Final music video

Ed Sheeran – Never be Kissed

Directed and Edited by Catherine Watkins

 

Third stage of editing

I’m not adding any more footage, as I have finished my filming schedule. However, I am still going to keep editing to get the best finish for my music video. There are special effects that I still need to add to the video, but I want to finish editing all of the footage before I add them. By making rough cuts and creating notes like these, it helps to see exactly where I need to edit and how;

• Close up in the Bus stop does not hit beat – The third close up shot in the bus stop does not hit the beat, it comes in 0.7 of a second afterwards. True, this may not be noticeable to the naked eye, but my main aim for this video was to make sure the shots are emphatic to the music/lyrics. I will shave literally the tiniest amount from the clip so that it fits directly to the beat.
• Hand hold with Mother too long – The shot with Phil holding ‘his’ Mother’s hand is too long which makes the video boring for the audience, I shall probably shave some off of this clip, and slightly lengthen the clips it is in-between
• Thought bubbles needed – The rota scope formation of thought bubbles still need to be added to the clip, I will do this in Photoshop.
• Phil looks down – When Phil realises he is stood with his Mum rather than Lisa, he looks directly to the floor just as the clip finishes, this needs taking out as it ruins the whole shot. Mistake.

During this stage of editing, there was thing I added and then deleted as it didn’t fit with the rest of the music video. The slow chorus looked very plain, as it was simply Phil with a  black background, so I came up with the idea of adding lyrics to the chorus and placing them beside him (2 videos below). I did this using Live type, then placing them on top of the footage in a big enough space beside Phil’s head. After watching this part through several times, I thought it looked professional and it fit really well together. however, after watching the whole of the video through with this included, I realised that it didn’t fit in with the video as a whole. I asked a few of my class mates to see what they thought, and they also said that it didn’t really fit in.

WITHOUT lyrics

         

 WITH lyrics                      

There were parts which I corrected from the second stage of editing which I am pleased with; the introduction clips at the beginning fit in a lot better and hit the beats (emphatic editing). Not only does this look more professional, but it also allows the video to run a lot smoother. My idea about having a rota scope heart drawn around Lisa at the beginning, I replaced. Instead, I added a few close-ups. I felt this worked better and looked more professional, the cartoon heart would have appeared too childish. I have now added the stop motion animation heart formation, I am really pleased with this as it came out exactly how I wanted it to. I may play around with a few of the clips so it runs a little smoother though, as in some parts it looks too mechanical. I also added a close up of Phila nd Lisa on the bed, this was because one of the clips on the bed was too long, so I needed to a shot to fill up the time. Luckily I took a few spare shots in case this ever happened. I have brightened verse 3 completely, it is miles better now as the audience can see the faces of all the characters a lot clearer now. By brightening it all it looks more consistent and professional.

Second stage of editing

This is my second stage of editing, I have now uploaded all of the footage which I filmed over the weekend. Once I had imported the footage from the camera, I cut out all of the outtakes and film which I was sure I wouldn’t need. Sometimes, I filmed things more than once to make sure I had a backup piece of footage. My method of choosing which ws the best was trying both out, which ever fitted best with the music and rest of the video; I used. Once I had chosen all of the footage I was going to use, I slotted it into place with the music. Again, I created a list of things which still need changing/adding:

• Intro pieces don’t fit to beat – Aware that I wanted the visuals to match to the music, I wasn’t pleased that the introduction of Phil wasn’t emphatic to the beat. This isn’t a big job to correct, it simply means I need to cut down any clips which are too long, or lengthen ones which are too short.
• NEW SHOT ADDED – Feet walking across the floor is too long - This clip is too long, making it boring. To get around this I can slightly lengthen the shot of Phil walking through the door, and him jumping on the bed. Consequently, this will shorten the clip in between.
• Clothes heart formation still needed
• Verse 3 is quite dark – I was aware that verse 3 would be dark due to the choice of filming it in a dusk setting. However, I know that I can over come this by altering the brightness and contrast.
• Disappearance in verse 3 flickers - I have discovered that there is nothing I can do about this, it was a problem during filming. So unfortunately I am going to have to leave it as a technical hitch.
• Chorus 3 too boring? - The third chorus could be a bit boring, so maybe I could add some words or something to make it more interesting. I will probably get some audience feedback for this.

