So finally putting all of the final footage into the correct order with the correct lengths, i feel it is time to get down to business and jazz the video up a bit.
As the song is a very atmospheric and holds elements of innocence and magic. In my music video i treid to portray these elements through the video. I managed to do this by adding a number of effects onto different shots.
The opening of the music is very etherial, and atmospheric, i wanted to create an effect on the shots, which show the image, and introduce, but at the same time doesnt give everything away, much like the tone of the song. After about 30 seconds of the song, it then breaks into a heavier bassy beat, which is where i wanted to introduce and make the shot clear, that way it fits with the mood of the song.
The effect in which i used is called Min/max. You can see on the picture below, the normal shot on the left hand side, and the min/max effect on the right hand side. The effect creates a more blurry, pixelated effect, which i feel imitates the atmosphere and mood of the song.
As well as using the min max effect throughout the whole music video, i edited the shots by sharpening them all. This increased the intensity of each of the shots, and added some what of a more ‘unnatural’ feel about the shots – resembling the atmosphere in the music.
Also more or less through out the whole video, i have added an effect in called the ‘strobe’ effect. This strobe effect acts as a kind if delay on the shot to look as if there is a ‘stop motion’ esque effect occuring. This effect is used to make the video look somewhat magical like, and give an edgey effect.
After getting to this point where i have added some of the effects on to my footage, 1 crazy little advert that i had seen on TV. The Vera Wang – Princess advert is one what keeps popping up wherever i look, and there is an element on it which i tried so hard to find an effect for to add onto my music video. I LOVED IT.
If you watch the video, you can see the over laying of the bright light spots over the image. Wether its due to reflections of light, sunspots or some kind of effect over the top.
I tried for ages and went through every single effect on the video transitions and couldnt find anything of the sort, so gave up on that idea. I was gutted, but this spurred me on to add another effect instead to bring the colour to life in the music video.
The Bloom effect on Final cut is one where it emphasises any colour and makes it really bright, and in a sense creates a dazzle effect, and illuminates the image. This bloom effect is put on towards the end of the music video, where both Amy and James are on the verge of meeting eachother. This enhances the image, and makes the video look somewhat more magical and really adds an edgy element to the music video- right at the end.
Also where the bloom effect has been used, the Trail effect is also in use, which creates a sense of delay, creating a ‘ghost trail’ adding to the ethereal effect which the song gives to the images matching the image with the sound. This effect adds more movement onto the image. Not only to create this effect of more movement did i add the trail effect, but i copied one of the ending images where the confetti was being thrown, and overlayed it above the existing shot making one more opaque than the other., but timed it a little bit behind, so it looked as if more confetti was being thrown than origially did.
One of the last effects which i added were positioned and timed almost perfectly to where the heavier dubstep basslines emerged. You can tell the difference between the style of music within the song, so as the bassline increased, this is where i made the climax to start to build up. As the climax builds, the blink effect is introduced onto the shots. This is where to each beat of the bass in the music, the screen black out for just a split second, so create a flash / blink effect – hense why it’s called blink. This builds up tension, and links with the tone of the music, representing the song building up to it’s climax.
Speaking of a climax…
When looking at the narrative theory, there are a few major ones which need to be considered.
ARISTOTLE’S UNITIES – Perhaps the first ‘narrative theory’ as such. A narrative should be created within a ‘unity’ of time, place and action – that is, it should all take place in the same location, in real time, and with all action moving towards a logical (and moral) conclusion.
TODOROV’S THEORY – Todorov proposed a basic structure for all narratives. He stated that films and programmes begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then agents of disruption cause disequilibrium, a period of unsettlement and disquiet. This is then followed by a renewed state of peace and harmony for the protagonists and a new equilibrium brings the chaos to an end. The simplest form of narrative (sometimes referred to as ‘Classic’ or ‘Hollywood’ narrative).
PROPP’S THEORY –Vladimir Propp’s theory was formed in the early twentieth Century. He studies Russian fairytales and discovered that in stories there were always 8 types of characters evident. These are: the hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. He did not state these characters were all separate people e.g. the provider could also be the helper. There are only 8 different character types and only 31 things they ever do. Once you have identified the character type (e.g., the hero) it’s easy to guess what they will do (save the maiden, defeat the villain, marry the maiden or whatever) because each character has a SPHERE OF ACTION. This is easily relatable to films and programmes today.
BARTHES’ ENIGMA CODE – The narrative will establish enigmas or mysteries as it goes along. Essentially, the narrative functions to establish and then solve these mysteries.
I feel that both Todorov and Barthes’ theories are ones which apply to my music video, as there is an equilibrium to begin with, then in the middle a little bit of a disruption, when you realise James is following Amy, and then appears to be a climax at the end of the video, where Amy and James finally meet on the bridge.
The enigma codes at the beginining of my music video will flying, due to a lack of knowledge of what is actually going on. This tends to keep the audience watching, as they want to now what happens next / later on in the video.
There was one problem which i did encounter evey time i opened up Fina Cut, this was that it made me re-render everything before i could even watch the video / continue to edit it again. Thus everytime reopening it, it stopped me from being able to do anything for about 30 minutes. Creating a barrier for me to crack on and finish.
