Journal Entries
Over cracking is when you film is filmed at half of the frame per second. So instead of filming 50 frames per second, you film it at half 25 frames per second. TV tropes describes over cranking as "overcrank means that the frame rate at which the film is being shot is higher than normal, so that when played back at a normal speed the action is in slow motion. Normal frame rate is 24 frames per second, so if you overcranked to 120 frames per second the action would be shown at 1/5 its actual speed. This shift can be intentionally obvious, to emphasise the dramaticnote details of a scene; it can also be used as a background effect — for example, in movies featuring Godzilla and similar monsters, overcranking adds a sense of ponderous weight to the monsters' motion. If someone's running, expect to hear the main theme from Chariots of Fire or The Six Million Dollar Man, at least in your head. This trope is also present in almost any shampoo commercial.
Modern slowmotion footage is shot with digital cameras that have a very high frame rate, rather than film, but the principle is the same, the footage is slowed down to 23-30 frames per second where it plays in slow motion" Wikapedia describes the term over cranking comes from,"term for creating slow motion film is overcranking which refers to hand cranking an early camera at a faster rate than normal (i.e. faster than 24 frames per second). ... Slow motion is ubiquitous in modern film making."
The video to the side is over-cranked to build on emotion. Having the performer signing while being slowed down makes it very slow and calm. This suits the romantic genre because is slow and not being rushed. The video going from night to day while he's signing in slow motion is a cool effect and adds more the emotion of it. This is a low budget and easy to create film. Hes walking forward while signing extremely fast while as the camera is recording at half of the frame rate. So they can slow it down by double the speed. This makes the audience feel very calm, with the waves slowed down in the back ground it to make it seem more gentle and calm to build on the emotion the video is trying to make the audience feel. The mise en scene is used to add to the emotion and to use convention of a the romance genre. When people think of a love song or a romantic setting a lot of people will think of a beach so starting the scene in a beach setting and having it at night with stars make it very romantic suiting the themes of the video. His costume is a rain coat with scruffy hair this could mean he's been out looking for his partner for awhile, this point is also backed up because of the transition from night to day and the fact rain isn't shown with the video but he's wearing a rain coat,
Under cranking is where you record the footage at double the frame rate, where with over-cranking you its half. So with under cranking during editing you have to speed it up by double. This makes the video faster and can be used to make the audience feel emotion. TV tropes describes under cranking as "The opposite of overcranking. Undercranking involves filming at a slower frame rate so that the action is sped up when played back. Sometimes witnessed in car chases, especially on the 1960s Batman TV show. In the days when film cameras were hand-cranked, most operators were trained to slow down slightly whenever a punch was thrown, so that the blow would seem faster than it really was: almost all of Jackie Chan's martial arts movies make use of the same basic principle during the fight scenes to make the action seem more exciting. When shooting video, where the framerate cannot be manually controlled mid-shot, a similar effect can be produced in the edit suite by selectively deleting a single frame here and there.
Generally, the frame rate isn't lowered to less than 21 frames per second, as anything beyond this makes the effect too glaring. More extreme undercranking tends to be used for supernatural characters (to emphasise their unnatural speed), or comedic effect (because it's easy to make it look funny). As with overcranking and the Chariots of Firetheme, if someone's running, expect to hear "Yakety Sax" either onscreen (if it's a comedy) or in your head (if it's not).
Beyond extreme undercranking, where you are still counting in frames exposed per second, comes "Time Lapse" shooting, where you are counting in seconds (or hours, or longer) per frame exposed. Popular subjects for time lapse are blooming flowers, the movement of the clouds or stars, building concert stages, and city streets."
Evaluation of over-cranking
During this video to the side of the text is a music video where they use under-cranking in order to make a sense of action. The video is very much based on old kaiju films. Have a giant robot facing off against a giant monster. They also cut back and forth between the giant monster fight and the people on the ground dancing and signing. The people on the ground are the signers and they are the ones mostly doing the under-cracking. As they are walking around and dancing they use under cranking to move faster. This is a convention of faction being fast movement and giant monsters fighting. Kaiju moves also tend to be cut into an A and B story line where ones about the monster and ones about the human characters. Its also very much of the sci fi genre as well. With the giant robots and scientist showing that its of the sci fi, action genre and it makes this clear with the final shot of the robot blasting into space and with the under-cranking used to keep the fast paste of a fight scene while they dance and move from one area to another. Their costumes were chosen to make a story that everyday type of people getting involved to help save the day, explaining why they use the public areas within the music video and the builders outfits to make it look like they're just normal everyday type of people.
