2. PRODUCTION LOG:
GUIDANCE
• This document is for you to track the progress of your
production – filming, editing and post-production.
• This is so you can track what you did and how you did it,
explaining and amendments and changes you made and
tracking the decisions that have shaped the practical
creation of your music video.
• The more detail you include about how you made your music
video, the better. The document is broken down in to two
sections, Filming and Editing, each of these is then made of
specific elements that occur in both.
• For each slide there is a prompt detailing what you should
include, delete the prompt after you have complete the slide.
• Remember, images often show what you’ve done more
effectively than words. Use text to explain an illustration.
3. FILMING
Explain what worked and didn’t work about your filming and how you
managed this covering the following areas:
• Technical – using the cameras and any technical equipment; this could
be how you did your lip sync, used the green screen, dealt with problems
with batteries, etc
• Logistical – did your locations work? Did you have any access
problems? Did it rain?
• Personnel – how were your cast/crew? Did anyone let you down? How
did you manage this?
• Planning – did your planning help? Do you think it could have worked
better? How?
• Next steps – do you need to re-film? Film more? Have you changed your
video? How/why?
*If you make any drastic changes to your video you MUST
add this to your planning documentation and state how and
why this has happened
4. FILMING - TECHNICAL
Technically, when filming, I encountered many issues. The biggest issue was when one of the batteries weren't charged
because it disabled me from access the camera, thus disallowing me to actually get footage to edit in post for my music
video. From this issue I encountered, I essentially learnt that I should always double check that the batteries are changed
when I go out to record so that I can make a conscious decision whether to go out to record if they are charge so that I can
go and record or wait and charge them so that I can go out with a workable camera.
Another technical issue that I encountered was that, although I knew somewhat of how to use the camera, I still wasn't a
pro when using it, which made some elements to the camera, like understanding how to efficiently use ISO & aperture to
my advantage in different times of day (day & night) to enhance my video, difficult since I only had a basic to
moderate understanding of the camera settings when going out to record footage for the music video. As a result, the
aftermath of the minority of my raw footage look a bit grainy and the lighting was off. Trying and failing the technique of
using these tools when recording with the cannon camera allowed me learn what went well, like when I had shots of cars
and daytime close ups/mid low shots and what went well, like when I was recording some shots at night with low light
which cause some pretty grainy & dark shots, which could have been resolved via some alteration of aperture and ISO to
make them look more crisp overall as video footage for my music video. When in post-production I thought that it wouldn’t
matter too much if the raw footage was a bit off because I thought that I would just be able to edit out the grain and
increase the lighting and this only help so far but you could always still tell that there was too much grain and bad visual
aperture, which made me realist that getting the best recorded videos I could was more essential then I thought originally
before going into the overall production of my music video because I learnt and understood the processes better.
Lip syncing was easy because I didn’t need to do any since in the genre of drill, they frequently wear mask/balaclavas and
throw hand gestures to the song being used within the music video. Not having to lip sync was a positive because I didn't
have to worry about having to lip sync masses of rap lyrics from the song in the music video which would have used up
more time which may have disallowed me to cram in more edits in post-production.
5. FILMING - LOGISTICAL
My locations were successful since i was able and allowed into all the locations that we
filmed in, however when me and my crew went to a forest to do some recordings, it started
to rain which made it difficult to record when under the trees because the water was
seeping through the leaves. This made me and my crew wet and we were a bit worried
that the water could potentially cause damage to the equipment so we decided to head
back so that wouldn't happen. From this I learnt that I should always check weather
sources to find out what the weather will be at specific times so that I will know what the
conditions will be in certain areas so that I can make a decistion weather I should proceed
of wait until the right day of weather so that I can record in various different areas without
caution of health and equipment because it would be better without those possibilities
because I might be able to get the recordings done.
When I recorded videos at the abbey there were light sources at the enterance, so this
allowed me and my crew to get night footage that looked good because the lights were so
bright which made the footage very clear in the afternoon when it got dark.
6. FILMING - PERSONNEL
On my quest to get the footage that I needed, I needed some people in my
crew so that I could get the job done. For my drone shots I worked with a guy
who knew how to use a drone so that I could get smooth moving/panning
footage and I directed him to shoot in locations that would look good for my
music video and in areas that are not restricted to the public so that we would
be allowed to recording the areas.
