Final Cut

I posted the fourth rough cut on facebook and got some good feedback and so have decided that it shall be my final cut.

Here is some of the comments I got...

Also I got this comment on the YouTube page...

Rough Cut #4: Director's Commentary

I've put together this director's commentary to explain further my thought processes behind my last rough cut, looking at my progression from my 1st rough cut to now.

Ancillary: Final Advert

I made two advert drafts to decide which one to use as my final ancillary. I wasn't sure about the placement of the reviews and so asked for feedback on facebook, which was very helpful.
Here are the two adverts...

Advert #1

Advert #2

Here's some of the feedback I got on advert #2...

Therefore advert #2 is now definitely going to be my final advert which I'm very pleased about. I think that it reflects my audience research and the tone of Jamie xx's music as well as tying in with the music video I have created. 

Rough Cut #4

I have finished my fourth rough cut of my video which, as I explained on the youtube page, will hopefully be the final cut. I am going to put together a director's commentary to explain my thought processes so far about the progress and changes from my first rough cut to this one.

Ancillary: Final Cover

I've been through many experimental stages with my single cover for my ancillary task, from using an artistic, colourful approach to using jamie xx's real single covers as inspiration. I now think I have landed on an effective, simple design that effectively promotes jamie xx's single. The research I carried out before beginning my work was invaluable as it meant I had a good understanding of what is needed in a single cover and how much they have evolved. I used the discovery that many artists (especially dance artists which is the genre I'm working in) use a still from their video as the art for their cover to fully create a house theme in their promotion for the song, as basis for my final draft. 
Before settling on my final cover I looked one last time at trying to incorporate my female protagonist into the cover...

But, once again, I think it fails to grab the audiences attention and the cover that I eventually chose not only has an artistic feel to it which fits in with the jamie xx brand but also features water and so interlinks with the concept of 'rolling in the deep'. 
Here is my final cover...

Rough Cut #3.b: Experimenting

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. 

Rough Cut #3

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:

Ancillary: Advert Drafts

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.

Ancillary: Cover Drafts Continued

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. 

Editing: New Footage

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. 


Here is my new beginning edited together...

Rough Cut #2

I've put together my second rough cut; shortening the sequence at the end, removing the middle section and making the music match up better. There is still some work to do but this is closer to the final product.

Ancillary: Cover Drafts

After researching existing products I decided to start experimenting in photoshop over the past week or so to come up with some of my own ideas for my single cover.

Above is one of the images I took during filming, which I really like so I decided to build on this. I played around with the layout and where to put the text. I also wanted to emphasis the rose.

Then I remembered my research and dance remix covers often have an artistic element and so I used the diffuse glow filter on photoshop which I really, really liked as it gives it a more professional and retro feel.

Then I had the idea of creating a pop art effect by using lots of different colours which will catch the audience's attention. I painted in different sections of the image but I changed the opaque settings of the colours so that you can still see the image behind the colours, which I think particularly works on the ocean.

I gradually built up the colours until I only had the skin and hair left. However as you can see by my attempts below she ended up looking like someone out of Avatar so I had to have a rethink..

Blue

White

Pink

Then I had a brainwave to turn the artist black and white to contrast with the rest of the cover.

I liked this but I still wanted the bright red of the rose and so changed that as it it is symbolic of love and passion and so needs to be emphasised for the audience.

I also thought about still having some colour on the artist so I tried that out. 

I also re-did the eyes and lips but I'm not entirely sure it works yet.

I also tried out some fonts that might work...

There's still some work to do on these covers but I'm happy with my progress so far.

Rough Cut #1: Director's Commentary

I've created a director's commentary version of my first rough cut which explains my feelings and thoughts about it and how I'd like to progress. 

I'm now working on my second rough cut keeping in mind all that I've said here.

1st Rough Cut

This is my first (mostly) full rough cut of my music video. There are a few audio sync issues and I'd like to re-shoot the beginning (first 30 seconds or so), but otherwise I shall make another 'director's commentary' explaining my thoughts and changes that I'd like to make.

End of Video: Rough Cut

I've been working on trying to match the images to the beats of the song which is harder than it looks! The end lot of beats is the longest and this is my rough cut. I'll now work on competing the other 'beat' section of the song and placing them into my overall rough cut of the entire song which will hopefully be completed by the end of the week. 

I'm currently unsure whether the ending where she walks towards the camera is effective or whether I should leave it with her looking out to sea. I shall get some audience feedback to see what I should do. 

River/Interlude/Forest: Rough Cut - Director's Commentary

I've recorded a 'director's commentary' explaining my thoughts and ideas for the process so far in putting together a rough cut of part of the music video. 

River/Interlude/Forest: Rough Cut

I've been editing a lot these past few weeks, and have managed to put together a rough cut of the middle part of my music video.

I'm happy with it at present and asked a few people in my class what their thoughts were. Some of the things they said was that they liked the variety of shots and that it had good clarity. They also said they liked the colours, but to try a draft with the interlude in black and white.


Next I'm going to do a director's commentary of where I am so far and how I want to progress.

Interlude: Rough Cut

I've put together a rough cut of my interlude which you can see below...

(In the process of uploading to YouTube the colouring seems to have gone more purple than blue so I will alter that before the final product.)
However, whilst editing I thought of the idea of putting some of the lyrics over the video to make the message have more impact, which I tried out...

I'm not sure which works best so I'm going to have to get some feedback before I make a decision.

River Rough Cut

I've put together a rough cut of my preliminary filming, much of which I will be keeping in. I tried out a few effects and editing techniques to see how it would work...

Forest Shoot

The forest shoot on Sunday went well. As it only features in the video for about a minute, the shoot took a lot less time than I was anticipating. The weather was nice and clear and the sun shone through the trees at times so I managed to get some great shots.
Here is my shot list from the shoot...

Here are some of the pictures I got that may be used for my album cover. 

Whilst filming I came up with a shot of the artist running away from the camera further and further into the forest, which symbolises letting the relationship go, and that it is now just a memory (helped by the white blouse which is ghost-like). 

Me filming

I'm now going to try to put a rough cut together of what I've got so far before I film the river location.