Task C: Beat Editing and Lip-syncing (i)

I will be explaining why beat-editing and lip-syncing is one of the most important significant editing techniques. Editing techniques are used to today to help promote the artists music so that the audience is more drawn to them. Techniques shows the audience what kind of artist they are, they are a way to produce a music video to make it look interesting and gained more audience and revenue. Techniques such as Cutting to the beat and Miming/Lip-syncing. They are very important when it comes to music videos, it allow to promote the song and the artist. Without it, the audience won't able to visualize the song. Keep in mind that you can't use beat-editing if you don't have enough shot. For the music video to go viral, the editing will need to be high quality.

Location beat editing:

Summer Music Video (Calvin & Maya):



For my summer music video which Maya and I produces as group as two for a two weeks transition period. As we was ask to do a music video, we chose to do Majid Jordan- Every Step Every Way. In our music video there was some techniques we use such as lip syncing which is very conventional in music videos, by doing this it shows a style of performance. We also had some choreography in it as we can see the artist dancing in the music video. We also had some elements of abstract in it which is creative but hyper-realism (not realistic). As I edited this music video, I am very familiar with beat editing as you can see we had beat editing. You can see flashes on the artists and other objects such as the text (title of the song) and abstract objects etc. You could see they were syncing with the beat (e.g 0:00 to 0:03, 0:13 to 0:18). Another example of beat editing, at 0:32, as this beat drop is very significant, I had two abstract blob crashes into together and the artist suddenly appeared out of smoke syncing on the beat drop. Not using the cutting-to-beat/beat editing technique on significant beats could prevent the audience to visualize the song, which could lead the song and the artist not getting promoted.

After watching our music video, there was some things that we both could improve or add to make the music video better and professional standard. For example, the camera focus could been better as it was a bit blurry. We didn't use pull focus at the time, now we know what the outcome will be like and why we should use pull focus. Also we could have use more shot which made us limited for our editing, which is important to have loads of shot in order to be creative with our beat editing, there was some shots I didn't like (0:14) but we had to use it because we didn't have other shots of the lyric verse at 0:14. We can't not use this editing technique if we don't have enough shot, luckily it managed to come out good.

i) Cutting to the beat (beat editing)

Cutting the beat involves the soundtrack and the music video. Most music videos you'll notice the scene cuts to a different scene on a certain beat. This editing technique can help the audience get the feeling of the song as it help us to visualise the mood and pace of the song. This techniques is commonly used in the music industry. We can't not use this editing technique if we don't have enough shot.

Purpose of Cutting to the beat

The purpose of beat editing is to engage with the audience. Having a one long take/cut could easily make the audience bored and you could lose audience and revenue from this. Beat editing lead audiences/viewers into paying attention to the music video as the visuals will interpret with the music. Usually cutting to the beat is used when you can hear significant beats (beat drops etc.) it may change to a different location or change of camera shot or angle/movement. Having many different shot types and angles will help the audience visualise the mood and pace of the song which make the music video go viral due to its high quality of editing.

I have used beat editing in my summer music video, I'm glad I used beat editing because I believe it made the video much better. If there weren't any beat-editing or I didn't sync on significant beats, this music video would have been boring. Beat editing help creates a sense of hyper-reality and a dynamic visual style.

ii) Lip-syncing/Miming

Lip-syncing is when an artist or singer move their lips silently or pretend in synchronisation with a pre-recorded soundtrack being played. Miming is when using gesture and movement to act out a role or play, miming is how you create lip syncing. Most artists/singers usually lip-sync to their songs in their music videos. When editing an music video, if the artist's lips in the footage move faster than the soundtrack, the slow-motion effect is highly recommended so the artist's lip-syncing can look very accurate to the soundtrack. We use it because it gives the allusion that the artist is singing. This technique is used on the majority of music videos.

Easier ways to lip-sync is is to memorize the lyric, artists should able to know their own lyrics as they wrote it. You can easily find lyrics online if you can't make out the precise words. Knowing the lyrics by heart can make the lip syncing look good.

Purpose of Lip-syncing/Miming

The purpose of Lip-syncing is to create a sense of realism of the performance as the audience watching the music video will feel like the artist is singing/rapping(performing) to them. Lip syncing help sells the realism of the performance, this can add more feeling to the music video as it will seems believable. This can be used to sell tickets as fans will want to attend that artist's concert, this will help artists make more money and also for their record label as well. Lip-syncing can be genuine as it make the artist look like they're actually performing and make it part of their image.

In my summer music video, I feel it was less convincing that I was singing the soundtrack as I wasn't the singer and I don't know the song like the artist of the soundtrack we use. Next time we make a music video, it would be better if we get the original artist of the song so it will be more convincing because they know the song well and the meaning and how it should be perform. 

Beat Editing Task (w/ Lip Syncing @ 0:28s)

Without beat editing:

With beat editing:



You can see there is a massive difference between these two videos, the first video didn't really contain beat editing that much which made it boring for the audience to watch. Although the lip-syncing at 0:28 was good and quite convincing but I still believe the music video was not good enough due to lack of beat editing especially on significant beats. Moving onto the second video, which beat editing was used effectively and made the video much better as it will engage with audience and keep them entertained. The quicker the cuts, the more the audience will have to pay attention to the video as the visual is interpreting with the music. This type of music videos will usually go viral.