A2 Evaluation

This is my completed evaluation for my A2 project, I have created this on Final Cut Express, it includes all four evaluation questions.

Creating DVD using iDVD

I have now created a project using iDVD, this includes my music video, music magazine advertisement and my CD digipack both inside and outside covers.

Beginning Evaluation

I have now began to create a video for my final evaluation. Within this video I will have each question and then talk about each one while also showing many different images and shots from my music video. I feel that this will be the most effective way to evaluate both my ancillary tasks and my main task the actual music video. A video method is the best way to show to aspects.

Finished Music Video

I have now completed my final editing for my music video. I have added the music channel logo and a title sequence at the beginning of my video, as a music channel would do. Now that I have finished my music video I can go on to begin my evaluation.

Adding Music Channel Logo

I have now added the smash hits music channel logo throughout my music video, this makes my music video look more realistic, after this I will then add the track name and artist name at the beginning on my music video like a real music video beginning.

Changing the Opacity Levels

With this shot I have put the shame shot twice and changed the opacity, so it shows it twice but him at different places. This shows him as being two different people. (Past & Present)

Adding Cross Fades

Throughout my music video I have used various cross fades between shots so they flow well together. These work really well when showing the shots of Summer spinning around, it looks like it is zooming in and out of different angles.

Replicating a shot

Today I have edited the chorus of my song with different effects. I have used the video filter replicate, so the shot is shown four times on the screen. I think this looks very effective and will make my music video stand out and be more interesting.

Converting to Black & White

I have decided to change some shots of my music video into black and white. The reason for this is I want to show an aspect of two different stories (Past & Present) and I would like the shots of the past in black and white as it resembles these shots well. I then want to chorus in colour as it will stand out and show that it is the present time.

Lip Syncing

Editing this lip syncing together was hard to match due to the lighting of the shot. I think I may need to edit the shot to make it brighter and easier to see. I have also used a cross dissolve the break up the two seperate shots.

Enlarging a shot using image & wide frame

After watching the shots of summer lip syncing I have decided to make the shot bigger so she fills the screen. This then makes the lip syncing look more clear and you can still see the background well.

Speeding up & Reversing Shots

I have decided speed up this shot of the couple walking so it matches the beat, I have then decided to repeat it again after but in reverse. To do this I have clicked modify, then speed. I have then experimented with different percentages of speed to see which fits best. After I have then copied this clip and changed it to reverse.

Editing my music video

As I now have good footage to use I have began to edit my music video together. I have used various different shots for different parts of the song. Using the green screen footage for the chorus.

On the chorus I have used a background of clouds that I have filmed. As these shots were quite dull I used the brightness tool to make them stand out more.I then edited these with an effect called Kaleidoscope. This effect makes the image look abstract and move around in different directions. I think this works really well with the song as they move to the beat.

I have then put the lip syncing over the top of these images using the effect Chroma Keyer to remove the green screen. I then also had to crop the image slightly due to the top of the green screen containg a black line, I had to do this very precise as when my actress moves I do not want parts of her head being cut out.

Throughout my video, I have used many different cross disolve video transitions to show an aspect of two different stories. The idea for this is to show the past and present of the couple.

For the beginning of I have used a long shot of both my actors walking towards the camera, this shot works well as it matches the beat in which they walk too. I have then used a cross disolve to show another shot of them walking together, this shots overlap showing them apart and together, I have done this my slightly changing the opacity levels.

Friday 9th March Film Shoot

Today I went to two locations with both of my cast members. The first location was just outside of Walkton, where there was a walk way of trees. Here I filmed various shots of both walking together, alone and also some aspects of lip syncing. The second location was the bandstand at pleasure park, I filmed many different shots in the bandstand and also on a bench. All shots that I filmed during this shoot worked very well and I have now began to edit some footage together.

