Post Production: Editing

In this blogpost I will show my progress and experience as I edit the scenes for our music video. (this was written by my team (Jocy).

yt playlist of all the drafts: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLREIman2VXEPRd5Ej-aZjROtCQAFGiQgl&si=ZvgdRDMobORSuHI9

This is a playlist of each time I exported the music video in different milestones and major progresses made, I used this incase I needed to keep track of what the previous edits looked like as I go along. My editing software (Microsoft Clipchamp) wasn't exactly the best software to use, and it was constantly lagging, so the drafts also made it easy to check on how the end results of each change I made looked like, as the lag in the software could make it difficult to actually rewatch the video itself at times.

The original intro was originally 30 seconds long, it was Hannah (Sharon) grabbing a box of old items that was given to her from her ex boyfriend (Brandon) and looking through the belongings. We were adviced to keep the intro short (15 seconds), so we had a reshoot and got a good intro that was around 20 seconds, which I had asked my teacher again and he confirmed the time was alright since forcing it into 15 seconds didn't look as good. The start of the video I wanted to establish that she was missing this person and isn't exactly moved on yet. I used an over the shoulder camera angle so that the audience could get a good view of what Hannah was looking at.

In this scene I wanted to show the audience that Hannah felt sad as she hasn't moved on from her ex boyfriend. Here we see a text conversation between Hannah (green bubble) and her friend (gray bubble) where she mentioned that she hated the ex and was still upset over him. The editing process for the text graphics took a really long time, especially since I had messed up the first time I screen recorded the messages. I used a green background to apply the green screen effect, however I had forgotten that the text bubbles were also green, so when I applied the effect it removed the the texts along with the background (refer to image below)

When I finally got to rerecord the text meessages, I used a red background instead and applied the green screen effect on the clip except on the color red. It worked wonders and despite it looking kind of roughly edited I was really proud to have been able to got over the green screen problem as I thought it was vital for the messages to be included in this scene. 

For the camera angle and positioning of the subject, that being Hannah, I had purposely sat her in the corner of the screen and curled up in a chair, I wanted to show her almost look like she was shelled up and alone.

This hallway scene took so long to film. We had to reshoot twice, first time I had used just myself and a camera, but the shaky random movements didn't really make the scene look good. Second time we got to shoot this, my gimbal device had finally arrived and I was able to use it to walk down the hallway and film Hannah without the camera shot being too shaky and messy.

This scene I wanted to show that she was REALLY alone. Having to walk through couples and even getting her path blocked by them, and then running into a lively big group of friends that she had to squeeze by. The scene following to this she was in the bathroom alone and was frustrated over how lonely and almost depressed she felt over a break up.

These scenes I wanted to show her doing work with a friend, which then resulted in gossiping about her ex and Hannah happily claiming she was "over her ex". When it cut to Hannah in the dark, with her phone as the only source of light, the singing in the song goes "I wasn't..." to kind of match that she wasn't exactly moved on. I had the same problems for the text graphics here, however since this was later on in the video, I had already fixed the problem before so all I had to do was quickly rerecord myself scrolling through the initial break up text from Brandon. The scene was basically just Hannah alone in the dark, having just lied to her friend about being over the break up, when really she was still reminiscing over her ex and still not over him.

This is a match cut edit I made, the first scene shows Hannah listening to her friend, before noticing Brandon in the distance and shifting her attention. The pov shot in the next scene showed what she was shifting her attention to, and the following scene after (image below) shows her upset after having seen her ex.

I wanted to keep the end of the music video simple, Hannah tries on the jacket she got from Brandon one last time, before angrily packing it up back in the box along with the plushie. It cuts to her in the beach with said box, with the music video ending as she walks down the pier towards the ocean. From here, the audience gets an open ended conclusion where they can assume that Hannah was finally over Brandon and decides to throw the belongings into the ocean (amongst other assumptions! The ending is up to the audience to interpret).

