Editing sessions/ Audience Feedback/ My music video

First editing session

I have now started editing my music video and i am using the Adobe Pro editing suite. I have basic skills in editing already from editing home videos, and previous productions Ive made at college in media studies and an enrichment course in digital video editing. Just like I expected editing is the most time consuming part of the project, but luckily I enjoy editing the most out of everything, and already i have spent about six consecutive hours editing my video. There is still a lot to do as it was mainly just transferring my footage to the computer but for now i have put everything in order so i have a framework to work around and later on I will add special effects on. I plan to use black and white for the shots of their memories to show a change from the past and of course colour for the present. I would also like to use a tool called colour pass which picks out a bold colour, with the rest of the image in black and white. I think the audience would be attracted to the contrast of colour and black and white and appreciated by my target audience of a youthful generation.

Second session of editing

This session I spent longer (as i stayed at college till 8!) but it was worth the stay as i have gained some great outcomes and effects on my video. I have learnt how to fade clips into each other using the pen tool and dragging the yellow opacity line down to create a gradual, professional fade between clips. I have also incorporated effects such as sun beam, which i use when panning across the train tracks to make the shot more interesting for the audience. I have manipulated the speed duration on many of the shots to create slow motion effect to contrast with the fast tempo of the music towards the end. I have also sped up particular shots up to go to the beat of the music. Today ray showed me how to use the video effect colour pass, which enables you to focus on a bold colour leaving the rest of the shot black and white. I pasted this attribute to the rest of the montage clips to show a change in time of past memories but still kept interesting for the audience with a focus colour like red or green or blue. I have the majority of my video edited now but i still have to finish it within the third editing session. I will have to make sure that i am either really early or stay late again after college in order to get on my computer and finish it.

Third editing session

In this session i have created the main bulk of my video and its almost finished as i spent all my frees and stayed back after college in the editing suite adding to my video. I have been changing, and switching clips in order for the audience to understand the story better, making sure the clips are to the beat and eliminating anything unnecessary for the video. I have also learnt little short cuts which will save me time like clicking the bar space to automatically play the video, how to copy and paste clips i want to repeat, and also paste the same attributes from another clip like the colour pass effect for the memory montage. I did expect to finished my video within this editing session but adding the effects and making precise decisions has taken longer than i thought. So i will use a fourth editing session to finish the ending of my video.

Fourth editing session

In fourth and final session i have created a finished product that i am proud with. I had to create the ending for my video which was challenging as the music changes to a fast pace and i had to create sharper, faster clips to amplify the change in music and create the rush of the train station scene of the girl leaving. I had a few alternative endings for my video such as ending with the girls vision through the train window or the guy watching the train leave as he's on the platform or a memory clip in slow motion of them together. I decided to combine my first and second idea and have the guy watching the train into the point of view of the girl on the train. I am very proud of my finished product, there are of course parts which could be improved but i still feel it will engage the audience and deliver a clear narrative to my audience.

Audience Feedback

After finishing the first cut of my video I thought it was best that i gain some audience feedback off teachers, students in my class and friends. I did this in order to take on board a range of criticisms and consider how i could improve my video to be more successful and professional.

Tim Anderson - Media Teacher

After Tim watched my video he said that I had used some good shots and quite a clear narrative, however he also said that some shots are too long and can be quite boring in parts. He also thought i underused a particular shot that he really liked of the Beverley minster and said i should repeat this shot somewhere else for effect and continuity.

From this feedback, I will edit my shots shorter so that my audience does not become bored, and edit different angles into scenes to create variety for the audience. I wont rearrange the plot of my narrative as this seems to have been made clear to my audience but I will copy the shot of Beverley minster as it is quite an interesting shot and should hopefully engage my audience more. I of course trust Tim's feedback the most out of all of my audiences as he teaches the subject and knows the mark scheme and content of the syllabus so I will adjust my video to his criticisms.

George Smithson - Friend of mine

Even though George is a friend of mine and his views on my video could be biased, I feel he is a very honest, outspoken person and wouldn't hold back on a criticism. He said that the narrative is very relevant to people our age and that its made clear whats happening to the couple. He also said that my slow motion clips look very effective with the contrast of faster music. However, he mentioned that there is too many scenes of the couple kissing and the boy kissing the girls head, and said it made it a bit too corny and soppy. He also criticised my end scene, which i was expecting as i didn't have a clip of her actually on the train due to difficulties and George picked up on this. He said that it needs to look more realistic of her getting on the train, or to signify it better.

I was very grateful of this feedback as George would be put into my target audience category for my music video and his thoughts would be very relevant. I will take into consideration what he said and will aim to eliminate the excessive kissing scenes to reduce the 'corny' level, and i will try to show the rush and emotions better at the end train scene and attempt to bring in a point of view shot I did myself getting on the train. Hopefully this will make it more realistic and improve the end result of my video.

I lastly gathered feedback from Naz another student from wyke, who i don't know as well and who takes film studies. I thought it would be interesting as she would be a female in my target audience category and may collect different views on my video to the previous ones. Also because she is familiar with the editing suites and does film studies, her critic may be more relevant than George's as he has never worked on one. She felt very touched by video and too agreed that the issue is very current at the moment for a lot of people which i was pleased with. Overall she really enjoyed it and appreciated it and couldn't say anything bad about it. Whether she was just been nice, or if she generally liked it I'm not sure, but i still amend those changes from above and hopefully create a more professional result than what it is now.

My music video promo