Time Changes in Music Videos

One of the main focuses of our music video is the fact that is flashbacks from the present to the past, showing two different times in the girls life. I have therefore thought of music videos which share this trait to see how the difference in time is shown, for example through colour or just appearances.

Katy Perry, The One That Got Away

The music video to 'The one that got away' shows the life of an old women reminising back to her past when she was young. This is shown in the video through changes in colour. The images below show two occasions in the video when it flashes between her current life and her as a teenager. The modern day is quite bright and white in colour, while the past is shown in an almost sepia tone which appears to be a warmer colour. However, there is not a large range of colour which shows it could be her memory fading slightly.

Kesha, Tik Tok

I have based a lot of my music video research on this song as it links very well to our own plan. The video shows a girl who is quite wild waking up after a night out; this is shown in very brief flashbacks reflecting her memories of the night. The flashbacks, as with Katy Perry's video, are shown in a different colour scheme, this time being black and white. This effectively separates the flashbacks from the main storyline, meaning the audience cannot get confused and shows that it has happened in the past.

Rihanna, We Found Love
This music video has also been referred to a lot during my research as the storyline is similar to our own, with a relationship breaking up. Like the above two music videos, this one uses flashbacks, showing the happy couple who have know become bored and separated. However, unlike the two above, this music video does not use a change in colour to show the contrast but instead shows the time changes just in the appearances of the couple. They look happy and relaxed in the past but in the present are depressed and looking dirty/ uncaring.

Transitions in Music Videos

After researching into different types of cuts and transitions, I have looked at music vidoes to see the most commonly used ones. I have chosen to watch music videos from artists who could be linked with our actress' style and those with a similar story line as this will effect the cuts and transitions. For example, our video is fast paced so a slow song would most likely have different cuts to make it appear soothing and calm.

Kesha, We are who we are
We feel that Kesha links well with our actress and music video and I have therefore firstly looked at the music video for her song 'We r who we r'.

Parallel editing Cutting

Here is an example of parallel editing cutting which shows the same scenes but from a variety of shots, making it more exciting and interesting for the viewer. The cuts are quick and therefore makes the music video fast paced. The image shows 4 different cuts of the same scene, using a range of angles.

Here is another example. The left image shows a mid shot of the DJ's with the laptop, while the second is a close up of the laptop screen. The scene is the same but the shots are very different with a simple cut separating them.

Dissolve

The images above show the stages from a close up shot of the singer turning into a long shot of a group of people. A dissolve transition was used as the middle image shows the original picture fading and the last image coming into view. It does not go black in between however, showing it is not a fade.



This image also shows the dissolve transition being used, with a close up of the singer turning into a long shot of a tunnel. It effectively makes two very contrasting views link into one another.

Miley Cyrus, Party in the USA

Miley Cyrus, Party in the USA is a music video starring a young girl roughly the same age of our actress. Though the setting is quite different (in this it is hot and summer, while ours is set in the winter) it is the same sort of speed and therefore appropriate to look at.

Parallel Editing Cutting

Once again, this cutting technique has been used, showing the same scene but in a range of angles, meaning regular cuts.

This cut however, is less obvious in showing that the scene is the same.

Fade in/ out

Going from left to right, the above images show a sequence of how the music video uses the transition of fading to change shots. Between the two different scenes, the screen goes black briefly and then fades in as equally slowly as it faded out to the next scene.

Beyonce, Best Thing I Never Had

Beyonce's music video for 'Best thing I Never had' does not necessarily link to the style of our song or plan for the music video but is one of the few videos I can think of that includes a story in the present and then flashback to the past and so I wanted to see how this change was cut to show the time difference.

Despite thinking there would be a particular transition to show the flashback, the music video just cuts to this scene in a basic cut. The difference in time is consquently shown in the effects used rather than the transition, for example the past in this video is shown as if it was filmed on a video camera.

Research into slide transitions

Cuts and transitions move scenes from one shot to another and are therefore important in music videos. We will need knowledge of slide transitions while editing our music video in order to ensure the audience understand it properly.

Types of Cuts

Cut: Most basic slide transition which simply plays one shot immediately after the other. This is how Adobe Premiere will play the shots without us making any changes. This is also known as a 'straight cut'.

Contrast Cut: When the editor juxtaposes two subjects, for example a peaceful calm shot cutting to an angry shot. This would be relevant in our music video as it tells a story of the girls life now, frustrating and angry, against her past which was happy and relaxed.

Parallel Editing Cutting: Where a scene consists of several shots of the same action. This will be appropriate for our video as we have planned scenes where the actress is followed by the camera during her day. One continuous shot of each action, however, may make the audience bored as it would be very long-winded.

Types of Transitions

Unlike cuts, transitions aim to blend two shots meaning they are not as sudden.

Fade in/out: When one picture slowly fades out and the next fades in, usually turning black briefly between the two. This is seen particularly at the beginning or end of the film.

Dissolve: When a shot changes into the next, without turning black between. The shots blend into each other, this would work in our music video to show the difference between the present and the past of the girls life.

Wipe: When one shot is replaced by another by being moved across and out of the screen. It can involve the shots moving horizontally or vertically. I'm not sure this would be appropriate with our music video as it is rarely seen and may look amateur. 

Morph: Gradually reshaping one object to become another in a separate scene, for example a young man being morphed into an older version of himself. I do not think this will be appropriate in our music video as we are not showing the difference between two separate figures or objects when this would be necessary.