Editing Tutorial Videos

As I have never used Final Cut Pro X before (the software I will be using to edit my music video) I decided to look at a few videos so that I could understand how to use it. This is so when I do begin editing I actually have an idea of how to do it and don't waste time playing around with it. Hopefully this further research will help me to produce a video that looks professional.

The first video I watched is above. It is a tutorial for beginners which runs through how to do basic things such as import clips, drag clips onto the timeline, cut clips down, add/remove sound, add effects and share the final product. I found this video very helpful as it provided the basic stuff that I needed to know to be able to use the software at a reasonable level. I now know how to do things which I may have struggled with before and so feel I am more equipped to actually start the editing process. 

Although the last clip was very helpful in allowing me to understand how to actually edit using the software it was not specifically based on editing a music video together and so to gain further knowledge I looked at the above video which focuses on editing a music video. This video showed me how to edit the clip in time to the music (helpful for lip sync) and also showed me how to put cuts in etc. This video was also very helpful as it showed me specific things which I am likely to do when editing my music video such as matching the clip to the music. After watching both of these clips (and a couple more which I haven't posted) I believe I am ready to begin the editing process and feel as though I can produce a high standard product. 

Places My Video Will Feature

With the main audience for my product being fairly young, my video is likely to feature in a number of easily accessible places, in particular popular social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Using such social media will hopefully allow for wide exposure, so it can reach its intended audience. 

YouTube is the main site I will feature my video on. This is because of its accepted status as the biggest and most popular video sharing site. It's mass audience would mean my video would be viewed by a range of people, allowing it to not only reach my intended audience but also people who may not have seen the video otherwise. The site allows users to upload, view, share and comment easily, meaning people can spread their thoughts on the product within seconds. The 'share' ability allows the site to converge with other sites such as Facebook and Twitter allowing fans of the product to share it with friends and family. 

The ability to comment on YouTube is a great way of promotion which can be seen on Drowners video for 'A Button On Your Blouse'. The majority of the comments are positive which allows other viewers to see this and watch more of their videos. It also allows Drowners the band to see some of the comments and alter their work to what they think the fans want to see. This shows that the site is interactive. In addition to this one of the comments shown is in another language which shows that videos can reach people from all around the world. The link to the bands Facebook page is also shown which again shows convergence and allows people to go and find out more about the band. 

In addition to YouTube I would also use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote my video as these are both very popular sites with accessories to compliment the promotion of the video. Facebook has around 1.3 billion active users and Twitter has 284 million active users meaning they are clearly popular and have the ability to promote my video easily and at low cost. The video would be able to reach a mass audience of people from around the world, even exposing people not necessarily into this particular music genre to my video. The most effective way of promoting my product with these sites would probably be to create pages for the artist and then post the video (or a link to the video on YouTube). I could also post my ancillary texts, behind the scenes pictures and 'teaser' clips on these pages.

On Facebook the ability to like, comment and share (similarly to YouTube) allows people to express their opinions on the video so others can decide whether they want to watch the video and also allowing the producer (in this case me) to take on board advice in order to improve the product. Similarly on Twitter you have the ability to retweet, favourite or reply to tweets which again means you can get feedback (possibly on a wider scale on Twitter) and a wider audience can again be addressed. The retweet button is particularly influential as it allows you to share a tweet (which could contain the link to the video on it) with everyone who follows you and then they are also able to retweet it. This allows lots of people to see the video in a matter of seconds. 

The retweet ability on Twitter is a quick and easy way of promotion which can be seen on Drowners twitter page. The band have retweeted a tweet by 'FRENCHKISS RECORDS' which has the link to their video 'A Button On Your Blouse'. This means that everyone following the band (who are obviously already fans) can view the video, if these viewers like what they see they then may also retweet the tweet and all of their followers can view the video and so on. This means that by using the site promotion isn't limited to a niche audience and it can actually go global. 

If I wanted to include even more social media I could also make an Instagram account which is based around visual imagery. Here I could post photos, for example my ancillary texts and behind the scenes pictures. You are also able to post small, time limited videos so I could possibly again post parts of my video as teasers with a link to the full video in the description. 

