Live type

Today I used live type to create an ident to introduce the song and artist at the start of the video, like you would find when watching a music channel.

The ident will appear a few seconds into the start of the video, and last a few seconds to give people enough time to read it, but not to get too distracted from the video. I will place it in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Stills from the video to use in the digipak and magazine advert

Here are some stills from my music video that I may use when creating my digipak and magazine advert.

I took stills of all the stages of the face painting as when editing them I may be able t put them together in some way.

I also took stills of the section of the video where she imagines going outside. This is because I could put them together and make them smaller to make a 'college' of this section. With the shots in which she jumps or runs off, I took stills where she is doing this as I though it would look more interesting rather than having motionless looking frames of her.

With the stills of her when she finally leaves, I again took ones of her moving as it looks more interesting, and reflects the mood of the part of the song as it is much more happier and lively than the earlier parts of the video as she finally has left and is excited and happy.

OF the stills i have taken, I think I am more likely to use the one of the full face paints as it is a key part of the video, and the bigger outside shots as I think these look happier and more fun, and I am trying to show a positive message through the video, to give the feeling that things can get better, you just need to try your hardest, and so I would like to use the more positive looking stills.

I am also hoping to use some hand made artwork in the digipak, as I have noticed that in many digipaks art work is used. Also, as the face paints are a key part of the video, and so I am hoping to have a hand made painting similar to the face paint t use in the digipak and magazine advert. I may also make a photo shoot of the girl in her outfit to get some different compositions of her, possibly in different locations.

I will try out some different designs over the following weeks and then I shall chose the best one, or possibly combine several of the ideas depending on what I feel looks best.

Digipak designing

Now my video has been mostly edited, and all that is left to do is to tweak it here and there, I will start to look more into my magazine poster, and digipak.

I currently have a few ideas for the digipak, and over the coming weeks I shall produce them.

While I've been researching into what digipak are and anyalsying them, I have noticed that they often have some kind of hand made artwork. As a big part o my video involves facepaints of a sky, I decided to include this in the digipak.

I have asked the girl who was kind enough to do the facepainting for the video if she would be willing to do some painting which I can use as part of the digipak.

I am also organising a photoshoot with Natasha, who played the girl in the video, as often pictures of the artist are included on a digipak.

Some more editing

After watching through my video again, I felt that one shot didn't fit very well.

This is because you can see the white curtain, no cover on the window and the lighting is different to the rest of the shots filmed in this area. This is because orginally, at the start of our first filming day, two covers were used on the window. However, when we attempted the shots where the cover was pulled from the window, the second cover posed a problem and stopped the window being uncovered properly. We then removed the second cover, and had just the one. Unfortunately, while all the other footage was re-shot without the second cover, this part was forgotten. Due to this, at the start of our second day of filming we attempted to film this shot again, and got the above.

After looking through footage to see if there was a better shot we could use instead, I found some of the footage with the two covers that I was not intending to use, which featured this shot with the covers, and the same lighting as the rest.

Its not very obvious here, but the second cover can be seen. However, I felt it would be better to use this shot rather than the out of place looking other shot. So, I cropped the shot so that the cover was no longer visible.

Editing.

After making some of my footage's edges fading into the background, I tried to do this on all shots where she is imagining being outside to make it clearer she was imagining. After doing this, I watched it back and it looked like too much, so I returned the shots to normal apart from one shot of the sky spinning as I though the edges looked good here, and the part I originally edited to have these edges from my last editing session.

Further editing

After my last editing session, and the fade outs that didn't work, I continued to find a way of editing the shots together of the girl imaging being outside. After looking at the different options I have to edit the footage, and trying some of it out, I decided on making the shots smaller, and having them straight cut to the beat of the music in different positions on the screen.

One of the shots of my my footage looked like this:

After deciding on how edit it, and play around with other kinds, I clicked the motion tab on my editing window, and made these changes

I made the shot smaller, by moving the scale bar down to 57. To then make it clear she was imagining what was happening, also moved the 'Edge Feather' bar up to 100, making the edges of the shots fade into the plain background.

The finishing shots will then resemble this

I did the same as the other shots, but I also changed their positioning as I think this works well.

Capturing and editing

Today I captured the footage I filmed at the park. Unfortunately, most of the footage I sot didn't come out to well and so I am unable to use this. I will continue to edit for now with the little new footage I have. If after putting the new footage in, if I feel like it doesn't work still, I shall go and film some more.

After capturing, I continued to edit. In one part of my video, many different shots of the girl outside are sown as she imagines being outside. The part of the song that these shots appear has a repeated beat, like the start of the song, so I previously edited the footage to reflect this. I the decided it was boring to have each shot connected with a straight shot, so I decided to fade the end of the shots out, and the new shots just straight cut in.

However, after watching this bad I felt that there were now to many fades and it didn't look as good as I hoped it would have done. So, I took all the fades out and during my next editing session I will try to find another way to edit this part of the video.

More filming

Today I went out and did more filming.

To do this, we went to Valence park in Dagenham.

I chose to film here as it has a play area, which I thought would be a good place to have the visit outside as its somewhere she can easily have fun. It also has a lake, which is quiet due to fishing, and has ducks, geese and squirrels which I though would be good to film as well.

