a lot more darker. Florence has used ballet as her main element in the video. I don't think our video would have suited the original song which was why we went for the uptempo remix which complemented the club scenes really well. 

The original video started off with Florence in the shot. The song started ten seconds later whereas the remix started immediately. We chose to show some shots of Brick Lane where we filmed.

As the original video is a lot slower the shots were on for longer with the first one being on for 42 seconds. As the remix was faster we had to use up a lot of shots and we did a lot of editing.

Thoughts on our Rough Cut Video

We have received a lot of positive feedback and some criticisms on our rough cut video from our peers and teachers. We have found out that the structure of our video 'it's really tight' - quote taken from our media teacher Mary, they liked the way that the verse of the song is identified by the iconic images shown and the performance on the streets of Brick Lane wearing the denim, and how the chorus is identified by the projector shots of the strobing lights and the performer and then towards the end we have the club scenes in perfect timing with the tempo of the song.

Here are some shots from the rough cut to show how our music video has been structured. These are the shots of the iconic images and the performer, performing in the streets of Brick Lane identifying the first verse of the song.

                                                                                                                                                                 

These are the images of the projector shots of strobing lights and colours and the performer performing identifying the first chorus of the song.



Overall it was said that our artist portrayed herself well, it looked like she was enjoying herself through out this music video and that there were fun and energetic vibe coming from it. Many have enjoyed the edits used in the video.
The criticism we have received were that some of the shots went on for too long and since our music is very up beat it didn't quite go therefore it should be cutted and moving to the beat. Also that we needed close up shots to establish a range of shots through out the whole music video, as our rough cut showed there were many mid and wide shots used but there weren't any close ups or extreme close ups. Also there were some parts of the video were it was out of sync.

Last Day of Editting

Screenshot of us editing

According to our schedule, today should be our last day editing! We tried our best to adjust our rough cut to perfection by taking on board teachers and peers advices! For example we changed our opening with our artist actually singing to the song when we told it did not follow the music video conventions.

In our rough cut we introduced our artist with two shots of her in slow motion, her shoes and then her turning around. Tony wanted us to introduce our artist with her singing, so we changed it to her singing.

Our song stresses colours, so the colours in our final music video must be clear and highlighted! 

Using colour corrector on final cut pro made our video even more vibrant by enhancing the colours and art in our video! 

Just changing to colours made a huge different to the video, it made it more clear and HD! 

Comparing! The first picture the colours has not been enhanced and the second we have enhanced the colours of the video!

BLOOPERS!

Here's a little video we put together showcasing random bloopers and  funny behind the scenes! Enjoy :)

SPECTRUM MUSIC VIDEO TEASER!

Eliza's and the Crystal's 

Spectrum Music Video teaser!

(watch in 720px for full HD) 

Full Music Video Coming Soon...

Filming Day 4: Close Ups!

We lacked close ups, so we had to film last minute! Luckily for us, extreme close up don't usually have a background because the the main focus will take up all the frame. We quickly rent the cameras and the room 333 and went straight into action! We filmed close ups of the artist's eyes, lips singing to the song and random shots of the artist's garment. 

The crew setting up the set for closes ups

It was important that the lights are bright and focuses on what

we are closing up on to, since we did not have a background!

Filming lasted very quick, 40 minutes and we had all the shots that we needed! 

Filming the closes ups! 

The Close Up.

Overview on Rough Cut

Screenshot of my favourite edit in our Rough Cut

I think when looking back and analysing my group's rough cut of our music video there's still a lot of work to do! However, there are so many shots and edit where I liked in particular! Because the lyrics of our music video focuses on colours and the title of the song, 'Spectrum', I think our Rough Cut is jammed packed with strobe, colourful lights and intense edits which really reflects the mood of the song! 

One of my favourite parts of our Rough Cut, the quick and colour / effect changing edits! 

Happy accident, we tested our different edits and then we just randomly selected a part of the song and this perspective edit turn out very well with this part of the song! 

I think the problem with our rough cut is that it lacks close up. Also, that some of the scenes the artist is not in synced! So we made sure to film again on Monday of extreme tight closes ups! We manage to finish our rough cut on the deadline which I was very pleased about!

Our Rough Cut links and inspiration from other Videos

Shot that has inspire us and where we went on to film and edit in the style of Rita Ora. This edit is where her Rita Ora's face is merged into a clubbing scene, we did the same with our artist merged on top of a clubbing scene

It's important that our music video looks professional as possible, so we always refer back to original music videos of artists that influence us the most. Rita Ora in this case is our biggest inspiration, her music and her video has always influenced and inspired our music video. We tried to incorporate some shots and edit of her music video into our very own. Heres a couple of examples: 

Rita Ora's Hot Right Now Music Video                                                                                        Our Rough Cut

Rita Ora's Hot right Now music video started of with a medium close up of her shoes we also started off our music video with a close up of our artist shoes.

