Rough Cut Magic

BoB Magic Rough Cut 2 from Jules Thrasher on Vimeo.

Magic

This is a rough cut of our music video - magic. This is what we showed on showcase day to the class. We got a lot of beneficial criticism form the class. We have taken their comments and made use of them by further editing our video to perfect it. We have filmed since the showcase day and have edited it all in. It looks a lot better now compared to the rough cut.

We have kept our lyrics in sync with the artists actions which is what Carol Vernallis' theory suggests. As a class we have looked at Vernallis and I like her theory the most. We decided as a group that we should use Vernallis' theory as it linked in the most compared to other theorist's.

Final Filming

Yesterday we felt we could add more to our music video, so we decided to borrow a HD camera and start filming. We went off to Chris' house were the opening of the video was filmed. We decided to make a party scene to link in with the idea of B Money being hungover. We took shots of the party so we could edit them in as quick cuts to show flash backs of the party.

The filming went really well and we plan to edit it all in today using Final Cut Express.

Preparing for the Evaluation

Before we start our evaluation for our groups music video, we must pre-write what we are going to say. We will do this otherwise we will mumble and not have any direction in what we say. Preparing for the evaulation is key so that we cover all aspects of the video and evaluate everything.

We know we must look at the good points as well as the bad points. We will set ourselves questions to follow as guide lines so that we do not go off track of the evaluation. As a group we will all take our turn to evaluate the video so that we don't all get shy on the camera. We will film it in an empty room with just us four in it.

The evaluation itself is very important to the coursework as it allows the audience to see how we felt about the piece and it will demonstrate the video to the audience.

The Webpage

The artists fans:

Gaining an incresed fan base is vital for a new artists such as B Money, as it will help him develop his music further and be able to see what his fans want. The webpage will allow fans to give suggestions on what track to produce next, or even what to wear. The artists fans are assively important, so keeping in touch with them through a social networking site is crucial.


Availability:

The artist's music must be easily accesible for the fans/listeners to get to otherwise they just will not bother. Putting your music on youtube, MySpace for example will make it very easy for people to hear your music. If your music was only available on iTunes for example, it would force the customer to have to buy the music before listening to it which they will not do.

Style:

Maintaining a style will help fans define the artist and will allow people to know what genre your music is in. The layout and design of the webpage has to link in with the artists theme. We have given our artists a hip-hop style and the webpage which I designed is also hip-hop, this will not confuse the fans at all so there will be no problems.

Video Showcase

In last weeks lesson we put our video on the big screen and showed it to the class. As a group we introduced our video and let everyone see it. We gave everyone out a sheet to write their thoughts and critically analyse our video. We took everybody's views and gathered up what everyone had written and made adjustments accordingly. After making the adjustments which was suggested to us by the class, we made our own changes which we felt were needed in order to make the video as perfect as we could make it. As a group we feel we have done a very good job in the video and gave our all into it.

We gained a lot during the showcase lesson as we could see what all the other groups came up with, as well as it being fun to watch, it helped us with our own video as we could compare our video to everybody elses.

Editing

Editing our music video was the most challenging part of our music video. We took more shots than needed when filming so we had options when editing. Keeping to the beat with your edits is a very important factor as not doing so will make the video look out of place with the video. We have also attempted to keep the lyrics in sync with the actions of the artist.

Final Cut Express

Getting used to Final Cut Express takes some time and dedication to the software. As a group we have spent a lot of time on Final Cut so that we were ready to edit our music video to the best that we could. We have found many useful effects that we have used in our video to link different shots together in the smoothest way.

Music Video Analysis - All of the Lights

The first shot you see during Kanye West's music video, All of the Lights ft. Rihanna and Kid Cudi, is of a warning sign emphasizing that bright flashing lights will be used in this video; this instantly prepares the audience to expect a lot of quick snappy shots with a lot of change in colour. By reading this opening shot you will know that the song will be fast paced without even listening to it.

The shot then moves onto a list of names which the audience do not understand but will expect to understand by the end of the video.Then a young girl is seen walking in black and white, this will surprise the audience as they were expecting a fast start but the music is also very slow as all you can hear is a piano. You then see a glimmer of light when the little girl slowly walks past a car with bright car lights, which builds up the tension for the song to pick up in pace. The idea of the little girl walking in the streets on her own with slow, sad music, makes the audience feel sympathetic for the little girl. All of the lights which she walks past are lit up by the camera to make them the focus point even in the opening stages of the song.

Then instantly the black and white shot of the girl flashes multi-colours very fast but the music stays dull... Then incomes the loud sound of Rihanna singing 'all of the lights', and then the beat drops and gives the audience what they were expecting in a very fast, exciting song. A long shot of Kanye West's name in bright lights are shown to show that he is the main part of this song and is the main artist even though Rihanna opens the song. 56 seconds are then shown of a black background of all different coloured writing, synchronized in with the sound and the beat.

Once these 56 seconds are up, Kanye West is shown, but the lights are still flashing to keep to the theme of the lights. Kanye is shown as a silhouette to hide his identity, but he is so well known people will recognize his voice and posture and work out that it his Kanye West who is singing.

A medium shot is then shown of another man in the characters bed with his girlfriend, Kany West says "To my suprise, another n*gger replacing me", this synchronization keeps to Vernallis' theory of lyrics corresponding to the story of the video.

The editor has done an edit where a shot of Rihanna and a shot of Kanye West are cut between the two so fast that it looks like they are flashing together in the same shot. We have used this edit in our music video as we feel it is very influential and will work in well with our video.

Kanye's next line is "restraining order, can't see my daughter", this reflects back to the opening shot of the little girl alone to slow upsetting music. It makes the audience realise, that this little girl is either Kanye's daughter or the character in the video's daughter. He then says "she need her daddy" as the edit shows the little girl in colour for the first time; this shows that life is being brought back into the girl, and she wants her dad just as much as he wants his daughter.

After then next chorus, Kid Cudi is shown on a black background wearing a bright red leather jacket to keep to the theme of bright lights.

The final 20 seconds of the video is of a blank multi-coloured screen flickering thorugh different colours at a fast pace, to end the song to the theme which has played thorughout the song.