Reflection: Usually when my team (Jocy) edits, I usually watch beside her as it is interesting. She did all of the editing as she handles technical things while i handle researches. I really like how she comes up with many interesting transitions such as the match cut, the locker closing scenes. I see how she always times it very well using technical elements. Although editing is not as interesting for me, I still try to give suggestion when I can even when Im not as good as my team, but I like to suggest colouring or maybe my team (Jocy) likes to discuss with me her ideas. 

Branding Research

Artist from our genre: 

Olivia Rodrigo

• Social medias >

• Music albums

• Music videos : "Drivers License", "Good 4 U", "Deja Vu"

• (Magazine shoots/interviews)

Interviews:

What brand identity are they giving off?

- teenager (heartbreak, angst): this is as her music video shows her raw emotions through filming and her lyrics. Her personal touch to the songs bring out a sense of nostalgic and a way of finding identity in teenager phases.

- Purple: throughout all her music videos, brand promotion, album covers, personal lifestyle shows her favorite color for purple which makes it her personal color that people connects her with.

-Authenticity: she creates authentic and fresh content using her personal image and colour with lyrics that relate to teenagers.

What is their persona? relatable and open, funny, pop star. Olivia Rodrigo is seen to be relatable and open due to her post in social media where she post alot of behind the scenes moments and unfiltered glimpse into her life, everyday life experience which makes her more relatable to others.

Her humor also plays a big role in her persona shes creating as shes not afraid to be herself having fun in interviews and lifestyle. Whether it’s through interviews, TikToks, or Instagram captions, she keeps things light and entertaining.

As a pop star, she blends emotional depth with mainstream appeal as a typical popstar. However her music snd lyrics are personalized by her own life experiences which. Her music, heavily influenced by personal experiences, resonates with fans who relate to heartbreak, self discovery, and teenage angst. As her songs are based of personal life experience, the song writing feels authentic which causes a strong bond between her and her audience.

She also brands herself by using outfits that stands out, typical pop star artist outfit which has the characteristics of shiny, stand out, bold, colorful and vibrant. These typical conventions uses outfits (concert fits)that stands out to 

 characteristics and colorful showing fun, bright, cheerful. 

These are the example of typical pop concert outfits from some famous artist:

Olivia Rodrigo’s concert outfits:

Olivia Rodrigo follows the pop conventions, such as outfits in order for people to recognize her as a pop artist.

Taylor Swift

Social medias:

• Album covers:

Lover (2019):

1989 (2014 & Taylor's Version 2023):

The Tortured Poets Department (2024):

Midnights (2022):

From each of her cover albums, she has a clear concept on each of her music video. Such as lover which has colors such as pink, soft. The example shows how each of her music has a clear branding and clear idea & story.

• Music videos : "TTPD", "Midnights", "Lover"

Taylor Swift is known for her cinematic, movie like story in her music video as each of them has a clear storyline.

• (Magazine shoots/interviews):

Taylor Swift is a strongly created pesona and branding which she uses to share informations about her music to her audiences. Taylor swift's

personal branding is storytelling/music writer as throughout her music she always achieves this story like, poetry.Artist usually rely on personal

post to drop their music. However where her lyrics has a deeper meaning and even cryptic messages are hidden across, connecting people with her

music even more. She usually writes songs that are vulnerable, relatable to her personal experience which makes her audience relates to her even

more. She's open about her struggles such as music industry, relationships, ect making her feel more real and approachable to her fans.

She is THE pop icon, where she creates era's by reinventing albums and different styles of music. Where she uses glittery and bold outfits

when she performs confirming the usual pop artist conventions and mainstream appeal, as she is one of the biggest influence in pop. Each of

her album has a specific palette as well, which helps her audience differentiate each era of her music.

Self Reflection: Researching both Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift's branding really helped me understand the concept of branding

and how it can be implied to my artist in the music video. I think the key is consistency and having your own uniqueness which is created by artist

using visuals, music and social media presence. For my music video, me and my team plan to make the branding for our artist (Hannah) her

personal star image to make her stand out, relatable and aesthetically appealing.

 

Social Media: Research and Development

This is our social media research and development, written by me (sharon).

