How We Made our Illustrations Digital

FAIL: Thread overlays

Illustrated Overlays (stage 1)

Planning • Overlays

To make the overlays I'm going to trial two methods and then compare results after. One route requires thread and I could make a stop-motion animation which I then overlay over the footage, and the other route is doodlism which I'll scan into the computer and then edit ontop of the video. Initially my partner and I planned to do doodilsm however I am eager to see how the video could result with thread.

These are my plans of what I plan on portraying in the overlays:

Music Video (6th edit)

This edit could be called 1.6 because before the overlaying process this is my final edit. I really enjoy this video. How it differs from the last edit is I rearranged, swapped, cropped and adjusted the speed of some clips. My previous edits involved a lot of shaking and just seemed a bit unpolished however I think this is neat and while it demonstrates normality and isn't that flashy, it is still professional and delivers the aesthetic and vibes my partner and I wanted to communicate.

Music Video (5th edit)

In this edit I swapped some clips with other items of footage which relate directly to what Chance is rapping. Some of the relations may not be obvious but I've planned to add video-effects later on which directly relate to the lyrics.

Music Video (4th edit)

In this edit I decided to experiment with adding diagnostic sounds at the start and end of the video. I copied this idea from Charlie XCX's music video "Super Love" which begins with chattering sounds from the street in the music video. I thought this would suit our video because our target audience is young people and the genre we're working with originates from New York so we want to reciprocate the youth-ish, contemporary, urban vibe in order to attract our audience but also stay true to our genre.

Music Video (3rd edit)

In this edit I went back to my footage and altered segments, replacing them with lip-sung clips. This is a conventional music video feature and also I enjoy music videos which contain some lip-synch scenes and some non-singing scenes.

Music Video (2nd edit)

In this edit I worked on the chorus clips to firstly, allow for a clear visual distinction between the dance clips and the non dance clips and also to edit when the clips appeared in the song (to fit the audio). Having done this I have decided that I think it looks more polished and professional which is good. Considering that we didn't want to use a tripod, if our video isn't expertly edited it has the ability to look sloppy.

The way that the chorus is exclusively dancing, links to Dyer's Six Key Feature theory through the third key feature. There is a correlation between the visuals and the music, the correlation is that visually the actress who is dancing illustrates and suits the upbeat, danceable tempo of the track.

Music Video (1st edit)

This the first edit of my video. I enjoy the footage presented in it and I think showcasing the footage was my main priority in this however I don't think all the clips mash together well. I think this is due to the timing of the clips which should change with the verse and also I think this is due to the similarity between the clips... I think there should be more of a visual distinction between each clip. As in exclusively during the chorus I think the actress should be dancing because the chorus is really upbeat, however in the verses she should be simply sitting or standing. I also think that as each clip begins and ends it should be crisp and fit in simultaneously with the audio, i.e: when the clip changes it should be at the end of a lyrical line or an instrumental segment.

Footage

Media Broadcast Platform

To release our music video my partner and I will use Youtube.com. Youtube is the most suitable option for us as it's the most popular online video-platform in the UK especially among young people. We've reached this conclusion based on ourselves and our peers.

Practice Videos

2 years ago my friend and I created a video log documenting a school trip we took to Lille, France. She was the camera man and I was the main character in the video and many of the themes and concepts in this video, I've reciprocated and repracticed in my A2 Media video. The video is below

and the themes which I think contributed to this project include:

• camera movement
• the concept of following one person throughout their day
• the visuals link to the rhythm of the audio.

Camera movement influenced our video because the camera is handheld. This is obvious from the instability and the shakiness which in most instances would be unpolished and cheap, however in a video like this I think it's cute and sincere and fits the theme of it being a v-log. Our music video like this video will have a 'vloggish' quality because it is fundamentally following one persons day as a vlog video would. The visuals link to the rhythm of the audio which is a key feature of Dyer's theory. The transitions and movement in the video is slow and the rhythm in the song is laid back and relaxed, and in our music video the movement will be dancing and quite fast, which goes hand in hand with the audio which is jumpy and dance-y.

Pre & Post Production Lists

Shot List #2

Conventional Features of Music Videos

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Music Video Industry

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Categories of Music Videos

A performance based music video is a music video with the location being a performance scene, such as a concert or a gig. I think this type of music video is effective as it portrays the musician performing which in essence, is their profession and their passion. An example of this is Jay-Z and Kanye West's music video for "N****s in Paris" which spectacles them doing a live concert with a mirrored video effect.

