Final Cut - Polarize

Final Album cover digi pack

The theme I was using when making my album cover was 'Seeing things in a different way' I think this matches my song choice Polarize very well. I've also decided to stick with the black and white theme that I used on my practice album cover because I really like the effect it gives and It also makes my other effects look better as they are contrasting colours and allow me to use grey in between. It also works with the black and white effect that I use in my finished music video so this creates a link between all 3 pieces or work. My video, poster and album cover.

The actual title of the album is a cut-out effect on Michaels face and uses that instead off a fill in the text. This is because of my theme  'Seeing things in a different way' as we are seeing Michael's face in a different way. I also added a lens flare effect as it matches the song 'Polarize' as polarize sunglasses remove glare from someone sight and the song is about polarizing the way wee see. I placed it in the same position as I did in my poster for continuity purposes.

The back of the album consists of other 21 pilots songs and I found the record labels they are signed with and added them too. I found a barcode and a parental advisory image online as well to try and achieve a professional look. I have added some 'fake' copyright text on the back whereas my draft didn't include this. I wanted to do this to try to add even more professionalism to the whole digi pack.

I didn't want to use the same effect on Michaels face as the poster on  my album cover because I want to show as many different ways you can see the same image to match my theme of 'seeing things in a different way'.
 

The inside of the album resembles when Michael is happy and has 'polarized' so he can see vibrant and happy colors. I was trying to make it so that when you open the album you will be struck by such a contrast just like you are in my finished video.

I used Michaels face from the poster on the cd because this will improve the continuity between my album cover and my poster.

Outside cover

inside cover

Final Poster - Polarize

The theme I was using when making poster was 'Seeing things in a different way'  as I think this matches my songs meaning. The song is Polarize by Twenty One Pilots and the meaning is that a boy is distraught about his child hood and is trying to see his life in a different way, hence the name 'polarize'

I've decided to use a black and white theme because it goes hand in hand with the black and white effect that I use in my finished music video. This is great as the continuity from the video and the poster now overlap and that's exactly what I wanted to achieve. it will also hopefully compliment the album cover as I intend to make that black and white too.

The actual face is made from lyrics of the song 'Polarize' And I think that this effect matches the theme as its a visual trick and you are seeing his face through what he is singing. So you are in a way 'Polarizing' by seeing his face in a 'different light' just like you see Michael in the video in a different way.

I used a lens flare over the whole poster as it symbolizes polarize sunglasses that remove glare from the sun in your eyes. And as the song is called Polarize I thought that this helps get the message across to anyone that doesn't understand the message. I also plan to position the lens flare in the top left hand corner of my album cover so they have some sort of similarity between the two.

I didn't want to use the same effect as the album cover on my poster because I want to show as many different ways you can see the same image to match my theme of 'seeing things in a different way'

The meanings of the messages and content in my music video

This is a quick 10 minute run through of all the effects, hidden messages, meanings and shots and me explaining why I have used them.

Audience feedback - Ancilary tasks

 

 

 

This is some of the feedback that I received when asked about my two ancillary tasks, the album digi pack and the poster.

The feedback consisted of many positive comments and especially the continuity between the two posters.

 "the poster looks really professional and is well edited" - Owen Smith

The poster's most frequent comments were about the use of the lyrics over Michaels face and the lens flare was praised too due to it working with the songs meaning and the continuity between the two pieces.

"its just a well-rounded and professional looking ancillary task" - James Huxtable

The digi pack received good comments too because the disc in particular uses the same image from the album cover and they liked that because the continuity between the two packs. They also liked the album cover and the used of titles and they understood that it represents the meaning of the song.

Changes from my rough cut to my final cut (and what they mean)

These are some of the changes between my rough cut and my final cut and why I made them.

I took into consideration the audience feedback towards the rough cut. The feedback was very clear and the points that I got from it were mixed.