Niki Zefanya's

Instagram page and post:

These are her comment sections: (filled with interactive fans especially since she is announcing our tour on various countries) 

Personal post:

Professional post:

NIKI usually post things such as personal post (trips, friends, animals), interaction post (where she thanks her fans) and promotional/professional post such events happening, new albums, concerts. For NIKI's personal post it feels very genuine as if NIKI herself is creating that post as she post things such as selfies, sceneries, food, friends which shows the funny and careless side of her, However, for her promotional post it feels somehow more professional as it looks curated by her team to promote her album, songs and her self branding (pesona). Her posts reflects on her personality and career showing her carefree and fun side relating to fans more. 

Fans are able to interact with the post as usually some of the post from NIKI (after tour post) is directed to her fans to thank them for coming, ect. Usually fans are able to engage from comments, react or respond to stories. Others fans usually are able to interact by comments and replying to each other. In other applications such as tiktok fans are able to post their fav videos of their artist and other fans are able to repost, interact with the post even more. 

NIKI promotes her music by posting teasers of music videos on her upcoming album, her album's trackline, behind the scene looks, announcing tours and collabs with other artist. She used instagram to direct her post to be more professional and informational things.

By NIKI's social medias such as instagram i am able to find informations such as her tour dates, her new album releases and her social life updates and collaborations with other artist.

Olivia Rodrigo's

Instagram page and post:

Comment section: 

Personal Post:

Professional post: 

This is her paid promotion with sony:

Her paid promotion with glossier (in here she uses her signature color purple again)

Olivia Rodrigo usually post about her daily life such as travels to countries, being with friends and her process of producing the music. She also post to promote her music such as upcoming albums, concert tour dates and behind the scenes of her production. Olivia Rodrigo also post paid promotions such as the one with sony’s link fit collaboration, glossier which still fits her aesthetic. Throughout all she post she frequently used the color purple which makes her audience link purple to her.

Olivia Rodrigo’s post consists of very personal and funny and unique post as they feel like Olivia herself created her post. The posts are abit messy but very down to earth and represents herself alot as a teenager. Promotional posts feels more professional due to the good usage of camera, professional lighting (feels more formal) which captures her stage presence and thanking her fans for the tours she got to have in various countries. 

Olivia rodrigo constantly uses her social media platforms to promote her upcoming tours, sharing teasers for upcoming albums and events which she attends, collaborations, ect.  Fans are able to interact and engage by commenting, reacting to some post or sharing content. For other social medias such as tiktok fans usually post videos of concerts and performances that olivia did.

Her social media inspired me to make our social media personality for our project. As her feed consist of formal and funny post which is the perfect combination for a feed in our opinion. However personally i have always been hooked up on her post as they feel very genuine and not fake which impacts me as an audience in being interested.

Gracie Abrams

Instagram page and post:

Comment section: 

Personal Post:

Professional post: 

paid promotions: 

Gracie Abram's social media consist of a blend of professional and raw moments, but more professional feel which has a minimalistic aesthetic constant throughout all her page. This is as Gracie post semi professional pictures with a film like effect, vintage feel which makes her page feels very artistic and minimalistic but nostalgic due to the colouring. 

Gracie frequently post behind the scenes pictures or pictures about her process of making a song (handwritten lyrics draft) which gives her fans a glimpse in her songwriting. Her personal post usually consist of unpolished, casual moments in her life which are not so vulnerable however still feel realistic. Her contents also feel carefully chosen from the colours and entire vibe as she often reflect her emotions and artistic process in her post making audience engage more and feel closer to the artist (relatableness). Her post usually has a muted colour which makes it look somehow vintage and nostalgic with soft aesthetic.

Gracie uses her platform to promote her music professionally using high quality concert picture, she share updates about upcoming tours, live performance which her professional post feels more professional but has her signature touch of vintage, ect. For her promotional post also maintains her aesthetic and her personal signature touch which makes her paid promotion never feel forced and blends in with her feed. 

