2. Technologies used – Internet, music television, youtube
At stage 1, we had to research our chosen artist (Jay-Z)
and find out about his style, genre, his life,
inspirations, aspirations, ideals and motives in order to
accurately portray him as our chosen artist within our
own video. We also researched artists who work
within the same genre as Jay-Z to gain more
inspiration for our video, so we did this by watching
many music videos either on the internet or television
stations such as MTV.
3. Technologies used – Digital video camera, Tripod, Green Screen, Projectors
We used a digital video camera that the college provided us with, and it gave us a crisp, clear
image when filming. The cameras were a vital part of the process because without them, there
couldn’t be a video! They were very easy to use, simply hit the big, red record button once to
begin recording and again to stop. Then connected the camera to the computer via a USB
cable and imported all footage into Final Cut.
We used the Tripod when we needed footage that wasn’t shaky or moving in any way, such as the
scenes on the basketball court and on the green screen. It was a very helpful piece of equipment
for our work.
We also used a Green Screen for some parts of our video. We filmed Harlie (our star) lip syncing and dancing in front
of a large green sheet, and then we did as follows:
- Add the footage to the timeline
- Add the Filter "Keyer" to the timeline footage
- Bring up the effects in the Inspector
- Use the Refine Key to select an area of the GREEN (you can do this throughout the footage)
- Use the Refine edge to select the edges of the Keyed person - multiple edge detectors
- when using GREEN use Strength 100% - Fill Holes 0.35 Edge Distance 14 Spill Level 100% Mix 1
We also used projectors pointed at
Harlie during his lip syncing so that
the images were projected on top of
him, it gave a very nice effect.
4. Technologies used – Final Cut
Additional effects can be located using the “project”, “clip” and “sequence”
buttons along the top here
The programme Final Cut was also
essential to our work. Without it we
would be left with only raw footage
that may have mistakes, be too long
and have no visual effects on them.
Using Final Cut we were able to add
all of these things to our video. The
programme could be tricky to use at
first, but once you have the hang of
it it’s really quite simple. To edit a
clip, you must first import it into
Final Cut from your computer. Once
you’ve done that, you can drag the
clip onto the timeline (the blue bar
on the image) and from here you
can cut, edit and add effects to your
clip. The “cut” tool, along with
Mirror effects and others, are
located down the left side of the
layout next to the timeline.
You can preview effects you’ve
added to certain clips in the
preview screen here. A black and
white effect has been added to
this one.
This is the audio bar, we had to cut out any audio from the clips and place our Jay-Z
song over the top
5. Technologies used: Photoshop
I was absent for most of the group Digipak/magazine advert
creation so it was suggested that I create my own. For my digipak
and magazine advert, I took some screenshots from our video. I
put them together in the style of a CD pack for the digipak, I then
added a title to the front cover using Photoshop, as well as a
“Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” label that is often seen on
many CD cases. I added song listings to what would be the back of
the CD case and a barcode. I also marked where the disc would go
on the pack. I kept with the consistent black & white theme that is
also used in our video, other than the splash of colour on the
front cover that is the American flag. All very simple really.
Magazine advert was much the same, I took a screenshot
that showed our star and added the album title and artist’s
name to the bottom. I put a large date at the top to catch
the viewers eye and added Jay-Z’s own website underneath
in orange font to make it stand out. Both of these are very
simple but this is consistent with Jay-Z’s style, he never has
big, flashy CD cover’s or magazine covers.
