The main target of the editing stage was to cut the shots and concatenate them as best as possible like the official video has done. This has meant timing all the shots to the second in order for it to accurately reflect the real thing. Other features of the editing included adding a slow fade transition and adding a black and white filter to our colour footage. Although these were not difficult, it shows that I have made progress and steps to learn how to use Final Cut Express- an editing piece of software I had not used proficiently before. I hope I can continue developing these skills when it comes to editing my real music video. Overall I believe this was the best part of our Preliminary Task.
Mise-en-scene was the most difficult area of the production process of the Preliminary Task because it takes in multiple factors including costume, props, lighting, setting/location, body language and more.
Costume was relatively easy to mimic as the dress code is very casual int he official video. It included a grey jumper/hoody, black tights, a small black skirt, and black shoes. Our actor Jakarta had already got these items so nothing had to be purchased or borrowed.
The only prop included was a blanket. This is used to provide warmth to the homeless character who is forced to sleep on the cold streets, or in this case, a park bench. The character in the official video actually hands a duvet. However, due to us being unable to bring on to the location, we had to use a blanket instead.
For the first few shots, we controlled the lighting to suit the scene. We did this by simply closing the blinds in the room and turning off the lights whilst still having enough light to see what was happening. We couldn't control the lighting in the main block of the footage because it is set outside, where there is natural high key lighting. However, this didn't necessarily matter as it was the day time (which is what we needed) and the video was going to don a black and white filter anyway.
Overall, I believe the mise-en-scene in our video was well thought out.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER:
Editing was at a good standard as I have experience with editing on Final Cut Express from AS and therefore I was completely comfortable with editing this preliminary task. The only problem that I could potentially come across in our main task is that we have never experienced editing with lip synch and therefore I may struggle when it comes to ensuring that all the clips are in time and that the music video is coherent the entire way through the music video.
For our preliminary task we only needed one actor and therefore I nominated myself to take part in the filming as they main character. Although we will have to bare in mind other peoples schedule when filming our main tasks we will most likely need more than one actor throughout the entire video. Therefore it is essential that we review our storyboard and tally up how many people are needed for filming and plan in advance so that they are available for when we need them on set. Finally, we amateurs, when filming our preliminary task we believed that natural lighting would be sufficient and although the shots through the cameras used were fine, once we began to edit, we discovered that the shots were darker. This meant that we had to use filters such as brightness and contrast, to enhance the colour: this however resulted in that the image was blurry and rather pixelated. For our main task we need to ensure that the lighting is at a higher key than needed to ensure that the shot is clear and will result in better quality once edited: we can do this with the use of flood lights, spot lights and natural light depending on the time and the scene being filmed.
We only needed to select two settings to replicate the first minute of the video. This included a park and a small dark setting. For the latter, we chose a small dark classroom in the corner of a block at our school. The room is only roughly 3x5m squared in size and has a window and blinds. Suiting us as we could control the lighting, the room was perfect especially because it is rarely in use.
I felt the body language and acting by Jakarta was very good and was an easily recognisable performance from the official video. At the time we filmed, we couldn't get another girl to play as the other female so I personally had to step in and pretend. While this isn't ideal, we know that the Preliminary Task is just a building block where we can learn and improve upon.
A few of our camera shot were rather shaky due to the difficulty as well as for obvious reasons like the camera man's balance. Therefore for our main task we need to ensure we use tripods and a dolly when possible, this means that the shots will be very stable and result with more efficient shots.
After filming, when we noticed that we had occidentally left equipment behind the location and therefore was noticeable when editing the shots. For our main task we will ensure that everything and everyone will be out of shot to ensure that the final product looks authentic and realistic. I would also research into the location more before filming so that we have acquired the best possible fit to replicate that idea that we had planned. Also, by planning in advanced means that we can get in contact if needs be to book out the venue which will secure our filming dates.
For our preliminary task, we had to replicate the Ed Sheeran video which required specific props. Due to it being quite simplistic costume, it was easy to access everything that we needed: but when we went to film we forgot to take the coat with us to complete all the costumes we needed and therefore we did not use the correct props. For our main task, we do decide what props we need to make our video realistic. Hopefully this will ensure that we remember and can access all these props as they may be essential to our main task.
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