MiniVid Editing in Final Cut Pro

When editing my cut of the MiniVid I experimented with a number of effects to try and increase my knowledge of final cut pro and what looks good and effective. When we edited our film openings for AS it didn't require very many effects as we wanted to have a very strong verisimilitude. As for music videos it allows much more room for your own creative input and as they are meant to be viewed multiple times, it doesn't have to make sense on the first viewing. Here are some of the effects I found and thought worked effectively on Final Cut Pro.

After doing a basic linear cut I decided that one of the main parts that needed effects were the close ups of Jake lip syncing. This would show a contrast between the narrative and also suit the genre of music. The effects I chose to use were 'Graphic' and 'Cartoon'. I used them both on top of each other as I thought it gave a better effect, and I repeated this effect whenever this shot was shown. I altered the settings on these effects also as without altering they were too strong and ruined it.

effect used

effect settings changed

effect used

before effect added

after effect added

Another effect I used was layering. I used this also in our film opening, however that was done quite simply and within our group and I hadn't had chance to experiment with it. Here I started by having one layer of Jake's face behind the narrative. To do this you have to change the opacity levels so the layer shows through and is visible.

layering

opacity levels on layering

layering

I then increased the layering so there were 3 of Jake behind the shot. This took me a while to figure how to do as all the opacity settings of every layer had to be changed and I wanted them all to look equally opaque.

tools

My most used tool when editing is the blade tool. This is what you use when cutting clips which is needed to do a basic linear cut. It was also required when I created a jump loop. This is when you cut a clip and copy that small segment a few times so it is repeated quickly. This looked very effective in my final cut and I am glad I figured out how to do that through experimenting. However I chose to do this at the last minute to improve my editing which I am glad I did but after already editing the lip syncing sections it sent everything out of sync as more seconds of footage had been added. I just added a few more seconds that I had previously cut from the start of the track, and it fitted well again.

jump loop

EG1: Foo Fighters - Walk

single cover

ACT: Foo Fighters
TRACK: Walk
YEAR: 2011
DIRECTOR: Sam Jones
GENRE: Rock
MAIN AUDIENCE: 15+
LYRICS

Summary: A comical music video relating to the content but not the mood of the music. Inspired by the film Falling Down (Joel Schumacher, 1993). There is elements of lip syncing and performance and the music video has a strong narrative. 

Sound

extreme close up

 The music video starts with an extreme close up of the lead singer of the foo fighters, Dave Grohl. This shot is before the music starts and there is just the diegetic sound of him being stuck in traffic.

stuck in traffic

beiber bumper sticker

He then starts to get angry and impatient about having to wait for traffic.
Comedy
From this point you notice that the music video is clearly
meant to be comical as he is sighing and getting irritated by people's bumper stickers who are fans of the type of music very different to the foo fighters like justin bieber. This will be comical for foo fighters target audience because they are likely to have similar tastes and too find this mockery amusing.

road rage

leaving the car, music starts

Narrative Connection to Lyrics
 He then gets road rage and starts furiously papping the horn on his car. This is also likely to be comical for people who are fans of the band. Due to his impatience he then grabs his guitar and gets out of the car to walk instead. This is the point which the music then starts and is creating the relationship between the narrative of the music video and the content of the lyrics and having to 'walk'.

lip syncing

Lip Syncing
The music video continues as he is walking along his journey and constantly checking his watch clearly having to be somewhere. There is then a medium shot of him and he then starts to lip sync as the lyrics start in the song. He then stops lip syncing and the narrative continues.

Inspirations from Falling Down

stepping in dog poo

 The narrative then goes on as he starts to get involved in different types of crime as he is having a bad day by not having change. He then steps in dog dirt and the men from the previous shop try to fight him. He continues to get in more trouble when running onto a golf course and running over a golf player. All these crimes are meant to be seen as light hearted and comical to the audience, which is quite a contrast to the content of the song and lyrics.

fight

golf cart scene

 At this point the police are also starting to chase him as the song is building up. This helps connect the video to the song.

police chase

Locations
The number of locations used in the video will greatly influence how entertaining it is as music videos are viewed multiple times. With the many locations there will be minor details that are noticed after viewing it the first time and may add to the comical value and intertextuality.

performance

 In the end chorus of the song he arrives at his destination which turns out to be a rehearsal of the foo fighters. They then carry on performing the song lip syncing etc.




