Location Scout #2

After planning with all of our extras when and where we wanted to film, to our disappointment, we arrived to see that no one had turned up. 

However, I decided to take this moment to show Tamsin where I thought were some good spots to film, and we discussed what parts of the video would look most effective in these areas. 

Above is a photo of the old railway bridge, which I think would look amazing, especially with the fact that it is all over-grown. I think it would look really cool if we had the protagonist being chased over the bridge, but we could have this in slow motion, as it is similar to the Imagine Dragons video I analysed a few weeks ago. 

-Janet

Meet the Editor

In our group we discussed who would be stronger in the roles of the main cameraman and the editor. We came to the conclusion that Tamsin would be in charge of most of the filming, because she is a photography student and understands the camera functions better than I do. 

So that meant I became in charge of editing. I was happy to do this, because I thought of the initial idea, and was able to be the perfectionist I am to edit the clips to make the it the music video I wanted it to be.

As the editor, I have had to look carefully at Andrew Goodwin's theory about music videos, which includes editing on the beat, making a clear narrative, and making sure there is a star image throughout the video. We have successfully done this by having our actor as the singer and the protagonist, so it is very clear who he is, and the audience will be able to recognise him. 

-Janet

Post-production: Effects

I've started experimenting with effects, as this will be a vital part of the dream scene. 

The first effect I looked at, called "Additive Dissolve". It instantly made the video look slightly distorted, and more surreal. The second effect we have decided to use is called "Cross Dissolve". It is slightly more subtle than the first effect, but it still makes it look good, but also gives the impression that something weird is going on.  

We don't want to use these effects too often, because it may cause it to look unprofessional. 

-Janet

Location, Location, Location...

Last weekend I went on a walk on a local route, and it hadn't occured to me that this may be a potential location for our filming. I took some photos, and uploaded them onto my Instagram account, where I also got some feedback, and saw which image people liked the most. 

This first image is the most popular, with the light coming in through the trees. 

I am hoping to use this place for the climax of the video, when our protagonist is being chased by the Tribe. There is also an old railway and a bridge, (the second photo) which I think would look really effective if we had them running in slow motion, with a wide/extreme wide shot. This would capture the actual bridge (which I didn't take a photo of) as well as the other surroundings. 

-Janet

"Breezeblocks", alt-J Deconsruction

This is the music video for "Breezeblocks" by alt-J:

* WARNING: contains  disturbing scenes and violence*

The reason I have uploaded it is to deconstruct the way in which our perceptions as an audience are converted throughout the video. At first, we are led to believe that the woman is the victim, which is most often the case when it comes to domestic violence. However, this view changes, when it appears that the woman is in fact abusing the man. 

The fact that this video is played in reverse makes the audience even more tense, and unaware of what will happen at the end... or rather, the beginning. We are left questioning how they got into this position. 

The final scene is made to shock the audience, as we think we have seen everything, but now we have to question if the two people in the video are actually a couple- the woman is held away, locked in a cupboard in a dark room. However, there are many close ups of the man with his hands on his head- and it's clear he is wearing a wedding ring. Perhaps this could be the theme of obsessive love, or maybe it's not love at all. 

The reason I have deconstructed this video in particular is because of the way that it creates tension and confusion for the audience, especially at the ending. Our music video, like I have said before, will end on a cliff-hanger, which will hopefully make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable because this isn't what you normally see in a music video. 

-Janet