WEEK 4 – 3

Today is out crew’s green screen shooting day, it is very happy and fun to work with one of the POCKETS’ member, Dan. I have brought lots of hats, Yuxin has brought some hats and an earmuff, Nikki brought the blanket and Steph brought lots of different kinds of props, especially the snorkel and the brownie she made!

We have learnt how to shoot last week from teacher, but we still got some problems like forgetting how to set the white balance correctly, by using white paper or white clothes?

Dan cooperated very well even though we asked him to stand on his knees. He was always very kind and gave us the best visual shots. Sometimes, he could give you the better effects that you want.

We have tried so many props and hats are the most important part we will use in the music video, so we have asked Dan to put different hats on every time and he did well. Especially the pop up pop down part, he was still standing on his knees and cooperated well.

Because of everyone’s concentrated work, we have finished very fast. It is very happy to work with Dan again!

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WEEK 4 – 2

Today is so fun! It is my first time to be like a stuff in a gig. I have been to a gig before and I did see the camera putting place is just an arc around the stage. It is excited to do the same thing in the class.

I think setting the white balance for every camera is very important, in case the video clips have different tone.

The steps for setting white balance:

Toggle the WHITE BAL switch to A (which is what I use to store the temp white balance). Place a white sheet or use a white area to zoom into fully in the viewfinder. Set up your exposure. Press the small whit balance button located under the lens mount to the left side of the cam.
That’s it. The setting is stored in A and will show in the viewfinder on the lower left corner with a temperature number – i.e. W:A 5200K.
If you balance and it 4800k and you feel this is still too cool, tweak this up to 5000 –warmer. Also make sure you do not have viewfinder direct menu set to ‘all’ as WB cannot be changed in this mode.

And today is my first time to be in a light/audio control room, always watching other people working in this room for the TV show or for the concert, which is a magic room for me, I feel good when I was using the sliding key.

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WEEK 4 – 1

Some helpful tips:

Develop a creative shooting concept for your music video, building up a dynamic connection between sights and sounds. Write down a list of camera shots or draw up a visual storyboard for your music video, and describe what you want to put on screen during each part of the song.

Choose the location for your music video shoot – in-studio, on-location or both. Make the necessary bookings or get permission waivers to use the site. Have a way to quickly reach all participants in case there’s a change of plans.

Schedule and confirm the availability of your crew, cast, musicians etc. for all the shooting day and location in your schedule.

Collect and inspect the equipment needed for the shoot, including cameras, lights, sound or playback, props, costumes, make-up and any items required for set decoration. Have lots of record media, and as much back-up gear as possible.

On production day, you and the crew will spend time getting the set ready and dressed, the lights in position, and the camera angles set. Review the shot list and arrange your shots in a practical or easy sequence. Be ready to use different lights, camera angles and props for more visual pace or creativity.

Set up microphones and do a sound check if recording live off the floor. Set up playback monitors and test levels for pre-recorded music.

Bring in the performers for a ‘dry run’ but be prepared to record the rehearsals as well.

Record lots of video; extra footage from each take, scene or location will be useful in editing. Check the video often, take lots of notes and refer to your shot list regularly.

With those shooting notes and your original storyboard at hand, review and log your video footage as you capture or import it into your editing system. Become as familiar as you can with all the scenes, takes and outtakes.

Lay down the entire song and start adding scenes to your edit timeline. Eliminate shots that are technically poor, then whittle away at footage that is less than the best. Work with the best video most suited for the music and your creative concept.

Stay true to your vision, but be ready for inspiration in the edit suite. Special effects can alter the footage and create a new feel to the music video you are making.

When the edit is done to your satisfaction, export the final product from your edit system in a format most easily viewed by your friends, family and target audience. Web videos are widely accessible, but Blu-ray DVDs have the best quality.

WEEK 3 – 3

In this music video, Taylor is living in a gorgeous mansion, dressed in flapper lingerie on her bed, she seems to be waiting for someone—and he makes his entrance well. A very attractive man waltzes to the door after parking his tricked out car.

Taylor offers him her hand like he’s going to say no. And so begins a whirlwind romance, playing house in the big mansion. They dine from across a huge table, ride bicycles in the house, and take a few Dobermans for a walk while dressed to the nines.

As their relationship blooms, their activities continue to be outlandish. Taylor frolicking in slow motion, waiting for her man to catch her. Taylor painting a very accurate portrait of her new beau. Taylor carving their names into a big tree while a majestic horse stands by. It’s all magical and wonderful and then, of course, she gets a little unhinged.

