Editing

The final stage of creating a music video is of course editing all of the footage. This process ended last week and it took us about 5 or 6 weeks to complete. The software I used for editing is called “Final Cut Pro.” The editing process began by uploading all of the footage that we had accumulated and putting it straight onto the computer and then adding the audio track of "Half the World Away." Adding the track bizarrely became our first problem, with the song proving somewhat difficult to get hold of. This was soon sorted but it was an unwelcome early setback. The task then was to watch through all the footage we had recorded and write down the time signature of the clips that we wanted to use, thus getting rid of the footage that was deemed unnecessary. We then named each clip so that it would be easier to identify them. To do all this we used the live capture feature to gather the parts of our footage that we wanted and then uploaded it on to the editing timeline. After this it was a case of arranging our selected clips in the order we wanted. First of all it was important that we synced up the performance parts of the music video so that when our actor was singing his lips were keeping in time with the audio track uploaded. This was a time consuming process, but one that had to be done. Once this was completed, it was a case of adding the narrative clips and cropping those down to produce the full production. At this stage of editing, the music video could effectively be passed off as acceptable. However, it is then about adding specific parts to your music video to make it fit the image you expect of it. For example, we then went on to add filters and video transitions. The majority of the parts of the music video that are seen in colour have been edited using the "Colour Corrector" filter. This was necessary because we wanted the colour scenes to indirectly resemble happiness in that part of David's life. However, it turned out they did not always reflect this prior to the colour corrector being added.
In the original storyboards, we did not see the poker and drugs scenes as being set in black and white. But after reflecting on our thoughts, to make them black and white. We did this by desaturating the entire colour from the clips and fiddling around with the levels of contrast and brightness. It was then that our second problem emerged. One of the clips set up for making the change from colour to black and white had a distinctive rise in sunlight compared to all the others. This was dealt with by again fiddling around with the contrast and brightness of the clip, but it proved difficult and took a lot of time to get it right.
After then receiving editorial advice we decided to add a filter which made the black and white clips look grainy with a sepia tint adding age. However, this part of the video is showing that the height of fame is actually a downfall thus trying to demonstrate a rough and tarnished appearance as opposed to age. Transitions such as dissolving fades were added at the beginning and end of the black and white sequence to attempt to display time and events changing to affect the mood of the character.
To ensure that it looked like the music video was appearing on a music channel such as MTV, text was added at the beginning and end of the video, stating the song name (Half the World Away) and the artist (Oasis). These are often known as credits. A problem occurred in finding the right font to fit the image and in my eyes this problem was never completely solved.
There were other problems which occurred during the editing and filming stages. For example, after the first days filming it was clear that the emotion we were seeking to appear in our music video was not coming across on screen. This involved filming certain shots again and getting our main actor to show more emotion on his face to demonstrate what the events occurring were doing to his life. As well as this, we faced further problems after the second days filming. Once we had edited our footage from that day, it became apparent that there were still minor problems that would require a final day of filming. Further footage was needed to show the childhood years of David’s life (e.g. the scenes in the park.) This was a setback again that was not welcome but I felt that we generally overcame our setbacks professionally and successfully.