Here is my final draft of my music video.

The changes to this draft include:

• slowed down the spiral at the end so there is a final black image
• at 2:21 we changed the clips so she stays under the water
• added an effect when Elisha doesn’t keep up and stops the routine
• changed the shots of girls walking from long shot to close up to long shot

Here is our draft 4 of our music video.

Some things we changed are:

• made our flashback more successful and obvious by using the swirl effect
• added the echo effect on the walking for continuity
• added some more close ups of arms closing and shoving the pastel girls
• added some more of the pulse effect for consistancy on the beats of the music and the strong words
• added the strobe/inverted effect in more places for consistancy
• included a cross dissolve for the aerial shots of the flowers being added into the bath to make the flow better
• added a darker effect on the goth emerging from the bath to imply she has ‘gone to the dark side’ and changed
• included more split screens
• added a tint onto the fist clenching to emphasize the ‘governments’ anger and to show something is going to go wrong
• edited the dragging pace of edit to the beat of the music and the words in the lyrics

Comments from peers:

Overall, Zoe really enjoyed our music video and thought that it was effect. She understood our narrative and the message that we were trying to get across. However she also gave us some feedback to improve on which we will use as targets for our final draft:

• experiment with the inverted strobe effect and change the colours so there is some colour added to the music video
• when the goth section of the narrative comes in, experiment with changing the colour/tint on the performance videos to link with the rest of the video
• the CU of the mouth shot – try and make it more clear what it is saying – maybe film it again and Eve move her mouth more
• add a fade out at the end of the video as it doesn’t go completely to black after the rotating effect

Feedback from teacher:

• opening shot of Elisha on ground is wobbly
• some of the shots of Eve could be canted like they are later on. This will create some depth/dynamic
• opening of girls could cut between long shot to close up of legs to long shot again and then the reverse mid shot
• close ups – i.e. scale in for some of the team girl dancing in a line to create more pace
• when Elisha doesn’t keep up – can we get more connection with her? close up or some effect around her to make her stand out even more?
• all the girl dancing sections should have the echo effect
• any close ups of the flowers in the bath to cut into?
• cut between her struggle and close ups of the water sloshing more
• at 2:21 she submerges for the first time but she is already in the bath?
• effect at 2:23 could be used earlier on the Eve static shots?
• the transition to the black bath could be more dramatic? cut to black or white screen so it is heralded more?
• blowing the flowers – more of a diffused edge to the vignette/frame
• dressed as goth – the colour needs to be darker with more fx to create that change
• the glitch at 3:06 with her fists works well – could you use this on the other getting dressed as the goth shots?
• like the lips multi-screen – perhaps use it somewhere else as it stands out a little bit at the moment
• when she disrupts the dancers – we need some glitch, colour fx to create that aggression?
• add some slow mo in the initial arrest?
• slow down the spiral at the end so that we are left with it disappearing after the song has finished

Things that have changed:

• we added more effects such as:
  • the rotation effect
  • the glitch effect/vr effect
  • the inverted glitch effect
  • more circles over shots of dancing
  • the pulse effect
  • the echo effect
• made the flashback effect more obvious by changing the colour and adding a pulse
• we have added multiple clips on top of each other to create split screens to add interest on screen
• faster pace of edit – we are able to see more shots of her getting annoyed etc
• zoomed into facial expressions to get the more intense shots
• put the clips in chronological order so the sequencing makes more sense
• slowed down the emerging from the black bath
• added a VR effect on the montage of becoming the goth in order to create a more angsty atmosphere
• zoomed in on high angle to create the intensity
• made the reflection in the glasses fit better and is now more obvious to the audience

Comments about our video from our peers:

Targets for Improvement:

• more close ups of hands moving
• add transitions
• zoom in on some clips to get more personal
• add colour correction adjustment layer to make all clips look the same
• make goth clips darker and more atmospheric to highlight the change in mood

