A2 Media Studies

I wanted to do a moodboard to help pinpoint the themes and aesthetics that I am going to use in my digipak and print advert for said digipak. However, I realised that I already had three moodboards on my blog already, and wanted to branch out and try something new. So instead, I decided to make a 'moving moodboard' in the form of a video, where I take clips from various different media texts and formats to make a short video with the kind of aesthetic I am looking for. I wanted to capture a melancholy feeling, which is difficult through static images alone, which is why I think that this was helpful to my research. I also wanted to portray her as romantic but 'edgy', which I did using clips from various films, interviews and TV shows that I like. The first clip is from Amélie , which I subtitled for clarity; the second clip is from a 1960s interview with Marilyn Monroe, recorded a few months before she committed suicide and the last audio clip is from a short web-seri...

For the filming we did this weelend (as last week's weather was too bad), Ella and I decided that my makeup and hair were not 'edgy' enough, and we created a new look based off of Lorde's album cover and the image we want to portray for our artist. Because of this change, I made another (higher quality) video detailing my makeup process. It is much easier to see as I recorded the whole thing instead of using the time-lapse feature, meaning that it is a lot smoother and higher quality despite the fact that I am using the front-facing camera. The song in the video is Lucky Girl by Fazerdaze .               

In this hour I tried to make our music video more creative by adding some lens flares and light leaks to make our shots look more interesting. It is a common theme of indie videos to have these kind of distortions, very prominent in both Lana Del Rey and Lorde's music videos, so I thought it would also be a good way to include some popular indie conventions. First, I went onto youtube and I searched for 'light leak overlay' and then I downloaded it onto the mac. Then, I moved it into Final Cut Pro X and bladed the parts that I wanted. I placed them over the clips that I wanted and then I turned down the opacity so that the original clip could be seen through it but still opaque enough that it was visible. I think it turned out well, I so I plan to do this to more clips in the video.

In this session, after listening to our audience feedback as well as the feedback from our teacher, we decided that our video needed more interest in terms of editing. Therefore I came up with the idea of adding 'light leaks' as an overlay to add interest to the live performance, and we also googled some new editing techniques and then taught ourselves how to create a 'freeze frame' effect. Firstly, I went onto YouTube and downloaded some light leak overlays -- both a red one and a blue one -- we planned on using both and changing them halfway through so that the colours represent the singer's passion and love at the start which then changes to her sadness at the break up at the end. I then put these videos into Final Cut Pro X and layered them over the live performance, turning the opacity down so that the video was visible underneath. At first, this looked unprofessional because the light leak also went into the next shot and then abruptly cut off, but I fixed thi...

As I mentioned in the first editing post, we started this session by changing the font and text at the beginning of the video. We got rid of the 'scrolling' effect as we decided that it was too difficult to read (also it looked unprofessional as the text appeared to 'jump' instead of entering smoothly), and instead we added a semi-transparent white box and then some simple text. We think that this conforms more to the indie genre as well, because many artists use a plain font at the start of their music videos rather than something more decorative like we had originally used. This was a short session because we didn't have much time. However, in the next session we plan on focusing on the audience feedback.

In this session, we finally had all of the footage we needed and therefore we were able to complete a rough edit of our final video. We started with the fight scene between the main character and her girlfriend. Because the music itself doesn't crescendo at this point, in order to create tension we made lots of fast edits and cuts between the narrative and the live performance using the blade tool to show the main characters' anger. We then used the final 'date' shot to create a contrast between these two situations, with warm lighting and happy facial expressions, as well as a two shot which is framed to show their closeness, juxtaposed with the fight scene that was previous in which one character leaves the two shot. After this session, we had created a rough edit.

I filmed a time-lapse of the process of me applying makeup and styling my hair before the filming we are going to do today (weather permitting). Below is the footage, complete with my annotations of what products I'm using and what I'm doing. The quality is lacking slightly because I was only able to film this on my iPad, but the clip at the end is higher quality and shows my makeup and hair properly. The song playing in the background is by weiddough (an independent soundcloud artist) titled Ebb Tide ( So Harpy). 

In this session, we mainly focused on the creation of a narrative. After establishing the narrative (as we had to change the storyboard on the day) we then started to put the library scene into the live performance using the blade tool. We were sure to edit in time with the music because we wanted to conform to this aspect of Goodwin's music video theory. As we didn't have all of the necessary footage, this was a very short session.

Although I wasn't present for the final piece of filming, we made some changes and therefore I am making this post to update the storyboard. Firstly, as Ella was restricted in location, she replaced the bed scene and the coffee shop scene. She also had to improvise in that a number of the actors that were meant to participate didn't show up and therefore she had to make it look like the two actors that were present were different people throughout the opening.