I also met up with a group of people, one of which had a moped, which gave
me an idea of using it within the music video. With his permission, we
proceeded to record this man on his ped, which added to the visual
stimulation of the music video and gave the music video more diverse imagry.
Just his moped in the music video help to bulk the drill aspect of the video, as
there is frequently a lot of mopeds in drill music videos.
Before meeting these gents, I thought that it would be tough to manage them
because they were in a group but when I met up with them to do the
recording, although they were a bit awkward at first when I was recording
because they were unfamiliar to the filming, they quickly adapted to what was
going on and started to go with what I told them to do for the video and
freestyled a bit when I record so that I had a veriety of different footage for my
music video so that I had more choice of clips to use in my post production.
Althought I wished that I had used bettwer lighting for some of the clip when I
met these people for the music video recording, it was definatly a success
because the direction and management of these people weren't too hard, wish
gave me hope to see what the futre of my career would be hence I learn a lot
from the experience like leadership, which is sometimes very important when
working with people.
7. FILMING - PLANNING
Planning was usful because it allowed me to pin point the locactions that I would be using for my
film and what specific filming I would be doing in the locations that I had planned so that I
wasn't unorganized when I go out to film for my music video.
Before I went out to shoot the music video, I planned out my equipment that I would be using in
my music video so that I knew what I would be wearing, clothing-wise for my music video so that
I didn't show up to the recording wearing the wrong clothing because there is somewhat of a
dress code in the genre of music that I was using for my music video.
Planning what shots that I would be using was probably the most usful thing that I planned for
my music video was camera shots because it allowed me to get to grips the specific angles and
movements of different camera shotthat I would be usingin my music video and in what location
they would be in. I did this in the form of a shot list so that I could write down the duration of
each shot, the angles and where the shot would take place which made the recording of my
music video more efficient because it kept me on track of each and every shot that I would be
using for my music video on one list with detail along side them to isllustrat any extra information
about the shots themselves. Also this was usful, I went off track when I went out to record
because I got carried away with the shots I was taking on the days I was recording and
didn't look at my list enough as a reminder of what shot I would need to for my music video. Next
time I would have consistantly checked the shot list when I go out to record so that I don't mess-
up my shots and the order of them and so that I have better organization when going into the
locations to do the records so that I don't get any unessacry and wastful shots that I won't need
so that I don't waste time and so that I have more time in post.
8. FILMING – PRODUCTION STILLS
This low shot was recorded at the abbey I went to. Although it was dark at
the time of recording, as you can see in the still, it wasn't overly dark
because I use artificial light from my phone's torch to make the subject in the
frame more clear and visible. After the recording, in post-production, I added
a VHS effect because it was little bit grainy in the background because I
didn't alter the ISO properly to make it less grainy so I decided to mask that
with the VHS to make it seem purposefully off, visually.
This still shows a somewhat of a lightly low tilt long shot of two of the same
people in the frame. To get this shot I first set-up a tripod under a bridge in
daylight so that it wouldn't be too dark and recording my friend throwing hand
gestures and easily bobbing up and down to the beat of the song so that it would
be synced. Then I asked my friend to get back into the frame and sit next to
where you were previously but not too close because then I wouldn't be able to
mask in post-production because it would cause things to either not work when
trying to duplicate the person or become more tricky. I did this because it looks
visually interesting because it's not real, thus a lot of people would invest their
time into seeing it because it's not something you see every day.
9. FILMING – PRODUCTION STILLS
This is a still from my music video that I got when I when out to record in Thirsk
at a quite country road. I got this center-mid tracking shot by recording
someone on a moped whilst I was sitting at the back of my friends car whilst
he was driving slowing and the whilst the guy on the moped was wheeling
along as well, which made shot a pretty great shot because it add more variety
to the mix of the other shots in the music video thus made it more interesting
to watch. Because, when the person driving the moped, we couldn't see his
head when wearing a balaclava, I decided that he should wear a glow in the
dark mask so that it would pop out in the dark and so that it made the visual
experience of the music video more exciting.
In this still we can see a close-up of my friend wearing a balaclava under a
bridge. When shooting this shot, I throughout the ways that I could make
the music video feel more intense so I decided to add shots, like this,
where its up-close, the subject is wearing dark clothing and wearing a
balaclava with a slight camera tilt so that the subject appears larger and
more dominant in the frames.
