Construction Update 13/02/15

Currently, the first verse, first chorus, first instrumental, second verse, and second chorus are edited. This is a significant change on the previous construction update, as my skills have improved in After Effects the time taken to construct each section has reduced, enabling me to be more efficient in the same amount of time.

Throughout the planning stages of this video, the instrumental sections were a strong consideration of mine, and due to the conceptual nature of the video, I decided to wait until I had edited up to this point to view how variety can be added in this sequence. The video so far is constantly focused upon the protagonist's head in either close-up or medium close-up in order to encourage the audiences engagement, with eye contact strengthening this throughout. With the aforementioned variety in mind, I wanted the instrumental to focus upon something other than the protagonist, deciding upon hands for their connotations of expression. This expressive nature is suitable for editing to the music, with the various movements reflecting the fluidity of the overlaid ink. The assortment of movements means I can transfer this to the second instrumental, with the continued use of the double exposure aiding the consistency of the video.

In this edit, I have also changed the lightning sequence in the second verse, third line. In the hot design exercise, this shot received mixed reviews as it originally moved from left to right, which some found disorientating considering the otherwise fixed point movement of some sequences. Also, looking back at my pre-production posts, when developing this sequence I liked how the lightning lit up the protagonist's features that are otherwise shrouded in darkness. Considering this, I have revised this sequence, keeping the shot static and with a monochrome palette, allowing me to easily blend the green screen footage with the background. This blend means that as the white lightning illuminates his features, succeeding in illustrating the pre-production intentions as well as adding drama that is referenced in the lyrics (Andrew Goodwin). Hopefully this change, as it is more consistent with the aesthetic of the video, will be better received by the target audience.

Looking back at my planning stages, I had intended for the video to become increasingly darker as it reaches the end, matching the darker, sadder tones mentioned in the lyrics, as well as the lack of resolution evident. The repeated line in the chorus "I just want to go wherever you go tonight" was illustrated using out-of-focus fireworks, yet to enhance this variety I have decided to use an ink in water shot that reminded me of clouds in the night sky. Once again, this doesn't obviously illustrate the mention of "tonight", however the monochrome palette definitely does. Although, this is not quite the end of the video, and as it has already reached black and white, I'm worried that the subtle change to monochrome will be diluted by this early inclusion. I may change this grading to a darker blue colour, retaining the nighttime connotations.

There are still some elements I want to change before I gather more audience feedback. For example, the map sequence of the third verse is quite subtle, with the lighter grading contrasting against the next darker shot. Also, as I am currently constructing the ancillary products, I have been inspired by the psychedelic patterns derived from the ink and water sequences in the video, so I have plans for the introduction to heavily feature this.