Adobe After Effects: Firework Tutorial

In case our firework footage turns out to be poor quality, we will need to generate our own, this video shows how.

Cast

REMI

Remi will make or break our video as the 5 minutes will be almost entirely composed of footage of him. Luckily for us Remi is already in his own singing group, FourReal, who reached the finals of Open mic UK 2010 and so has experience performing. He is in no way camera shy and is very easy to work with as he is friendly and cooperative.

Remi is a fellow sixth form student at Wilmington Grammar and so operates on a similar timetable. This makes filming and photographing easier as we can meet in school hours. Remi has another benefit for us as he fits our target audience as a young, urban teenager.

Antonia

She will take no active role in the video but her image will be used throught in photographs, as she will be referenced as Remi's heartbreaker and it will be assumed that some breakup had occured before the events of the video. Antonia is a friend of Tunde and agreed to her images being used in our video.

Group Roles

Skills within the group vary in different areas. Some of the group are more experienced on photoshop than the rest, others have creative minds and are very useful when it come to thinking of concept ideas for our project. Some members are more talented when it comes to video editing, while others have a knack for filming.

Due to the differences in ability in various areas, as well as some members having more of an affinity for a particular type of work, we have divided up the role and responsibilites respectively.

John Spooner
Main Roles: Ancillary task production, Filming, research

I, along with Tom, will take the leading role in producing all of our ancillary task as I have previous experience, understanding and ability when it comes to working with Adobe Photoshop.

I will also do the vast majority of filming, this is simply because the group have decided I have the steadiest hand, and our video will contain alot of tracking shots.

Hard at work

Tom Knapp
Main Roles: Ancillary task production, drawing plans, research

Tom is also experienced in Photoshop, and so will be a great help in assisting me with the production of the ancillary task. Tom has a creative mind that will be useful when designing our work.

Tom also has an ability that is weak among other members of the group in that he can draw well, this will be very useful when we are disigning our ancillary task and will also be useful when it comes to making our animatic.

Examples of Mine and Tom's previous work:

Dan Myles
Main Roles: Video production, research

Dan is the only member of the group with previous experience on Final Cut Pro, and so he will take a lead role in editing the video. He has a good understanding of the software and will be good at making the video flow with the music. He is the man for the job.

Tundé Giwa
Main Roles: Recruitment of actors and organisation of filming, research

Tunde has found our actor, Remi, who we could not do the video without. He also found our song. Tunde is the one who manages to organise the filming, as he has links with both the actors and the members of the group. He will act as the central unit when it comes to co-ordinating our activities.

All members of the group will have roles in all aspects of the work. We will all do some filming, and we will all contribute to the video/ancillary task production and idea. All members of the group will do research and all members will have an involved role in the overall progress of our work.

Video Idea - changes

Considering that the group will need to return to our filming location several times in order to perfect our video, we think it would be unpracticle, however fitting, to shoot the video in central London. Instead, we will use alley ways and roof tops that can be found locally. This will mean we can be far more efficent when filming and we can return and redo it as much as we like.

Another change we will make to our original pitch is the use of a girl in the video. It has become clear that no girl fitting to the role we need will be available in the times we need. For this reason, we will do the video without the girl, and will focus the entire video on Remi.

Mood Board

A mood board to capture the 'feel' of our idea and what we are trying to create.

Fireworks lyrics

[Drake - Verse 1]
Money just changed everything, I wonder how life without it would go
From the concrete who knew that a flower would grow
Lookin’ down from the top and its crowded below
My fifteen minutes started an hour ago
Truth over fame, you know I respect the blatant sh-t
When I hear talkin, I just dont know what to make of it
Hate is so familiar to me, I’m slowly embracing it
Doesn’t come natural, bear with me it could take a bit
Yeah, and my dreams who Im racing with
You can see Im pacin it so that Im always chasin it
Wayne put me right here, thats who I get the paper with
I hope that my success never alters our relationship
Yeah, this life is something I would die for
Octobers Own, but its lookin like July 4th
But I just wish theyd let you try it first
This time Im really goin off, fireworks

[Chorus]
Oh, today it begins
I've missed them before, but won't miss them again
I keep having the same dream
And I think that I just realized what it means

[Alicia Keys]
All I see is fireworks,
All I see is fireworks
Every night it's fireworks
Every night it's fireworks
All I see is fireworks
All I see is fireworks
Taking off like fireworks
Taking off like oh-ah-oh-oh


