The Song is ready and so is the Video

So finally after 1-2 weeks of filming we finally had all the footage we needed to make the video! As i agreed i would edit the behind the scenes video of filming where as Martin would edit the music video, so there was a lot of independent working on Martin's hands over the first week of Christmas.  I was extremely impressed by his work ethics during the process of the video, at times i struggled putting in the same amount of effort as much as Martin as i had to work on work from my other subjects as well, yet Martin carried on working. It was good as we were both working towards a goal, our aim was to release it on New Year as the theme of the song went with the 'kissing your love on new year's eve', however rendering the video, took much longer than we all expected and it ended up being uploaded on 2nd Feb.
But I didn't know this, so like a person who was in the blind, i waited and waited... Here is my video i recorded of me waiting for the video to be uploaded/rendered.

I also thought that for the artist's (my) fans that it would be great to give them an update on what was going on especially if they heard about the song and was waiting to release it. Then i wanted to show my appreciation to the cast and the crew for their participation in the project whether or not it was towards their media studies a level or just for some camera fame.

The BoardMeeting

Seeing as everybody was so enthusiastic to put their input in the music video and ideas behind it, there were so many ideas passing by everybody so not everybody had a good understanding of what was going on. So decided we should have a boardmeeting and record it so everyone was clear on what the music video was going to look like and it was good to have knowledge of other;'a people's ideas.

Note: Make sure volume isn't turned up too high when playing video.
At first i got this video wrong as i made the backing music too loud so our actual voices couldn't be heard however it didn't take me too long to remove the music then render the video again....okay let me face it took hours to redo the video; it took a few hours save it once I  removed the tracks in a few minutes.

Red Filtering

Glamorous - Fergie
There seems to be a red filter in this part of the video as the red cups in the party people's hands are so vibrant and grab the audience's attention on several occasions during the beginning of the video. This is what Martin would like us to incorporate in our music video, this idea stumbled upon him a couple of weeks back when he was reminiscent of last year's project when we wanted to emphasise on the red tie of the antagonist by making everything else black and white a great example of this is the spirit and sin city.
Red Red Red! 

Red Tie sticks from the Grayscale cinematography
(The Spirit)

Our reasons for the emphasis of red in last year's project was to express anger,terror and danger but this time it is being used to represent the bipolar opposite which is love, passion of love and romance which will be very creatively incorporated in the music video. The most recognisable way to shoot this music video would be have the female lover of the video to wear a red coat with red lipstick, however I want to branch away from that typical representation of passion and add our individual twist/look to it. Even if the female protagonist is wearing other red attire that's not a coat it would be good as it shows we can understand the reasons behind certain cinematography and can challenge the fundamentals of colour meanings and expressions of passion to interpreted consciously and subconsciously by a large ranged audience. I would prefer it if we had the female protagonist suttle red clothes, as the actress will be a young adult (around 18) she can wear other items such as a cardigan,jumper, slim fit shirt etc. Just to be creative and not blatantly symbolise 'the lady in red' in our video, also to make the couple stand out as the video/story progresses we could have the man's tie turn red too to show unity and how their love has brought them together.

Martin's Red Filter Test 

Martin using Sony Vegas tested the red filter on footage of an ordinary day in London city in my local area Waterloo!! As you can see there isn't only red that is being let in by the saturation there is oranges, pinks, yellows and browns being shown also this might be why in the 'Glamorous' video there is other colours seen through in the 'grayscale ' filter. We will have keep this in mind when using Sony Vegas to edit our videos and if we can't use that software we could always use Final Cut Pro I guess...

Closer Video Analysis

Beautiful Liar
Beginning shots, medium shots with smoke machines to cover their faces henceforth making the two singers looks more mysterious. The make-up artists have made their hair look similar, with their dresses; Beyonce went on a diet to have a similar figure as Shakira and their black dresses are alike.

Slim figure, black with a lighter touch. 

There are several cuts between the two; they are done so quick that the only way to tell the difference from the two singers when the cuts are moving really fast, are the different coloured backgrounds (blue and yellow). Even in Shaikira’s solo shots of Beyonce is still shown looking very alike to her however this unnecessary show of Beyonce is disguised by both of their solo parts in the same verse. Towards the end (the peak of the song) it becomes harder for the audience to tell the difference between the two, in both the Egyptian pyramid interior and the water/rain scenes. Not only are the shots quick but then they start swapping positions, this can the director signifying that they are agreeing with each-other more, or a more blunter/commercial reason so they look as identical as possible to promote them as sexually as possible. Further evidence is of this sexual promotion is the dancing on the floor when it seems as there are possessed by the issue, along with melody of the song that depicts the characteristics of a snake piper and his snake symbolises submission to a masculine presence; Beyonce and Shakira are desirable ladies, the song is directed at men, their faces can’t been seen and the lack of identification the video and song entwines to make a desirable feature to men. The directing of this video is deceptive, so the audience can subconsciously think that the women are identical and good for the same thing, shown by the images this isn't the truth...obviously...so it makes you really think who is the Beautiful Liar....

Slim figure, caucasian with a mediterranean
touch.   

Runway Love 

 Beginning ten seconds, shows the two artists walking past walls covered with wanted posters,lost ones shrines and candles with the title of the song within the posters drawn by red flyers and bunches of flowers. This sets a serious tone for the video as it places the focus of the audience's attention on the serious issues behind the song (missing girls' cases). 

'Runway' in red flyers

'Love' in bunches of flowers 

Then there are quick cuts of closeup shots of the artists that quickly progress to shots of the actresses playing the roles of the characters described in the stories of the verses.  Again bringing the audience's focus to the cases of the girls instead of showing off the artists moves/clothes or looks especially the clothes of the artists which is a common feature of videos involving rappers. Also the shots of the artists show both of them humbly moving to the music as if they are personally connected to the personas of the stories.  The first verse; Ludacris is dressed in black, making him look mysterious as he stands in the same rooms as the girl narrating the role she is playing, the people act as if they can't see him as if he's a ghost and he is omniscient which makes him powerful but not to be praised but to entitle him to show the audience what is happening in the video. This arrangement continues throughout  the whole video with the girls near Mary J Blige during the chrous, the video centres around the actresses and other youg girls in the video and the song and the video are supportive to these 'runaways' and give a affectionate attitude to people who are going through hard times. 

Millionaire