Editing Techniques

This year I will be editing on a Mac Pro using Final Cut Pro software. I used a variety of editing techniques to produce the effects within the pop promo.

• Video Transition, Cross Dissolve- A dissolve allows me to essentially mix two separate piece of footage so that there is no fade in/fadeout. This was useful in the traffic scenes at the pedestrian crossing.
• Video Transition, Non-additive dissolve- Compares the pixels in the two clips and displays the lighter of the two as the first clip fades out and the second fades in. I used this when changing into different parts of the narrative to show a change in time.
• Video Transition, Fade In/ Fade Out- Fades in the incoming clip as the Outgoing clip fades out. This helps to show a more definite passing of time and I used this on the pop promo first draft between the bar scenes and bedroom scenes.
  
• Audio Transitions, Cross Fade (0 dB)- I used this at the beginning and end of the audio track. We had to clip either end of the audio track due it being nearly 5 minutes in length.
• Video Speed- The video speed function allowed me to create the time lapse scene at the pedestrian crossing. I sped the footage up approximately 2000% to give it the correct pace to the music.
  
• Video Speed, Reverse- To create the rewind scenes I selected random clips of the video as a whole, placed them backwards of the timeline then selected approximately 800% speed in reverse. This made it clear to the viewer that we are going back in time during the day.

On final completion of the pop promo I will convert it in to a .mov file so that i can play it using Quicktime. I will use the Compressor software with in Final Cut Studio to convert the pop promo to a lower res format so that it is more suitable to upload to my blog.

Final Digi-Pack and Print Ad Designs

Nicola has completed her work on Photoshop and we have decided on the final designs.

I was extremely please with Nicola's photography skills and the final designs. Here is my evaluation the final designs.

Album Cover and Reverse

We decided to use this particular nature shot as it shows beautiful colour at that certain point of dusk- The day is just becoming night (relating to the album name). Nicola saturated and changed some of the colour of the photo in Photoshop to enhance the silhouette of the trees and beauty of the colours. It almost looks like a digital sunset, and links in with Lawrence's style of digital music. White was the most appropriate text colour for the track listings as it stood out around all the darker colours. Although we originally had the album name in 'Night' in black, we decided to change it to white as it made the play on words more obvious.

Inside Covers

A clever image taken by Nicola on a street near her house on the outskirts of town. A suburban street was suitable because Lawrence's music is not particularly gritty or grimy so would not justify a bustling city street. The inclusion on the guy in the background introduces the artist but still gives his actual face relative anonymity. The blurring of the lights links well with the traffic scenes in our music video. To create this effect Nicola decreased the shutter speed and therefore increasing exposure time, showing the blurring of the car lights. The text we included in Lawrence's thank yous, something we feel is appropriate for an artist for his first album.

Magazine Ad

Nicola again played about with shutter speed to gain this great image. The blurring of the lights directly connects it with the Digi-pack creating continuity within the package as a whole and therefore a product with greater marketing power. The text was tilted so that it looked parallel to the blurred lights. We would have liked to have changed the colour of some of the text in the bottom left hand corner but the colour of the background meant that it was often hard to read in any other colour but black.

Production Meeting 7

Learning to use Photoshop was frustrating but we eventually discovered that it was a very powerful tool when harnessed properly. Nicola had now complete the first draft of our album cover using both images of nature and city life. We wanted to create a link between the video and the album design and the inclusion of lights and traffics helps with this. The nature image on the front has had the colours altered to appear artificial and more 'electronic'. For the inside image Nicola experimented with exposure time. Using a busy road she increased the exposure time to create the blurring of the lights which give the appearance of fast moving traffic. We are particularly happy with this.

Editing of the pop promo is nearing completion but has hit some errors. A problem with the Macs effected the whole class and resulted in some footage dropping frames or footage becoming jerky and clipped. Unfortunately we do not have the original footage to re-capture to resolve this problem, but as explained it is through no fault of our own. We will try and reduce the damage caused by using alternative footage that is unaffected. Luckily Maya shot quite a few take of the same scenes so we should be able to find some footage that is good to use.

Feedback: Lawrence King

We sent Lawrence the a copy of the music video (albeit the one with technical errors) and a copy of the digipack and print ad design. We conducted the following interview over Facebook to get some feedback.

Hi Lawrence, We sent you a rough draft of the video, what do you think about it?

I think its very good! I know you said there were some issues with this version of the video but Igot the general feel of it.

What in particular do you like about the video?

I enjoyed the fast motion [time lapse] scenes, I think its suits the pace of the track well. I'm also glad you decided to uphold my anonymity. Also the concept of crossed paths and a relationship forming. Most electronic artist I follow also do something different in their videos, not just a band playing in a pub or girls dancing in aclub like you find in most pop videos.

What would you change about the video?

Probably would have put a few more of those fast motion scenes in there, maybe at a nightclub? And I'd like to have seen the track at its complete length, but I know you had restrictions and all that.

Moving on to the album design and magazine advert, how do you think we did?

REALLY really good, the cover has a nature feel to it but kinda enhanced nature- which i like. In the inside cover and on the ad I like the feeling of speed or moving that you captured. Looks kinda urban aswell. The bloke standing across the road is a nice touch, like its ment to be me, but its not clear enough to really know.

Thanks for your time Lawrence!