Editing narrative workshop

Carol Vernallis' theory:

1) Narrative:
- The video is a response to the music

2) Editing:
-  The editing will match the musical phrase/beat
- Continuity editing is sometimes broken
3) Camera Movement and Framing:
- Mostly close ups and long shots are used
- Usually 

4) Diegesis:
- Some frames might be more important than others
- There may be gaps in the audience's understanding of the diegesis - in time, space, performance and narrative.


- There isn't a balance between the narrative scenes and performance scenes
- The video may pose questions that it will not be answered in the video

- Characters or performer usually moves to the music
- The diegesis may be revealed slowly






Andrew Goodwin's theory:

1) Narrative and performance: 
- Music videos contain typical genre characteristics
- It should be a balance between performance and narrative so that it is interesting

2) Star image:
- This has a big part it the production of the music video
- Gives the artist a particular look

3) Relation of visuals to the song:
- Three are three main ways to promote a song through a music video
a. Illustrate- a set of images to show the meaning of the lyrics and genre
b. Amplify- the meaning and effect of the song is shown through the video to change the way we listen to the song
c. Disjuncture- the meaning of the song is ignored completely

4) Technical aspects:
- Mise en scene
- Editing
- Camera movement and angles

Narrative workshop

"Music videos are simply an extension of the lyrics" - Andrew Goodwin

How can you prove/disprove this theory?

When we made our own narrative for the Taylor Swift music video, we were given a narrative scene in our groups that wasn't meant to go along with the music. My group had the theme "Boy/Girl is heartbroken that boy/girl leaving". We decided that instead of having a couple break up, that we would have two best friends and one of them moves really far away and other friend is really angry. Then the friend is heartbroken that she overreacted. This is the narrative that we came up with:



Then we edited it with the lip syncing task, so that it was like a real music video. And the lyrics changed how the audience saw the narrative. Here is some feedback that I collected:

What does it mean?

Stuart Hall- encoding/ decoding. Multiple meanings. 

What is the main idea behind this?

Helps the viewer understand the lyrics. Helps get the lyrics across

How significant is this?

Stuart Hall- encoding/ decoding. Multiple meanings- Artist could mean one thing but is recived as a different thing by the viewer e.g. Blurred Lines. If the artists or directors use any connotations e.g. Ed Sheeran. Literal and metaphorical meanings. 

What evidence can you already present for this?

Some music videos are like a movie. Sometimes the lyrics are used in the music video. Narrative follows the lyrics word for word e.g. Rebecca Black - Friday

Do you agree with this? Explain your answer.

Lip syncing workshop

For the lip syncing workshop the class was put into groups of three. I was in a group with Louise and Toby. We had to go out and find two locations to film and each have a go at performing and directing. We chose to film on a brick wall and at the bottom of the orchard.

This is my Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift video that I did for the lip syncing workshop:


A few of my classmates reviewed the video, here is their feedback:

Lip sync task from Briony96

Then I reviewed Hannah, Beth and Lewis' video with Louise:

What I found difficult about making the video:

• Finding and appropriate place to film while thinking about the different techniques to use.
• Keeping the camera in exactly the same place was hard because sometimes the performer was to close to the camera or to far away and there was a lot of wasted space so we moved the camera.
• Using the different techniques
• I didn't know all of the words so I had to quickly learn them

What I learnt when I was making the video:

•  To make clear mouth movements because it makes it easier when editing
• The more you act out and 'over exaggerate' the better the video will look
• It is important to also think about the different techniques you can use to make the shot more interesting
• Play the song out loud and make sure the camera can hear it as well so that you can link up the audio will the footage properly
• If you are playing the song from a phone then don't put it too close to the camera because it will make the footage unsteady

What I learnt when I was editing the video:

• Use markers when linking the audio with the footage
• Put the footage on different layers
• Lock the audio so that you don't move it accidentally when you are editing the footage

Composition task- Before and After

The class was each given a piece of paper with an opposite theme on it. We weren't allowed to tell anyone else what theme we had so that we had to guess our classmates theme. My theme was SPIKY/SOFT and I had to get the theme across only by taking four photos in 20 minutes. We weren't taught anything about taking the photo and how to frame it so it was completely from scratch. Here are my BEFORE photos:

1.                                                                         2.