Rita Ora's Under the Influence Video                                                                                Our Rough Cut

There's a shot the Under the Influence Video where there's a medium close up of people's hands in the air and where it quickly fades into a shot of Rita Ora. We did the same, close up of people's hands up in the air and then quickly merge and fades into our artist. 

Rita Ora's Hot Right Now Music Video                                                                                        Our Rough Cut

An establishing shot kicks off the music video, and we started our music video with an establishing shot, to set and create that atmosphere and tell the audience where the music video is set.

Rough cut- My thoughts

The feedback we received from our teachers and peers was positive and helpful. They told us what was good in our video and what we need to improve to make it better. Both of our teachers mentioned that they liked the shots of Brick Lane we used at the beginning before we introduced our artist. The audience reaction was good with some saying they loved it.

Mary said that the structure of our video was tight. We started off with the shots in Brick Lane, used the screen shots for the chorus and then added the club scenes towards the end.

While we were editing our video, we realised that we did not have a variety of camera shots to choose from. We also did not have any tight close up of our artists. As a group we have decided to film some more shots so we can add them to our music video. We also had some shots which were too long so we will have to edit those.

One of the iconic shots

Florence + the Machine - Website

Florence + the Machine website homepage

The gallery page with all sorts of albums

I browsed Florence and the Machines website and looked at the way they use it to promote their brand image and songs. As you can see they have alot of pages directing to the blog, video, gallery etc. All of their music and videos are uploaded on to this website for the audience to see and they alos have extras such as tour and behind the scene videos that maybe are not on usual sites such as Youtube. They have a gallery page also with a range of albums from behind the scenes and promotional gallery and manay others. This website offers extra more to the audience and fans and this also engages them.  

Social Newtwork Links- Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and MyspaceSocial networking is one of the biggest feature they use to promote their brand image and songs. As you can see thye have displayed the social networking links on their website homepage and they are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Myspace. They also have a shortcut link to the Facebook page which makes it easier and faster for the fans to access Facebook. By having a variety of four different social networking links they are ovbiosuly targetting a massive audience. When you click on each link it directly goes on to the Florence+ the Machine page.

You can also see the banner promoting the song 'Spectrum (Say My Name) Calvin Harris Remix by Florence + the Machine'. When you enter the website the banner is one of the first thing you see so it is in your face and  very hard to miss. Also in big its written 'OUT NOW' and the iTunes logo, letting the audience know where they can download the song from.

Members login page

Another feature this website has to keep in touch with the fans is a members page. This also offers extra to people that are signed up to the Florence and the Machine website. As it's wuoted on the pictures 'Login to the members area to recieve member only bonuses, win prizes and contrivute to the site'. This attracts the fans and those specific members are first to know about the artists's music and etc.

Tabs on the online store website

Florence+ the Machine's website also has an online store website. Where you can choose between the USA or Flotique worldwide store. They have many different products that they sell on this online store website ranging from clothes to accessories also music and tickets. This promotes the brand image as well as the songs because it is available for people worldwide and also creates a specific Florence and the Machine band named Flotique. Also all the products sold on here are genuine therefore more people would trust it.

Rough Cut !

This is our finished rough cut! 

Rough Cut Feedback

Feedback from our peers and media teachers!

Rough Cut Edit Day 3.

Today, as a group we finish up editing our rough cut! It took longer than usual because all of the rendering but we mange to finish editing our rough cut in time for our deadline (Wednesday 21 November 2012)

Screenshot of our editing, always rendering because of the format file of the clubbing footage. Rendering takes forever! 

Marked to the beat, so editing would be easier and we can edit to the beat!

Our timeline, we have lot's of cuts and edits to reflect the 
upbeat mood of the song

Dropbox Blocked!

screenshot of dropbox.com being blocked!

Hannah's files was all stored on Dropbox.com from home. Unfortunately, dropbox was blocked and can not be accessed from college! :( To solve this problem Hannah took the hard drive home and stored all the footage onto the hard-drive and brought it to college.

Rough Cut Edit 2

Day two of finishing up and editting our Rough Cut!

Filming Day 3

On Saturday 10th November I went to Club Area, where my uncle host parties every saturday. Because I was the only one in my group that went to film, I couldn't film myself. However, inspired by the 'Rita Ora's Under the Influence' video I filmed similar shots and focused on filming people partying and the flashing strobes lights of the club.

Rita Ora's Under the Influence video shot                                                                                The shot that I filmed in the club

Me on the day of shooting. I decided to use my DSLR to
shot because its more portable to carry around. I also
borrowed my uncle's stick on light because it was really
good compared to the one I borrowed from the College.