Here are some of the positives that I learned from the feedback and that they particularly liked:

• The storyline
• The transition between the story and the live performance
• The ending (spray paint and fade to the sky)
• The song choice
• the framing of the shots "interesting and you can see the emotion on the actors face"
•  The wide screen effect

But also they gave me a few pieces of constructive criticism:

• Lost their attention - needs to be more vibrant
• lip syncing is out at he start
• didn't understand the hidden messages "like the hat and the bottle dropping"
• Titles at the start are a 'bit shabby' and can be improved on

After taking into consideration all the feedback and also based on my own opinion and what I think I should change here are 3 of the main changes that I made and why I changed them plus a conclusion of all the other small changes that I made:

1) Starting scene and titles 

Before (Rough cut)

After (Final cut)

I decided to change the starting titles and scene because of the audience feedback. They said that they didn't understand the meaning of the hat so I was thinking of ways to make it more apparent. After some consideration I thought that by making the screen black and white while he is not wearing the hat and then making it colour when he is wearing the hat will show that the hat is the catalyst in this change. Now, the actual reason fort the hat is to hide his insecurities and is his defence from the outside world. This is because after I did some research I found that most children have some sort of 'security item' when they feel unsafe. In many cases this item was a hat so I thought it would be a clear way to show that Michael (the actor) is using the hat as a way of self security. The black and white images show this as dark colours usually symbolise depression and the song lyrics explain the singer is depressed so I thought that this worked particularly well.

Secondly, the use of shots have changed for two reasons. The first reason is that I feel that the first 3 shots in the rough cut are just too shaky and doesn't show the correct emotions that I want to display. So I changed it to a tripod that is static  for the first 3 shots in the video.  The second reason is because I wanted to try and get the emotions of depression across to the viewer a bit more clearly so I included a slowed down shot of him walking through a puddle. I did this because walking through a puddle is associated with sadness, anger and most importantly depression.

Finally I decided to change the titles in this opening scene because I had some feedback and they said that they didn't match the video. So I thought to myself 'maybe I don't have to try and make the titles look generic and go for a professional look?'. After a quick look on the internet for some examples I found that most titles for a music video are completely different. So I thought I would make one that is creative and matched what the video looks like. And as you can see above thats what I came up with.

2) The drink and colour change

Before (Rough cut)

After (Final cut)

As you can see the appearance of black and white is back because Michael is not wearing his hat and you already know why that is from what I said earlier. But what has changed is that the drink has remained orange. This is because I was trying to make the audience understand what the drink meant after hearing their feedback on the rough cut. The meaning behind it is that the drink symbolizes childhood. The reason I wanted something to symbolise childhood is because of what the song is about. The whole song is about him reminiscing about his past and how he wished he could change it (hence the reason for depression) The drink is remaining orange though because its the only thing in this shot that is keeping him 'happy' because it reminds him of his childhood and it makes him feel like he is there so he can make a change to what his past was like. The drink is almost like a 'portal' if you wish and that it teleports Michael to a different place. And this works PERFECTLY with the meaning of the song as later on you will see that he teleports from one world to another after he has 'polarised' and seen the world differently through a new light.

(This same effect is applied to the other shot with the bottle falling on the floor for the same reasons)

3) The hand portal

Before (Rough cut)

After (Final cut)

This change is quite simple really, its basically there to show that he is seeing the world in a different way (which was the theme I was going for when making this music video)and it also acts as a portal for Michael to go through. It was my intention while making the rough cut for this to happen but the time it took for the effect to be made was very long so I put out the rough cut with text saying what the effect will be.

The  rest of the changes:

Final cut

The rest of the effects consist of Michael exploding and reappearing into dust particles, particles appearing on the drum kit and the new layered clip that you can see above.

The reason for Michael disappearing an reappearing is because I want to give the viewer a bit of mystery. The viewer is shocked when he disappears for the first time but when he reappears they will assume he has teleported into the new world they have seen through his hands. They may assume the whole thing is a dream? or maybe its just to show transitions in his location and time? so what one is it? well actually the answer is both. I wanted to add a little bit of mystery and I didn't want to spoon feed the viewer so i left a bit open for discussion and this may even make them want to re-watch the video to try an figure out why.

The reason for the drum particles is because the second world Michael is in is actually meant to be a dream world and i think by adding these particles to the drum kit it makes that a little more apparent.

