As a group, it is important to consider the ‘team’ decision on the creative background of your work. Consequently, while creating the storyboard and the final concept for the AbbieSinger interview, I felt that the decision to shoot in Piccadilly Circus did not do the video any favours. The initial idea of making AbbieSinger look classy and this to be reflected by a sophisticated video, I felt would be let down by the fast paced scenery of Piccadilly Circus, although in the planning stages it seemed a good idea. The shots varied in quality, some shots were blurry and rushed as the camera followed AbbieSinger while she handed out flowers and walked around Piccadilly Circus, whereas other shots were not.
After day two of shooting, I was not happy with the final results we had come up with as a team and therefore introduced a contingency filming day two weeks later. The deadline day was fast approaching and I had nowhere near enough shots or shots that I wanted to incorporate in my music video. Therefore I had to do something about this, I decided to utilise my school resources and close friends who could give me an unbiased review of my work. Influenced heavily by Beyonce’s ‘Listen’ video (director’s cut version) I decided to keep the concept simple yet effective. And this could be achieved by using the concept of contrasting black and whites. I did this by using the drama studio lighting to create a dark background and a spotlight to shine AbbieSinger the artist.
Part of my concept consisted of using various shots to tell a simple story, the story being Abbiesinger is here to show you here talent. She can sing, regardless her age, gender or race, she has talent! Thus, it became important that the video (varying in shots) did her justice, the props used: a guitar and microphone gave the music video a classical tone. Her make-up (done by Make-up Artist Pavan Bansal) accentuated her face and made it come alive. I was conscious on how easy it could be for my artist to look flat in the dark background that is why her make-up and hair (done by HairStylist Gladys Kabuanga) was done to make compliment the scene, yet simultaneously allow her to stand out.
These shots alone are most definitely my favourite shots of the entire video. This is because it makes the video look more professional as the lightning (done by light technician Victoria Cummings) together with the high definition quality of the cameras enhances the video’s quality. The most effective shot of the entire video is when the artist is sitting down on the stool wearing her grey/black dress and the camera zooms in. I feel this makes the audience feel closer to the artist as right before their eyes the distance between the artist and them decreases. The zooming lens make the artist grow bigger and closer to the onlooker without having a cut and switch to another shot.
Post-Production Editing
The greatest challenged faced while editing my footage was time. I felt as though time was working against me as I tried to edit the clips to create the story I envisioned. This was not because my teacher did not allocate us enough time, quite the contrary, it was simply because I enjoyed experimenting on Final Pro-Cut and the numerous effects fitted well with my concept. This project definitely became a case of where I had to control my creativity to fit the genre. I deliberately did not go against the conventions of the neo-soul genre as I wanted to introduce to the world what type of artist Abbiesinger is through the Media texts; video and the ancillary album cover and webpage. I used the additive transition to help smooth the cuts between clips and to follow well with the smooth tone of the music. This was, mostly in the beginning of the video as well as the end where I used the fade in and fade out effect. In between clips that illustrated a different story, I also used the additive transition to make sure the transition was not abrupt and the audience were not taken aback by the change of scenery. Nor were they confused by AbbieSinger singing in one shot and then singing the same line of the song in another scene. I enjoyed the task of creating a music video because it enabled me to study in depth and mirror the work of my favourite director Hype Williams. He has inspired me to see music videos as a creative art form beyond just being a 3 minute long advert. His work on videos like ‘Give It Up’ by Pharell Williams as well as the recent hit of Kanye West ft Rihanna ‘All OfThe Lights’ demonstrate the high standards of Hype William’s productions. His use of vibrant colours and fast cutting rates fist the beat of the music perfectly and keeps me interested. He never fails to use vibrant colours that light up the screen and his consistent use of effects drives the narration and gives the videos a creative tone. As a result, while drafting my concept, I wanted to use similar effects that blended in well with my music and makes the video look effortless, as the song is a slow ballad, I used soft transitions and adjusted the speed on two clips to fit the words of the song and keep the pace of video slow to fit the tempo. A direct replica of Williams work is the section where the video is introduced with the words ‘ABBIE’ and ‘SINGER’ flashing in various bright, engaging colours, growing smaller through each clip. This was done with Kanye’s all of the lights video in mind and I felt it kept AbbieSinger’s video modernised and playful.
My final concept was created by me listening to ‘The Awakening’ for hours on end (in one session it was for four hours) and closing my eyes to vividly picture the music video. I wanted a video that looked like it belonged and enhanced the song, rather than have the song own the video. As a group we suffered a creative block, where for a short period of time, our ideas lacked structure because they were not realistic. We thought why not have AbbieSinger filmed while swimming under water inspired by Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album cover or our other ideas where boring and a direct copy of childhood films like High School Musical. So instead, as a group we interviewed our friends in the school common room, and asked them to listen to the music and think of ideas that could be incorporated in the video. Some ideas were good like have AbbieSinger walking on the beach in a long ball gown dress (extravagant mis-en-scene) but again this idea lacked structure: south end beach is hardly idealistic. So, once again I went back to the creative board and watched hundreds of videos of artists in the neo-soul genre (Erykah Badu) as well as artists from alternative genres (Coldplay and Take-That). I felt as if I was running out of time as well as ideas! My group had already gone ahead with the concept of having AbbieSinger walking in the park, but this idea just did not sit right with me. Thankfully, I stumbled across Beyonce’s Listen director’s cut video and thought this is it! I need to make a simple, yet effective video similar to this one. My task was to create an effective visual aid to ‘The Awakening’ and I believe, this task has been fulfilled.
