The Animatic

Having storyboarded almost all of our video, splitting the scenes between us, we chose to photograph the first half and put it onto the computer so we could turn it into an animatic.

Using Adobe Premier Pro, we imported all the pictures and, cutting and ordering them, matched them with the audio, adding movement with the "scale" and "position" animation options in order to create camera zooms and pans we imagine would appear in our final video.

Tempo and Editing

Analysing the first 50 seconds of the music video of "Fall for You" by Secondhand Serenade, it's clear that song tempo has had an impact on the shot lengths and amount of shots - within the 50 seconds that contained the first verse and chorus, there were only 20 shots, lingering and long in length to suit the slow, quiet nature of the song's opening. On average, this meant that it would have had about 24 shots a minute - a shot every 2.5 seconds, if it continued in the same style.

The first 50 seconds of a far more upbeat video, in this case Elliot Minor's "Still Figuring Out", differs greatly to "Fall For You" in amount of shots - this time approximately 52 shots for the same amount of time, on average meaning the shots would each be slightly less than a second in length.

It clear from both that as the songs both establish themselves, pick up in mood, and end, the shot lengths vary - the establishing shots of each video have more time taken over them in order to introduce the main singers/scenes. As more instruments are brought in and the mood is fully established, the editing speed again picks up - in the first video to signify conflict as it moves into its second verse and guitars are introduced, and in the second to mirror the increased musical texture as the song moves into the chorus.

Whilst at the moment, the animatic for our own music video only briefly sketches out possible shots and shot lengths, this quick research helps me understand further where we ought to take time in our video, and where we can afford to speed up. For example, the establishing shots and, indeed, the first scene of our video will have a slow editing pace before the music starts, allowing the viewer alongside the character to take in the surroundings - a key feature of folk videos. However, as the vocals kick in and the scene changes and moves towards the chorus, the speed can get faster as more plot devices are introduced. To prevent there being a full-blown dramatic plot, however, this will be broken up with the overriding home-video from the car journey, introduced quickly and flickeringly at first, before brought in fully, as if being overwrote on a home video camera (as during my research on this website, it was suggested that an editor should "split the story, and scatter the plots throughout the video"). Where the music breaks down into the bridge, again the pace will slow, and I imagine that the shots will also slow considerably as the end of the song and video is revealed.