23.4.18
My final piece was inspired by ‘Birdman’ by Alejandro González Iñárritu, but it was the editing and cinematography that inspired me the most. I wanted to use the style of the film to be taken in “one shot” or “one take”.
This was carried out in the form of a music video that I directed, accompanied by the song “Everything is changing” by sigma and Paloma faith. Although the music wasn’t my own, the aim of this project wasn’t to show off my bad music creation, but was to show off the skills I have been learning over the past few weeks that involved the “whip pan” effect and other transitions such as black/white outs, that give the effect of the music video being shot in one continuous take.
The video in my opinion could be improved, there are several sections and edits I am not fully happy with, such as 1:03, the scene where the camera whip pans around to the character after he threw a bowl of porridge at the door. This pan is not as smooth as I would have liked, and I feel would need entirely re-shooting, in order the ensure the timings were still accurate. A tripod would also have been handy for this particular scene to keep the camera at one height and position, which would allow me to better hide a cut.
The reason I was unable to reshoot a lot of the scene I would have liked to, is due to the fact my set was based within the fake custody cells at Kent police college in maidstone. I booked three weekends use of the custody cells and was unable to get anymore, meaning all the filming we did took us three full days or working and editing as I go in order to meet the deadline. As a result of what we went through with booking, keeping the continuity correct and being limited to how long we can film, I feel next time I will use a location that is more available to me.
Another issue I had with the set and filming is having to get into the mindset of a director and being able to get across my vision to my friend Luke, the main character. I found I had to be very detailed in what I needed him to do, and therefor the storyboards I had made allowed me to show him what he needed to do. As the storyboards where so useful I would definitely use them again, however in much more detail, for on the day of filming you don’t want to be wasting anytime trying to make sure everyone knows whats going on. Having a clear storyboard allows everyone to instantly get to work and know what they have to do and where they have to be. There is a second moment within the piece that although hardly noticeable, it is still an error, one in which I cannot change again without re filming, for it would ruin the pace of the song and timing of the beats, this moment is at 01:37, when the camera pans up to white after panning up the characters body after he was taken to the ground by the police officer (wonderfully starring myself, and using my dad to film this part). This moment you can see the very slight fade in of the second scene for the scene before ended to quickly, not allowing for the full fade out.
Less of the negativity now, there are several moments within my piece that I am really pleased with and I had learnt a lot of new transition effects within premier pro that help me have smooth scene transitions. One of them being my discovery of the “film dissolve” tool, a device that fades out the end of one scene and fades in the start of the next. when this is done over a white wall, you barely notice the transition and therefore believe you are still following the same story.
Another element that I am pleased with is the slow introduction of more books, colour and energy toward. the end of the music video, this as I have explained in previous posts was done to symbolise and accompany the rehabilitation of the main character, suggesting that as he gets better, the world around him does too. The introduction of the items is also my proof of the video having several cuts involved that are hidden, things coming and going at random suggest that time has moved on. More proof that lots of time had passed is how his facial hair seems to grow throughout the video.
