Music video final

So this is my final draft of the music video, i'm not sure whether i want to make some changes or not, i'm thinking about especially at the beginning the tones i want to make the same as the opening shot,

The video has taken a lot of time to make, and this long process of about 4 months has improved my skills on editing, putting formations of continuous imagery together in a way that flows without interruption.

It consists of about 4000 photos all together, and a frame rate of 25 frames per second, (25 pictures per second). I feel now i have learnt the basics of animation and how and why it takes so long to produce such a type of video.

^ IT PLAYED :0 , so if it plays on here then thats great if not follow the steps below...

...You may just have to give it time to process and buffer..

then press play

the video is approx 5.07 minutes long

4000 pictures

25 frame rate per second.

I dont know why but for some reason my video doesnt like to play, and took at least 2 hours

to upload it on to here, however you can view my music video on 'youtube' with the link below,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I-DmVdmcos

i have also placed it on my flickr page buts its only the beginning on the flickr page internet is very annoying at times..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jadedaniellesmith/4194470689/

though youtube does not allow the copyright of the song so you would have to open the second link below (for the song)'colorado sunrise- 30h3!' in another tab at the same time as playing the video so that the video was in correct time with the song,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEZ30qOXzPU

I dont know

why it has done this presumenly because the video is rather big memory, i wanted to much rather send the video on a disc as the video can be viewed on a much higher quality scale and

dont have to worry about the disruption of pixals over the internet.

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The production of my music video has been an exciting journey, i really have enjoyed making this music video, i decided to go against and challenge the usual typical convections of a music video with 'oh i'l just get a video camera, film some person betending to be the band member and place it with the song in the forehand' i wanted to create some much more, pushing the boundaries with the facilities i have. I created my music video with the 'stop motion' technique, as mentioned before throughout my blog. This i feel is pushing the expected of how to create a music video, of course this has been done before (with links in my blog to work that is currently on youtube using this type of moving image) i feel more and more the industry of film production are expanding their boxes rather than just using video they are expanding into how can i create video without actually using video? Of course we are looking back into the history of video production, as before 'technology' came up with the oh 'mighty' portable video camera, music videos or footage was captured in frames, capturing frames and placing them together to create a moving image. So in a way i have kinda gone back to essense of video production.

Though i was not infact using a video camera but a DSLR Digital Single Lens Reflex camera i was still aware of what i wanted to create in my video, i was assuming my audience would want a wide variety of shots, which i have established particularly well with essences of a 360 degree angle shot, starting at the sea i turned anti clockwise with my camera facing the camera in direction of various random people, collecting a 360 degree moving image 'capshull' i felt really established where i was filming, and in a way kinda added that extra something 'else' to the video.

I also experimented in terms of composition, with placing my camera behind the driver and the front passenger, i wanted to create that 'moment' you get when your travelling, and the world around you feels like the greatist thing to experience. I filmed this on one of highways going through francel. I always considered the time of day i was filming, i thought this was essential in getting the right exposure for the film, for the driving scene i filmed at around 6pm as with several of the beach scenes, i thought roughly 6pm was the correct time to film for the effect i wanted to create due to the sun setting and the tones and colours that would fill the sky and horizon up. (Promtly beautiful)

Experimenting i felt was a way of challenging the convections of creating a music video, i didnt

want to create a production that had already been done, i wanted to create something
that reflected my view of how the song should in fact be reflected to the audience. Of course i know the typical convections of a music video in terms of shots, with reference to the long shot, mid shot, close up and what not, i have used all these 'typical' shots in my music video and created more, experimenting with what i have and what i could create.

I really have enjoyed doing this project and have worked extremely hard in creating this.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I have for my music video used several editing techniques using photoshop CS3 and Photoscape, i have found these pieces of software inresting to use, due to the fact my music video is escalated using 4000 pictures, to edit my 'video' i had to edit every single photo. I found this actually not

as hard as first persumed, I used the 'batch editing techinque' within the software of photoscape to do this, so within my music video i made sure i kept the same house style, relating to the beach 'colorado sunrise' like theme, and i have done this for my dvd covers and advertisement poster. Emphasing on contrast and warms tones just to add some extra depth and realism.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

i have learnt what the audience wants, though this wasnt a particular factor for me, as i wanted to create a video that presented something different for the audience to watch, it was a bit of a risk, but with creation comes risk. I went out to my target audience which was teenagers to early twentys to discover what they thought of my ideas.

here are some questions i used in my audience research...

