Degree project

To prepare myself for the days I start to film my work, I have composed a shot list of all the shots that I want for my video. I organised this by splitting my video up based on the lyric that is sung at each point in the song, that way I can work out exactly how long each shot duration should last for. I then visualised each shot I wanted in time with the music, stating what kind of shot it was and giving a description of the video at that point in the song.  Here is a link to the spreadsheet I created with all of the information I need to film my video. My shot list, bad quality so click on the link to see the full spreadsheet

Whilst I feel very confident when video editing, my actual filming skills are fairly limited, so I thought it would be a good idea to find a video teaching me about camera angles and other cinematography tricks. I found this video tutorial on YouTube and here are the main points that I will remember when I film my own video: Choosing multiple different camera angles will give the audience more perspective of the scene, and also make editing a lot more natural since I will have more options to choose from. Adding more camera angles isn't always better, sometimes too many angles can make the video seem too busy. Ask yourself "Does this angle add or take away from the emotion and story I'm trying to convey?" Don't add unnecessary angles 180 °  rule, keep both subjects on their own side of the frame, otherwise it's hard for the audience to understand where the two are situated from each other. 30 °  rule, when cutting between two different angles of one subject, k...

 After a tutorial with my lecturer, I have decided that my original idea of doing 'Tour visuals' for a concert is too ambitious for my project. Given the planning required to get a video created, it is a lot more sensible if I just make one video compared to multiple. If I have more time then I will attempt to make more than one video, but at this point in the project I am going to fully plan one video at a time. With this in mind, I have decided to revert just to a traditional music video, keeping within the same theme and style of the existing Petals For Armor  music videos by Hayley Williams. I have decided that my song of choice will be 'Sugar On The Rim' because it has a really interesting lyrical meaning, comparing the silver lining on a new relationship to that of the sugar pressed to the rim of a glass. I think I have a lot of ideas that I can experiment with using this concept so I am looking forward to creating my shot list where I will detail exactly what I w...

This may be a strange blog post, but for one of my shots I thought it would be interesting to have a scene with a 'milk bath', so basically a bath that is filled with milk so that the water is opaque. I have seen photography shoots with this and I thought it would look really angelic, ethereal and capture the feminine theme that I am aiming for with my own music video. I found this tutorial on YouTube which I found to be very informative in explaining how to create this scene. Essentially you just fill the bathtub with water, and then this user poured 'a gallon' of full-fat milk over the top and that created the opaque look. She then scatters flowers over the top which I think makes the scene look really pretty so I definitely want to try this myself, despite how gross it kind of is.

Since I am making a music video, I thought it was worth finding a tutorial specifically on tips for making a music video. Here are some of my takeaways from this tutorial. This video reinforced the idea of making a shot list so that is definitely on my to-do list.  Plan ahead to get the most out of each location when filming. Keep to a schedule to eliminate dead time (I will complete a Gantt chart to manage my time). Get the best performance. Film as much as possible, film between takes, film rehearsal, edit down whatever you don't need. Cut to the groove of the song, not the beat. Don't want to overdo it or have the audience expect where the cuts will be. Keep the filming environment fun, won't be so much pressure or stress. Take breaks.

To make sure I know exactly how I will film and edit my video, I have looked up a few YouTube tutorials to refresh myself. Here are some of the things that I refamiliarised myself with using this video: Create different bins to store your footage within the software. Label your footage so you can colour-code your work. Apply colour-grading to the original clip in your footage library, that way you don't have to 'paste attributes' to each individual clip. Edit the colours of specific clips using the 'Master' tab in the 'Effect controls' of your video. Apply effects to an adjustment layer within your timeline so you don't have to edit each clip. Press the 'A' button on your keyboard, two arrows will pop up, select a clip - everything that comes after the clip in the timeline will be selected. This is a good way of selecting all of your clips without having to drag your mouse over every file. Hold 'Command' when dragging a clip into your tim...

When deciding on the sorts of shots that I wanted, I drew inspiration not only from my music video research, but I also looked for interesting photography on Pinterest to get some ideas for how my music video could look. I found lots of images that I felt captured the essence of what I wanted for my own video. I really wanted to capture this theme of femininity through the use of some props such as flowers, the sugary lips, the cocktail etc. I am also thinking of playing with lighting and projections, so I looked for images that would inspire this type of visual. I found lots of interesting tricks that I will research further through YouTube tutorials, and I am excited to experiment with them myself.

 I also looked at other music videos to inform my visual research, and created some more moodboards for those as well.  Here's a list of all of the music videos that I researched: Hayley Williams - Simmer [Official Music Video] Hayley Williams - Leave It Alone [Official Music Video] Hayley Williams - Cinnamon [Official Music Video] Hayley Williams - Dead Horse [Official Music Video] FOALS - Exits [Official Music Video] Lady Gaga - Marry The Night (Official Music Video) Lorde - Green Light Daughter - No Care Ex:Re - Romance And here are the moodboards that informed my research for these videos:

When looking for visual reference for my music video, I  drew inspiration from a variety of different music videos when thinking of the themes and colours for my own work. I spent a lot of time analysing the visuals in the existing Petals For Armor music videos so I knew exactly how to capture the same aesthetic for my own project. As a result, I created multiple styleboards taking screenshots from the various music videos, and colour picking some of the most prominent colours. It is clear to see in these videos that the directors (Warren Fu and Zac Farro) have picked a desaturated colour palette and a grainy video effect to give it a more vintage appeal. Therefore I should look to replicate these ideas if I want my video to fit in the same theme and aesthetic of the current Petals For Armor mythology. Petals For Armor press-kit Cinnamon [Official Music Video] Simmer [Official Music Video] Dead Horse [Official Music Video]

The final video I will be analysing for my degree project is the music video for No Care by Daughter. Rather than focusing on the hidden meanings, I will instead be analysing the technical elements, such as the visuals, style, editing and colours.  This video uses a very heavy grain overlay on top of the video, which gives it a retro but also timeless aesthetic, as though it can be appreciated by a wide demographic of ages. There is a very limited colour palette as well, using only red, and a black and white filter throughout the video. This keeps the video very simple and consistent, and is a good way of keeping the audience engaged with the images, as the limited colours makes it harder for the audience to get distracted. There are also a lot of light flashes and lens flare flickers that keep the visuals interesting.  The camera movement is very shaky in this video which gives it a very turbulent feeling, as though the audience should be on their toes throughout the duration...

 I will now be analysing the music video for Green Light by Lorde.  My interpretation of this song is that Lorde is singing about her struggle to move on from a relationship, and that she is looking for the 'Green light' to leave the feelings behind. The video begins with the singer, Lorde, getting really up close to the camera, with a close-up shot off her head taking up most of the frame as she sings the first verse of the song. This is so that the audience isn't distracted by anything else in the video, and their attention is solely on Lorde herself and the lyrics she is singing. The lyrics themselves have such impact, such as "I know about what you did and I want to scream the truth" as she looks directly to the camera, and thus the audience takes on the position of the person she is angry with. This is a really successful technique at engaging the audience and I think I could do something very similar with my own video. Throughout the video, we are entirely l...