Filming with the green screen

Today, I filmed various shots on the green screen of summer lip syncing the chorus of my track. I filmed many different shots such as high angles, low angles and close ups. I have now began to edit some of this footage together and I think it looks good and the different shots work well. For a first shoot of lip syncing the footage I filmed was excellent quality due to the extra lighting we used and I feel that I will not need to film this again.

Filming on Friday 9th March

I am arranging to begin filming on Friday with both of my cast members. I plan to film during period 3 and 4 on friday using the first lesson for the green screen shots and the outside shots during the 4th lesson. I already know what I would like my female character to wear from previous research but I will need to have an idea on what I want my male character to wear.

An idea I have is that the female character will be quite dressed up and for the male character to be very casual. Such as a plain t-shirt and jeans and the girl wearing something like a long top and leggings that looks very girly and spring like.

Below are some images of what I would like the male character to wear:

Using livetype

Today I began to practice using live type. so I can use this within my video. I decided to pick out one of the main lyrics from the song and also used other lyrics that would stand out. I think the effects I used will work well with the theme of my music video. However, once I begin filming I may decided to not use these lyrics but I know I have these to use.

Canceling filming due to weather

I planned to film outside today with my new cast. However, due to foggy weather conditions I have had to cancel. I will reschedule either in tomorrows lesson or next weeks double lesson. I will also talk to Summer to see when she has the same free study periods as me so we can plan to come and use the green screen for the chorus.

Costume for filming on Thursday

I have now considered what type of costume I would like my new character to wear for when I begin filming on Thursday. As Taylor Swift is quite girly I want an outfit similar to what she would wear. Also due to the weather being Spring I would also like to show this in my video and I would like my video to be bright and show lots of bold colours.

A few ideas I have is an outfit such as a floral top and leggings or a floral/ bright coloured dress. Or light coloured clothing, like beige jeans and a blouse. These would represent spring.

I would then like her to wear natural make-up, nothing brightly coloured.

Motion Key Frames

Today I have been practicing using motion key frames, this allows me to have images moving as a background I can use for my green screen shots.

To add key frames you use the canvas view of your video and click the add motion key frame button at the button of the screen. Once clicked using image and wideframe you can move your image around in different ways you would like it to move. You then select add motion key frame as many times as you would like your image to move. You then must add a motion key frame at the end of the image.

Once I done this to my first image, I added other images over the top and also added key frames to them so they all moved at the same time.

After this I add my practice green screen shot over the top to see what it would look like as a background.

Below is the video I created:

Green Screen

Due to the weather forecast today I have not done any filming outside today, so I have been practicing using the green screen. I took a few shots in front of the green screen and downloaded them to my Mac. I then put the footage into final cut. After putting the footage into final cut I got a background image that I could use, this was a view of grass and flowers.

To remember how to use the green screen I am going to write down a step-by-step guide on how to use the green screen in final cut.

1. Add your footage to the final cut timeline at the top.
2. Add a seperate image on the timeline underneath the clip.
3. Click on the clip and use image and wideframe to move your clip around to fit the background image.
4. Once on the clip, go to effects and video filters.
5. Go down to key and select chroma keyer.
6. Click chroma keyer (in the viewer screen) and use the pipet tool to select the green screen. (Using shift to select more than one section)
7. Then use the three toolbars at the bottom to soften the edges around the person to remove the green outline.

Planning a re-shoot

I am planning to begin filming new footage for my music video tomorrow. This will be scenes of both my male and female characters, showing different shots for the verses of the song. This footage will be filmed at an outside location, so due to the weather forecast I may have to reschedule my shoot. However, I could begin to film my inside shots using the green screen, these shots will be used for my chorus and will just show my female artist Summer lip syncing.

New Music Advertisement

I have now created a new music advertisement after re-casting my artist. I have used similar ideas from my new inside cover of my cd digipak for my new music advertisement. The images used are to represent Taylor Swift as the type of artist she is and also to promote her album 'Fearless'.