[Verse 2]
I got this one girl, you know, in my life
So I say in this song, I say
I’m just such a gentleman
You should give it up for me
Look at how I’m placing al my napkins and my cutlery
I can tell it wasn’t love I just thought you f-ck with me
Who coulda predicted love could strike now you stuck with me
Yeh, I kept my wits about me luckilly
What happened between us that night it always seems to trouble me
Now all of a sudden these gossip brags wanna cover me
And you making it seem that it happened that way because of me
But I was curious and I’ll never forget it baby
What an experience
You coulda been the one but it wasnt that serious
Their was smoke in the air before now its me cleaing it
That felt good, all and all I learned a lesson from it though
You never see it coming you just get to see it go
Yeah I shoulda looked up in the sky at first


Now I see it in her eyes
Fireworks!


[Chorus]
Oh, today it begins
I've missed them before, but won't miss them again
I keep having the same dream
And I think that I just realized what it means

[Alicia Keys]
All I see is fireworks,
All I see is fireworks
Every night it's fireworks
Every night it's fireworks
All I see is fireworks
All I see is fireworks
Taking off like fireworks
Taking off like oh-ah-oh-oh

[Verse 3]
Everything the same but it feels different
My dad called me up knowing that I still listen
And he's still got his foot out, guilt trippin'
It's been years, though, I just learn to deal with it
For real, me and my realtor we built up a better rapport
Got my mother in a place with some better decor
She searched the entire city I let her explore
Ant now she's sayin' she more lonely than every before
How many of our parents' marriages lasted?
I was only 5, I bet I barely reacted
I'm flying back home for the heritage classic
Searchin for that feeling, tell me where is the magic?
Let's stay together 'til we're ghosts
I want to witness love, I never seen it close
Yeah, but I guess I gotta find it first
That's why I'm really going off, Fireworks

[Chorus]
Oh, today it begins
I've missed them before, but won't miss them again
I keep having the same dream
And I think that I just realized what it means

[Alicia Keys]
All I see is fireworks,
All I see is fireworks
Every night it's fireworks
Every night it's fireworks
All I see is fireworks
All I see is fireworks
Taking off like fireworks
Taking off like oh-ah-oh-oh

Tools we will use in our project

The video will be filmed on a Sony OCR HC62. This camera is a simple and easy to use gadget that produces video of a reasonably good quality.

The camera records the footage directly onto a mini DV tape. These tapes can be reused and are capable of storing large amounts of footage.

Some shots we will attempt will be difficult to do free hand, so we are supplied with a tripod to give our shots more stability should we need it.

Once all our footage has been filmed, we will need a computer to edit it all on. We are provided with an Apple iMac to edit and piece together our video.


The software we will use to import, export and edit all of our video footage is Apple Final Cut. This is a dynamic and useful video editing software that provides us with more than enough tools to create our project.


The song we choose will aslo need to be edited and somehow shaped to fit our video better. In order to do this we will need audio editing software. We are provided with GarageBand, which is a popular audio editor created by Apple.


In adition to a Video, we will also need to create a digipak and a poster to accompany the song. This will require an image editing software and we will need to use images of our artist. The images will be taken using an Apple iPhone 4.




The images taken will be imported into Adobe Photoshop, which is a photo editing program the group has experience with. Here we will edit our digipak, our CD disc art and our poster.


On order to learn how to use such software we had to see how it was done. We will do this mainly through YouTube tutorials. Without these, we would not know how to do many of the things we plan to do on programs such as Photoshop.



Along with Youtube, we will no doubt need to use other programmes such as firefox to access many other websites and sources of help. This is an internet browser and will be needed for all our research, as well as the posting of our course work on blogger.


Blogger will be used to post all of our coursework. It is a way for us to communicate with not only our teacher but also other pupils. It provides a way of obtaining useful feedback as well as providing a place to assemble and order all of our work. Blogger allows us to use a variety of ways to express our work, ranging from text and pictures to sound and video.


Finally, our group need to coordinate filming times as well as share ideas and work that we have done at home. Facebook provides a medium for the four of us to share links, images, messages and videos. This is useful for making our activities more time efficient and enhancing our ability to work as a team.

