Planning Editing Styles - Miss Miller*

A variety of editing styles and techniques are essential within a music video. This is because it helps piece the music video together in either a flowing way or drastic way to appeal to the target audience of which genre. For instance a pop music video will include drastic editing styles and effects such as CGI to convey the escapism that it tends to bring. Also, editing styles are important in representing the artist and showcasing the narrative or concept of the video, as it gives the audience more understanding of the genre. 

The first editing style that will be used in our music video is a montage. A montage is a series of short shots that are edited into a sequence to condense space, time and information. They are used through repletion of images, through cutting rhythm,detail or metaphor. A montage will be seen in my music video in the market scene. I was inspired to include a montage in our music video from Gabrielle Aplin's Panic Cord music video, as she had one when she was seen with her boyfriend walking along the beach. The montage will showcase the couple walking through the market, their facial expressions, the public and the items that they are looking at the stalls at etc necklaces. The use of this editing style creates excitement and makes the scene interesting to watch. Also the different shots shown will help appeal to the niche audience due to the creativity and they may feel a sense of escapism from the artist through the use of the different shots in the montage.In addition, the montage makes the scene look more sentimental and fun for the couple as it showcases them as being happy and active with one another, which helps convey the happy memories within our narrative. Furthermore, the montage will represent the artist as in love and content as the different shots will show her facial expressions and activity which convey her feelings towards her partner e.g holding hands, smiling.  A montage is conventional to the indie genre, as it helps establish different things within the scene to the audience such as the artist's facial expressions, what they're doing and where they are at which helps make the narrative or concept more understood.

The next editing technique that will be used in our music video is slow timing of shots. This is when a shot is slowed down and this will be used in the field scene when the artist and her friends are dancing around in the coloured smoke. The use of the slow timing shots will show the characters facial expressions and body language clearly and exaggerate their current emotional state which will be of happiness and liveliness. Also, it'll help convey the happy side of the artist in the narrative as it shows her in a joyful state with her partner and friends and highlights her happiness which the audience may admire. The audience will be appealed by this as the slowness captures the lively scenery that the artist is in, and they could relate to this as it shows the fun they are having and the target audience are known to having fun and being rebellious. Also, the slow timing of shots will be used to show the romance between the artist and her lover as it allows the audience to see how they look at each other and also their actions to one another e.g leaning for a kiss. The slow timing of the shots will show that they are both happy and have strong feelings for one another but also it will intensify the moment that they are in and give it a more intimate feel. This will appeal to the audience as it shows the narrative clearly of there being a relationship within the music video, but also it emphasises their love which the audience may admire and relate to. This builds a relationship between the audience and artist, as they too may relate to their relationship of being intimate and happy which the slow editing captures. In addition, the slow timing of shots will represent the artist as reminiscent, as the slowness of the frames will make them last longer, therefore portraying how the artist wants to indulge every bit of that memory with her partner. This may make the audience empathise with the artist, as they may relate to her in looking back at good memories and looking at every small detail of them. 

Another editing technique were going to include in our music video is filters. Filters help create a different colour effect to the frame and makes the scene look different. We are going to use a sepia filter in our music video to make some scenes look old and vintage. This will be most likely used in the market scene or field scene when the artist is with her friends having fun in the smoke. The sepia filter will accompany the narrative by showing that the actions that are happening in the frame are old memories, however they are happy memories since they're not in a dull colour and dark like it'll be for a black and white filter. I was inspired to consider having a sepia filter in our music video from Lana Del Rey's music video Summertime Sadness where she too used it to convey the memories of her relationship. Sepia filter is conventional to the indie genre because it helps convey the past in a mesmerising and warm way which gives the scene a personal feel to the artist. This builds a relationship between the artist and audience as they feel like the artist is allowing them into her past and getting to know her a bit more which makes it feel like they have a bond. The sepia filter will represent the artist as fun, energetic and content as it'll exaggerate her happiness portrayed within the scenes and make her relatable to the target audience because she is seen having fun. The sepia filter will enable the audience to empathise with the artist due to her showcasing her fun side with them which they may be able to relate to, as 17-25 year olds are stereotypically known to be lively and energetic.  We also may have black and white filter to show the bad side of the relationship as the artist lover doesn't want to be publicly out there in their relationship. The black and white filter will give the frame a sad feeling and convey the emotions of the artist and her lover of being quite down. Black connotes darkness, power and mystery which could be applied to the video as it will imply how the relationship has its dark sides and how the artist's partner is in control of how it is. Also, white connotes innocence, vulnerability and youth which portrays the artist within these dark memories as innocent and oblivious as she's submissive to her partner and is blindly in love to not fight for their relationship to be out in the open. Therefore, a black and white filter is conventional to the indie genre, as it creates a rustic look and also conveys the frame as old and in the past which is useful for showing memories. 

Last but not least, the editing style; fade will be used in our music video. A fade is a simple transition style used in the editing process and it is usually used at the end of a film or video. A fade to black will be used in our music video at the end of the music video which will show the artist putting away the photographs of her and her partners memories. The use of this fade transition between the shots is to make the video flow and give it more sense, so that the audience know whats going on clearly. Also, the fade to black at the end of the music video will clearly state to the audience that is the end of the music video, However it could also portray the end of the relationship that the artist was in. Due to the connotations of black being enigma and enigma, this could be applied to the music video as connoting that the relationship is still a mystery and the audience do not know whether its officially over or not as it leaves on a cliff hanger. Also, in reference to power, the fade to black could portray the artist as self controlling herself and taking power to the situation and implying that she's moving on since we see her put away the photographs during this editing style. This editing technique is conventional to the indie genre as it helps connect shots clearly and also it is used at the end of an indie music video to convey that it is the end of the narrative, giving the audience some clarification. The fade to black represents my artist as mysterious as it signs of the video and makes the audience want to find out more about her, since its ended on a cliff hanger through the fade. This representation intrigues the audience and grabs their attention to her as an artist which helps her build an audience since people would want to know more about her. 

Planning editing has been helpful in visualising the types of editing styles or transitions we will include in our music video. Also, it's made clear of the reasons why certain styles are being chosen and how they're conventional to the indie genre so that it is a successful video. In addition, it has allowed us to examine the representations and effects the editing styles have to portray the artist so that it gives the audience further understanding of the artist and how she feels within the narrative. Overall, I will look back at this post and see what editing styles I need to include in our music video and hope for it to help make our music video successfully conventional to the indie genre.