There is also Valence house, which has a garden that could be used to film in too.

Editing.

Today I continued to edit my video.

I added some fade in and outs to show that the girl is imagining being in the forest to make it clear that she doesn't actually go outside till the end.

Digipak Analysis

Here is an analysis of a digipak. The digipak is for the album Radio:ACTIVE by the British pop band McFly. This is a digipak I personally own.

Digipak Analysis: Radio:ACTIVE

View more presentations from Louise Levitt

Editing again.

Today I some more editing, I once again watched through the whole video and changed a few things, and then I continued to alter the brightness of some shots.

Magazine Advert Anyalsis

Magazine advert analysis

Even more editing

Today after watching through the whole first edit a few times, I started to change a few shots around.

And, after a chat with my teacher, I decided that I need to film a few more outside shots in another place, not just a forest.

I also started to brighten and darken some of the shots that needed to be.

Student example digipak

The video its self is simple, but it edited well and looks very professional.

The digipak that goes with the song, and even includes one of the shotss from the video on the back cover. The colours used on the digipak are bright and colourful, matching the overall feel of their video as it looks fun, which bright colours are often associated with. It also has some hand drawn art on it, showing the artists names. Like the video, the digipak is also quite simple, as its is only really some pictures of the singers, a still from the video and a drawing, but like the video it also looks professional.

What is a digipak?

As well as my video, one of the other things I have to create is a digipak for my song.

A digipak is a style of packaging for a CD that folds up. It needs to include:

• Six panels
• A spine showing the artist, and the Album's name.
• Track list, which is usually found on the back.
• Bar code, also usually found on the back.
• Disk impression
• A booklet, postcard, poster (optional)

Some more editing

I continued to edit my video today.

I have now completed choosing and lining up all the house and forest footage roughly into an order I think works well.

It starts off with stills of her face being painted to the beat of the music for 3 changes, then the footage of her at the window starts. It then cuts back to the face continuing to be painted until finished, then continues with her trying to uncover the window. It then goes on to show her run from the window and cry in the corner, read a book and imagining being outside, another attempt to uncover the window but successfully this time, then she again imagines being outside, it then goes to her trying to open the door and finally going outside, then it shows her running around outside. Through out this it also cuts to a close up of her in the face paint singing.

Apart from a few changes, the editing so far mostly reflects my storyboard/animatic.

I still have some editing to do, I need to brighten and darker some scenes for example.

Starting to edit

Today, I started to edit my footage.

I started with putting the course and mine/the centres number. I then started to line up the four lip syncing attempts on different layers.

After this, I will start to edit the other footage of her in the house, and in the forest. After this, I will start cutting between the different layers.

Capturing footage

Now that the filming is done, I started to capture the footage onto the imacs at school, in order to edit.

Second day of filming

Today was the second day of filming.

We filmed some more in my house, as after watching the footage I decided some scenes didn't look very good. After this, we went to Hainault forest.

I choose to film in Hainault as it's not that far from my house, and is very large and so there is less chance of us being disturbed while filming. I also know of an opening which has some wooden sculptures which I thought would be good to film Natasha with. It also has a meadow next to the forest which I also need to use in the video when she goes outside.

Started filming

Today, I started to film some of my music video. We started off with the lip syncing, which is the longest part of the filming process. This is because for the lip syncing we needed Natasha, the girl who is in the video, to have her facepainted. To do the painting, we got a friend of ours who is good at art to do it. It took about an hour to do the facepaints alone, partly due to the girl doing it being a perfectionist and me needing to keep stopping her to take photos to use at the start of the song. The facepaint shows a cloudy sky with a rainbow.

The finished facepaint:

After going through the actual lip syncing and filming it several times, we moved on to the filming inside the house. We shot on the stairs, where the covered window was, in the hallway for when she sits in the corner, and in the kitchen where the back door is, for when she finally goes outside.

Filming timetable

Here is a timetable of my filming, along with the people, props and equipment I will need.

Moodboard

Inspiration behind the video

Even though my survey gave me the basic idea of the video, I had inspiration from other videos and stories to help create my final idea.


One of the ideas in the video is the facepainting. I got this idea after watching the 100 greatest music video, from the video that got to number 2, Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. He, quite obviously, at one point in the video had a sky scene go across his face. As the song I am using is called 'Under the sky' I thought doing something similar would go well. As my video idea was about a girl who had never gone outside getting the courage to go outside, I could use the facepaints as an obvious indicator that she wants to leave. Right from the start before you know that she dreams of being outside from the paint alone.

The idea of the video being about a girl wanting to go outside from the first time came from the line 'Time to leave'. The emotion behind this part of the soon sounds very forceful and determined, like someone would sound when they are really sure of something. This, combined with the song title, gave me the idea that she was determined to go out, under the sky. From here I thought about the fairytale Rapunzel with the idea of being locked up and unable to leave, showing her 'depression' and wanting to get out of it.



