Editing: Effects, shots, angles I will use.

My video will rely mostly on editing to keep it interesting by adding special effects and clips in the video that are related to the lyrics. I will also need to make sure to keep the editing fast paced and to have movement in every shot to match the energy of the track. I have decided that I want my video to gradually get even faster paced as it goes on rather than starting out really fast paced.

I will record multiple shots of my footage so I can Overlay them to create a ghosting effect which will also make the video seem more crazy and hazy.

In the video I will include video clips as an addition to my own. The clips will relate to the lyrics and will not be able to be shot by myself. Some of the clips include a military march, a guard dog barking, a snake. These will be added in, in very short clips so they flash on screen. Gradually at the point where the person is going crazy, the images will flash more and there will be more of them. I will include images/video relating to the song and the conventions of the genre (violence, random footage of fire, destruction, crime etc.)

Some effects I will add include lightning, flames and smoke effects. Footage of tracer bullets being fired to link to the "cryonic haunted bullets hollow tipped with toxic waste" that relate to the lyrics. For these I will use plugins such as chroma keyer to layer these images over the footage I have recorded.

Setting

My music video only has two (and a half) settings.
Firstly, the main setting is a mysterious dark room.
There are hints to it being an abandoned building.

This setting will actually be filmed in the drama department at my school. The reason for this is that it can be made dark enough to achieve the desired effects I want for my video. It also has lots of technical gear and props everywhere so it does not look like a classroom; in the dark it could look like an abandoned building, we used a sofa, steps and an exit sign in the video to make it look this way.

The second setting is a padded cell for an insane or dangerous person.

This will actually be filmed using a white screen in media because these padded cells are usually white. To make it seem more realistic, I will use camera perspective, sound design and the performance of the artist to make it seem like he is in a claustrophobic cell with a heavy door.

The final place I will use to film is the music performance room in school. I need to use this to record footage of someone playing the drums although this will be mostly overlayed on the screen and not fully shown as a setting.

Costume/Props

Main Portion of the Video

I wanted the costume for my performer (in the main shots) to be anything casual in all black. The reason for this is that the performer is meant to stand out from the dark background with thier energy and facial expressions and not the clothes they are wearing so they need to blend in. It also fits with the aesthetic of the alternative hip hop genre to be dark just like some of the music instead of colourful and happy.

Something like a black jacket or sweatshirt along with black trousers and shoes will be the costume for most of the shots for my video.

Below are some examples of how some alternative hip hop artists dress which is similarly usually in all black:

Straight Jacket Portion

For the last portion of the video the performer is wearing a straight jacket because he has become more and more crazy.

The straight jacket I will use will be a custom made one because I could not find a good enough real one without having to do a lot of searching or spending. The one I will use is modified from a Karate outfit, the legs are sewn onto the arms to make them appear longer and to allow them to be tied around the back back to front to make it look like a real straight jacket.

Lyric Sheet Planning

Initial ideas of shots and effects to use to go along with the lyrics or just happening at around that time.

New animatic; Censored track

The song I am using for my music video may possibly be to explicit to use. As a precaution I will be making a censored version of the song, by editing out vocals from two versions (acapella and instrumental) of the track, just in case it is not allowed.

Here it is.

Narrative of my music video

My narrative has a simple story as a frame for the visual effects and editing to go along with the music.

The story is that the person performing in the video is meant to be going crazy, just like the lyrics about violence and drugs suggest. They eventually go really crazy and get caught, they then end up in a straitjacket in a cell.
The person will start off in a dark environment, images/clips will flash on the screen and will gradually get more distorted and erratic as they get crazier.

 

The reason I decided to use a simple story was to make the video slightly more interesting and to link the different locations that I had used to film in. A complex story would be too much for a song like this because it is very aggressive and in-your-face and also some other alternative hip hop artists videos I have looked at, similar to my artist, have a very simple concept rather than some convoluted story. 

7 Problems that Could Happen When Creating my Music Video

1. PROBLEM: The lighting (using torches in the dark) turns out to look bad.
SOLOUTION: Using more lighting such as studio lights and making the shots darker in post production.

2. PROBLEM: The performer is not able to film when I am.
SOLOUTION: Find out when we both are free and able to film. Or find another performer with a similar timetable.

3. PROBLEM: The place I want to film in is not free to use.
SOLOUTION: Find out when it is free or find an alternative setting that I could make very dark.

4. PROBLEM: I could lose footage.
SOLOUTION: Back up files on a memory stick, the macs in school and at home. This will also allow me to work on my video at home and at school.

5. PROBLEM: The music I use is too explicit.
SOLOUTION: Find or make a censored version and use that.

6. PROBLEM: I do not have enough shots for my music video
SOLOUTION: Storyboard/plan more shots and then film this for my video.

7. PROBLEM: I have too many shots for my video.
SOLOUTION: Create multiple different versions and collect feedback on what people think is best.

Music Pitch Feedback.

These sheets show the feedback I received from my classmates on my artist presentation and animatic. My feedback was mostly positive but there was some things that I needed to improve.

The main thing that some people said is that I may need to add in more location to my video to keep it more varied and interesting rather than being in the same place and getting boring. Some ideas form a different setting could be the performer in the street (maybe getting arrested or in a fight) or somewhere like in an insane asylum (dressed in a straitjacket) or maybe something else.

Another point people made is that I should apply Goodwin's law more, so I will use my research into other artist to find genre conventions as well as making sure the lyrics and music fit the visuals of the video. I could also fit in the idea of voyeurism by using mirrors or screens somehow to let the viewer get a different perspective.

Someone said the pace of the video seems slow in my animatic but this will be corrected in the final video. Because of camera movement and the movement of the performer as well as quick cuts, the video will seem fast paced.

Animatic

This is the animatic I have made for my music video. First I added in the music and then I cropped and added the frames from my storyboard into a video track on Sony Vegas. I made each image appear for the correct length of time by using the times I wrote on my storyboard as well as (more accurately) making sure it is in time with the music.

Digipak Plan

This is a rough plan for my digipak. I will try to recreate this design on Adobe Photoshop. The digipak doesn't contain the artist on it as per the Genre convention of the style and the sound of the music being more important than who the artist is themselves. The cover of the album has an cut out section from a painting depicting skeletons rising up and killing the living, this fits into the genre's dark themes sometimes involving horror elements and death. I wanted the back cover to be relatively plain with just the track listing as well as an outline of an abrasive texture such as a rock-face to fit the music of the artist. Although The main cover is an image from someone else, I will edit it to look different and also I will try to take photographs of anything else if I need it instead of using images found online.

Typography

These are some typography I have chosen for my digipak/poster. I decided to pick out distorted fonts as well as some old gothic styled types these both fit within the genre conventions.
I asked people to pick two fonts that they think would fit the genre the best, most people chose the Wishful Waves font with 4 votes and the second most was 3 for Seagram and also English Two Line.

The fonts I have chosen to try for my digipak are Wishful Waves (which would have been my choice) and also English Two Line. I feel it is good to have two fonts that could work together but are two different styles.

Final Song Choice

The genre I have chosen is Alternative/Experimental Hip Hop music. The track I have chosen to make a music video for is Takyon by Death Grips. After thinking about many songs within the genre, I settled on this because I believe I have a good idea for the video and the lyrics can be interpreted well as visuals on screen, for example, there are parts within the song where there are lots of drumming so I could record someone drumming and add that to the video.

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