At the beginning of my video I decided to use fast cuts of
my main actor getting ready as I wanted to express how upbeat the first four
beats of the song were. I decided to use an outdoor location and film at night
for the lyrics ‘I stay out too late’ as I wanted to use natural dark lighting
to add a tone of realism to my video. Additionally, I wanted to show a visual representation
of the lyrics. However, my original footage of this was quite dark so I had to digitally
brighten it on Sony Vegas, so that you can see my main actor. I think in some aspects
this has worked well, however looking back at my feedback and after re-watching
my video I could re-lighten them so that my main actor’s face is portray more
clearly. For the next few lyrics I decided to use regular cuts on a mixture of
clips, to show my main actor getting ready for the different that she was on. For
the lyric ‘I go onto many dates, ’I decided to use the technique of spilt
screen. My original intentions were to have all of the date scenes playing at
the same time whilst vertical, however as I had filmed most of my footage
horizontally I had to work around re-sizing the different videos until I could
get them to play at the simultaneously. I had also planned to do a similar
format of spilt screen technique for the line “but I can’t make them stay” but in
the end decided against this as the videos looked weird and unprofessional when
I arranged them together and instead opted for fast cuts from each video
instead. For the lyric ‘at least that’s what people say’ I decided to use footage
of people gossiping to again show a visual representation of the lyrics.
For the lyrics ‘But I keep cruising’ up to the lyrics ‘it’s gonna be alright’ I used a range of footage of my main actor after the different dates. I used regular cuts, that kept in time with the beat, to showcase not only how the narrative of my video was building up but also how the beats of the song where building up as well. In these clips, you see my main actor tapping objects and starting to dance; this can portray how she is starting to let go from the tension that was shown in the dates. Additionally, it can show how she’s getting ready to dance and shake off it. In these parts of my footage I have followed conventions of most current pop music videos by using the technique of lip-syncing. I felt that by lip-syncing parts of these lyrics it display how my main actor was speaking directly to the audience.
For the first time that the chorus plays I used the same location from the previous scenes of my main actor still on her dates. Throughout the chorus, I decided to stick to the fast beat of the song and make regular cuts. I also decided to make cuts each time a word was repeated, such as play, hate, shake and break. For the lyric ‘players gonna play’ I shown how my main actor and three other characters were playing cards. For the ‘play play play play play’ I made cuts to of medium close ups on each player. I did this to set the tone of the chorus. Whilst the hate hate hate hate hate, I decided to use fast cuts of negative facial expression like eye-rolls and sighs to show that the other actors were angry or disappointed at my main actor. Whilst the repetitionof the word break, I decided to show my main actor being upset – which could suggest how she was a bit upset with the failure of her dates. However, the repetition of the word shake – my main actor is display as dancing and has positive facial expressions. And this can display to my audience how she dancing off negativity from the dates. Also throughout the chorus my main actor is constantly displayed as smiling so this can display how the positivity of the song and how she doesn’t’ care what other thinks.
For the second verse, I decided to move to a location of a work environment, as jobs and work places are often relatable to many people. Furthermore, it can showcase how the storyline of my music video is moving on. I decided to display more of a visual representation of the lyrics such as for the lyric ‘I never miss a beat’ I decided to show clips of my main actor clicking her fingers, for the lyric ‘I’m lighting on my feet’ I decided to show a close up of my main actor’s feet dancing. For the lyrics ‘that they don’t see’ I decided to use regular cuts to show slight conflict between my main actor and another actor. The other actor had a bored facial expression, suggesting she didn’t like my main actor. However, my main actor still had positive facial expression, showing that she didn’t care what others thought. For the lyrics ‘I’m dancing on my own’ I decided to show how my main actor was dancing to get to her desk. I decided to have her dancing as a form entertainment for my video and also to showcase the positivity of the song. While the lyric ‘that’s what they don’t know’ I decided to include shocked facial expressions from other workers, suggesting that they don’t understand why my main actor is being positive. I did have some problems whilst I was editing this part of my video as some of my footage were originally filmed vertically while my other footage that I had used was horizontally. This caused me to have black borders around my footage. However, I got past this by changing the video ratio of my clips to 16:9. Although, a problem with this that I found was that a lot my long-shots were now changed into medium shots.