Another music video helped create my idea, Skinny Love by Birdy. The video has a similar feeling to the one I want to create in my own video. I also think the type dress she wears in the video would go good in my own. This is because this type of dress looks old fashioned, and with the idea of the girl in my video never have been outside, the only clothes they would have are old, and the connotations of white show innocence and purity, and these ideas are often associated with children. This will work with my video as the girl is in a deep depression, but wishes to get out, to be 'born again', to start over.

Animatic

Music video Idea

After some research and my survey, I have come up with an idea for the video. Very basically, the video will be about a girl trying to get out of depression, but this idea is disguised.

The idea behind the video is that it is of a girl, who for an unknown reason, hasn't been outside for a while, if ever, but is obsessed with it. She has read about it, and is always imagining about it, but is too scared to take the final step outside. She has trapped herself in her house, like how someone may trap themselves into their depression.

To show this, I will have the girl trying to uncover a window that has been covered, as well as her reading books and imaging what it must be like outside. This shows her trying to get out, she knows she has to but is too scared of what might happen. At the end of the song, she will finally get the courage to go outside, taking her first step to recovery.

The video will also have lip syncing, where the girl's face will be painted to resemble a sky, to further show this obsession and it shows the link between the song, and the video.

The facepaint, her imagination and her reading books of the outside can also been seen as antidepressants, as it is something she does to try help get herself out of her house, or depression.

While avoiding the main answers I collected from my survey, relationships, night and love, I kept still included some of the less popular ideas such as 'glimpse of light', longing, forest, sky, clouds, light, sadness, broken and story. This then makes the video itself not as expected as the common images people think of are not used, while at the same time, it is expected as it using some of the other images it conjures up, just the less popular ones.

The video will also keep people interested as after the first part, the audience will want to know why is she afraid of looking outside, will she ever get over it? I think keeping peoples interest is important for my video as it is about four minutes long, and so if an interesting story isn't involved, it may get boring.

Focus group summary

After playing the song I intend to use to some volunteers, I concluded that:

• They believed it was a good song to use
• The intro is long, but if the video is made correctly this is not an issue
• The song is emotional, and this emotion increases as the song goes on

Some ideas were also given with the ideas of clouds, the sky, pain and desperation.

The results from the focus group are similar to that of the survey I conducted, which means the results from both are reliable as they are shared by many.

The focus group also gave me another chance to edit, and so I have more experience with using the new features on final cut express.

After listening to the song for the focus group one of the girls, Natasha, volunteers to be in the video as she liked the song. So, not only was the focus group successful in that I learned more about whet people like, I also have a willing actress.

Survey wordle

Here is a wordle I created of the answers I got to the question of my survey 'When you listened to the song, what did it make you think of?' to clearly show what type of things those who heard the song associated it with.

From the wordle, we can see that the most popular things the song made people think of is a relationship, love and night. Knowing this, I can use these ideas and include them into my video, or I could try and steer clear of these things. By not including what people said the most, the video could be unexpected, and this may cause the audience to want to watch it more, as they want to know what is happening.

Survey results

Here are the results of my survey:



Most of those who took my survey seem to be unsure about the song, but this may be due to the fact it is different from the type of music they usually listen to. If this is the case however, some of those seem to me more accepting about it.




These results show that in fact, the reason those taking my survey may not of liked the song is due to it being different to what they usually listen, and so as it is out of their comfort zone of music they are likely to be unsure of the song.



This shows the type of music that people actually listen to, once again showing how they may of been unsure of the song due to it not being what they usually like.



The opinions of the song itself are very varied, however this is good. Those who liked the song are therefore more likely to enjoy the music video, while those who don't like it as much it will take more convincing in the video to get them to like the song. So, this is a perfect chance to see if, like can be seen with so many other music videos, if the music video adds value to the song. I will be, after completing the video, get the same people to watch the video and answer another survey, and so then we will be able to see if this is true.



People are also unsure as to if the song is good to use for a video, this once again may be due to it not being their usual taste in music. However, a few more people seem to be more for it being good to use for a video.



As mentioned in a later question, after making the survey I was aware that question 5,'Do you think it is a good song to use to make a music video?' and question 6 'Do you think this song would make a good music video?' sound similar. Question 5 is meant to be asking if they thought it was a good song to chose to make a video or not. Question 6 was meant to ask people if they think this song could ever make a good video, or is it too bad to make a decent video for. Answers once again varied, with most people saying yes or maybe.



As I would like the video and song to be linked in some way, I thought it would be good to see what the song made people think of, so I can see how I may be able to link the song and video together, and not just through the lyrics but with the feelings and emotions, as the song itself is very emotional and so needs a link there. From these, I liked the idea of clouds and sky as it is linked to the lyrics, and the idea of depression as a grey sky covered in clouds is often shown to represent depression. I also like the idea of a glimpse of light, as despite the song being emotional, it also, I think, has an idea of things getting better. I also liked the idea of longing for a person who isn't there. I will try and use these idea in my video.

From my results as a whole, I have found out that the song is not that well liked, mainly because is is not the type of song they liked. This also shows that people aren't all that open minded when it comes to music. Also, people as a whole are unsure as to if the song is a good song to choose, or if it will make a good video. I also have many idea of what my video can be about.