Director Research

Director Research 

 

Article: Final Cut is the Deepest- (The Guide, The Guardian, Sept 24^th2005)

 The videos mentioned in the power point that I have created:

Johnny Cash 'Hurt' directed by Mark Romenak

Radiohead 'Street Spirit' directed by Johnathon Glazer




Bjork's 'Possibly maybe' directed by Stephane Sednaoui



U2's 'One' directed by Anton Corbijn


 Corin Hardy




http://www.corinhardy.com/


Jake Nava

I created this video using 'Windows Movie Maker' and uploaded it to youtube

http://www.in.com/jake-nava/biography-128705.html

 http://www.slideshare.net/daisy92/jake-nava-3327965

Purpose Of A Music Video

The purpose

As a class we watched music videos, and created individual brainstorms of what we thought music videos were produced for, and how they benefit different groups of people such as record labels and audiences. This has improved my understanding, as some of the ideas such as creating sub-cultures, are things I never associated with music videos.

Shot Count Analysis

Shot Count Analysis

 

Track:Blurred Lines (first 30 seconds of video)                                              

Artist: Robin Thicke ft T.I and Pharrell Williams                                  

Director: Diane Martel                               

Release Date: 20th March 2013

Length of video: 4.32 mins

Number of shots in entire video: 134 shots 

Average length of shot: 3.22 seconds

Shot number	Shot type	Shot length	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Low mid shot	1 sec	Handheld as a little shaky, zooms out a tiny bit and shows peoples legs and feet. Caption of #thicke across the shot	Continues with no transition
2	Mid over head shot	2 secs	Remains handheld as unsteady, shows a man and a woman lying together in a bed but only their top half of their bodies.	Text disappears as changes shot
3	Mid shoulder shot	1 sec	Changes to a different background with two different people, one sings a line of the song	Straight cut back to the 2nd shot with the caption across the shot again
4	Mid birds eye view shot	3 secs	The people on the beds are shown again, with the writing across the screen again like in the second shot.	Straight cut
5	Close up	1 sec	Shows the expression on the artists face before the singing begins	Straight cut
6	Long shot	3 secs	6 people are in the shot, shows their costumes and appearances head to toe, they are dancing and the set is simple.	Straight cut
7	Extreme close up	1 sec	Emphasises one of the females face, may be targeted for men.	Straight cut
8	Close up pan shot	2 secs	Shows a male and females faces as the camera pans and the text appears on the screen again.	Straight cut
9	Close up reverse pan	1 sec	The camera pans in the opposite direction to shot 8 and shows the same people.	Straight cut
10	Mid shot	1 sec	A different female is shown licking her lips which may also be aimed at males as it is seen as seductive and may entice them to keep watching the video.	Straight cut
11	Long shot	3 secs	The artist is stood with two of the females and they walk off leaving him on his own with the text across the screen again.	Straight cut
12	Mid shot	1 sec	Shows another artist dancing before the lyrics start.	Straight cut
13	Long shot	4 secs	The artist is singing and looking into the camera as it shows him and a female head to toe	Straight cut
14	Long shot slight zoom out	1 sec	All 3 females are in the shot with one of the artists singing. The set is strange with a hay stack and animals making the video unique and memorable.	Straight cut
15	Mid shot	3 secs	Shows the two artists singing and a female walking round them with a giant dice, again random and memorable.	Straight cut
16	Close up zoom out	2 secs	The shot starts off as a close up of Robin Thicke's face and then zooms out to show him and a female.	Straight cut

Number of shots in 30 second segment: 16 shots

Within the 30 second segment there are:

Number of CU: 4

Number of ECU:1

Number of LS:4

Number of MS:6

Number of panning shots:2

Number of tilts:0

Other shots:

Analysis - what have you learnt from this process? 


I have taken more notice in the amount of shots used throughout a short amount of video and appreciated the detail in each of the shots and how they have clearly been planned out and thought about well. I have also learnt that a video can be successful without over the top misc-en scene as this video is quite basic, yet has a lasting effect on the audience as the shots create a unique and quirky video which is enjoyable to watch. Mid shots were the most common shots in this video and there wasn't a huge variety of advanced shots proving that a good video can be produced using basic shots in an effective way. I have also learnt that transitions are not always required to change between shots as this video looks great without any in between shots and it looks professional still.

Prelim Task Summary

My Evaluation

From doing the preliminary task of lip syncing and performing, I have learnt how to use the lighting equipment in the correct way and the different effects it can give.

 I have also gained confidence when performing, although in this task my group kept the video subtle and therefore less performance was involved.

I could improve my editing skills before my final music video as I feel this needs to be more creative and fine cut to give the impression of an actual music video, and I will do this by experimenting with the Adobe Premier Pro program with the different effects and transitions.

I will research more music videos to get a clearer idea of their production and shots involved so that I am more creative and professional in the final video.

Class Feedback

We watched the video we produced in class and asked for feedback from the rest of the class so that we could improve our lip synching and performing in future tasks.

• Positive feedback
• Good lip synching, at times it wasn't noticeable and looked as though we were singing
• Good use of close ups to emphasise the lip synching
• The lighting looked realistic of a studio and looked natural making Dan and I look better on the camera

• Constructive feedback
• More eye contact with the camera on the close ups to engage the audience and create a fake bond

Prelim Task

Lip Synching and Performance Challenge

 We were given 6 hours to produce a short music video which challenged us to perform to a piece of chosen music by lip synching our mouths to the lyrics in the track. I worked with Daniel Thorpe and we were given the track 'Burning Down the House' by Tom Jones and The Cardigans. I could not find an official music video for the original song, however I found a live performance of the song being sang by the artists.

Planning

We didn't have a lot of time to plan as I was absent for the first hour of the preliminary task, and this meant that we needed to film straight away. We came up with a simple idea of us both singing like we were in a recording studio. This meant we needed a blank background, so we would find a small room with a plain white wall or board in the background so that filming would be easier to edit with lighting. We decided to wear big headphones like people do in recording studios and found a microphone and stand to give the illusion that we were actually perfoming in a studio.

As this task was based on performance and lip synching quality, we decided to keep it simple with similar head shots used throughout with a couple of close up shots to emphasise the mouth moving to make it obvious that we were lip synching.

Directing

We took equal turns of directing as we shot it in two parts so that only one of us was on shot at a time and this allowed us to take the role of the director throughout the production stage. It was easy to direct in such a small group and the set was simple to work with.

Shooting

We positioned the camera on a tripod and kept it in the same position to make sure that each shot looked similar and would give the impression of a studio set. I shot all of the shots of Dan and made sure the camera was steady and in focus for the best effect. Originally we shot the shots with natural lighting, however after a brief lesson, we found out how to use the stage lighting correctly to create the effect of the background in a studio.

We found that the closer you stood to the camera, the less shadows which were created and the positioning of the light made a difference to the colour of the picture, and therefore experimented with the different lighting until we found a light that worked for the image we wanted to give.

Editing

Dan decided to put the shots together on the Adobe Premier Pro CS4 program so that they were in order and then cut them to the correct places so that we were lip synched to the music which he also imported to the program. I then took over and added transitions to shot such as cross dissolves inbetween shots that seemed a bit shaky.

I then decided to make the beginning more unique by adding a transition that showed the shot 4 times on the screen in a pop art style. I then used a wipe to link the following shots together as this made it feel more like a music video.

Music Video