In her new boyfriend’s first moment of weakness, Taylor catches him texting another girl! The fury in her eyes is wild, and you know she’s just dreaming up a thousand ways to plot her revenge. The crazy is on full display for the rest of the video, when Taylor starts screaming and pantomiming with her male lead.

Continuing with Taylor dropping her boy toy’s phone into the fountain, slashing her beloved painting she worked so hard on, burning her boyfriend’s clothing and ripping his shirts to shreds with a funny nod to Mean Girls.

The best part of this whole music video is when Taylor hits the bridge, intensely singing “Boys only want love if it’s torture / Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t.” She looks amazing, holding this poisonous apple like she rules the whole world. There’s a freaky scene that reminds me of voodoo dolls. She clutches the apple; her man clutches his head like he’s possessed. It’s fascinating and really fun to watch. He takes a bite of that terrible apple and all hell breaks loose.

In the end, Taylor takes her destruction to new heights. She’s wailing on his car with a golf club while wearing an outfit not appropriate for such mayhem. While sitting in bed, she stabs a cake and it bleeds. Taylor finishes her song alternating between standing on a horse, doing insane dance moves while nearly ripping her hair out, and straddling her boyfriend while he remains absolutely terrified of her. There’s a moment where she bites his lip slowly and it is so disturbing to watch.

WEEK 3 – 2

Our music video will really come together in post production. Throughout filming we aim to get a variety of shots of different experiments involving different colours and textures. We imagine these will appear mostly as background images with the foreground featuring aspects of the band’s logo, whether this be the actual logo or the faces of the band members themselves (which were filmed via the green screen). We aim for the energy and intensity of colour and business to build throughout the song, the meaning that progressively more colours, effects, props, movement etc. will be added to the frames.

What we need

  • Green screen
  • Video camera for green screen and DSLR for experiment footage
  • Props for artists to wear (hats, cigars, food, bottles, glasses, bubble, lollipop, snorkel , guitar, comb, bottles etc.) – also thinking about things that change the persona of the band member to link in with the idea of the song
  • Stuff for experiments (water, milk, ice, oil, watercolors, oil paint, acrylic paint, ink etc.) + determine exactly which experiments)
  • Our artists
  • Food and drinks for artists (as we will only be shooting in the green screen room and have five group members can easily arrange for 1-2 people to collect orders and organise food and drink when required)

We will be shooting in the CBD at RMIT during the day to capture appropriate lighting whilst also utilising the green screen. We will be shooting a series of experiments involving colour that will produce psychedelic patterns and designs. Filming will take place over two days, we aim to collect a lot of different material to edit with in post.

WEEK 3 – 1

The band we are working with, Pockets, are a Melbourne indie rock/self-proclaimed “jizz rock” quartet. They have recently released a single, “Ten Different Names”, and a very slick profile-within-a-profile silhouette design to accompany it. The song is a summer anthem that remains quite dreamy and chilled out throughout, though does dip into more vibrant, psychedelic choruses.

We are aiming to create a narrative and visual merging of live action and the abstract. Working from the band’s recent silhouette logo as a template, we intend to take their simple, slick design and have it evolve into a fantastical, psychedelic environment. To elaborate, the band’s profiles themselves will act as canvases, having been filmed against green screen, within which a number of rhythmic patterns and effects will be presented. These profiles will be manipulated against a larger background which will also display an array of vibrant visual effects. In addition to this, we want to create a sense of self-awareness in the video, where the faces of the artists themselves flicker in and out until eventually the live action footage prevails over the abstract and the artists ‘escape’ this strange fantasy.

Inspiration has been drawn from a variety of areas. The vibrant colours and use of a profile head graphic in Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” music video was a strong starting point for us. We really hope to take aspects of this video and combine its fantasy with reality. To explain this a little, like in the Tame Impala video we will have otherworldly colours, patterns, movements and graphics, but we want to balance this with video of the actual band members existing within this reality. We will use real, everyday objects for the artists to wear/use despite the chaos of the background.

Aside from the Tame Impala video we have also drawn significant inspiration from our childhood memories surrounding the ABC television program backyard science. Thinking back to all the awesome, but simple and visually effective science experiments that took place on this show, we realised they could be a really interesting material to use as a background in our video. They provide a different and fun way to explore the psychedelic patterns and designs that we hope to achieve.
The band’s logo has also really proven to be a starting point in terms of where to take this music video. The use of the group members profile faces making up the shapes which build the logo is something that in combination with the things mentioned above we could make something really exciting from.

