CR planning

Because most of the production work is now completed, I am now in a deep-dive planning stage to ensure that the real essay writing becomes a lot easier. I will structure my ideas into four different pillars and the first one will be how our visual style was shaped by the confessional pop of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Gracie Abrams. I would like to examine how we consciously shunned the common-place performer cliche of singing to the camera, instead using a cinematic, narrative-dense approach that relies on close-ups to add emotional emphasis to a heartbreak story.

Then, I will dwell upon how we constructed a bridge to our teenage audience, how the feel of the small world of the album is manifested in the selection of relatable props and settings. I will also consider the branding of the project, which is how the repetitive motifs of beach and sunset are used as a visual cue that links the music video and the digipak. Lastly, I shall talk about the social representation in our work, to be precise, the arc of a young girl reclaiming her identity. By sketching out these points now I will be able to show that my CR clearly shows how all the creative choices, such as the color grading, or the logistical transportation of our equipment, was a calculated move on the way to a professional and unified final product.

Changes during editing

 When we were making the bridge part of our music video, we had a different idea in our mind. We had intended to layer previous memories on the scene of her driving to the beach almost as though the relationship were being flashed in her mind. This was aimed at ensuring that the moment was more emotional and thought-provoking.

That is the version that my partner put together but after watching it, it was not what we wanted. The overlapping clips were too active and somehow distracting, and, rather than contributing to the feeling, it complicated the scene to follow. It also deprived the driving shots of their simplicity which were already powerful in themselves.

I proposed to use jump cuts instead of that. I believed that a less elaborate style would be more useful to the rhythm of the bridge itself and provide the emphasis on her without making the images too elaborate. My partner then re-edited the scene using jump cuts.

Such a change was a big difference. The jump cuts were smoother and much closer to the tempo of the music. It enhanced the scene and made it more watchable. In retrospect this was a lesson that it is necessary to re-evaluate your ideas when editing. Although something might sound good, it does not necessarily translate into a good picture and simplification of a picture can give the end result a significant boost, in some cases.