Category Archives: Music Video

This is our forth draft for our music video. We have made changes to the editing and video using the feedback our peers gave us for our third draft. We also sent this forth draft to our teacher in order to receive the final pieces of feedback which we can use to clean up the video and create a finished piece.

Some of the final tweaks our teacher suggested to us was to position and scale some of the performance shots, cut some of the flashing shots so that she is off center, last shot needs to be slower (slow motion), dialogue shots could be zoomed in. These were suggested to us as due to us doing more shoots and adding more footage it started to take over and not fully show the dark side of the artist; by doing these improvements it will help give the audience a bigger connection to the plot in order for them to understand the dark, manipulative side of the artist. The improvement of positioning and scaling some of the performance shots will benefit us as it will help vary the shots and create a bigger dynamic in the performance.

This is our third draft for our music video. We have used footage from  all of our shoots especially our newest shoot (shoot 3). For the location we went to Tabs house to use her bedroom. We aimed to get enough good footage to create a third draft that we could start to try to do more effects and better editing in order to be able to just clean up certain parts for out final draft.

After doing our draft 3 we emailed our music video to other media students in order to get feedback about what was good about our music video and what improvements we can make.

Positive Feedback From Peers:

• Good range of shots
• Good use of mise-en scene – costume, hair and make up, props
• The makeup and costume really fit the vibe and location
• Good range of shots making use of closeups, longshots and midshots
• The use of coloured lighting really adds to the atmosphere and helps the shots to pop
• Mise-en-scene is good
• Pace of edit is good

Improvements Suggested From Peers:

• Black bit at the start – not meant to be there
• There are a few cuts between shots which are slightly not on the beat
• In the shot where she’s stood against the wall with the flashing lights, there are a few bits where the singing is out of sync
• Some of the shots and zooms are a bit wobbly
• Try and edit the clips at the beginning so the lip syncing is in time with the song
• The LED shoots try and adjust the brightness as it is currently quite dark
• More angles, lots are straight, maybe some side/low/high angle

To help us with our music video we had a visit from people who work in the media department at Specsavers where they watched our music videos and gave us feedback. They also taught us how to edit certain parts which we requested help with.

Feedback:

• We need to edit to the beat more as some clips are completely off beat or fall in and out of beat.
• Use colour tools to brighten the darker shots – running scene in the dark is too dark – makes it hard for audience to understand what is going on.
• Potentially film a few more narrative shots to help transition from light to dark side – they gave us an idea of the star reading from the book in the light side and then fading into the star reading from the dark side to make and understandable transition.
• Make some clips shorter as they dragged on too long and got boring and featured some bad moments.

Youtube Tutorials:

For our third shoot which we chose to do to get some extra footage we filmed both performance and narrative. For the location we went to Tabs house to use her bedroom as it fit the theme and subject matter we wanted to film and get across.

What Went Well:

• Our group was organised which allowed us to get the shoot done without any complications.
• We planned our shots and what we were going to film in order to get the footage we wanted.
• The location we chose matched the aesthetic we were trying to achieve.

Targets for Improvement:

Due to this being our last shoot there is no targets for the next shoot. We will now focus on the editing of our video and watch YouTube tutorials and also get help from the Specsavers team in order for us to get the best possible edit we can achieve.

This is a screencastify our teacher has given us for our draft 2 of our music video. By doing this it will help us know what we have done well and what improvements we will need for our draft 3.

Feedback Summary from Screencastify:

• Scale and position more shots
• Edit to beat more for energy
• Slow motion shot in daisy field
• Flip shots
• Too much effect on some shots
• POV shots – running, shovel
• Use more of headland shots

Targets for Development:

• Close ups are vital; there are too many mid shots and the close ups will add intimacy
• Use more of the white lights shots instead of flashing shots as it can become too much
• Edit to the beat more to add energy to the video and make it more interesting

In order to know what specific/measurable features make a good music video and know the developing and subverting conventions of the media form I analysed a previous students work of a music video which I thought matched the theme and subjects of ours. I decided to use ‘bury a friend’ as the subject matters in our music video of horror, eeriness and mystery are present throughout this music video.

