Directors research task - Jake Wynee

Jake Wynee - Director and editor

Early years of Jake Wynee: Jake attended Latymer School in Edmonton, when he was 16 he made a number of short horror films, he made these films using the schools equipment  Inspired by these short films Jake went on to study at Stafford University. He completed a degree in Film, TV and Radio studies. After university Jake Wynee began running at Rushes Post Production House. From this Wynee picked up the skills needed to cut on non linear editing systems. Jake Wynee made his way up through the post- production, and editied award winning commercials. Wynee also worked at Final Cut in London where he edited Promos for stars such as Robbie Williams and Spice Girls. After this Jake Wynee teamed up with a friend whom he went to school with and together they directed a music video for Nojahoda in 1999.

The making of Nojahoda: Wynee said he achieved this music video by using clever lighting and using film lenses on a video camera. By doing this it created ananamorphic, stretched vibe. The music video was a low budget video, and this was achieved by using Sony's own building so there were no costs to hire out certain locations for the music video.The only place which was not Sony's own building was the church. Extra characters that featured in the music video, such as the choir were fans and friends of the band. Therefore they worked for free. Jake Wynee's Dad also plays one of the main characters within the music video, therefore he also stared in the video for free. Therefore, this made the music videos costing a lot lower than if they would have to hire in professional actors, and hire locations.
Editing Nojahoda:  Throughout the Nojahoda music video there are a lot of special effects, including building blowing up, jets flying through a town and distortion to the bands faces. The majority of these effects are created by taking an image from the internet and inserting it into the footage. For example, the section of the music video where the Jets fly through the city is created by taking an image of Jets flying and inserting them into the footage. The section where the building blows up is created by taking an image from a film and inserting it into the footage. This image is from the film Independence day and is the image of the white house blowing up. One of the main reasons this music video works so well, is the fact that it is in black and white. This results in the finished
video blending nicely and seamlessly, resulting in an end result that everyone is happy with considering how little it cost to make.

When making my music video I will take Jake Wynee approach to Nojahoda into consideration, as it will allow me to think how to create a seamless and well put together finished product. Also thinking about what resources I have easy access to like Jake Wynee did, as this will help me put together a well thought out music video which has the potential to be low costing however still successful. 

Prelim - Analysis

Peer feedback: 

1. We made good use of the space we had. We used all the space with energetic movements, which matched well to the tempo and emotion of the song
2. There were some parts of the video where you could not tell we were lip synching, however there were some areas where the lip synching did not match up with the track at all, this is an area of improvement 
3. More close ups could be used to connect the actors within the music video to the audience, using more close ups will also show more emotion throughout the music video 
4. The use of costumes made the music video more enjoyable and made it easier for the audience to connect with  star. 

From looking back at the peer feedback. Nikki and I now see what improvements we need to make and we will then take these into consideration next time we film and edit together a music video. The fact that out costumes made the audience enjoy our music video more and made it easier for the audience to connect with star, links in to Dyer's theory of stardom .The stars in our music video fit into the paradox of 'the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer'. This means that the audience are intrigued by the star, and can help lead to a successful product, as according to Dyer's theory the audience will strive to complete or make sense of the image, this will occur according to Dyer if there is continued consumption of the star through his or her products. In this case it will be the product of our music, supported by our music video. Therefore I think when creating our next music video, we take Dyer's theory into consideration, and create a star within out video in order to make the music video successful. From the peer feedback, we also gained a clear understanding of how we could create more emotion within our music video. This emotion can be achieved through the use of more close ups, as close up allows the audience to once again connect with star, and gain an understanding of what emotion is trying to be portrayed throughout the video.  

Mise-En-Scene

We wanted to create the idea of a 80's fitness video. Therefore costume and location was a vital aspect to give this impression. Because of this Nikki and I ensured our costumes matched that of a 80's fitness video, to ensure this we researched into fitness clothing from the 80's and put together our costume once we had gained an understanding of 80's fitness clothing. We also looked at the Madonna's music video for Hung Up, as this music video had a similar scene. Our costumes were similar to Madonna's however; we wanted to gain a better idea of what location to use. From watching the video we saw that Madonna's music video was carried out in a mirrored dance studio. Nikki and I had access to a similar location; therefore we used this for our video. Looking back at our finished video our costumes match with narrative of the music video and therefore work well together. Props were also well used within our music video as they established the narrative further. This is because fitness equipment was used. I think if we consider what we did well regarding Mise-En-Scene when producing our next music video, we will have a strong music video; however, we have to ensure that it matches that of the theme of the song, which we didn't do so well during the prelim task. The song we were given for the prelim task was themed around love. Our music video did not fit into this narrative. However it is not vital that the narrative of the music video matches the lyrics, but it should be considered. Therefore I think next time we should listen more to the track before finalising our idea. Also having a number of narrative ideas will be an effective way of selecting the best narrative as we can see which suits the track the most. 

