dance video - editing

i started as a novice at premier pro. i hadn't had much experience and needed to improve to get the overall outcomes i wanted from this project. i talked and worked with phil and decided to do a simple continuity video first to get used to premier pro and improve my skills for the final video. i only used my footage as i was used to it and believed i could create the best continuity video from this.

as you can see this is just a simple continuity video. i used a mixture of wide shots to show connection and closes ups for intimacy. i then wanted to show the deterioration of relationships through this video so i added an adjustment layer which desaturated. 

from this idea i came up with the idea of abbusivie relationships and decided to create a drama in my dance video.   

i then worked on this little sequence to practice with dramatic use of the footage. 

i used the contrast between black and white and colour to show the difference between the characters and the abusive causing her to lose her individuality. i really liked this sequence so decided to continue with it for my final video. 

i then expanded the sequences and created more story. 

i then finished the story. i was happy with it's layout and worked hard to make it still make continuity sense and added transitions to create fluid motion.  but i knew it needed effects to really hit home the ideas of the piece.

from my research i found i really liked the idea of double exposure so decided this would be a good place start. i worked with phill to see how best to do this. first we worked with overlaying which i did like for a certain part of the plot to show the repeating of abuses in these kind of relationships. 

i firstly created the repeated sequence. 

i then overlaid them over the part of the story i thought most fitted the meaning and used colour punch techniques to get the most satisfy visual asethic to match the meaning. i worked a lot with colour balance and the type of overlay to use till i was happy. 

i really liked this technique and wanted to push it further for another part of my video. i wanted the dance to take part on the face of the dancers to show their own inner thoughts about the piece. 

i had to ask how to do it. i show phill the true dectetive opening (which he had seen already) and asked if i could create this. he said it would be difficult to create the exact thing as it would of been shot with that in mind and use after effects but said i can simulate and similar effect with equal power. he taught me how to extract certain colours from the piece and overlay video on it. this created this firstly. 

these are the effects i used. i really like the image. i worked a lot with colour tolerance and finess to make sure not to much of the detail was lost in the face. i loved the black and white nature of it. made it very pure and deep. 

i then added it over the piece. 

i really liked the effect of this and it really captured what i wanted. 

i had to work with the position of the front and back image to make sure the overlaid properly and i also work with colour balance to make the back image work. 

  i then thought about subtitles. my film had no music at this point so was silent so i really liked the idea of subtitles to help the viewer see the inner thoughts of the actors at points. i didn't want to over do it so only did small phrases and not important moments to push the feeling of the piece. 

i think it works. many might not agree but it think it adds a subtle power to the piece. 

i then added pictures. this was a call back to my tree of life inspiration. i made sure it wasn't in the piece even though i practiced with that but it took away from the feeling. i like it at the front and end as it created a emotional conceptual feel. 

i then used colour correction on the shots which were out.

my final thing was the music and i decided  to write my own music with my bass guitar and audio recorder. i had some inspiration 

i liked this song as the bass line was the main element of the song and had strong effects and reverb. i like how different effects where put on the similar bass line to create more power and change the feeling of the song

my other inspiration was radiohead. which i had similar effects to the other song. but this song added long high notes to feed over the bass line. i wanted to do a similar thing with a violin. 

i then had inspiration from jazz and bass players like jaco pastitorous. all these fed into my final song. 

i used my fender squire fretless bass as it had the most jazzy smooth feel i wanted. i spend a lot of an evening sat in my room writing different grooves till i found the one i wanted. 

i then used my boss audio recorder to record the song. i used a couple of preset effects to create the sounds i wanted for the different parts of the song. 

i then had to transcode the files to make them wav files to put in my video. 

i then put the parts of the song together and faded them in and out to create fluidedy between them. i then adjusted the levels accordingly. 

i then had my final video. i then exported it. 

dance video- process of idea

first idea

whilst thinking about the dance video. these are the ideas i came up with

once i had shot the video this was the initial directors notes and script i came up with

whilst editing and trying out knew things this is how the idea developed into my final piece

dance video inspiration

when i started thinking about ideas for my dance video i thought i should get some inspiration from music videos as i believe they held more meaning for me in the dance video that just dance videos. 