Evaluation of my over-cranking
We decided to test our skills and practice by making a small music video and use over-cranking within it. We make the music video to Happier by Marshmello. We were only meant to do it within an hour but we had a lot of trouble with it. We didn’t start to get on with it until later that day, we also had to go out and re-film it because we changed the shutter speed and not the frame rate, so we had to go out to re-film it correctly but because of the fact it was so late, so many people couldn’t stay behind to help us out so we had to get new actors and we had to try to finish it before the last bus so we were under a lot of pressure to finish it before that. So after messing up with the camera setting we went through it with our lecturer to make sure that we understand how to alter the setting by going into menu and that it has to be at half the frame rate and can’t be anymore any less, which we’ve gotten wrong before while we tried to do this in the past. While editing we tried to get it in time with the beat but while going through it we realised we made a lot of mistakes. We tried to do a beat edit but we didn’t do an edit to every beat, we experimented with film dissolves at beats but only decide to keep a few in because the cut to the beat is really effective, happier is about three minutes long so we only used a small part of the sing because we didn’t need to use all of the sing. We also wanted to add a number of other shots into it such as a close up to when the hat is stolen but we couldn’t because we didn’t have enough time. We wanted to go back and re-shoot a lot of scenes because they didn’t make sense as a larger piece of work, we had to zoom in on scene we didn’t want to because his hat is on the frame, or because a shot of him standing still there we should’ve been walking and an ending bit of them walking off being happy rare all shots we wanted to do but couldn’t because of all the issues what made us have less and less time. We also tried to use colour psychology within the video by making certain bits dark blue while we made others bright colours so when people watch it they see the visual ques to feel certain emotions I want them to. There is a shot where it fades from one colour to another which I think I could’ve made that more cleanly and look better. While filming us had other issues which made it more difficult, such as no one being able to lip sync which made us have to use walking shots instead which I feel like they don’t have the same amount of impact. We also couldn’t walk back fast enough to get a good shot so we asked someone else to walk backwards while film and while it went off fine, the camera did shake a lot and even after being slowed down it was still very shaky which is worse at some points rather than others. We also did research into over-cranking and under-cranking, which we had to find out information about over-cranking and under-cranking where we found out the definitions of them, how they work. We also analysed music video and talked about how under-cranking can be used to help keep the fast paste going and be used to create action. While Over-cranking can be used to add emotion to a romantic scene to make it more impactful.
During film we can across a number of problems. Such as filming the frame rate wrong because we didn’t understand how to change the frame rate, we also had other issues such needing to do re-shoots but didn’t have the time to retake the shot, not being able to walk fast enough backward so we ended up having shaky cam. Those and other issues made it a very stressful process. I honestly didn’t feel 100% with the final product but I did learn the necessary skills for us to use during our music video product. The only thing I felt comfortable about was the research we did into over-cranking and under-cranking because I was very confident on what I found out and even used websites for references to use to back up my points and I felt very confident that what I mentioned within the evaluations of the music videos I looked up are valid and well thought out. I was not happy with the use of mise en scene. I felt that I could’ve done better such as making everything is tidy and looks better, we did think about mise en scene by putting the official happier music video in the background to be a nod to the source material but within that scene there the camera bags on the floor in the shot, we also tried to zoom in but that didn’t look good at all and was out of focus. What we should’ve done was to take more care while film or go out and re-shoot. I also got very stressed while filming because of all of the problems we can across. That also made me very hard to work with, I was stressed because of the time restraint and with everyone else finishing their project and we weren’t able to because of the mistake we made or technical issues. But I do feel comfortable that I know how to use over-cranking and that I can apply the skills I’ve learned to apply it to the music video.
Even though I enjoyed editing, doing the research and making the over-cranking video there was a number of things what went bad within the video and project it’s self, Even though there were mistakes such setting the shutter speed instead of frame rate and are other issues what happened which aren’t our fault such as when we were editing premier pro crashed and while editing it again it kept not responding while trying to save. But our use of mise en scene and attention to detail during the video. The mise en scene could have been improved, we wanted it to be brighter outsider but because of the time we had to do it we couldn’t do that. We also had couldn’t risk going too far away from college because we needed to get back to edit before the final bus so our locations were also very rushed. We also wanted more people in our class to be within the advert, we wanted to do a shot of him sitting alone in class with other people sitting opposite him having fun and talking, we also wanted it when he’s walking, we wanted to have people go past him to show how lonely he is and have them having fun to make it the reason why he needs to be happier. It was meant to be about him being lonely and at the end someone comes over to be his friend but the plot now is that someone is bullying Ethan who is why he’s sad but at the end his bully comes over and they make peace, but I’m worried that the plot didn’t reach the audience. We should’ve improved our attention to details because there are points you can tell it wasn’t shot in chronological order. Because in some shots his sleeves are rolled up and in others they aren’t so it doesn’t make much sense through a story stand point. Even though a lot went wrong while we made this, a lot of it went well. Even though I am worried the story didn’t make sense to everyone who watches it. I could’ve made the story clearer but I am happy with the final story and I think it suits the song very well and we tried to use different colours to show the different times. We are also happy with getting the edits in time with the beats. We didn’t edit to all the beats because we didn’t want it to be too fast we wanted it to be slow to build more on emotion.
I am confident that the mistakes we made while filming this won’t happen again. I know exactly how to change the frame rate now and I am aware of the differences between the two so when I next do over-cranking or under-cranking I’ll know how to do it, we didn’t make any mistakes in editing, we learned how to fade from one colour to another to improve the use of colour psychology but I would like how to make it more natural and less force. I also learned a lot of useful tools within premier pro which made editing a lot easier to do such as being able to copy and make adjustment layers easier and to drag footage without music. But something I have taken away from this which could apply more in the future such as when I’m making the music video. I learned that the music video doesn’t need to have the singers within it to or have anyone signing for it to still be effective with it giving an emotional impact. I’m also going to remain more calm and my time to make sure every little detail is so where I’m happy with it. I also won’t be scared to go out for retakes and I’ll plan ahead for it.
When I next do this I will make sure to make it as best quality as possible, I won’t rush anything, I’ll just do more in the mean time and plan it out better and then I could test other things rather than just over-cranking, I could practice camera technique and use of lighting. But I can still practice that now but it would’ve made the video a lot better if I remained calm and went slow while filming or planning it better. I will defiantly work better with my team and any communication issues we have had while filming and editing this will be sorted. For the most part we worked well but it can still be improved and that can happen buy the group communicating more. I will defiantly research into music video techniques more. We watched the original music video but we didn’t take much from the video. We could’ve looked up other similar music video, by the same artist or other songs that have similarities to it so we can use it as inspiration but we mostly used a very generic plot and because of that it doesn’t feel very unique. But I think if we did more research into it, it could’ve looked and felt a lot better even though I am happy with my final version and its final story
The videos above are fan made music videos I made by using images from Crypt TV and the sound by Panic! at the disco. I did this to test my editing skills, I was unhappy with my knowledge in primer pro because I didn't use it before this course so I wanted to get better at editing and to test my skills so I found short films and edited them to a song what suited. I started off doing bad cuts in my opinion. There was a shot where I didn't cut it down enough so it showed a different a different shot for a quick second so it looked very out of second and made it seem a lot more amateur which I didn't like by I was confident after making the first one because I edited two episodes together without it looking out of place or anything. The next two videos I am really happy with because I got to make a longer story line using both of these videos, the first couple of seconds are made from three different bits of tents such as two short horror movies and one music video. I felt that I made good silent cuts that people can't notice without it being pointed out but in the second video I did make a mistake that I didn't cut one of the clips enough so it did show a different clip for a couple seconds which is hard to notice but when you do notice it. It becomes very hard to miss and takes the viewer out of watching it. The last video is the one I'm most proud of. Its a continuation of the story from the one before. I feel like the cuts were good because you don't notice them and that a lot of the action within the scene go well with the beat and the lyrics. I also found out how to use adjustment layers by doing this and doing this makes me feel more confident with editing the final music video.
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This a test of the concept for our music video. We are planning on using glow int eh dark paint and glow sticks in order to create the music video. So we needed to test it to see if the video will work. We can still see Lucy in the background with the glow sticks so we now know we need to colour correct the footage in order for the person in the back ground to not be seen. Because the concept for the video is glow sticks attached to the actors outfits so in order for this to be effective we need to know the person the glow sticks are attched to be unseen in order to the intended effect to happen.
I got in contact with a client to get experience with working. I approached them on soundcloud after finding their account and hearing about their music. I talked to them about if they were interested in me making them a music video. They asked me if I had a show reel for them to look at but I am not happy with my current show reel and am unhappy with how I have edited. So I gave him links to y work I am most happy with and my current music video test. He was happy with this and now has access to my YouTube and can see any of my latest work. He has agreed for me to make the music video and I have chosen the song which is Oblivion and I will start to work on the video. Through the holidays and after in order to finish, I was not given a time limit or any instructions. I will be going for a concept/ performance based music video. The idea for it so far is showing someone in isolation because of the lack of friends they have while also showing a literal and metaphorical battle with his inner demons but they will be slowly going when they make new friends.