WEEK 2 – 2

Today I am going to talk about the music video ‘Better Me’ from singer Fiona Sit, which is a Chinese song. This music video is my favorite low-budget music video.

“Better me” in addition to the melody can warm people’ hearts, the lyrics part is showing the growing path of love, how to carry with the thanks and love attitude, to help every girl filling with positive energy. Furthermore, how to transfer the suffered injury into the supplementary of ‘Better Me’. This song also teaches girls to learn and know how to use a positive attitude, to be a Better me.

Because of the low-budget Production, this music video can be the simplest music video I have ever seen. The left girl is the past one, which is always sad, and wants to cry, the right hand side is the present one, which is feeling better and becomes stronger. It is easy to tell the differences between these two.

Music video plays with showing the lyrics to help viewers to understand more, which is a better way the stronger the power from the song.

 

In your eyes I can Smile a little more
Sing a little more
Feel a little more Because of you~

 

WEEK 2 – 1

STYLE —- TAYLOR SWIFT

Taylor Swift is one of my favorite female singers and she has made some popular narrative music video, but this one: style, is somewhat darker and more abstract than Taylor Swift’s previous offerings. Said to be based on her relationship with One Direction’s Harry Styles, the video solely focuses on two people: Swift and a guy who specializes in looking sad in a variety of settings. While the song appears to be about an impossible relationship, the symbolism in the video points to something deeper.
After this music video publishing, it is found some scenes are similar to the drama “True Detective” ’s opening scene, which used silhouettes and double exposures. Some are just using projector to create the character overlapped.
As the budgetary constraints, it is really hard to give a number, but it could be around 1 million USD: Salary to the actor and all the staffs, camera and props, transport expense between different scenes, postproduction work and the visual effects processing fee.
The aesthetic qualities in this music video is optics. Use of rays plays a very important role in this music video. Some scenes seem to use the special effects, but it is all the good use of optics.
Indeed, the imagery of the video is not pure aesthetic: It has a profound psychological meaning. Many of the symbols used in the video are of great importance in the dark world of Monarch mind control, which is based on splitting the core personality through trauma.
Right from the start, the video indicates that what you are about to witness is happening inside Swift’s head. Swift’s head is symbolically “hollowed out” inside which appears her personality.

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Mirror is another important role in this music video. Throughout the video, Taylor and the guy “mirror” each other. When the guy holds a mirror fragment and uses it to hide one eye, on the fragment is a reflection of Taylor Swift, maybe the other alter ego. So in the whole music video, they never see each other in real body.

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The guy’s eyes in the music video are in different color (heterochromia), while this condition usually trivial, this video heavily focuses on it. It is yet another way of emphasizing the concept of split personality.

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While the video “Style” can be interpreted as asimple succession of pretty images starring two beautiful people, an educated look at the imagery at hand reveals at deeper story. However, in the end of the music video, Taylor Swift meets a guy without telling the face, which leaves me a question, who is him?
I did not watch music video very often and narrative music videos are always much more attractive to me. The reason I like this music video is everytime I rewatch this music video, I can feel and find something new to me. For me, I have learnt few like the use of optics and now I trying to edit a video by using the knowledge from “Style”. Maybe I’ll copy first and then to make my own one.

WEEK 1 – 3

Narrative music video:

Plot: the plot is the events that happen in the video, the basic outline of what happens in it. The plot holds the whole story together. So in music videos with a reverse narrative such as Coldplay’s ‘the scientist’, the storyline is in reverse, whilst the plot is revealed.

Story: the story establishes normality at the start, then creates a dilemma, which leads then to a new normality at the end. His ties in with Tzetvan Todorov’s theory that in every music video there is three phases. To begin with an equilibrium; then something happens to create disequilibrium; which is then resolved in some way to create a new equilibrium.

Narrative: is the combination of the story and plot. The narrative the order of what happens and how they happen. Linear narrative is a narrative which works with the story and plot working in the same way. A nonlinear narrative does not run in a specific way, using techniques such as flashbacks to mix up the narrative.

 

Non-narrative music video:

A dreamlike reality can be produced by non-narrative music videos as

images and music combine to produce an emotional effect.

Hundreds of scenes can be cut into a clip lasting just three minutes. This constant shifting of theme resembles the structure of dreams. Non-narrative music videos shadow a loose theme rather than a story. Often the theme is drawn from many angles in a short space of time. Conceivably the influence most similar to dreams is the use of images with powerful mental associations. These work like symbols, calling to mind thoughts that would typically take much longer to express.