Finally the layered clip that you can see above is to try and show what is going on inside Michaels had. The shot is a close up and the faded image of Michael sining is resembling his thoughts. The reason why the close up matters is because it places the singing Michael directly over his head and its almost as if we are looking into his thoughts.

Filming Review

The filming took place on 3 separate days. The first day was in Hethersett and we filmed all the live music performances. Filming was hard a the ground was wet so we needed to get a floor mat for the drum kit. Then during filming it started raining and we had to stop for a while. There we no other issues apart from dog walkers and other people sometimes walking into shot by accident so we had to re film some of these shots. We also filmed to shots inside the shop that day. We got permission and were in and out within 15 minutes as we didn't want to disrupt the shop and its customers.

The second day consisted of the black and white shots seen at the start of the video. These were in Wymondham and only took 20 minutes to film. everything ran smoothly and the weather was kid to us that day. Apart from the fact that we had to make our own fake puddle!!! we found a relatively small puddle but it wasn't big enough to make the splash i wanted when Michael walks through it. Then we filled it up with water from a bucket near by. We also had a slight problem with one of the SD cards but I had a spare one at hand so it was alright.

Finally on the third day we filmed the rest of the shots in Hethersett. These consisted of the tennis court shots, the spray paint ones, the ones in the house and also the ones in the field. The spray paint shots seemed to be the hardest to film because getting to the tree and the pathway was a long walk through a muddy track! its safe to say Michael wasn't to pleased about that one. The rest of the shots were perfect and went really well and smoothly. but again, there was the occasional dog walker that we had to stop for.

What have can I take away from this experience?

The weather is not in your control. Always have a backup plan if you are filming outside.
Bring a spare SD card and any other equipment needed.
If filming in public then I need to be aware of the people walking about and making sure not to get them in shot by accident.

Draft of my Album Cover digi pack

This is the draft of my album cover.

The theme I was using when making my album cover was 'Seeing things in a different way' I think this matches my song choice Polarize very well. I've also decided to stick with the black and white theme that I used on my practice album cover because I really like the effect it gives and It also makes my other effects look better. It also works with the black and white effect that I use in my finished music video.

The actual title of the album is a cut-out effect on Michaels face and uses that instead off a fill in the text. This is because of my theme  'Seeing things in a different way' as we are seeing Michael's face in a different way. I also added a lens flare effect as it matches the song 'Polarize' as polarize sunglasses remove glare from someone sight and the song is about polarizing the way wee see.

The back of the album consists of other 21 pilots songs and I found the record labels they are signed with and added them too. I found a barcode and a parental advisory image online as well to try and achieve a professional look.

I didn't want to use the same effect on Michaels face as the poster on my album cover because I want to show as many different ways you can see the same image to match my theme of 'seeing things in a different way'.

 

Research into music video posters ancillary task

Here are 4 important rules that i learnt and think I should follow when designing my poster for my music video.

1. Challenge Yourself to Try New Techniques in Production

Limited funds mean that the financial implications of experimentation are lessened greatly. Now is the time to take a risk or two on the production side, without a multi-million dollar corporation over my shoulder wondering if this is going to work or not. I could mix in a spot varnish, split fountain, tweak the opacity of my ink and just experiment in general.

Here is a good example I found that uses different layers, varnish and a split fountain:

2.Typography ALWAYS Matters

a successful poster depends on the typography that comes with it. Readability depends on the artist and their audience. Don’t forget that a lot of these posters are intended as merchandise, as opposed to items to promote the album. 

Here is an example that use good typography:

3. Would You Hang This On Your Wall?

This is the hardest thing to quantify, but there is no escaping that a poster is expected to be cool. Cool enough to be the only piece of art on your wall. Cool enough to let everyone that walks in to the room know a little about you and your tastes. This is the rule of poster law. 

here are 2 examples that I believe follow this 'law' and i would be happy to have on my own wall.

