Final draft

This is my final draft for Lights out, I have made a few changes from the initial draft in response to a few peer feedback comments, such as:

• A black and white grainy filter at the end would look more effective
• The video should cut to black after vampire kills to emphasis a rewind in time
• A white flash when the vampire goes outside would look better

Final draft

First draft

Final draft

First draft

Final draft

First draft

Final website

STOKER'S website

CD Booklet Final

Album final cover

Editing progress-10/03/17

Editing Progress- Friday 10th March

Today i finished my first draft of my music video. I used colour grading to make the dancing scenes near the end of my music video appear dream-like and happy, in contrast to the darker, colder colour grading on the final reveal shot which shows the vampire's kill. 




Here is the first draft of lights out. I am currently editing bits that have been suggested to me by my teacher. I hope to have the final edit on here by the end of the month.

Editing progress- 09/03/17

Editing- Thursday 9th March

Today I managed to reach the end of my music video with footage, meaning I now have a full sequence in place to tweak and edit effects on. It is a basic sequence at the minute but this now means that I can apply effects based on how I know the order of the footage goes in my project. Tomorrow I plan to add a couple of overlays on top of some bits and colour grade the entire music video to make it look more professional (or less amateur). I will also apply more 'Warp stabiliser' and maybe revert the effect off of some footage where I feel necessary. My media teacher watched the completed sequence today so I could see if the concept made sense to others, to which he responded that it did make sense, but I will have to export a copy to show to different audiences, perhaps those who completed the questionnaires for me, to see if the video has the same reception.

Editing progress- 08/03/17

Wednesday 8th March

Today's progress

Editing progress- 7/03/17

Tuesday 7th March- Editing

Today in editing I wanted to add a diegetic sound over the top of the music video to give the effect of fourth-wall breaking in auditory terms (perhaps 'sound barrier breaking'). I achieved this by using the razor tool in PremierePro to cut a segment in the middle of the song where I wanted the sound effect to go, so that the song, instead of being one singular section, was split into three.

 After this, I applied the 'Exponential fade' effect to the end of the first section (the whole song leading up to the diegetic sound) and the 'Constant gain' effect to the beginning of the third section (the music increasing in volume again after the sound effect has occurred). In the middle section, I adjusted the volume of the music via Audio effects control and turned the volume of the 3 second segment down to a suitable volume in which you would be able to hear other noise on top of. 

Shortly following, I downloaded a royalty free sound effect of a doorbell ringing and imported that onto my timeline, placing the sound effect on top of the 2nd segment of the song. The result: the volume decreases and stays decreased until the doorbell has rang in the music video, before increasing to its original volume again for the remainder of the video.

Here is a video tutorial I used for help in adjusting sound in Premiere Pro

Editing progress- 3/3/17

Friday 3rd March- Editing 

Today I spent one hour editing my final project and managed to edit footage to the second verse of the song. This would be about 1 and a half minutes in. I am finding myself experimenting with the Warp Stabiliser effect a lot on Premiere Pro as some of the filming I did via hand-held cameras, particularly the footage shot on the iPhone 6s. The stabiliser effect gives a smooth and professional look but I should be careful in using this sparingly as I still want intertextual referencing to old grind house horror movies which often feature shakes hand-held camera shots, such as Evil Dead. 

Editing progress- 02/03/17

Thursday 2nd March

Today I gathered together both the DSLR footage and the footage shot on the iPhone 6S onto Premiere Pro and arranged them into order. When importing the iPhone shots onto the editing timeline I had to adjust the screen settings as the format differed from that of the DSLR footage, meaning there was an inconsistency. I edited for about 3 hours and managed to piece together the first 50 seconds or so.  

Filming- 23/02/17

Thursday 23rd February- Filming 

Today I filmed the final scenes of my music video which included the party scenes, the lip-synching scenes and ultimately, the killing scenes. I had a little under 5 hours to prepare and film the rest of my video without mistakes that had to be refilled, as getting both my actors together on one day that was convenient for everybody would be a challenge to arrange again. I went to my local supermarket and bought typical party food such as pretzels and fairy cakes before venturing back to the rendezvous/filming location/where I live to meet with the actors and get make-up and costume sorted. 

After some practice with the vampire make-up, my protagonist was still unable to look in any way scary or resembling, and so it took only 10 minutes to complete the look of Mona the vampire (no relation).

Filming in storm Doris proved to have its difficulties: though there weren't many scenes I would have to film outside, I still had to be wary of the fact that if I had any kind of formal contract with these actors, surely making them stand out for an hour in the cold and rain would be a breach. 

Another challenge of filming in the late afternoon was the setting sun. I organised the filming to be shot in chronological order so that the last shots featured in the music video would have the darkest atmosphere (in natural lighting and in tone). The location in which I filmed has along window-wall, making it apparent when the outdoors are dark or light. This was the precise room where the 'party' scene was filmed, and so we adjusted the filming schedule to the ephemerality of the day time, a struggle comparable to almost all jobs and interactions and activities there are. 

Filming 10/02/17

Friday 10th February- Filming 

Today I filmed the first wave of footage with my trusted, underpaid and underrated actor, who was happy to oblige waking up at a remarkable hour (10:37 AM) to prepare make-up and costume for the day of filming. 

Starting as we mean to go on: in chronological order, we first filmed the waking up scene in the bedroom of our indoor location. I found an old black sheet which I utilised in my mise-en-scene to make the bed which the vampire wakes up in (or rather on) more strange and coffin-like. It took various tries to get a good take where my actor was able to sit up in a low angle shot where the DSLR would comply with her height and the light outside not interfering with the exposure. 

The social media scene came next, and in the days leading up to this filming day, my actors and I had been inviting people to the party event featured in the video and adding mutual friends via the false Facebook account i had set up for the character of Mona, the vampire (no relation).