New skills learned on Final Cut

We tried to edit the powder paint shots so that it looks like night time. We have used luma keying to try and get rid of the white sky, but this flashed as we had retimed the shots. So we found a day into night filter which we tried to use but this took away the vibrancy of the colours in the paint. We also tried using a vignette mask but this looked too harsh so we have used a spot filter to darken the shots without the colours of the powder paint being desaturated.

GROUP POST - Photo ideas for our ancillary products

This is a photograph we took from our reshoot on Saturday. Although this is the only picture we have of the two together I think it is a really nice photo. We used photoshop to get rid of little blemishes and the hook on the door. It looks far more effective in black and white than it did in colour because the wall behind them was brown and didn't look very nice, and their skin tones are matching now, whereas before the boy was green (from powder paint he didn't wash off properly) and the lighting made Morgan appear orange.

GROUP POST - Photo-shoot for ancillary products

https://www.flickr.com/photos/127908437@N04/ 
These are a few selected photographs from our studio shoot that we're likely to use on our digipak and adverts. We are planning another outdoor photo-shoot on Saturday.

Organisation of models and equipment

Last night we booked the drama studio after school to get some performance shots of Morgan. We agreed to meet her at 4.45pm, so we went down there at 4.30 to set up the cameras, tripods and lighting. We were able to film from 3 different angles and we did 2 takes, in the second one we filmed some close-ups. We asked Morgan to bring a selection of dresses to for us to choose from, however we didn't want her in a black dress for these shots as we wanted to portray another side of her character. She sings about wearing the little black dress when she is going out partying and socialising so we wanted to show that she isn't all party-girl so we put her in a more subtle peach coloured dress. We also did a photo-shoot whilst we were down there with the lighting for the digipak and adverts.

New ideas

After recent thoughts we have decided to get some artsy-type shots of Morgan which may change the overall feel of the video slightly. We were thinking of having a shot of her perhaps writing "Little Black Dress" on a mirror in black lipstick. This would add another continuous theme as we already have shots of mirrors on our storyboards and initial ideas. These are some other ideas I was able to pick up on further independent research into existing music videos.
In One Direction's Steal My Girl video there is a powder paint shot similar to ours. Here I can see how effective it looks so with a filter I think ours can look just as good.

In Tove Lo's video for Habits (Stay High), I love this extreme-close up shot of lipstick being applied. We could maybe use this idea or something similar for example her hand running along the detailing of a dress as the dresses are the main focus of ours. Also in this video is a fisheye lens effect. I'm not sure if we'd be able to achieve something similar using Final Cut but I think it would work really well.

Update

As our first set of shots were not good enough to use in our final video (although they have been very useful for learning) we have decided to get Morgan to the drama studio tonight to get some live singing shots. This is a conventional feature of music videos of this genre and it will give us some more shots to practice with on Final Cut Pro X until we are able to get the final garden shots. We will also do a studio photo-shoot with Morgan tonight for the digipak and some adverts.

GROUP POST - Storyboards

 Note: We do not plan on continuing our artistic career!

Research into shot types and lighting techniques

I did some research on existing music videos on YouTube to try and find some shot types and lighting ideas for our video. We still have a lot of shots to get done and we are re-doing most of the ones we already have, the ones we used for our first rough cut. I used ideas from female singers because they will be more relevant to our video than for example a rock band.

These first two shots have been taken from Leona Lewis’ Run. The entire video has a filter on it and these are two shots that stood out to me.

There are some shot types in Selena Gomez’ Come and Get It which I think we would be able to incorporate into our video effectively. 

Also the lighting in this particular shot really gave me an image of what I was originally imagining out music video to look like. We can very easily get a sunset lighting into our video and we could use it behind Morgan or have it shining onto her as shown here. Both would work well in our video.

Another shot type I got from Bridget Mendler’s Ready or Not is something I think we could find useful in our video is this long/wide shot with a landscape behind. Obviously as our video is more of a rural setting we would have something more green and natural rather than a built up area.

Taylor Swift’s Safe and Sound video has a similar feel to what ours is hopefully going to look like when it’s finished. 

This is the type of shot to what we have been thinking of doing although we didn’t do it on our last filming day because we couldn’t find a suitable pair of shoes or boots.

This ECU in Demi Lovato’s Skyscraper is something we will use in our video. We have tried it but after seeing it in Final Cut we need to remember to get the camera into focus correctly. 

I think we could also use this shot to show Morgan’s feelings of power and freedom towards the end of the video.

I also like this shot of Taylor Swift in her video for 22, we could use a side angle shot like this and have Morgan looking into the camera to add a personal feel to it. 

This research has influenced my creativity because I now have new ideas on shots and lighting techniques to use next time we are able to film.

GROUP POST - First rough cut of our video!

GROUP POST - Uploading our rough cut to YouTube

It was our first time uploading a video to YouTube so we both learnt new skills, which I’m sure we’ll put into practice as we develop more shots. In the description bar we included a link to the email Sara Bareilles’ manager sent us in response to our request for copyright to the song.

Final Cut problems

After we uploaded our first few shots to Final Cut, we later realised that it was unable to be shared because we'd not ticked the correct boxes when we imported them. We have tried a second time and successfully managed to save it to our external hard-drive.

Update

Alisha and I have been ordering and cutting the shots we got last week on Final Cut Pro X. We are still missing a lot of shots and the ones we have are cut short so it isn’t of the right length yet but we are experimenting different ways of cranking and different filters to see what works and what doesn’t. I was absent on the lesson they learned to use Final Cut so this was my first time using it. Alisha talked me through how to use the blade tool and how to delete shots / part of a shot. I found this very helpful and was able to put it into practice on the making of our rough cut. I am looking forward to developing my skills on Final Cut further as we start to produce our final product.

Signs and semiotics 5

FIRE

Fire can be associated with warmth, light and homeliness. However another meaning – the meaning we were most hoping to convey in our video – are pain, danger, and even Hell. According to Stuart Hall, this is our preferred reading, the reading we want the audience to receive. In the video she is using the fire to destroy all memories of the relationship she has just come out of. I think using fire to destroy the dresses and photos is a more effective way than throwing them in the bin as it gives the audience the knowledge that they have been completely destroyed and it also gives off a ritual-like feel which gives her a powerful image.

Signs and semiotics 4

OMBRE HAIR

Even the hair our chosen star has symbolises trend, fashion and youth.