For the lead up to the chorus I decided to have, my main actor at her desk. However, she was constantly shown tapping pencils and slight dancing. I used fast cuts here to show the build of the beats of the song and how my main actor was getting ready to shake off negativity. I decided to have her shaking off negativity in a work place, to showcase how she wants to break free from a work environment, which many members of my target audience would be able to relate to as well. I also decided to use fast cuts, like I had done in the previous chorus, to reflect the fast beats of the song. I felt that some of the clips which I had used within the chorus, such as the clips of her tapping objects for the repetition of the word play, weren’t relevant to the storyline. I also decided to experiment using some transitions such as push, within this part of my video to see if they would further reflect the energy from the song. The lyric ‘hate hate hate hate hate’ I showed conflict between the other actor and my main actor. My main actor had paper thrown at her, which then used to throw over herself in the lyric ‘I’m gonna shake shake shake shake shake’ which can show how she is being positive about negative about conflict and still not caring what other’s thinks. For the repetition of the word break, I decided to use extremely fast cuts to try and display a visual disruption of the video to reflect the connotation of the word break. Whilst the rest of my video, leading up to the ‘hey hey hey part’ I decided to use regular cuts of my main actor dancing to her car.
My original intentions were to have the whole footage for the ‘hey hey hey part’, to be black and white and use constant fast cuts; that would lead up to the line “my ex man”, of my main actor entering a café. However, as I didn’t have enough footage to do this I decided to re-film my main actor lip-syncing the words as well in a different location. While I was editing, I decided to mix the footage together. Although, I only had the clips when she is at the café as black and white and kept the speech in colour. This allowed me to show a contrast between the two an also could suggest with the black and white lighting that main actor is thinking of the past.
From the lyric “My ex man brought his new girlfriend” to “but I’m just gonna shake”, I decided to use constant cuts between the couple and main. Although these cuts are at a regular pace. While from the lyric “And to the fella over there” to “we can shake shake shake, my cuts are then shown between the main actor and fella actor; these cuts are fast as my intention was to show suggesting flirting between the two. When the song stops video stop as well and only returns when the song starts back up again. The video returns back in colour, which can portray how it is showing present time. For the clap clap clap part, I used fast editing used to match the fast beats of the song. In the first clap, there are two videos, which are the same, are presented diagonally from each other on the screen, of my main actor dancing. While the second clap shows two video of main actor dancing, like pervious clap however opposite side. Then the third clap shows four videos of my main actor dancing.
For the last time that the chorus played I decided to use regular cuts on each certain word such as the word “play”, “hate”, “shake”, “break”, “fake” to showcase the fast beat of the song. Within most of these clips I decided to use dancing of my main actor and other actors to showcase a form of entertainment that most narrative videos use. I decided use other actors that were shown as people who mocked or who disliked the main actor start to dance along with my main actor. They appeared to dance with my main actor one at time, before all joining in this can showcase uncertainty and how people are uncertain to shake off negativity. However, when they are dancing they have positive facial expression like my main actor had throughout my video, this can showcase to my target audience how important positivity is. For the lyric ‘Shake it off, I I I, shake it off” to the line “You have got to” I decided to use footage of different people having bad days but ‘shaking them off’ by dancing. I did this did this as I wanted to explore a storyline outside my main actor, but also I did this as entertain value for the audience. Plus I did this to reflect the inner meaning of the song – not only dancing but of people having to shake off bad things. For the lyric, “You have got to”, the video comes back to main actor lip-syncing them words – showing how this is an important message to my target audience and how at times they have to shake off bad things. For the rest of the lyrics my video shows my main actor dancing with others before tripping over. She is then shown to shrugs, showing to the audience how she doesn’t care and then starts dancing again until screen blacks out. This can finally showcase to my target audience of the song’s inner meaning of not caring what other thing and shaking off negativity.
Also in some parts of my video I challenge conventions by adding text, as most narrative music videos don’t display text. I only used text briefly and at the end of the lyrics such as, too late and brain, as I didn’t want to district my target audience away from the narrative. I chose to use text on lyrics from the each verse as they might not be as well-known as the chorus is and this can allow my target audience to learn more of the song. However, I think they have worked effectively as they add a further tone of entertainment and fun to my video.
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