The introduction clip of Phil’s face is set into two clips (1); One at the location of my house and the second is at the Bus stop. Previously, the shots didn’t run into each other smoothly as it wasn’t framed properly. But this time I made sure that Phil was stood pretty much the same distance from the camera as last time. The face is also a lot brighter as I filmed it earlier on in the day, so I don’t have to use the brightening tool which intensifies the pixels making it appear bad quality. The new shots added to Verse 1 make it a lot more interesting and it is emphatic to the beat, which is exactly what I aimed for. I put together a variety of close-ups and angles, this involves the audience. As I refilmed verse 2, I kept in mind that I wanted more emphatic editing and visuals matching the lyrics. I made sure that as Phil landed onto the bed (2), it was the same time as a certain lyrics was sung. Similar to Verse 1, I added more shots to verse 2 whilst refilming. This makes the video a lot more interesting and eye-catching for the audience, also working with the beat of the music. The lip syncing in the new chorus (Horncastle College) is perfect (3), I am really pleased with it. But also the lighting is a lot better, possibly due to the fact I filmed it earlier in the day and the weather was better.

                                                     

First stage of editing

After this weekend’s filming, I am extremely pleased with the amount of footage I have done. I imported everything from the camera, and cut out all of the outakes and pieces which definately would not be used. Once I was left with the clips I needed, I began cutting and putting them into place to fit with the music. I was pleased with how quickly it all fit together, as it left me optimistic about my project as a whole. Seeing to footage running with the music showed me that I had made the right choice of story line as it fit perfectly. However, although I was pleased with a lot of it, there were still a lot of things to re-film and edit in:

• The 4 shots until Phil’s face is introduced in the first verse – I was aware that they didn’t quite fit to the music, the shot’s didn’t change to the beat and there didn’t seem to be enough of them. True, I could have prolonged the clips so they did fit to the beat but then I would face the problem that I had extended boring clips.
• First clip of Phil’s face in the first verse - This clip is way too dark. I tried to make it lighter by using the brightening tool, but this just caused it to be too pixellated and bad quality.
• Second clip of Phil’s face in the first verse (at Bus stop) – This clip was designed to match perfectly with the first clip of Phil’s face (above), just having a change of location. I wanted this effect to show a smooth transition of location so the audience do not get confused where the characters are all the time.
• First shot of Phil watching Lisa and Chloe in the Bus sto - This shot is far too long, resulting in a boring start to the verse. The first few shots should always be made interesting to catch the audience’s eye.
• First verse needs shots adding - After watching the first verse a few times, I came to the conclusion that I need to add a lot of footage to make the video more interesting and eye-catching. The long shot not only make it boring, but also harder to understand as it does not follow the characters and their actions.
• Bubbles need to be added to the second verse
• Second verse very dark - Unfortunately, the whole of the second verse is way too dark so will require refilming. I’m not hugely surprised as I did have a feeling that this location would be too dark, the room light was far too dull and I was intending to face the camera at the window. Next time I will install more artificial lighting and film later in the day so the daylight outside is not so powerful.
• Clothes ‘heart transformation’ needs adding
• Shots too long in the second verse - Again I am being faced with the problem of the shots being too long. I didn’t realise the bad effect long shots give until I watched them running along the music, so I am actually quite pleased I gave myself an extra weekend to film. Verse three requires being refilmed anyway, so aswell as following my storyboards I will in corporate new shots too.
• Second chorus goes out of focus and lip syncing out - The second chorus is of very poor quality, the camera goes out of focus towards the end and the lip syncing does not fit. The reason the lip syncing is out may be linked to the focus problem, but there isn’t a way I can fix it so shall have to re film, prehaps in a new location too.
• Third verse needs adding
• Third chorus needs adding
• Last chorus slightly dark – The darkness of the last chorus isn’t a huge problem, but it something I may want to change towards the end of my editing. I have altered the light using the brightening tool, but it hasn’t improved hugely.

Although there are quite a few things I need to change and add, there are also things which I picked out that I am really pleased with. For example, where Lisa smiles to the beat (1). When the lyrics “Like a flame” are sung, she smiles and I feel it looks really effective. It’s something I want to carry on throughout the rest of my video, matching edits to the beats. Also, the first chorus has come out just as I wanted (2). There are no bumps, shaky camera work and it doesn’t go out of focus. Phil stays in the exact same frame, so it is continuous which makes it look professional. Although, in the first verse, I came to realise it would be extremely difficult to make Lisa disappear and Phil’s Mum to appear in her place, the second disappearance was really effective (3). I am going to leave the first disappearance as it would be hard to match the lighting and to replace Lisa with Phil’s Mum. However, I feel that the second one overcomes this as she fades out perfectly. I added a transition as Phil walks out the shot at the end of the video (4), it works really well as it blacks out the screen suggesting closure.