Post - Production (Editing the Music Video)

 

The editing app I used is VN

But, I had the option to use other editing apps like Capcut and DaVinci Resolve. 

so, why VN? 

• It's a simple editing app to use, everything is straight forward unlike DaVinci Resolve, where everything is more intricate and therefore, requires more time for a video that could be produced at a similar quality in VN. 

Comparions: 

VN 

DaVinci Resolve 

• I also chose VN because I've used it in the past, so it's more familiar to me than Capcut or DaVinci Resolve. 
• Finally, (personally) my laptop always glitches mid- editing when I'm using Capcut, so I end up losing the hard work I've done beforehand. 

However VN also has its disadvantages: 

• VN is limited to the pre-made templates, transitions or animations unlike DaVinci Resolve, where there's more option and gives you more ability to manipulate the pre-made templates. 
• Capcut offers more aesthetically pleasing fonts, with effects built into it. It also has a better range of  filters, which is again limited when using VN
• To unlock many of the features that could make lots of difference in editing, VN requires you to have a premium version, which I didn't have access to. 

 

ADDING THE AUDIO: 

After I roughly inserted all the daillies , I extracted the audio from the video recording of the song and layered it on top of all the clips. 

To make sure the music is clearly heard, I kept the volume at 100. 

I've overlapped the diegetic audio of this original clip because it makes this scene more genuine. It gives the music video more character because it gives the audience a glimpse of a conversation and maybe the joy she felt being around him and his company. 

I made sure the sound didn't overpower the music by turning the audio down to volume:26. 

TRANSITIONS:

The beginning of the video is a fade in from black. Usually, a fade in would be from white, but I figured it would make more sense to begin from black because of the dim atmosphere conveyed throughout majority of the clips, especially the first one.

I used a dissolve transition to move from this clip because I wanted it to show that time is passing. It would make sense in this clip because she is entranced, daydreaming almost and she's in this state for so long that she must have lost track of time.  

similarly, I used a dissolve transition to show that time has passed since she sent those texts and no one has replied. 

I originally filmed this as a one shot but as I manipulated the speed of the clip, I cut it down and used a dissolve transition in between so that it can again convey the time passing and the idea that the girl is losing track of time because she's had a lot of things to think about.  

Throughout the music video, I didn't use any other kinds of transitions except dissolves, fades or none. This is because the whole concept of the music video fit these transitions the most.

ADDING TEXT: 

I used a superimposed text to show the "text messages" that display the lyrics of the song. 

I just used a pre-made template for this from the text icon because it was already in the format I was imagining it to be in. 

I used a "slide up" animation for the text messages because it imitated the way text messages pop up on the application I used for messaging, which is called "iMessage". 

I then slowed down the speed at which it slides up because the original is too fast in my opinion. 

As this clip ends, I've made the it so that the "text messages" fade out so it would be cohesive with the transition of this clip as it's also a fade out.  

Instead of adding the original audio from this clip, I decided to add subtitles instead. This is because of the following reasons: 

1.  Adding the dialogue by itself might confuse the audience since they won't be able to hear it properly considering the music would overpower the audio. 
2. Upon filming this scene, I didn't have a proper mic attached to the camera, so the video didn't catch high quality sound.
3. Adding subtitles could switch things up to make the music video more diverse since I've seen some artists use this to put more context into the music video without confusing the audience. For instance, Thuy (one of the artists I've researched and taken inspiration from) 

A screenshot from the music video: I hope U see this - Thuy 

In this opening scene, she converses with her mom in her mother tongue and the subtitles' being in English serves as a way for the majority of her audience to understand. 

I decided to fill the text using the colour yellow. My teacher gave me feedback and suggested making the text so that it looks as if it's from the films, where the text is surrounded by a black box and the colour of the text itself is white. 

I was opposed to this idea  because I believe that having yellow text has increasingly become more conventional for music videos, whilst my teacher was inspired by film subtitles, I believe it didn't suit this music video. In addition, the colour yellow is bright and therefore would make it easier for the audience to recognise and read. 

SLOW- MOTION:

This scene is originally shot as a onner, I was in the car whilst the actress was running, so that I could keep up with her pace whilst keeping the camera as still as possible, to avoid any shaking because I was also zooming out the lens whilst the car was on the move. 

I then cut down the whole video into 3 clips, which I have separately slowed down since I wanted to use juxtaposition and highlight how dramatic this running scene is supposed to be, to indicate how she has been running for a long time, and in fact has probably lost all sense of time which I have emphasised through the use of the "dissolve" transition. 

MONTAGE:

These were clips I've cut down and from the videos I've shot using the Sony camcorder. Much like how I was inspired by the use of yellow subtitles, I was heavily inspired by NIKI's music video called Back burner. It was very personal and endearing which I wanted to illustrate for this montage. 

I didn't want to add any drastic transitions between the clips, but to use a simple cutting between scenes. This is because I didn't want to distract the audience from watching this montage, and on top of that, it's meant to feel like the girl is shuffling through these videos that she's had stored in this camera's SD card. 

MISE - EN - SCENE:

I've experimented with the lighting, but concluded by using my lamp to achieve this effect because I wanted her shadow to be displayed on the wall, as shown. Not only does it look cool, but it also foreshadows her growth in the future and how it's promising the audience that she will get over this break - up as she learns to accept the situation she's put herself into. 

This dutch tilt/low angle shot demonstrated the speed at which she was jogging at, whilst establishing that she's now at a different location (outside).

In this scene, I actually cut off the music, to add onto the effect that she was too distracted by her own thoughts, to recognise the car that almost hit her. The music only continues when she walks away, I want the audience to recognise that the car brought her back to reality. 

I made sure these beginning scenes had a sense of brightness in them because it kind of represented the joy that she felt in these memories. 

According to my research, the colour green can mean lots of things in cinema. In this case, I used this filter because of its dark, green hue that signifies the girl healing from this relationship and the potential new beginnings that she will face in the future. 

I filmed this scene in the dark so that the phone could act as the only source of lighting (key light), because I liked the way the screen reflected onto her glasses to briefly show what is on her screen. 

I used the same lamp as a "key light" so that the action that the girl is doing, can be seen and so that the audience can focus on only that since the light is facing directly on top of the desk. 

I purposely filmed this final scene out of focus because I didn't want the audience to see the details of the contents in the box. In a way, I wanted to relay the message that, what's happened in the past stays there, and the girl storing these "memories" into a box meant that she's ready to close that chapter of her life and wants to move on, even though it'll be difficult to do so. 

I emphasise this as the end of the final scene abruptly cuts to a black screen indicating it's the end, the chapter has been closed. 

Overall, these screenshots also show what filters I've used and how I've adjusted the videos' elements so that nothing is over saturated or extremely out of place. I ensured all of the clips had cohesive elements so that it doesn't distract the audience from watching the music video.