Welcome to my A Level media blog - I will be sharing my work throughout the course as well as my thoughts. I hope you enjoy looking through my work, thank you for visiting!
This shot ended up being blurry because we didn't pull focus correctly. To resolve this, we readjusted the focus and tried again.
This was our first attempt at an over-the-shoulder shot - it ended up being very shaky because I was carrying the camera on the wrong shoulder. We tried again afterwards and went more quickly in order to make the footage less shaky and awkward.
This shot was too jerky and shaky, we had to re-record it.
EFFECTIVE SHOTS
This shot was a good one - it goes on for quite a bit, meaning that we had enough footage to cut together effectively.
We used a Nikon D3400 DSLR Camera to shoot the footage. Our backup was a Sony Bridge Camera, but we didn't end up using it.
Along with both of the cameras, we had up to three spare batteries for each, fully charged so we could maximise our time, without having to return to charge up our cameras. From prior experience, we learnt to bring more than one SD card in case one got lost or didn't work at the time. Luckily, the SD card we ended up using, a 64GB, worked for the full duration for the shoot so it wasn't needed.
We used automatic ISO to adjust appropriately to lighting changes most of the time, however, this was adjusted when we moved locations from the graveyard (early morning), to the church (late afternoon) as the lighting was different. For the church, we used a wider aperture with an iso of 800 whereas, for the graveyard, we used a smaller aperture (dof of 5.6-6.4) and an iso of 200.
We did use manual focus and attempted focus shifts on such shots as the whispering one. We decided manual focus would be best as then we would have more control over what the shots would look like and worked better when working on a tri-pod, which we did.
We made two versions of the video - the first as a master copy and a second for youtube.
FILE > NEW > PROJECT
We chose 1920x1080 resolution
Set it to 25 frames per second to be compliant with UK/EUROPEAN television HD broadcast standards.
Apple Pro Res
The music is Stereo at 48kHz as this is broadcast standard.
It ensures image loss is restricted and the detail of the video remains. It can export in full 8K, 4K, HD (up to 1920×1080), many others I may have missed off. Apple ProRess 422 discards pixels from the video, making it look much less obvious than an h.264 export while still remaining to be a lossy export.
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We exported a lower quality version to be compatible with YouTube by following these steps:
FILE > SHARE > MASTER FILE
Amend SETTINGS
Choose H.264
Save the master file in your Music Video folder on the DESKTOP and call it Claws H264 version.
H.264 is a type of video compression commonly exporting and distributing high-resolution video. H.264 is a lossy file which means that when it is compressed (made into an h.264 file), some of the data is lost in the process, making it look a little laggy and fuzzy sometimes. The files are still high quality but have bits missing from them.
So, did we meet the brief?
Our final video uses the entire music track for Claws with time to spare - we made sure we had ample shots to cover this.
Our video definitely fits the bizarre, otherworldly
tone that some of the others in the genre met (ie.
Mr. Brightside by The Killers), however it isn't
monochromatic like we had planned. We did
tone down the saturation of each colour, instead
upping the blue of the coat and the red of the scarf for interesting pops of colour.
As for iconography, we did end up with some mystery shrouding the identity of the artist and, due to a slight change, we only got shots of his hands.
I think we've very clearly reflected the song's lyrics in a visual format, and at points enhanced them rather than blatantly illustrated them for the viewer.
In relation to Goodwin's theory about music videos, I believe we've represented and added to the lyrics in a creative way - we've interpreted it with help from the artist and he was happy with how it turned out. As we've said, the distinct lack of iconography really works to identify the artist. I'm happy with how it all went.
Feedback
Given by D. Urwin
Mentioned 'rotoscoping', which is where you would animate individual frames over the top of your footage. We've used the animated-effect on our footage to give the impression of rotoscoping, but we don't quite have the time to properly rotoscope any of our footage.
We're aware of the fact that some of our frames are slightly different speeds, and this is because of final cut pro's limitations as an editing software. Ideally, 12fps is the speed of animations and we would work towards that given more time.
ARTIST FEEDBACK
"I'm happy to have people listen to my music and find meaning in it like I do."
We are filming in a graveyard to
capture the concept of loss as it is a topic very close to all of us due to
very recent events. Don't worry, this shouldn't take too long, only around 2
hours. The synopsis is; a person followed through their emotional journey of
self discovery around others and the environment they want to protect.
Where will it be Broadcasted:
This is non commercial but will be
on YouTube as this is easiest way to submit the final product for our
A-levels.
Filming Locations
Filming Location:
Burley Cemetery
Start Date:
30/11/2019
End Date:
07/12/2019
Number of Days:
7
Other Filming Locations:
Burley Wier.
Section
Number of Crew:
3
Number of Actors and Secondary Actors:
1
Drone:
No
Upload your CAA certificate:
Type of Equipment:
Tripod, Camera x2, hand held
lighting eg phone torches.
Description of Filming:
We will be filming majorly
close-up and mid shots from very flat landscapes to minimise safety hazards.
There is only one actor so no large space is needed and we have made sure to
arrange it with minimal disruption.
