Music Video Evaluation

Hello.

This is my final edit for Demon Dogs.

Shooting Process

Here are a couple of pictures of us shooting the actual music video. It was challenging at first, but once we got adjusted to the idea that we may have to retake scenes a staggering amount of times, it became fun and felt very real. I think it was a could chance to see if the film industry is for us because it takes a lot of effort, time and expenses to shoot something that seems simplistic.

We shot the video over the course of three days. Unexpectedly, we had to work overtime as we didn't finish capturing all of the footage in the time we had scheduled. At the time I was frustrated, but in the long term it shows me that you should always spare more time in case things go wrong/shooting runs over said time limit.

The people we worked with while filming Demon Dogs were very co-operative once we got used to each other's presence. We did not agree with everything they wanted to put in their music video (i.e - costume, repetitive dance moves, etc) but we made a compromise as it was their original song and they must have had a preset vision for it.

Equipment

The equipment we used was as follows :

- Fig Wheel

- Tripod

- Lights/Light stands

- Canon 700D

Fig Wheel

The fig wheel wasn't very easy to use as it is a handheld tool and isn't inherently stable. With the right grip, you have to control the balance smoothly in order to get a clean take. Fig wheels are used to get shots from a diverse amount of angles (by panning) or to pan with shots that have a lot of movement.

Tripod

I've used Tripods before, so I know how to set them up, but I didn't know how to extend the pole to make the tripod higher. I've learnt how to do this now, so I won't need ask for assistance in the future.

Lights/Light Stand

As we were using the TV Studio, we had the chance to learn to set up lighting!!! I've used lighting before (see https://vimeo.com/190920167 for my stop motion animation) but I had to attempt lighting my video up myself (which led to me having to colour correct a lot of the video.) My course leader, Emma, showed us how to set up the lights and the stands they are fixed too. If I ever have a project with lighting in the near future, I will feel more confident about my ability thanks to her. (also, see lighting post here http://1345661.wixsite.com/myblogpage/single-post/2016/10/17/Film-Noir-Lighting )

Canon 700D

Again, I've used this piece of equipment before when I shot my stop motion video and learnt to adjust the white balance and ISO at the start of the year (See post http://1345661.wixsite.com/myblogpage/single-post/2016/09/13/The-Aperture-ISO)

Editing

I edited my music video on Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects. Since i've used Premiere Pro before I didn't really have a problem with it but it was my first time using special effects and color grading on After Effects.

I used CC Rainfall, Snowfall and Colour Embossing.

I thought using After Effects would be difficult because it looks quite professional but I was relieved to discover that the software layout was quite similar to premiere (since they are both Adobe) and it has the same tools to edit (like the razor tool, selection tool).

With the (fx) tool four color gradient, you can select a specific color pigment in your clip you need change and lower or heighten the positions/tones of them. I'll use pedro's scene (guitar) as an example.

His scene was very orange and had a variety of yellow undertones, but by lowering the position of the yellow (color 1), I was able to make the scene look more natural so I could apply a rainbow preset on top of it.

After applying the preset on after effects, this is what the final product was. I think this effect looks clean and not too amateur-esque.

The after effects (CC) sfx were fairly easy to use.

I'll show you an example of an effect I used. I selected CC Rainfall and dragged it onto the thin green timeframe you can see above.

I changed the color of the rain to match their outfits and increased the amount of rainfall to make it more visible. I also changed the size of the raindrops for this same reason.

I found cutting and editing fairly easy overall, but because this was my first time editing a mass amount of footage, it was particularly draining for some reason. This music video was great experience and it was time consuming, but surprisingly exhilirating once i'd finished it.

WHAT I LEARNT:

- How to edit on after effects / apply presets

- How to cut a mass amount of footage

- How to sync audio to a music video

- How to work with strangers on a new project

WHAT I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER:

- I could have filled empty black cuts with other clips instead of leaving them blank.

- To color correct more accurately (this was mostly due to time and diligence)