Music Video Director Research

Task:

The task for the summer was to create a video essay on a music video director of our choice; and I chose singer Melanie Martinez, who also directs her videos.

I started by researching her background info and how she became famous, as this would be my introduction to the video. I used websites such as Wikipedia to get some basic information, which then I could edit to include in my script. I also used Youtube as a website for research, as interviews with Melanie gave me ideas on what I could say about her.
I wrote down all of this information in note form on a word document, which I then used afterwards to create a script from:

  

Music Video Essay Notes from Amy Bullmore

After this, I then started drafting my script, splitting it into separate sections:

• Background info/Rise to fame
• Style of Videos
• Directing
• Future Plans

Once this was done I then wrote the script fully, so that I had a guideline of what to say when it came to filming. When I did film, I split the script up into different sections for me to say on camera, so each clip I had recorded was a take of one of the multiple sections I had written.
For my setup, I wanted to have a white background; but rather than using a white backdrop I used a green one, as I decided that I could incorporate a white background that looked more solid without any creases in it.

Once the filming was all done I could then focus on putting everything together in premier pro, but first I wanted to make sure that I had ALL of my clips before making a rough cut. The final clips that I needed were clips of Melanie, for example her music videos or interviews with her.

I used the software WM Capture 8 to get these videos and the clips from them that I knew I needed:

I would use the Mark Video tool to select what part of the screen I wanted to record, and also made sure that the audio was being recorded along with the video.

Once this was done, I then inserted all of the clips into premier pro. I sorted through the recorded clips to decide what take I would include in my final piece, and then put them in order with the timeline.
It was after this I then began to insert the Youtube clips, cutting them down to include the exact part I needed to support my point.

Rough cut of the video essay

 As well as Youtube clips, I wanted to include screencaps of articles and websites as evidence to put in my videos, which I also did with my rough cut, with a 'scrolling' effect so that the reader could read along with what I was saying to the camera.

Example screencap used in the video

The next step was then to add the effects, which included video transitions, editing the audio levels and incorporating my white background into my clips.

I started off with the green screen, and used the video effect 'ultra key' before using the eyedropper tool to cancel out the green. As I was new to this technique, I  used each of the tools, understanding what effect they have on my clip, before creating my desired effect.

I got a plain white background online and used this in my video, inserting it behind the clips of me. I also wanted to have myself in the corner of the video so that I could have any Youtube clips to the side of me; and I did this just by changing the position of the clips that featured me in it, moving them slightly to the right.

However, once I had done this, there was a gap in which there was no longer a white background, but part of my backdrop of the room behind me. To solve this, I decide to just add the white.png on top of the clip of me as well as underneath, however this time change the scale and position of it just so that it covered up this gap and not me.

The white.png is shown on top of the clips of me

After this, I inserted the backing track, which were instrumentals of Melanie's songs, as I thought this would be perfect to have this ongoing theme revolving around her.
I also adjusted the audio levels, having the backing track resting at -22.3db so that I could be heard above it. As well as this, I faded the backing track many times when clips of me weren't featured, but the Youtube clips were, as the focus was on the sound of the videos rather than the background music.
Once this was all done I put in the video transition 'dip to white' to sync with the fading of the background music, so that I could have a smooth transition from a clip of me to a clip from Youtube.

Applying the transitions and editing the length of them so that they occur after I've finished speaking.

After this, the video essay was done and ready to be exported; and the finished piece is shown below:

Creating a TV poster

Task:

At this stage I was more familiar with the Illustrator software, so the task was to choose a TV show and to create a film poster for it. My choice was Doctor Who, and I started brainstorming different aspects of the show that were widely recognised by fans of the show and other people.

Some of these ideas included the TARDIS, the Doctor's spacecraft, however I thought that this was an easy option, as opposed to my other ideas. These other ideas consisted of some 3D glasses for the 10th Doctor, and a fez and bow tie for the 11th Doctor. I decided to go with the latter, and also include the character's hair, and his slogan 'geronimo' at the bottom of the poster.
I started off with the fez and bow tie, as I felt that this would be easier and less time consuming. For both of them I used a mixture of the pencil and curve tool, using it to create a shape that I could fill in.
The hair took a while as there were so many curves and shapes to draw, and I did most of this using the curve tool, however one issue was that the anchors did not link to form a shape due to the method I had done this in. I created another shape to go in the middle of the hair so there wouldn't be a gap in the colour, which solved this problem fairly easily.
After this the last tricky part was the font, which took me a while as it is very unique and I was still new to manipulating fonts using 'create outlines'. I used an image on the internet as a guideline, as the font is associated with the TV show, and managed to get my replication tor resemble the image I copied.
Lastly, I added this blue background and white border as a finishing touch, and the finished product is featured below:

Illustrator Practice

Task 1- Batman Logo:

In order to gain an understanding to the basics of illustrator and how to use it, our first task was to make a batman logo. This ensured that we were using different tools on the software, so we could get used to using them for any future work.

This only took one lesson, in which I followed a tutorial given to me. This consisted of using shapes such as ovals and then using pathfinder to cut this shapes to turn it into the bat in the logo. This was the hardest part, but once that was done, all that was left to do was add the background oval and to colour it in; and my version of the logo is featured below. For the bottom part of the wings four ovals were used to cut out this shape, as you can see below, and it is this technique that we can now use in a variety of future projects to get a desired, straight cut shape that looks even throughout.

Task 2- Mickey Mouse:

Our second task straight after this was very different to the first, as we didn't have a tutorial to follow, but instead we had to copy an image of Mickey Mouse. The image I copied is featured below on the left; and replicating this was very time consuming, as I had to figure out what shapes and tools to use myself rather than referring to a tutorial. However, I found that after this task, I was able to successfully use the Illustrator software independently, as I was gradually getting used the the various tools and what they do.

For Mickey Mouse, I started off with the basic shapes, creating three circles and then joining them together to create the outline of his head. From this I then adjusted the shape and curves to make it look more like the character's, and then I began to go into detail with his facial features.

For his face, I overlapped two ovals to get this heart shape that he has at the top of his head, and also repeated this for his cheeks, before combining the objects to create one overall shape.
Next was detail by creating his eyes, nose, mouth, etc. The eyes were relatively easy as they consisted of using the shape tool to create ovals, as well as for the nose. The mouth however was the hardest to design to replicate the original photo, as I had to use tools other than the shape tools. For example,  I had to use the pencil tool to draw the corners of his mouth when the lines where thinner, and I then used the anchor points and handles so curve and shape the line into place.
I used the same technique for the tongue, as I personally felt that this was quicker than trying to find a combination of shapes to resemble it.
After this was done, I was able to do an extra task which involved using text and changing the shape of letters to possibly create your own font design. This was done by typing the text in a starter font of my choice, then selecting 'create outlines' and again using the anchor points and handles to put them in the position I wanted.
The final result is shown below on the right: