I wanted to experiment with the flashback sequence to see if it would work elsewhere within the song. I put together this rough cut to see, however whilst editing I found no obvious place in the music to place it and so the music doesn't match very well at all.
Aside from the sound issues I also think this confuses the narrative even further and takes away from the ending where she has gradually moved on from the relationship by taking the audience back there again. Perhaps the issue is the use of a different song at the beginning, even though I have had many comments that they liked the contrasting music, so I shall try some other sound effects to see if that helps.
Last week I showed my third rough cut to a class of year 9's. Before the screening I found out that what they wanted most from a music video was seeing people having fun. Also when discussing modern music videos they described Lady Gaga as "weird", "sexual" and "terrifying", which was interesting to hear!
In terms of what they liked about my video they said they liked the use of scenery as a way to reflect the emotions in the video. They saw that she was happier in the brighter locations such as the beach and then a little more sadder in the darker locations such as the forest. They also liked the editing, including the varied images being on the beat. Another thing that stood out for them was the circular narrative, as they liked how it began and ended on the beach, neatly tying everything up. The majority of the class managed to understand the narrative being about a break up and they liked that it portrayed a strong female on their own. Lastly many of the class commented on how much they liked the interlude section as it showed her in a plain room and they said that was very effective.
They also mentioned a couple of things that I could work on, including making sure the audio/visual were in sync. An issue that I wanted to know was if the flashback sequence at the beginning with the different song was confusing or made it more interesting to watch. The class took a vote and the latter view won, but I shall try experimenting with new ways to make sure that it definitiely makes sense to the audience in the future.
I've put together a third rough cut of my video which is much closer to my final cut. I've finished filming all that I'd like to and so there are only a few finishing touches on the editing after getting some audience feedback until it should be complete. Firstly, I've added the new beginning which I put together last week and then also throughout the video added a few flashback shots to contrast with the female protagonist as she is now, i.e. single. I've also changed some of the clips by adding the hard light effect as I thought that it made them look more interesting and made the colours stand out. This, again, contrasts with the use of the 'romantic' effect on the flashbacks. So in the relationship it was more fuzzy and dream like and now after the break up things make more sense and are more intense: thus the imagery reflects this.
I also stabilised a few of the clips to make the whole thing a lot smoother to watch.
I am much happier now that I have the flashback sequences as I think it has made the narrative much clearer and has added a new dimension to the video. However, I am also been thinking about inserting the beginning sequence into the middle section that I originally cut out. I may try this out, but I'm not sure if it will work as the sequence is shorter than the music and it may not work within the flow of the video, but I shall try and see to make sure it is in the right place and get some feedback before making my final decision. Here is my new rough cut:
My second ancillary task is to create a magazine advertisement promoting the music single. For this I have based it upon the album cover drafts I have so far created as this is a common convention that I found whilst conducting my research. Here are the some mock-ups I have created...
I liked the idea of using a colour fading effect on the text but it didn't make the artist's name stand out which is important, so I decided not to use that effect.
I then set about adding more of the conventions such as a review quote and the artist's website.
I like the simplicity of this and that the artist's name is bigger but there is still some work to do. I also tried making a vertical advert to see how that would look...
I think I actually prefer this layout as it looks a little more professional. The artist's name is prominent, so as to attract the audiences attention. I also like the different use of primary colours, which makes it stand out a bit more too.
I've been looking further at my cover artwork and have now created some more drafts. Firstly after showing my last draft to some people they suggested to look at the fonts and colours. So I decided to change them around a bit to see if it worked better...
I like the idea of matching the colour with the rose to highlight that better. Red connotes love and passion as well so would help to signify what the song/video is about. I liked this better but then I had a great idea! Jamie xx's existing covers uses The xx's 'X' logo and so I thought I'd play around with that as audience's who know Jamie xx's work are used to seeing this logo on his work and so it's easy to spot his music.
As you can see putting it directly over the top of what I've already done doesn't work at all and so I tried moving the layers around...
I wanted to retain the element of the rose so I tried moving it so you could see her eyes as well as have the rose but I still wasn't sure. Then I thought that as the song is called 'Rolling in the Deep' I could use the ocean portion of the image and have the rose...
