Editing!

Digital editing is part of the post-production process of digital video making. Using Adobe premiere pro, on Apple Mac computers, we worked with the raw footage, selecting shots and combined them into a sequence.

Prior to starting the editing process I was slightly ambiguous about the Adobe technology, as it had been several months since we had been using it, in our trial lip sync, and we had to remember that how we use it determines our final produce. Hence we proceeding very articulately, we began by reviewing and selecting shots. This forced use to make some initial decisions as some of the shots were very obviously inappropriate to use for instance in some cases our lead did not sing the correct lyrics making the shots look very unprofessional, but there were also various other reasons too, such as bad lighting, bad composition, actors not performing correctly, no content, and so on. Another issue that we faced was that some of the later woods footage was far too dark so we were unable to use some of those shots. This process enabled us to select footage that we wanted, which we then labelled depending on the set (projections in studio/woods etc). We were then able to drag this raw footage onto the timeline presenting the structure of our video.

Selecting footage from each camera

Reviewing raw footage

Firstly, the music track was placed onto the timeline enabling use to a line the studio footage, making sure it was lip synced correctly. We made sure this alinement was perfect otherwise the video would look unauthentic and unprofessional. It was also very important to do this as the studio shoots provided the core of the video, if we had structured the video around the woods scenes we could have run out of footage as it was narrative based. Following this, we edited all of the studio projections into one cut, providing a base layer of the video. To do this we used the cutting tool which allowed us to make very quick cuts in time with the song, luckily we didn’t need to crop any of the footage as we made sure on the day that the shot composition was good. Though when selecting shots, the composition was important to bear in mind as we tried to ensure that the cast was in focus/ centralised/ heads were in shot etc.  We tried to cut the shots in rotation of wide shot, mid shot, close up and tried to vary each member of the band who was playing. This was very important as otherwise the video would become too boring and repetitious for the viewer. We wanted to really emphasise the close ups of the members faces to promote the bands star image, it was important to reinforce indie rock conventions by giving each member relatively equal footage and hence responsibilities within the band. Also, we tried to change the pace and aesthetic of the edit according to the pace of the song, for instance during the chorus the cuts were considerably quicker and in the slower parts, we used the projections on the lead's t-shirt as it suited the instrumental part of the song, providing a different look for a different sounding part of the track. Moreover the dark colouring plays to the minimalistic conventions of the genre.

Once this was completed we completed the same process with the woods and projections in woods scenes, producing three layers enabling us to cut between the layers with the studio as the base. It soon became apparent that we needed to name and rename more clips as we  had so many areas of footage it became very confusing. During this, we decided that we wanted to slowly reveal the shots in the woods making the video progressively more interesting  so the viewer would not get bored of the studio footage, we made the decision to open the video with short clips of the woods to entice the viewer into the narrative.

The timeline

We used relatively little effects and transitions. Though in quite a few cases we made alterations to the colourings in the woods scenes, attempting to make them a lot brighter. Though the footage became a bit grainy, we made the decision to keep it as we thought it added to the indie-rock ‘look’. We also made minor changes to the colouring of some of the studio footage, making the colours more contrasting and striking. Additionally, when there are some heavy beats we used the fade to black tool to emphasise these moments.

I found editing the woods footage very difficult due to the limited footage we had, unfortunately, as previously stated, a lot of the footage was too dark so was out of focus, also we had a very limited amount of shot types, meaning  that we had minimal close ups to cut too making the footage a bit boring. However due to the integration of the studio shots and the use of fragmented editing, we could disguise our limitations. The marker tool helped us cut out fragments of the clips on the beat of the track making the edits more ‘jittery’ and interesting for the viewer. If I were to repeat the process I wouldn’t change the editing as I believe we made the best of what we had, instead I would ensure  there was a larger variety of well-lit and composed shots from the woods as this would have made the process far more efficient.

In our edit we used a series of jump cuts, which cut from set to set. Obviously this implicates the continuity of the video to some extent. However due to the creative nature of pop video edits, this does not present to much of an issue. In the case of the AS thriller opening sequence, unless continuity was deliberately distorted, this would have been problematic as it would have made the narrative unclear to the audience.

Overall, I am particularly pleased that we made a large emphasis on the star image relating to the conventions of music videos, we achieved this by using many close ups of the band and especially the lead, also the boy/girl narrative evolves around lead engaging the viewer into his presence.

Here is the initial rough cut  that we edited: