Planning the editing - Miss Georgiou

Planning the editing

A variety of editing styles are essential within a music video, most importantly because they help with the transition between shots, for example, we plan on using a jump cut in the video between the sections of performance and narrative in order to help the video flow from scene to scene. Also, the pace of the music video can be used to dictate how the artist is feeling, for example, a fast pace may suggest panic and fear, whereas a slower pace suggests calmness, all of which will add to the overall emotion and mood of the song. Editing ensures that the music video will flow from beginning to end which will help our group when telling our narrative with the audience, and will allow us to jump between the past and present and between narrative and performance.




The first example of an editing style that we plan on using in our video is a time lapse, which will be seen towards the beginning of the video and will consist of visuals of the artist and the male character to show the audience their developing relationship, for example, the audience will see them out on their first date and exploring London together, which the audience will recognise through the use of visuals of landmarks including Big Ben and the London Eye. This time lapse will be accompanied by the use of slow motion, which will be used during the instrumental sections of the song that can be heard between most of the verses. This editing style will be used to show the audience how the artist is feeling, for example, by slowing the footage down the audience will be given a clearer view of the artist’s facial expressions and will give them more time to understand what she is doing and who she is with. The use of slow motion is conventional to the indie genre because indie songs are often based on real life experiences, for example, about love and relationships that often tell emotional stories, therefore the use of slow motion will help our group to add to and emphasise the emotion of the song because it will give the audience more time to take in what is happening in the video. The use of a time lapse represents Gabrielle Aplin as having a busy lifestyle due to the fast pace at which the footage appears in the video which is conventional to the indie genre as indie artist are often perceived as always being on the road and performing their music in different places.

 

Another editing style that we plan on using in our video is a jump cut, which will be seen, for example, towards the beginning of the video following the lyrics 'bring me back around again'. The use of a jump cut arguably compliments the lyrics and allows the artist to change their video from a narrative to a performance style, both of which are conventional to the indie genre because it makes the video more interesting to watch, due to the fact that the use of performance allows an artist to show off their talents while the narrative gives the audience to focus on and helps them to understand the lyrics better. The use of a jump cut is conventional to the indie genre because it can be used to show the audience how quickly an artist’s life can change, due to the fact that the music industry is very unpredictable in the sense that an artist cannot foresee whether their music is going to be successful or not. The use of a jump cut could also be used to show the audience how fast pace an artist’s life is, due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as always being on the road and as always performing their music in different locations and venues, which emphasises how passionate they are about their music. The use of a jump cut represents the artist as being creative, due to the fact that the use of performance in music videos helps an artist to show off their talents, for example, being able to play the piano, which usually causes the audience to feel envious of them which links into Goodwin's theory and the idea that an artist must be extraordinary, in a talented and skilful sense in order to keep the audience interested in them. Also, the use of a jump cut could represent the fast lifestyle that an indie artist has, due to the fact that they are often perceived as always being on the road, performing their music in different countries for different audience, which therefore may make the audience feel as though they are being given an insight into how the artist lives.

Another editing style that our group plans on using in the music video is slow pace editing, which will be seen during the last chorus of the video while the audience is singing the lyrics 'my salvation, my, my' as our groups feels that the slow pace of the video will emphasise the sadness of the death of the male character because it allows us to drag out lyrics and the visuals of him dying, which gives the audience more time to understand what is happening. The use of slow pace editing is conventional to the indie genre because indie songs are often based on real life, emotional experiences about love and relationships that allow the audience to make an emotional connection with the song and the artist because they may feel as though they are getting to know more about an artist’s personal life, which is something you would expect them to share with their friends. Slow pace editing represents the artist as being more relatable due to the fact that the audience may often perceive an artist as having the perfect life because of how rich they are, however, the idea of death and sadness in the video disagrees with this perception and suggests that the artist has been through situations that the audience may also find themselves in.

Furthermore, our group has planned to use special effects, in particular, orange and brown colour tints, saturation and filters throughout the majority of the video in order to make the footage look older. These special effects are conventional to the indie genre which does not fit into the mainstream because the genre is often perceived as being old fashioned, and these effects will give the video more of a vintage feel due to the fact that the footage will appear more like a memory, rather than having been produced just for the purpose of the music video, which therefore creates more of a personal feel to the video. The audience may feel as though the artist is allowing them to get to know more about her personal life, which is often what the audience are interested in, they want to be able to compare their own lives to the artist. These special effects can be used to create more of an emotional atmosphere, which arguably shows the audience how the artist is feeling without having to use vocals which could disrupt the rhythm of the song. The use of colour tints and saturations will help us to represent the artist as having more of an individual style and as being conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that the video will not fit into the mainstream, therefore the audience will be able to recognise the music video with the indie genre. These effects may also represent our artist as being more natural and relatable because she is not using over the top special effects, such as flashing lights or a green screen which she can use to transport herself to exotic locations that may be unrealistic to the narrative and audience.

 

The use of different editing styles will allow our group to produce a music video that flows from the beginning to the end, which helps us create a narrative that flows and provides the audience with a mini cinematic experience, that may help them to understand the lyrics and deeper meaning of the song better. The audience will be able to build a relationship with the audience through the use of editing styles because the story will give the audience a bigger insight into the private life of the artist, as is being told to them as if they were friends with the artist, which may therefore cause them to feel more inclined to watch any future music videos that the artist may produce.