Analysis of 'The Yellow Tape'

The meaning behind 'The Yellow Tape' was to show what it is like to be a young musician in the Sheffield scene an exactly what it is like from an artists point of view, also where the art Yusuf Yellow took inspiration from to stand where he does today. I have made the short film in yellow which connotes happiness, sunflowers, colour and sun. The artist Yusuf Yellow was based on these things, his name comes from the Arabic translation of Joseph and he was always inspired by all thing yellow, he grew up always being colourful and wanting to spread his inspiration to the ears of music lovers. This denotes that the artists music is upbeat and joyful rather than using dark blues which connotes bleakness and depression.

The artist is shown as a cheap living artist, having enough to get by. We can see this from his surroundings, this is also a use of mise-en-scène, cheap music equipment, small flat, gritty skateparks and gritty looking baggy clothes. The artist doesn't come across as a clean cut business man but more an individual just getting by with enough money but a lot of happiness. Yusuf Yellows surroundings are built on working class backgrounds, he lives in a cheap flat with his brother which is shown on the documentary. This allowed me to show the passion Yusuf has for music, instead of working 9-5 in a suit he is at uni making music daily, living on cheap food and cups of tea just so he can fulfil his dreams as a musician.

I was heavily inspired by the short film 'A New Place 2 Drown' which follows an artist Archy Marshall through his journey recording his first project under his own name rather than King Krule which is his band. In this short film they show Archy drifting through South East London where he grew up with his brother and good friends, Archy also gives an insight into his life and where his inspiration comes from. I was analysing this short film for a few weeks and realised exactly where I could use this inspiration in my short film, both these artists grew up in gritty working class areas but they're doing all they can to get out with their love for music, basic shot types and cheap production film left me with a bunch of ideas and how I could portray Yusuf's love towards the music. I used basic transitions of just simple cuts and very basic shot types/angles with no professional look, I didn't use any pans around the artist so that I could make the production look cheap and gritty which also helps connote the music is a passion not a project for money as he is still living cheaply.

I am with how the effects helped bring meaning into 'The Yellow Tape' and how they working out during production, I used a tape warp, a VHS effect, Colour Balance and a filmic blend to create a cheap production with a gritty homemade aesthetic. I used 'Colour Balance' to create meaning while also linking to the artists name 'Yusuf Yellow' the colour yellow connotes sunflowers, happiness, summer and positivity. These are things the artists wants to spread to his listeners as he is a very upbeat artist and speaks from personal experience on how he is challenged with negative thoughts, emotions and experiences and how he views them in order to help him get through this. These effects were satisfactory for the artist 'Yusuf Yellow' as he really appreciated the gritty aesthetic of cheap production and how I helped portray his as a positive being through the use of these effects in the short film/documentary. I am more than happy with how the effects turned out and I would not change anything if I was to edit the project again, after showing some friends and family members they instantly asked if I had shot the film on a VHS compact camera which was the look I was aiming for since the planning stage. The effects are also suitable/satisfactory for the audience as I have also thought about the target audience in the production of this short film/documentary and had knowledge of some of the artists fans and the things they are into, being vintage clothes and retro aesthetic. Many of Yellow's friends are creative in some way and are inspired by the older equipment and grainy looking footage so I brought all these ideas in together to also attract an audience that are hung up on this aesthetic.

L01: Treatment - The Yellow Tape Short Film

'The Yellow Tape' is short film that focuses on the Sheffield based artist Yusuf Yellow, the short film will follow Yusuf around his surroundings and capture what he gets up to while being an artist in Sheffield. I will ask the artists some questions about himself and a bit about his music so that people will learn more about the up and coming artist, the viewers will also see what it is like to be an up and coming artist in Sheffield, they will hear what the scene is like from an artist in the middle of it all. This will be important to young musicians and the Sheffield audience as it will educate the young musicians and also give an isight to them while also showing the Sheffield audience what the youths of the city get up to. The narrative that ''The Yellow Tape' will follow is both educational and entertaining, I not only want to entertain the viewers but also give an insight into the music industry through a musicians point of view that could help certain viewers, I will achieve this by asking the artist questions about the subject.

To film the short film I will be working by myself, this means I have to have all my times organised and ready for recording. I will be using my phone to record the short film on as I am wanting to capture a gritty, cheap production effect, I will be editing the footage in the post production stage adding grain and other effects so this also saved me time, rather than having to carry around expensive equipment and setting up tripods etc.