A narrative based music video is a music video which demonstrates a storyline or a plot. These are entertaining to watch and often visually express the lyrical meaning. An example of this is Rihanna's music video for "Man Down" which shows her going back in time from when she shot a man down.

A concept based music video doesn't follow a plot, instead it displays a concept. Concept based videos often are completely random and don't link to the song or the artist. Concept based music videos generally appeal to me the most because, due to the fact that they don't link to the song, musicians have a ton of creative freedom with these types of videos and frequently release a video which is unlike anything we've seen before, non-cliché. An example of this is Coldplay's "Up&Up" which is a video founded on collage-ism. Collage art is the concept and so throughout the video we watch snippets of collage clips.

My video will be a concept based music video and the concept will be illustration-overlays, which we will manage to do with editing. Our video won't have a narrative, it will simply follow the singer around an urban area.

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Song Lyrics & Connotations • Planning

Shooting Plans

Planning locations with my partner:

We had already discussed shooting at the barbican but the exhibition we wanted to base our video at wasn't open that day so we replaced our location.

Planning with our actress: 

Instructing her of how we'd like her mise-en-scene to be

Shot List #1

Focus Group

The questions I asked my focus group were primarily based on mise-en-scène and editing. Our focus group is unbiased as it includes 5 girls and 4 boys of diverse backgrounds. The good thing about this activity is it broadened our horizons, so whereas I would like or deslike a certain thing for one reason, by sharing and discussing ideas with people it contributed to my opinion on the matter.
The first question was about illustrative styles. Once we have filmed and edited, my partner and I currently plan to add illustrations on top of our footage. We gave the audience a choice of five doodles which held significant differences including:

1. the first is in black and white
2. the second featured text
3. the third was duo coloured (differing from the first which was duo coloured via outlines)
4. the fourth showed a colourful gradient
5. the fifth was very intricate and small.

What our focus group had to say will be helpful in the editing process as it indicates which animation style is most popular. Most of the audience said that the fourth image was their favourite and this was also my and my partners favourite.

They said the range of colours attract them and the way this has currently inspired us is we think over the duration of our video the illustrations will slowly go through each colour of the rainbow. Hanan, who enjoyed the first image the most said that for a music video, bright colours are intrinsic as they
"pop" and that "if the colours are black and white if would kinda fade into the background".

Our second question asked the focus group which of the five styles that are common in contemporary fashion, they liked the most. My pair feels that if we have a female actress for a male singer, it will be interesting and dynamic so our current plan is for a female star.

Our audience were conflicted between the minimal fashion and the tighter clothes. Those who supported Kylie Jenner's outfit described it as "popular" and "juicy", however the people who prefer minimalism describe it as "simple". I think in our video, we'll opt for minimal clothing. Our reasons behind this is because the rhythm of the song is really jumpy and the bass line has a strong kick to it, and the illustration style we're gonna follow is really bold, and so I don't think it's necessary for the actress to wear an attention-grabbing outfit.

The third question was about locations; which would and wouldn't be interesting to watch. Feedback was very mixed so I think when we shoot, we'll text a range of places. The graph on the left shows the places which people liked, and the right shows where the audience do not like.

The fourth question was an open question asking for the peoples opinion on the instrumental audio of All Night. I chose to ask their opinion on the instrumental version not the ordinary version because I wanted to know what the beat reminded them of and what the rhythm made them envision. Answers were varied but overall people said that it was upbeat and reminded them of energetic sceneries such as 'the olympics' or 'dance parties'. We'll take this into consideration when choosing our locations and the movement in our video. 

The fifth question asked our focus group which from a selection of album covers was their favourite. Again the albums differed visually in several ways including:

1. An album cover without the artists picture
2. An album cover with a pastel colour scheme
3. A photographically innovative album cover
4. An illustrative album cover
5. An album cover with a primary colour scheme.

The majority of our answers were in support of Star Boy, which was closely followed by Peach Pit. Supporters of Star Boy and Peach Pit evaluated their liking towards the album covers visuals by referencing the colour scheme. Star Boy won with primary colours but most people commented on the fact that all the colours were really vibrant, so when my partner and I formulate the album cover we'll practice with a range of vivid colours, not exclusively red blue and yellow.