Research: Uptown Funk---> Comparisons between the Official and Remake

My Version vs Original

Here is the final edited video that we had made:

And the one below is the same but with footage comparison to the original Uptown Funk

Disregarding the dancers and myself who is imitating Bruno Mars; the main difference would be the camerawork of the video. Lighting in the remake version is brighter than the official music video and also, we did not have a colour-list who colour corrects all of the video during post production which will take a longer time to finish. Furthermore, the shots of the remake were less accurate to original, although the types are the same but the length of zoom were different, some shots were more zoomed in e.g: the "Too Hot!" scene which pictured myself (Bruno) appearing closer and also blocking the dancers from the camera.  Lastly, the maximum resolution between the two videos are completely different. The remake has a max of 480p whilst the original has a high definition maximum of 1080p.

The cuts for the remake were too direct. It did not have a pan movement nor a sudden half second black frame. It was quick and precise, a given example would be the shoe and the high five cut; we achieved the correct cut motion for the second high five, however, the first was too quick that a hand swing wasn't present in the frame. For the shoe cut, the remake did not pan the camera slowly after the cut, the camera was still aiming in one direction for the remake rather than panning. Moreover, the alignment of shoes in the remake were close to each other and some weren't synchronised as well than others.

Overall, I was happy with the outcome and felt that I had achieved my goal in making this remake a parody.

Research: Editing Uptown Funk

Editing

It took 2 days to edit this music video. Throughout the editing, I relied mostly on the mark tool which I used to mark the different cuts and beats of the original version and apply it to our own remake footage.

Moreover, some parts of the pieces of footage were too fast. As a result, I reduced the motion using the speed and duration tool. To make the footage slower by half a frame, I would reduce the speed and duration from 100% to 50%. Vice-versa, if I wanted to increase the speed by half a frame, I would increase it to 150%. I did this with a few pieces of footage to match the rhythm of the music to the footage and cut.

Here is a timelapse of the editing process:

Research: Uptown Funk Remake

Uptown Funk Remake

Uptown Funk, a song that was popular throughout the world since the beginning of its release. Now, the song reached the view count of over 1 billion because of its Jazz feel, powerful vocals and smooth dancing. Our task is to make our own version of Uptown Funk during the week.

Team Members and Plan

Crew

Pearl: Cameraman, props
George H: Girl, Editor, props
Pooh: Director, costumes, Bruno Mars

Planning: Pearl created up a shot sheet of all the cuts along with rhythm to 1) indicate how many cuts there are. 2) to identify each action the actors and dancers had to follow along and 3) for editing purposes.

Shot Sheet 

Filming

Location 

All of the filming occurred at the sixth form centre. The two main locations for our team were the balcony outside of the sixth form centre and by the cafe.

Door: we used this part of the location to do the first verse of the music video because it was similar to the scene of the first verse in the music video with an "urban", "uptown" look. Also, the door scene was like there to make the audience feel the attraction of the women led those dancers and Bruno Mars to walk out of the cafe and sing.

Balcony: Used for the "observe" scene, the balcony is a perfect spot for filming that particular scene because the actors can mimic the actions of the real footage.

Filming

The process took a total of 2 days to film. On the first day of filming, we filmed the introduction part and the transition scene from the intro of the music to the first verse. On the second day, we filmed the first verse and the chorus of the music which surprisingly took less time to film even though the duration of the first verse compared to the intro was greater. However, the intro had a lot of shots that we had to cover so it took more time. 

Bloopers

ENJOY!

Research: Digipaks

Digipaks

what are they?

Like what the word "digipak" says, it is literally a packaging for a digital content which is audio and in tracks. Basically, it is what the public would call an "album cover".

There are five main points for the purpose of Digipaks

1) attract consumers: Digipaks are the main key to an artist selling their hit songs. It is considered the "first stage" to gain there consumers, so the artist or the digipak designer who works under a certain artist should make that first impression to lure in buyers. If the artist produces good music but has a bland and dull album cover for their digipak, the chances of getting the maximum amount of consumers will decrease. Therefore a first external impression is key.

2) Not "put off" consumers: this point supports the first point

3) Genre specific- appeal to target audience: Artists of the same genre follow similar styles to their digipak covers. An example would be Adele; she sings songs that are easy to listen, as a result, the digipak cover that will attract her audience would need to be dramatic or have a deep meaning to it (Black and White with her closing her eyes and doing a dramatic pose). On the other hand, if it were a rap artist; the digipak cover would be flashy to an extent and would have either: money, girls, cars, rap clothing or even at times a dramatic photo in the front of the cover.

 album covers that are easy to listen

Clearly rap album covers

4) Brand development- star persona

5) Be attractive as a physical product: needs to be "eye catching for the audience

Taylor Swift

The albums that Taylor Swift produces can clearly show the change in both her style and her growth from being a teenage country girl to a Californian success who made it to the red carpet. As a result, she undergoes changes in looks and style of clothing to communicate to the audience

 Album 2006: natural look, country style, girl next door, innocent, teenage, handrwritten signature

Fearless: More grown up, signature again, hair spread, more confident, handwritten personal

Speak Now: signature, dress more mature, still a little disney princess,

RED: Red lipstick, face is covered, straight hair more serious, less introduction to herself, famous, more target audience

1989: Birth date, polaroid, initials, very personal, hipster vibes, lips only no eyes

Calvin Harris

Again, Calvin Harris also clearly shows his growth. However, he highlights his growth in terms of style of edm music and also his fame, from being that dj who made disco music, to a superstar who is known for his unique edm style.

I created disco: pop, bright colours, retro look, home made theme

Ready for the weekend: Beautiful lady, similar signatures, closeup, now not his face because he has a team.

18 Months: New style, not a lot of work in picture, wide shot now, turns away from camera to show independence and style now. New font

Motion: Futuristic, change in music genre, motion, figure in fabric.

Nicki Minaj

For Nicki, it was a little weird; Nicki Minaj showed her evolution through the changes of her alter ego: Roman. She begins to let go of Roman at her latest album but other than that, her style of music is the same.

via GIPHY

Pink Friday: odd, barbie, parental adviory so fake, dimensions are wrong,

Roman Reloaded; lots of makeup to resemble roman and her transformation to her alter ego, pink, girly

Print: she's gone, no more nicki, print, roman's print

Research: Counting Edits

Edit Counting

The main key to a good and thrilling music video are the myriad amount of cuts that are in the entire music video. The more the cuts, the more interesting your music video would be. The reason why music videos have a lot of editing is to match the musical rhythm with the edits and to transition scene by scene in order to prevent the viewer from going into boredom in seeing their favourite artist shot at one angle or level. Here are different music videos that have different numbers of editing.

1) P1-01: My Neighbour's House- (8 edits in 40 seconds)

 A piece of work done by former A-Level Media Studies students. It is not one of the best music videos out there coming from mostly the quality of the visuals but also the amount of cutting and editing of the video. It doesn't bring any attention to the audience.

2) The Cribs: We share the same skies- (23 edits in 40 seconds)

This music video was more interesting due to its number of cuts and the way it was edited using black and white filters and a green screen of the band travelling along the road. Compared to the 1st music video, this one had more "mood" and mainly its editing helped set the tone.

3) Who's That Chick- Rihanna ft. David Guetta (approx. 60 edits in 40 seconds)

Well known for her music videos and how she presents herself in her videos, most of Rihanna's videos have fast cuts to show her intense motion.

4) Rap God-Eminem (approx 60 edits in 40 seconds)

This song, not only known for its quick and fast lyrics, but also a music video that can turn you sideways. During the first 4o seconds, it has approximately 60 to 70 cuts. Eminem uses that many cuts to let the audience recognize that there will be fast sick lyrics in this song and it hypes the audience up from the beginning.

Research: Editing Get Lucky

Editing a Music Video

At one lesson, we edited a remake of the Pharrell Williams song "Get Lucky" ft. Daft Punk. I used the remake video of a student in the UK. Basically, music video editing is all about accuracy and precision. The aim is to match the video with the music lyrics and beat. 

 The life saving main tool that help me a lot in identifying the music and video was the "marking" tool. I would mark parts of the video that fit the lyrics of the music. 

This is the mark tool

What I did was mark certain times of cuts and lip sync movements that matched the tune. For example, the sentence "Like the legend of the phoenix". I would mark the time where the guy moves his lips to make the "L" sound, then would drag the video into my main editing bar to do cuts and movements like seen below.

I found this task easy because of the editing software Premiere. However, there were often challenging moments when I have to get the beat and rhythm of the music correct. Furthermore, the lyrics and music are sometimes dragged in a tad bit early or a tad bit late, and it is challenging to rearrange the video and music sequence to match the correct time.

Here is my final product!

Research: Technical Analysis

Music Video: Technical Analysis