Target audience

Now that we have identified our song it is important to identify our target audience so that we can design our video to suit them. Using the website UK Tribes we have identified our audience as the Urban tribe. These people fit into the Rap/R&B audience and are likely to follow the music. The website has enabled us to get a lot of the necessary information about our audience such as a description of what makes them tick, as well as what else they consume (left)

About Urban Music

Urban music is the most pervasive and influential genre in popular music, topping the charts around the world and sound-tracking the lives of many different Tribes.

The Urban segment creates and dictates tastes, Other tribes such as the Blingers, Get Paid Crew and Trackies also follow the Urban music culture, and will make up a segment of our audience so it is worth knowing something about them:

Trackies - are enthusiasts who don’t produce but enjoy consuming music and film with their friends. Their hooded tops are intimidating but their conversation is friendly, open-minded and laid back.

Blingers - are preoccupied with US music and icons, and spend big on label fashion. They are sometimes mocked, but everyone has a bit of Blinger in them.

Get Paid Crew - are a brash version of the traditional working classes, unashamedly driven by money but proud of their urban background.

DIYers - have identified the core of their lives, understanding their own culture and making music and media for themselves, with a lively local market and occasional global break-outs.


These tribes our likely to see our video in places like Youtube, Facebook, radio stations such as Kiss 100 and music channels such as MTV Base. Other videos that would be on these chanels are things like 'Written In The Stars' by Tinie Tempah, which I have analysed and identified popular conventions, so If we follow these conventions we should produce a video that fits the audience we are aiming at.

Our Pitch

Our idea needed the approval of our Media teacher before it could be created. So we designed a presentation to put forth our idea. The content of this presentation was similar to this:

Why did we choose this song?
We decided to choose Drake and Alicia Keys ‘Fireworks’ as it is the type of music genre we have in our playlists. We believe the song is up to date and we will enable our target audience to relate to the videos storyline as well as the lyrics. The big advantage of our song is that the song doesn’t have a genuine video, this allows us our own unique interpretation. After intense study and scrutiny of many songs, we believe as a group that we can produce good work around this song.

Drake and Alicia Keys- Who we have in mind?

As a group we believe that Remi (pictured below) would be the perfect performer to fit the role of Drake in our video. Remi himself has very good singer, which we believe will enable him to mimic Drakes vocals to a high standard. Remi also falls into the urban category via the music he listens to and the way he dresses. We believe these factors maintain the continuity of the performer and the performance.

Themes!

· Love- Romantic emotions will be the key factor in this music video. The video will explore the ups and downs of success.
· Money- How wealth can get you in more trouble then its worth.
· Fame- How an individuals status can effect their normal lifestyle.
· Reconciliation- Realisation that the relationship is the best thing for them.
· Loss- How a partner copes after an emotional argument/ disagreement.

Verse 1- In verse one we plan to concentrate on showing the audience of the relationship between the two performers via emphasising romantic gestures. Such Ideas for this section are:
· Drake buying Alicia Keys expensive flowers/ emphasis on the cost- ‘money just changed everything.’
· Inseparable- always linked together/ embracing.
· Walking through a London park.

Verse 2- In this verse we plan to show that even the best relationships can fall apart via a disagreement or different point of view. Such ideas for this section are:
· Emphasis on an argument between the couple/ very emotional disagreements.
· Deliberately staying away from each other/ although longing to be together again.
· Idea of using ‘fireworks’ as a metaphor for a troubled mind.
· Contemplation of what has occurred and how they should act now.

Verse 3- In this verse we plan to play emphasis on the reunion/ making up of the couple at the fireworks in London. Such ideas for this section are:
· An emotional phone call (shown by facial expressions).
· Making their own way to a decided location (London South bank- on the river).
· An emotional embrace while the fireworks are going on.
· Idea of using ‘fireworks’ as a metaphor for the troubles leaving you.

Chorus- When listening o the chorus, a piano is being played; which we will have Alicia Keys playing. We believe the best way for the chorus to be portrayed in the video is that in cuts and overlays to and from the storyline. Drakes section of the chorus will show him dominantly performing solo while briefly showing what’s happening to Alicia Keys. In Alicia Keys section the same will work vice versa.

Locations!

We think that the South bank/ Hyde Park area of London would be a good place for the artist to roam. These are the kind of locations we will be looking for in various shots.
We will want the video to finish on the couple making up, this would be done ideally with a backdrop of fireworks.

