1. DEVELOPMENT DIARY
MUSIC VIDEO
Once me and my partner had completed filming our footage for our music video, we used the
application Final Cut Pro to piece and edit the filming together. We had already completed our edit
decision list and had chosen the clips that we were going to use . We began by piecing the clips one
by one referring back to our storyboard. Due to unforseen weather circumstances, we were unable to
completely stick to our storyboard which means that our music video did not portray the narrative in
the same way. For example, one of our main scenes included the use of sky lanterns. Unfortunately
due to the wind we were unable to create
this scene and instead, we had to film
another day and use sparklers instead.
To begin with, we double clicked a chosen
clip from the browser so it would appear in
the viewer. We then watched the clip and
decided on the parts that we wanted to use
from it, and in some case the entire clip.
To trim the clip and to select where to start
and finish we pressed ‘I’ to show where it
would begin and ‘O’ to show where the
clip would end. After this we dragged the
clip and placed it into the sequence, in
time with the music.
To make the editing process easier and simpler, we decided on piecing the entire narrative
together before adding any effects or making alterartions. Placing the clips together was
easy and a tool that made it simpler was the Snapping tool, which was used to prevent
black screens inbetween gaps in the clips. The tool was effective in linking the clips directly together,
ensuring they transitioned fluently to the next. Having direct cuts was pretty basic so to make the
transitions more advanced, we put the clip we wanted in the video bar above and added Fade
In/Dissolve effect. To this, we used the Pen tool and placed two dots – one at the beginning
of the clip and one almost half way through. These dots were
placed on the black line near the top of the clip – which is the
brightness – and meant that when we dragged the first dot
down to the bottom, the screen
went black and then would fade in
to the rest normally. Additionally,
in some clips we thought is was
suitable to have a Fade
Out/Dissolve so we did the same but dragged the second dot down instead of the first.

2. Our music video consists of footage based in the present time and also of flashbacks in the past so we
added Fade Ins/Dissolves to make sure the audience would know there was a difference in time. The
smooth transition looks much better than a quick cut and it also shows the passage of time, easily
making it appear like a memory that the character/s is thinking about. In some parts of the video we
did not need to use the Pen tool to create a Fade In/Out as we didn’t want an overlay in some of the
clips. Alternatively, we went to EFFECTS/VIDEO TRANSITIONS/DISSOLVE and chose the type of
dissolve we wanted; in our case it
was the Cross Dissolve.
The next step in editing the flashbacks was to change one inparticular. The
instrumental near the end of the song was like a build up so we decided to use the
Slice tool to split two clips into many pieces. One clip was in the present and the
other in a flashback. Once we had cut the clips we placed them one after the other,
alternating between the two scenes.These quickcuts were also effective because they
fitted in extremely well with the beat of the music.To help with positioning the clip
on time with the beat, we pressed ‘M’ at the desired place which then placed a
marker. This allowed us to postion the clip precisely where marked and exactly on
time with the beat of the song.

3. After watching the clips back, we wanted to make some of them slow motion to emphasize the
emotions going on in the scenes, which would further exaggerate the themes of the narrative. We did
this for the opening clip and other clips that fell on the chorus, most of all the ones that fitted in with
the line “I will try to fix you”. Along with emphasizing the narrative, it also made the lyrics & the
music seem more powerful. To alter the speed of the clip, we held down CMD+J which brought up a
pop up window. In this, we reduced the percentage of the speed
from 100% to whatever looked most suitable. For this clip in
particular, we took the percentage down to 45%. We also looked
to see what it was like if we reversed the clips. We did this by
clicking the ‘reverse’ box in the speed window. We experimented
with this because near the end of our video, we used the
flashbacks but in reverse order and made sure they were of the
same flashback but from a slightly different moment or angle.
However, the reverse effect didn’t turn out as expected so we did
not use it.
After we had completed piecing the video together and had added in all of the desired transitions, we
wanted to change the colour scheme of the flashbacks/memories so it would make it more obvious to
the audience. Me and my partner clearly understood the narrative and what was and wasn’t the
flashback but since we were so familiar with it, we wanted to put ourselves into the position of
somebody that hadn’t seen it and thought of what could help make things clearer.
The first clip that we experimented in with colour was an establishing shot of Covent Garden. Since
the first shot was at night, we wanted to make the clip appear slightly later in the evening instead of in
the day when it was originally filmed. To do this we used the 3-Way Colour Corrector to darken the
clip and reduce its brighter
tones. By changing the
‘Blacks’ in the clip, we
made appear as if the shot
was taken in the evening
and by giving the footage a
slight deep blue tint, made
it seem colder, which
helped foreshadow some of
the negative themes to
come.
When it came to editing the colours of the memories, we wanted to achieve a vintage affect to
represent the age of the flashback. We tried using Black & White by reducing the saturation, however,
we did not feel that it suited our music video. Most of the video consited of flashbacks which meant
that only a few clips were not it Black & White. After watching it through in this colour scheme, it
looked as if the footage was wrongly edited and we had missed out in changing the clips to Black &
White. We then attempted to search the internet for tutorials on how to create a vinatge effect. Once
we found one we liked, we followed its steps. Once again we used the 3-Way Colour Corrector and

4. altered the
‘Blacks’
making them
look slightly
more red and
yellow.
After
bringing
down the
saturation,
we achieved
the
vintage/sepia
toned look
we wanted.
To ensure
that each
flashback
had the same
filter, we
either copied
the filter from the previous slide using the Arrow tool (with 1) or
dragged the filter (middle tool) onto the slides that we wanted. Doing
this ensured the continuity of our editing and kept our video ‘error free’.
For one of our scenes we wanted to cut the corner of the actors
face out to place emphasis soley on the male character. To do
this, we zoomed out of the actors face by making the clip
bigger. This resulted in us losing
the rectangular shapes at the top
and bottom of the screen. This
clip would have stood out if we
did not put them back in and to do
so, we inserted two rectangles
that would act as the frame. We
ensured that the rectangles were the
same size as the frame because this
would also act as a continutiy error
if they wernt.

5. Additionally, we also wanted to zoom in on one of
our clips nearer to the end to create a close up that
currently did not exist. We trimmed the clips so we
had the long shot first and then trimmed the close
up version. When we did this we had to time the
two clips so that they flowed from one to the other
smoothly, without repeating or skipping any time.
We zoomed in on the original clip y again making
the image larger. This allowed us to show the
audience the emotions that were being portrayed
more closely. Like before, when the image was made
bigger, we had to replace the frame with the rectangle
shapes.
Finally, to conform to the standard coventions of a music video, we added text
which featured the song title, band name, and the production company/distributer ;
which additionally gave the audience information about the artist and could
influcene potential buyers. To add the text we selected the text option and insterted it
where we wanted to type. Once we dragged it down on top of the clip we wanted –
the opening & end of the video – we added a Fade In and Fade Out to make it appear
more fluent.