...but that didn't really fully work either. Then I thought about all my research I have done in the past. I remembered my Videos and Cover Art post I'd done and how I'd looked at dance artists who had used stills from their videos in their cover art, thus creating a really strong house style. I then looked through my video to find some strong images that might sum up my video and so created this draft which I really like as it has the water element...
I also used the original image of the artist and put the effect of 'diffuse glow' on which I had looked at when I first started experimenting which I also like as it has an alternative feel which matches the genre of music while also having a photograph of the female protagonist from my video.
My cover from the top is perhaps more mainstream with an urban edge with the colours but the covers with the X maybe fits the conventions of a dance remix and definitely of Jamie xx the artist.
On Saturday I spent the day shooting new footage, both for the lip-syncing at the start and some flashback sequences to try to solidify the narrative much more for the audience so the message behind the video becomes clearer. I'm really happy with the footage I managed to get and so have now been editing on the editing software I have available, which is iMovie. I really wanted to create a contrast between the flashback shots and the rest of the video and so I looked around at the filters and chose the 'romantic' effect.
Also throughout the video I changed the speeds to make it more exciting and interesting to watch...
I've put together a new beginning now with a flashback sequence before the song begins. I'm also going to include a few flashbacks in the video that will contrast with the artist being single now, which I'll talk about when I put up my third rough cut. I felt like I needed some sound over the flashback sequence and so to begin with I put some wave noises over the top. But then I had the idea to put an old Adele song that was about love to fully show the contrast between the relationship and how the artist is now. I found Adele's cover of The Cure's 'Lovesong' which I thought fitted well it isn't too happy but has a sad undertone which really worked. The only thing I am questioning with my new beginning is whether to go straight from the last shot of the silhouettes fading to black to fade up to the song straight away or to keep in the establishing shot of the beach with the titles. I shall conduct some audience feedback to see what they think before making a decision.
I have shown these two versions of my covers to my class to work out which way to go...
Colour
Black and white
2 people liked the first cover with the coloured lips and eyes whereas 4 people preferred the black and white artist. I was tending to agree and so now I would like to proceed with that version as I think it symbolises the mind of the female protagonist better as she is distanced further with the rest of the world and it's more clear cut, seeing things in black and white after her break up. She is also easier to emphasis with as her eyes can be seen easier and aren't as "alien" like which is what one member of my audience said. I am also going to assess the fonts used and get some feedback on those before finishing my cover. Here is a new draft...
To begin with my decision to use a dance remix song instead of a mainstream song was so that I could produce a more abstract, post-modern video as well as going against the norms for dance videos and use more mainstream conventions, using elements from both to create a mash up of both genres which so far has worked well. I made this decision as I wanted to take a fresh look at music videos and, through subverting the genres, understand further the conventions of music videos by both following them and breaking away from them.
Looking closer at my video so far, the main person that is being represented is a strong female who knows her own mind and can review a relationship clearly and honestly. But more than that anyone who has ever been through a break-up is represented and so this gives it an even wider audience. I've managed to convey these representations by showing my female protagonist on screen for the majority of the video and she is confident and assured, as well as thoughtful which is more positive outlook on a break-up than many of the mainstream outputs.
An example of a negative iconic break-up song- Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U
Readings The preferred reading of my text is that the audience watching would feel good after watching it and feel more confident in themselves that, while some relationships may have been great you can often be better on your own. I would also like the audience to be inspired by what they see and be entertained by the energy of the editing and the beats and want to buy the song - which is ultimately, as I explored here, what music promo videos are for, to promote the song. I am going to try and undertake some audience feedback to try and find out how the audience reads my video to look at different readings as well.
Also in terms of narrative and structure, Tzvetan Todorov's Equilibrium theory tells of an initial calm period which is then disrupted before ending with re-equilibrium. The song begins with a more negative vibe and then ends more positively which I've tried to reflect in the video. I don't have much equilibrium to begin with to try and contradict the norms of narrative and it just about works. However, I would like to film a few extra scenes with my female protagonist to provide a clearer narrative for the audience. This would be done with either filming the artist sitting on the beach looking at an old photo of her relationship or through filming a few flashback sequences: either having a very short prelude to the song or to place before the first chorus of the video.