Narrative Analysis of 'The Only Exception' by Paramore

The video supports the theory suggested by Tim O'Sullivan (1988) which argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story. 'The Only Exception' music video includes both narrative and performance elements, telling the story of a young women who has seen love negatively effect people close to her (her parents) in the past and so shuts her feelings away. However because of one particular person she is learning to accept love and open herself up to it.
Kate Domaille (2001) suggested that every story can fit into 1 of 8 narrative types, each narrative type being based around an original story. For example, the 'Achilles' -a fatal flaw that leads to the destruction of the previously flawless person. This particular video fits the 'Romeo and Juliet' narrative type (the love story). Love and relationships are often explored within music videos and so this is a fairly stereotypical video, however the twist of rejection of love is something less common and so sets the video apart from others following the 'love' theme. In addition to this the narrative is slightly unconventional, in respect to how the antagonistic character appears to be Hayley in this video, whereas we would expect her to play the protagonistic character.
The video falls into 'narrative clip' and 'performance clip' supporting Sven Carlsson's (1999) findings that all music videos fall into 'rough groups'. This is because we see a clear story and message being created however there are also shots of the band playing and Hayley lip syncing.
In relation to Todorov's theory the video fits his suggested structure however 'the point of equilibrium' is quite short as the complication comes early on. The couple appear to be fairly comfortable and happy together at the beginning of the video (the state of equilibrium), however Hayleys character soon creates a disturbance when she decides to leave her partner with only a note saying 'I'm sorry'. The problem is then solved when the character's experiences throughout the video (such as the wedding scene) persuade her to return to her partner and destroy the note, restoring equilibrium again. This is fairly conventional in relation to 'mainstream' narrative structures and provides us with pleasure as we seek a happy ending.

Representation Theory

The slideshare above is a summary of representation theory - a theory I will be applying to my work throughout the production process. I hope to link this theory to my own product in some way.

Inspiration

To get some inspiration of what I want to include in my own video I looked at a range of videos from the same (or similar) genre to my own song. From this I found certain techniques (mainly regarding editing) which I thought looked very effective and would possibly fit into my own video.

One of the video's I looked at was 'Figure it Out' by Royal Blood, which particularly attracted me due to the use of colour. The video has edited the colour so that the shot is tinted in either blue or red depending on the shot. This is unique and not common of many music videos meaning it is memorable. In addition to this the editing technique helps to develop the narrative because the scene is viewed differently in each colour effect. For example when the red tint is used at the beginning we are unable to see the red blood on the girls t-shirt but when the colour tint changes to blue the blood on her t-shirt is revealed, hence developing the narrative. I think using a technique similar to this on my video would look quite effective and help to recreate the psychedelic feel of the song. If decided to do this however it would be used in a more abstract way and not as a way of developing the narrative.

I also thought the use of editing in Alt-J's 'Breezeblocks' was interesting and different. The video has been put into reverse so that everything happens backwards, for example a shot is used of a glass bottle smashing against a wall however we instead see the glass fragments coming together on the wall and reforming the bottle. This is different to many mainstream videos which tend to be less experimental with both editing and style. I think using reverse editing in my video would look effective in small sections due to the fast tempo of the song. If I used this editing technique it'd be it'd be used in time to the beat to allow the video to flow and would probably be used to express the characters feelings.

This video by Drowners also has editing which is quite different and interesting. The video for 'A Button On Your Blouse' using a split screen with one shot being of the band (and the lead singer lip syncing) and the other shot being of the band and others doing different things. There is also a four piece split screen at the end. This is quite unique and gives different audience members something to look at so you don't get bored. For example if you are not interested in the shot shown on the right you can instead watch the other shot of the band. The shots also having contrasting effects as the shot on the left is constantly in black and white whereas the shot on the right often has tints of red etc. I think using a split screen in my video for short periods would look effective as it would allow me to contrast the characters emotions. If I decided to use this technique it would probably be as part of the narrative rather than performance but I may also use it on small sections of lip sync.