Over the course of this unit I was asked to create a piece of moving image work. For this unit I chose to make a music video. Music videos have always been an interest of mine so I was excited to have the opportunity to make my own. Moving image is something I have never worked with before so this was a completely new experience for me. During the course of this unit I completed a number of technical workshop, some of these workshops included; Premiere Pro, After effects, choreography, styling and green screen workshops. All of these workshops were relevant and very useful for a first time film maker like myself. I had never attempted video before so learning all of the programs such as, premiere Pro and after effects did come with challenges, but after lots of practice I am now much more confident in my editing abilities. As soon as the brief was announced I knew I wanted to make a music video. My approach to making my music video was to research artists such as, Andy Warhol and Alexander McQueen, along side music video directors who made videos for artist such as; Mystery jets, Sports Team, The Verve and Fatboy Slim.

By researching the artists and directors it gave me lots of visual inspiration for my own work. I found looking at lots of other music videos useful to my project development. The most influential piece of research I conducted was Andy Warhol’s screen tests, I knew I wanted to make a video featuring portraiture but as soon as I saw Warhol’s work I loved the idea of making work were the audience didn’t know if the images were still or moving images. I also found looking at Mystery Jet’s music video for their song, someone purer, particularly useful as I was using one of mystery jets songs for my own music video. I wanted to use a song that didn’t have an existing music video so I chose Midnights Mirror by Mystery Jets. I chose this song as I really love the overall sound of the song, also the song is not a well known song so I felt I had more creative freedom to create an original music video. I had the song in mind before I started shooting the video, I found having the audio already made it easier to create the effect I wanted for the music video.

Having the Audio beforehand made me able to make a structured treatment and shot plan for my video. Creating a treatment really helped my concept development. By creating a treatment plan for my video made me release I wanted my original concept, highlighting the isolation of city life to changing into a mirroring moving portrait concept instead. My original idea was to focus on the mental health and isolation a person can feel when living in a city, the original message behind the video was even though a person can be surrounded by people and busy life, it’s still easy to feel isolated. I changed my original idea because I was struggling to get the right message across to the audience without making it too obvious or too stubble. After a lot of consideration I decided to have a different approach to my music video. My actual concept for my video ended up focusing on mirroring moving portraits. This concept of mirroring came about from reviewing my existing footage and making a link between my footage and my song choice midnights mirror.

Having a well structured shot plan was a vital part of creating the moving portrait effect I wanted. I used two separate models for the shoots, each having separate shot plans. The footage was shot over different days so this meant the weather was drastically different on both days of filming. I made the decision to make the video black and white because, the colour correcting was taking up too much of my time, and as a first time film maker this colouring job became very complex, so by putting the my video in black and white made it much easier to colour correct. I like the effect the black and white has on the video, it gives the video a vintage quality which I found visually appealing. If I was to change anything about the filming process it would be to invest in a gimbal. Due to the equipment at photography department all being booked out, I was unable to get a gimbal on the days of filming so this meant I had to do the whole thing hand held. I got quite a lot of camera shake but luckily I managed to stabilise most of the footage in premiere pro. Overall I have really enjoyed this unit. Film making is something I had never done before so I enjoyed trying something new. I will definitely be using more video in the future. I am happy with the way my music video turned out, although if I could go back and change something it would be my use of a gimbal.

 

This is the results from my second shoot. This shoot was conducted in a rural location opposed to the city location I used fro my previous shoot. I made the decision to put the images in black and white because of the different variations in lighting on the separate days I shot the videos. These photographs below are stills from some of the videos I captured. Overall I was happy with the out come of this shoot. The second shoot went smoother then my first attempt at shooting, as I felt more confident with using the video settings on my camera during this shoot. If I could go back and change anything I would use a gimbal to produce steadier videos. I was unable to access a gimbal for this shoot as they were all booked out during the period of time I shot this video.

Before I shot the video I had the music in mind that I wanted to use for the video. By picking the music first, made it easier for me to create the video effects I wanted. All the shots I had in mind were previously put together in a treatment plan. The treatment plan allowed me to plan out 5 to 10 second intervals of video, this made it easier to keep to my original plan, and made the whole shooting  more organised.

Premiere pro is the main program I am going to be using during this moving image project. I have never used this program before, so getting to use premiere pro before I started editing my own videos was useful. After some practice I found the program easy to use. I was taught how to create a basic video structure and to make small editorial changes to the video. During the workshop I produced this video including some of my own footage as well as footage from the shared area in the university folder. Producing this video was good practice, it gave me an understanding of the program and how to use  the tools that I need to create a video.

Since this workshop I have been using this program on a daily basis, creating a number of test videos and practicing the program before I start to create my own moving image piece. Overall I find premiere pro easy to use, after time spend practicing the program I now feel confident that I can produce a well executed video for my final piece.

 

 

This workshop was about creating audio for videos. I got to use the university’s recording studio to create sounds for a Charlie chapman video. I was introduced to recording equipment that could capture 360 degrees of sound. This equipment would be useful when conducting and interview with a subject for a video or capturing various audio for a moving image piece. Once my group was happy with the sounds we have created, we then went into the recording studio to complete the recording for the video. We used certain objects such as water bottles and ID cards to recreate the sound in the video.

We then exported the recorded results to premiere pro. Using this program I managed to match the sounds to the Charlie chapman video. I am not happy with the results my group created as a lot of the sound we created were out of time and therefore hard for me to edit on premiere pro. If I were to redo this task I would defiantly take a copy of the video into the recording studio so I known what sound goes where. Overall I enjoyed this workshop, it was a useful skill to obtain and one I will most probably use in the future.

Today I had a workshop with Marianthi looking into to how to style models. I have not worked with styling before so this was the first time I’ve considered costume in my photographs. Marianthi asked the group to find costume references in films or tv shows that we connected with. For this I chose ‘This Is England 86’ the costume in this show is very British, in your face and unapologetic. The overall look is scruffy and pushes the boundaries of style and trend. I chose this particular costume in relation to my moving image piece because, my music video is very much about celebrating British music and the costume that goes with it. I felt that the costume in the ‘This is England’ is something I want to take inspiration from for my own video.

After selecting which look I wanted to recreate, using the props that was available to me I created a look that was inspired by the costume I chose. I used a pair of Adidas tracksuit bottoms paired with an adidas t-shirt, I combined this outfit with a bucket hat and long socks, tucked into the trouser legs. I had the idea of incorporating the other 90’s rave culture into my styling technique as it fit well with the ‘This is England’ theme. The items of clothing I chose worked well to create the vision I was hoping to create.

This workshop was useful to me because it gave me a better understanding of how the styling of a model can bring to life different moods and characters within the subject posing the outfit. The outfit helped me pose the model, I when for poses that complemented the outfit., bringing out the theme of the ‘This is England’ in the finished product. I also worked on a project creating a victorian look, for this I used vintage clothing and umbrella that I found in a box of props. This workshop made me consider how the clothes make the model feel and use those emotions to my advantage when I’m photographing them.

NIke treatment