Creative Media, Production and Technology
Evaluation for Music Video:
When I first started my music video, I was aiming to create a Christmas music video, that showed festive activities, love and matched the lyrics well. Yet I was also hoping that I would be able to show heart break but in a way that wouldn't take away from the magic of Christmas and away from the happiness of the music video. I was able to plan for this by making a mind map of my ideas for it and how I was going to complete this. I also was able to storyboard, make a location reece, a prop list and even a shot list to help me plan for this and help me get my bring my idea to life.
Our biggest challenged we had when filming and editing was not have enough footage. The first day we filmed we short by a lot and this made it hard to edit straight and find what we still needed. We fixed this by adding another couple into our video and also filming two more days for be rolls to make up for extra time. However we will still not by a lot though. My only option left was to trim the end of the song to make it made out a bit earlier and make it sync nicely up to my ending. Over that we had no technical issues when out and about and everyone showed up when we needed them.
Overall, I am happy with my finished work. I really like how it all came together and I was able to achieve what I wanted. I feel like personally I did cutting to the beat particularly well, which my video feel and seem more seamless than randomly editing anywhere. Not only this but I think the use of differently angles and shots was particularly effective and makes you follow along with the couples and understand them and their relationships in different ways. I also think this allows you to understand the different couples at Christmas and what they might do. Moreover, I believe I also managed to match up the lip syncing decently well, considering the two people didn't know the song and the both started a little bit late.
If I had had more time, I would instantly would have had another couple in my video. I feel like there was a lot of be roll which I feel like ruin's it slightly. Another couple, would erase the pointless be rolls and I could use the ones that actually make sense with the storyline. I also believe that we could have used a different activity for one of the Christmas Market couples as it feel's a repetitive, even though they are in a different place and are doing different things. Furthermore, I would also stick to one camera next time, as some of the quality tends to differ due to what we filmed on, where as the other parts are filmed super well.
I feel like I have been able to develop my collaboration, commitment and even confidence skills with this task. I was able to grow my confidence by putting myself in front of the camera and sharing my idea with some people I haven't done that with before. Not only this, but, I have been able to grow my commitment skills as well. We had to go to Manchester after college to film three of our scenes, which is our own time. I feel like it shows my commitment for the course and the project itself.
The feedback I received, was mainly positive and said that I had done a good job. However, the negative feedback was more or less what I wanted to improve myself. The audience did like my video and liked the message I was trying to send from the visualisation.
Finally, I believe this project will help me in future ones, as I now have experience cutting to the beat, experience messing about with lip syncing and also being able to film something long withe multiple shots in a short period of time. I know for definite that I will take away from this that planning ahead for mistakes is a key and that time management is the most important thing. This because we were always short on clips and because we had planned what we wanted properly and didn't leave room for mistakes we were able to go out multiple times to gather these extra bit's of footage.
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Evaluation for Music Video, Part 2:
My music video was under the style of narrative, concept and lyrical. I was able to do this by showing multiple couples enjoying themselves at Christmas time, doing different activities and finally ending it with by having solo shots of them alone- this was narrative and concept as we were following their story and even though it didn't always match the lyrics the reason behind the music video was clear. More over, I was also able to achieve lyrical as well through the use of one of the couples doing karaoke so it would look more natural and match with the theme of the song. By using these styles, I was able to show the meaning of the song, and show how even though it's an upbeat song their is still heartbreak at Christmas time and I wanted to be able to show both sides in away where it wouldn't take the magic and love away from Christmas.
The most important thing to me when making this music video was the location. The location was going to help establish what time of year it is and really help bring the image of Christmas to life. Performance was another key thing for my music video I really needed it to come across to the audience that the couples were in love and were enjoying themselves, which wasn't always simple in front of the camera. Costume was also important for our piece we wanted it to be understandable that it is winter and obviously Christmas, so everyone had to be wrapped up in coats, jumpers, etc, to really help sell this idea. Props was a more difficult thing, we didn't exactly know what we were going to be using in certain scenes until we were there (Shopping). However, when we got there it was simple and easy to pick these items, such as Pyjamas, slippers and Snuddie's.
When filming I was really hoping to get a range of shots and camera angles. I managed to get a range from POV shots, establishing shots, close ups and even long shots. I feel like all th shots I chose worked really well to tell the story of the characters. They showed their feelings, showed what they were doing and where they were doing it. I wanted the audience to be able to see this specifically. All the lighting I used was natural lighting to the scenery. I din't want to mess with this because I wanted it realistic and natural to show to the audience that it is relatable and normal to go through the things the characters do in the music video.
When it came to editing the music video, I thought it was very important to cut to the beat. I personally felt like it made it much more seamless and tidy rather than having it thrown in anywhere. Further more, I used the visible editing technique of a split screen to also show the characters feelings when they are alone. I thought it would be more effective than separately as it shows how they are all in the same boat and not alone.