Here is draft 4 of our music video:

In order to create some targets for our next draft we asked our peers to watch our video and we were then able to gather some feedback.

Summary of the feedback given:

• They liked the lighting in the performance shots and thought this contrasted well with the darkness of the narrative.
• They understood the narrative and took our preferred reading.
• We should work to ensure that clips aren’t repeated and overused.

We also received some helpful feedback from our teacher:

Please click to enlarge.

Targets:

• Fix the colour and brightness on some shots of Millie.
• Slow the pace of the shots where Millie is shaking her head.
• Experiments with slowing down the ending when the hand reaches out towards the camera or we could perhaps fade the clip to black.
• Scale and frame the performance shots in the bunker differently so they are less repetitive and more interesting.

Since draft 2 of our music video, we have made numerous changes that we think add to the overall success of our video.

• We applied a coherent filter throughout the video on the performance shots in the studio.
• We have experimented with framing and scale on some of the bunker performance shots in order to enable the audience to engage with our star further.
• Replacing the performance shots over the repeated lyrics “Welcome to the…” with narrative shots was also a part of the process for draft 3.
• Flipping clips has also been experimented with as to make sure the video doesn’t seem repetitive.
• We also added in a new jump cut scene, applying the same effect as earlier in the video, to add coherency and purpose.

We asked for some feedback from two of our peers and this is what we received:

• “It has some great close up shots that are perfectly clear and in focus. Your lip syncing is also very well done as it looks like the artist is actually singing. I love your MES. The location you shot in fits in really well with your theme. The prop of the chain is also very intriguing and interesting. You could possibly play around with the filter effects used on your performance shoot to make her make up pop even more and could possibly add more contrast to your narrative shoots in areas to make the shadows even darker. Overall I really like your music video. It keeps me engaged and excited throughout.”
• “The overlay edits are very engaging and the colour gradient used for the performance video stands out. I would probably look at adding more effects to the chain clips and some darker tones into the narrative. “

Our targets and improvements to be made for our final draft are as follows:

• Add a blinking effect to the montage of scenery shots using the dip to black transition.
• Experiment with filters on our bunker and underground hospital shots to reduce the grain and noise of our shots.
• Make sure all of the filters are the same throughout, when they are meant to be.
• Check the lighting using the whites and blacks scales and Lumetri scopes. This should make sure each clip has the correct amount of exposure and is the clearest it can be.
• Add a title at the start of the song.
• Fade the ending out to black.

Above is a screen castify our teacher made, to provide us with feedback on draft 2 of our music video.

Here is a summary of the feedback she gave us:

• Check the footage at the start of the video as it’s blurry and grainy.
• Be consistent with the filters on the studio shots throughout the video.
• Good jump cuts.
• Zoom in on the shadows with the chain clip. Cut between the two angles.
• Use scale and position to move the performance shots so our performer isn’t central all the time.
• Only use narrative over the “Welcome to the, welcome to the” lyrics.
• Don’t use thee same shot twice – edit it so it appears different – eg. flip it.
• On the line “see them too” where Min is performing, perhaps try her looking at herself.
• Remove the dark clip in the wall.
• Add pace to the edit on the beats when she is banging on the wall.
• Good editing to the beat.

Whilst editing our second draft of our music video, we were lucky enough to receive a visit from members of the creative team at Specsavers and the Digital Greenhouse later on in the week. They provided us with lots of tips and tricks for using Premiere Pro effectively and some great feedback on what we had already done.

One tool that they taught us how to use was the mask tool. This enabled us to make ‘clones’ of our performer and change the opacity of different layers. Our editing has also been made easier by the team teaching us how to use the adjustment layer. This enables us to add an effect to a number of different clips instead of having to apply each separately and trying to match the effect up.

The visit from the Digital Greenhouse was also extremely beneficial as they gave us feedback on our video. One thing in particular we took away from this is that the pace of edit should speed up when the music also increases pace. They also showed us how to correct the lighting in our clips and create an adjustment layer of this lighting so it is coherent throughout the entire video.

Above is the second draft of our music video, which includes our narrative that we most recently shot. On reflection, this draft has a few strengths and a lot of improvements that need to be made.

What went well:

• In certain segments, we have edited well to the beat.
• We have included a variety of shots including close ups, mid shots and jump cuts; just to name a few.
• We have experimented with effects and filters to coordinate with our genre of electro-pop.

Improvements to be made:

• Add a title that flickers to announce the title of the song.
• Use filters and colour correction to make the best out of the grainy and dark shots.
• Use the filters consistently throughout the video, so the effect looks purposeful, as it’s intended to be.
• Experiment with transitions between clips.
• Increase the pace of edit with the song.

In order to capture the narrative shots we needed we decided to conduct two shoots; one in the white studio and one at the German Underground Hospital. We had varying levels of success.

Our shoot in the studio was very unsuccessful with only a handful of shots being captured. We had aimed to get some extreme close ups of the props we were going to use in the next shoot but this didn’t go as we had hoped.

Then we went on to our next shoot which was, thankfully, much more successful. We were able to capture over a hundred different shots, all of which satisfied our storyboard plan, which we were able to refer to during the shoot.

However, during post-production we have found that a number of shots are blurry which means we have less footage to experiment with in our music video. We haven’t chosen to redo this shoot however as we feel we have enough footage and with the new skills we are learning in premiere pro we will be able to make the best of the footage that isn’t as high quality as the rest.

Here are some photos of me and my group out on our shoot at the underground hospital.

When preparing for our shoot in the underground hospital, we constructed a risk assessment in order to plan for any issue that could arise.

Please click to view the document.

In order to prepare for our narrative shoot we compiled all of our ideas and plans onto a production meeting agenda.

Please click to view the full document.

To prepare for our shoot, we have planned our scenes and a compiled a visual shot list. This will be helpful to follow when we go out on our shoot so that we feel well prepared and our shoot can run as smoothly as possible.

Our storyboard is not necessarily in order, as it doesn’t matter what order many of the scenes come in as they interlink.

Our storyboard and shot plan.

The narrative of a music video is important to not be complete as to create enigma, so that the audience are encouraged rewatch the video.

Therefore instead of the structure of a music video being a complete story and having a beginning, middle and end, Todorov proposed that it should follow the structure of an equilibrium, disruption, resolution and the new equilibrium.

A music video can also be categorised in to one of the following, depending on the structure and order of the narrative:

• Anachronic – the story is out of sequence, including flashbacks and flash-forwards.
• Episodic – short self contained scenes usually thematically linked.
• Parallel – cross cutting between two scenes that meet at the climax
• Linear – runs in chronological order

The narrative can be any one of the following:

• Amplified – The video links to the key themes and messages of the lyrics and aids them.
• Disjunctive – The video and lyrics have very little to do with each other.
• Illustrative – The narrative illustrates the lyrics directly.

In order to prepare for shooting our narrative, we compiled this document of initial planning and ideas for our amplified narrative.

Please click to view the full document.