Title: Preliminary Music Video Task

When and how did you use the six general rules of shooting a music video in this project? Use examples, evaluate why you used them for effect and purpose.

The six general rules are:- Match on action - Match cuts - Editing to the beat- The camera moves- 75% of the shots are of the artist - 75% of the shots are mid close ups

Match cuts– within this shot, we can see the main artist holding the microphone close to his mouth while singing into it. In the first shot (the top photo) we can see that the artist is singing the lyrics ‘A seven nation army couldn’t’. We can then see the shot change to the other side for the lyrics ‘hold me back’. By doing this, we are able to see the singer from another angle, as well as showing a closer shot of the microphone and mouth.

Editing to the beat – Throughout the whole music video, there is a strong sense of editing to the best. The opening shot shows six segments of the video all placed next to each other and plucking the string of the guitar as you can hear the bass guitar. Each cut away then appears on the screen, in different colours as the beat progresses. This same editing to the beat is shown when the drum comes in, and the colours, yet again, change as the beat does. This theme continues throughout the duration of the song, allowing the editing to change from a slow pace to a faster one, whilst still keeping the same editing theme. By doing this, we were able to emphasise the change in tempo, and add additional dramatic effect. This idea is also shown through the threshold, cartoon filter which was added onto each frame.

The camera moves – During a shot which contains the lyrics ‘And I’m talking to myself at night so that I can’t forget,’ we can see that the camera moves in a 180° anti-clockwise motion around the artist. This movement was added to symbolise the fact that the lyric line flows without any cuts or breaks. By adding many short spurts of coloured filter on top of this, we were able to make it appear as if there were many different shots, while still keeping the camera movement flowing, thus adding emphasis.

Match on Action – In this shot, we can see that the artist is saying the phrase ‘They’re gonna rip them off’, while in a crouched down stance, holding the microphone and singing into the camera. Later on, we can see the singer follow on to sing ‘Taking their time right behind my back’. Between these two shots there is an

Harriet Denial 13.0

extra shot of the drum which follows the beat of the music. By forming the long shot with the artist in the same stance as the close up, we have managed to create a sense of match on action.

75% of shots of the artist – As we can see within this music video, there are very few shots without the artist in them. To be able to show the instruments playing as well, we focused on them when the artist was not singing, as well as using over the shoulder shots of the drummer with the artist in the background. By doing this, we were able to show the audience where the music was coming from and how it was being made. This also meant that we could use the artist as the main focal point of some shots, but still

including the band in the background. A key point where this idea is included is the 180° shot of the main singer. During this, we can still see the band members, but the main focus is automatically drawn towards the singer. Although, many times, we decided that it would be a good idea to just focus the shot on the artist. By doing this, the audience is able to engage with the music, as well as get a keen sense of who is singing the song.

75% of the shots close up – There are many different close-up shots within this video. The key idea of these shots within the beginning of the music video was to hide the identity of the artist, as well as the band members, to purely focus on the music. The use of the threshold filter on top of the shots also helped to achieve this. By

simply highlighting the mouth and the movements of the instruments, we were able to emphasise the point that they were producing music/singing the song.

Evaluate how you contributed to the project, what problems occurred and how you solved any problems.I contributed to the project by shooting the video. With the aid of my fellow class mates, I was able to film the footage for the music video while they played the instruments and sung the song. This task caused some difficulties, due to the fact that while shooting shots of the drum, as well as the guitar, there was often poor lighting which leads to a low quality video. This problem was improved by constant reshooting, as well as the use of torches and adapted natural light to add shadows and highlights. I then, along with my partner, edited the footage. Together we were able to edit the music to the correct length and then fit the pace of the video with the correct beat. WE faced many problems with this stage. The first of which was adapting the filters in the correct manor to fit with the music, as well as the general theme. Further problems aroused when we decided to use the threshold filter on every shot, while still keeping within the red and white colour scheme. By adding in an additional colour, blue, the transition between the black and white and the red shots seemed smoother and more prominent.

Discuss the process you went through in creating the music video.

To begin this task, my group and I sat down and discussed general ideas of what could be included within the music video and how we could fit it with the beat. This then lead to an intense stage of storyboarding the video with many different stages and alternatives we could use if our initial idea didn’t work, or any adaptations which may have needed to be added. Once the storyboarding stage was completed, we followed by filming the initial footage. This stage took us around an hour and a half, with a few stages of reshooting certain parts which did not fit during the editing process. Although our footage did conform to the initial story board, some changes had to be made to make the transitions within the video much smoother. Once we were satisfied with our footage, Fran and I decided to edit the music video together, while asking for feedback from our peers and including any additional ideas or amendments when necessary.

Harriet Denial 13.0