Hardware
We used PC edit suites. The dual monitor was particularly useful to us when we worked in groups to edit the music video and when we got target audience feedback because it displayed our editing progress and the video itself on two separate screens.
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| Our edit suite |
Software
We used Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.5 for editing our sequence. As I have been editing on Adobe Premiere Pro for 3 years now, I was able to cut down, edit and grade shots with ease.
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| Our timeline on Premiere Pro |
Music video theories
When editing our sequence, we made sure to focus on using music video theories such as Carol Vernallis' theory mentioned in The Kindest Cut and Andrew Goodwin's from Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992, Routledge).
Due to the music videos different editing style from the classical Hollywood narrative, I learnt and used new techniques that I had learnt from Carol Vernallis such as cutting to the beat, jump cuts, discontinuous flow and breaking the 30 degree rule. This led me to using new tools that I would not have had to use when editing a narrative sequence.
I made sure to apply features that Andrew Goodwin had identified in music videos. I used close ups of Georgina's face as often as possible because record labels demand beauty/money shots, making them conventions in music videos.
Techniques
Personal contribution
I personally contributed a lot to editing the music video and spearheaded the project by organising our Premiere Pro timeline and researching new tools that we could use to improve the music video aesthetic.
Since production weeks 2 and 3, we have continued to develop our music video by adding more shots, match up the lipsync to the lyrics and include fast paced montage editing styles during the middle eight. After making all of the relevant changes, we moved on to grading. I played a significant role in the grading of our music video as I have a very good eye for detail and spent the majority of my time painstakingly adding visual effects to each shot.
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| Split screen allowed me to see the original image (right side) and my grading (left side) |
An obstacle that I faced when grading was the lighting of the Snow White setups which made Georgina look extremely red. Even after experimenting with Three-Way Colour Corrector and Procamp, the footage was still very red. In order to solve this issue, I looked up ways to reduce the redness of footage on Premiere Pro and came across a video which explained how to use the RGB curves to change the colour of shots.
After I learnt this technique, I tested it out on our Snow White shots, and it worked perfectly. I promptly showed my group members and taught them how to use this tool. As a result of this, I have vastly improved my own understanding of grading and also reinforced our communication as a team.
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| Editing our music video |
In order to gain an understanding of how our target audience would respond to our music video, I conducted target audience feedback sessions as well as got advice from my teachers so that I could make changes to the music video.
In response to the feedback that we got from our media technician, Emma, and our teacher, Mrs Dymioti, I made the following changes:
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| Teacher feedback (please click to enlarge) |
- put different shots on for the ending
- introduced the female doll earlier on
- added performance shots throughout the other setups
- intercut between the different setups
- found more match on action shots
- included the shot of Georgina taking off the string in puppet setup
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| Teacher feedback (please click to enlarge) |
I tightened up the framing by using the motion visual effect. By doing this, I was able to reduce the headroom at the top of the frame and I was able to place Georgina in the centre of the shots. I also took this time to put rotation on a few of the doll house shots so that it looked more even and levelled.
In accordance with this, I also got members of our core target audience to tell us what they liked about our video as well as any improvements that could be made.
Nazifa is 18 years old. She likes to listen to electro pop. She says that, although she enjoyed the music video, it seemed like something that her younger cousins would like more.
Nazifa is 18 years old. She likes to listen to electro pop. She says that, although she enjoyed the music video, it seemed like something that her younger cousins would like more.
Hisham is 17 years old. She prefers R&B to pop music but she strongly identifies as a feminist which is why I wanted her opinion.
This feedback coincides with the advice that we were given from teachers. We changed the music video by intercutting more to make it more interesting. We also improved the end sequence to a fast paced montage between the different setups. We made the entrance into the doll's house more obvious and we included more shots of the male doll being mean towards the female doll
Similarly, Georgina got target audience feedback from our primary and secondary audiences so that we could see how the music video appealed to members of the wider audience as well as our core audience and how we could tailor the music video to both of their tastes.
Biri is 17 years old. Her favourite music genre is pop. Below is her feedback to our music video:
Sofia is 12 and likes pop music. She likes to listen to music that is on the charts. Her response to our music video can be seen below:
We dealt with the issues identified by our target audience. I think that the target audience feedback that we gained was very insightful into consumer preferences and we were able to tailor our music video to both our primary and secondary target audiences.
After uploading our finished music video to Youtube, we discovered that some of the shots were out of sync and made the lipsync look out of time. I worked with Gabriel to correct these issues by moving a couple of shots one or two frames earlier so that the visual matches the audio. Although there may still be some small issues with lipsyncing, I believe that we completed snagging to the best of our abilities.
Below is the final music video that we uploaded:
Overall, I am extremely happy with the work that I have done on the music video. My group have been very supportive throughout the process and we have worked together very well. I feel that my personal contribution to the music video post-production has greatly benefitted our project and that I have been able to utilise a lot of skills during this period of time.
The target audience feedback has been very useful to us when we needed to make changes to the video. I was able to make a lot of changes that I probably would not have made if not for our target audience. The vast majority of the responses have been positive, making all of the hard work worthwhile in the end.
The target audience feedback has been very useful to us when we needed to make changes to the video. I was able to make a lot of changes that I probably would not have made if not for our target audience. The vast majority of the responses have been positive, making all of the hard work worthwhile in the end.
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