Editing

When planning our music video for the prelim task, Nikki and I decided that it would be best to use straight cuts to edit our shots together. We decided this because from the tempo of the music, and the theme of the music video we decided this would work best. However looking back on our finished music video, I feel that a dissolve may had worked better at the start of the music video, as the pace of the track at this point is a lot slower than the rest of the track. The dissolve could have shown the two different characters walking into the shot in a different way. Next time we make a music video, I think to ensure we end up with the best finished product trying out different edits to see which works better will benefit us. Also throughout the editing stages of the music video, Nikki and I had to either slow down or speed up certain shots to ensure that the lip synching matched up with the track. This worked well in some parts of the music video, but at some parts it was not done as well as it could have been. Therefore next time I think it is important we take better care during the editing stages to ensure our final music video is finished to a high standard. 

Movement

Nikki and I used the space we had well, there was a lot of movement throughout the music video, whether this be walking into the shot, or the way we used the fitness equipment or danced round. This made our music video lively and energetic, just like we had planned. I feel the movement throughout our music video was one of our strong point. Therefore when we come to producing another music video, I will ensure I take the good aspects of our movement in the prelim music video and apply them to the final music video where necessary. 

Lip synching

Throughout our video there were some points which were lip synched well; however other parts that were not.  To improve the lip synching we could have filmed our video in a quieter location. Whilst filming our music video there was quite a lot of background noise due to the basketball lesson taking place in the sports hall. This made it hard for Nikki and I to hear the track and sing in time with it, resulting in us not being in time with the track. Therefore a quitter location or filming when the basketball lesson was not on may have improved our lip synching. Taking this into consideration, when planning our next music video, I will ensure that our location is likely to have minimal background noise, so I will find it easier to hear the track. Also if when filming, if we actually sing, it will make the video look more realistic in the way that the lip synching will be on point, and the breathing will match up to that in the track. 

Camera 

Throughout the video Nikki and I ensured we took full advantage of the space we had to use. This resulted in us being able to use a number of camera angles. For example, at the start of the music video a pan is used to show the two stars walking into the shot, from the long shot pan audiences are able to see the costumes and location. The audience see the two stars in leotards, florescent tights, legwarmers and sweatband. Due to the long shot, the audience also gain a clear idea of the location, which is that of a long mirrored room. This long shot allows audiences to make to link between the outfits and location, and make the assumption that the music video is based around a 80s fitness video. Close ups were also used in the music video. For example, during the first verse of the track, and close up is used to show the lip synching of the character I played. The track is meant to be upbeat and joyful; therefore this close up shows my character's emotion to match that of the track. However, this is the only close up used throughout the music video, therefore in future, I think it will be beneficial to use more close ups to connect the audience and the star together. A mid-shot was also used in the music video. This mid-shot was used for the second verse and to show the character Nikki played lip synching. This mid-shot allowed the audience to still gain an understanding of emotion, this was achieved through Nikki's gestures, however a close up would have been better to use at this point. However the mid-shot allowed us to engage the audience as there was choreographed dance routine at this point, allowing the audience to see that the music video was matching the upbeat, joyful beat of the track. A mid-shot was also used at the end of the music video for the same reason. This mid-shot showed both characters come together and perform the choreographed dance routine which matched that of the narrative we wanted to achieve, 80s fitness video. Throughout the video we could have framed our shots better, as throughout the video there were objects within the shot that made the video look unrealistic. For example, as the start of the video when Nikki and I walk into the shot, the audience can see a bag at the bottom of the shot. Throughout the music video you also see table tennis tables, before shooting we could have moved these out of our location or framed the shots better so the audience wouldn't see them. From this I have learnt that a lot of planning needs to go into what shots to use in order to ensure that the characters and objects are framed correctly, and objects that are not meant to be in the shot, aren't visible.

Prelim task - Final edit

Our final edit

Below shows our editing timeline. As a group Nikki and I decided that for our video we will use straight cuts, as from watching existing music videos we discovered that straight cuts are used majority of the time. Therefore our video would fit into a convention of a music video. The timeline also shows that we placed the track onto the timeline separately than the shots them self. This resulted in the video having no background sound because we muted the audio on the shots. Meaning that our finished video has clear sound.

Shot Count Analysis

Track: Hung Up

Artist: Madonna
Director: Luc Besson
Release Date: October 18th 2005
Length of video: 5:27

Number of shots in entire video: 171

Average length of shot: 1 second

Prelim task - planning

 Planning

Nikki and I used a mind map to come up with possible ideas for our music video. We discussed possible camera shots we thought would suit the track, as well as location, costume and how we would edit the shots together. Whilst planning the music video we were listening to the track so we could write down any ideas that came to our mind. For example, we were able to listen to the track and pick up on the fact that song is quite an energetic song. It also has a 'feel good factor' about it. Also listening to the lyrics, gave up possible ideas that the song is based around love and therefore should link into that theme.

From the mind map, Nikki and I decided that we were basing our music video around a 80s aerobics theme. Therefore this required us to get dressed up for our video. We researched into 80s sportswear and chose which outfit would suit our video best.