Her aesthetic is dreamy, nostalgic, vintage feel which she usually inputs visuals, simplicity, and aesthetic which subverts from usual high curated artist, making her page seem more relaxed and dreamy and relatable to her audience. Her relatableness makes her fans engage more with her as her followers constantly commenting heartfelt messages. Her fans also engage in tiktok and other apps by reposting her live concert.

Gracie's post is balanced between professional post and semi professional which makes her seem genuine but professional showing her personality through her post and connecting her audience to her art (music) which makes her post engaging. I admire how she curates her personal branding in social media and how she's consistent throughout her post. 

Self Reflection: Researching NIKI, Gracie and Olivia's social media helps me see how artist balances their brand image well to build thei star pesona. Such as Gracie's social media is very unfiltered, and her fun personality makes her relatable. Niki's social media is a mix of really professional and casual to give her both aspects of professionalism and to connect with her fans. Gracie makes her social media really aesthetically pleasing using the muted colours, making her appear calm & nostalgic. 

For our artist's social media (HannaH), we plan to make her more relatable and funny as Olivia Rodrigo's  instagram as we wanted to capture the relatable feel as or music video aims for relatability to audience listening. We also plan to use a lot of blue, white as they connotes into school in our music video which can be our personal branding. 

Digipak: Research and Development

This is 3 of our album cover analysis for the digipak made by me (Sharon).

SOUR (Olivia Rodrigo)

cover : album cover features olivia rodrigo in plain top and skirt. By placing herself in the center of the purple wall, her main branding, using her as the centre of the wall to catch attention. She also uses colourful stickers all around her face, and eye catchy "fun" type of fonts for her "sour" to show the chaotic but fun and playful side.

Back cover: the back cover is also using purple as the theme, which they add on colorful stickers all over the tracklist to show the same meaning with the front cover. The silver balloon with list of tracks written in it, about to get popped by Olivia with a safety pin shows how fragile the album is and symbolizes tensions and emotional fragility.

Technical elements>

camera: the camera angle is a straight medium shot of the artist, which confirms to typical album conventions. The straight eye level shot of the artist looking directly to the camera in a fierce look to directly engage with audience, making it more professional.

Mis en scene: plain purple as the background of her cover reinforces her branding as in her instagram post, album covers and outfits they constantly bring out the colour purple so that other connotate purple as Olivia Rodrigo. The use of colourful stickers all over her place shows her playful, youthful side as colourful connotes as that in this cover. Typograph of SOUR is designed to look like they are cut out from a magazine/newspaper which reflects personal touch, creativity as the disordered and chaotic feel matches the album feel.

Olivia Rodrigo does not have a logo but she has a consistent form of branding from her signature purple colour consistently in the cover. Other then that Olivia rodrigo highschool inspired outfit plays a role in her branding as highschool students are often seen with plaid/checkered skirt. Olivia contrasted between preppy (school style) and abit of grudge as seen on her black nails, messy chunky rings and necklaces.

This album used a clear branding such as purple colorful, in our High school in Jakarta music video (remake) we used alot of blue as it connotes to highschool due to the usual high school setting being blue (lockers, uniforms). Blue can also be a symbolism for sadness and longing as the main character (Hannah) just had a breakup recently so the music video shows her life after the breakup. We also used straight medium shot of our actor (Hannah) staring straight at the camera for the same effect as Olivia Rodrigo did (more engaging).

Hit Me Hard and Soft (Billie Eilish)

cover: the cover features the artist (Billie Eilish) falling into the deep water, falling from the door frame. Deep blue water with Billie Eilish drowning or falling deeper shows the vulnerability and calm. This is shown by using the main element water, as the water symbolizing emotional depth, vulnerability and calmness (water was calm in the cover picture).

Back cover: underwater theme as the front same connotations as before and reinforcing the idea of being drowned in emotions. Tracklist is clean and minimalistic, still using dark color pallets. Cover also uses dark colours, to imply the meaning even more (emotional depth).

Technical elements>

Camera: the camera angle uses long shot of Billie Eilish, to show isolation, alone as they place her in the middle of a big underwater space emphasizing isolation, conveying vulnerability and emotions that drowns with her.