Before showing of the video

My music video production is based on the coast of florida, what do you think should be in my video?

a- surfers, sun and the beach

b- CALIFORNIA GIRLS, ermm just girls in swimsuits with boys running after them

c- ice creamm!

D- the sun set and the sea

e- waves

What are the first things that come to mind when asked to opinionate on 'stop motion'?

A- vampire weekend's music video

B- all the stuff on youtube

C- using your normal camera and taking alot of photos then putting them together in one

D- something different when considering mainstream production

E- alot of time?

After the showing of the video.

What do you think i should do to expand my video?

A- some actual video footage

B- showing of the band or people betending to be in the band

C- dont put the captions in as it makes it look not 'mainstream' i think.

D- its good, so creative always room for improvement though

E- that must have taken alot of time

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

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ADVERTISING POSTER FOR THE TRACK...

I have merged layers of beach photos i took with 'members of the band' by using opacity tools on photoshopp, here i have transferred severall images to gether to create a simple but

attention grabbing poster, the poster is simple in its approach with lots of white space, big heading and subheading, reaching out to the public with an attracting caption "out now"

The simplicity of the poster i think works well as its not to over powering for the audience to read, they can quickly look at the poster and understand its context.

buy the new colorado track out now :)

the image connects with the music video as well, what with the images of the beach etc, here its easy for the audience to understand the band and the song, remembering the song for the video or the poster or both going for example, oh i think ive seen the video for this band as the poster looks similar.

Music video draft

So here is one of my first drafts, it not completly finshed as i was just testing on how to

put separate videos together, i have come aware of some problems

such as pixals become interfered with other stop motion videos.

Also by creating a draft i have become much more aware of how to edit and

reform and sort out occuring problems, i am aware of several pull backs to the video

but this makes me learn more and how to make it better,

i am not sure whether to use the car travelling as the beginning of the video, as

in a certain aspect it could reflect the journey towards 'Colorado', here i have however first shown a scenee 'reflecting'

colorado' and then included the journey after a slight introduction,i feel this is effective as it introduces, so the music video becomes reconsible to the song, and the car moving image

extra, adds some depth pulling the audience into the video, asif

they feel part of the video.

Creating a draft i feel is a way of summarising what to do, what to do to improve, and to reflect on amplifying on other ideas.

From creating this draft, i have realised i want to add further footage of the beach making the beach shots longer, i'm not so sure about the wind- kite shot, even though it fits with the timing of the music, i think its quite bland (boring), i want to include more shots of people running, i have also noticed i much prefere the colours of the beach in the opening shot compared to the rest. The footstepps shot does in fact include me in the shot (well my shadow) i liked this at first as it showed direction, but of course if producing such a mainstream video its unlikely, very unlikely that you would feature yourself however, this is a school music video and so i suppose its much more personal.

I have found this quite difficult so far but its on it way to production..

Putting Edited final clips together

Here i have edited the shots used for this moving image, and placed them in tune with the

time of seconds of the song on where i want it to be.

separate videos on which i will be placing together to create the final music video.

(The final moving image video)

Thinking about creating the DVD covers.

Oh Oh Oh...

I have looked at others like 'The smashing pumpkins'

and 'The Gallows' Dvd Covers, and although their styles

are mainly illustration, i have found it a big influence

in what you can and cant do with a dvd cover.

I have and am finding it an interesting

process in creating the dvd covers#

,

here these are just some quick ideas, didnt take long,

i am going to come up with a few different possibilitys and

decide which one, by a questionaire of the

general public, who would be the same

age group of the music's target audience.

So young teenagers to young adults?

Back of DVD cover.

(Every Dvd Cover has a back cover? right)

Well ive thought about that as well.

Back Cover?

Front Cover.

The Front cover above i have merged

several layers of imagery together

on Photoshop, and then placed seveal images over the top, i really like this, as it kind of

in a way resembles the stop motion video, (layers of imagery all stuck together

to create a moving image.)

Welcome 30H!3

Pictures for DVD COVER (OF BAND MEMBERS).

Of Course i dont actually know the real bandmemebers of 30H3 ,

ha so i am going to have to reincarnatee some characters,

i have decided to cast, Kevin, Guy and Ryan, as the three band members,

as this video is a 'scene like video' and so no footage of actually bandmembers,

they are needed just for the Dvd Cover.

I wanted three main images, one separate 'close up'/midshot, as i felt this would be pretty particular in emphasising the three OH three . (Three members)

1..............

2................

3...............

Black and white photographs i feel will emphasise the stereotype

of music photography, also i feel it will contrast with the colours of the fixed shots that will be

in tact within the dvd cover.

I am with these (band like shots) going to use the still frames for my dvd cover.

Still Frames Of The Production.

Looking at some shots of the video:

this gives a direction of what the music video will look like, on terms of colours, depth, tone, contrast etc.

From the images above, i think you may now understand the kind of atmosphere

im wishing to capture, as the song is in fact about 'COLORADO' i wanted to

create a beach-like scene.

Creating the video production.- examples

of footage

I am having to create and edit my production on my laptop thus creating the production in my own time, leaving blogging, research and planning to lesson time.

After editing the separate photographs, i have transformed them into separate videos, so that they flow. After all separate videos are edited and organised, i will place them together in an order.

Examples of Video footage

(under edited)- so test videos, not actual edited final cut videos.

(currently the videos wont load, i dont know why so i may have

to try a different computer to see if this makes a difference)

The video above for example is a stopmotion video,

of all the continuous shots i took of walking along the beach looking down my feet. In a certain aspect a birds eye shot.

Researching into other bands DVD covers/

advertising posters for the single,

Similar genres?

Similar styles, influential?

Smashing pumpkins

Smashing pumpkins are a band with a similar genre to the band 3OH3!

The image below is a DVD cover for one of the smashing pumpkins tracks, here its noticible its been created via illustration, i particular like this as its different to the stereotype of "the title of the song and a picture of the band below". The illustration looks very symbolic of a religious poster, it kind of reminds me of 'Buddha' with the decoration around the head.

The Gallows

Like the smashing pumpkins Dvd the imagery is once again illustrated rather than photographic.

An experimental video, capturing and connecting edited photographic footage.

So here i have edited a series of photographs using

the software PHOTO SCAPE.

As i have explained further down my blog, this is purely just to see what the difference is on whether it was worth editing the photos beforehand,

i think it was as increase of colours and contrast etc has made the moving image footage allot more atmospheric.

I just need to possible capture some footage of something difference, rather than just beaches as the viewer may become bored.

On which i don't wish to achieve for my music video, i am however pleased the direction of my production.

Of course if this was in reality i would have various people working with me all doing separate jobs, but as i am doing this independently as a school project i am doing everything by myself. Creating and thinking of the ideas, directing the motives, going out and actually taking the photographs, creating the production, editing and using various software, sorting thousands of pictures into 48 separate folders so that each moving image product flows, checking for errors and miss placed imagery, setting up camera work and locating to specific areas needed to film (beaches etc), blogging the process as i go along, practicing and continuing to express ideas on how to improve the production.

The Photos used in this video are edited, if you compare to the previous video in the previous post.

I am now enduring on the production woo.

I think if i can continue to edit the video footage , i can make it look more and more professional. I think i need to think about my usage of composition, camera shots and what not on a more highly developed scale and so enduring the audience to my video. I think i can achieve this by cropping and selecting specific images. I have also become aware of how to make videos longer and shorter on windows movie maker, you simply drag the footage to a longer amount of seconds on the frame, this lengthens the amount of seconds per picture thus making the video longer.

Looking at editing stop motion footage, becoming familar with

software. (Unedited Photos) Just to see the difference.

I have as you may now know, edited all my pictures to a standard i am happy with,

i thought however i would keep some unedited pictures and transform them into videos

just to see the effect i may have got have i not edited the photographs,

I played around with odd videos, this is nothing on which my video will look like, as all details will be refined, with higher depth and contrast, larger output of warmer colours etc.

At the moment i am simply experimenting with figuring out timing to pictures.

I still can't believe i managed to take so many pictures (1000 and something) and actually been able to turn it into a moving image production without major software, it has so far just taken up alot of time and effort. On which i don't mind of course as its something i love,

i am by far exceeding my skills on moving image.

I'm normally more situated with photography, but as the task was to create a music video i used photographic knowlegde to bring it in to my production as an advantage.