4. Listen to the Band You Are Designing a Poster for

Sounds simple, but you can easily see when a designer has abandoned the studying part of the job. Your poster can reference a lyric in a beloved song, or exist as an abstract piece of art, but it needs to appeal to the audience for the band to have any worth. These are the people who you want to buy your print to frame and cherish it forever. Respect that and they will respect your work.

Here are some examples of poster that i think are suitable for their relevant artists:

So what does this all mean?

basically, I need to make it relevant to the band, make it worthy of going on my bedroom wall, use typography, use imagery and finally challenge myself to new techniques when designing it and try to be original.

I have a few ideas in mind and they include using texts and typography on photoshop to resemble a face....

Audience feedback for my rough cut

Here are some of the positives that I learned from the feedback and that they particularly liked:

• The storyline
• The transition between the story and the live performance
• The ending (spray paint and fade to the sky)
• The song choice
• the framing of the shots "interesting and you can see the emotion on the actors face"
•  The wide screen effect

But also they gave me a few pieces of constructive criticism:

• Lost their attention - needs to be more vibrant
• lip syncing is out at he start
• didn't understand the hidden messages "like the hat and the bottle dropping"
• Titles at the start are a 'bit shabby' and can be improved on

I think all the feedback is fair and constructive and I will try my best to resolve anything that they didn't like about it.

I will make a different post that shows any changes that I decide to make between my rough cut and my final cut.

Rough cut

This is the rough cut for my music video 'Polarize' I am planning on getting some audience feedback and developing it further in the future.

Polarize final shot list

This shot list uses terms like 'singer Michael' and 'hand gesture' in them and I realise that you wont know what they mean. But I do. And that's all that matters at the end of the day, I understand what these 'slang' words mean and as long as this shot list sets out the guideline for my filming and I understand it then to me that's good enough.

The reason I have made my shot list like this is so I'm not restricted to shot by shot filming and it gives me some flexibility on the shoot. This is good because if any external factor affect the shoot then I am prepared. I also feel like I create better work by using this sort of shot list.

Here's the shot list :

Polarize Shot list with timings

0:00 Titles fade from black and a splitting transition to reveal Michael walking

0:07 close ups on Michaels face and his footsteps

0:14 moving car shots behind and side. Cut to singer Michael doing hand gesture

0:21 walking up to house and going into room (camera follows from behind)

0:28 Puts hoodie on and hat

0:39 walks outside follow shot to door, singing to himself walking cuts to singing elsewhere
0:51 singing with lots of energy and emotion cutting to drum hits and singing alone in different places

1:05 walks outside and goes into shop and gets the drink and walks back out and then close up on face walking and behind to side slightly (try to get lens flare)

1:16 sitting on the tennis court drinks drink looks like it tastes bad behind. Stands up drops on floor and pours out.

1:28 –cutting to singing and drums and walking with emotion again and lots of energy

1:44 running away shots from behind and cutting to “we have problems bit” (pits path)

1:55 –slow down walking cuts to singing one just standing there and singing and walking one is also singing and then gets ready for the hand part (pits path)

2:32 - does the hand part and walks past camera looking in the distance

2:41 low swooping shot (bottom left to top right) of signing and performing (mixed shots of performance) and singing guy

3:05 cuts of him walking away and singing guy while performing

3:16 leaves mic and walks away

3:21 Cuts to distance walking away talking to himself, then rising shot and fades to black

Casting



Michael Gukas

James Huxtable

              


















After last years piece of course work I've decided to approach casting in a different way. Last year I used two of my friends Jack and Huzefa who were very good at acting and did what I said... eventually. This has made me want to get a more professional actor this year and one who wont mess about when I ask them to film a scene.

 I decided to go to the drama studio to look for a male actor who would fit my role. I managed to narrow it down to 2 candidates. Michael Gukas (Left) and James Huxtable (right). They both have studied drama at A level and I can tell that they both have a great passion for the subject. After seeing some of their previous work and a quick audition I still couldn't pick them apart a they were equally as good at acting.

 Luckily the decision practically made its self as it turns out 3 other groups have chosen James in their media work so his schedule is very busy at the moment. So naturally, I decided to go with Michael to feature in my music video.

Practise of making an album cover.

