Category: Music Video

Below is a shot list that I’ve made in preparation for my second shoot. This was made so we can have a reference for all of the shots that we are going to take so we can visualize what they’ll look like and how the shot will play out.

For each different location, we have come up with a few different shots we can take in order to both get enough shot variety for the music video, as well as enough shots to tell the story without leaving any major gaps in the plot.

In future I will make sure to make a visual shot list for any shoots I’ll take in order to try and visualize what my shots will look like as well as to try and meet my original intention for the video I will be creating.

 

Here is the rough cut draft of my music video. This only contains shots from the first shoot I did and I’ll make a full draft later on that will include shots from the second shoot.

What Went Well:

• The music is synced to the beat fairly well, with only brief parts being out of place, such as the Bass shot at 0:26
• Start of the narrative has been shot, meaning we can spend more time on our narrative shoot trying to perfect the story
• Variety of angles were shot which are used throughout the edit to help keep it feeling fresh and new.
• The costumes of the characters is in line with both the setting and the genre, meaning the immersion isn’t broken because of a bad costume choice.

Targets for Improvement:

• Finish off the narrative shoot and then add that into the edit in the areas that haven’t got any footage in yet.
• Reshoot shots of the band that are out of focus / aren’t performed to the beat to help the video seem more genuine and realistic.
• Some shots went on for too long, such as the shot of the guitarist at 1:45 where he looks like he’s awkwardly standing around, instead of putting his heart into singing the song.
• Reactions to the music are off beat such as the Bass shot at 0:26 where it looks like the Bassist is waiting for a musical cue that’s already happened.

In future I will look back at these points to help improve upon my second draft when I come around to making it so I can end up with a music video that was made to the best of my ability that can reach the potential that I’m capable of reaching.

Above are some pictures taken from our performance shoot (shoot 1)

Things that went well:

• Shots taken of the band from a variety of angles and distances
• All performers had suitable costumes that fit the conventions of the genre.
• Majority of shots taken were in focus and framed well
• All shots had good lighting on the performers
• More advanced camera techniques such as Dollys and Pans were used

Things to improve:

• Certain shots, particularly those of the bassist, are quite blurry meaning they may need to be reshot
• The dolly focused too much on the band, leading to a worse transition to the next room
• When the teacher and the student are arguing, they were saying random things, which looks awkward in the edit
• Difference in the scenery between the studio and the classroom could be considered jarring if not transitioned well
• Some of the shots of the band show them being quite static and not really moving around and getting into the zone

Targets for narrative shoot (shoot 2):

• Reshoot all shots that include the main protagonist as their actor is unable to continue in their role.
• Shoot new scenes to finish recording the narrative sequence, bearing in mind things such as continuity with costumes.
• Shoot ALL shots in focus with good framing.
• Shoot more minor shots of the main character to help fill time if needs be.

Here is a list of visual shots that have been taken from different sources that I feel could be used as inspiration for certain shots in my music video. With one example from our video being our main protagonist getting visibally frustrated with the teacher in a close-up of their face and then pushing their teacher over in a long shot.

Thinking forward, this shot list will help us to plan out the way our video will be shot by using a variety of angles and distances in order to convey meaning as it gives us visual examples of shots done in professional music videos that link up with the ideas that we want to use to represent our themes and genre.

In order to make sure our idea works, we made a full slideshow of all of our ideas for the music video (as seen in a previous post) and then pitched that to our teacher to see what he thought of it and what tips / ideas he may have for it. This pitch, as well as some bullet points based on the positive and negative bits of feedback can be seen below:

 

Positives:

• The band being constantly present, yet invisible to the characters can add variety to the shots that we take, as well as act as a great way to blend the performance and the narrative.
• The song is short which means it’ll be easier to edit as there is less time to fill out with random shots.

Negatives:

• The shoot can only be shot after school as shooting during the school day would mean it’s too busy to do any work
• There isn’t enough time to establish the relationship between the main character and the teacher which means there’ll be little impact when the pay off does happen.
• Beating up the teacher is hard to choreograph, shoot and may be a health and safety issue so we may need to find a way to work around that to both give that satisfying feeling of breaking free from that nightmare of a detention, whilst also having a solid shot that doesn’t look forced.

Thinking forward, I will take on these criticisms to try and further develop my idea so that it can end up being the best video that I can make to the best of my ability. In particular, I will expand upon the idea of the band as omnipresent spectators to the events of the narrative by trying to make them appear throughout the key narrative events.

For my music video, I’ve become a part of a group with Nate, Stuart and Kai. We’ve all shared ideas on what songs we wanted to do and we decided on the song ‘School’ By Nirvana as it’s quite short and is something that we’ve got several good ideas for. Some of our ideas are displayed within the pitch above.

 

To help us get a clear understanding of what I’ll need for my shoot, I’ve made a production meeting agenda to outline the different aspects of the shoot that we’ll need to know beforehand in order to gain a greater understanding of what the final product will look like. Some of these aspects of the recording include the Location, Models and Costumes. We’ve also taken the oppourtunity to add the numbers of  our teachers in case something goes wrong and considered potential issues regarding the shoot due to it being set within a school.

In future, I will make sure to use production meeting agendas to collect ideas with my group in order to gain a greater understanding on what to do on my shoot to try and meet the original vision of the project.

 

The following agreement was made after a discussion between the four members of our group, detailing how we’ll resolve any disagreements we may have.

In future, this will help us to co-operate easier as we will have a source to look to that we can rely on to show us where our initial values lied, as well as to help our future selves recognize what our strengths and weaknesses are, in the chance that we may forget what those are and start to improvise on our music video. This will then in turn help to resolve any potential arguments that may arise, which will in turn help our productivity, organisation and communication with one another.