These are some notes I have taken for a side project to do a long side my college work. This is me planning out what I want on screen, every moment. I go into detail about what actions and emotions I want the characters to feel. I also mention camera angles I want such as low angles and neutral shot. Transitions to different shots such as fade ins. I also added editing effects such as colour grading and other editing effects. I also added the length of footage above every piece of footage but not everything will sync up to the time I said so the song isn't the total time to deal with the fact the times won't be exactly the same in the final result. This is practice for my music video I am doing as apart of the course and will help me understand how to make an effective music video. I should be done with filming in a matter of weeks so I can understand what I can improve for the music video I am doing with my group. They've given me little to no instructions so I have free range to any idea I think is best suited for it.
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This is the Scissor reel for our music video project. We made this to show how our concept will go with the music. Our concept is a story line shown through dancing glowing people. We were unsure if the song we have chosen will go with the glowing people concept so we took footage from you tube and Britain got talent and edited it to the song "brain pain" by mayvision. We tried editing techniques such as glowing words and a glitch effect. This makes me feel more confident with what we will be doing while filming and helping me to envision how I want the final project to look.
This is a beat edit I made to the first couple seconds of the song we are making the music video too. This is to practice to see how well I can edit to this song. I used black and white boxes so when beat happened the screen would go from a black box to a white boxes and they would keep swapping between each other every time a beat dropped. This makes the cuts seem more natural and can make more of an emotional impact with the beat dropping while whats on screen is also changed. It can have a fright or shock with it as well. If a beat happens just before or just after the cut has happened it's off putting because you expect to see something happen as you hear it.
This is an interview that my music video has with Julian. He asked us questions to do with the marking criteria. He did this so we know what we have to say for our final major and what we should be saying. Level ones only need to hit four points out of the 7 but year 2 needs to hit all of the points, these points are, research, understanding the subject and etc. Julian mentioned that everyone in the class got a merit going by what is shown in the interview. We reached a merit in all 7 of the criteria within this interview and we also get to say our opinions on how we think the project is going so far.
The video to the left is a collection of music video tests that me and my group made to test our concepts to see how it would look. We used the tutorial shown above to make the costumes but we decided to save some of the glow sticks and not make the whole outfit. The first test was us testing how the colour grading and editing lighting would effect the image. I was happy with how it came out and how it made whatever the glow sticks light up darker and less noticeable. The second test was us layering them in different ways to make them look as if we are using different actors.
The video to the left is a tutorial for making an effect what resembles a glitch. He mentions that it involves keying what he doesn't go into much detail about it but I already know about keying within premier pro. Since Im also using premier pro to edit the music video I found the tutorial about how to do it using premier pro. We want to know how to make a glitch effect within premier pro because the song we have to chosen has a static sound in the beginning couple of seconds and the glitch effect will work with it more. Their is another way we can do the glitch effect and that is by green screening it but those glitch effects will be static in appearance so I believe this method will be more visually pleasing.
The video to the right is a tutorial on how to make a glow stick man outfit. Our concept for the music video is glow in the dark stick men and we need to know how to do this so we looked into a tutorial on YouTube and found this. By buying glow sticks you can safety pin and sellotape the glow ticks to a black hood at the arms, legs, body and the hood of the hoodie. The hoodie needs to be black and you need it on a black background so that thee glow sticks don't light up whatever it is next to.
The second concept for the video is green screening the background in but we decided not to do this. The idea was to edit stars in the back ground but after looking at how it looks and the fact our video is a rap video we decided that it would be best if we kept the background black. We also tested the glitch effect idea and how well the video did with that and used it as a transition between one cut to another. It makes the cut a lot less noticeable. Even though we green screened it in rather than use the technique in the tutorial above.
The pictures above our behind the scenes picture of us filming the final project. We attached glow sticks to our actors hoodies by using safety pins to keep the glow sticks attached to the arms, hood and front of the hoodie and used sellotape to attached the glow sticks onto the actors legs. This will make the actor look like a stick man when the lights are turned off. We used mostly dark clothing for the actors so that their clothes won't show up when they're being illuminated by the glow sticks. The tutorial said to use around 25 glow sticks for the costume but we manage to use around 15 for each actor.