Editing the Music Video

After filming everything we needed, making sure all the shots we had were successful, we then needed to edit the film, put all different scenes together, to come out with our final product. This was probably our most difficult task throughout our whole project as we not only had to make sure that all scenes linked together well, but had to make sure it went well with the timing of the song and the correct scenes were being shown when particular lyrics were being sung.
 
To help us along this process we constantly referred back to our timelines, and this was very useful in helping us direct through the editing of our video.

We made sure to put the change of scenes in the right place

 

 

We firstly decided to edit the music. We started by using the fade technique so that the song built up and became clearer to hear and to keep conituity we used this at the start of the song as well.
For our opening shot we decided to use a pan shot, which meant that it could allow an establishing shot. We used this when the music started playing to introduce the song as well as making us fimilar with the opening location.

 

 

 

 

Due to the sheer amount of videos that we had saved, to make the process easier, quicker, and less confusing, we decided to rename the videos. For example, 'pan shot of bathroom' so we could know what shot or scene they were under.

 

 

 

Every shot we have filmed has sound in the background from us directing Alice and telling her what to do. As we didn't want this sound to be included in the song we had to remove or destroy the link. This allowed us to delete the sound to each video, allowing only the song to be heard.

 

 

 

Due to consistent editing, we were able to learn techniques to help create a better quality video, especially in learning how to make it flow well and link easily. One thing which vastly improved this was reducing the play speed of clips, which allowed an image to be held on the screen for longer. When using extreme close up shots this was beneficial as some of the shots would be quite shaky, and in this way we could make them still. We used this editing skill to create suspense especially with the scene where Alice is about to take pills. This technique is shown in two videos below.

 

 

 

 

We made sure throughout the video to use cuts or cross fades to differ from each clip, as this made the video much more interesting to watch as well as using a professional way to swap between each scene.  Shown below is an example of an effective use of cross fade. At this point in the video, the story completely changes from Alice in the bathroom to the scene where she tells her friend that she is in love with her. We have changed from the bathroom scene into the next scene by using a cross fade from black into the next scene. This fits extremely well with the music as well as transitioning effectively.

 

 

 

The use of the cross fade also allows great change from scene to scene, as it allows successful transitions from one shot to another. This is shown in the picture below, as we are shown the transition between two different shots - mid shot to the side and a birds eye view.





 

 

 

 

We have used a range of cross fades throughout our video

 



 

 

 

 

Although the use of cross fades is very successful it means that changing the scene happens at quite a slow pace. This is what we wanted for sme scene changes however for others we wanted a more fast cut change and so for this we used a quick cut. These were aminly used when the song is more fast paced and speeds up. By using the quick cutting tool we are able to present Alice's state of mind through the fast paced filming as it portrays urgency.

 

 

 

 

Due to all of our filming and the exstensive range of it, there were some videos which did not have the same lighting as the rest of the other clips, and this made it hard to keep continuity. Shown below is an example of this.

 

 

 

 

From this example you can see the shot above is too bright, and so we needed to edit this to the same colour tone as the other videos. We did this by using the 'grey scale effect' however did not use full grey scale as this was too dark but instead used 'half and half grey scale effect'.



 

 

 

 

This effect worked well and was able to make the scene darker so we could use it in our final video, as it kept conituity. It was also easy to apply as the location we used did not have much colour in it so it is not obvious that a grey scale effect has been used.

 



 

 

We also used effects such as the 'brightness and contrast' effect to change other videos. An example is shown below where we have edited an outside scene to have the same lighting as indoor and other scenes. We had to do this as sometimes the lighting in outdoor scenes varies due to the weather changing, which is something we cannot control.

 

 

 

 

Instead of decreasing the brightness function, we decided to increase the contrast which seemed to be more effective. An example of this is shown below where we have increased the contrast to 20. This was used in the closw up of the hands as the birds eye view shot that we have used means that the sun is very bright.

 



 

 

 

All throughout the editing process it was vital that we made sure the whole video linked, as if it didn't it could have an unprofessional and messy look to it. An example of this is shown below.



 

As you can see from this example we have used a common link to refer to of Alice putting her head in her hands and pushing her hair back. This also links to our magazine advert and this can link all parts of our whole project together. It also clearly links the two scenes together and gives a starting and eding point from the classroom scene to the bathroom scene.

 

 

 

Nearer the end of the video, we have used the quick cutting as talked about earlier after this we have a long hold on a close up of Alice in the classroom. We have cross faded this with a close up of Alice in the bath. We have used a correlation here to represent Alice's emotions and how her mood does not change throughout the video.

 



 

 

 

We have used many different editing techniques and skills throughout the making of our video to create a successful and professional music video.