i immediately started thinking of the videos in Sia's music videos. directed by daniel askall 

 i first looked a chandelier   

i liked this video for many reasons

-the establishing shots .......i liked the idea of starting my video with establishing shots of the location. through the shoot i realised these shots didn't hold much meaning for the video but i changed them with a establishing photo to represent more about the inner thoughts of the dancer (character)

-story ......i like the idea of having story in my dance video. something dark which can be show through the dancing. it gonna be harder as i can't direct the dancers but i think that will push my skills

- following shots-...... this video has many following shots which i like as it makes you feel part of the dance. it also allows the dancers to leave which is good for allowing the dancers to have a realism.

-dance moves - i like the expressive contrary dance moves to show a lot. i can't do that sadly as I'm not directing the dancers.

i also got inspiration from the elastic heart this dance video showed a lot of interaction between the dancers which was important. i also liked the slow panning shots mixed with fast moving shots to show more about the topic. i also think having a strong theme through a dance video is very important to make it powerful. 

what i like from this video was the use of close ups. it shows you don't need to show the whole movement to show the dance. close ups are very useful to make the emotion of the dance come across. i also like the fade to focus at the start. both of these i will be using in my shooting and editing.




once i had done the dancing i started thinking about how i wanted to edit it.

i then thought that i wanted the dance to show more than the moves. i decided that one of the best ways to do this was through double exposure. i looked at true detectives opening scene and believed this to be a great example. i asked phil how best to do this and he said this would of been done on aftereffects but i could create a similar effect in premier pro via extraction. i then worked around with it till i found the style i wanted.

my final inspiration was the tree of life.

 

the reason i found inspiration in tree of life from using metaphor shots

i feel these give real power to a shot. 

i want to use this by maybe filming other independent things and using them to illustrate the mood of the dance at that point. 

dance video development

dance video

general ideas 

• establishing shots at start 
• start with close up coming into focus and end with whole establishing shot going out of focus 
• go from intermit to far away 
• dutch angles 
• (transition of relationships) 
• leave dancers and catch up later ?? 
• use juxtaposition. relating ideas together
• close up shots 
• same frame moving in and out 
• changing shutter speed in fast motion 
• establishing zoom shot then dancers appear 
• close up on body parts 
• use of space- increase the space through the filming.

inspiration 

saving private ryan is a good example of how to use shutter speed to create a dynamic yet fluid action scene. i think we can use this in our dance shot to get motion blur for some of the more dynamic scenes and the cut it together with faster shutter speed. we may have to use two cameras set at different shutter speeds. 

mad max fury road is useful for our dance video due to is incredibly cinematography in an action film. it has big dynamic shots mixed perfectly with intermit shots which i want to emulate in our piece. it also uses the rules of cinematography perfectly which we will need to stick to to have our piece make coherent sense. it also shows the importance of framing a shot in movement cinema. the frame has to be perfect as the movement is so quick. 

the video for sia's big girls cry is very interesting. it sticks to the same close up for the entire video. i want to use a lot of close ups for my video. i also like how the dancer leaves the whole frame and then enters again, something id like to work with. i also like the idea of the coming into focus at the start and coming out of focus. 

i also like the video for elastic heart as it shows how dancing can be use to create meaning and a story in a situation. i.e. the relationship between a father and daughter and their fight with depression. i also like their use of establishing shots to set the mood and tacking shots. i also like the idea of the dancers coming from far away to close to the camera. 

i like this video as well firstly for it's establishing shots which i take massive inspiration from but also it's use of tracking and panning. it shows how you don't need to always have the subject in shot. it adds a huge amount of motion and strength for the dancer to leave the shot (plus catching up with them later is really interesting) this video also shows the importance of light to bring out all the motion of the shot. 

  

this is a run down of all our shots. we have a mixture of wide and intimate shots. we take inspiration from all these other videos and feel like these shots will fit we the dance and create enough to make a meaningful video in post.