Planning Editing

Editing plays a big part with the music video production. The editing process consists of taking all of the filmed footage and placing it in a specific order by cutting the footage and using transitions. The editing style of a music video is very important as it brings your footage to life and gives it a certain atmosphere, for example: an action sequence would consist of fast pace editing and straight cuts, whereas a romantic scene would consist of slow pace editing and possibly cross-dissolve transitions. By using specific editing styles and following certain codes and conventions, you can make your product relatable to your chosen genre/target audience.

Our footage with an 'Aged' and 'Mask' effect.

To edit our music video we will be using Final Cut Pro X. I want our music video to look edgy in order to challenge the conventions of indie, therefore I will be using a lot of effects and tints when editing. During the music video there will be sections that show previous events of the artist and her boyfriend, which I will edit to look as though these are memories that the artist is thinking about. To make this evident I will use an aged effect to differentiate between the present and the memories. I will also like to use an effect called 'mask' which creates a black, feathered border. This gives the footage a 'polaroid' feel to it, implying that the footage is a memory.

Our footage with a fast-motion effect.

Another editing effect I would like to use is a fast motion effect. I think that presenting footage in fast motion (such as traffic) could portray the fast-moving relationship between the artist and her boyfriend. This effect represents the message within the song and therefore promotes the music, which is conventional to the indie genre.

Our footage with colour tints and
a cross-dissolve transition to show a
gradation in colour.

I would also like to use colour tints and cross-dissolve transitions. The bridge in the song 'The Apple Tree' is a lot slower. For this section of the song I was thinking that we could take our footage and cut it into two. The first section would have a very vivid and colourful tint, whereas the section section would have a black and white tint. I would then like to link these sections with a cross-dissolve so that it looks like the colour is being drained and taken away. This would represent the end of the relationship. This brings the lyrics of the song to life, essentially promoting the music which is conventional to indie.

I believe that it is important to plan your editing styles or at least have an idea of your editing styles since the editing process is such an important part of a music video production. It is also a very time consuming task therefore it is best to be organised.