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.
