Green Screen Practice

This is my green screening practice. It includes three different pieces of footage green screened into different settings.
In the new version of Final cut, it is very easy to create green screened footage. You just drag and drop the keying effect from the effects tab. This means I am able to do more with my green screened footage.
The hardest part of green screening is seeing up the lighting when filming it. The lighting needs to be done properly to make sure the editing software can crop the background correctly. A green screen would be good to use in a spectacle music video. This is because you can have anything in the video that you wouldn't usually be able to do in the real world.

Logo Ideas

This is a logo idea that I have created for our artist as I feel it best suits the genre of music which is rap. I believe it is also appropriate for the genre of our music video which is image. I think this because I have included a big gold crown above our record label name. Jewellery is one of the key conventions in Rap music and showing it off is another one. I have also included this as Rap is one of the most competitive genres in music. Everyone is competing to reach the top and most rappers are prepared to take down other artists in their music to get there. This is evident as there are Rap battles going on all over the world that aspiring rappers and even the biggest rappers in the industry take part in. Some rappers even insult other artists in their music to assert their power over one another. Most people would view Rap as very aggressive and the "devils music" therefore I added a black colour font to our label name. One of the reasons Rap is viewed like this is because of the use of strong explicit language.The colour Black has alot of strong negatives connotations such as power, evil, death, mystery and jealousy. I have also included a white background as there is also a beautiful side to the genre as well. Rap is one of the most popular genres in the music industry. The colour white has alot of positive connotations such as innocence, goodness and purity. All of these connotations are shown in Rap music. Rap takes extreme skill and knowledge and that is why I have made my record label logo look like royalty.

Representation of rap artists

Conventions of our genre

Levi Strauss and Todorov's Theory

A binary opposite is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another.
Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored.

The theory we will focus on is Levi Strauss's which is called Binary opposition. We have chosen to go for this theory as our song is about someone having a personal conversation with his alter ego. Because of this, the Binary opposite we have decided on is Good vs Evil. In the second video above we have used a range of different editing techniques, props and costumes changes to bring our idea to life. Firstly, we have used a yellow flower to represent the good in our artist. We have chosen this because flowers and the colour yellow have good connotations that will present our artist in a positive light. We have also alternated between black & white and a normal filter to show the binary opposite (good vs evil). This will show that he is trapped inside the head of his alter ego and is attempting to escape. At the start of the clip he is playing with a lighter which presents the evil in the alter ego character. This is because it shows that he has bad intentions. My group and I filmed this video in front of a Church which connotes that he has good inside of him trying to come out. For costume we chose a grey hoodie for our artist to wear. This is because hoodies have negative connotations and bad reputations. We also can use this item of clothing to cover his face which also covers his identity. This would be effective because the alter ego is trying to take control of his normal self therefore ruining his identity and covering up his real personality. Our intention of this would be to show a true battle of a good side and a bad side whilst using one person.

In the final version of our music video we plan to include a variety of different things that will represent the evil in our artist such as hand cuffs, chains, straight jackets, Black jumpsuits and many more. This is because these items all have negative connotations and it would best show the story of our music video. To represent the good in our final version we will be using white backgrounds, white costumes, jesters hat and many more. This is because the colour white has many positive connotations such as purity and innocence. 

In the first video above we tried to present Todorov's theory. The problem was that he had just been trapped inside of a shed and we attempted to show the solution by having him walking out of it looking enraged at the fact he was trapped for so long. 


In conclusion, we feel Levi Strauss's theory of Binary opposition best gets across the story of our music video much better than Todorov's theory, therefore we are going to use it in our final version.

Genre Stills

I chose to base my editing techniques, mise en scene and cinematography on the genre of Narrative. In the first still I attempted to tell the story of two friends who have had a lot of history together. I tried to this by using the editing technique of layering and the filter of Black and White. The Black and White was effective as this editing technique has a reputation of representing flashbacks. This made it look like the two friends had a deeper relationship. I layered the Black and White still with another picture of the two friends whilst keeping the original colour,to connote that they are still friends to this day and that the story could be that they are reflecting on past good times they have had together. I used the shot type of Two shot for both stills to show the friendship and bond between the two of them. It also showed the power and closeness in the friendship as they are both doing the same thing in the Two shot. For Mise en scene the two friends were walking together in a similar fashion both wearing casual clothing to show that they are comfortable around each other. We shot it outside to connote that they are on a adventure together as a key convention of the genre Narrative and friendship is adventure. The story we also tried to connote is that they had headed off outside in the open to explore and have an adventure. The stills we shot challenges the theory of Todorov is there is no problem in the stills we shot and no solution. However the stills we shot also supports Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites. We tried to show this through the use of clothing colours. We had one person wearing a Black t shirt and one Wearing a White t shirt with more extravagant colours. Black connotes evil, death, depression etc and White connotes Good, Purity, Innocence etc therefore the Binary Opposite was Good vs Evil. So another part of the Narrative we were trying to show was that opposites attract and that they are friends but are totally different. We feel as a group that we could've showed this much better through our actions and not just clothing colours.

2 Examples of Costumes & Locations