ROUGH
CUT
ARSONIST'S LULLABYE //
HOZIER
After the first shooting on Sunday 5th November, I uploaded the footage from my camera SD card onto the Apple Mac's in Media, where I could begin the editing process. Last year we edited on iMovie for the Two Minute Opening of 'Gone', however this year I undertook the challenge of editing on Final Cut Pro X. This would allow me to elaborate and develop my editing skills and knowledge, since this software is more advanced then the previous.
At this stage in the production, the Rough Cut was unfinished, as more filming needed to be done in order to gain a larger variety of shots. Also, at this point I was struggling with my storyboard - in how to express my vision visually to make sense to the audience, but also leave them in a mystery. This can be seen within the Rough Cut, where I placed Placeholders in between clips, where more shots would be later placed once filmed. These were useful tools in the software, since they made me envision what would work well with the existing shots, to continue the cinematic appeal I wanted to achieve.
I spent a long time editing up to 0:28, to ensure that the start would be enticing and cryptic to the audience, which would allow them to continue watching the rest of the artist's music video. The static TV effects work successfully, breaking up the clips of her in the dark, before jumping back to the close ups of her to establish the continuity - and audience feedback also stated this. These shots tied up are much darker then the rest of the footage I shot, as I manipulated the ISO, Aperture and Shutter to decrease the light in the shot. This sets a dark mood from the beginning of the song.
After further audience feedback, I found that what I had done so far was confusing in order to understand the storyline, that it was also border-lining a narrative short story. However, with previous Hozier music videos, this was the supposed outcome, since his videos tell a cryptic narrative story - they also do not have a singer in them. This was suggested feedback, to have a male friend lip sync as Hozier. However, this is not Hozier's preferred style and therefore would look out of place to his publicity. Also, I believe that it would not fit with the storyline and would have to be done professionally (acting).
SECOND DRAFT //
After taking on the feedback suggested from my audience, I altered the beginning of the story to make it understandable that the house is linked to the video from the start. However, I found that once again the video still did not achieve the cinematic outcome I wanted. I was also still struggling to put my story into a planned edit, despite the feedback received. Although, it came up in discussion that having a recurring shot could be powerful to signify the fire and therefore the link between visuals and music.
With help from Izzy who became my co-writer, I was able to develop my storyline to make it more understandable, whilst still using the majority of footage already taken to save time. We decided to use the house as a place of refuge for the character; she is living there for the time being - showing small items to represent this. Then have some shots of a missing poster - so the audience should begin to piece together selective information throughout the video. She is missing, but it is inferred that she doesn't want to be found, hence her living somewhere else. The audience will decide why or how this is occurred, since music videos are not exact and leave their work to the imagination of others - the difference between a narrative music video and a short story.
Therefore, I restarted my editing from scratch on another project in Final Cut Pro X. This was advantageous as it allowed to me to start fresh, since I was getting into a stress about the Rough Cut and what I had done to that since, to try and improve it. I created a bullet point checklist of the storyboard, which I consistently referred back to once editing, to help convey the storyline through the moving image, whilst creating an underlying tone of mystery.