Key Framing - Final Cut

We have been adding some key framing into our video to give more effect and emphasis to what is being shown, for example when a the symbol on the drums is hit hard a typical zoom onto the symbol when people are watching it. What key framing allows you to do is move the footage, zoom onto a specific detail of the footage and allows you to track motion if you was to add another layer over the top of the footage. Lastly key framing allows for a smooth transition and keeps everything together. here's and example of how we have been using key framing....

Emailing Little Man Tate Via myspace

We sent a message to LMT (Little Man Tate) asking for permission to use his song in our video, it's a non- profitable video and if anything it's advertising his song for free! Sadly Little Man Tate has yet to get back to us but we will keep checking for a reply as they might give us the go ahead!

Extra Filming

We had to shoot some extra footage to put into our video... we had a problem uploading it though because the tap reel broke therefore leaving us with no extra footage, So we have to go out again next week to shoot more footage and hopefully the tape won't break! But mean while I have been trying to get as much feedback as I can for my music video and digipak. This will allow me to improve it, to allow me to make my it suit the genre better. So we hope to shoot monday.

Reviewing and Evaluation Feedback

Scott Black - Student 


I thought the shot at 15 minutes in was exceptional, don't take that out because the camera, lighting and performance by Christian made for a really good sequence. There's only one thing I would change, it seems a little odd when the bass player leans in to sing a harmonies on a word. It's not a major problem I would just incorporate a quick side on shot of both the guitarist and the bassist singing. Great video otherwise.

Leanne Rees - Student 

Positives
- Really Like the Black & White effect
- A few of the transitions blend well together
- Fits the given genre very well
- very realistic

Negatives
- Few transitions clash
- Another angle of christian singing

James Nice - Student 


Very good video, love the black and white,
good use of tones and effects, suits the video very
well I would give it a 7/10. Wasn't bad but didn't really wow me.

My Opinion 


I agree that it does look odd when i come in to sing with Christian because I have to lean into the shot, maybe changing it to a side on view of both of us so it doesn't look as weird it would also enhance the quality of footage. Also a shot of me and Christian would be good as we don't have one and it would make a more realistic music video as you always have a band shot in them. And hopefully it won't edge away from the style of video we are going for. Secondly we could shoot another angle of christian singing as we only have one of him so yes a more variety of shots is needed. 

I feel that we have used the filters and effects to the best of our ability and it has given a good overall view. The transactions we have used worked well and blended great! and it does fit really well with the given genre and song choice. I really like the flag in the background because you can recognise it even without colour. The clothing and feel of what you see works very well too. 

FeedBack For Our Draft Music Video

I have uploaded the rough cut of our music video to vimeo today so people can leave feedback and advise me how to go about making it better.... I have already received some feedback from class members, they want to see a variety of 'Artistic' shots of the band. For example in a different location having fun, chilling out, being with friends etc... We were told the shot types were really good and the filters and effects we have applied well onto our footage. Also the lighting was used well from only one static light, which I myself think worked really well. People said that there could be a story line involved because the song is about a girl and it's just in one location. I have created a facebook group for one purpose only and that is so I can monitor feedback and see what people really think of my music Video. Letting them leave negatives and positives and points for improvements....

I have also been watching a very influencing video which has given me some ideas which I will apply in the artistic cuts into our music video. For example a different location or locations and different snippets of the band around, hanging with friends, being silly and naive etc. Maybe some story line.

Taking the footage into Final Cut...

Today we have been taking the footage into final cut and editing it as best as we can, we have nailed the opening to the video, looks very professional. We have also been playing around with the contrast filters to lighten and darken the footage. We still have a rough draft to be completed by friday which should be an easy goal. The editing is going to be a complex job because we are fading all of our clips in and out. Our aim is to get 190 cuts in the whole 3 minutes maybe more depending on how much of the footage we can use. We are modifying speed to give it a nice strumming affect to the guitar and bass. The lighting we used did the job perfectly, we were able to light half the face and the guitar as we aimed to do in the beginning. We have lipped synced everything so it is believable and in time. We just have to add the filters and finish off the rest of the footage.

Equipment we used; 

1 x Guitar 

1 x Bass 

1 x Drum kit 

1 x Free Standing Static Light 

1 x Camera With Tripod 

Filming The Bass

Today we went to hall for the final time to record the bass for our video, I learnt the bass to little man tate in my spare time so that it looks believable in the actual video. We got some different camera angles which work really well. We thought costume wise we would wear shirts as it's causal yet smart. We have been working really hard on getting good camera angles, lighting the footage and using the filters. Adding Desaturation and Colour contrast... We might need to film a few more close ups next monday because we need a few more of the lead guitar but I guess we will see when we have finished the draft video editing. We have a few low angles shots, which gives a

nice view of the bass and player. We have some extreme close ups which capture every detail of the bass which again portrays a really nice effect. The side on angle is a really nice shot because it shows the british flag behind the bass player. Reminding the audience that the genre of song is Britpop.

