Jim Cole

Jim Cole 21st November

On the 21st of November I was paid a visit by the well known music director Jim Cole.  Cole has worked with artists such as U2 and more recently he was the  assistant director on the John Lewis Christmas advert.

At the start of our discussion, I introduced the concept of my music video , and spoke about the shooting process and the image I wanted to create. I also said that I did not want a narrative , however this shortly changed when I began to edit. Jim explained to me that it was not always necessary to have a narrative and instead I could create a performance based video that only focused on the lead singer.  After agreeing with this choice we began to go through my rushes and mark in and out points. It was decided during the course of looking at the rushes that the out of focus or "accidental" footage was the most interesting and in some cases the most usable. We decided to drag certain rushes into the timeline and play around with effects.

Previously when editing, I had not applied any effects , or experimented with saturation or colour wheels. The most used effect that we applied to certain clips was 'coldsteel', this was a dark blue wash. The 'coldsteel' transported my shots of boring London buses into grungy, dark and alluring sights. As we continued to look through the rushes, we decided what close ups and long shots would be best to use. It was also decided that it would be a good idea to re shoot the lead singer during the evening at Camden. By deciding to re shoot, it meant I was able to get more footage of Rowan in order to make the video more of a performance base for him as the lead singer. Cole also told me to experiment with angles when filming buildings to make them appear more interesting . He explained to me that I would have to cut out a lot of footage I was already using, so we decided to cut the drummer out of the video. This was because we personally felt that she did not appear to have the right attitude like the other band members , and her presence broke the mood of the video, as she was always smiling in areas which didn't suit the song.  Along with cutting the drummer we decided to cut the day time shots of the band and extras running. This was because the night time shots created a darker and moodier atmosphere. Cole told me to crop certain shots where certain members looked good , or crop shots of the band performing so that the audience could focus on Rowan. Cole gave me advice such as find strong visual  and static shots.

Jim Cole's visit made me feel more confident and I  feel I can now create a strong and visually pleasing video.



Jim Cole's John Lewis Christmas Advert