Mis en scene: underwater blue sea creates a dreamlike atmosphere which symbolizes emotions and transitions.

Her outfit other then using dark colour, Billie uses lose outfit which fits the ocean symbolization (flowy) which connotes as calm vulnerability.

The imagery of Billie Eilish that she wants to portray is her well established pesona of self introspection, vulnerability, emotional depth which aligns with Billie's history of finding her identity, going through her mental health. This reinforces her ideas of accepting vulnerability and emotions, instead of pushing it away as she frequently & consistently uses large spaces, long shots on her album.

Billie Eilish does not have a fixed logo but oftenly has the same aesthetic throughout her career such as minimalistic, fun colour palettes and constant extreme without CGI music videos & covers. She frequently uses bold colours instead of pastel or soft colors which makes her personal branding.

Billie Eilish album cover does not really affect our music video album cover as we have different concepts, however we decided to make the cover vulnerable to make the audience relate to it more.

Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023)

cover: Chappell Roan dresses in bright colorful glam outfits, where she uses a tiara & sash often connotes with prom queens, beauty pageants, or royalty however Chappel made a twist to make it in her style (bright, vibrant, eye catching). The theme catches people's attention and reinforces her boldness as she uses contrasting colours. In additional, her pose and her eye centering, looking directly at the camera with a direct gaze creates an intense bond between listeners and artist. The bright colors used such as red, green, white, gold shows her more playful side which attract people's attention.

back cover: settings are done in a vanity, showcasing her in performance situation (in this case circus). Her scattered things such as jewelry, clips, makeup and others shows nostalgia, playfulness, chaotic and fun. Her overall album aesthetics are fun, glam, performance which shows her playful, fun, unique side. 

Technical elements>

camera: cover uses a medium shot which captures Chappell's pose which shows her facial expression and some body language. In addition, she also showcases bright lighting, vanity to reinforce her as the main character.

Mis en scene: vanity mirror with messy items scattered (colorful, bright colors) and bright lights. Consistent color sceme such as red, green, white. 

Since Chappel Roan is known for her performance based, this created her branding image as a pop artist but making her own pesona by subverting conventions such as beauty standards embracing self empowerment and uniqueness. Chappel wants to potray women's standards now and how being different is also good, this is shown in her cover as even when she uses the theme for pageant, beauty queen, etc. She makes it look DIY'ed and crafted creatively making her pesona fun, relatable, and bold. 

Chappel Roan's cover is a very bold and personalized cover, which i think for our digipack i would like to subvert from usual conventions and add a personal touch (maybe doodles) in order to create this bold difference between our artist and other artist. 

This is our digipak development, this part was made by my team (Jocy):

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGhVdgTm9E/4dCFdHO4yBiaXPkn3vMxWg/edit?utm_content=DAGhVdgTm9E&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

These are our considerations: 

Self Reflection: I think that making the doodles added personal touches to the album as it makes it feel more personalized.

The colour blue and white matches our school theme as usually blue and white are connotes as high school. The additional

doodle with school theme makes it feel like a diary/personal things so it creates an emotional bond with the audience. 

Self Reflection: I love how the mis en scene set was created very effortlessly messy looking with colours that pop, as the 

text itself is black colour which contrast which other colours. The set makes it feel very relatable, as its from school and usually we kept our stationery messy. 

Self Reflection: I liked this, but told my teammate Jocy that it might be better to write "by Hannah" as its abit shorter. I

dont like the fonts that are too thin as this feels more professional and needs to be able to looked at clearly.

Self Reflection:I dont like the "in jakarta" typography as it has a drooping effect which is more for scary things, not

matching out theme.

Self Reflection: I remember that i suggested blue instead of pink as out theme is more to blue. 

We ended up with

Self Reflection: The digipak design captures nostalgia and highschool emotions through bold playful fonts

in the blue and white colours (school connotation). The mix of bold and handwritten looking text adds a personality

for our artist as it makes the digipak like a scrapbook feel (Olivia Rodrigo reference) making them more relatable as

it shows both structure and spontaneousness. Overall the imbalance shows the high and lows of a teenager highschool life.