Preliminary Work - Mini Music Video - Filming + Rough Cut

First and foremost, came the filming. The camera was a learning experience in and of itself, because for each shot, I had to be careful to get the focus and the ISO right, or else the take wouldn't turn out the way I wanted it to. I got a friend to model for me in the music video, and I filmed the entirety of the footage on a Canon 2000D camera. It took a few hours of filming, preparing the backgrounds, wrestling with the manual focus of the camera and trying to get every shot right, and some improvisation and going off script, but I think I managed to get some very beautiful shots, and I can't wait to see what they'll look like in the finished video.

When I made the script I mostly went off of the visual atmosphere I want the video to have, however there is intention behind the shots, so I thought I would also explain that a little. The first two shots are mostly meant to symbolise the time period; we have the shot of the sword handle, which belongs to an era long past, and then the closeup of the bass guitar strings, which gives a more modern vibe; these two shots are paired with the 'in the presence of a cold, emotional vampire' lyric, so I mostly wanted to transmit the feeling of a being that transcends centuries, but still is very cold and inhuman, thus the closeup of the hands, without the rest of the body visible, which takes away part of their humanity. The closeups of the eyes and mouth gasping are simply meant to visually show that the person is dreaming of death, as the lyrics indicate, while the shot of the hand covering the light is meant to show that the person is hiding, trying to escape, which is then also shown in the next shot, of the person covering their face with their hands, as though trying to protect themself from the purple light (which in the song is used as a metaphor for transformation or purification, although it is unclear whether the person desires it or dreads it). This is mostly inspired by the lyrics of the song, which overall cover topics such as existential dread and the need to hide or escape, as well as loss of self. In my music video, I chose to embody the dreaming person and the draining influence ('emotional vampire') into the same person, because I think the lyrics can be interpreted in such a way that the two are one and the same, that sometimes people struggle to escape from themselves and from their own inner world that becomes too draining. In the next shot, we finally see the person's full face, blank and emotionless, abruptly covered in 'ultraviolet', purple light; for this specific lyric of the chorus, I once again chose a simple visual representation of the words. Next up, during the 'river flowing back in time' lyrics, I chose to use water being poured into a teacup as imagery for the river of time, that flows in reverse towards a distant time period (thus the choice of an old fashioned teacup) in which the 'vampire' felt good and comfortable with themself, as the song suggests a yearning for a lost version of one's self; the pocket watch, also old fashioned, is used to emphasise the imagery of time. Lastly, we have the same shots of the person dreaming of death, but filmed from a different angle, and instead of gasping as they wake up, a skull and some old candle holders are shown, which are meant to symbolise death and the passage of time, which the person fears and craves at the same time.

Before editing the final cut of the mini music video, I made a rough edit in which I simply ordered the takes I wanted to use, and cut them to the right length. First, I looked at all the footage and picked the shots and takes I wanted to include in the music video. I imported them into Da Vinci Resolve, a video editing software I've worked with in the past.

Having prepared all the footage, I then started placing the shots in the right order, according to the script, and matching them to the music (I used half of the first verse, and the full first chorus of the song).

There isn't much to tell about the editing process so far, as it just took a lot of tedious adjusting and cutting. And with that, the rough cut was done.

https://vimeo.com/1163687162

This project was a lot of fun, there was a lot of satisfaction in getting all the shots to perfectly line up with the song, and I think it turned out really good. I'm really excited for what comes next; in the next post I'll be editing the final cut. I have some ideas for some transitions that I want to add, which might prove to be a bit of a challenge because I don't have much experience with them, and I'll also be editing the colours a little, and adding some finishing touches.