Music Video Changes

During our filming we have used our storyboard as a guideline although through some reconsideration, we discovered more professional ideas for some of the scenes. This occurred when editing as we found that the footage we filmed was not enough, therefore we had to rearrange scenes in order to fit the music successfully and follow a realistic story-line.

 - We have not included the scenes at the train station, instead we have added in some POV shots (http://aimeekmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/camera-techniques-pov.html ) and more scenes of the singer (Danny) singing with the guitar. I believe by doing this it will introduce the female to the audience well, and early enough in time for the chorus, and to understand the music video.
- The photo of the couple is also included in the video, although we have used a print out in which we can show it burning later on in the video, which is different to our first idea of it in a photo in the frame. Danny takes the print out from the bin instead from under the bed where the audience will see that the photo has been scrunched up out of anger and sorrow.
- Although we filmed Danny putting his coat on and tying his shoes up, we decided to not include these scenes as they took too long, wasted time and we didn't think they were necessarily needed.
- We were thinking of ending the video with Danny burning the photo of him and the girl, but we put this clip further back as we thought ending with sun shining through would be more appropriate.
-Another change that we made was the actress playing the girl. As we were running out of time and it was hard to get hold of our original actress, we all decided that it would be more ideal to use a member of the group, therefore I, myself am playing the role of the female.
- We also decided not to do the compilation of images at the end as we felt there was enough of the couple happy in the music video so give the audience the impression that their relationship was loving and strong.

Digi Pack Font Research

Through research I can see that a lot of Indie and Indie/Acoustic album font consists of various amount of capital letters, or none at all, or have a very artistic approach to the font, or a very simple font. This just shows that Indie Artists vary from one extreme to another but are never in the middle. The importance of the right font for our Digi Pack is very high, so we need to think about the pro's and con's of each, if they match the Genre and if they represent the personality of the Artist. These fonts need to be simple to read, whilst still attracting the audience by being pleasing to the eye; below are some potential font, which I have found that I feel fit into those criteria's. 

Results of our Overlay Experiment

Below is the final product of our overlay experiment, for which we wanted to use the technique for our Music Video.

On Final Cut Pro when editing this we attempted to overlap the two shots on top of each other to create a scene of the past and the present being shown in the same shot; although this did not workout as expected, and the end product was unclear, fuzzy and unrealistic, meaning that the smooth transition and style for the past and present would not look professional.

To fix this we cut the separate clips both down the middle, discarding of the area we did not need, we then merged this together to create a sense that the both scenes are happening in the same place, but one in the past and one in the present. Due to the lyrics we know which of the scene this will be. Although it is not the smoothest of editing, we were not planning to do it in this way, so when we film are final music video we will keep the camera at the same height but move it slightly to the side so we have enough room to cut and merge; hopefully this will work well, if not we will keep this scene short so it is not obvious to the audience.

Digi Pack Elements

Due to the laid back and natural feel of our Genre we wanted to incorporate the feel of this onto our digi pack, and create a flow front the front cover to the back cover; additionally we will use the same style of font for the title of the album and the song list on the back cover. I found that the artwork for the album 'Big Echo' by The Morning Benders, flows from the front to the back which I found really appealing. Although the art is slightly different as the swimmers are entering the sea on the front and exiting on the back. This effect slightly adds to the start of the album and the end, which is a really interesting convention of an Indie digi pack which I liked also, the colours are linked to the type of tones we would like to incorporate in our digi pack, due to the muted blues and greens, representing nature.

Music Video- Final Idea

The ideas that have been brought up throughout the process for our Music Video, would all have been very effective and create an interesting aspect to a typical 'love story'. The idea of the Omniscience we decided was not suitable for our Music Video, but instead we made the Artist the main character in which was involved in the break up himself, such as Olly Murs in the video ' Dear Darlin'. This will work well with our narrative as it will show the singer in the past and the present, and the audience will hopefully relate to the Artist.

Music Video Techniques...Split Screen

An idea that was brainstormed in our group was a split screen edit, in which throughout the video the audience will see a variety of perspectives on the scene. Through our research we found that this can be shots of the location that the narrative is based on, where the music video was filmed and a personal perspective of the characters in the scene; also if it is a band performance, the camera can identify the different instruments used by using the split screen to focus on the individual band members. The idea of a split screen can effect to the music video that provides the listener, or audience with a better insight of the narrative, band and music video.

This idea, I feel will be a good edition and aspect to our Music Video as the love narrative could be shown through the personal perspective of the male and female of relationship, which the narrative is based upon. The different emotions and feeling of the relationship, and the breakup will be expressed through this editing technique.

Here are some examples of other Artists, although not Indie, where the split screen has been used-

The Narrative of Daniel Powters' Bad Day, is similar to the music video in which we would like to create as it is based upon a break-up. The cross cutting shows the couple, now split, getting on with their lives after the break-up day in and day out; what effect it has had on them and how they feel emotionally. The questions asked by the audience, such as 'how' and 'why' are answered due to this technique also; initially you can see that the couple are not happy without each other. The singer is acting as the God Figure, as he is not the character involved in the relationship but is in some of the same locations of the character, although they cannot hear him, this is a convention of Omniscience.

Michael Jackson's song Billie Jean, again is not in the Indie Genre, and is not initially about a break-up but it is about lust and a girl. The screen split in this video is used by using props, in this case, a lamp post to separate the two different scenes in the narrative. This is a different way in which we can use the split screen idea, as we can shown the couple in the same location at different times, but have them on the same scene, and split them with an object, such as a tree, lamp post or a wall.

Outdoors/ Guitar/ Urban-Natural

John Mayer's Video, 'Queen of California' contains all three of these factors which we are interested in using within our video, we know we want to incorporate the outdoors and the guitar; an idea of binary opposition and a contrast of an urban-natural setting is an idea we liked. As you can see on this Music video the guitar features at the start, and as he is walking through the streets it changes to walking through a forest; his outfit and accessorizes change throughout this also, which I found very exciting and fun.

Development of Planning

Its clear through research and analysis of different Indie videos, that certain shots, editing and types of mise-en-scene would suit our video perfectly. 

One of the ideas that came through recently was split screening, by having the artist telling the story on one side and having the protagonist and the narrative on the other side. This has been used in a number of indie videos and in addition they use narrative as well. 

Another idea is to contrast Urban and Natural, by reflecting his feelings and the mood of the song. This is used in Jason Mraz's song 'I'm yours' which is a great example of the convention working well, by showing the bad and good things in his life (Binary Opposition). 

Another idea that we have come up with for our video is a 'God figure' (http://aimeekmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/omniscience-god-figure-idea.html) , this has also been used in a number of genres and a countless number of videos. Daniel Powters 'Bad Day' is an example where the artist plays a godly figure and narrates the story. 'Divine intervention' is also a possibility as it would mean the godly figure has a part to play in the story and not just a narrative role. The 'godly figure' also works well with the split-screen as seen in the 'Bad Day' video.

Lyrics Analysis

The Artist will be the omnipotent Narrative.