LO5: How Post production edits have helped create meaning

Before recording and editing my short film I decided to appreciate some short films/documentaries that were made on a cheap budget, even some full length films made on a bigger budget but still cheaper than a standard full film budget.. For example some short films and full length films I looked at and have taken inspiration from were 'A New Place 2 Drown' shot by Topsafe, this follows a young artist around his comfort zone and shows what he gets up to while also involving a short interview with the artist, Archy Marshall. Parts of this film were shot on a VHS compact camera for the cheap aesthetic they were holding onto. I then took inspiration from the film 'Permanent Vacation' shot by Jim Jarmusch, an American director. In this film they follow a young man that lives in New York with his girlfriend,  he is shown as a young man in his adolescence that struggles to come to terms with real life and the real world once it becomes his time to grow up, it was shot on a low budget of 12,000 USD and the film was shot on film. I instantly formed a relationship with these two productions, both cheap production and low quality films but so aesthetically beautiful in their own right.

I shot a short film/documentary following an artist from Sheffield that goes by the name 'Yusuf Yellow' and in this film I wanted to capture how he felt in the industry as a young artist, what he wants from music as he progresses and how he copes with the grind while also needing money to live. In order to do this I had to follow him around his apartment and the atmosphere he lives in when I went over to document him. While recording I flipped between capturing scenes on a camera on some on my phone, down to needing to access something quickly to be able to record but also having a lower quality camera helped with the cheap production low quality aesthetic I was aiming for. Once I had my footage of the artist and all my ideas ready for the post-production I knew exactly how I wanted to edit the short film/documentary to create meaning. I took all my footage into Adobe Premiere Pro and laid out the film start to end over a few days, having clips in-between the interview sections to keep the viewers attention, using clips such as skating, previews of the artists songs, the artist doing his own thing and a few other entertaining clips. This gave me the layout and bare bones of the short film/documentary to work around, I had the basics laid out at this point. I then went on to use 'Colour Balance' to change the film to a soft yellow colour throughout the duration. This helped me portray the artist as a happy artist, a musician that wants to spread positivity not only through his work but through colours that connote sunflowers, summer and happiness.

This then took me on to having a better view on where I could take the short film/documentary towards its final video, I applied a VHS effect I downloaded from YouTube that was free of use. This effect was a green screen effect which I had to loop from start to end and use the 'Ultra Key' to remove the green screen to be left with the isolated effect. This instantly progressed the films aesthetic of cheap production, I made it look as if I had shot this film on a compact VHS camera through the editing I had used. This was all possible by the use of Adobe Premiere Pro, a software used in the media industry, the capabilities were endless. At this point 'The Yellow Tape' was getting closer towards the cheap production aesthetic I was aiming for, I wanted to show the artist at this moment in time as he was, rather than showing off as an up and coming artist with money and flashy cars I wanted to show the grit of the working class he had behind him, the grind he is putting in towards becoming successful to show he hadn't been handed his career. The VHS effect helped massively as it showed we didn't really have money for a high budget production, we had enough to make something out of what we had, just like the artist being working class with enough money to make music no matter the production behind it, purely down to the love of it all. I also added a 'Tape Warping' effect to go with the VHS effect as this didn't come with it. This is a simple looking line that warps while running down the video, this also helped make the VHS effect look realistic rather than only having half of the effect that looked purposely edited.

Once I had the film laid out along with the colour balance and the VHS effect it was time to add the music into 'The Yellow Tape' the soundtrack I used were a few songs from the artists new mini album 'The Yellow Tape' which fit perfectly as they were songs made by the artist and I could link it with the title to also promote the release. I added the songs with some of the short clips I used in the video to break up the space between the interviews, I edited the clips to cut from one to the other in the same time as the rhythm of the song, be that the kick drum or the snare. This helped the artist entertained by the video with also getting an insight to the artists music, I created a meaning through doing this from using skating clips, the artist and his friends joking about and a few of where he lives by almost creating a short music video inside the show film/documentary, it portrayed the artist as a laid back individual that still has hobbies outside of music and is a social individual that enjoys spending time with his friends. This links to the love and positivity he wants to spread through his music and the yellow colour balance I used throughout the duration of the film.