What next..

After today's editing session we decided that to make our video look as good as possible we should re-film a few of our weak shots. Here are some problems we found that will need changing:

1. We ran out of usable footage after the last chorus and towards the ending of the song. We need a few more shots of us lip syncing to pull it together completely.
2. The anti-climax part of the song just doesn't work. We realised this part of the song gave us the best opportunity to show-off our editing and filming skills and that if we re-filmed we could produce some-thing really good and interesting. The idea of using reverse was a good idea and represented the storyline really well but we just weren't able to make it work. This gap is around 10 seconds long and we will try and create a similar idea and shot to the one we currently have.

As well as re-filming there are a few adjustments we can make to our video using the editing suite:

1. The sound effect of the heart beat still needs to be added to the flashbacks at the beginning. Laura has these effects and will bring them in on a memory stick to our next editing session.
2. Editing the last chorus and the end of the song to make it look more smooth. The last chorus doesn't look right despite our good lip-syncing and tight editing. I think what the problem is is that there is a flashback of Emily packing her bag which links in with the start of the song's flashbacks, but the reaction shot of Joe seeing Emily packing her bag and leaving comes much later in the chorus and could possibly look random to viewers. The shot is also very short in length as our actor didn't hold the look for long enough. We decided to adjust this sequence so the reaction shot doesn't look so short and is closer to the other flashback.

Editing 12-11-10

Today we had a double 2 hour lesson which meant we could focus on editing.

What happened today

Our main aim was to finish the song which we did. This allowed us to spot exactly where we still needed more footage and start brainstorming ideas of what we could fill the gaps with. Here are the main things we achieved in our editing session today:

1. In our pitch we stated that we wanted each girl of the group to have a different colour that they would wear to differentiate them from the others. The way we did this was by having each girl wear a black dress and different colour high heel. We realised we hadn't used the shots of our shoes so we decided to create them into a montage and edit them in.
   
   
2. We re-adjusted a few of the shots' image sizes to correct the framing and remove unwanted people from the background. We knew before we presented our first cut that a few of the shots of me lip-syncing in the field had dogs and people walking in the background. We thought about leaving them in as our teacher hadn't noticed them but when I showed them to friends at school - they noticed it straight away, therefore we knew we had to change it somehow and we didn't want people distracted from the performance because there is a dog in the background. One of our class mates suggested we zoom in which would cut of people from the background. We did this successfully by dragging the size of the image from the corner. In some instances it was not possible to get rid of the people throughout the duration of the shot, so this meant cutting the length of the shot.
   
   
   
   
   
3. We added more footage into the chorus to shorten the length. When we presented to the class we got told that one of the shots of us in Epping Forest was too long. We chose a well framed long shot of Sophie lip-syncing to the chorus and cut it down to fit perfectly in with the chorus. The chorus flowed much better afterwards.
   
   
4. Because we adjusted the size of the choreography shots it meant that the framing wasn't central and did a little jump cut. We needed to change this so we decided to add another flashback into the chorus. The flashback we used was the shot of Emily sitting on the stairs looking sadly through the banister (like a prison). We put the shot on top of the jump cut, this looked really good because it looked like we had filmed the dance sequence 2 times and at different closeness.
   
   
5. The last thing we did was put the ending shot at the end which was the one of us all laughing sitting on a large fallen tree trunk in Epping Forest. The shot worked really well as it didn't look out of place. We decreased the speed to 50% so it was in slow motion, this fit in well with the tone of the song but finished it on an uplifting note. We then added a dip-to-black effect at the end to close the song. We felt the song went on for too long at the end so decided to fade it out using an audio cross fade. It just meant we didn't have to fill the quiet music with pointless, random shots.

First cut feedback from Mrs Allison

Rough cut and feedback

Here is our rough cut of 'Missing You'.

Feedback from presentation to class

Positive:

• The match on action at the beginning of the video where Emily walks out the door was very good which proved using 2 cameras at once worked well.
• Charlotte's idea of filming Emily putting her bag in the boot from inside the car created an interesting shot.
  
• Good camera skills - all shots were framed well using interesting angles.
• The integration of the story in the music video was good
• By turning the flashbacks black & white it created a more personal and emotional story and accentuated the fact they were in the past.
  
  
  
• Our choice of actors were good as they performed well and look very realistic.
• One of the best shots was the ariel shot of Joe and Emily fighting which was filmed by one of our crew holding the camera over the banister.
  
  
  
• Our lip-syncing was spot on and our performances were of a high quality
• The choice of locations were very different which made the video look more interesting and true to life.
  
  
  
• The lighting in each location was good especially Epping forest
• Editing looks invisible and well done.

Negative:

• The up-beat part of the song where Joe is walking to where Emily is to give her a necklace is too long and should be cut down. Some possible solutions are to either change the sequence to quick cuts, don't have it sped up as it looks a bit commical.
• The shot of the 4 of us in the woods is too long and may make the audience bored.
  
  
  
• Experiment with lighting a bit more - maybe try a halo effect.

Analysis of shot

We were asked to write a paragraph about one shot from our production that was particularly interesting. This will help practice our evaluating skills in in preparation for our summer exam.

The shot I have chosen is the black and white shot on the right taken from a flashback of Emily and Joe. It shows Joe walking away, rejecting and ignoring Emily and leaving her upset.

This is one of my favourite shots as it really says a lot about Emily and Joe as a couple. What has just happened is that Joe has just walked straight past Emily and ignored her. I would say this shot best represents the meaning of the lyrics as quite clearly Emily is missing Joe and they are not the same couple that they used to be. The shot itself was originally a medium shot of Emily until Joe walks towards the camera. By having Emily go from being the only person and at the front of the shot to being very small in the background is a visual representation of what we are actually trying to portray in the video. Because Joe is cheating on Emily she is becoming smaller and less important in his life - effectively being pushed out and towards the back of his mind.

The framing of this shot is very important at Joe has deliberately been made to be at the front and close to the camera to show his importance. Where-as like I said before, Emily is forced to the back where she is only just able to be seen. Emily's facial expression in this shots tells it all. She looks sad, depressed and helpless as she does not know what to do about the situation with Joe. Where-as Joe's face looks rather awkward as he knows he completely ignored Emily and it was probably the wrong this to do. This shows that Emily is the weaker of the two of them.

The lighting in this shot also makes Emily look weaker as Joe is looking the more angelic good person in a bright white t-shirt with a brighter face. Where-as if Emily was more in the shadow then you wouldn't be able to see her! Making her look the bad person and in the wrong - even though she isn't.

Editing 3-11-10

Today we had an hour to continue editing our first cut (we asked Mrs Allison for 2 hours but as a comprimise for our extended deadline she gave us 1).

What we achieved today:

• 2 sets of flashbacks were added in to the last chorus using the black & white effect.
• We put together all the lip-syncing in the last chorus - they are now all in place and on the editing reel.
  
  
  What is left to do:

• Add the remaining flashbacks on to the editing reel.
• Sort out and think of ideas which we can use for the anti-climax part of the song.

What editing tools and features we used today:

• Black and white (video effects)
• Increase speed (duration)
  
  
  

Response to deadline extension email

Here is the response email we recieved from our teacher Mrs Allison regarding the deadline. This now means we will finish our first cut by the end of Wednesday's lesson (3-11-10) and will present to the class on Friday (5-11-10) and recieve feedback.