Out And About.. Part 2

I took a drive down to Dry Drayton on friday morning to pick up our equipment from Cambridge Sound. I turned up to find that nobody is there and nobody will be there until 1:30pm and I was there until 10am. I was told that there would be someone there and there wasn't.. So I had to drive back to college with no equipment... We then used the Britpop theme 'Do it yourself' so we grabbed 2 standard static lights from the media room and a HD camera and went and filmed our music video. We shot each of us doing the song once from a different angle, them we went hand held and filmed some up close shots. To add effects we might have some artistic footage to shoot this week but thats yet to be confirmed this week. We shot some artistic stuff in front of the flag of us singing different lines. We still need to films some more shots this week of the whole band. Unfortunately we were unable to use a smoke machine in the hall as it would be a safety hazard, the lights worked really well and we got the effect we were going for. Secondly we managed to get a drum kit which was good, we put a microphone on a telescopic pole with tape. Because we didn't have a microphone stand. We got together some wood to hang the banner from. We took it in time to man the lights and film so everyone did some of everything, christian plays guitar and sings in a band and I play Bass and do some vocals for my band...

Video Tester

We shot some video footage with the lighting technique and the black&white contrast filter over the top. We are one step closer to achieving our target. Tomorrow I will be going driving down too dry drayton to pick up the lights and Smoke machine but we are still waiting for the approval for the smoke alarms. I also took some photos of the hall where we will be shooting tomorrow. We are filming and lighting ourself. As well as performing which will be tricky but we hope to do it. The stage is the perfect darkness for shooting it has enough plugs for the lights and the camera. It also has enough room to get good shots. The only problem would be a band shot, we would have to be close together.. The filters work well giving the brightness and darkness a good contrast. I can't wait to start editing.

Out And About..

I took a walk down to the Junction on tuesday to see if we would be able to use one of there studios to record our music video. Sadly they were overbooked on the venues therefore leaving me without a studio... But it wasn't to fear, we booked our school stage to record our music video... I have now learnt how to light a music video therefore we can achieve the effect we are trying to get... We have also been in contact with Cambridge Sound who let out smoke machines, dj equipment, band lighting etc. But we have been trying to contact the Principle to ask about the smoke machine to make sure we don't breach any safety hazards therefore we would need to deactivate the fire alarms in the hall. We have just spoken with site staff and they have made us a T-Stand so we can hang our lights and shine them on the band. I will be going to pick up the lights and smoke machine tomorrow during period 2. We are spending our own money on the lights and smoke machine to hire. So we hope this music video comes out as best as possible.   We are going to make our England flag to hang behind the lights out of a Bed-sheet and paint.

Music Director Research

Chris Cunningham - An English music, video and film director born in Reading, Berkshire 1970 and grew up in Suffolk. In 1989 began working on "Spitting Image" building animatronic robots and sculpting caricatures for the TV series. 1994 he worked on a film version of judge Dredd. Cunningham tested animatronics,  after he worked on the child character of A.I. Cunningham then left and pursued a career as a director. Cunningham has had a close tie to Warp Records since his first production Autechre. In 2005, he released a short film "Rubber Johnny" as a DVD accompanied by a book photographs and drawings, a six minute experimental short film cut to a soundtrack by "aphex twin" remix by Cunningham.

Music Video Research

Location - 
Searching for a location, we had to think about what is going to suit our giving genre, 'Britpop'.
We thought about a field and dressing in traditional British clothing but that isn't relevant to our genre our my album cover. You have to take into consideration the BPM (Beats Per Minute) therefore our location has to suit our song and the tempo. We are thinking about using a dark room, and lighting it well with different techniques. A video that I want to try and light and edit like is "Life In Film- Sorry". This week we are going to head down to The Junction and see if we can use one of their studios to record our music video because it would be ideal because then we could solve our lighting issues as we would be using professional lighting and lighting crew. And if we fail to get The Junction as our location then we will try and use a room in the college which will allow us to use a smoke machine and our lighting which would also be borrowed from the college.


Props -  We will be using our own instruments for our performance. We will be using a Guitar, Bass, Mics, Drums. The cameras will be supplied from the college. The costumes will be supplied by ourselves, we had an idea to use the clothes we had in our Album Artwork for the Digipak. If not we will be following a smart style clothing from ourselves. Transporting the Drum Kit from 'over' is going to be our only problem but again if we could get The Junction then we wouldn't need to bring a Drum Kit. We are going to hire a smoke machine because we want to achieve the a great looking music video, also in this video the smoke really adds to the colour of which the film is shot in.

Schedule for this week - On tuesday I will be contacting the Junction to see if we can use the J3 (JUNCTION 3) to record our music video. And getting in contact with a company that will allow us to hire a smoke machine which we will be using. We will be doing some Advanced research on lighting just in case we cannot get the Junction as our venue. And just finishing off some final preparation before shooting our music video. For example, making a shot list a draft board of how we want our music video to look..