Editing

After gathering all of our footage, we began to edit our music video. At first we looked into using Final Cut Express, a challenging editing software. After much time studying YouTube tutorials on how to use it, we realised that it would be far more appropriate for us to us iMovie as we were all already very familiar with this software and would inevitably lead to a much more successful final product.

After roughly selecting which video clips we possibly wanted to use we dragged them into the timeline. This meant that we had to carry out a range of simple edits including cutting and splitting the clips- this also made the timeline much more clean and concise. 

This video clip gives you a general idea of the layout of the editing software that we used. As you can tell, it is very structured and therefore simple to understand. Hovering over the clips and dragging them either left or right cut them by either making them shorter or longer. We had to adjust the length of the clips regularly to ensure that the lip syncing was in time throughout in order for it to look of a professional standard.

We decided to select a colour theme for our music video. We all agreed on having more of a blue and pink tint throughout- to do this we had to carry out some colour correction, altering the saturation of many of our clips to have the desired look.

We chose the colour blue as it is very calming which is how we want our audience to feel when they watch it. Blue also has strong links with nature which is an evidently emphasised theme featuring throughout our entire video which is why it's so fitting. The colour blue can also be associated with melancholy mood which also has strong links with the lyrics of heartbreak in our chosen song. Not only does our other chosen colour (pink) look very aesthetically pleasing, but it also has very conventional links to love/heartbreak which is exactly what our song is about. Also, pink and blue are very opposing colours- being warm and cold, therefore it will keep a steady colour balance throughout. 

We decided to include still images that I had taken of Nova whilst we were on location in Whitstable. We decided to place these in time to the beat of the song during a pause between the verse and chorus. Carrying out this task was quite challenging as they had to be cut at the perfect length in order for them to look in sync with the song- I feel that we did a good job at this as after reviewing the edited footage, it flows well and adds some different dynamics to the video. 

Initially, we used the clips (above and left) in their original form. When showing our media teacher a preview of our video she pointed out straight away that we need to remove any unneeded or distracting negative space. For example the sun set establishing shot included nice imagery however there was too much of the ground/surrounded area in it which took away the natural beauty. To overcome this, we simply had to use the 'crop to fill' tool in order for it to zoom into what we actually wanted (the sky alone). We feel that it makes the video appear more refined and professional, an essential element we always strive to achieve.

Another editing technique we used was slow motion. The reason for this was because slowing down a video clip can emphasise what is happening and show that something is of high importance. This is key in our video as we wanted to highlight scenes which reflected Nova's time spent with her lover. Also slow motion linked well with our song as it matched the slow pace of it, making it easy to watch. I also think that using slow motion resembles a special memory. This is as when I think back to certain moments in time, it is like I am watching it in slow motion- details of the memory become clearer. This could be the same in the case that Nova is reflecting on the high points of her past relationship, focusing on the positive moments that seemed to have stopped time and never left her. We also speeded up certain clips, especially in the fast pace 'flashback' section. We were able to alter exactly how fast we wanted the clips to go so that they would fit with the beat of the song- it looked successful as our idea was for it to look like a flashback as when our artist thinks back on this section of her life it is like a whirlwind of memories and emotions which i feel it successfully represents.
We made sure that we used these techniques in different places throughout the video to ensure that we could demonstrate consistency.

When selecting the clips to speed up we were able to alter the percentage levels in order to be in control of the extent of the speed in which they traveled. 

Another type of editing that we used was using fast paced cuts. Although our choice of song was quite slow, we wanted to make more of a statement in our video by merging a range of different footage and applying quick cuts to them in the hope of bringing a new dynamic to it. Our aim was for it to appear like a flashback (as mentioned above) and as if the collection of clips represented the different places our artist traveled with her other half and as if these moments in her life were flashing before her eyes. At first, we included a lot more clips (around fifteen) and had them appear on the screen for around 0.8 seconds each. Although this looked really effective in the fact that there were a wider range of different locations used to show a longer period of time, once showing this to our teacher she felt that it didn't fit in with the flow of the song. After some discussion, we all agreed that we should change it to fit in with the beat of the song and syllables in the lyrics: 'Hel-lo Hel-lo, C-Can You Hear Me? Leaving us with around half of the original clips however ending up with the cuts fitting in with the music much more effectively. We showed these new fast pace cuts to other members in our class who said it looked really effective and knew it resembled a flashback without us telling them so therefore meant that not only our original ideas showed through but it also appealed to our target audience.