production

 PRODUCTION 

Film making and video production is a process that involves many skills and many roles. This audio-visual medium combines once whole project. It can even be said that parts of film and video production grew from these other fields – screenwriting grew from play writing, set design grew from visual arts and design in general, cinematography grew from photography, soundtrack production grew from professional music. But there is only one side of film making and video production that is unique and specific to this field only ,video editing. 

Production is the key element in your project , you can do all the planning and the research but it's down to the production on how you film and edit. For me editing will make the music video as i aimed to use a wide range of effects to create an emotional and visual impact on the audience.

The start of the production

I was already stuck on my idea and the vision i had to create this frank ocean music video but it was now time to film. The planning had be done and i knew what i wanted and needed to film first. 

I actually started with filming the infinite zoom shots before anything else , this is because i knew this would take a long while to create and i wanted to test the zoom to make sure i was capable of creating this edit that has such a big part of my project. One key thing in my video is that it is all filmed by me , there has been many projects where i have had to rely on archival footage whereas this project i was set on not using any.

TEST EDIT

to reiterate what the infinite zoom is ; it is a wide variety of shots going through each other in all different kind of ways to create a cool effect that could indicate going through someones life as you look through their memories. 

So the film shooting started early and i had lots of shots to work on for the zoom. But what was important is how can i open this music video ? The plot is sorted but i needed to plan how to open it strongly  so we can keep the audience engaged from the start. The opening shot of the music video was a time lapse of the sun  going down which i filmed with my camera ( FUJI FILM XT-200). 

I wanted to bring the title up saying blonde with the time lapse so it told the audience from the start what the name of music video is. Along with this i added in the retro overlay too add to the style of the music video that i was trying translate. 

   I downloaded the font which was the same font that was used on the album cover , from then i animated the coloring of the text via the paint bucket tool , this created a smooth variety of colours appearing on the title because i added in key frames and changed the colouring in different areas . Little things like this just added to the whole video. I wanted every aspect of my project to have a little distinctive touch to it so it had something to keep the viewer engaged. 

My next shot was the first zoom that i used. Relating back to the story this was indicating that she is looking back at her past life , as if she is reminiscing a memory. This zoom was no where near as good as my ones later in the video as i did not actually create a proper mask for the shot that was put on the eye , instead it was just clipped onto the eye and then zoomed in with the instant zoom effect. This wasn't effective as the other zooms as it did not seem as clean and smooth , therefore it could make the viewer seem discombobulated . 

      As you can see in the key frame section that i have had to keep the masking of the eye in line with the zooming of the shot , this was not time effective as it took longer than the other zooms , i deliberately tried out two different ways of how to do the zooms in order to understand which one was more effective and also had a more significant and better outcome. 

THE ANIMATION ON AFTER EFFECTS

The shot that the eye was transitioning into was then animated by adobe after effects , i created a frame by frame colored line circling around certain objects to create a cool and engaging effect. it is almost creating an aura around something because the effect is moving so fast. 

This was effective in my project as it bought simple and quick shots to life. I wanted to make sure every shot was edited in some kind of way so i can enhance the project to best that i believe i can do, Adobe after effects is a complex piece of software but once you understand the certain ways of using it , it can really enhance the work you are doing in whatever way you want it.

The animation effect was used again in another shot and i animated myself with the same effect and also on adobe after effects. But what was different about this shot is that it was made to look like there is a atmosphere around him , as if his feelings are being shown and interpreted in a different way to what it normally would.

WARP STABILIZER

Before the second part of the animation i used a variety of different shots that were made to make you feel alone , empty and sad. They were not bright shots and they were dark and gloomy. But the shots were not that stabilized so i used the effect , warp stabilizer.  it helped stabilize my shots a lot and make them look more professional however in order for warp stabilizer to work without leaving black edges popping up all around your video, it needs to Scale up. If you scale video larger than it is original format ,  you will get some quality loss and that is what i got on one of the shots  it almost gave off a wave like effect that did look odd but not to the point where it was unwatchable.

In order for the stabilizer to work it needs to analyse your shot , this is not always effective as it can have bad side effects such as a lower quality format.

TIME LAPSE BLENDING

the start of the project had begun and the song and the editing was starting to swell and beginning to really get going. One shot i used really gave off the idea of late night vibes , relating back to my research i spoke about how i wanted to make it look old school in certain shots. This shot was a time lapse of me driving to work however i wanted to  make it have a motion blur effect on it as some of the timelapses i have done before come out quite rigid. 

to do this when you go to change the speed and duration , you can change the speed mode. to frame blending instead of frame sampling , it creates a smoother timelapse that can look really nice.

not only did i play around with the blending , i also changed the coloring around as well , i wanted to make it look more vintage and old so i was testing the colour grading to identify which looked best.

colour grading requires a lot of concentration , because i wanted to make some of the shots look old and grainy , i used a wide range of features such as the faded film to get that old look. 

original

edited.

as you can see i have tried to increase the vibrance so i can the vintage look , this was effective as it fitted in with videos style and imagery.

here you can see i have tried to play around with RGB curves , this can play around with the intensity of the retrospective colour , if you want it too look cold then you would play around with blue , for me it was a mix to get brown faded colour that made it look like the style i was trying to work with.

Another key scene in my project was when i was doing an infinite spin on a TV but different colours every time , i thought this would add to the pace of the song but also add to the style of what i was trying to translate to the audience. 

i increased the speed of the shot and added in frame blending and also warp stabilizer and then went to nest it. Nesting clips in Premiere Pro allows you to use an entire sequence as a clip so all your effects and other tools can be filed into one. However when i did that it came up with a warp stabilizer warning but only after i nested it. what i should of done  created a Nest sequence before applying the warp stabilizer tool. Then waited for the stabilizer to apply the effect as the stabilization process depends upon the clip length and my clip was fine.