I've been going through some ideas on what I could do for my album cover and here is one I came up with...

I particularly like the black faded gradient and I want to use this in my actual cover. I know the image is not related to my video in any way at all but I've been using it for practise of sizing and styles.

Dragons den pitch of my idea

What does the song Polarize Mean?

Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, Twenty One Pilots’ two members, begin “Polarize” with the chorus. Tyler sings, “Help me polarize, help me polarize.” Polarization is a process that causes sunglasses to only accept lightwaves that are coming straight towards the glasses, reducing glare from other reflective surfaces. Wearers of polarized sunglasses are able to see exactly what they are looking at more clearly than usual.

Of course, polarization is also the process by which things are “polarized,” or separated into two distinct groups. (Think of the north and south poles or the two ends of a magnet.) Based on these two definitions, Tyler wants his life streamlined and sorted. As polarized sunglasses sort between the directions of light waves and a magnet has a north and a south end, Tyler wants himself to be clear and organized so that his decisions can be well made.

In the pre-chorus, Tyler lists a few specific ways he’d like to improve his life: “I wanted to be a better brother, better son / Wanted to be a better adversary to the evil I have done.” He wishes he could have been better for his family and would have liked to have had the good in his life outweigh the evil. He wants desperately to be a good person.

The Song I have chosen...

I have chosen to make a Music Video for the song 'Polarize' By Twenty One Pilots.

I have chose to use this song:

•  as I feel I am able to portray the message of the song through visual images in imaginative and creative ways.
• I also Like the instrumentation of the song as its not too crowded and it has a clear beat on the drums so I can follow this beat with my transitions and shots easily.
• I also like how it has a Breakdown too as it will allow me to put a twist in the video and will allow me to change the mood of the video for that section.

Here is the song:

Evaluation of preliminary Task

What technology did we use?

We Used a Nikkon D5300 DSLR camera to film with and adobe premier pro to edit the footage with.

What Ideas have I learnt from the process, scriptwriting, casting, script writing, filming and editing?

I Learnt that to make a music video it requires allot of time and planning as you have to plan the timings of all the shots so they match up with the song. I also learnt that Lip syncing is best performed when the actor actually sings the song while being filmed.

I also gained some experience with my editing skills when I tried to match up all the clips and get the timings right. The lip syncing proved to be the hardest part to edit. But I was surprised how easy it was to mute the sound and input a music file in place of the original sound.

How did the Group work together?

We split up the roles 3 ways I had the task of editing, Phil was in charge of the camera work and Henry was the one that was in charge of writing the script. I feel that we worked well together as we all did our parts very well. We also would all contribute to the different parts as well. For example I filmed a couple of the shots as Phil was required to be in the actual shot itself.

Audience Feedback

"The video didn't have much of an interesting storyline and it was a bit short but I really liked the use of the shoes and how they changed and also the lip syncing was very believable" - Nathan Saunders

"I liked the Part Where the high five changed camera angle when the made contact. I also like the use of changing from black and white to colour when the mood of the song changes. I didn't particularly like the setting as it has clearly been filmed at a school when it would have been a better idea to use a home." - James Huxtable

"The clip isn't very long and I would like to see more but I really enjoyed the part where he jumps down onto the stones as it compliments the change in mood in the song. I also liked the change of colour in the video." - Tapiwa Mamutse

Looking back at your finished video and feedback what changes in filming and editing will you I be looking to change?

I would Like to change the editing software that I used. I tried Premier Pro for this task and I didn't like it very much. I know that its very powerful and has allot of great features but the school computers just aren't powerful enough to handle this. So for my actual task I will look to use mt on computer at home for editing.

After reading some of the feedback I will make the video a full music video instead of just a short clip of the song. I also will put more effort into finding a relative setting and location for the song I choose. Finally, I will also take into consideration the storyline of the video. I feel as if this video had a poor storyline and wasn't very interesting. So I will make sure I plan out a creative and interesting storyline for my actual song.

One thing I wont be changing is the camera I used. I found it very easy to handle and manipulate, it also shot in very good quality and was easy to upload the clips to the computer.