Inspiration!

In 'Dead and Gone' by T.I and featuring Justin Timberlake, the video is composed two elements. Many of the shots are of artists in a fixed location in the present day, and the remainder are flashbacks and pictures that amplify the lyrics and tell a story. The flashbacks are sometimes frozen into pictures creating a professional effect and helping draw focus to particular parts of the flashback.
We will likely break our own video down into present day and flashbacks. It is a possibility that we may use the picture freezing seen in 'Dead and gone'.
Due to the lyrics of 'Fireworks', we think that a video should be centered around a narrative of a break up between the artist rapping and the one singing the chorus. We are thinking of using flashbacks to show stages of the break up with a possibility of freezing the picture as seen in the above video. The present day shots will show the rapping artist alone and walking around, deep in thought in some shots and rapping in others. A video that has a good example of someone walking around alone is 'Emily's Heart' by Jamie T. In this video we see shots of a child walking around as though doing some soul searching. Our group could look in detail at elements of the video and transfer the good aspects into our own work.

Why can we make this work?

As more than capable media students we believe we need to push ourselves in order to achieve the best results. Each member of the group brings their own individual abilities and contributions to the work and with the joint expertise of all we know that we will produce top quality work.

Idea Approved!

Our idea has been given the all clear and we can make a start on planning and get ready for production.

Possible ideas for our music video

In 'Dead and Gone' by T.I and featuring Justin Timberlake, the video is composed two elements. Many of the shots are of artists in a fixed location in the present day, and the remainder are flashbacks and pictures that amplify the lyrics and tell a story. The flashbacks are sometimes frozen into pictures creating a professinal effect and helping draw focus to particular parts of the flashback. You can view the video here:



We will likely break our own video down into present day and flashbacks. It is a possibility that we may use the picture freezing seen in 'Dead and gone'.

Due to the lyrics of 'Fireworks', we think that a video should be centered around a narative of a break up between the artist rapping and the one singing the chorus. We are thinking of using flashbacks to show stages of the break up with a posibility of freezing the picture as seen in the above video. The present day shots will show the rapping artist alone and walking around, deep in thought in some shots and rapping in others. A video that has a good example of someone walking around alone is 'Emily's Heart' by Jamie T. In this video we see shots of a child walking around as though doing some soul searching. Our group could look in detail at elements of the video and transfer the good aspects into our own work. The video is here:



In the video the child is walking around in the morning in a costal town. This would not fit the pace and lyrics of our video. We would likely use inner city London locations and the afternoon/evening. At some point in the video the couple will make up and we will try to use a backdrop of fireworks for this shot as it would amplify the lyrics. The song also enters with the sound of fireworks and we could make the sound diegetic.

We think that the Southbank/Hyde Park area of London would be a good place for the artist to roam. These are the kind of locations we will be looking for in various shots:


We will want the video to finish on the couple making up, this would be done idealy with a backdrop of fireworks. So, if possible, we will aim for a finishing shot along the lines of this:

Choosing the right song

The group wanted to do a video in the Hip Hop/Rap genre. Similar to 'Written in the Stars'. We wanted rap verses and a singing chorus with different artists for each. We have considered all of the following for our video:

• Magic - B.o.B featuring Rivers Cuomo
• Dead and Gone - T.I featuring Justin Timberlake
• Cross My Heart - Skepta featuring Preeya Kalidas
• Fireworks - Drake featuring Alicia Keys
• Love the Way You Lie - Eminem featuring Rihanna
• Airplanes - B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams

Of all the songs we found, we have selected 'Fireworks' by 'Drake' as the one for our video. The reasons we chose this song over the others were down to things such as popularity, practicality or incompatibility with our ideas. 'Magic' by B.O.B is popular in the charts and is sung by two men, and we wanted to use a male and a female as we have people who can play the roles; 'Dead and Gone' had the same problem, as well as being popular.

'Love the Way You Lie' 'Airplanes' were both fitting to our ideas, but both songs have had a place at the top end of the UK charts recently, and any video we created would not compare to the real ones.

'Cross My Heart' was a suitable song as it is not to popular and contains a woman and a man, however we felt that the overall pace and feel of the music just didn't quite fit. So we have settled on 'Fireworks' as it has a male and female combo, isn't too popular and fit the ideas we have in mind.