After realising  what i had done i replaced the clip with another few shots as i believed they fitted the purpose more of the video.

a few more seconds went on of footage with shots of the beach and old school film overlays to add to the style i was trying to represent. I used a green screen overlay and then used the ultra key effect to put it into my video.

To make it look better i also change the ultra key setting to '' aggressive '' as it makes the overlay look better in quality.

INFINITE TRANSITION ATTEMPT 

After this shot i wanted to try and create an infinite transition ,  The difference between the infinite zoom and the transition is that the transition is a pan across the screen. Linking back to my research i spoke about the wide range of influences that mad me want to make these wide range of effects and challenge myself. ''Asap rocky '' used an infinite transition and that's what made me want to try it. Unlike the infinite zoom i didn't test it out which is always a risk. 

    EXAMPLE

1 is the first shot 

2 is the second shot 

the shot moves across into another shot. 

I had two shots that i wanted to work use for the transition : 

the first shot would come down onto a rock , i was anticipating to mask out the end of the rock to the next shot. 

The problem i had with this edit is that the end of the rock was not an easy surface to mask , also when i did mask it i realised it did not look right as it was not in line with the first key frame. it  made the rock look almost animated and moving as the edges were not consistent. I was certain i wanted to use these two shots. Instead of trying again , i increased the mask feather and it came with a cool blending effect. 

To add to the second shot what is in my room , i wanted to use the effect i used earlier on in the project where i animated lines per frame. However i wanted to try a new way of doing it instead of use after effects.

Instead , i put the paint bucket on in the effects rack on premiere pro and placed it on my timeline. 

then i change the fill sector to colour and alpha

and then toggled the animation and changed the tolerance from time to time. This then made a line type effect that was also time effective but also giving a similar effect to the line animation on after effects.

FISH-EYE LENS 

Another key effect i used was the fish eye lens. Unfortunately i don't have a fisheye lens for use so i had to improvise via premier pro . 

This was the original shot. 

Once again i used colour grading to enhance my shot.

I wanted to make a fish-eye lens via premiere pro , to do this i started with lens distortion and adjusted the curvature. 

 

and then increased the scale so the curved shot was fitted in the frame.

i then masked a circle in order to make it look like it was shot on a fish eye lens. Another little touch i did was just increased the mask feather slightly because that is what you would see on a proper fish eye lens. 

INFINITE TRANSITION ATTEMPT 2.0

Once again i wanted revisited the infinite transition as i believed i could to it and it would become an integral part of my project and add flow too it. 

i had two shots that i could merge together but it would be a lot easier than the rock edit i attempted.

original first shot : 

 

i then keyframed the shot with the tree and masked it out. 

This really added flow to my project and i'm glad i didn't just give up on the effect. 

This effect came out really well and really set up for the next transition for the next song. 

THE INFINITE ZOOM

The infinite zoom was definitely the most important part of my project, the editing and preparation that went into this piece was the most time costly and the most integral part of the editing process.

The idea of this part of the project was tell the viewer that she is essentially reminiscing her past life.

In order to get as many shots as possible , even before the project had begun i had people taking videos that could be used for the piece.

Although i had already attempted the infinite zoom in other shots , this was key that i get it right.

-to start off with i would grab the two shots and put on on top and one below on the timeline 

-the top file i would get the very last frame and get a screen shot of it.

- i would then import that into the time line and put it at the end of the clip on top.

- then i would create a mask hole around whatever i would want to zoom into. BUT i do this on the screenshot.

- i would then keyframe this and toggle animation on positioning and scale.

- this would then create the effect and my shot would zoom into the next clip.

This was effective as it created a flow for the pace of the song i was using. the effect was really cool but challenging. But this helped me develop a new understanding of the spectrum of creative media and also advancing my creative techniques. 

The first zoom could of been a bit better , it was slightly laggy.

The red blocks are the photos and the blue are the clips. If you get the timing right you wont see the freeze of when it comes to photo file.

I also did some shots in reverse , it is the same process but essentially re winded. 

i then nested the whole sequence what the infinite zoom was in and gave it the fisheye lens effect. that lens effect was then zoomed out to show the shot of the girls face. where the music video started. As if we done a full loop. 

This was to remind the audience that it was all a memory and now shes hit reality again.

One thing i need to work on with that last shot is that the mask does not always stick with her eye.

THE ENDING

For the credits i wanted to still stick with the theme and use of effects. 

I used an adobe template for the credits but played around with the coloring and scaling so it can fit the purpose of my music video. It took a lot of rendering but it came out really well.

the use of sound in the video.

As i said in my research and planning this was a music video with two frank ocean songs. The first song was slow and then then second was when the infinite zoom came in.

This was not a hard process as i identified when the two songs could meet and merge well.

The only effects i used for sound was for the last piece of music , i wanted to make it sound like it was coming from downstairs whilst you are upstairs. So i added loads of files and then echoed them on premiere pro and then nested them. I could of used adobe audition but because i could do it all on premiere pro , it was just less hassle.

THE CAMERAS I USED IN THE MUSIC VIDEO.

For me the use of having a camera was very good. I could travel anywhere with it and it is so good. I have the FUJI FILM XT-200. 

the camera is so good and light , it also allows me to shoot in 4K so my projects are enhanced on a professional level.

The test shots i got of the time  lapse sunset just give an insight into what this camera is capable of.

There are times when you have to improvise and that is when my Iphone 11 came in. The iphone 11 is a great camera and i got some brilliant shots on it. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion i was set on the idea i had for my project. I wanted no archival footage and i did that. I was really happy with what i achieved and i hope to develop my skills further in future projects.