VCA225 Digital Production

Music Video

Using Final Cut and the footage provided, create a music video for a song of your choosing.

Size: 720 x 480 (default Final Cut size)
Length: minimum 1 minute.
Due Date: week 11
Deliverables: rendered movie file (including a slate), NOT the project file!

I will provide you with random video clips. Put them all in a safe spot on your computer (such as the Documents folder).
Find a song. Short ones work best, but regardless I'm going to recommend you edit it down.
Convert the song to an AIFF. If you take it from a CD, you can rip it with iTunes, just make sure you've got the AIFF encoder selected (under Preferences > Advanced > Importing). An mp3 from the iTunes store may be copyright protected, preventing you from using it (if so, try bunring it and ripping it directly from a CD). Save the AIFF in your project folder.
Go through the video clips and find ones that you think fit your song (conversely, you may want to look at the clips first and see if you can find a song to match them). You can copy these to a separate folder for the project (option-drag to copy).
Open a new project in Final Cut. Import the video clips (you can drag the clip folders right into the project window).
Import your song.
Place of music into the timeline (you may want to use sound channels 5 & 6).
Start adding clips to the timeline. Note that the clips may be too small to fill the canvas (some of the clips are 320 x 240, the project window is 720 x 480). Stretch the clips to fill the canvas window (unless you want to have a smaller clip for effect). Here are some other hints:

Don't use whole clips—just short, visually interesting moments. Most should last only a second or two.
Let the music be your guide. Start and end clips on the beats in the music.
Serene music should be matched with serene (pleasant, happy) clips. Frenzied music should be accompanyed by edgier, more intense clips.
If there is a particularly dramtic moment in the music, use an especially dramatice visual.
If the pace of the music is slow, use longer clips; if the pace of the music quickens, use more (shorter) clips.

Feel free to use video effects, motion, and speed to change the tempo of the clips (use negative speed numbers to play the clips backwards).
To watch a play-back you may have to build a RAM Preview. To make a preview, select the clips you wish to watch and then hit command-R.
You need not do the entire song! I want to see at least one completed minute, anything beyond that is for your own amusement.
The penultimate step is to include a slate (see example). Create the slate in the title window or in Photoshop and import separately. In the timeline, move your entire piece to the right two seconds and insert your slate at the beginning.
Render your promo as a Final Cut (Quicktime) movie. Go to File > Export > Final Cut Movie. Make sure the "make self-contained" option is checked.
Once it is rendered let me know; I will collect it on my hard-drive.