10. EDITING
When I recording the two videos before this post produced clip, I knew what I wanted to do with them
because I had it all mapped out in my head beforehand because I knew it would potentially look good after I
had edited it at that stage in production. In post-production, when I had the raw clips, I layered the clip of the
guy sitting down on top of the guy standing up and began masking the guy sitting down out using the pen tool
so that I could mask out the specific area of where he was sitting so that the guy sitting down didn't clash with
the guy standing up because that would make the final edit of the clip look off and I didn’t want that to happen
because I knew that wouldn't look as professional as if I masked it properly. This was kind of hard because
the guy sitting down (the guy I was masking) was almost too close to the guy standing up, which made it
difficult to mask because I needed a lot of precision when masking since they were very close to one another.
Although this was somewhat difficult, in the end, the final outcome of my edit was good but not perfect
because if you look closely in the music video you can see the part that I masked out because the lighting
under the bridge changed between the two shots, which made a slightly visible linings as to where I had
masked one of the subjects of which could have been avoided if I had altered the colors of one of the two
clips in post-production or been quick with the recordings so that the lighting didn't change. Overall I would
consider this a success, although it wasn't perfect, because it was my first time trying this editing technique
and I successfully masked out a clip and layered it onto another to make it appear as if there were two of the
same people and that was my intension going in to this clip at the post production stage.
11. EDITING
When I had thought that I had finished all of my post production for my music video, I went over my music video in Premier Pro
(editing software) and noticed that when the beat comes in, in the intro, there wasn't some kind of visual bass drop or anything that
signifies that the beat had just come in and that struck me because I thought to myself that I need something in the music video to
signify that the beat had just come in because it would a great starter to kick off the music video with since it would hype the view
and dive them more of an understanding of the tone of the music video and a sense of its artistic direction from the get go.
Because I convinced myself that that making a great introduction at the start of the beat of the song was highly important in the
music video to amplify the mood, I quickly went to work at trying to configurate an opener that had punch, yet finesse so that it
flowed and synced with the song in the music. Firstly I placed a video of a close up of my friends hand swiping up on a volume
control over a moving shot of a wall with graffiti on it, which I slowed down and cut so that it was in sync with the beat. After I had
layered the clip of the hand increasing the volume, I added a blending mode so that it so that it would blend with the layer below it
of the wall so that it added more visual stimulation to the imagery of the clip and so that the clip where the volume is increased in
the car looks better with the cross fade when it fades into quarter of the time into the shot of the wall so that it is smoother. Then I
altered the saturation to the clip of the wall at the start and added time stapes where the saturation would change, which I used
successfully to make saturation of the clip fade in from balck and white to vibrant to spring colors into place so that the clips feel
more warm and welcoming for the intro to lure people into wanting to watch more of the music video.
Then I added text with hue alterations so that the colors rapidly changed every second which synced the song so that the viewer
could hear and see what was being said to increase the hype and momentum of what will lead to the climax of the beat in the
song. Finally I added a zoom transition, a shake and a flash of light, which transcended into the transitioning clip to make the
overall transition feel more powerful and supreme which hence the proceedings of the music video because use it enriched the
kicking off of the start of the video, which almost cause a domino-like effect because it was like the start of the flood.
12. EDITING
For this section of my music video I knew before the post want I wanted to do, which was to create the illusion that
someone walks past a tree and someone else comes out of the other side because I thought that, that it would look
cool in the music video since, in reality, that’s not supposed to happen which makes it more exciting to watch. To
create this effect I used the used two different clips which I layered and masked off at the tree using the masking pen
tool because that’s the best tool to mast on this occasion so that when one of the people go by the tree there is a
cutoff point. From there I proceeded to alter the speed to match the tempo of the song that it looked better and mover
the clips in the timeline in a way so that it synced when one person walked by a tree so that it looked more like the
person flows out from the tree and comes out as another so that it overall looks better.
Although I knew what to do and I was doing it, there was two slight problems. One was that at the start of attempting
this effect, the clip glitched and I nested the two layers together, which made it so it was irreversible when I closed and
then opened the program again because I couldn't go back. As a result of this, I had to retry the process of making this
effect but the second problem was that one of the clips were framed upwards a but from the other causing an unstable
equilibrium and proportion which made it difficult to make one of the clips match to the other after the masking hence I
had to transform the layers to make them seem as a whole. I work on this for quite a while and a lot of the outcomes in
that time lead to visibility of the layer alterations which wasn't what I wanted and it wasn't what I wanted to tolerate so I
decided to scale in both of the layers so that I could distort and change the positioning of the two layers, which lead to
me fixing the problem which caused a successful aftermath which allowed me to continue with the other sections of
my post production.
Although I thought I had finished at the time of finishing the effect, I went back at the very end of production to add a
tint of saturation and color correct to make the clip of the music video look more vibrant yet so intense because it
slightly make the characters in the clip more dark. As well as this, I also added a text at the bottom of the screen to
bulk out what was going on in this section of the music video as so that you can read what the lyrics are saying at the
same time as what is visually going on in the music video.
13. EDITING –
FILE MANAGEMENT
Screenshot and annotate where you have saved your work and how you
have organised your footage so you know where it is – this will also
include your audio track for your video and any other images, found
footage, etc
When editing, I kept all of my recorded video files (mp4) in a folder so that they weren't disorganized
thus making me able to not loose and/or make it hard to find the video files so that everything is as
smooth as possible when getting the files because it gives me more productive time for the other things
in the production stage for my music video which is good because then I am more able to optimize my
artist potential with the time gain from the organization of my files, especially since there were over a
hundred video files.
To make it even better, when I got overlays, greenscreens and other SFX off of YouTube, to apply them
to my recorded clips within Premier Pro to make my music video more stylistic, I organized these
videos in a separate folder so that they don't get messed up among the raw video files that I had
recorded, which was used because it allowed be to go into one concentrate folder and selected the
appropriate file for the section of the music video that I would like to use it in which made it
more convenient to edit because it further organized the overall file management.
14. EDITING –
SETTING UP PREMIERE
Screenshot and annotate how you have set up a new
Premiere Pro project – indicate what you called it, where you
saved it
You should also show how you set up your timeline,
indicating the video settings used [e.g. DSLR 1080p 25]
I set up the premier pro editing software by firstly opening up the software
and letting it load up so that it takes me to the settings with the opening
window where it allowes be to choose what video and audio options that I
want. From here, I began to alter the resilution so that it is 1080p so that it
would be high defintion and so that it would match the raw footages
resilution so that I would optized the potential of the resilution of the music
video. I also used the frame rate 25fps when setting up premier so that I
could make my music video because that is the standard size for a a film in
Britian. From here I proceeded past the setting into the work space and
began to add videos, the audio and the SFX to create my music video.
15. EDITING –
IMPORTING FOOTAGE
Show how you imported your footage, your file set up in
Premiere and how you have organised your different docs
[video, audio, etc]
To import my files I firstly had to open up premier pro. Then I proceeded to open
up my folder with all of my video mp4 files so that I could select the right ones to
use for my music video. Then, to import the videos I simply dragged the files from
the finder app (file app) into the software and also manually imported the videos
via premier pro by opening new files in the software because apparentially
manually importing footage into the software causes less issues like crashes
and/or lag.
16. EDITING –
WORKSPACE
Show and describe the Premiere Pro workspace – preview window,
bins, timeline, playback window, tool bar, audio levels, etc
My editing work space when working to complete my music video was prettying organised at the
end because I had nested multiple clips and I also didn't go overboard with the SFX, which made
editing in premier pro less of a mess, which made me able to get through the post-production more
usefully, which was helpful because there was so much happening at once when editing my music
video that having a unorganised workspace would have made editing my music video difficult
because it would add to the distractive nature of the editing process.
Also, because the workspace was easy to work with since the essential tools were in the in the view
of the workspace of the software, the marker tool was easy to find, which allowed me to mark where
the beat was in the timeline, which musely gave me the oppotunity to add transtional cuts and SFX
where nessacary to the beat, thus making the music video in post easier to edit and making it more
efficient of me to apply my editings to the raw-recorded footage because I know where the beat
corresponds durationally to the song in the timeline.
Although I hadn't really used Premier Pro before this music video very much to edit videos, I had
previously used After Effects and Sony Vegas, which gave me a greater understand and
confidence, when going in to use the software, about how to vaguly use the similar tools within the
program because I had already had experienced and understood the tools in After Effects, which
some, althought it said it is primarily used for SFX, it has all and more of the tools then in Premier
Pro, which allowed me to quickly learn Premier Pro, which made me able to work with the program
more efficiently hence I could get around the program well.
17. EDITING –
ASSEMBLY EDIT
Show how you put together your basic sequence in the order
you want it – previewing clips, dragging to the timeline,
trimming/cutting, etc
If you have a lip sync, pay special attention to showing how you
synchronised the footage with the audio track
When I would drag clips into the timeline, I would firstly speed up or slow down the clip
so that the tempo would match the speed of the song so that I would look better and
more in sync with the song. From there, I began to place the clip in the approprient
poition on the timeline and cut it where the beat is so that the transition is at the beat.
This was easy for me to do because I could use my markers as a guide as to where the
beats in the song are to help me add my cuts from one clip to another which was good
because it made finding and using the beat for transitions easier to do because it
showed me where the beats were on the timeline and it also save time which allowed
me to quickly get onto other things so that I could proceed through my post production
quicker.
Also since in my music video the people featured were wearing balaclavas, lip syncing
wasn't relevant in my music video therefore, I didn’t need to edit in a certain way to cater
to the sync of the lips within the music video.
18. EDITING –
REFINEMENT
Show and explain how you have refined and improved your initial
sequence edit
Although, when I was making my sequence, I was adding small edits a long on the way, at
the end of completeing the sequence for my music video I went back over the sequence to
add effects to the clips that needed them to make them look better within the music video
visually so that the would make the product (music video) more appealing to my audience.
The main refinment that I added after formulating a sequence of different clips was that
colour correction because making the colourations in videos look interesting makes a music
video look better, but not only that, but making the colours flow tonally with different clip's
natural makeup of colours and the mood of the section of the song so that I could, artistically
and creativly, inflict mood via the colours that I used alongside the song and the video so that
it would fit the style that I was going for so that I could push for some sort of visual
atmosphere to make the music video feel less bland and dull so that it would be more
interesting to watch visually.
19. EDITING –
COLOUR CORRECTION/SFX
Show and explain your colour correction process/effects process – use
staged screenshots to show each part of the process and the effect.
Explain why you chose to do this
To create the colour effects for most of the clips in the music video I added a luminar colour effect so that I could alter
the curves of the contrast of the video footage by clicking and dragging the curvature in various directions so that I
could find the most fitting colouration that would fit the tone of the music video's genre. The luminar effect also had the
option of using a colour wheel, which was good because this allowed be to alter specific colours in an image so that I
could increase or decrease the saturation thus allowing me to make certain colours pop in the music video making the
overall colourations of clips within the music video look more admirable. I did this mostly in the clips that where dark
and a bit off visually from the raw recordings because it gave the dominate colours in the clips a glow, which allowed
for better visibility of what was going on within the music video in those clips via the selective colouration and
saturation.
There were a few cuts in the music video where I added lens distortion, to different extents, so that I could create the
illusion that there are alterations of depth within the music video which would make the music video more intriguing to
watch because it make some clips, when someone watches them, feel more fluid and adds to the style of the music
video as a whole because it makes the music video more artistically diverse.
There were a few cuts in the music video that were VHS because I thought, when going into the post production, that
adding VHS's would obviously alter the framing of different clips but it would also make the music video look better
because it adds more bulk to the final music video and it give the music video a nostalgic tint that gives the music
video a slightly more alternative feel to it which can be attractive to many people, which is good when you're trying to
sell and/or advertise a product.
20. EDITING –
EXPORT
Show how you exported your completed project, show which
settings you have used and explain your choice of file name
and where you have saved it
When I had finished all of my post-production for my music video it was time to
export of the Premier Pro file so that I could export the music video as an mp4 so
that I could upload it to YouTube, thus allowing me to access the imbedded code
of the music video so that I could copy and paste it into blogger so that examiners
can access and analyse my work.
I did this by exporting the file as a H.264 format and a 1080p 60fps file so that it
was in the best quality after export for an upload to YouTube so that it makes the
uploading process more swiftly.