New Inside Cover For CD Digipak

Due to a change in casting I have now changed the inside cover of my CD digipak, this is because my other orginial cast member was on the inside cover. I have now changed the inside to images that represent the artist Taylor Swift.

Practicing new music advertisement

Sine re-casting my new artist I have also began to create a new music advertisement. However, I have decided I will need to do some more photography of my new artist so I can experiment with different images of her. I will also take images that represent the artist, like her guitar or spring like images such as flowers. I can then experiment with these to make them look abstract.

Practicing new inside cover for CD digipak

Since re-casting my artist I have now began to change the inside of my digipak. This is because my other cast member was on the inside cover before. I have now began to practice a new inside cover with an image of my new cast member Summer.

Re-casting

Summer

I have now re-casted my female character in my music video, she will play Taylor Swift in my video. I choose Summer because she is a singer and I think she will be able to lip sync really well. I also think she will be able to act well in the illustration parts of my music video. I also think that Summer will represent my character well as she is young and has a trendy style, this is the look I want for the character. Her style is also quite girly like Taylor Swifts style.

Matthew

I have also now re-casted Matthew a year 12 performance studies student. I feel he would be appropriate for this part and is also good friends with Summer so they will play the couple well together.

Looking at Taylor Swift videos for ideas

Taylor Swift official music video Mine

http://vimeo.com/33860983

Looking through this music video I think the aspects of the video are good. There is a clear understanding of what is going on using scenes of past and present. I feel I could use similar ideas in my music video as the song also has scenes of past and present. I also like the idea of the photos hanging down and her looking at them while lip syncing, I could use a similar idea such as this maybe using the green screen.

Taylor Swift official music video Back to December

http://vimeo.com/26708470

I like the concept of this video showing both shots of girl and boy. I could using aspects of this within my music video as the lyrics will represent this. I also like the aspects of lip syncing shown.

Taylor Swift official music video Fifteen

http://vimeo.com/23377532

Taylor Swift official music video You Belong With Me

http://vimeo.com/23378088

Reshooting Music Video

Due to getting feedback from an audience about my music video, I have now decided to reshoot my music video. I feel this is a good idea as I will now be able to get different footage that I feel I will be able to use. Also due to circumstances out of my control I have decided to recast one of my actors, this being my main character Chloe. This is due to her not be as reliable as before because of personal issues that I can not control. I feel the new person I will recast will be someone who can already sing, so the aspects of my lip syncing will work better and will look more professional. I will then also look into changing the inside cover of my cd digipak and also changing my music advertisement.

I will now look into recasting my main character, asking a few of the drama students if they would be willing to take part. I think a drama student or perfoming arts student would be beneficial for my video as I would like to include aspects of performance and illustration. This would then also make my video look more professional.

New Ideas For Music Video

After recieving feedback from an audience I have now decided to consider new ideas for my music video. After reading through the lyrics throughly I know understand the meaning to the song and know how I can make changes to my video. As the lyrics have scenes of present and past tense I have decided to show this is my video, the scenes that are present in black and white showing that the artist is unhappy and the past scenes in colour showing the artist as happy. This will show the contrast of the two. I have gone through the lyrics and highlighted what is present tense and what is past tense, this gives me a better understanding of the song. I have then drawn up a table of ideas, the table is split into two halfs (present & past). I feel I now have a range of new ideas to work with and will now arrange with my actors to film my new scenes to see if they work well with the song.

add images

Research into ways of putting lyrics on the screen

There are different ways in which I could recreate lyrics to use in my video, instead of just writing them on paper there are other ways in which I could film lyrics. These are the four ways I have chosen that I could use:

• Alphabet puzzle pieces


• Alphabet building blocks


• Alphabet scrabble letters


• Alphabet fridge magnets

When using either of these I have decided I will use certian words from a lyric instead of a whole sentence, this will make each word stand out in the song. For example, the lyric 'he's charming and endering and im comfortable' I could just show the three main words 'charming' 'endering' and 'comfortable'.