For post production I will be using my laptop and Adobe Premiere Pro, I will be using this software as it is industry standard editing software. This will allow me to cut up clips for the parts I want, create my VHS effect, add grain and change the colour of the short film to yellow, because the short film is based on the artist Yusuf Yellow I will be recording the short film inside his flat and have some short clips around Sheffield, I will also involve a few clips of the artists friends to show who he has personal bonds with and who he enjoys to spend his free time with. Using the short clips of Sheffield will also be entertaining to the Sheffield audience as they will see familiar local locations to where they live.



Here is the production schedule I created, this will help keep me organised and to know exactly what needs to be done by a set date, this will also help when going to record with the artist we both know when to record by, I have laid out the production schedule by dates and tasks, also pre-production, production and post-production so I know where I am with the short film. I also have made a section for contingencies so that I have backups which will help if any files get lost.

L04: Final short film

LO4: Proposal for certification classification for The Yellow Tape

Once it came to reviewing my short film/documentary on Yusuf Yellow and his music, I decided that a 12A certification was suitable because the guidelines for the BBFC rating were almost too similar when reviewing them next to my film. I believe music is a thing young people can fall in love with, I started heavily getting into music around 5 years of age and I never look back on doing so, for this to be seen by younger ages would massively inspire me to make more short films like this, however there is a scene in the film where Yusuf Yellow swears but it is only subtle and happens once, besides that there is no fighting, no drugs, dangerous behaviour, sex or violence.
While I was reviewing my age rating, I contemplated making the documentary slightly higher with the age rating but I believe one swear word shouldn't be too offensive as long as the parents are there to tell them not to repeat it if they even pick up on it. However, this swearing could be taken to heart if seen by the wrong people, we had to make sure that this was the right decision in the end as if the swearing was taken to heart we could receive a lot of frustrated complaints.

      

I decided to analyse my short film/documentary along side Johnny Cash's 'Walk the Line' which was a film in 2005 rated 12A, in this film Cash is seen throughout with subtle uses of language, sex and violence. These things are approved with the chosen certificate and I haven't used any nudity or violence, there was very mild use of language during the Yellow Tape so I decided that 12A was the suitable certificate to give before being released.

L04: Evidence of a focus group

 Here are photos from my focus group on my final short film, I have chosen to get an opinion from my mother and sister as they have both spent a lot of time around musicians and film makers, it was the best decision I could have made for wanting feedback on the yellow tape. However them not being specific target audience members didn't change anything as they have spent time around things like this which worked perfectly in my favour for strengths and improvements.


While my mother and sister were watching the short film they were instantly praising the VHS look and asked where I managed to get a VHS camera from, meaning the effects I applied worked perfectly as it wasn't shot on a VHS camera. I asked both of them what they liked about the film and they both replied "the effects were brilliant" which was a huge factor for me. I decided to choose family for my focus group because I grew up constantly being told to experiment with things rather than following what others were doing, so whenever I would create something I would be told my strengths then instantly onto improvements into experimentations so that I could make it different to everything else that's happening. Doing this also helped with not getting bias

information from them as they always liked to tell me where to improve and rather than just praising it because it was made by me, they also instantly gave me feedback.









Once both of them had finished the short film they gave me feedback on where to improve, they told me I could have added more on the artist rather than his surroundings, however it was made to make him be spontaneous and discreet is also made sense and it was a short film about Yusuf Yellow yet he is hardly seen much throughout. They praised the effects and the simplicity in the videos transitions and the narrative, I was told it was a very easy laidback watch and was very comfortable to watch rather than being uneasy and didn't leave the viewer to think after the film.

L03: Linking audio visuals ad applying audio effects.

Here is the layout of the intro from the short film, here is where I have made the audio play at the same time as the artist arrives in the shot so that he makes a real entry. Having this done helps me as this makes the short film follow the simplest conventions of all short films made in this style. Along the timeline of this screenshot you can see how all the videos line up perfectly with the audio, this means that when the artist is talking his mouth is moving in the same time rather than being out of time and looking unprofessional

Here is an example of where I had to turn down the volume gain on the documentary, I have done this because the song playing at this moment in the film was much louder than all the other audio, the gain from the music was clipping, meaning that it was too loud and started to distort. Bringing it down to the same level as the other audio shows I am following basic conventions of short films. However I had used this tool with bringing up other audio levels by adding slightly more gain to make sure that the audio ran smoothly throughout.