Summary

• play with effects and transitions to create more interest on screen
• include more close up and extreme close up shots to create intensity
• move the star so that she isn’t in the centre of the screen the whole time
• use close ups of hands and arms to distract from the out of time dancing
• more cuts between shots – some shots are too long
• use effects 3 times
• make sure sequencing is chronological – some doesn’t make sense
• create jump cuts for interest

Targets:

• add in more effects and ensure that they are in at least 3 times for the comfort of the audience
• use more shots and angles – some are too long and the interest is lost
• include more close up shots of hand movements and include movement through the frame
• include some more obvious jump cuts
• adapt the pace of edit to fit the tension in the frame

Earlier in the week we had some media experts from Specsavers come in and they gave us some really useful feedback. They said:

• try to edit to the beat more
• zoom in on some more clips to create some interest and change of shot
• use effects to your advantage – you can always take things out but you’ll never know if you don’t try

They gave us some tips on how to do some interesting effects. One of the main ones they taught us was how to change the anchor point of a rotation. This was extremely useful as it allowed us to merge different shots in the background of the rotation as well as creating some interest in the shot.

We also had some experts from Digital Greenhouse come in and they also gave us some feedback on our video:

• have a good variety of shots and angles
• the narrative is obvious – the target audience will understand it
• try to work in some more effects and don’t forget the rule of 3
• include more close ups and extreme close ups to create intensity – e.g. zoom in on glasses, as it wasn’t obvious that there was someone dancing in them
• don’t be afraid to have close ups of body parts or certain movements

They also taught us how to use colour correction throughout the whole piece. They said to find your darkest and lightest shots and adjust them to suit the rest of the video. Then apply an adjustment layer over the whole video to fix the whites and the shadows to get the correct levels of contrast, light and exposure. This is incredibly useful as it will save a lot of time, due to the fact that it will be one adjustment layer compared to one layer per shot, and it means that we don’t have to worry about getting the same levels and the perfect correction on every single clip.

What went well:

• we got a wide variety of shots which helped us to complete and experiment successfully with our narrative
• we have edited to the beat
• when there is more tension in the video the pace of edit quickens to reflect the action

Targets:

• add in more close ups from the narrative
• experiment with different shots in the performance – a lot of them are the same
• have the intensity with the main narrative star – close ups of eyes, hands, feet etc
• cut out irrelevant stuff in the background of the shot – there are some bags in one of the shots
• colour correct the whole piece
• add in some more transitions and effects to add to the overall effect of the piece
• try and make the start of the narrative more clear to the audience – flashback more obvious?

For our narrative, we conducted two shoots, both off site, one at Vale Castle and another at Imogen’s house and both of these shoots highlighted and tested us with a wide variety of different things. Overall I believe that our shoot was a success, as we were able to capture the energy and story that we wanted to have for narrative. We stuck to our storyboard and focused on what we wanted to film. The storyboard was useful in that it gave us a structure, meaning that we were able to have a set idea of what we had to have filmed.

However, even though the overall shoot was a success, some of the shots came out blurry which leaves us less footage to experiment with for the final product. With that being said the majority of the shots were successful and we decided to not re-shoot as we had enough which were of good quality. During editing, we have had to zoom in on some clips in order to crop out some bags in the background that we forgot to move but to also create our close ups to generate intensity. Luckily our location was able to provide good light due to the open top and thankfully the sun was out.

An important part to planning our narrative shoot was to create a story board/ shot list. It helps you get all your ideas down onto a page and then you’re able to see what shots you need and it also helps ensure you have a variety of angles. It is crucial to have a structure when filming and this will help us when we go on our location shoot so we won’t waste any time.

We have had to create a risk assessment for our shoot on the 15th September because we are using water so there are risks involved. Therefore our risk assessment is very important:

Click on image to view full document

Above is our production meeting agenda for our 3rd shoot. We have kept the same costume however we have just changed location and the props we are using. We also only need one model because we are filming the solo section.

The aims for this shoot are: