Construction Post 4: Music Video Post Production

Editing our music video

To edit our music video we used a software called Adobe Premiere Pro. We started the process by renaming all of our shots and placing the lip-syncs on the tracks. We then made sure to sync all of the lip-syncs at the start to make the editing process more efficient and to save time later on. 

We decided to share the responsibility of editing the video, making the website and making the digipak equally between as so that we could all contribute to each ancillary product. My main contribution in editing was renaming the shots, matching some of the lip-syncs and putting the shots on to the timeline, in particular the solo dance, some of Laith's lip-sync and the narrative montage of Sian and Adam.

One of our revisions we decided to make from the test edit was to make sure our shots didn't cut from mid shot to mid shot and instead we needed more extreme changes in framing to follow music video conventions. Below shows one of our changes from a long shot to a MCU to a mid long. 

We had a clear vision as a group about how we wanted to style and grade our video, keeping it quite simple, desaturated with a lot of blue and grey tones. To ensure this was consistent throughout we had to grade the narrative shots so that they were black and white because they stood out a lot in colour compared to all of our dance and lip-sync footage.

Comparison of the narrative shots in colour and in black and white

We also added fades in between shots to make the transitions smoother and also to match the pace of the song. I really like the addition of the fades that we didn't have in the rough cut as it added to the style of the video. We were inspired by Ne-Yo's video for 'Closer' 

We also had a camera quick pan which acted as a transition between two shots which I was responsible for editing. As a group we are really pleased with this shot as it looks very clean and effective. To do this we had to ensure the timing of each shot was correct so that the pan from the first blends into the pan from the second. One thing that helped the edit of this to be effective was the fact that when Sian filmed each shot her hand moved at the same speed each time. This consistency meant that the two shots merged well together.

After getting some feedback from our teacher who felt that the cuts were slightly boring and not edgy enough, we decided to add some quick cuts in certain sections like the narrative argument and also the talking at shots. I felt that this was really effective as it not only shows the development in the argument but also helps to represent the anger and emotion in the lip-sync.

When it came to editing our dance break we came across a few issues. Reviewing our rough cut we found we definitely needed more cuts to different angles as it felt quite stiff and boring. In addition to this we decided to add extra shots of Sian and myself doing the group dance so that we could cut from the boys to the girls in a similar way to Ne-Yo's 'Miss Independent' video.

To add to this further, we also created an effect called ghosting to the dance break. Sian was the one who added this and she did it by layering the footage on two tracks, one clip starting a few frames later. This made the dance break look really edgy and less static and we were really pleased with the final outcome of it.

Audience Feedback

Once our music video had been completed we asked members of our primary target audience (R&B fans) and our secondary target audience (people aged 12-25 years old) for their feedback.

The overall response was very positive and the shots that were the most liked were our back lit silhouette dance shots. In addition to this the shadow shots with Sian and Adam whilst Laith was lip-syncing were also liked as well as the black and white narrative shots. Many people felt that the black and white grading was effective as it matches the performance shots well and fits the overall style. The narrative was clearly developed and our audience could follow the story well, and felt that the narrative helped to link the visuals to the lyrics giving the song more meaning.

In addition to the music video, I also edited a behind the scenes video that we can use on our website.

Below is our final music video.

Overall I really enjoyed the editing process of our music video as it was really fun to look back at all our footage and be able to create something that looked really professional and effective. I managed to develop my editing skills further as well as get the opportunity to be creative with some of our cuts and transitions. We worked well as a group and managed to produce a music video that we are all really pleased with.