D1 - Evaluation, Analysis and Creating meaning

How post-production techniques and processes create meaning:

Almost everything I did during the editing process of my music video was done for a specific reason. I have previously mentioned many of these, but I will cover everything fully in one place.

Cuts:

Most of my post-production work was creating all of the 72 cuts between shots throughout my video. The majority of these were simple enough to create, just trimming individual clips to their desired length and lining most of them up with the beats of the track. I did this to reinforce the video's connection to the music and emphasise the rhythm of the track; this is important for all music videos, but especially EDM videos since EDM gives particular importance to the tempo / pace of the track. 

Cutting on action is a similar technique that I have also used a few times in my video. This mostly achieves the same thing, especially when combined with cutting on beat.

Speaking of pace, I deliberately chose to have shorter intervals between cuts during more intense parts of the track so that the visual pace of the video was faster. This reflects not only the intensity of the track but also the current level of tension in the video's narrative. During the first scene, shots are generally longer than during the 3rd/4th scenes because the level of tension at that point is much lower; Jacket is alone in his apartment vs. killing thugs left and right.

Advanced cuts:

Some of the cuts in my video were created to establish extra meaning beyond just supplementing the music. 

Jump cuts are used quite a few times during the second scene of the video, when Jacket is preparing to enter the club. For the first 2 instances of this, it is mostly to retain cutting on the beat of the track by breaking up the longer shots with cuts.

However, for the 3rd instance where Jacket is attacking the thug by the door, I deliberately cut more out of sync with the beat to invoke a feeling disorder and chaos . I chose to do this because it reflects Jacket's emotions at that point in the video. Up until that point, he was somewhat calm and collected, hence regular cutting in time with the beat. However, when faced with his first combat, he totally lets go and gives in to his primal instincts of chaotic violence. This is also implied in the fact that Jacket continues to beat the unmoving body of the thug over and over again before going inside, senselessly and uselessly extending the violence.

All of the jump cuts are secondarily used to reduce the length of an otherwise long shot into a more compact sequence that more suitably fits into the video, allowing me to show, say, 30 seconds of an event in only 10 seconds.

Cross-cuts and cutaways are also frequently used throughout my video to show more of the narrative developing, even when Jacket, the main focal point of the video, isn't present. For example, cutaway shots of people dancing are used for several reasons. Firstly, they clearly establish that the location of the video is a club, which would otherwise not be very clear. They also bring more life into the fictional world I've created; not only in terms of their movement, but the presence of other, normal people going about their lives makes the music video feel more realistic, even if other aspects of it are not. 

Shots of people dancing are also a convention of EDM videos and appeal to my target audience, which was the main reason I planned to include them.

Cross-cutting is used between Jacket's parade of violence and 2 thugs alerting the boss to help develop the narrative and drive up the tension of the video. Cutting between the two separate chains of events shows that they are happening at the same time, while also suggesting that the 2 sequences are connected in some way; this is confirmed in the final scene where Jacket finally finds the boss.

I used a match cut between scenes 1 and 2 to visually link them together, so that it would be clear to the viewer that Jacket has taken the package with him somewhere. This enforces the continuity of the video which makes it more pleasing to watch.

I'm not sure whether this qualifies as match cuts, but the last few shots of the video are very similar in composition to some of the shots in scene 2, such as Jacket walking towards the car, Jacket inside the car and the car driving away. I did this to give the video a sense of closure, since the video ends the same way it began (bar the first scene).

Transitions:

Some of the cuts in my music video are covered with transition effects that I added during post-production. I used them for a range of reasons individual to each instance that a transition between shots is used.

The first transition is a dissolve between shots 7 and 8. I included this to make the match cut between the shots more obvious, as the packages blend into eachother for a moment during the dissolve. It also helped to reflect the music at that point in the track, as there is a transition-like sound effect that plays between bars, slowly fading in and out like the dissolve.

There is also another dissolve transition used at the end of the video, where the same sound effect plays again. This instance also aids in lowering the visual intensity of the video's ending, since a standard cut is more harsh and abrupt than a transition. This also reflects the track at this point, because the percussion cuts out for the final bar, lowering the track's intensity.

I used a whip pan transition effect in 4 instances, in the second half of the video. These were all used for the same reason, which is to help the viewer understand the spacial relationship between the shots before and after the pan. Without the transition, the separate shots would almost appear disconnected, as the spacial relationship is not established. It also helps to drive up the pace of the video, since there is more movement occuring on-screen. The blurring effect also somewhat hides the cut beneath it, which gives the appearance that the shots before and after the whip pan are a continuation of each other.

The only other transition used in my video is a wipe effect when the 2 thugs are exiting the boss' office to guard the door. There isn't much of a good reason for this compared to the other transitions, as I'm not sure what my reasoning was behind it. What I do know, is that it improves that section of the video.

Other editing techniques:

I used the text tool to create a title card near the beginning of the video. This simply says "HYDROGEN" and nothing else. I chose to add this because the shot behind it, an establishing shot of the room, is perfect for a title card in my opinion. It makes the opening of the video feel more purposeful and dramatic, which captivates the viewer to continue watching.

The video abruptly cuts to black at the end, along with the track that tapers off with reverberation. I chose to do this because it makes the ending more dramatic, as well as giving appropriate closure to the video. Music videos usually end with an end card, but I thought that an end card would ruin the minimalist style of the video, leaving the title card as the only added text.