The photos in this video are Unedited

The quality might have been degraded due to the fact that i reduced the memory so thats its easier to upload on the blog, of course when producing the final video the quality will be 100 % .

The interferance of the megapixels is due to how i

have reduced the size of the file, i changed it to 300x200 so that its capable to be uploaded to the internet, when my video is of a finshed product it will be kept the same (high quality) possibly .

The video above is a snip clippet of unedited footage, i kept the rest of the track on so that you can listen to the song i am creating the video for.

Becoming Familar with Video Editing techniques

A VIDEO CUT PRACTICE

Using the software windows movie maker , cutting, copying and

placing pictures into an order which flows and links, connecting them to

certain times of the song track. Referring to amount in seconds.

So i don't really have any fancy software to edit video with on what a
commercial scale would be using, but i have windows movie maker, here i am going to use
the stop motion process to put my video together, I have been playing around seeing how to do this and how to do that etc

I am just experimenting with how I'm going

to put the video together, having edited the folders and what not, i am now starting to place odd bits together to see what the outcome might look like. Here i am starting to understand the software and so becoming familiar with possible faults. etc

Obviously this is going to be a long process so its going to take some time until i get to the final cut.

I am really happy that the stop motion process fits with my track, at first i was a bit cautious due to the fact there could be a slight delay due to the picks flowing continuosly but i have managed to work around this, making sure the seconds shown per picture are the same. and so continuous.

As you can see i have edited the separate frames in the video posted above, if you compare this

to the video i previously posted, the video is far more

contrasted, sharper and above all more colour brilliantt.

Editing the separate folders

Editing the separate folders of pictures for final editing of video production.

Unedited

Edited

EDITING PICTURES BEFORE AND AFTER.

here you can see how i have edited this particular picture, the picture above is the edited and the one above is the unedited, all i have done is upped the contrast added a filter effect and some sharping, i have done this to every single picture on folder 47 so far i have however started some other folders another 40 something but i'll get through them i enjoy and plus the extra effort will be worth it through the video.

this is an unedited stop motion video,

merly just about 10 seconds,

with every folder there will be one video and so 48 videos like the one above (though this is an unedited version so i will upload and edited verson to let you see what the outcome of the final product will look like)

Editing Photographs Ready for Video production.

Editing photographs ready for video production.

Okay so I've explained about how I've sorted all the photos into 48 separate folders and now this post will explain on my movements towards the actual editing of the photos within each folder.

Using 'Photo Scape" the software i managed to download from the Internet, i have began to edit the photos starting at folder 1 out of 48, i know this is going to take allot of time to do but i am sure the overall outcome will be worth the effort.

Opening up the software it gives me the option of "Batch Editing" this is something that is excellent for something that i am hoping to achieve, making sure that all the photos in each stop motion sync are edited the same, for example the lighting/contrast has to be the same if the video is too flow successfully, otherwise there might be a difference in the flashes, and so every other flash would be noticeable due to the different lighting in each photograph.

Editing the photographs using the software "photoscape"

For example editing......................

Editing Folder 47

Editing folder 47 took a bit of time as this was the first time i was using the "Batch Editing

Task"

on PhotoScape.

The Batch editng software gives you a choice of editing techniques for example

Above is an image of the software i have been using to edit the photographs,

it gives you an option to edit photographs in BATCH, and so you can select a number of photographs

and edit them in one continuous process.

Auto contrast - here you can adjust whether you want the picture to have

LOW, MIDDLE OR HIGH auto contrast.

Sharpen- here you adjust the percentage of how more sharp you want the picture

(this is handy if you want sharpen a blurry picture)

Backlight Correction- this gives you the control of how much light you

wish to let into the picture further,

you are given a choice of percentage with this too

Darken- this is an option which gives you as an editor the avalibility to darken the

picture without disrupting

Film- this gives you the option to add a filter to your picture ie in this case a Film like filter

you can choose from CINEMA, CROSS PROCESS ETC

Deepen- this gives you the opportunity to deepen

the picture and so mark out any

highlights with dark tones, a bit like contrasting a picture but just a lot more depth.

Collection of Anaysis/ Questionaire

Textual Analysis of a DVD cover

3OH3!

The image above is a DVD cover for the band's single

"Don't trust me" the use of graphology presented enhances the single, enduring the audience to view the cover. I think the DVD cover is particularly important in advertising the single, as its a way of reaching out to their chosen target audience.

The image i think should be something that relates to the music video and here this DVD covers emphasises this exactly as in the music video the band members are wearing the same clothes and its as if its the image is a friezed shot from the video.

Questionnaire / survey

Textual Analysis of an existing texts.

scan DVD covers in.

and just write a bit about it

The After Math /Organising and Re-arranging

Organising the photographs.

After taking the photographs, i flicked through them holding down the right button on the camera this gave me an almost quick incentive in to what the video was going to look like, i was really happy with the effect of the outcome, i really felt i had captured the right footage for my video and i was almost certain this would be enough footage for the 3 minute production. I took 1034 pictures in two hours, merly just keeping the shutter on continuous. I made sure i charged my camera on full the night before so that no camera delay would interrupt the amount of seconds, i need the amount of seconds between each picture to be the same so that the stop motion is able to run correctly without odd delays or blackouts, blackouts being when the amount of seconds between each picture is to long causing a shutter delay/pause.

this is not to do with my music video but i thought it would be cool to post it on here:

http://www.fashion.arts.ac.uk/pigeonsandpeacocks/2009/09/jade-danielle-smith/

Anyway organising and arranging is something that is fairly important if i am to create to this music video effectively, i deleted unnecessary pictures and placed them into a separate folder just in case i needed to go back to them.

After removing all the randoms, i made sure all the photos were organised.

Organising the photographs was a nightmare, sorting one thousand and something pictures so that they fitted accordingly with there continued series is something that takes allot of time.

Sorting the photographs so that there ready for overall editing for the music video.

So that the music video flows correctly without any delay i have sorted all the 1000 pictures into separate folders, all together 48 different folders, this has made it much easier to organise/ edit/ arrange and create the separate videos.

To make the video i am going to create separate videos with each collection of frames, then once i have got a collection of several stop motion videos, 48 in this case due to that's how many folders it took to sort out the pictures in to groups, i will use windows movie maker to put together the different videos, adjust the speed, the time delay how they fit in terms of order, whether to copy and paste particular frames to repeat motions, on going backwards, say like could speed up someone walking fast to one tempo and then repeat the frame only doing it backwards, so that it looks as if the person is walking really fast forward and backwards, this could be particular effective with the high tempo that comes with this song.

Anyway before i do that i need to make sure all the photos that i have separated into 48 different folders are sharp/focus enough for the video to be watched clearly. Also i am to edit photos indivually and in batch, considering the contrast the hues ect.

EDITING.

Photoscape

I am to begin to edit my photos via the program 'Photoscape' its a copy of 'Photoshop' though free from the Internet and with allot less editing software, its basic, but i can use it too its best. I suppose doing with what you've got to the best you can do. I have decided to use this software as i am familiar with it and i don't actually own Photoshop nor does the school, though they too have something else that is similar i am not familiar with the editing so i am to use 'PHOTO SCAPE', something that is wicked and easy to use and i think will be well suited in getting the overall outcome that i want from my video.

I had to sort the photographs into 48 different folders as when i uploaded the 1000 and something pictures, they uploaded or mixed and rambled this was annoying as this meant that i could'nt just copy and paste particular orders of photos they were all mixed. And so this took allot of time and effect to sort out.

I uploaded them into one massive folder and started at the stop clicking on each picture with Windows picture viewer, then sorting out which photographs went after that particular picture, dragging them into the first folder, i would scan down the folder looking for photographs that matched (say like the first twenty) and with stop motion videos needing a long line of pictures to make it work, i would say there was about 60 photographs per one stop motion sync. Its a bit like creating an animation making sure they all flow and are connected in sync with each other, this is very important if i am to make this video work.

I can't have rambles and mixtures of order, say like ten pictures of a person walking into the sea and then randomly it jumps to a surfer capturing a wave, it just looks messy. So before i was to edit the photos for contrast and hues i made sure that the order was in sync.

Now i am left with a large folder which inside contains the 48 folders of now sorted and syncing photographs that make separate stop motion videos which by the end of this long long process will all flow together nicely. As you can see this has taken allot of time, if this was to be done professionally I'm sure they would have some kind of specif software for this, or just a dozen different people to do different jobs, i suppose this occurs with any music video.