To make our editing more fast-paced and ‘choppy’ we decided to gather some quick insert shots which could be used to cut the shots with a long duration. We also thought this might be a good idea as our video is heavily performance based, and including shots with no lip syncing might be beneficial in order to keep our audience engaged. Here are a few of the shots we have gathered:
The original ending on our storyboards for the old idea, was to have a revelation where it is explicitly shown to the audience that the hooded figure is in fact, our performer. We chose to stick with this idea as it links to Barthes' narrative code theory. The hermeneutic/ enigma code in our video is the presence of the hooded figure - unanswered enigmas often frustrate audience, therefore we chose to reveal the mystery code at the end of our video in order to satisfy our audience. Here is the final shot, which we hope will clearly tie our narrative together:
Cigarette Daydreams has been a huge inspiration for us, especially in terms of post-production and narrative. Here is a short explanation of the video...
"Perhaps a search for a love by a woman trying to outrun her past?
Ambiguity abounds as the film is a psychologically-fragmented story of
yearning, memory, and desire. It counterpoints images of innocence and
danger and revolves around a tour de force performance by the Parisian
trained actress Juliette Buchs." - grungecake.com
Many close ups of the actress are used in the video, conveying a range of emotions from nonchalance to anger. These shots are cutaways to various locations, suggesting a desire to escape. Particularly evident through the mirror shots, is the idea of self-conflict and a struggle to find peace within oneself. Such themes have helped us derive our own narrative for our music videos, and we hope to use similar mirror and close-up shots to portray this message clearly to our audience.
Insert shots are used, which are quickly cut in an almost montage-like fashion. Within the short shot duration(s), the audience are given brief enigmas (Barthes) about the narrative, however these are not tied together until the end of the video. The vintage shots, with an old age filter appear to be memories of the actress as a young girl, alluding to yearning or a loss of innocence. This is something we could think about in terms of editing pace. Perhaps using a vintage filter on some of our shots to create an old photographic look could aid the narrative progression of our music video. Although the colour palette of this video is predominantly monochrome, occasional full colour shots using a grunge filter can also be seen, enhancing important stages in the narrative.
The artists of the song also appear in the video, linking them to their narrative and introducing their identity, to familiarize themselves with the audience.
The final shots of the video serve as a revelation, where it is clearly shown to the audience, that the entity the actress has been running from is in fact herself, who she burns in a car as an attempt to finally escape from her past. We love the idea of inner-conflict as a narrative focus, and how the progression of it in this video is given as a set of ambiguous clues, leaving the audience to interpret their own meaning. We hope to think of a similar narrative, which satisfies the audience at the end of our video with a similar shot to the one below.
Here is the actual music video, where the range of shots and quick cuts can be fully appreciated:
Today we filmed on the balcony which hangs over our school gymnasium. We felt that this was an ideal location, as it has large bay windows with greenery outside. As it is an out of bounds area, it is quiet and desolate, therefore we had minimal interruptions and we could quickly return to editing after we had finished filming. In addition, we had access the stairway which led up to the balcony, which made for another small location. Here are some still shots from today, edited to fit our black and white colour palette:
Despite not being in our genre, ZHU's video for 'Faded' serves as inspiration for us, in terms of editing. The use of a monochrome colour palette, illuminated with quick cuts of bright white lights looks effective as it startles the viewer and synchronizes to the beat of the song. This is something we could also use - lights could be used as insert shots to create a more fast-paced style.
The shots below are also effective, linking the white figure to shots of other people through separate layers. This creates a distance and alludes to the idea of solitude or withdrawal. We could mimic this effect, creating a link between the hooded figure and our performer to create a contrast in the two sides of her personality. However, we aim to subvert typical portrayals of women in music videos as objects of desire, which ZHU have done through their voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
The random insert shots in the video also help to create a choppy editing style - framing and composition of these shots is carefully thought, as demonstrated in the shots below. The first POV shot of the stairs leads the viewers eyes into a white light, arresting the audiences thoughts. The second is framed to show a young woman in a small, isolated location which links to themes of seduction and reclusion in the state of being 'faded'. We could frame our insert shots similarly, to lead the eyes of our audience to elements of the frame which supplement the narrative focus.
Here is the full video, in which the fast-paced editing can be clearly seen:
We returned to the forest to gather some quick insert shots. We filmed on both our DSLR, and on Rhianne’s iPhone, using a fisheye lens provided to us by the media department! The shot below can be flipped using the flip tool on iMovie, which is something we hope to use, to reflect our performer's disorientated state and to keep our audience excited.
Although some sides of the fisheye circle have been cut off due to us
filming in portrait mode, we hope to have edit the shots so they appear
as segments on different parts of the screen, again, to create confusion for our audience and keep them engaged.
We have been searching for fonts to use for the digipak using the website dafont.com.
We came across a few that we really liked:
In the end, we decided to go for the ‘Shadows’ font by Lucas Moriceau, which to our advantage, was free for personal use so we avoided any copyright issues.
We feel that this font could work well not only on the digipak, but also for the title displayed at the beginning of the music video and for our magazine advert, in order to show synergy between all three products.
PVRIS' new video has an interesting editing style, which we hope to emulate. The overlaying shots make interesting compositions in the video, which
create depth and an almost ghost-like effect, linking to the lyrics of
the song. We have tried to achieve a similar effect, using layered shots
of water which looks like smoke to correspond with the 'smoke as black
as charcoal' lyric of our song.
The heavily saturated shots in PVRIS' video create a greater contrast
between the light and dark elements of the video,allowing specific
elements of the frame such as the lead singers face, to be emphasized.
Perhaps we could increase the saturation of some shots in our own video,
as the contrast links to the exploration of inner conflict in our
narrative.
In additon, the use of negative shots which reverse the order of the lightest and darkest areas of the frame are effective, as the overexposure creates confusion within the audience, holding their attention. Such shots are also termed 'afterimages' as they are designed to resonate with the audience when they blink or look away, therefore some elements of the video are made more memorable. This is a technique we could use, to create a lasting effect on our viewers.
This shot is also effective as the screen has been split, skewing the focus of the shots. This creates a sense of disorientation and makes a single shot more interesting, as static images tend to be less visually exciting than moving shots. We could also employ this technique for shots with a long duration, as this would help retain the audiences attention.
Here is the full video, which employs quick cuts and a choppy editing style.
The video serves as inspiration for our own editing style - where the
chorus of our song quickens, we have decreased the shot duration and
used several shots to create a fast-paced montage, just as PVRIS have
done:
We have started to produce the front cover of our digipak, taking inspiration from others from the indie genre. In order to conform to the conventions of an indie digipak, and create a link between our music video and our album cover, we have used a monochrome colour palette with the corner shot from our music video as the graphic.
Here are some variations of our digipak, which we have altered based on others we have seen...
We have used a layered image, as we like the distorted effect created on James Blake's cover.
The soft focus on the background on Banks' cover accentuates the text, which is something we have tried to emulate in order to highlight Tayla's star image in the frame.
We like the use of the circle in Now Now's album, as this links to our music video. The use of minimal colours on the cover also gives it a simplistic and sophisticated look.
We have yet to select any fonts for our album cover and we are still working on perfecting the image, however we hope to be done in the coming few weeks.
