After constructing the first three lines of the video, I was concerned as to the overall flow of each clip in relation to others, although I felt that the more abstract ink in water footage suited the double exposure edit, as well as corresponding to the indie-psych genre of the song.

On review, whilst the footage works well as a standalone clip, I find the contrasting themes distracting from the overall genre of the song. As I decided for my video to be a hybrid between both performance and conceptual - corresponding to Joan Lynch's 1984 theory that music videos fall into at least one of three categories: conceptual, performance, or narrative - I want to push the conceptual aspect to this video through the use of double exposure. Considering that the abstract ink blots are aesthetically effective when paired with this edit, this encourages me to consider further similar additions to continue this level of success.

Below are my construction notes which I completed as I made changes from the original storyboard, documenting the reasons for each change.

Construction Notes:

Audience Feedback:

Throughout my planning I was keen for each lyric to be illustrated in the visuals, following Andrew Goodwin's codes and conventions of a music video, as well as the director Dmitri Basil's work which I was initially inspired by. Upon viewing these lines edited together, I felt that the overall imagery was inconsistent, whilst retaining significance offered within the lyrics.

Keen to gather opinions on this, I asked those within my target audience between the ages of 16-21 for their opinions of the first three shots, specifically if they are consistent and if the imagery flows.

As expected, the overall response to the first clip was positive, with the audience agreeing that the ink and water suits the genre and style of the music video. The response to the two shots that follow this was an overall negative one, agreeing that they were inconsistent with the opening shot. Considering Stuart Hall's theory that we are currently 'prosumers', it is important for me to engage the audience in hopes of positioning the audience to experience a dominant reading.

Considering that my storyboard and production treatment outlines initial inspiration for each lyric grounded through the use of imagery, I would still like to retain this throughout my video. I believe that the framing of the two shots after the ink are the source of the problem, being immediately linear after an abstract, fluid sequence. I intend to rethink these two shots, with the aim to be to retain the illustrative nature of the imagery, to continue the flow of the edit.

Looking forward, I am aware of each edit in relation to it's place in the timeline, and shall reconsider the intended overlaid footage, comparing what shots follow the ink and water sequences effectively, perhaps bringing in more of this footage.

After Effects Workshop 3 - Particle Effect

Footage Review 9/11/14

As my storyboard outlines two separate lyrics whereby the concept of ink in water will be used, I refined this down to consider the shot type and framing I would need to achieve the high-contrast, close-up effect that I wanted. The lens would be extremely important in order to create this, so I decided to use my Canon 50mm Compact Macro Lens, which was able to focus closely enough to the water so that the added ink would fill the frame.

However, due to the short focal range the lens has quite a shallow DOF which caused some issues after the ink was added to the water and dispersed. In some shots there is a clear definition between the foreground, midground, and background of the shot, but this created some quite abstract effects that could resemble a stormy sky. As this is an element which I am repeating within the video, I believe these shots in particular may not be successful for this particular purpose, but can be repurposed to form said image.

Canon 50mm Compact Macro Lens

Canon 600D Review:

Footage Review 7/11/14

Outlined in my primary source mood board was the possibility of experimenting with bokeh, and during each of my shoots I have compiled a few clips which correspond with this. As the strongest bokeh is created through bright light sources, I researched and found that fireworks are good subject matter for this, with the combination of vibrant colours and movement creating an aesthetic which will add depth to the double exposure edit.

Bonfire night and the respective fireworks displays fell into the period I had allocated for filming, meaning I had plenty of opportunities to film various displays. Looking at the local news website I had a clear view of the 'Big Boom' fireworks in the city centre from my house, so I decided to allocate filming time for this period.

The only camera I had available was the Fujifilm X20, which has previously offered varying results. However, after looking closer into changing the automatic controls, I was able to change the exposure down to a lower exposure, resulting in less noise in the final image.

Overall, after reviewing these clips, I obtained both focused and deliberately out of focus clips, each with correct framing as I prepared this before the show had started.

Fujifilm X20 Footage

Fujifilm X20 Review:

After Effects Workshop 2 - Motion & Multiply

After Effects - Title Glitch

When creating the secondary source mood board, I came across some After Effects tutorials on Youtube, such as the one below. I decided to try this 'glitch' effect as it uses expressions which are a feature of After Effects which I have been wanting to try.

In order to have a foundation for this video, I decided to use the logo of the band I am using with their permission. Placing this image into photoshop, I created both transparent, monochrome, and stencil versions of this logo, which could be useful in future tests. The one thing which inspired me about the video above was the original simplicity of the logo, so I also isolated just the text from this logo, creating a slightly edgy, handmade feel to the final image, relating back to the more retro style of their music.

After isolating the logo, I transferred this into After Effects, along with some stock glitch footage which is available to use as part of the tutorial. Using a displacement map, I displaced the text (image) layer from the glitch footage, resulting in a clean glitch effect. I then staggered this effect across the 7 second clip, and varied each vertical and horizontal displacement to add interest to this feature.

In order to soften the glitch and create an effect similar to an older TV (relating back to that used by Dmitri Basil in the Riptide video) I used an expression, wiggle, to do exactly that. By creating a null layer and typing 'wiggle(10,' this set the value of the expression. then, clicking the spiral button, I linked this to the slider control, meaning that whatever I set the slider to, this will effect the intensity of the wiggle. Despite only touching on expressions, they are far more simpler than having to animate each individual keyframe, and could be useful in my final video.

Taking this a step further, I then isolated each layer into red, green, and blue channels using the 'Levels (individual controls)' effect, and setting the layer mode to screen. From this, I decided I wanted to separate the red channel, so used the shortcut 'P' to open the position tab, before altering this, resulting in the red/blue shift above. This was effected by the expression and displacement map, resulting in an effect you would see on an old, broken monitor.

Overall I'm really pleased with this title effect, and could see it being used either at the start or at the end of the video. As it is transparent this can be overlaid onto existing footage, making it a versatile title.