I have now completed my full rough cut of my music video and added in the singing parts between the narrative which is going on. I haven't completely stuck with the storyboard, as it is hard to stick with a rough guide throughout; however I have stuck to it as much as I could.
I have cut some bits out that I had in my storyboard as it felt like the narrative was 'dragging' on for too long in places, such as after the bus stop scene where I show the singer, I was then going to show Stephanie just about to get on the bus and I think that would have just been too much and unengaged the audience. I think this way, by having a less continuous narrative, although it is clear what the storyline is, it engages the audience as they're keen to see what is happening next.
I have tried to edit to the beat and lyrics as much as possible and I did include 3 clips that lasted two seconds long to act like a flash back; however that really didn't work as well as I thought. It was far too fast and jumpy, so I just made the clip where Stephanie is running down the street slightly longer to fill in a 6 second gap before the chorus kicks in, which works much better - the simpler the better!
I also added in a separate bit of filming where I have filmed Stephanie's phone ringing as part of a cutaway and I have included this where the lyrics say "I want to help you if you'll let me in", which is extremely ironic as at the end of the video, Stephanie's mum shuts her out. This again acts as an enigma code for the audience as they want to know what happens next, but aren't sure whether Stephanie knocks on the door or runs away again for good.
I am now going to gather together some audience feedback to see whether they prefer just the narrative music video, or the narrative and the singing parts together as the music video. This will help me decide which rough cut to work on further and use as my final piece.
Full Rough Cut
I just get an error message when I click on the video; it doesn't seem to have appeared on your Vimeo account.
ReplyDeleteIt's working now. I think the general idea works in terms of the cross-cutting between the singer and the narrative. The main issues are more technical. A lot of the shots are held too long (in my opinion, they're about twice as long as they need to be); there is scope for much tighter and more ambitious editing. I think the cutting between the various strands is a little pedestrian (you can afford to be more adventurous in terms of when you seed in the singer). Some of the shots themselves are ropey, as you know (not a fan of the zoom into the bus and some of the movements in the woods/ field are rough). The pace of the editing needs to increase at the bridge, when the song becomes more intense, and at the end, in order to reflect the increased emphasis of the singer. You could make a little more out of the text/ phone-call (for example, a reveal towards the end that the phone is on her bed or something).
ReplyDeleteTo summarise: tighter, more pacey editing; more adventurous deployment of the singer; better shot selection.