Prelim Evaluation

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you? 

I worked with Harry, Ella and Harrison. We all decided that it would be more efficient if we split the work between ourselves instead of all working on the same task. We all contributed and helped with the filming and preparation of the prelim task.  Harrison and myself were given the task of editing the final piece and uploading it, whereas Ella and Harry predominately completed blog work and documents, such as shooting schedules.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?

We decided that pre-planning our sequence would be the best way to do it, and so we created a shooting schedule so we knew exactly what to shoot and on what days. A storyboard so we knew exactly what we needed to film and the shots we were going to use along with the timings and framing of the scenes. We also created a prop and location list, this allowed us to gather the exact props we needed and access the correct locations to ensure our prelim task was a close match to the original music video.

3) What theories could you apply to the video you chose?

You could apply a few of Andrew Goodwin's theories to this music video we created. The first is that the visuals of the video match the music and lyrics. The song gives off a party vibe, and the video is set in a club. Also there is lots of genre related iconography in the sense of the drinking and drug taking. Lastly there are many close up shots of the main character of the narrative so you know who the narrative is about.

4) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

We decided that we would record our prelim task on an iPhone 6, which, at first, we thought would be a good idea, however when we uploaded our footage to premier the quality was poor, which made it very hard for Harrison and myself to create a thermal overlay like in the original video. Additionally it was the first time Harrison and I had used Adobe After Effects and so we were very slow at editing and along with the poor quality videos we had, we found it very hard to apply a thermal overlay. However we learned from this that trying to do something so time consuming in such a short time isn't practical and that the next time we use Adobe After Effects we need to learn how to use certain tools and not just use trial and error. We also learnt that filming on a iPhone was not a good idea, and we should stick to using either media cameras or a DSLR for the best quality footage.

5) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

We needed to ensure that all equipment we wanted was easy to get and wasn't too expensive to buy. We also needed to make sure all the locations we wanted to visit were close, easy to get to, and available to use when we wanted them, this meant we needed to book certain rooms in the school, so we could use them to shoot our video with no interruptions. Lastly only one computer in the media department has Adobe After Effects, therefore we had to ensure we booked this computer when we wanted to edit our video so that we had access to the correct and appropriate editing tools and effects to recreate the music video.

6) How successful was your music video copy? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently? What did others say about your production?

Some parts were very successful and other parts were not so successful. The shots we filmed were a very close match to the original music video and looked good. However when it came to the editing and applying the thermal overlay it got very difficult. And so the video didn't resemble the original very well because the overlay was too difficult to do in such a short period of time. Therefore we must consider how long we have to edit when we take on another project, and ensure we do not try anything too difficult or time consuming. I feel that I need to improve my use of Adobe After Effects before trying anything complex like that again. We had both positive and negative feedback, lots of people said the shots were very close to the original but the editing and After Effects is what let us down.

7) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your music video, do you think?

I have learnt that I need to be aware of the time I have to edit my projects and that taking on such a big task in a short period of time doesn't work. I feel I have learnt a lot about using editing software, especially Adobe After Effects. However I now know that I need improve my skills on After Effects to ensure I get the final product I am looking for, and not just a video I would 'have to put up with' due to the short timescale I had to complete the project.

8) How does it compare with filming an opening to a film?

There seems to be many similarities, yet many differences. For example, film openings tend to have titles straight away, whereas in a music video it gets straight into the video.

However the openings of both are very important in setting the narrative of the video, and therefore both explore the narrative in depth in the opening.

9) What are your strengths and weaknesses as a group member?

I feel my strengths in this project were the editing and organising where everyone needed to be and what they needed to do when we were filming, I focused predominately on the editing and therefore in my next project I will be even stronger at the editing and I will be able to create a much better final product for my group and myself. My weakness in this project was doing paperwork and blog work, because I was assigned to do the editing and it was a very big task to do I didn't have any time to complete the relevant paperwork and blog work, therefore I fell behind and had to catch up after school. Although it was a weakness I feel I have learned that in my next project I need to keep up with blog work as it is just as important as editing or filming.

10) Looking at the other group's videos which do you think were most successful and why?

I feel the most successful video was the One Direction video - History by Joe, Nathan, Olly and Rory. I believe it was successful as they had some good shots that matched the original music video, but the group also had a very good chemistry and seemed to work well as a boy band group. They all seemed to fit the roles they were given and therefore they worked as a boy band.