At the end of the song it ends comical. After the last note of the song is played the police run in and taze Dave Grohl. He is then arrested and the remaining police stand and mimick him with the rest of his band. Even though the video doesn't really suit the mood of the song, it is relateable with the lyrics.

being tazed

MiniVid - First Shoot

entrance and hallway

We did our first shoot on the 21st of June. In this shoot we decided to do all the group shots needed. We chose to do this then as it was a time in school that was very convenient to get lots of people involved and able to participate. We used the main entrance at school to film it as there is a wide corridor where lots of people can walk. Also there are doors which open automatically, and this fits in well with our story line as it emphasises the main character as it seems to open for him, enhancing the big ego traits he is meant to have.

group shots

We asked groups of friends to be in our MiniVid and quite a lot of people were willing to participate. However, as the shoot started to go on longer than expected people got impatient about taking part. The shoot taking longer seemed to be due to people walking through shots as we were stood in the main entrance. This is obviously something to be expected, but we should've taken it into consideration. 

another location

Another location we used was the stairs at the end of the corridor. Here we got Jake to slide down the corridor instead of waiting for people to move on the stairs. This worked effectively and linked well into the next location of him walking down the next corridor. In our first shoot we used props such as scrunched up paper balls and a football. Both of these were thrown at Jake to attempt to distract him. I think the football worked very effectively as we then cut to a shot of him casually knocking it away with his head which looked effortless and added to the personality he was giving off. 

another location

MiniVid Group Concept

After everyone pitched their minivid ideas we then got into groups and decided which idea we would like to work on best. I was in a group with Millie, Jake, Dec, George and James. We decided to choose George's pitch because it sounded fun to work on and we all had good ideas to put forward on it.

The track we are going to use for our MiniVid is Ozzy Osbourne 'Stayin' Alive'. The concept is that a character is walking through the corridors at school and completely ignoring the distractions and things happening around him and not caring about anything. We also got inspiration for the video from the music video Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve. This follows a similar concept of someone walking down a street and ignoring all the complications going on around him.

For our video we plan to start in the main entrance of school as we can use the automatic doors and we think it would look effective starting there. We also plan to use that first corridor and the staircase at the end of it. For our MiniVid we need one main person to play the main character, which Jake has offered to be, and then a group of people to be in the corridor causing distractions. We think it will be easy to find people to take part around school as it wont be long and tedious to film and should be quite fun.

Here's the track:

Pitch Feedback

After we did our pitch, everybody in the class was free to ask us questions about our idea and how we plan to achieve it. Here is the footage from that.

Pitch Idea: Mini-Vid

The track I chose to pitch is 'It's no good' by Depeche Mode. The song was released in 1997 and reached number 5 in the UK singles chart.

The storyline of the video starts with the band performing and then the gig getting violent. There are a lot of aspects of the original video that could be comical to recreate such as the performance, violence and stealing shown at the end. Instead of hitting people over the head with bottles, other objects could be used for comical effect such as bags of flour, as it wouldn't hurt and would be effective on camera.

I think a group mimicking the band would work best as it would be useful to start learning how to edit lip syncing for our final video. I think costumes could be easily gathered as older siblings and parents are likely to have this type of clothing, or items could be found easily and cheaply from charity shops. As for location, any kind of bar looking area or small stage would work best. Inspirations for this would be films like Bugsy Malone, incorporating the fake violence used there.

My Track choice

The track I chose to pitch is 'It's no good' by Depeche Mode.

I chose this track as this song was the one which appealed to me most. For the Mini-Vid I liked the concept of doing a swede type take on the original video. When looking at all the tracks I was given by Depeche Mode this original video is the one which I thought would be funniest to recreate. Here is the original video:

My Track Options

The four tracks I had to choose from where all by Depeche Mode. This is a band that I had never heard of before, which is good to help me see that you can think of something creative and it could be successful regardless of whether you are interested in the genre. Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan (lead vocals, occasional songwriter since 2005), Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, vocals, chief songwriter after 1981), Andy Fletcher(keyboards) and Vince Clarke (keyboards, chief songwriter 1980–81). 

The first track I have is Clean.




The second track is Its no good. This song  was released on March 31, 1997 (April 15 in the US), and the second single for the then upcoming album Ultra. It reached #5 in the UK Singles Chart.

The third track is Just Can't get Enough.  It was released in September 1981 as the second single from their debut album, Speak and Spell (1981).



The fourth track is People are People. Is Depeche Mode's tenth UK single recorded at Hansa Mischraum in Berlin, and released on 12 March 1984. It was their first hit single in the US and the first single from the Some Great Reward album.

Mini-Vid Task

This task designed to make us start thinking about music video production, and how much research research and planning is involved compared to the AS coursework. The final outcome will be a partial music video of at least 30 seconds and a maximum of 60 seconds.

The aims of this task are:

• To advance our understanding of the factors behind track selection
• To provide practice of pitching
• To provide a sense of scale: music videos being more demanding than a film opening
• To provide opportunities of experimenting with editing and creativity
• To deepen familiarity with FCProX tools and FX

The Brief

A promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following options:
1. a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
2. a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).