A2 Advanced Portfolio Music Videos JD

In this post I have attached our final music video product.

Editing Log  As detailed in previous posts, following the switch to using iMovie as our editing software, editing our music video became somewhat of a continual process, and we edited parts of it pretty much everyday up until the deadline; in school and outside of school hours. As shown here, many shots we used a slow motion effect on, as many shots are timed to music when they're in slow motion, and colour correcting was a massive part of the editing process for us. Referring back to some of our original ideas, the LGBT theme we originally planned to incorporate is still the main crutch of the narrative; alongside this we had originally planned to incoorperate rainbow lighting in the video - this proved challenging given our equipment restrictions, and so alternatively we decided to put a black and white effect over the shots in which Hannah is still in an unhappy relationship with Josh, and when she leaves Josh and begins a relationship with my character, those shots are lef...

Filming Log - Day Six Locations - Ogmore Beach      Date - 13th || February || 2018 This was our final filming session; we went to Ogmore beach to shoot the second half of the music video, where we establish the growing relationship between my character and Hannahs. Some issues we faced were weather conditions; it was extremely windy which effected how the shots looked as our hair was covering our faces for many shots. We also wanted to get a shot of myself and Hannah running away from waves and in order to get this shot, Jasmine, who was filming, stood in the ocean to make sure the shot looked authentic and was still. While we were there, we decided that we would like to end the entire music video with a shot of the word "Sorry" written in the sand and being washed away by the ocean; after we had written it in the sand we had to film continuously as we waited for the tide to come in, but did eventually manage to get the shot we wanted. As we were filming, we were...

In this post I include evidence of our attempts to contact the artist in order to gain permission to use their song in our music video Jasmine took on the responsibility of asking Nothing But Thieves via twitter for their permission to use their track "Sorry" in our music video production. Update: They didn't respond to us, so we've decided to use the track but not monotize the video when we upload it to YouTube.

Filming Log - Day Five Locations - Pencoed Comprehensive School                   Car Park Date - 2nd || February || 2018  This filming session was impromptu as we were in a media lesson editing on Jasmine's laptop when we realised that we had some slots that needed to be filled in the video, and we had storyboarded shots of Hannah and myself in a car laughing and talking to contrast with the shots of her and Josh looking unhappy when together. Our tutor allowed us to use her car and we had natural lighting in this filming session; however this became a problem. As it was a sunny day and the sun was quite low, it was difficult to get shots that didn't have a really  bad reflection on the windscreen of the car. In order to get close enough to the windscreen to see mine and Hannahs expressions, and again as a result of our lack of professional equipment, Jasmine literally had to lay on the bonnet of the car. However, we did en...

This is a short post explaining why we changed the editing software that we would use to edit our media product In AS Media Studies through to the first half of A2,   we used Microsoft Premiere editing software to edit our media products; they were used last year to edit our thriller openers and we used them in our first edit of our music videos this year. However, due to complications with regulations at the venue we were using to edit, and the quality of the editing we could achieve using Premiere software, we switched over to using iMovie via Jasmine's laptop. There were many benefits as a result of this decision; the editing process was much more time efficient as we didn't have to travel to a particular venue to edit, and during any free periods any member of our group could hop onto the laptop and do some editing. It also meant we could edit outside of school hours and off site. iMovie was also significanlty easier to use and as a group we were more familiar with the ...

In this post I have embedded our first draft edits that we created whilst getting the hang of the editing software and getting a better idea of the shots we wanted to use. We created a short selection of shots to begin with just to get an idea of how long we wanted shots to be and then created a full-length first draft edit including sound.

Filming Log - Day Four Locations - Hannah's House Llanharan Date - 18th || January || 2018  In this filming session, we needed to film in the location of Hannah's house, as we wanted to film shots of Hannah seeming distressed and confused. We got a shot of Hannah drinking alcohol sat on her bed alone, looking melancholy and upset. We were inspired by some of the mirror shots we observed in our research and analysis of the "Miss Jackson" music video by Panic! At The Disco, and wanted to recreate that in our video to symbolise self-conflict and despair, however, during filming the mirror we were using got broken, so we had to come together as a group and discuss what to do from there. After playing around with camerawork, we decided that the broken mirror may actually play well into the narrative and be symbolic of the protagonists broken character, and possibly suggest narrative enigmas that the mirror got broken possibly in the context of the unhappy relation...

Filming Log - Day Three Locations - Josh's House                    Woodland's Field      Pencoed                    The Common Date - 2nd || December || 2017 The shots we shot on this filming day were primarily establishing the relationship between Josh and Hannah. We were able to visit several locations to film a variation of shots. Aswell as establishing the relationship between the two characters, these shots feature the decline and deteriation of their relationship. The obscure and  and shadowy lighting in these shots embodies common conventions of alternative music videos, and displays the negativity and tediousness surrounding her relationship with Josh. We used the same characters in varying locations to suggest prolonged time and give a colourless feel to their relationship.  

Editing Log  Location - Bridgend College Date - 12th || January || 2018  When it came to our first editing session, it was simply a case of laying down a foundation of shots in an order that was similar to what we wanted our end product to be. After studying media for 3 years, we knew that the product would change massively from the first edit to the final feature, so this editing session consisted solely on importing all of our camera footage and organising which shots we planned to use in the feature and lay them out in order, to help us better get an idea on where our product is and where it is going; this enabled us to better plan for future filming sessions and change direction and tact where we needed to. At this point, we were still using the premiere software that we used for our AS production editing, but as I detail in a later post, we later change over to using iMovie via Jasmine's laptop.

Filming Log - Day Two Location - Cardiff Centre Date - 15 || November || 2017 We used the oppertunity to film in Winter Wonderland in Cardiff Centre. We wanted to incorpporate the fairy lights and colourful lighting, to reference the LGBT themes present in our music video. We wanted to create a contrast in colour between when Hannah is in shots with Josh or by herself, and when she is with my character.  We continued using two shots to focus on the close relationship between Hannah and Jade. To partner with this, the choice of clothing Hannah wore in these shots are considerably more colourful than when she is in shots with Josh, and more colourful than they were in the shots we had previously filmed. This shift is symbolic of a change in feeling, self-realisation and development of character.  A common feature used in music videos, particularly ones centered around relationships, use point of view shots, and we incorporated a shot from Hannah's point o...

Filming Log - Day One Location - Bridgend Town Centre Date - 13 || November || 2017 After analysing music videos in the alternative music genre, we were inspired to begin filming in a unkempt, urban area. We had ideas of particular locations in which we wanted to film, including a run-down staircase in which we could film a birds eye of high angle shot, similar to that featured in The Neighbourhood's video for Sweater Weather.                                                                                   In this shot, the natural sunlight surrounding Hannah disconnects her from the rest of the shot, which enbodies a dark background. This symbolises her isolation and disconnect from her emotions. The use of natural lighting in symbolic conventions is a common theme...