Editing House Scenes

The house scenes in the music video are to show the main character's life. The lyrics say, 'Looking glass so shiny and new/ How quickly the glamour fades'. With this, I created a sequence of stills of the character in front of the mirror imitating the passing of time. Her appearance alters from glamourous to a nervous wreck. To put emphasis upon her emotions and feelings, I altered the lighting and colour of the shots in the sequence. Therefore, when played, it changes from light to a far more dull appearance. I added more of a black and white wash over the shots of her as the wreck she is. This emphasises the dullness in her life and how depression plays a large part. It also allows for contrast against both the and scenes (her subconscious or narrator) and the bright, unusual world behind the door.

Editing of Band Scenes

When the shots from the band scenes had been loaded into my editing software, there was argument as to how visually they were to differ from both the dullness of her life and the vibrant new world she enters.

I, at first, experimented with brightness and contrast of the band scenes. I however believed that more could be achieved by adding effects and altering the colour.

In relation the the leaves that fall, I created a more orange-like hue upon the picture. I then took a different outlook for the band scenes. When thinking that this band is representing her sub-conscious, I decided to place a white glow upon the band. This however did not seem to work with the spotlights upon the band. The band scenes were then placed into greyscale. Stepping away for a moment, from the editing I began to think more of the contrast of the leaves, entering another world, the spotlights used and her sub-conscious. I wanted to avoid placing a harsh colour upon the band, but for it to appear more unrealistic. A sepia hue was placed upon the band scenes and light rays were added. These allowed for the band to appear to shine. I still wanted it to appear darker at the beginning, before the spotlights lit up the band. I therefore, allowed for only the light rays to appear when the spotlight did. To also allow for emphasis upon the artist, I added darker panels beside the artist, to hide the other band members to allow the audience to not figure what was to happen next.

Camera Quality Difficulties

It was not until all of the footage from both cameras was loaded upon the computer that I realised a difference in quality. The pixels upon the camera borrowed from school were far larger and less detailed than the camera from home.

Unfortunately, I am unable to film these scenes again due to greater commitments of my actors. To create a more professional music video, I have altered the brightness and contrast of my shots. Due to the difference in quality, further alteration and experimentation will have to be made upon the editing of the music video.

The rest of the production will, however be filmed on the camera from home as this gives a better picture.

It was not till later that I realised the reason for the difference of picture quality. This was due to the camera from home being a High Definition camera and therefore was built to produce a better image.

Production of Forest Scenes

Even though the previous plan of filming did not go ahead, it allowed practise of the form of the togas upon the actors and make-up. Therefore, when it came to the day of filming, less time was taken up by hair and make-up and the costumes.

In order to avoid the problem of not finding the location, further investigation went into it's precise whereabouts.

Due to a previous commitment by an actor, I organised for the shots that included him where to be filmed first. Also, due to the temperature outside, blankets and coats were held by a Runner of whom gave the actors, who were not currently in that shot, warmth.

What came apparent was that even though I had given great thought into both the acting and technical sides of the production, little had been done about practise of the camera positions. Therefore, unfortunately, it took a little more time to set up the shots.

Overall, upon reflection upon what was filmed, I believe it to have gone well. I did, however had to use two cameras. This was due to the battery running out.

For this part of the music video I knew it was ambitious to have so many people taking part. When looking through I am very pleased to have so many helping as when not in current shots they were able to throw pictures and leaves into shots. This also quickened the pace in which the forest scenes were filmed. I am very thankful to those who took part.

Forest Scenes Filming Attempt

I had arranged for an early start for filming due to previous commitments of the actors. Make-up was the main priority due to the time it took, therefore this was done first. On the day I did some alterations of the make-up for the creatures. I made the edges of shapes upon the face more jagged and wild to place emphasis that they are creatures and not people. There were also alterations to the female design on the day. This was due to a sudden drop out and the sub-actor was male. Moreover, I avoided dark make-up around the eyes and did not use false eye-lashes as intended.

When sorting out the costumes it was very much improvised as to how the sheets (of which formed the togas) sat upon the actors. Safety pins and knots in the fabric allowed for secure fits.

When placing false eyelashes upon the main character it was apparent that the size of them were far too large. The eyelashes covered the green eye make-up design. I therefore discarded the eye-lashes.

The location I had chosen to shoot the music video was within a woodland area in Eaton. Where we were you could walk to the location, however due to the amount of props, equipment and the fact the actors were dressed simply in togas we decided to drive there.

Prior to filming day, I had shown the location the our driver and how to get to the other side by car. However on the day there was great confusion as to where the location was. We unfortunately wasted time trying to find the woodland. At this point it started to rain. As a backup, we retreated to Eaton Vale, a secondary filming area. Although upon arrival the rain became far heavier and it was clear that both time and nature was against filming that day.

Both I and my actors sat down and discussed the next available time we could film, with hope the weather would be brighter.

Shooting Band Scenes

Upon the run up to the filming of the band shots, it was clear that there was an obstacle. In one of the shots, it consists of leaves falling on the band.

What we created was a net system in which we placed a mass of leaves upon a badminton net. This was lifted by two people on chairs who shook the net to allow for the leaves to fall.

When filming the shots it was difficult to get the leaves to fall evenly and naturally. They had instead the tendency to fall in clumps. The leaves, however fell perfectly after a certain point. Therefore, the track the band followed was played at a part before the selected shot needed.

The time within the studio was limited, therefore more band shots need to be made. Upon reflection of the shots collected, some will need to be filmed again. This is due to lighting problems and the non-continuous editing for certain shots.

Shot Guidance Sheets

In order to organise the production of each part of the music video to decrease the amount of time that it would take flickering through the storyboard I have formed shot guidance sheets.

These divide the forest scenes, band scenes and the house scenes. The time limits of the shots are listed along with what is included within each shot, what shot it is and what lyrics are being played at that moment. Each shot is colour coded, representing each of the actors. This way I know who is in what shot and then I can pick out which shots need to be done first due to a particular actor having to leave location early. At the top of each guidance sheet is a colour key showing which colours represent which character. When listening to the song once again, I noted that in my storyboard I had movements lasting too long. Therefore, with these shot guidance sheets I was able to divide the sequence further to keep up with the pace of the song and lyrics.