The Pretender Animatic

The Task

For this task, we watched the official music video for the song "The Pretender" by The Foo Fighters. Our task was to storyboard every frame in the first 45 seconds, and to draw a rough sketch of each different frame that we saw. We then took a picture of each individual frame that we drew and then uploaded it onto the computer. We downloaded the music for the song and the music video that saw. We then used FinalCut Express to upload all of the pictures that we took, and the music track and music video that we had downloaded. Our task was then play the music video in one corner of the screen, and then we would use the pictures that we took, and match up the pictures to the scenes in the music video. Our task was to create an animatic. This means that the pictures that we took should be the same as the scenes in the music video at the correct time.

What we learned

While performing this task, we learnt specific skills that we will use when it comes to making our own next video. One of the things that we learnt while performing this task is the shot variety that we need to use when creating our music video. While we watching the video for "The Pretender", we noticed the different kinds of shots that they used, and we thought that they would look good in the music video that we decide to make. There was a big shot variety as we saw alot of different shots being used. We noticed that there were: Close Up shots, Medium Shots, Long Shots, Pans, Tilts and more. This is a high variety of shots that we should use in our video to make it as good as it can be.

We also learnt that the pace of editing the shots together is really quick. There was one part in our animatic video where we had to use 3 different shots just for 1 second of music video content. This proves how quick the pace of editing must be. Also, to make the animatic look as good as it could be, we had to make sure that we edited the animatic correctly so that the scenes were the same. Due to this pace of editing, we learnt that the shot duration of each shot that we used isn't long at all. Some shots that we used weren't even half a second long, so we know that the shot duration of every shot in the music video isn't long at all.

How is editing a music video different to editing a thriller?

While carrying out this task, we also noticed the differences between editing our thriller for our coursework, and editing a music video. One of the main differences that we learnt was the pace of editing. The pace of editing when editing a music video is a lot faster compared to editing a thriller. A lot more shots are also used in a music video than are used in a thriller, which also means that the shot duration for every shot in a music video is a lot shorter to every shot that is used in a thriller video. When editing a music video, it needs a lot more attention to detail to every shot, than is needed when editing a thriller video.