Firstly, we uploaded all of the footage onto Final Cut Pro X from the camera. We ordered the footage and tried to focus primarily on the start of the music video as we didn't have everything that we needed to make a rough edit of everything yet -- we still had some filming left to do. With the live performance, we turned the volume all the way up so that we could hear the music that was playing while we were filming, and then we tried to sync it to the music that we added in post production so that the lip syncing portion was accurate. We also started to work on the text at the beginning, although we later changed this. We added this text because having the artist and song title at the beginning of a music video is a convention of the indie genre. We filtered the clip in the background and made the text bolder so that it was easier to read, because at first it was difficult. We also added a 'scrolling' animation which made the text appear in a more professional way. To gi...

On Sunday we refilmed the entire lip sync section of the video and ended up with much higher quality footage. There were a number of things that went better than last time -- the weather was better, it was lighter and therefore higher quality, and we fully charged all of our phones before we came. We also decided to film inside, except by a window instead. The only problem we found with this was the lighting, as sometimes it was too dark (we filmed in front of windows so the light was behind me), however we changed the camera settings to fix this. It also looks okay being dark, as it contributes to the artist's dark image. We also changed the costume. Instead, I am wearing a black top to fit with the artist's edgy image, and I have much heavier makeup than the first time. We followed the same procedure by setting up all three cameras while I went over the lyrics again to make sure I knew them this time, and then we played the live version of the song out loud while I l...

On the 12th of January, we went to the top of the car park to film some of our video (the lip sync portion) at sunset. We decided not to use it for the following reasons: 1. The lighting was inconsistent, as we filmed it as the sun set. While this would be effective for a single take video, we ended up having to do multiple takes and therefore it was dark by the time we finished. For this reason, we have decided to film in the afternoon for continuity. 2. The weather was bad -- as it was early January, it was cold and raining when we filmed, and very overcast. This created more issues with lighting as the low-light made out video footage bad quality. The camera was unable to pick up facial expressions and details well, making our footage look unprofessional. It was also extremely unpleasant to film in such bad weather conditions, as the rain ruined the footage also. 3. The artist (me) didn't know the words well. As filming was a quick decision, I didn't have much time t...

Over the Christmas break, I decided to make another practice video to focus on my editing skills. In this video, I chose the song  고양이  (Cat) by Sunwoo Jung-Ah featuring IU because I had already recorded a cover, and took ideas from the original video and my own interpretation of the song. I took inspiration from the lyrics, which I roughly translated below: this song is called Cat (ko-yang-i / 고양이) Think again  This will not be our best choice  Why are you hiding your feelings (heart?) Now look at me, your eyes are so easily caught (?)  Come closer   no, warmly, like this  to move you with the small sound of my heart (soft heartbeat?) Let's be together more  Before you came to me  I was lonely no I was bored You're already late  You'll regret it  The moment you turn your back on me (?)  You will miss  me You will miss me once you fall for me there's no way out I can't help it, it's my nature...

Below are the images inside the Ultraviolence (2014) digipak. They further the creation of her persona and set the tone for the album, representing her in very specific ways in order to attract their target audience and encourage them to buy the digipak. In the first image, Lana Del Rey is lying on a bed of hydrangeas, smoking a cigarette. The inclusion of flowers represents traditional ideas on femininity, contrasted by her smoking a cigarette which is typically a more masculine action. The choice of hydrangeas specifically links to both her song  Old Money , in which she sings about them, but also the fact that hydrangeas represent heartlessness and acting without thinking about the feelings of another (the main theme of the album), grace or beauty (the core of her aesthetic; Hollywood glamour and elegance) and abundance and prosperity (the darker side of Hollywood; the lack of fulfilment she feels even though she has everything). I have embedded the song below, however...

Basic Information: The outer packaging is made of paper and the inner packaging is made of plastic. They are less durable than regular CD cases. They are collectible and are often used for special edition or 'deluxe' albums, for example if the album featured extra 'bonus' tracks. They became popular in the early 2000s. Digipaks are made to fold into a square shape and can have varying numbers of panels, but the most popular is 6 panels. The front panels often feature the artist or album art, as well as the title of the album and are made to attract the target audience because this is what they will see first. The back panel often has a tracklist. The inside of the digipak will then offer additional information, but cannot be seen until the album is opened. Usually, the inside panels feature personal messages from the artist or song lyrics as well as more photography. Although the plastic CD holder will cover one panel, they are usually made from clear plastic so that...