Research Plan

Here is my research plan for the group project I will be taking part in for my A2 media.

This shows the areas I and my group will be looking into in order to further benefit our final product. These areas will include; Still images, Album covers, Posters & adverts & Video clips. All this will benefit us as it will give us an insight into what factors contribute into a successful music video. As well as developing our knowledge on posters and album covers which we will also have to create.

Each members of the group can follow this and as a team we can pinpoint areas which we feel strong towards and then begin to roll ideas of each other  and eventually come to the conclusion whats the best genre and song choice for our project.

Group Research

Today we began our research for our group work. For our A2 group project we are to produce a music video using are research we take along the way. 

Me, Jacob and john thought best to begin with a mind map showing our ideas for what genre we could potentially use to create our final piece. 

As you can see to the left we began in the centre of the map with four potential genres we may use. We decided with 'Indie,  R&B, POP & Dance. After discussing these options together and looking briefly into these genres and examples of them, we narrowed it down to two options. We went with Dance & Pop as the research we already have gave us an idea of what genres best suited our individual choices and will best accompany our skills.

I personally think dance will be the best option as it reflects my skills well and through my early research I think it is unique and different which I believe what makes a successful music video. Obviously it is only early into my research and I will discover more and out choices and thoughts towards this may change however this is a step in the right direction to begin to create our project. 

Lip Sync Process

To begin with my lip sync editing I imported my video to iMovie. Once I had done this i selected the area of the clip I wished to use for my lip sync and dragged it into the project area.

Next I needed to import my background image to place over the green screen. To do this I dragged the image over the project to add it in. This then comes up with a drop down and I selected the option for ' Green Screen ' this then replaces the green background with my chose image.

Once I had the background in and over the green screen, I then had to add titles and credits at the beginning and the end. There is an option in the bottom right of the iMovie screen for 'Text'. I selected this option and it comes up with various forms of text and backgrounds for the text. I selected the one I wanted and then added in my text for the slide as you can see in the image to the right.

 The next thing I done was the slide transitions from the titles to the video and from the video to the credits. This was very simple as was adding the text. There again is an option  for transitions in the bottom right of iMovie. I simply chose the transition I wanted to use and then dragged and placed it where I wanted it, which was after the titles and before the credits.

Next for me to add was the audio, this was the most difficult part. As I had only used a clip of the song for my lip sync, I had to trim the song I was lip syncing to fit with the video. To do this I used a website called MP3 Clipper. This enabled me to select the area of the song I needed using time zones. Once I had trimmed the clip and saved it I then needed to add it to my video. To do this I added the audio to my desktop and dragged it into the project in iMovie. Once the clip was in the project I had to get the song in sync with the lyrics and lip sync in the video. This I found very difficult as during my video I was not in time with the lyrics for the actual song. However this is good as it gives me more to learn and develop on for when I create my video.



Overall I learned a lot from this and it is a massive improvement from my first attempt and will take what I have learned into when it comes to making my A2 project 'Music Video'.

Mood Board

I have created a mood board consisting of genres that I like. As our class project is getting closer we have been put in our groups and this is the purpose of the mood board. I will show this to my group and they will show me theres, From here we can come to a conclusion which genre would be best to produce for our group project. The two genres I have implemented into my mood are Dance/R&B.

Lip Sync attempt 2

Here is my second attempt of lip syncing this is a lot stronger than my first attempt, however it is still not perfect. I am slightly out with my timing however this is not to do with my editing skills, It is due to me singing out of sync with the song in the green room. I will have one more attempt of this and hopefully it will be completely in sync next time and ready to take into my group work when I begin to make my music video. I had fun doing this lip sync as I joked around a bit and had fun which worked to my benefit. This project contains Transitions, Titles and credits, video footage for the lip sync, a background image to put over the green screen and audio to go in collaboration with the video. I will be uploading another post with showing how i produced this.

Presentation Feedback



I have been assesing other classmates on their presentation skills. As a class we have been providing feedback to one another in order to further progress our skills. I have viewed my classmates lip sync song choices and for each of them provided feedback I believe will strengthen there skills. Below is an image of some brief notes I made during assesing my classmates presentation on their song choices. I will also be commenting on each class members blog with some feedback on their presentation. My next post I will also be discussing my own feedback.

 

Green Screen and iMovie first attempt

This is my first attempt of using green screen and iMovie. I found it very straightforward as the research I found which can be found in my previous posts enabled me to understands the basics. One thing I did find difficult was getting the flow of the video correct. As you can see there is small jumps where the lady disappears and reappears. This should flow fluently without the jumps. I know what I am lacking when it comes to green screening and iMovie so I will further develop my skills using iMovie and upload a second attempt which will hopefully be a step up from this one.

To the right you can find a screenshot of the layout of iMovie and the process of my first attempt. First thing I done was upload the green screen video I had of the dancing women. I then had to upload my background to replace the green background. Then I made sure that the preferences in iMovie were 'advanced tools' this enabled me to actually create my green screen, if this tool is not selected it will not work. Once my green screen clip was uploaded I then uploaded my background which I made sure was embedded of the green screen clip. I then selected the option for 'Green Screen' in the drop down menu when clicking on the clips to make sure that the background went over the green screen and not over the women in front of it. I then added titles at the beginning and credits at the end using the text tool. Overall my first experience with this software went well and I think i have gained enough knowledge to further improve and develop my skills for the next time i use the software.