Music Video Construction

When editing this clip I found the the journal looked overexposed and that this created an unprofessional feel to the video.

I was able to fix this issue by selecting the colour option in my editing software and experimenting with the colour saturation. Once I had lowered the saturation of the image the quality of the clip improved as did the standard of my music video long with it.

Whilst experimenting with the software before beginning to edit my music video I found that once adding in transitions between clips it was possible for me to change the length of these transition periods. This was helpful for time where I wanted my clips to slowly fade into each other when I used a fade transition and helped me to sustain the dream-like quality of my music video.

To edit these transitions even more precisely I discovered that the use of the 'precision editing' option was very helpful as it allowed me to determine at exactly what point in the clip the fade would begin and when it would end in the next clip.

I also found that I was able to layer footage on top of each other by adjusting the opacity of the clips so that you could view both pieces of footage simultaneous. This editing option, again, aided me in sustaining the dream-like quality to the video that I wanted to make.

The slow motion option was key in many moments of my music video and this option in iMovie allowed me to slow the footage down by 10%+. This allowed more experimentation on my part as I could decide what speed would be best for each clip.

Finally, as I shot many of the clips of my actress walking without a track or trolley the footage was slightly shaky which gave it a slightly unprofessional appearance which I noticed when reviewing my editing. This was fixed by the option to stabilise the clips I used in my music video which analysed for dominant motion and focused in on this so that the videos did not seem so shaky, by doing this the quality of my footage was greatly improved.

Fourth Draft (Don't Dream It's Over)

After gaining some specific feedback from my teacher I added in some more transitions to make the flow of the video smoother. I also moved around some of the bath clips again to continue the fluency (chronology) of the video and removed and replaced some clips that didn't fit with the atmosphere of the video.

Third Draft (Don't Dream It's Over)

In this re-draft of my music video I have tried to follow the feedback of my audience and have switched around some of the clips with my actress in the bath (as my audience felt that this may give the clips more context). I cut down the final clip of my actors eyes as this, as someone pointed out to me, was too long and I changed the way my record label name appeared at the end to make it more fitting with the atmosphere of the video.

Second Draft Target Audience Feedback

Once completing and uploading the second draft of my music video I decided that I ought to gain some perspective from my target audience before continuing with my editing. I asked a group of peers, both media and non-media, students to feedback on what they liked and what they would improve and this is the response I received:

In my next draft I will try to incorporate my audiences ideas as much as I possibly can with the footage I already have.

Second Draft (Don't Dream It's Over)

In this draft I have changed the title font to a Type-writer style lettering as this is the kind of font I will be using for my record label name. I have also included a credit at the end of my video and will add in my record company logo in my next draft. I have corrected the stability of some clips, replaced  shortened some sections to make the shots less tedious and added in some different clips to fill the spaces. I also changed some of the swipe style transitions my earlier draft used and replaced them with fade transitions as I felt that the swipes looked basic and unprofessional whereas the fades allow the events of the video to unfold with increased fluidity . I have also replaced the lip-syncing of the second chorus with a more animated clip of my actress singing as I felt the last clip presented as being rather lifeless and boring and wanted my audience to engage with my actress more.

I attempted to repeat the action of my actress abandoning her possessions three times in each shot but  after the process of editing this I found it looked slightly strange and didn't quite fit in with the atmosphere of my music video. I want to show the natural process of my actress reclaiming herself and being at one with the world we live but I found that in editing the clips this way it made my actress look robotic and stiff which diverged from the image that I originally wanted to create.

This is what that editing idea looked like:

First Rough Draft (Don't Dream It's Over)

This is the first rough draft of my music video. There are sections that I like of this but also many things that I want to change for my next draft. There are some shots that need to be stabilised and others cropped so that my shadow is cut from the clip. I would also like to repeat clips of my actress abandoning her belongings three time to empathise the cleansing theme of my video and narrative to my audience. I may also re-film some segments of the lip-syncing and utilise more close up shots as I feel my video is really lacking a variety of shot types and the second chorus lip-syncing clip comes across as rather dull and dead so need replacing. There are also some shots that need shortening/replacing so that we do not see so much of my actress's back as these types of shots are un-engaging for an audience.

Digipak Analysis