L03: Applying appropriate visual effects and transitions.

This is where I made the into using the typewriter font, I used this because I could create the effect of an actual typewriter, each letter appearing after the other till it reads out the production title. I have done this as it still has the cheap production look we are going for while also looking retro and keeping it all similar through the vintage 90s aesthetic.

Here are the steps I have made into adding the warp line effect, this is an effect that has a line running down the screen like when recorded on VHS. I have done this as it allows me to get the closest to a VHS compact camera recording effect, the adjustment layer on the top of the clips (pink bar) is where I can add al my effects to, this helps when rendering the clips and exporting as it is all in one file, this also helps keep everything organised if I choose to change the effects further down the line while editing. The reason I have decided to apply all these effects, such as the tape warp line, the VHS scratches and the grain is so that it makes the production look as cheap as possible. This is exactly how films on music and music videos were recorded for old school hip hop in the 90s, this also links to the genre I have been looking at as it has small clips recorded on a cheap camera.

This is where I have changed the adjustments of the colours in the colour panel bar, this allowed me to change the actual video to yellow, I am really pleased with how the yellow has come out as it looks really soft rather than sharp, this makes the video look friendly rather than intimidating to the viewers. I have done this because the video is titled 'The Yellow Tape' for Yusuf Yellow, it is a short film/documentary about the artist and his new album that is released soon. I have decided to change the colour into yellow as it all has a connection together and will also make the artist instantly recognisable for his distinctive image towards his name.

Here is the intro to 'The Yellow Tape' where the artist Yusuf Yellow spoke a bit about himself and how he started his journey as a musician before he is physically introduced so that he can be seen by the viewer, I took this audio segment from the interview I did with him and applied visuals from around his apartment and the entrance to the building while he spoke about himself so I could use it as a voice over. I had the audio playing on the audio channel while the VFX and clips were played, I unlinked the video of the artist talking so that I was only left with the audio from the clip which allowed me to create this introduction with other clips.

Here are the very simple steps I took while creating and adding my VFX to my short film/documentary and the tools that I used to make it possible, the first step I made was adding an adjustment layer from the start of the video and dragging it to the end so that it plays from start to end a long with the video. An adjustment layer allows me to add as many effects to it as I want, so here I added the dust & scratches along with the colour adjustments so that I had the grainy tone along with the soft yellow colour throughout the duration of the short film. I also added a warp to the adjustment layer which added a small line that warped throughout the production, this helped me create the closest effect towards a cheap production look as possible, I was aiming for a home made short film look on no budget as this gave the grittiest look as possible.






Here I downloaded an MP4 file that was a VHS glitch video on green screen, I had to use the ultra key tool to remove the green from the video so that I was left with the VHS glitch effect alone, this helped me get as close as possible to having a real VHS camera looking effect as the glitch is the main part of the footage when recorded on cheap compact camera. I am really happy with how this turned out because I have saved a lot of time and money doing it this way without investing in a VHS camera but still getting it to look like I have.

Now it is time to export The Yellow Tape so that this Premiere Pro project becomes a compressed video file ready to be uploaded to YouTube. The first step is to go to file down to export and then media, this then gives you an option on file types you can export the video in, I chose to export the video as H.264 because this is good for video quality when it comes to compressing the the project. I have exported the video with the normal measurements for every device, this means that the video size on different devices won't crop or change shape, this allows viewers on all devices to comfortably view the short film.











During 'The Yellow Tape' I added a few songs from the artists album, during this I played clips of the artist, his friends and them skating. I used the simple transition cuts to my advantage to make the transitions cut in time to the beat of the song, this is a technique that has been used in music videos for years and without the viewer realising it also makes the short film/documentary easier to watch, it is a comfortable way to transition during a song.




During the editing process of 'The Yellow Tape' I only used one other software, being the text on the intro, after I finished the text visual effect I exported the file and added it to the Premiere Pro project for the short film/documentary. I kept the editing to a minimum so that the final film didn't look to professional, hence the relationship I have made with the cheap production aesthetic. I have only used a few layers to build up the short film, music, audio, adjustment layer, play text and the VHS effect. the adjustment layer help a few effects but also kept the file size small when rendering and exporting.