3.                                                                          4.

Then we went back to class and shared what our theme was and reviewed the images. After everyone's images were reviewed we were taught different techniques and how to make the photo more interesting. Here are the different techniques that I learnt:

• Symmetry- the image is divided into two equal parts which are mirror images of each other.
• Depth of field- makes the image look longer/ more in depth.
• Framing- the main part of the image is framed. Automatically focus on one part of the image.
• Perspective- The way real three-dimensional objects are pictured in a photograph that has two-dimensional plane. 
• Negative space- the area that surrounds the main object in the image. Defines and emphasizes the main object in the photo and draws the viewers eye to it. Doesn't make your image look cluttered.
• Colour- makes the photo more interesting and colourful and more attractive. Can also portray emotion.

We then went back out for 20 minutes and took another four images with the same theme as before and using the knowledge of what we have learnt. These are my AFTER images:

1.                                                                          2.

3.                                                                            4.

I think that image BEFORE 1 was good because there is negative space and the main object is to the side rather than in the middle of the photograph. Also image BEFORE 3 was good because there is depth of field. I think that some of my techniques improved. For example the AFTER 1 and 4 images have clearer negative space because there is a plane background whereas in BEFORE 1 there are buildings in the negative space which in my opinion distract you from the negative space. In AFTER 2 I have tried to use the symmetry technique with the fence however the background isn't symmetrical which doesn't allow the image to look fully symmetrical. In AFTER 3 i tried the framing technique. I think that the daisies are the main focus in the image because the hands frame the picture however i think something more solid or straight would frame the daisies better, for example pencils. Overall I have a better understanding of the different techniques that you can use when taking a photo and I know how to create a better looking image.

Skills Review

Research and Planning

I have learnt how to research and plan the project effectively and understand what we are expected to learn and how to relate our ideas back to the target audience. We researched our target audience by asking them to complete a questionnaire on Surveymonkey.

Before this project I didn't know a lot about the conventions of a gangster film but throughout the time I spent researching and watching gangster film openings like Layer Cake and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with my partner Hannah, we soon had a better understanding of what a gangster film looked like and the main things that we had to include. Once we had a few ideas we made a storyboard of the best idea we came up with so that we could plan how we were going to film the opening scene and it helped visualise the film opening. While we were filming we decided to change the narrative so that our film opening would fit into the gangster genre more.

Digital Technology

When filming the opening scene I used a Canon EOS 600D and to edit I used Adobe Premier Pro. I had little experience using a Canon camera so before I filmed the scenes I decided to practise filming some of the locations with the tripod so that I knew how to position the camera and the different techniques I could use. I had more experience with Adobe Premier Pro because I had used it when I edited my GCSE music video but I did have to go over a few things that I had forgotten. 

Using conventions from real media texts

Me and my partner were not that familiar with the conventions of a gangster film so we watched film openings like Dead Man Running to get inspiration. We paid a lot of attention to lighting, camera angles and also the main colours that were used in a gangster film. We decided to challenge the conventions by having a main female character but we made sure to stick with the other conventions so that the film opening would still fit into the gangster genre.

Creativity

Whenever I had an idea I would write it down so that I could come up with new ideas based on the original and then choose the best one to do a storyboard on. I also picked the outfits and props for the film opening and I made sure to chose items of clothing or props with the traditional gangster film colours, for example, I chose a red scarf for the main female character to wear.

From my research of the gangster genre I noticed that the film openings flowed between cuts, so I wanted to make sure that my film opening looked similar. When we were editing the footage we decided to use video transitions like cross dissolve that gave a similar effect as to what we saw in traditional gangster openings. Because we had flashbacks we decided to make the scene black and white to show that it was a memory.


Post Production

After all the scenes were filmed we uploaded the footage on to an editing computer and used Adobe Premier Pro to edit the footage together into a two minute clip. I had used the editing software before but I didn't know how to use any of the effects but I quickly learned which ones made the footage look professional and tie the clip together. The music was quite load and the dialogue was really quiet so we had to go through and adjust the sound and dialogue so that you could hear everything clearly.