Evaluation of Music Video:

The video has a 70/30 performance narrative ratio. The performance of the lip syncing is done well and the acting shows the persona of the artist. The narrative is subtle without a clear story through of what is happening which leads the audience to have their own perception of what is happening. This student has used good technical production skills. A tripod has been used to get clear, still shots for the video however when the camera is not in a still position and is moving/tracking the artist it is done deliberately to add meaning. Another technical production skill the student has executed well is a variety of shots; the student has used close ups and long shots through out the performance and narrative which helps keep the music video consistent and not get boring with a small amount of shots. This student has also used media conventions through out their video. The mise-en-scene represents the genre and artist well and sets an idea in the viewers head of what the artist is like and adds meaning to the narrative. Another media convention the student has used well is the editing makes sense of the narrative. The fast pace editing and editing to the beat helps the video flow through from start to end well and doesn’t bore the viewer.

3 Things That Makes the Music Video Effective:

• The editing to the beat throughout the video is extremely well executed. You can tell when filming they have used the rule of thirds for the framing, allowing the video to look professional and easy to look at.
• The star representation is extremely good. The make-up used to make her look tired and haunting helps portray the star as mysterious and eerie, creating a sense of audience perception of what the stars story is and who she really is.
• The use of the fast-pace cuts as the music builds up helps create a chaotic feel and impression to the audience and keeps them hooked into what is going on.

Targets to Improve our Music Video:

• Use a wider variety of shots; we lacked close ups and tracking shots due to us filming in a mid shot angle for most of the scenes.
• Our editing needs improving; some transitions could be cleaner and we also need to edit to the beat as some parts look off-sync.
• More costumes; our video got a little boring to watch due to only using a limited amount of costumes, our shoot three we completed used different make-up and costumes so we will be able to improve this for our draft 3.

In order to go ahead with our shoot 3 filming we need to assess the risks of the different locations we will be filming at and understand how to manage the risk. Below is our risk assessment sheet where we have identified certain risks we may come across.

In order to make sure we have enough footage (narrative and performance) we decided to do a third shoot. For this shoot we made a production meeting agenda in order to know what make-up, costumes, props and equipment we will need. By doing this it will enable us to have the best outcome we can for the shoot as we now know what to bring and what will benefit the shoot and what will not.

This is our second draft for our music video. We have used footage from our second shoot which was based on the narrative of the video. For the location we went to Pleinmont and used the bunker and dirt track. We aimed to get enough good footage to create a second draft that we could start to try to do more effects and better editing.

Targets for Draft 3:

• Use a wider variety of shots; we lacked close ups and tracking shots due to us filming in a mid shot angle for most of the scenes.
• Our editing needs improving; some transitions could be cleaner and we also need to edit to the beat as some parts look off-sync.
• More costumes; our video got a little boring to watch due to only using a limited amount of costumes, our shoot three we completed used different make-up and costumes so we will be able to improve this for our draft 3.

For our second shoot which was mainly narrative based we decided to go to Plienmont at night and use the fields and bunker as we thought it fit the narrative theme/story well.

What Went Well:

• The location of where we chose to shoot was a good match for the genre of the song and also the aesthetic of our music video narrative. By choosing a good location this allowed us to get good shots done quickly and efficiently as it helped our model get into character and match the feelings of how the artist is feeling in that particular time.
• Similar to our last shoot, we spent a lot of time on making sure the mise-en-scene was perfect before shooting to achieve the perfect star image.
• Our group was organised which allowed us to get the shoot done without any complications.
• Unlike our first shoot we didn’t just stay in the same place we moved around to different places at our chosen location helping add more variety to our shots.

Targets For Improvement:

• We only got a small amount of narrative footage and instead got more performance so for our next shoot we should focus more on getting the narrative footage.
• Have a better plan of what shots we are wanting e.g mid shot, close up, tracking shot. This would allow us to not rush.
• Use a wider range of outfits to get a bigger variety of shots.